Rust - Chapter 149



Only Krnovel

RUST -149

A red carpet hotel.

Hood tensed up. Didn’t you just see that? The side of the van being cut with a knife. I’d heard of people piercing cars with an awl before, but cutting a car like a can with a knife was something I’d never heard of. It would be hard to cut it in one go with all your might, but cutting the side of the van like a sashimi…

“Come in.”

“······.”

What should I say? What if I really cut off your arm? Are you crazy? You said you work for the government, but if they ask you which agency you work for, what should I say?

Hood was out of his mind. He had to say something. It was hard to answer. Samantha. AI Samantha? That’s right. The side of the van was blown open. What about the equipment? The electronic equipment. They’d be gone in an instant. This is Detroit, right?

“You said government? Where are you affiliated with?”

Thump- thump-

A low gunshot. A 7.62mm sniper rifle with a silencer fired. Hood, startled by the gunshot, looked out the window where the sound came from.

Kim Yang took her eyes off the scope and said a word.

“I chased away a fly.”

That window was where he had parked his van. Did he chase away the guys who were trying to rob the van?

“···There’s a thief in my van?”

“Why is that yours?”

Baekjeong caught it with a knife, so of course it belongs to Baekjeong? Kim Yang coolly confirmed the transfer of ownership. Hood was shocked. Since he got a boat, he owns the boat? Not only a van, but even tuna wouldn’t do that.

“No. Why is that···.”

“Don’t change the subject. Government. Where do you belong?”

Maru, who had drawn his sword, glared at the hood. The air was getting heavier and heavier. Something felt strange. He felt like he was suffocating and a cold sweat was forming.

‘What is it? What is it? What is it? I can’t breathe. Why?’

It felt like my throat was being squeezed. I couldn’t look the swordsman in the eye. People in the past said that when they encountered a tiger or a lion, they couldn’t run away and froze. It was true. The swordsman was even scarier because he wasn’t a lion or a tiger.

“Choking. That.”

Kim Yang said in a calm tone.

Tsk-

As Maru, who had been clicking his tongue, put his sword back into its scabbard, the heavy and chilly air that had settled down suddenly returned to normal. The hood, which had been turning from white to blue, fell to its knees in place.

Heh heh. Heh heh. Heh. Heh…

A brain bleached with the fear of death. Various images overlapped and tangled in Hood’s head. Footage taken by the LA sewer cleanup team. Bodies filling the floor, flesh strewn across the rooftop, a sniping point, a barricade blocking the stairs, a barricade made of twisted and broken gang members… and deep marks dug into the reinforced concrete.

If it was this, I felt that if I was a swordsman, I could do it. Not just understand it with my head, but with my body. I could feel it directly.

Keuhuuk.

Are you the same person? Are you just a shell? Did you come here for no reason?

Huh.

But the fact that this guy who doesn’t seem like a human being is preparing for the apocalypse means that there’s something going on. Fuck!

Hood needed time to gather his thoughts. He was sweating profusely, lowering his head and taking deep breaths when suddenly Kim Yang kicked him with her foot. The exquisitely cut kick cut off Hood’s deep breathing.

Ugh!

“Who are you?”

Kim Yang, who had been quietly watching Hood rolling around while holding onto his forehead, was kicked again when he tried to breathe again. Kim Yang, who was cold again, looked back at the floor with a bright expression.

‘I’ll do it. Interrogation.’ That was the look in his eyes.

“Okay. I’ll take the van.”

As Maru went outside, the sound of someone being stabbed started to be heard inside the room.

Across the street, near the parked van, yellow water and blood were dripping here and there. Thin pieces of flesh fell to the ground, and it looked like they had been shot in the ear.

Maru looked up and saw the hotel. He could see the window of the room he was staying in. So he must have been backing up himself there. And then he must have been standing there guarding his prey.

Ps …

A smile crossed Maru’s lips. The inside of the van, which had its side ripped open as if a shark had taken a bite, was filled with complex electronic equipment. When he went inside, he saw that there were six monitors.

Monitors connected to CCTV. One of them had a nurse studying hard. It seemed like they had hacked the webcam in the room.

The nurse must have been tired from studying, so she stretched. Her chest sticks out as she stretches out in front of the webcam. One, two, one, two. Bounce- Bounce- Boeing- Boeing-

“This kid.”

Were you taking pictures of something like this?

······

For a moment, Maru’s gaze was focused on the monitor.

Two cars approached the van, their volumes blaring. The streets were filled with rap, a mixture of slang and profanity. Cars with red and black spray-painted phrases on their hoods honked.

Clank-

Maru, who was looking at the monitor, threw his body. Crunch- The back door of the van shattered and Maru’s body was thrown out of the van.

Doo doo doo doo doo!

Tadadadada!!

The two vehicles’ gun barrels spewed bullets toward the van. The monitors hit by the bullets shattered, and sparks flew from the electronic equipment. In an instant, the van was riddled with white bullet holes.

As the two vehicles, with their magazines completely empty, were about to pass by as if nothing had happened, a pitch-black blade slashed through the A-pillar of the car in front.

The neck of the person sitting in the passenger seat was slit by the deeply embedded blade, and the carotid artery of the driver sitting in the driver’s seat was severed, causing blood to spurt out.

In an instant, the car became a sea of ​​blood. The two people in the backseat looked for God and dick, but the answer was a black blade.

Pougagagagak.

The blade that cut the A pillar split the B pillar and eventually cut through the C pillar. The driver, whose carotid artery was severed, let go of the steering wheel and stepped on the brake.

As I struggled, clutching at my severed carotid artery with my hand, the car horn blared loudly, then blew briefly.

Paaaaang-

♬♩♪

bread-

♪♫♬

Ppaaang-bang–

The car behind suddenly braked hard and stopped after crashing into the car in front. A loud rap rang out. The rhythm mixed with the horn, and a black blade pointed at the car that had collided.

“What the···.”

“Fuck!!”

The floating body of the car fell onto the bonnet. The suspension, which was set to be soft, shook due to the heavy impact.

The guys sitting in the backseat who didn’t know what was happening, the blade getting closer and closer to the eyes of the guys sitting in front who were panicking from the sudden explosion.

relief-

The blade stuck in the driver’s seat snapped twice, diagonally sideways and then sideways again, blood streaming down the car’s roof, which had been torn in a Z shape.

Srrrrrrrr-

Maru, who had put the knife in, saw the corpse of a man with a bandage wrapped around his face. The man with a bloody bandage wrapped around his face was sitting in the passenger seat.

Tsk-

‘What a bunch of funny kids.’

So, you’re saying that these guys came to steal a van, got shot in the ear, and ran away…

Paaaaang-

♬♩♪

bread-

♪♫♬

——–

The sound of the horn gradually died down, leaving only the loud sound of music.

======

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When we returned to the hotel, Ms. Kim nodded at Maru. Her arrogant gesture had a tattered hood hanging down at the end.

“So what is that?”

“Hacker.”

Looking at the van, it seemed like it would work. Anyway, as a hacker, there was something I had to do right away.

“What affiliation do you have?”

“Freelance.”

Not a government agency? Freelancers? So you’re similar to us? It would have been right to start by solving the problem.

“Hey. Come out first.”

“?”

Miss Kim made a face as if asking why she was suddenly like that.

“Those things you kicked out earlier···.”

Instead of answering verbally, Maru motioned for her to look out the window. Miss Kim, who had stuck her head out the window, looked at Maru with a face that said, ‘You just cut him up again, didn’t you? What if you couldn’t control your temper and just cut him up?’

“Hah- Is that what you’re saying right now?”

You were just shooting them with a sniper rifle? If you hadn’t shot their ears in the first place, wouldn’t it have been enough to drive them away if you had just fired warning shots? The ears fell off, so the kids’ eyes rolled back. Right?

Kim Yang turned her head at Maru’s gaze.

“You said hacker, right? Erase all the CCTV footage from around here. Five minutes from now. No, all footage from ten minutes ago.”

“Huh? Sniff- sniff- around here.”

“Okay. Come out first.”

Maru pulled the hood up and headed towards the van.

On the other side of the road across from the hotel, a bullet-riddled van lay on the side of the road. Hood, trembling in disbelief at the sight, jumped into the van and shouted,

“Samantha!”

======

======

The world stood in illusion.

Everything was a lie. The lie of the international community. The lie of the global village. If all of that was a lie, then what was the blood shed by the youth of the United States for freedom, for democracy?

Commander Gilbert Brown threw the translated documents onto the desk.

Those who had eaten away at the United States were cursing the United States. Those who had attacked the United States were claiming to be victims. Those who had risen up on the basis of the sacrifices of the United States…

bang!

Unable to control his anger, he slammed his fist on the desk. At that sound, the guard on duty opened the door.

“Commander! Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“No. No.”

Gilbert Brown was able to calm his anger at the worry in the orderly’s eyes. He had to return the young men of the United States alive. Cowardice? Failure of the operation? Fuck all of that.

The information I received about the events in Japan was not very credible. Regardless of whether it was true or not, it was hard to believe. There were giant cockroaches, rats, mutated animals, and unidentifiable monsters. And there was the story of an occult altar with a dragon’s eye. Who would believe that?

It was even harder for an officer with war experience to believe. A battlefield full of enemies who rushed in on drugs, a place where suicide bombers were rampant and improvised explosive devices were scattered on the streets, a soldier who had experienced it had a hard time believing at face value the stories that emphasized bugs and rodents.

Isn’t that obvious? Who would take such a story at face value? Even when they had established a base in the burglar hospital, they didn’t see any cockroaches or rats. Even if they had, they would have been easy to deal with with a flamethrower and strong firepower.

Rather, it was the infected people who were the threat. The infected people who were said to have contracted the mutated coronavirus. The infected people who had lost their reason and were consumed by anger. The infected people who suddenly came in droves were the direct threat.

So, we assumed the main enemy was the infected and went into operation. That was natural. However, the number of times the squads that went out to reconnaissance went missing increased. Even when we tried to search for survivors, it was difficult to properly search because of the accumulated volcanic ash and smoke.

There was something in this fucking Japan. Something, whether it was a cockroach or a rat or a monster, was killing United States soldiers. Not the mutated infected that you could see. Something.

“Huh- Call World PMC Director Yu.”

“All right.”

Attempts to transmit the evidence obtained so far to the home country via satellite communication ultimately failed. There was no way to be sure whether the information had been transmitted or not. The soldiers had to be sent out alive as much as possible. And now, the information obtained here had to be reported to the home country.

======

======

The hood was pulled out of the van, its sides ripped open and tattered, carrying a number of parts. Quite a few parts had survived, as they were quite bulky and heavy.

“Give it to me. If I have this, I can organize the CCTV, right?”

“If it can save Samantha, it can be done.”

First of all, it didn’t seem like a person, but Maru didn’t ask any more questions because Hood’s voice was too serious and solemn. This was because he remembered Hood crying and shouting for Samantha.

“If you need anything, just tell me. I’ll get what I can.”

“···All right.”

Hood created something by connecting parts taken from a corner of the hotel room, computers in the hotel, and things like the gang’s cell phones.

Kim Yang shook her head when she saw that. Even Kim Yang, who knew how to use machines and programs to some extent, couldn’t do something like that.

“Does this guy look like a reliable expert?”

“Certainty.”

When I turned it on, the device that was connected in a haphazard manner started to work. When I saw that, Hood shouted.

“Samantha!”

[Please speak. I’m waiting.]

There was a hint of moisture in Hood’s voice.

“You said that was fine? I have to get it sorted out quickly.”

A siren was blaring outside the window. It seemed like the police were checking the scene. It was best to organize the CCTV footage before it was handed over to the police.

“Samantha. Check the CCTV within 200m of here and overwrite what happened from 20 minutes ago to 10 minutes ago. Leave the difficult part of video editing to me.”

[All right.]

[200m radius. Number of CCTVs that can be accessed. 13. Executing.]

The hood began deleting the footage in an instant and editing and replacing it with existing footage. CCTV footage began to appear, erase, and replace on multiple cell phone screens. At incredible speed.

The work progressed so quickly that it was hard to believe that he was doing it alone. Kim Yang exclaimed in admiration, as if he was seeing something like this for the first time.

At one moment, my hands, which had been typing briskly on the keyboard, suddenly stopped.

“It’s all over.”

Kim Yang nodded with a very satisfied expression on her face at Hood’s words. Then, Kim Yang looked up at the floor.

It was a bright-eyed look that said, ‘I’ll give it to you.’