Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 661 75. Mashi~
Amidst the respectful gazes of the male and female staff, Karl stepped into the thirty-sixth floor.

Pushing open the bulletproof glass door standing not far from the elevator entrance, the cold-toned neon lights flickered overhead, casting a faint red glow. The air was filled with the bitter smell of coffee and the metallic odor of prosthetic lubricant. Holographic recruitment information scrolled along both sides of the corridor, occasionally distorted by signal interference.

Several open workstations have been transformed into semi-enclosed neural cabins. Each employee has a data cable plugged into the back of their head, and their prosthetic eyes flash with different colored lights as they rapidly scan resumes. Their fingers tap on keyboards, and candidate profiles on holographic screens scroll like a waterfall—genetic compatibility, criminal records, cyberpsychosis risk ratings—everything is quantified into cold numbers.

Carl's arrival did not attract much attention. In a high-pressure work environment where everyone was busy working, and there was no option to fall behind or be demoted or even fired, the only leisure time these employees had, apart from waiting to submit their documents, was the occasional lucky break during their commute when they didn't have to work overtime.

Carl took a few steps forward, glanced around, and finally found his destination on the road sign on the wall.

Today, Karl, dressed in all black, walked through the somewhat dark red-toned floor. His attire and surroundings made him quite inconspicuous. Several people brushed past him, but none of the busy staff noticed who was walking by.

"I remember that, in terms of emotional impact from colors, spending a long time in a red or black environment can cause feelings of oppression and anxiety. Combined with the work environment at Arasaka Tower, the fact that they don't go insane is probably due to the experienced staff at Arasaka Tower and the ease with which information can be contained."

Carl quickly arrived at his destination, a recruitment room that had been specially isolated and occupied almost half of the floor. Looking at the guard Arasaka standing at the door, presumably to maintain order during this large-scale recruitment event, Carl walked over.

"Are they hiring inside? Is it the direct recruitment for outstanding graduates of that college? I'm sure I haven't come to the wrong place, right?"

When Karl approached and asked his question, all four guards at the door turned to look at him.

'KK'

Their pupils dilated slightly, but the four of them maintained a calm demeanor.

This composure is a result of their past experiences.

When Arasaka Tower was purging the former vice president and his cronies, these four guards were the same group that Karl had dealt with on the floor. They had met Karl then, and Karl's attitude at the time was very mild, letting these guards know that Karl was not the cyber psychopath who would kill at the slightest provocation as rumored and as seen in Mewtwo.

Knowing that Karl was actually a pretty easy-going person and wouldn't actually kill him, what was there to be afraid of?

They're all from the operations unit. Back then, weren't they all elite soldiers or outstanding recruits from the streets? They saw Adam Hammer, that guy with real cyberbullying, every day, let alone Karl, who doesn't.

"This is the place; they're recruiting people here."

One of the four men stepped toward Karl, speaking in a calm and polite tone: "Do you wish to enter now, Mr. KK? Please allow me to make my announcement."

"you"

Carl looked at his face, then his gaze swept over the others: "I think I've seen you guys before. We worked together before, didn't we? If it's required to announce my presence according to procedure, then please do so for me. I'm going in to check on things."

"Yes, we have indeed had the privilege of working with you before, Mr. KK. Please wait a moment, we will report immediately."

As he spoke, the guard's eyes flashed with a yellow communication light as he informed the management of the floor inside, and the approval was granted quickly.

"Please come in, Mr. KK."

The door to the room opened, and the guards nodded to Karl before returning to their original positions.

Carl walked in, and as soon as the automatic door behind him closed, a familiar figure darted in front of him.

"I've been waiting for you for so long, Carl, you've finally arrived—"

"Maki."

The figure in front of me had long, flamboyant azure hair tied into a high ponytail, the ends of which flickered with her movements, scattering tiny specks of light—nanofluorescent particles mixed in with the dye.

"Did you get your hair done specially today? It's even shiny, so sparkly and interesting."

"You shouldn't answer with 'it's interesting' when it comes to a girl's outfit; you should compliment her."

During his conversation with Mashi, Karl's gaze passed over her, quickly scanning the entire space.

This recruitment area, separated by an opaque glass curtain wall, is further divided into several independent cubicles—each with a completely different decorating style: some are as cold as interrogation rooms, some are as cozy as coffee shops, and there is even a holographic projection room simulating natural scenery. Obviously, this is to adjust the intensity of psychological suggestion for different types of visitors.

The cubicle that Maki had just rushed out of had a fluorescent sign on the door frame that read "Special Personnel Recruitment Room" flashing.

Through the frosted glass, you can see the unusual arrangement inside: a retro-styled smart refrigerator is humming, next to it is a fully automatic coffee machine, the steam vent still has milk left from a caramel macchiato, and on the dessert shelf are three layers of exquisite wagashi, the top layer of matcha daifuku is clearly bitten, with some milk cream still stuck to the edge of the tooth mark.

The empty room had neither interviewers nor any office equipment, as if it were not a recruitment venue at all, but rather a young lady's afternoon tea room.

"How did you know I was here?" Carl tapped on the glass of Mashi's room with his knuckles. "And why do I have this feeling that your 'interview' was just to eat up someone's desserts?"

Mashi suddenly stood on tiptoe and tugged at Karl's collar. Only then did he notice the brand-new name tag pinned to her chest, with the words "External Director Assistant" gleaming with a faint blue light under the lamp.

“Because—” she deliberately dragged out her words, and her employee badge suddenly projected a holographic notification record, “I now have high-level access, and all visitor data will be synchronized to my neural terminal in real time.”

She spun around and slumped onto a chair in the hallway, the faux leather fabric hissing as it inflated. "As for the interview? That process was over a long time ago~" She pulled half a cookie from her pocket and put it in her mouth, offering one to Karl as she ate. She added, mumbling between bites, "The genetic testing and brainwave scan were done in ten minutes. The onboarding process, however, took half an hour because we had to wait for the custom-made employee badges to be made."

"In the end, it's just a formality, isn't it?" Carl crunched on a cookie, swallowed, and glanced at her sideways. "So, you're officially on the job now? What time do you start work? What time do you finish? How much is your monthly salary?"

Maki puffed out her cheeks, like a cat whose paw pads had been poked: "I just started working here, and all you're asking about is the salary? Don't you care about my feelings about the suffering I'm about to endure at work?"

“I’m just concerned.” Karl reached into the snack box in her pocket and took an almond cookie. “If you could share some more with me, I could say to you right now, ‘Mashi-sama, you’ve worked so hard’—want to hear that?”

"How disgusting!" Maki turned her seat 180 degrees, her blue ponytail swishing in an arc. "It's too late now! Signal cut off! Reception refused!"

The chair beeped in protest, but she turned back on her own, swaying her toes as she said, "My working hours are very flexible~ Because I'm Haruko's assistant, I have to be on standby whenever she needs me."

She licked the last crumb of cookie from her fingertips, took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped her hands, then suddenly rested her still-buttery fingers on her chin. "As for the salary, well..."

A holographic employee ID card screen popped up with personnel files in front of her. She swiped it twice and closed it: "I don't think I looked at it carefully. But this position shouldn't be too low-level?"

"Hey," Carl reached into Mashi's pocket and took another cookie, "You're looking for a job and you don't even look at the salary?"

Maki tilted her head, the nano-fluorescence at the ends of her hair shimmering like stars: "I really didn't pay much attention~"

She took a snack box out of her pocket. "After all, I'm not really short of money, and," she blinked, "I don't think there's anything I particularly want."

"..." Carl silently took the best-tasting mini chocolate lava cake from the pastry box. "What's this, Versailles-style ostentation?"

"No way!" Mashi suddenly lunged forward to snatch the cake, almost falling from the hovering seat into Karl's arms. "It's the 'Mashi-style - carefree survival rule'!" A single blue hair sticking up on her head swayed with her movements, casting a small blue spot of light under the neon lights.

"Lively and lovely Mashi lives a carefree life—" Karl drawled, his fingers secretly reaching into the snack box.

"Eek!" Ma Xi suddenly snapped the box between his fingers. "I couldn't detect a single trace of sincerity in Mr. Karl's flat, emotionless tone!"

She mimicked the monotonous, mechanical voice of a company customer service representative: "If you could use a gentle voice—" she suddenly switched back to her natural voice, her ear tips slightly red, "and add that focused, gentle gaze... I might actually believe it, maybe 1.57%?"

"Only 1.57%?" Carl took the opportunity to snatch a cranberry cookie.

Maki's prosthetic eye suddenly shifted into a cat-like vertical pupil: "If we add the keyword 'beautiful'—" she gestured with her hands in front of her chest, "the credibility would soar to 3.14%!"

“No thanks.” Carl crunched on the cookie. “My moral compass won’t allow me to tell such an obvious lie.”

"Hey!" The snack box emitted a dangerous metallic crackling sound, and Maki's ahoge (cowlick) stood up like an alarm light.

She suddenly hid the box behind her back, curled up in her chair, and her puffed-out cheeks made her voice muffled: "Some people's taste buds are probably marinated in prosthetics, so they can't taste the painstaking effort I put into adjusting the sugar balance over three hours!"

When Carl reached out again, she suddenly kicked his knee lightly with her platform shoe—more like a cat brandishing its claws than a gesture of defiance. The metal box containing the cookies clinked crisply in her arms, as if echoing its owner. Simultaneously, the box's smart lock activated, displaying the following lines: [Feeding permissions frozen | Reason: Aesthetic dysfunction]

"Stingy." Karl poked at the nano-fluorescence still shimmering in her hair. "Who just said they didn't want anything?"

"This is a matter of principle!" Ma Xi suddenly sprang up from her seat, her blue ponytail sweeping past Karl's nose like a shooting star, the nanoparticles at the ends of her hair drawing a fleeting star trail in the air, leaving behind a faint scent of bluebells.

She clutched the snack box tightly to her chest, her prosthetic eye switching to red warning mode: "You don't even know how to compliment a girl. I'm worried you'll end up alone in the future, Mr. Karl~" Despite speaking harshly, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up because of the thought of 'ending up alone'.

Taking two steps back, she said, "As your best friend—" emphasizing the word "best," "I feel it's necessary to give you a little lesson."

“Now, repeat after me—” She cleared her throat and demonstrated in a particularly gentle voice, “Ms. Maki, you are the cutest person in the world, so smart and beautiful~, you're like someone from my dreams, I'm completely smitten.” Even though she was demonstrating, Maki herself shivered after finishing, “Ugh, I overdid it.”

Carl repeated expressionlessly, "Miss Mashi, you are indeed quite cute, and if you dress up properly, you would be very pretty." Before he finished speaking, the smart lock on the dessert box made a 'click' sound as it locked a second time.

"Beep—" Maki's name tag suddenly lit up red, and the words "[Social Blacklist: Karl]" flashed three times in the air. "Unfortunately, you have lost your snack supply privileges for today." She announced, suppressing a laugh, but was so pleased with herself that she didn't notice that her fingers were unconsciously rubbing the bottom of the box—a star cookie wrapped in starry paper peeked out from between her fingers, like a deliberately exposed bait.

Carl, quick as a flash, snatched the cookie from Mashi's hand.

Ma Xi felt a chill on her fingertips, her blue eyes widened, and even the fluorescent particles on the tips of her hair seemed to freeze.

“White chocolate almond cookies, I love these. And I’m taking the cookies you made, Mashi.” Carl proudly brandished his prize, the parchment paper making a crisp “crack” sound as it opened in the air. He tilted his head back and tossed the whole cookie into his mouth—

The next second, he froze, his Adam's apple bobbed suspiciously twice, and his eyes even seemed a little dazed from the shock of the taste.

"Cough cough, why is this salty!"

"Because it's for idiots~"

Maki blinked, stood on tiptoe, and swayed her hands behind her back, the hem of her uniform blooming like flower petals: "Mr. Thief who put on airs on our first meeting, do you understand the mistake of stealing now?"

(End of this chapter)