Help, I Made the Boss Cry

Chapter 1: What Dying from Overtime Feels Like

The last thing Su Nuo remembered was a product prototype covered in requirements and a spilled iced Americano.

Black liquid dripped down the desk, like some kind of ominous prophecy.

"This requirement is very simple," the product director's voice still echoed in her ears. "Just follow WeChat's logic."

Simple my ass.

That was the thought that flashed through Su Nuo's mind before the world went black.

When she opened her eyes again, she was lying in a pure white space.

White ceiling. White floor. White walls. Even the air was f*****g white.

Su Nuo blinked. Her work instincts kicked in immediately.. "This UI design is way too harsh on the eyes. Can I at least get dark mode?"

A translucent panel suddenly popped up in the air, accompanied by a mechanical voice:

[Welcome to the Infinite Instance System]

[Player ID: SN-0420]

[Detected Soul Status: Deceased (Cause: Cardiac arrest due to overwork)]

[You have been granted a "Resurrection Qualification Test" opportunity]

[Complete instance missions and earn points to exchange for resurrection in the real world]

[Three consecutive instance failures will result in permanent annihilation]

Su Nuo stared at the panel for five seconds.

"Wait," she sat up. "You're telling me I died from overwork?"

[Correct.]

"Overtime?"

[Correct.]

"Can I switch industries in my next life?"

[...The system does not provide career planning services.]

"Then what do you provide? Legal aid? This counts as a workplace injury, right?"

The panel flickered twice like it had lagged.

Su Nuo sighed, stood up, and started examining the space. Professional habit made her quickly scan the environment—no exits, no windows, just a floating panel and a door that hadn't been there a moment ago.

Words were written on the door: [Novice Instance: Midnight Bus]

"Bus?" Su Nuo frowned. "I hate taking the bus. Last time I took the bus, some auntie knocked off one of my shoes—"

[Please enter the instance immediately, player. Countdown: 60 seconds.]

"What's the rush? I'm obviously not ready yet."

[59 seconds.]

"Is there customer service for this system? I want to file a complaint."

[58 seconds.]

"No complaint channel? Then what about a review system? The kind where I give you stars after finishing an instance?"

[53 seconds. Please stop stalling, player.]

Su Nuo walked to the door but didn't push it open. Instead, she studied the instance description on the door first.

[Instance Name: Midnight Bus]

[Level: C]

[Rules: Board the 11:59 PM last bus. Survive until the terminal station.

1. Do not speak to the driver.

2. Do not sit in the last row.

3. Get off immediately when the bus arrives at the station.

4. If you hear someone call your name, do not turn around.]

[Clear Condition: Survive until the terminal station.]

Su Nuo read the rules three times. The corner of her mouth slowly curled up.

"Interesting," she pushed open the door.

"These rules are written just like a user agreement. Full of traps."

Behind the door was a pitch-black street. The streetlights were dim, surrounded by old, 90s-style buildings. An old, beat-up bus sat in the middle of the road. Most of its paint had peeled off, but you could barely make out the words "Last Bus" on its side.

There were already a few people on the bus.

When Su Nuo got on, the system displayed the player list:

[Current Instance Players: 5]

· Zhang Lei (Male, 29, Veteran) ← Muscle.

· Li Tingting (Female, 22, College Student) ← Obviously terrified.

· Wang Jianguo (Male, 45, Security Guard) ← Face pale green.

· Chen Xiaoxi (Female, 26, Nurse) ← Fake calm.

· Su Nuo (Female, 26, Product Manager) ← Too busy to be scared.

"Another new one," Zhang Lei glanced at Su Nuo. "Read the rules?"

"Yep."

"Then find a seat and shut up. Don't sit in the back."

Su Nuo didn't move. Her eyes swept across the bus.

The driver gripped the wheel expressionlessly. You couldn't see his face. Aside from the last row, the rest of the seats were basically full—but eerily, only the five living players were actual people. The other "passengers" were paper effigies.

White paper effigies. Painted red cheeks. Curled up lips. Hollow black eyes.

"f**k," Su Nuo muttered. "This art style is way too grim."

"Are you getting on or not?" The driver spoke. His voice was as raspy as a rusty iron door. "We're about to leave."

Su Nuo looked at the driver, then at Rule #1: Do not speak to the driver.

She raised an eyebrow, ignored the driver, and walked over to sit on the engine cover next to the driver's seat.

"What are you doing?!" Li Tingting shrieked. "The rules say you can't talk to the driver!"

"I didn't talk," Su Nuo blinked innocently. "I just sat down."

"That's the engine cover!" Wang Jianguo panicked. "That's not even a seat!"

"The rules didn't say you can't sit on the engine cover," Su Nuo said calmly. "The rules only said don't talk to the driver, don't sit in the last row, get off at the station, and don't turn around. Nothing about the engine cover."

The four other players: "..."

The driver visibly froze for a moment. He mechanically turned his head to look at Su Nuo.

Su Nuo gave him a polite smile and raised her index finger to her lips. "Shh. I'm not talking to you, okay?"

The driver's expression twitched visibly.

The bus started moving. Outside the window was a pitch-black tunnel.

About five minutes in, a rustling sound came from the back. Everyone turned to look—the paper effigies in the last row were moving. Their heads slowly turned toward the players, the curve of their lips growing wider and wider.

"Th-They're looking at us..." Chen Xiaoxi's voice trembled.

Zhang Lei clenched his fists.

Li Tingting was about to cry.

Su Nuo stood up and pulled something out of her bag—a fluorescent marker and sticky notes she'd snagged from the system shop when no one was looking.

"What are you doing?" Wang Jianguo asked.

"Running an experiment."

Su Nuo walked to the last row and stuck a sticky note on each paper effigy's forehead. Written on each note: "This seat is broken. Please do not occupy."

After she finished, she even took a picture. "Perfect."

The paper effigies collectively froze.

They looked down at the sticky notes. Then back up at Su Nuo. Like they were processing this information. One of them even started questioning its existence—the corners of its mouth slowly shifted from a creepy curve to a confused one.

[System Prompt: Player SN-0420's action invalid. But NPC behavior logic showing abnormal fluctuations.]

"See?" Su Nuo sat back on the engine cover. "They care about saving face too."

Another ten minutes passed. The bus suddenly stopped. The door opened. No one got on.

But everyone felt something enter the carriage.

A cold wind blew in from the door, carrying a faint whisper.

"Su Nuo..." A voice came from the air, like it was coming from very far away. "Su Nuo... turn around and look at me..."

Rule #4: If you hear someone call your name, do not turn around.

Su Nuo didn't move an inch.

The voice called out twice more. Getting closer. Getting clearer.

Then Su Nuo opened her mouth.

"Hello," she said to the air. "What business do you have with me?"

The air went silent.

Zhang Lei's pupils dilated in horror. "D-Don't talk to it!"

"The rules only said not to turn around," Su Nuo said righteously. "They didn't say anything about not talking to it. It's all about interpreting the rules properly."

The voice paused for three seconds.

"Turn... around... and look at me..." it said again, but this time noticeably less confident.

"Just tell me why you're here first," Su Nuo crossed her legs. "Business first. I'm pretty busy. Got more instances to run after this."

"I SAID TURN AROUND!"

"You want me to turn around just because you said so? Where's my dignity?"

"..."

"How about this," Su Nuo pulled out a sticky note without turning around and held it behind her. "Fill out this application form first. I'll turn around after approval."

From the air came an extremely faint "...what the hell."

Zhang Lei stealthily glanced back—a blurry black shadow was crouched in the corner of the carriage, a sticky note stuck to its forehead that read: "Application for Turning Around · Now Queueing · Please Do Not Cut in Line."

The shadow was silent for a long time under that sticky note.

Then it tore off the note, let out a sound resembling a breakdown sigh, and drifted out the window.

The bus continued driving.

Su Nuo checked her watch. "How long until the station?"

The driver didn't speak, but the hand gripping the wheel was trembling.

Not from anger. From fear.

The rest of the ride was eerily peaceful. The paper effigies didn't dare move. The shadow didn't dare come back. The driver didn't dare say a single word. He stared straight ahead the whole time, looking like an intern who'd just been chewed out by the boss.

When the bus arrived at the station, the doors opened. The four other players basically rolled off the bus.

Su Nuo was the last to get off. As she passed the driver, she paused.

"Oh, by the way," she said with a smile. "Your service attitude was pretty good. I'll give you a nice review."

The driver's mouth twitched. He squeezed out through gritted teeth: "...Please. Don't ever come back."

[Instance Cleared!]

[Rating: SSS (Beyond Standard)]

[Clear Method: Caused NPC to voluntarily abandon attack (Hidden Condition Met)]

[Reward Points: 5000 (Including Novice Bonus)]

[System Evaluation: Invalid but effective action. This player has been added to the NPC High-Risk List.]

Su Nuo returned to the white space and stretched.

Another system message popped up on the panel:

[System Announcement: Player SN-0420's instance records have been flagged. Attention all NPCs: This player specializes in rule manipulation. Recommended strategy: No contact. No conversation. No acknowledgment.]

"Ooh," Su Nuo grinned. "Sending out memos to NPCs now?"

She was about to check the point shop when the panel suddenly went black.

Then a new interface appeared.

On a pure black background, only one line of white text:

[Interesting. — Unknown Source]

Su Nuo raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

No reply.

The screen returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

But Su Nuo noticed that a gray item had appeared in the corner of the system shop, labeled: [??? — Price: ???]

The item icon was a pair of eyes.

Watching her.

"Alright, then," Su Nuo rubbed her hands together. "Now this is getting interesting."

Somewhere in an indescribable space, a pair of real eyes opened.

Ling Yuan propped his head on his hand, watching the woman on the screen plastering sticky notes on thin air. The corner of his mouth curved slightly.

The system's data flow around her had started behaving abnormally—not a bug. It was her logic chipping away at the rules of this world.

"Interesting," he repeated what the system had said.

Then he reached out a finger and gently nudged a data stream.

The next moment, Su Nuo's next instance match result appeared.

B-Rank Instance: Mirror Academy.

The difficulty had increased by god knows how many times.

Ling Yuan leaned back against his throne woven from data streams and said softly, "Let's see how far you can run."

（End of Chapter 1）