Monster - Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Monster World
Lin Sandie's car had been rear-ended last week, so she had been forced to take the subway to work for the past few days. Yan Ting had offered her a loaner car, but Lin Sandie had refused.
The car she drove was already a gift from Yan Ting, and Lin Sandie tried her best not to take advantage of her.
However, given that Xing Meilu had been coming to see her so often recently, Lin Sandie felt she should probably mention it to Yan Ting, just in case she read too much into it.
During the morning rush hour, Lin Sandie managed to squeeze onto the subway, her back pressed into the triangular space next to the doors. A portly commuter who squeezed in after her bumped into her accidentally, but Lin Sandie had anticipated it, raising her right arm with her elbow bent in front of her chest.
Thanks to this buffer, the commuter didn't touch her body, only her arm. She took a step back, and her left arm brushed against the metal guardrail at the end of the subway seats.
The silvery-white stainless steel rail should have been cold in the chilly car, but with so many commuters, the temperature inside had warmed it slightly. Lin Sandie felt a wave of nausea.
Pulling her hand back, Lin Sandie took her phone out of her small shoulder bag. She didn't turn on the screen, just lowered her head to look at her reflection on its dark surface.
A light blue mask and a pair of specially-made glasses covered most of her face. Her bangs, which she hadn't cut in a long time, looked a bit long, but otherwise, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
She hadn't turned into a monster today, either.
Putting her phone away, Lin Sandie looked up at the passengers packed around her. The earlier jostling had caused her gold-rimmed glasses to slide down her nose. Now, looking over the top of the lenses, she saw that among the commuters surrounding her, several had already mutated into monsters. Some had no facial features, while others had terrifying mouthparts full of sharp teeth growing on their faces. Their clothes were old and faded, clinging to them like a second skin. At a glance, it was like being trapped in a brightly lit nightmare. A hand covered in eyes even brushed against Lin Sandie's arm, causing her to tense up instantly and push her glasses back into place.
Through the lenses, the people before her were veiled in a faint, dusky yellow light. The monsters vanished, leaving only a sea of human heads.
The people squeezing onto the subway with her were all quiet, either looking down at their phones or listening to music. Despite the crowd, it wasn't noisy at all.
A moment later, another group of commuters pushed their way on, and Lin Sandie was shoved further into the corner. She regretted leaving so late today. For the past few days, she had been leaving an hour early to take the subway and avoid the peak rush. But last night, she had stayed up too late watching a show and had lingered in bed this morning, which led to her current predicament.
Maybe she should just take a taxi until her car was fixed?
The thought had barely formed before Lin Sandie dismissed it.
She lived quite far from the company; a taxi would cost her about an extra 100 yuan a day.
Lin Sandie was currently the PMC Supervisor at Dudian Red Wine Company. Her monthly take-home pay after taxes was just over 9,000 yuan. In Center City, this was enough for a single woman like her to maintain a very decent life. But last year, she had taken out a loan to buy a two-bedroom apartment and now had a monthly mortgage payment of around 5,000 yuan. The remaining money was just enough to cover her daily expenses.
Ever since buying the apartment, Lin Sandie had developed a habit of constantly calculating her financial situation.
Right now, she had just over 9,000 yuan in her bank account. She had previously invested tens of thousands in mutual funds, but she had sold most of them to make the down payment on her apartment. Only one fund she felt good about remained, with a balance of just over 5,000 yuan.
Last year, on her birthday, she had bought herself a critical illness insurance policy. It cost 5,500 yuan a year for 20 years, meaning she would be paying until she was 45. If she were diagnosed with a serious illness, the insurance company would pay out 300,000 yuan. If she was still healthy at 80, the company would refund her premiums. It was an insurance policy that was better than nothing.
Every month, she sent 2,000 yuan to her father. Next month's credit card installment would be about 1,500 yuan. There were twelve days until her next payday and twenty-one days until her next mortgage payment was due.
After running through the numbers in her head, Lin Sandie felt a sense of relief. It was a method she used repeatedly to soothe herself. Her financial situation was, for the time being, stable. As long as she worked hard and didn't anger Yan Ting, no major problems would arise in her life.
Of course, her actual assets weren't limited to this. Yan Ting constantly gave her money, but Lin Sandie had deposited it all into a separate bank card that she never used, let alone checked the balance of.
Once at the office, Lin Sandie first went to the restroom to touch up her makeup, ensuring she was flawless before appearing in front of Yan Ting. Only then did she email the production plan for the next quarter, which she had already completed, to the vice president. After he confirmed there were no issues, she began to break down the production targets and product varieties.
The spreadsheet on her computer screen was reflected in her glasses—pages upon pages of complex data, with key points highlighted in various colors. Lin Sandie's fingers flew across the keyboard. She was extremely proficient with spreadsheets, able to calculate the desired results almost without thinking.
However, the complexity of this job wasn't in making spreadsheets, but in her sensitivity to the data. She needed to predict the factory's production capacity for the next quarter and match it with orders from distributors. If she produced too much that couldn't be sold, or if production capacity was insufficient to fulfill orders, her performance bonus would be docked.
This was one of the KPIs that made up her salary assessment.
If the deviation between her production schedule control and forecast exceeded 45%, her salary would be cut.
This wine company was just one of Yan Ting's many small businesses. Although Yan Ting privately gave Lin Sandie several times her regular salary, on the surface, everything had to follow company rules and regulations.
In Lin Sandie's mind, only the salary she earned according to company rules was truly hers.
Still, things like KPIs were quite anti-human.
Lin Sandie's fair, slender fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard as her mind briefly wandered.
"Sandie, President Yan wants to see you," said a colleague from the adjacent cubicle as she walked by.
"Okay." Lin Sandie's heart skipped a beat, and her nerves instantly tightened. Facing Yan Ting was far more difficult than facing her work.
Her hands slowed. Lin Sandie let the running formula finish, saved the file, and then stood up to walk toward Yan Ting's office.
"President Yan." Lin Sandie knocked twice before pushing the door open.
Through her glasses, she saw Yan Ting sitting on the sofa in her office, looking at a tablet. She was very attractive, with a soft, beautiful face and exquisite makeup. Even at 35, there were no fine lines around her eyes. She wore a well-tailored women's suit—a style Lin Sandie had once been particularly fond of.
"Close the door." Yan Ting looked up, a gentle smile on her face, her eyes soft.
Lin Sandie smiled and nodded back, feeling a faint, stinging pain on her skin, a coldness that radiated from within.
She closed the door but didn't lock it. Though the hope was slim, she still wished someone would suddenly burst in, giving her a reason to quickly get away from Yan Ting.
Yan Ting gently patted the empty seat beside her. A diamond ring adorned her ring finger.
It was a reality that many lesbian couples eventually faced. After two years of being in a relationship with Lin Sandie, Yan Ting had gotten married, an arrangement made by her family.
Lin Sandie was forced to become the other woman.
Lin Sandie's various sorrows, her heart-wrenching grief, had long since grown numb with time. Her fierce desire to resist had crumbled when she began to see that this was a world of monsters.
She sat down next to Yan Ting with a natural air, adjusted her glasses, and looked at her.
Yan Ting made no further move, instead turning her gaze back to the tablet. Lin Sandie saw that she was looking at some data tables.
Lin Sandie didn't understand. Yan Ting had other businesses—grander, more fitting for her status—so why did she always prefer to stay in this small wine company?
"I saw you clocked in half an hour later than usual today."
"I stayed up too late watching a show and overslept," Lin Sandie said with a smile, revealing her fine white teeth and two faint dimples.
"Watching what?" Yan Ting asked curiously.
"A horror-suspense thing. It's pretty interesting. Want to watch? I can send you the link."
"You always like watching these weird things. I've been a bit busy lately, so I can't watch with you."
"Should I give you a shoulder rub?" Lin Sandie slipped off her high heels, knelt on the sofa, and reached out with a smile to massage Yan Ting's shoulders.
The sensation under her palms was naturally different from human skin, but as long as she didn't look at Yan Ting's true form, it wasn't unbearable.
"Yes~" Yan Ting cooed softly, without a trace of a CEO's demeanor, more like a young girl in love.
Lin Sandie placed her thumbs on the area where Yan Ting's shoulders met her neck and began to massage with moderate pressure.
Yan Ting appeared smaller and more delicate than Lin Sandie, but at work, she was a decisive and formidable businesswoman whom everyone feared. Only in front of Lin Sandie did she display this girlish side. Anyone who saw her like this would surely be disillusioned.
"I brought salt and pepper shrimp today, your favorite. Want some?" Lin Sandie asked while massaging her. To save money, she usually brought her own lunch to the office.
"No, I have a lunch meeting." Yan Ting turned her head and lightly kissed Lin Sandie's cheek.
Lin Sandie's back muscles tensed. As Yan Ting had turned to approach her, her gaze had instinctively flickered past the edge of her glasses. For a split second, she saw a deathly pale figure, its face devoid of any features, as if covered by a thick, white plastic bag. Radiating from its mouthpart were cracks like black lightning. Then, she felt something like a piece of ice touch her cheek.
Through the lenses of her glasses, Lin Sandie once again saw Yan Ting's familiar face.
"You eat it then. I'll bring you back your favorite milk tea when I return," Yan Ting said, her red lips curving into a smile.
Lin Sandie forced her tense back to relax. She put on an innocent, worried expression. "President Yan, did your lipstick get on my face?"
Yan Ting giggled and pinched Lin Sandie's cheek.
"Nope. By the way, Feng Li resigned due to a family matter, so I'll be busier for a while."
"A reliable assistant is hard to find," Lin Sandie nodded, privately wondering if Feng Li was also dead. Given Feng Li's circumstances, she wouldn't normally quit such a high-paying job, and Yan Ting would never allow a secretary who knew so many of her private affairs to resign so easily.
After this bit of "quality time" with her girlfriend, Yan Ting, Lin Sandie returned to her desk, only to make another trip to the restroom. She wiped her face and hands with disinfectant wipes and reapplied her makeup. Throughout the entire process, her irises, which were a few shades lighter than average, showed no ripple of emotion.
Author's Notes
Note 1: PMC stands for Production Material Control. It refers to the control of production plans and progress, as well as the supervision and management of material planning, tracking, receiving, dispatching, storage, and usage, along with the prevention and handling of obsolete materials. (← Although the name is in English, it's not a particularly high-end job, and the certification is very difficult. Lin Sandie probably hasn't gotten hers yet...)
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