Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 172. All wrong

Henry’s POV

A week... A week had gone by, and every day was gnawing more at my sanity. Soldiers came by, telling me stories about ’our’ time together and our missions. That orange-haired woman who refused to go away, then the multiple doctors who wouldn’t leave me alone.

I couldn’t do that any longer; I had to go. I decided to use the orange-haired woman as a hostage, get her to bring me to the prison, and then get Kenny. With both of our powers combined, we could maybe make it out of here.

"Honey? What are you thinking about?" She asked, again grabbing my hand.

"It’s time." I mumbled, ready to attack her when a new player entered the game board. A middle-aged man with light brown hair entered the room.

"Commander Hannibal, nice to meet you. Please excuse my late arrival." He bowed lightly, yet his eyes remained fixed on me as if I were some strange specimen.

"Dr. Carell! For you to personally come... I can’t believe it!" The orange-haired woman stood up and approached the scrawny doctor, shaking his hand with enthusiasm.

"Maximilia Devin, nice to meet you. My husband is already much better, thanks to the doctors here!"

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Devin. Every corruption case warrants a discerning eye, even if he has come to be better."

"Naturally. If you could personally take a look, it would be our honor."

Was this guy some kind of cult leader? What was this?

He let go of that woman and came to my side, putting his hand out.

"Commander."

"Dr. Carell, thank you so much." I smiled at him while shaking his hand, trying to fake at least a bit of the awe that the nauseating woman had displayed.

"Could you leave us alone while we go through a few questions?"

"Yes, I understand. Please excuse me." That woman left.

After a few minutes of continuous staring, Dr. Carell spoke.

"We have discovered a new type of corruption, and that is all thanks to you." There was a disgusting grin on his face.

"And how is that?" I continued to smile.

"The survivors you brought. The apparent last step of corruption is the replica of a new body. There are doppelgängers among the survivors you brought. Doppelgängers of citizens living in this city. Because I had to look into that, I arrived so late."

Not doppelgängers, counterparts. How had they come up with this strange ’corruption’ theory?

"Do you remember your training regarding corruption?"

I shook my head.

"Then I will fill you in."

Yes, please do that, you grinning piece of shit.

"We have found four survivors so far. Each of them had been corrupted, but what people don’t know is that there are far more cases of corruption that mostly our soldiers have experienced. The dungeons mess with our bodies; some come back stronger than before entering them. Some return with strange memories, memories of the monsters they slay. Usually, either a power spurt or delusions and craziness follow the corruption—it varies from case to case. Some become younger, like yourself, and you apparently have also acquired a never-before-seen power."

Wow. Would we also have come up with such nonsense if we hadn’t had Kenny and his ability?

"But never have we seen a doppelgänger. Never. The four corrupted survivors we found only remembered false lives, and all four were cases of missing persons before showing up in a dungeon; a few of them were even believed to have died. Instead, we found them in another world. How they came to be there, they each had fantastic stories about it, but we can hardly believe them. Three of these cases could be cured after a long isolation period, during which they had to learn everything about their past anew. One case, sadly, ended in suicide; the individual preferred delusions over reality."

So, you brainwashed people from other dimensions about the lives of their counterparts?

He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms.

"Never has anyone so deeply entrenched in corruption made it back so fast; you are the first case."

Yeah. Because I know what is true and what isn’t, and because I just play along.

"I would love to conduct a few tests with you... Let’s see..." He took out a phone to check something.

"No. I want to return to my family and my job; I have already wasted too much time here." I will fight my way out if necessary.

"Mhm. As expected from The Commander. Then, if you come here on the weekends for tests, I will allow you to leave today." He looked back at me.

"Yes, let’s do this. What about the doppelgängers?" What the hell have we subjected the survivors to?

"Oh, right. My theory is that something inside the dungeons is replicating our DNA. If that is the case, they are monsters like everything else inside there." He became lost in thought.

No. If they do something to the survivors, then Kenny won’t be able to take it... 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Have you ever considered the parallel world theory? What if these people aren’t corrupted?"

He looked at me as if he were assessing my words.

"No, that’s impossible. There are no other intelligent beings like humans somewhere besides our world. Furthermore, every one of the four survivors, including yourself, could be healed and reformed."

"What are you going to do with the doppelgängers? I hope you won’t harm people."

"No humans will be harmed, don’t worry." Dr. Carell grinned unsettlingly again.

"Where are the doppelgängers?"

"Inside the laboratory in the city."

"They are not to be harmed. None of the living beings I brought."

The air seemed to be getting thinner, and I could understand how Kenny felt inside the hellhole during his panic attack. We have made a mistake—a grave mistake in coming here. These people got it all wrong, and I don’t know how to get them out of here. I have to get Kenny, his grandma, Henrietta, and my parents. To get them, I need the identity of a commander, so I can’t even tell them how wrong everything they believe in is. Additionally, we have seen that they won’t even consider it to be true anyway.

The doctor sighed and stood up.

"There are no such plans for now. Please go home and rest before returning to your job."