Apocalypse Survival Guide

Chapter 15 On an Ice Satellite (3)

【Cease destructive actions immediately. The residential area is a valuable asset of SSTC. Failure to comply may result in penalties according to Article 5 of the SSTC Penal Code.】

The security robot, its body sparking as the fluids from the monsters seeped deep into its circuits, repeated this message, tightening and loosening its lens as if detecting something in its empty surroundings.

Though it threatened to unleash a shockwave if unheeded, it was all bluster. The arms equipped with such devices were long gone, leaving it barking orders into the blood-stained silence of the street, unfixable by any hopeful mechanic.

SSTC—the Saturn Sector Titan Colony. Some referred to it as a corporation instead of a colony, but officially, it was a colony. A government-controlled Blue Crystal mining and refining base, it was.

Titan, Saturn's satellite, was the second place after Enceladus to undergo terraforming. Though terraforming had succeeded on Enceladus, it had faltered on Titan, now nearly halted, or so I'd heard.

The satellite, cruelly cold without a suit and respiratory gear, nonetheless harbored warmth from its residents. This warmth thrived, even if in scarce amounts. But not anymore. No longer.

"......"

I hid behind a column, gazing at the street turned into a chaotic scene. Just two days earlier, restaurants were alive, buzzing with neon signs and people raising glasses in animated conversation. Now they were stained with blood. Even Robert's restaurant, a place Nadia and I frequented almost daily, had met the same fate.

No survivors were visible. Only the occasional advertisement featuring a holographic woman broke the stillness.

'... Robert.'

He'd promised to cook me something delicious on my last day before leaving this ice satellite, three years of endurance finally leading to my departure. Realizing I'd never taste his food or feel his warmth again brought a sting to my heart.

Nadia witnessed the carnage with eyes that threatened tears, her lips pressed tight to stifle any sound of crying. She forced a look of calm determination.

All the familiar places were gone: the clothing store we sometimes visited, the kids' café where the few children played, the club with dazzling lights, the comforting pubs. The residential area was no longer our familiar ground. Monsters had twisted our daily lives beyond recognition.

And yet, I clung to hope, believing it might still exist. Without such thoughts, I feared we wouldn't have the strength to persevere.

We stealthily moved through areas undetectable to the monsters' presence.

【Warning. A disturbance has arisen in the residential area. Zones will be closed in accordance with security protocol. Residents should remain indoors until the situation is resolved.】

Broadcasts occasionally echoed through the residential area, automated, devoid of real-time monitoring, merely replaying pre-recorded commands.

【A severe contamination has been detected. Leave the public area at once. Decontamination may commence.】

Some floor tiles opened, releasing nozzles that spewed white vapor—sanitizing gas designed for decontamination. Although wearing respiratory gear and mostly harmless to the body, the gas impaired visibility—a fear akin to stepping into unknown waters.

The fertile ground for imagination—with dread looming over what might lurk beyond, whether it would seize us, whether escape was feasible. Such imaginings.

Thankfully, the areas where the gas was released were not extensive. Normally, the entire residential area would be enveloped, but problems with the purification system limited the affected zones.

"......!"

Nadia suddenly gasped lightly while carefully treading. Her eyes darted downward, something seemingly obstructing her foot.

With trembling hands, she brushed aside the thick sanitizing gas, revealing a faintly visible corpse—its skin either skinned or violently blown away. Nadia inhaled sharply again.

The sight sent her nerves into overdrive, ears twitching constantly, her tail tucked between her legs. Perhaps we should have pressed on without resting.

'No.'

That wasn't it. We were already on the brink of exhaustion. Had we pushed onward recklessly, we might have fallen to security robots indiscriminately targeting friend or foe, much like this corpse.

I knew the disfigured body didn't fall to monsters.

'... Suppression shockwave emitter.'

This individual had died by security robots. Unable or unwilling to comply, they were deemed threats and attacked with shockwaves. Initially non-lethal, the security robot must have increased output upon deeming it necessary.

Regardless, the body was dead. Not a monster pretending, just a victim. We continued moving.

As we silently exited the decontamination zone, we assessed the remaining distance to the Central Tower. We were currently in the outermost D Zone, the tower residing in the classified A Zone—quite a distance away.

The medium-sized mining base Heaven could accommodate about 50,000, while the residential area housed over four times that. Walking to the Central Tower, avoiding wandering monsters, seemed futile. Even if we dealt with each encounter, their numbers would be in the tens of thousands.

The SSTC-standard plasma cutters could fend off a couple of monsters, but beyond three, fleeing became essential. Noise attracted more sound, drawing monsters like a beacon.

Thus, Nadia and I chose the tram to reach the tower. Elevated to a second-story level, it avoided street-level obstacles.

The tram served to transport external cargo to respective zones, its cargo variant robust enough to deter monsters once underway.

'The question is whether an operational tram exists...'

We were on our way to the tram control station to find out. There, tram routes could be directly altered, and broken trams replaced.

Nadia, Carry, and I advanced cautiously, meticulously avoiding anything amiss. Each flickering streetlight obscured and revealed the carnage.

My gaze often wandered that way, imagining shadowy figures staring from the darkness as the lights flickered back.

Despite growing tension, monsters remained unseen. Being on the outskirts, passing between buildings granted us this temporary reprieve.

It was then—

"AAAAHHHH!"

A scream erupted nearby.

"......!"

"......!"

Startled by the ear-piercing scream, we gripped our tools tightly. Yet the source did not emerge.

The sounds of someone running drifted away, not towards us. Then, we heard something forcefully crumpling and navigating narrow passages.

'... Metal clanking? No way...'

In the building-heavy residential area, that noise could only arise from limited areas. It seemed they'd crawled into the vents.

Our nerves were already frayed, but now we had to watch the ceiling too. A feeling of exhaustion loomed as I sighed briefly, then refocused.

We passed a blood-soaked alley, eventually reaching the tram station. In front, a related employee lay dead.

A thick object seemed to have pierced his chest, leaving his torso blood-soaked and the blood pooling and congealing on the ground.

Still no sign of monsters. Hoping for any clues, I retrieved the deceased man's wristband.

【One recent audio and video recording found. Would you like to review it?】

Upon pressing the confirm button, a hologram unfolded, accompanied by the voice of an unfamiliar man.

「- Playing recording -

"Hey, ted. Doesn't it feel off these days?"

"What feels off?"

"The gloomy rumors, and the power supplies varying wildly from the base."

"Oh, that. But why the power supplies? Are they lacking?"

The two men seemed to be repairing a faulty tram, holding tools as they spoke. One, wearing a helmet to shield against sparking blue flames, placed his tools down as he replied.

"The power's never lacked. This is a Blue Crystal refining facility, after all. That's improbable."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's too much."

"......?"

His colleague also set down his tool, wearing a perplexed expression.

"Is that bad?"

"...... I often wonder how you joined the maintenance team. How do you not get too much power? Don't you understand what I'm saying?"

"I do. I just don't get why it's an issue. Excess power is reassigned or stored."

"You don't get it. I'll send you some data; it'll be clearer than explaining."

The man tapped his wristband, transmitting data to his colleague, who soon reacted.

"...... The tracks are overloading. What? Why just them? Doesn't make sense."

"Exactly. There's a circuit breaker, so the tracks won't burn out, but a tram might move unpredictably fast. It happened two days ago."

The tram moved erratically, bypassing designated stops and gaining abnormal speed. Though it didn't derail, some passengers ended up with fractures and were taken to the medical zone.

"It didn't derail then, so it was manageable, but if left unchecked, who knows? We're responsible if it happens, so I contacted the base. They don't know the cause either."

"Idiots. As if they'd take responsibility for paralyzing the habitat—Hold on, what's that? Hey! You can't enter there!"

"...... Pureblood Supremacists? Why are they here—"

- End of recording -」

The video abruptly ended with a pureblood supremacist, explosives strapped to their body, grinning at the two men.

"...... They were targeting here."

We saw, with shifting light, the lingering signs of explosions. Then, from behind the station, a man appeared.

"......!"

Alarmed by the pureblood supremacist symbol on his suit, we readied our tools for a fight. Based on our findings, they were instrumental in turning the residential area and base into hell.

However, we soon released our grips in disbelief. The pureblood supremacist staggered towards us, emitting a manic laugh before collapsing powerlessly.

"No one... escapes... We will... new......."

The pureblood supremacist's final words were followed by their death, the wristband fading to a lifeless black simultaneously.