The Fastest Interview in History

"Please, have a seat." Yue Wen showed the girl in and settled her on the old sofa, then asked, "What should I call you?" "My name is Zhao Xing'er." Once she was seated, the girl smoothed her hair back and answered with easy poise. "Congratulations—you passed the interview. You can start work for real tomorrow. When a commission comes in, you'll do a trial shift; get through one trial shift and you go straight to full-time. Sound good?" Yue Wen said without missing a beat. "I... eh?" Zhao Xing'er seemed to have prepared something, but she froze after getting out a single word. Wait. That was it? She passed? Was the interview requirement here just being able to say your own name? Even the bar for getting into kindergarten had been a little higher—back then they'd at least made her say her mom and dad's names! For a moment, the girl began to wonder whether this place was some kind of criminal den: the sort where, a month into the job, they'd take you on a "team-building trip" to somewhere out in the southeast, and by month two have you recruiting your own relatives and friends... It wasn't that Yue Wen had lowered his standards because the girl was pretty. The standards had simply been that low to begin with. There was no room left to lower them. He wasn't out to hire some formidable enforcer, just an assistant to fill out the headcount. When a commission came, he would be the one to deal with the evil entities himself, as always. If she truly wanted to help kill evil entities, he would actually rather she didn't. So as long as she was a cultivator, that was enough. This young lady had a spark of spirit in her eyes and was brimming with vigor—one look told him she had cultivation behind her. That was plenty. "Um..." Success had landed so abruptly that Zhao Xing'er had to gather her words before she could say, "Shouldn't you ask me a few more questions?" "Haha, fine, then I'll ask one more," Yue Wen said. "Ms. Zhao, are you satisfied with our agency?" "Me?" Zhao Xing'er considered for a moment, then said, "Our agency has a low-key storefront, very down-to-earth, and the furnishings inside show an order within the disorder—one look and you can tell it's an energetic startup team. I'm very satisfied." Yue Wen nodded at once. "Pleasure working with you." He hadn't prepared any interview process at all. There was simply no need to spend much thought on an assistant. As long as he had a person like this and the agency's business permit could be processed, that was enough. Watching Yue Wen's smile, Zhao Xing'er even had a rather strange thought. Are things between us moving too fast? We've skipped straight to this step already? And so the fastest interview in history came to an end. Even after she walked out of the agency, Zhao Xing'er still looked a bit dazed. She had walked a whole street before she finally took out her phone and sent a message to a certain person on the other end. "I got the job! The process was a little strange... but it went pretty smoothly. I made a point of picking a tiny agency with no reputation—run-down and shabby, messier inside than a dog's den, looking for all the world like it's operating without a license. It's sure not to draw any attention." A while later, a reply came back: "That's wonderful! Now you can get a firm foothold in Jiangcheng." Zhao Xing'er added, "The agency may be a dump, but the boss is quite the handsome guy." "Hehe, even better," came the reply. Zhao Xing'er asked again, "The identity and documents you set up for me are all solid, right?" The answer came back, confident: "Just go to work and school with an easy mind. If there's even the slightest slip-up, then let ten burly muscle men drag me off and lock me up for three days and three nights!" Zhao Xing'er: "You're really not making a wish, are you?" "You're the one who ought to be careful—don't go beating another coworker half to death," the other side said, steering the topic elsewhere. Zhao Xing'er's face showed helplessness, and she quietly replied, "I'll try." … Having found his new assistant as he'd hoped, Yue Wen rode his electric scooter out to the East City Cemetery again at dusk. Only this time, the one who came out to meet him wasn't just Old Man Huang. Old Huang came ambling over with a smile, and trailing behind him was a stern-looking young man. He was a young man in a white training uniform, about one point eight meters tall, with a lean build. Long, slanted bangs hung down over his right eye. His eyes weren't large and his skin was clear; he couldn't be called especially handsome, but he had a cool, cocky sort of air. "Little Yue," Old Huang greeted him. "Thanks for running over again. I hadn't had a chance to give you word—tonight you're not needed for clearing evil entities. The higher-ups have brought in someone new." "They hired someone else?" Yue Wen frowned slightly. He looked at the young man across from him and asked, "Why?" "It's not that they're unhappy with you. You said last night there were demons prowling about, so I reported it to the department above right away. They worried you couldn't handle it, so they specially engaged an immortal sect disciple to hold the fort," Old Huang explained. An immortal sect disciple? Yue Wen looked the young man over again. No wonder he was so cold and aloof. Even a disciple from the smallest, weakest immortal sect had backing and resources no ordinary rogue cultivator could match. Compared with those wild cultivators who pieced together their cultivation methods for each realm from scraps and couldn't scrape together a single intact magic implement on their entire bodies, immortal sect disciples cultivated faster and more safely, and at the same realm their combat power was an overwhelming presence—there was simply no comparing them. Of course, Yue Wen was no traditional rogue cultivator. He only looked the part. "Ours is just a public cemetery. How did they come to put up so much money?" Yue Wen asked curiously. "An immortal sect disciple must come dear, surely?" Old Huang chuckled. "The price is certainly not cheap. The higher-ups agreed to engage him purely out of how much they value our East City Cemetery—it should have absolutely nothing to do with the public security chief of the East Suburb District being my son." "Got it." Yue Wen nodded, then patted the scooter's seat. "Please, sir, sit down while you talk. Don't tire yourself out." "Oh, it's nothing." Old Huang waved a hand. "Anyway, you don't have to return the money. Think of it as a day's work less. Pretty good, no?" Not good at all. Yue Wen thought: Do you think I came for the money? I came for the Lantern Wraiths! How else would the pay be this low? After a brief moment of thought, he said, "That won't do." "Hm?" Old Huang and the young man both turned to him. Yue Wen's face was solemn. "As the saying goes, take a person's money and ward off their misfortune. Since I took the pay for clearing the Lantern Wraiths, then I must clear this entire cemetery out for you with my own two hands! Old Man Huang, this is my principle in life. I hope you can understand." "Well..." Old Huang went quiet at these words, then scratched his sparsely-haired scalp and said with feeling, "Ah, Little Yue, young folks this principled are hard to come by these days." He could have pocketed the money and walked away without lifting a finger, yet he insisted on finishing his own share of the work. Two words: benevolence and righteousness! The young man's gaze toward Yue Wen carried a new measure of appreciation as he stepped forward of his own accord. "I am Qi Dian of the Linjiang Sect. You may be a rogue cultivator, but a man of such principle deserves respect. Tonight I'll hold the fort here for you; if a troublesome evil entity appears, then I'll act." In the understanding of immortal sect disciples, most rogue cultivators had cultivation that amounted to nothing, but they were treacherous and cunning. No backing also meant no scruples. Their elders were always reminding them to be extra careful of such rogue cultivators when out in the world. Especially in the wasteland zones beyond the cities—there, such people could be even more dangerous than evil entities. That was why Qi Dian had been so cold toward Yue Wen at first. But after hearing him speak like this, Qi Dian decided the fellow seemed to have decent character, and his opinion quietly shifted; only then was he willing to strike up conversation. "Many thanks." Yue Wen nodded. "With my humble late Union Realm cultivation, having Fellow Daoist Qi hold the fort here really does set my mind a bit more at ease." The Linjiang Sect was a native sect of Jiangcheng City. In the cultivation world at large it counted for nothing, but by local standards it was already a major sect. After all, the whole of Tianbei Prefecture had always been called the "Cultivation Desert." Apart from people from the Supernatural Management Bureau, this was Yue Wen's first time dealing with a cultivator of such formally trained stock, so naturally he regarded the young man with extra esteem. But after he finished speaking, Qi Dian's gaze visibly trembled. Old Man Huang, delighted to see them getting along, laughed. "That's good. You two young men working together will be livelier. Little Qi here is immortal-sect trained—if anything happens, he can cover it. So, Little Qi, what realm are you at again?" What realm was he at? Mid Union Realm—already a standout among his cohort of Linjiang Sect disciples. This rogue cultivator looked about the same age as him, and he was already late Union Realm? With enough resources behind him, wouldn't he have every hope of breaking through to the Gang Realm? Was this the sort of person a thousand yuan could hire? Astonished inside, Qi Dian kept a still face. Though he stood one minor realm below the other, he was confident his combat power far exceeded Yue Wen's. But an immortal sect disciple of the same age sitting at a lower realm than a rogue cultivator was a poor look indeed. While he sat there speechless, Old Huang pressed on: "Eh? Little Qi, why aren't you saying anything? Hehe—does an immortal sect disciple's cultivation level still need to be kept secret?" Ask, ask, ask. All those years, and he still couldn't read the room. Qi Dian silently gritted his teeth. After holding it in for a long while, he managed: "I'm going to order delivery. Do you guys want fried chicken?"