28 28 301 DialogEnable 1 ??? I'm a Task Force "defector." If we're meeting at an Ascendant base... I assume we're all the same. 1
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31 31 301 1 Noan Why did you defect? 2
32 32 301 ??? Ha... Are you surprised that I chose an unlikely way to live instead of a likely way to die? 1
33 33 301 Noan I heard that failing the filtering will turn you into a Corrupted. 2
34 34 301 ??? I have to try, right? What's your name, by the way? 1
35 35 301 Noan ...Everyone calls me Shrek. 2
36 36 301 ??? Shrek? Haha! My apologies—I think that name has to be associated with some ogreish monster! 1
37 37 301 ??? But I suppose there's nothing wrong with calling you a "monster" when you're the Construct the Ascendants are "feeding" in a jail cell. 1
38 38 204 2 1
39 39 301 Noan ...I suppose. 2
40 40 301 ??? Well, then. Let's hope we both pass the filtering, Mr. "Monster"! 1
48 48 301 DialogEnable ??? You want to know what the filtering actually is?
49 49 201 1 500526 1
50 50 301 1 ??? It's a test to select our comrades. From what your memories have shown me... it's akin to how the human conservation areas choose their skilled workers. 1
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53 53 301 1 Noan People don't turn into Corrupted if the conservation areas don't choose them. 2
54 54 301 1 ??? Are you sure? Abandoned, they become Scavengers who linger on, searching, looting, and stealing resources and livelihoods in a broken world. 1
55 55 204 2
56 56 301 1 ??? They take, and one day they'll die when someone else takes from them. 1
57 57 301 1 ??? Don't worry. I don't want to blame anyone... and I won't despise any. 1
58 58 301 1 ??? The world is taken over by the Punishing Virus. They don't have a choice. They are forced to become who they are. 1
59 59 301 1 ??? I simply want to put an end to their sufferings sooner. 1
60 60 301 1 ??? Best if they pass the filtering and become one of us, but I have somewhere they can go if they don't. 1
61 61 301 1 The Ascendant smiles and points at the reservoir of the underground waterways. A crimson liquid is swirling with corpses and remains inside as if a monster that will not stop gnawing.
62 62 301 1 The female Construct who was smiling at him earlier is within it too. She has long become one of its phantoms, repeating her plea before dying with faint, broken words.
75 75 301 1 ??? See? Those who become one with this crimson sea are not dead. Their lives have begun anew. 1
76 76 301 ??? But I'm sure it's hard for you to comprehend this way. 1
77 77 301 The Ascendant scoops up some of the Red Tide and delivers it before Noan.
78 78 301 ??? Their minds and data are not gone. They're all stored here. 1
79 79 301 ??? They're searching for each other, becoming whole from the pain of their loss... 1
80 80 301 ??? Red Tide feeds the hungry and unites the departed... It takes away all the doom and gloom, and stitches together all their joy. 1
81 81 301 ??? She lets them gather and decompose, turning them into the creature of "order" Mister wants when we arrange them or a host of "chaos" when they come together freely... 1
82 82 202 1 1
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84 84 301 1 Noan Those lives and minds are hardly what they were. 1
85 85 202 1 1
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87 87 301 1 ??? Better than the completely rotten shells they would've been. 1
88 88 301 ??? Noan... No—I think I prefer "Shrek". The monster's name sounds more like one of us. 1
89 89 301 ??? You should hate this world as much as I do, this world that keeps churning out dead bodies one after another. You should want to change it as well. 1
90 90 202 1 1
91 91 201 1 500507
92 92 301 1 Noan ... 1
93 93 202 1 1
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95 95 301 1 ??? I don't want to force you to choose. I can give you more time if you're still undecided. 1
96 96 301 ??? Mister said... you'd only become a threat if we made you one of us against your will. 1
97 97 301 ??? So, I'm only going to "guide" you. I'll never force you to do anything. 1
98 98 301 ??? Oh... by the way, if you're thinking about saving those who are still alive... why don't you try out your new powers? 1
99 99 202 1 1
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101 101 301 1 Noan My new powers? 1
102 102 202 1 1
103 103 201 1 500526 1
104 104 301 1 ??? Exactly... You're wondering when that happened, aren't you? Hehe... 1
105 105 301 1 ??? I made you. You've retained your mind, and nothing's broken for once. 1
106 106 301 1 ??? So I borrowed Mister's access and planted some "magic" in you. 1
107 107 301 1 ??? As long as you stay near me, you don't have to fear the Punishing Virus. Instead, it can become your strength. 1
108 108 301 1 ??? You can read the information stored within the Red Tide. You can see the dead, save the living, and kill whoever you want to kill. 1
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111 111 301 1 Noan That won't be necessary. I'm good. 2
112 112 301 1 ??? You don't want to save those people? 1
113 113 301 1 Noan Of course I do! 2
114 114 301 1 ??? Then why won't you agree? 1
115 115 301 1 Noan I'll never be your accomplice. 2
149 149 301 The distorting projection struggles to hold together, repeating the words a woman said to the approaching man.
150 150 301 Red Tide Projection That's what it always says... in my book.
151 151 301 Red Tide Projection A bird that was born in a cage will fear the sky; a goose that soars to the air will fear the cage. Humans can only make choices based on what they know...
152 152 301 Red Tide Projection And someone without a past—someone who runs from it—is destined to be lost on the way to the future.
153 153 301 Noan ...Who are you? 1
154 154 301 Red Tide Projection Don't you remember? This is the second time we've met.
