Chapter 17: The Divine Guidance Ends Here.
*
Gang-ho pondered over Wolf’s changes.
Just moments ago, he had summarized the plausibility of growth, but in this case, it felt far too sudden and unexpected.
‘What could it be?’
In the meantime, Satoshi and Wolf started to move along one side.
Hooosh.
The two had returned to the group after absorbing a certain amount of the energy core, just as agreed beforehand.
Reina, Lisa, and Gang-ho also absorbed their respective energy cores in the same manner.
“Dr. Inder, can an ordinary person absorb that energy core?”
Reina asked.
The doctor shook his head in response.
“Absorption itself isn’t possible. It would instead cause biological contamination or trigger allergic reactions on the skin or organs.”
Watching the conversation between the two, Gang-ho silently observed Inder.
‘The information that person knows.’
There were things that couldn’t be dealt with solely through scientific knowledge.
Especially in a disaster situation like this, the irrationality and exceptions that go beyond common sense and order could hinder flexible judgment brought about by knowledge.
But Inder was different.
He displayed superior judgment compared to any doctors Gang-ho had encountered and experienced so far.
It was as if he already knew everything.
‘Just like me.’
In any case, thanks to that, they could save a lot of time and effort.
It had become a sort of division of labor.
This continued to be the case.
And it was finally when they arrived at the platform leading up to the Underground 1st Floor.
“Dr. Inder, by any chance, do you have the disaster manual…?”
Gang-ho suddenly stopped and posed an unexpected question, causing Inder to hesitate momentarily before awkwardly smiling.
“Oh. I was one of the contributors.”
At those words, the entire group gasped simultaneously.
“Ahhh!”
“Oh my!”
“Wow.”
Gang-ho, who had asked the question, was also surprised.
‘Was I going to ask if he memorized it just like me? And he’s a contributor?’
Although it was an unexpected answer, it was certainly a plausible statement.
However, Gang-ho’s questions were still not fully resolved.
‘No matter how much of a contributor he is, he can’t know all the vast content.’
But there was no reason to ponder deeper.
It wasn’t an issue of great importance.
He merely hoped that, in his case, there might be some information to share.
‘Well, considering what I’ve confirmed through the status window, he is in complete human condition. It must be different from me.’
Gang-ho decided to drop the train of thought.
He then guided the remaining members into the lift.
Soon, the doors closed and they began to ascend to the Underground 1st Floor.
Deng.
Ziiing.
No one spoke.
It was as if everyone was lost in a jumble of feelings, with anticipation and fear intertwining so tightly that no one could utter a word.
Disliking the heavy atmosphere, Reina slyly broke the silence.
“Wow. This is the most comfortable ascent so far.”
Satoshi chimed in teasingly.
“Really? The Underground 6th Floor was more comfortable, right? We even got humanoid guidance.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
The silly banter between the two began to ease some of the tension among the group.
And in that moment, they finally arrived at the Underground 1st Floor.
Ding.
Ziiing.
People’s eyes widened in astonishment.
They observed the surroundings closely but couldn’t step out of the lift.
“It’s okay. You can get off now.”
Gang-ho took the lead and stepped out, followed by the others one by one.
“Whoa.”
“This place… it’s intact.”
It was clean.
There were no signs of damage or deterioration whatsoever.
However, there wasn’t a hint of life to be felt.
‘Did something explode here too?’
The memory of the first explosion on the Underground 10th Floor resurfaced.
It had been an explosion of the power facility, resulting in electromagnetic exposure.
At that time, only the power plant shelter had been blown up, while the other buildings remained intact.
“Everyone, wear respirators.”
Gang-ho instructed in case of any potential infections.
He then continued giving directions to his comrades.
“Lisa, stay in the middle of the formation with Wolf. Reina, just like before, take the rear. Satoshi, you’ll provide cover for Reina while in stealth.”
He then opened the door to the shelter at the front.
Shiiing.
Thud.
*
There was nothing.
Not even a single ant crossed their path on the way to the hangar shelter leading up to the ground.
“I can’t believe the entire Underground 1st Floor is empty.”
“Since it’s closer to the surface, maybe everyone evacuated?”
Those were plausible conjectures from the group.
If an incident had occurred, they cautiously thought there should at least be some corpses.
As they exchanged various possibilities, the mood gradually shifted to unease.
“Don’t tell me, the hangar is locked down?”
Gwoooong.
Boom.
Finally, after overcoming countless death-defying moments, they reached their destination.
The hangar doors, the only entrance to the surface, opened.
Yet, instead of cheers, a near-scream of horror filled the air.
“… Ah.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Goodness!”
In the center of the hangar lay a massive pile of corpses.
And it was clear that not a single person among them was intact.
Ashen-scaled bodies.
Corpses with feathers stuck all over their arms and backs.
A frog wearing a lab coat with a name tag reading “Michael.”
“Th-that’s impossible.”
“No way.”
How much time passed?
While everyone remained trapped in shock, a white man stumbled forward.
“Kate?!”
As if entranced, he staggered closer, then wrapped his arms around a woman lying lifeless on the floor, as if rooted like a tree.
“Darling! Cough!”
He soon began to wail bitterly.
Everyone who witnessed the scene bit their lips or tightly closed their eyes, trembling uncontrollably.
It was more gruesome than ever before.
In this moment, even Gang-ho could only remain silent.
The painful silence was shattered by Inder.
“It seems it wasn’t an accident after all.”
It was unclear to whom he was speaking or what he meant.
But Gang-ho understood.
Lisa and Reina did too.
Yet, no one dared to ask any questions.
“There’s something I haven’t been able to say.”
Inder’s voice was heavy with remorse, as if confessing before death itself.
World Species Repository.
The initial establishment was in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
Initially, it was simply a storage place for various plant seeds; a literal warehouse.
It was a sort of Noah’s Ark, prepared for a time when a major catastrophe would strike Earth and humanity would face extinction.
That repository had transformed into the largest, state-of-the-art research facility due to investment from the international environmental governance established by Invasion.
It was a massive global project made possible through the response from countries all around the world.
“Everyone experienced it; we felt the need and saw the potential, so everyone participated.”
As Inder explained, Lisa chimed in as if to add emphasis.
“That’s right. As everyone knows, humanity nearly faced extinction in 2031, just like the dinosaurs from the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras.”
Inder’s explanation continued.
“But we overcame that scientifically. So, just as you said, we had no choice but to roll up our sleeves.”
After overcoming an absolute ice age triggered by global warming with the power of science, they poured money and manpower into the transformed Baekdu Mountain’s underground, creating what is now the World Species Repository.
At that time, the purpose of its establishment was indeed for research against global disasters and developing alternative environments.
In other words, the main goals were permanent green energy development and various vaccine research.
However, after twenty years, much had changed and distorted.
When money and power were involved, various interests inevitably tangled in.
Thus, the Repository had been plagued by continuous kickbacks from various countries and the world’s major corporations.
The reason? Because this place was a sanctuary of science.
Before the Repository was established, even a single embryonic stem cell study couldn’t advance due to human dignity and ethical issues.
However, in the Repository, they weren’t bound by such scientific or medical ethics.
As a result, covert research projects began to increase one by one.
A representative example of this was that biological experiments were openly conducted.
“Of which I know two things.”
After the lengthy explanation of the Repository’s history, Inder finally reached the core of what he intended to convey.
“One is the mutant mass production project, like you guys.”
“Doctor!”
“Yes?”
Lisa and Reina shouted in unison.
But Inder continued without providing any further explanation.
“The second is the New Earth Search Project.”
This time Gang-ho reacted.
“New Earth… search?”
Inder nodded at Gang-ho’s question.
“Terraforming. The last information I confirmed was that they had found twelve suitable planets while hunting and excavating in our galaxy and others.”
“……”
Gang-ho fell silent once more.
He had reasonably anticipated and suspected some information regarding the mutants.
After all, he had come here to uncover that.
But terraforming?
And the fact that they had made some actual progress was quite shocking.
It wasn’t just Gang-ho.
Everyone present at that moment were researchers and scientists.
“Um, Dr. Inder, what does that mean…?”
“If so, what happened in the lower levels until now…?”
Suddenly, questions began to cascade.
But just then, Satoshi’s loud voice quieted the ruckus in an instant.
“Hey! What is that over there?”
Everyone turned their focus in unison to the spot he was pointing at.
“What… is that…?”
“Am I the only one seeing this wrong?”
“It looks like an optical illusion, but what is it?”
Hanging above the pile of corpses was a swirling sphere of black flame, bubbling ominously.
And beneath it, blood-red letters floated like a hologram.
[The Divine Guidance Ends Here.]
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