120 - Contamination

TL/Editor: raei Status: 5/week mon-fri

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The Reptilian with mutated glasses doggedly pursued Lee Yeonwoo. Though the broken lenses couldn't fully pierce the perceptual distortion, they still detected traces and anomalies.

"Keeek."

Its pupils scanned the ground.

Deep footprints and bent grass. Blood from the meat egg on Yeonwoo's body had dripped in a straight line, its scent lingering in the air.

The Reptilian flicked its tongue, sensing even the slightest changes in air temperature.

"Keeeeek!"

It had found him. The Reptilian charged, mouth agape. Its claws protruded from its sneakers, kicking up dust as it sprinted.

Whoosh, the predator's body sliced through the air.

"No."

Yeonwoo threw himself down hard. He hadn't even wiped off the blood still on his body, teeming with the plague.

He glanced down at himself.

He was covered in the Reptilian boss's blood. Though he'd covered his face with the bag, his arms and legs were soaked.

'If I get wounded, I'll be infected immediately.'

The situation looked grim.

"Keeek!"

The Reptilian immediately swung its claws at Yeonwoo, who rolled once more.

Swoosh, the claws sliced through the air, barely grazing his clothes. The sleeve was left in tatters as if cut by a sharp knife.

'If it was just a wound, getting hit wouldn't be so bad. I don't know if the rain would even stop the infection. This won't do.'

He'd have to attack with the bills.

Yeonwoo took out the lighter while rolling on the ground. It was a turbo lighter.

Click, a blue flame shot up instantly. The bills tied to the lighter caught fire.

At that moment, the Reptilian froze. Heat and the smell of burning.

What remained of the glasses' consciousness instinctively sensed danger.

"Keeek!"

The Reptilian turned and fled. Thump thump thump thump, it sprinted like a gust of wind, its feet moving swiftly.

Now the tables had turned.

"Think you can escape? Not happening."

Yeonwoo shielded the burning bills with his palm to keep the fire going, then chased after the Reptilian at full speed. Tracking was easy since the Reptilian was openly fleeing.

The distance between them gradually widened due to the difference in physical abilities, but before Yeonwoo completely lost sight of it, the bills burned up entirely.

The next moment, dozens of drill-like holes opened up in the Reptilian's body.

Blood gushed from each hole. The Reptilian collapsed with a death cry.

"Keeeeek."

It lay in a pool of blood, dead. No movement.

Yeonwoo caught his breath, but his expression was grim. He turned to look at the rally site.

Smoke rose and flashes of light flickered there.

Bang, bang, explosive sounds rang out continuously, and keek, aaagh, the cries and screams of Reptilians and humans echoed endlessly.

'In this situation, will the blue door still be open?'

Would any doomsday cultists lacking camaraderie or team spirit remain?

Just then.

Buzz, buzz buzz, his phone vibrated. Yeonwoo hurriedly checked to find a video call from Mark Jung. As soon as he answered, an urgent face appeared and a rapid voice came through.

"What's the situation there now? The Reptilians have gone mad!"

"What?"

Confused by the words, Mark Jung turned his phone to show the laptop screen.

The split screen displayed situations from countries around the world.

A singer in the middle of a concert suddenly transformed into a Reptilian mid-high note and charged at the audience.

In one country's parliament, a member transformed and bit nearby members, while in a company, the CEO bit employees.

Breaking news flashed everywhere. The Reptilian plague was spreading worldwide.

"The hidden Reptilians that the Reptilian boss concealed are going berserk!"

"Uh, well."

Yeonwoo rolled his eyes. Then he moved his phone to capture the massive meat egg visible even from a distance.

"Well, I'm not sure why, but the boss suddenly went berserk. It's chaos here too."

He moved his phone again like taking a selfie, capturing the rally site in the distance where screams and explosions abounded.

This was happening globally right now.

'It feels a bit much to say I started this.'

It seemed too extreme to admit honestly given how far the situation had escalated.

That's when Mark Jung's shout burst out. He saw something.

"Above! Look up! Be careful!"

A blurry shadow loomed over Yeonwoo. This was dangerous. Yeonwoo rolled forward without even checking.

BOOM-!

He was caught in the shockwave. A Reptilian with pterodactyl wings had crashed headfirst.

"What the hell is this now."

Yeonwoo sat dazed, staring at the mutated Reptilian.

Its arms had elongated, with thin membranes stretched between its arms and body. Its face had also grotesquely transformed, its lips protruding like a beak.

"Mutation... The plague, the infected are mutating!"

Yeonwoo unconsciously looked at the phone screen. The scenes broadcast live on the laptop.

The face and neck of the world-famous singer morphed into that of a carnivorous dinosaur, then let out a roar. The audience, frozen like mice before a snake, meekly offered themselves to the Reptilian.

The Reptilian-turned parliament members devoured each other, becoming some strange chimera dinosaur, while the CEO Reptilian led its underlings to begin pack hunting.

"Uh..."

Cold sweat dripped down Yeonwoo's forehead.

The Reptilians transformed from doomsday cultists were dangerous enough, but now they're mutating too?

Yeonwoo looked towards the rally site with trembling eyes.

The explosions and screams gradually died down, replaced by increasing dinosaur cries. He could see tiny dots of the few humans fleeing in all directions and the many Reptilians pursuing them.

Squinting, he could make out Reptilians with corpses impaled on their horns, ones dragging elongated necks and heads along the ground, and some with fins diving into the sea.

Things were clearly not right.

'At this rate.'

Even if the blue door was open, could he safely escape there?

The stones and vest didn't seem very effective against the Reptilians' senses and primal instincts.

Yeonwoo widened his field of vision to survey his surroundings as he spoke to Mark Jung.

"I'm retreating. I've obtained information on the plan. Please provide an escape route other than the blue door."

He had infiltrated enemy territory. Naturally, the company had prepared various escape routes.

Mark Jung clicked his mouse, then pulled up a nautical chart of the area around the island. Several ships were racing towards the island from quite a distance.

"At the company's request, the navy of a nearby country is moving. They plan to bomb that island, and a landing craft to pick you up is headed to this location."

A red pin was stuck in the corner of the island.

The time marked there was 3 hours later.

Additionally, parts of the island were colored red with expected bombing times. That was also 3 hours later.

"3 hours."

Yeonwoo immediately prepared to move. It was plenty of time even walking slowly, but who knew what might happen along the way.

That's when Mark Jung hesitated, then spoke with difficulty.

"Is it possible... to collect a sample from the Reptilian boss? It's not essential. We can handle the current situation by mobilizing countries rather than the company acting directly, but having a sample would still-"

Mark Jung's mouth shut. Yeonwoo had immediately thrust his bloodstained clothes towards the camera.

Though unintentional, he had already secured a sample. Yeonwoo shook his blood-soaked clothes and the bag full of blood.

"Is blood sufficient?"

"Ah, yes! That's enough!"

Sufficient for creating a cure or using in research.

"Then I'll see you later."

Mark Jung nodded with a slightly brighter expression, and Yeonwoo finished preparing to cross the chaotic scene, taking deep breaths.

He wiped off the blood on his body as best he could.

'Let's go.'

He set off, leaving deep footprints behind.

---

---

A few doomsday cultists huddled behind trees. Clutching hand fans, tasers, and rice cookers, they looked at the fallen Reptilians around them.

"Why did these bastards suddenly go crazy?"

"They've all turned into Reptilians. Not many normal ones left. What do we do?"

Some lamented, others voiced complaints.

"What's the Hijacker doing? Just dropping these things in a big city would be no joke."

"Him? He was the first to bolt."

The doomsday cultists with some knowledge all fled after seeing the Reptilian boss go berserk.

They sought to save themselves, escaping the unknown danger of sudden extreme contamination.

Just then, the cultist holding the rice cooker tilted his head. He slowly stood up and approached a Reptilian corpse.

The others watched with suspicious eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing much. I'm going to become a Reptilian too."

"What? Are you insane?"

Click, shk, various weapons were aimed at him. But he remained calm. He opened the rice cooker and took out a rice ball. Searᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Honestly, how many could we kill with our terrorism? It's better to become a Reptilian and spread the plague."

"No, are you crazy? How are we even going to escape this island in the first place!"

An isolated island with no blue door and no boats.

The man leisurely grabbed several rice balls in both hands.

"Look over there. If we become Reptilians, we can leave."

The doomsday cultists didn't turn their eyes. There was a madman right in front of them to watch out for.

In the end, the cultist holding rice balls explained verbally.

"Winged Reptilians are flying away carrying other Reptilians. So, let's all become Reptilians together."

With a sinister smile, he scattered the rice balls. The doomsday cultists fired guns, tasers, and turned on hand fans, but it was too late.

The rice balls fell onto the Reptilian corpses.

BOOM!

An explosion. Each grain of rice became a hard fragment and scattered, the corpses bursting like fireworks. Those flesh bits and blood. Unavoidable.

"Aagh! You, you crazy bastard!"

"Hehe."

The cultist holding the rice cooker laughed.

It's coming.

The plague is coming.

Mutating.

Into a superior body, a more dangerous body.

The other doomsday cultists grimaced. Rice grains embedded in their wounds, covered in bits of flesh and blood. Their skin immediately began turning to leather.

"Urrrgh, keeek!"

And Yeonwoo, passing by, stared blankly at his surroundings.

"Keeeek!"

"Keeaak!"

Hearing the explosion, Reptilians were swarming in. From the sky, from the ground, slicing through the wind and kicking up dust as they charged. Even if he avoided detection, he'd likely be trampled to death in their rush.

'Ah, what a waste of bills.'

Yeonwoo took out a wad of blood-soaked bills and torched them.

'Run to the target point.'

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