Plots allign

Both Hino and K4 wait in silence; Hino still seems a bit disturbed by the information he read, and K4 was definitely onto something that he didn't want to say.

"Hino, just tell me what you see!" Her voice was emotional; her face was desperate to know what he found hidden behind that obscure language of lies.

Hino starts to look back at her after contemplating if he should tell her the truth; his mouth opens and closes trying to get words out to no avail; he was completely lost at this point.

"The missiles..." He could barely mutter these words alone.

K4 holds his face firmly towards her. "Say it already!" Her patience was running thin.

"They have already been activated, ever since the broadcast aired." K4 and Hino both move away from each other and huddle to their thoughts.

'They were already launched? But then that means there is no preventing it after all, but also why would Pandemonium need to enter Shilo then? This doesn't line up.' Her thoughts were messy like a bowl of noodles.

'This either means Pandemonium came here to accelerate the process or just, out of its sadistic games, decided to get rid of Shilo for its own fun.' K4 couldn't compare the involvement of Pandorium to the missiles; it's like there is a fine line in the middle missing.

K4 starts to reminisce about the past in the first laboratory; the way Natalia phrased everything made more sense to her.

'Pandemonium is the development. That means it can destroy and spread to any machine; it even came to me twice already. The idea of having to come here to this laboratory doesn't make sense at all since the computers here are ancient and easy to access for something like that.'

K4 looks over at Hino, who seems lost in thought, remembering their entrance into the library, looking down at the flashlight dropped by him onto the floor.

"It was a trap..." The words were shallow and exhausted with defeat; there was something that she finally discovered.

Hino turns to meet her mouth. "What do you mean?" The atmosphere stood still and eerie; even Hino's cold personality couldn't overwhelm the current confusion.

"Hino, we are the reason Pandemonium won."

Hino stands up in a jolt and rebels, "How is that possible?"

"I will explain later; it's only a hunch..." Her lies were obvious, but Hino knows that means there could be a glimmer of hope left.

Both of them start searching for the files; they continue searching for whatever else might be written in this language that K4 couldn't read at all. They start taking out each basket slowly but surely, working their way around the hidden room archive.

They alternated between the days and nights living in the tunnels; they set up a camp inside this secret room to not waste any time transporting themselves; they had plenty of rations for Hino to survive on; and K4, on the other hand, had a sufficient enough amount of energy from earlier sunlight to continue working for upwards of a month.

"Hino, we have been searching for the last two weeks for any more useful information, but it seems there isn't anything left in this secret as well." K4 sighs in disappointment.

There has been a past week of nothing being found; their search for anything else was filled with useless junk of files that provided no benefit, even after searching over ninety per cent of the room itself.

Hino leaning against one of the basket shelves agrees, "This doesn't seem to be worth it anymore."

K4 suddenly speaks out, "During that week, Pandemonium spoke to me, telling me that we won't find anything useful."

Hino nods slightly, admiring her. "Maybe Pandorium was right; we should just leave at this stage."

They both start packing up their tent and supplies, taking their time to leave the place in a good condition, until a quick suggestion

"Let's burn it all." Hino seemed to be a bit of an arsonist after all.

K4 rebels "This might be useful to someone else later; we should keep it."

"Pandoium might find this useful; you're right, so let's burn it." He starts looking into his bag for the lighter he always had. Without giving K4 a chance to continue, Hinio starts piling all the sheets of paper into the centre of the room in a bunch.

"I will meet you in the tunnel." K4 leaves Hino to his desires, taking the way from the tunnel into the huge open building and out through the hallway; she gets greeted by the tunnels once more spreading in two directions.

A faint smell of smoke penetrated the tunnel's air. K4 smelt a bit of smoke and burnt paper seeping into her systems, which caused an uncomforting sensation within her. Hino, on the other hand, didn't seem to be appearing anywhere soon, as his flashlight couldn't be spotted by her out of the exit.

Within a minute, Hinos, a flashlight, can be seen coming out from the laboratory; he starts rushing down, covering his nose from the ash and smoke coming from the paper; his shoes hit the metal hard as the sound vibrates around the hallway.

He jumps out of the broken door into the tunnels as well, finally free from the suffocating paper death.

"That smoke nearly killed me!" His coughs were heard throughout the tunnels; it must've been rough being in such a condition. After all, the idea of dying from smoke was also pitiful to him.

K4 starts by letting him rest for a couple of seconds until suggesting they leave: We should leave for the main city now; we have no more purpose to serve here, and the people on top don't know our faces anyway."

"That's actually your first good idea in a while. I'm happy to get a bit of fresh air and sunlight for the first time in nearly two weeks after all."

'Two weeks, right? We have two days until the attack on Shilo. We should help the people, I think personally, but I have no idea what Hino wants.' She starts to look at Hino, knowing deep down what his decision would be.

She decides not to press him over it and to let the time come naturally, leaving them with only one choice, and that is to help.

Both of them start tracing back their steps, walking towards the three-way split again; the walls of brick finally will end for them once they leave this place. Finally, a new change of scenery, they walk back from the three-way split into the tunnel that leads them into the city of the underground.

They don't go straight but turn right instantly towards the entrance they took before; the train was most likely in ruins now, but it didn't matter since it provided no more use in this situation and served its purpose.

They meet the very large tunnel again with sunlight illuminating the end of it; it seemed to be daytime currently still, which gives them a bit of hope that they can still experience Shilo in its fullest way.

They walk and walk; the tunnel starts turning back to its metallic surface, and the sunlight starts getting brighter the closer the exit is.

"We are done with any more laboratories, by the way, Hino." K4 gives a soft smile, finally suggesting the end of their laboratory shenanigans.

He let out a sigh of relief. "I was getting tired of these arbitrary things. I'm glad you could tell that much."

Both of them smile at each other, satisfied with this chapter closing to an end, letting both Natalia and her sisters past be buried for the rest of time, with both laboratories destroyed; even the past of the origin of the revolt is gone.

With history gone, humanity can look into the future they have left for the remaining five and a half months of time before the missile detonation.

Both Hino and K4 reached the end of the metallic tunnel, seeing the tracks of their train passing by. The concrete everywhere suggested that this city wasn't as developed but definitely an upgrade to the diesel punk style of the underground city.

The sunlight shines upon them both, causing them to close their eyes and see what is left of the train towards the right.

"It got hit, huh?" K4, looking at the train, starts to walk towards it, seeing its condition. There was definitely activity from the guards of the city, but due to the passing of time, around two weeks, there was no need for them to stick around, thinking someone would invade them.

Hino, taking a glance towards the left, sees construction workers trying to patch up the wall that K4's railgun has caused; they were doing a good job at their pacing, as it seemed to be near its construction.

Hino then approaches the tracks, greeted by the metal, and looks up over the ridge of the pipe to see the megacity stretch across the circular walls; it was a cyberpunk megametropolis of sorts.

"K4, get back here! Let's head straight to the city!"