Nikke, something’s seriously wrong with this evacuation point! Chapter 96 96: You Fail

With Abe helping, the laboratory's power supply was no longer sothing Charon needed to worry too much about.

That was absolute trust on his part.

Because right now, aside from Abe, there truly wasn't anyone else he could rely on.

If Abe were still working inside the core division of VTC, then after weighing the pros and cons, he probably would've had no choice but to ask Andrew for help–or even co clean directly to Liliweiss and let her take over babysitting duties.

As unfair as it felt toward Abe…

Her current situation genuinely helped Charon the most.

After setting that issue aside, Charon received Rose's ssage.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

He simply replied with:

"Understood."

And said nothing more.

First, he needed to see what exactly the governnt intended to send them.

So over the next several days, Charon's life settled into a repetitive cycle.

Every morning he led the squad to the laboratory.

Part of the group handled routine missions, while the rest followed him in rebuilding the facility:

Repairing walls.

Restoring electrical lines.

Cleaning.

Maintenance.

The place didn't look especially huge, but the work was unbelievably troubleso.

Many aged wires required entire walls to be torn apart first before repairs could even begin. Afterwards, the walls had to be rebuilt.

So sections lacked suitable materials altogether, forcing them to use armor plating stripped from large Raptures as substitutes.

And the sewer and water systems?

At first glance they'd seed simple.

Actually working on them revealed a nightmare.

Thankfully, the invincible Charon possessed the invincible Universal Agricultural Staff.

That thing wasn't just a sewer-cleaning miracle–it could even test water quality.

Direct MVP.

On top of that, following Charon's request, Scarlet captured a live Master-class Rapture and dragged it back after violently dismantling all of its movable limbs and weapons.

To prevent the core from exploding, she had even destroyed the core itself beforehand while carefully avoiding damage to the outer shell surrounding it.

This ti, they only wanted to study the internal structure.

After work every day, Charon used the transforming staff as various tools and, under Abe's remote guidance, slowly dismantled the Rapture piece by piece while providing detailed feedback.

As expected of VTC's greatest technical mind.

Just by listening to Charon's explanations, Abe had already completed a full model of the Rapture core energy converter by the ti the dismantling process ended.

She even roughly understood its operating principles.

[There's no technical difficulty whatsoever.]

That was Abe's evaluation.

[I can build it. But how exactly am I supposed to deliver sothing like that to you?]

And that truly was the biggest problem.

With Abe's ability, manufacturing the machine wasn't difficult at all.

The issue was how to smuggle it out beneath the governnt's watchful eyes.

This wasn't so hand-cranked generator.

It was a large-scale power unit capable of supplying electricity to the entire laboratory.

"I'll co retrieve it myself," Charon decided after so thought. "I have a thod that can transport it out of the city without anyone noticing."

System inventory, kid.

[Seriously? Then can you smuggle out too?]

"No. Unless you're dead."

After all, the system inventory couldn't store living beings.

[Relax, I'm joking. Anyway, since you're so confident, I'll start working imdiately.]

"You're being surprisingly cooperative."

[This thing also gives a lot of inspiration for my own future research. Consider it paynt.]

That was the truth.

Karen's files had contained an energy converter from an Husk-class Rapture.

This ti, however, they were working with a Master-class core.

Abe discovered subtle structural differences between them.

Which ant:

Different energy tiers required different conversion systems.

Humanity's understanding of Raptures was still shallow.

At this point, Abe–and possibly Karen sowhere out there–stood at the absolute forefront of Rapture research.

"Anyway… thanks."

[It's nothing. But…] Abe paused briefly. [This ti, you absolutely must co see the little one.]

When she ntioned "the little one," her voice unexpectedly softened.

Charon fell silent.

Only after nearly half a minute did he respond with difficulty.

"…Professor Abe, if possible, I'd rather avoid that."

[What exactly are you planning?]

"My current identity is probably about to beco compromised. I need to retrieve the equipnt as quickly as possible."

"Honestly, whether I can get it safely at all depends on whether the Central Governnt decides to tolerate ."

The implication was obvious.

That sudden resupply request?

It had already been a clear signal.

Only Barnes was stupid enough to casually tell Rose about it, handing Charon an opportunity.

The supplies still hadn't arrived.

Which ant things hadn't fully escalated yet.

Before everything broke apart…

Charon needed to return imdiately.

[Fine. I'll finish your equipnt as soon as possible. As for retrieval, you'll have to figure that out yourself.]

"I know."

...

The next day, Charon gave no report whatsoever to Barnes.

After simply informing Rose, he quietly disappeared from the base alone.

Rose worried about his safety and wanted Scarlet to accompany him as a guard.

But that was impossible.

Scarlet and Rose–no, the entire lee squad–had to remain visible to Barnes at all tis.

The only one capable of disappearing unnoticed…

Was Lieutenant Ron.

The journey back was brutal.

Charon maintained a pace perfectly balanced against his stamina consumption and traveled nonstop through wind and rain.

After one full day and night, he finally returned to the city.

Getting inside was simple.

He clung directly beneath a vehicle's chassis and rode it through the checkpoint.

Yes.

That simple.

Because humanity only guarded against Raptures.

All scanners were designed to detect tal.

So Charon rely removed every tallic object from his body, stored anything necessary inside the system inventory, and slipped through effortlessly.

Even now, he still couldn't confirm whether "Lieutenant Ron" was already under surveillance.

Better safe than sorry.

Inside the city, he disguised himself as an unshaven civilian.

The military uniform was absolutely unusable.

Walking openly through the streets, nobody recognized him.

Abe's laboratory remained in the sa location as before.

But this ti…

He had to infiltrate it.

Just as he cracked his knuckles and began scouting the area, he rounded the rear side of the building–

–and suddenly found himself face-to-face with two enormous…

…uh, sweaters.

"Where exactly are you staring, pervert?"

A voice as lifeless as a dead fish drifted toward him.

"I noticed you ages ago."

Beneath the white lab coat was a white sweater, an office skirt, and thick black tights covering her legs.

A fluffy winter hat completely concealed her ears.

Aside from those dead-fish eyes…

She actually looked pretty good.

Honestly.

"So…" Charon sighed. "When exactly did you notice ?"

"My drones have been monitoring the immigration zone the whole ti. The mont you appeared, I got the alert."

"…Then why didn't you say sothing?"

"Because I wanted to see how you planned to sneak in."

She tilted her head slightly.

"I'll generously give you eighty points."

"…Barely passing?"

"No. The full score is one hundred fifty."

"You fail."

"…?"