CH 20.2

“Regardless, the second floor always has enough quotas for deaths. Lone Wolf’s wouldn’t be a bother.” The Chief Physician softens his tone and changes the topic, “for now, at least, we are sure… that Lunatic will not die.”

“Huh?” Butcher is surprised at the conclusion.

“He has been improving. At that speed, he’d probably be mentally normal by the time he’s released.”

“So, by bringing things to a conclusion, Jiang Yiyi… cured Lunatic, and killed Lone Wolf?”

The Physician shakes his head, “Lunatic is recovering on his own. Lone Wolf committed suicide. What does any of that have to do with Jiang Yiyi?”

Butcher turns his head once more towards his direction in shock.

“What, you have proof otherwise?”

“We all know…”

“That he leaves no traces behind.” He reminds Butcher, “therefore, if you don’t want him to pay attention to you, remember this. These developments had nothing to do with Jiang Yiyi.”

“What happens to people he pay attention to…” The Chief Physician motions towards the cell behind them, “is probably far from good.”

“Then everything you said before…” Butcher is confused now.

“Just a routine check on your condition.” The Chief Physician looks at the time, “the evaluation personnel should be wanting me soon. I’ll be going.”

The Physician really couldn’t care less that another prisoner is dead——This happens more often than one might think. Instead, what is concerning is the possibility of the Coordinators themselves being affected.

The talk he just had with Butcher, where he repeatedly pushed questions and communicated sharply, was part of a procedure.

Here, Butcher, the de facto leader in charge of the second floor, and the Chief Physician, nominally neutral and uninvolved in the affairs of managing the floor, are actually in a mutually supervisory position.

They are both partners, and also keeps tabs on the other.

“That’s all.” The Chief Physician, lazily leaning back into his chair, has finished his summary of events thus far to the evaluation personnel.

The personnel is made up of two unremarkable young adults, the kind that would not draw any attention simply walking among the crowds. They are dressed in exactly the same prison officer attire; save for a small badge on the collar that designates them as Observers.

“A form of bias…” One of them says, deep in thought, “without affecting their mental faculties, their logic or thought processes…”

The other one, Bee, is writing things down on paper. He interjects, “given the information so far, this Jiang Yiyi is key…” He stops and looks up at the Chief Physician, “I think we will need to make contact…”

“I advise against it.” The Physician stops him, and stresses, “it’s less about investigating further; I can see that you’re more curious than inquisitory about him.”

Ei, Bee’s partner, is turning his pen and says, “I need to find out what means he employed to affect Butcher.”

“I must strongly advise you against doing so.” The Physician repeats, “it is… far too dangerous.”

Bee is writing again, “but also intriguing, is it not?”

He writes a small mark next to the name of Jiang Yiyi, then looks up at the Chief Physician with a smile, “everyone is curious what buried secrets this perfect record is hiding.”

“If you insist, then fine, I’ll submit a special report to the Warden.” The Chief Physician has no such curiosity——He can probably make the same case for Butcher as well.

Anyone who has ever interacted with Jiang Yiyi will no doubt make the right decision.

Ei stops spinning his pen, scrutinising the man’s expression, “you appear to have reached a conclusion already.”

“Although he is already on the third floor, his danger far surpasses that.” The Physician is adamant, “by the Rules of Coordinators, all matters below the fifth floor are handled separately. All unrelated Coordinators are not to investigate or otherwise establish any contact with said matters.”

Bee, meanwhile, is still writing and interjecting, “don’t be so uptight. And if you insist, we will certainly refrain from involving ourselves. Our mission this time is only a special evaluation for Butcher per your request.”

“Speaking of whom, let us move on; back to him.” Ei is spinning his pen once again, “we have reviewed footage of conversation and contact between Butcher and Jiang Yiyi… there was nothing suspicious.”

The Chief Physician is not surprised at all. He’d be far more surprised if they actually found anything suspicious.

“Now, the question is simple. Either Butcher did inexplicably develop an excessive amount of goodwill towards this prisoner, causing a bias…” Ei pauses, then smiles, baring his teeth a little, “or, Jiang Yiyi is an Extraordinary.”

“An Extraordinary?” The Chief Physician has not heard of this before, “what do you mean by that?”

“You need not know that.” Bee finally looks away from his paper to say, “in this case, it simply means he is not your typical human.”

“Not your typical human?” The Physician is astonished, “like a superhuman? An evolved subspecies? Those kinds of sci-fi concepts the Internet likes to talk about?”

“Telling you more would be against the rules.”

Ei packs up the data they have got and stands up, overlooking the Physician, “although we haven’t confirmed Jiang Yiyi’s circumstances in person yet, most Extraordinaries are the same.”

Bee follows right after Ei.

“When you gaze into the abyss, so too does the abyss gaze right back at you.”

“Perhaps, Jiang Yiyi didn’t even do anything to Butcher. It is only that…” Ei turns his head back at the Chief Physician with his hand on the door handle, “Butcher fixated on him too much.”

“Wait…” The Physician is not sure what sort of implication he’s making. It sounds outlandish, ridiculous, but he can’t help but mention something else.

“Butcher isn’t the one who has their eyes on him the most compared to others…”

The Chief Physician recalls many fleeting shadows in his memories. Butcher is only as interested in Jiang Yiyi as he is in other troublemakers. Beside him, though, other prisoners and even prison officers pay far more attention than Butcher does to Jiang Yiyi.

Ei winks at him, “I see. Well then, a hearty godspeed to them.”

The Chief Physician appears aghast.

Bee pats Ei on the shoulder, “stop teasing him. They’re a far stiffer bunch than us. Prod him along too much and a report is all that lies between us and a scolding.”

Then Bee stops smiling, and promises, “we will take over from here.”

Ei shrugs, “us Observers don’t just evaluate Coordinators. Actually, you can say our most important job is evaluating which floor a prisoner should be in, given their level of threat.”

“Assuming that Jiang Yiyi is an Extraordinary…” Ei finally pushes the door handle open, “it is certainly bad to leave a predator freely prowling a harmless kiddie pool.”