Ch.103103. The Eve.

# 103.

Sleep.

A precious time that heals damaged bodies while relieving emotions and fatigue accumulated during waking hours.

Unlike machines that can operate 24 hours with just a power supply, humans must sleep to live a normal life.

An average of 7-8 hours daily, people who resented spending nearly one-third of their lives defenseless in slumber developed foods and medicines to replace sleep over many years.

But nothing ever emerged that could completely substitute sleep for a pure human body.

Even in an era when consciousness could be transferred to another body without special side effects.

Sleep is that precious and important to living beings, which is why it’s natural to feel upset when it’s disturbed.

Imagine someone shining a flashlight in your eyes while you’re sound asleep—or shouting in your ear to force you awake. Horrible, right?

But external factors weren’t the only things that disturbed sleep. Especially in my case.

In this quiet world, the only events that might disturb sleep were the sounds and vibrations of buildings collapsing under the weight of snow or weathering.

What disturbed my precious sleep existed within me.

Nightmares.

Bad dreams.

The brain’s malicious editing, combining scenes I imagined while awake with my surroundings and physical condition.

A synthesis of everything I possessed.

When you finally fall asleep only to wake up from unpleasant dreams, your mood naturally sours and your body feels heavy, like you’re stuck in a swamp.

Considering that your physical state and mood upon waking are among the most important factors determining your day, it was truly something worthy of being called the worst.

But my nightmares were a bit different from typical ones.

If ordinary nightmares feature twisted skeleton demons crawling from under the bed,

or decayed zombies chasing you with strange noises—terrifying knowledge or memories encountered somewhere tormenting you—

My nightmares were simply quiet and vivid.

Sometimes so vivid that I felt like I was living each day twice.

The only difference between dreams and reality was whether I had friends with me or not. That’s all.

What about those rare times when I dreamed differently?

Ah, right, those were too idealistic.

I laughed and chatted with countless people under a warm sun, just as I’d always wished.

But even those became nightmares for me.

Because when I woke up and all those fantasies scattered, only emptiness remained.

…Right. In the end, I was the problem.

I was the problem for considering even dreams that should be pleasant as nightmares.

I was the strange one for having such dreams almost every day.

“Mmm… what a nice morning for once.”

In that respect, today I felt exceptionally good.

Because I hadn’t dreamed at all while sleeping, as if gathering storm clouds in my mind had been blown away by the wind.

My whole body ached from moving around so much yesterday while washing clothes, but

the refreshing feeling of having slept well outweighed that discomfort.

Perhaps sleeping curled up in the narrow driver’s seat all this time had negatively affected my dreams.

‘I should sleep in the cargo area more often when the weather’s good.’

Thinking this, I looked up at the sky and saw the same clear blue as yesterday.

A sky so blue it took my breath away.

“You know, they say suddenly doing things you don’t normally do is a sign of impending death.”

Both the cloudless clear sky and the fact that such weather had persisted for so long were completely unprecedented.

Despite feeling refreshed, I felt just a tiny bit anxious about this unfamiliar world.

Like bringing a death row inmate their last requested meal before execution.

Could this sudden clear weather be a harbinger of some major event soon to come?

“—You’re saying strange things first thing after waking up.”

“No, no, it’s just a saying.”

“If you have time for that, help me organize the clothes!”

The Robot frowned at me and threw the bundle of clothes it was holding.

With the added complaint that on such a beautiful day, why would I say things that ruin the appetite.

I moved my arms while privately wondering, ‘Do robots even have a sense of taste? Electricity taste?’ But the Robot was right regardless.

“Alright. Seatbelt fastened. Puppy’s here too. Over there, is it properly secured?”

“Yes. Very firmly tied down.”

Anxiety aside, it was time to move. After yesterday’s singing and playing around, we needed to travel farther than usual today.

After organizing the dried clothes and preparing to set off again, I started Alexander’s engine.

The worn engine trembled like someone just waking up, then began producing a low, steady sound.

I think it used to make a much more powerful sound at first.

I knew Alexander wasn’t what it used to be, but lately the change seemed more pronounced.

…I just hope it holds up until we reach Paradise.

“Today we need to push ourselves to get all the way over there.”

The fortunate thing was that with the clearing weather, I finally had a proper landmark after blindly navigating through blinding snowstorms.

A white wall.

As the sun melted the snow, the world that had been dyed white reclaimed its original colors. Thanks to that, a massive wall that had been hidden behind the veil of snow appeared at the edge of my vision.

I couldn’t tell exactly what kind of building this “wall” belonged to, or if it was a gentle slope, or if it was a complete structure in itself.

But right now, all I could see was that mysterious white wall, and that was reason enough for me to make it my destination.

As I turned Alexander toward the wall, I looked in the direction I had originally planned to go. Surprisingly, there was nothing visible all the way to the horizon. If the weather hadn’t cleared, I would have been in real trouble.

“Aaah! Mori, please go a little slower!”

“No!”

Although I’d been driving slowly since reaching the upper level due to limited visibility and uncertainty about what might be hidden in the snow, the situation was different now.

The view extended all the way to the horizon, and the snow that had made me anxious had mostly disappeared.

With sunken areas and obstacles clearly visible, there was no reason to hold back Alexander’s reins.

As Alexander’s body rattled and slid precariously at high speed, I gripped the steering wheel tighter and turned it.

Drrrrr, many sounds accompanied the massive vibrations. The sensation of my flesh trembling made me smile involuntarily, as if it were telling me I was alive.

“Oh my goodness, save this Robot!”

The Robot’s screams as it bounced around in the cargo area behind me… I decided to pretend I didn’t hear them.

“…What is this?”

My wild ride with Alexander came to a stop when we had almost reached the white wall.

Structures the size of small houses were scattered across the ground.

At first, I thought they might be simple decorations or unfinished buildings, placed at regular intervals as if suggesting something. But as we got closer, something seemed off.

The unusually smooth surface, a faint symbol that seemed to represent the sun… or Paradise, and the number “666” written on it. A low vibration sound coming from inside.

Seeing these unusual structures even through the glass, I turned off Alexander’s engine.

As the sound filling the car disappeared, the vibration from the structures became more distinct.

The ironic thing was that the sound kept growing louder and softer repeatedly, which seemed unusual for mere machine operation.

As if the structures here were conversing with each other.

It felt strange. Like something was calling me.

After getting out of the car to identify the unknown sound, I slowly placed my hand on the metal surface.

Zzt, the moment my fingertips touched the ice-cold surface, I felt a subtle electric current.

The sound and vibration transmitted more clearly through my skin. It felt like something was squirming inside.

“Since nothing’s showing up, I don’t think it’s an operating machine. Maybe it’s a generator? It looks similar to the temperature management systems in the city. Do you know anything about it?”

“I don’t know. Or more precisely, I cannot observe it. The more I try to analyze it, the more I feel like I’m the one being analyzed…”

“Keeee…”

“…You both don’t look good.”

Normally I would have teased the Robot for not knowing something despite being a robot, but it looked too unwell.

…It seems these structures are friendly to humans but hostile to robots.

In an era where living with robots was normal, why would they place a machine-rejecting gatekeeper here?

What could possibly be inside?

“I want to go in further. Will you be okay?”

“…Yes. The interference decreases when I limit my functions. I should be fine if I maintain minimal power. Though I won’t be able to move.”

“Then rest in the cargo area. I’ll just check what’s inside and get out quickly.”

I grabbed Alexander’s steering wheel again and approached the door visible ahead.

…Or rather, I tried to.

“…It’s been a while.”

Between the structures and the door.

Until I encountered the bodies of those who could no longer move forward.

I immediately got out of Alexander and examined the condition of the people collapsed on the ground.

There might be machines here that are hostile not just to robots but to humans as well.

If there were bullet holes or something similar, I planned to postpone entering and come up with a strategy.

“It’s unnaturally clean.”

But contrary to my expectations of finding some traces, the bodies had no wounds whatsoever.

As if they had simply collapsed and died at some point.

Freezing to death? Or heart attacks?

Thinking conventionally, that would be the most ordinary explanation, but there were dozens of bodies scattered around.

The possibility that this many people would die here from the same cause… would be close to zero.

“It’s strange to think an epidemic swept through… the ground is too clean.”

Convinced there must be another reason, I carefully examined the dead bodies, though it was disrespectful to the deceased.

And eventually found a common feature.

“…They all have scars on the back of their necks or spine.”

And while I was focused on examining the bodies, there was something I hadn’t noticed.

A massive cloud that had appeared in the sky that had been clear until just moments ago.

It was approaching as if it would devour the entire world.