Chapter. 10 Lead and Silver Coins (19)
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The day after I stayed up all night.
I felt like I had to do something, so I came down to the first floor and was eating.
Everyone was absent-mindedly eating soup while outside shouted, ‘Outside the class!’ A group escapes from the low-class farm! It disappeared without leaving a single speck of dust! Only 30 shillings!’ Isn’t it true that children shouting loudly are passing by?
Ian, who was shaking his legs uncharacteristically, suddenly called one of them.
“Hey kid! “I’ll give you a whole piece of bread here, so come and tell me in detail!”
Dadadadak-
“It’s not a kid, it’s a newsboy! We’re sorry, but we at Sun-News Boys operate on a fixed-price system, so if you don’t pay, we can’t provide you with news. 30 shillings if you want to use it!”
“…This is real bread that costs over 150 shillings?”
“Of course, I accept tips. If you add a tip, we’ll provide you with the latest gossip and news. lol!”
When Ian shakes the bread, the boy swallows and rubs his hands.
It looks like it’s a type of morning newspaper, but since paper is expensive, they have the kids memorize the contents and then pass on the information directly instead. Even though it is the same dome, there is a distance and it seems that various different cultures have emerged as a result of being separated for several years.
Wanting to forget the terrible, inexplicable sensations of last night, I did not hesitate to place thirty shillings worth of scraps and a large piece of bread into the boy’s hands.
The boy put the money in his pocket and swallowed the bread in one bite while watching the other children behind him.
The news that came out of his muttering mouth was truly shocking.
“Uum um gwoiska um um-”
“The water is here.”
“—Puh-haa! Thank you Nauri! It’s best to store bread in the rice container before it gets stolen. Eh, so you all know that there was a strange noise around the dome last night, right?”
“You can’t know. “The sound was so disturbing that even a corpse would jump up.”
“That is an accurate expression. Great Naeuri. The reporter scolded me a lot because there was no child who didn’t wet the bed all night long. Anyway, after that scary night passed, I checked and found that not only the lowlifes on the farm, but also the snipers and maintenance workers on the watchtower who were watching them were all gone. “There were marks left around that looked like they had been left by a large monster, there were traces of something like a pack of rats passing by, and of course, most of them were human footprints.”
The boy who said that took out from his arms several sketches that looked like someone had drawn them hastily. Broken shelters, messy shoe prints, trampled plants, broken greenhouse modules, and large claw marks all over.
The group exchanged glances after seeing the sketch of the farm area.
It’s a guy.
The person who turned the entire area of 40 into a cemetery made up of rescue signals.
It seemed that the ‘claw variant’ had also joined the night’s commotion.
“Anyway, it looks like there was a fight… but they say there wasn’t much blood, considering there were so many victims. The announcement from the inspection department, which was rampant in the morning, was ‘this is a terrorist attack by external forces trying to destroy the self-reliance of the dome. In order to respond to the series of terrorist attacks, we will organize a [special vigilante group] and accept [voluntary donations] for this purpose.’ He said. Oh, you wouldn’t know it if it was a caravan from outside, but the [voluntary donation] that the inspection department refers to means that if you don’t pay, it is considered that you have voluntarily chosen to be expelled from the dome. If you don’t want to be left behind, give it up. They say there is no such thing as a bad guy. The exact identity of the terrorist has not yet been revealed. Isn’t it fascinating? “So many people have disappeared without a trace, and no one has seen the evil beast.”
That’s it for New-s. The boy who said this came a little closer to the group’s table and spoke in a low voice so that the people around him could not hear.
“From here on out, we are only offering tips. “I don’t know the identity of the terrorist, but I roughly figured out what happened.”
“You figured it out? “You guys?”
“Well, it was thanks to an unfortunate accident. The reporter, who was angry because he couldn’t sleep all night, said, ‘Go out and find out what kind of bastard is doing this!’ “Because of the shouting, several of our boys were kicked out of the city shield.”
A boy who creates a gloomy atmosphere by lowering his voice. I thought he really knew how to get the listener’s attention, but suddenly Ian frowned and cut the boy off.
“….kid. As far as I know, the Area 38 city shield would be maximally dense, completely blocking physical and chemical entry. Entry is not possible except through the main entrance where purification equipment is installed. Civilians are prohibited from entering the dome at night, so how did they get out? “What about radioactivity?”
“Eh… are you going to listen until that point? “That’s a bit expensive…”
Instead of answering Ian’s doubts, the boy rubbed his hands and looked at him. When the professor silently threw another loaf of bread, the boy, who had bunched up the bread and stuffed it inside his dirty vest, opened his mouth again.
“Oh my. “I really shouldn’t say this… Where can I go and say this?”
“Would you like to return the bread?”
“yep! “There is a dog hole.”
“creep?”
“I really don’t know the principle, so don’t ask. It was a hole made by smugglers by stacking small shields, but since the smugglers were caught, they were able to use it for free without paying the toll. Anyway, the radiation blocking liquid…. Oh, I’m talking about the body fluids of mouse snails or burrowing cockroaches. It may be dirty and dusty, but it is directly exposed to radiation. After putting it on, I went out…”
“This is so tantalizing that I’m dying! So I went out!”
“Oh my surprise! Actually, I couldn’t go out. “While we were watching, the guy who opened the small shield in the dog hole… fell down.”
Just two steps. The boy said, holding up his finger.
“I took two steps and collapsed. A panicked boy runs towards him and falls down again. The older brother, who noticed something was wrong, left them alone, closed the hole, and ran to the other side. Observed from atop a distant building. I was just shaking. It foamed at the mouth, screamed, and scratched the wall until all its nails came out… Then it became a mutant. The guy who fell through the hole walked shakily beyond it, and when the hole closed, the guy who fell inside was killed by someone shooting him while running through the street. This is the answer. Reporters at the Sun-Newsboys said that either the leadership tried an experiment that failed, or the administration, with which they had recently become estranged, tried to reduce the power of the inspection department. That’s it! This is all I know. If you want to hear other news, find a boy who memorizes other news than me and pay the fee!”
After speaking, the boy gave a clumsy salute and ran outside without even looking back. For a moment, a voice rang out from across the back alley, saying, ‘Outside the house~’.
The boy disappears and the group falls into silence again.
“-Haaaaaaa.”
As I looked at the vaguely revealed situation, a sigh came out of my mouth.
I don’t know who thought of it, but it’s a really fantastic combination.
Perhaps – W, which allows you to go anywhere without space restrictions.
I don’t know what the range is, but if you think of it as a ‘box’ game that forcibly mutates a wide range of people, a
fraud character who alternates between movement and ultimate skills without a cooldown is is not it? I had no idea how to stop it.
“…Honestly, I’m scared. Fuck. “Well, if it were a monster the size of a building, I would use a gun, a bomb, or a chainsaw, but I don’t think I could kill that phantom bastard.”
I was scared of the charismatic Ian Desmont of Raptor, who had killed more than four figures directly or indirectly.
“Don’t be shy, Joe. “I was a little tired yesterday too.”
In the past, in District 47, Mr. Bex, who entered an alley with only a knife and cut down a platoon of enforcement agents, urinated and said,
“…Maybe we should reconsider the operation? There are clear limits to what a small group can do! This is crazy! “I’m getting out of here!”
Ezel Raiden, a veteran agent of the Inspection Department, an elite group of both civil and military officials, fell into a panic.
Truly a monster. The estimated number of people is only W, a combination of teleportation + wide-area contamination equipment, and a type 3 mutant colleague with large claws. There may have been more colleagues from the Artists’ Union, or perhaps a few hundred people were transformed into mutants in an instant, and among them, colleagues who became adaptors may have been added.
Fatigue from several days of fighting. The tension that could not be relieved because the place to rest was in enemy territory. The emergence of an enemy that cannot be resisted. dizzy. My mind was spinning, I didn’t know what to do, and all I kept thinking was that I just wanted to go home.
[Then let’s go.]
At that time, a clear voice came into my blurry mind.
[What a mess? It’s been a while since I came out, so it’s a bit messy because there’s so much information accumulated. Clean up the shell. Uncharacteristically, I panicked.]
A voice that I once hated, but now I can’t help but welcome.
‘Hyde!’
[What is it? Are you happy? If I had known this would happen, I would have left the seat a long time ago.]
At the same time as I was happy, I remembered what W had said.
‘I am different. My left arm is different from yours….’
‘Ask Him within for details.’
There was no need to ask. Just recalling the memory was enough to convey it to Hyde, who shared consciousness.
In my head, I pictured him stamping his feet and growling.
[What a cool guy. Next time we meet, I’ll have to tell you about the invasion of privacy.]
‘So you’re saying what he said is true? Are you preventing the variant virus from spreading?’
[….I don’t know either. I’ve said it for a long time. I keep feeling sleepy. At first, I thought it was because I was in charge of more bodies. I thought my consciousness felt fatigued in the process of accepting actual sensations rather than bundles of memories, just like a newborn sleeps a lot.]
Hyde grabbed the bread on the table with his left hand and began to break it into small pieces with his fingertips. He looked very anxious.
[For now… yes. There is definitely a feeling that something is blocking it. I feel like Santiago steering a small boat in a storm. I don’t think I blocked it intentionally thinking I should stop it. Um… I don’t know. In fact, even now, it is difficult to tell whether I am a mutant virus or the virus is me. Anyway, it seems clear that I am an obstacle to this transformation.]
In that dark space, Hyde pretends to gather something and then lies down.
[If you want to discuss something, I can do it. But the problem we face now isn’t ours alone, right?]
‘That’s right… right.’
[Then I’ll clean it up for you, so turn on your smart head and find the answer. Strangely, the virus seems to have calmed down a bit since last night. I’ll give you some advice, too.]
Slurp, slurp –
The information that had been chaotically lined up in Hyde’s head began to be organized one by one in Hyde’s hands. If you think about it a little, the related memories become highlighted and come together like a net. The feeling was so familiar that it was unfamiliar.
‘…Bonus effect of mental breakdown?’
[If you learned it, you should use it. I don’t forget. After watching you do it a few times, I ended up imitating it without realizing it. It was convenient, right? Even if you say it’s advice, how can I follow you with a small finger? This is the end. It’s the best. If you’re disappointed, you’ll be sad.]
It can’t be that you’re disappointed.
Because my condition had already dropped to the bottom, my head was not working properly, as if it was rusty.
The neat consciousness organized by Hyde was excellent enough to enable flexible thinking even with such a tired mind.
First and foremost the most important goal. What should you aim for?
As soon as the thought came to mind, keywords shining brightly in white fell out.
[Request from the President] [Caravan-Import] [World Crisis] [Dana Elisha Hyacinth – Speed Wagon]
Looking at it this way, there was a lot of information that was too flimsy.
‘It’s all unnecessary information.’
Request from the president? It’s a mess, but do you have time to consider requests? money? If you don’t want to make a lot of money, there is no need to worry. What is the world? I don’t know, fuck. Delete this too. Why is this in the goals section?
I drew everything straight. The strangely indelible item of [Dana] was taken by Hyde’s hand who appeared from the darkness.
‘Something interesting happened while I was away.’
[Writing – I can’t concentrate.]
‘No, whatever. Just so you know. This is your head. I’m not good at things like lying. Speed-wagon. It looks like I owe you more than I’ve ever been indebted to you.’
Whoa. Let’s focus. Concentrate. Hyde was seen hanging Dana’s name and even placing a white star in the most prominent place among the well-organized information, but he succeeded in ignoring it with his superhuman concentration.
‘You can’t lie here.’
When I thought of those words, my final goal came to mind very easily. When I was organizing my immediate goals, there was one task that took top priority.
Slurp –
[Survival]
From the deepest depths of the information, letters written in palace script emerged. In the end, it turns around and ends up here.
survival. Ultimately, how our caravan survives.
getaway? I guess I can live right now. If you get out of here and run to Area 47, you may be able to survive. A few more months, maybe even a few years.
Slurp –
[To be exact, I want to increase and protect.]
I remembered the story I had with W last night.
‘Their goal is to increase the number of Type 3 mutant adaptors and attract them as allies. ‘I’m not interested in the number of people dying in the process.’
[Are we human? Or is it a variant?]
[….Remember that silence well.]
Correction. It’s not that I’m completely uninterested.
In any case, the fact that they massacred hundreds of people in the farm district on the outskirts of the District 38 dome in one night was enough proof that they had no hesitation. If I could use it, I would probably fly all over the neighborhood and play that killer jukebox.
The reason it doesn’t is because it can’t be done.
Slurp-
[Recording rescue signal. Coordinates…. Confirmation point….]
They didn’t commit large-scale massacre from the beginning. A small group of survivors in groups of 2 or 3 on the outskirts of District 40. Even though there were large scavengers nearby, repeated experiments were conducted on small groups of people.
‘….Experiment?’
Suddenly,
a thought that came to mind suddenly became fresh information. test. What if this is a test?
‘The administrative department is clearly described as [an unfinished technology that cannot be realized]. Impossible to use in normal ways. There is someone who has perfected the technology. The massacre near area 40 and the massacre last night. Considering that there is clearly a long period of time in between, it appears that there will be a significant amount of maintenance required once operational.’
Slurp-
[Administrator]
‘There is a technician who completes and maintains the transformation device.’
‘If you give it time, W will eventually travel around the world with the completed transformation device. It comes to me too. Because he was very interested in my [value]. ‘My arm has already changed, so it seems likely that I will be able to adapt.’
‘You can’t survive by running away. You must destroy the box or find and eliminate the person presumed to be its manager.’
As the accumulated thoughts are organized, clear letters appear in the previously blurry goal column.
Goal: [Sustainable survival through eliminating box managers]
I felt courage rising as I had a clear goal. This one seems more realistic and more likely than the infinite teleport mystical monster.
Once I had a goal, things to do came to mind right away.
Sreuk-
+ Time Attack. It will be completed when it is late. If you give time, more enemies will increase. It’s best to attack even 1 second faster.
+ Uses a combination of sound frequency and wavelength. The influence can be blocked through a shield.
+ Dana’s shelter was blocked with shields only in areas where the aircraft could enter and exit. If a box starts playing nearby, the influence may spread inwards through the blockage of concrete, lead, etc. –
Wow!
‘Hey Hyde! This thing is broken! ‘I keep getting strange attachments!’
[Hmm hmmm~♪ Even if you fool the sky, you can’t fool yourself~]
‘I-I-IK!’
The professor, whose face was bright red, returned to the surface of consciousness as if running away. Now that you have figured out what to do, you probably want to move as quickly as possible.
[Giggles. It really gets funnier the more you watch it. I chose the right shell… huh?] As
he observed the scene with a grin, new derived information appeared in Hyde’s eyes.
[Survival – Hyde]
[Confirmed that the influence of the box suppressed Hyde’s drowsiness. If we make good use of that effect, wouldn’t it be possible to prevent any strain on Hyde’s consciousness and suppress his transformation? The only way to really destroy the box is…]
[Ouch!]
Ouch!
Hyde hurriedly ran over and ripped off the newly created information. He neatly removed even the new types of text, lumped the information he had torn out with both hands into a ball, and then neatly threw it into a trash can labeled ‘Unconscious.’
[There is no need to use the brakes on a car that is going well.]
I looked up and saw the professor enthusiastically explaining the strategy to the group.
[….It’s amazing.]
Shake it off!
Hyde threw himself on the sofa, looking at the information shining in the dark space like a mobile made of stars.
Slurp-
[Friendly. You must find it at all costs.]
[If you destroy the box, you may be left behind by an angry W.]
[Request support from area 47. Radio tower occupied by the inspection department?]
[Technician. Really, not privately.]
[….Really. [They say I don’t stop thinking even for a moment.]
Lying down leisurely, Hyde began to neatly tag the thoughts that came to mind and hang them in a corner of his consciousness one by one. As expected, it’s good to swim through consciousness and search through memories, but I think live is the best.
[A born broadcaster, a broadcaster.]
Hyde’s giggling laughter spread throughout the black space.
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