NOVEL NEXT WORLD The negotiations are over.
While I didn’t go through a complex process of signing contracts with a lawyer by my side, we confirmed that our understandings align.
Well, that doesn’t mean I fully trust this group, but… as long as they’re not trying to bind me here like before, it wouldn’t be so bad to go along with them a bit.
“So, what do we do now?”
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot, I immediately turned to Oliver to get things rolling.
Having returned to my hometown after so long, I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of wandering around with unknown monsters lurking about.
“First, I’d like you to conduct cross-experiments with several types of anomalous phenomena isolated at this base.”
“Do I just smash them all?”
“No… that’s not it. Our job is to contain them so they don’t harm humanity, not to eliminate them.”
However, contrary to what I expected, it seemed his goal wasn’t to kill those monsters.
I can’t help but wonder, isn’t it way less hassle to just kill them than keep them locked up?
If I think back to that doll I faced last time, it certainly didn’t seem like it could be rehabilitated.
“Why not? If they get loose, it could lead to dangerous situations, just like last time.”
“Of course, if the anomalous phenomena pose a serious threat, then we prioritize their eradication. But for those that don’t, we can’t hastily choose to eliminate them because we don’t know what might happen if we destroy them.”
“I don’t really get what you’re saying.”
He answered my question, but my confusion remained unsolved.
Then he appeared to think deeply about something for a moment.
Finally, he opened his mouth again towards me.
“Let me give you an example. Do you know what a bomb is?”
“…I know that much.”
“Good. Then, let’s assume there’s a bomb right here.”
He pointed at the empty floor.
Of course, there was no such bomb, but I didn’t bother challenging his statement for no reason.
“This bomb is extremely powerful, capable of destroying everything around you no matter its current location. If the fuse catches fire, what will you do?”
“I’ll just put the fire out.”
As he posed the question, I easily suggested the answer.
It was too simple. No matter how dangerous the bomb is, as long as it doesn’t explode, that’s what matters, right?
Sure, bombs designed for destruction might not have a fuse, or if they do, it wouldn’t be protruding like that…
But since he brought up the fuse, I figured he wouldn’t deny my answer.
“That’s correct. If you extinguish the fuse, there’s no longer a worry about the bomb exploding.
However, there’s a problem. This bomb automatically ignites the fuse at the same time every day, even if no one touches it.”
He nodded, affirming my answer.
But the problem doesn’t end there; he presented a new issue.
“Sure, you can extinguish the fuse. You might even extend it with a cloth. But the fact remains that someone has to extinguish that fuse every day.”
Somehow, the answer to that problem seemed predetermined.
However, since there are multiple ways to put the bomb’s fire out, I suggested a few alternative solutions to him.
“How about putting it underwater?”
“Unfortunately, the fuse won’t go out even in water.”
“Then disarm the bomb.”
“That would’ve been nice, but this bomb has a different structure than regular ones, so no one knows how to disarm it.”
“Then can’t we just smash it?”
“That might just cause the bomb to explode from the impact.”
Wrong answer, wrong answer, wrong answer.
Honestly, I was getting a bit annoyed.
It almost felt absolutely ridiculous.
Even on the third answer, when he denied my response again, I couldn’t hold back and said,
“…this is absurd.”
“True, it is absurd. Like a child throwing a tantrum, insisting on what’s not possible.”
Oliver chuckled slightly, as if he had expected this from the start.
“But the anomalous phenomena we’ve seen so far mostly possess such nonsensical characteristics.”
He wiped the smile off his face.
And what came next was an explanation of the absurdity he literally just displayed.
“Precisely because of that, we don’t simply eliminate them— we just contain them. If we clearly knew how to contain them, we wouldn’t need to take such dangerous gambles. Understand?”
After he finished speaking, I nodded at his words and muttered to myself how increasingly bothersome this seemed.
I thought it would be a simple matter of smashing things up, but it looked much more complicated than I initially imagined.
“So, can you really trust me with such a complicated task? Just so you know, I won’t take responsibility if anything troublesome happens.”
“Don’t worry about that. In most cases, we’ll be providing you with the right specialists.”
For some reason, my shoulders felt heavy.
So, does it mean that I might end up killing what I thought was just a dangerous monster only to find out it was hiding something like a time bomb inside?
And if that time bomb had enough power to wipe out the area…?
I think one simple apology of, “Sorry about that, I’ll be more careful next time,” wouldn’t sit well with my conscience.
“Well, but that’s something to think about later. As I mentioned earlier, the project is still in the planning stages.”
Maybe noticing my slightly troubled expression, Oliver changed the subject.
In other words, he implied that he didn’t want me to do anything right now.
But didn’t he just mention something about an experiment earlier?
“So what’s this cross-experiment you talked about?”
“Oh, that’s….”
At the sound of my question, he trailed off.
He seemed to ponder something for a moment before throwing out a rather significant question at me.
“By any chance, did you recently find yourself in a strange space?”
Inside a room within Base 17.
In that room where only the sound of typing occasionally echoed, someone is seen deep in thought.
Responsible Researcher, Oliver Smith.
He was currently drafting a new report regarding the 19th anomalous entity.
…Her learning ability is much quicker than I expected.
Tap, tap, the sound of his fingers tapping the table filled the room.
What he learned from conversing with the girl over the past few days was that her learning ability exceeded all expectations.
Just a little while ago, she couldn’t even speak, yet now she could roughly hypothesize about the ecosystem of this world.
William briefly entertained doubts about the girl’s initial appearance when she was first discovered, but soon shook his head, dispelling those doubts.
If she had intended to cause any trouble, she would’ve done so already.
Senior Researcher Sophia didn’t explain anything to the girl.
Thus, the actions she took during the 744th incident were likely motivated by pure altruism rather than any ulterior motive.
Is it even possible for an anomalous entity to have such motives? The girl displayed too much of a human-like demeanor, and he could only speculate that she came from a dimension with a moral compass quite similar to theirs.
As a side note, Sophia was disciplined for her negligent work habits.
She claimed she didn’t believe the girl had the cognitive ability to understand such words…
Sadly, that excuse was not accepted.
[Oliver.]
In the middle of his thoughts, a youthful voice came through the communication device.
“Are you talking about the 19th one?”
[Yes. You mentioned you had something to do today.]
“Yes. I called you because I have a favor regarding the 1983rd anomalous phenomenon.”
[That… multi-dimensional whatever door?]
“…It’s a door leading to a multi-dimensional maze.”
Oliver corrected the terminology.
In truth, it wasn’t sudden that he called the girl.
He was nearly certain that the reason the 1983rd anomalous phenomenon halted its erratic behaviors was that the girl had impacted it significantly.
During their conversation before, he had confirmed that she had indeed entered that location.
[Again, I want to clarify that I don’t know if the space I entered is truly the one you’re talking about.]
“No, it definitely is. Such a space with those physical laws doesn’t exist in this world. Furthermore, the testimony of one of our agents trapped in there perfectly aligns with your actions, that’s the evidence.”
It seemed the girl wanted to keep something hidden, as she was reluctant to speak about her reasons for entering.
Nonetheless, her description of the space resembled what he knew quite closely.
Most importantly, it indicated that the 1983rd anomalous phenomenon had released her willingly.
“Soon, the door in front of you will open. And beyond that door, another door leading to a completely different space will open.”
She said there were exits everywhere, which seemed to be purposely revealing themselves, almost as if trying to let her out.
If that’s the case, then the essence of the 1983rd phenomenon seems to possess some form of will.
It could definitely be an overwhelmingly malicious kind.
Conversely, if despite its overflowing malice, it couldn’t harm her and only expelled her…
Well then, they’d finally have a lead on something that had been entirely unknown to them until now.
“All you need to do is enter that door and take a look around for a moment.”
[What if I encounter something weird again?]
“In that case, please capture it if possible.”
The girl nodded.
She was already prepared.
Having coordinated their statements in advance, there was no need for further explanation.
After checking that the recording device attached to the girl was functioning properly, Oliver pressed the button to open the door to the room that contained the anomalous phenomena.
Click, the sound echoed.
Then, along with that sound, the heavy door in front of the girl began to open.
Deep inside the isolated room, another door suddenly stood wide open, revealing a completely different scene from that of the current room.
Finally, as the heavy door opened enough to fully reveal its shape—
—BANG!
Suddenly, a loud sound echoed.
As if some unseen entity hurriedly slammed the door shut.
“…”
The room fell silent.
Given the characteristics of the 1983rd anomalous phenomenon, it would be a very dangerous situation for its door to close on its own.
However, strangely, Oliver didn’t sense this situation to be as perilous as the previous emergencies.
[…It closed, huh?]
His momentary speechlessness was broken only by the puzzled voice of the girl.