Chapter 117
「Get on the back, they’ll spot us.」
Kanata says as she straddles a machine about the size of a slightly long bicycle with 8 legs. She taps the rear seat of the device, made for traversing this devastated land, with her fist, urging me on. Prompted by Kanata, I sit down on the seat. As I secure my body to the uncomfortable metal chair, I absentmindedly gaze at her back.
Kanata is wearing what can hardly be called clothing. Too thin to be called that, it’s more like tattered metal fibers. From the side, it looks like she’s wearing a piece of cloth over a swimsuit, with an oxygen mask on top. Noticing my gaze, she answers with a disgruntled expression.
「Fibers can be broken down into food and oxygen, so I used them all up.」
I can see large, not fully healed scars on the edges of her body. There must really be no resources left. Unable to use anti-aging technology, Kanata looks older than before, 20 years later. She must be turning 40 soon. The fact that she doesn’t look it is thanks to her natural beauty, but it’s still a shock to see. Because it visualizes that this is the future, and I’m one of the causes.
With little conversation, the multi-legged machine carries us somewhere, beginning to walk. Much slower than an Apollyon but better than walking, it starts to traverse the gray and blue earth at a modest pace.
The quietly passing scenery can only be described as hell. Countless corpses of Apollyons and Machine Beasts. The gray earth is stained sticky blue because bodily fluids don’t evaporate. There are no people or civilization besides us, no crystal trees, no Strains, no living Machine Beasts. Everything has died out. Noticing me looking around restlessly, Kanata dutifully points to the corpse of an Apollyon Fusion.
「Is your broadcast on?」
「Muted with just the screen, as always.」
「Then tell them the details later. In this Ver, the mass generation of Apollyon Fusions due to the overreaction of ‘UYK’ ended everything.」
「Meaning?」
「I guess they had a lead in some Ver. Around 2050, Apollyon Fusions started appearing all over the world. But of course they can’t move without eating anything. What we created could get by with just electricity, but they don’t have such a source. Created by ‘UYK’ and left as is. So the Apollyon Fusions began to feed.」
「Cannibalism, huh.」
「Yes. First they devoured the Machine Beasts. But that still wasn’t enough energy, so next they ate the Strains. Those guys tried their best too, but surrounded by dozens of them, they didn’t stand a chance in the end. And finally…」
Saying that, she peels something off the leg of the running machine. It’s a reptile the size of a palm, squirming a transparent metal plate like a suction cup. Its scales are made of metal, and familiar tentacles protrude from its belly area.
「A Machine Beast, so small.」
「The big ones were all devoured, and Apollyon Fusions are poisonous so they can’t be eaten… It seems they’ve been incorporated as part of the mechanism since around Ver2.00 as a countermeasure against Machine Beasts, but ‘UYK’ replicated that as well. As a result, the corpses of Apollyon Fusions that look edible but aren’t are lined up, and only these small Machine Beasts barely survive. That’s why it’s okay for them to be out and about like this.」
It’s a big change. There are Vers where things only get worse. The familiar forms of Machine Beasts and Strains are gone, everything has died out along with humans.
And there are 3 things on my mind. Where is Kanata trying to take me? Where is Kanata’s resentment coming from? Yeah, until now I could say that was a complete misunderstanding on your part… but explaining is a hassle, so I dealt with it during the battle royale period because it’s easier if she’s deceived. So is this response the result of that building up? If so, there’s little sense of disgust, and half of her emotions seem to be directed at herself.
She must have sensed what I want to ask, as she starts talking again with her back still turned to me.
「August 12, 2040. A Strain appeared in the center of the Black Sea. Much earlier and more radical than anticipated. Previous Strains had appeared around the 2050 catastrophe, so there was a limit to how much they could learn, but this time was different. Due to the government’s desire not to use nuclear weapons or weapons that require a budget, time was created for them to learn without dying.」
「…But if the country took the initiative to act, wouldn’t various solutions have been reached?」
「No. Having lost to the evolution of the Strains, they decided to use nuclear weapons. But they timed it for when the Strains invaded enemy countries. As a result, instead of humanity coming together as one, it created a structure of nation vs. nation vs. Strain. Moreover, confinement and even torture were carried out to extract information from the ‘Reformists’ and Kōmitsu Solutions who had noticed this event in advance, creating a hellish scene.」
「So the two major organizations, Kōmitsu Solutions and the ‘Reformists,’ who had been somehow challenging ‘UYK’ together, became even more messed up.」
「Yes. These two organizations had enough cooperation to collaborate in the 2055 operation, but this time they couldn’t even do that. Then, the means to overcome the catastrophe and methods to defeat the Strains were tried and tested halfway, and with the catastrophe, countless Apollyon Fusions appeared.」
Come to think of it, that makes sense. There’s no way you can tell your own citizens, 「We’re going to cut welfare and public projects and massively expand the military because catastrophe is looming!」 Nor can you establish friendly relations just because catastrophe is imminent. Rather, it’s even harder for a country to take action in such a situation. And even if there is a country that can take action, it doesn’t necessarily apply to others.
I mean, ‘UYK’ is just too dangerous to begin with. What the heck, the Earth itself? If we try to physically defeat it with just nuclear weapons, the Earth will equally become an uninhabitable world, so it’ll cause even more confusion. The biggest problem is…
「The biggest problem is that it became ‘fixed.’ The despair of the people who learned they would be cut off in 2060 drove them into catastrophe without resolving other issues that were tied together. And this is the state of things.」
「What happened to me, Momiji, and Reina?」
「You managed to escape. But Reina went missing after buying time against 117 Apollyon Fusions, and you survived until around 2057 but were done in by their survivors during an exploration. Thanks to that, only me, her, and old man Tanaka are surviving in this world now. Well, there’s no longer a need for that, though.」
In the end, none of the problems so far were solved, and only ‘UYK’ was strengthened, leading to a hopeless conclusion. Even if the ‘Scorch Wars’ end in 3 days, the despair of turning into referenced information and the lack of cooperation take their toll and it ends, as always. But why is old man Tanaka still alive?
But on the other hand, there’s no doubt that I bear responsibility for 2060 becoming a dead world. If I hadn’t provoked the Strain back then. If I hadn’t recklessly gone into the deep sea and stimulated it. Given that even Momiji said it was unexpected up to that point, there must have at least been time to prepare, and it might not have been impossible for Reina to perform a Strain assassination speedrun. Then perhaps the other Strains might not have been activated either.
Might have. Might have. Those words echo in my head over and over. But either way, the conclusion I reached boils down to 「it’s your fault.」 Momiji and the others must have been doing well, and it’s my fault for ruining their plan. If I had the time to throw a highway, I might have been able to suppress it more quietly and reduce civilian casualties. Same with the BBQ.
Probably being considerate, she keeps her mouth shut and drives the machine towards the destination. Seeing the mountain of corpses along the way, I think. I shouldn’t have acted on vague, flighty thoughts. If I had put more thought into it, it would have gone well, and there would have been no need to ‘fix’ this future, up to Ver3.01-. As I spin my thoughts round and round in my seat, a house-like structure appears in front of me.
It was a structure closer to a camp than a house, made by stripping the armor of Apollyon Fusions. Even from the outside, the inside doesn’t look very spacious, but through the gaps I see a familiar small tower-like device, albeit somewhat miniaturized. I vaguely remember Teo talking about converting molecules or something. Other than that, it was still a world of corpses, but Kanata stopped the vehicle she was driving in front of it and stood still.
Then she put her hand on the door and turned towards me before opening it.
「You know who’s inside… Let’s go in.」
At those words, I calm down. Earlier, only Momiji’s subsequent story wasn’t told. But if she’s well, she would have given more details after mentioning her name. In other words, there’s at least some kind of obstacle.
My hands tremble. What kind of face should I make to go meet her now? What should I do to be forgiven? But before I can prepare myself, the door is opened and Kanata’s puzzled voice rises, 「Huh?」 At that unexpected tone, I look up, pulled along.
A man eating french fries through his nose. That footage was displayed full-screen.
「Huh?」
It doesn’t make sense. He looks like the Space President, but why is he doing that? As the question lingers, a voice sounds from the back seat, a little older than in my memory. She slowly conveys to me, as if to reassure me.
「The purpose this time has been achieved, so it’s confirmed. Everything will end in the next Ver… And that’s the high quality version of space_president_eats_fries_through_nose.mp4.」
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