The path through the dark underground corridors of mysterious ancient ruins...

A trio of rabbits-scouts moves quickly through the underground, dilapidated corridors...

Thorn, limping because of a wound in his leg, listens carefully.

Somewhere, water is dripping...

Some quiet rustling...

A strange monotonous grinding of metal, which is barely audible...

The stomping of feet from somewhere above is becoming less and less distinguishable...

So, after ten minutes of walking, the rabbits-scouts were finally able to break away from the pursuit of a group of disgusting feral ghouls.

"Damn! We were almost eaten by these stinking ugly monsters! Couldn't we have warned in advance and been better prepared for this shit?!" - grumbles Thorn, holding his loaded crossbow at the ready.

"I'm just following orders... Chief-researcher Zephyr insisted on increased secrecy measures for this mission..." - Twilight answers, holding his old bolt action 7.65x51 rifle in both hands.

"Guys, we need to be extremely careful... It's best not to make any noise..." - Flint says quietly, enduring the pain in the wound on his right shoulder.

A nasty and caustic slimy grayish-greenish saliva of feral ghoul...

This disgusting liquid damaged the leather armor and touched the body of Flint.

Flint, without stopping walking, took some medicines from his backpack (disinfection liquid, healing ointment, a bottle of pain-relieving solution from steppe herbs).

After using these products, the pain in the wound became less excruciating.

But the pain did not disappear completely.

The trio of rabbit-scouts continued walking…

These underground corridors are poorly lit…

The fluorescent lamps on the ceiling are becoming increasingly rare…

Some of them are broken and their fragments are lying on the floor.

After another ten minutes, the path ahead becomes almost completely engulfed in darkness…

"We need to find a way to turn on the lights in here… Otherwise, it's too risky to go forward…" - says Twilight.

"Wow… What a smart idea, boss… Waiting for trouble, instead of warning everyone in advance and taking a couple of flashlights for the mission back at The Warren. You're just a fucking genius!" - grumbles Thorn sarcastically.

"What the fuck are you complaining about?! I've already told you more than once that chief-researcher Zephyr forbade me from babbling unnecessary things!" - replies Twilight irritably.

"Fuck, it's very convenient - not to think with your stupid head and do whatever the boss tells you to do! But we can just die here! Haven't you thought of that, asshole?! Go into the darkness! Forward! You're so zealous in following the orders of that fucking chief-researcher!" - Thorn curses with ever-increasing indignation.

Flint sees that his two companions are close to the point where a quarrel and verbal altercation can escalate into scrimmage.

"Guys... Please calm down... In our current situation, a quarrel will only worsen our chances of successfully completing the mission..." - Flint says in a phlegmatic tone, standing between two rabbit-scouts who were about to start swinging their fists.

This intervention helped to reduce interpersonal tension...

For now...

"I'll try to find a light switch in this hallway... We've already found out that there is a source of electricity generation somewhere around here..." - Flint says.

Of course, the darkness ahead frightens him too with its unpredictability...

But he does not express his emotions.

He moves forward carefully along the corridor, feeling the walls.

Something crunches under his feet...

And the darkness does not allow him to see what it is...

His fingers feel some kind of poster...

Then a large and branched crack in the wall...

Then some small holes in the concrete...

"Found anything?" - Thorn exclaims impatiently.

Flint does not answer and continues to carefully feel the wall, moving forward into the darkness of the corridor.

Finally, his fingers feel something miniature...

Click!

A lone fluorescent lamp flashes, briefly illuminating the dark corridor...

And the next second, the fluorescent lamp emits a shower of sparks and immediately goes out.

"Shit..." - Thorn voices the description of the situation.

"I managed to notice that the corridor ahead was completely littered with concrete debris..." - says Twilight.

"Yeah, I saw that too... But in one of the side doors of the corridor, something was flashing... Perhaps there is something useful there... I will need your help..." - says Flint.

Two rabbit-scouts walk forward into the darkness of the corridor, approaching Flint.

He himself pulls out his twin knifes and carefully moves towards the broken side door, touching the wall with his back.

The door is almost completely broken...

It is more of a pitiful piece of metal, which is barely held on by one door hinge.

The rabbit-scout kicks the door open and goes inside the small room.

It is very dark here...

But in the depths of the room, a faint flickering glow of a reddish hue can be seen.

And a strange monotonous grinding of metal can be heard...

Flint, feeling growing alarm, approaches the place of the reddish glow.

He prepares to attack with his weapon if necessary.

Approaching as close as possible, the rabbit-scout realizes that the noise and glow come from some small metal device that moves monotonously, hitting the wall of the room again and again.

Flint, putting his weapon in its sheath, touches the device with his hands.

The cold of the metal...

The weight is quite heavy - but this thing can be lifted.

Flint then takes this device and leaves the room.

"We need to move back a little - to a place with at least a little light..." - he says to his two companions.

Five minutes later, the trio of rabbit-scouts reach such a place.

They examine the metal device that Flint brought.

It looks like...

Some ancient device, less than half a meter in size...

Some of the parts are cylindrical, and some are cube-shaped.

The metal is rusted...

The four "limbs" of the device resemble those of a spider...

Several miniature indicators are flashing red and the device is trying to slowly and clumsily move its limbs.

It looks like the device (due to some kind of malfunction) is simply was knocking the wall of the room over and over again, trying in vain to move forward.

"This thing looks like some kind of ancient device..." - says Thorn.

"I heard that such things were often used by an ancient civilization... I think these things were called "robots"... But can we use this thing now?" - says Twilight.

Flint looks at the thing thoughtfully, still holding it in his hands.

In the central part of the device, he notices what looks like a small hidden display, which is smeared with dirt.