Chapter. 10 Lead and Silver (33)
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Pain. It has been with me ever since I started living in the wasteland.
Actually, everyone is like that.
Everyone has at least one wound from being pierced by a crude lead bullet.
A cut wound while searching through a pile of sharp scrap metal while looking everywhere. I looked at my fingertips festering without any antibiotics and wondered for days whether I should cut them off or leave them like this.
My body was covered in cuts and bruises as I ran through all kinds of building debris, and in the winter, if I accidentally touched the cold, frozen metal, it would stick and I would have to tear my skin.
Above all, the silence that greets me when I arrive home, dragging my injured and exhausted body. The reality that no one can take care of me.
It is said that when pain becomes severe, the brain produces all kinds of miscellaneous substances. I used to see all kinds of strange visions while sitting on the old sofa with my head numb from the inflammation, the medicine, and the pain.
That’s why I’m so dizzy right now. I keep seeing strange things. The reason I can’t feel my hands and feet well is because it hurts a lot.
…Some people might call this the feeling of dying.
“Now… is that what I’m seeing…?”
[It’s an old wooden fence. Just move on. It’s going well.]
Ji-ik- kuududuk Ji-ik-
“Hyde… What about this? Something that looks like a huge film… Is it a variant… We have to fight it…”
[Old tent. are you okay. We’re almost there.]
Wood-duk!
“Then this is….”
[No, that’s not it. This is the Happy Blind residence. Why can I see the familiar shopping intersection in District 47?]
“Ah. Ahhh….”
Quad deuk. Cough.
Cooung. Wow.
It would have been better if it had been a completely absurd hallucination. Every time I took a step, the perspective would change frequently, and the grass growing before my eyes would turn into a city, a ruin, and a primitive residence soaked in blood. A house made of earth and stone. The market made of animal skins is littered with items carved from bone and wood. Big eye-shaped patterns you see everywhere you go. okay. Everything I’m seeing is an illusion. There is no place like this in the world.
“I’m high …. D …. I …. Where ….”
[Where you want. are you okay. Because no matter what happens, we can hide each other from each other. I’m reading well. I… decided to respect your choice.]
It’s frustrating. I hear the sound of phlegm boiling. Did you get strangled? Was my neck this thick?
My body is heavy. My vision is also strange. I don’t even know if I’m walking, running, or crawling.
One thing is certain: we are getting closer to the center of the strange sounds and lights.
I lost consciousness several times on the way there, and I think I talked to Hyde for a while before I regained consciousness. I don’t remember anything anymore. Just an old memory moves my body.
“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr… I want… to live…..’’
I will live. No matter what. I promised myself that I would survive, even if it meant stealing, stealing, and killing, even if it was an unspeakable, horrible thing.
Before I knew it, the vivid light shining on the altar was approaching. That is death. Something you can know without anyone telling you or without learning. With that cry of birth, it sent countless people into screams and made me like this. Soon, even I will be following the same path as them.
It’s also strange. That’s a long way from my goal. How can it be that Ida-ji is anxiously taking steps toward that thing, as if she had longed for it all her life?
[….Keep going. Now it’s just a few steps….]
‘Okay. I have to go. If no one can do it….’
Kuuuung.
Creeping.
A black, hard rake dug its nails into the stone foundation.
A primitive foundation that spreads light with a strange rhythm and a large black monster climbing over it.
Among those who survived this battlefield, neither those who suffered from hallucinations nor those who were conscious could recognize what they saw as reality.
It’s sand and oil. Gunpowder and blood. It was an extremely surreal sight that did not fit the harsh reality of a wasteland where lead and silver communicate.
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Li Xue was truly in a peaceful state.
She completed an unprecedented murder device, and in order to operate it, a colleague who had been with her for a long time died a cruel death, and as a result, hundreds of people were destroyed in an instant.
These were all things she had experienced, and her death was predestined regardless of the success or failure of the work.
That must have been why. The reason why, contrary to her wishes, when she saw an uninvited guest approaching the ‘box’, she was not embarrassed and was able to greet it with a happy heart.
“I can’t believe it. “Really… I can’t believe you came this far.”
I thought it was truly a terrible sight. As Director of Research at GG. As a researcher at the dome. Even as someone who has lived as the ‘eye’ of Happy Blind and has seen more mutations than anyone else, from the original mutant to the ‘adapter’ of the Artists’ Union, she had an appearance that made me frown and wonder what kind of person she was that had changed into that kind of appearance.
“Professor Park… or Hyde? Or… is it ‘professor’?”
“…..”
At her words, its face, which had been staring blankly at the box, slowly turned towards her.
Aside from its size, it barely maintained its human form. A muscular body that stands on the border between flexibility and hardness.
Suddenly, it occurred to her why his form, which could be called simple even among Type 3 variants, seemed so unpleasant.
That black light. It’s a color that is a mixture of different colors, so much so that it’s just black without any gloss.
‘What kind of blood smell… Even in this sea of blood, the smell of blood is so bad that it stings your nose.’
She knew that. The color of the hardened crust was the same as that seen in the laboratory in Area 38 a long time ago. A deep, dark red color that only comes out when blood flows again where the dead blood has dried and more blood accumulates on top of it repeatedly for a long time.
“…..”
It had no facial features other than its eyes and turned its head to face the box again.
As someone who had been studying mutants for quite some time, his form caught her eye.
‘The external appearance of the variant follows its inner memory. Mouthless variants are rare. Because the dead usually want to vent their pain to others. Is this a memory you don’t want to tell others? Blood symbolizes so many things that it’s hard to guess… but when it comes to blood and shame, it’s easy to get a general idea. I killed someone who shouldn’t have been killed. An uncommon entity was born for a common reason.’
Li Xue had to admit that she was enjoying this situation. Even though she couldn’t speak, she felt like that black monster was listening to her. She was glad to have someone to whom she could at least confide in at the moment of death what she was feeling, having endured alone all her life.
Beep beep! Beep beep!
The telescopic device placed over her head like a coffin beeped. It has to be that way. The ‘shepherds’ who managed the small power generation facility had all evacuated with their sheep, and as they consumed an enormous amount of power to control the box, it was probably time for the electricity to be cut off.
Pop… pop…
“You’re crying….”
It was staring blankly at the fully deployed ‘box’. As a scholar, this is incomprehensible behavior.
For this moment, unlike her, who had prepared a three-layer level 6 shield and a mental stabilizer to match the wavelength of the ‘box’ and had her entire body paralyzed with a nerve anesthetic in advance, that black mutant was exposed to the wavelength of the box.
Even just now, the level of pain could be guessed by the tendons and muscles twitching violently at the slightest movement, but he was looking at the box as if he was desperately waiting for his brain to become blank with energy.
“It’s pitiful. Is that how you treat yourself?”
Trauma is ultimately caused by some loss and is based on strong self-love. Therefore, Type 3 variants, which are creatures resulting from trauma, have very strong narcissism and mostly move to achieve the life they want.
So, for the man in front of me, walking towards this irresistible pain was his preferred way of life.
Suddenly she felt that it was a pity that this creature had died here.
“…Don’t you want to live?”
“….”
No words were
spoken , but there was clearly a reaction.
“I’m on my way, so let me tell you something: the moment you break that thing here, you die. That’s all I can say with certainty. The energy that fills this vast wilderness explodes in an instant. “You will die in the most painful way.”
“….”
“And even if you sacrifice your life to remove the ‘box,’ humanity is destined to be destroyed. “If it were a sacrifice, it would be a meaningless sacrifice.”
“….”
Although the listener had no answer, Li Xue did not stop her story. Her story that she really wanted to tell someone. She continued, soothing herself by saying that there are many stories about old people.
“I am the person who created the Orpheus Project, which became the original version of this ‘box.’ It wasn’t this big of a project at first. “I started this project simply because my lab colleague Cervantes was sad that his grandmother, who had raised him for a long time, was suffering from dementia, and I was wondering if there was a way to alleviate it.”
It was truly a happy time. Even when I was trying to sleep, the thought occurred to me that I could do something like this, and before I knew it, I was locked in the lab until the stars had set and the sun had risen. I bought a cheap $4 burrito from a burrito stand that opened early in the morning with my colleagues who had stayed up all night, and heard them complaining about being given a Pepsi Cola. As I watched the Orpheus Project, the fruit of such hard-earned research, advance step by step, I was filled with hope that one day their efforts would become the light of the world.
What a vain hope that was.
“A lifelong belief… that I can make the world move forward with what I have learned and realized. “My life was full of denial about it.”
Until the scale of the research grew and government intervention became burdensome, it was believed that they, the subjects of the research, would be able to control it.
Even when people from the military literally urged him at gunpoint to create a ‘human mind destruction device’, he was determined not to engage in such research even if it meant death.
Just like that, fire rained down on the lab. With the news that all his colleagues had died, he pledged to use his knowledge for the good of the world again as a researcher in the dome.
How enraged she was when the Orpheus Project, which she thought had disappeared forever along with her colleagues during the bombing, appeared in a completely different form, somehow twisted and broken.
How perplexed I was when I discovered countless traces of my colleague, who I thought was dead and gone, in that object.
And after searching through old military records as a high-ranking member of the Dom, she and her colleagues were the ones who were ‘kept alive’ for the completion of the project. The District 38 administration, which confirmed all records, confirmed that it was the plan of the government that supported the research to reduce all researchers except two to a handful of ashes in order to break the will of the research team that resisted to create a weapon until the end, and now the last surviving Orpheus When I found out that the unfinished monster had been secretly presented to the researchers, how disgusting I was at that disgusting reality.
“I… I finally realized it. That modern humans have become irreversibly corrupted. No matter how good technology was developed, they were a species that specialized in using it in the most evil ways. Homo sapiens evolved into such a species. Nuclear fission energy was a great discovery that would save all mankind from the energy crisis, but the name that represented it ended up being the bomb. Only then did it seem so natural that the world had become like this. People always prayed to that god. ‘Please look at us.’ ‘Please save us.’ This was his answer. The last chance for a helpless humanity. “Is it possible to throw away a broken vessel and be revived with a new vessel?”
Li Xue ran away from the dome and founded Happy Blind. She simply spoke truthfully. Let’s forget everything and let the new children create a new world.
All of this must have been fate. She came to enlightenment and the research object that was like her child returned to her in the form of a weapon of genocide, beyond the life and death of her colleagues. Among the church members who had gathered one by one after hearing her doctrine, a woman with skin completely melted by radiation coming from a certain area spoke about a monster that was like the end of the world.
No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t complete the ‘box’, but the monster from the deep area she heard about had all the functions she needed. Together with 120 church members, we went into an area where radioactivity could be felt with our hands, and when we returned, there were only six of us, but we succeeded in collecting samples.
It’s all fate. Dying from extreme radiation contamination was of no concern to her. Her role will end before her life ends anyway.
“What a magnificent sight it was! The massive body that rose like a mountain range spewed out ash, flames, and radiation like an active volcano, and that hell-like body that seemed to be carrying all the pain in the world was like the most appropriate judgment seat prepared for the end of people like us. Mutants are beings born from memory loss and the deepest trauma. “Then aren’t there some terrible memories in all of us that come to mind when we close our eyes?”
A missile falling with a sound like a referee’s warning.
A mushroom cloud of shock, heat and the disappearance of everything nearby.
People being torn apart by a hail of bullets.
The main culprit that caused everyone to bite each other in this barren chaos.
“War. We named it War. It was as if the devastation it had caused was shared with all living creatures nearby! You guys did this! This is what you did! As if to criticize. Isn’t this a very fitting judgment prepared for arrogant mankind? Since the location where the melted woman found herself and where we found her were different, it must mean that she was moving. We are all destined to die anyway. So, child, rather than dying here, I hope you live for my life for the last time. To die for these horrible people… a being like you is too precious. “There’s no need to do something like that in a world where all the good people are dead, right?”
“…..”
Tap-duk-duk!
Instead of answering, the monster started moving again. One step at a time, slowly, amidst the sound of muscles and nerves being torn apart. If your feet don’t move, use your hands. If your hands are stiff, use your knees and shoulders.
“…I will….live….”
The monster opened its mouth, revealing blood-filled teeth through the torn skin of its face, perhaps because it had been cut by a sharp piece of machinery while crawling. A creaky movement, as if forcing a body that violently refuses to move. He finally succeeded in grabbing the core with his shriveled hand, but as he was unable to even break the glassy protective wall surrounding the core, the other hand, which was heavily raised, was placed on him.
Light was leaking from the black monster’s grasp.
Kaduk!
– [Kkeeeeeeeeeek-!!!!] –
The moment the protective wall breaks and blood leaks out, the box emits a huge wave accompanied by a scream.
Even amidst the intense pain coursing through my stiff body and the visions ravaging my brain, I wanted to ask Li Xue.
“If you want to live… why do you bring death upon yourself…?”
Pajik ka-gag ka-ga-gak kka-deuk!
The monster’s grip on the core grew stronger, and with a brightness that could not be opened, the monster raised its head and made eye contact with her, as if sensing that it was the last time.
The tears flowed down the torn black leather.
“…I will…live…like this….”
The monster was smiling, showing its white teeth.
At least Li Xue’s last memory was that he seemed to be smiling.
“Maybe… what the collector said… might actually be right…”
Puck.
It was a vain end for the worst war weapon of this era. A wisp of light. A tiny piece of noise from a light bulb exploding.
Too much shock and energy to kill two people.
The light that illuminated my son-in-law and the sound that penetrated my eardrums disappeared for an instant.
There was no sound of breathing or even the slightest reaction of life left in the altar and its surroundings.
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