Workers Aren't Slaves. If You Don't Get It, Get Out!

Thanks to the reader "Cold Night 1986" for the donation and the requests for more updates. Unfortunately, I just can't manage a 9,000-word update. Oh well, I'll post three chapters today. It still won't meet the requested word count, but it's a way to return some of your kindness~

Since I'm posting extra, I'll shamelessly ask for your support again. We're still a ways behind second place, but it's not impossible to catch up, so... heh... please recommend, favorite, and click! Aaaah!

As for the garbled text earlier, I don't know what happened either. I've uploaded it again now. Sorry to everyone who was inconvenienced!

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Reincarnators at difficulty one couldn't apply to the space for a main-domain venue, so the Worker Alliance headquarters was located in Mr. Yi's private residence.

Mr. Yi had level-four space permissions, and his residence was at least three times larger than Gao Xu's. On top of that, his team members had merged their private residences with his, leaving them with enough space to build a proper hall.

At present, a dozen or so people stood scattered around the hall in four groups, gathered around the central conference table.

They were standing rather than sitting because an argument seemed to have broken out, and the atmosphere in the hall was already extremely tense.

To the north stood Mr. Yi's team. The six members, led by Shang Yan, stood behind him, following his lead.

On the east side stood a man in white robes, his skin gleaming with a metallic sheen. His features were gentle, but his gaze was sharp. He gave off an impression of crisp edges and biting intensity. Two men and a woman stood behind him, ordinary in appearance and deferential in manner, their eyes fixed on the floor.

To the south stood a pair of siblings. The man had an upright face, broad shoulders, and a sturdy, muscular build. The woman had picture-perfect features and skin as smooth as jade. She was a rare beauty, every bit as striking as a top-tier film star.

The Reincarnator on the west side looked rather peculiar. He wore a snow-white hospital gown and coughed now and then. His unsteady frame made him look gravely ill, utterly out of place in this setting and among the Reincarnators.

Gao Xu stood beside Mr. Yi, gazing up at the ceiling in a relaxed manner, as if there were something up there worth studying.

"Anyway, let me make this clear: I absolutely will not take orders from this man. Look at his attitude! Does he even know his place?" The man in white glared at Gao Xu. His words made Shang Yan and the others frown.

"His place...?" Gao Xu asked leisurely. "From what you're saying, workers are supposed to grovel and suck up to you. Is that what you consider proper?"

The man in white snorted, seemingly acknowledging it.

Even Mr. Yi couldn't take his arrogance any longer and was about to speak when Gao Xu suddenly pointed toward the entrance and said coolly, "I'm working for you, not serving as your slave. If you can't get that through your head, leave!"

"You're telling me to leave?" The man in white stared at Gao Xu, seemingly unable to believe he was being thrown out. He lost his composure and roared, "I was willing to trust this lousy alliance of yours and give you a precious opportunity. What a tremendous blessing! A blessing! Do you even realize that you—"

Gao Xu didn't even look at him. He cut him off with a single word: "Get out!"

"Fine! Fine! Fine!" The man in white fixed Gao Xu with a sinister, ghostlike stare and gritted his teeth. "The world turns. We'll meet again!"

As he reached the door, he seemed to remember something. He turned around and shouted maliciously, "My space permissions are already level four. I can see the daily schedule of the plot worlds in advance. There's only one trip to the Handsome Siblings world in the next twenty days, so take care of yourselves. Maybe we'll see each other again very soon. Ahahahaha..."

Before his laughter had even faded, Gao Xu exclaimed with delight, "Thank you, brother, for spending 2,000 points to investigate that for us. You're a real hero!"

"Uh... cough, cough, cough!" The man in white's voice cut off abruptly. Gao Xu's words had left him choking, and he disappeared from the hall in utter embarrassment.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Brilliant, brilliant! That arrogant idiot—I've been putting up with him for ages!" The man in the hospital gown applauded for a while, then sighed. "But that reminds me. I'd heard Wei Wuya was one of the toughest gatekeeper bosses at difficulty one. Now Mr. Gao's made an enemy of a Reincarnator, too. If that guy comes in and causes trouble, I'm afraid I won't have even the slightest chance of winning left... So, sorry, but I'm out as well..."

Mr. Yi watched the man in the hospital gown leave with a grim expression, but Gao Xu didn't seem to care. He waved goodbye to him, then turned to the siblings. "What do you two think? Will you leave with them?"

The siblings had said the least of anyone there. Apart from introducing themselves as the Qin family at the start, they had observed quietly the whole time. Now, when Gao Xu asked, Qin Fen, the elder brother, nodded and said, "We'll stay. We'll follow your orders this time!"

Gao Xu asked with interest, "Oh? Why? Don't you share their concerns?"

Qin Fen grinned. "Because, from what I've observed, you're not crazy. You won't do something suicidal! If that's the case, then your confidence and audacity must mean you have a plan and know what you're doing!"

Gao Xu shook his head with a laugh. "That's a nice thing to say, but I suspect you have faith in Mr. Yi. You two have been exchanging glances this whole time. There must be something going on behind the scenes~~"

"If that's how you want to see it, sure... Hahaha!"

After the two sides shared a hearty laugh, the earlier gloom seemed to lift. Gao Xu's expression turned serious. "Now, let's confirm our numbers. Your team has five people, right, Brother Qin?"

"That's right. Unfortunately, we're still a temporary team, unlike Mr. Yi's official team, which enjoys all sorts of benefits!" With no outsiders left in the hall, Qin Fen spoke more freely. Mr. Yi, however, glanced at Gao Xu in puzzlement. He didn't understand how Gao Xu had known Qin Fen's team size; he hadn't mentioned it beforehand.

Naturally, Gao Xu wouldn't tell Mr. Yi that he had dealt with the Qin siblings in his previous life. He knew they were loyal and upright, which was why he had deliberately held back and not driven them away.

This first job could make or break Gao Xu's working career, and he wouldn't let an employer he didn't know well get in the way. So even if the man in white had looked as harmless as a lamb, Gao Xu would have found a way to get rid of him. The man had been unlucky: he was already arrogant by nature, and a few pointed remarks had been enough to set him off, making him the perfect pawn for Gao Xu to use.

The five members of Qin Fen's team, the seven members of Mr. Yi's team, and Gao Xu made thirteen people in all. After some thought, Gao Xu decided they should keep two spots open as backups. Then he moved on to the next item.

Now came the most important part. Gao Xu had promised Mr. Yi that he had a way to avoid a large number of Wuya Sect disciples and make killing Wei Wuya easier, but he had never explained how. Mr. Yi had been dying to know, and now it was time to reveal the answer!

"Let's look at it from a different angle. If the Wuya Sect disciples and their stronghold on Turtle Mountain are the two major obstacles in our way, why not avoid them at the source?"

Gao Xu's words sent everyone into thought. The quickest to react was Qin Lan, Qin Fen's beautiful younger sister. Her eyes widened as she asked, "Are you thinking of attacking Wei Wuya before he moves to Turtle Mountain and establishes the Wuya Sect?"

Her reminder made everyone else see the point. Qin Fen praised the idea. "Exactly! If we enter the story right at the beginning, before Wei Wuya settles on Turtle Mountain and builds up his forces, we might really be able to avoid all those troubles!"

Then he furrowed his brow and sighed. "But the space chooses our entry point at random. If we're sent somewhere far from Turtle Mountain, just getting there will be a nightmare! I think we'll still have to pay the price for a Suppression Scroll this time. It could also help us avoid revenge from that Hou fellow. But even then, we still wouldn't be able to avoid the Wuya Sect and Turtle Mountain. It's a dead end!"

The entry point was the time at which one entered a plot world. For example, in the Chinese Paladin world Gao Xu had experienced, the entry point was several months before the main story began. Lin Yueru hadn't yet held the martial arts tournament that would decide her fate, and Zhao Ling'er was still growing up carefree on Immortal Spirit Island.

A Suppression Scroll was a special scroll sold by the space for dealing with gatekeeper bosses, and it cost an exorbitant amount. Using one would send the team directly to a relevant location in the plot world, with the main mission being to kill the gatekeeper boss. The penalty for failure was light, and, if things went well, it could keep other Reincarnators from interfering.

Under normal circumstances, there wouldn't have been any Reincarnators in Heishui Town during the Red Ghost King mission. Gao Xu, who had gone there to complete a hidden mission, had been an exception and wasn't taken into account when the Suppression Scroll was designed.

In other words, if they wanted a safe way to take on a gatekeeper boss, a Suppression Scroll was the best choice. That was why Qin Fen had suggested it.

"Even split among everyone, a Suppression Scroll costs 10,000 points. What a rip-off!" Gao Xu's whole body shook. With a flick of his hand, a golden treasure chest appeared. As everyone stared in astonishment, he put on a calm expression and declared, "And now, witness a miracle!"