Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 122

Heeheon forced his barely-moving arm up and opened the pocket near his shoulder. He found the issued healing factor, opened the cap, and jabbed the needle into his carotid artery.

If he waited a little while like this, the effect would kick in and his injuries would heal.

“Ugh. Hah.”

‘Goggles. Where are my goggles.’

Next, he felt around his forehead. The urgent priority was to contact headquarters, grasp the battle situation, and share his own.

But then, a thudding vibration came from his back.

Heeheon froze for a moment and held his breath.

‘Don’t tell me.’

He had thought he was wedged in a crack in the wall, but that wasn’t the case. Heeheon’s body was entangled within the α-creature’s tree-trunk-like legs. And the thing swaying before his eyes was a sloshing mucus.

‘What the… fuck.’

Being extremely careful not to wake the α-creature, Heeheon turned on his goggles. The unresponsive screen was just dark, with no signal appearing. Was it broken? From the impact of the crash?

Praying desperately, Heeheon tried turning them on and operating them again.

‘One. Two. Three.’

Please. Please.

Hah. Thankfully, on the second try, the goggles turned on safely and the screen appeared. Heeheon first changed the goggle settings to underwater mode. Only then did his vision clear, and he could see properly.

That α-creature that had split in half. The creature was curled up and asleep inside a new membrane, holding Heeheon captive. It seemed to have fled somewhere to build a new nest and recover.

‘I’m trapped.’

No, to be precise, he was in the process of being trapped.

The bodily fluids the creature secreted were forming a white membrane, rising up in a dome shape. The opaque mucus was also flowing out from the creature’s body. Because the creature was so massive, the sphere was only half-formed for now, but he was in danger of being sealed in soon.

‘Once the membrane closes and the mucus fills to the top, I might not be able to breathe.’

I have to get out. I have to escape.

However, he was tightly bound by the root-like lower body, and the healing factor hadn’t taken effect yet. Above all, if Heeheon moved rashly and woke the α-creature, he was a dead man.

‘Stay calm. Calm down, and report the situation first.’

Heeheon tried operating the goggles again to communicate with headquarters. But something was wrong with them, as the communication was dead. Left with no choice, he checked the map, clutching at straws.

Heeheon’s current coordinate information value was ‘Unknown.’

Unknown. That meant only one thing.

‘I’m… inside a Gate.’

He had ended up inside an open Gate.

It wasn’t surprising. α-creatures were originally unique lifeforms that existed inside Gates. In this Level 4 incident, the detection system had been down, so they hadn’t known until the Gate entrance had fully opened, and all the creatures inside had poured out.

Even the master of the Gate, the α-creature itself.

‘It didn’t abandon its nest to find a new one. This was its real nest.’

Once he realized it, there was a wave he could feel.

The Gate core was vibrating finely, resonating with Heeheon’s core. He had to destroy that core for the Gate to disappear.

Normally, only the elite special task force could enter a Gate and destroy that core. This was not only the first time Heeheon had been inside a Gate, but also the first time he was actually feeling a Gate core.

‘It’s big. Too big.’

It’s quite close.

It felt like it was right there.

He kept trying to communicate with headquarters, but he couldn’t get through. He could just wait quietly for a rescue team, but it seemed likely he would be sealed in the membrane and suffocate before then.

‘I can’t just sit here waiting blankly.’

He had said he’d be careful.

He had said he would definitely survive…

But how do I escape?

‘…’

Heeheon took a quiet, deep breath.

‘Even if support comes, it’ll be too late by then.’

In that case, what if Heeheon destroyed the α-creature’s core right now?

‘If only that thing dies, the detection system will function normally again. The Gate’s location will be identified right away, and support will arrive immediately.’

However, in that case, the mission would be a failure.

Because they wouldn’t have captured the α-creature alive.

Above all, an α-creature was an α-creature. No matter that it had split itself and was asleep, exhausted from consuming its stamina, it wasn’t an opponent he could kill on his own.

Furthermore, Heeheon was a guide, and his only weapon was a rifle. He might be able to handle a β-creature, but could a bullet even penetrate this giant α-creature’s hard scales and thick flesh to reach its core?

‘…It’s more likely I can get out of here and destroy the Gate core.’

He would break free from his tight bonds and escape by tearing through the still-incomplete membrane. Then, of course, the α-creature, its sweet sleep disturbed, would wake up and try to kill Heeheon.

‘If I destroy the Gate core, the entire Gate disappears. All the creatures bound to the Gate will die too.’

Of course, Heeheon would also be in danger if he couldn’t find the exit in time, but as mentioned before, if only the α-creature died, the detection system would function properly, and then he could just check his coordinates and follow them out.

‘Even so, the mission would be a failure.’

That α-creature had to be captured alive at all costs.

They had to find the cause of the interference with the Center’s detection system to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again.

‘I can’t fail the mission. But I also have to make it back alive.’

If so, he had no choice but to bet on his last remaining hope.

Though extremely slim, there was a chance that, by a stroke of luck, the α-creature wouldn’t wake up while Heeheon was tearing through the membrane. If he could safely get his body out and hide until Cha Moogyul arrived, he might have a chance.

‘I might be able to do it.’

Hoping that would be the case, Heeheon moved.

At some point, the healing factor’s effects had spread through his body, mending his broken bones and healing his wounds.

He carefully attached the silencer and fired at the thick tentacles haphazardly blocking his way.

Pssh!

Thank heavens, it seemed this wasn’t enough to wake it.

Heeheon fired his gun again. The membrane was almost closed now. There was no time to delay.

He barely managed to open a path just large enough for his body to slip through. Then, gritting his teeth, he began to pull his trapped torso out.

He had injected the healing factor, so even if he got a little hurt or broke something, it would heal quickly.

‘Kngh!’

His torso got stuck and scraped, and his ankle, caught in the roots, broke. But Heeheon didn’t give up. Even if his body was ground to pieces, he had to get out.

In the end, he succeeded in pulling his body completely free. But in its place, he was submerged in the rising mucus and couldn’t breathe. Holding his breath, Heeheon moved his injured body to swim upward.

Before the membrane closes completely, hurry. Hurry.

He pushed through the rising gelatinous fluid with both arms and barely reached the edge. He quickly placed his hands on the top of the closing membrane and pulled himself over.

“Hah.”

He slipped and slid down the surface of the giant egg, plummeting all the way to the Gate floor. The α-creature was so enormous that Heeheon had fallen from what was essentially the top of a two-story building.

“…!”

He assumed a landing posture, but the ground was a rough, rocky surface.

He couldn’t avoid breaking his leg. His knee buckled, his combat suit tore, and a white bone was exposed.

Heeheon stubbornly limped, hid his body behind a large rock, and set the bone.

‘It’s okay. The healing factor is still in effect. It’ll heal. I’m okay now.’

Success.

He had escaped safely, and the creature hadn’t woken up.

What a relief…

In that moment of relief, one of the twenty closed eyelids at the very edge flickered open.

The black pupil glanced around groggily as if half-asleep, then its gaze fixed on the traces where Heeheon had fallen. A trail of viscous liquid led along the ground to the rock where Heeheon was hiding.

Instantly, the creature’s scales stood on end.

‘Did it see me?’

Heeheon gasped, startled.

The moment he saw the pure-white scales stand up like sharp thorns, Heeheon mentally counted the number of bullets left in his magazine.

In that time, the surrounding eyeballs opened one by one, like a fan unfolding. The fully awakened α-creature stirred its coiled body within the membrane as if uncomfortable.

Crack, crackle, the completed sphere shattered again, and mucus poured out.

An ominous energy emitted by the α-creature stretched out in tendrils, heading for Heeheon. Even though he was hiding behind a rock, a hot, chilling despair rose up, as if he would be incinerated, rock and all.

‘I’ve been found.’

Heeheon placed a trembling finger on the trigger. Not that he could win by fighting back.

Heeheon raised the muzzle of his gun and aimed at the sky.

Floating there was the crimson Gate core.