Rust - Chapter 407



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-407

As soon as the words “Let’s cut it” were out of the mouth, Kim Yang got up to put on her special exosuit.

“Excuse me. Are you sure that’s okay?”

Hood reaffirmed in a serious voice.

The three or all of the forces that might have been connected to Pittsburgh were the military, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Virginia company. I want you to explain in more detail why you decided to cut them down, even though you might end up at odds with them.

“Of course it won’t be okay. Will it be okay?”

He’s the guy who swallowed up a city with a population of 300,000, so if he starts installing things like that, no matter how far he’s connected, would he just sit there and do nothing?

Why are you doing that?

Is it because ‘you feel good’?

What is that?

Vladimir Kalin. Judging by the marks left by the stab wound, it’s definitely him.

The project was blown because of that kid?

Get that kid out there and make him a project!!!

Wouldn’t it be something like this?

“Is there a chance that it will end quietly if we stay still? I don’t think so.”

“So, as a result, you’re saying that you have no choice but to get rejected no matter where you go.”

Just looking at the current situation, it seems like that. Aren’t you showing your tenacity in sending out cannibals to track them down? You’ll end up getting involved.

“Yeah. If you’re going to be involved with that guy in Pittsburgh, you know it’s going to happen someday.”

“···okay.”

Hood swallowed back what he was about to say.

I wasn’t sure. If only I had an internet connection, if only the internet was working properly, I wouldn’t have been this helpless.

“Just as the cold is a wall to us, it will be a wall to our enemies. Likewise, just as it is an opportunity to us, it will be an opportunity to them.”

Maru nodded to Hood’s words and began preparing for battle.

The temperature was around -40 degrees Celsius, so the battery was drained quickly. The exosuit turned into an electricity-eating hippopotamus at temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius, making it virtually unusable.

However, the situation was a bit better for Kim Yang’s exosuit, which was equipped with all the latest technology. On the roof of the tactical vehicle. Kim Yang’s exosuit, covered in wolf skin, took a stance.

[Even if you like wolf skin, you won’t be able to have it for long.]

[I know. It’s annoying, but I have to go back and forth. Let’s just get started on cutting them down. They’re spread out in groups of 10 to 12, so let’s go around counterclockwise and catch them, starting from the 9 o’clock position.]

The snowmobile drew a large semicircle and headed in the 9 o’clock direction.

Tu-gak-tu-da-dak!!!

Pfft- pfft!

As the 30mm machine gun fired, the cannibals moving through the bitter cold were instantly turned into minced meat. Even if he was a cannibal grandfather, the result was decided after being hit by a 30mm bullet that could destroy even an armored vehicle.

The cannibals, who had been moving stiffly in the bitter cold, scattered in all directions like startled rabbits. And through their gaps in scattering, death descended.

Crunch-

The cannibal, whose legs were cut off and whose mobility was taken away, desperately tried to resist by waving his arms.

Crunch-

The headless body of a cannibal, with the sound of a broken neck, dyed the white snowfield red.

[Is this the end?]

[okay.]

Even if you dodged the bullet, you couldn’t avoid the blade of fate.

[These are just numbers, they’re nonsense.]

[It’s definitely not telepathy like Julia Burton.]

If I were Julia, I would have gone into operations and worked in an organized manner.

[Definitely more awkward than that girl.]

[If we keep going like this, it’ll be over soon.]

[What was that thing that was struggling at the end? It was moving strangely all of a sudden.]

[It looks like he tried to move it himself, like we saw in the video last time.]

It seemed like he was trying to connect to the last one and check the situation, but Maru’s sword was much faster.

[Isn’t that guy a cannibal who can’t handle things properly?]

[···I think so.]

The cannibals’ movements were too simple.

The cannibals I encountered when I first entered Pittsburgh, the ones clearing snow from the rooftops, were similar. When I think back to the simplicity of suddenly jumping up and attacking, it was definitely like that.

The movements that are characteristic of cannibals, with no use of reason or memory, were something that could only be seen at the end of symptoms of intermittent explosive disorder.

[Right? Right? It’s not like we haven’t fought cannibals before.]

The ones that are running around now are just cannibals in their shells. So, you could say that they are like smartphones that have decent hardware but have been ruined by optimization.

[Ah, this is the reconnaissance result. The enemies are starting to gather together.]

An image appeared on the HUD screen. It was the sight of cannibals that had been scattered in groups of 10 to 12, now grouping together in groups of 50 to 60.

It’s too late. I started processing at 9 o’clock and now I’m down to 3 o’clock. It’s almost half-swept away and then I’m just starting to piece it together.

[Come together.]

Kim Yang’s voice grew louder. Maru shook his head at the tone that seemed to say, ‘As planned.’

[What about crows? Is that possible?]

[I think it’ll be okay once. Maybe because the weather is cold, but there’s a limit to how much I can eat. This time, if I go out, I think I’ll only be able to do the bare minimum of reconnaissance. Is that okay?]

Eating something doesn’t immediately turn into calories. It takes time to digest, so that’s natural. Still, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to sweep away all the things that had crawled out.

[It’s okay. If we sweep away everything that’s outside, the bastard will shrink.]

[Yes. Then I will prepare it right away.]

A moment later, about 60 crows flew in carrying special bombs.

Kwaaaaang!

Whoosh whoosh!

Napalm bombs exploded between the cannibals, who were gathered in groups of 50 to 60. The flames shot up as if the -40 degree cold was nothing. The cannibals were reduced to firewood without being able to properly fight back against the unexpected attack from the air.

While bonfires burning here and there, fueled by cannibals, were burning, Maru arrived at the Pittsburgh barbed wire fence.

Caaaak!

[quietly!]

······.

It might be okay at night when it’s not so noticeable, but it’s better to be careful during the day.

A moment later, a crow reconnaissance image appeared on the HUD, showing the path through the barbed wire that had been left open to send out a search party.

‘Don’t you even have separate boundaries?’

The bombing seemed to have ended, as the sound of the explosion had subsided. But the barbed wire area was still wide open, without any additional support.

[Go in and take a walk.]

A crow flew across the barbed wire and circled between the buildings. There was no sign of the cannibal. There were no people clearing snow from the rooftops. It just looked like an empty city.

Maru was momentarily confused. What is this? Is this really a brainless brat? Leaving the main gate open like this? Is it a trap? Or is it like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where they opened the gate and said, “Come in. Come in.”

A man with such overwhelming power that he could control thousands of cannibals like slaves. It was so embarrassing to see him like this, a man who could devour a city and sell traps to lure cannibals.

‘It’s really uncomfortable.’

Should we buy some time?

The moment he thought that way, the feeling of unease grew even stronger. Maru did not ignore that small feeling.

Tsk-

Maru clicked his tongue at the feeling that it was still uncomfortable, but it would only get more uncomfortable if things continued like this.

[What happened?]

[Bombing is over. The survivors are being drilled in the heads.]

[Everyone’s back after the bombing. We’ve been working so hard that I think we’ll need to rest today.]

Because the space in the snowmobile was small, the number of crows brought was around 60.

The weather was cold so we had to change shifts often, and since we were exhausted from bombing, we had to take a day off today. That meant there would be no additional bombing support.

‘Instead of catching the guys outside, shouldn’t we have bombed them ourselves and checked the situation?’

No. This was the right thing to do.

It was no use bombing a city with a population of 300,000 with 60 of them anyway. It was better to completely wipe out the outside than to leave them outside and risk being surrounded from the inside and out.

A rippling shadow crossed the wide-open barbed wire area.

[Where is the building they came out of?]

[Video uploaded.]

A video of cannibals pouring out appeared on Maru’s HUD. Perhaps because it was a dark night, it was difficult to find the location based on this video alone.

[I don’t know where it is.]

[Location guidance begins.]

A map and arrows came to mind. Is this possible even though the GPS satellites are down?

[Navigation? Is this possible now?]

[I tried it using a crow as the standard.]

I looked up and saw crows sitting on the building. Hood’s quick reflexes were no joke.

Pokduk- Pokduk-

Snow was the problem. Unless it was something called “tapseolmuheun,” which means that even if you walked on snow, you left no traces, no matter how silently you moved, footprints would still be left behind.

What good is the Ripper suit’s hiding power, leaving footprints in the snow? The nurse said to Maru, who had stopped for a moment before entering the intersection where the CCTV was.

[Uh- They say crows can erase those footprints.]

[how?]

A crow flew in quietly and flapped its wings, landing close to Maru’s back. With a rustling sound, the snow on the ground began to flutter and erase his footprints.

[The idea is good, but it’s not. If you’re wary of crows, there’s a chance they’ll notice you croaking.]

[Ah- yes.]

The crow flew up sullenly.

The Ripper suit’s stealth capabilities were certainly good, but I didn’t blindly trust it.

There were times when they were caught by smell, and those with sensitive senses could detect hiding by sensing the movement of air.

A psychic like Julia Burton had used psychic waves to sense something. I thought she couldn’t apply it that far, but there might be a trap that could use it against her.

Tak- Maru jumped onto the building and started running along the outer wall. Jump- Landed on a traffic light in the middle and jumped again. If you look at the CCTV, it will look like it is swaying in the wind.

Maru was extremely careful as he ran along the outer wall of the building. Even while doing this, he moved while aiming for the blind spot of the CCTV, and that’s how he arrived at the huge building where thousands of cannibals were pouring out.

‘Here it is.’

A building that matches the map and video displayed on the HUD.

The entrance had to be wide for people to rush out. That was exactly what the building looked like right now. The first floor had no windows, so the open space structure that would have allowed people to rush out was empty.

Maru entered the building and walked along the walls and ceiling. Hood and Samantha used Maru’s footage to create a rough floor plan on the spot.

[There is only one staircase going up, but there are eight staircases going down.]

It means that there are cannibals underground.

[No other movements?]

[doesn’t exist.]

The only way to find out what kind of guy it was was to go down. Maru replaced the batteries in his Ripper suit and went down the nearby stairs.

Whoosh- whoosh- The first floor space that came into view as Maru came down in an instant, jumping down by stepping on the railing instead of stepping on the stairs.

The brightly lit lights and the long corridors lined with bars on both sides resembled a prison structure. In some ways, it was also similar to a breeding facility.

In a small room, there were two bunk beds, and the sink and toilet were clearly visible. People with clear traces of frostbite on their thin clothes were lying there blankly.

‘Cannibal?’

Even though it was on the basement floor, it wasn’t that cold. It was around 10 degrees Celsius. An ordinary person might have felt cold, but it wasn’t a temperature that bothered the cannibals.

Even though it was a spacious first floor, it wasn’t enough to accommodate thousands of animals. So, the second and third basement floors were like this too.

Hood, who had checked the video sent by Maru, reacted in real time.

[If you look at the structure, the basement of this building is a facility built to confine cannibals.]

[At this scale, it is certain that government agencies or the military were directly involved.]

Maru took out what looked like cans of cola from his tactical backpack and placed them one by one on one side of the hallway before moving on. The hallway had a stainless steel metal line running along both ends.

[Excuse me. Yes. Did you check the thing on the hallway ceiling?]

The hood stopped on the floor. A metal structure is visible on the ceiling. What is this? Is it a ventilator? There were special ventilators in the Japanese secret laboratory.

[This looks like a water tap.]

A water hole? You mean they suffocate them instead of burning them? If they burn them, there’s nothing left, so if they want to salvage the bodies, this isn’t a bad idea. Maru put the can back on the floor. The long stainless steel line in the hallway was a drain.

The second basement floor had the same structure. Maru moved while putting down the can to avoid the CCTV, and then arrived at the third basement floor. The third basement floor was the last place that could be reached by stairs. If you wanted to go down any further, you had to take the elevator.

Was it because it was on the 3rd basement floor? It was a warm temperature, probably at least 15 degrees. And unlike the 1st and 2nd basement floors, coughing sounds could be heard here and there.

[Sigh-]

Hood held his breath involuntarily as he watched the gruesome footage captured on Maru’s tactical camera. The third basement floor was where civilians were imprisoned.

Food storage.

It looked like a breeding farm.

Cannibals and people.

There were no power users who had a vengeance against cannibals. There was only a massive biological experiment site.

[What are you going to do?]

[Since I came in, I have to see it through to the end.]

The uneasy feeling became dirty.

[You saw the water spout. It’s dangerous.]

[It doesn’t matter if it’s water.]

[Yes? It doesn’t matter?]

Maru strode briskly towards the elevator. An elevator with a password key attached.

Tsk tsk tsk tsk

A deep cut split the metal door of the elevator, revealing the darkness descending below.