Chapter 50: Chairman Chen, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about what a working meal is?

It was no wonder that this weird teacher thought that way. After all, in the supernatural world, working specters had no human rights. Bosses wouldn't even pay their salaries, let alone grant them vacations. With such an atrocious working environment, who would believe it when someone mentioned a staff meal? The food provided by other bosses wasn't called a "staff meal"; it was called "unidentified viscous liquid that wouldn't kill a ghost"! Previously, the board directors of Dark Night High School had also provided staff meals that were worse than slop. Therefore, whenever some teachers heard the words "staff meal," their PTSD would instantly flare up, leaving them psychologically traumatized from past meals.

With a heart full of anxiety, this group of teachers arrived at Midnight Hotel. There were two locations for Midnight Hotel: a headquarters and a branch. The headquarters was established inside Dark Night High School and was formerly known as the Midnight Canteen. As for the branch, after its former boss had scared himself to suicide, his hotel had been converted into the Midnight Hotel branch. The place these teachers had arrived at was the headquarters of Midnight Hotel.

As soon as they stepped through the main entrance of the headquarters, a rich aroma of food instantly washed over them. Standing on both sides of the entrance were two greeters. Upon seeing the teachers walk in, the greeters immediately broke into wide, beaming smiles and bowed respectfully in welcome. The sheer enthusiasm of their greeting caught the teachers off guard and startled them. This level of passionate work ethic was definitely not something whipped out by a lash; it stemmed from a genuine love for their work and deep devotion to Boss Chen!

The teachers were led into a spacious room lined with rows of long tables. The tables were piled high with an astonishing array of exquisite dishes! There were braised spectral fish, steamed ghostly shrimp, oil-braised giant bugs... and the most famous delicacy of all—flash-boiled bloody liver!

Staring at such a massive spread of dishes left the teachers completely dumbfounded. They looked at each other in bewilderment, suspecting they might have come to the wrong place. This entire table consisted of top-tier delicacies! Even if these teachers were dining out to treat esteemed guests, they would never dare to order such extravagant dishes. It wasn't that they didn't want to; they simply couldn't afford them! A single table of food like this would cost more than two years of their salary combined.

"Manager, did you bring us to the wrong place?" The teacher who had questioned Chen Mu earlier asked Li Xiaoxiao, who was standing nearby.

Li Xiaoxiao, serving as the hotel manager, smiled and explained, "I'm sorry, but our master gave us very short notice, so the staff meal we've prepared is a bit crude. Please bear with us. Although this food is a bit simple, it's a buffet, so everyone can eat as much as you like. If it's not enough, we'll make more. This is a perk from the master to all of you."

The "master" Li Xiaoxiao referred to was naturally Board Director Chen Mu.

As soon as these words were spoken, the teachers present froze in place. These expensive and exquisite dishes were actually prepared for *them*? According to former standards, food like this was only served when the principal hosted distinguished guests! And now that Chen Mu was the board director, he was treating this as a mere staff meal? Not only that, but it was a buffet? And they still called this poor hospitality? A bit crude?

Chen Mu's generosity had far exceeded their comprehension. Were there really such wonderful bosses in this world?

In an instant, the eyes of the teacher who had questioned Chen Mu earlier grew moist. Having worked as a spectral teacher for so many years, this was the first time she had ever experienced the feeling of being respected. Looking at the enthusiastic hotel staff around her, this teacher instantly understood why Boss Chen's employees possessed such an incredible work ethic. Boss Chen truly treated them like brothers! A person will die for someone who truly understands them! One could easily imagine that even if a powerful Ghost General were to declare his intention to overthrow Chen Mu right now, every single employee present would readily rush forward to fight the Ghost General to the death, even if all they had in their hands were brooms.

Overwhelmed by emotion, the teachers eagerly dived into the buffet. While serving themselves, some of the spectral teachers pulled out their smartphones and began recording the food before them. Don't get the wrong idea; in the supernatural apocalypse, specters also kept pace with the times, and they had smartphones and other electronic devices too! Just like how in certain ghost movies, spirits could crawl out of television sets, various supernatural scenarios also existed on the internet. If someone accidentally clicked on a weird email, they would fall right into a supernatural domain. As a ghost, having a smartphone was completely normal, right?

These ghostly teachers eagerly began showing off their staff meals on the supernatural internet. Soon, videos with titles like these appeared across the net:
《Shocking! Our boss actually feeds us this kind of stuff!》
《Family members, who can relate? I've found an underworld king of a boss!》
《Today I'll take everyone behind the scenes to see what Boss Chen's employees eat for staff meals!》

One show-off video after another appeared before specters far and wide. There were even more arrogant ones where the video showed delicacies from land and sea, yet the title read:
《Just another ordinary meal.》

The specters who watched these videos were utterly shocked, leaving comments beneath to inquire:
"What kind of luxury dinner is this? A meal like this must cost tens of thousands of underworld coins, right?"
"You call this a staff meal? Do you have some kind of profound misunderstanding of what a staff meal is?"
"Stop bragging, where on earth provides a staff meal like this? I'm heading right over to work for this boss, and I won't take a single cent of salary!"
"Midnight Hotel? That's a luxury hotel! You guys are eating staff meals *there*?"

Soon, someone—well, strictly speaking, a ghost—replied below:
"May your whole family resurrect if I'm lying! This really is the staff meal!"
*(Note: In the supernatural world, "family resurrection" was a malicious curse, equivalent to wishing one's entire family a sudden, violent death.)*
"This is Boss Chen's staff meal! Dark Night High School and Midnight Hotel are currently hiring frantically, everyone is welcome to apply."
"Boss Chen genuinely treats everyone like brothers. If you don't work for Boss Chen, you've lived your life in vain."
*(Note: In the supernatural world, "died in vain" equals "lived in vain".)*

These videos spread rapidly. Countless specters throughout the entire supernatural world were immensely shocked. Could there really be such a wonderful boss in this world?

***

On the outskirts of Dark Night High School, a few low-level soldier-rank specters were hiding in a dark corner. It was currently the middle of the night, the prime time for wandering lonely souls and wild ghosts to roam. People walking on the streets had to tread carefully, as a ghost could appear at any moment. These particular specters specialized in lurking around schools, running a loan shark business. As long as someone signed a loan contract with them—containing extremely harsh terms—failure to repay the underworld coins would violate the rules, leading to them being hunted down and killed.

At that moment, these specters were holding a smartphone, watching a video with great relish.
"Boss, look at this video." A lackey handed the phone over, displaying the scene of the spectral teachers feasting heartily inside Dark Night High School.
"I've seen this video too. Treatment like this really makes a ghost's eyes turn green with envy," the boss sighed helplessly.
"Boss, why don't we go and pledge our loyalty to Boss Chen?"
"Pledge our loyalty? Heh," the boss let out a weird laugh. "Who do you think we are? With our level of strength, Boss Chen wouldn't even deign to see us. If I met Boss Chen, I'd have to kowtow to him. And you're thinking about pledging loyalty? Don't even bother wondering if he'd deign to acknowledge you."

Just at that moment, a human figure was walking slowly down the dark sidewalk.
"Stop daydreaming about working for Boss Chen; that kind of thing only happens in dreams. Work is here now, snap out of it and hurry up and pitch our loans to that person." The ghostly boss urged repeatedly.

The person walking toward them was precisely Chen Mu. He had deliberately avoided the school gate to prevent students and parents from pothering him, choosing instead to take a detour down a small alley to leave the school. Chen Mu keenly sensed that in the darkness ahead, several specters were staring right at him. Not only that, but they were about to launch an attack on him!