Chapter 117

The true ending of Cell-X is the creatures’ "true freedom."

There is one prerequisite for this: the Creatures must kill all the prison guards.

All twelve Creatures had to participate in the killing of the guards.

This was because they needed to retrieve and absorb the Neo flowing through the guards’ bodies.

However, it was not easy for the Creatures, weakened by their long imprisonment, to kill guards with reinforced bodies.

Since some of the Creatures lacked the ability to kill, it was difficult to execute the task simply by force.

In the game, I used a method of dealing with the guards using Neo.

I forcibly overdose them with Neo extracted from the Creatures, turning them into residue.

Once they become residue, it is easier for the Creatures to absorb Neo.

‘It was effective against the regular guards.’

The Chief of Security seemed to possess a strong adaptability to Neo; even after an overdose, he did not turn into residue.

So, he had disposed of it in a different way.

Anyway, I needed to verify if the method attempted in the game would work in reality.

And as fate would have it, I ended up extracting Neo with only one guard accompanying me.

It was a good situation for testing.

I stopped in front of Cell No. 2. And I swallowed the smile that was about to rise within me without realizing it.

It was because Cells No. 2 and No. 3 were stuck together.

As creatures born from a single root, their cells were connected to each other.

It was because they had to stay together to survive.

Creatures No. 2 and No. 3, made up of fluffy white balls of fur like cotton candy, stared at me with their large, black eyes.

The two antennas hanging from their heads like ribbons tilted back and forth.

Then, a crackling electric shock shot through their fur.

No. 2 and No. 3 tucked their antennas back into their fur and started jumping wildly.

They bounced off the walls, the floor, and in all directions, bouncing like bouncy balls.

As electricity crackled all around, the guard behind me recoiled in disgust.

“Why are those bastards acting up again?”

‘They’re cute, so why?’

Retorting the guard inwardly, I took out insulated gloves from my medical bag and put them on.

Then, I gently slipped my hand through the bars.

No. 2 and No. 3, who had been bouncing around frantically, stopped abruptly. They pulled their antennas out again and hopped back towards me.

I petted No. 2 and No. 3 with both hands. At that, both of them slid and became docile.

I turned to the guard and said,

“Please open the door.”

The prison guard opened the prison door with a sense of unease.

He appeared ready to strike the creatures with his baton immediately if they resisted even the slightest.

However, No. 2 and No. 3 were incredibly well-behaved.

The iron barred door slammed shut behind me with a click.

I didn’t pay much attention and crouched down in front of No. 2 and No. 3.

They were small creatures with relatively simple structures.

I only needed to check the antennas on their heads and the core in their center.

While examining them to see if they had sustained any injuries during yesterday’s escape, I noticed their antennas were slightly dented.

I gently straightened them out with my hand and noted "normal" on the patient chart.

"I’ll be back."

As I stood up, No. 2 and No. 3 clung to my pants, blocking me from walking.

Unable to resist the sight of their antennas twitching, I chuckled softly and petted each of them one more time. I would have loved to play with them, but there were still many patients left to see.

I managed to separate from No. 2 and No. 3 with difficulty and headed to Cell No. 12.

I intended to see No. 12 first, as it is more efficient to conduct rounds in an order tailored to the individual’s characteristics rather than in numerical order.

Having witnessed No. 12 chained up, my steps toward the solitary cell naturally quickened.

No. 12’s cell was unusually dark.

It was dark to begin with, but a translucent curtain had been drawn over the small window.

As soon as I entered the cell, something sticky clung to the soles of my feet.

It was the trace of a spiderweb.

“…!”

My body was suddenly lifted up and stuck to something with a slap.

Caught in the radial spiderwebs stretched inside the cell, I struggled to adjust my eyes to the darkness.

A rustling sound, like sharp joints approaching, was heard.

Soon, a woman with long, wavy hair cascading down appeared before me.

No. 12 had the lower body of a spider and the upper body of a female human; her eyes consisted entirely of black pupils, without any whites.

With her clear eyes, she smiled at me and extended her human arm.

Her hand, made of soft skin rather than the hard exoskeleton of a spider, caressed my cheek.

I shuddered involuntarily at the cool temperature.

And then, suddenly… I mean, suddenly…

She kissed my cheek…

“P-Patient!”

As I squirmed in surprise on the web, No. 12 opened her mouth and laughed.

Her voice was made of song.

Listening to the clear, resonant song, my face flushed.

There were events like this in games, too.

It was an event where you would receive a kiss on the cheek as a greeting if you reached a certain level of affection.

But that was a game; now it was reality.

I tried hard to project the dignity of a medic to her.

“I need to treat you; you shouldn’t be doing this. Please put me down.”

Even though she couldn’t understand the language, she must have known what I wanted, yet No. 12 pretended not to notice and just sang.

While doing so, she stroked me and even kissed my hair.

Helped up and kissed me several times, I started to cry.

“Creature No. 12…”

Only then did No. 12 pull me out of the spiderweb and lower me to the floor.

I quickly proceeded with the examination before she could start playing games again.

I turned on the flashlight and examined her legs and exoskeleton with particular care.

I was worried she might have been seriously injured yesterday when she was forcibly dragged up by the chains, but seeing her playing around like this, it seemed she had mostly recovered.

There were no visible injuries, either.

After barely managing to soothe and calm her down as she kept wrapping me tightly in cobwebs and singing, I left Cell No. 12.

“You have a strong stomach.”

A prison guard standing a distance away looked at me with a disgusted expression.

I replied with a business smile.

“It’s my job, after all.”

Then, for some reason, a numerical alert popped up.

…Why is my affection going up?

I gave up trying to understand.

The next place to see her was Solitary Cell No. 6.

Standing in front of Solitary Cell No. 6, I looked at Orca beyond the bars.

Orca was sitting quietly in the chair.

He had been staring blankly up at the palm-sized window when he sensed a presence and turned his head.

A look of welcome flickered in his eyes, but he did not rashly acknowledge me.

It was because a prison guard was standing right nearby, ready to open the cell door.

Orca waited for me quietly, maintaining a blank expression.

The guard opened the door and moved away again.

It was evident that he did not want to be close to the creatures.

Entering the prison, I stood before the barred door and looked at Orca.

Orca playfully winked with the eye that was not wearing the eyepatch.

Then, he rose from his chair.

He limped toward me.

Having been exposed to the guards’ violence for a long time and having his Neo forcibly extracted, one of Orca’s legs had become unable to function properly.

One of his eyes had also been extracted for research purposes.

Orca… always described himself as broken.

A slight tingling sensation lingered in my left wrist.

It seemed I was inexplicably bothered by my wrist because of the dream I had last night.

I clenched and unclenched my hand as I looked at Orca.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

Conscious of the prison guard, he spoke in a lowered voice.

“Were you alright last night? I felt terrible about parting ways like that. I was so worried about you, Roasted Chestnut.”

I hadn’t managed to raise my affection level with Orca to 100 yet.

If it were just like a game, the moment his affection for me reaches 100 is fixed.

It was the moment I reached the True Ending.

Unless it was then, even if it went up to 99, it would never reach 100.

Having played Cell-X in the past, I resented Orca.

For him, who only developed a complete affection for me after I had to see the True Ending.

Still, it was okay because this time, I was going to create a new True Ending. After catching my breath for a moment, I smiled at Orca.

“I’m fine. Are you hurt anywhere, Orca-ssi?”

Although he had returned to Zone X on his own accord, the guards might have subjected him to violence again in the process.

I wasn’t a real medic, so I didn’t have any great skills, but I could still perform simple treatments.

‘I did learn the treatment methods for each creature in the game, after all.’

At my words, Orca grinned and held out his arm.

“Treat this spot!”

His forearm was covered in stab wound scars, so it was hard to even see where the injury was.

Orca pointed to the wound with his finger.

When I looked where his hand touched, there was a small scratch.

It was a wound barely big enough to be a hairline crack.

“…….”

I silently rummaged through my medical bag and pulled out a bandage.

It was a punishment bandage I usually only used when human prisoners were being too annoying.

As I stuck the bright yellow band-aid firmly onto the wound, Orca’s eyes widened in surprise.

A notification for stat changes appeared.

To think a single Chick Band-Aid reduced Suspicion by 10.

I should have put on about ten of them.

Orca spoke, suppressing a laugh.

“Roasted Chestnut… Do you know how old I am? I don’t think I ever told you in my dreams.”

“You must be roughly in the triple digits.”

“How did you know?”

I guessed correctly.

I knew he was old since he was a creature, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be real, so I was surprised.

‘He was totally an old man?’

He wasn’t using an old man’s tone for nothing.

Perhaps because I showed my surprise, Orca grinned and spoke teasingly.

“It might seem like a distant past to you, Roasted Chestnut, but to my kind, I am still a young man! In my prime. Let’s see, in human years, that would be around the mid-to-late thirties.”

As I listened to Orca’s kind explanation, I became curious about Dominic’s age as well.

However, seeing as he seemed like a being for whom age was meaningless, I quickly let go of my curiosity.

Orca muttered as he looked down at the bandage on his forearm.

“This never happened in my dreams… Reality is certainly different.”

I, too, had never put a chick bandage on him in the game.

I brought my stethoscope to Orca and spoke in a low voice.

“Orca-ssi. Since there is only one guard today, I intend to test the plan. Are you alright?”

At this, Orca leaned his head closer to me and replied.

“Of course, Roasted Chestnut. But I am still worried. What if you are in danger?”

A faint scent of the sea wafted through the air.

The sea breeze was flowing in through the small window.

I smiled slightly at him and said something else.

“Later… would you like to go to the sea with me? Please teach me how to swim.”

Orca’s eyes widened. Soon, he laughed so hard it seemed to crumble.

“I am not that good of a teacher.”

“I’m not exactly a model student myself.”

“Haha… If you want, Roasted Chestnut, I’d like to teach you.”

I checked Orca’s stats at the popping-up notification.

As expected, the last 1 was not filled.

“If you give me freedom, Roasted Chestnut, it seems difficult for us to swim together.”

I gritted my teeth. However, Orca insisted on saying the very words I did not want to hear.

A hopeful voice cried out as if in a dream.

“Roasted Chestnut, you know what kind of freedom I desire!”

Orca, Creature No. 6 of Cell-X.

The true freedom he desired was death.