CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 68- FEELING THE BLAME

Chapter 68- Feeling The Blame

"What’s in that thing, Jack?"

"It’s an insect." He replied.

"An insect? What..." Luna seemed completely confused for a few seconds. She didn’t understand why Jack would have something like that trapped within that metal container.

However, before the boy could answer, they heard someone calling for them, making them turn their heads.

"Jack! Luna!!"

From afar, Alex, Emi, and Evan approached them in a hurry.

"What happened? What is all this noise?" Alex asked as he stopped nearby and looked at the excited crowds.

"While you were resting, we decided to go on with the plan, and we got a bunch of citizens awakened. It went well so everyone is excited about that." Jack explained briefly as he crossed his arms.

"Oh... I-I’m sorry for sleeping too long... I was intending to wake up early so I can help."

"No need to apologize. We didn’t bother to wake you up either." Jack shook his head. "You weren’t needed in the plan. Well, for today’s part of the plan, at least. You will have a lot more work from now on."

"I’m always ready to help in any way I can." Alex made a joking military salute.

"How are you, Luna? Did you get hurt?" Evan approached Luna and asked with a worried look on his face as he examined her body with his eyes.

"Yeah, I’m fine. There wasn’t much threat to begin with."

"Still, I wished I could’ve been there. I don’t want you to be alone."

"I wasn’t alone. Far from that." Luna replied as she stared at Jack. Her eyes spoke a thousand more words than her mouth could and Evan could see that as he clenched his teeth subtly but didn’t comment on it. There was really no point in saying anything that could anger Luna.

"Since everyone is here. I’m going to tell you what happened exactly." Jack said. "Gather around. This is very important."

"Hm? What happened?"

"Is everything good, Jack?"

"No, and frankly, things could get way worse very quickly. I still don’t know." He said. "But, for now, I will tell you what I saw..."

Sucking a deep breath, Jack looked down as he recalled the entire situation. Then, he began, telling them every single detail from the start till he reached the laboratory. Then, he talked about what he saw inside, the things he witnessed with his own eyes, the smell, the monstrosities, and everything else.

The reactions of the group were comical... The sheer shock on their faces was impossible to hide. Nobody could comprehend the horrors they were hearing.

By the time Jack came to the end, there was complete silence. Nobody uttered a single word.

"Now I have their queen, or the most important insect, with me in this container," Jack said calmly. "I don’t know if killing it is the right step here or not, but I have it with me and I’m planning to experiment and see what I could do to make use of this."

Initially, Jack was going to ask Liliana about it since she is the most knowledgeable being in the whole world. But, since she didn’t come back, he had to rely on himself and learn this on his own.

"... Jack, what the hell... You’re serious?"

"I wish I wasn’t. That’s all I saw." Jack said.

"So that’s why you couldn’t reply..." Luna was the one who got shocked the most. While she was in relative safety, Jack was facing such horrors alone, and she almost caused his death because of her message.

That hit her very hard, and for a second, she didn’t know what to say or think. Everything felt like a blur, and she found herself staring at Jack.

"Those things are disgusting and vile. But, they are far from strong, and they can easily be killed. If we can somehow get rid of them before they can spread even more, we will stop them completely." Jack said.

"..."

"How certain are you that they will attack us sooner or later?" Evan asked coldly.

"... 90%. Give or take. They are clearly focused on spreading, getting victims to feed their giant insects hiding within the nest. It is clearly for a purpose, perhaps to create an extremely strong and terrifying species of these insects. Either way, those large ones will eventually leave the nest, and when that happens... I don’t know what we could do."

Flying creatures were already a huge pain in the ass. Strong flying creatures are literal nightmares that can hardly be defeated.

"Then we have to get ready and kill them before they get strong," Emi said.

"That is easier said than done. As Jack explained, there are hundreds of thousands inside that place... How are we supposed to kill that many? It’s not possible."

As the trio discussed the situation, Jack fell into deep thought. He contemplated.

"Let me see what I can do with this insect I trapped, and then I will tell you if there is anything we can do," Jack said. "For now, we will focus on training everyone here and getting them stronger as fast as possible. Alex, Emi, and you... You will all focus on training the awakened ones. Then, tomorrow, we will go out to train more people."

"Train them?"

"Yeah, and while doing that, you should practice how to use your new weapons. You have to get much more efficient with your movements and learn how to be more comfortable with them." Jack said. "As for you, Luna. Come with me."

"..."

"Luna?"

Jack noticed that the girl was completely silent. She had a dark expression on her face.

"Hey, Luna."

"Huh?"

"Come with me," Jack said calmly, not bothering to comment on her odd behavior.

"U-Understood."

The two then stood up and walked away from the group. Entering the main building, Jack stopped and looked at her.

"What’s wrong?"

"..." The girl was taken aback before she shook her head. "It’s nothing... I’m just..."

"What is it?"

Seeing how adamant Jack was about learning what she was thinking about, she sighed in defeat.

"I didn’t know you were going through all of that while inside that lab. I messaged you at a horrible time, and that put your life in great risk... I can’t believe I did that... I’m deeply sorry."

"..." Jack blinked before he shook his head. "No, there is no need to apologize. We agreed on sending a message every few minutes, and I didn’t do my part of the agreement. It is on me."

"But..."

"No buts," Jack replied. "It is on me that I didn’t do it. Besides, it will take far more than that to put my life at stake. You didn’t do anything worth apologizing for. Now, listen, I need you to do some stuff for me."

"... What is it?"