Chapter 432
Chapter 432
They ran as fast as they could. Well, at least Catalina ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Jake, on the other hand, could move far quicker, easily outpacing the monsters chasing them. However, he deliberately kept his speed moderate so his companion could keep up.
As they raced through the contaminated city, he scanned their surroundings. So far, nothing new caught his eye. Every street, every building, and stretch of ground was choked beneath layers of pulsating organic matter. There wasn’t a single clear spot. Or if there was, they had yet to find it.
As they tore past, the Ravage Contamination reacted to their presence. Swollen protrusions swelled along its surface in various places, each bulge rapidly growing and transforming into a monster. The good thing was that their pursuers eventually abandoned the chase, losing interest once the distance between them grew far too great.
However, because every surface in the city was covered with the infestation, each new area they entered immediately began spawning new monsters, as though reacting to their presence. But while these creatures developed at an alarming rate, they still needed a few seconds to fully form and begin pursuit. Thanks to that brief delay, Jake and Catalina always managed to keep a steady lead over each new group of attackers.
Jake could see the fatigue creeping into Catalina’s movements. He himself never knew exhaustion. As long as mana coursed through his body, he could fight, run, and endure without end. But his companion was a mere human, and humans were fragile creatures.
She had endured this harsh world for a long time under the System’s guidance, and thanks to that, her level was high. Points invested into her attributes granted her strength and agility far beyond anything a pre-Collapse human could dream of. Her body could withstand more punishment, and her stamina greatly exceeded that of humans before the Collapse.
Still, that didn’t mean her stamina was limitless. They had been running from the monsters for some time now, and he could tell she was beginning to wear down. He felt responsible for her, an unfamiliar weight. Usually, he didn’t care much about humans, of course. He had long forgotten what it meant to care for someone.
But Catalina was his ally. In fact, she was his only ally. Her people kept their distance, not out of trust, but because Catalina continually assured them he was on their side. Melissa and her group also refrained from hostility, but only because Melissa shared a close bond with Catalina and had been persuaded that Jake posed no threat.
However, he remembered clearly that Melissa had initially been against him, and if something were to happen to Catalina, that fragile alliance could shatter in an instant, and she might turn against him once again.
Still, there was something more, something deeper. Over time, he had grown oddly attached to her. It was surprising, almost unsettling, to realize he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. Whatever the reason, he was determined to do whatever it took to prevent it.
As they ran, Catalina occasionally glanced back and fired at the group of monsters pursuing them. While her shots didn’t inflict much damage on those creatures, several hits on a single target were still enough to bring it down.
There were moments when they became surrounded and had no choice but to fight. Jake handled most of the combat, though. His right hand had grown back within minutes, allowing him to face their enemies with full force. He didn’t mind these occasional encounters at all, as each mutant pack he crushed rewarded him with a hefty amount of experience.
So far, every time they were surrounded, they managed to overcome the monsters and escape before reinforcements could arrive.
Catalina had initially assumed it was humans who had shot down the helicopter she’d last sent into Dead City. However, after encountering the huge mutant with a rocket launcher mounted on its back, she wasn’t so sure. It was possible that the chopper had been brought down by mutants whom her people had mistakenly taken for armed humans.
Sure, the monster with the rocket launcher looked nothing like a human, but if there was one mutant wielding a weapon, there could be others armed but appearing humanoid enough to pass for people, especially at a glance from a distance. After all, it had happened so quickly, and her team clearly hadn’t had much time to make out all the details before their helicopter went down.
Even so, the presence of armed mutants didn’t mean there were no humans in Dead City at all. After all, someone had contacted her people and given them a meeting location. The only problem was that this location was on the opposite side of the city from where Jake and Catalina had entered. They had a long and dangerous journey ahead. Before heading there, they first needed to find a safe spot where they could catch their breath and regain their strength.
Jake knew he had a tumor in his inventory, an organic device capable of opening a portal to one of his lairs. However, after witnessing how quickly the Ravage Contamination consumed the crashed helicopter, he wasn’t willing to try attaching the tumor to organic matter. Since it took a few seconds for the tumor to spread across a surface before opening a portal, he feared the Ravage Contamination would consume it long before the portal could appear. With only one tumor in his possession, he wasn’t prepared to risk losing it. Until he found a safe spot to use it, he intended to keep it secured.
Catalina’s destination, however, would not be the Apex Hollow. It wasn’t that he feared she might uncover its location, though. He knew it was impossible. Even if she were teleported there, she wouldn’t be able to determine where it was, aside from knowing it was somewhere underground.
So the reason for not allowing her to enter the Apex Hollow was different. He simply had no intention of allowing humans to find out he was cultivating a Kaiju. At least not until the creature was fully developed and ready to emerge into the world.
Instead, he could take her to his ten‑story lair, whose location was no longer a secret to humans. Or better yet, to the first lair he ever developed, built in the basement of a diner. After he started working on the ten‑story lair, he abandoned the basement lair, since it was too small to reach its full potential anyway. So revealing its existence to humans wouldn’t hurt him at all. But the towering lair and the Apex Hollow? He preferred their secrets to remain sealed from human eyes.
At some point, they reached a vast four-way intersection, and Jake slowed down to scan his surroundings. He quickly noticed something unusual in the area. At one corner, there was a long gaping opening in the ground that, for some reason, wasn’t covered by the Ravage Contamination. He glanced at Catalina and saw her looking in the same direction. Without exchanging a word, they both headed toward the hole, the same idea forming in their minds.
The hole stretched long, and as they stopped at its edge and peered inside, Jake quickly realized that it was the entrance to a subway station. The street was growing darker as night approached, and within the station, a dense, oppressive darkness waited. However, Jake’s exceptional vision easily pierced through it, revealing that the interior of the subway was untouched by the Ravage Contamination.
Catalina lingered at the top of the stairwell, her face tense and hesitant, making no move to descend into the shadowed depths below.
“Come on,” Jake urged.
“I don’t like this, Jake,” she muttered. “Why isn’t the entrance covered like the rest of this place?”
“I don’t know, but we can’t just keep running around without a destination in mind,” he answered.
“But it definitely looks like a trap!”
“If you want, you can stay here while I check if it’s safe.”
Her eyes widened. “Is that supposed to be a joke?” She asked as she cast a quick glance over her shoulder. The monsters were closing in, their shapes becoming clearer with every second. Though the thought of stepping into the subway unnerved her, she knew she had no choice.
Jake was already moving down the stairs. “Stay close. I can see fine in the dark.”
Reluctantly, Catalina fell in step behind him, letting the darkness swallow them both.