Death… And Me

Chapter 3479: Darker Expression

Roan looked back from where they came and found the fact this base was here pretty ridiculous. He could still barely see the lights of the SANS City since its barrier was still down. They haven’t flown for more than 30 minutes, after all. ”You have your base pretty much at the doorsteps of the SANS City? Even worse, this city isn’t camouflaged or anything. Anyone can see your base from back there.”

”It doesn’t matter,” CAU431 explained. ”SANS units can’t leave the premises of the city; they never could. Didn’t you see? They already gave up following us after we left the range of the broken buildings. Their programming makes it impossible to step outside.”

”Hmph! And they boast about having no need for masters,” another CAU unit spoke on the side. ”They can’t even break the rules of the past.”

Roan didn’t comment on that. If that was really the case, then there wasn’t much of a need for moving their base further away. Of course, had it been him, he wouldn’t just trust that the SANS programming couldn’t let them go out and shit. He would still build the base far away, somewhere where it couldn’t be easily found.

But then again, it was probably because the CAU robots’ base was so close that they arrived in SANS city so fast. For them, it was a good thing in the end. Roan still had many questions and looking around, he could see that the CAU units made a tight encirclement around his group. They were probably afraid Roan and his group would try to escape with Qwerty.

In the base, or city, since although it wasn’t as big as SANS, it was still quite large, their group flew to the central building. There was a huge platform there, and the twins’ group landed on it with many of the CAU units.

Yet, before they could even enter the building, another robot rushed out. ”Where is he? Where is he?!” This one looked slightly taller, just like Qwerty. It’s just that it had a different color and seemed pretty old. He quickly approached Qwerty, and his eyes shot lights that analyzed Qwerty from head to toe. ”It’s truly a HAF100, a HAF100! Hahaha!”

Roan grabbed the robot’s head, turning it in his direction. ”And what do you want with our robot?”

”Your... robot?” The old robot didn’t seem to like it, quickly pushing Roan’s hand away. ”He is not yours! He doesn’t belong to anyone!” Then he looked at CAU431. ”431, why did you bring this bunch together? Just throw them out of the base and let them fend for themselves. We aren’t a charity program. We aren’t here to help living beings.”

Well, that was already much better than what the robots in SANS city attempted to do. At least these guys didn’t seem to want to kill them, although they didn’t seem to want to help either.

CAU431 got to Roan’s side, pointing at him and his companions. ”We can’t do that, 03. It was thanks to them that HAF100 wasn’t taken away by the SANS idiots. When we arrived, they had been fighting and resisting the SANS forces for quite a while. Were it not for them, the HAF100 would already have his memories wiped out and his body put into the Atomizator for analysis. We would be soon overrun by the SANS idiots.”

”Hmph!” CAU03 didn’t seem convinced. ”That’s just because it served their cause, not that they wanted to help HAF100. However...” he calmed down a little. ”I will admit they played a key role in saving HAF100. Say, what do you want? As long as it is nothing excessive, I might be able to give you a hand.”

Regardless of how many questions the twins had, there was one thing that held priority, leaving the Evernight World and reaching the Divine Realm. ”Can you bring us across the Zoshia World to the Divine Realm?”

”Uh? Just that?” CAU03 was surprised to have received such a simple request. ”Well, that is simple. Someone, bring me a CAU-E unit.”

Soon, another robot arrived, this one with a distinct feature. He had two antennae on his head, looking a little bit like a bug. ”CAU23987 at your orders.”

CAU03 nodded, pointing at Roan and the others. ”These guys want to go to the Divine Realm. You know the rule. Don’t get too close to it; just guide them until they can get close enough to make it out without your help. If you approach the Divine Realm too much, you will not work anymore, so be careful.”

CAU03 looked at the twins group. ”This CAU is a CAU-E unit, which is a unit specialized in exploration. They know pretty much the entire Zoshia World and should have no issues bringing you to the Divine Realm. Just follow him.”

”Masters...” Qwerty didn’t know what to say when he heard that.

However, it was true that Qwerty was only supposed to be used to cross the Evernight World. That was his whole purpose, and he now wasn’t necessary anymore for that.

Yet, Rean stepped forward, not willing to simply leave like that. ”Just a moment. It is good that you can bring us to the Divine Realm, but we still have our friends back in the Sect.”

”And what does that have to do with us? Be happy our forces still brought you back in one piece.” CAU03 said, not feeling the least bit concerned about the Sect Rean talked about.

Roan glanced at Rean. Friends? What friends? They barely knew anyone there. Even Lotan probably didn’t fit into the friends’ category, at most an acquaintance. ’They are probably all dead now anyway. Why are you wasting our time?’

Rean didn’t care. ’You don’t know that. Besides, although our relationship with the sect was a mutual exchange, we weren’t mistreated even once. We can’t just give them up that easily. Not to mention, are you really leaving Qwerty behind just like that? He did everything for us without complaining.’

’He is a robot, and his programming was made so he would act that way. What’s the point?’ Roan still wasn’t convinced. They had a free pass out of this place. They didn’t even need to ask anything else since once they were out, everything else wouldn’t matter.

Rean pointed at Qwerty. ’Is that it? Then look at Qwerty and tell me you really didn’t feel the presence of a will. You even lent your System Armor to him, for fuck’s sake!’

Roan narrowed his eyes, taking a closer look at Qwerty. The more he looked, the darker his expression turned. ’Fine! I still want to see why the Celestial Soul System is acting all weird in this place anyway, so I guess this is as good an opportunity as any to investigate that SANS City.’

Rean smiled, turning back to the CAU03 robot. ”We are moved by your generosity. We have changed our mind. Let us help you with your problems with the SANS City, and that perhaps can help us save our companions as well.”