Chapter 427: 99 Things You Can Do as a Human (2)
Chapter 427: 99 Things You Can Do as a Human (2)
Everything began to accelerate.
It was a closed-door meeting held in a chat room where secrets were traded.
Since the participants were not part of the Management Bureau’s official chain of command, the gathering was undeniably an improper act—what one might call a "backchannel" operation.
Some might defend these actions. They might argue it was merely a social activity, as we do not hold direct positions of power within the Bureau.
Because we, who bear the Original Sin, do not crave honor or power according to the shackles we have placed upon ourselves, we rarely take actions beyond our practical duties, even if we hold a seat. Thus, it is nearly impossible for us to issue direct orders.
However, it is possible to twist the organization's direction through indirect involvement.
We used predictive data presented not by old Heroes, but by those with distinguished careers as working-level officials.
If those predictions were too far removed from the current situation, they would be rejected regardless of the submitter's pedigree.
But what if, even if the predictions seemed far-fetched, similar reports were submitted simultaneously through entirely different routes?
It influences those sitting at the top—those who grasp honor and power.
It creates the illusion that the prediction might be correct.
If veterans from completely different departments voice the same warning, it is perceived as a rational prediction deduced from multiple angles.
In reality, it is a single opinion derived from a single piece of information and a single perspective, not the result of multifaceted consideration.
Of course, even with such collective action, there are times when our views are not accepted.
Sometimes it is because we are in the minority.
Other times, it is because we are simply wrong.
We are not perfect, after all.
So, even if our warnings are rejected, we do not complain; we silently carry out the practical tasks assigned to us.
That is the shackle we bear.
And that is the malicious act that allows us to bypass the very shackles we imposed on ourselves.
This time, however, the higher-ups sided with our opinion.
The mission objective has changed.
The grand framework of an Extermination Operation remains, but the details have shifted.
From exterminating the infected who might be sources of contamination...
To a direction where, even if the infected are missed, every enemy and every piece of infrastructure in Detroit is to be utterly pulverized.
Upon hearing this command, the Lord of Infinite Castles let out a roar filled with fury.
'Are those damn bastards whose heads are contaminated with peace still out of their minds?'
'I must have written "just evaporate Detroit" at least a dozen times in the reports!'
'I'll go there myself, despite my old age. You damn brats. If the world ends, you're all accomplices, you bastards!'
And with that, all contact was cut off.
It seems that crazy geezer is actually dragging his wheelchair all the way to Detroit.
But I wonder why I was the one getting cursed at.
I'm just a jobless bum; I don't even have the authority to submit anything to the higher-ups.
Though, my terminal is currently flooded with emails from field commanders begging me to submit reports.
[Please forward the operation report.] - 3 days ago -
[If there is an issue with forwarding the operation report, please reply.] - 2 days ago -
[Could you please just send the operation report?] - 1 day ago -
[Um, you are still alive, right? Please, save me.] - 1 hour ago -
Naturally, I ignored them all.
I'm busy enough as it is; I couldn't care less about reports or whatever.
Anyway, the important thing is that the Lord of Infinite Castles is gracing Detroit with his presence.
If that senile geezer flies here while pushing his abilities to the limit, it'll probably take about a day.
Since the Lord of Infinite Castles can teleport between branches, he'll likely teleport to the nearest one first.
The distance from the Chicago Branch—the closest one to Detroit—is roughly 500km, so it should take five to twelve hours to arrive.
But the Bureau personnel aren't idiots; they won't just let that geezer waltz out of a branch office.
So, twelve hours for the Lord of Infinite Castles to flip the Chicago Branch upside down and escape, plus the time I estimated for him to get here... that makes roughly a day.
There is no future where that man is successfully restrained by Bureau staff.
The Lord of Infinite Castles has a temper like a raging wildfire.
However, even if he does reach Detroit... will there be anything left for that geezer to do?
I suspect there won't be.
By the time the senile Lord of Infinite Castles arrives, there will be nothing left in Detroit.
Boom.
An explosion cuts through my thoughts.
It is the roar of the mission's shift—from the exclusion of living beings to the exclusion of the entire city.
The Air Force, originally excluded from the operation, has been deployed, and the artillery units have changed their strike patterns.
The incendiary shells, originally intended to burn The Enemy, were swapped out as the mission changed to burying everything into the earth.
Looking up at the sky, black rain is falling.
A feast of countless high-explosive shells.
In an era where the form of war had shifted toward precision strikes, this was a return to the war of attrition triggered by the Otherworld Invasion.
A large-scale bombardment intended to erase the very existence of the city called Detroit.
It bloomed a magnificent garden of flames upon the ground.
Humanity's architectural achievements—cheap, plentiful, and sturdy structures born from the miracle of materials engineering known as reinforced concrete—are swallowed by the flowers and slowly crumble.
One bomb. Two bombs.
The buildings, which once boasted their majesty by refusing to fall to such numbers, eventually succumb and collapse as the count reaches the hundreds and thousands.
Thump.
The vibration from a massive building collapsing shakes the ground like an earthquake.
Simultaneously, a fog begins to rise over the battlefield.
It isn't an anomalous phenomenon.
It is simply that the ground cracked as the buildings fell, and steam hissed out from the gaps.
The liquid that was once human is being vented as steam.
That is the Bureau’s method for processing the liquid.
Transporting the liquid outside of Detroit presents difficulties due to its immense weight and volume, and if the facilities are simply blown up, it would seep into the earth.
Therefore, why not evaporate all the liquid into the air and then collect it using magic?
Physically, the liquid is just water with a peculiar composition.
Thus, water subjected to massive energy becomes steam and permeates the air, where experts in fluid manipulation gather and manage it.
To carry out this process, the moment the location of a liquid storage site is confirmed...
A Bureau-specialized bunker buster, powerful enough to grind the earth, pierces the ground and obliterates the storage, while fire-based magic is triggered simultaneously.
The base itself is destroyed so that no more water can be accumulated, and the liquid is eradicated at its source.
A large-scale Extermination Operation is underway to erase everything.
Flowers of explosion bloom in every direction.
White steam vents through the flames.
The sticky end of what was once human brushes against the skin.
Such is the operation unfolding in Detroit.
The Lord of Infinite Castles vented his rage because his opinion wasn't accepted, but looking at the scene, what is happening is incredibly close to his suggestion.
The land of Detroit itself isn't being evaporated, but every trace that this land was once Detroit is being completely erased.
Yes, the Management Bureau and the various national militaries are capable of this level of large-scale fire support.
The reason such firepower wasn't deployed on the battlefield before was simply because of the explosion of Otherworldly Power that occurs when an enemy belonging to a "Story" is defeated by external interference—not because they lacked the capability.
So, now that such concerns are gone, the power to wipe everything off the map is being unleashed upon Detroit.
Then, what is the public opinion regarding this action?
During the operation, I hadn't checked because even a moment spent on such trivialities felt like a waste.
However, even I am not crazy enough to keep operating in this sea of fire without a break, so I took a moment to pull out my phone and quickly check the public sentiment.
The media outlets of various countries were foaming at the mouth in a frenzy.
It was a natural reaction, in a way.
They shouted about what on earth the Bureau was doing in Detroit, and some screamed about whether such a thing could be tolerated on American soil.
I didn't have time to check comments or posts, but at least the media was unanimous in its criticism of this operation.
I wanted to tell those idiots to come out to the battlefield right now and take a look at the soldiers next to them.
They would see the Stars and Stripes pinned clearly to their chests.
This operation is a total war of annihilation, with even the U.S. military deployed.
An offensive to erase the city of Detroit from the map.
The infantry is no exception.
They no longer enter the urban areas to delete enemies one by one as they did before.
From safe zones untouched by the shelling, they shoot at human-shaped shadows emerging from the smoke as if they were playing a game.
Whether those are the infected or civilians who survived by a stroke of luck, no one knows.
Before their melting can even be confirmed, their forms are swallowed by steam and flame.
I don't know which is better for one's mental health: seeing someone burn right before your eyes, or becoming a mere machine shooting at human silhouettes.
But at the very least, this scenery will haunt their dreams for years to come.
The air has grown hot from the explosions, but the humidity from the steam dominates the entire battlefield.
Hot and humid.
In a hell that feels like the height of midsummer, this operation continues indefinitely.
Because memories of such a battlefield can never be forgotten, no matter how hard one tries.
How much time has passed since the operation began?
By the time the endlessly blooming flowers of fire felt familiar, and I no longer flinched at bombs landing nearby...
—Beep, beep, beep, beep!
Suddenly, a warning chime rang out from my operation terminal.
I immediately picked it up to check the screen.
Red text was scrolling rapidly, broadcasting an emergency.
—Otherworldly Power concentration rising rapidly.
—All personnel, prepare for anomalous phenomena.
About a minute after the warning passed through my eyes and reached my brain...
The battlefield fell silent.
The endless roar of artillery vanished.
The bombers and artillery units dominating the field ceased their fire to prepare for the emergency.
For the first time since the operation began, the explosions stopped.
As the dust settled, the landscape of the battlefield was revealed.
An endless wasteland.
It was covered in countless fragments of concrete that hadn't been fully pulverized, and white steam crawled out from the gaps between the debris and the earth.
A few surviving buildings remained, but even they were mere skeletons, unable to maintain a normal appearance.
In that massive empty lot, now so flat that the expressions of soldiers stationed on the opposite side were visible...
Rumble.
The earth began to quake.
A vibration that made even ordinary people, who couldn't sense Otherworldly Power, realize that something was beginning.
The vibration continued without end.
Just as the number of people preparing to flee—perhaps fearing a ground collapse—began to increase noticeably...
Crash!
Along with a loud sound that split the earth.
"Hahahaha! I like it! I like it! Yes! Science can overcome the Otherworld! It has been proven! Incredible! Management Bureau! What a magnificent attack!"
"Don't get excited, Kapustin. The experiment isn't over yet."
The voices of the Doctors echoed loudly across the battlefield.
"How can I not be excited in this situation, Coffin! The elite Flesh Monsters we prepared were crushed by simple bombardment! It's a victory for science! Otherworldly Power is nothing!"
"Our goal is to bring that Otherworldly Power into the realm of science."
"Ahaha! True. Science is great! But it cannot reach the high heavens! Reaching the high heavens is our goal!"
"Therefore..."
[Let the alteration begin.]
The two voices merged into one.
It was different from Otherworld Erosion.
Their voices simply transcended space to strike directly at the mind.
At that moment.
Thump. Grrrrrrr.
Something rose from the earth.
The field of vision was dyed in a pinkish flesh tone.
A massive structure dominated the view.
A flesh-colored colossus appeared, piercing the earth and scattering the concrete fragments littering the ground.
The massive thing that emerged from the ground was pulsating as if it were alive.
Aside from its unnervingly gargantuan size, its appearance didn't immediately scream danger.
A pillar.
Yes, a massive entity that could only be described as a Flesh Pillar.
A giant flesh-colored pillar filled the vision, its height impossible to even estimate.
It pulsated as it towered over the ruins of Detroit.
"Now! Let the experiment begin!"
"I have created this for the sake of discernment; let those who survive be deemed worthy."
Pshhh.
Blood sprayed in all directions.
Slender spears erupted from the earth.
No, they weren't slender.
It was only an illusion caused by seeing that massive Flesh Pillar.
Columns the size of telephone poles burst from the ground, skewering the bodies of soldiers.
Flowers of blood bloomed everywhere.
Screams began to flood the once-silent battlefield.
Pandemonium erupted from the unexpected ambush.
However, some immediately went on the offensive.
Veterans who had survived such hellish battlefields multiple times.
Rather than saving a single soldier, they dashed toward The Enemy to eliminate the source of this entire phenomenon.
"Oops. It wouldn't be fun if there were only attacks, would it? Let's put up some walls!"
"Come, you failures."
Squelch.
A bizarre sound echoed.
The sound of raw meat rubbing against raw meat, of crushed flesh and blood spraying out.
As that sound rang out...
Thump. Thump.
Meat was torn from the Flesh Pillar, and things made of flesh walked out.
Flesh Monsters.
However, they were entirely different from the ones seen before.
The design hadn't changed at all.
The problem, however, was their size and number.
Dozens of human-sized ones walked out in an instant.
About fifteen others stood roughly five meters tall.
And then, there was one whose size couldn't be grasped at a glance—a creature as large as a building.
As those soldiers were newly deployed...
And as the Doctors revealed themselves beside the Flesh Pillar...
The true war of annihilation in Detroit began.