Story Reader / Floating Record / ER08 The Long Goodbye / Story
The surrounding kaleidoscope shards fade to darkness, and the silhouettes within dissipate with them.
The one Wanshi touched also fades to darkness as 056 leads the test subjects down the dimly lit corridor.
He grasps at thin air, catching nothing.
No... I haven't seen what happened to 056 and the others...
He hasn't seen how things end for 056 and the kids—did they really get out?
Suddenly a bullet tears through the air, cutting across his field of vision.
Don't touch it.
...
Though a voice deep within refuses to accept this final truth, he still reaches out.
The moment the bullet makes contact, searing pain shoots through Wanshi's head as it pierces through.
Following the pain, memories flood back to Wanshi—visions of the abandoned research facility.
After making sure they have no trackers, 056 quickly leads the children through the cultivation area and they slip out its back door, into a section the children have never seen before.
Some start falling behind, but the others grip their hands tightly, pulling them along as they stumble forward.
Mom... Where are we going?
The Junkyard.
Why there?
Stay quiet for now.
Soon, 056 leads them to a door, activates the control panel with an access card, and lets out a visible sigh of relief.
Fortunately, no one cares about security clearance for this place.
The gates open to reveal a clear night sky.
Moonlight spills across the "disposal heap", illuminating the identification codes marked on each corpse.
Recognizing former companions among the dead, the children keep their distance.
There could have been a better plan... but they've caught onto my intentions. If you don't leave now, you'll never get another chance.
And take this mechanoid with you. I've programmed it to locate another chip that will lead to Wanshi... the real Wanshi.
Alright, everyone inside.
056 forcefully pushes the children into the Junkyard.
No other doors in this world will open for you now... This is the path you must take.
Mom?
Don't call me that anymore. Just go.
...I knew what kind of experiments this facility was conducting, but I came anyway, because I wanted to use your M.I.N.D. to save my own child.
Are you just like the other grownups? Then why are you helping us?
Eamon asks suddenly while struggling to drag the bulky robot.
Why...
On the night before leaving Babylonia, after Melvie departs, she returns to sit by Wanshi's sickbed.
They say you'll be like this for life. If you're lucky, you'll find release in a few years.
Call me selfish, but I want you to live, to wake up, to experience a full human life just like everyone else.
...
Only the whirring of machines is heard in the ward. A long time ago, that child would have smiled and responded, even without understanding anything.
Wanxu lowers his head, wearily burying his face in his hands.
There's nothing left...
...That place is a hell. There's no return once you step in.
And I'm exactly like what Melvie said—just another ruthless lunatic.
An alarm suddenly blares and puts everyone on edge.
Go, Eamon. You need to lead them away from here. Don't underestimate the people in this facility—they're formidable. Even in the Junkyard, they'll find ways to stop you. The further you run now, the better your chances of survival.
If you can escape safely, then...
When it comes to what happens after the escape, 056 falls silent.
What comes after the escape?
Will they be taken away by other organizations? If they join the military, will they be sent straight to the battlefield?
It depends on how the "people" outside treat them—will they nurture them like children, or exploit them as resources?
Anyway... get going first.
Amidst blaring alarms, 056 shoves the Constructs into the Junkyard. They climb the mountain of corpses, stepping on fallen seeds of life, reaching desperately for the moonlight above.
A kid notices 056 falling behind and calls out. All eyes turn to the woman lingering motionless at the doorway.
Mom... 056, aren't you coming with us?
At first, all I cared about was saving Wanshi and Wanshi alone.
But only when I stood in front of the cliff and saw hell for what it truly was, did I finally understand what I had done.
Melvie was right, I do need to atone. If someone has to remain in this swamp to lift you all out...
Then I am the one who deserves to sink.
056 picks up the blood-stained demolition hammer and heads toward the sealed lab.
I willingly step into the depths of hell.
056 enters the familiar room.
Surprisingly, all traces of the chaos have vanished. The bloodstains on the isolation chamber's window have been thoroughly cleaned away—no hint remains of the researchers' desperation as they were left to die inside.
Theodore, "housed" within, instinctively lunges at the transparent window when he spots someone, screeching at 056.
Click.
056 hears the click of a bullet being chambered behind her. She knows who it is without turning around.
Pickman.
So you'd even experiment on infected Constructs too?
What are you researching this time?
056 turns to face the darkness—there stands Pickman, gun raised.
Theodore is a good kid. He needs this level of control.
A hint of regret crosses Pickman's face.
I thought we shared the same feelings about these children.
But it seems you've been using these experiments as an excuse to do unnecessary things.
...
What do you gain from letting them escape? You even incite them to murder, turning them into criminals.
The way you're nurturing these children will introduce significant variables into the experiment.
Besides me, you're the second person here to call the test subjects "children." I find that ironic.
056 points to the experiment chamber beside them, where Theodore, transformed into a monster by the Punishing Virus, is being kept in captivity. He crouches at the observation window, staring at the two confronting each other.
I won't deny it—they are my children too.
056 points at her head.
People outside already know about every experiment conducted here. You won't escape punishment.
056 raises the demolition hammer—
Years into the future, the one who receives these memories can no longer stay still, reaching out in desperation to stop what's coming.
The Punishing Virus concentration inside is very high. Breaking it open now means...
Wanshi's hand passes through the phantom image.
...
Can't hold on to anything.
No...
The piercing pain in his head keeps intensifying. Wanshi's M.I.N.D. has reached its limit—one step away from being torn to shreds.
Even knowing this is the past, knowing this ending is inevitable...
Delirious with pain, Wanshi refuses to give up. His hands desperately wave through the air where the demolition hammer hangs, trying in vain to prevent its descent.
Stop...
His words come out as an incoherent mumble, too faint even for himself to hear.
To whom should these words "stop" be said? At what point in time would they have made any difference?
Was it before Recall Team 4 disbanded? Before Wanxu lost her way? Or before Pickman—before Kugawa Kurono arrived at this research facility?
Was it before those children were modified into test subjects... or even before they were born?
...
Finally, Wanshi lowers his hands, knowing he can only stand by and watch.
Wanshi stares at 056, lips trembling, and finally calls out that name.
He doesn't expect her to hear it—he just wants to call out to her one last time, like the child he once was in his dreams.
...Wanxu!
But the Wanxu of the past still raises the demolition hammer—
You want to destroy the entire research institute?
Pickman immediately backs away, distancing himself from the chamber containing the Corrupted specimens.
I'll do everything in my power to ensure you die here. But even if you manage to escape...
One day, Pickman, you'll die at the hands of your precious "children".
As Wanxu brings down the demolition hammer, Pickman pulls the trigger.
The isolation window shatters into pieces, scattering shards across the floor.
The highly concentrated Punishing Virus surges from the lab, instantly corrupting half of Wanxu's face.
Meanwhile—
A bullet fires from Pickman's gun.
In this era of advanced mechanoid technology and Constructs, this bullet can't penetrate even the most common armor plating.
It spins as it slowly pierces through the woman's flesh, blood vessels, and bones... until it exits her body, leaving a blackened crater in the facility's metal wall.
The shot pierces through Wanxu's head. As she falls, her hair cascades onto the floor, blood flowing from her mouth and staining the strands red.
...!!
The pain from the pierced head radiates through every fiber of his being—the disruption in Wanshi's M.I.N.D. finally reaches a level beyond his endurance.
(So tired.)
...
His struggles cease as he finally collapses.
Wanshi collapses somewhere in the abandoned research facility, unsure of his exact location. Before death claims him completely, he spares one last thought for something that probably no longer concerns him:
(The Commandant and the others said they would catch up.)
Only a brief moment has passed between splitting up to chase that Corrupted in the cultivation area and his collapse.
The communication device by the ear crackles with static, human voices becoming indistinct.
(...Can you still find me?)
As he drifts into eternal sleep, in his haze, he feels...
All is but a lucid dream.
