It had been a few hours. Yoku was bandaging my arms and body…
Ugh. It feels like I'm going to die.
[Conserving Energy Mode]
As soon as the AI said that, Adam's body felt like it was being scourged with thorns—piercing him over and over again. A wave of intense fire and burning shot through the places where the bullets had hit.
"How the heck am I still alive right now?"
A normal person would've died being shot this many times. The bleeding had already stopped, but… I feel like my bones are shattered.
Yoku sighed. "As much as I want to say this... How the heck did you survive? Still, I'm grateful," she pointed at him. "You survived."
Then Arial stepped closer, sitting down.
"Hey," he said. A puff of smoke left his mouth—cough, cough.
Seriously, this guy...
Yoku and Adam instinctively stepped back from him—some of the soldiers did too.
"You do know that stuff will slowly kill you, right? And it's extremely addictive."
Arial's eyes widened, but his tone stayed calm.
"Huh...? Oh, that's why I can't quit this thing." Cough, cough. He kept smoking the cigarette in his hand. "But the problem is that."
He pointed up—toward a drone moving across the ceiling. "Why do you have a robot?"
Adam and Yoku both looked away… Sigh.
Adam started thinking—how do I even keep this a secret? If the town finds out about them, we could be labeled traitors. Enemies.
This is too tiring... hahh...
Arial smiled. "Well, you did save us, so I won't tell. But these guys…"
Sigh.
Too unpredictable. Too many variables.
Adam placed his hands together and looked down, planning something.
If this gets too far… my friends could be in danger.
Should I just kill them?
…
Sigh… what is wrong with me?
This isn't who I am. No—what am I doing?
I'm changing, and I know it. And I hate it. I'm getting greedy… selfish…
The soldiers were still resting far off, talking amongst themselves.
What do I do with them?
Only 14 remain—7 died.
If that robot had kept attacking, we wouldn't have made it.
No—I'm not even sure we'll survive going forward.
We walked further. Now the halls were covered in steel and cement blocks, lined with various materials and inscribed decorations.
Ahead of me stood an extremely large, futuristic gate. Curious, I touched it.
A sudden zap of electricity shot through me from the print panel on the side.
-_-
Sigh. I should really remind myself to stop doing these stupid things.
---
(Morals)
I saw her.
An impossibly gorgeous epitome of a human being. It was as if someone engineered her to possess every trait to its maximum potential.
She sat calmly in a chair, reading a book. Behind her was a large control panel—probably the system for maintaining and controlling this room.
Yellow and white silky hair. Pale skin. Blue eyes. A white dress.
A red ribbon in her hair.
She looked at me with a calm gaze.
"Hello. I am 0-04, the current human organism designed and destined to manage human embryos."
What is this…?
This feels extremely demoralizing...
Yoku's eyes lit up.
"Woah! How did they build this? Hey, you there—who are you?"
The room was overwhelmingly white, with liminal spaces arranged in a cold, sterile palette of black, white, deep blue, and faint off-marble tones. It felt like a place that didn't belong in time—too clean, too quiet, too precise.
To the left, rows of human-like pods lined the wall—some held adults in deep sleep, others contained embryos suspended in glowing fluid. Sleek, multi-armed maintenance robots hovered and glided silently, tending to them with eerie precision.
Beside the pods were advanced scientific tools—genome sequencers, CRISPR editing stations, holographic DNA analyzers, and cryogenic chambers storing preserved samples of animal DNA. Nearby, massive slabs of metallic glass displayed projected genetic codes and imprints, constantly shifting and updating in streams of data.
Even in silence, the room buzzed with life—artificial, engineered, and yet undeniably human in its ambition.
Adam just looked at her with a blank expression.
I see… the morals of this world are so different from mine...
The white-haired girl in the white robe spoke:
"This was created by Kanazawa—my creator. She hoped to offer humanity a new hope. But it was ultimately pointless. The genetic decay in these clones, and even in me, is nowhere near as perfect as you."
She spoke eloquently and softly, though her voice trembled slightly.
Wait… what did she just say? Perfect? As me...?
"You're an anomaly, Mister," she said with a hint of hope, her formal tone cracking slightly. She stepped forward, her eyes on me. The soldiers looked toward Adam—perhaps realizing something.
"Which isn't bad," she added. "What do you think, Mister? Think of a mosquito. The more you kill it, the more it evolves—until your hand can't even react to its bite. Its reflexes faster than you can move. Evolution of biology. The Doctor believed in that."
She sighed.
"But it was meaningless. There was still a decay… in expression."
She smiled faintly, reaching for my hand.
"You're the one. Maybe… the key. But unfortunately, I cannot leave this facility."
Adam felt embarrassed by her directness.
The soldiers smiled amongst themselves, sharing a look.
"So you're less valuable than a normal human being?" one said.
She held his hand tighter—her grip trembling, but firm.
"If the majority believes something is true… then is it?"
They smirked.
"Then are you an object?"
Hearing that, Adam wanted to burn the man's head to a crisp.
I really, really hate these guys...
But he couldn't say anything.
Because how do you explain something is wrong, when you don't even know what wrong is…?
Adam followed God's morality. That was all he had... and now he is changing becoming corrupt
She clutched the sleeve of his garment.
I see…
She's still human after all.
Adam didn't change—but humanity did.
Yoku stood confused, uncertain what to do—but he would follow whatever Adam chose.
The girl smiled again.
"Sometimes I wonder… why am I like this? Why was I placed here? Why was I predestined to do this...?
And I hated it."
"It's stupid, you know. How I was created to be perfect… yet I wasn't. I'm not.
I'll never be."
She leaned down.
"And I wonder... I think there's really no difference between me and the average person who thinks. I'm not an AI, and I am limited. And yet, I still don't know what others are thinking at all."
"If this place falls into the wrong hands… no—if I can't decide for myself whether I'm worthy…
Then I'll take that choice.
It's better for me to claim it than to let it fall into hands that would destroy everything."
Adam felt the weight of the choice. If people gained control of this facility… of the genetically-created humans in their embryo pods…
He would rather take it himself.
Sigh... I am also a greedy person. A monster, after all... but still—
"I..."