Creeeak.
Clang.
The sound of a heavy iron door closing echoed, and the girl opened her eyes.
Rustle.
"......."
She slowly sat up.
Everything had changed.
The space she found herself in was entirely different from before.
And more than anything... the way she perceived everything around her had altered unnervingly.
“Ugh...!”
An overwhelming flood of knowledge implanted into her brain, paired with her drastically heightened intelligence, left her reeling.
The girl felt like a stranger to herself, the change too sudden, too vast.
"It hurts..."
There were no visible injuries on her body, but the aftereffects of the extreme experiments left her with a persistent nosebleed.
"It hurts so much..."
The memories forcibly imprinted into her mind provided clarity about her circumstances.
She was a repository of human knowledge, an experiment in the New Humanity Project.
As the sole survivor of the experiment, she had been segregated and labeled for "special treatment."
Of course, "special treatment" still meant being locked in a filthy cage akin to an animal’s pen.
"...They’re all dead, aren’t they."
Her friends, whom she had met after being sold off by her starving parents, were fellow test subjects.
Together, they had clung to the hope that they could endure the experiments and one day escape.
But they had died, their lives snuffed out like candles.
"I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, everyone!"
Thick tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed uncontrollably.
After crying for what felt like an eternity, she finally stood, gripping the bars of her cage.
Mourning her friends wouldn’t change anything.
If anything, she would use the time to find a way to escape.
One day, she vowed, she would make the people who did this to her and her friends pay for their sins.
With her newfound intelligence and the knowledge etched directly into her brain, escape wasn’t impossible.
Cross-legged on the cage floor, she began to focus.
She sorted through all the information she could gather from her current position, categorizing and analyzing it until her mind had built a comprehensive map of the facility.
One year.
In one year, she would have completed her analysis and found a way out.
Her eyes burned with fierce determination.
Time passed.
Periodically, researchers took her from Sector 1 to conduct experiments and evaluate her vitals.
Horrifying and painful procedures followed. Her skull was opened with spatial-cutting magic, her brain manipulated. Parts of her body were severed and reattached, her nerves modified.
Yet, the girl endured, focusing on gathering as much information as possible.
During this time, two more girls were brought into her cage.
Muria-17-06, a girl around her age, and Muria-25-03, who was much younger.
They were the only survivors of subsequent experiments, meaning the trials had reached up to 25 generations. Out of all the test subjects, only three had survived.
"Seventy-seven Sister... it hurts so much..."
The girl embraced Muria-25-03, nicknamed Samsam.
She gently patted her head and blew softly on her wounds.
"It doesn’t hurt anymore. The pain’s all gone. Fly away, pain, fly away!"
“Hehe. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Samsam snuggled into her chest.
How could they subject someone so young to such cruel experiments?
The girl’s resolve deepened. No matter what, she would escape with these two.
"Six-Six, you’re from Riverhild?"
"Yeah. It’s a beautiful place, with rivers flowing through fields of green."
"I want to see it someday..."
"When we get out of here, I’ll take you there."
"Do you think we’ll find fish in the river?"
"Tons! I used to catch a lot when I was little."
Despite the wealth of information implanted in their minds, the girls deliberately ignored it, preferring to imagine the places for themselves.
"Did you know? When a princess gets kidnapped, a prince will come to save her. Then they get married!"
"But a princess is a king’s daughter, and a prince is a king’s son. Doesn’t that mean they’re siblings?"
"No, silly! The prince is from another kingdom!"
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"Ohhhh."
Their conversations were often meaningless, but they kept talking to distract themselves from their pain.
"Do you think we’ll have a prince to save us?"
"If we were princesses, maybe."
"Who knows? Maybe someone out there will save us."
Their meager upbringing meant they’d never experienced much of the world, but the vast knowledge implanted in their brains gave them plenty to talk about.
"All Muria-50 experiments have failed."
"Shall we prepare for batch 51?"
"No, it’s pointless. Focus on the three remaining specimens."
The experiments inflicted on the girls became increasingly severe.
"Endure it! Do you know how much time and money we’ve spent on you? A little pain is nothing!"
The project to create an artificial god of knowledge using the pinnacle of human intellect was nearing its climax.
"Seventy-seven Sister..."
"Are you okay?"
When the girl returned, battered and worn, the other two embraced her warmly.
"I’m fine... just a little tired..."
One day, Samsam jumped up with excitement.
"Seventy-seven Sister! I discovered something amazing!"
“...Something amazing?”
"Look at this!"
She began drawing on the straw scattered across the cage floor.
"(i)"
"What... are you drawing?"
"This is the reproductive organ humans use to have babies! We all have them!"
"...I know that."
"But when a man and a woman marry, the man’s organ fits into the woman’s like a perfect puzzle piece!"
Samsam enthusiastically sketched diagrams like a child uncovering a fascinating secret.
"Like this!"
"...Oh."
Despite the simplicity of her drawings, they felt oddly compelling to the girls.
As if some primal instinct was being awakened within them.
"...I kind of want to try it."
"Not with just anyone, though."
"Wouldn’t it be nice if it were a prince? Hehe."
The conversations of adolescent girls knew no brakes.
"What if the prince marries one of us?"
"Well... maybe we could all marry him?"
"But what if he only wants one of us?"
"Then we’ll bless the one he chooses and step aside. How about that?"
"Sounds good to me!"
"Hehe. I’d gladly give him up for you, sisters."
The implanted sexual knowledge only fueled their fantasies, leading to deeper and more absurd musings.
"Did you know? Men release liquid when they climax."
"Is it like ours?"
"Not exactly. Apparently, it can cause pregnancy."
"What does it taste like?"
"Maybe sweet?"
"If I ever spend my first night with a prince, I’ll make sure to amaze him with my skills!"
"Like you’d know how."
"I might not have experience, but I’ve got the knowledge!"
"Sure, until you mess up and disappoint him."
As their wild speculations escalated, their pain temporarily faded.
These idle chats were their escape, moments of happiness amidst the despair.
Moments they didn’t want to end.
Should I even try to escape?
What if trying to escape only gets them hurt?
Maybe staying here, sharing stories and laughs, isn’t so bad after all.
The thought of having something to lose filled the girl with fear.
Her once-steely resolve began to waver.
"Muria-25-03! It’s time for your experiment!"
The despairing memory of an eternal regret replayed in the dream.