The first containment unit was exactly as expected: "One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds," the "dad" of WhiteNight.
The second was also what most people would pick—the harmless little bird.
But from the third one onward, Zhou Zhuang's brain started spitting out question marks.
A pristine white bathtub.
Inside it, a blood-red liquid rippled in faint waves. If you stared for too long, you could almost see it—
a pale woman's hand surfacing… then sinking back down.
The Bloodbath?!
Oh hell no.
Right now, the only person in the company who could even work it was Faust—and even then, if her Temperance wasn't at level 2, she'd get dragged in too.
…Wait.
Zhou Zhuang's memory caught up.
And then he realized something even worse:
In this entire company, there wasn't a single employee who actually met the requirements to work Bloodbath safely.
Zhou Zhuang sucked in a cold breath.
Looks like today he could only squeeze the old man and the bird for all they were worth if he wanted to hit the day's energy quota.
As he was thinking, Faust's group had already returned to that familiar place under Malkuth's leadership.
Anna nervously pinched at her company-issued uniform.
Back in the backstreets, all she'd known was that becoming a Wing employee was "good."
But what did "good" even mean? She'd never really known.
People just said it: Join a Wing, and everything gets better.
Now, running her hand over the suit, she finally understood one concrete thing.
From yesterday's training, the outfit clearly offered a degree of protection—
and it seemed to auto-repair and adjust its fit too.
Behind her, her two little brothers, Lain and Sif, were still flipping frantically through the employee training manual Hod had handed out, as if tearing the book apart would magically turn them into Grade-1 employees.
Anna sighed and decided not to disturb them.
Instead, she looked toward the front—at the Minister, and at Faust.
After exchanging a few words with Faust (the team leader Malkuth had appointed yesterday), Malkuth headed off toward the other end.
Anna finally had the chance to ask her roommate what was going on.
"Um, Faust… what did the Minister just say to you?"
"Malkuth asked Faust to look after you all," Faust answered. "So that you don't lose people on Day One due to unnecessary mistakes."
"Huh? Why would she say that? We already memorized the notes she gave us…"
Anna was genuinely puzzled. She'd followed instructions perfectly. How could an accident still happen?
Then Anna noticed it—
Faust was holding the same things Malkuth carried: a notebook and a pen.
"Faust… what's that?"
"This is a notebook Faust purchased using the initial PE-BOX allocated by the company."
Faust waved it lightly.
"It's just Faust's habit. Don't mind it."
Then she added, more quietly but far heavier:
"Faust would like to remind you: Malkuth's notes only slightly increase our odds of survival."
"Whether we reach the dorms safely after work… depends on our Manager."
"…That person?" Anna murmured, her thoughts drifting back to the strange impressions she'd formed about that mysterious company boss.
Beep. Beep.
The vibration and alert tone from Anna's wrist cut off her train of thought.
She looked down.
A projection appeared from the wristband.
'Employee Anna (Level 1): Proceed to O-03-03 for a Communication work assignment.'
Communication…
Yesterday, the training rabbit job had also been "communication"—basically Anna talking one-sidedly while the rabbit's reactions chilled her to the bone.
Anna lifted her head, intending to ask Faust for guidance—
Only to realize Faust had received a task order too.
"Faust, you got one as well? Then let's go together."
"No," Faust said. "Faust's assignment requires Corridor B."
She pointed toward an iron door not far away.
"Before you leave—if you're willing to tell Faust your target Abnormality, Faust can offer advice."
Anna felt a stab of disappointment at not going together—
But that last part snapped her back into focus.
They'd only known each other for less than a day, yet Faust's sheer breadth of knowledge had already smoothed over the awkwardness between them.
"My target is Abnormality O-03-03. Work type: Communication."
Anna rattled it off quickly.
Faust nodded once.
"If you want an 'Excellent' result," Faust said, "you can speak to it about some of your own wrongdoing."
"…My wrongdoing?" Anna repeated, trying to parse what that meant.
She was about to press for specifics—
When her wristband started delivering a mild electric shock.
Faust's posture stayed perfectly composed.
"It appears we've delayed too long. Let's exchange information after the work is complete."
She dipped her head slightly, turned, and walked briskly toward her destination.
Anna felt the pain in her wrist intensify.
She immediately followed her wristband's guidance toward her containment unit.
…
"Ugh. This is rough."
Zhou Zhuang propped his head against the desk with one hand, staring at his employees.
Faust would go to the bird first—Insight work.
Anna would go chat with the old man.
Tasks assigned to the two who needed the least babysitting.
Then Zhou Zhuang looked at Lain and Sif—
Still standing in the center of the control room, clutching their manuals and flipping like lunatics, as if the sheer speed of page-turning could upload competence into their brains.
Zhou Zhuang's head started throbbing.
This was bad.
Lain was… tolerable: his only missing stat was Justice, which wasn't a big deal on Day One.
But Sif?
Sif was missing Fortitude.
Come on, man.
You couldn't be missing anything else?
You're missing the "don't get folded" stat?
Zhou Zhuang actually laughed a little.
Even if this wasn't a game and he couldn't map everything 1:1…
If the game categorized stats like this, there was a reason.
It meant: you don't tank.
This is rough.
Did they have TT2 here?
Was he seriously going to have to watch them crawl forward one painful step at a time while working Abnormalities?
He switched the camera.
At One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds, Anna—after a short moment of fear—was trembling as she attempted Communication work.
But the energy gauge beside the cell barely rose.
The only NE-BOX she produced came from the instant she stepped into the room and took panic damage.
Sigh.
Looks like from now on he'd have to verbally brief them every day using yesterday's Abnormality records.
He switched again.
Faust, inside the bird's containment room, was… shockingly smooth.
She cleaned away the sticky, unknown slime within the cell, and the bird fluttered around her—sometimes even landing on her head to rest.
The PE-BOX production was stable.
Zhou Zhuang nodded in satisfaction at the steadily rising number.
For Punishing Bird, he'd rotate Faust and Anna through shifts.
And while they were at it, they could grind Communication skill at One Sin to raise Temperance.
As for Lain—he'd test how much damage work did to him.
Sif…
Sigh.
He still needed training.
He'd try sending Sif to One Sin and see if he could earn an accessory to patch stats.
If Zhou Zhuang remembered correctly, One Sin's gift increased mental stability.
Still thinking while swapping screens, Zhou Zhuang returned to Anna's feed—
And what he saw made his mouth fall open.
"…Oh. Oh."
....
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