Story Reader / Main Story / 25 Everglowing Justice / Story
This is a conservation area that sits at what is currently detected as the border of the Clean Zone.
With the CPF and the Inver-Hetero Tower, there is almost no Punishing Virus here. But with its proximity to the edge of the Clean Zone, this area is still occasionally disturbed by Hetero-Creatures and Corrupted.
However, "occasionally" has been happening... a little too frequently these days.
Conservation areas update their missing persons registry regularly. Given the situation on the surface, it is no surprise to find people missing every now and then.
However, it is inevitable for someone to notice that three nearby conservation areas have all been repeatedly submitting reports of "Hetero-Creature-related missing persons" for an extended period of time.
Are the frequent appearances of Hetero-Creatures the real culprits of those missing people?
Commandant?
Your wandering mind recalled, you close the report in your hands and look out. The barren landscape flies past you outside the window, indicating the long distance between you and the conservation area ahead.
So, you didn't hear a word I said during my mission briefing just now.
Putting down his terminal, Lee turns to look at you resignedly.
Celica tallied the missing persons reports from the last cycle, and incidents of "Hetero-Creature-related missing persons" are found in Conservation Areas 107, 108, and 109 near the border of the Clean Zone.
These occurrences have been happening in this stretch of connected conservation areas for a while.
Given the strange phenomena that happened in the globular forest around the Inver-Hetero Tower previously, the military hypothesizes that powerful Hetero-Creatures may be residing in the surroundings of this area.
Or... Ascendants.
This was not Gray Raven's mission initially. However, thinking back to the first group of Constellia residents you met...
The Clean Zone? There are dangers found even in the outskirts of the Clean Zone...
Yeah. Many people went missing in conservation areas that are on the border of the Clean Zone and haven't been found.
The higher-ups just called them "Hetero-Creature-related missing persons," but...
My friend was staying around there. I wrote him after I settled down, but his father replied and said he hadn't returned because of it...
Sigh...
My sister was there...
The residents talk among themselves. Despite their calm expressions, every story they recall is tainted with blood.
Sigh... Some have come to investigate every once in a while, but those Hetero-Creatures are some tricky bastards. They never show up when there are Bablylonians stationed here.
Oh, speaking of which—aren't you... a commandant from Babylonia?
If you have the chance—only if you have the chance, that is—can you... go check it out?
We're not asking you to do anything. It's just that...
That's wonderful!
...
That was why you sought out this mission after you noticed it...
Lee frowns, turning to the next slide of the mission briefing.
We're about to arrive in Conservation Area 109, which is the closest conservation area to 112, the one destroyed by Hetero-Creatures previously.
Our mission is to investigate the cause of the missing persons while searching for their whereabouts in the surrounding area...
That's about it.
Lee quickly finishes the briefing, having noticed that you start spacing out again.
We're almost there... It's right ahead.
Gray structures start appearing on the horizon right as he says that.
As you approach the conservation area, you notice residents coming out to harvest vegetables and fruits as reserves.
Perhaps the existence of the Clean Zone has provided them enough comfort that the residents do not seem to be in despair. Instead, they watch the heavy military vehicle passing by with curiosity.
Lee carefully inspects your protective suit once more to make sure everything is flawless before opening the door and letting you out.
The sound of commotion immediately draws your attention the moment you land.
Hey! This is our land! Pick your fruits elsewhere!
B-but this place...
Did I not make myself clear?!
Unsatisfied with the answer, the aggressive man takes a swing at the other person—
Stop!
A female Construct you did not know shows up next to them before you can say anything, grabbing the man's wrist.
I've read the regulations of conservation areas. In Chapter Three, Article Eight, the rules regarding resources and supplies clearly state that produce outside the conservation area farms are free to gather and pick.
Regulations? Who gives a damn about regulations in a world like this? Do those regulations fill our stomachs?!
No, regulations don't feed, but they do protect. You're not the only person living off this land!
Everyone gets to live if you just follow the rules. Why won't you do so?!
It's none of your ****ing business!
The angry man tries to break free of the girl's grip, but the Construct with purple hair does not relent, staring right into the man's eyes without fear.
And who the hell are you?!
Hearing your voice, the angry man turns to look at you, only to find Lee standing with you, fully armored and armed. He flinches, his voice quieting down.
Do I need to repeat the regulations of conservation areas to you?
...Ptoo. Just my luck.
The man spits on the ground and scowls at the timid woman before turning around and leaving.
The woman trembles silently despite seemingly having something she wants to say. Her lips quake before she eventually turns around and leaves, running into the woods behind her.
...
The purple-haired girl seems accustomed to scenes like this. Gently wiping off the stains on her cuffs, she turns to depart.
Hm?
Surprised and confused, the girl turns back to you.
And you are...?
...
You are not sure why she visibly tenses up upon hearing your identification.
I'm... not from this conservation area. I'm just passing through.
If that's all... goodbye.
She performs an extremely complicated set of gestures to seemingly bid you farewell before quickly walking away.
I think... that's the salute of taking leave as written in "World Government's Rules of Etiquette, Third Edition"?
I ran into this book by chance when I was organizing the old data in my database...
Who still follows "rules of etiquette" nowadays...?
The Construct does not look hostile. It is not uncommon for Constructs on the surface to dislike Babylonia, after all.
Your top priority right now is to enter the conservation area to investigate the "Hetero-Creature-related missing persons."
Maintaining a safe distance in case she needs to run away, Echo hides in the woods nearby, carefully observing the activities near the conservation area.
...They have not noticed anything unusual, it seems.
The Gray Raven Commandant from Babylonia...
Lena said that the Gray Raven Commandant is trustworthy.
Despite how hazy Echo was in Constellia, she remembers Sica saying that she looked up to the Gray Raven Commandant and hoped to become someone like the commandant.
Although the commandant did speak up earlier, Echo is still unsure if she can take the risk.
Can she bet on the chance that the commandant does not know she is currently being pursued... or that the commandant will help her destroy that place and find Lena even when knowing she is wanted?
Listen. Time is short. You have to find the armor and take her away from here.
What about you, Lena? Where are you? I'm coming to get you!
Me? Don't you worry about where I am.
Lena's voice sounded frail.
There's a commotion in the lab, so no one's paying attention to you... Ugh...
You... you're in the lab, aren't you?
Tsk. Stop worrying about me! Don't look back! Keep running! I'll find my way out!
Weren't you going to pursue your justice? Weren't you going to end this darkness?!
Run! Keep running!
You have to get away from here. You... have to get away!
During the mysterious commotion, Lena guided her to connect with the armor "sister" and escape, but she and her M.I.N.D. also got severely damaged during the battle.
Afterward... she only held a vague memory, where she evaded her pursuers and separated with the armor, living in disguise as "Lena" with the terminal Lena left her.
Perhaps her mind was subconsciously trying to protect her from distress, or her M.I.N.D. had suffered some complications after the damages. She could not recall any details of that period of time.
By the time she was fully conscious again, the armor was right in front of her. Her M.I.N.D. hummed as her "sister" called for her desperately.
...I (we) are dead souls buried in the past, "echoes" reforged from lust and sin.
But not... Lena from Iris Warbler.
Where... is Lena, then?
Lena always keeps her word. If she said she would find her way out, she would have definitely escaped.
Echo stares at the fences around the conservation area, her fingers jittering uncomfortably by her side.
This is the closest conservation area to "that place." If Lena escaped the explosion, she must have passed through here.
And if Lena did not manage to escape, Echo will return to the place they called Utopia to destroy everything and find her.
Although Echo has not found any information on the Aurora Squadron in the conservation areas on her way here, she firmly believes that the sinful swarm must still exist.
As the first wave of conservation area residents who headed out to gather fruits starts returning, the woods are getting nosier.
Echo closes her eyes and thinks for a second before turning around and departing.
