Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 227

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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227
“Return to your house first. I have something to verify in Tellus.”
Gaff and Lilith waved their hands with a giggle, while Lulu pouted, clearly unhappy about my departure.
I crossed through the Gate created by Eres and Valefor, arriving at the World Tree House on Earth.
“Bae Na-young?”
The house was silent.
A sense of foreboding crept down my spine.
I hastily opened the door and looked outside.
I felt a large gathering of people near the World Tree.
I sensed the emotions of souls—something I couldn’t perceive before visiting the Demon Realm.
Despite the countless people assembled, their emotions were remarkably uniform.
A shared negative sentiment pervaded them: sorrow and rage.
I launched myself into the air immediately.
As I drew closer, I saw an enormous monument inscribed with countless names, and before it, people weeping uncontrollably.
I spotted Bae Na-young at the front and descended.
“Bae Na-young.”
“Brother….”
Bae Na-young was holding Ji-ho.
“What happened?”
“It’s….”
“You….”
Chae Ji-hae, the deputy director of the Rigen Research Institute and Park Jae-in’s wife, approached me. She was heavily pregnant with triplets, her due date drawing near.
“You should have protected him!!!”
Chae Ji-hae seized my collar and wailed.
“Chae Ji-hae….”
Bae Na-young tried to stop her, but I gestured for her not to interfere.
Without anyone explaining the details, I understood: an accident had occurred, many had perished, and Park Jae-in was among them.
All I could do was embrace the sobbing Chae Ji-hae.
“…Aaahhh!!!”
Chae Ji-hae clutched her belly and cried out.
I surveyed my surroundings, and Ye-seul came rushing over.
“Chairman! To the hospital, now!”
I lifted Chae Ji-hae into my arms and flew toward the World Tree Hospital.
The sorrow of all those gathered below pierced my heart.
* * *
“So a man called the Commander appeared on Mars and killed people, and Jae-in detonated himself as a Core?”
Director Baek Young-shin, who appeared to have aged ten years during my time in the Demon Realm, relayed what had transpired.
“Yes. We compiled the black box data retrieved from Mars and testimony from Alice. The moment the Commander appeared, Jae-in sent Alice to a temporary shelter in orbit, then fought alongside the remaining survivors. We believe he resorted to the final measure because they couldn’t subdue him.”
With no survivors, we knew nothing of the enemy’s abilities—only his appearance.
I gazed at Chae Ji-hae lying in the hospital bed and Park Jae-in’s three daughters in their incubators.
In the adjacent hospital room lay Jung Min-gi, his right arm and right leg severed, while Jang Mi slept slumped beside his bed.
“Among those at the Rigen outpost, the only survivor is… just Min-gi hyung?”
“Yes… The Commander’s domain was released just before the explosion, and King Ban Adamant apparently dragged the Hunter Jung Min-gi underground. Without Ban and the Adamant armor, he wouldn’t have survived.”
“I’ll have to thank Ban later. Is he alright?”
“He sustained severe injuries, but he should recover without issue.”
“Why hasn’t Min-gi hyung woken up yet??”
“It seems his spiritual body suffered critical damage. Even if his physical form recovers, whether he’ll return to his former state is…”
I had never expected to wage war against the Manager without casualties.
While this Mars incident hadn’t claimed as many lives at once as some previous events, many had died over time.
However, this was the first time since my regression that someone so close to me had perished.
In my past life, comrades died so frequently that eventually I felt nothing when anyone fell. But after regressing and living peacefully, the loss of someone precious unleashed a torrent of rage at the situation and regret over my choices.
The emotions threatened to overwhelm my consciousness, but my formidable mental skill and the fruits of this training quickly subdued them.
I wondered if losing even my emotions would push me further from humanity.
Recognizing my self-centered thoughts even in this moment, I felt nauseated.
All I could offer him now was vengeance.
I was grinding my teeth when I felt a Gate opening in the corridor. It was different from the Gates used on Earth or Tellus, and different from those opened by the Demon Race or Eres.
The Commander had apparently invaded Mars the same way, according to what I’d heard.
“The time for vengeance has come early.”

I wrapped armor around my body and drew a blade from the back of my hand. Regardless of what abilities that bastard Commander possessed, I would not lose on Earth.
A figure burst from the Gate and thrust the blade from their hand toward my face.
I stopped the strike just before it made contact.
“…Jae-in?”
Her face bore the marks of hardship, and her expression seemed troubled, but it was unmistakably Jae-in.
Her spirit was slightly clouded, but it was definitely the same soul.
“You’re alive.”
I pulled Jae-in into an embrace.
“What… what is this?! Let go!”
Jae-in pushed me away.
Stepping back, I saw that from just below her pelvis, her legs were mechanical prosthetics.
“Did this happen on Mars?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. The me in this world must be dead, right? That’s why I could come here. So what’s the situation? Is this world also on the verge of falling to the Legion Commanders?”
“What?”
“Honey? Is it really you?”
Chae Ji-hae rose from the bed and approached Jae-in, reaching his hand toward her cheek.
“Who are you?”
Jae-in coldly knocked his hand away.
Crack!
Ji-hae swung his rebounded hand in a full arc, striking Jae-in’s cheek.
“What the hell are you to my wife?! You!”
And I grabbed Jae-in by the collar.
“I told you not to do anything dangerous! Self-destruct?! Self-destruct?! You want me to raise triplets alone?!”
“Cough… Let go of this!”
Jae-in tried to shove Ji-hae away forcefully, but her hand froze mid-motion, refusing to move.
“This… Why…cough, cough…”
Jae-in’s expression twisted in confusion at why her own hand wouldn’t obey, her throat constricting in pain.
* * *
“Your name.”
I sat in the Interrogation Room and asked the man who looked identical to Jae-in for his name.
“…”
“Your attitude needs work. Should I call the Blue Dragons back?”
On the way to the Interrogation Room just moments ago, I’d encountered three Blue Dragons, and they’d eagerly licked this man’s face in greeting.
But the man had frozen in sheer terror, completely paralyzed.
“Park Jae-in….”
“Where are you from?”
“Earth. Can we stop with the questions now?”
Jae-in glanced around the room.
“So you’re Park Jae-in from another dimension.”
“Yeah. I escaped from Earth just before it was annihilated.”
“Alone?”
“Who else would I come with? And for the record, I’ve never met a woman like that in my entire life.”
The Jae-in from the other dimension—Jae-in B—pointed toward Ji-hae outside the Interrogation Room.
“You’re certain? You could have passed her by without noticing.”
“How could I forget a woman with such a commanding presence after seeing her once?”
His words were dismissive, but the way his eyes kept stealing glances at Ji-hae wasn’t entirely cold. Combined with how he hadn’t struck her earlier, it seemed they might be soul mates.
“But who are you? If things are this similar, our worlds must have diverged recently. Yet someone like you doesn’t exist in our world.”
“Well… In your world, I might have died without ever gaining power.”
Before my regression, I was nothing more than an obscure B-rank Hunter. It was entirely possible that Jae-in B’s world wasn’t much different.
“Hmph, that’s unlikely. Talented people are always strong.”
Jae-in B underwent thorough interrogation in the Interrogation Room. They even conducted a psychological analysis to verify he wasn’t the Manager.
In the meantime, I found Jae-in’s Research Laboratory.

“Alice….”
Alice had come to the Research Facility, tormented by guilt over Jae-in’s death.
Alice had grown up witnessing her parents’ deaths, but in the rural villages of Tellus, the bonds between parent and child were often far colder than on Earth.
Moreover, when she was young, lacking the ability to do anything herself, her guilt had been minimal.
But now, having received abundant love from so many people, her emotions had grown richer, and she believed she had become an adult. Yet in this Mars development crisis, the shock of being unable to do anything and being rescued twice struck Alice profoundly.
Her eyes had turned red from crying so much.
“Alice, go rest now.”
“Your Majesty, doesn’t it feel too cold here to you?”
“It’s a place full of machinery, so it might feel cold.”
I looked around the Research Facility where Jae-in and Alice had practically lived.
“Before, it didn’t feel this cold here.”
“…”
“Park Jae-in… he was someone who warmed this cold research facility filled with machines with a passion that was incomparable to anyone else’s.”
Having nothing to say to Alice, I stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder when a woman’s mechanical voice emanated from the speaker.
[I have verified the identity of Chairman Lee Ji-seok. Conditions have been met. Artificial Intelligence Zena is now activated. Chairman Lee Ji-seok, would you like to play the stored message?]
“What message?”
[It is a final testament left by Research Director Park Jae-in, who foresaw the current situation. Would you like to play it?]
“…Play it.”
A hologram displayed Jae-in’s face with a solemn expression.
[Ahem. If this video is playing, it means I am dead, but the enemy remains. I leave behind my research findings in preparation for this day.]
Tears streamed down Alice’s face at the sight of Jae-in prepared for his own death.
[All research progress and related materials are stored in the Research Facility’s mainframe. I’ve set it to open with the Chairman’s biometric data, so please designate a successor and transfer authority. As for Alice…. don’t assign her to combat.]
The holographic Jae-in scratched his head.
Alice lifted her tear-streaked face sharply at Jae-in’s words.
“Neither Jae-in nor I have any intention of sending a child to the front lines. Combat is an adult’s responsibility.”
I added my own words.
[Chairman, thanks to your generous support, I was able to conduct research to my heart’s content. I was destined to awkwardly awaken and die at a Gate, but I’m grateful.]
Jae-in bowed his head slightly.
[I’m entrusting Ji-hae and the children to you.]
Jae-in’s voice trembled slightly, but overall his tone remained calm.
[Not knowing when I’ll die, it feels strange to leave a video message. Still, I had this feeling somehow. That I needed to prepare. Then, I’m counting on you.]
The hologram disappeared.
Only the sound of Alice’s sobs echoed through the Research Facility.
“I will transfer the research materials to you.”
“Your Majesty?”
“However, you are forbidden from engaging in combat. The moment you do, I will confiscate all materials. Alice, will you swear by Jae-in’s name?”
“…I swear.”
“I apologize for entrusting such a heavy burden to one so young. But the blood price must be paid, mustn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Zena.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Grant authority to both Alice and myself. Pull up all the data Jae-in has researched so far.”
“Understood. Granting authority to Alice. Displaying files.”
Hundreds of holographic folders materialized throughout the room, each labeled with a project name—the vast majority bearing crimson top-secret classifications.
I could see just how many projects Jae-in had been involved with over all this time.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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