Happy Doomsday
Prologue {wake¹}
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The blood-red sunlight passed through the vines and fell from the mouth of the pit, illuminating a tile floor full of cracks and sand.
The middle-aged man shuddered and exhaled, clutched his half-severed left arm, and tried to swallow back a few groans. The blood blotted the dirty fabric close to black and it gradually pooled into a black and red lake, making the tiles unviewable.
The large amounts of adrenaline surged failed to give him the strength to stand up again.
The man raised his head vigorously, crossed the edge of the pit, and looked at the sky dyed orange by the setting sun.
Here, he could barely see the spires of the high-rise buildings not far away. There was no memory of neat floors and spires, and instead the geometric metallic luster was strangely rotated weirdly under the hard yet chilly warm sunlight.
This had ceased to be human territory for a long time.
His limbs began to get cold. The man coughed twice and tried to touch the hemostatic gel in his waist bag. Unfortunately, when he touched it, he found only a few energy tanks. He mechanically rubbed the cold jars; the rapid loss of blood blurred his vision, and the thing in front of him was mixed into a bloody red mass.
There was the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground, and the scrapping sound of hard objects rubbing the ground was getting closer.
It was too late. After a long chase, that thing finally caught him.
The man shook his sweaty hair on his forehead, tightened his cheeks, took out all the energy tanks in his pockets, and spread them out on his thighs. Then, trembling, he squeezed a grenade that was concealed in his chest pocket.
Besides the explosive, there was also an emergency food cannister.
It was about the size of his palm and had a thin layer, similar to old-fashioned candy in a flat box of the olden days. Every explorer at the refuge was given one. Unlike homemade weapons and energy tanks, these were precious relics before the destruction of human civilization—delicious in taste, extremely high energy value; mixed with a sufficient amount of water, it was enough to last an adult an entire week.
But compared to food, everyone was more willing to use it as a kind of amulet. This was a forest. They could always get something to eat. Usually, no one was extravagant enough to use such precious resources.
The food cannister he got was still carrying a bit of blood leftover from its previous owner, and now it would become a “relic” again.
The pain and weakness made his consciousness gradually hazy, and for some reason, he suddenly wanted to cry. He twitched his nose fiercely, but the man didn’t even look at it. He threw the small canister directly behind him, letting it rattle and roll into the depths of the ruins.
The ugly thing finally approached. The stench and damp breath came to his face. The man grinned weakly, tearing open the pin of the grenade with his teeth. He tossed the grenade next to the energy tank right after activation.
Unknown Man
Bah!, neither one of us will get any food today.
(He used his last strength to spit in front of him)
A scorching white light exploded, and the impact of the energy tank bursting almost collapsed the underground corridor not far away.
The vines at the entrance of the cave were instantly burned into ashes by the high heat, and the middle-aged man disappeared without a trace, leaving only a large black crater where he was— The human body at the center of the explosion was reduced to flesh and foam. The shapeless corpse of the monster was also scattered around the pit. Charred flesh showed many gray blood vessels on its fractures that were still slightly twitching.
The blast of wind frightened the nearby birds. After the smoke and dust dissipated, the last piece of debris lay firmly on the land. A few blackbirds fluttered their wings to come closer and began to peck at the flesh near the collapsed pit.
However, everything didn’t return to calm.
The faint sound of stone rumbling sounded again. The corridor that had collapsed shook, and a metal container full of scratches and rust slid out from the rubble.
The mud-stained operating panel struggled and flickered a few times before finally going out. The explosion had activated something, and even with the dust covering it, the blue light path of the metal surface remained conspicuous.
The blackbirds stopped pecking and looked at the flashing metal object vigilantly.
The explosion and collision made multiple dents, and the tightly stitched lid was frighteningly twisted. Viscous liquid continued to gush out along the gap, like blood from a wound.
It looked like drops of water falling on the lotus leaf, or mercury that was scattered on the ground. After the final liquid flowed out of the metal container, it gathered into a flat circle with a diameter of less than two meters and a height of about half a meter on the dirty ceramic tile fragments.
The nearby blackbirds began to jump vigilantly, putting aside the minced meat in their mouths, and were a few steps away from the ruins engulfed by the shadows.
Abnormal changes suddenly occurred.
It seemed that the color was condensing or hatching. The outer side of the huge “drops of water” gradually became transparent, and the color converged to the center of the liquid mass, becoming more turbid. Soon, with a crash, the entire liquid mass collapsed to the ground. The unnatural sound finally startled the blackbirds, who left only corpse residue that had been pecked.
When the last feather landed, the liquid was no longer viscous, and it didn’t penetrate the cracks of the ceramic tile, leaving behind only a condensed object lying in the center that was wet and surrounded by charred bones, shattered tissue fragments, and stone debris.
It was the body of a young man.
At first, the body was motionless, like a corpse. A gust of wind swept over, and a few broken leaves stained the white skin, causing it to shake.
Kim Taehyung felt chilly.
His brain felt like it was mixed with cement that had solidified into a mass as he felt his head was frighteningly heavy. The chill enveloped him in an instant, like having your blanket pulled off while experiencing a high fever. He could only cradle his arms tightly while groggy.
His naked skin rubbed against the rough stone debris, and he vaguely realized that something was wrong.
There wasn’t any soft fabric under him. He wasn’t in a bed. There wasn’t the smooth and hard floor of a laboratory. He had passed out several times in the lab before, so he would never mistake it.
The first thing to recover was his sense of smell. The dust rushed into his nose, bringing in the scorching smell of the explosion that was so thick it almost suffocated him. The next moment, the wind blew across his damp skin, causing the stone debris on his arm to rub against him. Countless senses smashed into his brain at the same time, causing Kim Taehyung to almost faint again.
Although his mind wasn’t very clear. He could be sure that this was definitely not a normal way of perception. His sense of smell and touch were countless times more sensitive, and his chaotic brain couldn’t process such a huge amount of information currently.
Kim Taehyung didn’t dare to move. He tried his best to squeeze out a little bit of sanity from the overly amplified perception and carefully opened his eyes.
The light that should’ve been soft almost blinded him.
The stimulated eyes gushed out tears, forcing Kim Taehyung to open his eyes wide until he adjusted to the bright light that hadn’t been seen for a long time. The scene in front of him changed from blurriness to clarity.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
‘Perhaps too clear'
(he thought in a daze)
When he saw the scene in front of him clearly, Kim Taehyung would rather pass out again. In this way, when he wakes up, he might be able to return to his familiar bed. Even if it was a hospital bed and IV bottles in front of him, it was 10,000 times better than the scorched earth and corpse.
However, it was useless to close his eyes. The smoke and dust persistently penetrated his nostrils, and the sound of birds and the friction of leaves gradually became deafening, pinning his consciousness firmly in place. It seemed to be a warm dusk, but the wind blowing against his skin felt as if it were embedded with blades. Kim Taehyung's brain was sore from the pain, and he only felt that he had been put on a red-hot iron plate.
The touch was too real, not like a dream, let alone an illusion.
Kim Taehyung gritted his teeth and took in a breath. Whether it was still some scorching traces of explosions or corpses belonging to unknown creatures, it seemed like this wasn’t a peaceful area.
Although the confusion of waking up at the beginning was still there, this definitely wasn’t a good time to lie down and recall life. He had to find a place to hide himself first. Resisting the perception and pain that pressed down from all sides, Kim Taehyung concentrated his energy and quickly judged the situation in front of him…
He was lying on the edge of a pit enlarged by an explosion. Not far from it was a semi-collapsed underground corridor. There were a number of fresh corpses, and weird carapace fragments were scattered everywhere. Judging from the damage, this creature was likely the target of the explosion.
The explosion itself should have occurred not long ago, as the charred land still emanated heat. The scale wasn’t small, but it was concentrated, so the scope of the spread wasn’t large.
Kim Taehyung took a breath and tried to contract his muscles. He jerked around, trying to find a way to control his limbs. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t moved in so long, not to mention his legs that he hadn’t used for so many years, Kim Taehyung spent a lot of effort just to regain control of his arms.
The feeling of his arms moving was like pulling a box of iron blocks with a string. The pain caused by the friction made him sweat almost immediately.
Kim Taehyung knew his physical condition. His skin itself was fragile. If the wounds on his arm touched anything in this hellhole, the risk of infection was enough for him to roll over.
Unfortunately, he had no choice.
Kim Taehyung subconsciously looked at the arm that had moved into his field of vision, but what caught his eye wasn’t the familiar dark red lesion, but a normal smooth skin.
This time, he became completely awake.
Living to this age, Kim Taehyung had never seen such healthy skin grow on his body.
Unfortunately, in the face of the pie falling from the sky, Mr. Kim didn’t have the opportunity to savor it. Not far away, something was whistling, sliding on the ground, and moving quickly in his direction.
The sound of friction pierced his skull through his overly keen hearing, causing him to tremble.
Those who were coming were swaying through the grass. No matter what hellish kind of strange situation he was in right now, it was better to survive first. There was a sense of desolation everywhere. It didn’t look like a place where people would pass by, so it wasn’t a good idea to shout for help blindly when an unknown party was approaching.
Regardless of the pain, Taehyung propped up his arms, gritted his teeth, and crawled towards the half-collapsed underground corridor.
On his way while moving awkwardly, Taehyung tried to raise his head and his gaze swept roughly to the destination. A few falling concrete slabs propped up a half-person-high entrance, which looked stable. Unless a tap-dancing elephant suddenly fell from the sky, the structure should be enough to survive another small explosion.
As long as he didn’t venture too deep and just hid at the entrance of the cave for a while, it shouldn’t be a problem.
There was a small cracking sound from deep in the ground, which wasn’t normal, but considering his weight, range of motion, and the size of the cracking sound, it should still be okay.
The body that hadn’t exercised for a long time felt abnormally heavy. His muscles seemed to be stuffed with charcoal and sweat oozed out. After staying in a wheelchair for so long, he had long forgotten how to manipulate his legs, and only his arms could barely exert a little strength, which made his pace not much faster than a snail.
What was approaching was obviously much faster.
A hoarse and unpleasant howl exploded not far away. Kim Taehyung, who was still panting for breath, made a quick decision. He held his breath and stopped moving. The entrance of the cave used for refuge was still more than 20 meters away from him, so it was too late. For now, he could only lower his sense of existence first, then pray that the thing not far away didn’t have the ability to locate by temperature.
The monster that he had never seen before was wandering more than a hundred meters away, looking closely to a giant queen ant that was dragging its monstrous abdomen. However, in front of the translucent abdomen that was more than one meter high, was embedded with hermit crab like feet that resembled nothing like an “ant”. He couldn’t even find where the mouth of this alien was.
From this angle, he surmised that it was looking for corpses on the other side of the pit. The creepy chewing sound was regular and came from tangled steps. It ate slowly, as if it had no interest in Taehyung, who was pretending to be dead not far away.
Kim Taehyung lay obediently on the spot. The edge of the broken tiles under him hurt his chest, but he didn’t dare move.
His heart was beating frantically under his ribs and sweat kept sliding down his skin. Fear was like a barbed tongue, licking down his spine, leaving a string of ominous tingles. Not to mention his body was still unable to move normally, there wasn’t even a branch around him that could be used as a weapon.
Now he could only hope that uncle monster nearby could eat and drink enough as soon as possible, so it would be turned off from having itself a meal of fresh human flesh.
Unfortunately, things in the world never went according to plan. Uncle monster finished gnawing on the corpses around it and turned around a few times in the same place. Kim Taehyung was just about to change his breath secretly when, without warning, the monster turned its head, drew back its strange feet, and jumped directly to him.
However, the expected pain came later.
As soon as the monster landed, a dull crash sounded immediately. Kim Taehyung realized that he was falling, so he threw himself on his back into a deeper part of the ruins.
Another wave of severe pain hit, like a hammer had bashed into his brain or his nerves were directly soaked in sulfuric acid. A small steel bar had pierced his side abdomen, causing blood to gush out of the wound. Taehyung finally couldn’t hold back anymore and groaned lowly, making a few soft moans.
The opening of the collapsed hole wasn’t small. Sunlight poured down and the dust slowly floated from the beams of light.
Human bones were mixed with charred metal parts. Scattered on the ground were many weapons similar to guns. Pieces of rotting clothing were glued to mechanical stumps, piled up in piles, mostly covered with dust. There were metal poles that were tangled with wires that were rusted and slanted in rubbish heaps.
It was like a broken tombstone in a cemetery.
Taehyung tightened his body subconsciously, and this action caused the steel bar to add more pressure to his abdomen. He was panting wildly, sweating in pain. Fortunately, the monster landed on its back. It was obviously overprotective of its soft belly and was waving its feet trying to get back up.
He hurriedly stood up, taking a full two minutes to dislodge the steel bar. After getting rid of it, the tormenting pain was immediately replaced by a tingling, like a nest of ants that was having a carnival in his wound.
The monster was still writhing in place.
With a sigh of relief, Taehyung leaned on the nearest slate and tried to check the condition of the wound. The location where the steel bar pierced was thankfully biased, and his important internal organs didn’t seem to be damaged, but blood loss and infection would be a problem, so it was best to deal with it as soon as possible.
However, the wound that had just formed had disappeared at this moment.
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It's your lazy author again 👀
so, I'm just uploading the first chapter for now
just to get your opinion and just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
COMMENT THE FÛCK EVERYONE!!!
and yes!!!
the chapters are all gonna be above 3000 or near 3000 and sometimes I think I will write over 5000 too
sooo,, I deserve some comments, likes, gifts and votes too
Prologue {Twelve years²}
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Kim Taehyung wiped away the remaining blood on his abdomen in disbelief as he saw it disappear in the palm of his hand and burrow back into his skin like a living thing. Whether it was his bare waist or abdomen or the palm that should have been stained with blood, there was no trace of blood left.
On the other side, as if encouraged by the smell of blood, the monster finally turned over and growled shrilly.
Now wasn’t the time to study anomalies. Taehyung pulled out a piece of plastic cloth to cover his body, separating his sensitive skin from the outside world, and the pain was instantly relieved. Immediately, he stretched out his arm and reached for a gun-like object in the rubble until he managed to grab it.
…It seemed his luck had not run out.
There was no gawdy design for the firearm in his hand. Numerous details and inferences from observation were intertwined in his mind. As a top scientist with a shooting hobby, he figured out how to use this thing almost immediately. Kim Taehyung maintained a posture leaning on a concrete slab as he pointed the gun at the monster.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
Come on, let’s gamble!
(He grinned, revealing his first smile since awakening)
The monster didn’t care if its extra meal came in an extra layer of packaging. It crawled closer eagerly with its mouth hidden in its gaiters that were splitting in all directions. Saliva dripped uncontrollably from the mouthparts where it bared its teeth.
His opponent kept moving in the faint light, but Kim Taehyung had never seen so clearly. The hard thorns on the monster’s black feet were conspicuous, and its long crab-like eyes were hidden between the gaps in its feet. He could even see the folds of flesh at the junction of its eyeballs.
It was a good idea to attack the eyes, but the arms that have not yet recovered were indefatigable and unable to make fine movements. Taehyung hesitated for a moment and decided to choose a more secure option.
He simply pulled the trigger.
The gunfire wasn’t loud, and he could barely handle the recoil. The gap between the ammunition and his memory was obvious—the bullet successfully hit the thick joint gap on the foot, but what was left was not a bloody hole but an open fire explosion. The leg was directly blown off, and pus-yellow mucus sprayed all over the floor.
As calculated, the monster’s heavy body instantly lost balance and fell to the ground.
Lying on the spot, it hissed a few times, and it struggled to get up. The intact feet wedged fiercely into the ruins, and it stretched them out as it crawled, trying to stab Taehyung frantically, but its movement had faltered, causing its speed to slow.
Taehyung clenched the gun in his hand.
Its power far exceeded expectations, but its endurance was inversely proportional to its power. Perhaps it was rusted inside, or maybe it was damaged. After a single shot, thin smoke diffused from the gun’s seams and the sound of melting metal could be heard. The risk of another shot was too high, and it wouldn’t be good if the thing exploded.
Glancing at a row of large metal cans not far away, as well as the decayed ceiling overhanging them, he quickly had an idea.
Rolling all the way to the edge of the ruins, Taehyung propped up his body and spontaneously climbed the wall full of metal cans. The monster followed closely, dragging its broken foot and continuing to attack frantically. The closest it got was almost rubbing against his scalp with one of its feet.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
{ Now! }
The moment he leaned his back against the metal can, the monster’s sharp feet swung down again and got stuck between the gap of two metal cans. Taehyung took this opportunity to climb away from the monster and threw the gun that was scrapped in his hand vigorously—
The garbage gun smashed into the metal can, changed it trajectory, and bumped against the handle of another gun a few steps away. The seemingly well-preserved weapon slid along the slopping concrete slab and stopped just within Kim Taehyung's reach.
After picking up a few spares from the poor-quality secondaries around him, Taehyung grabbed the gun and slid to his side.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
…It’s better to hit a fixed target.
Four gunshots sounded, followed by the sound of slime splattering. Taehyung smoothly destroyed two of the monster’s eyes, but the last two shots didn’t hit the monster’s body. He raised the gun and shot into the darkness above his head.
The sound of gunfire was followed by cracking noises. With the biting sound of metal pulling apart, several large pieces of steel beams fell from the ceiling, right in the middle of the monster’s soft abdomen. The impact this time wasn’t something that its thick, soft leather could resist. The monster’s deformed abdomen was smashed to pieces, and the internal liquid slowly flowed out of the edge of the steel beams.
It twitched fiercely a few times and finally stopped moving.
Kim Taehyung lay back on the ground and gasped for a few minutes before swallowing his heart that was about to jump out of his throat.
The sun was about to set, and it was getting darker. His limbs became heavier and sore. There was the sound of needles falling in the entire underground space, and occasionally the monster would make small sounds of collapse.
After saving his strength for a while and crawling over more than a dozen scattered dead bones, he finally dragged himself to a dry and clean corner, clinging to a relatively intact corpse. Taehyung touched around subconsciously and cleared up the area. Suddenly, something that felt good rolled into the palm of his hand.
It was a metal can. It was food that had a shelf life of fifty years.
The unexpected appearance of food made him feel at ease. He picked up a piece of metal and drew a crooked smile on the can.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
From now on, you are… Let’s see… Forget it. You’re just canned food, and I need a person to talk to.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
Seriously, this environment is not conducive to one’s mental health at all!
(Taehyung took a long breath and muttered in a low voice)
With a “companion”, he would be better mentally prepared. With the light that hadn’t completely disappeared, he began to carefully observe the corpse near him that had its mouth wide open, as if it was roaring.
Judging by the environment and the degree of decay, this corpse had been here for at least two years. Looking at the damage to the bones, 80% of the damage was due to some kind of heat weapon. There were no obvious signs of gnawing marks on the bones, so there shouldn’t be many beasts or rats here.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
Okay, at least there are no beasts. This place should be safe.
(he muttered to the food cannister in his hand and continued to check the corpse)
The style of clothing of the deceased was unfamiliar. It somewhat resembled a loose military uniform, and its rotting and shapeless hand was resting on a waist bag.
He carefully pulled the corpse’s hand away and slowly unbuckled the dirty buckle on the waist bag, trying to find more cans. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much content inside; only a few weird pieces of equipment, which were several times dirtier than the food cannister in his hand. The deceased didn’t seem like the owner of this food cannister.
He felt the cylindrical can-size was a bit familiar. Taehyung remembered seeing it in other research groups. It seemed to be some kind of military lighting tool. He fumbled for a few seconds and unscrewed it along the gap in the middle.
The warm sunlight instantly dispelled the darkness, and with the handle at the end of the cylinder, it looked very much like a small lantern. After being activated, the side of the small cylinder against the handle lit up. A countdown accurate to seconds was displayed next to the “remaining time”, and the small print carefully marked the current time.
Despite subconsciously mentally preparing himself, Kim Taehyung's mind still buzzed.
…For him, “today” should have been April 21, 2095.
Swallowing with difficulty, Kim Taehyung raised the lantern and looked seriously at the dusty ruins for the first time. The floor tiles were a familiar pattern, and the metal corridor on the surface was also something that was in his laboratory. The remaining letters and Chinese characters flickered in the light, which looked terribly familiar.
This used to be his laboratory, but no matter how he looked at it, it was a far cry from the place he remembered being extremely neat and tidy, which could make someone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder or a cleanliness addiction feel at ease.
He had been running for his life since he woke up, and now he finally had the chance to figure out the current situation.
Taehyung slowly lowered his head and checked his left wrist. Three small moles lay quietly on the inside of his wrist, next to several thin scars.
Although the state of his skin was very different, this was indeed his body. Forget the mole. If this was some kind of reconstruction of the body, no one would bother to restore the scar.
He then opened the little plastic cloth wrapped around his body and moved his gaze to his legs.
These legs also made him feel strange.
There were no lesions and pigmentation anywhere on the skin, no severe joint pain that tormented him, and no protruding veins due to weakness. His legs looked extremely healthy, long and straight, and his muscles were well proportioned.
Perhaps this was nothing for most people, but Kim Taehyung had never experienced the meaning of the word “healthy” in his 28 years of life.
Everything in front of him was too absurd. If it weren’t for the certainty that his body belonged to him, Taehyung would have started to doubt if this was an experience project created by the project team next door. Usually, at this time, he should have returned home, given himself a cup of hot goat milk, and then written today’s summary in front of the light screen, as usual.
Taehyung frowned and tried to dig up memory fragments from the depths of his mind.
The dry flowers in the laboratory, the strange assistants with their heads down, an argument, a gun with a silencer, and the sense of impact, as if a heavy object had hit him in the face. Fragments of memory floated in his mind, making him a little nauseous.
If he remembered correctly, before losing consciousness, he was indeed shot in the head by a bullet. The man was proficient in marksmanship. His skull didn’t have a metal plate implanted in it, making it impossible for him to survive that level of damage. Even if there was a one-in-a-billion chance that he was really lucky, the other party would definitely take care of his body and make sure that he was thoroughly dead.
The time jump, the abnormal physique, plus the him who should have died. Nothing made sense.
It was a pity that the memory became blurred, and his temples started to hurt terribly. A bad heat was rising from his limbs and bones, and his thinking became uncontrollably chaotic. The feeling of soreness and softness became more intense. The lantern in his hand felt heavy and dark spots started to appear before he fainted.
Taehyung retreated to the corner. The boundless exhaustion and uneasiness came, and the sense of collapse overwhelmed him. After thinking for a moment, he moved his legs to the clean ground so that he could stay away from the corpse.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
I have to get a good night’s sleep.
The food cannister wasn’t far away, smiling at him. Taehyung solemnly whispered to it.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
…Then figure out what the fuck is going on!
He forced himself not to look at the corpses around him. He ignored the human bones visible all over the floor. After holding a few barely usable guns tightly in his arms, Taehyung extinguished the lantern.
About six kilometers away, three figures shuttled through the woods.
Unknown Man
News from Brother Lee hasn’t come. Didn’t you say that he would report to us before sunset?
A flat-headed youth in a camouflage T-shirt spoke.
Unknown Man
Brother Che, do we have to go and look? If something happens…
Unknown Man 2
It’s close to the ‘wild cemetery’. This is normal. Old Lee most likely encountered trouble and avoided the limelight…
Unknown Man 2
Don’t worry. It’s more important to find more parts than anything.
(An older man was smacking on a twig in his mouth)
Unknown Man
Yes, do you want 231 to take a look?
Unknown Man 2
Hey, you son of a bitch. I haven’t seen you in the base. Without 231, you’ll be attacked.
Unknown Man
But the chief said we can’t get too close to the ‘Wild Cemetery’—
Unknown Man 2
Shut up. 231, set up camp!
The man known as “Brother Che” spit out the twig in his mouth and wiped it.
Chi Hyun/Old Chi
Ugh, I get creeped out every time I look at this thing. At least in Lao Li’s team, it looks like a beautiful girl. This one on our team… Well, let’s stop talking about it.
While Brother Chi was talking, a third figure a few steps away from the two finally moved.
At first glance, it was a young man with delicate eyebrows. His face was handsome, his complexion was fair, and he had no sense of animosity. He was smiling brightly, with a soft and gentle temperament, and he felt a bit like a white sheet drying in the warm sun. It made it easy for people to let down their guard.
However, as time went on, the sense of dissonance was revealed. The smile remained motionless, as if it was imprinted on his face, or he was wearing a stiff mask.
Jeon Jungkook /231/STR-Y
Yes, STR-Y type 307a231 is at your service.
(he responded, gently enunciating standardly)
Chi Hyun sighed again and turned around. He straightened the lantern in his hand and continued to survey the surroundings.
Chi Hyun/Old Chi
Next time I have to report to the above. This kind of android should be exchanged every once in a while. Can’t we use a police model or something?
The two men continued to work on their own affairs. The android got instructions and proceeded to set up a tent and arrange cooking and animal repellent devices. Within a few seconds of the two men turning their backs, “231” stopped moving.
He raised his head and looked in the direction of the ‘Wild Cemetery’.
In just a few seconds, the bright smile on “231’s” face disappeared instantly. He straightened his face and showed a thoughtful expression.
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Prologue {Meeting³}
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When Kim Taehyung woke up again, sunlight was pouring from the hole in the ceiling. From the perspective of light, the sun should’ve risen.
The monster’s corpse lay in the shadows, and the warm light sprinkled on the dilapidated machinery and bones gave a strange sense of peace.
Unfortunately, his state was not at all harmonious.
His physical strength had recovered a bit, but the high fever in his body showed no signs of receding. Sweat kept coming out of his pores. Taehyung was short of breath, his mouth was dry, and he was shivering from the cold. He had used the flimsy plastic cloth as a blanket, and he was still so exhausted that he just wanted to go back to sleep, but reason woke him up unceremoniously. His physical condition wasn’t normal, and if this continued, he would only get weaker.
Although he still hadn’t eaten, hunger was almost overwhelmed by anxiety and thirst so that it didn’t have much sense of existence left.
Taehyung shook his head and forced himself to sober up a bit.
The over-magnified hearing came in handy for the first time. The gurgling sound of surging water rushed into his ears. It seemed there was water nearby that was within a hundred meters. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to originate from the surface or deeper underground.
He hoped it wasn’t the sound coming from the pipes inside the wall.
The plastic cloth on his body was replaced with the coat from the corpse. He put the food cannister and lantern in the dirty waist bag and tied two intact weapons to it. After Taehyung was ready, he propped himself up on a hollow plastic pipe and tried to stand up.
He hadn’t stood up successfully for many years, and his body was weak. Before Taehyung could straighten his legs, he fell to the ground.
After grinding his teeth in pain for over ten seconds, he got up bitterly and tried to stand again. However, under the premise of insufficient skill, the plastic pipe couldn’t steadily support most of the weight of an adult man, so the end on the ground skidded. This time, Kim Taehyung knelt down in place.
The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time.
Every time he tried, it ended with him lying on his stomach. The sensitive sense of touch didn’t help at all, and the pain was so painful that he didn’t even dare to vent his anger by smashing the ground.
His two legs were indeed intact, and the hardware worked fine, but Mr. Kim, who had great powers, was in urgent need of a book of instructions for the use of human legs. His attempts didn’t get him up quickly and made him feel like a plate full of smashed cucumbers.
Taehyung glared at the scratched-up plastic pipe in his hand and redoubled his efforts.
An hour and a half later.
Panting on two temporarily assembled crutches, Taehyung barely straightened up and walked to the corner of the dilapidated hall. All this tossing and turning almost exhausted the last of his strength.
Hesitating for a few seconds, Taehyung leisurely freed his right hand and pulled the food canister out of his waist bag with the smiling side facing him.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
Don’t talk about climbing back to the surface, every step can kill me… Say, they won’t be free to make random changes.
The whisper failed to echo in the empty underground ruins. No one answered him. Taehyung smiled reluctantly.
The long-abandoned hall was originally on the second floor of the underground, with a height of around eight meters. Based on his current physical state, if he failed to find supplies in time, it was absolutely impossible to return to the surface from this hole.
Other pathways were blocked. Taehyung remembered the floor plan of the entire experimental building. Even if he went out of the hall normally, it would be a long way to return to the surface. Not to mention that most of the doors were covered by ruins, and there was only bottomless darkness in the gaps.
There was also good news.
Looking at the condition of the hall, the layout hadn’t changed much in the past twelve years. The underground space was originally used for storage and observation, so a small residential area was also allocated. As one of the most prestigious guests, his room was always well equipped and shouldn’t be easily converted for other purposes.
It included a bathroom that was connected to an independent water supply system.
He couldn’t hear the exact location of the sound of water, but the general direction was indeed consistent with his former residence.
Taehyung quickly touched the outermost door. Indeed, it was still the door in his memory, but it was so tightly sealed that not even a crack was there. It wasn’t destroyed as he had hoped. Taehyung brushed the dead vines by the door, pressed around, and barely touched something that was close to a recognizer.
He wiped the thick dust on it with his hand, and a trace of blue light appeared from behind the hard glass.
Not to mention whether this thing could be used or not, it was better to say that it was absolutely improbable that the security system hadn’t been upgraded for these full twelve years.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
It seems that we have to drill into the corridor next door.
(Taehyung sighed at the smiling face and retracted hand)
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
I hope that thing yesterday doesn’t have any relatives around….
But before he could finish speaking, a somewhat distorted electronic noise sounded.
“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐌𝐫. 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐓𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐲.”
The sweet and friendly voice was mixed with pitch changes and a jarring tone, making it sound quite eerie. The tightly closed metal door made an unpleasant scrapping sound and withdrew to the sides. The wall lamps in the corridor behind the door suddenly lit up, and several of them kept flickering.
Taehyung clenched his crutches and carefully moved into the corridor.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
| Something was wrong! |
Regardless of whether he was designated as dead or missing that year, the institute wouldn’t retain his access, let alone synchronize the information to the new device. However, there were too many inexplicable things currently that was far worse than this issue. Taehyung's attention was very focused. Since the facilities here were relatively intact, the hope of finding water was also much greater.
The sound of water had changed from vague and dull to clear and audible.
Licking his chapped lips, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he almost instinctively turned to the door of his original residence. This door was the closest to the entrance, and a thin layer of dust had accumulated in front of it so it should be a good choice.
Taehyung stuffed the food cannister back into his waist bag and clenched his weapons. His back tensed. He then knocked on the strange security lock with his fingertips, obediently allowing the light that came through to quickly sweep over his entire body.
“𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨… 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞.”
The emotionless electronic sound was intermittent, more distorted, and hoarser than the one at the door.
This time the door didn’t immediately open, and the familiar password light screen appeared in front of him.
All kinds of pictures flashed on the password light screen. Photos of orchids, buildings, complicated physical formula and mathematical equations, complex molecular structures, and even a few music scores and excerpts from literature. Dozens of pictures were mixed together, flashing and switching so fast that if they were to be made public, they would need an epilepsy warning.
Bracing himself, taehy looked at the rapidly flashing light screen without blinking.
In less than ten seconds, the pictures finished playing. He pondered for a moment, stretched out his fingers, and drew an intricate figure on the blank light screen. Just as the scorching fingertips drew away, the heavy door clicked softly, and then slid open silently.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
| …Everything was the same |
At the beginning, he liked to take all kinds of information back to his room for research. For safety reasons, Kim Taehyung specifically wrote a password system for himself. The order in which the pictures were played each time was completely random, and the association and inference of the pictures could only be done with his own brain.
The things in those pictures were only meaningful to him, and there was no second person in the entire world who could use this password mechanism.
Things were getting weirder.
Taehyung broke off one of the tubes that he was using as a crutch and wasn’t stable. After making sure it would allow the automatic door to leave a crack, he put his finger on the trigger and dragged himself into the room as quietly as possible.
The layout of the room was earth-shattering.
Kim Taehyung liked warm colors and a relaxed decorating style. When he left the room “this morning”, the artificial sunlight still shone on the thick and soft carpet, making the small half of the wooden table white. Now the spacious front hall was cut off, leaving only a suffocating narrow space in front of the door, like stepping into another corridor.
The sensor light in the room turned on in response.
There wasn’t a single piece of the original furniture left. The wooden floor was replaced with ceramic tiles, which were cold and hard. On one side of the wall was a rough iron cabinet, half a person high, with a slightly ajar door. Taehyung leaned against the wall and opened the cabinet door with his other crutch. There were a few sets of vacuum-treated uniform-style clothes and two pairs of ordinary rubber boots.
Taehyung left the cabinet without hesitation and stopped in front of the extra wall—the texture of the wall was strange, and it didn’t look thick. The only door that seemed to have no mystery is the one that was just an ordinary sliding door.
The loud sound of water was behind the wall.
Taehyung raised the gun in his hand a little higher, leaned against the wall on the side door, trying to maintain his balance, and opened the sliding door with his other hand.
Except for the steady sound of water, there was no other sound in the room. Taehyung waited patiently for a few minutes, then grabbed his crutch and glanced cautiously through the door.
Then he stopped breathing.
The door was empty. The wall that was originally embedded with a huge electronic window was now filled with all kinds of machines, and there was no longer a place for virtual scenery. The wall facing the door could hardly be considered a “wall” anymore.
A huge water tank occupied the small room, taking up close to half the space. The thick transparent glass filled the space from the ceiling to the floor, extending to both ends of the walls on both sides. From a glance, it looked a bit like an aquarium display tank, but the glass of the display tank didn’t flash densely with data like this.
The sound of water was coming from behind the glass.
There were no rare creatures soaked in the liquid, and there was no tube that provided nutrition or oxygen. A mass of white things was wandering underwater, a bit like a large jellyfish that was curled up.
Making sure there was no suspicious sound, Taehyung moved into the room and stroked the cold glass with one hand. The liquid in the tank was very clear, and he was sure he smelled water and not the pungent smell of chemicals. The water tank was equipped with a circulating filtration device. If the independent water supply system in this room was used, it wasn’t difficult to maintain it for decades.
As long as he could find the filter device, he could draw out clean water.
The high heat from his body made the glass touched by his palm colder, and the hot air from his nostrils almost burned the skin. Taehyung took a few breaths, then retracted his gaze from the wall full of machines and instinctively looked ahead…
For a moment, he almost thought he was hallucinating.
The white mass of things floated in front of him at some point, sticking to his hand that was touching the glass. Like a mirror image, a human hand condensed on the other side of the glass, followed by arms, torso, head, and feet.
The opposite thing had no sexual characteristics, no hair, and even no facial features on the head. Compared to humans, it was more like a wooden mannequin used for decoration and reference hundreds of years ago.
It floated in the liquid, accurately imitating Taehyung's every movement, like a ghost reflection in the mirror.
Taehyung suddenly retracted his hand from the glass.
The “person” on the opposite side didn’t imitate this action but leaned over and drew back its hand.
Then it slammed onto the glass.
The force was so great that the whole piece of glass shook violently a few times. Taehyung propped up his crutches, took two steps back, and grabbed the gun tightly in his hand. With a deadly high fever, his headache became worse and everything in front of him began to appear murky.
The thing was beating the glass frantically, moving faster.
The glass let out an overwhelming creak, and gradually white ice crack lines emerged, and the flashing data began to disappear.
Taehyung briefly estimated his distance from the door, then simply raised his gun.
The moment the human-like object came out, Taehyung bombarded its body and head frantically, and then was knocked to the ground by a large amount of liquid gushing out. The fragile temporary crutch immediately fell apart and hit the corner of the room with the water flowing with glass blocks.
Taehyung's mind became a little clearer after being submerged with cold water all over his body. He coughed out a few mouthfuls of water, grabbed another gun pinned to his waist bag, sat down on the floor, and looked around vigilantly.
The white human-like object was blown into several pieces, but there was no structure similar to human tissue. It quickly condensed together, glued back to its human form, and then crawled quickly towards him.
Taehyung didn’t hesitate to shoot again.
This time, the explosive shell went straight through the humanoid, as if it was passing through smoke, and finally exploded in vain on the empty wall behind it. The humanoid object stretched out its hand and grabbed Taehyung's ankle with a terrifying force.
Taehyung supported his body and retreated. The shards of glass scratched his palms, but he didn’t even feel it. He just stared at his ankle, trying to command the disobedient leg muscle to retract and pull away.
However, it wasn’t as simple as “being caught”.
The thing clenched his ankle, and the skin of the “hand” began to stick to the skin on his ankle, like two masses of mud that were blending together. The burning pain rushed straight to the brain along the ankle. This time Taehyung didn’t hold back and screamed.
Although he hadn’t experienced it before, it felt as if he was being skinned alive, but his consciousness still remained.
As long as his consciousness was still there, he could think of a way.
Taehyung gasped with difficulty, staring closely at the thing that only God knew what it was, and persistently retreated to the door. His movements were fast and anxious, causing multiple glass shards to plunge into the palms of his hands, but in front of the spreading unknown pain, that pain was considered negligible.
The blood was spreading fast into the stagnant water on the floor.
Amazingly, he just retreated to the “corridor” near the metal cabinet when the thing weakened without warning.
Like a snowball in heat, the petals of a flower in fire, it quickly withered, collapsed, and eventually only left a large puddle of goo in place. The crisis was temporarily averted. Kim Taehyung laid on the spot with all his strength, swallowing oxygen desperately in the joy of the aftermath. After his brain was emptied for a full half a minute, he raised his hands and began to clean up the glass shards embedded in his wounds.
After getting rid of the foreign object, the wound was healing quickly at an abnormal rate.
At any rate, he wasn’t short on water now. Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh dryly. He held onto the iron cabinet and could barely stand up. The fever seemed to have gone down a bit, and his brain that was almost cooked into a pot of porridge had finally calmed down…
He had to go back to the hall quickly and get himself another pair of crutches and a few more weapons. This place was bad. It was like a ridiculous nightmare. Before planning any more details, he must first ensure his safety.
However, when Mr. Kim crawled back to the hall, there was an additional thing amid the otherwise empty space.
A figure stood in the center of the hall, directly below the hole.
Needless to say, Taehyung was nervous about humanoid objects now. He subconsciously reached out his arm and crossed over the ribs of who knows what to grab the gun next to the corpse.
The other party was faster than him.
Almost the next second, the figure flashed in front of him. Seeing that the figure was a tall man, Taehyung wanted to take a closer look, but his collar was seized. The coat he got was extremely rough; the tug caused it to rub harshly on his skin. It was so painful he almost cursed.
Unfortunately, there was no chance to utter any expletives.
The visitor—whoever or whatever it was—lowered his head and decisively kissed him!
He should have tried to grab the gun just now, but he was in shock. Since he had no weapons, he chose to pretend to be dead, letting the other part lick the tip of his tongue.
The superficial calmness returned to actual calmness, and the warm sense of invasion made him sweat and his scalp tingled.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
| Calm down |
Taehyung pinched his thighs. He endured being hunted by that monster, endured the ruins full of corpses all night, and even endured the weird thing just now, then surely he could endure this.
Taehyung's breathing began to shorten.
Anger was spreading rapidly. If it weren’t for the fact that his physical condition wasn’t in good condition, he would hardly be able to restrain the urge to bite that tongue.
After a full twenty seconds, the visitor finally moved his face away and wiped his mouth casually.
As soon as the hand holding his collar loosened, Taehyung sat back down and managed to stabilize his sitting position with his disobedient legs. The man half-knelt down and looked at him head to toe from about a step away.
His face was extremely handsome.
The weird stranger in front of him looked younger than thirty. He had fair skin and rare champagne golden eyes, a head of black hair that was slightly too long, and the tips of his hair covered the back of his neck. He had a gentle and friendly temperament. If he had met such a person on any other occasion, Taehyung believed he would have had a good impression of him.
However, his favorability now was in the negatives.
Unknown Man
I have roughly analyzed your situation. You now have two choices.
Golden eyes spoke seriously and remained expressionless, as if the two of them had just shook hands.
Unknown Man
Cooperate with me or die here. Choose.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
…You also have two choices, sir.
After a few deep breaths, showing a slightly twitching smirk, Taehyung quickly responded.
Kim Taehyung /Kim Vincent/
Explain or explain. Come on, choose one.
____________________________
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