Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Descent into the Depths
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The wasteland winds howled fiercely, blanketing everything in sight with a hazy veil of yellow sand.
Gavin was dropped from the helicopter. A gale roared to life behind him as the armed chopper swiftly climbed, whipping up a hurricane-force storm of dust and sand that nearly bowled him over. No time for anything else—Gavin jammed his arc knife deep into the sand, dropped to his knees hugging his head, and endured for a dozen seconds or more, certain more than once that he was about to be hurled into the air.
Only after the helicopter had fully lifted off and the winds finally eased did Gavin manage to pry his eyes open and stagger to his feet. In the distance, a massive black structure loomed faintly through the sandstorm. Though only a corner was visible beneath the smothering layers of grit, its savage silhouette and overwhelming presence made it look like some ancient subterranean beast coiled in the eternal wasteland.
“Pah! Pah! Cough cough…” Gavin spat out the mouthful of sand, wiped his lips with his sleeve, yanked his long knife free, and trudged forward.
But then, he froze mid-step and whipped his head around.
Behind him stretched an endless sea of yellow dunes. The gale screamed across the heavens and earth, and as far as he could see, there was no one—nothing but him in the whole world.
…He could’ve sworn someone was watching him. A hallucination?
Gavin frowned, paused for a long moment, then turned and marched toward the base entrance. His footprints trailed long and winding behind him, soon swallowed by the shifting sands.
Meanwhile, a hundred meters away beneath a poplar tree, space tore open into a black rift. Several figures in black armor and masks materialized halfway out, ghostlike.
“He’s gone in,” one said in a low rumble.
“Too bad we won’t get to see him die up close…”
“After all, he’s the Alliance’s number one. That’s one way to put it.”
“We’ll collect his corpse during the cleanup. Least we can do for an old acquaintance…”
A low chuckle drifted from beneath a hood, sending a chill of primal dread straight to the bone just from the sound.
The black rift slowly sealed shut. The wind and sand swept past the poplar tree, leaving the ground barren once more, as if nothing had ever happened…
Clang!
The battered windproof door slammed hard against the wall, unleashing a blast of dry, musty air.
Click—the flashlight snapped on. Gavin clamped a damp cloth over his mouth and nose, sweeping the beam around.
The map showed a tunnel beyond the base’s entrance door, where thick darkness had festered for decades, now so dense even light couldn’t penetrate it. Gavin cranked the flashlight to max brightness, barely making out the cracked stone steps underfoot. Beyond five or six meters, the blackness hid who knew what.
Gavin sheathed his arc knife, drew a dagger from his waistband and held it ready, flashlight raised as he stooped and advanced.
The tunnel was narrow enough for only one person. After a hundred or two hundred meters, it sloped steadily downward. About five or six minutes in, it reached its end: a dilapidated wooden narrow door ahead.
Gavin figured he was now seventy meters or so straight down from the surface. Beyond this door lay the underground base proper. He held his breath, gingerly prying the iron lock open with his knife tip, easing the door as quietly as possible.
But the base had been sealed for decades, pressure unequal inside and out. Before his hand even touched the wood—
Clang! A thunderous crash echoed as the door burst inward, smashing the wall and shattering into pieces across the floor!
Gavin jolted back into the tunnel in a flash, but the clang reverberated endlessly, hinting at a vast space beyond.
“Wooo————”
A faint, piercing wail drifted from afar, raising the hairs on his neck before fading into silence.
…Just the wind?
Gavin waited. Silence reclaimed the area. After a beat, he stepped through the doorway. The moment his foot hit the ground, a chill gust hit him square in the face, sending a shiver rattling through his bones.
“Wooo————”
This time, the cry was right behind him!
Gavin spun, knife slashing—only for a white shadow to flash past and vanish onto the rafters in an instant!
Who’s playing tricks up there?!
No sooner thought than done: Gavin rolled aside, flashlight thrusting up. The white shadow dove from above, lunging straight at him!
A bird? How could there be birds down here? Lightning-quick thoughts raced as the razor-sharp beak like a blade tip speared toward his face!
The moment was perilously vivid: the white shadow shrouded in darkness, its meter-long terrifying beak thrusting from the gloom, mere centimeters from Gavin’s left eye. Gavin lay on the ground, left hand hurling the whirling military flashlight high while his fingers hooked into the dark, yanking the shadow down; right hand whipping the dagger across in a savage wrist-slash—“Splash!” Blood erupted!
“Woo——!!”
The massive bird screeched in death throes, deafening the ears. Its enormous, grotesque head was cleaved clean off!
In a blink, Gavin rolled away from the cascade of foul bird blood. Looking up, even his cool-headed nature left him staring in slack-jawed shock.
The flashlight spun skyward, illuminating the ceiling: decayed, rotting beams crawling with countless white shadows, each man-sized, their crossed beaks glinting with a cold, blade-like sheen.
But that wasn’t the worst.
Worse still: their heads dwarfed their bodies by double, proportions grotesquely warped. Those dull, pale eyelids eerily resembled human ones!
Clang! The flashlight plummeted from above, crashing a dozen meters away—only for countless white shadows to dive, pinning it dead with a frenzy of beaks!
“Aaahhh—help! Help! Aaahhh—!”
Gavin whipped around. In the nearby darkness, a flash—some blood-soaked figure clutched an electromagnetic gun, screaming as he charged straight at him. Endless white shadows surged in his wake, slamming him down with a deafening scream.
—It was technician Charlie!
No thought needed: Gavin lunged in an arrow-step toward the cries, heedless of the dozens of beak-slashes ripping his flesh. The instant he landed, his knife flashed out, batting the electromagnetic gun from Charlie’s hand!
“Aaahhh—!” The screams cut short as Gavin seized Charlie and clamped a hand over his mouth!
At the same instant—clang!—the hefty electromagnetic gun sailed over ten meters, hit the ground, and went haywire: pop-pop-pop-pop! A barrage of explosions filled the underground space, drawing every white shadow in a frenzy!
“Huff… huff… huff…” Charlie, drenched in blood, gasped and trembled in abject terror, all locked tight in Gavin’s arms.
A dozen seconds later, the gun’s power died, the blasts ceasing. The swarm of giant birds milled about, heads swiveling grotesquely in the dark, listening for movement.
Gavin didn’t even breathe, his grip unyielding. Charlie seemed to sense it, clamping down on his chattering teeth. After a long moment, one bird unleashed a shrill cry: “Woo—”
“Woo—”
“Wooo————”
The malice in that sound chilled the blood.
The cries stopped. A few white shadows took flight first, then the flock exploded outward, wheeling circles overhead before vanishing traceless into the ceiling.
Silence fell. After a while, Charlie started shaking again, as if to speak. But Gavin knew they hadn’t left—lurking right above on the rafters. He clamped Charlie’s mouth firmer, signaling silence.
“…” Charlie shuddered long and hard, then nodded shakily.
Gavin waited longer, confirming no sounds, then silently bit his dagger in his teeth, hauled Charlie up, fished a military flashlight from his belt, and flicked it on with a sharp swing.
Still pitch-black, visibility a mere five or six meters; the tunnel direction lost. The ground littered with shattered metal instruments—likely an old lab.
Gavin steadied Charlie as they picked through the debris soundlessly, covering twenty or thirty meters until a lab wall appeared ahead.
Gavin exhaled inwardly, shifting most of Charlie’s weight onto himself, guiding him along the baseboard for over a minute. In the flashlight’s dim glow, a sealed glass door gleamed on the wall.
He knew lab layouts well: these doors were indestructible, password-locked, leading deeper into the base. Propping Charlie in the corner, Gavin pulled a tablet from his pack, hacked the lock in five minutes of furious computation. Click—the glass door slid open.
“Wooo————”
That faint sound stirred the white shadows again. Gavin snatched Charlie and bolted through, slamming the door shut behind—clang!
Instantly, thuds and bangs as the giant birds smashed into the glass!
“H-Help! Help—!” Charlie couldn’t hold back his scream, but grotesque bird faces crammed against the glass, battering futilely, only dislodging wall dust.
The birds threw back their heads in frustrated wails, massive maws gaping—silent, the door fully soundproof.
“Don’t worry. They can’t get out.” Gavin checked the map by flashlight, then strode decisively behind Charlie in a certain direction. Soon, rustling sounds came.
“W-What… are you doing?” Charlie stammered.
Gavin said nothing. Moments later—zzzt—electricity hummed, followed by a ding as overhead lights blazed to life.
“Safe for now.” Gavin shut the wall panel succinctly.
The sudden glare blinded Charlie. After an age, he blinked through the pain.
They stood in a corridor: one side metal wall, the other the horrific dark lab, now sealed by alloy glass.
Gavin dug out a medkit, ignoring his own wounds to scan Charlie’s worst gashes with healing rays. Alpha physiology shone through—the bone-deep cuts stanched and knit swiftly.
“You…” Charlie started, then clamped his mouth, face burning with shame.
Gavin was covered in slashes from saving him, lighter than his but dozens strong—how light could they be? Plus the blood-streaked Omega pheromones, blatant as could be.
During prelims, Charlie had sensed something off from Claire’s attitude: too fixated on Dean’s group’s technician. Not like for a friend or rival—more like desperate pursuit.
Claire and Dean were Royal Academy’s top Alpha cadets this year. What else could turn two Alphas into bitter rivals but an Omega?
Charlie had suspected Gavin was suppressing to compete, but suspicion wasn’t proof. Now it was, and from an Omega braving killer birds to save his life—a debt of blood!
Gavin paid his thoughts no mind, reclaiming the healer to staunch his chest and hand wounds once Charlie was patched. Charlie scrambled back a few steps as Gavin asked gravely, “How’d you get in?”
“Almost same time as you, different route maybe. Realized something wrong, tried to back out—but too late…” Charlie swallowed. “Lost my bearings, couldn’t reach Claire, didn’t want to quit the match easy, so…”
Gavin stayed silent, another suspicion brewing.
Mecha League was Imperial Academy’s top event—tough, sure, but never life-threatening. High-risk segments targeted pilots, not techs.
And those birds ignored light—they were blind. Only long-term dark dwellers degenerated vision like that. Base abandoned fifty years; no way a species evolved that fast.
They weren’t native—planted here deliberately.
Gavin sensed deep waters ahead, wanted no part, but first: could he even leave? Second: forfeit the match?
Deep down, he didn’t see the contest as vital, but Edna’s request felt crucially important. He had this innate admiration for her, couldn’t bear disappointing—or hurting—her.
The healing rays sealed his wounds quick. Gavin grabbed his pack, about to speak, when frantic footsteps echoed behind.
Charlie faced him, face twisting in horror: “Watch out!”
Gavin hadn’t turned when Charlie tackled him flat! A flash streaked overhead, melting a bowl-sized hole in the metal wall—
Particle gun!
Gavin gaped back. Charging down the corridor: a hulking pilot, eyes bloodshot, face twisted in rage, endless hatred blazing as he leveled the gun straight at him.