Fu Chen frowned and quickly shook his head, "No, no, no, I think this line of thinking is absolutely going in the wrong direction.

"This game has arranged a layoff function, but that doesn’t mean we must use it.

"How do you know these virtual employees won’t play some role in the future or activate some hidden mechanism? The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novᴇlfire.net

"This might be a trap.

"What if, like the ’King’s Judgement,’ they give us a fairness vote at the end and arrange for us to be hanged from a lamppost? Wouldn’t that be the end?

"In reality, as working employees, we all deeply hate layoffs. How is it different when we’re in a game?"

Xu Tong picked up the ID card hanging from her chest, "But it says here that we are performing.

"Performing as CEO, performing as executives, the ultimate goal is to keep the company alive. If the company goes bankrupt, then we can’t protect any employees."

Fu Chen still disagreed, "Performing isn’t simply imitating a role, but transcending it.

"This is a judgment game. What judgment game can pass smoothly without accepting any moral examination?"

Xu Tong felt somewhat helpless and anxious.

Because she possessed information that neither Fu Chen nor Li Renshu had.

The judgment game required her to help Su Xiucen overcome her obsession, and the most core point was: learning to give up.

Xu Tong speculated that layoffs might also belong to some kind of giving-up behavior. Although it was a bit far-fetched, currently there really weren’t any more fitting operations to be found within the game.

Without being able to reveal the hidden mission, Xu Tong could only try to persuade the others to complete the layoff operation through other means.

Seeing the two arguing endlessly, Li Renshu looked at the time and quickly said, "Alright, let’s shelve this issue for now.

"The layoff matter indeed needs to be handled carefully.

"Like this, in the next round of the game, Xu Tong, you still stay at the company. You can research what specific roles these employees have, whether there’s any possibility they’re connected to existing mechanisms in the game.

"Also, you can prepare a layoff plan first, but don’t submit it.

"If in the upcoming games our company encounters financial crises that are difficult to solve and we must ensure healthy cash flow through layoffs, then we’ll submit this layoff plan."

Xu Tong nodded, "Alright, I understand."

Li Renshu came to the computer again to check the company’s data.

[Company 17 Limited]

[January company account balance: 90,000 minutes visa time]

[February estimated income: 100,000 minutes visa time]

[February estimated expenses: 81,000 minutes visa time]

"Estimated income decreased by 20,000... is it because of the economic winter’s impact? That means it will decrease by 20,000 every month.

"Soon there might be a situation where expenses exceed income..."

Li Renshu showed a grave expression.

Last month’s income minus expenses had about 40,000 surplus, so the account balance looked higher but this surplus was only temporary. As time passed and income decreased, this account balance would eventually run out.

Li Renshu and Fu Chen left the company and headed to the market research venue again.

Since the personnel going out for research hadn’t changed, there was no need to submit an application to the CEO again.

...

Fu Chen and Li Renshu went to the external venue again, while Xu Tong remained in her office, continuing to research what these virtual employees were actually useful for.

"Can’t tell which ones should be laid off and which shouldn’t.

"But this also shows that there must be some that can be laid off."

Xu Tong sighed quietly.

Based on her experience, there was definitely redundancy among these 20 employees. The only question was, according to the game mechanics, would layoffs trigger the company’s collapse, and if so, what was the specific number that would cause the collapse.

"The safest method is to lay off proportionally.

"Screen from employees in different departments with different salary levels, laying off 20%, which is 4 people."

Xu Tong carefully selected 4 virtual people from the 20-person list who looked like slackers.

She also knew that determining who was a slacker based solely on files was very unreliable behavior but from the current game situation, there wasn’t a better method.

If netizens were asked to do this problem, they would definitely suggest laying off the high-salary ones first.

After all, how much do bottom-level workers earn? Those measly amounts, how many would you need to lay off to equal one small supervisor’s salary?

Among these 20 employees, the lowest monthly salary was only 1,000 minutes visa time, while the highest was 10,000, a ten-fold difference.

Laying off ten workers earning 1,000 would only equal one small supervisor earning 10,000.

Xu Tong was also curious why certain virtual employees deserved such high salaries, consuming 10,000 minutes of visa time in one game round.

Players worked themselves to death, risking their lives, and in one game they only earned about 20,000 to 30,000 total but the problem was, those with high salaries might indeed be capable and indispensable.

What if laying off some key person caused the company to shut down directly? Wouldn’t that be the end?

So thinking it over, when unable to determine who was actually a slacker, proportional layoffs avoiding those with particularly high or low salaries was actually a safer choice.

Just then, Xu Tong suddenly noticed that virtual employee avatars had appeared on the ’Humanistic Care’ page.

She remembered this tab was empty before the game started. This seemed to be a new mechanism generated as the game rounds progressed.

These virtual employees were somewhat different from normal employees: they looked sallow and emaciated, gaunt, and had no salary, only ’Work Injury Medical Expenses. but these expenses also seemed to be counted in company expenditures.

The company’s current expenses had changed from 80,000 to 81,000.

"So as time passes, work-injured employees appear in company operations? Need money for treatment?"

Xu Tong hurriedly examined this carefully.

Currently there was only one employee, who appeared to be a young person. The illness column showed ’Liver Cancer,’ and the cure rate column showed ’50%.’

Clicking on it, two different treatment methods could be selected.

[Conventional Treatment: 1,000 minutes visa time/month.]

[Special Treatment: 5,000 minutes visa time/month.]

You could also choose direct [Layoff].

When this employee appeared, the system had already automatically selected the conventional treatment method.

If you wanted to change to special treatment or direct layoff, executives needed to operate on the page, submit to the CEO, and it would only take effect after CEO confirmation.

"This..."

Xu Tong thought seriously and decided not to act for now.

This operation was very likely related to the judgment task. It would be better to wait until Li Renshu and Fu Chen returned and discuss it before making a decision.

The default conventional treatment cost 1,000 per month. Although it was an additional expense, it was still within an acceptable range.

Xu Tong switched back to the employee page. Just then, a pop-up happened to appear on one employee’s avatar.

[An employee reports to you:]

[Among the top 3 provinces by number of cinemas, the average number of cinemas is approximately: 1,200.]

This pop-up had a 10-second countdown, and it automatically disappeared after 10 seconds.

Xu Tong was stunned. She wanted to get paper and pen to record this, but there was no paper or pen in the entire game space.

"So we can’t go paperless in the office..."

She could only temporarily memorize this data in her head.

At the same time, she specifically noted this employee’s avatar and name. It happened to be the employee earning 10,000 minutes visa time per month that she had been hesitating about whether to lay off.