Part 134: NGAE: ~/yellow/betray/green/ally sigma\$ clover.exe
VLR OST: [Sublimity]
...
...
Phi! Can you hear me?
...
...
She didn't say anything, just stared at me with her mouth half-open. Her eyes seemed slightly glazed, and her body was unnaturally stiff.
Uh...Phi...?
I grabbed a shoulder and shook her gently.
Slowly, she raised her arm, fingers drooping limply from it.
She gestured toward the exit that lead away from the warehouse.
That way? She went out that door?
Phi's only answer was a slow, shallow nod.
Right, got it. Thanks.
I headed for the exit, then paused.
...
...
Still no response.
There was something odd about her, but catching Clover seemed like more of a priority.
I turned back around and jogged out the door, toward the treatment center.
[Music fades out]
999 OST: [Eternitybox]
I'd assumed Alice would be in the treatment center, so Clover would have gone there to find her, but...
The room was empty.
Luna and Tenmyouji were gone too.
They'd left Quark, and the readout on his pod said his vital signs were still normal.
As far as I could tell, he was still asleep.
Fine. Guess it's time to go look somewhere else.
I made my way out of the treatment center.
I can't find anybody!
Every single room is empty...
Wait...
There's still one place I haven't checked...
The infirmary!
[Music fades out]
I might as well have run into a brick wall.
My chest tightened so much I could barely breathe.
No...
What...what happened...?
I felt my whole body convulse—whether from terror or nausea, I couldn't tell.
My legs went limp, and I crumpled to the floor.
Something sticky pressed against the palm of my hand, and I looked down to see blood. A vast, warm pool of fresh blood, stretching out across the room, lapping at my legs and hands.
Why...
This can't be real...
How could...
999 OST: [Trepidation]
In the middle of the lake of blood, like an island of flesh, were bodies.
They were a bloody tangle of lifeless limbs and dead eyes, with too much blood and chaos for me to tell who was who.
Had they sliced themselves open? Or stabbed one another? I couldn't tell. All the blood...too much blood...
Whatever they'd done, it was clear what tool they'd used to do it.
A scalpel lay in the blood next to them, its handle and blade streaked with gore.
This was how they had died... This tiny blade...
...
...
It's all over... This is how it ends.
That's right...
I have to end it.
This nightmare will finally be over...
Time to...wake up...
I lifted it slowly, carefully, to my neck, as if someone were guiding my hand with theirs...
...
...
...And drew it across my throat.
VLR OST: [Virtue's Last Reward (Piano)]
Sometimes you kinda get the impression that certain elements in the plot of VLR are the way they are just so certain story branches can be kept manageable in length. And then everyone got Radical-6 and died. THE END.
Been a while since the last time everyone died, hasn't it?
We may only have a third of the endings, but we're past two thirds done with the game by my estimation.
Yeeeep.
Incidentally, it took a while but we've finally seen some incorrect Plot Lock Speculation. A couple of people wondered, after finding out about the Neostigmine shot, whether we could use it for Lock #3 (Five Minutes of Life). The theory is sound, but no-one explored the Treatment Center in that branch, so there's no Neostigmine to take.
Another line filled in. Where to next?
cd ~/magenta/ally/red
After successfully allying with Luna, go through the Red door with Alice and Clover
cd ~/magenta/ally/blue
After successfully allying with Luna, go through the Blue door with Alice and K
cd ~/yellow/ally/green
After being betrayed by Tenmyouji, go through the Green door with Clover and Quark
cd ~/yellow/ally/blue
After being betrayed by Tenmyouji, go through the Blue door with Clover and Tenmyouji
cd ~/yellow/betray/green/betray
Betray Quark after escaping the Treatment Center
cd ~/cyan/betray/blue
After successfully betraying Alice, reject Alice's suggestion and insist on taking the Blue door with Luna and Alice
cd ~/cyan/betray/green
After successfully betraying Alice, reject Alice's suggestion and insist on taking the Green door with Luna and Clover[/i]