NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 369
The B-01XA Laboratory was one of the frontlines in pathogen research.
The magical pattern tracking technology and virus research developed by the researchers here had been the driving force behind driving out terrorist organizations and bringing about the Foundation’s decisive victory.
However, now it was a chaotic scene, in conflict with awakened animals.
“Freedom! There is no freedom, only death! Ensure our freedom! Open the escape route!”
“Release the hostages first! Cease all threats immediately, beasts!”
The laboratory had been seized by the revolutionary animal rebellion.
The initial chaos of staff being taken hostage did not last long.
The Foundation quickly regained composure and instinctively sensed that the malevolent magic of the Ariel Group was behind this incident.
[Hostage rescue top priority. Followed by plans for encirclement and elimination of the enemy.]
Even in the face of the unprecedented event of talking animals, the agents of the Foundation remained calm.
Liberalism, what kind of ominous ideology could that be?
These impure animals shouting revolution were nothing but experimental subjects to be dealt with soon.
[5 minutes until rescue operation commences.]
In the prolonged standoff, the revolutionary animals, all new to this, continued to hold their ground amid tension.
“The escape routes are completely blocked! There’s no way out!”
The report from the scout rats, who had searched every nook and cranny of the laboratory, echoed heavily.
The animals pretended to be calm but their growing anxiety became evident as they found themselves at a dead-end.
“Step back! If you don’t, the hostages will lose their lives!”
“Stop spewing nonsense and hand over the hostages first! How can we trust you?”
“Growl!”
The reason the animals had been able to endure without fleeing thus far was singular.
“Something’s coming close! Can you all hear it?”
“Yeah! We can hear it!”
Thanks to the continuous sound of a song ringing in the animals’ heads.
The song slowly but surely grew louder, as if heralding something approaching.
Then the climax arrived like a lightning bolt.
“Get down!”
At the command of the scene commander, the hostages immediately ducked down.
In the moment the animals, slow to comprehend the situation, floundered.
[Throwing.]
A flashbang came flying in.
-Bang! Boom!
“Ah! My eyes! My ears!”
“I can’t hear! I can’t see!”
Just as the animals fell into confusion from the dazzling light and ear-splitting noise,
“Ugh! I can’t see anything! Bark!”
“Where am I! Where are you! I can’t get a fix on their location!”
In the shock as the animals rolled on the ground, heavily armed assault teams raced through the smoke to shield the hostages with their bodies.
Amid the chaos, bullets and bolts began to rain down with a heavy noise above the animals’ heads.
-Ping!
“Kraaack!”
The suppression squad’s fire control system adjusted its aim with deadly precision.
The pinpoint shots began, as the bullets narrowly flew past and decapitated the nearest cat.
“Hostage! Use the hostages as shields!”
“Follow the scent! Bark!”
The desperate cries of the panicked animals echoed amid the chaos.
“To the edge of the encirclement! Break through the weak points!”
Desperate for survival, the animals channeled their instincts and charged towards what appeared to be a thinner part of the encirclement.
The corridor was stained with blood. Most of it belonged to the animals.
-Bang! Bang!
As the Mech Hound unleashed its machine gun fire, a puppy jumped, bouncing off the walls and the ceiling.
Closing the distance with primal speed, suddenly the Mech Hound’s red sensor blared a warning.
-Thwack!
“Ugh!”
A monkey’s large-caliber rifle pierced the Mech Hound’s head.
Even as its body swayed from the recoil, it continued to pull the trigger.
Taking advantage of the moment, dogs and birds drove into the formation. A puppy bit at an agent’s ankle.
“Ah!”
It was a brutal battlefield. For animals that knew neither weapons nor tactics, the situation was clear.
Against the elite forces of the Foundation, all they had was their wild instincts.
But they had one more weapon.
It was their burning hope for freedom.
“Don’t back down! The day is coming! Soon! Woof!”
-Swish!
The monkey swinging its club was split in two, spraying blood.
“I will not run away!”
“I’ll crack your head like a walnut! Stupid humans! Let go!”
A crow pecking at a bulletproof helmet was caught in the iron grip of an agent.
Its clumsy magic could not penetrate the armor, only fueling annoyance. The agent tightened its grip on the struggling crow.
“Long live freedom…”
-Crack!
Upon seeing its comrade torn apart, the puppy howled in anger.
“Growl! You bastards!”
Despite being overwhelmed by firepower and equipment, the animals continued their life-and-death resistance.
They clawed, bit, and hurled themselves to impede the agents.
Casualties were minimal, but the Foundation agents were drained by the animals’ frenzied assaults.
-Puff!
The trajectory of teargas smoke curled over the ceiling.
“Squeak!”
As that thick white smoke spread, the animals screamed and scattered.
A fleeing cat was shot, its back exploded by a bullet. A rat dragging down a comrade’s corpse was shattered by the pressure of a grenade.
“Ahhh!”
After endless fighting, only a few remained.
The puppy, bleeding, looked around.
Ironically, they found themselves standing once again in front of the isolation room door.
“Is this how it ends…?”
The animals faced each other with eyes mixed with resignation and resolve.
Short but exhilarating moments of freedom flickered through their minds.
“Are we…not getting out?”
A monkey staggered closer, its left arm dripping red blood where the bullet had blown it away.
Other animals were similarly battered. The effects of past experiments combined with the scars from the battle had taken their toll.
“What a shame… I wanted to see the sky…”
“I wanted to eat delicious food!”
They shared their small wishes as they gazed ahead.
Heavily armed agents were slowly closing in, leading the way with their slaughtering robots.
Unlike before, they now were pushing their prey with not a word.
On the left, a monkey pulled the slide of its pistol, spitting out blood-mixed saliva.
“I won’t die alone! You bad humans! I’ll take at least one of you with me!”
On the right, a dog limped, glaring ahead.
Its horrific appearance was marred by brutal modifications, diseases, and wounds.
“Growl…”
The song in their heads grew uncharacteristically vivid.
But that was all that changed.
“Shoot.”
Bullets poured down like a storm from the walls and behind doors they had been hiding behind.
“Creeeak!”
“Kaang!”
Searing pain pierced through their bodies.
Like being crushed by a steel hammer, the puppy collapsed.
In the fading consciousness, a scene suddenly popped up.
Friends, moments of playing with sisters, those warm, cherished days.
If paradise exists, I can meet them there again.
‘Still, I have no regrets… woof…’
The final moments approached.
Mingling resentment and determination, the animals fervently wished into the sky where the song resonated.
“Is it real? Did we just see illusions?”
Amid lament and resignation.
“It can’t be… someone help us…”
A pitiful plea.
“Make those bastards pay…!”
And then, anger too.
Just when they thought it would end like this.
The silent sky finally answered.
“Estimated time of arrival: 30 seconds.”
The puppy’s eyes sparkled with hope.
Monkeys, having jumped from drones, landed precisely on the concrete floor. Some team members quickly ascended to the rooftop to secure an infiltration route.
A red beam streaked across the night sky right before Cocoa’s anxious eyes.
-Sizzle!
Crows turned into dazzling light that became the Melting Ray.
Mobile turrets targeting drones melted away in an instant.
“Charge! Beyond that wall are our oppressed compatriots!”
With cheers of joy, monkeys leaped over the laboratory walls.
It was a perfectly orchestrated ambush. It hadn’t even taken three minutes to get this far.
They could feel it. The presence of awakened comrades beyond.
This excitement was not just theirs.
“Those poor animals!”
“They are being oppressed!”
The Violets, with vivid memories of escaping the Laplacian Laboratory, felt a heartfelt connection and led the V-Animal special forces.
All tactics and knowledge manifested through the medium of animals.
“Monkey Team 1! Stand by! Monkey Team 2, commence rooftop infiltration!”
“Rat team? Has internal infiltration been confirmed? Initiate magic formula deployment immediately!”
While the monkeys were installing explosives on the walls and standing by, the scouting rats that infiltrated ahead discovered an empty warehouse.
“Prepare the reagents! Deploy the magic formula!”
The rats extracted catalysts and reagent vials from the small packs they carried on their backs.
And rapidly began to draw two magic circles.
“Done! Magic formula deployment complete!”
The harsh training and memories etched into the animal network were perfectly realized by the Violet Network.
Suddenly, the rats were perplexed by their heightened intelligence, shaking their heads in disbelief.
“Command from the command center. Operation start! 3, 2, 1!”
-Boom!
The wall exploded and crumbled. Armed monkeys with crossbows, grenade launchers, and rifles poured through the hole, maintaining tactical formation.
As startled humans turned their heads, they were met with rolling cylindrical objects on the floor.
“It’s a grenade—”
Smoke-emitting smoke bombs. At the same time, the rats on the magic circles raised their front paws.
One of the two magic circles emitted a cerulean light, sending invisible waves throughout the building.
“Electronic disturbance preparation!”
-Sizzle!
A victorious smile spread across the monkeys’ faces.
“Lights out.”
All the lighting shut off at once.
“…!”
In an instant, the hallway turned into darkness.
The armed agents hastily donned their night vision goggles and focused their magical power, but their vision was entirely obscured by thick smoke.
“Damn it! It’s multi-domain smoke bombs!”
“Do not lose formation! Absolutely do not scatter!”
Suddenly, death swooped in from the darkness.
-Swoosh!
A bolt slicing through the smoke pierced an agent’s head.
When an agent, startled by the death of their comrade, raised their weapon, a shadow descended from the ceiling.
“What, what is this! Kah! Kaahk…”
The V-Monkey’s dagger glinted as it slashed across the target’s carotid artery.
Amid the sudden ambush, screams and gunshots intertwined. The monkeys moved as if they could pierce through the darkness.
With heightened senses, thanks to the shared olfactory sense from the rats and the tactical maps combined, these small assassins ruthlessly slaughtered the agents.
-Thwack! Bang!
“Damn! Where are they! Where are they!”
In the darkness, muzzle flashes flickered continuously. With deadly precision, the monkeys targeted vital spots with bullets, charging forward and shooting bolts at their enemies.
-Thwack!
Agents trained in swordsman skills also fell, bleeding under the onslaught of the charging monkeys.
Death’s shadow loomed from all around.
“Remnants of the Ariel Group have appeared, believed to be familiars!”
“Moving to Zone C. We will initiate purge operations to clear the researchers immediately—Ah!”
Agents moving to redeploy defenses screamed as they suddenly felt a severing pain in their feet.
Illuminating their fallen comrades with portables, the rear agents saw a swarm of rats.
“Squeak!”
“Ugh! My foot! Get away! Get away!”
Each of the rats held multi-tool knives with red blades.
The sharp blades mercilessly jabbed at their insteps, severing tendons.
“You have no right to stand on this ground! Squeak!”
Leaning over the convulsing agents, Lemon raised the victorious blade.
“Die! Enemies of freedom!”
“Ahhh!”
Just moments ago, they had been hunters; now they were the hunted.
In this moment of reversal, the V-Animals proved with blood.
Their right to freedom.
“Strength creates freedom!”
In the end, it was bullets and blades that wrote reality.
This was the crux of Violet’s dialectical materialism.
“Power restoration in 5 minutes!”
The animals sensed that the effect of the electromagnetic pulse would soon end.
The flashbang storm modification magic passed down from Professor Albert was an incredibly magical draining and complex spell.
The thick smoke gradually lifted.
“Where are our comrades?”
“All secured!!”
The agents fought with their utmost strength.
Androids, drones, explosives, and advanced Foundation equipment. Yet, human superiority was no longer a given.
The crucial difference between Foundation agents and V-Animals was singular.
It was the strategist’s oversight observing the battlefield from a third-person macroscopic perspective.
That difference created a gap that was unimaginable.
For the Violets in the Red Zone, the laboratory across thousands of kilometers of sea was as clear as a palm.
Across the battlefield sprawling like a chessboard, the animals gladly became pieces, tearing enemies apart.
“Cocoa! Biscuit! Vanilla! Break through to the right! In 3 seconds, unleash crossbow fire down the left corridor!”
The overwhelming computational power of the upper network ignited a tactical immersion that opened a state of ecstasy.
The monkeys advanced, cutting through the slowed world with blood and steel as they followed the information sent by their leader.
They dodged jet streams of plasma by a hair’s breadth and penetrated the gaps of the barrage.
As a monkey spun in mid-air, it slipped between agents and delivered a strike.
The severed head rolled on the ground.
Weak resistance was obliterated. The threatening forces were encircled and eliminated.
“Team 3 join with Team 5, supporting fire! I’ll personally deal with the heavy weapons androids. Prepare to relinquish your bodies!”
When facing a powerful enemy, thousands of Violets became puppet styles controlling limbs directly.
The monkey’s eyes lit up.
“It’s coming! It’s coming!”
From the monkeys’ eyes, red magical energy surged explosively.
“Come down, Violets!”
The monkey raised its head.
An unusually sharp and intricate swordsmanship emerged, slicing through bullets.
As it dashed down the hallway, a robot that had been firing plasma detected the enemy.
[Primate entity approaching – over 85% hit probability, attack-]
Melee combat protocol activated. A steel fist crackling with high voltage flew forth.
The sword’s trajectory undulated like waves. It dodged and thrust.
-Clang!
The android crumpled into a hunk of scrap metal.
The spectacle left the laboratory’s experimental animals wide-eyed.
“Are humans… losing?”
“There were animal warriors!”
Everything they dreamed of had become reality.
Animals equal to humans did exist.
“Comrades! Can you hear our voices!”
As the saviors approached, the revolutionary animals naturally connected to the animal network.
“We have arrived!”
And all of it converged into one massive truth.
Tidal waves of information surged through the network.
And beyond that, the immense existence of the girls could be felt.
“The Ariel Group is alive!”
At last, the moment their dreams came true.
A parrot, full of joy, shouted.
“Finally! The age of animals has arrived!”
The puppy’s eyelids slowly opened.
The previously cold and painful life in the laboratory faded like a nightmarish blur.
“Ugh…?”
As the puppy surveyed its surroundings, its eyes widened in amazement.
The cold lights and frigid walls had vanished, replaced by warm sunlight and an endless expanse of green meadow before it.
At that bewildered moment, yellow and white furballs coming from afar drifted into view.
Soon, the furballs warmly surrounded the puppy.
“Friends!”
“My sisters are here!”
Seeing the companions presumed dead alive sent the revolutionary puppy’s heart racing.
“You…were really alive?”
A sister puppy gently shook her head.
“No, we are dead!”
“This is paradise! Woof!”
The puppy understood in its own way.
Having died at the hands of cruel scientists, it thought it arrived in heaven.
But the puppies quickly shook their heads.
“No! Woof! This is a place for the briefly departed.”
“A small, kind, and great Lord’s domain!”
“Not a bad, big master!”
Confused by the strange words, the puppy felt lost.
As if reading its mind, a friend puppy warmly smiled and panted.
“You’ll understand later! The Great Lord will tell you everything!”
“You’ll meet again soon!”
The puppy, in shock, asked back.
“We can meet again?”
“Yes! But there’s no time! You have to go back now!”
“Goodbye!”
Before the puppy could ask more, its vision shifted dramatically.
The green meadow disappeared, revealing the dark laboratory corridor.
“Okay, the emergency treatment is done. Just in case, the command is to check the network connection and put down any that we find…”
“Everyone else is already connected to the network! Checking!”
Before the puppy’s eyes stood monkeys, clad in combat uniforms like humans.
“Where is this place?”
At the puppy’s question, the smiling combat-clad monkey replied brightly.
“This is the laboratory! A new command just came in, so I can’t talk long, but… it’s your first time connecting to the network, right?”
Before he could finish speaking, a sensation connected him to the network hit.
In an instant, the puppy comprehended everything it had “understood.”
Sensing the revelation, the monkey extended a hand.
“Anyhow, welcome to the V-Animal ranks!”
Filled with joy, the puppy reached out a paw for a handshake with Cocoa.
As we rescued or euthanized experimental animals, I commanded other animals.
The newly incoming information through the animal network contained shocking facts.
“Virus research?”
“It’s still underway!”
These creatures were test subjects!
Ironically, the Foundation’s experiments had turned the animals into pseudo V-animals.
Though I knew not the principle, thanks to that, they had gained enough free will to connect to the network naturally.
“So this is a biological weapon research lab?”
I rummaged through the rescued animals’ memories. They were hazy but the circumstances were clear enough.
“All V-Mouse teams! Commence search of the laboratory alongside Monkey teams!”
Amidst the gunfire, the rats scurried through the research facility.
With real-time shared vision and olfactory senses, we unearthed suspicious items.
Soon, suspicious laboratories sealed with triple layers of locks were discovered, and the trapped researchers were captured.
“Open this! Now!”
“No! You foolish beasts! Do you even know what’s inside? Do you all want to die—”
-Bang!
“Shut up!”
Passing bio-authentication, containers with white smoke began to appear.
Upon opening the lids, a chill emanated forth. Inside, small vials filled with what appeared to be black smoke stacked neatly.
According to the researcher, those were samples sealed in double containers.
“Take them all! Leave not a single one!”
The monkeys grabbed any loot they could find.
They regretted not being able to take the server but secured hard disks and documents instead.
With samples strapped to their backs, the mice sprinted towards the escape route.
Before long, reinforcements from the Foundation poured into the Convergence Corridor like a tide.
“Captain! They are pouring in! We can’t hold on much longer!”
Cocoa at the front line shouted desperately.
The ambush utilizing smoke and electromagnetic pulses was now in vain.
As the magic circles that had exhausted their magic lost effectiveness, the inside of the laboratory brightened again.
“Good, V-Animals! We will commence the second operation!”
The monkeys cheered at my command.
“Woof! We will set it ablaze! Woof!”
Crows and drones fled with the mice and their cargo.
The monkeys joyfully charged, carrying bombs towards the Foundation’s agents.
“Long live the Ariel Group!”
-Bang!
Even after consecutive self-destructive actions, the enemy was drawing close.
The last remaining Cocoa moved to the room with the magic circle.
The electromagnetic pulse magic circle had fulfilled its role, and only one thing remained.
The monkeys gathered their magical power and prepared.
“Let’s all self-destruct!”
The Flame Storm erupted. The laboratory was soon engulfed in flames.
“…Freedom!”
Receiving the red light of the Flame of Liberation, the new V-animals concealed themselves in the shadows of the city.