As the scenery beneath their feet gradually faded away, the transparent platform under Zhou Zhuang restarted, gliding forward along the corridor.
Zhou Zhuang stared blankly ahead. Outwardly, he looked like he was spacing out—yet inside, his thoughts were buzzing, stirred up by what Malkuth had just said.
Malkuth's right. I've got a company this absurdly overpowered. Even if I still don't understand all its functions, one thing is certain: any wild, outlandish idea I have… this company can probably make it real.
"Mmm…"
Zhou Zhuang slapped his thigh.
"Angela! I've decided!"
He declared it loudly.
"Our company's special event will be a massive game-like trial! Just like the one Malkuth set up earlier—"
Then he noticed something from the corner of his eye.
"Huh? Angela, what are you writing?"
Because while he was proclaiming his world-shaking wisdom, Angela had somehow produced a notebook and pen from who-knows-where and was writing busily.
When the manager asked, Angela finally lifted her gaze from the notes and looked at him.
"Manager. I'm writing a brief outline of the plan you proposed."
"…Huh?"
Zhou Zhuang was about to say he'd only been talking nonsense, but then he hesitated.
A dream was still a dream—even if it was unlikely. And what if… just what if it really could be done?
"Wait. Angela—serious question. Can ideas like that actually be implemented?"
Angela didn't answer him directly.
"Manager… haven't you already seen the results?"
Zhou Zhuang's mind snapped instantly to 'Lobotomy Line No. 1.'
"Those monsters were real?!"
He was genuinely shaken.
"I thought the monsters Malkuth used for sparring were just some high-tech constructs—are you telling me they were actually real?"
He replayed the scene he'd just witnessed.
Now that he thought about it, the way those bodies pulsed like living flesh, the way they flinched under attacks… it really didn't feel mechanical.
But he'd only realized that because Angela explicitly told him they weren't machines. If she hadn't, he would've confidently chalked it up to "company black tech."
Yeah… this company is nothing but mysteries.
Zhou Zhuang's face twisted into a thoroughly ugly, greedy grin.
After all, he was the boss of this company.
"Heh heh heh…"
The smile grew more unrestrained.
Beside him, Angela continued writing. She recorded the manager's strange new ideas, then trimmed some bloated parts, edited others, and filled in a few empty gaps.
Suddenly, her pen stopped.
Angela looked up, scanned the surroundings, and reminded him:
"Manager. We've arrived."
Zhou Zhuang—whose grin had nearly reached his ears—snapped back to reality. He wiped a few drops of drool off the corner of his mouth.
"Ah? Which department head are we at now?"
He looked around.
"This is the security department… which you have not yet unlocked."
Zhou Zhuang froze.
A memory surfaced from the cafeteria incident two days ago.
He asked carefully, "Then how's Netzach doing now? Didn't he get punished and have his emotions stripped away?"
Angela didn't respond with words. She simply pointed behind him.
"Manager, see for yourself."
Zhou Zhuang lowered his head and took a deep breath, rapidly flashing through every "restricted" kind of scene his imagination could conjure—trying to mentally brace himself for the worst.
Then he whipped around.
"…Huh?"
What he saw completely broke his expectations.
Instead of anything scandalous, it was a neat, immaculate office.
Inside, a dignified man with his hair tied up walked back and forth, expression blank—Netzach, utterly devoid of emotional fluctuation.
He kept glancing at a report in his hand while organizing documents and verifying something on the computer.
After confirming everything, Netzach bundled the files, categorized them, and placed them onto a floating machine nearby.
Angela stepped beside Zhou Zhuang and calmly explained:
"Manager. After Netzach was stripped of emotion, his work efficiency increased from five percent to one hundred twenty percent. Efficiency and speed are now the defining traits of his current state."
Zhou Zhuang stared at Netzach while listening. The sheer contrast was so extreme he almost didn't believe what he was seeing.
"So… this punishment is basically a positive buff for Netzach?"
Zhou Zhuang turned his head, but his eyes stayed locked on "Net."
"For the company, it's positive," Angela said flatly. "For him, it is not."
"…Fair."
Zhou Zhuang nodded. Given Netzach's personality (and his game version), that tracked.
Then he frowned, thinking back.
"By the way, Angela… what exactly did Net do back then that got him stripped of emotion?"
He realized he'd forgotten the key detail.
"Manager. At the time, Netzach privately added Enkephalin to the alcohol he offered you."
"Huh?"
Zhou Zhuang tried to reassemble that scene in his head.
"Mm… yeah, that does sound like something that happened."
He vaguely remembered Net trying to hand him a bottle of something.
But the specific details were gone, like a corrupted save file.
"Damn it…"
Zhou Zhuang smacked his own head.
"This stupid old problem—why do I always forget the important parts?"
Then he latched onto hope again.
"Angela—does the company have any method to improve memory? Or some kind of full-body enhancement?"
He was reaching for the classic "newbie package" fantasy.
Sure, it'd been three days already, but—who said starter gifts expired? At least, novels never mentioned that part…
Angela shook her head.
"Manager. Any convenient method—like enhancing with LOB points—comes with a cost that cannot be ignored."
"Everything is an equal exchange. If you gain something, you will certainly lose something."
"…That's true."
Zhou Zhuang nodded. Reality wasn't like fiction, where a single sentence could skip all effort and time.
He sighed.
"Then I'll just train slowly myself."
He looked at the hyper-efficient Netzach one more time.
I'll remove your punishment as soon as possible. Wait for me.
Then Zhou Zhuang turned to Angela.
"Let's go. Angela—so the last one is Binah, right?"
He thought through the department heads currently awake. Only "Lock Mom" hadn't been met yet.
"Yes, Manager."
Angela nodded, and the platform continued forward.
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it