WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 295: Sacramento (10)

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At noon the next day, unsettling news reached the front.

"...A nuclear airship?"

Communications Officer Evans held up a Net Warrior terminal in front of a skeptical Gyeoul.

"Listen for yourself."

An FM radio app was running on the smartphone.

「...The Department of Defense spokesperson has released the following information regarding the plan. As of 9 a.m. today, the Patrick Henry, first vessel of the Patrick Henry-class, entered service from the secret military facility 『Site T』, whose location remains unknown. It is said to be a nuclear airship equipped with a new type of reactor.」

"..."

「The Patrick Henry-class is an improved version of the Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft, or HULA, researched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA. It was developed to provide fire support on the quarantine front and to push emergency supplies into inland contaminated zones. This airborne battleship, capable of carrying 1,170 tons of assorted shells and bombs and conducting missions anywhere in the world, is also planned to serve in emergencies as a government above the clouds, replacing the role of Air Force One. At present, the second and third vessels are effectively complete, and the plan is to commission them within three months based on the first vessel's operational results. The spokesperson stated that if more Patrick Henry-class vessels are built, they are expected not only to help secure Central America, but also eventually to assist an advance into mainland China, Ground Zero of the infection.」

Something was strange. The concept of a giant airship was not unfamiliar to Gyeoul. Humanity's wisdom in resisting the apocalypse had similar features, no matter how many times it repeated.

But why had this plan been kept secret until now? Judging from the broadcast, the spokesperson had not said a word about that.

'It wasn't secret, just unknown... No, that can't be it.'

For an airship's payload to exceed one thousand tons, it would have to be larger than an aircraft carrier. The same would be true even without nitrogen in the gasbag. It still had a basic frame. Building that would require an equally massive facility.

The fact that civilians had never known about it meant the construction facility was located somewhere remote, with no regard for accessibility. And it would not have stopped at construction. They must have conducted several test flights before commissioning it. In the end, it would have been impossible without building a secret city on the scale of the Manhattan Project.

In other words, the government had carefully concealed the Patrick Henry-class construction plan from the start. Considering procedures such as drafting, approval, and budget resolutions, probably from the early days of the infection outbreak.

Why?

Corporal D'Angelo, the weapons NCO, commented casually.

"That thing is insane. I don't know what kind of drugs the higher-ups were on, but it might be better than expected. At the very least, the road to the Panama Canal probably won't be like Vietnam."

The company supply NCO, Timothy McArdle, added his opinion.

"It's a monster that would make the existing gunship (AC-130) look inadequate. An artillery battalion over our heads. Of course, we'll have to wait and see whether it's actually useful."

The two of them were only evaluating its immediate utility. It seemed the company staff did not yet have suspicions like Gyeoul did. Soldier-like, perhaps. But they would not be able to stay that way forever.

'Its original purpose was probably different from what they just announced.'

Gyeoul worried this could become another weakness of the current administration.

「The first vessel, Patrick Henry, is moving west to participate in Operation Boar Hunt, and at present it is passing over the city of Huntington, West Virginia. Yes, the citizens' response is extremely enthusiastic. People in Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and other areas along its straight-line route will soon be able to see this giant airship with the naked eye.」

It would only be a side benefit, but Patrick Henry's first flight seemed likely to have a considerable demonstration effect in the South, where sparks were everywhere. At least until serious suspicions began to surface.

「Next, the second vessel, Gyeoul Han, which is about to enter service...」

Putting the name of an active-duty soldier on a vessel. Gyeoul gestured with his hand.

"Turn it off."

The timing was bad. The staff tried hard to keep stern faces. It was not a time to laugh or joke. Before Evans turned on the radio, they had been eating while sharing updates and exchanging opinions. Everyone looked a little sleepy because of the raid the night before.

Gyeoul was not in perfect condition either. He could feel his body, slightly dulled by fatigue.

Normally, Time Acceleration from sleep should have lasted until morning. But what woke Gyeoul was 「Crisis Detection」 just past midnight. It had also been his superhuman 「Survival Instinct」.

He immediately put the entire unit on alert, but the person who found and crushed the mutant was Gyeoul himself.

Only one individual had infiltrated. A gamma-grade Stalker. It was a special mutant he had assumed had been eliminated because none had been found for some time, but there was a high chance this one had survived from before.

"Once the meal is over, tell them to end the search of the garrison and nearby sectors. Each platoon is to take turns resting until EENT. Captain Singh will write the plan."

At Gyeoul's words, Captain Singh looked troubled.

"But the instructions from above..."

"I'll handle that somehow. We've already searched thoroughly five times. Any more would be unnecessary, wouldn't it? The soldiers need rest, and so do the people here. We'll have to strengthen the watch again tonight anyway. During the day, at least, I think our existing alert posture is enough."

"Hm. Understood."

"Did they feed the King of Spain properly and put him to bed?"

At Gyeoul's question, the captain's beard twitched slightly. A laugh was being held back.

"Of course. If not for him, our side would have taken serious damage too."

There had been soldiers who sensed the danger before Gyeoul last night. It was thanks to one dachshund that caught the scent of death with its sensitive nose and barked like mad. Since it was a hound breed and also carried long trauma from being chased by the plague, they said it had been practically frenzied.

When dawn broke, they found bloody footprints that had changed direction. The monster's soles had been torn while crossing the barbed wire, and it seemed to have heard the dog barking while crossing a hallway after sensing the soldiers' breathing. At that point, it was still deep in the night, so it must have planned to proceed carefully with its hunt for humans. Unfortunately for it, the corner it dodged into was a shadowed area near the company commander's office.

Drop, drip. He remembered the sound of blood falling.

In the darkness where the monster had cut the power lines, Gyeoul slammed the creature down as it quietly leaped from the dome, then stomped on it and burst its head open with rapid pistol fire. Mutants differed only in their tolerance for pain. Their vital points were basically the same as a human's. With its testicles ruptured under a combat boot, the monster had been easy prey even for Gyeoul with one hand impaired. The situation was over the moment he came out after raising the emergency alert.

'Even so, infiltration by a single individual...'

It felt like an assassin.

A Stalker was a special mutant with little to show in terms of combat ability, but it was still as strong as a ghoul, an enhanced version of a regular mutant. Its intelligence was roughly around that level too. It was not as clever as a Trickster, but it was on the smarter side. That meant it could understand several concepts in a limited way and could handle training as well as an intelligent animal.

If it was gamma-grade on top of that, its ears could hear sounds beyond the audible frequency range, and its eyes could see into infrared. In this world, the Medical Service Corps had proven that outright through experiments.

Its sense of smell, which had been its original trait, was naturally enhanced as well.

For that reason, it was hard to say the units that took damage last night had been careless. Nobody would have expected the monster to break through a minefield by relying on smell.

Even Gyeoul had never experienced that before.

Once he heard it, though, it quickly made sense. There were rats trained to sniff out mines, were there not? For a monster with a developed sense of smell, it sounded entirely possible.

Evans asked, "Sir. What happened with changing the garrison?"

"They said no."

At Gyeoul's answer, the Lieutenant looked uncomfortable.

"Why...? We were deployed here to provoke the enemy. But as things stand, doesn't that no longer mean anything? If anything, this vague position makes it hard to do anything. It feels like we're trapped behind an invisible wall."

"I suppose abandoning the capitol after reclaiming it once would look bad. It would look like we were pushed back by the mutants. How many eyes do you think are watching this city right now?"

"That's..."

Gyeoul spoke soothingly to the Lieutenant, whose expression crumpled at once.

"Don't look so disgusted. Of course it doesn't feel good to have to worry about things like that, but either way, we win as long as we hold out. Even at this moment, the mutant horde underground is steadily having its routes cut off. I think Boar Hunt will probably wrap up before the fighting in this city does, and once that happens, the forces on this side will be reinforced too. Victory is certain. The question is whether we can rescue the remaining hostages safely, and how much we can reduce further damage from here on."

"..."

"Keep an eye on the soldiers so they don't waver. If they collapse on their own, they might lose even a fight they could have won."

Saying they might lose was an exaggeration, but casualties would increase even more. Half of it was directed at the officers too. The topic of maintaining morale had also come up on the day of the company event.

'They came here thinking this would be an easy fight, but bad things keep happening...'

Few had expected urban warfare to be difficult. Before it was optimism backed by evidence, it was what many people wanted to believe. Their hearts were tired. They wanted things to stop already.

Last night's raid felt like a new threat.

"The garrison is one thing, but I hope they don't tell me to change the company commander's office."

At Gyeoul's words, everyone gave faint, bitter smiles. There really had been such a suggestion. They had told him to use the governor's office, even though it had been left empty on purpose because of its symbolism. The public affairs office's greed had gone too far.

If he really did that, it would be bound to draw criticism. He would stand out even more than MacArthur, who had worn riding breeches as a Major and carried a riding crop like a command baton.

Intelligence Officer Murray said, "I almost wish we could talk to the mutants. Then we could tell them that dragging things out so desperately won't do them any good."

"...If they start understanding language, that would be a serious problem, wouldn't it?"

Gyeoul eased the mood a little more with an answer that pretended to be serious.

He quickly finished the meal that had been going cold while the discussion pushed it aside.

Afterward, Gyeoul brushed his teeth in the washroom and chewed over the situation.

It was hard to feel it in this city, but at least on the U.S. mainland, the quarantine war was definitely nearing its end. The radio earlier had even mentioned advancing into China.

Wouldn't that still be too difficult?

In Gyeoul's opinion, airships alone would not be enough. Of course, the ability to remain over an operation zone for a long time and provide direct-fire artillery support was excellent. But the distance was too great. And how many mutants would be swarming over that land? To provide continuous fire support, that operation alone would need dozens of Patrick Henry-class vessels.

Related to that, there had been news not long ago that the government of the Republic of Korea had formally sent an asylum request to the U.S. government.

The Korean government, which had held out after holing up in remote mountain regions, had finally decided to abandon the mainland completely because an enormous mutant horde had come south from the north.

The United States had provided Korea with satellite photos. But detailed information had not been released to the public. In other words, there had been enough that it needed to be hidden.

At the same time, there were far too many places where Patrick Henry-class vessels needed to be sent.

For example, strongholds isolated in inland Europe, like Switzerland...

'Maybe I'm looking too far ahead.'

For now, politics was the crisis, not war. Depending on the situation, even Gyeoul might be unable to avoid a war without bloodshed. A fight to protect people from people, not mutants. He could not say he had no experience, but the scale was different from anything so far, so it would be an unfamiliar battlefield for Gyeoul.

It was not a pleasant possibility.

========== Author’s Note ==========

#Notice of edits made at 8:47 p.m., November 28, 2017

Content regarding DEVGRU's casualties has been deleted.

#1 to 3,500

They say there are as many as 10 toilets for 35,000 people at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. And they are single-person temporary toilets, too.

I feel good. I think they will really be able to hold the Olympics well. :)

#Nuclear aircraft

The United States had already developed and test-operated a nuclear-powered turboprop aircraft, the NB-36H, in 1955. What it carried was an indirect air-cooled reactor, HTRE. The reactor of the Patrick Henry-class that appears in the main story is set as an advanced model designed from that method.

That reactor is currently open for public civilian viewing. But I don't think there are any tourists who would go all the way to Idaho just to see it...

I think I once answered in an Author’s Note why airships are hard to use. This is also evidence that the Patrick Henry-class originally had a different construction purpose. :)

#Q&A

Q. UnlimitedOne: @Idealism that tries to save everyone beyond one's ability, and realism that tries to protect only the people within one's own ability and fence. / Neither is exactly wrong, right? In the end, it leads to a dilemma... We need to burn all the yellow press to the ground. Seriously.

A. That's right. Neither is exactly wrong. / Looking at the media right now, I don't think there is a broadcasting company or newspaper that shouldn't be burned.

Q. Black-Mir: @I have something I'm curious about. How old is Joanna? Gyeoul is in his teens, so I wonder how big the age gap is.

A. A woman's age is a secret... but I will answer anyway. In the setting, they are twelve years apart! But later, you won't care about the age at all. Because Joanna is... Ah, this one really is a secret.

I think I once accidentally wrote that she was in her late twenties, but that description was wrong.

Q. Calpis: @Uh, I might have missed it, but does it say animals don't get infected?

If they can, something like infected giant hornets would be cool.

A. There has been content saying it is toxic to ordinary animals. For example, mosquitoes that suck mutant blood die. / Since Morgellons is not a single pathogen but a complex, there are many reasons it would have difficulty adapting to other animals.

Q. GreenTurtle: @A wired-communication mutant... If the USAF drops a carbon bomb, would another Trickster kill itself because it couldn't endure the rage...? / With Hunters too, I get the sense that mutants are imitating humanity, even if crudely. Maybe it's proof that humanity is fighting effectively... I'm scared that someday Tricksters will appear that increase their computational power with grid networking. / Which would taste better, Author's eighth leg or seafood bibim sauce?

A. Direct wired connections probably wouldn't be affected by carbon filament dispersal. The insulation remains, after all. Of course, it would be a problem if the Trickster took a direct hit. / It is natural to imitate one's natural enemy. / Neither is edible.

Q. Qvex: @I have returned. Eight days until the CSAT. Please cheer for me!

A. You should not be reading this harmful novel before the CSAT. T_T / Since you took my childlike innocence, you will definitely do well on the exam. If you prove you got a perfect score, I will do extra chapters that day. Good luck!

Q. Bug: @If they succeed in exterminating it in the U.S., in the Americas, will they be able to exterminate it in other lands too? Or will it become a permanent war? Mutants versus humanity war.

A. Come on, if I answer this, it will be a spoiler. Sorry.

Q. qgegegqe: @I keep hamsters, but I'm scared they might eat their babies too, so I can't breed them. I guess my childlike innocence is still alive.

A. I don't think keeping pets is something you can do with ordinary resolve. I want to keep a dog or a cat, but... when I heard how huge the cost was, I held back tears...

Q. Amironiraz: @Gyeoul talks like this is almost the first time the government has been this intact. Is that because of the "worldview change" he felt coming into this run, or is Gyeoul just lucky? This world's government seems very competent, but if the player doesn't act, will it definitely collapse anyway?

A. First of all, he is very lucky. You could call it protagonist correction fit for a novel full of dreams and hope! / A worldview without a player cannot exist in the first place, but even without Gyeoul, it probably would not have collapsed easily. I think it would go on for quite a long time through Situational Computation after the player's death too.

Q. LightAndTwilight: @I have finally finished rereading / After this expedition, will he become a Lieutenant Colonel / And become a battalion commander / The coupon is a bonus!

A. Hm... This would also be a spoiler, even if a light one, if I answered... Hehe. Please just wait for the serialization.

Q. Glory's Spear: I was a little shocked to hear that half of Americans don't have 1,000 dollars...

A. There is no @, but I think many people may misunderstand, so I will answer. Less than 1,000 dollars does not mean total assets, but the balance in bank accounts. Of course, even then, it is true that the amount is very small.

Q. KTH: @I spent 49,900 to read this novel and to talk with the author on Talking About. Take responsibility.

A. What do I do... Even if you do something like Talking About with me, it won't be fun... Responsibility... T_T

Footnotes:

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