Hod was convinced she hadn't fully woken up—because there was no way she'd just heard that from Angela.
"Angela… may I ask why you suddenly want to recruit criminals?" Hod said carefully. "And on top of that, with a no-limits approach. With the Manager's current level of control, recruiting people like that won't actually help his work much."
"In fact, they might slow progress—or even cause failures."
"Of course, there are ways to solve that—if the 'no-limits' authority you mentioned really gets approved. But if it comes to that… the employees the Manager ends up with won't be people at all. Just walking corpses."
Angela replied evenly:
"Yes, I know. If anything, that outcome is preferable."
Hod's breath caught.
"Then… may I ask whose instruction this is? Yours—or the Manager's?"
Angela stared at her.
"Does it make a difference?"
"…No," Hod said at once.
Under that gaze, she shelled up like a turtle and pretended she'd never said anything.
Meanwhile, Zhou Zhuang was walking over, thinking hard about how to bring it up with Hod.
She's not exactly like the game's Hod… If I screw this up, she'll think I'm some ruthless Paradox-game sociopath.
While he was still rehearsing, he arrived behind Angela—stepped slightly to the side—and saw Hod standing there with her shoulders drawn in, as if she'd just been reprimanded.
Trying to dissolve the weird atmosphere, Zhou Zhuang spoke up cheerfully:
"What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing, Manager," Angela said, turning her head. "We were just handing over work."
Only then did Zhou Zhuang notice: the Abnormality dossier file Angela had been holding had already been transferred to Hod's arms.
"Ah!" Hod blurted, suddenly loud and fast. "Manager, Angela—if there's nothing else, I'll go prepare today's employee training plan!"
Her tone was like she was speedrunning an incantation—about to cast Work Escape Technique and vanish.
Zhou Zhuang instantly forgot every draft line he'd prepared on the way here.
"H-Hey, wait! Hold on, Hod—I have something I want to tell you."
Hod stopped and turned back, waiting.
Zhou Zhuang immediately started stacking disclaimers like armor plates:
"Uh, so… if what I'm about to say feels inappropriate, you can absolutely refuse. I'm just tossing it out there, okay? You know how it is—someone upstairs says one sentence and the people below break their legs running. If it's not feasible, just shut it down."
Hod blinked.
"Manager, you don't need to be that roundabout. If you have something, just say it. Most of the Manager's requests in this company can be implemented."
That reassurance calmed Zhou Zhuang by about half.
"Okay. Then I'll say it."
He took a breath.
"Hod… when you recruit employees later, can you also recruit one or two criminals—like, truly heinous ones?"
"Not immediately. More like… keep them in the pipeline. Then when I need them, we push one or two through—skip new-hire training and have them join work directly."
As he spoke, he kept clarifying, trying to prevent any misunderstanding.
While Zhou Zhuang wasn't watching, Hod flicked her eyes toward Angela behind him.
Angela was standing straight, eyes closed, as if she knew nothing about this—like the entire plan had not involved her at all.
Hod turned her attention back, listening as Zhou Zhuang's plan grew more and more animated… and more and more off the rails.
At one point, he even named it on the spot:
"Even the Juice Machine Deserves a Springtime Plan."
As Zhou Zhuang drifted further and further from the original point, Hod shot Angela a silent help me look.
"Manager," Angela cut in, saving her.
Zhou Zhuang froze mid-flight.
"What is it, Angela?"
"Manager… do you remember what topic you're currently discussing?"
"Of course—I'm talking about recruiting special employees—"
Then he realized his own train of thought had jumped the tracks somewhere in the middle and disappeared into a random ditch.
Embarrassed, Zhou Zhuang smacked his forehead and apologized to Hod.
"Uh… sorry, Hod. I derailed. Something that should've taken one or two sentences—somehow I rambled this long."
Hod waved her hands quickly.
"No, no, Manager. Your detailed explanation actually reduced my workload a lot."
Then her expression sharpened.
"However, Manager—I want to point something out."
"Actually, Angela already mentioned this plan to me earlier. But after hearing your expanded version, I still want to highlight what you haven't considered."
"Go on," Zhou Zhuang said, straightening up and listening seriously.
"First: this can be done. And as you said, since this employee isn't intended for normal use, we can skip the early training process and use LOB to forcibly raise their physical stats."
"And here lies the first problem."
"Manager—do you truly want to spend LOB points refined over several days… just to make a single day's energy extraction easier?"
Zhou Zhuang's face stiffened.
"So… my idea is basically picking up sesame seeds and dropping the watermelon. I guess I'm still too young."
Before his disappointment could fully settle—
"Manager," a voice called from behind him, "even if we can't 'juice' them the way you described, your 'special employee' plan can still be implemented from another angle."
It was Malkuth.
Zhou Zhuang raised an eyebrow and turned around. The minister who'd just finished the day's performance evaluation had walked over—with the four Control Team employees in tow.
"M-Makuku?"
"You—!" Malkuth twitched, but forcibly moved on. "Fine."
"As you said, criminals can't be wasted that extravagantly as disposable tools."
"But the Abnormalities that can accept sacrifices—aren't limited to just your 'juice machine.'"
Malkuth wore her signature smile—sweet on the surface, unmistakably dangerous underneath.
"Manager, don't fixate on directly obtaining energy. There are plenty of Abnormalities whose output increases only through sacrifice."
"And if they're hard to manage—this company has methods to make them as docile as lambs."
"Since they're disposable anyway, there's no need to consider long-term consequences."
Zhou Zhuang stared at the neatly assembled subordinates—then immediately threw his hands up.
"Look, I don't understand half of the company's stuff. Since you all have ideas, I'll leave it to you."
Then he lifted a finger as if announcing a brilliant executive decision.
"Perfect timing—since nobody's left yet… today's on me. I'm taking everyone to a good place to eat."
Everyone looked at each other, confused at the abrupt whiplash from moral abyss to dinner plans.
"No refusing," Zhou Zhuang declared. "Let's call it… a company dinner."
And with that, he started walking toward the cafeteria.
....
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