Super Island Tycoon

Chapter 1287: Chapter 1286: Backroom Deal

Some people around were still hunched over their computers, typing nonstop. But a lot of them had already given up, looking really upset.

Jiang Cheng saw Qiu Qingqing in front of him, her back straight as she stood there. Judging from the look of it, she was done, still wearing her usual indifferent expression. Only now that examiner had walked over to Qiu Qingqing again, like he was saying something more. But it was too far, Jiang Cheng couldn’t hear a thing. He just saw that Qiu Qingqing’s face stayed the same while that examiner still had that disgusting look on his face.

”That girl’s really pretty, right—” The guy next to him saw Jiang Cheng looking toward the girl up front and asked.

”Ah! Yeah.” Jiang Cheng hadn’t even heard what the guy beside him said.

He just answered casually. ”Haha, wouldn’t have guessed. I thought you were the type who doesn’t crack jokes.” The guy next to him said with a laugh.

Jiang Cheng looked at the guy’s bright, slightly boyish smile and felt this guy probably wasn’t a high schooler.

”How old are you?” Jiang Cheng asked.

”Me? I’m twenty.” The guy’s eyes flickered a little.

Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes but said nothing. This guy looked like he’d just come of age, or maybe not even. No way he was that old, Jiang Cheng thought.

The guy felt a bit embarrassed under Jiang Cheng’s gaze, like he’d just been found out.

”What’s your name? I’m Xiaobai.” The guy said.

”Jiang Cheng. Are you really good at this?” Xiaobai asked with a grin, his eyes full of admiration.

”Not bad.” Jiang Cheng smiled.

”Do you know what happens to the final winner of this competition?”

Jiang Cheng realized he’d actually forgotten to check the rewards for this contest and had no idea what they were.

”You don’t know?” The guy stared at Jiang Cheng in disbelief. ”The top three in this competition get to go work at Yi Company.” He said.

”Yi Company? Is it a big deal?” Jiang Cheng asked.

”You don’t know about that?” The guy looked even more incredulous than before,

like he couldn’t wrap his head around it.

”I didn’t use to live around here.” Jiang Cheng said vaguely.

The guy didn’t think much of it. ”Yi Company is basically the biggest T Company in the country. They’re always developing robots and stuff. You could call them a myth in the world of science.” As he spoke, his expression was almost devout. He really did look like a hardcore fan.

”But I’ve never pinned much hope on it. Even though my dream since I was a kid has been to get into that company, I don’t have any special talent, so I never dared hope too much.” The guy said, sounding a bit dejected.

Listening to him, Jiang Cheng felt a bit sorry for the guy. But then, thinking it through, he felt stupid. Coming here was basically like entering a simulated world anyway. Everyone he met here was just an NPC, not really going to exist.

By now, time was almost up. The examiners on stage went around checking the final results one by one. Another examiner walked over to Jiang Cheng’s station. He glanced first at the guy beside Jiang Cheng, shook his head without saying anything, then came to Jiang Cheng. When he saw Jiang Cheng’s timer, he looked a bit surprised. ”Pretty quick.” The examiner remarked.

Jiang Cheng just nodded without saying anything. The examiner checked his work, then smiled at Jiang Cheng. ”Not bad, kid!”

”What’s your name?” the examiner asked.

”Jiang Cheng.”

The examiner seemed to note it down, then headed to the back. Everything he said had been full of praise for Jiang Cheng. The people nearby had all seen how Jiang Cheng did, and those who’d been laughing at his looks before now had red faces. No one dared say anything.

”Told you, right? Even if he looks ordinary on the surface, just judging from his vibe, you can tell he’s not some regular guy.” Someone nearby said loudly. ”Oh, come on, that’s not what you were saying earlier.” Jiang Cheng ignored them and just stood quietly where he was.

After a bit, the two examiners who’d gone offstage came back up. ”We’ve made our decision.” The examiner who’d spoken with Jiang Cheng announced.

”What, just this one problem?” ”God, I’m done for. That means I have absolutely no chance.”

For a moment, the people below seemed unable to accept it and all started noisily complaining.

”Yes, only this one problem. Five people finished it. Now we’re going to pick three.” The examiner said.

He then read out the names of Jiang Cheng, Qiu Qingqing, and three other people. When they heard Qiu Qingqing had finished too, the people below were all stunned. She was insane. With her looks she could easily rely on her face, but she insisted on relying on talent.

All of a sudden, a lot of people were staring at Qiu Qingqing again. Jiang Cheng felt that standing next to Qiu Qingqing wasn’t bad at all. At least she was excellent enough that everyone would completely overlook his existence.

After the examiner finished, it took a while before someone remembered that even though five people had been selected, they still had to narrow it down to three. ”So how are you picking the three?” someone below asked.

”By completion time.” The examiner said.

The examiner then announced the times one by one. Jiang Cheng and Qiu Qingqing were tied for first, so Jiang Cheng, Qiu Qingqing, and one other guy advanced. This time Jiang Cheng listened carefully to the names, and realized the remaining one was Xiaobai.

Jiang Cheng was a bit puzzled. From how Xiaobai had talked before, it sounded like he thought he had no chance. Turns out he was one of the standouts here.

”Brother, we meet again.” Xiaobai walked up to Jiang Cheng, looking really happy.

”You’re pretty good yourself.” Jiang Cheng praised him on the surface. He honestly couldn’t figure out what was going on in this sunny big guy’s head. But judging by the look of him, he probably didn’t mean any harm. Jiang Cheng didn’t overthink it.

”Alright, we’ve chosen our people this round. Thanks for participating.” The examiner said.

Jiang Cheng was just about to sigh that this competition was surprisingly fair and easy when the other examiner spoke up. ”Hold on.” It was the one who’d been staring at Qiu Qingqing the whole time. He grabbed the first examiner, and the two of them started talking, repeatedly glancing over this way.

For some reason, Jiang Cheng suddenly had a bad feeling. It was like they were looking at him. He watched the two of them seem to argue, but in the end one of them still compromised.

”We’ve just discussed it. The ones advancing now are Qingqing, Xiaobai, and Captain Li.” The examiner who’d been watching Qiu Qingqing the whole time kept calling her ”Qingqing.” For some reason, Jiang Cheng felt like Qiu Qingqing shivered a little, maybe out of disgust.

But why had he been swapped out?

”Why are you replacing me?” Jiang Cheng asked.

”What do you mean why? You’re not as good as he is, obviously.” The examiner said unreasonably, his beady eyes shining with sleaze.

”You need to have a reason.” Jiang Cheng said. He looked calm, and in fact he really was calm. In a place like this, it wasn’t real anyway; naturally he wouldn’t take it to heart. It was just that this kind of thing was really irritating.

”Yeah, what’s that supposed to mean? A rigged result, and so blatant?” Xiaobai said stiffly.

Just then, the Captain Li whose name had been called came up. He walked over to Jiang Cheng, giving him an extremely provocative look. Jiang Cheng sized up this Captain Li. He didn’t look that old, around twenty. After tossing Jiang Cheng that provocative look, he went to stand beside Qiu Qingqing and, wearing the same disgusting expression as that examiner, stared at Qiu Qingqing.