Chapter 19

Eliza was waiting for Anji in the virtual space she had created. However, his arrival turned out to be… unexpected. After being transferred into the space, Anji was in a state of hysteria. He was crying and laughing at the same time, curled up on the floor in a fetal position. Right now, he was helpless, but any attempt at interaction might be met with open aggression.

The space was modeled by Eliza after her childhood room—a design meant to put patients at ease in a familiar, comforting environment. Flowers and plush toys surrounded them. Now, she needed to draw Anji’s attention to herself, and her parents’ piano was perfect for that.

Sitting down at the grand piano, she began playing a melody to match the mood—the boy needed a calm, relaxed atmosphere. But his reaction was once again unexpected.

"I despise you—women. I despise you with my entire being," the boy now stood, glaring at her with fury. "Weak, stupid, cunning, cruel, merciless, ready to betray anyone to get what you want. I will never cooperate with you, befriend you, or love you. I despise you."

"I think there’s been an unfortunate misunderstanding—" But before she could continue, the boy muted the audio and initiated the log-out sequence.

Little brat! Throws insults and runs away! Well, it didn’t matter—she was the one who controlled the space, and as the therapist, she had the right to impose restrictions: no more than two hours per day and no more than thirty hours per month. Still, the fact that the boy had engaged at all was progress.

When summoned again, Anji immediately muted the audio and sat facing the corner. For the entire two hours, he didn’t react to anything. There was no sense of fatigue here, which meant he was likely browsing the net through the capsule interface. Only after this realization did Eliza cut off his access to the infonet. So someone was watching us—probably Vaalsi and his schemes again.

Anji didn’t react to the disconnection. There was time to think. The boy had arrived in a state of hysteria straight from the game, but his hatred toward women was strange. No one had ever noted such behavior in him before. Abuse? Unlikely. Anger? Psychological trauma? What’s the cause? With the infonet locked, there was no way to check what he had been doing all this time. But the answer was definitely out there—in Chrysalis.

After two hours, he was forcibly ejected from the personal room.

"Moro, book the same time tomorrow for another session with Anji Ganet. Same reason."

"Acknowledged."