Outside the main control room, everything remained quiet. Bright lights illuminated the long corridor, while smoothly operating mechanical devices emitted a faint, low hum from deep within the ancient walls and floors. Inside and outside the door seemed like two different worlds. Standing outside, one could almost believe that the flashing alarm lights and unceasing sirens in the main control room were fake.
This ship was still operating "steadily" and "normally," even though its core control area had completely collapsed and its main control system had not issued any orders at all. It was like a hollow body of steel, every component within it operating on its own without instructions from above. Countless self-running systems jointly maintained the voyage of this steel body—but what drove them to function this way remained a mystery.
Gawain and the others returned to the brightly lit corridors within the ship. They had felt nothing when walking through them before, but now, faced with the surrounding lights and the steady hum of machinery, everyone felt an inexplicable chill rising from all directions. It was the cold touch of accidentally uncovering the truth—they clearly realized that they were walking inside a bizarre shell, every component of which was operating under the influence of some mysterious force.
Those components might even have "eyes."
"I'm getting nervous... I'm getting nervous again..." Amber muttered, her eyes constantly sweeping the surroundings. "I keep feeling like this ship can 'sense' us..."
"Stop scaring yourself," Gawain said, turning to glance at the nervous Half-elf. He calmly continued forward. "Let's get outside quickly."
The group quickened their pace through the corridor. They swiftly passed through the connecting passage they had used to enter and one wide-open sluice gate after another, crossing the areas of the ship they had previously explored so cautiously in