Chop, chop, chop…
The crisp sound of chopping vegetables echoed through the forest.
A purple-haired girl with her hair tied in a ponytail was cutting vegetables under the shade of a tree, holding a kitchen knife.
These vegetables were native plants of this world. Thousands of years after humanity's extinction, this forest had no human interference, and both wild animals and plants returned to a purely natural development.
Several androids took advantage of Takatsuki and his companions' rest to gather a lot of ingredients, and also hunted and dissected, bringing back a good amount of wild boar meat.
And these preparations were solely because of the orders from the one they called the Matriarch.
A figure approached the girl who was cutting vegetables, gently wrapped his arms around her slender waist, pecked her on the cheek, and softly said, "Good morning."
Mei was wearing a nightgown with an apron tied over it. Takatsuki's hands reached into the apron, embracing her waist, his warm palms resting on her lower abdomen. Through the thin nightgown, she could feel the warmth emanating from his hands, and coupled with his moist breath in her ear, it made her feel exceptionally at ease, even wanting to stop and savor this moment of tranquility.
"Morning. Why are you up so early?"
Mei had woken up earlier than usual to make breakfast for Takatsuki, not expecting Takatsuki to also wake up shortly after her.
"The person next to me isn't here, so there's no point in lying in bed anymore."
Takatsuki lowered his head and rested his chin on Mei's shoulder. Mei also cooperatively turned her head, and the two kissed.
From the awkwardness of a few days ago to the present familiarity, the tenderness in that kiss remained unchanged from beginning to end.
Her lips, like her personality, were neither passionate nor cold, making one unable to help but indulge in them.
It was like a cup of warm sugar water, clear with a hint of sweetness, refreshing and pleasant.
Feeling those warm, soft lips, the two finally separated after a long while. Feeling the slightly hurried breathing of the person in front of him, whose face was slightly flushed, Takatsuki gently pecked her on the forehead.
"You were amazing last night."
Under a distant tree, three white-haired figures stood there watching the scene.
"Are they like this every day?"
9S asked, looking at the two who were already showing off their affection early in the morning.
"Pretty much."
"Is this what humans recorded as a married couple?"
9S couldn't understand. Although he had emotions, he didn't have this concept.
"It's love."
2B suddenly spoke. Although she always appeared very cold, in reality, among the androids present, she was the most emotional. She had merely been restraining herself with talk of duty and missions.
But now, those things were no longer there.
"Love…"
9S looked at 2B in confusion: "2B, should we try it too?"
"No."
Daily display of affection 1/1
Only after Takatsuki and Mei finished their display of affection and breakfast did 9S walk over.
"Takatsuki, it's almost time."
Looking at 9S, the android boy no longer wore his blindfold. In fact, whether they wore a blindfold or not didn't affect them much.
"Are you ready?"
"I'm ready. I've already packaged the truth about the YoRHa project, the evolution of Machine Lifeforms, and information about the aliens. All that's left is for you to help, Takatsuki, and once this information is synchronized with the Bunker, we can invade it instantly."
9S chattered on, "At the same time, let 2B transmit to the Bunker via the black box. With your ability, Takatsuki, the anomaly on 2B won't be detected by the black box. Once 2B arrives at the Bunker, she can seize control of it before the Human Council reacts."
"Alright, then let's begin."
Looking at 2B, who had put her blindfold back on, she had returned to her original attire.
Upon receiving Takatsuki's command, she and Pod 042 immediately ran towards the nearest black box.
Takatsuki also took out the Jizo Mitama.
"Takatsuki, please be gentle. You were too rough yesterday."
Yesterday, after 9S learned that 2B was not dead, he accepted Takatsuki's invasion and formulated a series of plans to invade the Bunker.
Takatsuki stretched out his hand and plunged the Jizo Mitama into 9S's body. He immediately sat down on the chair beneath him.
Gripping the Jizo Mitama, and with 9S's hacking ability and the help of Pod 153, 9S began uploading data to the connection to the Bunker.
With the Pod's guarantee, 9S's actions were not suspected.
In just a few tens of seconds, the invasion began to take root in the Bunker.
Space - Bunker
At this time, the Bunker was still conducting its daily communications.
21O, 9S's operator, was naturally responsible for 9S's data synchronization.
"9S has started data synchronization. Synchronization rate 10%."
At this moment, the Bunker had no idea what they were about to face—a dimensionality reduction attack from another world.
As stated in Elysian Realm, for this data, the power of the invasion was like a god. Although it was not the invasion itself present, the power of the Divine Key themselves was also very exaggerated.
Suddenly, a red warning light appeared on the Bunker's main screen.
"What's happening?!"
The Commander was momentarily stunned by the sudden change.
A flame-like icon replaced the original Human Council logo on the screen.
"Commander! A virus has invaded the Bunker's server!"
"What?! Disconnect the network immediately!"
Although a judgment was made at the first sign, the discovery itself was already too late. The power of the invasion had already spread through the YoRHa network to every YoRHa unit.
"Unable to disconnect!"
"How can this be? Such powerful hacking ability. Is it a Machine Lifeform?"
To this day, the YoRHa still didn't know who had hacked into their server, but they knew that their fate was now in the hands of the other party.
But what was strange was that, so far, their logic and memories had not been tampered with.
Just then, the door to the Command Center opened.
"2B, run!"
Seeing 2B walk in, the Commander quickly said. Although she knew it was too late, she still uttered the words.
"No need. The data should have been transmitted."
Hearing 2B's words, the Commander was somewhat startled: "Are you saying…"
Mid-sentence, the Commander discovered that something new had appeared in her local database.
"What is this?!"
"The truth of YoRHa?"
"Humanity has long been extinct? The Human Council is fake!?"
Before the Commander could even look at the data, the communicators below had already revealed the contents of the data through their exclamations.
Exposed…
This was the Commander's only thought. She quickly checked the contents of her database and found that this truth had many differences from what she knew.
As the Commander, and the only android in YoRHa not modified with a Machine Lifeform core, she knew many truths, such as the fact that humanity had long been extinct.
But to give the androids a reason and motivation to fight, she also chose to conceal it.
Yet, even she had never imagined that the purpose of YoRHa's creation was to be sacrificed.