Confusion

The large rock fell onto the road with a loud bang and created a large crack that went all the way down. Meanwhile, the condition of Hōmine and the others...

Hōmine : "Phew... thank God, I stepped on the brakes in time"

Darius and Jihan at the back looked too relaxed compared to the one driving in front. Darius reached for the long black box suitcase on the front seat and placed it on Jihan's thigh.

Hōmine : "Can't you two panic a little?! We almost got crushed to death, you know"

Jihan put both hands on the suitcase and looked at Darius who was sitting relaxed in his chair with his hands crossed in front of his stomach.

Darius : "That means we trust you, you should be thrilled. Also, Jihan, open the suitcase, there's a sniper inside. Use it to kill the one who threw the stone at us."

Jihan opened the black suitcase and his eyes widened when he saw its contents.

Jihan : "VKS...."

Darius : "We're going to kill this guy, so don't move too far, Hōmine"

Jihan wanted to ask but realized this wasn't the right time, so he put it aside and quickly assembled all the parts into one.

Hōmine : "THERE'S BIGGER ONE COMING, HOLD ON TIGHT!"

Hōmine stepped on the gas, circling the rock in front of them and avoiding the one that was just about to fall where she stopped.

Hōmine stepped on the brakes after 16 meters from the first rock, she looked back at the seat with a panicked and slightly angry expression, her face flushed with sweat dripping down her forehead.

Hōmine : "Mr. Darius, can't we just move away?!"

Darius: "And leave behind a potentially valuable sample? No way"

Jihan finally finished assembling the VKS and loaded it with 12.7 mm caliber bullet while pressing the button to lower the car window, cocking it and taking aim, looking for the enemy.

Jihan : "I agree with Professor Darius, but i have a different reason...."

.....

Jihan : "I just don't like the thought of such destructive creature roaming around."

Jihan finally saw the target on a cliff about 340 meters away with a height of 17 meters, 1 a figure that has a human-like posture, a long tail, a beak as a mouth and has two large hands.

Darius : "Aim for the heart."

Jihan saw the figure preparing to pick up another large rock and prepare to throw it at them again.

'Click'

Jihan pulled the trigger and the bullet flew far towards the figure and managed to penetrate the left chest. The figure froze in place for a while then fell forward and the large rock in its hands fell backwards.

Jihan leaned back in the chair and hugged the sniper rifle with both arms like a doll. He sighed and looked at Darius beside him who still looked calm.

Jihan : "Professor Darius, I don't think this car is big enough to take it with us."

Darius : "Oh yeah? Why is that?"

Jihan : "The creature is about 4 meters tall, and more than 1.5 meters wide. Is that enough?"

Darius raised his left eyebrow and turned to Jihan.

Darius : "What is it look like?"

Jihan : "Big, bird feathers, beak-like mouth, long tail, standing like a human"

Darius felt annoyed and sighed. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and immediately called someone on loud speaker.

Darius : "Send some personnel to pick up a body with a size around 4 x 1.5 meters to the location I will send it to, now"

Darius hung up the phone and put it back in his shirt pocket.

Darius : "Hōmine, get the car running"

Hōmine felt an uncomfortable pressure from Darius. She drove the car with a restless feeling, occasionally looking at the rearview mirror. Hōmine flinched when she heard Darius's deep sigh and her grip on the steering wheel wavered for a moment.

Darius : "What did you want to ask, Jihan?”

Jihan : "Excuse me?"

Jihan, who was still hugging the sniper, lifted his back from the backrest and looked at Darius who was staring out the window.

Darius : "Let me guess, you're wondering how I or she got a Russian-made sniper, right?"

Jihan : "could it be that you used illegal channels?”

Darius gave Jihan a facepalm expression.

Darius : "People call me crazy but at least I don't take risks. And to answer your question, simply put I have connections with few big countries with important figures in their places"

Jihan : "Thank you, I won't ask any further"

Hōmine : "About taking risk. Don't you always play risky on the lives around, considering your job as a scientist?"

Darius gave off a terrifying aura again, and Hōmine reflexively shouted "Eek!" knowing she had flipped a switch she shouldn't have touched.

Darius : "Are you saying I don't have enough skills to handle all that. HUH?!"

Hōmine : "I didn'-"

Darius : "Shut up! I swear if all this is according to my hypothesis, you will be the first to be a laboratory experiment"

Darius' mood was completely ruined this time and he crossed his arms with a sharp gaze straight ahead. Hōmine was frightened hearing the promise made by the angry Darius, she looked at Jihan with teary eyes.

Hōmine : "Jihan..... can't you do something?.... I don't want to die"

Jihan glanced at Darius for a moment before finally turning his gaze out the window and adjusting the position of the sniper he was still hugging, trying to play "i heard nothing" act.

Hōmine became increasingly desperate, she continued driving with some bad imaginations of what might happen to her in the future.

Darius : "What's with that reaction?! Are you doubting that I'll succeed?!"

Darius spoke in a high tone again and Hōmine replied with stuttering words.

Hōmine : "I-it's not like that, I just....."

Darius : "Don't make excuses, you're the worst liar I know."

Hōmine : "Sorry...."

Hōmine lowered her shoulders in resignation and tears flowed. Seeing it, Darius took a deep breath and patted Hōmine's shoulder from behind, but his face didn't show the slightest trace of guilt.

Darius : "You said you trusted me, right? Trust me again like you trusted your mother to me."

Hōmine was silent, remembering the incident 6 years ago where her mother was covered in blood and unconscious. No one wanted to perform surgery for her because some of them were busy or make excuses by saying that "her mother could not be saved and was certain to die".

At that time, there was doctor Tirta who was willing to accept the task, but unfortunately he was performing another surgery and Hōmine's mother was on the verge of death. Hōmine, who was desperate, sat on a chair next to the bed where her mother was. She was alone in the hallway, because Hōmine was the only one her mother had, all the relatives didn't care, her husband had long since left them.

Hōmine : "Mom..... What would i do without you?...."

....

Hōmine : "I'm lonely"

Homine poured out her heart with sobs, she didn't hold back her tears at all and let the floor beneath her become a lake of evidence of her pain, caused by the world that full of selfish humans.

Without her realizing, someone was standing near her mother. The wheels of the bed carrying Homine's mother slowly turn and move away from Hōmine, being taken away by a stranger.

Hōmine gasped and realized her mother was no longer in front of her and turned to the right, finding someone dragging the bed where her mother was lying.

Homine ran after the person. In the middle of running, she saw the person stop in front of the door and immediately increased her pace.

Hōmine : "Wait you bastard! Return my mom!"

Hōmine's shout made the man turn his head towards her with his left eyebrow raised. When Hōmine was very close, she grabbed the other side of the bed and try to pulled it away from the man. But unfortunately, her smaller body and weak physical condition could not do anything in the contest of pulling strength.

"You want your mother to die and rot? Fine, go ahead."

The man's hand let go of the trundle bed, it made Hōmine stopped pulling and looked at the man in confusion.

Hōmine : "Wait a minute, do you mean to save my mom?”

"Will you trust me?"

Hōmine looked at her mother who was getting closer to death, then at the man in front of her seriously.

Hōmine : "Yes, so please, save my mom"

The man immediately smiled and kicked the door in front of him forcefully, producing a loud crashing sound, shocking the entire room. The room inside was neither an operating room nor a patient room, the tables and piles of paper indicated that it was an office.

"Get out, you trash! Or I'll kill you all."

Not long after, they ran out in panic. some of them cursed "oh shit, it's Darius" and showed pale expressions before running. Hōmine, who was still a novice in how hospitals worked, didn't find the action strange, as long as it could save her mother.

After everyone was out, Darius dragged the trundle bed inside. He stopped a female doctor by grabbing her neck tightly.

Darius: "Oi, woman. Bring me some surgical instruments, now"

Not needing to hear an answer, Darius pushed the woman away, she immediately ran then disappeared from their sight. Hōmine wanted to come in but was immediately stopped by Darius.

Darius: "You came in, then I changed my mind"

Darius looked down on Hōmine who slowly took a step back. He closed the door between them and Hōmine silently waiting where she stood.

.....

Hōmine : "That's more or less of the story. in short after that my mother fully recovered, Mr. Darius offered me a job in security and good things kept flowing thanks to him"

Back in the present, Homine has returned to her calm and cheerful self.

Jihan : "Miss Hōmine"

Hōmine : "Yes?"

Jihan : "Why are you suddenly telling us all this? No one asked for it"

.......

The car stopped at a red light Hōmine rested his forehead on the steering wheel, her expression turned one that showed she was fed up with them.

Hōmine : "I will never have a heart-to-heart talk with any of you again."

Darius : "Wise decision"

Jihan : "Why?"

Switch to Karna

Karna : "......."

Karna was now standing still, his eyes wide open, his mouth unable to close and a fire extinguisher in both his hands.It turns out, what made him in that state was seeing his friend, Sapphire, who nimbly and agilely moves among the monster's attacks.

Sapphire swept to the right of the quadruped's two front legs with his right foot, making it fall forward. Sapphire spun to the right and gave it a hard blow to the side of the skull with his left hand. it was thrown far away and hit the 3-eyed monster.

From behind, the cross-mouth attacked by trying to bite Sapphire's head from behind, but Sapphire immediately darted forward, turned and jabbed at the inside of its mouth very fast.

The monster lost its balance and Sapphire immediately followed up with a series of blows to its chest until the sound of bones cracking could be heard.

While beating, the 3 meter tall threw a punch with his big right hand from Sapphire's left. Sapphire moved to the side of the cross-mouthed, pushing it forward into the path of the punch and slamming his own body to the cross-mouthed, crushing its upper body between two big forces.

Before Sapphire received the force of the punch, he jumped back, darted under the 3 meter punch from left to right, jumped over its head, wrapped his right arm around its neck followed by the other one and narrowed the space between his arms until the wide neck became small and crushed.

The 3-meter monster's neck became slack like a rubber tube, its head swinging behind its back. Sapphire jumped down from the body and took a few steps back, making him close to the elevator doors. The large body slowly fell backwards and lay motionless, only 1 cm away from where Sapphire was standing.

The two previously knocked down monsters slowly woke up. Seeing their two fellow monsters got knocked out so easily by the hands of a mere human made them decide to run away.

But just as the two of them had just turned around, their faces were immediately greeted by a fire extinguisher that shot out and hit their heads with such speed and force that their skulls were crushed.

Karna dropped the heavily dented fire extinguisher to the floor and let out a sigh of relief.

Karna : "I didn't expect all my physical training to be used for this"

Sapphire smiled and gave Karna a thumbs up and he returned the same. But that moment was interrupted because suddenly the 3 meter tall's body started to move and it's previously loose neck was seen slowly becoming tense again. Karna immediately realized it and took back the fire extinguisher under his feet.

Karna : "Sapphire! Open the elevator door now!"

Sapphire nodded and pressed the open button for the elevator door, quickly getting in and pressing the button for the 1st floor and closing the elevator door but holding it open to give Karna enough space to get in.

Karna released the fire extinguisher and started spraying it on the faces of every monster that was slowly starting to wake up except for the cross-mouthed one as he ran towards the elevator. When he was near the elevator door, he hit the 3 meter on the head with it and then went inside. Sapphire immediately released his grip on the elevator door and let it close and going down.

in the elevator, they leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

Karna : "You know, forget about being heroes. We can't even kill them."

Sapphire just remained silent then slowly went down and sat on the floor.

Karna : "I think all seven floors are finished."

.......

While lost in thought, Karna was shocked to see the elevator stop on the sixth floor. He immediately held the fire extinguisher tightly in his hand.

Karna : "Sapphire, get ready."

Karna's calm yet anxious voice made Sapphire lift his face and immediately stand up and take a stance after hearing the distinctive sound of the bell ringing when the elevator doors were about to open.

When it opened, they immediately let go of their guard because the one standing in front of the Elevator was.....

Karna : "Doctor Tirta?...."

Tirta's calm figure in a brown kimono with a strange book, hugged by his left arm to his chest stepped into the elevator. Karna lowered the fire extinguisher in his hand and stepped back to make room for Tirta to enter, as did Sapphire.

Karna : "Doc-"

When Karna wanted to ask, his words were immediately cut off by Tirta's indifferent words.

Doctor : "I want you to remember this combination, then wait there. Then you can ask as many questions as you like."

Karna : "Huh?"

Tirta stepped to the side of the elevator buttons then pressed the number buttons smoothly and paused for half a second between each press.

(1,2,3,5,6,7,4)

After pressing those buttons, a green button appeared below the row of number buttons. Tirta pressed the button, then a scanner appeared from the elevator ceiling and scanned the area inside the elevator completely.

"Access granted"

Right after the woman's voice that appeared out of nowhere, the elevator started moving down. Sapphire and Karna looked at each other in confusion. Karna wanted to ask a question but it got stuck on his tongue after remembering Tirta's previous words and just remained silent leaning against the elevator wall.

Every now and then Karna would hear a strange rubbing sound that sounded like two pieces of paper rubbing together. But Karna ignored it and went back to staring blankly in various directions while humming a little tune. Meanwhile, Sapphire stared strangely at Tirta and occasionally tried to look at the book he was holding in his left arm. But feeling bad for it, he leaned back and fell silent.

A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened. Sapphire and Karna were immediately pushed out by Tirta. When Karna turned around, the elevator door had already closed.

"Welcome, to the minus one floor"

A blond man with square glasses in a lab coat greeted them. Karna's thoughts immediately shifted to the stranger in front of them.

"Please follow me, we will wait for Doctor Tirta and Professor Darius to arrive there"

Karna and Sapphire stared at each other for a moment then nodded at each other.

Karna : "Alright, lead the way"

"Sure thing"

Back to Tirta

Tirta was standing quietly in the middle of the escalator with his eyes closed and still hugging the book with his left arm. The book slowly stirred, what was originally plain brown suddenly revealed a red eye with a glowing green in the middle part on the center of the cover book. Untidy, sharp triangles like shark teeth also appear on all sides of the book cover. The book wobbled and vibrated a few times and then...

'Buuuuuuuurp!'

A loud belching sound was heard and echoed in the elevator. Tirta patted the edge of the book with the palm of his right hand. When the elevator reached the 7th floor, the doors slowly opened.

From inside, Tirta could see 3 monsters that were the same as the ones that Karna and Sapphire had previously fought. They were already standing threateningly with angry expressions. They turned to Tirta who still looked calm even in front of these unusual creatures. Tirta sighed and looked at them with a contemptuous look....

Tirta : "Disgusting lowly creature...."

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