The Originium Research Institute—at this point—was essentially an industrial remnant: it still existed, but with the Union personnel long since withdrawn and the equipment steadily aging, it saw almost no real use anymore.
Bai Ling had only gotten inside because he accidentally triggered a mechanism.
As for the little dragon girl, she'd heard the disturbance and—worried that Erosion was spreading all through the institute—came out to patrol. She hadn't expected that patrol to lead straight into colliding with Bai Ling.
She'd originally meant to simply escort him back out, but then…
Meanwhile, the little penguin and the others had only managed to enter because they repaired the generator and restored partial power to some systems.
"I've told you everything. That's basically what happened…"
Bai Ling spread his hands, emphasizing his innocence. Whether it was truly innocence…
Perlica could only stare at him with a distinctly odd look, then turn her gaze to the dragon girl beside him—who'd been unusually quiet since earlier.
There was still a faint blush lingering on her face.
This dragon girl counted as an old acquaintance of Perlica's. Her name was Yvonne.
And at this moment, Yvonne's mind was in full-blown internal warfare.
She genuinely wanted to dig a hole and bury herself.
If nobody had seen it… what happened earlier could've been written off as an accident.
But—!!
People did see it.
Several people!
Including Supervisor Perlica, whom she liked very, very much!
"…."
While Yvonne was still staring at the floor and mentally imploding, Eyjafjalla walked in first, checked Bai Ling over, and confirmed he wasn't injured.
"…Good. As long as you're alright, Senpai."
The little robot slipped in behind her. It had looked confused at first—but the instant it saw Yvonne, it immediately scooted to her side.
"Ta—Ta—"
The moment it made the sound, even its on-screen expression turned extra cute.
"This is…"
Yvonne's eyes lit up the instant she saw Tatta.
"My precious baby car! What kind of 'guarding' was that owl doing?!"
She was happy—clearly—but she still didn't spare a certain someone with her mouth.
"…Honestly, it's thanks to both Tatta and Teacher Bai Ling on the way here. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to handle the Erosion at all."
Chen Qianyu said it plainly—and with that, the atmosphere immediately thawed.
"Huh?"
Yvonne blinked, then turned to look at the man beside her.
"…It's just a bit of sharp eyesight."
Anyone could tell he was being modest, but Yvonne didn't press it.
"This isn't a good place to talk. Why don't you come inside?"
"Then we'll take you up on it."
And so Yvonne led the way.
The entire institute felt wrong—cold, bleak, and hostile. Stray Riftbreakers wandered the halls, their bodies carrying a nauseatingly strange stench.
Behind shattered glass, a massive primitive block loomed. Bai Ling's eyes sharpened as he studied it.
"…Anyone who can open doors like that probably has control over this place… but living alongside those things—can you really stand it?"
"If we let them out, who knows how much damage and pressure they'd cause. Better to keep them locked in here like this."
This was clearly her home turf. As she spoke, Yvonne's expression carried a trace of pride.
"I know this place inside out. Honestly, it's safer here than even the hub—for me. But letting those things out would harm far more people."
"That's impressive," Bai Ling said sincerely.
He didn't think he could do something like that.
Living alone in a place like this, with those things right next to you—sometimes separated by no more than a wall.
"You get used to it. They look scary, but in practice their controllability is pretty high."
A lift door opened.
Warm light poured in.
And a room completely unlike the outside world appeared before them.
Pink dominated the space. Books were scattered everywhere—messy, but with a lived-in warmth that made it feel unmistakably like home. Most eye-catching was the multi-screen workstation in the center: full prototype schematics and dense logs covered the displays.
Yvonne casually sat at her station.
"…I heard something serious was happening outside… but I didn't think it would make all of you rush here like this…"
Then she looked around.
"…By the way… this person is…?"
Chen Qianyu and Perlica were Endfield personnel she'd met before. Eldera had also been in contact—after all, she was a famous geologist, a master from Rhodes Island. The other girl who looked similar to her was presumably a sister.
That left only the masked little penguin—someone Yvonne didn't recognize.
As for Bai Ling…
Yvonne still hadn't decided how she was supposed to face him, so she tried to… ignore that part for now.
"Yvonne, this is the Administrator. We're here to resolve the crisis in Valley No. 4."
Perlica introduced her seriously, smiling as she spoke—while her eyes kept measuring Yvonne's reaction, as if expecting something.
"What? The Administrator?!"
Yvonne had only just sat down to relax her body. The instant she heard it, she sprang up, strode to the penguin's front, and examined her carefully.
"It's gotten that big?! Even the Administrator came?!"
"…The hyper-domain rift opened above the Hyperdomain Proving Grounds is the most terrifying on record. If it's allowed to develop, the destruction of Valley No. 4 is only a matter of time."
Perlica's voice stayed calm, but the words were heavy.
Beside her, the little penguin scratched her head.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"Tatta can detect erosion cores. When we entered the research zone, it connected to the area scan and now occasionally drops into standby. From Andre, we learned you're Tatta's creator—so we came to visit."
"…Huh?"
Thinking back, Tatta had been lively and energetic around her before. It didn't seem like overload at all…
"I'll need to collect logs and run diagnostics. In the meantime—why don't you all rest for a bit?"
....
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