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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Zaped
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The whistle blew sharply.
A soldier from the 14th Military Police Corps, holding a megaphone, shouted that the area was being sealed off.
Other soldiers pushed pre-installed security slide doors to block the stairs.
Now, people on each floor could neither go up nor down.
The café was relatively safe, being located on the 8th floor of a 15-story building.
For zombies to break in, they would first have to breach the 7th floor.
Soldiers barked instructions through the megaphone.
“Evacuate to the central safe zone! Assemble inside the area marked by yellow lines on the floor and ceiling!”
The people moved quickly—not because they had received good training, but as a reflex born from surviving daily crises.
However, Leticia and Johann didn’t follow the instructions.
“This way!”
“Huh? Where are we—kyaaa!”
Johann spun her around, pulling her into an embrace, just as someone tripped and crashed into the spot she’d been standing.
But Leticia wasn’t exactly steady on her feet either.
Flailing to keep from falling, she grabbed at the man’s shirt—and tore it.
“Rippp!”
The not-so-thick shirt came apart. Johann—no, Caesar—was apparently not wearing anything underneath.
His broad, bare chest swayed right in front of Leticia’s nose, giving off a sharp yet strangely pleasant scent of alcohol.
Leticia’s world tilted. She felt dizzy.
‘Brother Hameln.’
For some reason, her elder brother, likely living happily with her sister-in-law back in Roemer, floated into her mind.
He waved, as if beckoning her over.
‘I can’t come now. I’m about to get married.’
“Are you okay?” the man’s voice pressed her for a response.
“Huh? What?”
“I asked if you can walk!”
Leticia had always scored at the top of her physical fitness tests.
Even with the wedding aisle of doom looming in her imagination, she was fine.
“Yes, of course!”
‘You idiot! You should’ve said you couldn’t walk so the groom-to-be would have to support you!’ her exasperated rational mind screamed at her.
But before her logic could fully stage a comeback, Leticia realized where she was—inside the ladies’ restroom—and that Caesar was peeling off his shredded shirt.
That was the limit of her tolerance.
“Leticia, sorry to ask, but could you lend me a coat? I’ll return it later. I need to layer up for safety.”
“You could just bring yourself…”
Almost instinctively, Leticia set down her bag and shrugged off her outer coat.
Since she’d layered up with four tops, the outermost one was loose enough for a man to wear.
But then…
“Gasp!”
Caesar’s chest and stomach were mottled with deep, bluish bruises.
If she had more experience in romance, she might have recognized them as love marks. But people vary in their knowledge base, and even elite officers don’t know everything.
To Leticia, these were simply bruises.
“Did you get hurt because of me?”
“Ah, no, not at all! Don’t worry about it.”
But seeing him stammer, Leticia was convinced otherwise.
Unbidden, tears began to well up.
‘Did… did someone protect me? Someone I just met today?’
People protect and are protected by others—it’s common sense for most.
Leticia knew this too.
But she had never been protected by anyone.
Not as an officer candidate, not as an officer. She was always the one who had to protect others.
And no one ever thanked her for it.
To civilians, it was “natural” for soldiers to protect them.
If anything, they’d get angry when soldiers failed.
But Leticia was also a person.
She was a woman.
Even if she had been a man, a part of her would have yearned to be protected sometimes.
And this man had fulfilled that yearning.
‘I’m human too. I’m a woman…’
“Did… did it hurt a lot? Don’t worry… I’ll fix it…”
“W-What?”
In moments like this, common sense dictates you blow on the wound.
And Leticia, heavily intoxicated and sloppily wearing thick red lipstick, leaned in without hesitation.
Smooch!
‘Yes! That’s the way! Wreck him more!’
Her logic cheered and clapped, thrilled at the chaos.
Encouraged by the praise, Leticia tilted her head, leaving a long, smudged lipstick mark on his chest.
Though it was nowhere near the bruised area, it didn’t matter.
‘I kissed a man! Or… did I? Lips didn’t touch, so does this count as a kiss? What is this, even?’
While Leticia wrestled with philosophical dilemmas, Caesar firmly gripped her shoulders.
“Listen carefully. Lock yourself in here. No one will get in. The designated safe zone is overcrowded and too dangerous. Do you understand?”
Of course, Leticia understood perfectly.
“Hug me!”
“Alright.”
He gave her a brief hug.
Leticia thought she could die happy now.
“Keep your bag close!”
With that, he donned her coat over his torn shirt and left. The door shut with a thud.
“Ah… I forgot to ask about his worries. What could they have been?”
Still, she felt elated—she had met her fated partner.
But the harsh world wasn’t about to let her remain blissfully in love.
Bloodcurdling screams echoed from below.
Staggering slightly, Leticia approached the restroom’s glass window.
“Ahh, the window! Over there!”
A horde of black shapes swarmed outside. Birds—starving crows.
Rat-tat-tat!
Anti-aircraft guns mounted on rooftops fired at the flock.
Each bird was nearly a meter long, so as long as the aim was steady, they were easy to shoot.
But there were too many of them.
The birds rained down in blood and gore.
Below, unlucky civilians were caught in the carnage.
Homeless people.
Street thugs.
Those unprotected by society. Those the military had abandoned.
“Open up! Open the door!”
No one wanted a blood-soaked fate, but the people inside refused to open the doors.
Some of those caught outside began to turn into zombies, while zombie dogs and cats roamed the streets, attacking indiscriminately.
Meanwhile, the crows spread across Hampton’s sky like a rolled-out sheet of dough. Then, they descended.
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