I have a life simulator.

Following his assistant through the corridor, they arrived at Ayanokoji Atsuomi's office. The assistant humbly knocked on the door.

"Councilor Ayanokouji, Mr. Sakayanagi has something to discuss with you."

"Come in."

A brief and forceful reply came quickly from the room. Sakayanagi Narumi walked to his assistant, who had stepped aside, and opened the door himself. Sitting in the office chair, looking energetic, was none other than Ayanokoji Atsuomi, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

"teacher."

Although his views on him are somewhat complicated now, Sakayanagi Narumi still respectfully uses this title.

“Sakayanagi, what a nostalgic face. It’s been five or six years since you last came here.”

With a smile that seemed to evoke memories, Ayanokouji Atsuomi stood up and invited Sakayanagi Narumi to sit down.

"Actually, I only realized today that it has been so long since Ayanokouji-sensei took over this project. Time really flies."

Taking the teacup from his assistant, Sakayanagi Narimori sat somewhat awkwardly opposite Ayanokoji Atsuomi. Looking down, he noticed the worn characters etched on the table:

Give me a dozen healthy infants, and I can guarantee that I can randomly select one from them and train him to become any type of person I choose—a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, a tycoon, or a beggar or a thief, without regard to his talents, inclinations, abilities, or the professions or races of his ancestors.

However, the current Sakayanagi Narimori is not the hothead he was ten years ago who directly expressed his dissatisfaction. He merely glanced at it, then gently stroked the surface of the tea with the lid of the teacup before taking a small sip.

"I'm still very happy that Sakayanagi has come here again after so long. After all, the reason we met back then was because of this project, wasn't it?"

Because at that time I really thought it was an educational institution for cultivating talent.

Swallowing his words along with his tea, Sakayanagi Narimori smiled and said:

“At that time, Arisu had just been born, and I was also busy helping my father adapt to his work at Tokyo Advanced Educational High School. I was really too busy to leave.”

"Understood, understood."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi also smiled kindly.

"Besides keeping an appointment, I also came here for another matter."

Sakayanagi Shigemori casually brought up the topic, and Ayanokoji Atsuomi responded without changing his expression:

"If there's anything I can do to help, I definitely will."

"I'd like to find a child with you."

"child?"

Ayanokouji Atsuomi frowned in confusion. If he didn't know the man's character, he would have suspected that the man also had an illegitimate child.

"Of course they are not my children, but the children of the Kitagawa family."

Noticing Ayanokoji Atsuomi's hesitation, Sakayanagi Narimori explained:

“I heard that the Kitagawa family sent an illegitimate child here back then. Judging from his age, he should be one of the fourth or fifth generation.”

"...I didn't know about this."

Ayanokouji Atsuomi himself was somewhat surprised. Although he was in charge of the White Room, he had also placed other people in the Naoe faction, such as Tsukishiro Tsuneshige and Sakayanagi Narimori in front of him.

"After all, he was an illegitimate child, and the head of the Kitagawa family died soon after that."

Considering that he needed their help, Sakayanagi Narimori also took the initiative to explain on behalf of Ayanokoji Atsuomi.

"It's also possible."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi nodded, and after a moment's thought, he spoke:

"So now the Kitagawa family only has this one heir? That's why they asked you for help, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Sakayanagi Shigemori nodded and said:

“I have brought his biological father’s DNA information. I remember that every child in the white room undergoes a physical examination and registration before entering. There aren’t many children born in the fourth and fifth batches, so we should be able to find him soon.”

"If he were still here."

Ayanokouji Atsuomi didn't think it was a big deal, and he could even do the Kitagawa family a favor by doing them a favor. So he casually nodded and told his assistant to take the documents to check them.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the assistant who rushed in whispered a few words in Ayanokoji Atsuomi's ear.

Ayanokoji Atsuomi looked somewhat shocked, then said regretfully to Sakayanagi Narimori:

"I'm sorry, but the child whose DNA matched the Kitagawa family's was eliminated two years ago."

The word "elimination" in the white room is actually a kind of veiled allusion, either indicating that they suffered severe psychological damage and developed mental problems, or that they physically disappeared from this place.

"...Is that so? Luckily I haven't told the Kitagawa family yet. I was originally planning to tell them only after I had investigated them to the very end."

To Ayanokoji Atsuomi's surprise, Sakayanagi Narimori believed the explanation so easily that he didn't even have a chance to say the lines he had prepared for his explanation.

He did get a result from his assistant, but it was something the White Room absolutely could not accept.

Ryo's DNA matched the one given by Sakayanagi Shigemori.

If Kiyotaka Ayanokouji is currently the most important person in the White Room, then Ryo is the second most important person. As the central figure of the plan, he is involved with half of the fourth generation and all of the fifth generation.

Compared to the White Room Project, personal connections with the Kitagawa family were less important.

"It's really a pity..."

Sakayanagi Narumi sighed again, his own feelings were somewhat complicated.

For the Kitagawa family now, what they need is a bloodline successor. As long as he is alive, even if he is an idiot, it is better than having none.

But for the Sakayanagi family, especially for Sakayanagi Narimori, it was difficult for him to accept the reality that Sakayanagi Arisu was engaged to a child in a white room. Unlike her father who had arranged the engagement, he hoped that his daughter could pursue her own happiness, especially after she recovered her health.

Before arriving at the White Room, Sakayanagi Shigemori had already made up his mind. As someone who knew some of the inside stories of the White Room, he understood the children who grew up in the White Room very well.

Excluding the first three failed phases, starting from the fourth phase, Ayanokoji Atsuomi inadvertently began a rather horrific behaviorist psychology experiment that was tantamount to brainwashing, based on his own suggestion.

If the other person is still alive, he would most likely ask to take the child out of the white room, hoping that the child can live peacefully as a normal child under his care. This is a very risky choice.

So when Sakayanagi Narimori heard that the child who was engaged to his daughter had been eliminated, his first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief. Although this feeling was quickly overwhelmed by a surge of guilt and remorse, perhaps deep down he was genuinely happy for Arisu.

I just hope that Arisu can do what she wants to do.

As a father, Sakayanagi Narimori simply held onto this wish.

Feeling much more relaxed, Sakayanagi Narimori chatted with Ayanokoji Atsuomi for a while before hearing some news from his assistant:

Sakayanagi Arisu seems to be challenging for the top spot among the fifth generation members.

Recalling his daughter's confident words about "destroying the White Room," Sakayanagi Narumi shook his head with a smile.

Regardless, he was deeply moved by the other person's sentiment.

"Let's go and see together?"

Ayanokouji Atsuomi also wanted to take this opportunity to showcase the results of the White Room, so he took the initiative to stand up and invite her.

"no problem."

The two of them arrived together at the classroom door of the fifth cohort.

"It's chess?"

"This is a required course in the White Room. Ichika's talent should only be second to Kiyotaka."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi introduced it with a smile.

"Although Arisu has only studied chess for half a year, she is very talented, so she will win."

Sakayanagi Narimori also has great confidence in his daughter. Over the past year, as her heart gradually recovered, Sakayanagi Arisu has become more and more willing to explore the unknown, as if her mind has broadened. Chess is one of the things she does.

The two of them then turned their gazes down at the same time.

The white-haired girl and the red-haired girl each held black and white chess pieces and began to play a game.

-------------------------------------

Matching her bright hair color, this child named Ichika's chess style is equally aggressive.

Even just looking at their physique and presence, you wouldn't think the other person is a child a year younger than you.

Sakayanagi Arisu observed both the chessboard and the players at the same time.

In stark contrast to Arisu Sakayanagi's composure, Ichika's eyes gleamed with an almost fanatical desire to win.

[If Liang can defeat all his opponents, he can receive the best treatment.]

What supported her to become the number one of the fifth generation, to put it simply, was just one person.

But the burning passion vanished in the blink of an eye, and Sakayanagi Arisu quickly seized the initiative.

This was the first time Ichika had ever felt such immense pressure from anyone other than Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, not even from Takuya, who was right behind her in the class.

Calm down again and proceed with the subsequent arrangements cautiously.

Try to shake off the painful memories of past defeats and strive to keep up with the opponent's train of thought.

"—!"

After a while, Ayanokouji Atsuomi and Sakayanagi Narimori entered the room to watch the battle up close.

When Ichika inadvertently met Atsuomi Ayanokouji's gaze, her mind went completely blank.

Thanks to Albertus Stuart's experiment, the most basic education the children in the White Room received was a genuine fear of Ayanokoji Atsuomi and other high-ranking officials.

No matter what kind of education they received or how many fighting techniques they mastered, they could never throw a punch at these people.

Yi Xia knew very well that if the other party wanted to, Mei Mingliang would disappear completely like those people before her.

So she has to win now.

Only by achieving double the goals can Liang remain, forever, forever, forever, always by my side.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Ichika slowly closed her eyes and then opened them again, pressing her left hand against her chest.

Liang's illness has recently become very serious; the doctor said it's a heart problem.

Ichika once asked to listen to the other person's heartbeat with a doctor's stethoscope; it was a dull sound mixed with loud and rough noise.

The heartbeat is the sound of life.

The instructor once said this to them.

There is no literary interpretation; it is simply to tell them that the cessation of heartbeat means death.

A cold, bloated heart, like a diseased heart that's panting with every beat, and could suddenly stop beating at any moment.

The only way to restore it to health is to defeat all its opponents.

Pick up the chess pieces and regroup once again.

-------------------------------------

When I'm focused, the world seems to quiet down.

It was as if I could hear my own heart beating, even though I had listened to it countless times with a stethoscope before.

Sakayanagi Arisu enjoys the feeling of fighting with others, especially after she has recovered her health.

She liked this kind of equal competition, where no one cared about her physical condition, but only about giving it their all.

I will sabotage this plan in front of my father.

They will not lose to any child nurtured in this facility.

The heart beating steadily and powerfully within its own chest has enough strength to make such a declaration.

Chapter 91: Curiosity and childlike innocence are the most precious treasures

Nature wants children to be children before they become adults. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

-------------------------------------

Each time he was forcibly injected with the drug, Kitagawa Ryo felt as if he were drifting on a sea between reality and nightmares.

In a half-awake state, following the lines and actions set by his assistant, he greeted the visiting children with the warmest, family-like greetings.

Then, today is also the usual time for reassurance.

The person allowed into the ward this time was Yuki, who had been acting strangely ever since Kitagawa Ryo was taken away by the staff of the white room after falling into a coma that day.

Perhaps considering that the other person was still involved with half of the fourth generation, or perhaps because such a strangely behaving child could not be in the white room today, Kitagawa Ryo saw the other person again after a long time.

Yuki's situation is different from Ichika's, because the fifth generation children have always been the ones who demand love from Kitagawa Ryo. They can find a strong positive response from Kitagawa Ryo, but Yuki also has the same position as Kitagawa Ryo.