Chapter 65: It Really is Empty Now.

(Marinkia’s POV)

Leaving the safety of the penthouse, Ava and I slowly walked down the stairs to the bottom floor. Not! Honestly, it was kinda hard to carry Ava up thousands of stairs without waking her up. It was a real and honest achievement, in my opinion.

Instead of doing that tedious thing, I decided to teach Ava how to jump off a building. Wow… that makes it sound like I taught her how to commit suicide…

That wasn’t the case at all. I wasn’t joking when I said that we could survive jumping off of a skyscraper. That was an actual fact. Humans used to jump out of planes while they were flying, us Numens do that too. Except, we don’t use parachutes at all.

What’s the height limit? There is none… No, really. Anna’s only explanation about it is that it is due to Krul’s unique identity. She wasn’t human, after all. And it isn’t like she is the only progenitor in existence.

Basically, even if we do not land properly, we won’t get hurt at all from most heights. Anna got some flak for referring to us as being similar to cockroaches, but I think that was a pretty accurate description of how sturdy our bodies are.

Ava: “Can I go again?” She asked with a pleading tone.

Marinkia: “…Five more times.” I agree with a sigh.

Unfortunately for my time management, Ava very much enjoyed jumping off the top floor of this hotel. How much did she enjoy it? That was her twelfth jump off of it…

Lots of “Unsafe” Free Jumping Later.

Ava: “Will you really take me to jump off of a plane? Would I even survive that?” She asked.

Marinkia: “You’ll survive it. In fact, the only reason we don’t jump off from a higher place is due to how you’ll end up on fire.” I answer.

Despite me only giving her five more jumps, Ava kept trying to beg for me to let her do more. To get her to stop, I had to promise to go skydiving with her once this war was over. I have already done this with my wives a few times, but I know that it will still be fun to do. After all, it will be the first time that I will sky dive with my daughter! So I am excited!

Ava: “Oh, so we’ll burn to death, huh? What a sad end…” She replied.

Marinkia: “No. Some of our people have jumped from low earth orbit before. They can easily survive the fall.” I deny.

Ava: “Huh? Then why don’t we do it?” She asked with an excited tone.

Marinkia: “Because they survived, not that they enjoyed it. Their clothes burned up, and so did their bodies. After three people did it, Krul banned jumping from such a height.” I explain.

Ava: “Ah, that doesn’t sound fun at all…” She said with a shiver.

With the girl consoled with my mentioning of the harsh logic of reality, we continued on our way. With no undead around, the world truly felt like it had ended. The buildings, decrepit as they were, even blocked the wind. You could almost hear yourself think. It was so damn quiet and empty…

Ava: “What are our cities like?” She asked.

Marinkia: “Ever watched a modern movie?” I reply.

Ava: “I have.” She answered.

Marinkia: “Our cities are like districts. Far less stupid and restrictive than the ones Grant made, though. I mentioned the plan to revive the earth, right?” I reply.

Ava: “You did.” She said with a nod.

Marinkia: “Once we do, the plan is to end the district system and go back to everything being open.” I explain.

Ava: “Wow… it will be just like in those old movies!” She said with an excited expression.

Marinkia: “Yeah, it will. And you will live to see it happen. Once the earth is saved, Krul plans to move on to space travel.” I inform.

Ava: “Space travel!? Wow… will I really get to fly in a spaceship?” She asked.

Marinkia: “We already have shuttles, you know. The only real reason why humans aren’t space fairing… is just due to Grant wanting to keep his supreme power.” I reply.

Ava: “Damn… he sounds like a horrible ruler. I am almost happy that I was born in a farm controlled by our kind.” She said with a laugh.

While walking, we didn’t see anything interesting at all. Well, that isn’t completely true. In fact, we did have some fun looking at all of the buildings. They were a part of history, after all. It was like walking through a private museum.

Each one was unique in its own way, being built in the age where humanity truly started to take off. Besides the city where we led all those zombies to, most of these places were even untouched by the undead. It was oddly similar to a time capsule, if I had to give a comparison.

Ava: “Is that an arcade?” She happily exclaimed.

Marinkia: “Seems like it.” I reply.

Ava: “Let’s go check it out!” She yelled out in excitement, running away.

Marinkia: “No.” I deny, holding her arm to stop her.

Ava: “Why not!?” She exclaimed with a confused yell.

Marinkia: “Most arcade machines in the era that this city was built were already old. The plastic, tech and machinery all would have failed by now. Not to mention, most old things like that were made with bad and poisonous materials.” I calmly explain.

Ava: “Oh…” She said with a defeated tone.

Marinkia: “Did you know, Ava?” I ask.

Ava: “What?” She halfheartedly replied.

Marinkia: “Our estate is half the size of this city. And, we have many things to entertain ourselves in the estate. That includes a full private arcade.” I answer.

Ava: “Really!?” She said, perking up once more.

Marinkia: “Yes. When we finish this war and get back home, you can play to your heart’s content. Don’t think of me as some kind of soldier. I am not. Literally, for the past twenty or so years, all I did was enjoy myself in leisure.” I happily explain.

Ava: “I won’t have to work?” She asked with an unsure tone.

Marinkia: “No. Since we took care of the undead, we will now get 20,000,000 Credits per year as our pension.” I answer.

Ava: “…”

At my words, Ava seemed to blow a fuse, passing out cutely. Can you pass out in a cute way, or am I just extremely biased to my daughter? Eh, she is cute. Picking her up in a princess carry, I casually went along on our little, practically pointless, journey through this abandoned city.