Apocalypse Shelter Administrator

Metacraft Cybernetics (7)

The remains of the general, now reduced to a skeleton, lay slumped in the chair while staring down at the floor.

"A commander who lost all his troops."

I, too, had led many troops during my active duty, and I had experienced the loss of subordinates I had shared meals and familiar faces with.

The emotions I felt back then—anger, sadness, fear. Because they weren't soldiers I was particularly close with, those feelings didn't overwhelm my daily life. But in terms of vividness, those memories stand out more than anything else.

What would it have been like if I had lost comrades I was close to? What if the memories of loss, piling up over time like clothes soaked by a drizzle, weighed heavier and heavier on my mind?

On the CCTV footage, I saw security robots searching Research Wing 5 in pairs.

"Seeing it like this, having robots around is really convenient."

[Of course. They're stronger and more efficient than a human army.]

"That's true, but I'm talking about something else."

Not far from here, several robots lay scattered on the ground, their bodies damaged from the intense battle they had fought. After the operation is over, they'll be brought back to the shelter for repairs. If that's not possible, they'll be dismantled for parts.

"It's a dangerous world, and we're on a dangerous journey. But even if we lose soldiers, I don't feel conflicted about it."

I picked up the fallen pistol. A notification appeared on the PDA about the item I had collected. In a typical situation, I'd search the general's body for a security card or something similar, but that wasn't necessary. As a reserve commander, I had secured full control of the base, and that authority had been transferred to Artemis.

"Show me the footage from each area. Have all the infected been cleared?"

Artemis zoomed in on one of the dozens of CCTV monitor feeds. A few infected, wearing hard hats and construction uniforms, were seen wandering around what looked like a sewer.

[There are a few, but they're trapped in the reservoir room below. There's no need to worry. Just leave them there.]

I considered sending a squad to finish them off but decided against it. No point in stirring up trouble when I didn't know what might happen.

"Turn on the lights in the underground lab and run the ventilation at full capacity. The air down here is half-rotten, and the smell of gunpowder is thick."

[Understood.]

As Artemis replied, the CCTV monitors all blinked white before the visuals slowly returned. With the lights now on, I could see previously unnoticed details—traces of infection spreading right after the incident. What stood out were the blood-stained handprints all over the glass walls of the lab.

When I replayed the CCTV footage from the time of infection, it was utter chaos. Soldiers going from wing to wing, executing test subjects strapped to the experiment tables, were ambushed and killed in confusion by the infected from both sides.

Soldiers firing at the fast-moving mutated infected, accidentally gunning down their own comrades in the process. A soldier who, while lying on the ground with his head in his hands, reached out with just one arm among the infected before succumbing.

Another soldier, staring in disbelief at the hand that pierced his back and out of his chest, spat out blood in shock. Researchers who fled, only to be gunned down by friendly fire, collapsing like a hive struck down. At that point, the few remaining soldiers didn’t even seem to care if they were shooting at monsters or survivors.

One researcher, in a desperate bid, tried to hang himself with a makeshift noose in a corner of the lab. But the noose broke, causing him to fail in his suicide attempt. As he lay on the floor gasping, he was discovered by the infected. Frantically, he tried to tie the rope again to the ceiling, but before he could finish, the door was broken down, and he was dragged away by the infected while screaming in terror.

[Sector secured. No life signs detected. The area is safe.]

A report came in from the squad that was sweeping Research Wing 5.

"Good. We're moving." I grabbed my rifle again and headed toward the last research wing. Now was the moment to achieve the final objective of coming to this research facility.

At the end of the tunnel, there was even an improvised checkpoint like you'd expect to find in a military base. I realized that placing the disaster prevention room in the middle wasn’t just for operational reasons. It was probably to reinforce security by stationing military forces there.

As soon as I entered the last research wing, I was shocked by what I saw.

"Of course, there was a reason to keep this place so tightly locked up."

[This is less of a research wing and more like a mass surgery room.]

Artemis was right. The final area, Research Wing 5, was more like a field hospital. Everywhere I looked, there were surgical tables. The tools and restraints scattered around suggested the procedures performed here were anything but normal.

Each surgical table had cables on it, the ends of which were stained with dried blood. The cables all converged at the center of the research wing, where a massive machine stood.

"Is this the machine used for neural acceleration research?"

[Technically, it’s a prototype virtual reality experience machine. But unlike typical VR, this one doesn’t work indirectly. It transfers the entire human consciousness into a virtual space.]

The machine looked nothing like I had imagined. I had expected a huge computer or something resembling an MRI machine from a hospital, but my imagination must have fallen short.

"This… is a brain in a vat?”

Literally, right in front of me was a massive glass tank large enough to hold an adult elephant. Inside, there was a brain filling about 30% of the tank's volume. The cables extending from each surgical table entered the tank and connected to the long spinal cord bundle at the base of the brain.

The sight of this fusion between biological spinal tissue and inorganic cables… Should I be in awe of their technological prowess? Or feel horrified? If this place had been lined with the bodies of test subjects all hooked up to it, it would have been even more grotesque.

While I was walking around the brain in the tank and observing it, Artemis was absorbing all the data from this research sector.

[I’ve reviewed all the research logs. The initial study was like The Matrix, trying to link a human brain to a computer. Well, it's not a revolutionary idea—pretty common thinking, really.]

"What were the results?"

[Complete failure. As simple as the concept was, its execution was extraordinarily difficult. Making the human brain, a biological organ, compatible with machinery is no easy feat. It’s something you’d only expect to see in a movie. At least with the current level of technology.]

She wasn’t wrong.

Androids.

Artificial intelligence with a sense of self.

Commercialized nuclear fusion power.

We’ve achieved many things that people a generation ago would have scoffed at as impossible. But not everything has become feasible.

Among those barriers, the hardest one to overcome is ourselves. While technology continues to advance at breakneck speed, the ways we command it remain analog. Many research projects have tried to solve this, but none have succeeded. The gap between organic life and machines is simply too wide.

[So the scientists here changed their approach. If it was too hard to merge biology with machines, what about fusing two biological entities together instead? Specifically, with a biological computer that has a neural network similar to the human brain.]

“How did they make that thing?”

It looked nothing like a human brain, in form or size.

[That brain was made somewhere else and sent here. Unfortunately, its origin has been erased from the records, so I can’t tell you where. I’m curious too.]

“Is it still alive?”

The massive brain was immersed in some bubbling fluid, and it didn’t look to be in bad shape from the outside.

[No, according to the records, it stopped functioning biologically two days after the infection outbreak. It seems to require incredibly precise maintenance to keep it working.]

“Would it be worth taking it with us?”

It seemed valuable for research purposes. Maybe not for me, but Artemis might be able to extract something useful from it.

[No need for that. It’s too big to carry, and it’s already rotten inside, so it’s practically useless. Besides, I’ve secured all the research on neural acceleration, so we’ve got what we came for.]

From the computers connected to the giant brain, I was able to retrieve all the data on neural acceleration. Apparently, the technology had been completed just before the outbreak. After that, they were focusing on increasing response speed and researching ways to alleviate the neural strain caused by it.

[Let’s head back. Our job here is done.]

I nodded in agreement to Artemis’s words.

“Let’s pull out.”

I felt both the thrill of completing my first external expedition and the excitement of returning home. And one more thing—the pounding anticipation in my chest. The incredible movements displayed by the mutated infected… I now had in my hands the technology that made them possible.

For any soldier, the idea of implants that enhance combat ability and survivability has always been something to aspire to. But with the enormous costs involved, it was usually an impossible dream. Only the privileged, like my fellow cadet, who happened to be the son of a general, could afford it.

Competing against someone like that, who began their military career with enhancements, was frustrating. Because regardless of effort or talent, the gap in promotions—the most crucial thing for a soldier—was significant.

The world may have changed now, rendering promotions and the military meaningless, but I’d finally gotten my hands on the enhancement implants I’d always longed for. It felt like I’d become a child who had finally received the toy he’d wanted for so long.