Chapter 163: Five Disasters
There were only three weapons that could effectively harm the Plague in the current situation.
Hafnium-2 explosives, nuclear weapons, and reaction bombs.
No other weapons could inflict any significant damage, and even hafnium-2 and tactical nukes became useless against the Plague of Knight level or higher.
If the Plague’s level increased further, even strategic nukes would be no different from fireworks.
Only gigaton-level reaction bombs could deliver effective strikes, and the United Human Federation’s countermeasures against the Plague had focused on them.
But the Plague’s defense system was not limited to reaction bombs.
The Plague had many different subtypes besides the regular troops that ranged from Beasts to Queens.
There were Plague Swarms that created wire soldiers, Parasites that entered living beings and controlled them, Doppelgangers that mimicked assault armors, and many more that were countless.
Thus, humans and the Plague had fought and evolved by imitating each other for decades.
The megacity’s defense system also incorporated such know-how, but it was still incomplete.
However, the response to the regular troops that appeared now was fairly complete.
This system was connected to gravity wave radars and ether scanners, and it activated automatically when a confirmed Plague entity was detected.
It operated automatically until the Plague was completely annihilated, and its main weapon was reaction bombs.
There were some defensive measures such as reflectors and plasma shields, but they were only used to lure or deceive the Plague.
The megacity’s defense system only activated against the threats to the megacity, but its range was so wide that it often included nearby cities.
This defense system was operated and maintained entirely by Arma, without needing Yu Ji-ha’s permission.
It was inefficient to ask for permission every time when the Plague was about to attack.
But since the Plague had not yet invaded fully, the system was usually turned off.
When Arma decided it was necessary, he used all communication means to activate the control computer of the administration bureau in case the Plague interfered.
A loud alarm rang throughout the megacity Pacific.
“Alert. Space monster alert. All citizens are requested to evacuate immediately to the nearest shelter or residence.”
Evacuation messages in English appeared on the screens installed everywhere.
The citizens were bewildered at first, but soon realized what was happening.
They had been trained frequently for space monsters.
The training was nothing more than evacuating nearby, and the administration bureau controlled everything.
So they just had to run hard.
“Run! Run!”
“People standing there blankly! Follow behind the drones!”
“Why are you all acting like this?”
“Space monsters! Plague!”
People started calling the monsters from space Plague at some point.
It was not what people called them, but what Yu Ji-ha’s president designated them as.
It meant epidemic, but if one did not know the nature of the Plague, it could be taken as a strange name.
This monster had left a big impression on not only the people of various countries, but also the citizens of the megacity.
Thanks to that, there were hardly any people who disobeyed the control and wandered around.
“Shelter for A32 area is this way. There are stairs leading to the underground, so please go down.”
Drones and androids guided the citizens all over the street.
Thanks to the systematic evacuation, it was hard to find any citizens on the street after less than 10 minutes since the alarm rang.
Most of the citizens had fled to shelters or their homes and listened to the program broadcasted by the administration bureau.
“The Plague Cocoon is approaching Earth. The administration bureau has declared a level 3 emergency.”
“Please refrain from going out until the situation is completely over. All necessities will be supplied by the administration bureau.”
All logistics and transportation were carried out in the Undercity located underground, so the flow did not stop even in an emergency.
The connection between each megacity was cut off, but there was no big problem since they had enough supplies in stock.
The whole megacity became a huge shelter.
The people who entered the shelter were surprised to see that food packs were supplied in just 30 minutes.
Androids walked around the shelter looking for patients.
“Is anyone injured? Please tell me your citizen number.”
“Anyone who didn’t receive a food pack?”
“Me.”
Hwang Sun-young raised her hand bravely and Lucia brought her a package.
She opened it and found water and simple snacks inside.
“Wow, they supply this in 30 minutes.”
“There must be people who skipped meals. A proper meal will be supplied in three hours.”
“That’s serious. You need to recharge too.”
“I can plug my code anywhere here.”
What people who lived with androids felt sorry for was that they couldn’t eat.
It couldn’t be helped.
The function of digesting organic matter was not impossible to implement, but it was very expensive.
There was also the problem of excretion, so all androids could not digest food.
Hwang Sun-young looked around with regret.
“There was a place like this in this area.”
The megacity was still under construction.
It had grown several times larger and added many new facilities since they arrived.
“There are too many people now. It was relatively quiet when I was here.”
“Wasn’t it empty when we first came?”
“Huh? Was it?”
The population density of the megacity was a hot topic both outside and inside.
The streets were crowded with people everywhere.
It was only natural, considering that hundreds or thousands of people lived in the buildings that filled each area.
With such a high population density, one would expect problems to arise, but it seemed that no major accidents had occurred yet.
There were news of gangs fighting and being dragged to the administration bureau, or someone committing murder and being expelled, but the streets were still peaceful.
Anyway, Hwang Sun-young was amazed by the system of the megacity.
Everything was carried out smoothly according to the schedule, thanks to the artificial intelligence that managed it.
As she chatted with Lucia while waiting, a meal was supplied exactly three hours later.
There were various kinds of food, so she could choose what she liked, and the bathroom and nursing were also done without any trouble under the guidance of the androids.
Hwang Sun-young put down her fork as she felt nervous after a few bites.
Then a voice echoed in the shelter.
“Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Stop making a fuss and sit down.”
“Am I making a fuss now? Is it wrong to get one more lunch box?”
The man argued with the android in excitement.
It seemed that he had inflated the number of people and tried to get more meals, but was stopped.
The megacity tried its best to filter out such people, but it was inevitable that some would sneak in, since there were so many residents.
He bragged about how great his connections were.
It looked like he had relatives in the Blue House.
The android smiled sarcastically.
“Is that so? My connection is the president.”
“What?”
The android called a drone and warned him.
“Warning: CP of citizen number IT-M-8376312 is deducted. Reason: Embezzlement. Current CP: 54”
“Your CP is very low. If you do this again, you will become a restricted citizen. Be careful.”
The man quickly shut his mouth and rolled his eyes.
He had heard enough about restricted and isolated citizens since he came here not long ago.
There was no way to increase CP other than living without causing trouble.
It was very hard to raise CP, but it could drop in an instant, which angered many people.
But that was the story of those who caused trouble.
People who never had to visit the police station in their lives were good at managing their CP.
When the commotion died down, Hwang Sun-young looked at him with contempt.
“That guy won’t last long.”
Living in the megacity, one could tell who would become a resident and who wouldn’t.
If one caused various accidents and their CP fluctuated, their fate was almost decided.
They would either become isolated citizens and be locked up in a space prison, or cause more trouble and be expelled.
Anyway, they wouldn’t live a normal life.
The man lost his momentum and grumbled about when his CP had dropped so much, but it was his own fault.
Hwang Sun-young, who was fearless, had never lost CP since she came here.
“CP that will go down will go down eventually.”
Lucia said something out of the blue, and Hwang Sun-young nodded.
She didn’t know who said it, but it didn’t seem wrong.
The shelter was quiet after that, but suddenly the screen changed.
A live space image taken by a satellite controlled by the United Human Federation appeared.
“The Plague Cocoon is entering the atmosphere. There are five cocoons falling this time, and one of them is expected to fall in the North Pacific.”
People murmured as the cocoon’s falling orbit appeared on the screen.
It wasn’t far from Terra Island.
“Five? Not just one?”
“This is bad…”
“Are we safe here?”
As if to answer that, a notification popped up on the screen.
“To prepare for a level 4 tsunami, the outer wall of the megacity will be extended to 100 meters.”
“East coast citizens, please evacuate to higher places immediately.”
The height of the outer wall on the east side of the megacity rose to 100 meters as a transform phenomenon occurred.
The upper parts of countless buildings changed their appearance and completely covered the sky.
Then the whole megacity became a dome-shaped structure.
The citizens had often seen the city change its shape, but it was the first time it applied to the whole city.
“Wow, this place is crazy.”
“The whole megacity is a huge defense facility.”
“But do we need this to fight one Plague?”
“The president saw it with his foresight. He said more will come later.”
“A nuclear bomb would kill it cleanly. Do we need this?”
“There’s no guarantee that a nuclear bomb will kill it later.”
Such conversations showed how anxious people were.
They were worried about how to deal with five cocoons, not just one.
They said that more than 10,000 people died in the France incident.
As Hwang Sun-young looked around nervously, Lucia hugged her from behind.
“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”
“I hope so…”
She was safe here with the megacity, but she was worried about other places.
Meanwhile, the cocoon was falling at a fast speed.
“Collision in 20 seconds, 19, 18, 17…”
As the countdown began, Hwang Sun-young grabbed Lucia’s arm that hugged her.
She felt something big was about to happen.
“Collision”
The whole megacity shook slightly.
The cocoon that fell in the North Pacific evaporated the surrounding seawater and created a 70-meter-high tsunami.
Tsunami warnings rang out on the islands and lands around the megacity.
***
The countries only found out that five cocoons were approaching Earth after the United Human Federation sent them the data.
It was inevitable.
Astronomy, especially space, was difficult to observe except for the United States, and asteroid warnings were a very low-investment field.
The public thought that the United States was monitoring the entire Earth, but that was not the case.
Even with 2,500 satellites under control, it was a stark reality that they could not detect a single cocoon.
The Earth was too big, after all.
Anyway, the countries were shocked when they confirmed the falling orbit of the cocoons.
-Five? And two of them are on land, not in the sea?
-We have to evacuate people right now.
The five cocoons were expected to fall in the North Pacific, Siberia, North Africa, and the Atlantic and North America respectively.
Most of them were uninhabited areas, but there was one problem: New Jersey in the eastern United States.
A cocoon weighing over 20,000 tons would cause a disaster if it fell near a big city.
Even if it didn’t mean the end of America, it had enough power to destroy a city.
And it was too fast.
NASA doubted the data of 55 km per second sent by the United Human Federation, but there was no change in the fact that they had to act quickly.
—The energy of the cocoon’s fall alone is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear warhead! We have to evacuate immediately!
But the problem was that New York was included in the evacuation range suggested by the United Human Federation.
The White House held a countermeasure meeting, but everyone looked puzzled.
“It’s absurd to evacuate ten million people.”
“More people might die from evacuating, Mr. President.”
“Isn’t it strange? The falling point of the cocoon keeps changing.”
“That’s because the cocoon is constantly adjusting its falling point. It has intelligence, so it knows where to fall to cause more damage.”
That was the information sent by the United Human Federation.
But this information was very suspicious, because all the cocoons so far had fallen into the sea.
If increasing damage was Plague’s goal, they should have all fallen on land.
They didn’t explain that maintaining five cocoons amplified their side fields and widened their detection range.
They had been smashed several times for explaining everything and asking for consent.
President Bernstein pondered and connected a hotline to the United Human Federation.
“How reliable is this information?”
“100%. If you don’t evacuate now, hundreds of thousands of people will die.”
“Are you serious?”
“6,721 seconds left. The number of deaths depends on how quickly the president gives the order.”
“…”
President Bernstein silently hung up the phone and instructed.
“Contact the governor. Evacuate all the citizens.”
The evacuation order was issued, and the same thing that happened in France happened in New York.
The narrow roads were filled with cars, and people started running and screaming.
It was a huge chaos, incomparable to France, with a population of nearly ten million.
People dragged and abandoned their belongings, and some lost their children.
In the midst of that, gunshots were heard, and it was a total mess.
The New York City authorities were terrified when they received a report that 30 minutes had passed and the citizens had not evacuated.
“Queensboro Bridge is completely a parking lot! Traffic is impossible!”
“There’s a riot in southern Brooklyn! We need reinforcements immediately!”
The thugs who took advantage of the confusion and raided the houses and shops were also a problem.
The New York police were busy controlling the overflowing citizens, and everything was a mess.
The city that never sleeps fell into such a chaos, but the cocoon was still being sucked into Earth’s gravity.
The United Human Federation finalized the falling orbit of the cocoon 30 minutes before the collision.
“1,530 km northeast of Terra Island, 320 km north of Norilsk in Siberia…”
All the falling points were revealed, and the United States shuddered when they learned that it would fall in Lower Manhattan in New York.
There were too many people around.
The refugees flocked in and most of the roads turned into parking lots. The citizens had to run with only one piece of luggage.
There were also many who ignored the evacuation order and hid in their homes or caused trouble.
The governor of New York sweated profusely as he directed the evacuation, but he received a report that less than 30% of the citizens had evacuated.
It was hopeless.
As everyone looked at the sky, a bright light exploded out of nowhere.
The White House was startled, thinking that the asteroid had already fallen, but it wasn’t.
“A Seoul-class battleship fired a missile?”
“Yes. They said they apologize for not getting permission because it was urgent.”
“…Where is that ship now?”
“Well, they didn’t tell me the exact location, but they’re in space.”
The missile fired from space exploded near the cocoon and pushed it away.
It must have been an antimatter warhead.
The news came that the cocoon’s falling orbit had changed slightly.
“The falling point has changed to 90 km south of Long Island!”
“That’s good enough!”
They clenched their fists.
It seemed that the cocoon was not destroyed, but it was enough to change its orbit.
That one missile had saved the lives of tens of thousands who had not evacuated.
As the cocoon entered the atmosphere, the US military activated the high-altitude air defense network, but it was too fast.
It was no joke to respond to 55 km per second. It was realistically impossible.
Even if they hit it directly, they doubted if the cocoon would be damaged.
Anyway, the cocoon ignored all the US military’s efforts and fell into the sea south of Long Island, engulfed in flames.
A large amount of seawater evaporated and the surrounding air and water rushed out.
On Long Island and other lands, tsunami warnings had already sounded and people were going up to high places. It was a chaos.
Then the tsunami hit and destroyed tens of thousands of houses and blacked out the area.
That’s how five cocoons fell one after another.
Now the US’s attention was focused on the cocoon that sank to the seabed.
“We have to lure it.”
In the White House bunker, they argued that they had to lure the monster as soon as it came out.
They couldn’t detonate a megaton-class nuclear warhead near New York.
They had to mobilize a fleet for that, but they were worried that the intelligent creature would follow them.
President Bernstein looked through the report with a heavy face and heard his secretary’s whisper.
“There was a megaton-class explosion in the North Pacific.”
“Yeah? They must have annihilated it there.”
“Yes. Earth Fleet is heading straight to Siberia.”
They must have had a reason to mobilize a fleet instead of firing missiles.
He didn’t know what it was, but the United Human Federation knew well about Plague and planned to destroy them one by one as they circled the Earth.
The US was last in order, so they couldn’t expect any help.
Bernstein shivered with an unlikely chill.
He thought that the US should join hands with the United Human Federation even if they had to concede, but the public opinion and political views were not so.
Would they be able to break their pride if they suffered a great damage this time?
‘I doubt it…’
Statistically, about 15% of Americans believed in flat Earth theory.
There were also many who rejected modern medicine and devoted themselves to self-treatment, and even some who denied the existence of Plague.
Especially, there were many forces that believed in conspiracy theories about Yu Ji-ha.
—Why do monsters come to Earth? Because of Yu Ji-ha. If we kill Yu Ji-ha, monsters won’t come either.
—Yu Ji-ha’s goal is to destroy the world with monsters and then rule it. All countries should make Yu Ji-ha’s elimination their top priority.
What kind of ruling after destroying the world?
More than ten million Americans seriously believed in such delusions.
As the United Human Federation rose suddenly, the economy worsened and jobs decreased, so they resented them.
The real problem was that the Democratic Party claimed that they should exclude Yu Ji-ha as their supporters.
‘Our interests are important, of course. But surviving is more important.’
The Democratic Party and their supporters seemed to not know that.
No, they pretended not to know even though they knew.
There was a noisy debate over the fleet mobilization issue in the bunker, and President Bernstein looked at the sea boiling with heat.
He felt that a real disaster was about to happen.
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