Chapter 5 - Stella [Rewrite]

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Ryo quickly looked up to the place from where the opening sound came and became alert... or tried to act alert. He knew that it would be the caretaker that might be assigned to both of them.

Surely, just as Ryo had expected, the leather-coated metallic door opened. Ryo watched as an old woman, probably around the age of 60 years or so old entered the room. She had dark greyish hair and brown eyes.

In her hands, she was carrying two strange white plates which were probably made up of some kind of biodegradable stuff to make it safe if consumed by certain 'someone-s' in the room.

The old lady was wearing an eye covering which hid her upper face. The mask she was wearing was white on the edges while blue and yellow were in the middle parts. From his observation, Ryo saw that the material which the mask was made up of was a cloth, making him surprised as it was very hard and costly to produce such a mask. 

Then again he remembered that this technological era, which he was in was a lot far compared to his previous world.

This also made him remember that although the woman in front of him might look 60 or so years old, she might actually be a lot older than she looks because of the biological alteration she might have gone through.

As soon as the old lady entered the room, a delicious aroma spread up the whole room, making Ryo's stomach grumble more, much to Ryo's discomfort.

Listening to Ryo's stomach grumble, the old lady tried to approach him, making him act surprised and making a hissing sound as if he was trying to show that he was not someone she should mess with.

The old lady was not surprised by Ryo's actions, after all, she knew that the children in the room had just experienced a lot of pain. With a bit of hesitation, she kneeled a bit away from Ryo and Zero, placed the plates on the floor, and sat there like a statue, observing their every move with interest and... love?

Ryo felt a bit confused by the situation. He was good at reading people, and noted that he had a ton of experience reading emotions. It was easy for him to see through the emotions of most.

Although he knew that the old lady in from of him was looking at them lovingly, he couldn't say for sure how she was seeing them. As a child or as a pet? It was unknown to him. Those were some of the possibilities he conjured up. The only thing that was sure was that she somehow 'cared' for them.

'It's a bit confusing. Why does she care for us? This might be also the reason why she was transferred in the later part of Zero Two's life. Or was it because she was someone sadistic and would possibly show her 'love' in her own way...'

But as she lowered, Ryo saw a piece of key information. The lady was wearing a silver bracelet on her wrists, and on that silver-ish bracelet, a name was written in some sort of code if he was correct.

Although the language was different compared to the ones he knew of, the numbering system was the same.

Showing a wary face, he looked at Zero Two who was now looking at the food as saliva dropped on the floor, and felt a bit uncomfortable. 'Well here goes nothing. I need nutrition for growth. My action will then make Zero Two follow my actions which will build our trust.'

Acting a bit repulsive, Ryo looked over to the food plate. On the food tray, the food was placed in the form of a semi-liquid cylindrical form in green color. It seemed almost squishy, making Ryo more uncomfortable.

'Don't they know anything about hygiene? But now looking back, the room might also be made out of biodegradable stuff which can be edible. The only thing that is repulsive for me is the dirt on our body, but our body is also much more immune to the normal stuff compared to humans for sure.'

'System, show me the new abilities.'

[

Abilities:

[Knowledge (C-Rank)] -- [Hand-to-Hand Fighting (D-Rank)] -- [Weapon Proficiency (E-Rank)]] -- [Emotion Management (D-Rank)] -- [Focus (D-Rank)] -- [Acting (S-Rank)] -- [Adaption (D-Rank)] -- [Strategist (B-Rank)] -- [Persuation (D-Rank)] -- [Innovator (E-Rank)] -- [Negociator (D-Rank)] -- [Keen Instincts (D-Rank)] -- [Survivalist (D-Rank)] -- [Regeneration (C-Rank)] -- [Natural Resistance (D-Rank)] -- [Pain Toleration (D-Rank)] -- [Instinct (D-Rank)] -- [Hive Mind (F-Rank)]

]

'Good. With this, my new body is in much better condition compared to my old one. Well if there is no change in the plot from the original... it will be very boring. I have already figured out how I will be escaping this world while getting the maximum profits from it...'

With a slow crawl, Ryo slowly approached the plate and after some time, he stopped a meter or two away from the food tray, as if showing resistance to the presence of certain somebody that they don't trust.

As if copying Ryo's movement, Zero Two who was a bit far away in the room, slowly followed his steps, crawling by Ryo's side, and started to rub her head on his shoulders while taking sniffs, showing that she trusted Ryo more than the person who just entered.

'Went better than I expected.'

Removing all the unnecessary thoughts, Ryo looked back at the Old lady and continued to stare at her as if trying to convey that her presence was not 'welcomed' and they would not do anything as long as she was still in the room.

*Stare*

This staring contest went on for quite a time. Ryo didn't back down any bit, acting with his willpower. While on the other end, the Old lady was feeling awkward about being stared at by the baby.

Just when she was feeling awkward, suddenly her comms device vibrated, making her turn her head to her small white device which was in her pocket. Taking out the comms device, she learned that she was ordered to leave the room and give some space for the two experiments.

With that, she smiled at Ryo and 002 and slowly stood up, making Zero Two a bit alert as she slid a bit backward, using Ryo as cover as she looked at the Old Lady slowly back out of the room.

[For changing the plot by a small margin, the Host is rewarded with 50 Up.]

[UP: 800--> 850]

'Why did get so many UPs for such a small task? Am I in the 'tutorial' phase where I will be getting many more UPs compared to the next world? System?'

[...]

'You're just as useless I thought you would be.'

With that, Ryo didn't waste any time and looked at the food present on the plate, trying to analyze the food that he was provided with.

In the middle of the plate, a jelly-like substance was placed. It was green in color and was giving out a delicious aroma. The jello was in the shape of a cylinder.

Ryo touched the plate and poked the jello a few times and then with an uncomfortable feeling, scooped out a handful of the food and took a bite of the jello.

But as soon as he took the bite, instead of the expected delicious taste, a bland tasteless, and even a bit bitter taste hit his taste buds, making him almost gag on it. 'This tastes really bad. But it is definitely nutritious if they are trying to feed this to us.'

'*Sigh*... For my growth!'

With that, he forcefully chewed the stuff down his throat and looked at Zero Two who was also eating after being attracted to the scent of food. To his surprise, Zero Two d was devouring the stuff down her stomach like a wild animal.

'Guess this might be her first true meal. Her taste buds should be enhanced because of our body, but she is still eating it up...'

As if Zero Two felt Ryo looking at her from the corner of her eyes, she lifted her face covered in green jello stuff and made an "Aaa?" sound, making Ryo look down at the food in a bit of awkwardness and chew down the jello stuff forcefully in his stomach.

'I would love to learn more about this stuff when I have time in the future... This world will be a paradise of new knowledge for me. Who knows, I might actually improve my 'Knowledge' rank. I just hope that there would be enough UP for me to escape to the world after gathering enough UP.'

With that thought in his mind, Ryo continued to gobble the 'jello' food down his stomach, ignoring his taste buds.

---

~(-- Observatory Room --)~

In the futuristic room, Franxx was sitting on his chair, writing his observations on the behaviors of the two cloned Klaxosaurs through 3 different angles.

'Just as expected, Code 003 shows a lot of signs of being more intelligent compared to Code 002 who only acts based on her instincts. From the algorithms, Code 003 is showing various different facial features. Also when he woke up, the first thing his eyes shot for was looking at the surroundings.'

Franxx continued to write his observations as his other hand unknowingly clenched his kneecaps in anticipation. 'Code 003 also shows a lot of quality of being 'alpha' of his group, which only consists of Code 002 currently. If we can successfully 'Tame' him...'

With a trembling hand, Franxx adjusted his pants. 'Hah... Code 003... I hope you continue to show me more and more surprises.'

After completing his observation, Franxx stood up and walked out of the room. Then with a well-paced walk, he reaches a room filled with tens of new incubators. Each of these incubators contained a small speck of fetuses.

Within each one of these incubators, there were babies. They were none other than the clones that were secretly formed with the mixture of both the Klaxosaur Hybrids DNAs, with a few strands of human DNAs blended in.

Walking up to the foremost incubator, Franxx placed one of his hands hand on the glass of the incubator as he read out the name of the experiment. "Code Alpha"

'Our child...Karina...'

---

(-- Stella / Caretaker POV --)

My name is Stella. Being one of the first humans to turn into immortals, I have gone through a lot of ups and downs in my life. One of them was not being able to bear any child with the biological alteration, or 'sterilization' that I received.

Thankfully, with my skills, I was accepted into the "Rising Bird Program" for raising children to make them operate FRANXXs and help save humanity. 'A curse to be born without being in control of their own destiny.', I thought.

A thought that made me laugh myself when I realized that my situation was not any different from theirs. To my surprise, I was told that I would be given a job delivering food to two very special babies.

As soon as I heard that, my heart pounded in happiness.

'Yes! Will I be able to take care of two very special children!', I thought naively. The excitement was to be expected as unlike my other colleagues, I was allowed to do nursing for children before all of them!

With those thoughts, as soon as I entered the room, my heart fell as I looked at their appearance and the condition they were living in. As a woman who was working here to relieve myself from the maternal stress, my heart felt sad.

It felt as if my heart was getting crushed by a hand.

The Code 002 & Code 003, whom I was assigned to nurture, were living in a lot smaller room compared to the other rooms prepared for the other children. What more was painful to me was that the room the two children were living in was painted in a darker color, which might badly affect the children's mental health.

But I couldn't do anything for them. I didn't have the power or authority to do anything in the first place. 'I am sorry... I will try my best...'

When I heard a small hungry grumble sound from 003's stomach from the communicator, I thought that now was the time to enter and bring them their food.

Trying my best, in a calm and slow manner, I entered the room and provided them the fool in the best way possible from myself.

I lowered my body after entering the room and seeing them looking at me, hissing, perhaps warning me to not come closer to them. 'How can they do this to such small children...'

I knew what they had gone through, and I felt suffocating, so to make them feel safer, I placed the food tray on the ground and sat motionless just a short distance from them.

Sadly, they were too cautious of me even when I sat there motionlessly.

As I sat there for a few minutes, they kept staring at me for a few minutes, not willing to eat the food in my presence. Then an order came in my comms device and I had to leave the room in reluctance.

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[2175]

Hey! Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!