booktalesy Chapter 043 Are we really going to use nuclear peace?
Chapter 043 Are we really going to use nuclear peace?
"Squeak squeak squeak—"
A sickening grinding sound echoed through the ventilation ducts of the entire underground fortification.
That was the sound of bones rubbing against metal, and claws tearing through iron.
Sato Masayoshi stiffly turned his neck to look at the huge ventilation duct opening above his head.
The dust net is vibrating.
No, it's not vibration, it's bulging.
It looked like something was about to burst inside.
"Quick! Block the vents!"
The security captain was the first to react, raising his automatic rifle and firing a burst at the ceiling.
Da da da!
Flames spewed out, and sparks flew from the ventilation ducts.
A few drops of dark red liquid dripped from the bullet hole and onto the cement floor.
A pungent, fishy smell wafted over.
next second.
Clang!
A crisp sound.
The metal mesh cover of the exhaust fan was blown away by a terrifying force.
Immediately afterwards, one after another, bare, gray-black figures emerged from the ventilation duct.
One, two...
In an instant, a dense, overwhelming flood poured down like a dam bursting!
Each one is the size of a house cat, covered in fleshy growths, and has mutated rats with scarlet eyes!
They have no skin, their dark red muscles are exposed, and their long tails are like whips, waving wildly in the air.
"ah!!!"
The two technicians standing below the ventilation shaft were instantly engulfed by the black torrent before they could even think of escaping.
Even the screams lasted only half a second.
A swarm of black rats swept past, leaving only two stark white skeletons on the ground. Their clothes, belts, and even shoes were completely devoured.
The scene was absolutely horrifying!
"Fire! Fire now!"
Da da da—
The elite special forces soldiers responsible for security frantically pulled the trigger.
If they were to fight humans, they would be absolutely capable of taking on ten opponents at once.
But now, their opponent is thousands upon thousands of rats.
Bullets hitting the rats only splattered a few drops of blood, doing nothing to stop the black tide.
A mutated rat suddenly leaped up and bit a soldier's wrist, its sharp teeth severing the tendon instantly.
The rifle landed on the ground.
Before the soldier could even scream, a dozen rats swarmed over him and crawled into the gaps in his trousers and bulletproof vest.
Just a few seconds.
A human-shaped bulge writhed wildly on the ground, its screams growing muffled and piercing before fading into deathly silence, leaving only a clean, white skeleton, not even the toes inside the military boots were left.
"Run! Escort His Excellency the Prime Minister to safety!"
The guard captain kicked away two rats that pounced on him, brandishing a tactical dagger as he desperately fought his way through the horde of rats.
The entire underground command center was in complete chaos.
The officials who were just moments ago sanctimoniously criticizing the US for disregarding human rights during a live broadcast are now shoving and jostling each other for escape routes, with some even pulling out handguns and firing at colleagues who are blocking their way.
"I am the Minister of Finance! Let me go first!"
Sato was terrified and was jostled about in the crowd.
"Prime Minister! This way!"
He was held up by the arms by two strong bodyguards, his feet off the ground, and he ran wildly toward the emergency escape route like a rag doll.
"Don't leave me! I'm a minister!!"
Behind him, the Minister of Defense, his face covered in blood, desperately reached out, trying to grab Sato's trouser leg.
Sato glanced back.
The Minister of Defense was covered by a dense swarm of rats, which looked as if they were gnawing on a giant piece of cheese.
"Baka! Get out of here!"
Sato unleashed all his strength, kicking the Minister of Defense in the face, and using the recoil, he tumbled and crawled into the stairwell next to the escape elevator shaft.
Until the heavy fire door slammed shut.
It isolates you from those tooth-grinding chewing sounds and screams.
He finally let out a long breath, still shaken...
……
The night was deep, and the firelight illuminated half of Tokyo's sky.
A dozen minutes later...
Sato and his group emerged disheveled from the emergency exit disguised as a rockery.
When they entered, there were hundreds of elite guards and the entire cabinet's top officials.
When they came out, only Sato and fewer than twenty bodyguards remained, all of whom were wounded and out of ammunition and supplies.
"I...I survived..."
Although the losses were heavy, at least the dog's life was saved!
But what to do next...?
Sato slumped on the gravel-strewn ground, panting heavily, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
He looked up at the sky with a blank expression.
There are no stars.
Only a few drones with flashing navigation lights hovered overhead.
"It's an American drone!"
One of the bodyguards looked excited. Although the US had spoken ruthlessly, he believed that the other side would definitely not stand idly by.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Americans must still think we're useful, that our island nation still has value, and that's why they've come to pick us up!"
Upon hearing this, a glimmer of hope ignited in Sato's eyes.
He still clung to a sliver of hope.
Even if the phone was hung up on, even if the whole world abandoned me.
But his deep-seated dependence on his "father country" still made him subconsciously feel that his American father wouldn't really watch him die.
"Help! Here! It's me, Sato!"
Sato staggered to his feet, waving his tattered suit jacket.
however.
High in the sky.
The United States Global Operations Command Center.
A colonel looked at the thermal images transmitted back by the drone.
In the image, next to the red dot representing Sato, at the location of the underground exit, there are large, densely packed small red dots surging about, indicating an extremely intense heat source reaction.
"Sir, the mutated rat swarm has breached the underground defenses and is spreading to the surface."
The colonel nodded, his tone icy:
"According to the containment agreement, once a high-risk biological spillover occurs within the quarantine zone..."
He paused for a moment, then continued.
"The purification procedure can be executed immediately without consulting superiors."
"But sir, that base might have the prime minister of Japan."
The operator hesitated for a moment.
"There are no prime ministers now, only virus carriers."
The colonel's face was indifferent.
"Our mission is to protect the safety of all humanity and to contain the spread of this disastrous virus!"
……
With the colonel's words,
Two F-35 fighter jets, which had been circling and waiting over the base, suddenly opened their bomb bays.
It did not dive.
There were no fancy maneuvers or stunts either.
Only a few precision-guided bombs, trailing a deathly whistle, flew straight toward their target.
on the ground.
Sato, who was waving for help, froze when he saw this.
As a politician, he may not understand military affairs, but he understands that kind of voice.
"No...no!!!"
As he screamed, missiles flew one after another, precisely penetrating the ventilation shaft beside him.
Followed by.
A muffled explosion came from deep underground.
The earth trembled and wailed.
Visibly, the originally flat ground bulged up like waves and then collapsed.
Immediately afterwards, hundreds of ventilation vents simultaneously spewed out columns of fire tens of meters high!
That was the spectacular sight of the high-temperature gas being forcibly squeezed out after the thermobaric bomb detonated underground.
"puff--"
A huge blast of air erupted from the exit behind them, sending Sato and his two bodyguards flying more than ten meters away. The group rolled away like rag dolls.
Sato felt that at least three of his ribs were broken.
But he is still alive.
He lay on the ground, staring at the base entrance, which had been blown into a crater a few hundred meters away, completely dumbfounded.
……
"Tsk tsk tsk, that's really pathetic."
Above the smoke of battle, Lin Fan, who had just arrived, quickly began to absorb the surrounding resentment and death energy.
Especially that old man Sato, although he didn't die, the negative emotions he provided were of an uncanny purity, practically a top-grade tonic.
"Is this all there is to being a national leader?"
As he was absorbing the energy, Lin Fan suddenly felt that pulling sensation, as if his body was about to be reconstructed, return.
Damn it!
Can't we just have a proper game?
Lin Fan stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping over the scattered limbs and the bodies of the elite Japanese soldiers who had been blown to pieces.
These soldiers were all well-equipped and in good physical condition during their lives, so it's a bit of a waste to just kill them like this.
Since resurrection is imminent, let's have one last big one before it happens?
Without hesitation, Lin Fan immediately poured all the energy he had just absorbed downwards.
In an instant, a dark green energy rain fell from a radius of nearly fifty meters around him, bathing the mutilated corpses on the ground in it.
sizzle-
As the energy rain poured in, the corpses on the ground began to change.
The corpses that had been blown apart suddenly began to convulse violently.
Skeletal remodeling, muscle expansion.
The body of an infantryman, half of whose body had been blown off, suddenly sprang up from the ground.
From within his fractured chest cavity, countless black tentacles surged forth, forcibly drawing the scattered, shoulder-fired poison darts into his body, fusing them with his flesh and blood.
The skin hardened and turned a leathery blackish-gray.
The original head was gone, replaced by a fleshy ball with only teeth and a huge single eye.
On his right shoulder, a missile launcher had somehow fused with his flesh and become part of his body!
Not just him.
Amidst the ruins, seven or eight equally terrifying monsters staggered to their feet.
Each one wields, or rather, "grows" heavy weapons.
at the same time.
The mutated rat remains that were blown away underwent even more distorted mutations under the catalysis of this energy.
They merged together, growing fleshy, membranous wings, and their tails transformed into bony whips with sharp spikes...
……
10,000 meters above the ground.
An E-2 early warning aircraft belonging to the US Seventh Fleet is conducting a patrol mission.
On the radar screen, most of the red dots representing the ground have disappeared.
"Target cleared, only a few signs of life remain."
The radar operator yawned, picked up his coffee, and took a sip.
"This job is really easy, just like playing a video game."
"Yes, it's a pity we can't go down and loot the spoils. I heard there are quite a few good ones in that base..."
Before the passenger could finish speaking, it suddenly felt like he was being choked.
All that could be seen on the radar screen was...
In that area of ruins that had already become desolate.
Suddenly, several glaring red dots appeared.
Followed by.
The red dot turned into a red line and was rapidly ascending into the sky at an incredible speed!
"What is that...?"
Beep beep beep—!!!
Shocked, the piercing missile lock-on alarm blared throughout the cabin.
"It's a missile! Take evasive action! Take evasive action now!"
The pilot panicked and frantically pulled on the control stick.
But those missiles seemed to have eyes, even making several bizarre turns in the air that defied aerodynamics, and locked onto the fuselage of the early warning aircraft.
boom!
A huge fireball burst open in the night sky.
Amidst the dazzling flames, a chilling roar erupted from the ruins below.
Seven or eight terrifying giants, each over three meters tall and carrying heavy weapons on their shoulders, stepped out of the sea of fire, treading on the still-burning wreckage.
They looked up at the sky, their single eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty red light.
And on their heads.
Accompanied by the sound of wind breaking,
Dozens of dragon-like monsters with wingspans exceeding five meters, emitting sharp hisses, swooped down towards the center of Tokyo like a formation of bombers.
This moment.
It's not just the land of cherry blossoms.
Even at the Pentagon, far across the ocean in the United States, everyone's smiles froze on their faces as they watched the images transmitted back by satellite.
What... exactly is this virus?
How could these creatures evolve so quickly?
Do we really have to use nuclear peace to stop it?