“Ah… ugh… ah… Aaah…”
Tears fell onto his hands, and he wanted to shout out loud, but his mind reminded him not to disturb others that are still around him.
He dug his nails into his flesh, and only this pain could temporarily keep him sane and prevent him from shouting aloud.
Despite being mentally prepared, despite having made preparations, despite numbing his brain with labor.
But at the moment he saw them, he knelt down and let out an inhuman sound full of pain and anguish.
In front of him was the burnt figure of his wife and daughter clung to each other in their final moment.
They would never be separated again.
…
“Are… are you alright?”
Arita Michihide looked at his superior and good friend, feeling somewhat worried, and asked.
“Me…? I’m fine.”
Akiyama Ryo adjusted his appearance and prepared himself for the upcoming meeting with the Asian Zone Rescue Team’s captain.
“Are you really okay?”
Arita doubted. That scene just now wasn’t something an ordinary person could recover from in a short time.
Even when the rescue team found the remains of the mother and daughter pair, embracing each other’s lifeless bodies, they were deeply shocked. Not to mention Akiyama, who was directly involved.
As a husband and a father, could he really recover from the impact of seeing the burnt body of their wife and daughter in just half an hour? Arita didn’t believe Akiyama could recover so quickly.
It wasn’t that Arita looked down on his friend. On the contrary, because he held him in high regard and knew a lot about him, he understood that Akiyama would never be able to recover from this.
“I said I’m fine, and I mean it. I’m not the only one here who has lost family members. As the head of the Emergency Response Department, I can’t afford to be affected. Arita, I can’t afford to be affected.”
After wrapping his hand with a bandage, Akiyama uttered these words.
This statement left Arita speechless. He understood Akiyama’s mindset, but in his view, if a person couldn’t vent their emotions in a situation like this, then they were no longer human.
Being the head of the Emergency Response Department meant being responsible.
“You go about your business.”
Arita told him not to worry about him. After tidying up his disheveled appearance, Akiyama put on his radiation suit and walked out of the tent. With the guidance of the personnel at the entrance, he made his way to the headquarters of the rescue team.
A large tent stood before him.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Akiyama Ryo, the head of the Hokkaido Emergency Response Department.”
“Hello, I’m Dong Gongyong, the captain of the Asian Rescue Team. I offer my condolences regarding your wife and daughter.”
Inside the headquarters of the rescue team, a middle-aged man in robust shape and military protective gear was talking to someone else.
When the soldier escorting Akiyama informed the man of his arrival, he stopped the conversation, stood up, and voluntarily left the tent.
“Please come in.”
After exchanging greetings with Akiyama outside, Dong Gongyong led him inside. As soon as they entered, Akiyama saw someone unexpected.
“General Luo?”
“Yeah, Mr. Akiyama, please don’t mind me. Don’t mind me.”
Inside the tent, apart from the bustling medical personnel, there were several exceptionally special individuals. Among them were General Luo, whom Akiyama had met briefly a few hours ago, stationed in the Far East.
At this moment, he was discussing something with a few individuals wearing medical protective suits.
Upon seeing Akiyama enter, he told him not to mind his presence.
“What’s going on?”
Akiyama was quite puzzled by the situation, as according to the orders, General Luo should have been busy organizing the port. So why was he here now?
General Luo himself didn’t explain this, but Captain Dong, being sensible, explained the current situation to Akiyama.
“The port has already been organized. General Luo came here to pay his respects to our scholars. Akiyama, you see, these individuals here are the renowned Titan Team from our Asian region. They specialize in studying the Titan behemoths. This time, they wanted to see for themselves, so they all came over here.”
“I see…”
After Captain Dong’s explanation, Akiyama nodded, finally understanding. When he heard that the individuals in protective suits were a research team specializing in studying the Titan behemoths, Akiyama’s heart was stirred with emotions.
“Time is of the essence, Mr. Akiyama. We should discuss the issue of rescue supplies for the rescue team…”
“Okay.”
After resolving a brief misunderstanding, Akiyama Ryo began to discuss rescue matters with the various team leaders of the rescue team.
This included the distribution of supplies, accommodation for rescue personnel, work schedules, and most importantly, the discussion of repairs to the breach in the Gryphon Dam after it was cut open.
Although the captains of the European and American rescue teams were not present in person, they participated in the meeting via video. This detailed rescue meeting lasted for over two hours before finally reaching a conclusion.
“Well, I should leave now to oversee the distribution of supplies. Goodbye.”
With the meeting concluded, Akiyama prepared to leave. However, as he was about to exit the tent, he hesitated.
He seemed to be struggling with something, but eventually made up his mind. He turned around and said to the group of researchers who were repeatedly playing footage of Godzilla’s landing:
“Could you please answer a few questions for me? Please, I want to know more about that creature!”
Saying that, he bowed deeply to the others.
The researchers who were watching the video were startled. After hearing the request, they looked somewhat hesitant and glanced at General Luo, who was still present.
General Luo looked at Akiyama, recalling the incident with his wife and daughter, and nodded, allowing them to answer Akiyama’s questions.
If it were a regular search plan, he would never allow it, as there was a risk of leaks that could jeopardize the operation. But this time, they were dealing with Titan behemoths. Even if there was a leak, what difference would it make? Could it target human plans? Could it know in advance where people would search and take shelter?
That was impossible.
So he agreed, and with General Luo’s permission, the researchers stood up and said to Akiyama after a brief pause:
“Please, go ahead. What would you like to ask?”
As they spoke, they all seemed a bit nervous. After all, this was a high-ranking official, a minister of a metropolitan area… The entire Far East region only had three metropolitan areas, and a minister of a metropolitan area was equivalent to a senior government official.
Receiving their affirmative response, Akiyama stood up and stared at the faces of the researchers, saying:
“I want to ask… What are these Titan behemoths exactly?”
“Ah?”
Upon hearing this question, the researchers present were somewhat surprised. They had thought that Akiyama would ask about the methods discussed with General Luo on how to find the Titan behemoths…
But they didn’t expect…
Is that all?
By the way, an academic paper on Titan ecology could answer your question easily. Why did you have to make such a big deal out of bowing? It made us think you were going to ask something confidential.
Knowing that the question is not classified, everyone’s mood improved significantly, and their answers became less restrained.
“What exactly are Titan behemoths… Mr. Akiyama, as someone from the Far East region, you must have watched a lot of monster movies, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s right, it’s the same thing. Titan behemoths are the monsters from those monster movies, or rather, those monsters were inspired by Titan behemoths.”
“In the field of biology, we categorize the development of life into two types: R-selection, which emphasizes reproductive capacity, and K-selection, which emphasizes individual growth potential.”
“In R-selection, the evolutionary direction focuses on reproductive power. If we consider the algae that still exists today as the pinnacle of R-selection, then Titan behemoths represent the pinnacle of K-selection, living beings with a nuclear fission reactor inside their bodies.”
“In the past, humanity believed that such life forms did not exist until the eve of the nuclear war, when we discovered the existence of these marvelous creatures. It even sparked a craze for giant monster works, but unfortunately, we soon exterminated them…”
“Before their arrival, we could only see the extinct Titan behemoths in films.”
“If it weren’t for witnessing it with our own eyes today, who would have imagined that the long-extinct Titan behemoths still exist, and the one we discovered is the largest individual.”
“In the past, Titan behemoths taller than 100 meters were extremely rare. The individual named Godzilla, for example, is at least 200 meters tall, truly deserving of the title ‘King of the Titans’… It would have been better if this hadn’t happened… What a pity…”
As she spoke, she became somewhat regretful. How good would it have been if this King of the Titans hadn’t killed humans? In that case, humans wouldn’t have to kill it. But there are no ‘ifs’.
However, Akiyama was more concerned about the description of the Titan behemoth’s size in her words.
“The largest Titan in history at 200 meters?”
He felt worried because in the monster movies he had watched, monsters over 100 meters were already beyond human power. But this one is a whopping 200 meters tall!
Can they really defeat it?
He expressed his concerns to the monsterology Ph.D., and she simply laughed and said to Akiyama:
“Don’t worry, Mr. Akiyama. You underestimate our weapons. The monsters in those movies are unrealistic and non-physical. Such materials simply don’t exist in reality.”
“Even if its size were 300 or 400 meters, it would be no match for our weapons. Rest assured, our military will definitely bring it down.”
“Is that so…”
Having received this assurance, Akiyama’s heart settled slightly. He remembered the burnt corpse of beloved wife and daughter in his mind.
He clenched his fist.