Chapter 146 – Brain and Nerve Laboratory (1)
The loud rotor sound shakes the heavens and the earth.
Below us, the reddish-brown, barren land passes quickly by. A road stretches between them, sparsely installed information signs, and bare but bare street trees.
The sky was approaching dusk. The clouds, which were once a dirty grayish-white color, become colored like cotton candy on fire.
It was a place reminiscent of a scene from a western movie.
[5 minutes before arrival.]
If I take a quick look around, there are helicopters surrounding me tightly.
“What a minister. “I’ve been on several expeditions in the past, but now I finally feel like it’s a battlefield.”
Nine helicopters are cutting through the sky. If the expeditions we have been through so far have been similar to special missions, now it feels like an all-out war.
Any helicopter is full of heavily armed robots.
The robot’s limbs are made of several twisted, shiny black wires. It contains the strength given by God.
The cold winter wind blows mercilessly, but it is not cold at all. My whole body is tightly wrapped in a combat suit.
Fiery.
When you make a fist, you can feel the suit reacting to the contraction of muscle fibers, from your biceps to your forearms, wrists, and hands.
It was not simply providing protection, but was also boosting strength in conjunction with the movement of my muscles.
Charalak.
The area around the back of the hand, which was once smooth without shine, becomes hard and pangolin-like scales are formed.
It is a technology extracted from the skin of the Assembler, a mutant infectious agent capable of reconstructing the body.
[How is it comfortable to wear?]
“It’s a little weird, but it’s okay.”
The combat uniforms I used to wear cannot match the improved functions of my body.
This new nanosuit, a harmonious combination of organic and inorganic materials, will be responsible for my future survival.
It seems like just yesterday that I was walking through a dark shelter alone with a shotgun and an axe, but a lot has changed.
[3 minutes before arrival.]
An industrial complex can be seen in the distance.
Just a year ago, this was a place where black smoke was spewing out from chimneys everywhere. It almost seemed as if clouds were growing from the ground. But it’s clean now.
The place we are heading to is the Neuroscience Research Institute. The giant brain I saw when I visited the MetaCraft Research Institute was also developed here.
“Are we going to stop going outside now?”
As I stretch my arms outward, I feel a strong collision of air. It’s a completely different level of pressure than putting your hand out when a car is going over 100 kilometers per hour.
“It’s so sad.”
[I feel cool inside?]
I’m the type of field commander who prefers rolling around in the field, but she doesn’t really like it.
[You’ve been around enough, right? Now, back off and give orders from a safe place.]
Artemis wants me to stay in a dark operation room and give orders like the commanders in the movies.
[Or you could just leave it all to me and live comfortably, feeling like the owner of the building. Isn’t Koreans’ biggest dream to be a building owner?]
“Own me the building…”
When you see your blood boiling the moment you hear it, it doesn’t seem like it’s wrong.
Building owner. There is something about that sound that stimulates the instincts of Koreans. Artemis got more excited by my reaction.
[Even our building takes care of its own management? There are no calls to residents about clogged toilets, power outages, or water leaks. There are no notifications from the troublesome fire association telling you to do this or that.]
Of course, being a building owner is not always easy. As a manager, there are quite a few things you have to do. But I have a very capable deputy manager.
[There is no need for troublesome resident management. Not following the garbage disposal date, making noise at night, using the house like a pigsty, or fighting with each other. There is no reason to be stressed about this. If you don’t listen, you can kick me out.]
Super Gap is convenient in this respect.
“Just like you said, once this job is over, you won’t have to go out, so don’t worry.”
There are many technologies and research materials lying dormant in the outside world, but there is one that is particularly valuable.
It is a technology that is applied to the human body.
It is different from programming that can be run indefinitely or engineering experiments that can be done as many times as you have the resources.
Research can only be done by inserting a syringe into a human being or pinching its nerves.
Even Artemis can’t overcome this. Data from research institutes that have been conducting clinical trials for several years or even decades should never be lost.
Therefore, technologies applied to the human body, including facilities registered as national security facilities and subject to strong security, cannot send only robots.
This is because in the process of bypassing security without my authentication, a counter program may be activated, and valuable data may be incinerated.
Even if I had to take risks, I had to go there myself and secure all the research materials.
Now there is only one such place left.
[1 minute before arrival.]
The Brain and Nerve Research Institute is located in the center of the industrial complex.
Although it is not the size of a large city, there are infectious agents on a scale that cannot be ignored.
Crying, twisted palms turn towards us like the maw of the depths of hell.
No matter how much I look at the waves of those undulating hands, I can’t get used to it.
“Krrrr-!”
Reapers climb up the electric pole and stare at us in a crouching position. He remained calm as if he knew that it was a distance he couldn’t reach even if he jumped.
“Kwoaaaaa Unit (-)-!) -!)?
Thud! Thud! Boom!
Juggernauts chasing us, running on the crumbling road.
We cannot just sweep them away with a carpet bombing like we did with the Zino Plan.
This is an industrial complex overflowing with oil, chemicals, and various types of gas. If napalm was dropped, the entire city, along with the laboratory, would be engulfed in flames.
[There are too many enemies in the outskirts. It is impossible to get stronger like this.]
“In attack formation.”
The helicopters spread out and took up position. The robots on board immediately started shooting with the 12.7 mm heavy machine guns mounted on both sides of the helicopter.
Infected organisms lurking next to cars, in alleys, beyond windows, on rooftop railings, and throughout the city exploded, causing bloodshed.
The Juggernaut’s massive size is just a target. Like an African buffalo running away from a poacher’s helicopter, it ran with all its might before falling over and rolling loudly.
Sooooo!
Drone bombers rushed past us, making sharp noises.
Loaded with grenades instead of napalm, they bombed places where infectious agents could hide, such as inside buildings or open manholes.
The exploded vehicle bounced several meters into the air, and broken pieces of stone and bricks flew out. There are plenty of meat pieces and bone fragments mixed in between.
During the battle, countless power pole wires were cut, but since the electricity had already been cut off for a long time, there were no sparks.
Ujikkeun!
The tower crane caught in the bombing makes a roaring sound and slowly tilts.
“Keeeeek-!”
The mindless walkers just stared blankly at the dark shadows casting over them.
Kwaang!
Dozens of walkers were flattened into blood clots, and as the crane body that hit the ground rolled to the side, more walkers were turned into dough.
The intelligent mutants fled. Like monkeys climbing trees to avoid a landslide, they climbed signs, building walls, and street trees and tried to take refuge on the rooftop.
Crossfire from machine guns pours down on them.
Like flying insects hit by Fkilla, they fall helplessly and are scattered with the corpses of walkers.
There is no way to escape from the anger falling from the sky.
Next to where the tower crane was, there was a building under construction.
A building where the frame and pillars have been completed, but the walls have not been built in earnest.
“Keeeeek-!”
The walkers inside were clearly visible.
Kwaaaaa!
A helicopter circled around the building and descended. Machine gun bullets were poured into each floor like peeling apples.
The heavy shell casings raining down like crazy created a circle around the building as if it were a barrier.
They refrained from using flame weapons due to the risk of an explosion, but they did not hesitate to give hot gifts to buildings where the fire was unlikely to spread.
Shwaaaaa!
An incendiary bomb fired from a helicopter headed toward the hotel. It is designed with a panoramic view and the entire wall is made of transparent glass.
In a room on the fourth floor, a naked female walker was wriggling her arms while looking at the helicopters outside the glass wall.
An incendiary bomb was placed precisely in her room.
First, shards of broken glass from her spear hit Walker’s body, and less than 0.1 seconds later, the metal body of the incendiary bomb shattered her upper body.
Leaving behind the walker that was torn in half and flying away, her warhead hit the wall and exploded into a huge flame.
All the glass walls shattered, and the hotel was engulfed in flames. Walkers, burning and dancing with flames, fell and shattered all over the room.
“They’re all here.”
The research center can be seen in the distance.
A double level D iron fence made up the outer wall, and there were three watchtowers. There are walkers walking around in military uniforms.
It seems that this place is managed much more strictly than other facilities. Of course, the main research facilities are underground.
“The more dirty the facility is, the more it is dug underground.”
[Because there is nothing more difficult in the human body than the brain. You touch and knead it here and there, but of course there are a lot of things you want to hide.]
Before we knew it, our helicopter entered the sky above the research center.
The inside is also full of walkers. Although he escaped from the basement of the laboratory, he was ultimately unable to go outside the premises.
Researcher gowns, cleaning uniforms, security guard uniforms, and staff uniforms from various suppliers. Monsters dressed in various costumes are shouting at us.
They were unable to open their eyes properly due to the wind blowing out from the proximity of several helicopters, and some even lost their posture and fell.
[Are you ready?]
I nodded.
Now we don’t need a helicopter rappel or landing.
“Operation begins.”
I said.
[Roger!]
All the stalker robots sang loudly.
Everyone poured out of the helicopter with the sound of the wind cutting.
Boom!
Maintain your posture even in the air and land as is. There was a fairly heavy sound, but no robots were damaged at all.
Kwasik!
There were also robots that used the walker as a cushion to reduce shock.
Ta-ta-tang!
After landing, they immediately began eliminating hazards around them. Fighting broke out sporadically in all directions, but quickly subsided.
“Shall I go too?”
I looked down and took a deep breath.
I’ve tried rappelling from a helicopter countless times, either in practice or in real life, but this is my first time rappelling barefoot in real life.
The moment I stepped out of the helicopter, the pressure I felt below evaporated in an instant.
The wind is crashing like crazy and the ground is rapidly getting closer to me.
Boom!
The impact was surprisingly minimal. It almost makes you wonder if he jumped from a height of about 1 meter.
“It’s my body, but I’m surprised.”
If you look at the helicopter that jumped out, it is quite high up.
[Helicopters will continue clearing operations and manning operations from outside. In case of emergency, it takes 2 minutes to arrive.]
After lightly waving at the helicopters moving away, I headed inside the facility.
[Welcome to visit. Commander Seo Jin-su.]
The doorway opens with a welcome greeting that I am now getting tired of and will no longer hear.
