Cyberpunk, but urban

After he shouted, the huge mother spider in the spider nest turned all her eyes to look at him. Although it did not make any sound, the little spiders still crawled down from Ye Lan's body as if they had heard some instructions, and lined up in a neat formation in a corner of the room.

"That's good... I know you want to go out and play, but it's busy outside right now. If you go out at this time, you'll become a bad kid who causes trouble for others."

Ye Lan sat down in front of the little spiders. The mother of the "Spider's Nest" Abnormality no longer had to worry about food in this library. The librarians used the power of the library to materialize items freely, and each of these offspring was well fed by them.

As a result, the Spider's Nest is naturally not as aggressive as it was in Lobotomy Corporation.

However, although they are not that aggressive, it is not easy for the assistant librarians to communicate safely with the Spider Nest's group of anomalies.

As for wanting to make them obedient with just words like Ye Lan did, it was something the assistant librarians had never even thought of.

And in the art layer below, the thorny bus with thorns on the tail like a cactus ball was running around in the floor.

It doesn't have much power, but its special ability to make people fall into addictive bliss makes it difficult for librarians to approach it.

Under Netzach's command, the assistant librarians struggled to avoid the sharp thorns on the tail of the Thorn Bus, giving Angelica and Roland a chance to deal with this guy.

Chapter 224. Happy Death Day (Part )

It has to be said that although the Thorn Bus's fighting instinct is not strong, it is the one with the most disgusting special abilities among the abnormalities awakened in the library.

When it comes to severe pain, the assistant librarians who have been working since the Lobotomy Corporation era are not afraid. But when it comes to extreme happiness and pleasure, they dare not say that they can endure it.

In addition to this addictive sense of extreme happiness and euphoria, the Thorn Bus's ability that makes assistant librarians feel even more troubled is the power to make their heads explode while in this sense of happiness and euphoria.

"It is not a happy thing to see a row of corpses with half of their heads missing but still grinning."

At the end of the battle, after the two Finishers, Angelica and Roland, who had combat power far exceeding that of ordinary first-level Finishers, assisted in beating the Thorn Bus back into the Abnormal Egg for recycling, a surviving assistant librarian made such an evaluation.

Even though Netzach and other designated librarians did their best to command the battle, many assistant librarians were unable to dodge for various reasons and were hit by the spikes at the rear end of the Thorn Bus, having their heads blown off while laughing crazily.

When Ye Lan led the little spiders arranged in a square to leave their room and wander around the literature layer, they saw Angela who was resurrecting the librarians who had died in battle.

"Hey, Angela~"

With the little spiders surrounding Angela, Ye Lan waved and greeted her.

"…You're not going to say weird things anymore?"

Angela rolled her eyes at Ye Lan and waved her hand to revive the last assistant librarian whose head had exploded.

After being resurrected, these assistant librarians could not immediately return to their respective posts. The addictive acupuncture effects of the Thorn Bus still remained on them, and the severe withdrawal reaction made them useless for at least the near future.

Next, Hod and her literary assistant librarians had to pick up their old jobs at Lobotomy Corporation, conducting psychiatric evaluations on these assistant librarians and weaning them off their addiction to the Thornbus.

"Uh ah... Looking at them reminds me of my time at Lobotomy. Because of Carmen's death and the deaths of my employees, I spent every day in a daze relying on the effects of enkephalin. I am so similar to them now."

After Netzach dealt with many matters arising from the Thorn Bus on the art floor, he slowly walked to Ye Lan and Angela.

"Yeah, you were a complete loser back then. But Netzach, you're definitely not just talking about nostalgia when you bring this up all of a sudden, right?"

Ye Lan stretched out his hand and materialized a can of beer, throwing it to Netzach who was standing beside him. After taking the beer and looking at it, Netzach turned it back into a page of a book and sent it back to the vast sea of ​​books in the library.

"Forget about it today. I plan to treat today as the anniversary of my death. It's better to be sober."

Hearing Netzach's words, Angela turned to him and said, "Death anniversary? The date of your death is not today."

Netzach gently pushed the spiders at his feet to make room for him. He sat down on the ground and said:

"Ah... Angela, the date is not important. I simply want to commemorate this moment. I recalled Giovanni's first life, the whole process from birth to death."

Angela looked down at Netzach and said indifferently: "Unfortunately, that happened before I was born. I can't give you any advice in this regard."

"Okay, okay, Angela, you should stop talking. This is the most complicated emotion for both of us, but it's still too difficult for you to understand."

Ye Lan reached out and covered Angela's mouth as she was about to say something, and while making an apologetic expression towards Netzach, he advised Angela.

"Haha, it's okay... I'll take this opportunity to tell you slowly." Netzach, who was lost in his memories, raised his head slightly. He looked at the ceiling of the literature floor and slowly said:

"I grew up without my parents. I was born in a nest but was abandoned in a nursery without even knowing who my parents were. If I had been in a back alley, I would have died a long time ago."

Ye Lan waved his hand and let the little spiders who had no interest in the story go back to their nests. He pulled Angela to sit opposite Netzach and said to him half-jokingly:

"What a coincidence. To some extent, we are all orphans. I am even worse off than you. I found myself in a company's training ground the moment I opened my eyes. As for Angela... She is an AI. Even if she regards Ayin, who created her, as her father, she was still raised by Benjamin."

"I was born in K Company. Although I was lucky to be born in a nest, I was also unfortunate to lose my parents so early."

"K Company? It's the safest place." Roland, who appeared beside them at some point, said, "Also, Netzach, if you want to tell a story, why don't you go to Angela's director's office?"

"Hi~ Roland... I just had a sudden thought today." Netzach waved to Roland and his wife and continued his story: "Actually, my life is quite smooth. I am a little less fortunate than others, but also a little more fortunate than others."

"I never went hungry, I never suffered from bullying. I lived under shelter, unaffected by the outside world. All I had to do day after day was breathe meaninglessly, and I took it for granted. Everyone had the same expression as me."

Roland looked at the melancholy Netzach, raised his hand and said, "Is it that absent-minded expression?"

"Yes, I thought I would live a boring life like that for the rest of my life. I repeated the same life... until I met the person I met for the first time in my life."

No one realized what was happening, but Ye Lan just lay in Angela's arms. With Roland and the others saying "I'm tired, just pretend I don't exist," Ye Lan said to Netzach:

"Carmen, I guess the next person you met was Carmen. And you were irresistibly captured by her passion and warmth... I guess Giovanni even regarded her as his first love."

"Yes, she was standing in the middle of the street, giving a passionate speech to the passers-by, although no one paid attention to it. In fact, I didn't hear anything about the speech. All I could think about was that a person could live so brilliantly."

Chapter 225. Happy Death Day (Part )

"She is determined to change humanity and the world. She and her team are recruiting like-minded friends. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? What fool would give up the comfortable life in the nest and participate in such research?"

Netzach smacked his lips. He suddenly wanted to drink something again.

"But you just became that fool."

Roland also pulled Angelica to sit among the group. He subconsciously glanced at Angelica. In terms of love, he was undoubtedly more successful than Netzach's previous life, Giovanni.

But no matter what, Roland still felt the same way as Netzach at this moment.

"Yes... meeting someone like Giovanni is like destiny. Every time I see Carmen happy and proud of her career, I feel full of energy."

"I want to be by her side all the time. But to her, I am just her good brother, her good friend, her good colleague. That's all."

At this point, Netzach was speechless. Even though this was just Giovanni's life, he felt deeply sad at this moment.

"Unrequited love... That feeling must be painful."

After saying this, Roland looked behind him and saw that several other designated librarians had also found their way here.

"Why is everyone here...why don't we go to Angela's director's office and sit down and chat?"

Ye Lan greeted the last three people who came and suggested that they move to a more comfortable place to continue. After getting the consent of Netzach who was telling the story to everyone, Angela snapped her fingers and teleported everyone into the director's office.

The sudden appearance of Ye Lan and the others startled Yuli and Irene, who were playing with Luna in the director's office. Although even Netzach didn't mind letting them sit in, out of respect, the two girls took Luna and the Queen of Hate out of the director's office on their own, leaving this private space to Angela and the librarians, who had a closer relationship with them.

The story begins again, with Netzach saying, "I don't mind. As long as I can live like this, I'll be content. However... a tragedy happened to this project."

Netzach closed his eyes and fell silent. Yesod, who was leaning against the wall, continued, "Our research has become stagnant. Under such pressure, Carmen has gradually lost her former vitality."

"Then...then Enoch died..."

Hod, who was sitting on Ye Lan's left with his arm around Malkuth, said that the boy named Enoch was Tiphereth's brother when he was alive, and his sacrifice foreshadowed the collapse of the entire research team.

"Yes, his death broke something fragile in Carmen's heart. I wanted to comfort her, but every time I saw Carmen's listless face, I was scared... It felt like I was wiped out from the world."

Taking a deep breath, Netzach took back the identity of the narrator of the story. The past that the former Sephirahs present did not want to talk about was said by him, the initiator of the life story: "Not long after, Carmen also took her own life."

"It's really tragic. You must have suffered a great blow at that time." Roland complained a little.

"No, not only did I accept it all, I also felt very indifferent. I was thinking that a person who lived more wonderfully than anyone else could die so suddenly and miserably."

“I decided to stay at the institute and help Carmen finish her unfinished work. Her colleagues were also there and they had not lost hope. Then one day someone said that there might be a way to save Carmen.”

When Netzach said this, the faces of several former Sephirah present showed genuine sadness for their shared past.

"This method should be risky, right?" Roland asked, but he had already guessed the answer.

"The experiment is very risky. If something goes wrong, the subject may never wake up. Of course, no one except me is willing to participate. I volunteer to be the guinea pig."

"If the experiment succeeds and Carmen comes back, that would be the ideal outcome. But even if it fails and I fall into an eternal sleep, that's fine too."

After listening to Netzach's words, Ye Lan sighed. Their experience in the laboratory was something Ye Lan only knew from the original story, but had never experienced personally. At this moment, all he could do was to quietly witness Netzach's commemoration of his first life with Angela.

"The result... must be horrible, right?" Angelica asked with a sigh, holding Roland's hand.

"Right... so I started my second life. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself working at Lobotomy Corporation as Netzach."

"At the moment of death, I had already abandoned all attachment to life... In the midst of chaos, I heard the voice of the person I missed so much again. She told me to live no matter what."

"After so many twists and turns, I finally got to where I am today. With the 'courage to survive'."

At this point, Netzach finally had a slight smile on his face. He became Netzach, and after experiencing a second life, in this third life, he finally mustered up the courage to live with dignity.

"But speaking of chaos... Netzach, you caused a lot of trouble for us employees back then."

Ye Lan was talking about what happened when Netzach's core was suppressed. Netzach, who was in charge of the security department, broke down the medical system of the entire facility at that time. Ye Lan, whose abilities were not yet so high at the time, suffered a lot.

"That happened so long ago. Why do you have to bring it up again, Ye Lan? The atmosphere is ruined now." Netzach laughed. After a while, he regained his composure and continued:

"In short, I don't want to breathe meaninglessly anymore, but to live uprightly. This world is bigger than I thought. Although it has an ugly side, it also has an extremely beautiful side. If I can have such an opportunity, maybe I can do it this time."

"You can definitely do this, Netzach."

Ye Lan also laughed after he finished speaking, and soon everyone in the director's office started laughing too.

Amidst everyone's laughter, Netzach suddenly raised his hand and asked, "So everyone, can I have some beer now?"

Chapter 226. Beautiful, powerful, but a child

Rumble…

Just after everyone in the director's office started a cocktail party at Netzach's suggestion, Ye Lan, who was drinking happily, noticed that the library was shaking abnormally.

"Hmm?" Ye Lan, who was surrounded by several designated librarians led by Hod and forced to drink, looked down at the floor. The violent shaking caused the beer cans piled on the ground to fall everywhere.

"Ah... Elf Feast, Singing Machine, Spider's Nest, Thorn Bus. Ah! I know what happened!"

Ye Lan jumped up from his seat and broke free from everyone's restraints and walked towards the curator's room. Angela, who was still mechanical inside, did not participate in the cocktail party and was already waiting for Ye Lan there.

"Ye Lan, the natural science level is open." Angela said.

"I know, I know... We didn't go to greet her right away, but instead held a reception here. Tiphereth must be very angry now, this is terrible."

Ye Lan walked to the door, sorted out his clothes, and responded to Angela's words with three parts of embarrassment and seven parts of pressure.

"Then...do you want me to go greet her?"

"Forget it. If you go over now, the angry kid might start fighting with you right there... I'd better go. At most, she can hit me a few times to vent her anger."

After finishing his clothes, Ye Lan talked to Angela, then opened the door and walked towards the stairwell. Soon, he would face the accusation from the lovely Tiphereth.

Walking down the stairs and entering the sixth floor of the library, Ye Lan was pulled into the natural science floor by a yellow figure before he could say anything.

"Hey! You guys..."

The kid was just about to grab Ye Lan's collar to complain about how unhappy they were for not coming to find him first when he smelled the lingering smell of alcohol on him.

"…You didn't come to see me because you were drinking?!!!"

Tiphereth was small, but her voice was full of energy. Ye Lan, who was in the wrong, was pulled by the collar and swung back and forth until she had vented enough.

"Sorry, sorry. I came here the moment I found out you were awake." Ye Lan looked at the kid who was half a head shorter than him and said, "By the way... you seem to be a lot taller than before."

"Hehe~ Did you notice? Not only am I taller than when I first died, I'm even a few centimeters taller than when I was in Lobotomy Corporation. My body seems to have become more mature since I woke up here."

"I don't know if it's because of the power of the library or Angela's 'special care', but this body can help me do my job as a librarian better."

Tiphereth stood in front of Ye Lan with her hands on her waist, raised her chin cutely, and proudly told Ye Lan about her changes.

"That's really great. The children have become established adults."

With a smile on his face, Ye Lan reached out and rubbed Tiphereth's head, just like he did in the Lobotomy Corporation, continuing to treat Tiphereth like coaxing a child.

"Hmmmm~" Tiphereth let out a soft hum of enjoyment when being caressed by Ye Lan. Although she was just a box spirit when she was in the Lobotomy Corporation, the care and concern hidden in Ye Lan's touch was something that even her mechanical body could clearly feel.

After enjoying Ye Lan's care for a while, Tiphereth suddenly woke up and her face turned red: "Wu ...

"What's wrong? Little kid, don't you like me to touch your head?" Ye Lan saw that she was shy, and started to say weird things as if it was his daily routine.

"Ye Lan, what did you call me just now?"

"Little friend~"

Before he finished speaking, Ye Lan took a step back. Tiphereth had already taken his original position with a powerful uppercut, causing a gust of wind.

"Wow, Tiphereth, are you taking advantage of your sleep time to practice boxing?"

"Humph! Everyone told me before that if you talk too much, Ye Lan, you'll get a good beating!"

Tiphereth punched left and right, hitting Ye Lan's chest continuously, but Ye Lan dodged them one by one with his leisurely steps like taking a walk.

Snapped!