My Abyss Survival Diary

Chapter 46 Tripartite Cooperation

"Are you working with tunnel raiders?"

Simon knew in his heart that this was a potentially fatal question that he had to answer very carefully.

Andrei was staring intently at him, while Elphis turned slightly to the side, his eyes behind the mask casting a subtle glance...

If the answer is "yes," it means admitting to colluding with the cave raiders, and Andrei will immediately abandon their friendship and make him a target of attack. If the answer is "no," it means betraying Elphis, and even if the cooperation can continue, he will harbor resentment.

Think quickly! Simon felt a throbbing pain in his brain as he tried to come up with the perfect words to appease both sides.

Finally, he slowly spoke:

"Father Andrei, where are you from?"

Instead of answering yes or no, he calmly raised a new question.

"Don't try to change the subject, answer my question!" Andrei was not going to be easily distracted by his attempt to change the subject, and he snapped at him.

"You came from the Ironwing Confession Room, right?"

Andrei frowned, but did not refute it, which was taken as tacit agreement.

This discovery came from Simon's deduction. His keen eyesight led him to notice the new gun oil stains on the cuffs of the robe, indicating that he had been adjusting the weapon ten minutes earlier. The rolled-up sleeves further corroborated his conjecture, as this was a state that only people would exhibit when working.

"Father Andrei, you were in the Iron Wing Confession Room earlier, preparing to pack your things and leave, right?" Simon stated his reasoning.

Elphis chuckled and interjected, "I see. They were afraid of being blown up by their own bombs, so they packed their things in advance and prepared to slink away."

Andrei glared at him, but could not refute him. Just then, Simon slowly stepped forward and stood between the two of them.

This distance is dangerous, but he has to take the risk...

"Father Andrei, how do you truly view us sinners? Do you, as your doctrine says, view sinners with compassion as fellow human beings who can be redeemed, or do you see them as disposable tools, mere objects for collecting evidence of sin?"

Anderson was taken aback by this rhetoric, and after a long pause, he spoke solemnly:

"Of course I considered you all as compatriots who could be saved, but you betrayed me! You actually chose to cooperate with the Empire's mortal enemy!"

Unbeknownst to him, the righteous and awe-inspiring Andrei had fallen into Simon's linguistic trap.

"Being killed by an extermination bomb is a kind of redemption?" Simon's tone suddenly became aggressive. "You can evacuate, you can take the elevator away, but what about us? We can only look up at the sky and wait for the bomb to kill us all. Is that redemption?"

Andrei was speechless in rebuttal, because it was the truth...

Even if the Death Angel Heavy Armor self-destructs, it cannot kill the hungry angel. To prevent it from escaping the abyss, the next step for the Empire will be to drop bombs to destroy the first layer.

"We absolutely cannot cooperate with the Cave Thieves!" Andrei angrily pointed at Elphis. "Those bastards secretly smuggled the Seeds of the Abyss out of the Abyss, putting the entire Empire at enormous risk!"

Elphis shrugged, looking like a scoundrel who wouldn't care what anyone said.

Then Simon dropped another bombshell:

"My cooperation with them is inevitable; survival is the instinct of every living being," he said, emphasizing each word. "We must cooperate to kill the Hungry Angel."

His words left Andrei stunned on the spot.

"Kill the Hungry Angel? You think you can... are you kidding me!"

Andrei never expected Simon to say such a thing.

Monsters that even heavy armor couldn't kill, were to be killed by this rabble?

"We have a weapon that can kill the Hungry Angel; it can slice off half of its body," Simon said, pointing to the deep pit where they were conducting their experiments.

Sensing the dissipating energy, Andrei's expression became noticeably cautious.

He walked past Elphis, giving him an angry glare as he passed. He went straight to the deep pit where the bone jars had been destroyed and slowly bent down, carefully sensing the remaining energy in the pit. His expression became even more complicated and tense.

He made his judgment shortly afterward...

"This thing could indeed kill the Hungry Angel," he had to admit.

Upon hearing this, Simon's tense back relaxed slightly, but he didn't show any extra expression.

"The Empire is going to drop bombs," Simon continued, reasoning with them. "When the bombs fall, all the outposts on the first level will be destroyed. Elevators, fortifications, warehouses, confessionals—all will be reduced to ashes. The Empire's painstaking efforts will be wiped out overnight."

"How long will it take the Empire to rebuild the first-level stronghold after the bombs fall? A year? Two years?" Simon took a step forward. "During the reconstruction, all exploration of the Abyss will be interrupted, the Empire will not be able to obtain new samples, and research progress will stagnate."

Andrei's brows were furrowed and his lips were tightly pressed together.

"But if we kill the Hungry Angels, the Empire won't need to drop bombs. The strongholds will remain, the elevators will remain, and the sinners can continue to hunt the fungal corpses and collect the flesh of their crimes. The Empire won't lose anything."

Andrei looked at him, hesitated for several seconds before speaking, his voice deep and muffled, "You mean, you want me to help you kill the Hungry Angel?"

"A three-way cooperation," Simon corrected. "The Empire, the Sinners, and the Cave Thieves."

Elphis let out a soft chuckle from behind, but said nothing.

Andrei's gaze passed over Simon and fixed on Elphis.

"This man!" He pointed at Elphis's face, the iron mask gleaming dimly in the morning light. "He's the Empire's highest-ranking wanted criminal. You want me to cooperate with him?"

"We will cooperate to kill the Hungry Angel." Simon's tone was calm, as if stating a geometric axiom. "After the angel is dead, how you settle your personal grudges is your business, but until then, the Hungry Angel is the common enemy of everyone."

Andrei's lips moved slightly, but he neither refuted nor agreed.

He just stood there, his fingers on his metal right arm clenching and unclenching, the sound of gears meshing was fine and rapid.

"Your sweet talk won't convince me!" Andrei stubbornly insisted.

Simon shook his head: "I'm not trying to convince you, Father Andrei. I'm telling you a fact: the Empire needs the Hungry Angel dead, and you now have the power to kill it with us."

"Father, if that bomb falls, all the unredeemed sinners, along with the Imperial soldiers who couldn't evacuate, will perish here. The contamination from the bomb will prevent the Empire from setting foot on the first level of the abyss for many years to come. At that time, will you regret not agreeing to cooperate with me?"

After a brief blink, Andrei quickly opened his eyes and made his final decision...