The Origin Warden

chapter 21 : Smith POV : END 2/2

“What?. This thing still works!!”

he said excitedly while pointing at the small black box beneath the handle.

Zeil lowered the gun he had been aiming at the door and pointed at the black box Smith was currently fiddling with as though it were some kind of treasure.

“What is that thing?”

Smith pressed the lower part of the device, then opened the plastic cover, revealing a small electronic board along with a tiny silver disc shaped battery.

He answered without turning around,

“This thing here is a signal reader...”

“A signal reader?. A signal like a radio signal?” Zeil asked in confusion, causing both Mandy and Smith to stare at him strangely.

He shrugged and laughed.

“What’s with that look?. I’m ignorant when it comes to technology stuff. I spent most of my life on my farm.”

“This signal reader works like a lock, but unlike a traditional lock that needs a key, this thing here only opens if you place a card... umm, it’s like a card about this size...”

“This isn’t the time for this nonsense.”

Mandy interrupted him.

She stepped back and kicked the door hard, completely ignoring Smith, who shrank in place.

“Wait. Wait, just give me a little time to detach this reader.”

“You’re just wasting time, fatty!” Mandy said with a frown.

Smith shook his head while trying to remove the device.

“You don’t understand. This thing here is the only piece of technology I’ve seen still working since the beginning of... umm, the apocalypse.”

Zeil patted his shoulder and said,

“Boy, actually there are some things in the settlement that still work.”

“Really?!!” Smith asked in disbelief.

Zeil nodded.

“I’ll show them to you when we return. But if this thing here will help you fix the cars, then take it with you.”

He bent slightly, slapped Smith’s hand away lightly, then grabbed the device and ripped it off the door before tossing it into the fat young man’s hands.

Meanwhile, Mandy had placed the lantern on the floor, then bent down and grabbed the metal hatch embedded in the ground that blocked the entrance leading downward.

The hatch, which would have required at least the strength of two men to lift, was raised by Mandy without a single drop of sweat.

Smith stared at the scene in shock and excitement and could not help asking old Zeil,

“Does reaching level 10 increase a person’s physical strength!?”

His question was not only because of Mandy’s display of strength.

He had noticed that Erik, Julian, and even Zeil, who had ripped the device off earlier as though it were an insect, had all shown physical strength beyond that of a normal human.

Zeil nodded while walking toward the hatch Mandy had opened, where a small metal staircase led downward.

“You’ll know when you reach that level, but there’s no harm in telling you now. Consider it motivation. When you reach level 10, you awaken your latent powers and also gain seven points that you can place into any attribute you want. Most people choose strength, but for you, I’d advise putting them into agility.”

Smith nodded without caring about the insult disguised as advice.

He grabbed the sides of the stairs and began descending behind Mandy, while old Zeil came down after him.

Mandy pointed toward a massive yellow power generator.

It was the size of a large car.

“Is that the target?”

Smith stared at the enormous generator, or rather the generators, since there were two of them occupying a huge section of the already massive hall.

He approached one of the generators and placed his hand on its cold metallic surface before turning toward Mandy and nodding.

“Yes. This is the target. A 500 thousand capacity power generator...”

He wanted to explain further but remembered how he got scolded every time, so this time he swallowed his words and instead asked the question that had been bothering him.

“Umm... how exactly are you going to transport this generator back to the settlement?. Wait, don’t tell me you’ll use your superpowers to do it?”

Mandy did not answer.

Instead, she circled around the generator inspecting it carefully, as though measuring its exact size.

She handed the lantern to Zeil, then crouched and placed her hands on the floor.

Smith noticed dark blue ink seeping from beneath her palms and forming a circle around the generator.

Despite his fear of Mandy, Smith could not help asking,

“Umm... Miss Mandy, just to confirm, is your power teleportation or some sort of pocket dimension storage?”

“Shut your mouth!. You’re annoying me, fatty.”

“Umm, but the generator is bolted to the floor. I don’t know if...”

“What?. Say that again!?”

Without removing her hands from the floor, she raised her head and glared at him over her shoulder with a sharp look.

“Umm... ah. I said the generator is bolted to the floor...”

“Damn it!”

It was the first time he had heard her curse out loud.

She pulled her hands off the floor and stood up.

The blue ink vanished as though the ground had absorbed it.

She dusted off her hands and said sharply while glaring at Smith, who wisely lowered his head.

“Fine. I’ll tell you what my ability does. I can transfer objects remotely from point A to point B. And to do that, the object I want to move must be free!. Not like this chunk of metal!”

She slammed her hand against the generator’s surface, the sound echoing throughout the huge room.

Then suddenly, without warning, a strange and terrifying sound rang out.

It sounded like teeth clicking together.

“Did you really have to do that!??”

Smith said in a tearful voice while holding the knife in front of him and looking around like a madman.

“Be quiet, boy,” Zeil said calmly, in complete contrast to the atmosphere around them.

But when Smith saw the familiar white smoke, he relaxed slightly.

The horrifying sound of clicking teeth rang out again, but this time it was closer.

Terrifyingly close.

So close that Smith felt as though the sound was right beside his ear, making him tremble and swallow nervously.

Zeil patted his shoulder and gestured for him to follow.

Not that he needed to.

Smith was literally glued to him.

With the lantern’s light helping them, they climbed the stairs and returned upstairs, where Mandy immediately shut the hatch to trap whatever horrifying thing was below.

Zeil canceled his ability and frowned as he handed the lantern back to Mandy, whose ugly expression made her look ready to kill someone if they irritated her.

“What should we do now?. It’s obvious the room below contains a Rooted rank monster.”

“Did the pendant react?” Mandy asked a question Smith did not understand, though some color had finally returned to his sweaty face.

Zeil nodded, causing Mandy’s expression to worsen before she sighed and started walking toward the exit.

“Forget about the generator downstairs. The risk is too high, especially since we don’t know how deadly that monster is.”

She paused briefly before adding,

“We’re going to the police station.”