Chereads / The Three Faces of Null / Chapter 62 - 61 – THE SECOND STAGE

Chapter 62 - 61 – THE SECOND STAGE

The shock and disbelief in my eyes were evident as I screamed at her, questioning why she was subjecting me to this unnecessary experiment when she had already passed. 'You really don't understand us, do you?' she responded. 'We humas value information above all else. Discovering information on our own brings us pride and joy. I worked hard to pass a difficult test so that you could be my experimental partner. I was thrilled to have a 'Special Subject' like you for the duration of the experiment,' she explained, pausing briefly.

'Although, to be honest, you have met all the expectations set by my superiors. I was hoping for something different, or at least the belief that I could make you different… even just a little. Together, we could have made this process as painless as possible,' she said.

'Though you exceeded their expectations with the knowledge you possessed. You surpassed everyone's expectations,' she thought to herself.

'Now, for the second stage, I want to test your physical strength,' she said as she walked towards me. Reacting quickly, I got to my feet and positioned my arms defensively. She punched me, pushing me back, but I quickly regained my balance.

'Good,' she said.

'Is that all?' I thought to myself.

'No way,' she replied, seemingly reading my thoughts. She started running towards me, and I prepared to defend myself. However, she suddenly stopped and smiled, looking up.

"Uh…" I looked up and saw a large object falling towards me. In that moment, my body and mind became connected, knowing that if I didn't act, I would be crushed. They decided to divert the falling object, but they couldn't.

Once the object touched my raised hands, my knees bent. 'This is heavy, not too heavy but still heavy,' I thought. I expected it to be heavy, but not as heavy as it turned out to be. My knees nearly gave out from the weight. It was that feeling of almost falling when you are unexpectedly thrown something that you don't anticipate being that heavy, only for it to almost crush you.

I looked into her eyes and thought, "I am stronger than this," as I slowly rose, carrying the object up high. "So what, that's just one," she replied, still looking up.

"Uh," I looked up, but the very object I was carrying was blocking my view of what was to come next. "Hhaaaa," I screamed in my mind as my arm nearly broke under the weight of the second object, bringing it down on one of my knees. Sweat poured down my body as every muscle tried to help with the pain.

"Good, I think you can still carry one more," she said, bending so I could see her smiling face.

"Or you can't?"

"You should know that in my culture, silence means approval," she said.

I honestly wanted to answer the question after she said that, but I had lost my chance.

"Wait- aaaahhhhhh," another object was added, and I was brought to both knees, bending in a terrible position with my face also struggling to hold this stupid thing up.

'S- sh- she would save me, right? Right?' I thought in agony.