Chapter 111

I stared at the system window in disbelief.

‘It hit an affinity score of 100 just like that?’

Normally, raising affinity was incredibly difficult.

It was especially tricky in the early stages, as the creatures were highly wary.

One wrong move, and their suspicion levels would skyrocket.

Even in the game, I had brought them vine plants like this before, but I had never managed to reach an affinity of 100 instantly.

Much like the fluctuation I’d seen earlier in front of Cell No. 13, the magnitude of the change was massive.

High affinity offered numerous advantages.

It made communicating with the creatures much easier.

Consequently, it made it easier to reach the True Ending—the path to "True Freedom."

However, I couldn’t simply rejoice at such an abnormal spike in the score.

I worried whether the True Ending would still trigger if I followed the walkthrough I knew.

I examined Creature No. 1, which was wrapped around my body.

Its vines were densely covered in scars from blade cuts—marks left from harvesting Neo.

Some scars were particularly large and distinct; they were the result of body parts being severed and then reattached.

I tried to locate the small vine I had been carrying around, but it was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed to have already fully merged with Creature No. 1.

Through touching the vines, I could directly sense the affinity Creature No. 1 felt toward me.

‘Honestly, I didn’t treat it well enough to max out the affinity score.’

Sure, I had carried the vine plant around, but that was about it.

I had even struck it a few times with my baton, after all. I found the numbers hard to believe, so I checked the stats for Creature No. 1.

The figures were staggering.

In Cell-X, these were the kind of dream stats one could only hope for with a creature, yet I felt no joy.

I hadn’t done anything to warrant such blind affection.

The thought that these numbers might be the result of a glitch actually left me feeling a bit uneasy.

I let out a slow breath.

This wasn’t the time for that. I had only found Creature No. 1 so far; I needed to hurry and locate the remaining creatures.

But Creature No. 1 showed no signs of letting me go.

It simply writhed its vines, pulling me deeper into its embrace.

Before I knew it, I was buried within the creature’s body.

Unlike the tough, rigid outer vines, the inner ones were made of incredibly delicate tissue.

Covered in soft fuzz—much like a newly sprouted shoot—they felt wonderful to the touch.

Part of me wanted to stay buried there, but I had work to do.

With only my upper body exposed, I called out to Creature No. 1.

“Um… Creature Inmate No. 1?”

As I tapped gently to get its attention, the vines writhed excitedly.

That wasn’t exactly the message I’d intended to convey.

Watching Creature No. 1—a fugitive acting so incredibly laid-back—left me feeling both exasperated and amused.

I smiled faintly, stroked the vines for a moment, and then checked on Dominic.

Dominic had climbed up onto my head.

It seemed he didn’t want to touch the vines.

Other than that, he remained silent, simply jiggling like a soft pudding slime. Reassured, I called out to Creature No. 1 again.

“Creature Inmate No. 1. Could you tell me where the other creatures are?”

Knowing it wouldn’t understand my words, I added some gestures.

I held two vines in my hands and brought them together.

When I mimicked a handshake, the vine wriggled as if it understood.

Then, carrying me, it began to move sluggishly along.

It certainly made things convenient to have such a high affinity level.

As Creature No. 1 slithered through the shadows, I glanced up at the sky.

Every searchlight in the prison was tracking a dark figure.

Je Hyun-oh was really getting under the guards’ skin.

Countless bullets streaked across the sky, but Je Hyun-oh nimbly dodged them by freely manipulating his metallic wings.

He would act as if he were about to get hit, only to narrowly evade the shots at the last moment; the infuriated guards were becoming increasingly fixated on him.

It seemed the guards wouldn’t be able to take their eyes off the No. 13 escapee until he took at least one hit.

Watching that dark figure glide effortlessly through the night sky, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Je Hyun-oh had snatched me up, partly to drop me onto the creature.

But it seemed there was another reason, too.

Kwak Hanmuk had warned me about Won Taebeom.

He had said that anything I did in Lieutenant Won’s presence would be reported back to Jang Seokyun.

There was no way Je Hyun-oh was unaware of that fact. Perhaps he had deliberately kept me away from Won Taebeom, judging it best that I not show him how close I was with the NPCs or reveal the way my eye color changed.

Je Hyun-oh was the head of the Field Response Agency.

True to his nickname—"The Madman"—he often seemed to act on impulse, yet the vast majority of his decisions and actions were precise.

‘Except for the DeZonDeal incident.’

I still wondered why he had ridden me so hard back then.

In fact, there were countless other questions I had about Je Hyun-oh.

Like why he kept looking up at the sky…

I was pondering Je Hyun-oh while being carried by Creature No. 1.

Suddenly, a system window popped up with a chime, signaling a change in stats.

It meant a creature or a guard was nearby.

Since no guard would gain affinity just by seeing me riding Creature No. 1, it had to be a creature.

I sharpened my senses and scanned the surroundings.

It was dark and shrouded in fog, making it difficult to see clearly.

For one thing, it didn’t seem to be a large entity.

Even with the poor visibility, a large creature wouldn’t have been completely obscured.

It had to be a medium or small-sized creature.

One capable of concealing itself and possessing enough intelligence to observe the situation.

There was a creature that fit those criteria perfectly.

No. 6.

I felt a mix of tension and a racing heart.

I had been prepared to meet him ever since I entered Cell-X. Yet, it was still a daunting prospect.

I slowly parted my lips.

“Creature No. 6…”

No sooner had my voice trailed off than a gasp of dismay erupted.

“Unbelievable!”

The shout came from the shadow of Creature No. 1.

The shadow began to writhe and bulge, and a tall figure sprang forth.

Patches of white marked his black hair, appearing only on either side of his head.

The man, standing over two meters tall, wore an eye patch.

Resembling an orca, the one-eyed man spread his arms toward me—I was currently half-buried in the body of Creature No. 1.

He bared his jagged teeth and spoke.

“How did you figure it out? You don’t seem to possess the ability to detect my stealth.”

He was the only one among the twelve creatures who possessed a name and the ability to communicate freely with humans.

Creature No. 6, Orca.

And he was… the very reason I had come to loathe Cell-X.

I struggled to suppress the memories flooding back and focus on the Orca standing before me in reality.

Fortunately, a system window popped up just then, making it a bit easier to pull myself together.

I immediately checked Orca’s stats.

‘Wait, an affinity of 72?’

Yet another unbelievable figure appeared. Flustered, I mentally retraced the notifications regarding stat changes that had flashed rapidly before my eyes back in Zone X.

Although multiple notification windows had popped up simultaneously, I remembered them all clearly; none had slipped past me.

Among them, I recalled system windows showing "Affinity +62" and "Suspicion +18"—stats that seemed to belong to Orca.

‘Those are impossible numbers.’

The Chief of Security’s stat spike had been strange enough, but the figures for the creatures were just as erratic.

I wanted to know the cause behind these fluctuations.

After all, even an anomaly must have a cause to produce an effect.

To see affinity jump by such large margins meant there was definitely something going on that I didn’t know about.

Without thinking, I stared intently at Orca.

Then, ding—another notification window popped up.

All I did was look at him…

Just as I was feeling dumbfounded, I realized this situation was similar to the one with the Chief of Security.

Back then, too, the stats had changed simply because our eyes met, without any other specific action on my part.

‘What am I missing?’

As I reached for a clue that felt just out of reach, Orca spoke to me first.

"Medic. What is your name?"

"Little Lamb."

"Ah, Little Lamb…"

Upon hearing my name, Orca looked visibly disappointed for some reason.

Then, abruptly, another notification appeared.

He slashed the score by 20 points in one go, just because I stated my name.

At this point, I began to wonder if the stats were being determined by a random roulette spin.

Orca spoke again, his tone somewhat brusque.

“Little Lamb. I don’t know why you’re wearing a guard’s uniform or how you managed to lure No. 1 out, but… Argh!”

He screamed mid-sentence.

It was because Creature No. 1 had extended a vine and struck Orca hard.

Possessing the nature of a plant, Creature No. 1 could sense an opponent’s emotions through the vibrations of their voice.

It seemed to have retaliated immediately because it sensed Orca was being hostile toward me.

I patted Creature No. 1 and then spoke to Orca.

“As Creature No. 1 realized, I don’t possess any special abilities, but I do have medical knowledge. I came here to help the creature patients, and also…”

Although my affinity score had dropped by 20, it was still above 50.

Given the anomalies occurring here, I decided it would be best to be direct—even if it meant taking a risk—to clear the scenario quickly.

I was about to say something he would never believe.

But I didn’t get the chance.

“Did you come to set us free?”

Orca had voiced the very words I was about to speak.

How did he know?

As I froze in the face of this unexpected situation, a bright smile spread across Orca’s face as he looked at me.

He laughed heartily and exclaimed:

“Haha! It seems it wasn’t just a foolish delusion after all!”

Even though he was on the run as an escaped prisoner, he laughed with genuine delight, unable to hold back his mirth in that moment.

A notification popped up with a ding.

This time, my affinity score had risen by a full 30 points.

As I repeatedly checked the system window, Orca reached out his hand toward me.

Creature No. 1 wriggled its vines and lowered me down to him.

“You might find this hard to believe.”

Orca said as he caught me in his arms.

“But I saw you in my dreams.”

His dark, glossy eyes were filled with affection for me.

“In them, I didn’t call you ‘Little Lamb’—I called you ‘Roasted Chestnut.’”