2022-08-12 21:03:31
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A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 28 - Huntly Mine (part 17)
- Wah, stop being so careless with your life like that. You do not have nine lives. - That is the voice of Mirai, who is currently "unemployed". Right before the thorns can touch me, Mirai flicks a plate in the middle of the gap between my body and the thorns. Although the thorns are more durable than the shield itself, it gives me an extra second or two to divert my leap course, effectively evading the thorns before they slam themselves onto the ceiling and break. - Tsk, every time one of you interrupts, I forget that the other one exists. - The boss looks a bit pissed off, as he starts to inflict more frequent attacks. The Suicide Drones keep charging at the boss and attempt to blow the exterior layer of his head up, but they are mostly ineffective, if not for the smoke coming from the explosions that may or may not hinder the boss's vision. The other drone units that attack from a range are also firing at full power, but it does not look like they would do
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 29 - Huntly Mine (part 18)
Truly, there are things that I have yet to learn from this even more mysterious humanoid robot right beside me. Right in front of my eyes now, there stands a six-metre mechanical and manually controlled robot, rivalling the absurd size of the boss's robot. Before I even realise it, Mirai has one-handedly picked me up from the ground and jump into the interior of the mech, via an opening in the chest area.- Why are you so hurried? I am still marvelling at the beauty of this year 2100's creation.- We are not in a power ranger series. That boss will not spare some time watching us looking at the mech. Now, get yourself familiarised with the controls. It is just like a video game. - Mirai knocks on my head. The boss initiates the first attack. Metallic cannons mount on its right shoulder, and loads of energy spheres are hurled at us in a blink. While I am focusing on the array of buttons, levers, controls and the real-time screen in front of me, Mirai has summo
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 30 - Huntly Mine (part 19)
Getting ejected from the mech suddenly, I barely have enough reaction time to activate my propellers, which thrust me back and accelerate me into the air, right before landing on the ground which is now full of metallic drone scrap, as well as rock fragments and dust. - At least tell me if we are going to do something crazy. - Time is gold, Yuusha. You should have known that long ago, and it is not like you would die anyway. Mirai has gotten ready with the signature, massive Railgun that by now, she is the only one with enough strength to even raise that gun and wield it effortlessly like a knife, so my job is to clear the path for her to reach the boss's core chip and destroy it. I prepare the photon shotgun and reload it with a cartridge of slug shots. - You can just stop your imagination. There is no way that you can touch my armour. - The boss still tries to bluff. - Let's see who is imagining. We have done it once, and we will do it again
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 31 - Huntly Mine (part 20, final part)
The Earth, 12 August 2079, in a small apartment in the middle of the metropolitan city of Tokyo, Japan,... - Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you... The candles flicker in the dim light of the small living room, joining the cheers of four people in the apartment who are clapping delightfully towards the fourth birthday of a certain somebody. - Wah, thank you, mama, papa, and grandma! The petite figure joins her little hands together, makes a prayer, and blows the candle. As innocent as the deep blue sky, untainted with clouds, and as cute as a button, as well as a mysterious aura of a knowledgeable scholar, the lovely child is nobody else, other than Mirai Sasaki. The clumsy hands then grab the plastic knife, her eyes look at the cake, calculating the angles in her mind. Then, she cuts the cake into four exactly equal portions. The cake may be fragile, so her mother helps her to distribute the four pieces of the cake to the family. Born in a fam
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 32 - Point Nemo (part 1)
Tokyo, Japan, the Earth, Thursday, January 5, 2051. - Sixty-five... Sixty-six... About forty drones left. And we are running out of materials. - I make the probably loudest sigh ever. The thrilling one-week journey to Australia has ended, but the repercussions are just, you know, painful. A rough check on damage statistics tells me that a hundred per cent of our drones suffer from circuit damage, which is cheap. However, a third of them break down due to falling, which adds salt to the wound of my bank card. And not stopping there, a six-metre tall robot is sitting in the archive, waiting eagerly to be fixed and hurting my income. This festive season is what I anticipate the most but things just spiral out of control for this unlucky year. Pods linking from my house to my parents' house were suddenly broken down due to snow or something, and no companies were working during this period to fix them, making me stuck in Tokyo. I plan to take some rest by indulging myself
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 33 - Point Nemo (part 2)
A cruise is just like a panacea that overloads my productivity. Within just two days, I spend all of my available time working my sweat out to fix the drones. The duty of robot fixing, after some negotiations, has been transferred to Mirai. She says that she can delay her research later. Soon, the day of the cruise comes like a wind. We already find ourselves carrying a backpack and a suitcase, queueing at the Tokyo Cruise International Terminal and waiting to get on board. Although it is still freezing winter in Japan and the rest of the countries residing in the middle portion of the Northern Hemisphere, again, it is summer in the south. - Why is it so cold? - Mirai is hugging herself and trembling. - How do you even feel the temperature? - Another network of sensory modules spanning across my shell. When I like, I can just switch it on. They would measure the temperature and send corresponding signals to my central processing unit, which sends s
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 34 - Point Nemo (part 3)
The science area humbly lies beneath the extravagant and majestic chains of entertainment facilities. Designed specifically for researchers and scientists who must race against time to publish papers while still wanting to enjoy a meaningful holiday, the area consists of a lab with every apparatus spanning various fields, a garage-like tech room for creating inventions and fixing machines, and a field open to the public to facilitate virtual reality simulation. This self-explanatory description can easily tell you why the lab and the tech room are almost always empty. Mirai drags me to the tech room. - So, what are we doing here, specifically? - I ask. - Two things. I will be brief. - Go ahead. Mirai just stands still. In the next second, a fleet of drones appears in front of my eyes like a performance. - That is what I get from analysing the core chip. It seems to use the same technology as our BlueTooth, except that the Intruders can man
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 35 - Point Nemo (part 4)
I reload my photon shotgun with another tube of photon shots. Since I can loot other players' items, I can destroy this drone. Fortunately, the other mercy the rich can offer commoners like me is that I can see hostile units on the map, except for other players. The drone is patrolling on the other floors, so after I get out of my hiding spot, I decide to go find it instead. As soon as I reach the other floor, I switch my photon shotgun to damage mode. I find the drone in a room that looks like an office. As stealthily and swiftly as possible, I use the chairs and tables' terrain and approach the drone. Before it registers my presence, my barrel is already pinned to its offensive module, and I fire my whole rounds of pure electromagnetic damage, breaking its gun with brute force. As expected, the whole tube of ten rounds vanishes within a few seconds, just making sufficient damage to break down the most threatening part of the drone. The drone, unable to attack, tries to m
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Chapter 109 - Project Tomorrow (part 8)
- Have you received their money?- Yes, but ultimately, they agreed on half the maximum prize. It was a huge compromise on our side, but better than nothing. The money was wire-transferred into my decoy bank account this morning. A few days have passed since the filming of the game show. I was told to do nothing, as Mirai would handle the negotiation. Details of how they met up are intentionally omitted when I ask her, but she agrees to disclose how the negotiation progresses. Nobody knew the exact location of the room, but it represented the interrogation room, except nobody was having the edge. As per Mirai's request, they only brought three people. In the middle of the room, there was only a poorly maintained wooden table, with two chairs on opposite sides: Mirai on one side, and the main negotiator on the other side with two standing guards. The room was small, and the only source of light was a loosely hanging lamp. Their negotiator initiated the conversat
Chapter 108 - Project Tomorrow (part 7)
With an abrupt gunshot, the screen that streams everything happening in the studio loses signal. Ali's face distorts and darkens: given how the strict protocols have kept the upper hand for him and the production crew, the incident is a surprise. He tries to contact the surrounding staff for help, but the electromagnetic interference system imposed on this room renders all his attempts futile. - I knew it! You have been the mastermind behind this scheme all along. Now we can legally arrest you for fraud...- I am pretty sure this is one of your operation blunders that resulted in a technical failure. On top of that, you have no grounds to frame me, and given how you said that everything I have to go through here is backed by the government, I wonder how this narrative would develop in case we see each other again in court.- Nonsense! As if somebody will trust the word of an ordinary person.- But how would you, the perpetrator, prove that whatev
Chapter 107 - Project Tomorrow (part 6)
So the production team does not stop at heightened security.- You don't seem surprised at all.- I know the production team will go all out to protect the hefty sum of a billion pounds. It is just a matter of time before you rely on drastic measures, but to go this far... So, regarding the fifteenth question...- We have plenty of time. And the moment you incorrectly answer the last question, it is all over.- What makes you think that I will get the final question wrong?- Of course not you, but him.- Him? The screen in front of me shows the footage of the studio. Everything is there: the dramatic lighting and sound, the audience holding their breath, the host reading the question, and the contestant furrowing while listening carefully to every word. Except the people sitting at the podium are not Ali and I.- The moment I first saw your assistant pushing you into the office for registration, I have already felt s
Chapter 106 - Project Tomorrow (part 5)
- Quick! Secure all exits of the television studio. Initiate first-level protocol. Focus security around studio 4-A. Hurried footsteps echo through the corridors and halls, as fully-armed police and military personnel impose a lockdown on the studio and check every nook and cranny for any intruders. The studio that hosts the game show is located in a fairly remote region near Cairo. As a national studio that produces most of the programmes in the country, its level of security is on par with a military base. The specific information of measures implemented is obfuscated to the public. Still, with some observation, one would realise that making any move within the studio needs meticulous planning from the most intelligent of humanity. As soon as every staff in the studio is mobilised, the girl starts to move. The trip sensors she installed throughout the studio have simultaneously triggered, capturing a huge movement.__________- The twelfth question is another
Chapter 105 - Project Tomorrow (part 4)
- ... and despite being the country with the largest area in the world, boasting up to eleven different time zones, Russia is surprisingly not the country with the most time zones in the world. In fact, it is France that claims the crown as the country with the most time zones in the world, with twelve different time zones ranging from UTC-10:00 to UTC+12:00! This is attributed to the fact that France has many territories worldwide, which also highlights their significant presence worldwide.- Wow, that is a very detailed description, although it may be difficult for the audience to grasp what you are trying to say. But yes, the correct answer to the country with the most time zones is B, France! Let us give another round of applause for the amount of wisdom this fortitudinous man possesses! With Mirai's assistance from somewhere outside the studio, we breeze through the first ten questions ranging in all sorts of topics and requiring countless hours every day look
Chapter 104 - Project Tomorrow (part 3)
- Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the thousandth show of the series "Who Wants to Be the Zillionaire?", a weekly trivia game show every Tuesday only available on Al-Hayat TV. I am your host, Ali, and today, to commemorate the thousandth show, the stakes have been raised. There are still fifteen questions, but each question is exponentially harder. In return, once the player clears all fifteen questions, he will win up to... A billion Egyptian pounds, approximately three billion yen or twenty million US dollars. That is ten years' worth of my previous salary or more. For thirty-three years of my life, I have never thought about this, because the odds of reaching the final question are as high as winning a lottery. However, with Mirai's help, getting the winning prize will be a breeze.- Let's welcome our player for today! Due to special circumstances, we will refer to him as T. Mr. T, please come in. The door to the game show arena opens., and I am immediately
Chapter 103 - Project Tomorrow (part 2)
- It has been so long since we last talked in person. So, how have you been? - Let's say, my past few years have been a mess. You? - Same on my side. You cannot imagine how difficult it is to live around that woman. - From what I see, she is a very intelligent and awesome person, no? I envy you for having such a partner. - It is because of that so-called intelligence you praise her for, that I do not even understand what is going on in her head. I have a better chance of winning a lottery than guessing her mood. We quarrel almost every day. - However, if you think of it, it is those days that you argue that make you appreciate the days that you two live harmoniously together. Of course, I cannot speak for you, because my marriage is very peaceful back then... - I think I have mentioned this before, but please do not compare our dynamic with a married couple. - You are overthinking, brother. Albert and I
Chapter 102 - Project Tomorrow (part 1)
2060, Sahara desert... Project Ashita... After the brief exchange with the Colonel-ranked Intruder named Lamabula, Mirai and I spent countless hours after the construction observation duty hours to devise a plan. After careful consideration, the seeds of Project Ashita are sown. Before introducing the project to the CEA survivors, Mirai initially hesitated, but she ultimately discussed it with Lamabula. Without a doubt, he burst into his signature, explosive laughter and rejoiced the moment Mirai mentioned the scale of the project, and willingly lent a portion of the base's space for the construction of the colossal battleship. So long as he deemed us subpar compared to the Intruders, he would continue lending assistance. However, the dangerous part of this rigged contract is that we do not know until when he would deem us sufficiently dangerous and suddenly cut all support. However, that has never been Mirai's concern, who can fight head-on with Lamabula, and whose distrust a
Chapter 101 - The Future that Bet Life to Believe
Counter-Extraterrestrial Association, Egypt branch, 2060, From the outside, it looks like a small stand-up comedy house within the bustling tourist area of Cairo. However, in the basement, its true form is revealed. More than half of the basement area is for equipment and vehicle storage, and in the corner, a hydraulic lift is responsible for carrying them to the first floor. Deeper into the basement is the meeting room. Around the table, Mirai and Wilhelm sit next to each other, on the largest seat designated for high-ranking officials of the CEA or important people. Then, Ernst, Gottlob, Arthur, Maric, and I sit on the remaining seats. At the centre of the table, a hologram depicts the images of the current situation. Under the table, each seat will have a mouse which resembles a ball, so anyone can freely rotate or zoom in on the hologram projection for better observation. - Thank you everyone for being here. Before we start the impromptu meeting, two more people wo
