Rust - Chapter 800



Only Krnovel

RUST -800

[to?]

The nurse holding the pheromone interpreter was confused, because the queen’s lair was in the safest place inside the nest.

‘how?’

She checked again to see if the pheromone translator was broken. How to prepare for any machine malfunction. She tried turning it off and on again, but the same thing was translated.

(Structure. Request. Queen. Attack. Received.)

It means it’s not broken.

[What? The ant queen is under attack right now?]

[Uh- Uh- Yes. I’m requesting rescue.]

Kim Yang’s expression as she looked at the deep ant hole had become fierce. Thud- She hit the inside of the ant hole hard. Crack- The wall made of dirt caved in.

If the wall was made of reinforced concrete, it would have cracked with a loud noise and the cement dust would have fallen like corn, but the ant hole was different.

‘Ah, the ants spit on it.’

The nurse recalled how ants build their nests. They mix saliva into the dirt to create spaces and passages. The nests they build are elastic and can withstand even the slightest impact.

The ants’ nests were better than expected, to the point that among the new building materials of the Holy Kingdom, there was a reinforcing agent that imitated ant saliva.

Puck- Puck-

Kim Yang, who had been hitting and trampling on the walls and floor here and there, opened her mouth.

[Prepare to retreat.]

[Huh? A retreat?]

[Prepare for a full retreat. Concentrate firepower with napalm to create a sea of ​​fire. Push them back and retreat.]

[What about the ant queen? What about a rescue request?]

Boo-woong- Pergeuk-

Kim Yang’s core armor fist struck the side of the nurse’s exosuit. Crack- The fist that had dug into the wall slowly came out.

Even if he had been wearing an exosuit tactical helmet, if he had just been hit by that punch, there was no way he would have been okay, whether his head was blown off or his neck was broken.

Ms. Kim spoke in a low voice to the frozen nurse.

[Look at the wall, ants. Look at the nest here. It’s solid, isn’t it? In such a solid nest, isn’t the solidest place where the queen ant is? And then suddenly she’s attacked, so you want me to save her?]

Are you kidding me?

Even if they were really attacked, they would not go into the ant hole. There was not just one queen, and the colony had not decided to go to war.

[If you help me. With the ants···.]

Isn’t it a friend who helps you when you’re in trouble? If you save the ant queen who’s in danger now, she’ll be on our side in the future. But you’re ignoring my request for help and retreating right away.

[If we fall… Where’s the entrance?]

[Why should we care about that? This is the house that the people who call this place home should protect. Isn’t it basic to protect your own house?]

In the first place, I wasn’t here to guard, and my purpose was to escort. Then I got involved and prepared for defense and fought a defensive battle, but I didn’t plan to fight the spiders that were rushing in like this. There was no order from the highest authority.

Above all else.

‘I don’t like what those ant bitches are doing.’

Kim Yang’s gaze turned to the ramp that was cut down. After he ordered additional emergency passages to be made on both sides to trap the spiders that were pushing their way into the center, a rescue request suddenly came. Was that a coincidence?

I remembered the time I played chess with crows. The crows made choices that normal people, or humans, would not make without a second thought.

It was the same when playing strategy simulation games. The timing of consuming the units I was controlling and the method of supporting them were also different from human judgments.

If crows are like that, how are ants any different? Do ants ask humans, who are not even of the same species, for help?

Do you know what will happen if you go in? What if they are trying to escape by using humans as bait? Or, what if the rescue request itself is an unknown plan?

Kim Yang was calm. The most important thing was his own safety. Next were the nurses and the men in the unit. There was no reason to crawl into the ant hole and get involved when he didn’t know what was going on.

The nurse was uncomfortable with Kim Yang’s cold judgment.

(Help. Request. Help. Please···)

Kujik-

Kim Yang, who had destroyed the pheromone translator, gave the order to retreat again.

[Napalm fired. Black Drake begins supporting fire from safe altitude.]

The area around the ant nest turned into a sea of ​​fire in an instant.

======

======

Ki-sun explained the current situation to President Den Brown.

[Spiders are attacking the Holy Kingdom?]

“It’s not a simple attack. It seems like the remnants of Virginia Langley are involved.”

[So, you want me to support you? Sorry, but our situation is not good right now. We don’t have the capacity to do that.]

“I understand that all the mutant monsters that attacked the major cities have been dealt with.”

At Gi-sun’s words, Den Brown nodded slightly.

[The problem now is not the monsters, but the citizens.]

Protesters demanding the rebuilding of New York turn into rioters, or those who want Boston to be the new capital clash with those who oppose it, leading to looting.

Free from the threat of cannibals, the fear of mutant monsters, and the oppression of rats, the empire was seething with the urge to let loose everything that had been suppressed.

Those who claim to pursue political correctness say that the presidential system, which threatens dictatorship, should be converted back to a presidential system.

There were too few women in the police and military, and they were calling for a higher proportion of women. Those who wanted to create a city where women were safe and happy were shouting their opposition to dictatorship.

[It’s the work of the Virginia remnants.]

That’s how Virginia Langley worked: by covering up what’s important at the moment, emphasizing what’s less important, and then building up the conflict that arises.

The reason why Dan Brown chose the Generalissimo was because he felt a sense of crisis that the existing political system could not survive. This was evident even in trade with the Holy Kingdom.

Maintaining the existing federal government system was problematic, but would the relationship with the Holy Kingdom be the same as it is now?

Could the economy have been stimulated by using the same dollars as before, while carrying the same federal debt?

It is true that the Presidential system has more power than the Federal Presidential system. However, this does not mean that the Presidential system is a dictatorship. This is because it is a system based on the separation of powers.

[Those damn bastards. I told them to throw all the bastards who crawl out to protest against violence and discrimination and commit arson, robbery, and looting into the coal mine.]

“Are you okay? I’m sure they’ll bite you and say that’s overreacting.”

[It’ll be cold soon, so it’ll be okay. The protests will die down. Winter is the season of rationing, after all.]

Deep wrinkles formed on Dan Brown’s face. The Confederacy was gone, and the threat of cannibals was out of sight.

As the city became safer and public order was maintained by driving out the mutant monsters, conflicts between interest groups began to grow.

Those based in New York and those based in Boston sought to seize the symbolic value of being the capital of a new era.

Those who pursue a full market economy, reformist capitalists, distributionists, and socialists raised their voices in an attempt to take over the empire’s economy.

Now that core values ​​have collapsed and chaos has descended, the fight to seize ideological, economic and political grounds has grown increasingly fierce.

Ironically, it was because the empire found stability under the Dan Brown regime. The story is that because stability was found, divisions arose.

[There needs to be conflict for society to develop. But the conflict that is spreading now is too artificial. They are the ones who are fanning the flames.]

The Virginia remnants.

Chancellor Den Brown gritted his teeth.

[It will be difficult to provide troop support since all troops have been mobilized to maintain public order and protect factories and warehouses.]

If the Virginia remnants are as expected, they will try to create even greater chaos by taking advantage of the confusion.

They would attack dams and power plants, and burn production facilities, raw materials, products, and agricultural warehouses. With supplies so scarce, there would inevitably be more thieves, robbers, and plunderers.

As a result, public security will collapse.

What if public order collapses?

Naturally, this led to social unrest.

The end of social unrest?

It was the formation of regional armed groups.

What would happen if a vigilante group were organized and that vigilante group became a political force?

It was the emergence of an armed political group based in the region.

The moment an armed group gains political power, any attempt to eliminate the group becomes a civil war.

The fact that a civil war of any scale was taking place meant that the empire was divided.

The barely established empire could not be allowed to collapse into civil war.

Things had to be nipped off in the bud before they could turn out that way.

There was a deep fatigue on General Dan Brown’s face.

[So, the situation is such that we cannot withdraw troops.]

After hearing his explanation, Ki-sun reassembled the scattered information.

An event that occurred almost simultaneously with the turmoil in the Empire was the Spider Orchard affair.

A spider sorcerer who manipulated spiders to cause conflict between crows and magpies.

‘Couldn’t the Virginians have expected the spider sorcerer to be caught?’

It was the Holy Kingdom and Maru who discovered and raided the secret headquarters of Virginia, which was well hidden.

The Virginia remnants also knew that there was a psychometric Erica. In other words, they knew that the spider sorcerer’s information was being passed on to them.

I knew that no matter how much mind control I used, I couldn’t protect the information.

‘It’s a trap.’

The spiders were working the orchard. That’s why the spider magician was caught. That was part of their plan.

And the fact that the entire imperial force was mobilized to prevent internal chaos must have been created to prevent support.

‘A large-scale attack?’

‘Or perhaps an internal conflict using the chaos caused by the spiders?’

“I understand that support is difficult.”

[Okay. Thanks for understanding.]

If the goal is to maximize chaos, and thus seize power, then the tail pulled from the spider sorcerer’s brain is a trap.

Likewise, the current chaos in the empire could be an opportunity to assassinate key figures. Ki-sun’s thoughts reached that point.

“It’s not just about creating confusion.”

[I know.]

A faint smile crossed Den Brown’s tired face.

“Let’s assume that we don’t have the capacity to support each other for the time being.”

[Okay then.]

From now on, each person was responsible for themselves.

‧

‧

‧

Ki-sun received a call from Ms. Kim.

“You’re retreating?”

[huh.]

“Ants? What about the ants’ participation in the war?”

[I think I’ll have to communicate with the ants through another route. There’s an ant queen who met the king last time. I think it would be good to talk to her.]

Ms. Kim explained the situation.

“So you can’t trust that group?”

[Right? In the first place, the guard ants and search ants kept disappearing, so we decided to join forces with a nearby group to search, and when we said that the culprit seemed to be a spider, what do you mean we have to report it to our higher-ups first? If we were going to report it, shouldn’t we have done so from the beginning?]

“······.”

[Even if we hadn’t gone, you were going to do a large-scale search. If you were going to do that, why don’t you catch the spiders with us? Isn’t it strange that you’re wasting time by reporting it?]

Kim Yang’s argument was that the inside was unknowable.

“This is driving me crazy… So you ignored the queen ant’s call for rescue and retreated?”

[Then should I come down out of nowhere and ask for help without any information? I can’t do that.]

And there’s no telling who attacked.

There is no proper information on how the attack occurred.

Because I was suddenly asked to provide support.

Should I go and get it?

If you feel suffocated, you can go in right now. Ms. Kim was confident.

Ki-sun reported to Maru first.

======

======

[There now. It’s probably a trap.]

Maru didn’t stop walking at Ki-sun’s call. He didn’t even turn around. Even though he felt uneasy when he walked, the feeling of unease grew when he tried to turn back.

More than anything, it was just unsettling, but my heart wasn’t trembling or pounding, warning me of danger. So even if it was a trap, there was still plenty of room to get out.

[It doesn’t matter. Even if it’s a trap, if we don’t clean up this place, it’ll get worse.]

[Ha- Okay, be careful. Should I send Miss Kim over there?]

[No. It’s okay.]

As soon as Maru answered, spider webs poured out from all directions.

Wooooow-

A circular shield blocked the spider web with the sound of a powerful core emitting energy.

Maru, who had been thinking, ‘Where? A spider web is useless,’ was startled.

?

Spider webs build up over the barrier.

It was the spiders that started wrapping the entire core of the Maru together with the shield.

What is this?