The narrow hallway barely had enough space for a full-sized adult but for his childish frame, it was wide enough.

It was hard to make out the color of the walls and floor in the dim light but it wouldn’t have been a reach to call it light gray.

The soft light dimly illuminated the boy’s surroundings within a few paces but everything beyond that was enveloped in darkness.

The boy squints, trying to make out the length of the hallway but sees only pitch blackness.

“Dark outside and dark inside. *sighs*. Stuck between two dark places.”

He raises his arms and concentrates, feeling the tingling sensation of red energy filling his arms.

The glow transfers through his arms and reaches his ring which morphs back into a double-edged black blade.

Armed with his trusty sword the boy advances further into the dark hallway.

Expecting to walk the passage blindly, he is relieved when a few steps forward another soft light automatically switches on above him.

“Of course, the high-tech facility has motion-sensing lights.” He whispers softly.

The light alleviates his tension and he walks on with a quickened pace as more lights periodically switch on and off above and behind him.

A few paces ahead the passage descended into a downward slope with faintly lit stairs leading the path.

*sigh* “Dark and underground, this just keeps getting better and better.”

As he puts his foot down on the step, faint lights activate on it’s opposite ends, illuminating his feet and the next step below.

Adjusting his weight while carrying the hefty blade the boy begins his descent down the stairs.

Each step lights up the steps of the staircase with a soft luminescence that leads his path down into the dark.

On the tenth downward step, he encounters another gate of the same design as the first and surprisingly it slides open automatically when he steps closer.

Ahead of the gate is another identical stairway with the same ambient red light, reaching further down.

“These guys are taking their security pretty seriously but well with the monstrosities around them it makes sense.”

He proceeds down the second stairway.

The heavy sword aches in his arms but he does not dare put it away.

With each step, he expected to run into a furless, bony, overgrown flesh-hungry rat.

However, nothing jumps out at him and he reaches a third gate without any event.

This gate too slides automatically when he draws near but unlike the previous two, it does not reveal another stairway but instead opens into a very brightly lit space.

The boy shields his eyes as he steps into the shining chamber. Bright white light assaults his vision as his eyes adjust from the dim glow of the preceding dark stairway.

Once able to see, he is stunned by the vast open space that seems to stretch beyond his eye’s reach.

The sprawling expanse was lit by the same concealed sources as the stairway, casting a uniform glow that dispelled any shadows.

The air inside was cool and purified, carrying a faint hum of machinery.

“A secret base that’s hidden in plain sight…wow.”

About ten meters in front of him, eight oval white shapes formed an arch around the entrance in a defensive formation. Faint lines flowed along the smooth surfaces of these high-tech shapes, suggesting an ability to expand or change shape.

“Probably a defense system in case of a breach.”

The white ceiling was adorned with countless nozzles that were connected to each other through thin pipes, forming a large network that covered everything below.

Aside from the arches, the polished walls and floor of the vast chamber were devoid of any ornamentation, decoration, and embellishments. The absence of color, pattern, or furnishings made the white walls and floor appear stark and empty.

As the boy’s eyes acclimate to the encompassing light, he sees that the spacious zone is not in fact limitless but is a gigantic rectangular cubicle.

“The whole place is probably more than a hundred meters across.”

He spots another gate at the far end of the chamber and makes his way toward it, dragging the sword behind him.

Along the way, he wondered at the use of such a large chamber.

“Hmm those white shapes are covering the only entrance and there are sprinklers covering every inch of this space even though there’s nothing in here to catch fire. Something tells me those sprinklers aren’t for spraying water.”

This was a containment chamber of some type, designed to keep things from advancing inward.

Which made it even more strange that he was just casually strolling through an advanced alien defense system like he owned the place, or maybe he did?

“Still though what exactly was this place set up to defend against?”

Three of the toughest-looking gates he had ever seen covered the only entrance inside which led directly into a containment chamber with high-tech weaponry and sprinklers that sprayed god knows what.

The place was built to defend against an army.

The gate at the end of the chamber was built like the previous gates he had seen.

“Make that four tough gates, they’ve really geared up for an actual siege here.”

Like the walls and floor, the exterior of the gate was all white and like all the previous gates this one also opened up readily, welcoming him inside.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Inside the gate was a familiar gray hallway with the soft red light that he had seen above.

“They really like this aesthetic, don’t they?”

Light from the large white chamber flowed into the dim hallway reflecting off the gray walls and revealing a silver gate at the end of the passage.

He raises his sword and slowly walks over to the shining silver gate.

As he approaches this gate, he spots some symbols that look like letters engraved on its center upper part.

“Central Control Chamber.”

The boy looks over the symbols, finding them familiar yet strange at the same time. They were completely unlike any linguistic alphabets he had seen back on earth.

Yet, he was able to read them.

“At least I can read. Things would’ve gotten so much more complicated if I had to decipher these hieroglyphs along with everything else.”

However, the question remained. How was he reading these letters?

“Hmm could it be because of this boy’s memories?”

He didn’t have any past memories of the body he was currently inhabiting, almost like this body had just sprouted into existence the moment he had opened his eyes in this world.

Being able to read this alien language suggested that this boy had learned to read at some point in his life and those memories had carried over to him.

“Have I overtaken the original owner of this body….No! not enough information to jump to conclusions like that.”

Putting the dark thought from his mind, he steps close to the gate and it opens up by itself.

The appearance of this central control room went against all conventional designs of his past memories.

The room was fairly large although it didn’t cover half the size of the previous spacious containment chamber.

The layout was minimal with the exception of a big circular table in the middle and white chairs floating beside it. There were two white doors on the left and right ends of the room.

He walks over to one of the floating seats. It seemed to be crafted from some pristine, pearlescent white material.

Hovering gently in the air the chair defied gravity, suspended by some type of anti-gravity technology.

The chair’s seat was contoured in a way as to cradle the body in a balance of comfort and support.

Setting the sword on the table and taking a seat on the fancy-looking sci-fi chair the boy looks at the table in front of him.

The table was made from the same white material as the chair with a sleek and unblemished surface. The edges were subtly beveled in a gentle curvature creating a seamless transition from the tabletop to the underside.

The central portion was recessed forming a cylindrical space that was encircled by the ring-like table.

Just like the surrounding chairs it was suspended in the air without any supporting structure underneath.

On the surface, white semi-circular orbs stuck out at intervals along its circumference.

“Now let's see here….”

He touches one of the orbs and white lines ignite along its edges.

A woman materializes in the empty center of the ring-like table, almost shocking the boy off the chair.

She had white hair that was tied up in a neat bun behind her head and was covered in a white robe that extended down to her nonexistent feet.

Looking at the boy with clear silver eyes she smiles gently.

“Hello, my name is Arya.”

The boy stares back with eyes that almost pop out of their sockets. He tries to answer back but no sound comes out, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“aaaa whaaa!?”

“My name is Arya, nice to meet you.”

“whe-whe-where did you pop out of!?”

“I am an AI that manages this facility, nice to meet you.”

“b-but where’d you come out of!?”

“I am a hologram and I can materialize through the 1,269,893 sensors embedded in this room. Nice to meet you.”

“N-Nice to meet you?”

After everything the boy had gone through, he had not expected any human company or interaction for some time, and even if he did, he did not think it would be with a hologram.

Not to mention, he had also expected to struggle with the language of this world so this type of casual chit-chat coming from a floating hologram lady had completely disoriented him.

Taking deep breaths, he composes himself.

“uhhh Arya…you’re an AI?”

“That is correct, I am a multifunctional AI that manages most of the tasks in this facility. It might be more accurate to say that I am an artificial general intelligence.”

Arya answers with a gentle smile.

The boy’s mind races with the implications.

“An AGI that manages this facility. That means she can answer every question I have about this place. I’ve hit the jackpot and found the google of this world.”

“Hey Arya, can you answer some questions for me?”

“I was designed for assistance in all manner of computations and tasks, it is my purpose.”

The boy grows excited at the response.

“Finally, some long-awaited answers.”

“T-Then can you tell me what exactly is this place and where I am!?”

Arya looks at him with the same gentle smile and answers.

“That is classified.”

The silence was palpable as moments passed.

“….Classified huh…then can you tell me who is Alfzaar?”

“That is classified.”

“..that too huh…ok….how about these energies that come in different colors?”

“That is classified.”

“……..what’s the name of this planet.”

“That is classified.”

“……”

No matter what the boy asked Arya gave the same response with her gentle expression. Their back and forth went on for several minutes until finally the frustration gets to the boy and he yells out.

“Why the fuck is everything classified, who the fuck classifies the name of a planet!?”

“All information and living facilities will be locked down until security measures are over.”

“…security measures?”

“The facility is under lockdown and is only accessible to the highest authorities.”

“Aren’t I one of the highest authorities? Is my name not Alfzaar?”

“Hello lord Aflzaar. Nice to meet you. You’ve become smaller than I last remember.”

“No! no nice to meet you, I want answers!”

“Information will be restricted during security lockdowns on the directives of lord Alfzaar and artificer Orelia.”

“*sigh* ok…fuck….how do I turn off the security measures?”

“Multiple foreign biosignatures are detected inside the facility, to protect the sensitive nature of the research conducted here all information will remain under lockdown until all intruders are expelled or eliminated.”

She answers with her soft gentle smile, not a single twitch in her expression.

“Intruders?......you mean the rats? but they’re animals.”

“No exceptions, these are my top directives.”

The boy mulls over her response.

“To protect the sensitive nature of their research…..that’s neutral lingo for illegal or unethical activities. Something bad was taking place down here and these Alfzaar and Orelia characters were really trying to keep it secret but putting that aside I don’t even have basic information. I need answers.”

He swallows, feeling his parched throat and an empty stomach, it was probably close to 24 hours since he had a sip of water.

It was only because of his past training and this tough body that he could still move without succumbing to weakness.

“….Is there food and water in this facility?”

He asked but was expecting another “its classified” in response.

Surprisingly Arya answers this question.

“Yes of course but like everything else provision of food and water will also remain under security lockdown until all intruders are expelled or exterminated. This measure is to make it as difficult as possible to capture this facility for humans and darklings alike.”

“….Darklings?”

“That is classified.”

The boy sighs and thinks.

“So, I literally have no choice but to kill or drive away those rodents if I want food or water. This bot is my only source for both sustenance and information. There is no way I’ll survive outside this facility in the dark. This place is a good shelter, all I have to do is kill a few overgrown rats. How hard can it be?”

He had a high-tech sword that could borderline cut through anything and a suit that protected him from blunt impacts as well as sharp slashes and stabbings.

He was not trained to use a sword but these tools were a hell of a lot more than what he had in his past life.

He glances at his sword lying next to him on the table and looks back at Arya.

He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly.

“Do you have the location of these intruders?”

“Yes, sharing their location.”

Right in front of the boy’s eyes, a screen pops up in thin air showing a map of the facility.

On the map, he can see multiple red dots, probably the positions of the demon rats.

“This is a map of the facility along with the intruders’ locations. The screen is accessible anywhere inside the facility, just wave your palm in front of you to materialize it.”

In total, there were eighteen red dots.

According to the map, most of them were huddled in the purification chamber through the door on the left side of the facility except for two which were in the residence living chamber through the door on the right.

Looking at the number of red dots the boy regretted entertaining the ridiculous demand but reminded himself of all the information he could gain as well as food and water.

“God damn that’s a lot. Guess I should start with the two that are isolated,”

Both chambers were accessible through the two opposing doors on either side of the central control chamber.

Taking the door on the right, the boy cautiously walks along a grey passage toward the residence living chamber.

Arya’s soft voice rings out behind him.

“Goodluck lord Alfzaar.”