Nobody spoke.
They simply listened.
Something was coming.
Then a silhouette slowly emerged from the tunnel.
At first, they couldn’t make out what they were looking at.
Then the figure came closer.
A human old man.
He had long gray hair, a long beard, and thick eyebrows, covered in layers of dust. His brown long coat had once probably been white color, is now stained with dirt and countless other disgusting substances.
He was missing his left hand.
His remaining hand held a long, crooked rock that he used as a walking stick.
He walked slowly, his head tilted downward.
Then, as if he had finally noticed the group, he stopped.
Slowly, he raised his head.
His eyes met theirs.
Everyone was analyzing him from head to toe, trying to determine whether he was dangerous.
The old man noticed their reactions.
His head tilted slightly.
Then an ugly smile appeared on his face.
"Oh my~ Don’t look at me like this. I’m shy~"
Zyra immediately stepped forward.
"Identify yourself."
Her voice was cold.
At the same time, her Irada pressure spread through the chamber.
The old man immediately raised his remaining hand in front of himself.
"Who, me? Oh, young lady, I’m just a nobody."
"If you’re going to play dumb, then die."
Zyra’s pressure intensified.
The old man quickly stepped back.
"Wait, wait! Young lady, I’m sorry~ It’s just been so long since I’ve had to socialize. I’ve forgotten how to do it..."
He scratched his beard.
"If I remember correctly..."
He paused.
"My name is Broxi."
"And I am... Or rather, I was... One of the terrorists group known as the Scientists."
The atmosphere instantly changed.
Doran and Yasmin’s expressions turned murderous.
Both moved forward.
Valen immediately raised his hand.
"Stop."
Doran looked at him angrily.
"Why are you stopping us, Valen? He’s one of them."
"Technically, we can’t even trust that he’s telling the truth."
Valen looked at Broxi.
"But even if he really is one of them..."
His eyes narrowed.
"Did you notice how he described them?"
Doran hesitated.
Valen continued.
"He called them terrorists."
His expression became serious.
"Every Scientist I’ve encountered would rather kill themselves than admit that."
The old man raised an eyebrow.
"Don’t worry, young man."
Valen’s eyes moved toward him.
"I’ll tell you everything."
Broxi slowly lowered himself to the ground.
"But first, let me rest for a little while. This old body is killing me~"
Valen stepped forward.
"Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but you aren’t exactly in a position to make requests here."
Broxi sighed.
"Either you talk now, or..."
"Okay, okay!"
Broxi raised his hand.
"Oh my god. I hope when you grow old you get hemorrhoids."
He sat down completely.
The others remained standing.
Broxi took a deep breath.
"Well..."
"As I said, I was one of the Scientists."
"My mission was to create the perfect life form."
He paused.
"The perfect monster."
His eyes narrowed as he tried to remember.
"Wait... no. That’s not right."
He scratched his head.
"Ah, yes."
"The perfect monster had already been created by other Scientists."
"They only needed one final condition."
Everyone listened silently.
"The monster’s flesh cocoon was unstable. It required an enormous amount of time before it could even begin creating the monster."
"So my mission was to test the effect of this cave on the cocoon."
"I came here, released the cocoon, and waited."
"And waited."
Broxi gave a weak smile.
"But nothing happened."
"So I decided to go deeper."
"I didn’t know how this place worked."
"Neither did the person who sent me."
He looked around the chamber.
"So, in reality, I had two missions."
"The second was to understand how this place worked."
Broxi leaned his back against the wall.
"After traveling through countless tunnels, I finally understood what they meant when they talked about the ’time effect’ of this place."
"I noticed that I was aging much faster."
"When I entered, I was twenty-eight."
"Then I became thirty-three."
His eyes widened slightly.
"I was excited."
"Because this was exactly the effect I wanted."
"So I placed the cocoon there."
"And while I waited, I decided to investigate the next chamber."
"Just the next one."
He paused.
"But when I entered it... When I looked back..."
"The entire place had changed."
"I was confused."
"I had literally walked only a few steps forward."
"But when I turned around, the chamber where I had left the cocoon was gone."
"I spent some time searching."
Broxi laughed awkwardly.
"I don’t really know how much time passed while I was searching."
"But eventually..."
"I came to a conclusion."
He looked toward the surrounding tunnels.
"This place doesn’t only affect time."
"It affects space too."
"You can walk somewhere and suddenly find yourself somewhere completely different."
"At that point, I started hoping that if I simply walked randomly I would eventually end up back at the chamber where I started."
He gave another weak, awkward laugh.
"Well..."
"I guess it’s been a little too long without any progress."
Doran looked toward Valen.
"We’re not actually going to believe what this guy just said, right?"
Valen placed a hand beneath his chin.
"I..."
His eyes remained fixed on Broxi.
"I actually have another question."
"Why would he—"
Before he could finish, Qasim suddenly moved.
He grabbed Broxi by his long beard.
He pulled so hard that the old man’s feet left the ground.
Everyone froze.
Qasim’s expression was cold.
"The Scientists, right?"
"The killers?"
"The monsters who kill innocent people just for some sick experiment?"
He pulled Broxi closer.
"You piece of shit."
His grip tightened.
"You and your kind don’t deserve to live."
Qasim’s eyes were burning with anger.
"I’m going to cause you so much pain that dying will become the best option you have."
A hand touched Qasim’s back.
"My boy..."
Valen’s voice was quiet.
"That’s enough."
"He can’t breathe."
Qasim froze.
Then he threw Broxi hard onto the ground.
The old man rolled across the stones before stopping.
Qasim turned toward Valen.
"Then let him choke to death!"
His voice trembled.
"Valen, they’re responsible for that night!"
"They killed so many people!"
"They made us do those things!"
"They don’t see life the way we do!"
His fists clenched.
"They’re the enemy!"
"You know what happened back then!"
Qasim’s voice cracked.
"So how can you look at this piece of shit and not want to kill him?!"
"It’s..."
"It’s..."
He couldn’t find the words.
His emotions overwhelmed him.
Then a voice came from behind him.
"Yes."
Qasim turned around.
Broxi was crawling across the ground.
Helpless.
Like a wounded worm.
"You’re right."
His voice was weak.
"We are killers."
"We are worse than the monsters we create."
"We deserve a fate worse than death itself."
He stopped crawling.
"I don’t know what we did to you."
"But I’m sure it was horrible."
"We ruined the lives of countless people."
"And I’m sure we’ll ruin many more."
"I know all of you hate us."
He lowered his head.
"You hate me."
Broxi placed his remaining hand against the ground.
"So..."
"The only thing I can do is..."
He stopped.
His breathing became heavier.
Then he raised his head slightly.
And slammed it against the ground.
Blood immediately appeared beneath his forehead.
"I am deeply sorry for what we did."
Qasim stared at him.
He couldn’t understand what he was seeing.
Blood was slowly spreading across the floor.
His anger was still there.
He wanted to kill him and scream at him.
But he couldn’t find the words.
How dare he?
How dare this man act like he understood what Qasim had suffered because of them?
How dare he act like an apology could mean anything after everything they had done?
"You..."
Qasim pointed at him.
"You..."
"You..."
He couldn’t finish.
"How dare..."
His voice disappeared.
"Boy..."
Valen placed a hand on his shoulder.
Qasim looked at him.
He wasn’t looking for comfort.
He was looking for something else.
Anger.
Anything.
A sign that Valen hated this man too.
But Valen only shook his head.
"That’s enough, my boy."
Qasim lowered his head.
His hands clenched into fists.
Valen then looked toward Broxi.
"It doesn’t make sense."
Broxi didn’t move.
"Why would you even talk to us in the first place?"
Valen’s eyes narrowed.
"Every Scientist I’ve encountered was a crazy bastard."
"They would rather kill themselves than reveal anything about their plans."
He paused.
"But you didn’t."
"You even called your own organization terrorists."
"How?"
"Why would you say that?"
Broxi remained with his forehead against the ground.
"You are correct, young man."
"If you had met me when I was younger..."
"I would have said something insane."
"And probably killed myself immediately afterward."
"But after spending all those years searching..."
"Living alone..."
His voice became quieter.
"I noticed something strange happening to me."
"In my entire life..."
"After I was forcibly made to join that organization..."
"I felt like something was eating away at my mind."
"I lived with constant anger."
"Constant madness."
"Every second."
He slowly raised his head.
"But here..."
"That feeling slowly disappeared."
"With every year that passed..."
"My mind became clearer."
"And I finally understood what I had done."
"What horrible things I had been doing."
Broxi’s voice trembled.
"I cried for three days."
"I even wanted to end my life."
"But I didn’t have the courage."
He looked down again.
"And that’s when I realized something."
He stopped.
"The scientists are dolls."
Everyone remained silent.
"We were under some kind of power... Something I can’t even begin to imagine."
"It drove us into madness."
"And more importantly..."
"It forced us to obey orders."
"Even if those orders meant killing innocent people or sacrificing our own lives."
Broxi slowly raised his head.
His face was covered in blood and dust.
His remaining eye looked exhausted.
"I realized that we are the experiment."
"The Scientists..."
"We are the first being experimented on."
He lowered his gaze again.
"We were manipulated by someone with power far greater than anything I could imagine."
His voice became filled with sadness.
"We are killers, but we’re also a bunch of miserable animals who constantly live in pain and madness."
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