Chapter 183

However, to prevent organ damage, Nana quickly took out a breathing mask from her suitcase, put it on, and continued to approach.

When Nana met the gaze of the suppressed, crawling Sacred Remains on the ground, the first thing she noticed was the Halo above the other's head.

"I had no idea that absorbing my companion's 'mystery' would grant me more Halo..."

Looking at the three Halo nested within each other, their Halo arranged in an equilateral triangle, Nana squatted down, propping her cheeks up, and sat in front of the monster, whose size had increased even further.

"So, you called me here... is there something you want to say?"

Clearly, even if Yi Lin (III) and Lin Qi (IV) possessed human memories and experienced human emotions, it would still be too difficult to make the monster speak human language immediately.

But the existence of Empathy is the key to breaking down all barriers.

Following the other person's reminder of 'discomfort', Nana climbed onto their back and took out something that looked like a transmitter, deeply embedded in the crystal, from the back of their head.

As Nana moved, the monster struggled violently for a moment, but soon it became agile and began to use its right claw scythe, which was locked together by a large number of buckles and sprayed with Originium, to pry open the buckles on its back.

However, the control unit of that thing was obviously not in this room, and its material was a very high-grade military alloy, making it extremely difficult for even Nana herself to cut it.

Realizing it was futile, the Sacred Remains quickly stopped struggling, but then it began to make Nana rearrange the room.

"... Remove these armor plates?"

Although it seemed somewhat inexplicable, perhaps due to the lack of empathy she had witnessed in Zero's interactions with Diana, Nana unusually complied with her target's request... Let's just consider it a gesture of humanitarian concern in the face of death.

It seems the Sacred Remains went berserk when it was first brought here, as the armor it demanded be removed had numerous scratches and cuts.

Because the anti-spell coating was destroyed, a small amount of Collapse Reaction was enough to instantly turn these spell-resistant objects into black snowflakes. After they melted away, the original cement wall of the Applied Division was quickly revealed.

Based on the records, this is probably not the first time I've stood here.

Nana originally thought that the feeling here would be as oppressive as No. 0 Prototype... but surprisingly, looking at the cement walls with cartoon graffiti and the floor with colorful squares, Nana felt that this place had a very... homey feeling.

Because so much time had passed, in order to accurately reconstruct these traces, Nana had no choice but to activate the Site Echo System of her special agent equipment... And after Anna's quick analysis, the vivid magical projection of 'Zero,' who lived here decades ago, appeared before her, transcending time.

In the past, Nana rarely used SHD's intelligence analysis function; she preferred to act directly according to her agent's instructions.

SHD's so-called 'Scene Replay' is a function that re-arranges and combines existing intelligence in the Anna database with traces of the scene to replay events.

Because this function can only understand the possible causes of the current location, it can only show a possible past based on the available information. Firstly, it is not reliable, because due to the lack of a little information, the scene shown may be completely wrong. The possibility of it creating a preconceived impression on the user has always made Nana uneasy, so she has basically never used this function.

But... if it's just about seeing some trivial content, then it doesn't matter. After all, Nana has accumulated quite a bit of information about the relationship between No. 0 Prototype and Diana over the years... even if there are some errors, it doesn't matter; this projection has already given her enough comfort.

In the monochrome particle effects built with varying shades, that's yourself, at least twenty centimeters shorter than you are now.

In the projection, with the assistance of another woman who was 1.75 meters tall, she used a paintbrush to paint the blue sky and fields outside on the cement wall... To this day, the paint on the wall still retains the texture of an oil painting.

In the projection, she and the woman sat on the edge of the bed, holding books and seemingly discussing something... Nana saw, in the dust beneath the projection, the crushed parts of the hospital bed, as well as rotten picture books and children's history textbooks.

In the projection, she and two other children of similar height were hopping on the floor... The projected data labeled the two figures as 'Mika' and 'Nagisa'. Anna's server unexpectedly contained their birth records; they seemed to be children of researchers from Number Seventy-Seven Laboratory?

However, in terms of their interpersonal relationships, the two women were 'adopted' from the researcher's parents... and they also had work records of 'participating in experiments' in Number Seventy-Seven Laboratory.

The more she investigated, the more she felt that these two people had a close relationship with her. Nana decided that when she returned to Rhodes Island, she would ask them directly what was going on.

But judging solely from the projection at hand, they seem to have a very good relationship with me, as if the laughter from decades ago could be transmitted through time.

Nana couldn't help but wonder if Anna's judgment was based on the polite attitude the two girls had shown her at Lycoris School. After all, AI can't read the room... so it's possible that this feature caused her to misjudge the situation.

Nana thinks it's okay to just look at it and not take it too seriously...

We'll have to wait until we contact the agent and talk to Mika and Nagisa themselves before making any decisions about the actual situation.

Just as Nana finished watching Anna's projection and turned it off, a yearning feeling came from the Sacred Remains again... It wanted Nana's SHD spell Terminal.

"This... I can't give it to you..."

After all, they were still enemies. Helping it dismantle the interior layout was partly due to Nana's own selfish motives, mixed with a desire to know more about her past...

But wouldn't handing the spell Terminal over to the Sacred Remains be asking for trouble?

After all, the special spells recorded in the SHD Terminal that greatly enhanced destructive power, defense, and recovery power left a deep impression on Nana... Just as Nana was still bargaining with the Sacred Remains using Halo, the room's light strips suddenly went out and then turned into red emergency lights. At this moment, the two guys with their own light sources in the center of the room suddenly became conspicuous.

What's going on?

The Kitty Army reconnected to the ground; the little Feline seemed to still be confronting the wooden house, but the Artificial Human on the perimeter had already confiscated the Instruction Corps' weapons, and the soldiers were bound hand and foot with zip ties, awaiting Judgment.

What surprised Nana was that the figures inside the cabin, confronting the outside world, resembled female Sankta with figures similar to Artificial Angel... Were they also Artificial Angel? Nana didn't know, because they all covered their faces with hoods.

Furthermore, I should be able to Empathy normally with Sankta. Weren't they affected by the Little Cat Army's influence? Why are they still insisting on fighting for those scumbags?

As two hurried footsteps approached from behind, the indoor fans simultaneously began their exhaust operation.

Accompanied by a man-made howling wind, Nana removed her mask and slowly turned around. As the heavy armored door creaked open, the assassin saw two Sankta wearing white robes and masks covering their faces... No, after seeing them in person, Nana was certain that they were still the same Little Feline as the Artificial Angel.

They were simply wearing equipment to conceal their racial characteristics.

"... Empathy... There's no response at all... Are you still alive? Or are you, like it, already dead?"

As the question was asked, the other party naturally did not provide any response.

As one of the people took out a remote control, Nana tilted her head in confusion, and then the sound of an explosive bolt being activated came from behind her.

With a heavy thud as metal hit the ground, the Three-Ring Sacred Remains, now even larger, slowly rose... But seeing the black-haired Feline who didn't turn back, the two white-clad Artificial Human, following orders, spoke to the Sacred Remains:

"Kill her, then go kill all the traitors."

"... No, try not to kill them."

With these instructions given to the Sacred Remains whose aggression had surged, Nana quickly analyzed the current situation and, using Empathy, offered the Sacred Remains the following advice:

"Charge out down the corridor and bring the culprit to me."

Amidst the angry chirping of insects, the Sacred Remains reluctantly chose a spot to land in the laboratory, carefully avoiding the two people in white, before rushing towards the entrance... Watching it leave, Nana suddenly realized that the door she had entered through might not have allowed it to pass at all?

Just as Nana was wondering whether she should try to hack the freight elevator, she saw the Sacred Remains start digging a concrete tunnel leading to the livestock pen with both hands and feet... and quickly dug it out like a professional tunnel boring machine.

The two guards seemed to have been taken away by the Little Cat, so the Sacred Remains rushed out without harming anyone, which was truly a cause for celebration.

"Then, the remaining question is up to you."

Seeing the two people in front of her simultaneously raise their submachine guns and utter the inorganic phrase "hostile response detected," Nana, no longer having any scruples, used a Collapse Flash to appear behind them, then picked up the now-useless administrator Terminal and used it as a blunt weapon to knock the two unlucky little devils unconscious.

Lifting their masks and hoods, Nana saw signal transmission devices on the back of their heads that were identical to those on the Sacred Remains.

So, this thing really is a device for maintaining personality modification... Clearly, her primary target has an inexplicable desire for control. As for whether he was forced into this state by the No. 0 Prototype, or whether he was a pathological person to begin with... none of that matters to Nana.

Thinking that experts would come later to remove the brain devices from them, Nana tied them up and threw them into the farm passageway...

Holding the guns from the two children, the Kitty Killer moved a plastic chair, probably the same model as the one from thirty years ago, from the lab cafeteria.

She placed it on the path leading to the freight elevator outside the farm and sat down. As she expected, the elevator unlocked and opened the elevator atrium. The setting sun shone warmly on Nana's upper body through the edge of the gate...

As far as she knew, this was the only way to leave the farm after the ground was sealed off.

As the Sacred Remains on the ground launched a demolition-like attack on the wooden house, and as the Kitty Army followed Nana's example and tied up the resisting white-clad cats one by one, Nana soon heard a series of hurried footsteps.

And as he expected, the person stopped abruptly after turning the corner and seeing him.

"... No. 0 Prototype?"

The man carrying Liberi appeared to be the server core chuckled, but as more footsteps followed, he was trapped in the middle, surrounded... With heavy footsteps and the chirping of insects, he was forced to move closer to Nana, his breathing labored... The Kitty Killer could hear the reluctance in his steps.

"Diana was really awful, wasn't she? She renamed the lab after you... You see, she was really awful, wasn't she?" (Bar)

As if asleep, no matter what the man behind her said, Nana only felt the touch of the sunlight, while the footsteps behind her continued to approach.

If Nana turned around, she would see a horrified scene of countless eerie blue eyes staring intently at the Liberi man in the darkness... But what probably made the man lose his composure the most was the Sacred Remains that had completely slipped out of his control. (Mio)

The creature now stood upright and walked on two legs. Its slightly crouched, reverse-jointed lower limbs left footprints on the laboratory floor. It hissed and made a cawing sound like an insect, circling the man and scrutinizing him for a while.

Meanwhile, dozens of Little Cat soldiers arrived and completely blocked the area... and later, several white-clad cats angrily pushed their way to the front line, guns at the ready. Behind them, medics from the Kitty Army, wielding healing staffs, chased after her bleeding head, using Healer Link...

Upon seeing this, Liberi's breathing became irregular. He looked around, then painfully covered his face with his hands, causing the suitcase to fall to the ground. Soon after, Little Cat came forward, picked up the suitcase, and brought it to Nana, who was sunbathing.

When the Little Cat arrived, the box was opened specifically for Nana to check, because that way they could somewhat sense what it was for through Empathy. Coincidentally, Nana recognized it; this palm-sized hardware, carefully encased in shock-absorbing foam, was an anonymous decoder... Miss Assassin had seen it when the agent accessed the SHD server; it was probably some kind of electronic key used to log into a special server.

Without hesitation, I would guess that it is the physical key used by the Archaeology Division to log into the SHD Isaac Server.

With this, even if the data administrator dies or their account is banned, as long as a physical connection to the target server can be found, resetting the account is only a matter of time.

However, even with such useful equipment, once the person who raised the problem is physically dealt with, the box is just something that's not worth using and can be disposed of without any problem.

For Nana, it was merely an inspection of the spoils; but for the section chief, the Artificial Angel's subservient demeanor towards Nana was nothing short of a bolt from the blue.

"You... can control them? No... at least the ones with safety devices..."

Before he could finish speaking, the white-clad cat, whose forehead had just been bandaged, punched him in the mouth. Liberi whimpered in pain and immediately knelt on the ground.

"Wait, wait! I admit, the safety device does have various issues that can cause significant damage to the modified body... After all, it's an extension of the Rhine Subdermal Armor, but inflammation and such can be managed with regular medical care..."

This time it was his foot. Seeing that he was still spouting nonsense, the cat in white shot Liberi straight through the shinbone.

The head of the Archaeology Division department at the Columbia National Laboratory was now rolling on the ground, screaming in a comical manner, as if he were performing some kind of farce.

But after eating something, seemingly gaining a tolerance for pain, this guy, whose white coat had been stained a gray-black camouflage, and who was now bleeding from the nose, drooling, and tearing up—a far cry from his former elite demeanor—began to shout wildly:

"Enough! It's a matter of life and death, just a word! I admit, Diana is probably stronger now... but she's only thirty years ahead! That kind of bullshit record, which shows no scientific desire to master the unknown, even if it were an ordinary person, you'd be completely obedient to her if you had thirty years with her!"

"You're just a fucking weapon! You listen to whoever you see first, don't you!? I just pushed Diana, and the first person you saw was her! You were supposed to be mine... I should be the one controlling Columbia's strongest Executor!?"

The threats turned into screams of agony—this was the first time Nana had ever seen such a thing happen... She had originally planned to give the Little Cat enough time to get their revenge, but this really piqued the Kitty Killer's curiosity, so Nana turned her head to look... and saw the kittens being picked up by the Sacred Remains and being tossed around in a frenzy of screams.

Well... looking at his pleading expression, Nana found it hard to have a positive opinion of him.

I can only say that I still prefer his rebellious, drug-addicted self.

With Nana's sigh, the section chief fell to the ground again in a disheveled state, his already injured leg making a crisp cracking sound upon landing, but Nana pretended not to hear it.

"That's not how it is... Things shouldn't be like this... I was only thinking of Columbia's best interests, wanting to help countries willing to accept me become top-tier powers. I didn't do anything wrong... Yes, I successfully cracked the Creator's Soldier construction formula, I shouldn't have treated him like this!"

"Aren't you a Columbia agent?! If you're truly acting in the national interest, you should be moving! Come protect me! Order these clones of yours to get away... Ughhhhhh!"

This time, he was hit by a cat soldier in the team who was holding a brick. It seems that because Nana was still considering whether to take him to Judgment, the soldier deliberately didn't aim for his head.

But the brick hit his other leg, which was still relatively intact, and then a rifle with its magazine removed struck him in the back... Now Chief Liberi could only lie on the ground and talk.

"Wait?! Wait, wait, wait!! You... you're venting? You weren't just emotionlessly controlling your Zero Entity... you're... wait, Zero Entity, what the hell did you do?! Didn't you use a blank body to break the seal?!"

Seeing the section chief's terrified expression, Nana tilted her head and said:

"They are not my alter egos... they have their own lives..."

"Your own... life?! What the hell did you do...? You were originally the commander of Previous Civilization's military combat team... where the hell did you get your own life?! You even have to erase your memories to avoid triggering Catastrophes... Oh, right, there's this trick... you need to erase your memories?! How the hell could I forget that... Memory erasure medicine... here, here, I still have some..."

Seeing Liberi lying on the ground struggling to push a pneumatic syringe toward her, Nana glanced at it twice, and after confirming there was nothing fishy about it, picked it up.

"Listen, Number Seventy-Seven... I may not trust you, but I trust your military skills... You must have read all the records in this lab, right? After all, you didn't even come to me... You, who have excess emotions and are ready to destroy the world at any moment, don't you most enjoy watching how humanity struggles on this land?"

"I'll struggle for you, listen carefully... This is my Terminal. Go check the experimental records in the Applied Division. It contains your background... and the reasons why you can't be so emotional. Not only are you in danger yourself, but you've also unlocked these guys' emotional locks! Now this land has hundreds more Apostle-level disasters!"

Ignoring the Terminal that was subsequently pushed towards her, Nana changed the direction of her chair, sat down, and continued:

"I've seen all those parts...I know my past, and I know why I lost my memory."

"So now you know how unstable you are... You shouldn't have any memory foundation when fighting some unspeakable monster, because that's the breeding ground for emotions. And for you, developing emotions is like lighting a bomb... In the past, you destroyed several city-states and killed Diana's friends... Admit it, the real you is a heartless killing machine! And that's also your most stable self..."

"Help me! Can't you see I'm bleeding?! My life is precious, I have to protect you ticking time bombs for Columbia... So even life imprisonment is fine, at worst I'll be monitored while working like Loken... I'll be okay!"

"So save me! I'm bleeding everywhere... Save me, then go get the Memory-Erasure Drug. I'll give you the orders later. I've optimized the medicine's process, so the other clones can also maintain a stable and carefree life... You have to think about Diana, whom you love, right?! Even if she doesn't mind you becoming the Angel of death who slaughters the land again, you still have to think about it yourself..."

"Listen to me, take the medication... it's the best option for everyone."

As she spoke, she used her hand to plug the wound to stop the bleeding, but contrary to the section chief's expectations, the No. 0 Prototype in front of her showed no change in expression. She even... even gave herself a slight smile?

That No. 0 Prototype, who was forbidden from participating in the lab's "No Laughing" contest, is actually laughing?!

"Are you referring to the issue of the emotional resonance rule? If you're worried that this problem will cause the Offline Command System to malfunction, there's no need to worry. My agent has already found and resolved the issue for me. I, Jiuling Wushan, won't malfunction, and neither will these Little Cat..."

"In comparison, you seem to have reminded me that in Columbia, some criminals aren't truly cured even after being put in jail... I hadn't even noticed that Loken was still researching this in prison... Thank you for reminding me."

As Nana approached him with the Silver Dancer sword, a growing sense of unease crept into Liberi's heart. He even forgot to continue trying to stop his bleeding, instead crawling backward with his blood-stained hands flailing about.

"You—! You've betrayed Columbia?! Zero!! You... you stay away!!"

With a gun pressed against his forehead, Nana continued with a smile:

"Finally, I am Nana Ivy, Agent No. 77. You can also call me Medic or Alice. I have a household registration for these identities... In short, my name is not the Zero Unit 2032 Lingqi IV (Eight) Body, that is not a 'human' name."

Pulling the trigger... Although the problem isn't solved yet, the person who raised the issue that led to this escalation has indeed been dealt with.

Objective 1: Confirm elimination.

Afterwards, Nana looked at the Sacred Remains with a bit of a headache. The Kitty Army's Empathy was currently in a state of emotional turmoil, so they decided to put it aside and think about it for a while. Nana mainly looked at the Sacred Remains.

"... Normally, the deceased wouldn't move on their own..."

"Grumble--?"