Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Seele: Hurry up and go, don't hold me back!
Chapter 17 Seele: Hurry up and go, don't hold me back!
Underworld.
"We're here, this is it, our destination: Rivet Town."
Only after leading Kevin all the way to the outskirts of a certain large town did Seele finally slow her pace.
The Fragmentum had created a perfect layer of camouflage at its outermost edge. From their perspective, the town ahead was filled with rows of buildings, every household lit by Geomarrow lamps, and even the massive mechanical engineering structures within constantly emitted smoke.
From any angle, this was an incredibly prosperous commercial hub... if one ignored the fact that... eerily, no sound whatsoever emanated from within.
"Since this town has been eroded by the Fragmentum, where did its original residents go?" Sensing the spatial contrast between inside and out, Kevin looked up and asked.
Clearly, the living space in the entire Underworld was very limited. Losing such a large piece of territory out of thin air, how could the remaining residents possibly be well accommodated?
"Ha, that's actually an interesting question."
Sarcastically mocking Kevin in general, Seele still provided him with the answer: "When the Fragmentum erosion descended, most people were still immersed in dreams and died just like that, completely unaware."
"And by the time we from Wildfire arrived, the monsters from the Fragmentum had already begun to surge outward. A small number of the elderly, weak, women, and children were rescued to Boulder Town. The remaining young adults set up a camp near the shaft with that big robot... What, don't tell me you actually care about these things?"
Seele never believed in any saviors, let alone that someone completely unrelated to the Underworld would sincerely want to help this place... unless they possessed extraordinary abilities transcending the mundane world, not needing to care about any rules or constraints.
Forget childish fantasies; she never believed in such things even from a young age.
Seeing Seele's attitude, Kevin didn't explain much either. He just closed his eyes and said softly, "No, just asking casually."
"Tch, then that's that. I don't even dare say I can manage that wide a scope myself. But as long as you can help me successfully get the medicine, of course I'll still be very grateful to you. I'll do anything you ask me to."
So there's no need for any pretentious nonsense at all. Those in the Underworld who would believe in such things have long had grass growing several feet high on their graves.
"Alright, let's hurry up. Remember to be quiet, otherwise those monsters will easily be drawn over."
After making a shushing gesture to Kevin, Seele turned and walked towards the small path she remembered. Since almost all of Boulder Town only had that one proper clinic, Natasha's place was actually often short on medical supplies.
Almost every time, Seele would choose to risk sneaking into the Fragmentum alone to search for these supplies... Of course, returning covered in injuries always earned her a scolding.
However, this small path she had verified many times was absolutely safe enough.
After arriving outside a relatively secluded alley, to prevent spatial dislocation from separating their positions, Seele grabbed Kevin's arm before confidently stepping in. But the scenery within the Fragmentum still seemed somewhat different from what she was most familiar with.
"What's going on? Why has the Fragmentum environment changed so much this time?"
Normally, every time she entered the Fragmentum, the internal environment wasn't much different from what was seen from outside. It was just that roadside facilities and streets showed obvious aging and disorder, yet the entire town remained brightly lit and open.
But this time, not only were the bright Geomarrow lamps in the streets and houses completely dark, but various buildings and facilities also showed severe aging. To describe it with slightly abstract terms... it seemed as if Rivet Town had been eroded by the Fragmentum even more severely?
However, traditional nights still have faint moonlight as a guide, but the Underworld deep underground never had anything like a moon.
At this moment, almost the only things providing illumination in the entire field of vision were a few scattered dim streetlights barely flickering with weak light along the roadside.
"......"
Unlike Seele's confusion and doubt, Kevin clearly understood that this change within the Fragmentum was still caused by him.
To put it simply, it's as if the existence of the Fragmentum pulled Rivet Town, originally belonging to this world, into another strange dimension. And Kevin was like a weight of extremely high mass; the moment he stepped into the Fragmentum, he pressed Rivet Town into a deeper dimension.
Or you could understand it as Kevin's existence stimulated this 'creature' called the Fragmentum, forcing it to transform towards a deeper level.
And stepping into the Fragmentum again also allowed Kevin to successfully verify a certain conjecture he had before—his body was indeed autonomously absorbing Imaginary energy. However, compared to that monster in the Fragmentum earlier that wantonly expended Imaginary energy, his method of absorbing Imaginary energy was more like plunder.
This Imaginary energy not only perfectly replaced the role of Honkai Energy originally in his body but was even constantly transforming his body like 【Finality's power】, yet without bringing him the immense burden of the latter.
In fact, after entering the Fragmentum, Kevin's body's absorption of Imaginary energy became even faster. This can be simply understood as—compared to the real world, the Fragmentum is actually a dimension closer to Imaginary Space.
Kevin wasn't particularly concerned about these things; it's just... strength growth didn't come when it was most needed but instead occurred after everything had ended.
How could one not sigh at this?
"Damn it, since we're already here, we can't return empty-handed..."
Because the surroundings were far too dark, Seele failed to notice the slight change in expression on Kevin's face. She just gritted her teeth and chose to press forward. After all, she could wait, but the children and patients at the clinic couldn't wait at all.
Struggling to use the faint light to gesture to Kevin behind her and lowering her footsteps to almost silent, Seele cautiously moved step by step out of the alley.
Under the stubborn faint glow of distant Geomarrow lamps, all of Rivet Town was as silent as hell. But when Seele cautiously peered out from the alley with an anxious heart, the scene that met her eyes made her heart suddenly jolt. Her entire body froze rigidly in place.
She saw dozens of Fragmentum creatures of various forms crouching in various corners along the street. But their faintly glowing 'eyes' were all fixed unwaveringly on the two figures emerging from within the alley.
This feeling was like you nervously traversing through a dark forest suddenly being stared at by a group of red-glowing eyes.
"What kind of joke is this? With this number of monsters, even if everyone from Wildfire were here, we might not be able to hold them off..."
After all, Seele was just an ordinary person. When her brain clearly recognized an existence she completely couldn't handle right before her eyes, fear would infinitely amplify all her senses. This wasn't her body urging her to fight desperately; it was just urging her to flee quickly.
"Hey you, your name is Kevin, right?"
Perhaps to overcome the fear in her heart, Seele deliberately made her voice very loud. Unfortunately, Kevin could still accurately detect the trembling part within it.
"Although I dragged you into danger, don't expect me to apologize more seriously again."
"Hurry back along the original path. Don't stay here and hold me back. Just take advantage... now!"
Thud—!
The scythe always carried on her shoulder slammed heavily onto the ground. Its sharp blade seemed to steal away that faint radiance.
Cruel and realistic wars always descend so abruptly.
There is an illustration here; it can be viewed after updating to a newer version.
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