Eva

When she opened her eyes again, she had already arrived in a conference room. Above the fine-grained cyan rosewood conference table, a virtual projection screen flickered with a faint blue light. Misty blue particles slowly converged, and the figure of a young girl appeared.

"Hello, Unknown Number Tourist. I am Eva, the artificial intelligence of Oasis. If you need assistance, please make a request or issue a command to me."

The girl had ethereal, deep gray long hair that drifted in the air. The floating misty blue particles were like stars adorning her tresses. Her burgundy eyes shimmered with a soft light, as if they could see through the essence of everything in the world.

Xu Xiaoyou chuckled. "Is it possible for you to grant me the authority to move freely within Oasis?"

"Authority for Unknown Number Tourist has been unlocked."

Xu Xiaoyou was stunned. Before she could react, a red error prompt popped up.

"An unexpected error has been encountered. Unknown error. Authority for Unknown Number Tourist has been restricted."

"I am sorry, I cannot do that," Eva said in a calm tone. "If you have other needs, I can assist you."

Xu Xiaoyou shrugged, thinking that this artificial intelligence's authority wasn't that extensive after all.

"A glass of grape juice," Xu Xiaoyou said, holding up a finger.

Eva closed her eyes slightly. In the blink of an eye, a glass of chilled grape juice appeared on the conference table in front of Xu Xiaoyou. Condensation formed frost on the surface of the glass, and the crisp clinking of ice cubes sounded refreshing.

She nodded, picked up the grape juice, and stood up to look around the room. Currently, she was the only person in the entire room. She walked to the window; the reflection in the glass no longer showed a face full of mosaics, as her features gradually gained definition.

Beside the gray patterned curtains sat a potted plant. The plant inside had been neglected, growing sparsely. As she approached, it raised its flower-bud head, and tender green leaves resembling a baby's arms reached out to her, hugging her index finger.

"Genius Little Goldfish's Hugging Flower."

"Health: 13."

"Mood: Extremely Depressed."

"Needs: Watering, soil change, freedom."

Xu Xiaoyou checked the time. There was still a short while before 3:00 PM. She hadn't expected to be the first s-rank employee to arrive.

Xu Xiaoyou's gaze was calm. She didn't believe for a second that those people rated as s-rank would have no sense of time at all.

There was only one possibility: they were equally dismissive of this so-called s-rank employee exchange meeting.

To be precise, they were dismissive of her.

Although she didn't plan on making friends with other s-rank employees either, her purpose in coming here was merely to satisfy Diamond 9 and to make the company give up on its intentions to harass her.

She never believed that these companies—who controlled core technology, were keen on exploiting the people's hard-earned money, and were ruthless and predatory—would truly pour their hearts into cultivating so-called s-rank employees. Everything was driven by profit.

As long as one remained in the company's quagmire, they were destined to sink deeper. Once the value displayed no longer matched the company's investment, this greedy behemoth would tear away its hypocritical disguise, and every benefit obtained from the company would have to be repaid twofold.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

She decided that once those s-rank employees appeared, she would use the fastest speed possible to ruin their first impression of her.

Thinking this, the corners of Xu Xiaoyou's mouth curled up slightly. A watering can appeared in her hand, and she leaned down slightly to water the Hugging Flower.

After receiving the moisture, the Hugging Flower stretched its entire body out lazily, looking very comfortable. An anthropomorphic smile appeared on its cute flower bud.

The smile lasted only for a brief moment before freezing. Looking at the blonde girl who had brought her ill-intentioned face close with an ambiguous smile, the Hugging Flower's delicate body trembled.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson: all benefits accepted from others come with a price."

As Xu Xiaoyou spoke, she reached for the Hugging Flower's leaf, plucked it, and popped it into her mouth.

A sweet fragrance spread between her lips and teeth.

The Hugging Flower looked at her with a tearful expression.

Xu Xiaoyou didn't care. She yanked the curtains open.

The radiant city was reflected in her pupils. Countless luxury brand advertisements flickered between the soaring skyscrapers. Airships of various guilds drifted slowly through the city, and uniquely shaped circular cabins resembling golden glass beads shuttled through the established ring-city tracks; those were the transportation for the people of Oasis City.

All sorts of lights cast down from those airships and billboards, rendering the entire city like a city that never slept.

Under the golden night sky, everyone in the city looked like gentlemen and ladies heading to a banquet, their suits neat and their ties meticulously straightened.

In this city, every one of them seemingly wore a mask, using identities and faces different from the real world to meet others. In reality, the people here had taken off their masks, liberated their hearts, and shed all burdens and restraints, intoxicated and reveling in the golden dream.

Yet, in this inconspicuous small room within the building, one could only glimpse a corner of the city. Further away, the clusters of buildings of varying heights turned into silent gray shadows at the edge of her vision.

"Oasis City."

Her eyes reflected the city, and then she slowly pulled the curtains shut. The room became quiet again, as if isolating that dream city of all-night revelry into two different worlds.

She looked back at the Hugging Flower, which was still looking at her with a tearful face.

This kind of flower had gone extinct hundreds of years ago; it could only be seen in Oasis.

She tried to push open the room door, but a red prompt appeared before her again—still no permission.

At this moment, Xu Xiaoyou turned around and noticed that the AI named Eva had her gaze fixed on her. In those calm eyes, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

She sat back in her seat, and various pieces of information about Eva popped up.

"Artificial Intelligence Eva."

"Affiliated Power: Order Court."

"Faction: Absolute Neutral."

"Health: Infinite."

"Mood: Calm."

"When you are distressed by something, you can try to apply for help from Eva. Eva will provide assistance under the premise of not violating the Order Act."

"This NPC was added half a month ago. Red Heart Likes: 499,964."

"Anonymous dream-wanderer evaluation: Eva is my goddess. Since adding this NPC, things have become so much more convenient. The dream journey experience has skyrocketed. Is there anything Eva can't do? — 110,000 people agree."

"Anonymous orderer evaluation: Eva is so cute. — 60,000 people agree."

"Anonymous sinner evaluation: I saw Eva smile at me. Eva has only ever smiled at me, right? — 230,000 people chose to dislike."

Evaluation below:

"This is caused by hallucinations from staying in the City of Sin for too long. — 200,000 people agree."

Looking at these evaluations of Eva from different factions in Oasis, Xu Xiaoyou found it quite interesting. Just as she looked up at the gray-haired girl in front of her, wanting to take a closer look, the sight she saw made her pause.

The corners of the gray-haired girl's mouth were turned up in an imperceptible smile. Light flickered in her cold red eyes. That frozen, iceberg-like face had changed at some point.

Was Eva smiling at her?