Not long after listening to that dreadful speech, I’m finally being relieved by another cultists on guard duty. I almost turned around and greeted Ichika before leaving. It was a very close call. It’s not that I want to be rude, but I think it’s better if we don’t act like we know each other to avoid being suspected.

   I head over to the cafeteria at the first floor. The first thing I noticed before I enter it is how quiet the place is. There’s a double door at the entrance, but I should be hearing something when I’m just a few meters away from it.

   I open the door and find myself looking at a typical cafeteria with the normal row of tables and benches at the middle, long tables with food and drinks on top at the far corner, and buckets to put in dirty dishes and cutlery at the right hand side.There are around twenty people inside. However, none of them are sitting close to each other and chatting with each other while they’re eating. On the contrary, all of them are sitting as far away from each other as possible.

   Some of them are already done eating when I got inside. Rather than leaving, they’re continuing to occupy their seat. By looking at some of them who’re closer to me, I notice that they’re mumbling something under their breath.

   I have no idea on what they’re doing. I mean, they’ve never showed their daily life when I was watching the original anime. And since Madoka didn’t bother to tell us about this, I’m guessing that this is supposed to be common knowledge. Which I know nothing about.

   For now, I should just get some food. If I just stand here like an idiot, I’ll just look suspicious.

   Let’s see, what do they have here? Rice, bread, salad, curry, plain water and green tea for drinks with tubs of ice next to them. Pretty standard and normal stuff. I grab a plate and proceed to fill it with the foods. As for drink, I got myself a glass of water. I also got the cutlery before I forget. Now that I have everything I need to fill my stomach, I turn around and start to look for an empty seat.

   Honestly, it wasn’t difficult at all. This cafeteria is big enough to seat hundreds of people, and now only one-fifth of it is occupied. I choose one of the empty tables and sit down. While silently hoping that they don’t have any before-meal prayer or whatever they were doing, I start to dig in.

   The food was pretty normal. It’s not some of the better ones I’ve ate, but I don’t mind eating them everyday. Then again, it would mean that I have to join this cult for real, so I banished the thought immediately.

   When I’ve finished eating, I followed what the others did and remained at my seat for a few minutes while pretending to mumble something. I sure hope there isn’t anyone who can read lips nearby and happens to look towards my direction. From what I observed, they did the mumbling for three whole minutes. I made sure to count until one hundred and eighty before stopping. After I’m done acting, I get up slowly and deposit the plate and cutleries inside the bucket before leaving the cafeteria.

   I look at the time. There’s still more than thirty minutes until my patrolling starts. I might as well look at my sleeping quarter while I have the time.

   The place looks like a shelter more than anything. It’s just a huge empty space with lots and lots of sleeping bags. There’s also a sign that says ‘Just use an empty one’ and that’s about it. And I’m done. What am I supposed to do with my remaining twenty three minutes?

   Since I’m out of ideas, I might as well start my patrol early. It’s not like I have anyone to answer to while I’m on shift, so I don’t see any problem. Now that my decision has been made, I begin my patrol.

   I’m not the only one who’s patrolling. In the first floor alone, there’s at least twenty others on patrol duty. No real surprises there, since this place is quite huge. However, all of them are walking alone and not grouped up with someone else.

   I walk over to the research labs. All the labs are surrounded by transparent glass, so I can see everything that’s going on inside. Most of the researchers are looking at a computer screen and typing furiously. Meanwhile, some of them are arguing about something. I can’t hear a thing that they’re saying, so the glass must be sound-proof.

   The expressions of these researchers are either fearful of invoking Ryuuouji’s wrath or being numb at all the horrible things that they’re doing to the test subjects. And all of them look very tired. It’s like they haven’t been sleeping for days. Based on how one of them had collapsed, that was most probably the case. The only reason they’re keep on going is mostly that they don’t want to be sent to the Dissect Room.

   I made sure to patrol all the rooms without going in since it would seem that only researchers are allowed inside. I walked a full circle, then proceed to the stairs so that I could patrol the second floor next.

   Thankfully, the only room with transparent glass in this floor is the Experiment Room. Lots of test subjects are inside along with some researchers. Some are being strapped to a chair and being injected dangerous-looking liquid. Some are fighting each other while being observed by more researchers. Lastly, and the most disturbing of all, some subjects are lying down on the floor without their helmet while being completely still. They already dead, aren’t they?

   I grit my teeth in frustration. Even though I know that this kind of things had been happening all this while, I’m still too powerless to stop it immediately.

   While I’m still watching, two huge trolleys with a basket big enough to contain at least thirty bodies were brought. The researchers are working frantically to place the test subjects inside one of the two trolleys. The weird thing is, the researchers are not putting the bodies inside the two trolleys at random. Rather, they’re being divided up properly.

   My question was answered when the two researchers who were pushing the trolleys got out of the Experiment Room and went their separate ways. One of them is heading towards the Dissect Room, while the other is going to the Disposal Room. And I just couldn’t help myself and look at the interior of the rooms while the doors were being opened.

   There’s nothing special about the Disposal Room. A large furnace is at the corner and that’s about it. A large tube is being connected to the furnace all the way to the surface so that the smoke won’t spread throughout the entire lab. The Dissect Room, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether. The doors to the room were opened for around five seconds, and five seconds too long. For the rest of my life, I’ll keep on blaming myself for looking at the inside.

   For the brief seconds that I could look inside, I saw lots of body parts being piled up on top of a long table at the middle of the room. The worse part is a man who’s wearing a mask and an apron is cutting apart an arm from the torso with a bone saw. It’s something straight out of a horror film. I quickly look away and leave the second floor before I retch all over the place. I didn’t bother with the chemical room. It has a sign that says ‘Researchers only’ anyway.

   It took me quite a while to calm myself down. There’s no way I could forget it that easily, so the only thing I could do was taking deep breaths and try to think of happy things to distract myself.In the end, I even had to lock myself up in a toilet for at least half an hour.

   My patrol bring me to the third floor next. There’s the Barrier Room again, but Ichika has already been relieved from her guard duty. Now, two unknown faces are standing at both sides of the door. There are also two other guards guarding the door that leads to Ryuuouji’s room, and another two on Brennan’s. Speaking of the Lost Children executive, I didn’t see him ever since I got here. Is he still inside his room, or is he inside one of the facilities? Whichever it is, I want to delay our meeting as much as possible.

   The stage at the fourth floor turned out to be a small one, but it’s quite tall. Since that’s the case, I guess they have it so that Ryuuouji can have a briefing with his employees while he’s staring down at them. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that there isn’t a throne on the stage.

   Just as I saw on the map, the rest of the fourth floor are full of the numbered labs. Similar to the research labs on the first floor, these labs are surrounded by glass as well, so all of them are see-through.

   Inside each of these labs are a large glass tube and three computers. Most of the labs are empty, but those that aren’t has a test subjects inside the tube who’s floating around while being submerged in some sort of transparent liquid. Each of the computers are manned by a researcher.

   These test subjects are probably those that showed exceptional promises by reacting positively on whatever they had been doing to them so far.

   While I’m still walking around, I hear some footsteps coming from the stairs. I look towards and and happen to see a researcher walking fast so that he could reach the fifth floor as fast as he can. He looked excited, and he was holding a corked test tube on his hand.

   I have a very bad feeling about this. I decide to follow him and see what’s going on. Luckily, I was already done patrolling this floor, so it’s not suspicious if I suddenly go to the fifth floor.

   When I reach the final floor, I find the same researcher trying to hold back his excitement while reporting to Ryuuouji and Brennan who were standing in front of the Special Lab. Sadly, I can’t hear him since they’re standing quite a distance away from me.

   Did I mention that the two nut jobs are standing on top of hoverboards? No wonder they don’t need any elevators to travel between floors. With those boards, they don’t even have to walk.

   Anyway, the two of them are looking at the researcher with a look that says ‘You better have something good to report to us for wasting our time like this.’. As the researcher keeps on talking and showed them the test tube he’s been holding, their expression is slowly changing to ‘Finally, some good news!’

   Ryuuouji tells the researcher something, then he and Brennan activates their hoverboards and surf towards the stairs that lead to the upper floors in an instant. Meanwhile, the poor researcher has to catch up by foot. Since their business is elsewhere and I’m stuck here for now, I have to keep up my act and continue with my patrol.

   The entrance to the Security Room at the north west corner have guards posted on it as well. Even though the room is surrounded by normal walls, it’s still obvious enough that this is the place where they’re silently observing everything that’s going on inside this lab through surveillance cameras.

   The so-called Special Lab turned out to be nothing more than a chair with lots of complicated machines at the side. Something tells me that this lab was made impromptu.

   I take my time to go to the south east part of the floor, which is where the Tube Room is. I have to prepare myself so that I won’t be emotional when I see Yui. According to the map, her special cell is at the deepest corner.

   Similar to the ones at the fourth floor, all the test subjects are being confined within a glass tube. The only difference is that there isn’t any liquid inside, and they’re not being monitored by researchers. It’s like a worse version of prison, if that’s even possible. Not that the test subjects can complain while they’re wearing those mind-controlling helmets.

   For better or worse, Yui is not inside another of those tubes. Instead, There’s a glass wall and a transparent door at the middle separating her from the rest of the facility. I could tell that the glass wall is installed impromptu as well since there are traces of tubes being removed from their original spot.

   I felt a million emotions pass through me when I finally get to see her after so long. I know it’s only been less than three days, but to me it’s much, much longer.

   Even from a distance, I could tell that she has lost some weight. I don’t know whether it’s because the Dragon God is fasting, or someone’s restricting her diet. Maybe it’s from all those experiments. Either way, it pains me a lot to see her like this.

   Right now, she’s sitting cross-legged while having her eyes closed. I’m kind of glad that she’s not opening her eyes since I’m not really a fan of those glowing green eyes. She’s still wearing the shrine maiden outfit. I guess they didn’t even bother to get her some new clothing.

   I would love to stare at her some more, but I’m not the only one patrolling here, and the Dragon God might open her eyes any moment and catch me staring at them, so I better make myself scarce.

   Well, I guess that’s it. I’ve been to all the facilities in this underground lab. From what I can tell, it’s pretty much impossible to rescue Yui without getting caught. And this is without putting into consideration that the Dragon God is actually conspiring with the very cult that kidnapped them. For now, we have to make sure of that.

   As I’m walking around slowly at the fifth floor and frantically trying to figure out a plan, someone bump into me. I was prepared to apologize since I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I wasn’t really paying attention to my surrounding. Until I saw the person. It’s Madoka.

   She didn’t even acknowledge the fact that we just collided with each other and just leaves without saying a word. I was wondering about her random action when I feel something papery on my right palm. I immediately clench my fist so that it won’t fall out. There’s no way I can read the note out in the public, so I calmly head to the nearest toilet.

   The note reads ‘Your theory on the Dragon God working with Lost Children turned out to be true. He’s very upset on the way we were treating our planet, and Lost Children tricked Him into thinking that they can fix the planet by working together. That’s why He allows them to harvest His power. The only good news is He had specifically forbidden them to take too much of Kiryuu’s blood in one go since He doesn’t want His host to suffer too much. This was the real reason Ryuuouji conducted the experiments only twice a day.’

   To be honest, I actually preferred the Dragon God to be an Evil God that wants to rule the world or something. Saving the planet? Really? Is He that gullible, or is it because He got tricked by someone with a silver tongue? Anyway, I should read on.

   ‘On further investigation, it was also true that Zaimoto Azuma took part in all this. His motive is still unclear, but we do know that he was the one who secretly communicated with the Dragon God so that He can be convinced to working with Lost Children. He and those at the Okumiya Shrine were the ones who dug the hole around the stones that suppress the power of the Dragon Pulse in order to stage a kidnapping.’

   And my worst fear was true. I was at least hoping it was only Zaimoto, but to think that everyone there was involved… I’m going to have trust issues after this.

   ‘Some of you may or may not know this, but as of just now the researchers were able to turn Kiryuu’s blood that was infused with the power of the Dragon God into a serum that could strengthen the test subjects. From what I know, the effect is still temporary and only lasts for several seconds. However, that doesn’t mean that we could afford to be relaxed. A few seconds is already a milestone to them. If they continue the research, sooner or later they can make the perfect soldier with His power.

   I’ve recorded my conversation with the researcher who told me all these information. I’m not really sure whether the Dragon God would believe the statements made by a mere underling, but this is the best lead we got so far. It’s very difficult to do anything today, but I’ll try to mess with the schedule so that all of us are being put on shifts that will make our plan to rescue Kiryuu easier. For starters, I’ll make it so that some of us are in charge of watching the surveillance cameras through the screens at the Security Room, one of us will be incharge of sending food to Kiryuu while sneaking in the metallic insect with the recorded voice, and two of us to be incharge of guarding the Barrier Room in case Jordan somehow got distracted and went outside.’

   I can’t think of a better plan than hers, so I could only hope that it’ll work. Fortunately, there’s still some time left until tomorrow. Hopefully, one of us could get a better recorded confession out of more reliable sources like Ryuuouji or Brennan.

   The rest of the day passed by without any incident. No one tried to break into the lab. However, the situation is getting more and more worrisome since every time I passed by the labs, the researchers inside look more and more hopeful. I just hope we have time to wreck their fruits of labour before we get out, or it’ll spell serious trouble.

   By the time I realized, it’s already midnight. Meaning, it’s sleep time for me. I can’t afford to oversleep, so I made sure to set an alarm, and I set it to vibrate mode so that I won’t disturb anyone else. Only then I go to sleep while bracing myself for what’s to come when I wake up six hours later.