North American Detective: I am Proficient in All Kinds of Gun Quick Draws-Chapter 548 - 317_1
Hearing Dean's request, Little Mike felt it might alert the enemy, but he still chose to comply. Dean was the only one of his kind in this world whom he acknowledged. His thinking was quite simple: he reasoned that if he himself wouldn't do anything stupid, then Dean wouldn't either.
To reduce the risk of exposing himself later during the operation, Dean had Little Mike wait until the people on the freighter brought up food and water before they made their move. When the time came, Dean would go forward to help with the carrying and then pretend to fall overboard when Little Mike initiated his plan. This way, even if Dean reappeared in public later, his excuse would be solid: an unknown force had attacked the island base's communication network. This caused the experiment to spiral out of control, disabling all the collars. Consequently, Dean had managed to leave the cruise ship without dying instantly. As for how he survived the sea, that would require another suitable excuse.
After discussing when to act, Dean found a high place, sat cross-legged, and rested with his eyes closed. Under Little Mike's control, countless computers worldwide—those he had equipped with backdoors—began amassing a torrent of data aimed at the island base. They were preparing to completely erase all its device programs when the time came. To defend against a hacker of his caliber, the best and most fundamental method was simple: unplug the network cable. No matter which option the enemy chose, Little Mike would have fulfilled the task Dean entrusted to him.
「...」
「The island base.」
All was calm. Dr. Sean smiled as he watched the surveillance video, seeing the freighter's sailors use ropes to board the cruise ship.
Subject No. 37 is highly intelligent, he mused. If this were truly a normal freighter, then according to his plan, he could indeed smoothly pass task one of the game's first round. Unfortunately, the people on the freighter are also experimental subjects. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what kind of potential those little rats—smuggled in from various countries—will show when faced with despair. The affection for family, the need to protect loved ones, the desire to survive, the fear of death... All these emotions, once they breach a certain threshold, will erupt with a power far beyond what modern technology can decode, especially under the influence of the Catalytic Agent. Then, the real show will begin. This true stimulation is far more effective than anything we could test in the base. We hadn't used it before only because we were worried about attracting outside attention. But now, with those few 'gods' personally involved in the cover-up, such concerns are no longer an issue. After all, those 'gods' are among the highest echelons of North America.
Dr. Sean picked up his coffee cup and refilled it yet again. He didn't want to rest because he hoped to personally witness Subject No. 37 give him an unexpected surprise after the Catalytic Agent induced an outbreak.
After a moment's thought, he yawned, set down his cup, and took an elevator down. He walked to the main control console and asked the monitoring researcher, "Are the two defective products hidden on the freighter ready to be activated?"
The researcher nodded. "Dr. Sean, we have completed the activation according to your orders. However, these two individuals have intelligence roughly equivalent to that of four or five-year-old children. Our technology isn't mature enough yet. The risk of losing control during remote operation is very high."
"No problem. Have the freighter's captain arrange for those two defective products to deliver the food, and then have them attack directly!" Sean said nonchalantly. The base might not have had much else, but it had plenty of defective experimental subjects.
At the experimental base, subjects were classified into several levels. Those who died immediately after the Catalytic Agent took effect were considered expendable—essentially worthless. Then there were the surviving subjects. These individuals either possessed willpower far exceeding the ordinary or had physiques compatible with the Catalytic Agent. Without external interference, only about one in a hundred test subjects would survive to this stage.
Perhaps hormonal changes disrupted some internal balance within the subjects' bodies. After surviving, not only did these subjects experience varying degrees of intellectual impairment, but their bodies also seemed to break free from some self-protective shackle. They would undergo rapid secondary development in a short time, becoming inhumanly strong. However, this was not a positive development. These invisible shackles were evolutionary, forming the most suitable self-preservation mechanism for modern humans. Once broken, regardless of how their lives were maintained, no subject could survive for more than a year. Nevertheless, if these experimental subjects were used merely as expendables, they proved to be highly effective.
They implanted the most advanced electronic bombs into the brains of these subjects. Based on their remaining intelligence, these subjects were categorized as defective, substandard, or high-quality products. The combat strength of these three types was actually similar, and their usable lifespan didn't differ much either; all were consumables unable to survive beyond a year. The sole distinction lay in their intelligence. The higher the intelligence, the less likely they were to lose control after brainwashing.
Progress so far had been good. For instance, high-quality subjects—like the burly men in skull masks—didn't even require real-time voice commands via microchips. After brainwashing and training, they could follow orders and even perform simple reasoning. Unfortunately, the base didn't have many subjects of this caliber. As for defective experimental subjects, the base laboratory could now mass-produce them with the help of external intervention.
