Ch.70013 Work Record – To the Sky (7)

After finishing those words, the monstrosity turned its back to me. This wasn’t the behavior of a mere beast or a mindless monster.

What did it say? I could tell it tried to call my name, but its voice was so garbled that I couldn’t even tell if the words that followed were actually words at all.

Yet, the monstrosity’s actions seemed… purposeful somehow. With its severed arm regenerating while flesh and muscle were being drawn from other parts of its body, it charged toward the Farmers Corporation’s glass wall, now reinforced with ballistic plates.

A heavy thud followed by the horrific sound of bones and flesh being crushed echoed, leaving bloody marks that bubbled and gathered together on the metal plates covering the glass wall. Even the spilled blood was trying to regenerate.

Even the severed arm I had stepped on and crushed was spreading its tissues as widely as possible across the floor, trying to preserve its vitality. This was an incomprehensible life force. It made me want to vomit.

I aimed the grenade rifle at the monstrosity again. Watching something made from a human, something that still retained minimal intelligence, trying to smash its own head to death…

As that thought crossed my mind, the Farmers Corporation’s bulletproof wall began to make an ominous creaking sound. Whether intentional or coincidental, the monstrosity targeted only the edges of the ballistic plates.

The thick metal plates themselves could withstand the impact, but their connection points couldn’t. After seven or eight body slams, the entire bulletproof barrier toppled over, shattering the glass wall.

In my ear, I heard Chance’s voice. In a situation where I didn’t know what to follow, his voice sounded casual.

“Fire, Agent Arthur Murphy. It seems you’ve discovered what that bioweapon is made from after getting close, but a decision must still be made. Fire. Or else run away…”

“The latter won’t work, Chance. Belwether’s security team can deploy anywhere in the metropolitan area within 10 minutes. How long has it been since the monstrosity escaped?”

I followed the monstrosity into the Farmers Corporation building as it threw itself inside on one hand and two feet. Warning alarms began to sound. I ignored them.

“17 minutes and 39 seconds have elapsed. That means… … … Still, what benefit is there in continuing to chase that monstrosity?”

The monstrosity, as if trying to distance itself from me, quickly tore through the doors of an elevator stopped at the first floor and jumped inside. The sound of something repeatedly hitting the elevator shaft walls followed. It was going up.

I had to make a choice. Belwether already didn’t want me to live anyway. Another wall. Another dead end. To break through a dead end, I needed to accelerate. Faster. Faster…

Fast enough to break through walls and keep running. Everything is gasoline. Don’t fear your flesh, bones, and metal frame being crushed against walls. I stepped into the Farmers Corporation building.

“By now, Farmers’ CCTV is probably recording my face. Even that bastard Walter can’t just delete another megacorporation’s surveillance records as he pleases. And he has no justification either.”

I was no longer a Belwether employee—had never been one. The excuse of requesting information about an employee wouldn’t work. I entered through the elevator doors the monstrosity had torn apart.

The walls were marked with impact traces where the monstrosity had rammed its body while climbing. It must have gone to the top floor. I jumped up through the torn elevator ceiling, grabbed onto the third floor, and launched myself again.

It didn’t take as long as I expected. Was Belwether in emergency mode now? I might have escaped their surveillance zone. I’ll make them experience what it feels like not to know.

It didn’t take long to reach the 117th floor. We don’t tire. We neither sleep nor doze… we are so alike. Terrifyingly so.

This floor housed the visitor center and observation deck with city views. Not many people come to see the pale daytime view, but many visit to see the brilliant night scenery.

But not at this dawn. Now there were only the monstrosity—regenerating rapidly despite being covered in blood—and me. One window was broken, its ballistic plate fallen, letting in a fierce wind.

“Six… six… six… sh-shoot… sh-shoot…”

I could understand these words. It meant shoot one more time. It became clear that it was calling me “Six.” Did it remember me? Even in that state?

Flesh was filling in its shoulder where the internal skeleton had broken and collapsed. I could feel a will—not its own—determined to reconstruct its body even at the cost of all its flesh.

Additionally… a vein-like organ extending from its body was buried in a pot containing real plants found only in Farmers Corporation. It was replenishing what it had lost.

“You could have done this outside. Why come all the way here…”

Even as I spoke, I raised the grenade rifle. One almost fully regenerated arm tried to shield its body, but its other hand held it back. Regeneration was happening against its will.

“The likelihood of killing it is low, Agent Arthur Murphy. Nevertheless, you can incapacitate it temporarily. So…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not hesitating.”

I’d already left the better path behind. I was already on an unpaved road. I needed to think about driving on the road only minimally. I pulled the trigger until it clicked, and with a mechanical sound, an armor-piercing grenade was fired.

Again, the sharp warhead pierced through its abdomen and embedded itself a fist deep. Only then did the newly regenerated hand try to pull out the grenade, but it pressed the grenade deeper, along with its hand.

I raised my arm to cover my face and dampen my hearing. Despite making my hearing as muffled as possible, a boom shook the entire floor, and I felt flesh splattering.

Seeing the flesh bits that landed on my clothes writhing and trying to gather together, I took off my jacket entirely and threw it away. Through the smoke, I could see someone moving despite having their body torn in half.

Whether regeneration started from the part connected to the brain or not, despite the lower body still standing, flesh and muscles were being drawn from it to regenerate the upper body. The face that had been covered in flesh gradually returned.

Even with eyeballs falling out and skin-covered mouth now somewhat able to open, it had regained a somewhat human appearance, albeit with grotesquely altered skeletal structure but at least hairless. It shouted:

“Six, Six! Lower… lower body… push it away. Throw it outside!”

With flesh and muscle drawn away, leaving only sharp fingers too long for human hands, it shouted. Even its own flesh was seeking nutrients to regenerate.

If the lower body remained, its body would use it to accelerate regeneration. I decided to believe the hypothesis that regeneration was making it lose its mind. Faith had always helped me.

But until faith reached out to me, I had to run with faith buried deep in my chest. I kicked the severed lower body—which was moving as if searching for the rest of the body, with its cut, burned, and exploded cross-section—out through the broken window.

I still didn’t lower the grenade rifle. Though it had lost its visual detection means, if it had other sensory organs, the absence of one wouldn’t be a major problem for us.

So it probably knew I was aiming at it. It tore away the skin covering its mouth with its fingertips and spoke. It seemed to feel no pain. I placed my hand on the nape of its neck.

“Th-thank you. S-Six… I, I…”

It wrapped its seemingly too-long hands around its head, hesitated briefly, but eventually shook its head.

“I c-can’t remember. I b-barely remember that you’re Six, so…”

“Recording start. What happened? You said it was an experiment to enhance regenerative abilities, but the regenerative ability of our enhanced bodies isn’t like this…”

The cut on my cheek from grenade fragments already had a membrane forming over it. This was normal regeneration. It turned its skin-covered face toward me and said:

“I, I used n-nanomachines. But s-something went w-wrong. The nanomachines’ p-purpose was to r-restore me to n-normal state. That…”

It wasn’t difficult to guess what word would come next. Still aiming the rifle, I said:

“By any means necessary. Right?”

“Y-yes. By any m-means necessary… And the p-performance d-deteriorated… It r-recognizes even neural s-signals as ‘d-damage’ and tries to r-reprogram the brain.”

Until only basic functions remain. Until the brain load is minimized and only survival instincts remain. Until only the horrific bioengineered monstrosity I saw remains. Perhaps the hypothesis was correct.

“So when regenerating other parts, the brain is relatively less affected because regeneration focuses elsewhere. Is that it?”

It barely managed to nod. I looked at him—who had received the same Post-Human Type IV enhancement and had been a Belwether employee like me—but had become so different. Clutching his head while watching his regenerating lower body, he said:

“S-sorry, sorry, S-Six. S-sorry for k-killing you. I, I…”

Now he no longer looked like a monster to me. I tried not to show the rising sympathy. Outwardly displayed sympathy is violent. If you want to feel sympathy, you must keep it only in your heart.

“It’s not your fault. And I’m alive. Somehow.”

He looked in my direction with his face—eyes covered with skin—then bowed his head. As if resolved, he tore open his mouth again as skin tried to cover it.

“A-are you s-still working for B-Belwether, Six…?”

Should I say no? Should I blame him for all I lost from Belwether because he killed me and threw me here? Was it him who did it, or just a bioengineered monstrosity?

It wasn’t him. It was just the bioengineered monstrosity’s doing. I decided to nod willingly. Once again, I lied, and my lies were always natural.

“Of course. Thanks to stopping you at the risk of my life, I’ve even been nominated for the youngest manager position. Though I’m not here officially under Security Division 4 right now.”

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly. It was just a little, but he looked more at ease. He barely opened his mouth:

“T-tell Walter I’m s-sorry too…”

My heart, which had been beating once every four seconds, felt like it was beating every second now. Walter. For the first time besides Jack, someone involved in this matter had mentioned the name Walter.

I tried to keep my voice natural, but it was useless. I was clearly speaking with an urgent tone.

“Who is Walter? Probably not from the security team…”

“O-our brother. L-Los Angeles b-branch director. W-Walter. Walter a-asked me to… I d-don’t remember what he a-asked, but… he asked me to do that…”

I almost pulled the trigger at the inhuman cry in the middle, but he was still speaking with human intelligence. And… I now knew who Walter was.

He gripped his head with both hands as if to crush it and continued speaking. Liquid was pooling under the skin covering his eye sockets. Perhaps tears. Yes… definitely tears.

“D-despite the f-failed experiment, Walter was l-looking for a way to c-cure me. Even that day, he said he would t-transfer me…”

“That can’t be right. A4 Biology Lab was closed that day, and there were no survivors inside. On the day of the terror attack…”

“N-no. Walter g-got me out…”

The Jaina people said there was an assault team in the biology lab. But in the terror response report I received, there was no mention of Jaina members who died in the A4 Biology Lab.

My hand gripping the floor tightened, cracking the fragile tiles beneath. That bastard wasn’t an efficiency-minded person. He was simply trying to hide what he had done.

I decided to cancel any reassessment I might have given him. I barely held back from making the same growling sound he did. His body was trembling. He quietly opened his mouth:

“S-Six. D-do you have an i-incendiary grenade?”

“Wait, if you keep taking damage while holding on, until we find a way…”

Hearing those words, he—whose name no one here knew—smiled at the corners of his mouth. He stood up.

“So you do have one…”

With that answer, he threw himself toward the broken window. My body reflexively lunged forward. I grabbed his hand as he was about to fall through the broken window frame of the 117th floor observation deck.

What should I say? What words could possibly lead to a better outcome for someone who had become like this? Terribly, I decided to mention the name of the one responsible for all this.

“Wait! You said Walter was trying to cure you! If you go back now, there might still be an answer! How can you give up now! You know what to do when you hit a wall!”

Because I was trying to catch him as he threw his entire body forward, I was almost hanging upside down from the window frame. I held onto his long fingertips with all my strength, trying to dissuade him.

We were so alike. I couldn’t bear to see him die. Hanging from my hand, he shook his head.

“No m-matter how many w-wounds I make, the b-brain function erosion w-won’t stop… And… I’m s-sorry. I can’t even r-remember Belwether’s c-creed…”

He wriggled his hand trying to detach from me, but I reached out further, hanging upside down, and grabbed his wrist. Our strength is similar now. I should be able to hold on somehow. I should be able to stop this somehow.

His skin-covered eyes looked up at me. With his arm in my grip, he slowly began to lift his body, using the arm I was holding as an axis. He stood on the ballistic plate with his fully regenerated legs.

What is he trying to do? I tightened my grip on his wrist as he briefly touched the ballistic plate with his hand, then tore the skin around his mouth again and barely opened it to speak. The regeneration was accelerating.

“S-Six. You… you’ll r-remember the c-creed… Did I… did I complete my d-duty…?”

The ground seen upside down from the 117th floor was so high, so incredibly high that it looked like the sky. The smog seen from a skyscraper jutting above it looked just like clouds.

I was desperate. I couldn’t even recall my silver tongue that I used to boast about. I tried to pull him up, but he was resisting with equal force. We used the same type of enhanced body. Our strength was almost identical.

“Of course! You tried everything to maintain your intelligence even in the worst situation, so… damn it! There must be a way to extract your brain and put it in another body!”

It wouldn’t work. The nanomachines had already chemically bonded, making even flesh pieces blown off by the explosion move as if they had consciousness. He slowly shook his head.

“Not e-everyone gets a s-second chance, Six… Th-thank you…”

He, who had been hanging upside down, began to tightly coil his legs braced against the floor. Then, he gathered all his strength in his two legs and jumped. That’s how it looked. This time, he left his wrist behind.

The Los Angeles skyline, usually colorful, was now filled only with darkness, gloom, pessimism, and advertisement boards displaying red “CENSORED” text due to Belwether’s lockdown measures.

He rose higher and higher toward the sky. Toward the sky. Higher. Faster. Like he had found freedom, faster and faster… Then, with the horrific impact of bones and flesh hitting a hard surface, he was crushed on the ground.

His hand left in mine began to twitch. It was searching for organic matter to regenerate. I completely crushed it in my grip, turning it into a lump of meat. Even the window frame in my grip began to twist.

I barely pulled myself up. The impact of the fall alone wasn’t… my head was too muddled to think. I slapped the side of my head with my palm. I had to think.

Yes. The impact of the fall alone might not be enough. That’s why he asked if I had an incendiary grenade. How much of his tissue remains here?

My jacket and flesh pieces splattered across this observation deck. Fortunately, the floor carpet was flammable. I threw the crushed flesh from my hand onto my jacket, then pulled the pin from an incendiary grenade and tossed it on top.

The entire observation deck would burn. The wind was strong, strong enough to feel like a bellows. I couldn’t stop. I had to move. I descended through the elevator shaft we had used to reach the 117th floor.

The assault team would just be departing now. They would have left only after confirming the monstrosity had fallen from the 117th floor. Last time, it took exactly three minutes to get from headquarters to here.

It would be the same this time. I took a deep breath and fell four or five floors at a time, surrendering to gravity in a much slower descent than his, until I reached the lobby. My knees and ankles ached, but I ignored it.

Gritting my teeth, I walked out of the Farmers Corporation building. There were pools of blood and chunks of flesh scattered widely. And regeneration was continuing. I swallowed the urge to vomit.

There was no time now for such physiological reactions. The assault team would arrive soon. He would revive soon. He would come back completely no longer himself.

Vein-like tissues were emerging from the blood pools, connecting with surrounding flesh pieces to replenish organic matter. Something made of flesh was trying to rise from within, writhing.

I pulled the pin on the second incendiary grenade. I threw it onto the blood mass that was extending appendages toward me. The grenade exploded, spraying flammable material around. The blood pool writhed. It was trying to survive as commanded.

It was blindly persistent, even though there was no longer anyone to save. Watching this, watching him who was able to die in the end, I whispered words I had never heard before, only in my mind:

“This agent has… fuck… performed his assigned duties with indomitable will and diligence… November 30, 2097. Morning… whatever time it is, I pronounce you relieved of duty…”

As I watched the last piece of flesh burn in the fierce flames, I heard the sound of helicopter rotors above my head.