Chapter 146: "Human" Talent Market |
In just a few words, Class-E Personnel Kyle was promoted several ranks, transforming into the captain of the Alpha-10 Mobile Task Force.
He stepped out of the surveillance area, cleaned himself up, donned a new uniform, and equipped his handgun. He looked like an entirely new man.
He also received his new authorization card from Lucrecia, along with a sample contact card—an internal business card for The Administration.
The circular logo of The Administration was embossed on the cream-colored paper, looking rather exquisite.
—Senior Agent Kyle—
Mobile Task Force Alpha-10
—"Demon Flask"
He had never imagined a day like this would come.
"There is a reason you were brought to the Ninth District. It is the most active region in the world for unorthodox cults, and its number of Containment Objects ranks among the highest. We can find almost all the candidates here."
"Here is the list I compiled, and you have been granted access authorization. It includes many Containment Objects I have handled in the past. You can take your time reading it in the car. We are heading to another facility now to begin the interviews."
The documents handed to Kyle were quite extensive and heavy.
If someone with insufficient clearance were caught holding them, the sheer thickness of the paperwork would be enough to convict them.
"We aren't taking a helicopter?" Ever since arriving at this site, Kyle had hardly gone outside. Even though he had a few hours of recreation time each day, he had no desire to wander around.
"The Ninth District has always been chaotic... but recently, it has been especially bad. You could say it is more like three to five independent districts mashed together. It has never achieved true unity. Internal divisions, numerous factions, fragmented territories—the official government of the largest zone is suffering from infighting. The Alliance failed to mediate, and now a civil war is raging. It is highly likely that a rocket launcher could shoot us down mid-flight. Best not to take that risk."
'That sounds even worse than the Tenth District...'
'At least the Tenth District has a unified official government.'
Kyle touched the handgun at his waist and took repeated deep breaths, immersing himself in the role of a Mobile Task Force captain.
Being a captain was entirely different from being a team member. In the days to come, he would shoulder true responsibilities. He would become the one giving orders and making crucial decisions.
He needed to become composed, calm, and reliable—just like Captain Holly—in order to bear this burden.
After the two got into the car, leaving the facility under the escort of two identical security sedans, he finally had the chance to learn more about his Mobile Task Force while sharing the ride with Lucrecia.
"I always thought the Council would never approve such a plan. Anomalies are always so... risky," Kyle sighed.
"That is true, but they decided to try again."
Kyle lifted his eyes from the documents. "Again?"
"The last time was Alpha-8. That was a Mobile Task Force the Council attempted to form years ago using friendly and controllable Anomalous Items. They performed exceptionally well. A squad of only six members could complete missions that normally required the coordination of multiple task forces. The human Support Squad backing them up couldn't even intervene. Their performance when facing regional-level disasters was even more astonishing. It's just a pity..."
"..."
Kyle easily guessed the answer. "They lost control, right?"
"The B-Class Anomaly serving as their captain slaughtered almost all the team members, along with dozens of Mobile Task Force personnel sent to re-contain it, proving its danger level once again. The team was disbanded, and the project gathered dust... until now."
"So now I am serving as the captain. The anomalies might trust me more because of the anomalous effects on my body, and The Administration feels safe letting me lead the team." As he analyzed the situation, Kyle gradually felt the true weight of this appointment pressing heavily on his shoulders. "We should exclude all non-humanoid candidates."
"That is exactly what I thought, but I must make one exception. There is a candidate I am most optimistic about. I will save it for the final stage. You will definitely understand when the time comes."
"Can you tell me which one it is?" Kyle helplessly closed the files, running his fingers over the despair-inducing stack of thick paper.
"No," Lucrecia said, keeping him in suspense.
Not only that, but she also revealed a proud, mysterious smile.
Kyle had assumed all senior researchers were eternally bitter and deeply resentful.
This attitude of being overly close to anomalies was somewhat concerning. However, since Dump Truck—that is, Council Member The Typhoon—had chosen her, there had to be a good reason.
Not just anyone could formulate effective high-level containment measures.
Kyle sighed and buried his head in the documents.
'Is this retribution?'
'I deliberately broke protocol and cleared out Anomaly Projects back then simply because I was too lazy to wait for intelligence and didn't want to read through so much convoluted nonsense...'
Over two hours later, Captain Kyle and Commander Lucrecia arrived at Facility 159 in the Ninth District. They began to select "human" talent in this crowded facility that housed hundreds of living subjects, visiting one Containment Room after another.
Lucrecia, a former containment supervisor, introduced the candidates to Kyle, who then evaluated them based on his combat experience.
There were many options, but very few available spots. Alpha-10 would only have one Combat Group. Excluding Kyle, they could choose at most five
subjects. The Support Squad would primarily consist of humans, with at most three subjects selected for assistance.
"C-7350 can open spatial rifts to retrieve various items that meet our needs. He has always been highly cooperative with containment work and harbors a hero's dream. He actively volunteered to help The Administration, which is why he was transferred here to await an interview."
"Loyalty to humanity is a good thing, but his ability is not stable enough. Pulling out a key when facing a locked door is very useful, but it is a bit redundant during a fast-paced operation and might not always come in handy. I need a more crucial support anomaly."
"C-2527 experiences constant spontaneous human combustion. It can control the flames on its body, but occasionally suffers from emotional outbursts..."
Before Lucrecia could finish her sentence, a fireball smashed against the reinforced glass of the Observation Room, startling Kyle into recoiling and instantly reaching for his gun.
The previously calm ball of fire was now violently ricocheting around the Containment Room. The employee on duty simply yawned at the scorched, discolored glass and pressed a button on the control panel. The fire sprinklers on the ceiling of the containment cell activated, suppressing the flames back against the entity's skin. Two security personnel entered from outside, wielding fire extinguishers to drive the burning figure back into a water tank.
Lucrecia said, "Alright, you don't even have to say it. I know it won't work. It would be completely useless on a rainy day anyway. Next."
"B-351, a High-Tier Reality Bender. This is its ability assessment and psychological evaluation report. The doctor formerly in charge of it intended to train it as a soldier, but the Ethics Commissioner ultimately halted the project. Currently, under the Deep Slumber Project, it has been kept in a deep anesthetic state for five years."
"Its pressure tolerance is far too low. It might turn the entire team into tables and chairs just from feeling excessive stress during a battle. Let's just let it sleep. That is best for everyone."
"Exactly what I thought—I will cross it off then."
"We are here. Although we haven't selected a single one so far, I strongly recommend adding this one to the Combat Group. It is a good kid. You will definitely like it."
Kyle silently stared at the massive letter 'A' painted on the outer wall of the Containment Room.
Lucrecia let out an "Oh" and said, "Don't mind that. That was a severe mistake. They are still reclassifying it."
Just then, a researcher happened to step out of the Containment Room's Observation Room, and Lucrecia quickly pulled him aside.
"Hello, has the new designation for this subject been approved? ...B-5031? Well, at least that is a good sign. But wasn't this designation... the trampoline that launches things to the moon got downgraded? A Class-D Personnel collapsed it by stepping on it during a test, causing its effects to weaken? That is truly unheard of..." Watching the researcher leave, Lucrecia jotted down the new number on her documents and muttered, "I actually quite enjoyed testing that one."
"Why is a super trampoline a B-Class?"
Kyle did not know much about the classification of Containment Objects.
Back when he was a Field Agent, he only needed to look at the prefix letter to determine whether a thing was dangerous or not.
But in reality, containment difficulty also influenced the risk rating. Take a nuclear bomb, for instance—as long as no one pressed its launch button, everything would be fine. According to the classification system, it would be a standard D-Class Anomaly, and its containment procedure would simply be 'do not touch.'
Meanwhile, a flock of glowing pigeons that couldn't be caught and flew around everywhere might receive an A-Class or B-Class rating. Because they were difficult to contain, they easily made the outside world aware of the existence of anomalies.
"It actively seeks out things to launch. 'Things' includes the entire Containment Room holding it, plus the whole facility."
Lucrecia gestured with her hands, illustrating a scenario for Kyle where 'the floor remains, but everything above the floor is shot to the moon.'
"Let's go. Let's stop talking about that trampoline and go meet it."
Filled with tension, wariness, and anticipation, Kyle followed her through the gates of the containment zone.