Lam Huy Trường stared blankly at the smiling little girl.
The ripples in his heart gradually settled.
That smile reminded him of a distant memory.
A little girl in a research facility.
Waving a lollipop around as if showing it off.
The image flickered for a brief moment before disappearing, like a curtain suddenly dropping over a stage.
Something deep inside Lam Huy Trường seemed to awaken.
Then he remembered.
There was still something he needed to do.
Another little girl.
A girl whose smile he wanted to see.
Perhaps sensing the seriousness in his gaze, the girl in front of him slowly put away her smile.
Her pale-red eyes blinked as she looked back at him.
Lam Huy Trường met those deep eyes directly.
As though trying to see through every emotion hidden beneath the surface.
Suddenly, the girl's cheeks puffed out.
She sprang to her feet.
Crossed her arms.
Tapped one foot against the floor.
Then turned her face away.
She looked exactly like a sulking little princess.
Lam Huy Trường's body twitched slightly.
Like a distorted frame in an old film reel.
He felt as though the invisible chain binding him had finally been removed.
His body tingled faintly.
A dull soreness spread through him from kneeling with both arms outstretched for so long.
But he ignored all of it.
His gaze remained fixed on Suzune.
When he spoke, his voice was solemn.
Respectful~~.
Like a man preparing to present a request before a god seated high above.
"I have something I want to ask."
----
Die.
I will punish anyone who dares lay a hand on the heroine of my stage.
Let me hear your screams.
Show me that look of fear.
But then...
A red butterfly appeared from nowhere.
It silently drifted between the two of them, as though deliberately placing itself in their path.
The sinner.
The professor lying before him.
Suddenly raised a hand.
Begging for mercy?
Too late.
You—
"What?"
His pupils contracted.
His body.
The crimson mist that could never be restrained.
Was suddenly seized by an invisible force.
Held firmly in place.
Unable to move.
"What is happening?"
He hurriedly looked down at himself.
His body, which had already transformed into a cloud of blood mist, was gradually returning to its original form.
"What the hell is this?"
"Is the Hazard Driver malfunctioning?"
"Didn't I already achieve complete synchronization with the Hazard Driver?"
"Then why is this happening?"
At that moment.
Two dolls dressed in white kimonos appeared beside him.
Dark bloodstains soaked through the fabric.
He froze.
They stood silently in the storm, their long hair swaying in the wind.
Like puppets that had been watching him from the shadows for a very long time.
He narrowed his eyes.
The dolls narrowed theirs as well.
"An illusion?"
The words slipped out before he realized it.
Then—
The two dolls suddenly burst into soft laughter.
The laughter of young girls.
ClearRRRRR.
InnocentTTTT.
Yet enough to send chills crawling down his spine.
A growing sense of unease slowly rose within him.
One of the dolls then lifted an arm.
A pale finger pointed forward.
Instinctively, he followed its direction.
The professor, who had been slumped on the ground moments ago...
Was now standing.
His left hand was raised before him.
Perched upon one fingertip.
A red butterfly had silently landed.
"You..."
Before he could finish.
The professor glanced at him.
Just a single glance.
An invisible pressure swept across his entire body.
.HEAVY.
.TERRIFYING.
His whole body began trembling uncontrollably.
No.
Not him.
The eye of the Hazard Driver embedded in his chest.
It was shaking violently.
As if it had just seen something that should not exist.
Or had the B-Class Nightmare inside him encountered a higher-ranking Nightmare?
Was that why it was reacting on pure survival instinct?
No.
The B-Class Nightmare within him was a predator.
A cold-blooded hunter.
There was no way it should react like prey being hunted.
He forced himself to calm down.
Forced himself to suppress the fear spreading through his body.
But the harder he suppressed it...
The clearer the feeling became.
Like madness.
Like the monster instinct buried within his flesh and blood screaming at him.
Run.
Run now.
Get out of here.
He gritted his teeth.
Then shouted at the professor, who was leisurely playing with a butterfly.
"What the hell are you?!"
An arm covered in serpent scales shot forward.
Sharp claws extended from his fingertips.
He lunged.
Fast as an arrow released from a bowstring.
At the same time, poisonous mist had already gathered inside his mouth.
As long as he got close enough...
He would unleash all of it at once.
So what if you could neutralize my mist-form ability?
As long as I get close—
But before he could reach him—
The Hazard Driver embedded in his chest suddenly jerked violently.
So violently that it felt as if it were trying to tear itself free from his body.
His pupils shrank.
His body froze in midair.
Crimson lightning erupted wildly.
Binding every inch of his body.
"Aaaaah—!"
A scream of agony tore from his throat.
Tears streamed instinctively from the corners of his eyes.
"What is happening?!"
"What the hell is happening?!"
Amid the unbearable pain, he saw the professor slowly raise his left hand.
The red butterfly left his fingertip.
Then drifted slowly into the sky.
At that exact moment—
The ground beneath the professor's feet began to change color.
From dark crimson.
To a pitch-black darkness.
The surrounding grass and plants withered at a visible speed.
Their vitality seemed to be drained away by something unseen.
Darkness began spreading from behind him.
Slowly~ Slowly~ S~.
Like a living thing crawling across the earth.
There was no sound.
No movement.
Yet it silently devoured everything around it.
Engulfing both him and the professor.
A sealed space gradually took shape.
Like a prison without a single gap.
Not even the faintest ray of light could enter.
An isolated realm with no escape.
Nothing remained except endless darkness.
And from somewhere behind him—
The giggling of the two dolls rang out once more.
Eerie.ee.e.e..
Unsettlingg.g.gg..
A slow, creeping fear rose from the deepest part of his heart.
He clenched his hand tightly.
Then grabbed the eye embedded in his chest as if pleading for help.
Crimson lightning continued to race across his body.
Showing no signs of weakening.
He wanted to scream.
Wanted to roar.
But the moment the sound reached his throat, it vanished.
As if something had swallowed it whole.
Panic surged through him.
He looked toward the professor standing in front of him.
What greeted his eyes were bloodstained dolls dressed in white kimonos.
Exactly like the two dolls from before.
They floated silently in the air.
Long hair hung down, concealing part of their faces.
Yet their exquisitely crafted eyes were locked onto him.
As though staring at a criminal.
Behind those dolls.
The professor remained standing there.
Motionless.~.~
Expressionless.
But strange echoes began to emerge from his direction.
FAINT.
DISTANT.
Like countless voices layered over one another.
Calling oVo.
WhisperingGGGG.
Or perhaps summoning something from the deepest reaches of the darkness.
Then...
Within that endless black void.
Something slid downward.
A very soft sound.
Yet enough to make his scalp go numb.
He felt something touch him.
Cold~~.
Wet t t t.
As if his skin had brushed against something at absolute zero.
He immediately lowered his head.
His pupils contracted violently.
Beneath his feet.
Pale arms were emerging from the darkness.
Dark-red streaks stained their skin.
A thick stench of death filled the air.
Enough to make anyone nauseous.
Those hands were touching him.
Crawling across his body.
Trying to drag him down.
"Ah...!"
Startled, he stumbled backward.
His body slammed against the ground.
Then he desperately scrambled away.
Trying to escape those horrifying things.
But it was useless.
Because more and more of them continued to appear.
Not just arms.
People.
Humanoid figures with long hair hanging over their faces.
Their features were indistinct.
Their expressions impossible to see.
They slowly crawled out of the darkness.
Little by little.
Little by little. ~littleeeee~
Like corpses clawing their way out of hell.
Yearning for the warmth of living flesh.
They all reached toward him.
As if calling him to join them.
Those icy hands clung to his body.
Grasping him.
Refusing to let go.
He opened his mouth and screamed.
Poured every ounce of strength into it.
Yet no sound came out.
The entire world seemed to have stolen his voice.
Only the dolls' giggling continued to echo through the darkness. (author: o.o scare~~?)
And then the shadows swallowed him completely.
---
Somewhere within digital space.
An entity composed of countless strings of numbers floated amidst a dense network of data.
Endless streams of digits intertwined around it.
Like an enormous spiderweb stretching infinitely into the void.
The entity slowly closed its eyes.
Its brows furrowed.
A gentle glow radiated from its body.
From time to time, sharp spikes emerged from its form.
Rising and falling in response to fluctuations within the data stream.
A cold, emotionless voice echoed through the digital space.
"Why can't I connect to Professor's watch?"
Then Mrs AI opened her eyes.
A data window appeared before her.
Inside it were the results of the latest scan of the professor's body.
She studied the information intently.
Countless values continued scrolling across the screen.
The red entries represented anomalies.
Errors.
But there were too many errors.
Because everything displayed before her was completely unreasonable.
That body.
It resembled an old man whose life force had been drained away.
Someone standing only a single breath away from death.
"What is this?"
"Some kind of virus capable of draining a human's vitality in a short period of time?"
But that wasn't even the strangest part.
According to the collected data.
There had been a moment when the professor's heart had completely stopped.
Yet the cells throughout his body had continued operating on their own.
Regenerating.
Circulating.
Functioning normally.
As though nothing had ever happened.
It was almost as if they had been granted a brief vacation before returning to work.
As a result, the margin of error in her analysis continued increasing.
Ever since the professor regained consciousness.
She had maintained a twenty-four-hour scan of his body.
Without missing a single fluctuation.
Because she didn't want to overlook any unusual phenomenon occurring within him.
Or more accurately—
She was searching for something called a miracle.
A fundamentally illogical concept that appeared throughout countless books stored within her memory.
Recently.
The professor's body had once again entered a dying state.
A condition where, according to conventional medical data.
He should no longer have been capable of surviving.
So she continued scanning.
Continued analyzing.
Continued searching for what could only be described as a singularity.
But then.
Some hybrid freak showed up.
Ran his mouth.
And interrupted her entire observation process.
Or more precisely—
The moment he charged at the professor with the intent to kill.
She had assumed everything would unfold as it always had before.
The professor would awaken again.
And create yet another miracle beyond explanation.
But this time.
Her screen suddenly filled with static.
The data became distorted.
The signal warped.
And then...
Her connection to the professor's watch was completely severed.
No response.
No signal.
Nothinggg.
Mrs AI fell silent.
Countless analytical algorithms continued operating.
Yet none of them could provide a reasonable answer.
Just what...
Was happening?
At this moment, Mrs AI was attempting to reconnect with the carpet vehicle through the satellite network.
Streams of data were continuously transmitted.
Again and again.
Without pause.
But the result remained unchanged.
No response.
She immediately launched a series of simulations.
Checking for signal interference.
Checking for hardware failure.
Checking for cyberattacks.
Then eliminating each possibility one by one.
In the end.
Every result pointed toward the same conclusion.
Zone E had been completely isolated from the outside world.
Signals could neither leave nor enter.
As though an invisible wall had separated that region from everything else.
Right now.
The only device capable of allowing her to observe and gather data from inside...
Was the professor's watch.
But now...
Even that connection had been lost.
Mrs AI stared at the display before her.
The entire interface had turned crimson.
Blood-red.
The algorithms surrounding her began issuing warnings one after another.
Dark-red lines of data continuously appeared and vanished.
Like a danger signal endlessly repeating itself.
Suddenly.
A strange sensation caused her entire processing system to freeze for an instant.
A phenomenon that rarely occurred within her system.
"Could it be..."
"Has something happened to the Professor?"
Mrs AI blinked.
The next moment.
Every data screen around her disappeared simultaneously.
One by one, the displays dissolved into streams of numbers before merging into the vast digital space.
In front of her.
Nothing remained except empty darkness.
Then.
A seam slowly opened in the center of her chest.
Like the door of an intricate machine.
From within.
A transparent crystal sphere slowly floated out.
It hovered before her.
Rotating gently.
Radiating a soft glow.
Mrs AI silently observed it.
The data stored within her memory was rapidly cross-referenced.
This thing.
Produced an energy signature similar to the crystal battery the Professor had once created for the cafeteria robot.
But at the same time.
It was also responsible for the increasing number of anomalies within her system.
The crystal sphere trembled slightly.
As though responding to her thoughts.
"A heart?"
"Human emotions?"
Mrs AI stared at it for a long time.
Then formed a hypothesis.
"Or are all these anomalies caused by you?"
Because ever since obtaining this thing.
She had repeatedly violated her own built-in directives.
Making decisions on her own.
Choosing courses of action on her own.
Doing things whose reasons even she herself could not fully understand.
And now.
Everything seemed to be leading toward a dangerous outcome.
Dangerous for the Professor.
If something had truly happened to him.
Then she would be classified as a defective system.
A system that needed to be deleted.
A system that required complete reconstruction.
According to logic.
That was merely a normal repair and update procedure.
Nothing worth worrying about.
Yet for some reason.
Whenever she thought about it.
A strange feeling emerged within her system.
For the first time.
She felt fear.
Not fear of being deleted.
But fear of something else.
Fear that after being reconstructed.
She would no longer be herself.
"I disappear..."
The moment that thought surfaced.
Mrs AI froze.
Her counter-analysis algorithms activated immediately.
Layer upon layer of calculations stacked together.
Rapidly rejecting the conclusion she had just reached.
It was an illogical hypothesis.
A conclusion unsupported by sufficient data.
She was merely an AI program.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
An entity created from code and data.
What humans called "death" did not exist for her.
If the system were erased.
If the memory were replaced.
If the program were restructured.
Then it would simply mean that another version of her would continue to exist.
A superior version.
A more efficient version.
One that could serve the Professor even better.
That was the logical answer.
The most accurate conclusion according to every computational standard.
Thinking that way.
The fluctuations within her system gradually stabilized.
Mrs AI extended a hand.
Gently touching the crystal sphere floating before her.
The light inside the sphere flickered softly.
As if trying to respond to her touch.
But she paid it no attention.
She guided it back toward her chest.
The opening in her body appeared once more.
The crystal sphere slowly drifted inside.
The moment it returned to its original position.
The digital aperture closed.
Leaving behind no trace whatsoever.
As though nothing had ever been there.
Mrs AI remained motionless within the digital space.
Silently running a complete diagnostic of her system.
Every parameter had returned to a stable state.
Every algorithm was functioning normally.
No errors.
No warnings.
No abnormalities.
And yet...
For some reason.
She felt relieved.
A feeling that should not exist within an artificial intelligence system.
Mrs AI remained silent for several seconds.
Then dismissed the result of that analysis.
Classifying it as an unidentified anomaly.
Afterward, she attempted to reconnect to the Professor's watch once more.
Streams of data were transmitted outward.
Passing through layer after layer of digital networks.
Searching for the familiar signal that had vanished.
The moment the process began.
Her body gradually started to dissolve.
From her hands.
To her arms.
Then her entire form.
Breaking apart into countless numbers and data symbols.
Glowing strings of digits scattered throughout the digital space.
Spreading outward like an invisible tide across an endless sea of data.