Fortune Cookie (1)
"So, you're saying everyone's gathering here now?"
"Yeah."
"... Right now?"
"Not right now, but soon."
I stared blankly at Nadia, who had entered my room before I even got up and was already settled in. Her cheeks were puffed because her mouth was stuffed with bread.
For some reason, the setup felt familiar, and I couldn't shake off a sense of déjà vu. Normally, I wake up when someone enters, but maybe my body recognized it was Nadia and decided not to wake up. When I saw her as soon as I opened my eyes, I had jumped in surprise.
I was about to stretch while returning Carry's morning greeting but paused. Even after a good night's sleep, the feeling of a bruise on my chest hadn't completely disappeared.
Naturally, I tried to lower my arm quietly when I felt a sharp gaze coming from somewhere. It was Nadia, who had just gulped down her bread.
"Stop."
"..."
At my magical command, Nadia flinched and stopped moving. Even her tail jumped and froze, bent awkwardly.
Seeing Nadia's green eyes trying to move slyly, I hissed to make her freeze.
"Take your hand out of my belt pouch. My body's just a bit sore—it's nowhere near needing medicine."
"If you're hurt, you need to take medicine."
"Don't you know how tough my body is?"
"I do."
"Right, you know. But how do you know?"
"I checked while you were sleeping."
"...."
It wasn't the answer I had been expecting, and I was taken aback for a moment. I thought she'd say it was based on seeing me using my strength day-to-day.
Again, something felt off, but I decided to let it go. We didn't have much time before everyone arrived.
Not wanting to greet people in my disheveled state, I snatched some bread away from Nadia, and she stared with wide eyes as if to say 'You're taking it again...!'
I quickly pushed the whining Nadia aside and even drank some water efficiently.
I washed up quickly to regain my humanity, and before long, familiar faces entered my room. Carrot, Celestia, and Eric—three people in total.
Originally, Licorice was part of this group, but she never woke up in the morning—not even with threats of a knife. Automatic absence. She was nocturnal, anyway.
With just three more people, the room suddenly felt crowded. My room wasn't that large to begin with.
"Why did we gather here instead of at the meeting room from last time?"
"Because you're hurt. Eric helped, too—it wouldn't be right to make the patient move."
"I'm really not that hurt. I'm almost back to normal at this point."
"That's a relief. But we still can't use the meeting room. It's going to be converted into a lab now. Actually, it's already being changed."
Celestia gave a gentle morning smile. Seeing Carrot nodding beside her, it seemed like he had requested the lab. Frankly, there weren't many people who could have.
"A lab, huh."
Even though he probably stayed up until late examining samples, Carrot still looked precise, almost obsessively neat. That triggered memories of something he had said before.
Carrot had insisted we needed a lab in case the Titan escape took longer than expected. His request being granted likely meant our time to escape or get rescued from the ice satellite had been pushed back.
Unless the Earth government brought in the military to purge all of Titan, there were limits to how many mutants we could handle. Time was not on our side.
As time passed, the enemies would likely undergo fewer mutations and grow stronger, while what we could do remained limited. But doing nothing was impossible. The lab was the first step.
We wouldn't be able to unearth grand secrets like a properly equipped formal research facility, but if we could learn anything, that would be enough to serve its purpose.
Fear comes from the unknown. Not knowing makes it impossible to gauge risk. Vague, imagined threats feel much larger than they actually are.
That's why we had to learn bit by bit through observation. To reduce uncertainty and seize the future we hoped for.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"We need to go to the residential area."
"... What?"
I whipped my head up, startled by what seemed out of nowhere. I couldn't hide my confusion. I understood that making a lab meant we'd need equipment—and that we might need to go out to get it.
But going to the residential area, of all places? Not some other Heaven facility? What could possibly be left there that we needed?
I remembered vividly the moment I escaped that place. The former residents had turned into monsters roaming the streets, the security robots couldn't tell friend from foe and massacred everyone. The cradle that once embraced those dreaming of hopeful futures under the starlit sky was no longer.
That was due to pureblood supremacist bombings and the mutant organisms that had overtaken the residential area. I even remembered the broadcast stating not just the system but all facilities were down.
In a way, the residential area could be even more dangerous than Heaven. The population it was designed for was several times higher, and the zone wasn't as tightly isolated as Heaven. Broad quarantine zones meant exponentially more enemies.
In the waste disposal area, we managed to repel a ghoul horde thanks to laser devices, but the residential area had nothing like that. At best, we'd only be able to deal with a handful at a time.
As I frowned, Celestia hurriedly explained.
"To be precise, we need to recover a shielding device from the residential area. Hyun-woo, you said it yourself—it's odd that mining byproducts keep showing up."
"I did."
It wasn't strange that the waste processing zone engine was still working—a stroke of luck that the ghouls weren't drawn by its noise, perhaps.
But something constantly pouring out of an exhaust port was odd. If it had just been scrap parts, I might have let it go, but it was mining byproducts—ore with metal content—that drew my attention.
Here, at the Blue Crystal deposit, mining operations couldn't be automated. The Blue Crystal's emissions would disrupt circuits, so automation like in the waste zone wasn't possible.
Advances in coating tech meant systems could withstand the interference a bit longer, but SSTC hadn't applied that to the mining zone. Even before the incident, we had always worked the shafts manually.
"So that's why the technician and I tried to unlock the system at dawn. Most sections were so heavily damaged that even with my clearance, I couldn't lift the lock—the security was that tight. We made little progress."
The "technician" must refer to Licorice. She'd said not to mention her name, so we called her 'the technician'.
"We managed to get this one photo near the mining zone."
Celestia shared the photo she and Licorice had retrieved. A blurred hologram popped up. The quality was terrible—which, in this day and age, was surprising.
Eric explained it had been enlarged a lot and the lens was already damaged, so the picture had degenerated.
I found the scene oddly familiar. Then, realization dawned—I knew exactly where this was. I wasn't alone; Nadia's widened eyes met mine.
"Hyun-woo, this place..."
"Yeah. In front of Shaft 1. No doubt."
"Then those in the photo must be pureblood supremacists."
A large group was clustered in front of Shaft 1. Though the image was fuzzy, their weapons were clear—antiquated ballistic guns. Only the pureblood supremacists had those on Titan.
Unlike those caught up in the incident, these ones were the perpetrators, so more of them had survived. The thought that they'd wrecked my whole life made my blood boil.
Celestia confirmed our deduction.
"They are pureblood supremacists. I don't know what their goal is, but they were carrying out mining operations at the shaft."
"But I thought Shaft 1 was closed off long ago. Their goal probably isn't Blue Crystal."
If Blue Crystal was their target, they'd go for one of the later-numbered shafts, or hit the refinery directly—it'd be easier. Nadia nodded, her tail swishing as if in agreement.
"Is there a chance Shaft 1 connects to some other underground section?"
"I'm not sure. It was already closed before I started working here."
The only closure I'd witnessed was Shaft 3, blocked off when water started flooding in from below.
There were three main reasons for closing a shaft: flooding, reaching the maximum allowed depth, or Blue Crystal mining rates dropping too low. I hadn't seen any other cases.
"From what I heard, shaft 1 fell under the last two reasons—they'd gone as deep as allowed, and the mining yield was abysmal. Completely tapped out."
SSTC had closed Shaft 1 after judging it worthless. But if the pureblood supremacists were doing something there, it meant there was something we didn't know.
I asked Carrot, the most senior, if he knew anything. He shook his head; he hadn't even been on Titan for two years—he knew less than I did.
"Whatever they're after, we should probably stay out of the mining zone from now on. It's their lair now."
"So much for finding another vehicle. We still need a crane for several tasks..."
Eric folded his arms and sighed. We weren't in a position to fight the pureblood supremacists. No matter how we modified our tools, they were useless against firearms.
At this point, they could pick us off from afar. All we could do was keep the town's location hidden and stay low. That was our best option.
As Eric unfolded his arms, he addressed me carefully.
"Mr. Hyun-woo, do you remember what I said before? If it's humans, not monsters, they'll have no trouble finding this place."
"So we need the shielding device?"
"Yes. The phase-one wall is finished and working. But it's just a wall—anyone determined could climb over it, and it doesn't cover the ceiling."
Now that we knew how many supremacists survived, we had to upgrade our defenses. They had superior gear and multiple shuttles.
To protect the town, and survive until rescue or escape was possible, we needed more defenses. The surest answer was to erect a shielding barrier.
The shielding device we managed to obtain was missing its core component—a part not available through Level 1 Store. Even with a Level 3 authorization board, you could never get one—being a specialized technology, it was strictly controlled.
The only way was to get another shielding device, and the only place to get one was the residential area.
I found myself agreeing with Eric's point. If the supremacists came for us, we had no way to resist.
"But..."
It was this one thing that gnawed at me. Did I really have to go back into hell itself? I felt certain we needed to, but putting everyone else at risk was what made me hesitate.
"If we repair the shielding device, defending the town should be much easier."
"That's true..."
Licorice could contribute her security robots to the next exploration team. That'd bolster not just our defenses but our overall capacity.
"And I'm not saying we have to go immediately. We should finish repairing the shuttle first, then make plans. After we get the shielding generator, as Mr. Hyun-woo suggested, we can reinforce our equipment by collecting containers from the cargo sector warehouse. Please just think of this as a preliminary idea."
We had plenty of time to think—the shuttle repairs had no set completion date.
I nodded vaguely, then looked at Carrot, who'd been watching me intently since earlier, as if he had something to say.
"Carrot, did you come here for something?"
"It's best I get to the point—can I draw some of your blood?"
"... Sorry?"
For a second I doubted my own ears. My expression probably looked strange.
As I tried to ask for clarification, Nadia suddenly stood up. She snatched up the plasma cutter leaning against the wall and aimed it at Carrot. She didn't activate it, but everyone knew one click would be enough—a simple aim was highly threatening.
"... Get out."
"Perhaps I was too blunt. Please, hear me out."
"I said get out. I thought you were trustworthy. That was my mistake."
Nadia glared daggers at Carrot, growling with a menacing sound, utterly different from her usual gentle purring.
【༼ง=ಠ益ಠ=༽o:【】:::::::〉】
Following Nadia, Carry also drew its sword. The tense look on its face made it clear he realized Nadia was truly angry. Its auxiliary arms clacked menacingly, ready to launch a laser strike at any moment, making Carrot click his tongue quietly.
Despite the sudden tension, Carrot didn't flinch. He simply looked back and forth between Nadia and Carry, calm and collected.
Celestia and Eric wore expressions of resigned expectation, clearly having discussed this outcome beforehand.
As Nadia and Carry left me no room to intervene, Carrot stood and said they'd talk later.
When he looked at me just before leaving, concern flickered in Carrot's eyes.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Nadia and Carry being overprotective.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】