Rust - Chapter 369



Only Krnovel

RUST -369

If you go by road from Detroit to New York, it’s almost 620 miles, or about 1,000 kilometers, and you want to walk all the way there?

Even if you marched 25 miles (40 km) a day, it would take 25 days.

Considering that you have to scout out for danger first, move after the scouting, and find a place to sleep at night, the time increases exponentially.

If they encountered and engaged in battle with marauders, mutants, or cannibals, it was difficult to predict when they would arrive.

Before the infrastructure collapsed, it would have taken 9 to 10 hours by car, or at most 12 hours, to get there, but not anymore.

It will only be a month at most. And even though it is difficult to be sure that I will arrive alive, I still decide to go.

The courage was virtual.

“Are you saying you’re going because you think it’s worth fighting in this neighborhood?”

“That’s not it. I think it might be because of the broadcast.”

Because it’s a broadcast.

New York was flooded with refugees, and of course there were broadcasts about it.

With plans to develop a large-scale agro-industrial complex in the future, there is a need to accommodate more refugees and for more manpower.

Although planning for the future was important, it was not the indefinite future that captured their hearts, but reality and everyday life.

The lives of New Yorkers living freely as before the incident. Stopping by the store in the morning, eating a bagel sandwich, and going to work with coffee in hand.

The roads are so clogged that I miss them, the yellow taxis are swarming around, and the streets are bustling with people.

In comparison, Detroit is a city where gunshots and screams never cease at night, and crows fill the sky, cawing and cawing.

The outskirts of the city, filled with the sound of steam locomotive horns, were filled with traces of looting and the remains of death.

A life where you have to go into abandoned buildings every day and collect the daily necessities. For the people of the satellite town, the broadcast containing the daily life in New York was a deadly poison.

“I guess that’s what you say because you’re full.”

Maru understood it that way. If you only look at the broadcast, it’s true that New York looks better than Detroit, but he thought it was worth comparing.

“If things continue like this, it looks like several satellite villages will be relocated as a whole.”

“It’s okay as long as the facility manager isn’t missing.”

The satellite villages were literally meant to act as buffer zones. If they lost manpower, it would be a shame, but it didn’t really matter.

The important thing is whether the railways, mining towns, thermal power plants, steel mills, and water purification facilities connected to the circular line are functioning properly.

Even if all the satellite villages were gone, the crows’ patrols and bombings, and the air support using airships, were sufficient for defense and reconnaissance.

“Objectively, even if all the people in the satellite village were to disappear, there would be no damage to our side. If necessary, we could build small defensive positions in dangerous areas and install automatic turrets. Anyway, how dare they go all the way to New York? They even exchanged bullets here.”

The PD’s face didn’t look good at Maru’s absurdity.

“They will not return the rented exosuits or weapons.”

“That’s funny. Isn’t that ours?”

Do you all want to be crow food? I don’t want to see blood. Banban Hood sneaked in after seeing Maru’s eyelids flutter slightly.

“It shouldn’t be difficult to retrieve. If you cut off the power, the exosuit won’t be able to charge, so you won’t be able to take it.”

Hood stepped forward actively. Maru nodded in satisfaction at her attitude of trying to build up public achievements. Is this the half-and-half effect?

“We will stop issuing replacement batteries, expand patrol ranges to induce battery drain, and then cut off power supply.”

When the PD spoke of a course of action, Hood stormed in as if that wasn’t enough.

“We need to cut off power not just to the village we are leaving, but to all the satellite villages.”

“That would certainly be the case. If you cut off just one side, they might use the excuse of charging and go to another village to incite the people who are still there.”

What do you think of the PD’s commentary? The white half of his face was turned towards the floor.

Maru looked at the burning eyes of the other half calmly.

Banban Hood continued speaking after seeing Maru’s expression that said, “There’s still a long way to go.”

“The important decision we have to make now is what to do with New York.”

Given what happened while Homeland Security Director Dan Brown was hospitalized after a poison gas attack, it was clear that there were forces hostile to Homeland Security in New York.

The force was hostile to this side, which maintained good relations with the Department of Homeland Security. Perhaps they were trying to frame Kim Yang in order to bring down the Department of Homeland Security.

“We have to assume the worst, that if Dan Brown, the director of the Department of Homeland Security, were to fall, and all power would go to the other side,” he said.

While Hood’s impassioned speech continued, Kim Yang, who had returned from New York, strode into the conference room. Judging from the expression on her face, which was a mixture of discontent, anger, and irritation, it seemed as if she had been watching the news from New York on the airship.

Kim Yang, who was sitting silently, saw the half-hood in her eyes.

A stylish half-mask made of black carbon composite material. And a white face restored with rapid healing. Half and half.

Kim Yang, whose annoyance doubled, looked at Maru.

When their eyes met, there was a look in her eyes that seemed to indicate that she had had a hard time. A slight nod of delight on her face. So, Kim Yang, who felt as relieved as a mosquito’s booger, buried herself in her chair.

Regardless, Hood raised his voice passionately.

Unlike the federal and national guard forces in the West, which were huddled together here and there and then evaporated by the Chinese nuclear attack, the East, especially New York, had a fairly healthy military.

There aren’t many Army, Air Force, and Marines, but they are there. The Marines in particular are commanded by Gilbert Brown, a relative of Director Dan Brown, so it’s hard to guess how things will go.

“So? What’s the main point?”

Hood paid no attention to Kim Yang’s sharp criticism.

“We need to intervene in the New York situation and give Director Dan Brown some leverage.”

“···This is crazy.”

The atmosphere became tense with Kim Yang’s casual remark.

“······.”

“······.”

Why? What? Why?

Even if you look forward or backward, you can’t understand the situation?

“Isn’t there any news here? Don’t you know what’s become of us?”

Terrorism in the DHS conference room?

Director Den Brown was attacked by a terrorist?

If he had committed terrorism, I wouldn’t know, but honestly, are you the kind of person who would be taken advantage of so easily?

It’s the same even if you look backwards rather than forwards.

Even if you were a victim of terrorism, would you be able to understand the current situation?

You’re telling me I have to help unconditionally, without even a proper explanation of how the situation is going?

Are you seriously in your right mind?

“But we still have to help. New York now has a separation of powers that is at least superficially similar to what it used to be. The reason this system has been able to survive is because of the central role played by Dan Brown, the director of the Department of Homeland Security.”

Dan Brown was the representative of those who wanted to maintain the political and economic system of the United States. Agencies such as the New York Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration were working together with the Department of Homeland Security.

But what would happen if Dan Brown, who had been the center of gravity, lost power? There was no way to know where it would go.

I didn’t wonder what would happen to New York in the future, but New York was too big and closer than I thought to just ignore it.

The population of New York is 20 million, and 9 million of that is in New York City. If we simply assume that 2% of New Yorkers are drafted, that means 400,000 will be selected. If we only draft 1%, that’s 200,000.

Kim Yang argued that Hood’s argument was that a town with 200,000 to 400,000 troops could be deployed, and that it was a situation where it was decided whether it was friendly or hostile to this side, so it was necessary to intervene.

“That’s it. Friendly, hostile, nasty. We need nukes.”

“nucleus?”

“Is it a nuclear weapon?”

“Nuclear weapons are the only way to ensure our safety.”

“······.”

“······.”

Yeah. Nuclear.

If you have the means to do anything, you should arm yourself with nuclear weapons by finding them or stealing them. What’s the point of intervening?

Looking at the current situation in New York, the media and broadcasting companies all seem to be on that side. If we want to receive compensation for our intervention later, we have to publicly announce that we intervened, but will the media and broadcasting companies stay still?

Coercion, external pressure, and military intervention were all obvious.

They were even reported as a terrorist force, and a negative image was created, so intervention?

Should I just intervene secretly as an assassin?

Who do you like?

What if I give you a nuke?

No matter how hard we try to help, there’s no way Dan Brown will hand over the nukes to us.

Maru, who had been listening quietly, asked Kim Yang.

“Nuclear. Did you suddenly have that thought?”

“It’s not something that happened all of a sudden. It’s something I’ve been seriously thinking about for a long time.”

It would be nice if Maru had a nuke. I thought about it, but I didn’t openly want one. As Kim Yang said, even if I had a good relationship with Director Dan Brown, he wouldn’t have handed me the nuke.

Even if they had, the problem would have persisted. For nuclear weapons to be meaningful, they had to be recognized as possessing them, and that meant disclosing the fact that they possessed them.

“Having nukes doesn’t solve everything.”

“If you think about the future, you definitely need nuclear weapons. They can solve most of the problems that arise without them. It’s true.”

Hood also threw facts at Kim Yang, who claims that only by possessing nuclear weapons can we ensure independent security.

“Rather, wouldn’t it be possible for them to become the target of concentrated deterrence because they have nuclear weapons? Like some countries.”

Kim Yang’s eyebrows furrowed as the hood gave off an air of ‘I know your ingredients.’

Future?

“Since half of your face is swollen, half of your liver is swollen too?”

Unit 2. Isn’t the half-mask a bit odd?

Are you doing this because you want to wear a proper mask?

Should I get you a good one? One that will last a long time?

As Kim Yang’s eyes began to turn ominous, Maru lightened the mood.

“Even if we find the nuke, isn’t it a separate issue whether we can use it?”

“Once you get the nuclear security codes and such, you can disassemble the detonator and use it. You don’t have to worry.”

“It wouldn’t be that simple. If it were a nuclear weapon, there would be double or triple layers of unknown security measures.”

“Security can be sufficiently secured by running artificial intelligence, hiring doctors with brains, and hiring researchers.”

“Let’s say there’s programmatic security, but there’s also physical security.”

“Shut up! Shouldn’t you be worrying about getting nukes first? Before you even get them, what are you talking about…”

“Stop. Think about it.”

Maru made a decision in an instant.

“I will send away all those who wish to leave. However, as I said at the beginning, you are absolutely prohibited from taking the exosuits and weapons that were loaned to you. If that is not possible, you may use force to retrieve them.”

“All right.”

The same standard was applied when kicking out those who were doing useless things in the tower, and when kicking them out from the outer wall. Those who wanted to leave, those who were dissatisfied, were kicked out.

Next, as Hood claims, we must mobilize all our resources to help Dan Brown of the Department of Homeland Security root out hostile forces in New York. Or, as Kim Yang says, we must find and secure nuclear weapons.

Both had their pros and cons, but the decision was easy.

You’ve got all the best cards in your hand, so shouldn’t you use them?

Maru’s choice was nuclear.

“Let’s secure the nukes as quickly as possible. Then, let’s watch the situation in New York.”

There were brain-boggling bio-terminals that could extract information, psychometry that could read residual thoughts, and even telepathy that could communicate over considerable distances without being affected by terrain. There were even airships.

There was no reason to make any other choice when it came to the optimal combination for finding the hidden core. Even if it meant helping Director Dan Brown, the core was the priority right now.

A party was quickly formed according to Maru’s decision.

Defense team, PD, Hood, and AI set.

Search and Rescue Team, Maru, Kim Yang, Nurse, Telepathy, Psychometry. Dr. Brain Dungdung.

The first target is Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, United States Air Force Materiel Command.

It was close and the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center was located there.

Gooooooo-

The giant airship began its journey towards its target.