I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 741

"Basically, Jordan Amherst wasn't exactly... the sociable type. In fact, the most accurate description would be the complete opposite. He could be best described as a madman lost in his own world."

"And he had the damn ability to impose his own world from his head onto reality."

"That's right. He was close to being a genius that should never have existed."

The weather on Governor’s Island was getting hotter, and the construction was making progress by early July. The Dagger team was receiving a briefing in a room that could be considered their designated rest area.

This had become the Dagger team's routine recently.

As you could tell from the conversation, the Dagger team was gradually reading through the information that had been revealed about their next target, Jordan Amherst, the mastermind behind the global catastrophe.

And while it might sound strange to say this... the more we learned, the more we couldn't help but be impressed, in many ways.

The reasons didn’t really need any explanation.

"At first, we suspected a connection to Artemis, but after analysis, it was determined that Artemis’ principles don’t align with Dr. Jordan Amherst’s ideology."

"Yeah, I thought so. Artemis may have sold out the country, but if they had spread the virus for that reason, they would've been labeled enemies even in the enemy states. Russia and China together lost about 700 million people, right?"

"Yes. Dr. Jordan Amherst has long held extremely radical naturalistic beliefs, and it’s believed he harbored the dangerous idea that humans themselves are the cause of Earth’s problems."

"And that led to this situation?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

The chief operations officer, Kane Whitebrim, nodded with an expression that displayed a mix of emotions.

In any case, the facts about Jordan Amherst stopped there. We’d heard the important details, and confirmed that there was no connection with Artemis. Now, it was time to focus on the methodology.

At the same time, a few research results came to mind. There were a lot of them, but the Dagger team quickly realized that these were the latest trends in biological research and the core ideas from papers published by Jordan Amherst.

How much time had passed? The Dagger team confirmed a few hypotheses based on this.

"HQ initially speculated that the Omega Virus was some sort of contagious nanomachine, but as time went on, the analysis department proposed that the virus follows a sort of... dual infection method."

"...Dual infection?"

"Simply put, a virus with high infectivity is first released, but it acts in a specific way on the body. This virus travels through the nervous system, not the blood vessels, reaching the brain, where it lies dormant for at least a month. After slowly infiltrating, it triggers a mild inflammatory response and weakens the blood-brain barrier."

"And then, another virus is released to wipe everyone out?"

"After investigating the bodies of those who died from the Omega Virus, the Biological Analysis Department concluded that this was a very likely scenario."

"That... is unbelievably interesting, in a lot of ways. Not exactly pleasant, though."

While others shook their heads, I was seriously contemplating what I had just heard. How should I put it? The more I heard, the more it seemed like this wasn’t the world I knew.

That made me wonder, do parents even exist in this world? Such thoughts made it harder for me to focus compared to the others in the Dagger team.

But anyway, that wasn't the main point. The key takeaway was that Jordan Amherst had the ability to create viruses that functioned exactly how he wanted them to.

Specifically—

"Jordan Amherst had at least enough skill to get sponsorships, and because of that, he had access to servers and data capable of digitizing the virus' genetic information and creating the desired outcome."

"Dr. Amherst's research results before the outbreak of the Omega Virus are also quite intriguing. It seems he mostly worked on encephalitis viruses or rabies, and all of his research had a connection to the blood-brain barrier."

"Encephalitis and rabies. He probably went through a lot of trial and error before reaching his conclusions. Given the number of citations, it seems like his sponsors were completely duped."

"We should be able to find the list of Dr. Amherst's sponsors soon. The real problem is if he's still alive, he might sell off the virus data elsewhere."

"Hmm."

A brief silence followed, accompanied by some lingering doubts.

"Well, if he’s caught by the Russian-Chinese alliance… I don’t think they’ll keep him alive."

"They might use him until he's no longer useful, then kill him. Anyway, given the circumstances so far, if he’s captured by another force, he’ll still spill useful information before heading to hell."

"Who knows what would happen if Artemis got their hands on him. For now, we’ll just stick to the plan of killing him and figure out the virus data server and protein synthesis device later."

"Let’s assume the worst. If Artemis has passed on this information to the enemy forces, who knows what could happen…"

"If biological weapons are used without considering the aftermath, they might seem like a tempting option. At this point, it doesn’t matter what that crazy lunatic does. The data that’s still out there is the priority."

"Well, in the end, we’re back to square one."

The conclusion was clear. Search through Jordan Amherst's apartment. That was the Dagger team’s next step. As always, they were about to realize the truth of the old saying, "A mountain after a mountain," but the topic soon shifted in another direction.

There was still much that hadn’t been revealed, and there were many other tasks to take care of. The need for Dagger team to handle information gathering, reconnaissance, and combat themselves was beginning to diminish.

Now, when HQ sent intel, it would be better for us to base our strikes on that.

Anyway, the next topic was... also of considerable importance.

"That reminds me, now that the great war seems imminent, Artemis had a hand, however small, in developing the Icarus Gear. There’s no way that hasn’t been passed on to the enemy."

"That makes sense. When we dealt with that split team before, we tied them up and beat them senseless, so they haven’t had a real battle yet. But moving forward..."

"...I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s something to worry about right now. After all, it’s something that was developed with funding that never even went through Congressional approval for decades. Could the enemy catch up to us?"

"True. It’s probably more realistic for the enemy to just overwhelm us with numbers and take the gear after wiping out the Icarus Operators."

"Ugh, so many opinions flying around."

As they said, in the end, all the team could do was discuss "What happens next?" as realistically and in as much detail as possible, prepare mentally, and get ready for the practical challenges ahead.

Worrying too much about things that hadn’t happened yet was a waste of time.

Anyway, putting that aside...

The room fell silent. Then a shift in attention seemed to be directed at me. It seemed like the others were trying to break the awkward atmosphere, but why was the attention focused on me...?

Ah.

"By the way, don’t you think Rapland has had a bit of a spring lately?"

"If you’re not careful, Lieutenant Farquson might steal your heart... Uwah, don’t come any closer! I was wrong! Please, don’t twist my joints!"

"I wasn’t thinking that at all!"

A scream erupted from the room.

It was maddening, really. As I thought that, I gave a special massage to the one who made the joke, and the rest of the team watched with amusement. After all, massages are excellent for easing tension.

Anyway, that aside, Lieutenant Farquson... well, he’s basically like my second dad. I’ve never thought of him... in a romantic way. Seriously, I haven’t.

Plus, my mental gender is still male.

Although, I’m not entirely sure...

As I grumbled, the conversation continued.

"It’s just a joke. I know we’re not like that. But still... I wanted to ask, especially to the mutants. Do you guys not think about stuff like that?"

"Is that a joke too?"

"No, I’m serious. There are only five of us, so I thought I’d ask."

"Well, I don’t really think about it. After all, emotions are driven by hormones, and this wristwatch is involved in every tiny detail. That means..."

"...Maybe Rapland is normal after all?"

"Who knows? It might be."

"What are you saying?"

Olivia, who had been laughing, added.

"Honestly, it’s not impossible. If you forget about shame or embarrassment and think objectively, this body could be defined as female. It can give birth."

"But whether we can accept that is a completely different issue."

"I was about to say that too, Logan."

And the conversation continued.

"Anyway, honestly, maybe later on, I might like someone. I don’t know if they’ll be male or female, but it’s possible. But for now, no, man."

"Heh, if you don’t find anyone you like, don’t come to me."

"You never know. If we find someone, we could go check it out."

Gasp.

At that moment, the silence continued. The awkward stillness broke only when Olivia, who had started approaching, shattered it with her words, and it didn’t take long for the tension to dissipate.

"Wh-what? Hold on, Olivia, you’re taking the joke too seriously- Uwah, don’t come closer! Aaaaah-!"

"This idiot is always trying to slip away. Come here! You’ve got to pay the price for your words!"

Crash!

The sound of chairs toppling, followed by two people hastily exiting the room, and then silence.

Logan, who had been silently observing, added with a strange expression.

"...I think I need more time to think about it."

"You didn’t say anything, idiot."

Although that was said, I thought to myself, isn’t this exactly what happens when the thief starts to feel guilty? Of course, I didn’t say anything because the moment I did, I’d probably end up being strangled.

Night deepened, and the base was slowly being completed.

New York was quiet again today.

And the world? It was full of unimaginable horrors.

"Nuclear weapons, and now biological ones? More and more unmanageable things keep piling up."

"It feels like it was just yesterday we gave up two strategic submarines, and now we’re dealing with viruses. One thing’s for sure—if research results end up in the wrong hands, we’re in trouble."

"Yeah, that’s obvious."

Clunk, clunk.

By mid-July, the weather was hot, and the sun poured down from the clear sky. Beneath it, we made our way to Amherst’s apartment, feeling the peace of Central Park gradually taking shape around us.

It was only a 2-kilometer walk from Central Park, and not far from Hell’s Kitchen, so Dagger team took a leisurely walk, enjoying the fresh air.

No one knew what would happen, so they were all heavily armed, but fortunately, nothing happened. In fact, the situation turned out to be quite pleasant.

To put it simply, here’s what happened:

"Oh, good to see you. Are you heading to the labor office?"

"Yes, I am. Thank you as always."

When wandering outside like this, you sometimes meet people.

Central Park couldn’t handle all of Manhattan and New York’s leftovers, and because of that, many people lived outside the park.

There was no shortage of empty spaces. Many people preferred it that way. After all, there were so many buildings around Manhattan. How many hotels? A lot.

When you add in all the accommodations, you could probably easily accommodate tens of thousands of people. It was likely that most people preferred it, especially since there were soft beds.

Of course, no water would come out.

Anyway, after walking for about 30 minutes, we realized something.

Through the half-burnt apartments, we saw the delta mark floating over the destination.

Luckily, no one was nearby.

"Alright, that’s it. Looking at it, I don’t see anything suspicious, but... "

"We should be thankful that there are no bastards to kill. Let’s just have a good meal and treat this like a stroll."

"Unless there are burned corpses inside."

Sadly, it was as he said.

We now lived in an era where such things had to be worried about.

As always, after releasing the pulse, I checked if anyone was nearby. Naturally, there was nothing in the building. Instead, something else was detected—things like CCTV and electronic devices.

Leaving that behind, we entered the apartment complex, stepping over the debris of the fire.

We should probably be thankful that there were no bodies.

"Do you think Rapland can handle this sight?"

"This is tame compared to what we usually see."

"Yeah, but considering what we’re used to seeing... I don’t know. Olivia, you’ll have to take good care of him and help him adjust."

"I was planning on that. And, I think... we may have someone else to add to the new task force. Have you seen the new operator list?"

"I have. There’s a friend from the Ranger Search Division (RRC). I’ll see if I can recruit him."

"Recruit him? Don’t look at me like that... I’m sorry."

Because of what happened yesterday, the mutants were in a playful mood.

I honestly didn’t have any strong feelings. Even if others teased me, I wasn’t sure how to respond. The other senior mutants had plenty of masculinity, so I could tease them, but for me...

I’d probably just blush and end it there. I had that thought.

Anyway, we continued up the stairs, leaving the debris behind.

The stairs attached to the outer wall of a New York apartment were hardly reliable, and due to being left abandoned for so long, they creaked and bent as mutants climbed.

So, after the lighter ones went first, the mutants often used the wall-climbing devices to go up.

In any case, those small matters weren’t a big deal.

The reason was simple. The walls were covered in books on biology and formulas written on blackboards.

As we stared blankly at the scene, Logan activated the pulse.

And—

—Drrrrk!

"Wow. You’re tearing a wooden bookshelf apart with your bare hands."

"These guys are usually terrible at hiding things. They don’t even try to be sneaky... Well, it’s not a laptop, but they usually prefer notebooks or something like that."

"Hmm."

Beep!

At the same time, Loren Tina examined the pulse, and Logan handed over the notebook he was holding. She flipped it open and began checking what was inside.

After some time, Loren Tina held up a business card triumphantly.

With a proud look, she raised her head.

"Boston University School of Medicine, Senior Researcher at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL), BSL-4 Dr. Jordan Amherst. Looks like he was pretty good at hiding his insane tendencies in society."

"...Yeah. It’s my fault for not opening it earlier."

"Heh, the main character is always the shark."

And with that, the conversation continued.

"We’ve had enough rest. The next trip will be to Boston."

"Yeah. It’s time to check out the situation in Massachusetts."

Nuclear weapons, and now biological weapons.

The world was full of terrifying things.