Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: The Laboratory
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Do-jae and Young-jin stood at the cave entrance.
The cave looked just big enough for one person to pass through.
It seemed like a good place for small animals like rabbits, foxes, or even birds to make their home.
*Ssk-*
But when Do-jae reached out, his hand was blocked by a transparent barrier.
No matter where he touched the entrance, the glass-like barrier was there.
"I smell something."
Young-jin peered into the cave.
But it was too deep to see inside.
*Swish. Swish.*
Do-jae rubbed the barrier a few times, then struck it cautiously.
*Thud.*
"Hmm..."
He hadn't hit it with all his might, afraid of making a loud noise, but he'd still used considerable force to break it.
However, the transparent barrier only cracked faintly before quickly regenerating, returning to its original state.
"It's tough."
"It seems to be a wall made of mana."
Do-jae stepped back from the barrier, crossed his arms, and studied it.
Then he stepped forward again, placed both hands on the barrier, and slowly closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"Be quiet."
Do-jae activated Nerves of the Golem to check the extent of the transparent barrier.
If it only blocked the entrance, he planned to dig another tunnel to get inside.
However.
"It seems to surround the entire area..."
After a moment, Do-jae opened his eyes and spoke in a bitter tone.
Currently, the range of his Nerves of the Golem was a 15-meter radius.
Even if he pushed himself to the limit, 20 meters was his maximum.
But the barrier in front of him extended far beyond his detection range, deep into the cave.
"What do we do? I have a strong feeling this is the place."
"Hmm... Let's look around first."
Do-jae led Young-jin and began to slowly circle the area around the cave.
He kept Nerves of the Golem active, concentrating.
Supplying mana continuously to such a large area would require far more than a single mana stone.
Even the highest-grade mana stones would need to be used in numbers.
But high-grade mana stones weren't exactly easy to come by.
They must have built a dense network of low or mid-grade mana stones to power it.
And what Do-jae was looking for was the gap between these stones.
Coordinating different mana stones to supply a uniform flow of mana was no easy task.
His plan was to find a weak point in the mana supply and break through.
"Is this it?"
Do-jae, who had been walking along the mountain ridge for about ten minutes, came to a stop.
"Huh? What is?"
Do-jae immediately summoned his golems and ordered them to dig.
Since they were now at a slightly higher elevation than the cave entrance, he had them dig a tunnel downward at a 30-degree angle.
The golems' hands had transformed into bucket-like shapes, like those on an excavator, and they dug at an incredible speed.
*Shk-shk-shk-shk.*
*Krrk.*
*Clank.*
After digging for a while, the golems stopped as if they had hit something.
It was the gap Do-jae had been looking for.
They had reached a spot where the mana flow was unstable and weak.
"The sound shouldn't leak out from here, right?"
*Thud.*
Do-jae slammed his fist against the barrier.
*Crumble.*
Clumps of dirt fell from the ceiling of the hastily dug tunnel.
The earth had absorbed the sound and vibration from the impact.
Startled, Young-jin covered his head and trembled.
"Boss, we're going to get buried alive!"
Do-jae smirked at Young-jin and struck the transparent barrier again.
*Thud.*
*Crack.*
Unlike before, a much larger crack appeared.
Without stopping, Do-jae threw one final punch.
*Smash!*
A hole large enough for a person to pass through appeared in the transparent barrier.
"It didn't collapse... Phew."
Young-jin sighed in relief.
Fortunately, the tunnel held.
It wasn't that he'd intended for it not to collapse, but even if it had, they wouldn't have been buried and killed.
Do-jae and Young-jin were not ordinary people.
Even if they got trapped, Do-jae had his Golem Armor and Golem Summon, making Young-jin's panic seem almost cute.
"You wait outside."
"What?"
"Don't go far. Stay right here."
"You want me to just wait here after coming all this way? It was just getting interesting!"
"Just do as I say."
"Tch. Fine."
Leaving the disappointed Young-jin behind, Do-jae stepped through the slowly regenerating barrier.
***
"Wang Fei! Time for your shift change."
"Khh! Finally, it's over."
"What am I going to do to pass the time today? Such a pain."
"Don't complain so much. It's much better than fighting monsters, isn't it?"
Wang Fei and Ryu Yang.
They were the hunters who patrolled this research facility.
The Mana Accelerator laboratory, which had been built by hollowing out an entire mountain and filling it with various facilities.
"By the way, did you hear something?"
"Hear what?"
"More importantly, you seem excited today."
"Hehe, a bunch of 'corpses' came in today."
Corpses.
This was the slang they used.
Every day, at a set time, people were brought into the laboratory.
They arrived asleep, packed in large boxes, to be used for experiments.
That's why the lab personnel called them 'corpses'.
Their stillness inside the crude, rectangular boxes made them look like dead bodies being delivered in coffins.
Of course, some of them did eventually become actual corpses.
"Why does that matter? 'Corpses' arrive every day."
"I took a peek inside one of the boxes during my patrol. There was a woman mixed in, and she was quite a looker. Delicate features, and those hips... how do I even describe them?"
"Oh...? Really? Looks like we're in for a proper 'meal' for a change."
Ryu Yang and Wang Fei exchanged lecherous smiles.
The laboratory brought in anyone with even a trace of mana, regardless of age or gender.
Of course, most of them were homeless or had no family—people whose disappearances would not be noticed quickly.
"Hey! I'll be the one to 'taste' her first, so you just wait quietly."
"Jeez! And hey, when you're at it, be gentle, will you? Think about the next guy in line."
"Hehehe... Alright, alright. I even took a picture. Want to see?"
Wang Fei let out a sleazy laugh and took out his smartphone.
As Ryu Yang leaned in to look at the photo, licking his lips...
"Hmph!"
"Gah!"
A pale white hand shot out and covered the nose and mouth of both Wang Fei and Ryu Yang.
*Flail, flail.*
Their faces turning red, they struggled to pull the hand away, but its grip was so strong it wouldn't budge.
A moment later.
*Thump.*
Unable to breathe, Wang Fei and Ryu Yang passed out and collapsed to the floor.
***
*Drag, drag.*
Do-jae dragged the two Chinese men into a shadowed corner.
*Grrrnd.*
Then, he summoned a golem and had it dig a hole deep enough for the two men to fit in vertically.
*Rip.*
Do-jae took duct tape from his Subspace and tightly bound their bodies.
He then threw the men into the hole and dismissed the golem.
He then covered them with the remaining dirt, stomping on it firmly to pack it down.
For them, unconscious as they were, it was no different from being buried alive.
However, he left their heads sticking out above the dirt, so while they wouldn't be able to move when they woke up, they would be able to breathe.
Finally, to ensure they wouldn't be discovered quickly even after waking up, he wrapped the remaining duct tape around their faces, covering their eyes and mouths but leaving their noses clear.
*'This is a huge facility.'*
After dealing with the Chinese men, Do-jae stood up and looked around.
The facility was so long and wide that it was hard to believe he was inside a mountain.
Hundreds of wooden crates were stacked on both sides, with several corridors branching off.
*'Where should I start?'*
Unfortunately, the information from the MID only stated that there was a laboratory somewhere in this mountain; it didn't include any blueprints.
It seemed they had sent him in without a complete investigation.
Finding the MID's oversight irksome, Do-jae took out a hat and a mask and put them on.
*'There were no CCTV cameras on the way in, but there might be some inside.'*
The MID's secret mission was to acquire samples and research data.
This was precisely why he had stored all of his and Young-jin's belongings in his Subspace, carrying only cash and the smartphone the MID had given him.
*'Secure the targets quickly and get out.'*
Do-jae started walking toward the nearest corridor.
****
*Swish.*
His hand rose automatically.
Do-jae pinched his nose shut.
A terrible stench wafted toward him.
*'What a horrible smell.'*
As he entered the corridor, a flight of stairs leading down appeared.
Guided by the light of a flickering bulb that seemed about to go out, he descended, and a sharp, acrid smell assaulted his nostrils.
*'This place is...'*
Do-jae frowned and looked to either side of the corridor.
Countless people were crammed together inside iron cages.
Each cell, roughly 170 to 200 square feet, held nearly twenty people.
The cells continued all the way to the other end of the corridor.
Hundreds of people were trapped in a cramped space where it was difficult to even move.
*'The smell is one thing, but...'*
What made Do-jae's frown deepen was not the smell, but the people inside.
Most of them were young children.
The rest were adult women; men were few and far between.
They all stared blankly into space or stood frozen in bizarrely contorted positions, their bodies covered in filth.
*'They seem to be drugged.'*
No one appeared to be in their right mind.
The clear needle marks on their arms and necks indicated they had been injected with something.
Do-jae suppressed his disgust and walked down the corridor.
When he was about halfway through...
He heard the sound of someone shaking a cage.
"Mister?"
A child's voice called out. He turned his head to see a young boy with hazy eyes looking at him.
In a faint, weak voice, the boy asked for help.
"P... please help me..."
Do-jae glanced down both ends of the corridor before slowly approaching the boy.
He raised a finger to his lips.
"Shh."
Understanding Do-jae's intention, the boy's hands slid down from the bars.
Do-jae examined the boy.
Greasy hair and filth stained his body.
But compared to the others, he was relatively clean.
Seeing only one needle mark, he guessed the boy hadn't been here long.
"Help... me..."
the boy said in a barely audible voice.
Tear tracks were dried on his cheeks, and his body was trembling.
How terrified he must be.
*'Do-young...'*
The face of his younger brother, Do-young, flickered in his mind.
He saw his brother in this boy.
What crime could such a small child have committed?
No, crime had nothing to do with it.
They were just ignoring human rights, using even young children for their experiments.
*'This is the worst.'*
Do-jae spoke to the boy in a gentle voice.
"Can you wait just a little longer?"
The boy stared at Do-jae blankly for a moment, then nodded.
They couldn't communicate with words, but Do-jae's calm smile and soothing voice seemed to reassure the boy.
*Fwip.*
Do-jae stood up.
He wanted nothing more than to summon his golems right then and there, break the cages, and rescue the boy and the others, but his mission came first.
*Clench.*
Do-jae clenched his fists.
And with a hardened expression, he started down the corridor.