Chapter 420: smorz(4)
Chapter 420: smorz(4)
I immediately headed toward the Assassination Team while carrying the unconscious Chloe.
There were more things I needed to look into now.
While I had questions about the noise-like version of myself that had suddenly appeared, the most pressing matters were Chloe’s physical condition and her true identity.
There was a possibility The Mad Doctor had lied to me to cause confusion, but judging by Chloe’s reaction, I had to assume he was telling the truth.
Considering even Brantley’s Carte couldn't detect anything, she was either human or something incredibly close to it, but now that I had this information, I needed a definitive answer.
That was why I scrapped the plan to leave Chloe with Ultimate.
Both sides had Heroes specialized in treatment or medicine.
Han A-bin and Brantley.
However, it was an undeniable fact that Brantley was the one capable of making a more accurate judgment in this situation. Thus, I hurried back to the Assassination Team with Chloe in my arms.
“Brantley!”
“What is the matter?”
When I shouted, Brantley turned toward me with a calm voice, as if wondering what the fuss was about.
“…Let’s get her to a bed.”
As soon as he saw me carrying the fainted Chloe, he moved into action.
The room where Chloe had stayed for the night.
Since it wasn't far from the ruins we were currently occupying, the two of us were able to lay her down on the bed immediately.
The moment Chloe was settled.
“I checked her with my Carte while we were moving. For now, the fainting itself seems to be due to simple physical exhaustion… but did something happen?”
Brantley informed me that the reason for her collapse was merely physical fatigue.
That in itself was a relief, but the important part came next.
“Perform a detailed examination of Chloe’s body. There’s a chance she isn’t a normal human.”
“…I require a more precise explanation to make a judgment.”
Brantley responded coldly to my words.
Yeah, I knew. I knew how crazy it sounded.
“I ran into that Mad Doctor I mentioned before. He claimed Chloe was his daughter.”
“…A child from when he was still human?”
“No, that’s impossible given the timeline. He probably just used his own DNA.”
Because he had called her a subject.
But I didn't want to let that word cross my lips.
“Based on the Carte, Chloe is definitely human.”
“I’m telling you to do a thorough investigation just in case. I don't care even if she isn't human. That’s just something you and I have to keep hidden. If even you, with your Carte, thought she was a normal person, then most people won't notice.”
“…That is a problematic statement.”
Brantley turned to look at me, his expression hardening.
I knew. I knew that if this got back to the Management Bureau, it wouldn't end with just disciplinary action.
But I had been prepared for that ever since the incident with Linshua.
“She’s a child who is as close to human as can be. I’m asking you to check this now to prepare for any potential problems down the line.”
“It is not our place to make that judgment.”
Oh, is that so?
“Do doctors these days just go around selling their patients' private information?”
“I believe this falls outside the realm of personal information.”
Brantley glared at me, but I wasn't the type to back down from that.
“Tell them to eat shit. Even if she isn't human, I haven't fallen so far that I can't protect a single kid.”
At those words, Brantley stared at me blankly with a look of surprise.
“Hahahaha!”
Then, he suddenly burst out laughing.
We had worked together for years, but I had never once seen him laugh so heartily.
Feeling annoyed, I snapped at him.
“What the hell are you laughing at?”
I cursed at him bluntly, but.
“No, it’s nothing.”
Brantley simply wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and wore a smile on his lips.
When I stared at him with a sullen expression, saying nothing, he spoke again.
“Very well, I shall do as you ask. However, I cannot help you if it comes to a formal Management Bureau precision scan.”
Brantley answered with a smile, as if agreeing to follow my lead.
I didn't know what caused his change of heart.
But hey, all’s well that ends well.
With the conversation over, Brantley approached Chloe.
Just as I was about to leave the room to wait outside.
“Ah, I forgot one thing.”
I remembered something I’d forgotten during my argument with Brantley and turned back at the door.
“She might have awakened a superpower, so check for that too.”
“What kind of ability?”
Brantley asked the obvious follow-up question.
“…Uh… it looked like she was summoning something… though it might not be Chloe’s ability… It’s like, you know, television noise flickering and then appearing in reality…”
Unable to find the words to explain the phenomenon, I made that excuse and added:
“Just—just check it!”
Slam.
I shut the door and made my escape.
* * *
I believe we did everything we could.
For two days, we ran around cutting off the enemies' limbs and smashing several locations that appeared to be their production facilities.
In the process, we even captured a few of those smooth, featureless enemies that looked almost human.
We hadn't been slack in gathering information, either.
From the enemies' pathways using the Water Supply Network and their starting points, to various biological samples and the behavioral patterns of enemies disguised as humans.
During that time, that damn Harvey was nowhere to be found, so we failed to regroup, but I thought it was a decent operation for five people.
That was what the Assassination Team had accomplished over the past two days.
Ultimate’s team, which had been moving separately from us, also reportedly discovered a large number of civilians and carried out evacuations and quarantines.
Quarantine might sound a bit suspicious, but in a situation where we didn't know who might be infected, it was a necessary measure.
The civilians who were successfully quarantined and evacuated were now being managed by the vanguard of the Defense Force, which had arrived a day earlier than scheduled.
There was information that they had also encountered the smooth-skinned flesh monsters, but those monsters hadn't said a word and simply attacked.
However, it wasn't Ultimate’s team that met them, but the Defense Force units evacuating the civilians.
From their battle with the flesh monsters, we learned that bullets were ineffective, so the lesson was to focus on explosives or fire-based attacks.
I gritted my teeth at that information.
That was information we should have obtained ourselves.
Since Svetlana primarily used firearms, it was data we could have gathered the moment she engaged them.
But because Svetlana had been busy guarding Chloe, we hadn't been able to get it.
The Scales were already tilting ever so slightly.
A crack caused by placing two different things on the balance.
I wondered what kind of result that would bring.
Thinking of this, I looked up at the sky.
Under the clear sky where the sun was beginning to rise, a sound echoed.
—Beeeeeeeeeeep. This is an announcement for the citizens of Detroit.
A cold voice began, following a sharp and ominous siren.
The voice announcing the start of the battle.
—A large-scale biohazard alert has been issued for Detroit. Accordingly, the Management Bureau has sealed off Detroit, and bombardment is scheduled to begin shortly.
A simple, utterly cold sentence.
—As announced yesterday, there are two hours remaining until the scheduled attack time. Those who have not yet evacuated, please move to the outskirts as quickly as possible.
Yes, this was the final warning.
The vanguard that arrived yesterday had already finished guiding the civilians.
This broadcast echoing through Detroit now was the final warning to minimize civilian casualties.
Someone might ask.
Is it right to carry out an operation with such a high potential for civilian casualties?
Everyone had that thought.
Whether they were people who had lived through that era or those who hadn't.
Even if there was a justification for the operation, The High Command knew that if such a large-scale extermination was carried out in a populated area, the Management Bureau’s image would be tarnished.
That was why many self-proclaimed "analysis experts" in the media were claiming this was merely a threat and that a true Extermination Operation would never actually begin.
But they didn't know.
The Management Bureau’s High Command were pieces of trash.
In particular, the UN council members were beyond help.
They had reached those positions because they possessed a certain level of competence, but most of them were just greedy pigs.
But let’s think about it differently.
Under whose orders were the nukes dropped on Nanjido?
Who authorized "black ops" like those of the Assassination Team?
Yes, it was the higher-ups.
Of course, it wasn't that such operations were carried out purely based on their greed; the much more sensible general command of the Management Bureau would weigh the right and wrong of the justification before passing it up.
But in the end, the ones who gave the final approval for such operations...
Were the pigs who knew how to press the button for the sake of the world, possessing at least the small amount of resolve required to throw away their own political lives for that cause.
The sun climbed higher.
“It’ll be okay.”
Since we had entered the extermination phase, I, who was watching the city center from the outskirts instead of carrying out a mission, reassured Chloe.
Whether she was startled by the siren or afraid of her biological father.
The small child trembled with fear.
Once everything had come to light, I had tried to have Chloe transported to a safe location, but the Management Bureau had classified her as a high-risk contamination group.
An Awakened with an unclear ability who had a connection to the primary culprit of this disaster.
The judgment that such an entity could not be moved outside kept her in Detroit, forcing her to remain until the final day of the extermination.
It wasn't that she knew nothing.
She knew what was about to happen, and she knew why she was here.
Even if a child’s mind couldn't fully grasp it all, she understood parts of it.
That didn't mean she understood everything.
A child’s perspective was too small to contain all of this.
I didn't want to show her this reality.
The nightmare that was about to begin.
But since it was unavoidable.
Small sparks streaked across the blue sky.
Passing through the sun, they flew over our heads.
I watched them while covering Chloe’s eyes.
Svetlana closed her eyes.
Montague followed the sparks with his gaze.
Edward clicked his tongue and shook his head.
And finally, Brantley quietly bowed his head in a moment of silence.
—Nuclear attack warning! Avert your eyes and prepare for impact! Repeat! Nuclear attack warning! Avert your eyes and prepare for impact!
Along with the widespread alarm.
Another nightmare created by human technology detonated in the sky above the center of Detroit.
The stars of heaven descended to earth once more.
An explosion erupted, and a shockwave spread.
However, that explosion was not meant to sweep away buildings or erase the world.
A Neutron Bomb.
It didn't disregard the explosion and impact, but it was a different branch of thermonuclear weaponry designed to utilize the additional byproducts.
By integrating Otherworldly Technology, it had been enhanced by another level.
A weapon of massacre that should never be in anyone’s hands, converting almost all energy into wavelengths and controlling their direction.
As if to prove it, Magic Circles flickered rapidly amidst the flames of the explosion, and the fire instantly contracted inward.
Then, everything vanished.
The fire, the explosion, and the shockwave.
All that remained was a certain wavelength invisible to the human eye.
There appeared to be no damage to Detroit.
Unlike other thermonuclear weapons, there was no catastrophe of collapsing or burning structures.
However, the people within that effective range...
Unless they were incredibly lucky and shielded from the neutron radiation, they would all be dead.
An anti-biological decisive weapon.
The Management Bureau had deployed it here.
In normal times, the Management Bureau seemed relaxed, peaceful, and merciful.
But if the destruction of the world was in sight, they could become more cruel and vicious than anyone else to prevent that end.
By now, the media would be broadcasting breaking news in every direction.
But I didn't care about the evaluations of those humans outside the battlefield, who only consumed combat as information to bite and tear at.
This place where we stood was our only reality.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The artillery bombardment began.
At the same time, countless footsteps could be heard.
The Detroit Extermination Operation had begun.
Against a city that was quieter than ever before.