Chapter 171

"Is that tasty...?"

"It's alright... I've gotten used to eating sweets since becoming an agent, so it's not bad."

"No, I mean... won't you feel like throwing up when you eat at a time like this?"

"This...?"

Efnir glanced at the chocolate in her hand.

"You'll get used to it. Maybe one day you'll get used to it too."

"'Someday someday'...?"

How far away is that day? Yukina can't wait that long.

Yukina clenched her fists tightly, her gaze falling on the pile of entrails and blood under the table beside her, and she felt a sudden difficulty breathing.

She closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to look away.

Having finally mustered the courage, she reached out and pointed to the chocolate near Efnir's mouth.

"Naoko..."

Efnir popped the second chocolate into her mouth and looked at Yukina.

"What's wrong?"

"I want to eat too..."

"Huh?"

Efnir seemed slightly surprised.

But she smiled and still took out a piece of chocolate and placed it in Yukina's palm.

Then, while she was chewing on a chocolate bar, she watched with great interest as Yukina tore open the chocolate wrapper. She stared at the chocolate for a long time, swallowed hard, and then shakily opened her mouth and stuffed half of it into her mouth in one go.

Creak--

Yukina forcefully crushed the chocolate bar with her teeth. She closed her eyes tightly, her face pale, and chewed a few times before swallowing it in one gulp.

She clenched her fists, her head bowed, as if struggling with something.

After a long while, Yukina finally raised her head.

"I did it..."

After doing it, I realized that overcoming this physiological rejection wasn't actually that difficult.

Or rather, there's a feeling—"If I want to do it, I can do it"—like a deep-seated conviction.

However, it was still a bit of a struggle, so much so that Yukina's expression was more like "knowing she'd swallowed a fly and couldn't spit it out" than "having eaten a chocolate," which amused Efnir so much that she covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Don't laugh..."

Despite saying that, Yukina wasn't angry; she seemed to be feigning a bit of coquettishness.

Efnir smiled, her eyelashes curving upwards.

It was an incredible laugh— Yukina thought so sincerely, as if looking into Naoko's eyes, gazing at her curled eyelashes and moist lips, could make her forget all unpleasantness and fill her with strength.

"If only there were no fighting..."

Did you say anything?

Yukina's soft murmur was lost in the distant gunfire and was not heard by Efnir.

She picked up another piece of chocolate.

Would you like another piece?

"Absolutely not!"

This Yukina simply turned her head away.

At that moment, another short gunshot rang out from behind the dark curtain.

The soldiers were searching all the offices, laboratories, and rooms on B7 Level in turn; they had to eliminate all the hidden Dregs there without leaving a trace.

The gunfire stopped abruptly.

Yukina looked in the direction from which the gunshots came. At the edge of her vision, there was a barrier about two people high made of chairs and tables. Yukina could roughly guess that it was something that existed to protect against the impact of the Dregs.

Those things were already soaked in blood.

Yukina turned her head, lifted her leg and hugged it with her hands, shrinking back slightly.

"There's so much Dregs here... it seems like more than we've seen along the way..."

"Because... this is the Boundary Stele Administration Office, and also the center of the Boundary Stele Barrier."

Efnir thought for a moment and then said.

"This is the core of the Boundary Stele System. After the Erosion Entity appeared and the Agents were killed in battle, most of the people with nowhere else to escape ended up flocking to this building... This place could be said to be the last line of Defense Line before the fall of Maesakagawa, but I was ultimately too late..."

"..."

Yukina lowered her gaze and gently took Efnir's hand.

So that's how it is.

"No wonder the closer we get to this area, the more vehicles and roadblocks accumulate on the road, and the more Dregs we encounter..."

Similarly, this means that more people will die.

Yukina recalled the scenes she had witnessed—the various Defense Line and piles of debris blocking the way in the corridors and halls were proof of these people's will to survive. And naturally, these people did not die from the attacks of the Erosion Entity, but rather, after the Boundary Stele Barrier disappeared, they were gradually reduced to Dregs by the Corruption Energy.

The dried bloodstains on the wall seemed to foreshadow the fate of the last survivors—some would gradually turn into Dregs, while the rest would have to kill those turning into Dregsification as quickly as possible, or they would face the immense threat posed by those Dregs.

Yukina couldn't imagine the despair and misery that the people here felt as they died in their final moments.

They may wait for rescue that will never come until they die.

Imagining such a scene is like piercing your heart with a sharp thorn.

Life in Xijing City, life at school, everything on a daily basis will be Corruption, stripped away, and trampled upon.

--Perhaps... this is what Naoko has always been trying to protect.

33. Exchange

The final gunshots faded into the Dregs.

All the Dregs and remains of the dead were piled up by the soldiers in several rooms, which were then locked.

Everyone was covered in large patches of ash or thick, dark red blood that looked like rotting flesh. To ensure the safety of the engineering team, the soldiers cleaned up all the Dregs on the entire B7 Level.

Meanwhile, the engineering team members also completed their restart work.

Everything is proceeding smoothly and according to plan.

"The timing is perfect."

Kusei Maki glanced at her wristwatch, standing as straight as a pine tree. She turned on her night vision goggles, and her black hair slipped down her cheeks.

Her steely, cold gaze was fixed on the ticking of the hands.

"--How's the cable laying going? Is temporary communication available now?"

"It has been debugged and is ready for use now."

The adjutant reported.

"Very good, connect me to the ground troops."

"Yes."

During the brief wait, the hum of electricity, like fine sand flowing through the air, filled the control room. Soon after, a soft, delicate girl's voice could be heard.

"Commander."

As the sound appeared, Anilas's image appeared on the screen.

Behind her were construction vehicles and huge "trains" with working carriages. A large number of cables ran out from the rear of the construction vehicles, some of which were lowered down through the elevator shaft to the central control room, while the rest were used for energy and control signal transmission.

"Was the mission successful?"

"I have accomplished my mission, sir."

Anilas was wearing a communication headset, and the faint sounds of gunfire could be heard behind her.

"We are currently continuing the task of clearing Dregs and Erosion Entity in the surrounding area. Team B has completed the underlying maintenance of the Boundary Stele System, and the backup energy is sufficient to support our next Boundary Stele restart work. However, we have encountered a somewhat tricky problem..."

"It seems things won't go smoothly... Give me a detailed report."

"Here's the thing—during our investigation and search, we discovered that the Boundary Stele's backup energy reserves are very low, seemingly due to damage from Erosion Entity. The remaining energy can only support us for about half a day's worth of work. We traced the power line to the energy control room and investigated, only to find that the circuit connections were damaged and unusable. Therefore, the engineering team needs to bridge and install a new line to centralize and transmit the power."

"Half a day...?"

Kusei Maki pinched her chin, her brows slightly furrowed.

"Can the construction of the new line be completed in half a day?"

"Skipping over the damaged lines shouldn't be too difficult, but leaving from here will involve encountering a lot of Erosion Entity... and clearing the roadblocks will take time."

In other words, it's difficult to complete all the work in half a day.

If the roadblocks and Erosion Entity are not completely cleared, the engineering vehicles will not be able to reach the site smoothly, and the subsequent work will be difficult to continue.

Moreover, even if power is restored, the newly installed lines will be destroyed by the Erosion Entity if the threat of the Erosion Entity is not completely eliminated.

These are all problems that urgently need to be solved.

"We can't wait that long."

Kusei Maki paused, lowered her gaze, and frowned as if she was thinking of a solution.

"Can I use a residential line for the transfer?"

"Perhaps we could give it a try... but the terminals of civilian lines would hardly be able to support such a huge load, and the nearest Relay Station is quite a distance away, which would probably cause a lot of trouble..."

"If it's possible, then let's do it."

"Yes, sir."

"Please wait a moment," Efnir, who was resting to the side, suddenly spoke up, Kusei Maki turned her head to look at Efnir.

"What suggestions do you have, Brigadier General?"

"I wouldn't call it advice, but if this is the problem, I think I might know a shortcut."

Kusei Maki looked intently into Efnir's eyes and slowly began to speak.

"Go on."

Efnir glanced sideways at the numerous displays in the central control room; some of them were damaged, and most of the others were not receiving video signals.

"... I came here once a month ago with Fifina on a support mission, so I still have some impression of this area."

That was the day it all began. On that day, Efnir and Fengling Shiyin were dispatched to provide support, but when they arrived at the Maesakagawa Garrison District, they found it was too late.

Because of the silence of the Boundary Stele System, more and more Erosion Entity began to appear, constantly hindering Efnir and Fifina's work. In the end, they found no survivors and had to retreat before the Erosion Entity could gather together.

Codename H and Sakurai Sachi met during the retreat inside the heavily guarded processing plant; they were "the last two people".

"During the search for survivors, I heard Fifina mention information about an 'abandoned tunnel.' It was a cable-laying tunnel left over from the Old Era. It was abandoned during the reconstruction of the Maesakagawa Garrison District due to final planning issues. It served as a temporary shelter during that accident. As far as I know, its nearest maintenance entrance is located next to the research institute nearby, and the other end passes through a Relay Station. If we can make good use of it, it can probably save a lot of time."

In other words, using the cable lines in the already abandoned underground tunnels to replace the upcoming installation work can not only shorten the operation time, but also make underground travel smoother to some extent - the ground is full of Erosion Entity and Dregs, as well as a large number of damaged vehicles and roadblocks. In contrast, the tunnels only need to deal with a small amount of Dregs and potential Erosion Entity.

"Will it take time for the fortifications to be completed...? In any case, this is a suggestion worth considering."

After a moment of contemplation, Kusei Maki glanced at Efnir again and turned her gaze back to the screen.

"Then, Anilas, please select your personnel now and wait for Efnir and me to return. At the same time, arrange for all available personnel to set up Defense Line with all available resources. Don't be stingy with the last of the Lure Shell. Also, complete the preparations and debugging for the reactivation of the Boundary Stele before I return. There is still enough time, but do not let your guard down. If you discover any trace of the Apostle' activities, report it immediately."

"Yes!"

With communications cut off, Kusei Maki looked at the soldiers behind her and said to her adjutant, "You take a group and stay here to guard this place. Contact me immediately if there is any unusual activity. The rest of you, take your weapons and come back to the surface with me."

"Yes!"

Efnir