Dislaimer: See Chapter 2.
As an island country with the highest frequency of earthquakes among all countries in the world, it is quite common to experience such earthquakes that even people on the 26th floor can only feel a slight tremor.
Therefore, after the shaking subsided and it was confirmed that the ME company's office building had not received an early warning notice from the Earthquake Bureau, Raiden Ryoma quickly forgot about this short-lived minor earthquake.
But at this moment, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a young man rushed into Raiden Ryoma's president's office in a hurry. His face was pale, and his breathing was rapid and chaotic.
The workplace in ME has always been known for its strict order and strict hierarchy, so when he saw this young man barging in without even knocking on the door, Raiden Ryoma was iritated. For a moment, then, a sword-like anger emerged from his majestic pupils.
Out of the cautious habits cultivated in Anti-Entropy, Raiden Ryoma did not drive the sweaty young man out immediately. Instead, he stood up and stared at him with cold eyes: "You'd better explain why you suddenly broke into the president's office before I call the guard."
"No... I'm very sorry, president!" The young man swallowed softly. He adjusted his erratic breathing while sweating profusely, "But...but, the driver escorting Miss Mei suddenly lost his life signal ten minutes ago!"
"...?!"
Raiden Ryoma's pupils twitched slightly. Shrinking, ignoring the unfinished work, he immediately rushed to the young man.
Although he was shocked and angry after hearing the sudden bad news, Raiden Ryoma was not the kind of incompetent person who would vent his anger on innocent people.
"Calm down and speak clearly." He patted the young man's back gently. His voice still contained an irrepressible anger, but the target of that anger had already come to report from here. The young man turned to the emergency mentioned by the young man, "What is happened to Mei?"
"I don't know." The young man shook his head hastily, "Miss Mei's driver lost her as soon as his life signal is out, we immediately contacted Senba Academy and confirmed Miss Mei's arrival at school - the reply we received was that although they had found Miss Mei's arrival record, she did not appear in the class. ."
"Currently, Senba Academy is urgently calling on the school's surveillance to try to confirm whether Miss Mei is still in the school." After telling all the news he knew in one breath, the young man breathed heavily, "President...President, should we continue to wait for news from Senba Academy, or...?"
Raiden Ryoma's face flashes through several emotions, and thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind. Soon, he made up his mind and shook his head. Ryoma look at the young man: "Inform Senba Academy that if there is any news and report, forward it to us immediately. I will handle the matter on this side, so you don't have to worry about it."
"... " The young man opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but after seeing Raiden Ryoma's extremely gloomy face, he finally lowered his head.
"Yes!" After saying that, the young man walked out of the president's office, the closed in a soft 'Click' sound.
After the young man left, Raiden Ryoma walked back to the edge of the desk.
He picked up the landline and dialed a special number that only he knew.
The landline was quickly connected, and a calm inorganic female voice came from the receiver: "Is there something wrong?"
"Mei has been kidnapped. I will call the orbiting satellites around the far east. and the tactical mechas deployed by Anti-Entropy in Nagazora City to search for Mei's current location." Raiden Ryoma said, "Also, if possible, I hope that during this period, Anti-Entropy can help me pay attention to the movements of Shicksal."
"Do you suspect it was someone from Shicksal who did it?" asked the female.
"If it were Otto, he would have used more direct methods, but I really can't rule out this possibility." Rage was evident in Ryoma's words, even if his voice is calm.
"I understand. I will temporarily transfer the highest authority of the orbital satellites and tactical mechas to you. At the same time, we will contact Mr. Siegfried who is still at the Shicksal headquarters." The calm female voice spoke at a very fast speed. "While you are looking for Mei, I will ask Siegfried to try to help us check the recent mission records of the Shicksal Far East Branch at Shicksal Headquarters. Sorry, neither Tesla nor I can go to the Far East to provide support at the moment."
"You, in the short term, you can find a way to deal with Mei's affairs by yourself."
"It doesn't matter." Raiden Ryoma said calmly, "Of course my daughter should be protected by myself."
After that, Raiden Ryoma hung up the phone.
Endless darkness came into view.
In this ruins where he couldn't even see his fingers, Emiya Shirou, who was still conscious, turned his neck with some difficulty and looked around.
Under his feet was a whole truck body that was twisted beyond its original appearance.
Above, there is a gap created by sixteen intersecting weapons that can only accommodate one person.
After the tunnel collapsed without warning, all vehicles traveling in the tunnel were transformed into closed steel coffins under the pressure of hundreds of millions of tons of soil and rocks.
"..."
The nose was filled with the smell of blood and sand.
Although at the moment the tunnel collapsed, Emiya Shirou had indeed taken out the hardest weapons in the class card knowlegde as much and as fast as possible, and opened up a barely safe area before the gravel and soil completely submerged everything.
He didn't die immediately.
However, even he couldn't stop the hundreds of millions of tons of sand from falling at the moment the entire tunnel fell apart.
Sixteen Noble Phantasms that were already bent were placed to block the concretes from crushing his body.
Even if he has the class card Install and have superhuman strength, he still need air to breath.
Fine gravel and a liquid substance like mercury flowed into Shirou Emiya's hair and clothes from the gap between the swords.
Suddenly, a stabbing pain made him frown slightly.
Following the tingling feeling, Emiya Shirou, who was half-crouching on the truck bed, turned his face slightly behind him.
'What's this?'
He raised his right arm with some difficulty and touch the mercury-like substance flowing down his hair into his back.
'Trace, On' -
The mantra silently recited in the heart is not a [Projection Starts], but that of [Analysis Starts].
Although the pronunciation is the same, after changing the image of the mental trigger, the properties of the spell also changes.
He focus intently on the substance in his hand.
Then, his expression changed.
"—"
The sound of teeth rubbing against each other came from the closed mouth.
The anger that almost swallowed up reason made Shirou's eyes turn blood red.
The rainbow-colored death light kept flashing in his pupils filled with murderous intent and rage.
Tunnels built with modern engineering technology have extremely high load-bearing strength, especially in the east where earthquakes occur frequently.
And normally, tunnel collapse is only a local disaster.
The tunnels, which were more than one kilometer long, collapsed at the same moment without any warning. According to Shirou Emiya's knowledge, it would be very difficult to artificially induce this result.
Whether it is today's directional blasting technology or the powerful Noble Phantasm held by that guy, it is impossible to silently make this kilometer-long arched load-bearing wall collapse in one second without any warning. They collapsed simultaneously in less than a moment.
"No wonder this tunnel collapsed suddenly..."
Shirou murmured to himself in a voice that was so cold and emotionless.
Although the purpose of the other party is not clear yet, through the analysis of those mercury-like substances, he has already understood the reason why the tunnel suddenly collapse.
These liquid metals, which look no different from mercury, are actually special substances made up of nanomachines that cannot be seen by the naked eye.
Through destruction at the microscopic level, these nanomachines eroded the concrete structure, which looked like cracks from the outside, bit by bit to the point of collapsing.
In other words, this tunnel collapse was not a natural disaster or an accident, but a purely man-made disaster.
"It's weird that the lines appeared, but I can't sense any traces of life in it…"
Emiya Shirou looked cold, and his tone of voice became extremely rational because of his excessive anger.
The liquid metal gradually flowed from the gaps between fingers to the ground.
The magic power that was on the verge of going berserk turned into dazzling arcs of electricity, invading the interior of the liquid metal unbridled.
Not only did it cause such a tragic disaster, but it also completely buried everyone in the tunnel into the mountains.
Unforgivable... the culprit who caused this tragic situation.
Emiya Shirou felt sincerely angry and hating his own naivety and immaturity.
But before cursing his own incompetence and stupidity, there is another thing that he must do now.
"Trace—" [Projection]
Quietly switched to the suggested mental trigger, Emiya Shirou Altered and Overloaded the nanomachines structure.
The mercury-like substance emerged from his fingertips along with the surging magic power.
"on—!" [Start—! ]
At the same time- the soft mountain of rock and soil suddenly exploded.
"As expected of Mr. Gray Serpent."
In the dark cave, the man carrying a little girl on his shoulders said sincerely.
"I didn't expect that in an instant."
"It's not a big deal." A strange male voice mixed with dead electricity interrupted the man in police uniform, "Compared to that, the little girl on your shoulders is a more precious treasure."
The man hesitated for a moment "Do you mean her status as the eldest lady of ME Corp?" The man asked.
The little girl lost consciousness, both hands, feet and eyes were tightly tied with a piece of dark cloth, and the mouth was tightly taped with a piece of white sealing tape.
"Ha-" a sarcastic voice filled with disdain came from the pale mask under the hood, "Status? Do you think that, for us snakes, the noble status in the world is something that is very difficult to obtain?"
"I wouldn't dare." The man shook his head, "It's just that I really can't see what's special about her."
The little girl on the shoulder has long lost consciousness.
Although she has a noble status and has received an elite level education, in the eyes of men, this little girl is just an ordinary human being.
"You can't tell it, right?"Gray Serpent said in a sinister tone, "If her talent can be discovered by you so easily, then what's the meaning of 'Snake''s existence?"
After saying these cold words, Gray Serpent raised his arm and made some cuts on his dark sleeves, exposing his wrist covered with cables and mechanical joints.
He stretched out a finger , the slender needle drilled out from the fingertips.
Then, the Gray Serpent walked to the man's side, pointed at the little girl's arm on his shoulder, and gently pierced the fingertip needle into the tender skin.
Would the pain make the little girl wake up? Her body trembled first, and then suddenly struggled violently.
Unfortunately, with her hands and feet completely tied, no matter how hard she struggled, it wouldn't help her in this situation.
The injection process ended quickly. As the special medicine prepared by Gray Snake flowed into the little girl's body and exerted unknown medicinal power, the abnormal power buried in the little girl's blood was brutally activated.
"What is… this… light? "
The man's eyes couldn't help but be attracted by the abnormal phenomenon behind the little girl.
Even through the clothes, it can be seen that after the 'Gray Serpent' injected the unknown drug into the little girl's body. Behind her back, a strange and abrupt pattern flashed. The strange light shone on the girl's muscles and bones, exposing most of the blood vessels to the body surface, and at the same time, the girl's entire body was immersed in a special power, and his breathing became disordered unconsciously.
"It's this kind of light..." Even with the scene, Gray Serpent voice still cold and held no emotions, "... This kind of pure and great light is exactly what is lost. Beacons, to guiding the people a way forward, don't you think so?"
"..."
The man failed to answer Gray Snake's words immediately. He looked at the light shining behind the little girl, and a trace of unspeakable jealousy flashed in his eyes.
But soon, he suppressed the jealousy in his heart.
"After this mission is over, I should be able to become a cadre of the Snake, right?" The man whispered.
Link to the original fanfic: en. nhimmeo. cf/ book/ 100367791