Beast (1)
The place where Project C.E. was executed most intensively is the Amazon in South America. The Amazon, Amazonia, the Amazon rainforest, the Amazon jungle, the Amazon primeval forest—it goes by many names. This place, often called the "lungs of the Earth," is exactly the kind of target IBRA would set its sights on. The Amazon jungle was already being devastated, indiscriminately ravaged by the interests and greed of various nations. What if they restored such a place? IBRA thought their status would soar. So, at first, they devoted themselves to restoring this region. That was what is commonly referred to as the first phase of the project.
To be precise, IBRA's first phase was a success. They had succeeded in the Amazon restoration project to the point of exceeding their targets. That is why they were able to continue their activities. The Amazon is, in itself, a massive living forest. So, when humans temporarily reduced development and sprayed fertilizers packed with growth promoters onto the devastated areas of the Amazon, it was inevitable that it would be restored. Everyone had no problems until that first phase was completed. Until then, at least.
The growth promoter used in Project C.E. is a quite terrifying substance. Of course, IBRA had said everything was fine. That there was no problem at all. That it was just "smoothly" helping the plants grow. I don't know what they believed to be so certain of that. They couldn't have spent years extracting data. They couldn't have applied it to every single plant. The Doctor who went to America was also worried about that growth promoter. He said it was an act that ignored the diversity of nature. He said no one knew what kind of mutations that growth promoter would cause.
And now, a long time later, those side effects have finally begun to appear. What I saw was a short video. A video about a minute long on social media. In it, there were ants the size of a palm. And not just one or two, but an incredibly large number of them, too many to count. It looked as if black sludge was wriggling. Even if ants the size of fingernails were gathered like that, I would shudder. But with ones the size of palms doing that... it was terror itself. I felt fortunate that I was watching this in a video rather than seeing it in person.
Those ants were carrying huge leaves in their mouths and heading somewhere in a line. Perhaps that was why it was even more terrifying. Ants carrying leaves and marching in a line. And thousands, tens of thousands of them at that. So, I shared that video with the Doctor. And I asked him what this was. I asked if it didn't have something to do with Project C.E.
Unexpectedly, the Doctor's reply came quickly. He said yes. That it was indeed a problem caused by Project C.E. He said they had already grasped that and had even collected samples. Wow. They act fast. Well, I saw it in a social media video. If they were thriving to that extent, information might have already been shared among experts.
The ants I saw in the video were leafcutter ants, also known as scissor ants. They are ants that cut plants, take them to their burrows, and grow mushrooms with them. A species sometimes called "farming ants." I wondered if they had grown that large because of the mushrooms. Fungi spread quickly, after all. And they are easy to influence. Just like the acidic mucus spores.
Anyway, there were several other speculations as to why the leafcutter ants had grown so large. First, there was a speculation that the oxygen concentration had risen locally due to the suddenly amplified plants of the Amazon. It was said that the oxygen concentration in the Amazon was actually slightly higher than elsewhere. Since the researchers who went to get samples measured it themselves, that must be certain. It's not like they would manipulate such data.
They also said there was speculation that the growth promoter sprayed by IBRA had disrupted the hormones of the insects. As a result of the investigation team visiting the Amazon, it was said that the insects that had grown larger were not just leafcutter ants. They said that mosquitoes and some larvae larger than usual were also being discovered. The problem was that it wasn't certain whether they had always been like that or if it was because of Project C.E., right? So, the investigation team said they were capturing such insects and researching them as well.
And the Doctor gave me other information. About other creatures in the Amazon. About other data the investigation team discovered while they were there. It is certainly a problem that insects have grown larger. But there was something more important than that. Namely, the fact that the violence of some animals has increased. And to a degree that is quite worrying. It is a reaction very similar to rabies. But rabies is limited to the individuals that catch it. However, the data the Doctor sent me was not like that.
The known species were three types for now. Monkeys, wild boars, and jaguars living in the Amazon. It seems that reports of damage from them are already continuing over there. It just hasn't been made known to the people of the world yet. It seems it's not yet severe enough to cause seriousness. The people who suffered damage were loggers or people like that. Perhaps that's why the seriousness is perceived as less. They would think they were attacked because they entered the animals' territory.
However, it seems they don't think so at P, where the Doctor is. Well, P is a bit cold-headed. They grasp phenomena with numbers and statistics. It is possible for an animal that has entered its territory to become ferocious. That is a natural thing. But what if such cases have increased suddenly? That is a problem. And it is worth investigating. If logging or deforestation has doubled and the number of attacks has doubled, that is understandable. But what if the rate of increase in the latter is steeper than the rate of increase in the former? That is a problem. There is something wrong.
So P investigated. The problem was that it was not easy to examine the carcasses of living animals. At best, they would extract this and that from dead carcasses to check? But that is not easy either. Even if P's scale is quite large, it is ultimately a private organization. It takes quite a long time to proceed with work. There are also many restrictions. The only fortunate thing is that the Amazon is located in South America. I don't intend to ignore them, but fortunately, there is a way to solve things easily over there. What is called bribery, or lobbying.
So, it is said that P was able to capture and take away living animals. As expected, everything is about money. It is not easy to do anything without money. It is fortunate that P is wealthy. It was said that many wealthy people from the Arab side are also involved in P. They don't participate proactively. They just become the financiers. They are truly amazing people. Since they have so much money, they make such investments as a concept of insurance. It seems they can make such investments easily because there are cases where they need to prepare for the worst. Or maybe it's just a hobby for interest's sake?
Anyway, thanks to that, I, sitting on the other side of the globe, was able to get the scraps. If the Doctor hadn't been there, if the Doctor hadn't gone to P, I would still be struggling to live day by day without knowing anything. Whether the world was ruined or not, I would have gone to work every day wearing a mask and returned home dragging my exhausted body. That is actually the case. Our people still don't know about the seriousness of it. They only make jokes like, "Giant ants have appeared! Isn't a gate opening?"
Actually, that's how it is. Everyone is not interested in the environment or strange signs happening on the other side of the globe. Perhaps, unless this becomes enough to satisfy their dopamine, this level of reaction is all there will be. Of course, by the time that happens, the world will already be screwed. It will be a time when a sense of crisis is needed, not dopamine.
I exercised all the put options I had. The principal of 2 billion won returned as 3.7 billion won after taxes. The profit rate is lower than I expected, but it can't be helped. I have to prepare more even now. Because money will lose all its utility value after a little while. I mortgaged all my real estate to get a loan, and combining that money with the funds I had, it came to about 4.5 billion won. So, I prepared two things with that money.
One is my own laboratory. It doesn't need to be grand. It was enough to have facilities to manufacture at least the minimum amount of medicine with the sources the Doctor gave me. But a laboratory when I don't even have a degree or anything? That's funny. It's openly a quack setup. The other is oil. Diesel. No matter how I think about it, I needed oil first. Of course, there was a high probability that things using diesel would not work properly due to the acidic mucus spores, but I still needed oil. Because others don't know that. Because there will be things that work anyway.
I built an additional warehouse. Since I hadn't covered the house with soil yet, I asked the place that constructed my house last time again. A quite large warehouse. But it's underground. I deliberately made it underground. Because I had to store the drums containing oil. Since I have an excavator, it wasn't that difficult to purchase drums containing diesel. However, I have to buy drums that are completely well-sealed. Because I have to store this for a little while. And I must definitely add additives or preservatives. So, I bought and collected them little by little. I don't want to be suspected for no reason. Because it will become a headache later.
Therefore, it took quite a long time to fill the warehouse with drums. Still, by the time winter was over, I was able to fill the entire warehouse with drums. There is no need to expose the warehouse. So, I covered it all with soil while cleverly hiding the entrance. Since I spent a lot of money and built it sturdily, it won't collapse even if soil covers it. Moreover, this was also practice for when I would cover the house later. So, I dug up the ground that had thawed quite a bit as the weather warmed up and covered the warehouse.
It wasn't an easy task. It took much longer than I thought. As expected, doing anything alone is hard work. But I couldn't hire anyone. I did this much alone, so hiring someone now is really a stupid thing to do. It's like cooking everything and plating it perfectly, only to flip it over as it is. During the day, I covered it with soil. At night, I practiced with the sling. I read the data the Doctor gave me and tried this and that in the newly created laboratory as I pleased. Hmm. Doing this, I feel like I've become something. It's like a mad scientist.
And so, as the early summer of my 30th year began to turn into full summer, the animals began to run wild.