Book 6 Chapter 6.4 - From the Sea
The forest became quiet, Robbio and Kabi both entering a state of silence. Only after some time had passed did Kabi say, "Let's look around a bit more, there has to be some other traces, just that we didn't discover them yet. What do they need coconuts and leaves for? The coconuts could be eaten, but what about the leaves? Wait! Eating! It ate so much, so there just has to be something that came out, right?"
Robbio and Kabi's eyes immediately aimed at the ground. The coastline beach was covered in coral sand, a fluorescence similar to light refraction occasionally shining, an embodiment of the radiation's corrosion. Soon after, their eyes concentrated on a small black area of black sand granules. They were extremely striking within the large expanse of sparkling white sandy beach. Only, the two individuals' attention had been completely seized by the several tens of thousands of naked coconut trees, to the extent where they overlooked these crushed stone-like things.
Robbio squatted down, grabbing a handful of black sand, and then carefully sniffed it, to the extent where he even placed a bit on his finger and placed it into his mouth. Then, with a pah sound, he spat it all out again.
"What kind of creature's excrement is this?" Kapi asked with a serious expression. He didn't reveal the slightest bit of mockery, but instead respected Robbio's conclusion.
Robbio shook his head, speaking with a face of confusion, "This is definitely not excrement. Everything inside is charred gray, more like things that were burned. However, how could this type of thing appear here?"
Kabi picked up a few granules of black sand, carefully pinched it, watching as it turned into scattered ashes. He shook his head, saying, "It is much cleaner than something burnt, more like the waste products after being burned at a high temperature. Let's just bring some back!"
Only after noticing this black sand did Robbio and Kabi see that there was sand scattered all over the forest. Robbio produced a beast skin pouch, carefully storing a handful of black sand into the special pouch. His movements didn't look all that remarkable, but they perfectly preserved the black sand without letting it get infected by anything else. As granules of black sand were collected one after another, Robbio unexpectedly became a bit distracted, accidentally crushing one. He stared at the dust in his hands with a stupefied expression, suddenly asking, "Don't you feel like this… all of this is quite similar to that prophecy? The final days will arrive from the sea, all trees thus withering…"
Pa! Kabi's revolver fell onto the ground, also interrupting Robbio's words.
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? That's just some crazy words a lunatic wrote before death!" Kabi berated. However, the voice of someone like him who was always cool-headed was actually shaking, betraying his true thoughts.
Even though Robbio was Kabi's underling, his relationship with Kabi was clearly much closer than that. He worked with the black sand while muttering in an unconvinced manner, "Crazy words from a lunatic? We all know that this is just a pretext used to fool those naive fellas! Who would really believe that, you? If they really were just crazy words, then why would we have to run over to this desolate and uninhabited seashore once a month? If it was just us, then it still makes some sense, but more than ten troops are carrying out similar missions, so how will you explain that then? The higher levels are just hiding things from us!"
Kabi's face fell, not saying anything, only bending down to pick up the revolver. He poured out the ordinary bullets in the cylinder, and then produced five special bullets with striking red warheads, loading them into the cylinder one after another. Kabi's seriousness affected Robbio as well. He stored away the black sand, tightly fastened the pouch, and then gave the coconut grove depths a look. For some reason, Robbio with his sharp perception always felt as if something invisible was hiding, currently coldly observing them.
"This forest really is damn strange. I don't like this place, we should just go back a bit earlier. We'll report back what we saw, let those great figures have their headaches over this!" Robbio suggested.
Kabi nodded, silent as he walked out from the forest.
The two of them quickly returned to where the truck was parked. The dark, shriveled, small native soldiers were still standing vigilant in the truck's surroundings, the sole engineer just finished adding gas to the truck, currently carrying out a routine maintenance and inspection. This truck had experienced at least several hundred thousand kilometers of distance, one mishap while moving through the forest's extremely vile road conditions could result in a breakdown.
Everything seemed normal. The vigilant soldiers were all full of enthusiasm, their wolf-like eyes staring fixedly at their surroundings. If there was any wind blowing past or grass moving, they would throw themselves over and tear their prey to shreds without any hesitation. Their short and small bodies were full of explosive power, and after experiencing targeted training, every single one of them could easily prevail over a male lion. Moreover, they were extremely bloodthirsty, oftentimes delightfully tearing their prey apart while alive, directly devouring their flesh and blood. In this world where contamination was everywhere, the flesh of creatures was always a rare replenishing commodity.
Robbio's eyes swept over the soldiers, feeling extremely satisfied from their current state. He blew a loud whistle, and then the soldiers scattered in the surroundings all ran back, gathering before the truck, the soldiers lined up in an extremely orderly manner.
Everything looked extremely normal, except… there was one person missing.