The Eve of the Encounter
A heavy silence, transcending mere shock, swallowed the ruins.
The only sound that felt exceptionally loud was the scratching of an old newspaper blowing across the ground in the wind.
"Uh."
"Ummm..."
The Pathfinders' ECHOs each doubted their own eyes, staring blankly at the surreal sight before them.
A Named-grade Anomaly, the Hachishakusama, was holding something in both hands, chewing and swallowing with its mouth moving.
And beside it, C-008, wearing a yellow safety helmet, stood blankly, watching the Hachishakusama.
"Is something wrong with my visual sensors?"
Bait broke the silence with a trembling voice.
"That thing the ghost is eating... that's a Concentrated Nutrient, right? And a Golden Label at that?"
"...It seems so."
Zero, who was monitoring the situation through a scope, gave a calm affirmation.
"Wow, this is insane. I've never even had a Concentrated Nutrient once in my life. And an Anomaly is eating it?"
"Didn't the Leader eat one of those once as a reward a while back?"
"I did."
Compass replied shortly, swallowing hard.
But the Concentrated Nutrient wasn't the important part.
ECHOs were weapons created to protect humanity.
In other words, they were beings created to annihilate Zombies, Astrals, and the horrific Anomalies.
Yet, instead of attacking the Anomaly, this ECHO was actually providing it with food.
However, to dismiss it as a system error, the behavior was far too natural and systematic.
What was even more surprising was the fact that the Named-grade Anomaly was accepting the situation naturally.
"What on earth is this? What is this crazy situation?"
"At first, I thought it was a group of Wanderers..."
But that didn't seem to be the case.
To dismiss them as mere Wanderers, the scene before them was too organized.
Compass's eyes darted rapidly, scanning the entirety of Hongwei-7.
The placement of the Bastion turrets, the movement lines for dismantling the massive Troller-class carrier, and even the movements of C-008.
After examining all of this, she realized that someone was perfectly controlling this place.
Even the Hachishakusama, presumed to be a Named-grade, was behaving docilely, as if it were a member of the group.
"Someone is managing this place."
"N-No way, are you saying there's a human Ark nearby? Or an Astral?"
"It's definitely not an Astral. Rather..."
Compass paused for a moment, then spoke as if it were hard to believe.
"It's more likely to be other humans."
"H-Humans?! How could a human possibly control an Anomaly? T-T-that's impossible!"
Sherpa shook her head in horror.
It was a hypothesis that her common sense simply could not accept.
"But if not that, there's no explanation."
In the end, it was full of things that couldn't be understood by their common sense.
But one thing was certain.
The situation was not looking good for them.
"So... what do you plan to do now, Leader?"
At Zero's question, Compass quietly bit her lip.
The fact that a Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier had been shot down here and Astral fragments were scattered meant that Harvester, a Named Astral, had undoubtedly noticed and was targeting the Hachishakusama.
From the perspective of Ark 86, it was the worst-case scenario no matter how they saw they thought about it.
"First, we report to the Ark."
At Compass's decision, Sherpa's eyes widened.
"...If we're reporting, does that mean we're retreating for now?"
"Yes. But not a full retreat. Only Zero and Bait will return to the Ark. Sherpa and I will stay here."
"What, wait a minute!"
Bait immediately protested at the Leader's words.
She frowned deeply and asked Compass demandingly.
"Why split up? I want to stay too! If we're talking about combat power, it's better if I stay, isn't it?"
"No."
Compass shook her head firmly.
"The road back to the Ark is treacherous. And Zero cannot handle close-quarters combat alone. So Bait, you must take care of Zero and bring her back to the Ark."
"N-No! Then why can't we all just go together?"
"Sherpa and I need to keep the Astrals in check here. At the very least, we must prevent the worst-case scenario of the Harvester absorbing that Named Anomaly."
"..."
Bait was speechless.
A situation that was terrifying just to imagine.
What if Harvester, who was already overwhelming to deal with, absorbed the essence of the Hachishakusama as the Leader said?
It would surely become a calamity-class existence, far beyond mere evolution.
If that happened, the defense lines of Ark 86 would undoubtedly be torn apart like sheets of paper.
"Someone must stay behind to monitor the situation and, in the worst case, risk their life to prevent that Anomaly from being absorbed."
"Dammit..."
Bait cursed and lowered her head.
She understood it with her head, but it was an order hard to accept with her heart. This wasn't a situation where she could just stand by and watch.
Compass's eyes gazed beyond the ruins once more.
"I don't know who the entity commanding that place is, but they don't realize what a dangerous bomb the Hachishakusama they have is."
Compass took a short, deep breath and looked back at her team members with cold, sunken eyes.
"Our primary objective was reconnaissance. However, the Astrals have already noticed the existence of the Hachishakusama and are moving their forces to capture it. Our Ark needs time to respond to this."
Her gaze shifted toward the work site in the distance, where the unidentified force was located.
"To do that, even if we risk danger, we must first attempt to contact the Fleet Commander who controls them."
"Will they even talk? They're... crazy bitches who keep a g-ghost around?"
"We have to. Otherwise, the entire Ark could be in danger."
Having finished her explanation, Compass turned to look at Zero and Bait.
Her gaze held a heavy trust.
"It will be hard and dangerous, but... you two return to the Ark quickly and inform the higher-ups and Fleet Commander Lin Xiaolin of this fact."
"Geez..."
"Understood."
At Compass's order, Bait and Zero picked up their weapons without further complaint.
After giving one last look at Compass and Sherpa, they silently retreated and vanished, as if melting into the deep shadows of the ruins.
Thus, even the smallest sign of presence was buried in the sound of the wind, and now only the two of them remained.
Sherpa grabbed the hem of Compass's clothes with an expression that looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
"Then we..."
"We have to go there, yes.”
"H-How are we going to make contact, Leader? Are we... just going to walk right in?"
At Sherpa's trembling voice, Compass looked at the wall of Hongwei-7 and chuckled.
"Who knows—"
Then she shrugged and tossed out a joke as if it were nothing.
"Maybe we wait until someone who looks like a high-ranking person comes and then try knocking at their doors?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Sigh... It's not easy."
The search of the Zhenlong City vehicle depot, which had been carried out ambitiously, ended in practical failure.
Unlike the outskirts, the interior was packed with zombies, making it impossible to even enter.
Still, I spent nearly three full days searching the outskirts, but all I gained were lumps of scrap metal that had taken the full brunt of the decay of time.
I hoped there would be some usable military vehicles or trucks left...
All I found were scrap frames that looked decades old.
If there was any achievement, it was salvaging three frames of large trucks that had turned red with rust and two engines that were half-melted.
"I thought it would be better to bring them back just in case, but... can these actually be revived and used?"
At my question, Karen, who had tied the top of her maintenance suit around her waist and was wearing only a tight sleeveless running shirt, circled around the scrap.
Every time she leaned over, the curves of her voluptuous breasts were vividly revealed through the sweat-soaked shirt.
"Uh... it's possible!"
"...Really?"
Possible?
That's some insane technical skill if she was telling the truth here.
"The frame rigidity still looks okay. I think we can use them if we smooth out the interior. But the engines need to be completely overhauled. We'll also need to find parts for the drivetrain since we don't have any."
"Then are there any parts stored in the Ark?"
"No. None at all, unfortunately."
In the end, it seemed my Money Compass would have to step in.
Still, since I have plenty of Cash, it shouldn't be a problem.
"Can you list the parts you need first?"
"...Huh?"
"The parts you need. I'm going to get them for you."
"H-How... ah!"
And so, I searched the shop for the parts Karen listed and added them to the shopping cart one by one.
Large engine parts, high-strength tires, hydraulic suspension sets, and so on.
As I worked hard to purchase the parts needed to restore the large tactical transport trucks using the Money Compass, nearly 90,000 Cash had been spent.
"The price of three trucks is about the cost of one Original ECHO."
Of course, I'd have to exclude the cost of their genes, but it was still an astronomical sum.
But I had no choice.
In Hongwei-7, a massive lump of resources called a Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier was being dismantled, waiting to be moved to the Ark.
Furthermore, once the northern mining area became active, transport means to carry the pouring resources would be essential.
The two existing Mercury Howls wouldn't be nearly enough.
"Then, Commander! Should we increase the cargo bed a bit for the ones we're making this time? If we push the cargo bed back slightly, I think we can transport up to 35 tons without any problem."
"Yeah. Maximize the storage space. Ah, keep the ones going to the mining area as they are. They'll have to navigate a lot of mountainous roads."
"Yes—! Understood, Commander! Just leave it to me!"
Karen said, thumping her chest.
Then she began searching diligently through the scrap pile for the items needed for the repair.
Watching her, I suddenly felt a sense of pride and gave Karen's butt a light pat.
"Higyak—!?"
Karen let out a short scream, her shoulders jumping, and then she slowly looked back.
"Y-You startled me. C-Commander..."
Her face was flushed red all the way to her earlobes, but her body didn't completely pull away from my touch.
Still, since she looked so surprised, I decided not to push further. It seemed the place and timing were bad.
For two full days and nights, Karen, Pomen, and the Ark's C-008s, Alpha, and Moi all pitched in on the Mercury Howl project.
As a result, after two days, three Mercury Howl transport trucks appeared in the Ark's open lot.
Including the existing vehicles, there were five in total.
This should be enough to put out the immediate fire.
"Let's head out. Did everyone pack their lunch boxes?"
"Yes—! Sister Madeline baked plenty of bread for us."
"I've packed plenty of fruit as well, Commander."
"Are there strawberries too?"
"Yes, Commander. I've packed them in 500g portions!"
With that, I immediately took the Cerberus squad and several ECHOs and headed toward Hongwei-7.
Since comms were linked and up and running with Hongwei-7, I wasn't too worried, but Arva and Lena were surely waiting for us anxiously.