"Man, talking to people has been so long my excitement is through the roof, sorry about that really. Shall we skip... the self-introduction? You don't want to know the profile of an old man like this. Well, even though I say Survey Team, my combat power is nonexistent, and I was solely in charge of information processing. My Nen ability is also support personnel in that area. As a technician, I might be somewhat well-known, haven't you heard of me? Almeiza. ...Ah, you don't know..."
"Leaving that aside, let's get straight to the main topic. If I were to explain the Calamity you are fighting right now in one word, it is a 'virus-type nanomachine that proliferates feeding on life energy.' First, let me explain its true nature."
"This virus spreads through contact infection. To be precise, it's game over if the virus touches the life energy covering a biological surface. There is no cure. After infection, there is a dormant period of half a year to a year. During this time, absolutely no subjective symptoms appear, so I suspect discovery is difficult."
"When it activates, the body transforms into an appearance like a gathering of junk in the blink of an eye. As I said earlier, this isn't really a virus but nanomachines. It's a weapon created intentionally. I can only say the developer was out of their mind."
"The activated appearance varies by individual, but as a common feature, they are equipped with a firing port that shoots cysts. That thing. That guy that looks like an iron pipe. Please think of a cyst as a bullet packed with a large amount of virus in a compressed dormant state."
"Organisms that transition to the terminal stage of infection and become fulminant lose their reason. At first, they barely retain their original biological form, but gradually they are changed into a compact chassis. They are turned into factories to efficiently increase the virus. And then they are made to produce cysts inside the body until their life runs out, firing bullets at other organisms like random shooters. Organisms hit by this are of course infected. If the wound is deep, they become fulminant on the spot and transition to the terminal state in an instant."
"The terrifying thing about this virus is its infectiousness. Life energy is something any living thing possesses. In other words, it can infect any organism. If this is true, it wouldn't be strange if all life on the surface were dominated by this virus, but the fact that hasn't happened means there is some limiting factor, and I think it doesn't proliferate infinitely."
"However, if it were brought into the human sphere, it is certain to cause an unprecedented catastrophe. Once it spreads, identifying the infection route is difficult. As a countermeasure, there is no other way but to isolate the fulminant individuals. Since you can't tell if someone is infected during the dormant period, we're helpless there."
"Eh? You ask why you became fulminant without a dormant period even though you weren't shot by a bullet? Right, that is also a troublesome point. Exceptionally, only Nen users become fulminant immediately after infection."
"Since the aura Nen users use is like a chunk of life energy, for this virus, it's the perfect food. Apparently, it's no good if the aura nodes are open. It invades into the body from there all at once, and you fall into the terminal state."
"In the case of a Nen user, infection occurs just by touching aura directly, or even if an object materialized by Nen or an item imbued with Nen touches it. No matter how much distance is between you, it's useless. It moves instantly to the ability user who is the source of the Nen. Like a demon."
"However, there is only one prevention method: you can prevent infection if you are in a state of 'Zetsu', where the aura nodes are completely closed and the body surface aura is erased. Ordinary people are constantly leaking aura, so they can't use this method though. The old me evaluated this Calamity as Threat Level A, but in the sense that Nen users can tentatively deal with it, maybe it's about B+?"
"The prime feature of this virus is, after all, the point that it enables self-proliferation using the host's life energy. The metal parts appearing from the infected person's body that look like junk are all aggregates of nanomachines."
"This isn't hijacking cells to proliferate like a normal virus, but directly converting life energy into metal matter. It's not on the level of over-technology. Just how much scientific civilization did this continent have?"
"Ah, come to think of it, you seem to call that group of machines around the spring 'ruins', but those aren't particularly vestiges of civilization left by ancient people. It's the tragic end of fulminant infected people, something like their garbage collection site."
"The diary said that spring has the effect of recovering aura, but besides that, it activates the energy inside the body to heighten sustainable recovery power, and rarely it seems to have the effect of opening the aura nodes of non-human creatures too. In other words, it's an environment suitable to become a hotbed for these nanomachines. I call that water 'Soul Water'."
"Those who drink the Soul Water temporarily obtain tough vitality and obtain a body that won't die easily. Even the soul gets reinforced and consciousness remains clearly. Added to that is the fulmination caused by the virus infection, establishing the worst combo where you aren't allowed to die while being made into a machine body."
"No matter how much it is a Calamity-class virus-type nanomachine, if the host dies, it can no longer be active and stops functioning. In other words, we have turned into existences like livestock, kept alive but not allowed to live, having our life energy exploited in exchange for being given Soul Water."
"I, who am here now like this, am the same. I'm practically dead already, but I still continue to remain as a 'residual thought'. The PC power turned on at the spring, right? I did that. I absolutely wanted to convey this danger to you."
"...Yes, well, I feel sorry about that point. I wish I could have taught you more specific dangers at that place, but you see, I didn't have any leeway either. Just displaying the contents of the diary recorded in the past took everything I had. I tried pretty hard even with that, you know?"
"It's not exactly an atonement, but I'll tell you something good."
"You are different from residual thoughts like us. You aren't completely placed under the virus's control yet."
"One of the reasons is your constitution. While being an animal, you possess the characteristics of a plant. Actually, this virus doesn't infect plants. There was nothing abnormal about the surrounding forest and vegetation, right? Perhaps because of that, despite becoming fulminant, the progression of your symptoms is considerably alleviated."
"Furthermore, you also possess characteristics as metal. An existence capable of extremely special phagogenesis even among Chimera Ants, making eggs by eating non-living metal. Just as your ancestors acquired resistance to deadly poison by eating red plants, right now, you are desperately eating nanomachines and trying to leave resistance to the virus for the next generation."
"Well, the result is visible though. At this rate, you will lose. If there were about several thousand more individuals with the same characteristics as you, one might appear who gains resistance in the next generation, but you are already in a situation on the verge of being dominated."
"But, you can't give up completely, right? I understand. I was the same."
"I take a convenient form in your world of consciousness like this and say whatever I want, but reality is something far worse than hell. If I relax my attention, I feel like I'll go crazy and lose myself. Every day, I want to die. And just as much, I want to live. That's why it's painful. How much easier would it have been if I could have just sunk my thoughts to the bottom of deep sleep like my comrades?"
"To put it plainly, it's my tiny pride as a researcher. Like, who's going to lose to these metal scraps? I will definitely expose their weaknesses. I will discover a prevention method, an identification method, a cure, and leave my name in human history! For such a worthless desire for self-display, I have just continued observation and research."
"Well, it was impossible though. The more I knew, the more I understood it wasn't an existence humans could do anything about. What I understood was only the superficial behavioral principles they take. The core mechanism of how they convert life energy into metal remains unknown. There was no room to step into that domain."
"I was about to give up. Actually, until before you visited here, I was in a state where I had almost fallen asleep. However, from there, the situation changed dramatically."
"You are desperately eating the virus, but the virus is also taking you in and trying to become one existence. Because you can perform phagogenesis with metal, you made a child with the nanomachines which are nothing but metal particles, mere weapons and machines."
"A machine possessing life is about to be born. Nanomachines that possess their own life force and have enabled true self-proliferation. The damage this chemical reaction, which can only be called a prank of God, will bring... the extent is unpredictable."
"However, ironically, that evolution gave us an opening to take advantage of them. By becoming a lifeform that gained life from a mere inorganic machine, a common term called 'soul' was born between us. Even I, a residual thought, am starting to dissolve as part of their soul. That is precisely why I succeeded in internal observation for the first time."
"I was able to see a part of their program. It cannot be expressed with the word complex. In the first place, it is not managed by information using language or symbols. They possess an information transmission means that deviates too far from our sensibilities. It makes sense that it couldn't be deciphered just by looking from the outside."
"Inside them, a program to suppress their own activity was incorporated beforehand. Since it is a weapon, it is natural that it is made so the user can control it. If this program can be executed, they can be stopped."
"However, I don't have that authority. This is a job only you can do. You, who became the 'Mother' of the virus, might be able to do it."
"For that purpose, you must understand the program accurately. Unfortunately, there is no time to explain in this place, and I cannot convey it in words. I will give you this. You know how to use it, right? With the ability of a Chimera Ant, even if you cannot understand it, the possibility arises that your child will inherit that memory (data)."
"Please get out of here. And please destroy everything. Please let the souls of my comrades be at ease soon... I beg of you."
"...Well then, I will take my leave."
In, my hand, there is something.
A single, card disk.
I, bit it, bit it, bit it.
Swallowed it.
I can't see anything. I was confined in a narrow spherical space. I realize this is inside an egg. I broke the shell.
The thin metal shell tore, and I could see the state of the outside. This is inside a giant ant nest, a cluster of eggs planted to cover the floor. From one of those, I was born.
Looking around, soldier ants are busily coming and going. Red ants with a body length of about 20 centimeters. They have six legs properly, but their movements were sluggish. The exoskeleton had a linear form, looking less like an insect and more like a robot designed based on one. The characteristic feature would be the long and large ovipositor. The tube extending from near the anus bent back like a scorpion's tail and sat on top of the back. It looked just like a missile launch pad.
I seem to have the same appearance.
Traveling through the ducts stretched around inside the nest, I moved to a point that seemed to be the center of the nest. There, a small spring was gushing out, surrounded by the cluster of eggs. Looking at the bottom of the spring, the broken and opened attaché case was submerged.
I drank a mouthful of water. I could feel the sufficiency of aura inside my body. With this, it seems I won't need to worry about consumption for a while.
I climbed up the interior of the giant nest. On the way, I saw a device operating while making a loud noise. The giant box-shaped device had red and blue lamps flashing, and gauges for unknown purposes were working. And on the equipped conveyor belt, it was producing new eggs one after another.
This is the 'Queen Ant' of this nest. I sent a communication via radio waves.
'Stop.'
The light of the lamps disappeared. The egg production line stops. Glancing at that state, I aimed for the top again and climbed the nest.
I finished climbing the wall made of tangled iron pipes and went outside through a gap. That place was the top of a distorted tower made of scrap iron. It was the summit of a hypertrophied pile of waste.
'Idol Worship (Ideal Me).'
Before me, Quinn appears. When I saw the silver-haired girl standing unsullied just as I wished, I realized that I had finally been able to return home.
However, there is work left before departing. First, grasping the situation via 'Link'. No abnormalities. No one is approaching this tower packed with calamity.
Quinn grabbed the main body. Concentrating offensive and defensive power in the legs, applying reinforcement via 'Weight'. The power accumulated in Quinn's legs shook the air slightly just with the aftershocks. Despite not having released that power yet, the iron pipes of the foothold resonated with a buzzing dissonance.
The aura is activated by the influence of the Soul Water. The energy, increased more than usual, corroded Quinn's legs themselves. Compressing the power to the limit while forcibly repairing the collapsing muscles. Unleash.
An explosive leap caused the foothold to collapse. Quinn's legs also lost their original form in an instant. But those are all trivial problems. Aura is plentiful. Quinn tore through the wind and soared high into the sky. Supporting the main body with both hands, she aimed directly downward.
The iron tower visible directly below is the cage that had captured me. I must destroy it until not a trace remains. For the reborn me, for the me who sank into the past, for a new beginning, a farewell, and a promise.
Put it in range. Now, a full-power salute (curse).
'Rotten Egg.'