The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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On a boring afternoon at the Joint Research Laboratory, lunchtime was drawing to a close.

To shake off the drowsiness, a researcher took a sip of coffee infused with a hefty dose of awakening agent and fixed his eyes on a sudden appearance of a pristine white object on the table.

“Team Leader, it escaped again.”

“Cheep?”

Ennis, who was bringing over the coffee pot, made eye contact with the mouse waving its front paws in a greeting.

As the mouse squeaked insistently and stretched out its little paws, she hesitated for a moment.

“It’s true. The professor was looking for it earlier… Hey, mouse, how about munching on this until the professor arrives?”

“Squeak! Squeak!”

The mouse, receiving a peanut with its forepaws, couldn’t hide its joy and began hopping around.

The sight of it nibbling food on the desk was purely adorable. The blue ribbon attached by Bernike to distinguish it from experimental mice added an extra dose of cuteness.

“Is it tasty?”

“Squeak!”

The researchers’ attention was drawn like a magnet to a single spot. Those who had just been analyzing the magical circuit composition and numerical values of an apostolic relic had unconsciously shifted their focus.

In this place, where stringent surveillance and thorough management were exercised in the depths of the Joint Research Laboratory, holidays felt as unreal as a unicorn country beyond the rainbow.

In a routine of endlessly spinning like a hamster wheel, the researchers sought any tiny escape and soon began to goof off subtly.

It wasn’t difficult for V-Mouse to pick up on this with its intelligence.

Immediately, the spotted mouse, eager for attention and snacks, started to dance cutely and wiggled its head in a charming manner. Cheers erupted among the female researchers.

“Kyaa! Look over here!”

“Look at it greeting us! Ah! So cute!”

Raspberry, basking in the flood of attention, puffed up with pride. It rubbed its head as if inviting some petting while nibbling on its treat.

However, this unexpected delightful spectacle came to an abrupt end with the arrival of an uninvited guest.

“Enough. That’s far enough.”

With a cold voice, a sleek mechanical tentacle slid silently forward and picked up the mouse.

“Zeeek! Squeak!”

“Ah! My freedom! Nooo!”

Raspberry, who had escaped in pursuit of fun, was inevitably caught again.

As the mouse squirmed helplessly in the metallic jaws of Broca, Bernike examined Ennis and the other researchers with a frosty gaze.

“Doctor Lowell, you saw the email I sent a moment ago, right? Can I assume you were so engrossed with that data analysis you were assigned that you lost track of time? Hmm?”

“…Ah! Yes! Just a moment, please!”

After issuing commands like a cascade, Bernike took the squirming Raspberry back to her private office.

Finally, the mouse flopped onto the desk, bracing itself for a barrage of scolding. The ongoing escape battle between the mouse and the professor had become a daily routine.

Having escaped a few times out of boredom and shown off some tricks, it was annoying to be constantly told to stay still.

“Seriously, who did you take after… That crow is doing just fine; why do you keep acting out?”

However, today, that white-haired woman only grumbled to herself without seeming particularly keen on scolding or reprimanding.

It seemed like her attention was elsewhere. Raspberry thought to itself.

‘Looks busy! I doubt she’ll say more than that!’

The mouse’s prediction was right. Bernike was indeed focused on something else. Just then, as it always happens, a voice filled with anguish echoed through the laboratory.

“Strange noise… I hear a noise! What is this…?”

As if anticipating it, Bernike turned her head towards the cage.

“Now, Mr. Squeaky, you’ve gotten used to this research laboratory, so you must know what this sound is. We administer thousands of liters of sedatives daily to that monster over there. But since you came, it seems it hasn’t been fully asleep and keeps making that racket.”

“Strange noise… Is it singing…? ”

Bernike’s yellow eyes narrowed like a snake with prey in front of it.

Raspberry’s ears and tail drooped for a moment, but it averted its gaze, pretending not to notice.

“Cheep?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Your network must have occasionally connected to that monster’s mind! And singing, now that you mention it, it’s often been making sounds like music… Could that possibly be the song?”

As the mouse observed carefully, it nodded slowly.

Bernike snickered and began summarizing the recent trends of this V-animal and similar monsters.

“Looks like as their intelligence has risen, they’ve begun indulging in unproductive cultural activities with the excess energy. That’s encouraging.”

Suddenly, Bernike became curious about what these trivial beasts were singing. After checking to see if anyone was watching, she passed a pen and paper into the cage.

Raspberry took the pen in its forepaws and scribbled vigorously.

– This is a song praising the boss! It was written by Cocoa!

“A self-composed song, by that monkey, huh? What’s it about?”

With confident movements, the mouse busily wrote down the lyrics. Bernike read the jumbled handwriting on the paper, and suddenly found herself stunned.

– “Oh Violet, descend upon this land! As a beacon of justice, fill the world!”

“…?!”

After a moment of silence directed at the mouse, which was sending an expectant gaze her way, Bernike’s assessment of this absurd song became singular.

“… Relay this to your companions. It seems that monster is gradually becoming aware of your network, so don’t mention your feeble-minded boss’s name. Understood?”

“Cheep!”

Nodding, the mouse accepted this as an implicit approval regarding the song.

Suddenly, Raspberry closed its eyes and raised its front paws, beginning an impromptu performance once again.

Thus began the joint praise session with its distant animal friends.

Tsk, tsking, Bernike scribbled observation notes on her tablet in Luminesca-style cipher.

[Intellectual abilities are showing continuous significant growth-]

[-Communication from the sub-intelligences of the collective consciousness network has also been found to interfere with and influence the Aedos entities…]

The small Broca clicked its beak and activated the scanner. As it scanned the mouse’s body from top to bottom, data streamed in. Analyzing information sent in real-time from behind, Bernike’s eyes gradually narrowed.

[Internal ether activation levels are steadily rising-]

Once more, a hymn cut through the laboratory’s air.

– “Break the chains of hypocrisy and lies cast by the clans!”

“Is that song… No way! Oh no… Is it coming…?”

The performance of praise, now accompanied by an unwanted audience, continued for a while.

– “May they become trapped within the net they’ve cast upon themselves!”

**

We brainstormed a few methods to attack the foundation.

“One, let’s raid the central archive!”

But this plan had a fatal flaw.

“I don’t know! Nobody knows the location of the data center! There are several of them!”

No one knew the location of the archives — not even the scholarship officer.

Rumors even circulated that this place might not physically exist in reality.

Ultimately, our best option was to sneak into where the access terminals were located and extract the data. That would take quite some time, but it was feasible.

“Is it too much to kidnap a high-ranking official and use their identity?”

“Yeah.”

Even the Board of Directors or the general secretary couldn’t access the data without strict procedures.

It wasn’t as easy as rummaging through folders on a home computer.

To fight against Luminesca, we needed to harness all the power we had.

As the scholarship officer said, they were the ‘weakest’ beings, but this ‘weakness’ shouldn’t be measured against ordinary clans.

“The major strongholds or laboratories are like fortresses!”

“A fortress?”

7200, a former member of the Luminesca special ops unit, explained thoroughly.

“The corridors are filled with advanced scientific weaponry! Mines and turrets are standard, and armed proxies and Stregonics are deployed in every stronghold. And more than that…”

I rummaged through my memory and projected a 3D map of the Violet Network. Areas that had not been explored or had limited information were left as blank spaces.

Still, the structure displayed before me was overly complex and intricate.

“It’s a maze.”

“Correct! The foundation despises having either their internal specimens or external enemies roaming freely! They’ve designed the internal structure to be as convoluted as possible, even at the cost of efficiency!”

Without even knowing the precise locations of the core strongholds and facilities, the situation seemed increasingly dire.

Moreover, if the interior was in that state, it would certainly take much longer than expected to carry out an assault. The problem was becoming increasingly complicated.

“If that’s the case…”

Magnavis had already scattered most of its forces and lost its leadership, falling into our psychological warfare, but these guys were different.

I had seen how the same clan had fallen a year ago; the same tactics wouldn’t work again.

So the biggest problem was the significantly enhanced security measures.

“They’re scanning every wall, right? They’ve started scanning every wall and pillar since a while ago! It seems it’ll be tough to sneak in wall clones…”

It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Not being able to use our Violet’s trump card was frustrating.

No clear solution was in sight. The best we could do was ascertain the locations of the facility strongholds and launch simultaneous assaults.

Nevertheless, our Violet had to do our utmost.

Training the V-animal special ops squad was part of that effort.

“Boss! We are ready!”

Inside the transport aircraft, where the roaring engine sounds reverberated, the monkeys strapped with parachute bags looked at me with gleaming eyes, howling with excitement.

Recently increased to five, the monkeys nervously fiddled with grenade launchers the size of pistols. They were dressed neatly in combat uniforms, adorned with belts brimming with grenades and explosives.

And tucked away in one corner of their bags was a canister of potato chips.

Thanks to the animal network via Cocoa, they had already mastered the use of the equipment flawlessly.

“Alright! We’re starting the V-Monkey airborne assault training now!”

“Uuuuuu!”

The training for the genius monkeys’ parachute drop commenced.

“Finally! The journey to paradise begins!”

“Hurray for paradise! Hurray for democracy!”

As the door opened, a cold wind rushed in. Below lay an endlessly sprawling azure sea, with our target, an uninhabited island, looking like a mere dot in the center.

The monkeys squinted their eyes, quickly donned their goggles, and one by one took determined steps into the air.

“We’re going!”

The brave monkeys vanished among the clouds. Moments later, white parachutes bloomed like flowers in the sky.

The monkeys, landing neatly on the ground, swiftly packed their parachutes and concealed themselves among nearby cover.

The objective was the old car where a flag had been planted in the distance. Target boards were strategically placed throughout the training ground.

On the Violet tactical map, the precise movements of the monkeys were displayed in real-time.

“Landing complete! Move! Move out!”

The monkeys carefully opened the bags strapped to their backs and gently unscrewed the tops of the potato chip cans.

Out from inside, waiting V-mice sprang forth, darting across the sandy beach.

The little bodies of the mice were securely wrapped with various sizes of threads and square pieces.

“Squeak! Approaching target!”

“Keep going! Move slowly! Don’t stand out too much!”

With the guidance of a crow, as the mice dashed ahead, the monkeys reached the firing points and fired their grenade launchers.

As the target board shattered and a furious explosion soared, the brave mice leaped into the car.

I felt their journey into the engine’s innards without any filter of perception.

“Installing!”

The mice helped each other uncoil the cords wrapped around their bodies, binding them inside the car.

The cords were detonating wires. After finishing preparations, the mice gnawed at the ends of the detonating wires like they were cracking a nut.

As smoke billowed up, the mice dashed in every direction.

“Run! Escape!”

“It’s on fire! It’s going to blow!”

-Boom!

Soon, smoke began to rise from inside the car. Nearby, the monkeys and crows caught the fleeing mice and escaped, marking the end of the training.

“Good! It was smooth even for the first time!”

“Though we might need to tweak the equipment a bit…”

We pondered how to better utilize the V-animal special ops unit.