The mechanical arm’s fingers twitched, and Danan’s heavy eyelids lifted. Coughing violently, he spat out a clot of blood pooling in his chest.

  “Danan? If you’re alive, answer me… Danan,” Lils’ voice crackled through the comms.

  “I’m fine… still breathing,” Danan rasped, shaking his head. Clenching his teeth, he pressed his mechanical arm against his throbbing skull. A dull headache pulsed, as if his blood vessels were swelling and compressing his nerves. Moving only his eyes, he scanned the elevator, his gaze settling on Eve, sprawled on the floor. He let out a deep sigh.

  He’d been dreaming. A dream of a distant past, when he was still oblivious to the world’s cruel hopelessness. Unearthed by the dream, memories buried under layers of dust and wear weighed on him. A tortured expression crossed his face, crushed by regret for failing to fulfill a single request. His fist tightened.

  It was always like this—realizing what mattered only after it was gone. Mistaking its presence as ordinary, assuming it would never change, only to writhe in the pain of loss. He’d accepted the old man’s death in form alone, knowing he was gone, yet Danan kept killing ruffians who’d taken him, lashing out in misplaced vengeance. Aiming for one kill a day, his trigger finger was steeped in denial.

  The girl’s request… If she ever became hopeless, she wanted him to kill her. But before he could honor that wish, she’d already died, somewhere he’d never know—in a sewer crawling with cockroaches and rats. Alone, unnoticed, she left the world. Her death, a symbol of fragile, fleeting normalcy, threw kindling onto Danan’s smoldering embers, igniting a blaze of furious passion.

  “…”

  He flexed and straightened his mechanical fingers. The steel and black iron creaked. Through the gaps in his gray hair, his obsidian eyes burned with molten hatred, a beastly rage hungry to devour life. Killing as mere venting regained purpose, adding ruffians and the Crucible of Carnal Desire to his death list. The smoldering spark of murderous intent roared with passion as its fuel.

  Even if he wished to survive, silence invited malice to bare its fangs at the weak. Praying to avoid death was futile without showing strength. Killing multiplied enemies exponentially, escalating threats to his life. The more he fought, the darker death’s shadow loomed; the more he killed, the wider evil’s maw opened, birthing sins that swallowed life. A paradox-riddled dilemma, a spiraling corridor of futility… For Danan, an undercity dweller, there was no escape. His only choice was to kill before being killed—his freedom, and the shackle binding his body and soul.

  Ding—the elevator halted with lingering inertia, its doors sliding open. Sweating heavily and breathing raggedly, Danan pulled Eve close, deploying a high-frequency blade from his mechanical arm as he stared at a pale blue light floating in the darkness.

  A massive cylindrical machine loomed. Blue lines raced across it, pipes sprawling across the ceiling, dominating the vast space. It resembled a great tree with rubber roots in iron soil, its inverted form disturbingly warped. Hesitating to step out, Danan tried remotely controlling the elevator with the hack cable, but it didn’t respond.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “…Lils, any enemy signatures?” he asked.

  “None. But… I’m picking up faint vitals. The elevator’s not moving?”

  “Not at all.”

  “…What now?”

  “…”

  It could be a trap, or nothing at all. After a brief silence, Danan swallowed hard, steeling himself, and stepped into the vast space.

  Cold air mingled with the stench of machine exhaust. Each tap of his boots on the black tiles sent ripples outward, scattering stardust-like effects. It felt like walking on water, an eerie sensation. The sound-absorbing tiles detected Danan and Eve’s vitals, resonating with a rain-like chime that echoed through the space.

  “Danan, anything off?” Lils asked.

  “Nothing specific… but—”

  “But?”

  It feels familiar… strange. Danan’s words dissolved into the air, unheard by Lils. A nostalgia, like returning to a mother’s womb, filled him. Too fragile for relief, too vague for vigilance—an unstable heart. A shiver pricked his nose, his brain rejecting the incomprehensible fear. Noticing a droplet trailing down his cheek, he froze.

  Tears? Why was he crying? He couldn’t cry. Tears were a sign of weakness, something he shouldn’t shed. In the undercity, showing such vulnerability invited predators to pounce. Something so unnecessary… should’ve dried up long ago. So why…?

  Wiping the tears with his mechanical arm, Danan bared his murderous fangs, trampling the nostalgia to smother his passionate flames. Looking up at the machine, he searched for a control panel. Running his hand over the smooth steel, his fingers caught a slight indentation. A scanner read his fingerprints, and with a heavy groan, a keyboard and monitor unfolded.

  “Connection to the Fruit of Knowledge established. Retrieving detailed data… Complete. Authenticated as a replica of the Fruit of Knowledge. Verifying NPC production history… No matches. Verifying connection to the main unit… Deemed impossible. Access name updated… Complete. Danan, please issue instructions for the Fruit of Knowledge,” Nephthys’ voice echoed in his mind.

  “The… Fruit of Knowledge?” Danan muttered.

  “Yes, that is this machine’s designation. You, Eve, and Canaan have unconditional access. However, note that as a replica, its executable functions are limited.”

  Guided by Nephthys, Danan’s eyes scanned the monitor, reading the array of program codes and numbers listed beside them.

  “…Nephthys,” he said.

  “Yes, Danan?”

  “What… is this?”

  “A machine containing data essential to EDEN. Think of it as a great mechanical tree with data storage and regeneration-reconstruction functions. The data is the fruit, and its replication function creates NPCs. It is a critical asset for you, Eve, and Canaan.”

  EDEN… Eden? The word triggered a splitting headache, forcing Danan to his knee. Flashes of unfamiliar shadows and memories assaulted him. His vision flickered, warm air brushing his ear.

  Information he seemed to know yet didn’t. A white-haired elder touched a glass window, staring at him with sunken eyes, his wrinkled face peering close. Life-support pipes dangled from his back, cracked lips muttering the same words repeatedly. EDEN… NPC… EGO… Chase the stars, the moon, look to the past to shape the future…

  “EDEN… paradise… Nameless,” Danan whispered.

  “I told you not to come here. It’d make me happier if you listened, Danan,” a voice said.

  “!?” Danan reacted, swinging his blade toward the voice, his eyes widening. His mouth opened and closed like a gasping goldfish.

  “Looks like you remembered me. I’m glad, Danan. You’ll keep your promise, right?”

  “Stop…” he pleaded.

  “I wanted you to kill me. I… I’m not the girl you knew anymore. I’m… hopelessly tainted.”

  “Don’t talk…”

  “So hurry, use that blade… pierce my heart. Wipe me—us—out, taken by Hakara. Please… Danan.”

  “Shut up!” Danan screamed, his face twisted in fear.

  Clawing at his head, he backed away desperately from the red-haired girl. Like a child seeing a ghost, she wore the same smile he knew so well, unchanged from his memories. Approaching slowly, she gently stroked his cheek.

  “…Won’t you save me this time either, Danan?”

  A single tear, mingled with despair and sorrow, fell from her eye.