They Are No Longer Paper Cutouts

Seeing the elevator doors about to close, Yaxiu dashed forward and held them open, but the moment he stepped inside, regret hit him. Inside the elevator sat a disabled girl in a wheelchair. She had no limbs, wore a Gothic dress, and sat motionless in her custom wheelchair like a doll, staring blankly ahead. When Yaxiu entered, she didn't spare him a single glance. Everlasting Presence—Yaxiu's archrival at the company. She was the project lead for Gospel and the head of the Media Communications Center. Logically, their paths should never have crossed, but when Yaxiu was temporarily transferred to help with Gospel, the project was hit by regulatory policy risks and collapsed completely. Everlasting Presence was then transferred across to the Blood Moon project team, which had far fewer resources. Perhaps believing Yaxiu had brought her bad luck, she developed a deep grudge against him. Out of ten rumors about Yaxiu currently circulating, eleven had come from her—the extra one was made up about the colleagues around him to throw dirt on him by association. Naturally, Yaxiu was no pushover either; having previously run operations for the Blood Moon project, a few subtle maneuvers on his part had left Everlasting Presence frustrated and foiled at every turn. "Second floor, Public Affairs." A glamorous young woman glided into the elevator, so gorgeous that Yaxiu was momentarily taken aback at first glance. However, he had already been alienated by capital into a cold, unfeeling work machine, completely numb to beautiful women. Just then, Everlasting Presence spoke up: "I heard that Mercury Trojan from Human Resources died?" "I'm not very familiar with her," the glamorous woman replied. "She was on the Senluo project team, and I'm on Stars. You'd be better off asking the new lead of Senluo right here." Everlasting Presence let out a cold snort and fell silent. Yaxiu looked at the glamorous woman in confusion. He had only been appointed head of the Senluo project earlier today, and no announcement had been made yet. "And you are?" "Head of the Stars project team and Director of Branding." The woman inclined her head slightly. "I have a feeling we'll be collaborating very soon." "Third floor, Research and Development." Before Yaxiu could ask for her name, the woman wheeled Everlasting Presence out of the elevator. It seemed the two were quite close. "Fourth floor, Operations." Yaxiu stepped out and walked into the Operations and Maintenance office. Naturally, it was deserted. Neither supervisors nor project leads had private offices; everyone worked in an open-plan layout, heading to meeting rooms whenever they needed private discussions. His desk was cluttered with figurines: the Deceiver, the Necromancer, the Heart-Bewitching Maiden, the Purple Resentment Shadow Consort, the Blood-Cloaked Empress... Yaxiu harbored genuine affection for the game *Sorcerer Manual*. After all, its unexpected runaway success had earned him year-end bonuses exceeding twenty months of salary. Yaxiu ground himself a cup of coffee and settled into his ergonomic chair, leaning back slowly as the frame creaked and groaned. Glancing sideways at the empty desk next to his, a sudden wave of mixed feelings washed over him. The leadership of the Senluo project had changed hands primarily due to the sudden death of its previous lead, Mercury Trojan. But Yaxiu hadn't been the only candidate; his colleague Yulanweise had also been a favorite of the Four Bosses. Yet at the critical final stage of the selection, Yulanweise had abruptly resigned to start her own business, leaving Yaxiu to automatically take over the Senluo project. That was precisely why Yaxiu worked so tirelessly, giving his all for the company. All six major project teams were critical departments under the direct supervision of the Four Bosses, and their leads were even honored with the title of Touch Supervisor. As long as he ran it well, Yaxiu would take a giant leap toward financial freedom. While health concerns were real, if you didn't grind while you were young, you'd never get another chance. In all fairness, the company was actually decent: overtime pay was generous, salary reviews happened three times a year, and the Four Bosses had openly stated that as long as the teams delivered results, the company would never mistreat any management at or above the level of Touch Supervisor! The Four Bosses share the realm with the Touch! Therefore, Yaxiu should have been thrilled by this rare opportunity. Yet for some reason, staring at the empty workstation beside him, he was overcome by an uncontrollable sorrow, so suffocating it left him breathless. Suddenly, Yaxiu noticed a slip of paper trapped under Yulanweise's desk lamp. He pulled it out, only to find a single line written on it: *Death is merely an illusion.* Yaxiu found it utterly bizarre. Tossing the note aside, he woke his monitors and got to work. The reason the Four Bosses had called him back for overtime so late was that the new event update, "Hunting the Angels of Ruby Mountain," was about to go live. *Once upon a time, there were eight.* *The first died, its corpse lying in a pool of blood.* *Then the second died, its corpse resting atop the first. It did not bleed, but from the wound beneath its body crawled a tiny white soul, and the white soul hoisted the second corpse high.* *The third died; its soul was devoured by the fifth, while its corpse fled.* *The fourth died; its corpse turned into mountain ranges, while its soul fled.* *The fifth, having consumed the third's soul, sat atop the mountains and slept. The sixth attempted an ambush, only to be slain in retaliation. Its corpse was split into six pieces, but its soul fled.* *The corpse of the sixth was hoisted up by the fifth.* *The seventh died as well, its corpse chopped into eight pieces, though one piece fled.* *The eighth disappeared.* *Now, it is time to slay the fifth.* Yaxiu silently processed the main contents of the event, clarifying the Senluo team's immediate objective: Hunt the Angel of Ruby Mountain. Once the hunt succeeded, the event would be declared a total triumph. The Four Bosses would shower him with rewards, and Yaxiu could spend the rest of his life comfortably pampered as the company's loyal lapdog! What was wrong with being a lapdog anyway? Plenty of people were dying of envy over the chance to be the Four Bosses' dog! Yaxiu yawned and set to work. When fatigue caught up with him, he launched *Sorcerer Manual*, planning to clear a random dream realm or two in the Distant Sky Realm to wake himself up. Just then, his phone rang. He checked caller ID. "Hello, Bro?" A gentle voice came through the receiver. "News of someone dropping dead at your company made the headlines. Mom, Dad, and your dear nephew all wanted me to check on you and make sure you're alright." "No way, that little brat actually knows how to care about someone? Guess my red envelopes every year weren't wasted after all." Yaxiu spun his chair around with a laugh. "I'm great, nothing's wrong. Someone else dropping dead has nothing to do with me. I eat well, sleep well, and steep goji berries in my thermos every day. Don't worry, don't worry." "Then what are you doing right now?" "Me? I... just left a wedding, heading home soon." "A wedding? Whose wedding?" "A college classmate's." As Yaxiu spoke, he navigated the game menus: Void Realm Exploration -> Distant Sky Realm -> Select Operator. A clamor of voices filtered through the phone, followed by his brother's helpless sigh. "Mom's telling me to ask: when is your wedding going to happen?" "Why do I feel like you guys didn't call out of concern, but just seized the chance to nag me about marriage?" Yaxiu chuckled. "There's no point in rushing me anyway. It's not like I can get married on the spot just because I feel like it. You think I'm like you, finding true love back in high school? For a drifting outsider like me, finding love..." "...isn't impossible, though." A pause followed on the other end before a startled voice broke out: "Wait, what? You have someone you like? Are you two official? Can you bring her home for us to meet this year?" "Yeah." Staring at the operator roster on the screen, Yaxiu murmured, "I already have people I love." "Who are they? What do they do? How old? It's not that I'm prying, Mom and Dad just really want to see your taste." "One is a sword sorcerer, a Four-Winged Legend, eighteen this year, a sophomore at Sword Flower University. The other is a time sorcerer, a Four-Winged Legend, nineteen this year, and her profession is Empress." This time, the silence on the other end stretched even longer, until Yaxiu heard his nephew shouting in the background: "I know, I know! Those are two super pretty female characters from the game! Haha, Second Uncle is in love with 2D paper cutouts from a video game!" After a long while, his brother's hesitant voice came through: "Little bro, if the stress is getting to you, you can come home anytime. Your room is always kept ready. Besides, Mom and Dad still have some connections. You might not like blind dates, but who knows?" "No need," Yaxiu said. "They are the ones I love. I can't let them down. I have to go back to their side." His brother sounded caught between tears and laughter. "Don't be like this. You're on speakerphone right now, you're terrifying Mom and Dad." "Oh, right," Yaxiu added. "Even if it's meaningless, pass a message to my nephew: this year's red envelope is officially canceled! He's getting only Second Uncle's specialty—a good rattan cane across his backside!" Yaxiu hung up and gazed at the two character portraits on his screen that he knew so well. The Sword Princess. The Black and White Witch. "That was close. I almost became completely molded into the Four Pillar Gods' shape," he muttered. "I thought it would be a violent pact or brainwashing, but I never expected them to tap into my deepest memories, gradually blending reality and dreams until I couldn't tell truth from delusion. If I hadn't seen these two portraits, I might really have let my memories warp me into a feeler." Yaxiu had indeed been a corporate slave at a mobile game company, and he had indeed worked on *Sorcerer Manual*. But that company could never have had Everlasting Presence and Mercury Trojan, nor any position called Touch Supervisor, and certainly no Four Bosses! The Four Pillar Gods had laced lies within the truth, so not only had Yaxiu failed to see through the illusion, he had even welcomed it. He reckoned that once he fully accepted the premise of being an "employee of the Four Bosses," even if the Four Pillar Gods released him back to reality, he would have become their most loyal dog. "Too bad you were just a moment too late," Yaxiu said. "Because just now, I became completely certain—" "The ones I love are no longer paper cutouts." The screen, the desk, the office, the company... everything melted away like ice cream. Yaxiu slowly opened his eyes to find a mass of brilliant, molten silver crouching beside him. He sat up and looked around. The sky was collapsing in chaos, the earth drowning beneath a sea of blood, and the apocalypse was still unfolding. All things continued their inexorable slide toward ruin, yet the air was saturated with the vivid hues of miraculous sorcery, making the whole world look so splendid it felt almost celebratory. The lump of fluid silver asked, "You suddenly collapsed just now, but woke up after only three seconds. What happened?" Yaxiu looked at her, realizing only then that the silver mass before him was Silver Lantern. He gave a self-deprecating smile. "I had a wonderful nightmare. And..." He rubbed his eyes, but the world before him remained just as dazzlingly kaleidoscopic. "I'm still a little sleepy."