A walked forward in the endless white light until the scene before him distorted again, at which point he stopped.
The construction department's lounge reappeared before him, but compared to yesterday, this lounge had become so distorted that it was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
Many photographs, similar to but not identical to Sephirah's image in the Cognitive Filter, are scattered throughout the lounge, along with numerous distorted containers holding twisted brains, leaning precariously against the walls and floor.
Hanging on a lumpy, decaying blue machine cabinet was a photograph that appeared to be of Carmen. The photograph caught A's attention, and he stepped over the putrid liquid and debris on the ground toward it.
However, just as he was about to reach the photo, a young man with long white hair and a confident, proud smile blocked his way.
The man wore a pure white robe, his striped, tattooed left arm exposed. The young man stared at A from head to toe with his yellow eyes, finally uttering a curt greeting:
"Welcome. I have been waiting here for a long time."
"Hmph, utterly boring."
"As you know, the world has lost all its pleasure for those who know the highest good."
"Think carefully about this miserable world. The 'Singularity' makes everything around you unpredictable. The 'Wings' control the entire world; without the 'Wings' control, no one can survive. Mortals know how cruel the 'Wings' are, but they can only choose to remain silent. Those who refuse to obey the 'Wings' are destined to be losers, to be driven out of this world alone. And this is your current situation."
This young man, who was almost entirely dressed in white, spoke eloquently in front of A. His tone was arrogant, yet he showed pity for A. However, in A's eyes, his words were nothing more than childish and lacked any real substance.
"Can this also be part of my personality?"
At this moment, A couldn't help but wonder if the young man in front of him was playing some kind of prank, or even if Angela or some Sephirah had impersonated him after finishing work last night.
He knew, of course, that Angela wouldn't do such a thing, and that the Sephirahs were all box spirits who couldn't possibly impersonate someone else, but getting A to admit that the young man was him was still too difficult.
"What was I like in the past? What should I do now? Where should I go in the future? The questions that drive human growth have long since been abandoned. Mortals are on their deathbeds, barely surviving. I watch the degeneration I have long foreseen, and the dryness in my heart is beyond words."
A stared intently at the young man before him, his face tense, an overwhelming sense of shame making him curse him inwardly. Yet, at this moment, he could only confront this personality, enduring the torment of this shame.
At this moment, he even began to miss the monitor he used to direct his work. Even dealing with the simultaneous melting of all Sephirahs would be better than communicating with this delusional personality.
Unfortunately, he could only continue listening...
"And that is why I discovered it—the 'light' in the hearts of mortals. Unfortunately, most people spend their entire lives without ever glimpsing that light. Those who abandon reality to pursue falsehood are inevitably pathetic. Mortals begin to seal that light deep within their hearts."
"And Carmen was determined to draw out that light."
Just as A began to suffer the torment of her own chuunibyou personality, Ye Lan also woke up from her dream.
As always, I went into the bathroom to groom myself, and the communicator, disguised as a decorative item, received a new message once again.
Central's face appeared on the light screen, delivering new bad news to Ye Lan. In short, he was about to be abandoned. The organization's actions on the ruins had extremely adverse consequences. Some strange monsters high in the sky lowered their gazes on the ruins because of their actions, and all the creatures they looked at were distorted and assimilated into the ruins.
"Difficult to maintain."
Upon hearing this news, Ye Lan made the above assessment. However, looking on the bright side, the organization has now abandoned him; in a sense, it's not much different from being expelled. As compensation for being abandoned, the organization, according to its regulations, will not concern itself with his life or death.
While most abandoned agents die due to hostile forces during their missions, Ye Lan won't. His mission is to infiltrate and steal technology, and so far, apart from Angela, who is truly beyond hiding, no one knows he's an agent.
"Looks like I'll have to become a librarian with Angela now!"
Thinking to himself, he left his dormitory room and took the elevator to the staff cafeteria. For some reason, all the Sephirahs were present in the cafeteria today. The heads of various departments were gathered around a table, talking noisily about something. Of course, it was mainly the four Sephirahs at the top who were talking, while most of the others were just listening.
Ye Lan ordered a Kung Pao Chicken rice bowl from the window, then squeezed between Hod and Malkuth to sit down.
While stuffing rice into her mouth, Ye Lan asked them, "What are you talking about?"
As for why the company's window had this kind of Chinese-style rice bowl, and why it was served during breakfast time, no one had ever thought about it.
"Xiao Ye, don't talk while eating."
Hokma, the head of the company's records department, gave Ye Lan a lecture, and then continued to listen quietly as Malkuth recounted the contents of the clipboard in her hand.
"In conclusion, I have discovered something from the records I found: Bai Ye, who moved to the welfare department today, is very likely an anomaly that was salvaged based on Ayin."
Tiphereth stared at the rice bowl on Ye Lan's plate for a long time, but unfortunately, being a box spirit, she couldn't share any of it with Ye Lan. After a while, she said to Malkuth, "Hey, is that guy really such a chuunibyou (delusional) person?"
"Everyone has a youthful period, and the mistakes made and the dark history left behind in youth will become knives that stab you when you mature."
After finishing her rice bowl, Ye Lan put down her spoon, said something meaningful to them, then got up, threw her plate into the recycling bin, and walked towards the changing room.
He knew in his heart that as long as he completed today's work, the path ahead for the Seed of Light project would be smooth sailing.
Is it really a smooth road ahead?
As Ye Lan entered the changing room, she gave Sephirah a suspicious smile with her back turned.