—Employee X i, please proceed to Training Department Containment Unit No. 3 to perform communication work on Abnormality O-06-20.
Training Department — O-06-20 Containment Unit
Accompanied by the mechanical sounds of heavy machinery moving, one reinforced door after another opened before X i, then slammed shut behind her.
"The Manager actually sent me to work with that terrifying thing…"
The moment she recalled the glimpse she had caught through the skylight earlier, a chill crept back up her spine.
It felt as though a rope woven from fear was tightening endlessly in her stomach.
"But two seniors already tested it first. If the Manager is willing to send a level-four employee like me in… then it should be…"
Hiss—click.
As she stepped over the embedded seam of the safety door, the metal gate behind her sealed shut completely, cutting off her only path of retreat.
Then, the final door ahead slowly opened.
And when the scene inside fully entered X i's field of vision, the fragile sense of luck she had forced onto her face was crushed to dust in an instant.
"It's… safe… right…?"
The last part of her earlier reassurance slipped unconsciously from her lips.
The false courage she had just managed to build was nothing more than a paper wall—one that melted instantly in the face of blood-soaked reality.
The blood was still there.
That overpowering stench—a nauseating blend of rust and rot—hit her head-on.
And at the center of that carnage, the human-shaped figure still stood quietly in the same place.
It heard the door open and slowly turned its head.
On that bloodstained face—Justin's face—a smile bloomed.
A gentle smile.
A friendly smile.
A smile that looked as though it were welcoming a colleague.
"…Hello?"
The lips moved and formed words, yet the muscles of the face did not shift at all—like a machine.
"Justin… why is it you…?"
X i's lips trembled as she muttered to herself.
From the very first glance, she understood.
The "person" in front of her was absolutely not her senior.
"You were supposed to protect us…"
That figure—once an elite employee, the unshakable backbone of the juniors—had now become X i's greatest source of fear.
"Why… is it you…"
Her legs began to shake. The pen she used to record observations slipped from her hand at some point and fell to the floor.
The moment panic reflected in her eyes, "Justin" moved.
Its smile split open violently, stretching to an angle no human facial structure should ever allow.
"Man… a… ger…"
Crack—
It wasn't a single sound, but a chain of them.
Skin bursting open from the inside.
Bones being forcibly twisted apart.
Muscle fibers tearing loose.
A wet, sticky symphony of horror.
Like a monster wrapped in cheap sheepskin that could no longer endure its fragile disguise, it tore violently outward, shredding the false skin from within.
What were those things?
Dislocated spines.
Gushing, vivid blood.
Rows of neat teeth.
A massive tongue.
Eyes scattered where they should never exist.
Muscles writhing in madness.
Sharp bones punching through flesh.
Organs twisting into shapes too horrific to describe.
Everything exploded outward—like a cheap stress ball stuffed with rotting viscera being crushed apart—spraying every unspeakable, reality-defying horror straight toward X i.
What bloomed in that instant was not life—
But pure despair, forged entirely from blood and flesh.
X i's mind went blank.
All her training, all her experience, all her courage—vanished completely.
As if she were no longer a competent level-four employee, but merely an ordinary person with no ability to resist.
"..."
She stood frozen, even forgetting how to breathe, able only to watch as that mass of chaotic horror lunged toward her.
At the very end, from a throat torn apart by terror, a single sound finally burst forth—
"HELP ME!!! MANAGER!!!!!!"
Author's Note
This chapter has a very, very fitting illustration, but it's rather grotesque, and I'm worried some readers might not be able to handle it.
(That said, if you can handle Town of Love, this probably isn't much worse.)
Interlude: Nonexistent Memories (2)
Beep——
"You killed her…"
"You should've been the one to die! Die! Just die! Waaaah…"
"Ugh… ughhh—ahhhhhhh! It hurts! It hurts so much…!"
"Mr. ████… please… I beg you… please…"
"Kill me… please kill me…"
"…I said I don't need an examination! I'm fine!"
"Get away! All of you, get away! Don't look! Get away!!!"
"I can still… continue… I still can…"
"Mr. ████, is our research… really… really still… normal?"
"Please… stop, okay? Don't hurt everyone anymore… and don't hurt yourself…"
"..."
[A minor prodigy was found hanged at home. It is rumored she was threatened into suicide after becoming a whistleblower…]
"Hey… I'm talking to you…"
"If she knew that one day we'd be talking like this… she definitely would have…"
"…No, it's fine. Go on. I think I can still… endure a few more times…"
"I—I can't do anything… I'm too scared…"
"I thought about saving my subordinates from this place… but those were just meaningless excuses…"
"I think it'll be my turn soon… let's meet again in hell, ████."
Splurt!
Clang—slash!!!!
"Damn you, ████, Benjamin! I can't hold on anymore—run! All of you, run!!!"
"Cough! Even if I die, I still have to—have to tear a piece of flesh off you, you bastard!!!"
"I'm… sorry…"
"Every… one…"
"Heh… you think you won…? Then why… can't you even look me in the eyes…?"
"Are you afraid to face… even a dying prisoner?"
"…Trash."
"…If this is for you, then I'm willing to try."
"Even if it leads to many sacrifices."
Szzzzzzzz…
"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!!"
"That smoke! The smog!!! It's poisonous—aaahhhhh!!!"
"Get away! Monster! Get away!!!"
[Breaking News—L Company Headquarters has been breached. The side effects of inferior Singularities are currently being jointly purged by a multi-Wing coalition…]
[Although the war was extremely brutal… we have successfully destroyed such a terrifying pseudo-Wing, severely crippling G Company in the process…]
[Damn G Company… you lying bastards! Using human bodies—beep—]
[Unexpected incident on-site. Broadcast temporarily suspended.]
"She isn't like herself. You know that, Teacher?"
"…I want to become your shadow, even if I'm still far from matching you."
"This… this is a seed that can only bear catastrophe! You—"
"It's all because of the Wings!"
"Your thoughts are drowning in pain… far more severely than I imagined!"
"Please… stop. I beg you…"
"…I remember you. You used to be someone with a warm smile."
Drip—
Drip—
"I want to live… I don't want to die…"
"████… I'm so cold…"
——
"ROOOAAARR!!!"
A horrifying howl unlike that of any known creature tore through the air, yanking X —who had been momentarily distracted—back into reality.
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