Chapter 78 Twenty-nine Shotas

"So, you guys had a qualifying match over who got to see the kid first?" Bourbon looked suffocated. He really couldn't imagine that scene.

A group of Grantys who look the same but are of different ages are fighting around a ring to decide the winner or something... Well, at least this allows them to judge that the Grantys have escaped from the control of the organization, otherwise even the most boring researchers would not try to cause the clones to fight each other.

Bourbon suddenly fell silent.

Wait, that's not possible, right?

But those are the researchers who created more than 10,000 Grandys. Who knows if they would gather the clones, who are considered consumables, together to raise them like pigs just for the purpose of "determining the most powerful Grandy"...

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

There was a color in Granti's eyes that didn't match his appearance and actual age, which made Bourbon instantly have the same contradictory feeling as when he was talking with A on the cliff.

"Of course not." Granty's face was expressionless, but the three of them could miraculously see his disgust and dissatisfaction. "Are you deliberately misinterpreting my meaning, Public Security?"

The air suddenly froze. No one had expected that Granty would openly discuss this topic, which the three of them had not yet fully accepted.

Granty did not come down, but this did not prevent his voice from being clearly heard by the listeners below: "Don't make such a serious matter sound so light-don't you all know a lot about us? Didn't my brother already tell you that Granty is an experimental life form that can only live for seven days?"

Scotland reflexively pressed the secret pocket on his chest, which contained the fourth diary he had secretly put away.

I've told them this, how could they not understand?

The Grananti only have seven days to live. Even if they are out of the control of the organization, no new Grananti will be born in the future. However, the existing Grananti will soon lose the regular maintenance of researchers and the resource support of the laboratory. I am afraid that the seven-day life will only be shortened.

They are almost counting on their fingers how many days they have left to live. For such Grantis, it is not about who sees A "first", but who "can" see A.

The three undercover agents, who were originally good guys, experienced varying degrees of emotional fluctuations, with Bourbon being the worst.

This typical Japanese public security officer who had relied on his intuition to test Granti's intelligence by making complaints and who could use honey traps on ordinary citizens without batting an eyelid, now looked at Granti's cold face and his conscience, which had just been hurt on the snowy mountain, trembled again.

Just as Bourbon was about to say something to save the cold atmosphere on the scene that was about to drop to the bottom of the thermometer, a voice even colder than Granty's rang out from the cobblestone road behind Scotland.

"Brother likes them very much. Are you sure you want to continue to threaten them like this?"

Upon hearing this, before the three of them could react, Granti suddenly jumped down from the boulder. Lei, who was closest to him, subconsciously reached out to catch him, but ended up bumping into the boy.

When Lei reacted, all the muscles in his body froze. Granti didn't say anything. He just patted Lei's arm that was around him to support him, and then he finally fell to the ground.

"It doesn't have to be that real, isn't it? Isn't that how it's drawn in comics?" The young boy, Granty, flicked the nonexistent dust off his clothes, then threw his hands up and acted innocent, saying to the newcomer righteously, "People without a sense of humor can't make Brother laugh."

It would have been more convincing if his expression had changed while he said this.

Bourbon carefully turned the flashlight to illuminate the trees beside the visitor, and they also used the light to see the visitor's appearance clearly.

With black hair and red eyes, a white shirt and black shorts, an expressionless face and dull pupils, if she were to stand in front of the young Granty, no one would doubt their blood relationship.

"Sorry, No. 10562 has been watching a lot of anime recently in order to have something to talk about with Brother-sama." The boy, who was obviously also a Granty, quietly stopped a few steps in front of them, ignoring the boy who was still mumbling, and said politely, "I am A10561, Brother-sama's masters, please give me your guidance."

Scotland really couldn't help it. He looked at the boy who was pretending not to hear anything and playing with the wooden box, then looked at the boy who was still waiting for their reply. Suddenly, he felt that they were really clones.

The younger looking 10561 is more mature and stable than 10562 who looks to be about 13 or 14 years old... But when you think about it carefully, these two Grantys together are less than half a month old. Scotland felt a stomachache again.

He recognized that the 10561 in front of him was the child who had guided him and his brother to see the above.

"Don't act like it's all my fault. You should stop watching too many TV dramas, 10561." As expected, 10562 was the first to break the silence. He looked at his companion with hostility, "I'm telling the truth. Being able to see Brother before being scrapped is a serious matter, like a pilgrimage, right?"

Bourbon hits on the key word: "I don't mean to interrupt you, but, 'pilgrimage'?"

He finally understood. The serious matter mentioned by 10562 just now really meant what it said. Coming to A for a "pilgrimage"?

Humans really don't understand you clones...

Now the two clones, one big and one small, looked at Bourbon and said in unison: "Of course!"

10561 rubbed his temples, looking like he had a headache, and asked another Granty present with a paralyzed face: "You haven't shown them the notebook yet, have you?"

10562 immediately turned around and whistled in a serious manner to act stupid.

Seeing this, Scotland couldn't help but sigh again. Fortunately, A only learned some strange words from Granthi and others, and did not learn the way of avoiding problems after getting into trouble.

Otherwise, they probably need to spend more energy raising children.

However, the three undercover agents saw the clones bickering, but in reality...

Chijiang Nayue maintained an innocent look, raised her hand and casually threw the wooden box she had been holding into Lei's arms.

"Here, here they are." He yawned again. "Who made them come so slowly? I was getting impatient waiting, so I played a trick on them. Brother won't mind."

Bourbon, facing the stupid note, showed an expression that said, "You know it's a prank," but Akae Nazuki pretended not to notice it skillfully.

"Don't waste my time with my brother." The boy opposite him added at the right time, speaking in a bland tone of accusation.

Of course, there are not more than 10,000 clones of Granty in this world, so the only one present is No. 10562, the real body reshaped by Akagi Nayue herself.

No. 10561 is just a puppet he made, just like how Mr. Mori always liked to chase after his supernatural creation Alice. In addition to pretending to be dead like in the case, this puppet can also be used to help him with his mental breakdown.

Although the modified abilities of [Kleinjutsu] cannot give the doll an independent personality, and it is impossible for him to have a replica of 'Alice', Akae Nazuki can only transfer some of his energy to control it.

It's like performing a puppet show with yourself, which is very easy. However, after playing it for a long time, Chi Jiang Na Yue always has a weird illusion that he is really going to have a mental breakdown.

The purpose of arranging such a play was to perfect his script and put the last piece of the puzzle in the setting of the Grantis.

The three people on the other side opened the real secret notebook. There was something written on every page of it, which was completely different from the one used to trick them.

At an angle that the three people couldn't see, the two clones stopped talking, turned their heads in unison, and their eyes fell on the notebook.

——Lies have to be a mixture of true and false so that people can’t tell the difference and become completely convinced.

The encryption method on this notebook was different from the one in the prank. It was just the simplest password. Bourbon had no trouble reading it, and I think it was the same for the other two.

But wouldn't such a simple encryption be discovered by the organization? He couldn't help but ask.

10562 came over to the three of them, and after a few seconds of silence, he asked, "Do you suspect that your dagger not only has self-awareness, but can also write?"

This metaphor is so bizarre yet so fitting to the current situation that Bourbon was choked again.

For some reason, he always felt that 10562 seemed to be very dissatisfied with him and was always targeting him... Strange, he was the only one among the three who had not had any contact with the Grantis beforehand, right? When did he offend this kid?

Focusing their attention back on the notebook, the three of them discussed and decided that they should translate the part written by Xiao Shi first. Fortunately, it was not a long part, so they each worked on a section and soon wrote down the complete translation content on another notebook.

Scotland, who had the most complicated feelings towards Xiao Shi, showed an expression of unwillingness to accept it.

In fact, the notebook that they thought might contain important clues did not contain anything special. The original owner of the notebook, as he said, was just writing down his own experiences with A in this way for the Grantis who came later to see.

As a result, the three of them saw an A in the notebook that was completely different from what they knew.

—

When Xiao Shi was born, the other clones in the same batch had already finished using the learning devices and began to assign their next tasks based on their physical growth conditions.

Xiao Shi, who performed exceptionally well in all indicators, was assigned to the experimental group as expected. He was about to follow the researchers to the core area of ​​the lower level of the institute and become the second most perfect experimental subject in the organization within the seven days of his life cycle.

But during the transfer, the new researcher who was taking care of Xiao Shi went to the wrong floor.

He brought Xiao Shi to a room in the deepest part of the institute. After pushing open the door, Xiao Shi saw a boy who looked exactly like them, but was dressed completely differently and had a heavy mechanical collar around his neck.

The researcher left the place quickly. Xiao Shi, who mistakenly thought that the boy was also a clone, tried to strike up a conversation with him, but was met with an indifferent look.

"...Don't come near me." said the boy.

Unlike the other clone brothers who looked like real dolls, Xiao Shi was curious about everything around him after he was born. He always felt that he should not be a clone. Compared with those brothers, he was more like the researchers around him.

Especially in terms of perceiving other people's emotions, Xiao Shi easily discovered that this 'brother' he met for the first time didn't seem to like him, and even his body movements were full of resistance.

He didn't know where he got the courage from. Not only did he not leave as the other party asked, but he took a step forward and held the strange boy's hand.

The other party probably hadn't had such close contact with anyone for a long time, and the whole person was like a cat with its fur standing on end - this metaphor appeared in the mind of the newborn Xiao Shi.

He took the boy's hand and pressed it against his chest.

Thinking that the other party suspected him to be dangerous, Xiao Shi took the initiative to expose his weakness to the other party in an attempt to calm him down. However, he did not expect the boy to widen his eyes, and his indifferent expression instantly collapsed and turned into surprise.

“You are real!”

The boy's watery red eyes, which were totally different from those of the clones, lit up, and he repeated: "You are real, you are not an illusion?"

Xiao Shi was startled: "What kind of hallucination?"

"The hallucination of a dead person." The boy answered casually, and his expression softened. He carefully put his ear to Xiao Shi's chest, listened to the heartbeat there, and murmured to himself, "That's great, it turns out you are not dead, are those just my dreams?"

"Dream?" Xiao Shi was even more confused.

The boy looked up at Xiao Shi's face and actually began to explain.

"I don't know why, but I started having strange dreams half a month ago." He said calmly, "In my dreams, I always see someone who looks exactly like me being experimented on and then died. Some died outside. In short, although they look like me, they are basically dead." The boy's mood seemed to be rising abnormally, and his pale face turned red. He muttered, "I thought they cloned me and then killed my clones. But you look nothing like the 'me' in my dreams... It turned out to be just a nightmare."

The boy raised his face, and Xiao Shi, who was slightly taller than him, could clearly see all the emotional changes on the other's face.

He saw the boy was smiling, a very bright smile.

"Sure enough, it was just a nightmare." The boy repeated.

These words had such a huge impact on Xiao Shi that he felt so threatened that he wanted to run away. However, for some reason, he finally stayed where he was and did not move. Instead, he hesitated and said, "Maybe it was just a dream?"

Xiao Shi had a hunch.

A feeling that if he said anything else, the boy would turn into a monster.

The boy didn't care about Xiao Shi's nervousness at all. He put away his previous indifference, pulled Xiao Shi to sit at the table, took out a round object from under the table, and stuffed it into Xiao Shi's hand under the cover of the table.

Just when the boy was about to say something, the door of the room was pushed open again. Several researchers came in with their faces bandaged and quickly separated the two of them. They dragged Xiao Shi out the door, and Xiao Shi stretched his neck and saw the mechanical collar on the boy light up an ominous red light. The next second, the boy fell to the ground, convulsing all over.

A long time later, the Grantis who saw this record knew that it was an electric current collar used by the organization to control disobedient experimental subjects, but Xiao Shi didn't know.

What Xiao Shi knew was that the leading researcher looked down at the boy on the ground for a few seconds, then turned to the person holding him and said, "Send A010 to Laboratory No. 2, and separate 06 and 09 from the same batch from him for research."

Before Xiao Shi fell into a coma, he was still tightly holding the thing the boy had stuffed into his hand.

It was a piece of milk candy that had been treasured for who knows how long and had long since melted.