On the outskirts of the Pearl of Sapphire, Shu stood before a familiar place.
He stared down at the low opening, which could only be described as a "doggy door," in complete silence.
Having arrived here, some of the memories he had pushed to the corners of his mind finally resurfaced.
Going down from here should lead to the basement of the Pearl of Sapphire, right?
Shu still remembered the dark, gloomy space. He remembered the empty basement, filled with starving, emaciated survivors on the brink of death.
It was there, facing those people, that he had declared himself the "First Exploration Team of Fire Moth," a title he had carried ever since...
Shu's heart sank a little...
"Wow! So this is the true birthplace of Fire Moth!!" Before Shu's heavy heart could sink any further, it was interrupted by a certain someone beside him whose eyes were sparkling with golden light.
Shu turned to look. Susannah was holding a small, open notebook. The black cover had a silver-stamped logo that Shu recognized at a glance as the emblem of Fire Moth.
Seeing Susannah cradling the small book like a precious treasure, Shu suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
But the next moment, the words that tumbled out of Susannah's mouth shattered that feeling to pieces.
"This is it! Captain Shu entered the Pearl of Sapphire from here, rescued the first batch of survivors, and declared the founding of Fire Moth for the first time!"
With that, Susannah, with a complete disregard for her image, took two steps forward and squatted down at the dust-covered opening, craning her neck to look inside.
"It still looks pretty narrow... Did Lord Shu go in through here too? How did he do it?" Susannah pondered seriously, muttering her thoughts aloud.
Shu stood to the side, listening to Susannah call him "Lord" while trying to figure out how he had managed to squeeze through this small hole.
He felt like he was about to have a stroke and buy a three-bedroom apartment in the afterlife.
"Actually..." Shu wanted to say something to salvage the dignity of the "him" in Susannah's story, but then he saw her suddenly raise a finger.
"I've got it!" she exclaimed with a look of realization. Shu had a bad feeling.
"Lord Shu must have used some incredibly advanced technique to fly in here, just like a car passing through a narrow tunnel!" The golden light in Susannah's eyes fell to the ground and turned into sparkling stars, so bright that Shu reflexively slapped a hand over his own eyes.
He couldn't bear to look, or listen...
"Are we going in through here too?" Susannah turned her head and looked up at Shu, who was standing beside her, and asked with a puzzled expression.
"Can we use the main entrance?" Shu sighed, slowly lowering his hand from his face.
"The Pearl of Sapphire does have a main entrance, and it's open... but if we go in through there, we'll probably run into the zombies inside the venue, right?" Susannah said, a little confused.
Shu knew that too. What he wanted to know was if there were any other entrances.
But from the looks of it, neither of them knew.
He could use [Hope] to find another entrance quickly, but that would go against his initial intention... It was enough to know that he could do it. The actual execution had to be done through other means.
"I'll go find a structural diagram of the Pearl of Sapphire," Shu said, first searching on his phone. When that yielded no results, he turned to Susannah. "Susannah, do you know where I can get a structural diagram of the Pearl of Sapphire?"
"A structural diagram..." Susannah squatted on the ground, thinking. "Structural diagram... structural diagram..."
"Ah! I remember!" Susannah exclaimed with that familiar look of realization. "The frontline troops stationed here should have that information."
Susannah was right. The zombie horde in the Pearl of Sapphire was the last known concentration of zombies in the city. Himeko's Titan squad was stationed here precisely to prevent them from rioting.
In reality, eliminating the zombies wasn't difficult. The hard part was eliminating every single one of them.
Even if only one percent of the zombies escaped, it would mean that the hidden dangers in the city had increased by another degree.
But now that Shu was back, once he had the time, he could conduct a thorough sweep of Sapphire City, and it would become the second human city.
Assuming there were enough people.
Fire Moth, and by extension, human civilization, had no urgent need for the land in Sapphire City. That was why Fire Moth hadn't made another major move on the city.
The previous Operation Jörmungandr had already proven Fire Moth's strength, and the hope that strength brought was the greatest benefit.
"Then let's head back first," Shu nodded, preparing to return to the station, which was also the Titan squad's base, to ask Himeko for the structural diagram...
Wait, he wasn't Shu right now.
Shu's expression instantly twisted. He was Kevin now, not Shu. That meant he had to approach Himeko as a stranger.
Negotiate...
Negotiate...
Shu hung his head in defeat.
Just think of it as training... His communication skills really did need some work. Mei had always handled it for him before, but Mei couldn't always be by his side.
Besides, asking was also a way of gathering information.
With a strange sense of apprehension, Shu returned to the station at five o'clock in the afternoon, right on time.
Dinnertime.
It didn't matter that Shu himself didn't eat, but Susannah's stomach started growling the moment they stepped into the base.
Shu glanced at Susannah, who was looking down, steam practically rising from her head. He couldn't help but push "obtaining the structural diagram" one step down on his priority list.
"Let's eat first..." Shu didn't know how many times he had sighed today. Susannah smiled at him sheepishly. "I'm so sorry... How about... I treat you to dinner?"
"No need, I'm not..." Shu wanted to say he wasn't hungry, but the image of Kiana, her cheeks puffed out, telling him he had no breakfast, flashed through his mind, and he swallowed his words.
"I'll just pay with my own Contribution Points," Shu said, taking out his phone. His movements suddenly froze.
He had... only borrowed ten Contribution Points from Kiana, hadn't he?
Didn't that mean he was broke again?!
Damn mouth, why did you have to refuse so quickly?!
Shu's expression was on the verge of cracking, but he forced himself to keep a straight face and opened a familiar chat window.
[TheDawnIPromised: ... u there?]
[SeaofQuantaMoonFishCat: ???]