Chapter 13: Mechanisms Of Machines

...

People scare themselves because of their own imaginative thoughts. Monsters of the dark will lurk around and lucid dreams will become nightmares.

Even with the bright light of the portable flashlights and the glow of the sunshine, people couldn't help but feel cold.

Especially for Ajoika as he looked around. Aside from that, there was nothing out of place. It is the expected things you would find in any sort of forsaken area.

"Erik, gather half of the men and lightly search the whole building", he said, giving a command to a middle-aged man beside him.

A tall man vigilantly scrutinized the vicinity came forward and mumbled something to him. It wasn't that loud but it was enough to be heard by everyone in this stale environment.

"Boss, I think that idea is bad.", Erik mumbled softly to his superior. There was no fear that can be sensed in his voice.

"Hmm, why so? This place may be haunted but the sun is still up.", he replied with the same tone to the point it was hushing. In the first place, there was no need to shout when a person is less than a meter away.

"Uhhh, boss, don't you know about this place?", the middle-aged man asked while pointing his index finger to the ground with a complicated face. It was an expression of helplessness when facing an unbeatable enemy.

The others that watched their leader shake his head made them nervous. Some are even unlocking their guns and looked around for any hiding dangers.

Ajoika couldn't possibly know all of those things. Being the sole inheritor of a business his father built, it wasn't easy. For any gang leader, there is no time for such trivialities. They would usually worry more about how to consolidate their power and assert their positions.

But he is different from the others. He wasn't completely ignorant of this topic. Yet, that doesn't mean he knows all of them.

"You see boss, there were these certain stories about this building.", the rifleman paused as he looked around carefully. Afraid that there might be something else that may eavesdrop on this conversation.

"Keep it short.", he whispered to his subordinate.

"It was said that this place was once a hospital built upon a cemetery that was once a large school and a prison before. Some say that it was even an orphanage bef-."

"Wait up!" His speech was midway interrupted by Ajoika. That short yell made some of them jump from nervousness. This is especially true for the people at the outermost perimeter. If anything happened, they will be the first to suffer.

"I don't give a fucking damn about the past history of this place. I want to know about the events. Events, eerie events that you heard.", he explained and gave emphasis to incidents that transpired.

Probably due to their numbers, those presences scurried away. Because until now, they couldn't feel anything totally out of place.

"Boss, it was said ghosts and abhorrent malicious spirits even roam during the brightest period of the day here. There are even sightings of hanged people, noises made by construction workers, and sad wails of crying children before dawn and after twilight.", Erik abruptly stopped. There was uncertainty on his face before speaking what was on his mind.

"The scariest part among all of them is a pair of shadows."

Not only the other veteran gunners, even the newbies a distance away had this solemn expression on their faces. It was similar to facing your greatest enemy with a slim chance of victory. And sometimes, there was none.

"The married couple? You mean..", Ajoika hissed at the mention of this particular phrase.

Who wouldn't know about the infamous duo that had appeared before some people in the middle of broad daylight?

That happened twenty years ago and many witnessed those shady characters appear in front of a young woman in a coffee shop. All testimonies made by the witnesses have something in common. They could only see their body shape, nothing more, nothing less.

A person even tried to snap a photo using a high-definition, advanced camera. What came out is nothing but the same shadowy shades provided by the people who claimed that caught a glimpse of it.

Ten days later, her body is found inside a large garbage can. There were no signs of injury, internally and externally. It was similar to how his father died but according to the postmortem report, she died only a day ago.

From that point onwards, there were more cases recorded with the same bizarre deaths with no plausible explanations. Even the investigation department of the police authority was helpless because they couldn't even find any clues left by the culprit.

In the end, as time passed, it suddenly stopped. The case remains unsolved then it became an urban legend. The special thing about it is that some people claimed that there was a haunted place in the city they inhabit. That declaration is apparently true due to the verbal accounts brave group of teenagers that stayed overnight.

The most thing gravest is that Erik silently nodded while simply pointing to the floor. There was no need to say it loud and clear to be understood. Ajoika then gave an order to his men.

"Boys, slowly retreat! We are out of here!"

"No! We're evacuating all close facilities near this place!", Ajoika bellowed as all of them ran straight back to where they came from. They all agreed to that statement.

Any people will probably choose to fight hundreds of hooligans rather than fighting something that cannot even be detected and proven by dark energy-based technology.

...

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The continuous announcements from the numerous screens informed the people inside a bustling space station anchored between a large asteroid field and 12, 155th-star system.

There are lifeforms interacting with one another. They came from the different corners of the universe but many came from this galaxy.

There are sentient metal people, that could pique a child's interest, are window shopping for expensive products, selling unique wares, and haggling overpriced commodities. They all adopted humanoid bodies with an exception of one. It transformed into a four-legged wolf-like body with its bright scarlet tail that wagged leisurely. With no exception, all of them have this metallic luster instead of fleshy skins that are unique to their race.

Humans with sharp body spikes and feline tails walked freely. Not all of them have these partial bestial traits as some have arms of avian creatures and a group of students has the heads of the canine family.

Five-meter tall humanoids that wore heavy armor suits and marching uniformly. They have four robust arms that can carry more than their weight and two legs that can support such extraordinary feat. Each one of them carries a huge brown bulging backpack and a pair of long and slim intimidating energy rifles. Make no mistake because the emblem of a militaristic nation, the Dropal Dominion, is painted in sky-blue hue depicting a six-legged army ant with three pairs of wings attached.

Amidst this sea of bustling people is a young woman in a white simple dress sitting on the balcony of a café. The artificial sunshine created by the ceiling installments accentuated her simple black hair. Her pale skin complexion isn't unprecedented considering there is a purple-skinned human across the street. The distant blue eyes then stared at the girl opposite her.

A pair of hazy blue iris went full round as the big lips tasted a creamy pastry cake. The flavor was sheer mouthwatering that the chubby body shivered quietly.

"Sis, this is so good!", Nila said as she unceremoniously ate the rest on the plate.

This made Nana chuckle while she staring at her younger sibling. Compared to her slim body structure, her sister belongs to the thick type. Her thighs are plump and her arms are lesser thicker yet fluffy that it can be used as a pillow. Her black hair that has a short length that only reached her nape.

Both of them closely resembles each other because of their clear moon-shaped eyes and the same curved facial structure. If not for the difference in their clothing, they would be mistaken as fraternal twins.

"So, how's school?", her black eyebrows naturally moved without any delay or suspicious element.

The studying student has content and casual smile as she waves her hand around.

"Same old, same old." This gathered another small laughter from Nana. There was no way that there is nothing special that happened.

"Pffttt, if what you say is true, then why are you here? In a space station instead of at the academy grounds.", she expressed her doubt while her eyes were scrutinizing her clothing.

It was a gray full-body tracksuit with white linings at the edges. Furthermore, she isn't wearing a commonly used identification symbol.

"This?", Nila pointed at her outfit then a smile sprung on her face. "You see, sis, two weeks ago, there was an internship program that is sponsored by the school."

"And that landed you here, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Though the competition was fierce, I still got picked up because of my revolutionary invention!", her eyes were starting to release a dangerous glow.

"Well, let us see what it is.", she asked before sipping her coffee.

Nila touched a stylish orange bracelet on her left arm. This was the free giveaway comm device given to her by the school administration. The difference is that it is more inclined to her personal use and has a huge communication range enough to call another person in another star system.

A few taps here and a few taps there. Soon, Nana saw a disproportionate humanoid armor suit appear in a hologram screen. Technically, it wouldn't be even an armor anymore due to how ugly it looks.

On one side, there is a large arm with a small cannon attached to it. The other side has no cannons but purely consists of melee weapons. Most of them are retractable and hidden. If that were the only changes, it wouldn't be simply called horrendous.

The chest plate area is trimmed, reducing the thickness of the armor. They were moved to the armor surrounding the neck and another smaller portion in the lower crotch of the body. This configuration will make it fall in certain terrains due to the unbalanced weight distribution.

There is also the legs. The legs are probably the most troublesome part of this design. Instead of bipedal human legs, she chose to use a similar construct similar to the slimmer lower legs of a grasshopper cimexan. The short blades in its sides and the retractable and flexible leg with a high explosive power combined with the unbalanced armor distribution raised a huge question for anyone.

'Is this even possible to operate on any battlefield?'

Even if Nana isn't well versed in machines, she was sure that this design wouldn't be used and approved by any foreign manufacturing companies.

"Introducing my newest creation! The one that will destroy every opponent on its path, the Python Hunter III Hogoule variant!", she enthusiastically said while the model in the screen made some poses like what bodybuilders do to show off their nice bodies.