The Trap Laid in the Underground
The man who flies above the man who flies above the man—it is every man’s romance. A harem surrounded by women. In the face of that legendary temptation, my sanity seemed to have snapped for a moment. Like a man with a cock for a brain, I reached out for the offer without a second of hesitation. And then, the next morning arrived. The heat of the previous day felt like a farce; I was forcibly regaining my senses in the cold reality.
Yank...
“Re, Revi... Serika... it hurts...”
“Chanwoo, you’ve gone too far.”
“That’s right! I can handle your sexual needs too! But to think you’d try to shove that massive cock into some infected thing that’s only good for its big tits before me...!”
Sexual desire is a terrifying thing. I hadn’t slept a wink from dawn until now, yet I didn’t feel tired at all. On the contrary, even though I had been solving the Puzzle Circuit Connection Mission—which was boring as hell even in the original game—for several hours, my concentration didn’t waver. However, the two androids who were stuck to my side under the pretext of ‘escort’ grew darker in the face the more I immersed myself in the puzzle. And finally, as soon as I turned my head away from the puzzle, they grabbed both my cheeks and pulled.
“Uh... guys, it’s a misunderstanding. I’m doing this because it’s genuinely beneficial for us...”
“B.E.N.E.F.I.C.I.A.L.?” Serika said with a sharp gaze.
“Then, even if this problem is solved, you’re saying you won’t have sex with that infected thing called Placia, right?”
“Th, that’s! I mean...”
Yank!
Ah, damn it. Honestly, she was tempting me so openly that, as a man, I naturally wanted to fuck her. But the moment I said that out loud, my cheeks would really be torn off.
“Absolutely not. And the opponent is an infected entity, Chanwoo.”
“Exactly! What if you get your cock bitten off during the infection process!”
“Th, that’s true... that is a bit scary...”
Honestly, whether it’s a zombie movie or an apocalypse story, it’s a common cliché for male villains to get so pickled in their lust that they get infected while doing it with the infected. Let’s judge this intelligently. What was truly important in this situation wasn’t sex, but... ‘technology.’
“I get it. I won’t form that kind of relationship with Placia in the future.”
“If it were a promise you could make so easily, you should have said so sooner!”
“Above all, Chanwoo’s semen has already been earmarked for other uses.”
“...Other uses?”
In the midst of that, Revi’s tone was somehow eerie yet erotic.
“Anyway. The puzzle must be solved. That much is certain.”
“Huh?”
“Is there a reason why it’s absolutely necessary?”
“Yes.” I pointed to the workshop wall and said quietly.
“Our base is currently barely scraping by on solar power. And even that supply is insufficient. Communication with R.P.M. will be possible in a month... but what comes after?”
“After that?”
“Right. Even if I contact R.P.M., all I can do is tell them I’m alive and request rescue. But to live in this world, we need ‘what comes after.’”
That’s right. To survive this apocalypse, we ultimately need infrastructure and resources. And Placia was an infected entity who created those things ‘all by herself.’ From the ceiling display that simulated the sky to the underground power grid, agricultural systems, and communication technology. If we don’t bring someone like that over to our side, we’re finished.
“But... she’s still an infected entity!” Serika shook her head again. “She’s a monster wearing the skin of a dead android! Whether she has intelligence or not, the fact that she’s dangerous remains true!”
“I agree,” Revi nodded as well. “Besides, even if she says she’ll give us the technology, there’s no guarantee. What will you do if Placia breaks her promise?”
That was also true. But I looked up at the two of them and smiled.
“Don’t worry.” I muttered, picking up the puzzle again. “From the moment I entered this place, I never trusted her even once.”
“...Huh?”
“Yes?”
Both androids looked at me simultaneously. I raised the corners of my mouth, staring at the wires scattered like debris on the puzzle.
“The more untrustworthy the opponent... the more you keep them by your side.”
The wiring puzzle requested by Placia wasn’t a problem that could be solved simply by spending time on it. As I looked closer, several parts were missing between the tangled wires. The problem was that those parts couldn’t be crafted directly in this Star’s Child worldview. They were rare materials obtained by hunting and farming monsters. Literally, they were items that could only be acquired by going outside and hunting.
“Some of the internal wiring requires the flesh of a monster to be patched in. Does this village happen to have any such materials left?”
“Unfortunately... those were just residual flesh I scraped off the monster corpses scattered around when I first discovered this place. I have none left now.”
If technology and infrastructure were at 100, the combat power of this village was close to 0. It was truly fortunate that most of the monsters were the type that stayed on the surface. If an entity that dug like a mole had found this place, the village might not exist by now. At least, the underground village I had seen so far was in that state.
“To fully restore the circuit, I’ll have to go outside and gather the materials myself.”
“Bu, but that means... you’re going out at night!”
At those words, Placia’s hands, sitting inside the workshop, trembled slightly. She set down the teacup she had been holding for a moment and carefully looked at the two androids beside me in turn. Then, she tightened her lips as if recalling an old memory and opened her mouth cautiously.
“It might be an intrusive question, but... are the two androids accompanying Chanwoo used to the night?”
“Probably not.”
“I have never operated at night.”
“Me neither. I didn’t really have a need to. But is that such an important thing to talk about?”
“Of course it is!”
In the Star’s Child worldview, ‘night’ was the prime time for the monsters that had encroached upon the Earth. It was the stage where monsters were most active. Even when clearing the game, there were routes where you could clear it by only operating during the day if you wanted to. That meant the night was a hidden hard-mode content exclusively for veterans, a time zone that should be avoided if possible. Judging by Placia’s reaction, she was clearly someone who had experienced that night in the past.
“To think there are greenhorns who haven’t even experienced the night...”
For a moment, the corners of her mouth twisted bitterly. It was a remark made as if indifferent, but a brief anguish flickered in her eyes.
“Ah, hem hem...” Placia straightened her posture again and spoke, feigning a calm voice.
“Anyway, if you’re going to go out on such a dangerous night, I... I almost want to withdraw this request.”
“Placia...” I looked at her quietly. Her fingertips were still trembling minutely.
“Of course, I’m not underestimating you, Chanwoo, as a human. But... that night is truly dangerous. If, by any chance, you were to be killed...”
Her voice trailed off. And the next moment, she muttered lowly.
“She...”
“...She?”
I furrowed my brows. That wasn’t just a slip of the tongue. It was clearly a word that held meaning. But Placia avoided my eyes and hurriedly covered up her words.
“Ah, no. It’s nothing. I was just... worried.”
Placia was clearly the leader of this village. But ‘she’?
“I’m talking about Lyla! She seems to have enjoyed the time she spent with you recently, and she’s been looking for you guys constantly these days. I was just worried that Lyla might be shocked if something happened.”
“That won’t happen.”
“That’s right. Revi here might not know, but I’m an android who graduated at the top of the R.P.M. elite unit!”
Clatter, clatter.
The two androids inevitably engaged in a war of nerves as if keeping each other in check, but it seemed certain that there was something else somewhere in this village that we hadn’t yet grasped. And to find that out, I needed to go outside and clear my thoughts anyway.
“Don’t worry. I know our own limits best.”
“...Yes?”
As if to reassure Placia, I answered with my usual bright smile.
“I’ll be hunting the monsters during the day.”
“Aren’t entities that are active during the day rare, making them difficult to find?”
“It’s fine. I have a plan.”
I was the one who had achieved the ‘fully upgrade all weapons’ achievement through monster grinding. You didn’t think I did all that only at night, did you? Given the nature of the game where you lose your entire inventory if you die once, a route for stable farming during the day was absolutely necessary. Knowing that route made a decisive difference in a situation like this.
“I’ll be able to gather enough in three days. I’ll be back soon.”
“...Yes. Please, be careful.”
I nodded and left the workshop, and Revi and Serika followed without a word. Now, a space with just the three of us, the outdoors for the first time in a while. I could clear my head in the outside air and gather the necessary materials. ...Or so I thought.
“Ah, you’ve come!”
A bright voice heard suddenly. Standing in front of the entrance was the village’s mascot. No, it was a mascot that seemed to have appeared by someone’s intention.
“...Lyla?”
Lyla, smiling brightly with her small frame, raised both arms high. But that timing, that location, that tone. Everything was ‘too well-orchestrated to be a coincidence.’
At that moment, I realized.
...The three of us had been included in someone’s plan much earlier than we thought.