Rust - Chapter 414



Only Krnovel

RUST-414

My first encounter with rats was in Japan.

Large, concrete-gnawing creatures. I encountered them in the secret research lab of a Japanese pharmaceutical company and in the stolen hospital.

Even at the time, I thought they were smart for a rat, but the rats that ate an entire village in the US were even smarter. They cut off the communication and electricity, locked people in their homes, and then ate them.

Not only did they dig the ground to set traps, they even had rats that acted as poison traps. This meant that there were higher and lower classes, and that they had formed a class society.

And now.

Maru and Kim Yang felt the psychic waves emitted by some rat. If there had been a nurse, she would have interpreted them, but the two of them had no such thing.

‘Straight to the village?’

Maru responded with the tip of his chin to Kim Yang’s gaze.

‘as soon as.’

Since the two of them had brought a lot of VX gas, they were fully prepared for chemical, biological, and radiological warfare. Maru stopped Ms. Kim as they entered the village where the gas had been spread.

[for a moment.]

[?]

Kim Yang looked at Maru, who was poking the white, hard snow with his toes, and raised a question mark. Maru spoke with his eyes.

‘Could the nerve gas have penetrated down here?’

Of course it didn’t reach you.

Then what about the squeaking of mice and the mental waves?

Even though I wasn’t even hurt?

Sigh- Kim Yang’s eyes narrowed as she looked around.

‘pitfall?’

As Maru nodded, Kim Yang signaled to the guards who were entering the village to retreat.

[Beware of ambush.]

[Gastan ready.]

[Thrown at every building.]

[···How do I search?]

[We announced over the air that if there are any survivors, they should come outside.]

The guards moved cautiously on the snow-covered ground. The first floor was buried in snow, so the men who had broken the second floor windows and thrown gas grenades in reported.

[The second floor entrance is closed.]

[The gas does not reach the first floor.]

[It’s a trap. Don’t go inside the house, just keep breaking windows and throwing gas canisters.]

[All right.]

As we advanced forward without going inside the building and only putting in gas canisters from outside, we received a response.

[A sound is heard from across the closed door.]

[Motion detector responds on the first floor.]

[There is a possibility of survivors.]

‘Are these guys using their heads?’

Kim Yang gave the order not to worry and to continue with the work they were doing. The mining town was not that big, so the second-floor gas tank deployment was completed quickly.

[Start snow removal.]

The Royal Guard’s digging has begun.

The plan was this.

1) Before entering the village, push the enemy into the building by throwing a gas grenade.

2) Place a gas canister on the second floor of the building to prevent it from getting out.

3) After clearing the snow until the first floor windows are visible, put a gas tank on the first floor as well.

4) Remove snow again until the underground ventilation hole is visible, then place a gas tank in the underground as well.

The gist of the operation was to push in little by little, starting from the outside in, then from the second floor to the first floor, and finally from the first floor to the basement.

‘Even a monster rat wouldn’t be able to penetrate the exosuit’s armor.’

‘How about we boldly go inside and search for survivors?’

There was talk that they should rush in with a bang since they were armed with armored exosuits, but Maru lightly ignored them. They boldly went in knowing what the rat bastards would do.

As the building began to slowly tighten, like a barbecue grill over low heat, the rats, unable to bear it any longer, began to escape from the building.

Jjieeeek-

Click-

[I’m done!]

[What the···.]

It was like a scene from a horror movie, with rats larger than an average cat breaking through the walls of a house and coming out.

[Continue working.]

[yes?]

Kim Yang and Maru told them to just leave the running rats behind and continue with their work.

And then, for a moment, the rat pups that had been scurrying across the snow suddenly began to twist their bodies. They had been hit by the VX gas that had been sprayed before they first entered the village.

[What are you watching now? Aren’t you going to hurry up?]

The rats were cornered by the slow but sure removal process.

[Eww! Help me.]

[It’s a monster!]

Kim Yang’s eyes lit up at the sound coming from the basement of the village hall.

‘box?’

Nod.

Ting-

Thud- Degururur

Push-seek-

[■?]

[■■■!!!]

[■■-■■-■■■■■—–—-—-]

The wave of thoughts that had been raging in confusion slowly subsided.

How much time has passed?

After the strange rat’s psychic waves had completely disappeared, Maru winked at Kim Yang. Kim Yang stopped the guards following behind.

[Stop. Be on guard. Implement.]

[Old. Implement the four pillars boundary!]

[Stay in your seat no matter what happens.]

[All right.]

The inside of the town hall was a bloody mess. I don’t know what method they used, but it seemed like they had lured the townspeople here and cleaned it up all at once.

[That’s the leader?]

One particularly large rat was sticking its tongue out.

[I don’t think so.]

[Which one is the biggest?]

Maru looked around again and said.

[I’m just all alone.]

[?]

[If he was the leader, there would have been other rats by his side, either his bodyguards or females.]

[oh-]

The search continued.

[······.]

[······.]

Maru and Kim Yang were silent in front of the traces they found.

======

======

Director Den Brown was lost in thought.

‘The building collapsed, but you didn’t hear any explosions?’

The field reports coming in every minute were a mess. How should we view the story that a large number of personnel were dispatched, but half of them went missing in half a day?

‘Is this the extent of the cannibal remnants?’

Then what about all those cannibals we’ve defeated so far?

It was beyond common sense from start to finish.

If you were to escape secretly after being treated like that, wouldn’t it be okay? You’re going to cause trouble by collapsing a building? Even though you know that there are close to 100,000 troops, including the trained defense forces?

‘Are you trying to get revenge on the Department of Homeland Security?’

‘Virginia Langley bastards and cannibals working together?’

All sorts of thoughts came to mind, but one thing was certain: something was not normal.

[Director, we found survivors in the collapsed building.]

“Are you conscious? No. Did you secure the tactical camera memory?”

[Yes, I will take it right now.]

Director Dan Brown, who was reviewing the tactical camera footage, froze the screen.

Inside the monitor was a hole connected to an underground waterway. It was an absurdly small hole for a grown man to pass through.

And then there was the muttering of an agent. When asked whether cannibals eat bones, a village came to Director Dan Brown’s mind.

The incident that mobilized Vladimir Kalin and Yania Kim, when a horde of rats attacked a village and ate everyone, flashed through my mind.

Those damn rats that were so vicious that they cut off the electricity and communication cables. And those monster rats that didn’t leave even a single human bone behind.

Holes in the walls and traps dug into the floor overlapped with the holes and collapsed buildings in the footage.

“Fuck. I’m not a cannibal.”

“yes?”

“You little rat.”

“A rat?”

Yeah, rat.

A few moments later, shouting erupted in the conference room at the Department of Homeland Security.

“You want to use VX gas? Are you crazy?”

“If they were that smart, they would avoid the nerve gas.”

“That’s right. If you look at the place where they appeared, isn’t it the place where Yania Kim stirred up trouble by saying that she was disinfecting the groundwater?”

“What if we use VX gas and the rats spread all over New York?”

“Refugees and homeless people are sheltering from the cold in culverts. Are you going to spray gas on them? Are you going to kill them all?”

“There are places where the sewers and subways are connected right now. If we use nerve gas, even the New York subways will be destroyed.”

The roads were paralyzed for a long time due to the severe cold and snowstorm, and the only thing still running was the subway. But what if we use VX gas?

The simplest and most surefire way would have been to spray VX, as Yania Kim had done, but the Department of Homeland Security had no choice.

“We have to chase them out or drag them out. Is there no way?”

“What about fire?”

“Shall we set fire to it?”

“yes.”

Director Den Brown nodded.

“Don’t do that, you’ll burn the toxic substances too.”

Hurrrurruk-

“Pour more oil on it.”

“What happened to the underground water system?”

“It’s attached properly.”

“Be careful not to burn it, and make holes so that air can pass through.”

Hurrrurruk-

Flames erupted simultaneously in empty buildings and sewers near the subway, where rats might be hiding.

As acrid black smoke began to fill the tunnels and sewers, the impatient rats revealed themselves.

“Oh my god, it was really a rat!”

“So the rumors were true?”

The underground water is filled with large rat pups, just like in ghost stories.

“Bigger than the dog I raised? Crazy.”

“What’s strange about them? What are they doing instead of running away?”

They neither ran away from people nor joined forces to attack. The little rats just stared at me as if they were observing me, which gave me goosebumps.

“What the fuck are you kids looking at?”

“Shoot!”

“Flamethrower! What are you doing? Burn it!”

As machine guns and flamethrowers fired competitively, the rats responded as if they knew humans would do the same: they dug into the thick snow and disappeared.

“?”

“Where are you? Which way?”

“It is not detected by the heat sensor.”

I tried to chase after the escaped rats, but it was impossible.

“Did you miss it?”

“Fuck!”

“Aaaah! Ankle! Ankle!”

A rat peeked its head out through the snow, bit the agent’s ankle, and then hid again.

The war between humans and rats has begun.

======

======

Perryton, a small town on the border of Texas and Oklahoma.

To investigate the sudden disappearance, the Virginia Company deployed a new exosuit unit.

[There are no people.]

It’s too quiet.

The city seen from a low hill was quiet.

[Communication?]

[doesn’t exist.]

Since nothing would change if I looked from the outside, I had to go in.

The team leader suddenly remembered something he had experienced in Afghanistan. He thought it was an empty village with no people, but it was actually full of enemy soldiers hiding there.

[Check all.]

[Vital.]

[Nothing abnormal.]

[Sensor]

[No more.]

[Don’t start.]

When I opened the cage, several cats came out quietly. The Electric Kitty program, a follow-up to the Acoustic Kitty program.

Meow-

meow-

The cats headed towards Peryton, quietly. And then…

[oh my god.]

[Is that a catch?]

A pack of rats hunting a cat has been captured on video.

Reports immediately came in of a monster rat that was systematically hunting cats.

[You did a good job of setting up the repeater.]

‘This news alone has made the relay station worth its investment.’

The team leader warned in a serious voice at the light muttering.

[At least a thousand, maybe more.]

Peryton has been overrun by rats.

[Not bad. So, catch them. As many as possible.]

[······.]

If it’s about using animals, there has been overwhelming know-how since long ago.

And now, there was technology that allowed them to be controlled directly without the need for old-fashioned training. So, such an effective bioweapon was something to be thankful for. All you had to do was control it.

[They are dangerous.]

They did not simply hunt by pushing forward with numbers. Their persistent hunting style was very similar to that of humans.

What was more dangerous than anything else was that they saw humans as prey. Even though it was a small city, they preyed on everyone living in the city. And they wanted us to capture them alive?

[It doesn’t matter. I’ll brainwash you and then release you into enemy territory.]

Worries are what the enemies do.