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Third World.

After switching cars several times, I finally arrived at the capital.

It took several days to get here, just like the way back.

The good thing is that there weren’t any major dangers while I was on the move. I had considered that heavy snowfall in winter would block the roads, but in this country, it’s quite rare to have snowy days even in the middle of winter.

Compared to my faded memories, this slightly chilly weather feels like the coldest winter in a very livable place.

Of course, the journey wasn’t entirely peaceful.

More than half of the villages I passed through were so destroyed that they couldn’t function as proper towns.

Thus, it took quite a bit of time to detour around cities with military presence for safety.

The capital has stabilized to some extent, but that doesn’t mean the country is stable. It will likely take a long time for these ripples to settle.

And here’s an interesting point.

The number of foreigners has increased.

Instead of tourists, more people fleeing for survival are on the rise.

In short, they’re illegal immigrants.

Those who entered this country mostly flowed into the slums, and I can tell why. The number of foreigners has also risen in the Brightshin slum in the capital.

Brightshin slum still has many harvesting machines living there.

Not all cities are like that.

In Bern City, perhaps due to its closed nature or simply because it’s obviously a failed city, there are no outsiders.

But in Nantes Port. No wait, the town that seems to be growing into Nantes City has seen a tremendous increase in foreigners arriving by ship.

The reasons are roughly guessable.

Recently, events that have happened in this country, or are still ongoing, are also happening in other countries.

That is, the three corporations have disturbed national security.

It has already been banned by the state, but there are still many places where it is being used like the Atlan Fortress City I heard about not long ago.

It’s not merely about industrial levels; it’s technology that underpins civilization, and there are significant problems with it, right?

It’s not easy to replace it right away.

There might be places that are properly replacing it and some that are compromising.

I’m curious to see how it will all unfold.

The technologies for replacement already exist. The Daegon method and the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign method.

Since a foundation has already been laid, the speed at which the new technology will settle is likely to be quick. In fact, Bern City is rapidly developing with the technology of the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign.

As I sorted through the overall flow of this world, I soon found myself at the accommodation right in front of the Royal Academy.

A butler came out to greet me at the door.

So, as always, I exchanged greetings and went inside. I greeted the familiar faces each time and then rested in my room.

*

Meanwhile, in the Fourth World, I have nothing to do.

I just need to recite the contract document if I feel any stimulation.

The wizard, trying to stick various things into my body or head, concluded that I ultimately lack the cognitive ability of a human.

That’s quite a hasty conclusion.

Instead, he focused on utilizing the byproducts he could gain from me.

Yes.

The harvesting machine.

Roughly once a day.

I have to fix my neck so I can’t shift my gaze and lower my head.

After limiting the field of vision like that, I remove the blindfold.

When I open my eyes, a candidate for the harvesting machine is trembling right in front of me.

I recite the contract document while watching them.

Then, the number of harvesting machines increases.

When that’s done, I put the blindfold back on, revert to my original position, and inject pleasure into my brain.

By reflex, my body trembles. At that moment, I observe the wizard’s expression through the harvesting machine. Seeing me shivering like that, the wizard wears a satisfied expression.

It’s the joy of knowing that his technique is functioning properly. It’s all an illusion, though.

To compare it with my faded memories, in his eyes, I’d be seen as succumbing to pleasure, perhaps even with heart-shaped eyes.

Maybe demons and gods have truly fallen into such depravity.

It’s a bit funny to think about succumbing to the possessed body.

Anyway.

The wizard keeps conducting various experiments.

For instance, he would remove the limbs or organs of the harvesting machine candidates and try to make them into harvesting machines, then bring them to me afterward.

Of course, once someone becomes a harvesting machine, they can’t become one again.

I recited the contract document like a machine, but there was no change. I was already filled with light, so what difference would it make to sign a contract?

At that time, I experienced both pain and pleasure multiple times, but since there was still no change, the wizard finally grasped the rule.

Once someone becomes a harvesting machine, the second time is impossible.

It’s quite convenient that he figured that out without needing an explanation.

And there’s one more thing I played a prank on.

Those are the girls with the same face. Simply put, clones.

The clones are already under contract, but I’m not inside them.

To prevent him from recognizing that difference, when the clones approached me, I acted the same as with others.

I only inserted myself into the clone right in front of me.

So, I was able to observe the wizard through the harvesting machine.

The harvesting machines made from the people brought in from outside were ground up when the experiments ended. However, the clone harvesting machines were left as they were.

It’s obvious.

The wizard cannot trust people.

He can only trust the creatures he has created.

Because of that mindset, he’s overly optimistic about his creations.

That was his mistake.

Initially, he kept the clone harvesting machines solely in the research area. But after making a few more clone harvesting machines, he brought them to his living space.

The field of vision is expanding.

I look outside through the harvesting machine.

The wizard’s place is a gigantic mansion. The laboratory was in the basement of the mansion.

And I saw several young girls running toward the wizard in his living area. They weren’t just any kids. They were little ones with demon horns and tails, or halos above their heads.

Yep.

Indeed.

Extracting power through babies isn’t entirely a lie, after all.

Smart move. It seems he possesses pregnant women to have babies with those characteristics. However, since the vessel clone is nowhere to be seen, it’s likely that she has died.

And none of them appeared to notice my gaze.

I don’t know if it takes time for them to develop that ability or if it’s just that they can’t notice me even when they grow up.

Multiple children with completely identical external attachments? It seems like they produced several from a single womb?

It’s a bit funny calling the wizard “dad.”

Becoming the parent of the original creatures is a quite efficient method.

Usually, self-awareness grows, and they tend to rebel, but it’s not that hard to train them from a very young age to suppress that.

Moreover, one more thing.

They do not call the clone “mother.” Rather, they seem to view her more like a maid who does what they command.

Focusing attachment on a single entity could lead to difficulties in control later on, which brings back memories of harvesting machines that had similar occupations.

There were slave traders and orphan collectors, and many people had similar occupations.

After all, the term “youth” is one concept invented after modernization. There was none before.

There were simply children and adults. Just two categories.

It wasn’t particularly malicious when eight-year-olds went out to work in chimneys; it was simply what happened during the industrial revolution.

Usually, at that age, they worked at home. They started with trivial tasks and learned the trade. By then, they were already workers.

The concept of protecting children from dangerous beings exists, but the notion of not making children do dirty and dangerous work was a concept invented much later.

In other words, the little hybrids stretching their arms toward the wizard, calling him “dad,” form an excessive attachment relationship.

The wizard lives in a very closed world. Only things he can trust, only things that love him—that’s all that remains in his environment.

In other words, it means he has far too many weaknesses.

Hehe.

It feels like his unstable mental state is right in my grasp.

Whether it’s because he handles so many toxic substances or if he just has that kind of face from the beginning, his face is swollen, and the way he walks is somehow distorted, revealing a body and mind that are unstable.

Unfortunately, he’s uncomfortable in both mind and body.

It’s time for the charm of the harvesting machines to show.

Regeneration and enhancement.

If this goes on, I think the wizard will someday ask to be made into a harvesting machine himself.

Yep.

That makes it simple.

No need to think separately, just by blabbering the same thing like a complete fool, not only will the number of harvesting machines increase, but the knowledge of an intellectual to summon me will also come in.

If I had expressed a personality, the author would have been more suspicious.

I might make a mistake and get caught.

However, if viewed simply as a tool, suspicion doesn’t arise. He’s already had his suspicions, and the results have come in, right?

People tend to have a blind faith in the conclusions they themselves reached.

They dislike acknowledging their mistakes, and the idea that they’re right lies deep within them. Thus, even if they commit some wicked deeds, they can still claim they were right.

That’s an element that’s easy to manipulate.

Once a conclusion is reached, it’s not easy to doubt again.

People call those who can question even the knowledge they’ve built countless times “geniuses.”

And in my view, the wizard is not a genius.

Moreover, due to the comfortable environment he’s created for himself, he has no one to give him harsh advice. He has no choice but to fall.

I wait leisurely, suspended in the middle of the laboratory in the basement.

It’s like a delicious apple that will naturally come into my mouth just by opening it.