Chapter 101: Qianli

If such an old woman really existed, no matter how vigilant Shi Jiang and her team were, it might still be useless.

That was already a supernatural being.

Instinctively, Qin Qing didn’t believe she was hostile.

The question was, why could such a being not be captured on surveillance cameras, not be sensed by Shi Jiang, and yet be seen with Lin Feng’s own eyes?

She went to check Lin Feng’s System Panel and found no innate talent or potential different from Shi Jiang’s.

If the breakthrough point wasn’t Lin Feng, then it must lie with the old woman—or with Qin Qing herself.

If that was the case, then think about it from another angle.

Could it be that the old woman intentionally let Lin Feng see her, deliberately exposing a flaw?

Then what was the purpose? Was she trying to convey some kind of message?

What message?

To whom?

Obviously, to Qin Qing.

Had she ever seen an old woman in a silver shirt and purple robe before?

Qin Qing checked her own System Panel Log, trying to dig out any anomalies between the lines—but found nothing.

Her logs showed clear skies and smooth sailing.

Great. Just another day pretending to be a normal person.

A normal person who just got handed a “good person card” today.

By someone who was clearly not normal.

Yang Guangmei.

She went insane the day after Double 11 last year. Found Studio was hired to perform an exorcism.

Large portions of her logs were blank. Qin Qing couldn’t read them and had to let her suffer amnesia. Later, she left her a prediction crystal.

Since then, Qin Qing hadn’t received any calls from her saying the crystal changed color. She assumed everything was fine.

But that day, Yang Guangmei and her husband Zhou Lin came directly to the studio, bringing lavish gifts to express their thanks.

The reason? That crystal had supposedly saved Yang Guangmei’s life.

Qin Qing: “…”

Don’t be ridiculous. That crystal only displays the background color of the System Panel in real-time.

This felt like a setup.

Yang Guangmei murmured something to her husband, and Zhou Lin left the room.

Only Qin Qing and Yang Guangmei were left in the office.

Yang Guangmei was in much better shape than when she had gone mad, but still seemed off compared to normal people.

Constantly alert, visibly stressed.

Backtracking through the System Panel, Qin Qing saw another blank area on the night of February 12.

Aside from that, a new field had appeared in Yang Guangmei’s basic info: Spiritual Power.

Her value was 38—not very high.

At this point—

A popup appeared on Qin Qing’s own System Panel.

[Due to external stimulus, Spiritual Power counter activated early.]

Then her own basic info section now displayed the Spiritual Power field.

[Spiritual Power: 720 (Growing)]

[Reminder: Cradle Holder, do not forcibly read information from entities with higher Spiritual Power than your own. In such cases, to protect the Cradle Holder, the Cradle will enter passive swaddling sleep mode.]

!!!

It was the first time Qin Qing had seen a value over 100.

She had always thought 100 was the max.

And the gap with Yang Guangmei’s value was massive.

Listening to Yang Guangmei talk, Qin Qing was only half paying attention.

She was jotting down the names of other studio colleagues in her notebook—none of them displayed a Spiritual Power value.

According to the System Panel’s message, maybe it was because all of them had values lower than hers—no risk, no need to display?

She refocused on Yang Guangmei.

All she heard was: “A while ago, I was in danger—almost died. A lady saw the beads on my hand and recognized I was under your protection, Master. Only then did she help me and save my life.”

“A lady?”

It had been a long time since Qin Qing felt so left out of the story.

That feeling of “you know something I don’t” was really uncomfortable.

Yang Guangmei: “Yes, she claimed to be your clan sister.”

Qin Qing could tell Yang Guangmei’s visit wasn’t just about gratitude—she was also testing her.

How could Qin Qing not know she had such an amazing clan sister?

But she couldn’t let Yang Guangmei figure anything out.

So she played along: “Oh, her? Haven’t seen her in a while. How is she doing lately?”

Yang Guangmei, unsuspecting, replied: “She’s doing great. Opened a restaurant—very well-reviewed and not too busy.”

She added, “The food’s expensive, but she generously gave me several life-saving items.”

The more Qin Qing listened, the more confused she became.

But she wasn’t stupid.

“Don’t worry too much. To her, that’s nothing.”

“All thanks to you, Master.”

Qin Qing wanted to probe further, but Yang Guangmei had nothing more to offer.

She turned back to the hidden information on the System Panel and made another wish.

The price was still the same as before.

[Read Yang Guangmei’s hidden log: 1000 merit points. Proceed with exchange?]

Heh. She only had just over 200 points now.

But this time, the System Panel gave another possibility.

[When Cradle Holder’s Spiritual Power ≥ 1000, hidden information can be viewed for free.]

Still far out of reach.

But from Yang Guangmei’s fragmented words, Qin Qing made some guesses about the hidden logs.

And the timing of the hidden logs was curious.

First time: November 12.

Second time: February 12.

Exactly three months apart.

She wondered if something similar would happen on May 12.

Qin Qing suspected that during those hidden log periods, Yang Guangmei’s consciousness went through something.

As for how? That was unknown.

Too far-fetched?

Qin Qing didn’t think so. The System Panel was already that powerful, and her Spiritual Power was only 720.

The entity responsible for the Yang Guangmei incident had a Spiritual Power higher than 1000.

When something as unscientific as the System Panel existed, anything was possible.

Shi Jiang knocked on the door. “Boss.”

“Come in,” Qin Qing said. “Any findings?”

When the Yang Guangmei couple left, she had messaged Shi Jiang to follow them for a bit.

Shi Jiang: “Two things.”

“One, Yang Guangmei fears you. She said, ‘Master Qin is not who she appears to be. To be close with someone like that, she must be a terrifying being herself.’”

“Two, she’s hiding key information from her husband. He’s irritated and angry. Her excuse was, ‘If I say it, I’ll die.’”

Qin Qing: “Anything else?”

“That’s it. The rest was just meaningless rambling out of fear.”

Everywhere she turned, there were mysteries. One unsolved, and another appeared.

With the System Panel in hand, Qin Qing knew more than others—but also had more questions.

Qin Fanghao pushed the door open. “Boss, we’ve got a special case that needs your review.”

“Rush job?”

“Sort of…”

The commission wasn’t from an individual—it came from a company.

Qianli Technology.

Commonly known as “Qianli Network.”

Qianli Network was a rising star in the domestic job-hunting scene over the past few years.

Its fame came from great reviews and its powerful data algorithm.

As a newcomer, it managed to take market share from several established recruiting sites, thanks to its core algorithm model.

Unlike other job sites, employers didn’t have to sift through piles of resumes, and job seekers didn’t have to cast thousands of lines with no response.

Qianli Network could almost perfectly match employers and candidates—nicknamed the “soulmate engine” of recruitment, with people even urging it to start a dating platform.

According to Yundata, after submitting a resume, the chance of being invited to interview was as high as 96%. The interview success rate was 68%.

In short, theoretically, job seekers only needed to submit two resumes to find their ideal job.

How did it achieve this?

First, it verified the employer’s credentials—certificates, job growth potential, company history, social security records, past labor arbitration cases, and any fines.

It also verified the candidate’s qualifications.

Then, the system would recommend relatively optimal matches to both parties based on browsing behavior.

Finally, before the actual interview, the platform facilitated a preliminary AI interview for initial assessment.

Saved both parties a lot of unnecessary time.

What netizens loved even more was its human touch—like informing job seekers whether a position’s salary was high or low compared to similar roles in the same industry.

It would also bluntly tell those with unrealistic expectations, “With your current capabilities, you are not qualified for a high-paying, low-workload job close to home.”

It effectively helped both sides avoid common recruitment scams—something people loved and hated at the same time.

In short, joining Qianli Network meant stepping into the big leagues.

This rising star in the industry relied on iterative algorithms to take the lead, and its data performance in recent years has been overwhelming its competitors.

Now, the reason for their in-person request was that Qianli Network had suffered a hacker attack and hadn’t resumed normal operations for nearly 50 hours.

Qin Qing logged onto social media.

The hashtag #QianliNetworkServerCrash was still trending.

The server crash was the official excuse for their blank homepage.

But judging from online comments, most were speculating whether the site had been shut down by regulatory authorities.

Very few suspected a hacker.

However, there was nothing Qin Qing could do about it either.

“Turn them down. I’m not a hacker. What, do they expect me to counter-hack for them?”

Qin Fanghao left the office after receiving her reply.

He returned five minutes later and said, “The client contact is requesting to speak with you directly.”

Qin Qing took the call.

She could tell right away the person on the other end was panicked.

“Hello, Ms. Qin. You already understand the situation and its severity, so I won’t repeat myself. We hope you can help. The company has reported it to the police, but neither our tech team nor the authorities have made any progress. The attacker’s behavior is extremely malicious. It’s our company today—who knows who’ll be next? This person must be found and punished.”

Qin Qing said, “It’s not that I won’t help. I just really can’t find them.”

“Please don’t worry about the commission. We’ll keep your identity completely confidential. You only need to provide a lead or a location, just like your studio does with missing pets. And the police will handle the rest—you won’t be implicated.”

“It’s not about the commission. Pets have lived with their owners—I have a medium to trace them. But this hacker has no connection to your company. I have no medium to use.”

Qin Qing patiently explained.

Realizing it was truly impossible, the caller had no choice but to hang up and look for another solution.

Qin Qing continued to keep an eye on the incident. On the third day after she declined the job, Qianli Network resumed operations in the early morning.

She thought that was the end of it.

But two weeks later, Qianli Network was trending again while still in operation.

Eight of the top ten hot search topics were about them. The other two were ads.

The discussion focused on “Qianli Network’s discrimination against men.”

Apparently, after the hacker attack, Qianli Network had not been fully repaired, and the attacker was still interfering with operations.

Many male job seekers found themselves unable to submit résumés, or if they did, they were automatically rejected by the algorithm and never seen by employers.

Not only were their résumés rejected, but the algorithm even gave snarky, mocking reasons.

When Qin Qing saw the rejection reasons shared by netizens, she was amazed.

“During paternity leave, child under 6 months old, over 20 hours/week of gaming, low sense of family responsibility → low overall responsibility → questionable role responsibility fit.”

“35 years old, unmarried, no children, job stability questionable. Suggested to submit proof of vasectomy to improve competitiveness.”

“Frequent ‘dad-speak’ in personal statement. Assessed ‘dad-vibe’ at 65%. Triggers ‘All talk, no action’ tag. Unfavorable for team collaboration.”

“Divorced. Must submit ex-wife’s letter of recommendation to pass character assessment before reapplying.”

……

Qin Qing found it particularly amusing—these rejection reasons didn’t seem completely baseless either.

She received another commission invitation from Qianli Network.

The contact emphasized that she must come in person, and regardless of the outcome, the commission would be ten times higher than the first offer.