Chapter 119 – Infectious Agent Guide
In the mountains at sunset.
A variant walker with dark blue skin is standing in front of you.
There is fluid flowing all over the body and the skin is rough and dry. The muscle damage may be severe, causing the person to stumble without any movement.
“Purr-.”
Moreover, instead of making harsh growls like ‘Keeeeek-!’ Or ‘Krrr-.’, It made a growling sound like a cat.
In many ways, he seems far from dangerous, but he is definitely not someone to be trifled with.
When you hear that crackling sound, it means that you are loading a super-strong corrosive liquid.
They have internal organs and lower ducts that have been modified to project fluids over long distances, and the sound they make is when air is expelled from them and the pressure is increased.
A fist-sized chunk of blue liquid flew out without a sound.
When I turned to avoid it, it passed by where I was and hit a tree.
Chii Iik.
A pine tree pole with a diameter of 50 cm is instantly eaten away and tilts.
Kuung.
It only took 5 seconds for it to collapse, so you can see how powerful its corrosive power is.
Even a security robot becomes incapacitated in one hit if it is hit directly. The main frame holds up to some extent, but the problem is that other parts are completely damaged. Would you say it feels like a tank being crushed by stepping on an anti-tank mine?
In some ways, it can be seen as the most dangerous enemy. Since ancient times, it only took one blind arrow to kill a hero on the battlefield.
Chaotic infection waves, crazy gunfights. In the meantime, if you miss that one shot coming from the blind spot, you will die.
Chii Iik-.
Another shot flew past me. It melts everything it touches, including trees, dirt, and rocks.
The sight of rocks bubbling and distorting is enough to give you goosebumps.
Ta-ta-tang!
The rifle was fired before the next attack.
The situation ended when 5.56 mm bullets flew and ripped through the guy’s abdomen.
The sound of a balloon popping is heard, and blue liquid pours out from the ship with the bullet hole.
From the pouch containing the corrosive liquid to the area around the mouth, it is made up of very strong chemical-resistant ingredients. However, other parts are relatively weak.
This is because there is no such thing as a muscle that can withstand that corrosive liquid and have the ability to exercise.
This is why the skin and muscles exposed to the liquid gradually dissolve, and the entire body becomes filled with ooze.
“That’s it!”
The corrosive liquid that leaks through the bullet hole dissolves the internal organs, pierces the peritoneum below, and pours out through the hole in the center of the hips.
Kwadang!
And as the joint tissue between the hips and femur melts, it becomes impossible to stand.
Poop!
The guy who was struggling on the ground buried his face in the ground with a bullet hole in his forehead.
This thing, named Dissolver, is always at risk of self-destruction due to its extremely powerful corrosive liquid.
Thanks to this, if you hit the corrosive fluid sac near the solar plexus with a bullet, it collapses and dies on its own.
Since this is the area where pressure is applied to fire strongly to the target point, even if just one hole is made, the pressure will be lost and the firing ability will be lost.
A glass cannon that has lethal attack power but has weak durability. If detected early, neutralization is easy.
“Purrrr-.”
Another resolver’s growl was heard from behind.
I reflexively turned around, but the guy was already ready to fire. But my mouth opened before his mouth.
“Stop!”
The movement stopped at my words. I approached nearby and observed its appearance.
“Ah! Try it.”
The guy opened his mouth. There aren’t any teeth in it. In order to enable smooth firing, those that mutate into resolvers lose all their teeth and their tongues and lower canals are also changed to suit firing.
“It’s against the rules to suddenly spawn behind you.”
[It means not to let down your guard.]
The world changes as if time has sped up tens of thousands of times. The dark mountains suddenly became brighter.
I am connected to the VR machine’s infection guide.
This contains information on all infectious agents that I, my robots, and drones have identified while engaging or observing so far.
The individuals that could be captured were brought to the laboratory outside the shelter and dissected one by one.
Thanks to this, not only their appearance, but also their fighting style, durability, agility, reflexes, vision, hearing range, howl, weight, behavior when alone, and even the reproductive behavior of some individuals that lay eggs or give birth to young. It was possible to implement it in great detail.
“Next.”
The surrounding background has changed to the Bloodtech basement.
What appeared before me was Mother Lamprey. A uterus swollen like an ET and a long, protruding, snake-like vaginal wall are always unpleasant to see.
When you operate the PDA on your wrist, Mother Lamprey’s image changes to an X-ray perspective and the inside is visible.
The number of lamprey eels filled in the womb was more than 10, even if caught in small numbers.
Puck!
As soon as I put a bullet hole in Mother Lamprey’s forehead, she fell backwards.
After about 5 seconds, the lampreys in the uterus began to move furiously.
[As you can see, killing only the mother does not give you peace of mind. It detects the mother’s death within a few seconds at the most, or within a minute at the latest.]
It was like watching a scene from the movie Alien. The swollen abdomen is shaking wildly, torn in various places, and bleeding. The lamprey’s teeth were visible through the torn belly skin. Baby monsters holding a lot of their mother’s flesh.
[Then we all escape at once.]
Ta-ta-ta-tang!
I put it in a row and chopped it into a bunch of pears. You can hear the sound of countless drums being beaten, and you can see the lampreys in the womb turning to mush.
Slam!
[You must confirm and kill him. A solution like ‘just explode your head and pass by’ is impossible. However, if you don’t have a shotgun or flamethrower, it won’t be easy to take them out cleanly. In an urgent situation, there will be no time to worry.]
Just as Artemis said.
Since it’s a VR situation now, it’s easy to shoot while looking at the internal perspective, but how can you make sure you’ve killed them all in real life?
The boat may stop moving, and you may pass by thinking, ‘Is it over?’ And a lamprey eel may fly into your head.
There are many other variants that hit the nail on the head.
One example is the recently discovered entity called Death Hug. I summoned him.
“It looks terrible.”
It is a 2-meter tall walker variant, but it has no chin.
From the upper mouth to the crotch, it is wide open like an open pencil case. The sides of the pencil case where the zipper should be been filled with dozens of teeth.
He looks straight at me and slowly lowers his posture.
“Oh, indeed.”
By operating the PDA on my arm, I unchecked ‘Object’ among the player options.
Then the guy froze in his lowered posture for two seconds and then stood up again. He looks around as if confused.
It’s understandable because it feels like the prey that was in front of you just disappeared in a flash.
However, after a while, the poor elk that appeared from nowhere recognized it correctly.
The guy lowers his stance again. Compared to regular walkers, the abnormally developed thighs and calves were swollen to the point of bursting.
Bang!
In an instant, it kicked off the ground and flew close to 10 meters and attacked the elk. Just push it into your arms.
The loud sound of flesh being torn and bones being broken rang out from the elk’s entire body.
It appears to be lying on the ground with its long legs and arms crossed to embrace its prey. At first glance, this seemed like an act of sharing love.
The grotesquely twisted limbs, hands, feet, and buttocks are clearly revealed. The bloodshed by the elk flows down over it. It was truly a disgusting sight.
Death Hug’s body structure is wide open at the front, so the abdominal and chest muscles cannot be used for mobility, so agility is greatly reduced.
Instead, they developed their leg muscles to the extreme and adopted a fighting method of attacking by leaping from a distance.
If you avoid the first attack, you can easily cook it thanks to its slow movements, but it is easier said than done because it always attacks silently.
In the war against infectious agents, knowledge is more important than practical sense. Their habits and anatomical structures.
The number of infectious agents on the PDA was registered as high as 312.
Of course, you don’t need to know everything. In reality, there are only a few species in Korea.
“Kaaaaang-!”
An example would be the gorilla infection discovered in a contaminated zoo.
I will never encounter even the giant monsters discovered in the sea.
Land beast infections generally fight linearly using physical force, such as scratching, biting, and striking.
“In the end, is it humans that are dangerous?”
On the other hand, humans are numerous and have mutated into the most diverse forms.
They grew bigger, gave birth to something, transformed or spewed acid, or merged with each other to become a bigger and more powerful species.
Human being. In the past and present, the most dangerous enemy has always been humans.
* * *
After completing the infectious disease guidebook study, I visited an external laboratory.
This place, which until recently had only flasks, petri dishes, and precision measuring machines, is now full of living and dead test subjects.
There were several infectious agents contained whole in large glass tubes along with preservation liquid.
“It’s almost like Umbrella.”
If you look at it at face value, it is a vicious laboratory that secretly develops biological weapons.
[How dare you compare my research with that company?]
Artemis was angry.
“Oh, sorry. “I didn’t mean to insult.”
Even though it is a fictitious company, it is a group that has carried out heinous human experiments and terrorism.
It would be a great disrespect to compare her to her desperate efforts to fight against infectious agents.
[Amateurs who cause a leak on a random day and destroy the entire facility!]
Hmm, I guess the reason for her anger was something else.
Half of the test subjects in our lab are clones of embryos obtained from Seed Vault. Laboratory white rats, guinea pigs, fruit flies, white rabbits, etc.
For some reason, it became possible to mass-produce horseshoe crab blood, which was not available in Bloodtech, by securing horseshoe crab embryos from Seed Vault.
Thanks to this, biology research, which had been sluggish, is making dramatic progress since my visit to the Seed Vault.
Sometimes ‘True! The sight of Artemis reporting the results of her experiment as if bragging, saying, ‘Look at this!’ Is a bonus.
In one area, there were containers containing sampled infectious tissue.
The first thing that caught my eye was that Mother Lamprey’s uterus, ovaries, and vaginal walls had been removed and fixed. This will be the same for everyone who comes here. This is truly eye-catching.
The bag in which the Dissolver holds the corrosive liquid was also being analyzed for its composition.
[It is of great help in the development of chemical-resistant materials.]
There was also a walker who had everything removed except his brain and spinal cord. It’s quite big for a walker.
Nerve tissue extending from the spinal cord like plant roots flutters in the preservative solution.
Nearby, there were about 10 transparent cases containing body tissues the size of the palm of one’s hand, all of which had different colors and textures.
“This?”
[Assembler.]
I turned my attention to the specimen again. This is the last variant encountered during the shelter recapture operation.
He can repair quite a few wounds, and can even change his body to suit the battlefield environment.
You can create a very strong carapace to repel attacks, or, conversely, make it soft to slip through narrow iron bars.
When caught in a net, it can cut the entire body with blades, and in forest or desert terrain, it can camouflage itself like a mimic octopus by matching the surrounding colors.
[It’s a treasure of our lab. It contains great scientific value.]
“For example?”
A piece of information arrived at my PDA. It is a very sturdy looking black full bodysuit.
3D animation showed the texture and color of the surface changing depending on external stimuli such as fire, corrosive liquid, and impact.
[We are developing a combat suit that covers all parts of the body.]
“Like a nanosuit?”
It is a name that always excites men.
[Strictly speaking, it is different. A significant amount of nanobots has already been applied to your body, and the nanotechnology that will be applied later will also function in your body on its own. The combat suit assists with that and protects the four surfaces from physical and chemical attacks.]
From then on, Artemis continued to act like a guide, introducing ongoing research and specimens.
They also complained about the heavy losses suffered by predator robots in securing these items.
[I have one last thing to show you.]
It is a sealed cage containing laboratory rats, guinea pigs, and fruit flies.
First, laboratory rats.
When you think of a lab rat, it is the one with white fur and red eyes that comes to mind.
It has been mutated by an infectious tissue transplant, so it is the size of a toad.
The guy walked around the box, twitching his tail with curiosity.
“Is this okay?”
There was a small incontinence in the transparent case containing it.
I stretched out my index finger and gently rubbed it, but I couldn’t feel any cracks. It seems to be a crack that occurred from the inside.
“Kick!”
The moment my index finger came into its field of vision, the rat’s expression changed drastically. The expression that was full of curiosity distorted and revealed sharp teeth.
Boom!
Startled, I took a breath and backed away.
The guy headbutted his body towards the index finger. He couldn’t believe the sound he made from such a small body.
Kirik.
He exposed his sharp teeth and pounded them against the wall, creating a new crack.
[The crack was not caused by a collision, but by a scratch. Don’t worry, it’s safe.]
“It would have been better if you had told me sooner.”
He said while rubbing his index finger in front of his eyes. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if I got bitten by that guy.
[Then it’s no fun, right?]
A photo captured of my moment arrived with my PDA. A pitiful figure with his mouth open like a bun and his arms flailing around.
The sound of Artemis laughing can be heard.
The guinea pig did not grow in size, but its fur fell out, and its entire body was covered with muscles, like a Belgian blue. The once gentle eyes were covered with ferocity.
Buuung-.
The fruit fly, which is the size of a pigeon, cannot be left out. When it flapped its wings, it sounded like a motorcycle starting.
[Pay attention.]
White lumps the size of golf balls were stuck here and there inside the cage. That’s it! And it swelled. Like a car airbag.
Rats, guinea pigs, and fruit flies were all crushed and immobilized by the swollen mass.
“Kiik-.”
Rats and guinea pigs pressed their cheeks against the transparent wall and rolled their tongues and eyeballs. The fruit fly gnawed at the white lump, but it was no use.
A small robotic arm administered an injection to a fixed rat. A bluish liquid is sucked into the rat’s body.
After a while, the white device shrunk back to its original state, releasing the mouse. It must have been so angry that it cried out fiercely and attacked in all directions. Tick! Tick! The sound of rustling echoes countless times.
[Realistically, no matter how powerful our military is, will we be able to purify this world? I think it’s impossible.]
It’s just as she said.
“If you look at it globally, they will proliferate faster than we can produce ammunition here.”
Although the number of human infectious agents will not increase further, infections are also occurring in wild animals and insects. Among them, mutant trees with the ability to reproduce have also been discovered.
[If we repeat exploration and research like this, we will be able to secure more powerful weapons, robots, vehicles, and aerial vehicles. But I don’t think that’s a fundamental solution.]
Changes occurred in the mice that received the injection. The convulsions, which started out lightly, intensified to the point where all parts of the body were twisted, and then movement stopped.
In less than 10 seconds, the guy who had just been so energetic died with his tongue bitten off and his eyes closed.
“Is it like poison?”
[It’s not that simple.]
The robot arm that held the syringe is now holding a scalpel. It plunged in and out of the spinal cord of a twitching rat. The blade is gleaming with blood and spinal fluid. Small microscope observations were started on it.
The data was played on a nearby monitor, and even I, ignorant of biology, could get a sense of what was happening.
The floating cell tissues were rapidly dying.
[Infected cells have certain instructions inserted into them. Although we were only able to decipher part of it, it is possible to create a substance that disrupts commands with just that.]
“Isn’t it amazing?”
[Not really.]
Injections were also administered to guinea pigs and fruit flies one after the other.
The guinea pig twitched briefly, but quickly got up and resumed activity. He was seen limping and falling occasionally, but that was it. There was almost no response from the fruit fly.
[The genetic code is different depending on the infected organism. Even within the same strain, mutations may occur. I need a code that corresponds to the ‘source’ that all infectious agents have in common, but right now I can’t even find the shadow, let alone the outline. The lab rat was just lucky enough to discover one fatal piece of code.]
It’s luck.
[Furthermore, injecting a concentrated solution and spraying it in the air to see the effect through the respiratory tract are two completely different problems. Because we can’t go around injecting each one of the countless infectious agents on Earth.]
This seems to have been the true solution that Artemis was aiming for. A chemical attack method sprayed through the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Poison can be suppressed with poison?”
[Okay. Infection after infection.]
She took over my words.
[There is no solution other than this.]
Before I knew it, the guinea pig, who had been limping, was regaining her perfect gait. They overcame the destruction program that Artemis injected through a syringe.
The case of the experimental rat was literally like catching a rat while a cow was backing up.
But to me, it was a greater achievement than Neil Armstrong taking the first step on the moon.
When I conveyed that feeling, Artemis was extremely happy.
I don’t know if it’s because of recognition for his achievements, or because he’s said to be better than Armstrong.
[That’s right. Even rocks create holes when water droplets fall for hundreds or thousands of years. Compared to my passion for science, it is only a moment.]
Seeing her morale rise made me feel better too.
I hope it doesn’t take too long though. Because I want to see a clean Earth while I live.
Unlike her, who is immortal, I am a being that cannot be expected for even a hundred years, let alone a thousand years.
