Chapter 225: The Gamble (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 225: The Gamble (2)
“Do I… really have to do this?”
Biting her lip, lost in thought for a long moment, Mycrony glanced at Isaac Adler and asked her question.
“Couldn’t you just give me one? Is there really a need to go this far…?”
“Choose. Quickly.”
However, Adler ignored her plea and firmly insisted she make a decision.
“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to choose at all.”
“……..”
“The choice is yours. I’m not forcing you, but… since you’re going to die within a month anyway, wouldn’t it be better to take the chance?”
At his words, Mycrony lifted her hand, her heart trembling.
“Umm…”
Her hand began to waver between the two pills. Her face, now as pale as a corpse, was slick with cold sweat.
“You truly want to live, don’t you?”
“…….”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen such desperation on Miss Mycrony’s face.”
As Adler noted, Mycrony’s expression was more rigid than ever before.
“…Is this a game to you?”
For the first time since he had known her, she spoke to him in a frigid voice, berating him harshly. The intensity of her gaze caused the smirk to vanish from his face, his lips thinning into a straight line.
“You… you really are a devil.”
“………”
“Giving a reason to live to someone who had none, only to gamble with their life… isn’t that too vile? Too evil?”
Mycrony continued to condemn him.
“Did you approach me with this intention from the very beginning?”
“…Perhaps.”
“I always claim to know everything in the world, yet I never realized the malice you held. I didn’t know I was so blind, so foolish.”
Genuinely hurt, Mycrony continued in a freezing tone as Adler averted his gaze.
“All this time, the professor, my sibling, everyone… we were all just pawns to be played as you willed.”
“…….”
“I should have just killed you that day without a second thought.”
Betrayal and pain flickered in Mycrony’s eyes as she spoke.
“Besides, if you can toy with someone’s life using something as precious as this, you must have a way to survive yourself, right?”
“Umm.”
“…I thought we were in the same boat.”
Mycrony, looking as if she had been betrayed by a lover, criticized Adler for a long while.
“Haaaah…”
Sighing deeply, she eventually schooled her expression back to her usual nonchalance.
“There are a few things I want to confirm before I make my choice.”
Though she was colder and more business-like than usual, a faint, leisurely smile played on her lips.
“Do I really have to choose between just these two pills?”
“Yes.”
“What if I ignore your rules and swallow both at the same time?”
“I’ve taken precautions for that. If you ingest both, they will have no effect.”
“I suppose splitting each pill in half and eating them would be the same?”
“I’ll stop you before that happens, so don’t worry.”
Upon hearing Adler’s response, Mycrony sighed and bowed her head.
“…I didn’t realize I could become this desperate.”
“…….”
“Or perhaps I’ve become foolish enough to ask the obvious over and over again.”
As those words drifted from her lips, silence descended upon the hotel room.
Thump, thump…
“Haaaah.”
Realizing her heart was racing in the silence, Mycrony smirked and lifted her head.
“There was once a time when even a lethal dose of cocaine wouldn’t make my heart skip a beat…”
Muttering to herself, she reached out her hand again.
Swoosh…
Her hand hesitated midway but then turned to the right.
“Have you made your decision?”
“…Yes.”
Mycrony nodded and picked up a pill. At that moment, Adler’s lips curled into the faintest hint of a smile.
“Even for a game, this isn't very fun.”
“……..”
“…It would have been more interesting if it were a game where you had to eat the remaining pill.”
“As long as I’m having fun, that’s all that matters.”
Mycrony chuckled at that remark, withdrew her gaze from Adler, and examined the pill she had chosen.
“There’s still a chance. You can change your mind if you wish.”
“…No, it’s fine.”
Finally rejecting Adler’s offer, she parted her lips slightly.
“Are you absolutely sure?”
Swoosh…
Ignoring Adler’s words ringing in her ear, she tossed the pill into her mouth.
Gulp…
Seconds later, the sound of her swallowing echoed in the quiet room.
“Haah…”
Having made the choice that would dictate the difference between life and death, Mycrony closed her eyes and sighed deeply, her face tense.
“I never knew it could be so frustrating to be unable to see through something. If only my body were in better shape, I might have been able to distinguish the poison you used.”
“……”
“…Forgive me, but I’m asking because this might be the last time.”
With those words, she posed a meaningful question to Adler.
“What exactly is your identity?”
As Adler tilted his head in confusion, Mycrony pressed further.
“Are you a regressor? Or perhaps reincarnated?”
“Uh…”
“…Or maybe, possessed?”
At that moment, Adler’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“It seems like one of those three, for sure…”
However, Mycrony’s usually sharp gaze had become hazy, unable to catch the reaction.
“Hmm…”
It didn’t take long for her to realize that her eyes were gradually closing.
“I must have… chosen the wrong… medicine…”
Mycrony’s body wobbled as she muttered in a trembling voice.
“My whole body… feels so heavy.”
“……”
“It was always heavy because of my chest…”
Gradually, her body began to lean toward the desk.
“I never… expected… to meet such an end…”
Swoosh…
“I didn’t see this coming…”
Fortunately, her chest acted as a cushion against the desk, preventing her head from hitting the hard surface, but it didn’t stop her eyes from closing completely.
“So… what do you think?”
Mustering the last of her strength, Mycrony left these words for Adler.
“Playing… with someone like me… as if I’m a toy… How was it?”
“……..”
“It… must have been fun, right…?”
But as Adler remained silent, tears began to well up in her eyes.
“Because of you… I don’t want to die anymore, but…”
A tear-soaked voice emerged from her lips.
“…This is too cruel.”
With those words, Mycrony’s voice abruptly cut off.
.
.
.
Just as Mycrony’s consciousness completely faded—
“…I wondered what was going on when you suddenly asked me to leave for a moment.”
Through the gap in the old door, Rachel Watson muttered, her voice laden with deep disgust.
“This is the worst.”
Swoosh…
“That despicable excuse for a human. I hope he just vanishes without leaving a corpse…”
However, she soon tilted her head in sudden contemplation.
…But then, why did he borrow sleeping pills from me earlier?
Just as this question surfaced in Watson’s mind—
Swoosh…
Adler, who had been quietly observing the unconscious Mycrony, suddenly picked up the remaining pill.
“Uh?”
He shoved the pill into Mycrony’s mouth and helped her drink water from a glass beside him, causing Watson’s eyes to widen.
“Hehe.”
Adler grinned as if pleased by something and began to withdraw the Cognitive Dissonance Magic he had secretly placed on Mycrony’s body. Her complexion immediately began to regain its vitality.
“…My death would be meaningless unless you survive.”
Whispering in a low voice, Adler picked up the limp Mycrony and laid her gently on the nearby bed.
“Now, then…”
Shortly after, Adler, with a much-relieved expression, began to move toward the door.
“…Ugggh.”
Abruptly, his face turned deathly pale, and he collapsed.
“Cough, cough!”
Gasping for breath with a pained expression, Adler began to cough violently.
“………”
Watson, watching the scene through the gap in the door, stood stunned, as if she had been hit over the head with a hammer.
.
.
.
After feeling good from a long-overdue act of kindness, I tried to leave the room with light steps.
[Warning!]
– Probability of being Raped — 1000%
“…What the hell?”
Faced with a sudden warning that screamed murder popping up right in front of me, I had no choice but to sink to the floor right then and there.
[Sorry, there seems to be an overflow.]
[Please wait a moment while I fix it.]
Just as I was wondering why such a warning was appearing when I was about to disappear from the world soon anyway, the system kindly provided guidance on the sudden overflow.
Well, I was sure I wouldn’t be raped by anyone at this point.
I may have already been forced upon by the Professor or Charlotte, but I had consented to those, so they weren’t a problem.
Probably.
[Warning!]
– Probability of being Raped — 100%
– Probability of being Assaulted — 100%
– Probability of being Violated — 100%
– Probability of being Gang-Raped — 100%
– Probability of being Collectively Assaulted — 100%
– Probability of being Defiled — 100%
– Probability of being Adulterated — 100%
– Probability of being Exploited — 100%
– Probability of having Genetic Seeds Confiscated — 100%
(Omitted)
While I was trying to keep my composure, numerous warning messages flooded my vision.
[I’ve tried breaking it down further because the metrics were causing too many frequent errors.]
…Are you kidding me?
At first, I thought the system was mocking me, but the following response sent chills down my spine.
[Does this seem like a joke to you?]
“……”
Apparently, it was finally time to move into the last segment of this story.
To conclude everything and tackle the Final Problem.