ALL NOVEL Chapter 56
While the Violets were discussing above ground, not everyone was present. Many Violets lay around lethargically, and some mechanically attended classes. Others were too distracted by other tasks to pay attention.
84th Clone belonged to the last category.
Separate from the abduction operation, some people were still waiting in the Underground Facility.
Violet 84, who had been dozing off in the crevices of the facility’s walls, experienced a moment of mental confusion upon waking, comprehending that the school was collapsing, and while in this state of confusion, received a second-hand physical shock from Clone 2, who had pulled the trigger to the head, momentarily halting her thoughts.
“Ugh…”
I brushed away an unidentified bug crawling over my head and unwrapped a chocolate bar to pop it into my mouth. Soon it would be time for the shift change.
“I’m tired…”
The scientists here were peering at computers and scribbling on blackboards, whether it was day or night. Of course, since it was morning now, these people would soon take a break.
The speaker inside the Underground Facility buzzed to life. That sound indicated the preparation before the announcement would start.
Since the research facilities were divided into several areas, announcements were made here regularly. Typically, they would speak about meeting points or inform about upcoming demonstrations.
However, today seemed a bit different. Thinking it was just a trivial matter, I tried to get some more sleep before my shift, but I heard content I hadn’t heard before.
– All personnel, please proceed to your respective positions. The September experiment will be conducted according to the pre-arranged protocol.
I focused on the voice, perplexed.
– Phase 1 entry, the overall situation is stable. Monitoring will continue.
A sharp sound echoed from down the hall. It sounded like an electric motor whirring noisily or perhaps thousands of mice screaming in unison. The unpleasant noise came from the pipes installed in this facility—specifically, the sound of the Particle Accelerator operating.
– Phase 2 entry, Ether collision procedure initiated… Energy supply status is normal.
The piercing sound that had been stabbing my ears suddenly transformed into a heavy wave. The hallway lights began to flicker unsteadily.
– Artificial Gate formation beginning… Connection with the second dimension complete. Spacetime stabilization procedure in progress, filter adjustments completed. The wavelength pattern is Alpha… proceeding as expected. Let’s focus a bit longer.
At some moment, the sound abruptly ceased. What was happening?
– Integrating Magic Formula deployment adjustments, output is set to 10% as initially planned.
My eyes widened.
From the ground, a faint blue light of magical power began to rise like a mirage. The entire hallway was filled with it. Ether light particles scattered and then clumped together. They quivered and then stilled. They sparkled and then darkened again. The light particles danced in the air.
And then, I felt a sensation of being sucked somewhere. What on earth was this?
‘Ugh?’
No, it wasn’t my body being pulled! My body was still within the walls! So what was this? What was happening?
Startled, I immediately attempted to reverse the transformation. At the same time, I sent a warning to the others outside.
「···Something’s happened! Right now…!」
But it was too late. A massive psychic shockwave from somewhere within the facility engulfed the 81st Clone, us, me.
A cacophony of silence enveloped us. The howling hush swallowed my mind. The screaming stillness consumed my entire body. It faded away. Disappeared…
***
“Where is this?”
The Violets who opened their eyes realized they were in a space that was entirely empty and as white as snow.
“Huh? Why is the 81st Clone here? You should be underground.”
“True? Wait, why is Clone 2 here? You were definitely outside…”
As I looked around, all Violets from the 1st to the 102nd Clone were here in this place. 102 Violets were scanning around, bewildered.
“Where are we? Is this even real?”
Someone started to speak but then shut their mouth again. It was obvious to anyone that this place felt overwhelmingly unreal. There was no smell or flow of air, and feeling the ground gave no sensation. It felt like being dropped onto an endlessly blank canvas.
Using the Inventory was not possible either. This situation implied we were in an entirely different world.
The fortunate thing was that our consciousness remained connected even within this mysterious space. If the connection between us had been severed, we would have truly been terrified.
After wandering around the white space for a while, it seemed this place disregarded the laws of physics.
“I’m back again…!”
“Am I possessed by a ghost?”
A Violet ran energetically in the opposite direction from where we were gathered. It was to verify the size and limits of this area. Yet, after running for a while, they found themselves back where the Violets were gathered.
“How strange… How many hours have we been here?”
“I don’t know. It feels like about an hour.”
In this bizarre space, even the concept of time seemed indistinct.
“What was the last thing we saw?”
“81 and 23 were observing the internal experiment. It was quite noisy.”
“Have they already completed their plans? Did we get swept away and die?”
“Uwaaah!”
Several dejected Violets sat down on the ground. Other Violets tried to explain the situation in their own way.
“That can’t be! It’s only been a day since they started recruiting people. I don’t think it would have ended so quickly. Besides, they mentioned ‘output 10%’. I don’t know what that means, but it’s not 100%, right?”
“Is that so? Then how long must we stay here?”
“Well… we don’t know.”
Not knowing anything resulted in no answers.
In this tedious white space, only we were visible. Sitting still felt dull and boring.
With nothing to do, the Violets decided to gather and play.
“Everyone, tear off a button.”
“Our clothes are still intact, huh.”
To pass the time, we divided into groups of five or six and played a coin toss game. It was a game to predict whether the button would land face up or face down when thrown.
Of course, it wasn’t a typical coin toss game where you hide what’s in your hand. We all knew everything anyway.
Since we shared our thoughts with each other, games requiring strategy and thought couldn’t be played together. So, for entertainment, we had to engage in teamwork or games that relied heavily on chance.
Clone 10 tossed a button into the air.
“Face up!”
The button spun silently through the air before dropping to the ground. It was face down. Other Violets giggled and swarmed around Clone 10.
“Come here!”
“Catch it!”
– Thud thud thud!
“Uwaah!”
Clone 10, already whacked on the back twice, wore a distressed expression. Because it relied purely on luck, accumulating losses was quite common. But that was okay.
“Why! Why is it face down!”
After Clone 11 lost, Clone 10 pouted but then suddenly smiled and charged at Clone 11.
“Eep!”
As they lost track of time playing, someone approached and started talking.
“Let me join too…”
“Huh?”
As someone poked at her side, Clone 15 turned to find a small girl standing next to her. The girl was wearing a white dress. At first glance, she seemed like a little elementary school student, being one head shorter than us.
“Who are you?”
The girl shyly replied.
“My name is Violet.”
Upon closer inspection, she resembled us. With rabbit-like red eyes and a cascade of long golden hair. Was I ever that cute? It’s amazing.
The Violets playing the game started to glance towards Clone 15. It was quite surprising that such a tiny Violet existed among us.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Violet 15. What number are you?”
The mini Violet proudly raised her right hand and held up one finger.
“Me? I’m Number 1!”
What on earth does that mean?
Question marks floated over all the Violets’ heads. The puzzled Clone 1 approached the mini Violet.
“Hey, what are you talking about? I’m Number 1. Look closely!”
Clone 1 rolled up her sleeve to reveal the number ‘1’ written on her left arm. At the same time, the other Violets gathered around her. The mini Violet shrank back in fear. Since she was wearing a sleeveless dress, we could check her number directly.
“Where’s your number?”
It wasn’t there. The left arm of the girl was clean. Why is that?
More importantly, I couldn’t read her thoughts. This girl wasn’t connected to us.
Feeling uneasy, we surrounded the mini Violet. While we had no weapons, everyone clenched their fists and watched her cautiously.
“No number. Are you really a ‘Violet’? You don’t seem like one to us.”
The mini Violet, looking bewildered, then glanced at her left arm and gasped in shock.
“It’s true!”
“Now do you understand? Who are you?”
Seeing our threatening demeanor, the mini Violet slowly opened her mouth.
“Actually…”
“Actually what?”
“Actually, if you had to put it that way… I’m Number 0.”
The mini Violet, now relaxed, grinned widely. The timid attitude from before had completely disappeared, and she looked at us with her bright red eyes. The girl with her arms crossed gazed at us haughtily.
In the blink of an eye, the change in demeanor left all of us stunned. She seemed amused by our reaction, observing us with razor-sharp eyes.
Staring directly into those bright red eyes sent a chill down my spine.
What exactly is she? Those red eyes, they weren’t the eyes of a girl. They were the eyes of a snake—a predator’s eyes.
What are you?
“…So, Number 1, give me a hug!”
The self-proclaimed Number 0, the mini Violet, suddenly hugged Clone 1. I screamed out of instinctive aversion.
“What! Let go! Get this thing off me!”
“Aw~ You don’t like me? Hug me! Hug me!”
I felt her squirming in my arms as if she was increasingly growing larger. Other Violets tried to pull her away, but she wouldn’t budge. It was as if she was glued to me.
She was growing. Evolving. Before I knew it, Number 0 had started to reach a size similar to mine.
The space suddenly began to shake.
“Eek?”
We all fell over due to the tremors. The self-proclaimed Number 0 clinging to Clone 1 also suddenly froze in her growth, likely due to the earthquake. She began to dissipate like a soap bubble and vanish.
“Oh, there wasn’t enough time. Number 1, no, Number 1. Later…”
The Number 0 Violet lightly kissed my forehead.
The space began to collapse. We all fell down once more. Instead of being sucked in, this time we were propelled upward. We flew.
***
The Violets opened their eyes wide at their respective positions.
“Huh? Why are we here?”
Clone 21, who had been attending class, blinked in puzzlement. The students around her were attending class as if nothing had happened, or distracted, staring at their smartphones. Focusing her mind, the Violet Network became chaotic with our sudden return.
All the Violets returned to reality.
“Ugh? We’re back!”
Clone 21, who had placed Yurik in the car, looked around. She realized that the others were in the same situation.
“How long were we in that strange space? An hour?”
「Let me check. Huh, it hasn’t even been a minute?」
「What? We played around for quite some time!」
「I’m serious. It might have been even shorter. When we looked at the clock before falling into that strange place, the second hand was on the 20-second mark. But now it’s on the 30-second mark.」
It felt like we were there for a long time, but hardly any time had actually passed. The place we had been was indeed not real.
「Do you remember the last thing?」
When Clone 1 asked, everyone answered one by one.
「We were playing the coin toss game and then suddenly the space collapsed, I think?」
“Right! Clone 12 was in the midst of losing!”
Hearing Clone 10’s words, Clone 1 chimed in.
“Yeah, and our team was just about to hit Clone 5. What a shame.”
We all exchanged words. Was that strange space related to the mind? It felt like a dream.
Except for wandering around and playing games, nothing unusual stood out.
However, I realized how terrifying the Board’s experiments were. To suddenly incapacitate us for a brief moment like that was dangerous.
We must have the Clones leave a minimal number of people at the school.