Rust - Chapter 797



Only Krnovel

RUST -797

Effective spider control required the help of nearby ant colonies.

[How many ant colonies are there near the orchard?]

When Maru asked as if he wanted to negotiate directly, Ki-sun looked at the map.

[There is no ant queen who is familiar with us. Still, since we negotiated with the ant empire, asking for their cooperation shouldn’t be a big problem, but it doesn’t seem like you’re going right away.]

[There was no one nearby]

As Ms. Kim tilted her head and answered, the nurse added.

[There are two places. One is 30km to the west, and the other is 38km to the northeast.]

[You’re not really going yourself. Even if you say she’s the swarm queen, she’s still the swarm queen. Even if you go yourself, you’ll have to contact the ant empire headquarters to fight the spiders by mobilizing the ants anyway. If you don’t plan on going and waiting for an answer, it’s better to send Nanae instead of you.]

[to?]

[Miss Kim would be good as an escort.]

[······.]

Kim Yang, who had an expression on her face as if she had something nice to talk about with the nurse, nodded silently at Gi-sun’s opinion.

[Okay, let’s do that. Let the two of you go to the western ant colony and ask for their help.]

[Are you going to war again? You’re not a mercenary?]

The corners of Maru’s mouth went up slightly at the nurse’s confirmation. Miss Kim, who did not miss the warm smile that seemed to say, ‘You’ve grown up,’ looked back and forth between the nurse and Maru.

[First, let’s have them participate in the war, and if they refuse to participate, we’ll negotiate as mercenaries.]

[A-too- What if I refuse to join the war or become a mercenary?]

If they were normal ants, they would have fought until one of the two forces was annihilated, but since they were smart, they made a pact with Maru.

It was a nurse who said that they had a truce and made an agreement because they had different behavior patterns from ants in the natural world, but on the other hand, they could refuse to participate in the war and not send mercenaries.

[That’s impossible. If you have the intelligence of a queen ant, you should be able to predict what will happen if the monster spiders expand their territory. Instead, you’ll probably ask them to lift the area restrictions so that you can expand your restricted area, or you’ll ask them to give you the corresponding amount of food.]

[What if an ant claims territory?]

When the nurse asked if he should grant her a request for territory, Maru answered bluntly.

[Let’s just negotiate over food. If he says he won’t fight or become a mercenary, then say okay and come back. If you leave the spiders near the ant colony alone, they’ll reflect on themselves. Don’t mention that story.]

[Huh? Yes.]

‧

‧

‧

After sending Kim Yang and the nurse to the ant colony to the west, Maru looked back at the spider sorcerer’s scattered memories.

What Patrick Zhao, who was working as a humanitarian in the United States, experienced when he fled to Montreal, Canada, was horrific racism and threats.

‘The cub is turned off.’

‘빌어먹을 새끼들 때문에 세상이 망했어.’

‘What did you do to make those dirty things crawl out?’

‘Be careful at night.’

The origin of the mutant virus, and the culprit behind the cannibalism that later spread through Chinese grocery stores. And finally, the war criminal who launched a preemptive nuclear strike.

‘If we leave those Orientals alone, we don’t know what they’ll do next.’

‘Yeah. How long are we going to just watch those kids run wild? Huh?’

In Toronto, Mississauga, and Vancouver, Asian murders and disappearances have become frequent. As law enforcement has collapsed and mutant monsters have become entrenched in the cities, Asian murders have become more severe.

Orientals were used as sacrifices to giant man-eating bears, and most of the Orientals sacrificed in this way were Chinese.

There were Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, and even some Chinese who lied and said they were not Chinese, but in the eyes of those who were crazy, they were all just the same Asians.

Ki-sun’s narrow eyes, which were looking at Fu Zhao’s memories like Maru’s, were distorted. It seemed that he knew why Canadians felt a new emotion whenever they saw him.

[This is driving me crazy. What should I do? Remember that giant monster bear that you and Kim Yang hunted in Mississauga? The monster bear that made a base in the city. The people there sacrificed humans to that bear. Mostly Asians.]

[···Let’s keep watching for now.]

Maru continued to check the spider sorcerer’s memory information. The information was fragmented and disjointed, making it unclear what was true and what was imagined.

‘Where did the Chinese guy come from?’

‘No. I’m Japanese. Nihonjin. Nihonjin.’

‘Awesome baby.’

‘Taiwan Number One. Taiwan Namba-Wan.’

Memories of being beaten and repeatedly spoken to while curled up on the ground faded away, and I was transformed into a Montreal street.

Although Montreal did not openly hunt down and kill Asians like Vancouver or Toronto, it was not a safe city for Chinese people.

In order to survive, you either have to awaken your abilities or join a cult. The problem is that awakening your abilities doesn’t guarantee you safety.

And every single day, in situations where he had to risk his life, Fu Zhao awakened his abilities.

Shashashasha-

The cockroach let him know something was coming.

Wheeeeeeing-

A plump fly that grew on a corpse warned of danger.

Although he wasn’t able to control the insects, the bugs helped Fu Zhao. It was because his insect-sensing ability had been awakened.

Those who awakened their abilities tended to become free mercenaries or work for mercenary groups. In either case, it wasn’t easy for Asians with abilities to survive.

‘What ability?’

‘The ability to empathize with insects.’

‘Insect communication? Can you communicate with cockroaches?’

‘A cockroach?’

‘Yeah. Cockroaches. I think we’d be a good match.’

‘···Why cockroaches? Aren’t flies and dragonflies good for reconnaissance?’

A mercenary with one side of his face disfigured by burns grabbed Fu Zhao by the collar and growled.

‘You dirty little bastard. If I tell you to react to a wheel, just do it with a wheel.’

As Fu Zhao’s eyes filled with fear as he was grabbed by the collar by the man with physical abilities and his breathing was suddenly suffocated, he bared his teeth and pushed away the man’s collar that he had been holding onto.

‘If you don’t want to do as I say, get out.’

‘I like luck.’

‘If a kid like that disappears or dies, a special investigator will come and stir things up.’

They were mercenaries who openly said that they would not kill anyone if they went missing or died because the psychometry team was there to check on them.

Even though he had awakened his ability, the only place Fu Zhao could go to, feeling his life was in danger, was the cult. It was the cult that Maru had pushed away. Fu Zhao hid the fact that he had insect-sensing abilities.

‘Come on in. The end is open to everyone.’

‘In the last days, those who believe will be saved. Welcome, brother.’

It was the same when I entered the social circle. I had to practically act as a meat shield under the pretext of proving my faith.

‘Please show us some evidence of your faith, brother.’

Even in social circles, they always had to take the lead in bloody struggles with competing organizations for power.

‘It doesn’t matter if you haven’t awakened your abilities. Faith creates miracles.’

When I refused to be drafted into the suicide squad, my faith began to be questioned. Unfortunately, in a cult, having my faith questioned meant I was soon subject to punishment.

He had no choice but to reveal his abilities in order to avoid being drafted into the suicide squad. And such behavior came back as a sign that the Chinese people had weak faith.

‘You are a faithless and cursed seed.’

‘Don’t do that. The end is fair to everyone.’

And then that day came.

The day Maru swept them all away.

The end was death, as the cultists would say. Fu Zhao was able to escape with the help of the bugs.

Shashashak- Cockroaches helped me escape the labyrinthine underground sewers. Weeeeeing- Fruit flies and flies helped me find weak spots in the net.

He survived.

It was a survival from death.

Kkeuk- Kkeuk-

A stone was struck in the back of Fu Zhao’s head as he burst into tears as if pouring out everything inside him.

‘You fucking Chinese! Where are you spilling your sewer juice!’

Fu Zhao lost consciousness.

No matter how hard he tried to live as Patrick Zhao, the world treated him as Chinese, as an Asian.

So I had no hesitation in doing HUMINT.

‘Dirty sheep.’

Japanese? Korean? They walk around with their heads held high as if they were developed countries, but they can’t escape being treated like monkeys. They just wag their tails at the sheep.

All civilizations in the world began in China. Gunpowder. The compass. Printing. True international order. When the Chinese were dressed in silk, those who barely covered themselves with leather and mats.

Fu Zhao is not dead.

What saved him was a mixed race person. The face that clearly looked like it was of mixed Asian blood lowered Fu Zhao’s guard.

‘Our company has been keeping an eye on you for some time.’

Fu Zhao, who raised his spines like a hedgehog at the word company. While working at Humint, he learned about the most dangerous people. They were the so-called company employees and patriots.

The story suddenly came to mind that if you get caught by these two people – the company employee represented by the Central Intelligence Agency and the patriot represented by the Department of Homeland Security – it would be better to commit suicide.

He didn’t want to die. He couldn’t die until he had dealt a blow to those bastards. Beyond revenge for his country, revenge was now the driving force behind his actions.

A Virginia Company employee whispered to him.

‘Your heart. Your thoughts. The company knows. You were a Chinese humanist, so you should know about the company. Don’t you?’

‘······.’

The Virginia Langley Company was watching everything, he remembered. Fu Zhao swallowed hard at the thought of them watching him, a mere human being.

‘Patrick Zhao. No, Mr. Fu Zhao. You have two paths. Either get help from the company and achieve your dreams, or die like a cockroach.’

‘······.’

‘Why do you look at me like that? The company won’t kill you. Why would you kill someone who would die anyway?’

‘···How can you help me?’

‘I’ll improve your abilities. With those abilities, you can sweep away the North American continent.’

Fu Zhao’s ability to empathize with insects has evolved into the ability to control spiders.

Ki-soon was shocked by the news that Virginia Langley’s remnants were involved.

[Wow. This is fucking tough. Tough. How long are these guys going to keep doing this?]

That’s why the point organization was scary.

[Even if we catch that bastard, there’s another one.]

[I guess so.]

A wrinkle appeared between Maru’s eyebrows.

[While the ants are dealing with the spider, we have to catch that guy.]

Even if we caught the guy, we couldn’t just leave him alone, even if it only revealed the location of one or two secret laboratories and a few members of the lower-level organization.

[Let’s hand over the information to Mr. Den. If the Empire finds out that the Virginia Company guys are working with spiders, they’ll get involved.]

[Okay. I’ll send it right away.]

‧

‧

‧

Miss Kim and the nurse went to the nearest colony of ants in the orchard.

The guards and crows were supposed to escort them, but the magpies protested strongly, saying that the orchard was their territory, so they were escorted by magpies instead of crows.

[Magpie years. I love it so much I’m dying. Die.]

Kim Yang looked at the magpies flying around in all directions and let out a sigh.

[Huh? Is that so? It just looks like Busan?]

Since the common worker ants and soldier ants communicated with pheromones, it was difficult for the nurse to communicate with the common ants, but the queen ant was different. It had high intelligence and mental power, so the nurse’s communication skills worked.

[Really? When you’re feeling good, you start shaking and shaking like that. You can’t do whatever you want. Right?]

[Is that so?]

The nurse felt a strange sense of pressure. Ms. Kim said something to her without thinking.

[Just the two of you with the highest dignity. Long. You said you went for a drive? A date?]

[Huh? Huh? Th. That. How. Huh-]

Kim Yang’s gaze pierced the nurse as if to say, ‘I know what you did on the last drive.’

[So where did you go? Be honest.]

[Huh? How far? What? What are you revealing?]

[Pretend not to know. That. That. That. The story of the quiet cat soaking the passenger seat.]

[P. The passenger seat? Eeeeeee- That. That. That. That. That. That.]

[Did you? With the highest dignity. So you got it wet? You did it with the King in the passenger seat? So the seat is soaked? Right? Huh? Be honest. Huh?]

Where on earth did such a rumor come from? The nurse, overcome with despair, collapsed. When she raised her head, Kim Yang’s once cold eyes had turned cloudy.

That was a strange look.

A gaze that is clearly seeing, but appears not to be seeing.

Heeeeek-

[That. That. That.]

[Huh? Tell me. Hurry up. Okay?]

A voice that sounds like something out of a horror movie.

‘Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up. What did you two do? What did you do to get the sheets soaked? Hurry up. Tell me. ‘

Kim Yang’s dark voice seemed to echo in her head. The nurse’s mind, which had been holding on with all its might, reached its limit.

The body of the slumped nurse began to tremble slightly.

Wheeeeeeing-

The assistant AI reported the situation, along with the sound of the exosuit’s internal motors working.

[Currently removing internal contamination. Some noise is generated during automatic washing and drying.]

The nurse’s head dropped and her shoulders began to shake.

Ah- so that’s why it was wet.

Huh-

When Nurse Kim patted her shoulder, she shook her shoulders sadly.