Chapter 448

Chapter 448

“And why would I do that?” Jake asked.

The Commander’s face hardened. “What do you mean? D might show up and kill us all. Wouldn’t you want to assist us?”

“Why should I care what happens to you? I barely know any of you.”

“I thought you were trying to befriend us, humans,” the Commander remarked, casting a quick glance at Catalina. “Or are you only helping certain humans?”

When Jake hesitated to respond, Catalina interjected, “Wait a minute. You mentioned that you never revealed the location of your base to D. So he has no idea where you’re situated.”

“Do people still say ‘duh’? Because, duh. Just because he hasn’t found it yet doesn’t mean he won’t be able to do so at some point.”

“But you said the last time you encountered him was several months ago, didn’t you?” Catalina pointed out.

“So?” the Commander retorted, his expression stubborn, even though it was clear he knew exactly what she meant.

“He might not even be searching for your base,” Catalina argued. “If he were actually looking, he might already have located you.”

“I don’t understand which side you’re on,” the Commander said. “Are you with us, the humans, or,” he glanced at Jake, “aligned with creatures like him and D?”

“First of all,” Catalina said with a firm tone, “let me clarify. I see Jake as a friend. Without him, the situation in our city would’ve been much worse than it is now.”

The Commander stared at her in silence.

“And second,” Catalina pressed on, “I’m simply trying to be reasonable here. You inform Jake that he isn’t the only one of his kind, and then you immediately ask him to go kill the only other being like him. That doesn’t seem fair.”

“And D running around and killing my people sounds fair to you?” Catalina was going to say something, but he immediately continued. “Besides, there may be others like him and D. But when it comes to D, you can’t befriend him. The last time I met him, he could barely hold himself together, and now he’s likely even worse.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” Catalina replied.

“Then why hasn’t he shown up since our last meeting?”

“I don’t know, but there could be other reasons besides the one you’re suggesting.”

“There aren’t,” the Commander snapped, his patience clearly wearing thin. “He’s hunting us now. I understand D better than you do. And I can’t let him run around the city, killing my people wherever he feels like it.”

Judging by her expression, Catalina didn’t agree with him, but she went silent, as if she didn’t want to aggravate him even more. Jake didn’t have any reason to hold back, though.

“If D has become a total monster, he wouldn’t have any reason to look for you,” Jake explained. “He would either forget about your existence entirely or no longer care enough to seek you out. Sure, he might engage with your people if they cross his path on the streets, but beyond that, he wouldn’t make a conscious effort to find your base. The minds of monsters don’t function that way. They don’t feel emotions or harbor desires like revenge. They are much simpler beings than that.”

“Maybe he’s not a complete monster then,” the Commander said. “Maybe he managed to hold onto some of his humanity, along with his memories and feelings. He attacked my group, which suggests he now hates humans.”

“Not necessarily,” Jake replied, recalling how he had once killed a group of people he encountered as a mutant for the very first time. “Sure, he killed a group of your people, but that doesn’t mean he wants to kill you all. Why would he?”

“Because…” the Commander began, then immediately held his tongue. A moment later, he added slowly, “I don’t really know. But I’ve got to be always prepared for the worst.” He swept his arm around the cavern. “I’m responsible for all these people. They count on me to keep them safe.”

“Based on what you’ve told us, I don’t see why D would be determined to find your base and kill you all,” Jake remarked.

“According to your story, you haven’t wronged him in any way.”

The Commander fell silent.

“What is it that you’re not telling us?” Jake pressed.

“I’ve told you everything,” the Commander snapped, his voice sharp. “Stop accusing me of lying!”

“I’m pretty sure that if he wanted to, he would have already come for you,” Catalina said carefully. “Maybe he has been avoiding your people on purpose. Likely, he doesn’t want to kill you all, like you believe. You said that after he killed some of your people, none of you ever encountered him again. So perhaps Jake’s right. Maybe he was devastated by what he had done and has simply been avoiding humans since then to prevent something like that from happening again.”

Jake was thinking along the same lines. He couldn't understand why D never came for the Spartans. If D had really wanted to, he could easily have found their base. His Enhanced Intelligence skill would have allowed him to locate their base without any trouble at all.

“You might not be lying,” Jake finally said, “but you’re definitely not telling us everything.”

“That’s not true,” the Commander shot back, meeting Jake’s gaze. “It’s not in my best interest to conceal anything from you. Silvia is correct. D is incredibly powerful, and without your assistance, we won’t stand a chance against him when he eventually arrives. That’s why I told you everything without trying to hide anything. I wouldn’t risk turning you against me by hiding things, as that could jeopardize your support and potential help.”

Jake didn’t know if the Commander was telling the truth, but he had to admit his story did sound plausible. He got a lot of details right, especially the part about D struggling to retain his humanity as he evolved from one stage to another. Jake knew it was true, having faced similar challenges himself. However, the Commander was convinced that D harbored hatred for their group and dreamed of slaying all the Spartans. If that was true, it suggested that something had happened between D and the Spartans, something that the Commander wasn’t telling him.

Interpreting Jake's silence as an agreement, the Commander continued, “That’s why I allowed Silvia to bring you to us. The moment she informed me over the radio that you weren’t D but rather another morphus from a different city, I contemplated it carefully while she guided you to our base. I came to the conclusion that you and I could be of help to each other.”

Jake turned his head slightly, searching for Silvia. His gaze scanned the cavern but didn’t find her. Wherever she was, he intended to find her later to verify if the Commander’s story held any truth. She clearly had as much information as he did. Looking back at the Commander, he asked, “I’ll repeat my question: why should I track down D and kill him for you?”

A faint smile tugged at the corners of the Commander’s lips. “I understand that your city isn't completely overrun by the Ravage yet?”

“No,” Catalina answered. “Why do you ask?”

“Before the Ravage fully swallows a city, it is still in the process of developing, which means that it can be stopped pretty easily if you have the right tools,” the Commander explained, gesturing to the pistol holstered at his hip. “If we had possessed these weapons when the Ravage was still emerging in our city, I’m confident we could have stopped it. Although our weapons can’t entirely eliminate the Ravage, that’s only because the contamination in our city has already progressed to its final stage. Nevertheless, our guns can still effectively take down individual types of ravagespawn, as you’ve seen for yourselves. Since the Ravage in your city hasn’t yet reached that final stage, our weapons could still be effective.” He turned his attention to Jake. “So here’s the proposal: find and kill D for me, and I’ll teach your human friend how to create the weapons we use. How does that sound? Unlike my group, you care about her well-being, don’t you?”

Jake was reluctant to make any agreements with him. He then remembered the Kaiju he had been developing in the Apex Hollow. Once fully developed, it could be powerful enough to eliminate the Ravage contamination in New Hope. At least, he hoped so, but he couldn’t be certain.

“Actually, I’ve been working on something that could destroy the Ravage for quite a while now,” Jake said. “So your weapons won’t be needed.”

While Catalina was taken aback by this revelation, she also felt a rush of excitement at the Commander’s promise to share their technology.

There was another consideration. Even if he decided to go against D, he wasn’t sure if he could actually defeat him. Sure, he was well accustomed to dealing with monsters that out-leveled him many times, but D wasn’t just another mutant. He was a morphus, which meant he was extremely powerful. None of the elite monsters Jake had faced compared to D. Moreover, D had likely reached the final stage of evolution by now, meaning he would greatly outpower Jake.

He told this all to the Commander, and the Commander fell silent, frowning. It was clear that he couldn’t help but acknowledge Jake’s point. Nobody uttered a word for a brief moment. Then the Commander’s expression brightened, and he said, “Then I have another proposition for you. I’m confident you’ll find this one much more appealing since it doesn’t involve killing D.”

“Alright,” Jake said, wondering what was on the Commander’s mind. “I’m listening.”