My Workplace Was Seriously High-End

Hao Ren looked up at the anomaly in the sky, dumbstruck, his mouth hanging wide open—he could not see what he looked like, but if he could, he would definitely have thought he had just finished two years of rehabilitation at Qingshan Mental Hospital.

An enormous building floated upside down above his head, enough to make anyone's heart and guts tremble!

It was a massive Western-style mansion with a blue roof, a cross-shaped main structure, and long side wings. Its white walls and blue roof gave it an elegant, noble air, like a blend of a modern European castle and manor. Behind the main building stood a complex, streamlined tower. Its style did not quite match the mansion, yet it added an overall sense of mystery. The mansion itself stood on a pure white foundation, surrounded by lush lawns and gardens. Small fountains were symmetrically arranged throughout the gardens, while the small square directly in front of the mansion featured an artificial fountain that could only be described as gigantic. All of it was astonishing.

What was even more astonishing was that all of it was upside down in the sky! Even the fountain hung inverted in mid-air, as though it had no regard whatsoever for old Newton's dignity.

Hao Ren had only ever seen buildings of this scale on television, but he had never seen one of this scale hanging in the sky in such a bizarre manner. His legs immediately trembled on instinct, and his first thought was what he would do if the thing fell on him—he was not being overly dramatic. Even if Schwarzenegger were here, he would shake at the sight of a housing complex larger than a residential district flying over his head.

Hao Ren was certain that there had been nothing in the sky before. He also noticed that, despite such an enormous mansion hanging upside down overhead, there was no shadow on the ground. He could still feel the scorching sun directly on him, making sweat seep from every pore—though at this point, the sweating was not entirely because of the sun. In any case, everything before him had far exceeded the limits of an ordinary person's understanding. It was not until a boisterous call came from the phone at his side that he snapped back to his senses. "Hello? Hao Ren! Did you see the big house in the sky?"

Hao Ren pressed the phone to his ear and, after gathering himself for a long while, finally sighed, "Holy shit..."

"Rule One of this organization's employee code of conduct: employees are not allowed to swear before their superiors do. But you have not officially joined yet, so whatever," the woman said casually. "Now take your hand off that old Chinese medicine ad. Remember to keep your Line of Sight on the square, or I will not care where you end up flying."

Hao Ren had been ready to turn around and leave, but hearing that made him break out in cold sweat. Luckily, his hand had remained on the utility pole—because his legs were weak—and had not let go. Otherwise, Something happened might have happened already!

Hao Ren knew he could not run away today, so he gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and let go while facing the square beneath the mansion in the sky.

In that instant, the world spun around him. Hao Ren felt as though he had suddenly been thrown hundreds of meters into the air, then tossed into a place with no up, down, left, right, or gravity. Next came a mad series of rotations in every direction, who knew how many 360-degree spins. Only when he felt like last year's New Year's Eve dinner was about to be flung out of him did the madness recede like a tide. He found himself still standing on solid ground, but the scene before him had changed completely. A huge fountain cheerfully churned water before him. A breeze swept past, carrying a pleasant, cool dampness that made every pore on his body want to relax. On either side were verdant lawns and gardens bursting with competing flowers, while beneath his feet lay neat white stone flooring. Hao Ren was not actually sure whether it was stone, but he knew it was definitely not cement. It was smooth and understated, with a texture somewhere between plastic and metal, a building material he had never seen before.

Hao Ren slowly turned around and saw an enormous white mansion with a blue roof behind him.

Just as expected, he had arrived at the inverted building he had seen earlier. Which meant...

Hao Ren raised his head with a horrified expression, but to his surprise, he did not see another stretch of upside-down earth. Above him was only a clear, bright blue sky, with colorful bands of light like auroras slowly drifting behind the clouds. He could not see the sun, yet gentle, non-scorching sunlight still poured down from above at an angle. Looking farther into the distance, there was nothing around the mansion to block his view. A straight, broad road ran between the gardens on either side, but there was nothing at the end of it. Hao Ren saw only thick fog. It seemed this place was surrounded by a ring of mist, with the enormous mansion and garden he stood in as the only things that existed here.

Like an isolated island in the fog—this thought made Hao Ren shudder. He realized that getting back was already going to be a problem.

At that moment, a soft creak came from behind him, snapping Hao Ren back to attention. He turned and saw that the mansion's magnificent front door had been pushed open. A humanoid "creature" that looked as if it were made of clouds and electric currents walked out.

Hao Ren had never seen such a strange "creature." He could not tell its gender, nor could he make out any facial features. Its entire "body" consisted of translucent, hazy pale-blue mist. The strange being stood over two meters tall and had the limbs of a human, while bright electrical currents occasionally darted through the mist that made up its body. Could those currents be its skeleton?

Other than that, Hao Ren did not see it wearing any clothes... Though something like this probably did not need clothes, did it?

Hao Ren had encountered too many bizarre things over the past two days. The inverted building from before had especially tempered his nerves to the point of near terminal numbness in an instant. Thus, when he saw this eerie fellow that could barely even be called human, he was surprised but did not lose his composure. The "blue mist man" nodded at Hao Ren, crackling electrical sounds coming from within its body. Then it stepped aside, signaling for the visitor to follow it inside.

Hao Ren worked up his courage, quickened his pace, and followed behind the "blue mist man" into the strange mansion.

The inside of the mansion was just as grand and magnificent as its exterior suggested. Beyond the front entrance was a bright, spacious foyer, followed by a long corridor covered in red carpet. Hao Ren followed the silent, bizarre creature while carefully observing his surroundings. There were no visible light sources anywhere in the corridor, yet every inch of the place was brightly illuminated. Many murals of unclear meaning hung along the walls on both sides. Some depicted towering castles and spires reaching into the clouds, while others portrayed planets and the universe. Still others showed massive warships firing at one another and high-tech armies in battle, while some even depicted people like wizards casting magic—honestly, these things really did not fit together hanging here.

Finally, he saw a mural at the end of the corridor covered with little turtles that looked like a child's scribbles... That was completely impossible to understand.

Eventually, he was led to a heavy-looking, luxurious dark-brown wooden door. The blue mist man pointed at it, then suddenly dissolved into the air before Hao Ren could ask anything.

Hao Ren shrugged and could only force himself to knock on the wooden door a few times.

A very pleasant female voice came through from behind the door. It was the woman from the phone. "Come in. It's unlocked."

Hao Ren pushed the door open with force, and everything behind it appeared before him.

It was a large semicircular room. In the middle stood a dark-colored table that looked extremely heavy. There was no carpet on the floor, only a layer of warm grayish-white material resembling stone tiles. Half a circle of shelves stood against the curved wall, but they were not bookshelves—those shelves were filled with strange objects whose functions Hao Ren could not identify. Some looked like models, some were crystals that flickered with light, and in one compartment sat half an unfinished jianbing guozi.

There really was half a jianbing guozi there—absolutely true. Heaven knew why!

Behind the large table in the center of the room sat a woman with long silver-white hair.

She was a beautiful woman who made Hao Ren pause slightly in a daze, and she looked astonishingly young—possibly even a little younger than Hao Ren himself, at least in appearance.

She had a cool, aloof temperament, light-brown eyes, and long silver-white hair like snow and ice. Her nose was high and straight, her lips thin, and when she did not speak, she gave off the impression that she was difficult to approach. Of course, that might have been Hao Ren's illusion, considering he was already close to seeing her as some kind of apocalyptic demon king. She wore a very strange outfit, something like a black robe but also somewhat like a modified trench coat. The style was unusual, yet it suited her remarkably well, lending her an air of mystery for no reason at all.

While Hao Ren was still dazed, the young woman smiled. Much of that cold, aloof air immediately faded. She nodded at Hao Ren, gesturing for him to sit in a nearby chair, then pointed at herself. "You can call me Raven 12345. I'll be your superior from now on."

Hao Ren was still immersed in his chaotic thoughts, so much so that he did not immediately notice the name she had given. He merely asked reflexively, "This place... where is it?"

"This place? The Time-Space Administration Bureau." The woman calling herself Raven 12345 looked extremely proud. "The Wangba Tuozi Office of the Time-Space Administration Bureau's EN35 Node. Pretty impressive, right?"

Hao Ren: "..."

(Second update. As long as I work hard enough, I can still manage it... So I'll keep asking for votes.)