41. Ralph
The man skewered the brazier holding dying embers and stepped outside the shop. The bitter wind blowing through the dark back alley made the warmth of the brazier feel especially comforting. He placed the brazier on the ground and tossed the charcoal lumps, still clinging to their dying flames, one by one into the ash mound. Every time a lump fell and shattered, ash scattered into the air, and the red embers gradually lost their light.
[Rustle]
A sound of something passing by came from behind him. Startled, the man looked back. His heart pounded with the fear that something hiding in the darkness might pounce on him. However, in the desolate alleyway, there was nothing but shabby exterior walls, discarded cigarette butts, and empty cans rolling around. Just as he managed to calm his racing heart, he suddenly felt as if a large cloth was engulfing him. He quickly turned his head.
"Argh!"
Ralph fainted on the spot. Behind his collapsed body stood a man wearing a monkey mask. The man took off the mask, looking down at the unconscious Ralph, and scratched his head with an apologetic expression.
＊＊＊
It was impossible to tell how long Ralph had been asleep. When he came to his senses, he was sitting leaned against a wall, covered in a large blanket. Looking around, he saw a man crouching down, poking at the burning charcoal in a brazier with a skewer. A crackling sound echoed, signaling that the charcoal was burning well.
"Who...?"
Ralph asked cautiously. He couldn't let his guard down, thinking the man might be someone sent to harm him. The man in the long coat, seemingly satisfied with the fire, dusted off his hands, stood up, and looked at Ralph. His face was pale and ordinary. When Ralph slightly lowered his guard and asked for his identity again, the man pulled a silver revolver from his pocket and showed it to him. Ralph felt a chilling thrill run through his entire body; his expression showed that what he had dreaded had finally arrived.
The man introduced himself as a Hunter and told him to relax his expression, as he had no intention of harming him. When Ralph asked what his business was, the Hunter demanded that Ralph explain what he had done at the water treatment plant.
Ralph was greatly startled inside but feigned calmness, retorting by asking what he was talking about. At that, the Hunter gestured to his Satellite, and a spherical robot fired a beam, projecting a square CCTV video that clearly showed Ralph's figure.
Ralph feigned innocence, claiming he had only done as he was told and had committed no crime. The Hunter interrogated him about who gave the orders, but once Ralph felt assured that the Hunter wouldn't kill him, he refused to speak and tried to flee into the shop.
Then, the Hunter projected another screen. It displayed a heartwarming scene of Ralph's only family—his younger sister—taking care of her children with her husband at home. In a sudden fit of rage, Ralph lunged at the Hunter. However, he immediately felt the cold touch of metal against his forehead.
The Hunter's eyes were as cold as death. As Ralph flinched and backed away, the Hunter put the gun back into his pocket. Ralph agonized for a moment, let out a deep sigh, and heavily opened his mouth.
"It was probably around autumn the year before last. I got a call from a friend who drove a cargo truck. He asked if I could help him out with a big job he'd taken on. I was taking a break at the time, so I agreed. We went to a junkyard on the outskirts of the city, and there were a few others waiting besides me. Then, a group of men poured out of the office, and one of them was a face I had seen somewhere before. It was the Chief of Staff of the Golden Tower, Dmitri. He glanced at us, then hopped in his car and drove off as if he were running away."
Ralph put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.
"The job was pretty simple. They said all we had to do was spray some chemicals at the water treatment plants in each district. One weird thing was that the spraying was to be done late at night. Entrusting civilians with spraying chemicals at a water treatment plant was suspicious enough, but I wondered why it had to be done at night. According to the employer, a ship carrying chlorine dioxide for sterilization had recently capsized, leaving the treatment plants critically short on chemical inventory. So, they had sprayed it at the lowest possible concentration, which apparently led to a tip-off to the Ministry of Environment. The excuse was that an audit from the Ministry of Environment was scheduled for the next day, so they had to finish the spraying by any means before then."
Ralph inhaled the smoke deeply and exhaled.
"Well, whatever the reason, it wasn't bad for us. The pay was quite lucrative for a day's work. Around 8 PM, we took a van to a chemical plant on the outskirts of the city. A massive shutter door opened, and there were incredibly large tanker trucks lined up in a row. It was a bit scary then. I didn't expect the scale to be that huge. At that time, other people began arriving one after another in vans besides us. Me, my friend, and three other men were assigned to one truck, and we headed straight to the District 8 water treatment plant."
Ralph took another drag of his cigarette, his face contorting as if recalling an ominous memory.
"When we arrived at the treatment plant, there were no guards, and the gates were wide open. It felt eerie, but we quickly went inside, parked, connected the hoses, and opened the chemical tanks. As the hose lurched and the chemicals poured in, it smelled weird. It didn't have that characteristic pungent smell of chlorine; it was more like... a terrible smell of petroleum. I'm no expert, so I couldn't be sure, but my instincts told me something was terribly wrong.
"We had been pumping the chemicals for a while when a car pulled into the plant's entrance. We were startled. We hadn't been told anyone else would be coming at that ungodly hour. We just stood there blankly watching the car, and it shined its headlights directly at us. The glare was so bright we couldn't see the people inside well, but soon several men got out. Then, suddenly, there was a popping sound—'Bang!'—and the man who came with us from the front collapsed.
"Honestly, my mind went completely blank at that moment. It was the first time I'd seen a person get shot right in front of my eyes. I was so out of touch with reality I didn't even realize it was a gunshot. My friend and I just looked at each other, wondering what kind of crazy situation this was. Then, another 'Bang!' echoed, and crimson blood burst from my friend's head as he collapsed right there.
"That's when I knew. Ah, I'm fucked. Thankfully, I was hidden behind the back of the tank at that exact moment. Without even looking back, I ran like crazy toward the rear of the tank. I ran for a long time before looking back, and it was dead silent. I didn't know how far I had run, or even where I was. I just held my breath and waited for a long time to see if people were chasing me, but no one came. So, I took a massive detour back the way I came to check the plant entrance again. And then..."
Ralph took one last deep drag and flicked the butt to the ground.
"There was nothing there. The massive tanker truck, my friend who was shot, and the other men. It was literally wiped clean. Even the chemical tank valves were tightly shut. For a moment, I wondered if I had gone mad and hallucinated from sleepwalking. The wide-open plant entrance gates were securely locked too. I was just left standing all alone in the middle of the night in front of a tightly locked water treatment plant."
Ralph stared at the ground with a vacant gaze, as if completely drained of energy.
"I don't even know how I crawled back home that night, and I just passed out. I spent the next few days holed up in terror, not moving an inch, until I heard people screaming terribly outside. Wondering what was going on, I opened the window and... sigh. The world had turned into this mess."
The Hunter asked Ralph if he remembered the location of the chemical plant from that time. Ralph replied that he knew where it was, but he had heard on the news that the plant blew up in a mysterious explosion the day the Madman crisis broke out. The Hunter tried to persuade Ralph that he needed to be a crucial witness to catch Dmitri, but Ralph drew the line, saying he merely did as he was told and didn't want to be involved in this horrible mess any longer.
Just then, breaking news flashed across monitors all over the Golden Tower. On the screen stood Dmitri, impeccably dressed in a suit, at a podium.
[Respected citizens. I am Dmitri, Chief of Staff of the Golden Tower. Seeing you all living without losing hope even in the midst of a national disaster weighs heavily on my heart as an administrator, and I only wish for this crisis to end as soon as possible. Recently, our administration received a crucial tip-off call. The content of which is that the cause of this crisis originated from a 'man-made disaster', not a natural one.]
The screen transitioned, and the CCTV footage of the water treatment plant that the Hunter had recently secured played out.
[The individuals in the footage you are seeing are the horrific suspects of this crisis, presumed to have sprayed the mutant virus, the cause of the infection, through the water treatment plants. These atrocious terrorists were mostly killed in action after several firefights with the self-defense forces. Following identity verification, they were revealed to be affiliated with the anti-government armed faction, the 「Free Liberation Army」.]
The logo symbolizing the Free Liberation Army was displayed prominently in a corner of the screen.
[The anti-humanitarian and shameless acts of terrorism by the Free Liberation Army have crossed the line, and our innocent families have fallen victim to their heinous terrorism. The government cannot suppress its outrage at this terrible truth and will mobilize all means to root out those involved in this terror. Currently, our self-defense forces are relentlessly tracking the remnants, and having confirmed that one of the individuals presumed to be an accomplice at the time of the incident is still alive, we are hereby issuing a nationwide emergency wanted order as of this hour.]
A large photo of Ralph's face filled the screen.
[The suspect is presumed to be an extremist residing in District 5 who has long been affiliated with the Free Liberation Army and engaged in anti-government activities. We urge citizens who spot anyone matching the suspect's description to report them to the self-defense forces without delay. In closing, thinking of the citizens who are still suffering at this very moment, our city will spare no bone-crushing effort so that the situation can be resolved as quickly as possible. Thank you.]
Watching the news, Ralph's face turned as white as a sheet of paper.
"This is ridiculous! I'm not part of the Free Liberation Army or anything! This is a vicious setup!"
The Hunter could say nothing. It was clear that right after Jefferson met Mayor Victor, Victor's side made a preemptive strike to cut off the tail. Overnight, Ralph had become the notorious terrorist who turned Murmansk into a living hell, and now he could no longer guarantee his safety anywhere within the Kast Branch.
"I'm going to the police station right now to tell them the truth!"
The Hunter stopped the agitated and thrashing Ralph. The Hunter awakened him to the cold reality, stating that in the current situation, no one would believe the words of a wanted suspect. Ralph collapsed on the spot, grabbing his face with his rough hands. At a dead end with walls closing in on all sides, he despaired in his helplessness.
The Hunter advised him that Murmansk was already dangerous as the dragnet was closing in, and urged him to follow him to take refuge at the Hunter Headquarters. Ralph was speechless for a while, like a man who had lost his mind. Soon, with trembling hands, he rummaged through his pockets and put a cigarette in his mouth.
After spewing toxic smoke in silence for a long time, Ralph finally stood before the Hunter with resolute eyes, as if his mind was made up.
"Riverside Park Station, Exit 7. Please come there on Wednesday morning. I'll be ready."
The Hunter nodded silently, and vanished into the darkness of the alleyway without a trace.