Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1822 - 1820: Dolly

In the research lab, a girl dressed in black surgical clothes is undergoing an examination.

Although he doesn’t know her name, Fang Zheng can tell by her appearance and hair.

This must be...

"I see, a clone of Misaka Mikoto?"

"That’s right."

Looking at the girl in front of him, Shihou Souki lowered her voice. Fang Zheng touched his chin, glanced at Shihou Souki, and said nothing.

The clone before them is named "Dolly," the first clone of Misaka Mikoto. She looks older than Misaka Mikoto and Shihou Souki at that time, resembling a middle school student. That’s no surprise, as she is a clone, having matured quickly through drug acceleration. Because of this, Dolly’s health is quite poor, even requiring instruments implanted in her body to prolong her life.

At first glance, it seems like a humane act, but Fang Zheng is well aware that the scientists chose to extend Dolly’s life not out of pity for this child. Instead, they are searching for her life limits, aiming to know how long her vital signs can last under the present system by subjecting her to various drug reactions, which is effectively a search for extremes kind of experiment.

During this time, Dolly also made a friend—not Shihou Souki, but a black-haired girl called "Little Mi" by Dolly.

Their relationship was great; they were often seen playing and laughing together.

"So that girl named Little Mi is so close to Dolly..."

Seeing this, Shihou Souki seemed a bit displeased.

"What’s wrong? You look as if you’ve witnessed your wife’s first love."

"No, nothing..."

Upon Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Shihou Souki shot him an irritating glance, withdrawing her gaze.

"I just think your ability is truly incredible, being able to completely recreate past scenes."

"Everything records history and time."

Although he understood Shihou Souki wanted to change the subject, Fang Zheng didn’t mind.

"Even a stone leaves behind memories, and so does this building."

As he spoke, the scene persisted, and eventually, the unforeseen happened.

One day, when "Little Mi" went to find Dolly to play, she unintentionally discovered the secret of the machines buried within Dolly’s body, which clearly shocked her.

"I see... is this it?"

Upon seeing this, Shihou Souki muttered to herself with an expression of realization.

In the following days, "Little Mi" didn’t appear again, causing Dolly great distress, thinking her friend had left after learning of her true physical condition. But Fang Zheng and Shihou Souki, who witnessed everything from start to finish, knew this wasn’t the case.

The truth was, after "Little Mi" noticed something amiss with Dolly’s body, she secretly used her ability to steal the lab’s data records. Her furious discovery of the truth of the "Misaka Mikoto Clone Legion plan" led her to confront the institute’s authorities, demanding an end to the plan and Dolly’s release. Instead, she was subdued by institute personnel and sent to the Juvenile Reformatory under the guise of "attempting to use her ability to attack researchers."

Thus, "Little Mi" couldn’t visit Dolly anymore.

With the loss of "Little Mi," Dolly suffered a huge blow, and thus...

"I made my appearance."

Watching her younger self appear before Dolly, Shihou Souki seemingly returned to that bygone era.

The researchers hoped Shihou Souki would use her "Mental Grasp" ability to alter Dolly’s memory, making her mistake Shihou for "Little Mi." As long as "Little Mi" lived on, Dolly’s mental state would remain stable. Indeed, from the surface, Shihou Souki’s mental manipulation succeeded.

Afterward, Dolly consistently mistook Shihou Souki for "Little Mi," happily spending time with her. However, being a clone, Dolly couldn’t last long. Eventually, Dolly collapsed one day, and feeling her time nearing its end, she finally dropped the pretense and asked Shihou Souki her real name.

At that moment, Shihou Souki realized Dolly had been subtly aware that she wasn’t "Little Mi."

That was their final meeting.

"This should do."

Watching Dolly being wheeled out of the room before her, Shihou Souki spoke with a voice seemingly constrained, while Fang Zheng snapped his fingers, causing everything to disappear, restoring it to normal.

I understand. This explains why she doesn’t see eye to eye with Misaka Mikoto.

Observing Shihou Souki, who clenched her fists firmly, biting her lip as if enduring something, Fang Zheng squinted. Clearly, with Shihou Souki’s ability, she couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the truth. For Shihou Souki, had Misaka Mikoto not foolishly provided her DNA map, Dolly wouldn’t have been born, nor suffered such agony, although Shihou Souki knew Misaka Mikoto was also a victim of the plan.

Yet seeing Misaka Mikoto in Tokiwadai, living a carefree life, making lots of friends, completely unaware of Dolly’s existence and fate... well, it seemed quite reasonable that Shihou Souki, as Dolly’s friend, disliked Misaka Mikoto.

Damn, Arestar keeps causing me trouble; all he leaves behind are messes!

"Alright, though I want to say I’m deeply sorry, but... hmm, I have one more thing to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Dolly isn’t dead."

"...Ha?"

Shocked by Fang Zheng’s words, Shihou Souki widened her eyes at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you know what the main purpose of the Misaka clone project was?"

"...If I remember correctly, it seems to be the Misaka Network."

"Correct."

Fang Zheng snapped his fingers.

"However, Dolly alone cannot form a network. As the initial experimental subject, Dolly’s purpose besides allowing those idiots to study the survival limits of clones, was to ensure the smooth realization of the Misaka Network. After all, if the cloned Misaka Mikoto lacked the Misaka Network, then the experiment would also be a failure."

"Wait, so you mean..."

Upon hearing this, Shihou Souki’s eyes widened in surprise, and Fang Zheng nodded.

"That’s right. Dolly has a sister... Well, strictly speaking, it’s also a clone, created to confirm whether the Misaka Network exists. But unlike Dolly, her sister has always been in an incubation state, without self-awareness. By the way, the data of the Misaka Network is shared... Do you understand what I mean now?"

"So you mean... Dolly is still alive? Living inside her sister?"

Shihou Souki, being a Mental Manipulator, immediately grasped this. Indeed, upon recalling earlier scenes, Dolly and "Little Mi" were playing together, and Dolly indeed mentioned what would happen with her "sister" regarding her experiments."

"Strictly speaking, it should be considered Dolly’s backup. According to the results I just investigated through Ratziel, Dolly is located in a certain research facility."

Fang Zheng shook the book "Ratziel" in his hand, while Shihou Souki couldn’t help but look at the book.

"Although strictly speaking, I should be recovering all the Little Misakas, but considering the scenes we just saw... Well, I can make an exception and not recover this Little Misaka."

Oh, Arestar, you wretch, not only did you miss the Last Order, but you also didn’t give me one prototype. Haha, lucky you’re dead early, or I’d definitely drag you out and burn you again.

"...So, what’s your condition?"

Hearing this, Shihou Souki looked at Fang Zheng and asked, while Fang Zheng chuckled.

"Remember what I told you last time we met?"

"Last time?"

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s question, Shihou Souki was momentarily stunned, her expression quickly changing.

"Wait, you mean..."

"Although there were reasons, I’m a man who keeps his word. You dared to alter my little girl’s memory? I think I need to punish you a bit."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng grabbed Shihou Souki, hoisting her sideways under his arm.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"To deal with disobedient children, they need a proper lesson."

As Fang Zheng spoke, he raised his right hand and forcefully slapped on the perfectly rounded buttocks.

"Smack!"

"Yaa!!"

Feeling the burning pain on her buttocks, Shihou Souki screamed, yet Fang Zheng showed no sign of stopping.

"You can shout, but even if you scream till your voice breaks, no one will come to save you."

With that, Fang Zheng slapped again.

"Smack!"

"Yaa!!"

"Smack, smack, smack!!!"

"Ah---! It hurts, it hurts..."

Poor Shihou Souki, already quite fragile, had never been spanked so mercilessly before, and she was desperately wriggling her body to break free. However, Fang Zheng’s left hand was like iron, giving Shihou Souki no chance at all. Gradually, Shihou Souki felt her buttocks starting to burn with pain...

"Wait, wait! Stop it!"

At this moment, Shihou Souki’s expression changed dramatically, frantically struggling.

"I know I was wrong, I won’t dare to do it again, let me go, quickly, I’m begging you!"

"Hehe."

Upon hearing Shihou Souki’s plea, Fang Zheng chuckled, then raised his right hand again and slapped down.

"Smack!"

"Ah---!"

Fang Zheng paused for a moment and turned his head, only to see Shihou Souki glaring at him with utter humiliation and anger.

The next moment, she lunged at him with claws bared.

"I’ll fight you to the end!!!"