Author's Note
It is the gray world's past that Jin will never know. Since it's just text, it's probably harder to read than usual. Since it is entirely based on setting materials, it will not affect you at all if you don't read it.
Later, I will post an introduction to the characters.
Report from a researcher
Today, one of our research group's research topics came to an end.
The theme was "Designer's Children Third Stage."
The Designer Children are children that use genetic manipulation to alter the characteristics of children before they are born. It is an act tantamount to God bestowing talents (gifts) on children before they are born.
The first stage strengthened the body's functions, and the second stage strengthened the brain. Both were such a success that the third stage aimed to create children who would specialize in artistic fields such as music or art, or technical fields such as cooking or architecture.
Unlike previous research into physical abilities and intelligence, it was unclear how to manipulate the genes, and research took a long time. However, with the help of the children in the second stage who had enhanced their brains, they were somehow able to give it shape this time. The subjects in this study were 512 men and 512 women, for a total of 1,024 people. It's the director's preference that the number of subjects always be a power of two.
In the future, members will likely be transferred to the Resurrection of the Dead research, which is being conducted in parallel.
Notes from a researcher
Recently, someone calling herself a goddess sent a message to the whole world.
The message was, "Humanity has encroached too far into God's domain. Therefore, this world has been discarded as a failure." It is true that there is a religion called Goddessism in this world, but there is no record of a Goddess descending from heaven in recorded history. It has existed solely as a religion.
In the Goddess Religion, Resurrection of the Dead and Life Manipulation are considered to be divine domains that should not be touched, and believers of the Goddess Religion have repeatedly warned against this. However, this did not stop the researchers from trying. When researchers are told that something is "no good" or "impossible," it makes them want to try new things. The result will likely be the destruction of the world. It is ironic that research aimed at the advancement of humanity will destroy it.
The goddess left an angel in this world and began erasing the world. A wall is approaching from the edge of this world. Anyone who touches this wall will be wiped out, without exception. All interference was meaningless, and the nations trembled in fear. The wall came to be called the Wall of Destruction.
Some went to the angel left behind to beg for forgiveness, but without exception they were killed. Though it is called an angel, that is only in appearance; its actions are no different from those of a demon lord. The angel create a creature called Hollow Beast, who brings destruction to this world.
Research has shown that the more destroyed an object is in contact with the Wall of Destruction, the faster the wall of the world advances. It's like chewing food well before eating to aid digestion. Therefore, the Wall of Destruction is the stomach and Hollow Beast is the teeth. And we are the food. Don't be ridiculous.
Notes from a researcher
We have relocated our research lab and is currently researching the survival of the world, but things are not going well.
All weapons and arms in this world are ineffective against the Hollow Beasts. The same goes for the angel. The progression of the Wall of Destruction cannot even be slowed, and humanity's living space is becoming increasingly smaller.
Not only that, it also became clear that there was a frightening side to the destruction of the world: every bit of information in this world was disappearing. Near the Wall of Destruction, all kinds of memories, records, and information begin to disappear. Now, all the paper books near the Wall of Destruction are blank, all electronic memory has lost all function, and self-driving cars are useless.
The scary thing about this loss of information is that it is happening faster than the Wall of Destruction. And unlike the Wall of Destruction, which disappears instantly, information is gradually lost. The material that loses information turns gray and loses all functionality.
Even humans are no exception to this loss of information. The memories and emotions of people near the Wall of Destruction are gradually being eroded. Recently, one of the researchers who was conducting research near the collapsed wall disappeared, turning gray. He had recently been complaining that he was becoming increasingly forgetful. When the other researchers saw this, they frantically stopped their research and returned home.
It seems the Goddess doesn't want us to leave anything for the future. This diary will probably become blank eventually, but there is no point not leaving it behind as a record.
If there is nothing that can be done about the Wall of Destruction, Hollow Beasts, or the Goddess, then from now on the focus will likely shift to how to preserve humanity.
Notes from a researcher
It has taken a long time, but we finally have a way to preserve humanity. It may be a last-ditch effort, but it's better than doing nothing.
The method was an extremely violent one, which entailed extracting the information before it could be stolen. Although the collapse of the world cannot be stopped, this is an attempt to prevent it from disappearing due to the loss of information.
It erases a lot of information from people, including memories, and dilutes as much of the information they have as possible, making them less susceptible to the effects of information loss. It means abandoning what it means to be human and becoming something that can be easily blown away by the wind. Does this mean that we are preserving humanity? There were doubts about this, but as mentioned above, it was decided to carry it out because it was better than doing nothing.
There was a problem here: the device to extract the information required aptitude. Many people were not suited to the job, and the only ones who were suited were the 1,024 people from the Designer's Children Third Stage.
We took information from them as hope for the future. There were some powerless gray children there. For the sake of convenience, I'll call them Graymen. It's a fitting nickname for a resident of this world that will be tinted gray from now on.
I intend to think of ways to preserve humanity other than becoming a Grayman, but there is no doubt that this will be difficult. It would have been nice to have children from the second stage of the Designer Children, but they disappeared quite early on due to information loss. Apparently, because they had a lot of information, they were more affected by the information loss than others. I feel really sorry for what I did to them.
And to the Graymen too.
At a rough estimate, the chances of the Graymen being saved are zero. They may live longer than us, but there will be no salvation in their lives.
Having lost their information, they live much longer than normal humans. Since there is no degradation of information, the only way for death to occur is through external factors.
However, they cannot have children, and even if they survive, they can only survive until the world collapses. Even if the collapse of the world were to stop for some reason, they would have no way of returning to normal life on their own. Even if we left a device behind, it would be useless due to the loss of information.
It's completely clogged.
There is no savior who can solve everything.
A being with the power to save the Graymen from a doomed world and return them to their original form. Even if there was one, what chance would such a convenient being be willing to lend a hand to the Graymen, who doesn't even speak the same language? It would not be wrong to say 0.
I have no God to pray to, but right now all I can do is wish. I wish the Graymen all the best for the future.
Author's Note
Jin smoothly breaks through the Goddess's taboo.