Omega Manual chapter 15

Blue Lake

The white horse carried them forward, stepping on the deserted land. A breeze rustled the wild grasses, creating a crisp sound, but Irey’s tall body shielded Shelley from the cold, the warmth making him drowsy.

“Why are you so good at riding?” Shelley asked. “Don’t tell me this is your first time.”

Irey smiled. “I had a job.”

“A job?”

“When I was fifteen, a horse ranch opened in the neighboring district of Lansai. They needed help, so I went,” Irey said. “I fed the horses, groomed them, handed towels to guests, polished shoes, and did all the odd jobs for just 30 bucks a day. When business at the ranch declined, the horses stayed in their stalls all day, and the owner let me take them out for exercise.

“And then?” Shelley knew the story wasn’t over.

“Then I got curious about what it felt like to ride a horse, something so many people paid big money to do. One day while exercising the horses, I got on one. I lost control, and the horse ran out of the ranch, galloping three kilometers before being found the next afternoon.”

Shelley looked at him with wide, beautiful eyes.

“When my mom found out, she took a clothesline pole this long and this thick and beat me so hard I could barely get out of bed,” Irey said, demonstrating the length with a smile. “But a few days later, she called the ranch owner, humbly asking if I could ride the horses when there were no customers. The owner agreed, and until the ranch closed, I could ride any horse in the stable.”

Shelley was silent for a while. “Your mother and the ranch owner were good people.”

“Yes,” Irey said. “Less than half a month later, the ranch closed and was sold to someone in the liquor business. I never saw the owner again. The last time I saw his name was on the casualty list of the meteorite disaster.”

Shelley didn’t know what to say, and the atmosphere grew silent again.

“At least someone claimed his body,” Irey said. “Most people aren’t that lucky.”

The horse crossed the dried riverbed. The sun was setting, casting long shadows as they moved slowly through the silent, empty landscape, leaving no trace.

Suddenly, a shimmering light appeared at the horizon, dazzlingly bright. Shelley squinted and raised his hand to block the glare. “What’s that?”

Irey followed his gaze and smiled. “You don’t know?”

Shelley shook his head. He hadn’t had a chance to leave the city in five years and knew nothing about the post-disaster world.

Unexpectedly, Irey raised an eyebrow with interest, pulling on the reins to change direction. “Come, let me show you.”

Shelley opened his mouth, but before he could voice his objection, the white horse neighed excitedly and ran toward the light.

He was startled, instinctively grabbing onto the brown mane of the horse. Irey pried his hand open and took it into his own, preventing a potential accident with the horse.

The dazzling shimmer approached closer and closer to them, as if a crevice had split open in the midst of the mountains, pouring light from within, instantly occupying their entire field of vision.

In the midst of the sandy earth, there lay a huge lake.

A damp scent wafted towards them, the lake situated perfectly beneath the sun, reflecting the entire sky on its surface, clouds floating like cotton candy on a mirrored surface, blue as if painted by an indigo brushstroke.

Then Shelley belatedly realized that this blue was not the color of the sky reflected on the lake’s surface, because the current sky was pale. This rich, almost enchanting blue was the color of the lake itself.

Before them lay a pool of deep blue water.

Shelley was deeply moved by the scene before him.

Irey tugged at the reins, bringing them to a halt by the lake.

“In areas with excessive radiation, such blue lakes form,” Irey said. “The lake water turns this color due to meteorite radiation, becoming a new source of radiation leakage, killing countless creatures and humans who come near the water.”

Shelley said nothing, gazing at the calm surface of the water rippling in the wind.

“The reason we can stand here is because radiation has transformed us into entirely different beings from before,” Irey lowered his eyelids, “This lake can be said to be the culprit behind the destruction of this city, but look, how beautiful it is.”

The lake did not surge in response to Irey’s praise, nor did it feel remorse for killing countless beings.

It simply existed peacefully, reflecting the sky, the sunset’s afterglow, waves like fish scales stirred by the wind, endlessly cycling.

“Yeah, it’s really beautiful,” Shelley murmured softly.

In the evening, they pitched a tent near the blue lake.

Due to a punctured tire, they had traveled less than half of their planned distance for the whole day, and with the sun about to set, they could only spend the night on the road for now.

Irey found a dead tree to tether the horse to, the horse restless as it kicked its hooves. Irey patted its head to soothe it.

Shelley had been silent the whole time, sitting curled up in the tent looking outside. Not far away, the red light of the setting sun bathed the lake, blue and red meeting on a line, on the undulating surface of the water, the sunlight seemed shattered, like the ashes of a dying sun.

“Wanna eat, boss?” Irey lifted the tent curtain and walked in, sitting down beside Shelley.

A scent of bread mixed with ham and artificial flavor wafted over, making Shelley’s stomach involuntarily growl. It was only now that he realized he hadn’t eaten much all day.

So the crude packaged hot dog in Irey’s hand seemed particularly enticing at this moment.

“Thanks,” Shelley took it.

Irey raised an eyebrow at him. “Next time, give me two thousand bucks, and I’ll buy you a bottle of aged wine.”

“Huh?” Shelley was confused.

“Just see if you’ll thank me for using your money to buy you stuff,” Irey said.

Shelley couldn’t help but laugh at Irey’s smug expression. “Get lost.”

Irey burst into laughter, the hearty sound filling the cramped tent, a bit of a mischievous air as if he had successfully teased his boss.

Shelley didn’t bother with him, focusing on dealing with the hot dog in his hand.

When hungry, anything tasted delicious, even cheap fast food was finger-licking good. Irey watched him laughingly, handing him a tissue after he finished eating.

Shelley swallowed the “thanks” that surged up his throat again, taking the tissue to wipe his mouth.

It was strange, throughout his life, he never lacked servants or subordinates, nor was he polite enough to thank these people all day long.

But Irey felt different to him, he always did things so naturally, as if these concerns weren’t for money, but from the heart.

Even though the salary he gave him was higher than that of ten servants and security guards combined.

After wiping his mouth, Shelley was about to toss the tissue aside when Irey stopped him.

“Hey, don’t throw it away.”

“Why?” Shelley was puzzled.

“It’s useful.”

With that, Irey got up and left the tent, returning shortly with a bundle of dry branches. He arranged the branches in front of the tent, using a lighter to ignite the dirty tissue and threw it into the center of the branches. Soon, flames leaped up.

“You know how to make a campfire?” Shelley was somewhat surprised.

“It’s winter now, boss,” Irey sounded a bit helpless, “If we don’t make a fire, we’ll both freeze to death in the tent after nightfall.”

Shelley’s face felt a little hot, “…oh.”

Irey threw the cheap fast food packaging they had just eaten into the fire, the blazing flames replacing the setting sun sinking below the horizon, illuminating the darkness before them.

Not only making a campfire, renting horses, pitching tents, preparing food and water, almost all of these tasks were handled by Irey alone. In terms of survival skills, Irey’s abilities far exceeded Shelley’s imagination.

“Boss, I’m not saying this to belittle you, but what if I didn’t know how to pitch a tent or make a campfire? What if you had hired an Alpha who didn’t know how to do these things?” Irey poked at the fuel in the flames with a stick, “What would you do in that case? Would you freeze to death by the lake?”

Maybe that would really happen, Shelley thought.

From the beginning, he hadn’t harbored much hope that this journey would actually reach its destination. Perhaps he just wanted a reason to set out, perhaps he just didn’t want to end up in the deserted Nantes villa in obscurity, or perhaps he had hoped to die in some accident or incident along the way, so that there would always be an unfinished wish in his life, without worrying about his soul being lost in the vast land.

“I…” he started but didn’t know what else to say. A gust of cold wind blew in, the flames of the campfire flickering up and down, his nose tickled, and he let out a loud sneeze.

“Cold?”

Before Shelley could speak, Irey had already taken off his coat and draped it over him.

The world was enveloped in a sudden warmth, and Shelley was stunned for two seconds before pulling down the collar. “Why did you give me this——”

“Wear it.” Irey lifted the coat and adjusted it to ensure that he was wrapped up below the neck. “I’m not a pampered young master like you.”

Shelley shrank his neck and didn’t say another word.

The sun had completely set, and the lake had turned into a deep, rich ink color. The bonfire danced in front of them. Irey wasn’t afraid of the cold at all; he even rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing a sturdy forearm. He broke dry twigs and tossed them into the fire, watching the flames dance against the dark background, making crisp crackling sounds.

Everything was quiet to the extreme. Near the Blue Lake, there were no bird calls or animal howls, only the sound of Irey breaking twigs and the crackling of the flames repeating.

And during this time, the slight but still audible sound of the two people’s breathing.

“I actually thought, at that time, you would just leave like that,” Shelley said.