"Beep, beep, beeeep—"
"...Director, Subject Zero appears to have died again."
"Understood."
A middle-aged man in a white lab coat glanced at the flatlined EKG without looking up. "Just take her back to the cage. Based on recent experience, she'll probably 'revive' before you even reach the door."
"How fascinating. If not for the specialized equipment still en route, and my concern about accidentally destroying this precious specimen, I'd dissect her right now to discover what force keeps bringing her back..."
"Don't worry, Director."
A female researcher wearing white gloves efficiently moved the lifeless girl from the experimental table to a stretcher.
"We've repeatedly urged the Soviet side. The equipment will arrive by tomorrow at the latest."
"Excellent."
The director waved his hand dismissively, continuing to process data while pondering the pink-haired girl.
This pink-haired subject had been brought to Babylon Labs by field agents days earlier. With her decent natural resistance to Honkai energy, she'd been assigned to the Honkai Adaptation Test Group as a replacement for the nearly-depleted batch of test subjects, designated as Subject Zero.
As for her identity... honestly, when did field agents ever care about identities?
Anyone with sufficient Honkai adaptability was fair game for contributing to the great cause of fighting the Honkai—regardless of who they were.
Kidnapping, deception, pursuit, transactions... there was always a method suited for these young, ignorant girls.
The interesting part was how particularly interested Subject Zero seemed in her roommates.
In just over ten days, she'd formed a deep bond with that subject named Sirin, even attempting to take Sirin's place during Honkai injections.
This very act revealed her strange peculiarity—despite being just a teenager, she'd been clinically confirmed dead at least five times from Honkai solvent overdose.
Yet every time, she resumed breathing just before being sent to the incinerator.
Once or twice could be dismissed as catalepsy from the body's protective mechanisms.
But five times?
Even someone completely unprofessional could see there was something special about this girl. That's why he specially ordered powerful life-support equipment from the Soviets, planning further experiments to determine the limits of her resurrection ability.
As for why he didn't request assistance from Schicksal headquarters... while he wasn't part of the core leadership, he knew enough about Overseer Otto's unpredictability. If this rare specimen were discovered, it would never remain in his hands.
So before Otto found out, he needed to conduct some... aggressive clinical experiments, just like the current Babylon Tower projects, to see what he could extract.
After squeezing every bit of value from the girl, if she still lived, then he'd hand her over to Schicksal. After all these years with the organization, he was quite familiar with such procedures.
"Let the subject rest until the equipment arrives... preferably in good condition for controlled experiments."
"Come tomorrow... she won't have it so easy anymore."
--+--
Meanwhile, in a cramped, cage-like room.
"Mmm... did I die again? Wait, technically twice this time..."
As consciousness returned, Lynelle's body shuddered, releasing a heavy breath.
It was already the thirteenth day since her transmigration. The fact that she hadn't mentally collapsed despite "performing sit-ups" with death daily was quite an achievement.
Just moments ago on the experiment table, overwhelmed by the Honkai solvent's corrosive agony, she'd lost consciousness—only to find herself in the pitch-black void of space.
Her "invincibility period" lasted less than a second before her body explosively decompressed, staging a cosmic comedy in yellow, white, and red—the kind that certain someone from another world would've loved.
At this point, Lynelle was nearly accustomed to repeated deaths. After all, she'd mostly figured out her ability.
Whenever she lost consciousness—whether from sleep, coma, freezing—there was a chance she'd cross to another world. Death simply made that chance one hundred percent.
Repeating the process in the other world brought her back here. During these transitions, her body never disappeared, reviving the instant her consciousness returned.
Unfortunately, her luck was... slightly unfortunate.
Not only was her spawn point at Babylon Labs here, but her otherworldly spawn point cast her as a certain cosmic being—smack in the middle of dark space. With just an ordinary girl's physique, once her "protection timer" ended, she'd immediately become a fireworks display.
The result? Despite multiple trips to the other world, she still had no idea where it actually was.
'Feels like someone's carrying me... must be near the dorm. Better keep my eyes closed, or they might send me back to die again.'
Following her principle of slacking whenever possible, Lynelle kept her eyes tightly shut, maintaining her corpse-like pose.
Then came the dizzying sensation of being tossed onto a hard wooden bed. These researchers were all the same—no compassion for beautiful girls. To them, these children were just slightly larger lab rats...
Already familiar with the routine, Lynelle waited until the heavy clang of the iron door closing before slightly shifting her stiffened body.
"Lynelle..."
A soft whisper reached her ears. Lynelle cracked her eyes open, meeting a pair of golden eyes brimming with tears.
Sirin—the future Herrscher of the Void in this timeline, now sharing her suffering in Babylon Tower—knelt beside her bed, carefully tracing Lynelle's wounds.
"What did they do to you this time... why were you later today?"
"Ah... don't, don't lick... it tickles..."
Stopping Sirin's kitten-like wound-licking, Lynelle explained with some embarrassment, "Probably built up some resistance from all the Honkai injections... lasted a bit longer on the table today."
"Those bastards, they—"
Sirin's eyes reddened, but she didn't finish the sentence.
"Don't worry, Sirin, I won't die. Didn't I win my resurrection matches before?" Lynelle smiled, ruffling Sirin's hair. "I haven't forgotten how a certain cutie was crying over me~"
"B-but, I was really scared..."
In this situation, even the usually tsundere Sirin dropped her act. Burying her face in Lynelle's soft abdomen, she mumbled, "Agata said that too... Bella said that too... but they're all gone now..."
"If only I had power... I could take you away from here, kill all those bastards, avenge Bella and the others..."
"Sorry, Lynelle... I'm useless..."
The moment you say those magic words, it means you're capable of anything... Lynelle thought optimistically.
"It's okay, Sirin. Things will turn around eventually."
Gently smoothing the hair beside Sirin's ear, Lynelle whispered, "So, want to sleep together? Sorry if I'm still a bit cold from just reviving..."
"Then hold me. That way you won't be cold."
Sirin immediately burrowed into Lynelle's embrace.
As lab rats, their living conditions were basically "just survive, death doesn't matter." Even in Siberia, their room had minimal heating. Huddling for warmth was just part of their daily routine.
"Let's sleep for now, Sirin..."
Lynelle lowered her head, nuzzling the girl in her arms. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."
As their soft murmurs faded, Lynelle's consciousness—already exhausted from the experiments—sank into deep sleep. The moment she completely lost awareness...
She opened her eyes in the pitch-black cosmos.
This time, however, she wasn't alone with the starlight. Before her stood a "pointy-hatted" purple lady.
Lynelle's mind jolted with recognition.
"Are you—"
But before she could utter another word, her world-transfer protection period ended. Then, like a bursting balloon, globules of red, yellow, and colorless liquids—rounded by vacuum effects—splattered across the stunned big Herta.
"Huh?"
Staring at the pink-haired girl who'd just "exploded" before her, the The Herta's brain momentarily short-circuited.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.