Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 121

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 121

In the house(8)

I woke up from sleep.

Tap tap. Tap tap tap.

I could hear the sound of typing on a keyboard. It was perfect ASMR, but fortunately laziness was far from my nature.

Even during my hikikomori days, I strictly separated gaming and sleep time…

Tap tap. Tap tap tap tap.

I sat up.

Truck was in front of the server computer. Having apparently finished upgrading, it was typing with the mechanical arm attached to its back.

“…When did you arrive?”

Truck’s camera turned to look at me.

─About two hours ago.

“How did the upgrade go?”

─Successful. I attached this multi-purpose arm, expanded the cargo bay, and changed the wheels and frame to spaceship materials. Now I can even climb on the ceiling.

Truck boasted while clicking its wheels together.

“Oh wow…”

─Come look since you’re awake.

I got up from the sofa and moved to sit on the chair.

─It’s the shortest route.

The shortest route leading to Cosmos was displayed.

─We just need to pass through five more ships.

“That’s long.”

Annoyingly long.

─I found another one.

Julione played CCTV footage.

─Seems like your companion.

“Yes. That’s right.”

It’s Kang Hyeon just from seeing the back of his head. The weapon in one hand is a sword.

…It’s a broad sword.

“What the.”

I frowned. He definitely should have returned all the makeshift swords.

─Is there some problem?

“No. Can’t we adjust this CCTV angle?”

─Use the arrow keys.

“Ah.”

I moved the CCTV to follow Kang Hyeon. At that moment, Kang Hyeon hesitated. As if he caught the very slight movement of the CCTV, he looked directly this way.

Our eyes met.

“…Sensitive bastard.”

Well, he would have had his ki sensing on high alert because of the zombies.

─I got goosebumps too.

I moved the CCTV up, down, left and right to write letters.

Hi.

Kang Hyeon seemed to understand and moved his lips to say something. But with the image quality and being too far away, I couldn’t see clearly.

“Can’t we get sound too?”

─Of course not.

Then a woman appeared next to Kang Hyeon. Golden hair, a woman of mysterious age.

Kang Hyeon is with a female Labyrinth Person. It bothers me for some reason. He’s not the type to carelessly keep a Labyrinth Person by his side.

─…She’s a supervisor.

Suddenly Truck recited her background.

“Supervisor?”

─Yeah. The supervisor of Cosmos Ship’s A Sector. Her name is Eldia. She’s famous. So she was alive.

Kang Hyeon in the CCTV lifted up a large board. It was letters made by stabbing with his sword.

[ The gate leading to the next ship is blocked. ]

[ Who are you? ]

[ My name is Kang Hyeon. I formed a party with a rescue team member named Seo Ji-woo, a supervisor, and a maintenance worker. ]

Kang Hyeon doesn’t know that the person watching the CCTV is me.

I was about to reply when suddenly the woman pulled Kang Hyeon away. A horde of zombies rushed in from nearby. They quickly filled the CCTV like a wave. There were hundreds of them.

“That’s a lot.”

─Indeed. They all seem to have gathered there.

“Where is that ship?”

─Denmexico. It’s a casino. It’s a very high-ranking ship. There’s also a hotline leading to Cosmos. They seem to be trying to get in there.

“Then we should go too.”

─The hotline might not be working.

“I’m a professional hacker.”

I changed the CCTV screen. I followed the route Kang Hyeon was escaping. They entered the casino’s safe, and zombies swarmed at the entrance.

“Let’s depart too.”

─Before that.

Truck handed me a laptop with its robot arm.

─Take this. Thanks to your hacking, the surveillance room security was unlocked, so I made it possible to remotely control the server monitoring room.

“Yes. That’s good.”

I tucked the laptop under my arm.

* * *

“…We’re properly trapped.”

Inside the safe of the casino ship. Seo Ji-woo sat on a pile of gold and sighed.

“But why is gold needed in this space?”

She muttered while sweeping down the piled gold bars with her hand.

“Think of it as a single city rather than space.”

Supervisor Eldia gave a bitter smile.

“From when we left Earth, gold was the only currency that could convince everyone.”

“Ah… I see.”

Seo Ji-woo looked at Eldia. Short-cut blonde hair. Green eyes like emeralds embedded in ancient times. She was an incredibly beautiful woman.

In Seo Ji-woo’s view, she was a good person. Honestly, she was like a goddess. She was as noble as Kate, but without Kate’s characteristic ‘line that shouldn’t be crossed.’ Strength was embedded within her elegance.

“Is the hotline the only way to enter Cosmos?”

Kang Hyeon asked. Eldia nodded.

“Yes. We need to open the hotline.”

Eldia had escaped from here as a supervisor of the Cosmos Ship, but came back again. It was her determination to save the remaining survivors.

“There might be several hundred survivors?”

“…There should be about that many. This mothership is so vast.”

“Of course. Where did these zombies come from anyway?”

Seo Ji-woo stuffed several gold bars into her pocket.

Eldia said.

“The cause is presumed to be an unidentified alien compound called a strange entity. It’s a resource that causes immortality. Those particles collided with the hull and leaked out.”

“Immortality?”

“Yes. Human aging is made up of telomeres. In those telomeres…”

Eldia paused to choose her words, then simplified it, thinking it was unnecessary elaboration.

“Simply put, the anti-aging effect is so excessive that it creates zombies.”

It was a perfect explanation for Seo Ji-woo.

“Ah. It’s a side effect of immortality, right?”

“Something like that.”

“We need to destroy that substance.”

Eldia nodded at Kang Hyeon’s words. She smiled with determination.

“Of course.”

Crackle-

Her terminal activated. A voice flowed through the static.

─Eldia. Can you hear me?

“Yes. I can hear you. Days. We’re at Denmexico Casino right now.”

─…We?

“I found companions to work with. They’re trustworthy people.”

─Confirmation first. We’re still circling around the hotline area from outside. Is it possible to open the hotline?

The hotline has a hangar. Therefore, if they just open the hotline, Eldia’s companions can come in and help with the operation.

“We’ll make it happen.”

Seo Ji-woo also made a megaphone and shouted.

“We’ll do our best!”

─…Confirmed.

It was a reply mixed with laughter.

* * *

…When we discover an unidentified passage, we send the robot in first. If the robot stops, there are zombies, and if it doesn’t stop, there are no zombies.

That’s how we found our way.

─Very useful. That guy.

“Indeed.”

When the robot’s back of the head became quite trustworthy, we finally discovered the next gate.

[ Den Water ]

─Den Water. This is it.

“Yes.”

I opened the door with hacking.

“Robot?”

〔Confirmed.〕

The robot clanks as it enters. It sweeps through the interior with a scan and doesn’t stop. It means there are no zombies at least in the immediate vicinity.

Truck and I followed behind.

“What… what is this place?”

The scenery of the ship called Den Water was quite alien.

It’s incredibly gloomy and dark without lighting, but true to its name, it’s all water. Too vast to be called a river, like a sea-like ship.

“Is the purpose something like water supply?”

─No. Drinking water can be generated with simple compound formulas. Den Water is a ship solely for human recreation.

Truck continued.

─Humans fear water but also love it very much. There are results showing that seeing the sea in space is very helpful for mental health.

“…Is that so?”

Anyway, it was a sea. Five or six yachts were floating on top, and there was a sandy beach decorated like a beach resort.

“Then the gate leading to the next ship is…”

─Right over there.

It’s across the sea. The width looks about 4 kilometers.

─Even without a yacht, you could go if you lower the artificial bridge. You can probably operate it from the control room.

Truck looked around searching for the control room.

“But even if we raise that… we can’t go.”

There are many zombies. Hundreds of zombies are wandering around the shoreline on the other side.

Strangely, there are almost no zombies on this side, but they’re packed on that side.

Then the robot beeped.

〔Patient discovered〕

I grabbed the guy who was trying to walk away clumsily.

“That’s not a patient, you fool.”

There was one corpse on the yacht. It was probably a zombie.

I explained to the robot.

“Listen carefully. Something that moves alive even though its vital signs are close to 0? That’s a zombie. A monster trying to eat humans.”

〔Zombie confirmed. Patient zombie.〕

“…No. Not a patient, but a zombie trying to eat me. A zombie attacking Seol Ha-woon.”

Then the robot’s panel flashed red.

〔Zombie confirmed. An existence that must be eliminated.〕

“Good.”

〔Proceeding with elimination.〕

This time I grabbed the robot that was trying to run forward clumsily as if angry.

“No no. Just stay still. The first principle of agent escort is to stay by the agent’s side.”

〔Confirmed.〕

I drew my pistol. I aimed at the zombie’s head and fired an explosive bullet.

Bang!

Its head exploded, but it still flailed its limbs before falling into the sea.

“There must be quite a lot of zombies down here too.”

There’s no way they’d die just from falling into water. We don’t even know yet if oxygen is essential for their survival.

─Right. We’ll need to find another gate.

“…”

I silently looked down at the sea. Blue depths where the bottom couldn’t be seen. The occasionally rippling waves and the blue-carved fine patterns were like a natural sea.

Suddenly, I became curious.

“Truck. If all this water drains out, where does it go?”

─…Drains out?

“Yes.”

─It would go to the purification tank.

“Where does that purification tank lead to?”

─It’s a waste processing ship called Gestalt. Right below Cosmos… I know what you’re thinking, but it’s impossible.

“We won’t know until we try. Robot. Bring out a yacht.”

〔Execute〕

Clank clank. The robot lifted the yachts and placed them on land.

─What are you planning to do?

“Let’s dismantle this yacht and make a submarine.”

Thanks to the good sleep, my magic power had returned to some extent. I should be able to operate a submarine.

─A submarine from a yacht? You?

“Why would I do it when there’s an engineer here? I’m just providing the idea to Truck.”

─It’s impossible.

“Making the impossible possible is what mages and magic power are for.”

─You’re telling me to do it. I’m not a mage.

“…Just try making it for now.”

─Hey robot. Do you think what he’s saying is actually possible?

〔Beep. Everything Agent Seol Ha-woon says is true.〕

─You’ve been brainwashed. Snap out of it.

〔Everything Agent Seol Ha-woon says is true.〕

─…Stupid fool.

Truck angrily rammed the robot’s shin with his front bumper. Thunk.

“I’ll leave the submarine design to you. Then I’ll go do some farming.”

I looked at the building erected at the edge of Den Water.

It’s probably the control room.

─Don’t you need robot escort?

“No. Build it together. That’s more important right now.”

I walked while gripping my walking stick, staying alert to my surroundings.

I spread the sequence’s radar wide, but no zombies were detected.

「Hacking Successful」

I hacked the locked door of the control room and opened it.

Creeeeak….

Inside the revealed interior, a desktop computer first catches the eye, glinting.

「Desktop」

Skeletal remains sit in the chair in front of it, clutching a revolver in one hand.

It was suicide.

I connected the desktop’s cable to my wrist.

「Starting download….」「Current Location: Den Water Supervision Management Office」■ Supervisor Kailo’s Journal「Download Successful: Special skill selection available.」□ Lv.3 Duct Tape□ Lv.1 Terminal Enhancement□ Lv.1 Mini Map

I leveled up Duct Tape.

Immediately after, Supervisor Kailo’s journal appeared before my eyes.

[…An unidentified virus has spread. A virus that makes people unable to die. As a side effect, it makes them eat people.][When I first heard it, I thought it was bullshit, but it was real. Oh my god.][Residents evacuating from various civilian ships flocked to Den Water.][I first evacuated my colleagues, then inquired with headquarters about how to respond.][Orders came down to absolutely not open the gate.][As supervisor, I had to follow those orders.][The civilians are wailing. They scratched at the gate all night. They begged that everyone was still alive, that it wasn’t too late even now, please open the door. Children’s cries were mixed in too, but there was nothing I could do.][I covered my ears.][I contacted headquarters again. The reply still came back not to open the gate. The reason was that infection status couldn’t be confirmed.][But not all of those outside could be infected. At least some could have survived.][Hoping for reconsideration, I conveyed my thoughts to headquarters.][Headquarters urged me to decide, saying my child was on the Cosmos Ship.][My daughter, Jenny.][To protect my child, I had to… do this.][One day, loud screams echoed from outside the gate. Find another way, please. Please. I’m suffering too.][…I can’t hear the civilians’ voices.][I had a quiet night for the first time in a while.][Contact came from the mothership. Return in three days, they said. Commendation for mission completion was also attached.][While going through the database to return, I discovered a colleague’s message that had been locked.][It was a message saying Jenny had gone to play at her new friend’s house… on Esmos.][Why didn’t I receive this message?][Headquarters had blocked it.][At some point, a voice I thought I heard from beyond the gate echoed in my ears. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. It’s me. I remembered the voice that cried out like that.][Jenny was there.][Maybe she had been alive for a long time. Outside this gate.][The child might have screamed her throat raw begging to be saved. Desperately hoping that I, daddy, would open the door. Hoping I would rescue her.][My baby, Jenny. How scared you must have been.][In that cold and dark place, how much….][Why did I….][Headquarters urged my return.][I had to do what I had to do.]

After that, logs remain of fully opening the gate and lowering the artificial bridge.

The supervisor had personally opened the path for the zombies.

I looked out the window of the control room.

The supervisor probably picked up the revolver while watching the zombies crossing over the bridge from inside here. He would have aimed the muzzle at himself.

And then….

Rattle rattle rattle rattle.

Truck approached.

─It’s done.

“Already?”

─I’m quick with my hands.

Truck said while swishing his robot arm around.

I chuckled softly.

“Yes. Go ahead first. I’ll do some work here and follow.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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