kscans

Chapter 400 - A Worldwide Deception

"Hyah hah! Let's burn some rubber!"

"Lee-san! Safety! Please drive safely!"

"You're no fun. It's an established trope that you're supposed to shout like this when you're driving a car or bike through the wasteland. Also, not using the brakes is my style."

"Please throw that style in the trash!"

"Actually, my legs don't work, so I can't hit the brakes..."

"Self-deprecating jokes like that won't work on me. Besides, the brakes are on the handlebars. I know they've been customized for you, Lee-san."

"What, you figured it out?"

Four days after the service termination, a convoy of ten fully-armed personnel transport trucks and ten escorting military bikes was racing through a hazardous zone on Earth.

Their destination was Lee's hideout, where the old-model spaceship was located.

Lee was driving the lead truck, and her old instincts must have been kicking in because she was driving with such high tension that Hayato, who was riding with her, felt his life was in danger.

Lee was in the driver's seat of the truck, Relic in the passenger seat, and Hayato and the others were sitting in the cargo area, which was protected by thick armor. The driver's cab and cargo area were separate, but there was a window for conversation, so they were able to talk. There were also monitors showing the outside, so they had a good view.

All vehicles driving through Earth's wastelands, regardless of type, used only tires, with no hover function. The air currents were too turbulent for them to be stable. And the ground outside the old city areas was not paved, so the vibrations were transmitted directly. The seats were decent, but they still put a considerable strain on the body.

(I wonder if Esha and the others are okay...)

Esha and the other women were in a different vehicle, and Hayato was regretting not riding with them.

This was Hayato's first time outside a survivable area like Central or High Bridge, and he didn't even have the leisure to slowly take in the scenery. Not that there was much to see besides the wasteland stretching to the horizon and the other trucks and bikes in their convoy.

It was a large group, but they had brought members strong on the software side like Esha, Relic, Ox, and Rauxal to check the spaceship's condition, along with engineers like Keith. Nestor and others were also participating as escorts on motorcycles.

Ney had explained her identity and the situation to the leaders of the major clans who were unaware, and asked for their cooperation.

Of course, Jolth also revealed his identity. The leaders of the major clans were good friends with Jolth, so although they were surprised by the situation, they agreed to cooperate for the sake of the virtual reality.

Ney could have used her connections to hire as many talented people as she wanted, but given the circumstances, she had assembled a team of trustworthy members who could keep their mouths shut.

Another reason was that they didn't have much time.

Ox had said that the spaceship Aphrodite would only remain in Earth's vicinity for about a month.

This was only because Hypnos had taken some kind of countermeasure, but he hadn't been told the details, so there was a possibility it could leave Earth even sooner.

The situation wasn't looking good so far. Hayato thought back on the events up to this point as he looked outside through the monitor.

As he was enviously watching the safely driven vehicles, he heard Lee's cheerful voice through the conversation window.

"It's worth living a long life to get to ride something this good!"

"There are civilians here, so drive more safely. What will you do if you injure someone?"

Lee paid no mind to Relic's chiding voice.

"Like I'd make a mistake like that. Old people sure do grumble a lot."

"Someone needs to keep you in check when you go wild. Just slow down."

"It's been a while since I've driven, so I'd like to do as I please. Alright, alright, I get it, so stop with the death glare and sit down properly."

The truck's speed decreased. Along with it, the vertical shaking also calmed down a little.

Hayato finally relaxed and let out a big sigh.

"I'm impressed. She's a better driver than an automated car."

Jolth, who was sitting opposite Hayato in the cargo area, said with a laugh.

"Huh? This is good driving?"

"Of course. The other cars are probably shaking incomparably more than this one. Automated driving prioritizes arriving at the destination safely and ignores ride comfort."

"I see, the roads aren't paved, so of course it's going to shake..."

"This is from my family's company, so the equipment is state-of-the-art, but it's probably still tough."

The trucks and bikes on this trip were the latest models handled by the Leo Foundation.

Jolth had asked his family to purchase these trucks and bikes.

The Leo Foundation's main business was the development of weapons and armaments, as well as the exploration of hazardous zones. However, their income was not stable, and they maintained their position by providing military strength to other Foundations.

Jolth bought these on the grounds that it would be a favor to the Libra Foundation. The Foundation, in turn, provided them at an exceptional price, thinking that a favor to Libra was worth it. Of course, they also agreed to the condition of not asking for a reason.

Also, since Jolth had become Ney's assistant, he had come to be respected within the Leo Foundation. There had been talk of him returning to the Foundation, but Jolth had flatly refused.

Because of these circumstances, they were traveling with considerable equipment, but a question sprang into Hayato's mind. Was this not overkill?

"I don't know much about this, but do hazardous zones require this much armament?"

"This area isn't so bad, but where we're going, it's probably necessary. It's Hyena territory."

"Hyena...? That's a dog-like animal, right? Does that mean there are surviving animals?"

He thought that would be Maris's jurisdiction, but Maris hadn't come with them this time. She was going to the research facility with Lunaria and was currently preparing for that.

That aside, Jolth shook his head at Hayato's question.

"Hyena is one of the communities living outside the habitable areas. They live in shelters and such."

"Huh? There are people like that?"

"It's an ideology, a sort of religion, to live with nature and die with nature. They're people who live with minimal benefit from machines, but it seems they've reactivated abandoned production plants to grow food."

"From their ideology, they sound like safe people."

"It just means there are various kinds of communities. Among them, the Hyena are a group with a strong 'survival of the fittest' ideology, and they attack anyone and everyone. My family's company has been trying to negotiate with them for safe investigations, but they don't really listen. We're going into their territory this time, so we've armed ourselves accordingly."

"I don't think so, but..."

"No, no. The weapons our escorts have are just Tear Gas Guns and Water or Air Impulse Guns. The other side only has that kind of equipment too, and their protective gear isn't bad, so the worst that could happen is a bruise from a bad hit."

"That still sounds painful, though."

"Of course it's painful. But if there's no pain, they won't back down. I don't think they'll attack us this time, though. Part of the reason for this armed group is to make a show of force."

"Ah, I see."

As Hayato understood, Lee, who was in the driver's seat, let out a "Heh."

"So there are still guys like that around. There were some a hundred years ago, too. Guys who went on about living with nature."

"Does that mean the people now are their descendants?"

When Hayato asked, Lee said, "Maybe so."

"So people can live even in an environment like this. It can't be all clean and pretty to survive, but they're tough. Well, the guys in the safe zones who only talk about pretty things are doing much dirtier things without a second thought!"

Lee said this with a laugh, but her words were filled with resentment.

Hayato was wondering if he should ask why, but Jolth spoke up first.

"Doing dirty things? That was in the past, right?"

"That's right... Is it okay if I tell you? Back then, there were guys who were stopping the supply of resources."

"Stopping the supply of resources? Can you tell me more?"

When Jolth asked, everyone in the truck waited for Lee's words.

"They say a resource-rich planet was discovered during the age of resource depletion, right? The truth is, it had been found a long, long time ago. They kept it secret and fanned the flames of anxiety, saying Earth's resources were in danger."

"Y, you're joking, right?"

When Hayato said that, Lee started laughing.

"It's true. As proof, my team was wiped out because we found out about it. Honestly, I want to tell them to hide it properly if they're going to hide it. Because we found out something we shouldn't have, this is what happened to me."

Lee said this, lightly tapping her own left leg with her left hand.

Hayato had heard that Lee had formed the illegal transport team "Scavenger." That team had been wiped out, leaving only Lee, and Lee herself had been injured so badly that both her legs were paralyzed, leading to her being imprisoned in the Colony "Prison."

"That's ridiculous... But why would they do something like that?"

"Part of it was to monopolize the resources, but they also fanned anxiety to control people as they pleased. It's a con artist's trick, but it's effective, isn't it? They did that on a global scale. Thinking about it now, the Zodiac Foundation that's been in the news lately must have been behind it. The Frontier Project sounds nice when you call it a planetary project that removed national borders, but it's just the right kind of bait to gather talented people from all over the world."

"Gathering talented people...?"

"The Frontier Project was a plan revealed to the whole world, but behind it was the Another Frontier Project. They must have built the spaceship Aphrodite in secret, but you'd need geniuses from every field just for that virtual reality and the cryosleep pods, right? They probably wouldn't get people to gather just by saying it was to create a virtual reality, and even if they did, someone might run off with the technology. But if you say it's to save humanity, don't you think people would do it even with unreasonable restrictions?"

It was conditional on the information cover-up being true, but it was certainly a possibility. The spaceship Aphrodite, and the virtual reality. It would be difficult to gather geniuses from every field all over the world by saying you were going to build that in a time of peace.

The more people involved, the more likely technology is to leak. The technology used on the spaceship Aphrodite was not just state-of-the-art, but generations ahead. The fact that none of it had leaked to the outside would be impossible without some very special circumstances.

Thinking that far, Hayato realized something.

"Then the people gathered as test players were also..."

"Something similar, don't you think? But it seems like the test players were more a collection of people with issues rather than talented people."

"Issues?"

"People who have no resistance to living in virtual reality, you could say. I heard that almost no one refused to be a test player. And everyone agreed to leave Earth. I'm one of them, but the biggest reason was that I didn't want to go back to Prison. Everyone else had their own reasons, but for it to be everyone seems too convenient, don't you think?"

"Too convenient... that's true. Then everyone..."

As Hayato was lost in thought, Lee started laughing again.

"The story that the plan was about to be abandoned because a resource-rich planet was found was just a self-staged act. At the time, I thought, what are they talking about. Well, it was probably part of a plan to make that girl, Diite, leave Earth of her own accord. We were just made to go along with it."

Everyone was lost in thought at Lee's words.

To be honest, it was hard to believe that they would do something like a global-scale fraud for such a reason. And there was a question.

"Why would they do something like that?"

"You mean running away on the spaceship?"

"That too, but also the reason for calling everyone to the virtual reality."

"Who knows. I don't know who came up with it, but putting aside whether they're smart or stupid, a normal person can't understand the thinking of someone at one extreme or the other. They say there's a fine line between a fool and a genius, but between them and a normal person, there's a thick steel plate."

"...That's true."

"I'm the one who brought it up, but Hayato, you should think less about the reasons and more about what you're going to do from now on. Being too curious might lead to regrets. Go to the Aphrodite, log into the virtual reality, and meet that girl, Diite. Just focus on that, Hayato."

"...You're right, I will. I don't seem to have the luxury of thinking about unnecessary things anyway."

Hayato was an ordinary person. He thought he was lucky, but basically, he was normal. He wasn't a brilliant programmer like Esha, nor could he act like Ash. He was just a normal person you could find anywhere.

He wasn't belittling himself, but Hayato concluded that there was no way someone like him could understand the thinking of an opponent who could deceive the entire world.

Relic, who had been watching Hayato and Lee's exchange, looked at Lee with a surprised expression.

"It's rare for you to give advice."

"It makes me want to cheer for them when I see young people trying their best. It's advice from someone with experience that being too curious can lead to terrible things. Besides..."

"Besides?"

"If I can think that it served as a lesson for the young ones, even just a little, then that failure, their sacrifice, wasn't a complete waste, was it?"

"That's true... But from my perspective, you're still plenty young. Your being alive means it wasn't a waste, and you can save the regrets for when you're older."

"Hey, hey, are you hitting on me? I'll tell Sonia, you know?"

"Why would it... ahem, excuse me. I was speaking in my old manner. My apologies."

Relic showed a gentle face from the driver's cab conversation window and apologized to Hayato and the others, but everyone thought that this must be his true self.

"Alright, let's end the gloomy talk here. We'll be at the hideout in another three hours. I'll drive safely, so you can relax."

Lee gripped the steering wheel, humming cheerfully as she drove.