CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER 71- NEW ENEMY

Chapter 71- New Enemy

"W-What are you going to do? You need to get us out of here! We will all die sooner or later!" The man yelled. Jack completely ignored him as he fell into deep thought. He wanted to find some sort of way to discover the infected quickly before the insects grow in their brains.

There was no other choice if he wanted to somehow save this entire base from being wiped out completely.

"Please, listen to me, we will get on our knees and apologize! Just let us go, please!"

"Shut up." Jack finally snapped as he glared at the man coldly. "Just shut up. You’re going nowhere. Nothing will happen, I will make sure of it."

His words were harsh and brutal, making everyone go silent in fear. They knew what this boy was capable of, and the last thing they wanted was to anger him.

"I will deal with this. Then, I will see what I can do with you." Jack said as he stood up. "You better not try to escape, or I will make you regret it greatly."

"..."

"Please... We really don’t want anything to do with this."

"Oh, you have everything to do with it. That is why I won’t let you die, yet." Jack said coldly. "I’m going to make sure you’re useful in some way before that."

After that, the boy left the room and locked it before he walked back to his room. Closing the door behind him, he rested his back against it and closed his eyes for a moment as he inhaled and exhaled.

It was stressful.

Everything was stressful.

Knowing fully well that this entire place could burn down at any given moment was a heavy weight to bear. It had everything he needed for the near future, and so protecting it was the most important step at that moment... Even more important than getting stronger.

Running his hand through his hair, Jack finally exhaled and looked down. ’Well, this is my plan, so I should stick to it. It is better to carry this burden than let everything crumble and start from scratch again.’

At this point, Jack realized that the stronger he got, the more responsibility he carried, even if he was selfish. There are too many factors that could affect him, so pretending like everything doesn’t concern him is simply impossible.

He had to be involved and actively change things before the table gets turned on him and he finds himself facing death.

"I guess it’s time to get that queen out of its container. This is the only idea I can think of that could possibly get the insects to come out. Perhaps her presence would make them take the bait." He frowned as he opened the gate to the Garden Of Eden again and walked in.

Everything seemed like he had left it a while ago. Walking to the container, he opened it, caught the queen, and checked it. It was moving more actively than usual, almost as if it sensed that its followers had come to take her back.

"Let’s see what you would do."

With that, he walked out again and headed back to the open field, where the situation was only growing more and more tense by the second. After Jack disappeared, the group started asking for the reason why they were standing there, staring at the burnt corpse of a dead woman.

They were beyond mortified and even disgusted. How can Jack do such a thing to the woman? Her son stared at the corpse in silence, completely shocked and out of it.

When he finally came back, everyone finally spoke.

"What is happening?"

"Why are we standing here? It’s cold outside!"

"Are we being attacked by something?"

"We need answers!"

Jack stared at the dissatisfied group and didn’t reply. There was no point in telling them the truth and getting them to panic and perhaps even start running away from each other. Jack had to deal with this before he could reveal anything.

"Jack, are you ok?" Luna approached him. "We noticed nothing weird so far. Everyone is behaving normally."

"Hmm, on the surface, maybe. But, this might reveal the truth, after all." Jack said as he finally showed Luna the insect in his hand. With a disgusted face, she blinked before she curiously leaned in to check it.

"So, this is what these things look like? They’re so... odd."

"They are most likely not from this world. I have never seen a species of insect that looks like this. In any case, this queen might get the larvae to come out as they all want her back."

"What should we do if that happens? It will be chaos, Jack." Luna said.

"I know that. But there is no other choice. If those things reveal themselves, they will most likely try to come for me. I will pull them away from here to a spot where it’s easier to deal with them." He said. "I want you to contain the situation and make sure nothing else happens, ok?"

"... I understand." Luna nodded. "Are you certain you can deal with them all on yourself, Jack?"

"Yeah, they aren’t strong, and I have the abilities to back it up." He said. "I will be fine."

"..."

Staring deep into his eyes, the girl sighed and nodded. At this point, she really had no strength to go against what he says. She knew him better than anyone else, and how stubborn he is when it comes to things like this. If his mind was set on something, it was very hard to make him change his mind.

Besides, if there was one person she trusted blindly in this world, it was him. She had no doubt he could deal with any situation, no matter what it was.

"Go tell the others what they have to do. I will take care of the rest." Jack said as he walked away.

Luna nodded and also moved, and the plan officially began. Approaching the group, Jack put the insect in his pocket now to alert them to it.

He assumed that since these things could sense the queen’s presence in a container that they could sense her presence when she was in his pocket.

Stopping at the front line, Jack waited for a second as he stared at their faces. They were all confused, clearly. But, for a few seconds, nothing happened.

Jack then slowly started walking alongside the first line, making sure that the insect was close to them.

But, as he continued walking, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then, he moved to the second line, and then the third line with nothing noticeable.

’Is this not working?’ Jack asked himself. ’Was I wrong in assuming that this could lead to something?’

The pressure kept increasing with every failed attempt. At the same time, there was some hope that perhaps, this was just a sign that all the larvae were killed. That maybe he was indeed right.

But...

All of that vanished from his thoughts upon reaching the end of the third line. There, Jack suddenly noticed something rather odd.

One particular person amongst the crowd suddenly stopped moving. His lively eyes froze, and then, he stared down at Jack’s pocket.

"..." The boy didn’t react immediately, but also readied himself.

A few seconds later, he heard some noise coming from the man. It was faint, only audible for him. A moment after that, he saw something pop out of his ear. A small antenna that wiggled left and right.

That antenna pushed forward as something continued to emerge. A head, then the torso, and the rest of the legs and the tail. A large insect came out of his ear.

As the insect fully came out, Jack saw the antenna go back deep within the man’s ear, and out of nowhere, he suddenly moved. Moving forward, he tried to grab Jack’s hand, aiming to pull it out.

The boy quickly moved, sliding down as he tackled the man to the ground and pulled his sword. Stabbing down, he pierced the insect’s body, killing it on the spot. Along with it, the man’s body stopped moving completely and he became a lifeless corpse.

"Ah..."

"AAAAAAAH!!!!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!!!"

"OH MY GOD!!!"

The entire place exploded with screams a second later as Jack quickly looked up. "Luna!"

The girl, who was already prepared, quickly moved to contain the masses. At the same time, Jack’s eyes ran around the place, searching for any other targets. It didn’t take long for him to see one, then two, then ten, then twenty.

Rapidly, and in quick succession, insects started emerging as if they were summoned from their nests.

Dozens and dozens of insects, emerged and many bodies stopped moving normaly. In a matter of seconds, the number grew to a hundred, then to 150.

At the same time, Jack watched with a dark expression. He was glad that his plan worked. However...

Right before him, was now dozens of dead humans... And those dead humans were now a new enemy.