“If you do this, I will be so sad. Don’t do this.”

At her words, Kalisten calmly leaned in. Then he hugged Aselia tightly and pleaded,

“Come back before I wake up.”

“… alright.”

“Please. You must.”

“I will.”

Aselia hated lying, but she couldn’t help it.

That way, she could return to Building A again with Ivan.

Kalisten passed out from the medication not long after she walked out. And after waking up, he waited, his large body curled up on the floor, waiting for Aselia to come.

Sincerely hoping that the nightmare was just a nightmare.

But Aselia didn’t show up even in the morning.

The next day, Aselia had to follow Ivan for breakfast.

The strange thing is that usually when serving meals, they picked up the tray, received the food, and then moved to the designated place to feed the subjects.

But now, something was odd. At first, it was the same for everyone, holding a tray and receiving the same food.

However, it was not one person per room, but they had to stand in a long line.

-Boom!

As she got closer, there was a strangely loud noise.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Researcher Ivan.”

Aselia lowered her head while holding her tray and paid attention to Ivan’s whispering softly next to her.

“Take this.”

“This… .”

“If you think it won’t work, throw away the food tray and come out immediately.”

“What?”

“What’s in there is XX grade. So I mean … .”

“Ah… .”

Grade XX was a grade considered for disposal. With one more mishap, an XXX ranker was a subject that would be discarded if one more mistake was made.

– Kwak-bang!

As the line got shorter and shorter, Aselia became more nervous.

“If I abruptly leave, what will happen to Researcher Ivan?”

“I have nothing to worry about. But the chip in you…”

“It reports whether I completed a task or not.”

“Yes.”

Aselia knew about the chips implanted in every test subject. Since it was planted with magical power, it could not be removed unless it was professionally removed. It may look like a small lump of metal, but in reality, it was able to regulate or monitor all the behaviors of the experiments.

All the test subjects who escaped from the laboratory were captured and killed because of this chip.

Aselia sensed something sinister and ominous, a feeling that someone was watching her actions.

“Is the reason why I was reassigned was to awaken Kalisten’s powers?”

At her sharp question, Ivan frowned at her and admitted,

“Yes, therefore… Come out if it’s too dangerous. I’ll say I took you out by mistake.”

“What instructions did Researcher Ivan receive?”

Aselia knew he was softhearted, so she looked him in the eyes and asked. Then, the moment Ivan met Aselia’s eyes, he unconsciously frowned, recalling his old friend.

“I can’t tell you. If I do, I will die too.”

“No way, the researcher… .”

“Yes, I have a chip too.”

Aselia was terrified that even Ivan had a chip implanted in him as well. Her mind was frantically scrabbling around, trying to understand how this and Kalisten’s awakening were linked.

“You’re not going in alone. So if it’s dangerous to go in and sneak out.”

“Okay.”

Aselia squeezed the card Ivan gave her. Then she was slowly approaching the door when there was a bang.

The sound coming from inside was something dull, like something crashing.

Like when a person crashes into something hard, a creepy and cruel noise.

“Z-898 will arrive soon. Even if you can’t come out— hang in here.”

Even though Aselia was afraid, she nodded at his words.