Rust - Chapter 729



Only Krnovel

RUST -729

Volcanic activity and earthquakes have been occurring for over two years?

Is that possible?

As far as Maru can remember, the longest recorded volcanic eruption was about three months. It was a video he saw on Newtube when global communication networks were still alive.

So, there may be longer-lasting volcanoes, but even so, it was difficult to understand how volcanic activity could occur for more than two years.

Diana’s analysis continued.

[Based on the data currently available, the height of the volcanic ash accumulated in Tokyo is predicted to be at least 100 cm. Considering the effects of rain, humidity, and hot temperatures, there is a possibility that the volcanic ash has hardened.]

There is a possibility that it hardened like cement soaked in water.

“Are Japanese crows alive?”

[It seems impossible.]

There was no chance that a crow, let alone a human or a mutated monster, would have survived.

“What if you set up a base underground?”

[If you have enough food and water to last for over two years, that’s possible.]

Is that the end of Japan? A natural disaster?

When I was smuggled to Japan, there was a chain of volcanic eruptions in the direction of Kyushu. There was a tsunami, and although it was said that Japan was destroyed, it was not a destruction in the sense that everyone died. It was the end of the country of Japan, but the plants, animals, and humans in Japan were still alive.

The same goes for the abnormal climate caused by the overlapping of Mt. Fuji’s eruption and winter. Even though heavy snow and volcanic ash mixed together and dyed the surroundings gray, it did not lead to extinction.

In reality, each region of Japan independently went about its own business without waiting for the central government to disappear.

However, if volcanoes erupted in Hokkaido, Japan and Sakhalin, and even the Russian naval base on Sakhalin was damaged, survival would not be guaranteed.

Thump-thump-thump-

A very slight but persistent discomfort.

The more he thought about it and dug into it, the deeper the sense of alienation became, and Maru’s forehead wrinkled.

There has never been a case like this.

The feeling of uneasiness that one feels when danger is imminent or one’s life is in danger was growing stronger, even if only slightly.

A thought that suddenly occurs.

What if it’s not a natural phenomenon?

‘Then what happened in Japan?’

Maru’s mind was complicated.

“Tell the Diana Expedition to check for ash and dust samples, changes in atmospheric composition, and if possible, the state of the surface. I’ll send a fast airship, and tell them to contact me as soon as they have the data and samples.”

[Delivered. We will prepare to run a simulation with the data and samples.]

“Even if you use the computational power of a quantum computer and a bunch of grapes, don’t miss even the smallest possibility and trace back all causes.”

[Computational power used to analyze the causes of the Japanese disaster.]

Maru’s thoughts went round and round.

Among the materials Hood had extracted from the Department of Homeland Security and New York, there was a long list of materials related to East Asia.

And then a memory suddenly came to mind.

‘Outsourced server.’

While building the Vladiak Tower, important information was stored on the server.

‘I asked you to keep important information on the server.’

Come to think of it, there must have been some reason for the US government at the time to make a deal to store various pieces of information in the Vladivostok Tower.

‘At the time, the Department of Homeland Security brokered the deal, but it was clear that the U.S. government was insuring itself against some risk.’

Looking at the situation now, it was definitely like that.

Maru’s eyes sank into a deep, sunken look.

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Under Maru’s orders, the expedition collected samples as they traveled south, and the high-speed airship made several round trips carrying samples and additional supplies.

The most important thing the expedition needed was a drone that could move among the volcanic ash and dust.

A drone that can operate autonomously using artificial intelligence, as radio waves are blocked once inside. A drone that can operate through volcanic ash, dust, and humid air was needed.

[Even if all currently available technologies are applied, the minimum operation time is 2 hours, and the maximum is 4 hours.]

“Wouldn’t it be difficult? There’s a limit to how close the airship can get.”

[The results of the calculation show that a rocket-type aircraft is the most effective aircraft that is not affected by volcanic ash and dust.]

Certainly, a rocket that carried both fuel and oxygen on its own would have kept its engines safe from volcanic ash and dust.

“Make it and send it right away.”

[Manufacturing begins. Estimated time until drying is 82 hours and 40 minutes.]

Tsk-

Since we were sending an expedition to find a crow’s mate anyway and we were told to get out if it was dangerous, I thought the new core equipment alone would be enough.

That wasn’t it.

The environment itself was not the one I had previously known.

“Except for the resources for constructing the floating city, all the rest will be returned to supporting the expedition.”

[Production of daily necessities has been discontinued. They will be replaced with stock.]

All currently feasible technologies that have reached the singularity are being mobilized. Additional equipment is being designed and distributed in real time.

As rocket engines began to be used to survey land close to the coastline, data for analysis began to pile up with each passing day.

[It has been discovered that it contains trace amounts of previously undiscovered elements.]

[An acidic reaction was confirmed on the surface. It was not a simple sulfur dioxide reaction.]

“It’s acidic?”

Why does it have to be acidic again?

Just as Maru was about to check the details, Diana’s green light blinked for a moment, indicating that an emergency transmission had been received.

[A communication has arrived on the emergency line from President Den Brown. Should we connect?]

Where’s that old man? Emergency line?

“Connect.”

As soon as Maru connected, Den Brown got straight to the point.

[Ampoule. The ampoule left behind by Joseph Meyer. It’s a trap.]

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Maru called a meeting after hearing that Joseph Meyer had used the ampoules to inflict a major blow to the Empire.

[It probably wasn’t just a simple memory ampoule.]

Ki-sun said while checking the data sent from the Empire. In fact, Joseph Meyer’s method was the method Ki-sun had been thinking about.

Since it was Ki-sun who had suggested that he be cloned and destroyed, he understood better than anyone the power of what Joseph Meyer had done.

[The fact that he knew that he was a scrap of land meant that Joseph Meyer’s body was essentially a clone with his memories pasted onto it using his own memory ampoule, so he must have approached it deliberately.]

The analysis was sharp, even though it was unaware that a clone using Ki-sun’s DNA had been used, as Dan Brown had sent an audio file containing the conversation with Joseph Meyer.

[What’s more important is that the memories were infiltrated into someone else’s brain, not Joseph Meyer’s own clone. That means it’s essentially an extremely dangerous bioweapon.]

“Huh? A bioweapon?”

The nurse’s eyes widened. Suddenly, a biological weapon.

[Imagine injecting a red ampoule into your head. If Joseph Meyer’s memories eat away at your original memories and personality, and Joseph Meyer’s spirit takes over your body, then what else would that be if not a bioweapon?]

The nurse made a tired expression. This world was indeed a mess. What a world where there was an ampoule that could eat away at and replace other people’s memories and personalities.

“That’s not it.”

Hood shook his head.

“If it really had such powerful invasive capabilities, they would have used it as a secret weapon.”

[···There is no invasive function?]

“No. It will have invasive capabilities. It just won’t be as aggressive.”

Hood’s hypothesis was this: Joseph Ayer’s memory ampoules would work well when the brain was blank, but if used on a person with consciousness and memory, there was a high chance that the memory ampoules and the original person’s memories would become mixed up.

[···If that’s true, it would be dangerous to use it as a weapon. There’s a possibility that the opponent could use your memories.]

“And we have clones and information extractors, so I don’t think using Joseph Meyer’s memory ampoules would be a big deal.”

[That doesn’t seem to be the case. According to the information sent by the Empire, after the memory ampoules were used on the clones, a large number of vampires attacked the secret laboratory after some time had passed.]

That means that the memory ampoule not only has the ability to simply copy and invade memories, but also has the ability to mark coordinates.

“Long distance mentality. There was a similar case.”

Maru thought of Julia, who had long-distance telepathy abilities.

The mental range of cannibals and vampires was short. At best, a few kilometers, and at most, a few tens of kilometers?

What if we removed the voice transmission function and made it so that only location signals were emitted as mental waves?

What if a memory ampoule had the ability to invade your brain and use it as a transmitter?

It wasn’t impossible to find out the location of the empire’s secret research lab and raid it.

“But we have a mind-wave blocking lab.”

A laboratory that studies the U+ program.

In order, it was a laboratory that confined an entity that believed itself to be the reincarnation of Director Yoo, although it was Hee-yeon’s younger brother, and a research lab that blocked mental waves to prevent Hee-yeon’s mind and the mind of Director Yoo’s clone from being invaded.

If you use it there, there should be no problem even if Joseph Meyer’s memory ampoule has a psychic wave generation function.

“Then shall we try opening it?”

What’s in Joseph Meyer’s memories?

Maru’s hand picked up the red ampoule.

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The expedition led by Kim Yang upgraded in real time using parts brought in from high-speed airships sent from the Holy Kingdom.

Unlike existing exosuits, the armor using a core and the exosuit using a nuclear battery had considerable freedom in terms of operation time.

Except for the capacity limitations of the oxygen tanks for breathing and the volcanic dust that gets caught in the drivetrain.

“Hmm- what if we just wrap the whole thing around it?”

[It is unclear what it means to encompass the whole thing.]

“So, the suit is wrapped in a flexible material.”

huh.

Exactly like that.

[···If you are talking about a latex body suit.]

“Anyway, that. If you wrap the suit in a strong and flexible material, the volcanic ash and dust problems will be solved.”

[The calculation results show that nearly 90% of the drivetrain problems are resolved.]

“Okay, then let’s request the vinyl visors from the home country and replace the weapons with coil guns.”

I fired a gun in the ash and dust, and the muzzle and chamber were all a mess. The flamethrower’s performance was also completely destroyed.

“I’m also sending you the information about the firearm breaking down quickly and the flamethrower’s performance deteriorating.”

[The materials have been prepared.]

So, Kim and her bodyguards ended up wearing latex tights over their new suits.

Ms. Kim received a call from Maru just before the search in Tokyo.

[After checking Joseph Meyer’s memories, it turns out that the altar and tentacle monster we saw in the secret laboratory of a Japanese pharmaceutical company were related to a second dimension.]

“Second dimension?”

[It’s hard to believe, but the idea was to infect humans with the mutated virus and extract a special ingredient. They were going to offer it up as a sacrifice or force humans to evolve.]

“Huh- you kind of knew that, didn’t you?”

When I looked at the Charlotte Group server data last time, and also when I found the data in the Japanese secret laboratory, isn’t it quite conceivable that if you combine the contents, you’ll get similar results?

Why are you bringing this up so suddenly?

[The problem is that the same phenomenon is occurring even though Tokyo was blown up by a hydrogen bomb. Maybe Tokyo is already being consumed by something. Even if that’s not the case, we should assume that strange phenomena are occurring not only in Tokyo but throughout Japan.]

That’s not good. Kim Yang’s eyes rolled.

The bodyguards, covered in shiny, slippery latex, were looking at Ms. Kim with blurry eyes.

Uh- um-

It’s a bit much to prepare so much and not go.

There is great pride in being next door.

Since we’re going to go in deep anyway, let’s just stop by the secret laboratory and the research lab that was just pulled out of Joseph Meyer’s memories and then come out right away.

Ms. Kim pretended to sound serious.

“Shouldn’t we at least check to see what’s going on anyway?”

[yes.]

“Okay then. I’ll just go and check the situation.”

Just the real situation.

Shiny Kim Yang and her bodyguard headed toward Tokyo, a city filled with gray.