The Return of the Last Survivor
[Superconductor capacitor fully charged. Detaching from the confinement cage.]
[Unlocking bolts. Injection preparation complete.]
[Initiating injection.]
The hatch in the storage bay opened, and the assault armor hanging on the rail shot out.
Instead of seawater, a blue warp gate awaited it right in front of the hatch.
The warp gate was created by the ether field emitted from the fusion reactor, which pushed aside the seawater.
Beyond the warp gate was space.
The solar system of the 22nd century, where humanity had perished.
He savored the unique sensation of being hurled into space after a long time of confinement.
Ordinary people would easily feel nauseous in such a situation, but he was very accustomed to it.
“Phew…”
The lens of the spinning assault armor captured the red Earth.
With a heavy heart, he began synchronization.
[The concentration of central signal transmission fluid is increasing. Synchronization rate is rising…]
Before he knew it, he became aware of a giant wasp-shaped mecha instead of his own body.
His arms and legs disappeared, replaced by honeybird wing packs and main boosters.
As he moved his head, the head of the assault armor turned slowly.
[Synchronization complete. Excellent at 88%.]
That would be satisfactory for an ordinary pilot.
He couldn’t be satisfied with that level of maintenance, but considering it had been a long time since he piloted, he reluctantly accepted it.
“Let’s go, Dingo.”
A dazzling golden light burst from the main boosters.
The assault armor vanished from its position, leaving only an afterimage.
And a few minutes later, he could see the red Earth up close.
“It’s completely devastated.”
The Earth had transformed almost like Mars.
Fragments of perception were scattered, swirling around the Earth like rings.
Under such circumstances, even the mega cities, which could be considered humanity’s last stronghold, would not have been able to withstand.
[Signal detected from the knowledge capsule. Transmitting coordinates.]
Yu Ji-ha and the assault armor moved in response to the signal and discovered something.
It was a fragment of the knowledge capsule that had been part of the colonization fleet.
“Boss, we need to confirm the data.”
“Just wait a moment. Deploy the walker.”
The walker attached to the exterior of the assault armor approached the wreckage.
It connected to the control computer and transmitted the data to Arma.
“Unfortunately, a significant amount of data has been lost. There’s hardly anything left in the field of history.”
“History… It’s a pity, but it’s not that important in the grand scheme of things.”
It would be better to know about the future, but with the support of Arma and the Settler, they could overcome any obstacle.
And besides, there wasn’t much of great significance in the history until 2180.
In the early 2100s, after the Tragedy of the Night of Sorrow, humanity gathered in Australia and started anew.
That’s how the five mega cities and the newly formed United Humanity Federation came into existence.
These powers unintentionally neglected and buried the previous history.
They fell into optimism, thinking they had missed the artifacts of the Prophet and failed to recognize when the Plague appeared.
As a result, the United Humanity Federation adopted a more pragmatic and immediate ideology.
Survival from the Plague was the priority, so it was an unavoidable decision.
[Data transmission complete. Sending coordinates of the Sybir satellite.]
After a while, the assault armor arrived in front of the massive combat support satellite, Sybir.
This satellite provided combat support to the assault armor in the airspace above the mega cities.
The reason the Plague Fleet left this thing behind was likely because there was a huge feast called Earth right in front of them.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be heavily damaged.
[With a little repair, we can use it right away. We just need to put it in Earth’s geostationary orbit.]
“But won’t we be discovered? There are quite a few satellites out there.”
[If we apply an optical camouflage network, we won’t be detected.]
“Then how do we bring this along…”
[According to calculations, if we expand the ether field of the assault armor to its maximum, we can tow it.]
“And then we dismantle it and bring it aboard the Settler. Seems like we don’t have a salvage shop nearby.”
[We need to save where we can.]
Well, that’s true.
Yu Ji-ha roughly accepted the plan and headed towards Earth.
…
The assault armor descended onto the ravaged land.
Arma detected signals through the gravity sensors and issued a warning.
“There are five gravity anomalies present. It seems there are Plague cores nearby. One of them is a Titan-class that you’re familiar with, Boss.”
“So, it died here.”
The Titan-class was the most powerful individual among the Plague, excluding the Queen. While smaller in size compared to the Behemoth-class, they possessed fierce attacking power, requiring a properly organized fleet to stand a chance against them.
What was even more astonishing was their high level of intelligence. Some individuals were almost at the level of humans, and one of them even recognized and tracked Yu Ji-ha’s assault armor.
That’s when it became clear that he was the nemesis of the Plague.
The United Humanity Federation assigned separate identification codes to the Titan-class entities, and the one that had been stalking Yu Ji-ha was given the code name “Princess.”
“So, the Princess is dead. We’ll have to find the core and take it later.”
“The warp gate’s maintenance time is not that long. According to calculations, we have 1 hour and 30 minutes remaining.”
“We’ll go soon.”
Yu Ji-ha opened the cockpit of the assault armor and set foot on the ground.
The Mega City, boasting a population of 100 million, had left only traces behind. The Undercities were turned upside down, and the numerous towering buildings that once pierced the sky had evaporated.
Humanity, which had boasted a history of over a million years, had finally perished. Yu Ji-ha tried his best to hide his despair of becoming the last survivor.
“Lucia… Vasili… Valter… Bok… Esil…”
His beloved lover, respected superior, and trusted subordinates no longer existed.
Of course, the Settler had systems in place for the reconstruction of humanity. With the use of the Bio Bank, it was more than possible to “produce” humans through their genetic material.
However, even if knowledge was injected into humans produced in such a way, they could never be the same as the original humans.
Because they couldn’t share memories.
“Even if they look similar, they’re not the same person.”
In the world where gravity had gone haywire, he sat alone for a long time.
Arma, who had been silent all this time, reported.
“Comparing the remains of the original Mega City’s terrain, there are some facilities left underground.”
“Oh? What’s left roughly?”
“There’s the Prophet’s Relic Repository and a rare metals warehouse. There seems to be quite a lot of useful things left.”
“I can’t do much without weapons for now. I’ll have to dig them up later on the Settler.”
“For now, you just need to bring the Plague Core and the Sibir satellite.”
“Let’s do that, then.”
Yu Ji-ha looked up at the red sky one last time.
Although humanity had perished, he had survived.
Now, he had to rebuild the United Humanity Federation along with the past humanity.
To be honest, it was an almost impossible task.
There were over 200 countries on the current Earth, and countless ethnic groups.
When the Settler first sank into the depths, he asked this question.
―Is there a way to unify all of humanity?
Arma’s answer was surprising.
“It would be better to surrender to the Plague and establish a peace treaty.”
While it was possible to control the entire human population through biochips, it would make them vulnerable to the Plague’s attacks.
The Plague was not just comprised of giant beings like spaceships.
While individuals like Yu Ji-ha, known as Psychers, had the ability to defend against mental intrusion, ordinary people were incapable of it.
Therefore, to progress rapidly, an authoritarian regime was necessary.
Within 70 years, an authoritarian regime needed to be established to counter the Plague.
In fact, the United Humanity Federation could be considered an authoritarian regime, consisting of full citizens and the Supreme Council.
Ordinary humans were born as common citizens and gradually accumulated points to advance to become free citizens and then full citizens.
In this process, committing crimes or causing social disturbances would result in an immediate deduction of points and a potential downgrade in rank.
It could even lead to becoming a Restricted Citizen or an Isolated Citizen, limiting one’s freedoms and potentially being expelled from the Mega City.
While this system might be efficient, it would be difficult for it to be accepted in the current world.
“The advanced nations won’t just stand idly by…”
The advanced nations of the world would panic and attempt to exclude any emerging authoritarian regime.
While it was not to say that they were entirely wrong, Yu Ji-ha had no other choice.
“What if we reveal the existence of the Plague? Make Settler public as well.”
“The likelihood of that succeeding is much lower. If the true power of Settler is underestimated, it could even lead to a nuclear war.”
“Well, that wouldn’t work then.”
Yu Ji-ha cleanly abandoned the idea of pursuing an alternative approach.
The only answer lay in governance by an iron fist.
…
He had returned to the year 2026 with the Sibiri satellite and the Plague Core intact.
The Settler ship used the Plague Core to produce more Black Metal and scattered it across the ocean.
The fragmented Sibiri satellite was being assembled inside the hangar with the help of the workers.
Arma, who was maintaining it, sipped the drink brought to him and began explaining.
“The Sibiri is a fourth-generation battle support satellite designed to intercept small fleets entering the atmosphere. It is capable of independent combat, but it is mainly coordinated with ground forces.”
“We also have Assault Armor on the ground.”
“Compared to the space navy, it falls short, but it is still capable of holding off a fleet of cruisers.”
“So, what can this thing do?”
“Well, it can deploy ion cannons and missile pods. It can also utilize Ether lasers, and it has a compact but effective gravity radar.”
“That sounds impressive.”
The gravity radar was a device that detected gravitational forces and identified objects in the vicinity.
Even the Plague fleet, which used various means to disrupt human detection, couldn’t find a way to counter this radar.
Originally, it was only installed on cruisers and above, but they had succeeded in miniaturizing it.
In addition, the satellite had various basic observation equipment installed.
After a while, when the assembly was complete, Arma asked.
“Should we put it in orbit now? There’s a lot of snow around, so we’ll have to drag it to the east before launching.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’ll have to do. If there are no issues, send it up.”
Finally, two exploration probes pulled the Sibiri satellite and broke through the atmosphere.
As the satellite settled into its designated orbit, a flood of information poured in.
Among the data, Arma focused on a picture of the Moon.
“Arma, open the Starfield Project.”
This project presented specific plans and timelines for space exploration.
By following it, they would be able to explore and mine various planets.
However, the true purpose of this project was to secure the artifacts of the Prophet.
The Moon, Earth’s satellite.
The first artifact of the Prophet would arrive there.
Due to a belated discovery by humanity, they failed to recognize the true nature of the Plague.
As a result, the tragedy unfolded with the Plague fleet locating Earth first.
But now, the story was different.
The Starfield Project would lead the way for space exploration.
Yu Ji-ha’s black eyes gazed beyond the Moon into the vastness of space.
…
“Hello, Mother. I’m Arma Ashford.”
“Oh… She’s a friend I made during my study abroad. We’re not in a deep relationship, just friends.”
Yoo Kyung-seok and Jung Hye-won were shocked to see a woman claiming to be their son’s friend.
Where on earth did he find such a model-like person?
Platinum blonde hair, taller than an average woman, and a lean physique that reminded them of an athlete. She seemed to belong to a different species altogether.
But as they observed her sitting with slightly bent knees and a polite posture, she looked more like a young lady who had come to greet her future parents-in-law.
‘Future parents-in-law… Future parents-in-law…’
Jung Hye-won’s head started to spin.
“Well, let me quickly bring some fruit.”
As she headed to the kitchen, Arma followed her.
“Mother, let me handle the fruit cutting.”
To be honest, just listening to her voice, she sounded like a typical Korean.
What was even more surprising was that she was carving the fruit like a real Korean.
She skillfully shaved the skin thinly to create decorative shapes, and it was evident that this was not something she had mastered in a short time.
“Um, Arma…?”
She smiled softly.
“You can call me Arma. I wanted to greet you properly when we were attending university together, but it’s a bit late now.”
“Ah, I see.”
Being this close, it felt like looking at a doll.
Even Hollywood actors, up close, would have freckles and imperfections, but this young lady had flawless and clear skin like a baby’s.
Surely they didn’t have such a relationship…?
Their daughter-in-law had specifically mentioned that she wanted a Korean with black hair…
While she was caught in confusion, Yu Kyung-seok, who was in the living room, whispered to his son in a low voice.
“If it’s during your study abroad… Isn’t it dangerous?”
The original person had even carried on their bad habits of drinking and drugs when they went to the United States.
If she had been studying alongside someone like that, it would have been obvious.
However, Yu Ji-ha denied it.
“She’s not that kind of person. She went to Stanford and is really diligent. Despite her looks, she’s unexpectedly modest.”
“…Modest?”
Yoo Kyung-seok looked at his wife, who was now chatting comfortably with Arma in the kitchen, with a bewildered expression.
If there was a next time, he hoped they wouldn’t bring the baby along.
Arma, who had been carving the fruit, captivated the hearts of Yu Kyung-seok and his wife with her dazzling appearance and sweet aegyo.
In particular, her hobby of collecting gemstones seemed to resonate with Jung Hye-won.
“I’ll bring my pearl collection next time. It’s what I’ve gathered over time… Here are some pictures.”
“Wow… Even just looking at the pictures, the pink overtones are evident. But how did you develop such a hobby?”
“As I took care of the pearls that my mom passed down to me, I naturally developed an interest. Pearls are so delicate, you know.”
This indicated that Arma had grown up in a prestigious family.
Due to her extensive knowledge, the couple found themselves listening attentively to Arma’s voice.
Unknowingly, Yu Ji-ha fell for Arma’s charms, who had been neglected by society.
“She’s becoming more and more like Lucia.”
With confident charisma, she could lead people, but in bed, she would act like a kitten.
Would Arma be the same?
Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
Anyway, her debut was successful, but it wasn’t completely over.
As she had to fulfill her role as a secretary, Yu Ji-ha followed her everywhere, naturally gaining fame.
Thus, when lunchtime arrived, even the executives who usually dined outside stood in line at the company cafeteria.
Everyone opened their mouths in astonishment as they saw the blonde beauty carrying a tray and serving food.
“It really doesn’t suit her…”
“I thought someone like her would only eat salads at some fancy dining place in New York.”
“Is she acting by eating sausage soup and rice? Is she trying to show her ‘commoner’ side?”
“If that’s acting, she deserves an Oscar.”
Thanks to her presence, all the female employees who used to eat lunch while fixing their makeup and surrounding Yu Ji-ha vanished.
It was a good thing for Yu Ji-ha.
Arma was well-received by the employees at the Pangyo office in this way.
…