Cryska Barchenowa and Inia Sestina were artificial humans created to advance the Soviet-led Alternative III plan.
Although that plan had been aborted, most of the artificial humans had died. The few who survived did not meet good ends either. They were discarded like tools that had outlived their usefulness.
The sisters, however, had been lucky. They had been repurposed for other experimental tests, so they had not been thrown away.
While the sisters were conducting tests on a newly developed Tactical Surface Fighter, their country unexpectedly received intelligence about Hive H20. Since their unit was the closest, despite originally not being meant to participate in combat, they were temporarily ordered to investigate.
The result was that only the sisters had survived by luck.
As for the rest of their "companions"—they could hardly be called companions. To the sisters, those people were strangers. The two of them lived for each other alone, and they obeyed only because they had no choice.
Those "companions" had died because they received orders to obtain that machine or that new BETA Tactical Surface Fighter by any means possible. In the end, they had been killed instead.
Now, the sisters had become the other party's captives and had been taken to an island.
"Sister."
Inia's voice brought Cryska back to herself. She saw Inia holding a spoon with a scoop of something called pudding on it, offering to feed her.
The food had been given to them by the enemy.
Ordinarily, Cryska would certainly have suspected that it might be poisoned or tampered with and warned Inia not to eat it. Inia herself would not have eaten it so casually either.
But the two of them seemed to have been saved by the other party. After they were given that white medicine, their bodies felt different from before—especially comfortable.
When Inia woke up hungry, the other party brought them some food. After they saw him eat some himself, Inia looked at Cryska with pleading eyes. In the end, Cryska simply took the lead and ate first.
If he truly wanted to poison them, there was no need to go through the food. And besides, he had restored them and allowed them to move freely.
When they were powerless, would that not have been the best time to conduct whatever experiments he wanted?
Still, by allowing them to move freely, was he not worried that they might suddenly attack him?
As for that, Cryska had already given up.
After being given medicine in a humiliating manner, once she recovered enough to move, she had attacked him. The result made her understand just how weak she was in his hands.
He had even tossed her a gun and let her attack with it. But her shots were not dodged by him. He cut the bullets apart with a dagger.
It was simply absurd.
"I'm not hungry anymore. Eat it yourself, Inia."
However, Inia had no intention of taking it back. Cryska sighed and parted her lips, letting Inia feed her.
"Sister, we're not going back, are we?"
Inia said that to her as well. She sounded nervous, and her wide eyes carried both unease and expectation.
By not going back, she meant not returning to the Soviet Union. Simply put, they would be defecting to work for that man.
Yes, work. That man had said that if they worked for him, their treatment would definitely be better than what they had in the Soviet Union. Their physical condition had also been treated, and they would no longer need regular injections.
If that man's promised treatment was truly that good, then Cryska would betray the Soviet Union without hesitation for Inia's sake.
But would he really be that kind?
She was deeply suspicious. Inia was still simple-minded. Was she really going to trust someone so easily just because he showed them a little kindness?
As people who possessed a certain degree of psychic ability, they could more or less judge whether someone held malice toward them.
However, against this man, that ability had completely failed. Even Inia, whose sensitivity was stronger than hers, could not read him.
Even so, the innocent Inia seemed to have been shaken by that man's "sweet words."
"We'll see. If what he said is true, then we won't go back."
She did not give an absolute answer.
Then Cryska looked toward the sisters' Tactical Surface Fighter. The machine was currently being scanned, its data being acquired.
The people doing it appeared to be from an island nation whose national flower was the cherry blossom, but they wore United Nations military uniforms.
Her gaze also shifted toward several machines smaller than Tactical Surface Fighters. Those, they did recognize. They were the new machines that had appeared in the assault on Sado Island today.
Although they were half the size, the power they displayed far surpassed the most advanced Tactical Surface Fighters in the current world.
As for that man, he was currently enjoying a hot spring somewhere on the island.
At the same time—
"Your investment environment over here is truly worrying."
Kain could hardly bear to keep watching.
While enjoying the hot spring, he continued browsing the movements of the various nations in this world since the BETA invasion. It was truly an eye-opener.
Every country had kept things half-hidden, refusing to share good resources while also tripping one another up.
The intelligence wars in particular were truly spectacular.
Some were about to research something useful. If another side could neither steal it nor obtain it, then they would simply destroy it.
Even when facing the BETA in joint operations, they still could not act with one heart. Each side worried that its own forces would suffer heavier losses, which would weaken its national defense and political position against hostile nations, so none dared to commit fully.
To put it simply, even the armies fighting the BETA were still being stingy. They still needed to keep enough strength in reserve to deal with unfriendly countries.
And if those unfriendly countries saw that another nation's border defenses had weakened, they really would stir up trouble.
And that was only the struggle between nations. Within each country, there were also all kinds of internal conflicts.
In such an awful environment, the woman bathing with him would need no small amount of time to grasp enough power to make others obey her and block out all that interference.
"Yes, it is awful. Sometimes I even wonder whether a world like this is worth saving."
Yuuko Kouzuki answered in a sighing tone.
After learning from him about the true capabilities of the Unit-01 BETA machine, she wanted even more urgently to attack the Original Hive. He would also enter the Original Hive to read the BETA's data, especially the factory data.
However, the Unit-01 BETA he had obtained could not charge into the Original Hive alone. Humanity's main forces would need to launch a major offensive and cover the Unit-01 BETA as it infiltrated.
It could not simply charge across the battlefield openly. If the superior-brain-class observed it, it would likely prepare some sort of countermeasure. They had to strike by surprise.
But if they wanted to attack the Original Hive, the greatest difficulty now was that humanity needed unity.
They needed a unified coalition government, not a mess of factions dragging one another down.
And under the current circumstances, how many years would it take her to climb into such an organization?
Moreover, once the nations of humanity realized that the power she controlled could counter the BETA, and that humanity no longer faced the danger of extinction, what would happen?
The countries currently unaffected by the BETA would become even less willing to contribute against them. They might even interfere with her actions and attempt to seize her technology.
The covert intelligence war would become even more intense. It would not be surprising if small-scale wars broke out between humans.
Especially since the world's sole superpower at present—the only superpower—was the greatest obstructive force.
"Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, then."
Yuuko said it with a fierce look in her eyes.
She would use that method to make others understand that her side was not to be provoked.
"Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys? To what extent?"
Kain asked in return.
The purple-haired woman before him did not answer. Instead, she closed her eyes.
Looking at her red lips, pressed faintly together, she seemed to be struggling. It looked as if she was about to choose an extremely forceful "chicken-killing" operation—one that would mean heavy bloodshed.
And of course, he would be the one carrying it out. Otherwise, where would she get that kind of power?
"I want you to completely destroy the will of the factions opposing the Alternative IV plan!"
Yuuko opened her eyes and gave that answer. Her gaze had become resolute, and even somewhat mad.
She had already formed a plan.
It was a "great purge" plan that would make her be seen as a demon.
And since she could not provide the force herself, he would be the one to act.
One man against half the world.
With his own strength alone, he would face the armed forces of half the world and destroy their will.
(End of Chapter)
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