Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Reunion
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I had no idea what Amy was talking about. The connections we forged on the Paradise Ship weren't the kind that could be severed so easily.
"Amy, you don't need to worry about me that much. I don't want to argue with what you're saying... but when it comes to relationships like this, trust me and leave it to me."
I wasn't angry. From Amy's perspective, she was just making every possible preparation to prevent any potential accidents.
That's why I hoisted Isaac onto my back and got ready to walk. Even as I did this, Amy kept opening her mouth like she wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
"..."
She was hesitating. She was afraid of hurting me. She pondered for a long time over what to say.
"Dr., still, I think—"
"It's fine! What exactly are you trying to say? I'm going to reunite with my old crewmates. Anyone would think we're heading into a fight."
I pushed past Amy's annoying hesitation and started walking right away. Maybe because my voice had a bit of edge to it, Isaac and the other women didn't dare step forward and just watched my expression.
"Follow orders. Stay 50 meters behind me. If things start looking dangerous, I'll give the command myself, so until then, hold your position and wait."
Amy couldn't bring herself to say another word.
Her shoulders slumped so heavily that I wondered if I'd been too harsh, but comforting her could wait until later.
Right now, our touching reunion with the Paradise Ship took priority. Yes, the long, grueling 170 days of solitary struggle would finally come to an end today.
"Isaac, hold on tight so you don't fall."
"Y-yeah..."
Isaac wrapped his arms around the back of my neck. With no lower body, he barely supported his weight with his trained arm muscles, clinging to me.
"It won't take long. Just hang in there a bit."
"Forget it. I've lost half my body weight, so I could hang from a pull-up bar all day now."
"...Jeez."
Only the two of us exchanged jokes and chuckled softly. We'd been injured and collapsed dozens of times, so we treated each other's pain and disabilities like punchlines.
"Isaac, what was your wife's name again?"
"Nicole."
"She's alive. I can feel it."
"That'd be nice."
My steps felt light.
Even with Isaac on my back, it was like walking on soft clouds, my body floating buoyantly.
I tried to rein in my emotions, but the elation wouldn't settle down. In this moment, the presence of the women trailing behind us faded to almost nothing.
It felt like the old days.
The day I first boarded the Paradise Ship,
The days locked away in the lab at headquarters,
All of it appeared before my eyes once more in this vast forest.
Not even the cold rain or biting wind slowed my pace. The raindrops hitting my cheeks and forehead only made me smile wider.
"They're alive. It'll be okay. I have a good feeling."
"Joo-ho, don't get too carried away. It's good to be honest with your feelings, but big expectations can lead to bigger disappointments..."
Isaac tried to rein me in, but even his voice lingering in my ear couldn't slow my heartbeat.
My heated body and racing heart sent blood surging through me. The anticipation blooming inside meshed with all the sorrow I'd endured, bursting outward.
Tears.
Tears streamed from my stinging eyes unbidden. I wanted to pass them off as raindrops, but my swollen red eyes and choked throat wouldn't let me deny it.
"They're all alive, damn it...!"
The weakness I'd been suppressing finally reared its head for a moment. To survive, I'd buried all my anxiety, worries, and longing—but not anymore.
"Is anyone there? If you can hear me, answer!"
With a quavering voice, I ran along the riverbank.
Far off,
Very far off, I could see the estuary flowing into the sea.
Where the river met the ocean.
The clusters of trees stretching left and right were thinning out. The wind now carried a salty tang.
"Anyone there? I-I'm here! Joo-ho and Isaac are alive! We haven't died yet!"
The ground was squelching. The soil, soaked by rain into sticky mud, was gradually mixing with more sand.
The sea,
The sea was visible far ahead.
"If you hear me, answer! Survivors, respond immediately!"
I bellowed at the top of my lungs and ran even faster. Isaac's body on my back bounced up and down so wildly that even I couldn't control my speed.
"Paradise Ship, respond!"
Then my footsteps halted at a murmur coming from the diagonal right.
My senses, incomparably sharper than before, scraped together even the faintest clues, drawing a satisfying conclusion in my brain.
"Survivors, respond..."
My mouth, which hadn't seemed like it would close, finally shut. Instead, my eyes pierced through the pouring rain toward the bushes and trees ahead.
These weren't the plants from inland. Near the sea grew unique grasses and trees that could withstand the salt.
A rustling came from those oddly mingled blue-green hues.
At the same time, a familiar silhouette slowly emerged from within.
A human.
Familiar uniform,
Holding a weapon I recognized.
"...Joo-ho?"
A rifle.
Its muzzle trained on my heart.
That was fine.
We knew each other.
I knew her face and name.
She was definitely from the medical team...
"Cindy?"
Twenty-seven years old,
Blonde hair and blue eyes,
Cindy, whom I'd shared a few meals with here and there.
I didn't have much connection with the medical team, but thanks to Dan's foolish obsession, I knew Cindy and a few of the younger nurses well. He truly believed those women, even if married, would be utterly devoted.
"Cindy, right?"
She flinched and stepped back when I called her name. She looked scared.
Her arms gripping the rifle trembled unsteadily, making the muzzle waver away from my heart.
"Don't come any closer!"
This was strange.
Even though Cindy recognized me, she didn't lower her guard. Her finger quivered right in front of the trigger.
"Cindy, it's me...! Fr-from the lab... the one who hung out with Dan..."
"Joo-ho, step aside for a sec. Let me talk to her!"
"No! Don't come out yet. It's dangerous right now—"
Cindy was already ignoring my explanation. Instead, she gripped the rifle tighter.
"I said don't come closer!"
Bang—!
She fired into the air.
The gunshot tore through the air, echoing over the rainy estuary.
Alraune sensed the physical threat of the rifle aimed at us and lunged forward as vines to protect me,
Amy, Nephyr, and Arachne hurrying from behind reacted to the tense atmosphere and sharp noise, rushing over,
And Aria, who had been hiding under the river, startled and called my name as she clambered onto the bank.
"Hey, Joo-ho...!"
"I'm fine! Everyone, stay still!"
I shouted loudly to calm everyone. Forced to use alien words they couldn't understand, it only deepened Cindy's confusion.
"Cindy, calm down and lower the rifle. There seems to be a misunderstanding—let's not do this to each other. Please."
Cindy's eyes wavered.
She'd fired the first shot as a warning, but seeing the vines bursting from my body and the tough woody skin covering it, she now aimed with deadly certainty.
The Cindy I knew wasn't the type to hold a rifle like that, nor ruthless enough to shoot someone she recognized...
"No choice."
The Cindy before us now
showed a completely different attitude from before and prepared to fire for real.
"Stop! Miss Cindy, stand down!"
In this hair-trigger moment, Isaac finally stepped up.
It wasn't safe for him to slip off my back with the rifle pointed at us, but with the crew reunion going completely off the rails, we had to try anything.
"Uncle Isaac? Oh, my God..."
"Yeah, it's me. We met every time I visited the nurse's office looking for Nicole. Right?"
With no lower body, Isaac wedged himself between me and Cindy using only his arms. Her finger, about to pull the trigger, paused for a moment.
"Lower the rifle first. Joo-ho and I have survived in isolation until now. For 170 days straight! We made it this long to rejoin, and we can't die to a fellow crewmate's bullet."
I wanted to help persuade Cindy too,
but calming Alraune—who was producing tough vines and bark armor to protect me—was no easy task.
To make matters worse, intense wriggling started in my inner pocket. It wasn't Alraune. Inside that pocket was definitely...
"Peep!"
A single purple slime.
The little creature, excited late to the party, tried to squirm out of my pocket. I had no idea what was stimulating it.
But ahead,
faint silhouettes piercing the heavy rain were gradually sharpening.
"Cindy, report what's happening."
"Uh, well..."
Our feet, standing with the estuary at our backs, were covered in rainwater and muddy rivulets rolling down the slope.
A natural coastal windbreak,
A slope safe from river floods and waves.
"I told you to shoot. Think about how much hesitation like that has cost us. This is the wild."
A few more people appeared beside Cindy atop the slope. Among them, the woman berating Cindy snatched the rifle and aimed at us again.
"But this is weird... It's Joo-ho and Uncle Isaac. Slimes couldn't mimic those two...! They only copy things nearby...! And from what they're saying!"
Cindy pleaded tearfully, but
the survivors' leader reloaded the rifle and spoke.
"No. Those two are dead. What you see are monsters. New ones."
No hesitation.
The rifle's gleaming muzzle stimulated my and Alraune's senses, warning us to flee this danger immediately.
"Don't hesitate."
But I couldn't dodge that rifle.
Isaac was right in front of me.
For some reason, Isaac didn't even think to evade. His back was rigid, like he'd seen a ghost.
Without time to think, I threw myself forward.
The rifle's trigger pulled,
and the rain seemed to freeze for an instant.
"...Nicole?"
Bang!
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Chapter 15 - The Road to the Sea
end.
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