Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Management Bureau Tour & Mystery (3)
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The first question that popped up gave me plenty to mull over.
Considering that I used to be a guy in my past life, I was definitely human.
But right now, I was unmistakably a dragon girl.
...Still, if asked which category I belonged to, I could confidently say human.
I didn't eat human flesh like an anomaly, nor did I feel any instinctive hunger or murderous intent toward humans.
I was just a slightly special human who loved hamburgers and happened to have horns, wings, and a tail.
"...I'm human."
I answered the question, and the next one appeared.
"...Do I want to be rescued?"
I wondered why the underline was on such a weird part, but I pondered it seriously anyway.
If this space meant the capsule I wanted to get out of...
I could tear it open like paper if I wanted, so there wasn't much need for rescue.
"No, not really necessary."
I gave my answer, and that question faded, replaced by the next.
The atmosphere in the isolation sector...?
This time the underline was in a normal spot, so I thought about whether it was good or bad.
Recalling the expressions of the Management Bureau staff I'd glimpsed, they didn't seem particularly grim.
Plus, the area holding the anomalies didn't feel all that bleak.
It felt more like they were following set procedures than fearing accidents.
Even the overwhelmingly huge anomalies couldn't cross a single sheet of reinforced glass.
"Seemed pretty good to me. Yeah."
I voiced my personal take, and soon that question faded too.
"Why does it skip so fast...?"
Looking at the questions so far, it felt more like an internal satisfaction survey.
Was there meaning in the underlines...?
"...?"
It didn't take long before a question with zero connection popped up.
"...Another underline."
Again, the underline was under a random, unrelated word.
Why did it keep highlighting these out-of-place parts?
If it wanted to emphasize something, it'd pick a normal spot, not something so random.
I rubbed my chin with my tail, then shook my head and focused on the question itself.
"What to bring if trapped in a desert...."
The question itself wasn't hard.
Cold water? Hunting knife?
No contest—cold water.
Deserts lack dangerous creatures but make up for it by having almost no water sources, leading to tons of dehydration deaths.
"...Yeah. I'd bring the cold water."
I answered and watched the question quietly fade.
"Again...."
Sure enough, the next one had an underline under another weird word.
Why did it keep doing that with these random words?
Was there a hidden message...?
"Pyramid..., help...? Wait a sec...?"
As I murmured the underlined words, a plausible hypothesis hit me.
What if the questions were all a smokescreen, and the underlined words were the real message?
"Let's rethink the questions...!"
I quickly reviewed the five questions so far.
...On their own, they looked like bizarre, disconnected survey questions.
"But if I just string together the underlined parts...."
What had been nonsense suddenly turned into a distress signal.
"Someone trapped in a desert...?"
No matter how I looked at it, it screamed "someone trapped in a desert needs rescue."
It could be coincidence, so I stayed calm and kept answering.
"Building a pyramid takes 100 people."
If the next one had an underline too, I'd get more info.
"...What? It's over?"
I waited, but the glowing light vanished, turning back into a plain wall.
"Suspicious...."
It disappeared the moment I caught on?
Unless someone specific sent this, the timing was impossible.
I pondered the bizarre phenomenon during my physical exam.
"Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting~!"
Kiiiek—. The capsule's hatch opened, and Crescent Head greeted me with arms wide.
"Must've been boring, waiting 30 minutes like that?"
"Hey. Crescent Head."
"Hm? What's up?"
Since he was the bureau chief, I cut him off and got straight to it.
"Is there an anomaly in the isolation sector related to a desert?"
"Desert? Hm.... That giant eyeball we saw through the window earlier... Huh?"
The moment he confirmed it, I bolted out the special exam room door toward the giant window.
"What's going on, Chief...?"
"Eh~, looks like our little one's up to something fun?"
Crescent Head brushed off the scientist and watched me go with intrigued eyes.
I arrived at the giant window and glared into the pitch-black space beyond.
"...If that underlined message is real, there's a person behind that window."
All I could see was darkness.
I doubted if there was really a desert back there.
"...Nothing to lose."
I'm an insanely strong dragon, so even with doubts, I don't regret acting.
Knock knock—.
I tapped the window with my small hand, calling the eyeball anomaly like Crescent Head had.
The colossal eyeball anomaly appeared quickly, bloodshot eyes glaring at me for a moment.
"...Huuuup."
I slowly inhaled, gathering energy from my whole body.
"KYAAAOOOO———!!!!"
I unleashed the breath I'd held back in a single explosive burst.
Cherry Blossom Flame Vortex
Overwhelming pink flames whirl into a vortex!
Rooaaarrr———!!!
The pinkish flames erupted from my mouth in a massive vortex, swirling menacingly.
The beautiful cherry blossom inferno.
The window took a direct hit and began melting from the intense heat, forming a huge hole.
————————————!!??!!?!
Eyeball anomaly melted like jelly!
The anomaly beyond the hole got hit in the pupil, melting like jelly from the overwhelming heat.
"Ptoo..."
Having unleashed unbridled power for the first time as a dragon, I cutely coughed and reined in the flames.
Emergency situation! Emergency situation!
Anomaly has escaped—.
The Management Bureau, now literally holed through because of me, soon blared harsh alarms and announcements.
"All bureau staff, evacuate immediately—. All Combat Division agents, assemble at the isolation sector now—."
I knew it'd happen, but the intense vibe still gave me chills.
...Think they'll forgive me?
I whistled awkwardly, about to fly through the gaping hole, when Crescent Head sauntered up like clockwork.
"Whoa~. Blasted right through an anomaly-made window with one breath?"
"......"
"Took out that eyeball too? Wow~!"
Under the flashing red lights, his faint moonlight glow turned to cold silence amid his admiration.
"..."
As tension and confusion hit from his mood shift, he spoke seriously for once.
"Normally, attacking the bureau means instant termination... But I figure you've got reasons for this."
"..."
"I'll cover for you and say it wasn't you, so be careful out there."
"...Why the sudden care?"
"Hm? No reason, just felt like it?"
I questioned his whimsy, and he shrugged, pointing at the game console anomaly's glass wall.
"If you're going, take that too. It'll come in handy."
"......"
I still couldn't read his blank face, but...
...Right now, he was on my side, fact.
"...If you change your tune later, you're done."
"I don't lie~."
I left the hand-raising clown behind, grabbed the game console anomaly, and stood before the window.
Beyond stretched only inky blackness.
I wasn't sure the underlined message was true, or if I'd return from whatever lay ahead.
But the die was cast—I couldn't back out.
"Ah~! Hate writing incident reports...."
As Crescent Head sighed wearily, I spread my wings and soared into the darkness.
The bureau's sirens and red lights faded in an instant.
The darkness inside was eerily quiet and pitch black.
All I sensed was my wings flapping and endless dark, eyes open or shut.
Sense of direction warping, I flew through the void a bit longer.
——————.
"...Weeeeng?"
Snapping to, I was in the middle of a blindingly sunlit desert.
True to Crescent Head's words, the massive anomaly's domain was a desert.
Golden sands stretched to the horizon, making me feel tiny.
"...Chit."
Bonus: unpleasant sand gusts.
"It was in a pyramid, right?"
Desert reached—now find the pyramid from the message.
"Nothing in sight though...."
Heat haze warped my vision; couldn't make out squat.
Normal folks would despair here, but...
Flap—!
"Nyam! I've got wings!"
I had blessed flight—no need to trudge.
Grinning smugly, I spread my wings, soared high, and scanned the desert.
"Sand... sand... more sand over there...."
Was there really a pyramid? The desert was vast.
"Weeeeng...."
Tail swishing in regret, briefly.
"...Nyam?"
A tiny golden edge poked from the sand in the distance.
So small, only someone scanning from above like me would spot it.
"That the pyramid?"
Looked like the tip; I wheeled around and landed lightly nearby.
Up close, it was adorably small.
Low enough to fit underfoot.
Thud!
Test-kicked it; definitely man-made architecture.
"But where's the entrance...?"
This tiny edge wasn't it, obviously.
Entrance probably buried deep in sand.
"Uuuun.... Guess I dig."
Digging sand? Easy. I crouched, claws out.
Scritch scritch scritch—!
Like a puppy digging, I cutely shoveled sand, tunneling toward the pyramid entrance.