Boom!!!
A distant tremor sounded overhead once more.
In the narrow tunnel, dust sifted down in showers, startling Little Cow and Horse into stopping where it stood and looking around in terror. Its high beams were brighter than anything else, afraid that it might get even a little darker.
What kind of absurdity was a busted motorcycle being afraid of the dark?!
Ji Jue was so annoyed that he went up and kicked its wheel. "Move it, scout ahead!"
"The earthquakes seem to be getting more frequent." Little An reached out and pressed a hand against the wall, feeling the tremors coming from afar. "It feels like the entire Rift World is collapsing."
"A complete and sound system must possess its own renewal mechanism. Besides repairing itself when errors arise, when accumulated problems become impossible to reverse, it must destroy everything and create an entirely new set of systems."
The Prophet spoke calmly. "According to calculations, the Reboot was originally supposed to occur eighty years later. The arrival of outsiders accelerated the distortions within the workshop.
"It seemed we had to move a little faster."
The moment those words were spoken, the entire group fell silent.
Even Little Cow and Horse froze stiffly in place.
Only Ji Jue coughed awkwardly twice. "Um, Prophet, everyone knows exposition is important at a time like this, but could I trouble you to maybe say a little less?"
"Hm?" The Prophet was puzzled. "Did I say something wrong?"
On Little Cow and Horse's front end, the head placed in the basket turned around. Its pitch-black, glass-bead-like eyes looked back at them.
That was even more fucking terrifying, okay?!
This was getting more and more underworld!
After the two sides had tentatively reached an agreement to cooperate, the RPG staple of a "character recruitment quest"