Chapter 150

Episode 150. Special Forces Science Officer Scope (7)

****

Dr. Chae, the Research Department Head, and Nanami.

The three of them were staring at the tightly shut Mahogany Door. Around them, Foundation Soldiers and Hasti were also waiting. If everything goes well, nothing will happen.

Dr. Chae was the first to speak.

“There’s something we don’t know, right?”

“Always.”

Right. Trying to know everything will only stress us out and shorten our lifespans. That goes for these three high-ranking officials of Facility 82 as well.

“The Director must have their reasons.”

There must be a reason they went alone. There must be Foundation employees who know the reason. It’s just that these three couldn’t guess it.

****

The Special Forces Science Officer refused to come out of the submarine. Whatever. I’m going to see the temple at the center of the subspace and come back.

Ugh, what a shameless guy. From now on, that guy is “Please Send Me to Some Random KAIST” Lord.

[Where are you going alone?]

“Ah. The Science Officer doesn’t want to go.”

Dr. Lee from the Crystal Clock asked.

[Oh my. Did you try ordering them?]

“I tried before. This time, it’s a bit awkward to force them to come along, for various reasons.”

Even so, it’s hard to tell Scope to follow orders again. Last time I gave a similar order, that person almost died.

The Science Officer who doesn’t want to come might still be helpful. Nothing’s easy here.

[Dr. Kim. Sorry to say this, but right now, we do what we can. There’s no need to drag around a Science Officer who’s mentally unstable and might still hold a grudge against you.]

“True.”

That’s right.

I walked forward, step by step. The artificial muscle suit performed better than I expected. It felt like I could run in it.

I didn’t actually run. There was no reason to run right now. Overexerting myself could lead to joint problems or other issues.

[Set a goal. The immediate goal is to explore that gray temple, and the relatively long-term goal is to rescue the Science Officer and return safely.]

“Right.”

[If it’s not too rude, Dr. Kim.]

“Dr. Lee. I’m not arrogant enough to think of someone who’s been inside a clock for the past five years as rude…”

How pitiful, Dr. Lee.

[What’s the reason you want to explore that gray temple? We’ve already found the nuclear submarine Komsomolets and the Science Officer, which were the original objectives.]

“Two reasons.”

The surroundings were eerily quiet.

Only the sound of my feet splashing through the water on the cave floor broke the silence.

The water was quite deep in some places.

Some areas were much deeper than a person’s height. At least the water pooled on the cave floor was completely transparent. I’ll have to be careful with my steps.

“First, there’s a set time. In a few hours, Hasti will pull us out. And second, don’t we need to see it?”

The entity that manipulated the tarot reading to bring me here. The one that called the Science Officer into the abyss and brought countless ships into this underground cave. We need to find out what it is.

“You know how it is. Even decision-makers in the Foundation are like flies. Complaints from subordinates, pressure from suppliers, or interference from headquarters.”

[So?]

“The reason I’m respected and in a position to lead others is simple. It’s because I’m always on the front lines, sharing life and death with the Foundation’s real power holders and workers. And the Foundation’s power—”

[Comes from controlling ignorance.]

I nodded.

“There’s no option to just let it go. We have to find out what this is.”

Tap, tap, tap.

I stepped onto the gray temple.

Unlike the rest of the cave, the temple was dry from the entrance. Not just dry, but water didn’t even splash here.

Let’s take a look.

****

First, what needs to be analyzed. There’s an anomalous gravitational response, the compass points to a strange direction and subtly moves. It’s showing the characteristics of a supernatural space.

Let’s look at the structure itself.

A pillar about 30 meters tall connects to the cave ceiling. The material seems like a type of smoothly polished granite…

It’s perfectly carved, with no gaps, as if concrete was poured. Just because the stone is well-carved doesn’t mean it’s Overtech.

Considering the location and the time period this structure was built, it’s likely that advanced technology or magic was used.

It might not even be made by humans. We’ll have to go inside to find out what it’s for.

[What’s this now?]

Many supernatural phenomena originate from human belief. But not all of them.

Some exist as if human belief or such things are completely irrelevant.

They might originate from the ideological power of non-human intelligent beings. There’s no clear way to know. We call them Ancient Gods.

If they’re on a larger scale, they’re Outer Gods.

Supernatural phenomena also have a scale of power. If it’s a phenomenon capable of moving entire ships, it’s likely one of those.

“Cognitive Disaster filter, on.”

I activated the augmented reality visor.

If it’s a temple of an Ancient God, it’s highly likely to be decorated with Cognitive Disasters.

This isn’t something to take lightly.

The temple was illuminated by something like a crystal emitting a strange light.

Where do those draw their power from, and how long have they been here? The temple’s interior was spotless, without a speck of dust.

There should be murals.

As expected.

Most of the murals were filtered out by the visor’s Cognitive Disaster filter… but bizarre paintings covered almost every wall. Some of the paintings depicted humans.

It’s not good to stare at them for too long.

[Dr. Lee. What do you see?]

Dr. Lee pondered for a moment.

[Well, murals. Not much different from what Dr. Kim is imagining. They’re recorded on the murals as beings worshipped by humans, eating humans, and waging war against humans.]

“Could they be the creators of humanity?”

[Dr. Kim. I feel like I’ve seen at least ten beings claiming to be the creators of humanity. There’s no need to assign meaning to every supernatural phenomenon.]

“Hmm.”

[They’re just one of the many monster races that tried to enslave humanity and failed. Not worth discussing.]

That aside, if this is a space where beings hostile to humans are waiting… we’ll need to be more prepared for combat.

I detached Scope from the Gauss Musket. Since my eyes are covered by optical devices anyway, I’ll use the augmented reality of the optical devices without Scope, who I can’t use.

And the laser pointer too.

Since I don’t know what the enemy is specifically, I can’t use the right type of ammo, but I’ll use the “kill anything” ammo Dr. Chae made.

I don’t even know what’s in it.

Now I feel a bit more at ease.

“I can’t see properly because of the Cognitive Disaster and the filter. What do the ‘things’ in the murals look like? Do they look dangerous?”

[Not sure. A bit bigger than humans…]

****

Everyone’s heard of the Uncanny Valley, but few know what it really is. Let me explain during this interlude of wandering through the dark temple interior.

Humans are disgusted by things that resemble humans.

To avoid this valley, things must either be clearly distinguishable from humans or indistinguishable from them.

To continue.

We often hear news about monkeys entering the Stone Age.

Human history spans hundreds of thousands of years, but news of monkeys entering the Stone Age has been heard multiple times since the invention of the internet.

Smart people would have noticed.

The status of modern humans as Earth’s rulers wasn’t just given. It was taken by feeling a physiological disgust towards human-like beings, seeking them out, and killing them.

The genetic diversity of billions of modern humans doesn’t even match that of a single tribe of a few dozen chimpanzees. This is how humans survived.

Kill the newly tool-using monkeys. Kill anything human-like. An unconditional killing urge and disgust towards non-human intelligent beings, imprinted at the genetic and cellular level.

Well… this rule probably doesn’t just apply to higher primates. Who knows what humans have been fighting for hundreds of thousands of years.

Over eons, who knows what has challenged humans, and what beings have disappeared without a trace after throwing down the gauntlet.

The owner of this temple is not human.

A sense of disgust towards beings never seen before, boiling over in the blood vessels, synapses between nerve cells, and every muscle cell. A strange yet familiar sensation.

They are not ‘human’.

They are not ‘us’.

“……”

[Are you okay, Dr. Kim?]

“Perfectly fine.”

[Something feels off.]

My physical condition is at its best.

I’ve never felt this good.

“Do you hear something?”

Click. I checked if my weapon was loaded again and moved forward, sticking to the wall and taking cover. Let’s see what’s there.