Arknights: Mobile City

I made it out…

In her ears, Laurentina could still faintly hear the sound of thick blood dripping. It reminded her of water—an echo of the sea, the feeling of home.

But this place wasn't home.

It was a cage.

She looked back one last time, her gaze filled with a quiet, smoldering hatred. Behind her, there was nothing left but the bodies of those she'd killed.

...They deserved it. Every last one of them.

They were the ones who'd locked her away. Ever since the decapitation operation against Ishmala had failed, she'd been captured—pumped full of liquid Originium, flooded with it.

Ever since then, she'd hovered between lucidity and madness.

But just moments ago, during a fleeting window of clarity, she'd struck. Killed the guards. And now, while that sliver of sanity still held...

She had to escape.

Laurentina's mind was already fading. But still, she dragged herself forward—step by agonizing step—until, finally, she staggered out of that prison.

…

At that same moment, Obsidian was sailing his mobile city along the coastline of Kazdel.

He didn't dare approach the core territories. If he attracted the attention of the Sarkaz royal court, he'd be toast. From what he'd observed, this was still during the Babel Tower period. Getting too close could land him smack in the middle of their civil strife.

And Obsidian had zero interest in that right now.

All he wanted was to develop in peace.

So, during this stretch of time, he focused entirely on expansion.

After driving away the Food Chain, vast swaths of land had been freed up. He'd also sent out Doubts carrying food to lead the swarm even further into the Outskirts. It served a dual purpose: extending his territory while keeping the Food Chain occupied. If it broke aggro and wandered off toward Terra… that would be a disaster.

As things stood, the Food Chain had been lured a full fifteen kilometers away.

And because of the scorched-earth effect it had left behind, there were virtually no monsters left in the zone—convenient, to say the least.

Granted, this was still just a fraction of the City. Obsidian didn't know how large it truly was, or what horrors lurked deeper inside.

He'd long suspected the City was still wrapped in compressed Singularity tech.

Though the land it sat on was relatively small, the interior space was dozens of times larger—almost like a warped dimensional fold.

So, Obsidian had his Doubts begin mass replication, fanning out to explore and reclaim the terrain.

And then came the surprise.

Buildings. Lots of them.

Not ruins—actual structures, made with proper materials.

It was just a small cluster, but enough for Obsidian to recognize what it had once been: a section of an old alleyway, preserved and intact.

Finally, some real progress.

Excitement surged through him.

There were at least several hundred houses. He had no idea how they'd survived the Food Chain's onslaught, but that hardly mattered. The point was—his long-standing housing crisis was over.

Which meant…

The City now had food.

It had shelter.

It was finally ready to accept refugees.

Overjoyed, Obsidian mobilized the Doubts to begin restoration.

Ten days later, the ruins—about seven kilometers from the original wooden cabin—had been fully cleared. Roughly 80% of the houses were still usable, and the rest could be fixed with minor repairs.

"Hm… based on the naming rules, this'll be Alley One."

The day Alley One was fully cleared, Obsidian's awareness drifted above it. Most of the buildings were wood and stone. The cobbled streets still held faint puddles from recent rains, glistening under the sun with an almost medieval charm.

Weather-worn doors creaked in the breeze. Stone facades bore the scars of long-forgotten storms.

Obsidian returned to himself, turning a bit of Lunacy over in his hand.

He'd gained quite a lot of it from the restoration effort.

The most I've ever had, actually.

A full 1,300 Lunacy.

When have I ever been this rich?

Time for a ten-pull!

Clutching the vivid crimson essence in his hand, he swallowed.

"No point hoarding it… the City still lacks everything. Might as well…"

"Gacha time."

The Lunacy surged into the Well.

Obsidian stared at it, eyes gleaming with anticipation—until a brilliant flash of gold nearly blinded him.

Jackpot.

[Thread ×5 ×5]

[Lobotomy Corp Standard Pistols ×2]

[K Company Original Fluid, 1mL (000)]

[(00) Identity Extraction Voucher ×1]

[Basic Laboratory Kit (Includes Chemical Materials) ×1]

Obsidian blinked at the results—then sighed, face mixed with joy and exasperation.

"Great stuff… not that I can use most of it right now."

He gathered the Threads—now totaling 40. Enough to get Texas to Identity Sync Level 3.

The pistol and Identity voucher? No immediate candidate for either.

The lab kit piqued his interest—but he lacked the chemistry knowledge to make proper use of it.

And as for the K Company Original Fluid...

Now that's a prize.

Not even diluted.

In the urban underworld, K Company was one of the Wings of the World. Their original fluid could, when undiluted, return a subject to their "primordial" state—erasing them completely.

But in diluted form, it could heal almost anything.

Essentially, it was a rewind of one's physical state.

The 1mL in his hand could easily be diluted into a hundred doses.

…Still, Obsidian couldn't help but feel a little greedy.

If only this was a K Company Singularity… preferably something from the "Sorrow Object" line. Then I could manufacture fluid myself!

But that was a fantasy. Singularity drops were extremely rare. All their associated items were classified as (000) at minimum.

He didn't even want to think about the real ones.

Sighing again, he stashed everything away and got ready to return to city construction.

Then—he paused.

A sudden ping from the system.

A message he hadn't received in ages.

Someone… had stepped onto the City.

Startled, Obsidian shifted his awareness toward the alert's origin. What he saw made his expression turn strange.

A white-haired woman lay collapsed on the ground, just a few steps inside the boundary—her body utterly exhausted.

She'd clearly dragged herself there, crawling inch by inch.

And now, her consciousness had finally given out.

Just before she fainted, Obsidian had caught a glimpse of her bloodshot eyes.

"…Specter?"

He muttered in confusion.

That woman… was Laurentina.