# Chapter 21
It would have been good if Fenil were here now. She would have immediately understood Peace’s purpose.
I stared at the two people who were watching the monitors while biting their lips. They didn’t even blink at the sight before them.
“Ah… D-11 was collected, right?”
“Didn’t you see them just take it away?”
“This is annoying. Now we have to create a new chart.”
They were busy yawning, complaining about the inconvenience. This hideous and cruel scene was just everyday life to them. The man roughly tore off the chart containing D-11’s records and inserted a new sheet into the clipboard.
Based on the circumstances, D-11 was dead. A new D-11 would be written on that blank sheet.
Countless beings must have been recorded on those sheets. I wondered if Alice was among them.
I kept my eyes on the monitor to find Alice. Although this situation was horrific, my job was to find her.
Not to stop these experiments.
Alice’s appearance was silver hair and blue eyes, contrasting with Boss’s features. Those colors were quite rare.
I searched for Alice among the screens that filled my vision. My eyes filtered out all colors except blue and white.
Black. Red. Green. Countless colors began to disappear. Only blue and white remained.
As the candidates gradually narrowed down, a certain figure came into my view.
A very young child. Silver hair long enough to reach past the waist and blue eyes that were dead black. The child was staring blankly at the wall.
The colors matched Alice’s. But she was currently eighteen years old. This child appeared to be about seven years old at most. The age difference with Alice was extreme. However, this child was the only one with silver hair and blue eyes. No matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t see any other candidates.
If this child was Alice, it’s possible that the experiments had stopped her growth. There’s no way human experiments wouldn’t have side effects. If some bodies became deformed, it’s possible that growth could stop as well.
But it was still too early to be certain. From my memory, the appearance was similar to Alice’s, but I couldn’t confirm it just by seeing the side profile. It would be good if the child turned their head.
As if my thoughts had reached them, the child slowly began to turn their head. They stared directly at the screen, as if reading my mind.
I could immediately compare them. I recalled the image of Alice in my memory as clearly as possible.
Downturned eye corners. The tear mole beneath the eye. Even the small lips. The child on the screen and Alice in my memory slowly merged together.
Everything matched the Alice I had seen in photos.
That child was Alice. The Alice that Boss had been so desperate to find.
She was still alive in an environment where it wouldn’t be strange if she had died.
That means she had been subjected to experiments for at least 10 years.
Those lifeless eyes that seemed to have lost all hope came clearly into view. That appearance was so much like my past self that I unconsciously clenched my fists.
I barely managed to tear my gaze away from those eyes. Time was up now. The barrier would soon be lifted. I needed to leave quickly before that happened.
I tried hard to forget Alice’s image that wouldn’t leave my mind. I knew what it was like to live a life buried in hell, unable to breathe. I knew how painful that time must be.
My breathing became labored. Yet I still couldn’t save her. Though I understood the meaning of those eyes better than anyone, I couldn’t immediately reach out like Boss did.
I moved my feet, which had grown heavy for a different reason now. I raised my hand, which had also become heavier.
Just as I was about to grab the doorknob, someone opened the door before me.
“Um…”
The man wearing a white coat was hunched over despite his robust build. His disheveled hair covered his eyes, which were further hidden behind glasses.
Timidly approaching, he gently raised his head to look at the two people.
“…Where did D-11 go?”
“…Sigh.”
They sighed as if this was a familiar occurrence. Their attitude clearly showed they were sick of it, but the other person didn’t stop talking.
“…Is it dead?”
His voice trembled faintly. With his hands clasped together, he made no attempt to hide his anxiety as he repeatedly scratched his hands. Whether it was a habit or not, his hands were covered in scars.
“It’s dead.”
“I told you to stop caring. They’re all going to die anyway.”
At those words, the man’s body visibly stiffened. As he left, I could see his back, marked with frustration, regret, and despair.
For a researcher who conducted the experiment that killed D-11 to be shocked at the fact of its death—there couldn’t be a bigger hypocrite.
Apparently, the control room staff felt the same way, as I heard a faint voice when I left the control room.
“Doesn’t this honestly seem hypocritical? You’re the ones who killed them.”
“That’s…”
“If you wanted to save them, you should have done it from the beginning. What’s the point of coming after they’re all dead?”
I didn’t hear what came after that. Nor did I need to. I don’t know if it was to alleviate his guilt, but in some ways, he was worse than those in charge of the control room.
If he felt guilty, he could have just quit the research. The fact that he didn’t means that his own safety was more important to him than the lives of the test subjects.
My mouth tasted bitter. I was no different. The only one I would rescue was Alice.
Boss had only ordered Alice’s rescue.
So I was no different from the researcher just now.
By the time I left the control room, most people had gone home, making the corridor almost empty. That meant I could leave using the same method I’d used to enter.
There was no one to witness the door opening by itself. Even if it was caught on the surveillance camera, they wouldn’t be suspicious right away.
I boarded the elevator that came down immediately and checked the time remaining on my wristwatch. Seeing about 15 minutes left, I looked away. This was plenty of time. If I could just get out now, everything would be over.
I walked through the eerily quiet lobby, muffling my footsteps as much as possible. Even the slightest step would instantly spread sound.
I needed to be especially careful because of that. However, I ended up making a big mistake. I failed to notice the water spilled on the floor.
I don’t know who spilled it, but when I stepped on the uncleaned water droplets, the water spread slightly. Only after stepping on it did I realize, and I immediately looked around.
It was too late for anyone to be in the company. So no one should have witnessed this strange scene. There was no presence of anyone nearby.
But when my eyes met Ben’s, who had been watching me, that thought vanished.
I was certain no one else was here except me. When did he arrive? Though our eyes met, all Ben could see was the trace of the water droplets spreading, since he couldn’t see me. However, even that small trace was enough to raise suspicion.
I couldn’t believe this was happening as soon as I set foot in the lobby. I hoped he would let it go, but Ben wasn’t that type of person.
“…Who’s there?”
Breaking my hopes, Ben spoke into the empty air. Having immediately noticed something strange, he slowly approached me.
He often stayed late at Peace. While I had thought it might be a possibility, I never expected to run into him like this. I guess it was fortunate that I had come prepared.
His purple eyes glinted strangely in the moonlight. That gaze was like that of a hungry beast. His voice echoed throughout the lobby.
“Seeing that you’re hiding your appearance, I don’t think you’re here with good intentions.”
Ben, looking around, began to slowly piece together the situation. Speaking deliberately, he turned his gaze back to me.
“Your target is… Peace?”
Seeing his current demeanor, which was nothing like the usual Ben, I was reminded of when I first met him. Back then, this precarious atmosphere had also surrounded him.
Of course, there was more pressure in his current state than in the past, as he was dealing with a suspicious person.
Only silence followed his question, but Ben’s steps showed no hesitation, as if he had already made his decision. He strode directly toward me.
He shouldn’t be able to see me at all, so I don’t understand how he knew where I was. I gently stepped back, trying to avoid him.
“It’s useless to try and run away.”
As if he had read even that, Ben spoke with ease. Anyone looking at this situation would say I had the advantage. I was hiding my appearance, while he was exposed.
But Ben was showing excessive confidence that he could catch me. Just like how he had used mind control before, he must have some method for this as well.
With an ominous feeling, I quickly moved my feet. But as soon as I took one step, a siren began to sound throughout the building. The noise that shattered the icy silence filled the entire headquarters.
Weeeing— Weeeing—
The siren in a space where even the slightest sound would echo made my ears go numb. I quickly identified the cause of the siren. I saw Ben breaking the fire alarm attached to the wall.
This sound was from the fire alarm. Why did he do this? The plastic pieces that had been covering the fire alarm broke and fell to the floor. The meaning of Ben’s incomprehensible action became clear with his next words.
“If something can’t be seen, just make it visible.”
With those words, cold streams of water began pouring from the air. So this was what he was aiming for. I now understood all of his strange behavior. The reason he activated the fire alarm.
Ben had been targeting the sprinklers. My body was made invisible, but it still physically existed. So naturally, if I got wet, my form would be revealed.
Moreover, since the alarm had gone off, people would arrive soon. Ben was smarter than I had thought.
