The System Keeps Making Me Do Indecent Missions [BL, R18]

Chapter 128: Chapter 128: The First Ally

[See that? They do not want to talk to you. They do not even bother showing the bare minimum of courtesy anymore.]

"I saw it." Lucien placed his coffee cup on the desk and pulled out his chair. "But it is rather strange. Yesterday, when Sarah spoke to me, the others simply stayed silent. I thought they were just being shy. I did not expect them to be this blatant today."

[Shy? Hardly. They were warned.]

"Warned? You mean Ethan told them not to interact with me?"

[Not exactly a direct order. But think about it, who in this company would dare to get close to a guy who just got demoted from a prospective Head Assistant straight down to an Intern? Everyone is afraid of being implicated. Besides, Ethan had already spread rumors a long time ago.]

"What rumors?"

[Do you want to hear them? I scanned the internal chat system yesterday. There are a few conversations about you.]

Lucien took a sip of his coffee. "Read them."

000 cleared its throat, then began reading in its shrill voice: [Hey, that intern who just got demoted, I heard he originally got in here through connections. Apparently, he knows someone in the human resources department.]

"What else?"

[There is more, just be quiet and let me read. Hmm... Back when he was a design assistant, he never accomplished anything worthwhile. His ideas were all copied, and he constantly messed up the data. He entirely deserved that demotion.]

Lucien set the coffee cup down. He did not say anything, merely staring quietly at the monitor.

[Are you not angry?] 000 asked.

"Of course I am. But what good does getting angry do? Ethan spread these rumors long before I even took over this body. He had everything perfectly prepared, building the image of a useless loser for the original owner, so that when Ethan stole the project and pushed him down, no one would find it strange. Everyone would just think it was a natural outcome."

[How sinister. So what are you going to do now?]

"Nothing drastic just yet. If I step up to clarify things now, it will only make everything worse. People will just think I am trying to make excuses. The only way is to use my actual abilities to prove them wrong. However, I also need to figure out who in this department can be trusted."

[Are you planning to find an ally?]

"Yes. I can still manage on my own, but having an ally makes things faster. Besides, I do not want to become a total outcast in this very room. Look, even Sarah only dared to talk to me yesterday when no one else was around. Today, right in front of our colleagues, she did not even dare to come close."

Just as Lucien said, when Sarah arrived this morning, she walked past his desk, merely giving a slight nod of greeting before hurrying back to her seat. She did not stop to chat like yesterday. Clearly, she also did not want to be seen getting too friendly with a problematic person like him.

Lucien let out a sigh, then shifted his focus back to work. There were no emails from Ethan today. It seemed that after yesterday’s failed scheme of piling up tasks, the man was taking a pause to devise another trick. Lucien utilized his free time to continue drafting his poster design.

Approaching noon, as he was tinkering with a new effect on Illustrator, a recently updated feature that the original owner had never touched, a figure stopped in front of his desk.

Lucien looked up. It was a young man, around his age, with a thin build and black-rimmed glasses, clutching a stack of documents in his arms. He recognized this person. It was Mark, a graphic designer who had joined the company in the same batch as the original owner and Ethan, yet had never stood out. For the past few months, Mark had remained at the back desk, working silently, rarely speaking, and barely interacting with anyone.

"Are you... trying out the new blend effect?" Mark asked, his tone slightly hesitant, as if unsure whether he should strike up a conversation.

Lucien blinked; this was the first person in the department, aside from Sarah, to actively talk to him about a professional topic. "Yeah, I am testing to see how it works. It seems the new update has changed the way gradients are processed."

Mark nodded. "That is right, the new version altered the blend algorithm. I also just figured it out a few days ago." He paused for a moment, then, as if having just made a decision, pulled a small notebook from his document folder and placed it on Lucien’s desk. "Here is a guide I compiled myself regarding these new features. Have a look; if there is anything you do not understand, just ask me."

Lucien picked up the notebook and flipped through a few pages. Inside were meticulous handwritten notes, detailing every single step, accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations. It was clearly the result of many days of hard work.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Lucien asked, his voice unable to hide his surprise.

Mark shrugged, his gaze shifting elsewhere. "Well... I saw you struggling. Besides, I know you are not the kind of person those rumors claim you to be."

Lucien looked at Mark in silence. The young man had spoken those words very softly, as if terrified that someone might overhear. Then, without waiting for a reply, Mark turned around and walked briskly back to his seat, burying his head in his screen as if nothing had ever happened.

[Here is your first ray of hope.] 000 chimed in. [But how come he dares to help you? Is he not afraid of getting dragged down?]

"Let me guess." Lucien tucked the notebook into his desk drawer, then cast a subtle glance towards Mark. "He has also been suppressed by Ethan. Just not to the extreme extent that I am."

[You think so?]

"Yes. I recall from the original owner’s memories that Mark is highly capable, yet he has never been assigned any major projects. He only does trivial tasks like I am doing right now. Meanwhile, Ethan keeps getting promoted continuously. When a competent person goes months without being given proper work, whose fault do you think that is?"

[Did Ethan play dirty?]

"Absolutely. Mark might not have been demoted to an Intern like me, but he has been held back in every possible way. Just because he stays silent does not mean he is oblivious to it."

Lucien looked over at Mark one more time. The young designer was still sitting quietly, his shoulders slightly hunched, his eyes glued to the screen. Another outcast in this very room.

"000," Lucien called out softly.

[Hmm?]

"I am going to bring him over to my side; after all, I need an ally. And he needs someone who dares to stand up. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement."

[Sounds decent. But how do you plan to do that? You cannot just randomly run up to him and say, hey, team up with me against Ethan. The guy is already scared to death as it is.]

"I know, I am in no rush. First of all, I need to show him my true capabilities. I have to make him believe that siding with me is not a losing gamble."

He looked down, opened Mark’s notebook, and began reading page by page. His hand continued to glide across the drawing tablet, but his mind had already begun mapping out a new strategy. It was not just about getting close to Damian Thorne anymore. It was also about systematically rebuilding his standing in this very room.

Then, out of nowhere, Lucien called out to 000 once again, "Why are you staying here for so long this time?"

It had even pulled some tricks to help him find those chat logs from the others. He remembered that in the previous world, this damn system had never operated this productively. Throwing him into that world, demanding that he sleep with Dominic Vance, and then completely abandoning him right after.

Wait a minute, sleep with...

Lucien narrowed his eyes. "Do not tell me you have to wait until I manage to sleep with the male lead of this world before you can leave?"

000’s chubby little body flapped its wings briskly, letting out a cheeky laugh. [You are far too smart, Host.]

"Just what kind of perverted system are you exactly?"

[I am not perverted, I am simply an 18+ system. And systems of my type need to accumulate a certain amount of energy before we can return to the main system. Therefore, I must wait for you to complete your first mission...]

Lucien shot it a side-glance, suddenly losing all desire to speak. He had a profound feeling that his past decision to listen to it and take on these missions was a horribly disastrous mistake.

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