Chapter 74: In-Factory

Nothing unusual was found on the ground floor of the factory. In fact, everything was tidy and neat.

Xenia cut off the tape of one box and opened it to see its content. And to his surprise, Xenia found out that there was nothing wrong with the canned sardines. He even opened one of the canned sardines and saw for himself.

"Do you guys eat this?" Asked Xenia as he used his pinky finger to dip and have some of that slightly thick sauce of the sardines to stick on his finger. "This is just regular sardines that I've had before."

By before, Xenia meant when he was back on Earth. He often eats canned sardines with rice as an alternative to meat whenever he is not in the mood for some chicken or pork.

"We do, though not that often. The townspeople eat this thrice a week. It has this distinct fishy taste that is tangy and it is not so salty. Moreover, it is kind of soft wherein even the bones are edible. You can just eat it as is."

"Fishy and tangy? Wouldn't that taste bad?"

"Try it for yourself."

Curious as to how the sardines taste, Xenia first put his pinky finger in his mouth. He licked off the sauce on his pinky finger and it gave him a nostalgic feeling. He then had a taste test of the sardines, gently chewing on the fish to further relish the flavor. The taste was somehow similar to the one he used to eat but the sardines used in the production were much more rich in flavor and delicious.

"It is indeed tasty. I don't know how to describe it but it is kind of addicting."

"Right? I told you it's quite good. Though, I still prefer lamb meat over these canned sardines."

"Is it packed with nicotine? Hmm, but wouldn't that be dangerous for people who are young, old, and have health problems? Then, is it a naturally addictive drug added to the sauce?"

Footsteps occurred not on the same floor but above them. It was faint but Xenia definitely heard the thudding of someone's foot on the metal floor. On the side, a staircase that leads to the second floor could be found while a ladder across was placed. But the ladder does not lead upwards but towards underneath them.

"Which one should we take?"

"I doubt that door would open, so let's head up first."

Each step made a creaking noise produced by the stairs they were taking to reach the second floor of the factory. Completely unaware of what awaited them above, the two continued and just like the ground floor, the second floor was dim but they could hear the footsteps much clearer now that they were on the same level.

"C-Can we have some light once again here?"

"If this floor has the same structure as the ground floor, then the lever that would light the whole place is somewhere around. Just carefully look for it."

With both of his arms forward, Xenia cautiously feels the darkness. He would stumble across something hard like metal or something, then almost burn his whole hands after touching a hot iron. He instantly withdrew his hands and moved somewhere else.

While hoping that he would just come across the lever already, a loud flicker of chains reverberated and the darkness was swallowed whole by the luminosity of the huge bulbs on the ceiling.

"Waaa! What are these?"

Xenia was too preoccupied and his eyes were still adjusting to the light when he heard Crysalia's cry for answers. What crossed his eyes were the monotonous movements of these women who wore nothing. Every adult on the second floor was buck naked and they did not seem to have some sort of consciousness.

On the second floor, the processing of the sardines being cleaned, their heads cut off, and separated by size happens.

"Eek, so that soft thing I touched earlier was a woman's boobs?"

They were surprisingly clean. The place does not smell bad either. Everything was organized and well-processed and it was unbelievable.

"Come on, Xenia! Stop ogling and look for your mother!"

They do not have much time. Any minute the guards and Chief Mordecai could go back. And they would not want that.

Like zombies working in the sardine factory, the women who were all naked, seemed like they were programmed to complete the job needed to procure canned sardines.

Each and every one of the women working on the second floor was searched by Xenia but unfortunately, he did not find his adoptive mother.

He glanced at Crysalia and sadly shook his head. He motioned about going up once again. But this time, no footsteps could be faintly heard from above. They had no idea about what was above them, yet they still went up.

The lever's position was the same, so Crysalia easily found light among the darkness, which initially enshrouded their vision.

And it was yet another discombobulating discovery. This time-- older women who wear black plastic to cover their whole body were working on the cans while half of them were putting the cleaned sardines. Every finished product was sent above this elevator-like machine.

Knowing that all of the women on the third floor are older females, Xenia and Crysalia moved to the fourth level of the factory.

When things were starting to go his way, they were once again blinded by the darkness looming all over the fourth floor. But this time, Xenia felt uneasy upon stepping onto the fourth level of the sardine factory.

Crysalia, being the carefree child that she was, immediately went towards the lever and gullibly pulled it down to give light to the whole place.

Rather than having the place filled with preserving equipment and processors, the place was empty but two people that looked alike were sitting on the floor. Chills ran down Crysalia's spine once she looked through one of the floor guardians' eyes. It glowed red and bloodshot gazes were shot at them.

"They started moving!"

"One is a member of the town... and the other is an intruder."

"An intruder? Then, we must eliminate him."

"I think they are going to kill you, Xenia! You should run!"

There was room to run around, so the twin floor guardians kicked off the ground as they pulled a sword. One was right-handed and the other was left-handed. Xenia distinguished one from the other by the color of their sword's hilt. The left handed had a black layered hilt and the other held a white layered hilt.

"Are you not gonna run away? Oi!"

"Go up, open the lights, and see what they are trying to guard! I'll hold them off!"

Both of the twin floor guardians chuckled at the same time, thinking how foolish a kid Xenia could be.

"Hold us off? You're being delusional, kid."

"Your death is imminent."

"Get moving, Crysalia!"

His voice shook her frozen feet on the floor, allowing her to regain her composure, and began to take action. Although hesitant to leave Xenia, Crysalia did not want to waste the time Xenia would be buying her, so she got going and pushed through the staircase, leaving Xenia alone with the twin floor guardians.

In the middle of their tracks, one of the twins came to a stop, struck his sword on the floor, and clasped his hands together. His twin stepped on his clasped hands and instantaneously shot through like a whizzing bullet.

"T-They catapult to instantly close the distance?!"

The move was too straightforward. Xenia could easily predict the next course of action but found little speed to avoid, thus resorting to parrying the attack, and then letting the man go past him. He did not have time to prepare for an attack, for the one that stopped on his track moved forward and was already close.

"He's coming and the other used the wall to bounce back?! These guys are bad news!"

~