episode_0179

Meeting someone you know in an unexpected place always brings a surprise.

Especially if that person is a teacher you usually know well. And an instructor is also a kind of teacher.

However, the feeling changes greatly depending on the meeting place.

Even more so if that place is the laboratory of a secret private military company conducting human experiments!

“Ah… how are you here? A young student… shouldn’t be in a place like this!…”

The moment I saw Instructor Frederick’s face, I thought I needed to explain the situation quickly. Because the instructor’s face was stained with such great despair.

“I’m sorry… the academy thugs finally did it… because of this incompetent adult…”

While the instructor was muttering, I looked around. This was a blind spot out of reach of the surveillance cameras I had previously scouted, and neither the guards nor the researchers were paying attention to us.

I quickly explained the situation.

“No, I was actually kidnapped, but I did it on purpose!”

“What on earth do you mean…”

“You remember my unique ability, right? Actually, I’m a clone. I’ll tell you the details later when I come at night.”

I didn’t wait for any more answers and quickly returned to my original spot. At dawn, Violet quietly infiltrated the instructor’s room and woke him up.

“You’re going to destroy the academy? Then why did you come in here?”

“I told you, it’s part of the operation. So don’t worry about me. I’ve already figured out the surveillance system and guard patrol intervals here. And, look at this. Ta-da!”

I pulled out an assault rifle from my inventory. The instructor couldn’t hide his surprise at seeing a weapon appear out of thin air.

“I’m going to send all these bad guys to heaven with this! Just wait a little!”

Just as I was about to turn, the instructor quietly said.

“…Aren’t you curious why I was brought here?”

I shrugged and answered.

“That? I’m not sure, but isn’t it a plan you were working on with Professor Albert? I’ll ask the professor directly later. He’s at our house right now.”

The instructor laughed hollowly and nodded.

“I see… That’s a relief…”

Just then, the sound of a guard’s footsteps was heard. I lay flat on the floor and then de-generated.

While eating breakfast, we thought.

「Why was he brought here?」

「I don’t know. By the way, where are the team members now? At the airport, right?」

「Yep! It’s officially a team-building retreat.」

As scheduled, by now, my friends were going through boarding procedures for a flight to Cascadia Island with another Violet. By the way, what exactly were the former Polaris educators and first-generation seniors planning? I don’t know what it was, but seeing as they were attacked, it must have been something that displeased the academy and the clan.

Professor Albert was currently hospitalized. I was thinking of waking the sleeping professor to ask him when a sudden call came in. It was from the direction of the office where the two doctors worked.

「This is Assistant Violet! They finally understood something. They’re about to start explaining?」

That’s a real relief. We haven’t been making much progress in interpreting the research materials we’ve stolen so far.

That slave captured from Vittoria City seems to have been a tremendous help.

「They said they saw the answer since yesterday and stayed up all night. They must have finally understood.」

Twenty minutes later, a presentation was held on the first floor of the factory.

**

Yurik walked in among the many Violets sitting on chairs and the floor, and the first thing he said was this.

“I’ll tell you the results first. What’s in the academy’s basement is a large-scale ego control eradication system.”

“What? Ego era, eradication?”

While the Violets, who hadn’t understood, paused their thoughts, Ennis, standing next to Yurik, added an explanation.

“To put it simply, the moment that activates, all awakened individuals within a 3km radius will become puppets stripped of their egos.”

The Violets were all shocked by such an absurd result. They thought it was a suspicious plan, but its scale was too vast. Those of us inside the factory fell silent for a moment.

A minute later, we erupted into a chain of shouts, like bombs going off one after another.

“Ugh! Losing oneself? That’s too horrible!”

“What’s the principle? Is there a way to stop it?”

“Is that true? But what’s the use of that?”

“Alright! Everyone quiet down! The mister and missus are trying to explain!”

“You’re noisy too!”

As the commotion continued, a tapping sound came from the speaker. Yurik, flustered, was tapping the microphone installed on the makeshift podium with his palm. Only then did our gaze turn to the podium, and he opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

“Um, everyone, heads of the company? Ms. Violet? We apologize, but we need you to be quiet so we can explain.”

“Oh, sorry!”

“I’ll be quiet!”

While we, embarrassed, quieted down and waited, Yurik began his explanation in front of the whiteboard.

“Then, let’s briefly go over why we came to this interpretation and the research process so far. I’ve told you before why there hasn’t been much progress, right?”

“Yeah, you said the data was fragmented.”

As we agreed, Yurik nodded and continued speaking.

“That’s right. The documents and data you brought were missing crucial connecting keys. It was a situation where we had to figure out if it was a taxi or a bus with only the blueprints and component ratios of some car parts. And I was an amateur when it came to applied fields like barriers or magic circuits.”

Yurik cleared his throat for a moment and continued.

“I don’t know what the internal situation of the research lab was like, but I think it must have been a very closed environment. Except for Professor Sturges, no one would have known exactly what they were doing. This is a guess based on my experience during my doctoral studies. It must have been so. Ah, the conversation has strayed a bit.”

“No, it’s fine. Keep going.”

“…Fortunately, after Ms. Ennis joined recently, the interpretation of the blocked parts began to speed up. Moreover, one day, an interesting idea came to me. When I looked at all the data again, strangely, it was forming one large picture. The moment an idea suddenly flashed, I realized it was a familiar shape. Do you know what it is?”

Saying that, Yurik looked at us strangely. I knew what that look was. The curiosity and scholarly fervor that often appeared when I brought coffee to his desk while working as Assistant Violet.

“What? Why are you suddenly looking at us? Don’t keep us in suspense, just tell us!”

As we urged him, Yurik slowly pointed at us and exclaimed.

“It was similar to the structure inside the CEO’s head. The Violet Network!”

“Gasp! That’s amazing! But what is it?”

Yurik turned his head, and Ennis, meeting his gaze, turned on the projector as if ready, opened her laptop, and typed on the keyboard.

“Then, I will continue the explanation from here. Based on the given data, the structure of the spell we’ve understood from our interpretation so far is as follows.”

As the projector’s light shone on the white board, the program activated, and a complex magic circle slowly appeared, with numerous circles arranged around a large central circle, intertwined like a net.

“Wow! That’s amazing. What is that?”

“It’s a drafting program for magic engineering design. It’s one of the software I asked you for last time. Additionally, I’ll add another diagram to make it easier for the CEO to understand.”

Ennis wore a rare confident expression. So there was a reason she asked me to buy those strange, unheard-of programs legitimately.

The form of the magic circle soon appeared on the screen. In addition, Ennis performed a few more operations. A brain-shaped icon was overlaid onto the circles of the connected magic circle.

“Oh.”

I could understand why Yurik had mentioned the Violet Network.

Except for the large central brain, the shape of multiple brains connected resembled our network to some extent.

“…What you’re seeing now is the most simplified configuration inferred from the research we’ve conducted. The system’s complexity increases many times over with each connected component added. Due to insufficient data…”

As Ennis closed her mouth, Yurik began to explain once again.

“As you can see in the diagram, this system forcibly connects the brains of different awakened individuals to the central system’s brain. When this system is activated, approximately three stages of processes occur almost simultaneously.”

“Firstly, powerful hypnosis and suggestion, which neutralize the ego, are activated. This process uses highly regulated ether waves.”

“While the ether waves take over the brain, a network is established. After that, the brain is forcibly connected to the central control system.”

“In the final stage, everything is integrated.”

A dark shadow gradually fell across Yurik’s face as he explained.

“So what happens then?”

“…We don’t know exactly. They could become puppets, or fall into an unconscious state with all their will controlled by the center. But what’s certain is that once it activates, it can never be reversed. Once everything is complete, the individual’s ego and memories will be destroyed. Considering the suggestion and hypnosis, this is intentional.”

“Is there a possibility of becoming a ghoul? Like a Vision Prism.”

When Unit 124 asked curiously, Ennis’s complexion turned pale at the mention of ghouls and Vision Prisms.

Yurik shook his head.

“Ghoul transformation? Well, it’s not impossible, but it’s impossible unless a problem occurs during the connection process. If it’s the professor I know, he would have definitely put in safety measures. Unless an unexpected variable occurs, even if it fails, it will just result in fatalities.”

Unit 457, who had been pondering while watching the presentation, suddenly raised her hand and posed a question.

“But, mister and missus. Why does their magic specifically erase memories and ego? Even for us, ego and consciousness are distinct. Wouldn’t it be easier to just plug them in and connect? Is it due to a lack of technology?”

“I believe it’s for the smooth control of the system. Everyone has different tastes and personalities, right? It’s the same for awakened individuals. Even the color of their swordsmanship or magic differs slightly, doesn’t it? Each person’s environment and disposition affect how they use magic.”

Hearing that, we nodded, saying, ‘That’s right, that’s right.’ Our friends’ magic colors were different. Ours was red, Daphne’s was green, Irene’s was golden, and Kalia’s was bright purple!

“Even with computers, things using different operating systems or programming languages are often incompatible. If you recklessly run programs based on different operating systems, or blindly connect and activate computers with different systems, what would happen?”

“They’d crash or break, wouldn’t they?”

“Exactly. I imagine it’s to prevent that. Comparing people to machines is a terrible thing, but the process of ego eradication could be called a kind of compilation process. Any more questions?”

As if on cue, we continued to ask questions one by one. Is there a way to destroy it, what are the defensive measures, why on earth would they use such a method, what could be done with it…

“The method of destruction is simple: destroy the special particle accelerator used to emit ether waves. As for defensive measures? There are none. The moment you’re trapped within the barrier within a 2-3km radius, there’s no way to stop it. Oh, wasn’t there a friend of yours who uses a shield with a unique ability? It would be difficult to stop that without such a high-output shield or an advanced magical defense system.”

“As for the means and intent… I don’t know. But seeing how such a highly advanced system was built, I don’t think it’s for simple terror purposes. Especially since it’s designed to operate for a long time. If it were actually activated? Depending on how it’s used, it could draw out other people’s unique abilities, or perhaps even be used for computational purposes…”

Ennis, having finished her answer, spoke with a trembling voice, as if remembering past events, and with a somber tone.

“No matter what, that… is something that should never be done. It’s a sin against people and against scholarship. To destroy minds, to students who know nothing. That wrongdoing, again…”

She gripped the podium tightly, her voice choked with emotion.

The Violets watching said.

“We know your situation, Missus. So cheer up. You said you’d help us, didn’t you? You said you’d testify at the hearing and stand in court. You said you were prepared for all of it.”

“…You’re right. I said that, yet I showed such a pathetic side. I’m sorry.”

Yurik asked with a bewildered expression.

“…A hearing? Testimony? What do you mean?”

“Oh, you don’t know, Mister. Ask them directly!”

While the two were talking, the Violets rushed out.

**

While the presentation was ongoing, the plane carrying Violet and her friends arrived at Cascadia Island.

As soon as we stepped out of the airport, a warm breeze, the blue sea, and a magnificent landscape greeted us.

“Hey everyone, this is our team-building retreat location. Are you ready?”

Daphne looked around with a surprised expression and said.

“It’s truly amazing. As rumored, it’s beautiful.”

While Irene called for a car to take them to the villa, Kalia gazed blankly at her surroundings and muttered. I heard on the plane that this was her first trip by plane.

“Wow, it’s my first time traveling outside the island.”

“Yahoo! Kalia. Aren’t you grateful? Then express that feeling a bit louder! Shout ‘Long live Violet!’”

“…Hey, you really… Alright, I get it. …Long live Violet!”

Hearing Kalia’s declaration of ‘long live,’ Violet Unit 56 chuckled.

After a moment, we took the chartered car and headed towards the city. The first day was for sightseeing, and on the second day, we would go to the villa lent by Adela Unnie.

It was two days before the start of the revolution operation.