Bad Born Blood Chapter 346

346
I ran with Barbara on my shoulders. I wasn’t sure if I was running or walking. I just felt like I was moving forward.

I don’t know how Ilay got here, and how Barbara came to help. Why did Barbara save me so close? I know. It must have been because of Giselle’s request.

‘Barbara’s insight was right.’

I hate to admit it, but it’s true. I’m a total stimulant, a trash who seeks out battlefields and violence.

And Barbara, contrary to my expectations, really loved Giselle. She burned her own brain to save me, Giselle’s lover. It’s a fu*king devoted love.

I never thought I would feel ashamed of Barbara. Our world is really hard to predict.

Chick, chick.

There was a constant buzz and electrical current in Barbara’s head. She seemed to be under a tremendous amount of stress.

Barbara temporarily stopped a number of shadows. The shadows’ main computing device was a human brain. It was the high-performance brain of a guard capable of high-speed thinking.

Even Barbara, a top-notch hacker, was left feeling tattered. She was literally risking her life.

“Coolook.”

I coughed up blood mixed with my mouth. My bronchial tubes were damaged and I had difficulty breathing.

“Phew.”

I held my breath as much as I could. If it breaks, I’ll just endure it as it is.

I’m not safe yet. Behind me, Illei will be fighting the Shadows. The Shadows are not easy opponents. Even if there are only three or four of them, they can easily take down a legion.

“Hey, Barbara.”

There is no answer even if I call.

Maybe Barbara is already dead. I smiled bitterly.

Boom!

Explosions were occurring here and there in the palace.

‘Has the civil war begun?’

The confusion deepened.

‘Kinuan… … .’

Kinuan comes to mind. A man who brings chaos and confusion.

Chin! Crunch.

I stopped at the intersection of the hallways. The muzzle of the gun was against my temple.

“Stop. I’ll check your identities. We’ve found two injured people.”

Two soldiers found me and reported me.

Normally, I would have noticed this and responded earlier. You can see how damaged my perception and senses are.

I rolled my head tightly.

That soldier must be from Ivan’s unit. After noticing the strange events in the palace, the soldiers from the upper floors also gathered and entered.

‘Ivan did not trust people, so he mostly entrusted the palace security to shadows and androids.’

Ivan had enemies on all sides. From what he said, it seemed he was hostile even to his own royal family and collateral relatives.

Only when the situation became too difficult to handle with just the shadows and androids did the soldiers enter the palace.

“Lucaus Ku… … .”

One of the soldiers recognized me and opened his eyes wide. I don’t know if this was his chance or not.

bang!

There was a gunshot, and the head of the soldier who had been speaking exploded. I will never know whether he recognized me or not.

Kwajik!

The head of the soldier next to him also exploded. It was a weapon with such great firepower that the head of a person wearing a helmet was blown to pieces.

Easy.

Beyond the fierce firepower, a woman in full combat gear was visible. She was holding a heavy pistol.

I knew who she was just by looking at the curves of her combat uniform.

“… …Giselle.”

Giselle was wearing a battle suit with a thin exoskeleton attached to it.

Chiik.

The helmet of his pitch-black combat uniform folded back. His hair, dark and blue like the night sky, flowed down. It was my favorite hair color.

“This time I didn’t want to wait so I came myself.”

Giselle didn’t even blink an eye after killing two people. I guess it was I who made her like that.

We have influenced each other, both positively and negatively.

I don’t know the depth of the darkness that Giselle has accumulated. Giselle probably doesn’t know how great the violence is inside me.

Well, it’s something we’ll find out ‘in the future’.

So, what does ‘forward’ mean? … … I shouldn’t be saying this after causing trouble like this and putting myself in danger, but … … I still want to live. Hmm, shameless.

“Let me lean on you.”

I said, leaning on Giselle’s shoulder.

“You can expect as much as you want. You may not remember, but how much do you think I pushed your wheelchair?”

“haha.”

With laughter, consciousness and memories became blurred. After various conflicts, I was leaving the palace. It seemed that Ilay’s arrangements were of great help.

Everything becomes blurry. In the meantime, the last remaining piece of thought is… … .

‘… … Kinuan.’

Damn it, Kinuan.

It feels like a sharp needle is stuck in my head.

Where is Kinuan? Where is he standing in this chaos? Why won’t he show up?

My liver and gallbladder feel cold.

It seems like he’ll show up in front of us at any moment and ruin everything.

It seems like Kinuan, who appeared in front of me, will blow Giselle’s head off and aim a gun between my eyes. I think Ileido will be fooled by him and ruin all his plans.

Kinuan, Kinuan, Kinuan… … .

In this situation, I couldn’t see his schemes and tactics. That’s why I’m even more anxious.

What on earth are you preparing?

There have been many situations where decisive intervention was necessary.

Intervention when the balance of power is achieved. He will use that to take control of the situation and take the initiative.

Wheeing.

An aerial vehicle is visible.

In fact, it wasn’t visible at all. It was just a vague mass and outline of an object, and I could tell it was an air vehicle by the sound.

‘Kinuan here… … .’

What if it suddenly appears and shoots down the air vehicle? What if it kills Giselle and me? Now there’s no way to respond.

Woohoo.

The air vehicle takes off. I grab Giselle’s wrist nervously.

It felt like the air vehicle we were in was going to explode at any moment.

… … But nothing happened even after takeoff. I was on guard against a monster that didn’t exist.

I let out a hollow laugh as my consciousness faded away.

‘Kinuan did not intervene in this incident.’

He defied my predictions until the very end. I didn’t know that a blue chip would be this difficult.

* * *

Dark time passed. I was in a deep abyss. It was truly strange and uncomfortable. I was conscious, but everything was dark and cold.

Anyway, I woke up from the abyss and heard the outside story.

Ivan Kratsya is dead. The assassin was identified as Iley Kartika.

Ilay Kartika was captured and beheaded, and he was incinerated along with his ‘living brain’. The Kartika family fell into ruin because of the sins of the head of the family. Although the family was a prestigious family, it was spared from extinction, but the members of the family retired from all public offices and withdrew from private businesses, and the Kartika family was reduced to a humble family.

Ilay Kartikaro went down in history as the assassin of Emperor Ilay Kartikaro.

‘And Francesca… … .’

Francek Kratzia suddenly ordered the blockade of part of the industrial area and the massacre of civilians, an order that was difficult to enforce.

The nominal reason was that Ivan’s spy and assassination squad were hiding in the sealed off area, but people only assumed that Francisk had become paranoid due to his long confinement.

Many of Francis’s entourage opposed their lord’s irrational orders, but… … Francis instead executed those who opposed him, using military law. Francis’s coercion led to the massacre of civilians, and the number of innocent casualties reached tens of thousands.

Because of this, the Franciscan forces that had been rallied by popular support and popularity collapsed in an instant.

Francis would go down in history as a prince of ill-fated and infamous character.

Because the throne was vacant, Francis was executed in front of the royal family. Even though he was a traitor and a murderer of the people, the execution was conducted in secret because the royal family was still the royal family.

Ivan had no children and did not designate a successor. The next emperor is said to have been elected at a meeting attended by all members of the imperial family and collateral branches.

Surprisingly, despite the vacancy in the throne, the empire continued without much chaos.

“… … The emperor is also just one of the systems that make up the empire.”

‘Ilay’ finished explaining to me. He was wearing a body that looked exactly like his past body. However, the biological brain inside it was Francek’s. If you do a genetic test and biometric authentication, you will be identified as Francek’s.

“hmm…….”

I touched my ticklish head. The bandage was wrapped tightly. There was no hair coming out between them. Of course, it was shaved tightly, so there wasn’t any.

I couldn’t think of anything to say right away. To be honest, my head still wasn’t working as it used to. Just because something is new doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good. Doesn’t everything need to be used in moderation and oiled to work well?

I’ve had a gap of three months now, and I’ve been awake for less than six hours.

Looking at the surrounding pure white walls and facilities, it seemed like an imperial hospital or research center.

“Ilay, was this the best you could do?”

I said, I know what kind of treatment I got and woke up.

I used the remaining storage, thanks to Ilay giving up on returning to the main body.

“Luka, you were literally dying. It was worse than last time, and this time, we didn’t have the luxury of getting Lazarus’ treatment.”

Ilay’s expression was calm.

“So you gave up your biological brain?”

“That doesn’t matter. I started this knowing I would lose it anyway.”

“Just because you’re prepared to lose something doesn’t mean you should lose it. It’s your last living thing. If you could, you should have protected it.”

The less flesh and blood a person has, the faster they fall apart. Flesh and blood were the anchors that held humanity and self in the rough waves. In normal times, they were just a burden that weighed down the ship.

“Well, if it was going to be like this, why didn’t you just become the emperor in Francis’ body?”

“In order to draw Ivan’s attention away, we had to carry out the agreed-upon matters. And even if some innocent civilians die, it’s better than a civil war breaking out, Akbaran being turned into a wasteland… … and tens or even millions of people dying.”

I frowned. There was not a shred of guilt in the words, ‘Even if some innocent civilians die.’ Iley became a great politician who counted lives as numbers. It was sarcastic and true at the same time.

In running a country, there is no choice that satisfies everyone. Inevitably, someone will die or suffer damage. In the long term, minimizing that damage is what governs and politics are all about, and Ilay is a person in that kind of world.

“The other royals aren’t fools either. Some of them have information about the various relics and mental warfare devices that the Empire preserves. If I had kept imitating Frances, I would have been exposed sooner or later. That’s why I negotiated with them as well. I’ll take down the two troublesome royals, and you can elect a new emperor.”

“You said you would hand over power to the people? A republic?”

Ilay opened her eyes slightly and smiled. Some people might think that smile is mean. No, I think it is mean, too.

“The Republic is a boy’s dream. The reality is different. I’ve actually lived more than ten years longer than you. I’ve grown up faster. So you can call me big brother, little brother Luca.”

Ilay said calmly. Talking to the guy made me feel like I was going to get a headache even with my energetic brain.

“Are you going to continue to assist the Emperor? Acting like a regent and doing all sorts of dirty work? Wow, that’s amazing. Selling yourself and your family to get promoted is amazing.”

I habitually whine.

“This is better than a republic. The people are fickle and difficult to handle. An emotionally unstable and arrogant emperor is a problem, but an irrational and unreasonable people who believe they are right are also a serious problem. A puppet emperor is better. The next emperor will be someone easy for the royal family and nobles to handle. The empire of this era will be an oligarchy where policies are decided. In order to deal with what will happen in the future, rational and quick decision-making is necessary.”

I felt a strange sensation in the words of Ilay.

“… … Ilay, you saw something too. It doesn’t mean that what’s going to happen is only war, right?”

“Haha, how long has it been since you woke up and you’re already done with rehabilitation? It’s no wonder Kinuan has recovered to his prime.”

I treated the brain in the same way as Kinuan, although I doubt if this can be called a treatment.

I was left dying on life support after leaving the palace, and I had to take action within Akbaran.

The one who performed my surgery was Jin Gau. He recalled the experimental treatment from the conversation he had with me and the psychotherapy that Ilay had given him.

‘The skull is opened, only the brain is removed, and regenerative treatment is performed.’

The problem is that after receiving super regeneration, it is difficult to say that they are the same person even if they do not go crazy.

‘I used a teleporter to transfer my consciousness and ego to the storage and regenerate my brain.’

I heard it was a very delicate operation. They scanned the existing brain to identify the damaged area, predicted the state of the damage to be restored, controlled excessive regeneration, and removed some…

Anyway, to conclude, my biological brain was taken out, regenerated, and then my existing consciousness was transferred to the mind transfer device. After the treatment, the brain was returned to its original body. This is who I am now.

‘Even if brain regeneration is successful, the side effects of dissociation and depersonalization were overcome through psychotransference.’

Kinuan probably also cured his brain dysfunction in the same way, although I suspect it was a more crude and bizarre method than mine.

Illai closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and answered.

“… … I know what you said. Ivan told me when the time came. It was a harsh truth that made me want to give up the Republic right away. That’s why I really wanted to cooperate with Ivan. Even if we join forces now, it won’t be enough.”