Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: The Traitor's Confession
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Anyone who heard this would think it was insane.
But if it offered even a sliver of possibility, it was worth trying.
'No choice.'
I wasn't thrilled about it.
If I wasn't convinced this man held some crucial clue, I wouldn't have gone this far.
"Start."
-Attempting connection to the subject's brain.
One of R3D3's legs split into four prongs and snaked into his nose and ears.
His head jerked, blood pouring out.
At the same time, another leg stripped off his shirt, injected anesthetic, and sliced open his chest.
Pushing aside the incision revealed a heart pulsing vividly.
"Ugh..."
My face twisted at the unfamiliar sight.
I'd thought I was used to gruesome scenes, but this was different.
Following R3D3's guidance, I poured some healing water over the heart and trickled it down his throat.
To neutralize the toxins that would spew from the chip.
'Once synchronized, the moment R3D3 seizes control of the chip in his head, I rip out the one in his heart.'
I mentally rehearsed my role.
I'd already pinpointed the chip's location in the heart.
I waited quietly for R3D3's signal.
-Beep! 3...2...1...0!
Crack!
The instant it hit zero, my ready hand stabbed a spot on the heart like lightning and withdrew.
The chip was in my grasp.
But in that split second, it had activated.
The heart swelled massively, then seized up rigid.
Without hesitation, I dumped the remaining healing water over it.
Meanwhile, one of R3D3's leg joints detached, spread wide, enveloped the heart completely to staunch the bleeding, and forced it to beat.
"Did it work...?"
Silence stretched on.
How many seconds passed?
Suddenly, the researcher gasped for air.
-Success. Beep!
"Control of the chip?"
-Seized. Full removal requires specialized facilities.
"No need for that yet. Wake him up. No issues, right?"
-Affirmative!
This procedure had already cost us ten extra minutes.
R3D3 administered an electric shock to the researcher.
His eyes flew open, body shuddering violently.
Pretty ruthless for someone who'd just come back from the dead.
"...Gah! Cough!"
"Feeling with it? Let's talk."
"Y-You...?"
"Oh, forget about suicide. Without my say-so, you couldn't die even if you wanted to from now on."
He clearly didn't believe me.
But after a brief wait, realization dawned—his expression hardened.
"How...?"
"No time, so skipping that. You're with Mutant Medical Corporation, right?"
"..."
He clamped his mouth shut.
"Eh, not a big deal anyway, so moving on. What I want to know is what you're doing to cover up your mess. Spill it."
He looked conflicted.
I hadn't expected him to talk easily.
"You get one minute. No answer by then, and my loyal partner here kneads your brain like dough until it coughs up the truth. You know what that means, right?"
In crude terms, they'd "can" him.
This forced brain manipulation left severe aftereffects.
Nervous system collapse meant losing bodily control, mind fracturing into delirium.
And it didn't end there.
Symptoms worsened over time, eventually leaving you locked in with full senses but only able to twitch your eyes.
They called it locked-in syndrome—or simply "canned"—the nightmare for brain-reliant types like him.
"H-How can you be so vicious...! You're a superhuman!"
"And that makes you and me the same kind of human. If it were up to me, closing the lab wouldn't cut it. Utah City takes the hit too. Seventy thousand lives on the line. Your call: voluntary or forced. Twenty seconds left."
I tapped the panel lightly.
I waited calmly.
His answer was already decided anyway.
If he were loyal to the group, they wouldn't have implanted a chip like this, no matter how illegal the research.
He must've been a liability.
That's why they'd controlled him with a self-terminating chip.
Now chip-free, he was his own man.
Would he still honor that loyalty?
Before time ran out, he gave me what I wanted.
"...I'll talk."
"Everything, no holding back."
"What about my safety? You guaranteeing that? Even if I spill to you, if you can't protect me, I'll end up tortured to death."
"Don't worry. I've got solid backing too. But if you're useless, it'll be my hand delivering that torture, not theirs. Guaranteed."
He nodded tensely and unleashed a torrent of words.
Hard to believe he'd hesitated—machine-gun fire now.
I fed him the last of the healing water as he spoke.
'Keep him alive for now.'
I'd pondered his treatment, but his words marked him as more important than expected.
If this blew up into a security trial, he'd provide key testimony.
"But how'd the chief researcher end up wandering alone?"
"Most management bailed from the lab ages ago. The second this planet hit the aliens' main assault line, evacuation orders came down. I'd have scrapped all data and flown out in a week... The last researchers holding out with me mostly died when the test subjects escaped. Any survivors probably fled outside by now."
"And the cover-up closure? How?"
"It's an underground city, right? Blow it clean, bury it under rubble. It'll be an alien hive anyway—problem solved."
"...You think the defense line's done for."
"You thought it'd hold? Even Darmosa can't prop up a hasty defense forever."
Didn't sound like just his opinion.
Probably shared by the other Mutant Medical folks he'd worked with.
'Infuriating.'
From my perspective, busting my ass to hold the line, it made me want to deck him.
Anyway, that lit a fire—I pressed for more.
"We'll see about that. No chit-chat. Tell me what to do now."
"The geothermal generator overloads and explodes."
"...What?"
Ninety-nine percent of Utah City's power comes from the geothermal plant at the lowest level.
Guarded tighter than Fort Knox.
By my knowledge, overload accidents were virtually impossible thanks to auto-controls.
"It's been wired from the city's founding to divert some power to the lab."
"Tch, in on it from the start..."
"Heh, money buys anything."
City planning wasn't for amateurs.
Decades of secrecy meant the admins were likely complicit from day one.
And the top dog? Probably Clotho, the administrator.
I ground my teeth, focusing on his words.
"Anyway, the lab has an overload regulator tied to the generator. We programmed it. Once we're all out, it kicks in—twenty minutes, boom."
"Even with you, the chief researcher, still here?"
"...Chief researcher my ass. Comms are cut—they'll wait a bit, then write me off."
"Damn it...!"
This just got urgent.
The generator might as well be a nuke.
Overload explosion? Utah City collapses for sure.
Seventy thousand gone.
I grabbed the chief researcher by the collar, demanding answers.
"You know how to fix it, right? As chief, even as a slave, you'd have access!"
"...Hah, slave."
He rolled his eyes.
Seemed like he was looking for the bag he'd dropped when subdued—I held it up, and he nodded.
"Lab blueprints inside."
Bag was locked; I smashed it open.
One memory stick amid stacks of paper records.
'Paper docs. Rare sight.'
Paper was ancient relic status.
Books circulated as data unless for collection.
I rifled through, skimming.
Mostly experiment logs in dense jargon.
PhD-level biology minimum to parse.
I got some.
Surface-level, but biology was key to understanding aliens.
'Bastards...!'
Mutant Medical lived up to their rep.
Zero ethics compliance.
Plenty of human subjects.
No consent there—kidnapping, illegal as hell.
I nearly exploded at him but held back.
Priority: stop Utah City's collapse.
He pointed as I found the blueprints.
"Overload regulator's here—deepest secure zone in Z Sector."
Z Sector.
Past the senior researcher's quarters d3 had checked earlier.
"To stop it, need the code..."
"You know it, obviously?"
"Of course. Anyone inputs it, gets control."
"Good. Truthful? I protect you. Lies? You get what I described earlier."
"No lies. But..."
"..."
"One issue..."
His face tightened slightly.
"A test subject guards it."
"...That's a problem?"
"Don't underestimate test subjects."
I'd seen superhumans fight them earlier.
Knew some had insane vitality and tenacity.
But that's it.
Took time, but no match for superhumans.
"This escape? That thing's doing. Damn vibrations loosened restraints—if not for that, none of this."
"Special test subject?"
"Nah, just special ingredients made a special result."
"...Don't tell me you used espers in experiments?"
"Pff! We don't call common stuff 'special.' Special means special."
I got it.
Reason Mutant Medical drove key plot branches in the original.
"...You used a superhuman. How?"
Even Elohim Church never tested on superhumans.
'Wait, one did.'
Jean Werewolf.
Lucky find for them, but he proved strong ability users in experiments could spawn wild variables.
'Too early... Failed product maybe?'
If it was the level I knew, no way I handled it solo.
Rumble rumble!
Then, an earthquake hit.
Battle vibrations outside were constant, but this felt different.
Something surging up from below.
"It's starting."
He looked up, said.
Cracks from cumulative shocks rained dust from the ceiling.
Utah City had twenty minutes left.