Blame! Page #2

Thanks for sharing your food with us.

Normally we'd be the ones feeding you...

but as you can see,

we're nearly out of food.

Hey.

Where did you get that thing?

Two hundred levels

- below.

- Two hundred?

So, we can't go get more.

This place is protected by the perimeter,

but there's nowhere inside

where we can get food.

So, we Electro-Fishers go out

and get sludge to bring back.

I'm the leader of the Electro-Fishers.

But the hunting grounds near here

have all dried up

and we have to go out farther.

Each time, friends of ours get killed,

leaving us with fewer and fewer Fishers.

So, even the children...

Here. Come in.

That food is amazing.

- Wonder where he got something like that.

- Yeah.

And that weapon. To think it could

cut through even an Exterminator's body.

6,000 levels below.

I wonder if he came all that way

all alone.

Who knows.

I wonder how many more humans there are.

Maybe there are other villages

like this one.

There might be.

I can't even imagine it.

How far do you think this city stretches?

Why does the Safeguard exterminate humans?

I've never even thought about that.

We really don't know anything.

So, according to Zuru, you took out

four Exterminators at once.

It would really help to have

someone skilled like you around.

Would you consider staying here

for a while to help us hunt?

I'm... looking for humans with...

the Net Terminal Gene.

Net Termi...?

What's that?

All humans had it...

before the contagion.

Before the contagion.

You're talking about a time

when the city belonged to humans.

It's said the Builders

and the Safeguard followed

the humans' orders back then.

Such an ancient legend.

What's that supposed to mean?

The city belonging to humans.

Are you saying that if we had

that Net Terminal Gene thing

we could stop the Safeguard?

Not only that,

we could give orders to the Builders

and make them stop building on their own.

We could stop the expansion of the city.

Whoa.

But there's no way

there's anything like that here.

Well...

I've actually heard of it before.

That Net Terminal thing.

I'd long since forgotten about it...

but hearing him speak of it reminded me.

I know I've heard that phrase before,

a long time ago.

But where?

Right below this village.

A place inside the perimeter,

but we've been told for generations

not to go near it.

You don't mean... the Rotting Shrine?

My Gran always told me never to go near it

because there's a ghost there

scarier than the Safeguard.

Sutezo. Do you really believe that?

Hey, you!

Right below...

the village.

He's planning to go there.

Sutezo, follow him.

- Tell him to wait. I'll show him the way.

- Right.

I'm going, too!

Hurry.

Gran said...

that if you go near the Rotting Shrine,

a stranger interrupts your communications

and their voice can control you

like a puppet.

Quit telling stories.

My own great-grandfather

fell to his death because of that...

according to Gran.

Over there.

- What's that?

- Look!

Net...

terminal...

connection.

I...

Cibo.

Come out.

Is someone there?

I've waited for so long.

It talked.

I've been calling for help all this time,

but no one came.

It was so long, until you came.

I waited for 17 million

526 thousand hours.

What's your name?

Killy.

I'm Cibo.

I'm a scientist.

Nice to meet you, Killy.

So, a scientist

really did survive.

That's a Gravitational

Beam Emitter, right?

Quite an impressive gun.

That's the one technology

that even we couldn't re-create.

Where did you find it?

I don't know about the gun.

There are vestiges of the contagion

in your irises.

You... don't have the Net Terminal Gene.

What sort of stupid thing is that to say?

Of course I don't.

Do you know

any humans who have the Net Terminal Gene?

If there were any humans like that,

then this city would have been

made functional again ages ago.

But I've got something good.

Killy, take me to the automated factory.

Automated factory?

What's that?

Who knows.

If you take me to the automated factory,

I'll make you a synthetic terminal

that has the same effect

as the Net Terminal Gene.

You don't believe me, do you?

But it's true.

That thing there...

that's actually the wreckage

of a synthetic terminal that I made.

There's a connection port beneath it.

When we found a connection port

to the NetSphere here,

we surrounded the area with an electric

barrier to keep the Safeguard

from invading, and started experiments.

To keep the Safeguard from invading?

The experiments were successful.

We got all the way

to the entrance to the Authority.

But then we were found

by their defense mechanisms...

and you can see what happened.

Did you... communicate with the Authority?

No, we couldn't.

But we analyzed information

coming through the counter-current

and found a channel we can use to get in.

So, given another chance,

I can definitely succeed.

I have no idea...

what she's talking about.

Hey, you!

Yes?

Just now,

you said you did something to keep

the Safeguard from invading, right?

Does that mean you set up this perimeter?

That's right.

- How exactly did you do a thing like that?

- Killy, move that rubble out of the way.

That's an electric barrier generator

I made.

Thanks to that, we ran our experiments

- without interruptions from the Safeguard.

- Connect?

If you can do that,

you can give orders to the city?

That's right.

Long ago, all humans had

the Net Terminal Gene

and they could all do it.

I can't believe it.

How could humans do a thing like that?

But it's true, they really could.

We tried to re-create that ability

artificially using machines.

To stop the city running wild.

If we go to the automated factory

I can make another terminal.

Come on, Killy.

Your goal is the same as mine, isn't it?

You want to bring the city back

under human control, right?

Yes.

Then it's decided.

Let's go right away!

Hey, wait.

Where is this automated factory thing?

In a section far east of here.

About 15 blocks away.

Fifteen blocks.

That'd take two or three days.

Could we help as well?

- Pops.

- Sutezo.

What these people are trying to do

might end up saving our village.

Did you really believe all of that?

Either way, things are growing worse

in the village.

It won't be long before we make a decision

to leave the perimeter

or stay inside and starve.

So... don't you think it's worth

taking a chance?

That may be so...

but if we go east for 15 blocks...

the batteries in our gear probably

won't even last long enough...

and we can't get that far

without being caught by the Safeguard.

All the more reason.

No matter how strong this man is,

there's no guarantee that even he

could reach that far alone.

But if we can help him, even a little...

True. It might be better

to have more people with us.

But we'll need to take food

along for the trip

and there's already so little left.

At the automated factory

we can make anything.

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