The Age of Adaptation
"Hey, you there. Burn it thoroughly! If even a little survives, it’ll start multiplying again and turn into a nuisance real fast!"
"Yes, sir!"
At the squad leader’s shout, a soldier turned the lever.
The flamethrower, cranked to full output, incinerated the flesh and gut-like vines of the living jungle.
The air around them was thick with the stench of burning meat.
Vents installed for circulation sucked away the smoke rolling over the area.
Elsewhere, the work of removing culture fluid and filling in the tunnel conduits was still in full swing.
Two days after the raid ended.
With the goal of turning the bunker into a refuge, the Blood Rain Clan had begun cleaning and repairs.
Was it 628 users who died in the raid?
Half of them were dead.
The biggest reason was the failure of the trap meant to hold Muaz in place.
Yoo Sung-jun watched the users concentrating on the cleanup.
Their faces were blank from focus, yet the feeling was plain in their eyes.
Everyone was hiding their grief.
No—suppressed it, was more accurate.
Still, they had gotten back on their feet.
They had prepared themselves to accept what they’d lost, and because body enhancement let them control their emotions, they were able to keep going.
Sung-jun. The work you asked about is done.
Right on cue, Choi Hyun-seok contacted him.
"I’m on my way now. Wait there."
He had grown much closer to Choi Hyun-seok after they carried out the lure operation together.
Yoo Sung-jun was more than willing to think of him as a comrade.
There was no downside to staying on good terms with him, either.
As promised, the best part of the bunker had gone to Sung-jun’s party.
Jeyca had been so happy she’d even cried, saying now she could bring her parents here.
I’ll have to gather a million points, too, and cure the early-onset dementia.
For now, both his brother and Jeyca had each earned 500,000 points.
Yoo Sung-hwan had used his to finish the Omega Suit and reach Body Enhancement Level 2.
It was only natural to invest like that.
If he was getting stronger, then his brother needed to keep pace to some degree.
Only then would he be able to keep up instead of falling behind in the missions ahead.
The problem was Jeyca.
Even though no one had pressured her, she had chosen to spend her points on equipment enhancement rather than saving them for treatment.
At this rate, Jeyca’s also finished with the Omega Suit and Body Enhancement.
Which meant the road to curing what was essentially an incurable disease had grown distant again.
But she hadn’t looked disappointed, so...
I’ll just treat her like always.
Nodding to himself, Yoo Sung-jun arrived at the cargo warehouse.
It was packed with users clearing out containers and organizing the space.
They were cutting the containers apart with plasma cutters and dismantling them piece by piece.
The container fragments they were slicing up would likely be used later to repair the bunker.
"Over here!"
His younger brother called out from one side of the warehouse.
Beside him were stacks of vacuum tubes.
They had preserved Muaz’s brain to the point where it could be eaten, then portioned it out into sterilized vacuum tubes.
"All done?"
"Yeah, I got everything ready like you said, hyung. This is for that thing, right?"
The method for obtaining a new application of innate talent.
At this point, only Yoo Sung-jun and Yoo Sung-hwan in this place knew how it worked.
His brother understood better than anyone how valuable this information was.
He gestured toward the brain-eating as though he were talking about something too obscene to name directly.
Jeyca and Choi Hyun-seok still wore faces full of curiosity.
"Ahahaha! So this is where everyone was! The stars of this raid!"
Why was he still here?
"Cruiser. Didn’t you head back after the mercenary job ended?"
"Ah, Sung-jun hyung. Me? I’m not the type to come just for points, you know."
"Then what is it?"
"A right to live here. I came to reserve a place for me and my teammates to stay."
"A user of your caliber must’ve had plenty of calls from Russia too."
"Hyung doesn’t know, but Russia’s already started getting clamped down by the clans. Especially the Soldat Clan. They’ve practically monopolized any place that could be used as a safe zone or refuge. It’s basically shut out any room for parties to stand on their own."
Soldat Clan was the world’s third-ranked clan.
True to the simple meaning of their name—soldiers—they upheld military discipline, and every one of their users was tough as nails.
They’ve definitely got the military power to back it up, but they lack autonomy, so the place must be pretty rigid.
In the end, one enormous clan had brushed off the government’s control and proposals and taken Russia by the throat.
At Cruiser’s grumbling, Choi Hyun-seok nodded.
"Either cooperate with the government or split apart by clan. Russia chose the latter."
"Exactly. Hyun-seok, you really know your stuff in this area, huh?"
"I’ve made connections in politics. So, how about a trade?"
"Between friends?"
"Now that we’re friends, we need to be even more thorough about things like this. Otherwise people start talking later, don’t they?"
He grinned and tapped the vacuum tubes.
He’d been planning to explain anyway, so this worked out nicely.
"Do I just tell you why Muaz’s brain was packed like this?"
"You need to tell me its use, too. Otherwise the math doesn’t work. If you just tell me that much, I’ll give you a detailed rundown of the world situation."
"In that case."
He shrugged and stepped toward the vacuum tubes.
Choi Hyun-seok shot Cruiser a sharp glare as he approached.
"Cruiser, I bought this at a fair price. That means you have no right to hear about it."
"Oh, is that so? Then I’ll make a trade, too. Sung-jun hyung. What do you want?"
"Help me with a mission sometime later."
"Okay, deal."
Stunned looks landed on them.
Choi Hyun-seok stared as though he’d been struck dumb.
"Th-that doesn’t seem like a fair exchange..."
"You’re going to say one thing to a friend and another behind his back? Besides, I was going to tell you about this anyway."
"Then there’s no reason to trade at all!"
"It’s already a done deal, isn’t it? Ever heard of a verbal contract? This whole thing runs on trust."
Yoo Sung-jun said it with a grin that went from ear to ear.
Choi Hyun-seok couldn’t bring himself to curse him.
Thinking ahead, he was an irreplaceable human resource.
At this point, he was the only one in the group who could stand against a Level 6 Infector.
He finally stopped doing calculations in his head.
"Haah, fine. Explain it. Muaz’s brain. What exactly is it used for?"
"Simple. If you eat it, you can discover a new application of innate talent."
"E-eat it? How much?"
Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes flashed gold.
Looks like he’d already finished the math.
The current value of Muaz’s brain.
If they could distribute it to the whole clan, it would mean a massive jump in combat strength.
"Sung-hwan. Do you remember the minimum amount, too?"
"Huh? I think I was told, but hang on."
His younger brother closed his eyes, concentrating.
Information implanted by the Higher Being was impossible to forget.
Right now, if he wanted, Yoo Sung-jun could recall every single detail of the raid strategy without missing a word.
"Ah, got it."
"How much do you need to eat?"
"100 grams is the minimum. So..."
Everyone’s eyes fixed on the tubes, estimating the capacity.
Since the portions had been divided with exact measurements, the calculation was easy.
Choi Hyun-seok, the first to finish, cut in before Yoo Sung-hwan could answer.
"Nine times. That’s how many times it can be eaten if I’m just looking at it makes me want to puke."
"Really? Then one less for you, I guess."
"What?"
Before Choi Hyun-seok could even finish asking, Yoo Sung-jun moved.
He popped open several vacuum tubes in a row and ate Muaz’s brain.
"Sung-jun oppa! What are you—"
"Ugh!"
They either froze in shock or swallowed down their revulsion at Yoo Sung-jun’s sudden move.
This is disgusting. I still can’t get used to it.
He chewed with a grimace.
Maybe because it had been preserved and sterilized.
The taste was less horrific than the first time he’d eaten it.
The texture was exactly the same, though.
Still, he swallowed it.
Even after waiting a little while, there was no sign of his head heating up.
"For now, we’ll put this on hold."
"What did you do?"
At his brother’s question, he tapped the side of his head.
"I wanted to see if eating it multiple times had any effect. It might just not kick in right away, so let’s give it some more time and see."
There were two things left to do now.
Whether the result applied to everyone who had awakened their innate talent.
And what the proper price should be for the remaining 100 grams of Muaz’s brain.
After much deliberation, the price of Muaz’s brain was set.
Considering the accumulated points and achievements gained while leveling up users, as well as the other risk factors involved, 300,000 points per 100 grams seemed appropriate.
Of course, Choi Hyun-seok immediately tried to bargain.
He asked whether 150,000 points would do, saying only clan leaders could probably afford to pay that much right now.
It was, naturally, rejected without hesitation.
"It’s already been preserved and sterilized. I’ve got it sealed in vacuum tubes, so it’ll keep for a long time. We can wait."
And so, the deal was settled at a fair price.
He set one portion aside for his brother and Jeyca, then took reservations for the rest.
Cruiser bought one, and Choi Hyun-seok agreed to buy the remaining 500 grams.
A total of 1.8 million points.
They agreed to split it with his brother in a 7-to-3 ratio.
Because Sung-hwan’s explanation had let him eat Muaz’s brain in the middle of a crisis, and because he had survived that crisis by using hyperventilation as a new application.
It was only natural that Yoo Sung-jun would take 70 percent and his brother 30.
In the end, the points that would come in totaled a staggering 1.26 million.
In a game, it would have been nothing more than an Infector corpse used for a mission.
Who could have guessed its value would soar so ridiculously high?
Infector corpses at Level 6 and above are rare and hard to deal with, but if you can actually take one down, it becomes a launchpad for rapid growth.
Yoo Sung-jun turned his gaze.
Choi Hyun-seok, the man who’d brought him to this high-end restaurant, was busy slicing into his steak.
He was enjoying the meat, blood still dripping from it.
"Mm. This place really does grill a steak well. Right?"
"Not bad."
"A pretty bland review. So, did you understand everything I said?"
Of course he had.
Body Enhancement Level 3 improved not just physical ability but even brain function.
He could remember even the most casually spoken details with vivid clarity.
"There are a little over ten days left until the global embargo lifts. On top of that, the major powers have either moved under their governments or split into clan-based factions."
"You got it."
"The United States, South Korea, Britain, and France are the ones still mostly operating under government leadership, while the rest of the countries have fractured into clan units... but China is the surprise."
Even Choi Hyun-seok had only recently learned that.
It was top-secret information that had crossed the sea and made its way through the government’s ironclad information control.
From what he’d heard, it was intelligence uncovered by Minister Lim Tae-oh, one of the president’s closest aides.
"I was surprised too. I never expected the medium and large clans to split up and start fighting over their own territories instead of uniting. It’s basically been torn into fifty-two clans."
"So a great power turned into a bunch of small ones?"
"The news will probably come out as soon as the embargo lifts."
And we found out before that happened.
He finished speaking and put the sliced meat into his mouth.
Choi Hyun-seok’s information had been extremely useful.
Information was advantage.
You could prepare in advance. You could respond in advance.
For a while, things would probably go smoothly.
As he continued his meal with that comfortable thought in mind, someone approached.
Both Yoo Sung-jun and Choi Hyun-seok turned at the blatant stare and footsteps.
A woman in a black office outfit was walking straight toward them.
"Hello. I saw you from afar and thought it might be you—so you really are Lord Igrato. I was so impressed by your interview and raid videos. I’m a huge fan!"
"And you are?"
Choi Hyun-seok asked, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
This was a restaurant with bodyguards always standing by.
They had been instructed to stop anyone they didn’t recognize from approaching, and yet this woman had slipped through their eyes and ears.
She smiled brightly as she brushed her long black hair back.
Innate talent, maybe?
Just as that same thought surfaced in both Choi Hyun-seok and Yoo Sung-jun’s minds, the woman took a wallet from her mini bag.
Then she pulled out a business card and held it out.
"I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m this kind of person."
Yoo Sung-jun stared quietly at the card.
The lettering, written in English and apparently inlaid with gold, gleamed like it had been made from actual gold.
—Quantum Clan. Team Leader No. 1. Yoon Choi.—
A member of the world’s number one clan had just barged in.
The calm, leisurely meal had just become uncomfortable.