Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 136
As Joshua descended the steep stairs underground, it felt as though he were walking down a path leading to the deepest recesses of his memory. The place was dark and deep, yet quiet and warm, like a mother’s womb. He recalled the first time he visited this grand research facility as a young, bewildered child. Kester had personally shown him every corner, both above and below ground. After the tour, Kester had held his hand as they walked up this very emergency passage. “Remember, Joshua, if you ever encounter danger in the underground lab, use this passage to escape.” Back then, Kester had been much taller, and Joshua had to stretch his arm as far as it would go to grasp his brother’s hand.
Now, he had returned, walking the same path but in the opposite direction.
The darkness enveloped Joshua, and each step he took seemed to lead him further into the abyss of his memories. Every corner of this place bore Kester’s mark; the walls, the ceiling, and the stairs all silently recounted the past, so loud in their recollections that it nearly drove him mad.
A hand grabbed him from behind.
Joshua reflexively reached for his gun, but in the next instant, his hand was firmly held. The cold metal of the grip snapped him out of his memories and back to reality.
“…Alois?”
“You look really off.” Alois looked at him with concern. “What’s wrong? What are you afraid of?”
“…Just nervous, that’s all.” Joshua’s mouth felt dry. He holstered his gun. “Let’s go. The first auxiliary control room is just ahead. We can rest there for a bit. According to Captain Yutz’s records, he activated the defense system when he fled the lab, which completely shut down the central control room. It will take me some time to reopen it.” He patted Alois’s hand to assure him he was fine. For some reason, a few steps away, Casper was watching him with a look of intrigued amusement.
The emergency passage continued downward, ending at a steel gate. This gate was controlled by the central computer and would automatically open in the event of a crisis in the facility. It couldn’t be opened from the outside unless the facility’s owner issued a special command.
Now, the owner of the facility stood before the gate. Embedded in the center of the gate was a contact panel. Joshua removed his spacesuit glove and placed his right hand on the panel. Infrared light immediately scanned his fingerprints and retina. The scanned data was transmitted at the speed of light to the central computer, where it was compared with stored records. Out of the hundreds of billions of records, one matched the visitor’s data perfectly: Joshua Salaregia, younger brother of Kester Salaregia, the facility’s previous owner. Following Kester’s recorded death, according to Old Earth law, Joshua had become the new owner of the facility.
“Verification complete. Name: Joshua Salaregia. Status: Intern at Euclid Laboratory, highest authority holder of the Salaregia Research Facility.”
The gate opened in response.
Joshua turned and said, “All clear, let’s go.”
Alois clicked his tongue. “Highest authority holder, huh? Sounds impressive…” His words were cut off as he froze, staring in terror at something behind Joshua, unable to make a sound.
“What is it?” Joshua asked, puzzled, as he turned to look into the first auxiliary control room beyond the gate—then he too froze.
He saw himself.
Standing before the giant computer in the control room was Joshua as he had been at fourteen, staring back at him across the vast chasm of time. It was indeed the face from his memories, bearing the youthful awkwardness of adolescence, with hair meticulously tied back in imitation of his brother. The boy’s eyes shone like an eclipse, and in those clear eyes, Joshua saw his own reflection.
Alois and Casper were dumbstruck. They had been prepared to encounter a horde of robots, alien monsters, or even the Duke’s men when the door opened. But nothing could have prepared them for this—a younger version of Joshua standing behind the door. “Is this… a hologram? Or… a real person?”
The young Joshua solemnly began to walk toward them, his footsteps echoing through the control room, slow and deliberate, like a member of a funeral procession, carrying a deep sense of regret.
Joshua gripped his gun but didn’t know whether to draw it. What on earth was he seeing?
As he hesitated, the boy’s body turned into a mist that slowly rose and coalesced into another human shape. This figure was tall, dressed in a white lab coat, with silver hair cascading over his shoulders and eyes as dark as night—apart from that, he looked almost exactly like Joshua!
“Kes…Kester!”
Joshua’s voice was almost a groan. A choking pain seized his chest, as if an invisible hand had tightened around his heart. He realized he was crying, but when the tears ran down his cheeks, he couldn’t tell if they were tears of overwhelming joy or screams of terror.
Kester extended his hand toward him, as if inviting him closer, or perhaps to caress his cheek.
Everything was exactly as it was in his memories.
“No—!” Joshua screamed as he drew his gun, shoving Alois back as he fired. He couldn’t let Alois get hurt!
The laser beam passed through Kester’s body as though it were a stone dropped into a pond, rippling through him.
With all his strength, Joshua shouted, “Watch out! It’s the Yasha!”
The ripples on Kester’s form spread wider, and then his entire body turned back into mist. This time, the mist didn’t coalesce into a human figure but instead transformed into a nearly three-meter-tall monstrous humanoid. Its skeletal structure and muscles were made of steel, glinting silver-gray under the control room lights. Crimson veins crisscrossed its body, wrapping around its steel frame like a blood-red map. Transparent feathers covered its shoulders, extending from its ribs down to its ankles like icy wings. Its head was a multifaceted prism, each face smooth and gleaming, reflecting an imposing and inviolable light. On that head were two irregular holes—its eyes—burning with a fiery red glow, as if molten lava smoldered within.
The creature—Yasha—slowly walked toward them, as if it had traversed endless ages and epochs to finally arrive at this moment.
It stopped in front of Joshua, opening what could only be described as a mouth, and emitted a strange sound—a blend of sharp, clashing swords and grinding metal, yet with a distinct rhythm and melody.
It roared. It laughed. It howled. It sang. It screamed.
This was the Yasha, a being that transcended all time and space, the ultimate killing machine designed to annihilate humanity.
Confronted with its true form, Joshua found himself too paralyzed with fear to even pull the trigger. In the reflective surface of the Yasha’s head, he saw his own reflection—small and insignificant, less than an ant.
He saw his own end.
The Yasha reached out its arm, covered in spikes, its five fingers as sharp as blades, capable of slicing through metal with ease. Joshua expected those razor-sharp claws to pierce his heart, but to his surprise, the Yasha merely brushed his cheek, leaving a shallow cut. Blood seeped out and dripped onto its claws.
In the span of a single breath, the Yasha vanished.
The control room was empty, except for the three terrified humans. Even the strange sounds had stopped, leaving only the hum of the giant computer.
Joshua felt all his strength drain away, his gun slipping from his grasp and clattering to the floor, but he had no will to retrieve it.
Was that just… a hallucination?
His cheek still stung. When he touched it, his hand came away covered in blood.
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