Rust - Chapter 321



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-321

Vladiak Tower.

There was no major commotion even though 433 more people came in.

This was because there was an ample supply of materials needed for temporary residence until construction was completed. The construction, which was already progressing quickly, progressed at an incredible pace with the addition of additional personnel.

“Isn’t this what you were aiming for?”

“The story is that we will change it if necessary.”

“Yes, four hundred at a time.”

The original number of people in the Ark Tower was about 500. It is significant that they brought in a number close to that number at once.

“Everyone, shut up.”

People who kept their mouths shut at the team leader’s warning. The team leader once again issued a silent warning to those who did not hide their discontent.

“Haven’t you heard what people are saying?”

It was hard to believe, but there was a rumor that crows and people could communicate. There was also a story that a swarm of rats in the tens of thousands was killed in an instant. All by Vladimir Kalin.

Is that possible? Even if you cut once per second, that’s 166 minutes in 10,000 seconds, or 2 hours and 46 minutes. It’s hard to believe that you cut that much, but in an instant? Where do you sell drugs?

“They must have used VX gas or poison.” “They must have been carrying around poison for a long time.”

Considering that they were making booby traps with VX gas, they must have caught them with some kind of poison. People who were out of their minds from fear would have mistaken the sight of a herd of rats killed with poison for something transcendent.

“It’s not VX gas.”

“Certainly… That would be true. If they had killed him with VX, the residual toxicity would have lasted a long time.”

“Whether it was gas or poison, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that he was killed. And what matters to us now is that he communicated with the crow.”

“Hey, communication.”

“You’re just pretending. Crows are smart birds, aren’t they?”

The team leader pointed to the sky.

“Did you see that? Over there.”

I could see the crows flying in the sky taking turns. They weren’t even taking turns all at once, but rather in small groups.

“···That’s.”

“Are you sure we’re switching shifts?”

“Or what do you see?”

“······.”

“I told you last time, but everyone, be careful what you say. And what are people’s tendencies?”

What was important was the disposition of those who came from outside. Depending on disposition and time, they could become allies.

“It’s a little strange.”

“How is it weird?”

“It has a very closed tendency.”

“That. Kind of. Feels. Religious.”

The closedness was understandable. It would be stranger if those who survived for more than six months in the current situation showed openness. But that’s it.

“Religious?”

“Yes. It just feels like that…”

Culturally speaking, can we broadly say that it has a conservative tendency?

“It’s better than being free-spirited. Let’s keep trying to narrow the gap.”

“yes.”

“Be kind to the newcomers. I don’t know about other people, but we swore an oath to protect the citizens.”

“···All right.”

The former Homeland Security agents, military and police officers nodded to the team leader’s words. It was essential to win over the public’s hearts for the sake of an uncertain future.

Public sentiment?

What is that?

The headache just passed. Isn’t public sentiment and all that necessary only when we survive safely? Maru was consistent. ‘Survival first.’, ‘Safe, certain, and peaceful survival.’

“What about food production?”

“That’s enough.”

The second harvest was already approaching. Roughly once every 100 to 120 days. It would be possible to reduce the time even further, but considering the efficiency relative to the energy consumed, that speed was good.

“Have you finished organizing the supplies you brought?”

“We cleaned up and used one of the outer buildings as a warehouse.”

I gave the PD a management position and had him take charge of the household affairs.

“What are the people like?”

“There is no friction with research and technology people.”

“Is it a security issue?”

“It’s not a problem, but the atmosphere is not welcoming of outside personnel coming into the security work.”

“Be sure to catch those who ruin the mood by being bossy or being rude.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

The exterior construction was being carried out 24 hours a day, 24 hours a day, and was expected to be completed within a week. With the completion of construction, Vladivostok Tower became Vladivostok Town.

It was a large area with five 30- to 40-story buildings, many low-rise buildings, a park, and a dock leading to the Detroit River.

The mobile automatic turrets that had been steadily collected were deployed one by one, and CCTVs and other detection sensors were installed in various places.

“What about the sewer?”

“Finishing it.”

“Let’s go.”

“I will prepare.”

It was tiring to see things like rats and cockroaches coming in through the sewer. Since it was something that had been emphasized before, Maru decided to inspect it himself.

hmm-

Was it a mistake?

Maru coughed in vain as he saw people kneeling on one knee and bowing while doing construction work. What kind of PD is this who nods his head at these people?

Did he suddenly go on a trip to the medieval world? For some reason, he felt like the food he had eaten wasn’t digesting well. Kim Yang was with Maru.

Kim Yang, with her head held high and her head nod calmly, congratulates the kneeling people.

‘Okay. Okay. Do you need anything else?’

‘That’s right. Girae. Everyone is working hard.’

‘You’re working hard.’

‘Did you see the stars this morning? Gyeongju is like a thousand-mile horse.’

A natural attitude, as if you’ve done it many times before.

‘Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?’

‘Uncomfortable? Why?’

This taste can’t be uncomfortable. This is what it’s like to sit next to a great leader. Yeah. Right?

Caaaak!

The crow perched on Kim Yang’s helmet agreed.

When did you catch a crow? You were so talented. Looking at you, it seemed like you were doing well even though you didn’t seem to understand what the crow was saying.

The last time I saw him in the hospital room, he didn’t seem to get along well with the crows, so it was a strange thing in many ways.

‘It’s better than being on bad terms…’

Maru shook his head as he watched the pair of Kim Yang and the crow flapping their wings among the people. They were like fish in water.

“Shall I stop restraining myself?”

“No. He said he liked it. Just leave him alone. He’ll stop when he gets tired. Hoo- Make sure you don’t miss any openings, and if there are any mutants or monsters nearby, tell them to stop construction immediately. Avoiding fighting is the priority.”

Safety came first. Fighting came later. After construction was finished, training was done, and the system was in place, fighting was enough. Until then, people needed to be disciplined so they wouldn’t overwork themselves.

“All right.”

In contrast to the lively atmosphere outside, the air in the Ark Tower laboratory was heavy. Researchers who had been expecting a living sample gift were slowly distributing dead samples.

“Is everyone going to make that dead-looking face?”

“There are so many. I wish there were at least a few alive and fresh ones among them, that’s why I’m doing this.”

“Really? Then the commanding entity is also a corpse, so no one will care. Then this is for me.”

“yes?”

“What?”

“Command entity?”

The corpse of a sturdy middle-aged woman. The researchers’ faces changed dramatically at the news that there was the corpse of Mother, the commanding entity.

“That’s not it.”

“You took care of me the most last time, and if you do it again this time, I’ll really go to Gun Law.”

“What a construction in a sacred laboratory! Let’s go quietly to the hydrochloric acid tech.”

The senior researcher laughed heartily at the researchers’ threats, which he could not tell were a joke or serious.

“Okay. Then let’s decide on the location starting from the place that ranked first in research results last time.”

The large number of corpses distributed in this way, as well as Mother’s body, accelerated the progress of cannibalism research. The results gave rise to various controversies.

It was even revealed that the mutant virus that causes cannibalism mutated through cockroaches. Accordingly, the physical abilities of cannibals could also be known based on this.

For example, most of the things that have been revealed are things like instantaneous improvement in reflexes, great strength relative to one’s size, a stomach that can digest anything, and resistance to disease and poison.

The analysis of the commanding entity called Mother here has given rise to a variety of discussions about cannibals.

“So, you’re saying that there is a commanding entity, whether it’s a mother or a father, and that these entities control the lower-level entities.”

“I checked the hormones, but this is a bit subtle.”

“What about the brain? It’s characterized by frontal lobe mutations. Doesn’t it shoot out ultrasounds like a dolphin from the frontal lobe?”

“There was even a paper that said cockroaches communicate with their poop.”

“Stop. So, are you sure that a higher entity can command a lower entity, even though I don’t know how?”

“It hasn’t been experimentally verified because there are no living samples, but so far, it seems to be the case.”

Wouldn’t it be advantageous to get cannibalism for survival? The researcher who had suggested such a view wrinkled his forehead. It was such a coincidence.

‘Command entity? A double-edged sword.’

If you become a superior entity, it means you have absolute power, but if you become a inferior entity, it means you are like a slave.

“Is there a separate way to become a commanding entity?”

“I don’t know. We don’t have a living sample, so we can’t know.”

Everyone was disappointed that there were no live samples.

“Are there any significant differences between the common cannibals and the commanding individuals?”

“It is true that there are subtle differences. There are more differences than you might think, including the frontal lobe, various hormones, and intestinal bacteria, so it is difficult to determine which of these led to the formation of a commanding entity.”

“By now, other research labs must know too, right?”

“It would have been like that if it hadn’t been ruined.”

“······.”

“It must be a mess.”

“I guess so.”

“······.”

“Once we can figure out the characteristics of the command entity and create it artificially, we can control the cannibals through it, so it would probably be a top priority for research.”

What if you could control a being with consciousness and memory intact, with a human-like appearance, superior physical abilities, and no need to worry about supplies?

Since they were basically the same as humans, there was no need to make separate weapons. They could just use what they had. If they could just suppress their convulsive cannibalistic desires? They could have the strongest army. There was no need to use things like combat aids or combat stimulants like they do now.

“That will be difficult.”

“Huh? Are you saying we’re going to use it in the military?”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s about suppressing cannibalistic desires.”

A researcher posted data. It was the result of an experiment using rats infected with a cannibalistic virus. The animals did not easily get cannibalistic diseases, and even if they did, they did not show the characteristic preference for human flesh that can be found in cannibalistic diseases. In other words, they showed a tendency to eat rats, which are the same species, not humans.

“So we only fed them regular food and didn’t put them in with other mice. This is the result.”

When they were controlled to prevent them from preying on their own species, at some point they began to change into grotesque creatures.

“This is.”

“Oh my god. What is this?”

“······.”

“What is certain is that cannibalism is not something that evolved. It is something unknown and very dangerous.”

It was the same with mutant viruses, but also with cannibalism. This was something that was difficult to handle under the current circumstances.

“What about the treatment for Ojin?”

“Are you done analyzing the recipe?”

“I made it according to the recipe, but it’s not very efficient.”

“Only about 5% comes out.”

In many ways, the atmosphere was dampened by the unscientific results.

“Okay. For now, the mutant virus team and the cannibalism team will continue their research, and the difference in the effectiveness of Ojin’s treatment will probably lie in the synthesis process. Let’s focus on that.”

The senior researcher left his seat.

“Thank you for your effort.”

“Haha. No, we all do it because we like it.”

Maru nodded after looking at the research report brought by the chief researcher. As expected, the right answer was to sweep away things that felt dirty.

“Is it possible to have a rapid test to identify cannibals?”

“Yes. Mass production is difficult due to equipment issues, but we can still produce 3,000 to 4,000 sets per day.”

“Please prepare as much as possible.”

“Yes. And to do in-depth research on cannibals, we need living samples.”

“···I will try to save you when I get the chance.”

“thank you.”

Maru cursed the rats. The rats who had wrapped it up and eaten it up in no time. The nurse even tried to mediate with the rats, but it didn’t work.

‘You fucking rats.’

They were rat pups that had been stamped out by a being with a long and long tail. While Maru was vowing to eradicate the rat pups, Diana submitted an unusual report.

[New York. A communication request has been received from Director Dan Brown.]

“The satellite flew away and communication is impossible?”

[Confirmed by long-distance communication using an airship.]

“Airship?”

As expected, it’s the Celestial Empire. Just when you think it’s hitting rock bottom, there’s something else. Like the new hypersonic aircraft that’s the successor to the Blackbird.

[It appears to be a flying ship supporting the exploration of the Antarctic continent.]

Did Dan Brown become the Director of Homeland Security? I thought he had managed to escape to New York. Still, I felt pretty good that someone I knew was alive and well.

“What’s going on?”

[It appears to be a request to capture the command entity in New York.]

“There will be Homeland Security agents and the military. There’s the famous SWAT team in New York. The NYPD and all. Where are they all going to be looking for me?”

The mood that had improved slightly had suddenly cooled down again.

[It is suspected that influential figures in New York have become the commanding entity.]

The mayor of New York, a senior member of the National Guard, several members of Congress, businessmen, gangsters, mafia, cartels. In fact, half of New York City’s upper class appears to be cannibals, many of whom appear to be commanding officers.

Are you asking me to just quietly take care of the head since if I stab you openly a street fight will break out?

Diana was the first to present Director Den Brown’s conditions.

[They say they are transferring one airship to support Antarctic exploration.]

You’re giving me that thing that can take me almost to the stratosphere?

In a situation like now, airships were good. They could take off and land freely, and even though they were slow, they could go anywhere in the world by increasing their altitude.

“Say you want to hear more details.”

[All right.]