Chapter 6 - 01 and 02

In the Control Room

"He has released all the monsters. We are currently struggling to regain control of the situation, let alone capture him."The head of the control room listened to the report.

He no longer understood anything.

How did 01 know the facility’s layout in such detail?

And why did the chip indicate his location, while its other functions were not working?

Most importantly... what was his goal?

Countless questions swirled in the guard commander’s mind.

If he wants to escape, and he knows the layout, why didn’t he go straight to the teleport gate?

he thought.

As he watched his position on the screen, 01 had already disabled most of the cameras.They could only see him as a red dot indicating his location on the floor that housed the monsters.

They had underestimated him, assuming he could be subdued easily by sending their strongest fighters.They never expected him to use their most powerful timed explosives.

That raised another question—how did he even know those things were there?

If I were in his place, and knew the teleport gate, I would escape now after causing all this chaos.

The control room commander bit his lip as he considered the possibilities.

At last, he seemed to reach a decision and pressed the communication device in his ear.

He was calling the last Rank Three individual stationed here.

"Mike, take all the experiments and go guard the route to the teleport gate."

After a moment, Mike’s voice came through."You’re asking me to leave this monster chaos and guard the gate?"

"Trust me. You won’t be able to catch him there."

"So you think he knows the layout and is trying to escape?" Mike replied.

"Yes. Take the other experiments and do as I said. The others will deal with the chaos over there."

...

Silence lingered for a few moments before Mike spoke again."Alright. I’ll trust you, my friend."

"Thank you. I’ll inform them."

He walked over to a small microphone and turned it on.

His voice echoed through many rooms identical to Caius’s.

"To all numbers, you have a mission now. 01 has gone out of control, and you are to subdue him. You are authorized to use essence. Someone will arrive to supply you with equipment and lead you... I repeat, your mission is to subdue 01. If you succeed, you will receive a substantial reward."

With that, he ended the message and turned off the microphone.

... ... ...

In many rooms, young men and women rose and prepared themselves.Their ages ranged from fifteen to twenty.

But one of them stood out.

In a separate room sat a girl with black hair and gray eyes, appearing around eighteen years old.By every standard, she was beautiful.

In addition to the powerful pressure emanating from her.

She was Rank Two,

– Intermediate

.Like Caius

She was known as 02.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, she murmured softly,"What are you doing, 01?"

She stood up and began preparing like the others.

Memories of the past began to resurface in her mind.

When she first arrived at this place, everyone had been put into a large room with very little food and water, then left to fight one another to survive.

She was around four or five years old at the time—she couldn’t remember clearly.

After weeks passed, many children died. Their numbers, once in the hundreds, dwindled to mere dozens.

Every day was a battle—against hunger, and against those who tried to eat you.

One day, 02 was breathing her last, lying in a filthy corner of that room.Her skin clung to her bones, showing she hadn’t eaten for a long time.

She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even think.Her vision was blurred in shades of black and gray.

That was when she saw him.

Another child her age approached her, with black hair and black eyes.He wasn’t in good condition either, but he was better off than most.

He walked unhindered, avoided by the others—because he was simply the strongest there by far.

And now he was approaching her, while she couldn’t even move to get away.

He stopped in front of her.Through her hazy vision, she saw his eyes—two pools of pure black.

She felt as if he were looking directly into her soul.

He didn’t belong in that place.

He knelt before her and placed two things down: a piece of bread and a bottle of water."Eat."

With that single word, he turned and walked away.

The others looked at her—or rather, at the food in front of her—but the boy’s gaze stopped them from doing anything foolish.

Using every last bit of strength she had, she grabbed the bread and began to eat.It was hard and tasted awful—but... it was food.She used the water to swallow it.

..

That wasn’t the last time he did this.

After that...

Every day, he brought her a piece of bread and some water, then left.After several days, her body began to recover, and she could move again.

One day, when he came to leave the bread as usual, she grabbed his wrist and asked,"Why are you helping me?"

Silence fell between them before he answered,"Because I want to."

It was a strange answer.

Later, she became 02.And he became 01.

Now, she stood before the door, waiting for the mission to begin—to subdue him... or kill him.

Moments later, her door opened.

A man who looked to be in his thirties stood there, his body radiating the pressure of Rank Three.It was Mike.

02 stepped into the corridor, where many other youths like her had gathered.

Mike spoke,"Your mission is to guard the route to the teleport gate."

Then he turned to her and said,"And you, 02, will accompany me to guard the gate itself."

02 nodded."Yes, sir."

"We’ll arm you now. Follow me."

... ... ...

Back in the control room,

The commander tracked the red dot on the large screen while issuing orders.

"He’s in Section B now."

Someone replied,"Sir, we can’t find him. All we see are rampaging monsters."

The commander clenched his teeth.

He didn’t understand. Before, 01 moved in an organized manner, like someone with a clear goal.But now, he was moving chaotically—like a beast.

The cameras were disabled, and many screens had gone dark, so they couldn’t see what was happening there.

"What is he doing? Shouldn’t he be escaping now?" he muttered.

Suddenly, he noticed something strange.

Other screens were dark—specifically, those displaying the floor he was currently on.

He hadn’t noticed earlier, because they had been focused on tracking the raging 01.

"Why are these screens off?" he asked.

One of the staff turned his head toward them, fell silent for a moment, then answered,"Sir... it’s not the screens. It’s the cameras."

Something suddenly clicked in his mind.

The chip is working—but it’s not performing its functions.

"Damn it... why didn’t I think of this?"

"What is it, sir?" someone asked.

"01 removed the chip and kept it, making us think it was merely malfunctioning—and that we could track him through it. He planned this... and if I were in his place right now... I’d feed it to a monster and make them track that instead."

Silence filled the room, until someone broke it."If we’ve been tracking a monster this whole time... then where is he now?"

To answer that question, the commander looked at the darkened screens.

"He’s here."

Everyone turned toward the room’s door...

Moments later, a powerful explosion engulfed the room and everyone inside.

The last thought that crossed the commander’s mind was:

Perhaps we never should have created something like this.