Maxwell rummaged through his bag before eventually pulling out a small, odd-looking rectangular box. His thumb found a tiny, sleek, flat button at the side as he pressed it down. At least, that was what Nova thought, but in reality, what he pulled out was his mobile phone—a Draco P48 smartphone.
What is that odd-looking box? Why is it glowing? What is his thumb doing? What is with those three round dots on the back? Is that even the back? Why did he bring it out? What is its use? What does it have to do with time?
At this moment, Nova's mind was flooded with questions. Even Maxwell could clearly see the question marks written all over her face, leaving him thoroughly amused and lost. What was with her reaction? Why was she looking at his phone with such intense curiosity?
Unable to keep his curiosity in check, Maxwell finally decided to ask, "Hey, what's with that curious look on your face? Have you never seen a smartphone before?"
"Smart phone? What is that?"
"…"
At this moment, Maxwell was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. On one hand, he was excited to be the first one to introduce this marvel of technology to a fellow challenger, but on the other hand, he was shocked. How long had she been trapped here to not even know what a smartphone was? Crazy!
As Maxwell's thumb held down the power button, the phone finally turned on, and a sleek neon-blue logo appeared: an odd-looking blue lizard coiled in the shape of a 'D'.
The moment the screen lit up, Nova's eyes widened so much that Maxwell could practically feel her emotional instability.
"Wha—wha—" Her voice shook a little before stabilizing, her emotions turning icy and calm, though he could still feel the turmoil boiling beneath her surface. "What is with that sorcery? Why is the illusion of King Blue Blizzard inside that box? Don't you know that he has already found us?"
As Nova spoke, Maxwell's expression shifted from curiosity to utter confusion, then back to curiosity! What the...? King Blue Blizzard? Found us? And the more she talked, the weirder his expression became. Which king? That's just the logo of the Draco Company!
I feel like I'm missing something, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it. Something isn't right. Whatever, when the time comes, we'll know. Even though Maxwell felt that something was off, he couldn't pinpoint what it was. The moment he tried to think too deeply about it, his thoughts would start to wander and his emotions would become unstable.
"Hold on, hold on. First of all, who is this King Blue Blizzard, and what does he have to do with the Draco Company? And by the way, a company is a legal entity formed by a group of individuals to engage in commercial or industrial enterprises… which in this case is technology, primarily smartphones…"
"…"
Clearly seeing the confusion written across Nova's face, Maxwell decided the topic was not worth dwelling on any longer—though, sincerely speaking, he would have loved nothing more than to explain it, considering she hadn't yet been tainted by the wonders of technology!
"Anyway, considering how this could potentially become a boring or exhausting topic, let's forget it for now until we make it out of here…" Maxwell trailed off. "…If we make it out of here, that is."
The moment Maxwell said this, a heavy silence suddenly fell over them, further emphasizing the fact that life was far from guaranteed in this cold, forsaken land.
"Alright then!" Maxwell suddenly stood up, dusting himself off and strapping his bag back on. He had already confirmed that only two hours had passed since he passed out, so there was no use sitting in one place chatting when they could cover ground right now—and still chat while doing it!
His sudden shift in mood caught Nova off guard, and she silently stared at him without saying anything. Clearly, she too felt that they were wasting time, and from what she could tell, they weren't in any immediate danger. *So why was I sitting still, just talking without actually thinking too much? I felt it earlier, but didn't think too much of it. Something is clearly not right.*
"Let's forget the dark and sad situation we're in for now; thinking about death doesn't do much good. Just answer my previous question: who is this King Blue Blizzard, and what do they have to do with the Draco Company, or Draco in particular?" Maxwell asked as he beckoned to Snowy, who had been sitting to the side watching them the whole time.
*Swoosh!*
Snowy flapped his feathers, creating a small gust of wind as he circled for a moment before settling on Maxwell's shoulder, making Maxwell tilt slightly to the side.
***
Even though Nova heard Maxwell and agreed that they should continue their journey, her thoughts were still clearly occupied by other things. On one hand, she still felt something was terribly wrong. From the moment she saw Maxwell, she had a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right—her emotions were unstable, and whenever she tried too hard to think, her thoughts ended up wandering.
Like just now, when Maxwell had asked her who King Blue Blizzard was, she had stopped to think for a moment about how much information to reveal, since knowing certain things brought great danger—like King Blue Blizzard. But instead of thinking about that, she had ended up remembering her time in the settlement they were currently heading toward. They were totally unrelated things!
*Whatever the case may be, for now, I can't do much about it due to my limited knowledge. Good thing we are almost at the settlement—just one more Neovano hot zone and we'll be there. But before that…*
"My answer to your question is…" She paused for a moment, considering her reply. "…that you shouldn't worry about it for now. Some knowledge is better left unknown." She paused again, then added, "For me, it's not too much of a problem because I've always known. But for you? It might bring about unknown danger if we return to the real world."
"Oh, so that's how it is. Luckily, I've always known how to rein in my curiosity," Maxwell said, clearly proud of himself. "Good news, though, because from my calculations, only one hot zone remains before we get to the settlement. I can practically smell the settlement air!" Maxwell chuckled, clearly excited that they would finally have something good to eat and a warm place to sleep!
That was what Maxwell thought, but only Nova knew that their journey might not be as peaceful as he expected. From what she knew, one had to be extreme to decide to live in this world permanently and not even bother trying to escape.
And that's what people in the settlement are.
Extreme.