Time trick: 09/16/2030, 17:36  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫ The Senior Fellows that Watase had brought down with him on his last trip there were lying dead by the elevators. Watase had resigned himself to their deaths, and everyone else knew about their fates due to Natsuhiko's BC usage on them all earlier, so none of them were surprised, but--  (... I'm sorry.)Watase still felt deep regret about the whole thing. Jun put her hands together in prayer for the two lost souls, then looked around.  I can't believe there's a place like this under LABO... The deepest basement area... the heart of LABO.Ukita looked away from the bodies and muttered to himself.  ...Salyu said nothing. She just looked at the ceiling with dull eyes. ...I planted the bomb in Subject N's room. Let's go. And when they got there--  Jun couldn't help raising her voice in shock. This was Subject N's straightjacket. They restrained her in this thing. N-no, not that...Jun looked around. Not at the straightjacket, but at the entire room. What's wrong, Moribe? ...No, nevermind. Anyway, let's take care of that bomb pronto! Indeed!The group ran over to the bomb set in the middle of the room.  Yeah. The detonator to this one is much more complex than the other bombs. It's got a tilt sensor and an optical sensor, so it won't be easy to disarm. Sheesh, how typical of a terrorist organization... But we can probably take care of it if we can remove the digital protection. Understood. First we undo the protection. Now that Alice is connected, we use the liquid nitrogen on it. We can't do anything if we don't disable the sensors first, see. Got it.Watase then took the liquid nitrogen can out of his pocket. He was then about to use it on the bomb when-- (...!?)♪ BGM: Ominous Ambience ♫ He suddenly noticed something. What's wrong, Captain!? If you don't hurry, the time of the explosion's gonna... W-well, about that--Everyone looked at the bomb's timer when he said that. The digital countdown displayed the time remaining until the explosion.  00:39:15, 00:39:14... According to Watase's watch, the current time was ''5:37:47''. It was then that Watase realized-- No-- that he -remembered- it. H-hey...! The detonation time...! It was set to '6:17 PM', wasn't it!? Wh-what about it...!? This doesn't make sense! I made sure to set the bomb so that it went off one minute after the lockdown was lifted! So-- why did the timer in the control room say the lockdown would lift at '6:19 PM'!? That's two minutes short! The bomb'll go off before the lockdown's lifted!! ♪ BGM: Psychological Warfare ♫ Everyone gasped. The bomb's timer wasn't off. It was the lockdown timer that was off-- it was now scheduled for just a few minutes later than when Watase and Ukita had first checked it. Y-yeah, that is strange! When we went to the control room for the first time at the start of the search-- Brain Cell showed that the lockdown would be lifted at '6:16 PM'! Why...? When was it delayed!? I-I don't know! Did someone change the lockdown end time!? No, that's impossible! Brain Cell automatically sets that time based on the BC particle energy level readings in Area N! Normally, it'd be impossible for the lockdown end time to fall behind! What could cause it, then? Mmm... well, I suppose it could happen if the amplifier went haywire again and caused the BC particle energy levels to rise once more, or... ...!?Something about Ukita's explanation clicked in Watase's mind. O-old man... what'd you just say!? Huh? Oh, well, if the WX particle amplifier were to go haywire again-- No, before that! How did you say Brain Cell automatically sets the lockdown end time!? That's... It does that by measuring the BC particle energy readings in Area N and calculating approximately how long it'll take for them to die down to 1 mSv. ...!Just then, numerous pieces fell into place in Watase's head.  The auditory hallucination he had heard for six hours. Senses Sympathy. Communicators. BC particle energy levels--  Huh...!? It wasn't just the WX particle amplifier that was amplifying the BC particle energy levels. It was also Natsuhiko... He was amplifying the energy levels in Area N for six hours. Because he was constantly using BC in Area N that whole time! Ah...! Aaaaah! I-I see... so the energy produced by the WX particle amplifier and the energy emitted by Natsuhiko together-- Added up to a slight increase of the overall BC particle energy levels in Area N! So that means Brain Cell recalculated the lockdown end time-- Yeah.Watase instinctively held his head. So the lockdown end time was extended by three minutes, meaning the bomb will go off two minutes before then...!Everyone's eyes widened at those words. Th-this is real bad... we need to let the others know! No, there's no time for that...! What would telling them even accomplish? It won't do anything to improve the situation. Y-yeah...!Despite his words, Watase was feeling intense regret. Though he'd already set the bomb, he figured the nine of them could just wait for the lockdown to lift and escape as soon as that happened. But with the bomb set to go off before the lockdown ended, freeing Kazami from her malice wouldn't matter in the slightest. They would all die in the explosion. (Goddammit, this can't be happening...! (This never would have happened if we hadn't set the bomb to begin with!)Just as Watase thought that-- --he heard some noise coming from the ceiling. What was that!?He looked up in surprise. When he did, he heard Natsuhiko's voice coming out of a speaker built into the ceiling.  --Ms. Tachibana, can you hear me?
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| ← # ? May 16, 2017 15:58 |
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