Pushing open the door, a gust of air carrying the scent of grass and earth rushed in.

The chilly air instantly cleared Su Yao's mind. Not wanting to step on the dirt, she used magic to move the flowerpot into the house.

The sugarcane in the flowerpot no longer looked like sugarcane. After a night of mutation, its appearance had somewhat transformed into that of the purple-mouthed carnivorous plant from the game Plants vs. Zombies.

Su Yao observed carefully. The soil and leaves in the flowerpot were all normal, neither too dry nor too wet. It seemed that the water from last night had been completely absorbed.

Su Yao reached out and poked the man-eating flower in front of her. "Was it you who killed the three-eyed rabbit last night?"

The man-eating flower seemed to truly recognize its owner. When Su Yao poked it like this, it didn't get angry. Instead, it swayed happily, occasionally letting out a few strange laughs.

Su Yao waited for a while, but all she heard were these few strange laughs, and nothing else.

It seems it won't speak.

Su Yao took out the water bottle and tentatively poured a little water on it. This time, the reaction of the carnivorous plant was more pronounced. As soon as the water touched its leaves, they started flapping, vigorously splashing the water away.

The water splashed out like a shower, drenching Su Yao. Her hair was instantly covered with tiny droplets. Su Yao didn't dare to water anymore and quickly stopped.

However, the man-eating plant still seemed unsatisfied. After cleaning all the water off its leaves, it spat out another mouthful of saliva.

Fortunately, Su Yao had already taken several steps back, otherwise, the spit would have landed on her.

This man-eating flower has a temper too, but Su Yao still wanted to communicate with it as much as possible.

"Since I can form a pet contract with the little snake, can I also form a contract with this man-eating plant?" Su Yao asked the system.

[Alright. However, since it is a plant, an additional step is required to form the contract.]

"What steps?"

[Plant Communication Bead. This item is not in the card pool and requires the host to explore and obtain it on their own.]

Oh, it's a hidden treasure.

Now Su Yao was no longer in a hurry. If she couldn't hear the thoughts of the man-eating flower, then so be it. After all, being anxious wouldn't help.

At this moment, Merry and her group came down to eat.

"Good morning, boss," Meili greeted Su Yao warmly.

You don't hit a smiling face, so Su Yao naturally responded with a smile.

"After breakfast, we plan to go outside to gather some materials. Do you have any recommended places, since you live here?"

Su Yao shook her head, "The Misty Forest is too dangerous, I rarely go out. What materials are you looking to collect? I may not be able to offer much help."

Merry walked over with a smile, stood beside Su Yao, and then took out a blueprint from her bag.

"Boss, take a look, have you ever seen something like this?"

The blueprint depicted a second-level malevolent spirit bone.

The second-level evil spirit bone can indeed only be found in the Misty Forest.

Su Yao still smiled, her clear and bright eyes revealing no other emotions. "Level two malevolent spirits are quite common here, but they like to migrate everywhere. I can't provide you with any exact locations."

Merry waved regretfully, "Alright, it seems we still have to explore on our own."

"Then be careful."

"Thank you."

The two ended the conversation with polite remarks.

After breakfast, Merry and her group indeed left the inn, leaving only the three Peng brothers behind.

Su Yao gathered all the staff together, "A new employee has joined us, let's all get to know each other."

Although the non-human staff didn't particularly enjoy interacting with humans, the three Peng brothers were social dynamos who never let a conversation die. Mingling among the staff, they were more at ease than anyone else.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

After letting the non-human staff get a brief understanding of these three people, Su Yao quickly put a stop to their socializing efforts.

"Now, let me talk about the new employee punch card machine and employee cards at our hotel."

The employee cards were already introduced to the three Peng brothers yesterday, so today we will repeat it once more.

……

The employee time clock was being used for the first time today, and while Su Yao was introducing it, she was also trying it out with a card.

Su Yao can assign daily, monthly, or quarterly tasks to employees through the system. Employees use their employee cards to sign in here every morning to receive their tasks, and sign out in the evening to report the completion status of the day's tasks. The daily work performance of the staff is conveyed to Su Yao in the form of data during the clock-in process.

To be honest, if Su Yao had encountered this kind of punch card machine at her previous job, she would have absolutely refused to continue working there. But now it's different; she is the boss. Moreover, as a boss bound by a contract, the work she arranges cannot violate the terms set out in the original agreement. Therefore, the daily tasks for the non-human staff here haven't changed; they just have an additional punch card task.

The three Peng brothers were indeed quite busy, with different tasks each day. However, Su Yao had no intention of overworking them.

Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself. Su Yao had no interest in being a tyrant.

The non-human clerks clocked in and returned to their posts, some going back to sleep, others snacking.

The task for the three Peng brothers today was to chop down trees.

Previously, Zhan Xing had cut down quite a few large trees, but now Su Yao needed the wood.

Whether it was building houses or making various tools, wood was indispensable, so they divided those uncles from before into appropriately sized pieces of timber.

Today's sunshine was bright, and the air, washed by a night's rain, was exceptionally fresh. Everyone had their own tasks, and Su Yao also needed to quickly improve her magic level. After breakfast, she went out to find a group of third or fourth-level evil spirits to practice her magic.

In the evening, Su Yao returned to the hotel, dragging her weary body. Not long after, Mei Li and her group also came back.

However, Merry and her group were much more disheveled than Su Yao.

Su Yao looked at the crowd and saw a young boy being held up by Baker and others. There were still traces of blood on him, indicating he was injured.

Merry's face was unusually devoid of a smile, and Wilson, who was beside her, also wore a sullen expression.

They greeted Su Yao as they passed by, but without further conversation, they reached the second floor.

"They didn't ask for the potion, which means they already have these things on them."

This group had ample supplies of potions, excellent weapons, and considerable strength. Such a combination couldn't possibly be just to collect a few second-level evil spirit bones in the Misty Forest. Su Yao absolutely did not believe it.

Moreover, only this young man was injured, which made Su Yao feel uneasy.

Peng San leaned in and whispered, "I just went over and took a glance at his wound. It looks like some kind of agent was used, but it seems like the amount was controlled on purpose to prevent the wound from healing properly."

This was something Peng San was all too familiar with.

Peng San had been a troublemaker since he was young, always getting into fights and causing trouble, lacking the quiet and low-profile demeanor a thief should have. As a result, Peng Yi often used various methods to discipline Peng San, one of which was to administer medicine to the injured Peng San but in reduced doses.

The well-controlled outcome was that Peng San was not seriously injured, but the pain could persist.

After being forced to learn his lesson time and again, Peng San finally managed to curb his impulsiveness. Although he still occasionally slipped up, it no longer affected important matters.

As soon as the group of people entered, Peng San quietly blended in among them. He clearly saw the person's injury and noticed that the wound, though bloodless, had not healed.

Peng Sandare was certain that this person's situation was the same as his own when he was a child.

If Peng San was right, then what mistake had this young man made? Why did his elders want to teach him a lesson?

At this moment, Peng Yi also expressed his opinion: "They haven't been injured along the way, and no one else got hurt today, only this young man was injured. So, could it be speculated that his injury wasn't caused by evil spirits or wild beasts, but by someone else?"

Peng Yi said a lot of nonsense; he was very confident in his own speculations. The source of the information was also Peng San from his childhood.

The wounds on this person were similar to those left by Peng San and others after a fight.

"Then this young man must have had a conflict with someone in their team," Su Yao said, not in a hurry to guess the final outcome. "Let's see what happens tomorrow."

Su Yao had a feeling that this young man probably wouldn't be going out with Mei Li and the others tomorrow.

Sure enough, the next day unfolded just as Su Yao had imagined.

Merry and the others went out, but the young man stubbornly refused to follow.

Wilson was so furious that he disregarded the setting and punched him several times right in the hotel lobby.

"Jerry, are you going out today or not? I'm asking you one last time, are you going or not?"

Wilson hit several times, but Jerry didn't make a sound. Wilson gave an ultimatum, "If you don't leave, then don't expect to come with us when we leave here."

Jerry spoke up at this moment, but still in an infuriating manner: "Fine, don't follow me. But if I die, how will you explain it to us?"

Wilson was furious and about to hit someone again, but this time Mary held him back. "Forget it, he might have been tired yesterday. Let's just let him rest here for a day today."

"He’s tired? What’s he tired from! How did I end up with such a useless child!"

"How could you have given birth to me? My mom gave birth to me!"

As soon as these words were spoken, chaos ensued.

In the end, after much effort from Mary and the others, they finally managed to drag Wilson away, leaving Jerry to stay at the inn as he had wished.

Two other people stayed behind with Jerry. These two were specifically left by Wilson to keep an eye on Jerry. But unexpectedly, as soon as Wilson left, the two immediately betrayed him and started chumming up with Jerry.

Jerry snorted coldly, "Why didn't you come to help me when I was beaten yesterday?"

The two quickly pleaded for mercy: "It's not that we don't want to help, but if we say even one word to you, we won't be able to stay and keep you company today."

Jerry was easy to placate; that one sentence convinced him.

The three of them were heading to the second floor. As they passed the counter and saw Su Yao, Jerry looked up and glared viciously.

Before Su Yao could react, Jerry had already turned his head and looked away.

"Do we need to control it?" Even Peng Er sensed the malice. "They definitely didn't leave it there with good intentions."