Fortune Cookie (10)

Under a sky tainted even blacker, the streets still bore traces where a horde of ghouls had recently passed.

Between the bursts of blizzard that had started to fall again at the whim of Titan, a figure was advancing through the snow. Needless to say, that figure was me.

Just as I'd climbed up, I now carefully descended clinging to the pipes. Every step was cautious, since I never knew when a ghoul might suddenly appear.

Whoooo—

The wind carried a sharpness with it. Every time it brushed against my skin, it felt like being cut by a knife. Even though there were no actual wounds, it grated on my nerves.

'Are Nadia and Carry okay?'

I wasn't sure if it was impossible to receive communications in the current situation, or if they simply didn't realize I was trying to reach them. Even though Licorice had connected the line right before I set out, there was no response.

Because of that, I didn't even know where Nadia was right now. The signal had dropped off entirely, as if it had never existed in the first place.

- Woof-woof will be fine. Probably there's something interfering with communications.

If equipment that worked perfectly had suddenly broken, the cause was most likely the waves emitted by the raw crystal. If we were at the Heaven base, I might have considered the possibility that surviving pureblood supremacists had set up jamming devices or other tricks, but I ruled that out for the residential area.

It made sense, given that the energy supply had been cut off so the residential area's management systems were down, and this place was swarming with all kinds of mutants—it was hard to imagine anyone surviving.

- Do you think there's a blue crystal zone nearby?

- Possibly. But with the weather like this, you can't be sure until you see it yourself. Well, not that I could even see it now.

Licorice grumbled quietly. She was complaining, but for me, I was actually glad for today's weather. Not that I liked or disliked it—that wasn't the point.

Without the blizzard, without the hail, I wouldn't have been able to move as I was now. Even if I tried, it would surely have been at a slower pace.

I was satisfied enough that the "debuff" wasn't affecting just one side.

- We agreed: if things got dangerous and comms were out, we'd fire a signal flare immediately. Look at the sky. No flare has been set off yet.

- How would I see it if I can't use the mono eye?

- If it goes off, you'd notice it immediately anyway.

So, for now, worry more about your own safety. Steeling myself with Licorice's words, I took another step forward. Snow underfoot was crushed with a crunchy sound.

- Where are you going? I wish I could see for myself. It's terribly frustrating to go from being able to see to not being able to see at all.

- For now, I'm going somewhere without wriggling flesh. Even if there's a blizzard, if that flesh is around, I'll be spotted.

Sector C had fewer places that could be called back alleys compared to Sector D. In terms of construction history, sector A was the oldest, sector D the newest—even though that was still quite a while ago.

Ironically, though, the technology and facilities in Sector D were the most outdated. In other words, it was really shabby. The reason was simple.

Sector A was always being redeveloped, but Sectors C and D, populated mostly by lower- to mid-rank workers, were never rebuilt after they were first constructed.

Because workers made up such a large portion of the population and were indispensable for work, they weren't treated as total outcasts, but they certainly weren't treated as favored children, either.

Given that the Titan base's very survival depended on blue crystal mining, that treatment seemed plainly illogical. Shouldn't they look after these folks to boost efficiency? Instead, they were treated like pebbles underfoot.

The answer lay in the nature of the blue crystal. Even in unrefined form, it emitted dangerous waves that not only messed with electronic circuits but affected human minds as well.

It wasn't just interference—there was an inexplicable, unknown power at work that even present technology couldn't explain. If you hadn't experienced it yourself, you wouldn't understand. No matter the warnings, people always assumed they'd be fine.

Those who dismissed the dangers and came to Titan for mining spent their first day in the tunnels, and almost half of them left immediately.

The tunnel's gloom, the fear the ceiling might collapse, the stuffiness of being underground, the occasional flooding from below, the searing blue glow of plasma cutters burned into your eyes, the crash of walls being breached by polar impactors, mining sounds ringing in your ears.

And the longer you were exposed to the raw blue crystal, the more your mind started to falter.

Just after tasting a small part of that, most would panic and flee. No matter how much "refreshment" was emphasized, it was meaningless. Once you felt that strangeness, only your own will could see you through it.

Because people were leaving the icy satellite almost daily, there was hardly time for any concept of "newcomer" to form. Even if you survived the first day, many didn't make it through the next. Even if you survived that, it was rare to last a week.

That's why people called the first seven days the 'demonic week'.

If you survived it, you were treated as a proper colleague. Not that anyone had much more experience—barely a month in many cases—and there wasn't much camaraderie to speak of.

People edged away from me and Nadia because almost no one lasted three years. "Those two must be crazy," they'd mutter while keeping their distance—even though we appeared perfectly sane.

Anyway, although the outflow of workers was huge, the inflow was steady, so it balanced out. The dregs of society constantly trickled in.

This was the only place that accepted those with nothing left to lose. That didn't mean crimes were ignored, though. SSTC strictly enforced order with security robots. Criminals were accepted, but if there were any issues, punishment was immediate and severe. That was the basic stance and the unbreakable line.

'There were good people here too.'

Of course, not all the workers were deadbeats. Some had pasts they couldn't talk about. Some came simply for the money, and some had nowhere else to go.

That applied to me and Nadia, and to the families connected to the miners. Others managed to find other work in the residential area, though few stuck around for long.

Sectors C and D, classified as lower areas, were neglected not only because people didn't feel attached to them, but mainly because they served to make Sectors A and B look better by comparison.

If you didn't want to be "down below" and didn't want to do mining, you had to learn a skill and serve Heaven. That was how you gained rank. Then, Heaven would treat you accordingly.

That was the policy of SSTC.

And what I saw before my eyes now—that was reality.

The residential area, swept by death, tangled in one disaster after another.

【Someone died right in front of me. Torn apart by some strange monster. Am I dreaming right now? Hey, I need some medicine......】

【Fuck, I never should have come here!】

【I feel eyes watching me. It's not human. Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes—don't look at me.】

【Someone help me. I hear strange noises. Please... please......】

Every shop where someone had tried to hold out had blood-written messages. As I read the messages left by those trapped and killed in the residential area, I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth.

It wasn't guilt over failing to save these unknown people. I wasn't a god—how could I rescue them all? My own survival so far was mostly luck. If I had that kind of power, I would never have let things come to this in the first place.

If what Licorice and Celestia had said in town was true, this wasn't the end but only the beginning. Thinking that, my mood sank deeper and deeper.

Hiding in the rubble of buildings collapsed by explosions, sometimes burying myself in mounds of snow, I did my best to avoid encountering ghouls. Occasionally, I'd spot one twitching and croaking as if sensing something, but I dealt with those using icicles.

With the shielding gone, the temperature inside the residential area buildings had plummeted, and massive icicles hung everywhere, larger than a person. Those turned out to be quite useful for distraction.

That was how I managed to reach the last block before crossing into Section B. But there was no reason to rejoice. A harrowing obstacle awaited me.

【Keiiii—】【Ahi... hrrrr...】

A horde of ghouls blocked my path. There were at least several dozen visible; who knew how many more lurked beyond sight?

And they weren't dormant. I could vaguely see them moving about. But that was all—I couldn't make out clear outlines, even squinting into the blizzard.

'Can't see clearly.'

The blizzard made it hard to secure a good view. Just as I was thinking how helpful it would be to have something to see in more detail, I remembered the tool I'd tucked in my belt pouch. The telescope Carrot had given me—it could pierce through clouds, so surely it would work against the blizzard as well.

I immediately took out the telescope and snapped it open, bringing it to my eye for a better look at the situation ahead. My brow furrowed at the unexpected sight, then—when I finally comprehended what I was seeing—I involuntarily sucked in a breath. My eyes went wide in shock at the scene before me.

There was a pool. It was filled with half-coagulated, bloody fluid. Even in the bitter cold, it hadn't frozen—in fact, there was a shimmer, as if it were generating its own heat.

There was a cocoon, sheathed in a membrane, connected to the bio-organic tissue spread out over the ground. It twitched spasmodically, as if alive.

There were corpses. Bodies piled up like a mountain—ghouls were busily grabbing them and dumping them into the pool.

A gust of wind blew. It was laden with the stench of blood so strong it could numb my nose.

As if someone had dabbed paint onto water, blue light bloomed in the air. The raw blue crystal's eerie radiance.

Countless rays of mind-breaking light were swirling like a garden in bloom.

I couldn't breathe. Of course my breath would become shaky and uneven.

- Hyun-woo, what's wrong?

- Wait, just a second...

I ignored Licorice's call and adjusted the telescope so I could take in the entire scene ahead at a glance.

'... What is that? What the hell is all that?'

As the ghouls dumped corpses into the pool with a splash, the blood-red liquid began to bubble, producing strange movements.

I realized now—the bodies dumped in the pool were dissolving. Was it acidic? Or was there something else at work?

All results have their causes.

The blood liquid eroded the flesh and tore down the barrier between soul and body. The former residents, dissolving before the blue light, melted into nothing but liquid.

That melted liquid became the foundation for new life and sometimes became new life itself.

So that's why they were collecting the corpses.That bio-organic tissue enveloping the residential area—was it all made by transforming corpses?When enough bodies accumulated, did ghouls drink the melted stuff and become new mutants?

The cocoon—there was something inside. It writhed like a fetus in amniotic fluid, sometimes pushing so hard it looked like it might burst through the membrane. Even watching from afar, disgust surged up so powerfully I clamped my mouth shut. If I dared open it, I'd lose my lunch right there.

I struggled to describe what I was seeing in a text message, and for a while Licorice was speechless. When she finally spoke, it was after some time had passed.

- ... The world's really gone mad. Maybe it's a blessing I can't see it. No—it's not a blessing at all. I just feel hopeless.

What was I supposed to do? I wrestled with that question as I used the telescope to track the monsters' movements—and then, something in my field of vision caught my eye.

"... Ted?"

A ghoul with a black spike piercing its chest—before I knew it, I was muttering the name under my breath.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Fuck.Will Hyun-woo get an ability as well?It seems the enemy will be quite problematic to say the least.【(;° ロ°)】

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