BLDS Chapter 148

Just as there’s no predetermined reason why people should inherently live, there’s also no reason why they shouldn’t die. At Shin Hae-ryang’s words, Zhu Shi’an stammered with a flustered expression, then pointed at Seo Jihyuk with a jerk of his chin and shouted.

“Seo Jihyuk made a promise to me! He said he’d take me safely to the boat in exchange for letting him take it!”

Clearly, Zhu Shi’an had thought the painkillers were the most important during the boat deal, and that they were the least necessary. Now it’s completely reversed.

“I said I’d take you safely, but I never said I’d keep you alive while doing it.”

Seo Jihyuk said with a languid smile, quickly extricating himself from the conversation. Zhu Shi’an’s jaw dropped, his face blank with shock. I’ll make good use of the boat. Leaving those words behind, Seo Jihyuk approached Shin Hae-ryang’s back, slightly hunching his body to hide.

As Shin Hae-ryang silently loaded Zhu Shi’an’s gun, Zhu Shi’an, terrified, shouted at the barely visible Seo Jihyuk.

“You promised!”

Seo Jihyuk, crouching behind Shin Hae-ryang’s back, cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted back.

“Ask Li Wei to save you.”

“If it’s money, I can try! Hai Yun will definitely be able to manage over 1 billion somehow! He’ll pour money into saving his team members.”

“Hai Yun must really hate working. Having to work with someone like this as a colleague.”

“Do you think our country will stand by if you kill me?! 1 billion people will come to avenge me!”

“Ah. That revenge you’re talking about in 10 years? Has our team leader ever been afraid of retaliation?”

As the conversation, conducted with Shin Hae-ryang as a wall-like barrier between them, grew longer, Zhu Shi’an’s condition worsened, and Shin Hae-ryang’s expression grew colder. Shin Hae-ryang, gun barrel aimed at Zhu Shi’an, said simply.

“Get into the submarine port.”

At those words, Zhu Shi’an was struck with fear. The moment they heard this, it dawned on everyone around that he really intended to kill Zhu Shi’an. The weight of Shin Hae-ryang’s single command to go elsewhere was tremendous; it felt like he didn’t want to show the others the act of killing Zhu Shi’an. I stepped in front of Shin Hae-ryang and said weakly.

“Mr. Hae-ryang. People aren’t supposed to be killed in the first place. It’s not that we don’t kill them for a reason.”

“It’s too dangerous to leave him behind.”

If that’s the reason, isn’t that more of a reason not to kill him? Am I the only one who thinks this way?

“We’ve taken care of the weapons, and we have the pad. Zhu Shi’an alone won’t be able to do anything.”

“Even alone, one can do many things.”

What? …Well, that might be true for you. But it doesn’t seem to be the case for others. How much can someone with a gunshot wound to the shoulder really do?

Unless Zhu Shi’an ate something wrong or went crazy, he wouldn’t dare to accidentally confront the Engineering Team D members armed with three guns. Even if they met again, which would be difficult, he would either avoid Engineering Team D from afar or try to help his team members in other ways.

However, in Shin Hae-ryang’s imagination, Zhu Shi’an seemed to be like a bomb that could explode at any time. Someone was poking my side with their finger, but ignoring it, I said.

“If you’re worried about leaving him behind, let’s take him with us.”

If you’re really uneasy, you can watch and monitor him from the side, right? Apparently not liking that idea, Shin Hae-ryang’s eyebrows furrowed.

“I don’t want to take him. I saw you being held hostage by Zhu Shi’an when you came. …It seems you don’t have a particularly good memory.”

Oh. Such sarcasm. Inwardly surprised, I responded calmly and slowly.

“Whether we leave him or take him, it shouldn’t be a problem. I think the Infinity Church believers are more dangerous than Zhu Shi’an.”

John Doe, who had been pretending not to hear this conversation from the side, jumped up from his seat. Then he shook his head vigorously at us. John Doe, with only his wrists bound, realized after 3 seconds that nothing was binding his mouth, and shouted like a nightingale freed from its cage.

“Infinity Church is quite a peaceful religion! It’s the Chinese or Japanese people carrying guns and shooting people who are crazy! Don’t try to oppress a small, well-behaved religion!”

“Then we’ll find out when we get to the Second Undersea Base.”

In my opinion, I don’t think religion has ever been peaceful in this world. Zhu Shi’an, realizing that Seo Jihyuk was a rotten lifeline, quickly switched to me. Panting with tension, Zhu Shi’an spoke to Shin Hae-ryang, harboring a glimmer of hope.

“You just heard, right? The doctor said the result would be the same whether you leave me behind or take me with you.”

At those words, Seo Jihyuk shouted from behind Shin Hae-ryang’s back.

“Then it would be the same if we kill him and go.”

“Eek! You! Youuu!”

Baek Ae-young, letting out a long sigh while watching this scene, asked Shin Hae-ryang.

“What should we do?”

“It’s easier to kill him and go. Such a person is dangerous. I’ll do it. This gun is Sumire’s anyway, and it won’t be a problem later, but even if we dig out the bullet, it’ll be recorded as death by Sumire’s gun.”

Before Shin Hae-ryang could answer, the response came from Seo Jihyuk. Seo Jihyuk’s answer is terrifying, isn’t it? He had been half-crouching behind Shin Hae-ryang’s back and had been answering in a playful tone all along, but when he closed his mouth and came forward, the pressure was no joke. Sumire stopped breathing in fear.

It’s one mountain after another. Feeling dizzy, I now tried to dissuade Seo Jihyuk.

“Let’s not do this. Don’t kill him. Let’s get out of the undersea base and talk again. Don’t kill people for that kind of convenience.”

I remembered someone who used to shoot and kill people because it was bothersome to block people coming up the elevator alone. Let’s not do that. I stood in front of Seo Jihyuk, who was as big as a door, and raised both my palms. Then my eyes met with Shin Hae-ryang beside me, and in that moment, I shook my head vigorously. He’s your team member, so try to stop this guy.

Someone was poking my side and now pulling, so I looked and saw Tumanako desperately tugging at the hem of my clothes. I resisted but, having no strength in my body, was dragged along by his grip. Tumanako tried to take me to a corner, then said in a frightened voice.

“Don’t get involved in this kind of thing and stay quietly in the corner. Do you want to die too by getting caught up in this?”

Tumanako was looking at me with eyes full of worry. I was about to say that the Engineering Team D people weren’t that unreasonable or against principles, but I felt conflicted, thinking that in Tumanako’s eyes, they might all look like gun-toting Asians.

“There’s no one here on your side or my side.”

Does he think there’s no one to take sides with either Tumanako, who’s only been here for a month, or me, who’s only been here for five days? Tumanako, catching Shin Hae-ryang’s gaze, trembled like animals shivering in the cold while still gripping the hem of my clothes. I wanted to pat Tumanako’s shoulder or back to calm him down, but my hands were a mess with Zhu Shi’an’s blood. Shin Hae-ryang looked at Zhu Shi’an for a few seconds and asked.

“How exactly did Engineering Team D agree to cooperate with Infinity Church?”

Perhaps because he wasn’t threatening to shoot him dead right away, Zhu Shi’an answered hurriedly, as if grasping at a lifeline.

“They said they’d provide the guns needed to kill the ones we don’t like. They told us to escape from the Fourth Undersea Base on our own. They said they had something to do in the mesopelagic zone (200-1000m). They told us to come up to the Second Undersea Base only if we couldn’t escape from the Fourth Undersea Base. They said they’d let us out then. This wasn’t coordinated within me or our team. It was discussed with our superiors. They said they also talked about something related to resources, but we didn’t hear anything clearly.”

“Do the Infinity Church believers know your team’s faces and personal information?”

Zhu Shi’an bit his lip, as if this was a question he hadn’t thought of, then shook his head sideways.

“I, I don’t know.”

“Conversely, tell me the names of the Infinity Church believers your team knows.”

This question also seemed to be one Zhu Shi’an hadn’t expected. With a pale face, Zhu Shi’an barely muttered.

“Hao Ran! Hao Ran received the guns with Wei Chi! …I’m not sure about the rest. Our country doesn’t allow religion!”

Zhu Shi’an spoke through gritted teeth, as if he disliked the existence of cult religions and their believers in the world. John Doe seemed uncomfortable with all the statements Zhu Shi’an made, but he didn’t interject during the conversation.

After listening to Zhu Shi’an’s story, Seo Jihyuk said quietly to Shin Hae-ryang.

“It seems these Infinity Church guys have scammed two places, right? Judging by how similar the Japanese and Chinese guys’ stories are.”

Shin Hae-ryang looked at John Doe, then added one more thing to Seo Jihyuk’s statement.

“Three places.”

Baek Ae-young said, as if she didn’t understand.

“No, if they decided to support one country, they should have provided firepower support only to that side. What’s with giving guns to both Japan and China? The two countries don’t even get along.”

“I don’t know anything other than that they want them to kill each other.”

Seo Jihyuk narrowed his eyes and scratched the back of his neck, then asked.

“Do you have any idea who the bastards are that took this opportunity to shove a torpedo into the main engine, and where they’re from?”

“I have no idea. When we get out of here, I’m planning to lie on a Papua New Guinea beach and read newspaper articles. It’s not our job to figure that out.”

Shin Hae-ryang answered like that and then said to Zhu Shi’an.

“I’ll give you my pad as soon as we get up to Daehan Island. In return, cooperate with us in escaping from the undersea base.”

Even in his terrified state, Zhu Shi’an’s eyes lit up at the mention of Shin Hae-ryang’s pad. Zhu Shi’an is impressive too. Does he want to rescue his team members trapped in West District that badly? He didn’t care much about Wei Chi or Hao Ran, and was even hostile towards Hai Yun. Does he like Li Wei that much? Zhu Shi’an, pressing his right shoulder, asked.

“What do I need to do?”

Shin Hae-ryang looked around at the people here and said.

“From now on, we are Engineering Team D.”

“What?”

Zhu Shi’an seemed momentarily dumbfounded by Shin Hae-ryang’s statement. With his face pale from blood loss, he looked even more so. Seo Jihyuk’s expression suggested he didn’t like the team leader’s statement.

…What did he say? Ah. I see, we could do it that way. Looking around, I realized there were exactly 7 people here. So Engineering Team D has a total of 7 people.

But are we going to attempt an escape like that? We could try, I suppose. Both Engineer Team Na and Engineering Team D are all trapped in West District anyway.