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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Zaped
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“Are you… frustrated or something?”
Startled by my reaction, Cassandra finally withdrew her hand.
“It was just an illustration. About hunger. You’re hungrier than usual, aren’t you? The more you eat, the more you want to eat. Am I wrong? Has it never bothered you?”
The Disease Crisis Management Agency emblem on her ample bosom crinkled as she leaned forward.
“Uh, yeah. You’re right. I’m always hungry, especially after eating. Why is that?”
“First, get out of the human unprotected zone. The symptoms lessen outside the zone. You’ll still feel hungry if you don’t eat, though.”
“Anything else?”
“Second, you need to distinguish between real hunger and fake hunger. Your stomach might be growling, but it could be lying. Eat regularly, at set times, and make sure you’re getting all the necessary nutrients. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…It’s just… surprisingly normal advice. I thought you were going to say something like ‘eat more if you’re hungry.'”
It was surprising, indeed.
Real hunger versus fake hunger.
It sounded like something my personal trainer would say, back when I was trying to bulk up and had to watch my diet.
“Cassandra doesn’t lie. And the last one is the most important. It’s related to you.”
I swerved the van, avoiding a pile of debris.
The end of Lambert Village was in sight.
It was time to escape this long, winding intestine of a town.
If I could just clear that last bend, we would be back in the wasteland… She might be a bit crazy, but she seemed to know her stuff, doctor or not.
“Really? What is it?”
“The third thing is…”
Vroom!
A police car screeched out of a side street, tires smoking, and executed a perfect drift, coming to a stop in the middle of the road.
A burly, blood-soaked man stumbled out, a bottle of liquor in one hand, a .357 revolver in the other.
The revolver’s barrel glinted menacingly.
“Get down!”
I slammed the seat back, my body flattening against the floor as the driver’s seat reclined.
Crash!
A bullet pierced the windshield, creating a spiderweb of cracks.
“Eeeeek!”
Cassandra screamed, her body falling on top of mine.
“Hold on tight!”
I wrapped my left arm around her, ignoring the sticky sensation that sent a shiver of apprehension down my spine.
There was no time to investigate.
Crash! Crash!
Two more bullets slammed into the windshield.
I stomped on the accelerator, my body still pressed against the floor.
The van roared forward.
Bang!
We missed the police car by a hair’s breadth.
But we didn’t miss the idiot standing in the middle of the road, his gun raised.
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The Lambert Police Chief.
Gang leader.
A man whose love for multiple women had led to his tragic downfall.
A man who had found a home in an unlikely place.
That’s how he saw himself.
He had known this day would come.
Deep down, he had always known he would have to pay for his sins.
But he hadn’t imagined it would be like this.
It was… exhilarating.
“This is my beloved Lambert. And I will defend her.”
He spotted the black van approaching, a monstrous whale of a fire truck trailing behind it, spewing tear gas and water.
“Come, oh mighty whale! You may destroy everything, but you will not conquer! Let us clash! Let us fight!”
The vengeful man charged forward, firing his revolver, his heart filled with a strange sense of peace.
The black van, as if guided by fate, swerved towards him.
Thump.
He wanted to see the face of death, the face of his executioner.
But there was no face.
Just a man in the driver’s seat, his arms wrapped around a woman, their bodies intertwined in a suggestive embrace.
“…Ah… what a shame. I should have tried that… those youngsters these days… cough.”
His broken neck twisted at an unnatural angle as he mumbled his final words.
“Woe to you…”
He coughed, blood trickling down his chin.
“Woe to you… who dwell upon the earth… woe…”
He imagined he could hear the Valkyries singing, their voices carrying him towards the heavens.
His vision blurred, and he saw twelve angels descending from the sky.
Then, he died.
He couldn’t close his eyes, but a smile touched his lips.
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“Ow… ow… it hurts… Cassandra hurts…”
Cassandra whimpered.
I pulled over, stopping the van.
I gently rolled Cassandra’s body over, my heart sinking as I saw the extent of her injuries.
“Agh!”
The bullet had grazed her back, but the wound was large and bleeding profusely.
This was bad.
Even a skilled doctor couldn’t treat their own back.
Gunfire erupted from the fire truck behind us.
The bullet pierced the forehead of the burly man who had been standing in the middle of the road.
“Cash transport vehicle! Cash transport vehicle! Are you alright? Are you injured? If you can hear me, honk your horn!”
I reached for the steering wheel, but Cassandra grabbed my arm.
“No… just go…”
“Your wound is serious. I can’t treat it.”
“Don’t leave me. Please. I’m begging you. It’s okay. Please don’t leave me. I-it’s just a scratch. It’ll heal quickly. Please listen to Cassandra!”
Reasoning with her was futile.
“I’m sorry.”
I adjusted the seat, my left hand supporting Cassandra’s chest, since I couldn’t reach her back.
“Ugh!”
I honked the horn with my right hand, a long, continuous blast.
A voice from the fire truck announced that they had a medic on board and were ready to assist the vehicle in front.
I checked the side mirror.
A group of people, wearing the same Disease Crisis Management Agency jumpers as Cassandra, were rushing towards us.
They were all handcuffed.
And I recognized them.
The pre-auction slaves from the apple warehouse.
“Cassandra, I can’t take you with me.”
They were doctors.
Angry doctors.
I didn’t want to imagine what they would do to me if they caught me.
Cassandra closed her eyes, but the tears continued to flow.
“…Avoid Kibele food.”
“What?”
“If you have to eat it, mix it with something else. Fry it, bake it, boil it. Don’t eat it raw, and don’t heat it up in the can. Add water and boil it.”
The doctors were almost upon us.
I grabbed the door handle, ready to make my escape.
“Why?”
“Because Kibele…”
I flung the door open.
“Oof!”
One of the doctors, struck by the door, stumbled backwards.
“Wh-what the…?”
I shoved Cassandra towards the group of stunned doctors.
They collapsed in a heap, their bodies tangled together.
“Cassandra, stay healthy!”
I slammed my foot on the accelerator, the door still open. I pressed too hard.
The engine stalled.
“Oh.”
It was as awkward as running into a friend you had just said goodbye to at a bus stop.
“No! Please! Wait!”
Cassandra punched the doctors who were trying to restrain her, her fists connecting with their already bruised and swollen faces.
She was a vicious little thing.
But her back was bleeding even more now.
Even if it wasn’t life-threatening, I couldn’t take her with me.
Her fellow doctors would take care of her.
The engine roared back to life.
I shifted into gear and sped away, the van rattling and shaking.
I rounded a corner, and the village exit came into view.
And beyond the exit, I saw a massive dust cloud, a sandstorm engulfing Lambert Village.
The gang members who had retreated were returning.
As expected, They were planning to trap us at the exit.
I slammed on the brakes and reloaded the M4 and the rifle.
I used the butt of the rifle to smash the remaining shards of the windshield, the broken glass a hazard.
It was better to have no windshield than a shattered one.
I set up my weapons and waited.
“Come and get me.”
I flicked the headlights on and off, a taunting gesture.
Even Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad would be pissed if they were blinded by high beams.
It was the perfect provocation.
I heard music.
A familiar tune. Ride of the Valkyries.
But something was wrong. Why could I hear music? I checked the radio, but it was off.
The sound.
There was something else mixed in with the music.
A familiar sound.
Helicopter rotors.
The fire truck was taller than the cash transport van, and the Liberation Front operatives were equipped with binoculars and scopes. They had a better view of the situation than Johan.
“Camilla… is that…?”
The vehicles and motorcycles ahead were in bad shape.
They had taken a beating in Lambert Village. But there was something else.
Their expressions, their demeanor.
They weren’t the same cocky, laughing thugs who had been killing each other moments ago.
They were terrified, their eyes constantly darting towards something behind them.
One biker even crashed, his body tumbling across the pavement as he looked over his shoulder.
The vehicles behind him simply drove over his broken body, their occupants seemingly oblivious.
Something is chasing them.
Camilla shivered, remembering the writhing horizon she had seen from the factory rooftop.
It was lower than the dust clouds created by vehicles, but denser, more substantial.
Like a horde of people shuffling across the wasteland.
The ominous music grew louder.
Tiny specks, like gnats, emerged from the dust cloud behind the fleeing gang members.
The specks elongated, transforming into stick figures, their limbs twisting and contorting.
Zombies.
No.
A wave of zombies.
A vast, undulating sea of undead, stretching across the horizon, their eyes fixed on the fleeing vehicles, their mouths drooling with hunger.
The vibrations were their footsteps.
Hundreds?
Thousands?
It was impossible to tell.
All they knew was that there were enough of them to shake the earth.
“C-Camilla… Camilla… this…”
“What is this? A zombie horde?”
“Where did they all come from…?”
The answer came from the sky.
Splatter.
Crimson liquid splattered against the windshield, obscuring their vision.
“…Blood?”
The wipers struggled to clear the thick, viscous fluid, their movement hampered by the bulletproof glass.
Camilla wished she could use the fire truck’s water cannons.
Through the streaks of blood, she saw something floating in the air.
A rectangular metal cage, containing human figures.
Naked, bleeding humans, and zombies with broken necks and rotting flesh.
The humans were covered in blood, their bodies convulsing, their limbs flailing as they tried to escape.
The zombies, their movements frantic, seemed to be trying to reach the humans, their clawing hands scraping against the metal bars.
The cage swung back and forth like a pendulum, its movements growing more erratic with each swing.
Blood splattered everywhere, the tantalizing scent driving the zombies into a frenzy.
She focused on one of the human faces.
“Hoot?!”
Camilla gasped, dropping her binoculars. It was Hoot, struggling to survive inside the cage.
“Hoot? You’re saying that’s Hoot…? Oh my god… it is him… it’s Hoot…”
A thick cable was attached to the top of the cage. Camilla looked up.
It was difficult to see through the blood splattered on the windshield, but the object dangling from the cable was unmistakable.
A helicopter.
An Elza Army Air Force helicopter.
A “Huey,” armed with miniguns, rocket pods, and a full complement of soldiers.
Twelve helicopters roared past them, their rotors churning the air, the ominous melody of Ride of the Valkyries blending with the deafening roar, creating a chilling symphony of destruction.
The helicopters formed a crescent formation, the center bulging forward, the ends trailing behind.
They opened fire with their miniguns.
Gang vehicles exploded like swatted mosquitoes.
The bikers who died in fiery explosions were the lucky ones.
Some gang members were thrown from their vehicles as they overturned, their bodies landing amidst the horde of ravenous zombies.
The dust clouds that obscured the carnage were a mercy.
The biker gangs, trapped between the helicopters and the zombie horde, tried to scatter, their motorcycles swerving erratically.
It was a good plan, until the helicopters shifted their position, gliding effortlessly across the sky.
The minigun fire ceased, but the helicopters were also armed with riflemen and grenade launchers.
A grenade exploded, flipping a car onto its roof. A biker, shot in the back, tumbled from his motorcycle.
The helicopters, maintaining their crescent formation, hovered above the zombie horde.
They could see the zombies leaping, their mouths agape, as if trying to catch the falling blood like holy water.
The helicopters reversed their formation, their tails now facing forward, their noses pointing towards the village.
“They’re setting up a perimeter.”
The zombie horde followed, their movements relentless.
“Those bastards… they’re using the zombies to trap us in Lambert!”
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Inside an Elza Army Air Force helicopter…
Intelligence Officer Leticia, her face flushed with excitement, looked at her superior.
They had managed to eliminate the nearby zombies and incinerate the gangs in a single, decisive maneuver.
But Virginia Helford, her expression impassive, simply raised her radio to her lips.
“White Knight to Hound. Report.”
“Hound to White Knight. Target acquired. Condition stable.”
They had even recovered the briefcase bomb.
It was thanks to the Helford family’s influence, and Virginia’s decision to utilize surveillance satellites, that Leticia’s intelligence team had been able to pinpoint the briefcase’s location.
“Good.”
That was Virginia’s only comment.
She didn’t seem particularly pleased or surprised.
“Squadron Leader, are we ready for the next maneuver?”
“We’re ready, but we’re low on fuel. We can’t push it too hard. It’s already difficult to maintain stability with… that thing dangling beneath us. When are you planning to drop it?”
“Now.”
“Excuse me?”
“Drop it now.”
The Squadron Leader didn’t question her orders.
The cables snapped, releasing the cages containing the humans and zombies over Lambert Village.
They could hear the roar of the zombie horde, a primal scream of hunger that pierced through the music and the deafening roar of the helicopter rotors.
Virginia, her expression still impassive, picked up the radio connected to the loudspeaker.
“Should we lower the music volume?”
“No. Sound is a weapon. Just amplify my voice. Testing, testing. Can you hear me?”
The Gendarmerie soldiers, their hands covering their ears, nodded eagerly.
“Attention, ground personnel. Attention, ground personnel. This is Virginia Helford, Commander of the Elza 8th National Gendarmerie Special Task Force. We are initiating a security checkpoint in accordance with the Human Unprotected Zone Special Management Guidelines.”
Virginia looked down at the village below.
Leticia thought she saw a flicker of disdain in her eyes, the same disdain one might feel towards an insect they had just crushed under their boot.
“All personnel are to disembark their vehicles and surrender their weapons. Repeat, all personnel are to disembark their vehicles and surrender their weapons. You will be identified and transported to Hampton City. Failure to comply will result in immediate termination. There will be no warnings. I repeat, there will be no warnings.”
Virginia glanced at her wristwatch and added, “You have thirty seconds.”
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Thanks for the chapter
Yay it’s back