Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

But it's okay. Even though K423-1 sometimes felt that the kids her age were a bit stupid and unintelligent, she also knew the loneliness of living alone in a room. When K423-2 came in, she originally planned to give her a hard time to establish her dorm status and then see if they could become friends. But she didn't expect this little sister to look exactly like her, even making her wonder if she really had a twin...

Moreover, this younger sister doesn't seem to be as foolish as the other children. Although she is also relatively intellectually challenged, she doesn't yell at her, "This is something the aunties don't agree with, I'm going to report you!" or "If you don't sleep, I'm going to tell the aunties!" Instead, she immediately gets excited and tries to join in. On the first day, the two established a sisterly friendship. The arrogant K423-1 considers herself smarter and therefore the older sister.

Although K423-2 felt a bit uncomfortable being called "sister" because she thought we looked exactly alike, she reluctantly accepted it because her older sister promised to take her out to play every day.

“We have no names. From now on, you will be called ‘Little Sister,’ and I will naturally be ‘Big Sister.’ But you can rest assured that it is a blessing from heaven that you, a foolish human, can become my little sister. As your older sister, I will not mistreat you.”

“We have names, K423, that’s both of our names.”

"Those are code names, number one, number two, they're all code names, they're not names."

"Isn't a name just something used to address someone?"

“Of course not,” she said. “It’s too boring here. Every child just has to live quietly. So I’m definitely leaving. When we leave this little world and go to see a bigger world, I will give you, and myself, a name.”

She gently stroked her sister's face, her pupils shimmering between the same blue as her sister's and a brilliant gold, "Having a name means you're alive; otherwise, you're not."

The older sister shook her younger sister awake. The little girl, still half asleep, immediately realized what she was about to do. Then, the two sisters lowered their voices and quietly got out of bed.

There are security cameras in the room, but they are only pointing in one direction. In other words, there is a large blind spot below the security cameras.

Half of the bed was in a blind spot—the headboard—while only the footboard was visible on the security camera. Before going to sleep, the older sister had tucked the life-sized cat plush toy under the covers, and the bulging bottom of the blanket on the camera showed someone inside.

The two sisters hid by the bedside from the beginning, out of the camera's view. This way, even if they took action, anyone glancing at the monitor wouldn't notice anything unusual in the room.

In reality, the cameras weren't that important, because the rooms were locked after nightfall, making it impossible for anyone to leave. And indeed, some children might not fall asleep by chance, at which point the researchers would normally come up and use the stun gun to reprimand them. But in fact, many researchers simply couldn't be bothered to come to that floor. It wasn't that they felt bad about using the stun gun on a two-year-old, but rather that running down the corridor through over a hundred rooms after taking the elevator was too tiring; they preferred to play cards and have a late-night snack in the monitoring room.

The two sisters' Ragdoll cat toys weren't anything special; almost every dormitory in Babel Tower, with over a hundred students, had one. These toys came from a toy manufacturer under Destiny's umbrella, supposedly based on Destiny's cutest white-haired, red-eyed Ragdoll cat. The older sister wasn't particularly interested, but now it was proving very useful; tucked under the covers with her pillow, it looked like both sisters were asleep.

Wearing only white cotton dresses and barefoot, the two sisters walked to the door from a blind spot in the surveillance camera's view.

The older sister placed her hand against the door, and a faint golden light emanated from her palm, gently opening a shimmering golden hole in the door. Through the hole, she confirmed that the corridor was completely dark. Then, she gradually widened the opening, allowing one person to pass through, before turning to look at her younger sister, puffing out her chest with a hint of pride. "Human, how about it? I told you I could take you out to play."

The younger sister, however, was already used to this scene. She quietly followed her older sister out, and the light hole in the door closed, as if nothing had happened.

This ability was something the older sister was born with, but neither of the sisters knew what it was. In the Tower of Babel, other children occasionally had similar abilities, but those with special abilities were taken away from their dormitories to other floors and never returned.

The older sister didn't know where they had gone, but she sensed that revealing her abilities wasn't a good thing, so she kept it a secret. Only her younger sister, who lived in the same dormitory, couldn't avoid the situation, but to her surprise, her sister seemed to trust her more than she was about to report her, readily accepting that her actions were correct.

Perhaps it's because being alone is too lonely.

K423-1 had considered killing K423-2 if she came to the dormitory, pretending to have a mental illness, since there were many mentally ill children in the Tower of Babel. But she ultimately didn't do it.

K423-2 could have easily reported her, and the researchers would have rewarded her with a small dormitory with a single shower and a toy room; Babel encouraged children to report each other. But in the end, she didn't.

Because of their loneliness, the children of Babel were all obedient to the researchers, and none of them were interested in resisting this kind of life. K423-1 and K423-2 were both dissatisfied children, which is why they hit it off and joined forces to do bad things and be considered naughty children by adults.

The corridor was pitch black, and the older sister gripped her younger sister's hand tightly.

But neither of them was afraid of the dark, because the dark was actually a form of protection.

“There’s a camera every five rooms in the hallway, but it’s okay, they’re not optical cameras, and the lights are usually off,” my sister whispered. “As long as we don’t wear shoes and don’t disturb the motion-sensor lights, the cameras won’t capture anything. I’ve read the instruction manuals for these cameras; they’re different from the ones in the bedrooms, which are actually more advanced… They don’t give us any privacy at all.”

The younger sister scratched her head. "What is privacy?"

"Everyone has information they don't want to disclose, that's called privacy. For example, I don't want others to see me sleeping."

“But we shouldn’t have anything we don’t want to disclose. We have to write down everything in a report and submit it to the aunties, even if it’s what we’re thinking about today or who we’re thinking about.”

"Hmph, do you think that's right?" the older sister sneered.

"wrong."

The corners of her sister's mouth turned up slightly.

She reached out and touched her younger sister's limp hair. Her sister was not very docile and didn't like being treated like this, but the older sister still touched it anyway, and then sneered, "She's still my sister, after all, and she's not stupid."

“I just feel unhappy with this kind of life. The adults say I’m only a few months old and don’t know what happiness is. But I don’t think so. I can’t do anything here, but I’m not a baby anymore. I should… I don’t know what I should do, but it certainly shouldn’t be just reading books in my room every day.”

"Reading is a good thing, really. These people bring us books to read, maybe just to keep us from getting bored and having bad moods. But books themselves are windows into the world." The older sister chuckled. "They teach us to read and let us relieve our loneliness, but that's also a mistake. People who read a lot will naturally yearn for the outside world."

The younger sister didn't quite understand these things. Actually, she was different from her older sister. Her sister had read many books and knew many characters, after all, her sister was supposedly over a year old. The younger sister, on the other hand, mainly looked at picture books and listened to her sister impatiently telling her stories that she couldn't see in the picture books.

Although my older sister finds rereading books she's already read boring, whenever my daughter wants to hear a story, she'll still put on a grumpy face and explain it to her in great detail. If my daughter doesn't understand, my sister has to patiently explain it again and again, adding her own emotionally charged commentary. For example, in *The Little Mermaid*, my sister would scornfully call the Little Mermaid a fool. She loves the prince and has to sacrifice herself; why couldn't she just lure the prince into the sea? Why couldn't she kill the witch and threaten her into doing things? You're the Little Mermaid, a princess! Don't you even have anyone capable of serving you?

In her sister's commentary, the Little Mermaid acted solely according to her own foolish, subjective desires, without considering the use of social resources or ignoring the advice and suggestions of others. Therefore, her eventual tragic and despairing life was entirely a consequence of her tragic character.

Of course, the younger sister, who was sobbing over The Little Mermaid, thought her older sister was talking nonsense. But that's just how eccentric the older sister was; no fairy tale could move her, even though she was still a child herself.

They quietly passed by the elevator, but of course the two of them couldn't take the elevator; there were real security cameras inside that couldn't be avoided.

But this was no challenge for the older sister. With her spatial abilities, she could do anything. She quietly opened the door to the emergency exit.

The emergency exit was locked, usually to prevent children from running around, and would need to be broken open with a fire axe. However, spatial abilities opened a wormhole, two people crawled in, climbed several floors, and came out on the basement level.

The basement level is closest to the ground floor, and the decor there is less lifeless.

In fact, this is a place that children often come to, because there are many laboratories here, and most of the blood draws, tests, and various experiments are done here. Moreover, because there are many staff members during the day, some rest rooms have been specially set up here.

The lounge has many fun things, such as a snack machine, a coffee machine, a pool table, and a projection screen for movies.

Children who have finished their experiments are usually placed here to wait to be picked up. They can eat snacks, watch movies, and even read magazines as much as they want. Many researchers are very lenient with these children, letting them empty the snack machines.

When my sister sneaks out, this is her favorite place to stay. It's a rest area for the staff, and no one comes here at night. There are no security cameras either.

Here, she could even watch popcorn movies that Babel had prepared for its researchers, turn the volume down to the minimum, turn off the lights, and watch them all night long. She could also enjoy snacks and desserts she wouldn't normally get to eat, and if she was lucky, even some alcohol.

Alcohol is an adult beverage, and my sister has always considered herself a mature adult.

The two sisters settled comfortably in the dark lounge, sitting on the soft leather sofa. They turned on the screen and projector to play "Titanic." This 97 film was the older sister's favorite; she had seen it more than once. But unlike others, she didn't watch it for the triumphant celebration of human will or the passionate, beautiful bodies of the male and female leads. She loved it simply because it was the only disaster film on her collection of CDs.

She simply enjoyed watching the apocalyptic scene of a ship capsizing, seeing everyone crying, screaming, and struggling, which gave her a strange sense of pleasure.

"That's so stupid. What's with this 'ladies first' nonsense? Women don't survive disasters very easily." She commented as she looked around. "In situations like this, the strongest men, who are most likely to survive, should be allowed to escape first. Their survival rate is higher. Historically, very few of these small boats have been rescued. It's all a waste."

My sister rolled her eyes.

The older sister took a sip of black coffee, frowned slightly, and without changing her expression, added a box of sugar cubes, then added water and stirred. As she watched, she suddenly asked, "Do you have any wishes?"

"Wish? Watching a movie... I'm already happy enough." The younger sister wasn't surprised by her older sister's sudden change of heart, because that's just how she is. "I don't have any wishes."

"Don't you have any simple wishes? This place looks empty, but that's okay. If you want anything, I can help you get it."

The younger sister certainly believed that her older sister had the ability, but she still shook her head.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

"I don't know, I've never seen a grown-up child."

“But people always grow up and change; they can’t stay in one place forever. Just like the female protagonist in this movie, she loved Jack so much, but she survived and still married someone else and had a happy life. The Titanic ultimately became just a story in her memory.” The sister said, “You should imagine life as an adult, because you have me as your sister. You will definitely grow up safely and healthily, and no one can stop you.”

Chapter 74 Ragdoll Cat: The Child I Pushed!

"What's so good about growing up?" the younger sister whispered. "I don't know."

"For example, you've never met your mother, have you? All your memories are in this cold, impersonal building, but have you ever wondered who put you here?"

“I haven’t thought about it.” The younger sister lowered her head. “I don’t know who Mom and Dad are. Books say that parents are the people who love their children the most, but none of the children here have parents, and no one has ever thought about parents. Why would you think about it?”

The older sister hesitated, suddenly feeling a bit annoyed, and changed the subject, "So what kind of mother do you hope to have? You always think that way, right?"

The younger sister glanced at her, thinking it was a bit silly for her older sister to be so fixated on this topic, but she still thought about it for a moment, "A few days ago, the aunties made us dress up nicely and go out to greet that big sister who looked so serious and gentle, called 'Miss Saint.' She was so pretty. If I had a mother, I would want her to be like her... She even hugged me."

The older sister narrowed her eyes slightly. She knew who her younger sister was talking about. That person was Cecilia Shaniat, who had recently visited Babel. She was different from the uncles and aunts at Babel. The older sister could sense this very keenly. The way she looked at the children wasn't that chilling calmness, but rather curiosity, caution, contemplation, and a gentleness that made her uncomfortable.

She had never seen that kind of tenderness before. No one in the Tower of Babel would show that kind of tenderness to the children, like a mother would to her own child.

The older sister didn't really know how a mother should treat her children, but she just felt that Cecilia was that kind of mother. Not only her and her sister, but many of the children probably thought the same way. But that woman only came for a day, did nothing, and then disappeared.

"To have a mother like that...is that your wish?" the older sister whispered.

The younger sister hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.

The older sister smiled and said, "That's right, we need to leave here."

"Leave here?" the younger sister repeated, not understanding what her older sister meant. Leave here? Right now? Just... the two of them? In these extremely cold conditions, with hundreds of kilometers of frozen ground outside?

“I will bring you freedom. We must leave this place, escape the Tower of Babel, for only then can we have a future.” The older sister stood up, looked out at the vast white land, and pointed to the distant, dragon-like mountain ridge. “See that? That’s the Ural Mountains. Cross it, and a thousand kilometers to the east, is Moscow, the most prosperous human city on this land. Or we don’t even need to go through all that trouble. From here, we only need to trek due south for one hundred and forty kilometers to reach the first town inhabited by humans, and we can survive.”

Her younger sister stared at her blankly.

"And if we want to escape, all we need to do is create trouble, the bigger the better." The older sister suddenly pushed open the door of the lounge and ran off. The younger sister followed, confused. This time, the two sisters were much bolder. They directly crossed the blind spots of many cameras, their small bodies dodging left and right. In a minute, they arrived at the door of the central laboratory room on the first basement floor.

My sister suddenly pushed the door open.

The enormous laboratory was pitch black and completely empty. The only source of light was a culture jar in the center of the room, emitting a faint green glow. The younger sister's eyes widened suddenly as she stared at the child, who was huddled in a green nutrient solution inside the jar, hugging his knees.

She's not stupid. In fact, the children of Babel have all doubted to some extent whether they are truly human, because the humans described in books and movies seem quite different from these little monsters who are only a few months old but have the intelligence and consciousness of a child.

This culture vessel confirmed many of her most unwanted suspicions.

The older sister's cold gaze swept over the culture tank, and she smiled coldly: "We still need him on our escape route. Code name K413, the only male survivor in our entire project, the researchers' favorite sample. 13 is a number only a demon would use, a number that shouldn't exist, so K413 is different from us. He wasn't born as the child with the most perfect genetic fusion; he doesn't even have consciousness, just a simple shell. But you know what? The degree to which he's been favored by the Honkai is second only to us! That's fantastic! Those researchers haven't instilled anything in him yet; he's a pure white Eve... so he can also be our best friend, the only pet we can trust besides each other."

"Sister... what should we do?"

"Instill consciousness into him, wake him up, but... make a small adjustment." The older sister stared at the magical boy in the jar for a long time. "A Herrscher-level being should not belong to stupid and hateful humans, but to the Honkai."

Then she stroked the glass of the culture jar, turned to look at her sister, and a fierce gold gradually appeared in her eyes. "Perhaps we should give him a name. Ah, since he exists to protect us, then he will be 'brother'. Sister, are you willing to run away with your sister and brother? From now on, we will join hands and experience so many wonderful and unexperienced things in the world. Anyone who stands in our way will be killed."

The younger sister looked at her older sister's face, which was filled with ferocity and murderous intent, but she knew that this face was not meant for her.

The older sister's anger would never be directed at the younger sister; the fiercer and angrier her murderous intent, the more sincere it felt to the younger sister.

She gently took her sister's outstretched hand.

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