Chapter 9: The Unknown Threat
In the cafeteria, the sky had just begun to lighten.
The aroma of food was already drifting out of the simple kitchen.
was humming an off-key tune, sprinkling a pinch of salt into a pot of meat porridge.
“Food’s ready!”
His voice broke the quiet of the early morning.
Breakfast was simple: meat porridge with compressed biscuits.
But the steaming food still lifted the mood of the four people seated around the table.
Unfortunately, had to shatter their relaxed atmosphere.
[Good morning, everyone.]
[Unfortunately, I have some bad news to tell you. Something happened last night.]
’s voice came out of the speakers on the wall-mounted display, with a clear electronic-synthesizer quality.
Then he called up the thermal imaging footage that Sentry One had captured the night before.
A blurry, flame-like spider silhouette sat quietly in the surveillance blind spot on the outer wall.
’s mouthful of biscuit stopped mid-chew, his eyes going wide.
“What the hell...? What is that thing? A mutated giant spider? That temperature has to be several hundred degrees, right? How does it do that?”
“It didn’t try to enter the plant area,” continued. “Around four in the morning, it left. The heat signal disappeared into the forest on the eastern side.”
’s expression suddenly became extremely serious. He put down his spoon and looked back and forth between the screen and the map.
“How big is it approximately?”
[Based on the heat radiation range and the wall’s proportions, with its limbs spread out, the diameter might exceed three meters.]
Three meters.
That number chilled the air in the cafeteria.
For a moment, everyone felt a bit lucky that the power station’s outer wall was tall enough. Otherwise, it could just stretch out a leg and step inside.
“How is that possible?” ’s face paled slightly, and she once again wore a look of utter despair. “If its body temperature is above the boiling point of water, what’s flowing through its body? Lava?”
“That’s too absurd! What kind of enzyme could stay active at that high a temperature?”
She couldn’t help grabbing at her hair, messing up the hair she had only just finished combing.
“God, what kind of world am I living in!”
“Shouldn’t we raise the outer wall even higher?” tightened her grip on her spoon, her voice a little strained. “Will that thing come back?”
[I don’t know.]
’s answer was honest. It was also what worried him the most.
“No matter what, we need to be more vigilant,” shook his head. “ , you and I will be in charge of a second inspection of the outer patrol routes.”
“Also,” he looked at the screen, “we’d better dispose of those bodies as soon as possible. The smell of blood might attract more unnecessary trouble.”
[I was thinking the same thing.]
After breakfast, the cleanup work began immediately.
There were over three hundred bodies, including the station’s engineers, security guards, cooks, and administrative staff.
Those who hadn’t had a chance to escape were now being carried one by one by and to a truck.
They would send them out of the station first and worry about the rest later.
and worked behind them, coordinating with the and taking charge of cleaning and disinfection.
Carrying diluted disinfectant, they used mops and brushes to scrub the dark, dried bloodstains from the floors and walls again and again.
The two kept their attention completely on their mops, trying hard not to think about where the filth came from.
Meanwhile, was both controlling the and watching over the situation inside his own “body” through the surveillance and broadcast system.
He directed the to handle the corners while making sure the cleaning areas had lighting and ventilation.
And so, the entire nuclear power station gradually became cleaner.
In addition, was still operating “Sentry One.”
“Whirr—”
Four metal limbs stepped forward in steady, rhythmic strides as it walked through the empty corridor.
The camera rotated 360 degrees, feeding every image into ’s perception in real time.
To him, who couldn’t move at all right now, this feeling was extremely interesting.
He was like a child who had just gotten a new toy, controlling Sentry One to “stroll” around his “body.”
He wandered from the dormitory building in all the way to the in , and then to the door of a spare warehouse in .
The lighting system here had failed, and there were no surveillance devices, so even didn’t know much about it.
But according to the power station’s records, this should be an old warehouse used to temporarily store spare parts, and it was empty most of the time.
There probably wasn’t any danger.
Since he was here anyway, thought he might as well go inside and take a look.
So he controlled Sentry One and walked into the deep darkness.
“Click... click... click...”
The sound of metal limbs striking the floor echoed through the dead-silent warehouse, unusually clear.
The spherical camera on Sentry One’s head lit up with a high-intensity searchlight, and a beam of bright white light cut through the darkness.
As the light swept across, dusty shelves, a fallen toolbox, and mottled marks on the walls appeared one by one.
Just as Sentry One turned around a shelf, another flashlight beam came out of nowhere from a dark corner, shining directly on it.
At the same time, a stifled gasp sounded in the darkness.
“Who?!”
It was ’s voice.
wasn’t surprised. After and had dealt with the bodies, they had also begun splitting up to inspect these areas that hadn’t been attended to before.
He immediately turned down the searchlight’s brightness and blinked it twice.
“ ?” ’s steady voice came, as he walked out from behind a container, gun in hand but with the muzzle already lowered.
followed behind him, patting his chest, still looking shaken.
“Damn, Boss , how come you don’t make any sound when you walk?”
[I don’t make any sound when I walk?]