Life Mission

“If we had gotten involved, there would have been a struggle.”

“A struggle would have been fortunate.”

Cha Jun Sung who had been watching in hiding let out his breath. The cannibals disappeared from the goggles. They had not been picked up in the cannibals’ senses because they were far off.

“If I had fought the evil cannibal, I’m pretty sure you would have had to handle all of the cannibals.”

“That’s too much.”

Park Jin Hyuk waved the notion away. If it had been a small space like the underpass, the space he had to cover would’ve been limited and it could have worked.

A sniper was most appreciated as support, not as the main.

This was a forest. They might have been able to do something if they had already claimed their spots from a distance, but they would not last long if they approached them in this state.

If cannibals appeared from everywhere, they would die helplessly even if the heavens sent a sharpshooter down to them. They might even curse the heavens.

“It’s different from the virtual version.”

“Are you saying that reality can change at any time unlike the virtual where everything is already decided?”

Cha Jun Sung nodded.

His brain held extensive information on Life Mission. He could think of a mutant’s name, skill, and weakness just by looking at its face.

Though it was just the virtual version, he had run his blog for 10 years and had gone up to a high position – past the super rankers.

His last Evil Queen raid was still a legend.

“The mutants in the virtual version moved in a system, but the mutants in reality move on their own. The difference between an existing limit and the lack of one. This difference is creating variables that Lifers can’t expect.”

The cannibals had built certain ranks albeit barbaric. They were even putting good use to Lifers’ items that they had somehow gotten their hands on.

They had developed the learning ability to use tools and remember things they had seen. This would not have been possible in the virtual version where they followed the system.

Just as ancient people had followed the steps to become modern humans, it looked like the mutants were following the same steps.

“What are you going to do?”

“Should we give up?”

“Are you serious?”

“Joking.”

They could not give up now when this was the beginning. Cha Jun Sung looked at the ground. The cannibals had left a clear trace.

If they had used a mix of traces and hunches to come here, now they were going to follow only by looking at the floor. The military base would be where the trail ends.

***

Kuok!

The cannibals and evil cannibal went into a cave among crevices.

Is the base inside a cave? It is the best location to avoid sightings from outside. A few cannibals were standing guard at the entrance.

“Is that the only entrance?”

“That’s the worst.”

They looked all over the area, but there was only one entry into the base. If they wanted to infiltrate, they had no choice but to go where they would be seen.

“There are 2 guards.”

“We need to go closer. There’s a limit to what the goggles can pick up because of the distance.”

From 50m, there were only 2 cannibals. Since they could not just go barging in, they needed to get at least 10m from the cave to identify what was inside.

“There’s less cover as we get closer. It’s dangerous if you think of their senses.”

“Hm….. we can’t stay here.”

“Even if we kill the guards or lure them somewhere and somehow succeed in infiltrating, we don’t know how many are inside. As long as we’re checking it, let’s do it right.”

Cha Jun Sung left Park Jin Hyuk where they were and disappeared for 10 minutes before returning. They needed a simple experiment to take on the cannibals.

“Let’s go up that tree. It’s possible, right?”

“I don’t think I can do it.”

Park Jin Hyuk looked at the tree and shook his head. It was about 20m high. The support was not very sturdy either. He could not climb it with his muscular strength.

“Get on my back.”

“Huh?”

“Hurry.”

Park Jin Hyuk put all of their equipment in the space compression bag and got on his back. Cha Jun Sung felt the heavy weight and carefully went up the tree.

The two weighed over 160kg with all of their equipment. Even with the body modification, he would not have been able to climb up if his basic strength had been terrible.

“After 1 and 6 minutes, I’m going to set off a shot at 150m on either side.”

“Ah! They’ll come out in hordes.”

“If the cannibals were standing guard on a schedule, only the ones that were on duty will come out. The others won’t pay attention to it.”

The feeling of being annoyed was existent regardless of species, an emotion that all living beings have in common. Even cannibals will want to rest during their breaks.

The cannibals that come out to the noise will be the ones on duty at the time.

They had brought 8 sonic grenades to create disturbances. There were 6 left. He had set up 2 just in case because changes could happen at any time.

Wiing!

The first grenade went off. It was fine because it went off from afar, but anyone who had been in front of it would have gone deaf.

Kyak?

Kya!

The first to react were the 2 guards. As soon as they yelled in the direction of the noise, dozens of cannibals rushed out of the cave.

‘2, 5, 7, 15, 20.’

Cha Jun Sung counted their heads. There are 20 guards. 20 cannibals left the entrance and looked for the noise. No more came out.

Wiing!

After a moment, the 2nd grenade went off. The cannibals that had gone running left changed their direction and went the opposite way. The entrance remained the same.

Cha Jun Sung’s postulation had been correct. The cannibals on break did not care what was going on outside.

“Get on my back! We need to go inside!”

“Let me know your plans beforehand!”

Park Jin Hyuk frowned. Cha Jun Sung was saying they needed to go inside the cave without giving him time to get ready. His body was already getting on his back though.

Tak!

Cha Jun Sung and Park Jin Hyuk who descended as if falling infiltrated the cave. Their heart beat faster. They were experiencing fear and bliss at the same time.

Entry into the cave was linear. They could not turn around once they entered.

Papat!

“The path splits.”

“That’s blood.”

Cha Jun Sung slid his finger along the blood on the ground. It was still wet. It must be that of the party members that had been dragged away by the cannibals.

“We’re going down the middle.”

“I think my heart is going to burst.”

They chose the middle of the 3 paths. It would all be the same because they were all new places, but probability told them to go through the middle.

As they went further inside, the more it went from a dank cave to a military base. Nothing could be done about the west of time, but the structure itself became more complex.

“Since it’s a large place, let’s look for a place to hide first.”

“Sure.”

It was a place where 1500 soldiers used to work. If it had been created for daily life, there would have been a lot of separate spaces for rooms or warehouses.

They said it had become a lair for cannibals, but an empty place would come out if they searched for it.