Chapter 423
Chapter 423
Jake watched her silently. Apparently, Dead City wasn’t completely devoid of humans. Skullface and Kato had escaped from it, clearly believing it was completely lost to the Ravage Contamination, making survival for humans there impossible, a death sentence for any human left behind.
However, pockets of humanity had clearly still clung to life in the ruined city, either by stubborn choice or, more likely, because they simply had no means of escaping, enduring the ravagespawn and constant danger for who knew how long.
“Unfortunately, my people didn’t get a good look at the attackers,” Catalina went on. “Those strangers must’ve been hiding out of sight, waiting for the helicopter to get closer. Only when it flew directly over the rooftop did they emerge from hiding and attack. My team barely had time to report sighting a group of hostiles before the chopper came under fire.”
“Do you think the attackers and the stranger who reached out to your people were part of the same group?”
“Hard to tell. Maybe, maybe not. He might or might not have been trying to lead my people into a trap. He could’ve been trying to lure my people to a certain point so they flew over a building where others were lying in wait to ambush them. Or perhaps the city has multiple rival factions, and he belonged to a different one than the attackers.” She paused, her brow knitting as her thoughts deepened. “I won’t know the truth until I reach Dead City myself.”
“You’re planning to go there, huh?”
“Yes, of course,” she replied, her voice tinged with indignation. “I’ve already lost two helicopters. My people might be in dire need of help. I’m not going to just sit around and do nothing. If they are still alive, I will find them, and I will help them. But this time, I won’t be sending any more of my men into danger. This time, I’ll go by myself.”
“Your people are gone,” he countered, his tone grave and resolute. “You’ve lost two helicopters in Dead City and two more tonight to boot. Your people are gone. There’s nothing you can do to change that grim reality. If you go to Dead City, you’ll be gone too, and your remaining people will be down one more helicopter. And let’s not forget, those helicopters are quite demanding in terms of resources.”
She narrowed her eyes, suspicion creeping into her voice as she asked, “How do you know we lost two choppers last night?”
Jake recounted to her how he had observed her two helicopters launching an assault on one of the nests using the newly developed energy weapons, detailing the consequences of the attack.
Once he concluded his account, Catalina responded with a mix of surprise and concern, “The nest sprouted giant tentacles and blades, huh? I would’ve never imagined those nests could do something like that. Hold on… did you just say it actually absorbed the second helicopter? You think my people might still be trapped inside the nest?”
“I’m certain they’re dead now.”
She was silent for a moment, processing what he had just told her. Then she said, “When my people failed to return, I knew the mission had failed. But I didn’t know that the weapon my team invented had managed to break through the first layer of the nest’s organic defenses. That means we’ve made progress, a step in the right direction! I’ll have my team continue working on this weapon while I’m visiting Dead City.”
This time, Jake said nothing. If Catalina wanted to go, it was her choice. He wasn’t going to argue about it. He simply didn’t see much reason in her intentions, but in the end, what she did was her concern, not his.
“So,” he asked at last, “why tell me this?”
The answer struck him almost before the words left his mouth. He already knew why she summoned him. “You want me to come with you.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’d like you to go with me to Dead City.”
“Why?”
“Well, as I mentioned before, I can’t afford to lose more of my people, and charging in alone wouldn’t be the smartest move.”
“So, you’re saying I’m expendable?”
“On the contrary. You’re my strongest asset. If anyone can infiltrate Dead City and make it out alive, it’s you. Without your help, my chances of survival there would be zero.”
“And what, exactly, is your objective in that place?”
“Well, first of all, to help my people if they are still alive. But I also intend to track down whoever is responsible for their deaths. And it would be valuable to understand how they managed to survive in that environment for as long as they did. Maybe we’ll uncover something that could guide us in combating the Ravage Contamination.”
“So, just the two of us?”
“Yes,” she said. “I won’t risk the lives of any more of my men. The two of us will be enough. I don’t know how to pilot a helicopter, but you do, right? After all, you flew one to the Los Demonios main base.”
Jake nodded without speaking for a moment. Previously, Morph Disguise allowed him to retain the knowledge and skills of a human whose memories he viewed with Mind Reader, but only while he was wearing their identity. However, after upgrading the ability to the top tier, he could now access the skills of every human whose identity he had ever taken. This meant he wouldn’t need to wear Omar’s identity for that anymore, which was a relief, as doing so would expose his shapeshifting ability to Catalina. For the time being, his hidden talent remained secure.
Catalina looked at him expectantly, hope shining in her eyes. When he didn’t respond right away, she asked with a hopeful tone, “So, what do you say? Will you go with me?”
“I will go with you,” Jake replied.
Her face lit up, but before she could speak, he added, “But if our helicopter comes under fire, there’s little I can do. I won’t be able to keep it from going down.”
He knew he could walk away from such a crash unscathed, but the same couldn’t be said for Catalina.
“We’ll figure something out,” she insisted. “Maybe we land on the city’s outskirts instead of risking a direct flyover.”
“When do you want to leave?” he asked.
“The sooner, the better,” she replied without hesitation. Determination burned in her eyes, her voice alive with excitement. “I’m ready right now.”
However, Jake wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to go to Dead City just yet. He wasn’t sure how much time they would spend there, so before heading out, he wanted to initiate the process of evolving the primorph into a Stage I Kaiju. To achieve that, he needed to defeat two more elite monsters to extract the required unique genetic materials from them.
Of course, going to Dead City didn’t mean he couldn’t return to one of his lairs whenever he wished. Thanks to the tumor he always carried in his inventory, he could create a teleport from Dead City to any of his lairs, make necessary adjustments, and return. Still, before flying to Dead City, he absolutely needed to begin the evolution process for his Kaiju.
“I need a couple of hours to take care of something first,” he told Catalina.
Her expression faltered, a brief shadow of disappointment slipping through before she masked it.
“What exactly are you working on? Then again… maybe I’m better off not knowing, right?” she said with a faint, wry smile. “Either way, I’ll be waiting. The moment you’re back, I’ll be ready to move. Who knows what surprises Dead City has in store for us!”