Chapter 20: Carry The Weight
The convoy stopped in front of what used to be the laboratory.
Now it looked like a corpse.
Concrete walls were cracked open like broken bones.
Metal beams bent outward.
Black scorch marks covered almost every surface.
Wei-Wan stepped out first and looked around slowly.
"…we're late."
PANG!
Brandon kicked a piece of twisted metal.
"Looks like someone already tore the place apart."
Daito said nothing.
He simply walked forward.
The entrance doors had been blasted off their hinges.
Inside, the lab was worse.
Tables were overturned.
Glass cylinders shattered.
Mechanical arms designed for surgery lay ripped from the ceiling like dead spiders.
Books were shredded and scattered everywhere.
Fah-jin crouched beside a destroyed terminal.
"Explosion damage."
Wei-Wan scanned the room.
"But not recent."
Wasabi knelt down and examined the floor.
"There's dust over the blast patterns."
She looked up.
"This happened days ago."
The group split up and searched the facility.
Daito walked past rows of broken pods.
Inside some were dried stains.
Blood.
Some pods still had pieces of flesh stuck to the glass.
Brandon grimaced.
"…this place was a nightmare."
Wei-Wan opened a storage room.
Empty.
Not a single functioning machine remained.
Even the data drives had been ripped out.
After twenty minutes of searching, nothing.
The lab was nothing but a shell.
Fah-jin leaned against a wall.
"We got nothing."
Wasabi stood up and wiped dust off her gloves.
"…not exactly."
Click.....
She pulled a small metal sphere from her belt.
The others recognized it immediately.
One of her prototype drones.
She tossed it into the air.
Humm...
The small machine activated with a quiet hum and began scanning the entire room with blue light.
Daito watched silently.
After several seconds—
GLOW!
A holographic projection appeared in the middle of the destroyed lab.
The room around them reconstructed itself digitally.
Tables returned.
Machines repaired themselves.
Broken pods became intact again.
Everyone stared.
Inside the pods.....
Freakers.
Hundreds of them.
Some fully formed.
Some half mutated.
Some were just human bodies floating in fluid.
Others were worse.
Disembodied arms.
Mechanical limbs.
Even floating human brains connected to wires.
Brandon looked away.
"…what the hell…"
Wasabi controlled the hologram with hand gestures.
"This scan recreates the layout based on residue traces."
She pointed at the pods.
"These were all active."
The hologram then changed.
Large transport trucks appeared outside the lab.
Workers in protective suits began moving the pods.
One by one.
They loaded them into the trucks.
Wei-Wan frowned.
"…they moved everything."
Wasabi nodded.
"This recording reconstruction suggests it happened about a week ago."
Daito's eyes darkened slightly.
"Meaning the Chancellor relocated."
Fah-jin sighed.
"So we chased a ghost."
The hologram faded.
Silence returned to the ruined laboratory.
But Daito hadn't stopped looking around.
His eyes moved slowly across the floor.
Then he noticed something.
A section of the ground where dust was thinner.
He walked over.
Brushed the debris away with his boot.
Metal.
A hatch.
Daito knelt down and gripped the handle.
CLANG!
The heavy door opened.
A dark staircase descended deep underground.
Everyone gathered around the opening.
Wei-Wan raised a hand.
"Hold."
Humm...
Wasabi immediately released another drone.
It flew down the tunnel and disappeared into the darkness.
Everyone waited.
After several seconds, the drone sent back a scan.
Wasabi's expression immediately changed.
"…oh."
Brandon noticed.
"That bad?"
She slowly turned the display toward them.
The underground tunnel opened into a massive chamber.
And inside it, Rows.
And rows.
And rows.
Of suspended Freakers.
Hundreds of glass tubes.
Maybe more.
Bubble...Bubble
Their bodies floating in green liquid.
Sleeping.
Waiting.
Wasabi whispered quietly.
"…that's a horde."
Wei-Wan's face became serious.
"Close the hatch."
But Daito didn't move.
He stared down the tunnel.
"They're not active yet."
Brandon stepped forward.
"Exactly."
"And we should keep it that way."
The group eventually descended the stairs carefully.
The underground chamber lit up automatically the moment they entered.
Lights flickered on across the ceiling.
The sight was horrifying.
Endless rows of suspension tubes.
Inside them were Freakers in different stages of mutation.
Some looked almost human.
Others looked like monsters.
Fah-jin walked slowly between the rows.
"This is worse than the first battle."
Wasabi connected her tablet to a terminal.
"I'm extracting whatever data I can."
Wei-Wan nodded.
"Make it fast."
Meanwhile Brandon studied the tubes carefully.
"If these wake up…"
"…we're dead."
SHING!
Daito drew his sword slightly from its sheath.
The metal slid softly.
"We destroy them."
Everyone looked at him.
Brandon shook his head immediately.
"That's not wise."
"We don't know what triggers their awakening."
"If we break the tubes we might activate them."
Daito looked at the endless rows.
"There are fewer here."
Wei-Wan frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Daito spoke calmly.
"Half."
"The horde we fought earlier had more."
Wasabi looked at the data screen.
"…he's right."
Brandon crossed his arms.
"All the more reason to leave them alone."
Wei-Wan agreed.
"The best strategy is avoiding danger when possible."
Daito turned toward them.
"And what is the plan then?"
No one answered immediately.
Wasabi thought for a moment.
"…poison."
Everyone looked at her.
"We could release toxins into the suspension fluid."
Daito stared at her.
"…listen to yourself."
She blinked.
"When has poison ever worked on a virus?"
No one spoke.
"Worst case scenario…"
"They mutate."
"They evolve."
"They become something worse."
The group fell silent again.
Minutes passed.
Wasabi's tablet finally beeped.
"Data extraction complete."
Wei-Wan nodded.
"Then we leave."
But Daito was still staring at the sleeping Freakers.
Hundreds of them.
Waiting to wake up.
Waiting to kill.
Slowly…
SHING!
He drew his blade fully.
The sound echoed through the chamber.
Wei-Wan immediately turned.
"…Daito."
Daito looked at them calmly.
"Leave."
Brandon frowned.
"Don't be stupid."
Daito continued.
"Close the hatch behind you."
Wasabi's eyes widened.
"You can't fight this many."
Daito shook his head.
"I won't fight them."
He lifted his sword slightly.
"I'll kill them."
Silence.
Wei-Wan stepped forward.
"I understand what you're thinking."
"But this isn't necessary."
Daito looked at the suspended monsters again.
"If they wake up later…"
"…people will die."
His voice became colder.
"This ends now."
Wei-Wan studied his face.
Then he sighed.
"…you already decided."
Daito didn't answer.
Wei-Wan turned to the others.
"We're leaving."
Brandon protested.
"Leader—"
Wei-Wan shook his head.
"He's not the type to change his mind."
Wasabi slowly packed her equipment.
Fah-jin gave Daito a long look.
Brandon walked past him and stopped briefly.
"…try not to die."
One by one they climbed the stairs.
Wei-Wan was the last.
He looked back at Daito.
He wanted to say something.
But he could see it clearly.
Daito's mind was already somewhere else.
Wei-Wan quietly climbed out.
The heavy hatch slowly closed.
CLANG!
Silence filled the underground chamber.
Daito stood alone.
Hundreds of suspended Freakers surrounded him.
He lifted his sword.
SWOOSH!
Then he moved.
DASH!
Like a shadow.
SHATTER!
Glass shattered.
SPLASH!
Liquid spilled across the floor.
SLASH!
Bodies fell.
One slash.
Two.
Ten.
Twenty.
He moved without stopping.
Without speaking, without thinking.
SLASH—SLASH—SLASH!
SLASH—SLASH—SLASH!
His blade cut through every tube.
Every creature, every monster.
The only thing echoing in his head…
…was his father's voice.
"A warrior doesn't hesitate when lives are at stake."
"If the burden is too heavy…"
"…carry it alone."
Twenty minutes later—
Fwoo...
The chamber was silent again.
Every tube destroyed.
Every Freaker dead and disintegrating.
Daito stood in the middle of the wreckage.
Breathing slowly.
His sword dripping.
Above him the hatch door remained closed.
And outside…
Wei-Wan's team waited in uneasy silence.
Because they all knew one thing.
Inside that chamber…
A single man had just slaughtered hundreds.
Daito walked out of the underground chamber covered in dark, fading blood.
* * *
The dust outside was quiet.
FWOOSH!
The wind moved across the border ridge like it was afraid to touch him.
Wei-Wan's team waited in silence until he reached them.
No one spoke immediately, not about the bodies inside, not about the slaughter.
Not about the smell of iron and death that followed him.
Finally, Wei-Wan Lou spoke first as they continued walking back toward the convoy.
"In life," Wei-Wan said slowly, "they say a man faces challenges and grows by overcoming them."
Daito listened without interrupting.
"A person is shaped by their past," Wei-Wan continued.
"Different backgrounds."
"Different histories."
"But it is the past that forges the warrior standing in the present."
The wind carried dust between them.
After a moment, Daito Greyhell spoke quietly.
"You look like decent people."
"I don't mind being close to you."
"You are Savages."
He paused.
"But mercy can only belong to one."
His tone stayed flat.
"Freakers are different."
"They have lost self-awareness."
"Lost consciousness."
"They are… pure hostility."
"Pure evil."
"And must be eradicated."
One of the teammates scratched his head.
"So basically… zombies," Brandon Fu said.
"Mindless. Dangerous."
Daito nodded once.
"Correct."
Wei-Wan slowed his walking slightly.
Then spoke carefully.
"We are searching for an answer."
"To set the world free."
"We have learned something important."
"Without building bonds…"
"There is no future for humanity."
He looked at Daito.
"We hope you remain our comrade until this war ends."
Silence followed.
The convoy vehicle waited in the distance.
Daito thought for a moment.
Then spoke.
"I don't mind."
"Temporarily."
"Until I leave again."
The others exchanged glances but said nothing.
After a short pause, one of them asked the question everyone was thinking.
"Who exactly are you searching for?"
Daito's eyes turned slightly toward the horizon.
FWOOSH!
The wind moved through his coat.
Then he answered.
"Rebels."
The word was simple.
But it carried weight.
Wei-Wan nodded slowly.
"Those who refuse the system."
"Yes."
Daito continued walking toward the convoy.
"Those who choose to fight rather than obey."
"People who believe the world can be different."
Brandon crossed his arms.
"Sounds dangerous."
Daito's voice was quiet.
"Freedom usually is."
They reached the vehicles as the sun began setting behind the mountains.
* * *
Inside the convoy, the atmosphere felt heavier.
Not hostile.
Just thoughtful.
Because everyone understood one thing.
The man walking beside them was not looking for victory alone.
He was looking for people willing to stand against the structure of the world itself.
And somewhere far away, "Rebels" were also moving.
Waiting, watching, preparing.
The war was no longer just against Freakers.
It was becoming something larger.
Against systems, against control, against history itself.
to be continued.....