Right after a brief connection was established between Kalia and me, I eagerly explained my escape plan.
Surely, I’d be praised for it, right?
While I enthusiastically laid out the plan, Kalia listened intently, occasionally nodding with a casual “Mm,” or “I see.”
“So, you’re saying: we use the ventilation ducts to get you out of this sealed room, unleash some of the laboratory’s monsters to create chaos, take one of the researchers hostage to open the elevator, go down, and then escape through some unknown exit?”
“Exactly! It’s a perfect plan, isn’t it?”
Kalia stared at me in disbelief before snapping back at me.
“…Are you an idiot?”
“I’m not! Theoretically, it’s flawless. Besides, there’s no other way out, is there?”
“You’re planning to break through all those guards and security systems head-on? I can’t even with you… Seriously.”
I hesitated, mumbling a few words.
“But you’re super strong! Since your unique ability is fire-related, we could even burn down the whole lab if worst comes to worst.”
At my suggestion of arson, Kalia looked at me as if I were pathetic.
Her gaze reminded me of a teacher looking at a student who insists they can get into a prestigious college despite scoring in the bottom percentile.
Still, isn’t it a good idea?
Playing with fire seems like the best way to solve a difficult problem.
Kalia, immune to heat, was a capable individual who played a major role in the main story. A direct assault shouldn’t be out of the question.
She sighed deeply.
“I’m not going to ask how you found out about my unique ability. And no, I’m not as strong as you think… But, Violet, let me ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Let’s say we set the place on fire, as you suggested. What about the others? Not the researchers, but the other people brought here for experiments, just like you.”
Ah, right.
“…Sorry, I didn’t think about that.”
“No need to apologize. I’m not saying we should rescue everyone. Even taking care of the two of us is hard enough.”
Kalia cautiously added a few more words.
“But I don’t think it’s right for innocent people to get caught up in what we’re doing. More importantly, if that happens, you won’t get away unscathed either, Violet. And there’s no guarantee that starting a fire will be as effective as you think.”
What I thought was a brilliant idea turned out to be nothing but the arrogance of a fool standing at the peak of ignorance.
I slumped in disappointment.
“Yeah, thinking about it calmly, it’s reckless and stupid.”
Kalia looked at me for a moment before speaking in a slightly gentler tone.
“But, as they say, starting is half the battle. Why don’t we investigate a little more and think things through?”
As she tried to approach me, the chains restraining her arms clinked, pulling her back.
“For now, could you figure out how to get rid of these?”
Kalia shrugged awkwardly.
“Okay, I’ll look into it. Anyway, time’s up. See you tomorrow!”
The time limit for my clone’s existence was nearing.
I waved and disappeared.
Back in my bed, I reflected on my actions.
Had my intelligence dropped since becoming a girl? What kind of idiocy was I spouting as a strategy?
Over the next few days, I moved my clone whenever I had a chance to explore the laboratory’s ventilation ducts, ceilings, and floors.
The process was unbearably tedious and dreadful.
Dust was the least of my concerns.
Sharp nails or screws jutted out from the insides of the ceiling, scratching me every now and then.
When the clone got hurt, I felt the pain too.
But the worst part?
Those damned cockroaches…
“Ewwww!”
Fortunately, the ceilings and ventilation ducts were sturdy enough to hold the weight of a small girl.
If the ceiling collapsed and I fell, I’d have no choice but to go to Plan F.
Lately, though, there had been fewer days of forced fights or bizarre psychological tests.
Sometimes, I’d spend an entire day just lying in my room without anyone bothering me.
On those days, I didn’t have to deal with that obnoxious ponytailed researcher, endure electric shocks, or anything else. Just lying on my bed in peace was absolute bliss!
However, the atmosphere in the lab felt a bit off.
Occasionally, the researchers would call me or other kids my age for interviews or take sudden measurements of our bodies.
‘What is this? Are they planning to buy us clothes or something?’
Whatever it was, the downtime was nice.
With more free time, I had more opportunities to explore whenever I regained mana, day or night.
Ever since I got here, I’d been constantly devising escape plans whenever I had a moment to spare.
But if escaping were as simple as just thinking about it, the world would already be filled with escapees.
Especially in this dystopian world, the inhumane research lab had its own thorough ways of controlling the test subjects they brought in.
CCTVs were everywhere, and they’d fitted shock collars around our necks.
I thought the collars might have a weakness since they weren’t powered indefinitely, but I saw them patiently charging each collar beside its outlet until fully recharged.
A frontal assault was technically an option, but without my clone ability, I was just an ordinary girl, and that would be suicide.
“Aaaagh! This is fraud! You said this was a vitality test! This is madness! I’m getting out of here! Move!!”
“Step back!”
–Bang, bang, bang!
“Aaaargh!”
Gunfire and screams occasionally broke the monotony of the lab’s oppressive atmosphere, adding an eventful touch. Yet another unfortunate victim had fallen today.
Here, if you so much as step out of line, they’d shoot you without hesitation.
But what if you had abilities strong enough to withstand bullets?
The ogre guard would show up with a sledgehammer and personally flatten you into a two-dimensional being.
Ever since the “Muscle Man Incident,” I’d seen this happen a few times.
Wow! Welcome to the 2D world!
After discovering Kalia, I wondered if we could break out using brute force with her leading the charge.
If she were like a four-star savior character, she might even take down that ogre guard.
However, Kalia’s physical condition wasn’t great, so it wasn’t feasible for now.
First, I needed to get her properly fed before considering anything else.
Eventually, as I became more familiar with the ventilation ducts and ceilings, I managed to locate something valuable.
“No way, is this the break room? How lucky!”
One night, while crawling through the ceiling, I noticed light leaking through a new gap.
After carefully lifting a ceiling tile for about ten minutes, I saw a small room with a sink and a refrigerator.
I used a small hand mirror I’d smuggled earlier to cautiously inspect the ceiling for surveillance cameras.
There weren’t any.
I carefully climbed down onto a shelf, then rummaged through the cabinets and fridge.
I found snacks!
Chocolate chip cookies, no less.
I was moved to tears!
I took only as much as I wouldn’t be caught for, threw the empty packaging into the trash can, and sent the cookies to my real body.
The crumbly texture of the cookie between my fingers felt so vivid.
I bit into a cookie under my blanket.
“It’s delicious…”
The sweetness of the cookie, after such a long time, made me tear up. So, this is what sugar tastes like! Who knew there were cookies even better than the strawberry-filled ones I’d had in the army rations!
Kalia’s exhausted, chained-up image flashed in my mind.
Without hesitation, I sent my clone to her room.
“Here, eat this! It’s a cookie!”
I dangled the cookie on a string and lowered it toward her mouth like fishing bait.
She raised her head, leaned forward, and bit into the cookie, swallowing it whole.
“I even brought cola!”
I retrieved an open can of cola and a transparent plastic IV line I’d found in the trash.
After a few failed attempts to feed her water due to height differences, I had come up with this solution.
When I lowered the IV line, Kalia grabbed it with her mouth and eagerly drank the cool cola.
She let out a satisfied sigh.
“Violet, you’re amazing. Where did you even find all this?”
“This? I got it from the break room!”
Her green eyes narrowed.
“Isn’t this a bit reckless? You could get caught.”
“It’s fine. They’ll probably just think someone else ate it. Clones don’t leave evidence.”
I reassured Kalia.
Thankfully, she didn’t criticize the cola-feeding contraption.
Every night, I roamed the lab, sneaking food to Kalia and stashing other useful items in the ventilation ducts.
Using a pen and paper I’d swiped from an office, I began drawing a rough map.
Although I wasn’t certain, I estimated the lab had about three to five floors.
The elevator had four buttons with no numbers, so I couldn’t tell if it was above ground or underground.
Judging by the people coming and going, there seemed to be additional floors above or below.
I decided to call the place where Kalia, the majority of test subjects, and I stayed as the 3rd floor.
This place included locations like offices, break rooms, dormitories, and classrooms.
If you went one floor down by breaking through the floor, you would reach the 2nd floor, which had the testing grounds.
There were cages storing various types of monsters, testing grounds where test subjects were made to fight, a storage room for weapons like swords, tools, and miscellaneous items, and a room that could be called a server room.
Additionally, I realized something while looking around the ceiling of the B floor—there was also a room that could be called the central control room.
Guards sat in front of walls packed with CCTV screens, holding coffee cups and munching on donuts.
“What’s this? A hammer? Lucky!”
After discovering the storage room, I went down at night and grabbed everything I thought I might need—Phillips screwdrivers, ropes, tape, box cutters, and so on.
I transmitted all the items to the main body in my bedroom and then destroyed the clone in the storage room.
In this process, I recovered some of the mana I had used to create the clone.
Finally, I created a clone inside the ventilation duct and transmitted it, completing the task.
Unfortunately, weapons like swords used in the testing grounds were all locked inside boxes with security mechanisms.
I could have smashed the boxes with a hammer, but the noise would have been too loud, risking detection.
I also tried transferring the boxes themselves, but they were too heavy, and it didn’t work well.
For a while, my exploration was blocked on the 3rd and 2nd floors.
I could create a clone in the empty space beneath the floor using the main body, but moving that clone back up to the 2nd floor and creating a new clone below wasn’t possible.
It seemed like creating two clones at once wasn’t allowed.
Then, one day, a breakthrough occurred.
Unique Ability:
■■■■: ???
LV3 Clone Technique; ???
└The limit on the number of clones that can be created has been relaxed.
└ …■■■: Under specific conditions, if ■■ happens, the unique ability Clone Technique will become a Unique Ability: ???
“Finally!”
I had used and practiced the clone technique extensively, and it finally paid off.
The limit on the number of clones had been removed.
At the bottom of the status window was a strange description with corrupted text.
I had no idea what it meant.
“Is it a matter of level?”
Even the entry above the clone technique was completely blacked out.
Since this was a matter that would eventually become clear, I decided not to obsess over it right now.
First, I created a clone in the position of the ventilation duct on the 2nd floor.
The clone crawled to the location of the storage room, unscrewed the cover, and climbed out.
I lightly tapped the floor with my foot to find areas that felt hollow.
Perhaps due to experience, I had developed a sense of which parts of the floor were empty or solid.
Then, I tried creating a clone.
“Success!”
Now, the path to the 1st floor was open.
I spent more time exploring the ventilation ducts on the 1st floor.
The first place I found was the office where I had encountered the bald-headed director.
The bald director happened to be in the middle of a spittle-filled lecture to the researchers he had gathered.
I decided to listen in for a moment.
“You people, if you have brains, use them! There’s no other way! I’m telling you, this is perfectly feasible!”
“Wait a second, Director. Have you been diverting the budget for this?”
“Diverting? What are you saying? Don’t you trust me? I’m telling you, it’s possible! Just think of it as a social adaptation training program. You’ve already been building attachment relationships steadily until now, haven’t you? What’s there to worry about?”
“But the psychological pressure measures and procedures for the teen test subjects have worsened their social skills. I don’t think they’ll produce clear results even if we send them out…”
“I’m not saying they need to achieve excellent results! Just give it a try! Do you know how hard I worked to open a route to get them in there? From identity laundering to fabricating family relationships? If this succeeds, even you can get out of the outskirts. Think about it!”
That bald guy must have embezzled the budget for some suspicious project.
The atmosphere wasn’t great.
I ignored it and continued diligently inspecting other areas.
The 1st floor ventilation ducts had an unusually high number of fans spinning noisily.
Breaking them wasn’t an option.
I kept running into blockages and had to turn back repeatedly.
As I searched around, I suddenly smelled damp, humid air.
It was a familiar scent of earth and wood.
“No way?”
Following that damp scent, I arrived at a large, spinning fan.
Beyond it, I could see the outside world.
“It’s the outside!”
Rain was pouring outside.
The air was damp and humid, carrying the earthy scent of soil, trees, and grass.
Through the downpour, I saw a cityscape beneath cloudy skies, with a massive tower standing prominently in the middle of the city.
“The city is closer than I thought.”
Later that evening, I found Kalia when no one else was around and explained what I had seen.
“…Really? The city is closer than I expected? Then, maybe…”
After muttering to herself for a moment, Kalia hesitated before speaking.
“Violet, I know it’s a stretch, but is there any way to contact the outside? Maybe escaping is easier than we think.”
“Huh? Do you have a good idea?”
“Have you ever heard of the Osprey Brotherhood?”
“Of course! They’re super famous!”
The Osprey Brotherhood is a gang that appears as an antagonist in the main story of the game.
Of course, I knew them.
Now that I think about it, I remember Kalia being a member of the Brotherhood.
However, according to the storyline, she left the increasingly radical Brotherhood due to certain circumstances, after which the Brotherhood devolved into a criminal organization.
I had forgotten that this timeline was set before the events of the main story.
This was when Kalia hadn’t yet left the Brotherhood.
“I didn’t realize the Brotherhood was that famous… Anyway, if we can find a way to contact them, we might be able to escape the lab easily. From what you’ve described, the number of people guarding this place isn’t as high as I thought.”
“Wow! Really? Then we won’t even need to make a complicated escape plan!”
“Yeah, and since the city is closer than expected, getting help from the Brotherhood should be easier.”
Listening to her explanation, I was impressed.
If this was true, escaping might be simpler than I thought.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
A few days later, I heard some shocking news.
One morning, I was summoned to the director’s office.
“Test Subject 10-6-8, Violet, congratulations. You have successfully passed all the tests so far…”
The bald director gathered people and began speaking.
“Starting the day after tomorrow, you will have a brief adaptation period in the outside world…”
What the hell was he talking about?
“…and you will be enrolled in Rustlum’s prestigious academy for awakened individuals in the upcoming fall semester starting on September 1st. Now, let’s give a round of applause!”
What? Excuse me?
The director waved what appeared to be enrollment documents in front of me.
I wasn’t the only one who was flustered.
The other researchers also looked puzzled.
What was going on? What in the world was happening?