365: This, perhaps, is the meaning of life.

"BOOM—!!!"

Accompanied by a deafening roar, the half-meter-thick titanium alloy door flew out like it was made of paper.

The black hovercar, enveloped in billowing thick smoke and rubble, drifted and fishtailed in an extremely arrogant manner, finally coming to a steady stop in the center of the mirror-polished first-floor lobby of the "Metaverse Company."

"Cough, cough, cough... this is way too intense!"

The car door opened, and Wang Peng (Fatty) crawled out covered in dust, yet he still made a show of calmly adjusting his tie.

He looked around and let out a loud whistle.

"Whoa! Quite impressive!"

"Is this floor made of nanocrystals? Are these walls holographic fluids? Tsk, tsk, tsk, evil capitalism!"

However, his response was a deathly silence.

The lobby was not empty.

On the contrary, it was filled with hundreds of "employees" wearing uniform silver outfits.

They were holding documents or operating virtual screens.

But facing this sudden intruder and the mess all over the floor, they actually... **did not react at all**.

There were no screams, no fleeing, and not even a flicker in their eyes.

They were like a group of wound-up precision dolls; they paused for only a second before continuing their mechanical and repetitive work.

"This... what's going on?"

Butcher, crawling out of the car, saw this scene, and a hint of undisguised fear flashed through his electronic eyes.

"They... have been 'silenced'."

"Silenced?"

Lu Chen held Su Qingying's hand, stepped over the debris on the floor, and walked up to a female receptionist who was wiping the front desk surface.

The female receptionist was beautiful.

Her features were as perfect as a 3D model, and her skin was so pale it was almost transparent.

But in her eyes, there was no light.

There were only two strings of frantically jumping green data streams.

Lu Chen reached out and waved his hand in front of her eyes.

No reaction.

He then reached out two fingers, pinched her delicate cheek, and gave it a gentle tug.

"Hello?"

"Is anyone home?"

The female receptionist's head tilted with his movement, and her mouth uttered a cold synthetic voice:

"Welcome to Metaverse Company. Please present your appointment code."

"Lu Chen..."

Su Qingying's voice trembled slightly.

Looking at the "people" around her who were like the walking dead, her instincts as a scientist made her feel a bone-chilling cold.

"They... have no souls."

"Their brain lobes have been excised, and their consciousnesses have been uploaded to the company's servers."

"What remains here are just bodies responsible for maintaining the company's operations... **biological batteries**."

"For efficiency, for order, for so-called 'perfection,' they have abandoned everything that makes them 'human'."

Lu Chen let go.

The female receptionist's face instantly snapped back into place, and she continued to mechanically wipe the desk that was clearly already spotless.

"Perfection?"

Lu Chen sneered.

He took the "bio-skeletal chip" out of his pocket, tossed it high in his hand, and caught it.

"If this is perfection."

"Then this world is simply too boring."

Just then.

"Ding—"

In the very center of the lobby, a transparent elevator leading directly to the top floor slowly descended.

The elevator doors opened.

Out walked a middle-aged man wearing a white suit and gold-rimmed glasses.

He looked very refined and gentle, exuding a convincing aura of an elite from head to toe.

Metaverse Company HR Director—【Shepherd】.

"Rude guests."

Shepherd pushed up his glasses, his tone carrying a hint of regret.

"You've dirtied my floor and disturbed my flock."

"Flock?"

Lu Chen turned around, looking at this so-called director.

"These living people are just sheep in your eyes?"

"What else?"

Shepherd spread his hands, looking as if it were a matter of course.

"They don't need to think, they don't need to suffer, and they don't need to worry about their livelihoods."

"The company has taken over everything for them, granting them eternal peace and order."

"Is this not the greatest mercy?"

Shepherd looked at Lu Chen, a hint of fanaticism showing in his eyes.

"Join us, powerful outsider."

"Upload your consciousness, sacrifice your shell."

"In this metaverse without conflict, we can achieve true immortality."

"Immortality?"

Lu Chen acted as if he had heard the funniest joke imaginable.

He laughed until he was doubled over, even laughing until tears came to his eyes.

"Fatty, tell him."

"On Earth, what do we call this kind of 'immortality'?"

Wang Peng curled his lip and squeezed out three words from between his teeth:

"A vegetable state."

"Exactly."

Lu Chen pulled back his smile.

He walked toward Shepherd step by step, and with every step, the aura on his body rose a notch.

It wasn't a wave of energy, but a... **vividness** originating from the depths of his soul.

"Without pain, there is no joy."

"Without death, one loses the meaning of living."

"Do you know what life is?"

Lu Chen stood before Shepherd, pointing at his own powerfully beating heart.

"Life hurts."

"It's weeping bitterly in the dead of night, and it's also being satisfied in the morning because of a single pancake roll."

"It's like wild grass; even if it's stepped into the mud, it has the stubbornness to desperately sprout from the cracks in the stones!"

Lu Chen suddenly turned his head, looking at those numb employees.

"It's not like this!"

"Turning into a pile of things that can't cry, can't laugh, and can't even die..."

"Scrap metal!"

"Enough!"

The refinement on Shepherd's face vanished instantly, replaced by a hideous rage.

"Low-dimensional insect! What do you know of truth!"

"Since you refuse to convert, then go to hell!"

"Defense system! Activate! Total elimination!"

Hum—!

The walls around the lobby suddenly flipped, and countless laser machine guns emerged.

Those previously numb employees also suddenly pulled weapons from under their desks, pointing them at the trio in a synchronized motion.

"Lu Chen!" Su Qingying cried out in alarm.

"Don't be afraid."

Lu Chen did not retreat.

He only slowly raised the chip in his hand.

"I said it before."

"I'm here to apply for the Architect position."

"Since your system is this rotten."

"Then let me..."

Lu Chen's eyes snapped open, and a Chaotic Divine Light exploded!

"**Reinstall the system!**"

"pangu! Reverse it for me!"

"【Command: Awaken!】"

"【Target: All suppressed souls!】"

BOOM—!!!

A visible golden ripple, centered on Lu Chen, swept across the entire lobby in an instant!

That was not an attack.

It was a... **shout**.

It was like a volcano that had slept for a thousand years being detonated.

It was like the first seed sprouting under a dead, silent ice field.

Those employees whose eyes were originally hollow suddenly shuddered.

The guns in their hands fell to the floor.

They clutched their heads and let out painful roars.

"Ah—! Who am I? Where am I?"

"It hurts... my head hurts so much..."

"I want to go home... I want my mom..."

Tears flowed from their long-dried eye sockets.

Those were tears of pain.

But they were proof of being... **alive**.

"You... what did you do?!"

Shepherd backed away in terror, "You awakened their sense of pain? You broke perfection? You demon!"

"Demon?"

Lu Chen looked at the people waking up in pain—though they were crying and struggling, light had returned to their eyes.

He smiled.

That smile carried a hint of tenderness never seen before.

"Maybe."

Lu Chen walked up to a young girl who was wailing loudly and gently patted her shoulder.

"Cry."

"Cry to your heart's content."

"Because being able to cry..."

Lu Chen looked up at that "perfect world" which had already turned into a chaotic mess.

"...proves that you're..."

"...still human."

"This, perhaps, is the meaning of life."

After saying that.

Lu Chen didn't spare another glance at the terrified Shepherd.

He took Su Qingying and Wang Peng and strode into the elevator leading to the top floor.

"Let's go."

"To the top floor."

"That 'Boss' who manufactured all this human tragedy..."

"...from his altar..."

"...we're kicking him down!"