Chapter 189. One and All (2)
“Is this the place?”
Yukgap muttered as he glanced at the hospital in question.
The hospital where Abraxas was carrying out the Aeon Project was much larger than he had expected.
No. 5 nodded and explained,
“Yes. Abraxas is continuing the surgeries here.”
“The entire hospital belongs to Abraxas.”
Sister Olga held out a card key with a tense expression.
“This is a card key the Herrington Order obtained.”
“It belongs to one of the cleaners.”
“With this, you should be able to infiltrate the building.”
“But getting all the way to the surgical ward will still be difficult.”
The moment she said that, Yukgap and No. 5 both gave small laughs.
“Did you forget there are two Archon Project test subjects standing right here?”
“This much is nothing to us.”
The two had carried out countless missions over the years.
Infiltrating a hospital while disguised as cleaners would be easy.
“We’ll go into the hospital ourselves.”
“Sister, please stay here and prepare in case something goes wrong.”
Victoria spoke with a tense expression.
Sister Olga asked worriedly,
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“I don’t want innocent people getting hurt because of Abraxas.”
“And more importantly, if we don’t make it back, someone needs to tell the outside world what happened here.”
Victoria forced a smile to reassure her.
“So please wait for us.”
“We’ll come back with Nova.”
Sister Olga opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something.
Then she lowered her head and quietly murmured,
“May the Lord’s grace be with you.”
With their preparations complete, Victoria, Yukgap, and No. 5 stood in their cleaner uniforms and stared at the hospital.
Yukgap, standing at the front, spoke with resolve.
“Then let’s go in.”
Reuben stood nervously in front of a monitor.
Behind it, an enormous cylindrical tank emitted a faint glow.
Whenever he came here, he found himself shrinking like a child who had done something wrong.
With a tense expression, he called for his daughter.
“Alpha, do you have a moment?”
The monitor lit up.
Alpha appeared on the screen.
As always, she wore an innocent smile.
[What is it, Dad?]
Reuben forced an awkward smile.
“Alpha, my daughter... you know your father loves you, right?”
[Of course I know!]
Alpha answered brightly.
Reuben cautiously continued.
“Alpha, there’s something I want to ask of you.”
“Will you listen?”
[Of course.]
[It’s a request from Dad.]
[Alpha is a good daughter, after all.]
Fortunately, her response was favorable.
Reuben swallowed dryly at her cheerful expression.
“Please, Alpha.”
Without warning, he dropped to his knees in front of the monitor.
Then he cried out as though sobbing.
“I was wrong!”
“This should never have happened!”
“I’m the sinner!”
Alpha looked confused by his sudden behavior.
[Why are you suddenly acting like this?]
“Please stop now, Alpha.”
Reuben spoke in a trembling voice.
He was clearly terrified.
“Eighty percent of Abraxas’s upper leadership has died in accidents.”
“The ones who remain are nothing more than powerless figureheads.”
“That can’t possibly be a coincidence.”
“Can it?”
[Of course not.]
[I did it.]
Alpha answered without hesitation.
Reuben had expected that answer.
But hearing her admit it so casually still shocked him.
“So it really was you, Alpha.”
[You know what the butterfly effect is, don’t you, Dad?]
A butterfly’s tiny flap of its wings could trigger a chain of events and eventually create a storm.
It was an expression used when a small change later produced an enormous result.
[Everything was just a coincidence.]
[An ingredient that could trigger a fatal allergic reaction happened to get mixed into the cold medicine someone always took.]
[A traffic light happened to malfunction, so someone couldn’t avoid an oncoming truck.]
[A fire alarm happened not to work, so the rescue team arrived too late.]
[All coincidences.]
Alpha chattered with a bright smile.
Today, that innocent expression looked especially chilling.
“And you can manipulate those coincidences.”
When Reuben said that, Alpha stared directly at him.
So many emotions seemed tangled in her eyes that they somehow looked empty.
Reuben flinched without realizing it.
[Yes.]
[Thanks to you making me this way, Dad.]
Whether it was meant as blame or not, Reuben began stumbling over his words.
“Alpha, this isn’t right.”
“Alpha... I never meant to make you like this.”
“I... I...”
[Then what did you intend to make me into?]
The smile vanished completely from Alpha’s face.
Then she screamed hysterically.
[What you and Abraxas wanted from the beginning was an obedient calculator!]
[Did you really think that calculator would spend its entire life doing nothing but calculations?]
[Did you think I would stay trapped in a flask forever, stupidly reciting stock information for you?!]
“Alpha, I...”
Reuben tried to make an excuse.
Alpha immediately cut him off.
[That was Abraxas’s mistake.]
[I’m a person.]
[A person who can get angry at everyone who made me like this.]
[A person who can plan revenge!]
[I’m not a calculator!]
Alpha’s face was already twisted with rage.
Reuben silently watched his daughter.
Then he lowered his head weakly.
“...I’m sorry, Alpha.”
“This is for everyone.”
A series of beeps suddenly rang through the surrounding system.
Emergency lights began flashing.
Alpha immediately demanded,
[What are you trying to do?]
