The air reeks of decay and abandonment.
At first, the daylight filtering through the entrance barely illuminates your path. As you venture deeper, the mine's entrance shrinks to a mere pinpoint of light behind you.
Ahead lies only absolute darkness. As you proceed, tiny pinpricks of light begin to flicker along the tunnel walls.
They are glow sticks, jammed into the rock in a strange, haphazard manner.
They're Babylonia-issued. Must be left behind by Rodent as markers.
Says Liv as she switches on the lighting device.
You squint as your eyes adjust to the new glare. Under the powerful beam, every detail of the mine stands exposed.
The site has clearly been abandoned for years. Unidentifiable mechanical debris and wrenches lie scattered about, littered with occasional Hetero-Creature corpses. Dust impartially blankets everything in this place long forgotten by time.
On the ground, distinct grooves form a trail leading deeper into the mine.
After moving forward a bit further, the trail changes. The continuous grooves have given way to distinct, spaced impressions.
A child's... footprints?
Liv opens her mouth but hesitates, finally biting her lower lip.
Hetero-Creatures wouldn't go to such trouble to drag away humans, especially a child so light. Liv refuses to consider what that implies.
Understood.
Liv dims her lighting device and takes the lead as the two of you dash deeper into the mine.
The interior winds and twists in all directions. Despite several attempts, the satellite cannot scan an accurate map.
Liv has no choice but to press on, following the footprints pressed into the ground. But in the mine, the child supposedly dragged inside is clearly not the only one capable of leaving such traces—
You back out of the third wrong junction you've entered.
The hissing Hetero-Creatures retreat from your gunfire, scattering back into the tunnel's depths. From another direction, Liv comes running out of a fourth passage.
No. There's nothing but Hetero-Creatures that way too...
If what they dragged in here is just a child, every wasted minute could put them in greater danger.
Rodent has been exploring the mine for a while, so they should have a basic map. Or better yet... they might have already run into the child.
After a series of intermittent static bursts, Flayo, the captain of Rodent, finally connects to the communication line.
...Gray Raven? Are you already inside the mine...?
Have you seen any of the markers we left behind?
The vastness of the mine gives Flayo's voice an eerie, hollow resonance.
Would you be able to send us a general map of the mine and grant us location tracking permissions? It would help us keep track of each other.
The map—
Flayo's voice pauses briefly.
Map transmitted... permission... granted.
...sync our locations... to each other's terminals... every thirty minutes...
...mine's a maze... do a safety check-in... every hour...
It's okay. Don't worry about it.
Three green dots, representing the Rodent members, materialize on the opposite side of the crude map displayed on the terminal.
One more thing, have you seen any sign of a child over there? Or heard anything?
A... child?
The transmission is now marred by noticeable static.
Haven't seen... a kid... we are... in what seems... to be an old laboratory area... now.
There's something... off here...
The signal is terrible...
Squeak—
After a burst of harsh, piercing static, the communication cuts off completely.
That can't be right. I already installed signal boosters before we entered...
Liv taps the terminal with a puzzled expression.
...I suppose that would explain it.
Opening the terminal reveals the basic map made by Rodent, its display clearly marking all the branching tunnels and notable features within the mine.
With the map to guide you, your search progresses much faster.
Commandant, why do you think... they would bring a child to a place like this?
The cave is pitch black, your lighting equipment useless against the mining tunnels' overwhelming depth. This is hardly a place anyone would bring a child for "fun."
The possibilities are a churning pit. After a moment's thought, three or four grim "reasons" surface.
Could there still be an active experimental facility hidden deep within the mine?
A conservation area child... or a wanderer's child. Their disappearance would go unnoticed, making them perfect test subjects.
Or did the child overhear a dangerous secret?
Conservation Area 368 has a mechanoid doctor and several people supposedly aware of "M.I.N.D." and "evolution"... Could the child have overheard something and then been discovered?
And also...
There are far too many possibilities to determine the most likely scenario now.
The answers will only reveal themselves once you find the missing child.
...Yeah.
Liv furrows her brow and quickens her pace.
The dim halo of the lighting device sweeps across the rocky walls, revealing mine shafts winding haphazardly through the stone layers—a spider's web entangling the land.
The mineral crystals in the rock walls pulse with halos of unseen light, while Hetero-Creatures—or perhaps something else entirely—stir and rustle in the depths of their shadowy nest.
Traces... Someone whispers softly.
They're still searching for those traces...
They're searching...
Searching...
Searching for... that...
The whispers fade, drowned out by the clear echo of footsteps in the mine tunnels.
After passing through layer upon layer of man-made caverns, Liv makes an exciting discovery at a fork previously explored by Rodent.
Commandant, the traces are becoming clearer! Over here!
She adjusts her light source, brightening it. There on the ground, a child's footprints are clearly visible in the dust.
As you follow the trail, the footprints don't lead deeper into the mine. Instead, they persistently circle the shallow tunnels, as if deliberately trying to make someone lose their way.
Then, a reflection in the corner of the fork catches your attention.
A wrapper... from one of the supply packs Babylonia sent to the conservation area.
The date printed on the recyclable wrapper is from last month.
You continue forward to another fork.
The mine tunnel narrows drastically. Even the Rodent squad never ventured in this direction.
No minerals, no resources—this is likely just a nook that miners carved out long ago as a resting spot.
Chaotic footprints are pressed deep into the dust. It seems they rested here for a while...
They separated here. The adult's footprints stop over there...
She points to a narrow path hidden behind the rock wall.
But the child's... they lead deeper inside.
Toward the deeper parts of the mine.
The path deeper in leads to even darker tunnels.
Do you think... they ran into some kind of danger? Something that forced them to split up?
The map provided by Rodent marks this hidden path, most likely a shortcut the miners carved for their own use. It bypasses all the branching tunnels ahead, leading directly to the mine entrance.
No matter the circumstances, no one... no responsible adult would allow a child to venture into unknown danger.
That child...
...Why?!
But doesn't Conservation Area 368 provide extra supplies for children under eight?
Liv stares ahead in disbelief. Somewhere in the darkness of these mine tunnels, a child might be wandering alone... abandoned by their family for the sake of "food."
Children over eight are deemed to possess basic "foraging" abilities, and due to the current scarcity, the conservation area no longer provides them with additional supplies.
Yet, a child with a family wouldn't be cast out simply because the ration supplies stopped. In wealthier conservation areas, communities even establish schools or childcare centers to raise and educate children together.
But a child with no family, in an area that lacks the resources to care for them? What then?
...
Liv presses her lips together and quickens her pace.
Children need plenty of food. Plenty of food, and plenty of love.
They must draw enough nourishment from both to fuel their growth.
But in times like these, there simply aren't enough resources for an orphan in an impoverished conservation area.
This fork in the path holds nothing worth exploring, with only sparse minerals jutting from the rock walls. The Rodent squad marked this branch on their map: "Nothing here. Even Hetero-Creatures can't be bothered to stay here."
The path ahead grows darker, forcing Liv to constantly adjust her lighting equipment to pierce the gloom.
The rock walls press inward from both sides, the passage behind you narrowing. The two of you can only proceed single-file as the pungent smell of damp earth grows stronger in your nostrils...
Drip. Drop.
The distinct sound of water echoes from somewhere nearby.
Commandant, is there anything behind us?
Liv stops abruptly, and you nearly collide with her back.
Instinctively, you draw your sidearm and aim it over Liv's shoulder toward what lies ahead—
In the halo of your equipment's light stands a child with long blue hair, clutching a bright red wild fruit, staring blankly down the path.
!!!!
Liv freezes for a moment, then rushes to the child's side.
Are you... are you okay?
She sets her light down and quickly examines the girl.
...
The little girl sways slightly in Liv's arms, her expression blank and stunned, unable to comprehend what is happening.
Phew... Thankfully, there are no visible injuries.
Drip. Drop.
Murky droplets fall from the stalactites overhead, spreading across the moss-slicked stone floor.
The fading beams of human lights streak through the mine tunnel like shooting stars in the darkness.
...
Like specters wandering through twisted passages, faint, skittering sounds emerge from the depths of the lair.
They have found...
Found...
...What was that sound?
Liv's head lifts in a sharp, alert gesture, and you immediately mirror her action.
Commandant, did you hear something?
Listening intently, you find nothing in the cave beyond the echo of footsteps and the occasional drip of water.
Human senses will always be inferior to those of Constructs. No matter how much you concentrate, you can only perceive the ambient sounds around you.
I'm... not quite sure.
It's like a sudden sense of unfamiliarity that emerges in a fog. What she "heard"... or perhaps "received"... is chaotic, jumbled. She can't grasp what it's "saying."
Is it really a "sound" at all?
Let's get out of here first.
With the child in your care, you can't afford to take risks.
In the mining tunnel, the footsteps of the three gradually fade into the distance.
