Noise traps serve two purposes.

    The first is obvious—to alert me to an intruder’s presence.

    But I focus on the second purpose.

    The sound startles the intruder, instilling fear and hesitation.

    Some will abandon stealth and act aggressively upon realizing they’ve been discovered. Others will freeze in place, staying utterly still, trying to assess my movements.

    Judging by the lack of further movement, the unknown enemy beyond the fog had chosen the latter approach.

    Lying flat on the rooftop, I trained my sights in the direction of the noise, searching for even the faintest silhouette.

    Nightfall had begun.

    Stars, countless and bright, pierced through the thinning veil of dusk, while strong winds carried across the mountain ridges, blowing down toward my outpost.@@@@

    There were three possibilities.

    A Mutation.

    A person.

    Or a monster.

    I ran through the options in my head while keeping my sights locked on the fog.

    “...It’s not a monster.”

    Monsters existed on the borderline between living beings and machines.

    They didn’t think like humans or animals.

    They moved according to pre-programmed instincts, an internal algorithm.

    If this had been a monster, it wouldn’t have stopped just because of a sudden noise.

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