Rust - Chapter 416



Only Krnovel

RUST-416

Even Joseph Meyer, famous for his expressionless face, couldn’t help but have a crooked voice.

“What?”

“It’s a rat.”

So you lost contact with the small town of Perryton in Northern Texas, so you sent your top agents there, and they all disappeared because of rats?

“Yes.”

“Jura. Okay, Dr. Peter Ciro. Because you gave me discretion in obtaining the sample.”

Joseph Meyer’s gaze was fixed on the doctor, who was nodding as if it was obvious. His eyes were cold and piercing.

“Then can I leave now?”

“Doctor, we can’t wait that long.”

The doctor turned around with a look on his face like, ‘Is that so?’

“If you want to see the results quickly, you can get the Mickey Mouse sample from Perryton and Buddy from the lab in Pittsburgh quickly. We need that to get the results.”

After the doctor left, Joseph Meyer’s eyes wavered as he read the report.

‘The repeater has been destroyed.’

‘Communication networks and power lines are down.’

Signs of a broken wire.

Teeth marks clearly visible on the repeater.

Now I understand the photos that I had previously simply passed over as the work of wild animals.

‘Jura···.’

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Mining village.

There was a pile of corpses with holes in their heads, and a dead rat with its snout stuck in a person’s head.

[What is this?]

[······.]

There was something strange. He was sitting in front of the walkie-talkie, dead with a rat hanging from his head… Maru picked up the rat stuck to the corpse’s head.

The rat’s snout came out of the hole, spurting a sticky liquid of saliva, blood, and brain fluid. Its long tongue was covered in broom-like cilia.

‘You didn’t eat my head?’

So you’re saying he drilled a hole in someone’s head and put his tongue in there, but what did he do with his tongue? And what about the corpses next to it?

[······.]

[······?]

While Maru was lost in thought, Kim Yang looked around.

As Maru had said, there was definitely something strange about where the leader of the rats was.

‘picture book?’

There was a collection of children’s storybooks. There were flashcards spread out in a mess, and there were dead baby mice huddled together nearby.

What is this?

I think so too?

Gyah.

Kim Yang’s head tilted slightly.

[Let’s go back. We should take this to the corpse researchers and have them check it out.]

Kim Yang responded to the voice of the hardened floor.

[This one is a bit weird too.]

Maru, who was packing the body into a plastic bag, turned his head.

[Look. This looks like a kindergarten? A daycare center? Doesn’t it look like they spread out picture books and play flashcards with the kids there?]

[······.]

Maru, who had stopped collecting the corpse and strode over, opened the baby rat’s snout. A small tongue with cilia was revealed. The one next to it, and the one behind it.

[···This. Isn’t it? Huh?]

[?]

Kim Yang only had question marks floating around in her mind at Maru’s bewildered appearance.

[Whew- That little rat seems to be controlling people’s brains with his tongue.]

[?]

[Do you remember the strange rescue signal before we came here?]

[What were you mumbling without knowing what you were talking about?]

[Yeah. I think that’s what that kid is like.]

[So does that mean the rat sent the signal?]

[maybe.]

Maru, who had been opening his mouths to examine the pups’ tongues one by one, shook his head.

[And it seems like some of the baby rats here have inherited that trait.]

Aren’t you glad that not everything has changed?

One out of 30 pups had a mutated tongue. By chance, the pups that had been mutated like that were found dead near the flashcards and storybooks. Is this a coincidence?

What the fuck.

[Burn everything. After the fire is out, put VX gas canisters in each mouse hole.]

[What about the mine?]

Maru was resolute.

[Closed.]

Whoosh whoosh!

Maru’s group returned immediately after burning down the entire village and pickling the mine and its surroundings with VX gas.

“Are you saying that there was a situation where a rat tried to learn human language?”

“You can check the tactical camera footage.”

Maru immediately handed over the dead baby mice and tactical camera footage to the biotechnology researchers.

“Rats have the highest reproductive capacity among mammals. If you think about it, they are amazing guys who didn’t lose out in the survival competition with dinosaurs.”

Not only did they reproduce rapidly, have relatively high intelligence, and create a class society depending on the situation, but most importantly, they survived the Ice Age.

“In the worst case scenario, they can maintain a certain number for quite a long time through cannibalism alone.”

When food became scarce, they started a war with other rats nearby, reducing their mouths and increasing their food supply. It is said that they engaged in more sophisticated social activities than expected, such as forming alliances with other groups and going to war.

“Hahaha – There is a theory like that. There are even records of rats fighting each other during the spread of the plague.”

He was a researcher who said that the plague broke out when the rats that came in carrying the plague fleas and the rats that originally lived in the area fought, and when the rats that originally lived in the area lost,

“It is also interesting to note that there is a record that no rat-related plagues spread near the famous rat temple in India. It also shows that rats and humans can coexist.”

At the Karni Mata Temple in India, rats are fed large amounts of food, and despite the nutritional value, the rat population remains constant.

It is said that the temple rats even bite to death the rats that try to invade from outside in search of abundant food. This is a story about how they remain exclusive even when there is an abundance of food.

“There aren’t many animals that breed enough to destroy an ecosystem. In fact, as far as I know, there’s only one.”

Hee-juk – He was a smiling researcher.

“I’ve seen the tactical camera footage, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything to be concerned about yet. It’s smaller than the other rats we’ve caught recently. It looks like it became independent before being weeded out from the larger group.”

The researcher predicted that those who stood out from the crowd would have tried to dispose of themselves, so they would have flowed to the outskirts mining town to avoid that.

“This is a very interesting case, as it shows traces of rats trying to learn human letters and symbols. So, if you could capture them alive later, I would really appreciate it.”

“I will do that.”

haha-

On the way back after a friendly conversation.

“How are you going to capture him? With sleeping gas? Something like that?”

“No way.”

A capture is a capture that will freeze to death.

“Are you smarter than a crow?”

“It’s not like we can compare, but aren’t crows smarter?”

Not only was he highly intelligent enough to play chess, he was also able to communicate clearly with nurses. That was without drilling holes in people’s skulls and licking their brains.

How smart would a crow be if it noticed the floor from the beginning and chose to live together, or a rat that knows it will die if it comes near, but still behaves like a dog?

“Then you’re going to let the rats come crawling in?”

“We’ll find out when we get there.”

When you see the actions of those smart little rats, what kind of coexistence or coexistence can you believe in? When Maru smiled warmly, Kim Yang also furrowed the corners of his eyes as if he realized the meaning of that smile.

And so the snow removal effort began in Detroit and surrounding areas.

I dug through the accumulated snow like a moat to check if there were any mouse holes.

[They are found mostly in the northwest and south.]

“Did you hear that? What should we do?”

“If it’s to the northwest, isn’t it near the village we investigated last time? We bombarded it and burned it down.”

“They say that one female can give birth to about 200 pups in six months. If only a few had survived, the number would have increased considerably.”

“They said there were fewer survivors coming from that direction. It was because of the rats. I thought it was because the weather got colder.”

The PD’s low voice stirred up the surroundings.

“The most certain way seems to be to dig a trench out of the accumulated snow and fill it with VX gas. What do you think?”

“You’re going to dig a moat and fill it with VX gas? The risk of contamination. Haven’t I told you enough?”

“They say that VX gas persists more at low temperatures. In extreme cold like now, I think it’s economical because you only need to spray it once and it will remain toxic until the weather gets warmer.”

“I am against making choices that may cause problems in the future just because they are economically viable right now.”

Hood vehemently opposed it.

“VX gas is a terrible poison. And you want to fill the moats with it? When the sun comes out, all the rivers and lakes will be polluted. The important thing is survival and safety.”

Maru and Kim Yang were in favor of filling the moat with VX gas, while PD, Hood, and the nurse were against.

“Okay, then tell me your alternative.”

If you come near here, you die.

An alternative that would drive home to the little heads of the rats that if they came here, whether by digging a tunnel or squeezing through a snowdrift, they would surely die. That was the floor that demanded it.

The nurse raised her hand as if she felt something when she heard that he was definitely going to die.

“Etto- So, why can’t we lure the rat?”

“By luring me?”

What are you going to do by luring her?

The nurse looked at the floor with an ‘eh-‘ expression.

Kim Yang’s eyes lit up as she recalled the exclamation, “Ah!”

“Oh, I see.” The PD nodded.

‘Certainly. That must be so.’ Hood looked up at Maru as if he was admitting it.

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The sound of hardened eyes being gnawed at.

The rats preferred to dig through snow because it was much easier to dig through frozen ground, especially since they were going to an area where monster crows were glaring.

Jjik-jjiik- (This is the only place I haven’t been.)

Jjik jjik?-(They say there are a lot of people?)

Eeeeeeeet- (They say humans are stockpiling supplies-)

Click. Click. (Yeah, I heard that too.)

Common rats have a fast metabolism, so if they don’t eat for 10 to 12 hours, they will starve. In severe cases, they will even die. They starve to death.

Tick ​​tick-

It was a rat that swung its tail in warning when it felt like the one that had been silently chasing it behind was going for its butt, perhaps because it was starting to get hungry.

The one whose tail was hit started to sniffle.

Sniff. Sniff.

What is this smell?

It was the smell of a head. Smoke?

A human is grilling meat?

The rats’ eyes rolled back.

batten.

prey.

let’s go.

Go.

Sizzle!

Rats running furiously towards a place with a delicious smell.

As we passed through the white tunnel, the place that opened up wide was a meat paradise.

Humans are meat, and what humans are grilling is also meat. It was meat.

The moment you rush to the meat like that.

Something unknown ran through my whole body.

The eyes that had been sparkling with appetite were now filled with fear and death.

Click-

The last of the saliva flowed from the mouth of the little rat whose heart had stopped.

Thud thud thud-

The sound of something falling.

Brrrrrr-

My body, which had been trembling, gradually froze.

Not a single one approached and not a single one escaped.

The sight of rats lying down in concentric circles centered on the floor.

Kim Yang broke out in a cold sweat without realizing it. Her body reacted on its own because she had almost died.

“What is the principle behind that?”

Hood, who was watching the CCTV screen, said with a tired expression.

“You get a feeling when you experience it yourself.”

Miss Kim subtly recommended a near-death experience.

huh-

It’s true-

But the hood wasn’t caught.

So, the train to Rat Heaven started running twice a day.

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Virginia Secret Laboratory.

“So you’re saying that we haven’t been able to retrieve the sample and that the subject at the Pittsburgh lab is dead?”

[Pittsburgh was attacked. It appears that a large number of special forces were mobilized to attack.]

The doctor muttered into the radio, his anger exploding.

“So the conclusion is that there is no test subject! Right? Dead? No? Right? Right? Wrong?”

[Yes.]

“Research materials, what are those materials?”

[Everything is gone. Even the machines have been scrapped.]

“Ahhhh! These bastards—-. Who are you? Where are you? Where is my research!”

[Unknown.]

Telepathic subjects, those test subjects are precious.

A telepath was needed.

In order to use the samples that were hard to obtain in Japan, at least someone with psychic abilities was needed.

It took a psychic to deal with the rat pups.

‘If you can’t find telepathy, then at least find psychic power.’

“Yeah, that’s right. There was a person with psychic abilities in the Department of Homeland Security. I think it was called a psychometer?”

[According to recent information, Vladimir Kalin was taken to the Ark Tower.]

“Bring it. By any means necessary.”

[···Are you serious? It’s psychometry, so it’s different from telepathy.]

If you are a psychic, you can fuse with Japanese samples. That is.

“Bring me a psychometrician. Do whatever you want.”