[Grab a knife and stand near the door.]
The woman did not hesitate and dashed to the kitchen to get a knife. She then approached the door and stood next to it.
"What now?"
[Hold the knife tightly and prepare. Someone will walk through that door in a few minutes. I want you to stab that person.]
"Who is it?"
[Do not question, woman. If you want to see her again, you must follow my instructions.]
The woman grabbed the knife with both hands and stood by the door. Her fingers trembled slightly, but she took a deep breath and waited.
A few minutes later, she was prepared to stab because her heart had hardened. Another reason for her confidence was that the person would not be her son, who was always late returning.
When the door opened, she took a step forward and quickly shot her hands down. The knife struck a young girl in the chest before she collapsed. Blood started to pool around her, and the knife stayed there.
"Grandma..."
The woman fell to her knees, her mouth hanging open. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and her heart was pounding in her chest. Her mouth trembled as she attempted to speak but was unable to. As the young girl continued to look at her mother, her eyes gradually became lifeless.
[What have you done? You killed your own daughter?]
"N-no... I -d-didn't know–"
[You killed them yourself, even though your husband wanted you to protect the child.]
"N-no..."
[What will you tell your son when he returns home? How will he react if the child is murdered by his own mother?]
"..."
[Do you think you can show him your face?]
"... you're right... I don't deserve to show him my face."
With trembling hands, she carefully removed the knife from the chest. Then she lifted her hands and turned the knife to her throat.
"...forgive me."
She plunged the knife into her throat and collapsed onto the floor. Her eyes remained open as blood ran down her throat, soaking her expensive dress in red.
Solus watched the scene on his screen. All of the microphones were turned off, so no one would ever hear what he said. He had the option to remove the video, but instead he chose to leave the evidence in place so Keaton would see it and suffer for the rest of his life.
"Emotions are the true weakness. Every living creature is a slave to it. They let their pitiful emotions lead them to their own downfall. What purpose do they serve? Only failure."
The voice message he played earlier was not from her husband. He had slaughtered trillions of people, burned billions alive for fun. He could never have remembered every one of their faces. The voice was that of someone else, whom he had killed a long time ago.
He was able to convince her with that random man's message after learning that her husband had died and that he was the cause of it. She could not tell if it was her husband or not because the speaker quality was poor and everything sounded strange.
Regardless, he enjoyed the show. It was much more entertaining to watch others kill each other over small matters. At least, he managed to do something meaningful without lifting a finger. But his enjoyment was short-lived because he was hungry again. He pushed his chair away and stood up before returning to the surface.
–––
"Keaton, you're still here? Isn't it past your duty time?"
"I was checking this microchip I found inside the brain. But it seems like this bastard was smart. He erased everything after he died."
"Just leave it. It was probably a nobody with big dreams. Just go home or your mom will get worried."
Keaton sighed. "Alright, see ya tomorrow."
He walked on the white tiles beneath the dim light on the ceiling. The night shift officers had already arrived, and he was the only one who remained from the day shift. Others greeted him as he walked towards the exit.
The segments were built on two sides. People lived in peace on the surface under a sky with a glowing star. However, none of that existed underground. It was where all of the dirty work took place.
The dark environment was swarming with flying vehicles that moved from one location to another. It was the exact opposite of the surface.
Keaton stepped onto the floating empty train outside the building, which left immediately for its destination. He looked outside, at the neon red lights gleaming on the edges of buildings.
The train arrived at its destination in a matter of seconds and opened its doors. Keaton went outside and entered an empty elevator, which started moving up. As it ascended, the buildings and flying cars grew smaller.
He stepped out once he reached the surface and began walking toward his home, which was close to the elevator station.
"Mom, I'm home." he said as he opened the front door of his house.
However, there was no response, which was unusual. Some of the lights were still turned off. When he tried to push the door further, it felt heavy, as if it was blocked by something.
He pushed harder, fully opening it, and entered his home. He was met with the sight of his nephew's lifeless body. It felt like a bad dream, but he was sure it was real.
After standing motionless for a moment, he lowered himself and touched the corpse to confirm. The body was cold and pale white, with a pool of blood surrounding it. He immediately removed his hand and took a step back.
When he walked forward, he noticed his mother's body lying against the wall, with a knife stuck in her throat. His lips parted open as he gazed at the scene.
Then he snapped out of it and dashed into the house. It seemed pointless to keep staring at the scene. He could mourn and cry all he wanted later, but he needed to know who had caused the scene.
The door to his room was slammed before he dashed to his computer. He immediately began reviewing the camera footage while he was outside.
"Who dared touch my family?! I will skin him alive!"
The video played on the monitor as he carefully observed every detail. Strangely, there was no sound, but he was too focused on the events to notice it.
Moments after his nephew left the house, his mother stood up and entered the kitchen. She returned with a knife and stood near the door.
Keaton was perplexed at first, but then realized she might have heard the intruders outside and wanted to defend herself. As the footage continued to play, he stepped away from the screen, staring at it in shock. His mother stabbed her granddaughter before stabbing herself. There were no intruders; only them.
"M-mom..."
Keaton tripped and fell to the ground.
"I-impossible! She would never do that!"
His mind was torn between two opposing ideas. One side claimed his mother was to blame, while the other claimed she was being manipulated by someone else. But the first side was taking over his mind, because she had not spoken to anyone during that time.
"Why did you do this..."
As he stared at the screen, a small tear welled up in the corner of his eye.
–––
Solus walked around his house after finishing a small meal. The doorbell suddenly began to ring. He turned around and approached the front door, which he then opened. There was a box outside the door, waiting for him to pick it up.
"That was faster than I expected."
Whatever happened, the parts were eventually delivered. It was actually better for him that it only took a few hours. He took the box and returned to his laboratory.
He received exactly what he ordered. After that, he severed his arm from the shoulder with a saw.
Blood gushed out of the veins, but he was quick to work to avoid losing too much. He positioned the cybernetic arm correctly and connected it to the bones, veins, and nerves.
When the blood started flowing inside, it turned on and he could move it however he wanted. Then, as before, he put the motors and gears into all the important bone joints and got to his feet.
All that remained to install was the cybernetic eye. He pulled out his left eye without flinching and inserted the cybernetic eye into the socket. The eye automatically connected to the nerves and activated. He looked in the mirror and gave a faint smirk.
"I am aware that I am constantly watched by higher dimensional beings, but why should I care? If they could stop me, I would not last a single day. If this is a simulation, I will corrupt it. If this is a story, I will rewrite it. They can do nothing but watch like fools."