#90: 90 - A Certain Scientist’s Recording Log — An Ordinary Recruit's Monster Life (WN)

Ah, ah—… mic test, mic test.

Yeah, it’s fine… it’s fine, right?

Budget constraints mean the gear’s a bit old… but spend too much and I can’t afford to live.

Honestly, war is one thing, but can’t someone do something about certain prices skyrocketing?

Even this room is… no, no—getting old makes me gripe too much.

Ah, the manual, the manual—wait, this is the wrong one.

What now…? Oh, but it’s the same series, so maybe it’ll work?

Yeah, yeah, this will do.

Hah… so that’s how the newer models are.

Nice that the controls are easier… oh, that feature isn’t on mine.

Maybe I should’ve forced it and brought the new rig… the picture’s supposed to be prettier, too.

Ah, if only I could’ve used the same studio as last time… but things never go how you want.

Okay, the script, the script… better check it just in case.

Right, all good.

Prep complete—then let’s start filming… hmm, after a drink of water.

“Now then—if you’re watching this, it means you’ve successfully acquired cells from the second subject. First, my compliments—congratulations. You likely remember the first recording already, so let me speak about my objective. It’s a very simple motive. Why did I do this? In a word: ‘revenge.’ The gene-modification technology was originally developed and tested by me. But someone made off with it. The result was military application, and thus monsters like you were born… Naturally, there were many failures and casualties. I wouldn’t have made such mistakes, but the youngster who stole my work found it a bit too heavy a load. To hide those failures, they spawned the so-called ‘Ultimate Lifeform Project’ from the altered tech. A laughable plan chasing a ‘strongest creature,’ and I intended to make it collapse. So I made one tweak to you lot. Simply put: those produced by the Genetically Enhanced Soldier Project can retain human reason for at most five years. That’s a projection—individual variance exists, but I’ll assert it won’t be exceeded by much. Environment and behavior also affect it, so assume a minimum of about one year. Since you’re being thrown into war, I expect you to lose reason and rampage around a year after deployment. When that happens, who’ll be sent against you? Fellow subjects, of course. This message is for the ones who kept devouring such berserk subjects. If you’ve seen hell, you should act just as I envisioned. One way or another, the thief will be punished. Ideally, if someone among you delivers the coup de grâce, it will prove the original technology is superior… but I’m not counting on it. It was my technology to begin with—then over-specced. I also gave you a perk: the more fellow subjects you eat, the more abilities you’ll awaken. So in terms of capability, it isn’t impossible… but, well, it’ll be hard. That about covers it—ah, one more thing… Even if you’ve shed your human form, if you wish to live on without losing a human heart, watch the third recording. I truly hope the day comes when we meet again.”

Phew, done and done.

I’ll have to check later to make sure it actually recorded.

Ah—this water hits the spot.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I talked this much.

What was that promise about “paying enough for you to live easy for life,” huh?

They cut me off after an advance that wouldn’t last ten years!

Thanks to that, even getting back into research work is hard!

And what’s this “we can take you for odd jobs” nonsense!

I had no money, so of course I had to nod along!

Damn it, if I was going to blow the whistle, I should’ve planned it better… botched that one.

Well, if I pull this off, that punk will at best be disgraced.

I should get a request to return to my post, too.