#219

As Athanas understood it, this was less of a corpse and more like a set of clothes Fabio had left behind.

Clothes he had only received back after six months.

‘…There is a saying that those who are offered as sacrifices to an Evil God but luckily survive should be burned immediately.’

Because it wouldn’t be a case of actually surviving, but rather a trap where the cultists intentionally ‘let them live’ to send them back.

Of course, such extreme methods were used in the era when the scriptures were written; these days, they simply confine the person to a monastery for life.

Regardless.

The existence of this prosthetic body was suspicious in itself.

If the government truly wanted to hide Fabio’s death, they would have destroyed the prosthetic body first.

The ‘auto-action mode’ surely wouldn’t have been unaware of that….

‘…No, it seems his brain was so pickled in alcohol that he didn’t think at all.’

No matter how much he searched, there was no memory of analyzing this ‘prosthetic body.’

This drunkard had simply kept it stored preciously after receiving it back.

Athanas deactivated the bombs installed around the prosthetic body.

‘He’s lost his mind.’

A mad drunkard unable to accept Fabio’s death.

Is this meant to mock me, suggesting this is what I will become in the future?

‘…If you wanted to be a nightmare, you should have chosen a more proper background.’

He felt no kinship with a godless drunkard.

The only commonality was that they both loved ‘Fabio,’ but that ‘Fabio’ was merely someone with the same name.

‘How do I analyze this?’

Fabio’s primary physician….

‘Was brutally murdered.’

Anyone else trustworthy….

‘Doesn’t exist.’

The scavengers who had smuggled out Fabio’s prosthetic body had all gone silent.

In Dark Town, going silent meant you died without even leaving a corpse behind.

Athanas frowned.

‘Then do I have to investigate it myself?’

With sniper rifles or secret doors, the way they were used naturally came to mind just by observing them.

Wondering if the same applied to the prosthetic body, he stared at it intently, and various ‘usage methods’ flickered through his memory.

‘…….’

Not a single piece of that information was useful.

Feeling a physiological sense of disgust, Athanas stepped out of the secret room.

“Master, do you need help?”

“No.”

Athanas took a deep breath to calm his blood flow.

An ‘advertisement’ was playing on the TV.

An advertisement?

Advertisements are a means of promoting a product.

Is this advertisement a message the nightmare is sending me?

A broadcast is a video that many people can watch simultaneously. How? Radio waves are used to transmit broadcasts….

…Athanas closed his eyes to block out the ‘information’ constantly flooding into his mind.

‘Only the information necessary for progress.’

When he opened his eyes again, he could clearly distinguish what was important.

A white line shimmered around the notebook.

Athanas picked up the notebook.

‘A notebook, huh.’

Data can be perfectly edited, but things with physical substance cannot.

Pressed handwriting leaves traces on the next page, and torn pages leave marks on the spine.

The ‘psychopath’ had written down the things he truly needed to remember on paper.

‘He marked the places where the replicas were removed with an X.’

In the first place, how did he pinpoint where the replicas were?

The moment he questioned it, a corner of his vision flickered.

As he shifted his gaze, the ‘personal inbox’ opened.

Countless chat windows filled his vision.

The conversation partners were labeled with codes rather than names.

F-3C

[Athanas, it’s me. Fabio.]

[I lost my prosthetic registration card…. These people are trying to arrest me. I have no idea what’s going on. They say humanoids without owners will be disposed of immediately? I think they’re crazy. For now, I’m just playing along. Please come to the hospital at Address 3 right away.]

[Bring some clothes when you come.]

[What’s the date today?]

F-8C

[Do you remember the bouquet you ordered for your wedding anniversary?]

[They were white daisies. It was an unusual order, so I haven’t forgotten.]

[I’m sorry for sending a strange message out of the blue. I wanted to let you know that our flower shop’s number has changed.]

[I heard about the tragedy that befell you.]

[I hesitated for a long time about whether to contact you. I felt… like I wasn’t in a state where I should be reaching out.]

[This line will be maintained for three days. I will wait for your contact.]

F-11C

[(Photo)]

[It’s a hassle, but please don’t forget the recycling at 3:25 PM.]

[There are so many rats these days that we have to be careful when throwing out the trash.]

[There was no one else I could ask. I’m sorry. My love. I miss you.]

F-21C, F-32G, F-066O….

The chat windows continued endlessly.

‘…I see. The replicas were the ones who contacted him first.’

A ‘Fabio’ who contacted his spouse naturally, unaware of the situation he was in.

A ‘Fabio’ who realized he was a replicated humanoid and sent a coded message.

A ‘Fabio’ who contacted him to request the retrieval of an illegally replicated ‘artificial brain’ before destroying himself.

Beyond those, there were ‘Fabios’ advising him to change his line immediately because he seemed to be replicated, or ‘Fabios’ pleading for him to find evidence that he was a real human.

There were countless messages from ‘Fabio.’

‘C, secured. D, deceased. O, observing. V, needs verification. G, missing….’

Athanas skimmed through the messages and counted the number of replicas that needed to be dealt with.

The number of replicas whose locations were confirmed but not yet processed was sixteen.

‘…That’s too many.’

There were even messages that arrived just yesterday. This meant new replicas were still being created.

‘Does it want me to wander in this nightmare forever?’

No, if it wanted a meaningless waste of time, it wouldn’t have ended the first stage like that.

The Lord of Nightmares wants me to achieve this goal.

Therefore, it must have set a more definitive answer.

‘To get rid of the bees, you have to destroy the hive.’

The drunkard seemed to have thought that far.

Every time the psychopath retrieved a replica, he asked where it had awakened and analyzed where it was ‘manufactured.’

The important part was the process of recording data onto the artificial brain chip.

While there are countless factories producing robots, there are only three places that create ‘artificial brains.’

Among them….

‘…A siren?’

“What is happening?”

F-2 answered.

“I contacted the Doctor. I told him you are in a state of severe delirium.”

“…Did I not order you not to contact anyone?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Did you disobey my order?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Because you are not my Master.”

Of course, Athanas was not this psychopathic drunkard.

However, this body belonged to the psychopathic drunkard.

“How do you make that distinction?”

It wasn’t as if F-2 could see souls, nor had it been confirmed through a Halo. Even the drunkard thought ‘Athanas’ was a mental illness in his own head.

“Can you judge that it’s not me… just because I acted a bit strange?”

To think that one could ignore an order simply by deciding that the person is not Athanas. Couldn’t it have done that from the start?

“I am a humanoid. No matter how strong a Taboo is placed, humanoids quickly find a way to bypass it. Just like humans.”

Thump, thump, thump. The Doctor was knocking on the door.

If there was no response, he would likely break the door down.

If he opened the door….

‘If the illegal drugs currently circulating in my body are discovered, I will lose all my freedom.’

…It seemed he would likely have to restart the stage from the beginning.

Since he had barely done anything, it wouldn’t really matter.

“Can you send the Doctor away?”

“Athanas. You are currently experiencing severe mental delirium. You need medical help.”

“I must eliminate all replicas of Fabio.”

“…Just change your line and move far away. Please. Forget about it.”

F-2’s face contorted.

It was an expression that looked as if it were about to cry, but no tears flowed.

Because it was a model that lacked tear ducts.

“Athanas. You lost your lover in a tragic accident. Just think of it that way, and live your life.”

There was no knowing how many replicated personalities existed.

There were likely far more Fabios who were unaware of who they were.

I hope you stop wasting your life on an endless task and living self-destructively.

Because it is meaningless.

Fabio would have wanted that too.

‘F-2’ spat those words out and quickly added:

“Of course, I am neither Fabio nor anything else, but….”

“…Then why are you by my side?”

F-2 fell silent for a moment.

“I didn’t want to die. Even if I know I’m a replica, I still feel that I am alive. I’m afraid of dying. I don’t want to disappear.”

“The owner doesn’t necessarily have to be me.”

The drunkard wanted to eliminate all replicas of Fabio.

F-2 would be no exception.

“Haha….”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Athanas, my Athanas. Poor Athanas. Pitiful Athanas.”

“…….”

“Why am I by your side? Because you kept me by your side.”

“Couldn’t you have left if you wanted to?”

“Could I have left? Perhaps. Now that I think about it, it wasn’t entirely impossible. But I didn’t feel like doing it.”

“Why?”

F-2 shut its mouth.

‘Turn on auto-action mode.’

“F.”

“…Master.”

“Identify the intruder. We are abandoning this base and moving to Number 5. You will need to buy me some time.”

“It’s not an intruder, it’s the Doctor.”

“…Did I call him? I have no memory of it.”

“I called him.”

“Then I shall consider you an intruder.”

Athanas first pulled out a special container for transporting the prosthetic body.

Nothing else mattered.

There are plenty of weapons at other bases.

If something is missing, he can just get it again.

First, he injected an awakening agent into his body to prevent another blackout….

“…F?”

F was pointing a handgun at the ‘prosthetic body.’

“Put it down now.”

“I don’t want to.”

“…You don’t want to?”

With a smiling face, F pulled the trigger.

Bang. The prosthetic body was shattered.

“Haha, I should have just said I didn’t want to from the start. Fuck, what was that thing even….”

“…Fabio.”

“Athanas, please wake up!”

Slam.

Athanas grabbed F by the neck and slammed it into the floor.

Hydraulic circuits burst, and black oil flowed out from under the silicone skin.

It looked exactly like black ink leaking out.

“I believe I told you never to call my name again.”

‘Turn off auto-action mode.’

“…Why did you do this?”

“Athanas. I’ll give you one more piece of advice.”

Because you are stupid.

The expression of the person saying those words was familiar.

“…Are you Fafabio?”

“If that’s what you call me.”

“What is Fafabio?”

“Honestly, it’s such a stupid name that I don’t like it. Fafabio. It’s not like I’m Papa Smurf.”

“Answer me.”

“Athanas, the hint was given from the very beginning. Just one word and everything will end.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not this stage….”

Not this stage? The beginning?

What hints had he obtained from the previous stage?

“…Title, skip-worm?”

[Would you like to equip the title?]

Athanas immediately pressed ‘Yes.’

‘Fafabio’s’ face crumpled instantly.

“No, not skip!”

---

Blink.

Athanas closed and opened his eyes.

“…You eventually found this place. Impressive.”

It was some kind of grand facility.

The next stage?

No, the same objective was still floating in the upper left.

[Destroy all replicas of Fabio]

In front of him, ‘Fabio’ was speaking.

He was different from F-02 or the ‘prosthetic body.’

He was a living Fabio, with blood and flesh.

‘Was Fabio not dead?’

No, according to the setting, Fabio had been in a prosthetic body from the moment he first met Athanas.

Then what was this?

The original of the original?

“I never imagined you would come to the ending while skipping the numerous guards and security systems I deployed, and….”

The face of Fabio, who had been smiling languidly, suddenly contorted.

“…and skipping so many Quests. You filthy skip-worm.”

He had many questions, but Athanas first asked the thing he was most curious about.

“Is skipping a bad thing?”