Love Code at the End of the World

“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful,” Raffles blinked. There was uncertainty in his grayish-blue eyes. He looked sideways and pouted, “It shouldn’t explode, right?”

The way he said it sent chills down my spine. Why do I suddenly find Raffles so unreliable?

Raffles didn’t talk anymore, but focused on the disassembled escape pod.

Raffles had already removed the outer shell of the escape pod. He then removed the complicated circuit and wirings from the inside.

He picked up a screwdriver from the cart full of tools next to him, and then he went under the escape pod. He soon started screwing things.

I wanted to do something for him. I wanted to help. Firstly, I felt that I shouldn’t live off charity. Secondly… if I had nothing to do, I would miss my home, my parents and my friends. In the end, I might just break down.

I immediately jumped off the pile of the wire rod and walked next to him, “Is there anything that I can do to help you with?”

“Do you know what a spanner is?” He asked from underneath.

“Yes.”

“Pass me that.”

“Alright.”

I passed him the spanner then he started saying, “The escape pod from Silver Moon City is very advanced. It could turn into a mini airplane…”

He was right. When I had been launched out, the system in the escape pod had announced that there was a thruster and side wings, but they were broken. That was the reason we had to crash-land.

Raffles popped his head out from below and looked at me, “That’s why there must be blue crystal energy in here. Because it has to return to Silver Moon City…” He went under the escape pod excitedly once again, “Silver Moon City is in space. It requires sufficient energy to return to Silver Moon City…”

“What did you say? Silver Moon City is in space?” ‘Isn’t it like a space station then!?’

“Yeah, but it isn’t far away from here…” He came out again and looked up in the sky enviously.

It was as though he could see through the roof all the way to the faraway space, “I’d like to see this earth from Silver Moon City…”

“Silver Moon City looks huge!” If it wasn’t this huge, I wouldn’t have been able to see it with my naked eyes. We had sent out many satellites to space, but we couldn’t see them with naked eyes because they were not as huge as the Silver Moon City and were very far away.

“Of course,” Raffles reined back his gaze that seemed to be looking into space and returned back under the escape pod. There was a metal clanging noise. He disassembled as he said, “Otherwise, how could we see it? It is a huge space city. Back when the end of the world descended, many political heavyweights and elites from this world ran away to the space city and survived the calamity.”

That is so brutal. Political heavyweights and elites were saved, but the people who had to stay back on the earth were exposed to radiation. It’s difficult to judge whether they did the right thing by saving the elites when the end of the world was upon them. For instance, when a lifeboat can save one more person, should they save a scientist or a commoner?

“I found it!” Raffles shouted from under the escape pod. He slowly moved out holding a crystal ball of ten centimeters in diameter. There was a small blue nucleus in this transparent crystal ball. 

Raffles stood up and carried the ball carefully. He put the crystal ball in front of me and said excitedly, “Look, this is blue crystal energy…” He was so careful as well as excited that he looked like he was carrying a baby.

I took the ball from him very carefully, and he reminded anxiously, “Be careful. Even though the outer crystal is specially made to transmit and protect the blue crystal energy, but were it to fall on the ground, it would still be dangerous.”

I carefully carried the crystal ball and lifted it up. The crystal ball was warm and the blue crystal energy inside didn’t look big. It was at most the size of a walnut. It was hard to imagine that this small energy source could give enough power for a spaceship to resist gravity and return to Silver Moon City.

The little blue crystal energy glowed inside the crystal ball, and it looked like a cell that was magnified multiple times. Upon careful observation, you could see it scattered all around like mini tentacles, just like a mutated cancer cell. It looked like… a liquid energy source…

*Swoosh!* It sounded like the cabin door had opened.

“Waifu!” Suddenly, Harry shouted and patted me hard on my back, “Follow me to collect your things!”

He patted me right on the arm that was holding the crystal ball making it slip from my hand. Raffles shouted in terror with his eyes wide open, “Ah! Blue crystal ball! It will explode!”

I wanted to catch it, but I stumbled upon the wire rods on the ground. I fell on the escape pod. Instead of helping, I had gotten us into more trouble!

At the same time, I saw Harry lifting his foot and extending it in front of me. Is he trying to catch it with his foot!?

He really did catch it with his foot! He kicked the blue crystal ball softly, and then bent down to catch it. He looked extremely terrified too.

“Phew! Got it,” Harry looked as pale as a sheet.

“Ah!” I leaned myself against the escape pod. Everything had happened in an instant. My hands were pressed on the pile of cables inside the escape pod, and my heartbeat had sped up from anxiety. Suddenly, I felt a bolt of electric shock on my palm. It was numbing, but painless. But the very next moment, something strange happened! The entire escape pod was humming with electricity! All cables glowed with blue liquid!

Wail. Its engine had started running, so I quickly took back my hand as I was afraid I would be shocked.

Raffles and Harry stood dumbfounded before the escape pod.

“Escape pod has activated,” it was the AI from the escape pod.

“What is going on? Didn’t you disassemble it?” Harry looked at the blue crystal ball, “You even removed its battery!”

“No, no idea,” Raffles was dumbfounded too. He was like a frightened lab rat.

“Could it be that there is reserve energy?” Harry was surprised.

“Inspection begins,” the female voice in the escape pod said again, “Launcher is broken, side wing is broken, outer shell is broken. D*mn it, so many parts are broken!”

The three of us stiffened. The AI is intelligent enough to be able to even curse? She is simply like a living person. Suddenly, we felt like we had dissected a living person, and I even felt bad.

“Alert! Alert! Blue crystal energy is lost! Alert! Connecting to the main server!”

“She is going to connect to the main server!” I shouted, “We will be exposed the moment she connects to the main server!”

“Ah! You’re right!” Raffles held the spanner up anxiously. Everyone was in a mess all of a sudden.

“Harry! Hurry up and figure out a way!"

“How would I know what to do when even you don’t!?”

“Harry!”

“Get away!” Harry shouted and took out his gun!

Raffles and I immediately jumped away!

*Bang!*

*Hong!*

The blue lights on the cables in the escape pod slowly went off. Then, there was a buzzing sound of the dying engine.

Raffles and I slowly stood up. There was a big hole on the circuit board in the escape pod that was giving out smoke. The cables and circuit board were beyond recognition!