Hao Ren and his group had finally reached the sanctuary deep within the planet’s crust. After their initial awe, they quickly realized that the city was uninhabited like everywhere else.
There were no pedestrians on the street, and while the buildings were lit, there were no signs of any living being behind the windows. There were vehicles running in the air and on the streets, but when Y’zaks hailed one to stop, it was an unmanned vehicle.
“So?” Lily turned around to look at the vibrant yet empty city. “Where are the supposed survivors?”
Nangong Sanba was dumbfounded. Looking up to the sky, he shouted in hopes of getting the attention of any “observer” who may exist. “Hello! We’re in the sanctuary! What’s next? There’s no one here!”
No one appeared, and the only sound was from the engines of the vehicles speeding through the air.
“This planet is getting weirder by the minute,” Hao Ren recalled the middle-aged man on the screen as he muttered to himself. “Didn’t the guy say we would meet some civil officers down here…”
“Not sure what that man’s trying to do.” Vivian summoned a swarm of bats and got them to fly all over the place while she took a few careful steps forward. “He has no beef with us… He won’t be pulling such a massive prank.”
The group walked about the bizarre sanctuary, scouting the place out. They followed the lights and the busiest roads in hopes to find any survivors living there. Hao Ren knew that there were survivors in that place; the man who appeared on the screen was unquestionably one. However, no one knew what happened as there were nary a person in the city.
Were the survivors hiding?
Nangong Sanba looked around as he observed the place. He may be half-baked when it comes to combat, but because of being half-baked, his observation and deduction skills are well honed. He was like a seasoned hunter now analysing tracks. “The streets are clean, everything is well maintained, and does not look like it was desolate for a millenia. The city is within a cavern and logically speaking should be coated in dust. But look at this railings… they are as good as new.”
“Because there’s ‘someone’ wiping them all the time.” Nagong Wuyue patted her brother’s shoulder and pointed towards a floating robot not too far away cleaning earnestly. The robot too was an inverted triangle and its job was probably to keep the street spick and span. It had a versatile mechanical arm holding a brush while another was spraying mist. Noticing that someone was closing in, the robot flew towards them and circled Hao Ren and his group.
Lily’s nerves tightened but she quickly realised that the robot was harmless. She stretched her hand out and gave it a knock on the outer shell. “It doesn’t seem to be able to speak…”
As Lily finished, a short and bright melody played from the robot, and a cheerful male voice came from it. “Vjekally Limited. The specialist in cleaning products. Giving you and your family the best cleaning service. The new household robot Alpha 3 is now available for purchase…”
The music and the voice repeated itself again. “Vjekally Limited. The specialist in cleaning products. Giving you and your family…”
As it finished the last sentence of the broadcast, the robot left the group and started cleaning the streets again.
“Seems like just a pre-recorded advertisement.” Vivian shrugged. “But at least there’s some ‘humanity’ in that.”
Y’zaks demurred. “A robotics company. There should be someone running it.”
Over on the next street, they reached a building that looked like a shopping complex. The building’s exterior was bright and exuberant and a big mascot even stood by the entrance. The giant screen above the entrance played a rather obnoxious cartoon. While culturally distinct from Earth, it was rather obvious it was some kind of advertisement. Hao Ren led the group into the shopping mall and was greeted by an empty concourse that had rows upon rows of equally empty shoplots.
“This is rather unnerving.” Lily mumbled beside Hao Ren.
A melody soon placed from nearby and as Hao Ren turned towards the source, he saw a digital billboard that was attached to the wall. After the music ended, a video with scores of men and women appeared with the background sound going. “….Our strength is needed for a comfortable sanctuary. Lets us join hand in hands to create a peaceful home….”
Wuyue slithered towards the screen as she looked about. Hao Ren was not sure what she even pressed before the screen suddenly changed and a stiff-looking man appeared in the middle of the screen. “… Bringing you the latest news of the sanctuary. The investigation of the fire at Danding station has been completed. The sanctuary manager annouced that the incident was caused by an electrical short circuit in a grocery store’s warehouse…. The reactor maintenance team had completed their work and the planet’s thrust is stable. The President extends his thanks to the tireless workers. According the Presidential spokesperson, the planetary ark is closing in on a ‘resupply zone’, and before us is a very rich asteroid belt. The ark will perform its first deceleration since launch and after reaching level two navigation speed only will the resupply starts. The required time to decelerate until target speed will take about a year. We will be able to extract sufficient resources from the asteroid belt to feed the reactor. During deceleration the sanctuaraies may experience minor shakings. Please stay calm should that happen…”
It seemed like it was a news bulletin. Hao Ren immediately thought of something as soon as he heard the last part of the message and contacted the MDT which was standing by in orbit. “MDT, scan the planet’s flight path. Is there an asteroid belt before it?”
The MDT’s reply came swiftly. “There is an asteroid belt in front of it. Perhaps from other celestial bodies. It is a rather huge one. What about it?”
“…We are watching extraterrestial news broadcast.”
“Huh?” The MDT did not understand.
Hao Ren cut the communication and turned towards the rest. “There is an asteroid belt in the navigation path… This is not mere recordings.”
Vivian looked at the screen which was still playing the news. “…So that is to mean that the news are current. There’s really someone broadcasting this.”
Hao Ren looked at the empty concourse. “Yes, yet there are no one here.”
Nangong Sanba suddenly frowned as an bizzare expression appeared on his face. “Wait a minute! I’m feeling some aura…”
As he spoke, Nangong Wuyue rose up as well. She use her long serpentine tail to push herself about two to three meters in to the air as she gazed in a particular direction. “…Water element… it’s water…!”
Everyone looked at each other in shock, and realised what was going on!
Nangong Sanba kneeled down as he pressed the ground. Using his demon hunting ability to trace the movement of aura in the area. He suddenly looked up towards the deep part of the shopping complex. “Over there!”
The two siblings exchanged glances as shock and elation ran across their faces and the both ofd them dashed towards the source of the aura. Hao Ren and the rest were a step slower but caught up with the Nangong siblings. The group sprinted across the empty concourse as if fearing a step later would lose them their target. They finally came to a stop before a shop filled with groceries and slowed their breathing as they look out for any signs of activity.
The Nangong siblings did not dare to take a step further. They just looked slackly at the shop, and their breathing seemed to have stopped.
Behind a shelve, two figures was moving. A feminine arm flashed across the gap between the shelves as she took a few items.
The two figures seemed to also have sensed something as they stopped at the smae time before coming out from behind the shelf.
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Nangong Wuyue held her brother’s hand tightly as she looked she might faint any time soon. Her voice shivering. “Mom.. Dad?”
They found them at last.