Chapter 19
After writing Experiment Log #2.
Just as I was about to throw all of the anomaly's internal organs out the front door to check the durability of its skin..
“..Huh?”
Inside the anomaly's stomach..
…
“...”
It had already been three days since I came here.
In other words.. it had already been about forty hours since I had eaten a proper meal here, but.
Because of what I had seen the day before, I wasn't in any condition to swallow anything, no matter what I ate.
“..This fucking sucks.”
This clearly wasn't Earth.
Perhaps because the status window provided a translation, I could read what they had written, but the language they used was definitely not Korean,
nor was it English, Japanese, Chinese, or Russian.
This clearly wasn't Earth.
If this really was an underground tunnel, there would be no reason for the building not to have windows.
And even if this place was an underground tunnel, no construction company would build a building with an elevator but no emergency stairs.
This clearly wasn't Earth.
Wasn't the fact that part of the melted apartment had restored itself proof enough that this made no sense?
On top of that, this place was filled with unidentified canned food I had never seen even once in my life.. How could it possibly be Earth?
Yeah.. This definitely, definitely.. wasn't Earth, but..
“Haaaaah..”
Why.. was the fetus inside the six-legged anomaly's stomach the day before.. so eerily similar to a human fetus?
“Fuck...”
The cruel reality brought me to my senses.
Since it was safe as long as I stayed inside the house, I had thought I would make something like armor here and go outside,
then exterminate the anomalies that died from nothing more than a spray of insecticide!
‘I've never seen a more complete fucking idiot than me.’
This wasn't Earth, but.. the people who had been attacked were humans exactly like me.
This wasn't Earth, but.. humanity had lost to those simple, mindless anomalies.
Do you really think it made sense for humanity, with all its advanced scientific technology, to lose to such simple life-forms?
To anomalies that would die from nothing more than a single spray of insecticide?
‘How did I ever come up with such a brave idea.. without even knowing what kind of anomalies were out there..?’
There were clearly many more anomalies here.. ones I didn't even know about.
Unlike the anomalies that came here after merely smelling the Melting Shampoo, there had to be another anomaly that had driven the humans of this world to extinction.
‘I absolutely must not go outside.’
It was a relief that I had come to my senses, even if only now.
I was truly grateful to the people who had given me information, and terribly sorry to them, but..
Don't the living have to keep living?
I understood the will of those who wanted to live, but.. how could I save people who had already been infected?
Even if I went outside, the only thing I could do with my own hands would be to kill them myself.
‘I'll just rest.’
Just when I was about to spend the whole day idling around on the community to calm my mind and enjoy a peaceful day.
--
Mentality : 101 / 103
[Available Return Count] : 1
[Available Crafting Attempts] : 2
Input:
--
‘Hmm? ..When did it increase?’
I could see that the status window's available crafting attempts had increased to two.
‘..Does it increase when I sleep and wake up?’
Looking at it, I became a little curious whether the number increased by one after every night,
or whether it increased only after I got a good night's sleep and woke up.
‘I have nothing else to do anyway. I might as well sleep.’
Since I no longer had any intention of going outside and had nothing else to do,
I lay down on the floor just like that and began relaxing the tension throughout my body as I closed my eyes.
…
After sleeping soundly and waking up, roughly nine more hours had passed, and it was now 9 p.m.
--
Mentality : 103 / 103
[Available Return Count] : 1
[Available Crafting Attempts] : 3
Input:
--
And sure enough.. since I could see that the available crafting attempts had increased from two to three,
perhaps sleeping soundly and waking up really was the condition.
‘Oh?’
I realized that there was no need to worry and deliberate so much before crafting an item.
‘I guess I don't have to be quite as careful about crafting items as I thought.’
When I first saw the Available Crafting Attempts button, I had assumed that, like the Return button, increasing the number would be extremely difficult.
But if it simply refilled when I slept and woke up, there was no reason to hesitate over crafting.
I had just woken up, and my body felt languid as I walked to the front door.
I picked up the anomaly's corpse, from which I had removed all its organs the day before and left outside the front door, then pressed the Craft button.
‘It disappeared.’
Just as when I had shoved the teeth of the blue Anonymous 10 anomaly into it, the anomaly's corpse that had been in my hands disappeared,
--
[■] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
--
This time, too, I could see that an item had been properly placed in the IY section.
‘It looks kind of like an inventory.’
Looking at it, I wondered whether the space called IY was like an inventory..
‘..An inventory?’
What?
Is this really an inventory?
“..No way.”
At the sudden word that came to mind, I tentatively brought the awl in my hand to the status window with IY displayed.
--
[■] [■] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
--
‘It really is..’
The awl in my hand disappeared, and the empty second slot in IY changed into a filled square.
‘This is.. really useful.’
Now that I knew IY really was an inventory, I felt a small surge of happiness at the fact that I wouldn't have to carry heavy objects around anymore,
and that I could take a few useful-looking things from this place with me before returning.
For now, I decided to check the item that had just been made from the six-legged anomaly's body.
--
[Protective Gear Made from Flesh]
This is protective gear made from flesh.
It raises the user's maximum Mentality by 20.
--
‘Wow.. It raises it by 20??’
The protective gear made from flesh supposedly raised Mentality by a whopping 20.
‘..Does Mentality increase depending on how much of the anomaly was used?’
Reading the description.. it seemed that the amount of Mentality an item provided depended on how much of the anomaly had gone into making it.
‘I can just check and see.’
To test whether my hypothesis was correct, I immediately took off the leather armor I was wearing,
then pressed the Craft button once again with the somewhat ominous-looking flesh protective gear in my inventory.
--
[Protective Gear Made from Flesh, Leather, and Metal Plates]
This is protective gear made from flesh, leather, and metal plates.
It raises the user's maximum Mentality by 20.
--
I could tell that my hypothesis had been correct.
In other words..
‘I might need quite a lot of anomaly corpses.’
It meant I absolutely needed the corpses of anomalies to craft items.
‘Sss.. Should I go hunting with the Melting Shampoo again tonight..?’
Since all those anomalies would die tomorrow anyway,
I found myself thinking that I should go hunting now, to turn some of them into item materials.
‘Whoa.. I shouldn't act without thinking. I should wash up and take my time considering this.’
Although I was overflowing with confidence, having carried out the same act before,
having seen the anomalies actually enter the house reminded me that I needed to make a thoroughly meticulous plan.
Remembering that I hadn't properly washed for several days, I decided to boil some water and think things over while taking a shower-
Shaaak-
“?”
I turned on the faucet.
Since I had always had to go through several steps before drinking the water,
I turned on the faucet, intending to put the water for washing through the same process..
Gurgle gurgle..
The water falling from the faucet, which should clearly have been pouring out in a transparent stream,
was in the process of forming semitransparent bubbles.
‘..What? Why is it doing this?’
As if..
‘What.. ..is this? Why is it doing this?’
Beep-
“?”
as though shampoo foam were forming.
Beep- beep-
“..!!”
The moment I heard the sudden sound of a password being entered, all the pieces fell into place.
The anomalies had realized that they would starve to death tomorrow.. which meant they had mixed Melting Shampoo into the water I was supposed to drink..!”
‘Fucking hell..!’
I immediately ran toward the insecticide sitting on the living-room table.
I was in a situation where I had absolutely no time to think.
Beep- creak-!
The instant the password had been fully entered, I grabbed the insecticide as the house door flew open with a violent sound.
‘Status window..!’
As I turned around, I activated the status window and placed my hand over the Return button.
“!!!!”
I saw countless six-legged anomalies rushing toward the sink in the kitchen where the water had been turned on, crawling along as they went.
‘Waaah.. Fuck..’
Fortunately, perhaps because they had no eyes..
The anomalies showed not the slightest interest in me, even though one of them was clearly facing me.
It seemed those anomalies tracked their prey using only smell.
'I almost died.’
While calming my heart, which was pounding like mad, as much as possible, I held the insecticide in my hand
and hid behind the sofa with all its leather stripped off, slowly taking stock of the situation..
‘..Huh?’
Looking at the inside of the house, where roughly seven anomalies had entered, I sensed that something was strange.
Because..
‘..Why aren't they coming into the living room at all?’
Those anomalies were clearly aware that there was more space here, and yet..
Apart from the path leading straight from the front door to the kitchen.. they couldn't move anywhere else.
As if..
‘..Could it be that they can only move within the area touched by the Melting Shampoo..?’
As though they couldn't move into any area the Melting Shampoo had never touched.
Of course..
Shaaak-
If those things really couldn't move into places the Melting Shampoo hadn't touched..
Shaaak-
Judging by the water flowing around the sink, which was already beginning to fill up..
In a few minutes at most, the water mixed with shampoo would flow into the living room.. and the anomalies would definitely crawl all the way to where I was hiding.
Whoosh- whoosh-
I began grabbing whatever objects I could reach and throwing them at the faucet where the water was flowing out.
‘Hit it already..!’
But..
No matter how hard I tried throwing things, it was extremely difficult to hit that small faucet by repeatedly throwing objects of inconsistent weights.
‘Come on..! Please..!’
The moment I ran out of things to throw and was about to press the Return button,
when the water that had already flowed across the floor reached nearly halfway across the living room.
Thunk!
Fortunately, the flowerpot I threw on the sixth try hit the upper part of the faucet, and the faucet that had been gushing water stopped completely.
‘Nice!!! Whew..! I really thought I was going to die..!’
Tap-tap-tap-tap-
The six-legged anomalies approached the area of the living-room floor touched by the water, making a strange sound.
However, they really did show that they couldn't enter places the Melting Shampoo hadn't touched.
It was time..
‘Phew..’
for the positions of hunter and prey to be reversed.
‘I'll turn every last one of you into protective gear and personally put you to use, you goddamn bugs.’
Ah, right, I should at least write a post.
--
[.]
(Photo)
Busy, can't write a long post. I'll be back.
[Comments - 5]
Anonymous 1 : Return, Return, you crazy bastard! Press Return!
Anonymous 2 : Press Return, you idiot, f-fucking hurry..;
Anonymous 3 : They crawled inside the house..?
Anonymous 4 : Don't fight; press Return, ah, please.. Please.. Please.. Please..
Anonymous 5 : Please don't joke around; come back, newbie, please ㅠㅠ
Anonymous 6 : Waaah.. You're way too macho, seriously; it's almost too much to handle, Daebung..;
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