Chapter 344 – Lost Technology
The spaceship shown on the screen is damaged, almost like a junk. This is the result of a large army of infected organisms coming after I left for Tanis three years ago.
At the time, our army was not weak, but the enemy had several colonies that started with at least tens of thousands of people.
It was like the combined forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan were fighting Cao Cao’s large army on land.
“When I think about that time, I still get sick of it.”
Artemis shuddered.
“Looking at the video record, I saw that the surface was completely black. “The only Juggernauts that could be seen were close to a hundred.”
It is evident just by looking at the movement of the colony that the infected agents are not simply monsters crazy about killing.
The largest species, which is the strongest and has the greatest penetration power, pushes out the opponent’s line at the front, and small and medium-sized individuals come rushing in behind them.
Although it was crude, there was a minimal system in place.
“Fighting with them is not the problem. “If we only want to protect our city, we can last for decades.”
Artemis’s words are not bluff.
The shelter is built on a large rocky mountain like a turtle shell, and has the sea behind it, making it possible to operate a separate unit.
Energy is supplied semi-permanently inside, and combat materials can also be produced independently.
We will be able to fight until the day the entire earth is covered with infectious agents and destroyed.
The problem was that there was one more thing externally that had to be protected.
“If that spaceship is taken over, wouldn’t the infected be there to welcome you when you return? “I’m talking about you, who are exhausted and don’t have much ammunition.”
“If it’s not a takeover or occupation, but an escape, then somehow…”
Artemis flicked the bridge of my nose with her finger.
“‘Do something!’ Is human language, not mine.”
“It was a little late, but it was delivered home safely anyway.”
“… Yes, it was delivered, not returned. And that’s after three years of running around delivering packages.”
“Ahahaha.”
Anyway, she did her best to make sure I had a safe place to return to.
The interior of the spacecraft was filled with toxic gas, sentry guns were placed, and explosives were even installed along the movement path.
When my return was confirmed, the plan was to detonate a bomb, if necessary, to clear a path in a straight line and allow me to escape.
But things went wrong. One of the colonies of infectious agents traveling south has taken up residence on a spaceship.
“Have they realized the value of spaceships? Like a crow that likes shiny things. Or something like tongs that like conch shells.”
“I really want to ask those monsters. “Why did they leave it in so many places and build a nest there?”
“There was one entity in Tanis that might be capable of conversation…”
The eyeball monster that fused with the warp device came to mind.
The tenacity to use an alien’s body to not only communicate with them, but also to ridicule them, and to open a door to another planet by unlocking the warp device!
It was a soccer ball that had no teeth or claws, making it easy to kick, but it was also the creepiest.
“I don’t think that intelligence will respond kindly. “The only emotion these monsters have is murderous intent.”
Artemis, who is quick-witted, seems to have figured out who I was talking about.
“I don’t really want to ask anything. “If I see you again, I will greet you and give you a quick psychological kick.”
The feel of kicking a pumpkin-sized eyeball is quite wonderful. Only those who have driven the car know this.
I turned my attention to the broken spaceship again.
“There’s nothing to think about, right? “For those infected, it would be better to have a hideout where they can avoid the rain and cold rather than bare ground.”
“Anyway, I couldn’t leave your return location as a monster’s lair. It was difficult to just fight, but we had to suppress damage to the spaceship and weed out those nesting inside.”
“Just listening to it gives me a headache.”
“Of course! “Because we worked hard under unreasonable conditions, the spaceship ended up looking like that.”
The spacecraft that fell on its side had many parts of its fuselage torn open, exposing its interior. Some places are charred black, while others are shattered as if a bomb had exploded.
“It looks like a rotten whale that washed up on the shore.”
“Is that also a save? I somehow managed to protect your return location in the middle of a colony of tens of thousands of people. Then, I finally detected the restart of the warp device and went to meet you, but all I got back was a few belongings.”
“…”
Kids secretly told me that Artemis was really scared at the time.
As a machine with separate emotions and reason, it carried out vaccine recovery and distribution, shelter operation, etc. With precision.
However, her personality disappeared in front of everyone.
Artemis’ body went into hibernation, and no monitors or speakers showed her face or voice.
-Oh, don’t say anything! At that time, the entire shelter felt like a tomb. Chrollo, Rose, and I couldn’t even open our mouths because we were watching. Only code commands consisting of 0 and 1 came from Artemis, and her personal communication was completely cut off.
Kids evaluated the shelter at the time as a city of mummies.
But apart from this, Artemis constantly tried every possible means to welcome me.
To build a polis and find myself who may have fallen somewhere.
“There isn’t much progress in spaceship research? “There was almost no mention of it in the report from the morning meeting.”
No matter how much it has become like scrap metal, the spaceship will still be a treasure trove of enormous technology.
“I’m making some progress on the little details, but not enough progress to let you know. “There are many places that are systematically locked or physically lost.”
“Even if it’s a minor achievement, isn’t it enormous considering the scientific gap with Earth?”
“Yes, but there is no way to utilize it. That spaceship was developed and operated based on resources that do not exist on Earth.”
When Artemis snapped her fingers, several inventions appeared on the central control room screen.
These are the results of applying technology obtained during Artemis’ research on spacecraft.
Most of them are research inventions with low practical efficiency, but there is one that catches my eye.
It was a force field fence that created a blue force field.
According to the explanation, it was a technology used when small ships enter and exit outer space. It will be much more convenient than opening and closing a steel door.
“Isn’t it amazing? Even if you put something like that at the entrance of the police station, people will look up to you, right?”
“It can only operate for 3 seconds a day. “It also took a lot of energy.”
“Ah…”
“Could you please stop looking so openly disappointed? “There are no room-temperature superconductor crystals on Earth that are essential for maintaining a force field.”
Artemis crossed her arms with a sullen expression.
“The American continent did not have livestock such as cows and pigs until the arrival of the Conquistadors. Because human sacrifice wasn’t done for no reason. “It doesn’t make sense to ask indigenous people to develop pork cutlets or beef hamburgers, right?”
“Of course.”
The Earth was evaluated as a blue gem, but from the perspective of advanced technology by extraterrestrial standards, it was a bright apricot.
To put it even worse, I would say it’s shit.
-Wow, so many wars took place just over oil…
I remember Solaver sighing.
From your point of view, oil was a worse fuel than we think of coal.
“Besides, I didn’t want to bring up the story of the expedition, which was difficult regardless of the technical achievements.”
“It wasn’t particularly difficult? Although it was dangerous, it was not a traumatic expedition.”
“You may think so, but not for me. “The suffering of a soldier returning from the loss of a comrade is not something that can be thought about carelessly.”
“I haven’t experienced a breakup like this once or twice while traveling through the battlefield.”
I stroked Artemis’ head.
“I’m not weak enough to feel depressed just thinking about that. “I didn’t think you were dead in the first place.”
“We are gathering information in various ways to find the expedition members, but we are not finding anything.”
Artemis calmly accepted my touch.
“It would be nice if we could at least get some additional robot crew members who went with us. At least I will be able to see what you looked like after I left.”
When I operated the touch panel, a map of the entire Korean Peninsula appeared on the screen.
Among them, safe areas are shown in green, unexplored areas are shown in yellow, and dangerous areas are shown in red.
South Korea as a whole has a lot of green and yellow and almost no red.
On the other hand, North Korea is overall yellow, but also quite red.
“After wandering around South Korea for three years, the only people we found were me and Charlie. Then the rest might be in North Korea.”
“The interference error during warp is not that easy to calculate.”
Artemis said with a look on her face as if she were looking at a fool.
“In the first place, searching for missing people is done with a certain amount of foolish beliefs. “If you just calculate it, the person you’re looking for won’t be able to hold on.”
“I can endure.”
“Well, which side does it belong to that traveled the world, even building a city, to find just one person?”
Before she could say anything, she buried her face in her silver hair. She just takes a deep breath.
An enchanting scent filled my lungs, the feeling of Artemis flowing through my veins and into my entire body.
Her hand, which was about to make a rebuttal gesture, became stiff. And then she slowly landed on my head.
* * *
As each day passed, the number of explorers heading north increased significantly.
Unlike South Korea, which lacks more to exploit, North Korea is unexplored territory. The average temperature is also more than 10 degrees lower than in South Korea during summer.
It is a good hunting ground for explorers carrying luggage and equipment.
In addition, there are many wild animals brought over from China and Russia, making it easy to find food through hunting.
Because it is located in Korea, the infectious agents are weak due to the vaccine, but since there are no people living there, it is a paradise for wild animals.
We were busy transporting materials removed from North Korea’s bomb shelters and installing signs in the radioactive residual zone within the range of the nuclear explosion.
Then an incident occurred.
A group of explorers was pioneering towards Hamgyeong Province and encountered blue-eyed foreigners.
The report they submitted vividly describes the situation at the time.
“Oh! “They must be Russian kids, right?”
“Airplanes and ships have stopped for a long time. Are you sure you’re European?”
The investigators were all amazed as it was their first time meeting foreign survivors since the infection war.
Judging by the foreigners’ clothing, they seemed closer to hunters than to searching for supplies.
“Does anyone speak Russian?”
“Uh, Spasiva?”
“Thank you for that. What does “Nice to meet you” Mean in Russian?”
Meanwhile, the leader stepped forward.
“They’re bad-tempered guys, so let’s not provoke them for any reason. Everyone lowers their weapons and smiles…”
As expected from a salesperson who worked at a securities company, he smiled cordially and asked for a handshake.
“Spasi…”
[■■■ ■■ ■■■!]
Bang!
It is said that he barely escaped from the Russians who were shooting guns and swearing at him.
Artemis and I simply guessed the reason.
“I got confused with the Chinese soldiers.”
“I was mistaken for a Chinese person.”
Koreans were isolated all the way down, leaving empty space in North Korean territory.
Meanwhile, the Chinese army was behaving viciously like a swarm of locusts throughout Northeast Asia, so it would not be surprising if they were misunderstood.
This is an era in which the dissemination of information about news from other places is extremely slow.
Of course, there is not only armed conflict.
A drone reconnaissance aircraft took additional interesting photos.
This is the image of a searcher exchanging barter with a Russian who appeared on a boat at Rajin Port.
It is said that the ship departed from a village on the outskirts of Vladivostok.
Two of the three neighbors above her head disappeared, and she came face to face with the one she had never interacted with.
