Chapter 20: Third Resting District
In the beginning, the walls were as rough as stones. However, when we opened the door, a violating feeling crept into our hearts.
This is no longer a sort of ruins… but some kind of base, right?
Under the light shone by my several b.a.l.l.s of light, the surrounding walls reflected a l.u.s.ter which only metals could have. And when I used my hands to touch the walls, they gave me the chill which only metals could have as well.
And this walkway with a seamless design, gave us the feeling as though we were walking on a s.p.a.ce battleship found in sci-fi.
……
These ruins can’t be a s.p.a.ce fortress which fell from G.o.d-knows-where, right?
This is too scary. Let us just treat this as some typical ruins and wander around. I keep getting a terrifying vibe from this.
In other words, we have to head over to another entrance to this base, from this entrance? Dear G.o.d, how long do we have to walk then?
I suddenly recalled that place that looked like a hospital when we entered the underground ruins a long time ago… Could it be that place was a hospital of the【Blackgold Age】?
A chill suddenly ran down my spine, because I recalled the word I saw back then at that hospital.
That word was completely from our former world…
I rubbed away my cold sweat. Alright, let’s calm down. For now, let’s first leave this place.
If this place is really some sort of a base, then, it should be possible to find something that looks like a map here. As long as we find that, we will be able to leave this place much sooner.
“This metallic structure looks indeed like a product of the 【Blackgold Age】. Let’s follow along this walkway then. One of the methods to walk through a dungeon is to constantly walk along a side of the wall. That way, we will definitely find the exit sooner or later.”
“Then what if the walkway here… changes from its original position?”
I looked towards Bai Yueguang who brought this up, and frowned. Just what kind of games do you usually play? Or did you watch some horror movie? Why was the scenario actually that frightening?
“You don’t have to worry about things like that. I have everything prepared.”
As I said that, I took out a paint spray, and sprayed towards the wall. The part of the wall that was sprayed on slowly emitted out a faint light.
“Ooooh, could that be… fluorescent spray?”
Bai Yueguang took a few steps closer and stared at the wall.
“Not entirely. It’s also made of light-type and plant-type magic crystal powder. By mixing them accordingly in a certain ratio, a glow like this can be emitted.”
“So you’re saying, we will use this spray to mark a route, so even if a change were to occur to the pa.s.sageway, we will be able to realize it in an instant?”
“That’s right.”
“Then, why aren’t we getting a move on?”
“But there’s a point I wish to bring up. According to the tests, a bottle of spray can only last a kilometer. And, this spray doesn’t last forever, rather, it will only last for five hours.”
“In other words, we’re only able to walk a single kilometer?”
“No, we can walk a good distance, because we only have to mark the turns we make when we walk, however…”
“We have to leave this place within five hours, otherwise, the markings will disappear, right?”
“That’s right.”
I nodded.
“Right now, here are our options. One, no matter how dangerous the route we take may be, we do all we can to leave within five hours. Two, we carefully inspect our route, when we encounter a branch, we will first confirm a direction. We will use all we can in five hours to finish scouting that branch route, before coming back to supplement the spray.”
“Then… We will start from the extreme left?”
I looked at everyone.
“Majority wins, how about it?”
“It’s decided then!”
“One, two, three… Push!”
At the same time, Bai Yueguang and I exerted our strength to push the metallic door in front of us. An ear-piercing metal grinding sound came from the door, while the metallic door moved inward a little.
“Great, everyone, push it away!”
As I said that, I walked over to the wall on the other side, and then, reached out my hand to press on it. Immediately after, a gigantic ice pillar grew from the wall, and st.u.r.dily struck onto the metallic door. The metallic door opened resoundingly, and at the same time, what looked like dust particles flew about.
This was inside a building, and they were all metallic, so there shouldn’t be dust… Then what are these particles?
Ah whatever, I don’t want to research about it either.
Two b.a.l.l.s of light floated over to the room, and circled within it. This place seemed like a rest lounge, as there were sofas, tables, and many stools.
I immediately took out a torch to light up the place, and then, took the lead forward.
“Seems like a rest lounge for guests. I really don’t know they arrange the rooms.”
Earlier, we have already inspected three branch routes in the previous hour, and most of the rooms we found were guestrooms like this. Of course, there were also infirmaries and warehouses. But, the things inside were all very old and tattered, and basically, there’s nothing that could still be used.
“Could it be that we have arrived at a residential district? But, if that’s the case, why isn’t there a clear exit marker?”
Princess Mich.e.l.le at the side could not help but speak out.
Speaking of which, the most bitter person right now should be this princess, right? Usually, she shouldn’t have many opportunities to walk such a long distance. Yet, currently, at such a short notice, she had to walk in this dungeon for so long. She must be suffering a lot right now.
“Nothing we can do about it. There’s a possibility that the marker used to mark positions is something we’re unable to see. Or, they basically did not need to walk on their own.”
“A teleportation gate?”
“They did not even possess magic, things like teleportation gate… Actually, it might be possible!”
Although they did not have Spatial Magic, a wormhole transfer gate or something was still possible!
If we think it this way, their technology wasn’t something we mock at, huh. If this was really true, then it would definitely be more advanced that this current age!
“But, a scooter would be more possible instead.”
Bai Yueguang pulled out a two-wheeled scooter from a corner, and it looked rather similar to the scooters of the modern era.
“It looks pretty decent. Let’s bring it back and have Ms. Mari and the rest research on it.”
“There’s no use. The parts inside are all gone. This is an empty sh.e.l.l.”
Bai Yueguang said as he threw it onto the ground. What was heard was the empty ringing of metal.
“How’s… that possible… This…”
“Most probably, they took away the things that are more valuable. But why did they leave an empty sh.e.l.l?”
“… I think I know the reason now.”
Suddenly, Shir said as such.
“Why?”
“Look at this…”
As he said that, he pa.s.sed over a metallic board.
“We have to hurry now…”
Emergency Notice
The Third Resting District will soon enter a state of long period high-temperature sterilization, destroying all of the mechanics within range. The cycle is once per two hours. Please leave further away from the Third Resting District.
The words on it included the human language, the elf’s language, and many other languages… Just what in the world…
But this wasn’t the most important. What’s more important was…
“How long… have we been here?”