I wanted to ask her many questions. Why did you save me? Why did you smile at me?

But she never responded.

After letting her lie down, I looked at the roof over the underground lake. The luminescence looked like a galaxy, more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. In our capital, the nighttime illumination and the smog cover the starlight every night.

Then I pulled up the rope to get the supplies belonging to the men. A sleek wooden case appeared from the water, and I hauled it ashore. It was waterproof and had space for one person inside if the contents were emptied.

As expected, I found some rations. There were also other resources: rope, fuel, backpacks, a body bag, powder and bullets, a syringe filled with unknown solution, and backup batteries for the lights.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I picked up the knife from the dead youth, unwrapped a dried meat pie using the blade, and ate lunch beside my companion. I’m still afraid to speak poorly of the Empire, but even average Meccanian food is better than ours. That’s inconsistent with their unadvanced industrialization.

I then dragged and gathered the dead bodies in one place on the lakeside as a warning for new explorers. If their peers came here, they would find them.

Everyone had a family. We just survived.

Those were the words my grandfather once told me. He was a disabled war veteran. He was always sitting by the fireplace, reading a book. The pages would be open on his left thigh. The rest of the leg below the knee was gone.

Some days, a friend of his visited to reminiscence with him. The old man was blind. He said to us proudly, “I killed hundreds of Meccanians in those days.”

After the man left, Grandfather sighed and hugged me tightly.

The knife that almost cut me has saved my life from many pinches since then. It’s still in a locked drawer of my desk. Fortunately, it hasn’t killed any human beings yet.

I wore the belt holding the knife and the light, carried the backpack with the rations and a water bottle in front of me, and lifted her onto my back. Then I began to walk.