January 14
It was like Ultraman's three-minute transformation time had run out.
The overflowing vigor inside Kyoko began to ebb away. A pounding headache set in. The price of entering that special state had finally arrived.
"Damn it… I can't fall asleep…"
Kyoko didn't want to lose consciousness. Huaxiu's life was still hanging in the balance.
Her mind was heavy and sluggish, sleep threatening to overtake her at any moment. Desperate, Kyoko resorted to an old trick from a certain mysterious great nation: she took off her helmet, tied her short hair into a ponytail, and fastened it with a strip of cloth to the ceiling fan overhead.
It did absolutely nothing.
In her current condition, she felt like a middle-aged man utterly drained by his young wife. There was simply nothing left in her.
Before long, Kyoko had slumped asleep beside Huaxiu's bed, her head hanging in midair by the cloth tied to her hair.
Meanwhile, with blood still smeared across her face, damp hair clinging to her skin, and filthy clothes still on her body, Kyoko began to change in her sleep.
Just as she had transformed earlier, now the process began to reverse.
The blood-red tint faded from her hair, returning it to its original black. The crimson in her eyes receded, leaving only their natural golden hue behind.
Kyoko had only just fallen asleep—
—when she woke up again.
"What is that awful burnt smell and all this blood? Just what has my dear Kyoko been doing while I was away? Ow… that hurts…"
Because the system could no longer detect Kyoko's consciousness, it temporarily took over her body to assess the situation.
Rather, it was no longer Kyoko, but the system controlling her body that opened its eyes.
Having only just taken over, the system forgot to activate pain-blocking measures. The signals surged up through the nerves straight into the brain and fed back into awareness.
The system was so startled that it hurriedly switched on sensory suppression, then instinctively pressed a hand to its chest and took a deep breath.
When it tried to stand, however, it found itself restrained.
Only then, after looking around, did it realize that Kyoko's hair had been tied to the ceiling fan with a strip of cloth.
"What on earth was this girl thinking?!"
Like a pet tethered in place, she was trapped beside the bed. After a quick look around, the system hurriedly untied the cloth. A few strands of hair were already hopelessly caught in it, forever separated from their roots and granted freedom.
"This child is hurt this badly? I knew it—while I was gone, something really did happen. Good thing I left a backup plan."
The system felt very pleased with its own foresight.
While it had been upgrading itself, it had sensed that Kyoko might get into trouble, so it had temporarily strengthened one of her traits.
That trait was now displayed in full:
[Cornered Beast: Rebirth Through Death]
When on the brink of death, the host enters a frenzied state. The body activates Bloodrage, repairing prior injuries while developing an overwhelming craving for battle and slaughter. The virus further accelerates bodily invasion and mutation, approaching the level of the Thirteen Apostles of the Saint Organization. Until the final enemy is defeated, the body will not collapse. After the state ends, however, recovery requires a very long time.
(A temporary cheat the system left for Kyoko before briefly going offline. It is an upgraded version of Kyoko's original Bloodlust trait.)
When the system checked Huaxiu's injuries, it found no intracranial bleeding. Thankfully. Otherwise it would have had to cheat even more, dipping into its own private warehouse and effectively paying out of pocket. That was absolutely unacceptable. It still had to save up travel expenses to go home one day.
Huaxiu's wounds had already been treated quite well by Kyoko. At most, the system only needed to refine the aftercare a little, smoothing things over and making sure no ugly scars would remain on a young girl's body. The viral modification within Huaxiu was also progressing without issues.
Kyoko herself was not in serious danger either. She mostly just needed nourishment and several days of rest at home. If the system had not quietly strengthened her ahead of time, last night would truly have ended in disaster.
Seeing that there was nothing else especially urgent to do, the system went ahead and claimed Kyoko's task reward for her.
You Should Call the Property Manager: Deal with the neighbors in the adjacent building.
[Reward: Thick Skin Trait — Compared with ordinary people, you are less likely to suffer superficial injuries. Increases physical resistance.]
Completed.
The system even helped clean up the aftermath.
Otherwise, once Kyoko woke up and saw the state of everything, she probably would have broken down on the spot.
Like an overworked mother, the system set about cleaning the entire mess. The whole building became its workplace. After changing Kyoko into clean clothes, bathing her in hot water to wash away a day's exhaustion, it got to work.
Under the system's control, Kyoko began the recovery operation: reclaiming corpses, reclaiming worn-out equipment, reclaiming anything Kyoko no longer needed.
Even the bodies on the rooftop shocked the system.
So it had been worse than it initially thought.
Even Retainers had appeared—secondary infected of a level equivalent to a vassal or attendant under a ruler-type infected. The neighboring two connected towers had already been emptied, with the infected once trapped in their apartments now fully released.
[Retainers: Intelligent enough to act as local leaders, forming nodes of control over other infected. They can also use weapons they were familiar with in life. Usually they serve under a Ruler-class infected. Solitary appearances are rare.]
Looking at the mountain of corpses piling up in the system's recovery depot, the system felt both proud of Kyoko and deeply worried for her. Fortunately, it had left that little safeguard in advance. Without it, that scale of infected assault would have been nearly impossible to survive.
Aside from Kyoko's kill points and exploration points, the recovery points gained from the night's cleanup were also substantial.
But Kyoko's body had already been pushed completely to its limits.
The system had no choice but to step back and let her rest.
Near the Fukushima Coast, Not Far from Nihonmatsu
At five in the morning, on the dark surface of the sea, a tiny lifeboat drifted with the waves. The lazy sun had not yet risen.
Under the night sky, the reflections of the three people aboard trembled across the water. All three looked sickly and starved, their faces drawn from long hunger. Of them, the youngest looked especially gaunt, her complexion yellow and unhealthy.
The three were Italians.
Before the virus outbreak, they had come to Hokkaido for a trip. But on the way back, they became trapped at the airport. The infected attacked from every direction, forcing them to flee again and again, until at last they found a fishing boat in a harbor.
That boat had since sunk.
Fortunately, they had brought a bodyguard with them.
Though now, only one remained.
"Brent… is that land ahead?" one of the women asked.
"Yes, Miss. It is. I can see ships overturned on the shore."
Brent Hood, whose eyesight was excellent, stared toward the coast and gave the answer that filled Miranda with hope.
"Then hurry. We can't stay out at sea any longer."
Miranda Christian gripped the oar tightly and rowed alongside Brent, working desperately to bring the little boat to shore. The surging waves battered the craft, nearly flipping it more than once. The boat was already scarred all over, on the verge of capsizing.
If they did not reach land soon, the sea would swallow them whole.
Miranda, once lively and full of spirit, now lay weakly in the boat. She was in the worst condition of the three. She had always been the frailest, and also the youngest. She had already been suffering from a cold before falling into the water, and now her whole body was soaked through.
Without medicine and warm clothes, a raging fever was all but certain.
"Doris, hang in there. Your sister's going to get you ashore soon. There'll be medicine. There'll be bread and milk too."
Miranda rowed anxiously, while Brent hurried to comfort the girl as well.
"Second Miss, don't worry. We're almost there. Once we're on land, we'll be safe."
More than ten minutes later, they finally reached the shore and abandoned the boat.
A line of footprints stretched away across the sand, trailing into the distance.
The three of them headed southwest.
And in that direction lay the city where Kyoko was.
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 (Chapter116)
"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 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
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 80
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 74
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 48
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 50
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 47
Uma Musume: From Beginner 42
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