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The sisters fell silent as they watched the scene unfold before them. What had been an apocalyptic, ruined city teeming with Elemental beings now gave way to an underground, futuristic laboratory. The facility wasn't ancient; it appeared mostly clean and fully operational. Colorful circuits were etched across the white floors, ceilings, and walls, glowing steadily as energy pulsed through them and spread throughout the complex.
"We're in some kind of laboratory?" Zero Two asked. "Sis?"
"Yes, I remember this place too," Zero One replied. "This is the laboratory. The one… the one where…"
"Careful. Something's approaching," Zero Three warned.
The girls quickly ducked behind a partition wall as footsteps echoed down the corridor they had just occupied.
A woman passed by; long silvery-white hair pulled into a ponytail, tall and slender, appearing to be in her thirties. She wore glasses and carried a weary expression.
Her slow, deliberate steps reverberated through the hall until she disappeared around the corner. The sisters stood frozen, stunned.
"Was that… a human?!" Zero Two whispered.
"Yes, it was," Zero Three A confirmed.
"And she looked a lot like Zero One…" Zero Three B added, glancing sideways at her sister. "Don't you think? Like an older version of you."
"Me?" Zero One blinked. "I don't know… I mean, she had the same hair color, but that doesn't mean anything. Anyway—we need to keep moving. Let's go, over there!"
Zero One seemed flustered by the comparison but quickly refocused on their mission. They couldn't afford to linger; they had to reach the deepest layer as fast as possible.
"Okay, sure. Where to next?" Zero Two asked.
"Follow me…" Zero One said.
She relied on her heightened senses and the mental map she had pieced together, guiding them through the maze-like corridors. The "hole" to the next layer lay only a few hundred meters away.
The tight, winding passages, endless turns, and countless rooms made navigation difficult. Worse, they had to avoid the humans who occasionally passed through—real or not, the sisters longed to speak with them but knew they were only fragments of data, echoes of people long gone.
"So, how's the project going? Any progress?"
"Ah, boss… well…"
As the girls crept forward, they overheard two men talking just ahead. They pressed themselves against the wall until the voices faded.
One was a young man with black hair, dressed in a sharp black tuxedo, white shirt, and black tie.
The other appeared to be a professor: short brown hair, green eyes, glasses, roughly the same age as the first man.
"We've definitely made advancements last month—some real improvements—but this is a slow process. Building a supercomputer of the caliber we need takes considerable time. We're progressing, sir. One neuron at a time."
"What? I've funded this entire project for over five years! After the economic collapse and that damned virus, humanity is clinging to survival. We need that technology now, Professor!"
The boss seized the professor's white coat; his face twisted with fury as he shouted.
"I'm very sorry, sir, but we can't rush it! We already have the brightest minds in the world working here, and we're moving as fast as humanly possible, but…"
"But?"
"It simply takes time to program something of this scale…"
"The bastards at Neo Nex built a supercomputer on their own, and you can't?!"
"Sir, we analyzed that machine. It was a fraud—its processing power barely matched an average human. What you're asking for is hundreds of times greater: a super-genius machine capable of solving every crisis we face. That kind of breakthrough doesn't happen overnight. It's not our fault; it's just how things are. Please, have faith… We'll finish it. I promise we'll finish it!"
"…"
The CEO released the man, glaring down at him.
"After all, my daughter's life depends on it too…"
"Your daughter? Right… that girl. Hmph. You'd better hurry, or you and your sickly daughter might both end up on the streets."
"Ah…"
The boss stormed off. The sisters burned with the urge to confront him for his cruelty, but they stayed hidden and silent until he was gone.
"Haaahh…"
The young professor exhaled in relief, wiped sweat from his brow, glanced nervously down the corridor, and hurried away.
"What's going on?" Zero Two asked. "Was that professor who I think he was?"
"Who?" Zero One asked.
"Stop pretending, sister," Zero Three A said. "We all know that man is most likely Raven's father. Everything fits."
"Exactly," Zero Three B agreed. "And you already recognized the woman too, didn't you, Zero One?"
"Yes…" Zero One sighed, closing her eyes. "I did."
She nodded slowly. The memories—growing clearer ever since her battle against Mother—were finally aligning. They were fragments of both her Mother's past and… Raven's.
"I don't really know what I am anymore…" she murmured. "Am I an android? Or some kind of cyborg built from Raven? My body is completely mechanical, except… I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like something alive is inside me. A piece of her."
"So you're like Raven's reincarnation!" Zero Two offered brightly, trying to cheer her up.
It didn't quite land.
"That sounds strange, and it's not really like that, sister…" Zero One sighed. "I don't even know who—or what—I am anymore…"
"No, calm down."
"You're yourself, just like you said before, right?"
"Yes…"
The Zero Three twins gently patted her shoulders, smiled warmly, and pulled her into a shared hug.
Zero One, on the verge of a panic attack, gradually steadied her breathing and relaxed.
"You're yourself. You're Zero One, our big sister."
"That's right. Whatever you were made from, or whoever these people were, it doesn't change who you are."
"Sisters…"
Zero One's eyes glistened with emotion. Zero Two, feeling a little left out after staying quiet, cleared her throat.
"Ahem! Yeah, what they said. You're yourself, and you're my big sister, so stop sulking. No matter what we discover here. That fact won't change, right?"
"Zero Two…" Zero One's voice softened. She nodded and hugged her sister too. "Thank you. It really means a lot coming from all of you. I'm so happy you feel that way about me."
Her sisters realized how fragile Zero One could be beneath her strong exterior. Though she possessed incredible willpower—much like Anna—she remained deeply sensitive, carrying a wealth of emotions that proved just how truly human she was.
"Okay, okay, let's settle down and keep moving…" Zero Two sighed. "That professor and the silvery-haired woman—they were Raven's parents, weren't they?"
"Most likely…" Zero One nodded. "I have faint memories of them. Of her—of Raven—feeling sad when they were never around, and so happy when they were… until the day they left and never returned."
"That's… damn…" Zero Two exhaled. "Well, they're not real—just data. So let's not get too caught up, alright? Where's the hole?"
"Not far from here…" Zero One said. "I don't sense any major threats either. Seems mostly empty… only some residual basic infection."
"Then let's move," Zero Three A said.
"Let's hurry," Zero Three B agreed.
The girls dashed through the corridors until they reached the target area.
They emerged into a vast chamber dominated by a colossal computer under construction. Thousands of cables snaked across its surface; hundreds of processors were stacked in towering arrays. Engineers constantly swapped components in and out.
At least forty scientists and technicians bustled about, each focused on different tasks. The room hummed with noise.
Directly behind the unfinished machine loomed a black hole the size of a doorway, ringed by red-and-black corrosion.
"There it is!" Zero One said. "Let's go!"
The sisters nodded and sprinted into the open facility. A few workers gave them puzzled glances; most were too absorbed in their work to notice.
"Hey! Who are you? Where did you come from?"
One of the guards spotted them immediately. Three more quickly followed.
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