Bab 23: No Further Source Available
"Grunt No. 703 is an enigma," said the head scientist, the infamous mad scientist Victoria "Mad Star," as she sat cross-legged on the armed swivel chair. Behind her was the live feed on the large observation display monitor, showing none other than Grunt No. 703, the unusual grunt demonstrating unbelievable athleticism and prowess.
Currently, in the live feed, he was running fast toward the Orientation obstacle course, with his current top speed at 80 km/h, or almost 50 mph—a running speed almost comparable to the average speed of a modern car. While this feat alone was jaw-dropping, the actual problem they had just discovered about this unusual grunt... was the fact that he had no record of his previous life.
Subject No. 703
Identity: NO DATA
There was an information window on the observation monitor, showing what should have been the identity data of Subject or Grunt No. 703, but the only thing displayed in the information window was a simple 'NO DATA.'
"Impossible...!" the junior scientist exclaimed in disbelief. He stepped forward and got a little closer to the observation monitor screen, trying to gauge the credibility of the information window. "Nothing...? At all...?" he muttered again in disbelief. Many of the scientists came closer as well, trying to see for themselves, but they could only stare in disbelief at the nonexistent identity data of Grunt No. 703.
The senior scientist, who had been supervising the observation room, was silent, staring at the observation monitor with a concerned face. He was not shocked by the revelation of Grunt No. 703's mysterious identity, seemingly having known about it considering his higher rank in the scientist squadron. But nevertheless, he stepped forward toward the head scientist Victoria.
"Miss Victoria, ma'am," the senior scientist addressed her, "Is there really no information regarding Subject No. 703's background? Surely we had data just before he underwent his Grunt Enhancement procedure?" he inquired. Even if he knew beforehand that there was no data, he hoped there should be something they could use to pinpoint his origin.
Victoria closed her eyes with an amused look upon being asked by the senior scientist. "Nope. None," she answered simply as she rotated her swivel chair back toward her observation equipment that had been focusing on Grunt No. 703's performance. She opened her eyes and resumed watching the live feed of the enigmatic grunt. "There was none at all," she continued. "I have already put out an ongoing search team to find his identity, but so far, they have found nothing."
At the same time, in the live feed, Grunt No. 703 had finally reached the "entrance" of the obstacle course, which was the steep hill platform that the newly recruited grunts would have to either hike or scale closely and carefully in order to proceed with the obstacle course. But... it seemed that No. 703 had forsaken any careful measures as he instead just began to run up the steep hill with his high-speed momentum.
As they all had expected, his movement became slower on the steep hill that had little to no friction. They thought that he would soon fall back into the "entrance" of the obstacle course, but... he instead went above and did something quite outrageous.
Grunt No. 703, who was halfway up the steep hill, then stepped on the steep hill platform. Hard. His steps became stomps, with each stomp denting the spot where he stepped. The dents he created provided more than enough foothold zone for him to easily hike the steep hill, and he continued onward, stomping his way and creating more and more dents along the way.
Not just the grunts there were shocked by the sight of Grunt No. 703 stomping his way and creating a path full of dents; even the scientists in the observation room were shocked as well by the sheer strength of his legs.
"Did he just put a dent in the steel platform?!"
"Not to mention he made multiple of them!"
"Unbelievable... he would need leg strength exceeding 1 million newtons even to make a slight dent in steel material..."
"But he made many significant dents in those steel platforms quite easily..."
The scientists began to clamor amongst themselves over Grunt No. 703's feat of strength.
"Hahaha~, quite the unexpected move from our dear grunt~," Head scientist Victoria was enjoying herself, clapping and laughing like a zoo tourist at an animal performance show. The senior scientist looked at her with mixed feelings. He was also surprised at seeing Grunt No. 703 in action. Even though he knew beforehand that this grunt had significant results from his Grunt enchantment procedure, the feat he had shown just now was even more unexpected.
To him, the feat of strength that Grunt No. 703 had shown felt like something only the strongest heroes and villains could do... it felt almost similar to... "Ultra Guy..." the senior scientist muttered, his eyes widening at the possibility that Grunt No. 703's strength could almost rival the number one hero in the world, Ultra Guy.
"Ma'am..." The senior scientist addressed Victoria with a concerned look on his face, "Is there really nothing about him that indicates his origin?" He inquired the same question as before, "Shouldn't there be a recording of each grunt's enhancement procedure? Not to mention, there should have been those supervising their procedure as well. Did they not see anything? At all?" The senior scientist urged, trying to pry for more information from head scientist Victoria. Unfortunately, his inquiry was interrupted by the sound coming from the observation equipment.
"See you guys at the finish line!" Grunt No. 703 bid farewell to other grunts as he was shown in the live stream feed before running off toward the next obstacle.
Victoria didn't answer to the senior scientist's inquiry as she was still watching the live feed of the grunt in question with amusement and laughter. But after a while, she finally (or temporarily) stopped paying attention to the show and looked back from her swivel chair, specifically at the senior scientist.
"Any recording before his main body enhancement procedure does not exist," Victoria finally answered the senior scientist's question. "As you might already know, the Grunt Enhancement procedure begins with each subject being dipped and submerged into the nanobot molding procedure to let Lord Max Brain's nanobots integrate into their body," she reminded the senior scientist.
"Yes, I know quite well about that, ma'am..." the senior scientist confirmed, acknowledging her reminder.
"The problem is that there is no footage or even witnesses to his body being dipped into the nanobot molding, nor anything beyond that," she revealed, which made him even more concerned about the unusual grunt's enigmatic origin. Victoria then casually fiddled with her observation equipment, and another window appeared alongside Grunt No. 703's live feed.
What was revealed in the new window was the video recording of the Grunt Enhancement procedure lines. In particular, it was the conveyor line of unconscious grunts that had been dipped into the nanobots molding and fully covered by the nanobots. Their nanobot suits had not yet molded completely to the shape of their bodies, and they didn't even have the distinctive markings that they all had now, especially with their number labeling.
"These are grunt subjects from batch numbers 690 to 720. As you can see," she explained the video's content. She then zoomed in on a particular grunt's body, "This is Subject No. 703," who was an average-built man fully covered with the nanobots molding but had not yet proceeded to the body enhancement procedure that would make him the super grunt he was now, showcasing in the live feed beside the video recording. It was quite a sight for everyone in the observation room to see the almost thin-looking man transformed into this hulking brute.
The other scientists began to clamor amongst themselves even more upon seeing the video recording of Subject No. 703's initial body before being transformed and enhanced into the current Grunt No. 703. On the other hand, the senior scientist was silent as he stared at the two almost completely different individuals on the large observation monitor.
"He was already in line with the other subjects as if his body just magically appeared and inserted itself into the procedure lines~. Hahaha~." Victoria jokingly mentioned and laughed at it, seemingly amused by the thought that some magical nonsense might have added Subject No. 703's body to their procedure line. The senior scientist couldn't exactly join in her laughter, as he was fully aware of the existence of magic and mysticism in their world, considering how many individuals, such as heroes and villains, were able to use magic.
Seeing that the senior scientist had no further questions, head scientist Victoria went back to watching Grunt No. 703's performance. With a simple motion, she closed the video recording window and the 'NO DATA' identity window, so she could fully immerse herself in his performance.
Right now, Grunt No. 703 was proceeding through multiple platforms and obstacles with relative ease. It even seemed that he was purposely letting his guard down near many obstacles, only to dodge them at a hair's breadth with superhuman agility. You might even say he was undermining the whole obstacle course's importance with these near-dodging stunts of his.
While everyone was awestruck by Grunt No. 703's performance, head scientist Victoria had something else in mind. "How impudent of him~, even though I gave quite a passionate speech about the importance of this Orientation obstacle course." She was annoyed at seeing his lack of respect toward the obstacle course, although her tone was still one of amusement.
But then... her expression turned malicious as if she had thought of something equally malicious.
"If that's the case... then it looks like we need to "amp" up the difficulty~."
HIATUS
HIATUS. Not much to say here other than it's not working out.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone