Rust - Chapter 182



Only Krnovel

RUST -182

There were buildings that stood out like bamboo shoots in the snow-covered area below the ridge.

Many buildings in Tokyo and the surrounding area were in ruins, but the buildings visible far to the north looked fine to Maru.

‘You look okay?’

“It’s a city!”

“It’s a building!”

Refugees who had only seen the ruins of Tokyo and its surrounding areas were excited to see civilization that had not collapsed for a long time. The commander cracked down on the refugees who were popping out like popcorn.

“Calm down.”

“There might be a monster.”

“Everyone, please remain in your seats.”

It was the Marines who calmed the people down with their awkward Japanese. However, the enthusiasm of the Japanese people who saw the ‘Japanese civilization’ that had not yet collapsed did not easily subside.

Despite the Japanese’s reputation of being individualistic, gentle, and quiet, the refugees were collectively violent and impulsive.

bang!

The atmosphere calmed down only after the commander fired a gun into the air. Even then, the discontent was so overwhelming that it was on the verge of boiling over.

“Let’s send out a reconnaissance team first.”

The commander looked at Maru and Ms. Kim. Whoosh- Ms. Kim immediately turned her head away. Maru patted the concealment equipment on her shoulder. It was a signal that she would sneak away on her own.

The commander, who recognized Maru’s signal, nodded and sent a reconnaissance team of two capable people and three marines into the city.

“We will move in a detour until the reconnaissance is over. Everyone, please follow the instructions.”

Like a dog ordered to wait for a snack to be dropped right in front of the refugees, I walked without taking my eyes off the city.

======

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‘We are accepting applicants to join the reconnaissance team. Two people.’

When they said they would select two applicants out of 35 capable people, Kiriko Kadama was the first to raise her hand.

“···Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

“Is there one more person?”

“······.”

“······.”

Since the remaining one did not show up, they drew lots. The person chosen that way was a third-year middle school boy.

“I was using a knife.”

The way he smiled at Kiriko made his face look more like a worn-out piece of junk than a middle school student. He looked her up and down in an unpleasant manner.

Kiriko didn’t care about such blatant gazes. It wasn’t like she was getting tired of looking at them, and there were so many perverts.

Since she found out that she was from the Kadama family, most of the time she would cry and beg for forgiveness, not to be fired from her job, and to be spared, so it was refreshing to see a young one come out like this.

Above all, after the world changed, men and women had to be careful with each other. Literally, one wrong glance could lead to death.

But the fact that the stinking little brat was still breathing after all this meant that he had some decent abilities. Kiriko took note of that. Maybe she could come up with something useful to say.

As Kiriko’s mouth drew a curve, the atmosphere relaxed like hydrangeas blooming. The feeling of white flower buds opening up shamefully and splendidly. The three marines who had joined the reconnaissance team also opened their tightly shut mouths.

“Wow – this is killing me. Seriously.”

A middle school student openly evaluated Kiriko. Her lips were parched, and she was licking them with her tongue as she slurped.

A Marine frowning at the overstepping behavior warned a middle school student.

“Hey kid. Watch your mouth.”

“Who are you? Yankee go home.”

“Hahaha this kid.”

“Hehehe- Do you want to get dumped?”

Kiriko spoke in a soft voice to the middle school student who was trembling while holding the knife in his hand.

“Calm down. Aren’t we a team now? Everyone is waiting, so let’s go.”

Seeing Kiriko, who looked like a court lady, the middle school student put the sword he was holding in his bosom and stiffened his middle finger toward the marines.

The Marines were dumbfounded by the provocation. Has he lost his mind? He would squeal like a pig if you break his stop sign…

But the Marines weren’t so rotten that they would respond to every situation with the same level of arrogance. If there was a problem, they would just consider that worthless brat to be a nobody, the Marines nodded.

A slightly distorted space was watching the sight blankly.

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Maru followed behind the search party.

‘It’s strange.’

A woman with a sword. That is, the woman named Kiriko Kadama was strange. She seemed like a polite and sensible woman, but now she was acting naturally like a queen bee. The people around her didn’t seem to notice the discomfort, and they were busy talking in detail.

Would men just leave a woman with such a striking beauty and a changeable image like that? Now that things have become a complete mess? But the fact that she still does that means there’s something there.

The little kid who was drooling and sticking close to her was also like that. Should I say his face was pale? Should I say he had been through a lot? Anyway, he was a pitiful guy who was blatantly flirting with a girl, but the way he responded naturally was admirable.

‘Those kinds of people usually have no patience at all. That’s strange.’

She was a strange woman in many ways, not just because she was a beast trainer.

‘I don’t think I have a particularly good sense of humor.’

I was particularly concerned about a middle school student who seemed to have no future. What could his ability be?

He didn’t even have a proper weapon. He didn’t even have a knife or a sword, he just grabbed a sword and attacked him. Did he rely only on his physical ability to attack the soldiers?

It was a classic against the monster cat, but the gun wasn’t a weak weapon. The new 6.8mm rifle had excellent destructive power and stopping power. Do you openly draw your sword against a soldier armed with such a firearm?

“What a strange guy. Did he just throw his life away?”

The screeching reconnaissance team was just ambiguous. People walking toward the city without hesitation, as if they were doing a club outdoor activity. Behind them was a woman.

The Marines took the lead to impress Kiriko, and the middle school students emphasized their maturity by saying that they were now middle school graduates and full-grown high school students. I don’t know what that has to do with reconnaissance though.

“Is it okay to do this?”

“Don’t worry. The view is clear, so there’s no need to be surprised.”

One of the Marines took Kiriko’s words lightly.

In a somewhat half-floating atmosphere, the city gradually came closer. A forest of buildings covered in white snow spread out before the scouts.

“This side is clean too.”

“There are no traces around.”

“Tch- If you have clear eyes, you already know what I’m talking about.”

In a situation where it seemed like the conflict was about to escalate, Kiriko intervened in a subtle way.

“That big roof over there looks like a station building. If you get there and still can’t find anything, how about we spread out and look around?”

“···If there are no other traces.”

“Let’s do that.”

“Tch- Okay.”

Even though we entered the city center, there were no signs of life. The piled up snowfields were white as if no one had ever walked through them.

Because of the snow that piled up to over 6 meters high, the single-family houses were completely buried in the snow, leaving only a little bit of their roofs exposed.

“It’ll take some time to check the houses. Let’s just check that one building over there.”

“Wasn’t it each torn apart?”

“If you like moving alone like that, then go first.”

“Yay- yay- you little cowards. Phew-”

The middle school student strode forward first. Kiriko followed the path the middle school student had taken.

“I’ll take a look over here.”

“Ah- Are you okay alone?”

Kiriko smiled as she lifted the sword on her waist. The marines who had seen her fight the monster looked embarrassed.

“Yes. Take care.”

“If anything seems strange, please send a signal immediately.”

“······.”

The Marines divided into groups of three and entered the building.

‘This is ridiculous.’

Maru, who was watching the situation from the shadows, was shocked. He tied up five people to go together, but they broke into three pieces? The Marines may be like that, but he couldn’t figure out what the middle school students and the girl were thinking.

‘It wouldn’t be good if everyone was like that.’

It seemed that the successful defense against the monsters’ attacks had given the refugees excessive confidence. They thought that they could defend themselves without an army.

Looking at the monsters’ corpses, they’re not guns? Or are they blades? So it must have been one of us, not the soldiers, who killed the monsters.

When I fought alongside them, I couldn’t even kill them properly with a gun. The ability users are stronger? That’s what I thought. When I saw the middle school students’ behavior, it seemed like that.

‘It’s going to get complicated. In many ways.’

It was clear that the voices of the refugees would grow louder.

‘I guess it would be better to check out the largest building nearby.’

If we think about the stolen hospital, there was a possibility that both monsters and survivors would gather in a large building.

Maru entered the largest building in the area, a little away from the small building that the Marines had entered to search. Instead of breaking the window, he chose to dig through the snow and enter through the first-floor entrance, so he was able to enter the first floor of the building quietly.

The windows on the first floor were all intact. There were no cracks or any visible damage. However, seeing as the emergency lights were off, it seemed that the emergency generator and batteries had also been completely drained.

The tactical light scanned the dark lobby. The floor was clean. After scanning all directions, he headed straight to the bathroom. There was no water. He didn’t know if the pipes were frozen or if the water was cut off, but it meant that the water was also out.

‘Are there no survivors?’

I searched the 23-story building for over an hour, but there was no trace of anything. The office desks were neatly organized. It was almost uncomfortable to see the desks that had been neatly organized, not someone who had run away from work in a hurry.

Eventually, Maru ended up on the roof of the building. In one corner of the open view, red and blue smoke was rising into the sky.

[Urgent] [Survivors found]

That was the direction the woman went.

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“It’s chaos.”

[bother.]

Inside the large shopping complex connected to the station, people were bustling. Even refugees who had wandered around the outskirts of the city had gathered, and the central arcade was filled with people whose numbers were hard to count.

“We are saying we will stay here.”

“Please, sir. We have been ordered to evacuate you to a safe place.”

The commander and the demented old man were glaring at each other as if they were going to kill each other at any moment.

“That was your order from your home country. We are here, so why are you forcing us? Wasn’t this a free country? The United States of America?”

“How can we just leave people dying? We need to help them get to safety. United States soldiers do not ignore orders to protect civilians.”

“Really? So you’re saying you’re going to take responsibility for all the people here and evacuate them? There must be tens of thousands of people in this city alone.”

“Shouldn’t we first arrive at the camp and then follow the orders from home?”

“Huh. Heh heh. Then how about we do this? Let’s evacuate the elderly and weak people here first. I’ll go with you first, just like you said.”

“······.”

“As you know from living together so far, we can endure it well enough even if we stay here. So let’s send away the people who are having a hard time first. What if we go later?”

“······.”

“Why? Is that difficult? Did the home country ask you to arrest the people who were in the stolen hospital first?”

“What do you mean by that?”

The old man’s eyes were sharp. The commander also glared at him without avoiding it.

“It’s obvious. It’s obvious. How delicious would it be to see people with better physical strength than trained soldiers, and even civilians who are strong enough to fight monsters?”

“······.”

“They took you away under the pretext of evacuation. They wanted to do all sorts of biological experiments on you, but you suddenly said you were going to kill me and refuse to go. Doesn’t that make you upset?”

“Shut up! Are you insulting the sacrifices of the Marines who have protected you so far?”

“Sacrifice? Hehe, hehe? I really appreciate and am grateful for that sacrifice. I apologize for my slip of the tongue. So don’t sacrifice any more and just go your separate ways. Your luggage will stay here.”

The commander ground his teeth.

The problem was that they had found this city. From the moment they entered here, the refugees had been planning to settle down. No, there were signs even before they entered this city.

Was it the Kadama family? They were said to be a famous family in Japan, but was this the one that was inciting people?

It was true that the order was given from the home country to bring the refugees alive and to the camp at all costs. It was also ordered to bring all of them, including the corpses.

Even so, you’re going to drag them all to a biological laboratory? All 500 people? With the international community watching? Do you think the United States of America is China?

“If you truly care about us, wouldn’t you help us rebuild here? If you give us weapons or food, I’ll be grateful. But if you’re going to take us by force, explain to us why you’re taking us by force. I wonder if there’s any other reason besides the biological experiments. Hehe.”

“···What are you going to do about the monsters?”

The old man lifted the knife slightly.

“It’s not our job to worry about monsters. Shouldn’t you be the one to do that?”

“······.”