Chapter 122 – Genoplan (2)
We walked down the road to the Zinoplan Research Institute. There are abandoned cars everywhere and the street trees, without exception, have been reduced to charcoal.
“It shouldn’t have been used as an evacuation site.”
All the places that had been used as civilian evacuation bases until now had been turned into dens of infectious agents. It’s literally like a dungeon.
[It’s all or nothing. Since it is an important facility related to military technology, no one has entered it, or on the contrary, it is used as a shelter and is overcrowded.]
Boom.
Scout drones flew over our heads.
During the operation, 5.56 mm machine gun fire will be fired at infected entities approaching the Zinoplan laboratory.
Walkers seem to be irrational, but they have a habit of taking collective action.
When one or two wander around and scream, more people gather around them, and if left unattended, the number increases to dozens after a few hours.
It’s not just a feeling of being drawn to sound. If one walker continues to look in a certain direction, the surrounding walkers also look there once in a while.
This is slightly different from the zombies in popular media that are attracted to humans only when they see them in person or hear noise.
Although it may seem like an insignificant difference, it is very annoying during covert operations.
The site of the Zinoplan laboratory was protected by a level D fence.
Level A is a fence that surrounds the lawn and reaches up to the chest of an adult, and Level B is a fence installed in the playground. From C, it is a military level and can only be demolished by engineers.
According to operational doctrine, when D is installed, the area is classified as a fortress and can be used as a concentration and logistics base.
[Welcome to visit. Commander Seo Jin-su.]
Originally, one of the alloy walls would have come down to act as a drawbridge.
[There is a technical error in opening the fence entrance. Please call the person in charge.]
The place that is thought to have been the entrance is clearly exposed, and the inside is visible.
One side of the wall was torn as if it had been torn off by force.
What greeted us in the empty space inside was a tragedy.
[I’m sorry.]
Artemis said.
There are soldier corpses everywhere. There were more infected corpses than that, and there were more civilian corpses than both combined.
Infected agents were torn apart by bullets and bombs, and humans were torn apart by teeth and nails.
“It’s devastating.”
There were two types of military uniforms and various equipment scattered around, as if the ROK and US military survivors had formed a joint defense line.
I headed towards the tightly closed entrance of the laboratory building.
[Welcome.]
After secondary authentication, an entrance that looks like a huge elevator door opens.
Hwiooooong.
The outside wind was fiercely sucked into the building from the vacant lot.
The lights inside here are also turned off. Only the fire emergency guidance light at the bottom is dimly lit.
A dark underground passage that constantly sucks in wind. It feels like entering the mouth of a huge monster.
But I wasn’t afraid. Because I am not alone. Human soldiers during active duty, now robot soldiers.
The backs and shoulders of colleagues walking together. That appearance in itself gives courage.
Everything in the world has changed, but this feeling still seems to remain the same.
* * *
Unlike the outside, where fierce fighting took place, the inside of the lab was neat and tidy.
“Did monsters come in during the evacuation operation and the door was not opened from the inside?”
Otherwise, the difference between the inside and outside the lab entrance couldn’t be so stark.
Dalkak.
The lights turn on. As we passed, light came on one block at a time through sensor detection.
The walls on both sides of the wide, long hallway are transparent glass. The area beyond the glass is very large, has many mechanical devices, and all the lights are turned off.
[The design is more like an aquarium than a research lab?]
In fact, if you just fill it with water, it will feel very similar to an aquarium.
“I can roughly guess the reason. “I’ve seen a few research institutes like this when I was on active duty.”
Only the sound of our footsteps echoes quietly in the dark and wide hallway.
Giiiiing.
After pulling the shoulder camera as far forward as possible, I look up at my face. It is an Artemis-style gesture that tells you to speak quickly because you are curious.
“It is a penalty given to facilities that violate research ethics at a serious level. When you go too far, the International Research Ethics Audit Committee comes in and takes down the sign. If it’s not that bad, it ends with various corrective measures.”
He pointed at the transparent wall with his finger.
“One of them is to change the walls inside the lab to a transparent material that is easy to inspect. Depending on the judgment of the audit committee, at least 20% and up to 95% must be completely changed.”
95% of the time it means removing everything except the bathroom and locker room.
It has much stronger authority than the nuclear surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
This is because the world just before the infection war had greater fear of bioterrorism than nuclear weapons.
[The construction cost will be so great that it will not be possible to build a new building?]
“That’s right. There were cases where the business closed because it could not cover the costs. However, there is no problem with facilities linked to the country’s national defense like here.”
[Because the country provides the money?]
I shrugged my shoulders as a sign of approval.
“I don’t really like it.”
[What?]
“The lighting method here.”
In a situation where all lights are turned off, each block lights up through sensor detection every time we pass by.
He pointed beyond the glass wall. There is only darkness there.
“Everywhere else is dark, but only where we are is bright. Everyone, look here! It’s like advertising…”
Boom!
At that moment, something flew to the place I pointed with my finger and hit hard.
An extremely compressed, muscular body with very long limbs. It is a variant named Leaper.
I remember catching a guy in the basement of Bloodtech.
With incredible strength, he can climb walls and ceilings, and can even contract his entire body’s muscles and shoot out like a catapult.
I aimed my gun reflexively.
[Don’t shoot. It’s tempered glass.]
Thud! Boom!
The guy hit his head like crazy, but Yuri didn’t move. The only thing that gets broken is your own head. It only stopped when two streams of blood flowed from my forehead.
“Crrrrn-.”
Reaper blinked his red eyes and glared at me. I placed my palm, as big as a pot lid, on the glass wall and rubbed it regretfully. For some reason, I felt very uncomfortable with that insignificant movement.
[You can’t come over here anyway. There’s no need to open the intrusion route for them, right?]
That is correct. A 12.7 mm bullet could break the tempered glass and tear the guy to pieces, but it’s not worth messing up the escape route just to catch that one.
Boom!
Correct. It is not ‘that one’. Another one flew in and crashed into the upper left corner.
Thud! Boom!
A second later, two more birds flew out of nowhere. This time, bottom right.
“Urajil.”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Boom!
Now four more have flown in. As many as eight rippers clung to the tempered glass wall.
The large palm and tightly pressed cheeks are highlighted by transparent glass, making it look even more creepy.
At this point, the robot soldiers also aimed their guns all at once. This is to prepare for a situation where they break the tempered glass and come over.
It feels like watching the scene in the movie The Mist where a bunch of monster insects are stuck on a supermarket window. This one is more dangerous and terrible.
“If I had shot it and broken it, I would have been screwed.”
I was grateful for Artemis’ advice.
Thud! Thud! Boom!
The other Reapers, who had not yet learned the strength of Yuri, banged their heads together. Then the tempered glass trembles as if there was an earthquake.
“This won’t break, right?”
To my dismay, Artemis had no answer.
“Artemis?”
[… Maybe?]
“…”
This time I kept my mouth shut.
Coo!
In the end, the tempered glass held up.
The last time the guy hit his head hard, he fell over, and the other rippers gave up trying to destroy him.
Instead, it wanders nearby and glares at us.
It would have been better if he had just fallen, but the guy who had fallen staggered to his feet.
“Don’t follow me, you bastards.”
The Reapers followed us through the tempered glass as we passed through the hallway.
The movements of the wandering guys and the look in their eyes are not simply the chase of a mindless infectious agent.
There was something about 10% mixed with 90% hostility. It was so faint that I didn’t even think it would contain an infectious agent.
It was just interest.
That’s why it felt so unpleasant for them to follow me.
Sometimes I even knocked on the tempered glass.
Boom! Tung!
Like a child getting on the nerves of a gorilla at the zoo.
Six more animals appeared, and now their number has surpassed us.
There is no way to know how many more infectious agents are lurking around.
This uncomfortable companionship ended when we entered the door at the end of the hallway.
Boom!
As soon as we were out of sight, he put his head against the glass wall and stared at us all the way.
To me, it was more terrifying than the Juggernaut rushing towards me while screaming.
“Keeeeek-!”
Inside, two walkers dressed as researchers were waiting.
Right.
The robots received the order to stop shooting and killed them in close combat.
One guy had his neck turned 360 degrees, and the other guy was hit with a judo technique.
Immediately after, a nearby robot carrying a steel trash can crushed his head like a mortar.
I couldn’t use a gun.
“It looks like this lab was actually caught operating as an opening venue.”
This is because the interior was made of transparent tempered glass.
If you fire your gun carelessly, you may create a passageway arbitrarily. It is difficult for variables to arise in the retreat route established based on the lab map.
Thanks to this, I proceeded by killing the easy walkers with close combat CQC.
The current priority goal is to move to the disaster prevention room and command and control room and gain control over the facility.
There was a reason why the infectious agents encountered during the process were only a few wearing lab coats or military uniforms.
『Regiment Commander, all non-combatants have been quarantined in the reinforced area. Here, you’ll be safe as long as that tank-breaker doesn’t show up. We will join the external rescue operation. More! … Hey, the outside entrance is open. What? Hey, you bastard, if you want to open up, open up!』
This is a communication record obtained from the corpse of an active-duty commander discovered along the way.
The body’s rank is lieutenant colonel. Judging by the fact that he is wearing epaulettes, he appears to be the battalion commander of a nearby unit in charge of defending this place.
However, there was one questionable point.
Judging by his teeth, he died as a human being, but the cause of death was not an infection, but two gunshot wounds to the chest.
“I shot him from behind.”
Looking at the scars, it is clear that he was shot in the back at close range. This is not a case of friendly fire…
“Is it fregging?”
I buried my doubtful thoughts and entered the disaster prevention room.
I first secured control of the facility and then handed it over to Artemis.
Unfortunately, it appears that this facility has taken in refugees.
Walkers were seen all over the laboratory through CCTV footage. Most of them were concentrated in deep quarantine zones.
Citizens, researchers, medical personnel, firefighters, and even the soldiers who protected them.
The quarantine area was completely dark, as if the lighting had been broken, but there were so many figures moving around in the darkness.
But the situation is not all bad.
[Here’s something good.]
Some CCTV footage is special.
Unlike regular CCTV, which has 16 screens on one monitor, these only have one screen playing on one monitor.
The clarity and interface are also noticeably different. There were five like that.
“Sentrygun!”
Five sentry guns of the 7.62 mm machine gun series.
Perhaps because it is a facility connected to the military, it has live bullet specifications rather than rubber bullets.
“I know it’s an important technology, but security is a hot topic.”
[Jinsu.]
Geeing.
The cam on my shoulder sees me. There was only a black camera lens there, but somehow I could see Artemis’ earnest expression.
“Wipe it away.”
At my command, the sentry guns spewed fire all at once.
Rumbling! Rumbling!
Because there was no silencer, the strong gunfire could be heard right through the walls.
Every time a shot was fired, a yellow flash like a camera flash cleared the darkness.
When I saw it on a regular CCTV screen with a poor night vision function, it was truly a spectacular sight.
The moment the screen flashes, the image of the walker flying backwards is captured like a snapshot.
When the flash went out, the walker also disappeared like a mirage and this was repeated countless times.
Flash!
The one that flies with both arms and legs extended forward. This was the most common.
Flash!
A guy who flies with his arms and legs stretched out behind him.
Flash!
The one that flies while spinning half a turn diagonally.
Flash!
The one that folds 90 degrees in place and falls over.
It was literally like taking a portrait of everyone together in the dark. Their postures were all graceless, as if they were being subjected to wrestling techniques.
“Be careful not to break the glass wall.”
[Who are you talking to?]
The rippers who had taken the uncomfortable walk with us just now also parted ways.
But he didn’t just die.
It lowered its stance and fired like a catapult, attacking the sentry gun on the ceiling.
Most of the time, they couldn’t reach it and fell down, with pieces of flesh flying around after a few seconds, but there were some who were lucky enough to succeed in the attack or even hang on.
A close-up of Ripper’s ugly face was captured on CCTV.
Kwasik!
After a while, the screen displayed ‘No signal’.
[There is no ammo now.]
By the time the loaded ammunition was used up, most of the infected entities had been eliminated, but there were still some left.
Kwasik!
Sentry guns were destroyed one by one at the hands of even more evil people. Now all 5 are in ‘no signal’ status.
“This is enough. Because we can take down the rest. Good job.”
I stroked the shoulder cam.
Geeing.
These days, he doesn’t try to shake off my touch. It just tilts in a long diagonal direction. Sometimes, my palms feel momentarily trembled and itchy like a vibrating massager.
Crash.
I checked the condition of the gun again.
Originally, it was the infantry’s job to wipe out the remnants after a heavy bombardment.
I led the robots and headed to the quarantine area, which was in shambles due to sentry gun shooting. Once we secure the research data there, this expedition will end.
Aside from a few variables, things were going as planned. Not yet.
