2026-01-27 19:37:16Mark Miller stood at the threshold of the rooftop, but instead of the open sky, he found himself plunged into a liminal space that resembled a gargantuan customer service hub, suspended over a burning residential zone. Before him, a new holographic display flickered to life—this time in a dull, uninspiring pale blue, reminiscent of the office software color schemes from the early 2000s.
[WELCOME TO THE LATEST FEATURE: HELPDESK SYSTEM & FIELD PARTNER]
[Your status has been upgraded from ‘Operator’ to ‘Customer Success Hero’.]
"Customer Success Hero?" Mark spat, his blood staining the translucent hologram. "You rebrand me after I’ve killed the man who tried to warn me? And what is that smell? Why does this place reek of old carpets and despair?"
[Helpdesk System: "That aroma is ‘Essence of Productivity,’ Senior Operator Miller. We apologize for the inconvenience. Based on your performance evaluation in Chapter 7, the Board of Directors has determined that you require stricter bureaucratic guidance to avoid ‘free-thinking’ that might be detrimental to the Company."]
"Guidance? You call life-extortion guidance?" Mark tried to step forward, but his mangled legs throbbed in protest.
[Helpdesk System: "Your next assignment: Clearing Residential Zone Sector 4-B. Below you lie the remnants of contract employees who failed to transform. They are an eyesore to the aesthetics of the New World. Instruction: Erase them. And remember, Mark... every interaction must conclude with a Customer Satisfaction Survey."]
Mark peered down through the glass floor. There, in the narrow alleys of the slums, wretched creatures that were once human—perhaps Mark’s own neighbors—crawled with distorted bodies, emitting cries that sounded like radio static.
"You want me to slaughter them?" Mark asked, his voice raspy. "They’re just victims, same as me!"
[Helpdesk System: "Correction: They are ‘Assets That Failed to Depreciate Properly.’ If you refuse, we will consider it a ‘Resignation Without Severance.’ You know what that entails, don't you?"]
Mark recalled the thousand-year sentence in hell. He clenched his fists, feeling the grinding of fingers that were still out of alignment. "Fine. I’ll do it. But I need a better weapon than this rusted iron beam."
[Helpdesk System: "Access to the ‘Black Market’ has been granted. This is an exclusive feature for employees willing to sacrifice moral integrity for the sake of efficiency."]
A menu appeared. It contained no legendary blades, but rather items that were as bizarre as they were lethal:
* Nerve-Nailing Stapler (Price: 200 Points)
* Empathy-Stripping Fluid (Price: Free, with additional contract)
* Budget-Cutting Chainsaw (Price: 500 Points)
"Budget-Cutting Chainsaw?" Mark snorted sarcastically. "The name is so corporate it hurts. I’ll take it. Just dock my points; I stopped caring a long time ago."
[Transaction Successful. Balance: -940 Points. You are now a Platinum-tier Debt Slave!]
Mark leaped from the floating platform, hitting the ground in the center of the residential zone with a heavy thud. The chainsaw in his hand roared—its sound wasn't that of a gasoline engine, but the collective screams of thousands of people forced into overtime.
A monster resembling a pile of flesh with a fax machine for a head lunged at him. Mark did not hesitate. With one horizontal sweep, he cleaved the beast in two. Blood and fax paper erupted everywhere.
[Helpdesk System: "Target Eliminated. Please request a performance rating immediately."]
"What?" Mark stood stunned in the middle of the battlefield.
[Helpdesk System: "Standard Procedure: ‘Thank you for using our elimination services. Please provide a 5-star rating for your satisfaction!’ Please recite the phrase now, or the session will be deemed invalid."]
"You’ve got to be joking! I just butchered that thing!"
[Helpdesk System: "Time remaining for rating: 5 seconds... 4..."]
"Dammit! Fine! Thank you for using our elimination services, please give me five stars!" Mark roared while decapitating another monster.
[System processing... Rating received: 1 Star. Customer Comment: ‘Messy work, blood got on my shoes.’]
"Wait, what—"
ZAPPP!
A bolt of neon-blue lightning struck Mark’s shoulder from the clear sky. Mark was thrown back, his body convulsing on the cracked asphalt. The smell of scorched flesh filled the air.
"Aaaargh! What the hell was that?!" Mark screamed, struggling to stand while fighting the tremors in his heart.
[Helpdesk System: "A 1-Star rating results in instant physical penalty as a form of ‘Retraining.’ Please improve your service attitude, Mark. Remember, the customer—even the ones you are killing—is king."]
"Customer?! He was trying to eat my head, you lunatic!" Mark rose, his chainsaw snarling once more. Two Elite monsters shaped like couriers, their legs replaced by metal wheels, streaked toward him.
Mark evaded with a painful, acrobatic maneuver. He slashed the wheels of one, sending it tumbling, before driving his saw into its chest. "Eat this! And don't forget... to give me... five stars, you bastard!"
[Rating received: 4 Stars. Comment: ‘Fast, but the operator was too aggressive.’]
[System: "Close call, Mark. A 4-Star rating doesn't trigger lightning, but it doesn't grant a healing bonus either. Keep up the hard work!"]
Mark laughed maniacally. "This is insane. The world ends, and I’m trapped in the most toxic Customer Service simulation in the universe."
He continued the slaughter, moving through ruined homes. David and Sarah remained on the platform above, watching in horror as Mark transformed into a killing machine that incessantly screamed customer service slogans with a tone of pure hatred.
"Why are you doing this, System?" Mark asked, wiping blood from his eyes. "Why the bureaucracy? Kenapa the ratings? Why not just let me kill?"
[Helpdesk System: "The emotional energy from frustration and forced compliance is a far purer fuel than mere fear. You aren't just killing, Mark. You are ‘Producing.’"]
Mark stopped in front of a residential door that was still intact. Inside, he saw a small monster—perhaps once a child—clutching a mangled teddy bear. The monster's eyes stared at Mark, hollow and vacant.
[Helpdesk System: "Residual Asset detected. Clear this zone now to meet your daily quota."]
Mark lowered his saw. His hands were shaking. "This... this is too much."
[Helpdesk System: "Warning: Indication of insubordination. If the target is not eliminated within 10 seconds, we will automatically issue a 0-Star Rating. Penalty: Immediate Execution."]
"Mark, don't!" Sarah screamed from the platform. "Don't do it!"
Mark looked at the small monster. Then, he looked toward the sky, toward the mechanical eye of The Auditor that was surely still watching him.
"System," Mark said in a deep, frigid voice. "Open the Black Market. Now."
[Menu opened. What are you looking for?]
"Is there anything that can silence a ‘Helpdesk Voice’ like yours?"
[Helpdesk System: "Hahaha. Very funny, Mark. Such an item costs 1,000,000 Points. You couldn't afford it in a hundred lifetimes."]
Mark grinned. A mad idea took root in his half-shattered mind. "I don't need to buy it. I just need to give a one-star rating... to myself."
[System: "What do you—"]
Mark spun his chainsaw and slammed it into the holographic projector platform hovering beside him, intentionally wounding his own arm in the process.
[System: "ERROR! Self-Harm detected! Self-Evaluation: 0 Stars! Commencing maximum lightning penalty—"]
"Come on!" Mark challenged the sky. "Hit me with everything you’ve got! If I die, your quarterly quota is ruined! The Auditor will fire you, you bureaucratic bot!"
The sky turned a deep, bruised red. Thousands of lightning bolts gathered at a single point, directly above Mark Miller's head. Mark stood tall, letting Sarah and David witness him defying this mad new god.
Just before the lightning struck, a new notification—colored a dark, bruised purple—erupted across the blue screen of the Helpdesk System.
[NOTIFICATION FROM ‘THE UNDERGROUND’: Secret Acquisition Offer Detected. Wish to hijack this penalty into a counter-attack?]
Mark laughed amidst the storm. "Click ‘Yes,’ you idiot! Click ‘Yes’!"
The lightning struck. A blast of light blinded everything. But instead of a death rattle, the sound that followed was the explosion of a system undergoing a massive short circuit.
Had Mark successfully hijacked the system, or had he simply plunged into an even darker contract within 'The Underground'?
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CHAPTER 250: A NEW WORLD
The grand white pillars of Floor 100 did not merely crack, they dissolved into cascading waterfalls of blinding silver pixels that hissed as they met the dark, crumbling floor plates. Mark Miller stood amidst the chaotic disintegration of the executive sanctuary, his large frame silhouetted against the fracturing fabric of the simulated sky. The intense mathematical friction of the division by zero command was ripping the high-level corporate infrastructure apart, turning ninety years of artificial dominance into a mountain of falling digital dust. Sarah maintained a desperate stance near the central console, her fingers entirely frozen over her burned diagnostic pad as the massive panoramic windows shattered outward into an absolute void."The server matrix is completely collapsing under the weight of the zero-point baseline, Mark," Sarah called out, her voice barely carrying over the profound, deep roar of a world losing its structural geometry."The simulation has finished its f
CHAPTER 249: EXECUTION OF DIVISION BY ZERO
The green glare of the unformatted terminal code flickered rapidly against the smooth white marble pillars of Floor 100, casting erratic shadows across the expansive corporate sanctuary. Mark Miller maintained a firm, unyielding pressure with his fingertips against the primary glass interface panel, forcing the root directory to process his undefined identity string. The air inside the chief executive suite grew thick and suffocating, smelling heavily of scorched wiring, ozone, and the bitter chemical musk of failing backup generators. Sarah kept her weight low, her hands shaking as she held her diagnostic monitor to channel the remaining baseline decryption codes from Floor 0 into the fracturing central mainframe."The core processor is entering a critical math recursion because it cannot assign a standard dividend to your profile, Mark," Sarah reported, her voice strained against the loud mechanical groans echoing from beneath the floor plates."The system is trying to divide its
CHAPTER 248: CHOICE OF POINT ZERO
The cold digital countdown hanging over the executive desk continued its rapid descent, illuminating the grand sanctuary in rhythmic pulses of blinding blue light. Mark Miller did not budge from his position, his eyes cutting straight through the twin glowing terminal pathways that demanded a definitive master selection. The clean, synthetic atmosphere of Floor 100 felt heavier by the second, saturated with the pungent scent of overheated mainframes and high-voltage circuit grids. Sarah maintained a desperate grip on her tracking tool, her knuckles white as she watched the entire system interface vibrate under the weight of the ticking clock."The countdown has entered its final sixty-second sequence, and the terminal is beginning to restrict external data transmission, Mark," Sarah warned, her breath catching as the glowing borders of the choice matrix turned a sharp crimson."The system is trying to narrow reality into a pre-programmed binary trap," Mark replied, his voice entire
CHAPTER 247: THE ETERNAL DILEMMA
The cold white light radiating from the twin holographic paths hung suspended in the sterile air of Floor 100, casting deep, elongated shadows across the white marble floor. Mark Miller kept his boots firmly planted on the polished surface, his chest rising and falling in a slow, calculated rhythm as he faced the corporate ruler. The massive executive suite felt incredibly hollow, smelling sharply of processed oxygen, ionized particles, and the cold leather trim of the perimeter furniture. Sarah held her diagnostic pad with both hands, her thumbs tightening against the illuminated edges as the twin data paths began to display their primary operational source codes."The terminal is completely locking its background parameters to force a direct administrative choice from your profile, Mark," Sarah said, her voice dropping into a tense whisper that rattled through the empty spaces."The system has narrowed its entire structural architecture into these two specific development branche
CHAPTER 246: MYSTERY OF THE BUG
The high-pitched mechanical whine of the silver data rings spinning along the ceiling began to settle into a deep, vibrating hum that vibrated through the white marble floor. Mark Miller did not break his stare, keeping his upper posture rigid and completely steady against the overwhelming pressure radiating from the desk console. The air in the sanctuary felt increasingly cold and sterile, smelling of ozone, expensive synthetic leather, and the unique chemical fragrance of high-voltage server stacks. Sarah took a small step backward, her breath rattling slightly as she tried to re-calibrate her flickering diagnostic screen."The core administration loop is projecting a direct identity query over your active registration profile, Mark," Sarah said, her voice shaking as she pointed to the fluctuating data values."The system has already calculated my structural composition across every single lower block we dismantled," Mark replied, his voice flat, level, and completely devoid of a
CHAPTER 245: BEFORE THE CEO
The heavy high-backed chair turned completely to face the center of the vast corporate sanctuary, revealing the physical form of the ultimate ruler of the ARCH network. Mark Miller stood firmly anchored to the smooth white marble flooring, his gaze fixed on the man who controlled the digital destiny of the entire population. The expansive office felt incredibly cold and quiet, smelling faintly of clean filter minerals, expensive synthetic fabric, and the underlying static scent of massive server stacks. Sarah stood half a step behind Mark, her trembling fingers clutching her diagnostic screen as she monitored the staggering power readings pulsing directly from the central platform."The computational presence in this room is completely overtaking my tracking tool, Mark," Sarah said, her voice catching in her dry throat as the interface lines wavered."The system architect does not rely on simple external defense drones when he controls the core reality matrix directly from his desk
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