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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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I had lunch with Camilla on the rooftop. Fluffy clouds like a flock of sheep were running across the blue sky, so the sun wasn’t too strong.
It was a little hot, but the only place in this world where we could sunbathe at ease was here, on the rooftop.
The windows from the 1st to the 4th floor were all blocked off so no sunlight came in, and the parking lot wasn’t perfectly safe.
“The sunlight feels so good.”
Camilla, in her short clothes, was lying on a sunbed and drinking orange juice. A brimmed hat, sunglasses that covered half her face, and even oil that she had applied to her skin beforehand.
She looked to be in a very good mood, and was smiling so happily that I couldn’t ask her what on earth had happened with Cassandra yesterday.
Whatever, I also laid down on a sunbed and drank grape juice.
“Want to go on a trip?”
At my suggestion, Camilla laughed, covering her mouth.
“A trip sounds nice. Do you know a place?”
“Well, we’ve been to mountains and fields too much… I think a lake or the sea would be nice. A resort or something would be good too. Just not a golf resort.”
“Sounds fun. Resting under the sun like this during the day, and eating something delicious in the evening. Beer and barbecue. I want to put beef and lamb, onions and bell peppers on a skewer and eat them, turning them here and there.”
“With salt and pepper.”
“And the beer cans in an icebox to keep them cold. The meat has to be really fresh.”
It was an impossible fantasy, but that’s what made it more enjoyable. We would probably never be able to eat ‘fresh meat’ again.
All the living animals would have become zombies. And no matter how much I wanted to eat fresh meat, I didn’t want to eat zombie meat.
“…Johan, maybe it could really happen?”
But Camilla seemed to have a slightly different thought from me.
“How? A cure?”
“A cure would be the best. It would be great if it could purify the land and work well on both people and animals, but even if it doesn’t. We can brew our own beer, and for meat… cultured meat?”
Cultured meat.
It was also the main research field of this place we had settled in, the Kibele Research Institute. A technology that artificially grew lean meat by putting stem cells in a nutrient solution.
Not only had they succeeded in commercialization, but they had even built a production factory, but it was said that it had not brought in money for Kibele Corporation.
First of all, there were too many parts that needed to be improved. The fact that the production cost was high because the process was complicated was one thing, but most of all, both the taste and texture were inferior to ordinary meat.
Moreover, the main industries of Elza were agriculture and livestock. You could eat fresh meat anywhere in the country. And yet, the reason Kibele had pushed the cultured meat business was to tame the citizens.
The Kibele Group was a state-owned enterprise of the Elza government, and the Elza government was a puppet of Römer. Moreover, the ones who had created the Kibele Group were from the nobility of Römer.
Römer knew that they couldn’t suppress Elza with guns and swords.
So this time, they took a different approach. By putting a hunger-inducing virus in the food and distributing it, making people spend a lot of money on food expenses, and thus economically subordinating the citizens to the state.
The aggressive push for the cultured meat business was also part of this grand plan.
To increase the production to a level that could feed the people of a nation and realize economies of scale, and to drive them out to the point where even a huge farm could not endure in the end.
Of course, there was a long way to go for that, and now it had become a path that could not even be taken. Because the zombie incident had broken out.
A fact that I, Camilla, and Cassandra all knew.
“…It’s a bit funny now that I say it.”
Camilla shook her head with a bitter look.
“Why?”
“The reason Kibele grew the cultured meat industry was to destroy the traditional livestock industry and subordinate the people of Elza. It was a technology made with bad intentions.
But now it has become the only means to consume safe meat. Once, I really hated it. But now… if my past self saw the present, she would hate me as a traitor, wouldn’t she?”
Camilla’s laugh was self-deprecating. I deliberately answered with a firm “I don’t think so.”
“Because you met such a great boyfriend, she’d say she’s jealous.”
“…Honestly, aren’t you a little embarrassed saying that yourself?”
“Not a little, a lot.”
“Then come and put some more oil on me.”
Camilla lightly tapped her stomach. I poured out a moderate amount and gently rubbed it in. Looking at her well-defined abs, sparkling under the sun, it felt different from when I touched them at night.
“I have to go out in the afternoon…”
Camilla, while looking pleased, bit her lower lip as if it were a shame.
In fact, we had decided to go out with her in the afternoon. Since we would be staying here for a long time, it was a judgment that it would be better to make the surroundings a little ‘safer.’
Safety didn’t mean anything special. We would just tidy up the surrounding houses, cleverly arrange the furniture so that a loud noise would be made if touched wrongly, and take pictures.
And a few days later, we would compare and contrast them with the pictures we had taken to check if anyone had visited. That was all.
However, to do that, we had to move carefully so as not to be detected by zombies. Even if we were detected by any chance, we had to move quietly, by stabbing them with a spear or taking them out by throwing an axe or a knife, instead of shooting a gun.
In other words, it would take a long time.
“Should we just rest today and go out tomorrow? It’s not a super urgent thing. Or I can go alone.”
“No, you can’t. We have to arrange the furniture together. What if you get attacked by a zombie while you’re doing it alone.”
Come to think of it, Camilla was right. But Camilla also seemed to have had a slightly different thought.
“…Right. Well, today isn’t the only day. So Johan, take off your top and lie down. This time I’ll put the oil on you.”
I unfolded a sunbed and laid down on it.
Camilla put oil on my back, pressing down with her fingers. She skillfully loosened the knotted parts, and sleepiness washed over me.
The sunlight on my back, as if it were a jealous gaze, was prickly and yet, it felt good.
“…It’s strange.”
“What is, Camilla?”
“It feels like I’ve changed so much from my past self. Before, I was just happy even if I was rolling in rough mud, or eating one can of food for two days. Back then, I was drunk on the idea of liberating Elza.
But now, I’m just sunbathing on the roof of a research institute in a country town surrounded by zombies, and I’m happier now.”
“Let’s not think too deeply. If you’re happy, that’s good, right.”
“…How much more will I have to compromise in the future?”
It was a difficult question. It was hard to answer, so I stayed quiet. Camilla laughed and lightly slapped my back. It was a sign to turn over.
She squeezed oil, squirt, on my chest and upper abdomen. I thought she might have squeezed a little too much, but seeing her spread her hands wide, it seemed a certain amount of personal feeling had gone into it.
Camilla mainly rubbed my chest and shoulders. She spread it widely with her palms and subtly nudged me with the back of her hands.
Knowing the parts I was sensitive to, she deliberately, teasingly, pressed them lightly. For some reason, it felt like this could get troublesome.
“The world has changed. You can’t live the same way as before.”
“That’s true, but sometimes I miss the past. I thought there couldn’t be a bottom lower than this, but under the bottom… there was a bigger bottom.”
I thought I knew what she meant. In the past, Camilla had fought against people. Now, on top of that, she was fighting against things that had once been people.
And both of us, no, everyone in the world. Was changing day by day into such a being. The few who knew the truth were silent to prevent a greater chaos.
“Then before we fall deeper down that bottom, let’s get a camper van and go to the lake.”
Camilla lowered her head and giggled. The eyes inside her sunglasses seemed to sparkle a little.
“…Really.”
She poured oil on my body, slowly got up, and then lay down on top of me.
While I was worrying if the sunbed could handle the weight of two people, she slowly rubbed her entire body against mine.
“It’s a relief.”
“What is?”
“That I can live with such a shameless man.”
Her small, sharp tongue peeked out. Creeak, then the rooftop door opened. It was Cassandra.
“You were here… ah.”
Cassandra, as if embarrassed, turned her body away. Camilla seemed to flinch in surprise and try to get off me, but then, for some reason, she instead lay down even more on top of my body. To the point where my chest was tightly pressed.
“You’re up, Cassandra? You should rest more.”
“Ah. No. I’ve re-rested enough. More importantly…”
An excited Cassandra stuttered. Still with her back turned.
“…I found something. It’s n-not urgent, so r-re-rest and co-come down.”
And then she went down the stairs with a whoosh.
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We gathered in the 3rd-floor dining room. Cassandra opened her laptop and showed us what she had found.
“You found it much faster than expected, didn’t you? You said it would take a few days.”
It was a truly surprising achievement, but for some reason, Cassandra seemed a little shy. At least, that’s what she looked like in the light of the laptop.
“So what exactly did you find?”
Camilla asked, curious, and leaned toward the laptop. On the screen, a 3D model of a virus was floating, and next to it, a sheet with some complicated data was displayed.
“The-the initial input value of the hunger virus. Many parts were omitted from Kibele Corporation’s database, but this research institute had that initial input data. I found that.”
I had many questions, but I decided to listen first. Cassandra gulped down a bottle of water and then began her explanation a little more calmly.
“The name of the hunger virus is ‘Limos.’ After that, it was called by various names like F, special ingredient, food additive, etc., but I think those names were to blur its true identity.
The Limos virus, that is to say, is similar to anthrax in many ways. It’s not very contagious, and it can’t survive without a host.
Normally, it makes a hard outer shell with calcium and hides in the form of a spore. Thanks to that, it can survive for a very, very long time. Tenaciously. Very… viciously.”
“How is it vicious?”
At my question, Cassandra hugged her body and trembled.
“Li-Limos attacks the brain and nervous system and releases toxins. It paralyzes and disrupts the part of the brain that controls satiety, and drives the host to constantly seek food even when it’s full.
The host wanders all over the place to find prey, and either dies of shock, or eats too much and literally its stomach tears and it dies, or it’s exposed to danger and is bitten to death by a predator.
And the same thing happens to the predator. Even if it’s not eaten, it spreads all over the land through the carcass, and through saliva and secretions, and lies dormant.
It lies dormant in the soil and then transfers to the body of a passing animal, or it sticks to plant leaves and is absorbed into the body of a herbivore…”
“Why on earth would they do such a thing?”
Camilla covered her mouth as if she were dumbfounded. Cassandra repeatedly swallowed dryly.
“T-to spread itself far and wide! Just like how people spread here and there by riding horses, cars, and trains, Limos uses animals as its own car and house.”
And Kibele Corporation had put that in their canned goods and distributed it nationwide.
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