Chapter 11: Miss Bunny, Are You Jealous?

After reaching an agreement over who would get the credits, they finally walked into the power plant complex.

The buildings somehow reminded Summer of the power plants from her old world. The main difference was how the energy crystals were used.

Back in her old world, the crystals they obtained from inside the rifts could be used right away. In this world, however, the crystals had to be processed first before they could be used as a source of energy.

"There’s no one here," Summer murmured, looking around. "Could the monsters have eaten them until there was nothing left?"

Archer calmly replied, "It’s possible. If the mutated creatures that attacked this place were above B-Rank, then the possibility of them escaping would be zero."

Summer hummed lightly and did not ask anything more. After all, it was normal for people to get eaten by monsters in this kind of place. At this point, she had already become numb to it.

"The energy cell storage should be in the basement," Archer said after checking the map on his terminal again.

The entrance to the basement was located right beside the main building. It did not take them long to find it, but the moment they reached the door, Summer realized the thick metal door was completely sealed.

There was no normal handle or keyhole anywhere. Instead, a small screen and fingerprint scanner were built into the wall beside it.

Summer stepped closer and tapped the screen.

[ACCESS RESTRICTED.]

[ENTER AUTHORIZATION CODE OR VERIFY FINGERPRINT.]

"Of course." Summer sighed.

She looked around the empty complex before glancing at Archer. "We could search around and see if we can find a severed finger from one of the workers—"

BANG!

Summer immediately stopped talking as Archer kicked the door open.

The locking mechanism broke apart, and the heavy metal door flew inward before crashing onto the floor with a deafening sound.

Summer raised her eyebrows and stared at the fallen door.

"Oh, yeah," she said after a short silence. "We can also do that."

Archer calmly lowered his leg as if he had not just kicked down a security door that was probably designed to survive an explosion.

The livestream comments immediately exploded.

[Miss Bunny really went straight for the most disturbing solution T_T]

[Why find the password when you can simply destroy the door?]

[That door looked THICK, though. How strong is this man?!]

[He’s an SSS-Rank Sentinel. What did you expect?]

"Come on." Archer walked toward the entrance without wasting another second.

Summer quickly followed him without saying anything.

Beyond the broken door was a long staircase leading underground. The lights along the walls were still working, but only barely. Some flickered every few seconds, while others had already gone completely dark.

Summer pulled out her gun as she followed Archer down the stairs.

The farther they went, the colder the air became. There was also a strange smell coming from somewhere below. It was not strong enough for Summer to recognize, but it was enough to make her wrinkle her nose.

[Why does this suddenly feel like a horror movie?]

[Because they’re literally walking into a basement where everyone might have been eaten.]

[Thank you. That made me feel MUCH better.]

[Can we go back outside?]

Summer quietly read the comments as she continued down the stairs.

She could not understand why these people were complaining about being scared when they could simply close the livestream.

Not long after, another comment appeared.

[The basement is kinda scary. Archer, please kiss me.]

Summer nearly missed a step when she saw the comment. After that, she slowly looked toward Archer, who was walking a few steps ahead of her, completely unaware that some random viewer had apparently decided that getting kissed by an SSS-Rank Sentinel was the perfect solution to being scared.

Summer looked back at the screen. "Why would he kiss you?" she asked in a low voice.

The comment section went silent for half a second before exploding again.

[OH???]

[WHY DID SHE ANSWER THAT ONE?!]

[Miss Bunny, are you jealous???]

Summer’s expression immediately went blank, and she realized that she should have just kept her mouth shut instead.

She was about to say something to the livestream when she stopped as soon as she heard Archer speak. "Is something wrong?"

Summer immediately continued walking toward the basement. "Oh, nothing. I just saw a stupid comment."

Archer waited for her at the bottom of the stairs before continuing. "Livestreams are strange places. You can report it to customer service if they harass you, and they can block the account."

To be honest, most of the viewers seemed to harass Archer more than they harassed her. But maybe she should still report it later.

"Noted," Summer said.

The moment she stepped onto the basement floor, she saw rows upon rows of metal shelves filling the large storage room.

Each shelf was packed with energy cells.

The cells were much smaller than she had expected, each one only about the size of a small battery.

They looked like smooth, glowing stones and were placed upright inside special slots built into the shelves. Thousands of them filled the room, giving off a faint colorful light that made the dark basement look almost beautiful.

"So many..." Summer murmured. "Could there be more than five thousand energy cells in here?"

And all she could think about was how many Credits they would be worth if there were really more than they had expected.

She immediately walked toward the clear wall that separated the shelves from another room in the basement. However, she had barely touched the door when Archer suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Summer did not even have time to ask what he was doing before he pulled her backward.

"What—"

BANG!

Archer had already raised his weapon and fired directly at the walls in front of them.

The bullet struck what she had thought was an ordinary concrete wall, but instead of leaving a hole, the entire wall suddenly moved.

Its surface rippled like water and a horrible screech filled the basement as the gray color covering the creature’s body began to fade, revealing something enormous that had been hiding right in front of them.

The creature had been using camouflage to blend perfectly into the wall, hiding its huge body until its prey came close to its mouth and Summer had almost done exactly what it wanted.

[Warning! Warning!]

[Mutated Salamenters Detected!]

[Distance: 3-10 meters]

[Threat Level: S-Rank]