Rust - Chapter 614



Only Krnovel

RUST [RUST]-614

The winters in Canada were harsh. They ran quantum computers and grape clusters and worked with researchers to build a technological singularity, but the extreme cold with temperatures dropping to minus 40 to minus 50 degrees was not something to be taken lightly.

However, fortunately, we succeeded in developing a small amount of new insulation material and in operating an unmanned airship for communication even in extreme cold.

Communication was extremely important in the Sacred Kingdom, which stretched east to west and had a low population density, so the operation of airships for communication reduced the burden on command.

Ki-sun reestablished communication between the strongholds using new unmanned ferry ships. Regular reports were made to minimize information loss.

There were reports of swarms of field mice in the outermost regions, but unlike the explosive growth of rat populations in cities, it was virtually impossible for field mice to breed in the tens of thousands in the wild.

Because the violence of numbers was impossible, field mice were simply an excellent source of protein for carnivores.

But in the area south of the St. Lawrence River that was returned this time, the situation was different. Not only was there an abundance of grain from the vast farmlands, but the number of small and medium-sized carnivores was also small.

In addition, the administrative and military vacuum created by Canada’s annexation as an imperial territory created all the conditions for the explosive proliferation of field mice.

And there were precursors to this phenomenon: Canadians living in areas that had been incorporated into the empire fled across the St. Lawrence River.

Ki-sun carefully examined the information coming from the makeshift strongholds he had set up in the returned territory.

‘The assistant AI missed this part?’

I told him not to filter out important matters and to bring them up, but this is what happened. Ki-soon asked the assistant AI in a calm voice.

“C1. What did you say was the cause of the refugee incident that occurred in Area D?”

[It was due to the absence of security and protection caused by the military and administrative vacuum in the empire.]

It wasn’t a wrong statement. It was a wrong statement.

“What about the lack of security, even if it is like that?”

[···Even though the carnivorous monsters that had increased rapidly in Sector D frequently attacked nearby villages, the empire that had secured the territory did not protect them.]

“Why didn’t the Empire send soldiers to the new territories?”

[Carnivorous monsters have also increased rapidly in the empire. It is analyzed that the loss of troops has increased rapidly, making it difficult to send troops to newly acquired territories.]

“Really? What is the cause of the increase in carnivorous monsters in the northern part of the empire?”

[···Insufficient information.]

Ki-sun nonchalantly organized a rescue team to be sent to Sector D, the stronghold where contact had been lost.

‘Things are going to get complicated.’

Assuming that it was an attack by a small or medium-sized carnivore, or more likely an attack by a field mouse, then yes.

Even though it was built in a prefabricated manner, the firepower of the temporary fortress was considerable. At least in terms of firepower, it was on par with that of a regular stronghold fortress. What could have happened if regular contact was lost despite breaking through that kind of firepower?

‘There is also an auxiliary AI in the temporary fortress.’

In the event of the commander’s absence or accident, the auxiliary AI was to gather all information and report it to the contact ship heading nearby. However, contact was suddenly cut off without any report.

Considering this situation, a rescue team had to be organized. If necessary, they had to be able to conduct a reconnaissance, and if the worst came to the worst, they had to be able to escape on their own.

It was impossible to rule out a clone, whether it was a Naru clone or a Yui Director clone. Because any clone had Yui Director’s combat experience as its base.

‘The advance reconnaissance force···.’

A woman who approached with purpose and had her wrist cut by a knife on the floor. Erilyn Newman was in close proximity to Fort D, Section 11.

‘I like that girl.’

She was a woman who was so serious about swordsmanship that she made it to the quarterfinals and quarterfinals of kendo competitions, with the same swordsmanship as Maru. She was famous for having a mechanical arm attached to her wrist after her wrist was cut off.

Ki-soon decided to send her first.

After receiving the order, Erin took out her newly issued sword and cleaned it. The sharpened blade shed a bright blue light.

Her world changed so quickly.

Srrrrrrrr-

As a child, she fell in love with fencing. She won state championships as easily as eating rice, and she often won first place in women’s kendo tournaments across the United States, but she never won a world championship.

Incidents such as meeting the previous tournament winner in the quarterfinals or winning in the semifinals but then withdrawing due to an unexpected injury.

Her robotic arm gripped the handle with a powerful grip, as if responding to the past.

Hoo-Woo …

If I had cut the target at this speed, I would have lost my grip on the blade as it recoils, but not anymore.

Kwajijijik-

A mannequin wearing a new type of bulletproof vest was cut diagonally with a dull slicing sound. She put away the sword she had swung as if it were nothing and examined the blade. The blade was clean without a single dent.

‘Good.’

Perhaps because the King was a swordsman, he sent one sword as a finishing blow. When he thought of Vladimir Kalin, his severed wrist started to throbbed.

The sensation whipped her again. When her wrist was cut, she didn’t even notice Vladimir Kalin’s stab.

She was praised as “a natural talent” and “the greatest talent in America”, but in front of Vladimir Kalin, she was just an ordinary person.

My arm was cut off and at first I was burning with vengeance, but as time went on. The mechanical arm. From a swordsman’s perspective, it wasn’t so bad.

It was just a little disappointing that the flexibility was reduced when the mechanical arm was attached. But since it could now wield tremendous destructive power and cutting power, there was no reason to be angry.

They said that if I did well, they would reattach my severed wrist, but I felt like asking them to replace it with a high-output, state-of-the-art mechanical arm instead.

‘At first glance, it looks like a normal arm.’

It wasn’t a mechanical arm with a visible skeleton. Even though it was mechanical on the inside, the outside was covered with artificial skin, so it only felt a little strange when you looked closely. There was no problem in living with it.

‘It’s a solo reconnaissance mission…’

As soon as she received the order, she went on a solo reconnaissance towards Fortress 11, Sector D1.

And two days later.

The reconnaissance report she sent shook the Government House in Ottawa.

“At least a million? Rats?”

Ki-sun was dumbfounded by the estimated number of field mice that had taken over the area around Fort No. 11.

This would not have happened in a normal natural state. As the number of field mice increased, it was natural that the number of small and medium-sized carnivores that preyed on field mice increased.

But in a world where the mutant virus incident had passed and global ecosystem changes had begun, such common sense no longer applied.

While the numbers of small and medium-sized carnivores can increase four- to eight-fold over a period of one year, rats can increase up to 1,200-fold.

‘Fuck. This is why the village was attacked by carnivorous animals that had grown several times larger.’

Just imagine the field mice that you used to catch and eat and then suddenly attack you in a flash. Even if they are carnivores with the label of natural enemy, they have no choice but to choose evasion.

If it was something like the badger that Kim Yang caught in Tollido, it would be understandable, but stray cats, wild dogs, wolves, and owls would be overwhelmed by their numbers.

‘Should we concentrate our forces?’

As the density of mutants increased, communication became difficult, as if a kind of radio interference field had been spread out. Not only communication failures, but also sensor failures occurred. Malfunctions were common, and camera equipment failures were frequent.

‘Even if we gather troops, it’s meaningless if it’s difficult to control.’

If you were unlucky, there was a chance that you could be defeated individually while the messenger was passing by. But you couldn’t just leave it alone. What would happen if the field mice, which reproduced explosively in the wild, entered a city with many people?

‘Access to the city must be blocked.’

how?

‘That’s a big hit. Shh- That’s a big hit.’

Ki-soon missed the rat pups who believed in Maru as their god.

In the old days, the problem could have been solved by taking the rats who believed in Maru from Toledo and throwing them into the area where the problem arose, just as the acid rats that took over the Newport News shipyard were captured as sacred rats.

‘It’s dangerous if we continue like this.’

The Sacred Kingdom, which had previously used the tribute rat tribe to control the rat hordes and carnivorous monsters in other regions, was at a loss for a response method in the current situation.

Ki-soon reported that there were millions of field mice swarming around.

======

======

Holy Kingdom Detroit.

The atmosphere in the Vladiak Tower conference room was heavy because of the emergency request for assistance from Governor General of Canada, Gishun.

“The idea that the field mice gathered in groups of a million is probably a misunderstanding or incorrect information.”

“Yes. I know that Governor Gisun is a great person, but common sense tells me that it is impossible for 10,000, let alone 1 million, to gather.”

PD and Hood expressed the opinion that 1 million was impossible. Na Ju-yeon also thought the same.

“I don’t think it’s possible for wild field mice to number in the millions, unless there’s an abundance of prey.”

“So does that mean that Governor-General Ki-sun requested emergency support based on incorrect information?”

“Obviously. It must be an emergency situation.”

“It must be an emergency.”

But that doesn’t mean it will be a million units. Maru didn’t think so.

What did Ki-soon do when he got full authority? When the Naru clone incident broke out, don’t you know what he did? If he had something to do, he wouldn’t have requested emergency support.

And honestly, the Holy Kingdom had no way to deal with a million rats. Even if they had to squeeze out all their troops, they would be lucky to have 50,000 from Canada, and the Holy Kingdom headquarters would have pulled out as many as they could. Then, the two combined would have pulled out 100,000.

If we assume that there are 100,000 human troops and 1 million field mice, the exchange rate is 1:10. It was easy to be mistaken in thinking that they could be caught easily.

But now it was a bitter winter. The snow piled up to about 3m was getting thicker with each blizzard. It was not easy to command 100,000 troops in the field, where the daytime temperature was -40 to -50 degrees Celsius, and the nighttime temperature was -60 degrees Celsius, let alone keep them from freezing to death.

In this situation, who can guarantee that it would be easy to defeat a million man-eating rats that crave human flesh?

‘So, what Ki-soon wanted to ask for through his emergency support request was approval for nuclear use.’

Maru coolly granted the Governor-General the authority to use nuclear weapons independently.

“Let’s allow Governor General Kim Ki-soon of Canada to independently use the tactical nuclear weapons currently in Canada.”

And PD and Hood strongly opposed it.

“You’ve already given too much power to the Governor General of Canada. Giving him independent nuclear power is too dangerous.”

“It’s almost as if we’ve become an independent country.”

“I’ll say it again. I’m not saying that I’m giving the authority to the Governor General of Canada. I’m saying that I’m giving it to the Governor General of Canada, Kim Ki-soon.”

So, the story was that it was given temporarily only to Governor-General Kim Ki-sun.

“It would take at least a month to respond to the emergency request for rescue teams and reinforcements. During that time, if more than a million field mice were to cross the frozen St. Lawrence River and head north toward Montreal, we would have to abandon the entire area. There is no time for that now.”

“You’re planning on using nuclear weapons before the radiation aftermath simulations are finished? What are you going to do about the side effects?”

Everyone nodded their heads to Na Ju-yeon’s story. Maru also couldn’t answer right away because he knew the danger.

“There’s nothing we can do. We didn’t expect that there would be more than a million field mice. If we leave the million as is, there will be at least ten million by the end of winter. If it increases that much, we can’t handle it.”

“······.”

“······.”

“Assuming the worst, what if those voles move west and come into contact with the cockroach breeders in Toledo?”

What if the knowledgeable ones about humans and the rats were to unite? What if the rats and rats of Toledo were to form a force, or one were to absorb the other?

“Whether it’s a million or not, I can’t let the rats face the rat pups underground. Even if I have to use nuclear weapons.”

“······.”

“······.”

“Instead of tactical nuclear weapons, which are dangerous and have uncertain aftereffects, how about taking control of the rats, like you did when you first created the tribute rat tribe?”

The PD’s soft voice broke the silence.

therefore

The story was about going with faith rather than nuclear weapons.