Ch.369Chapter 369 – The Laboratory (2)

There were Karas everywhere.

I don’t know what kind of crazy statement that is, but it was literally true.

Each intact cylinder that once contained test subjects now held women who looked exactly like Kara.

Hair color, height, overall appearance.

All identical.

“…Why is the Holy Maiden…?”

Kurus muttered in confusion.

But there was someone else who was most shocked by this situation.

“This is impossible.”

Kara pressed herself against one of the cylinders.

She was examining the Kara inside from different angles.

It seemed she was hoping to find even the slightest difference between herself and her copy.

“Why are there so many beings that look exactly like me…?”

Unlike her usual self, Kara’s eyes showed clear distress.

Not just her, but everyone in our group was staring at her with shocked expressions.

I was probably the calmest among us.

‘…So this is why Kara appeared again.’

After Chris obtained the true holy power of Evgenia at the first seal, he and I had a brief conversation.

He said Kara had died saving Chris during the Origin Festival.

Yet Kara had appeared in Ferarius to capture me when I was still branded a heretic.

Of course, that Kara was safely rescued and is now our reliable ally, but thinking about it carefully, that situation made no sense whatsoever.

Because someone who died had reappeared.

Moreover, the newly appeared Kara didn’t even remember having been at the Origin Festival.

One could dismiss it by saying Kara had actually been alive all along, that her memories had been manipulated.

But then, Kara’s will that had once resided within Chris would make that interpretation contradictory.

However, there was one explanation that could make sense of this situation.

‘There were multiple Karas.’

I quietly reached this conclusion while watching Kara frantically examining the cylinder as if unable to accept the situation before her, and Chris trying to calm her down.

For some reason, it was a term I’d heard before.

“Clones.”

“Helmet, what did you say?”

Beatrice looked at me and asked.

“In my homeland… there’s a technology that’s been established. Think of it as technology that literally replicates people or living beings.”

“Replication?”

Eve looked at me with surprised eyes.

And Beatrice calmly asked me:

“Do you know the exact method?”

“No. I don’t have extensive knowledge in that field to begin with… I just heard somewhere that such technology was being researched, and they had succeeded in cloning animals, that’s about the extent of my information.”

“…Your homeland has some unusual technology, Helmet.”

Beatrice said with a frown.

“If we assume they’ve cloned people… it certainly makes this situation make sense.”

Beatrice muttered while looking at the Karas inside the cylinders.

“But still, there are so many of them.”

“What were they trying to do?”

Eve said bitterly.

“Whatever nonsense they were up to, we’ll find out when we investigate.”

Sia muttered in a low voice.

“…But seeing how many they’ve cloned, I can’t shake the suspicion that these people view life as something trivial.”

“Sia.”

“…I’ll go to Kara. She must be the most shaken right now.”

Kara was kneeling on the floor.

Chris alone seemed to be having difficulty, as Sera had also joined him in trying to calm Kara down.

Seeing this, Eve turned to Beatrice and asked:

“Should we try to get them out first?”

“No. It’s better to get them out after we’ve properly investigated. For safety reasons, there might be side effects if we don’t follow the proper procedure to extract them.”

Beatrice looked at the cylinders with a bitter expression and said:

“Forcibly extracting them can wait until after we’ve completed our investigation. I think they’re not in immediate danger if they’re in there.”

“Beatrice.”

“I’m not saying we won’t save them. I’m saying it’s better to be certain.”

After saying that, Beatrice’s expression hardened as she continued:

“Since the facility is still operational, there must be records left. If we find and investigate them, we’ll know how to safely extract them. So please stay calm.”

“Alright.”

“…I suppose it’s fortunate in a way.”

Beatrice said quietly.

“If the facility is still operational, there’s a higher chance that records remain somewhere. Since these containers were also used for test subjects like Helmet… if we search carefully, we might find a way to stabilize Helmet’s body.”

“…I see.”

Eve nodded quietly.

Then looking at me, she said:

“Let’s investigate this place further first. And calm Kara down.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ve calmed down now.”

Kara had approached us.

She looked a bit drained, but not as unstable as before.

“I apologize for causing concern.”

“…You can go back first if it’s too difficult?”

I said to Kara, who looked unwell, but she shook her head.

“Don’t worry about me. And I have no intention of going back.”

Kara looked at me.

Unlike before, her face now had a hint of anger.

“I won’t leave until I uncover exactly what happened here.”

“……”

I quietly nodded while looking into Kara’s eyes.

+

Shortly after.

We began searching the laboratory enthusiastically.

As Beatrice had pointed out earlier, this facility was still operational despite people having left, which made it likely that records remained.

Not only that, but journals and papers were found scattered on the floor, as if dropped while people were hastily evacuating.

And places we hadn’t properly seen before when we were escaping started to reveal themselves one by one.

“This looks like a place for storing research journals? Should we call it an archive?”

“That seems to be some kind of control room.”

Chris and Beatrice each discovered hidden locations.

The rooms were closer to the corridor than where the containers holding test subjects were, with doors hidden as if designed not to be immediately discovered in case the test subjects went berserk.

Come to think of it, I did find it strange that we hadn’t properly seen places for storing research materials while escaping—it was like not seeing what was right under our noses.

Soon Beatrice thought for a moment and then looked at Sera.

“I’ll check the control room. You don’t all need to come, so could you look at the archive?”

“Is that okay?”

In response to Sera’s question, Beatrice nodded and pointed to the cylinders.

“As Helmet knows, we use containers like those in magic towers too. If there are any mechanisms, I can identify them and extract data.”

“But there could be traps, right?”

Sera’s concern was valid, especially since the facility was still operational.

“I can’t say there won’t be any… but honestly, if they wanted to prevent people from searching the place, it would be more efficient to prevent entry altogether.”

“Besides, time is also an issue. It’s to our advantage to search this place quickly and leave.”

At Sia’s words, Sera lowered her head worriedly.

Beatrice added to reassure her:

“Don’t worry too much. You know I’m strong. And I can quickly figure out where and what kind of data is in the control room, so I’ll find what we need and join you soon.”

Beatrice added that it would take longer to search places where we don’t know what’s hidden where.

“…With that amount of material, it will certainly take time to find anything useful.”

As Eve said, the bookshelves in the archive were packed with research journals.

It made sense that more people should search there.

“I guess we have no choice.”

“I’ll be quick. And in places like that, there will be a lot of useless data, so set those aside.”

Beatrice clarified that anything ambiguous or uncertain should be set aside separately.

Soon Beatrice went alone to the control room, while the rest of us entered the archive.

The archive wasn’t as large as it appeared from outside.

“It seems they kept currently used materials elsewhere, and this is where they stored completed or non-urgent materials.”

“Still, we need to search everything.”

Answering Sera, I immediately said to the group:

“Should we have two or three people sort the materials outside, while the rest each take a bookshelf to examine?”

“That would be fastest. When Beatrice returns, we should ask her to help classify the materials outside.”

Eve nodded at my suggestion.

Soon Sia and two of Kurus’s subordinates took on the role of guarding outside while transporting and organizing materials, and the rest of us began examining the documents.

I also took charge of one bookshelf.

“But I don’t understand. Why did they abandon this place?”

Looking at the port, this place seemed to have been given up on.

Normally, on the day they abandoned it, they would have taken or destroyed the documents first.

If they truly believed no one would ever come here, that would be one thing, but this situation meant all their data would be leaked if anyone did come.

That’s why even though I felt the need to investigate this place again, I had also considered the possibility that all the data had already been removed or destroyed.

“…Only those involved would know. These are people whose thoughts are impossible to understand.”

“In a way, while these materials are valuable, they’re also difficult to disclose publicly, so maybe they planned to retrieve them later when things cooled down.”

Eve and Sera answered while quickly scanning through the research journals.

Eve’s complexion had worsened, but she didn’t stop working.

“…It might be for show.”

“Show?”

“Just a feeling, but maybe they wanted to show off their achievements to anyone who might return here or find this place someday.”

Chris said uncertainly as he pulled materials from the bookshelf.

‘Show off, huh.’

If it was for showing off, who did they want to impress?

If Chris’s intuition was correct, there was only one target.

‘It would be me.’

Someone who knew this location, knew what happened here, and was simultaneously hostile to the Order.

If all conditions were met, it would be me.

‘That seems right.’

I thought quietly while looking at the journal in my hand.

The journal recorded what had been done to the test subjects.

At the same time, other things were recorded too.

‘…Cross-sectional diagram of extracted hearts… differences from locals… analysis of breeding possibility….’

I wanted to tear up the journal, but barely restrained myself.

It wasn’t just records of what measures were taken on test subjects or what was administered.

There were records of examinations of body parts extracted from test subjects, analyses comparing them with the bodies of local people, and detailed experiments to determine minute differences.

They seemed intent on finding every difference down to the last bone fragment between these people and the locals.

They appeared to have used every byproduct from applying monster organs or muscles to test subjects as research material, without wasting anything.

“…What on earth was the Order I once believed in planning…?”

Kurus, who was examining records in Sia’s place, lamented.

I wondered if even a former holy knight of that Order found the contents horrifying.

Everyone examining the journals had turned pale.

But since we didn’t know where important materials might be, we continued scanning and setting some aside.

And Sera, who was examining the records fastest and had set aside a considerable number of documents, looked at me gently.

Then she looked at me with concerned eyes.

“…Mr. Kay. Would you like to step outside for a moment…?”

“I’m fine.”

She seemed to think I would be severely shocked mentally, just as Kara had been.

To be honest, it was shocking.

The occasional mention of “Test Subject 13” revealed how my body had been manipulated and what had been done to me, which was agonizing.

Seeing in detail what had happened to the organs that should have made up my body, how they had been cut to pieces, and what experiments my body had undergone and how I had reacted to them—it was all meticulously recorded.

‘Sick bastards.’

Chris’s mention of “showing off” seemed increasingly plausible.

Perhaps they thought I would examine these records and left them with malicious intent, saying “see with your own eyes what was done to you.”

‘Damn them.’

Gritting my teeth, I examined the records.

Among these numerous materials, there might be clues to stabilize my body or methods to cross dimensions, so I couldn’t ignore them.

As I was examining the records, my finger stopped involuntarily.

‘…This.’

It was an entry I was about to skip as unimportant.

But one line caught my attention.

“Test Subject 13 showed abnormal behavior during the execution of the old man.”

-‘You’ll regret living like a puppet.’

-‘Try to live without shame to yourself.’

The old man’s curse had come alive.

I realized there was one more thing I needed to do on this island.