Fortune Cookie (5)
"Hey, buddy. Where should I drop you off?"
That was Roxy speaking to me, humming a tune. He was talking to me, not Eric. It didn't matter, since we'd end up sharing our opinions anyway.
Back in town, he looked completely lifeless, as if he was about to drop dead at any moment, but the instant he took the controls, it was like a miracle had revived him. He volunteered to pilot the shuttle, insisting we leave it to him, and frankly, no one else had Roxy's skill at the controls anyway. If I hadn't let him fly, I suspected he might've simply died of natural causes back in town.
"It's better if we get off here. If we get any closer, the ghouls in the residential area might react."
I spoke informally with Roxy; he had a tendency to freak out if anyone used formal language with him.
"Here? It's fine by me, but are you sure you'll be okay?"
Roxy gave me a hesitant look, and for good reason: the weather outside was absolutely dreadful.
It was as if Titan was trying to show us just how fickle it could be—the raging snowstorm was nothing short of brutal. In a situation where you couldn't even see a step ahead, the only strange thing was how calmly Roxy piloted the shuttle.
"Yeah, it's fine. Eric, you agree, right?"
"Yes. This point should be appropriate."
Eric pinpointed a spot. It was about 100 meters from the residential area and was a straight shot, so there was little worry of losing our way in the blizzard.
Roxy nodded in understanding and began adjusting the shuttle's thrusters, which glowed with a steady blue light, slowing us down and preparing for landing.
There was a moment when a sudden gust slammed into the hull and violently shook the shuttle, but Roxy's handling quickly brought us back under control.
Eric, gripping an auxiliary handle that had been installed inside, assessed the situation and spoke up.
"As you all know, our top priority is the shield generator."
"We're not planning to search the whole place, are we?"
There wasn't only a single shield generator. The residential area was so huge, a single device couldn't possibly cover the whole thing—pure inefficiency. Technically, it could be done, but there was no reason to force it.
There were a total of four shield generators for the residential area. Three small units, classified as such, were installed as spires around the perimeter, and in the center, underground, was the main processing unit that resonated with each of them.
"I already confirmed that one of the smaller units on the outskirts was completely destroyed, so we don't need to bother with that one. And I saw an explosion happen over here as well."
Eric drew a big X over the place directly opposite from us. Then he drew lines from where we were about to land to the center of the residential area, and finally one going above that. He marked the last location with a triangle—it meant 'uncertain.'
A route that would just keep us moving forward—no need to look back.
"If we're lucky and we find the core parts right away, we could wrap things up right outside here—"
Eric's words were cut off when Nadia poked him, interrupting. She glared at him and said,
"You shouldn't say something like that."
"... Right."
Eric gave her a puzzled look, as if he didn't get why she was bothered in the middle of a briefing. Still, he yielded. Ever since Nadia snatched those advanced-grade medicine from him, he'd been wary of her.
It might sound illogical, but in this world, things like jinxes or flags exist. When you say a plan will go well, when you declare everything will be fine, for some reason, that plan always runs into problems in the most unexpected places.
We were heading to the dangerous residential area—system down, snowstorm raging, and we had no way of knowing exactly what we would encounter.
I expected things might not go smoothly, but even so, I wanted to start with at least a decent feeling, not weighed down by anxiety right out of the gate.
That's when Roxy, who'd been quietly listening, broke into a wide grin. It was obvious he was up to trouble, so I hurried to stop him—but his mouth moved faster than I could act.
"When this is over, I'm going to confess to her. No way I'm dying here. My daughter's waiting for me. She loved flowers. Go on ahead—I'll catch up. If we can just hang on this one time, we can go back."
"Whoa, whoa—stop. Don't do it."
It was like his mouth had a motor; while the rest of us were stunned, he set off a barrage of flags. It was chilling. Every flag punched right into my chest.
At least he still hadn't said the absolute worst thing. If I could just stop him here, it wouldn't be too late. That's what I thought. But Roxy went and said the one thing you're never supposed to say.
"Don't worry. Like I'd die or anything."
"Damn it, Roxy, you're insane."
We all groaned and pulled faces as Roxy burst into laughter. He was cackling, rocking with glee, but his hands on the controls didn't budge an inch.
Eric, meanwhile, still didn't get our reactions. He just looked bewildered. That only made Roxy laugh harder.
"Don't sweat the small stuff, friend. I used to worry about jinxes all the time, but it was all pointless."
"Still, you didn't have to say all of that."
"From what I've seen, you're not the types to get tripped up by a little flag. You're the kinds who'll rip them up and break them over your knee."
Even after I complained for Nadia, who was shivering behind me, Roxy only chuckled. As he brought the shuttle in for landing, he said,
"Time to go. I'll be waiting right here for you. I won't leave you behind, so just take your time."
As Roxy promised to come flying at a moment's notice if we sent a distress signal, I couldn't help but give a hollow laugh. He just kept putting up more flags right until the end.
"Wow, that's really..."
"Really what?"
"Encouraging."
It didn't seem like a couple of flags would matter anymore. What could we do about what was already said? In the end, it was about our mindset. Like Roxy said, we just had to break those flags in half.
I shook off useless thoughts with a rough sigh, and we moved to the shuttle door. With a hiss, the door swung open. The impatient wind forced its way in before the door was even fully open, whipping through the interior.
The warm air lost all its heat in an instant. The temperature plummeted, and Roxy, who was still in the cockpit, sneezed. Nadia, who was hit directly by the wind, trembled from the tip of her tail to her ears.
Her fur puffed up, then pressed together tightly, trying to conserve body heat. Nadia hunched down slightly against the raging wind—as if worried she might get blown away the moment she stepped outside.
I shielded her, and Nadia peeked out from behind me.
"... It's so dark."
"Yeah."
It was clearly daytime, but the weather was so bad, it felt like night had fallen. It was even more ominous than what I'd seen from the shuttle. Harsher, more forbidding, with almost no visibility.
The snowstorm was showing signs of turning into an ice storm. Normally, under these conditions, all outdoor activity would be strictly prohibited. You could easily be killed by a flying chunk of ice coming from who-knows-where.
'I should have upgraded the respirator, too.'
Kyle had spent all his energy repairing the shuttle and ended up totally wiped out, so I couldn't ask him. I'd looked for someone else, but no one had Kyle's skills, so I gave up.
With the snow still falling and not yet solid ice, it was best to reach the residential area as soon as possible.
"Carry, take Nadia. Make sure she doesn't get blown away."
【(b˙◁˙ )b】
Carry was wearing a slightly different expression than usual. Maybe the cold was messing with her voice—or rather, her circuits. Still, she was as dependable as ever.
"We're heading out now."
- I've been waiting for you, you know.
Licorice responded right away to my call. The security robot woke from standby mode and silently stood up, grabbed Carry, and locked her in place. The robot's mono-eye glowed blue as it watched ahead.
Seeing everyone was ready, we stepped outside the shuttle. The snow crunched underfoot.
"Come back soon."
With Roxy's words, the shuttle doors closed behind us.
***
Huff, huff—
Nadia, Eric, Carry, the Alpha security robot, and I struggled forward through the biting wind, barely managing to walk while feeling our strength sapped away even though we'd just started. It was like invisible hands were pulling us back.
We had three objectives at the residential area:
First, to check the small shield generator at an outer spire, and if the core part was missing, to go to the resonator—the central processing unit underground at the central tower.
Second, to find the security robot storage Licorice had mentioned in the tower area, sector A.
The third was to collect a scanner and other equipment from the nearby research facility close to the tower.
At least all the places we had to go weren't scattered randomly like beads from a broken necklace. Not that any of it would be easy.
We trudged through the piled-up snow, pushing it aside with our legs. If you weren't careful, you'd go in circles—the blizzard was so fierce.
Whooooosh!
The wind blew with enough force to rip off our respirators. Tiny ice grains rattled against our gear and shattered.
The broken bits would melt against the heater, then freeze again in the cold. As the drops slid down, they'd freeze in moments.
- 50 meters to go.
Licorice's voice, relayed through the comms, cut through the wind's howling. Celestia wasn't with us this time; she'd stayed behind to keep hacking Heaven's systems and check for any other pureblood supremacists.
That meant one less person backing us up, but we'd be okay. Licorice, who'd called the residential area her home ground, knew the place perfectly—no one knew these facilities as well as she did. For Sectors C and D, Nadia and I were experts as well.
I gazed ahead at Eric. The supremacist emblem had been wiped from his suit, replaced by Myosotis's insignia—blue flowers, her symbol. For some reason, my mind was a mess. I tapped my bracelet to switch comms to a private line.
- What did you mean that time? That thing you said about Myosotis being connected to the pureblood supremacists before the fall.
- Out of nowhere?
- Don't give me that. That comment's been bugging me so much I heaven't even been able to sleep.
- For someone like that, you sure slept well.
- How do you know that?
Licorice pretended not to hear me and changed the subject. Not smoothly—she just ignored me altogether, leaving me speechless.
- I meant it literally. Myosotis had connections to the supremacists. That's solid. I got info about several meetings between them. Can't say whether she was involved in the fall, though.
- ......
- Just telling you so you're aware. Because you're working with Eric. But it's nothing you need to lose sleep over.
Her words almost made me trip. She'd just scrambled my brain, now she wanted me to relax?
"Hyun-woo? What's wrong?"
"Oh, uh, I just slipped a little."
"You, Hyun-woo? Be careful."
Nadia's ears were pressed forward, her expression curious. I waved it off and resumed my comm.
- That's a pretty irresponsible thing to say...
- Irresponsible? That's harsh. When I say don't worry, it means I'm watching your backs. We're in the same boat, right?
- You really like that phrase, huh.
- ......
For a moment, Licorice fell silent, perhaps at a loss for words. Then, she kicked me out of private comms. Switching to the general channel, she spoke in a businesslike tone.
- 10 meters ahead.
Her 'don't ask any more' attitude was annoying, but there was nothing I could do. We'd be reaching the residential area soon anyway; there was no time for distractions.
Finally, the outer wall of the residential area came into view. Sunk in darkness, the residential area looked unremarkable at first glance. Naturally, the shield was down.
"......."
"......."
I wasn't sure what hit it, but part of the wall had collapsed. We'd decided to enter through that gap, shoving aside piled-up snow and heading inside.
And right as we crossed the wall—
"...?!"
A weird feeling washed over me, as if I'd passed through something. A severe dizziness slammed into my head. Disoriented as my vision spun, all of us nearly lost our balance. We barely managed to hunker down instead of falling flat, but the nausea made it hard to focus.
Struggling to figure out what had just happened, I lifted my head. The snowstorm blanketing the world stopped for a moment. Through the thinning snow, I could just make out the scenery inside the residential area.
And what I saw left us breathless. It was obvious why.
Cold blue lights were glowing all throughout the residential area.
Blue crystals settled amid the bleak, white landscape. Blue lights dotting a blank white canvas.
It looked just like a field of blue flowers in bloom.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
The blue crystals proliferated.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】