Chapter 118: Rembpit Adventure (End)

“Fweee—” Tabo pressed his fingers to his lips, blowing a long, sharp whistle that perfectly mimicked Amiya’s earlier attempts. The sudden, piercing sound sent several wild Sandbeasts scrambling out of the tall grass, their little paws kicking up dust as they fled.

“Doctor, that sounded so real!” Amiya’s deep blue eyes widened to the size of saucers, looking up at the young man with pure, unfiltered admiration. “It took me a long, long time to learn how to blow a tune like that!”

“Oh, I have plenty of other impressive tricks up my sleeve~” Tabo smiled, a playful glint in his eye. He crooked his index finger, gesturing for the young Cautus to lean in closer. He held up his empty palm, showing her there was nothing to hide, and then draped an ordinary, slightly dusty cloth over it. With a theatrical flourish, he whipped the fabric away. In the blink of an eye, a perfectly ripe, red apple sat nestled in his previously empty hand.

Amiya took a tentative bite, and the sweet, crisp taste of the juice immediately won her over. “So magical! Doctor, are you a magician?”

Atrocity watched from the sidelines with a warm smile as he effortlessly diverted Amiya’s attention with simple parlor tricks. Next, the Doctor covered his palm with the dust cloth again. This time, even before he lifted the fabric, the distinct sound of a Feathered Beast flapping its wings echoed from beneath it.

“Wow—” Amiya’s face was already flushed red with excitement, and she clapped her hands vigorously. “So amazing! Is there more?”

Tabo slipped his hand back under the dust cloth once more, and this time, he pulled out an endless string of brightly colored ribbons.

Atrocity watched with growing interest. She hadn’t expected a man like him to have a soft spot for magic. Oh dear, what if he suddenly asks me to help him give Amiya a home, and travel the world with him as his glamorous magic assistant… Should I stay in Rembpit and build the largest magic theater for him, or would it be better to travel the world by his side?

The Doctor pulled out a freshly baked pumpkin pie, and Atrocity began to mentally draft the structural blueprints for the magic theater.

The Doctor pulled out a massive, clanking bundle of scrap metal, and Atrocity began brainstorming names for the trained dogs their circus would adopt in the future.

The Doctor pulled out a squirming little Sandbeast, and Atrocity had already rehearsed her opening lines as his stage assistant.

The Doctor pulled out a fully-sized portable tent, and Atrocity finally began to realize something was fundamentally wrong with the laws of physics.

This was no longer a simple matter of sleight of hand. Was the man a walking bag of holding? Just how much junk could he fit in there?

Tabo reached beneath the dust cloth one more time. Under Amiya’s gaze—which was rapidly shifting from innocent surprise to genuine, creeping horror—he strained and dragged out the massive, heavy-duty front grill of a transport truck. The metal groaned under its own weight before he panicked and hurriedly stuffed it back into the void.

Crap, I overdid it!

The Shapeshifter Cluster, currently acting as the ‘magic void’ beneath the dust cloth, instantly realized the catastrophic error. The ancient Sarkaz entity immediately squirmed, collapsing back into a puddle of viscous slime and retreating into the shadows.

Atrocity watched in stunned silence as the dust cloth suddenly went limp and collapsed onto the dirt, whatever was supporting it having clearly vanished. Terrified and running purely on adrenaline, she hoisted her heavy engineering hammer high into the air, fully prepared to smash the cursed fabric into oblivion.

The next moment, 0325 proactively reached out and covered your eyes. “…Anyway, I’m absolutely not letting you see the brutal counter-kill that happened next!”

You laughed until your sides ached, doubling over in the empty space. The timeline leaped forward one last time. This time, perhaps to accommodate your delicate sensibilities, it was no longer a disorienting, sucker-punch style teleportation.

As soon as you opened your eyes, the first thing you saw was Tabo’s hand, heavily wrapped in a thick, white medical cast.

“Pfft, hahahahaha—I knew it, hahahaha—”

0325 sighed heavily, hypocritically wiping away a fake tear. “Dear Brother, we’re about to part ways soon. Is this really the last thing you intend to say to me?”

“I burned down the entire world for your possibilities back then; this really breaks my heart~”

Edgelord, you’re being a massive edgelord again… Just how old were you when you transmigrated? Your chuunibyou syndrome is terminal!

On the other side of the memory, Tabo’s group was nearing the end of their long journey. Amiya walked beside their rented Beast of Burden, gently stroking its coarse fur. The Shapeshifter Cluster squatted off to the side with a deeply bitter expression, arms crossed, ready to catch Amiya at a moment’s notice if she tripped.

Atrocity and Tabo were riding atop the same Beast of Burden. Looking at the towering silhouette of the mobile city slowly approaching on the horizon, the Perro hesitated for a long time before finally breaking the silence.

“Actually… since the very first day I met you, I’ve felt this strange sense of detachment about you. It’s like you’re completely out of place with this land.”

Tabo wasn’t surprised by the observation. Instead, he turned back and asked encouragingly, “Is it that obvious? Can you tell me what else you’ve noticed?”

Meeting his gentle, unwavering eyes, Atrocity felt inexplicably nervous. She swallowed hard and tried to organize her thoughts. “Remember the day we crossed the river? The day it rained so hard?”

Tabo nodded. That day, they had rescued a group of passing traveling merchants from the treacherous river, which had swollen dangerously due to the torrential rain.

“Of course. It was all thanks to you, Charlotte. I relied entirely on your trust and cooperation. It was hard work jumping into the freezing water to save people in that weather.”

Atrocity’s face turned slightly red. “I—I didn’t bring it up just to get you to praise me…”

“But Charlotte, you are just naturally kind and righteous,” Tabo blinked with feigned confusion, delivering a sincere, direct hit to her defenses. “I’m just stating the facts. You certainly deserve the praise.”

Atrocity’s face flushed crimson all the way to the tips of her ears, and she didn’t speak for a full thirty seconds.

“—No, no! That’s not what I wanted to say!” Atrocity suddenly snapped out of her daze, her expression becoming dead serious again. “What I wanted to say is, when I was pushing people up from the river and you were pulling them in… your gaze wasn’t right.”

Tabo was genuinely surprised by this answer. “My gaze? Are my emotions really that visible?”

Atrocity shook her head. “No, you were truly sympathizing with them. But you look at everyone with that exact same gentle gaze, whether they are survivors or victims…”

She thought to herself—You look at everyone with a gaze that sees the silt and the sand flowing together as one.

“I don’t know why… but people who truly want to live aren’t like that. You seem to have wrapped yourself up in a narrow, mismatched space, and you’re just slowly drowning inside it.”

She thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. “In the rabbit holes of my hometown, there was a Cautus around my age who was exactly like that. She lost her parents in a terrible accident and completely refused to form a new family with the other Cautus who wanted to take her in. Eventually, she just… died in an abandoned mine. I don’t want you to be trapped in a world that’s so disconnected from ours. You need to integrate into this world, Doctor.”

Her words were so raw and sincere that even Tabo, who had been fully prepared to deflect the question with a joke, couldn’t help but look at her sideways, briefly letting his mask slip. “—But I’m different from that Cautus. Blending into this world, for me, would be the true death.”

“A great leader’s ideal for all races in Terra to coexist in harmony, and a starving Infected’s wish to survive for two moldy pieces of bread—to me, there is absolutely no difference in value between the two, and I have no right to judge them. The concept of ‘right and wrong’ is far too grand, and I lost interest in considering such philosophical questions a long time ago… Unfortunately, compared to right and wrong, stance is the only thing I care about.”

He pulled up his terminal, his fingers swiping through several grim, identical-looking images of surgically removed hearts. “These were all… collected on the battlefield by a friend of a friend. This one is the heart of a bottom-tier Infected. This one is from an elite warrior. This one is the heart of a disciple of the Sarkaz Lord of Fiends. And this one belonged to a legend who almost reached the absolute pinnacle of the Royal Court.” He looked up, his eyes dead and unreadable. “Do you know what I mean?”

Atrocity subconsciously opened her mouth, utterly dumbfounded. “Are you… using a metaphor to say every life is equally important?”

Tabo shook his head, his tone flat and devoid of any warmth. “No. I mean that these are all his trophies. Those shining, beautiful ideals can’t sway anyone. Since I didn’t choose to die in a dark mine at the very beginning, then until the day I fail, I will pave my path forward with the bodies of all the living and the dead. This is a necessary sacrifice.”

Atrocity subconsciously tried to back away, her balance shifting so drastically she nearly tumbled off the Beast of Burden. The Doctor smoothly caught her by the waist. The heavy tension broke, and his tone finally warmed up again, returning to its usual gentle cadence.

“Ah, did I scare you? Sorry… I’m saying such awful things. I must be a truly disgusting person at heart, right?”

The dark art of rhetoric worked its magic once more. If Tabo had described himself as “indifferent,” “cold-hearted,” or even “cruel,” Atrocity might have hesitated, her instincts warning her of danger. But because he deliberately used a word as self-deprecating as “disgusting,” Atrocity’s innate kindness and concern instantly overrode her panic.

“Don’t talk about yourself like that! You—you are definitely not that kind of person!” Her fluffy gray ears perked up in agitation as she retorted loudly.

“Alright… thank you, Charlotte.”

Tabo smiled softly, but internally, his thoughts were cold. That’s only because you don’t know me.

“Amiya, do you really want to come with me?” Tabo bent down, confirming her choice one last time. “If you stay here, you can live a safe, peaceful life. Living with Sister Atrocity, you would have a new family and a quiet future.”

Amiya’s eyes lit up briefly at the mention of a “new family,” yet her small hands gripped his even tighter. “I already have my chosen family.”

Atrocity managed a weak, bittersweet smile. “Must you two really leave?”

Tabo gave a soft hum of affirmation. “If I didn’t have a reason to keep, we wouldn’t have met in Rembpit to begin with… Forget about me. Our paths crossing isn’t a good thing for you.”

This time, Atrocity didn’t nod obediently; she stubbornly remained silent.

They parted ways in front of the towering mobile city. The Doctor held Amiya’s hand, followed closely by the Shapeshifter Cluster, as they walked toward the distant coordinates of the renovated Rhodes Island landship. Charlotte remained exactly where she was, watching their figures gradually sink below the horizon. Just as their silhouettes shrank into tiny black dots and were about to vanish completely, she finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted with all her might.

“Doctor! Amiya!! Make sure—to eat well—!!”

Their future was so uncertain, so fraught with danger, that she didn’t dare offer any grand, extravagant blessings. A Cautus’s world was very small and simple; as long as they ate well, they could survive no matter what.

The world was gradually dimming. Clearly, the worldline recorded by that Blood Diamond was nearing its absolute end.

The desolate Rembpit wasteland and the nearby mobile city began to crumble bit by bit, dissolving into digital ash. The very last thing to dissipate was the deep blue of Amiya’s eyes.

When everything finally weathered into dust, a massive, pitch-black, and heavily scarred “Tower” that had been hidden deep beneath this land finally revealed itself before your eyes.

0325 introduced it with immense pride. “My old friend, I should be the first worldline to design this magnificent work of art, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Your eyes were already glued to the towering structure—those sleek lines, that massive gun barrel, those heavy heat exhaust pipes, that flawless integration center!

It’s so, so, so beautiful!

At the last moment, 0325 didn’t waste any more words on banter. “The password is ‘Welcome Home.’ The energy inside comes from the residual matter of this dying world, so there’s only enough for… about three shots? However, use it wisely. That doesn’t mean you should be afraid to fire it when it counts. There should be plenty of worldlines that left this exact model behind. If you really need to plow the earth with it and run out of juice, just come back here to refill the ammo.”

“We support you unconditionally, Brother~”

You opened your mouth and laughingly cursed, “Scram.”

0325 stretched his arms wide. “I can finally go home… I’ll be counting on you from now on. Future me, you have to come home!”

You patted your chest confidently. “Of course.”

The next moment, your figure finally vanished, returning to the Crimson Chateau, leaving only the 0325 fragment floating alone in front of the massive weapon.

[Remaining Fuel: 34,245,000,000 kg]

“Wuhu! Vacation! Whoever wants to work this idiotic shift can have it!” He finally couldn’t help but laugh, flying around freely in the vast, empty void of the crumbling world.

[Remaining Fuel: 1,468,830,000 kg]

Perfect operation! As expected of me! Oh… I’m suddenly a bit reluctant to leave my precious treasure to him. What should I do?

[Remaining Fuel: 8,532,000 kg]

Can’t hear you, can’t hear you. Swimming around happily~

[Remaining Fuel: 32,040 kg]

“Refueling is so fast, absolutely flawless! Didn’t I say I was a genius?” He laughed out loud, proudly patting his chest as he mimicked his future self’s signature arrogance. It was only then that he looked down and realized his hands were actually shaking.

[Remaining Fuel: 59.4 kg]

“Rounding up… I guess this counts as going home?” 0325 smiled softly, slowly closing his eyes. His body finally began to dissolve, breaking apart into particles of light along with the dying world.

[Charging complete. “Red Flag No. 1” restarted successfully.]

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent! 🙇‍♂️):

Massive thanks for reading and supporting the operation!]