After gathering black stones from the Sanctuary, I stopped by the golems’ Magic Tower, collected the “Wizard’s Flowers,” and returned to the underground city.
The flowers in the underground city had already been gathered by the ice golems and the residents working together.
The spirit and I used those flowers to make awakening agents.
[Ahem, did you see that? We made more than twice as much. Isn’t that amazing?]
Looking at the completed awakening agents, the spirit’s shoulders practically shot up to the sky.
Her skills had definitely improved greatly compared to before.
It was thanks to having the fire-element golem we’d brought from Earth under her command.
This time, it seemed we would be able to turn far more people into energy users than before.
I put all the awakening agents placed atop the magic circle into my bag.
They disappeared rapidly.
Watching the number of awakening agents dwindle, the spirit looked disappointed.
[If there were more elemental golems, I could do even more incredible things… There aren’t any golems like that, are there?]
At her words, the golems in the Magic Tower I had just visited came to mind, but I immediately erased the thought.
Unlike other golems, the golems that cultivated the “Wizard’s Flowers” had wills of their own.
Golems that moved on their own without anyone giving them orders.
No matter how I looked at it, they did not seem likely to become the spirit’s hands and feet.
“I’ll try to find as many as I can.”
There did not seem to be much chance of it, but after making that promise, I gathered up the box and rose from my seat.
“Then I’ll be back.”
[Have a safe trip.]
Receiving the spirit’s farewell, I left the underground workshop.
After climbing the stairs to the first floor of the building, I found people waiting at the entrance.
Margreta, Catherine, and Hannah.
They were the people going to Earth with me this time.
I was taking more people with me than before, but this time it could not be helped.
They were all people who had to come along.
All the important luggage was inside the box I carried, so everyone was lightly equipped.
“Let’s go.”
At my words, all three of them nodded.
As we quietly left the building, I sensed presences behind us.
Gazes from inside the lodging.
Sergeant Woo, Tom, and my brother were watching us leave through the window.
We had already finished saying our goodbyes last night, but they had gotten up at dawn to see us off.
I gave them a slight wave and quickened my pace.
At dawn, when everyone was asleep and even the artificial sun floating on the ceiling had dimmed,
we were heading to Earth in secret.
It could not be helped.
If people found out we were going to Earth, troublesome things were bound to happen.
Putting aside how distressed they would become thinking of Earth’s destruction, they would certainly ask something of us as we left.
They would ask us to bring people back.
There were still many people left on Earth.
The family members of the team members who had come here also had other family or acquaintances on Earth.
They, too, would want to bring back the people they knew who remained on Earth.
But we had not even brought all of the team members’ families here yet.
Preparing as many awakening agents as possible and bringing Margreta and Catherine along were all for the sake of saving people, but we could not fulfill every request.
That was why we were leaving the city so quietly.
We left the city submerged in darkness and headed for the underground ruins beneath the Lake Base.
When we arrived at the underground ruins through spatial transfer, David and the technicians were waiting there.
Unlike the others, David had not stayed in the underground city. He had continued guarding the Lake Base and these underground ruins.
“We’ve been waiting.”
To David, who welcomed us, I asked the same question again.
“I said this before, but while we’re on Earth, wouldn’t it be better to close off the underground ruins and stay in the underground city?”
With even the hunting team sent to the underground city under the pretext of vacation, the Lake Base was half shut down.
The only people remaining at the Lake Base were a few technicians, scientists traveling to and from the terraforming ruins, and David, who managed the spatial transfer device.
I had explained the situation to David and told him to come to the underground city.
But he shook his head at my words.
“Even for a moment, these ruins—this place connected to Earth—must not be closed. These ruins are now one of the few hopes left for the people of Earth. Whatever the reason, if the ruins are closed, the hope of those on Earth will disappear.”
His words were true.
This planet, which had once been a place for mining black stones, had now become one of the three refuges for escaping Earth.
Paradise, connected to the Middle East; Taepyeong, connected to Tibet; and this planet, connected to the Baekdusan ruins.
Of course, unlike the other planets, there were many restrictions on coming to this one.
One had to come to North Korean territory where the Baekdusan ruins were located, and it required a large number of black stones, but the greater restriction was that anyone coming to this planet had to be a candidate capable of using energy.
Without the awakening agents, the chance of becoming a user candidate was only one in several hundred thousand, but considering the population of the world, that was not a small number.
On top of that, there were the awakening agents I was bringing, and the ordinary people I would personally transport.
Taking all that into account, the number of people coming to this planet was not small either.
“If the ruins are closed under those circumstances, something terrible will happen.”
“Something terrible…”
I looked at the Black officer speaking with a serious expression.
The captain of the advance team who had been in charge of this planet when I first arrived.
Unlike back then, he now showed me the utmost respect, but even now, he did not back down when it came to the work he believed in.
“Do you think a riot will break out?”
“It will be worse than that.”
Perhaps because he had continued managing the people coming from Earth, he was thinking about it even more seriously than I was.
I was a little worried, but I decided to listen to him.
“Understood. Then we’ll be back.”
At my words, David nodded, and we stepped onto the altar.
We immediately made a spatial transfer.
Fwaaaah.
White light covered the world, and a moment later, we had arrived at the underground ruins beneath Baekdusan.
After the light vanished, I looked around.
My brow furrowed.
The atmosphere of the ruins had changed again.
Before, soldiers armed with live ammunition had been guarding the ruins, but now it was even worse.
Soldiers with their fingers on their triggers, bloodshot eyes scanning their surroundings.
Beside them, unmanned machine guns swept the area, and drones moved in real time, monitoring every direction.
Killing intent poured toward us as we suddenly appeared.
The soldiers looked as if they would spray us with bullets at the slightest opening.
Puzzled, I stepped down from the altar.
At the same time, I saw marks on the wall ahead.
“Bullet holes?”
There were not just one or two. They were traces of dozens of shots or more.
And they were not in just one place, but in several.
This clearly meant there had been a firefight here.
I could not understand it.
It had not been long since we stopped the Chinese military.
And yet, there had been a firefight underground where the ruins were located.
Surely the Chinese army had not infiltrated again?
As I was thinking that, Margreta ran toward an officer as if she were about to sprint.
It seemed she had also seen the marks on the wall.
“What happened? A gunfight here?”
The officer, who had been gripping a pistol and cautiously scanning the area, saw Margreta and let out a sigh of relief.
“You’ve arrived?”
Returning the officer’s salute, Margreta asked again.
“What happened here?”
“Yesterday, some of the soldiers at the base staged a rebellion. There were many rebels, so the underground ruins were briefly taken as well. Fortunately, they were suppressed before it was too late, and everything has now been brought under control.”
“A rebellion?”
A rebellion. It was something I had not expected at all.
Margreta’s expression hardened, and Hannah’s face turned pale.
“It’s faster than I expected…”
Catherine also murmured with a grave expression.
Faced with this unexpected situation, we headed straight to the surface.
“It’s hot.”
“And dark.”
The surface we reached by elevator had become hotter, and darker.
Winter had not yet fully passed, but it was damp like the height of summer.
And judging by the time, it should clearly have been midday, yet it felt like evening after the sun had set.
The brightness was like that of evening just before the streetlights came on.
It did not feel like a winter midday at all.
Like the bizarre weather, the atmosphere of the base was unsettled.
Sentries holding weapons and watching their surroundings with stiff expressions.
Even the civilians passing along the road were looking around with faces tightened to the limit.
There were traces of battle here as well.
Broken barracks and tents, roads scorched by flames and bullet marks,
and even the lingering smell of gunpowder.
I had felt it in the underground ruins too, but it seemed the rebellion had been more serious than I thought.
When we came up, I saw officers contacting someone somewhere, but this was not a situation where we could wait for people to arrive.
We headed toward the barracks where the command was located.
Most people did not recognize us, but the expressions of those who did changed immediately.
People running somewhere, people trying to run toward us.
Unlike before, their frightening demeanor made me quicken my steps.
A short while later, we arrived at the command barracks.
The area in front of the barracks was extremely quiet.
After the Chinese military withdrew, their numbers had decreased, but when we left, countless signalmen and officers had gathered in front of the barracks, collecting information and issuing orders.
But now, the number of people I saw was not even half of what it had been when we left.
All of them looked exhausted and on edge.
Bloodstains were visible on the tables where they sat.
“Trappist!”
When we appeared, they flinched and rose from their seats in surprise.
They stared at us with desperate faces.
If this had not been the military, they looked as if they would have rushed over and grabbed us by the collars.
Receiving those gazes, we entered the container barracks.
As we went in, two people likewise sprang up from their seats.
The two welcomed us with delighted faces.
“Maggie! Deputy Commander Hyun!”
“Captain Hyun, Margreta! Catherine came as well?”
Inside the barracks were Margreta’s uncle, the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Commander, and Deputy Director Samuel.
“Fortunately, both of you are here.”
They were both busy people, so I had thought they would have returned to their original posts by now, but they were still here.
“I am the commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces. It is only natural that I be at the most important place in Korea right now.”
“I have been in charge of Trappist and Captain Hyun for quite some time.”
Hearing their reasons, it made sense that both of them had no choice but to be here.
As I nodded, Margreta asked the two of them,
“A rebellion? What on earth happened?”
At Margreta’s question, the Combined Forces Commander sighed, and Deputy Director Samuel opened his mouth with a dark expression.
“That is also the reason I remained here. In truth, the rebellion here is nothing special. Rebellions and riots are taking place in nearly every country and every military base. At present, most countries are in a state of anarchy.”
The scene I had witnessed while passing over Australia came to mind.
Burning forests, ruined cities, people rushing into military bases.
I had thought the Northern Hemisphere would become like that before long, but this was far faster than I had expected.
The Combined Forces Commander continued.
“The rebellion at this base was also led by some officers and low-ranking soldiers who did not know the details. They thought that if they could seize the ruins, everyone would be able to escape Earth.”
Following the commander’s words, the deputy director explained in detail.
“People who thought going to Trappist was no different from going to Paradise, people who thought our story was a lie, and people who knew nothing gathered together and staged a rebellion. They believed all they had to do was seize the ruins, but of course, that alone was useless. Thanks to that, we were able to suppress the rebellion easily.”
He said they had suppressed it easily, but many people had clearly died.
I had thought we still had time, but even the ruins had become dangerous.
This was not the time to take things slowly.
I rose from my seat.
Then I turned to Hannah.
“We should handle your matter first.”
“Yes.”
At my words, Hannah nodded with a stiff expression.
Before leaving, I spoke to the Combined Forces Commander and the deputy director.
“We’ll try to buy some time.”
“What time are you…”
They looked bewildered.
I told them our destination.
“We’ll go straight to Antarctica. If we’re lucky, Hannah and I may be able to delay Earth’s destruction.”
At my unexpected words, the two men’s eyes widened endlessly.
Earth Terraforming (2)