Story Reader / Floating Record / ER08 The Long Goodbye / Story
Phew... That was way too close. The Hetero-Creatures almost had me buried.
I'm the scout who sent out the Red Tide anomaly alert. I came here to be on standby after receiving the support request.
Thank God you showed up... Really appreciate it...
Um... You're welcome.
Wanshi eliminates most of the Hetero-Creatures outside, buying time for the three of you to rush into the building.
Everyone takes shelter in the sealed corridor of the research facility, using this brief moment of respite to check their equipment.
You finally get a chance to look at Wanshi's new frame.
Yeah, just got it recently. My current mission is to monitor Red Tide movements.
Hold on a sec... Is this where the last squad that came here was confirmed missing? Sandy and I tried scanning the area, but we didn't pick up their signals.
It might be due to the facility's internal jamming system. Before you arrived, I did some preliminary scouting. I didn't pick up any signals either, but I can confirm they were here—they took the same path we're on now.
Wanshi points to the side of his ear.
The Hawkeye System.
It's a test device that the Science Council installed in frames. You can think of it as a portable version of the Spear of F.O.S.
I can see... that there's more information in this corridor alone than I expected.
Yes, both the old and new information are layered together.
The oldest traces were left by the research facility's personnel. The more recent ones, from about two years ago, were left by... deserter Constructs from Babylonia. There are traces of Ascendants, too.
...So this place is an Ascendant stronghold?
It used to be.
Greg falls silent, and Sandy gives him a familiar pat on the back.
And here I was hoping this facility's projects would be somewhat normal, without any mutants... Now we find out we're about to walk right into an Ascendant's nest... I'm definitely going to be a deadweight...
I'm not done yet.
...
Greg nearly faints on the spot.
The anomalous signal the last squad was tracking remains deep within the research facility, but similar signals are scattered throughout other areas of the building.
Perhaps there are hints inside that some other Constructs have left behind, like this one.
Wanshi walks past Greg and Sandy to reach a cluttered corner, where he picks up a heavily damaged terminal that still blinks rhythmically with light.
Yes, but it's not the latest version.
With nimble fingers, Wanshi dismantles the old terminal and extracts the still-intact transmitter inside.
The signal light's blinking pattern changes, its color shifting to red.
Hmm... Someone made a makeshift signaling device from spare parts, telling us to "press forward".
I can't make any sense of this. It's not even a signal that Babylonia's Constructs learn. What makes you so sure this was intentionally left as a hint?
Don't worry. I know exactly what this Construct was trying to do.
It's a special signal that Shorthalt and his team used. Only those who've been on missions with him would recognize it.
Shorthalt?
Shorthalt is the former leader of the Scarab Squad... He's been missing for quite some time now, though.
While the Ascendant has returned Shorthalt's nameplate by the shore, the group was never expecting to run into this hint that Shorthalt had left behind in this abandoned research facility, of all places.
Everyone has sensed that there is something out of the ordinary about this.
Wanshi carefully tucks away his terminal and heads deeper into the research facility.
Let's head deeper. This is the way to go—unless Shorthalt's trying to screw with anyone following his trail.
What? What do you mean by that?
Hmm... Hard to say. What Shorthalt is pointing to... It could be a clue, or it could be trouble... It might even just be his way of saying hello.
Though this signal doesn't seem like a friendly greeting, that's for sure.
I worked with him many times when I first started going on missions. He had a habit of handling most of the difficult problems ahead, leaving signals behind and entrusting any unfinished business to those who followed.
Whatever unfinished business he left behind would sometimes snowball into even bigger problems and I had to work overtime to take care of them, but there were times when his unfinished business was nothing more than his lame attempts at being funny.
While you never knew this leader from the Scarab Squad all that well, everything Lamia said by the shore a year ago has stayed with you—who took the nameplate—ever since.
You feel complicated listening to Wanshi's description of Shorthalt while looking at the message he left behind.
It's been there for a long time, left behind around when he was declared missing.
If there was any chance to escape, he'd crawl his way out if he had to.
Wanshi's bangs fall forward and hide his expression.
...Let's proceed with caution.
