The interior of the Old Tokorozawa Water Distribution Hub was a cold labyrinth of steel and concrete, permeated with the smell of rust, ancient scale, and an indescribable odor, like a zoo.
Huge sedimentation tanks were dry and cracked, rows of sand filters stood silently, their rusted bodies riddled with holes, and a complex network of thick pipes, like tangled pythons, extended in all directions in the gloom.
The blue minimap of the FT panel floated in a corner of Nyamu's vision, like a lighthouse in the darkness, marking the suspected routes of pipes related to the source of infection (this service cost another 100,000 yen).
Scarlet lines representing pollution, like living blood vessels, eventually converged towards a massive cylindrical structure deep within the hub—a core node connecting several main pipelines.
The closer she got to the target, the stronger the mixed, musky smell in the air became.
In the crevices of abandoned machines, in pipe indentations, and even beneath collapsed control panels, crude nests made of dry grass, rags, and even unknown animal fur were visible everywhere. Some areas were also littered with gnawed bones, dried fruit pits, and fresh animal droppings.
This place had clearly become the lair of some kind of creature.
"This is it," Fuuki's voice was very low, barely echoing in the vast, empty, and silent space.
He stopped in front of the huge cylinder. Rather than a critical node of a water supply hub, it looked more like an inverted giant pot, with thick pipes connected to its bottom and an open, circular opening several meters in diameter at the top.
An indescribable smell, a mix of decay and a strange sweetness, emanated strongly from the opening.
Nyamu's purple cat ears rotated vigilantly. Climbing the rusted iron ladder was easy for her cat-like body. She carefully climbed to the top of the container and peered over, looking into the giant pot.
The sight made her stomach churn.
Inside the huge container, it was filled with a viscous liquid that emitted a soft golden glow.
On the surface of the liquid, countless "biological residues" floated and soaked densely: colorful bird feathers, broken beast horns, paws with sharp claws, shattered eggshells, stark white bones… and even some strangely shaped fossil fragments, as if from ancient times.
They bobbed slightly in the viscous liquid, like strange ingredients thrown into a golden soup pot.
And beneath this hair-raising "broth," the bottom of the container was connected to layers of fine sieves. The golden liquid slowly permeated through these sieves, collecting into a thick rubber tube at the very bottom, which connected to the hub's main water supply pipe, like an umbilical cord delivering the "source of life."
"Found it…" Nyamu's voice was a little dry. "This is the source!"
Just then, in the center of the golden liquid surface, a pair of things silently emerged—only about the size of a finger, furry, and bright orange.
They were like two miniature lotus leaves, gently swaying in the viscous golden liquid.
Cat ears?!
Nyamu's curiosity momentarily overcame her disgust. She instinctively picked up a slender, white leg bone of some unknown creature from the scattered debris nearby and carefully extended it towards the strange orange cat ears, wanting to gently poke them… Just as the tip of the bone was about to touch the cat ears—
Buzz!
A dense golden light, like living colloid, instantly surged from beneath the liquid surface, precisely enveloping the bone in Nyamu's hand.
The light flashed and disappeared.
Nyamu felt her hand lighten, as if the bone had instantly lost its weight.
She watched in astonishment as a round, fist-sized "fur ball," covered entirely in orange fur, suddenly shot up from beneath the liquid surface from the position of the golden-wrapped bone.
The "fur ball" briefly hovered in the air, instantly extending two comically short arms, also covered in orange fur.
Like a diver preparing to enter the water, with arms clasped together and raised above its head, its waist (if the round ball had a waist) thrust forward, and with a standard, even comically cute posture, it plunged with a "plop" straight into the bone encased in golden light.
Immediately after, the bone in Nyamu's hand vibrated violently, full of vitality.
As if something inside was frantically struggling, trying to break out of its shell.
"Meow!" she cried out, instinctively letting go.
The bone did not fall; it floated in mid-air, its surface glowing with golden light, its form rapidly twisting, expanding, and reshaping within the light.
In the blink of an eye, an elegant, brightly feathered flamingo appeared out of nowhere. It stretched its long neck and slender legs, flapping its large, pink-edged wings, letting out a crisp cry, seemingly about to soar into the sky.
However, just as it was less than two meters from Nyamu's hand, the dense golden light covering it rapidly dimmed and dissipated like a receding tide.
The flamingo's vibrant movements instantly became stiff and sluggish.
Its struggling wings became heavy and powerless, like rusted machinery. Its bright feathers lost their luster, and the agility in its eyes was replaced by a dead, vacant stare.
It barely glided for less than half a meter before its entire body, as if all support had been withdrawn, instantly collapsed and disintegrated, reverting to the lifeless, grayish-white bone, which fell with a "thud" onto the cold metal floor below.
"…" Nyamu looked at the bone, then at the more pairs of orange cat ears emerging from the golden liquid surface, searching for targets, and a chill ran down her spine.
"It seems this is the true form of the enemy's Stand."
Fuuki's voice came from beside her; he had climbed onto the edge of the container at some point, his gaze sweeping over the golden "beast-refining pool," his voice devoid of emotion.
"A Stand that doesn't require the main body's control, automatically seeking suitable 'mediums' to parasitize and imbue them with their original life form."
"They will infiltrate the city's water supply through the pipe system, eventually turning humans into beasts."
He swiftly flipped down, a dagger appearing in his hand at some point, and with precision and ruthlessness, he severed the thick rubber tube that connected to the hub's main pipe and was slowly flowing with golden liquid.
The viscous golden liquid, like a severed artery, gushed from the cut, flowing onto the cold ground with a soft "sizzling" sound, temporarily cutting off the source of pollution flowing into the city.
Fuuki's gaze once again fell upon the continuously emerging orange cat ears on the liquid surface, his eyes like tempered ice.
"To end this completely, we must find the main body," he turned to Nyamu, his voice resolute.
"First, destroy this 'nest,' then retreat!"
His right hand instantly reached inside his trench coat, and the silver-white [Pain] and the matte black [Ruin] appeared in his hands simultaneously, their muzzles steadily pointing towards the infernal pool below, churning with gold and countless biological remains. The aura of destruction condensed at the muzzles!
At this critical moment, Nyamu's scream of terror, previously unnoticed due to a blind spot, was completely drowned out by an even more piercing sound!
Da da da da da—!!!
A terrifyingly dense hail of gunfire, like the roar of death, erupted without warning from a dark corner of the dome above.
Gunfire flashed wildly in the darkness, not the usual orange-red, but a cold, dazzling ghostly blue.
A deadly rain of bullets, like a metal storm, precisely enveloped Fuuki's position. The whistling of bullets tearing through the air, the piercing roar of impacts on metal, and the blinding sparks from ricochets on the huge container wall instantly intertwined into a curtain of death.
"Meow—!" Nyamu was scared out of her wits by the sudden attack; her body's instinct made her cling tightly to the edge of the container, her heart pounding almost out of her chest.
She looked up in horror, towards the source of the gunfire.
On an elevated black iron suspended ladder connecting to a large pipe in the upper level of the hub space, several figures stood like specters.
They wore uniform, dark combat suits with digital camouflage, full-coverage helmets, their visors reflecting the faint light from below, obscuring their faces.
The weapons in their hands were not common standard rifles, but automatic weapons with longer barrels, a more rugged design, and muzzle brakes flashing with cold metallic luster, their muzzles still retaining the unique ghostly blue glow after firing specialized ammunition.
That standard combat suit, that iconic helmet silhouette, that posture—
Although Nyamu wasn't entirely sure, the numerous foreign blockbuster movies she had watched in her memory were all telling her… Could it be… these people, are they American soldiers?!
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To Read Advanced Chapters, and support this novel, please join me on [email protected]/geats2000
(Note: Replace "@-" with "a" on your web browser.)