Ch.105This is nothing more than X powder.

# Chapter 105: This Is Just X Dust

Although a research battleship worth the capital of two similarly-sized battleships was lost…

“This is my final data! Take it!”

“Research battleshiiiiip!”

Like a ship that lived its life like foam, the research battleship sacrificed itself to somehow successfully send the Banda—no, the escape vessel and the information inside it beyond the gate.

And the investigation team that received that information and escape vessel organized it again and sent it to me.

As a result.

“Hmm, nano machines…”

“To think everything gets broken down by activated nano machines as soon as you enter the gate. That’s insane.”

We were in a state of horror after realizing that the universe beyond the gate was, quite literally, in complete chaos.

‘No, even the Gray Nightmare event wasn’t this vicious…!’

And I probably felt it more intensely than others.

After all, I knew that the area beyond that gate was where the Gray Nightmare had emerged from… but…

At least from what I knew about the ‘Gray Nightmare Event,’ a crazy situation like this should never have happened.

No, from the beginning, since ‘Ash’ had appeared in the Gray Nightmare-related event… normally, another outbreak of nano machines in a universe already filled with nano machines shouldn’t have occurred.

Wasn’t that the basic structure of the event?

If ‘Ash’ appeared where the ‘Gray Nightmare’ was supposed to emerge, no other events should trigger.

Therefore, from my perspective, the current situation was truly an abnormal one that defied understanding.

‘Why are nano bots suddenly emerging from there?’

And that wasn’t the only problem.

“We have a serious situation. Contact has been lost with numerous resource extraction facilities installed in the universe beyond the gate!”

“…”

“Wow.”

“It seems they were suddenly attacked by nano bots and completely taken over.”

As Riel said, the resource extraction facilities we had diligently installed in that universe… would now have become a delicious meal for the nano machines.

And when we relayed this information directly to the assembly, they fell into absolute frenzy.

“How could something like this happen so suddenly!”

“What on earth is going on, Minister Vermut?”

“Well, we’re still in the process of figuring that out ourselves, so it’s a bit difficult to say.”

Of course, regardless of whether others fell into frenzy, the person who was originally insane showed an extremely calm demeanor.

Excluding such a truly insane person, for ordinary people, the current situation was nothing short of reminiscent of past PTSD.

The numerous resource deposits in the north that had to be helplessly surrendered to Prosnak due to the former emperor.

Perhaps their minds were filled with the thought that they had lost an area comparable in size to that in an instant.

“We must immediately lift the gate’s blockade and recover our rightful territory beyond the gate!”

“That’s right!”

“The ancestral gods protect us, and nano machines will be thoroughly crushed by the imperial fleet!”

The assembly’s genuine spiritualists and small-happiness advocates began to argue that since we’ve already opened a hole, we should fully dismantle it and recover our lost territory(?).

“No, you saw battleships getting shredded as soon as they entered the space beyond the gate, and you’re still saying this?”

“That’s only because they entered without properly deploying shields.”

“How can we accept our territory shrinking when we can’t even expand properly due to border friction with other countries!”

Of course, such opinions were quickly swallowed back…

“Ah, wait a moment, I think everyone’s forgetting something.”

“What’s the issue, Minister Vermut?”

“Well, since Minister Arto, who’s in charge of the initial investigation team, is here, I’ll explain.”

I was wondering why I was suddenly being dragged into this.

And then.

[Pause]

-Ding♪

With the familiar notification sound, the game automatically paused again.

[Event: Dust of Death]

[After your investigation team made a small hole in the energy net that sealed the gate for investigation.]

[If you don’t immediately seal that hole separately, it’s clear that nano machines will eventually invade through the gate.]

[Option 1: Seal the hole immediately! (Random event occurs, linked event progresses)]

[Option 2: We cannot abandon the Empire’s territory, open it immediately and send in the fleet! (Random event occurs, linked event progresses)]

Like before, I pushed away the pause screen that appeared before me.

Then naturally, I made a flowing movement toward option 1.

[Option 1: Seal the hole immediately! (Random event occurs, linked event progresses)] <Selected>

Of course, there wasn’t any grand reason for this choice.

‘What kind of madman created a mod that includes a script telling you to send a fleet into a place where battleship-class vessels get shredded?’

How absurd is it to suggest sending a fleet into a place where intact ships get shredded as soon as they enter?

Thinking that even an elementary school student from my previous life could have written something better, I chose option 1.

[Pause Released]

As soon as I released the pause, words similar to the event message I had seen flowed from Minister Vermut’s mouth.

“The investigation team has made a small hole in the energy net that sealed the gate for investigation, and nano machines from inside are constantly trying to emerge through that hole.”

“…!”

“What? Then what might happen?”

“What do you think will happen? Instead of doing something useless, we should immediately strengthen the gate’s blockade.”

——————————–

And thanks to the efforts of that truly insane person.

Although it was according to the option I chose, since there was a point about having to give up a ‘territory’ without even deploying a ‘domain’…

I thought there would be tremendous backlash directed at me for triggering PTSD.

But thanks to Minister Vermut’s intense aggro dispersion ability, I was able to enjoy an even more peaceful and uneventful daily life.

With that thought, as soon as I returned to my office after the meeting…

I couldn’t help but speak out while looking at the triangulation data from the research battleship placed on the table.

“Hmm… no matter how I look at it, Ash seems to be in there.”

“Do you think so too, Minister?”

I could say something about it, but since we were able to roughly determine Ash’s location through triangulation…

I nodded and decided to receive additional briefing on the situation.

“So, how is the situation developing now?”

“Well, currently the investigation team led by that prematurely aged parachute appointee is busy building defense facilities at the gate.”

“Hmm… is that so? Then there’s no other news?”

When I asked for additional information, Riel shook her head and said:

“What other information could there be besides that? Apart from defense stations with just one or two turrets at most… it fundamentally requires large amounts of energy.”

“That’s true…”

“Besides, it’s the Cardian Black Hole, isn’t it? It’s basically a garbage dump, so there are hardly any hyperspace routes connecting it to nearby star systems.”

The merciless factual assault she delivered was truly shocking and horrifying.

After all, as Riel said, there was only one hyperspace jump route in that place.

Of course, there could be hidden hyperspace routes that neither Riel nor I had discovered…

‘No, how could something like that happen?’

Since it was nonsensical both logically and in terms of game mechanics…

I shook my head and inwardly scolded myself for such strange imagination, deciding to focus properly.

And separate from the blockade, since we might someday be able to enter there…

I began to sift through the copy of the research battleship’s final data that had arrived with the escape pod, looking for anything that could withstand the nano machines’ frenzy.

But before long, I heard some rather desperate news through an event:

[Event: Desperate X Dust]

[After deploying a reinforced research battleship only to have it blown up…]

[There was discussion in the military about what could be deployed to withstand these nano machines…]

[Unfortunately, even the military had no good solutions.]

[They decided to analyze the situation by discreetly mobilizing everything from patrol ships to battleships, even fleet flagships, and dispersing collected nano machines for simulation…]

[Faced with the fact that there are no means to withstand them, Minister Vermut of the Ministry of Technology and Science, along with the research team, began pulling all-nighters, determined to find a solution.]

[Holy Seveli Empire Fleet Daily Hull Regeneration Rate: -0.5%]

[Minister Vermut and other researchers’ work efficiency: 140% (They’ve just started working overtime)]

Seeing the event where the military and the Ministry of Technology and Science seemed to have joined hands to find a solution, I felt an immense irritation welling up inside me.