OPEN SESAME TO THE UNDERGROUND LABORATORY

OPEN SESAME TO THE UNDERGROUND LABORATORY

I rushed to the crime scene in full haste, and then I saw a clumsy girl who just got her butt cracked on the lowest part of the stairs. She's so defenseless that I happen to see her panty again. 

"Owowowow…" Tiara cried. 

"I told you to watch your step, Tiara…" Key sermoned in a monotonous voice. She was just behind Tiara and is also using her Quintessence as a flashlight. 

"Are you okay?" I said as I lent a hand to the poor shrine maiden. 

"R-Rikkun?" Tiara's eyes widened but immediately shifted to a friendly gaze as she took my hand. "T-Thank you." 

"Is everything all right?" Amy finally made her way to the scene. She irked when she noticed that Tiara and I have been holding hands for a few seconds. She held her forehead and sighed, and her expression transformed into a normal one. "Try to be careful next time, Tiara." 

"R-Right!" Tiara pumped her fists. "T-Thank you for your concern, Necchan!" She politely bowed.

Amy just gave a satisfied smile and then turned away and continued scanning the bookshelves. At least they're not quarreling like cats and dogs, unlike this morning. 

It looks like the war between my leading ladies has faded halfway through. 

It seems like Amy's jealousy has finally subsided. But as long as I haven't decided the best girl yet, I'm sure somebody will be pissed once again. I'm really having trouble picking a waifu right now.

Wait, I've seen this in a lot of animes. Maybe I can fit into the harem genre, where I will get a lot of girls! Why pick only one woman if you can have them both? You're a freaking genius, Alaric! 

That thought makes me sound like a dick. But wait, I'm a dick, to begin with! I've been an arsehole since chapter one, so what's new? You guys think I'm now a soft fragile hero? No! Screw character development! I'm the owner of my fate, and my fate will never own me! I do what I want! I'm going to collect girls! Come at me, feminists! 

<>

"Hey Ric, come here." I heard Amy's voice. She's already far away, and all I can see is her Quintessence's faint light from afar in this dark library. I went immediately to her side. 

I noticed that there is some wall that has no bookshelf in it. 

"It seems like a cliched place where a hidden passage would open if we say a magic word." Amy said. 

I stepped in closer to try and examine the wall, I was held back by my childhood friend. 

"There's a lot of reports about lethal traps in this place. That is why no one has ever investigated this far. If we made a wrong move, all of us might die." Amy said. 

"Why are we even here in the first place? You should have told us beforehand." I coldly said.

"That's why I have you by my side. Your <Presage> can predict those traps without a problem." 

"H-How about the others?" I cringed. "You decided the groups to split up! You seem to not care about them at all!"

"Key can use <Evo Armor> to cover Tiara, and Heushac has <Ironwill> which can keep himself alive for a little longer. And Kristoff…" There was a long pause. Amy adorably smiled at me with sparkles. "...Kristoff can go to hell~" 

Let's just shift to another topic.

According to my <Presage>, if we move any closer, a mustard gas would break out. How are we supposed to see the secret passage? 

"Stand back, Jeannette, Alaric." It was Key's monotone voice. For some reason, the golden sigils on her eyes are glowing like a flashlight.

Key pointed her hand to the vacant wall and then closed her eyes. Suddenly, there was a slow creaking noise, and I heard gears clank. The wall split up like a castle door and then dazzling light reached upon our faces. 

"Whoa! It really is a secret door!" Tiara jumped in amazement. And then she quickly shook the white-haired girl's hand. "You're amazing, Key-chan!" 

She's just living up her name. 

<> 

We ventured deeper into this well-lit corridors in this secret passageway. This thing looks more like an underground research facility from a zombie apocalypse, but this is the way to neat for an abandoned site. Considering that this facility does not have any power lines connected to the outside world, there might be a generator inside. There's no way electricity could be flowing in this place for five years. 

"You guys are here too?" Kristoff said as we happen to bump the rest of the guys along the way. 

"We happen to see an underground passage open up," Heushac said. "It looks like the warehouse and the building are connected." 

"Anything worthwhile you saw?" I asked the two boys. 

"None." Both of them said. Kristoff is giving a heavy sigh while Heushac is looking away, scratching his head. 

It made me happy that I'm no longer stuck with a circle of girls, but my reassortment with them is short lived. Right in front of us is a three-parting-ways. The left path has a label of Power Generator, the right path is the Research Center, and the middle path is the Stasis Chamber. 

Amy turned to us and held her hips like a real leader as she made another announcement. 

"Okay, we need to split up. Same groupings. Alaric and I will go to the right, Kristoff and Heushac to the left, and Key and Tiara will go to the middle. Any objections?" 

Heushac raised his hand. "I happen to trigger a lot of traps on our way down here, so I would like to partner up with Key so that I can use her Evo-" 

"You can walk on your own. You don't need a minor to accompany you all the time, is it not?" Amy quickly replied. Shutdown! 

I raised my hand. "Maybe we should consider the safety of-" 

"Everybody seems fine to me." Amy cut me off. Double kill!

It's Key's turn to raise an objection. "I couldn't watch over Tiara's clumsiness. She needs-" 

"She's old enough, she doesn't need supervision." Amy countered. Triple kill! 

Tiara shyly raised her hand. "I-I'm hungry-" 

"Key has a lot of cough drops on her pocket." Amy argued. Mo-mo-monster kill! 

Kristoff opened his mouth. "I-" 

"No. Shut up." Amy coldly glared. Godlike! 

... 

There was a long ten-second silence. We clearly lost in this debate. Wait, it's not a debate. It's not a conversation, to begin with! 

"It seems that we have come to an agreement." Amy said with a hint of a smile on her face. 

So we proceeded to our respective assignments. The four has departed and went to investigate those places, and I'm now alone with this arrogant runt again. 

I gave a skeptical cold glare at her. When she noticed me, she immediately reasoned out. "What? I'm being civil and democratic here." 

"Democratic my ass." 

<> 

I was truly awed when we finally made our entrance to the Research Center. There are a lot of folders on white desks, and at the center of this wide room is a glass prison. Inside the glass, prison is this gigantic sci-fi apparatus hanging on the ceiling pointing on the bed below it. 

There is this master computer that looks like it was used to monitor the moon landing. It keeps beeping three times, and the green widescreen would switch into static and nuclear warhead blueprint. Half-Life 3 confirmed. 

"Look at this," Amy said. She already made herself home in a computer terminal. 

On her monitor, there were this whole body pictures of naked boys and girls with the same white hair as Key. Suddenly, we stopped browsing when we reached Project 522, which fully resembles our homunculus ally. It says: 

Project 522 Codename: "Key"

Created by Dr. Goldcliffe

Gate Guardian Abilities are <Quantum Analytics>, <Evo Armor>, <Overgrowth> , <Biomorph>, and [Redacted]

Has an incredible IQ of 598

Errors occurred when developing her facial emotions and voice tone control.

Risk Rating: SSS (Anti-World Risk Rating) 

We were about to read a lot more about her statistics, but then the ground shook. 

There were a series of loud explosions nearby! The lights blacked out three times, and it became normal again. Unfortunately, the terminal we're using has accidentally been turned off due to power interruption. It seems we have to reboot it again. 

"We should check on the others!" Amy exclaimed.