Infinite Game - Start With SSS Rank Class

Chapter 229: Humanity’s Hope

Rilia watched the screen, her azure blue eyes deepening slightly. She had once commanded the Ice Wolf army, had seen battlefields, had seen death, but no matter how horrific her battlefields had been, they still had limits. The scene before her now didn’t resemble war.

It resembled punishment.

Like something far above humanity casually erasing an entire civilization below it.

Selina was silent.

Her hand still rested on the sword hilt, but this time, her gaze no longer carried the thrill of combat. A sword could cut a person. Could cut a monster. Could cut an enemy standing before her. But before a tsunami taller than a building, before tentacles crushing a city like crushing a model, individual strength suddenly became very small.

Elith stood off to the side, the small spiders around her body also nearly motionless. Her spider swarm was very good at hiding, very good at trapping, very good at scouting, but before a disaster of this scale, even finding somewhere to hide became a problem.

Nanoe watched for a long time.

Her face didn’t show much expression, but her gaze grew deeper by the moment. She didn’t know which past this footage was from, which world, or which civilization. But if these images had been stored on a memory drive and kept in this place, then they certainly weren’t meaningless scenes.

Rover thought the same.

The tentacles.

The tsunami.

The burning city.

The cargo ship swept away.

The research center, the astronaut, Professor Harlan, the Unnamed Explorer, all of it seemed to be connecting into a very faint line. Only right now, he still didn’t have enough pieces to clearly see the true shape of this picture.

The camera shook for a few more seconds.

Then, the screen suddenly went dark.

The entire main hall of the wooden house immediately fell into silence.

No one spoke.

Even Sunako didn’t immediately speak up.

The light from the projector vanished in that instant, making the living room, once clean and warm, suddenly grow much colder. Beyond the window was still the green meadow, the clear lake, the strange fruit trees, and the gentle light from the dome. But after seeing the city wiped off the map, that peaceful scenery outside only made everything feel even more unreal.

Sunako blinked, her voice so quiet it was almost only talking to herself: "Is that it?"

No one answered.

A second later, the screen lit up again.

This time, the setting had changed.

No more burning city.

No more tsunami.

No more massive tentacles.

The new image appeared inside a space research center.

The space there was very wide, the ceiling high, everywhere covered in large screens, control panels, pipes, and equipment Rover couldn’t name. Many people wearing something resembling spacesuits moved back and forth. Some checked data panels. Some transported equipment. Some stood before cylindrical containment chambers, their expressions tense enough to feel even through the screen.

Unlike the apocalyptic scene outside, this place was more orderly.

But that very order made the atmosphere even heavier.

As if everyone here already knew the outside world could no longer be saved, so they could only pour all their hope into this place. No one screamed. No one ran in panic. Everyone moved urgently, but that urgency carried a sense of being suppressed to the extreme limit, as if each person was using their last bit of reason to complete their work.

The camera slowly moved.

It swept past rows of equipment taller than a person’s head, past screens full of strange symbols, past a few people in spacesuits checking devices on their backs. A few round containment chambers in the distance opened, inside were silver-white armor suits quite similar to the Unnamed Explorer’s suit, but smaller and far simpler.

Then, the camera stopped on a woman.

She was dressed completely differently from those around her.

Not a full spacesuit, nor like a researcher’s lab coat. Her clothing was silver-white, the cut clean but carrying an inexplicable formality. Above her head was a metal ring floating, rotating on its own axis. Around the ring were a few small spheres moving along fixed orbits, looking like a miniaturized model of the solar system.

The camera angle didn’t show her face clearly.

Perhaps the light behind her was too strong.

Perhaps the footage was partially damaged.

Everyone only saw her standing before the group of astronauts and researchers, her posture straight, her lips lightly pressed together. Though her expression couldn’t be seen clearly, just the standing posture and the atmosphere around her was enough to make people feel she held an extremely high position.

The people in spacesuits around her all looked at her.

No one spoke.

The entire vast research center seemed to fall quiet in that moment too.

The woman remained silent for a few seconds.

Then she opened her mouth.

The voice transmitted through the projector had some static, but every word could still be heard clearly.

"Humanity’s hope rests entirely on you all."

Just one sentence.

Very short.

But it made the main hall of the wooden house grow even quieter.

Sunako didn’t know why, but she felt a slight heaviness in her chest. That sentence wasn’t an ordinary rallying cry. It resembled a farewell more. As if that woman was sending the people before her onto a path she knew very well many of them would never return from.

Rover looked at the metal ring floating above the woman’s head.

He felt that thing was very strange.

Not because it floated in mid-air.

But because it gave him a very familiar feeling that he couldn’t quite place.

Nanoe also looked at the woman, her gaze shifting slightly.

But before she could say anything, the screen flickered once.

The image cut off completely.

The light from the projector vanished.

The main hall of the wooden house returned to its original quiet state.

On the device, the drive plugged into the slot let out a very small "click," then its light went out as well.

Sunako looked at the now-dark screen, then turned to Rover. "Great Lord Rover... so it’s really over?"

Rover didn’t immediately answer.

He looked at the projector, then at the now-dark memory drive.

A moment later, he finally said softly: "Mm. At least that’s all that’s left of this one."

Nanoe stood beside him, her face still pensive. She looked at the projector for a long time then said: "City destroyed, massive tentacles, tsunami, then shift to the space research center. Perhaps this footage was arranged in chronological order."

Rover asked: "You mean the disaster happened first, then they prepared to leave?"

"Possibly." Nanoe gently nodded. "But it’s also possible they had already prepared beforehand, and the city’s destruction was only the final proof confirming that plan had to be carried out."

Selina looked at the now-dark device, then said: "Either way, that woman certainly wasn’t ordinary."

Elith answered very briefly: "High status."

Rilia looked toward the window, outside still the green meadow, the clear lake, and the strange fruit trees. "If humanity’s hope rested on them, then this place is probably part of that plan."

Sunako, hearing this, looked around the vast house, her expression growing more complicated. "A manor inside a spaceship, prepared enough for many people to live long-term... If this is a shelter, where did the people who once lived here go?"

That question made everyone fall silent again.

They had just walked through the house.

No people.

No bodies.

No traces of recent living.

Everything was very well preserved, but precisely because it was so clean, so complete, it made people feel even more uneasy. If this place truly had once been prepared for many people to live in, then there couldn’t possibly be no trace at all. If they had left, how had they left? If they had died, then where were the bodies?

Rover retrieved the now-dark drive.

Then he closed the metal case holding the remaining drives.

"No point continuing to try the others. Most are damaged. This one playing even one segment was already lucky."

Sunako felt a bit of regret. "But it had just reached an important part..."

Rover glanced at her. "Sometimes the important part won’t reveal itself right in front of you."

Sunako quietly asked: "So what do we do next?"

Rover looked around the hall, then out at the meadow and lake outside.

He didn’t answer immediately.

This place was clearly an extremely special resource. Not only because of its large area, clean air, water, plants, and a house suitable for long-term living, but also because of the secrets buried here. But they had just discovered this place, didn’t yet know if any danger remained, and didn’t yet know what exactly was kept in the locked rooms on the third floor.

More importantly, outside the freight depot there was still the fog lantern route, gold coins, [Gray Fog Timber], and many supplies not yet brought back.

Rover breathed out.

"Check this place once more first."

He looked at everyone.

"Then head back."

Nanoe nodded.

She understood Rover’s choice.

No matter how important this place was, they couldn’t stay too long when they didn’t yet know if the exit was stable. The warehouse outside still hadn’t been fully cleared out, the lantern route still needed maintaining, and room 2705 still had people waiting for them to return.

Moreover, after seeing that footage, Nanoe felt even more strongly that this place couldn’t be resolved in one or two hours.

It wasn’t a simple treasure trove.

Nor a small dungeon.

It resembled a forgotten fragment of memory from a civilization that had once faced an apocalypse.

Rover stood up.

His gaze swept across the projector, the damaged drives in the metal case, then looked toward the locked rooms on the third floor.

No need to rush.

If the answers truly lay here, then sooner or later he would come back.

For now, the most important thing was bringing back everything that could be carried to room 2705.

Then slowly turning this place into something that belonged to him.