"Angela... Uh, where is Angela?"
After seeing a bunch of 'Creatures' appear in the hallway, X's first reaction was to quickly press the [Pause] button, then turn around and ask her Secretary what kind of situation this was.
Although in her mind she was very clear that this was the 'Trial' that Malkuth had mentioned, but X would still unconsciously ask for help from her AI Secretary, asking about these things.
But when X turned around, she discovered that her AI Secretary was not around, probably because X was too focused on the manager, X basically did not notice that the AI Secretary had left at some point.
In short, she was not here now.
In X's impression, Angela would normally just wait in the Manager's room, only when she needed to find Dean or X for some reason would she leave, now... Did something happen?
The Deans are all busy, in the screen, Deans and employees are all working, so what is Angela... doing...?
Oh well, let's leave that aside for now.
Originally, whether there was an AI Secretary or not was the same, Angela would not help her, she would only be responsible for making a cup of coffee, the AI Secretary would be considered not being around, and would not affect X's work, perhaps even not being bound by points.
Because everything was on hold, X quickly found the location of those creatures, those clowns were doing something about the energy she had obtained.
And because X had previously ordered the Control Department's and Safety Department's employees to go to the location of the [Funeral of the Dead Butterflies], which meant that all the elite employees were in the Training Department, so the Control Department and Safety Department currently had no combat-capable employees, and the Clerks.
X immediately gave orders for the employees of the Control Department and Safety Department to return, but this would take time, normally speaking they wouldn't be able to return in time…..the monsters wouldn't stop killing people.
However...
"Er, what's going on?"
Before the elite employees returned, those clown-like monsters had been beaten to half their health by a group of Clerks.
Although the power of the bullets was limited, a group of Clerks firing together could indeed cause damage to the relatively 'weak' Abnormality, that was on the condition that they had enough courage to fight back...
Those Clerks are not official employees, no matter their temperament or fighting ability, they are almost considered insignificant, normally when they meet monsters, they will run away, they will not take action to face the monster.
And the bullets, were originally prepared to head towards their heads, not towards the monster....
And this time, the monster, probably because of its 'small' body and appearance not scary enough, moreover, it has not attacked people, giving the Clerks the courage to fight back.
These clowns, it seems like they only care about energy, they don't react to anything else, they don't attack people, they don't run around everywhere.
But...
"Sigh, it's stealing my energy! My energy! Right right right, quickly hit them, hit them to death!"
X [Pause] again, continuously checking but still didn't find any casualties, she also didn't find anyone going crazy or injured, but how could a monster be so harmless, it's ridiculous ah....
If they don't attack people, then they must have something special... Otherwise, how can it be called a 'trial'.
After a few times, X finally discovered that the energy was draining very quickly, just a little bit, the originally full energy immediately lost two squares...
The employee dying was fine, but the important thing was the energy, the energy was being stolen, X was anxious, she hated not being able to punch these clowns to death...!
Why don't you clowns kill the Clerks, why are you stealing my energy!?
Golden eyes stared at the clowns on the screen, heartbrokenly watching the energy fall, fortunately these clowns were also quickly dealt with by the returning employees.
And the most terrifying thing from these would be a series of chain reactions.
Fortunately the Abnormalities that X had now were all 'very lazy', even if they were affected, they wouldn't escape, even if they escaped, the threat wasn't great, so the loss of energy was already the lightest.
[ The Trial of Crimson Dawn ended, the energy was recovered ]
The energy loss returned, the energy was full, X who originally had an extremely cold expression because of anger suddenly revealed a smile, laughing extremely happily.
And when X let out a laugh, she immediately felt a rhythmic and very clear clapping sound.
At this time Angela returned, now she stood behind X, seemingly clapping for X to celebrate the success of the work.
[Manager, it seems you have successfully dealt with Ordeal, not bad.]
[When Qliphoth Meltdown collects the energy produced by Abnormalities, there will be an overflow of energy, and 'Ordeal' is the result after those excess energies gather...]
[Through suppressing the creatures materialized by excess energy, we can once again collect them, saving the wasted energy, so each Ordeal is not bad.]
Angela rubbed X's shoulder, while massaging it, she explained where 'Ordeal' came from and its specific effects.
Although Angela's technique was really great, each time she massaged she could comfortably press X to the level of squinting, but this would also create some other negative effects, for example, when X was in a relaxed state, she would speak before thinking.
"Ah... Angela, where did you just go...?"
This originally shouldn't be asked, as the Corporation's mascot, she only needs to do her job well.
As soon as the words came out, X immediately thought it was not good, what if Angela got angry.
But unlike her expectations, Angela was also not angry, just simply whispered in X's ear.
[ I'm handling some matters, do you want to know? If you want to know, I won't hold back at all to tell you.]
"No, no! I don't want to know... Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't ask."
X felt that kind of strange emotion in an instant also because of embarrassment... On her face emerged red, completely not daring to look at Angela herself.
[Regretfully, I really want to tell you... If you want to know, you can find me at any time, I have 100% patience to help you solve your doubts]
"After... After work, Angela, I still have work to do now."
X said fearfully, hiding on the chair shaking even more violently, scared by Angela, the AI Secretary's frightening effect on X is far greater than the deterrent effect of the Abnormality.
Understood, but she felt that she didn't understand...X didn't know what Angela meant, but she felt very dangerous, also very scary.
X shook her head, calculating to shake the idea out of her mind, today she didn't know what was wrong with her, she would actually think of some strange things, even in normal conversations she felt that there was a hidden meaning in the words, there was another meaning....
AI Secretary was just talking normally, definitely didn't have any other meaning.
So if it wasn't because of Angela, then it was because of her... Could it be that she ██?
Impossible! How could she want ██! Wrong, absurd, absolutely incorrect.
Impossible to accept...
"Angela, give me a glass of ice water."
A glass of ice water was more effective than anything, in order to avoid the water splashing to the control platform, X specially stood up, carefully poured it bit by bit on her head, the water poured down her head, instantly sobered up.
[Manager, this will make you catch a cold, do you need me to prepare other clothes for you…]
And this obviously belonged to human's bewitching behavior, at least Angela couldn't understand it.
"No need, I feel very good now... If it's like before, I have no way to work well, a little cold is also good."
X touched her face, the originally hot cheeks had been forced to cool down, that kind of restless feeling was also suppressed by a glass of ice water.
Dry heat is not a good thing, X doesn't hope for this kind of thing, doesn't hope for those bad ideas or feelings to affect her work. Love is secondary, the most important is work...
Although today's Energy Quota has been reached, but still have to work overtime for a while, give employees some more training opportunities, help employees advance.
It seems that Manager not only has to complete Quota, but also has to complete the mission that the Deans give, although they are not mandatory, but if she wants to be an excellent Manager, she will have to complete these things, respond to Dean's needs, use actions to prove her own ability to the Deans, gain the Deans' trust.
For now, everything is going smoothly, the newly recruited Abnormality [T-02-43] is also a well-behaved guy, threat level is [TETH], will not escape, official translation name is [Spider Bud], suitable for [Instinct] work, training employees' [Fortitude].
This Abnormality is a large spider with many red eyes, although it looks more like a big black bag from the outside, but it is actually a huge spider-like creature.
The employee that is hunted by [ Spider Bud ] will exceed the energy supply limit, each cocoon will provide independent energy, the more cocoons, the more energy produced...
So if she does not care about the employee or Dean's feelings, she can let those addicts become [ Cocoons ], and exert some value.
But whether it's Malkuth, Hod, Netzach, or Yesod, none of them will sacrifice their employees for energy.