Ch.409Appetizer (2)

In the dim complex, the sound of water hitting metal echoes.

Alex, who had just left the security team building, made his way to the management office where the system administration team was stationed.

“Damn it. How could they manage the complex so poorly that it ended up like this?”

While the inside of buildings had emergency lights, outside was completely dark. Buildings and metal structures that should have been brightly lit were all shrouded in darkness.

‘Why is there so much fog?’

Though he had worked at the research complex for a long time, he had never seen fog this thick before. It was so dense that it was difficult to identify anything even a few meters ahead.

Buildings without light, endless rain, and thick fog. It was as if the entire complex had sunk into an enormous swamp.

The only source of light on his way here had been the glow from his power armor.

“I don’t see those idiots anywhere.”

There were thousands of people in the research complex, including his subordinates.

Alex turned on the thermal camera built into his helmet and looked up at the tall security tower.

He could see people moving inside. They were shaking violently as if dancing, then suddenly stopped.

‘Stupid fools.’

How much drugs must they have taken to react like that even when the entire tower was engulfed in darkness? He clicked his tongue at the security tower, then moved on.

With each step, the heavy mechanical sound and splashing of pooled water tickled his ears.

The power armor he currently wore was high-grade, provided to team leaders. Thanks to its high-performance detection capabilities, it could sensitively detect surrounding sounds and movements.

Because of this, he knew that he was the only one walking on the rainy streets.

Of course, that didn’t mean there were no people at all. Thanks to the thermal camera, he could see humans moving inside the buildings.

Even now, he could clearly see people by the windows inside buildings. Some were thrashing wildly like his subordinates in the security tower, while others just stood still.

He tried to dismiss it as insignificant like before, but suddenly had a strange thought.

Humans standing motionless in places without light, and others twisting their bodies as if dancing in the darkness. Something seemed off about simply attributing it to drug-induced behavior.

And though difficult to explain, whenever he looked at them, he felt an inexplicable creepiness. It wasn’t the feeling of looking at colleagues or subordinates. They seemed human only in appearance, but something entirely different inside.

‘…Must be my imagination.’

While it’s true that the soldiers in the research complex were corrupt, that didn’t mean the security system was a mess too. The complex perimeter was filled with numerous mines and combat drones, and powerful anti-aircraft batteries were installed throughout.

Additionally, there were thousands of humans armed with power armor inside the buildings.

It would be absolutely impossible for outsiders to infiltrate this place without facing any resistance. The anxiety was merely an illusion.

Alex forcibly suppressed his rising unease and moved on. Of course, he couldn’t help his unconsciously quickened pace.

After a short while, a rectangular building without windows appeared in the distance.

That building was the management office that stored various data from the research complex. It had an independent power supply system and communication network to prevent data damage from terrorist attacks.

Alex approached the door and entered the security code.

“Security team member ‘Alex’. Approved.”

A brief message flowed from the terminal next to the door, and the thick alloy door opened.

“Phew.”

Alex let out a short sigh after entering the management office. Was it because of cold sweat, or the humid air? The inside of his power armor had become unpleasantly damp.

He would like to remove his helmet, but the job wasn’t finished yet. Alex operated the terminal on his wrist to display an internal map.

“Beep”

His position was marked with a circle on the holographic map. His destination was the information processing room on the second floor. Using the communication equipment there, he could transmit files to the pirates.

‘Good. Then let’s go… huh?’

A sticky water sound echoed as soon as his foot touched the corridor. Looking down, he saw the floor was flooded.

‘What is this?’

Judging by how the liquid stuck to the surface of his power armor before falling off when he moved, it wasn’t rainwater. It seemed that sewage had backflowed after the power outage.

“…Damn it!”

It was fortunate that he couldn’t smell anything thanks to his helmet. Alex muttered a small curse and walked toward the second floor.

‘Is this it?’

Upon reaching the information processing room, he entered the security code and went in.

Inside were rows of computers larger than himself in power armor. Even though the lights were off like outside, the glow from the computers illuminated the interior clearly.

All the computers seemed to be functioning properly. Alex approached a nearby computer to check.

“The communication network is normal.”

He pulled out a cable from the computer and connected it to the terminal on his power armor to transfer the data.

‘Done!’

The amount of data being transferred and the remaining time were displayed inside his visor. The transfer would be complete in one minute.

Rustle

Just as he was about to relax and feel relieved, he heard something from inside. Alex quickly stood up.

“Who’s there?”

The only response was the mechanical sound from the computers.

“Must have misheard…”

Rustle rustle

“!”

Hearing it a second time, he was certain. That wasn’t a sound made by a person. Checking the holographic map, he saw a new triangular mark that hadn’t been there before.

Someone was in the information processing room when there should be no one but him.

“……”

Tensely, Alex entered deeper into the forest of machines. His heartbeat quickened as he got closer to the triangular mark.

Once he passed the computer in front of him, he would see the unidentified intruder. He tightened his grip on his weapon.

As soon as he passed the last obstacle, he pointed his gun forward.

But there was nothing there.

“What?”

The triangular mark on the map was pointing right in front of him. But looking around, all he could see were computers, wires, and a small external terminal.

‘Wait.’

As he stared at the floor, a sudden thought made him flinch. His head slowly turned upward toward the ceiling.

“?!”

There was a woman’s head hanging upside down. “It” was staring at him with blood-red eyes, as if blood vessels had burst.

When Alex was startled by the unexpected appearance, “it” opened its mouth wide.

“■-!”

“Ugh?!”

Alex stumbled backward from the sudden pain in his ears.

He felt an intense pain in his ears, like being stabbed with an awl. Something flowed from his ears down the back of his neck.

Alex roughly removed his helmet. Looking at the inside of the helmet’s speaker section, it was charred black and covered in blood.

‘Damn it!’

He clearly cursed out loud, but couldn’t hear anything. His hearing had definitely been damaged.

Just then, something the size of a human head flashed by in front of him. He immediately fired his Gauss rifle.

Light flashed from the muzzle, and aligned computers collapsed as electric lights flickered.

‘I’ll kill it!’

Enraged, he threw away his damaged helmet and chased after the unidentified being. The triangular mark on the holographic map moved rapidly.

He could see the woman’s head moving through the broken machines, hair fluttering. It moved so quickly thanks to several legs protruding from beneath the head.

It would have been difficult to track if he were bare-handed, but he was wearing high-grade power armor. Alex used his enhanced physical abilities to smash through computers as he followed the signal.

‘Got it!’

Just before “it” escaped through a ventilation duct on the wall, a tungsten bullet fired from the Gauss rifle hit one of its legs. The main body disappeared into the ventilation duct, leaving behind a fragment of its broken leg.

‘Not letting it escape.’

Thanks to the building map, he could clearly see where the ventilation duct led. Alex returned to the entrance of the information processing room to go to the room connected to the duct.

When he opened the closed door, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

‘W-what is this?’

The corridor he had passed through just minutes ago was filled with thick fog. It was the same fog he had seen outside.

And something was writhing beyond the dense fog.

‘Helmet!’

His instinct screamed. That fog, or rather gas, was extremely dangerous. Alex hurriedly looked for his helmet to avoid the gas.

“Team leader.”

Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, Alex was startled by those who appeared with it.

“So you were here, team leader.”

“We’ve been looking for you.”

The owners of the voices were his subordinates who should have been in the security tower. Armed with power armor, they looked exactly as Alex remembered them.

“It’s dangerous here.”

“We need to get out quickly.”

His subordinates standing in the fog, urging him.

Alex lowered his guard and followed them out of the information processing room.

“It’s because of the separatists’ terror attack.”

“They even brought in the Sino Group.”

“The others are buying time, but I don’t think they can hold out much longer.”

“This way.”

Following his subordinates downstairs, something felt off. The information processing room was definitely on the second floor of the management office. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to exit the management office.

Yet they were continuously going down stairs. His subordinates didn’t seem to notice this anomaly and continued conversing naturally.

“■■, ■■ ■…■?”

When he tried to call out to his subordinate, no voice came out. Or more precisely, his voice left his mouth but he couldn’t hear it. His hearing, damaged earlier by “that thing,” hadn’t recovered.

“What’s wrong?”

“We don’t have time for this. We need to hurry.”

“……”

Come to think of it, both he and his subordinates were wearing power armor. He had heard the heavy mechanical sounds and footsteps countless times on his way here. With three power-armored individuals present, it couldn’t possibly be this quiet.

“■, ■■■, ■■?”

‘You, who are you guys?’

At Alex’s question, the subordinates walking ahead stopped in their tracks.

“We don’t have time for this.”

“We need to hurry.”

Their heads slowly turned. Faces with eyes covered by helmet visors appeared.

“We·don’t·have·time·for·this.”

“We·need·to·hurry.”

Cracks appeared on the familiar faces of his subordinates. Like glass about to break, cracks spread across their entire faces and bodies. Through the cracks, something black could be seen churning like boiling liquid.

“Join·us.”

“Join·us.”

The guides of hell, hidden inside the shells, pounced on Alex.

“Danger. Eliminated.”

Hearing screams from the floor below, MPS-03 crawled out of the ventilation duct. As soon as it emerged, it checked its broken leg.

“Damage, minor. Temporary repair, possible.”

PS-111 and AMorph had given MPS-03 two abilities when creating it.

One was a sonic attack ability created by applying genes from cave ghouls that primarily inhabit ice caves and underground. This ability, which AMorph called “destructive sonic wave,” could easily damage the hearing of even heavily armed enemies.

The other ability was “heat emission.”

MPS-03 picked up the broken leg fragment with its thin, long spider-like legs. Holding it against the broken part, the area began to glow red.

“Repair, complete. Complete!”

The mini screamer shook the leg that had been fused using high heat several times. It wasn’t perfect, but it wouldn’t hinder movement.

“Task. Confirm. Confirm.”

MPS-03’s mission was to transfer some of the data stored here to the terminal received from AMorph. The intruder who interrupted had been dealt with, so it needed to return to its mission.

Dragging its metal legs, it went back to copying the data.

After about ten minutes, it had copied all the data requested by AMorph. MPS-03 held the external terminal in its mouth and was about to leave.

While crawling toward the door, it seemed to have another thought and stopped in front of a certain computer.

“Intruder. Computer, used.”

It knew that the opponent had entered this place by entering a security code.

This building was an important place handling various information. It needed to check what the opponent had been doing.

“Usage history, purpose, confirm. Confirm.”

Perhaps this information would also be helpful to AMorph.

After checking all the computers used by the intruder, MPS-03 left the place.