"Eat. Why wouldn't we?" Wu Ke said, pointing at a plate of plain water with five potatoes floating in it.
"These potatoes have sprouted."
"Uh..." Wu Ke smiled sheepishly. "Looks like we're unlucky today. We used to find one or two good potatoes."
Shen Yu was left speechless. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he asked:
"So where do you usually get your nutrition?"
"Oh, that? Here." Wu Ke swallowed half a rotten vegetable leaf, took a blue bottle from inside his clothes, and handed it to Shen Yu.
"We just drink nutrient solution." Shen Yu took it, twisted it open, and drank. Then he felt as if his tongue had taken a beating.
It tasted like a rag that hadn't been washed in years, mixed with concentrated bitter herb extract.
The liquid was thick and viscous, with a large amount of powder mixed in. As he drank, it clung directly to his tongue and throat, steadily releasing its bitterness.
"Wait, does this nutrient solution taste like this on purpose, or was it an accident?"
"On purpose." (Instant answer.)
"..."
"I have a question. If low-level employees drink nutrient solution, why do we still have to come to the cafeteria?"
"Company rules. Low-level employees have to spend a full hour in the cafeteria during mealtimes every day." Wu Ke frowned, downed the nutrient solution in his hand, and coughed twice before continuing:
"Don't underestimate it. One little bottle provides all the energy you need for a day. It also suppresses stomach acid secretion to prevent ulcers in your digestive tract. As for why it tastes like this..." Wu Ke pointed at the dining area opposite them.
"At this company, level-one and level-two employees count as low-level employees. To make everyone compete, work hard, and get promoted to senior employees, the company introduced a whole series of tiered policies.
"Food, housing, things like that. Oh, and don't kill the cockroaches in the low-level employee dorms. They're put there on purpose, and they don't carry germs. Employees kept catching and eating them, so they eventually started tagging them with identification numbers."
What a heartless company, Shen Yu grumbled inwardly. He drank the nutrient solution in his hand, then washed it down with a little clear soup that tasted like dishwater.
After finishing the nutrient solution, Shen Yu propped his head on his hand and looked toward the Senior Employee Area on his left, while Little Knight fiddled with the inedible sprouted potatoes beside him.
Simply put, this design was downright vile.
Not only was the partition made of transparent acrylic, but it had deliberately been perforated, with its upper and lower sections removed to allow air to circulate and carry over the aromas from next door.
Meanwhile, the rotating screen overhead constantly displayed all the different dishes being served on the other side.
Just then, Shen Yu spotted a familiar figure and tapped on the glass as he approached.
Harvey: "..."
Shen Yu: "..." He pointed at the food in the distance.
"Damn, senior employees really do get good food." Wu Ke stuffed a piece of steak into his mouth, swallowed a mouthful of juice, then asked the man in front of him:
"Aren't you breaking the rules by doing this?"
"Probably not." Harvey glanced at Shen Yu, who was gnawing on a chicken drumstick, then pulled a copy of The Employee's Self-Cultivation from inside his clothes and began reading.
"Look." Wu Ke put down his juice and nudged Shen Yu. "Now that's a senior employee."
Shen Yu nodded and looked at Harvey, who was studying the book intently. With his neatly kept black hair, brown-framed glasses, and intensely focused gaze, he looked every inch a professor.
This made Shen Yu curious about the book's contents. Still gnawing on his drumstick, he got up and moved beside Harvey, stealing a glance at the words on the page:
"Heh heh heh! You think your paltry tricks are enough to ambush and kill this old master..."
Shen Yu: "..."
Harvey suddenly noticed the figure behind him and hurriedly snapped the book shut. He coughed awkwardly a few times. "This is..."
"No need to explain. We understand." Shen Yu patted his shoulder with a knowing smile.
"Understand? Understand what?" Wu Ke swallowed the last of his steak and asked.
"Oh, right. When I went to the Training Team to submit a report earlier, I heard the team head talking over the communicator about meditation, putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and things like that..."
Harvey stuffed The Employee's Self-Cultivation back inside his clothes and hastily changed the subject.
"Oh, that Psychological Counseling Project," Wu Ke said after swallowing his salad. "Good thing our head isn't like the Security Department's, forcing us to take part in that project."
"Why don't you want to go? Does it not work?" Shen Yu asked curiously.
"Well, it's not that it doesn't work." Wu Ke sighed. "We just have too much damn work. Who has time to sit through that? Those Security Department guys only go to collect Enkephalin anyway."
"Wait." As he spoke, Wu Ke suddenly realized something. "Didn't the Manager's Assistant shut that project down?"
"The Manager approved restarting it afterward," Harvey said, taking a coffee from beside him. "I asked some employees I know. Apparently, it was specifically for one employee. Someone called Little Red or something."
"Ooh... specifically for one employee, and her name's Little Red?" Wu Ke suddenly perked up and whispered:
"Could she be some gorgeous woman who's even prettier than the Manager's Assistant?"
"Uh... I think you'd better not get your hopes up." Shen Yu recalled Little Red Riding Hood's character profile. She was far more likely to use his head as a football.
"Wait." Shen Yu suddenly noticed a problem. "If psychological counseling isn't much use, then what's the company's psychological treatment?"
"Oh, that." Harvey sipped his coffee. "They inject large doses of Enkephalin or perform Memory Erasure. If mental contamination causes actual changes to your organs, they surgically remove them. Just yesterday, someone had their skull opened..."
"Stop!" Wu Ke immediately raised a hand to cut him off. "I'm still eating."
After finishing the last of his food, Shen Yu checked how much time remained. There was still quite a while left, and he thought he ought to check on Little Red Riding Hood's psychological counseling.
He said a few words to the two men, then lay his head on the table and focused his thoughts on X in the office.
"Angela," Manager X said. "I'm going to the Training Team to see Hod. Handle things for me for now."
With that, he left the office and headed toward the Training Team.
As he walked, however, he suddenly tripped over something. Looking back, he discovered a pile of dark brown worm corpses drawn in a cartoonish style.
Tch. Looks like it's the Amber Trial today. Fine by me. The bugs are disgusting, but at least it isn't like the Green Trial, with a bunch of mechanical life-forms running around shooting everything.
According to Lobotomy Corporation's lore, trials were extracted fragments or by-products of Abnormalities, and their nature was similar to that of the originals.
But that's done in the Research and Development Department! Why aren't you going after those cryptic bastards instead of running all over the company?
Grumbling inwardly, X walked into the Training Team head's office and saw Hod speaking over the communicator. Judging by her expression, the conversation wasn't going well.
When she saw the Manager arrive, Hod hurriedly turned around and said:
"Manager, Little Red said she's endured this for too long and is craving the fragrance of blood, or something like that. Then I heard her banging on the door. Could she be in danger?"
Hearing this, Shen Yu immediately remembered the Big Bad Wolf right next door and couldn't help grumbling inwardly:
Uh, I think you'd better worry about me first.
Before you continue