My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 2

For example, there was the issue of bonuses after the cap was set, and the upcoming work arrangements. Some employees realized that the radiant smile on Yang Hao's face seemed to foreshadow something good, but upon closer inspection, they didn't think it was because the messenger of natural disasters had accepted the manager's request and finally started living together.

...Most of the employees at this medium-sized engineering company knew about Yang Hao's long-term relationship with a certain messenger of natural disasters. They'd been dating for four years, and the Sarkaz Blood Demon still hadn't responded to his requests. So everyone assumed something good must have happened to make him so happy—but then again, none of them expected that Yang Hao's happiness today was because he finally saw a glimmer of hope for marriage.

...

A while later, Yang Hao, wearing a safety helmet and an orange vest with conspicuous green reflective stripes, arrived at the reporting point on the top floor. After a brief meeting, Yang Hao took a deep breath, drank a sip of coffee handed to him by his deputy, and then silently used his ability.

"...Phew. Work, work..."

The Originium Arts technique called "Puppet Stage," under Yang Hao's control, was limited to "this construction site." Now, "all the workers" on this construction site, and all the "officials" of lower rank than him, have become puppets.

They can't really be called puppets; they still possess self-awareness and emotions. However, in Yang Hao's eyes, they have become more "easily manipulated," and he can indeed permanently change these affected workers through the abilities brought by the "puppet stage."

As part of his routine use of his abilities, Yang Hao first glanced at the value representing [Resistance Level]. Seeing that the resistance level remained a stable [0], he nodded in satisfaction and looked at the next item—

"Huh? How did the stability drop from 100 to 90? Let me see... Ah, is there a contractual conflict between the crane operators and the higher-ups? Some workers haven't received their due bonuses?" Yang Hao blinked, cursing inwardly which clueless, corrupt administrator had embezzled the workers' bonuses. "Damn it... Never mind, let me check the resolution—just expend 5 political points to raise the welfare contract? Fine, it's not my money anyway..."

As the steward, Yang Hao receives 1 political point every day. These political points will be used as an important resource by Yang Hao after the Puppet Stage is opened.

Generally, he would use political points to increase worker stability and reduce their resistance, managing them effectively to secure more benefits and rights for himself. However, in emergency situations, such as last year's collective worker strike, he would use political points to incite conflict, forcing large Colombian companies to cede market share and profits.

Then, in order to secure his position as general manager, he even used political points to divide the workers and administrators into two factions—one supporting him and the other supporting another capable person. Now, only his people are left working in the company, and the CEO and the old-fashioned individuals above him have been completely sidelined. Perfect.

...And sometimes, when asked, he would use this ability to force some stubborn old men to escape the reach of natural disasters. That's another matter entirely.

So far, no one has discovered what exactly those worker groups, which sometimes unite as one and sometimes fight against each other, are all about. Yang Hao has also been very discreet, so he doesn't have to worry about being arrested for no reason.

However, he still rarely uses this ability, at least not outside of work. On one hand, using the [Puppet Stage] depletes his energy quickly. On the other hand, he's afraid—afraid that if he becomes increasingly reliant on the [Puppet Stage], he'll become a monster devoid of emotion.

After all, how should I put it?

"The human resources here—hiss...no, not human resources...Yang Hao, you have to remember, they're all living, breathing people..."

He slapped his forehead to regain his composure.

One of the burdens that the [Puppet Stage] brought to Yang Hao was that he gradually stopped seeing people as human beings. When using the [Puppet Stage], the [people] in front of Yang Hao completely transformed from individual, vibrant entities into a set of numbers.

Yang Hao could clearly see what a worker was good at—he was good at applying mortar, his mortar application skill was 6, and all his other skills were 1, so he should apply mortar. This was his thinking in the [Puppet Stage] mode.

On the other hand, this skilled plasterer has a daughter who is allergic to plaster. To prevent his family from falling apart due to plastering work, Yang Hao assigns him physically demanding jobs, but at least jobs involving moving wooden products that don't involve contact with plaster. This is his thinking under normal circumstances.

A group of workers represents 10 points of human resources. This is his view of a group of people in the "Puppet Stage" mode.

The group of workers included both old and young people, with all sorts of personalities and experiencing joys and sorrows. This was his perspective on the group under normal circumstances.

So, what can I say? Once he's determined that he no longer needs the help of the [Puppet Stage] for the day's work, he'll decisively shut down this ability to avoid it causing him too much trouble.

"...Alright—hey, assistant, I'm going to take a break. You keep an eye on things for me."

"Huh? Yes, yes. But Steward, lately you've been...?"

"Don't even mention it. Anyway, the CEO and those shareholders aren't going to come. After we seal the roof, let everyone rest for a bit. That's all."

Then he would find a place to slack off. Slacking off was great; only when he was slacking off did Yang Hao feel like he was at work—after all, you're only doing manual labor because you have to do it for money.

You do nothing, just laze around and make money, that's what working is all about! With that thought in mind, Yang Hao walked to his cubicle, lay down on the recliner that might later be used in a room in the building, and hummed a song to rest and recover the energy he had used up after using his abilities.

Chapter Four

Meanwhile, in the territory of Duke Cosice of Ursus, Duke Cosice was also keeping a close eye on intelligence from Colombia.

Just last night, she sent her [Serpent Scales] to Colombia to gather intelligence. Although Mr. Yang Hao didn't reveal much during yesterday's casual conversation, Koschke still found some clues in his words: these might become one of the clues for Koschke to locate him and conduct [investigation].

This was definitely not because Duke Kosiché had actually developed any romantic interest in the man. She was simply very curious about how he had managed to send the phone so quietly, without anyone knowing.

That's all she cares about.

"Your Grace, here is the message you requested." A serpent-scaled figure approached silently from behind, respectfully bowing and handing over a sealed letter. "Our people have infiltrated Colombia. However, we do not know their exact location."

"Is that so? Communication between the states of Colombia isn't as closed off as in Ursus. As a young country, they're full of energy, nothing like the little Philippine city of Victoria," Duke Cosice chuckled darkly, taking the letter and opening it to scan its contents. "You should be able to find his location relatively quickly. Or is it that you can't get there?"

“No, we can move freely in any city within Colombia. But the company that gentleman works for is too special, located near the disputed border between Bolivar and Colombia—we need time to be fully prepared.”

"so be it."

The snake scales disappeared silently. Duke Kosiché looked at the intelligence in his hand regarding Yang Hao's company and fell into deep thought.

Yang Hao works for a medium-sized engineering company called "Haier Brothers," which is one of the emerging companies in Colombia. In the less than eight years since the company was founded, the addition of a man named Yang Hao has brought about tremendous changes to the company.

To use a metaphor, the Haier team four years ago was like dough fermenting normally; the longer it fermented, the more it expanded. But not long after Yang Hao joined the company, it transformed from that expanding dough into... something strange.

Four years ago, Haier was a normal capitalist enterprise, and it was perfectly acceptable for them to exploit their employees. But now, has Haier become a charitable enterprise?

"Interesting. Among hundreds of companies, Haier has become the first to proactively purchase insurance for its workers and fulfill its obligations? Even their recruitment contracts aren't as thick as dozens of pages as other companies'?" Kosiché looked at the information on the letter with interest, muttering to himself. "It seems my blind date isn't the 'ordinary office worker' he described."

Without a doubt, it was Yang Hao who changed this company. To an ordinary person, this conclusion might seem far-fetched. But as an immortal being, as the undying black serpent, Koschke keenly noticed the connection between Yang Hao and events in the history of Haier Brothers Company.

Yang Hao was present at almost every major event. And not only was he present, but his role in each event was unique. For example, shortly after he joined the company, a strike occurred. During the strike, Yang Hao acted as a bridge between the lower-level workers and the middle management. Through his skillful rhetoric—that Koschl realized this was the result of some kind of Originium Arts—the workers and management reached a reconciliation, and this lower-level worker was transformed into a worker leader.

Then came the workers' strike in that city last year. In this event, her suitor was in a very delicate position: on the one hand, he was one of the leaders of the Haier Brothers workers; on the other hand, the person who issued the natural disaster warning—the catalyst for the strike—was the object of his affections. His superiors wanted him to stop the strike to maintain production, and he did.

Through direct negotiations with the city hall and the heads of major corporations, and with the entire city's workers behind him, he turned the tide, forcing large corporations to cede some market share and profits to the workers. They also immediately prepared to mitigate the impact of the natural disaster, canceling previously high-risk work plans. As a result, the city escaped the disaster's reach, workers no longer had to risk venturing into disaster-stricken areas to dig for raw materials and process them on-site, and while the corporations and government earned less money, they preserved their foundations. Without a doubt, Yang Hao became the city's savior.

And then? This man... wanted nothing? And strangely enough, no one seemed to have any complaints about what he did? No, that's impossible... Logically, the ignorant masses should have been jealous of his achievements, perhaps even doing something drastic... but nothing? Nothing at all?

If an attack had occurred, perhaps Kosiché would have taken it for granted. But nothing happened? Not even a single admirer or jealous person? That's very suspicious...

"Some kind of Originium Arts that can affect a large number of people?" Kosiché frowned, looking at the information written on a typewriter beneath the letter. "The workers standing behind him didn't object at all? Impossible... Even in the most stable teams, there are dissenters or dissenters. Is it brainwashing? But that doesn't make sense either... Brainwashing-type Originium Arts are easy to spot."

What happened next was even more outrageous. Under the influence of some unknown force, the headquarters of the Haier Brothers in that city was suddenly and unexpectedly divided into two camps.

One camp supported Yang Hao, while the other supported a man from Ursus named Nittaki. The ultimate victor was Yang Hao, who became the sole manager of the Haier brothers, with even the CEO and shareholders above him supporting him.

And what about the other group? The Serpent Scales found no trace of their existence...literally. They vanished, disappeared without a trace, not long after their defeat.

"It seems this Mr. Yang Hao is more capable than I imagined." After reading the last word, Kosiché grinned sinisterly. "I'm looking forward to tonight's 'chat'."

Kosiché was originally only interested in the [teleportation] ability.

But she now admits that she is very interested in this blind date.

chapter Five

That evening, not long after Yang Hao finished his hard work of "slacking off" and went to a bar for dinner and drinks with his subordinates, he received a vibration from his phone.

Is it that immortal black serpent—ah, is it Miss Koschie? He jolted awake, leaping out of bed as he suddenly remembered that their routine exchange for the day hadn't even begun yet.

"Oh no, oh no, this should have been initiated by me, the guy..." Yang Hao muttered to himself as he searched the bed for his phone, which he'd tossed somewhere. "Hopefully, it won't keep people waiting—wait, here it is. Wait, this is a regular message, not from that matchmaking app..."

Yang Hao found his phone under his pillow—heaven knows why he had been running around the bed just now. But even though he found his phone, he discovered that the text message wasn't from Miss Koschitch, but an email from someone else...

【haven't seen you for a long time!

How's things in the city lately? The wilderness, on the other hand, remains the same. Countless people head to the city every day, while countless others, unable to find work, are forced to eke out a living in the desolate wilderness. Fortunately, they don't carry much luggage, so they can escape quickly if the next natural disaster strikes.

The next natural disaster might block the city's path. Can you help me? You know my Originium Arts aren't very credible in their eyes, but every predicted disaster has arrived right on time... Please help me again? I'll give you a satisfactory reward.

Also, I plan to come back in a while. I still have a lot of smoked meat that someone gave me when I was working last time, but I don't like that kind of food... Would you like to come and eat with me? It would be best if you could bring some blood with you!

Although I wouldn't mind just drawing blood directly from your wrist.

Your friend, Margarita.

"...Margarita... huh?"

Margarita was a messenger of natural disasters whom Yang Hao knew. She was the object of his affections and also the Sarkaz Blood Demon whom he rescued from a natural disaster when he first came to this world.

Their relationship... perhaps Yang Hao had a big misunderstanding in the past. At least in his eyes now, their relationship was probably not good enough to be able to spend their lives together.

Perhaps Margarita's feelings for him were only at the level of "close friend" or "friends for life"? Sigh, but thinking about it, maybe I overestimated my past actions.

It was just pulling a young girl [old woman?] out of her depressed world... it shouldn't have led to that kind of relationship.

Thinking of this, Yang Hao sighed heavily. Since their relationship was nothing more than friendship but also romance, there was no need for him to speak ill of her or reveal that he was on a blind date.

Let me know when you get back, I'd like to come over and mooch some meat.

After sending the message, Yang Hao sighed. He shifted his attention from Margarita to the marriage agency app—after all, it was indeed better for him to message Ms. Koschitch first. After all, she was a woman, even if she was some kind of public figure…

Um... Your Excellency... Your Excellency, or Lord?

Yang Hao blinked. He didn't know much about Ursus; he still thought that titles like that could be bought with money—like in a certain state in Colombia, where if you had money, you could declare yourself king and nobody would care. Was Ursus really like that? He wasn't sure.

"Let me send Ms. Kosiché a greeting message first."

He muttered something to himself. He began to work hard for his love life and career.

...

Meanwhile, in the wilderness more than ten kilometers away from the city, Margarita, the messenger of the Cataclysm and also living as a Sarkaz Blood Demon, breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Yang Hao's reply.

After sending out the reply with a few quick clicks, Margarita was finally able to refocus her attention on the work at hand.

"Phew... Ugh... What am I going to do when I get back..."

With her long, gray hair tied in a ponytail, she sat on one of the scattered stones in the wasteland, murmuring to herself. As a messenger of the Scourge and also a Sarkaz blood demon, she had always harbored a secret: she didn't know how to face the man who had saved her.

how to say?

She is a Sarkaz Blood Demon. Sarkaz Blood Demons have a bad reputation in the outside world, and even now, Margarita basically hides her racial identity when she acts in the outside world—but Yang Hao's friends know her identity, so she is quite grateful that they do not discriminate against her.

But this became a point of concern for Margarita... This is the Sarkaz Blood Demon, you know?

Even among the Sarkaz, who are often demonized, the Blood Demons are the most infamous. To outsiders, they are creatures who roam the night, feed on the blood of others, and commit countless atrocities... Blood Demons, huh?

Margarita is at least able to distinguish between food and ordinary people... although to most of her kind, ordinary people and food are pretty much the same.

But for Margarita, whether she can distinguish food or not doesn't prevent the bad reputation of her clan from becoming a major problem... Can you believe that someone who has ties with the Blood Demon is an ordinary person? Definitely not! Since he's already mixed up with the Blood Demon, does that mean he also feeds on blood and might even kill indiscriminately?

Ordinary people are indeed that...foolish. But this is only one of the reasons why Margarita hesitated or even ran away when faced with Yang Hao's pursuit.

"Ugh... Why is it that I just can't find a job other than being a messenger of natural disasters..."

The most important reason is that she is a messenger of natural disasters, a messenger of natural disasters who operates in the wilderness, and the only job she can find is that of a messenger of natural disasters...

Yang Hao, on the other hand, is a city dweller and the manager of a city engineering company. He might not leave the city even once in over a decade. If they were to actually form a family as Margarita imagines, her worst fears might come true.

That is, because of the special nature of her profession, she was often separated from him, and finally broke up because of the long-term coldness in their relationship.

"I don't want to be the one without job protection... I don't want to hold others back..."

...

Fortunately, nothing like that has happened yet, right? Margarita felt that she could still work hard for a while longer.

She felt that she should wait until she could find a job other than being a natural disaster messenger, or become a famous natural disaster messenger, so that she could still have a stable income after retirement, before expressing her feelings to Yang Hao.

"But at least I have to wait a few more years... Waaah... He should be able to wait for me a little longer, right?"

Margarita has her own plans.

But she forgot that Yang Hao was not a long-lived Sarkaz.

Chapter Six

So, you're a company executive at Columbia?

"Yes. Being a general manager is pretty good for me. Although it might be a small position compared to yours... I do have some experience in managing people."

How should I phrase my conversation with Miss Kosiché? Yang Hao felt a lot of pressure...

On the one hand, he didn't know Miss Koschche. He was like someone trying to clear a minefield without a mine detector, crawling forward cautiously, one step at a time, knowing he might accidentally step on a landmine and be blown to pieces. This relationship was doomed from the very beginning.

So he had to be careful not to accidentally step on Miss Koschich's landmines during their conversation. But as the saying goes, not having a mine detector to defuse a mine is suicide; if he didn't take the initiative, he'd eventually be dragged into Miss Koschich's scheme...

At that point, it wouldn't be a question of whether he stepped on a landmine or not, but rather whether landmines would be thrown at his face. So, after much deliberation, and at Ms. Koschke's suggestion, Yang Hao gritted his teeth and decided to have a brief chat about their work.

After all, he's the steward and she's the duke. Although their status and workload differ slightly, aren't they essentially both managing human resources? At least they have some common ground to discuss these things, don't they?

[Human resource management?] Miss Kosiché seemed quite interested in this, even shortening the intervals between her text messages considerably. [As far as I know, human resource management is simply about assigning subjects or officials skilled in certain tasks to suitable positions. But figuring out what they are good at is the most important thing. Not to mention, when you have millions of subjects, it's even more impossible to figure out the right position for each of them individually.]

This is true. When you have to manage an increasing number of people, the best management method is not to get to know each of your subordinates one by one, but to select "talent scouts" while ensuring that power remains centralized, letting them "recognize talent" and handle these messy and massive human resource matters.

Those in high positions should focus on more important matters. However, discerning mentors and excellent horses are rare, so after much consideration, the "middle way" of having everyone do what everyone can do is a viable solution.

But would Miss Kosiché like this approach? Yang Hao shook his head and muttered to himself:

"Miss Koschei is a duke, after all. Putting aside dukes who just loaf around and wait to die, anyone who normally reaches this position wouldn't like a 'moderate' approach, right? She might prefer a more radical, but definitely effective, management method for governing her subjects? Hmm... I guess so?"

Of course, Miss Kosiché might also be a conservative, content as long as her subjects have enough to eat and are not hungry—this conflicts with radical reformists, and she happens to have three different answers. What should she do?