Chapter 71: Chapter71-Betrayal or Loyalty?!
"Now, let's get started.
I don't want to keep rambling like I usually do.
My son read in Hyosan high school and..."
Then, Lee again started his story from the beginning, explaining what happened to his son, how he changed, why it happened, and all the details.
I had no choice but to listen to his entire story from beginning to end since the radio didn't have a skip option.
After all that listening, the main part I had been waiting for finally began.
"Today is june 25, 2030.
In the past few days, a lot has happened.
I made some new discoveries about the virus and how it works, along with doing several other things.
If you're curious about what I've been up to, you won't have to wait long.
I'll explain everything in detail in just a few minutes now.
After successfully creating and killing my first zombie, I decided to test this virus on animals. They will play a crucial role in spreading it and making humanity suffer.
Sigh...
I have really become a shitty person.
My goal was just to make weak people like my son stronger, but with time it turned into hatred for humanity because they betrayed my expectations when I needed them the most.
Now that I've come this far, I can't just turn back and live the same depressing, isolated life.
You can call me an idiot, dumb, or a madman.
But I don't care...
I just want to get my revenge on this world.
I want to make sure every inhuman person out there pays for what they've done.
Now, coming back to my test.
In my first test, I injected my "Yonas" virus into a sparrow I bought from the store.
After injecting it, I waited for the virus to start working, but nothing happened to the sparrow.
The virus didn't affect it, which surprised me because it worked on humans.
I injected the virus into its body again and again, but still, nothing happened.
I couldn't understand why the virus wasn't working.
To find a solution, I stopped testing it and decided to research more about the virus.
After studying for a whole day, I found something interesting and returned to testing.
But this time, instead of using a sparrow, I tested it on a local dog.
This time, it didn't fail to work; instead, the dog slowly transformed into a mutated version resembling zombies.
It appropriately took three days to transform.
Its eyes turned dark red, its teeth and body grew larger, its hands swelled like the dead, and its legs bulged.
Its entire body color darkened, resembling a long-quarantined corpse.
It became hungrier, more aggressive, and gained immense strength.
Since it was my first time testing on animals, I secured it with 4 to 5 chains.
I also prepared to use sleeping gas to calm it down if it became too uncontrollable.
After successfully testing the virus on the dog, I was still perplexed by its failure to affect the sparrow.
To figure out the issue, I injected the virus into the sparrow's body again.
This time, however, I experimented on the sparrow's dead body to investigate why the virus didn't work.
After carefully examining the sparrow's bodyby dissecting it, analyzing its blood and tissues, conducting autopsies, and performing various other testsI discovered that the bird had a cold or fever before it died.
However, this still didn't explain why the virus didn't work.
Was it because of the fever or something else?
To find out, I brought another sparrow and deliberately made it sick.
Then, I injected the virus again.
The result was the same: the virus didn't work.
This confirmed my theory that the cold or fever prevented the virus from taking over the victim's body.
After discovering this new information, I tested the virus on many other sick animals, and it worked each time, confirming my theory."
I quickly turned off the radio and started thinking intensely.
The virus and its weaknesses seem similar to the virus that devastated the world...
Could they be the same?
But there are still many doubts and questions about other aspects.
So...
I shouldn't rush to conclusions like that.
After thinking it over, I turned the radio back on.
"Since the virus's weakness to cold or fever was a major flaw, I needed to find a way to minimize it.
If I failed to perfect the virus, scientists, who have more experience in this field than I do, would quickly discover its weakness once it starts spreading.
I experimented with the virus in different conditions like cold, heat, and dryness.
The virus couldn't survive in heat initially, but it adapted and started regenerating quickly to survive.
To make it stronger in heat, I enhanced its durability.
I knew the virus couldn't survive extreme fire heat, but I ensured it wouldn't die immediately upon contact with heat.
Eventually, I succeeded, but now the virus can only survive in temperatures up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which means only some of the hottest deserts on Earth would be suitable for humans to live in.
However, the virus will still die if exposed to fire for an extended period, as I mentioned earlier.
Fire has no rival; it can burn anything.
Therefore, my virus can also be destroyed if it is burned before it starts to becomes stronger on its own.
I expect humanity to uncover this information sooner rather than later.
After testing with dry and mixed conditions, the virus performed well without any issues.
However, the real challenge came with cold temperatures.
That test was the toughest because my virus immediately died when exposed to even a slight amount of cold.
After experimenting with the virus for just 54 days in cold climates, I continually worked to improve it until I made it somewhat stronger. Its ability to withstand cold temperatures increased to about minus 70 degrees.
Excited and eager to proceed, I conducted another small test.
I wanted to see how the virus could spread, whether through the air or on the ground.
What I discovered was that it could only be transmitted when an infected person bit another person.
This meant the virus couldn't spread unless there was a bite, similar to what happens in typical zombie movies.
Once I confirmed everything, I began Phase One of my plan.
Phase One involved releasing the virus locally to ensure its spread to larger areas.
On June 25, 2030, at 9:45 a.m., I released the infected dog that I had kept chained up.
This marked the smooth beginning of the first phase of my plan."
Suddenly, the radio abruptly cut off and transitioned to a new scene.
"Good morning, everyone listening to the radio. I'm not sure how many of you are tuned in, so forgive me if I'm addressing just one person.
So, after I released that dog, it went on to cause chaos in the entire city by biting several people until it was caught by the Animal Control agency.
If you're wondering whether people turned into zombies or not, even I don't know.
It's been a week since I released it, and it hasn't attracted media or government attention, which is good.
If it had, I would know how many people were infected by the virus.
I also don't know if anything went wrong with my plan.
By now, it should have started transforming many, but I'll have to wait a few more days to be sure.
Well, I guess I don't have anything else to tell you for now, so I have to end our conversation here, my friends.
In the future, I will be recording more tapes about what lies ahead for humanity.
I was excited to find out.
For now, stay safe and healthy, even in these difficult times.
Goodbye once again."
With that, the radio suddenly went silent, and the room was filled with silence until a shout broke it.
"Fucking shit! What the hell did I hear?"
After listening to his words, I started questioning my own history...
My mind was in turmoil...
It was pretty messed up.
The virus's weaknesses and the date it started spreading were eerily similar to historical events.
Even the vulnerability to fire had been documented in human history.
But, while some things became clearer, other questions remained unanswered.
For instance, how the virus spread.
In his second recorded tape, he still didn't mention anything about rabies or the virus spreading through other means.
And, also why-
Just as my thoughts suddenly shifted, I realized I was in his room. There must be other recorded tapes here that he mentioned he would be making.
Those tapes could hold the answers to all my questions, possibly uncovering unwritten history about this world.
I decided to search for them immediately before someone else called me up.
Glancing at my watch, I saw that 30 minutes had passed since I started listening to the recordings.
I needed to act quickly.
As I searched through Lee's room, my hopes of finding additional tapes dwindled with each empty drawer and bare shelf.
Frustration gnawed at me as I scoured every corner, desperate for any clue that could shed light on the mysteries I had stumbled upon.
Minutes turned into an hour, and still, I found nothing.
I slumped onto Lee's bed, exhausted and disheartened.
Thoughts raced through my mind, trying to make sense of everything I had heard.
What was the connection between Lee's virus and historical epidemics?
Was this all a delusion, or was there some truth buried beneath his mad ramblings?
Where is this place?
Is it an past illusion or something else?
Just as I was deep in my thoughts, a soft ping echoed in the room.
Startled, I looked up to see a virtual window materialize in front of me, illuminating the brightly lit room with its soft glow.
It displayed a message:
Quest: [Betrayal or Loyalty?]
What type of quest is this?