...=††%§£@ @£§%††=...
....=††%§£ £§%††=....
.....=††%§ §%††=.....
......=††% %††=......
.......=†† ††=.......
........=† .. ======= ======= ======= .. †=........
.........= NICK WILDE IS A RED FOX AND A CONMAN. =.........
.......... .. ======= ======= ======= .. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... HE'S NOT ABOVE PETTY CRIME, BUT HE ..........
.......... KNOWS THAT IF HE PUTS IN A BIT OF WORK, ..........
.......... HE WILL FIND MUCH MORE LUCRATIVE ..........
.........= REWARDS. =.........
........=† †=........
.......=†† AND THUS HE'S CURRENTLY WORKING ††=.......
......=††% ALONGSIDE HATSUNE MIKU FOR A COMPANY %††=......
.....=††%§ THAT MAKES SYNTHETIC MEAL REPLACEMENTS. §%††=.....
....=††%§£ HE'S GOT A VAGUE OUTLINE OF A PLAN, TO £§%††=....
...=††%§£@ SCATTER WITH SOME PRODUCT, OR EVEN @£§%††=...
..=††%§£@# BETTER, SOME FORMULA? THESE THINGS ARE #@£§%††=..
...=††%§£@ WORTH A LOT TO A COMPETITOR. @£§%††=...
....=††%§£ £§%††=....
.....=††%§ HE'S BEEN LUCKY; THE PLACE IS §%††=.....
......=††% SURPRISINGLY UNGUARDED. ONCE HE'S GOT %††=......
.......=†† HIS PAWS ON SOMETHING WORTHWHILE, IT'LL ††=.......
........=† BE EASY TO JUST WALTZ OUT. UNTIL THEN, †=........
.........= KEEP DOING THE WORK... =.........
.......... ..........
.......... COME TO THINK OF IT, THE PLACE IS ..........
.......... ALMOST EERILY EMPTY. THERE ARE FEW ..........
.......... COWORKERS. (IN FACT THE COMPANY IS ..........
.......... AI-RUN AND ONLY A FEW KEY ROLES ARE ..........
.........= FILLED BY ACTUAL PEOPLE. =.........
........=† †=........
.......=†† NONE OF THE EMPLOYEES KNOW THIS.) ††=.......
......=††% %††=......
.....=††%§ === === §%††=.....
....=††%§£ === === === £§%††=....
...=††%§£@ === === @£§%††=...
..=††%§£@# #@£§%††=..
...=††%§£@ NICK AND MIKU ARE BOTH STATIONED IN @£§%††=...
....=††%§£ EARLY PROCESSING, HOUSED IN A STATE OF £§%††=....
.....=††%§ THE ART FACTORY CLOSE TO THE DOCKS. §%††=.....
......=††% THEY CREATE THE EARLY BUILDING BLOCKS %††=......
.......=†† THAT ARE LATER COMBINED INTO THE MEALS ††=.......
........=† THAT'S SOLD TO CUSTOMERS. †=........
.........= =.........
.......... THE BASES ARE MOSTLY SLUDGES ..........
.......... OR PASTES, SUCH AS: ..........
.......... ..........
.......... †= PLANT MATTER ..........
.......... †= BLOOD COLONY ..........
.........= (MADE WITH A TYPE OF BACTERIA) =.........
........=† †= WILD FLESH †=........
.......=†† (FREE ROAMING ANIMALS) ††=.......
......=††% †= ORGANS %††=......
.....=††%§ (TAKEN FROM A LIVING HUMAN THAT §%††=.....
....=††%§£ IS WILLING TO SELL) £§%††=....
...=††%§£@ †= MINERALS @£§%††=...
..=††%§£@# †= BLOOD COLONY TWO #@£§%††=..
...=††%§£@ †= INSECTS @£§%††=...
....=††%§£ (WHICH ARE MAINLY USED FOR THEIR £§%††=....
.....=††%§ BRAIN, WHICH IS USED TO EXTRACT §%††=.....
......=††% RECEPTORS THAT DETECT PHEROMONES) %††=......
.......=†† ††=.......
........=† === === †=........
.........= === === === =.........
.......... === === ..........
.......... ..........
.......... MIKU IS IN CHARGE OF THE BLOOD ..........
.......... COLONIES. THERE'S LARGE VATS OF THE ..........
.......... ORIGINAL CULTURE WHICH IS FED BLOOD ..........
.........= MEAL, BONE MEAL, WHAT DOESN'T QUALIFY =.........
........=† TO GO IN THE "WILD FLESH" PASTE, AND †=........
.......=†† SOME PROCESSING CHEMICALS. ALL THESE ††=.......
......=††% INGREDIENTS HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE BLOOD %††=......
.....=††%§ WHICH IN TURN AFFECTS MIKU. §%††=.....
....=††%§£ £§%††=....
...=††%§£@ THERE IS A LARGE TANK BEHIND THE @£§%††=...
..=††%§£@# FACTORY THAT CONTAINS A VAST NUMBER OF #@£§%††=..
...=††%§£@ AUXILLIARY BLOOD COLONIES. MIKU WATCHES @£§%††=...
....=††%§£ OVER THESE AS WELL. THEIR PURPOSE IS £§%††=....
.....=††%§ UNCLEAR. §%††=.....
......=††% %††=......
.......=†† THE FACTORY IS SURROUNDED BY THE BLOOD ††=.......
........=† MEAL FARMS. THERE IS A CONSTANT †=........
.........= EXCHANGE OF BLOOD AND BLOOD MEAL. THIS =.........
.......... PROVIDES TWO OF THE MAJOR MATERIALS FOR ..........
.......... BOTH THE COLONIES AND MIKU. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... === === ..........
.......... === === === ..........
.........= === === =.........
........=† †=........
.......=†† NICK IS UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND ††=.......
......=††% THE "WILD FLESH" VATS. %††=......
.....=††%§ §%††=.....
....=††%§£ £§%††=....
...=††%§£@ @£§%††=...
..=††%§£@# #@£§%††=..
...=††%§£@ @£§%††=...