Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

181 – More Samples Needed

“Since we’re making it, wouldn’t it be better to create a drug that kills the parasite without harming the human body, instead of an anesthetic?” Seung-ho suggested to Myung-jun as they moved to the laboratory in the subspace to work on the new substance.

Myung-jun, who had been fiddling with the box containing the parasite, responded to Seung-ho, “The problem is we only have one living parasite. Even if we thaw the one that’s frozen, we only have two at most. And if we try to take a sample of the tissue for testing, it will surely commit suicide the moment we approach it with a scalpel.” The captured parasites were like triggerfish, programmed to self-destruct to conceal information if the infected human host was threatened.

To test the drug, they needed to inject the necessary amount of it into a living parasite’s body in one go—enough to kill it instantly before it could attempt suicide within the host’s body. However, with only two parasites, determining the effectiveness of the newly created substance was nearly impossible.

“We need more samples.”

“How many are you thinking?”

“Twenty? Thirty? I can’t say for sure. Alchemy is that kind of field.” In alchemy, as practiced by Seung-ho, even a slight contamination or error in the synthesis process could completely alter the properties of the final product.

Yet, Seung-ho already had a concrete plan in mind for synthesizing the new substance. “We’ll start the synthesis based on a substance that is toxic to the monster. It might be weaker than the poison created by Zhai Tianlin, who is known as the Poison Emperor in China, but that’s not an issue. The poison we’re aiming to create doesn’t need to kill a monster the size of a house, just a parasite about the size of a palm.”

The challenge was to create a substance that was toxic to the monster but safe for the human body. This was no easy task, even for Seung-ho, who had reached class rank 7 since joining the Liberal Clan, but Myung-jun had faith in Seung-ho’s abilities.

“Seung-ho will be able to do it, I believe.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because if Seung-ho can’t do it, all those soldiers will die.”

This was a situation Myung-jun was all too familiar with—where the survival of humanity hinged on his actions. He had faced and overcome such scenarios multiple times before.

Determined to support Seung-ho, who now bore a heavy burden, Myung-jun resolved to do what he could.

“Seung-ho, focus all your efforts on synthesizing the new substance. Meanwhile, I’ll take the rest of the team and capture more live parasites.”

“More live parasites? From where?”

“Where else? We’ll have to go back to the unit where we captured the infected earlier,” Myung-jun said with a bitter smile, muttering to himself, “Let’s see how many more times these fools will fall for it.”

====

***

====

“We’re here for supply delivery. The truck is loaded with combat rations and hot packs.”

“We’re delivering PX items. We heard you’re out of cigarettes.”

“We’re here to collect leftovers. The truck is carrying empty bins for leftover collection.”

“We’re here to collect and inspect the coins from the washers and dryers. If the dryers aren’t cleaned, they might catch fire.”

To infiltrate the unit, Myung-jun employed various disguises to avoid being recognized. He posed as a civilian collecting leftovers, a PX soldier delivering items, and more. Using the optical converter, he altered his appearance to fit each scenario.

As expected, the infected soldiers, who acted based on memory and lacked higher cognitive functions, fell for Myung-jun’s disguises repeatedly. They mechanically played their roles, failing to recognize him even when he kidnapped another soldier just two hours after his previous visit.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the porter truck, Kei, puzzled by the situation, asked Myung-jun, “Are they really that stupid? We caused a commotion just two hours ago, and they let us through again without any suspicion?”

“That’s the characteristic of the infected. They can’t make the connection that the PX soldier who visited two hours ago is the same as the leftovers collector who comes in now. They just pull out the memory of the leftovers collector and act accordingly.”

Myung-jun was well aware that this method of infiltration had its limits. If he used the same disguise pattern even once, the infected would immediately link it to their previous memory and attack. There was also a limit to how many different personas he could assume. The moment a completely unfamiliar type of person visited, based on memory, the infected would start to think and act based on that new information.

However, Myung-jun’s strategy was working for the time being, and he was able to secure a significant number of infected in a frozen state. He then transferred all the captured infected to the subspace and placed them in medical pods.

[Foreign substance activated inside the left kidney detected. If left unattended, additional bodily harm is anticipated. Proceeding with incision and separation of the foreign substance… Completed. The foreign substance is automatically isolated according to pre-entered protocols.]

“Nineteenth specimen secured. Medical pod? Send the isolated foreign substance to the Inspector Box and then to the laboratory where Seung-ho is.”

[Order confirmed. The isolated foreign substance will be delivered to Laboratory 16.]

As the scale of the operation grew, Seung-ho moved to a more fully equipped laboratory. Hearing the alarm ring, he walked to the wall behind him. He took out a box wriggling with an infected parasite and walked over to a massive machine occupying most of the room. He then pushed the box into a square slot that fit it perfectly.

[Specimen 19 inserted. Psychic message playback. Status stabilization confirmed. Transplanting specimen into artificial biological tissue.]

At that moment, the monitor on one side of the giant machine displayed the image of cultivated tissue that looked like red flesh. A snail-shaped parasite, which had emerged from the solidified healing solution, was squirming on it. As the parasite quickly changed to a color similar to the exterior, the biological tissue on the monitor appeared empty.

[Parasite transplantation completed. Synchronization with cultivated tissue confirmed. Prepared reagent number 19 will be administered. Please specify the dosage.]

“Let’s go with 15cc. Reagent 19 is much more toxic than 18.”

[Dosage confirmed. Administering 15cc of reagent 19.]

Seung-ho watched with a tense expression as the mechanical arm injected the drug into the parasite, which had merged with the artificial tissue. Before the parasite could attempt suicide, it turned black and shriveled up, dead. Seung-ho clenched his fist in triumph.

“Did we get it?”

Unfortunately, the monitor showed that the artificial tissue in contact with the dead parasite was also turning black and dying.

“Sigh… Reagent 19, failure.”

Knowing how much effort Myung-jun was putting into capturing even a single live parasite, Seung-ho felt a wave of guilt. But with determined eyes, he moved towards the synthesis table, piled high with alien materials. He knew that wallowing in despair wouldn’t help; the only way to repay Myung-jun’s efforts was to create the necessary drug as quickly as possible. This sense of responsibility was far greater than anything he had imagined during his days of forced alchemy in the Gate research lab.

====

***

====

“Let’s go back. Reagent 19 failed,” Myung-jun said.

“Again? Isn’t Seung-ho one of the top-ranked alchemists in the world? Is it really that difficult?” Kei asked.

“The difficulty lies in the nature of what we’re trying to create. If it were something like an acid that could dissolve anything, it wouldn’t be so hard. Of course, we’d first have to solve the problem of the container dissolving too,” Myung-jun explained.

“And what we’re making now?” Kei inquired.

“That’s even harder. We need a substance that can kill the parasite so quickly it can’t react, yet is harmless to human tissue. It’s like creating an insecticide that kills cockroaches instantly but is safe enough to eat,” Myung-jun elaborated.

Kei, after a moment of contemplation, looked at Myung-jun with a shocked expression. “Is that even possible?”

“It should be. The abilities of the awakened are meant to create ‘miracles’ that transcend the laws we understand.”

Even as he spoke confidently, Myung-jun struggled to suppress the anxiety gnawing at him. If Seung-ho didn’t complete the reagent quickly, the synapse entity might realize something was wrong and order the remaining infected to commit mass suicide. This fear was becoming more real by the minute. Unlike ordinary entities, the infected controlled by the synapse entity were capable of higher-order thinking and were beginning to sense the dwindling number of their kind.

However, the conclusion reached by the synapse entity was not to order a mass suicide. Instead, it made a completely unexpected decision: to have all the infected within the unit escape and infect every human nearby. To this end, the synapse entity issued new instructions to the connected entities.

[From now on, the movement restrictions for protecting the entities are lifted. All infected are to find new hosts and attempt infection.]

This new command overrode the original order of [If the connection signal is lost, commit suicide to erase evidence.]

[Move. Move.]

[Initiate search for new hosts. Spread the infection.]

[Spread the infection.]

Suddenly, soldiers abandoned their posts and ran into the forests and valleys, leaving the base unguarded. Myung-jun noticed this anomaly when he arrived at the infected unit to capture a new parasite to replace the failed 19th specimen.

“Huh?”

Driving a small oil tanker truck under the guise of a supply officer delivering boiler fuel, Myung-jun arrived at the base and immediately noticed the absence of guards at the post. The usual sight of armed soldiers allowing him passage was missing. Realizing this, Myung-jun cautiously got out of the truck, maintaining his vigilance.

Looking towards the distant barracks beyond the barrier, he muttered, “Is it shift change time?”

Kei, who had followed him out of the truck, replied with a frustrated expression, “If it weren’t for this bionic suit, I could sniff out what’s going on right away.”

“The moment you take that off, the senior will notice. Just bear with it, even if it’s uncomfortable,” Myung-jun advised.

After waiting for a few minutes for the guards to change shifts, Myung-jun realized that no one was coming. He quickly ran into the guard post and pressed the switch to raise the barrier. Turning to Kei, who was looking at him with a worried expression, he said, “Something’s happened.”