Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 8



Only Noblemtl

Apocalypse Underwater Episode 8

Episode 8

I moved the tools and equipment from the 13th floor, as well as the farmed items, to the 17th floor.

Moving to the top floor would have been best for safety, but the solar panels were the first priority.

This was because it could have caused disruption in food preservation and power supply for tools.

I installed booby traps and ropes all over the stairs leading up to the 17th floor.

Now the sun has completely set and the moon has risen.

The moonlight was quite bright, so it wasn’t so bright that I couldn’t see the outlines of objects.

But it was nothing compared to artificial light like electric lights.

I was thinking about turning on my cell phone or emergency flashlight that I had charged using solar power during the day, but there was light shining from outside the window.

Oh! Are you a survivor?

I ran to the window.

A light was seen coming from a window in Building 104.

Building 104 is located near the main gate, quite far from our building, Building 110.

Even if I shouted, it didn’t seem like it would be heard.

The noise of the city was gone, but the wind and waves were just as loud.

“Hey! What is that?”

A vague outline climbing the outer wall of Building 104 came into view.

It was too dark and distant to see the exact outline, but ominously, it looked like a long, long-legged creature that resembled a fox.

The torso obscured the glass window, and the torso appeared to be at least a meter tall.

The boy moved quickly toward the light, like ants marching toward a dropped cookie.

It seemed like yelling here would be of no use.

In addition to the outside noise and the distance, the windows that let in light were tightly shut.

That’s why it seemed like he was completely unaware of the danger approaching from outside.

I decided to stay still.

I yelled for no reason and it didn’t work, so I ended up getting hurt instead.

It was unfortunate, but I couldn’t risk my life for something hopeless.

A raccoon-like monster arrived at the light.

It was too far away to see exactly what was happening, but something was flowing out of the guy’s mouth and seemed to melt the window.

The guy slithered inside, as if he was climbing over a wall.

And after a while, the lights in Building 104 went out.

Even though I hadn’t seen anything creepy, my heart started beating faster and a chill ran down my spine.

What if that guy attacks here?

I stuck my head out and looked around the outer wall of our building.

Fortunately, there was no trace of the raccoon-like monster.

I wondered if the guy was reacting to light.

If I had turned on the light first, it would have been me who suffered.

My spine, which had been cold, became cold again.

I feel sorry for the owner of the light in Building 104, but it was a blessing for me.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t work, and it was too dark to rely solely on moonlight to work.

At that moment, the 16th floor, which was dark even during the day, came to mind.

The 16th floor occupants must have been night workers, as blackout curtains were meticulously installed.

The blood pooling on the bedside was the last trace of the 16th floor resident.

If the 16th floor occupant had ignored the knocking on the door and just slept, he might not have been eaten.

After searching each floor, it seemed that the monster fish only reacted to moving objects.

The only survivor of our agreement was me, who had not woken up from drinking too much.

Before I woke up to the noise from upstairs, it was so loud outside that it felt like the door was going to break down, but I stayed in bed, pretending I wasn’t home.

But many people seemed to have been startled by the knock on the front door.

You could tell just by looking at the traces of their death.

I packed my work stuff and went down to the 16th floor.

We sorted the collected food items by type and expiration date, checked usable equipment and tools, and confirmed that they were working.

As soon as we finished our work, the dark sky began to brighten.

I got up, opened the curtains, and looked around room 104.

The exterior wall of Building 104 was clean as if it had never been there before.

I didn’t see any monsters that looked like foxes.

However, what caught my eye was that the windows on the 19th floor were empty, as if they were missing something.

In order to survive in an apartment overrun by all sorts of monsters, it seemed necessary to at least know their habits.

I need to get this monster encyclopedia quickly.

* * *

I checked again to make sure the rope was properly tied to the pole.

We also checked spare safety devices such as hooks and harnesses.

When I was assigned to the counter-terrorism police special forces, I learned high-altitude infiltration operations.

So I had some basic knowledge of high-altitude work.

However, since the high-altitude work equipment that the Yanbian man had was for construction work, not operational use, the purpose of each part and the order of the harness lines had to be examined one by one.

After finishing the equipment check and checking the status of the seal hybrids facing off on the stairs, it was already well past afternoon.

After a hearty late lunch, we headed downstairs.

Instead of using the stairs, we slid down the outer wall using a rope.

We reached the 9th floor, which is our house.

All the windows were tightly shut.

I cut a hole in the glass with a glass cutter.

The Yanbian man had swept away all the tools and equipment from the workshop as collateral for unpaid wages, and when he looked, he found that there was nothing missing.

Breaking the window would have been easy, but the seal hybrids might have heard the sound and come down.

He put his hand through the hole, unlocked the door, and entered the house.

I looked around without taking off the hood from the rope.

There was no sound at the top of the stairs.

Before coming down, I checked and the seal hybrids were waiting in front of the broken stairs while dozing off.

The recklessness of charging forward until death or the behavior of not backing down until the target on the upper floor was captured made it seem like an NPC that could only carry out one command.

Anyway, thanks to that, I was able to sneak into the house so easily.

I went into the bedroom and searched through the boxes I had brought from the police station.

The box contained a lot of materials about the Ark Church that the Water Mole had sent, including a list of Ark Church members.

“Oh! I brought this too.”

I took the bead bracelet out of the box.

The beads were so large that it seemed believable even if they were prayer beads, and there was a dull blue bead in the center as if to add a point.

It was a gift Jiyeon gave me before she was dragged away by her damn parents.

“What is this? Is this a germanium bracelet that is supposedly good for your health?”

I looked at the bracelet Jiyeon held out and made a deliberately pointless joke.

Because I had a feeling that I might not see her again.

Jiyeon looked at me with a smirk.

“Detective Kim is handsome, tall, and talented, but he just can’t do dad jokes.”

“Is that so? Haha!”

“Detective Kim. If you ever fall into water, use this.”

Jiyeon said it with a serious face, but I thought she was just joking around because she was embarrassed.

“You want me to use this? Are you telling me to swallow black beads like Min Do-yoon?”

I pretended to bite the bracelet.

Min Do-yoon, the leader of the Bangju Church, said that when he went to the Dragon Palace, he swallowed the black pearl given to him by the Dragon King and not only did he understand the principles of the world, he also gained supernatural powers.

Of course, I dismissed Min Do-yoon’s claims as nonsense.

“Haha. Haha!”

Jiyeon laughed so hard her face turned red at my answer and then left.

I wore a bead bracelet like a prayer bead on my wrist.

It felt a little awkward, but every time I saw this bracelet, I would feel a desire for revenge against the damned Ark Church.

In that case, there seemed to be no reason not to do it.

I packed the necessary materials, including the monster guide, into my bag.

By the way, the water mole said he would send me some great information.

What was that?

I think it was either the ‘Book of Prophecy’ or the ‘Way of Foretelling’.

And then all contact with the water mole was lost.

Could he still be alive in this underwater world?

No, we don’t even know if it’s him or her, let alone whether they’re alive or not.

We had never met, but he always contacted me by email and sent me materials about the Ark Church by mail.

When contact was suddenly cut off, the mole rat wondered if he had been caught looking for something that was either a book or a resource called the ‘Book of Prophecy’ or the ‘Way of Foretelling’.

I was worried, but since I didn’t know what the water mole was, there was nothing I could do.

I stuffed a few self-defense items into my bag full of materials.

A priest’s trident, pepper spray, and a custom-made reconnaissance mirror.

After I had finished what I had hurriedly packed, I went out the window to go back up.

As I climbed up the rope, the view of the clear sky and blue sea overlapping each other was reflected through the window.

It was a picturesque sight, but somehow it felt unreal.

Then something caught my eye above the window.

“Huh! Is that a stain?”

I stretched out my arm and wiped the stain with my sleeve, but it didn’t come off.

“what?”

I looked back and saw a dot floating in the sky.

The dot seemed to be growing little by little.

Oh no! No way!

The dot was an airplane.

After returning to the 17th floor, I observed the dot for a long time.

It would be nice to have a high-power telescope.

While farming, I found a few children’s telescopes, but they were less effective than zooming in with a camera phone.

As time passed, the dot began to take shape little by little.

Gray fuselage, wings, and propeller.

Although no markings were visible on the fuselage, it appeared to be a military transport aircraft.

Where is that transport going?

As I looked at the outline that was getting clearer and bigger, could it be that our apartment was the destination?

So, did you come out to rescue the survivors in the apartment?

“Long live the Republic of Korea!”

They cheered as if the Korean team had scored the winning goal in the World Cup semifinals.