Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1804: Well… That didn’t go well!

Not Every Coincidence is Fate.

But Every Fate is Coincidence.

^Sooooo… You identified your ex-girlfriend’s mother just by looking at her ass… What wonderfully gifted eyes you have! Your mother must be so proud of you, right?!^

RIN’s bunny avatar crossed its tiny arms and stared at him with an expression so judgmental that even the digital ears drooped in disappointment. The holographic projection bounced slightly inside the visor, complete with a flashing “Pervert Detected” warning above her head.

Young Aether let out a long, defeated sigh.

“Please… don’t rub it in,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose with an exhausted expression. “I’m already questioning every life decision that led me here.”

Honestly… He still couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Out of everyone in this city…

It had to be her.

Coincidence?

Or simply Fate reminding him that it had a terrible sense of humour?

His gaze shifted toward the woman sitting on the cracked stone floor. She devoured the emergency ration pack without a trace of dignity, swallowing every bite before desperately washing it down with water. Empty packets scattered around her while the bottle trembled in her hands. She looked like someone rescued from the edge of starvation.

After getting her from the combat suit, Young Aether had immediately injected emergency nanosedatives before using the mech-suit’s medical module to deliver a controlled electromagnetic cardiac pulse.

A lattice of blue diagnostic lights had spread across her chest as microscopic repair nanites stabilised her failing heartbeat. Fortunately, they had arrived just before irreversible organ failure.

The moment she regained consciousness…

She asked for food.

Then water.

Nothing else.

RIN quietly watched the woman while streams of archived information scrolled across the edge of Young Aether’s display.

^Man… she looks unbelievably pitiful…^

Several holographic files unfolded beside Nova’s figure.

^Nova Kestrel. PhD in Cosmetic Science. Master’s in Genetic Engineering. Former Chief Genome Researcher of the Beta Research Division. One of the greatest scientific minds of her generation. Her published thesis on adaptive human anatomy and its interaction with New Energies completely reshaped modern biological engineering. Several classified reports even suggest she developed the first genetically stabilised wheat capable of growing in contaminated energy zones, saving millions from famine after the Collapse.^

Another window appeared.

Then another.

Each one ended with the same crimson security stamp.

CLASSIFIED.

^That’s… strange. Everything after her major achievements is sealed. No personal records. No family information. Nothing about a husband… or a daughter. Every file beyond this point requires President-Level Security Clearance.^

Young Aether’s eyebrows rose slightly.

His eyes drifted toward Nova again.

She had finally slowed down, taking smaller bites now that the overwhelming hunger had eased.

“Nothing… about her daughter?” he murmured.

His thoughts became tangled.

Of all the people he had expected to encounter…

Penelope’s mother had never crossed his mind.

^So… what now?^

Young Aether remained silent for several seconds… Thinking about the past where she abandoned him and now how she was testing her people like they were her lab rats.

There was no emotion in his eyes.

Then the corner of his lips slowly lifted.

“What else?” he replied calmly.

“We continue with the plan.”

RIN blinked.

^But… isn’t she your—^

“Shut it, bitch.”

His answer came so quickly that RIN’s bunny avatar froze mid-animation.

“That was the past.”

^…^

He stepped forward with a warm smile.

“I never imagined that the legendary Genome Beta herself would actually be here.” He placed a hand over his chest with exaggerated sincerity. “What an incredible honour. I must truly be blessed today.”

Nova paused in the middle of eating.

A faint blush spread across her tired face.

“You…” she said awkwardly before looking back at the ration pack. “Could you… give me just a few more minutes?”

She raised the nearly empty packet with complete seriousness.

“I am really, really hungry.”

Young Aether couldn’t help smiling.

“Take your time.”

He stepped back.

Once she finished eating, Nova let out a satisfied breath before slowly rising to her feet.

Her skin-tight black bodysuit, woven from an advanced adaptive combat fabric, shimmered faintly as countless pink energy lines flowed beneath its surface like glowing neural circuits. The suit automatically adjusted around her body, tightening and relaxing in response to her movements while quietly running a full biometric diagnostic.

She raised both arms above her head before stretching deeply.

Her shoulders rolled.

Her back arched.

Her hips twisted from side to side.

Then she bent one leg, followed by the other, releasing the stiffness trapped inside her muscles.

Several joints cracked softly.

“Lying motionless for nearly a week…” she sighed, rotating her neck until another satisfying pop echoed through the chamber.

“I was starting to think my body had fossilised.”

Young Aether instinctively looked away.

[+1 AP]

^Gentleman…? Bitch, please, I know where the blood is rushing through your body!!^

RIN’s bunny avatar slowly clapped with an expression that screamed.

“…” Young Aether just… just needed to stop wearing this suit!

Nova smiled faintly before walking toward him.

“Thank you for the food,” she said with a polite bow.

Then her eyes wandered across the devastated laboratory.

“Hmm…” she murmured thoughtfully. “It looks like quite a battle happened here.”

She turned back toward him.

“Could you explain what happened? And… where exactly are we?”

Young Aether nodded.

Young Aether nodded and explained the situation. He told her almost everything that had happened, except for one tiny detail…

He conveniently changed the part where he had found her with that ugly-faced monster. (Of course… that monster was him, the one who kidnapped her.)

And he fought against it instead of Hunter.

Nova quietly listened until he finished.

“I see…”

She lowered her eyes for a moment.

“So… he really brought me into Hell’s Gate.”

A trace of sadness crossed her face.

“And after I lost consciousness… he must have planned something.”

She looked back at Young Aether before offering him another gentle smile.

“Thank goodness you found me first, Soldier.”

Her voice carried genuine gratitude.

“Is he still alive?”

Young Aether gave a small nod.

“Yeah. He escaped.”

Nova sighed quietly.

“I see… I guess that bastard will die in my hands then”

A faint frown appeared before quickly disappearing.

Then she smiled again.

“What’s your name?”

“…”

Nova tilted her head.

“If you don’t want to say it, that’s perfectly fine.” She chuckled softly. “You saved my life. That’s all that really matters to me.”

Her gaze drifted across his mech-suit, carefully studying every armor plate.

The suit’s angular frame.

The unusually thick reactor housing.

The command-grade.

“Although…” she continued thoughtfully, “judging by your model, I’d assume you’re one of the commanders from the Delta Division.”

“…”

Nova blinked.

Why had he suddenly gone silent again?

Inside the helmet, multiple biometric warnings suddenly appeared.

^HEART RATE: ELEVATED.^

RIN slowly turned toward the readings.

Then toward Young Aether.

Then back toward the readings.

^…Bro.^

^Why does your heart rate keep increasing every time she gets close to you?^

^BRO!!^

“H-Huh?”

Young Aether blinked several times before finally snapping back to reality.

“W-Well… I… I am…”

“…”

“I am.”

“…Okay.”

Nova nodded slowly.

That… had been an incredibly strange response.

^Man… you’re acting like a complete creep right now.^

Even RIN sounded unusually serious.

^If I were standing in her shoes, I’d already be planning an escape route.^

Young Aether silently inhaled before exhaling through his nose.

He straightened his posture.

“I apologise.”

His voice became calmer.

“I was simply… taken aback by your beauty.”

He had intended to sound smooth.

Instead… He sounded painfully honest.

Nova blinked.

“…Okay.”

A faint, polite smile appeared on her face.

Not embarrassed or flattered.

Just… Unsure how to respond.

Thankfully, she decided to move on.

Turning toward the massive combat suit lying across the shattered floor, she flicked the metallic bangles around her wrist.

Tiny pink symbols illuminated along their surface.

The dormant suit responded instantly.

Its pink energy veins reignited one after another.

Mechanical joints locked with crisp metallic clicks.

Dozens of hidden panels shifted into place as the machine slowly awakened from standby mode.

Sssnnnnnggg!

Thud!

Thud!

Sssnnnnn!

Before Young Aether’s eyes, the mech-suit began collapsing inward. Thousands of segmented armour plates folded over one another with flawless mechanical precision as magnetic joints locked in perfect synchronisation. Pink energy circuits raced across its surface like living veins while miniature gravimetric anchors compressed the entire machine into an impossibly compact form.

Layer after layer folded into itself.

Mechanical arms disappeared.

Leg assemblies collapsed.

The reactor housing compressed into an energy-stabilised core.

With one final metallic…

Thud.

The towering combat suit had become nothing more than a sleek metallic cube, barely the size of a human palm. Pink lines continued flowing across its surface before gradually fading into a calm rhythmic pulse.

“…That’s so cool.”

^That’s so cool.^

Young Aether and RIN spoke at exactly the same time.

Even RIN’s bunny avatar stared with sparkling digital eyes.

^I want one.^

Nova smiled faintly before picking up the cube as though it weighed almost nothing.

She looked toward Young Aether.

“Could you give me a lift?”

“Of course.”

He immediately walked toward her.

Inside his helmet…

^Heart Rate Elevation Detected.^

His eyelid twitched.

“Damn you, bitch,” he cursed quietly inside the helmet.

RIN simply giggled.

As he approached, Young Aether instinctively reached for the cube in her hand.

Nova smoothly pulled it away.

“No need,” she replied politely. “I can carry it myself.”

“…Give it to me.”

His voice had suddenly turned cold.

Nova still smiled.

“If it’s power or status you want, I can reward you once we return. Just get me back to our world.”

“I don’t need your power.”

His armoured hand extended again.

“I need that suit.”

Nova instinctively stepped backwards.

Her expression hardened.

“I am Governor Genome Beta.”

Her voice carried the authority of someone accustomed to commanding thousands.

“Don’t mistake saving my life as permission to overstep your boundaries, Soldier.”

“…”

Young Aether looked at her for several long seconds.

Then he sighed.

“I don’t think you understand your current situation…”

“…do you?”

“Huh?”

The next instant…

The mech-suit’s thrusters burst to life.

Boom!

A compressed shockwave exploded beneath his feet.

Before Nova’s eyes could even follow the movement, Young Aether had already crossed the distance.

His armoured hand clamped onto both of her cheeks, pulling her face only inches from his visor.

The crimson sensors inside the helmet glowed like the eyes of a predator.

“Bitch.”

His voice became frighteningly quiet.

“I can do whatever I want.”

“So if you want to leave this place alive…”

“Do exactly what I say.”

Nova froze.

Every instinct in her body screamed that the person standing before her was no ordinary soldier.

Her pupils trembled.

She swallowed against a dry throat before giving a small nod.

Only then did Young Aether release her.

She stumbled backwards before collapsing onto one knee, rubbing her aching cheeks with watery eyes.

Without another word…

She slowly raised the metallic cube toward him.

Young Aether accepted it.

Tiny mechanical seams opened across the fingertips of his gauntlet.

Click.

A microscopic data needle extended from his index finger before piercing the cube’s surface.

Blue streams of encrypted data raced across his visor.

RIN immediately launched an intrusion protocol.

Hundreds of digital windows flashed by in less than a second.

^Authentication…

Security Layer…

Military Encryption…

Quantum Lock…^

Then…

ACCESS DENIED.

^Access Code Required.^

^Ask her.^

Young Aether gave a small nod.

He looked back at Nova.

“Access code.”

Nova clenched her jaw.

“There is nothing inside that suit worth stealing…”

CRACK!

His armored boot slammed onto her foot with enough force to nearly shatter the bones beneath.

“AAARRRGHH!!”

Nova screamed, collapsing onto the ground as tears instantly welled in her eyes.

She glared at him through the pain, breathing heavily.

“…15208518@MYLovE_10000.”

Young Aether blinked.

He slowly turned toward her.

“…That’s an access code?”

Nova nodded, her face still twisted in pain.

“Now…” she said, struggling to steady her breathing. “Please let me go.”

For just a brief moment, Young Aether hesitated.

Whether it was guilt after seeing her injured expression…

Or simply because she no longer posed any immediate threat…

Even he wasn’t entirely sure.

He slowly stepped back.

Nova immediately rubbed her throbbing ankle before limping away as fast as she could. Within seconds, she broke into a frantic run, disappearing through the ruined corridor without daring to look back.

Young Aether watched her leave before letting out a quiet chuckle.

“Does she really think she can escape?”

He glanced toward the collapsed tunnel leading outside.

“We’re in the middle of a mountain range.”

A small nostalgic smile appeared beneath his helmet.

“She was always like that…”

The smile gradually disappeared.

His voice became serious again.

“Once we access the suit, we’ll be able to retrieve information using her authority level… right?”

^Yes.^

RIN’s holographic interface immediately appeared.

^Genome Beta possesses Governor-Level clearance. If we successfully authenticate the suit, we can access every classified archive linked to her authorization.^

A short pause.

^…However…^

^If you wish to utilise the suit’s complete functionality… the registered owner must also be inside it.^

Young Aether slowly smiled.

A dangerous smile.

“Haha… Don’t worry.”

“We’re about to gain ourselves a very obedient puppet.”

Young Aether calmly entered the access code.

15208518@MYLovE_10000

“…Seriously.”

He still couldn’t believe someone had chosen that as a military-grade password.

His finger pressed the confirmation key.

ENTER.

The cube immediately lit up.

Pink energy surged across every edge.

^Authentication…

Identity Confirmed…

Genome Beta Verified…

Initializing…

Initializing…

….^

^Self-Destruction Protocol Activated.^

“…”

Young Aether froze.

^…^

RIN froze.

“T—”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

The chamber vanished.

The entire mountain shuddered before collapsing under the force of the detonation.

Several hundred meters away…

Nova, who had been sprinting through the mountain passage, was caught by the expanding blast wave.

“WAAAHHH!!”

The explosion launched her high into the sky like a ragdoll.

She flailed helplessly.

Then…

THUD!!

Her face slammed directly into a pile of jagged rocks.

CHUCK!!

!~Ding~!

[Activating Forsaken Bloodline.]

!~Ding~!

[Initiating Null-Return Point.]

…

..

.

Thud!

Young Aether suddenly stumbled forward.

His entire body twitched.

^Warning! Severe fluctuations detected within the Temporal Lobe and Amygdala.^

“…”

Veins bulged across his forehead.

His fists clenched so tightly that the armoured fingers creaked.

He… had just died.

And somehow…

This had easily become the most pathetic death of his entire life.

Not against a powerful figure.

Not against an army.

Not even against a monster.

He had been blown to pieces… by a wrong password.

Without wasting another second, Young Aether tore open a spatial portal.

Genome Beta fell.

“Fuck you!!!”