Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 70: City of Death

At the city's border, beyond the concrete walls and barbed wire meant to keep monsters at bay, lies a world untouched by human hands.

Cracked and broken asphalt and cement, moss-covered buildings, the remains of collapsed structures, and rusted vehicles.

In these ruins, relics of the time before the monsters appeared, wild animals and monsters have established a new ecosystem.

A restricted zone, land stolen by the monsters.

A place where it doesn't matter how much you destroy.

“Peeek?”

I incinerated all the insect monsters that had followed me from W-City.

After that, bird-type monsters drawn by the scent of the corpses swarmed toward me.

When I tore apart one of the flocks, the surrounding monsters, mistaking me for a weaker monster, scattered and flew away in a frenzy.

Is it because of the lingering human scent on my body?

Even after that, the monsters of the restricted zone kept appearing before me.

Especially prominent were birds, but there were also beasts like weasels, boars, and deer-shaped monsters.

“Beek!”

“Kuiik!”

“Weooook!”

I devoured the Disaster-Class, Shattering-Class monsters as a single meal, absorbing abilities that seemed relatively useless.

Wind Blades, Flexibility, Super Strength, Sonic Boom — abilities like these.

As I continued to hunt down the monsters that came my way, the human scent on me was washed away by the stench of monster blood.

The stench of corpses was enough to drive away the weaker monsters without me needing to activate my core.

And it also drew in stronger monsters.

“Uooooong!”

A Disaster-Class bear monster. Its ability was Storm.

The beast, about the size of a large truck, charged at me, stirring up a massive vortex around it.

Several rusted, dilapidated cars were swept up and tossed into the air, and the storm descended upon me.

Not worth dealing with.

Piiing.

In the sliver of space sliced apart, the bear monster’s head fell silently to the ground.

For a mere Disaster-Class, it had neither the resistance nor the regenerative power to withstand my abilities.

“Furururur...”

As I was eating the bear meat, a stag appeared, shrouded in an eerie aura.

The thing tried to trap me in a labyrinth of illusions, telekinesis, and mist.

It seemed to be the type of monster that makes its prey wander in hallucinations until they collapse and then devours them.

If left alone, it would likely become a Despair-Class monster.

My resistance to sensory-confusing abilities was high, so I pretended to be disoriented and closed in, biting down on its neck in one swift motion.

It smells less than bear meat. Tastes better.

Now that even the stench of Disaster-Class monster blood was emanating from me, the number of monsters approaching me drastically decreased.

While trudging toward D-City, I came across a stream and stopped to quench my thirst.

Then, shaaaak!

From beneath the water, fish monsters with the ability to manipulate currents bombarded me with water bullets.

They were Killing-Class monsters. Since scent doesn’t travel underwater, they seemed to have mistaken me, with my core silenced, for an exceptionally large prey.

Pazizik!

A shock of electricity spread from the tips of my toes, causing all the fish to flip belly-up and float to the surface.

I picked up some of the fish with telekinesis for a snack and resumed walking.

As I did, a memory from my time as a human drifted through my mind.

If you kept walking along this trail, you’d reach a park.

A park where people often came to play with their dogs, tossing frisbees and whatnot.

“Grrr...”

“Woof! Woof!”

Upon reaching the park, a pack of dog monsters appeared.

Most of them were Shattering-Class, with the alpha being Disaster-Class.

These pack hunters used strategies and tactics like humans, even daring to attack monsters stronger than themselves.

“Wooooo!”

“Awooooo!”

With the alpha’s howl, the entire pack used their telekinesis abilities in unison, amplifying their power through resonance.

The stream water surged and boiled, while a powerful telekinetic shockwave overturned the ground around me.

Growing tired of the monster hunt, I yawned as I decapitated the alpha in one swift motion.

“Kiiiing!”

“Yelp! Yelp!”

Amidst the fleeing dog monsters, I picked up the corpse of the former alpha.

A dog collar, buried beneath its fur, slipped from its neck.

A collar I remembered.

Much like the bracelet on my wrist, it seemed to be a precious item the creature had considered a part of itself before succumbing to monstrosity.

After finishing off the fish, I tore into the dog meat and resumed walking toward D-City.

There was a reason I chose to walk instead of flying.

One reason was to clean up the monsters around W-City before leaving for a while.

The other was to deceive the insect monster leader.

Just as Gu Seoryong had warned, charging into a monster nest already prepared for intruders was a reckless move.

Thus, I avoided the sky, hiding my approach until the very last moment.

That way, my chances of a successful hunt would increase, and even if the parasite host attempted to escape, I’d be in position to stop it.

How long had I been walking?

The scent of the city drew closer.

The stench of countless monster corpses, mingled with the scent of a fresh meal, lured more monsters toward the source.

I could sense D-City was not far off when something both familiar and strange came into view.

Human corpses — no, skeletal remains.

I’d seen plenty of bones before, but this was the first time I’d seen human bones so cleanly stripped of flesh.

The clean bones, clearly gnawed on by small monsters, still wore intact clothing, meaning the person hadn’t been dead for long.

Sensing something inside the pockets, I shifted to human form and retrieved the contents.

A small notebook bearing a hero’s insignia and a tiny pen.

The blood-soaked front pages were too stuck together to open, but from the middle, where a plastic bookmark had blocked the blood, the pages opened easily.

[Of the heroes, only five of us remain uninfected, including myself. I don’t want to believe it. The only S-Class hero in D-City has already fallen into the hands of the Monster Cult.] freēwēbηovel.c૦m

[Of the heroes still in their right mind, there are five of us. On that day, we didn’t attend the festival hosted by the Monster Cult under the guise of a patrol. We avoided their feast, their sick initiation rituals.]

[It was too late by the time we noticed something was wrong.]

[It feels like we’re trapped in some old zombie movie.]

[Except, unlike zombies, these creatures are fully conscious, retaining all their memories from when they were alive.]

The handwriting, shaky and uneven, clearly written in a panic.

The notebook’s owner was a hero from D-City.

Sensing that it might reveal more about D-City’s situation, I continued to read.

[Now that I think about it, the communication lines in D-City were severed by the monsters as part of their plan.]

[Every electronic report in D-City now requires top-level clearance to upload to the archive.]

[Same goes for communications. We can’t even use the intranet within D-City.]

[Getting word out about the current situation is impossible.]

[After the lines were cut, they said a «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» new password was needed to access the reconnected network. But none of us know it.]

[When I asked a comrade who was already infected, he said, ‘How can you not know?’ but wouldn’t tell me.]

[He suspected me.]

[I killed him. Now, I’m safe again.]

[I think I’m going insane... Maybe it would be better if I really were insane.]

[Connecting to the internet is still impossible. If only we could connect, we could call for reinforcements.]

[The Monster Cult knows how to access the new network.]

[In the end, Heesoo said she would try to find the password and left for the Monster Cult.]

[She said if she felt herself being brainwashed, she’d bite down on a poison capsule she was carrying.]

[Heesoo’s life signal has gone silent.]

After reading the journal, it became clear — just as expected, D-City has already fallen to the monsters.

On the pages following the explanation of why they couldn’t request help from other cities, there was a drawing of a parasite. A parasite that I was now all too familiar with.

[The cult is controlling human minds through some unknown means. But I can’t figure out the conditions required.]

[Is it an ability that can only be used under specific conditions?]

[We found small bugs inside a human corpse.]

[Choi Ji-hyuk, who was examining the bugs, got infected... We had no choice but to put him down.]

[I’m sorry.]

[Through Ji-hyuk’s death, we figured out the conditions for brainwashing.]

[A small, white parasite lodged inside the human body.]

[We’ve decided to call those who are affected by these parasites 'Infected.']

[We tested various poisons, but it was impossible to kill only the parasites inside a human body.]

The illustrations were similar to those I had seen a few times in the research lab.

The chemical composition chart, marked with an X, likely referred to the poisons they had tested on monsters.

Turning the page with the research notes, the journal continued.

[We confirmed that there are no issues with the food supply.]

[The monsters haven’t reached the government’s underground food production facility.]

[For someone like me, who’s been anxious about parasites getting into the food supply, this is good news.]

[Byeong-ho started bringing uninfected citizens to the underground facility.]

[There were still citizens who, like us, noticed something was off.]

[There are currently 1,500 survivors. With control of the food production facility, we can hold out for quite some time.]

[The problem is, there’s no way to send a request for reinforcements.]

[Byeong-ho, who attempted to send a distress signal, was killed.]

[They figured out that there are still uninfected heroes among us.]

[To avoid them, we’ve decided to completely seal off the underground facility.]

[I’m leaving D-City to personally request aid from another city.]

[May luck be with everyone.]

The journal ended there.

The date on the last entry was only a few months ago.

The hero who left D-City was killed by monsters, and the request for reinforcements never reached its destination.

For someone who wasn’t even an S-Class hero to escape the city and head into the restricted zone — the outcome was inevitable.

That’s how desperate they must have been.

There are still uninfected survivors in D-City.

The survivors are hiding in the underground food production facility located in government buildings that exist in every city.

Adjusting my objective slightly, I sank into the shadows.

Silently, without alerting anything, I moved toward D-City.

****

Inside the walls, a city not even half the size of W-City.

D-City, which was likely now a monster nest, was disturbingly peaceful.

D-City’s heroes casually strolled around, patrolling with relaxed expressions, occasionally exchanging light-hearted banter with the citizens.

“Well, the other day...”

“Oh my! That must have been troublesome.”

“Hahaha, but it’s still our job, so we have to do it.”

Playful expressions, casual small talk, everyday conversations.

Despite being in the era of monsters, the citizens were entirely devoid of tension, brimming instead with happiness.

Children ran around playing, and adults smiled as they ate food brought from home.

I stood silently amidst the city, filled with peace and happiness as if it were a warm, encompassing cloud.

At that moment, when the complex emotions caused my core to tremble, the sound of a bell echoed throughout the city.

Deng, deng, deng.

A heavy vibration reverberated throughout the city, and the people clasped their hands together, bowing their heads in the direction from which the sound emanated.

A few people did not bow their heads, but they too stopped what they were doing and remained silent.

Far off in the distance, a bronze bell bore a symbol consisting of three circles overlapping to form a triangle.

It was the same symbol drawn on the bodies of those who had committed suicide in front of me.

Once the bell stopped ringing, those who had exuded gratitude and reverence toward me resumed their activities.

They cooked, they laughed, they chattered, they enjoyed themselves.

An intensely unpleasant sensation welled up within me.

These things, which smelled of humans, were no longer human. They were shells inhabited by parasites.

“Ouch!”

“Oh dear! You should have been more careful!”

As proof, when a child who had been clumsily riding a bicycle fell and scraped his knee, a small, white worm wriggled from the wound.

Yet, the child’s mother seemed entirely oblivious to the parasite as she wrapped a handkerchief around the boy’s knee and helped him up.

Nearby, a man who had been smoking a cigarette coughed violently, and a worm popped out from his mouth.

From a street vendor cooking food, a cut on his finger, covered by a bandage, revealed a white worm squirming beneath it.

This city was already dead.