章節 21: Perspective from the Observers

[3rd Person POV]

[Half an hour earlier, Grunt Orientation's Observation Room]

In a sterile, white-walled room filled with hundreds of monitors and data screens, a large group of scientists in white lab coats watched the progress of the newly recruited grunts as they navigated the grueling obstacle course known as "Orientation." Their expressions were a mix of detached curiosity and clinical interest.

"Grunt No. 659 has fallen off platform B3," one scientist announced, his eyes never leaving the screen as he adjusted his glasses.

"Grunt No. 753 has been rendered unconscious from obstacle H5 of platform C2," another scientist reported, her tone devoid of empathy as she fiddled with the tablet in her hand, seemingly inputting data into it.

"Grunt No. 641 is stuck on obstacle G3 of platform D1. He is still conscious but seems to be unable to get off from obstacle G3. Should we send support?" a third scientist inquired, glancing at his colleagues behind him.

"Support request denied," one of the scientists, seemingly a higher-ranking senior scientist who stood in the middle of the room, replied coolly. "New regulations have been established by the higher-ups. We are no longer allowed to help the newly recruited grunts in their orientation. Any of them that cannot get out from being stuck in an obstacle is deemed a failure and will be put on the low-priority list."

The room was filled with these discussions as they observed the newly recruited grunts, with the hum and beeping from the observation room's equipment accompanying them. The scientists continued their observations with an almost clinical detachment, their minds already shifting to the next set of data points—in other words, another one of the grunts to observe.

One of the scientists in front of another set of observation monitors was searching for a point of interest happening in the Orientation obstacle course. His other colleagues were already busy with the grunts currently attempting the obstacle course, and he was instead tasked with finding anomalies in this Orientation.

Then, he found a point of interest, which came from an unexpected place: the opened facility's metallic gate that was connected to the Orientation's opening ceremony room. There... a single grunt came out from it.

"Hmm...?" He deemed this as unusual. All of the scientists here in the observation room had thought that all of the grunts had already come out from the opening ceremony room. "Hmmmm...?" Another thing that seemed unusual to him was that this particular grunt looked a bit different than the other grunts.

He fiddled with the monitoring computer in front of him. Then, the observation monitor that he had been using soon zoomed in and locked on the particular last entrant grunt. "Huh...?" He muttered in confusion, as this particular grunt was even more unusual in the close-up.

The grunt was quite muscular and tougher-looking than the other newly recruited grunts. "No. 703...?" He read the label number on the left chest of the unusual grunt. He then turned his head and looked back at the higher-ranking scientist who was still observing the main event of the obstacle course.

"Sir, an unusual grunt just came out from the facility," he reported to the senior scientist. The senior scientist heeded the call from his colleague and approached where he was currently observing the unusual grunt he had just mentioned.

"An 'unusual grunt,' you say?" the senior scientist inquired.

"Yes, sir," he confirmed. The scientist then moved aside to let the senior see the so-called 'unusual grunt' he had found. The senior began to observe the grunt shown on the monitor's screen. The grunt himself just stood there dumbfounded, seemingly from seeing the Orientation's obstacle course for the first time.

"... It's him," the senior scientist muttered.

"Sir?" The colleague scientist heard his muttering, his face showing confusion.

"Grunt No. 703," the senior scientist simply stated the identity of the grunt.

"I mean, yes? That is Grunt No. 703," the colleague scientist reconfirmed what the senior had stated, not sure what he was talking about.

"That is not what I meant," the senior scientist clarified. "Grunt No. 703... he is the rumored 'special' grunt that has caught the interest of Miss Victoria," he explained to his colleague.

"Miss Victoria... took an interest in him...!?" The colleague scientist exclaimed, his expression showing both surprise and horror. It seemed that to him, the thought that the infamous mad scientist Victoria "Mad Star" had taken an interest in something was both unusual and horrifying at the same time.

"Indeed..."

"But... why? What's the deal with this one?"

The senior scientist was about to answer his colleague's inquiry, but suddenly, the door of the observation room burst open. All of the scientists inside the room were taken by surprise, turning their attention toward the newest entrant. Speaking of the devil, it was none other than Victoria "Mad Star" herself and a few of their colleagues who had been with her during the opening ceremony.

Every scientist in the room immediately stood up straight at the presence of Victoria, "Miss Victoria, Ma'am!" they said in unison, showing their respect to the scientist who was, after all, their leader and the head scientist of Max Brain's empire. But some of them showed a bit of fear in their expressions, knowing the reputation and attitude of Victoria, the infamous mad scientist.

Victoria walked casually into the middle of the room, her gaze directed toward the many observation monitors observing the newly recruited grunts. She quickly scanned through all of the monitors, assessing every one of them with keen eyes, but... it seemed that she had a bit of disappointment in her expression. It was as if she was searching for something in particular among all of the grunts on the monitors and did not find any of them in them.

Then her gaze landed on the duo of scientist colleagues who had been talking about her just recently. Victoria stared intensely at both of them, which startled them quite a bit. They knew what she was looking for... but the way she was looking at them was not just unnerving, but also quite terrifying. It felt like their lives could easily be plucked away by her on a simple whim.

Suddenly, she made a beeline toward them, startling them even more.

"Move," she simply said to both of them.

"Y-yes!!" They immediately complied, scrambling away from the observation equipment that was displaying and observing the unusual grunt, Grunt No. 703. When she finally arrived at the equipment, she stared at the display with an intense gaze for a while... before her face slowly turned into a wicked and mischievous smile, visible only to those near her. They saw her wicked expression and quickly backed away in fear, not wanting to get involved in whatever she was planning.

Victoria rummaged through her white lab coat and then quickly pulled out her own tablet. With a few swift taps and swipes on the screen, the observation equipment in front of her began to transform. Panels on the wall behind the equipment slid open, revealing a large monitoring screen that extended to cover a significant portion of the wall. The room's lighting dimmed slightly as the new display illuminated the space with a cold, blue light.

At the same time, a sophisticated control system emerged from the hidden compartments under the "desk" that had propped the current observation equipment. Keyboards with glowing keys, touch-sensitive panels, and various advanced input devices extended outward and locked into place in front of Victoria. The entire setup looked like something out of a futuristic control room, bristling with technology far beyond the standard observation tools the other scientists were using.

Conveniently, there was an empty panel in the middle of the advanced equipment system, on which Victoria then placed her tablet. The new and advanced equipment immediately sprang to life, as if it had finally connected to the tablet. The monitor screen even greeted her with a simple text message: 'Welcome Miss Victoria'.

Victoria's fingers danced across the new control system. The large monitoring screen flickered a bit, displaying multiple angles and data streams focused solely on Grunt No. 703. Bio-readings, heat signatures, and a plethora of other real-time performance metrics filled the screen, providing Victoria with comprehensive and detailed information.

She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing with excitement as she delved into the multitude of data. The other scientists watched in awe and trepidation, now aware of her new obsession: the newly recruited grunt currently displayed on her large observation screen, Grunt No. 703.

Victoria fiddled with the control system again. The large observation screen then displayed a new window that popped up in the middle, with the message: 'Observation Drone A4 Manual Control Activated', accompanied by an image of the drone, before quickly disappearing.

Conveniently, a remote controller emerged from the equipment system, which she gleefully picked up. With precise and refined control of said controller, the screen showing Grunt No. 703 zoomed in as if the drone that had been observing him was approaching directly toward him.

Victoria's voice broke the tense silence in the now dimly lit observation room. "Now... let's see what sort of entertainment you can provide me, Grunt No. 703~," she murmured to herself, a gleam of anticipation in her eyes. She cleared her throat and then... she spoke to the screen.

"What do you think, Grunt No. 703~?"