Chapter 371 – Exile (13)
The lost equipment of the Russian Allied Forces is scattered throughout the battlefield. It was especially severe around the tunnel where the surprise effect was clearly visible.
But the warlord commanders had no choice but to neglect them for now.
The damage was so severe that there was no room to recover, and decontamination was necessary to get close.
[Chemical bombs have been dropped into the tunnel. A marking drone will be flown at that location, so do not approach within a 100 m radius.]
A drone flashing yellow light like a warning light at a construction site warned all around at maximum volume.
A radio message with the same content was transmitted to the remaining troops through the Russian command.
However, each commander added one more command.
[Do you mean to stay here?]
The officers’ reactions in the intercepted communications were the same.
Shock, anger, embarrassment.
[So are you saying we should throw away all the equipment lying around here? We will somehow send decontamination equipment and a recovery unit, so monitor the supplies until then!]
The commander-in-chief, General Konstantin, stepped down from his position half of his own volition.
The command, which has been split into several pieces in an instant, is in the process of blaming its respective units on the issue of equipment recovery.
[Of course we have to collect it. But don’t you see what’s happening here now? The mixture of monsters and human corpses creates a fishy smell even from 100 meters away. We’re just as messed up as those corpses. Please allow me to retreat!]
The tone was half confrontational, but due to the extreme nature of the situation, the commanders held back their anger.
They were aware that they were giving unreasonable orders, and since they had lost a lot of their troops, they would have to treat the remaining ones with more care.
[What if we leave now? Guys like Seungnyang are going to take it all! I can’t trust other warlords, let alone those bandit stalkers! You must definitely watch it!]
The stalker the Russian commander is talking about is not referring to our robots. Here, the searcher was called a stalker.
In the end, many units gave up and followed orders, but there were exceptions.
[You bastard, are you rebelling or deserting during wartime?!]
An extremely excited commander shouted at the communication being intercepted.
[Uh. I desert because I feel like shit. So what are you going to do?]
[Wow, this guy is really crazy? How dare you tell your superiors…]
[Fuck you, you bastard! If you catch him, chase him and catch him.]
The remaining troops of a warlord ignored the commander’s orders and attempted to leave as a group.
One T-90 tank, two Humvees, one military truck, and 14 soldiers. There were so many casualties that the number of people seemed small compared to the number of vehicles.
As I was listening across the river as if watching a fire, I was puzzled.
“I understand how upset you are, but what are you going to do if you desert in this barren land without a base?”
[It seems to me like emigration, not desertion.]
Artemis pointed out the direction they were heading. The deserters were heading straight south.
“Are those kids really trying to come to Korea?”
[It’s not really about border control or passports. With that level of equipment and experience, wouldn’t you be able to do anything after coming to the Korean Peninsula?]
“Well, whether you work as a mercenary or work under a suitable warlord, you will be treated kindly.”
Now the commander was screaming that he had done something wrong and that he should not leave.
However, not only the officers but also his non-commissioned officers and soldiers took turns mocking him.
[There are too many things to ask for without being properly supplied.]
[Shut up you trash.]
[Lie down naked and pray with your feet. Then I’ll think about it.]
[Hey, shut up. Just thinking about it makes me vomit.]
I don’t feel sorry for the commander who is mocked while giggling.
“So, do it well on a regular basis.”
When I saw that other units grumbled but generally followed orders, I got a sense of how unpopular the commander was.
“But aren’t you worried about your family in the base? “You must be receiving some good treatment at the station.”
[Like in Korea, there are not just warlords concentrated in the form of manors within the garrison. Due to the barren nature of eastern Russia, some units are stationed separately due to supply issues.]
As if to prove Artemis’ words, the unit that had just rebelled was intercepted radioing to their families.
The message was to gather your packed luggage and gather at a pre-determined location.
The woman who answered the phone is also heard telling her sons and daughters to spread the word to their neighbors.
Since this was an era in which only the strong and quick could survive, women and children were in perfect condition like soldiers.
The number of soldiers whispering as they watched the deserters leaving for the south increased one by one.
Even non-commissioned officers and officers are whispering to each other, so changing affiliations at this time seems quite attractive.
“There is no harm in having useful soldiers come down.”
In today’s world, there is no need to be viewed crookedly as a deserter.
Aren’t you a soldier who risked your life to fight against the Exile army?
The Korean Peninsula is already short of workers due to reconstruction and farming. Even if your limbs and mind are intact, you are welcome, but only if you are a soldier who fought against Exile and his family.
[The moment they cross the border of the Korean peninsula, the warlord will definitely ask us to deport them.]
Repatriation is a ridiculous request, but they probably think it’s worth asking not to bring them into Korea.
“What if I refuse that?”
[They probably hold a grudge against us. It may not be a very painful or scary grudge, but it will be annoying when working in that area in the future.]
“Then what if we are expelled?”
[It will go under a rival warlord. Everyone is in a difficult situation due to this battle anyway.]
“Then I won’t be afraid of retaliation.”
In Korea, because the land was small, it was easy to send a chase team, and even the warlords did not want to pretend that what was good.
On the other hand, in Russia, it is possible to jump 1,000 to 2,000 km away if you want.
In the post-apocalyptic era, how can you chase them down that street and catch them?
It was a huge risk to even fight against heavily armed men who entered the territory of another warlord.
“Hmm.”
Once I thought about it up to this point, the decision was easy.
“Looking at it, there will be more than one person who will come down like that in the future, and we can’t kick them all out. “I accept it and when the warlords criticize me, I make excuses.”
[Excuses have already been set up for each warlord.]
I watched the tank rolling on an endless track and disappearing toward the Korean Peninsula.
People are people, but more than anything, the equipment they brought was mouth-watering.
* * *
Caw!
A bald eagle and a crow flew in from somewhere as if they had already smelled the scent.
Soon, packs of wolves and wild dogs will appear.
A bald eagle landed on the Exile corpse. It gave a little shake and then sat down on the human corpse.
It seems that they prefer soft human flesh over the hard and tough Exile muscles.
One of the soldiers who saw this aimed his gun, but the non-commissioned officer stopped him by holding down the barrel.
“It’s bittersweet.”
I was looking at it from afar, then shook my head and turned around.
A heavily armed stalker unit was waiting at the entrance to the Exile nest.
“The sweep operation begins.”
Lead them inside.
Although it has been compared to an ant cave, its majestic scale can easily be described as an underground palace.
If you didn’t know about the existence of tunnel monsters, you would have wondered how they built such a shelter.
“No matter how physically good you are, it makes no sense to build a kingdom like this by digging with your hands.”
In addition, it was a cave built by digging out of the ground, and the surfaces of the ceiling, floor, and walls were coated with a hard material.
The principle is unknown, but it is moist everywhere, possibly due to a structure that stores moisture inside.
Ta-ta-tang!
An Exile that was hanging from the ceiling and tried to approach fell, spraying blood.
The gun is pointed at the head of the miserably strewn corpse.
Bang!
Even if it was certain that the person was dead, if the head was still intact, he was instructed to fire one shot at a time.
The poison gas sprayed by the Russian Allied Forces’ RC car in the early and middle stages of the operation has become very diluted.
It was natural since they didn’t use professional chemical attack equipment, and it was just a temporary measure to draw them out.
As the tunnels became clogged with poisonous gas and corpses of their own kind, those that retreated and returned to their nests appeared infrequently.
“Keluk-! Ker… Reuk-.”
The guy who had eaten some of the poison gas and was vomiting excitedly looked up when we appeared.
A large-diameter lead bullet flew right away and shattered the vomit-stained face.
Individuals too young to participate in battle were also found. There were people as small as a cat and as large as a retriever.
It seems that he was hiding when the tunnel was dug and came out when the poisonous gas disappeared.
The cubs were eagerly eating their dead brethren, and when they heard our footsteps, they bared their teeth.
“Kyarrrr!”
“Kahaaaaak-!”
For some reason, it feels like a cat’s bite.
Puhwaaaaak!
The harsh words were answered with a flamethrower.
As the burned cubs rolled around in all directions and let out pitiful screams, other Exiles flocked in, as expected.
As visible miniguns and large-caliber rifles fire, the squishy sound of falling pieces of meat echoes.
“Stop shooting”
I was planning on shooting and killing everything, but I found one thing that caught my interest.
A calf-sized crustacean larva is wriggling around on the ground. There was a monster that came to mind as soon as I saw it.
“Could it be the child of a tunnel monster?”
The Exile that was taking care of the crustacean larva rushed at us and collapsed, blood pouring from its entire body.
[Launching! Be sure to capture that one alive!]
Artemis shouted, very excited.
Her tunnel monster’s incredible digging abilities seem to have impressed her.
The research value was incomparably higher than that of the regular Exile, which was just a killing machine.
Two stalkers with guns on their backs tied the carapace larva around with chains he had brought.
“You’re quieter than I thought?”
Contrary to expectations that she would fiercely resist, she accepted the stalkers’ capture.
It feels like a bull following the reins pulled by a human.
That image reminded me of the ant ecology data Artemis showed me earlier.
I turned over the body of the fallen Exile.
Bang bang!
After shooting point-blank in the abdomen, he put his steel grip into the torn space and opened it.
[What are you doing?]
“There’s something I want to experiment with for a moment.”
[Experiment?!]
Artemis’ voice turned bright red.
Games and experiments. Those are two words she cannot use. Especially if it comes from my mouth.
After tearing off the tender flesh and intestines, she placed the carapace she was dragging into the mouth of her caterpillar.
Enemy!
Immediately, he catches the flounder and eats it.
When it showed a movement that resembled the snout of a leaf-eating caterpillar, the flesh and intestines disappeared in an instant.
The crustacean larva seemed to be disappointed even after eating all of it, and brought its sniffing snout into the iron grip soaked in bodily fluids and blood.
[Wow, that’s interesting.]
Instead of biting the hand, it only inhaled the few remaining pieces of flesh and then retreated.
[If a lion or leopard is not tamed from infancy, it will bite the hands of the zookeeper who fed it for several years. The appearance, function, and ferocity are too different to be the same Exile.]
“I know. The cubs I saw earlier seemed ready to attack me right away.”
When I gave it a few more pieces of meat from the dead nanny, the carapace larva happily ate it.
“This feels closer to livestock or slaves than to their fellow countrymen? Just like ants raise aphids and scale insects.”
Artemis appears to be the most excited she’s been in a while. Her loud emotional signals crashed into her brain through linked cyberspace.
It was a truly strange feeling. Is this what it would feel like if the other person spits on my face while I am free from the restraints of the body and having a soul-to-soul conversation?
“I respect your joy as a scientist, but please keep in mind that you are a monster. If anything happens, they will be immediately culled.”
[What are you looking at me for? Regardless of interest, drawing a line in research is basic.]
“For that, I felt your emotions too strongly.”
[Ugh…]
She always looks through my physical condition like a voyeur with excellent observation equipment.
Not only did she change her body temperature and hormones, but when she was naughty, she also made fun of her by counting the time remaining until her erection or wet dream.
But now the reversal has occurred.
It seems disconcerting to have intuitively peered into her own mind through her link in cyberspace.
* * *
The Exiles who fled north ran in a straight line except for a brief pause.
Just like a salmon returning to its hometown and swimming up the river.
Even if we become independent of the infectious agent, the root cannot be denied.
There are several inherited characteristics, including ferocity and an instinctive tendency to form colonies.
[Since the nest has been destroyed, there will be wandering groups, and there will also be individuals trying to enter other nests.]
Assuming a bad scenario, there are already multiple nests spread out, so you join one of them.
[However, considering Exile’s short history, hopeful speculation is possible.]
Artemis, like her teacher in her workbook, skillfully gave me hints and guided my answers.
“Are they trying to return to the base where they first originated?”
[That’s it.]
The Exiles who fled north all ran in one direction.
Thanks to this, even though they started from all over the battlefield that extended over several kilometers, they all came together as one at some point.
“Kyaaaaak-!”
One of them was seriously injured and had to give his body as emergency food to his compatriots.
The guy tried to fight for his life, but he couldn’t because his limbs were being bitten and pulled from all directions as if he was being punished.
In less than 10 minutes, the Exiles, who have left only the bones behind, resume their march.
After an arduous forced march, they finally reached a mountain range covered in ice as much as snow.
The lens of the drone carrier following in the dark sky is enlarged.
I quietly filmed them digging through a crack in the White Mountains.
