Chapter 354 – Life Finds a Way (1)
People who work as explorers are generally quick-witted.
Finding and picking up useful items before others.
Detect ambush or danger and make a move.
Be aware of whether the approaching person is likely to turn into a robber.
Find out whether the person who occupied a good camping spot is suitable for sleeping together.
When recruiting new employees, figure out whether they are useful people.
If you do not have the intersection of these senses, you will fail at some point.
If you spend more than you earn, you can’t survive or you die.
In that sense, those who made it all the way to Gaema Plateau were elites with both the heart of a beast and the acumen of a beast.
“Captain, wouldn’t the radioactivity have faded a bit by now? “How about taking a quick look at the outskirts of the battlefield?”
A scout from the searcher group said.
They were active in Gaema Plateau and scavenged for old North Korean military equipment. These days, I’m paying attention to the places where Chinese battles took place.
This is because salvaging just one useful piece of equipment from the fallen soldiers or blown away by a nuclear storm can make a lot of money.
“No. I won’t even go there. “Just don’t even look south.”
The leader shook his head as if it wasn’t worth thinking about.
“If it’s because of radiation, don’t worry. I have no intention of going all the way to the center of the explosion, but rather just salvage a piece or two from afar. “I also brought a Geiger counter here.”
“It’s not because I’m afraid of residual radioactivity. There’s nothing good about going there and running into machines for no reason.”
“Hey, we’re not going to hide in an underground bunker, are we? “They won’t say anything if you pick up some equipment rolling around on the ground.”
The country where you leave your laptop in a café and leave it there even after going to the bathroom has become a thing of the past.
Nowadays, it is a world that disappears in an instant if you take your eyes off it for even 10 seconds. If you haven’t collected it yet, maybe you just threw it away? That was what my colleagues thought.
“What if the higher-ups at the shelter plan to collect it later? You’d be happy if some bad guys snooped around on the equipment you lost during a fierce fight, right? Then, if your face is filmed by a drone, will you be able to enter the police station with a chill in the back of your head?”
“How can it be possible for noblemen who already have a lot to come forward like that… Huh?”
The scout who was grumbling quickly put the telescope around his neck to his eyes.
Accordingly, everyone’s eyes followed the direction of the telescope.
He is a scout who has brought in several bonanzas with his amazing sense of smelling money. Everyone trusted his senses.
“Oh, this is awesome! It’s a word that has no owner! It also has a saddle.”
Everyone’s faces turned bright red.
Now that oil has become scarce, horses are a strategic material that is very active in both movement and transportation.
Through Kiz’s broadcasts, the Korean style horse liquor production method has also become popular, and many explorers drink horse liquor like nomads to rejuvenate themselves.
If it has stirrups, it means it was lost after being touched by someone, so it won’t run away even if you approach it.
As long as you take the reins, you immediately become their property.
“Isn’t that just one animal? Two… And three… Oh, shit. There’s a person on board.”
There was no person riding on the saddle of the first two horses, but the third horse had a human shape.
“Urajil.”
“I was just wondering if my luck would improve.”
There are sighs here and there at the scout’s words.
They were conscientious workers and did not even consider the option of killing and stealing.
“Now, wait a minute!”
The scout shouted as he adjusted the telescope magnification.
“What else?”
Even though I was already tired, my expectations turned into disappointment, so one of my colleagues got annoyed.
As he is the only colleague equipped with a high-performance telescope, he seems upset that he has no choice but to be dragged around like this.
“I think it’s true that there is no owner. “The person on board is dead?”
The scout, who was always friendly, spoke in a nervous voice.
“You didn’t see it clearly, did you? Also, don’t pick people up and put them down.”
“If you can’t tell if it’s been cut from the chest, you have to stop looking. Moreover, some horses only have one leg caught in the stirrup and swaying?”
“…”
While everyone was silent, the scout handed the telescope to the captain with trembling hands.
“It’s true.”
The captain said after looking through the telescope.
“What should I do? Should I take it out?”
“Let’s abandon three horses? Giving up the belongings that would have been in the saddle or body?”
“It means that there is a monster out there that will chase and kill you even if you run away on horseback. “If we go there for no reason, we will all get involved and die.”
Like most veterans, they were not deceived by immediate profits.
Just by looking at the wound, one could tell that it was the work of an infectious agent, not a human being, or even a mutant.
Thanks to the infectious agent information released by the shelter, experienced investigators can gauge the level of risk just by looking at the scars on the corpse.
“Take care of the horses.”
The captain made a decision.
“Captain, but…”
“Are you okay. If you look at the horse’s movements, it looks very tired. No blood flowing from the corpse. Most likely, he died a long time ago and then ran a long distance. “It is unlikely that the monster that killed the rider followed it that far.”
Although he was quick to scout, the captain was still superior in making the optimal decision through short observation.
“Now, business is closed here today. Let’s get our horses and leave as quickly as possible before we get caught in the air.”
“I understand!”
The searchers began to run without sparing their stamina. He had great stamina and speed, comparable to a special forces armed canter.
Fortunately, the three horses were too tired to move any further and sat down in place.
“Huh! “Huh!”
“Hey!”
Everyone was breathing heavily when they reached the 200 m distance, and they stopped running when they reached the 50 m distance.
It wasn’t because they were too tired that they stopped.
Buuuuung!
It was because of a drone passing over their heads.
Large size, unique design, loud flying sound as if boasting powerful output, and gun mounted at the bottom.
At first glance, it is a Shelter-made combat drone.
“Oh my.”
“Ha…”
No matter how unfortunate it was to waste money, there was no crazy person who would dare compete with the Shelter Army for loot.
Everyone just looks at the captain with resentful eyes.
“… What?”
The captain also avoided eye contact, as if out of shame.
* * *
A close-up of the faces of the searchers looking up at the sky in despair appears on the central control room screen.
“Oh my God, I feel sorry for you.”
Artemis held her stomach and laughed.
She deliberately watched the figure running from afar, and when it reached it, it was she who made it descend.
“Anyway, about personality.”
I activated the microphone connected to the drone speaker and put it to my mouth.
“This is a message to all searchers. We have no intention of claiming permanent ownership of those horses. “I just want to examine the bodies, search the routes, and find out what threats lie north.”
My words were delivered to the searcher group through the drone speaker.
They don’t know, but it’s thanks to them that our drone found a horse.
This is because while investigating a group of searchers wandering the border area, they happened to find a horse nearby.
“The autopsy team has begun preparations to dispatch the investigation. We will be grateful if you preserve the horse and the body and move it to the coordinates we designate. This is an official request from the shelter manager.”
Before I could finish speaking, the person who appeared to be the leader drew a circle above his head.
And for some reason, he glared at his subordinates with harsh eyes and pointed a pointed finger at them.
* * *
After winning the all-out war against the Chinese army, we built an outpost in a secret North Korean air raid shelter.
This is to prepare for future crises from the North, such as new variants of infectious agents, infectious diseases, and other nuclear risks.
Therefore, a specialized robot identification team was also equipped to identify corpses and battle scenes.
Thanks to the cooperation of Korean investigators, we were able to secure the horse and body easily and quickly.
[It was an honor to be able to help!]
The entire group of investigators, including the leader, greeted the robot identification team as they handed over the horse and body.
They are people whose status has been registered in the entire polis.
“Joo Pil-seung, leader of the Victory Exploration Team. Is that right?”
[Yes! Me!]
The captain’s analysis information appeared on the central control room screen.
Name, age, transaction records in the police, and various personal information were indicated. For someone who lived a rough life, he lived a creditable life without ever having an accident.
“I deposited credit equivalent to the cost of three horses and transportation into the police account. If there is no need to say anything after the inspection, we will leave it at a location we designate and contact you. You can take it then.”
[Thank you! Thank you!]
Carrying horses from North Korean territory to a South Korean trading market and arguing with merchants is tiring.
They were ready to bow down when they were able to solve them all at once and, if they were lucky, receive additional compensation.
* * *
The robot identification team took over the horse and the corpse and moved it to the bomb shelter outpost.
Two corpses were pulled down and one leg that was hanging in the stirrup was also released.
[Puh hee hing!]
The horses seemed scared, surrounded by lifeless machines. But I was so exhausted that I couldn’t resist properly.
Medical robots wiped away the foam stuck in the horse’s mouth and brought lukewarm water into buckets.
The horses immediately put their heads down and gulped down the water.
When I pick a salad containing a lot of carrots, which is one of the long-term preserved foods, and give it to him, he eats it like a glutton.
After unsaddling the horse and wiping its sweaty body with a towel soaked in warm water, it seems that only then did the robots realize that there was no hostility.
[Purring.]
He was gently cared for and left to investigate himself.
“There are no special scars on the horse. It seems like the infected agents only targeted the riders on board.”
Artemis said.
It appears that survey data is being transmitted in real time, as the golden eyes blink frequently.
“What is the infection response?”
“Scan result is negative. “It doesn’t seem like a parasite was implanted inside the body.”
“Looking at the state of the body, it doesn’t seem like it was hit by a monster that used such tricks.”
I changed the screen by manipulating my seat button.
Two corpses and a piece of leg are on the treatment table in a North Korean air raid shelter.
All the clothes I was wearing were removed, and my belongings were inspected.
“The two remaining bodies belong to men, and one leg belongs to a woman. “I think it’s been about two days since death.”
“Did he suddenly run away when he saw the canteen was empty?”
There was nothing special about the clothes, bag, or saddle.
Even after two days, the body has not decomposed much.
This is because we have now reached the end of autumn and the temperature has dropped due to the sudden descent of the Siberian air mass. That body must have come from a colder place in the north.
Thanks to this, we were able to observe in detail the three stab wounds on the back, the torn cross-section of the upper body, and the cross-section of one leg.
“It’s not something someone like Walker can do. Which variant matches?”
“Nothing matches.”
Artemis said after finishing the short search.
Our database contains not only the body information of infectious agents. The scar patterns of the bodies killed by them are also entered.
It is a pattern that even we, who have killed the greatest number and variety of infectious agents among the existing human forces, are unaware of.
“Chase a running horse and kill it…”
Each infectious agent poses an extraordinary risk, but it is rare for one to be fast enough to catch up and kill the rider of a running horse.
“You can rip it cleanly with one blow like this?”
The corpse had three scars on its back and a tunnel in front of its chest. The attacker’s fingernail(?) Completely penetrated the torso of an adult male.
The story is that he is a difficult guy who possesses tremendous main power and attack power at the same time, and is also strong against the cold.
But the real problem was different.
“Jinsu, I’m talking about that severed leg.”
The screen shows a cross-section of a leg that has been roughly cut as if it had been bitten by a crocodile.
Next to it, there is a hook-shaped tooth extracted from the cross-section.
“Is it from the guy who attacked?”
“Maybe.”
Walkers also have sharp teeth, but it feels more like a scratch.
On the other hand, it looked strong, like that of a saltwater crocodile, as if it could crush steel with its bite.
“I found the monster’s saliva not only on those teeth, but also on the cross-section of the leg.”
“Has the vaccine been detected? If it comes from northern Siberia, it may not be possible to reach there.”
Since the vaccine is being distributed by relying on air currents, there are some areas where it is difficult to see the effect. Northern Siberia is a representative location.
“It was detected. From all the body tissue attached to the saliva and teeth. But it wasn’t attacking the cells.”
“What?”
“The vaccine and its body cells coexist peacefully.”
Artemis’ face became stiff.
