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The interior of the surveillance office near the western district was bustling.

Agents from the Navy Intelligence Department were meticulously analyzing the information flowing in on numerous monitor screens.

At that moment, one agent, seemingly nonchalant, reported as he gazed at the screens.

“The signal has been lost.”

Upon hearing that the tracking of the top surveillance target had been interrupted, the agents couldn’t hide their disappointment, but soon sprang into preparation for the next tracking.

There was no reason to panic.

Loss of target tracking was a common occurrence; they had various methods of tracking at their disposal.

One of their reconnaissance assets was the smart cockroach provided by Laplacian.

If they inscribe genetic information or smells and input simple commands, these little critters can attach themselves to the target or carry out tailing missions.

“Well, it’s a cockroach after all…”

“Its lifespan is short. If luck’s not on our side, it either gets caught or detaches. Even if it holds on, there are many cases where the signal distorts and cuts out.”

The agent responded nonchalantly to his colleague’s words.

“But about half of them work correctly, right? Besides, we have various reconnaissance assets. Let’s trust the shapeshifters.”

**

After a while, we decided to take a breather a bit further away.

While no pursuers were in sight, we ducked into a nearby mall to blend in with the crowd, just in case.

As soon as we had a moment to relax, Kalia was the first to speak up.

“Remote-controlled cockroaches? That’s a first for me.”

“I don’t know, but isn’t it possible? We can control rats, after all.”

Suddenly, a small sound came from my pocket.

“Chirp?”

“No, it’s not so much control as giving commands. Lemon, stay quietly in my pocket since there are so many people here.”

I gave a peanut to the curious Lemon who poked its head out and then shoved it back into my pocket.

As Lemon munched on the peanut, we sat in a café waiting for a while.

Soon after, Bernike returned from the restroom, claiming she needed to wash her hands.

“Ugh, I can’t believe something like that was clinging to me. Did you check that equipment?”

“Yeah! Both me and the other rats checked it, and there was nothing unusual.”

Earlier, Bernike had found a remote-controlled cockroach on her body.

According to Lemon’s explanation, the cockroach had cleverly hidden itself between her clothing, lying flat and flat.

“The olfactory capability of rats is famously better than that of dogs, you know. They have more olfactory receptor genes. I didn’t expect that ability would come in handy like this.”

“Ah-ha!”

Hearing the professor’s explanation, I realized why Lemon reacted immediately.

I had noticed that its sense of smell was much more acute and superior to ours for a while now, but I didn’t expect it to be this pronounced.

“What did it feel like specifically?”

“There was a strange smell! It felt suspicious!”

I asked several times, but Lemon could only express that something felt off without explaining specifically what was strange, struggling to articulate it.

No matter how much intelligence was enhanced, it still fundamentally remained a mouse, after all.

There remained a fundamental sensory difference between our Violet and the mouse.

“It’s only natural not to understand. The perspectives of humans and other organisms in recognizing the world differ. Can humans fully grasp the world as perceived by a bat’s echolocation? Can they empathize with a mole’s sight? Right now, since you have only recently connected to the network, it’s difficult to perfectly understand your animal subordinates.”

Unexpectedly, I seemed to be attending a biology lecture.

That said, who on earth attached that cockroach to Bernike?

“Could it be the Laplacian folks again?”

At Kalia’s mutter, Bernike’s lips twitched, as if in agreement.

“Hmm, you’re Kalia, aren’t you? You’ve got a quicker understanding than that guy.”

“I don’t think that’s a comment to make in front of the parties involved?”

Bernike pretended not to hear our complaints and carelessly dumped five sugar cubes into her coffee.

“There are only a handful of organizations utilizing living small creatures as reconnaissance assets. One is Laplacian, another is Luminexa, and there are a few companies based in the East and North. Of those, the one capable of manufacturing and operating sophisticated biological circuits like what you saw earlier is only one.”

Biological circuits…

Coincidentally, I had heard that the things on our Violet animal special forces’ heads were also a type of biological circuit.

“I don’t know when or how it got attached, but it’s obvious. It’s probably a conspiracy to find out the laboratory’s location.”

Bernike no longer hid her irritation, becoming overtly expressive. Even those beside her felt uncomfortable.

“It seems those guys are still obsessed with Apostle research. We need to exercise more caution from now on. Once this matter is settled, it’d be best to keep a low profile for a while. That damn Rahane brat.”

Suddenly, a question popped into my mind. If we didn’t even know when they attached the listening cockroach, had everything been exposed already?

To my question, Bernike gave an unexpected answer.

“There’s no need to worry about that. The laboratory’s location is thoroughly concealed with all kinds of methods to prevent any external or internal signals from getting close. Even I blindfold myself when going out or on leave. It’d be troublesome if an apostle’s friend hears a screaming sound and rushes over, right?”

Oh, it seemed they had their preparations in place. But another question arose.

“Wait a minute, wouldn’t that mean it’s hard to send immediate support if something happens inside? Like if an apostle escapes…”

Bernike answered with a grin.

“We have the Luminexa-style seven-fold containment procedures in place, so there won’t be a big problem. Even if an apostle were to escape, that’s the responsibility of Restraid. Hehe, are you perhaps worried about me?”

As her personality switched, Unit 2501 suddenly popped out.

“No, I heard that the bizarre illness affecting our junior is related to that guy.”

When we had talked about Apostle-related information once, there had been talks of Ariel too.

It was said that all the tools or relics the apostle possessed were retrieved by Restraid.

It seemed they were still closely studying those relics right now.

At this rate, Ariel might not even be able to take the exam next year.

“Well, there’s no sign of interpretation yet, but don’t worry about it. The researcher convicts dispatched by the federal government are doing well. If it comes to it, I might just take one of your animal friends with me.”

“Convict researchers?”

“They’re experts detained in their own prisons by the federal government. I wish I could exploit my own lab staff like that…”

Such a justification for slave labor, but that’s typical of a wicked ponytail.

Bernike quickly wrapped up the necessary tasks and left immediately.

“Hey, Pereira! See you later!”

“Y-yes!”

When she left, she was holding a small cage.

She mentioned that some listening cockroaches or other biological surveillance devices might come chasing after her along with the V-animals.

Well, I allowed it. I needed to know about the laboratory.

Moreover, it seemed she was also planning to conduct some independent research.

“Just in case, I might make use of it for tracking the position!”

“Chirp?”

“Be safe! Aunty, don’t bully our animals and take good care of them! Got it?”

“If you keep calling me ‘Aunty,’ I might just use your crow and mouse as experimental material, you know?”

“Alright! Aunty!”

Thinking of the departing Bernike, I hoped our animal special forces would enter the laboratory without any incident.

**

Today, the peaceful Joint Institute for Otherworldly Biological Research went on.

The institute’s day began at 6 AM.

As the darkness gradually lifted, the researchers began to wake up one by one to get ready for work.

“Ah… I… I’m sorry… I messed up… Ugh…”

“Come on, wake up. Dr. Lowell, it’s time to start working.”

A federal agent who entered the laboratory shook Ennis, sprawled out on her desk like a frog.

With a gloomy expression, Ennis rubbed her heavily shadowed eyes and checked the time.

“Oh, officer, you’re here…”

The newly appointed female agent was friendlier than before.

She silently waited for Ennis to gather herself.

Clearing the remnants of a gloomy dream, Ennis rose unsteadily, resembling a ghoul from Vittorio Arcade.

She took a cold energy drink from the refrigerator in the lab, and, as a habit, opened the cap and poured it into a needle-free syringe.

In an instant, she gulped it down.

The effect was immediate; Ennis’s darkened eyes began to flicker.

“Ugh…”

Caffeine expanded her blood vessels, and the awakening agent surged like a tidal wave.

The goal was the receptors. The drug that penetrated the blood-brain barrier struck at her brain nerves, squeezing out dopamine.

The temporarily accelerated flow of magical power stimulated her whole body as a bonus.

Slowly, the fatigue faded away.

This was the secret to the Awakened being able to work for 154 hours straight.

For those classified as Grade Five, it was mandatory year-round.

According to the Federal Special Management Act for Inmates, certain specific skilled and capable convicts are used without limit.

To them, labor laws and holidays were synonymous with a rainbow-colored paradise where unicorns prance.

As Ennis regained her senses, all the researchers in her department slouched up and began waking.

“Hey… Team Leader, the meteor is getting bigger! Or is that a comet? Shooting stars keep falling…”

“Can I have some of that drug too? Ah! I’m alive! Let’s go! Hehehe!”

Once all the team members were awake, they confirmed the progress of work from two hours prior.

When that was done, they followed the officer’s guidance to the meeting room for a brief briefing before starting work again.

Suddenly, an employee from the neighboring department rushed in to grab some materials and suddenly had a seizure.

[Kyaaaah!]

“Wow! Wow! All hail the unspeakable Monad’s throne!”

“Hey, that guy’s having a seizure! Pull him away!”

As the security team rushed in, the armored knight guard knelt and punched the ecstatic researcher in the head.

The researcher, with a squished head, ceased her bizarre praise.

Seeing the red line trickling on the floor, she suppressed her nausea and turned her gaze away.

In the meantime, yet another mental scream blasted through her mind.

[Uwaaaah! I’ll kill you! Bernike!]

“Um, officer? That’s definitely a monster related to what I’m in charge of… the one in the isolation room, is it really a monster?”

At Ennis’s question, the officer gave her a look as if asking why she was asking again.

“It’s a monster, I tell you.”

The work continued.

What Ennis was analyzing, Code Omega, was not just any monster.

It was clearly an intelligent being.

The clothing, accessories, and weapons it possessed were varied and complex, but incomprehensible.

“Are you still unaware of the components of this sword? Didn’t you manage to unlock the barrier or security magic?”

“It’s not a problem of Ether engineering. It’s just physically impossible to analyze. We employed every observation instrument we had.”

Pointing at the gigantic great sword, a nameless manager exclaimed.

“No matter what means we used, we couldn’t destroy it. The magical resistance is an understatement. Do you see how smooth the surface is like a mirror? What you’re seeing now is an extreme enlargement using our best-performing microscope. The interatomic density is beyond imagination. It’s at neutron star level. Compressing the interatomic distance to this degree, ignoring electron degeneracy pressure, is utterly impossible, even using all magic and science. Another approach…”

“What’s impossible about it? Just try it!”

Despite being troubled by the crude interference from Restraid executives and federal officials, Ennis and her team comforted themselves with the thought that they were gradually achieving results.

Soon, the brief lunch break arrived.

Due to the effects of the drug, Ennis had no appetite and stuffed the meal into her mouth to secure some free time.

This was to read the letters tucked away in her drawer.

Most of the letters were from her parents, but sometimes she saw other names.

Letters from military families.

Carefully, Ennis opened the envelope.

[Because of you, our son is dead! Just like our family has been shattered, I hope your life ends too! You trash!]

[Stop sending money. It’s burdensome. Though it’s a compensation, is it a joke, killing a father? I just want to forget now…]

[…Thank you for revealing the truth. My friend won’t be coming back, but… yeah, I understand.]

As Ennis read the letters filled with resentment, gratitude, and anger, her heart became filled with bitterness and guilt.

If she had acted with more courage, perhaps the innocent sacrifices could have been prevented.

All the wages she received were delivered to the families of the federal soldiers who died in Vittorio Arcade.

The compensation she received under the guise of a researcher was not insignificant, especially given that it was a research project sponsored by a large clan.

Still, Ennis couldn’t shake off the doubt of whether this compensation was truly appropriate.

“Could money really compensate for losing a family? Isn’t this just my self-satisfaction?”

Lost in gloomy thoughts while preparing replies, someone tapped her shoulder.

“Yikes!”

“I’m not going to eat you. Doctor. Are you still writing those replies? How about this one instead?”

Seemingly frustrated, the helmet-less guard scratched her short hair with her gauntlet.

She retrieved an envelope from the pouch on her waist and handed it over, and as Ennis checked the sender, her face lit up.

“Th-thank you, officer.”

With a joyful expression, she hugged the letter close to her chest.

The soldier replied gruffly, pointing behind her.

“Thank the officer over there. That guy brought it from the prison you used to be in. You’re not supposed to do this.”

The federal officer waiting behind smiled and nodded.

A man with an irritated expression standing at the back.

The red nametag hanging from his neck swayed.

“Alright, Doctor. Put the letters down for a moment. This man just entered our department today. Make sure to guide him well. You’re both Grade Five, so get along. Now, greet him! This will be where you serve your sentence.”

“What do you mean serve my sentence! I’m innocent.”

The man grumbled.

“Dammit, is it a crime to get friendly while drinking?”

The officer suddenly froze while the armored guard let out a bewildered laugh.

Everyone fell silent, and only Ennis spoke up with a perplexed expression.

“…Um, well… isn’t that a crime?”

“That bastard was a hunter who was in the vanguard! He could hit me! Rather, my car got wrecked, and he should be the one going to jail! …Ouch!”

“Alright, stop right there and get in, you criminal!”

The man, who was protesting, couldn’t hold back and punched the guard on the head. The groaning man suddenly stood tall when he saw Ennis.

“Hey, wait! You! I know who you are!”

“You know me?”

“I know! That hearing! I saw it! Because you were blabbering about the relic excavation incident in parliament, it caused a huge uproar! The MagnaVis affiliate I was working at got utterly wrecked because of that! The Inspection Bureau rushed in, and the patent guillotine barged in!”

“That was…”

“Don’t act scared! You roasted military heads with those relics, right? Shouldn’t you have died getting shot by Ariel Group there instead? You alone squealed and survived! You, all holier-than-thou! Because of you, I got sacked and am now in this goddamn trouble!”

As the observing guard intervened, the man was subdued once more.

“Keep talking nonsense and I might just break a few bones. Doctor, lead the way.”

As the guard stepped outside under the watchful eye of the officer, Ennis cautiously reached out her hand to the moaning man.

“Are you okay…?”

The man brushed her hand away and stood up.

“Ah, whatever. Just lead the way.”

The department Ennis was assigned was a melting pot of various human types.

There were some affiliated with MagnaVis and some with its subsidiaries.

There were also those dragged in from other regions or continents’ research facilities.

“Everyone has their stories, but they’re all people related to allegations of crimes.”

Therefore, their rank was Grade Five. A red nametag.

The red nametag was the lowest status in the Joint Institute for Otherworldly Biological Research.

Formally employed as researchers, they received salaries, but most were deducted for various reasons.

Ennis self-deprecatingly thought.

Still, among them, there was no one who committed a greater crime than she had.

One day, she too would be consumed. She had entered knowing that and felt no regret.

**

It was around that time when a familiar face arrived.

“Ennis Lowell team leader. Right? Yes, it’s you. I searched for you for ages.”

A long, white mechanical tentacle grabbed the nametag. Ennis startled with a brief hiccup.

Before her stood a tall, slender woman with an expression resembling annoyance.

Her sunglasses glinted sharply under the lights.

“Hmm, Academy of Arturia alumni, master’s and doctorate at Rhine Krupp University. Is that correct? It’d be good if you could answer quickly; I hope your frontal lobe isn’t damaged or anything. Don’t test my patience.”

As the woman removed her sunglasses, yellow eyes reminiscent of a bird of prey scanned Ennis.

Gazing blankly, Ennis quickly turned her brain around under the influence of the surplus awakening agent. Who was this again?

Professor Bernike. I’d heard of her indirectly during my university days.

And I had also encountered her from afar regarding the matter of sealing the monster here.

She was in charge of significant research.

The color of her nametag was white.

Grade One.

“Y-yes! That’s me. What can I do for you…?”

Seeing the determined woman before her, Bernike chuckled lightly.

With her sunglasses on, her emotionally visible color was surprisingly compliant and meek.

“Hmm, it’s nothing in particular. I read the materials and reports from the relic research department. You seem to have grasped the issues quite sharply? But your ultimate answer was ‘I’ve hit a wall.'”

Ennis, feeling small under the keen observation, muttered to herself, recalling something like her graduate advisor.

“…Yes, that’s true. The relics possessed by the monsters were too intricate and complex. Destructive testing was almost impossible.”

“Well, that’s irrelevant. I’m not blaming you. The analysis itself wasn’t bad, and it showed you did the maximum you could. Generally speaking, that’s how academia works, doesn’t it? You have to start by acknowledging what you don’t know.”

Bernike called out to the agent standing behind her.

“Hey, federal officer over there! From this moment on, I will subordinate this entire department under my Grade One authority, understood?”

The officer rigidly replied.

“Yes! Understood!”

As Ennis stared blankly at the change, the metal tentacle tore off her nametag.

“Uh, what…?”

“From now on, you’ll have to work on something truly important with me. So being at Grade Five would be inadequate, wouldn’t it?”

“Y-yes! That… makes sense, right?”

The color of the nametag held by the tentacle changed instantly to blue.

Ennis’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“From now on, I’ve temporarily elevated your position to Grade Two, under the authority of a Grade One officer. Do you understand how important this is? Is your brain scrambled from the drugs or something? Answer me.”

“Y-yes, understood!”

Overwhelmed, Ennis eventually accepted the situation. Grade Two meant her salary would be higher, right?

Perhaps she could increase the compensation meant for the families.

Bernike carefully reexamined her as Ennis pondered her newfound status with the relic sunglasses on.

The visible emotions were relief, anxiety, and excitement.

Not bad. Looking through research reports and personnel records since her MagnaVis days, she appeared to be a compliant person.

She was said to be quite handy and have a clever mind.

It would be good to keep her around for the intensive research ahead.

That would supplement Bernike’s own weaknesses regarding relics and magic engineering.

“First, since your rank has elevated, you need to sign an important confidentiality agreement. You’ve never heard of what’s inside that monster, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Throwing an unexpected bomb at the enslaved Ennis, Bernike offered her a task.

“I’m going to give you some orders. Everything needs to be organized. Senators will be here soon.”

Suddenly, the effects of the drug wore off, and Ennis froze.

“Excuse…? Senators?”

Seeing the vacant look of the professor, she felt a teasing malice.

Who would’ve thought she’d react so strongly just to the mention of a senator?

‘I’m looking forward to how she’ll react when faced with the true identity of the apostle.’

A peculiar smile crept across Bernike’s face.