kscans

Chapter 402 - To the Research Facility

Hayato was on his way to the research facility with Lunaria and the others.

Among the members heading to the facility, Hayato knew Lunaria, Xenobia, Maris, Surya, and Parsha, along with her guards, Blanc and Noir.

Maris and Surya were in a separate car, while Lunaria, Xenobia, and Parsha rode in the same car as Hayato, with Blanc driving.

The reason Maris and Surya had come along involved the Sagittarius Foundation.

Sagittarius was originally an organization formed by the merger of "Noah" and "Artemis," to which Maris and Surya had belonged. According to information remaining with Sagittarius, there was a possibility that the research facility where Lunaria had been was involved in animal research.

This came to light when Ney and Ronios went to Sagittarius to request their cooperation. With that, they shared the information, involving the current head of Sagittarius, which led to Maris and Surya being dispatched.

The facility might be where Siegfried was born. For that reason, Maris was quite excited.

And so, their group had grown quite large, though not to the same extent as when they went to Lee's hideout. In total, there were about thirty people. Since Parsha was accompanying them, most were her guards.

Although the twins, Blanc and Noir, served as both drivers and guards, Parsha's brother had deemed that insufficient and assigned additional escorts.

According to Parsha, her relationship with her brother had improved after she prepared a signed pledge completely renouncing her candidacy as the next family head. Now, they were on such good terms that they even ate meals together.

Hayato listened to this story inside the luxurious car, but his only real reaction was, "I see." More importantly, the car was shaking so badly that he was starting to feel quite sick.

Just as Jolth had said, Lee must have been an exceptionally skilled driver, because a normal person’s driving, or even automated driving, resulted in terrible vertical shaking. Blanc wasn't driving particularly fast, but the rough terrain made it impossible to avoid the bumps.

He remembered how Esha and the others had looked sick, slumping to the ground when they arrived at Lee's hideout, and he now felt a belated sense of apology.

To distract himself from his nausea and guilt, Hayato decided to talk with Parsha.

However, they didn't have many topics in common. Assuming she had probably already heard about it, Hayato explained the situation at Lee's hideout.

Parsha, seemingly unaffected by the shaking, gracefully sipped her tea, smiled, and then nodded.

"I hear the Hyena members will cease their looting. If that’s the case, then working on road maintenance outside is not a bad idea. Our Foundation would like to participate in that area."

"So you didn't perform maintenance before because of them?"

"That's right. Outside, the authority of the Foundations is meaningless, so it’s a scramble for any and all resources. Even if we built roads, materials like concrete would just be carted away. So we left it alone, but now that problem has been resolved."

Hayato nodded.

He knew that investigations outside were dangerous, but he hadn't known the specifics of the situation. He was aware of dangers like contaminated areas, but the manmade problems were not something they taught in educational institutions.

And if they were going to maintain roads outside, he could make an assumption.

"Are there also plans to expand the habitable zones?"

Currently, life on Earth was only possible in artificially protected areas like Central, massive structures like High Bridge and Big Wall, or the artificial Floating Island. Of course, there were people living outside, but they survived by reactivating abandoned facilities. It was not yet to the point where they could live solely off nature.

Hayato had never heard of a plan to expand the livable regions before, but if activity outside became easier, increasing the territory would become a possibility.

"You’re quite sharp. The Leo Foundation is central to surface activities, but with Ney-san acting as an intermediary this time, it seems they will be doing various things jointly with Libra. Also, since port defense will become easier, Aquarius, which focuses on maritime activities, also wants to participate. It seems Ronios-san is stepping in to handle those negotiations."

To Hayato, this was a world away from his own, but it was rare to hear of Foundations working together. Joint projects were so infrequent that they became major news, and he had only heard of a few such instances.

Noticing his puzzled expression, Parsha smiled.

"Do you find it strange for the Foundations to do something together?"

"Yes, well. It’s not something you hear about often."

"It is certainly a rare occurrence, but Ney-san and Ronios-san have been seeking cooperation from various Foundations. Their positions as the next heads are quite significant, and since they are personally visiting other Foundations, they cannot be dismissed. Besides, with Ney-san’s current momentum, it’s said that any Foundation that doesn’t get on board would be foolish. It seems every Foundation wants to establish a relationship."

"That’s a grand scale story. Still, that Ney…"

Hayato was surprised that Ney, who didn't know how to doubt people and seemed likely to fall for any scam, had reached such a status.

"Ney-san is, for better or worse, pure, which makes her easy to get along with. Dealing with people from the Foundations can be quite exhausting. Well, Ronios-san is just simply a pain."

Putting aside the harsh assessment of Ronios, Hayato could somewhat understand what she meant about it being easier to deal with someone. No one wants to associate with a person who requires constant vigilance.

"This might be the catalyst for a change in how the Foundations operate. Though it will likely be a story for decades from now."

One could say she was disrupting the power balance of the Foundations in a good way. And while things were peaceful for now, there was no doubt it was a distorted arrangement. If it improved for the better, Hayato would be grateful. Though he hadn't done anything so far, he decided in his heart to cheer for Ney anew.

"Well, that’s enough of that. Let’s talk about the research facility. That said, I’m amazed Lunaria-san and Xenobia-san can sleep in these conditions, aren't you?"

Unlike a truck, the car was luxurious with an interior like a limousine, but the shaking was severe. Despite this, Lunaria was sitting on the leather seat with her arms crossed, sleeping peacefully. Xenobia was asleep on the seat as well, leaning against Lunaria with her knees hugged to her chest.

According to Lunaria, it was fine because she had "trained to be able to fall asleep instantly anywhere."

It was unclear what kind of training would achieve that, but she had said something incomprehensible about being able to almost completely control the secretion of her brain's neurochemicals at will.

And Xenobia had also said, a little proudly, "I can fall asleep in any situation, and once I'm out, I won't wake up." Hayato was still puzzling over what part of that was something to be proud of.

There was no need to wake them, so Hayato continued to listen to Parsha’s story about the research facility.

The location of the facility had been difficult to pinpoint because Lunaria had only ever been outside it once.

Lunaria said she had only seen the outside from a self-driving taxi on its way to the Spaceship Aphrodite.

Even for Lunaria, who could remember everything she saw once, identifying a place was difficult when the landscape had changed over a hundred years. So they took the time-consuming approach of collecting footage of the scenery from a century ago and cross-referencing it with Lunaria’s memory.

Thanks to that, they finally found the location, but it turned out to be in a dangerous zone, which meant preparations took even more time.

"So a habitable area a hundred years ago became a dangerous zone?"

"That’s correct, but there's a rather fishy story attached to it."

"Fishy?"

"It was indeed a habitable zone a hundred years ago, but there is absolutely no information about it from before then. We don’t understand the circumstances at all. The impression is that it suddenly became a dangerous zone. It might even be a place that was intentionally turned into one."

"Intentionally? Are you saying it might be more dangerous than the normal outside?"

"We’ve checked with satellite photos beforehand, and apart from a cluster of collapsed buildings, there is nothing. We also obtained information from the Leo Foundation through Jolth-san, and they said there was nothing there when they investigated before."

"Then it should be fine, right?"

"I think it should be fine, but we should remain vigilant. I heard what Lee-san said, that there’s a possibility the Zodiac Foundation intentionally caused the resource depletion."

Hayato nodded.

There was only circumstantial evidence, or testimony, but no proof. Still, the possibility was high. However, Hayato hoped it wasn't true.

For Amanda's sake.

As a Genetically Enhanced Human, Amanda had dreamed of searching for planets in space. But if the resource depletion was intentional and a planet with resources had already been found, then Amanda's dream had ended a hundred years ago.

She could have searched for another new planet, but he had heard that Amanda also had the desire to save humanity as a Genetically Enhanced Human.

Besides, it was questionable to send the most exceptional of the Genetically Enhanced Humans as a spy to steal technology. And to send a spy to another organization belonging to the same Foundation, despite the world being in a dangerous situation, suggested they had a lot of leeway.

In other words, it was reasonable to think the world was not on the brink of crisis.

When one thing becomes clear, parts that were once unseen come into view. That was fine, but Hayato was left with an indescribable feeling when he thought about what this meant for Amanda.

(Amanda-san probably found out about this somehow… She was sent as a spy, her dream was crushed, and she planned to get revenge on the research facility, only to find out the dream that started it all was meaningless from the beginning. To think she learned that…)

As Hayato sighed, Parsha asked, "Are you alright?"

"Ah, sorry, my mind wandered a bit. Um, about the resource depletion, yes, I've heard it was intentional, but apparently it can't be proven."

"If they were doing something that shouldn't be known, they wouldn't leave information behind. However, concealing everything is difficult. This isn't limited to this case, but places where such information might exist are surprisingly dangerous. It will be troublesome if some kind of defense system is still active."

"A defense system?"

"Something to prevent intruders. According to the Leo Foundation, there are several such places outside. They say this place isn't one of them, but there's a possibility they just haven't found the location they truly don't want people to enter. If so, there will be a defense system, and the investigation may take time."

For Hayato, who didn't want to waste much time, this was unwelcome news. He wanted to head out the moment the spaceship was ready to fly, but it was meaningless if they didn't have the coordinates.

(Should we go to space first and wait for the investigation of the facility? No, but there's the fuel issue—)

"It’s fine. Once we get there, we’ll know Amanda's coordinates right awaeh—"

Just as Lunaria suddenly spoke, she covered her mouth, her eyes welling with tears.

"Good morning. You were awake?"

"I can hear even when I'm sleeping, so I just woke up now. More importantly, you should be concerned that I bit my tongue."

He wondered if that was even possible, but figuring anything was possible with her, Hayato quickly stopped thinking about it.

"Are you okay?"

"I wouldn't say I'm okay, but I'll manage. About what we were just talking about, the research facility does have a defense system. But I can easily disable it, so leave it to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I’ll get shot at a little, but I just have to dodge. And I’ll need a hard stick to deflect the rest."

"What are you talking about?"

"The defense system. It’s probably at the entrance to the underground section, so I’ll go in while dodging the bullets and disable the system."

"No, no, really, what are you talking about?"

At the very least, being shot at with a gun was not a "little" thing, nor was it something one could just "dodge." Same goes for deflecting them.

It was true Lunaria could do such things in virtual reality.

During the fight when Lee came to the rooftop, Lunaria had dodged gunfire, but that was, at the end of the day, virtual reality. The speed wasn't real, and getting hit wouldn't kill her. It was troubling to have her speak of it with the same casualness.

Lunaria was huffing slightly, looking fired up, and it felt like anything he said would be useless. He decided to approach this from a different angle and turned his gaze to Parsha.

"Parsha-san, Lunaria-san is saying this, but do you have any countermeasures?"

"We have prepared several devices to neutralize the system, but it will depend on what kind of defense system it is. There’s a chance we may need to bring in additional equipment, but we should prioritize safety here."

Hayato nodded, relieved at Parsha's sensible answer, which was completely unimaginable from her usual behavior.

"So that’s how it is, Lunaria-san. No dodging bullets. You wait until it’s safe, okay?"

"Didn't you say we don't have much time?"

"I did, but there's no point if it comes at the cost of someone getting hurt, right? Besides, you're the one we need inside the research facility, so I'd rather you not do anything reckless at the entrance."

Lunaria crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling, then turned back to Hayato and nodded.

"Understood. If that's the case, I'll hold back. I'm a secret weapon, so I'll be patient until the end."

She wasn't exactly a secret weapon, but if it made her restrain herself, it was a small price to pay.

Thinking that the research facility was also going to be a lot of trouble, Hayato kept talking about various things to avoid getting car sick.