WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 372: Each One's Homeland (6)

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The drive did not last long.

“Watch out!”

Anne’s warning came sharp and fast. A cross-shaped chain collision erupted in the intersection. Warped steel and aluminum rippled toward her. The front wheel of a tilting bus scraped past the driver’s-side window. The agent at the wheel wrenched the steering wheel aside. His curse was cut short halfway through. At the same time, the brakes slammed on. The twisted momentum only died after they lurched onto the sidewalk. A pedestrian who had nearly been hit sank to the ground, clutching their chest.

Boom, thud. Even then, the number of damaged vehicles kept rising in real time. Flames rose from the first crash site, along with dark smoke like storm clouds billowing upward. A dissonance of horns blared from every direction.

Gyeoul sensed something wrong.

‘From every direction?’

His corrected hearing gave him sharper information. Exact bearings and approximate distance. In other words, the accident had not happened only here. The agent reversing the vehicle spotted the cause.

“What the fuck is this now...? Look, Gibson. The traffic signals are completely scrambled!”

With the traffic lights stripped of all order, the road behind them was blocked solid as well. The stopped vehicles sealed the square block shut like a prison. To punch through, they would need a proper armored vehicle.

The Department of Transportation had probably been hacked.

“This was planned.”

Anne bit her lip and opened the rear seatback, pulling out extra equipment. The sight of her and her colleagues strengthening their armament looked almost like a transformation.

Gyeoul stuffed away the jacket covered in rows of medals and put on body armor as well. The trunk held the rifle and pistol he always used, both ready for immediate use. They had prepared for situations like this. The only shame was that he did not have his new combat uniform.

After a brief hesitation, he left the longsword behind. It would stand out even from a distance.

It took about a minute to attach grenades, smoke grenades, and flashbangs, then change into combat boots. Last of all, Gyeoul put on his bone-conduction receiver and ballistic helmet.

“Serrano, any sign of an ambush?”

Anne had just finished her radio report when she asked. The agent in the passenger seat, who had been watching outside the window, answered.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“We can’t relax just because this is a government office district.”

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing stood in front of the vehicle, which had ended up partly on the sidewalk. Anne was worried about snipers. A lethal round could come from somewhere between those rows of columns.

“We’re in trouble if we get pinned down here.”

The anxious mutter came from the driver’s seat. His name was Callahan, and he was armed with a submachine gun. Unlike rifles, it was a weapon rarely used against mutants.

Kra-boom!

A roar and a blast of wind slammed into the side of the vehicle. The explosion had come from the next intersection, about 140 meters away. The cause was probably a tanker truck, or a gas transport vehicle.

Things like this were probably happening all over D.C. at the same time.

The radio was a pit of chaos. Anne was not getting any response to her report either.

For now, nothing else nearby was stimulating 「Survival Instinct」. The explosion just now had been the last. Gyeoul spoke to Anne.

“Let’s get out first. We can make a plan somewhere safer.”

“But...”

“Don’t worry about snipers and things like that. I can handle them.”

A skilled sniper’s concealment could disrupt Gyeoul’s senses. Even now, with all his senses having reached the realm of genius, he might only notice right before the attack.

For Gyeoul, that was enough.

‘The rear is open too.’

The road to the west was wide open, without so much as a notable obstacle, let alone a building.

“Is there anywhere we can go?”

Anne nodded and handed him a hat, along with protective glasses as black as sunglasses.

“Gyeoul, take these, then.”

Gyeoul paused, then accepted them. Going around with his face exposed seemed to come with more downsides than upsides. Since the body armor had FBI printed on it, civilians probably would not mistake them for suspicious armed personnel. They would be frightened, though.

Click.

He opened the door and stepped into the auditory chaos, now even clearer. Gyeoul, the protectee, took the lead, but Anne and the other two agents did not stop him. He was Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul, fully ready for combat.

Screams and crying reached his ears. But there was no time to help the traffic accident victims. This situation had to be handled on a larger scale. Whether he could contribute was unclear, but this was Gyeoul’s limit. First, they had to find out what was happening.

Gyeoul caught the smell of water on the wind. There was a dock nearby.

‘Going upriver is out of the question.’

If the people who planned this attack had considered even the heads of state attending the riding event, there was no way they would have left the nearby waterway open. The riverbank was a good place to position snipers.

For now, he had no choice but to give up linking up with the former independent company. The one fortunate thing was that, thanks to his warning to Jin-seok in advance, the Company members were moving as a group. The Company members had wanted to freely enjoy America’s capital and were unhappy about it, but Jin-seok had silenced every complaint with that uniquely angry expression of his.

Anne, holding a designated marksman rifle, steadied her breathing as it quickened from tension and pointed. She had to raise her voice over the surrounding noise.

“There! There’s a safe house in the Mandarin Oriental!”

Close. The luxury hotel she had named was only 200 meters from here.

“What about going straight to the White House?”

Agent Serrano made the suggestion. They would only need to move a little over one kilometer north. Even from here, the Washington Monument loomed large. But Anne shook her head.

“From the Secret Service’s point of view! Anyone approaching right now will look suspicious! We’d be treated ambiguously too! It would be hard to do anything! Better to keep our distance! More than anything, there’s no need to expose ourselves! We don’t know what bastards might be watching from where!”

Their course was set. Gyeoul led the group. Then a husky voice reached him.

「I don’t know where you’re headed, but could you take us with you?」

It was Kowalski.

「Don’t shoot. Two o’clock.」

Gyeoul found cover and raised his fist.

“Wait! Intelligence Agency agents are joining us!”

Anne looked puzzled, so Gyeoul tapped his own ear. Only then did she understand. Anne had forgotten about the miniature receiver too.

Soon, four people joined them. Talbot, Kowalski, Tucker, and Kelly.

“This isn’t your doing, is it?”

At Anne’s welcome, Talbot smiled bitterly.

“With our history, excuses don’t come easily!”

Then the ground shook beneath their feet. If the traffic signal disruption was not limited to the surface, a major accident had likely happened underground as well. Anne’s face hardened further, and she jerked her chin.

“Hurry!”

Gyeoul chose a route passing south of the Government Accountability Office. Civilians hurriedly put distance between themselves and the eight armed people. In the middle of it all, there were people threatening civilians again. They had surrounded a limousine trapped on the road with nowhere to go. The flag attached to the vehicle was unfamiliar. It must belong to the leader of some fallen nation. Gyeoul ignored them.

From the hotel lobby onward, Anne took the lead. After saying something brief at the desk, she headed straight underground. Passing armed hotel security personnel, she opened a door that looked ordinary at first glance.

“This is it.”

The first thing they saw inside was a complicated array of communications equipment. There were also several computers and shelves packed with weapons. Two large maps hung on the wall. One was a map of Washington D.C. that Gyeoul had carefully stored with 「Memorization」 in case a day like this came. The other was a map of the entire United States. A white screen and projector were visible as well.

“This isn’t an ordinary safe house, is it?”

When Gyeoul asked, Anne confirmed it.

“It was built to double as a temporary command post in emergencies.”

She powered on the system.

“Who the hell could they be?”

Tucker sounded as if he were talking to himself. Talbot answered.

“If we’re lucky, one faction.”

If they were lucky. A short phrase with a lot packed into it. In other words, the people who had hacked the traffic system and the madmen who had brought mutants in might have no direct connection.

Callahan, the FBI agent, kept watch and reluctantly agreed.

“There’ll be people who see their chance and start playing with fire.”

Wind blowing over embers. With this much disorder created, even conspiracies that should have ended as mere conspiracies would start looking for openings. The greatest weakness for law enforcement right now was limited manpower and response capacity.

Kowalski held up her tablet so Anne could see it.

“Can I use a station?”

Anne took off her sunglasses and narrowed her eyes slightly.

“On the condition that you share all information.”

“Of course.”

“If you try anything funny, I’ll shoot you.”

“I may not look it, but I repay my debts. Especially when the debt is the price of my life.”

“...Help us understand the situation first.”

The other Intelligence Agency agents also asked permission and took their seats. It was impressive how quickly they divided roles despite belonging to different agencies.

Kowalski connected to the CIA intelligence network and muttered while rubbing her chin.

“Hmm. Not just anyone can pull this off.”

Gyeoul looked at Talbot.

“Doesn’t this feel like too much of a coincidence?”

“What do you mean?”

“I remember hearing about something similar recently. Like Agent Kowalski said, this isn’t something just anyone can do, right?”

He was talking about the malware the Intelligence Agency had supposedly developed. Talbot had been the one to tell him about it. Wrinkles formed on Talbot’s forehead.

“I’m sorry to say I can’t deny the possibility. Yes. Remnants of those tiresome bastards may be involved in this too. Ah, Kowalski. I don’t have anything against you, so don’t misunderstand.”

That added remark did not seem to comfort her. Passive cooperation or not, Kowalski had once cooperated with the True Patriots. She sighed and rubbed her face with both hands.

“It’s fine. I know what I did wrong.”

“What I mean is, it wouldn’t be strange if people desperate to survive sold their abilities somewhere. They do say extremes meet, after all.”

“I know, I know.”

She raised a hand to show she did not mind.

Anne projected the FBI’s situation map and folded her arms.

“I suppose we should call it fortunate that firefights don’t seem to be breaking out anywhere. We need to resolve this before the other troublemakers join in.”

“How is the tracking of the smuggled-in mutants going?”

At Gyeoul’s question, Anne zoomed the map out and slid it south.

“They’re still trying to find the suspect vehicle.”

“Can they find it?”

“Yes. Every vehicle in the civilian transport division has its route recorded in real time. The routes themselves are fixed too. Time is the problem, though. We don’t have nearly enough leeway to find the original entry route and trace it step by step, but if they search blindly, the search area is far too wide.”

Looking at the map, Gyeoul felt something unsettled.

“Anne. Do you think that number of mutants is a serious threat? Almost every city has prepared countermeasures against the spread of infection.”

Even Las Vegas had surrounded its outskirts with walls, and the cities in the east were much the same. The streets also had shelters and barriers in every district. The citizens were armed as well, of course. Gyeoul remembered hearing about an elderly couple who carried an automatic rifle and a shotgun in their stroller. It was an era where even ordinary homes had at least minimal safety measures.

“If they reproduce...”

Anne trailed off, and Gyeoul shook his head.

“The greater their numbers, the easier they are to spot.”

They could sweep with aerial and satellite reconnaissance. They would not even be able to avoid search teams using military dogs. A mutant horde large enough to pose a serious threat would give off a stench detectable from several kilometers away.

Most of all, there was not enough time for them to increase their numbers through reproduction.

“Then do you think we can ignore that side for now? That the threat is exaggerated beyond what it really is?”

Gyeoul rejected the idea.

“No. I just think there may be another plan for using them. Something besides simply drawing attention.”

“What kind of other plan?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.”

Yes. A feeling. But 「Insight」 was difficult to ignore. It was not always right, but the correction rarely missed.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to look at that map. I need to think while I’m looking at it.”

At Gyeoul’s request, Anne readily gave up her seat. She was respecting the war hero’s instincts. She already had experience with them. And officially, resolving this situation was not her mission.

Time passed. D.C.’s traffic signals were restored before ten minutes had passed, but the roads remained paralyzed in places. The radio network was still full of chaos. Reports came in of several major wildfires in Louisiana and South Carolina. Incidents meant to scatter the federal government’s response capacity.

Another ten minutes or so passed.

“Anne.”

Gyeoul called Anne, who had been exchanging opinions with the CIA agents.

“Among the extremist groups that might be involved in this, are there any that directly or indirectly operate hospitals?”

“Probably. Not all of them, but some people refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons. Why?”

“Mm. If any of those hospitals have radiation medical equipment, I think they need to be searched immediately.”

The implication was clear. Anne groaned softly.

“...necrotoxin?”

Footnotes:

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