Chapter 744: They Are No Longer ②D Characters

Chapter 744: They Are No Longer ②D Characters

Seeing the elevator doors about to close, Ashe hurriedly rushed over to press the button, but regretted it as soon as he stepped inside.

Inside the elevator was a disabled girl sitting in a wheelchair. She had no limbs and was dressed in a Gothic dress, sitting like a doll in a specially designed wheelchair, staring blankly ahead. She didn’t even glance at Ashe when he entered.

Eternal Presence, Ashe’s nemesis in the company. She was the main person in charge of the Gospel project team and also the supervisor of the media communication center. In theory, she shouldn’t have any dealings with Ashe, but when Ashe was seconded to help with the Gospel project, the team happened to face policy risks and completely collapsed. Eternal Presence was also transferred to the resource-scarce Blood Moon project team. Perhaps she felt Ashe brought bad luck, so she started to hate him as well.

Now, out of ten rumors about Ashe, eleven were spread by her-the extra one was used to slander Ashe’s colleagues, indirectly tarnishing his reputation. Of course, Ashe was not easy to deal with either; he was previously in charge of operations for the Blood Moon project team, and with a little maneuvering, he made Eternal Presence feel utterly frustrated and ineffective.

“Second floor, public department.”

A charming girl gracefully entered the elevator, so beautiful that Ashe was momentarily stunned. However, he had already been transformed by capital into a bloodless, tearless work machine, so he felt nothing for beauty. At this moment, Eternal Presence suddenly asked, “I heard that the Mercury Trojan Horse from the human resources department died?”

“I’m not very familiar with her,” the charming girl replied. “She’s from the Senlo project team, and I’m from the Stars project team. You might as well ask this new Senlo project leader.”

Eternal Presence snorted coldly and said no more.

Ashe looked at her in confusion; the fact that he became the leader of the Senlo project was something that just happened today and hadn’t been announced yet: “Who are you?”

“Third floor, research and development department.”

Before Ashe could ask for her name, the charming girl pushed Eternal Presence out, indicating that they were indeed very close.

“Fourth floor, operations department.”

Ashe left the elevator and entered the office of the operations department, which was naturally empty. Neither the supervisor nor the leader had a private office; everyone worked collectively, and private discussions were held directly in the meeting room.

His desk was filled with figurines: Con Artist, necromancer, Bewitching Girl, Purple Grudge Shadow Consort, Blood Veil Empress… Ashe had deep feelings for the work “Sorcerer’s Handbook,” as its unexpected success had earned him over twenty months of bonuses from the company.

Ashe first brewed himself a cup of coffee, sat back in his ergonomic chair, and slowly leaned back, causing the chair to creak. He glanced sideways at the empty workstation next to him, and his heart suddenly felt a mix of emotions.

The change in leadership for the Senlo project team was primarily due to the sudden death of the previous leader, Mercury Trojan Horse, but Ashe was not the only candidate. His colleague, Yolan Vesser, was also a favorite of Boss Four.

But at the final selection stage, Yolan Vesser suddenly resigned to start her own business, so Ashe automatically became the leader of the Senlo project. This was why Ashe was so dedicated to the company: the six major project teams were all important departments personally overseen by Boss Four, and the main project leaders were even called Tactile Supervisors. As long as he managed well, Ashe could take a big step towards financial freedom.

Although he had to consider health issues, if he didn’t strive while young, he wouldn’t have the chance later. To be fair, the company was still good; overtime pay was sufficient, there were three opportunities for salary adjustments each year, and Boss Four had said that as long as everyone helped their subordinates create performance for the company, the company would never treat the leadership above Tactile Supervisor poorly!

Boss Four shares the world with Tactile Sense!

Therefore, Ashe should feel happy about this rare opportunity, but for some reason, looking at the empty workstation, he felt an overwhelming sadness, as if he couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, Ashe noticed a piece of paper under Yolan Vesser’s lamp. He pulled it out and found only one sentence inside:

“Death is just a delusion.”

Ashe felt somewhat baffled, casually discarded the paper, and turned on the screen to start working. The reason he was called back by Boss Four to work overtime so late was because the new version event “Hunting the Angel of Ruby Mountain” was about to be updated.

“Once, there were eight.”

“The first one died, the corpse lying in a pool of blood.”

“Then, the second one died, the corpse lying on top of the first one. It didn’t bleed, but a small white soul emerged from the wound beneath the corpse, lifting the second corpse.” ᚱΆℕо₿ÈṠ

“The third one died, its soul eaten by the fifth, but the corpse escaped.”

“The fourth one died, its corpse turned into mountains, but the soul escaped.”

“The fifth, who ate the third soul, sat on the mountains to sleep. The sixth tried to ambush it but was killed instead, the corpse split into six parts, but the soul escaped.”

“The sixth’s corpse was lifted by the fifth.”

“The seventh also died, the corpse split into eight parts, but one part escaped.”

“The eighth disappeared.”

“Now, it’s time to kill the fifth.”

Ashe silently sorted through the main content of this event, clarifying the next work goal for the Senlo project team: hunting the Angel of Ruby Mountain. Once the hunt was complete, the event could be declared a perfect success, and Boss Four would surely reward generously, allowing Ashe to spend the rest of his life as a dog kept by the company!

Being a dog isn’t bad at all! Being Boss Four’s dog is something everyone envies!

Ashe yawned and started working. When he got tired, he opened the “Sorcerer’s Handbook,” planning to play a couple of rounds of random Dreams in the Distant Sky Domain to refresh himself.

Just then, his phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID: “Hey, bro?”

A gentle voice came through the receiver: “The news about someone suddenly dying at your company is all over the news. Mom and Dad, and your dear nephew, asked me to check if you’re okay.”

“Really? Even the little brat knows how to care for people? Looks like the big red envelopes every year weren’t wasted.” Ashe spun his chair and laughed, “I’m fine, nothing’s wrong. Someone else dying suddenly has nothing to do with me. I eat well, sleep well, and keep goji berries in my thermos every day. No worries, no worries.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Me? I… just came back from a wedding, about to head home.”

“A wedding? Whose wedding?”

“A college classmate.” Ashe said while playing the game, clicking “virtual realm exploration” – “Distant Sky Domain” – “select operator.”

At that moment, Ashe heard a commotion from the other side, followed by a resigned voice from the receiver: “Mom wants me to ask, when is your wedding going to be?”

“Why do I feel like you’re not here to check on me but to take the opportunity to push me to get married?” Ashe laughed, “But you guys pushing won’t help. It’s not like I can just decide to get married. You think I’m like you, finding true love in high school? For someone like me, a wandering outsider, to find love…”

“…it’s not impossible.”

There was a pause on the other side before a surprised voice sounded: “Ah? You have someone you like? Have you confirmed the relationship? Can you bring them home for us to see this year?”

“Yeah.”

Ashe looked at the operator list on the screen and murmured, “I already have someone I like.”

“What kind of person are they? What profession? Age? It’s not that I want to know, it’s just that Mom and Dad want to see your taste.”

“One is a Swordmaster, a four wings legend, 18 years old, a sophomore at Swordflower College; the other is a time sorcerer, a four wings legend, 19 years old, profession is Empress.”

This time, the pause on the receiver was longer, until Ashe heard his nephew’s noisy voice: “I know, I know, those are two super good-looking female characters in the game! Haha, Uncle likes people who are 2D characters!”

After a long while, a hesitant voice came through the receiver: “Ashe, if you’re under too much pressure, you can always come home. Your room is always there. Also, Mom and Dad have some connections. Although you might not like blind dates, who knows?”

“No need,” Ashe said, “They are the ones I like, I can’t let them down, I must return to them.”

The other side was almost laughing and crying: “Don’t be like this, I’m on speaker now, Mom and Dad are listening and they’re scared.”

“By the way,” Ashe said, “Although it’s meaningless, tell my nephew that this year’s red envelope is gone, only Uncle’s cane is waiting for him!”

Ashe hung up the phone, looking at the two game character portraits on the screen that he was so familiar with.

Death Maniac Sword Princess.

Black and White Witch.

“It was really close, almost completely transformed into the shape of the Four Pillars.” He murmured, “I thought it was a very violent Pact or brainwashing, but it turned out to be stirring my deepest memories, gradually confusing my reality and Dream, until I couldn’t distinguish delusion from reality. If it weren’t for seeing these two portraits, I might really have let myself be transformed by memory into Tactile Sense.”

Ashe was indeed a Corporate Slave at a Mobile Game Company and had indeed come into contact with the game “Sorcerer’s Handbook.” But that company definitely couldn’t have Eternal Presence and Mercury Trojan Horse, nor a position like Tactile Supervisor, and certainly not Boss Four!

The Four Pillars mixed falsehood with truth, so Ashe not only didn’t see through it, he even gladly accepted it all. Ashe estimated that once he completely accepted the setting of being an employee of Boss Four, even if the Four Pillars put him back into reality, he would become the most loyal dog of the Four Pillars, Ashe.

“Too bad, just a little too late.” Ashe said, “Because just now, I completely confirmed-“

“The ones I like are no longer 2D characters.”

The screen, the desk, the office, the company… everything melted like ice cream.

Ashe slowly opened his eyes, seeing a blazing mass of liquid silver crouching beside him. He sat up and looked around, the sky was chaotic and collapsing, the earth was overturned by a sea of blood, Doomsday was still ongoing, everything was sliding towards the apocalyptic end as always, the air was filled with the colors of Spellcasting, the whole world was so splendid as if celebrating.

The liquid silver mass asked, “You suddenly fell down just now, but woke up after three seconds. What happened?”

Ashe looked at her, realizing that the silver mass in front of him was Silver Lantern, and smiled bitterly:

“I had a beautiful Nightmare, and…”

He rubbed his eyes, but the world before him was still so colorful.

“I’m still a bit sleepy.”