105. Chungju Defense Force (2)
Today is July 1st.
7 months into the apocalypse.
Chungju Defense Force.
Kwangshin Unit.
"Kwangshin Unit" rolls off the tongue better, but "Chungju Defense Force" is the reality.
The 112th Infantry Brigade is the core of it, but they say it's become a full-blown warlord faction ever since Brigade Commander Choi Gwang-shin and Assemblyman Jeong Myung-chul joined.
'Defense Force is a bit weird, though.'
It's not even a 'Defense Army'.
But they say that's what they call themselves, right?
The Chungju Defense Force.
Farmland south of Chungju.
Toward the industrial complex.
The map clearly says there are only small houses around here,
and that if you go up along the Namhan River, you hit the Chungju city center.
However, in the direction of the lower part of Chungju where I am, I could see a city.
To be precise, a small city newly created by abilities.
I can see the destroyed Chungju City far away.
Below that.
Separated from the Chungju city center,
in the direction in front of where I am,
a massive barricade is wrapped around the farmland.
And inside, rows of farmland are lined up, and on the opposite side of the farmland, buildings are packed tightly together.
Inside, there are roads,
military armored vehicles are moving on the roads, and where the buildings are clustered, there are even a few buildings with significant height, likely built with Construction abilities.
I hadn't heard of any Construction Ability Users, and if I didn't have the Chungju map, I would have thought it was always like that.
Buildings that look no different from those inside Chungju City.
'Construction ability, huh.'
And people were walking around in those various buildings.
'It's for real.'
Buildings not on the map.
Inside the Chungju defense line where civilians and soldiers are mingling.
'......'
This was real.
Well, it was obvious since I'd placed a Contract on three soldiers and heard their explanation.
They've created an entirely new city based on Construction, Barricade, and Farming abilities.
To make a self-sufficient system possible.
Though, I don't know if they lack Animal abilities, or if they have nowhere to keep them because of the smell, but I didn't see anything like an animal farm.
'Come to think of it, that must be why they outsourced to the Naesu-eup gang.'
Right in front of where I am, rows of military barracks are lined up.
These must be the soldiers defending the south.
The soldiers on patrol were looking outside, checking if the barricade was actually visible, and vehicles were lined up all over the barracks.
Weapons were scattered here and there in what looked like a warehouse; it seems they have modern weapons intact, too.
Also...
'That's a drone.'
I can see a few drones floating in the air.
Looking around, I saw someone controlling a drone from the direction of the barracks; seeing them look at a small screen, they must be real drone operators.
They operate drones,
have plenty of weapons,
and a group with many superpowers.
'The civilians' faces actually look bright, too.'
There was a bit of a difference from the dying people of the Cheonan Warlords.
It's almost midnight now. There's no one in the farmland, and I can see people out having fun outside.
I even see a couple over there. A couple cuddling with a smartphone on a mat in front of the Namhan River, men and women exercising, and families out laughing together.
'......'
If I hadn't known about the Cheonan Warlords first,
no, if I hadn't known about the IN Company's bullshit first, I would have thought this was a decent group.
Assemblyman Jeong Myung-chul, under Brigade Commander Choi Gwang-shin, trying to live normally in this world... yeah, it feels just like Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop's group from the 32nd Division logistics center.
But.
I know.
I know about the IN Company and the superpowers.
There are more than one or two suspicious things.
First, the Barricade ability.
'It's been confirmed that with Ha-eun's level 4, you can't see outside from the inside.'
All it does is make a solid barricade high up.
If so, the barricade the soldiers mentioned, the one where you can see outside from the inside, must be level 5 or higher, or it's not a Barricade ability at all.
'Whether it's level 5 or not a Barricade ability, it's weird.'
Level 5 is no joke.
You have to kill 20 Hunters. I haven't seen Screamers, Spores, or Hives yet, but since the soldiers said there are no such things, that's not it.
Maybe if you give something to a level 4 Screamer or Spore, it could change, but who knows.
The very fact that they leveled up a Barricade ability user to level 5 is strange.
Or, if it's not a Barricade ability, then that means it's a Construction ability. If it's a Construction ability, the fact that they're hiding it is strange in itself.
Also...
'The Construction ability itself is a bit fishy, too.'
To build a building that looks like it's about 5 stories tall with a Construction ability, they would have had to level it up.
They power-leveled a Construction Ability User by escorting them and letting them get the last hit like I do? That's possible. But does it make sense for people with that much ability to be holed up only in southern Chungju?
It doesn't make sense for them to have such strong abilities and just be stuck here in the south.
Couldn't they restore the inside of Chungju City? They said there are no Hunters or Abominations, after all.
Well, this is actually me nitpicking.
Both Barricade and Construction abilities could be like that.
If they're hiding it, there must be a reason to hide it.
One thing is for sure: they had some kind of relationship with the Naesu-eup gangsters, and the person called the officer in charge with Psychokinesis who came there was in contact with someone via communication.
'And even though he died, they had no reaction for 3 days.'
And the missing Ha-yoon and Choi Woo-hyun.
The man with the Communication ability named Kim So-hyuk who appeared along with them heading to Chungju.
On top of that.
The black truck parked in the parking lot next to the tall central building.
That, that fucking thing.
It's just sitting there out in the open.
#
I did a full lap first.
The barricades are properly set up, and there are quite a few patrol personnel.
Also, since there were red lights in various places, they likely have Area Surveillance, and that means they have Detection abilities too.
Area Surveillance isn't a problem.
The problem is the Detection ability.
At level 4,
it means they can sense forms in a 360-degree radius of 40m.
That means if I approach that side, they can know my location.
My goal
was to secure the Portal Ability User.
IN Company's bullshit? Rescuing people? I don't need any of that.
I just need to snatch the Portal Ability User, which is important for my future actions.
'No, wait.'
Plus, things like how to make and consume that Human Pill.
You know.
How they extracted abilities inside the GP Biotech factory.
If I could take that and give the Portal ability to our Multi personnel, that would be really great.
Now.
The question is how to do it.
In a situation where the enemies' locations haven't even been confirmed yet,
sneaking into enemy lines and fighting powerful Ability Users wasn't great.
I still don't know the locations of the Assemblyman and the Brigade Commander, either.
That means I need to find those locations.
They possess the Portal ability. It's highly likely their leaders aren't even here right now.
'So, there are two things I can do, I guess.'
I have to rule out attacking them head-on.
Over there, the buildings definitely contain metal, so smashing them is easy, but then the Portal Ability User and key personnel I need might die.
Therefore.
Search for the IN Company Cheongju branch inside Chungju City.
Patrol the outskirts and find the guys who move via portals.
Doing number 1 first seemed better.
If they're there, it means my prediction is correct.
If they're not there, well, it just means I wasted my time.
I can go and try number 2 after that.
I left the Chungju Defense Force base and headed toward downtown Chungju.
#
I did a lap and came to downtown Chungju.
The inside of downtown Chungju was completely wrecked. The roads, like everywhere else, were in a state where Walkers and Runners were sleeping.
There is no Hive,
and no traces of Hunters are visible.
Same with Abominations.
The only things I could see were Mirrors, Sirens, Crawlers, and Flowers.
'......'
At this level, there must have been quite a few survivors here.
Come to think of it, that's why they gathered people in the south and formed a group like that.
I flew through the air and moved.
I looked at the apartment complex.
A complex where an apartment had been encroached upon by Flowers.
I searched the real estate in the vicinity and found the IN Company Cheongju branch.
The IN Company Cheongju branch was located in the southeast. It meant it wasn't very far from the current location of the Chungju Defense Force.
Well, then, I should just go immediately.
ㅡTak
I arrived at the Cheongju branch before long.
The neat, white, mental hospital-like scenery of the IN Company. This place was in the form of Building 1 and Building 2, just like Sejong City, but I'd know once I went inside.
ㅡKkii-ik
I headed inside.
#
1st-floor lobby of the IN Company Cheongju branch.
The IN Company branches I had seen so far were all occupied by infected creatures.
Although the Sejong branch's basement was empty.
The upper floors were all crawling with infected in both Cheongju and Sejong.
However, the Cheongju branch was quiet.
ㅡTak
ㅡTak
'......'
A quiet Cheongju branch 1st floor with no infected and no people. Outside, Walkers and Runners are going grrr, but there is no one inside the building.
The location where they built the lab is the basement.
I entered the interior, quite tense and wearing a gas mask.
Biochemical attacks are the most dangerous, after all.
The door leading to the basement opened.
ㅡTung
ㅡTung
The sound of iron stairs ringing.
Then, the pure white lab, looking the same as the labs I had seen before, came into view.
However, there was a difference from the labs I had seen before.
'There's nothing here.'
There really is nothing.
Compared to the Cheongju branch, which was completely smashed, and the Sejong branch, which only took important things, the inside of the Cheongju branch had no computers, no medicine, no flasks, no paper, nothing at all.
Empty.
The quiet, white lab interior.
[Clinical Laboratory][Animal Laboratory][R&D Laboratory][Analytical Laboratory][New Drug Storage][Drug Storage][Synthetic Bio Laboratory]
The computer connected to the large screen,
and even the Chief Researcher's office inside were completely empty, the IN Company Cheongju branch.
ㅡGii-ing
The Sejong branch at least had a post-it note written by our Lee Cheol-woo, but there was nothing here.
As if they had moved everything that was here.
Portal ability.
The black truck inside the Chungju warlords.
And the people and data inside the missing IN Company Cheongju branch.
It looked like things were going to get a lot more complicated.