The Underworld, Great Mine.
Felicity and the others followed Seele to the Great Mine, arriving to find the place already in chaos.
The central path was divided by barbed wire fences, with two groups of people standing on either side in confrontation.
Natasha was directing a group of Wildfire members to maintain order and transport the injured.
"Nat! What's the situation here? Where's Oleg?"
Seele didn't hesitate, immediately rushing to Natasha's side.
"Seele, you're here? I haven't seen Oleg either. The miners said they saw him take a group deeper in."
Natasha turned around, and seeing Seele, finally showed a slight smile on her tense face. She nodded toward Felicity,
"...As you can see, the situation underground is quite dire. If you're going to look for Oleg, I hope you can help him resolve the trouble along the way."
"Do you need help here?"
Felicity's gaze fell upon the group of injured miners.
"That won't be necessary. Your power... isn't suitable for use here."
"Alright."
Felicity shrugged. She didn't mind continuing to display the Abundance's generosity here, but Natasha seemed to have some reservations about something.
Not one to stand on ceremony, she immediately led everyone deeper into the mine.
"...You know the way?"
After following Felicity for a while, Seele finally seemed to remember something, showing a puzzled expression.
Even she had rarely visited the Great Mine, let alone Felicity, who claimed to be an alien.
But now, Felicity was leading everyone through twists and turns, showing not a hint of unfamiliarity with the path.
"I don't recognize it, but I have my own methods."
Felicity replied. In truth, she was simply using her authority to detect life signatures and following the direction they emanated from, but explaining it would be too troublesome, so she chose not to elaborate.
"..."
Seele didn't press further, accepting it as Felicity's own secret.
The group continued deeper into the mining area, and before long, they heard the clamor of noisy arguments echoing from the depths. Looking further ahead, they could see two groups of people confronting each other.
Their quarrel grew increasingly heated, with one side even raising their weapons.
"They're about to fight! The miners on the other side aren't armed."
Bronya said anxiously.
"Outrageous!"
Seele gritted her teeth, already lifting her scythe and pulling Felicity behind her with one hand.
"They're all people I know. You stay here and don't move. Let me handle the trouble—"
In Seele's mind, Felicity roughly fell into the category of a medic. Abilities like instantly healing wounds were something Natasha could do too, though not as absurdly as Felicity had demonstrated.
Since she specialized in healing, her combat prowess was likely lacking. Seele intended to resolve this trouble herself.
"Alright."
Felicity readily agreed. She truly couldn't be bothered to intervene and was quite content to stay out of it.
"Uh..."
Bronya glanced at Seele, then at Felicity, momentarily at a loss for words.
She didn't understand why Seele would treat Felicity as a backline supporter, but since Felicity showed no intention of stepping in, she took a deep breath and declared:
"I'll join the fight too. We can't let these ruffians do as they please!"
"Then I'm in too!"
Stelle eagerly pulled out her baseball bat.
March 7th and Dan Heng naturally had no objections. With their involvement, the vagrants were swiftly dealt with.
On the other side, the miners acquainted with Seele immediately approached. The woman leading them, Antonia, promptly shared all the information she knew with Seele.
"Boss Oleg? He took a group down, saying they were going to drive out the invading robots. They've been gone for a while now. Hah, if Wildfire were here, these thugs wouldn't dare act so arrogantly!"
Antonia fumed.
"It seems the core of the problem still lies with Svarog's robots..."
Seele sighed, then turned to look at Felicity. "Seems your coming here wasn't for nothing after all. Svarog's robots have taken over the inner mining area. This might be a good chance for you to try negotiating with Svarog."
After a pause, she pursed her lips and added, "Though I don't think negotiations will succeed."
"If I recall, Svarog is a robot?"
Felicity raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Mhm, let's talk while we walk. Oleg and the others have been down there for a while; we need to hurry."
Seele nodded in response, quickening her pace as she headed deeper into the mining area. She patiently explained to Felicity:
"Svarog appeared not long after the Silvermane Guards withdrew from the Underworld. He calls himself the guardian of humanity, and all unowned robots obey his commands."
"A 'Guardian of Humanity' that can command robots...? I've never heard of such a thing."
Bronya showed a puzzled expression.
"Hmph, it seems your so-called Architects aren't all-knowing after all."
"Do you two have to bicker with every sentence? This is hardly the time... Wait, is something moving up ahead?"
Just as March 7th was about to complain, she caught sight of a humanoid robot with chainsaw-like arms standing in their path.
"That model... It's definitely one of Svarog's lackeys!"
Seele immediately raised her scythe upon seeing it,
"Don't be afraid, I have experience dealing with these. Let's go!"
As soon as Seele finished speaking, she saw Felicity walk alone toward the tall robot, showing an intrigued expression.
—It's a robot.
Although there were robots in Herta Space Station, none of them looked as cool as this one before her.
Its right arm was a massive chainsaw, while the left maintained a normal arm structure. Perhaps due to its internal mechanisms operating, it kept trembling even while standing still.
It couldn't possibly be that robots also had ADHD.
"You fool, that robot is dangerous! Even I have to be careful when dealing with it—"
Seele instantly moved forward in panic, but stopped abruptly after just a few steps. She saw several vines burst through the hard ground, and as Felicity gracefully raised her hand, the vines quickly bound and restrained the automaton.
"...Huh?"
Seele felt her brain short-circuit for a moment.
Meanwhile, Felicity happily patted the metal shell of the automaton. Although she didn't understand its internal structure, that didn't hinder her curiosity.
How did such a large thing move? And so flexibly? What was its energy source? Was this reasonable?
The child might not be smart, but the child had strength.
"Seele, can I take it apart to look inside?"
"..."
"Seele?"
Felicity blinked and waved her hand in front of Seele's face, trying to call back her wandering thoughts.
Seele hadn't yet recovered from the previous shock. She subconsciously shook her head, propping her chin as she stared at the ground:
"...Don't disturb me, I'm thinking."
Felicity: ?