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• Ah, dear customer? I’m calling to inform you that the missing person investigation you requested has been completed! –

“……”

The area around my collarbone, where I was hit directly by the taser, is burning as if it’s been torn off, and my head is throbbing. I think it’s a pretty infuriating voice to hear in this state.

If there’s any room for leniency… it’s that I was able to regain consciousness thanks to the phone call that came at just the right time. That’s about it?

Actually, even that is hard to be sure of. I don’t know if I woke up because of the ringing, or if I have some kind of resistance to electric shock due to my electric-related traits.

…It’s even harder to secretly assess the situation around me.

“……Are they using normal cops as test subjects now? Aren’t we in danger too…?”

“Damn it, test subject my ass…! They told me to take her straight to the operating room without even doing an examination. That’s a complete violation of the rules! …Maybe the project really is coming to an end.”

The voices of the two men, whom I’ve never heard before, are filled with barely suppressed anxiety and fear about the future.

I can see their petty bourgeois side… but judging by the fact that they’re chatting about sensitive topics, they’re also Paradise employees working on a secret project.

Even if they’re close to the upper class, they must be scared because they’ve been put into shady work and don’t have any real authority or control….

Maybe it’s a little strange to empathize with potential enemies.

Settlements and cities, mercenaries and police, …laboratories and homes. This is my opinion after unintentionally experiencing frequent job changes in the past couple of months.

It might have been much easier to live if I could have divided friend from foe with clear black-and-white logic… but this world isn’t that easy.

It’s always the situation that sweeps people away, that cruel circumstance that determines everything.

…And for those of us inside, life is about considering the best choice.

• …Customer? Madam…? Are you perhaps in a position where it’s difficult to answer? –

So, what solutions can I choose right now?

Even though I’m lying still, I can feel a slight sense of speed, so I think I regained consciousness while being transported on a patient transport bed that I sometimes saw while working.

My arm, which was naturally drooping… was too risky because it could be discovered. I only moved my fingers and legs slightly in time with the vibrations to feel around my body, but of course, I couldn’t feel my gun or terminal.

“……”

I squinted and looked around, but these guys are wearing some kind of full-body protective suit, so it seemed impossible to subdue them using my bio-taser.

• Hmm… Originally, it’s not advisable to deliver data in a way that poses a risk of leakage, but…. The payment hasn’t been settled yet, and it would be a disaster if something happened to you, so I’ll send it to you for now. We look forward to your return in the near future…? –

The settlement investigation report, which seemed to have nothing to do with the company, was transmitted, and the call ended.

…Anyway, they’re incredibly quick-witted.

Things have already gone this far, and I’ve already figured out the general outline of the project, so I didn’t think it would matter if a few more details were added now… but.

If nothing else, it was definitely useful in fueling my disgust.

Residents who left Metropolis without any plans.

People who chose cheap smuggling brokers instead of citizenship brokers.

Wanderers who disappeared without a trace.

In the thirty or so settlements located near Harvest Planet, almost a thousand people have gone missing in the past month alone.

This has been going on for several years… so the scale is at least in the tens of thousands.

Of course, Paradise couldn’t have been involved in every disappearance, but considering the scale of visitors each gate processes and the number of gates.

And the 24-hour security system, I didn’t even want to imagine how many of these people knocked on the gate and then vanished without a trace.

Thump…!

The smoothly rolling bed stopped without warning.

“…What about anesthetics or sedatives?”

“Let’s not worry about things we weren’t even asked to do, unless you want to get screwed. …If you’re that worried, go back to the gas chamber.”

“……I’d rather not.”

A rude hand reached in and lifted my body onto a metal plate that didn’t feel even a bit soft.

Clang, clang, and a fixing device that popped out from what I assumed was an operating table carefully bound my joints.

As soon as these employees leave, I need to escape quickly and find Helena….

“Grisha-nim? We’re ready.”

“Good work. Only those who will be performing the extraction surgery should remain. The rest of you can return to your original duties.”

…You were already here, Ann Grisha.

In a very excited tone of voice. A familiar high-pitched hum.

It’s clear that I don’t have much time left to clean up the mess caused by my mistake.

“As expected of Lena! Even the collection unit can’t buy much time at close range♪”

I ignored the soliloquy that stimulated my nerves and imagination and focused my mind.

Enduring the coldness of the metal surface and the chill coming from the room, I converted my consciousness into an electrical signal and spread it towards the inner circuits.

Originally, I wouldn’t have done this if I was worried about getting caught, or if I didn’t have a terminal or device to use as a relay point, but this is an emergency.

…Zzzt!

There was a slight crackling noise, as if the power control had gone wrong, but the connection itself was made without any problems.

…However, instead of the library that I was always familiar with, a slightly different landscape was drawn.

Disorderly lines appeared in the dark vision, and light began to take shape.

Even though I didn’t check properly, even though it wasn’t all depicted. I could immediately tell what kind of picture was being painted.

In this frozen, gray-white world, only humans and radio waves had unique colors.

My body, lying quietly in the center. An employee sitting next to it on surgical equipment. A square mass of signals, Ann, looking at her terminal as if she were engrossed in it.

Every time Ann’s fingers danced across the screen, the signal lines that came and went twisted… and changed.

I didn’t force an Abyss Dive because I was crazy, so is this a phenomenon that occurred because I directly interfered with the already established system?

Or is it because there are so many CCTV cameras installed that there’s so much video data that it looks like this?

“Gasp…!”

“……?”

The employee, seeing the surgical forceps moving on their own, looked at the equipment for a moment… and then became interested.

I was just checking to see if hacking was still possible according to my will, just in case, but it felt like I had become a poltergeist that transcended physical limitations, so I felt a little relieved.

But I must not forget that I have no chance of winning if it turns into a brawl.

In the end, my body can’t leave reality, so I have to gain a full advantage by building a favorable battlefield.

As I was examining the performance of the equipment that could be used as weapons, I heard a chilling threat.

“Now… Lena? Choose. If you tell me to release those poor people, more than a hundred of them, I’ll use all my authority to send them safely outside. …But Asha will be completely dismantled.”

…Ann, you crazy bitch.

Quickly, I found the signal connected to Helena in the tangled signal lines and buried my consciousness in it.

Then, Helena’s appearance, which had become much haggard in the short time I hadn’t seen her, came to mind as if she were right in front of me.

If Helena begs, Ann will cut her off.

If Helena gets angry, Ann will be happy.

The problem forced by the nightmare is a choice between one family member or countless others.

An absurd dilemma that tests morality, selfishness, and justice.

“……Huh?”

Then… doesn’t this mean that the meaning has faded?

It’s her unilateral claim, but because of Heinrich Grandpa’s life debt and the name we share, I’m not Helena’s biological younger sister, even though there are complicated circumstances.

Rather… I’m a peripheral person with a lot to hide, like Ann.

So, even if I feel guilty for having to make a choice, it’s a trial and tribulation that’s far from enough to break Helena Valentine.

“I’d rather…”

“Self-sacrifice has no meaning here.”

But something is strange.

Why is she in so much pain? Why does she keep avoiding the obvious answer?

Even though Helena’s agony and anguish were vividly eating away at my mind, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Could this be… anticipation? Am I secretly hoping that she will defy expectations and choose the heretic Anastasia Valentine? But this is…….

Like Ann Grisha. It was similar to a twisted expectation of wanting to be a special person to Helena.

“…Ugh!”

I blow away the gloomy and stupid thoughts.

What kind of nonsense am I imagining, when I rejected that beautiful woman’s confession because I didn’t know and wasn’t ready?

I carefully return my consciousness while maintaining the backdoor I deliberately built.

After the Dreyfus incident, I tried my best to hide my heterogeneous abilities. But that doesn’t mean I hid it from Helena… so even if I give her a small hint, she will deal with it well.

Beep, beep…!

Before it’s too late. Even if I can’t say it out loud right now, I open my contacts and call Helena.

“……Heh.”

She let out a hollow laugh, clearly seeing the signal and the name of the unexpected caller, which was probably clearer than any other sound. …Now that I’ve heard the words to kill me from both of their mouths, I feel a little uneasy.

Then… I believe I have the right to vent my anger.

“…Even merciless Lena is beautiful.”

As soon as I heard Ann’s soliloquy, lost in a distorted ecstasy, after the order to release the innocent residents was broadcast, I moved.

“Why don’t you stop with the bullshit? Ann Grisha?”

Clang!!

Before one breath could end, all the terrible restraints disappeared without a trace.

Before the shocked people could come to their senses, I jumped up and manipulated the surgical machine as if to show off.

All the power… would be too much because an accident would happen, so it’s impossible, but I forcibly pulled more than the standard value and put it in to increase the output of the surgical laser.

And I did something I really wanted to do at least once, as if to show off. An overwhelming show of force.

Zzzzz—!!

The wavelength, which had become a ray of death that not only cut through human skin, but also melted the alloy it touched and collapsed molecular bonds, crossed the operating room and covered the room where Ann was sitting.

A threatening black boundary line was drawn in a straight line, and the glass in the path melted in an instant, creating a new communication channel. A pungent smell of burning stung my nose, and the annoyingly cold operating room temperature rose sharply.

The employee who witnessed it up close cowered in the corner and desperately expressed that she had no intention of resisting.

She, who was glancing at the medical equipment that had completely lost control and had become a real heavy weapon, stammered.

“…How? Asha wouldn’t have a hacking implant… and the terminal is definitely here….”

“Coincidentally, I’m not exactly normal even without an implant. …Oh, it was there?”

I didn’t really care about the cheap terminal, but I was a little worried about the gun because it was a memorable item… I was relieved to know where it was stored.

“……”

Ann’s eyes, which had been shaking wildly, soon regained their composure, and even a bit of venom.

“…Lena didn’t give up on you. She just seized the result she wanted, like an apostle receiving grace.”

It was an incomprehensible level of rage, considering it was a defeat in a game of deception.

Ann might feel that everything went wrong due to the guidance of a cruel fate, but from my perspective, it was incredibly precarious, and already….

“Mayday from operating room 38…!”

KWAJIK!!

Literally at the speed of light, a laser pierced Ann’s terminal as she attempted to communicate, scorching the office wall as well.

The excessive output caused the main components of the machine, including the resonator, to rapidly deteriorate, but as long as I was careful, neither the frozen man nor Ann would notice.

Fortunately, my role is simple.

To prevent the angry organizer from reversing the order due to the distorted script… or to settle things myself.

“Just give up!! You don’t have any other options left, do you?!”

“…Not yet. Not yet… Asha is here! I can…!”

CLANG!!

“Tch?!”

Ann, annoyingly, drew her gun and fired at me.

With half of my consciousness connected to the nearby equipment, I was able to raise the operating table perpendicularly the moment I saw the gun pointed at me, deflecting the bullet.

Whether it was me or her, the plans were vague, but the resolve overflowed.

The trigger was pulled repeatedly, as if she didn’t care about the laser aimed to pierce her head at any moment. What is the source of such audacity…? The thought was brief.

It’s not that she’s ignoring the real threat. When you think about it, Ann never factored her own survival into the equation from the start.

“You…!!”

How can a human consumed by obsession be so pathetic…?

If that’s how you want to play it, I won’t hesitate any longer either. I expected this moment to come when Ann was tormenting poor Helena and her eyes were rolling back in her head.

It’s enough to let this ridiculous psycho run free just once by missing the opportunity.

Anyway, Helena has seen Ann’s true colors… I started using the surgical equipment for attack at full power.

CRASH—!!

“!!”

The clamp, fired with the force to break her neck, overturned the desk and covered Ann.

She noticed my determination to put an end to this bad blood and desperately tried to escape out of the office, but… that bulkhead has been under my control for a long time.

I, with an overwhelmingly smaller target area, was perfectly hidden behind the operating table.

On the other hand, Ann, aware that she had to avoid all sorts of tools such as scalpels and injection needles, and constantly watch out for the laser that could decide the outcome with a single blow, gave an order to use a third party.

“…This is an order! Go get reinforcements…!!”

“Don’t move unless you want to die.”

“Gasp?!”

A scream burst out as I ejected one of the saw blades attached to the mechanical arm and stuck it between his legs.

The employee, caught between conflicting instructions and threats, thrashed violently as if begging not to be dragged into this standoff.

…It’s pretty much the same as dying if you get hit anyway, but I was very pleased with his attitude of respecting the murder beam more than the pistol.

“……”

One had already given up her life, and the other had now come to take it.

Should I divide the room diagonally to make evasion impossible?

The power was overflowing, but I wasn’t sure if the parts would hold up that far, as I had completely ignored safety devices and recommended output.

Ideally, I would stick it into a vital point… a point-like death sentence.

THUD!

“Asha…!!”

“…It should have been like this from the start. I’d rather… than put this burden on Helena…!”

She grabs anything in the operating room, large objects, and throws them to block off her escape route.

Compared to the threat of actually dying if hit, it was a passive threat, and Ann, belatedly realizing that I couldn’t recklessly fire the laser, tried to struggle… but even so, she was no different from a castaway stranded on a remote island.

If I restrict her range of movement a little more… just a little more, and remove the cover that would block the laser even for a moment, it will be over.

“Tch…!”

SCRITCH…!!

Ann, thinking that she would only wither away miserably like this, puts her foot on the window frame to target me instead.

And that provided me with the clean shot I had been waiting for….

“Sorry… but I won’t miss you. Ann Grisha.”

“…!!”

Our eyes meet.

Until the very end, there might be something to learn from that madness of pursuing only the goal without giving up or despairing, but at least not today.

Ann’s finger and my firm will simultaneously exerted force to pull the trigger towards each other… but this fierce and ridiculous confrontation was shattered as easily as it was by a visitor that both sides had been waiting for.

BANG!! With a deafening roar, the closed bulkhead was distorted by an external impact.

…If I hadn’t made eye contact with her through the gap created by the first collision, I could have stopped it… but it was too late now. I silently opened both doors and welcomed her.

“……Lena.”

“……”

Ann’s arm, which seemed like she would never give up even if she died, slowly lowered.

But Helena, as if she didn’t even see Ann, dragged in a man with an unlucky beard and….

CRACK!

“Keuk?!”

She immediately twisted the jaw of the employee who was quietly in the corner.

I thought she was furious at someone’s sly feigned fainting, but that wasn’t it.

“…You’re one of the hostages I caught. Just say that when you go upstairs.”

“No… okay.”

I wanted to explain that such a shallow excuse would never get her through this mess, but no matter how you looked at it, she didn’t seem to be in a state to talk for long.

Even if it wasn’t the blood splattered on her face or combat suit, her bloodshot eyes and trembling lips represented the darkness cast over her heart.

“…Lena.”

“……Don’t call my name like nothing happened.”

“Helena.”

CHAENG…!

Unable to bear it any longer after the third call, she drew her sword, and the tip of the katana touched Ann’s neck. …It wasn’t that I had been trying to see this sight, but I was so frustrated.

As if it had been soaked in blood several times today, a bright red mark remained on the towering blade. Soon… the katana, shaking off its hesitation, was swung. Ann accepted it with a smile on her face.

SWISH….

“……Why?”

Blood splattered. Following the trajectory swung at high speed, the blood that had been on the katana.

It wasn’t just Ann’s life that was cut off, but her neatly tied hair.

She picked up my gun from the scattered hair on the floor and quietly declared.

“…We’ll never see each other again, so you should just live your life now. Don’t get involved with me… with us.”

“……”

Frankly, it could be seen as a lukewarm judgment that wasn’t like Helena. But if you think of it as a farewell to a friend, it was cruel enough.

SQUEAK SQUEAK, the swaying combat boots rubbed against the ground, creating a bleak noise.

Ann, with a blank look on her face, staggered and walked away, holding onto the wall. It was a listless retreat, as if she was running away from a reality where nothing had gone as she wanted.

“…Helena, she’s probably…….”

“Sorry for getting you involved. But… trust my decision this time.”

Absolutely… there’s no way she’ll back down like this.

I could say for sure because I had more contact with Ann Grisha, who was faithful to her desires, than with the masked Ann.

Helena seems to expect her to change, but I couldn’t shake off my skeptical mind.

But… I couldn’t shoot the laser aimed at her until the end.

Reason clearly warned that I would regret it, but what could I do?

Helena herself, the one who made the hardest decision, shook her head as she looked at my weapon that wasn’t releasing its aim.

This was… the same as disregarding a predicted disaster by respecting her decision.

It’s normal to feel like cheering on a heroine who’s trying to go through a difficult path, but if you have to assist her directly from the side… wouldn’t that be a different story?

“…Let’s go to elevator number 3. There might not be any guards there. …Put your visor back on too.”

“Haa… that’s what I should be saying. …Please hide your face.”

…While knowing that a new identity would be needed, I was worrying about how to safely evacuate the heroine who had no plans to break through the troops swarming above…

We, including the bearded man who was still unconscious, arrived in front of the elevator.

First, I press the button to call the means of escape, and then find Helena’s visor, which is irresponsibly rolling on the floor, and force it on her.

Before returning to the ground where a fierce battle awaits, I connected to the communication channel in case there was any useful information.

• Commencement of intruder elimination operation, police forces are to form a cordon and stand by until the work of the conscription unit is completed. –

“…Damn it.”

I had no choice but to admit it in the end. Ann’s obsession, which I thought would ignite and return at least in the distant future, was several times stronger than expected.

“?! Asha, duck your head…!!”

KWAHHHH——!!

The arrived elevator exploded without any warning.