Pain throbbed through Noah's entire body as he forced himself upright in the half-collapsed room. Dust drifted like falling snow, settling on broken furniture and twisted metal beams. His flashlight was gone; only faint daylight slipped through cracks in the ceiling above.
He could hear her moving.
Subject 0-2.
The girl with the red, corrupted system.
Each soft footstep echoed like an executioner's countdown.
Noah stumbled backward, clutching his ribs. His breath shook, every inhale a knife. The collapsed floor had dropped him into what looked like a ruined storage room—metal shelves crushed, boxes spilled open, scraps of paper strewn across the dust-coated tiles.
The system pulsed urgently:
[Warning: Critical Injuries Detected]
[Vital Points below safe threshold]
[Recommend: Medical Aid or Combat Evasion]
Evasion.
Obviously.
Because Noah knew he couldn't fight her.
Not like this.
A sound pierced the silence—
the sugar-sweet hum of a girl's voice drifting closer.
"Noaaah…"
The corrupted echo in her tone twisted the name into something inhuman.
"…you always run. Even in the tests."
The tests.
The experiments.
Noah forced himself to stay focused.
He scanned the room.
One door.
Barely hanging on its hinges.
No windows.
A vent too small to crawl through.
He limped toward the door.
A sudden crack popped above him.
Noah flinched—
and a pale hand burst through the hole in the ceiling, reaching down blindly, fingers grasping.
He dove aside.
Her arm swiped the air where his face had been a second earlier.
Dust showered down.
Noah sprinted for the door.
A sharp bang—
and the girl dropped through the ceiling like an animal pouncing from above.
She landed silently.
Too silently.
Her head lifted.
Her red eyes locked onto him instantly.
Noah froze.
Everything in him screamed to run—
but her voice cut through the air like a blade:
"…If you leave this room, I'll take your legs first."
Noah's blood went cold.
Then she smiled.
A slow, unnatural curl of her lips.
The corrupted system light shimmered around her like a crimson fog.
She took a single step forward.
Noah bolted.
He shoved the broken door aside and dashed into a hallway barely lit by thin cracks of winter sunlight. His heartbeat thundered as he ran past rooms filled with shadows and collapsed debris.
He didn't look back.
He didn't need to.
He could feel her behind him—
teleporting short distances, appearing at the edges of his peripheral vision like a ghost flicker.
Her voice followed, soft and playful:
"Noah…
Noah…
I remember your screams from the tests…"
"Shut up!" he yelled, lungs burning.
Another turn—another corridor—another collapsed staircase.
He scrambled upward, pulling himself over broken concrete steps.
Promises of escape.
Of distance.
Of life.
He reached the next floor—
and froze.
Because she was already there.
Subject 0-2 stood at the end of the corridor, waiting.
Like she'd always been there.
Like she'd been waiting for him to arrive.
Her bare feet were stained with dust.
Her gown hung torn and blood-spattered.
Her head tilted at an unnatural angle.
When she spoke, her voice fractured into overlapping layers:
"Noah… we're the same."
"No," Noah whispered, backing away, hands trembling. "I'm not a monster."
Her fingers curled into a fist.
Her red interface pulsed violently.
"…You don't remember anything, do you?"
"I don't want to remember."
"But I do."
She took a step toward him.
Then another.
"Noah… do you know why you're Subject 0-1?"
Her smile widened.
"…Because you're the first one who survived dying."
The hallway tilted.
Noah's body went cold.
"What… what do you mean?"
"You died," she whispered.
"Dozens of times. Hundreds. Maybe thousands."
A chill raced through Noah's spine.
Her eyes glowed brighter.
"You begged them to stop the loop every time."
She giggled, a sound like broken glass.
"…But they loved watching you break."
Noah stumbled backward.
His breath hitched.
"And me?" Subject 0-2 said softly.
Her face softened for a fleeting second—horror, grief, pain—
then twisted back into something feral.
"I broke long before they were done."
A tear slid down her cheek.
But it wasn't clear.
It was red—system glow bleeding from her eyes.
Noah swallowed.
"Let me help you—"
"YOU CAN'T!" she screamed, voice warping until the walls shook.
The lights flickered.
Her body glitched—arms snapping into unnatural angles as she crouched low like a predator.
"Noah… the system wants one of us dead.
Only one subject survives the reset."
Her eyes sharpened.
"And I'm tired of losing."
She blurred—teleporting—charging straight at him.
Noah's body moved before he could think.
He ran—
but she was faster.
Much faster.
Her hand grazed his shoulder—
Vital Points: 512 → 471
He crashed into a metal locker, gasping as sparks of pain shot through his body. He rolled away just as her hand slammed into where his chest had been—metal bending like paper.
Noah forced his eyes open.
"System—anything—give me anything to fight back!"
The system chimed,
[Combat aid available]
[Temporary boost: Reflex Acceleration (Level 1)]
[Duration: 20 seconds]
"Yes—activate!"
A surge of cold energy shot through Noah's limbs.
Time slowed.
Not stopped—
but stretched, like thick syrup.
He could see her moving—
not teleporting, but flickering—
her motions distorted but traceable.
Noah dodged her next strike—barely—feeling the air ripple where her hand passed.
He darted left—she lunged right—he slid under falling debris and sprinted down the hall.
The boost flickered—
15 seconds… 14 seconds… 13 seconds…
Subject 0-2 shrieked in fury, her voice warping.
"You think you can outlast me?
The reset will steal you again!"
Noah turned a corner—
and found a stairwell descending into darkness.
Perfect.
Without thinking—
he jumped.
The boost slowed his fall just enough.
He crashed hard—
pain exploding across his back—
Vital Points: 471 → 398
—but he was alive.
He scrambled to his feet and limped through the pitch-black hallway below.
His temporary reflex boost faded.
Everything sped up again.
He heard her above him—
her footsteps slow, deliberate, echoing through the stairwell.
"Noah…"
Her voice drifted downward.
"…you can run until reset. It doesn't matter. I'll find you at the start of every new day."
Noah clenched his jaw.
"No," he whispered to himself.
"Not this time."
He reached a heavy steel door at the far end of the basement hall.
His hand shook as he grasped the handle.
Behind him, the stairwell groaned.
She was coming.
The system pinged:
[Objective Updated]
Escape Subject 0-2's pursuit]
Noah pulled the door open—
—and froze.
Inside was another chamber.
Dim lights flickered.
A massive machine hummed softly in the center.
Screens blinked with corrupted data.
Cables snaked across the floor.
It looked familiar.
Too familiar.
A second experiment lab.
Another underground facility.
Noah stepped inside.
And on the central screen—
A video log began playing automatically.
Static.
Then a voice.
Clinical.
Detached.
"Experiment Log 342.
Subject 0-2 shows extreme temporal instability.
Aggression increases with each failed loop."
Noah's blood ran cold.
The girl's distorted voice echoed through the hall behind him:
"Noah… come out."
The video continued.
"Subject 0-2's memory fragments persist through resets.
This instability is—"
Static-mangled noise erupted.
"—incurable.
Directive altered:
Subject 0-2 must be neutralized by Subject 0-1."
Neutralized.
They wanted Noah to kill her.
The door behind him creaked.
Her fingers curled around the edge, slowly pulling it open.
Noah backed away from the screen, heart pounding violently.
Subject 0-2 stepped into the chamber, eyes glowing like fresh blood.
"Noah…
they made you to kill me."
Her voice cracked—anger, betrayal, sorrow all bleeding together.
Her red system light flared.
"This time…
I'll kill you first."
The door slammed shut behind her.
And the countdown continued:
Day Reset in: 22:13:54
Noah's nightmare didn't reset.
It advanced.