Bzz—
A heavy tal door slowly opened.
Takumi stepped forward, bringing with him the now-awake but visibly downcast Miko—still shaken by Mai's death—as they entered the underground research facility beneath the Dormitory Building.
In the darkness, a stale, decaying sll spread through the air.
Holding a candle, Takumi cast its light around.
On the elevator door behind him, he saw countless scratch marks—along with signs of repeated pounding and impacts.
As if soone had tried, over and over again, to break it open.
After taking a few steps forward, Takumi saw a considerable number of corpses wearing researcher uniforms. The vast majority of them were shriveled and emaciated. After examining them more closely, he realized that they hadn't simply died of dehydration—so of them appeared to have been murdered, while others looked more like they had starved to death.
As for the specific reason, although nearly all of the corpses were withered beyond recognition, quite a few of them had severe mutilations. Many of those wounds were unnaturally clean, as if cut by sharp blades, while the more irregular ones clearly bore the marks of tearing and biting. Takumi even found human teeth embedded in so of the wounds.
He could more or less guess what had happened here.
Behind him, Miko's face had turned pale. The sight of so many shriveled corpses clearly had a strong impact on her. She stayed close to Takumi as she walked, carefully placing each step to avoid stepping on any of the bodies.
Judging from the scattered sticks, daggers, and other weapons on the ground, as well as the various positions of the corpses and the bloodstains on the walls, these people had likely slaughtered each other. So had died on the spot, while others had made use of the dead to prolong their survival for a while. Then, those who remained alive were probably too severely injured to keep moving. So likely died from infection, while others managed to hold on a bit longer—only to eventually starve to death.
Unlike the Teaching Building, the Dormitory Building didn't seem to have been invaded by Alice. The researchers here had died in relatively "normal" ways—at the very least, there was no sign of aberrant forces being involved.
Thinking about it, the way to access the research facility in the Dormitory Building was already bizarre—you had to take a hidden elevator down from the rooftop. Takumi had a strong suspicion that this research area had always been fundantally different from the others. It might have been designed from the start as a high-risk zone, one where all personnel would be abandoned the mont sothing went wrong.
With that thought in mind, Takumi continued walking down the corridor where the elevator was located, while subtly glancing at Miko beside him and the elevator entrance behind them.
Mai, who had entered Zone 0, was currently locking down the three active Alices in the Dormitory Building, effectively freezing them in place.
As for the second veteran player's puppet, there was still no good opportunity to use it, so it had to be set aside for now.
Because of that, Takumi was finally able to free up part of his attention and begin making preparations.
"…"
The two of them remained silent as they walked.
After advancing further, Takumi found a carefully preserved diary beneath a heavily damaged corpse:
[Day 1]
[The elevator system has been cut off from the inside. We can't get out anymore.]
[What exactly is happening outside? I didn't even know our research area could only be sealed or unsealed from the outside. Does that an we can be locked in here forever at any ti? What kind of insane rule is that?]
[Day 4]
[The team leader is still telling us to trust our superiors, but sothing is clearly wrong. It's been days with no news—we've probably been forgotten.]
[I need to start hiding so of the food I'm assigned. It won't be long before supplies run out.]
[Day 9?]
[I've lost track of how many cycles my watch has gone through. Maybe it's day 9? Or day 10?]
[Food is running low. Everyone is starving, but the team leader doesn't seem affected at all. I saw Akiyama, Hōsei, and the others—they looked off. Everyone feels… off. I… I don't know what's going to happen next.]
[16th Entry]
[The team leader is dead. Soone cut at off his leg. I…]
[28th Entry]
[Nakajima-san and Sawada-san were chosen. I can't let anyone know I've been hiding food. I can't let them know there's still normal food left.]
[I don't have a choice.]
[33rd Entry]
[It doesn't feel as disgusting anymore.]
[Page 52 (the owner has stopped recording entry numbers)]
[The ones in charge of ration distribution look much healthier than the rest of us. They must be eating more. Are they hiding food?]
[Matsumoto killed himself. That reduces the strain on our food supply. There aren't many of us left. The ones in charge keep looking at strangely… Are they going to pick next? No… I can't let that happen. Tomorrow, I have to act first.]
[Page 54]
[I did nothing wrong. What I did was right.]
[Page 60]
[I shouldn't have given the others so much. I need to hide more. I've worked so hard handling distribution—shouldn't I get so compensation?]
[I'm so hungry. It's been so long since I've eaten my fill.]
[Page 67]
[Another one killed himself today. Good.]
[Page 69]
[Today's "food" resisted fiercely. Idiot. Can't he think about the others?]
[Page 73]
[So hungry. That brat Tanaka talked back to . I'll pick him tomorrow.]
[Page 89]
[We're down to the last 8 people. From a research facility of sixty or seventy… that's actually not that few.]
[How many days has it been? I don't rember anymore.]
[Water, electricity, and gas were cut off over ten days ago. Even the last paper we can use as fuel is almost gone. But I can't bring myself to burn this diary… so this is where it ends.]
[Looking back at what I've written… I feel like I slowly turned from a person into a monster. I always thought the students we studied were fools, but now it seems I'm no better than them.]
[But it's over.]
[I understand now—we've been abandoned. No one is coming into this research facility. This place is our grave, the execution ground we deserve.]
[I can't run from it anymore.]
[Since this is the inevitable fate for all of us, I'll choose for everyone.]
[Tomorrow. Tomorrow it ends. I've already prepared my weapon. Whether the others want to live or die doesn't matter—after tomorrow, I won't be alive either.]
[To hell with everything. I'm an elite who received higher education—why should I end up with such a damn fate…]
The diary itself wasn't long, but it was enough for Takumi to reconstruct what had happened in the facility.
Nearly a hundred researchers had destroyed themselves through mutual slaughter… He felt no sympathy at all. But in such an extre and twisted situation, an Aberration should have been born. Yet all he had encountered so far were ordinary corpses. In that case, the "last person to die" was likely the one who had absorbed all the resentnt in this area.
Thinking this, Takumi glanced at Miko, whose expression had grown noticeably downcast.
"Are you okay? Sensing anything?" he asked calmly.
"…No, Takumi-san. Um… Kumagai-san, she…"
The girl shook her head softly, then hesitated, her face filled with worry and sadness.
"What's already happened isn't worth dwelling on. She didn't step forward so we could sit here blaming ourselves."
With that, Takumi turned and continued walking deeper inside.
After proceeding forward cautiously for a while, the two of them arrived at a hall. The overall structure here still faintly resembled the underground research area beneath the Teaching Building, but it had clearly been heavily modified. The research equipnt had all been carelessly piled into the corners, while many of the cleared tables were stained with dark gri and marked with slashes from blades—it wasn't hard to imagine what had once taken place here.
Continuing deeper into the facility, what they found next were machines that were deeply unsettling at a glance.
Chairs covered in spikes—barbed spikes, no less.
Beds lined with saw blades and electrified needles, along with small knives and sharp shovels used for flaying.
The underground research facility beneath the Dormitory Building appeared to have been designed specifically for studying how to torture people—how to completely destroy a person, both physically and ntally.
There were even dedicated execution chambers, seemingly reserved for the researchers themselves. Anyone deed a "traitor" would apparently be subjected to extrely horrific punishnt in these rooms.
Inside one execution chamber whose door was left open, Takumi found a docunt—a list of executions.
The list recorded more than a dozen researchers, teachers, and mid-level administrators who had been executed. Judging from the frequency, there were about two or three each year. The reasons were largely the sa: disrespect toward superiors, suspicion of treason, or being suspected of "sympathizing with students."
Everyone on the list appeared to have already been executed. However, when Takumi flipped to the very bottom, he saw one entry marked as [Pending Execution].
The na had been completely blacked out, making it impossible to read.
The reason listed was [Attempted to shield and protect three Bad Students]. The thod of execution was left blank, suggesting that this person had been about to be sent into this research facility for punishnt.
Takumi couldn't help but speculate—could this have been the person scheduled for execution at the exact ti when Alice broke free and slaughtered the entire school?
If that were the case…
Was this person still alive?
Did they die here like everyone else?
Or did they sohow escape Fujihana Middle School alive?
Takumi couldn't reach a conclusion.
At that mont, Miko beside him seed to notice sothing. She gently tugged at his sleeve and pointed toward the corridor outside.
"Just now… I think I saw soone walk past over there."
Her voice was low, filled with tension.
They carefully returned to the corridor and headed in the direction Miko had indicated.
What Takumi found was a headlamp hanging from a pipe, emitting a faint glow. There was no sign of any aberrant presence nearby.
Even though they didn't find what Miko had seen, discovering these unusual pipes ant they could follow them to locate the special room where Alice's Obsession Item might be hidden.
"Good work. Stay alert—we could be attacked at any mont here."
Takumi spoke casually as he quickened his pace, running through the darkness along the direction the pipes extended. Before long, he found a heavy door similar to the ones underground in the Teaching Building.
He placed the keycard on the sensor, watching as the door slowly opened. Still wondering whether this underground facility even had power, Takumi stepped inside. It didn't take long for him to find the platform at the center of the hall, connected to countless pipes.
And on that platform—
There was nothing.
An empty platform, completely devoid of anything.
Step—
The sound of Miko's footsteps behind him suddenly seed clearer than before.
Takumi turned around calmly, his expression blank.
The girl who should have been carefully following at his side blinked when he turned back—then smiled.
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