episode_0345

As laborers in worn exoskeletons arranged the final boxes, armed staff meticulously checked their lists before slamming the cargo bay door shut. Everything proceeded systematically and smoothly.

The truck glided smoothly toward its destination, and in the meantime, no one noticed a tiny shadow creeping deep into the food boxes.

“This is Lime! Infiltration complete! Hiding successful!”

V-Rat Lime, who had volunteered for this dangerous mission, cautiously poked her small head out from between the boxes. The dark, cramped space was perfect, as if specially designed for a rat. Moreover, the surroundings were filled with food. A sweet temptation momentarily flickered in Lime’s mind. Would a tiny taste be alright?

“Squeak… what’s this delicious smell…!”

Just as she instinctively licked her lips, Lime remembered her mission and firmly resolved herself. She had infiltrated this place with the Boss to defeat the villains. For the sake of paradise, she had to overcome such minor desires.

“For animal democracy… I can endure this much!”

In the darkness, Lime’s black eyes sparkled with resolute will. As she recalled the teaching ‘All animals are equal and free,’ her small heart filled with courage.

– We must have democracy! – Democracy? – The Boss shouts it every day, so it must have a good meaning! It must be a precious word that shows the way to paradise!

The great ideology proposed by the wise crow Almond and his faction, and further developed by the monkeys, had already been secretly spreading among animals for a long time.

Focusing on her mission, Lime cautiously explored among the boxes with trembling steps. The mission entrusted by the Boss was simple: infiltrate the wicked Luminexa Research Lab and gather internal information. And this food supply route was the perfect, most natural way to infiltrate.

Every time the truck jolted, Lime held her breath. How much longer would she have to wait? As boredom and anxiety swayed with the low hum of the engine, the small creature’s heart pounded even more fiercely.

After an unknown amount of time, the truck, which had stopped occasionally, finally came to a complete halt. The engine sound faded, and a faint, different vibration was felt. Human footsteps. As the truck door swung open, Lime quickly hid herself deep within the boxes.

Now, if she could just get out—

*Clunk!*

Her momentary relief was short-lived. Her head suddenly spun, her vision blurred in an instant. A horrifying truth belatedly dawned on the confused Lime: a colorless, odorless gas was filling the truck’s interior.

“Gasp!… I can’t breathe!”

The final breath of the small rat, desperately thrashing its limbs among the packaging, did not last long.

“It’s cold… my eyes… are closing… Squeak!”

In her fading consciousness, Lime’s faint ears heard a cold, mechanical voice echoing.

“Infiltration prevention nano-quarantine protocol activation procedure complete. Second sterilization will be performed before entry procedures.”

With a final, stinging, intense light, the small rat’s consciousness sank into complete darkness, as if sucked into a network.

***

In the Violet Plaza waiting room, the sight of the rats who had died suddenly and returned to the network caught my eye. First with bewilderment, then seeing them dejected from being dropped into the network, I sighed and scratched my head.

“No! We failed!” “Where am I? Is this paradise? It feels so strange!”

Just a few hours ago, I had infiltrated them through various routes. From personal parcels to food supply routes revealed by external collaborators, and even several suppliers. But the result, as you can see.

“This isn’t right! Dying like this and coming to paradise isn’t what we wanted!”

The rats wailed. The 13 rats who had been deployed on the experimental infiltration mission were forcibly exiled to paradise—that is, the Violet Network.

Only after I managed to calm them down could I grasp the full story.

“Poison gas?” “It seemed like they used something even more terrifying than that!”

All of us Violets trembled. Those Foundation guys were so malicious that even Nazi Germany would balk. To spray an unknown substance on all externally imported goods under the guise of quarantine, and even perform a second sterilization with some kind of radiation or light beam.

“Hey! No. 7200! Why didn’t you tell us this beforehand! Our rats died!” “I didn’t know either! I knew about the quarantine, but not that it would be this extreme. Besides, it was a different department, so I didn’t know the details!”

I stopped interrogating No. 7200. If that guy didn’t know, then he really didn’t. Luminexa’s security system was excessively thorough. I had expected it wouldn’t be breached by such simple methods, but I bitterly realized it wouldn’t be a cakewalk.

“Emergency! Emergency!”

While I was throwing comfort cakes to the revived rats, additional bad news came in. Transmitted through the network were the screams of crows scouting the expected area.

“Caw! Falling! An eagle fiend is in pursuit! Estimated to be augmented!” “I’ll buy time, scatter everyone! Long live animal democracy! Gasp!”

Some crows who had flown too deep were caught by various security systems that suddenly appeared and had no choice but to flee. Fortunately, according to reports from crows observing from a distance, there were no additional measures beyond attacks from turrets and remotely controlled fiends.

“No human movement was observed. Boss! They seem to attack suspicious animals without exception. Ah, look at that!”

Almond requested a connection, and I immediately shared his vision. What the crow’s eyes saw was a pigeon flying in the distance.

*Crackle!*

The moment the pigeon crossed a certain boundary line, it instantly burst into flames and turned to ash.

“There’s definitely something beyond that, but it’s not clear. They seem to be using camouflage shields or optical camouflage. Further approach was impossible. Boss, requesting withdrawal!”

This experimental infiltration operation, mobilized with V-Animals, ended in complete failure. I had thought it would be easy to breach because of the experience of crushing the Nemesis Protocol through Lime’s sacrifice. It seemed that was just a fluke created by an extreme situation.

“Besides, we just annihilated one of their blockade enforcement units, didn’t we? I don’t know if they’ve fully recognized our identity, but their alert level must have been significantly enhanced.”

“Gasp! That could be true!”

Within the network, the Violets continued their heated discussion for a while. With July just around the corner, a more elaborate approach would be needed to confront the Foundation. They had to fight in a different way than before. It became clear that simply rushing in with more weapons and bombs wouldn’t be enough.

“There’s still plenty of time, isn’t there? No need to rush too much!” “Right, let’s proceed carefully this time!”

We still had several options ahead of us. It seemed the Inspector was also making moves.

“Let’s enlist the help of our allies!”

***

An arrow, glowing yellow as if infused with sunlight, traced a graceful arc in the air. The elegantly gliding arrow suddenly changed direction, striking precisely down towards a target speeding behind a wall. The Skullkit, with an arrow embedded in its head, trembled violently before collapsing.

“Wow! A direct hit!”

Violet applauded with admiration, looking at the piles of fiends stacked outside the outdoor training ground. Adela lightly touched the electronic monocle on her left eye, offering an elegant smile.

“The more I see it, the more amazing your archery is.” “Hehe, you flatter me, but I’m still very lacking. There’s so much more I want to show Violet.”

Violet’s red eyes sparkled with curiosity. But that moment was brief; No. 3122 instantly turned her head like an auto-turret towards the training ground. Her arm, holding a rifle-type autocannon, moved reflexively. With a deafening roar, the Skullkit sprinting behind the wall was shattered along with the wall itself.

“It’s a tie now!”

Giggling, Violet put down her gun and extended her left arm. A V-Crow gently landed on it. Adela, who had been watching, also raised her right arm. With the sound of flapping wings, a cyborg hawk, augmented electronically, landed and let out a sharp cry.

“Violet’s crow is truly amazing! To be able to connect to the network instantly and share information. I’m almost jealous. By any chance… have you thought about learning archery?”

“Sorry! Archery isn’t my style!”

Adela felt a deep regret. For that cute child, there could be no weapon as neat and elegant as a bow. Unfortunately, Violet was excessively infatuated with firepower and explosions. Clumsy tools of destruction that came with deafening noise were certainly practical, but they lacked beauty. A fleeting thought crossed her mind that if only Violet was willing, as her senior and sponsor, she could impart the sophisticated martial family etiquette of high society.

“I see… that’s truly a shame. We don’t have much time left together at Aegis. I mentioned it once before, didn’t I? I’ve decided to accelerate my graduation.”

Ah, that was right. Violet recalled Adela talking about how things had exploded since securing the Pax Nova Archipelago, with a mix of grumbling and happiness. She knew Cascadia’s standing was growing thanks to her, but she didn’t expect it to turn out like this.

“Gasp! So I won’t be able to see Unnie anymore…” “It’s okay! We’ll see each other often anyway, won’t we? Especially with Ruzilin’s Iron Fist and the air squadron’s work.”

At the mention of seeing each other often, Adela decided to bring up a proposal she had made and then dropped last time.

“However, the place Violet is staying is actually a military facility. Its location on the outskirts makes transportation inconvenient, and the facilities are old. How about having one of our liaison officers, Violet, stay at our mansion? There are plenty of rooms, and we can connect directly!”

Violet’s ruby eyes sparkled with interest.

“I can live at Unnie’s house?”

Adela elegantly controlled the corners of her lips, which unconsciously curled upwards. Grateful for years of etiquette training and self-restraint, she slowly smiled.

“Of course!”

Perhaps there might be a way to bring Ruzilin’s Iron Fist along with this small, cute girl. Then, she could face both adorable, doll-like girls at the main house. Pleasant fantasies bloomed in Adela’s mind. What if she dressed them in the countless cute dresses in her wardrobe?

‘They’d look like little angels descended from the heavens!’

But the pleasant fantasy was brief; the conversation over tea after target practice quickly returned to harsh reality.

“Security is too tight! We need to punish those bad guys, but we can’t find a way to get in.”

Bad guys…

‘That’s right.’

The incident at Circleaf, which she had heard about through various channels, flashed through Adela’s mind. To try and seal away that cute child, Enrica, simply because she seemed dangerous. To put it personally, it was utterly outrageous. The Foundation was once again showing its wicked intentions, just like its twin corporation.

“That’s understandable. After all, Magnabis was somewhat complacent, wasn’t it? Violet, in times like these, there’s no need to rack your brain trying to solve things alone. In fact, we were already planning to help you.”

“Wow! Cascadia’s help would be great. Actually, we were planning to move simultaneously in various places, starting with Helios… but why?”

To resolve her cute junior’s疑问, Adela replied.

“You mentioned Chairman Laflaccia is also a target, didn’t you? In that case, we cannot stand idly by. Laflaccia tried to desecrate our ancestor’s tomb.”

The justification was already sufficient. The crazed chairman had attempted to exhume Cedric Cascadia’s body, intending to create an army of cloned heroes. The resulting bloodshed was merely a bonus. At the time, the family’s situation was at its worst, so Cascadia had to swallow their anger and settle for Lestrade’s mediation and a formal apology.

Now, there was no need to endure it.

“Gasp! He tried to desecrate a war hero’s body! Of course, we must have revenge!”

Watching Violet’s dramatics, a chilling aura enveloped Adela’s smiling face.

“Yes, Cascadia never forgets favors or grudges. That’s why I want to participate directly this time. Is that alright?”

“Of course, it’s alright!”

Of course, her real objective was different. The proposal from the Inspector, relayed through her father, was intriguing. To hand over the Foundation’s technology entirely and invest in cultivating a corporation. Such an unconventional offer was burdensome even for the recipient. It was a rather constructive goal for utilizing the overflowing funds after securing the mines.

‘What exactly is their ulterior motive? The Foundation’s technology would be perfect for making toys that our cute junior would love!’

In Adela’s mind, public good and personal desire blended perfectly. Suddenly, she wondered what Violet was thinking right now. So much so that she wanted to access that network herself. Surely, Violet was devising a secret strategy to overthrow Luminexa and Laflaccia, leveraging advanced collective intelligence.

‘Violet is a genius!’

However, her expectation was completely off.

“Unnie Adela is going to fight with us too!” “Wow!” “Unnie Adela is strong!”

Violet’s mind was simply pure and clear.