Chapter 2

At 8:30 AM the next morning, I arrived at the corporate headquarters building as usual.

It was the peak of the morning rush hour. The ground-floor elevator lobby was packed with employees clutching coffee cups, hurrying to clock in. I swiped my badge alongside the crowd and stepped into the executive express elevator. As I watched the floor numbers slowly climb, my mind was surprisingly calm.

Outside the gala last night, I had already submitted a comprehensive logout request to the external system.

However, because I had intervened so deeply in this virtual sandbox, the system required a twenty-four-hour buffer period after receiving the detachment command to completely sever my connection to this world.

In other words, it wouldn't be until late tonight that this physical avatar would finally stop breathing and be permanently logged out.

Until then, I had to act like a normal human being, without letting anyone catch on to the truth.

At 10:00 AM, the regular executive board meeting commenced punctually in the grand conference room on the forty-sixth floor.

I pushed open the heavy mahogany doors and walked in. The oval conference table was already surrounded by the company's core management, several senior shareholders, and department directors. Thick reports sat in front of everyone as they conversed in hushed tones about the European market acquisition the company was aggressively pushing forward.

I walked over to my usual seat and sat down. About ten minutes later, the conference room doors were pushed open once more.

Irene walked in.

She was wearing a dark gray pantsuit and stilettos today, radiating an aura of absolute composure and confidence. Ryan was right by her side.

As they walked, Ryan deliberately raised his hand to adjust his collar, ensuring everyone in the room got a pristine view of his new luxury mechanical watch.

Irene took her seat at the head of the table. Ryan casually pulled out the chair directly to her right and dropped into it.

That seat was traditionally reserved for the Executive Vice President, but since the VP was currently on a business trip in Europe, the seat had been left empty.

As a mere personal assistant, Ryan had audaciously claimed the spot. He even had the nerve to look up and flash me a provocative smirk.

Several board members furrowed their brows, their expressions darkening drastically. Yet, out of deference to Irene, they tacitly chose to keep their mouths shut.

"Before we dive into the European project, I want to announce a decision regarding internal personnel changes," Irene declared, her tone uncompromising. "To inject a younger, more dynamic mindset into our corporate management, effective immediately, Arthur is relieved of all his duties in this company."

The moment she finished speaking, Ryan stood up and distributed several freshly printed documents to everyone present.

I glanced down at the document passed to me.

It was spelled out clearly in black and white. Not only was I being stripped of my positions, but the agreement also demanded that I forfeit all my vested stock options.

But it was the next line that caused the entire conference room to explode in an uproar.

The document stipulated that all my former responsibilities—including the core executive control of the ongoing multinational European acquisition—were to be handed over to personal assistant Ryan. Furthermore, Ryan was officially appointed as the company's new Executive Vice President.

"Irene, isn't this decision a bit too reckless?" A senior shareholder finally couldn't hold back. "Everyone here is well aware of the dedication and professional expertise Arthur has brought to this company over the past three years. Especially with the current European project—he conducted all the preliminary risk assessments himself. To swap him out at a critical juncture like this, and replace him with... with Mr. Ryan... With all due respect, Mr. Ryan doesn't seem to have any relevant industry experience."

The senior shareholder was putting it very mildly.

"He's right, Madame Chair." The company's CFO wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "That European acquisition requires an astronomical amount of capital funding. We simply don't have that kind of liquidity on our own books; we're relying on massive bridge loans from several banks to cover the gap. If there's even a slight miscalculation in the repayment cycles, not only will our entire funding chain snap, but we'll also be crushed under a mountain of insurmountable debt. We desperately need an expert at the helm for this."

Several executives nodded in hearty agreement.

They turned their eyes to me in unison, expecting me to step up and override this absurd decision, just as I always had in the past.

But this time, I chose silence.

Irene completely ignored the pleadings of the seasoned veterans. Instead, she let out a cold sneer.

Placing both hands flat on the desk, she leaned forward slightly.

"I want all of you to get one thing absolutely clear." Irene's voice abruptly rose in volume. "Three years ago, when this company couldn't even make next month's rent, I was the one who bore the pressure and brought it back to life. Over the past three years, every single investment decision I've made—the ones you all initially squeaked were too high-risk—ended up raking in massive profits. The only reason this company is where it is today is because of my vision."

Everyone shut their mouths.

Because on the surface, what she said was an undeniable fact. Over the past three years, no matter how reckless her blind investments were, she always managed to miraculously snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Even the most notoriously stringent banking institutions would smoothly approve her massive loans at the final hour.

This had forged an aura of sheer invincibility around her within the company.

Only, not a single soul in this room knew that her so-called unerring instincts and brilliant business miracles were entirely because I had been constantly tweaking the system data in the background to pave her way.

Yet Irene truly believed it was all because she was the divine "Main Character" of this virtual world.

"This is my final decision, and it will be implemented before we adjourn." Irene leaned back into her chair, turning her head to lock eyes with me. "Arthur, the legal department has already prepared your termination agreement and the equity transfer documents. You just need to sign your name, and you can pack your things immediately."

A representative from the legal department kept his head down, practically scurrying over to my side, and placed two thick stacks of paperwork and a fountain pen in front of me.

I stared quietly at the termination papers before me.

Irene was in such a frantic rush to kick me out because she wanted to completely purge her "Tutorial NPC" from her game.

In her eyes, I had outlived my usefulness.

Had this been before last night, seeing the very company I had painstakingly built brick-by-brick being ruined by her hands would have driven me to argue with her in absolute agony. But now, it all just felt dreadfully dull.

I picked up the fountain pen and signed my name.

Throughout the entire process, I didn't so much as bat an eyelash.

Watching me sign the papers without a shred of resistance, Irene felt no remorse. Instead, a condescending, victorious sneer crawled onto her face.

In her twisted logic, my absolute compliance was just further proof backing her assumption that NPCs were fundamentally incapable of defying a Player's commands.

"I've signed the papers. Before you seize absolute control, out of habit from the past three years, I'll give you one last piece of advice." I stood up by my chair, looking at Irene with unnerving composure.

"The CFO was right earlier. The European acquisition involves exceptionally volatile financial leverage. If you don't have someone intimately familiar with the ledgers running point, the cash flow will completely implode within a week of any mishap."

Hearing my solemn warning, Ryan's face instantly shifted.

"You're just trying to fearmonger because you got canned, aren't you?" Ryan spat defensively. "You only got lucky riding the CEO's coattails for a few years. You really think this company will just stop spinning without you?"

Irene raised a hand, stopping Ryan from picking a further fight. Sitting back in her oversized leather executive chair, she threw her head back and laughed.

"Arthur, no matter how terrifying you try to make it sound, it means absolutely nothing to me." Irene smirked, waving him off. "Ryan doesn't need to understand a damn thing; complying with my orders is more than enough for him. Even if his incompetence blows a hundred million—or a billion—hole in the company tomorrow, I have the ability to make it all right back for him."

I abandoned any lingering urge I had to snap her out of her delusion.

"Suit yourself." I didn't spare a single glance at anyone else in the room and simply walked out the door.

Right as the heavy doors clicked shut, I even heard Irene instructing her secretary to book the most expensive restaurant in the city to celebrate this flawless execution of power restructuring.

I didn't bother packing up anything from my office. I took the elevator straight down to the lobby and walked toward the massive glass revolving doors.

In the depths of my subconscious, the system's synthetic feedback chimes echoed.

"Administrator unbinding sequence… 70% complete."

"Target subject Irene's extreme luck augmentation… rescinded."

"Forced capital chain protection protocols… disabled."

"Physical vitality defense grid… utterly nullified."

Accompanied by these cold, mechanical chimes, I turned around and took one last look at the towering downtown corporate high-rise.

Several sleek black sedans belonging to rival conglomerates were already parked steadily by the curb. Ferocious legal teams were stepping out, clutching thick stacks of paperwork, their predatory gazes fixed directly on the entrance to Irene's company.

From the direction of the ground-floor reception desk came an incessant, panicky barrage of ringing phones. It was the first wave of incoming calls from the credit departments of partnering banks, who had suddenly detected the spiraling financial anomalies.

Under the brutal, unforgiving laws of genuine reality, the avalanche had already begun.

While Irene still sat pretty on the forty-sixth floor indulging in her delusions of grandeur, I withdrew my gaze, flagged down a passing cab, and smoothly stepped inside. The taxi merged into traffic, driving far away from this place.

And I never looked back.