Friedrich muttered.
Though the torso was human, the flapping paper doll head finally looked squarely at the surroundings.
At the cabinet's bottom lay a massive mountain.
It was formed by torn, ruined paper dolls—discarded dolls with black eyes, red cheeks, orange faces, all identically plain.
Thousands, tens of thousands of dolls with missing limbs and half-faces, too incomplete to enter heaven.
The hymn of marching dolls echoed from outside the cabinet.
• "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace."
Friedrich began climbing the paper mountain.
Below his feet were sighs, sobs, and the voices of children praying for atonement.
At the summit of the paper mountain lay someone similarly incomplete and useless merely by existence.
Paper fragments fluttered incessantly. The half-body did not move.
As Friedrich approached with only a step left, the figure moved its cloudy green eyes to the left.
Their eyes met briefly.
Friedrich spoke first.
"I've never heard of a dead person causing an anomaly. Were you alive?"
The remnants of Raimund could only watch with his fluttering paper doll head.
The light head tilted to one side as if deep in thought.
Indeed, Friedrich was thinking.
He kneeled. The black-gloved hand lifted Raimund's head.
The torso, connected to the mountain of broken paper dolls, was torn away, unable to bear gravity.
Creaking bones detached from joints, nerves and spine dropping.
Friedrich barely gathered Raimund's mushy grey matter and tucked it under his arm.
"This will be a valuable sample. Better to take at least this."
Since Raimund's body was nearly gone, taking only his head was most efficient.
Muttering so, Friedrich slid down the paper slope, covered in all sorts of bodily fluids.
Having secured the corpse, he planned to follow the Federation's orders to find the core "impression" constituting the anomaly.
But just as his light paper head fluttered noisily with growing speed—
—Kyaa! Garururuk!
Hearing the noise, he looked up to see intact paper dolls willingly jumping into the cabinet.
Each expressionless face had a bright red crayon smile drawn as if torn apart.
Cheerful hymn-singing dolls poured over Friedrich's head all at once.
"Catch! Catch! Ca■! Catch! Catch! Catch! Catch! Catch! Catch! ■a⸮ Catch! Catch! ⧞a! Catch! ≸a¿ Catch⸮⸮! ⧞a! Catch∲∲! ■■! ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■"
"Crazy!"
Friedrich raised an arm to block the ruthless pouring dolls but was swept away by the sharp tide down the mountain.
His arm, cut by paper, burned fiercely. Laughter echoed from all directions. "Caught, caught, caught, don't go, caught, caught…" endlessly.
At that moment, he grabbed something and pulled.
With a loud bang, he faintly saw the black door shake precariously beyond his vision,
and his world turned upside down.
Red flashing ceiling.
Pain from his numb head made him blink his blue eyes open.
"Mr. Friedrich! Are you okay? Did something happen inside?"
"Huh?"
A fierce force lifted him up.
Friedrich staggered, eyes fixed on the still alarming autopsy room door.
He hadn't wanted to leave, so why was he outside the anomaly?
Confused as if forcibly expelled, Friedrich glanced at what he carried under his arm.
"Cosette."
"Yes?"
"This person seems alive."
He suddenly pushed the poorly conditioned head before her.
Cosette stared blankly, then checked the corrosion rate on her wrist device.
She muttered,
"You haven't lost your mind already, have you?"
Friedrich, final erosion rate 14%.
The attempt to secure the image of anomaly No. 101 failed.
It was something that could happen with an anomaly rated as dangerous, but for such a small-scale anomaly, it was almost unheard of.
Friedrich was still rubbing his numb back of the head, receiving Cosette's touch without resistance.
"What's the day today?"
"Damn Wednesday."
"What's your name?"
"Friedrich Payne."
"Occupation?"
"Do you want me to give even the fake identity? That's quite a lot."
"Fortunately, it's normal. Current erosion rate stopped at 14%. First exploration took 8 minutes 32 seconds. How's the interior?"
"It looked like a crude theater formed from a typical childhood trauma pattern.
There didn't seem to be any objects particularly hostile to the 'guest'. But that doesn't mean it lacks an inherent urge to destroy."
Friedrich was still trying to dispel the vivid 'smack' sound ringing in his ears.
This anomaly tended to be very aggressive toward anything intruding from outside, other than elements it had accepted as its own.
But the space Friedrich had just entered wasn't only hostile to intruders; it appeared aimed at destroying every entity inside the anomaly—even the marching paper dolls.
Regardless of whether that was actually possible, such a phenomenon normally didn't occur. That was the usual case.
"The danger rating is the lowest, grade 5, expected to be Rupe."
Even though civilians could approach without injury, Rupe grade—also called 'grade 5'—is the next most dangerous after the safe rating.
Cosette sighed regretfully.
"So it wasn't a safe rating."
"If it were, my head wouldn't have exploded after entering."
"If it's not grade 4 Pesa or grade 3 Hubris, I might be able to enter alone, but going without detailed image info is a bit…"
"You're a full-time Foundation Union employee, so your life is precious, huh? Am I just pig meat used for truffle hunting?"
"That's why you were hired, but that's not what I mean. More importantly, please do something about that head. Why did you bring it out?"
Cosette pointed at the damaged head. Friedrich replied:
"It makes no sense for a non-intruding object inside an anomaly to be so intact."
"That's true, though."
"Clearly, it was connected to the anomaly itself. The anomaly in the autopsy room is somewhat different from others.
Why it's different, how it's different, and whether it's an anomaly caused by the Red Witches' intention—this needs a detailed investigation—"
Cosette, who had been speaking rapidly with barely any pause between words, raised a hand and gently tapped the in-ear device in her ear.
After briefly furrowing her brow to listen, she shook her head.
"That won't be possible. Three minutes ago, reinforcements arrived at the research building entrance."