pappabearbooks Chapter 671 Bait
Chapter 671 Bait
Under the watchful eyes of the hawksbill turtle, Wu Wang walked into the elevator without looking back.
This time, he didn't wander around to other floors.
Because after selecting a task on the computer, the details of that task also pop up on the wristband.
This task needs to be carried out immediately, and there are already quite a few prospective employees waiting upstairs.
As he emerged from the floor of the wish showroom, the first batch of prospective employees were pacing anxiously in place.
Two men and one woman were dressed no differently from Wu Wang, and they also wore electronic bracelets on their wrists.
However, their electronic bracelet screens were dim, suggesting they were not activated.
It's estimated that, just like before, they will need to go to the training hall downstairs for onboarding training before activating their wristbands.
Now...
This is mostly the prelude to the desire factory trying to lure them into joining.
Therefore, Wu Wang is needed to let these people experience their desires and feel the joy of getting what they want.
Only in this way will they willingly join the company and dedicate their lives to this goal, which they may only have briefly but can never achieve.
Wu Wang walked to the edge of the exhibition hall by himself, where there was a consultant's workbench. There was a person sitting there when he came up earlier, but now the person was nowhere to be seen.
Even though the work assignment showed that the other person had taken sick leave, Wu Wang still felt that this guy would most likely never come back.
The next time you see someone sitting here, they're probably a new employee.
Snapped--
Wu Wang sat behind his workstation and waved his wristband in front of the monitor, just like logging into his workstation. His work information automatically lit up on the screen.
[Wish Consultant's Workbench]
[Current Consultant: #00000 (Replacement)]
Number of guests to be received today: 6
[Permission Status: Wish Search Without Approval (Temporary)]
[Important Notes: This position requires assisting prospective employees in completing their initial wish-fulfillment experience. The experience content will be selected by the consultant from a list recommended by the factory...]
The instructions were followed by a long list of operational procedures, which looked a bit complicated.
However, Wu Wang's attention was not on any of the precautions at all.
Instead, it's on the phrase "Wish Search without Approval".
"Oh? No approval required? That means I can search anyone's wish list during this period?"
"That was so careless!"
Wu Wang could tell from this search that the fact that it didn't require approval meant that he was probably just lucky to find Zhou Ping's wish before.
He's a new employee and hasn't uploaded his wish yet, so he needs to re-enter his wish to search.
This is how we bypassed the normal approval process and judged it as a first-time experience.
If it's a normal process, after entering Zhou Ping's information, this wish to experience will likely require approval and waiting, and it's unclear how long it will take before the experience can be conducted.
Clearly, this was information that the employee downstairs hadn't shared, and he was deliberately trying to make things difficult for Wu Wang and make him suffer.
"It seems we haven't turned off enough power for him."
After making the decision, Wu Wang would secretly turn off the other party's phone every few hours.
He opened the search interface.
The first name entered was still Zhou Ping's employee number.
Now that we have the authority of an advisor, let's see if we can temporarily experience the other party's complete wishes. Maybe we can find clues about his wife in the process.
However, an unexpected string of words popped up—
This employee's file has been archived in the factory database. You do not have sufficient permissions. Please contact the HR department for details.
Wu Wang narrowed his eyes.
Something's not right. When I first met Zhou Ping, he must have just been an ordinary employee. He was no different from any other normal employee.
Otherwise, no work assignments would have included anything related to him.
It was clearly treated as just another ordinary matter.
But now the files have been sealed?
If any unexpected situation occurred in the middle, there is most likely only one reason—he had contact with him.
"So, the person the factory is actually targeting is me?"
Why isn't this surprising at all?
To this, Wu Wang could only shrug.
After all, this was within his expectations. It was a copy related to the big boss's [Desire] Law, so He must have noticed it the moment he entered.
I've already started making things interesting for myself.
Returning to the previous screen, the three anxiously waiting individuals approached with slight hesitation.
He tentatively asked Wu Wang, "Hello, are you the one guiding us through this experience of wishes?"
Wu Wang nodded and said, "Sit down."
The first person to sit down was a young man who nervously swallowed and said, "Hello, my name is Lu Renjia. What do I need to do?"
While reviewing the process again, Wu Wang casually replied with his legs crossed, "Tell me your wish first."
Seeing his attitude, a hint of distrust flashed in the other person's eyes, and he hesitated before asking, "Can I ask you a question first? Are the things here... all genuine?"
Wu Wang glanced at the other person; the light in the boy's eyes was very pure when he asked the question.
That kind of gaze, untouched by the world's many hurts or deceptions, devoid of greed and calculation.
A foolish yet naive college student.
This is the first impression the other person gives you.
He laughed and said, "That depends on how you define 'real'."
"Uh..." The other person was clearly a little confused.
"Forget it, I'm not going to play philosophy with idiots. It's pointless. That's a game for smart people." Wu Wang said jokingly, leaning back in his seat. "If you have time, I'll tell you a story. It's absolutely true. It happened not far upstairs."
“A man came here, made a wish, and paid money to bring his deceased wife back to life.”
"The factory extracted the memories from his brain and created an AI that was almost indistinguishable from the original as a product for him."
Lu Renjia's pupils dilated. He hadn't expected the factory to be able to revive its former self. He subconsciously said, "Isn't this great?"
Wu Wang shook his head slightly.
"It sounds great, but that AI won't talk back or ramble on, and it won't scold him when he does something wrong. It will just smile all the time. She's too perfect, so perfect that she's constantly reminding the man that his own love isn't perfect, and that his true wife is dead."
"So, he almost went crazy."
Wu Wang spoke these words in a very calm tone, as if he were stating the solution to a math problem.
He was observing Lu Renjia's reaction.
The other person didn't speak immediately, but instead swallowed hard, then looked down at their bracelet. Their eyelashes were trembling, not from crying, but from contemplating something.
"What happened to that man later?" Lu Renjia asked quietly at the end.
"He's still paying off his debts. If nothing unexpected happens and the factory doesn't explode, he'll never be able to pay them off in his lifetime," Wu Wang said cheerfully.
The other party remained silent.
Wu Wang thought this guy would back down, or at least choose a relatively safer little wish to test the waters.
Unexpectedly, Lu Renjia still firmly said, "My wish is to cure my mother's Alzheimer's disease."
His voice was soft, but he enunciated each word with great force. "She's fifty-five years old this year, and she hasn't recognized me since last year."
“When I stand in front of her, she looks at me and only asks who I am. Although sometimes she will call my nickname out the window, she screams every time I walk over and see me.”
“I am in her memory, but it is fading away at a rate that no doctor can stop.”
"I...cannot accept it."
A resolute look began to rise in Lu Renjia's eyes, just like how Wu Wang saw Zhou Ping talking about his wife in his eyes.
"If I could make her recognize me again, call me by my name, and remember that I don't eat cilantro when she's cooking."
“I can accept any side effects, even if, as you said, they don’t scold me, they don’t get angry at me, and they seem so perfect that they’re not human, I can accept it.”
Upon hearing this, Wu Wang's lips curled into a smile.
Indeed, before people have personally experienced how despair and fear can slowly engulf them, they always think they can accept everything.
This is also the insidious and cunning nature of desire.
Even if you know from the beginning what kind of misfortune it will bring, there are always people who take a chance and think they will be unique.
Ultimately, they will all fall into the sea of desire and sink until they can no longer swim back up.
It's okay. Before sinking to the bottom of the sea, maybe I can make them splash around a bit and create some different kinds of water?
Wu Wang didn't say anything more.
He simply browsed through the workbench in front of him, looking at the recommended experience options automatically provided by the system—
[Knowledge Injection: Alzheimer's Disease Treatment (Introductory Level)]
[Price: 1500 Wish Points]
[Trial price: Free (30 minutes)]
"Heh, free?" Wu Wang sneered. "Free is the most expensive price in the world. It means you have to pay an unacceptable price other than money."
He could have simply clicked "confirm".
All wish-granting advisors do this.
This is actually a very easy task; the Desire Factory's recommendation mechanism will select the most suitable wish experience for the other person.
But Wu Wang did not do that.
He just stared at the recommendation box on the screen, scrolling down through various items.
Until I reached the very bottom, scrolled down to the lowest priority projects—projects that usually wouldn't even be looked at by any consultant—and found a keyword there.
[Memory Retrieval Reverse Engineering]
[This has progressed to the clinical stage, where extracted memories are rewritten into the target brain to repair damaged neural connections.]
Success rate: Unknown
[Risk Level: Extremely High]
[Current Status: Project Suspended Due to Insufficient Funding]
Upon seeing this, Wu Wang raised an eyebrow and replaced the original knowledge injection with it.
After all, the information provided by the workbench itself is just a recommendation; the real decision-making power lies with the employee operating it.
However, at that very moment, a warning window popped up on the system—
[WARNING: This product has not yet undergone a final safety assessment. Should it still be recommended to users?]
Wu Wang selected "confirm" without the slightest hesitation.
Then, looking at Lu Renjia, he said, "Your first experience has been arranged. Lie down in the spherical capsule next to you."
"Afterwards, you will experience a therapy process in a virtual state, which is a simulated version of your mother's memory repair. You may also see some things you don't want to see, such as the fear and confusion in your memories, or even the painful state she was in when she tried to remember you but couldn't."
Upon hearing this, Lu Renjia was slightly taken aback.
Puzzled, he asked, "Why not just give me the ability or knowledge to cure the illness?"
Wu Wang's expression became slightly more serious as he said, "Because knowledge can deceive you, but experience cannot."
"If you actually buy knowledge in the future, that thing will be like a sword-fighting game, from beginner to intermediate, then to proficient, and then to expert... endlessly making you keep exchanging for the last tiny bit of missing core parts, and you will never see your mother get better in your life."
He could even guess why the memory extraction reverse engineering project was suspended.
Because it truly has the potential to cure people.
Lu Renjia placed his fist on his leg and then released it, as if repeatedly confirming that he could grasp something.
In the end, he did not ask to change the experience and resolutely walked towards the cabin.
After entering, he turned back to Wu Wang and gave him a bright smile that no new employee in the building could ever show.
"Thank you."
To this, Wu Wang simply scoffed and said, "Thank you too soon. You'll have plenty of opportunities to curse me later. Go inside now."
The Wish Ball experience begins.
Half an hour is not a very long time.
The other two prospective employees also kept looking at the sphere with expectant eyes, hoping that Lu Renjia's feedback after he came out would satisfy them.
Finally, as time ran out, the capsule reopened.
Lu Renjia walked out, but his expression showed no joy; instead, it was filled with an indescribable complexity.
He didn't speak immediately.
He walked up to Wu Wang, his hands hanging at his sides, his fingertips trembling slightly, and he opened his mouth as if to speak but then stopped.
He took several deep breaths, as if to mentally prepare himself, before speaking with tears in his eyes:
"I saw... I saw those fragments of memory scattered like shards of glass, some flashing, some almost extinguished."
“I have a memory of when I fell down when I was seven years old. She knelt down and put a band-aid on me. She played that memory three times over, as if to say, 'This is mine, don’t take it away.'”
"Sir...can this technique... really cure her?"
Wu Wang, still leaning back with his legs crossed, said, "I don't know. It was just a project that was cut by the Desire Factory. It may still be a long way from success."
"Why was it cut down?" Lu Renjia asked, shocked and puzzled.
"Because it can't directly generate high profits," Wu Wang joked. "Unfortunately, that's precisely what makes it least like a scam compared to other things."
Lu Renjia nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
He swallowed this conclusion with difficulty, as if swallowing a stone, and then turned and left.
But after taking a few steps, he stopped and turned back, saying, "Could you help me check if I want to accumulate wish points to restart or buy this project..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wu Wang interrupted, "I will investigate, but not now."
"I also want to remind you that if you really plan to take the job, what you need to do now is not to make too many wishes. Maybe someone will show you a wish shop or something later. My personal advice is not to buy anything, especially not to take out a loan."
Lu Renjia forced a smile and said, "I understand. It's like when you go to the supermarket, you can't go to the snack section on an empty stomach, or your wallet will be in big trouble."
"Pretty much, except the supermarkets here don't want your money, they want your life," Wu Wang said casually.
Seeing the other person turn back and walk more firmly toward the elevator, Wu Wang's calculations began to shift slightly.
The bait has already been cast.
Next, let's see what kind of fish will take the bait.
He looked up and said, as if a waiter was calling to the kitchen to give it a push:
"Next person!"
“Tell me your story…” (End of Chapter)