Kevin shielded Mei behind him. With clean, powerful movements, he hurled back those rushing from a side door. He stood his ground expressionless; without needing excessive motion, a single step sent terrifying frost extending along the corridor, freezing the feet of every contaminated individual to the floor.
"Move."
Kevin couldn't afford to worry about anything else. He minimized the spread of his frost as much as possible, gripped Mei's clothing, and pulled her into her office within the Research and Development Department.
He smashed the computer screen in the office, locked the door, and then hurriedly released his grip to prevent Mei's already fragile body from being eroded by his freezing temperature.
"It came sooner than I imagined." Mei brushed ice shards off her clothes. After a shiver, she walked to her desk and pulled out a communicator.
Like Lin, she had foreseen the current situation. Knowing the instigator was an internal member of Fire Moth, she had previously asked Vill-V to build this specialized communicator. Unlike standard devices, it had no screen and could only contact a few specific people via a private channel, preventing eavesdropping.
"Dr. Vill-V, are you alright?" The first person she contacted was Vill-V.
"Uh... I don't know how to interpret 'alright' in your vocabulary." Even the usually eccentric Vill-V spoke with a bitter smile. "If you're asking about me personally, I'm hiding in a secret room, so I'm fine. But if you're asking about the Helix Workshop—with a bunch of people rushing in with eerie laughs like they're drunk and going crazy at a bonfire party—then I suppose things aren't great."
"But I imagine Dr. Vill-V always keeps an ace up her sleeve?"
"Since you put it that way... hehe, quite right. A great magician always keeps a lock-picking needle handy."
As she spoke, Vill-V pressed a button.
Creeeeak—
Inside the Helix Workshop, the contaminated individuals frantically searching for Vill-V all looked up. On walls covered in blueprints, hidden catches rotated, retracting the drawings into the walls. Then, flintlock-style rifles that looked straight out of the Middle Ages extended out, automatically aiming at the "people" present.
Then, the shots rang out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
What fired from the flintlocks were not gunpowder bullets, but syringes. These syringes accurately struck every person's body, and the sedatives inside were automatically injected. In less than a minute, everyone collapsed to the floor.
Vill-V always kept a back door. For instance, this secret room was something she had secretly built by modifying the surrounding structure without anyone in Fire Moth knowing—not even Mei could detect it.
"Well, a great magician doesn't like an audience that ruins the stage." Hearing the commotion outside cease, Vill-V continued her conversation with Mei. "Weren't you developing a drug with Spaciel? How's the progress?"
"The good news is we've found a direction."
"And the bad news is it's not finished yet?"
Mei gave a light laugh. "But it's in the final stages. Can't you give Dr. Spaciel a little encouragement?"
"I don't need encouragement."
Spaciel voice abruptly entered the conversation. With a tone full of helplessness, he told them: "Moreover, this isn't a cure for those people. It's only a drug to resist mental attacks. Using it as an antidote won't save those immersed in the dreamscape."
"Vill-V, how is the device coming along?"
"Ready. We can start anytime. Bring Discipline over."
Mei nodded. "Did you hear that, Kosma?"
Boom!
In front of the sparks of a shattered door frame, an "abnormal" figure stood. He looked coldly at the contaminated people. To be honest, he was already surprised to know HQ had been infiltrated, but seeing so many people—who had been pretending to be normal by his side since the beginning—still made his skin crawl.
"They look... more like monsters than I do."
Kosma stood coldly in place. He casually tore off the remaining half of the iron door and used it like a fan to send the people in front of him flying like dandelions.
"Stop acting cool and move!" Dystopia pupils glowed with a strange light. She raised a hand, and the people in front of her were pressed against the wall as if caught by an invisible giant hand. "You only have horns on your head; how do you look like a monster?"
"And my hands."
"I don't care about your hands or feet! Just move!"
Kosma and Dystopia Project Soldier surgeries were completed three days ago. Mei had not reported or publicized this; she had them stay hidden, waiting for the impending crisis as a "surprise force" to resolve the disaster.
After the surgery, Kosma gained extreme physical explosive power, with the side effect—similar to Sakura—of a pair of inconspicuous small horns on his head, and his hands transforming into claws when using his abilities.
Dystopia , meanwhile, gained unprecedented power. Similar to Aponia, her mental consciousness was augmented, and she could use "psychokinesis." Therefore, after setting aside Aponia, who had stated from the beginning she wouldn't participate in combat, Dystopia was the key figure of this crisis.
The power of MANTIS is beyond ordinary people. These out-of-control contaminated individuals couldn't block their path. Along the way, any screen that might show the polluting recording was destroyed by Dystopia psychokinesis before they even saw it.
They soon arrived at their destination: the Helix Workshop. Upon entering, they were shocked by the scene: people lay all over the floor, like a disorganized deck of cards scattered on a table.
"Oh, you're finally here. This is such a bother. The only way to find the person exerting mental control is when 'He' is manipulating the contaminated on a large scale." Vill-V stood before a device resembling a hibernation pod, adjusting data. She spoke without turning around. "Sorry, wait a bit longer. Someone messed up; we still need a few more conditions before we can start invading the controller's consciousness world."
"What about Mobius?" Mei's voice came through the communicator. "She's the only one left who hasn't made contact."
"Regrettably, Dr. Mei," Einstein's slightly lazy tone sounded, "according to detection by the armed dolls, Dr. Mobius seems to have succumbed."
"...Her?" Mei felt this was fishy. Logically, Mobius should have been the least likely to fall.
"It doesn't matter. I'll let the armed dolls handle the rest."
"Alright. I'm counting on you, Dr. Einstein."
Mei sat in her chair, thinking. She had tried to have Prometheus II block the polluting recording, but the system had been shut down. It was likely Chiaki's doing; she had probably been contaminated long ago.
Next is the counterattack? Will things really go that smoothly?