Story Reader / Main Story / 29 Source Beacon / Story
Just as the information from Liv reported, once you entered the designated area on the map, your communications with Babylonia began to falter.
Seems like the Punishing Virus is disrupting our comms again.
Whenever the virus levels spiked previously, we'd encounter similar disruptions, though never this severe.
We're only just keeping communication going because I've boosted the channel's output frequency.
But I'm not sure it'll hold up if we go any deeper.
She adds, furrowing her brows.
I wonder how the earliest "Heralds" managed to venture so deep under these conditions...
The virus levels are unusually high here, likely because Cradle is manipulating the Hetero Zone to expand its territory.
I checked the data, and after they shut down Reactor 1, the Punishing Virus levels stayed relatively stable for a long time.
Normally, Constructs couldn't get all the way to the core, but they could get pretty close to the edge... Hmm...?
Detected signs of life ahead.
Pushing aside the grass, Leonardo and several other "Heralds" are lying unconscious there.
Leonardo!
They're still alive... We can still get them out in time.
But we don't have any transport...
Shh, listen.
The bushes rustle and soon, a pink Construct steps out from the dimly lit forest.
...Commandant?!
Fantastic! We've finally found the right way...
Lucia! It's safe over here!
Lucia, looking battered, walks out followed by a group of disheveled refugees.
Commandant, it's too dangerous here, you shouldn't be...
Despite the joy in her eyes, Lucia's brow is furrowed with concern.
What should we do next? There are still many refugees here...
It's been a long time since I've seen Lucia this badly injured.
This area is on the outskirts of the Hetero Zone. We've been moving fast, but...
The Red Tide keeps chasing us with a clear purpose, likely driven by that "Will" called Cradle.
We just set up camp nearby when I heard some noises over here and came to check.
You instruct Lee and Liv to help Lucia move the unconscious "Heralds" to a nearby safe zone, while Teddy stays behind to care for the other wounded Constructs and refugees.
With a blank expression, Teddy flips through the data Liv sent from Reactor 1.
...So this is what that old man has been after all this time? Dominik's Legacy?
No, they haven't.
Even with their most advanced Constructs, the later batches of "Heralds" never reached this far.
Norman went to great lengths to acquire what they called "Dominik's Legacy", but it is just bits and pieces of data from the soldiers and researchers who went in with Dominik and never returned.
And what we have in our hands now, the real "Dominik's Legacy", is just a shutdown manual for the Zero-Point Reactor.
Anyway, I can't support Norman's Project Herald.
We should be digging into the root causes, not just searching for an "answer".
Humanity can't keep relying on a legend to guide us forward.
But that's no excuse to sacrifice innocent people for some inexplicable obsession.
I can't deny Dominik's past brilliance, but Dominik is history now.
Civilization thrives because we keep building on the achievements of those before us, aiming ever higher.
Dwelling on the past and old beliefs won't help us move forward.
...Only those old timers, feverish and deluded, would cling to these outdated legends.
She taps the terminal in disgust, shutting down the files.
Maybe one day, we'll go back to the city where Reactor 1 stands.
But our purpose would be to piece together history, to understand the events that unfolded there.
Not to build on the sacrifices of the past or to chase legends buried in its ruins.
Civilization must keep moving forward.
A red wind blows, quietly carrying a thin mist.
...Ah, a new outsider arrives.
Christina... Is that your name? But you don't quite resemble the person in this memory.
Who's speaking?!
The camp is silent, the weary refugees and Constructs deep in sleep, all under the careful watch of the guards.
Didn't you hear that...?
It's you, [player name].
In accordance with human etiquette, I greet you.
And to this lady here... Miss Christina.
You may call me Cradle, as per your traditions.
There's no Christina here, no matter where you got that name from.
...So, in human society, you can simply abandon your own names?
Interesting.
The purple grass quietly grows as the mist slowly spreads.
Hmm? Are you angry?
An eerily innocent smile appears on the girl's face.
You are merely leftover remnants... so fragile that you would be washed away even in the world of the Red Tide.
Yet, even insignificant specks like you can get offended by my words, right?
She seems to have become more skilled at using our language.
Humanity's splendor shines because countless lives thrive here, regardless of their strength or weakness, wealth or poverty.
Life...
Indeed, it's life that allows civilization to endure.
But is a life deemed useless still worth mourning?
There is no such thing as a useless life.
The most useless one here is probably just you, made solely of the Punishing Virus.
...It's an emotion I've never read before.
I can spare them, but... come find me.
Enter our domain.
The girl's silhouette gradually fades.
Let me touch your past, let me see...
The true "civilization" that belongs to your kind.
