Wind brushed the derailed tram husks like a bow across rusted strings, and every note made Wawa's ears twitch. Kaodin slowed his step. The moon hung dim behind ash clouds — enough to see shapes, not enough to trust them.
The night carried no sound but sand. Instead of staying at the old shelter per Mrs. Hong's remark, I preferred to crawl up onto an old water tank nearby and stretch out my backpack into a small cushion, just enough to barely sit and lean my back against the tank to rest my eyes and legs. From the water tank, I could be certain there's no way any hostiles would approach me, and despite not being able to lie down, it's still better than how I met those strange people back in the earlier days of my arrival in this world.
After getting up and checking location on the watch, despite it was already several days east of the dome now, almost arriving at the temple, yet I felt the trip seems too good to be true that we wouldn't be encountering any hostiles for the entire journey, still the wristwatch blinked quietly — no movement nearby.
However, things out here breathed without heat, so relying by myself and Wawa might prove best when it seems too quiet for such a land.
Wawa stopped suddenly. His spectral fur bristled, blue light rippling down his spine.
Kaodin followed his gaze — a flicker on the far ridge.
White.
Human.
A signal, or a trap.
He crouched low, whispering, "Easy, Wawa… could be a reflection."
The light blinked again. Three short bursts. Two long.
He frowned. That wasn't random.
Then came a voice — dry, familiar, trembling from the cold.
"Kaodin… wait."
He froze. That tone — impossible to mistake.
A figure stepped into the half-light, rifle slung low across her shoulder. She wasn't aiming it; her hands stayed clear of the trigger.
Her hair was shorter, her face hollowed from exhaustion.
"Nyla?"
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"You're alive."
"I thought you were dead," he said.
"Not yet," she answered flatly. "Not until I know what happened to Talgat."
"Talgat?"
She nodded; jaw tight.
"I couldn't contact him at all. Everything went dark after the blast, and since I'm in a complicated situation with Korren, getting into CSDS would be difficult too. Tell me the truth, kid — did he make it?"
Kaodin hesitated. Then, before thinking, he blurted:
"Are you saying you chased me all the way out here just to ask that? I feel even more suspicious of you… are you still planning to attack us again? If so, he died from food poisoning."
Her breath caught, eyes widening.
"What—"
"Like I said," he interrupted quickly, "are you still working with Korren, following me for such a long distance, and are you still planning on attacking me, where are the rest of your people?"
It took a moment before she exhaled — half relief, half fury.
"That's not funny."
"Didn't sound like it," he murmured softly, eyes lowered.
She turned, muttering, "You're lucky I don't shoot sarcasm."
He smiled faintly, in that small careless-kid way.
"That'd be one loud waste of my energy though."
Then, after a beat, didn't notice anyone else aside from her, no other vital signal shown on the watch, and Wawa didn't send him hostile signal, so Kaodin added — almost proudly, like telling her a secret he'd been waiting to share:
"He's fine. Mr. Zhang Bo made them cook."
She blinked.
"…Cook?"
"Yeah. Mr. Zhang called it Operation: 'Make Delicious Food, No War.' The raiders had to run around the market, hunting ingredients and asking merchants how to cook each recipe. Whichever team could imitate the menu best — taste and presentation — got one Crypthorium unit per person."
"tell me more, how did it go?"
"And which team won?"
"I'm not telling you until you promise you're not planning to attack us again. One of my best friends was badly hurt in the last raid, and here I am in a hurry to find a fix for him."
Nyla slowed her pace, eyes fixed on the ground ahead.
"…I know," she said quietly. "I'm really sorry."
She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts before continuing.
"When Talgat was speaking with Korren over comms, I was nearby. I overheard him warning Korren about the decoy location — the one their mole in CSDS had set up to pull your people away, so another group could slip in, steal the Crypthorium units, and get out fast. That was all."
Her voice trembled slightly as she went on.
"Korren's usual tactic was to attack with intent to kill every male on sight. Only young children and adult women were spared — and even then, they were captured and forced into his 'training.' And any treasure troves he found, he took everything he could and left the place in flames. That's why everyone feared him."
Her arms crossed, trembling, as she rubbed both palms under her shoulders. "I can still feel that fear — like an icy needle stabbing straight through your heart — whenever you had to do something for him, or else you'd be disposed of."
"So when he attacked CSDS using an indirect method to sabotage the place, I'd say it was his way of gauging CSDS's defensive response. And you… he didn't want to admit it, but I knew you were too bright. Your brightness alone was enough to outshine him — and that's the biggest blow to his ego."
As Nyla continued explaining the entire situation, Kaodin tilted his head toward her, scratching his hair while yawning.
Mom says it's not nice to cut into a girl's chat, he thought, so even if I don't fully understand everything she's saying, maybe I can just ignore the parts I don't get and understand the whole thing later when she finishes?
Seeing the boy looking sleepier and sleepier, Nyla couldn't help but ask, "Kaodin… do you understand what I'm saying, right?"
"Yes… yes… sure do," he mumbled. "You like Talgat, but you don't know how to tell him, right?"
"What—wh—who told you that!? That's not true at all!" Nyla blurted, blushing and stuttering, then quickly forced her expression back under control and continued talking about Talgat to hide her face.
She swallowed hard, voice thinning. "Me and Talgat — we were both captured by Korren when we were kids, you know? I was maybe eight. We were part of a traveling band of gypsies, always moving from town to town, never staying long."
Kaodin turned his head slightly. "So why didn't you try to escape? You and Talgat?"
He tried to keep his tone even, more reasoning than accusing. Wawa brushed against his ankle as they walked — a flicker of blue light rippling through its spectral fur. The small gesture sharpened his focus, helping him navigate the cracked road and avoid holes, scattered barricades, and anything that looked like a trap or a corpse.
Nyla gave a small, bitter laugh. "I guess we were cowards. Me and Talgat both. We wanted to run, but we were just two powerless kids. I used to hold my parents' hands when I was scared. After they were gone, there was no one left to hold."
Her voice trembled. "I cried every night for years before I could cope with my loss. But even now, sometimes I still sneak away when no one's watching, just to find a quiet place to cry my heart out — not only for what I lost, but for the things I did, too. I still remember the day Korren took their lives. After that, we just kept looking for any chance to escape his grip. But even if we did, we had nowhere to go. We wouldn't have survived on our own. Then we saw you."
Kaodin glanced at her. Wawa tilted its head, ears flicking.
"You treated the android boy like a real human," Nyla said softly. "That's when we realized CSDS might actually be a safe place — a haven for someone like you, who isn't prejudiced against anyone. Maybe we could find a place there too — to contribute, to protect an environment like that, where kindness isn't weakness, but hope. A place where people help each other build a new path for humanity to survive — maybe even thrive."
Kaodin nodded slowly.
"Before the last attack at CSDS… if Cee-Too hadn't been damaged so badly, I might never have understood what that means." His voice softened. "Sometimes I still don't understand how adults think. But they're good people. And Cee-Too was my first friend. I'd do anything for my friends."
Wawa gave a faint rumbling sound beside him — not a growl, but something closer to agreement.
"For me," Kaodin continued, "humans are the worst. If not for humans, the world wouldn't have fallen this far. And you guys wouldn't have attacked us either — not if Korren's plan hadn't pushed you into it. And I can't control what the adults are planning, but I can still do what I can. Help who I can."
He clenched his fist, meeting her eyes.
"And that's why you should do the same. You should repent for your guilt — by helping me. You should come with me to SAI."
Nyla frowned slightly. "You're planning to find the replacement parts for the android boy — Cee-Too, right?"
Kaodin nodded.