Rust - Chapter 234



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-234

Kim Yang, who had just returned from her business trip, was proud, saying that she had caught another big wolf.

I think I know the mind of a lioness who has just returned from a hunt. Judging from the way she writes sponsorship reports and extracts footage from her tactical camera, she seems to be adapting well to life.

“This doesn’t look like a wolf.”

“If this isn’t a wolf, then what is it?”

The big one? Then it’s a wolf. Maru, who didn’t waver even under Kim Yang’s big one, frowned.

“Is it a coyote?”

“coyote?”

“It’s like in a scene in a Western movie where the main character is sleeping in the wilderness and there are these dog-like creatures wandering around.”

“?”

Miss Kim is smiling

“But aren’t coyotes only seen in the South? When you think of coyotes in movies, you usually think of them in places like Texas or California.”

[That’s not true. Coyotes are widely distributed from Alaska to South America.]

[This is a species that is also frequently found in nearby Canada. It is a common animal that can be seen in ordinary homes in remote areas.]

Diana corrected Maru’s words.

“Isn’t a coyote much smaller than a wolf?”

[Yes.]

The coyote that Kim Yang caught was as big as a wolf. It was as big as the first leader wolf that she caught. The coyote had grown. But they say it’s a common animal.

“Ah- this is true.”

If it’s common, it means that we’ll meet a lot in the future. Maru laughed in vain as he headed to the workbench with a knife in hand. First, he needed to check how it was different from a wolf.

Phew? Ugh-

The blade goes in lightly. It goes in slightly more smoothly than when I cut up the wolf. It’s a small difference, but the difference in the texture of the meat can be felt at the tip of the blade. It’s relative, but it feels less than the wolf in terms of smell and such.

“Can I eat this?”

“meat?”

“It looks pretty good. I think it would be good as a soup dish? I guess I’ll have to cook it to find out.”

Kim Yang’s eyes sparkled at Maru’s words that the meat looked pretty good. New meat was always welcome.

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A building called the Ark Tower, or Bloody Tower.

In a place called the Arc Research Institute, various people were doing research. No salary. But there were no complaints. Money was not important to them.

Anyway, married and divorced men have been seeing their salaries for a long time. Their wives took it or their ex-wives took it as child support.

The remaining money? It was enough to eat delicious food and pursue hobbies. Sometimes, watching a sports broadcast and having chicken and beer was enough.

The same goes for single researchers. What would you do with money? You don’t have time to spend it because you’re busy in the lab.

Do you want to take a long vacation to play new games that you’ve been putting off, play with the latest computer, and make things as a hobby?

Nice clothes? What are you going to do with them? How about making fabric with new materials?

A good car? It would be more fun to just make a self-driving program.

Autonomous driving? That commonplace autonomous driving? Software is child’s play. What really matters is hardware! It’s about creating a new car.

Amphibious vehicles are common. So the future is the sky. Now, it’s a car that flies.

Isn’t that already there? Don’t make me laugh! Then let’s go outside the atmosphere.

Meet a woman? It would be better to create a woman. Humanoid! Android! Automaton!

What would happen to these researchers when a supercomputer equipped with the most advanced artificial intelligence appeared? Those who had forgotten yesterday, did not exist today, and would be deleted tomorrow made a pilgrimage to the research lab and supercomputer room.

One of those pilgrims. The chief researcher who studied cockroaches at the secret research institute was living a very happy research life.

This was a dream place, no need to be restricted in your research, no one was urging you. It was an environment and atmosphere where you could do whatever you wanted.

In particular, it was great to work with AI. Of course, one AI would help other employees with their research at the same time, but in any case, I was happy to be working with AI.

And now the AI ​​assisting the chief researcher in his research is Diana. Her name is pretty too.

“This is a bit strange. Diana? This result is strange.”

[Verifying – Verification result error probability is 12.95%.]

“If it’s not an error, then 87.05% is the problem.”

[An error range of 3% or more is problematic.]

“I’m not saying there are no problems. It’s just that something is strange. Please give the materials I’ve organized to the CEO.”

[All right.]

The senior researcher checked the report again. He had done the experiment and written it himself, but it still seemed strange.

Maru opened the file Diana had sent.

“So, the person who submitted this report was a senior researcher at another research institute?”

[Yes.]

If you’re a senior researcher, you must be capable, right? That person suddenly asked me to send you a report. Is that serious?

Maru’s expression became strange as he read the file.

The content was simple. A question that arose while studying a sample cockroach brought from Japan. Why did it grow so large? They say it is due to a mutant virus, but is that really true?

Up to this point, I could understand. There are people who feel better only after checking things for themselves. The research that started like that surprisingly gave rise to a strange question.

If animals are simply growing larger by contracting a mutated virus, why aren’t cases of giant pets like dogs and cats reported in the United States?

‘?’

There were giant cats and rats around Tokyo, Japan. There were also monkeys, cockroaches, and a few giant wild dogs.

Things that were so abundant around Tokyo were no longer visible as we entered the northern Nagano region. Why? I don’t know why, but that’s how it was.

The senior researcher identified the areas where the mutant animals were found based on information reported in the news and posted on social media.

And the results were strange: a significantly higher number of mutant animals were found in national parks and nearby areas where wild animals were said to be present.

Based on the research results published so far, it seems that the first thing that would happen is for a pet to be infected by someone in a large city or infected with the mutated virus to mutate there.

‘The cause of mutations in animals may not be simply mutated viruses.’

‘To identify the cause, we need to examine more precisely the samples of the mutant monster brought from Japan.’

‘We need to reexamine why companion animals were killed in China.’

Stories like this were written.

Maru immediately called Dan Brown of the Department of Homeland Security.

“I caught a coyote while I was patrolling the area. It was a large coyote, like a mutant wolf.”

If the ones that Kim Yang caught were special, then it would be different. If they all started growing that big, then villages and homes in remote areas would be in danger.

[···Not good. A coyote.]

While wolves move to habitats where there are no people, coyotes are adaptable and can live in urban areas.

If a mutant virus were to be carried around the city and spread to other dogs in the city, it would be unmanageable.

“And here, a researcher suggested this idea. Let’s take a look.”

The manager who checked the file let out a deep sigh.

[After all, this is an agenda item that has been under review and research since the mutant virus spread.]

He said that he had been thinking about this strangely and researching it for a while. But the reaction was a bit strange.

Why the deep sigh?

[The results have not been released yet, so please do not let the related information leak out.]

“I will do that.”

[Based on what has been confirmed so far, humans are definitely greatly affected by the mutant virus. It is also certain that animals are infected.]

“I know that too.”

[As for the information you just sent, other researchers were also suspicious of the situation. There have been rumors that the areas where monsters have appeared have been somewhat strange.]

“Where is your area of ​​residence?”

[Yes.]

We made various hypotheses and confirmed them, but the conclusion was that it was not natural. If animals infected with a mutant virus were to change into mutants, shouldn’t the dogs and cats that were being raised have grown first?

But there was no way to explain why giant mutants appeared randomly in national parks.

“That’s right.”

[I hope this is a coincidence, but there have been signs that variants are emerging in areas visited by foreign tourists a few months ago.]

“Traveling during the coronavirus pandemic? And that was in the middle of winter a few months ago?”

[That’s right.]

A few months ago···.

“Surely foreign tourists aren’t locals?”

Instead of answering, the manager let out a sigh as if the ground was collapsing.

[If this fact becomes known, there will be people who think that the mainland has been directly attacked. Please be careful.]

I had no idea when these suspicions would become public knowledge. And if they did, the situation could have changed drastically.

Up until now, they have been fighting on a small scale in Japan, but they have been pretending that it is not happening. But, suspicions are being raised that they have brought and spread a Japanese mutant virus?

“No way. Are we going to go to war?”

In response to Maru’s question, Chief Den Brown was tight-lipped.

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“It is still too early to wage an all-out war against the United States.”

Economic regulation? Wasn’t that basically an attempt to kill? It wasn’t a time when wars were fought only with guns and swords. Capital wars, technology wars, environmental wars, food wars, raw materials wars. In fact, everything was like war.

China had been preparing for war for a long time. If things continued this way, China would be unilaterally defeated just as Japan was.

So, the plan was to gradually and completely weaken the power of the United States by cooperating with Japan, which had hidden its desire for revenge against the United States, but the situation changed due to a large-scale disaster.

Even though things have changed, China was doing a good job of putting up a front. That is, until the damn barnacles started spreading across the South China Sea.

When Russia exerted its power, it tried to seize the opportunity to seize Taiwan. But the sea was completely blocked by the monster barnacles.

The waters around Taiwan and the southern port cities were completely paralyzed, and the only port cities still operating were those located above Shanghai.

“That’s right. It’s not time to talk about war yet.”

“We need to bring in as many essential resources as possible, including basic necessities, before the route is blocked.”

As the weather got warmer, it was predicted that the barnacles would explode. We had to stock up on as many supplies as possible before that happened.

“How is the food situation?”

“The crop wasn’t good, but it can last for more than a year.”

“The facility for breeding wheels and rats has been completed and will soon begin trial operation.”

In winter, mutant cockroaches and rats imported from Japan provided an excellent source of protein.

There was no need to worry about feed. All they had to do was dry food waste and feed it to them. The spokes of the wheel tasted like shrimp, and when they were rubbed and made into meat, they became excellent food.

The tough shell of the wheel could be ground up and used as feed for monster rats, and the rats could be caught for meat and hide, making low-cost, high-efficiency protein production possible.

“I heard there was an accident in Yanbian?”

They were a good source of protein when grown and ground up in factories, but it was a different story when cockroaches spread everywhere. It is true that uncontrolled cockroaches are dangerous.

“It’s clear that the Americans did it.”

Look at the cockroach eggs that were put in! The method using the new treatment used by the US military! It was clearly the Americans. And then they were talking about morality and human rights. It was disgusting.

“I think they noticed.”

“It’s okay since there’s no evidence. No matter how much they raise suspicions, what can we do if there’s no evidence?”

Even if you look for evidence, it can be said that it was just a sudden action by some radicals. Didn’t Sun Tzu say that war is a lie? And up until now, they have been lying well.

Even if the US chose war, it didn’t matter. We had prepared in advance. Even if we lost the war, it was okay. We had nuclear weapons in the end.

“Let’s start by clearing out the growing children.”

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Maru and Kim Yang got along better than expected.

Even though they were both stuck at home, there was no sign of depression or anything like that. Maru was absorbed in games and sword practice that he had not been able to do for a while, and Kim Yang was also absorbed in modifying firearms and was busy playing with the Gunsmiths.

“Me again today?”

“Sponsorship.”

It was Ms. Kim who went out on a business trip alone after being told to remember the sponsorship.

The main field work involved patrolling and dealing with areas around Detroit. If mutated animals were seen or caught on CCTV, they were searched and sorted out.

The mad rats haven’t caused much trouble since the National Guard’s swoop down on them, so there hasn’t been much work to do.

After sending Kim Yang away, Maru was about to start working on a new RPG when he received a phone call. It was Manager Dan Brown.

[A search party searching Yellowstone National Park has gone missing.]

Wasn’t the military deployed there?

Mass-produced armored personnel carriers and power loader exosuits were also included. But what happened?

It is said that there were opinions that experts should be dispatched to find out the reason.

“Are you an expert?”

Was there a specialist in catching mutant monsters? The manager said to Maru, who thought it was someone else’s business.

[A request to the expert who has caught the most mutations in the world.]

The manager said to Maru, who was about to start the game.

You, I mean. You.

I have a request for you.

Me? Not Miss Kim? Maru was shameless.