Chapter 128 – Parkour
A sharp sound rang out as the winter wind blew across the empty city.
The weather is sunny. The sky was blue without a speck of fine dust, and just looking at the sunlight shining down, it felt like summer weather rather than winter.
Buildings and roads damaged by war and neglect are weathering day by day, and their places are being filled with moss, grass, and vines.
Overall, it has a strong feeling of ruins, but as time goes by, it will gradually change into the feeling of an ancient ruin.
“Geouhuh-.”
Unless there are walkers wandering around here and there.
There is a doll running in the middle of this landscape. While everyone else is slow and staggering, he runs alone, agile and beautiful.
Low stance for minimal air resistance, vigorous limb movements. At first glance, it looks like they are running away with all their might, without even looking ahead.
However, if you look closely, the movements are calculated like a knife.
From broken sidewalk blocks, broken glass, cans, stones, tree branches, to unknown plastic fragments or pieces of scrap metal.
I didn’t step on things that made noise. Even a rotting leaf was avoided as much as possible.
Meanwhile, breathing is not disturbed at all. To be exact, he’s not breathing.
The latest robot with artificial muscle technology has been deployed to a small city for testing.
‘Explore as many places as possible.’
The only mission given by Jinsu and Artemis determined the robot’s actions.
Sub-goals are set to complete the mission according to a complex algorithm, and risk element avoidance and response protocols are implemented.
The first sub-goal of entering the city on foot was achieved. The next sub-goal is to get a panoramic view of the city from high above. This is the basis of all exploration.
The robot, which lowered its posture, used a car as cover and stuck to the building to avoid the gaze of the two walkers. I throw a can I picked up on the way to the opposite pole.
Clink!
A gap of a few seconds when their eyes were focused on that place.
The robot jumped as if flying to the signboard of the store on the first floor.
Grab the top of the sign and pull strongly, and with the recoil you can easily stand on the sign.
Jump right up and grab the pipe attached to the exterior wall of the building and climb up to the third floor where the pipe ends.
It kicks down a pipe on the 3rd floor, soars nearly 2 meters, and catches the outdoor unit on the 4th floor. Just like a gymnast, rotate your body 180 degrees and stand on the outdoor unit.
Afterward, he fired a hook gun at the safety bar of the 7th floor rooftop railing that was within range.
“Geeek-.”
There was a walker on the rooftop. It seems that he experienced cognitive dissonance when he saw the robot that came over from below.
It’s been a really long time since I’ve been a guest, but it’s an unusual shape that’s not human. Moreover, the robot had a faint scent of its own kind.
Attack this? Stop it? Are you crying?
At the crossroads of choice, Walker had less than a second to worry about, but that time was enough.
The robot’s front kick, which rushed forward, hit the walker’s lower leg.
Poop!
His jaw is broken, and his teeth are falling out, but he doesn’t die from this level.
“Xueeh-.”
But it was enough to block the roar. The only sound that came out of that guy’s mouth was the sound of wind being knocked out.
The robot’s combat algorithm gives priority to noise suppression when a single strike is difficult.
Kwasik!
The battle ended with a soccer kick going deep into the eyelid.
A robot standing on a rooftop railing looks out over the city.
Based on the satellite map that was already installed, detailed changes and movements seen in various places are overwritten. Calculate the optimal movement route. Set random loot locations and loot.
After that was over, the robot immediately kicked the railing.
It falls, holding on to the outdoor units attached to the next building, one after another. It fell slowly, step by step, and landed on top of the car.
This is because sometimes you have to move through the ground to achieve full exploration potential.
“Keeeeek-!”
At that time, it inevitably attracted the attention of walkers, but there was no danger.
Tung!
The car’s bonnet collapsed and sent the robot flying onto a van 3 meters away.
The walkers barely managed to surround the car. Their heads turn like a pitcher looking at a home run ball. The destination is on the van on the other side.
Before they could even take two steps, the robot had already jumped to another place and disappeared.
Cars, trucks, and buses abandoned here and there became a faithful barrier. Low vehicles get on the roof of a car with just one jump, and trailers and buses also get on the roof with two jumps by stepping on the rearview mirror and bumper.
From the infectious agent’s perspective, it was often like looking at the roof of a dog chasing a chicken.
Even areas without cars were no problem. Because street trees are everywhere and regularly.
The robot climbed to the top of a tree in a matter of seconds using only the strength of its arms, turned 360 degrees to the side, and then used the recoil to kick the tree trunk with both feet. It is launched like a catapult into another building.
In the aftermath of the infection war, concrete walls collapsed, or walls made of glass from the beginning were broken, leaving buildings wide open.
The building the robot was shot into was the latter.
Click.
It rolled around on broken glass on the floor, but it wasn’t a problem for the robot at all.
There were only several fine scratches on the bundle of inky-colored muscles twisted like wires.
“Kkuuk-!”
A walker who was squatting in the path fell over when his back was stepped on by a running robot.
What appeared next was the back of another walker blocking the narrow hallway.
Jump.
The robot jumped, grabbed both of the walker’s shoulders and went over his head like jumping.
“Kiss-…”
Kujik!
While going over, he kicked the face with his right foot, securing both propulsion and stealth.
The wall on the other side of the building also had a glass interior, but now it is broken, and the wind is blowing in.
The robot’s eyes, which were standing there looking for where to jump, stop at an alley. There was a strangely mutated tree there.
Plum-sized fruits grow under twisted branches. No, it was closer to an egg.
It looks like a bundle of intestines from a bodybuilder who has taken steroids to the limit. This is what Artemis discovered in the past while sending a drone south.
‘I want to scan the inside.’
Her wishes are included in the robot’s algorithm. In the form of ‘collect useful research resources.’
Boom.
The robot jumped in the direction of the tree infection.
Kwasik!
He landed using a walker loitering nearby as a cushion, wrapped the neck of the writhing creature vomiting blood, and then headed towards the tree.
An adult egg is the size of a soccer ball, but the one here is the size of a plum. It was perfect because it was easy to carry around and there was no need to worry about it hatching while on the move.
Suddenly.
I cut three fruits with a blade protruding from the back of my hand and placed them in a sample preservation pack.
‘Collection of useful research resources completed.’
It was recorded in the robot’s mission information that the bonus goal was achieved.
Sometimes we had to enter buildings full of walkers. A complex commercial building that is unnecessarily dangerous and has little exploration value.
But another bonus goal stimulated the robot’s algorithm: ‘Finding and testing suitable situations for testing new weapons.’
Ping.
With the sound of a safety pin being pulled, a grenade enters the building.
As the group of walkers stared blankly at the rolling grenade, it exploded a second later. But there is no flame or roar.
Shwaaaaagh!
Instead, a hazy green gas exploded and filled the room.
“Awesome… Kehehe!”
Walker’s voice, which was about to scream, was cut off midway. Soon, loud sounds of gurgling and vomiting are heard from all directions.
After a while, the robot flew in with agile movements and squatted down on the window frame.
Walkers falling and convulsing all over the dark room.
“Kellogg-!”
A few who were out of breath weakly stretched out their hands toward the robot, but that was their limit. They couldn’t scream or get up and charge.
Their lungs were completely destroyed by the double whammy of being burned and filled with water at the same time.
The synaptic system also collapsed, and nerve signals that were out of the brain’s control began to tingle throughout my body. The muscles of the whole body are convulsing, coughing, urinating, and the heart is racing like a runaway locomotive.
White foam and vomit filled the mouths with the walkers, and blood foam slowly rose between them.
My vision is so blurred by the endless flowing tears that I cannot even recognize the presence of an intruder.
The robot walks lightly among corpses and pieces of meat that are turning into corpses.
‘New weapon testing completed.’
This time, it was recorded in the mission information that the bonus objective was achieved.
Currently, this robot is producing the best performance among the robots deployed together.
Of course, the reconnaissance did not go smoothly all the time. In practice, variables always arise.
Pump!
The fluorescent light on the ceiling of the hallway, which had lost its shine a long time ago, was broken.
It is a Ripper, a limb with long, compressed muscles that clings upside down to the ceiling.
“Krrrr-!”
“Krrrr-!”
Two of them too.
When they came into view, the body contracted right before firing, but the robot was one beat faster.
Kiiiiing-!
The mouth, which had previously only been used to attract infected lamprey eels, had a practical function for the first time.
The sound device inside the open mouth vibrated and made a loud noise that sounded like it was going to tear apart.
“Krrrrva!”
The Reapers who were about to shoot out fall like insects hit by F. Killa. I rolled on the floor and covered my ears with both hands.
“Kkiek-!”
A walker was running 3 meters beyond the ripper. The robot just jumped and flew away.
Bang!
Walker’s ribs are shattered by a drop-kick that puts his weight on it.
Unlike walkers that move around, the robot rolls around three times and then collapses! And jumped out. After running on all fours like an animal twice, he naturally switched to a bipedal running posture.
A window right in front.
Clink!
I broke it with my body and escaped, stepped on a nearby streetlight, and landed on the veranda of the building across from me.
A few seconds later, the Reapers came out, as if following behind, but the sunlight outside was the last thing they saw.
Boom!
One Reaper’s upper body was shattered as if it were exploding, and the guy who jumped in from behind also suffered serious injuries and fell to the street.
The gaze of the robot squatting on the streetlight is directed to the other side.
Rooftop railing dozens of meters away. There was another robot there, aiming with a sniper rifle.
Kwaang!
A 12.7 mm high explosive bomb flew in the second shot. The Ripper, which was still alive, was broken into hundreds of pieces and scattered together with the stone fragments.
After finishing supporting fire, the sniper put his gun on his back and jumped to another rooftop.
“Keeeeek-!”
Two walkers, attracted by the sound of a window breaking and the smell of Ripper’s blood, found the robot on the veranda. He runs to the bottom of the veranda, stretches out both hands toward the robot, and screams.
The robot gently pushed several flower pots placed side by side with its hand, as cats usually do.
“Quek!”
With the refreshing sound of flower pots breaking, the walkers fell down, blood and dirt pouring from their heads. I was trembling and struggling to get up.
Kwasik-!
The robot landed, trampling on the heads of the two walkers.
Due to the need for support, we have temporarily gathered in one location, but to secure data, we must act individually as much as possible.
Robots run through empty streets.
* * *
“It’s perfect.”
On the central control room screen, you can see robots running through the city.
The mobility of the new robot was at an unbelievable level.
“It’s absolutely perfect.”
The word “Perfect” Came up repeatedly without any other modifiers. I was clapping without even realizing it.
[Jinsu, can you name the new model?]
When the applause stopped, Artemis spoke.
Robot redesign to introduce artificial muscles, development of software suitable for new hardware. There must have been Artemis’ tremendous, invisible effort.
Still, she gives me the most delicious part. As always.
“After the insomniacs are the plunderers. So what kind of name would be good for them?”
She waited patiently beside me, who could hardly make a decision.
After some time passed, I decided on a name.
“Stalker. “I like that name.”
[Not bad.]
Running through the ruined city, sometimes plundering, sometimes sneaking, escaping, infiltrating, hiding. I couldn’t think of a more suitable name than Stalker.
There are a total of 4 stalker robots currently exploring the test town.
Two are armed with standard equipment, including 12.7 mm firearms, while the other two are minimally armed.
A case in which one does not avoid combat and a case in which one focuses entirely on escape. This is to cross-verify efficiency in various environments.
[The durability of the robot going on an expedition doesn’t mean much as long as it is above a certain level.]
On one of the four-split screens, an unarmed robot calmly accepts a walker’s attack.
One of the female walkers eagerly chews on her wrist, which is given to her to chew.
Every time her jaw moved, one or two of her teeth fell out, and after about five seconds, her forearm was covered in blood.
Her wrists and elbows were covered with thin alloy guards that could not be penetrated by the teeth or nails of an ordinary walker.
[Even if it has adequate armor, it is no match for ordinary walkers. On the other hand, what about mutants above a certain level? No matter how strong you make it, the moment it hits you, you’re a lump of scrap metal.]
That alloy wrist protector is just borderline durable.
“This is enough. Eliminate it.”
Immediately, the index and middle fingers penetrated both eye sockets of the walker on the screen. The mouth chewing on the robot’s forearm suddenly loses strength and the walker falls down.
[Secure only as much defense as necessary and increase mobility and utility. I decided this would be the most effective for the robot’s survival. According to the test results so far, that is correct.]
Although it has been exposed to numerous attacks across the entire city, all four units are still intact.
One unit suffered considerable damage and its mobility was slowed by 20%, but it had no problem escaping the city under its own power.
“If they had been with the previous Bloodtech or Genoplan expeditions, they would have been able to return without major damage.”
If we had that level of athletic ability, we would all have come up from the Bloodtech basement together. In Ginoplan, it would have been possible to move the inspection gate along with me due to its light weight.
Walking to the southern end, where the survivor camp is located, seems to be no problem. This is an unrealistic assumption due to battery limitations.
[I’m not talking about other people. Sooner or later, you too will undergo the procedure.]
I looked at my arm.
“Will my skin color change like those guys? “Are your limbs twisted like bundles of wire?”
Artemis wouldn’t really perform that procedure on me, but I said it as a joke.
[No way.]
After a pause, she continued her words.
[I have no intention of changing my taste.]
Artemis declared as if it made no sense.
