Sunny and his soldiers entered the fortified settlement, happy to hide from the blizzard behind its thick walls. There, they saw teams of Awakened soldiers walking between buildings as they patrolled the territory. All of them looked tense and tired.
Master Verne led them deeper into the complex, giving a wide berth to the central dome-like structure. His gait was steady and confident.
"I have around a hundred Awakened under my command, as well as close to a thousand mundane soldiers. There are about five hundred scientists and civilian staff members under our protection. Things were going fine until recently… but, as you can imagine, all of us can't wait to get away from the ocean."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"...Were going fine?"
Verne grimaced.
"Yes. Several Gates manifested nearby, but our garrison and defenses were more than enough to keep the Nightmare Creatures away. However… there have already been instances of people succumbing to the Spell within the walls. We suffered a few casualties because of that."
He lingered for a moment, and then asked:
"How is the situation outside?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Pretty bleak, but more or less under control. Don't worry… we scouted a good path through the mountains on the way here. Leading a convoy back shouldn't be impossible. There is just one problem…"
Verne stopped and looked at him with a somber expression.
"The communications? You lost contact with Army Command too?"
Sunny blinked.
"Yeah. Wait, too? You're cut off from the army network as well?
The local Ascended remained silent for a second, then nodded.
"All communications ceased around forty-three minutes ago. We have failed to establish a new connection, for now."
Sunny frowned. He could reluctantly accept that the Rhino lacked the ability to pierce through the growing interference field enveloping Antarctica. However, a facility like LO49 should have had an immensely powerful communication array. If even they could not connect to the outside world…
'Something is very wrong here.'
He did not know the reason for that sudden blackout, but just the consequences of not being in contact with Army Command were troublesome. They were supposed to check in with Master Jet and receive further instructions after reaching their destination.
Sunny glanced at Verne.
"That is really weird. Uh, no offense, but… a remote research facility in the middle of nowhere, suddenly losing contact with the outside world as we approach it… it's all a bit creepy. This blackout wouldn't have anything to do with what the scientists are doing here, would it?"
The tall Ascended smiled with the corner of his mouth.
"I can see how you would think that. However, let me assure you, the research being conducted in this installation is perfectly safe. I am not much of a scientist myself, but what they do here is purely theoretical. There are no practical experiments being conducted at the premises, so there's nothing that could have gone wrong.
The worst that could have happened is someone making a mistake on a spreadsheet and being reprimanded by the old man."
Sunny studied his face, found it sufficiently sincere, and shrugged.
"Well, if you say so. The old man you mentioned is the VIP I am supposed to deliver to safety?"
Verne nodded.
"Yes, the chief researcher. He is a bit eccentric, but means well… most of the time. I was about to introduce you to him."
Sunny sighed.
"Lead the way, then. But we should probably solve the communication problem before that."
Sunny didn't like being blind, and becoming cut off from Army Command was similar to losing his sight. Without the information about what was happening throughout the Antarctic Center, he felt more vulnerable than he would have preferred.
Neither the Rhino nor the communication center of this research facility were currently able to establish a connection with the outside world, but there were other ways to achieve what he wanted. They were Awakened, after all, and Awakened were free to travel between two worlds.
Even if hundreds or thousands of kilometers separated him and his cohort from Army Command and the other cohorts of the First Irregular Company, out there in the Dream Realm, that distance did not matter.
As long as two Awakened were anchored to the same Citadel and visited it at the same time, they could freely exchange information even if the technological means of communication had broken down in the real world.
Knowing that, he glanced at Verne and asked a very important question:
"What's the status in this place?"
Verne hesitated.
"It was green forty-three minutes ago."
Of course, with no Army Command, there would be no updates on the condition of Gate interference and the potency of the Call surrounding the base. However, Awakened — and especially Masters — could make a judgment on that matter themselves. They were the ones affected by the Call, after all.
It's just that their personal senses were not as precise as the complex calculations and observation data provided by the headquarters. That was why Army Command had issued a recommendation to only trust the verified status updates.
Verne was someone who liked to do things by the book, it seemed.
Sunny closed his eyes and listened to the whispers of the Call. They were so faint as to be almost nonexistent. Nothing appeared to have changed in the past forty-three minutes.
He opened his eyes.
"...Should still be green. Luster, Samara, and Kim. Go get some sleep and find out what the hell happened. Try to get information from Colonel Jet herself or one of our captains, if you can. We were supposed to receive more detailed orders, anyway."
With that, he would be able to find out more about the situation in about eight hours. Considering that Sunny had to guide a convoy containing more than a thousand people to a siege capital, he needed to know as much as he could about the condition of their supposed route.
Verne nodded.
"You can bunk in that building over there. The sleeping pods we have here are rather nice."
The rest of the cohort followed him into another building, where they entered an elevator and descended underground. Soon, Sunny found himself in a spacious chamber that resembled a lecture hall. There, an extremely old man in a white lab coat was discussing something with a young assistant.
Verne cleared his throat, attracting his attention.
"Professor, this is Master Sunless. He will be in charge of getting you out of here."
Then, he glanced at Sunny and added in a subdued tone:
"Master Sunless, this is the chief researcher of LO49. Professor Obel…"