The Contract

Hao Ren had a dreamHe hoped of becoming a warrior. Having superhuman powers, he would travel the world, upholding justice and protecting all four corners of the world without fearing.

Hao Qiang. He would be loved by all the people and become a hero in due time.

Oh, that was when Hao Ren was nine - it was ages ago. Also, his perception of the ‘four corners of the world’ then was limited to the radius of Nan Jiao Elementary School and a couple of streets nearby. Also, Hao Qiang was his class teacher.

In the past couple of years, similar to most of the people then, Hao Ren’s noble ambitions had dwindled to things more realistic: having a higher than average salary, getting married to a above than average woman, having one or two children that are better than the average kids; buying a decent house (which is not much of a worry as he already had one. Those where the things he thought would make up his life – up till this moment.

The turning point of his life was inching closer, Hao Ren could literally feel as if an entirely different future was laid out right in front of him. Looking to the self-proclaimed, but seemingly queer Goddess in front of his eyes, he nodded. "Alright, I promise."

There was not a shade of surprise on Raven 12345’s face, it seemed that she had gotten quite used to this kind of situation. Also, she already knew what Hao Ren’s answer would be before he even say it and she just nodded her head. "Yes. From now on you will be on probation as a junior examiner in the Space Administration. The welfare that you’ll be receiving will be similar to part-time trainees outside the administration....."

Hao Ren replied, "... Please don’t go into the details. I’ve had a hard time picking up the courage to do this!"

Raven 12345 seemed to smile upon seeing the worried and lost Hao Ren. "Don’t worry. We’re not evil, we maintain universal peace. Don’t you think it’s a very noble job? If I were to look for an assistant in another galaxy, I would have people queuing up the mountains and sea. It’s just that planet earth is at such a state of godlessness, that’s why I did not get myself involve all this while. And since I had to look for an assistant now, I can only keep a low profile while doing it. So don’t be embarrassed of your job because of this..."

Hao Ren muttered. "Why do I feel that you do not sound like a God? Gods behave this way?"

"Sigh…. It’s not just you, even I myself am not used to this title." answered Raven 12345 with a carefree tone which surprised Hao Ren as she swung her hands. "We’ve only changed our title in these recent years, we were not called Gods prior to this. I you prefer, you can address us as Xi Ling disciples. That was our clan name, and being God is actually our job."

"Xi Ling disciples?" Hao Ren asked as he tried to take in this new bizarre term. "It still does not sound right…. What should I normally address you? Royal Goddess??"

Hao Ren was lost for words: if this woman was a self-proclaimed God, he should address her as a Royal Goddess, but that did not seemed right at all. From their conversation so far, Raven 12345 reminded him of an elderly sister, having a casual chat with him in the supermarket. So this was how Goddesses supposed to be like?

"Well, I’m not saying that you have to have a halo behind you but at least do not fiddle your fingers whilst talking?!?!"

Raven 12345 took no notice of this matter and continued fiddling away with her fingers whilst nodding her head at Hao Ren. "Well, I’m not used to this title. Just call me by my name, or call me 12345."

"...…..that is worse… that is not a human name at all...." Hao Ren was speechless.

After that, Raven 12345 went into the details of Hao Ren’s future ‘career’. There was actually not much to it, it was just about how he should continue to welcome bizarre guests into his home. Since he already had a werewolf and a vampire in his house, Hao Ren thought to himself that a few extra abnormal creatures would not be a problem - well, as long as the new guests wereas easy going as the current two.

"Don’t worry," Raven 12345 reassured Hao Ren while thumping on her chest. "We’re quite concerned about our worker’s welfare, so we will not endanger you in any way. The ones sent to you would have already passed some ‘tests’. This is your current mission and for now, leave the other matters to those concerned. About some other situations that you may face... we’ll only discuss those when you’ve come to face them. Are there any more questions?"

Reluctantly, Hao Ren finally blurted out what was troubling him the most. "Then.... What about Lily? You did not arrange that?"

"No. As I’ve already mentioned, only the new guests coming from today onwards are arranged by the administration. The werewolf.... take it as your fate since she was the one who found you. Also, you seemed to be getting used to this pretty well, that’s why I chose you. Normal people cannot accept this, hence I was looking for someone who can cope with these challenges and bizarre events to be my assistant."

"I just have to take good care of the welfare of these ‘guests’ right? So, where do we draw the line on ‘taking good care’ of their welfare? Worship them like my ancestors?"

"That’s unnecessary. All you have to do is to prevent them from causing trouble. The main goal for all missions are to let human civilization develop and grow the way it’s supposed to. Humans do not need to come in contact with things that have a different direction to their civilization’s development. These things can cause humans to have misconceptions regarding their own cosmic laws. As humans have short lifespan, misconceptions in one or two generations can lead to the destruction of the development and civilization attained for the past hundreds of years, and of course this will also greatly affect the future - judging by your expression I guess you’re already confused with all these things, I’ll just briefly explain the rest." As Raven 12345 was talking to Hao Ren, she took a stack of papers out from the drawer.

"In a nutshell you’re a junior employee as well as a temporary one. You do not need to know about the complicated things and even if you do know about them, you would not be able to handle them. When the time comes I’ll tell you more. Please do not worry, I have no bad intentions. Let’s sign the contract....."

Hao Ren felt that the other party was still hiding a lot of things from him. However, he had no choice as Raven 12345 seemed to be a woman of discipline although she was easy going. She would not reveal something that she’s not supposed to. Also, Hao Ren knew that there was no need to rush things, it is better to be more careful when he was still unclear about the situation.

Hao Ren sensed that he was being tricked but he did not have the courage to escape- he was sure he was no match for any of the creatures in this place, the fog-like creature included.

He was shocked looking at the contract in front of him. The words can be easily understood, but the contents did not make sense: "Appointment Letter for Trainee Examiner - Space Administration of Xi Ling Kingdom" was the title followed by the subheading "Xi Ling Celestial Family Alliance Agreement" and another subheading "Related Documents for Temporary Employees Working at the Civil Division" below it. In addition, a line of tiny words were written below: 106th Edition, Re-edition, Revised edition, Final Edition, the ‘absolutely won’t be revised’ Edition. Apparently, even the queen herself will not be able to revise this contract easily- it was hand-written by the kingdom’s head of state himself, each department was very careful with their work.

The main body of the contract was written below, the job scope and attendance system can be easily understood. It was also stated that the newly joined employees’ rank was similar to that of the bishops, hallowed scions and agents. It was noted that this was in accordance to the degree of civilization of the employee’s work place and this was to ease the new employee to orientate oneself into one’s community.

What was written after that shocked Hao Ren: The highest order of the Xi Ling Celestial Family clearly stated that, the newly appointed examiner in charge of those wanting to convert (in other civilizations they are referred to as prophets, the first chosen one to have an epiphany) shall enjoy a worker’s welfare which includes: receiving staples during festivities and gifts during Spring festival as well as monthly reimbursements. According to where one is at, the welfare given shall be arranged by the local God responsible.

Upon seeing the contract, Hao Ren’s eyes were filled with tears. He found the contract somewhat familiar, very much familiar in fact....

"How’s it? The welfare offered is quite good right?" Raven 12345 asked. "I know you weren’t interested in the welfare just now. After my many encounters with all kinds of lifeforms, most of them would feel weird reading this contract as they felt that they should be volunteering when it comes to working for God. However, the administration doesn’t work this way. A few experienced bosses came up with this contract, saying that humans are more used to this contract. Sign it if you do not have any other suggestions."

Hao Ren could only remain speechless...

He decided to not believe in TV programs and novels anymore for the rest of his life!!!