Chapter 13

Sera Westbrook's POV

After loading everything, we went back to the Titan.

The mutated kapok still hadn't been fully cleared, and for our own safety, we had to go out again.

Odysseus's projection covered the table in the fourth-deck command room. The return route was covered by a continuous layer of gray-white material—a belt about two kilometers wide, where the spores gathered into an arc that peaked in the middle.

Kyle tapped the edge with his knuckle. "Taking the detour costs an extra day and a half, and there'll only be more mutated kapok along the way, not less. So we can't detour. We have to clear a path."

The mutated kapok had a three-layer structure—the capsules on the surface, the trunks in the middle, and the root system underground. It wasn't a separate tree but one continuous organism with connected roots.

Kyle quickly began giving orders and assigning roles.

Taylor stayed on the first deck, sending out drones first to mark dense capsule zones and shallow-root zones, and once the passage was cleared, remotely driving the vehicle. Dorian stayed in the third-deck medical bay, monitoring everyone's concentration and wristband readings, and handling the entrance and exit. Cole pushed along the rough passage, probing for roots and early signs of collapse. Jax cleared dense root zones and hollows near the anchor points. Vera had no firepower and was responsible for smoke grenades, close cover, and flank watch. Kyle used neural resonance to control the Eroded—and I was finally allowed to act, using water to control the spores and keep them from floating in the air.

The hatch opened, and we walked out of the Titan. Cole went first, pressing the road surface down hard to form a narrow, solid path, stuffing capsule shells and broken wood into the soil. I followed behind him, using water to add weight to the spores so they sank into the soil and stopped coming back up.

Jax walked beside me, curious. "Hey, Sera, doesn't it tire you out, releasing that much water?"

I shook my head. "No."

Jax nodded thoughtfully. "Then it must be my problem? With my earth-devouring, after using the ability for a while I get really tired."

Cole cut in. "That's because you're too weak."

Jax said flatly, "Hey, I'm strong, okay."

Cole shrugged. "Not necessarily."

They went back and forth, and I watched the whole argument play out.

"Hey." Vera leaned in beside me. "They're pretty childish, aren't they?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

After three hundred meters, I crouched down, palm against the ground, and said, "Don't go forward yet—there's water underneath, and it's moving."

Before the words were out, the road ahead rippled like the surface of a pond, and the whole road sank.

"There's a hollow under the mutated kapok's roots. The water in the drainage ditch was sucked dry by the roots and all gathered in the soil under your feet." Taylor's voice came through the wristband. "The mutated kapok is attacking you."

Kyle had us stop for now. Jax widened the edge of the collapse into a slope, Cole re-compacted and filled the pit, and I pressed down the spores that came up with it.

Midway through, Taylor reported, "Spore concentration is rising. The capsules are about to burst. Stay safe."

Right after, Taylor reported again, "All the capsules ahead have split open."

Kyle ordered everyone to get down. Cole forced up a high wall to block the surging spores. I pressed both hands to the ground and spread the water film into a thin layer hugging the wall, letting the spores fall onto the water screen. The spores hit the water with a dull crackling sound.

The Eroded in the distance were drawn by the noise and circled around to attack our flank. Kyle and Jax went on the offensive, and I pulled a rifle out from behind me and started firing at the Eroded.

All the spores were blocked outside the wall, but a rifle's firepower was quite limited. Once the bullets ran out, I simply grabbed a thick, chopped-off kapok trunk and threw it at the Eroded; the trunk smashed one's head to pieces.

Jax looked at me in shock. "God… you're so strong…"

Kyle pulled me behind him. "Who told you to act?"

I looked at him, stunned. "Can't I act?"

"Not right now." Kyle glanced at me. "Leave the Eroded to us. Your body is special—it's best if you don't act."

I shrugged and said nothing.

Didn't matter. When it was time to act, I'd still act.

Their coordination went smoothly, and before long, the mutated kapok in front of us was cleared.

"The road is wide enough. The vehicle can pass," Taylor reported remotely.

We returned to the edge of the woods and back to the Titan. In the airlock on the first deck, Dorian chatted with us over the comms, speaking much faster than usual. "Remember to disinfect externally, understand?"

Vera sprayed disinfectant while grumbling, "Ugh, Dorian's on about hygiene again. Every time we come back, he makes us disinfect over and over."

Dorian laughed. "Can't help it. My constitution is very special. You inhaling spores might only affect your GCI, but for me, inhaling spores is no different from suicide."

I was a little surprised. This was the first time I'd learned about Dorian's special constitution. No wonder he always stayed inside the Titan and never went out on missions.

After disinfection, Dorian dragged us off to check our lungs again. Vera and Jax felt a little uncomfortable; my results were normal but on the low side.

Dorian nodded. "Good. Your lungs are finally back to normal—no excess spores. Looks like your self-cleaning ability is pretty good."

I said, "After all, Kyle's been limiting what I do."

Dorian patted my shoulder. "Exactly. If they can handle it, let them."

I took a sip of water. "Then what should I do?"

Dorian said, "Don't overuse your ability."

I said, "I'm not overusing my ability."

Dorian nodded thoughtfully. "Then tell that to Kyle."

I didn't really want to talk to Kyle.

Today, the excess spores I'd inhaled and the severe headache—Kyle had borne all of it for me.

I said, "Forget it."

Dorian smiled. "You're afraid of him? No need. Trust me, his attitude toward you isn't that bad."

I said, "I hope so."

Not far away, Jax collapsed onto the couch, clutching his arm and loudly complaining, "Those mutated kapok are so tough. I feel like my arms don't belong to me anymore."

Vera smiled. "Well, you worked hard today."

That evening, Vera made coffee. I hadn't had coffee in a long time, and they were right—Vera's coffee really was very good.

At the table, Jax reviewed the day's work. "Today wasn't bad. I feel like we worked well together."

Cole held up one finger, and Vera translated, "He says you almost attacked him today."

Jax joked, "Oh, I did that on purpose."

Cole kicked him. "Shut up."

I sat beside them, watching them roughhouse, and Kyle pushed a few soda crackers toward me. I looked into Kyle's eyes and felt like he had something he wanted to say to me.

I asked, "Is something wrong?"

Kyle said, "We'll talk after dinner."

After dinner, I walked into the command room as agreed. Kyle stood not far from me.

I knocked on the door. "Is something wrong?"

Kyle turned to look at me, and our eyes met.

Since we'd reunited, we hadn't had many chances to be alone together.

Whenever we were alone, I felt a little uneasy—though I couldn't feel that strange sensation, I felt like I should be uneasy.

Seven years apart—maybe Kyle looked at me like he was looking at a stranger.

And I had actually forgotten the last seven years, remembering only the scene of Kyle and me breaking up.

I thought Kyle was going to say something emotional, but he didn't. Instead he asked, "I want to ask you something. On the control panel in the military warehouse—what exactly did you see?"

I asked, "What do you mean?"

Kyle asked, "When you saw the control panel, your heart was racing the whole time. Was there key information on the military warehouse's control panel?"

I hesitated, wondering whether to tell Kyle.

Kyle asked, "You don't want to say?"

I was still hesitating.

Kyle said, "Your heart is in turmoil."

Now I finally understood the downside of neural resonance.

In front of Kyle, none of my feelings could hide.

I knew I couldn't hide anymore, so I chose to tell the truth. "It was a line of encrypted code. Sample Batch K-7, destination unregistered."

"K-7?" Kyle thought for a few seconds. "Why didn't you tell me at the time?"

I frowned, not knowing where to start. "I don't know what it means. I still don't know."

I only remembered that I should have seen that emblem before. Where I'd seen it, why I'd seen it, what it actually was—I'd forgotten all of it.