Chapter 130: Words From The Dead
Sprinting across the grass, Seo-jin watched the pure white robot's face-screen swivel toward him, its display flaring to life. Ash was still scrambling backward on his ass until he finally flipped over, bolted upright, and practically launched himself into Seo-jin's arms the moment he arrived.
"It looked at me! Kill it—oomph!"
Seo-jin dropped him like dead weight and stepped over him, claws sliding out as he closed on the porch.
The robot's eyes tracked him, smooth and precise, no wasted motion across the glossy black screen that served as its face.
Its upper body was shaped like a man's, rounded white plating, long arms ending in black plated hands, while its lower half fused into a single white sphere it rolled on without sound.
It didn't move until Seo-jin set foot on the first step. Then it glided forward, its male voice cutting out clean.
"Access to the main house has been denied. All newcomers must first be given authorization by Mr. Gates. Until then, visitors are free to wander the grounds."
"Hm."
He didn't know why he felt surprised, he'd expected a talking machine, but hearing the voice still threw him for a beat. He stepped back off the porch, circling toward the railing.
"And where is Mr. Gates?"
The robot lifted a white arm and pointed at the skeleton beside it.
"Mr. Gates is here."
Seo-jin exhaled hard. Annoyance crawled under his skin. And with Min's shouting echoing across the artificial sky, things were about to get worse.
Then, from out of nowhere, the robot's screen flared blood-red.
"INTRUDER ALERT. ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE. PLEASE STAND BACK. YOUR SAFETY IS MY TOP PRIORITY."
Before Seo-jin could shout it down, the robot stepped forward and fired two massive white beams, lancing from its eyes.
Min noticed the attack before it even finished charging. She traced the trajectory instantly, and realized it wasn't aimed at her. Yellow system light burst across the field as she summoned her gauntlets. Two half-shields slammed together, and she shot in front of Hex.
The impact detonated.
A shockwave ripped through the field as the beams struck her shield, sending dirt and smoke rolling over the grass.
"The green!"
Watching chunks of the oasis vaporize under stray fire, Seo-jin snapped. He charged the robot—and froze mid-strike, fist locked inches from its head.
"What the—?"
[Force field. Switch priorities. Store Hex before that bot levels the whole place.]
He strained, muscles stacked, but he didn't move a millimeter. Snarling, he pivoted and sprinted toward Hex.
Behind him, laser after laser tore across the field. Ash laid flat on his back, eyes huge as white light screamed just above him. If he hadn't already pissed himself twice, he would've now.
"Hex! Get in!"
Seo-jin vaulted high, tapping the rune beneath his pauldron mid-air as he arced toward Min. He hit the ground behind her in a crater of burning dirt and shattering turf. Hex launched himself onto Seo-jin's back the instant he landed, one of the twin growths snapped open and began swallowing the broodling.
"What the fuck is that thing?!"
Min braced against the barrage, boots carving two long trenches through the earth. Her gauntlets glowed white-hot, metal warping under the constant blast.
"It's a fucking robot! What's it look like?!"
"Suck my dick! This is your fault, isn't it?!"
"Fuck you! It's Mr. Gates' fault!"
"Who the fuck is Mr. Gates?!"
They were so busy screaming at each other, Min didn't notice the robot stopped firing. She jabbed a molten finger into Seo-jin's chest, sparks hissing off her arm.
"Next time, take Gregor with you! This has been—hey! Oh..."
Shaking his head, Seo-jin walked past her without a word. She blinked, realized she'd stopped shielding, and scrambled after him, teeth clenched, eyes locked on the white machine as if it might blink and fire again.
Ash, meanwhile, had panicked himself into the dirt, face mashed into the ground, arms pulling grass over his head like that would help. Seo-jin kicked his leg as he passed, still trying to calm the fury boiling under his ribs.
"Get up. Next time you run and hide during a fight, I'll scar you. Something permanent to remind you what cowardice earns."
Ash rolled onto his back, clutching his shin, too rattled to talk. His neck flushed red as Min walked past him without even a glance.
"Sorry—I… I don't… I can only fight ghosts, okay?! And robots don't sleep…"
Neither of them answered. They just kept walking. Ash dragged himself up and followed, head low, morale leaking out of him like a punctured tire.
[How has he survived this long?]
'Probably that mouth of his.'
Seo-jin shoved the thought aside and stomped straight up to the railing, jabbing a clawed finger toward the skeleton on the porch.
"If he's dead, how are we supposed to get his permission?"
A few lights flickered across the robot's screen as it lifted a black hand toward the corpse.
"Mr. Gates is currently sleeping. If you would kindly return later, I am sure he will be happy to welcome you."
"He's not sleeping, he's dead, you metal-brained bastard."
Min glanced at her ruined gauntlets, hissed under her breath, and dismissed them in a flare of yellow system light.
"Please refrain from using profanities in the presence of children."
A bright pink heart popped onto the robot's face.
Ash's expression twisted, half guilt, half betrayal, as he looked from Min's glare to the robot's cheerful warning.
Seo-jin ignored all of it. He sent a pulse toward Grimm, irritated he hadn't drifted over on his own. Then he turned to Ash.
"Any of your ghosts able to touch real objects?"
Ash blinked, then straightened like a soldier at inspection.
"Yeah—Triss can. But only for thirty seconds. Cooldown is—"
"See Mr. Gates' shirt? The pocket. There's a piece of paper in it. When I distract that tin bastard, your cat grabs it. Fast."
Ash's aura flared, soft blue, but charged, excited. His chance to redeem himself. He turned to Triss, sharing the plan through thought.
Across the porch, Min frowned at the corpse, but there it was: a sliver of aged paper sticking from the breast pocket. Fragile. Important.
"Maybe it's instructions on how to shut this thing off—fuck me!"
The floor shook with a violent bang that cut her off.
All three spun toward the sound as the wall beneath the entry stairs split open. Dozens of robots and machines rolled out—arms, tracks, sensors, fanning across the oasis to repair the destruction.
"Whoa…"
Ash's voice came out hollow with awe.
Clean metal. Smooth hydraulics. Perfect joints. No mismatched scraps. No system energy. No User improvisation.
Just pure human engineering. Alive.
The three of them watched the machines flow across the field like a living relic.
Two of them felt something tight in their chests, a strange ache, an impossible sadness for a world they never lived in.
The third felt something else entirely.
Greed.
"Get ready."
Seo-jin's voice stayed level, too level. Min caught the tone and stiffened. Ash didn't, so she smacked the back of his head.
"Ow! Oh—shit. Alright, Triss, get ready."
The purple cat drifted out from behind his leg, stubby-bodied with a swollen head and sapphire eyes. Triss wobbled once, steadied herself, and floated into position—hovering just outside the porch in front of the corpse.
Seo-jin watched the robot for a reaction. Nothing. No shift in posture. No alarm. He drew a breath, and stepped onto the porch.
"Access to the main house has been denied. All newcomers must first be given authorization by Mr. Gate—"
Seo-jin took another step. The robot slid a bit closer.
"I advise you to step away from the main house. Any further attempts—"
He stepped again.
The robot's screen snapped blood-red as it zoomed to the top of the stairs.
"Now!"
Ash responded instantly. His aura flared, and he thrust out a dramatic point.
"Triss! Use Creep Touch and retrieve that letter!"
Both Min and Seo-jin died inside at the exact same moment...even forgetting, briefly, the murderbot staring Seo-jin down. But Triss darted in, snagged the paper, and zipped out with smooth precision.
Seo-jin lifted his hands and backed off the porch slowly.
The robot's screen blinked back to its default face. It returned to stand beside the corpse as if nothing had happened.
Ash bounded over, letter raised overhead.
"Mission success!"
Seo-jin delicately plucked the paper from his hand with two fingers and stared at him.
"What was that?"
"What?"
Min closed her eyes behind him, trying not to scream at the child's entire existence.
Seo-jin rubbed his temple. A truth cemented itself: this kid needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.
"In the future, don't call out your attacks. It's embarrassing."
Ash's face burned. He shrank in on himself, muttering under his breath as Seo-jin stepped aside and opened the aged letter.
"Heroes call out their attacks… everyone knows that…"
Ignoring him, Seo-jin unfolded the final crease, Min leaning in close behind him to read.
It took only a second to read the page, and both of them looked ready to tear the whole bunker apart, never mind the fortune inside.
Two words. Nothing else.
I'm sorry.
Min turned away, fists trembling, fighting the urge to put her hand through the nearest living thing. Seo-jin didn't move. He stood there, holding the note. This time, instead of losing it, he allowed the weight to settle before he let his mind run.
'What a strange way to die. Build all this… then sit down and apologize?'
[Judging by the bone structure, middle-aged male. If it wasn't disease, then starvation. Or poison. Either way, self-inflicted is most likely.]
'Makes sense. Explains why his machine seems out of the loop—he must've died sudden without setting up for his death. Still doesn't answer why. We need to get insi—'
"Hey, boss? I've been thinkin of something."
Seo-jin rolled his head around like a parent past the limit. His voice scraped out through clenched teeth.
"What."
The boy flinched, swallowed, then forced the words out.
"How is this place still here? I never heard of a time capsule like this. Shouldn't it be wrecked? At least some damage? But everything's perfect."
"Huh. You're right. There should be something."
Seo-jin looked up at the fake sky, following the slow drift of clouds. Ash's question dug deeper than the kid knew. His frustration slipped, replaced by a hard, rising curiosity.
Even Min paused. Her eyes tracked the repair drones and automated workers drifting across the field, restoring everything like clockwork. A suspicion lit behind her stare, a glow Seo-jin mirrored when he glanced her way.
Something was off. More than off.
Brows tight, he crouched, pressing his hand into fresh, clean grass for the first time.
Cold blades slid between his fingers. Water clung cool to his palm. Dirt breathed under the surface. And beneath all of that… a pulse. Faint. Steady. Loaded with potential.
Something was here.
"You think it's a Blind?"
Ash's voice dragged him back, but the question only sharpened his suspicions, but Min answered before Seo-jin could.
"That's what I'm thinking. But if a Blind's here… then when was this place built? Blinds didn't show up until the Network formed. That was decades after the Convergence. Long after the world ended."
A rare moment of clarity from Min, but her words hung heavy, all three turning toward the corpse slumped on the porch.
"So what's the plan, boss? Gregor's probably losin' his shit by now."
Seo-jin let the question breathe, then walked past them toward the stairs.
"We've got too much on our plate already. This mystery can wait. We go back, fill Gregor in..."
At the base of the steps he stopped and looked at Ash. Hard. The kind of look that stripped hope off bone.
"Then we deal with you."
Ash swallowed a yelp and ducked behind Min like instinct drove him there.
Seo-jin climbed the stairs, each step a quiet snap of intention. His mind was already laying out paths, how to use this place, how to twist it into something useful, how to turn disappointment into advantage.
At the threshold, he glanced back once. At the farmhouse.
At the endless green.
At the lie of blue skies and sunlight the world hadn't seen in decades.
A smile cracked across his face. Bloodlight flared in a small pulse across his skin.
"Mr. Gates, huh? Can't wait to get to know you."
As they left the oasis behind, none of them saw the robot's face flicker. Its screen went blank, and a single word pulsed across it.
Connecting...