Ch.59Hospital (1)

Afternoon 6 PM at the T&C Special Trade Center’s port district.

Normally, this would be a time when workers in coveralls would be bustling about, but not today.

The defense fleet’s soldiers and security team’s police were all mobilized and standing by at the port district.

“The head of House Egerton will be visiting earlier than originally scheduled. There must be absolutely no mistakes.”

“Of course! General Manager!”

Lila Chamberlain, the ruler of the city, silently nodded at the crisis management team leader’s response.

While the head of House Egerton was known to the public as the Black Lion, flaunting his bravery, his reputation among the upper echelons of Megacorp was somewhat different.

Lila defined Danver Egerton, the noble from Mars, like this:

‘An eccentric.’

Generally, people from Noble Capital and Prime Capital aren’t kind to their subordinates. They either treat them as slaves or possessions like Akira Yujin, or handle them in a strictly businesslike manner like Lila.

The head of House Egerton could be said to be the only Prime Capital figure who enjoyed widespread popularity.

‘And I’m the one who suffers because of it.’

While Lila maintained an expressionless face on the outside, irritation was building up inside her.

Originally, Danver was scheduled to arrive two days later, just before the board meeting.

The reason Lila was preparing to receive him so early was because she had received intelligence that Danver was coming to the city earlier than planned.

‘He enjoys surprise shows.’

It was clear he was pulling such a stunt to show off his uniqueness to the city’s public.

But she couldn’t just let him come whenever he wanted. If she mistreated a popular guest, the citizens would point fingers at her, and Sadam Chamberlain would surely be greatly disappointed in her handling of the situation.

‘…That fox-like bastard.’

While Lila was suppressing her anger on one side, on the other side, police officers from the security team were gathered for a meeting.

“Has the port district security team completed preparations?”

“Damn, we really struggled with smugglers causing trouble just when he’s coming.”

“Thank you for your hard work. And William, who contributed greatly to tracking down the smugglers this time, you did an excellent job. If it weren’t for you, we would have embarrassed ourselves in front of our esteemed guest. Haha.”

“…Thank you.”

“Hmm, you’re still working as the port district detective team leader, but you can expect good news soon. Look forward to it.”

While William was receiving congratulations from everyone, he felt extremely uncomfortable inside.

They knew nothing. About how serious a danger this city was currently facing.

‘…Egerton.’

In the past, William had been a soldier. The place where he had served wasn’t an ordinary crisis management team, but a secret unit directly under Danver Egerton, who was now arriving.

‘It was a place where they were testing new Hulk Mutants.’

Saying they would improve Hulk Mutants was tantamount to saying they would compete with House Yugin. The political risk was difficult to bear even for the head of House Egerton.

That’s why Danver put great effort into maintaining secrecy.

Those assigned to the secret unit were all given fabricated backgrounds. On paper, William was recorded as having worked in the crisis management team aboard House Egerton’s flagship.

However, in William’s view, Danver personally wasn’t a bad person. Rather, unlike the ruling class of Megacorp, he was a good person, close to being a kind-hearted man. Officially, Danver denied the existence of the secret unit, but he took care of the people assigned to it.

If it weren’t for that incident, William and his colleagues would still be working under Danver, loyal to him.

‘If only that bastard hadn’t conspired with the test subject…’

One of his colleagues in the secret unit betrayed Danver. He escaped with a new Hulk Mutant test subject and disappeared.

Fortunately for Danver and William, the news wasn’t delivered to House Yugin. But as a result of this incident, the unit was disbanded, and William and his colleagues each began new lives.

‘If His Excellency still remembers me…’

If only he could convey his situation to him, he might be able to resolve the threat facing this city.

As William was lost in thought, suddenly an alarm sounded from speakers installed throughout the district.

It was a signal that a ship was arriving.

In sync with the signal, the dark sky above the port district rippled momentarily. This was due to the double shield doors installed at the port district affecting the hologram.

Then, a crack over 200m in size appeared in the sky. The massive shield doors opened, and a warship emerged from within, flaunting its majesty.

The new warship was based in white with golden decorations. With a length of 700m and a height of 100m, it was so enormous that it could be seen from the city’s borders.

Thanks to the light pouring from the illumination attached to the dome-shaped ceiling, the warship resembled a hero’s ship from ancient mythology.

“So a new model has finally come out after five years.”

Lila muttered as she looked at the unfamiliar warship.

The warship landed on the ground at a slow speed.

Then, the ship’s doors opened, and men armed in silver armor like medieval European knights walked out. They were Egerton’s Silver Lion Knights, known to everyone within Megacorp.

In fact, what they were wearing wasn’t actual armor but high-grade reinforcement suits painted silver. It was far from medieval or traditional, but they were deliberately dressed like that due to Danver’s instructions, who valued image.

‘Such pomp and circumstance.’

Lila clicked her tongue, but at least from the general public’s perspective, Danver’s judgment seemed to receive considerable approval. This was because all the soldiers and police in the district were looking at the Silver Lion Knights with eager eyes.

The knights who disembarked from the ship stood in a line, leaving the middle open. The knight on the far right front, wearing the thickest and largest armor among the knights, raised a flag with a lion on it and shouted.

“The great ruler of Mars and the Black Lion of Egerton, His Excellency Danver Egerton, has arrived!”

In line with his introduction, Danver was the last to disembark.

In contrast to the other knights, he wore armor based in black with gold decorations. This was Danver Egerton, the Prime Capital of Mars.

As Danver descended, he removed the helmet he was wearing. A man with black skin and snow-white teeth smiled and raised his hand high.

Since Lila had stationed soldiers and police to match the other side’s formality, she gave a nod to the crisis management team leader beside her.

As he hurriedly started clapping, all the soldiers and police in the port district cheered in unison.

Danver responded to the cheers by lightly waving his hand. He enjoyed the cheers and leisurely passed through the lined-up knights.

And finally, those at the pinnacle within Megacorp faced each other.

The first to break the brief silence was Lila.

“Lila Chamberlain, daughter of Sadam Chamberlain, greets Danver Egerton, the head of Prime Capital House Egerton.”

“It’s been a while. To think the little girl from before has become such a splendid lady.”

“Thank you. However, please call me General Manager now, Danver.”

Seeing her smiling with her mouth but not with her eyes, Danver chuckled. He looked around again and muttered as if impressed.

“Well, well. I also paid attention to security, but Sadam would be pleased.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Give the reporters adequate time. That’s why I brought the prototype warship.”

“Reporters are already waiting outside the district.”

“Oh, is that so? Impressive!”

Danver nodded with an approving expression. At his carefree demeanor, Lila gritted her teeth inwardly but didn’t show it.

‘Someday, definitely…!’

Within Megacorp, Noble Capital and Prime Capital are collectively called the 7 Great Houses, 7 Great Nobles, but in reality, the gap between the two classes is quite large.

Only Noble Capital is eligible to run for CEO, while Prime Capital only has voting rights for the elders and heads within their houses.

However, even so, it’s clear that kingmakers also have considerable influence. Prime Capital knows this and actively utilizes that authority.

Like Danver Egerton, who was laughing heartily in front of Lila.

Danver was being rude by arriving earlier than promised and talking about promoting his new warship, but that was just an external show. His real intention was to test Lila, who was in charge of preparing for the board meeting.

To see if she, if her house T&C, was qualified to be the next CEO, if she was a card worth betting on for House Egerton.

“Haha, you’re still as thorough as ever.”

When she showed no particular reaction, Danver laughed loudly. It was a signal that the first test was over.

Lila inwardly sighed and spoke again.

“Please leave the rest to others and come with me to the administrative district. I have questions about the new warship.”

“It would be a shame to just leave after coming all this way. I’d like to greet the people here.”

“…I’ll wait.”

Since it was obvious that he would do as he pleased anyway, Lila didn’t try to stop him. Danver approached the soldiers and police with a smile.

As Danver was perceived as a star by the Megacorp public, there were many who requested his autograph. While the exchange continued in a good atmosphere, a familiar face caught Danver’s eye.

“Wait, you? Wil… no, NH01, isn’t it?”

“…It’s been a long time, Your Excellency.”

As Danver mentioned his past codename, William bowed his head. Danver patted his shoulder in a gesture of welcome but then frowned.

“Were you always this thin? You weren’t this skinny before.”

“……”

Judging by Danver’s concerned attitude, he still had affection for William, his former subordinate.

‘His Excellency would understand what my actions mean.’

William made a decision.

“…Please, Your Excellency.”

“Huh?”

With those words, William drew a laser pistol and shot himself in the stomach.

–

‘A hospital.’

From my memory, there are a total of three large hospitals in the space city that can treat severely injured patients. One is in the administrative district, and the rest are all in the commercial district.

‘The hospital in the administrative district is only accessible to Third Capital and above, so William can’t go there.’

The signal from the parasite is coming from the commercial district. Fortunately, the hospital is close to the station, so it would be good to go through the subway tracks.

‘The route is settled. The problem is that it’s early evening now.’

Being in the commercial district, there are still many people shopping on the streets.

It’s good news that the hospital and station are close, but since it’s close to the end of the workday, there are many people at the station.

I plan to take an active approach, but I don’t intend to wage an all-out war with the city. Besides, if I kill a bunch of people at the station, the nest might be discovered.

‘But I still have time. Let’s not make hasty decisions.’

According to the waves sent by the parasite, William is currently in a coma.

If that’s the case, the medical staff will likely prioritize saving his life. It’s unlikely they’ll immediately try to extract the parasite.

‘The discovery of the parasite is inevitable, though.’

Given that he’s been hospitalized with severe injuries, there’s no room for luck.

‘Since the parasite continues to report, I’ll wait until night for now.’

In the meantime, I need to think about how to approach the hospital.

The place where William is located is the hospital I was admitted to after the apartment complex battle.

At that time, I didn’t approach the hospital directly, but instead sent an armed police officer infected with a parasite to extract him.

‘There are many androids in Megacorp hospitals.’

In Megacorp, severely injured patients, those needing genetic modification, or patients of Prime Capital and above are treated by genetic modification doctors. Otherwise, doctors rarely handle general patients except when aboard ships.

Most patients are treated with medical capsules, so androids handle them instead of high-level personnel like doctors.

‘They’re not combat types, so fighting itself would be easy, but…’

Medical androids are troublesome opponents in a different sense.

‘They all carry call bells.’

When a medical call bell rings, it’s immediately transmitted to the hospital’s central AI, and appropriate measures are taken based on the AI’s judgment. If an android rings the bell when I attack, police and soldiers will immediately be dispatched to capture me.

Due to these difficulties, hospitals are one of the hardest places to infiltrate even in games. Even for someone like me who’s skilled at infiltration, I’d rather not tackle a hospital.

‘Without EMP characteristics or stealth characteristics, entering would be… Ah.’

Speaking of stealth, a good method came to mind.

The high-grade reinforcement suit I acquired from the sniper at the port district.

That reinforcement suit has a stealth function installed.

‘If I activate the reinforcement suit and then consume it, wouldn’t the stealth effect occur?’

It’s based on synthetic fiber for light modification, but special metals are mixed in to implement stealth, so it’s a target for my characteristics.

‘The duration of metal absorption is over 20 minutes.’

Originally it should be 20 minutes, but my current body is in an enhanced state with complete organic characteristics. Since metal absorption is also applicable, I should have some leeway, probably between 20 and 30 minutes.

However, 30 minutes is neither long nor short. Given the dense surveillance network in the hospital, the longer I take, the more disadvantageous it becomes for me.

‘To deal with William quickly, I need to know the structure of the hospital before entering.’

Fortunately, I have a way to learn about the structure without directly going to the hospital.

I returned to the nest in the commercial district with the kids.

[Zzzzz zzzzz (Don’t touch me)]

“Going to nest?”

[Zz (Yes)]

“Little one. Don’t disturb.”

“?”

Having seen what I was doing on the spaceship before, No. 26 immediately understood. He took Adhigh Orr and moved away.

‘There’s no need to keep such a distance.’

Since it’s out of consideration, there’s no need to point it out.

I comfortably lay down on the nest and pressed my chin to the floor. My auxiliary organs also touched the sticky surface of the nest.

As always, I felt a floating sensation, and then suddenly it felt like I was being sucked into a hole, pulled downward.

Having done this several times, I’m now familiar with the sensation during linking.

‘Find the hospital.’

My auxiliary organs received my command and began searching for hospitals among the things that exist on the ground.

The footsteps of people walking on the streets, the sounds of people working in stores, the chatter on the streets. The first sensations that were caught were the sounds created by the city.

Following closely behind were sensations related to smell. The smell of food from restaurants, the smell of clothes soaked in sweat from office workers, the smell of polluted air that hasn’t been purified yet, and so on.

In a way, the commercial district might be the essence of this city.

Amidst the flood of sensations, I picked out the distinctive smell of hospitals, commonly the smell of cresol found in preservatives or disinfectants.

‘An 8-story hospital located near the station.’

Among them, William’s location is in the operating room on the 3rd floor.

Judging by the mix of disinfectant smell, the strong smell of blood, and human smell throughout the 3rd floor, it was certain that the operating room and intensive care unit were located together on the 3rd floor. It’s a structure where patients are moved to the nearby intensive care unit for recovery after surgery.

‘Everything can be resolved on the 3rd floor.’

Additionally, I thoroughly searched for places in the hospital where the server room and central AI computer might be located. The place with the most electrical signals detected was the 2nd basement floor.

‘Good. This is enough.’

After grasping the overall structure of the hospital, I released the link.

The preparation to enter the hospital is complete. Now I just need to wait until night.

William will die by my hand tonight.