Chapter 180: Hand Over the Bundle
The world was struck by the wire disease caused by the plague swarm.
This terrible disease destroyed the metal elements’ bonding structure in a short time.
Only a few metals, such as mercury and black metal, could withstand it.
Dozens of cities collapsed, and buildings were sinking at this very moment.
“I can’t believe it! The skyscrapers in Madrid are falling down one by one! Luckily, our helicopter is… Aaah!”
“The ships anchored at the port are disappearing without a trace! Is this really the work of the cosmic monster, as he prophesied? Or is it God’s curse?”
While countless citizens were dying, those who had believed Yu Ji-ha’s words and fled early did not boast of their foresight, but only stared blankly at the crumbling city.
“My house is collapsing…”
“It’s all over now…”
The existence of the plague was certainly threatening, but most people did not recognize it.
It was because they tended to ignore things that were not related to them, as was the characteristic of modern society.
Many people had also dismissed the plague swarm that Yu Ji-ha had emphasized and warned about.
―How could humanity be destroyed by some cosmic monster? The government is not stupid, they will handle it.
There were some people who prepared seriously, but most of them thought like this.
Even though there was no guarantee that the peace so far would continue in the future.
Anyway, this disaster was so huge that there were very few people who could say that it had nothing to do with them.
Even the broadcasters who had been critical of Yu Ji-ha until now were sighing that it was a disaster that was too hard to cope with.
But not all cities were destroyed by the wire disease.
The United Federation of Humanity and Russia, Germany and several countries in East Asia succeeded in escaping from the threat of the plague swarm.
It helped that Earth Fleet was holding on to Terra Island and Yu Ji-ha intercepted a large number of them with his assault armor.
But they couldn’t save everything, so some cities like Qingdao in China and Nagoya in Japan were hit directly.
“The sky is falling!”
“Run outside! Keep your head down!”
They were quick to respond because they had suffered from earthquakes a lot.
In the meantime, Yu Ji-ha and Dingo flew through Southeast Asia and headed for India to intercept Ford, then flew to the Middle East.
It took only a few minutes to fly almost 10,000 kilometers.
But at that price, he was in a serious injury.
‘My body can’t handle it more than I thought.’
Ether responsiveness and circuits were closely related to the soul, but not so much to the body.
Of course, a healthy body would be easier to accept and use ether, but Yu Ji-ha was far beyond that level.
At some point, the virtual ether organ engraved on his right chest glowed brightly and a burning pain eroded his body.
‘Chief Engineer, at this rate…’
He barely managed to recover his blurred vision.
The cerebrospinal fluid became cloudy and there was a delay in feedback, but he solved it by entering brainwave signals 0.05 seconds earlier.
It was almost a miracle that he did so while flying at 200 km per hour and intercepting Ford.
If he had been an ordinary pilot, he would have given up halfway through, but he dragged his assault armor up to Russia.
His physical condition was worse than he expected.
When Arma did a medical check through the cockpit, he had to land immediately.
Most of the tremendous acceleration was ignored by the ether field, but some of it was directly transferred to his body.
Yu Ji-ha had to endure almost 20G of murderous acceleration.
‘I need a particle suit.’
Unfortunately, there was no particle suit in the database of Settler either.
It wasn’t very difficult to make one as long as you did nanomachine research, but you had to be careful.
Yu Ji-ha wiped off the liquid dripping from his nose and headed straight for Russia.
President Mikhailov mobilized the army to evacuate people, so Moscow and St. Petersburg were empty.
Most of the citizens were staying in tents in the suburbs when they saw a golden line drawn in the air and started cheering.
“He’s here!”
“Ooooooh!”
For most Russians, Yu Ji-ha’s name was a symbol of trust and hope.
Of course, this good relationship was a result of his plan, but anyway their lives were improving so it didn’t matter.
They all raised their arms and cheered when suddenly a white light flashed in the distance.
The hafnium-2 warhead separated from the assault armor exploded and swept away Ford where the plague swarm was stored.
Despite the shock wave and strong wind blowing belatedly, Russians did not stop cheering.
“This is it!”
“This is really a damn cool festival!”
For rough Russians, this huge disaster seemed like nothing too.
Yu Ji-ha and his assault armor left Russia and turned to Europe.
His body was so painful that it felt like it was breaking, and the helmet was full of blood.
He resorted to the last resort of injecting a mixture of painkillers and typhon beyond the allowable amount.
A mechanical arm stretched out from the cockpit and stabbed a syringe into his thigh.
“Master, your heartbeat is irregular. I can’t recommend any more flight.”
‘I have to do it anyway.’
His brain was so overworked that the image sent by the biochip began to blur.
Still, he couldn’t stop.
Just a little more.
‘Just a little more!’
The assault armor crossed the Atlantic at a tremendous speed.
When Yu Ji-ha’s consciousness faded in the middle, the ether field was briefly released.
Despite the high altitude, the seawater evaporated in a straight line and a loud noise erupted.
Kwakwakwakwa―
As a result, the innocent citizens of the Azores suffered from broken windows.
When they looked up, the assault armor had arrived on the east coast of America and was crossing the continent after receiving information.
“Most of the attacks are over, and LA and San Francisco in California are left.”
‘Do we have time?’
“It’s close. You might have to give up one place.”
‘Reflecter bits from satellites. I’ll control them.’
“Master’s brain may be damaged.”
Moving reflecter bits was an application of psych field, but calculating distance and angle was purely brain’s job.
Even with the help of biochip, he couldn’t prevent his brain from being overworked.
Nevertheless, Yu Ji-ha gave an order to eject without hesitation.
“Satellite control system and master’s biochip are now connected.”
‘Eject.’
Nearly 100 reflecter bits were ejected from two satellites.
The bits controlled by Yu Ji-ha’s brain spread out in space and formed a certain angle.
‘Laser at maximum output.’
A golden laser beam shot from the Sibiri satellite and reflected several times on the reflector bits.
Hundreds of pulse lasers pierced through the clouds and descended to the ground.
It was a dangerous situation where a slight mistake could cause the high-powered laser to bomb the city.
But Yu Ji-ha’s calculation was perfect.
The reflector bits ejected from the assault armor accurately reflected the laser.
For a moment, a golden spider web seemed to hang over LA.
Ford, who was about to release the swarm, was penetrated by the ether laser and disappeared without a trace.
As the second and third laser bombings continued, hundreds of Fords exploded in the air.
Papapapang!
A dizzying fireworks display unfolded over downtown LA.
The people did not understand what was going on, but President Bernstein, who was in the bunker, clenched his fist.
“Yes! That’s it!”
He had been briefed beforehand, so he knew what had happened.
Yu Ji-ha, who had circled the earth two-thirds of the way, had intercepted the plague swarm that appeared over LA.
What looked like a spider web was an ether laser, a high-powered weapon that was different from iron beams.
It could easily cut through buildings, so one could imagine how dangerous it was.
The assault armor headed straight for San Francisco and slowed down considerably.
Yu Ji-ha almost lost consciousness in the process of booster reverse thrusting.
His vision was blurred by the pain that enveloped his whole body, so he could not see the image of the city clearly.
But he felt exactly dozens of Fords that appeared over San Francisco.
They were spewing out his most hated psy-field.
‘This is… the end!’
Decades of fighting experience created the optimal altitude and timing.
Dingo followed the flock of Fords with a dizzying trajectory and detached the warhead.
Kukung.
A huge explosion occurred over San Francisco and the assault armor was thrown away by the shockwave.
The armed Ford prepared by Arma flew up and wrapped around the assault armor from both sides.
「The final interception rate is 97.65%. Good job, master. Please rest well.」
He did not hear her words.
Dingo fainted and was taken to Settler.
***
The world that experienced wireworms trembled at their vicious power.
No accurate count was made, but it was certain that they had suffered tremendous damage.
Skyscrapers and apartments collapsed, bridges and vehicles were smashed, and only a few survived.
Some media reported that millions of people died worldwide and suffered fierce criticism.
—That’s a lie! There’s no way that many people died!
—Why did they have to announce that at this point? Shouldn’t we mourn for the dead first?
But it was true that they didn’t have much room to protest.
The cities that suffered heavy damage from wireworms completely lost their functions.
Most of the citizens lost their homes and became homeless.
Humanity faced destruction created by plague.
Of course, there were countries that did not suffer much damage.
A few countries, including the United Human Federation, survived with minimal damage in this disaster.
There were eyewitness accounts of seeing new-shaped fighters and golden lines in several cities, but they did not make much of a splash.
The damage was too great.
A few percent of humanity lost their minds in direct disaster.
Everyone just stared blankly at the ruined city without even thinking about recovery.
In the midst of this, opinions began to emerge as to why the United Human Federation was fine.
—The United Human Federation foresaw this situation and prepared perfectly. It was possible because they had Yu Ji-ha.
—Black metal did not decompose even by wireworms. It’s an amazing metal.
—They built a huge city with black metal, so it naturally became a defense.
—Yu Ji-ha warned us in advance, but most of us did not take it seriously because of circumstances. We are paying for it now.
—Let’s discuss it at the UN General Assembly first.
The General Assembly was held, but no proper discussion took place because major powers such as the United Human Federation, the United States, and Russia did not attend.
Even France and Germany did not show up, so they wondered what kind of assembly it was for.
The atmosphere was not good either. As soon as Britain’s keynote speech ended, boos erupted everywhere.
“There are so many empty seats just after the keynote speech. I don’t know what this assembly means.”
“It’s a waste of time to discuss anything when there is no United Human Federation, America, Russia or Germany. Let’s stop now.”
“It would be better for you to go to the recovery site and dig a shovel for your country.”
Amidst criticism voices, the assembly proceeded anyway.
Some countries appealed for support as they suffered too much damage. Some diplomats pointed out that the United Human Federation was fine.
“It literally survived alone. I wonder if the name of the alliance is appropriate for such a country.”
They said it because there was no one from the United Human Federation anyway, and quite a few sympathizers came out.
“That’s right. According to the information we obtained, the United Human Federation only had a few hundred injured. They survived by building shelters in places other than megacities. If they had only helped us a little, so many people would not have died.”
“How did they build those shelters? I have a rough idea, though.”
“They said they piled up black metal in an instant. If they had only wanted to help us, more shelters could have been built. More people could have survived.”
Strictly speaking, this was wrong.
Yu Ji-ha had warned several times about the danger of plague through Arma and Vice Chief Baek Sungmin, and said he could cooperate if they wanted.
Those who ignored all that were the countries that were ‘not friendly with Yu Ji-ha’, including the Middle East.
The Iranian diplomat raised his voice with blood in his neck.
“He said he would build an ark to preserve humanity? How can he say that when he almost watched this situation? He is not a savior of humanity, but a traitor!”
“That’s right!”
“We need to demand more information from him!”
“Make him attend the assembly!”
Voices of agreement popped up everywhere.
But there was no big country that could make such a demand to Yu Ji-ha.
It was just a part of getting more influence in the UN and getting more support.
They still had to listen to the scarecrow sound because there were still many countries joined.
The diplomats from various countries stood up and the already noisy assembly atmosphere turned into a mess.
Overall, they demanded a responsible attitude from Yu Ji-ha.
They claimed that he had a considerable stake in the damage they suffered.
—Our people died because he did not warn us enough. We can’t let him off the hook, but we’ll be satisfied if he visits our country and expresses his condolences.
—How did he manage to keep the United Human Federation intact? He has to reveal his method.
As the impudent voices grew louder, suddenly a few people approached the podium.
They were President Bernstein of the United States, President Mikhailov of Russia, and their entourage.
The assembly hall quickly turned into a buzzing atmosphere.
They were not members of the UN, so they had no right to attend and speak at the assembly, but no one could stop them.
President Bernstein apologized and took over the podium.
“I have taken an unauthorized place. It is to point out the irresponsible attitude and nonsense of the UN diplomats.”
He dropped a bombshell from the start.
“What are you talking about?”
As protests arose here and there, he raised his voice.
“The reason you can talk nonsense here is because of President Yu’s help. He flew a specially made fighter around the world. He saved many people by intercepting countless plagues. You must have seen the huge explosions and ether lasers witnessed in the skies of various countries.”
The diplomats’ eyes wavered.
There were quite a lot of such eyewitness accounts, but they did not become a hot topic because the situation was so serious.
How important was it to witness an unidentified explosion and fighter while the city was collapsing and people were dying?
But according to Bernstein’s remarks, it was not something insignificant.
“In that short moment when Coon exploded and wireworms spread, President Yu’s fighter flew in the sky of the world. He smashed thousands of plagues. His flight trajectory is as follows. Shanghai, China. Offshore Jakarta, Indonesia, Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal…”
A total of 100 places popped up, and the diplomats of the named countries could not hide their embarrassment.
“Well, there was an explosion.”
“Are you saying that our city was spared thanks to President Yu?”
“Wait a minute, are you saying that he saved millions of people?”
“That’s impossible. It’s impossible to travel around the world in such a short time.”
“Who do you think he is?”
There was a thud sound, and it turned out that President Mikhailov had taken over the podium and was kicking his shoes repeatedly.
Did those Russians not speak unless they were excited?
Everyone looked at him with disbelief, but he shouted with anger.
“You are all stupid beyond measure! You only denied everything about him, so you experienced this situation! You should be ashamed!”
“Isn’t that too harsh?”
Someone got up with a sigh and he glared at him.
“It’s China that’s harsh! President Yu saved you, your people and your city without even knowing it, and you’re making such a noise? Does it make sense? Don’t you have any conscience as a human being?”
“…”
If this was true, China and he were committing a very big breach of etiquette.
He couldn’t imagine how many casualties there would have been if Shanghai had collapsed.
The state councilor was silent and Bernstein spoke quietly.
“We, humanity, owe President Yu a great debt. But it seems that you have no intention of repaying it by your attitude. I will surely tell him when he wakes up.”
His firm statement made the diplomats flustered and they got up hesitantly.
“We didn’t mean that…”
“There were so many casualties, right? It seems that there were some rough remarks in the process of expressing regret.”
But they ignored them and left with their entourage.
All that remained were diplomats standing in confusion.
And Yu Ji-ha, who had been in a healing capsule for three days, opened his eyes.
He saw Arma holding a towel in his eyes.
She seemed to be alive fortunately.
Yu Ji-ha closed his eyes again.
He was tired…
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