"TT2 Protocol... Joint Command... Assembly Summons... Angela, are these the documents I need to approve?"
X carefully examined the stack of documents in her hand. These were research protocols for self-restraint mechanisms. Once she signed them, the corresponding functions would be unlocked, but she could only approve one research project at a time.
[TT2 Protocol]
Provided by T Corporation's Singularity Technology, it can alter the local flow of time within the Corporation, slowing down or speeding up the clock. This assists the Manager in supervising employees and handling unexpected emergencies.
[Joint Command]
Allows inter-department cooperation. The Control Department can command employees from other departments, enabling cross-department work to handle emergencies or urgent issues.
[Assembly Summons]
Sends a pager message to every employee, quickly notifying them to return to their respective departments.
All of these were useful, but the [TT2 Protocol] was the most impactful. X didn't hesitate and immediately chose it, feeling like a self-motivated, hardworking Manager.
Manipulating time is a highly unpredictable technology. Even affecting a localized area of time is incredibly significant. X didn't know how much energy L Corporation spent to acquire the usage rights from T Corporation, but it must have been immeasurable.
Truly a wealthy Corporation...
X mused, looking closely. Most of the technology applied within the L Corporation facility utilized Singularity provided by other Corporations, coupled with the widespread use of Singularity Technology.
Things like the Regenerator and the Mental Pollution Neutralizing Gas were always unlocked and provided to employees. Incredibly extravagant.
[Manager, the TT2 Protocol has been confirmed signed. Rational application of this technology will bring great assistance to your work.]
A moment later, after signing the Protocol, X saw several new buttons appear on her monitoring console. From the icons alone, she could understand what they meant.
[Pause] [Decelerate] [Accelerate] [Double Speed]. After activating the [TT2 Protocol], the flow of time in the Manager's room would differ from the flow of time in the employee work zones, creating a time differential. This allowed for comparative Acceleration and Deceleration, even achieving a state of relative temporal stasis in certain areas.
This technology was truly unimaginable, enough to be called a miracle. But it was precisely for this almost magical miracle technology that L Corporation paid the unimaginable fuel cost to acquire usage rights from T Corporation.
Perhaps only L Corporation, which never lacked fuel, could afford to use such technology so lavishly and carelessly.
Before officially starting work, she still needed to talk with the Dean, informing them that the department's official opening was imminent and the official workday would begin. This was also the time for the Dean to convey their department's needs to the Manager.
Although the act of a Dean delegating work to a Manager was quite strange, in terms of hierarchy, X was indeed a rookie Manager who could only strive to prove her capabilities to them.
"Manager, your job isn't just about controlling those Abnormalities; you also need to maintain their mental state so they can produce the maximum amount of PE-BOX under favorable conditions. This is the most important task; everything else is secondary!"
"Please ensure the employees' work completion rating is also [Excellent]. I trust you can do it!"
Control Department Dean Malkuth was as spirited, energetic, and adorable as ever. Her expectant gaze truly motivated X. X didn't want to disappoint Malkuth. However, compared to that, Safety Department Dean Netzach was completely lacking in enthusiasm, as before.
It was a miracle that Dean Netzach's head, currently high on Enkephalins, could still process anything. Even standing steadily was an issue. Working without problems would be strange, but both Malkuth and Angela seemed accustomed to it; only X felt surprised.
On the screen, Netzach looked drowsy and expressed her demands lazily with a yawn.
"Go... Is there nowhere safe in this hellhole? Can you prevent employee deaths?"
The implication was that X should prevent employee deaths. The Safety Department Dean had become so negligent that she had no expectations of the employees anymore. As the Manager, it was naturally her responsibility to shoulder the burden of employee safety.
Proving her competence to the 'arrogant' Dean...
Of course, this was a wager she was bound to win. Thanks to the combined Singularity Technology provided by T Corporation and W Corporation, X could [Restart This Day]. When the situation became irrecoverable, the Abnormalities openly escaped, and all employees died, it was time to [Restart].
Except for the Manager and the Manager Secretary AI, no one would remember this failed work. Probably?
As long as it didn't reach a dead-end situation where the final board state was irreversible, [Restarting This Day] could solve all problems.
[Manager, do you find the Corporation's technology incredible? Please use it with confidence. All of this is for work, for the Corporation's energy quota, and necessary to manage those dreadful monsters using these technologies.]
"... Angela, I was just wondering, once we restart the day, if the employees who died will be resurrected, then why are there still so many casualties."
X looked at the buttons on the table that controlled the operation. Local resets would bring the area back to a starting point; all casualties and escaped monsters would revert to their original state. However, even with this technology, calculating casualties remained difficult.
[Didn't you already realize? When the value of a lost employee is not comparable to the energy you have acquired... You understand, the purpose of an employee's existence is to serve the Corporation and harvest energy.]
"Let the work begin, Angela... I will learn well."
The Secretary's stance was very clear: the Corporation AI represents the Corporation's position, and X herself, as the Manager, also represents the Corporation's position. Pitying the employees was secondary; the primary concern was the energy quota.
As for what happens to the specific employees—how they are individual, living entities—that is the concern for the Dean who interact with them daily. The Manager only needs to issue orders and let the Dean and employees carry them out.
There's no need to remember employees' names, nor their specific hobbies or backgrounds. Perhaps only recognizing a face is necessary for work purposes.
Isn't this clearly contradictory? The Dean sympathize with the employees they work alongside daily, but the AI doesn't. And X herself is forced to become the Manager who sees only energy quotas in her eyes.
At least the current work is relatively light. X can try her best to avoid casualties.
The screens flickered, displaying the Control Department and the newly established Safety Department. The Abnormality designated with Subject Number[F-02-44] was transferred to this new wing.
This was an Abnormality with a wretched, foul appearance—the textbook definition of a Monster. Even through the Cognition Filter, its nauseating form remained undeniable.
It was a twisted, four-legged creature matted in brown fur. Its hind legs resembled the limbs of a predatory insect, while its forelegs looked like bloated, bizarre human thighs. This anatomical imbalance created a visceral sense of unsettlement.
Its front feet were black, like the charred remnants of firewood, rotting with patches of moldy, green decay. On its two hind legs, four red toes stood out as the most striking features of its frame.
Countless bulging, emerald eyes protruded from its face. Its mouth was a jagged human slit, flanked by twitching, insect-like sucking appendages.
Two horns spiraled from its forehead, curving downward like warped ram's horns. Purple-red flowers bloomed from these horns, as if the buds had erupted directly from the creature's invading flesh.
The monster's belly was armored in coarse, black fur that felt like thorns. Its ears, or perhaps just scarred indentations, were crudely patched together, ending in a rigid tail that looked like a forced, surgical addition.
It was time to manage this Monster.
X instinctively looked for the flashing Lobotomy Logo simulator, but the device was dead.
Is it disabled...?
After several taps, X realized the problem. The simulator's full title was [Lobotomy Corporation Simulator — The Best Love Simulator].
A Love Simulator was clearly useless for professional labor—even if the current situation was devoid of affection.
Unless, of course, being systematically tormented by a rebellious AI, or being crushed by the Department Deans, counted as 'love'.
For actual work, she could only depend on the Corporation's built-in [TT2 Protocol].
X glanced at the Secretary. The AI Secretary kept her eyes closed, lost in thought. Since the moment X first met Angela, the AI had almost always kept her eyes shut, yet she navigated the halls without ever faltering.
Just as X considered using an employee for a debugging test, the silent simulator roared to life.
[System upgrade complete... The simulator has been enhanced...]
[Lobotomy Corporation Simulator — The Best Office Work and Love Integration Simulator]
[New functions unlocked: First-person scene playback, Favorability check, Achievement Index, Reward accumulation]
The interface, once cluttered with girlish pink bubbles, now offered new options. If one ignored the brain-shaped Logo and the glaring yellow warning lines, it might actually pass for a dating sim.
X didn't care about System Achievements. In fact, the 'First-person scene playback' made her skin crawl. The only tools that seemed useful were the 'Favorability check' and 'Reward accumulation'.
Under Favorability, she saw a list of the AIs she had encountered, each with a portrait and a Favorability Level. However, the feature was currently useless.
Her loyal Secretary AI, Angela, showed [???]. Her warm Control Department Dean, Malkuth, showed [???]. Even the lazy, drug-addicted Dean, Netzach, was a mystery at [???].
It was all question marks. Beyond Favorability, there was Trust Level. This was visible, but seemingly meaningless for now.
What X most wanted to see was Angela'sTrust Level, but that too was a wall of three question marks. Was it hidden, or something else entirely?
As for the others, Malkuth showed [Trusts Manager]. Netzach showed [Dislikes]. The simulator was working; it reflected their true attitudes.
Malkuth believed in her own competence, while the cynical Netzach expected nothing from the Corporation, or its new Manager.
As for [First-person scene playback]... X vowed never to touch it. The thought of experiencing that content was repulsive.
[Simulation Start ——]
[Day 2 —— The Oppressor]
[Today you assimilated a new Monster and placed it in the newly opened Department. You know nothing about this monster, yet you still need to manage it.]
[You ordered a newly arrived employee to perform Attachment work on the monster. The work ended with a very poor result; the employee suffered severe mental damage.]
[You ordered another newly arrived employee to perform Instinct work on the monster. The work ended with a very poor result; the employee suffered severe mental damage.]
[You ordered a third newly arrived employee to perform Insight work on the monster. The work ended with a very poor result; the employee's mental condition became very poor. Dean Netzach asked you to check the employee's mental state for her; you refused.]
[The mentally unstable employee was beaten to death by an employee from another Department, but the work continued. After several attempts, you discovered that performing Repression work on the monster had a very high success rate.]
[After you ordered another employee from the Safety Department to perform Repression on the monster, the employee fell into the containment unit.]
[You discovered that the monster inside the containment unit died, and the Safety Department employee had turned into a new Monster.]
[All Safety Department employees are dead...]
[Continue Simulation or Stop Simulation]
X wanted to stop, but she needed to see the fallout of these fatal errors. If a mission ended in a bloodbath, what was the price?
[Continue ——]
[Although all Safety Department employees sacrificed themselves, they bought you precious intelligence. You realized that the monster could not undergo continuous Repression work; performing other tasks after Repression could restore the monster's health.]
[You successfully met the Corporation's energy quota. After finishing work, you received the Safety Department Dean's mocking gaze and ruthless ridicule. She taunted you as an oppressor who only saw fuel, a heartless tyrant.]
[You remained indifferent to this, and the Control Department Dean, who always trusted you, also cast a look of disappointment towards you.]
[You were educated by Angela after clocking out. Due to the Deans' complaints, Angela punished you...]
[Your mind collapsed...]
[Achievement Unlocked — What else do you want from me?!]
[Warm Reminder: The energy quota is important, but do not neglect the Deans' feelings.]
[Please choose the reward for this result:
1. Fortitude (+1)
2. Prudence (+1)
3. Temperance (+1)
4. Justice (+1)]
[First-person view playback: Yes/No]
The new prompt hovered before her. X was wary, but for some reason, at the exact moment Angela asked if she wanted coffee, X blurted out a distracted, "Yes."