Editing KSGU:Volume 2 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 11===

Audrey’s habit when she detects danger is to immediately turn off the lights in the room. Through the weak light that’s coming through the window from outside, she moves towards the bed.

She checks that there’s enough space under the bed to crawl into, and bends down as she holds her breath. The occasional tremors continue. And it’s not hard to imagine that something happened to <<Industrial 7>>, probably a war. But now, she has to pay attention to the gunshots and explosions. The clear but soft explosion sounds can be heard, unlike the rumbling sounds that’s been going on till now. It’s not from the outside, but the sound of air colliding with each other in this colony builder.

Ever since the first gunshot rang, the atmosphere’s in the house has been pretty noisy. There’s a lot more tension and killing intent that fills the air this time as compared to the rumbling of the colony. Is it Zinnerman’s actions? Audrey grabs onto the bedsheet tightly. Impossible. If that’s the case, she will be taken as a hostage and moved away from here. And if there’s no signs of this, that means—

She doesn’t know. That’s right, the scariest moment is when she doesn’t know what happens. Audrey remembers her childhood. At the deepest part of the large battleship, she will listen to her regent and sit on the throne. Once the battle started, the ship started to rattle, and the adults would definitely say: It’ll soon be over. Please relax, princess. That’s not true. I want to know exactly what’s going on. If I knew, I will be able to respond in turn no matter how young I am, but the adults just don’t want to scare this kid.

''Ever since I was born, I’m always called princess and treated as one; that’s why I’m often out of touch with reality. Even Zinnerman…''as she continues to think, the shrill breaking sound rings beside Audrey, and she instinctively hides under the bed.

Gunshots, ringing in the house, sounds of glass shattering, sounds of objects collapsing downstairs; Audrey hugs her head and curls her body, holding her breath. The gunshot rings again, and this time, it rang outside the door. After that, she hears something heavy land with a thud. After a while, footsteps and presences can be detected outside the wall, and a shadow appears through the light shining into the gap between the door and the wall.

The door creaks open, and Audrey forces her stiff body to lean towards the inside of the bed. It’s not Zinnerman and the rest. The presence outside the door feels really rigid and even less reliable. Maybe the door will be broken down the next moment, and the bed will be riddled with bullets. Audrey tries her best to open her closed eyes and notice everything around her. This continues for another 10 seconds, and the sound coming from the door handle stops as the shadow on the floor disappears.

The footsteps move further away. It seem that the person heard some radio signal. Audrey’s sweaty hand lets go of the velvet on the floor. She cautiously climbs out from under the bed, fidgeting towards the door. She looks through the old-styled keyhole, and there’s no one on the corridor.

The corridor’s lit by the soft decorative lights on the wall and the hard lamp lights above, and there’s a whiff of white smoke that smells like smoke. Besides the stinging head, there’s a unique bloody smell. Audrey makes up her mind, takes a deep breath, and opens the door slightly. The first thing she sees is a pool of blood that flowed to the entrance.

She follows the blood trail, and can see a man in suit sprawled over there with his handgun on the floor. Audrey can tell from his splattered head that this is caused by a rifle. She endures the nauseating feeling and leaves the room, covering her nose with her hand as she watches the man with slightly purple brain juices splattered on the floor. From the suit and the physique, she knows that he’s someone of the Foundation, and she saw a few times before.

Let alone a handgun, it’s not easy to bring in a rifle when it’s so big. It’s definitely not Zinnerman’s group who did this. Audrey tries her best to steady her trembling knees. There’s another organization taking action; they planned to carry out their attack and ambushed this <<Magallanica>>. Most likely, they sensed that the ‘Sleeves’ have made contact with the Vist Foundation, and came to stop the transfer of the <<Laplace Box>>—in that case, it’s easy to guess who the attackers are.

''Is the battle inside the colony their diversion?'' Audrey thought halfway through before stopping and leans herself on the corridor wall, beside the body. No matter what the attackers aim to do, it seem that they don’t know that she’s here. She has to use this time to get out from this house and meet with Zinnerman and the rest. Since things ended up like this, Zinnerman will give up getting the ‘box’. She has to stop them from losing their chance to escape just because they’re looking for her, and end up stirring the battle, which will be a mistake on their priorities.

''I have to be faster.'' This anxiety awakens that strength inside her to step outside. Audrey holds her breath and walks down the stairs, quickly walking through corridors that may still have attackers. She goes through the room which only has the tapestry, leaves the atrium in front of the entrance, and sees the outside of the house in front of her, the dark forest.