What did it feel like to jump from roughly the height of a ten-story building?
Chen felt the air constantly blasting against her face, and time itself seemed to speed up around her. She could clearly see the people on the rooftop preparing to launch Arts attacks at them.
Just as she was about to warn Shirou, translucent purple flower petals appeared above them, blocking the incoming attacks.
But that was not the important part.
The important part was that Shirou apparently had no intention of using his abilities to create a parachute or any sort of cushioning device, and that purple construct clearly was not slowing their fall either.
She could feel their descent accelerating.
What was more terrifying than jumping from the tenth floor?
The answer was jumping without ropes, without a parachute, and without any cushioning whatsoever.
She knew Shirou was capable of ridiculous jumps, but there was a huge difference between doing it alone and carrying someone else.
If her condition had been better, she might have been able to adjust her posture slightly to soften the landing... but with her Oripathy acting up and Shirou suddenly smashing through the window and jumping out, Chen felt like her body was barely responding properly anymore.
The only good news was that Shirou was holding her firmly enough that she would not splatter into paste on impact.
Watching the ground draw closer and closer, Chen silently cursed Shirou countless times in her heart.
"Hold on tight! Hah—"
Unlike Chen, Shirou was already very familiar with this sort of thing.
It was just carrying someone down from ten floors up. No big deal.
When they were still some distance from the ground, Shirou warned Chen to hold on tightly before projecting a black sword and stabbing it into the side of the building.
A shower of sparks burst from the blade and the wall.
Landing directly was not impossible. The main issue was that the impact might cause trouble for the nearby Guard Department officers.
Besides, Chen might not have been able to withstand it. Without direct contact, he had not realized her condition was this severe.
Her body temperature was frighteningly low, and she was constantly breaking out in cold sweat.
It was hard to imagine she had been carrying out missions in this state.
Naturally, Shirou chose a gentler method of descent.
"A parachute! You Lungmen profanity at least pull out a parachute!"
Watching Shirou use the sort of braking maneuver that only appeared in television dramas and movies, Chen could not help but complain.
"...It is fine. We landed safely already."
Hearing Officer Chen's words, Shirou finally remembered that parachutes existed.
Mainly because he never had any reason to use them, so the thought simply slipped his mind.
Still, they had landed safely now, so there was no need for one anymore!
"You damned bastard..."
After landing, Chen was finally set down. Even she had no idea how she endured those few seconds.
If her standard sword had not been left upstairs, and if Chi Xiao could actually be drawn, she absolutely would have fought Shirou on the spot.
But the current situation was not ideal, so she decided to let him off for now.
It definitely was not because her limbs felt weak.
Boom—
Something drifted out from the shattered window Shirou broke earlier. Under the sunlight, it glittered with an unnatural shine, causing Shirou to stare at it for several extra moments.
"You are still looking? Run!"
The moment Chen saw what was floating out of the window, her first thought was to confirm whether there were any civilians nearby before immediately getting away from the Originium dust.
After running a certain distance, she realized someone was missing. Turning back, she saw Shirou still standing there stupidly, staring blankly at the drifting particles.
So she rushed back, grabbed his arm, and hurriedly dragged him away.
"Ah? Oh, right."
Shirou, who had been lost in thought while staring at the particles, finally snapped back to reality after Chen grabbed his arm and immediately followed along. In her current condition, she would never have been able to drag him otherwise.
At that moment, Shirou had even forgotten to dismiss his Mystic Code. His mind remained focused on the scene he had just witnessed.
Based on the books about Oripathy he had spent the past several months studying, the people inside that room had likely already...
Thinking this, Shirou did not feel much regarding those people's fate specifically.
He simply felt a trace of sorrow toward the inevitable end awaiting the infected.
Tormented by Oripathy while alive, and after death, leaving nothing behind.
Dust to dust, earth to earth, becoming Originium dust and returning to the land itself.
Just as Shirou had always understood, whether in this world or the one he previously lived in, some truths remained universal.
Thinking that, Shirou turned back for another glance at the building.
The Originium dust had already been scattered by the wind, leaving behind only the shattered window.
"Stop staring at it. Cover your mouth and nose. Thankfully the nearby residents were evacuated already, otherwise this would have been a disaster!"
Seeing Shirou continue looking back, Chen tightened her grip on his arm slightly, trying to pull him back to his senses.
However, perhaps because her body was weakened, gripping Shirou's right arm felt like grabbing solid steel.
No, seriously. She already knew he became absurdly durable while wearing this outfit, but this was ridiculous.
She could finally understand why Shirou sometimes switched into this outfit during combat.
From now on, she needed to figure out a way to make him wear this set before every mission.
Assuming the Guard Department could still borrow manpower from Penguin Logistics in the future.
"Are you worried about the Originium dust?"
Only after hearing Officer Chen's words did Shirou finally pull his gaze away, completely unaware that the hand gripping his arm was bulging with veins from how hard she was squeezing.
The gas masks had already been removed earlier when they confirmed the situation was temporarily safe and decided to rest, which was why Chen specifically reminded him.
Shirou did not fully realize the seriousness of the matter. After all, even if someone threw him directly into a pile of Originium, he would not become infected, so subconsciously he simply did not fear the stuff.
From his understanding, once the Originium dust dispersed into the air, its infectivity would weaken considerably. As long as nobody stood nearby breathing deeply like an idiot, they would generally be fine.
"That is an obvious concern, is it not?"
Unlike Shirou, Chen's perspective was completely different. As someone native to this world, her vigilance toward Originium was far greater than his.
She also knew that the effect weakened once dispersed, but that did not mean it was completely safe.
If someone could choose an environment that was one hundred percent safe, why gamble on the tiny possibility of contracting Oripathy?
There was no cure for it. Once infected, it was like receiving a death sentence, something one would struggle with for the rest of their life.
Any normal person, even facing only a one percent risk, would never gamble on whether they might become infected.
After running quite a distance and returning to the area where the Guard Department had originally set up, Chen immediately dragged Shirou toward the vehicle they arrived in.
Once inside and after starting the engine, Chen finally relaxed slightly.
Only slightly, because Swire and the others were still inside the building.
Still, Swire understood the dangers of Originium dust well enough. She would probably retreat several floors downward, seal the doors and windows, and wait for support.
Even so, just to be safe, Chen picked up the vehicle communicator and asked:
"Swire, are things alright on your side?"
"We are fine. What about you two? Are you till inside the building?"
"We are outside already, inside the vehicle. The Originium dust only just dispersed, so you might need to stay inside a bit longer."
Chen briefly explained the situation and reminded Swire to remain cautious.
However, the moment Swire heard that Chen had already reached the vehicle, question marks practically filled her head.
"Wait, how did you even get there? Weren't you on the tenth floor? Ah! Shirou carried you out through the window?"
Starting from confusion, Swire suddenly pieced everything together halfway through her questioning.
No wonder she thought she heard the roaring cries of that damned dragon earlier while heading downstairs. She originally assumed Chen had been yelling at the enemies upstairs, but now it sounded much more likely she had been yelling at Shirou instead.
That honestly had not crossed her mind.
Still, considering Shirou's abilities, smashing through a window actually made a lot of sense.
Compared to descending through nine floors still contaminated with gas, while a group of enemies waited in ambush above, jumping out the window might genuinely have been the optimal solution.
"Yeah... more or less. Stay inside a bit longer. Come out in a few minutes. Leave the rooftop people alone for now. They cannot come down anyway."
Chen had no interest in discussing Swire's question further and simply instructed her on what to do next.
At this point, she only felt mentally exhausted.
She really needed proper rest now.
Whether it was because she ran too slowly and inhaled some of the dust, or because the inhibitor was already wearing off, her back now throbbed faintly with pain.
A little rest. She just needed to endure it for a while and it would pass.
She had only recently used an inhibitor. Taking another one in such a short period would not help. She simply had to endure it herself.
"Is it Oripathy?"
Watching Officer Chen hang up the communicator and lean back in the driver's seat with half-closed eyes, Shirou quietly asked.
His own communicator was still turned off, so he was not worried about anyone overhearing.
"...Yeah. So you really figured it out."
Chen did not try to hide it. The moment she used the inhibitor in front of Shirou earlier, he had probably already suspected something.
And throughout the operation, because of her Oripathy flare-up, her combat capabilities had clearly declined. She had caused Shirou quite a bit of trouble.
"You already used an inhibitor earlier... this is getting dangerous."
Seeing how weakly she spoke and how drowsy she looked, Shirou's first instinct was to inject her with another inhibitor.
But then he remembered she had already taken one recently, leaving him unsure what to do.
He had read a few books and understood Oripathy better than the average person, but that hardly meant he could suddenly become a doctor and provide treatment...
Wait.
He actually could treat it.
The moment that thought surfaced, Shirou's expression turned complicated.
The main problem was that the treatment process was not particularly dignified, and it depended heavily on luck.
Other than those two concerns, however, the treatment method itself had no real issues. He had already confirmed that much with Doctors Kal'tsit and Warfarin.
Well, aside from the red markings appearing on his body.
After several days, the markings had already shortened considerably, and Shirou himself had not experienced any other discomfort.
After weighing everything carefully, Shirou decided that compared to those concerns, Officer Chen would probably face serious problems if she did not receive treatment soon.
After all, she had inhaled gas that accelerated Originium activity, then immediately afterward encountered Originium dust from exploding infected bodies. Either one alone could worsen her Oripathy significantly, let alone both together.
No wonder the inhibitor could not suppress it.
After repeatedly reviewing the treatment conclusions originally given to him by Kal'tsit and Warfarin, Shirou felt there should not be any problems.
The treatment process being embarrassing did not matter. There was nobody else around anyway.
As for relying on luck...
"Officer Chen, how lucky do you think you are?"
Rather than continuing to speculate himself, Shirou directly asked the person involved. At the same time, he dismissed his Mystic Code and projected a short blade, lightly cutting his own hand.
"...Should be decent enough, I guess. Why? If nothing is wrong, just let me rest quietly for a bit."
Although she did not quite understand why Shirou suddenly asked such a question, Chen still forced herself to respond.
Perhaps he was simply worried she would fall asleep and never wake up again, so he was trying to keep her talking.
"Just decent, huh? That makes things a bit troublesome."
Hearing such an ambiguous answer, Shirou decisively ignored the latter half of her sentence.
At this point, since he still had a method of treatment available, there was no way he would let her simply endure it.
Just to be safe, Shirou gave her a warning before acting.
"Officer Chen, no matter what you see later, do not pay it any attention. It is all just... images. Treat it like watching television."
After saying that, Shirou leaned forward from the back seat and shoved the finger he had cut directly into Chen's mouth.
Unlike last time, this was completely forced. Shirou felt a bit guilty about it, but after reminding himself this was treatment, he gritted his teeth and resolutely pushed his finger all the way in.
At first, Chen instinctively resisted the sudden foreign object in her mouth, clenching her teeth tightly to stop it from going further.
But the thing forcefully pushed inward anyway, so Chen bit down hard on it, even grinding her teeth side to side.
"..."
After hesitating repeatedly, Shirou ultimately decided against using reinforcement magecraft.
Otherwise, if she shattered her teeth, that would become genuinely ridiculous.
"Mmph? Wuh... mm?"
For some reason, Chen suddenly felt the pain in her body lessen significantly. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw Shirou forcing his finger into her mouth.
His expression even looked somewhat... fierce?
Only after realizing she herself was the one biting him did she loosen her jaw slightly.
Although she had no idea what Shirou was doing, the warm and relaxing sensation spreading through her body... was almost certainly his doing.