SWNOVELXO Chapter 7
The surroundings are dark and, beyond that, overwhelming.
In dreams of falling from high places, I used to grow taller, but at this rate, I might only grow the length of a finger.
Daring to face a thousand-meter cliff, it’s like a beast losing its footing while trying to peer into the abyss. My limbs, which looked particularly pale in the darkness, flailed desperately in midair, but there was nothing to grab onto, and the feeling of buoyancy did not wane.
Yet… on the other hand, it feels perfectly cozy.
No meals, no sleep, not even any sexual desire. There’s no need for any of it to maintain my existence. With all five senses of organic life gone, there was no space left for desires to linger.
The absence of sight whisked me away from the horrific reality. The lost hearing was replaced by perfect silence. The lack of touch meant that pain had departed as well. Thanks to a stuffy sense of smell, even the nauseating smell of blood and gunpowder ended.
The disappearance of taste… is a bit disappointing. Having never had a proper meal while alive, I let it all go so easily.
…Ah!
There was absolutely no need to feel regret.
Surely, there was a can of food in my jacket pocket. One of them was even a sweet jelly pie, perfect for a last supper before leaving.
However… the bread can I pulled out quickly was somewhat different from what I remembered.
“…?”
I tilted my head, looking at the object in my hand.
Surrounded by a blue code that was more than just a surface, the contents were also invaded. Hangul… letters… numbers, special characters, symbols, Cyrillic letters… and more were swirling around chaotically. Who on earth gave me this bizarre can-shaped information bundle? Oh right, that nameless tin can robot gave it to me. Why? It was a birthday present, it told me.
Me…? Who am I…?
Who else could it be…! You talented fool, Anastasia! Move quickly…!!
“Huh?!”
The information and signals that had been flowing out came together, completing who I was now.
Damn!! There was no warning that I could lose my identity mid-dive…!
Damn…!!
Struggling to rise from my prostrate position, I kicked off the dark floor. Aside from the blue electrical signals that occasionally streaked by, this world, presumed to be the laboratory’s system, was a kind of dark passage.
Tap tap tap…!!
I dashed along the corridor at full power. I didn’t feel tired. It wasn’t really my body moving, but the information being flickered as Anastasia.
But….
“What the hell…! Why is there nothing…!!”
No matter how much I ran. No matter how far I went, the endless black passage just continued. I had no idea how much precious time I had wasted. I thought that if I just kept running along this single path, I would come across a terminal or panel that I could manipulate. Only infinite darkness welcomed me.
“Damn…! Damn—!!”
Could it be that…… the abyss dive has failed? Or, perhaps I’ve already been caught by a pursuer and returned to the state of a puppet in a test tube. Maybe the foolish droid is shattered and lost its mind?
If I had known this would happen, I should have just attempted to hack, no matter how difficult it might have been. Even if I could know the outside situation…!
“!!”
Screech! I quickly stopped my steps.
The wall, which had just moments ago held nothing, crumbled away, revealing the control panel and monitor that were in the control room.
Why…? Before I could think about it, the monitor displayed the surveillance feed from in front of the control room and the main gate.
“…….”
The almost completely crushed barricade. The swinging arm of Goliath. The pursuer shooting at the droid while rolling to the side. All the information I wanted was displayed, but the screen showed everything moving in an oddly slow manner.
The shape of the pursuer’s fist embedding in the wall. The sound of a bullet slicing through the air, grazing the tin can. And the ground splintering every time Goliath took a step. Only then did I finally understand what technology the abyss dive represented.
There’s a saying that if seen with the eye of a god, even mountains flow.
Even substances and values that seem unchanging eventually crumble in the face of the eons, then, conversely, who is the absolute master of the cyber world that can split even a moment of time into countless scenes and manipulate the connected system as if it were a lucid dream?
I am Anastasia. Neo Haven’s top net hacker, a cyber architect. And a gem qualified to become an abyss diver.
Crack crack crack—!!
The black wheel that kept the connector spinning endlessly began to disassemble. The small monitor grew as large as Goliath, and a plush chair rose from the floor. This world, maintained by entirely different rules and orders, requires me to give the correct commands to follow the chain of command.
Boom…!
In this space that had been completed and transformed into a command center, I prepared for a surprise strike.
“Tin can! Can you hear me?”
– Miss Anastasia! Are you safe? –
“I’m completely fine…! Why don’t you stop breaking down?! You know I can’t carry you, right?!”
Drumming…!!
After confirming that the communication channel was clean, I began expanding my network.
Like a quiet snake finally sinking its fangs into its prey, signals reached the hovercrafts that were parked idly.
Initially connecting to the building’s network, conducting remote hacking through a simple communication channel. If anyone could do that, corporations wouldn’t dominate the world. So… regret making an abyss diver your enemy…!
Whooo…!!
The hovercrafts powered up and lifted into the air.
The protections and firewalls that should have been there opened wide, claiming to be signals from the same corporation as mine. It was a stroke of luck that they had no standby troops to directly respond to the emergency.
“When the pursuer attacks next time, crush them with Goliath, making it impossible for them to move…!”
– Understood! –
Boom—!!
Thud thud thud thud—!!
Goliath’s massive mechanical arm slammed down on the ground, sweeping it away. In the midst of this, the pursuer was skillfully resupplying ammunition from the scattered bodies.
[ Remaining power level 6% ]
Anxiety crawls up my spine.
Because power is low? 6% is enough.
Because the wall that was blocking other pursuers is nearly destroyed? No, there’s a countermeasure for that.
The lack of a safety device to guarantee the life of the droid fighting valiantly at the front line. The fact that there is truly nothing made my judgment cloudy.
“What the hell, this piece of junk…?!”
– I am made solely of the latest components from Paradise and Exatech. How rude of you. –
Crack!! Boom!
The fired bullet pierced through the tin can’s shoulder, detaching the arm from its body. As the arm vanished, it fell from Goliath, but, as a price for greed, Goliath’s kick slammed the pursuer into the laboratory wall again, so this was my chance.
Whooo…!!
As soon as I saw Goliath’s massive body tilting toward the wall, two hovercrafts took off in a frenzy. Brakes? That bastard’s body would become the new brake.
But then, the pursuer, pulling off the side glove of the fallen Goliath, thrust its upper body forward.
Boom!!
“Graaaah—!! You think you can kill me with such tricks…?!”
Seeing the hovercraft flying toward him like a missile, he hurriedly cut off his words and escaped from the pile of scrap.
There isn’t enough time before impact. I have no choice but to allocate a little more power to the turret to buy time. …And I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
– ……!! –
“What the hell?!”
“?! Stop—!!”
The droid, with no arms, suddenly stood up and collided with the escaping pursuer.
I had no time to think about what would happen afterward. In a rush, I split the time and ordered the hovercraft to halt. However…. Stretching the perceived time to infinity wouldn’t change what had already happened. Rather, as a price for that, I had to witness the two mass missiles mercilessly cut through the tin can’s waist, exploding.
“……Who the hell do you think you are…!!”
Crashing! Unable to contain my anger, my hand swung, knocking away the devices and panels in front of me. As I lost my composure, the abyss trembled unstably. But fortunately, there was still someone left to vent my anger on.
“This damn whore…!! You better not die easily!”
With a crash, the wall crumbled, and the outraged pursuer entered the control room… only to stop upon seeing my collapsed body. His cyberware must have concluded that the fallen girl had lost consciousness.
An enemy caught off guard in a perfect position. There was still the last defense system left in this control room that governed the laboratory’s system.
[ Plasma barrier activation initiated. ]
[ Remaining power level 5%… 4%… 3%…. ]
From the infinite abyss straight into reality. No worries about the bends.
Unlike when I entered, my eyes widened wickedly in an instant. In front of me, trapped in a suddenly generated red crucible, was a pursuer melting away in armor, unable to scream.
“You bastards…! You bastards will die peacefully…!!”
Clack!
Bang bang bang!! Bang! Bam—!!
I emptied the remaining magazine and reloaded. Until I used all the ammunition I had, I shot the squishy mass with my handgun.
[ 2%… 1%… Barrier activation forcibly interrupted. Entering power conservation mode. ]
I stared at the pursuer whose combat armor, flesh, and implants melted together into a terrible soup. With not even a brain left, it would be hard for the esteemed Enema Corporation’s medical engineering to revive him.
Tick tick…! Tick… Tick….
Even when I pulled the trigger, nothing would come out. I instinctively knelt down and slumped onto the cold laboratory floor. A fragment of my remaining sanity scolded me for wasting precious ammunition. It was the right thing to say. In reality, not only did my mood not improve, but my self-loathing only deepened.
“……Fool, idiot, bastard…!!”
If only I had laid siege in the underground.
If only I had used all remaining power to blow up the hovercrafts.
If only from the start…!
– ……My. Designation. Wasn’t. Tin can? –
“?!”
I shot up, startled.
“Tin can!! Are you alive—?!”
– I have been. Separated from my. Power source. I won’t be able to. Talk for long…. –
“?! You crazy bastard! Then shut up!!”
His words, resembling those of a grandfather taking his last breath, only intensified my irritation. I’m a hero…!!
Jumping over a puddle that smelled like something I never wanted to smell again, I dashed through the corridor to escape the hole the pursuer had made.
Beep beep…!
“Open the door!!”
[ Retrieval of control partition initiated. Error, insufficient power. ]
[ Remaining power level 0.6% ]
“Damn…! Then open it a little at a time!”
If I had the time to modify my gear, I would have slid through gracefully. But, inevitably, I crawled under the half-raised barricade and exited the laboratory.
I had so much to say.
Why did you do that? Didn’t I tell you to stop with Goliath? Do you think I’m joking…. After preparing all kinds of complaints, I looked for the tin can, only to see him pathetically lying there with just his head remaining at the edge of the fiery abyss. My mind went blank.
“…….”
Stepping quietly closer, I picked up the head of the carebot, which had lost all its scanners and was sparking.
– It’s an honor… to serve. –
“…Shut up.”
Thinking I should connect him to the remaining intact battery of a vehicle, I realized I was a fool. There’s no way a carebot caught in that gigantic explosion could be intact.
With its voice module down, it could barely speak through communication. It was because the robot kept ignoring human words that this terrible situation arose. I wouldn’t get 10 credits even if I brought it to a junk shop…!
Drip… drip….
– Are you. Crying…? –
“……Don’t you realize your coolant is leaking? How will you protect me like this?”
– I apologize. –
A myriad of ideas and solutions raced through my mind. But in this situation, without suitable facilities, equipment, or technology, I couldn’t find any viable options.
This is impossible. This is futile. Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible… Possible.
“Hey. Can I ask you one thing…?”
– It’s fine. –
“…The core code that constitutes your existence. It’s not housed in your central processing unit…?”
– ….. Yes. –
He seemed to have guessed what horrific act I was about to commit and replied with great difficulty.
I am about to commit a truly cruel act. A selfish, scheming concept that only a human who knows nothing but self can devise. An action that could be expected from Mega Cop.
I will rob him of his right and opportunity to die as himself.
“…If you agree. Please expose the head section.”
– ……. –
With a hiss, the carebot’s skull opened. Sparks leaped from the severed circuits, and splintered metal shards protruded, but a minor scratch was nothing problematic.
“Your name. I’ll definitely hear it later. So… just wait a bit.”
I don’t know when that will be. When I wake, the tin can may indeed still be a tin can. Just as I can no longer be sure if I, who woke up from a test tube, am a continuous existence with my past self. He too would become the same kind of being.
Crack…!!
Hearing a response might weaken my resolve, so I didn’t hesitate to grab the droid’s brain and pull it out.
“……”
Under the moon of this world, vivid with the remnants of war, how long have I watched the flames grow? As my dizzy mind sorted itself out, the poor body signaled to me.
Growl…….
“……Ah.”
I rummaged through my pocket and took out the jelly pie can.
After clicking it open, I took a bite.
“…It’s sweet. Yes.”
I carefully placed the central processing unit into the empty can. I closed the lid.
The bitter taste of the cultivation fluid no longer remained in my memory.