Story Reader / Affection / Haicma: Starveil / Story
—2.7 km away from the conservation area reconstruction site 02.
It is a small pathway hiding between the collapsed buildings.
Overlapping debris covers the area above you, one filling the gap of the other.
Occasionally, light shines through the cracks, giving your journey sudden bursts of brightness.
...
One after another, the two of you walk onward.
I've detected that our paths have overlapped for over 30 minutes. May I ask if I can interpret your action as tracking me?
...
She does not slow down. After all, with her more advanced visual module, it is more reasonable for her to lead the way.
But this is the "Scavenger's Path", which the scouting team called a "communication hell."
You are just installing motion sensors around the conservation area. There is no need for you to be out in the open.
So you followed Babylonia's suggestions and traveled on this long corridor alone after the other Gray Ravens were sent to assist short-staffed teams.
But you did not expect to run into Haicma. Is she on a special mission where she has to stay hidden? That makes it inappropriate for you to ask her.
Trust requires proof. It has to be built upon the foundation of logic and rationality...
She suddenly stops talking, her eyes focusing on an unremarkable corner.
Walking toward there, she kneels down.
It is a lily buried in the ruins.
Sustained only by a gleam of sunlight through the cracks, it is on the verge of dying.
You can hardly describe the flower as sprouting. Every second that wearied plant lives is a mercy from the grim reaper.
In this gray and dark world, the rubbles build a stage where the dying performer stands in the spotlight, playing the last act of its life.
The surrounding ruins are waiting for its curtain call so that they may devour its stubborn figure.
...
After a short silence, Haicma suddenly stands up.
It's too late.
Her pitiful whisper sounds like a sentence.
There is no feasible way to save it.
How come?
The roots are not rotten, and there are no signs of pest infestation. The lily is not looking good, but it is not beyond salvageable.
The stem and leaves are heavily damaged, and there isn't enough water in the soil.
It can't survive being repotted, and this isn't a habitable environment. It won't live long, according to my calculations.
Shaking the flask, you compare the water level to the volume marker and estimate there should be 300 ml of clean, drinkable water remaining.
Then you take out the protective film that was wrapping around your testing device and roll it into a ring.
If you can take care of the temperature and the water source...
You look up where the sun is seeping through, making sure the surrounding area is "modifiable."
Standing on a fallen column, you take out a glowstick, breaking one end to pour the fluorescent liquid onto the tip of your combat knife.
Looking at the angle the sun is shining through and taking the changes of day and night into account, you determine the required area and mark it with your knife.
You have explosives on you, but they will not do here as the shockwave alone will destroy the fragile plant.
Ignoring how the bullets will ricochet in the enclosed space, you still cannot put an accurate hole through concrete and steel bars with your pistol.
And forget about your army knife. By the time you finish digging a hole, new flowers will probably have sprouted.
At the end of the day, you alone cannot solve the problem with the sunlight.
Even with everything you've done, the chance of this lily living long enough to bloom is lower than 1%.
Rain, storms, pests, collapsing ruins, hungry wild beasts...
Even a brush from a Scavenger's cloak can kill this lily with ease.
A miracle... a less-than-1% chance... I don't see its value.
You tap the spot you marked on the wall.
...Request declined.
The protrusion at 4 o'clock has a chance to cause the innermost panel on the right to collapse. Your request is partially declined.
Please watch yourself.
Boom.
The shriek from her blade grinding the stone wall is quickly drowned out by the sound of heavy rubbles crashing to the ground.
Sweeping away the dust flying before you, you find yourself enveloped by sunlight.
Will that do?
You block the sunlight with one arm and tear away the dust-covered protective film with another.
Your eyes are still adjusting to the brightness, but you breathe a sigh of relief once you see the shape of a frail but standing sprout.
...
Standing among the falling debris, Haicma observes the broken world from the opening she created.
Undoubtedly, leaving the "Scavenger's Path" will lead to even more dire scenarios.
Miracles cannot sustain anywhere.
This plant has a more than 99% chance of dying in, presumably, over 200 different ways.
The moment Haicma's visual sensor captures it, her processor will calculate and present her with its endings in a much more realistic way.
Machines... do not make mistakes...
So she turns around, looking at the lily once more. But she finds something completely different this time.
The gentle breeze is holding the drooping bud up, and the sunlight slowly gathers around the flower after casting away the darkness.
Beautiful, dignified, pure... None of these words actually match the appearance of the plant before her—
And yet, the image of it blooming overlaps with reality somehow.
It sways in the wind with its petals blossoming, bathing in the sunlight like how the lilies look in the database.
...
The water on the second film layer is dripping into the soil excessively.
According to her observation, one of the sides has simply collapsed, leading to the slight excess. All it requires is a small adjustment...
Adjustment complete.
0.0714%... 0.0717%... 0.07184%... The number... is climbing?
With your every act, the lily's survival rate increases ever so slightly.
Still, the increase is just a drop in the bucket.
It never exceeds 0.08% before the two of you depart.
But it is inching closer to the chance of the two of you meeting again.
At night, the city without light goes silent. Haicma sits alone before her drawing board.
She has long contemplated what should be placed on the canvas to fill its empty space in the center. She even asked the one who claimed to be the best artist ever, but no useful suggestions were given.
There, two pairs of hands are holding a stem.
But Haicma is not sure what to paint on top of the stem.
What does the lily look like in your vision?
...
Her pen pressing against the paper, Haicma slowly closes her eyes...
At dawn, the first ray of sunlight goes through the window and sneaks inside.
After they travel around the room and light up the space, they all gather around one painting.
At the center of it, a blossoming white lily glistens in the morning light.
