Chapter 661

Under the respectful gazes of the male and female staff, Karl stepped onto the thirty-sixth floor.

He pushed open the bulletproof glass doors near the elevator lobby. Cold neon lights flickered overhead, casting a dim red glow. The air smelled of burnt coffee and the metallic tang of cyberware lubricant. Recruitment ads scrolled along both walls in holographic projection, warping occasionally with static interference.

Several open workstations had been converted into semi-enclosed neural pods. Each staffer had data cables jacked into the ports at the back of their skulls, their cyber-eyes glowing faintly in different colors as they scanned résumés at speed. Fingers clattered against keyboards while candidate profiles streamed across their holo-screens like waterfalls—genetic compatibility, criminal records, cyberpsychosis risk ratings—everything reduced to cold, merciless numbers.