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Chapter 95




Chapter 7: Masquerade Ball (11)
***
My head is a bit dizzy, but it’s manageable. It’s about the same as when I stayed up for two nights straight in the trenches during the war.
My body is hungry. Now that I think about it, I only had a quick breakfast and skipped lunch, so I’m famished. I’m also a bit weak and have bruises all over my body.
My arm hurts like hell. I mean, I hung onto a moving car and grabbed a box of mortar shells with a broom? It’s a miracle my joints didn’t pop out. I was lucky.
Other than that, there are just a few minor scrapes, nothing serious. Overall, I’m in a condition where I can still carry out the mission.
‘A bit odd, though? You really handled it so smoothly? I thought you’d throw a tantrum and refuse to budge, even if I died?’
[Hehe, I really wanted to, but... I was so sleepy that I was about to collapse. I’m much more tired than I thought.]
‘Tired, huh... Well, I guess that makes sense.’
After skimming through the guy’s memories, I could understand immediately. To sift through all the information stored in the subconscious, including useless details like the slight bend in a roadside sign or the faintly erased white paint on the road’s centerline, is quite a task. Finding the necessary knowledge in that sea of garbage information must have been mentally exhausting.
[Sorry. I did see your plan, but... I couldn’t hold back. I guess that’s just how I was born.]
‘Can’t blame you. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to follow it 100%. I just hoped you’d assess the situation a bit better.’
The plan I came up with was based on predicting what would happen before Old Picture went berserk. With Old Picture, Reptile, Dome, and countless other variables, creating a plan with such fragmentary information is already a stroke of luck if even half of it works.
‘A plan in the field should always be fluid, but since I was the only one among the three who could think and I was unconscious, I had to make it as passive and safe as possible.’
If I had been conscious, I would have acted more proactively, so in a way, Hyde did better than I expected.
[Did I do well? Really? I thought I’d get a lot of flak when I came out!]
‘Go to sleep. You did better than I thought, but it’s not like you deserve a lot of praise.’
In the end, Hyde isn’t me. Instead of using the current situation to guide what will happen next, he only focused on eliminating the immediate threat.
‘If Old Picture, who was so riled up, had run far away, he would have followed. If he had led the Reptiles to a place where they were swarming, it would have been quite effective, right?’
Personally, the perfect solution would have been to drag Old Picture to the middle of the battlefield where Dome and Reptile were fighting.
Old Picture’s physical abilities are just at the level of a large Type 2 mutant, and the only dangerous thing is his mental influence. With Dome’s troops equipped with exosuits that can produce shields, covering everything from exosuits to military vehicles, and Reptile’s troops mainly using old weapons from the early 21st century, it’s obvious who would be more affected by Old Picture. Even a thin shield would significantly reduce the impact.
“Still, this isn’t bad. For what Hyde did.”
“Grrrr! I’ll kill you! My car! My livelihood! I’ll blow you all to pieces and fry you in an oven!”
...There was some minor damage, but the important thing is that we subdued Old Picture much earlier than expected.
While Professor Ian was subtly ignoring the raging Ian, a small figure hesitantly approached from behind.
“Um...”
“Oh, Vex! Thanks for helping Hyde. You must have had a tough time.”
“Of course, it’s really you, Hap! You’re back!”
“Ugh, hey. I’m glad to see you too, but can we talk after you clean up the blood? You look like a psychopathic serial killer.”
“Keeheehee! It really is you, Hap!”
Vex, covered in blood, smiled brightly despite his bloodstained face.
“Anyway, Hyde told me about your plan, so I know how things went up to this point. Now that we’ve caught the monster, what’s next?”
“Eh, um, my plan... Let’s just say it’s good enough.”
“?”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, now that Old Picture is subdued, we just need to wait for the Inspection Department to arrive.”
“The Inspection Department... Wait. Subdued? He’s not dead? Even with his head blown off?”
“Type 3 mutants are based on memories. You can tell from how he transformed from a pile of shoes into this upper-body giant. His physical form doesn’t matter much. He’s just in shock from losing about 30% of his body and has stopped moving. Given time, he’ll regenerate and go berserk again.”
If Hyde had studied Old Picture a bit more from my memories, he wouldn’t have needed to climb up here and blow off his head. What’s needed to subdue him is not attacking a specific part but accumulating damage over a larger area. He could have just scattered the mortar shells on the road and detonated them. That would have had the same result, and Ian’s truck would have been safe.
“The Inspection Department uses electric shock devices to capture such large mutants. It’s easy to stop their movement, and burning them continuously over a large area quickly subdues them.”
“The Inspection Department... uses electric shock devices?”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know. They attach those strange robot gloves to exosuits...”
Clank, clank!
While I was about to explain exosuits to Vex, a familiar mechanical sound came from the opposite side of the hill Old Picture had climbed. As the saying goes, if you talk about the tiger, it will appear. The Inspection Department’s elite forces had already arrived...
‘No, the sound is only one. It must be someone who came first. A scout? Even if it’s a scout, exposing a single suit in a situation where each suit’s output is precious and quickly retiring it doesn’t make sense...’
“Professor!”
Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank!
Vroom-
Crunch!
A silver mechanical exoskeleton with yellow gloves landed on the overlook where the group was, having powerfully crossed the hill. The built-in speaker in the suit amplified the mechanical sound.
“Everyone, step back! I’ll take care of it, I’ll... Huh?”
As soon as he crossed the hill, Ezelle, who had been about to charge forward with determination at the sight of the massive lump of flesh, stopped dead in his tracks. The professor was sprawled on the ground, and the small old man was tied up. The large man, Ian, was also tied up, trying to bite through his belt with his teeth.
And there, hanging motionless in front of the overlook, was something that looked like it was missing a part...
“Oh, Ezelle! Right, you’re from the Inspection Department? You came quickly?”
“Eh, yeah, it’s been a while... No, wait! That monster! Is that Old Picture? Where’s his head?”
“Oh, that? I just happened to take care of it. Anyway, you came quickly? Where are the others?”
“No, I came to rescue you...”
Ezelle couldn’t figure out what to ask first in the chaotic situation. What’s going on here? Why did the monster go berserk, and where are the responsible Execution Department members? And why does this walking disaster look like a Dullahan? There’s no one around? Could it be... that these three really did this?
Everyone knows that HIV is good at fighting, whether it’s the Execution Department or the Inspection Department. But based on the confirmed information, they were only known for their survival skills, specialized in avoiding danger and guerrilla warfare. Are they saying that they, three of them, handled a living biological weapon, a berserk Old Picture?
Thud, thud, thud.
The professor, shaking his wrist, approached his exosuit. Ezelle’s mind was racing, reassessing HIV’s threat level.
“Ugh, Ezelle, is the communication line open?”
“Huh? Y-Yes, I think so...”
“Good. You came at just the right time. Thanks. You really came at the right time. Open the communication line. I have something to say about the current situation.”
“Eh, y-yeah.”
Despite the professor’s seemingly innocent smile, Ezelle, intimidated by his presence, forgot all about the rule of not letting outsiders touch Dome’s advanced equipment and handed over the communicator.
Click, click-
[Deputy! The communication line is open!]
[What? Hey, Ezelle. Can you hear me? Answer, you idiot!]
[No response? It must be because of that explosion...]
[Delmar, you bastard! If you have time to say unlucky things, hurry up and get to the rendezvous point! Hey! Ezelle! Answer! Any sound, even a groan, just show a sign that you’re alive!]
As soon as the communication line was connected, the voices of the Inspection Department members filled the air.
“Did you... desert your post?”
“No, not exactly.