Ch.55Loot (1)

“Kuk! This crazy….”

The cyborg under my foot wasn’t dead. His lower body was completely destroyed, and his upper body was half-shattered, but he still tried to resist me.

“You’re dying with me!”

“Tin can! No!”

What he pulled out was a detonator. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the switch.

But nothing happened.

“Wh-what?”

He pressed the switch again with a bewildered expression. He pressed it several more times, but the bomb didn’t work.

I pulled out a half-broken bomb from his torn abdomen.

‘As I thought.’

The reason I came to deal with the cyborg directly instead of sniping him was because of this bomb.

Among cyborg soldiers or mercenaries, some occasionally carry bombs inside them. There are two reasons: one is to harm enemies even after death, and the other is for the thrill.

The former is when a player implants a bomb for practical purposes. Since it’s just a game, they prepare self-destruction as a way to spite their opponents.

But since this is reality, it’s likely the latter case—someone who put a bomb in their own body for the thrill.

‘The more parts replaced with machinery, the duller the sensation of being alive becomes.’

The cyborg’s homeland, Star Union, unlike Megacorp, is a society that suppresses individual desires and emotions. As a result, quite a few cyborgs betray Star Union to pursue extreme pleasures.

‘Most cyborgs become Space Dogs, with Megacorp being the second choice.’

Space Dog is a popular choice among crazy cyborgs because life-threatening battles happen daily, and there are few prohibitions against indulging twisted desires. That’s why cyborgs affiliated with Space Dog don’t implant bombs in their bodies for thrills.

‘Those who overflow with love for life wouldn’t implant bombs.’

They might force bombs into others for fun, but they cherish their own bodies.

On the other hand, Megacorp, while better than Star Union, still has limited ways to satisfy desires. That’s why there are occasional cases like the guy in front of me who implant bombs in their bodies for thrills.

‘That was the setting for cyborg suicide bombers appearing as Megacorp affiliates.’

Normally, I would have treated it as just a setting and moved on.

But I’ve already fought a Hulk Mutant with a bomb connected to its heart on Eusung’s ship.

Realizing that these mentally unstable people who carry bombs in their bodies might exist in reality, not just in settings, I naturally had to be careful.

If I had killed the cyborg with a sniper shot and the bomb exploded, No. 26 and Adhigh would have been critically injured.

‘Better to play it safe.’

“F-fuck! Why won’t it explode!”

My concern wasn’t unfounded. Seeing the bomb in my hand, the cyborg wailed. I stepped on his chest and grabbed his head with my combat arm.

When I applied pressure, the cyborg let out a groan like a scream.

“Urgh, grrgh!”

I thought about killing him slowly since he had been tormenting No. 26, but there were still enemies left. I pulled upward with my combat arm that was gripping his head.

“Kuk?!”

“Tin can!”

When I pulled off the cyborg’s head, his mechanized spine came with it. The cyborg, now lifeless, had his tongue hanging out, and black oil mixed with blood dripped from his half-broken spine.

“D-damn it!”

The heavy gunner who had been blankly watching me kill his comrade finally came to his senses and pointed his composite grenade launcher at me.

I certainly wasn’t going to let an enemy attack with grenades when the kids were nearby. I threw the cyborg’s head I was holding at him.

The skull was coated with steel. It was already like a blunt weapon, and thrown with an AMorph’s powerful strength, there was no way he could survive the hit.

“Argh!”

The cyborg’s head struck the heavy gunner’s shoulder hard. He screamed and dropped his weapon.

“Fucking shit! Damn it!”

With his shoulder broken, he cursed in anger and ran away.

Instead of chasing him, I checked on No. 26 and Adhigh. No. 26 didn’t seem to have any external injuries.

[Zzzzzz (Are you okay?)]

“Yes. Check on the little one first.”

As he said, Adhigh was lying face down on the floor in an uncomfortable position after being hit by the enemy’s net. I used my nails to cut through the net.

“Great Young One” “Thank you”

[Zzzzzzzz (Are you hurt?)]

“I” “Injury” “Minor” “Fine”

The net must have been designed to tighten around its target, as there were thin net-shaped wounds all over Adhigh’s blue scales.

Since Adhigh doesn’t have any recovery-related traits, it will take some time to heal completely.

‘…I should give the heavy gunner to Adhigh.’

Eating the heavy gunner might make Adhigh feel better.

After checking their condition, I finally checked on William. He was looking at us with an ambiguous expression, unsure whether to be happy or not.

‘He only has two choices: die by the enemy or live as my slave.’

Anyway, Adhigh was slightly injured, but no one had sustained critical wounds. I called No. 26.

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz (There’s more prey over there)]

“More prey?”

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzz Zzzz (One is alive, one is dead)]

“I just need to eat the dead one, right?”

Having been with me for a while, he understood immediately. I patted him once to indicate that’s what he should do, then went after the escaped enemy.

The hunt is coming to an end.

–

“Huff, huff, huff….”

Hope ran, clutching his broken shoulder. The container barricades that would have provided security in other operations looked different today.

“Hik?!”

Feeling like someone was watching him from above, Hope turned his head in terror. Despite looking around frantically, there was nothing visible on top of the containers.

Then he heard a sound like wind from behind. It sounded like ventilator blades turning or like some huge animal flapping its wings.

He quickly turned around, but the space was empty.

“…….”

Trembling, Hope unstrapped the weapon from his back and gripped it. It was a gauss rifle he had purchased with his own money to protect himself.

‘I need to change the ammo quickly…!’

It was a creature that wouldn’t die even when hit with grenades. Hope thought he couldn’t win without armor-piercing rounds.

“Kuk, damn it!”

Because his right shoulder was broken, he had to change the ammunition with just his left arm. Hope barely managed to load the armor-piercing rounds and held the gauss rifle with his left arm.

Hope thought.

The numerous obstacles here were disadvantageous to him. The creature could fly, so it might be looking down at him from somewhere high even now.

‘I need to get out of here!’

The car that Janet had parked at the district boundary. Escaping in that car was his best option.

Having set his goal, Hope ran again. He heard the ominous flapping sound near his ears again but deliberately ignored it.

Normally in such situations, he should report immediately to Siheyon Yujin, but Hope wasn’t in his right mind.

Despite having been through all kinds of battlefields, he had never seen a monster that ripped off a living comrade’s neck and then threw it as a weapon. If his teammates had been there, they might have helped restore his mental state, but everyone who could have played that role was dead.

‘Is, is this the right way?’

He kept running, but the fence at the boundary point was nowhere to be seen. All he could see were similar-looking containers.

Due to pain and fear, Hope found it difficult to confirm if he was going the right way.

‘No! It must be right! It must be…’

As he was reassuring himself while running, something other than containers finally came into his view.

Janet, with her head covered in blood, was sitting against a container.

Her goat horns, which she always boasted about, were completely broken, and her white hair was dyed red with blood as if it had originally been red.

“Janet?”

“Ugh… Ho-Hope?”

Hope hurried over to examine her as she leaned against the container. Up close, her injuries were more serious than he thought. Much of her scalp was damaged, exposing the white bone.

“Are, are you okay?”

“Quickly report, report to the young lady…”

Hearing her stammering words, Hope remembered what he needed to do. He quickly pulled out his communicator.

“Hey! You can’t die too! Pull yourself together!”

“Ha… To think the last person I see is you… damn…”

Janet muttered in a dejected voice. Despite the situation, her response was the same as usual, and Hope was about to retort.

“You crazy bitch, you’re still like this even now?”

“Kuk, you, you wouldn’t be any diff…”

Before she could finish her sentence.

Something black descended from the top of the container and grabbed her head. A pitch-black hand resembling darkness yanked her upward.

Then, with a sound like meat being minced, blood splattered from the top of the container. Janet’s trembling legs went limp, and her pants became soaked with blood.

“Hee, heeek!”

Hope fled without even thinking of counterattacking with the gauss rifle he was holding.

All his training, his expertise with heavy weapons, his countless experiences of killing.

None of the elements that made up Hope had any meaning in this abnormal situation. All he could do was run away like a child.

Was it a miracle from heaven for him?

The boundary of the port district appeared before his eyes.

He even threw away the gauss rifle he was holding to escape a little faster.

“Huh, huff, huff, huff…”

His broken shoulder shook violently as he ran, but the overwhelming fear dominating his mind prevented him from feeling the pain.

Running at full speed like a track athlete, he quickly got into the car. Fortunately, Janet had left the key in the ignition. Who could have predicted the operation would turn out like this?

He started the car. As the mid-size sedan’s engine roared to life, he pressed hard on the accelerator.

Janet’s car shot forward like a launched missile. The mass of containers in the port district quickly shrank in the rearview mirror.

Hope breathed a sigh of relief.

He had finally escaped from that hellish port district.

‘I, I need to contact…’

He should have contacted them when his comrades started dying. Belatedly trying to convey this information to Siheyon Yujin, he picked up his communicator.

Since he needed his left hand to hold the steering wheel, he had no choice but to type the message with his right hand. His hand and arm didn’t move well, probably because his shoulder was broken.

After barely sending the message to the number, he checked the rearview mirror once more to see if anyone was following.

“Huh?”

Through the rearview mirror, he saw a small object near the district boundary.

The object flashed a small light, and soon the car shook violently. The car with a punctured tire moved out of Hope’s control.

“Uh, uhhh!”

Hope desperately gripped the steering wheel with both hands, but it was too late. A utility pole was waiting ahead.

A loud crash echoed, and Hope flew through the car’s windshield. Tracing a parabolic arc like the grenades he often used, he crashed mercilessly onto the road.

Then the utility pole that had been hit by the car fell onto the vehicle.

Sparks flew from the camera mounted on the utility pole, and flames erupted from the car’s leaking oil.

“Ugh, ughh, ugh…”

He needed to get away somehow, but his body refused to cooperate. Behind him, crawling like a worm, came the sound of glass fragments being stepped on.

It was ‘that thing.’

It had followed him.

The creature that had followed him threw a long object in front of his eyes. It was the coil gun his comrade Dwayne had used for sniping.

“True generosity is when one can take revenge but chooses not to.”

A woman’s voice he had never heard before came from behind him as he lay there.

A voice that was peaceful without any fluctuation. It was definitely the voice of the monster that had slaughtered his comrades.

“I am not generous.”

‘It’ roughly grabbed him.

“Pl, pl, ease…”

‘Please don’t! Spare me! Spare me! Please! I was wrong!’

Hope begged, but only a wheezing sound came out as his jaw seemed to be broken. Ignoring his pleas, the creature slung him over its shoulder and walked toward the port district.

Behind Hope, being dragged to hell, only the blazing car remained.