Chapter 178

The corpse, killed by the blow, fell forward.
In the fallen position was Biya. He had stopped moving, unwilling to eat the caterpillar. He rolled his eyes slowly at the weight on my shoulder.
Blood and cerebrospinal fluid gurgle from the man’s shattered occiput. The trickle of blood stained Biya’s shoulders bright red. The blood, barely 40 degrees, felt hot as lava.
“Ugh, ugh…….”
Biya is a criminal beyond redemption. She’s not even close to starving to death, and she’s ruined the lives of several people for money. The death of others is easy for him.
But I’ve never killed anyone myself.
He has also witnessed a murder.
In short, he was unfamiliar with this situation. She was used to surviving among monsters, but she’d never been in a battle where humans were killing each other.
If some are unfamiliar, others are familiar.
“Grab your weapon, kill him!”
One of the infected shouted, “Whale! As soon as the man was dead, the other 11 took up a fighting stance, the four holding Biya closest to Kim.
“Ugh!”
He throws Biya aside and charges. In his hands he carries a folding knife or pipe wrench. His weapons are crude, but his speed is faster than the septic guys from earlier.
Physical abilities that are clearly beyond the level of the average person.
This is evidence that parasitization is well underway.
That’s it.
“Aaaahhh!”
The axe Kim swung severed the arm holding the knife to the bone. The sack he raised next shattered the infected’s jawbone. Another was kicked in the stomach, sending it flying, and the final one had an axe blade embedded in its face.
There’s a lot of disparity in specs before there’s a skill advantage. The 5-star and above weapon specializations are a bit more distinctive, as if the developers cared.
Minigun [Karura], a quantity-only specification.
A [signature] that transforms to be compatible with assistive devices.
The Alloy Axe [Crocus] has the highest physical penetration of any 5-star weapon.
“Huh, huh. In a flash….”
“Khan, Bullax, holy shit…!”
The infected who were rushing to join in stopped dead in their tracks. Even those accustomed to violence stop thinking when they are overwhelmingly crushed. In times like these, you have to be on the lookout for those who can move.
At a relatively short distance away, I found an infected person rummaging through his pockets.
Kim immediately removed [Crocus] from his hand. An assault rifle, a Browning, took its place. The moment he drew the revolver and took aim, Kim’s index finger was already on the trigger.
Tadadadadang!
The infected with the revolver became a hive. Meanwhile, the others scattered in all directions, confused. Three or four bullets pierced the infected as they ran for cover.
The walls of the abandoned factory were punctured and glass shattered. After emptying a full magazine, smoke billowed from the muzzle. Only two people hiding behind a container were lucky to escape.
After the commotion, there was silence.
“What the heck, I did it all by myself.”
“Somehow, I managed to save it.”
“Hey, do you want me to say good job?”
“Look at me. I’m the boss.”
Biya stared up at them, unaware of it. Stunned helplessness. Two men and a woman who were slaughtering each other, and yet seemed to have no problem cracking jokes.
“Hmmm, hmmm….”
Meanwhile, Leone’s breathing became ragged even though she hadn’t done anything. Her legs didn’t give out in an ugly way, but she was mentally traumatized.
Dustborne Corporation.
Each one is unique, but each one is kind. A boss who may seem cold at first glance, but cares about his people. The work they’ve done – excluding enemies and saving civilians – is noble, to say the least.
In this moment, I felt it, not just knew it.
Realize that “enemies” can include humans.
“Trainee, don’t pull any stunts.”
Chelsea said to Leone, who stood there dumbfounded.
“Did you have to kill him, I’ll shoot you in the back of the head for saying that.”
“All, there must have been another way…”
“How?”
Kim asked, pulling down her blood-soaked mask.
“Same result, we had to kill them anyway. They tried to endanger the city with their larvae. If we hadn’t done it, the security forces would have done it.”
The law does not apply. You cannot bring the infected into the city and execute them.
“They might kill some poor policeman in the process. There’s a good chance they’ll hide or run away, and whatever they do next is none of my business, but it’s a potential danger to the city.”
“…Is that what it is?”
“Yeah, that’s what it is.”
He takes off his mask and throws it on the floor.
“Compassion isn’t infinite, it wears out quickly, and I don’t want to give it to the worthless.”
Take note,” he concluded.
So much for training. It may have been a shock, but it’s the only way you can adapt. Just like Kim did when he was new to the Polaris world.
“If you can’t adapt, well, I don’t know.
Regardless of how well you performed in the game, I’m not going to carry around a wasted paycheck that will endanger my colleagues out of pity. Give him a severance package and send him back to Harrenhal, or send him to the labs to spend as he sees fit.
It’s time to get back to focusing on what’s in front of you.
“Hey. You two.”
When I called for the infected, Chelsea shot the sky with [Ivory], which she had already picked up. I looked at Chelsea like, “What are you doing?” and she replied, “I’m just setting the mood.
Kim swallowed hard and said, “I’m sorry.
“Take me to your base.”
* * *
Luck or misfortune, Brandon Putty was not among the 12 people in the abandoned factory. The two surviving infected were named Jay and Kay, and they spewed information without being asked.
“You’re using larvae to artificially infect them?”
“Well, yeah, when you eat the larvae, they break down in your stomach and absorb contaminants into your system. You’re almost certainly going to get infected, and some of them don’t survive.”
“Yeah, they’re all dead or infected or something.”
This was why he favored strong young men.
Kim let out an uncontrollable sigh. The truth of this case and the way forward were playing out in my head, he muttered as he pressed against my temple.
“Mass production of parasites…….”
There was a similar episode in the game. The culprit is an organization of doomsday prophets. They created a so-called “parasite factory” using a method other than larvae.
‘There must be at least two groups of people involved.’
First, the infected population. They use septic tanks to supply larvae to the city. Then there are those inside the city who receive the larvae. This is consistent with what Biya described earlier.
“Was the missing person some kind of guinea pig?”
“What? The guinea pig?”
“No?”
“Uh, well. We don’t really know. We had a guy who was supposed to tell us what to do and give us instructions, but he kind of disappeared, so Kuzak’s been in charge ever since.”
Kuzak. I’d have to look into it, but it might not be his real name.
“Is this Kuzak guy on the ground?”
“Nope. He’s dead….”
“What?”
“The first one you killed was Kuzak.”
…… should have been saved.
“But I don’t think Kuzak had any big plans.”
“He was just a lunatic, and he thought it was funny to see a healthy person get infected, and it drove him crazy, because once you’re infected, you can’t run away, you can’t go back to the city, you can’t go anywhere.”
Not exactly a tight-knit group, the two of them lashed out at Kuzak.
“I’d pick the ones that were useful, give them drugs, and make them my coworkers.”
“That’s what happened to us, it was originally in the septic tank.”
I thought, “Why are they so quiet? They’re just victims, and they want us to look the other way. If it were true, I’d be in the unfortunate category, but it didn’t work.
These recruits will be handed over to the security forces.
‘We’ll have to interrogate you, so you won’t be disposed of immediately….’
There is no bright future for those already infected. We know of a few ways to stall the progression of the mutation, but it’s a poor hand to play against them.
“Hello, here.”
The base was an apartment complex, just like Area E.
When the car pulls up, the infected jump out, but no battle breaks out. This is because Kim was holding a gun, and Jay and Kay were waving and gesturing to stop their companions.
Crucially, there weren’t many combatants.
“…….”
The lack of eye contact and shrunken demeanor were telling. The information that the missing had joined the hordes of the infected was not false.
“It’s going to be a lot of work to drag them all.
The twelve people I met in the abandoned factory were used to roughing it, but they weren’t. Some of them are truly innocent. They might be able to deliver letters to their families.
It’s an afterthought.
“We are looking for a man in his late 40s and a girl around 5 years old. Their names are Brandon Putty and Sarah Putty. If anyone sees them, please speak up. It’s important.”
“…… is this you?”
Jay is dumbfounded. His response is that there’s a point.
“There he is. Lead the way.”
“That, uh, ….”
“If you’re going to cooperate, do it.”
The words he’d used on Villa worked this time, as he began to lead the way, despite his frustration. Kim looked at Chelsea’s stern face and followed behind.
Thump, thump.
The shutters on the garage rattled as I drove by.
“What’s in there?”
“…Parasite.”
“We’re trapping an infected person.”
“Kuzak made me do it… and it’s dangerous.”
You do all sorts of crazy things.
I ignored it and continued walking. As they entered the apartment, an unrecognizable odor wafted up to the first floor. Jay and Kay followed her to the door, which was labeled 406.
“They’re both in here.”
They entered the room with their nerves on edge, considering it could be a trap, but there was no surprise. But what she saw in the bedroom was enough to make Kim’s jaw drop.
They’re not dead yet.
The man, believed to be Brandon Putty, was gasping for air with a severed tendon in his ankle. A pink-eyed girl who looked exactly like Chelsea was tied tightly to the frame of the bed.
Brandon Putty was on the verge of becoming a parasite.
“Answer me. What’s going on?”
“He, he. Kuzak said I should bring you a ‘snack’….”
It’s like they’ve left it out there for you to eat when it changes.
“Nice kill.
It wasn’t normal garbage.
“Huh, huh.”
Brandon’s head bobbed like a drunken man, slowly lifting his head as if he’d been hit. He saw Chelsea standing stiffly, speechless, with blurry pupils.
“Hmph, hmph. That, Sarah. That’s your sister. Your sister abandoned us to fend for herself, ungrateful, ungrateful. No wonder I’m like this, no wonder you’re like this, no wonder….”
With each shake of his body, the crystals dropped. Brandon’s eyes were unfocused. He couldn’t tell if the Chelsea in front of him was real or a hallucination.
“You, shouldn’t, be, big, like, your, sister. You shouldn’t be a bitch without a mother, don’t you like the sound of that……?”
Recovery is not possible at this stage.
Kim anticipated the end of the request.
“Leone. Take the kid outside.”
“Oh, I see.”
Leone, who had been handed the dagger by Kim, quickly removed the bindings. Sarah was unconscious, but her pulse was normal. Only time would tell, but there were no visible crystals.
Leone remembered hearing that some people had died because they couldn’t cope with the mutation. Maybe she shouldn’t have fed her child the larvae. Sarah could live if she wasn’t naturally contaminated.
I was hoping that would be the case.
May salvation come to you, clumsy and wounded senior.
“…That’s okay, I’ll do it myself.”
She stepped outside, leaving Chelsea’s voice behind. Leone shut the front door behind her and covered Sarah’s ears as she slept, not wanting the child to hear.
-Taang!
A gunshot like a terminal rang out the front door.
Leone chewed her lip until it bled. It was an unconscious act. There were people in the world who deserved to die, living with shameless abandon, dragging the lives of others down with them.
Soon after, the front door opened.
Chelsea’s mouth was clamped shut, gun in hand, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at Sarah in Leone’s arms.
The request is over. Many missing people have been accounted for.
Of the missing Putty sisters, only the daughter was rescued.
Sarah’s contamination level was below the limit.
Sarah Putty is not infected.