Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

Even so, he knew in his heart that it would take a lot of time just to clear away these obstacles.

Then, the ceiling, which was only inches away from him, shattered with a deafening roar, scattering steel bars and rubble, as well as sunlight that had pierced through the passageway more than ten meters deep.

Tomat, standing on the rubble, brushed off the dust, his body bathed in a light that was hard to look at because he had adapted to the darkness.

Like the figures in religious paintings illuminated by God's light.

Thomas crouched down, his hands on his knees, staring at the brown bear that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

After a long silence, the latter finally spoke and asked:

"By the Emperor... am I already dead?"

*The operator profile for Wormwood mentions that she had long hair before joining Rhodes Island, and cut it off to show her determination.

[Main Text] Chernobog, Amidst the Ruins: Chapter Six - A Mercenary's Casual Chat

"We've come to rescue you."

The gray-haired Carter explained the purpose of their visit.

"The Reunion Movement has also been wiped out."

The purple-haired Zalak then revealed information that could dispel their biggest concerns.

As rescuers slid down the breached cave one by one using ropes, both the Ursus father and daughter, who were already awake, and the people who were later awakened by the loud noise, were overjoyed by the news—so much so that no one noticed that there were several infected people among the rescuers.

Although the infection monitoring systems they wore emitted a light like breathing lights, the people, exhausted both physically and mentally, had no time to care about anything else. While they couldn't directly express their gratitude to the rescuers, they were all grateful for their good fortune.

"Who do you belong to...?"

While rescuers were providing emergency assistance, the brown bear also questioned what appeared to be the leader's atrocities.

“We are from Rhodes Island, a medical company, and we have reached an agreement with Lungmen to participate in the Chernobog rescue operation together with the Ursus government.” Although she seemed a bit carefree in the car, she was quite professional when conducting serious negotiations.

However, this concise answer aroused the other party's doubt.

"It's not surprising that the riot organization was wiped out, but why did Lungmen get involved?"

Although Brown Bear knew more or less about the issues between Chernobog and Ursus, he did not think that the riots in Chernobog would give Lungmen an opportunity to intervene—historically speaking, Ursus would not allow any Lungmen forces to set foot on their territory, let alone such a sensitive event as a riot.

In his view, Ursus was more than capable of handling both the elimination of the Reunion Movement and the subsequent rescue efforts.

"It's mainly to investigate the natural disaster, and there are no longer any operational rescue teams in Chernobog," Violence replied, but a hint of hesitation was already showing in her expression as she considered whether to inform the other party of the situation outside.

“Countries surrounding the disaster-stricken area have the right to investigate the disaster zone, but that doesn’t mean Lungmen should send people directly into the city. Data can be collected from the surrounding areas as well.” Brown Bear was also a seasoned police officer. He keenly noticed the fleeting hesitation in Brutal’s eyes and continued to ask, “What do you mean by ‘there are no operational teams in Chernobog’?”

At this point, Tomat, who hadn't said a word since the hole was made, answered directly:

"The Reunion Movement was destroyed by the accident that occurred after the Originium Rain, along with the entire Chernobog City. Therefore, there are no rescue teams left in the city. If you have any deep feelings for this city, I advise you to be mentally prepared before going out to see it."

His words were so blunt that they only elicited a long silence in response.

However, since they were far from the main group, only the other two members of the team were at a loss for words after Tomat's speech—although the Scavenger was more inclined to be too lazy to speak.

Thomas and the Scavenger arrived at the collapsed entrance and left the brutality behind to slowly explain the situation to the brown bear.

The former is because it would be strange for her to explain these things herself, even if no one knows the truth. The latter is because she didn't come to explain the situation to anyone; the cleaners came to check for dangers.

"These are all the people who need rescue. There's a stench coming from the passageway deep inside the platform; it must be the corpses of people who didn't survive before."

Thomas used his air to scan the vicinity and confirm the number of survivors nearby.

Now he needs to work with the cleaners to deal with the collapse ahead.

“Rescue? Ha.” After hearing Tomat’s words, the Scavenger paced in front of the ruins, glancing at the Chernobyl residents who were being treated and given food by other rescuers. “I don’t think their situation is bad. They have water to drink and bread to eat. It doesn’t matter if we rescue them when they can only drink sewage.”

"After all, it's a job. If you do it badly, you'll get complaints. But I think you'll still get complaints even now."

Tomat patted the ruins in front of him. The road blocked by the collapsed ceiling stretched for dozens of meters ahead. It had to be cleared to create a relatively flat road so that the injured people who were unable to move inside could go outside and receive further treatment. They couldn't be allowed to crawl out through the hole Tomat had made.

“They’re already complaining,” the cleaner said with a tone of unsurprise and a hint of disdain. “Someone’s saying, ‘Why did you take so long?’ You treat this like a job, not a calling. You have a good idea.”

The scavenger, a former mercenary, knows what "great qualities" are, but doesn't admire them.

After all, she had seen too many "great people" hurt by "despicable" things.

“It’s better to keep that mindset when working for someone else,” Tomat replied. He understood that this was because they shared a common language due to the overlap in their past professions, which was why the cleaner spoke up quite a bit at this moment.

"Hmph." The cleaner chuckled, carefully examining the gaps between the piled-up ruins to see if there were any corners that could cause a secondary collapse. "Indeed, sometimes you still encounter those incomprehensible 'naive' guys—but you just can't hate them, even though their ways of doing things are completely different."

"for example?"

Once the conversation started, the scavenger, who was a fellow mercenary, was not used to being in a crowd, even though there were many mercenaries on Rhodes Island who would occasionally get together for a drink.

The two of them chatted casually, without any other topics involved, which suited her quite well.

"Always thinking about helping others, always remaining optimistic, being approachable to everyone, and always smiling—I can't do any of that."

The cleaner was listing the merits of an unnamed person, his tone clearly complaining, yet a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Then go after her! You're a mercenary, are you afraid that romance will interfere with your life of licking blood from the edge?"

From these few words, Tomat could already tell that the other person must be talking about her crush.

The Cleaner, who believed his feelings for that person had gone unnoticed, had actually been discovered by the other operators, and was even marked on their personnel files.

"What nonsense are you talking about..." His expression was very cold, but his tone had already wavered. "Did I mention any of what you said?"

"No, but it's written all over my face." Tomat shrugged nonchalantly. "What's there to be nervous about? I was just like you when I was a mercenary."

The cleaners aren't interested in other people's gossip unless it's mission-related intelligence.

However, when Tomat bluntly exposed her unintentional thoughts, she returned the favor by asking him a question in return.

"You're just a kid, but you've got quite the nerve. So, what happened to your 'romantic entanglements' as a mercenary?"

"She's dead."

The two surveyors, who had been surveying the ruins, fell silent again after giving a brief, three-word reply.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

I lost over 500 favorites because I didn't update for a while... Sorry for keeping everyone waiting.

[Main Text] Chernobog, Amidst the Ruins: Chapter Seven "The True Rescuers"

"Um..."

The cleaner paused for a moment, as if he had just realized that the man in front of him, who looked and was much younger than he was, was also a mercenary who had been living on the edge of a knife.

It's not surprising that someone so young has this level of experience.

Separation by death, and the people involved are all important to you.

People often think of mercenaries as lone wolves, devoid of blood and tears.

In fact, quite the opposite is true; those people simply lost all the important people around them.

It's common, but that doesn't mean they're used to it.

During the conversation, the cleaner inadvertently mentioned the person he cared about.

But the confession made up of those three words, "Thomat," also brought back memories of something much earlier.

She had had the same experience, but now on Rhodes Island she saw someone with a similar voice and smile to that old friend—a person who was willing to take risks for others and was optimistic and cheerful.

However, judging from Thomas's brief and numb words, he clearly did not encounter anyone similar to his old friend.

"Feel sorry."

The scavenger gave a brief apology and continued to inspect the ruins of the collapsed area, using his keen senses and long-term survival experience to determine whether there were any Originium radioactive materials or Originium fragments that could cause an explosion, since the entire area had previously been visited by Originium rain.

"You didn't kill him, why are you apologizing?"

Thomas continued speaking in a nonchalant tone.

"I can only understand, no, I can't say I understand, I've just experienced something similar." The cleaner used her own words to indicate that she wasn't being sentimental, but rather that she had experienced it firsthand.

Neither of them delved into each other's shared experiences; they simply continued with their work while discussing topics that seemed overly heavy to outsiders.

After the cleaner explained, somewhat indirectly, that he and Tomat had similar experiences, Tomat paused for a moment, as if pondering something, before continuing in his unchanging tone:

"It's not a dramatic story, it's just that I got together with someone who was considered an outcast among my own kind."

Thomas recounted the past in a concise and to-the-point manner. The cleaner did not stop what she was doing, but the occasional twitch of her ear showed that she was listening attentively.

"Then I made a promise to her that I would change the status quo, stop her from having to be subservient to others, take her to see the sea that we don't have in our hometown, eat delicious food, and sleep in a warm house—things that are simple but impossible to achieve."

I don't even know if she took it seriously, but I was quite earnest when I spoke, and she seemed quite happy.

Later, she and I went on to carry out our respective missions.

She is dead.

I'm alive.

That's all. "

Only when it was time to wrap things up did Tomat glance in the direction of the cleaners, seemingly wanting to see their reaction.

The scavengers also stopped their work—not intentionally, but because they had just completed the preliminary survey required for clearing the ruins.

"You are not alone now."

The cleaner had barely uttered those words when, as if realizing the ambiguity, he added:

"I meant 'brothers in misfortune'."

"Then you'll soon graduate from being 'brothers in misfortune' too. If I'm not mistaken, the person you mentioned who seemed familiar is also on Rhodes Island. Good luck."

Thomas shrugged and then recounted the story of the Cleaners, his relaxed expression suggesting he hadn't experienced any negative emotions from what he had just told.

"Although you didn't say anything negative, I think the sense of decadence you exude is comparable to that spot."

While Tomat and the Scavengers stopped what they were doing, the atrocities on the other side were still racking their brains to explain the outside world to the people trapped underground.

Ordinary negotiations are no problem for her, but that depends on the content.

Getting others to accept the reality that their city has been razed to the ground requires a great deal of "language art".

Meanwhile, the main task at present is to check the physical condition of the trapped people, so no one has come here to urge them to hurry up with the work of clearing the rubble.

Even if he was in a hurry to clean up, Tomat could handle it in a flash.