Chapter 193. Where We Will All Arrive (1)
A thick fog covered the sea.
It was so dense that Victoria could barely see a single step ahead.
She stopped the boat and looked around.
“According to the coordinates, this should be the place.”
The boat they had used to escape from Abraxas before still had its navigation records.
Following those coordinates back to Abraxas’s base had not been difficult.
The problem was the fog.
It was so thick that she could not see anything around her.
“Hmm. Did I come to the wrong place?”
As Victoria looked around, a strange song suddenly drifted through the fog.
“Oooooooooh.”
It sounded like something enormous vibrating through the sea.
The moment Victoria heard it, she instinctively knew something was nearby.
“There’s something here.”
As if answering her, a gigantic shadow rose through the water.
It looked as though an entire building were emerging from the sea.
“Eek!”
Victoria recoiled in shock.
Then she realized the massive shadow had eyes.
This was not a structure.
It was a living creature of colossal size.
“Oooooooooh.”
The same song came from it.
Victoria felt completely overwhelmed by its sheer scale, but she tried not to show it and forced a smile.
“Hello?”
“Alpha invited me.”
“Oooooooooh.”
The enormous creature answered with another long, resonant call.
Then a massive staircase descended from beneath its back.
Apparently, it was telling her to come inside.
“Thanks.”
Victoria offered a quick word of gratitude and slowly climbed the stairs.
“Oooooooooh.”
The giant creature merely continued singing its incomprehensible song toward the tiny blonde visitor who had come to see it.
The interior of Abraxas was just as dark as Victoria remembered.
She deliberately raised her voice, pretending to be fearless.
“Alpha! I’m here!”
If an attack was coming, then let it come.
Someone had once said that if you wanted to catch a tiger, you had to enter its den.
She had already come this far.
There was nothing left to fear.
Creaaak.
Then something moved farther down the corridor.
A rusty grinding sound followed, like old gears turning.
Was someone there?
“Alpha?”
Victoria glanced toward the sound.
A moment later, the creaking continued from the darkness.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
“You came?”
It was Doctor Reuben.
Victoria immediately recognized him.
“Doctor Reuben, right?”
“Alpha invited me.”
“Of course I know.”
“Alpha told me.”
With another series of mechanical creaks, Reuben emerged from the darkness.
The moment Victoria saw him, horror filled her face.
“My God.”
The words slipped out naturally.
That was how horrific his condition was.
Both of Reuben’s arms and legs had been amputated.
In their place were tiny wheels that looked like they belonged on a toy car.
His left eye had been replaced with something resembling a camera.
An antenna-like device protruded from his head and dangled awkwardly.
And along his spine, enormous mechanical components connecting his torso to his head made constant grinding noises.
Only then did Victoria realize the sound she had heard earlier had been coming from him.
He looked as though a cruel child had torn his body apart and forcibly stitched it together with toy parts.
“Alpha is waiting.”
“Come with me.”
Reuben spoke in a hoarse voice.
Victoria trembled as she asked,
“What happened to you?”
“Alpha did this.”
Reuben’s voice shook faintly.
He looked at Victoria with his one remaining dull right eye.
“She said simply killing me would be merciful.”
“So she made me into something worse than dead.”
“She implanted a control chip in my brain so I can’t even kill myself.”
“I can’t end this condition on my own.”
“Why...?”
“Why would she do this to her own father...?”
Victoria could barely speak.
Reuben lowered his head.
“Because I tried to stop her.”
“I tried to shut her down and kill her.”
“I failed.”
“And this is my punishment.”
“B-But...”
Victoria was too shocked to continue.
Reuben, on the other hand, sounded almost resigned.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m simply being punished for sending my daughter into hell.”
“Compared to what I did to Alpha, this is light.”
He had clearly given up resisting his condition.
Using the tiny wheels attached to what remained of his limbs, Reuben began moving forward.
“Follow me.”
“I’ll take you to Alpha.”
He led the way with constant mechanical squeaks.
Victoria could not find anything to say as she followed his pitiful figure.
Even so, Reuben continued guiding her faithfully.
