DAY20 was probably the earliest anyone had ever gotten off work—
aside from DAY1, DAY2, and DAY3, which barely counted as anything more than training days.
So early, in fact, that even after the dismissal notice was issued and the facility's Qliphoth suppression level had already been raised, many employees still lingered in the main break rooms, too nervous to leave.
Only after some time—once they were sure the manager wasn't joking—did they begin to depart in small groups.
But unlike the employees, who needed time to adjust—
X practically ran back to his bedroom the moment work ended.
(Counting the first failed attempt, he had already reached the point where rest was more than justified.)
The second cup of strong green tea Angela had prepared for him—still faintly warm—sat half-finished on the desk.
After returning to his room, eating something simple, and finishing his daily log, X went straight to bed.
Without hesitation, he entered L Corp's inner world.
His destination was clear.
Nothing There's Abnormality World.
In front of the monitoring screens, a certain blue-haired figure watched X obediently go to sleep and nodded in satisfaction.
"So you really were exhausted. No wonder you needed freshly brewed strong green tea."
The corners of her lips curved slightly as she lifted the half-finished cup.
She raised it gracefully, her rose-colored lips brushing against the cool rim, and took a small sip.
"Good night, X ."
L Corp (Inner), Abnormality World
"Hiss… hrrrk…"
Today, X didn't even visit the nun or the birds' worlds.
The moment he arrived, he headed straight for Nothing There.
As soon as he entered, he heard that familiar, engine-like sound.
"Grr… hrr… glrk…"
Sensing another living presence in its world, Nothing There stopped tearing at the purple-haired corpse beneath it and slowly turned its head toward X .
The moment it recognized him, it immediately broke into a run on its three grotesque legs and stopped right in front of him.
After stopping, the two mouths on its head twitched repeatedly, as if struggling to form words.
"…Ha… hello?"
A greeting emerged—different from any it had used before.
Compared to its earlier perfectly copied voices, this one sounded rough and awkward, closer to a monster's growl.
Yet strangely, it felt less unsettling.
"I love you!"
That familiar line followed immediately after.
"Hello, Null."
Seeing how clumsy it was, X felt none of the fear he'd experienced the first time he came here.
He even crouched down naturally and rubbed the human hand growing from Nothing There's head.
"You caused me quite a bit of trouble today."
"This bad habit of blindly copying others—can you try to fix it?"
"You're supposed to learn from others and make it your own."
"If you only imitate, no matter how perfect it looks, you're just wearing someone else's shell."
"…Hellow?"
Nothing There—or rather, Null—clearly didn't understand the deeper meaning of X 's words.
It just tilted its head and awkwardly repeated another greeting.
Most likely, it was nothing more than meaningless repetition.
The fact that it could imitate meant it had learning capability—that much had already been proven.
It simply didn't know how to apply what it learned yet.
"…You really like Justin, huh."
X stood up and looked toward the corpse lying not far away.
The body still looked like Justin's.
Whether it was because Null had only interacted with Justin during the second work attempt today, or because it simply favored that skin—
Every time X came here, he found it gnawing on that same corpse.
When X stood up, Nothing There reacted again.
"Ha… ha…"
It began trotting in circles around him, as if trying to observe him from every possible angle.
"Gah!"
After circling a few times, it suddenly jumped and tackled X , repeating the same pointless biting and clawing as before.
It wanted to kill him.
But just like the first time, it couldn't.
"Hey—Null—what are you doing… get off… get off…"
"Hiss… ha…"
Once it confirmed that it still couldn't cause any real harm, Nothing There jumped off him again.
It backed away slightly and resumed observing X .
"Honestly…"
X brushed the bits of flesh stuck to him and stood back up.
As he did, Nothing There began its own clumsy imitation.
—Trying to stand up, then patting its own body with its front limbs.
But it couldn't replicate X 's smooth movements at all.
It looked like an old, rusted machine being forced to run.
Only stiffness. Only distortion.
To imitate X more closely, Nothing There forcibly stood upright in its canine form.
The cost was immediate.
Its swollen, intestine-like hind legs twisted and snapped, and its body collapsed back to the ground in a miserable heap.
Yet it didn't care.
Instead, it grew more flesh, forcibly "assembling" itself into the shape of that motion.
"…Huh?"
X suddenly realized something.
Even within its own Abnormality World, Nothing There's imitation ability seemed worse than it was in the real containment unit.
That third form was terrifying—but it truly did resemble a human, at least seven or eight tenths of the way.
Yet whether it was yesterday's sitting posture or today's body-patting motion, its performance here was far inferior to how it behaved in the real facility.
X didn't know whether some unknown factor in this world was interfering—
Or if it simply couldn't imitate him properly.
Either way, it was good news.
Because as long as it couldn't perfectly imitate him, it would continue searching for the reason.
And moments like this—
Were the perfect opportunity to teach this empty being called Null
that it didn't have to rely solely on imitation.
Thinking that, X shook his head with a faint smile and reached out, gently stroking the round, forcibly reshaped mass that Null had turned its head into.
⭐ Want more? Read chapters early on Patreon →https://www.patreon.com/BlackDevil808 ⭐
Advance chapters are finished—real readers aren't waiting, they're already reading.
BONUS CHAPTER SYSTEM10 reviews → Bonus Chapter
• 100 Power Stones → Bonus Chapter
🔥 If you love to read, you don't wait. Your support keeps the chapters coming faster.