Clearing the Game at the End of the World
Chapter 161: Lead and Silver Coins (15)

****

The journey to Area 38's Dome was significantly easier than anything before, a given since it was within Dome's territory. Just as the people from Area 47 would patrol around, maintaining their sphere of safety, those from Area 38 did the same, constantly patrolling the area to protect their domain.

The difference, however, was,

Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

"…That didn't seem human, did it?"

"I saw it. They were holding a placard that said, ‘We are also human.' It was a human."

What they were protecting was not the people, but the territory itself.

The giant blue shield, a symbol of Dome, and the individual shelters clinging to each other beyond its boundary like barnacles.

Outside the densely packed shelter area, watchtowers were erected at regular intervals, and the sounds now being heard through the receiver were the sounds of life forms being sniped with silencers on sniper rifles from those watchtowers.

Upon verification, their targeted shootings did not discriminate between survivors and mutants.

Crackle-

"This is… strange. What we're seeing isn't a large scavenger group, but Dome. A group that champions freedom, justice, and the restoration of the old world order! Something must be wrong. In the recent chaos, a third force might have taken over Dome…."

"Ezel."

"Or, like our Area 47, a department might have collaborated with the Raptors, leading to a de facto puppet state of the Raptors…."

"Ezel."

"I… I can't accept this. We've committed murders out of necessity, but we've never targeted civilian survivors. In the 15 minutes I've observed Dome, I've seen five civilian casualties, five! All ordinary people who fled here with their life's possessions! Dome was supposed to be a place where such people could live!"

Crackle-

"Angel. This is the wasteland."

"…Vex is right. No matter how much Dome's values focus on justice, in situations like this, the actions a group must take are…."

"It's about escaping this wasteland! At least we… we shouldn't become like this!!!"

The voice of Ezel, lost in confusion, came through the communicator. He was somewhat naive and blindly idealistic, a person who purely believed in the justice of Dome, and the scene unfolding before his eyes was a significant shock.

[…What do you think?]

Hyde's question brought to mind the sight of Dome observed through the telescope.

The large Dome shield, and the small shelters gathered around it without a gap. Greenhouses attached to many shelters stood out conspicuously.

From as few as two to as many as five greenhouses attached to a single small shelter were observed.

‘Greenhouse modules consume a significant amount of electricity. With so many greenhouses, there would hardly be any electricity left for the shelters themselves. With such density, almost all pumped water would go into the greenhouses. Those shelters weren't built for people. They were built for the use of the included greenhouse management modules.'

[So, are people not living in those many shelters, just running farms? That seems too inefficient?]

At Hyde's words, Professor sighed uncomfortably.

‘Dome, which values money and efficiency above all, wouldn't operate in such a manner.'

Zooming in to the maximum on the telescope, focusing on a shelter where signs of life were visible in the cold weather, brightly lit by heating lamps. A scrawny boy struggling to hold a small watering can. His parched lips and the vibrant crops receiving water contrasted starkly.

‘…Whatever it is, it would be best to discard the notion that it's the same group as our neighborhood Dome.'

Feeling an ominous premonition, Professor stepped outside and pulled out a large flag from the truck's cargo space, attaching it to the vehicle. A flag prepared in advance, bearing Dome's mark and the caravan's symbol.

As the large white flag, signifying the lead vehicle, fluttered, their approach towards Dome was met, unbelievably, without gunfire.

****

The way through the treacherous wasteland across six Areas from Area 47's Dome was indeed impressive.

"I can't help but admire the friendship of Area 47's Dome! Welcome, BDSM folks!"

Lies.

"These are tough times indeed. Area 38 is lacking in food due to the environment and the difficulty in moving freely. Suddenly, a surge of mutants has led to a massive influx of refugees. Of course, being human, we would like to take them in, but…. Refugees without food or a means of production quickly deplete Dome's food supplies and create chaos, essentially becoming a biohazard. As leaders, we had no choice but to opt for the lesser of two evils. It's truly heartbreaking."

Lies.

"As for the core components, I have nothing to say. There was an attack. Suddenly, mutants in numbers tens of times their usual swarmed us, followed by the zealots of Happy Blind. We managed to defend the central power facility desperately, but the eastern Area suffered terrible damage. During that time, a box prepared for delivery to Area 47 along with weapons in our Investigation Bureau's armory was stolen. Ah, but it has a special lock, so unless they plan to break it, they won't be able to open it. After all, that box was recycled from a black box that used to hold major military secrets before the war. It can't be opened with current technology unless the method is correct."

Lies, lies, and more lies.

When we entered Dome's interior passing through the personal shelter area, hearing that the Investigation Bureau chief was coming made us tense up. Our neighborhood's chief, Alexander Young, was a slippery snake capable of swallowing someone whole at any moment, even if only half as competent.

But what do you know? The man who appeared before my anxious self was nothing but an empty husk, a fraud.

Incapable of even a decent lie, a complete novice.

His face was so obviously lying that I wondered, ‘Is he doing this on purpose? Am I supposed to let my guard down only for the real deal to surprise me?'

"….Thank you for the hospitality. I'd like to unload the goods right away, but as you know, after coming such a long way. I'd like to rest and talk a bit…."

Snap!

"Of course! We have prepared the best accommodations for outsiders. Rest as much as you need, then feel free to trade and return at your convenience!"

When I slightly hinted that now was inconvenient, the chief of Area 38's Investigation Bureau backed off without a word. Something hard was left in the hand he had grabbed. A small external chip for a connector and a note.

[1,000,000 sil]

[For the best, primary trading should be with ‘Lockheed Coin'. For both our sakes.]

"Ha, utterly pathetic."

Obviously, some faction connected to this straw man. The chief of the Investigation Bureau tasked with internal security and regulations looking like this.

It was one of two things.

Either Area 38's Dome was irredeemably corrupt.

Or, like our Area, one of the departments—Investigation, Administration, or Executive—had seized all power and set up a puppet.

Passing the note to Ian, he took a glance and without a word, struck a match and burned it.

"If it were just a request, fine, but this idiot, posing as a chief, even dares to threaten. ‘For both our sakes'? Offering only 1 million for a long-distance caravan covering six Areas. This guy is no good, not fit to deal with."

"It seemed off to me too, Hepburn. If he's a chief, he should be someone of high rank, but that man didn't have a single pen mark on his hands. Our Area 47's chief has fingers bent and calloused from signing 24/7. But that man… showed no signs of being a leader."

Me, Vex, and Ian alike.

"Alright, that's three votes. Ezel, do you have anything to say about the situation?"

"….We should keep an eye on it."

"That makes four votes. We agree the straw man is a puppet, and we'll act as if this meeting never happened. Let's find accommodations first. A place with spacious parking for the caravan, and open views."

"Preferably the highest point around. I noticed the snipers here are quite skilled. We won't be able to rest easy if we're in their line of sight."

"Of course, we'll consider that too. Let's take a look around and find a place while getting to know the area."

Ignoring the person from the Investigation Bureau who came out to guide us, we drove straight into the streets of Area 38's Dome.

No one suggested staying at the accommodations prepared for us. Not even Ezel.

****

It's a damned situation, but given the circumstances, we tentatively assumed Area 38's Dome as an ‘enemy.'

"What, mutants and zealots swarmed in, and these bits of flesh couldn't stop the invasion? Dome of all places?"

Such nonsense. Just looking at the massive bluster cannons protruding over the wall was enough to know that was a load of bull.

"Bluster cannons…. Haven't seen those in a while. They were a headache during the war and the Raptor era." Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴovᴇlꜰirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"This area didn't have much of a large-scale Raptor invasion. The main enemies were Mugglers or Type 2 mutants, Happy Blind, so the defensive installations were set up more for dealing with life forms than equipment."

Bluster cannons. Officially, Extended Lethality Shockwave Crowd Control Equipment.

As the name suggests, originally an anti-personnel device for riot police. A type of electromagnetic firearm that shoots compressed air, causing nausea, headaches, and dizziness in those hit, but it's a small weapon with almost no lethality.

And it was exactly that, the weapon whose power and scale were immensely amplified, known during the Great War era as the ‘infantry sweeper' or ‘the nightmare of the Commonwealth'. Its operation was remarkably simple. Mounting this howitzer on a sturdy armored vehicle, and charging into dense enemy infantry areas to fire away, would result in people being struck and dying, bleeding from seven holes.

During the second year of the Great War, when both sides poured all their resources into what became a beggar’s chicken fight, there existed a cost-effective type of soldier known as ‘full plate soldiers', not from the medieval era but the 21st century, wearing improvised armor made from torn bulletproof fabric. The Commonwealth-India coalition, utilizing a vast number of these assault infantry without concern for quality, solely relying on overwhelming numbers and recycling, had much fun until the arrival of this howitzer armored vehicle swept them away like fallen leaves.

A weapon that not only made significant achievements in infantry combat but also in tank battles, rendering the enemy tank crews incapable of fighting.

Atop the barrier of Area 38's dome were these howitzers, larger and more robust than those I had seen before, densely packed.

"If only the compressed air doesn't run out, we could even hold off a million-strong horde of mutants."

"It's not just mutants; even scavengers in that number wouldn't break through. I've faced it before; even with the tank shields at maximum output, the impact would still penetrate, causing nosebleeds and blurring vision. Not directly hit, but even being near it made it impossible to aim. A branch composition designed to overwhelmingly beat the enemy with area-of-effect killing and suppression, including trained snipers. At least one of the defensive installations could be comparable to those of Area 47."

"Setting aside everything else, such area-of-effect shockwaves are extremely effective against bubble shields. Even without being injured, just one hit nearby is enough to start radiation exposure. The moment we entered Area 38 and saw no trace of scavengers, it made sense. It's not just strong; it's a death sentence to fight it. Those crazies wouldn't dare approach. Truly… an unbelievable defense. They've built a defense network that fits this place's nature perfectly."

Aside from the short range of the howitzer, its defense was so formidable that no one nearby could even think of challenging it.

Seeing this made the city look even more suspicious.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump –

As we passed by the cityscape through the window, signs of destruction and arson began to gradually appear.

"If, just if, what the chief said was true, and a tremendous number of mutants had come, among them were the ‘Synthetic Type 3 Mutants' shown in Dana's video, could they have breached the defense?"

"…One must consider the possibility. Type 3's are literally unpredictable. But, personally, it sounds absurd. Right after transforming, those in the video started showing aggressiveness towards the fanatics, didn’t they? Changing is one thing, controlling is another."

"That much, considering sacrificing one to induce aggressiveness and herd them."

"Not talking about the ones that came but the concentrated damage. Mutants naturally attack those who attack them. Even if there was one that could withstand the howitzer, if the city was truly breached to that extent, the howitzers near the gate should have been destroyed. From what we see, at most a few, and those are just slightly burnt and exploded, damaged to a repairable extent."

Ian's impression, as the streets increasingly resembled a battlefield.

First of all, mutants hadn't caused this.

‘It's not the mutants. Then, the act of Happy Blind? Religion can sometimes paralyze human reason. If an insider had disabled the howitzer, and in that gap, somehow brought in mutants to infiltrate…’

Clunk. Tadadak!

"…? Hey, Ezel! Where are you going? Let's stick together until we're sure of the situation-"

"I've got something to check!"

While passing through the slowly destroyed eastern cityscape, Ezel, having discovered something, jumped out of the car and ran off.

"Hepburn, he's been a bit strange since he came here."

"…You have to understand him. His whole value system is being shaken."

As we parked and walked towards where Ezel ran off to, he emerged, covered in soot and grime, stomping.

"…It's not fanatics."

"What is?"

"What made this mess! Just like Ian said, it's neither mutants nor fanatics!"

Ezel, still confused but with a spark in his eyes, wiped the soot off his face and threw down a small metal rod he was holding. A familiar tool. A multipurpose tool containing tweezers, a ruler, a small knife, etc., used by the Investigation Bureau for collecting samples or securing evidence.

"What's the evidence?"

Snap!

Ezel pointed to a building less destroyed than others.

"The arson point, the method of using minimal explosives linked to the building's fuel cells, and calculating the spread of the fire! Too… familiar. It's exactly the method taught by the Investigation or Executive Bureau agents!"

Ezel, still in turmoil, wiped the grime from his face, his eyes as if something was on fire.

"For whatever reason, the agents here massacred civilians and destroyed the city. It was all a setup! The words of that chief, the stories about mutants, all of it-"

"Shh. Your voice is too loud, Ezel."

I covered the mouth of the excitedly babbling guy and forcibly shoved him into the car.

After everyone had boarded the car, I opened the vehicle-to-vehicle communication. A military communicator that allowed short-range communication even in the 30th Area, where strange communication disturbances were occurring. With this, we wouldn't have to worry about being eavesdropped on.

Suuuuub- haaaa.

Sighing heavily, a sigh involuntarily escaped. Having fought through that hellish den of mutants, I had thought that once we reached Dome, at the very least, we could rest easy having completed our mission.

Annoyed, I unconsciously gripped the communicator tighter.

"…As of this moment, we'll assume Area 38 Dome to be enemy territory. It has been revealed that either the entire upper echelon or a part thereof is collaborating with Happy Blind. Our mission objective…is presumed to have fallen into Happy Blind's hands through a play close to self-harm conducted in Area 38. One more thing. The parts box we're looking for…we must consider the possibility that it may be the same item those fanatics were carrying."

.

.

.

.

Click-

"Enemy territory, huh? After all the trouble to get here, what a shitty situation. Does your last statement imply that we were deceived back in Area 47 as well?"

Click-

"It means there was no trust. It's a common occurrence among the Scavengers. Break the seal of the goods, and the deal's off; what's supposed to be food supplies turns out to be ammunition for territorial disputes. The President of Area 47 didn't trust us. He thought that once we had the power of the mutation device in our hands, we would turn the guns on them."

Click-

"Nonsense! Just because some people here are corrupt doesn't mean we all should be treated the same! I'd stake my neck on the fact that the President is not that kind of person!"

Click-

"Then, you obviously should stake your neck on it. We've already been unluckily entangled, and our necks are already hanging by a thread."

Click-

‘…This is why I wanted to keep it to myself until I was certain.'

With the addition of suspicions about the President to the situation in Area 38, confusion quickly started to spread among the group. I had wanted to keep it hidden until the very end, but in this complex situation, keeping information hidden was not an option. To survive on the battlefield, having trust in those you depend on is the minimum requirement.

Listening to the increasingly loud communications, I brought my mouth close to the communicator.

"Everyone shut up. Even if we are supposed to have a horizontal relationship, we can't all grab the steering wheel in a situation like this. As the leader of this caravan, this is an order. Shut up. I'll make the decisions, and anyone who doesn't like it can leave."

Click-

"…."

No response. Good. They've agreed for now.

Having established my authority, it was time to first pull out the seeds of doubt that were about to take root among the group.

Click-

"I brought up this situation because I am 100% confident in our group here. I don't know what intentions President Young had in having us transport the mutation device. However, it's likely that Ezel got involved without knowing anything. After the fight with the Raptors, he was deployed on Investigation Bureau missions around Dome. So, from now on, I'm prohibiting any acts or statements of doubt towards each other. We can't be startled every time one of our own holds a gun, can we? If you have any hard feelings, let them out here and now. Don't cause trouble later."

Crackle-

…Sweat dripped onto the hand holding the communicator.

Crackle-

"….Acknowledged. Sorry about that, Ezel. I've had too many bad experiences with allies turning into enemies. If I've upset you, I apologize."

Crackle-

"I was just…confused, that's all. Still am. I don't have any hard feelings towards you guys."

Ian's grumbling voice and Ezel's subdued voice came through the communicator in turn.

‘Good. The rift within the group has been well-mended.'

The situation where allies thought to be friends turned into foes. Even more, one among the group belonged to the other side. In such cases, it's crucial to draw clear lines and completely block out confusion, otherwise, you might end up not knowing who your real allies are. Ezel? I've only known Ezel Raiden for a few months, but I've been through thick and thin with soygaybar for more than five years.

In my personal opinion, the guy is nothing but a good-hearted fool. A kind-hearted idiot overflowing with ability and motivation. That's why he's more susceptible to being taken advantage of.

Crackle-

"From now on, we trust no one but the four of us. Doubt everyone we meet, collect information, and be cautious in our actions. Let's start with the civilians. We can't trust the information provided by the bastards from the Area 38th's Investigation Bureau. If there are survivors living nearby, we might be able to find out what happened here. That's where we'll start."

Crackle-

"Acknowledged."

"Acknowledged."

Crackle-

"….Acknowledged."

After receiving the hesitant confirmation from Ezel as well, we started moving again.

‘Spy games…what a headache this has turned into.'

Unwittingly, the thought of ‘if Dana was here…' crossed my mind before I shook my head to dispel it.

****

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