Carrying his doubts with him, X chose not to wear that coat while moving through the Inner Lobotomy Corporation.
"Seems like… I've basically explored every Abnormality World we've already contained at least once."
He began reviewing his recent explorations in his mind.
Last time, he had explored the Magic Bullet Shooter's world…
next would have been Schadenfreude.
But X had already gone there in advance—just a plain, locked room with nothing special about it.
After that came Cracked Armor.
Its inner unit didn't even have a gateway to an Abnormality World; there was only the armor itself, exactly the same as in the outer world, quietly resting inside its containment chamber.
As for the Judgment Bird…
On the very night she was contained, X had already taken a look at her Abnormality World, confirming that she shared the same one as the Punishing Bird.
Tools like the Gender-Swap Mirror and the Skin Prophecy, much like the Heart of Aspiration, weren't much different either—there was hardly any space for interaction.
Which meant that the only Abnormality left to explore was—
Nothing There.
The moment that name surfaced in his mind, X 's footsteps unconsciously came to a halt before the thick, heavy blast door.
Once again, he hesitated.
But this hesitation was different from the unease he'd felt when he first arrived in the Inner Lobotomy Corporation, back when everything was unknown.
This fear was real—etched deep into his memory.
This was the monster that, on the very first day of containment, had taught him a brutal lesson in the most horrific way imaginable.
That grotesque, indescribable appearance.
The cruel methods it used to kill employees…
Even with the protection of the cognition filter, the sheer terror of it was unmistakable.
To put it bluntly—
He was scared.
"…"
"Let's treat this as courage training…"
After some time, X finally steadied his mindset.
"As long as you survive interactions with Abnormalities… you tend to gain quite a few benefits."
He took a deep breath, trying to suppress his fear through sheer self-persuasion.
"Ever since entering the Inner Lobotomy Corporation and interacting closely with these Abnormalities… I've gotten stronger in every aspect than I used to be…"
"Maybe if I spend more time around Nothing There over here, my physical abilities might even start approaching those high-grade fixers?"
Clinging to this unrealistic, borderline self-consoling fantasy, X pulled open the first door of the containment unit.
—
Bzzz—
There was no kaleidoscope of distortion, no blinding white light.
When X opened his eyes again, he found himself standing inside a nightmarish space.
A living space—
composed of countless pools of blood, chunks of flesh, eyeballs, bone spurs, and shattered bones.
The massive flesh-membrane that made up the floor was warm and soft. Each step sank slightly inward, accompanied by a dull thump-thump like a heartbeat.
The walls were formed from thick tendons and blood vessels tangled together, slick with mucus, slowly writhing as if breathing.
The air was saturated with an overwhelming stench of blood and rust, mixed with an indescribable, sickly sweetness of decay.
A crimson glow reflected throughout the entire space, perhaps coming from the blood flowing through the vessels in the walls, turning the whole area into what felt like the inside of a gigantic, living organ.
Blood-red terror defined the world's color palette.
And in the center of this empty space, X saw it.
Nothing There.
It lay on the ground in that nauseating, canine form, its right foreleg—nothing but exposed white bone—pressing down on something.
Before it was a horribly mangled female corpse, dressed in a company uniform.
Half of the body had already been gnawed into a bloody mess, while Nothing There held a leg bone between its jagged teeth, bits of flesh still clinging to it.
It chewed leisurely, producing an ear-splitting crack with every bite.
If one looked closely, they'd notice that beneath the corpse were tissues identical to those on the walls, connecting it to the floor.
As if this body, too, was nothing more than an extension of the space itself.
Sensing X 's arrival, Nothing There stopped eating.
It slowly raised its square, fleshy head, and all four mismatched blue eyes locked onto X at the same time.
"Kh… kh…"
excited, labored breathing escaped its throat.
That oversized, disproportionate tongue began to drip thick saliva streaked with blood.
Discarding its "snack," it supported itself on its three legs and approached X with an awkward yet eager gait.
It showed no aggression.
In those four eyes was something eerily close to a dog seeing its owner—pure, unfiltered joy and longing.
"…"
X said nothing.
His insides were trembling with fear.
But remembering what happened to anyone who showed panic in front of this Abnormality, he forcibly tensed every nerve in his body and stood perfectly still, feigning calm.
When it reached him, it stopped.
Tilting its deformed head, it stared at X with something akin to confusion.
Receiving no reaction, Nothing There's muscles began to rearrange grotesquely, its organs shifting beneath its surface.
Until it formed a vague, barely human silhouette.
Out of X 's sight, the corpse on the ground began to melt.
Soon, only a single intact piece of skin remained.
That human skin slid across the fleshy membrane of the floor as if alive, gliding toward Nothing There.
The exposed humanoid mass of muscle and organs mechanically picked it up—
and, like putting on an ill-fitting coat, pulled it over itself.
—
In the blink of an eye, the horrific pseudo-human transformed into an employee who had shared a meal with X not long ago.
"Su… per… vi… sor…"
The human skin was torn in several places from the rough way it had been worn. As Nothing There spoke, those rips stretched wider, becoming even more grotesque.
"I… Love… You~"
After speaking its confession, it tugged at the corners of its mouth, forming a stiff, hollow smile.
Strangely enough, when fear reaches an extreme, the brain seems to become unnaturally clear in an effort to protect itself.
And in this moment, X was calmer than he had ever been.
"…"
The shock of flesh and gore only carried power at first contact.
Once the initial mental impact passed, that bone-deep terror receded like a tide.
"Are you Justina?"
X spoke.
Though his voice still trembled faintly, his mind had largely stabilized.
"…?"
Wearing Justina's skin, Nothing There tilted its head, clearly failing to understand his words.
"I love you~"
So it continued mechanically repeating the same English phrase.
"No. You're not."
"You're nothing."
Watching this rigid, malfunctioning-machine-like response, X finally became completely calm.
He activated that cursed empathy and analytical instinct of his—the one that always compelled him to understand and save others.
"You have no face of your own. No voice. No name."
X continued.
"You're just an empty shell wearing someone else's skin."
"You are Nothing There."
Boom—
The moment his words fell, the entire flesh-world reacted violently.
The ground surged like a boiling sea.
The blood vessels in the walls throbbed wildly, some bursting outright and spraying scalding blood.
The whole world convulsed in agony and rage at having this cruel truth laid bare.
"…"
The already unnatural smile on Nothing There's face grew even stiffer.
Not just the smile—its neck, torso, arms, legs…
Cracks began to appear all over the human skin, slowly tearing open.
Then—
The flesh dog ripped the human hide apart from the inside—
"ROOOAAARR!!!"
Like an enraged hound, it lunged viciously toward X !
At the same time, it screamed in an employee's voice:
"SUPERVISOR!!!"
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