Chapter 396
Chapter 396
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Travel Preparations (19)
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****
Rustle— swish—
Morning.
What usually woke wasteland campers was the sound of sand gathered overnight trickling down over the campsite.
The coarse sensation flowed over his languid body.
The dim horizon was gradually brightening, the chilly air carrying the remnants of last night’s campfire that had burned down to embers, barely warming his toes.
“Mmm.... Ungh....”
Memories of the night before surfaced—his arms and chest cradling satin-like hair and soft skin, as she had completely let go.
“Whoa....”
What the hell do you even call this feeling?
The most passionate and perfect rest? A fulfillment he’d never felt in his life? The achievement of fulfilling an ancient wish? Something vague like that, lumped together—happiness?
Yeah. Happiness. He was truly basking in it.
Sure, as a man, he’d imagined moments like this thousands of times, but he’d never dreamed a single experience could shake him to his core like this.
Dana lay nestled in his arms, not a stitch of clothing on her. The way she burrowed into him against the cool morning air was so cute and dizzying it felt like his heart might melt.
The problem was that right where she rested her head, inside his embrace, there was a communicator.
“....I need to tell them not to come.”
Yesterday’s message said they’d send a vehicle by morning.
The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but soon it would be time to call it morning.
Would the vehicle from the Dome arrive early or late morning?
How much time was left until it got here?
.
.
.
.
.
If he hurried, there might be time for one more—
Tap tap.
“What’re you thinking?”
“Eek! Huh? Uh?! N-no! Nothing!”
Just as the demon of lust surged in now that he was fully awake, a finger tapping his chest from within his arms snapped him back to reality.
Smack!
Dana, head buried against his chest, lifted her face and planted a light kiss on his lips.
“Good morning~”
“G-good.... morning.”
He was done for. That drowsy voice fresh from sleep, the flushed cheeks clearly showing who’d worn her out, the cascade of hair barely covering where the blanket had slipped as she half-rose!
Dana usually had such a prim and serene image, so this disheveled side of her had the power to paralyze the brain.
“Thinking all by yourself again. I told you yesterday—we’re sharing everything, no secrets. What were you thinking?”
“I-I was gonna contact the Dome and ask them to delay the rescue by twelve hours....!”
“Tw-twelve hours?”
“Uh, well....”
.
.
.
.
Her response—not asking ‘why’ but questioning ‘twelve hours’—made it clear she was thinking the same thing.
He was done for. His blood pressure was spiking everywhere! How far could his new body see? Nearly open terrain to the horizon, and no dust yet meant plenty of time before the vehicle arrived, right? It’d be fine, wouldn’t it? They’d already started with outdoor play, so ignoring onlookers could be a thrilling challenge—
“Urghhh!”
Big trouble. One night had broken his brain! A massive, powerful filter had formed right in the center of his perfect thought circuits!
As he slapped his own cheek with a loud smack, Dana laughed beside him like it was the funniest thing.
“I get what you were thinking, and trust me.... I want it even more than you do, if anything.”
“....We have to go home, don’t we?”
“Having a community article pop up like ‘Professor couple refuses Dome return, says they need nothing but each other’ would be kinda embarrassing. Plus.... here’s a bit.... my back hurts, my knees hurt.... We’ll be together from now on, no need to rush....”
“Guhk!”
He’d imagined it. Damn it, he couldn’t calm down!
While Dana slipped back into her vinyl poncho, he waged a fierce battle against his snowballing imagination.
By the time he revived the campfire embers and started grilling the radiation scorpion meat on the concrete slab—now starting to smell a bit off—Dana returned, having washed up and changed. She sat beside him in the clean clothes she’d brought, which he eyed with regret but had no choice but to wear.
“Wow, breakfast made by a guy.”
“What, calling this breakfast?”
“It’s one of humanity’s proud, innocent traditions. In a world where so much is gone, we should cherish what remains.”
Dana brought the near-spoiled scorpion meat to her mouth like it was gourmet, while he shoveled it in beside her, too distracted by the sight to taste it.
“Ah, dust.”
“Vehicle? Where?”
“Over there. Edge of the horizon, by the mushroom rock. Might be too far for you to see.”
After finishing breakfast with a cup of boiled plain tea, a truck appeared in the distance. That dust cloud signaled the end of his short, intense vacation.
Dust parting the dawn light, and Dana leaning on his shoulder, gazing at it.
“....Dana. Last night, you asked if I was going somewhere, right?”
Pointless talk. In that reality, the time he’d spend there wouldn’t even be a full day, so what he was about to say would just cause needless worry and anxiety.
At his subdued voice, Dana leaned harder against his arm.
“....Are you leaving?”
“If we’re just talking facts. But this time, you won’t have to wait.”
Still. He wanted at least someone to know.
He wasn’t some great person donating his fortune or doing good deeds in secret—he was just an average joe who wanted recognition for his good deeds and acknowledgment for his hardships.
He wanted to etch in his mind that someone was waiting for him. Someone who wouldn’t fade over years, decades of journey. Unable to hold back that greed,
“Dana. Everything I’m about to say—keep it secret.”
He spilled it all. GG and Gedroits. The completer and the reward. What he’d gained. Countless data souls enough to build a world. The hell awaiting them, and his choice.
The time away from her side would be a blink, but still, his long journey.
He saw her bite her lip as she listened silently.
Felt her nails dig into the collar she gripped.
“This is what you were gonna hide till the end?”
“Yeah.”
“So, 4th World generation ends today?”
“Right.”
“To maximize any chance of return, log in as soon as possible before that pollution spreads further?”
“Yeah.”
“And even then, it’s a world no AI in history can save, and if you don’t save it the moment you enter, you can’t come back?”
Tears welled in Dana’s eyes—the happiest woman in the world moments ago. Anxiety. Fear. Even a hint of resentment.
Finally fully connected, yet her lover marching off to death again.
He met her gaze without flinching.
“Dana. Remember what the World Tree said to me?”
“Go out, make lots of good memories, and come back....”
“Yeah. That.”
[Yeah. Make as many good memories as possible.... and come back. From now on, um.... for your days ahead.]
Before returning to reality, the World Tree’s hesitant plea in the admin space.
Now, with return imminent, he finally understood.
“A landmark. One that won’t erode even after eons longer than my time as ‘Professor.’ That’s what it meant—make those memories.”
He’d lived 25 years as Professor.
Returning there, he’d likely live longer than that as someone else, with different form and powers.
The World Tree’s ‘good memories’ were the anchor to hold the remnants of ‘wasteland human Professor’ from wearing away. Like pulling out a family photo in war, his goal to recall in pain. A signpost lighting the way in pitch darkness.
“You’re my landmark, Dana.”
He lifted his head, taking in the brightening wasteland.
This moment, this place.
Everything shared with the lover who wished to share all—etched into his brain.
A memory to shine brilliantly even in a millennium of pain.
In his calm confession, Dana’s body trembled.
“You could ignore those people now.... and keep this happiness going tomorrow, and the day after, like nothing happened. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“And you know you won’t?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re such.... an idiot.”
Dana leaned into him, burying her face as her body shook.
“....My love’s going off to die, and I find that side of you so lovable I can’t stand it.... I’m the idiot....”
Sob, hic, whimper.
A few tears wet the concrete.
“I love you. You, more than anyone in my life.... I love you.”
With every word, every gesture, he felt part of himself bound to this moment.
“....You’ll come back?”
“Have I ever not?”
“You won’t forget?”
“Worried I’ll think of you so much every night I’ll have to wash sheets every morning.”
“Over there.... you won’t make another woman?”
“Ahem! Hem!”
“I get it, you don’t understand yet.... but no more from now on. Really. I’ve given you everything—saying I’m not enough would kill me....”
“Ahehem! Hem! Hm!”
God. Jealousy in eyes streaming tears!
....Couldn’t hold back.
Click!
He reached for the nearby rifle, deftly loading prepared ammo for emergencies.
Then fired repeatedly at the now-approaching dust cloud.
[Bang! Bang-bang! Bang! Baaang— Bang! Baaang—....]
“....Sniff! That’s a military signal? Uh.... [Approach/Kill/2 hours later/Contact]?”
“Yeah, well, to ensure my safe return, gotta secure ‘plenty’ of good memories, right....”
“Ah....”
Understanding, Dana glanced between him and the horizon, nodding faintly before hanging her head.
Roughly: ‘Come now and you’re dead. 2 hours.’
Soon after the shots echoed across the wasteland sky, the dust cloud halted.
[Boom! Bang! Boom— Boom— Bang! Bang!....]
[Here/Current position/Camping ok/Need op time/2 hours]
“Pfft!”
“Puhehe!”
They couldn’t hold back laughter at the reply via gunfire signals.
The shotgun’s distinctive spatial boom.
Even in military code, the speech pattern shone through.
“That’s Ian and our kids over there?”
“What.... do we do? They’re still far, but knowing familiar faces are gathered there makes it kinda awkward....”
Even as she said it, Dana’s eyes darted anxiously—to him, the dust, stroking his arm, back to the dust.
....Yesterday she’d braved embarrassment to act first, so today he’d take the lead.
Swoosh!
He yanked off his poncho in one go, grabbed a cooled charcoal from the fire, scrawled hastily on it, and hung it from the broken wall’s corner to flap.
“Kyaa! Pr-Professor!”
“Good memories! Let’s make good memories, Dana!”
“W-wait! Just a sec....!”
Then he scooped up the hesitating Dana and charged inside to a spot to lie down.
Where they’d left moments ago. Flapping over the red vinyl poncho was:
[Do not disturb]
—in bold letters.
****
Two hours later.
A truck pulled up before the somewhat disheveled couple.
“Kehehehe! Hey~ groom! Heard you had a rough few days, but damn, you’re glowing~?”
“Metal Joe, you bastard....! Leaving me and Dana alone in this deadly wasteland!”
Hug!
“....You’re my lifelong benefactor, teach. Fucking thanks.”
“Hohoho. Repay me with a pretty niece, you soft cherry. And if you wanna give thanks, there’s someone else besides me.”
“Hm?”
Pretending to grab his collar, he thanked his lifelong benefactor, great Metal Joe. Ian smirked, pointing to someone stepping off the truck.
Tall stature.
Freckled face with sharp eyes.
Orange hair, jeans, t-shirt.
A hand tenderly on her belly, and a tired-faced Jokasss following.
“Hey~ Park! Had a real happy time, huh? This lord couldn’t stand by and lent a hand!”
“No way.... you?”
All signs pointed to one person.
The woman grinned wide and strode over, lunging at Dana beside him!
“Did it, you did it! You can tell regular overnight lovers from a mile away—they’ve got distance! Aww~ good job, sis! You climbed the mountain, now time to descend, disciple!”
“N-Noona Deer!”
“You know how worried I was that Park might be busted? Any issues? Didn’t just talk for two hours, right? Usable? Tastes good? Train him a bit more?”
“S-sis!”
No doubt. Spouting vulgarities before greetings—this human was the only one he knew.
“Deer Drug Please? Really you?”
Slap!
“Yeah, kid! Heard you went on a rampage from day one back, thought ‘this guy’s hopeless!’ and dragged my heavy ass to BDSM myself. Makes me a wasteland wedding planner, right? Hehihihit!”
“J-Jokasss....”
“No apology this time. Looks like it turned out well, even to me.”
Husky voice, zero reservations.
When he first met Dana, the gap between community and reality creeped him out, but this one—speech and actions matched perfectly, amazingly.
“Honestly, as a normie riding famous Professor’s coattails, why not keep it going for the next gen? I’m three months along—little push and our kid can be buddies with your Park 2nd gen! Take care of us long-term, Professor!”
Insane as ever. Pure human ‘Deer Drug Please.’
Jokasss ended up bowing apology in her stead.
“If you’re done yapping, hop on. Save the rest for the ride. We got time now anyway?”
“Yeah.”
“Right....”
At Ian’s words, Dana and he exchanged silent looks.
Yeah. Plenty fun and happy. Beyond imagination.
Time to go back. One last time to Gedroits’s world.
In the truck to the Dome, cheap car stereo played an old song.
Far off, the Dome’s skyscrapers appeared.
****