'...Where am I?'
With the clanking sound, the body shook slightly.
The armored train rattled due to the poor quality of the makeshift railway, and the thick alloy chains that bound Lei moved and clattered against each other inside, making a clicking noise — and it was this sound that woke her. But this time, there was almost nothing Lei could do.
Her body wouldn't move. It was only natural. Her left arm was gone, and all that remained was her upper body, right arm, and the head attached to it. Even that was difficult to move, as her joints were half-broken.
But the misfortune was just beginning. As her mind slowly cleared, Lei realized that the one who attacked her in her final moments was none other than Artemis.
The unbelievable reality washed over her, and despair settled in her chest.
"...Why?"
No, it wasn’t a "why."
It was more like an escape from reality. However, as she traveled through the underground tunnel, she had many opportunities to face reality — yet, unable to make a decision, trapped in constant inner conflict, Artemis had only become more desperate to use Lei in a "more convenient way."
Ironically, Artemis had shattered the hope they once gave her. And so, she was slowly sinking into the swamp of despair amidst what felt like an endless journey — countless "ifs" rushed through her mind.
But all of it was just imagination.
It was the fitting end for someone who never chose an answer, remaining silent until the very end.
'...Can I escape?'
In her head, she knew it was impossible, but her heart couldn’t accept it.
No matter how much she forced her body to exert itself, it was meaningless. The alloy chains binding her arms and the lock merely clicked a little without yielding any result. Even if she somehow managed to break the lock or chains, escape would be impossible.
If she could cry, she would have, but Lei couldn't. She was no longer a living being.
So, in the overwhelming feeling of helplessness, she recited the words of the archetype and then lamented.
"...I... I was such a fool in the end."
Perhaps she had known it would turn out this way.
If that was the case, then perhaps she should have just been beaten and torn apart, dragged along no matter what. But that thought quickly shattered. She had always rejected it herself. At the very last moment, she decided to listen to the archetype's words, but it was far too late.
If her arms weren’t bound, she would have covered her face and lamented.
Unable to even cover her face, intermittent flashes of light continued to flicker on the broken ceiling of the armored train. The light wasn’t broken; it was the tunnel’s ceiling light shining through the ruptured roof, flickering as it moved farther away.
The meaning of it was clear.
Lei was headed toward Artemis.
"..."
Her body trembled. What should not be trembling was vibrating.
For the first time, Lei was truly experiencing what fear was. It was an emotion she had never felt before. Especially since she had never known how terrifying it was to lose herself.
However, her logic circuits understood exactly what awaited her at the end of this. Ultimately, death was the separation or disconnection of one's continuity or complete end. And the fact that she wouldn't remember any of this afterward... it was no different from dying.
In other words, what was waiting for her at the end of the train was death.
And that came as quickly as the size of her regret.
───Kiiing!
After moving a little further, the train slowly decelerated and finally came to a stop.
How much time had passed? With a brilliant light, the warehouse compartment opened, and only then did Lei see the senior Artemis operative who had once pushed her into the shopping mall in the past.
A sudden surge of emotion exploded.
The clattering sound of the chains mixed with the words that followed.
"You... you... damn bastard, you were really going to do this to me... then why the hell did you put these damn emotions into me when you made me, huh?!"
But there was no answer.
Instead, he opened his mouth, maintaining the same expressionless face.
"Transfer her to the control room."
"Yes."
It happened in an instant.
Several Artemis soldiers entered the warehouse, aimed their guns, and instead of unlocking her cuffs, shot a bullet into her right arm, shattering it. But what was even more unforgivable was that the cart they brought to collect her, who had only her torso and face left, was a single-wheeled cart.
She had seen this kind of sight before — when molten metal was poured into a furnace and shards of alloy would occasionally fall out, they would collect them in carts like this and pour them back into the truck. And then all the shards would turn into molten metal.
Death was right in front of her.
Helplessness and fear engulfed her whole body.
───Drrrrk!
Like trash, Lei was being moved into the depths of the facility on the cart.
How many minutes had passed? The senior operative spoke softly.
"Reprogramming, reassembly, design, training... none of that is your concern. Furthermore, in the current situation, where the organization’s survival is at stake, isn’t it only natural that we should format the software and restart it?"
He continued, as if it were as obvious as adding 1 to 1 to get 2.
The context of the conversation ruthlessly dug into Lei, who had no choice but to face reality.
"...Yeah. I never even cared from the start, did I?"
"That’s probably right."
After a brief silence, he spoke again.
Though not directed at Lei.
"The Epsilon type has too strong a sense of self. If there’s ever a chance to reproduce, we’ll need to adjust that part... probably to about 30% of the original."
"Should I report this to the board?"
"There’s no need for that with the few idiots still left. After this war, they might not even be alive. Just slip the word to the engineers."
"Understood."
At the same time, a hand gesture followed.
The moment the one-wheeled cart stopped, Lei desperately turned her head to check her surroundings, and all she saw were three Artemis soldiers holding rifle butts and about to strike her. A chill ran down her spine.
The senior operative’s soft voice echoed through the corridor.
"When you wake up again, I hope you’ll be a fine member of Artemis, Epsilon."
Urrgh!
With a terrible sound, Lei’s mind fell into darkness.
"Confirmed deceleration of the armored train. We are entering the research facility now."
Of course, the fall wasn’t just limited to that.
Sixteen reapers, falling from the sky, smashed the entrance of the facility, and like seawater filling up a broken ship, they began to tear apart everything in sight.
"Are you okay without your left arm?"
"Compared to losing a leg, it's much better. As long as there's no major issue with aiming and shooting, there's no need to worry too much."
Dais's worried eyes gently caressed the empty space where my left arm should have been.
But in reality, I wasn't in much trouble. Reloading might be a bit awkward, but the tail, which I had already adapted to using as a third arm, could help with reloading. Aiming had become slightly more difficult, but it wasn’t really a major issue either.
The reason was simple.
───Thwack!
"Ugh...!"
With a swift motion, I extended my arm, as if firing a pistol. Just before I thought I might hit, I pulled the trigger of Mjölnir, and one of the enemies went down for sure. Dais, Harmony, and Cato looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. They were still surprised.
The issue was that, due to the reduced accuracy, the areas I hit were no longer the chest or head, but parts like the thighs, arms, legs, or shoulders—places that wouldn't cause instant death, meaning the enemy would suffer longer. But that was something I didn’t need to worry about—the enemies had to take care of it themselves.
Usually, Jin took care of such cases.
"We've confirmed the siege inside. Plasma cannon firing prep."
At the same time, a blue flash covered the hallway.
It wasn’t a direct hit. The enemies were in a space that wasn’t open but blocked on the back, so their resistance became desperate. However, less than 20 seconds later, the enemies collapsed as if by magic. The reason was simple—the plasma blast consumed a large amount of air.
I confirmed the finishing shot on the heads of the fallen enemies, and with a loud bang, their heads exploded like watermelons. Fortunately, we were still in-game, so the destroyed form was just a polygon, and the blood was golden.
Anyway, the rules of engagement were simple.
"Consider anyone without a friendly marker an enemy and shoot to kill. There are no innocent people here."
The rules of engagement we received from the team.
In fact, there wasn’t really much of a rule to follow. There was only one line of instruction, and I wasn’t sure if it even counted as a rule. But it was inevitable—it was an order directly from Henry.
I heard that our General Henry had realized that Mecha Eugene was very much alive, and that Artemis had created it. The moment he made that connection, he shouted "No Innocent" against Artemis, declaring that, even if we were to gather data later, no one would be accepted.
And this was the result.
There was no reason to feel guilty about it either.
"Pl-Please... save me..."
"Markin Xavier, an Artemis researcher... confirmed as having been directly or indirectly involved in 32 biological experiments."
"I... I had no choice, it was from the higher-ups... Gah!"
"Then we can just say it was because we were also ordered by the higher-ups, right?"
Thwack!
In an instant, Loren Tina moved behind the researcher with a speed I could barely track with my own body vision and swung a spear, stabbing him in the chest. He collapsed onto a golden puddle.
This process had happened many times already. And it was thanks to the Dagger Team... and the living New America in that other world. After the war broke out and Artemis attempted to betray all of America, they compiled a list of all Artemis affiliates.
In other words, a kill list.
In the heavily secured database, whenever someone died, it was updated in real-time. This was available in the Dagger Team's Icarus gear, and it had also been passed to us.
"Main lobby sector clear."
"What about the Dagger team?"
"It seems like as soon as the elevator got blocked, they’re using antimatter grenades to punch holes in the reinforced wall."
Logan added with a rather peculiar expression.
Since there was an exact replica of Logan in the Dagger Team, to avoid confusion, our operational areas were separated, but there were still moments when we had to receive updates from the same source.
The strange look faded, and she spoke again.
"And they’re urgently looking for you and Jin, so it's probably best to go quickly. After scanning with pulses, they’ve found something in the deep research area, so you and Loren Tina take care of the upper levels."
"...You two should be fine. Let’s meet again after the operation is over."
"Don't forget to bring the second can that looks like you."
It was a typical Logan request, which made me grin.
Anyway, the Dagger Team needed me and Jin. To get to their operational area, we had to move about 200 meters, but no one here was concerned about that.
During the move, Jin blocked the bullets with her body, and I used plasma to tear apart the entire defensive line. If that wasn’t enough, I’d either plant an AP round in the heads of my still reluctant friends or separate their heads from their bodies with the rifle butt.
About two minutes later, after everything was wiped out, the Dagger Team, whose appearance had been altered by the Dark Zone's system, was waving their hands in front of the elevator.
It was a request for help.
"How many antimatter rounds do we have left from earlier?"
"About 30 rounds."
"Let’s pour them out in waves, especially focusing on the thick reinforced walls."
At the same time, I checked the enormous elevator passageway.
The path downward was pure chaos. It seemed as though a dozen or so defense walls had been melted down, and everywhere was filled with molten metal and steel vapor. While the heat was escaping upwards, it still didn’t feel quite enough to proceed to the deep areas.
So they urged me to use the antimatter rounds I had provided... and it was a perfect plan.
"The archetype’s expression is changing strangely."
"Stay quiet."
With a small click, about 30 antimatter rounds began to free-fall down the never-ending elevator passage.
The Dagger Team was already out of the way of the aftershock from the elevator, and I, having marked my targets, didn’t make any foolish moves, either.
Boom, boom, boom. After using about 12 rounds, the airflow in the elevator passage started to change.
The first to detect this was the Dagger Team’s Icarus gear.
-[Alert: Airflow change detected. Path to the deep research area confirmed.]
"Good. Let’s descend."
With the heat flowing upwards, the Dagger Team began securing ropes to prevent the fall.
Meanwhile, Loren Tina rummaged through her bag and handed me the Icarus ascender, which I never could have dreamed of in EU mode. I gratefully hooked it up to the rope first.
At the same time, warnings popped up before me, and the blueprint of the elevator passage appeared. Most of the zones were marked in red, indicating high-temperature zones, which only applied to me and not the Icarus operators.
"When you enter that area, hold your breath. Once you reach the floor, immediately enter the deep research area."
"Understood."
And then the descent began.
Holding my breath, I descended rapidly. Even though I was an in-game avatar, I could visibly see my health draining due to the intense heat in the passage. It was expected; even though the heat was escaping, the melted alloy walls still existed.
From above, I heard thudding noises. It was Jin. Without any ropes, she was stomping down the half-melted platforms, which had gaps of several meters between them.
It was unbelievable, but we were just 5 meters from entering the deep zone. It was fortunate that the specially treated rope didn’t burn and snap.
How much time had passed?
"...Hah."
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I felt like this white passage would drive anyone working here mad. The message on the UI indicated that the armored train was only 25 meters away.
There was no one inside, so Jin urged me to find the blueprint first.
"Straight ahead."
"Straight ahead?"
"I’ve confirmed a signal from the identical model ahead."
"Huff."
She pushed aside her half-burned hair and added:
"Let’s pray it hasn’t turned into a can yet."
At that moment, Jin and I dashed across the hallway at full speed.