Chapter 142
Early in the morning the next day, I began to reinforce the number of underlings I had.
From what Bae Jeong-Nam had told me, I assumed that the members of the Family weren’t in the best condition either. The weaker ones had probably been eaten or killed off, and the stronger ones were probably recovering from their losses.
It seemed like they had lost a significant number of the mutants they had initially brought over Sogang Bridge, and the only creatures that actually posed a threat to us were the stage-three mutants they had.
We had about a week, or perhaps five days if they really pushed it.
That was the amount of time I thought it would take them to get to Gangbuk.
I was planning on making more mutants while the members of the Family worked on gathering up more ordinary zombies. In a fight against overwhelming numbers, having more stage-one mutants was the priority. Fortunately, my underlings were already zombies that were ready to mutate into stage-one mutants.
However, the one thing I wasn’t sure about was how many of them would actually turn into stage-one mutants, since they had to prey on each other in order to do so. My assumption was that I’d be able to turn all of my underlings into stage-one mutants if I used the zombies at my zombie prison.
I ordered my underlings, more than two thousand of them, to gather at Gwangjang Intersection.
“Starting now, fight the comrade next to you. Whoever wins, eat the loser's brain!”
GRRR!!!
My underlings howled and tore into each other. Although mutants were well-suited for combat, they weren’t the best defensively. Because of this, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that the gang member’s ordinary zombies could sneak past our forces and go after the survivors.
This was something I’d discussed with Do Han-Sol.
I was in charge of increasing my number of mutants and fighting on the front lines while Do Han-Sol would deploy his one thousand and fifty underlings tightly across the access road to the hotel. By doing this, even if the Family’s forces made it through my own, Do Han-Sol and his underlings would be in position to block them off.
We also made changes on where we were going to deploy our defenses, since Kim Hyeong-Jun was absent.
We decided to pull back our defensive line from the boundary of Gwangjang-dong to the area just around Walkerhill Hotel. If we deployed our forces this way, we’d quickly go down if our first line of defense fell, but I knew that it was wiser to focus on one line of defense rather than building up several lines of defense.
As soon as the sun rose, Lee Jeong-Uk and Hwang Ji-Hye processed the newcomers from Gangnam and the medical center.
In the six months since the dawn of the zombie apocalypse, those who survived had been split into two groups. They either became dogs that lived like animals, or continued to live as survivors who held onto their humanity despite the difficult circumstances.
The survivors from Gangnam and those from the medical center were closer to the latter.
As long as the incoming survivors didn’t have any attitude problems, I was willing to accept them.
Because that was what the Survivor Rally Organization stood for.
* * *
Seventy kilometers north of Vladivostok, Russia. Heavy snowfall over the past twenty years had turned the area into a snow-covered landscape.
In this desolate place was a fenced-up military facility with several research buildings. Armed soldiers patrolled both inside and outside.
A man sat at the guard post, looking at a map. He sighed and turned to the signaller next to him.
“How many places have we lost contact with now?”
“Just Canada and Korea… No more, sir.”
“And what’s the situation in Canada and Korea?”
“We have no way of knowing. About Korea… The last time we had contact was three days ago. We’ve lost contact since then.”
“If they get back on, let me know right away.”
“Yes, sir."
The man sighed and left the guard post.
The howling wind assailed him from every direction, and it was impossible to see anything but snow. The blizzard numbed his nose and earlobes, and it was extremely difficult to even keep his eyes open.
With another sigh, he broke into a swift run, heading toward the laboratory.
He passed through security at the entrance to the lab. The interior of the lab was bustling. Researchers scurried about the area.
After a moment, an Asian man approached him.
“Commander, what brings you here?”
“Hey, Tommy Park. Any progress on the experiments?”
“We haven’t gotten any results that are significant enough to report yet.”
“Hmm…”
The commander sighed and glanced around the laboratory.
Everyone was working hard and no one had complained about anything yet… But he wasn’t sure how much longer things could keep going the way they were.
As the blizzard intensified, their solar panels became unusable. The facility was facing severe power issues, and the little remaining power they had was being funneled to the laboratory. The soldiers outside were barely surviving day to day, fighting off the cold with vodka and whiskey.
The commander fixed his gaze on Tommy again.
“Tommy Park… No…. Should I call you the research director now?”
“Whatever you feel comfortable with, sir.”
“The soldiers outside are shivering, struggling against the cold. If we allocate some of the laboratory's power to the military facilities… Will that result in any disruptions to our ongoing research?”
Tommy answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Yes, no doubt about it.”
To the researchers, nothing was more important than their research and experiments. They had given up their families, their happiness, and their ordinary lives to come here to find a solution to the zombie virus. To the researchers, insufficient power to the laboratory was equivalent to death.
The commander’s expression grew troubled.
“Tell me, why in the world do you need all this power for?”
“It’s for the centrifuge.”
“Centrifuge?”
“It’s a machine that rapidly rotates the blood samples so as to separate the various components in the blood. We’re identifying the characteristics of the zombie virus and conducting antibody research accordingly.”
“...”
“But, if we can’t use centrifuges, there’s no way we can conduct our research. It’d probably be better for me—and for everyone else—to go back home to our families and peacefully await death.”
The commander stayed silent, and the tense silence stretched out.
The two were at an impasse. The military commander valued the safety of his men first and foremost, while the research director valued the antibody research more than his own life.
"Oh? Oh, oh! Ohhhh!!”
Just then, a man in the corner of the laboratory started cheering. His sudden exclamation drew the eyes of everyone in the laboratory.
The man’s bald head shone as it reflected the bright light of the laboratory. He was peering into a microscope and cheering. The other researchers frowned at him and started murmuring amongst themselves.
“That madman…”
“Here we go again.”
“This is, what, his hundredth time or something? I can’t even remember. Who in the world brought him here?”
“He came with Tommy from Europe.”
“From the French laboratory? The one that disappeared a month ago?”
“Yeah. He said his wife died during their attempted escape. I bet that’s why he’s gone crazy.”
The commander, having eavesdropped on the conversation between the researchers, turned to Tommy.
“What is his name?” he asked.
“That’s Alyosha…. He escaped from the French laboratory with me.”
“Alyosha… Judging by his name, is he Russian?”
"Yes."
"I haven't heard anything about madmen here. What the researchers are saying… Is it true?”
“...”
Tommy hesitated, staring bitterly at Alyosha’s back. Oblivious to the concern around him, Alyosha was looking through the microscope and flapping his arms like a bird.
At one point, he used to be known as a genius who only came around once every hundred years. But after he’d witnessed his wife being eaten alive by zombies in the French laboratory, he was never the same. Even while he slept, he would give briefings about his research results. He was now a madman with a singular obsession to solve the zombie virus, and he was so immersed in his research that there were times he would not go to the restroom to relieve himself, but do it on the spot instead.
Because of this, no one would talk to Alyosha except for Tommy.
Tommy gave the commander a small bow and went over to Alyosha.
“Alyosha, did you get any exciting results this time? Some results we can look forward to?”
“Ohh, my best friend Tommy! Look at this! Look at how cute this zombie blood is!”
"What?"
“Each virus has its own will, and is unique. That’s why people can walk even when their hearts stop beating! The virus first takes over their brain, then spreads throughout the body.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying that the viruses can manipulate humans like parasites? With their own will and thoughts?”
“Yes, yes, they’re quite amazing. Their movements are active, and they can cause the largest reactions with the smallest of stimuli.”
Alosha beamed as he extolled the wonders of the zombie virus.
Tommy grimaced.
“Alyosha, have you forgotten the purpose of our research?” he asked.
"Huh? Isn't it the eradication of the virus?”
“But you’re now saying that the viruses are cute.”
“Why… Why… They can be cute, no? Cute is cute, and eradicating is eradicating. Those are two different things.”
“...”
Tommy sighed and gently massaged his temples. Alyosha smiled like a little child and went back to his microscope, muttering to himself.
“And now, how do I kill these cute guys painfully?”
Tommy smacked his lips and gave the commander a sidelong look. The commander heaved a deep sigh.
“We need to produce antibodies within a month. One month from now. We can’t hold on any longer. This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision; it’s because of the power supply.”
“Commander!” Tommy exclaimed.
“The future of this institute depends on you folks,” replied the commander in a serious tone. “No—the future of humanity is in your hands. Keep that in mind. You have one month.”
“...”
Tommy closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fists.
It had only taken six months for the zombie virus to flip the world upside down. In contrast, vaccine development was very slow, and the results of their experiments so far had been utterly fruitless.
Tommy opened his closed eyes and glared at the commander.
‘There’s no fuel here to fly to Canada. If this place disappears, he’ll probably go to Korea. It’s impossible to know how the virus could have mutated in a place like Korea, where the four seasons are clearly distinct.’
There was no way that the commander could know what Tommy was thinking, and even if Tommy tried to explain it to him, he would likely not comprehend. In fact, he might not bother to listen properly in the first place, because the only thing the commander cared about was his men and the power supply.
Tommy scratched his head, his expression turning sour.
'Korea… No one can predict what kind of living hell they’re in right now.’
The Korean Brain Research Institute was located in Daegu, in the southeast region of Korea, and Tommy hadn’t heard back from them for three days.
There wasn’t enough fuel to fly to Canada, and there was no guarantee that Korea was safe. And if the Russian research institute closed... There would be no future in Asia and Europe.
* * *
Two days had passed since I’d begun reinforcing the strength of my underlings. I was sitting on the floor, gently massaging my temples. My mind felt hazy, and the headaches that I’d not experienced in a while were threatening to overwhelm me.
Long story short, I’d been able to transform my force of two thousand regular underlings into forty stage-one mutants.
With my current abilities, I was capable of controlling two thousand two hundred and fifty regular underlings. But since stage-one mutants counted as fifty ordinary zombies, I could have a total of forty-five of them.
I already had four stage-one mutants and one stage-two mutant in my mutant unit. Now, I had forty stage-one mutants in place of the two thousand ordinary zombies I used to have.
I had successfully turned all my underlings into mutants. And I knew that they would be an overwhelming force if they all attacked at once.
I couldn’t help but feel excited.
Of course, the two-day process had been by no means easy. In order to become a mutant, my underlings had attacked each other, and the original two thousand underlings had only yielded thirty stage-one mutants. In order to quickly replace my missing underlings, I retrieved the zombies from my zombie prison.
I ordered the jailer zombies to help me transport the zombies over, after which, I went through the tedious process of converting them. I had no clue how many underlings I recruited over the course of two days.
Moreover, I had to kill off any of the first-stage mutants that expressed the wrong desires without a second thought. Whenever a mutant that tried to attack a friendly zombie or a human appeared, I smashed their heads in without the slightest hesitation.
I didn’t need any underlings that could not obey my commands, or any that harbored the wrong desires.
The process took two straight days and nights, causing the Gwangjang-dong intersection to be covered in zombie bloodstains and pieces of zombie flesh.
I looked over my forty stage-one mutants.
“Starting now, I’ll group you in tens. Every ten of you will be in one squad.”
Now that I only had forty stage-one mutants, I no longer needed to separate them into different companies.
For some reason, this brought up some old memories. I remembered pushing zombies out of curiosity on the way to the high school when I first turned, and how I had recruited zombies for the first time.
It hadn’t even been a year since then, but so many eventful incidents had happened in between.
I felt different.
I took a deep breath and gave orders to my mutants, who were now separated into four squads.
“Let’s start with cleaning up this place. A fresh start needs to be kicked off by a good cleaning.”
KIAAA!!!
My zombies cried out in unison and began collecting the dead zombie bodies.
'I'll have to look for some spray paint again.’
In fact, I had no clue how much blue spray paint we had left.
I tried to look on the bright side of things. This would be the perfect opportunity to check on our supplies and head out to patrol Gwangjin-gu.
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