Rust - Chapter 750



Only Krnovel

RUST -750

An airship that flies at speeds exceeding 800 km/h with a low vibration sound.

A luxurious-looking aircraft, seemingly made of pure white marble, passed between the troposphere and the stratosphere.

The Maru-exclusive airship had previously been something closer to a dirigible in disguise, but now it was showing performance to the point where it could simply be called a UFO.

This happened because he was the first to upgrade whenever the level of technology that surpassed the singularity was newly updated. In the sleek Maru-only airship cabin, the discussion with Ki-sun continued.

[If you’re riding alone, flocks of birds won’t be a problem, so why bother maintaining the airship structure? Vertical takeoff and landing aren’t that difficult of a technology anymore.]

“It’s a matter of efficiency. If you have an airship structure, you can prepare for it by making it compatible with mass-produced aircraft and parts, but it’s too inefficient for me to have a skill tree that’s completely different from yours.”

“And if you take off and land vertically in an airship format, there is less energy loss. You can use all the remaining energy for defense and attack, so it’s more efficient.”

With the success of nuclear fusion power generation, technology for handling electromagnetic and magnetic fields also improved rapidly. Just as the Earth uses geomagnetism to block cosmic radiation, Maru’s airship could use a similar shield.

The resonance shield and magnetic field-based defenses were effective against enemy physical attacks, laser attacks, and radiation.

[The shield isn’t bad, but don’t you know that the bulk of the large, thick armor is more intuitive for breaking down the enemy’s mentality?]

[Imagine. Enemies who are terrified as they approach, with their thick armor silently withstanding while giant battleships and aircraft carriers fly through the sky and rain down missiles and shells. An overwhelming sight. Doesn’t it make your heart swell?]

“There is no such thing.”

Ki-soon, who had a romantic notion of large ships, large guns, and aircraft carriers, called for aerial battleships and space aircraft carriers, but to Maru, who was focused on efficiency, it seemed like useless talk.

If we were to mobilize all of our fusion technologies, including fusion elements using monster byproducts, alloys using trace elements extracted from monsters, and nuclear fusion, we could make something the size of a destroyer float in the air.

If we had enough time and resources, it wouldn’t be impossible to build a battleship and aircraft carrier that could simultaneously sail the sky and the sea within three or four years. But Maru didn’t want that.

[No. It’s not like we don’t have the technology. We can build air battleships and all-weather aircraft carriers, but we won’t do them?]

“Rather than picking something like that, it would be much better to build dozens of Black Drake-class airships that are already under construction. They can be used for multiple purposes, take less time to build, and you can use the parts you’ve already made. With all these advantages, there’s no reason to build a useless air battleship or aircraft carrier.”

Maru, who lightly trampled on Gi-sun’s romanticism, adopted a policy of expanding air power based on airships.

Maru’s decision was not only about efficiency but also about compatibility. As confirmed in several real-life battles, the new drone and the large crow airship were a better match than expected.

Aside from the disadvantages of being large in volume and relatively slow in speed, it also had overwhelmingly good energy efficiency compared to the same transport volume.

[Let’s leave aside the battleships and aircraft carriers. Are you going to just leave the F-22 blueprints and related equipment that you stole? How about upgrading the F-22 to a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft instead?]

Ki-soon responded by asking if the F-22-related materials she had brought from around Seattle were going to rot.

“Then fix the bomber to vertical takeoff and landing?”

[···Wouldn’t that be good?]

“Then, we need an all-weather aircraft carrier that can carry the F-22, right? If the aircraft carrier is just flying in the sky, then we need an airborne Aegis ship to escort the aircraft carrier, right?”

[···Even if it’s not an air carrier, there’s an aircraft carrier being built at the Newport News Shipyard. Wouldn’t it be great to use F-22s as carrier-based aircraft? You wouldn’t be thinking of just carrying a bunch of acid gulls and crows on it, right? But it’s not like you can just use the existing aircraft on it. Birds are constantly mutating.]

This was the same for the Sacred Kingdom crows. If they had a silent flight stat, they would have gotten +1, and if they had a high-speed flight stat, they would have gotten +2.

The same goes for flight speed. There were some that were faster, but the average speed was around 150-200 km, and recently, it has gotten faster.

The defensive power of the feathers also increased considerably. It was not a method of blocking and bouncing back like a glove, but a method of weakening by dissipating and absorbing the impact of the bullet. Since it did not stick properly in the first place, even special bullets for monsters did not work well.

All of its weaknesses, including its lack of long-distance flight capability, its difficulty in night operations, and its weakness against enemies with strong armor and leather, have been improved upon.

Long distance travel can be done by airship, and at night, by using drones. For enemies with strong defenses, small and sturdy mini-nuclear weapons are enough.

So it didn’t matter if they put crows on board the newly built aircraft carrier instead of aircraft. If the enemy was a mutant bird, the crows, backed up by the Holy Kingdom, would win.

[···Yes. If we only consider efficiency, I admit that crows and seagulls are not bad. But let’s think about it from the perspective of ordinary people. Would you be more excited to see a flock of crows flying out of an aircraft carrier? Or would you be more excited to see F-22s soaring into the sky while taking off and landing vertically? Even if it’s not exciting, which would be better for showing the technological prowess of the Holy Kingdom, or the power and hope of humanity?]

“Hmm. Should I build a carrier-mounted blimp?”

Ki-soon is tired. After coming this far, why is it still called an airship?

[No. Your Majesty. Let’s upgrade the F-22 and use it. If we don’t use the most powerful fighter jet that remains strongly in people’s minds now, then when are we going to use it?]

“We’re going to make choices that could put pilots and AI at risk because of the image people have of them? That’s inefficient. We’re past the point where we have to worry about what other people think.”

“And at that time, the intention behind stealing the F-22 production facilities and data was to prevent them from going to other places. There was no reason to use them.”

In crisis response, airships had an advantage over airplanes.

An airplane has wings and a body, and if a small missile hits it, it will inevitably crash, but if an airship is hit by a missile, only the part that was hit will be damaged, and as long as the rest of the air pockets are intact, it can fly for quite a long time.

Similar to a run-flat tire that allows you to drive to some extent even if your car tire gets a puncture.

So Maru planned to buy time by maintaining air power based on airships, and then move on to a vehicle capable of spaceflight rather than an airplane.

[Spacecraft?]

“Yes. Even now, we have to take a detour because of the volcanic ash and dust that has risen into the stratosphere. If we could go higher, we wouldn’t have taken a detour.”

Ah- Are you saying that the view is different when you are in the king’s seat?

Ki-sun sighed.

While he was thinking of battleships and aircraft carriers that could only fly in the sky, Maru was thinking of space battleships and space carriers.

[An emergency report has arrived from the expedition.]

The assistant AI uploaded the video onto the monitor.

Yongin. This was footage of a fight breaking out at the expedition’s base built on an abandoned golf course.

‘It hasn’t even been half a day since I received the report, and the stronghold was discovered this quickly?’

Was Korea’s investigative power this good? Maru looked at the monitor, his eyebrows furrowing without him realizing it. A fierce battle scene was continuing.

Ki-sun’s voice hardened.

[These cannibals have high fighting power?]

In this situation, a high level of cannibalism would mean that they are eating fetuses or newborns. If they had been equipped with existing exosuits and weapons, they might have been pushed back a little.

[Can I use a small one?]

Kim Yang asked if he could use the small nukes in real time. It was still too early. The cannibals would have been quick to hide in a fit of panic the moment they saw the small nukes.

“I’ll be there soon, so just hold on for a few hours.”

[Enemies keep gathering? And the self-propelled artillery battalion is moving this way. It looks like they’ll be able to reach the firing range here in an hour.]

Using a new drone is also out. If they knew that the technology here is so far superior, they would hide tightly.

“Attack with crows. You can even use gas grenades.”

[What about x in V? Can I use that?]

Kim Yang’s voice brightened.

“It doesn’t matter if you use it on cannibals.”

[Don’t worry. You can use it appropriately.]

She continued the fight after sending additional footage. The additional footage that Ms. Kim sent was CCTV footage from inside a beauty salon in Dongtan.

‘You used an information extractor on the designer. You didn’t kill her, you just punched a hole in her head, so you could just let it slide.’

The hairdresser, who had been unconscious for several hours, reported the incident immediately, and detectives were immediately dispatched under the suspicion that someone with the ability to manipulate memories may be present.

‘Hmm- who’s that guy?’

A familiar detective was caught on CCTV footage entering a beauty salon looking haggard.

‧

Lee Moon-sik opened the door to the beauty salon and came in with a pout. It was understandable that he would do that, having been promoted and demoted repeatedly for over two years and become a detective who was not a police officer but rather a police officer.

“Ah. What is this in the middle of summer? All the way to Dongtan.”

“What should I do? They said to go anywhere in the metropolitan area.”

“You could just hide the fact that your ability has awakened.”

“If we were to catch the serial killer, we should have revealed it. Let’s stop.”

A detective originally had the sharpness to guess the general situation from the slightest trace. He was the detective who noticed that the traces of Director Choi and Director Baek that Maru had sorted out in the semi-basement were strange. He was also the detective who felt a sense of discomfort at the World Livestock Farm.

A detective who had to face several near-death experiences while tracking down foreign syndicate members, drug dealers, and psychopathic killers, and as a result, became enlightened.

After awakening, his previously sharp analysis became significantly more detailed. He began to use it to solve serial killers and unsolved cases.

After martial law, I joined the Seoul Metropolitan Investigation Unit and now I am investigating not only Seoul but the entire metropolitan area.

“You told me to bury the serial disappearance of pregnant women. Why are you asking me to dig into a woman who only lost her memory for a few hours? You didn’t even send her to the hospital for a thorough examination to see if she lost consciousness due to the side effects of the medication.”

Drug distribution has been on the rise recently. Unidentified drugs are spreading everywhere. Drugs that are being spread under the nickname of “happy drugs.”

Angel Dust, Pure Crystal Just a few years ago, incredibly expensive drugs were being poured out.

“I guess there’s something more important than that.”

The order came directly from above, so there was no way to avoid it. And one detective met the hairdresser first, who had been unconscious for several hours.

“When exactly did you lose consciousness?”

“Yesterday afternoon.”

He said he came to his senses around 10 p.m. but had no memory of anything after 6 p.m.

“Have you checked the CCTV?”

“Ah- yes. There was nothing wrong.”

“Where should I look?”

“Yes. Here you go.”

The woman manipulated the mouse to play the CCTV footage. The footage was blank.

“There is no scene where you lose consciousness.”

“That corner was a blind spot. That’s where I came to my senses.”

Lee Moon-sik said in a slightly irritated voice.

“Didn’t you just fall asleep there?”

“No. I’m sure he suddenly lost consciousness.”

“This is the hard drive where the CCTV footage is stored. Oh, where is the computer?”

“It’s under the desk here.”

A detective lowered his head, looked at the computer case, and frowned.

“Have you touched the computer?”

“no?”

The dust on the floor had been scraped away. That too, a few hours ago. An image of someone taking out a computer came to Han Tae-sik’s mind.

Why?

To manipulate the video?

“Moon-sik. Take out the computer hard drive and send it to the National Forensic Service. Check for any signs of overwriting or deletion, and recover it if possible.”

“Yes. Yes.”

If he erased a woman’s memories, there must be a reason. She’s just an ordinary hair salon designer.

‘Is this woman a HUMINT (Human Intelligence)? Or a black agent?’

The memory of the woman acting as an informant has disappeared, so she’s acting sensitively?

Then I understand.

A detective immediately asked to confirm whether the woman was Agent Black. The official response came down that the unconscious woman was not Agent Black.

‘Then it’s Humint. Why did you choose this place in particular?’

Hair shop.

A place where women who take care of their hair gather.

‘Chatting.’

‘That’s information.’

The hairdresser would have reported the information she gathered to the government. What if the person who erased the woman’s consciousness came here because he wanted that information?

‘If it’s just a simple human mint, there probably won’t be any particularly advanced information.’

You wanted general information, not advanced information?

That would only make sense if you didn’t know the current situation in Korea.

“It’s outside. An outside informant has infiltrated.”

“Outside? No, the sky route and the sea route are cut off, so what do you mean outside?”

Lee Moon-sik just sent the hard drive to the National Institute of Scientific Investigation and asked back.

“Moon-sik. That’s why it’s more problematic. If you sent the hard drive to the National Forensic Service, contact KEPCO and request an electric vehicle for the work.”

“An electric construction vehicle? You mean the one with a light attached to the crane?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Why is that?”

“I need to check the nearby CCTV to see if there’s any sign of tampering. Bring me a ladder. Let’s check the CCTV here first.”

“Oh, man – give them one at a time. I’m not training a dog.”

‧

Ki-soon laughed in vain while watching the CCTV footage.

[What is this guy? I think Ms. Kim is in trouble.]

“I guess I’m being attacked now because I got caught.”

You used that as a hint to find the abandoned golf course where Kim Yang was hiding?

And that too in just 5~6 hours?

It wasn’t good.

I don’t know how far the detective’s abilities go, but if he could deduce that he landed using an airship… things could get complicated.

[I think that old man has some sort of ability? Something like tracking ability.]

I was planning to go see the crows and magpies in Ulsan first, but I had to take care of Ms. Kim first.

“Full speed to Yongin base.”

[Move at full speed.]