Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Qin Jun felt that the Demon Palace was insulting her noble work.

“Four hours?”

Long Langbai’s large white eyes were full of confusion. “Is that... a bit too much? How about three hours then? But the task of mining 150,000 jin of demon crystal ore within fifteen years must be completed, or you can’t get out!”

“No less than that!”

Three hours?! How dare they!

What about production capacity? Progress? Efficiency? Performance?

Why should even the Demon Palace’s forced labor be subject to labor laws, while she still had to be a 007 agent, pushing efficiency and chasing results?

Her boss only dared to dangle the promise of promotion and salary raise in front of her, but how could the Demon Palace people be so bold as to guarantee getting out?

Such audacity!

Seeing Qin Jun frozen without a word, Long Langbai turned to the other two.

Squatting down, the tip of his whip traced across their faces, exuding a strong sense of pressure. “Well? Have you decided? Don’t refuse the toast only to drink the penalty wine.”

The other two were so scared they almost wet themselves, nodding hurriedly, calling him “Young Master” with every word.

“Hey! What about you?”

Qin Jun, lying on the ground, was kicked. Her entire body ached terribly. According to the system’s narrative, two days ago she had her Golden Core removed; a once-sixth-stage cultivator now crippled, struggling even to breathe, let alone mine?

Couldn’t she just write a code to mine automatically?

System: “Please adopt a proper work attitude, seize the opportunity to latch onto the Demon Palace’s young master. The system can provide three mission routes; please choose accordingly.”

Long Langbai poked her with his toe. “Still alive? Catch your breath?”

Qin Jun remained silent, playing dead. The system, out of options, began repairing her body.

—Being paralyzed wouldn’t affect the mission progress much, right?

Qin Jun lifted her eyes, their black-and-white contrast sharp yet lifeless, causing Long Langbai to shudder.

“Speak up,” he muttered. “Our Demon Palace is very loyal. We never abandon a comrade. Once you join, someone will ensure you live. What’s with the silence?”

“Could it be she’s an idiot?”

The system suddenly zapped Qin Jun. “Please maintain a proper work attitude. Otherwise, the system will activate punishment mode.”

Qin Jun’s body trembled slightly as she forced herself to get up.

The system was pleased. “According to mission requirements, it is recommended the host start as a Demon Palace staff member, progress slowly, unify the demon realm, and become the Demon Lord.”

“Current mission node released: Palace Lord’s ascension — difficulty level A. Please complete within three years before the male lead’s seal is lifted.”

No fairness. How could a cripple without a Golden Core become the Demon Palace’s leader?

“Please cooperate with the mission.”

Yet Qin Jun remained silent, staring blankly ahead.

Long Langbai felt chills down his spine from her gaze and temporarily ignored her, continuing to paint a rosy picture to the other two about the wonderful life after joining the Demon Palace.

“Life in the Demon Palace is beautiful. You’ll have friends and clear goals. Once the conditions are met, the Demon Palace will release you without hesitation. The Heavenly Dominion will be handled by the Demon Palace. Clean slate, back to the surface—what a great future! Outside, sect members scramble to join the Heavenly Dominion but find no way in. I usually don’t tell people this secret!”

The Heavenly Dominion was the largest organization in this world, governing not only orthodox cultivator sects but even the eighteen Demon Palaces in the demon realm, whose members had to avoid provoking its power and constraints.

To become a proper cultivator, no matter the sect, one must undergo spiritual root and talent testing in the Heavenly Dominion’s institutions. Those passing receive a spiritual rune mark imprinted on their left hand. This mark evolves with their cultivation and assists their training, minimizing interference from demonic energy and safeguarding their minds.

According to the plot, Qin Jun was once a cultivator of the orthodox sects, born into the world’s top sect, Lingxiao Sect, and a standout among its young disciples. Having spent years executing demon-slaying missions in the demon realm, she was once mentally disturbed by a demonic cultivator who disrupted her mind, causing demonic energy to enter her body, awakening inner demons. Her evil nature flared, harming her sect and peers, leading the Heavenly Dominion to send agents after her. Only after removing the demonic-corrupted Golden Core did she regain some rationality.

Then she was picked up by the Demon Palace people.

The two others asked, “Can we really enter the Heavenly Dominion?”

“Of course!” Long Langbai patted his chest. “As long as you complete the Demon Palace’s tasks and repay its cultivation, you can get in!”

Every major orthodox sect in the world was desperate to join the Heavenly Dominion.

Upon hearing this, the other two’s eyes sparkled.

Qin Jun, however, kept her head lowered. The spiritual rune mark on her left hand was now unrecognizable.

System: “Please make the correct choice. To accelerate progress and ensure mission success, the system offers the following suggestions: first, the warm and caring leader route—show humanistic care to colleagues, strive for promotion, and make the Demon Palace swear absolute loyalty.”

Qin Jun: “The best loyalty bait is promotion, salary raise, and legal annual leave.”

The system remained undeterred. “Second, considering the host’s decent looks, you may employ the beauty tactic—win over Long Langbai, make the Demon Palace’s young master fall under your sway, seduce other demon realm faction leaders, become the boss’s woman, and topple him.”

“I refuse any form of workplace exploitation.”

The system felt a bit regretful; after all, Long Langbai was somewhat attractive.

“Then there’s only the last option: forceful suppression, violent conquest, becoming the master of the entire demon realm.”

“I’m not interested in any alphabet games.”

New China has no slaves; no one calls anyone ‘master.’

Qin Jun was zapped again.

“Please don’t develop the bad habit of replying.”

The conversation ended there. The system was exasperated by Qin Jun’s stubbornness, while Long Langbai had already taken the other two by the hand, chatting enthusiastically about life goals.

At an unnoticed moment, the gravely injured Qin Jun suddenly stood up.

Long Langbai was still waxing poetic about the Demon Palace’s grand blueprint and the great plan to unify the demon realm. The system tirelessly tried to get Qin Jun to reconsider—to at least take the mission seriously.

Qin Jun stood and saw a pile of clutter on the desk.

Scrolls, ledgers, jade slips…

A mess, unbearable to look at.

Also, the Palace Master’s order casually tossed on the table by Long Langbai.

Before the system could react, Qin Jun’s hand reached toward the desk.

The system screamed sharply: “Host! Don’t be reckless! You’re still a prisoner!”

The system was disheartened and decided to activate punishment mode.

It refused a third failure and resolved to stop the host’s irrational behavior at all costs.

Yet Qin Jun did nothing but pick up the roster lying on the desk.

?

Why is the host looking at the Demon Palace roster now? Has she truly woken up and decided to do the mission well, to get along with colleagues?

Qin Jun quietly flipped a page.

The system noticed the page contained information on the Demon Palace’s Hall Masters—a confidential list blatantly left on the desk.

The roster listed notorious names from the Heavenly Dominion’s wanted list, including each person’s name, their prior offenses, and reasons for arriving in the demon realm.

One entry stood out: the Hall Master’s major case ten years ago. A theft at the Royal Celestial Tower led to the entire royal family mysteriously dying overnight.

According to the system’s setting, the then-orthodox Qin Jun had gone to investigate with her sect but found nothing. She also gained a one-time enmity with the male lead, being blamed as the massacre’s culprit and thus grudged afterward.

The system tried to analyze Qin Jun’s intent in reviewing the roster, but could not fathom how memorizing names would aid her rise in the Demon Palace.

Better to eat a few more bowls, drink some medicine, recover quickly, mine diligently, get promoted early, or fight with fists to prove oneself and seize power.

Among cultivators, strength is everything.

Considering Qin Jun was a newcomer lacking the mindset of a transmigrator or collaborator, the system decided to offer some necessary humanistic care.

“Host has now joined the Demon Palace… a breakthrough and a phased victory. But the road ahead is long. The host should recognize the situation, analyze rationally, and adopt the optimal path to promotion.”

“The host must become Demon Palace Master before the male lead’s seal is lifted, representing the palace at the Immortal Alliance, to frustrate him so he resents you deeply.”

Qin Jun: “Why me?”

Amid Long Langbai’s endless chatter, Qin Jun flipped another page in the roster. This question had troubled her for a long time. She’d heard subordinates discuss transmigration plots, most leading to life peaks through fate-altering moves. Why was she rushing headlong to die as cannon fodder?

Raising her head, she saw a pale, beautiful face reflected coldly in the weapon’s gleam. Should villains be so attractive? Wouldn’t that confuse the audience’s moral compass?

“Your colleagues say you’re a traitor, a carefully cultivated scab.”

“They say the dragon slayer became the evil dragon, deserving to be skinned and hung on a lamp post.”

Qin Jun: “...”

“You’re the project leader, with enough technical foundation and outstanding personnel management experience. You can lead the Demon Palace and be universally hated.”

Qin Jun: “...Foolish.”

System: “Please refrain from personal attacks on the system.”

Qin Jun was zapped again, instinctively wanting to retort that having no physical form isn’t personal attack, but arguing with a dim-witted system would only damage her reputation.

“And then?” Qin Jun countered, “There’s no sufficient reason to unify the demon realm or fulfill other tasks. I can’t do that.”

The system tried to forcibly alter the stubborn host’s perception.

“People often lose their fighting spirit after reaching goals. As your nemesis, you will be the sword of Damocles hanging over the male lead’s head, urging him onward. When he ascends, you’ll be freed. Mission complete, you can redeem your house with system rewards and reach your life’s peak in the real world.”

...Ascend?

According to the plot, the male lead’s ascension was at least thirty years away.

“Your delivery standard doesn’t match the final requirement. I have the right to refuse to waste thirty precious years.”

Qin Jun endured a moment before losing patience: “Thirty years? What else can I do besides be a clown here?”

The male lead was only seventeen, with thirty years of cultivation ahead before ascension. She had to wait that long to be free.

Thirty years as a clown? What a joke.

System: “...It might only be twenty years.”

The implication being, it might be even longer than thirty.

Qin Jun: “...Damn it. Don’t zap me!”

The system sulkily ceased.

“Thirty years?” Qin Jun sneered. “You want me to be Robinson Crusoe in this godforsaken place for thirty years?”

At least Crusoe had Friday. What did she have? A system that only zaps? Should she be tossed out and shout ‘One hundred thousand volts’?

She had worked a lifetime—about thirty years—hoping for twenty years of retirement. Now she was supposed to struggle and build a startup in this harsh land? No idea how long before retirement. Oh no, no pension either—she had to risk her life.

Qin Jun laughed. “Even when I went to Africa with corporate business to set up stations, I had better social security and benefits than here. How much money do you have to offer to risk your life with me?”

So, was she happy or protesting?

The system tried to read her expression but saw only that baffling smile.

It decided to seize the moment. “Host, one should invest limited time in infinitely meaningful endeavors, blooming and shining on the journey to life’s value!”

Qin Jun put down the roster and picked up another book.

“You should also invest your limited time in mission assistance, rather than disturb my thoughts here.”

It was the Demon Palace’s ledger, detailing five centuries of revenue with meticulous records.

If the roster made some sense as recruitment plans, why check the ledger? Could it raise startup capital?

Expressionless, she flipped one page, then another, faster and faster…

Bang!

The book closed, tiny dust dancing in the air.

“Wrong.”

Wrong? What was wrong?

Long Langbai, busy discussing life goals, suddenly looked up to see the severely injured woman standing beside his desk, holding the Demon Palace ledger.

What was she doing?

Long Langbai felt a chill.

“All the accounting is wrong.”

“Based on the Demon Palace’s accounts over the past five hundred years and the chaotic personnel management, I have researched its history and formed a preliminary five-year development plan. I propose introducing an OKR system to instill self-discipline among members, create a positive internal cycle, and promote proactive work.”

Long Langbai: “Ah?”

Qin Jun lost patience: “Unqualified, lackadaisical employees, perforated and shameful performance… What on earth has kept the Demon Palace alive for five centuries?”

Slap!

She threw the ledger in front of Long Langbai, her shadow looming over the trembling, ignorant youth, her eyes like blades grinding down his fragile nerves.

Qin Jun: “Pure luck?”

The system feared Qin Jun going berserk, imagining a strike that would blow Long Langbai’s head open—such a somewhat pretty face would be a pity!

Long Langbai’s terrified eyes showed confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Call a meeting.”

Long Langbai was dumbfounded. “What meeting?”

“A morning meeting,” Qin Jun said.

The system breathed a sigh of relief—not that she wanted to kill Long Langbai, but to—

Hold a morning meeting?!

She was a brand-new employee. How could she dare call the bosses and executives to a morning meeting?