NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
Right after a brief connection formed between Kalia and me, I excitedly explained my escape plan. I’m sure I’ll get some praise, right?
While I was diligently explaining, Kalia listened seriously, responding with “Hmm, really?” and “Uh-huh.”
“So, you’ll help me escape this room through the ventilation ducts, let loose the monsters in the research lab to create chaos, take one of the researchers hostage to open the elevator, and then escape through some unknown exit?”
“Exactly! It’s a perfect plan, isn’t it?”
Kalia glared at me in disbelief and snapped back.
“…You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”
“No way! In theory, it’s flawless. In fact, there’s no other way to get out!”
“You think you can just brute-force your way past all those guards and security measures? Just stop talking. Seriously…”
Is that so? I hesitated, managing to mumble a few words.
“But you’re super strong! Your unique ability is fire-related, so if worst comes to worst, you could just set the whole lab on fire, right?”
Kalia looked at me as if I were hopeless. She reminded me of a teacher watching a seventh grader throwing a tantrum because they wanted to apply to a prestigious university.
But isn’t it a good idea? Setting things ablaze could be the optimal solution to a tough problem.
Kalia’s resistance to fire combined with her track record in the main story made her quite capable. A frontal assault shouldn’t be out of the question.
She sighed.
“I won’t bother asking how you found out about my unique ability. And I’m not as strong as you think… But, Violet, can I ask you one thing?”
“What is it?”
“Let’s say you lit the place on fire. What about the others? Not just the researchers; there are other people brought here as test subjects like you.”
Oh, right.
“…Sorry, I didn’t think of that.”
“No need to apologize. I’m not suggesting we plan an escape for everyone. Just keeping the two of us safe is difficult enough.”
Kalia added a few more words cautiously.
“However, I don’t think it’s right for innocent people to get swept away by our actions. Most importantly, if that happens, you won’t be safe either, Violet. It’s uncertain how effective actually setting things on fire would be.”
What I thought was a genius idea turned out to be arrogance born from ignorance.
I felt gloomy.
“Yeah, if I think about it calmly, it really is reckless stupidity.”
Kalia looked at me for a moment before speaking in a softer tone.
“But they say starting is half the battle. How about we do a bit more investigating and think things over?”
As she stepped closer to me, she was suddenly caught by the chains restraining her arms.
“I could really use a way to get out of these…”
Kalia shrugged, seeming a bit embarrassed.
“Okay, I’ll look into it. Time’s up now. See you tomorrow!”
The time for my clone to disappear was approaching. I waved good-bye as I vanished.
After returning to my bed, I reconsidered everything.
Did my intelligence drop after becoming a girl? I was spouting idiotic ideas in the name of a plan.
***
For the next few days, I sent out clones to search the research lab’s ventilation ducts, ceilings, and floors whenever I could find an opening.
I can’t even begin to describe how boring and horrifying this process was. There was dust everywhere, and sharp nails and screws were sticking out of the ceiling, scratching me whenever I got too close.
If my clone got hurt, I felt pain too.
And that damn cockroach…
‘Ew!’
Fortunately, the ceiling and ventilation ducts could handle the weight of a small girl. If it collapsed, I’d have to resort to Plan F.
Recently, for some reason, there had been fewer instances where they made me fight or conducted weird psychological tests. There were even days I could just lie around in my lodging all day.
On those days, it was wonderful not to have to deal with irritating ponytails or electric shocks. I could just relax on my bed without being bothered!
However, the atmosphere felt a bit strange. Occasionally, researchers called me and other teenage kids for interviews or suddenly took our body measurements, which they hadn’t done before.
‘What’s up with that? Are they planning to buy us clothes or something?’
Whatever it was, things felt relatively peaceful.
So, whether it was day or night, as long as I had mana, I increased my chances of exploration.
Ever since possessing this body, I had been constantly plotting my escape whenever I had a spare moment.
However, if escaping or breaking out was as simple as just thinking about it, the world would already be filled with escapees.
Especially in this dystopian world, the inhumane research lab kept test subjects under strict control for their experiments.
CCTV cameras were everywhere, and we wore collars with electric shocks attached. The collars were powered, but I wondered if they had any weak points since they were always hooked up to chargers.
Though a frontal assault was an option, without my clone technique, I’d just be a normal girl—and that would be suicidal.
“Ah! This is cheating! You said it would be a vivacity test! This is crazy! I’m getting out of here! Move aside!!”
“Get back!”
–Tatata-tang!
“Ughhhh!”
The gunfire and screams served as a welcome event decor for the otherwise monotonous atmosphere of the lab. Yet again, another unfortunate victim had emerged today.
Here, all it took was a slight misstep to get shot without mercy.
What if I had the ability to withstand bullets?
I had seen the ogre guards bring sledgehammers and flatten 3D humans into 2D forms multiple times after that muscle man incident.
Wow! Welcome to the 2D world!
After finding Kalia, I considered leading the charge with her strength. With the right kind of save-the-day sister, couldn’t she smash through that ogre too?
But because Kalia was in poor condition, that was out of the question for now. First, she needed a proper meal before we could think of anything else.
By the time I got used to the ventilation passages and ceilings, I finally managed to find food.
“Could it be the break room? What luck…!”
While crawling through the ceiling at night, I noticed a tiny crack through which light was shining. After carefully lifting a ceiling tile for about ten minutes, I found a small room with a sink and refrigerator.
I cautiously lowered a small makeup mirror I had slyly taken with my clone earlier and examined the surroundings. There were no surveillance cameras. Carefully descending, I rummaged through cupboards and the fridge.
There were snacks! Chocolate chip cookies! This is so touching!
After grabbing just enough cookies to avoid being discovered, I tore the packaging and tossed it into the trash bin, then transferred the cookies to my body. The texture of the crumbly cookie felt incredibly vivid between my fingers.
I took a bite of the cookie under the blanket.
“It’s delicious…”
Tears genuinely filled my eyes at the sweetness of the long-awaited treat. This is what sugar is! I had no idea there was a snack better than the strawberry ones I ate in the chocolate army…!
Suddenly, the image of Kalia, chained and looking haggard, flashed in my mind. As soon as I remembered her, I moved my clone towards her room.
“Eat this! It’s a cookie!”
I dangled the cookie on a string like fishing bait into her mouth. She raised her head, came over, and swallowed the treat in one go.
“I brought cola too!”
Taking out a can of cola that I had transmitted and a clear plastic straw I scavenged from the trash, I initiated a series of clumsy attempts to get her something to drink, which ended in a disaster when I accidentally poured it on her face instead of in her mouth due to the height difference.
I then found the solution: sending the straw down to her. Kalia eagerly sucked up the refreshing cold cola, letting out a satisfied gasp.
“Violet, you’re really amazing. Where did you find all this?”
“This? I got it from the break room!”
Her green eyes narrowed.
“Aren’t you being a bit reckless? You might get caught.”
“It’s fine, they’ll probably think they shared snacks among themselves. My clones don’t leave traces.”
I reassured Kalia.
Thank goodness she didn’t say anything about the cola delivery via straw.
Thus, every night, I went around secretly gathering food and necessary items for Kalia, storing them in the ventilation ducts. With pens and paper scrounged from the office, I drew a rough map.
I’m not sure of the exact number of floors, but I guess the research facility has around three to five floors.
When taking the elevator down to a lower level, there were four buttons to press, but there were no numbers, so I couldn’t tell if it was ground or basement. Given how often I saw people coming and going, there seemed to be more floors up and down.
To sum up briefly, let’s just refer to the place where Kalia and I, along with most test subjects, reside as the third floor.
Here, there are places like the office, break room, lodging, and classrooms. If you break through the floor, you’ll find the second floor where the examination rooms are located.
Here, there are various pens to store monsters, an arena for test subjects to battle, a storage room for weapons like swords and tools, and a room we might as well call a server room.
While exploring the ceiling of the floor—the basement (B floor)—I discovered that there was also a room that could be termed a central control room.
Guards were clustered around closed-circuit screens and happily munching on donuts while holding coffee cups.
“A hammer? What luck!”
After discovering the storage room, I snuck down that night, grabbing a Phillips screwdriver, twine, tape, a box cutter—everything I deemed necessary. Transferring all the items to my body and disposing of the clone in the storage room.
During this phase, I was able to recover some of the magical power I used to create the clones. Finally, I created another clone inside the ventilation duct and sent it on its way.
Unfortunately, the weapons used in the examination room were all locked in boxes with security measures. I could smash them with a hammer, but the sound would be too loud, risking exposure.
I tried sending the boxes away via teleportation, but it seemed heavy and didn’t work well.
For a while, my exploration was blocked on the third and second floors.
I could create clones on the empty space below the main body to go down, but I couldn’t send those clones back to the second floor to create new ones. It seems like I can’t have more than two clones at once.
Then one day, a breakthrough occurred.
—————————————————————————–
Unique Ability:
■■■■:???
LV3 Clone Technique;???
└The limit on the number of clones created has been loosened.
└…■■■: If the conditions are met, ■■ will activate unique ■ ability: Clone Technique is unique ability: Ä̴̹̩̞́̐̀%̷̢̨̢͈̗͓̜̰͇̤̳͙̅̃́$̴̭̪̭̼̝̄͛̀̐̂̑̄̆̾̆̅͌͗̃̚^̷̧̢̛̺̭̣̼̖̣̬̀̾̀̋̎̈͐̾̇̕͝͝͝ͅ&̷̱̩̝̮̭͓͍̪̻̺̔̎͐̔͝Q̷̫̝̺̓̾̉́̐́̂̊͝ D̸̹̤̳̟͍̦̙̥̮̐̈́́̕$̵̦̥͉͚͕̬̱̪̌͗͛̀͜͜@̶̼̘͎̥̪̯͈͜͝͝ͅ%̸̧̠͎̺̠̞͔͜͜͝ ̴̨̭͎̲̦̯͘1̷̢̱͙̮̩̤͙̞̺̬̃͋3̴̧̡̛̹͍͓̗̙̹̥́̓͊̅̄͑͜…
—————————————————————————–
‘Finally!’
After using and practicing with my cloning skills extensively, I had finally made some progress. The limit on the number of clones was lifted.
There was a strange message beneath my status panel, but the text was garbled. I couldn’t figure out what it meant.
‘Is it a level issue?’
Right above the clone technique item, it too was pitch black. I shouldn’t dwell on it for now; it would become clearer over time.
First, I created a clone at the location of the ventilation duct on the second floor.
The clone crawled to the storage area, opened the cover’s screws, and popped out. I then lightly kicked the floor to gauge where there might be empty spaces.
Maybe because I had a lot of practice, I vaguely understood which parts of the floor were empty and which were full. So I created another clone.
‘Success!’
The path to the first floor was finally open.
I took my time and roamed the first floor’s ventilation ducts. The first place I discovered was the office where I had encountered the bald director. Coincidentally, the bald director was now giving a long-winded speech, spitting as he called the researchers over.
“Listen up, everyone! If you have heads, think! This is the only way! It’s entirely possible!”
“Excuse me, Director. Have you reallocated the budget for this? Is that the best you can do with your…?”
“Best I can do? Don’t you trust me? It’s definitely doable! Think of it as social adaptation training. After all, everyone has been forming emotional attachments all along. What’s to worry?”
“Our teenage test subjects have shown deterioration in social skills due to psychological stress and the effects of the procedure. I don’t see how we’ll have any clear results basically…”
“No, you don’t need to deliver perfect results! Just give it a shot! Do you know how hard I worked to get that route open? From laundering identities to manipulating family relations? If this works, you all can climb out of the outskirts. Think about it!”
That bald guy seemed to be up to something, siphoning off budgets for something dubious. The mood was not good.
I chose to ignore it and continued my patrol in another area.
On the first floor, there were comparatively many ventilation fans inside the ventilation ducts. I couldn’t just destroy the noisily spinning fans. I kept hitting walls, retracing my steps repeatedly when blocked.
While scanning my surroundings, I suddenly caught a whiff of damp and humid air. The scent of earth, wood—familiar odors.
‘No way…?’
Following the damp scent, I spotted the outside view beyond a giant rotating ventilation fan.
“Outside!”
It was raining heavily. The scent of moisture and dampness, combined with the subtle hints of earth, wood, and grass. I could see a cityscape under the overcast sky with pouring rain. A massive tower stood out prominently in the heart of the city.
‘The city’s closer than I thought.’
Later that evening, when no one was around, I approached Kalia and explained what I saw.
“…Really? The city is closer than I thought? Well, maybe…”
Kalia muttered to herself for a moment but hesitated before speaking.
“Violet, I know it sounds impossible, but isn’t there a way to contact the outside? We might escape more easily than we think.”
“Uh? Do you have a good idea?”
“Have you ever heard of the Ospri Brotherhood?”
“Of course! They’re quite famous, after all!”
The Ospri Brotherhood is a gang that appears in the main story of the game as antagonists. There’s no way I would not know them.
Now that I think about it, Kalia was indeed associated with that Brotherhood. However, she left it under some circumstances, and the Brotherhood devolved into a criminal organization.
I had forgotten that this was set in a time before the main events. This was still when Kalia hadn’t yet left the Brotherhood.
“I didn’t know the Brotherhood was that famous until today… Anyway, if we can find a way to contact them, we might easily escape from this research facility. Given your explanation so far, there seem to be fewer personnel guarding this place than I thought.”
“Wow! Really? Then we don’t have to complicate the escape plan at all!”
“Yep. Since the city is closer, getting help from the Brotherhood would also be easier.”
After listening to her explanation, I was impressed. If this is true, escaping might be easier than I thought!
Everything seemed to be falling into place.
***
A few days later, I heard a thunderous announcement.
One morning, I was summoned to the director’s office.
“Test subject 10-6-8, Violet, congratulations. You have successfully passed all tests conducted up to this point…”
The bald director had me stand before people and yammer on.
“Starting from the day after tomorrow, you will go out into society for a simple adaptation period…”
Suddenly, I was bewildered.
“…And starting this September, you will be enrolled in Rust Room’s prestigious comprehensive academy for the Awakened. Now, applause!”
What? What did he just say?
The bald director waved a paper that appeared to be the enrollment documents right in front of me.
I wasn’t the only one taken aback. Other researchers wore confused expressions too.
What’s going on? What on earth is happening?