LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 51: Special
"Angela, is it possible for the Abnormalities inside the Containment units to be released actively? I mean, can the Containment unit doors be opened manually?"
X suddenly asked her AI Secretary. The reason she asked this question was that she hadn't seen any options related to releasing Abnormalities in the management buttons. This meant that...
It was not allowed. As the Manager, she should not be able to press some button and suddenly release the Abnormalities from the Containment units.
But every time a meltdown happened, if she was slow to react and deploy employees to calm the Abnormalities' emotions, the Abnormalities with the "Escape" trait would run out of their Containment units.
So the question was, were the Containment unit doors opening due to malfunctions, or were the Abnormalities escaping on their own?
Under the influence of the "Cognition Filter," everything looked incredibly simplified to X, like a child's crude drawing. It allowed her to understand what something was, but not the exact details.
While this offered some protection for the Manager, it also limited X's perception of things. She only had a vague understanding of many things.
For example, when the Abnormalities escaped, even when X zoomed in, she could only see the guy in the Containment unit running out. After all, the abstract picture was only an expression of meaning... it was very different from a three-dimensional, realistic image.
From X's perspective, if an Abnormality "escaped," it was simply that the Containment unit where it was located would become a cluster of random, flickering Hertz, like a broken TV. The Containment unit frame would have a red warning wire.
As for how the Abnormality escaped and what happened during the process, X didn't know.
Of course, she didn't really need to know. Investigating such irrelevant details had no meaning for her management work.
For the Manager, it was enough to know that the Abnormalities had escaped, and that the Abnormalities had to be suppressed and returned.
It didn't matter how the Abnormalities felt, and it didn't matter how they escaped prison.
Was the Containment unit too small and uncomfortable? Or were they lonely without an employee to keep them company? Or maybe they just wanted to go outside and play? It didn't matter. As long as they escaped, they needed to be dealt with.
The AI Secretary frowned as she explained. It was unclear whether she was annoyed by how many questions X had asked today, as if X were a curious toddler.
[Are you referring to those accidental situations? Occasionally, employees may have a vengeful intent and open the Containment unit, releasing the Abnormalities… Therefore, you must pay attention to the employees' mental state and deal with any potential hidden dangers in a timely manner.]
"Alright, I got it."
The AI Secretary's patience was limited, and she was starting to show signs of impatience. X hadn't gotten the answer she wanted, but she didn't want to push her any further. She would just have to keep quiet for now.
Angela was in a bad mood, and X didn't know what she had done to her.
Actually, X's true question was, since employees could use their employee permissions to open the Containment unit doors, why couldn't the Manager? Who had that kind of power?
The regulation of the Qliphoth energy suppression field was not the Manager's responsibility.
But the question was too direct, too sensitive, and X only dared to be indirect, beating around the bush... What was the AI thinking? It was always waiting by the Manager's side, supposedly protecting her, but really it was to monitor her.
X sighed and finally gave up on her pointless contemplation.
"Angela, can you make me a cup of coffee? No milk this time, and no sugar."
She needed to focus on her work. Even if this was a long-term tactic to shift her focus and make her disregard the sense of the abnormal, it was working.
It had been a few days now, and she was getting used to the Lobotomy logo that always hovered beneath her eyes. She was also getting used to interacting with the Corporation's eccentric, intelligent AIs.
Excellent work performance was more effective than anything else. To gain the Department Dean's trust, she needed to deliver results.
And that was perhaps the only sure thing X could bet on right now. It was cheating, or you could say she was rationally using the resources at hand.
A simulation that was completely useless for dating, but it could show her "how to find ways to die."
As long as she ignored the malevolent, punishing, and satirical "Achievements" that she collected, the results were actually not bad. The reminders were clear and concise, like early "Mine Detection."
[The simulation has started——]
[Day 6 ——Ay! You're done for, go enjoy your flowers!]
[Today you received missions entrusted to you by the Information Department Dean and the Training Department Dean, and a new Abnormality was placed in a Containment unit in the Safety Department.]
[You need to complete today's work with no "Poor" results, and suppress all Abnormalities that escape the Corporation as a repression practice for employees.]
[You decide to prioritize managing the new [O-04-84] Abnormality. You assign a Safety Department employee to perform [Instinct] work on [O-04-84]. The work result is [Good], [O-04-84] breaks through the Containment unit, and [O-04-84] escapes.]
[You hear the Abnormality escape alarm, but the Dean and the employees haven't detected any signs of the Abnormality's escape. All the equipment can't detect any trace of the Abnormality.]
[You search for the Abnormality's traces, and at this moment, the Information Department Dean's warning messages start flashing before your eyes.]
[You confirm the Abnormality's location. It is the location where the Information Department employees disappeared. The Information Department Dean has also deployed employees to suppress it, but they can't find any trace of the Abnormality.]
[......]
[...]
[You discover that only you can see the Abnormality's location on your screen. You have to personally direct the employees and provide them with the correct location to find the Abnormality in time. But it's already too late.]
[You are bombarded with messages from the Department Deans. You are interrogated by the Information Department Dean and the Safety Department Dean. The Information Department employee died because of your incompetent command, and the Safety Department, the department supposedly responsible for "Safety," seems incapable of ensuring safety.]
[After your work is finished, the Information Department Dean and the Safety Department Dean block you in the Manager's office.]
[You face the Manager's punishment. The AI's approval for the Manager's punishment is requested.]
[Your mental is broken...]
[You are comforted by the AI...]
[You failed to commit suicide...]
[......]
[...]
[You have achieved the achievement – Damn, Careful of the Extraordinary Sight!]
[Warm Reminder: Some Abnormalities have undetectable properties. Please rub your eyes and look carefully for their figures on the screen.]
[Please select your reward for this outcome:
Fortitude (+1)
Prudence (+1)
Temperance (+1)
Justice (+1)]
[First-person perspective original Yes/No]
X's consciousness shuddered beneath her. When she recovered, she was unharmed. The screen didn't have any yellow warning frames, red danger signals, or messages from the Deans bombarding it.
Everything was fine...
[Manager, your coffee is ready. Enjoy it while it's hot.]
Her trusted AI Secretary had already placed the steaming coffee on X's desk.
"Okay, thank you."
When someone was nervous, they would instinctively drink something to calm down. X sipped the coffee, which had a strong aroma and a distinct bitterness. It was bitter, but it also lifted her spirits. She felt much better now.
She had been better off ordering an unsweetened coffee before because that helped people regain their composure faster.
"Malkuth, tell the Clerks not to linger in the hallways. Pay attention to the hallway situation. If it's too quiet, let me know immediately...!"
"Other Departments may have sudden situations that require your balanced command and distribution. There are remote E.G.O. employees waiting in the break room for orders. Unarmed employees should alternate performing [Attachment] work on [One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds]."
"Netzach, [O-04-84] is assigned to your Department for management. Let me know immediately if it escapes. Deploy one employee to perform [Insight] work on [O-04-84] right now. The rest of the employees should wait in the break room. Don't let them run around in the hallways."
"Yesod, deploy your employees to perform [Instinct] work on [Spider Bud]. Employees with [Temperance] and [Prudence] levels lower than 2 will be responsible for managing [Fairy Festival] and performing [Insight] and [Attachment] work."
"Hod, for now, have the employees with[Justice] level higher than 3 and[Fortitude] level lower than 3 perform Repression work on [Funeral of the Dead Butterflies]. Elite employees should be deployed remotely with E.G.O.s and await orders."
X felt relatively confident about the Abnormalities whose information she had obtained. As long as the Deans and employees didn't make any mistakes, there wouldn't be any major errors in management.
For those Abnormalities that were agreeable and had specific preferences, performing the right kind of [work] was the most effective management method. And those Abnormalities that were less threatening and had fewer strict requirements, usually didn't have a high probability of accidents, as long as the employees' skills met the requirements.
The main difficulty with management was the lack of information. If you didn't know the Abnormalities, you would inevitably step on a landmine, touch a "boundary line," eventually leading to casualties or the Abnormality's escape, triggering a chain reaction.
Even though X didn't know the specific "hidden rules" of the new Abnormality, she had at least prepared for suppressing the escaping Abnormality. She was mentally prepared for the Abnormality's escape.
As expected, after the employees performed [Insight] work on [O-04-84], the result was 'Good'. This Abnormality liked [Insight] work. However, after the employees completed the work, the [O-04-84] Containment unit was dark, and the Abnormality was gone... It had escaped.
X realized this was a similar Abnormality to [Funeral of the Dead Butterflies], a bit of a weirdo.
This meant that it would immediately break out of the Containment unit and go on a rampage in the hallways if you touched any of its "hidden points."
Because of [O-04-84]'s unique nature, it was an Abnormality that hid under the floor, digging through the Containment unit floor and moving in the layers above the ground. This meant that its path of movement during escape couldn't be predicted, and when the containment failed... the Dean and the employees couldn't react in time.
X stared intently at the screen. After the Containment unit was empty, it was like a bait that had disappeared. She immediately pressed the [Pause] button, zoomed in on the screen, and started eliminating traces in each hallway to see if there were any anomalies.
She had to find the... glowing bait.
The good news was that the employee break room had a [Regenerator] type device installed. The floor was very sturdy, so [O-04-84] wouldn't be able to dig into the employee break room. It was just hiding in the hallways like a predator waiting for its prey to take the bait.
The bait was a bright "flower," a glowing object of unknown composition.
Seeing a small flower appear on the floor... wasn't a good sign.
Suppressing [O-04-84] was handled by X herself, directing the elite employees equipped with remote E.G.O.s. It was a sweaty process, even with X directing them.
No one knew how large [O-04-84]'s body was after escaping, but the size of its blood-filled maw was definitely a hassle. Only X could discern from the screen where its feeding range was and where the "safe zone" was.
If an employee accidentally stepped into [O-04-84]'s range, they would be swallowed in a blink.
So, with the help of [Pause] and X's own judgment, no accidents happened during the suppression of [O-04-84]. It was considered a flawless suppression training exercise with no casualties.