CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 56: [IN-431 BROOD MOTHER]

"Dead? Who is dead?" Zaen asked, but Ann was shivering so badly she couldn’t even form any words.

Wait, did her sanity drop?

Realizing what was happening, he held her hands, recovery kicked in and slowly she calmed down enough to form intelligible sentences.

"The f-forward base... t-they are all i-infected!"

"Infected by what?"

"IN-431 Brood Mother..."

Zaen tried recalling the nomenclature Jenna had taught him, but couldn’t. He only remembered IN stood for infestation of parasitic anomalies.

While he was thinking that, Ann flopped onto the bed again. He just shook her, so she stayed awake and told him in detail about what was going on.

"...I was experimenting with the creature as per protocols and then Captain approached me. I... don’t remember anything that happened since."

"Okay, when did this happen?"

"W-What’s the date today...?"

"29th May."

"May? Wasn’t it June...?"

Ann’s face fell as soon as reality dawned on her. But Zaen was still as confused as before. What was the brood, and why was she acting unlike herself?

"Phone... hand me your phone!"

She didn’t wait for Zaen to hand it over and lunged at the bedside table before frantically dialing someone. But the next moment, she dropped it and slumped over the bed.

"...I can’t inform them about it," she mumbled. "What if they are infected as well? I can’t trust anyone..."

Smack!

Ann clenched her reddened cheek, looking at Zaen.

"Have you lost it—?" she yelled, only to get slapped again.

Surprisingly, her nerves calmed down when he hit her. It was almost like her body was reacting to something she didn’t even know existed. It was her masochism reacting unknowingly.

"Now, will you tell me what is going on?"

Ann took a deep breath and told him everything.

Over a year ago, there had been a containment breach at the forward base. [IN-431 Brood Mother] was the anomaly responsible for it, but it was contained swiftly, at least according to the report Johann filed.

Unbeknownst to them, it had already infected individuals within the facility, starting with the captain himself. Over the course of a year, it had most likely infected people both inside and outside the facility.

Mapping out the extent of its reach was impossible. For all they know, everyone a [IN-431-Θ Broodling] had approached was most likely infected. But that wasn’t all, anyone who had been infected for so long was as good as dead.

"Then how are you alive?" Zaen asked.

But Ann had no idea. She did have a theory, but even thinking about it disgusted her. Perhaps her unwarranted closeness with Zaen was the reason, but they could think about it later. Getting rid of the broods took priority.

However, it wasn’t going to be so easy.

To make things worse, once the broodling controls someone, they lose their entire personality.

Basically, their behavior changes drastically. A loving parent could turn into the epitome of cruelty, a loyal dog could bite its owner into shreds. Anything was possible.

However, if they made too many decisions unlike the actual body owner, then that could send their minds into shock and could lead to coma or death in severe cases.

That’s why even with weird decisions, the broodlings had to come up with a twisted, yet somewhat logical explanation for their every action.

In Ann’s case... she turned into a masochistic sex-maniac. But that wasn’t without reason. In her case, the broodling only intensified her restricted thoughts and exposed her masochistic tendencies to the world.

"The reason I approached you was because the entity wanted your genetic material."

"Eh? Wait, then what about that test and stuff? Was it all a lie?"

"It was all a ploy to get what the brood wanted," Ann nodded. "No procedure in the organization requires one to forcefully hand over their... reproductive fluids."

"Why would they be after it?"

"I-I don’t know. I just remember the Brood Mother whispering about it in my head. But if I had to guess, it’s because of your strange immunity to the broodlings."

Suddenly, a scary thought popped up in his head, ignoring their ongoing discussion.

"Wait, you said they can infect anyone, and the person wouldn’t know about it until it was too late."

Ann nodded.

"Then... how long does it take for the broodling to take over completely?"

"Two weeks, approximately. Why are you asking me that? I already told you, everyone is infected there."

Zaen didn’t bother replying and just shoved his face into his hands.

Two weeks. It was exactly two weeks after the game’s incident when he received the letter from Shyra about their breakup. It was probably also the time when Hina lost her screw and turned into a full-blown yandere.

It was most likely that they were infected as soon as they were rescued. But then why wasn’t he infected?

[...]

A blank notification appeared before him, and that was all the answer he needed. The system must have protected him from the broodling. He was about to let out a sigh of relief when an even worse thought formed in his head.

"Have you infected anyone since you got here!?" he yelled, shaking her from the shoulders.

"I-I don’t know! But it is possible—"

"SHIT!"

Ann had stayed there for a few days. It was most likely that she had infected Uncle Mack, Aeron, or the house staff. The more Zaen thought about it, the stranger things felt.

Given the rate of infection, the entire city could be infected and without a known cure, the city was doomed and perhaps the rest of the planet with it.

As if reading Zaen’s mind, Ann hesitatingly placed her hand on his shoulder and said...

"There’s a way to cure them all simultaneously."

"What?"

"The hive is linked through the Brood Mother," she mumbled. "As long as we kill the mother, the broodlings will die on their own."

"Where is she?" Zaen asked.

"...the forward base."

Zaen sighed. It made sense for the anomaly to stay there, especially since everyone had been infected.

The forward base was the safest place to be, and now that it was under the anomaly’s control, finding it would be a difficult task, let alone killing it.

"Then, we have to kill it."

"Have you gone mad? You want to fight an entire facility on your own? I was cured, the Brood Mother already knows it. With an entity base under her command, do you think you stand a chance against them?"

"So what should I do? Wait for the incubation period to end so that my family gets infected?"

"You’re emotional, I get it, but it requires planning and—"

"You said it yourself," Zaen said, cutting her off. "There’s no one we can trust."

Ann took a deep breath and nodded in resignation. Zaen was right. Every second they wasted, there was a new swarm of broodlings that took over an innocent soul.

"Fine... but you’ll follow my lead."

"That doesn’t seem to work out well for you, if I remember correctly."

Ann’s cheeks flushed as she hurriedly got dressed.

***

A couple of hours later, the two found themselves inside the facility. To Zaen, everything looked normal, if not for the constant glares the two of them were facing.

Technically, nothing was normal because Zaen could see a bit of static texture all over their heads.

Without his evolved perception, he couldn’t have registered their faint presence, and that’s how those broodlings went unnoticed for so long.

"They know," Ann whispered, holding Zaen’s hand to offset the constant sanity depletion.

"It would be weird if they didn’t," he replied, his hand itching to hit the closest anomaly.

However, before he could, Ann hugged his arm, snapping him out of his dangerous thoughts.

"Not yet. You can’t throw the entire plan into jeopardy."

Zaen took a deep breath and nodded.

Before doing anything, they had to activate the restriction protocol. That would completely seal the facility and send an emergency beacon to the HQ. After that, the restriction can only be lifted from the outside by the HQ representative.

While the facility was sealed, they had to locate and eliminate [IN-431 Brood Mother].

The only problem was that the entire process took five minutes from the start. Johann could stop the protocol during those precious minutes. It will be up to Zaen to stop a B-rank officer and make it out alive to hunt the mother.

Even while planning, Zaen knew the chances of success were negligible. But he hoped the HQ representatives who would come from Europe using portals would be uninfected and save their ass before anything went wrong.

But as Ann had said...

"Don’t hold your breath for the rescue."

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he turned to Ann.

"Where to next?"

"Third basement floor."

From her voice, she looked calm, but her damp grip on Zaen’s arm betrayed her. He didn’t comment on it and proceeded to the elevator. Unfortunately, that’s where their luck ran out.

"What are you two doing here?" Jenna’s familiar voice stopped them.