The door disappeared with a glitch, revealing a scenery of indoor arcades and casinos stretching endlessly. The tunneled staircase had extended into an indoor space dedicated to a nightclub-like place. Electric type music burst from all sides, and hues of light appeared one after the other, creating an end-of-times-like scene, with people raising their hands, dancing and jumping in some places while others stood in line for hotdogs and wine.
"Woah, what is this place? It's hard to imagine the police wouldn't know about a place like this."
"This may seem like a fun place, but there's a deeper meaning to it than that."
Yuki's expressions were stern, much like when she was driving the bus. The fear had now gone.
I pointed at her leg.
"Don't you want to do something about that?"
"I'll get it fixed, no need to worry."
"Ok."
I looked at the crowd below me, engulfed in the sensation of the music, its lyrics making no sense to me. If I had a thousand questions in my mind, I wanted Yuki to give me an answer to all of them. It was strange, now that I think about it. Yuki was also the commander's daughter. Is she the same person? It may be a slim chance, but I should gather as much information as I can.
"Yuki, what year is it currently?"
"It's October 28, three thousand and twenty-four. Didn't you know?"
"I don't know how to say this, but I didn't. Does that sound weird?"
"Only if you behave so surprised."
"So, let's head to a doctor then."
"You won't be finding any doctors here. Only bioinformaticians."
"Huh? What?"
"Am I a boy or a girl? What do you think?"
"Umm, girl."
"Are you sure?"
Wait, no way. Did I just? Flashbacks of the drawbacks of Ero-Sensei flashed in my mind. Was it true that I had fallen for a trap? Why on Earth were things turning out in the strangest ways?
"Are you telling me, you're a guy!!?"
Yuki covered their mouths with their hands.
"Stupid. I'm an android. My conscience is an AI, and I was built 500 years ago, along with all the other androids over here. So, we don't have doctors but people who understand our mechanical problems integrated within human-like bodies."
"No way! You're telling me I'm seeing the greatest marvel of human invention!? So pretty."
My gaze got lost at the flawless fair skin of Yuki's neck. It's unreal how far humanity has advanced. But something feels strange.
"You were created 500 years back. Which means that now there are even advanced forms of androids out there."
"Yes. And we are the outcasts."
Yuki looked down on the ground, grabbing one arm with her hands tightly, looking down at her bleeding wound. I couldn't imagine what she was going through, because I had always been the best, but it still hurt to see her gloomy.
I put my hands on her shoulders and she looked at me.
"This time it's my turn to save you."
I lifted her up in my arms, and for a moment I was very proud of myself. Within seconds, her weight began to have an adverse effect on my arms, and I began to sweat.
"Your body temperature has risen, and you're also perspiring. Are you sure you can save me?"
"Ha. Don't think I'm good for nothing. I'll show you."
As I carried Yuki in my arms, a sweet fragrance enveloped me.
"Why do you smell nice all of a sudden?"
"Our bodies closely resemble a human's body. It's not that I'm smelling nice. You're just attracted to a woman's body."
"Huh!? No way, you old hag, that is not the case!"
I sternly answered, but as I looked at her, I started chuckling. It felt strange, especially around my cheeks because I hadn't sincerely smiled in a long time.
"Just tell me when we get there. No need to announce your small checkpoints to look like a hero."
"You ungrateful hag."
I followed the map that had appeared in front of me on a screen that Yuki had opened earlier. From what it seemed, the entire area of the underground neighborhood was very vast, almost like a city.
The entire architecture of the place was modern, with square and rectangular buildings lined up across the streets, compact and aesthetic in nature. It was like buildings within a large indoor room itself.
"We're here, I think."
According to the map, the user was represented by a green dot, and the destination was a pink dot. When both dots were on top of each other, a tick mark appeared on the map, levitating in its holographic form.
Yuki jumped off my lap, but immediately limped on one side. By now the cloth was fully drenched in blood. Along the way, many onlookers had curiously turned their gaze at us, but I had deliberately avoided eye contact to cut off any sort of communication with strangers.
The building was crooked, very different from the rest, and looked worn down. It stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest of the view.
As we entered the building, the smell of burnt silicon took over my nose. I covered my face with my hands, frowning from the discomfort.
"Hey Lambda! I need some help. Bring your ass over here for a sec."
"Doesn't seem like your first time here."
"Yeah, it isn't. A lot of injured people end up here because of betting games. It's a ring fight between competitors against prizes. A stupid thing but very entertaining."
As Yuki continued to rub her legs, I, for the first time, realized blood on Yuki's back.
"Hey. Did you get hit from the back as well? Why didn't you say that earlier?
It was frustrating to think that she would save me, a stranger, from another stranger.
"Actually, Yuki, why did you save me at all? Why did you care about me enough to risk getting caught by the policemen, and introduce me to a place so secret to you that even the government doesn't have a clue about it?"
"No reason. You seemed lost, and were then attacked. So I wanted to help you."
I stepped forward, biting my lip in frustration, feeling sad for Yuki. I didn't believe her at all. Why did she feel sad for me when she has other more important reasons to be sad?
"Sakulusmo alyasta vecriset miyora. Solora solora solora, hahaha!"
"Niyanaya nanayegi ankaala shinuvoska. Kikyelay koieva pekhter. Blorid lotto shinki."
I looked up quickly, once again shocked by the unrecognizable language. This must be the doctor.
The doctor was an old man, his eyes green and his long beard silver in color. Did he tattoo his eyes? Oh, I forgot! Android they are so the manufacturer may have given them unique features based on their tasks.
The doctor glanced at me, smiling but with no amusement.
I whispered into Yuki's ear, as she outwardly stretched her legs for the doctor to
examine it.
"Does he know I'm a human?"
"He definitely knows you're not from around here. He heard us talking and must have recognized the foreignness of the language.
"The doctor, meanwhile, was busy in his jolly high-pitched tone, commenting about something as he tended to Yuki's wounds. At one point, he told her to pull her shirt off so he could tend to her back. Although I am the world's strongest hacker, it is unwise to fight with thoughts. I turned around and began distracting myself with the things lying around.
As I laid my hands along the wooden shelves, I looked at the various strange things laying around. There was a circular object that was very smooth from the surface but there didn't seem to be any function to it. I noticed the center of this strange disk was a biconcave.
"I'm supposed to press it then, huh?"
Just as I was about to press it, I stopped. What if in this crazy world, this button might end up doing something harmful.
I stared at the button, and then turned to Yuki and the doctor.
"Hey Yuki, could you ask him what this thing does?"
"Oh, that? That's used for wiping butts. If you press it in the middle, it activates water magicode and sprays a whole lot of water. Why are you holding someone else's butt viper in your hand?"
The doctor quickly came forward and snatched it from me, putting it away on the shelf. I felt like departing the world, and followed the doctor to the sink and washed my hands. The sink was just a metal cube on which the doctor placed his hands and a magicode appeared that spilled water, very much like that policeman's "light beam".
The doctor left frowning, and I heard him say something to Yuki. He was asking her a question so it was probably something like, "Who's this psychopath tagging along with you."
I washed my hands, and before removing them from the tiled block, I analyzed the water washing magic.
"Deep Analysis: Activate. Analyze water magicode."
I returned from the washroom, and decided it was better to sit next to Yuki. Just as the doctor was done with the bandages, I clapped my hands, smiling.
"All good now?"
"Mhm."
As Yuki began to get up, the doctor placed his hand on her shoulders, pressing her back down.
"Yuki. Nesvostyos ayzik cressth?"
This time the doctor's voice had completely done a 360. His regular expressions of being a carefree happy old man had disappeared, and in place a stern face took over. His voice was heavier than before by a large degree, and for a second, I felt like there was a strange aura around him."
"Dukhtuur. Lemyan sesplinki."
For some tense minutes, the doctor and Yuki engaged in a heated debate, and the doctor kept looking at me sternly from time to time.
In the end, the doctor signed, and sat down.
Yuki positioned me to sit down as well. She placed a hand on the doctor's head, and a magic circle appeared above it. She then turned to me.
"The doctor will now understand you. He has a few questions to ask because it is prohibited for humans to enter this area. I have violated the code, to bring you here, and the doctor is actually an authoritative man within these regions of midnight city. So answer up honestly."
"Hey Yuki, you're the one who brought me here. Why should I answer this old man's questions?"
Anger welled up inside of me. I was the world's strongest hacker. I was the man who fooled the entire world's forces and made them bow down before me.
"How dare someone-"
I crashed into the wall before even realizing it.
As the doctor moved towards me, in my fallen and disgraced state, he muttered in an ancient voice.
"I am the world's strongest hacker? I made the world's powers fall on their knees? Young naïve human, do you even know that your mind lays bare, like a naked little animal in front of me? Why shouldn't I fry your brain instead of giving you a chance to speak? It's only because this fool has brought you in here. This place is supposed to be secret, the presence of humans here is impure and foul. So if you want to live, then speak."
"Doctor, give him another chance, please. I am sure he'll answer. Please!"
I heard Yuki saying something. I couldn't make out what, clearly, but whatever it was was in my favor. I smiled at my lowly state, my body aching from the push of the force that sent me crashing into the wall.
"Am I the world's strongest hacker? It's too early to say I'm not. But right now Yuki is vouching for me, so I can't hurt her again. She doesn't have to go through all of this, so I will definitely not try to pull off some tricks. I'll see where it goes from here on out. The doctor didn't give any hostile feeling earlier, so what was it. How is my brain naked- what?? I know too little tch. Curse this helplessness. I feel weak, I feel so weak, tch... just like back then..."
I collected my strength and raised my arms, my shoulders still failing to move.
"I- I'll answer your questions. Let me try again, doctor."