Those few shots had clearly hit the thing.
It slammed the door open and let out a howl of pain.
From its body, a torturous wave of sound began spreading outward. The nearby glass could not endure it and shattered all over the floor.
"What the hell is this monster?! Damn it!"
The interference had already thrown Kyoko off balance. She tried firing several more shots, but they all struck its torso and failed to inflict any fatal damage.
The magazine was empty, and there was no time to reload.
She immediately ditched the pistol and switched to her blade.
The distance between them was now less than three meters.
Kyoko went all in. To force herself into fighting spirit and dull the disruption, she bit down hard on her own tongue. Sweet blood flooded the back of her throat, and by then, she could no longer feel the pain.
With a sudden burst of motion, Kyoko sprang to her feet and kicked Huaxiu behind her. She drew her sword and slashed, the blow landing hard across the monster's waist. Blood burst out at once, but the blade was no longer as sharp as before, and her angle had been different, so she failed to cut it in half.
The fight was far from over.
The creature only grew madder, opening its blood-soaked maw and lunging at her. Its enormous head slammed into Kyoko's helmet, but she drove it back with a forceful shove.
Her sword was now stuck fast in its bones and could not be pulled free in time. With no way to use the blade to guard against its frenzied assault, and no time to dodge, Kyoko had no choice but to meet it bare-handed.
"Die!"
With a furious roar, she smashed her elbow into the monster's head and kicked out with her left leg, finally knocking it to the ground.
Her right hand flew to the tactical axe at her side. Dropping into a crouch, she brought it down and split the thing's skull apart like a watermelon.
But just like Calabash Brothers rushing in one after another to save Grandpa, more infected were already coming out of the room.
Kyoko was almost out of strength.
Even so, she forced herself forward again. Her exhausted body was no longer responding properly. She could feel herself nearing her limit.
Blood sprayed everywhere. Shrill screams, shouts, the cutting hiss of weapons through the air, the thud of collapsing bodies—
from the corridor into the apartment itself, Kyoko slaughtered everything in her path until the place was utterly clean.
"It's finally over..."
Even speaking now was terribly difficult for her. She used her damaged blade to prop herself up. Every inch of her body was protesting. Blood from her bitten tongue had clogged her throat, and her aching limbs felt as though they might fall apart at any moment.
Still, despite the agony, her extermination was complete.
Now, in this entire building, only Huaxiu and Kyoko remained alive.
She still did not understand why there had been a special infected next door to Huaxiu's apartment, or why it had not taken control of her before, but it was probably unrelated to Huaxiu herself.
Most likely, Huaxiu had simply had weak mental resistance.
Then again, every matter had two sides.
Even if that were true, she would still need to observe Huaxiu carefully and see whether there were any aftereffects.
After all, Huaxiu was her only companion right now.
[Congratulations, Host. You have killed a special infected. It has now been unlocked in the encyclopedia.]
Kyoko could not care less anymore.
She did not have a shred of energy left to look at any of it.
Scooping Huaxiu up into her arms, she ran for her apartment on the fifteenth floor.
A few times along the way, Huaxiu's eyes fluttered open, only for her to slip back into unconsciousness again.
Kyoko never noticed.
Her own body had already reached its limit. The peak-human physique granted by the virus was now being pushed to maximum output just to keep her moving. But no matter how good a body was, it could not be abused like this forever. In the end, it was still flesh and blood.
At last, they made it home.
After setting Huaxiu down, Kyoko lost the support of sheer willpower and immediately collapsed into unconsciousness from overusing her body.
[Honestly, it always comes down to me cleaning up after you. That was only a newly-born special infected, and it still managed to leave you in this state. Weren't you just boasting about hunting special infected a little while ago?]
Miss System temporarily took over control of Kyoko's body and began dealing with the aftermath.
Since Kyoko's whole body had suffered damage, the system carefully removed both Kyoko's and Huaxiu's clothes.
Of course, this was for the sake of checking their injuries. It was difficult to examine wounds properly through clothing, and if fabric stuck to an injury, that would become even more troublesome.
Huaxiu was easier to handle—just a down coat.
Kyoko, on the other hand, was dressed like a fully equipped soldier. Stripping all that off was a nightmare.
Supporting Huaxiu's upper body, the system first removed her glasses, then slid her coat off her shoulders, bent her arms carefully, and worked each sleeve free one at a time. After that came the sweater beneath.
Once the upper layers were off, it did not take long to remove the rest.
There were no major wounds on Huaxiu's upper body. Her pants were also eased off, revealing a few bruises on her thighs, but otherwise she seemed fine.
The system then took out an instrument from the system warehouse and scanned both of them.
Fortunately, neither girl had sustained any fatal injury. Huaxiu had only some scrapes and a few bruised patches of skin. Internally, she was completely unharmed.
Next came Kyoko.
With the system controlling the very body it was inhabiting, it began checking her injuries as well.
Removing all of Kyoko's tactical gear was troublesome, but it had undeniably helped her withstand quite a few attacks.
First came the helmet. Then the equipment on her upper body.
As layer after layer came off, Kyoko was gradually unwrapped like a rice dumpling, exposing a body flushed red from strain.
Sweat had acted almost like glue, sticking her clothes to her skin.
The socks were the worst of it. After finally removing her long boots, it became clear that sweat had glued the socks firmly to her feet. Pulling them off normally was no longer possible.
The clever system fetched a pair of scissors, slid two fingers between sock and skin, lifted the fabric slightly, and cut along the gap between its fingers.
The skin on Kyoko's thighs had been rubbed raw in many places, and the blood from burst capillaries mixed with sweat, leaving them throbbing with pain.
The system first used mineral water—water Kyoko normally would have been too stingy to spend—to wash the wounds, then sprayed them with Yunnan Baiyao.
Thankfully, the system had dulled Kyoko's senses. Otherwise, the stinging and numbness would have been enough to drive her mad.
Blood from Kyoko's bitten tongue had blocked her throat and made it hard to breathe. Under the system's control, she spat out the clotted blood, after which hemostatic powder was applied to the tongue, and then it was wrapped in gauze.
"That butterfly-knot bandage is way too cute."
After laying Huaxiu on the bed, the system guided Kyoko's body down as well and tucked both of them in properly under the blankets.
Another exhausting day had come to an end.
Night slowly spread across the land, and the weather seemed to be improving somewhat.
The heavy snowfall that had continued for more than a week was beginning to ease, perhaps blown elsewhere by the wind.
Even so, the snow piled outside had already reached more than waist height, making it nearly impossible for anyone to pass through.
Who knew what was buried inside those drifts?
The one thing they did know was that beneath the snow below Kyoko's apartment building lay the severed corpses of the infected she had thrown down there.
When the snow finally melted and all those bodies were exposed, anyone who saw them would be terrified.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
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