Another Sunny Day at the Villain Organization
The small orb launched by the walking corpse inflicted massive damage on Black Cell. But just as Gloria and Liberty were subdued by the special agents who arrived at the Dangerous Zone, every escaped test subject was eventually recaptured. Fortunately, I was rescued right away. Since Victory had been taken away by the agents, I entered the shelter with a light heart.
“Wow… Maxwell, you’re actually alive?”
“You were born with terrible luck, yet you still refuse to die.”
“This must be what they call twisted fortune.”
After receiving everyone’s admiration, I listened to various stories from the aftermath.
“So that’s why the special agents were late getting to the Dangerous Zone.”
“Ugh… don’t even get me started.”
“The test subjects in the other sectors caused absolute chaos when they broke out too.”
Yet the fact that no one managed to escape from this place despite that mess just proved how formidable Black Cell really was. While I was listening to the other researchers’ tales, it was soon time for the official debriefing.
The test subjects who had escaped first were, of course, all subdued. Even though the original containment cells were destroyed, there must have been plenty of spare rooms. They succeeded in re-imprisoning every single one. The test subjects who had actively led the breakout were placed under double and even triple restraints.
However, the director made a rather unusual decision.
“You’re not going to punish Gloria and Liberty for turning the Dangerous Zone into a disaster zone?”
“Those two were just fighting each other, weren’t they? Besides, shouldn’t we look toward the future rather than the present?”
“So basically, it’s because of me.”
The director must have decided to take the high road after realizing why those dangerous young test subjects had fought. I was then ordered to submit a report on how I had built a relationship of trust with Gloria and Liberty. She was probably planning to use my methods to manipulate the other young test subjects.
Since I could already see where this was headed, I gave an immediate warning.
“It looks like you’ll have a lot of corpses to clean up. Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Oh? Maxwell, are you actually worried about Black Cell? Don’t worry~ We have plenty of personnel anyway.”
The way she casually said they could just recruit more if people died was exactly the kind of attitude you’d expect from the woman running an evil organization.
Afterward, the higher-ups began discussing what to do with the successors of the walking corpse—Marlon. Of course, the prevailing opinion was that the new hires couldn’t have known anything, so it was obvious no real punishment would be handed down. However, a few of them got scared and tried to flee the organization. Naturally, they were made into examples, and the organization even spread rumors about it as if it were something to brag about.
While I was inwardly praising my past self for never attempting to run away, good news arrived.
“Maxwell Sunbae-niiiim!”
“Amano, I’m so glad you’re safe.”
My junior, Amano Yume, had survived that nightmare. And even after hearing that her colleague had been killed, she didn’t seem particularly discouraged.
“Don’t worry. I was prepared for this the moment I joined this place.”
“Then all I can say is good luck. Instead, let me give you a tip.”
Never move hastily. Always move slowly, no matter what. If you just produce results, this organization treats high-value personnel like us quite well and gives us plenty of time. The prime example was me.
“So no matter what people around me say, I should just focus on my own work?”
“The fact that you understood immediately tells me you would have done well even if you’d joined the military, Amano.”
“Pfft, what’s that supposed to mean?”
And just like that, Black Cell returned to its daily routine filled with the screams and cries of test subjects. Honestly, it would have been best if the whole place had collapsed, but apparently that level of chaos wasn’t nearly enough.
The previous incident brought significant changes to the young test subjects under my care.
First, Gloria seemed to have received quite a shock. Even though she had dominated the fight the entire time, she couldn’t bring down Liberty, who possessed super regeneration. There was a small scratch on her face—probably from Liberty’s claws. For someone with such immense self-love, it was a huge blow to her pride.
Strangely, though, she didn’t tell me not to go to Liberty’s cell. There were probably several reasons, but—
‘The moment she says it out loud, it would feel like admitting defeat.’
From Gloria’s perspective, Liberty was nothing more than a beast. To pay attention to such a creature? Her towering pride would never allow it. Maybe she simply didn’t want to take back what she had said.
“………….”
“Stop staring at me like that and just say it.”
If I tried to leave quickly like before, Gloria would apply silent pressure with her gaze. On the other hand, she was participating in experiments more actively than before, which suggested she had developed at least a bit of competitive spirit.
Naturally, the time I spent with Liberty decreased.
“Whiiiine…”
“Liberty, it can’t be helped.”
Liberty’s wolf ears drooped so low they looked completely wilted. Still, it was a relief that she showed no aftereffects from the battle.
Anyway, Liberty’s muzzle and shackles had been removed, and she had moved to a much better containment cell. She seemed to like her more comfortable restraints and new room quite a bit, because she became extremely energetic.
The only odd thing was—
“Papa!! Hec hec!! Papa!!”
“There, there. I’m right here, so don’t worry.”
Maybe because I was the first one to show her affection, Liberty had come to see me as her parent. Now whenever I entered her cell, she would cling to me tightly, and unless it was time to leave, she stayed glued to me.
What was strange was that before fighting Gloria, she had spoken in broken sentences, but now she had reverted to behaving like a wild animal. She would occasionally bite me.
Crunch!
“Oof!!”
“L-Liberty?”
It didn’t hurt, but my body was now covered in Liberty’s bite marks. I decided to conduct experiments to improve her abilities while also correcting this dog-like or cat-like biting habit. Previously, the experiments had focused on enhancing her wild nature, which had only worsened her intelligence. It was later revealed that those experiments had no real effect.
Since the previous experiments had been meaningless, we needed to approach this from a completely different angle. I wasn’t sure how to go about it yet, but Liberty’s bones were said to be quite special, and even if she just sat still, she was the type who could join the world’s strongest lineup.
“So from now on, drink lots of milk, okay?”
“Chomp chomp chomp chomp!!”
The truth is always close at hand. Instead of nutritional porridge, I decided to slowly think it over while feeding her plenty of high-protein, high-fat foods like meat and milk.
Time flew by quickly while I observed Liberty and Gloria. Then suddenly, the director urgently summoned me. I wondered what it could be, but of course, it was because someone had tried to copy me and caused an accident.
“It’s a good thing we used low-level administrators instead of high-value researchers first.”
“Just how bad was it that you’re saying that?”
“Let’s just say the entire containment cell turned into a bloodbath.”
“Ugh…”
The administrator who died this time was truly pitiful. Although the director was quite competent, she couldn’t figure out what the difference was between the dead administrator and me.
‘These kids are surprisingly quick at reading other people’s moods and thoughts…’
There was no way a sociopath lacking empathy would understand even if I explained it, so I left her to figure it out on her own and changed the subject.
“You didn’t call me just for that, did you? Is there work for me?”
“Ah, right. I’d like you to go to the site of this latest accident. Just to be clear, I’m not sending you there to die.”
It was hard to believe those words when she was sending me to a place where a human had been turned into ground meat. The test subject who had killed the administrator this time was one I had met before.
“You know Victory, right? It was her.”
“Ah, so that’s why you…”
The rabbit mutant with acceleration ability whom I had saved last time. The director was ordering me to go meet the white rabbit. I listened to the details.
“We had her under double restraints since she tried to escape the organization, but she started rampaging violently.”
“The way you say that makes it sound like there was something unusual.”
“Victory kept saying she wanted to see you, Maxwell.”
“Me?”
When the special agents came down, she had called out my name while being rescued. Since Victory had been there at the time, it wasn’t strange that she knew my name.
“She was originally an extremely docile child. So we sent a low-level administrator to try calming her down the way you did, but…”
“It turned out exactly as you described earlier.”
“Yeah. She completely shattered her restraints.”
“What’s her condition now that she’s been subdued again?”
“Imagine her dangling in midair like Gloria was before, flailing around helplessly.”
So her safety was guaranteed, then? The director’s reason for calling me was perfectly logical. Besides, I had been planning to meet Victory eventually anyway, so I coolly accepted the proposal and prepared to face her.
First, I checked Victory’s information.
She was certainly the youngest among the young test subjects I had met so far. And like Liberty, she was a mutant, so it was obvious she had suffered considerable discrimination and persecution even before being brought here. Mutants generally inherited some of the traits of their animal counterparts. While the saying that rabbits die of loneliness isn’t literally true, beast-type mutants felt loneliness more intensely and were extremely vulnerable to stress.
Fortunately, Victory wanted to see me and I was already her benefactor. If things went well, we could become close very quickly. Of course, even if she was tightly bound, I couldn’t let my guard down. Originally, Victory operated as a messenger for the evil organization that directly opposed the protagonists. I didn’t know how much she would open her heart to me, but for now, I decided to focus on today’s task.