Monster Dismantling Company

Chapter 14 The Taste of Lying

Search – Finding high-value targets inside the monster

Combat – Seizing or protecting one's spoils

Evacuation—Evacuation from the monster's body, which isolates both the inside and outside observation.

Only with military personnel constantly present can we ensure that there are witnesses on-site for everything, which is better than turning the situation into a complete information black box.

To ensure the military has control over the situation, the equipment of Monster Disassembly will be restricted—in principle, offensive weapons are naturally not allowed.

However, the work of dismantling monsters inevitably involves breaking down huge monsters, which necessitates carrying some equipment with powerful destructive capabilities, such as high-powered beam drills.

It's actually quite vague to say how different this demolition equipment is from weapons. After all, the drill can burn through the flesh of monsters within a range of tens of meters, and if aimed at a person, it will instantly vaporize them. Its power is obviously far greater than the bullets from the assault rifles in the hands of the defense forces.

Furthermore, Monster Disassembly Corporation operators sometimes wear heavy exoskeleton armor to carry heavy equipment. Some of these models, sponsored by research institutions, are even more advanced than the Defense Force's mass-produced equipment.

If the two sides really fight, it's still uncertain who will emerge victorious.

In fact, there have been frequent reports, especially recently, of well-equipped monster dismantling companies clashing with the defense forces. The reasons are varied, but they all boil down to things like disobeying orders and killing for loot.

The truth about many things that happen inside monsters will probably never see the light of day again.

"Therefore, to prevent anyone from hindering your work, I will personally lead a team to follow you."

"That's... fine too." After a moment's thought, Li Lin nodded.

He would refuse if someone else accompanied him. But if the colonel himself led the team, it would save him a lot of trouble.

He hates trouble, and he'd be more than happy to have someone help him deal with it.

The team assignments were completed quickly. Fire Raven Company began exploring inwards from the initial drilling location, with the colonel leading the anti-monster special operations company of the 392nd Garrison Brigade, carrying anti-personnel equipment, behind them.

At the cave entrance, the defense forces first conducted a preliminary exploration using ultrasonic waves.

"Tsk." The colonel held the results, looking at them as he walked over to Li Lin. "I didn't expect even ultrasound couldn't penetrate that far. But at least we've determined the path for the first fifty meters."

From the perspective of the path at the front, this passage is not only narrow and difficult to navigate, but also has a considerable difference in elevation.

This path is somewhat similar to cave climbing, but with cave climbing, there are solid rock walls to cling to. You can either find a crevice to wedge yourself into or drive a nail in to secure your body.

But that won't work here, because even the toughest monster has a soft interior cavity, so nails are useless here.

One feasible solution is to use a meat hook to climb up by attaching to the flesh wall; this is also a basic operation in the monster decomposition process.

However, meat hooks have limited load-bearing capacity and can only provide an auxiliary function, so large equipment cannot fit through them. All equipment used in this task must be portable by hand or shoulder.

Fortunately, thanks to advanced powered exoskeleton technology, it can provide a considerable load even when carried by shoulder or hand. That's how those laser drill bits were brought in.

The colonel and Master Wang stood side by side, observing the path diagram displayed by the ultrasonic detector. These technical details were something the two of them could finalize.

Li Lin stood at the back, observing the monster's entire body. He looked into Taba's lifeless eyes—from the first moment he saw them, he felt an eerie light emanating from them. Now it seemed that was a sign of someone who had been dead for a long time.

The colonel continued, "However, the width is limited, and the working area is also limited. Sending too many people in would be useless. Li Lin, we should concentrate the equipment from both sides to form an assault team. Including the two of us, the total number should not exceed 10 people."

Ten people is already a lot. The passageway can only accommodate two people side by side at most. If they wear power armor, only one person can walk alone. Ten people inside would even have difficulty turning around.

The main tasks of these 10 people are to use high-energy nitrogen anion bombs and batteries for the drilling rig. The former is used to blast the monster's spine, and the latter is used to clear the passage—batteries are also necessary here because as they penetrate deeper into the monster's cavity, the external power supply will quickly fail, and then they will have to rely on batteries.

Master Wang nodded in approval of the plan, but Li Lin offered a reminder:

"This is a very demanding task. From what I understand, your physical condition is likely already in very poor condition. If you insist on participating in this operation, the harsh environment inside the monster could kill you."

"I have to go. I can't let other people cause you trouble. I know that if they hinder your work or spoil your interests, the consequences will be serious."

"..." Li Lin stared at him for a moment, "Your intuition is very sharp."

However, he seemed to have too low expectations of Li Lin's moral character, regarding him as some kind of capricious ancient god.

In reality, Li Lin has adapted to society quite well. He has his own campus life, his own social circle, and other friends his age, such as Lin Zhiqing. Some of them are even having dinner with him tonight. He's not the type to explode in anger and destroy the place where he grew up.

Even clownfish cherish the anemones they inhabit.

However, the colonel's actions were in line with his habits. He genuinely disliked dealing with such trivial matters—if someone suddenly appeared, overestimating their abilities and attempting to kill and steal his treasure, silencing them would be another troublesome affair for him. Trouble was his greatest fear.

"So, if this is your choice, then I don't need to say anything more. Thank you for your support. However, to prevent you from suddenly dying during the operation, I think it would be better if I gave you a check-up."

"Inspection? Here? We don't have time."

Li Lin glanced at the dagger at his waist, the one he'd used to cut the meat earlier: "Pierce your fingertip with your dagger and give me a drop of blood. Just one drop will do."

He had indeed sensed the colonel's impending death by smell. But the specifics of this miraculous event would only be known after tasting his blood. The amount of information dispersed in the air was simply too small, while a single drop of blood would suffice.

The colonel didn't ask any questions, but immediately took out a dagger and cut his own fingertip, then handed the dagger to Li Lin.

Having tasted the blood, information surged from the tip of his tongue into his consciousness:

Race: Human (Deeply Scaly)

Age: 45

Blood type: O

Fatigue level: 29 hours without sufficient sleep

[Drug traces: Currently taking a strong sedative substance]

[Tense Level: High Alert]

[Narrative burden: High]

...

A long string of information abruptly ends at the last line:

[Survival time limit: 29th, 23:29:19]

The numbers are red, indicating impending death. The numbers are constantly fluctuating, with each second representing a loss of 2 to 3 seconds. The colonel's body is rapidly deteriorating due to the high workload.

He also noticed other information, such as the "burden of narration," which left a subtle salty taste on his tongue—the taste of lying. Clearly, there was still some information he hadn't revealed.

But that doesn't matter, his near-death experience was genuine.

"Just as I thought, you have less than a month left—exactly one month, that's the upper limit. The healthier your lifestyle becomes from now on, the closer you'll get to that number. However, based on other information, your recent life seems to have been very difficult, and you're using high doses of pain medication..."

"You knew that too?!"