Chapter 16: Working for God
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren sat on the chair, as still as a feather, hands firmly placed on his knees, and a serious look hanging on his face—he realised he had just gotten himself into a situation that far exceeded any logic, and if he had any desire to enjoy what’s left of his life, the wisest choice would be to contain his floppy behaviour and usual childish antics and listen attentively to what the lady, who claimed to be a Goddess, had to say.
"So how does it feels to personally experience Genesis?" smirked Raven 12345.
Hao Ren observed her expressions and confirmed that this woman was indeed capable of working something out, only then did he managed a grin, "If I was to ask you whether this is an illusion, will you conveniently sentence me to death?"
"No, of course not. A lot of people have asked me this, I’m not surprised at all," Raven 12345 shrugged, "I can show you anything and everything, whatever it takes for you to understand and believe all I have told you, but now’s not the time. For now, you’ll just have to take me for my words, and we’ll talk about work."
Hao Ren raised his hand, gesturing her to slow down, for he needed some time to go through what just happened.
He thought what he had just experienced was a rather weird occurrence on Earth, but this woman before him actually mentioned that she came from… another universe? Not Earth, not an alien planet, not an alien galaxy, but an entirely different universe! She claimed that she came from an empire in charge of ruling many universes, and that she worked at a unit called Space Administration, specifically managing the order of this universe, and now this self-proclaimed Goddess said she needed an agent to help with some trivial affairs on selected areas on Earth, and so she set her eyes on none other than him, Hao Ren...
In a nutshell, that was how things went down since he met them. Linguistically the instructions were clear, only that this whole offer challenged all three of his fundamental views: the view of the world, the view of life, and the view of morality.
Hao Ren stole a peek at Raven 12345, who was aware of it but did not indicate anything. Seizing this opportunity, Hao Ren compared this silver-haired lady with the images of gods and goddesses and other immortal beings, imagining a pair of wings extending from behind her back or a halo floating magically above her head… but after much struggle he gave up. He knew it was just a waste of time: from the moment he got to know the ailurophobic werewolf, he should have discarded all myths and legends he knew.
"Are there really other universes?" Hao Ren stammered. "I’ve read about them in books, parallel universes and life, but isn’t that just a theory?"
"It’s much more complicated than that. The real structure of the world is much more complicated than what humans imagined," Raven 12345 curled her lips, as though lazy to explain. "For the moment you won’t have access to the other worlds. That would be after your formal evaluation or after special duties. All that you have to focus on now is dealing with your designated areas."
"Why me?" Hao Ren couldn’t help but interrupt. He felt he had to assert himself slightly in this conversation, even if he couldn’t claim victory in this battle he should try to speak with a little more confidence. "You haven’t sought my agreement, have you?"
"Oh, that reminds me," Raven 12345 gave herself a face palm, which prompted Hao Ren’s first drop of cold sweat. "The Principle of Voluntary Work, there is such a thing… I have been assuming that you have consented. Does this mean you don’t?"
Hao Ren was stunned, he never expected such loose conditions. Her communicative ability did not match up to his initial impression of her godly power: he thought he would meet his doom if he refused the offer. But it was after Raven 12345 stated the conditions that he began to contemplate: What should he do? Should he really refuse? But it would be such a pity... as his new strange life would come to an end even before it begun.
"What will happen if I don’t agree?"
"You’ll be rid of your memories of these past couple of days, and I’ll relief you of the werewolf. Don’t worry, no harm will come to either of you, just that you’ll no longer have anything to do with these issues anymore. Common folks have common lives. For an ordinary fellow to handle extraordinary business, history tells that they usually meet with dreadful ends," Raven 12345 explained unemotionally. "I’ll look for other agents, after all there’re so many people on Earth, and if worst comes to worst I can always apply for an intern to help me."
Hao Ren felt a pull at his heartstrings and was consumed by an unexplainable feeling, then he shook his head, "And what if I agreed? What do you want me to do? I’ll say first that I won’t be doing anything against my morals. I’m a good person."
Raven 12345’s smiled again at that. "Don’t be so nervous, you’re working for God. In other dimensions this position is called ‘the Holy One’ or ‘the Messenger’. It’s just that we work under a different system so we don’t call it that. What are you worried about? We’re not asking you to do anything evil. Your job consists only of two main tasks: The first is to receive guests, like you have always been doing so far. The difference is that these guests are... quite special, and they’ll need assistance, a place to stay, someone to guide them—you have to take care of them, so that they won’t go out and cause destruction to mankind. The second is to help me with other work."
Hao Ren was speechless. He honestly suspected that the second task far outweighed the first one!
"When you say ‘guests’, do you mean the ones like Lily?" Hao Ren wanted to know more, although he might not get it his way, but at least he wouldn’t be exploited. "Strange creatures? May I ask why are you doing this? Just so that they won’t disrupt mankind?"
"Actually the reasons are quite complicated," Raven 12345 was very patient, "Any civilisation, unless faced with imminent catastrophe or other disastrous ordeals that require Gods to intervene, has the right to proceed and grow naturally, undisturbed. I know the myths and legends of the human world, but the real gods are not quite the same with the ones in those stories—we create the world, we manage the world, and we can destroy the world, but all of the above are governed by strict rules and regulations. No one can simply disturb and destroy worlds. Before we switched professions and became Gods we had made quite a few mistakes, so this is now a serious problem. Your world is the same—it should evolve naturally without the intervention of external forces. It’s expected that your kind will face challenges along to way, but if a third power wields the potential to twist the process of evolution, it becomes our responsibility to stop it. As for your job, it is to clean up the ‘aftermath’."
Hao Ren went to great lengths to make sense of what Raven 12345 just said, and thought he had grasped the gist of it. "You said there’s… what? A ‘third party’ with the power to disrupt our progress? Lily... and those I have to receive in the future, are all related to this?"
"Don’t overthink it. That’s ancient history now. The largest threat to humanity was resolved by me. You humans are safe now, as long as they don’t ask for death they’ll live a full life," Raven 12345 looked into Hao Ren’s eyes, "As for the guests you’ll be receiving... it’s true that they’re connected to one of the bigger cases, but it’s still considered confidential information to you, so it’s best not to ask. How is it, do you accept this job? Although it’s just to clean up some mess left behind by the Space Administration, it is considered to be the career of a lifetime in a lot of worlds, more or less it’s considered a privilege for temporary workers in the entrepreneurial sectors..."
"Well, putting it that way makes me more reluctant to agree alright!" Hao Ren responded.
Raven 12345 scoffed, not even one bit bothered.
Hao Ren looked down, seriously contemplating this offer which could change his entire course of life.
He still didn’t dare to believe everything this woman just said, and could not understand what was the deal with this talk of the universes, gods, worlds and the rest. It’s just like what Raven 12345 said, for now he could only trust that everything is as she said, and start considering what he should do next.
If he nodded his head now, he would be straying onto a path completely different from his past, in Raven 12345’s words it meant he would be working for ‘God’. Regardless of whether what she said was true or false, no matter if it was a trap or not, and not knowing whether his future will be bright or bleak, he would be facing an entirely new and extraordinary life. His fate would change, for the better or worse.
If he shook his head now, he would lose nothing but his memories of the past two days, forgetting matters an ordinary person shouldn’t know in the first place, and then return to his honest and simple life as a little landlord, or find a real job just like everyone else, or a wife maybe, who may not be a perfect match but works out just fine in the end, and maybe live together for the remainder of their lives.
There really was nothing to choose from.
Chapter 17: The Contract
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren had a dreamHe hoped of becoming a warrior. Having superhuman powers, he would travel the world, upholding justice and protecting all four corners of the world without fearing.
Hao Qiang. He would be loved by all the people and become a hero in due time.
Oh, that was when Hao Ren was nine - it was ages ago. Also, his perception of the ‘four corners of the world’ then was limited to the radius of Nan Jiao Elementary School and a couple of streets nearby. Also, Hao Qiang was his class teacher.
In the past couple of years, similar to most of the people then, Hao Ren’s noble ambitions had dwindled to things more realistic: having a higher than average salary, getting married to a above than average woman, having one or two children that are better than the average kids; buying a decent house (which is not much of a worry as he already had one. Those where the things he thought would make up his life – up till this moment.
The turning point of his life was inching closer, Hao Ren could literally feel as if an entirely different future was laid out right in front of him. Looking to the self-proclaimed, but seemingly queer Goddess in front of his eyes, he nodded. "Alright, I promise."
There was not a shade of surprise on Raven 12345’s face, it seemed that she had gotten quite used to this kind of situation. Also, she already knew what Hao Ren’s answer would be before he even say it and she just nodded her head. "Yes. From now on you will be on probation as a junior examiner in the Space Administration. The welfare that you’ll be receiving will be similar to part-time trainees outside the administration....."
Hao Ren replied, "... Please don’t go into the details. I’ve had a hard time picking up the courage to do this!"
Raven 12345 seemed to smile upon seeing the worried and lost Hao Ren. "Don’t worry. We’re not evil, we maintain universal peace. Don’t you think it’s a very noble job? If I were to look for an assistant in another galaxy, I would have people queuing up the mountains and sea. It’s just that planet earth is at such a state of godlessness, that’s why I did not get myself involve all this while. And since I had to look for an assistant now, I can only keep a low profile while doing it. So don’t be embarrassed of your job because of this..."
Hao Ren muttered. "Why do I feel that you do not sound like a God? Gods behave this way?"
"Sigh…. It’s not just you, even I myself am not used to this title." answered Raven 12345 with a carefree tone which surprised Hao Ren as she swung her hands. "We’ve only changed our title in these recent years, we were not called Gods prior to this. I you prefer, you can address us as Xi Ling disciples. That was our clan name, and being God is actually our job."
"Xi Ling disciples?" Hao Ren asked as he tried to take in this new bizarre term. "It still does not sound right…. What should I normally address you? Royal Goddess??"
Hao Ren was lost for words: if this woman was a self-proclaimed God, he should address her as a Royal Goddess, but that did not seemed right at all. From their conversation so far, Raven 12345 reminded him of an elderly sister, having a casual chat with him in the supermarket. So this was how Goddesses supposed to be like?
"Well, I’m not saying that you have to have a halo behind you but at least do not fiddle your fingers whilst talking?!?!"
Raven 12345 took no notice of this matter and continued fiddling away with her fingers whilst nodding her head at Hao Ren. "Well, I’m not used to this title. Just call me by my name, or call me 12345."
"...…..that is worse… that is not a human name at all...." Hao Ren was speechless.
After that, Raven 12345 went into the details of Hao Ren’s future ‘career’. There was actually not much to it, it was just about how he should continue to welcome bizarre guests into his home. Since he already had a werewolf and a vampire in his house, Hao Ren thought to himself that a few extra abnormal creatures would not be a problem - well, as long as the new guests wereas easy going as the current two.
"Don’t worry," Raven 12345 reassured Hao Ren while thumping on her chest. "We’re quite concerned about our worker’s welfare, so we will not endanger you in any way. The ones sent to you would have already passed some ‘tests’. This is your current mission and for now, leave the other matters to those concerned. About some other situations that you may face... we’ll only discuss those when you’ve come to face them. Are there any more questions?"
Reluctantly, Hao Ren finally blurted out what was troubling him the most. "Then.... What about Lily? You did not arrange that?"
"No. As I’ve already mentioned, only the new guests coming from today onwards are arranged by the administration. The werewolf.... take it as your fate since she was the one who found you. Also, you seemed to be getting used to this pretty well, that’s why I chose you. Normal people cannot accept this, hence I was looking for someone who can cope with these challenges and bizarre events to be my assistant."
"I just have to take good care of the welfare of these ‘guests’ right? So, where do we draw the line on ‘taking good care’ of their welfare? Worship them like my ancestors?"
"That’s unnecessary. All you have to do is to prevent them from causing trouble. The main goal for all missions are to let human civilization develop and grow the way it’s supposed to. Humans do not need to come in contact with things that have a different direction to their civilization’s development. These things can cause humans to have misconceptions regarding their own cosmic laws. As humans have short lifespan, misconceptions in one or two generations can lead to the destruction of the development and civilization attained for the past hundreds of years, and of course this will also greatly affect the future - judging by your expression I guess you’re already confused with all these things, I’ll just briefly explain the rest." As Raven 12345 was talking to Hao Ren, she took a stack of papers out from the drawer.
"In a nutshell you’re a junior employee as well as a temporary one. You do not need to know about the complicated things and even if you do know about them, you would not be able to handle them. When the time comes I’ll tell you more. Please do not worry, I have no bad intentions. Let’s sign the contract....."
Hao Ren felt that the other party was still hiding a lot of things from him. However, he had no choice as Raven 12345 seemed to be a woman of discipline although she was easy going. She would not reveal something that she’s not supposed to. Also, Hao Ren knew that there was no need to rush things, it is better to be more careful when he was still unclear about the situation.
Hao Ren sensed that he was being tricked but he did not have the courage to escape- he was sure he was no match for any of the creatures in this place, the fog-like creature included.
He was shocked looking at the contract in front of him. The words can be easily understood, but the contents did not make sense: "Appointment Letter for Trainee Examiner - Space Administration of Xi Ling Kingdom" was the title followed by the subheading "Xi Ling Celestial Family Alliance Agreement" and another subheading "Related Documents for Temporary Employees Working at the Civil Division" below it. In addition, a line of tiny words were written below: 106th Edition, Re-edition, Revised edition, Final Edition, the ‘absolutely won’t be revised’ Edition. Apparently, even the queen herself will not be able to revise this contract easily- it was hand-written by the kingdom’s head of state himself, each department was very careful with their work.
The main body of the contract was written below, the job scope and attendance system can be easily understood. It was also stated that the newly joined employees’ rank was similar to that of the bishops, hallowed scions and agents. It was noted that this was in accordance to the degree of civilization of the employee’s work place and this was to ease the new employee to orientate oneself into one’s community.
What was written after that shocked Hao Ren: The highest order of the Xi Ling Celestial Family clearly stated that, the newly appointed examiner in charge of those wanting to convert (in other civilizations they are referred to as prophets, the first chosen one to have an epiphany) shall enjoy a worker’s welfare which includes: receiving staples during festivities and gifts during Spring festival as well as monthly reimbursements. According to where one is at, the welfare given shall be arranged by the local God responsible.
Upon seeing the contract, Hao Ren’s eyes were filled with tears. He found the contract somewhat familiar, very much familiar in fact....
"How’s it? The welfare offered is quite good right?" Raven 12345 asked. "I know you weren’t interested in the welfare just now. After my many encounters with all kinds of lifeforms, most of them would feel weird reading this contract as they felt that they should be volunteering when it comes to working for God. However, the administration doesn’t work this way. A few experienced bosses came up with this contract, saying that humans are more used to this contract. Sign it if you do not have any other suggestions."
Hao Ren could only remain speechless...
He decided to not believe in TV programs and novels anymore for the rest of his life!!!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
10 Power
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