Lost Gold Luke Investigation 02-02
Overview
- "Right now, I feel like coming back was the right decision."
- Stage Cost: None
- First Clear Rewards:
Astral Memory x20
- Unlock Condition:
Emergency Medicine x96, 
Lumber x128, 
MRE x64, 
Drinking Water x32 - Note - During its initial limited run, this stage's first clear reward was:
Hunter's Badge x50 - Note - During its initial limited run, this stage's unlock condition was: Emergency Medicine x150, Lumber x200, MRE x100, Drinking Water x50
Guide
- Hover to view spoiler content.
Script
Woods
You: Luke, will Joshua really come through here?
You and Luke lie in the underbrush, carefully observing the nearby forest for movement.
Luke: He should be, according to his path's trajectory, but...
Luke fiddles with his phone. He looks puzzled.
Luke: His movements are strange. He stops frequently and goes through the woods instead of established paths.
You: I checked his terminal's position. Ever since reception made that fake announcement, his location hasn't moved.
You: He must have thrown his terminal away right afterwards.
Luke: His position on my tracker also isn't moving.
Luke: It's showing that his position is close to ours. If it doesn't move after three minutes, we'll go look for him ourselves.
You: Okay.
Lying in the grass makes you feel somewhat uncomfortable.
On an island with such a rich ecosystem and a multitude of animal species, you always feel like there are bugs crawling into your clothes.
You: Luke, did you always go on wilderness spy missions like this?
Your discomfort is only temporary, but Luke probably experienced this kind of thing a lot in the past eight years.
Luke: I'm in the Economic and Technological Crime Division. We usually operate within the city.
Luke: There were a few missions in the southern subtropical jungles. The conditions there were much worse than this.
Luke: They were a lot more interesting, though.
Luke: Did you close up your cuffs and collar? How about I spray some more repellent?
You: I did all of that. Maybe I'm just imagining all the bugs.
You: It's great that you're back, Luke. You don't have to leave the city when investigating NXX cases, and we can hang out when you're free.
Luke: Yeah. Right now, I feel like coming back was the right decision. I can—
Luke: Don't move!
You: !!!
Luke suddenly lowers his voice and has a serious look on his face. Is Joshua here?
You don't dare breathe. All of your attention is focused on your hearing.
From where Luke's looking, the person is coming from behind you, but why didn't you hear a single footstep...?
Luke slowly raises his hand, then suddenly grabs above your back...
You: !!!
You: (What's going on!?)
You subconsciously squeeze your eyes shut.
Luke: Open your eyes and look.
You crack your eyes open and see a blur of scarlet moving in front of you.
You: It's a butterfly!
A fire-red butterfly is caught between Luke's fingers. It gently flaps its wings.
Luke: Isn't it beautiful?
You: Yes! It's so pretty!
You extend a finger and lightly touch the small butterfly's wings, causing it to quiver slightly.
You: Why'd you scare me just now? I thought Joshua had come.
Luke: I just suddenly wanted to tease you.
You raise a fist towards Luke and put on what you think is a fierce face.
You: Hmph! You're cruisin' for a bruisin'!
Luke: You can't hit me. You said you'd listen to me during the operation!
You: I will, but I'll decide when it's "during the operation"!
Luke: Such a cheat...
Luke: Okay, you can hit me as much as you want afterwards. It's been three minutes without any movement sighted. C'mon, let's go look.
You: This...
When you reach Joshua's GPS position, you don't see anyone at all.
Beneath the towering trees, a functioning tracker lies in the grass.
You: When we were coming over 10 minutes ago, this tracker was still moving. Joshua must've just realised.
You: If he left the tracker here, then he couldn't have gotten far. Let's look around here?
Luke squats down and carefully examines the tracker.
From time to time, he takes a few steps and parts grass to examine the area. He's so focused that he doesn't hear you at all.
You: Hey... You find anything?
Watching Luke, you don't dare move in case you disturb the scene, so you use a tree trunk to lean over and tap him.
Luke: He isn't around here.
You: No way. A normal person walks at a speed of about four kilometers per hour...
You: If it's only been 10 minutes since he stopped moving, he should be within 700 meters from here.
Luke stands up and puts the pea-sized locator that Joshua had dropped into his pocket. He then hands you a white feather.
Luke: He's truly isn't around here because the locator was dropped by "it," not him.
You take the feather and look at it, understanding what Luke means.
You: It? A bird?
Luke: That's right. I just ran a comparative search. This is probably the feather of a Nosta gull.
Luke: Joshua's terminal hasn't moved since he arrived at the island. It's probably been abandoned for a while now.
Luke: He's very clever. After discovering the tracker on him, he didn't discard it like the watch.
Luke: He caught a Nosta gull, put the locator on it, and let the bird move for him.
Luke: We'd discover this problem with the tracker sooner or later, but he bought himself enough time to escape our monitoring.
You: You confirmed it was attached to a bird just by this feather alone?
Luke: Of course not. The footprints you were talking about are also proof.
Luke: There aren't any footprints around here except for ours, and Joshua can't fly.
Luke: Also, do you remember when I said that Joshua's trajectory looked very strange?
Luke: That was actually the bird moving and stopping, not Joshua. The tracker dropped when it flew here.
You: Then where are we going to find him?
Luke: From where the bird first took flight.
Luke: Nosta gulls are very nimble birds and are difficult to catch.
Luke: They only lower their guard when eating, so that's the best time to catch one.
Luke: Among all the Nosta gull habitats here, there's one place that happens to coincide with Joshua's path. That's where the terminal is.
Luke: We may be able to find hints about Joshua's whereabouts there, like footprints.
Luke: I'm confident that even without the tracker, Joshua won't be able to get away.
