Wang Hai's face—twisted by pure fury and a perverse delight—hovered in Lu Chen's blurred vision, blurred from oxygen deprivation and humiliation, like a fiend clawing its way out of hell, every pore exuding a sickening metallic stench. Xu Tingxia's beautiful eyes, brimming with tears yet stubbornly refusing to bow, glimmered like two shattered stars, sending a sharp pang into his heart. Around him, the gazes of his colleagues—some cold, some fearful, some taking morbid pleasure—felt like countless glowing steel needles, mercilessly piercing his already battered pride.
"Get out! Get out of my sight now!" Wang Hai's roar still echoed in his ears, each word a heavy hammer striking Lu Chen's very soul.
He felt like a lone leaf tossed by a storm at sea, one wave away from being utterly swallowed. Rage, indignation, humiliation, despair—every negative emotion surged like a breached dam within his chest, threatening to wash away what little sanity he had left.
Just as he felt this boundless darkness clawing at his mind, tearing him apart, and his consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind—
Click—
That barely audible sound, as faint as the first spark of light ripping through primordial chaos, reverberated deep within his soul.
Then came a thunderous buzz in his skull—as if countless invisible strings snapped all at once, or as though an ancient door, sealed for millennia, was flung open by an irresistible force.
In an instant, everything changed.
The office around him remained the same oppressive, indifferent cubicle farm. But his "hearing"—no, it was far more than mere hearing now—his entire perception had been forcibly expanded into a new dimension.
Countless "voices" surged into his brain like a deluge through a broken levee.
These voices did not pass through his ears but exploded and echoed directly within his consciousness, as if each had its own life: sharp and grating, low and brooding, lewd and vicious, coldly selfish, anxious and terrified… hundreds, no, tens of thousands of fragmented thought-clips charged into his mind like invisible vermin, all clamoring for entry.
At the same time, shattered, flickering, riotously colored images danced before his eyes, each pulsating with raw emotion—greedy crimson, envious emerald, terror-stricken ashen white, schadenfreude's murky yellow.
"Ah—!"
He felt his head threatening to burst under the onslaught of this information torrent. A crippling dizziness and nausea overwhelmed him like a rogue wave. He clutched his skull in both hands, his body convulsing uncontrollably as he let out a stifled cry of agony.
"Hmph! Now you're scared? Trying to play the victim for sympathy? Too late!" Wang Hai, seeing Lu Chen's ashen face and trembling form, assumed his threats had broken him. His smug grin deepened, his tone more cutting and scornful.
Yet at that very moment, amid the chaos in Lu Chen's mind, one exceptionally clear, revoltingly oily and lewd thought rose above the cacophony, shining like a beacon:
Heh heh heh, this is fucking satisfying! Finally that blind bastard Lu Chen is going down! Always that pitiful, pauper's look on his face—and he's got that pretty-boy mug to boot, pisses me off! Especially the way he looks at Xia Xia, like a toad eyeing swan meat! When he's gone, I'll chuck his cracked cup in the trash and stomp the pieces into dust! Director Shen? Director Shen my ass! If not for that bitch's big tits and juicy ass—yeah, gotta admit she's useful—I wouldn't waste a second currying favor! Tonight, I'm celebrating in style: I'll drag that newbie Li from Finance to the Golden Splendor and blow her mind—make her know who's boss…
Lu Chen's heart twisted at the nauseating clarity of these words—words that belonged to Wang Hai himself! Each syllable felt like a poisoned dagger plunged into his chest.
He jerked his head up, his bloodshot eyes flicking to Wang Hai's sneering lips. On the surface, Wang Hai spouted scathing insults, but through that greasy mask, Lu Chen "saw" the vile truth of his thoughts.
"This can't be real… I must be losing my mind… Too much stress… hallucinations…" he thought, desperation flooding his consciousness, drowning out the stinging pain and humiliation.
And then, more distinct "noise" gushed in, as if the floodgates had fully opened, battering his already fragile nerves.
He glanced at Zhao Yuhang—the spoiled rich kid who'd been mocking him moments before. Zhao stood with arms crossed, gloating, but in Lu Chen's mind he heard:
Loser's a loser; he's had it coming. As for that prissy little Xu Tingxia—white-lily princess act, but I bet she's wild beneath the surface! Once Lu Chen's out of the way, I'll take her for a spin and film it—she'll never live it down!
Then he looked toward Zhang Jie, the quiet, honest-faced colleague tapping away at her keyboard, seemingly oblivious. But within her thoughts, Lu Chen deciphered:
Damn, Wang Hai's at it again. Lu Chen's just unlucky… but good riddance. Saves me a bit of sales pressure this month. Maybe I'll get an extra few hundred in my bonus. Xiao Bao's piano lessons aren't cheap…
And among the onlookers—some feigned sympathy, some cold indifference, some barely hidden schadenfreude—he sensed countless darker, more self-serving thoughts:
Finally someone's putting that savage in his place…
Feichi Group's all about survival of the fittest. He couldn't pull his weight; he had it coming.
Hope it's not me next… My sales aren't even up to par…
Looks like tonight's dinner has some spicy gossip.
He even caught the lustful fantasy of a normally polite male colleague, gazing at Xu Tingxia's trembling form:
That girl's really packing heat. I'd love to get my hands on those sugar-white twins… Maybe Wang Hai's shelving Lu Chen to make a move on her. I should stick around, see if I get a chance…
These malice, indifference, selfishness, and lust-laden thoughts surged through him like demon hands clawing at his mind, shredding his nerve endings, assaulting his very sense of self.
In that instant, Lu Chen felt stripped naked, tossed into a grotesque underworld composed of humanity's darkest desires, where every person's mask fell away, exposing their ugliest, most primal selves.
He forced his gaze toward the one bright spark in this mire—Xu Tingxia.
She still stood there, her delicate brows knit with anger and worry, tears threatening to fall, yet refusing to. Her small hand clutched at her blouse until her knuckles whitened.
And in the chaos, Lu Chen heard, as if for the first time, her private voice—clear, compassionate, tinged with disgust and a sympathy she barely recognized in herself:
That bastard Wang Hai… how can he treat people like this? Lu Chen… he's quiet and his numbers aren't great, but he's never done anything wrong! Why'd he have to destroy his future? Zhao Yuhang's no better—always kicking a man when he's down! They're a bunch of beasts in human skin. But… what can I do? I'm just a new staffer—no power to fight back. Oh, Lu Chen looks so pitiful… so pale and shaking. What if he can't take it? If only I could help… even just say 'hang in there.' But would he think I'm weird? Would others target me? This company… it's so oppressive… Lu Chen's eyes—if he could just look up… they're kind of… pretty. If only he could believe in himself…
Her dislike was directed squarely at his tormentors; her sympathy, even a gentle, budding admiration, shone through.
That revelation cut through Lu Chen's despair like a lightning bolt, offering a sliver of human warmth and… hope.
"So… she really thinks that way…" he thought, before a fresh pang of agony tore through his temples, as if red-hot needles pierced his skull. Each heartbeat threatened to blow his mind apart under the sensory overload.
"Ugh—!"
He could bear no more. With a final, feral roar, he collapsed, his hands still clutching his head, body trembling. In the last flicker before oblivion, he saw a pair of tearful, worried eyes rushing toward him…
And then everything went black.