No30 Ch8

“It’s almost completely healed. I guess it’s because his wounds were deeper than ours.”

Only a faint, scraped-looking scar remained on his calf.

Was this a dream? Did he use some kind of trick? Well, it’s good that he’s healed.

“More importantly, what did you guys bring? Is that lettuce?”

Looking back and forth between the two with a bewildered expression, Dylan pointed to the green leaves sticking out of the box. Liella gave an ambiguous smile.

“We came all the way from the food storage.”

The more he heard, the more incomprehensible it became. If it were him, he would try to hold out in the food storage until he was rescued. Why come all the way here?

As if reading his thoughts, Liella added quietly.

“Actually, I’ve had a feeling since earlier that the rescue team isn’t coming. And we don’t have much time. If we end up staying here for a long time, we can just go back and forth to resupply.”

In summary, she was saying they should stay in the living quarters and go to the food storage whenever they needed supplies. She sounded like she was about to die any minute, which was strange. At that moment, Aslan, who had been silent, asked.

“Did you find the recorder?”

“Ah, yes.”

Liella took out a cylindrical object from her pocket, no bigger than a hand span.

“What’s that?”

“A recorder. It might hold a clue to getting out of here.”

Liella frowned as she pressed the power button. Dylan grew impatient.

“Why? What’s wrong? Is it broken?”

“No, it’s not that… it’s fingerprint-locked.”

Watching Liella speak despairingly, Dylan felt like he was being ostracized. He couldn’t understand a single thing.

“So what? Just quickly put your finger on it.”

“It’s not mine. I took it from Anton’s pocket. It means we either have to cut off his finger or take the recorder back to the escape route.”

“Really? But just because it was in that guy’s pocket doesn’t mean he’s the owner, right?”

“Huh?”

“That guy’s a thief. I know it.”

Liella looked speechless at the baseless slander. It was then that Aslan reached for the recorder.

“May I take a look?”

Receiving the device, he placed his thumb on the recessed part on the front. Then, a smooth, mechanical voice flowed from the recorder.

-There is one recording file. Would you like to play it?

Liella’s eyes widened, and Dylan crossed his arms as if to say, See? And the truly surprising thing happened next.

“Yes.”

-Playing file 03222035.

-09:00 on March 22, 2035. As of this time, Team 30 will enter the Abyss. This recording is a backup in case the exploration vessel recording is damaged during the project period.

A businesslike, monotone voice. It was definitely Aslan’s.

He listed the names of the seven people participating in the project and explained their roles.

Starting with Aslan, the team leader, Liella was the medical personnel, Dylan drove the transport vehicle, Anton was a scientist, and a man named Tenji was an engineer. Anna and Polina were in charge of communications and research, respectively.

“Damn it, the important ones are all dead.”

Dylan scratched the back of his head and muttered. Liella put a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.

The recorder was explaining the background in case the listener did not understand ‘Abyss’.

-One day, a black hole appeared when the oil drilling site in Sector 3 collapsed. The endless abyss that appeared without warning, the Allied Government named it the Abyss.

-Unlike ordinary sinkholes, it was impossible to measure the depth of the Abyss. Any device that entered the Abyss became useless, and not a single exploration team, consisting of countless soldiers and researchers, returned alive.

-In addition, the Abyss, which was only about 10 km in diameter at first, swallowed up the land every moment, growing to a size of 300 km in diameter in just one month. The attention of all mankind was focused on the Abyss. Words like doomsday and black hole began to be bandied about.

-As time passed, the types of humans being input became more diverse. Soldiers, researchers, explorers, people of specific religions, nationalities, and ages, even those who survived major disasters.

-In the Abyss Project conducted by Andrei Corporation, Team 30, to which we belong, is a terminally ill team.

“What?”

This time, both Liella and Dylan screamed in shock. Regardless, Aslan in the recording continued to speak calmly.

-Currently, Team 30 has safely entered the Abyss and is on autopilot. Only Polina Rivakov, who has claustrophobia, has been given a sedative. All other personnel are on board normally.

A few more pieces of useless information followed, but they didn’t register. Liella stared blankly at the recorder.

Then, a loud bang and a chilling scream rang out. Followed by pitch-black silence. The time on the recorder changed from 12:55 to 12:56, but no sound was heard.

They knew what happened after that. Everyone lost consciousness.

“This is a ten-hour recording. I will skip to the last part.”

Aslan said in the same voice as the recorder and turned the volume up to the maximum.

The last five minutes were just as quiet, but there was rustling noise and the sound of people walking around. Then it seemed to get closer and closer before the recording cut off abruptly.

“……”

None of the three spoke easily.

“I thought I woke up because I heard noises, but it seems someone woke up before me and rummaged through my belongings.”

Liella suddenly recalled the conversation she had with him when she first woke up.

“Did you wake up first?”

“I think so. Unless someone is pretending to be asleep.”

She understood why Anton had made a strange expression when he talked about the recorder. He had already tried to unlock it with his fingerprint. Perhaps the armory key also belonged to Aslan. So, he was like a murderer who had hidden a corpse in his front yard.

The choice of a human who woke up alone without memories was just theft. It was shocking, but Liella decided not to think about Anton anymore. Her head was already overloaded with other things.

“The rescue team isn’t coming. If the recording is true, it seems like this was a suicide mission.”

“That’s bullshit.”

Dylan snapped sharply as Aslan calmly summarized.

“I was listening quietly because it was hard to cut it off, but what, they’re putting civilians into a disaster situation? If the government got caught doing that, it would be a huge scandal.”

“It wouldn’t be the government. ‘The Abyss Project conducted by Andrei Corporation.’ Didn’t you hear?”

“Ah, damn it. Okay. Let’s say that’s true. Even so, this is a lie. There’s no way I’m stupid enough to crawl into a hole to die. You killed the scientist, didn’t you? Because you knew a smart guy would quickly realize this is nonsense.”

“Even if it wasn’t you, there’s no one who would crawl into a place to die. But what if you were meant to die anyway? Would you still cherish your life?”

“What?”

“A terminally ill team…”

Liella murmured softly, as if she had realized something. After a moment of chilling silence, Dylan scoffed in disbelief.

“You believe that nonsense? Is anyone here feeling unwell right now?”

“We’re fine. But what about the others?”

“What are you talking about?”

Dylan glared at her as if she were also an enemy.

“The people who died downstairs. Can you honestly say they looked healthy?”

The bald woman with labored breathing. The skinny, braided woman. The gaunt man.

She didn’t want to admit it, but the weakest people died first. Wasn’t that why she had felt bad all along, because she subconsciously knew it?

Dylan just snorted and said nothing. As if he didn’t want to say another word, he turned sharply to go back to his room, but then returned with rough steps and rummaged through the food box, grabbing several cans.

“What do we do now?”

She muttered like a sigh, watching his retreating figure as he went back to his room as he pleased.

“I thought everything would be solved if we just found the recorder. It feels like we opened the door and were faced with a wall.”

In fact, while arguing with Dylan, Liella had hoped he would find a loophole. That he would tell her her logic was wrong.

Even if they were terminally ill, it didn’t feel real to her either.

She could still hear a ringing in her ears, and the back of her head ached sharply. Her heart was pounding, replaying Anton’s bulging eyes over and over again. He moved even after he died. Just like the monsters outside… Would they become like that too? Or would we die before that?

“Please rest here for now.”

It was then that a low voice cut into her complicated thoughts. Crouching down, she looked up and saw Aslan putting the recorder in his pocket.

“Assuming the rescue team isn’t coming, we may have to live in the exploration vessel for a long time. If you guard the door, I will check the safety of each room in the meantime.”

The man scanning the facility in front of her was still calm, even though he looked sharp. Seeing him silently thinking about the immediate tasks, she strangely regained a sense of reality. She realized why he was the leader.

“…How can you be so calm? We all just received a terminal diagnosis.”

“I’m not as calm as I seem. I understand Dylan’s reaction of denial. It’s just that I seem to have caught your positive way of thinking.”

His gaze turned to her.

“Someone said that we should believe we can get out of here unharmed until objective evidence comes out.”

It was what Liella had said. Her eyes widened as he continued in a blunt tone.

“It’s just a recording with my voice on it. We’ve only added one possible hypothesis. We haven’t confirmed anything directly.”

It meant nothing had changed. They were still alive, and there were monsters outside.

Liella took a deep breath and stood up.