I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop

Chapter 75: Baroness Sabrina 2

The northern region of Zain was filled with clear skies and refreshing winds.

While there were monsters and native forces like demons, the area was brimming with abundant life energy and resources that had drawn Mega Corp’s attention.

Originally, this place was merely a satellite city, provisionally authorized for Ark’s surface expansion, but for Mega Corp, Zain and the northern region held special significance.

Here, Mega Corp could assert autonomy without fearing the eyes of Ark’s leadership and potentially build a force capable of opposing them in the future.

However, the land and trees were now decaying.

Flowers had withered, and even common insects or birds were nowhere to be seen.

The sky was darker than even the Demon Territory, and any signs of monsters had completely vanished.

As the barrier around the Demon Territory briefly lifted to eject us, the surroundings returned to nothing but darkened land.

“What is this place…?”

Just four days ago, there hadn’t even been proper roads, so the Immortal Girls had to enhance their legs with mana while walking through the forest.

The northern region of Zain was that lush and dense, filled with life energy and mana.

“Sensei! I think we’ve come to a strange place!”

“Is it hell?”

“No, it’s the underworld.”

“It’s the afterlife!”

“It’s purgatory!”

“Malang!”

But look at this now.

The once-thick vegetation had completely disappeared, and the land seemed to have aged decades in just a few days, turning pitch black.

The overflowing life energy and the vast, untapped resources and minerals had, in just four days, become a featureless wasteland of decaying black soil.

It couldn’t simply be dismissed as no big deal.

“Theresa, activate the radar.”

【Activating Life-Form Detection Radar】

Thanks to the upgrade of Earnest Rail’s Dominator Robot technology into my body, Theresa could effortlessly use the radar that Dominator Robots employed.

Yet even as the radar scanned, there were no notable reactions.

It was too clean—eerily clean.

【Human, there are no detectable life forms, including monsters, within a 3 km radius.】

“Nothing at all?”

【Correct. Even after adding insects, wild animals, small amphibians, and arthropods to the radar’s detection categories, no life form responses are found in the vicinity.】

Even Earnest Rail’s combat unit, the most common monsters, or the faintest chirp of crickets could not be heard, proving that something highly unusual had occurred here.

“Whew.”

A tree, weakened as its life force had been severely drained, nearly crumbled as one of the Immortal Girls climbed it.

Not long after, what must have been a massive tree, growing for decades, snapped under the weight of a single girl.

“Eek?!”

The Immortal Girl, reacting quickly, spun her body mid-air and landed gracefully on the ground, but as the massive tree fell powerlessly like a toppled toy, she gazed at it with sorrowful eyes.

“Eek! I can’t climb trees anymore!”

“Eek! It’s all over now!”

“Wahhh!”

Climbing trees like monkeys had been a form of entertainment for the Immortal Girls, but now that they couldn’t do so, their sadness spread like a plague.

However, there was no room to indulge every child’s sorrow.

It wasn’t just a few trees collapsing; the entire forest around here was on the brink of ruin.

The most plausible explanation was that Earnest Rail had sprayed some kind of poison gas or chemical weapon over the forest.

The easiest guess was defoliants.

Although this was the world I had once ruled as the Demon King, it was also a world where science, magic-engineering, and magic itself had developed to an extreme degree, as evidenced by Ark’s current state.

Considering that this civilization had advanced to the point of internet and robots, it wouldn’t be surprising if defoliants capable of withering vegetation had been developed.

Mega Corp, as an entity, made it clear that lush vegetation wasn’t something to protect or cherish.

If vegetation throughout the region dried up entirely in just four days, it wasn’t ordinary defoliant—it was biological weapon-level defoliant.

To Mega Corp, forests were merely obstacles blocking their paths and hiding places for demons.

Although the Demon Territory itself was concealed by an expansive barrier, from Earnest Rail’s perspective, it could have seemed like demons were waging guerrilla warfare from forests and caves.

Polluting occupied territories is not something any sane human should do.

However, Mega Corp doesn’t view nature or individuals as they are but rather reduces them to mere numbers.

The northern front, which they thought they could quickly conquer after driving out Dawn, was being delayed more and more, far from being occupied.

From the corporation’s perspective, as time dragged on and profit margins dwindled, they decided there was no need to stick to their so-called “humane warfare.”

Mega Corp likely wanted to keep this northern land intact as much as possible, but ever since driving out the competing company, Dawn, their occupation had faced continuous setbacks.

‘Perhaps some high-ranking mage or supernatural being hired by Mega Corp spread something akin to a plague. That would explain everything.’

Maybe it was also because I and the children had been tampering with Earnest Rail’s supplies here and there, and even stole fifty dolls in their entirety, prompting a change in their strategy.

With Mega Corp’s resources and workforce, removing pollutants would take time, but it wasn’t impossible.

Simply releasing poison gas to clear the dense forest and the demons hiding there was a move they could have easily made earlier.

‘Maybe it was Dawn, who was betrayed by Earnest Rail, trying to ruin him by releasing toxic gas instead.’

【Human, further radar detection would likely be meaningless.】

“Alright.”

If Theresa said so, there were probably no life forms or Mega Corp forces nearby that could pose a threat.

“Doll, can you secure the nearest route?”

“Confirming the executive officer’s authority. Calculating the route to [Earnest Rail Rear Supply Base 1 – Eastaril].”

The dolls, upon my command, stared straight ahead with their emotionless faces.

The computational devices in their heads scoured Earnest Rail’s internal information network, calculating the optimal route to the supply base.

Although others couldn’t see it, I could share the dolls’ field of vision and projected route, allowing me to see a red path traced like a navigation system.

The girls pouted a bit as they saw no more lush greenery, but the dolls, as stoic as ever, moved forward without any change in their demeanor.

Thus, we began running toward the supply base where Sabrina was supposedly held.

Having long since left the domain of ordinary humans, none of us found it difficult to sprint along a straight route.

The supply base was precisely 22.8 km away.

Although Hamar said it was roughly 24 km from the Demon Territory, that was probably due to accounting for winding mountain paths and dense forest trails.

All that could be seen along the way was the decaying forest around us.

The plants, insects, and animals had long since died, with even their corpses disappearing, and the vitality rooted in the land seemed to have been drained away, leaving the earth stained black as its reach expanded.

“Wahhh! I want to climb trees!”

“Now, now, hold it in.”

“Even if I hold it in, nothing changes, Sensei!”

“Did you know? Sweet fruit comes to those who endure.”

“Sohi Guild Leader said that’s nonsense.”

“…Well, is that so?”

The children and I avoided stepping on the blackened ground as much as possible, following the dolls.

Trees, which were something we wouldn’t normally pay attention to, suddenly became important because the option of climbing them had been taken away, and it was bothering the children quite a bit.

Well, even that would soon be forgotten.

The Immortal Girls, with their childlike forms, quickly forgot things and shifted their interests.

Ordinarily, we’d have to be wary of cover or nearby enemies, but given the decaying forest and the radar detecting not even a single ant, it seemed safe to proceed as we were.

“Everyone, stop.”

“Eh.”

“Huh!”

“Kyaa!”

At my words, the Immortal Girls came to an abrupt halt.

In the distance, on a slightly elevated hill, a lone building stood.

The suspicious-looking facility stood out starkly without any Dominator Robots to guard it.

As the forest decayed and the trees that used to conceal it withered, the structure, which should be Earnest Rail’s supply base or detention center, became glaringly conspicuous.

“Wow, it’s a building, Sensei.”

“Alice-sensei, are we attacking that place?”

“Should we kill everyone?”

“Can we slaughter them so they can’t even open their mouths?”

Excitement filled the children as they sensed the potential for battle, drawing their weapons in anticipation.

Bone blades formed from the girls’ skeletons, and flesh-connected bullets were loaded into firearms.

‘Hmm, this is blatantly a trap, isn’t it?’

It was quite the dilemma.

A corporate structure placed right in the middle of a dense forest?

It was like asking if we’d come, blatantly saying this was a trap.

On the other hand, Earnest Rail might not have even considered the possibility of demons advancing this far.

Isn’t it often the case with smaller, mediocre companies where you wonder, “How are they not bankrupt operating like this?”

The logic may differ, but the principle is similar.

After all, Mega Corp is run by humans, and wherever humans manage and command, there are bound to be mistakes or overlooked details.

‘Honestly, demons coming this far is practically suicide. With no nobles left, the weakened demons would likely be overwhelmed by the Dominator Robots assigned to security.’

Perhaps they even wanted the demons to come here deliberately.

Well, there was no point overthinking it now.

Since we’d come this far, we had to confront it head-on.

-Bzzt!

[System authority, unauthorized. Intruder detected, initiating immediate lethal response…]

As we approached the main entrance, the AI system detected me and began malfunctioning.

-Thud!

“Theresa, hack it.”

I shoved my hand into the main entrance camera, simultaneously initiating a breach into the AI’s electronic neural network.

[System author…ity unauthoriz…ed, ■■■..■■…■]

【Hacking complete.】

【Main AI of [Earnest Rail Rear Supply Base 1 – Eastaril] neutralized.】

【AI dismantling by system complete.】

【Synaptic fragments recovered.】

【Security system down.】

【Internal surveillance disabled.】

【Human, you may proceed.】

Theresa’s violet neural network swiftly dismantled and overtook Earnest Rail’s AI, making the process smooth from then on.

Once the internal surveillance system was shared with me, I began seeing things every time I blinked.

Theresa had synced my vision with all internal CCTV feeds.

‘No one’s here?’

It didn’t seem like the place was tightly monitored with cameras, but half of them were damaged, and the remaining half were functioning fine.

However, even in the working areas, there were no signs of people or security robots.

Nothing at all.

It was so clean that it felt almost certain this was a trap.

【Human, there appears to be a larger facility underground than inside the building.】

‘Underground? Can you access that system?’

【Apologies. The system is managed through a circuit designed like an intranet. Unless you go underground and directly access it, I cannot gather data from here.】

If that was the case, there was nothing to be gained from examining the building further.

I withdrew my hand from the main entrance.

When I turned around, the Immortal Girls were staring at me with sparkling, expectant eyes, grinning mischievously.

Alright, alright.

You can fight now.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

“Yay!”

“Woohoo!”

The dolls, observing my movements, activated their Anti-Barrier systems.

The dolls’ Anti-Barriers were inherently counters to demons, but they were equally lethal against human awakeners and mages.

“Combat authorization for the executive officer confirmed.”

“Main system operational, switching to combat mode.”

“Eliminate all identified enemies.”

“No prisoners or survivors required.”

“Earnest Rail facility identified. Initiating forced termination procedures under the executive officer’s authority.”

Good grief, even in this situation, the dolls referred to attacking Earnest Rail’s facilities and staff as “forced termination.”

That’s Mega Corp for you.

Forced termination unmistakably meant murder.

【Wide-area detection radar activated.】

【Current probability of hostile lifeforms: 28.5%.】

We entered the building.

The exterior looked like a cluster of three or four apartment buildings, about five stories tall and perfectly ordinary.

Inside, however, was an overly white space.

White hallways.

White rectangular recesses.

A white, twisting, maze-like interior.

White doors and rooms.

Here and there, Earnest Rail’s insignia was displayed, along with empty containers and storage buildings, but there were no signs of life.

“Sensei! There’s nothing here!”

“Eh? Why not?”

“Right, right. I drew my sword, and now I can’t even slice a rotten radish!”

The Immortal Girls scurried across the walls and ceilings, ready to kill Mega Corp employees or security robots, but no matter how much they searched, the place was utterly empty.

Somewhere, the electricity must have been working because the lights were brightly lit, but the real facility here was underground anyway.

As Theresa expanded her radar, she detected a massive empty space below.

It seemed the facility was much larger than it appeared on the surface.

If the purpose of building the structure on elevated ground was to conceal a massive underground facility, it was quite the strategic choice…

-Bzzt!

“……?”

At that moment, I felt something watching me.

It was beyond the door on the left.

“Proceed with destruction.”

Sensing my intent, a doll immediately transformed its hand into a combat gauntlet.

-Boom!

From beyond the shattered door, a thick scent of blood wafted out.