Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 68: Ballet, Small Movements

Humans and heroes still don't know about the parasites.

Infected humans commit suicide the moment they see me, and the beetles devour the corpses, leaving no trace behind.

Right now, the only ones aware of the problem infesting W-City are Gu Seoryong and me, the two despair-class monsters.

Thinking that it would be difficult to handle this ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) alone, I revealed myself on a high rooftop and waited for Starlight.

“This is Zone 6, Black Cat sighted... Huh? Something’s off.”

“What? It’s just the usual Black Cat... Wait? Why is he just standing there?”

“Grrrr...”

“Whoa! This is Zone 6, Black Cat is... not attacking, but pushing us away, warning us to stay back?”

Usually, when I’m napping, I bare my teeth and use telekinesis to push them away. Feeling that something was off, the heroes quickly called for Starlight.

A moment later, Starlight rushed to the rooftop where I was and pulled something out of her bag.

“W-What? Are you hungry? Want some treats? Want some Churu?”

“Uuuh...”

Holding meat in one hand and Churu in the other, Starlight looked at me, and I gestured with my chin for her to send the other heroes away.

Sensing that something was off, Starlight dismissed the other heroes, and now it was just the two of us left on the rooftop.

[The number of parasites in W-City is increasing.]

“Parasites? Don’t tell me there’s someone high up in the government you want dead? Like with the orphanage directors?”

[No.]

Why is she bringing up government officials the moment I mention parasites? Are there more scum like those orphanage directors?

Furrowing my brow at the sudden suspicion, I decided to focus on the immediate issue first.

[The parasites I’m talking about are monsters. I can’t handle them alone.]

“What...?”

The fact that I said I couldn’t handle them alone made Starlight realize the seriousness of the situation.

“No way, an extermination-class? But we haven’t received any movement warnings from an observed extermination-class.”

[It’s a killing-class. No, less than killing-class....]

“A monster below killing-class? But... you can’t handle it?”

[Follow me quietly, without making a sound.]

Rather than explaining it, I figured it would be quicker to show her.

I led Starlight to follow me as I soared over the skies of W-City.

However, even after circling almost every zone, they didn’t show themselves.

“Black Cat? How much longer do I have to follow you?”

[...Something’s wrong.]

Up high, where the beetles had been hiding in the clouds, they too had disappeared, and no infected humans were appearing.

Could it be... they can sense the heroes?

[...If I resonate my core, how fast can you get here?]

“Huh? Depends on the distance... but a maximum of 10 seconds?”

[Back off.]

After shaking off Starlight, I circled around again. Only then did the infected humans begin to appear.

“Black Cat! Help us!”

“Black Cat, sir! Save us! Help!”

“Ahhh...! Black Cat!”

Annoyingly, the way the infected humans were calling out to me was gradually changing.

Those who were worshipping me weren’t the citizens of W-City but the original humans.

Those who weren’t worshipping me and were genuinely asking for help were the citizens of W-City.

Are they communicating with each other somehow? More and more people are asking me for help.

“Aaaaah... Black Cat... I’m begging you, I’ll give you meat, so please, help me. Eat me, eat meeee~”

A citizen of W-City, feeling ecstasy, plunged a knife into their heart.

White worms wriggled from the wound.

Standing in front of one of the corpses, I let my monster core resonate loudly.

Gathering evidence, the blaring monster alarm echoed throughout the area, and from far away, Starlight flew toward me. freewёbnoνel.com

“What... What the hell is this?!”

At that moment, with a loud BUUUZZZ! The beetles swarmed in from all directions.

Despite the alarm, the sheer number of beetles paid it no mind.

From the sky, a startled Starlight unleashed her power, painting the entire sky red.

Under the intense firepower, the beetles turned into a rain of fire, falling from the sky.

Meanwhile, the beetles were desperately swarming the corpses, devouring the human remains.

I immediately stood atop one of the corpses, shielding it from the beetles.

[Starlight, come here first.]

BOOM!

Starlight, burning the beetles with intense flames, landed in front of me and intensified the firepower.

As a result, the human corpse began to melt.

Acidic poison from the parasite worms seeped out, dissolving the corpse in an instant.

Starlight, startled, looked at me.

“Wait, you... you didn’t just kill them, did you?”

[No.]

I never expected that the parasites could commit suicide too.

As I stepped away from the bubbling, brownish liquid that had once been a corpse, the beetles, having cleaned up the other bodies, scattered and disappeared, silencing the monster alarm.

“This is Starlight. Operator, respond.”

[Responding.]

“All units, emergency alert. Exterminate the beetle-type monsters spread across Zone 7. Evacuate surrounding areas immediately. Killing-class or lower monsters, undetectable by alarms. Detect them manually.”

[Confirmed.]

Seeing the beetle monsters burrowing into the gaps between buildings, into the sewers, and throughout W-City, Starlight urgently called for other heroes.

Then, she stopped in her tracks as she was about to chase the beetle monsters and demanded an explanation from me.

“Explain. What was all that?”

[Parasites and beetles.]

“The ones that just flew off were beetles. The parasites are....”

Starlight grimaced as she looked down at the brown liquid spreading across the ground.

I began explaining the parasites to her.

[There are strange humans who worship me, like you mentioned. There are parasites in their bodies, forcing them to commit suicide.]

“What...?”

[The parasites are too weak to be detected. They’re inside the beetle-type monsters, inside the bodies of those who call me a divine messenger. And the parasites are spreading to the citizens of W-City.]

“Wait... Hold on.”

After a brief pause to process the sudden information, Starlight collected her thoughts and spoke.

“There are parasites inside the bodies of those cultists, and those parasites are making people commit suicide? And they’re spreading to the citizens of W-City, but they’re so weak they can’t be detected, so we can’t tell who’s infected?”

[Correct.]

“Why... How did we not know about this?”

[The corpses of those killed by parasites are devoured by the beetles. The bodies leave no trace, and the parasites move to the beetles’ bodies.]

“And just now... if the parasites can’t move to the beetles, they melt and die?”

[Probably.]

When I nodded, Starlight’s expression hardened.

They were concealing themselves this thoroughly; without direct evidence, there was no way to know what was happening.

Moreover, these things were even avoiding the heroes.

Not like typical monsters.

“A parasite that forces humans to commit suicide, with beetles and cultists as intermediaries...? The cultists managed to temporarily tame a killing-class monster before. Did they get infected by parasites while trying to tame it? This isn’t a monster; it’s more like a virus....”

Muttering rapidly, Starlight suddenly looked up and asked the question that had been on my mind too.

“Is there a cure? A way to get rid of the parasites inside a body?”

[I don’t know.]

“Right... You’re a monster; there’s no way you’d know that... Got it.”

Bringing her hand to her earpiece, Starlight urgently issued commands.

“Priority directive: W-City is now under lockdown. Train stations are suspended, inter-zone movement is prohibited. Anyone resisting is to be arrested immediately. Anyone suspected of being a cultist is to be isolated after capture. And call all W-City monster researchers to the meeting room.”

After ending the call, Starlight looked at me with a tense expression.

“For now, thanks for telling me. Unlike with Bad Cats... Thanks to you, we might be able to respond faster.”

[Can you respond?]

“...If there are that many beetle-type monsters, there must be a leader. Swarm-type creatures always follow a central entity, like a queen bee or ant queen. We need to find it.”

[Central entity?]

Is there really such a thing? I've only ever dealt with single monsters in the research lab, so this is the first time I've heard of something like that.

“It’s a bit stronger than the others, so it won’t be too difficult to find. If we eliminate all the beetle-type monsters serving as intermediaries and isolate the cultists... we should be able to handle it.”

Find and kill the leader entity.

A solution to eliminate the beetles that I hadn’t considered.

I quietly nodded, feeling relieved that I had informed Starlight.

[Be careful. If you eat the bugs or the corpses, you'll get infected by the parasites.]

“What? Humans don’t eat stuff like that.”

At my warning, Starlight let out a dry laugh, seemingly finding the situation ridiculous, and heightened her power.

Conversation over.

From now on, the focus was on eradicating the beetle-type monsters spreading throughout W-City.

“Thanks for the help, Black Cat.”

With those parting words, Starlight soared into the sky, spreading her power far and wide.

Her energy waves were far more precise than usual, aiming to detect even the weakest monsters.

Not just Starlight, but all the heroes in W-City started searching for the beetles hidden in every nook and cranny.

The beetle numbers dwindled rapidly, and the infected humans also stopped appearing.

However, the beetle chaos didn’t end.

No matter how many they caught, the beetles didn’t disappear.

There was no leader here.

****

As the beetle chaos continued in W-City, the heroes intensified their control over the citizens.

They aimed to root out the remaining cultists within the city and isolate the infected humans.

Though the intention was to protect the citizens, public dissatisfaction continued to grow.

[Why did W-City suddenly turn into a hero dictatorship?]

[Are they trying to mimic A-City?]

[No, tracking real-time movement data and banning groups of four or more is just too much.]

[Were they restricting contact with Black Cat just to monitor public reaction?]

[Does anyone know why intercity travel is blocked? I need to go on a business trip.]

[Probably because of the monsters.]

[What do you mean? Black Cat is perfectly fine, so why restrict movement because of monsters? If they just let Black Cat deal with it, it’d be over in a day. What’s the point?]

As the voices of discontent grew louder, Starlight eventually stood before the cameras again.

She and the other heroes looked exhausted, but to quell the growing unrest, they decided to disclose part of the restricted information and explain the current situation.

“This briefing will be as brief as possible due to the urgent situation.”

“A swarm of beetle-type monsters continues to hover around W-City. These monsters harbor a special parasite in their bodies....”

“This parasite burrows into the brain, taking control and forcing the infected person to commit suicide. When exposed to the energy waves emitted by heroes in close proximity, it releases acidic poison, killing its host immediately.”

“The current lockdown is to isolate infected individuals. We have successfully isolated all known infected so far, but the beetle monsters, which serve as vectors for the parasites, continue to pour in....”

“The parasite spreads rapidly through direct contact, especially through mucous membranes. Even if we block the beetle monsters, there is still a risk of it spreading from person to person.”

“The beetle monsters are classified as weaker than killing-class monsters, and all heroes are working tirelessly to exterminate them. Until the situation calms down, we ask all citizens to adhere to the restrictions.”

We’re tired as hell trying to protect you, so please just cooperate...

Finishing her strained announcement, the exhausted heroes immediately left the briefing room without answering any questions from reporters.

After that, the citizens’ dissatisfaction vanished instantly.

It was replaced by fear and disgust.

[Hiiick! What the hell? Brain-eating parasites?!]

[Aaaaaah! Please impose stricter controls! Please!]

[From today, I’m not leaving my house....]

[Four people is too many! Make it a two-person limit!]

[But if it’s contact infection, then I should be safe, right?]

[It’s not sexually transmitted, is it?]

[Then I’m still safe, right?]

[Ah.]