Scavenging
"Whoa—!"
Luna, pressed tightly against the passenger window of the TFR-7—Mercury Howl, shouted like a child.
"Be careful, Luna. If you stay that close and the car hits a big rock, your window..."
Thump!
"Ouch—!"
"...I was going to say you might bump your face."
Helena, gripping the steering wheel, shrugged as she looked at Luna, who was pouting while clutching her now-reddened nose.
It had been three hours since they left the Ark.
The traces of last night's heat had vanished from her face, replaced by a sparkle of excitement for the new operation.
Rumble!
The test-run for the TFR-7—Mercury Howl was a success.
Despite driving nonstop for three hours, there were no signs of malfunction.
It seemed Karen and Lena, the production-type ECHO who had recently joined the Ark, had performed the repairs properly.
After driving for some time, the ruins of a city containing the glory of past humanity appeared in the distance.
Hongwei-7.
A small city where over 200,000 to 300,000 people once lived, and the location of the Ark 69’s final headquarters.
Because of that, it was presumed that many usable resources would still remain there.
"Silva."
"Nothing unusual. Except for one or two zombies that aren't particularly threatening."
"...I wonder where they crawled in from in the meantime."
"I didn't bother shooting because I didn't want to waste ammo."
"Good job."
On the roof of the truck, Silva was quietly observing the surroundings through the scope of her sniper rifle.
And through the communication screen, she could see Arva nodding quietly amidst the chatter of the twins in the rear cargo hold.
"10 minutes until arrival at the mission zone."
"Roger."
"I'll get ready."
Hearing the voices of her ECHO comrades through the cargo hold intercom, Helena felt a sense of reassurance.
The leaders of two Original Squads, Cerberus and Arclight, were participating in this operation.
The composition of the team demonstrated the importance of the Mercury Howl, the Ark's first vehicular transport.
A moment later, the Mercury Howl driven by Helena crushed a zombie blocking the path and came to a stop in front of a massive shopping mall complex.
"Alright! Split up into pairs and scrape together as many usable resources as possible! Focus especially on electronics and steel scrap."
"...Scrap metal too? Can we actually use that?"
At Moi's question, Helena answered triumphantly.
"Yeah. Collect everything and load it onto the truck. Lena said that even rusted scrap—something about nano-composite metal? Anyway, she said that by using that technology, it can be turned into high-strength steel."
"Wow... Human technology really is amazing!"
Under Helena's command, the ECHOs split up in pairs.
Helena went with Luna. Silva headed toward the northern part of the shopping mall area with SCOUT-106, a mass-produced ECHO.
Arva and the B-707s were tasked with guarding the truck and tearing down nearby steel structures, and finally, the remaining twins, Moi and Rai, held hands tightly and headed toward the largest building in the shopping mall complex.
"Sis! Let's go to the biggest place!"
"Alright, shall we bet on who finds better stuff?"
The twins excitedly dashed up to the upper floors of the building.
Halfway up, three zombies lunged at Moi, who was running ahead...
"Uh, zombies—!"
"Wait a second."
Thwack! Bam! Crunch!
Moi's small fists burst the zombies' heads and bodies like watermelons.
Then, she casually dusted off her hands and looked at Rai.
"...They're just ordinary zombies, but we should still be careful."
"Okay."
At Moi's warning, Rai nodded and gripped the pistol holstered at her waist.
Unlike her sister, who specialized in combat, she didn't have much talent for direct fighting.
With Moi leading the way and Rai following behind, the two ECHOs began to thoroughly check every area of the building's upper floors.
"Sister, look at this."
"Yeah. Is it something good?"
"I think we can just throw away the plastic and take the metals inside."
And so, the sisters' bags began to fill excitedly with various parts needed for the reconstruction of the Ark.
It was then.
A dust-covered bookshelf caught Rai's eye.
"Whoa— Sister, I think those are books!"
"Books? Some of those are still left? Well, I guess zombies don't eat books."
Approaching out of curiosity, the sisters pulled out an old book with an exceptionally flashy cover from the shelf.
"......MACIM?" (EN: Talking about MAXIM, which is basically an erotica magazine in South Korea, especially famous among the military recruits.)
On the faded cover, a man and a woman in underwear—which was practically naked—were embracing each other in an erotic pose.
"Huh?"
"It's... okay to look at this, right?"
"No one's here, so it should be fine, right?"
Putting their heads together, the sisters carefully flipped through the pages.
Inside, it was filled with unknown letters and illustrations.
However, even without knowing the meaning of the words, the content of the book was clear enough from the pictures alone.
Two people desiring, licking, and mixing their bodies... the very acts that the Commander and other ECHOs performed during private consultation sessions were depicted vividly in the magazine.
"Wow, waaa..."
Moi's face turned bright red, like a ripe tomato.
Then, Rai swallowed hard and turned the next page with trembling hands.
There, pictures of even bolder and more intense positions unfolded vividly, as if they were alive.
"Haa... haa..."
Hot breaths escaped the lips of the two ECHOs without them realizing it.
"W-What should we do with this? We... should throw it away, right?"
At Moi's trembling question, Rai shook her head and whispered in a subdued tone.
"B-But isn't it a waste? It's a book containing the... important acts of humans. An ECHO sister told me once that human books are worth preserving just by existing."
"Rai..."
Giving a plausible reason, Rai hurriedly hid the book inside her clothes before her sister could say anything.
Instead of thoughts of metal resources, the contents of the adult book she had just seen overlapped with the hot acts shared between the Commander and other ECHOs like Pomen, blooming in her mind.
And that imagination soon led to an honest change in her body.
Drip. Drip...
"Ah..."
As if it had been waiting, her pussy was becoming sticky and wet.
"Sister..."
"What is it, Rai?"
"L-Let's take a short break."
Moi was no exception; the two sisters entered a secluded corner of the building and began to greedily seek each other's lips without needing to decide who started first.
Then, just like the pictures they had seen in the book, they began to grope and rub against each other's bodies.
"C-Commander...!"
"Ang! Aang—! Ah—!!"
All while imagining the sight of the ECHOs being impaled by the Commander.
[Po—?]
And Podic, who had been stealthily watching the scene, disappeared.
She had revealed herself immediately because she felt a strange movement, but unfortunately, the Commander was nowhere to be seen.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Thump! Clang!
The last giant steel billboard they tore down was folded and loaded into the Mercury Howl's cargo bed with a heavy sound.
"Is this enough?"
However, Helena looked at the mountain of scrap metal and electronic parts piled in the cargo bed with a dissatisfied expression.
The old headquarters of Hongwei-7 was truly a treasure trove of resources. From rusted steel structures to unidentified military equipment and vehicle parts that weren't perfect but seemed usable if repaired.
It was full of things that Karen or Lena would be happy to see.
"Hmm..."
But why?
It felt like something was missing.
Perhaps because they had Tetris’d it too well, as the cargo bed of the Mercury Howl was only about 60% full.
In other words, more than 40% was still empty.
"Arva."
"Yes, Helena."
Arva, who was keeping watch beside the truck, answered her call.
"Don't you think something is lacking?"
"If you want to fill the remaining space with scrap, I believe half a day would be sufficient..."
Arva's eyes turned toward Helena.
"I don't think you're asking for something so simple... What is it you want to say, Helena?"
As expected, Arva was quick-witted.
Helena grinned and pointed her thumb toward the ridge to the north of Hongwei-7.
"How about we head over there?"
There lay Ark 74, where she had visited with the Commander a few days ago.
"Ark 74?"
"Yeah."
Arva's brow furrowed.
Certainly, there were mountains of resources necessary for the operation of the Ark that they hadn't yet collected.
But at the same time, it was a perilous place filled with traps.
"We just have to avoid the ECHO production facility, right?"
"Hmm..."
"Didn't Madeline and Cordelia dismantle all the other traps back then?"
Arva remained silent at Helena's words.
Indeed, there didn't seem to be any particular problem.
The Carapace Lord was dead, and even if powerful groups of Unique Zombies remained, they would be mere prey before Helena's Artifact—Hell's Gatekeeper.
In fact, it would be better if such threatening creatures appeared.
Because they could eliminate the risk factors in advance.
"......"
Actually, Arva also felt a secret sense of regret.
The Ark had to develop further. For that, various resources necessary for development were essential.
Even though the Commander possesses an Artifact called the Money Compass...
To use it, the Commander inevitably had to be exposed to danger personally.
From the perspective of the ECHOs who had to escort and protect him, that was absolutely unacceptable. It was better for them to suffer more in times like this.
For the sake of the Commander's safety.
And if they could see him smile.
This amount of hardship was nothing.
"Very well. Let's go."
Helena nodded with satisfaction at Arva's decision.
The purpose of repairing the Mercury Howl was to safely transport resources from Ark 74 anyway.
It seemed like a good idea to visit and test the feasibility of that mission.
"Whoa— Did you fight a monster called the Carapace Lord here?"
"Yeah, yeah... There were seriously mountains of zombies."
"How many?"
"No matter how many I killed, there was no end to them."
While heading toward Ark 74, Luna, sitting in the cargo hold, vividly described the battle with the Carapace Lord, spreading her arms wide.
And in front of her, the twins Moi and Rai, who hadn't participated in the battle, listened with sparkling eyes.
The sight was so much like a bard telling a heroic tale that even Silva, who was listening while keeping watch from atop the truck, let out a small chuckle.
And so, the Mercury Howl roared as it drove powerfully along the mountain road.
After driving for about two hours, the silhouette of Ark 74 began to appear in the distance.
It was just as Helena was about to park the truck in a suitable spot.
BOOOOOM—!
"—?!"
"W-What's happening?!"
A massive explosion that shook the very earth echoed from inside the Ark.
It seemed someone, or something, had triggered a trap inside the Ark.
The smiles vanished from everyone's faces, replaced by a sharp sense of alertness.