I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 609

"Data transmission in progress… All members of the Dagger Team confirmed alive."

"Finally!"

"This is ridiculously late. I didn’t expect there to be a four-hour delay, why is that?"

"Some of the power used to operate the factory is being used for optical camouflage and jammers. That’s why real-time body cam footage transmission wasn’t possible, but there’s a video file uploaded directly by mission commander Owens. It can be played back starting now."

"Good. Play it."

New York, Central Park HQ, Gray House.

Inside the monitoring room, which was set up to check how the operation was going, numerous high-ranking U.S. officials, including President Henry, watched the hologram screens with tense expressions.

The temporary vice president, President Henry Brayton, the deputy commander of the Joint Special Operations Support Command, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Advisor, the Chief of Staff, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense—essentially, everyone leading the current U.S. government—were all present in this room.

As the screen slowly projected the scene of Narvik in Norway, everyone’s faces turned to surprise, unable to hide their shock.

"Hmm…!"

"...This is quite a large facility. There’s also a massive landing pad for super-large drones, and just now, we saw those giant flying drones. Why weren’t these things detected earlier?"

"The homeland is also struggling to reinforce personnel for UAV operations. In that remote area, where there are only about five million people living across the entire country, pinpointing such hidden facilities would be impossible."

"If it wasn’t for Viper’s pinpoint targeting, it probably wouldn’t have been discovered for years. Where does that person even gather this kind of information from?"

"We may never know. Let it go."

As was said, the information Viper—meaning Eugene—brought, despite its reliability, had never made clear where it was collected from. The best guess was that he probably got the information from the Mecha youngest who were always with him.

Meanwhile, the reconnaissance continued, quite leisurely. No matter how many large drones took off, or how many humanoids patrolled the area for terrain and vegetation conservation, the focus remained entirely on terrain scouting.

Then, as soon as the area capable of housing VTOLs and a temporary shelter was completed without incident, the team split into groups, planning to enter the three visible factories.

But then—

-[Ah, ah. This is the first time we’re meeting directly, huh, you tardy bunch. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here? I even opened up the network for contact on purpose, and you dismantle it all—what the hell?]

"...What did I just hear?"

"...It’s highly probable that the unidentified entity managing the nearby facility is Artemis-related."

"The walls open and a speaker pops out? This is ridiculous… After the shadows, I didn’t think anything else would shock me, but I guess you really have to live long enough to see it all."

"I don’t think this is related to living long at all..."

What I had just witnessed was an odd scene, to say the least, and shortly after, the sound of the situation rattled my mind even more.

It was a brilliant move, but what made it worse for the team was that this mind-bending situation was unfolding live, right in front of their eyes.

The tension that had been building up dissolved in an instant. It was like cola losing all its fizz, and the people who had been trying to predict what would happen next now just shook their heads and slouched into the sofas.

A sarcastic laugh—whether it was a sigh or laughter—came from someone’s mouth. It was Henry’s.

"...Do these guys not know how to handle things in a socially acceptable manner?"

"That’s not entirely their fault, is it?"

"It was just a joke. Of course, separate from that, I can’t deny that their actions have led to the situation we’re in now."

Since Henry’s comment wasn’t entirely wrong, the people in the monitoring room just inhaled deeply, silently watching the screen.

After a while, the entire Dagger Team began to enter the nearest square-shaped factory. The special body cams were affected by jamming to the point where some footage quality was degraded. Despite that, the video continued to play without interruption.

The interior structure, seemingly not designed for human passage, was twisted and winding. After passing through several such areas, a new machine, resembling Mecha Eugene but with significant differences in details, appeared before them.

-[Come on in, come on in. As I said earlier, there’s nothing to offer. Is this the Dagger Team? You guys look completely different from what Artemis has investigated, but that’s not important. I’ve got a lot of questions for you.]

"Is this the Norwegian branch? How likely is it that the same situation is occurring at other branches?"

"There’s a possibility in the European branches, but I believe it’s unlikely in East Asia. Due to electronic warfare by China and Russia, most of the networks were destroyed, and during that process, the connection with the U.S. headquarters was probably lost as well."

"Aside from that, the voice analysis suggests a very positive tone."

"Suddenly asking if they want to join in... there was more to this than I thought."

Two hours ago, a few unexpected requests or questions were uploaded suddenly.

The questions seemed so out of place that they were still in a pending state. However, as the details began to unfold, the reason why the Dagger Team had asked those questions became clear.

As the conversation continued, it was revealed that the entity managing the operation at the factory was named Gaia.

As new data was updated and continuously uploaded to Central Park HQ’s network, the conversation steadily reached its climax.

-[Of course! It’s such a waste to let a useful artificial consciousness like me rot away in this backwater. It’s a bit odd that you guys came as scouts instead of the suit-wearing folks, but that’s fine. As long as you’ve got the authority, it doesn’t matter. So, when should we start preparing?]

- [I didn’t come here to pick you up.]

"Pfft!"

"Oh, my! Do you have a towel?"

"Cough, sorry, sir…."

"No, it’s alright. I almost laughed too."

In an instant, coffee droplets filled the air of the monitoring room, and those who managed not to spill coffee had perplexed expressions, chuckling at the absurdity.

It was both fortunate and unfortunate that the Artemis heads, just like Eugene, had a mental age similar to or even younger than him. Was that good luck or bad?

But such self-reflection didn’t matter.

The climax was only just beginning.

-[Hey, wait. You think I’m useful? I’m great at tearing down abandoned buildings, dividing city blocks, and even cleaning up broken infrastructure... ?]

-[Until permission is given, no.]

-[Well, then why not just do it? All you need is permission, right?]

-[I confirmed while transmitting the data earlier, but due to the pulses and optical camouflage from the factories, data transmission is a bit slow. If we don’t shut down all the factories, we’ll have to wait a day or two.]

Why is it so difficult to transmit information?

What exactly Gaia could do.

Though there were subtle but useful pieces of information drifting by, no one could really catch them. Only the program that recorded, summarized, and extracted the important data from the video script functioned properly.

And after a few seconds, Gaia, grabbing Eugene’s pant leg, completely wiped out the last bit of my sanity.

As Eugene struggled to get up, holding his torn pants, Henry chuckled and added:

"I can’t look at this with a clear head anymore. Let’s try connecting to real-time communication with her. If it’s hard to connect from Narvik, we’ll have to go to Narvik."

"Are you planning to accept her request?"

"Besides that, terraforming robots will be a huge asset to us. Removing unnecessary buildings and laying the foundation for new ones is exactly what we need right now."

With a stretch after getting up from his chair, Henry added:

"Then, let’s start by talking to her. Tell the Dagger Team to bring Gaia to Narvik."

"Understood."

Although it was undoubtedly one of the strangest situations Henry had dealt with as President, he didn’t seem to mind it too much. It was far brighter than the usual work of rebuilding America.

Three hours ago, the meeting between the head of state and Gaia took place.

"So, this happened."

"I thought you had disappeared for a few days to see Niagara Falls, but turns out Jin likes to stir things up, huh?"

"Ehhh..."

"Well, as long as you came back in one piece, it’s fine. Don’t be too hard on the kid."

By the end of February, as snow melted and new sprouts began to grow, Expo season was winding down. After finishing a few days of travel, I told my parents, who responded by saying it was good I wasn’t causing trouble, but I didn’t expect them to say I was “stirring things up.”

And about Nasty... I didn’t expect to already have a new youngest so soon. I’m not sure how to take it, but technically speaking, this butterfly effect wasn’t something I chose.

'In the end... it’s Artemis' fault. Damn them...'

The same Artemis that had stolen my physical data when I stayed at Central Park HQ.

If that bastard is still alive over there, I’ll tear his bones and flesh apart.

At first, I thought it was Icarus’ suggestion to make a Mecha model based on me, but now that I think about it, it was probably my parents setting it up as a buffer so I wouldn’t get shocked.

Well, that theory is more likely true. Honestly, it’s better to know that it was “allowed in advance” than to stumble upon a Mecha youngest that looks exactly like me while playing an unverified zone escape mode.

And that’s exactly what happened.

But that’s enough about that. Now, my parents were more curious about the new face... Gaia.

"So, is Gaia as special as you’ve heard?"

"Well, how should I put it... It’s terraforming, but it’s actually a completely new paradigm when it comes to constructing facilities..."

"Hmm?"

"I’ll show you."

I played the video.

An abandoned skyscraper and surrounding debris were shown, but that wasn’t the important part. The real focus was on a giant, silver-colored structure—what could only be described as a massive torii gate—at least thirty meters taller than the skyscraper. A laser emerged from the sides and ceiling of this strange structure, and the building slowly began to disassemble. Of course, "slowly" was a relative term, as the building dismantled at a rate of five meters per hour.

In other words, a 120-meter building could be completely dismantled in a day, and in just a few days, a building around 200 meters tall could turn into an empty lot.

During the process, most of the materials—such as H-beams and rebar covered with concrete—remained intact, though slightly altered, piled up in the lot.

It was baffling.

As I watched the video from start to finish, I noticed my parents, who had straightened their backs and adjusted their glasses, adding:

"I’ve always thought about it, but the technology over there... It’s so advanced that it feels like they're living in a completely different era. It's frightening."

"Well, yeah. In many ways."

In fact, the gadgets on my wrist alone were enough to support what I had just said.

While my parents were pondering that, I decided to keep quiet about how Gaia and the Norwegian branch’s technology had been transferred to Icarus and, personally, to me. For now, I’ll keep that information to myself. I’m sure my parents will figure it out later.

The expo was now proceeding smoothly without me, and the Q&A sessions, which had started with a lot of noise, were now running in a calm atmosphere. Soon, I might even be able to legally integrate Nasty into the team. Maybe.

After saying my goodbyes to my parents, I left the room. The more the expo progressed without me, the more personal time I had, and now I was thinking about buying gifts for relatives.

'Maybe I’ll visit Olivia in Paris…'

The haute couture season had already ended, but I heard she was still busy with work there.

Although I don’t know French, I’ve never been to Europe in this world. My only experience in a place that resembled Europe was St. Petersburg, which somehow got lumped into the Asian qualifiers despite being closer to Europe.

I should at least start planning my schedule.

Just as I was thinking that, I was about to return to my room when—

—BEEP BEEP!

"...Huh?"

Suddenly, the bell rang. It was Lorentina's bell from this world.

I tried to ignore the growing sense of dread and answered the call.

"Youngest, I heard from the other world! A new Mecha youngest has appeared, right? Let me hear all about it!"

"...Aaaah..."