"I said who—"
Tysone moved. He knocked the barrel to the side as the rifle fired with a deafening crack.
The bullet punched through the metal wall behind him, the impact sending a shower of sparks into the room. The man tried to bring the rifle back in line, but Tysone was already inside his guard, grabbing the weapon's barrel with one hand and slamming his other palm into the man's chest.
The man was a Rank 1 evolved; easily stronger than a normal human. But Tysone was not a normal human. Subduing him was quite easy.
He grabbed the rifle, twisted it, and pulled it from the man's grasp. A quick spin of the weapon and he cracked the butt of it against the side of the man's head—well, that's what Tysone would've done normally, but the scarred man was a precious source of information.
Instead, he put him in a chokehold, pressing him against the wall, the butt of the rifle close to the man's temple in case he tried anything funny.
"Let's talk." He hissed into his ear.
"Fuck you."
"Wrong answer."
Tysone tightened the hold around his throat, squeezing just enough to make his face turn red. "Who do you work for?"
"I—don't—"
Tysone pressed the butt of the rifle harder against the side of his head.
"Okay! Okay! Fuck! I work for the Special Research Division! We're part of the JSDF! But not the regular JSDF!"
Well that could be right and wrong at the same time.
"What the fuck is even that?"
"A special division dedicated to containing and studying the outbreak! We're trying to find a cure! We're trying to save humanity!" The man gasped for air. "Now let me go!"
Tysone frowned, eyes narrowing.
"And what is that thing in the water?"
The man's eyes widened in terror. "You saw it?"
"No but it's quite obvious something big and bad is down there." Tysone replied, showing the man the file he'd taken. "Tell me about it."
"It's... it's a mutated whale. A blue whale. It was injured when we found it. It's our best chance at finding a cure. Its tissue samples are... unique. We need it."
"You need it?" Tysone's voice was cold.
"Yes. T-That thing's healing factor is off the charts. If we can isolate what's causing it, we might be able to use it to—"
His head was cracked against the wall. Tysone loosened his hold. "Is that really all you're doing?"
"Yes! I swear! I don't know any more than that!"
"Who's this Nakamura?"
The scientist mentioned in the files.
"He's... he's the lead researcher. He's the one in charge of this project." The man stammered. "He's a madman. He's obsessed."
Tysone had a feeling Nakamura was more than just a researcher.
"Where is he?"
"Inside the main building."
Tysone looked out the window, scanning the port. He saw the building. It was the tallest one in the facility, a three-story structure that overlooked the entire port. It looked quite imposing, and it was the structure with the most armed guards around it.
"Good." Tysone said, turning back to the man. "Now, you're going to be a good little soldier and tell me everything I need to know about this place. The number of guards, their patrol routes, the layout of the building. How many evolved are here, and who's the strongest. Everything."
The scarred man hesitated.
Tysone tightened the chokehold again. "Or I can just crush your windpipe and find out for myself."
The choice was clear.
The man spilled everything he knew.
He told Tysone about the number of guards, their patrol routes, the layout of the building. He told him about the other evolved, the ones to be on the lookout for. Several Rank 1—which he classified as Class I—and, much to Tysone's unease, around five Class II.
Yeah, he figured that being Rank 2 wasn't that incredible, but he also believed only someone at the top of an elite team or organization would get to be a Rank 2, so to hear that there were five of them made him uncomfortable. It meant that there was just that much more danger in this place compared to what he's been used to.
"..."
Tysone stared at him for a long moment, judging his sincerity.
The man's face was a mask of fear. He was telling the truth, or at least, what he believed to be the truth. Considering that he wasn't the leader, and his status was quite low on the ladder, there wouldn't be a lot he knew anyway. Tysone had the distinct gut feeling that there was more to this operation other than finding some nebulous "cure" or saving humanity.
Tysone tossed him to the ground with a grunt.
The problem was that the man's loyalty might pose a threat in the future. This man or the people working for/with him could become an obstacle if Tysone didn't take him out now.
That meant he had a decision to make.
"...thank y—"
Tysone broke his neck with a swift karate chop. In movies, usually the victim's would merely fall unconscious from being knocked out like this. But here, due to his enhanced strength, Tysone was not merely knocking people out, instead, he killed the scarred man almost instantly. The poor bastard was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Also, the bastard would've killed him if given the chance, thus making him an enemy.
Tysone shook his head and threw the corpse out of the window, with enough strength to catapult the carcass right over the edge of the dock and into the murky depths; he made sure that no one was around, and with the loud noises coming from the place, no one had heard the splash as the man descended towards the waves below.
He peeked through a tiny slit in the wall of the building, checking if they were followed or not; it was lucky that there was no one patrolling or taking an unscheduled break there, a pity that the scarred man decided to enter the room and risked ruining his day.
He took one last look at the office, then he left, heading back towards where he'd left Saeko and Miku. He decided not to take the files, as he didn't want anyone to be the wiser that someone had snuck in, even though that guy's disappearance would likely draw attention; he hoped to be invisible for as much as possible.
When he reached the girls, they were right where he'd left them.
"You're almost late." Saeko's voice was low, her back to the container as she scanned the yard.
"The man in the office was a bit more talkative than I expected." Tysone replied.
Miku had her crossbow pointed towards the direction of the tank, her arms steady. "Learn anything useful?"
"Plenty." Tysone's eyes scanned the area. "The people here are a remnant of the JSDF. Special Research Division. Though I can't tell whether everyone belongs to that division or not. Looks like the military or the government might be involved or behind it as well. They're here to study something under the water. A whale."
Miku's face scrunched in confusion. "A whale?"
"A mutated whale, a Rank 3." Tysone said. "And there are at least five other Rank 2s here, plus a dozen or so Rank 1s. It's dangerous..." He paused, looking at the two girls. "But this makes it even more important that we somehow put a stop to whatever these guys are doing, because I don't believe for one second that all of this infrastructure and manpower is solely for finding a cure for the zombie plague. We're talking about a whale, and a Rank 3 one at that. What could possibly be so important about it that they'd set up a whole facility here?"
The girls were silent for a moment.
Saeko's grip on her katana tightened. "Core extraction?"
Tysone nodded. "I believe so as well. At least, that's what I'd do. A Rank 3 whale... I can't even imagine the kind of core it would have, and the kind of power you could gain from it. That thing down there could be a literal fountain of youth. But it's also extremely dangerous to take it."
Because it meant that Tysone and his group would have to risk their lives fighting unknown powerful figures in their own home turf; just the mere thought of this caused a tiny shiver to crawl up his spine, making him ever so slightly wary. But at the same time, what he feared the most, was the emergence of a Rank 3 evolved.
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.