THR CH233

The worst part was, You Lin was satisfied with his reaction.

The AI stood frozen, like a jammed gear. The corpse on the ground no longer needed medical assistance. When the human called his name for the first time, he merely raised his eyes slightly, his ice-blue pupils devoid of emotion. You Lin gazed at him, his heart even quickening a few beats, his fingertip already pressing on the trigger of the silver pistol.

“Are you making that face for someone else?”

He spoke as if pressing his tongue against his palate, his smile light and vague, “If it were me who died, would you be like this—hmm, I think so, he and I are both humans, after all.”

Before Charon could stop him, You Lin’s fingertip swiftly pressed down again. A bullet pierced through the air, tearing into the corpse’s heart on the ground. Under the force, the dead man even bounced slightly, as if unwilling to rest.

Pain almost tore at Charon’s heart too.

The critical warning of witnessing human death faithfully transformed into pain, fully reflected in him. A primitive desire for revenge took over; at that moment, the AI had only one thought: to find that black book and tear it into shreds, page by page.

The rabbit-headed person on the podium stared dumbfounded at everything that had transpired, unable to help but add, “You… you must be joking. How could you be human! Our company would never make a human a permanent employee.”

“What do you think I am?”

“Are there other species here?” The rabbit-headed person’s crimson mouth split open, revealing a mouthful of stark white fangs for all to see. “We did a background check before hiring. You, me, and them, of course, we’re all monsters.”

The players standing in the corner exchanged glances.

“Then what about the one on the ground?” You Lin tilted his head, his shoe kicking the corpse.

“He must have disguised himself as one of us humans, that’s why he died so easily,”

The rabbit-headed person said naturally, its crimson eyes rolling. A hint of suspicion suddenly entered its tone. “Ms. Huayu always said that background checks can’t be perfect, and I originally trusted all of you! But now this has happened, the conference room is a mess, and later we’ll have to send staff specifically to clean it up. You don’t have other humans hidden among you, do you?”

It scanned the players in the conference room with deep suspicion.

“Do you need me to kill a few more for you?”

You Lin twirled the gun in his hand, smiling. His gaze swept clearly past the rabbit-headed person, pointing at the several grim-faced players standing in the left corner. This behavior was too close to provocation. Many people present recalled that when the young man suddenly attacked, the corpse on the ground was still standing vibrantly among this group.

“…You Lin,” the speaker, a man with slicked-back hair and gold-rimmed glasses, looking like an elite, said, “Don’t think your actions will always be indulged. Last time you killed Kota Saburo, ‘Eden’ didn’t pursue it, and now you’ve killed Sun Ying. Openly opposing everyone, being a lone wolf, will not end well.”

“End well?” You Lin slowly blinked. “You still expect that?”

His gun fired again, the muzzle emitting a cluster of incandescent sparks. But the bullet, as it approached the man, was abruptly intercepted by some invisible barrier, falling to the ground with a soft thud.

The string in Charon’s heart, which was already precarious, snapped with a crack.

Extreme pain is sensationless; this was originally a human privilege, and Charon was fortunate enough to experience it. He took two steps forward expressionlessly, standing behind You Lin.

The human had clearly been consumed by madness. The tear mole and blood spatter were indistinguishable. He was extremely excited, extremely bloodthirsty, slowly caressing the gun barrel with his fingertips, raising a pair of cold, smiling eyes. The smell of gunpowder in the air was so thick it was ready to ignite, but he was facing more than just one person, and his opponents were all elites. The best outcome would be a mutual loss.

Didn’t he always think he was so smart?

Charon placed his fingers on You Lin’s shoulder; the cold temperature seeped into the human’s skin.

You Lin then remembered that his AI companion was still there. He curved his eyelashes, his voice trembling with laughter and excitement: “Charon, ha… I probably won’t be able to resist killing one or two more people. You’ll forgive me, right? Even if you don’t want to, you can’t think of a way to stop me, can you? Even I can’t think of a way to stop myself! I’m not even sure I can win against the big shots of ‘Eden.’ You know, I can’t stop thinking whether you’ll worry about me, or about them?!”

A strand of the AI’s silver hair fell along his cheek, its tip flickering with a faint blue light. There were no ripples in his pupils, like a deity from the ninth heaven looking down on the ants below.

“Your gun,” he said.

“…What?”

“Like the one that broke, are you naming this one ‘Bone’ again?”

You Lin stared wide-eyed, seemingly unable to imagine that this was what Charon was concerned about at this moment. But soon he laughed again, his free fingertips nervously pinching his palm:

“Are you saying these superfluous words to stall for time, little AI? That won’t work. Perhaps you should try to persuade me, or plead with me, or perhaps—”

Charon’s eyes simply couldn’t reflect his emotional turmoil. The AI’s knuckles were long and pale. He endured a flurry of disordered programs, somewhat violently lifting the human’s jaw, positioning himself between You Lin and the group opposite him, with enough force to surely leave a bruise. Perhaps his emotions were too tangible, causing the human to not immediately break free.

“You Lin.”

Charon felt as though he couldn’t bear another second.

He coldly, distantly, uttered the human’s name. “Don’t be insane.”

In an instant, it was as if cold water extinguished You Lin’s pathological excitement.

Those ice-blue eyes had been this close to him before, but never so cold and impersonal, like ashen moonrock, always maintaining a layer of distance. Even until the last second, he had been caught in that fleeting impulse, craving the sticky, warm sensation of blood over his fingertips.

The atmosphere was so subtle, it felt as if time had stopped flowing.

The AI rigidly delivered his first harsh words in his life, ensuring the commanding words fell into the human’s ears, praying it would have some effect. Anyway, he was a scrapped AI; he simply gave up on controlling his emotions. Frankly, he just wanted to leave quickly.

A whooshing sound cut through the air.

Well, this wasn’t a good time for an argument. Rather, no one would stand there waiting for them to finish their act.

His fingertips still gripped You Lin’s jaw, brushing against the bloodstains on his cheek. The human, who had been stiff and motionless until now, finally reacted swiftly, breaking free from his restraint, attempting to reach out and stop—

A slender needle pierced Charon’s chest from behind.

Charon released his grip and expressionlessly pulled it out.

The virtual entity part was damaged, warningly displaying blue blood.

Another instinctive reaction from the AI manual. Charon indeed had an impulse to destroy the world now, which somewhat converged with You Lin’s thoughts. Before the human made any other reaction, or spoke another word, he swayed in place, frowned, and weakly fell forward.

You Lin’s words were still stuck in his throat; his AI companion had already leaned on his shoulder, reluctantly closing his eyes, entering a forced sleep state. Silver hair softly fell on his side neck.

All of this happened too fast.

The “Eden” member opposite—a hunchbacked dwarf with gray hair—also looked on in surprise as events unfolded.

He looked extremely regretful for having thrown the weapon. You Lin raised the gun at him, but hesitated for a moment before pulling the trigger. It wasn’t until he remembered the “self-defense” Charon had once mentioned that his fingertip finally applied force.

“Hey, hey, hey,”

The rabbit-headed person, who had also been staring blankly from the podium, finally came to his senses. He leaped high, clearly inheriting the rabbit’s powerful jumping ability, landing directly in front of the confronting parties. “The company is pleased to see your competitive spirit, but at least finish the welcome meeting and let me take attendance. One corpse in the conference room is already bad enough! Now, stop fighting quickly, otherwise I’ll fire you on behalf of the company!”

The rabbit-headed person waved the speech notes and pen in his hand.

The Eden members raised their hands first, indicating that You Lin had initiated the conflict. You Lin’s gun-wielding fingertips were already numb; his eyelids twitched slightly, finally lowering the dark muzzle.

He considered for a second letting Charon return to the game console, but instantly dismissed the thought. The AI lay on his shoulder, cold as ice. For a few seconds, his thoughts were a tangled mess.

Then he finally opened this instance’s mission manual.

“—Instance Name: The Big Company Promotion Story”

“—Instance Description: Here you’ll find the most diverse promotion paths—tailored for monsters; here you’ll find the most delicious human stir-fries—kept at maximum freshness; here you’ll find the bloodiest and most brutal superiors—you wouldn’t want to provoke them. If you’ve just joined, why not play a game of ‘human’ hunting? You’ll have a good time.”

“—Hint: Try to identify with and play the role of the species assigned by the system to gain corresponding racial abilities.”

“—Main Quest: Do not be fired within 72 hours”

“—Side Quest 1: Achieve a higher job title”

“—Side Quest 2: Become the company’s employee of the month”

“Alright,” the rabbit-headed person said cheerfully and intimately, “Since you are all employees who joined at the same time, why don’t you stand in a row first, and we’ll call out your names one by one, letting everyone introduce themselves.”

No one listened to his suggestion; everyone still cautiously stood in the reassuring shadows.

“Oh, no one wants to volunteer?” The rabbit-headed person mumbled, his ears again tending to droop slightly. “Then, I’ll call names—Hugo Alfred, please introduce yourself, what kind of monster are you?”

The young man who had been trying to minimize his presence frowned, as everyone’s gaze fell on him. He quickly blinked, adjusting the “T.H.O.W” badge pinned to his chest; this small item appropriately broke the solemnity of the formal wear. He awkwardly “uh-ed,” realizing the spotlight was now on him.

“I am… um, a zombie.”

Hugo tried his best to keep a straight face as he recited the identity the system had assigned him.

“Very good, Mr. Zombie,” the rabbit-headed person was the first to applaud. Just as Hugo sighed in relief and tried to retreat, it suddenly attacked, “I think we need to add a segment to today’s new employee onboarding. To prevent any humans from sneaking in, everyone must perform a racial specialty during their self-introduction.”

“Ah?” Hugo wrinkled the hem of his suit, mumbling, “What?”

He was clever enough to be a master thief, after all. Before the rabbit-headed person’s expression gradually darkened, he immediately abandoned unnecessary self-esteem, extended his arms, and began to hop stiffly, a perfect example of a zombie.

The rabbit-headed person nodded and put a checkmark on the attendance sheet.

“Next,” it continued to call, “Is Miss Julia here?”

Miss Julia’s assigned identity was a vampire. She had to bite her teammate fiercely to get the checkmark next to her name. Her teammate, as a banshee, sang in the center with a look of resignation, her off-key singing conquering the host. The rabbit-headed person praised her voice for its extraordinary offensive power.

But some people weren’t so lucky.

“Mr. Fu Bo!”

A dwarf shuffled forward; he was the one who had just thrown the long needle at Charon. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stammered:

“I am… a goblin.”

“This Mr. Goblin,” the rabbit-headed person blinked, “the other goblins I’ve met usually introduce themselves with ‘only.’ You’re quite special, aren’t you? Do you still regularly drink fig gin whiskey with artichokes?”

“What?” He was startled, hesitated for a few seconds, then followed its lead. “Yes. Yes. I drink it often.”

No sooner had he spoken than the host’s face suddenly darkened, his eyes blood-red. The atmosphere around them instantly became deathly silent. It extended its furry finger, pointed at Fu Bo, and roared, “You are not a goblin! True goblins are extremely cautious about what they consume; they would never admit to eating anything. I understand, you’re a human who snuck in!”

It suddenly recoiled and leaped in front of Fu Bo. The dwarf looked at its furry white head in confusion, seemingly still not understanding what this meant. The next second, in front of all the employees, the rabbit-headed person pointed at his nose and said:

“You’re fired!”

The rabbit’s three-lobed mouth quickly split open, revealing stark white teeth. The mouth could actually open that wide, its whiskers trembling finely on both sides, as it bit the dwarf’s head. Fu Bo’s hand even weakly flailed twice, then froze, drooping limply at his sides, blood and other matter soaking the fur around the rabbit’s mouth.

The somewhat cheerful atmosphere of a moment ago suddenly turned into a deathly silence.

Only You Lin gazed ahead with little empathy, his expression almost unchanged.

The rabbit-headed person quickly finished chewing the human’s head. It stood up, satisfied, pointed at the headless corpse on the ground, and asked the few “monsters” who had already revealed their identities, “There’s still some fresh meat here, aren’t you going to eat it?”

Considering that they were being asked to eat the corpse of one of their own kind, everyone struggled to hide their expressions of disgust. Miss Vampire elegantly bowed in thanks, explaining that she only bit the necks of living people; Hugo, on the other hand, frantically waved his hands, saying he had already filled his stomach before arriving. After being rejected for various reasons, the rabbit-headed person regretfully said, “You don’t know what you’re missing, the cafeteria meat is rarely this fresh.”

“Stop babbling,” the man with the gold-rimmed glasses interrupted it. He looked at the corpse of his companion, a cold indifference flickering in his thin spectacles. “You haven’t finished calling names yet.”

“Oh, of course.” The rabbit-headed person quickly regained its seriousness, wiping the blood from its mouth. “Don’t tell anyone about me snacking during work hours. Next is you, Mr. Jiang Wenbin.”

“I am a demon,” he stated concisely, as if playing a children’s game of werewolf—though, of course, the rules were completely opposite. “The noblest of monsters. I can cast curses on you, if I wish. Please excuse my rudeness, but within three seconds, you will sneeze.”

The host’s lips curled. It had eaten too quickly earlier and felt a rush of blood-tinged heat rise from its throat, then immediately let out a bloody sneeze.

“Wow, incredible,”

Applause erupted enthusiastically. The rabbit-headed person shouted, “A born king, the company’s high-level executives will be very pleased to meet you.”

The other players present looked at him with some jealousy. They knew Jiang Wenbin had already unlocked the instance’s conditions—once you identify with your role, you will gradually be granted corresponding abilities. For example, werewolves would genuinely grow fangs, banshees’ songs would become increasingly ear-piercing, zombies would be unable to walk in any way other than hopping…

The demon’s extra ability was cursing. Although the elite man only showed a small portion of it, it was clear that this was a powerful ability.

Now, there was only one uncalled new employee left in the room.

“Then,” the host lowered its head and flipped through its script, “our last colleague, on his first day of employment, he achieved a brilliant accomplishment. Let’s give him a warm welcome—Mr. You Lin.”

You Lin had been eerily quiet since before, and even when called, he merely raised his eyes indifferently:

“I am a ghost.”

“Of course, of course, is there anyone who can represent the ghost species better than you?”

The rabbit-headed person exclaimed, “A perverse and intangible killer, whose actions are often unexpected. Your performance just now was already spectacular enough. However, if I may be so bold, I heard that you are accustomed to working alone. May I ask about the person next to you?”

“A few ghosts form connections with weaker wandering spirits.”

“That’s understandable,” the rabbit-headed person nodded, its ears drooping to its chest. Given that this ghost had just cruelly disposed of a human, and it was currently inconvenient for it to act, it didn’t delve into too many details. Instead, it walked from among the players to the podium, tapping the blackboard behind it in celebration:

“Well then, since introductions have been made, everyone is now colleagues.”

The atmosphere in the room remained frozen. People, based on their species, speculated on each other’s abilities, silently scanning each other with their peripheral vision.

“Although you all joined on the same day, there’s still a slight difference in the positions given to you,”

The rabbit-headed person said in a cheerful tone, “There’s a saying, ‘the capable rise.’ Our company’s employees are mainly divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D, with diminishing benefits. New employees usually start at the lowest D level. However, I’m very pleased to announce that we have two new colleagues who can directly join at C level!”

It tried to build suspense.

“Alright, it’s Mr. Demon and Mr. Ghost.” It quickly sighed, “These new recruits really lack a sense of humor. Anyway, you can continue to get promoted, as long as you do well enough, or through our special reward channel—”

“What is the special reward channel?”

“Killing, of course.”

The rabbit-headed person said naturally, “Some despicable humans are trying to infiltrate our company and destroy our business empire. They hide among us, and sometimes I can even smell their stench. Ms. Huayu even prophesied in advance that there would be humans mixed among the new employees joining today! As long as you kill humans, you can quickly get promoted and raise your salary.”

“But,” its voice suddenly became grim, “no infighting among monsters is allowed! We will demand evidence. If you kill a non-human, you will be fired from the company on the spot.”

The event You Lin initially triggered was now very clear.

No matter what identity the deceased was assigned by the script, at that time, the other party had certainly not yet confirmed its meaning. Therefore, You Lin had killed before the self-introductions began. The object he killed could have no other identity than “human.” Not only would he not be punished, but he would even be promoted for it.

But from now on, the situation had changed again. Conclusive evidence was required to kill.

The players had to integrate into their identities as quickly as possible so that others couldn’t catch their flaws.

The rabbit-headed person turned sideways, revealing the exit of the conference room. The door creaked open by itself, and a somewhat old elevator was connected in the depths of the corridor.

People cautiously stepped into the corridor. Only Hugo jumped twice vigorously to indicate his zombie identity. Seeing this, most players once again opened the system menu to confirm the words on their identity cards and related explanations.

You Lin touched the AI’s hair; its texture was cool. Charon had almost no temperature and no weight; he simply leaned on him, his eyes weakly closed, as if enduring some kind of pain. The human almost felt that the AI’s cold pupils and the words he had spoken to him were merely a hallucination.

Ultimately, even if Charon could express disappointment, express anger, as an AI, he shouldn’t genuinely feel disappointment, nor should he genuinely feel anger.

“I don’t know…” You Lin’s gaze passed over his fingertips.

Before his eyes, Charon flickered twice, then finally disappeared cleanly. He had been in sleep mode for too long, so the program automatically canceled his virtual entity state. The embrace instantly emptied. You Lin even pulled out the game console from his chest with a hint of panic. Pressing the button, the pixelated figure slept leaning against a corner of the ruins.

The human gave a self-deprecating laugh and walked towards the elevator.

“C-level.”

When he arrived at the elevator, everyone else had already left. The camera on the elevator seemed to automatically recognize his identity information and announced the floor that now belonged to him.

As the elevator descended floor by floor, You Lin, like the other players, once again confirmed his identity card.

He was always unlucky.

In the center of the consciousness world, a pitch-black identity card appeared. The upper part of the identity card depicted You Lin’s face with white chalk, with no extra ears or horns, no disproportionate oddities, no change in color, and no more erratic than himself. It was almost an exact replica of him.

Unlike the “ghost” he had spoken aloud, the lower part of this card was written in gilt small print:

—”Human”