Chapter 12 – Sewerage
People subconsciously use adverbs like ‘very’, ‘too’, and ‘absolutely’ in their mouths.
Usually used to emphasize one’s mood, it is overused without much meaning, but Artemis is different.
[I am so grateful that I am not a creature.]
If she uses the adverb ‘really’, the meaning is different.
The language she speaks is quantitative. All words, including adverbs, each had a certain number of requirements, and there was no case where it was said to deviate from it.
She’s a picky woman, but once the conversation starts, she’s also a comfortable conversation partner in some ways.
[If I had to take on this stench, I wouldn’t have been able to bear it? It’s terrible here.]
We are now moving through the sewers.
“I don’t smell anything either. Because this doubles as a gas mask.”
He tapped her helmet and said. As it is a guard specification that emphasizes activity, the protection and maintenance time are limited, but if it is to prevent the smell of the sewer, it will work all day long.
“Going through the sewers sounds like a good decision. I can’t believe no one thought of escaping this way.”
This place was amazingly clean. Not in the hygienic sense, but in the sense of safety. No infection, no corpses.
[There are four major behavioral patterns when humans are in crisis. First, it announces its location by screaming. Second, hide in an easy-to-hide place. Third, follow the people around you. Fourth, judge calmly and find the most effective way.]
“The first would have died first, the second would have held out a little, but they would have died eventually.”
A guy like the Workers’ Inspector died very well, though.
[The third would be the type of people who are killed for knocking on the front door of each district.]
“Then shouldn’t some of the fourth class of people be here? This sounds like a really nice place to hide.”
[Unfortunately, those who belong to the fourth category are few. Even those few are mostly people who need to be protected or people who have obligations. Those people have limited options. Besides, isn’t it said that the bottom of the lamp is dark? In an emergency, manhole covers are harder to see than I thought.]
The sound of my steps echoed everywhere in the narrow, sealed sewer. But in a place like this, her sonic sensors are at full capacity, so she can’t be taken by surprise.
[I recommend it, but staying here is painful. I want you to walk diligently.]
“Isn’t there anything particularly painful about it? You can’t even smell it.”
[For me, smell is both a sense of smell and a sense of sight.]
Keying~ Keying.
The shoulder cam attached to the shoulder scanned the entire front.
[You may not see it with your eyes, but I can see countless particles floating in the air here. Like it’s snowing heavily. Each one of those snowflakes is a clump of light green and brown germs.]
For Artemis, the distinction between sight, hearing, and smell would have little meaning.
Vision is what the brain interprets after light reflection passes through the retina and is converted into electrical signals in the optic nerve.
Hearing is when the brain interprets sound waves by converting them into electrical signals through the eardrum and cochlea.
Smell is what the brain interprets as the particles pass through the olfactory receptors and are converted into electrical signals.
Human beings cannot recognize each of these processes, but simply feel them through ‘sensations’, but as a machine, she can face them all step by step and by type.
Is the difference between her five senses like a rainbow-colored border for her?
‘From here to here is purple, from here to here is blue.’
“Then why don’t you look? There are no dangerous enemies here, and the sound detector alone seems to be sufficient contrast.”
Then she played one of her voice logs.
[Even if my eyes can’t see, if it’s you, you’ll be able to see everything without missing a single fly, right?]
[Of course not.]
This is a conversation we had while attaching a shoulder camera in the upper security room before departure.
[I don’t speak twice with one mouth. Until this journey is over, my eyes will not be closed for a moment, and I will keep an eye out for all dangers approaching you.]
I’m touched.
“You are such a wonderful woman, Artemis.”
Indeed, she saved her life several times thanks to her.
[I like receiving gifts more than words.]
“You’ll get it soon, soon.”
She arrived at her destination while talking with her. The road to the sewer wasn’t too far, since the distance was shortened considerably by the underground tram.
She looked up at the ceiling and saw a manhole cover with a ladder.
She has designated several escape points close to the lower area control room, and this is the first one.
You have to open the manhole cover and come out in the open air, but it is difficult if there is a swarm of infectious agents right next to you.
When I unluckily opened the lid, I met eyes with a variant of the example?
Suddenly, you will become a mole in the mole game. Bang! It will collapse with a roar and fall to the bottom of the sewer. I want to refrain from that.
It is natural to have multiple candidates to find a safe point.
“Wait a minute.”
Before going up, there was one regular quest to solve.
Profit.
Kiyin.
At the same time as I unzipped the zipper, the shoulder cam quietly turned its head.
Jjorororororororok.
Yellowish water mixed with the slowly flowing sewage.
“Whoa.”
I climbed up a fairly long ladder and placed the sound detector on the hole in the manhole cover.
You’ll be able to pick up footsteps, breathing, cries, whatever sounds they make to identify them.
“Can you hear something?”
[Quiet. It’s difficult to measure outside because your voice echoes under the confinement.]
I shut up. If you go up the ladder to a certain level, the concrete wall is surrounded by a round structure, so the sound resonates well. Instead, even if you accidentally miss the ladder, the risk of falling is low.
[I can’t do this.]
Her judgment was quick.
[There are 8 objects within a 10 meter radius. It’s not just common infectious agents.]
“That giant anomaly from last time?”
[No, this one is small. It looks like a dog or cat, but if they mix and attack, it will be difficult to deal with.]
I definitely don’t want to deal with zombie dogs like you would see in a game. Rather, even if they were bigger and stronger, the sluggish humanoids were more forgiving.
Chiiyi profit.
Grab the bars on both sides of the ladder, slide down quickly, and head to the next point.
The second point also fails.
As we got closer to the third point, something strange happened.
[Launching.]
“Yes?”
[Run. Right now!]
I immediately sprinted toward the third hall ladder.
There is no need to waste time asking questions like ‘forward?’ And ‘back?’. If she had to run backwards, she would have said ‘run backwards’. On the battlefield, a few seconds of time reduction could mean the difference between life and death.
As I saw the ladder going up to the ground closer, I began to hear something too.
At first it sounded like a group of morning sparrows chirping.
Chin!
When the ladder was close enough, I jumped and grabbed the ladder higher than my height. As it is, take two steps and rise rapidly.
At the point where it went up to about 80% in an instant, I took out my shotgun and aimed down. The sound was already approaching.
“Chii Iik-!”
Its true identity was a group of rats.
Black rats covered the sewer passage I had been walking through just a moment ago.
An unpleasant harmony that squeaks countless times. In fact, there is not that much difference from the sound of sparrows. The former is refreshing, but the latter is repulsive.
“Are they infected too?”
[Insufficient information. Although the cry is no different from that of an ordinary rat. For a moment! Right now there are rats dying in that procession. The death of the rats is confirmed.]
My ears couldn’t tell the difference. It’s just a squeak passing by loudly.
After the swarm of rats passed by and I heard the confirmation of ‘It’s all gone’, I came down from the ladder.
Because the third point was also bad. More infestations swarmed around the manhole here.
“What?”
There are rat corpses scattered all over the passage from one end to the other.
“Did you dig something?”
Most of them are missing one by one. It looks like it was ripped off at once by something with a powerful jaw.
[Look at this.]
A video was played on my PDA.
Just like the one I saw a while ago, it was just black waves passing by, and I couldn’t feel any difference with my eyes.
At some point, it changed to slow motion, and then one part was enlarged.
Among the black waves, there was a rat with a body three to four times the size of the others.
“It must be an infection.”
[Maybe.]
While moving, it opened its huge mouth and ate a handful of the mouse next to it, then continued running as if nothing had happened.
The rat that was devoured by the reaction spun half a turn in the air, then collapsed, and disappeared in an instant, buried in a row of rats coming from behind.
It happened so quickly, and since the aisles were so full of rats, it would have gone unnoticed. After that, several more infected rats passed by.
“Were you running away, not moving? To avoid being eaten by a monster that was my own kind until recently.”
[It could have been a sheep hunt by infected rats from the beginning. Like whales chasing herring.]
“I have to cancel what I said earlier. Even people who escaped through the sewer run into things like that…”
Those who attack in such an unavoidable form are more dangerous than most humanoid infectious agents. It’s not like you can run away and hide in a tight place.
“What? Artemis.”
[What?]
“Does it look worse than you imagined? Our earth.”
I didn’t expect the infection to target only humans, but seeing it with my own eyes gave me goosebumps.
Strictly isolated shelters are also shaped like this, but how has the outside changed? The nature I knew, the green ecosystem, may be forever different.
“My dream was to buy a camper when I earned a lot of money and go camping in the mountains with a retriever.”
It would be impossible now
[If you want, I can make a small forest in the shelter.]
Artemis comforted her.
The fourth manhole was a prize.
[It’s safe here.]
Rurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Never in my life have I ever been so careful not to make a sound.
I peeked through the gap that had been opened.
The city was in disarray, and I saw a bunch of infected roaming in the distance.
However, there was no element that could be a threat as I left here now.
Slurr, chin.
After getting out, the manhole was left open. If anything, you’ll have to run away from here.
After taking cover behind the car in front of me, I looked around and was speechless.
“This was it. Cause of the explosion”
At first glance, it seemed that the surrounding air conditions were not good. It was similar to a day with severe fine dust. Although the difference is that the color is close to green.
And in the distance, I see a being spouting these things.
Woo woo woo woo woo-!
It was a construct rather than a monster. Maybe he has his feet on both sides.
It made a strange sound, like a mixture of the cry of an animal, the sound of a conch shell, and the sound of a huge tree swaying in the wind.
