She tugged at the white lab coat she wore as a researcher, covering the cloth doll hanging at her waist.
Maki was the first to step into the large research room known as the [Analysis Workroom], located on one side of the base, and she quickly noticed a notice posted beside the entrance.
It appeared to list some of the laboratory's regulations.
[Analysis Workroom Notices]
[1. This laboratory is responsible for analyzing cave rock samples obtained through remote-controlled mechanical excavation. All mechanical equipment may only be used by personnel with sufficient operating experience, and the relevant operating regulations must be strictly followed. Any violations will result in accountability.]
[2. Researchers working inside the Analysis Workroom must be present in groups of two or more. No individual is permitted to remain alone inside the workroom.]
[3. Eating, drinking, smoking, or engaging in any other personal activities unrelated to experiments is prohibited within the laboratory. Unauthorized personnel or individuals without prior approval are not permitted to enter the Analysis Workroom.]
[4. Maintain the laboratory in a clean and orderly condition. The laboratory must be cleaned at least once per day. Waste residue and debris generated in the analysis area must be collected and placed into the incinerator unique to this area for centralized disposal. Any strange sounds produced during this process do not require attention.]
[5. Entry into the Analysis Workroom requires changing into designated experimental attire. This attire must not be taken outside the Analysis Workroom.]
[6. All researchers participating in work within the Analysis Workroom must undergo a scheduled psychological examination once per day. Samples excavated from this location contain specific hallucinogenic substances, and it is necessary to ensure the mental health of all research personnel.]
[7. If traces such as bloodstains or fragments of clothing are discovered during the sample sorting stage, activate the Level-Two Contingency Procedure and temporarily leave the Analysis Workroom. At that time, no personnel may remain inside the workroom. Only after the Level-Two Contingency Procedure has automatically concluded may personnel return to the workroom.]
[8. If, during the sample analysis stage, biological signals are detected within a sample, the Level-One Contingency Procedure (also known as the Emergency Procedure) must be activated immediately. A transfer-and-protection procedure to the Freezing Zone must be carried out. Once this procedure is activated, personnel must immediately leave the Analysis Workroom and are not permitted to remain inside.]
[9. If, during your work, you witness any situations that should not appear inside the Analysis Workroom—such as mutilated human bodies, individuals calling out to you for help, or rescue team members wearing swollen clothing—then you are already experiencing severe hallucinatory symptoms. In this case, you must activate the Level-One Contingency Procedure and remain inside the Analysis Workroom.]
[10. Your identity is that of a researcher at the Cave Base. Do not ignore your identity, and do not make incorrect judgments about your own identity.]
The content of these notices was fairly simple. It appeared to be a detailed supplement to Item 3 of the researcher code of conduct. Maki carefully read through it once, after which Kaguya stepped forward and read it through seriously as well. The two girls exchanged a glance, and only then did they cautiously proceed deeper into the laboratory.
Buzz—buzz—
After the two of them arrived, the room's automatic sensing systems lit up one after another, fully illuminating the previously somewhat dim laboratory.
At this moment, the laboratory was completely empty. Only the machines were operating automatically.
After putting on a layer of the Analysis Workroom's special uniform over her researcher's outfit, Maki entered the interior of the laboratory and saw stone blocks placed inside large containers. Those stones appeared to have been excavated by certain automated machines from the Quarantine Zone. At a glance, there did not seem to be anything particularly special about them—they looked like perfectly ordinary rocks. However, considering the strangeness of this place and the content of the notices she had just read, Maki felt it would be better not to get close to those stones.
"Level-One Contingency Procedure and Level-Two Contingency Procedure, huh?"
Kaguya, who had followed after changing clothes, looked toward the two buttons beside the control console. One was a light red button set apart on its own, and the other was a blood-red button. The former was the activation button for the [Level-Two Contingency Procedure], while the latter was the activation button for the [Level-One Contingency Procedure]. The two girls had not received any information at all regarding the specific contents of these procedures. It seemed that the author of these rules and notices did not want researchers to know too much.
"As long as we complete the basic process once, we can leave this place. Let's finish everything as quickly as possible."
Maki whispered softly as she walked to Kaguya's side, then pressed a button on the control platform located at the center of the laboratory.
Amid the humming sound of machine vibrations, a platform at the edge of the laboratory rose up, revealing rocks of various sizes placed on it. Immediately afterward, a massive container descended, loaded those rocks, and began moving along a conveyor belt, quickly entering a large piece of equipment.
Maki then walked to another area on the opposite side of the laboratory and pulled down a lever. Two more machines automatically activated, and dull sounds began to reverberate rhythmically throughout the laboratory, steady and powerful, like a human heartbeat.
Kaguya, who had already reviewed the standard procedure document in Maki's hands when they entered, did not remain by the main control panel. She also moved to another area of the laboratory and pressed the activation button on a large machine, after which the sound of something being crushed rang out inside the laboratory.
Pressing buttons and pulling levers—the work of so-called researchers seemed to be nothing more than this.
As if this kind of repetition were meant to wear down a person's capacity for thought, Kaguya speculated that if the researchers who had originally joined this base had been doing the same thing day after day—constantly repeating the act of pressing buttons—then perhaps, when the day came that they needed to press those so-called Level-One or Level-Two Contingency Procedure buttons, they would do so without the slightest hesitation.
Of course, this was nothing more than an unfounded conjecture.
The two of them proceeded cautiously. After completing one standard process, they did not encounter any abnormal situations.
It seemed that this place was different from the Shirakawa Apartments and would not present any kind of opening instant-kill shock.
"Let's go."
After obtaining an automatically printed report and pressing the button to initiate the automatic disposal of waste residue, Maki glanced over the report briefly. After confirming that there was no content indicating "biological signals detected," she let out a small sigh of relief, then signaled for Kaguya to leave the laboratory together with her.
The rock samples that had undergone preliminary analysis were already stored on one side of the workroom. That area appeared to contain hundreds of different samples, all kinds of rocks placed inside transparent glass containers.
For a brief moment, Kaguya felt as though those rocks trembled slightly.
As if those things were alive.
But as soon as such a thought surfaced, the girl quickly suppressed it. She made an effort not to think about anything related to it, maintaining mental calmness, took off her outer coat, and followed Maki out of the laboratory without saying a word.
At the moment just before the door behind them closed, the faint sound of crying could be heard.
However, having deliberately shifted her attention, Kaguya only caught a slight hint of the sound before it was cut off by the closing door.
"Next, we need to submit this report to the office. After submitting it, we will have three hours of free activity time, and then we must return to the dormitory area."
Maki, walking ahead of Kaguya, spoke softly, her expression extremely solemn.
What they needed to do next was to make contact with the other people present here—to interact with those who were very likely being played by anomalies.
People who were clearly long dead had, under the power of Horror Story, become like living humans again—able to converse and able to think. This caused both Maki and Kaguya to think of Kyosei, that special existence in the Shirakawa Apartments. The difference was that Kyosei was aware of his true identity and retained his sense of self, to the extent that he could even provide assistance to the survivors of the Shirakawa Apartments. The anomalous existences here, by contrast, were more like beings that had forgotten what had happened to them under the influence of some force, repeatedly reenacting moments from their lives in an almost "performative" manner.
From this perspective, perhaps they were more like the pair of parents from Room 304?
As these thoughts continued, the two of them had already climbed the stairs, heading toward the second floor of the research area.
It was called the second floor, but judging from the height of the floors, it was actually already the third floor. The first-floor Analysis Workroom and the research area seemed to share some kind of connecting passage, occupying the space between the first and second floors and inadvertently increasing the height of the building.
And when the two girls reached the second floor from the stairway, a tall man wearing researcher attire—his clothing clearly much more refined—was standing in the corridor, seemingly waiting for their arrival.
"Has the new analysis report come out?"
The man's voice was extremely cold.
"It has. Please have a look, Professor Vernon."
Maki calmly handed the report forward, her tone equally calm as she addressed the name on the man's chest badge.
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