Amidst the flickering light of the emergency lanterns,
three different shadows slowly wandered around, cast upon the walls.
One figure peeked around the corner cautiously.
They were currently exploring a new place they had arrived at.
“Uh, how’s it looking? Is this really the place we guessed?”
shhh
While trying to walk quietly, Eleanor whispered a question to Cooper.
His earlier guess about this location being close to the surface.
That assumption was essentially the same as saying they had a ticking time bomb beside them.
Naturally, nobody would be pleased to meet their end in a nuclear explosion after barely escaping a ghost with a head and a bizarre monster.
She was secretly waiting for him to admit that he might have been mistaken.
“Seems like it is. The structure is exactly the same as in the photos.”
However, after briefly surveying the area,
the tunnel made of wire mesh and several specific locations led him to develop a stronger conviction about his guess.
By now, it was undeniable.
Thus, he could only convey an uneasy and inconvenient truth that was completely different from what she had wanted.
“Ha, ha…”
“Hey, don’t lose your energy. I was hoping it wouldn’t be true too.”
A sigh escaped her lips.
He felt the same way; he, who had gone through countless life-and-death situations with just the will to live.
At this rate, they had just returned to square one.
When thinking of all the experiences they had on that very day,
the idea of just lying down and waiting for the explosion to come, dying in an instant, didn’t sound so bad.
“How long until the countdown is over?”
“Five hours remain. Considering the final lockdown measures, we realistically only have three hours left at best.”
Of course, struggling wouldn’t change much.
With only about five hours left until the explosion,
the Management Office would likely prefer to obliterate this place well before that time.
In a practical sense, they had significantly less time than that.
Facing death here became virtually inevitable.
“Why don’t we head back underground?”
“Do you think that’s possible? The path is already blocked by debris. And honestly, even if we could go back, I wouldn’t want to.”
“But there’s no other option! The front entrance is surely blocked by an anomaly, and if we stay like this, we’ll get caught in the explosion!”
In the midst of this urgent situation, Cooper and Eleanor began to argue.
Objectively, neither of them was entirely wrong.
Setting aside the fact that the path to the underground was blocked,
considering what they had been through, it wasn’t impossible for such monsters to appear again.
But staying there would only lead them to be caught in the explosion that would happen shortly.
“…”
Yet, their disagreement wasn’t genuinely helping to solve their situation.
Time was still running short.
Cooper, realizing that this trivial argument wasn’t beneficial, remained silent, sulking in the corner.
Whether it was because he was trying to suppress a growing headache, he pressed his thumb against his temple—
“Hmm, it’s not like there’s absolutely no way…”
He mumbled something under his breath, hinting there might be a different approach.
“Really…? So you do have a solution?”
“Yeah. The Launch Control Room is also in the silo. In terms of priority, the equipment here might actually be easier to handle.”
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?! Let’s go there right now! If we can just stop the launch, we can head to the bunker and wait for support from Headquarters!”
A glimmer of hope shone in Eleanor’s eyes.
If there truly was a control device with higher authority here, stopping the launch was possible, wasn’t it?
As long as the signal hadn’t malfunctioned yet, the Headquarters should be aware that the countdown had stopped.
Even if the front was blocked by anomalies, surely there were ways to breach it from outside.
If they could indeed stop the launch, their chances of escaping this hellish place would naturally increase.
“Well, I’d love to do that too…”
However, despite mentioning a feasible plan,
he oddly seemed reluctant to go through with it.
“It’s just, it’s not as easy as it sounds.”
“Not easy, you say?”
Seeing his demeanor, which didn’t make sense logically, she realized something suspicious was hidden within his proposed approach.
“…Managing the launch directly from the silo was a method previously tried by the Management Office.”
After a brief silence, it wasn’t Cooper but Elijah who answered her question.
Having worked in this facility before, he had some rough knowledge of what had happened here in the past.
“But after a certain incident, touching the control mechanism and nuclear weapons became forbidden… For some reason, it also became prohibited to access the silo underground.”
Common sense said, repeatedly stopping nuclear weapons set to launch automatically would be foolish.
If they could just dismantle the core that’s causing the problem, there would be no need to worry about when the nukes might launch.
Hence, the Management Office hadn’t tried that, but somehow, that attempt had failed and now they were only permitted to stop the launch from the Launch Control Room on Basement 4.
“…What on earth happened?”
“We don’t know. It was a long time ago, and due to lacking the proper clearance or whatever, we ordinary field workers couldn’t access that information.”
None of those present knew exactly what transpired during that incident.
Yet, she had no intention of complaining about that.
The Management Office usually had valid reasons for restricting information, and those reasons were mostly accompanied by extremely unpleasant and horrifying content,
something she was well aware of.
“So whether we head to where the control device is or tamper with it, it means something bad is guaranteed to happen afterward…”
Thus, she had essentially only two options left.
Either sit still and await a peaceful death along with the explosion about to happen.
“Now in our current situation, attempting to disrupt the operations the Headquarters had been conducting could provoke conditions dangerous enough to impose access bans to the underground. Do you understand?”
Or, leap into a place where something terrible lurks,
throwing herself into a suicidal act that would result in death or consequences worse than death.
Either choice wasn’t exactly appealing for her.
“…In the end, it really feels like we’re backed into a corner.”
With a sigh, she let out her frustration.
Well, it was understandable.
After navigating so many crises to survive all day,
it felt as if she came up against an insurmountable wall.
Now, having reached the point where she could no longer even try to scale that wall,
it wasn’t surprising that all the vitality drained out of her being.
“Yeah. Funny enough, it’s like nothing has changed since you and I were holed up in the shelter.”
“Haha… Don’t expect that the 19th Entity will pop up at a time like this for a hopeful plot twist, right?”
“Who knows? Even if that kid shows up right now, I doubt we’ll make it out before the lockdown measures hit…”
Cooper nodded along to her self-mocking words.
If that girl showed up before them, it would certainly brighten the situation,
but even if they somehow escaped this facility now, they doubted having the time to get beyond the lockdown measures.
Honestly speaking, just like when the elevator collapsed earlier,
there was no guarantee that something else wouldn’t come crashing down upon them.
This facility itself was considered an Abnormal Phenomena zone.
It seemed those anomalies had plotted to kill them from the start.
Looking back, perhaps from the very moment they got tangled up in this facility,
they had been struggling under the illusion of survival.
“…”
Silence filled the air.
A desperate atmosphere enveloped them while feelings of helplessness besieged them,
slowly leading them to the thought of just sitting there quietly,
accepting their end when it came.
Then, Eleanor’s voice rang out boldly,
“Then let’s head to the place where the control device is.”
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely. After all, our choices don’t seem to be very many.”
One would think she might have given up, but her demeanor did not reflect despair.
Her voice still resonated with determination, far from giving up.
“As a field staff of the Management Office, I don’t want to just rely on others for help.”
Perhaps in the face of imminent death, one finally realized something.
Like the saying, humans weren’t created to be defeated.
Even if it might only offer simple comfort,
the act of struggling until the very end of one’s life was merely being true to the life one was given.
In that moment, she made a human-like decision more than anyone else.
“Like you once said, Cooper, if we’re going to die anyway, isn’t it better to try something first?”
The two of them seemed to take something from her words,
and while displaying a defeated attitude, they began to brighten up a bit,
slowly regaining some energy.
Once they regained some spirit, they opened their mouths, preparing to say something to her—
i thud
“—?!”
Startled by a faint sound from far away,
they all stopped their mouths, turning their heads toward the source in unison.
i thud, thud
The sounds continued, echoing in a rhythmic pattern.
A subtle tremor traveled beneath their feet.
The truth was,
in this underground space, where no one should have been present,
someone was approaching them.
Thuds echoed louder—
The sound of footsteps grew closer, with the wire mesh rattling as it did.
When a shadow finally fell beyond the dim emergency lights,
a figure emerged from around the corner.
“…”
Two figures walked slowly and silently.
In the darkness of the underground that barely let any light through,
they were only visible in vague outlines.
These entities, looking somewhat human-like, fixated on the very location where the three of them had just been.
Eventually, as if noticing someone had been there,
they began to search the surroundings thoroughly.
With a bang, a bright light suddenly flickered on.
The darkness of the tunnel was illuminated brightly.
Yet, among the wire mesh tunnel, there wasn’t anywhere to hide.
After having searched the vicinity without finding anything,
they turned around and were about to return from where they came—
i clank
Suddenly, a quiet, distinct noise struck their ears, causing them to stop in their tracks.
They slowly turned their heads toward the sound.
“…”
The sound came from within a certain room.
A room filled with dust and cluttered with various furnishings.
In that room, shrouded in complete darkness, an array of objects remained scattered.
They paused briefly in front of that room, seemingly pondering something.
Finally, they pressed their backs together and began to move into the room,
shining their flashlights around only to confirm that nothing was visible.
They cautiously reached for a large drawer nearby, intending to open it, when—
“—!”
From another concealed location, something leaped upon them,
transforming the once quiet room into complete chaos in an instant.
i —Crash!
With the sound of one among them falling, his possession slips from his hands.
Another attempted to react to the ambush, but was also taken down by something coming from behind, causing him to drop what he was holding.
As firearms and flashlights lay scattered on the floor, illuminating the room,
they appeared to be desperately suppressing different entities.
“Gah…!”
Elijah groaned in pain.
Despite his above-average physique, he was now in a state where only one arm could be utilized,
and the entity he was grappling with was quite robust as well.
Even with an ambush, it felt like he might soon lose control, letting go of his grip—
“Both of you, hold on tight!”
After the sounds of a scuffle arose, Eleanor, who had been hiding behind the drawer, burst out.
In her hands was the only remaining fully-loaded handgun.
Before hiding, Cooper had entrusted her with his firearm,
and now she aimed quickly at the writhing beings on the floor, ready to pull the trigger—
“—Eleanor?”
He halted as he heard a familiar voice coming from one of the writhing figures.
He stopped his finger from squeezing the trigger.
