BGM: Follow-through (Akira Kami)

It's a man who looks a bit like a doll.

The head is square, the face is slightly yellow, and the eyes are wooden and lifeless.

Black suit shoes and white gloves were taken down and neatly stacked on the table beside them.

The man was painting in a closed room.

Only a single beam of yellow light shone through the room, casting a shadow on the vertical drawing board, leaving a brush shadow on the paper.

His fingers are mechanically steady and powerful, and his strokes are precise and unbiased, as if they were working according to a pre-programmed procedure.

The six sides of the room are made of steel, and the walls reflect the metallic sheen, giving it a smooth and solid look. A huge number of painting supplies are neatly laid out on the floor, and various electronic pipes are laid on the ceiling, which do not fit in with the scene below.

The temperature here is very low, I don't know if it's because it's underground, or if it's because the refrigerated gas is turned on. It's not just cold anymore, only the fur-covered polar creatures can survive here.

"Tick-"

The painter with a blank expression stopped the brush in his hand, turned his head a little stiffly, and looked at the door behind him.

"F? You're in there. ”

The door flashed with a subtle green light.

Obviously, unexpected visitors.

The painter clearly remembered that he had warned them not to disturb him while he was working, but now someone came.

"Come in. ”

As the green light on the door went out, a crack opened in the otherwise tightly closed wall, and a cold white mist drifted in before being blocked out by the reclosed door.

“。。 F, you're still as hard as ever. ”

The person who came was also dressed in a black suit and trousers.

Strong, like an iron tower, it is a physique far beyond a black bear in the true sense, standing on the ground and reaching out to the basket.

In disguise, it is a little difficult to create a maze with the painting tools in front of you.

"Well, I'll kill you if you step on it, so you might as well stand there and say it. ”

The man maintained the posture of turning his upper body, leaning towards the puppet's head, and the lower half of his body was glued to the stool after all, as if he was not ready to say anything.

If you look closely, you'll see that this product doesn't blink.

Not only that, but its posture is indescribably weird, making people feel that those eyes are just embedded ornaments, glass beads, that cannot be turned. So had to rotate the body and neck.

"What's the matter? Don't you speak? Then get out. ”

I said. ”

"Didn't you get EVE's order? It's time for us to go!"

The tall man's face was unhappy, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his face was bloodshot. I don't know why, he sweats a lot in such a cold environment.

"Really, what a task, I didn't look at. ”

"And you know mine, G. ”

"I'm running out of time now, I'm not going to go on a mission. ”

"Are you saying that even if it's a mandatory task, you won't accept it?"

"Mandatory tasks?"

"This time it's urgent, you don't have the right to refuse, F. ”

“。。。 ”

F was silent, staring at G with the dead fish eyes for a moment.

"I checked, and I really haven't received a mission in my memory, and, if it's really an urgent task, why didn't you come and call me instead of Ying Ji?"

"That's the problem. ”

"Ying Ji is dead. ”

"—what did you say?"

The painter put down his brush and turned to face the tall G. There was still no wave in Mu Ne's eyes, but he could see that he was serious.

"No way, Ying Ji is the consciousness tentacle of EVE of our kind, that kind of thing, no matter how many bodies are destroyed, it is inherently indestructible. ”

"What do you mean by dying?"

"Literally. ”

"Ying Ji is dead, we have lost our best information recorders and tools, and at the same time, EVE has permanently lost these tentacles. Our tragic loss. ”

"You've been staying in the Ministry to know nothing, but we're just learning about it. ”

"Who did it?"

The reason for this is unknown, but all of them disappeared silently, or rather, were killed. Even EVE couldn't feel the breath, and the reason for their existence had completely dissipated, obliterated from the causal level. ”

"Ahh What do you say, F. ”

"Anyway, how long are you going to sit there?"

"Each of us has been favored by EVE to a greater or lesser extent, and we can't sit idly by at this time. Do we, having received the promise, still have the right to refuse?"

G bared a mouthful of white teeth, making it impossible to tell if he was laughing or angry.

"After all, this thing doesn't have human self-discipline.,If you stay at home again.。。 ”

"Will die. ”

F stood up when he heard this, and the paintbrush in his hand spun around and disappeared randomly.

"I see. ”

F nodded, his tone unwavering.

"It's a pity that there is really no time this time. ”

I can't hear the slightest regretful tone of underbeating.

He walked through the complex terrain, picking up pencils, oil paints, knives, and paper in turn, and putting them in his sleeves.

The action is smooth, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is elegant.

Mechanically precise, sophisticated, but full of exquisite beauty.

Meticulous.

"It's okay, if you can find the prisoner sooner, I think you'll be able to finish it before the big collapse. ”

G shrugged his shoulders, his tone relaxed and unconcerned.

"No, it's too late. ”

At some point, Artist F has reached the edge of the maze, and he is only one step away.

"What's wrong? Do you still have a souvenir? That's not going to work, F. ”

The latter, however, was unimpressed.

Don't step out of the realm of painting tools.

Motionless.

"No. That's not going to work.。。 How can you do that?"

Seeing the other party stop, G's eyes flashed with an inexplicable look, he shook his head, and grinned until his ears were changed, revealing two rows of jagged steel teeth.

Obviously, as long as you take one more step, you can shoot him into a mosaic distance.

The so-called "labyrinth" is not just physical.

This is a kind of reciprocating force, a boundary, a "circle"

After crossing the line, what it means to go beyond the "circle" is uncharted territory, a curiosity that kills people.

In particular, the owner of the "circle" is in the circle, and there are too many uncontrollable factors if you venture in.

Strength.

Will.

Idea.

A sign of danger.

Could it be that in the end, it was the artist's sensibility that he found the problem?

Cut, miscalculated.

"I see. ”

"Seeing you enter the state of imminent battle confirmed my suspicions even more. ”

F said unhurriedly.

"You're the prisoner, aren't you? ”

"No, it's not enough for you alone, you need a lot of external factors. ”

"I see, has EVE been hacked? That's why you're here—blatantly rebelling in the depths of the headquarters. ”

The artist twisted his neck and looked at G with his eyes that could not be turned.

Its eyes are dilating.

Light and shadow are intertwined, logic is reversed, swaying and spreading, and the canvas spreads.

In an instant, the world around them was filled with thick and frantic colors.

G stood in the middle of the chaotic variegation, his eyes deep.

"If you're too smart, you won't survive, F. ”

"Treat it as my advice to you. ”

"If you're like this, you won't be able to become a qualified tool, and you will be destroyed as an obstacle and easily discarded. ”

- "Squat down and cut off your limbs, or I'll kill you now." ”

F ignored G, his voice coming out of the imminent colors, far and near, somewhat distorted.

"This is the world in the painting. ”

"Here, it's just me, not you. ”

"Do you want to resist?"