"Seele…"
Ryn sensed something blocking the path ahead and wanted to warn Seele that she was about to run into it.
"Shh, don't talk. Pay attention to your surroundings, stay vigilant… Ouch!"
Seele immediately shushed Ryn, but the next moment she tripped over something and fell.
"I was just about to say there's something in front of you… you're going to fall…"
"Hmph… Who do you take me for! I actually saw it coming! This was just a demonstration of what happens if you don't pay close attention to your surroundings! Understood?"
Seele, blushing, got up from the ground, dusted herself off, and turned to lecture Ryn and Ryn with a straight face.
"Yeah, yeah, right…"
What else could Ryn say? He couldn't just expose that Seele didn't see it, could he? Let it go!
"Shh! You're being too loud."
Ryn put a finger to her lips, signaling Ryn and Seele to be quiet, then pointed to the thing that had tripped Seele.
"Look at this. Is it something from the Engineering Department?"
Clang—
"Who's there!"
The three of them suddenly turned towards the direction of the noise. A blurry figure saw them and immediately turned to flee.
"That's a human shadow, after them!"
Seele shouted, leading the charge. Ryn immediately followed.
Ryn stayed behind and carefully examined the surroundings, then looked up, through the sand and cement, to see a tide of Honkai Beasts above.
And in this abandoned Engineering Department backpack, there were only explosives… what did that fleeing person want to do?
Seele and Ryn pursued relentlessly, eventually splitting up to corner the person in a dead end.
It was a scrawny, brown-haired girl in a Fire Moth engineering uniform. Her entire body was deathly pale from a long lack of nourishment. Her ribs were clearly visible even under her skin.
"This uniform… you're the missing member from the Engineering Department? Why are you here?"
Seeing that it was also a member of Fire Moth, Seele breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.
But the missing Engineering Department member did not relax at all. Instead, she became even more tense, trembling and frantic.
"Don't worry, it's okay now. We'll protect you and take you back to the base. Please don't be afraid…"
Seele tried to soothe the girl in a soft voice, but when she heard Seele mention returning to the base, she completely lost her mind and shrieked at them hysterically.
"Go back? Impossible, I'll never go back!" The girl from the engineering department, Sela, trembled as she backed away, simultaneously pressing the detonator in her hand.
Boom—
A series of huge explosions echoed from a distance. The powerful blast caused the underground tunnel to shake violently. Seele quickly grabbed the nearby wall and pulled Ryn to safety.
Sela, on the other hand, was knocked to the ground, but her eyes held no fear, only happiness and madness.
"Hey, are you alright? That explosion just now was…"
"She did it. I saw it just now. Her backpack was full of explosives." Ryn floated over from behind, looking coldly at Sela on the ground.
"Hehe, that's right, I did it all! I've had enough! No food… no medicine… all that talk about protecting us is just nonsense! They're just letting everyone wait to die in that small base!!"
Sela admitted it without any hesitation, and shouted angrily at Seele. But because her body was too weak, she was out of breath after shouting and gasped for air.
Seele looked at Sela in disbelief.
"What are you talking about…? That's the base that Big Sis worked so hard to build, it's our last home!"
"Home? That's just a tomb… A real home should be a warmer, happier place. I will find a new home for everyone in my own way!
I've already investigated. Above this area is a large shopping mall with a lot of supplies! I've already planted explosives in the tunnel! As long as we blow this place up, we can enter from underground!
This is much better than hiding in a cramped station. As long as we can get into the shopping mall, everyone will have food and medicine… and no one will die anymore!!"
Seele sternly rebuked Sela's crazy idea.
"No! The explosion will attract the attention of the Honkai Beasts! You'll only expose everyone and the base to danger! And even if you succeed, we don't have the manpower to defend such a large area!"
Ryn also spoke up to stop Sela, because he had just seen the situation above.
"It's not as simple as you think. The Honkai contaminates food. If there were really usable supplies up there, Bronya Zaychik would have brought people to look for them! Besides, there's nothing up there at all! The shopping mall above has been taken over by Honkai Beasts!"
"Heh… so we should just hide underground like rats? I don't want to die in that cold place… I want to live!"
Sela ignored Ryn and Seele's words and directly pressed the detonator in her hand.
Boom—
A huge explosion echoed for several kilometers, leaving the few people present dazed and confused.
Amidst the smoke and dust, Sela staggered towards the opening that had been blown open.
"Hey! Seele! Come with me and let's move the supplies back… move them back…"
But were there really food and supplies? Ryn had already said there was nothing… only rampaging Honkai Beasts…
The last glimmer of light vanished from Sela's eyes. Lost and dazed, she walked towards the Honkai Beasts.
"… Heh… to die like this… is not so bad…"
Without food, going back alive would just be torment. Sometimes, living is more painful than dying.
Sela finally turned around, her face no longer filled with pain and despair, but with a smile of relief.
Her last words to the three of them were:
"Run…"
The Honkai Beasts, startled by the explosion, swarmed like a tide, devouring Sela in an instant. In less than a second, Sela completely disappeared from this hopeless world.
She wanted to live, and Ryn would have saved her, but she didn't want to. Even if she had wanted to live so badly before, when her hope was shattered and she found that the food and medicine she had dreamed of were just an illusion, and the shopping mall was filled with only Honkai Beasts, Sela's heart died. Even if she survived, she would have no words to face the people of Fire Moth again.
Ryn swept the area with his Heat Vision, clearing a gap in the tide of Honkai Beasts. The next moment, countless more Honkai Beasts surged forward.
Ryn also picked up her Phased Weapon Array heavy cannon and started firing rapidly at the Honkai Beasts, but it was just a drop in the ocean.
Seele took one last look at Sela's position, then resolutely called out to the other two to turn and leave.
"Go… there are too many Honkai Beasts. The three of us can't defeat so many. More and stronger ones will be drawn by the commotion!"