"C'mon, let's go, Adam."
Yoku stood up, strapping the cooking pot to his enormous backpack. Adam still couldn't wrap his head around how Yoku carried something that size so effortlessly.
They continued exploring the vast, unknown building. The deeper they went, the larger the corridors seemed to grow. Long halls stretched before them, flanked by old bookshelves—some completely bare, others filled with tattered books crumbling from the weight of time.
Wires littered the floor, tangling across their path like vines, all leading toward something unseen ahead.
Without warning, Yoku flung out his arm, stopping Adam mid-step by smacking him in the gut.
"Ow—what was that fo—"
Adam's voice caught as a horrible stench hit him like a wall. It was worse than rotten eggs, worse than anything he'd ever smelled. His eyes watered. His stomach churned.
"AHHH—!" he gagged, stumbling backward and shielding his face, nearly vomiting as he glimpsed the source.
It was a body.
Or something like one.
Twisted. Emaciated. Sunken skin clung to bones like paper.
Yoku stayed silent, wearing his goggles.
Adam stared in disbelief. This wasn't like the horror games he'd played. There was no music cue, no respawn, no fake jumpscare. This was real. The kind of horror that crawled under your skin and stayed there.
A cold emptiness crept into his chest. This wasn't an adventure anymore. This world was truly... dead.
He stepped forward slowly.
"Wait!!" Yoku barked, a rare hint of panic in his voice. "Don't get close. You'll die."
Adam stopped, confused. "What do you mean? Just from smelling it?"
Yoku's voice sharpened. "All of my friends who tried that—died. Don't be stupid."
Adam hesitated. "Unless there's a pathogen or something, you don't just drop dead from—"
"Are you seriously doing this right now?" Yoku snapped, exasperated.
But Adam stepped closer.
The figure on the ground looked like a woman—or what remained of one. Her ribs were visible through torn, bruised skin. Her limbs were thin, fragile, like she hadn't eaten in weeks. Water pooled beneath her, soaking into old papers and books.
And then her fingers twitched.
Adam's eyes widened. "Wait… she's alive!"
Yoku didn't move. He stayed silent, staring.
"Leave her," he finally muttered. "We might get caught. I can't handle three people. Not now."
"What? But you saved me—when I fell!"
"I didn't save you," Yoku said quietly. "You saved yourself. I only helped."
Adam stepped between him and the woman. "So… if I was dying, you wouldn't help me?"
Silence.
Then, Yoku's hand drifted to his pocket. A faint click of metal. He looked away, too tired to think. He just wanted to ignore it.
Adam looked back at the barely breathing woman, jaw tight.
"You're contradicting yourself… It's the right thing to do…"
Yoku let out a long breath. "Fine… we'll save her."
—
Yoku threw some towels to Adam as he tried to clean her off, giving her some clothes. Both of them averted their eyes. When they were done, Yoku somehow knew how to make an unconscious person eat and drink something.
Adam carried her on his back—Yoku was already burdened with gear—and they continued their journey, waiting for her to wake.
Adam had a thought.
"Why was I so adamant about saving her…? Now I'm feeling empty again."
He sighed, remembering his time on Earth, watching pirated manga on sketchy websites. A part of him always knew it was wrong. But something—habit, addiction—kept pulling him back.
Even when there were pop-ups and ads everywhere, even explicit ones he continues to read, even when it degraded him…
"What right do I have to even talk about doing the right thing…?"
The thought disappeared as the environment turned hot and humid.
They continued walking. The wires and cords grew larger and more numerous—sprawling along the ground and walls. The space narrowed. Adam's eyes widened as they came across a massive computer—integral hardware the size of a house, still humming, still alive.
"What is this…?"
Yoku stared, mesmerized. "Hahh, I can't believe it. So this is what ancient humans built long ago…"
Giant walls of screens stacked atop one another. A control system rested in the center.
Adam touched the cold decaying interface.
[こんにちは世界]
(Konnichiwa Sekai)
[Hello, World]
Suddenly, text blinked onto the screen, followed by a robotic voice. It responded to human touch, the ai voice was buzzing and some windows were malfunctioning
[Date: 2671, April 23 — 20 years of inactive passive maintenance. Processing initiated.]
Yoku lit up. "Woah, another human! Adam!"
[Incorrect. I am an Autonomous Artificial Maker—A.M. I maintain the lower stratum of this city, specifically the 8th floor.]
Adam stepped forward, curious. "What happened here? Why are there so few humans in this city?"
He couldn't understand it. A city this big should hold millions. He'd only met three people so far.
[Human warfare. Lack of resources led to competition. Cellular degradation, corruption, and planetary instability resulted in the mass extinction of the human race.]
Adam blinked. He had read about this… but not like this.
Yoku just kept staring, lost in thought.
[Even if war was avoided, Earth's instability and the degradation of DNA would have eventually wiped out all life. Evolution, after all, has its limits.]
They stood in silence.
"Can you explain?" Adam asked, dreading the answer.
**[Earth's natural systems began collapsing centuries ago. The magnetic field weakened. Tectonic plate movement slowed. Energy from the sun and core no longer sustained life.
Recent studies discovered that human zygotes and gametes also began to decay—raising questions about cellular aging, and why even reproductive cells were dying. Evolution cannot prevent entropy forever.]**
Adam sat on a broken wall, staring at his clenched hands.
"Why am I even alive here…? Why do I keep wanting to survive?"
Even if someone discovered immortality… we all still die eventually.
A slap on the back broke the moment.
"Hey," Yoku said, smiling, "why worry about something that doesn't affect you right now?"
Then he turned to the computer. "Hey AI, or AM or whatever—can you open the gates to the upper stratum?"
[Doing so will accelerate the decay of this city. My purpose is to preserve its function for as long as possible.]
"So you won't do it?"
The camera sensor above them gleamed.
[I will. Human life is priority.
"May… you… find… new… li—⟦##█▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒]
With that, the logs slowed down and the energy of the system slowed and stop with that the computer powered down completely.
The ground shakes for a money as if there was something moving on the ground
Adam sprang up. "Did you just destroy a city!?"
"Ehh?" Yoku smirked, cheekily. "This part of the city's already dead. No food. Just military wastelands and drained fuel systems. We'd die staying here."
"But! You can't just make that decision on a whim!"
"What the AI said—life is the most important thing after all."
Adam hits his head "Hypocrite" -_-
What even is life?
He cant believe this… 'why am I feeling empathy over a machine dying'
adam thought what if he was a machine would he be conscious, if he was…wouldn't it be better instead? Living for a thousand years if parts were renewed, and extremely intelligence.