Rust - Chapter 991



Only Krnovel

Rust [RUST] – Episode 991

When the Emperor declared war, Den Brown immediately requested a private meeting.

“Realistically, why did you give such an order when you knew that recapturing Philadelphia would not be easy?”

Leon Bonnard answered calmly to Dan Brown’s question about setting an impossible goal and using it as an excuse to do something.

“That’s the order. Is it really that far-fetched of a plan to attack the Confederacy?”

“Isn’t it too much of a stretch to say that an operation that can’t be guaranteed even if all the Empire’s capabilities are used is unreasonable? And on top of that, you’re suddenly going to attack the Confederacy. What on earth are you thinking?”

Knock- Knock-

The Emperor listens to Den Brown’s story without interruption.

“The Southern Alliance is a bunch of guys who were torn apart by the Holy Kingdom’s attacks. If you just leave them alone, they’ll be fighting and keeping each other in check, but if you attack them, they might actually come together. If you really want to attack the Southern Alliance, you should shake them up from within and prevent them from coming together before you attack them. Are you just going to push them through with force? Cannibals and vampires with force?”

Knock-knock-

Dan Brown spoke directly to the Emperor, who was tapping the arms of his chair with a steady beat like a metronome.

“Aren’t you trying to mobilize the military using the assassination attempt as an excuse? Aren’t you declaring war in order to find out who was behind the assassination attempt?”

After the operation to recapture Philadelphia, the plan to mobilize all troops and advance into Confederate territory meant that they had to prepare supplies.

What if a heavily supplied army turned back and decided to turn the Empire upside down instead of going to the Confederacy or Philadelphia? What if the Emperor himself decided to hunt down those who attempted to assassinate him?

“······.”

Knock-knock-knock-

It is common for dictators to purge their leaders under the pretext of an assassination attempt. An absolute monarch will emerge in an empire that has maintained checks and balances, even if only formally.

“Attempted assassination···.”

Leon Bonnard’s blue eyes turned to Dan Brown.

“How did the cannibals get into the audience room? What were the defense forces doing, and why were there so few guards? Who was managing the central control room?”

Who searched for and ferreted out cannibals and vampires?

Why were the defenders late in arriving?

Who said that a maritime city with strong security didn’t need a lot of guards?

Who were the majority of those who managed the central control room under?

Leon Bonnard thought so. If we look into the reason why the security was breached so ridiculously, who could be the cause?

As Dan Brown sees it, Leon Bonnard’s declaration of war was a prelude to his quest for absolute power.

Leon Bonnard believed that the attempted assassination was, if not a murder planned by Dan Brown, then at least an assisting one.

Leon Bonnard had already created an old-fashioned trap because there was a precedent for trying to kill him. Traps or security devices that utilize the system are known to the outside world.

“Am I involved in the attempted assassination?”

“······.”

“Rather, I want to ask. After restoring the deleted CCTV footage with difficulty, there was a scene where David White and his group entered the audience room. However, there is no footage of them coming out. There is a record that the emergency escape route was blocked. Where did they disappear to? Who deleted the footage? Why did they do that?”

“······.”

It was David White who helped Leon Bonnard appear at the memorial service. It was David White who arranged for him to testify before the Imperial Council.

They were the ones who installed the Confederate psychic generator. So what if David White had become a cannibal?

David White, who tried to seize power using Leon Bonnard, and Leon Bonnard, who took the throne by hitting David White in the back of the head.

What if the assassination was caused by the conflict between those two? What if they were trying to get rid of him by blaming him?

Does this also explain why the CCTV footage showing David White and his gang entering the audience room was deleted?

“······.”

“······.”

The reason the contract was important was because they couldn’t trust each other.

“······.”

“······.”

The reason two people who didn’t trust each other from the beginning were able to negotiate was because they both had something they wanted.

Dan Brown did not want the Empire to fall, and Leon Bonnard did not want to be remembered as a good hero with dead soldiers.

The two continued talking and being silent.

Dan Brown, who tried to prevent the assassination because the empire would be thrown into chaos if the emperor was suddenly assassinated. Leon Bonnard, who cannot believe his story at face value.

What the two agreed on was to determine why the psychic response equipment and access security system were down.

And the results of the investigation were absurd.

“A kitten?”

“The reason the central control room was paralyzed was because of a kitten?”

Strictly speaking, it was a kind of biological terrorism using kittens.

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News of an assassination attempt on the emperor was heard in the empire.

“Biological terrorism using kittens?”

[Yeah. I heard they used a kitten to break through the security of the central control room of the sea city.]

Even in the past, during the United States era, pets were not allowed in major government offices. This was to prevent biochemical terrorism using animals.

That’s why the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency, local police departments, and the FBI all banned animals.

“Security in a maritime city couldn’t have been that lax, right?”

[It was complicated there too. It was confusing when the old man came down from his seat. The ruling party of the senior president and the opposition party leader who lost by a margin of error were impatient because they couldn’t get along with each other.]

Since the shares of the maritime city were directly linked to future power and profits, each tried to put their own people in charge.

In particular, the selection of the central control room staff who could open the back door was even more intense. This was because they were keeping each other in check, not knowing what the other side might do.

Since the security system was built there by Den Brown, we had no choice but to use the Den Brown line people until the system management training was completed.

Security guards keeping an eye on each other. There were more people on Den Brown’s side, but they also had a limited time to get used to the system.

For people who can’t help but feel anxious, a kitten dropped on them would have been a source of energy that relieved their tension.

[But the kitten was an agent of cannibals.]

Didn’t the stray dogs also use puppies? Thinking back to the puppy that turned into an evil expression as soon as you got close, you couldn’t be sure that it was a puppy.

[That too, but they say Toxoplasma gondii was the problem.]

“Why is that?”

[Toxoplasma is a parasite that lives in cats. It is a parasite that can infect humans as well. It was previously known that there were no particular symptoms even if humans were infected, but recent research results suggest that it can control human behavior.]

“Manipulating people’s behavior?”

Parasites such as the love worm would control the host’s body and make them go to the water’s edge, and roundworms would tickle the host’s anal area, causing people to scratch it with their hands, which would then spread their eggs on the person’s hands.

Similarly, toxoplasmosis causes infected people to become obsessed with cats, and in severe cases, to the point of being irrational.

For example, breaking your savings to buy the best cat toy, selling your car to buy the best organic cat food and Churu, or refusing to work overtime or extra hours to be with your cat, resulting in a poor performance evaluation.

There were times when he made choices that would be difficult for ordinary people to conceive. And the most important characteristic was that he gradually increased the number of cats.

It was only natural that the number of cats infected with Toxoplasma would increase for Toxoplasma to thrive.

[Anyway, it is said that in the empire, they had to dispose of all stray cats and feral cats on sight.]

[Then isn’t the dog dangerous too? Isn’t it right to dispose of the wild dog too?]

[I know that dogs don’t have parasites like toxoplasma.]

[Now that I think about it, that’s right. Don’t rats get infected with toxo? It was on TV. It was about why rats get sick. And if humans and rats get infected, don’t other animals get infected too? Like crows and wolves and things like that.]

Ms. Kim was reminded of a documentary that said that even rats that attack cats without fear are actually infected with toxoplasma.

[So if we just leave wild dogs and cats alone, won’t our rats, crows, and wolves also be in danger?]

Bringing back wild dogs was also a risky move. Who knows what diseases or parasites they might have picked up after being in the wild for years?

Kim Yang claimed that good dogs and cats only leave behind skins and meat.

“First, let’s make a kit that can diagnose toxoplasma infection. Is there no treatment?”

[Yes. It is known that it cannot be eliminated with general parasite medication.]

“Let’s research deworming drugs. And let’s stop the introduction of wild dogs for now.”

[Huh? You promised to find the owner? I promised.]

She was a nurse who decided to find the owners of lost animals by digging up a broadcast channel for them.

“Let’s just go ahead with it. It’s not like we can just bring them back right away anyway. I told you in advance that it would take a long time because of the quarantine.”

[yes···.]

The nurse’s argument was this: with the long winters, the number of people suffering from depression is increasing, and they need animals to comfort them.

The crow sitting on her shoulder gave a long cry.

Kaaaak! (Weak ones!)

So, not these kids. Kids who can be healed.

Kaaaak! (What healing? Humans have to roll!)

I tell you, there’s no such thing as depression if you roll over it. Because depression is already over.

[You heard? This is why crows are not allowed.]

The artificial intelligence Diana spoke to the nurse who had a tired expression.

[Does the healing that people need have to come from animals?]

[yes?]

[What if there were a being that behaved like an animal, even if it wasn’t necessarily an animal?]

[What’s that story?]

[What if we had dogs or cats with AI? They would be much more helpful than mutant monsters.]

What AI Diana said was more than that. She wanted to implant AI chips in the brains of dogs and cats.

The idea was to use living dogs and cats to naturally bridge the gap between artificial intelligence and humans.

Although it was not outwardly expressed, antipathy toward AI and robots was widespread among the people. This was due to the loss of jobs, but also because there were surprisingly many people who thought that AI would be used to monitor and control people.

Even at the moment, Ki-soon and PD did not believe in AI. This was the case even though AI had changed to the point of creating religion.

This is because the trust, faith, and belief that artificial intelligence displays are directed toward Maru, not toward humans.

And the artificial intelligence Diana and Samantha thought of ways to get closer to humans. The idea of ​​creating a body with a human-like robot or android was rejected.

What about animals like dogs and cats?

What if it was in the form of an animal that humans find cute and has been friends with humans for a long time?

Wouldn’t it be possible to approach it without feeling any resistance?

What if an AI could help when needed and be by your side like a smart genius dog or cat in normal times? Couldn’t it become a human partner? And get a physical body, too?

[Isn’t that okay? So it’s like a stray dog ​​or cat with AI. You’ll be able to communicate well, and you won’t need to use a translator during operations. You’ll also be able to directly exchange information with the core armor’s auxiliary AI. Isn’t that really okay?]

Ms. Kim readily agreed.

[It’s not technically impossible.]

Ki-soon opposes Na Ju-yeon and Kim Yang, who nod their heads, saying that it is a feasible technology.

[I’m against it. It’s like installing artificial intelligence into an animal’s brain. There’s too much room for misuse.]

[You just have to not allow people to do it. I think it’s a good way to eliminate prejudice against AI more than anything else.]

Even the hood agreed, with three out of five in favor of equipping stray dogs and cats with artificial intelligence.

[Eh-so- the target might not want it.]

Will we forcefully implant AI chips into dogs and cats even if they don’t like it? Will we unconditionally install AI into dogs and cats even if their owners don’t want it?

[For safety, yes. We know what dogs and cats are going to do. We need to be able to control them with AI. Yeah.]

[I think it’s not a bad idea to install artificial intelligence for security purposes, because you might be controlled by cannibals.]

The problem of stray dogs being incorporated and the kitten terror incident that occurred in the empire led to the problem of artificial intelligence.

“It is necessary to reduce antipathy toward artificial intelligence.”

It is also true that it is not easy to build an emotional bond with a robot dog or cat.

“First, let’s find the owners of the dogs that have become stray dogs, and then we’ll make a toxoplasmosis diagnostic kit and a dewormer and talk about it.”

While the Holy Kingdom was catching its breath with dogs, cats, and AI, the Empire was struggling in the Battle to retake Philadelphia.

[Engine failure.]

[A crack developed in the barrel due to rapid temperature change.]