Absolute Choice Chapter 57

Chapter 57: It Isn’t Easy for Anyone of Us

The meteor shower only ended at two in the morning. A total of 1038 meteors. .h.i.t the ground, making it an extremely rare ‘Thousand Stars’-ranked meteor shower. The entire Southern Gold City and the neighboring smaller cities were completely left in ruins, a desolate wasteland.

However, people were already accustomed to such disasters. The moment the meteor shower ended, post-disaster reconstruction began.

As the evacuation before the meteor shower was carried out very smoothly, there were very few citizens who died in this disaster. In fact, it was the Heroes, who came to “help”, that ended up sacrificing their lives.

There was naturally a wake for the Heroes who pa.s.sed away, but there were always Heroes, who sacrificed themselves in every disaster. The first time, people would cry, the second time, people would feel sad, but by the third or fourth time…or countless times, people became numb about it, accustomed to the sacrifice of the Heroes. It became a thing that was taken for granted.

When the duty of a Hero became a profession and a normal thing, it slowly lost its l.u.s.ter of n.o.ble sacrifice, and was soon forgotten.

As such, the Heroes’ wake was destined to be a hasty routine, and in stark contrast, a celebration dinner for the Heroes would be lavishly held. Many of the country’s leaders would come personally, extolling the praises of those Heroes who killed Astral Calamity Beasts. According to usual practice, they would hold a press conference at the celebration dinner and for the next few days, provide a lot of interesting material for the news.

The surviving Heroes enjoyed glory and were extolled, while the dead Heroes would quickly disappear from the Hero rankings. They would disappear from the news and being out of sight, would eventually be forgotten.

“For Heroes, this is the best of times, and also the worst of times. For a businessman, this is an excellent era.”

Xialin stood in front of a gigantic floor window. Up in the tall building, he looked down at the walking pedestrian as his eyes glimmered with a l.u.s.ter and his mouth revealed a slight, pleasant smile.

“Knock, knock, knock.” Suddenly, a rhythmic knocking of the door could be heard.

“Come in.” Xialin did not turn his head because he could already tell who the person was from the sound of the knocks.

“Boss!”

The person who came in was a young girl dressed in a white-collared uniform. She politely greeted Xialin and gingerly walked up to him. In her hand, she held a stack of doc.u.ments as she said softly, “This week’s results are out.”

Xialin acknowledged her presence and turned around to take the doc.u.ments from her hands. Using the sunlight, he read extremely quickly. He read nearly ten lines at a glance, and the way he flipped through the doc.u.ments looked like he was counting money.

The young female a.s.sistant did not even dare to breath normally. Her delicate face looked uneasy. The man in front of her was about the same age as she was, but he was the general manager of a large listed company. She had also seen enough of his artifice and means.

After Xialin was done flipping to the last page, he lifted frames of his gla.s.ses, reflecting the sunlight to conceal his eyes. It made his expressionless face appear without the slightest emotion.

“Tell me, is [Gaia] really on a decline or is it because my leaders.h.i.+p is lacking?”

Xialin turned around to look at the female a.s.sistant as he revealed an easy-going smile, as if he was asking a simple question like what she was eating for lunch.

“Your leaders.h.i.+p is redoubtable!” The female a.s.sistant hurriedly responded.

“Oh? Do you mean [Gaia] is going downhill? That’s why there’s not a single new Gold-ranked player this week? That’s why our store’s average winning rate is less than 40%? That’s why our branch store is ranked last in the weekly rankings?”

Xialin used a calm voice to list out very intense questions before finally saying with a smile, “So do you think all of this is because [Gaia] is on a decline? That’s why setting up a branch in [Gaia] was a mistake right from the very beginning, is that it?”

The female a.s.sistant felt wronged and thought in her heart that since he knew, why was he making it difficult for a junior employee like her! Are you trying to hear another answer from me? Isn’t it a well known fact that [Gaia] is on a decline? It would be surprising if the results of the shop set up in [Gaia] would be good!

The female a.s.sistant kept complaining deep in her heart, but she did not dare to show the slightest hint of discontent. Although Xialin was young and accomplished, he had been sent to a branch from headquarters due to his lack of experience. This branch’s results affected headquarter’s final evaluation of Xialin. Last week’s performance was extremely terrible, so it was unknown how much anger Xialin was simmering! She had to be extremely careful.

“No…No, it’s…it’s our fault!” The female a.s.sistant rolled her eyes as she could not think of any other excuse. She could only think of the most old-fas.h.i.+oned excuse—take the initiative to shoulder the blame.

“Heh heh, it looks like you aren’t dumb and are cognizant of your faults. You are still redeemable.” Xialin opened up his hands and smiled coldly as he turned to face the floor windows. He left the female a.s.sistant a cold and lonely back.

The female a.s.sistant was dumbfounded. Were the employees and herself the ones to be blamed in the boss’ eyes all along!?

“I have always stressed that customers in the virtual compet.i.tive business cannot be awaited. You have to personally promote, entice and solicit them, using every possible means to make them our customers. Even for a pedestrian on the streets, you must go to great pains to tell them the importance of virtual compet.i.tion, pulling them into the virtual compet.i.tion world, do you understand? You must think of a way to make them obsess about it until they are unable to extricate themselves!”

Xialin looked at the pedestrians on the street. Some of them were walking into the building he was in, while others carried on walking down the street without even taking a look. This was the difference between a customer and a non-customer. They were indifferent, cold and heartless, but there was limitless potential. Customers and non-customers only differed by a syllable, maybe a simple persuasion could make the syllable, “non”, disappear completely.

“This is an era of Heroes, and similarly it is an era of compet.i.tion. Some people think lowly of virtual compet.i.tion, believing that true battles can increase their personal strength. However, that is just ignorant prejudice. Virtual compet.i.tion is clearly the fastest way for humans to improve their proficiency in combat techniques! Do you understand? We need to persevere at eliminating the prejudice people have for virtual compet.i.tion. We must let those ignorant non-customers to understand the importance of virtual compet.i.tion, making them our customers. We must make them obsess over virtual compet.i.tion, let them become perfect numbers on our results!”

When Xialin was done speaking, he finally could not maintain his calm. The tone in his voice sounded agitated.

“I…I got it!”

The female a.s.sistant hurriedly replied, but she was lamenting in her heart. She had heard the same speech numerous times. The employees had also acted in accordance with Xialin’s instructions. They would always go out onto the streets to solicit for customers instead of working in the office. All of them were like promoters, and was nearing the level of a pimp. This still wasn’t enough?

“Heh heh, do you understand? It’s been a while, but the top three rookies in the present batch of rookies from the most recent evaluation test are still non-customers. All of you are too lazy.”

Xialin said with a cold smile, “I have already mentioned it many times. Those three rookies are extremely important resources. Regardless of the cost or means, you have to make them our loyal customers, especially that s.h.i.+ Xiaobai! However, eleven days have pa.s.sed. We have not received the business from the other two of the top three rookies, much less s.h.i.+ Xiaobai! All of you have really disappointed me!”

“Sor…Sorry!”

The female a.s.sistant was beyond tears. No one knew what s.h.i.+ Xiaobai looked like and information of his ident.i.ty was highly confidential. It was as though he had disappeared from [Gaia], so how was she to draw him in? The other two rookies all had strong personalities. There was no way to move them with their words of persuasion!

The female a.s.sistant was complaining in her heart, but she could only verbally admit to her mistakes. As a junior employee, she did not dare contradict her boss, so she had no choice but to shoulder the blame!

“If apologies work, then the Huang Pu river wouldn’t be red.”

Xialin’s words sounded cold while his expression was colder. Suddenly he pointed out to a spot outside the window and said, “I’ll give you a final chance. Make that person a customer, and I’ll forgive you this once.”

The female a.s.sistant hurriedly took a step forward and traced Xialin’s finger out the window. She saw a youth on the streets moving laterally like a crab. The youth had already walked past their shop, but he looked back three times for every step he took, as though he was reluctant to leave.

“This person is now on the boundary of being a customer and non-customer. He just needs a simple push, do you understand? If one push isn’t enough, push him twice. If persuasion doesn’t work, try deceiving him. If deceiving him doesn’t work, force him. If forcing doesn’t work, then even if you have to take off your clothes and scream rape, you still have to force him in!”

Xialin said angrily, “This is your last chance!”

The female a.s.sistant hurriedly clung to her clothes as she felt her stomach churning. To think you can think of me screaming rape after taking off my clothes, what sort of sick pervert are you!?

Looking through the window, she saw a figure moving like a crab at a rapid pace down the streets. The female a.s.sistant did not dare delay any further. Immediately, she began waddling like a duck, while running with her high heels on.

Crab youth, stop there for me!

The female a.s.sistant was nearly going crazy!

“It isn’t easy for anyone of us.”

Xialin looked at the female a.s.sistant’s back and sighed softly.