Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Fusion
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Shin-ju's sign language was gradually becoming more proficient.
[AREN'T.THOSE.TWO.ALREADY.DEAD.THEN.WHAT'S.THE.POINT.OF.FUSING.THEIR.BRAINS?]
[DON'T.WORRY.]
Another of Bol-code's arms moved from side to side.
[WITH.MY.SKILLS.I.CAN.EXTRACT.THE.INFORMATION.FROM.A.DEAD.PERSON'S.BRAIN.AND.RECONSTRUCT.IT.AS.COMPUTER.DATA.]
Bol-code's red eyes looked down at Shin-ju.
[I.JUST.HAVE.TO.IMPLANT.THAT.DATA.INTO.A.NEW.BRAIN.AND.ATTACH.IT.TO.A.CYBORG.BODY.]
Shin-ju suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
He had to find a way out of here, no matter what.
[OH.I.SEE.OKAY.THEN.LET'S.PLAY.TOGETHER.]
Bol-code, seemingly pleased to have a friend to play with, moved his arms about.
Shin-ju seized the opportunity to test the waters.
[BY.THE.WAY.WHERE.DID.THOSE.BODIES.COME.FROM?]
[THERE'S.A.GATE.]
[A.GATE.WHAT.KIND.OF.GATE?]
[A.GATE.THAT'S.DIRECTLY.CONNECTED.TO.MY.BODY.]
'That's it!'
Shin-ju once again gauged Bol-code's reaction.
Bol-code seemed unconcerned, engrossed in preparing for their game.
It felt a bit rushed, but Shin-ju steeled his resolve, thinking he wouldn't get another chance.
It might be a dangerous question, but it had to be asked.
[WHERE.IS.THAT.GATE.NOW?]
*Vweee—*
At Shin-ju's question, Bol-code's red eyes began to glow an even deeper crimson.
Sharin, looking like she couldn't take it anymore, turned to Jekovic.
"Hey, wolf!"
"...Yes?"
Jekovic wore an anxious expression as the hot-headed Sharin called out to him.
"Let me confirm one thing. If we get out of this factory, can we definitely get off this planet?"
"Uh, I... I believe so, but... I can't be certain yet."
"How frustrating. Dammit! I'm not a big fan of this Park Shin-ju guy's methods!"
Sharin raised a hand, looking displeased.
"It's so roundabout. And he's a good fighter, too... This is just a waste of time!"
"Still, thanks to him, we've managed to de-escalate many incidents that could have turned into wars."
Despite being intimidated, Jekovic said everything he needed to.
"...More importantly, his methods are the reason we can settle down and live on Earth, right?"
Jekovic looked at Sharin.
His gaze seemed to plead with her to understand at least this much.
"Isn't it the same for the Bluerobics? It's a fact that your people are benefiting the most from Earth."
Sharin turned her head away, her expression still full of dissatisfaction.
She didn't like it, but he wasn't exactly wrong.
"Sharin has a point, and so do you, Jekovic."
Furen continued the conversation while keeping watch of their surroundings through her scope.
"But I can't just stand by, either. While Mr. Shin-ju is doing his part, we need to do what we can."
*Flick. Flick.*
Without taking her eye from the scope, Furen beckoned Sharin over with her hand.
As Sharin approached, Furen shifted slightly to make room.
"Here."
Sharin put her eye to the scope and looked in the direction Furen was indicating.
"See it?"
"Yeah."
In a corner of the factory, a line of bipedal, pilotable military robots was arranged.
She understood Furen's intention perfectly.
Furen looked down at Sharin.
"Think you can pilot one?"
As Furen asked, Sharin took her eye from the scope as if to say it was no problem.
"I'll just smash some things together. It'll move one way or another."
Seeing Sharin's belligerent expression, Furen gave a faint smile and made her decision.
"Good. Let's hijack them."
A pitch-black corridor, where one couldn't see an inch ahead, stretched out before Enri's eyes.
She attached a flashlight lens to her chest.
"We... did pass through the gate, right?"
Enri, who had stepped into the elevator, asked cautiously as she stared down the hallway.
Speeder also kept a vigilant watch, the blades of her hands held forward.
"Yes. It seems the gate was disguised as an elevator."
Jason, too, held a pistol with a flashlight attachment at a diagonal angle as he slowly advanced and replied.
"Then this must be the interior of Taumiel b1."
A desolate, empty corridor.
Worn down in places as if from age, the corridor gave off the strong impression of an abandoned research facility.
"Let's go."
Enri took the lead.
*Tap, tap, tap.*
The three of them ran down the corridor.
*Sssk-sssk-*
*Screech.*
"Wait!"
Her eyes wide, Enri held up her collapsible baton and stopped the two following behind her.
"Something's coming!"
Behind her glasses, Enri's eyes grew incredibly sharp.
Jason calmly aimed his pistol, and Speeder raised the blades of her hands forward like a jiangshi.
*Sssk-sssk-sssk-*
The sound of countless things moving in a swarm could be heard.
The noise, which almost sounded like crashing waves, was enough to drive the trio into a state of fear.
*Sssk-sssk-sssk-sssk-*
From the endless darkness ahead, the faint outline of something began to emerge.
*Sssk-*
A black object shot up from under Enri's left foot.
"Hup-!!"
Enri's eyes flashed as she mercilessly brought her collapsible baton down upon it.
*Crack! Kyeek!*
When she quickly shone her flashlight, a shattered spider-like robot lay at her feet.
"...What is this?"
Jason frowned as he looked down at it.
"It's not just a robot... Why is there so much flesh...?"
Around the shattered spider robot, chunks of unidentifiable flesh were scattered.
Suddenly, Speeder blew a whistle as if in warning.
As Enri and Jason looked up and shone their flashlights, they saw dozens, hundreds of mechanical spiders swarming toward them from the distance.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Jason fired his gun with textbook form.
The spider robots were sent flying by his bullets.
Speeder's brow furrowed deeply.
She spread her hands toward the swarm of spiders.
A miniature gate opened from within her sleeve.
With a look that said, 'Eat this,' she summoned a flamethrower from the gate.
*Fwoooooosh—*
An immense amount of fire erupted from Speeder's sleeve.
"Whoa."
Flames blazed across the surface of Enri's round glasses.
The passageway was instantly engulfed in fire.
Hundreds of mechanical spiders burned and exploded.
Even the mechanical spiders clinging to the ceiling fell to the floor, flailing on their backs.
"Phew."
Jason lowered his gun and whistled.
*Click!*
As the flames died down, Speeder folded her outstretched arm as if to signal it was over.
Enri felt a newfound sense of awe toward Speeder.
Speeder, the gate researcher who could handle miniature gates.
Her ability was second only to Shin-ju's Old Book in terms of versatility, yet it felt remarkable that she had quietly worked as a mere traffic cop.
Speeder stepped forward with a satisfied expression.
Jason and Enri exchanged a glance before obediently following behind her.
*Whirr— Clank. Whirr— Clank.*
"I hear something."
From far away, the sound of factory machinery running ceaselessly could be heard.
The three of them looked at each other.
*Nod.*
Their eyes were filled with the certainty that they had arrived at the right place.
[I.CAN'T.TELL.YOU.THE.GATE'S.LOCATION.]
Shin-ju blinked at Bol-code's sign language.
'Just as I thought.'
He posed a question with his hands.
[WHY?]
[I.CAN'T.TELL.YOU.THAT.EITHER.]
[HMM.I.SEE.]
Shin-ju tilted his head, acknowledging this wasn't going to be easy.
'Pretty thorough.'
'Seems like he's been well-trained.'
'How do I coax this young one into revealing who's behind all this?'
A look of determination began to fill Shin-ju's eyes.
'I guess I have no choice.'
'I'll have to play along.'
Shin-ju sent a signal to Bol-code.
[ALRIGHT.THEN.SHALL.WE.START.THE.GAME?]
*Whirr— Clank.*
At the word "game," Bol-code's red eyes sparkled.
[GOOD.]
Bol-code held up the corpses of the Bluerobic and the Jakorde he had shown earlier.
[TELL.ME.]
[Huh?]
[THE.QUIZ.I.ASKED.YOU.EARLIER.]
If you split the brains of two different lifeforms, one left and one right, and then fused them, what kind of being would be created?
He had no choice but to guess.
[I.SAY.BLUEROBIC.]
Bol-code's hands moved.
'Why?'
Shin-ju thought for a moment before answering.
[BECAUSE.THE.BLUEROBIC.IS.THE.GENETICALLY.SUPERIOR.BEING?]
[GOOD.LET'S.EXPERIMENT.AND.SEE.IF.THAT'S.REALLY.THE.CASE.]
*Whirr— Clank. Clank. Clank.*
Bol-code's hands began to move in earnest.
Suddenly, the conveyor belts slid to the side, revealing an empty space.
A square hole opened in the floor of the empty space, and a massive operating table rose from within.
*Whirr— Thud.*
Bol-code placed half of the Bluerobic female's corpse and half of the Jakorde male's corpse onto the table, pressing their severed sections together.
The sight of the half-female, half-male face was strongly reminiscent of a villain from a classic robot anime.
*Whirr— Clank.*
One of Bol-code's hands transformed into the shape of a stapler.
'No way.'
Bol-code began to fasten the seam of the cross-section with the stapler.
And so, the two aliens became one body.
In no time, Bol-code's arm had transformed into a sharp, machete-like blade.
Shin-ju winced slightly.
He had a strong feeling that the blade was about to come down on the neck.
*Slice—*
However, contrary to his expectation, it merely made a small incision on the neck where the two faces were joined.
Two mechanical hands slowly approached the single, two-faced head.
The mechanical hands gripped the face, then delicately lifted it upward.
*C-c-crack—*
The entire head was pulled off, and the two attached spinal columns began to come out with it.
Bol-code gently caressed the extracted head.
After a long moment, he took the head somewhere.
The conveyor belt started moving.
Two arms attached to the sides picked up the head and moved it elsewhere again.
Shin-ju quietly followed the conveyor belt.
When the conveyor belt stopped, Shin-ju stopped as well.
He stood there motionlessly, looking up at something.
He had arrived in front of a headless, humanoid robot.
Shin-ju moved closer to the robot.
It seemed to be at least two meters tall.
The somewhat old and misshapen robot definitely did not feel like it was from Earth.
It exuded an aura like the Antikythera mechanism, a relic buried in the annals of history.
[NOW.FOR.THE.FUSION.]
Bol-code held up the head.
A moment later, the head, with its dangling spine, drew close to the neck of the mechanical robot.
*C-c-c-c-crack.*
Soon, the long spine began to slowly enter the robot.
'Was the spine always that long?'
Shin-ju kept his mouth tightly shut and watched the scene intently.
*Click.*
Finally, the neck joint fit perfectly, and the head and body were connected.
A half-and-half face of different aliens on a mechanical body...
Could there be a more bizarre creature?
[NOW.FOR.THE.FUEL.]
*Crackle. Sizzle—*
Dark blue electricity began to gather between Bol-code's hands.
*Sizzzzzle—*
As the electricity converged, it gradually condensed into a sphere of energy.
Deciding enough energy had been gathered, Bol-code brought his hand to the head of the chimera-like machine.
As the electricity was absorbed into the robot's body, its entire frame began to tremble violently.
"Ugh... ugh... ugh..."
The expression on the single face, a fusion of two, began to contort as if it were a living human.
Shin-ju's mouth slowly fell open.
'Is this for real...?'
"Ugh... ah... ah..."
Soon, the mouth on the face opened wide.
Then, the eyelids slowly rolled up, and the upturned eyeballs began to spin wildly.
"Kyaaaaaaah-!!"
"Uwoooaaah-!!"
The screams of the woman and the man overlapped, creating a bizarre harmony that began to echo in all directions.