The Signal in the Ruins
We gathered in the living room of a roadside motel, huddled in front of the TV screen.
A mysterious set of red characters.
Floating in the center of the screen were just four words.
[Help me.]
I pointed at the screen and spoke cautiously.
"Could this be a distress signal, too?"
"No. At least... androids do not use this method for distress signals."
Serika shook her head firmly. Her eyes were as cold and analytical as ever.
"When we send distress signals, we usually transmit them across a wide area with coordinates attached. A method like this, simply displaying text... it's fundamentally impossible to implement."
Now that she mentioned it, it was strange. These weren't coordinates. It was just a single, emotional sentence asking for help—nothing more.
"So that means it wasn't sent by an android."
"That's correct. At least, not within my knowledge base."
Then who sent it?
"Surely, a mutant monster wouldn't be capable of something like this...?"
I muttered, staring at the screen. The monsters appeared to have high intelligence, but they weren't beings capable of implementing a language system. They moved, destroyed, and preyed based on instinct. This kind of 'plea' was impossible.
Then, only one possibility remained.
"...No way."
"A human?!"
"Are you saying it's a human, Chanwoo?"
Revi's eyes widened. All three of us reached the same conclusion at once. A non-android entity was requesting help with a sentence that wasn't even a standard distress signal. Did that mean there was still a human alive somewhere in the depths of these ruins?
"That's impossible..."
I was a special being who had 'transmigrated' into this world from the outside. That fact alone made my existence an exception that defied the rules of this world. In a sense, I was a miracle. But could such a miracle happen twice? It couldn't be.
This was a world where only the remnants of a humanity that perished thousands of years ago remained. In an environment where even breathing was impossible, the idea that someone other than me was alive defied logic, probability, and the system itself.
"Serika, what do you think?"
"Honestly speaking... the probability is close to zero."
Serika shook her head with a more cautious look than usual.
"Chanwoo, you yourself are a unique existence that cannot be explained logically. And yet, you're suggesting a human survivor has appeared right after?"
"It makes no sense statistically, Chanwoo."
Revi continued. "The environment of this planet is already unsuitable for human survival. And... if it weren't for the distress signal at the beginning, you wouldn't have survived either, Chanwoo."
I knew that well. The day I first met Revi—if she had been even a little bit late, I would have been torn to shreds by a pack of wolves. Or perhaps my throat would have been slit by the first cry of the mutant monster that came charging after.
"Then there's only one conclusion."
"Yes, it's a trap."
"To be precise, there is a 98.56% probability that it is a trap, Chanwoo."
No one argued with that. The probability of it actually being a human was too low. At this point, any entity capable of transmitting a sentence via mysterious radio waves without coordinates was already suspicious from the start.
"But... then why target us specifically?"
I muttered, staring at the screen. Serika crossed her arms and began to deduce.
"It's highly likely to be a wide-area broadcast. The radio waves could have spread widely, like with the Human Hunter, and just happened to reach your base while the TV was on."
"That sounds plausible, but..."
I slowly shook my head. "Serika, your communication terminal didn't react at all."
"...Ah!"
Serika's eyes wavered significantly. Her terminal was a distress signal receiver exclusive to elite-class androids. It was impossible for it not to react to a wide-area distress signal, yet it had been silent. It hadn't rung once.
"Which means this message is a 'signal aimed precisely at us'."
"Does that mean the sender knows who we are?"
"That's highly likely."
'Help me.' That simple, single phrase. There were no mechanical elements like distress signals or command codes within it. It was a phrase that directly revealed desperate emotion—a wish to live. It wasn't a 'support request' or 'location transmission,' but a 'help me'... a sentence without context or coordinates, as if someone were tearfully speaking to another person.
Who could be capable of speaking in such a way? When androids make distress requests, they always follow standardized protocols that include the recipient, location, and situation. Beings that dislike inefficiency state the result before the emotion. But this sentence was different. It was so human that it felt foreign. That was why I could be certain.
This wasn't a message for an android. This was a desperate cry directed at a human.
"So... what do you intend to do, Chanwoo?"
"We have to go."
At my words, as I stood up abruptly, both androids widened their eyes in shock.
"Chanwoo, that's too dangerous!"
"There is a high possibility that this is a trick! Just like with the Human Hunter...!"
"I know. That's why I plan to approach with caution."
I turned off the screen and looked at Revi and Serika carefully.
"Serika. Can you track this signal?"
"...Yes?"
Serika blinked at the sudden question. She looked at me, seemingly surprised for a moment, before quickly composing her expression and speaking.
"W-well... if the direction of the radio interference remains and the residual pattern is still there... I should be able to reverse-trace it to some extent!"
Her voice was confident, but there was a hint of excited anticipation underneath. It was the kind of look that suggested she felt a flicker of joy simply because someone had trusted her abilities and asked for her help first.
"Good. Then I'll leave the coordinates to you, Serika... and Revi, you come with me to pack supplies."
"Are you really going?"
"Yeah. If it's a trap, we'll just have to dig it up."
I smiled quietly. "And if there really is someone there, whether they're an enemy or an ally, their technology is definitely worth it."
Being capable of text transmission at this level meant they possessed significant residual technology. If they were an enemy, we could take it; if they were an ally, we could cooperate.
"What's the one thing our base is lacking right now?"
"...I believe it's a workshop to maintain our equipment."
"Exactly. Even though we have a wide parking garage in the basement, we can't use it properly because we don't have the tools to build anything."
I said that and clenched my fist.
"This job... it could be really dangerous. But on the other hand, it could be an opportunity to change our future."
"Oh, ohhh...! So it's all or nothing!"
"Yeah, so let's go. If it's a trap, we'll smash it, and if it's an opportunity, we'll make it ours."
And so, we began to move. Piercing through the ruins toward the place where the signal for help was embedded, toward the entrance of a new stage.
The origin of the signal Serika tracked was a staggering 50 kilometers away from our base.
"They sent a signal from 50 kilometers away...?"
As I muttered, Serika nodded in response.
"This is a dead giveaway. To fire radio waves from this distance, it means they aimed precisely at us."
"...So they were targeting us from the start."
Both Serika and Revi had looks of agreement. The distress signal spread by the Human Hunter last time had a range of about 20 kilometers. This one was more than double that. It was too intentional an approach to be considered a simple distress signal.
The three of us began to move toward the mysterious sender—an entity whose status as friend or foe was unknown. Fortunately, this expedition had more leeway than the last. It was because Serika, who could provide rear support, was with us. Food wasn't a major concern either. Thanks to Serika, who had fixed up the tuna canning factory, she had packed both hands full of tuna and saury cans before we left. The quantity was enough for the three of us not to go hungry for a week.
The estimated travel time was four days. We began to walk over the ruins. And, on the second night, inside a collapsed concrete building on the outskirts of the city, we carefully lit a campfire while avoiding the eyes of the mutant monsters.
"It's going smoothly."
Revi said as she opened a can. The reflected light flickered faintly in her cold eyes.
"Yeah. It really is."
I nodded, tearing off a small piece of meat from inside the can. The temperature was low and the environment was harsh, but I felt a sense of stability just from this quiet night, the warm light, and the two androids by my side.
But the peace didn't last long.
"...Chanwoo, stay still."
The voice that suddenly broke the silence was sharper than usual. I stopped moving in surprise, and Revi fixed her gaze toward the darkness behind me.
Swish.
The next moment, Revi generated a black blade in her hand and lunged quietly toward the darkness beyond the stairs.
Crack!
In that split second, the moment her blade was about to slice through the air—
"P-please, save me!!"
At the sudden, tearful cry, Revi's blade stopped.
"...?!'
"Revi?! What's wrong?"
She turned back quietly. Her eyes held both vigilance and confusion. I approached that direction cautiously, and soon, I was able to confirm the figure.
A very small android. Her long, silver-white hair was soiled here and there, and her shabby black slip dress was torn and wet. On various parts of the girl's skin, black circuits and green signs of infection were mixed, flowing over her body like unstable electric currents. Her arms trembled irregularly, and her red eyes flickered periodically. Amidst movements that repeated like an 'error log,' a visceral, non-mechanical fear was mixed in.
But most impressive of all were her eyes. Both eyes were burning with a crimson glow, filled with fear and desperation. Biting her trembling lips, the girl was kneeling, covering her mouth with her hands and crying.
"P-please don't kill me...! I-I was just hungry... I just came here because I suddenly smelled something delicious...!"
The sight was too human. If anything, it was excessively human. Revi maintained her defensive stance without taking a single step closer, and Serika watched the situation from a distance, holding her breath. And I... I just couldn't speak for a moment. This scene was completely different from the 'parasitic infected' I had seen until now.