A Flower That Eats Humans 72

## Chapter 72 – Size (10)

“Ugh, shit!”

The vehicle speeds through the urban river, weaving through the fish-like swarm of cars, clinging to them, then dropping down to run again. The distance between me and the men on the small bikes, darting through the gaps between cars, grows.

To make matters worse, when the car I’m running with stops at a light, I jump off immediately, running with all my might and clinging to another car, repeating the process to slowly close the gap.

Definitely that woman in the very front.
The woman being chased by those things that chased us.
There’s something in the bag she’s carrying.

“…Lapis, Wisdom.”

I don’t know what those words mean yet.
But this feeling is none other than the feeling I had when I first discovered the blue fruit.
That’s why I chased after her. I don’t know what she’s doing, and I don’t care, but I can’t just let her get caught like this.

I jump off the truck I was running on,
step on the roof of another car, and jump onto the truck right in front of it. Finally, I start to see the four bikes.

“Nice.”

I climb onto the top of the truck and get into position.
Then, I run a short distance, use it as a springboard, and leap towards the iron-masked man in the lead.

“?!”

The iron-masked man is startled by the sudden impact.
The handlebars he was holding turn, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Stopping the man in the lead naturally startled the men following behind, causing them to hit the brakes, but it was already too late.

Despite braking, the remaining momentum pushed one of them to where I was, and I punched him square in the face.

The strength leaves the hand holding the bike,
the handlebars are released, and the bike falls forward.
Seeing the man fly backward like in a cartoon, the man in the very back stops his bike and pulls out a gun.

“Requesting backup! Situation develo…!”

I quickly leap and punch him in the jaw, as if trying to push it in,
and the man, unable to even pull the trigger in that short moment, collapses to the ground.

“Alright, now…”

Now, all that’s left is that woman.
To chase after her, I grab the bike that looks the most intact out of the ones the men were riding…
But then I see a bizarre sight.

Another iron-masked man stopping the woman’s bike with one hand…?
No, it’s a woman. What the hell is going on?

I’m momentarily stunned by the sight.
But only for a moment. The iron-masked woman walks towards the woman who fell off the bike and rolled onto the ground.

No.

I throw the bike I grabbed with all my might towards the woman.

I thought I hit her, but just before it reaches her,
she turns her head and twists her upper body, using that force to knock the bike away.

What kind of reflexes are those?

But I succeeded in diverting her attention.
The footsteps that were heading towards the fallen woman stop, and she turns back to approach me.

“Confirming new orders. Capture the male subject alive.”

—————————-

‘Number 4, new orders.
Capture the male subject alive.’

‘New orders confirmed…’

“…”

A machine made by piecing together crude scrap metal.
The earpiece connected to it delivers a familiar voice to my ears.

“…There you are.”

The reaction shown on the screen.
Then, shall we go…

—————————

The woman mechanically answers something in a low voice, and I hear a familiar sound from her.

‘Dangerous.’

‘A kin?’

‘Different from us.’

“…”

The familiarity I feel from her.
I definitely felt it right before fighting the Butterfly, but it’s like she’s the same as a human but not,
like she’s the same as those girls but not. A presence of something.
It fills this street.

Horns blare from all directions, thanks to the blocked road.
Some people even stick their faces out of the windows and hurl insults at me.

“…”

Ignoring those people, the woman takes out something small from her chest and puts strength into it,
and a long blade, like a truncheon, is pulled out.

A brief moment of tension passes.

“…!”

“Ugh!”

The fight starts immediately.
The woman rushes in and swings the long blade from below, and I lean back to dodge it.
If I hadn’t dodged, half of my right leg and my entire right arm would have been blown away.

But because she made such a big motion, her face, torso, and various other weaknesses are exposed.

Alright, then!

I fix the balance that was disrupted by dodging the blade.
And I gather the momentum gained from the movement and try to punch her left face right away…

‘Right.’

‘Behind.’

‘Head.’

“!!”

I tilt my head back at the sharp warning ringing in my head, so the punch doesn’t land.
A reddened flash passes over my tilted head,
and it slams into the asphalt with a deafening roar.

The honking noises around me stop.
The voices of the people cursing also.

I dodge the woman’s blade that comes in right after.
She attacks from all directions, without missing a beat.
And even if I try to find an opening and counterattack right away,
I can’t even find a small gap because I have to dodge the bullets flying from behind me, 맞춰서 내 뒤에서 날아드는 총탄을 피하느라 조금의 틈조차 나오지 않는다.

“…Ugh!”

I can’t keep doing this forever.
The way to escape this situation is…

I stop moving and stop dodging.
And I take a short deep breath.
The blade flies in without waiting for me.
This time, it seems like she’s going to slice from my left shoulder to my right side.

The distance between that blade and my shoulder is about 30cm,
and another gunshot rings out from behind me again.

“…?!”

“Aaaargh!!”

I grab the blade with my left hand.
Red liquid gushes out of my hand.
And I immediately ducked my head, and the bullet slammed into the asphalt floor again.

“Ugh?!”

The startled woman tries to pull out the knife in surprise,
but I never let go of the blade.

“…!!”

Now there’s a slight pause until they attack me again.

I clench my right fist tightly and swing it with all my might towards the unmoving woman.

The surprised woman tried to give up the knife and dodge,
but the fist that had already reached her face collided with the iron mask, making a clear sound.

The mask, which instantly turned into scrap metal, fell powerlessly to the asphalt floor with a clatter.
Finally, the woman’s face was revealed.

“…”

The woman wipes the blood that oozed from her burst lips.
No emotion lingers on her face.
That face, it’s the same as the Butterfly, but somehow different.
If the Butterfly was closer to being human, her face didn’t show anything that could be called human.

“…What the hell are you people? What’s your purpose?”

“…”

I break the blade held in my hand and drop it to the floor.
The split wound on my left hand heals in an instant.
Ignoring my question, the woman takes out something else from her chest without saying a word.

This time it’s a bludgeon in the shape of a truncheon,
but a bright current flows from it.

“…Crap.”

I readjust my stance.
I don’t know why, but it’s even more overwhelming than it was with the Butterfly.
Unlike the Butterfly, who felt like something alive, I feel like I’m fighting a machine that’s moving solely to kill me.

What should I do… Huh?

The woman who was collapsed over the woman’s shoulder moved a little.

She seemed to be looking around, tilting her head slightly,
and then she got up and started running.

“Hey, wait…!!”

“Thanks for saving me!!”

The woman in the black suit looks at the woman running away, taking her eyes off me.

This is bad.

I rush towards the woman who is about to run.
I threw a punch, but she dodged it easily.
And the bludgeon flies towards my face.

Thanks to the motorcycle helmet, I wasn’t greatly impacted,
but I was sent flying far away.

“Ugh…!”

The woman immediately runs towards the woman who is running away.
This isn’t good…

I readjust my stance and start running again.
But it seemed too late to close the gap that had already widened.

Now the distance between that woman and the masked woman is not much.

Just before the masked woman’s hand reaches the woman’s bag,
someone jumps out from between the cars and punches the woman in the face.

“…Hoo.”

“…What?”

A woman wearing the same motorcycle helmet as me.
When she took off the jacket she was wearing over her short pants, a familiar tracksuit was revealed.

The woman with sun-tanned skin, illuminated by the sun, immediately raises her guard and shouts at me.

“Dad, chase after her quickly.”

Hong Su-ah. It was Su-ah.
I don’t know how she came, but I leave the masked woman to her and run towards that woman.

—————————-

“What, what is that again!!”

“…Report the situation.”

‘Another subject has suddenly appeared.
Unlike the two subjects previously reported, there is no data.’

…Another subject, you say?
As the research team feared, has it already succeeded in breeding?
Unlike when mating with a normal male, which takes 10 months like a human female, it’s only been almost 2 months since the accident and it’s already at this level…

Is this the power of the male subject?

“…It doesn’t matter what happens to the female subject.
Be sure to capture the male subject alive.”

‘…Understood.’

————————

“Hey, try stopping for a second!!”

“No way!!”

It’s not difficult to catch up like this,
but it’s a dangerous situation right now.

I don’t think she’s noticed,
but there are already quite a few masked men surrounding us, gradually closing in.

“…Shit!!”

I squeeze out every last bit of strength I have and run.
Please, please!!

My hand finally reached her bag.

“Kyaaak?!”

At the same time, a man who jumped out from between the vehicles snatched the woman away.

Because of that, something shining fell from the torn bag, making a clear sound on the asphalt floor.
A fruit making a ‘thump, thump’ sound.

As I look at the fruit shining in light green.

‘Lapis.’

‘Wisdom.’

‘The wise one.’

‘The sage.’

Voices reacting like crazy.
I snatch the fruit and immediately rush towards the masked man holding the woman.

I got the fruit.
But this woman being chased while holding this fruit.
If she’s related to them, I have to save her.
Information that is more important to us than anything.
Because she’s a human who has it.

I rush at the man, but a bullet immediately pierces my shoulder.

“Ugh?!”

I sensed it with danger detection,
but there was a limit to dodging it while my body was in the air.

I immediately start fighting the men rushing at me.
The fight itself is not a problem, but there are too many of them.
Damn it!

The man holding the woman is getting further and further away.
I somehow swim through the crowd to get closer, but it’s not enough.

At that time.

“Uaaaaaagh!!”

“Kyaaaaak?!”

The man writhes in tremendous pain and falls to the ground, and the woman falls.

Someone stood in front of them.

“…Ah!! Sorry!! I thought it was an anesthetic…
It was a corrosive liquid…”

A man wearing a white coat and glasses.
The man, who is exuding an atmosphere that doesn’t fit in this mess at all, is kneeling down and begging for forgiveness from the fallen man as if he is sincerely sorry.

“That, that man… I’ve seen him somewhere…”

The man wearing glasses takes out a small pistol from his chest.

“Well, anyway, I want to get back what’s mine…
No, the hope of mankind.
Can everyone cooperate?”

“…What?”

What? The hostile atmosphere is directed towards the man.
Are they not on the same side?

“…Doctor Jung Ah-un has appeared…
Yes, I understand. I will kill him as ordered.”

…Jung Ah-un. That man’s name.

Several men, leaving a few who were surrounding me, approach the man in the white coat.
The man named Jung Ah-un, taking off his glasses and putting them in his chest, says with a truly sad expression.

“…That’s a shame.”

And, incongruously with those words and expression,
he pulls the trigger on the man closest to him.
What was ejected was not fire, but a capsule.

It sticks to the man in the lead and emits a strange color of gas.

“Cough, cough…!”

The men start coughing one by one.
A strange reaction appears immediately.

“Guweeeeek!!”

One man falls to the ground, convulsing and vomiting blood.

The skin is not only red, but also peels off as if burned.
A grotesque sight.

Amidst the men falling one after another, a man named Jung Ah-un, who is wearing a gas mask at some point, approaches me and sits down, holding my hands with both hands.

“…Nice to meet you. Im Chan-woo.”