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=====

Ryo quickly looked up to the place from where the opening sound came and became alert... or tried to act alert. He knew that it would be the caretaker that might be assigned to both of them.

Surely, just as Ryo had expected, the leather-coated metallic door opened. Ryo watched as an old woman, probably around the age of 60 years or so old entered the room. She had dark greyish hair and brown eyes. She was carrying two strange white plates which were probably made up of some kind of biodegradable stuff to make it safe if consumed by certain 'someone-s' in the room.

The old lady was wearing an eye covering which hid her upper face. The mask she was wearing was white on the edges while blue and yellow were in the middle parts. From his observation, Ryo saw that the material which the mask was made up of was a cloth, making him surprised as it was very hard and costly to produce such a mask. from the mask, Ryo was able to see her eyes.

But then remembered that this technological era, which he was in was a lot far compared to his previous world. This also made him remember that although the woman in front of him might look 60 or so years old, she might actually be a lot older than she looks because of the biological alteration she might have gone through.

As soon as the old lady entered the room, a delicious aroma spread up the whole room, making Ryo's stomach grumble more, much to Ryo's un-comfort.

Listening to Ryo's stomach grumble, the old lady tried to approach him, making promoting him to act surprised and making a hissing sound as if he was trying to show that he was not someone who she should mess with.

The old lady was not surprised by Ryo's actions, after all, she knew that the children in the room had just experienced a lot of pain. With a bit of hesitation, she kneeled a bit away from Ryo and Zero and placed the plates on the floor, and sat there like a statue, observing their every move with interest and... love?

Ryo felt a bit confused by the situation. Although he knew that the old lady in from of him was looking at them lovingly, he can't say for sure how she was seeing them. As a child or as a pet? It was a bit hard as he had his own experiences from his previous life.

'It's a bit confusing. This might be also the reason why she was transferred in the later part?'

But as she lowered, Ryo saw a piece of key information. The lady was wearing a silver bracelet on her wrists, and on that silver-ish bracelet, a name was written in some sort of code.

Knowing that it is not possible to learn the language anytime soon, Ryo quickly started to act more 'normal'. With showing a warily face, he looked at Zero Two who was now looking at the food as saliva dropped on the floor, and felt a bit uncomfortable.

'Well here goes nothing.'

Acting a bit repulsive, Ryo looked over to the food plate. On the food tray, the food was placed in the form of a semi-liquid cylindrical form in green color. It seemed almost squishy, making Ryo more uncomfortable.

'Don't they know anything about hygiene? But now looking back... the room might also be made out of biodegradable stuff which can be edible... So I guess the only problem will be the dirty hand that I will have... I would have rejected the food but right now is not the time for me to act prideful and waste my chance... Wait! I have a perfect idea!'

With a slow crawl, Ryo slowly approached the plate and after some time, he stopped a meter or two away from the food tray, as if showing resistance to the presence of certain somebody that they don't trust.

As if copying Ryo's movement, Zero Two who was a bit far away in the room, slowly followed his steps and crawled by Ryo's side, and started to rub her head on his shoulders while taking sniffs, showing that she trust all of herself to Ryo, thus making Ryo feel a bit awkward.

Removing all the unnecessary thoughts, Ryo looked back at the Old lady and continued to stare at her, as if trying to convey that her presence is not welcomed and they will not do anything as long as she was still in the room.

*Stare*

This staring contest went on for quite a time. Ryo didn't back down any bit, acting with his willpower. While on the other end, the Old lady was feeling awkward about being stared at by the baby.

Just when she was feeling awkward, suddenly her comms device vibrated, making her turn her head to her small white device which was in her pocket. Taking out the comms device, she learned that she was ordered to leave the room and give some space for the two experiments.

With that, she smiled at Ryo and 002 and slowly stood up, making Zero Two a bit alert as she looked at the Old Lady slowly back out of the room.

[For changing the plot by a small margin, the Host is rewarded with 100 Up.]

[Total UP= 300-->400]

With that, Ryo didn't waste any time and looked at the food present on the plate, trying to analyze the food that he was provided with. 

Just in the middle of the plate, a jelly-like substance was placed. It was green in color and was giving out a delicious aroma. The jello was in the shape of a cylinder. With that, Ryo touched the plate and poked the jello a few times and then with an uncomfortable feeling, scooped out a handful of the food and took a bite of the jello.

But as soon as he took the bite, instead of the expected delicious taste, a bland tasteless, and even a bit bitter taste hit his taste buds, making him feel a chill run down his spine.

With that, he forcefully chewed the stuff down his throat and looked at Zero Two who was also eating after being attracted to the scent of food. But Ryo felt dead inside as he saw Zero Two devouring the stuff down her stomach like a wild animal.

While as if Zero Two saw Ryo looking at her from the corner of her eyes, she lifted her face covered in green jello stuff and made an 'Aaa?' sound, making Ryo look down at the food in a bit of awkwardness and chew down the jello stuff forcefully in his stomach.

'Well, even though the stuff is a bit bland, I think that it has a lot of nutritious value. Otherwise, I don't think there is any other reason for them to give such food. I would love to learn about this stuff when I have time in the future... well. I don't think there is any future right now according to my calculation. I hope that there would be enough UP for me to escape to the world after gathering enough UP.'

With that thought in his mind, Ryo continued to mow down the food down his stomach.

---

~(Observatory Room)~

In the futuristic room, Franxx was sitting on his chair, writing his observations on the behaviors of the two cloned Klaxosaurs.

'Just as expected, Code 003 shows a lot of signs of being more intelligent compared to Code 002 who only acts based on her instincts. From the algorithms, Code 003 is showing various different facial features which indicates that he was able to have feelings of being 'awkward' and others. Furthermore, he also shows a lot of versatility in observing his surrounding.'

Franxx continued to write his observations as his other hand unknowingly clenched his kneecaps in anticipation.

'Code 003 also shows a lot of quality of being 'alpha' of his group, which only consists of Code 002 currently.'

'Code 003... I hope you continue to show me more and more surprises.'

After completing his observation, Franxx stood up and walked out of the room. Then with a well-paced walk, he reaches a room filled with tens of new incubators. each of these incubators contained a small speck of fetuses.

If one was to look carefully at the details of them, one will discover that all the babies in the incubatory were actually none other than the clones that were created from the DNA-s of both Ryo and Zero Two!

Franxx walked up to the foremost incubator and placed a hand in from the glass of the incubator as he read out the name of the experiment.

"Code Alpha"

---

(Stella/ Old Lady)

My name is Stella. Being one of the first humans to turn into immortals, I have gone through a lot of ups and downs in my life. One of them was not being able to bear any child with the biological alteration, or 'sterilization' that I received.

Thankfully, with my skills, I was accepted into the "Rising Bird Program" for raising children to make them operate FRANXXs and help in saving humanity.

'A curse to be born without being in control of their own destiny.', I thought. A thought that made me laugh myself when I realized that my situation was not any different from theirs.

But surprisingly, I was told that I will be given a job delivering food to two very special babies.

As soon as I heard that, my heart pounded in happiness.

'Yes! Will I be able to take care of two special children!', I thought naively. The excitement was to be expected as unlike my other colleagues, I was allowed to do nursing for children before all of them!

But as soon as I entered the room, my heart fell as I looked at their appearance and the condition they were living in. As a woman who was working here to relieve myself from the maternal stress, I was feeling, my heart felt sad.

The Code 002 & Code 003, whom I was assigned to were living in a lot smaller rooms compared to the other rooms prepared for the other children. Furthermore, the room was painted in a darker color, which might badly affect the children's health.

But I couldn't do anything for them. I didn't have the power or authority to do anything in the first place.

As I just saw the living conditions, I heard a small hungry grumble sound from 003's stomach. So in a calm and slow manner, I smiled at him and lowered my body to make them feel safer, and placed the food tray on the ground.

Sadly, they were too cautious of me.

Soon an order came in and I had to leave the room with reluctance.

=====

[1900]

Whep. This chapter was completed with only 3 brain cells of my brain as it's already 3:30 AM here. Bruh. Well. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Hey! Don't forget to join my discord, give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!

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