That was a lot of familiar faces.
Dmitry was one thing, but behind him was Yuri, Sokolov, the soldiers they saved, and—
"Major Alexandr Degtyarev," the last one to arrive announced himself. No smile, no hand offered, only his narrowed eyes. "We'll have a few questions for you, Mr. Konrad Halstadt."
Hah. Figures.
But at least he didn't start by shooting, as the parallel brain suggested.
Who would still not make a sound.
And judging from the Captain's behavior—
"We made it through the blockade. Somehow," he panted, cutting the last of the ropes restraining him. "But the voices have long shut up, and here I thought—"
"Nope, I'm fine," Konrad claimed, rubbing life back into his wrist. "All fine, actually."
Better than he'd ever been since they arrived at the Zone, but—
The parallel brain's last warning was that someone might have read their minds. And after he went through all the trouble to play that scientist, he didn't want his secrets to leak like that.
"I have some news, and we'd better hurry up before Strelok learns of them, too," he said instead.
And ran into the first hurdle as soon as they left that holding cell.
"Shit. Any idea which way to go?" he muttered, scanning the endless corridors.
They must have been somewhere in the under-levels of that infamous Power Plant.
And while he expected a high-tech lab doing high-tech lab things here in secret—
It was in a more sorry state than X-16 or any other place they had visited so far.
"The brain had at least a vague idea about the layout, but now that he's gone—"
"So he is gone?" Dmitry muttered, flanking him with his weapon loaded. "What happened?"
Konrad let out a long sigh first, trying to figure out what to do next.
"Not sure, but—it felt like he had a revelation and went crazy mad."
That was the only way he could describe it.
And it had something to do with this Lady Origin, for sure.
The one these barbarians tore apart to study, before putting her back together. And the one the brain somehow remembered as Paula Streletsky, aka Strelok's twin.
They couldn't be the same now, could they?
Like, his parallel brain and that woman—
No. Whatever the case, Konrad had more urgent questions to deal with right now.
Like—his Geiger counter crackled the moment he took a step forward.
"Shit," he muttered, looking back at all the people trailing him in the dark. "We're inside the CNPP, after all. Do we have enough Crystals for everyone?"
He knew he had his Bubble, and Dmitry should have been set for life, too, but—
"We do," Yuri grumbled, eyeing him with suspicion. "Picked up a bunch from that farmhouse."
Ugh. And while he didn't announce it outright like the Major—
Konrad had a hunch he wanted to ask him a few questions as well.
How much did he remember? He couldn't even ask the brain about it now, and—
Damn it. They still didn't move an inch forward.
"Focus," he grunted to himself before raising his voice. "Let's go and find this hidden lab."
On their way, he also offered a short explanation of how they split up with Strelok, what he learned from Null, and—
"He kept saying that their research was almost done, so we'd better hurry."
"Do you think they, like, recaptured your parallel brain?" Dmitry pondered, breathing down his neck as they finally ran. "He did mention something about the pressure building, and stuff."
"Yeah," Konrad said. "But I doubt that's what happened."
It seemed more like he up and left on his own to find someone or something.
What, why, and where? Konrad hadn't got the slightest idea.
But if anything, it seemed voluntary, and—
"That said, we're better off not guessing, or we could tip off another similar brain here."
Not to mention, all this talking stopped him from concentrating on the subtle traces of mana.
Rather than taking off in a random direction, he was trying to follow a trail.
Any hint he could find. Anomalies the Monolith used to take shortcuts? The residual essence this scientist had dragged behind? Anything that could resemble a trapped magic user, or—
"Their lab must be close, but I can't feel a thing," Konrad grumbled, cursing his senses.
Why couldn't he develop a Mana Sight like Lily or Maou Midori?
He figured that if they were here, they would have found Strelok's sister within seconds.
And, well, Strelok himself.
Was he even alive?
He couldn't tell since the brain fell silent. He was the one connecting this entire team as well. And if they lost Lucifer's puppet, when he was the whole reason to come here—
An explosion rattled the corridor.
They didn't even hear a sound, meaning it had to have happened far away, but—
Given the heavy, concrete structure, it had to be pretty serious to make them feel it regardless.
"Strelok?" Dmitry froze, pushing his ear against the cold, bare wall.
"Or the lab itself," Yuri guessed, clutching the shotgun he still carried.
And as if to answer, all their PDAs started beeping at once.
The familiar sound before a lengthier warning Sidorovich would give them.
"Attention, Stalkers. My sensors are all lit up as we speak. An Emission is coming, and it might be the largest we have ever recorded. So you know the drill. Take cover and stay there until—"
The message cut off, right as another explosion shook the Power Plant.
No. At this point, it was more of an earthquake, non-stop rumbling as it did before the last big Blowout. And that one happened after they took down the Brain Scorcher, so—
"Hah," Sokolov grunted, shaking his PDA. "Take cover he says. We're already underground."
Konrad took a glance at his device, too, the screen remaining dead.
"But if this whole Emission thing originates from here," Dmitry said, voice trailing off.
Yeah. And what even caused it?
Strelok? The brain?
Or Null had finally made it to his lab and was trying to mess with Lady Origin?
Were they better off hurrying closer towards it, or turning around, and—
'Come here,' a voice demanded. 'You all must come—to where all your wishes may come true.'
Konrad froze. What the hell was even that?
Only two things were obvious. It wasn't the same voice as the parallel brain's, and—
"D-did you hear that, too?" the soldiers trailing behind muttered, looking paler than before.
"Ugh. This pressure," Yuri gritted out, too, hands wrapping around his bald head.
'Come. Hurry. Your most secret wishes await.'
And forget the pressure; the voice itself became louder as the rumbling intensified.
Konrad acted on instinct, shielding himself from the Psyonic waves.
Dmitry seemed to be more or less fine, too, wearing his Dampener ever since. As did Sokolov and the Major. But those soldiers and Yuri? They were about to collapse.
Eyes rolled back into their skulls, and—
'Why try to resist, when this is where you always wanted to be? All you have to do is claim your dreams, and they'll be yours. Come to me. You all must—NOW.'
As if someone had flipped a switch, the rescued aircrew stopped writhing on the ground.
Instead, they started running as if nothing else mattered, and—
Even Konrad, with all the effort he put into his mental shield, could feel that intense pull.
'Come. You know you want it. Come now. Come all.'
And yeah. There was no resisting it.
Someone was taking over.