Ch.46Android (2)

“Be careful, big baby”

“Adult” “Danger” “Careful”

[Zzzz (you too)]

As planned, I sent them ahead first. It worked without problems before, so it should succeed easily this time too.

‘I need to do well.’

Now that I’ve sent them ahead, all that’s left for me is to make my entrance.

‘So which path should I take?’

There are three routes available right now. The paths going down at both ends of the corridor, and the route climbing down the outer wall of the corridor.

‘They’re probably monitoring all corridor approaches.’

The space transitioning from the stairs to the corridor is extremely limited, and my body isn’t as small as before, so I’d be turned into a honeycomb the moment I enter. Even with physical enhancement, it’s difficult to survive a concentrated barrage of tungsten bullets.

‘Climbing down the outer wall won’t be easy either.’

It’s a method I’ve already used once. They’re likely to be on high alert for it. If the police have taken enhancement drugs, their heightened senses would quickly detect my attack.

‘Or should I go through the downstairs apartment like before?’

Climbing down through the window and ambushing the enemy from the second-floor apartment. It’s the method I used to quietly capture Police Officer 106.

It’s a decent approach, but if the enemy anticipates my attack, its effectiveness would be halved. The attack route itself is more complex compared to other options, so there’s a greater risk of being detected by androids along the way.

‘Creating a distraction would make it more effective.’

There must be a good method somewhere.

‘Ah.’

While thinking, a good idea suddenly came to mind.

‘I forgot about this since coming here.’

I should use that useful trait that worked so well on the research vessel again.

I moved down to the third floor, keeping my footsteps as quiet as possible.

Through the concrete floor of the corridor, I can sense the enemies’ movements.

The faint electromagnetic waves emitted by electronic devices, the distinctive rubber-and-metal smell of artificial skin, bodies completely motionless. Mixed among them are the smell of sweat, the movement of muscles swollen thicker than usual, and rapidly beating hearts.

A duet created by machines and humans.

‘The police have used enhancement drugs.’

Excess power leaks through their skin and clothes as heat.

When injected with enhancers, physical abilities increase and senses become as sharp as an animal’s rather than a human’s. If I had gone down without preparation, the police would have immediately detected and attacked me.

‘That’s fortunate.’

Even with enhanced senses, their cognitive abilities aren’t expanded.

The enemies probably think I’ll enter from the corridor ends or the outer wall, but they won’t expect an attack from the “ceiling.”

Looking at the enemies’ positions, the androids are covering the front and rear, while the five humans are in the middle, also divided to guard the front and rear like the androids.

Standing above the police officers’ heads, I used the claws of my elongated combat arm to create wounds all over my body. The outer skin split open, and black blood flowed from inside.

‘I need a lot of blood.’

To melt through the thick floor, I repeated the process of creating new wounds on healed areas.

When I judged the floor had melted enough, I made a deeper wound. Blood gushed like a fountain from my wound and splattered on the corridor floor.

‘Good.’

In a few minutes, a large hole will open in the floor and acidic blood will drip through.

After confirming the acidic blood was properly melting the floor, I opened a nearby door and jumped into the apartment.

I quickly crossed through the apartment, opened the window, and crawled down to the lower floor.

“Oh no! Acidic solution!”

“Everyone be careful!”

The enemies voiced their panic at the acidic blood pouring from above.

Meanwhile, I had already entered the apartment on the lower floor. The door leading to the corridor stood firmly blocking my way.

I put all my strength into my body and rammed straight into the door.

With a loud crash, the door flew into the corridor, crushing a police officer who had been standing there. Bright red blood sprayed through the door panels, soaking the corridor.

“Urgh?!”

“Enemy attack.”

The enemy probably didn’t expect me to strike from both the ceiling and the side simultaneously. An android with M01 marked on its head quickly identified me and raised its Gauss rifle.

As the gun barrel started turning toward me, I grabbed the head of a nearby police officer and pulled him close. The android, programmed not to shoot its comrades, hesitated momentarily but then fired at me anyway.

‘As expected of a robot, huh?’

Even though I’m using a person as a shield, it’s precisely targeting only me. A stinging pain rose from the areas hit by bullets.

Meanwhile, the other police officers recovered from their confusion and reorganized their formation. Except for the officer I had grabbed, the rest distanced themselves from me.

“Regular bullets have minimal effect. Everyone switch to armor-piercing rounds.”

This one must be the commander unit. While two police officers provided covering fire, the others quickly switched their ammunition as ordered. The Gauss rifles in the police officers’ hands transformed with mechanical sounds to accommodate the armor-piercing rounds.

‘Oh no.’

Needing cover, I retreated back into the apartment. Armor-piercing rounds penetrated the wall and poured in behind me. One of them pierced through my tail.

‘Even walls can’t stop armor-piercing rounds.’

Not planning to just take hits, I swung my bleeding tail widely. Black droplets of blood scattered and landed on the police officer who had followed me in.

“Shit!”

“The creature’s blood has acidic properties!”

The police officers hesitated at the acidic blood. I moved to the neighboring apartment through the window. Through the wall, I could hear the police searching the bathroom and kitchen.

‘Tsk. Looking at these armor-piercing rounds, they seem even more effective than in the game.’

“Mmph! Mmph!”

While checking the wound on my tail, the police officer in my grip struggled to escape.

Though the officer’s strength wasn’t weak due to the enhancer’s effect, being grabbed by the head seemed to limit his ability to exert much force. I tightened my grip to quiet him.

“……”

When my hook-like claws scraped against his helmet making a chilling sound, the officer immediately became docile.

‘I should make more use of this one.’

I activated the parasite colony in my lower right arm. Level 5. One level higher than Sander.

‘In the game, level 5 meant you couldn’t do anything at all, but I wonder how it works in reality.’

Black worm-like parasites emerged from the holes of the parasite colony and attached themselves to the police officer.

“W-what! S-stop it!”

The police officer struggled in terror, but with his head in my grip, his resistance was extremely limited. I picked up a parasite that was trying to fall off with my finger and brought it to his face.

Just as the parasite was entering his nostril, the wall collapsed with a loud explosion.

“Target found.”

An android with M02 engraved on its head appeared, breaking through the wall. Specialized for close combat, it wore gauntlets with pile bunkers attached to both arms, except for its third arm.

As soon as M02 spotted me, it threw a punch at my head. I quickly grabbed its wrist with my combat arm, but simultaneously a metal stake was fired at my head. Sparks flew as the metal scraped against the outer skin of my head.

I also pulled out a saw tentacle to counterattack. The long tentacle’s whip lashed across M02’s face. The densely packed saw blades completely stripped away the artificial skin covering its face and severely damaged the metal skeleton underneath.

“Error occurred. Requesting support.”

“Supporting.”

M01 appeared from behind and fired its Gauss rifle at me. My tentacle, not yet retracted, was mercilessly torn apart by the armor-piercing rounds.

Though only the tentacle was damaged, pain was felt throughout the entire arm. I retracted the half-remaining tentacle while hiding behind M02’s body.

“Incapacitated. Attack recommended.”

“M02. Thank you for your service.”

M01 ignored my action and fired its gun with the intent to kill both M02 and me. M02, with lower defense than mine, was instantly reduced to rags.

‘This is why I hate androids.’

Since they don’t experience mental disturbance, my usual deception tactics and surprise attacks are ineffective. Using the disabled M02 as a shield, I aimed my spine launcher at M01’s third arm.

“You monster bastard!”

Just as I was about to fire, police officers came to support M01. A rain of armor-piercing rounds poured toward me from beyond the ruined wall’s debris.

‘I need to fire this and get out.’

My head and chest, the hardest parts, were safe, but not the rest. There’s a limit to how much my outer skin can withstand. While my limbs were being pierced by bullets, I barely managed to fire the spine.

The spine, launched from the end of my lower left arm, flew at high speed and destroyed the Gauss rifle held in the android’s third arm.

“Weapon damaged.”

While the android hesitated, I threw the police officer lying on the floor at them. Being infected with the parasite, he should be able to slow them down sufficiently.

“!”

“Everyone cease fire!”

As expected, when their comrade came flying, the police immediately stopped firing. I sent a mental command to the parasite to go berserk, then escaped from the apartment.

“Hey, are you okay?!”

“103! Wake up!”

“Ugh, uuugh…”

After entering the corridor, I ran toward where they should be.

By now, they should have finished everything and be waiting for me.

–

“Ugh, AAAAARRRGGGHH!”

“103!”

“My, my heeeaaad!”

103 clutched his head and rolled on the floor. The police officers hurriedly grabbed him. Given that he was a full-grown adult male with enhanced strength, calming him down was no easy task.

“Please calm down!”

“Pleeeease! Someone! Get this thing out!”

While the other officers held him down, William quickly operated the terminal attached to 103’s wrist. The treatment drug built into the enhancement suit was injected into 103’s body, but his condition didn’t improve at all.

“What is this…?”

“It’s not poison but a virus or some very small organism that has infiltrated the brain, I presume.”

M01 answered William’s question. With its third arm destroyed, it was now wearing the power bunker gauntlet that M02 had used.

“…Any way to treat it?”

“I am not a medical android, so I cannot treat it. He must be transported to a hospital immediately.”

“Damn it!”

William spat out a harsh curse.

He didn’t know who Sander had been dealing with, but that creature far surpassed Hulk Mutants.

Its attack methods were incredibly diverse, with genes inserted that were beyond recognition. What’s even more frightening was that the creature utilized its attack methods extremely well.

“AAAHHH!”

“Damn it!”

“M01! Do something about this!”

“We must pursue the target. The target has been identified as an extremely dangerous combat organism. If the target hides in another apartment, severe casualties are expected.”

“Fuck! We can’t just leave him like this!”

While the police and android argued about what to do with 103, his condition rapidly deteriorated.

“Aagh! Ah, aah… s-s-sorry…”

“103?”

Suddenly 103’s expression completely changed, and he abruptly stood up. Then he shot the police officer who had been holding him with his Gauss rifle.

“Kuhak!”

“105!”

105, with a hole in his abdomen, coughed up blood and collapsed.

103, who had shot his comrade, had tears flowing from his eyes, but the corners of his mouth were strangely turned upward.

“Hee, heehee! I, I should have done this sooner! Hee, heeheeheehee!”

“103, snap out of it!”

“103’s condition is poor. Judging he is being controlled by the parasite, I will subdue him.”

M01 approached 103. The deranged police officer turned his Gauss rifle toward M01, but he was too slow. M01 struck the back of 103’s neck, knocking him unconscious.

“Subdued successfully.”

“105! Don’t lose consciousness!”

“Ugh, uuugh…”

“Inject the treatment drug!”

“Please!”

William hurriedly administered the treatment drug to 105, but frankly, even he could see it was hopeless.

The treatment drug wasn’t a cure-all, and unless 105 was taken to a hospital immediately, he wouldn’t survive.

William stood up, leaving the unconscious 105 behind.

Excluding 105 with a hole in his stomach and the unconscious 103, only 102, William, and M01 remained.

“…M01. The situation isn’t good. Call the androids and police on the first floor immediately.”

“Understood.”

If the three of them confronted the creature now, the best outcome would be mutual destruction. If the creature pulled out some new attack method, they would all certainly be annihilated. This time, M01 agreed with William’s words and connected the communicator.

“This is M01. Those on the first floor, please come up.”

“Crackle crackle”

“This is M01. I repeat. Those on the first floor, please come up.”

“Crackle crackle”

“……”

M01 repeated the same message, but only static came back through the communicator.

The meaning of that sound was clear.

‘There wasn’t just one!’

Only then did William realize.

While the creature was stalling for time, its companions had targeted the androids and police waiting on the first floor.

“It seems the creature executed a diversionary tactic.”

The android’s words confirmed his thoughts. As the machine said, they had fallen into a trap.

A trap set by unidentified beings.