Malicious Blow (1)

The moment he finished speaking, Pei Shao felt utterly refreshed at the sight of everyone's stunned expressions. The past few job fairs had truly depressed him to no end. Although he had borrowed Castle's help just now, that was precisely one of his "strengths and special traits"!

However, less than ten seconds after that surge of satisfaction, Pei Shao regretted it so badly his guts turned green. Why had he acted cool for no reason? What should have been a perfectly good opportunity to work with a beautiful woman had been ruined by his own hands! The more Pei Shao looked at Lin Meijing's pure, delicate face and her curvaceous figure, the stronger his urge to burst into tears became.

But things had already come to this, and Pei Shao no longer had the nerve to turn back and tell Lin Meijing that he had changed his mind again. So the poor Pei Shao could only endure the heart-wrenching pain of blood dripping from his heart, put on a righteous expression, and push through the crowd.

Just as Pei Shao's figure was about to disappear into the sea of people, Lin Meijing suddenly cried out, "Mr. Pei, please wait! I apologize for what I said about disliking people who boast! Please don't take offense at my rudeness just now, all right?"

The crowd immediately erupted into an uproar. Countless envious, jealous, and admiring gazes instantly covered every pore on Pei Shao's face. Even the recruiters from the companies that had just rejected him secretly regretted it.

What was talent? This was real talent! How had they been so careless as to let him get away? No! They could not let him go so easily. Recruiters from countless companies suddenly came to their senses.

The middle-aged woman who had asked Pei Shao whether he would work for three hundred yuan a month was the first to dart out. Grabbing Pei Shao's arm, she enthusiastically said, "Student Pei Shao, please come to our company! I guarantee you the most satisfactory compensation package! Really!"

"Old hag, get out of my way!" Another person rushed forward and said with a fawning smile, "Student Pei Shao, you should come to our company instead! We'll hire you directly. We'll even waive the internship period and give you a base salary of ten thousand yuan in the first month. What do you think...?"

"Student Pei Shao, come to our side instead..."

At that moment, Pei Shao, trapped in the middle of the crowd, was practically overwhelmed by happiness. God, Castle truly lived up to its name. The moment it acted, it was this outrageous! In the blink of an eye, he had transformed from stinking dog crap everyone avoided into a prized delicacy everyone wanted!

"Mr. Pei Shao! Could you listen to me for a moment?" Lin Meijing did not compete with those crowding around Pei Shao. Instead, she stood outside the circle with a smile and called out again.

Upon hearing Lin Meijing's voice, Pei Shao raised a hand, and everyone around him immediately fell silent, gazing at him eagerly. The scene made him feel as if he had eaten ice cream on a summer day—absolutely blissful.

"Mr. Pei, I don't wish to apologize a second time." Lin Meijing smiled generously. "I only want to say that I can guarantee you will never regret joining my magazine."

Lin Meijing's words naturally triggered another round of verbal sparring among the other recruiters. However, Pei Shao happily signed a contract with Lin Meijing.

What a joke! Everyone here had looked down on him anyway. Since there was no real difference between them in that regard, if he did not sign with a great beauty like Lin Meijing, was he supposed to sign with those old men and women in their forties and fifties?

After such a day of being so adored, Pei Shao was so happy that his mouth was nearly crooked, though his whole body ached. In more than twenty years of life, he felt that no other day had ever made him stand out like today. Of course, the one he needed to thank most was Castle. Without Castle, he would be nothing. Pei Shao had not yet been carried away by victory, and he still possessed some self-awareness about that.

However, Castle was also greatly surprised by Pei Shao's actions at the final moment. "Giving up at the last moment instead earned you more respect from your kind? It seems that just as carbon-based humans can never fully understand Silicon-based People, I likewise cannot fully understand you carbon-based humans." After Castle's electronic eye flickered for a long time, it said this.

After signing Lin Meijing's contract, Pei Shao's first day of work was set for the next day. His base salary was 5,500 yuan. Though that was not particularly high compared to the offers some newspapers and magazines had thrown at him earlier, Pei Shao felt that a small sacrifice was nothing if he could work alongside a beautiful woman.

What mattered most was enjoying his work, wasn't it? Besides, Lin Meijing was not merely a pretty face. The professional terminology she had explained to him before he went home, as well as the points to watch out for during interviews, had been enough to prove everything.

After rushing home and plugging Castle in to charge, Pei Shao praised it nonstop like a poet. Then he spent all his money on a fairly decent suit and leather shoes, along with many high-end energy-saving batteries.

The batteries were naturally for Castle. Besides charging, Castle's transformed phone also had three battery slots and could use batteries of any model in case of emergency.

When Pei Shao woke up the next day, he found Castle sitting before the computer as usual, earnestly searching for information online. Pei Shao had always felt inferior to Castle's mechanical daily routine. After coming up with countless reasons to bring Castle to work with him, he discarded them all again. Clearly, not a single one would be enough to persuade it.

Just as he was at his wits' end, Pei Shao finally came up with a brilliant plan. He quietly walked to the electrical switchboard and turned off the power. Castle, engrossed in its work at the computer, did not notice Pei Shao's little move at all.

With a snap, the computer suddenly shut down. Holding up his pants, Pei Shao deliberately pretended that he had just come out of the bathroom. Accompanied by the sound of the toilet flushing, he muttered to himself, "Damn! Why is the power out again? Seriously!" Grumbling, he walked over to Castle, not daring to raise his head and look directly at it for fear that the all-knowing Castle would see through his little trick.

Fortunately, Castle had not studied changes in Earthlings' expressions. It merely turned its head to look at him and asked, "Where is the problem?"

Pei Shao did not dare say that the fuse had blown. He knew Castle was fully capable of fixing such a childish problem. So, feeling guilty while pretending to be relaxed, he said, "It seems to be a problem with the power company. Sigh! It's fine. The power will probably be back tonight. This lousy building has always been like this."

Castle said nothing, but its electronic eye flickered even more intensely.

Pei Shao hurriedly said, "How about coming to the magazine with me? There's plenty of electricity there! And the internet speed is much faster than the community broadband here."

Castle thought for a long time before finally nodding. Pei Shao was overjoyed. He carefully tucked it into his pocket.