WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 104: Project Alice-02 (2)

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Alice.

Her formal designation was Project Alice-02.

The fragile test subject had been born inside a pitch-black test tube.

<Oh... What an interesting discovery.>

<To think there would be two test subjects deemed suitable.>

A man in a white coat stood beyond the glass.

His features were grotesque, as he had no eyes, nose, or mouth.

The man introduced himself as Oz (OZ).

He was the one who had created Alice and overseen the project.

<These test subjects are in good condition.>

<This time, we may finally be able to make them bear the [Queen].>

<I will dispose of every other subject we have tried so far, all 3,761 of them.>

The faceless man muttered to himself.

Calling himself their father, he ran a hand over the test tube's glass.

<Perhaps they will become the greatest masterpieces of my life.>

A faint sense of self had formed within the bubbling test tube.

It was Alice-02's first surviving memory.

Soon, the girl was removed from the test tube and taken to a corner of a cold room.

It was a dark room where not a single ray of light entered, one that would remain an unforgettable nightmare for the rest of her life.

<Now, then... Please satisfy my expectations.>

<I want you to show me the potential you hold deep within.>

Project Alice.

From what she had overheard, it was a project intended to bring something that existed only as a concept into reality.

<You are a gateway. A gateway that connects concepts and reality.>

<There is a world I wish to see through such a gateway.>

The project Oz spoke of was meant to bring [something] into the world through a test subject.

So Alice-02's completion would not be the end.

It was only the beginning.

They had opened the gateway, but they had yet to summon the concept beyond it.

<Ah... It will surely be beautiful. A world painted over with nightmares, where screams and shrieks ring out like sunlight.>

<I hope you will fulfill my dream.>

<Please endure for a very, very long time without breaking.>

That was the request Oz made of the girl.

After that, Alice-02 was locked in the dark room and subjected to experiments every single day.

The fragile test subject was stripped of agency and will, forced to endure one day of suffering after another.

"I don't want to... It hurts, it hurts..."

<That's it! Suffer a little more! Let your mind waver even more!>

"It's like... another world, monsters, they're, they're following me..."

<Ah! You mustn't let go of that feeling!>

"Father... P-Please..."

There was nothing complicated about the experiments.

They injected her with a jet-black drug and put her into a deep sleep.

That alone was enough to make Alice-02 writhe in unbearable agony and terror.

Whenever she closed her eyes, nightmares chased after her and tormented her in the most horrifying ways.

<This is a drug specially prepared for this project?>

<I made it so the test subjects would suffer as much as possible.>

Whenever Alice-02 screamed, Oz smiled as if it were the reaction he had wanted.

There was no way for the girl to resist.

The laboratory was entirely Oz's domain.

Over a long period of time, he carefully whittled away at the test subjects' minds.

<It is quite a complicated process.>

<I must inflict suffering, but physical contact is completely forbidden. That is the troublesome part.>

<If there is even a flaw in a test subject, there is no telling what errors may occur when we summon the [concept].>

<That is why I am proceeding by collapsing their minds, but if I rush even that, there is a risk that the gateway itself will crumble...>

It required delicate work.

It was a project that would take at least ten years.

Whenever the torture began, Oz hummed to himself amid his idle chatter.

"..."

The girl felt as though she would break.

Endless mental torture.

Nightmares she could never grow used to, along with helplessness and despair forced into her mind.

The only reason she could endure that horrible reality was the companion who stayed by her side every day.

"Liss!"

"...Allie."

Alice-01.

She was another test subject like Liss and, by designation, her older sister.

She was the only support Liss could rely on in the dark laboratory.

The two girls looked exactly alike, to the point that they could not be distinguished by sight.

They were like identical twins.

Even the researchers told them apart by the marks on their forearms.

"Today's experiment seemed harder than usual, didn't it?"

"Mm..."

"Still, my pretty little sister! You held on so well today too."

"S-Sis, I can't breathe when you hug me like that."

"Because my little sister is the best!"

Her older sister was kind.

Someone who could stay cheerful and sparkle even in a filthy pit like that.

Though they shared the same appearance, their personalities and dispositions could not have been more different.

"Liss."

"Yeah... Allie."

Allie. Liss.

They were nicknames the sisters had chosen for each other.

They took the first half of Alice for the older sister, Allie, and gave the latter half to the younger sister, Liss.

Since they were both named Alice-01 and Alice-02, it had been Allie's idea to split the name fairly between them.

-We have a name divided in half, so we can only be whole when we're together.

-No matter what happens, we must never be separated! Okay?

Allie often took care of Liss.

Whenever Liss cried into her pillow, her sister's tender touch would always wrap around her.

"You had another scary dream, didn't you? You can't sleep, and you've been crying this whole time."

"Th-That's not it... Sniff, I'm okay..."

"You're not okay. Come here, into your sister's arms."

"...Okay."

Liss liked being in Allie's arms.

Strangely enough, whenever she fell asleep in her older sister's embrace, she never had nightmares.

The day she learned that Allie had actually been taking Liss's nightmares upon herself, she cried her heart out...

"Liss... I told you not to cry. Your sister is really okay."

"But, because of me... Sis, because of me..."

"I'm sorry, Liss. There, there. Stop crying."

"Sniff, ughhh..."

That was how precious her older sister was to Liss.

Allie always sparkled, encouraging her powerless younger sister.

Liss had endured those hellish days entirely because of her sister.

"It's okay."

Whenever Liss cried, her sister often told her silly stories.

"When we finally get out of here someday, let's build a quiet house and live there together."

"Sniff... Go outside? But how...?"

"We run away! Or are you going to stay in this laboratory forever?"

"Run away from the laboratory? C-Can we do that? Is that okay...?"

"Of course! But it has to be our secret. We can never let Father find out!"

Stories about the outside.

The two had been born in the laboratory, but they roughly knew about the ordinary lives and happiness of people outside.

When they had begun to establish a sense of self as test subjects, basic information about the outside world had been implanted in them.

That was why Allie often spoke about the outside.

"When we finally escape, I want to visit so many places. The ocean, filled endlessly with salt water. Mountains where all kinds of plants grow together. Snowfields covered in white crystals of ice... Ah, and I want to go to an academy, where people our age gather!"

"I want to be with you too, Sis..."

"What are you talking about? That's obvious~!"

"Ah, Sis... D-Don't pat my head so hard..."

Sometimes Liss wondered about it.

Why had they bothered to fill test subjects, who would be imprisoned for life, with information about the outside world?

'Maybe it was more cruel that way...'

Oz wanted them to suffer as much as possible.

Still, those stories gave them hope.

When they lay beside each other and shared tales of adventures they had never experienced, they could forget their nightmares for a little while.

"We're definitely running away someday. I'll make sure you get out."

"Yeah, Sis..."

Even in that unfortunate environment, they had small but happy memories.

Liss came to depend on Allie even more.

When she was with her older sister, she did not have to give up hope.

Even when Liss tried to let go of hope, Allie would reach out and hold on to it for her.

"It's okay. We'll definitely be happy."

We'll be happy.

It was something Liss's sister said all the time.

It might have been a simple phrase, but those words truly kept Liss alive for several more years.

"Yeah, I'll believe you..."

How many years passed like that?

One day, Oz happened to leave the laboratory.

As a high-ranking member of the Cult, he went on trips several times a year.

"...Liss. Can you hear that?"

"Hm? What sound?"

"It sounds like something's breaking and collapsing..."

That day was different.

Only a few hours after Oz left, a disturbance broke out in the laboratory.

Beyond the thick walls that confined them, they could faintly hear researchers screaming and all kinds of crashing sounds.

Then part of the laboratory collapsed.

Rumble-!

"U-Uh...?!"

"Liss! Watch out!"

Their surroundings were half-destroyed in an instant.

They learned later that the Church had sent a purge squad after receiving information about the place.

People in white robes flooded the corridors, cutting down fleeing Cult members.

"Sis! Wh-What should we do...?"

"...This is our chance!"

"O-Our chance?"

"The chance we've dreamed about! We can escape now!"

The damaged building had bent the wall of the isolation room that held them.

The other researchers were also too busy carrying out the protocol to incinerate the entire laboratory.

If they remained there, they would be disposed of along with the main laboratory.

Allie held out her hand and pulled Liss out of the isolation room.

"We always said we'd run away! Today's the day."

"S-Sis...!"

"We need to find the people upstairs. They look like Church people, so they'll definitely help us!"

"I think they already noticed we're gone! We need to h-hurry before they catch us again..."

The two slipped through the bent opening.

Then they ran as hard as they could through the unlit corridor.

They had broken past the guards and begun their escape.

The first place outside the laboratory they ever set foot in reeked of smoke.

A terrible stench, the smell of chemicals, and a faint scent of blood greeted them.

"Huff, huff... How much farther?"

"I think it's the floor right above us..."

"We're almost there!"

Though they got lost several times, the girls gradually drew closer to the exit.

They only had to cross one more corridor to reach the outside.

Just as success seemed within their grasp, Allie's body suddenly collapsed as she ran ahead of Liss.

Slice-.

"...Huh?"

Footnotes:

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