"Get out of the way!" the Manager shouted to Malkuth ahead of him, grabbing her shoulder and darting to one side.
A dark brown figure hurtled past them and rolled across the floor.
Its dark brown carapace quivered. Golden eyes peered through the gaps at the people in the room, while its mouthparts opened and closed, dripping thick saliva and producing rasping noises.
At the same time, two more dark brown worms crawled out of the shadows in the corners, blocking the exit.
"Malkuth, why is a Trial appearing in the office? Didn't you fix the Control Department's suppressor?" Yesod stood in front of the other three and turned his head to ask.
"I..." Malkuth pressed her lips together and frantically flipped through her memo book, hoping to find a relevant entry, but its pages were already crammed with schedules.
"There's no time." Yesod stopped her, picked up a chair, and knocked down a lunging worm before turning to the Manager.
"Manager, I'll try to lure the 'Fresh Food' away from the door. Then you take Hod and Malkuth out of here."
"Yesod, do you have the authority to immediately delete the Control Department's surveillance footage?" the Manager asked, watching the three worms approach.
"I do, but why are you asking?" Yesod frowned at the Manager in confusion.
"That's all I need. Remember to delete this footage afterward." The Manager took a deep breath and picked up a nearby glass coffee table. After testing its weight, he found he could just barely lift it.
Although this light clone of his had no E.G.O. equipment, fortunately, his combat skills still worked.
Shen Yu had the clone grip the coffee table and decisively use [Aerial Thrust].
Then Yesod watched as the Manager leaped up to the ceiling with the coffee table, hovered for a few seconds, and suddenly shot toward the worms at the exit.
Crash! The glass coffee table slammed into one of the worms, embedding itself in its flesh before shattering against the floor. Flying shards pierced the body within, and the four steel table legs scattered.
When another worm lunged, the Manager snatched a table leg off the floor, evaded with [Backstep], and immediately followed up with a high-speed dash, swinging the table leg hard enough to send it flying.
The three department heads stood frozen, wondering whether something had gone wrong with their eyes. Wait, nobody said the Manager was a Fixer. And didn't that move just defy physics?
"What are you three standing around for? Run!" The Manager swung the table leg and knocked the third worm away, shouting at the department heads.
"Let's go!" Yesod reacted first and led the other two out of the office.
Meanwhile, the three worms let out low hisses, the eyes on their bodies emitting light in a particular pattern.
For some reason, this department lacked the force that suppressed their thoughts and physical capabilities, allowing them to think and contact their brethren.
As orders came down from their superiors, the worms' flickering eyes went still. They used their mouthparts to bite amber portals of light into the floor.
After burrowing into them, they emerged in the Control Department's corridors and stared at the closed security doors ahead.
The other corridors in the Control Department were likewise shrouded in greedy amber gazes.
"This way." Once the four of them left the office, Yesod quickly opened an emergency exit and shut it immediately after the other three entered.
They followed the passage and arrived at a strange place.
"Don't worry. The core suppressor here is still operating normally. Those Trials can't get in." Yesod let out a long breath and leaned against a gray-white wall.
The Manager nodded and walked around, examining his surroundings.
All around him was a labyrinth of interwoven passages, like the intricate synaptic connections between nerve cells. The pipes gleamed a soft, pearly white, branching and converging at countless junctions.
When he approached a thick main conduit, he noticed that its surface was covered in tiny bumps, like the synaptic vesicles densely packed along a nerve axon. Inside, faintly glowing blue-green liquid flowed in an orderly manner in every direction.
Enkephalin? Shen Yu recognized the substance inside. After looking around, he couldn't help swallowing.
If this was the company's interior, then the entire facility was like an enormous central nervous system. Who would've thought Lobotomy Corporation really was a "brain"?
Then was a brain this enormous really just a dead object? If not, whose thoughts lurked within it?
"Manager," Hod said, pointing in one direction, "that passage leads to your office."
The Manager nodded and forced a smile.
"By the way, don't report what I just did to Angela."
Well, the future looks grim. Shen Yu's original body sighed as he covered his face.
He had only been guessing before, but Lobotomy Corporation really was an Abnormality. And from the looks of it, it wasn't simply a tool-type one, but something closer to a living organism.
Besides, when the alarm sounded earlier, he had followed the team to assemble in the Control Department's lounge. Only afterward had he learned from his clone that the suppressor had failed.
Now, to prevent Abnormalities from escaping, the passages to the rest and food areas had been sealed. Even his authority as Manager couldn't open them to relocate everyone.
Suddenly, Shen Yu felt someone pat him. He turned to find Wu Ke.
Wu Ke chuckled and reassured him.
"It's fine. This is the easiest Amber Trial. Those stupid worms can't even turn around. Even low-level employees like us can help suppress them."
Not necessarily. Shen Yu recalled what his clone had just learned about the Control Department's suppressor failing, and warned him.
"Be careful. The worms might be different today."
"How do you kno..." Wu Ke was about to ask when he remembered that Shen Yu had a powerful backer. He stopped, glanced around, and asked in confusion.
"Where's Quincy?"
"Dead," Vic said coldly.
"Dead? How did he die?"
"Shut up. If it's none of your business, don't ask." Vic shot him a vicious glare.
"What's his problem?" Wu Ke leaned back against the sofa and muttered.
Meanwhile, Shen Yu's clone, X, had already assembled a group of high-level employees from the other departments and was carrying out the suppression step by step.
Since this was now the real world, things might work differently from the game. With the Control Department's suppressor down as well, caution was the best policy.
Just then, a call from the head of the Control Department came through to the main office.
"Manager, why won't you let my employees participate in the suppression?"
"Malkuth, your Control Department's suppressor has failed. Letting employees move around recklessly would be extremely dangerous.
"Since the Amber Trial tends to teleport between locations, the best option is to suppress it in other departments where the suppressors are functioning normally."
Malkuth fell silent. After a while, she spoke quietly.
"Manager, I'll prove myself to you."
"Wait..."
Before the clone could finish speaking, Malkuth ended the call. Immediately afterward, Shen Yu's original body in the lounge heard her orders.
"All employees, leave the Control Department through Corridor 1 immediately and proceed to suppress the Trial."
Shen Yu sighed. Following the action guidelines, he drew the Frost Shard and took the front of the group as their close-range guard.
But when the group was only halfway there, a worm dropped down ahead of them, amber light flashing in sequence through the gaps in its carapace.
Then countless amber portals of light appeared, surrounding them.
Before you continue