Chapter 82: Chapter 82: The Spiral Staircase
This tank was much larger than an ordinary tank and lacked tracks or wheels.
It seemed to be fixed in place by a large battery, but it was unclear what else was inside.
Senju and Chito also entered, and the place was chaotic, with boxes and miscellaneous items scattered everywhere.
They rummaged through the space, looking for anything useful.
After a while, Senju realized that it was mostly filled with ammunition and other such items.
Meanwhile, Yuuri was excitedly holding up a long, round object. "Look, shells!"
"Damn..." Senju exclaimed, her tone shifting with concern.
'She better be careful with that shell.'
Yuuri was too unreliable, and fortunately, she couldn't hold the missile properly. Otherwise...
(T/L: She ain't gonna pull a Megumi... I think.)
Staring at the object in Yuuri's arms, Senju spoke softly, careful not to frighten her into dropping the tank shell. "Yuuri, that thing is very dangerous. Put it down gently."
Yuuri nodded in understanding and handed the shell to Senju. "Ah, I know. But I'd like Senju to help me bring a few for my collection."
"Hehe, that's the case. Let me load them," Senju said with a sigh of relief as he carefully stored the shells in his inventory.
"Yuu, really likes weapons," Chito disagreed with Yuuri's love of weapons so much, but Yuuri grinned and took Senju's hand and walked to the side.
"Senju, there's more, these, these, all of them!" Yuuri pulled him over and pointed to the boxes that had been opened next to him.
Senju looked at the contents and found that some were tank shells, while others were cartons that seemed to contain bullets.
He hurriedly put away these dangerous items, feeling relieved.
The three of them continued to search for anything useful and eventually discovered an entrance leading down below.
As they entered, they found the area inside to be dark.
After Senju placed a torch nearby, they saw that it was a large hall with rooms surrounding it.
The hall had some benches, and one wall had a screen, though it was now completely broken.
The three of them began searching the surrounding rooms and found several more boxes of shells and some parts.
In addition to the weapons, they also came across boxes of dry rations, likely produced at a nearby grain facility.
Senju, feeling that they had made a good haul, gathered everything up and used a pickaxe to break open a gap in the wall.
The three of them then left the fort together.
Once outside, they lost interest in the surrounding buildings.
The long brackets now appeared to be tanks, and they wondered why they had initially thought they were cranes.
Perhaps it was the impression left by the cranes they had seen earlier by the water's edge.
However, everyone didn't want to search any longer and decided to hurry to the side of the tower while it was still light.
As they got closer, the three of them noticed a huge cylindrical building that had fallen nearby.
Upon closer inspection, they realized it was also a tower, as a small half-section of wreckage remained at the top.
Comparing the thickness of the two towers, they found that the fallen tower was much thicker than the standing one.
Looking up, they could see that the bottom plate of the standing tower was missing.
Concerned, they began to worry about the safety of the thinner tower.
Sure enough, when the three of them came to the vicinity of the tower, they found that the elevator on the outer wall had broken down, and just when everyone was worried about how to get up, Yuuri found an entrance on the side.
After everyone entered, they found that the inside of the tower was also a passage, similar to the spiral road they had passed before.
A towering steel trunk stood in the middle, with countless branches stretching out to support the surrounding roads.
The overall appearance was very similar to the tower they had encountered earlier, just with more detailed construction.
After discovering the road, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Chito drove the vehicle over, and they all entered the tower, continuing to move along the spiral path.
Chito drove at the front, while in the back compartment, Senju sat looking ahead, and Yuuri lay next to him, gazing at the stands.
After a while, everyone heard some noises from above, and then there was a bell sound, and a steel bracket suddenly smashed into the road next to it, and then bounced up and fell.
"Yikes!" ""Wahh!"" All three of them were startled by the falling steel next to them, and Yuuri also felt a wave of fear, "That scared me."
"An old support fell down," Chito said, feeling a burst of fear as she worried about the road beneath her.
"Is this floor safe?"
"Do you want us to walk up?" Senju suggested, also concerned about the state of the road.
"The weight would be much lighter if we walked up."
"Don't," Yuuri vetoed Senju's proposal, then comforted Chito. "It's fine, it's fine."
However, Chito was still very worried.
"That's all you ever say Yuu, you never know where danger might be lurking."
"What Chito said makes sense. Yuuri, you're too relaxed," Senju said, looking at Yuuri who was lying comfortably on the side, feeling speechless.
But Yuuri naturally had her own reason. "It's like everything is so dangerous that it actually starts to seem to be okay."
(T/L: Pretty sure because you're used to it right? The "You'll get used to it" ahh meme.)
"I don't know..." Chito said, her voice tinged with frustration. She understood Yuuri's thoughts, though.
Originally, everyone had been very sensitive to their surroundings for the sake of safety.
But when everything around them became a potential threat, the survivors began to view these dangers as normal.
However, Senju still hadn't come to terms with that mindset.
He still felt that there was a lot of danger around him.
"The lift on the outside of the tower was broken," Yuuri continued, "But I'm glad I found a way into the tower. This one is much thinner than the previous ones."
"It might be a different type," Chito replied casually, a little emotional. "I'd rather take a path like this than ride a lift up ."
Then, remembering her previous experience of being suspended in mid-air, she sighed, clearly still upset.
"I'll pass on being suspended in the air like that..."
"Well, it's better to have a road like this, even if there is a broken place, I can fix it."
Senju also supported Chito's point of view, after all, he also almost fell from the sky, and he didn't have any defense.
"But ah, you can't go up to the upper floor at all," Yuuri lay there, nostalgic for the speed of the lift. Chito, who was driving, also sighed a little, "Yeah."
"Gollum," Yuuri said as she lay there, circling with the road above, feeling that nothing seemed to be changing around her.
"Whether it's going up or down..."
"No, no, no, isn't this an upward climb?" Chito quickly dismissed Yuuri's terrible thoughts.
Then she sighed a little, "I think... Going around and around in the same place so many times."
"... Kind of makes me miss our routine everyday life." She continued.