Chapter 597 The Company’s Goal

Chapter 597: The Company's Purpose

The other players were momentarily stunned.

They watched as Wu Hang walked into the General Affairs Department seemingly "unscathed," then, in full view of everyone, approached his partner. After exchanging a few low words, they suddenly kissed.

An awkward, eerie silence fell over the room.

—This was a nightmare game, after all.

They had witnessed too much malicious deceit, seen bloodshed, betrayal, even watched teammates shove others into the path of eerie entities. But seeing someone openly in love in such an environment—so natural and unashamedly intimate—left them even more lost.

A few players exchanged glances, their expressions complex and conflicted.

But thinking it over, Wu Hang and Su Bai's relationship had long been made public. Wu Hang had clearly stated that Su Bai was his lover—one who seemed critically ill. The two of them cherishing their remaining time together and showing a bit of passion...

That could be considered normal, right?

So the entire General Affairs Department was enveloped in a quiet, subtle mood. No one dared to interrupt.

Unlike the others, whose minds were churning with hidden currents, Su Bai's thoughts weren't so tangled.

In his past life, he'd seen some people use this method to transfer power—simple, direct, and super effective. Though rarely used for various reasons, it was the most convenient and fastest way. But Su Bai had never had the chance or the partner to try it himself.

Even though his kiss was stiff and awkward, and his heart pounded like crazy, as if he were sick, Su Bai would never regret something he'd already done. Since he'd taken the initiative, he intended to see this kiss through.

He forcefully pushed down the weird fluster in his heart, focusing hard on the flow of power between him and Wu Hang.

His power and the power inside Wu Hang's shell intertwined, tangled, and flowed smoothly between their lips, gradually seeping into each other, like they were about to merge completely.

But the moment Su Bai's power actually touched the Red Moon energy within Wu Hang's shell, a violent, electric shock surged through his body. He couldn't help but tremble and shake, instinctively wanting to pull away.

But this was clearly not a kiss Su Bai could just stop.

Wu Hang didn't give him a chance to back off.

From under the black cloak, one hand gripped Su Bai's waist tight, while the other pressed against his black hair, pressing lightly to hold him in place. Leaning in, Wu Hang deepened the kiss, over and over.

Su Bai's momentarily out-of-control heartbeat nearly drowned out everything around him.

He went from taking the lead to being led in an instant. His once clear, calm mind was scattered by the deepening kiss, no longer able to keep that detached awareness that he was merely replenishing the other's power.

Even though power kept flowing and transferring between them, Su Bai sensed something else in this kiss.

Something totally foreign to him—something he'd never had the chance to experience. Something that, once touched, started to addict him, to consume him without him even realizing it.

At that moment, Su Bai even felt a twinge of regret.

Regret that he was kissing only a puppet shell, not the real Wu Hang.

Regret that those lips, so close to human softness, were still too cold, too unreal.

After what felt like an eternity, Wu Hang slowly released his hold.

When Su Bai was freed, he was still panting slightly, as if sick, his chest rising and falling gently. His once-pale cheeks were flushed with a hint of annoyed crimson. Leaning on Wu Hang's shoulder, he stepped back half a pace, inwardly furious at his body's lack of control and how easily he had lost the initiative.

Wu Hang looked down at him, his gaze deep enough to swallow a person whole, but his voice carried a note of restraint and suppression.

"Your face is very red." Wu Hang's voice was low and hoarse, his fingers brushing Su Bai's slightly burning cheek. "Is it because you've consumed too much power? Do you feel unwell?"

"..." Su Bai shot him a glare.

It took Su Bai a while to calm down before he slowly sat back on the sofa, lifting his eyes to look at Wu Hang.

His expression had returned to its usual calm, his voice slightly hoarse but deliberately nonchalant: "You know my condition. This bit of power means nothing to me."

Su Bai looked up at Wu Hang's face beneath the cloak. The white crack had vanished.

Indeed, he preferred seeing this face without any blemishes.

"So, what exactly happened on the 56th floor?" Su Bai averted his gaze, conveniently changing the subject.

The surrounding players also perked up their ears. They could pretend not to have witnessed the previous scene, but they were still very curious about the intel Wu Hang had brought back from the 59th floor.

"The eerie entities on the 59th floor are mentally and emotionally very unstable." Wu Hang's words were directed at Su Bai, but his voice was loud enough for the others to hear. "It looked like it was originally a company, but those entities' consciousness is chaotic. Some sit motionless, while others wander aimlessly."

"When they saw me coming up with coffee, most of them eagerly grabbed it and drank. But two of them were very resistant." Wu Hang recalled. "They said they wanted freedom."

"And then?"

"The work requirement was to make them drink all the coffee, so I directly grabbed them by the neck and forced it down." Wu Hang said it lightly, but given the limited strength of this puppet shell, the process must not have been easy.

"That's roughly the situation. The key point is their reaction after drinking the coffee." Wu Hang highlighted the crucial detail.

"Reaction?"

"Whether they were eager or resistant to the coffee, after drinking it, they all started working, just like the headless ones on this floor. They shifted from a state of chaos to a strange but orderly state."

"Eerie entities working like humans?" Su Bai had sensed the same unsettling strangeness from the headless figures earlier.

"Yeah." Wu Hang glanced at the coffee machine. "And the cause of this change is that coffee."

Su Bai quickly pieced together the puzzle of the Nightmare Spiral Building in his mind.

When he first entered the game, he thought the scenario was limited to the 44th floor. But now it seemed that the 44th floor, responsible for brewing the "Midnight Memory Special Blend" coffee, held a special significance for the entire building. Even entities that had completely lost control returned to a "working state" after drinking the coffee.

And the main task for them, the new employees, was essentially to supervise the entities on other floors into drinking the coffee?

What exactly was this company's purpose?