Almost at the same instant Ye Lan stepped into the corridor, the Blue Fixer, who was dressed like he had walked straight out of a classic Italian mafia film, suddenly dove into his own briefcase and vanished before Ye Lan's eyes.
"A, one of the Ordeal creatures has disappeared!"
"I see it. I'm looking for it now. Don't worry about that one; I'll have others deal with it. Just focus on the one in front of you."
Manager A's voice immediately sounded from the speaker in the corner. As he spoke, Ye Lan had already engaged the Black Fixer, who wielded a hammer whose face was identical to the eye of the great bird.
In Ye Lan's hands, Twilight's weapon—the serrated greatsword covered in countless amber eyes—felt as light as a feather, yet when it struck the Fixer's hammer, it was as heavy as a mountain.
The accessory wing on his right shoulder, Dawn, blocked every attack the Black Fixer made with the iron hook on the end of its hammer's handle. Twilight, capable of inflicting all four damage types in a single blow, carved countless wounds into the Black Fixer's body.
However, the one with the upper hand was currently the Black Fixer, who was desperately parrying Ye Lan's assault. This was because the weapon in its hands had the ability to instantly drain the Qliphoth Counters of every containment unit in the corridor, releasing all the Abnormalities.
And the corridor he was in happened to be the one containing Melting Love. The moment the Black Fixer released it, the slime orb floating above Ye Lan's head would dissolve him into a slime, turning him into one of Melting Love's minions.
"I can't give it a chance to use its weapon's special ability. I have to keep it too busy to think about anything else."
Ye Lan calculated his advantages. The greatsword in his hands trembled, and every eye on the blade lit up with a dim yellow glow. The entire sword emitted the piercing shriek of the Apocalypse Bird. Ye Lan's body moved with the sword, and a spinning slash left four deep, glowing yellow gashes on the Black Fixer's body.
The light from the wounds erupted just as Ye Lan recovered his stance, causing the Black Fixer, who had just raised its hammer to smash the ground, to stumble and fall.
"Looks like you're out of chances."
The Dawn wing on Ye Lan's back spread wide, its countless amber eyes staring down the Black Fixer. He raised his greatsword high with his right hand, then swung it down, severing the Black Fixer's head from its body.
The headless corpse let go of its hammer. As it hit the ground, the hook on the end of the handle pierced the Fixer's own body. A sucking sound was heard, and a halo—inner ring amber, outer ring pitch-black—ignited around the eye on the hammer's face.
Knowing that the weapon's automatic on-death attack could not be stopped, Ye Lan didn't advance. Instead, he went to Melting Love's containment unit and picked up the tools for Insight work.
DONG—
The halo suddenly expanded, and every Abnormality containment unit in both of the Architecture Department's corridors entered a meltdown state. Already prepared, Ye Lan stepped into the unit and once again saw the strawberry-scented slime.
Upon seeing him enter, a happy smile appeared on the slime's face. The heart-shaped slime ball above his head, as if guided by some unseen force, dove into the body of Melting Love before him.
It was as if the slime ball had been watching all of Ye Lan's actions from outside the containment unit on behalf of Melting Love itself. After reabsorbing the orb, Melting Love showed Ye Lan a worried expression.
The adorable slime extended its hands towards him, as if pleading for his love, or perhaps wanting to embrace him to soothe his emotions. Influenced by its sweet strawberry scent, Ye Lan unconsciously reached out his hand.
But just as he was about to touch its gelatinous body, he snapped back to his senses.
Accept her invitation, or refuse?
A feeling from deep within told him that in this final loop, if he made the wrong choice, he would forever lose the chance to perform Melting Love's final observation.
In that case, what was there to refuse?
With a crazed smile that even Manager A could see through the cognitive filter, Ye Lan plunged his hand into Melting Love's body.
Its sweet strawberry scent flooded his nostrils, and the sensation of the slime sliding past his palm was too comforting for words to describe. Melting Love pulsed towards him, and soon his entire arm was submerged in its body.
An unforgettable feeling of liberation, mixed with a sense of crisis, washed over him. Should he follow this feeling of release and let his entire body be enveloped by Melting Love, or should he heed the sense of crisis and pull his hand out?
That deep, intuitive feeling once again forced Ye Lan to choose. This time, the choice would lead him to either death or success.
"Sorry, but I have to pull my hand out."
His fingers, submerged in the slime, wiggled slightly within her body before he slowly and carefully withdrew his arm.
A faint strawberry scent clung to his sticky hand. A pink, solidified heart that no longer melted floated above his head. For now, she no longer craved the affection of others...
"Are you okay? I saw your sanity meter drop by a huge chunk in an instant, but the energy counter was showing nothing but positive energy."
Upon leaving the containment unit, Manager A's concerned voice rang out again.
Manager A, Manager Ayin.
He probably hadn't even realized it himself yet, but he was becoming more and more like his complete self. Ye Lan, who remembered everything, knew that the moment A found himself again would also be the end of the Seed of Light project—the moment of Ayin's death.
But he wouldn't tell A. Just as Angela would never tell others what she had experienced, he would never tell anyone what he knew.
The script still came first.
"I'm fine. D-03-109's meltdown has been dealt with. Did we unlock any useful management tips?" Ye Lan shifted the topic, cutting off A's further inquiries about his condition. He ran towards a containment unit in the other corridor while waiting for A's response.
"This Abnormality is called Melting Love. Seriously, you were right to refuse all my offers of support. Sometimes I suspect you can see the future."
"Let's not talk about that. How long until O-01-64's meltdown?"
To prevent his out-of-character actions from derailing Ayin's script, Ye Lan interrupted him again, forcing A's attention back to the work at hand. Once the day was over, Angela would naturally keep him too busy to ponder whether Ye Lan knew things he shouldn't.
Although it felt a bit like taking advantage of that poor girl Angela, he was just an employee struggling to survive in the company. He couldn't change things outside his own department.
"If you run a little faster, you can probably make it into the containment unit with five seconds to spare."
"Enough!"
The E.G.O. accessory named Dawn gave Ye Lan an all-around enhancement. With a flap of his single wing, he practically flew into the Queen of Greed's containment unit.
A, sitting in front of his monitor, watched Ye Lan's screen and asked Angela with a bewildered look, "Angela, did he go in with the right tools?"
"Yes, Manager. You were simply not paying attention. Please do not get distracted."
Angela's words on the screen were as sharp as ever, silencing A completely.
... ...
"Leave. I hate you."
The moment Ye Lan entered the containment unit, the girl inside the egg-shaped vessel angrily demanded he leave. But for Ye Lan, who had dealt with her countless times, such words were merely smoke in the wind.
"You understand. This is your past. You once fought to protect happiness. You always believed that the world's happiness was your own."
As if a switch had been flipped, the Queen of Greed began muttering to herself as Ye Lan recounted her past.
"I was always trying to keep myself happy."
"Even if it turned me into... this... so what? I don't care."
"Have you seen my sisters?"
"We are always of one mind, you know."
The egg-shaped vessel trembled. Every time, Ye Lan could never be sure if these words were spoken by the vessel or the girl inside.
"We plan together and share a common goal."
"By the way..."
"Are you happy right now?"
"I am very happy."
The vessel trembled violently. This was the only sentence he could definitively say was spoken by the vessel itself.
"Don't lie to me."
"If you were truly happy, would we have ended up like this?"
"And why did you choose to end yourself this way?"
The heavy, disjointed monologue continued. Ye Lan watched in silence as countless bite-like wounds appeared out of thin air on his body. Large chunks of his flesh vanished as if they had been chewed up and swallowed.
"...Even if this is your answer, my appetite will never cease..."
"...But if your answer is not a statement about the present, but a resolution for the future..."
"...Things might slowly begin to change..."
As if the vessel and the girl within had reached some kind of consensus, the containment unit suddenly fell silent again. The biting attacks on Ye Lan stopped. The now mentally stable girl smiled at Ye Lan and asked him, "Are you willing to bear the consequences of my change?"
Hope seemed to reignite in her lake-green eyes. Ye Lan, covered in blood, looked directly at her and said, "It would be my greatest honor."
Thump!
A report was ejected from the machine at the side. A large "Good" took up the entire page. Bidding farewell to the Queen of Greed, Ye Lan turned and left the containment unit.
["Fixers," the predecessors to Book Hunters, are fated to be buried in the "Library" ruled by the "Pale Librarian."]
After neutralizing the "on-death" effect of the Black Fixer, the closing words of the Pale Dusk appeared before Ye Lan's eyes. The two lines of text that appeared at the beginning and end of the Ordeal came together, declaring a possible future to him: the tragic conclusion of Angela's "A" ending in Library of Ruina.
However, Ye Lan didn't even have time to lament this before new words blurred his vision:
[To play with the secrets of the world is the supreme privilege of the "Head," the "Eye," and the "Claw."]
The Pale Midnight had begun, abruptly.
"Ye Lan, the Midnight Ordeal's creature is right behind you! Don't turn around, get back to the main room, now!"
A's command was given. The phantom of a "Claw," dredged up from the Well, was right behind him. Covered in blood, Ye Lan didn't need A to tell him he was no match for it. He immediately sprinted towards the main room.
The Claw, wearing a bizarre metal mask, did not chase him. Instead, it raised its arm, which was covered by a mechanical claw, and injected an orange serum directly from a vial fixed to its forearm. The Claw lowered its head, and after a brief charge-up, it lunged forward like a rhinoceros, its steel claws leading the way, rushing straight for Ye Lan.
"Shit!"
Knowing full well that a Claw's charge, boosted by R Corp's serum, was completely unstoppable, Ye Lan could only turn and protect himself with Twilight. He was slammed out of the corridor and thrown violently into the old sofa in the main room, which shattered into a pile of wooden planks.
The regeneration reactor started working, steadily healing Ye Lan's wounds.
But the Claw had no intention of giving him time to rest. Less than a minute later, the Claw, having charged all the way to the end of the other corridor, injected a second serum.
A blue serum entered its body, and a map of the entire Lobotomy Corporation headquarters appeared before it. As if to mock Ye Lan, who was huddled in the main room, the Claw slowly and randomly selected eight unsuspecting employees, marking them one by one right in front of him.
Ye Lan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He walked out of the main room, wounds and all, and stood facing the Claw at the end of the corridor.
"Since you want to force me out using my colleagues' lives, are you prepared to face my wrath?"
"Heh heh..."
The phantom Claw let out a sinister laugh, mocking the heavily injured Ye Lan, who was clearly powerless against it.
"E.G.O. Manifestation..."
A low, then sharp voice came from Ye Lan's mouth. His armor and weapon began to emanate a massive amount of dark, almost tangible matter. This substance engulfed his body. Blood-soaked bandages erupted from within, wrapping around him layer by layer. A giant mouth split his body open, and the wings covered in amber eyes grew from a single wing into a complete pair.
Click!
All the lights in the entire facility went out...
Flash!
The amber eyes lit up with a brilliant light, bright enough to pierce the darkness...
Crack!
The sound of a serum vial shattering was heard...
Thud!
The sound of a body hitting the floor echoed through the silence...
When the lights in the facility came back on, Miss Angela announced to every employee that the day's work was over.
Day 46, complete.