Moon Theory (ABO)Ch100 - warning, signal lost

thank you to anon again for the kofi! the support means so much ; w ;

“This is the last batch,” says a uniformed worker as he makes his way down the blue hallways. He drags a trolley along and to his right is a group of five. Ahead is a section sealed and deadbolted – ‘depository C, west wing’ the laminated plate reads above the entranceway. The man taps his identification card on the reader, places his palm on the sensor, and undergoes an iris scan before a valid buzz is heard. fEoBew

He turns toward the group and nods. “I trust you may take care of things here. You’ve permission from Dr. Shi, correct?”

In front of him, a young woman nods and shows him a badge. “I’m Aria Miyahara, Dr. Shi’s lab assistant. This badge is his as proof. You can inspect it however long you want.” She neatly tucks back a lock of dark gray hair and gives him a cheeky smile. “Haven’t we confirmed this already?”

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“I have confirmed.” The man nods and turns toward the rest of the group.

To the side, Li Jiayun gives him an awkward smile. Jae plays with his fingernails. Yoo Seok doesn’t so much as spare a glance, opting to stare at the door with a tight-lipped, pensive expression. Ming Tang, the twelve-year-old child, is lost in thought staring at the same place. 84AwBy

“…” The worker clears his throat. “I only find it unusual that Dr. Shi would request for… the First Unit and a young child to oversee the operations here. Perhaps the First Unit has their reasons, but this child – does he have authorization?”

“He’s a trainee,” Aria tells him. “He’s also Dr. Shi’s little assistant. I can assure his records are on the database for your viewing later.”

The man shakes his head. “That’s alright. I am not in charge of operations here. I have been prompted to allow you all inside. Please proceed with utmost precaution.” As he speaks, he slides the metal door open. “The genetic material will need to be placed in the east wing. If you are unfamiliar with the route, there are floorplans on most corners of the facility. Inside the—”

“—Watch out!”

Li Jiayun pushes the worker away at the same time Aria throws a valved mask over her own face. Ming Tang immediately backs out into the corridor. Jae has his rifle armed and ready to fire. Yoo Seok has already started shooting, decisively stepping into the maelstrom.

Inside the soundproof ward are countless racks toppled over, poles dislodged, containers cracked open. In the enclosed, one-fifty-square-meter space, large anomalies run rampant. Hordes of insects stream out the door as soon as it’s slid open, pillowing onward to the hallways and beyond. Yoo Seok’s uniform is tight on his body, but it is not a guarantee to block the humming bees flying at him. The soldier ducks and rolls to avoid.

“Hyung!” Jae shouts as he steps inside as well. “Wear your headgear!”

“Broken,” comes the curt reply through rapid gunfire. “Jae, go to the west—” XhHOAK

Just then, the sirens blare out, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“Abnormal activity detected in the West Wing. Retrieving surveillance data. Abnormal activity detected in the West Wing. Retriev—” The intercom also cuts off when another siren blares as well – this one by the other side of the room, toward an open corridor. “Abnormal activity detected in the East Wing. Connecting to—”

Jae yells out to be heard, catching up to the other soldier, “The East Wing is where Noah is—!”

“Let’s go!” Yoo Seok instructs as he sprints forward. Ih8Mtz

By the front entrance, Li Jiayun is trying her best to protect the three noncombatants, escorting them out and into the next section over. The uniformed worker lags behind as he hastily pulls out a comms device.

“Contacting the terminal center!” he rasps out. “There’s… there’s an emergency! Facility C has been breached!”

Overhead, the siren sounds even louder. There is no response from the terminal, but the automated defense systems have been activated, gradually sealing off all affected areas. One by one, the doors slide shut before their entry.

“Abnormal activity detected in Corridor H-210. Confirm to execute level three sec—” A loud beep sounds from the intercom. “Confirmed. Corridor H-210 access prohibited—beep—confirmed. Corridor H-211 access prohibited—confirmed. Corridor H-213—” tIvWiJ

Aria curses under her breath. “They’re locking the entire ward! We need to leave immediately!”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

The worker runs as fast as he can toward a corner, hoping to hide in an enclosed room. “Contacting the terminal center!” he tries again. “Calling for reinforcements at the West Wing! Requesting authorization to—”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

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“—Confirmed. Corridor I-190 access prohibited. Confirmed. Corridor I-191 access—error. Error. Signal unstable. System error—abnormal activity detected in the South Wing.” 86qMlQ

Ol Aljsec qertfr bqfc j vbbg jcv ertfgr Zlcu Kjcu lcrlvf. “Xb klat Zlrr Zlsjtjgj! Kjxf atf fwfgufcms rajlgr! Qtfc sbe ifjnf, mjii obg Xfc—mjii obg Jbibcfi Tjcu!”

“Cgf sbe rajslcu?” atf ybs jrxr tfg – tf’r mjiw, yea tlr fsfr jgf vlijafv ogbw jvgfcjilcf. “Ktf fcalgf ojmlilas lr yflcu dejgjcalcfv. Tbe kbc’a yf jyif ab ifjnf.”

“I know.” The young soldier gives him a pat on the head. “But I am a First Unit soldier as well.”

— GNiTXa

“Hyung, take this!”

A helmet flies into the air and slaps Yoo Seok on the shoulder. The man catches it instinctively afterward, but his face remains unamused. He blasts a large reptile on the head, swerves an entire shower of blood and turns toward a doe-eyed soldier.

Yoo Seok holds the helmet with one hand. “What are you doing?”

“Obviously! Giving you! My headgear!” Jae responds back as he struggles with a horned bird. He kicks it aside and shoots its wing, only for it to come back with a vengeance. “Where are all these—coming from?! There are way too many, hyung, and no anomalies have broken out of the crates before. It’s impossible for these orange-level threats to crack through, so why…!” HSLXOs

“These anomalies…” Yoo Seok is quickening his pace through the corridor as he speaks. “A bulk of them are General Xie’s captures two weeks prior. Look at the crate labels – the date and time match up. Certainly, it’s strange for there to be an outbreak of this scale, unless…”

“Unless?” Jae prompts as he follows behind, trying his best to avoid the creatures on the way. They haven’t the time nor the firepower to blast the whole way through. Two soldiers, two rifles and two handguns – it’d be a miracle for them to even survive through this mess. “Well, hyung, I’m telling you there’s always been something strange in these boxes. I’ve been hearing sounds out of them for days and the locks—”

“The locks are not reinforced,” Yoo Seok finishes. “Easily broken and I may go further to say they’ve been tampered with – and only recently, too. The shipment process is not often so haphazard. Coincidentally, the day this outbreak happens is the same day of the summit meeting. Security is more focused elsewhere and…”

He turns the corner and makes through the east corridor. “General Xie has skipped the border screening process. Such coincidences do not happen so opportunely.” wz2OgF

Jae frowns as he keeps up. “If the outbreak is deliberate like you’re trying to imply, hyung, then the general’s motives are unknown. What is he trying to do? There is no personal gain for him to set these anomalies loose.”

“I cannot hope to gauge what goes on in General Xie’s head. That man is… well, not even an autobiography would cover his account.” Before Yoo Seok enters the next ward, he turns to his companion with an indecipherable gaze. “But I believe this is a… revolution?”

Jae ponders the meaning, but slowly shakes his head. “I don’t understand it.”

“There will be sacrifices,” Yoo Seok only says simply as he refixes his headgear. “Let’s go forward, Jae.” L3GHIt

The sirens ring out incessantly, each corner of the facility lit up in strobe whites. The emergency flashers have been activated some time ago, and both soldiers are quick to run inside the west ward. With their rifles equipped, they scan the vicinity, trying to catch sight of a familiar person.

At the same time, the intercom goes off continuously. “Warning, power sources low. Generator error. Control systems normal. Backup ventilation systems activated.”

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The machine voice is followed by a broken tap, and then a human voice is emitted from a mic. The syllables are choppy, the frequency unstable. “This is the terminal center. Facility C…experiencing an… We are currently… All personnel…remain in place…”

Yoo Seok dodges a predatory grouse and jumps over some steel debris. He says loudly over the gunshots, “The outbreak is not only confined to this ward. It seems the control center is experiencing radio interruptions. Either some creatures have dispersed into the vents and water sources, or there was more than one point of transmission. Jae, have you found—” v3CV2Q

This very second, a loud crash comes from the side. A silver-haired man collides against a hard surface, both him and the metal rack sent forcefully onto another pile of wreckage. Noah coughs and wipes the blood off his cheek. He reaches behind him, dislodges a steel beam from its socket and uses it as a cane to hoist himself up.

The young man is battered, bruised and heavily cut. The external injuries aren’t only suffered just now either. He’s wrapped head to toe in bandages that are now half-torn.

“Noah!” Jae calls out as he jumps over to provide support. He takes ahold of Noah’s collapsing body and moves him to a corner further off.

Noah staggers in his steps, breathing heavily as he leans against the wall. “…You…are here…?” His words are raspy and his tone uncertain. “You should…leave the area… What is… the situation?” C1VB U

“The situation is… not good!” Jae speaks frantically. “Don’t you hear the sirens?! They’re quarantining the entire facility, and I think every floor’s been compromised by now!”

“The sirens…?” Noah furrows his brows. He tries to concentrate on the noise before shaking his head, pointing at his ears. “…I can hear them now, but not very clearly… Also, my head is splitting… in half.”

“—Ahh!” Jae abruptly screams as he fends off a coiling reptile. “What is that… earthworm?! Blindsnake?! Why is it so large…?!”

“…Sorry,” Noah says with a small frown. “You have to speak louder. I can’t hear you well either.” H4Cn1w

“Noah, come with me! We’re leaving right now!” Jae just about screams beside him, but Noah is still lagged behind. In the small space, the two don’t have much room to run, however. The young soldier tries to clear a path for them both. “There are emergency staircases on the lower wing, but I don’t know if the section leading to it is closed off. The control center is not responding to comms, and I’m afraid that—!”

A scaly, reptile-like creature snaps up at them at an unseen speed. It’s a deadly mix of guinea crocodile and some other swamp beast with a long, angled jaw and protruding fangs. It’s easily quadruple the size of a human, though the heavy weight doesn’t seem to compromise any agility. The two young men dodge immediately.

“Duck!” Jae shouts as he proceeds to pry it away with the hilt of his rifle. “Duck, Noah—”

“I think…a… crocodile,” Noah has no working braincell to respond, “not a duck…!” tMRdBY

As he tries to correct, the crocodile lunges toward him. Noah fends it with a short, steel beam. It is futile, however, to hope a twenty-pound thing would overpower a thousand-pound crocodile. A solid thwack against its hide is like hitting hard metal. Noah is pinned onto racks and destroyed crates, warehouse debris and no comfortable things. Jae shoots a bullet into its skin, and the bullet seems to almost bounce off its tough scales.

It buys time, thankfully, for Noah to act. In a miraculous display of strength, he drills the entire steel beam into the creature’s eye socket. Jae grabs him, hoists him upward and the two of them make a messy break for it.

The intercom goes off again. “Abnormal activity detected in Cache C-100. Warning. High radiation readings in Cache C-100. Confirm to—error. Cache C-100, all systems—”

“Strange,” Noah rasps out. “If my understanding of the layout is correct, the cache is in the topmost floors and the main storage is underground. The breakout could not have spread so quickly from here.” jH4Bsq

“Hyung said the same,” Jae says while running. “That there might be more than one transmission point. He thinks that the setup is purposeful, that the—”

Before he can finish, the two of them come in contact with a large bear. It isn’t a full grizzly – it has now become an odd morph of mammal and human. It runs on two hindlegs, barreling toward them with frighteningly dark eyes. Where the brown fur dithers out by the cheekbone is a long scar.

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Jae suddenly pauses in place.

The young soldier’s features are schooled in confusion. It is unknown what he’s thinking, and it is unknown what Noah is thinking either, when the two of them freeze in place at the exact same time. The creature opens its mouth. VWrGko

“…Ja…”

No coherent words are formed, and perhaps it hadn’t spoken at all – a low growl replaces all other forms of speech soon after. The bear shifts immediately, its eyes turning a bloodthirsty dark red before bearing its fangs and pummeling the two young men onto the floor.

Neither had time to brace. Noah is thrown against a rack yet again, hitting against two other crates and another anomaly in the process. On the other side, Jae is bitten fiercely on the shoulder.

The young soldier is still in a state of stupefy. RTmMdJ

“Jae—!” comes the coarse shout of Yoo Seok, the other soldier tossed into battle at an unknown corner of the ward. A slew of bullets come through, embedding into the bear’s hump.

The bullet breaks Jae out of trance.

“Wait…!” He grips onto his shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding. “Wait, hyung, don’t shoot… don’t shoot it!”

Yoo Seok looks livid. His dark eyes are offset by the flashing strobe lights in the room, a manic glint overtaking his normally calm expression. There is likely an entire barrel of words at the tip of his tongue, but he only takes a sharp inhale and rushes toward the younger soldier. He pulls Jae by the wrist, turns around, grabs Noah upright and sprints to the opposite section. Yoo Seok’s actions took all of two seconds. NMESU5

Intuitively, he pulls the two younger men past the corridor over, rounds two corners and settles them both onto the floor.

“Take off your shirt, Jae,” he commands. “I’m severing the part of your shoulder.”

Jae does as asked, though his lips are pursed and his gaze downcast. “…The bite is a little deep. I think it has already entered the bloodstream.”

Yoo Seok ignores him and resolutely slices off a thin area. Jae’s breath hitches in pain, but he does not dare complain. Two more slices need to be done, and Jae’s shoulder is already mangled. Red oozes out from his wounds, dripping onto the floor underneath. 4KvDtV

The flashing lights have stopped. The entire facility is gradually dimming, all operations coming to a halt. Yoo Seok tears off his uniform sleeve and wraps it firmly around Jae’s shoulder. No words are spoken. Like this, the three men are huddled in a far-off section of the ward, awaiting death. Yoo Seok has but a few more rounds left in his assault rifle – but even if the soldiers had two more guns, they could not hope to match however many hundreds of creatures there are in here.

The insects are only multiplying, drilling themselves into the vents, pipes, every visible opening. The three people are in deadlock.

Yoo Seok speaks after a while. “Noah.”

Unbeknownst to Noah, he had fallen in and out of consciousness for the past minute. He blinks open his laggard eyes and breathes out, “…Yeah.” u89AN1

“We are certain to die in here.”

Noah takes a long time to register the words in his weakened state. “…No contact from… Command?”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“We are on the sixteenth floor of a heavily isolated facility,” Yoo Seok says. “They wouldn’t let us out regardless, else the infection would spread beyond and into the city center. Communications are down, and all Facility C employees are instructed to stay quarantined.”

“…I see.” XuU7Lh

It becomes silence once more. Yoo Seok has wrapped Jae into an embrace, quietly massaging the latter’s shoulder – actions of comfort, though the two soldiers wear forlorn expressions. It is not often that Yoo Seok lets any emotion seep from his features – yet, although the man’s posture is upright and strong, he exudes certain mournfulness.

Noah has his eyes closed.

The backup lighting has also been shut off. Around them are crashing noises, animalistic howls, frightening roars. It wouldn’t be long until this small corner is breached as well. There’s a jingle from somewhere in the vicinity, some light footsteps coming toward them at rapid speed.

Noah opens his eyes to see a vigorous Li Jiayun, the young soldier similarly scratched and battered. Yet, the redhead has a fiery, determined look in her brown eyes. There is conviction in her – a sort of look that wouldn’t be quelled even when the four of them are a minute away from certain death. Udg2Pc

“Yoo Seok,” Noah says quietly, turning to the alpha soldier. “If between your own life and the lives of tens of thousands, which would you sacrifice?”

Yoo Seok responds without much of a hitch. “It would be the latter.”

“And if it were hundreds of thousands?”

“If between his life and the lives of a billion more,” Yoo Seok says while making eye contact, “it would still be the latter that I sacrifice.” RjMVsY

“…Then…” Noah struggles to lift himself off the ground. “Come with me.”

Author: we’ve reached chapter 100…! triple digits! ahh! thank you for sticking with me for this long!

the pace is picking up from here! the ending has always been planned to be a bit bittersweet, and hence the quicker succession of events from now until the last chapter. i have my bulletproof vest equipped, and im preparing for the “rushed ending!!” comments. but personally, i wanted to establish some sort of emotional disconnection (and later reconnection) with pacing. i hope to see you next chapter, and please don’t throw rocks at me yet ;;;