?MoonShell?

?Too Good To Be True?

I stare at it. It looks fresh, like it started leaking recently.

No alarms. No warnings.

Something about it makes my stomach twist, but... I shake it off. Maybe it's just an old, faulty machine.

I carefully fix it up and move on.

We clear the first floor and head back to the elevator.

⸻

Floor 2 – The First Sign

Shelly tugs on my sleeve as the elevator doors open.

Shelly: "Can I be with you this time? We can work together!"

I blink, then smile.

Astro: "Oh, yeah! Of course."

We stick close, working side by side.

Then—Shelly almost trips.

I grab her arm.

Astro: "Wait!"

Right in front of her foot is a full ichor capsule.

...Just sitting there.

No storage container. No machine nearby.

Just on the ground.

Astro: "That's a trap."

Shelly tilts her head and crouches to inspect it.

Shelly: "Are you sure? It looks... fine."

I squint at it. No cracks, no weird glow. It really does look normal.

After a moment, Shelly shrugs and picks it up.

Shelly: "How lucky are we, huh?"

I don't respond. I just keep walking.

We finish the floor and move on.

⸻

Floor 3 – Too Much Luck

As the elevator doors open—

More ichor.

Scattered on the floor. Piled in corners. Just waiting for us.

Shelly's eyes light up.

Shelly: "We're gonna be rich!"

I don't move.

Astro: "...Hah. Yeah."

But my gut twists.

Astro: "Don't you think this is, uh, a little weird?"

Shelly blinks, finally noticing just how much is here.

Shelly: "Huh. Yeah... I mean, you'd have to be INCREDIBLY lucky to find this much ichor on a single run!"

Exactly.

Astro: "Maybe we should head back. This can be our last floor since... I don't feel great about this."

Shelly: "Alright. If you say so."

We finish collecting and head back to the elevator.

But as the doors close behind us, I can't shake the feeling that we just fell into something. And also, where was dandy this whole run..? He didn't even show up once to sell us anything. He's usually serious when it comes to business. This is weird.

⸻

Back in the Lobby – A Dangerous Thought

As we step out into the lobby, Shelly stretches, holding her overflowing stash of ichor.

Shelly: "That went great! Now we can finally go shopping!"

Astro: "...Yeah."

But my mind isn't on shopping.

It's on the absurd amount of ichor we just found.

Astro: "Shelly, maybe we... shouldn't expose this much ichor to the public."

Shelly: "Huh?"

Astro: "Think about it. If we just walk into a shop with this much, people are gonna notice. And if this ichor was, I dunno... planted by someone, we might be playing right into their hands."

Shelly looks at the ichor in her arms, her excitement fading slightly.

Shelly: "...Okay, yeah, that's kinda creepy now that you put it that way."

I glance over.

Somewhere in the distance, just barely visible in the crowd—

Dandy.

He's watching us again.

And he's grinning as usual, creepily.

...Yeah. Something is definitely wrong.