The man's facial features were twisted, his face presenting an eerie red color. His eyes were wide and whiteless, with blood-red streaks. Blood droplets oozed from his eye corners and dripped down his cheeks.

He opened his mouth to speak but could not produce any sound. His throat rolled a few times, emitting a broken sound of a windbox, followed by a burst of fresh blood that choked him. He raised his hand to cover his mouth, and blood spilled from his fingers, foaming with red and white bubbles, dripping onto the ground. He suddenly fell forward, collapsing and curling up painfully. Blood flowed from his facial orifices, staining the ground underneath him. A strong smell of rust filled the air, permeating everyone around.

After a severe spasm, the man lay still. In the sealed air, the smell of blood mingled with the scent of incontinence, accompanied by a strong and pungent smell of decay. The man on the ground, in a curled-up position, had lost the redness, and his face had started to turn gray and decayed. His nails clawed at the cement floor, leaving dirty red traces.

She stared at the man's profile, which was too frightening to make her blink. The man's red eyes had turned into a blurry gray color, as if a film of membrane was slowly covering his eye sockets...

"Ah--Ah--"

She covered her eyes and screamed.

"Hehe--"

 A light laughter came from behind her.

"It's you!"

 Hearing the familiar voice, she turned around to see the familiar person with green vines wrapped around all four of his limbs, swinging like a swing in mid-air, his hair scattered, covering her face.

The woman laughed lightly and swung higher, using the vines hanging from her head. When she reached the highest point, her hair fell back, revealing her pale side profile.

"Stop!"

The woman in mid-air seemed to hear a call and slowly turned her head... After turning ninety degrees, she stopped. On her pale face, there were two black eye sockets with no eyeballs, and a big mouth that grinned wide, stretching to her ears, looking very strange...

Wan Huiyi shook off the feeling of being restrained and suddenly opened her eyes, looking at the snowy white wall above her, feeling dazed for a moment. She mechanically turned her head and looked at the furnishings in the room. She exhaled a deep breath and reached for her vibrating phone on the bedside table. The screen showed a flashing alarm clock icon with the time "07:00 2021".

She walked into the bathroom, quickly washed up, and looked at her face in the mirror, pale and aged. She opened the makeup box next to it and quickly put on makeup, making herself look much younger. Then she picked out a set of dark gray professional suits from the closet, put on black high heels, looked at herself in the dressing mirror, dressed as a professional elite as usual, but felt extremely tired of it. She didn't want to see the person in the mirror anymore, so she grabbed the car keys hanging on the door and left.

It was almost nine o'clock, and people in the office had already begun their busy work.

As soon as she walked into the office area, Secretary Xiao Lin hurriedly greeted her: "Director, there are two main events today. One is the bidding meeting at 10 o'clock in the morning, and the other is the groundbreaking ceremony for the park in the afternoon. I have already prepared the materials and put them on your desk."

Secretary Xiao Liu then reported: "I have also prepared yesterday's meeting minutes and put them on your desk. Xiao Li and Xiao Meng came to look for you just now."

Wan Huiyi nodded expressionlessly: "Okay, I know."

She walked quickly into her private office and saw that the desk was already covered with folders. Recently, the workload of the unit was very heavy, and she was responsible for the entire development zone's investment promotion activities. When she arrived at her seat, she was about to sit down, but suddenly saw a water stain shaped like a symbol among the folders. Her pupils suddenly contracted, and she opened the folder under the water stain, looked at the title, then closed the folder, and wiped the water stain off with a tissue.

This symbol had been with her for thirty years, like a ghostly shadow. Leaning back in her chair, she remembered the terrifying game of human hunting from years ago...

Year 9 of the Gregorian calendar Jiang City In the scorching summer, the Nine-arch Bridge was bustling with people, crowded and noisy, with crowds of people on both sides of the road. People who needed temporary workers or odd jobs would set up simple booths here, and intermediaries who recruited workers would occupy a long-term position here. Over time, this area became a gathering place for idle people.

At first glance, there were enthusiastic middle-aged women pulling young girls to introduce them to jobs as maids or housekeepers; formulaic intermediaries with ballpoint pens, looking sideways at job seekers, while asking about their education and work experience, writing and drawing on paper; and straightforward foremen who would directly report the cost and, with the other party's agreement, allocate the person to one side, waiting for the car to come and take them away.

Liu Kaiwen looked at the job information on both sides, calculating what kind of job he could find that included room and board and could save him some living expenses for a few months. The summer vacation had arrived, and the school dormitory building was too old and needed repairs. All students had been notified to leave the school by July 10th. He also worked part-time as a tutor, and the money he earned plus the subsidy from the school was more than enough to support himself. But now without a place to stay, it was troublesome. So he came here to find work, just to get through the next two months of summer vacation. Looking around, the only jobs that met the requirements of room and board were jobs at restaurants and small jobs at construction sites. Liu Kaiwen was not afraid of hardship. As a child who grew up in the countryside, he had experienced all kinds of hardships and had been used to doing farm work since he was young. If things got really bad, he could go to a construction site for two months, which would be considered a combination of theory and practice.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

He was looking for a nearby construction site when he was attracted by a recruitment booth under a big hackberry tree.

The recruitment booths here were very simple, to say the least. Generally, a piece of paper with job requirements written on it was spread on the ground, and two stones were placed on top to hold it down. The more refined intermediaries would set up a student desk for registration. There were even more effortless ones that just wrote words like "maid" and "housekeeping" with colorful chalk on the ground.

Only the booth under the big hackberry tree was different. It was not only surrounded by three tables, but also had three printed posters on the side, one of which was a job recruitment information, one was a company introduction, and the other was a tourist attraction introduction. Although it looked very formal, the booth was cold and lifeless, with only a man wearing sunglasses sitting inside.

Liu Kaiwen had good eyesight and had already read the contents of the three posters from a distance. It turned out that the booth was recruiting temporary tour guides, with good benefits. In addition to room and board and a monthly salary of 800 yuan, there were also commissions for leading tours. How could such a good job not attract anyone?

He looked towards the recruitment booth of small workers for construction sites and walked over to ask the leader: "Hi, big brother!"

The leader was wearing a black POLO shirt with a small yellow necklace showing at the neck and three pagers hanging from his waist. He turned his head to look at Liu Kaiwen, frowned, looked him up and down several times, and then replied, "Young man, all the heavy work at my site. Can you handle it with your delicate skin and tender flesh?"

A thin, monkey-like man next to him came over and, hearing this, also looked him up and down and sneered, "Hey! You look like a cultured person. Can you carry bricks or lay blocks?"

Liu Kaiwen was not angry and smiled, "Big brother, I am indeed a college student. My family is not well-off, and the school won't let us stay during the summer vacation when the dormitory building is being repaired. I just want to find a job that includes room and board for two months."

"Hey! So you're really a college student," the thin monkey said with a gloating expression. He sarcastically said, "College students also have to carry heavy things or do odd jobs?"

The leader pushed the thin monkey aside, spat on him disdainfully, and said to Liu Kaiwen with a much gentler tone, "Little brother, you college students are all people who eat royal food, why come to my construction site to do hard labor? It's not suitable. You're all going to be assigned after graduation, and you'll be big shots in the future. Speaking of which, going to carry bricks is not very dignified. And there are many things on the construction site, and accidents happen frequently...to put it bluntly, as long as it's a commoner, I can handle it...I'm just afraid that if something goes wrong and it involves a college student, I won't be able to get out of it..."

Liu Kaiwen nodded with a smile, "Big brother, I understand. It's just that time is too tight, and I don't know what kind of job to look for."

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked under the big hackberry tree.

The leader followed his gaze, slapped his head, and pointed to the area under the tree, "Hey! That booth over there, can you see it? It's under the tree. They are recruiting tour guides. That's the kind of job that cultural people like you can do. Maybe you'll even have to entertain foreigners."

Liu Kaiwen asked in confusion, "Why aren't there many people there?"

"Because their requirements are high. They want college students who are good-looking, can speak foreign languages, and have a good education. Look around you, what cultural person would come here to look for work? I even saw a student-like person asking about it before, but it didn't seem like they were recruited," the leader said, pursing his lips. "Brother, why don't you go over there and ask? Maybe you'll be recruited."

Liu Kaiwen thought about it, thanked the leader and went to the area under the big hackberry tree.

"Hello, are you still hiring?"

The guy wearing sunglasses looked up at him, took out a registration form, and asked him to fill it out truthfully.

Liu Kaiwen quickly looked at the contents of the form, which were just basic information. He filled it out truthfully while asking around. After all, he had also heard of job scams. As he filled out the form, he thought about asking more.

"When will we know the results?"

The guy with the sunglasses looked at the content he had filled out and smiled at him. "You're lucky. Tourism has been booming this year, and the number of domestic and foreign tourists has increased several times over. The company has added several routes, and we don't have enough tour guides. The leaders want to recruit some well-educated college students and train them to be assistant guides for one trip. After that, you can lead the group back. You'll know the results tomorrow at the latest."

Liu Kaiwen continued to ask, "Where will the training take place?"

"The company is right here in the city, and there are temporary dormitories for you..." The guy with the sunglasses took the form he had handed over and wrote "Good" in the interview comments section. "With your qualifications, you'll definitely be able to handle it. Just wait and see!"

"Ah? Is that all?" Liu Kaiwen looked at the guy with the sunglasses and was confused. Didn't they also require foreign language proficiency? Why didn't they ask him to say a few words in a foreign language?

"Can I find out the results somewhere?"

"Can we reach you at the contact address you provided?"

"Yes, I live on campus now."

The guy with the sunglasses tapped the table and smiled at him. "Don't worry, we'll notify you at your address. We're a legitimate company!"

After hearing this, Liu Kaiwen didn't know what else to ask and said goodbye to the guy with the sunglasses before leaving.

When he passed by the foreman, the foreman asked him if he was hired. He smiled and said, "I'm not sure. I filled out the form, and they told me to wait for a notification."

The foreman patted him on the shoulder and kept saying that college students would definitely be hired.

Liu Kaiwen felt a little embarrassed, chatted with the foreman for a few moments, and then left. As he walked, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if he was being watched by a poisonous snake. He turned around suddenly, but didn't see anyone special. When he looked further away, he saw the guy with the sunglasses under the big hackberry tree waving at him.

"Wearing sunglasses under the shade of the tree, is he crazy?" Liu Kaiwen thought to himself, but still politely waved back.

On the same morning, Zhao Yihui sat on the curb outside the alley, looking at the various people passing by in a daze. A pair of shiny black leather shoes caught her eye, and she looked up to see a pair of long legs wrapped in black jeans.

A smiling face wearing sunglasses bent down and said to her, "Need a part-time job? High salary, easy and fun, combining work and travel!"

Looking at the face in front of her, Zhao Yihui couldn't help but shudder...

In a city not far away, Hao Youfu walked out of the school gate with a messy chicken coop hair and slippers.

"Classmate, do you need a part-time job?"

"What?" Hao Youfu looked at the tall guy in sunglasses standing under the tree on the side of the road. He smiled and waved at him.

Part-time job? Hao Youfu was happy. He had been worrying about not being able to find a part-time job. A good opportunity had come to him! After learning about the salary, he filled out a form and sent the sunglasses guy away with a big smile.

Similar scenes happened in many places that morning.

At this moment, Hao Youfu, who was still happily smiling, couldn't imagine the bizarre encounters they would have in the future, which perfectly echoed an old saying: "If you don't take the path in front of you, you'll end up walking into hell."