Rust - Chapter 406



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-406

I came to my senses as if I had been splashed with cold water.

Only higher-level entities and those with psychic abilities can move cannibals.

‘We need to change direction.’

I broke through the building and jumped straight to the next building. I moved in a straight line, then immediately turned at a right angle and ran away. I knew he would notice if I moved in a straight line.

The tickling, piercing sensation was clearly similar to telepathy. It was so similar that I mistook it for Julia Burton’s telepathic ability. I don’t know about myself, but it seemed like it would be hard for others to endure.

‘Would Ms. Kim be able to hold out?’

Contrary to his complicated thoughts, Maru’s body was moving at a crazy speed. It only took a few seconds to go through the building and move on to the next building.

pop!

The blast, which ruptured the outer wall of the building like a bullet shattering a glass bottle, headed toward the next building.

[I fell for this. Do they know?]

[I didn’t know until now… Huh? I just changed direction.]

Okay. It wasn’t tracking movements in real time. It seemed like they were reading CCTV or other traces and responding.

‘She’s weaker at detection than Julia.’

It seemed like you couldn’t use telepathy like radar. Julia used it similarly at the end.

‘It seems that the more powerful the dominance, the less applicable it is.’

As the creepy and unpleasant feeling began to send out warning signals, Maru’s head spun around.

What could it be? A long, long barbed wire fence, the corpses of cannibals and mutant monsters that died while trying to escape, an empty building, bright lights…

[Guys. How many cannibals are there?]

[There are many dogs.]

[I’d estimate it would be several thousand.]

···How many thousands?

At the moment when the number of lower entities directly controlled by a higher entity exceeds a critical point, an entity among the lower entities naturally evolves into a higher entity.

In one group, the number of superior individuals increased to two. As a result, the group split, so the superior individuals began to control the number of inferior individuals themselves.

In the early stages of the spread of cannibalism, criminal groups such as gangs, mafias, and cartels used cannibalism to rapidly grow in size, but when the organizations began to fragment, the spread of cannibalism stopped.

So the higher-ups did all sorts of things to increase their dominance, like the guys in the bunkers under the Air Force base.

But thousands?

The New York deputy mayor with high powers and the riser guy weren’t even in the thousands.

‘He’s not a cannibal?’

If they were cannibals, new higher-level entities would have emerged and the group would have naturally split. Assuming they were psychic, things that were previously incomprehensible began to make sense.

The skulls hung on the barbed wire were meant to scare away ordinary people. Ordinary people might feel terrified when they see the hanging skulls, but what would cannibals think if they saw them?

‘Aren’t there a lot of energetic guys here?’

‘The barbed wire is so strong that I can’t even escape outside?’

The suspicions that arose when they saw the corpses between the barbed wire fences would have disappeared. What would they think when they saw the brightly lit downtown Pittsburgh, when most of the towns and cities had lost power due to the EMP caused by the nuclear attack?

It was difficult to get through the barbed wire area, but it was not impossible. There were ways to get across, such as covering the barbed wire with clothes or placing a piece of wood on top of it.

If the survivors were in control of the city, they would have concentrated their attacks on the cannibals trying to cross the barbed wire.

It would have been normal to see the corpses of cannibals who had died crossing the barbed wire here and there, but there was no sign of that.

‘It’s a trap.’

It was a huge trap set up to lure cannibals using a city with a population of 300,000. Maru’s judgment was quick.

‘I’m going back for now.’

Quadduk-

Maru, who was heading towards the building that had poured out the cannibals, changed direction again. He returned to the building where he had first landed.

Maru went up to the roof of the building and saw that the paragliding equipment was still there. As expected, the security was not tight.

[Send the crows.]

[Yes, you heard me. Go quickly.]

As Maru, who had been running hard enough to inflate the canopy, jumped down from the rooftop, the paraglider, which had been falling lazily, began to rise against gravity. It was pulled up by the crows.

[Let’s go. By snowmobile.]

Kaaaak-

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‘Why did you just come here? Where does it hurt?’

Kim Yang’s eyes were subtle as he looked around the room. He thought he would cut about 200 to 300 while he was there, but he looked at him as if it was strange that he only cut 3 and came back.

“What about the cannibals that were chasing me?”

“It seemed like he didn’t know I had escaped on a paraglider.”

It was as expected. If she had been a telepath like Julia Burton, she would have noticed it right away. Kim Yang asked Maru.

“Why did you go in and pretend to take the head of the higher entity?”

“It’s possible that he’s not a cannibal, but a psychic.”

“?”

“yes?”

Maru explained the ability hypothesis.

The story goes that people who came to see the brightly lit city may have been driven away by the skull decorations, and that cannibals may have been tempted to eat them. So, the hypothesis is that Pittsburgh may have been a trap to lure cannibals.

“It’s a possible story.”

Hood immediately agreed with Maru’s hypothesis, but Kim Yang tilted her head.

“Strange.”

“What’s strange?”

Kim Yang, who had a question mark on her head as she tilted her head again at Maru’s question, blinked and said.

“Could it just be that it was originally that kind of superior entity?”

“Look at the guys you first met on the rooftop.”

The skin was blackened and necrotic due to frostbite, and they were wearing thin clothes and shoveling snow. That wasn’t all. The cannibals that suddenly poured out also looked like beggars.

“No matter where you look, you don’t look like you’re eating properly.”

At Maru’s story that a superior entity would not consume a inferior entity like that, Kim Yang’s eyes widened. Her eyes looked like they were saying, ‘Really? Really?’

Jii-i- Maru realized ‘Huh?’ at the sight of Kim Yang’s gaze. What he meant was that if a dictatorial cannibal who didn’t care about such things appeared, he could rule over the lower-ranking entities regardless of whether they starved to death or not.

“Big- Hmm- It’s possible that one of the higher-ranking individuals came out thinking that they were okay with it, but that’s the nature of cannibals. When their numbers increase, a new higher-ranking individual emerges and they split.”

“It would have been impossible to rule over thousands of them. That’s right.”

“I guess a psychic who hates cannibals would do something like that?”

“Looking at their haggard state, it’s definitely true. Cannibals aren’t just infected people. They have reason and memories. However, the hypothesis that these cannibals walk around like beggars is very likely correct.”

“It’s a good thing we came out like this before we completely fell out of love. I guess it’s something to talk about for anyone who hates cannibals.”

“Considering that they have taken control of thousands of cannibals and have settled in one place instead of expanding wildly, the story may make more sense than we thought.”

As Maru and Hood exchanged blows, Kim Yang’s eyes narrowed slightly again.

“Then what was that sound?”

Beep- Miss Kim played the video.

A distorted cannibalistic face and a repetitive voice.

[Your body feels good.]

[Your body feels good.]

[Your body feels good.]

Maru’s expression of ‘Huh?’

Hood’s eyes say ‘Huh?’

“If that thing was just a telepath who could capture and control cannibals, why did he say something like that?”

“And what about the ones that suddenly came out in a group and tried to catch me?”

I know.

[Your body feels good.]

[Your body feels good.]

[Your body feels good.]

Yeah, let’s admit it.

What Ms. Kim said was right.

Kip- Maru turned off the endlessly looping video.

I was so excited about having the ability to control thousands of cannibals.

uh?

Excited?

Since when?

why?

Maru felt uneasy.

Why do you think I can communicate with that guy?

Even though I had killed the cannibals he ruled, he was the one who made the first attack. And I had thought about disposing of him, but at some point I started to think about talking to him naturally.

“Ha- This is really.”

Kim Yang, Hood, and the nurse’s gaze were focused on Maru’s sigh of disbelief.

“This kid is dangerous.”

“Why are you saying the obvious?”

“Ah, there are thousands of cannibals. Isn’t it obvious that they’re dangerous?”

“······.”

“No, that’s not it. I cut off the telepathic connection because he was trying to connect. I knew that feeling because I was with Julia Burton. But without realizing it, I was moving towards having a conversation with him.”

“Mental attack? Did you get attacked?”

“I didn’t get hit. No, did I get hit?”

“But I don’t think I was hit. If I was, I wouldn’t have told them to move the snowmobile back.”

“I’m glad you came back safely.”

Even though he wasn’t directly affected, it’s true that his concentration was distracted without him realizing it. If he had blindly rushed to catch the thing while avoiding the thousands of cannibals, he would have been captured, so it was a good idea to retreat.

“It’s late at night, so everyone get some rest and let’s talk again in the morning.”

After pulling the snowmobile far back, we decided to rest.

The sky is cloudy because the sun has not risen.

Kaaaak!

Caaaak!

The crows began to circle around and cry.

[They say there’s trouble in the city. Everyone, get up!]

The nurse’s voice woke me up at dawn.

“what’s the matter.”

“They say the cannibals have come out of the city.”

Thanks to the crows that took turns watching, we could see their movements. The footage from the reconnaissance camera showed what had happened to the barbed wire area.

Swish-

As I grabbed the floor and pulled, the plank with the barbed wire installed fell back. So it only looks like there is barbed wire installed on the floor, but there is a part installed on top of the plank like that.

The cannibals came out through the open passage.

“I think this is probably a search of the surroundings?”

“That’s right. That’s exactly what a search is.”

“I looked into the information yesterday. It’s a bit strange that it’s located here.”

Hood uploaded the material.

“As you can see on the map, Pittsburgh is at the confluence of two rivers. If you count the tributaries, there are three. Except for the triangle area that can be used as a natural moat, the terrain is not very good for defense.”

But they built a barbed wire fence around the city.

“Pittsburgh is a city famous for its steel and petrochemical industries, so it would be strange to even assume that they saved the barbed wire.”

There should have been sufficient supplies in advance to install a barbed wire fence large enough to surround the city.

“So the barbed wire was prepared in advance?”

“I think so.”

Hood’s tone was sharp, as if he had prepared thoroughly all night.

A place that would have ordered a lot of barbed wire. The military, the Department of Homeland Security, and Virginia Langley, if you will.

“The EMP cut off power to most towns and cities, but the story that they were able to use electricity like that means they had prepared in advance···.”

“It must be a modular nuclear power plant.”

A modular nuclear power plant would be like a large piece of barbed wire. Couldn’t it have been done by the military, the Department of Homeland Security, or a Virginia company?

I thought I had to deal with the kid who was messing around with telepathy, but after hearing Hood’s story, I realized he was a tricky guy to mess with.

It seems like someone with psychic abilities is trying to do something by taking control of a cannibal, but what if he just slices it up in one piece? That’ll be a total turnoff.

‘Damn. I came here to find VX gas raw materials and what the heck is this?’

“Whew- Let’s go look for raw materials in other cities. Let’s just ignore Pittsburgh and go.”

“Uh-uh. They say the cannibals that came out of the barbed wire are scattering in all directions.”

A visual image came to mind of cannibals grouped in groups of ten, spreading out in all directions like a scout party.

“Follow me like a crow to see where I’m going.”

“Well, the weather is too cold to keep tracking.”

“Oh really.”

So, a strong will to find ‘a good body.’?

“I’m going to turn around.”

If a cannibal spread out in all directions finds a village or city where people are alive, will he just pass by? He might pass by, but wouldn’t he try to get inside, saying, “I’m feeling good.”

Of course, there will be a fight, and what if you end up in Vlad’Ak Town, Detroit, after all that bloodshed and searching?

After a while, Maru made a decision.

“Let’s cut it.”