Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Escape (2)
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John Mullen didn’t speak first.
I didn’t care and got straight to the point. I didn’t bother with long-winded introductions like “Hello, Senior, I’m the rookie Hildebert Talib.” I knew that kind of formality wouldn’t register with him at all.
I just threw out the main question.
“How do I kill a Fire Shield?”
A short silence.
About five seconds of quiet? John Mullen broke the silence flatly from the other end of the phone.
[Three ways.]
As expected, he answered the question faithfully, like an AI.
[Splash it with a massive amount of water to extinguish it, then finish it off with physical attacks.]
“Yes.”
[Or cook it to death.]
“Oh…. Yes.”
[Or trap it and suffocate it to death from lack of oxygen.]
None of them were easy.
I turned my gaze to the stair door we’d jumped down through. There was still no sign of the Fire Shield coming down. The stair door sat quietly closed in the darkness.
But soon enough, it would blast the door open with a pillar of fire. If it made it down to the underground parking lot, things would get ugly. There were plenty of cars here—the moment the Fire Shield spewed flames, it’d turn into a raging inferno in seconds.
I vaguely made out the cars parked in front of the electric vehicle charging station.
If those caught fire, putting it out wouldn’t be easy.
Had coming down to the parking lot been a blunder?
But if we hadn’t come here, we might’ve been buried under the rubble that collapsed just minutes ago. Thinking about it, this had been the only option.
With things as they were, I had to either keep the Fire Shield out of the underground parking lot or get away as fast as possible.
I furrowed my brow faintly.
“How much water does it take to extinguish it? Even the fire hydrant spray didn’t work.”
[Enough to drown it. Fire extinguishers or hydrants won’t cut it.]
“What if I burst a water tank right in front of it?”
[Depends on the tank’s size, but yeah, that’d work.]
“Thank you. Oh, for suffocating it to death, how sealed does the space need to be?”
[Moderately airtight is fine.]
Mullen stopped there and fell silent.
After a brief pause, he asked back.
[So, who are you?]
He’d just picked up when the phone rang.
Must’ve been a reflexive grab. It wasn’t a video call, but I flashed a big smile anyway. Kudo, watching me, raised an eyebrow like he’d seen the strangest thing.
Ignoring everyone’s reactions, I replied brightly.
“A junior who admires you, Senior!”
[It says Experiment Subject 0.]
This bastard.
Heat flared up, but I reined it in fast.
At least he didn’t recognize me.
Better hang up before he remembered who I was.
I shouted in a sunny tone.
“Thanks for the help. I’m busy, so gotta go!”
Click.
I hung up. Shoved the phone in my pocket and looked up.
I came face-to-face with the chairman staring at me in stunned awe amid the darkness, Kudo blinking stoically, and the kids crowding around Kudo’s katana, peering at it.
The chairman muttered in shock.
“John Mullen took your call… and you hung up on him first? That genius scientist’s line… and he answered all those trivial questions one by one?”
“Why trivial? Our lives were on the line. Senior, you heard that, right?”
“Too many cars.”
Jonathan Kudo voiced exactly what I’d been thinking.
He rested a hand on his katana hilt and cast his eyes down at the kids.
“I’ll lure it to the water tank. You get the civilians to the exit and run.”
“Yes.”
“You good to keep going?”
His gaze flicked to my injured leg.
I brushed off the heavy, stinging pain and gave a wry smile.
“Yes. Didn’t I say it wouldn’t slow me down?”
“Go.”
Kudo looked up and met my eyes.
Dried blood and debris. Scorched clothing hems. And yet he somehow kept that eerily polished air.
Just like the immaculate katana at his waist.
“Now.”
KABOOM!
The door exploded.
“Mommy!”
“Shit, again!”
“Bro! I’ll run on my own!”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
I scooped up shrieking Becky and wild-talking Luke in one go.
“Take care, Senior.”
No reply came.
But I didn’t look back. Ignoring the thigh pain, I hunted for the underground parking lot exit.
In the dark, a faint arrow marked “Exit” came into view.
I bolted after it. The chairman followed, cursing up a storm.
Becky wailed away.
“Becky Ende! Don’t waste your energy crying!”
Even crossing the car-packed lot, Luke spouted something way too mature for a kid.
“They teach us in kindergarten. If you run into a creature, don’t cry—hide or run!”
BOOM!
A car blew up.
The parking lot flared bright, heat slamming my back. Intense heat.
A quick glance back confirmed it was an electric vehicle—and I swallowed a curse.
Ominous gray smoke started billowing from the burning car. I bit my lip, kept running, and eyed the gasping man beside me.
“Soak your clothes in spit and cover your nose and mouth.”
“Huh?”
“If you don’t wanna die sucking in toxic gas.”
“Becky Ende, spit!”
Luke got it perfectly.
“Spit it out!”
The parking lot kept lighting up.
Cars detonated left and right, struck by the Fire Shield’s fire pillars. But thankfully, Kudo had the creature hooked good. The blasts were at a safe distance. I shoved my worry for my senior aside and sprinted.
Fire lighting up the place made the path clear—handy.
No time to cover my mouth; I just ran till my thigh burned.
KABOOM!
Hit the exit ramp.
Narrow, distant incline. I charged up the exit-only passage without looking back.
Tried not to think about Kudo. He was a Badger with killer recovery—he’d be fine. Tons of field experience, survived the Second War too, they said…
My goal was getting these people out.
“W-Wait a sec.”
The chairman running next to me halted on the ramp.
“Can’t… run anymore…”
“Catch your breath.”
I turned to the heaving chairman who’d stopped.
Then eyed the man slumping down and the ramp’s base growing brighter by the second.
“I’ll get the kids to the surface and come back.”
“What?!”
The chairman whipped his head up in horror.
“You’re ditching me?!”
“Back in one minute. I’ll carry you out right after.”
“Don’t go!”
Terror flooded his eyes as he bellowed.
“Don’t! Tell that boy to run on his own and carry me! He said he can run! Fuck, if you can’t save me, you all go down with me! Down with me!”
“Bro, I can run.”
“I’ll be right back, seriously.”
Arguing was a time sink—better run even a second faster.
I stared straight into his despairing eyes and spoke deliberately.
“Right back. Straight back. Cover nose and mouth tight, stay low and crawl.”
“Hey, please…”
“Bro, I’m really okay.”
I spun around.
Bolted down the ramp again. Eyes off the frozen man. Ignored Luke muttering, “I can run, bro. That guy’s super famous. If a famous guy dies, it’s big trouble.”
Becky sobbed in hiccups. She’d covered her nose and mouth like her brother said, but the tears kept flowing.
Her cries in my ears, I ran till my legs screamed. Toward the entrance flooding with white sunlight.
Life throws choices at you sometimes. Moments where you pick between the worst and the next-worst. Haven’t I always gritted through and picked the lesser evil?
To stop even more deaths, ranking irreplaceable lives…
Watching the ones I left behind die with resentment in their eyes…
Wait. When did this happen?
No time to chase that question. Surface. Set the kids down. Camera flashes popping everywhere—ignored them, kept moving.
Grabbed three portable oxygen masks from the rushing firefighters. They slapped one on my face in seconds.
I waved off the ones itching to go in.
“If shit hits the fan, I’ll call for rescue.”
They clipped a radio to my ear without a word.
Thanks given, I dashed back inside with two masks.
To the people still waiting.
***
Scorching heat climbed the parking lot entrance.
Smoke so thick it took time to get a read. Eyes slitted, I raced down the ramp.
Air way too hot.
Civilian chairman’s state gnawed at me.
That instant, I spotted the sprawled chairman.
Dashed to him, jammed the oxygen mask on.
A human silhouette flickered at the ramp’s base.
“Senior!”
I yelled at the drowned-rat man climbing the ramp.
“You okay?”
No answer. Face didn’t look good. Dizzy as hell, he inched up slow. Sucked in a lungful of toxic gas, probably.
Hauled the limp chairman into my arms, tossed the mask.
“Put it on!”
The mask rolled downhill.
Stopped right on target. Kudo stooped slow, snatched the tumbling mask.
He could move.
Relief hit—I hefted the limp chairman.
Good, he was still conscious. Glaring up at me with pure resentment as I lifted him.
“Let’s go.”
I took his furious stare head-on.
“Really sorry for leaving you.”
Now it’s finally…
The chairman flailed.
I eyed him weird as he thrashed like he was digging for the phone in his pocket.
“What’s up?”
Hurt somewhere?
“Something hurt—?”
BOOM!
RUMBLE!
Thunderous roar. From overhead. Noise too wild to pin down.
Right before, I’d glimpsed something slashing the air upward. No time to wonder what.
Ears rang sharp; realized shit raining from above.
Reflex—I blanketed the chairman.
Distant pain smashed my back fast. Overload dulled the sense. Noise. Relentless noise.
Mid-embrace from the crumbling ceiling, my senior’s desperate shout cut through. The sleek, sword-sharp man yelling urgent.
Couldn’t answer.
One word locked in clear.
“Talib!”
At least he wasn’t buried. Small mercy.
That thought, then black.