Chapter 346
Skullface couldn’t stop himself from stumbling back as the morphus’s massive fist crashed into the monitor. It was the first time he had experienced fear in a very long time, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. Soon, anger took over, not so much toward the morphus, but at himself for allowing fear to creep in.
For a moment, he continued to stare at the monitor, even though the transmission had ended and the ugly face of his enemy was no longer visible. Suddenly, he felt something drop onto his shoulder, causing him to wince.
Heart racing, he quickly spun around, half-expecting the morphus to be right behind him, despite knowing how irrational that thought was. Instinctively, his right hand moved to the sidearm holstered at his hip. He yanked the pistol out in a swift motion, aiming it at the figure before him.
But it wasn’t the morphus. It was only Kato, which made sense, of course. The morphus was far away, somewhere in the city, hundreds of miles from the main base. Kato, on the other hand, had been with him in the control room for the past few minutes, staying out of sight but listening to the conversation between Skullface and the morphus.
“What?” Skullface shot back, irritation bubbling to the surface. He was angry at himself for letting fear creep in, trying to mask it with bravado.
“Nothing, man,” Kato replied, raising his hands defensively at shoulder height, as Skullface still had his large pistol aimed at him. “I was just asking if you were okay, but you didn’t reply. ”
“I didn’t hear you,” Skullface grumbled, his grip relaxing as he lowered the weapon.
“Yeah, I get it,” his friend replied quickly. “That’s why I tapped you on the shoulder. Didn’t mean to startle you. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“I’m not fucking scared,” Skullface immediately barked because he was.
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Kato said hurriedly, seeing rage in Skullface’s eyes. “That’s not how I meant it.”
Skullface kept staring at Kato for a moment, his eyes boring into his friend’s. Finally, he averted his gaze, not uttering a word. His attention shifted back to the darkened monitor. Everything he had built in this city was now crumbling.
First, the morphus had infiltrated one of his bases and stolen the Skeleton Key that Miller had earned for completing a grueling challenge. Since then, every attempt to track down the freak had ended in failure.
Then some of the survivors had somehow managed to take control of one of his bases. At first, he couldn’t wrap his head around how they had done it. He received the answer soon enough after he sent his forces to reclaim the base.
He and Kato had been monitoring the attack through feeds from various helicopters. Initially, they saw his forces literally tearing the rebels apart. However, everything changed when the morphus suddenly appeared. And it hadn’t come alone. Instead, it brought an army of its own creatures it must have been developing in secret.
While those creatures were definitely weaker than the morphus itself, sheer numbers made them a formidable force. They annihilated every helicopter and technical he had sent out. Not one of them made it back.
The loss was huge. Skullface didn’t care much about his people getting killed, but the destruction of his equipment was a serious setback. Crafting a single helicopter required a considerable amount of time and rare materials. Rebuilding his fleet of combat vehicles would take a lot of time.
He had just a handful of helicopters remaining. Most of them were currently stationed at various secondary bases. He realized he needed to order all the pilots to return to the main base immediately. As for terrain vehicles, he still had quite a few of them. Most of them were deployed at various secondary bases as well, but that was fine because, unlike helicopters, they were of much lesser value.
So now it was obvious that the morphus had aided in the takeover of Base Ryder. Without their help, the survivors there would never have managed to accomplish that on their own. The fact that the morphus targeted only his people while refusing to attack the defenders spoke volumes.
Obviously, the regular survivors and the morphus were in cahoots. It didn’t matter much whether the morphus acted alone or with the regular survivors, as the latter posed no real threat to Skullface. The morphus, on the other hand, proved to be a challenging adversary.
He was almost starting to regret crossing paths with the freak. Everything had been going smoothly until the morphus began to interfere with his plans. Now, he was trying to figure out what he could do about it. How was he supposed to stop the morphus? Everything he had attempted so far had been futile.
“We should’ve left the freak alone when we had the chance,” Kato suddenly said, bringing Skullface back to reality.
“What?!” he barked, spinning around to face his friend.
Kato didn’t look intimidated, though, as Skullface didn’t point his gun at Kato this time.
The two of them were the last two surviving members of the original Los Demonios. Back then, they hadn’t held leadership roles, but they were the only ones who managed to escape their city when a devastating contamination known as the Ravage rendered life there unbearable.
Any member of the gang would start trembling in fear at the sight of Skullface like this, but Kato knew better. He and Skullface had known each other for a long time, allowing Kato to read his friend well. He recognized the signs that indicated when it was best to hold back and when Skullface’s anger was more bark than bite.
Kato had a knack for reading Skullface’s moods. He knew when to tread lightly. But at this moment, Kato sensed that Skullface’s anger was just a mask. Beneath that fierce exterior, it was clear Skullface was lost in troubling thoughts that had little to do with Kato.
Skullface held his glare, expecting a response. Kato was aware that at this moment, Skullface wasn’t truly dangerous. Sure, he was grumpy, but he hadn’t yet reached that “shut-your-mouth-or-I-will-shut-it-for-you” stage. Not yet, anyway.
Still, Kato knew better than to push his luck and further provoke him. Treading carefully was the best course of action right now.
So deciding not to elaborate on his earlier remark, Kato asked instead, “What are we going to do about the morphus?”
Skullface just stared at him for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. It seemed like Kato knew exactly what Skullface had just been thinking about, which was likely the case. You didn’t have to be a genius to realize the morphus was the only thing on his mind at that moment.
They held each other’s gaze for a few moments before Skullface finally looked away. He had no answer for his friend.