Chapter 147: The First of Many Breakthroughs

"There are too many of them," she whispered.

Hans remained near the center of the chamber.

"Too many what?"

Kimmy’s lips parted, but no answer came immediately.

The faint pink beneath her blindfold spread farther along its edges. It remained weak enough that Hans could still mistake it for reflected light, though nothing inside the chamber produced that color.

Yunera moved in front of her.

"Kimmy."

"I can hear you."

"Then listen to me. We are going back."

Kimmy shook her head.

"No. Wait."

Hans raised one hand.

"Everyone hold."

Johannes stopped before approaching the remains. The two DASFs beside him shifted their attention away from the ruined body and toward Kimmy. The Engineer kept his inspection drone above the water but recalled it closer to the chamber entrance.

Specter Squad remained spread around them.

No red markers appeared within the chamber or the surrounding tunnels. The tissue covering the concrete supports continued sagging into the water, while the insects crawling through it showed no sign of coordination.

Whatever Kimmy sensed did not appear alive.

Hans looked at her again.

"Are you sensing people?"

"I do not know."

"Try to explain it."

Kimmy’s fingers tightened around Yunera’s sleeve.

"They are everywhere."

Johannes glanced around the chamber.

"The insects?"

"No."

Her voice weakened.

"Something else."

One of the male Medics approached with the bio-scanner tablet. The second remained behind him with the folded stretcher prepared.

Yunera noticed them.

"Do not crowd her."

The Medic stopped outside Kimmy’s reach and directed the scanner toward her.

"Pulse rising," he reported. "Her breathing is becoming irregular."

"I am fine," Kimmy said.

Yunera turned toward her. "You are trembling."

Kimmy lowered her head.

Her shoulders shook once before she forced them still.

Hans watched the pink light gather around her blindfold. The same thing had happened during her earlier training, when too many presences competed for her attention and forced her to hold every part of the image together. This time, however, she had not activated it willingly.

"Can you stop using your ability?" Hans asked.

"I am trying, but I cannot."

Yunera’s expression hardened.

"That is enough. We are leaving."

She pulled Kimmy gently toward the tunnel.

Kimmy took one step. Then she stopped.

The pink light strengthened.

Yunera tightened her grip.

"It followed."

Hans kept his attention on Kimmy.

"Do you want to continue?"

Kimmy drew an uneven breath.

"Yes. Wait."

Hans looked toward the nearest Medic.

"If she stops answering, take her out."

"Understood."

Yunera loosened her grip but kept one hand around Kimmy’s arm.

Hans looked toward the Broodmother’s remains.

The upper body remained against the concrete support. Black veins crossed the surviving half of its face and neck, while fluid continued leaking from the ruined abdomen into the shallow water.

Hans did not ask what Kimmy meant. More questions would only give her something else to process.

"Do not speak to her," Hans said. "Monitor only."

The group remained still.

Callum watched Kimmy’s breathing while one of the Medics kept the bio-scanner tablet directed toward her. The second Medic stayed near the folded stretcher.

Kimmy’s breathing shortened.

The pink light beneath her blindfold spread across her face. Several strands of her golden hair lifted from her shoulders despite the still air inside the chamber.

Her hand rose slowly toward her head.

The aura around her flickered, then it expanded.

Pink light reflected against the shallow water and the pale tissue covering the concrete supports. Nothing inside the chamber moved in response.

Kimmy turned farther toward the corpse.

"Roads," she whispered.

Nobody answered.

"Buildings."

Her fingers tightened against the side of her head.

"Tunnels."

The words came slowly, separated by uneven breaths.

Hans watched without approaching.

The Medic’s gaze moved between Kimmy and the scanner.

Her pulse continued rising, though she remained standing.

Something passed through the chamber.

Hans felt nothing. None of the DASFs reacted, while the Engineer’s inspection drone remained steady above the water.

Johannes suddenly touched one side of his head, and Yunera flinched beside Kimmy.

The residual pressure moved toward Kimmy instead of spreading farther through the chamber. Her aura brightened as it drew the pressure inside, leaving the space around the Broodmother quieter behind it.

"They were moving."

Her head shifted slightly from one side to another, following something that no longer existed.

Kimmy raised her other hand toward her head.

"They were all there."

Her knees weakened.

Yunera moved instinctively, but stopped before touching her. Her hands remained close enough to catch Kimmy if she fell.

The pink aura pulled closer around Kimmy’s body.

For several seconds, her breathing became the only sound inside the chamber.

Then the light surged once more. The shallow water trembled beneath her feet.

"They were connected."

Her blindfolded face remained fixed on the Broodmother.

"All of them."

The pink light remained around Kimmy, though it no longer spread across the chamber. The pressure surrounding the Broodmother continued thinning as each pulse entered Kimmy’s aura and vanished inside it.

The Medic checked the bio-scanner tablet. Her pulse remained high but had stopped climbing, and the irregular gaps between her breaths were beginning to settle.

Hans kept everyone silent.

Kimmy’s head shifted toward the left side of the chamber, then toward the deeper wall and the tunnel behind them. Earlier, she had reacted to every fragment at once; now, each movement followed a different part of whatever remained inside her perception.

"Some were close," she whispered. "Others were farther away. There were more under... underground."

Thin strands of pink light reached from her aura before withdrawing again.

"The weak ones moved together. The stronger ones did not."

Hans glanced at the ruined body.

That matched what they had seen during the operation. The ordinary infected gathered and changed direction through the Screamers, while the enhanced contacts retained enough independence to use separate routes and structural cover. All of them had still remained around the commercial district.

A faint pressure crossed the chamber again. Johannes stiffened, and Yunera drew a sharper breath, but neither disturbed Kimmy.

Her shoulders slowly relaxed. The pink light around her became thinner, remaining close to her skin instead of spilling across the chamber.

The Medic gave Hans a small nod.

Kimmy lowered her hands.

"They are dead," she said. "But what they left behind is still passing through me."

She turned toward one section of collapsed tissue, then another, following each part without the earlier trembling.

"I can separate them now."

Her voice weakened slightly.

"And... I can hear what she sent through them."

Kimmy drew another breath.

"There is something else too. Before everything happened, she..."

Her voice stopped.

The remaining light around her body weakened before disappearing beneath the edges of her blindfold. Her knees gave way a moment later.

Yunera caught her before she reached the water.

"Sister."

"I am awake," Kimmy murmured. "I am only tired."

Yunera released the breath she had been holding and adjusted her grip around Kimmy’s shoulders.

"Then stop trying to stand."

The two Medics moved forward. One kept the bio-scanner tablet directed toward Kimmy while the other unfolded the stretcher beside them.

"Pulse is decreasing," the first Medic reported. "Breathing is stabilizing. No physical injury detected."

Hans looked toward the nearest Medic.

"Can she walk?"

"Not safely, Commander. She has exhausted herself."

"Use the stretcher."

Yunera helped lower Kimmy onto it. Her movements had lost the tension from earlier, though she remained beside her while the Medics secured the straps.

Kimmy turned her face toward the chamber.

"I could still hear more."

"You already did enough," Yunera said. "Tell us after you rest."

Kimmy remained quiet for several seconds before giving a weak nod.

Hans looked toward Callum.

"Anything else?"

"The pressure disappeared after entering Oracle’s aura," Callum answered. "Nothing remains around the body."

Kimmy turned her face slightly from the stretcher.

"It is gone," she said. "But I still know how they were separated."

Johannes lowered his hand from the side of his head. Did she just absorb all of that?

Hans looked at the Engineer.

"Preserve what you can without damaging the equipment or the body."

"Understood, Commander."

Hans opened Matilda’s channel.

"Send the chamber report to Tyrus. Include it with the records from the five enhanced bodies aboveground. Tell him to prepare whatever is needed before any samples are removed."

"Understood, Commander. Site Three will forward the request."

The Engineer kept the inspection drone above the shallow water.

"We will finish documenting the chamber and leave the remains in place until the materials arrive."

"Do that."

"Specter Squad remains here until the inspection is finished. Nobody else enters the chamber without approval."

Specter acknowledged the order.

The Medics lifted the stretcher and carried Kimmy toward the tunnel. Yunera followed beside them, keeping one hand near Kimmy’s shoulder without interfering with the pair.

Hans looked at the Broodmother’s remains before leaving with the others. The corpse remained where it had fallen, but the pressure surrounding it was gone.