Do you know the meaning of champagne?
Joy… fervent celebration… romantic, luxurious, extravagant high society life.
Champagne is used in formal celebrations, for entertaining guests—
"So, Angela, I'm leaving now. I won't be back too late… probably? If I drink too much, remember to use ice water to sober me up."
Even though she was just going to a gathering with her subordinates after work, she still spoke formally, saying goodbye to her Secretary.
X wiped the sweat from her lips, showing no lingering affection for the warmth between her lips and teeth.
The air was filled with the scent of champagne. Unlike beer, this was more like a pure fruity aroma, fragrant and intoxicating.
Even though her clothes were adjusted, X still needed her Secretary to tidy her up a second time, to present the proper image of a Corporation Manager.
[If you drink too much, I won't prepare dinner for you. Will you rely on the vending machine in the hallway to provide you with dinner?]
As she spoke, a slender, white hand suddenly pinched X's waist. That slight stinging sensation woke X up from her slight alcoholic haze.
X nodded repeatedly, like an obedient quail, as if she would agree to anything the AI Secretary said.
Only after being dragged through the "Three Articles of the Covenant" by the AI Secretary did X successfully escape the AI's clutches. As she left the Manager's room, she felt a lingering sense of fear.
It was an indescribable feeling, like if she stayed in the Manager's room for too long, she would be eaten.
[Fairy Festival], this kind of Abnormality, even though it is intimate, helps humans, heals wounds, and restores mental states—
But once it senses that its prey wants to escape, once it feels that kind of anxiety, it will attack first and swallow its "prey" to prevent its prey from being hunted by other Abnormalities.
Employees who had been marked with the "Fairy Blessing" by [Fairy Festival] couldn't work in other Abnormalities' Containment units.
They were very jealous… Greedy and extremely insecure.
X hugged the champagne in her arms tightly, afraid of dropping it or bumping it. She treated this bottle of champagne as if it were a precious treasure.
It wasn't that X liked alcohol so much. It was the cost she had invested, more than just a little bit.
To get a bottle of champagne, she had put in so much effort to please the AI. She even had a few more red marks on her body. Netzach really should kneel and lick her for this bottle of wine.
But the idea of kneeling and licking was too much. As long as Netzach could work hard, X felt that the bottle of wine wasn't wasted, it was worth it.
After all, she was the Manager. The Corporation Manager, responsible for the Corporation's Department Deans.
Even though Angela and the Deans seemed to have a rather poor relationship, as Manager, she couldn't just ignore this rigid relationship… The AI Secretary was already busy enough handling the Corporation's affairs. Handling human relations was left to her, the Manager.
Even though it wasn't explicitly stated that the Manager had this kind of responsibility, for the sake of the Corporation's efficiency and achievements, she still had to resolve these chaotic situations: the conflicts between the Deans, and the Deans' individual shortcomings…
These were all things she had to face, sooner or later.
X felt that her methods were pretty good. They were effective, and the results were clear. Netzach had been working hard for four consecutive days. If she continued like this, the Safety Department would definitely get better and better, and the Corporation's achievements would skyrocket.
Everything was getting on track…
It would be great if she could work hard without needing "rewards," but unfortunately, X felt that her ability to paint a picture was terrible. She couldn't paint a pie, and she couldn't draw it realistically. Netzach, a true pragmatist, wouldn't fall for painted pies.
After all, what kind of salary would an AI want…? In the end, aside from drinking and taking drugs, Netzach didn't have any other desires. Lobotomy Corp's top management was also entirely AI.
Aside from X, the Manager, the Department Deans were also AI. This was a Corporation managed by AI… If there were any top executives who could be considered human, it was probably just the background figures. The AI Secretary would occasionally mention one of the founders of the Corporation, "A."
A very mysterious person. This was X's first impression of Lobotomy Corp's founder. She could only learn about her piecemeal from the Secretary.
At least from what she felt, the AI Secretary often mentioned "A's" teachings. She must have admired and respected her very much—
This was natural. After all, A was the boss of Lobotomy Corp, and the designer of Lobotomy Corp. Angela was designed by A.
No creation would dislike its creator. For the AI, A was probably like a mother figure. Their relationship was probably… good?
After all, who would design an AI that was clearly used for processing documents, an AI used as a central processing unit, so exquisitely—
Exquisitely designed to the point that even the internal structure mirrored the human body, and with so many unnecessary functions added.
Was it over-engineered? Or was it smuggling in contraband?
X didn't dare to speculate, she didn't dare to speak ill of the Corporation's boss.
Although she had secretly complained many times that Lobotomy Corp's AI designer was a mentally ill person, every time she thought of it, she still felt it was absurd and unbelievable.
Her boss was an AI enthusiast. Should this be classified as objectum sexuality, or something else, a puppeteer enthusiast? Or perhaps, a digital character enthusiast?
Two… two… two-dimensional!
If she met her boss later, what should she say? What would her first words be?
X was troubled. She walked down the hallway, thinking aimlessly. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she should think carefully— she seemed to know things she shouldn't know.
They were AIs. Under the Cognition Filter, everything looked like cute cartoon characters. Wasn't that evidence that Lobotomy Corp's boss leaned toward… two… two-dimensional!
Clearly, every day at work involved the blood spattered on the walls, the gazes of the people rolling on the floor, and the various bizarre sounds of the monsters and the employees' screams and curses.
This wasn't beautiful, yet still using cute cartoon characters to depict this scene.
It was truly full of malice.
Wait, an image of a cold woman with a cruel smile, a whip in her hand, enslaving employees, gradually formed in X's mind. Then, it was automatically replaced by Angela.
An AI with a cruel smile and a terrible personality, wielding a whip, forcing the Manager to work overtime. Then, she coldly shoved the employees into a "massager" with "100% praise rate, not a single bad review."
The exhausted emerald-haired girl lay on the floor, licking the AI's foots clean. Yesod waited by the side, reciting reports for the AI.
Malkuth was giving the AI a shoulder massage. Hod, the cute one, was serving tea and water to the AI.
—How could this happen?!
X scared herself. Her body trembled involuntarily.
It was said that designers would often incorporate their own ideals or perspectives into their designs. And the AI designer… X found it hard to describe the AI designer who had designed an AI like Angela, who was full of malice.
Although she couldn't guarantee a 100% similarity, it seemed to be around 60-70% similar. It could be inferred that Lobotomy Corp's founder, A, was also a person with a terrible personality.
She hadn't even met her boss yet, and time was already so hard to pass… X could only pray that she wouldn't get fired or have her bed rolled up by her boss when she returned from work.
Thinking about this, achievements were still the most important thing. Once the Manager's work was done, she could rest easy, and sleep soundly when she went to bed.
At night, when she was sleeping, that was probably when X was most relaxed. Clearly, she had previously suffered from insomnia, but now, as soon as her head touched the pillow, she could fall asleep, sleeping soundly until the alarm rang.
It seemed that she was exhausted.
During work hours, she managed the Abnormalities, assigned employees to collect energy, dealt with all kinds of emergencies, and after work, she still had to create a private space to chat warmly with the Deans and encourage them to work hard…
For the sake of the Corporation's efficiency and achievements, she had really put in a lot of effort.
Even though she often didn't want to smile, she still forced herself to smile.
"Yesod, I'm coming in!"
X knocked on the Information Department Dean's office door. After a while, there was no answer. She continued to knock a few more times before pushing the door open.
"Oh, she's not here? Oh, did she go to submit a report?"
There was no one in the office. The door wasn't locked, and the arranged documents were all neatly placed on the desk. They were probably finished. X scanned the room and didn't find the Information Department Dean.
Quietly crouching down, checking under the sofa and under the desk, X still didn't find the 'Viper' lurking in the bushes. She confirmed that Yesod wasn't actually in her office.
This was a very rare situation. Usually, the Deans would wait in their own offices. Some Deans might like to socialize, but Yesod was definitely not the type who liked to socialize. She was a rule-follower, even a bit rigid.
Last time, Yesod had gotten angry because Netzach had come looking for her to borrow a stamp. X really didn't think the Viper, who was hibernating in the bushes, would go for a walk. Unless it was for work, it was impossible for Yesod to take the initiative to socialize with other Deans.
And if she had gone to submit a report, she wouldn't have left the work documents behind. It was definitely not possible that she had gone to the bathroom? AIs didn't need to go to the bathroom. Not everyone could pretend to be sick like Netzach had done last time. It was common knowledge that AIs couldn't catch a cold.
Netzach's poor excuse for pretending to be sick had left a deep impression on X. It wasn't bad, it was just hilarious, like a student who didn't want to go to school suddenly clutching their stomach and saying they had a stomachache.
It was too pathetic, to the point that there wasn't even a need to expose it.
If it were Netzach who wasn't in the office, X would assume that she had gone to some corner to drink. But if it were Yesod, X would assume that Yesod had suddenly gone to handle something and would be back soon.
Because the Information Department Dean was a very meticulous person. If she went out, she would definitely lock the door. Otherwise, if employees intruded and touched the documents, regardless of whether they were important or not, letting employees have access to them would be considered serious negligence.
The Information Department provided many documents that were inaccessible to employees. They were only accessible to employees with certain levels of authority, such as [Level Four Employees] and above.
There were often documents marked only for [Level Three Employees], or [Level Four Employees], [Level Five Employees]. The files were strictly classified by authority levels. The Manager had the highest level, then the Deans, and finally the selected employees.
Some content was so bad, it wouldn't even be shown to the Dean of the Department. They were worried they couldn't accept it, let alone the employees.
Information lockdown was actually a kind of kindness, a kind of protection for the employees. Knowing too much wasn't always good. It could actually harm you.
After all, knowing that the Abnormalities that were very intimate and friendly were actually preserving food… that was a very unpleasant thing.
Or the subject of the [Repression] work, you might not know which coworker would turn into that.
Being wrapped in a spider's cocoon and injected with venom, you wouldn't die immediately. You would slowly feel your heartbeat getting weaker and weaker in the darkness…
Knowing these things, the new employees probably wouldn't have any appetite for lunch. They would also have some psychological burden on the Corporation's assigned tasks, increasing the chances of mistakes.
In this regard, X strongly agreed with Yesod's approach. This was undoubtedly the right choice.
Yesod was very reliable, and her work was very reassuring. So— where did she go?
X thought for a moment. Where the Deans went was their own business. No one stipulated that the Deans had to stay in their offices. Maybe she would be back soon. Maybe she had gone to check on another Department.
Last time, she hadn't let Netzach drink champagne. Even though she had compensated later, she had still forgotten her. X felt a little embarrassed.
This time, she should first show it to Netzach. After checking that she had recovered from her addiction, after all, the champagne was meant to be shared with everyone, not just for Netzach to drink alone.
Thinking this, X carefully closed the Information Department's office door and went to the Safety Department, which was next door to the Information Department. After walking through a few hallways, she arrived at the Safety Department. The distance was relatively close.
"Netzach, come look at what I brought you. Champagne— Oh, oh, oh, what are you doing!"
X pushed open the Safety Department's office door. What she saw wasn't unusual. Two Deans were fighting. Even if she rubbed her eyes in disbelief, what X saw was still the Safety Department Dean and the Information Department Dean.
The Safety Department Dean and the Information Department Dean were fighting.