Experiment in Progress: Five Years Later
Experiment in progress. Five years had passed. Yeah, that meant I was five years old now. Naturally, I was still cooped up in this dingy lab. Five years—short if you think about it, but damn, what a long time. Come to think of it, even just counting my previous life, this was nearly a quarter of it. Definitely long.
There hadn't been any major changes in my daily routine. I'd eat, shit, and sleep moderately, and then the doctor would slink over with a creepy grin and jab me with a syringe before leaving. The fact that it didn't hurt was a small mercy, I guess. But why didn't it hurt? Even if my body was the "new humanity" like the doctor claimed, shouldn't I feel some pain? It wasn't like power surged through me every time he injected the virus either. Numbness, emptiness, nothingness. It was just a hollow void, as if nothing had happened at all. I was starting to doubt if my body was even getting stronger. Wait—could it be that what I thought was strengthening was actually brainwashing all along? That's why I didn't feel any pain!
Shocked by this revelation, I thrust both arms toward the ceiling. This cunning bastard of a doctor—was he seriously hunting down even a frail little kid like me with everything he's got!
"Nera, are you bored?"
While I was flailing around like an idiot, mealtime arrived, and Emma approached. Luckily, there was a mobile right where I'd stretched my arms, so she didn't give me any weird looks. I dropped my arms as if nothing had happened and plopped down at the table.
Diamond Mountains are best after a meal. Any foolishness is way more fun and exciting on a full stomach.
But wow, color me surprised. She was actually asking if I was bored? I never imagined Emma would ask me anything. No, really, I was shocked. Our relationship hadn't progressed a single inch in five whole years. Just a few days ago, we were "communicating" by me tapping on that worn-out mobile. I'm not a newborn anymore—I'm five years old! Emma had grown from ten to fifteen in that time, turning into such a mature beauty it was hard to look at her straight. But her empathy was still lacking, mismatched with her appearance. Well, to be fair, she was brainwashed.
Still, I figured ignoring her question wouldn't be wise, so I shook my head.
"No, ma'am."
Her voice flowed out colder and icier than a winter stream. Listening in—or secretly watching— the doctor would surely relax hearing my polite tone. Muahaha, behold! Iron-blooded resolve flows through my veins. A being without human emotions, perfectly suited to the name!
"I see."
Emma set the utensils on the table just like always.
"Hm, so she's just an ordinary child after all."
Dr. Licht didn't even glance at Emma as she reported. His eyes were fixed on the file summarizing five years of experiments. His pupils raced across the pages without pause, while his body remained eerily still—not a twitch. In mere minutes, he'd devoured the densely packed text, then declared calmly:
"Perfect."
Every experiment datum had unfolded exactly as Dr. Licht predicted. Over those five years, without a single deviation, he'd layered the P.V. Virus's genetic traits into Nera's body. Each individual P.V. Virus was merely a basic foundation, offering no strengthening effect on its own. But building a structure starts with stacking that foundation solid. A weak base means nothing can stand atop it.
Thanks to his flawless calculations, Nera could accept anything. The concept of "infection" didn't apply to her. She could devour any P.V. Virus with similar traits. And the more she devoured, the stronger the virus's factors became.
"This is promising."
But the top priority was imprinting the brainwashing parasite into her mind. Dr. Licht's mission wasn't to drive humanity to extinction—quite the opposite. He dreamed of perfecting the flawed species known as humanity. Uncontrolled power brings calamity. You can't judge a calamity by human standards.
"I should retract what I said earlier. At the very least, she's no 'ordinary child.'"
Emma still stood beside the muttering Dr. Licht, but he paid her no mind. Everyone here was just his puppet anyway. The one thing that nagged at him was that Nera stood out as particularly alien among them. He'd been too absorbed in his research successes to notice before, but she went beyond calm—she lacked any emotions a living creature should have. No sad expressions, no anger, no joy. He'd never seen a single one in all this time.
With everyone here numb like dolls, maybe the child had simply learned from them. But Dr. Licht had an ominous premonition built from years of test subjects. No other child had been this emotionless. Even born in a cage, they instinctively knew freedom and thrashed to escape the lab prison. By his own admission, this dim underground lab was stressful just to exist in. The more fragile the life, the more immediate the stress response—raw emotions twisting pure faces.
To cut it short: it was suspicious. Absurd as it sounded, he even wondered if she was hiding her power and acting. She'd been utterly numb even to Emma's question after five years together. Even if Emma was a command-following doll, five years was no small time. Such cold detachment was blatantly "abnormal" by his standards. No need to verify—he'd always monitored his prime subject closely. This child lacked something fundamentally human.
Uncontrolled excess emotion was dangerous, but the void on the other end was just as tricky. No basic emotional exchange meant her thoughts could leap in any direction. But ultimately, it didn't matter much. Whether like the others or not, that body had to serve humanity. Control was essential.
Footsteps echoed around me. Every time they passed by, I held my breath as hard as I could.
What a chicken!
I'd attempted a brief escape. Pretending to fall asleep under Emma's patting, I waited for her to leave. Once the footsteps outside vanished, I bolted out with fierce determination. Still just inside the lab, of course.
Obviously a highly dangerous act. If caught, it'd fill the doctor with suspicion and lead straight to brainwashing. But... I was more curious about what he was up to. I needed to know to feel even a little secure. This wasn't my first time, anyway. Ever since I could toddle around on my own, I'd been wandering the lab. Did I look like a fool who'd just take mystery shots blindly? Well, I had taken them all blindly so far. Not a fool, just pathetic.
Anyway, even if I couldn't defy him outright, scouting his movements was necessary. Dodging the researchers, I slipped this way and that. It wasn't due to any special skills of mine—I was still just an ordinary five-year-old girl. This world was undeniably real, but it overlapped with the game in subtle ways. Like how the researchers' movements seemed random but followed fixed paths, game-like patterns.
Not that there was a status window or anything. Probably because their heads were stuffed with brainwashing parasite directives. Great for me. From long practice sneaking around, I knew where the doctor hid his data.
I leaped high with familiar motion and grabbed the doorknob. Ugh, this thing is filthy hard to open. What am I, a cat? Finally, the door swung open, and I slipped into the file room.
Time to check what the doctor's been up to. Not that I didn't know most of it already.
Messing with the mobile that morning by waving my hands around? Just boredom. No entertainment at all—not even a toy for babies, so that mobile was gold.
Ha... what a pathetic life. How did I end up like this?
Flipping through files lost in idle thoughts, I reached the last page quick.
Nothing special...? No.
Perfect control using Brainwashing Parasite required
What the hell? I'm still just five. Wah, baby Nera here. Don't know nothin'. He wants to shove that gross bug in my head? Holy shit, no heart at all? His blood's gotta be blue like a crustacean's. How else could he do something this horrific?
I need countermeasures—what now? Can't overpower him, can't escape, everyone's brainwashed so no allies. Is this it...? It was fun while it lasted.
Thinking that, I still ransacked the room like a rat. Brainwashing? As good as death. No free will, just a machine on orders—how's that living? If that's life, then zombies are alive, and the cadavers outside too. Sure, you could argue they function biologically since they hop around so well, but me wouldn't be alive.
In my frantic search, my hand finally closed on a sample vial. The liquid inside was starkly different from the doctor's usual green injections. He'd probably wait for my weakest moment to enslave me completely. Then I'd be his slave forever.
But what if I secretly powered up first? I didn't understand his research, but I knew what each sample did. Before creating a new character, I'd memorized every out of hatred for the doctor—including sample info. Just glancing at the label told me if it was a strengthener or virus blob!
But caution: gobbling blindly like me could infect and kill you. Well, mutate into a cadaver first. Of course, I was the exception. This body wasn't called calamity seed for nothing—it devoured viruses instead of being devoured.
In the game, you got power via the Star Adaptation Procedure, but this body didn't need it.
...Though honestly, I wanted that procedure. Who wants to swallow this nasty-looking crap? Open and drink this? Feels like being told to eat rotting carcass. Gonna puke. Gross.
But I wanna live more! Gulp.
The longer the resolve, the slower the action. I swallowed the sloshing dark red liquid in one go without hesitation. Luckily, no foul smell. Taste... not bad enough to hurl immediately. A blessing for my weak stomach.
Hm... is that it? No body changes. I expected an omnipotent surge this time.
What’s this feeling? Disappointing? Hollow?
As I turned to leave—
"Urp..."
Eh...? Did I just vomit blood? Shit, who saw? Might as well advertise it.
Whether blessing or curse, nausea kept coming but I didn't pass out. Swapping ampoules for samples was a gamble. Even the doctor didn't fully grasp some. That's why they sat here unused. Thanks to future sight, I knew this became a "special ampoule" nullifying parasitic organisms later. No clue how it'd work now, though.
Parasitic cadavers invading the body was separate from virus infection—huge pain in the game. Personally, a "strength ampoule" would've been nice right now. This was his most off-guard moment. I'd never seen the lab layout, but I'd memorized it. If my body got strong, I could bust through guards yelling "Save me!" and escape.
Oh well. For now, thrilled to be alive another day—wanna twerk in joy. Doctor... I'll never forget this ordeal. When the time comes, I'll make you twerk that juicy ass on national TV.
Ah, but first—time to clean up.