Safe City Ch.136

Chapter 136: The Second-highest Rank in the Entire Hierarchy

This was an order from the great Creator God Herself, so Old Eighth could not wait even a moment.

As for how to determine which of the people who “needed help” were local scientific researchers from Moon Silk Star, that was easy!

As long as Blue Sea detected someone in danger who didn’t call on [Ota] for help, there was a good chance that person was one of them.

The residents of Blue Sea were actually quite curious. Why were the New Humans, despite having a historical grudge against the Old Humans, willing to become people of [Ota], while the scientific researchers who belonged to the Old Humans were instead hiding from [Ota]?

Once they recruited some of them, they absolutely had to ask why!

Across this wasteland, which Blue Sea had already brought largely under its control, many “mutants” with four wings on their backs appeared within a single day, patrolling the skies day after day.

However, the Old Human researchers who had emerged from the shelters and managed to survive until now either had some ability to protect themselves or had remained firmly hidden inside their shelters, refusing to come out. Blue Sea really could not find an opportunity to approach them for the time being.

Fortunately, perseverance paid off.

One day, a shelter that had never been opened before slowly opened its doors.

A medium-sized mutant beast and numerous smaller mutant beasts nearby immediately caught the scent of fresh humans and rushed over.

—On the wasteland, to mutant beasts, the scent of humans who had not yet been contaminated was extremely distinctive.

The feeling was roughly like this: Normally, what they encountered were little vegetarian dishes that were tough and got stuck between their teeth.

Every now and then, they would even get beaten up by one of those little vegetarian dishes with muscles hard as rocks.

But from time to time, some “braised pork” would appear. It was easy to eat, soft and tender, and completely incapable of putting up any resistance.

Now that was a super feast!

The mutant beasts charged over gleefully.

When the Blue Sea patrolmen in the sky saw a large number of small mutant beasts heading toward the same place, they assessed the strength of this small beast swarm and guessed that the creatures must have discovered something.

They, too, happily followed after them.

Inside a civilian shelter.

The sturdy civilian shelter door, which theoretically should have lasted for two hundred years, had broken down after only one hundred and fifty.

Colleen, who had been forcibly awakened from cryosleep by the shelter’s survival system, sat up from her cryo-pod along with her family.

Colleen glanced at the time, and her expression darkened.

“Damn it. We woke up thirty years early.”

According to her calculations before entering hibernation, after one hundred and fifty years, the radiation should not have dissipated completely. The environment outside certainly should not have recovered yet.

Colleen’s parents, along with her partner and daughter, were still somewhat dazed, but she had already immediately grabbed the firearms hidden in the shelter’s basement, preparing to face whatever unknown dangers awaited them outside.

The surveillance system had already broken down. That wasn’t particularly surprising either. One hundred and fifty years was more than enough time for many things to change.

Colleen called her partner over. The two of them took up their weapons and slowly approached the entrance.

Sure enough, as soon as they drew near, they heard the sound of something gnawing.

A huge mutant wolf was tearing into the damaged door. Colleen fired a shot, and the giant wolf collapsed.

But then a giant mutant bear immediately took its place.

There were simply too many mutant beasts. Colleen and her partner could only retreat while fighting.

Gradually, despair appeared in their eyes, along with a trace of unwillingness to accept their fate.

It was ridiculous.

They had done everything they could and spent their entire fortune building this shelter. They had slept for one hundred and fifty years, only to wake up and, less than half an hour later—before they had even figured out what the outside world was like—be killed for no apparent reason.

As Colleen retreated, she said to her partner:

“If I tell you that we’re going to encounter a situation like this, then other people must have encountered it too. So we’re not the only ones this unlucky. Would that make you feel a little better?”

Her partner gave a bitter smile.

“Would you blame me for stopping you from signing that [Company] contract?”

“No.”

Colleen answered immediately.

“I know you did it because you loved me. But I really regret not signing that contract. At least if we’d followed the [Company], you all would have survived.”

Her partner said, “But you would have been living a fate worse than death. That was an eight-hundred-year contract. Even after you died, they would put your brain in a container and force you to perform calculations without rest. That would be even more terrifying than death.”

Colleen kept firing, allowing the sweat to roll down her forehead.

“I know, darling. But honestly, if I’d known we were going to wake up early, I’d rather have lived a fate worse than death.”

“If I had another chance, I would sign that contract.”

She genuinely regretted it now.

She regretted that, back then, when her partner and parents had urged her not to sign the contract, she had chosen to listen to them.

The truth was, Colleen knew perfectly well that the biggest reason she hadn’t signed was fear.

She was afraid of living as a scientific research tool for the Company. She was afraid of spending eight hundred long years as a brain in a vat. Even though she loved her family and was willing to die for them, she was still terrified by that contract.

And so, she had backed down.

She had told herself that perhaps things wouldn’t turn out so badly. With their savings, they could wait until the radiation had completely dissipated. They could wait until the world became a better place before waking up.

They didn’t need that contract. She and her family could survive just fine on their own.

But now, Colleen realized in despair that she had made the wrong bet.

If she had known this would happen, she might as well have signed the contract back then. Trading her own freedom for her family’s safety would have been better than all of them dying together.

Colleen’s partner knew her very well. At this point, he instead became calm.

“Oh! My dear Colleen, don’t blame yourself. Just look at these terrifying monsters. I guarantee that things outside must be even worse than we anticipated. Perhaps not having to continue living in a world like this is actually a good thing. This is simply fate’s choice.”

“No, my dear.”

Colleen gave a smile that looked even more painful than tears.

“When I refused to sign that contract, our fate was already sealed. I just checked the door, and I found that part of its core data had been damaged. That’s why the door broke down ahead of schedule.”

“I think perhaps the [Company] simply wasn’t willing to let a professional like me—someone who had rejected their offer—live a good life without being put to use. They wouldn’t allow me to be of use to anyone else either, even in a world one hundred and eighty years from now.”

“I’m sorry. I dragged you all into this.”

Her partner was silent for more than ten seconds.

Then he laughed once.

“This damned world. Somehow, I’m not surprised in the slightest.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, darling. You’re a genius. We once enjoyed the life your brilliance afforded us. Of course, now we have to bear the price that comes with it together.”

—BOOM! BOOM!!

Just then, the sound of artillery suddenly erupted outside.

The mutant beasts that had been frantically scrambling into the shelter suddenly fell silent.

Silence—

Absolute silence—

Colleen and her partner exchanged a glance and tightened their grips on their weapons.

That could only mean one thing: something even more difficult to deal with than the mutant beasts had appeared outside.

They took a deep breath, instinctively aimed their guns toward the outside, and slowly made their way out.

The two of them were the last line of defense for this tiny shelter.

Their vital signs were linked to the shelter’s alarm system. The moment they died, the alarm would sound.

Inside, Colleen’s parents would hear the alarm and immediately take her child and end their lives painlessly, sparing them the suffering of their final moments.

Therefore, when the two stepped through the shelter’s entrance, they did so with the mindset that death could come at any moment.

But when they finally reached the outside, they saw them.

On the ground and in the sky stood one human after another, each with enormous black wings spread behind them.

These people practically filled half the sky. They had just finished wiping out the lives of the last few mutant beasts.

—BANG!

The bodies of several mutant beasts were tossed down from the sky, hitting the ground with heavy thuds.

Having noticed the commotion coming from the shelter, the Blue Sea people in the sky flapped their black wings.

In perfect unison, they turned their gazes toward Colleen and her partner.

Everyone’s attention immediately focused on the scientific research uniform Colleen was wearing—the kind worn exclusively by scientific researchers on Moon Silk Star.

According to the century-old information they had collected, scientific researchers on Moon Silk Star were divided into clearly defined ranks, with specific colors designated for their uniforms. The colors could not be worn arbitrarily, and without the corresponding rank and status, researchers could not even purchase them.

After all, the [Company] had monopolized all technology for manufacturing clothing.

Some of the Blue Sea people in the sky were already pretending to look expressionless and cool on the outside, while internally they had begun reciting their memorized information.

Just by looking at the color, it was difficult for Old Eighth to immediately remember what rank it represented. But if they recited the colors in order, they could simply count their way through.

Light gray was the lowest rank. Going upward, the order was silver-gray, light blue, dark blue, gold, white, and black.

After reciting the sequence, they looked at the color of Colleen’s research uniform.

Ohhh!

The densely packed Blue Sea people filling the sky immediately had their eyes burning with excitement!!

Oh, Great God!

It was white—the second-highest rank in the entire hierarchy!!

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