It’s going smoothly.
Mina who was positioned in the middle of the formation observed the battlefield through the eyes of the escaped prisoners, who led the charge and fought fiercely.
A battlefield filled with blood and bullets.
People risking their lives to push forward.
And one by one, guards and prisoners collapsing to the ground.
The hellish scene taking place in the narrow corridor was far too brutal for someone as young as her to endure, so she stopped using her ability and shut her eyes tightly.
I think I’m going to throw up.
How could anyone look at the sight of blood spraying and entrails scattering everywhere with a clear mind?
No matter how harsh and violent the world had become, for her, at least right now, it was an unbearable horror.
Because she had yet to fully step into the shadows.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes… I’m fine.”
“It’s almost over, so hang in there just a little longer. We’ll be able to get out of here soon.”
Once we’re out, what then?
The question that never made it past her lips sank back down her throat.
Even if I escape, what would really change?
A child born with pure white hair and camera lens-like eyes. She looked nothing like her ordinary parents.
From a young age, she had lived as the target of everyone’s hatred.
– Isn’t this brat proof you were fooling around with someone else?!
– What are you even talking about?!
Her misfortune had begun at the very moment of her birth.
From the beginning, her life had been a series of endless sufferings, and she had not even reached adulthood.
Beatings, verbal abuse, neglect.
Though she was fortunate enough to attend school… for a child who lacked any care or love at home, school was just another kind of hell. She had grown up in a prison with no way to escape.
Because of that, life in the detention camp felt almost familiar to her in comparison.
The only reason she even agreed to join the escape plan was the unidentifiable something she sensed in Number 11’s gaze as he looked at her.
An emotion she had never encountered before.
That feeling bothered her.
What could it possibly be?
He was a man who had entered the detention camp before her.
He had been just as helpless as she was, but at some point, it was as if he had become a different person. He started talking to her and began planning their escape from the camp.
Now that I think about it, the strange mister was the first person to ask my name.
It was a name given to her by an acquaintance who couldn’t bear to see her without one since her parents hadn’t bothered to name her.
It was a name her parents had never once called her by.
I wonder if things are going well on his end…
Her thoughts naturally shifted into worry.
As if to break her from her concerns, the middle-aged man standing beside her spoke.
“Child, it seems we’re nearing the end.”
At his words, Mina lifted her head to look ahead.
Though her short stature made it hard to see the front lines clearly, she could tell by the steady movement of the crowd that their breakthrough was progressing smoothly.
“The garage is just ahead! Stay strong, everyone!”
The faces of the people around her began to brighten.
After all, an exit had finally appeared in this hell of gunfire and screams.
With that hope, the rebellion of the escapees grew even more intense.
Meanwhile, despair was etched onto the faces of the guards.
“Push them back! There aren’t that many of them!”
“Damn it! We’re being pushed back by a bunch of escapees!”
“Don’t let them reach the garage! Hold out until the captain gets here!”
Despite their limited equipment and manpower, the guards fought desperately to defend the garage.
If the escapees managed to flee through the garage, the situation would spiral completely out of control.
Containing and suppressing the rebellion here and now was the only way to minimize the fallout.
Even if we run, we’ll die anyway!
If they fled, they would live as criminals for the rest of their lives. But if they fought here and survived, there was still a chance for leniency.
The guards, who were also members of the cleaning unit, steeled themselves once more with a desperate resolve.
However, resolve alone was not enough to overcome their overwhelming numerical disadvantage.
In the end, the guards were forced back to the defensive line they had built at the entrance to the garage.
“Shit!”
“One of them is a telepath!”
“Take out the ones charging at us first!”
It was a hopeless situation, one where holding out for even ten minutes seemed impossible.
From behind them, however, a familiar voice rang out.
“Squad leader, report the situation.”
“Captain! The people of the facility have started a rebellion! We’ve lost contact with the laboratory, so I assume it’s already…”
“Completely wiped out, I see. Or perhaps they’ve been taken prisoner.”
“What should we do?”
“I’ll handle it.”
It sounded like a death wish at first glance.
Yet not a single guard voiced concern about his words.
Instead, they felt relief.
“Make way.”
The guards moved in perfect sync. They pushed their shields aside.
Through the newly opened path, the head guard strode forward before stopping in the middle of the battlefield to glare at the escapees.
“Pests who don’t know their place have made it this far?”
The escapees at the front instinctively sensed he was not like the opponents they had faced so far. It felt as though a giant had appeared before them.
“Out of my way!”
One of the leading escapees, who was armed with exceptional physical enhancement ability, charged at the head guard.
For an ordinary person, it would have been a deadly attack.
To the head guard, though, it looked like nothing more than a futile struggle.
“I’ll make you pay for the blood of my men.”
His voice was like a predator’s growl as it echoed through the corridor. The escapee who rushed at him was struck by his fist and sent flying with the same force before crashing into their ranks and breaking their formation.
“He took out the one who didn’t even flinch at bullets in a single blow…”
“That’s our captain for you!”
“Finish this quickly and take care of the ones in the lab as well.”
“Yes, captain!”
“N-No, stay back!”
Bullets and psychic attacks began pelting the head guard’s body, but none of them could penetrate his skin.
He was part of the secret experiment conducted by the current government.
Normally, abilities could only be strengthened through repeated practice and mastery.
But that process required far too much time, so the government had secretly begun researching ways to artificially enhance abilities.
Using people rounded up from all over or outright kidnapped as their test subjects.
The head guard had been a test subject for the prototype procedure.
Although it wasn’t the completed version of the procedure and he had to regularly receive body stabilizers to maintain himself, the results were worth the cost. His abilities had grown noticeably stronger.
He could withstand a grenade blast head-on without so much as a scratch.
Once I deal with these pests, I’ll need to look into the formula for the stabilizer.
If the lab director was still alive, there would be no issue.
But if the director was dead, he would have to commission another lab.
He couldn’t survive without the stabilizer after all.
I have enough for a week’s supply…
“Die! Just die already!”
“That tickles.”
Bullets that should have torn through flesh countless times bounced off the head guard’s skin and fell harmlessly to the ground.
Even the prisoners’ most threatening attacks that were aimed at his face failed to leave so much as a mark. In an instant, the atmosphere on the battlefield shifted.
“W-We can’t win…”
As the prisoners who had been charging at the head guard began to meet their gruesome ends one by one, fear started to spread among the escapees.
The fear that they might die.
Their resolve was shattered pitifully in the face of overwhelming power.
“Damn it! Regroup with Team A—”
“So, you’re the leader.”
A bullet lodged itself squarely between the brows of the telepath standing at the center of the formation.
The shot was swift and precise.
The head guard holstered his pistol and took a step forward. His path was littered with blood and entrails.
“Run!”
To think we’re losing to scum like this…
The head guard was filled with a hollow sense of futility as he swung his fists with mechanical precision. One man’s head shattered like glass upon impact, spraying blood everywhere.
Just one strike.
No ordinary human could withstand his blows.
“Guards! Any of you still standing, follow me. Shove these bastards back into the camp and eliminate every last one of them who made it to the lab.”
Killing them all right now was one way to handle it, but the battle wasn’t over yet.
Instead of wasting bullets on the powerless escapees who had already lost their will to fight, he chose to save his ammunition for the others still putting up a resistance.
After all, using bullets on insects he could easily kill with his bare fists was a wasteful luxury.
If I can find the one who led the breakout, there’s a lot I need to ask.
“Don’t shoot. Just hit them with the butt of your guns. No point wasting bullets.”
“Yes!”
They pushed the escapees back and forced them to retreat while advancing forward.
Anyone who got in their way was reduced to a corpse sprawling on the ground.
How far had they gone like this?
The head guard spotted a girl lying amidst the bodies.
“This one’s still alive!”
“Looks like an unusual one…”
“What should we do with her?”
“We need to show these pests what happens when they try something stupid.”
No… no… this is scary…
Was this the end?
Mina shut her eyes as she saw the head guard approaching her.
If she was going to die anyway—
“No…”
I don’t want to die.
She didn’t want her life to end like this!
“A worm like you dares to speak?”
“Ugh… ah…”
Mina’s legs trembled uncontrollably.
It was a desperate struggle to survive, but for a fragile girl to escape from the hands of an ability user was impossible without a miracle.
“…Shame about the blind one…”
“…Finish her.”
As Mina’s consciousness grew hazy, she thought of someone.
The first person who had ever asked for her name.
“…Mister.”
“Yes, I’m here.”
The head guard instinctively raised his hand to shield his face.
A strange substance had been hurled at him and splattered against his face.
A stinging pain spread across the back of his hand.
What kind of substance is this?
He grabbed the unconscious Mina and flung her aside, then looked down at the man standing boldly before him. It was a man with dark brown skin.
“A filthy worm dares to…”
“An adult picking on a kid. Isn’t that a bit much?”
Number 11 shouted with a mischievous smile.
“Seok-ho, take Mina! The rest of you, engage that monster!”
The battle between the leaders had begun.
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