"Huff... huff..." The Doctor sprinted wildly, gasping for breath, his tongue lolling out, saliva spraying.
He couldn't afford to be picky. For a man past fifty, running like this was already pushing his body to its absolute limit.
"This way!"
"Over here!"
"Take this path!"
The last soldier led the way. The entire research base looked like it had been washed in blood. Everywhere they passed was littered with gore and corpses.
It was undeniably terrifying, but even more horrifying was that some soldiers weren't quite dead. As the trio hurried past, a body sprawled on the ground suddenly reached out and grabbed the Doctor's pant leg, rasping, "I... I don't want to die yet..."
The unexpected grab nearly made the Doctor's heart leap out of his throat.
But the dying soldier was weak. After a brief struggle, the Doctor shook off the hold.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't the set of a ghost horror film. Those movies rarely featured such high body counts. This blood-soaked spectacle felt more like a scene from a monster horror splatter flick.
Like in Alien.
What the Doctor didn't realize was that the corpses were only in this particular corridor. The rest of the research base was eerily clean. How many people could possibly be in this entire facility? It was absurd to think soldiers' bodies would be scattered throughout every corner.
But the situation was too dire to allow the Doctor even a moment to think. He was being led by the nose the entire time.
At another intersection, the lead soldier abruptly drew his weapon and fired to the left, shouting, "Go! Don't look back! I'll hold her off!" With a roar, he charged into the left corridor, bellowing, "Come on! Come at me! Let's do this! Aaaaaaargh!"
"Doctor, we need to move!" The remaining assistant, positioned strategically to the Doctor's left, forcibly dragged him forward, never giving him a chance to glance toward the chaos.
Finally, they burst through the back exit of the research base and into the open field.
"We... we made it!" The assistant exclaimed, his voice filled with forced excitement. "We actually escaped?!"
"Not yet! Get in the car, we need to get out of here!" The Doctor, hands braced on his knees, gasped for breath before hurrying toward the vehicle parked by the back entrance. "That guy's definitely coming after us! We can't stop, not until reinforcements arrive!"
In truth, while downloading the data, the Doctor had already reported the situation at the research base to the Sakura Nation Bureau of Anomalous Investigations and requested backup.
The Bureau did receive the message. A clerical worker beside the Deputy Director glanced at the information on the computer and casually closed the window.
In other words, reinforcements weren't coming. But Sparkle had no intention of letting the Doctor run any further. It was time for this drama to end.
Bang! A gunshot rang out.
Just as the Doctor opened the car door and prepared to climb inside, his assistant shoved him violently, sending him sprawling three or four meters away. The fall was undoubtedly painful, but when the Doctor looked back at his assistant, he saw a gaping hole in his chest, blood bubbling from the corner of his mouth.
"Cough... cough..." The assistant choked, blood dribbling down his chin. "Doc... Doctor..."
This scene was too classic for Sparkle to resist acting out—the trope from countless anime and manga where a character shoves the protagonist aside and stands their ground to take the fatal blow!
She had always wondered why these characters never simply grabbed the target by the waist and dragged them to safety. Or, when dodging beams or bullets, why not just tackle the target to the ground? Surely they'd both survive!
Why did they always have to stand there like idiots and take the hit head-on?
"No—!" The Doctor's eyes widened in horror. He leaped to his feet, only to hear a sickening crack—his back had given out.
How could an old man sprint several hundred meters at full speed, then fly another three or four meters through the air, and not suffer any consequences? In fact, the fact that his injury was only manifesting now was a testament to his absurdly robust physical condition.
Now incapacitated, the Doctor slumped back to the ground. But this didn't deter his assistant (Sparkle) from continuing the performance. She dropped to her knees and crawled a few meters toward him, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Weakly, she gasped, "Doc... Doctor... there's one last thing I must tell you..."
"Wh-what...?"
"Actually... we never escaped at all..."
The moment the assistant finished speaking, figures materialized around them. Soldiers riddled with bullet holes, still bleeding profusely; researchers in white coats completely stained crimson; even the headless body of the Evolver Kurosaki, his severed head dangling from someone's hand.
These figures formed concentric circles around the Doctor on the ground, their eyes fixed intently on him.
Gurgle... gurgle... The sound didn't come from the "corpses," but from the Doctor himself. His eyes rolled back as he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. The assistant, closest to him, sprang into action, delivering two sharp slaps across the Doctor's face.
"Don't faint! Don't faint on me, damn it!" Overwhelmed with excitement, the assistant, Sparkle, blurted out in her true voice.
According to her plan, she was supposed to deliver a few more lines at this point, such as:
"You've finally come to join us~"
"Let's all descend to Hell together~ To Hell~ Forever trapped~!!!"
"It's all your fault! If not for your orders, none of this would have happened!"
But it was clear the Doctor couldn't withstand the shock. He was on the verge of collapsing, and that wouldn't do at all! If he ended up believing this was just a story about a terrifying enemy invading the research base and slaughtering everyone, how utterly boring!
In the grand finale of their puppet show, Sparkle, the puppeteer behind the curtain, would step forward, take a bow, reveal herself, and thank the audience for their enthusiastic applause!
With a snap of her fingers, the blood-soaked assistant instantly transformed into an adorable young girl with twin tails!
Sparkle twirled around, flashing a radiant smile. "Surprise~! There were never any ghosts or monsters! Not a single person died in this entire research base! Everyone here belongs to Miss Sparkle~!"
Simultaneously, masks materialized on the foreheads of all the corpses arranged in concentric circles around the area. However, these were merely masks; the bodies remained in their current forms, not reverting to their original states. From every corpse came a unified voice, a cacophony of raspy, booming, and shrill tones, declaring in unison, "Everyone... belongs to Miss Sparkle now~!"
"Gah—!!!" The doctor's head lolled to the side, and he fainted instantly, without even a flicker of hesitation.
In a twisted way, this scene was even more terrifying than if everyone in the research base had been slaughtered.
"Uh..." Sparkle paused, then reached out to check the doctor's breathing. Finding a faint pulse, she breathed a sigh of relief.
True to her word, there hadn't been a single casualty in the entire research base. She had moved everyone to the warehouse, with only a few accidental stomps during transport. If this doctor had actually died of fright, becoming the first fatality, it would have been too absurd.
After a quick search, Sparkle retrieved the USB drive.
With her objective now perfectly achieved, the concentric circles of 'corpses' vanished. Moments later, the real Sparkle walked into the area and accepted the USB drive from her clone.
With a flick of her wrist, Sparkle made the USB drive vanish into thin air. After all, she needed a computer to access its contents, and Firefly was the only one who had one at the moment. So, she sent the file directly through the Chat Group.
Clones couldn't use the Chat Group, of course. Was that a flaw that wasn't really a flaw?
As she pondered this, Sparkle watched her uncontrolled clone's eyes gradually lose their luster. Unable to resist, she reached out and ruffled its hair, then pinched its cheeks.
To be honest, the clone looked like it had been hypnotized by some suggestive app, radiating an inexplicable allure. And the tactile sensation was almost like petting a small animal—utterly irresistible.
"Ahem..." Sparkle quickly regained her composure, halting her somewhat perverse behavior. With a wave of her hand, the clone reverted to its mask form and slowly dissipated.
Next, Sparkle turned her attention to the car parked at the research base's back entrance. The driver was gone, and since she was in the middle of nowhere, she'd need some way to get back.
Sparkle immediately turned back and searched herself again. It was a strange sight: a cute young girl fumbling over the body of a man old enough to be her grandfather, eventually finding a car key.
After adjusting the seat and starting the engine, she drove away, pondering what to do next.
Whispering softly, she called up the System. She saw that her Identity's main quest, "Elation," had only reached just over three percent. Compared to the earlier iron cavalry, this progress was undeniably slow.
A large-scale prank like the one she'd just pulled would certainly boost her Elation meter, but she couldn't keep pulling pranks forever, could she?
Honestly, she found this pace too slow. Wasn't there a faster way to increase it?
"Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~" Sparkle hummed a tune under her breath as she considered her options. Maybe I should actually try making a movie? With my abilities, casting wouldn't be an issue, special effects wouldn't be a problem, and I could even adapt some of the wildly popular comedies from my previous life. I don't remember the details perfectly, but I know the general plots. I could probably patch up the script without too much trouble.
Sparkle knew that the elation her antics brought to others would increase the "Elation" percentage. If the movie became a massive hit and was hilarious enough, it should quickly boost the percentage, right?
Just as Sparkle began reminiscing about movies from her previous life, she heard the deep roar of jet engines. Looking up at the dark sky, she could faintly make out formations of aircraft streaking toward them.
"Reinforcements?" Sparkle murmured in surprise. But that doesn't make sense. Didn't I intercept the Doctor's request for backup? The Sakura Nation shouldn't be sending anyone.
Could it be that the request for reinforcements wasn't just sent to the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations, but also to the military?
Just then, a series of violent, deafening explosions erupted.
Boom! Boom! Boom!—!!!
The massive fireballs merged into a long, unbroken line, forming a colossal wall of flames that instantly illuminated the sky. However, the target of this bombardment wasn't Sparkle; it was a distant part of the city.
This wasn't reinforcements from the Sakura Nation—it was a White Eagle bombing raid! They had already decimated the Sakura Nation's fleet and were now approaching their homeland. This wave of bombers consisted of carrier-based aircraft launched from an aircraft carrier.
"This..." After a moment's hesitation, Sparkle slammed her foot on the accelerator and sped toward the source of the explosions.
-
Meanwhile, in the Dragon Nation, tens of thousands of concertgoers rhythmically waved their glow sticks at Robin's concert as she belted out:
Heads up! The wheels are spinning!
Across the plains, in valleys deep,
To dawn, the wheels that sing,
An unending dream!
As the song reached this climax, a prearranged mechanism at the concert activated. A cascade of pristine white pigeon feathers poured from the sky, further elevating the atmosphere to its peak.
Heads up! The tracks are running!
Across the plains where shadows hide,
We run, we stride, woah-oh!
Everyone was utterly captivated by the breathtaking scene, as if angels had descended from heaven. The performer on stage was stunningly beautiful, her voice enchanting, and life itself seemed radiant with happiness.
This was the world's first performance of the new song, "Hope Is The Thing With Feathers"!
But at that very moment, in Itajō, Sakura Nation, Sparkle sped through the streets in her car, her gaze sweeping left and right. Everywhere she looked, civilians were fleeing in terror, their faces etched with panic, confusion, and despair.
The scorching heat from the explosions seared their bodies, while deafening drones pierced their eardrums—a scene straight out of hell.