"Many hands make light work, and plenty of firewood makes a tall flame. Everyone's putting their backs into it, so of course it's going fast."
Miranda, hands full of wood shavings and an axe in hand, said this to Xiangzi.
The heiress didn't complain about manual labor. Like everyone else, she was working hard. In the distance, the others were all busy at their own tasks.
The sounds of axes, saws, hammering, and creaking wood rang out without pause.
At this rate, the outer fortifications of the shelter would probably be mostly finished in less than a week.
...In truth, Xiangzi had no intention of returning to their old home.
It was a sad thing to admit, but it was the truth. The situation over there was still unknown, and with so many people gathered here now, relocating would be a massive undertaking. In a sense, they had already put down roots.
Xiangzi still hadn't said it out loud, but Miranda and Huaxiu could probably tell.
After all, if they were going to put this much effort into building up what had once been a temporary refuge, there was no longer any reason to go back.
The deep mountains really were safer. At the very least, there weren't all kinds of bizarre infected creatures here.
And the surrounding area had already been thoroughly cleared out. The infected wouldn't be able to form another terrifying tide any time soon.
That afternoon, Xiangzi and the others worked together to tie ropes around the wrecked vehicles and drag them aside so they were no longer blocking the way.
The three cars that were still in decent condition were driven up to the parking area in front of the house.
Now they had five vehicles.
Taking advantage of the warm afternoon sun, Xiangzi drove out and hauled back the potatoes and the other supplies they'd found.
The unfortunate part was that the people who had ridden out with her had no choice but to walk back.
Their seats had been taken over by sacks of potatoes and other odds and ends.
And just like that, the day came to an end.
That evening, after dinner, with nothing else to do and the cold too bitter outside, Xiangzi organized a movie night.
That day, they had found a complete DVD setup in one of the houses downhill. And now that they'd repaired the power, they'd stepped back into the age of electricity.
The solar panels and generator didn't provide perfectly stable power, but the vehicle batteries could at least handle lights, TV, and charging phones. Even the small rice cooker and hair dryer could run.
So now and then, a little entertainment was a good way to ease the crushing tension of life in the apocalypse.
And that night, while fiddling with the radio, Huaxiu discovered that official broadcasts could once again be picked up.
"Today, a specialist team from Hawaii has arrived in Japan. Progress on the vaccine research for the virus is expected to accelerate significantly…"
Whether it was the poor signal or the radio itself, the broadcast was full of static, and the expert's name was drowned out beneath the noise.
There wasn't any particularly important information in it.
Better to sleep.
Xiangzi didn't pay the broadcast much mind. After washing up quickly, she went to bed.
She had no idea that the name swallowed up by the static belonged to her guardian, Kawano Chiyo.
If Xiangzi ever learned the truth later, she would probably curse that damned radio—or maybe the useless signal itself.
Meanwhile, after crossing the Pacific from Hawaii by way of a carefully concealed route, Kawano Chiyo and her group arrived on Shikoku by military transport.
For security reasons, their flight path had been deliberately hidden, so they never once encountered any aircraft from the Apostles, nor any of the flying infected.
The trip passed without a single incident. The escorting F-35 fighters, along with their new weapons, never even got the chance to show what they could do.
On January 25, at 6:30 in the evening, after a long and exhausting journey, Kawano Chiyo's group finally arrived at a military airfield in Shikoku.
Through the aircraft window, Chiyo could see brightly dressed reception staff everywhere, along with heavily armed soldiers who had sealed off the entire area with airtight security.
Japan's side clearly placed great importance on the incoming specialist team. And it wasn't only the medical research group—quite a few people from the headquarters of the central committee had come as well.
When the aircraft landed smoothly and they disembarked, Chiyo immediately warned the security personnel accompanying her to protect the samples and prototype drugs they had brought from the Hawaii research base.
"Take care of those supplies. That's all I brought. The current research conditions in Japan aren't enough to reproduce them."
"Even if we die, Kawano-san, nothing from Hawaii will be lost!"
"This is too important for carelessness. Let's go."
"Yes, ma'am."
The rest of the team moved along with her.
Then they split into two groups.
The personnel escorting the experimental materials headed straight for the research center.
As for Chiyo, she first had to meet with the local officials, then sit through a report from the Japanese branch of the central committee, then endure the welcome banquet, and only after that would she finally be shown to the research center assigned to her.
And so the day slipped past in a blur.
But there was nothing to be done about that. This was the schedule the Japanese side had arranged. If the locals themselves weren't in a hurry, then she, as a newcomer, couldn't exactly force them to move faster.
The emperor may not be anxious, but that doesn't mean the eunuch should panic on his behalf.
After exchanging a few polite words with one of her teacher's friends, she went to attend the briefing meeting.
At least on paper, the situation at the front looked good. The outer defensive line was stable. No further mutated infected types had been confirmed. The southward-moving infected tide had been repelled again and again by concentrated firepower. The fighting had effectively become positional warfare.
Wave after wave of infected would throw themselves at the lines, and the defenders would push them back. Occasionally the enemy would answer with hundreds or even thousands of artillery shells, pounding the rear. The defenders did the same in return—drones, armored vehicles, sweeping operations, saturation bombardment, tactical airstrikes.
And then it would all come down to fighting over one strongpoint after another.
To be honest, by now the war looked little different from the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in earlier years.
The only real difference was that one side used drones as expendable assets, while the other used infected bioweapons as expendable assets.
At its heart, it was still the same thing: intelligent beings waging war against intelligent beings.
Once the report meeting ended, the large group of attendees moved together toward the restaurant that had been reserved for them.
The table was laid out with delicacies that would have been hard to come by even before the apocalypse. Every ingredient had been carefully selected and inspected before being served.
Even now, at the end of the world, the food set before important people was still extravagant. There would always be those with the means to secure such things.
As they ate, they chatted about recent developments.
"So the Shikoku forces have managed to stabilize the line at Osaka and Hiroshima? It's full trench warfare against the Apostles now?"
"Yes. The situation is good. Front-line anti-infection measures have prevented large-scale viral spread through the army. There are still isolated infected outbreaks in the rear, of course, so we've had to organize quite a few military and police patrols."
"The Korean troops on Jeju Island surrendered, didn't they? Is that true?" Kawano Chiyo asked, recalling the rumors she'd heard before leaving Hawaii.
The man she was speaking to froze for a moment, apparently not expecting that question. After thinking for a bit, he answered,
"It's not confirmed. So far there's been no clear word on President Jeon Jung-seong or whether the Jeju authorities have opened negotiations with the Apostles. Communications are too poor. After the last electronic strike, their infrastructure was wrecked, and the sea routes were cut off. We can't say for certain."
"I see. I was only asking."
"No need to worry, Kawano-san. At least here in Shikoku, we still have the upper hand…"
As he said it, he raised a glass toward her, clearly afraid that any sign of instability might undermine her trust in the local government.
"That much, I do believe. Otherwise I wouldn't have volunteered to come here."
Chiyo didn't return the toast. She simply answered, then went back to eating.
It had been a long time since she'd had the chance to enjoy decent food. Still, the portions in Japanese cuisine were frustratingly small. She barely tasted anything before it was gone.
By the time night fell, Chiyo had finally made it through the day's obligations and collapsed into the comfortable bedroom prepared for her.
Beside her pillow lay several syringes and a specially made handgun—small things, but enough to give her a sense of safety.
Even in sleep, she murmured Xiangzi's name under her breath.
It was enough to show just how much her adopted daughter—despite sharing no blood relation—meant to her.
Her plan was already set: once the opportunity arose, she would use the excuse of researching radiation-altered infected in Fukushima to make a detour toward Nihonmatsu and see Xiangzi with her own eyes.
As long as Xiangzi hadn't died, Chiyo thought she would be able to rest easier.
Even if she had become infected.
After all, the virus research was already showing results. Reversibility had been confirmed in some form, and the development of a treatment had already begun.
Far away, on the Shikoku front, the soldiers were still enduring the same grim routine as always—guarding against nighttime assaults by infected squads and Apostles soldiers.
Now and then, great explosions and towering clouds of black smoke rose from the battlefield.
The exchange of artillery fire at the front continued methodically.
But tonight, the number of incoming rounds seemed suspiciously high.
The sentries, seeing shapes everywhere ahead of them, opened fire almost on instinct. It wasn't only one watchtower firing. The entire defensive line erupted in gunfire.
That night, the sound of guns and artillery did not die down for a very long time.
In the underground tunnels that resembled a demon's burrow, even more infected packed the passageways—but once doused in highly concentrated petroleum incendiaries, they burned like tufts of cotton in a furnace and were quickly reduced to ash.
In a brightly lit office, one of the officials who had received Chiyo that day was cautiously making a report to his superiors.
"…It may be a retaliatory action by the Apostles in response to the arrival of the medical team and the central committee advisory group."
"Have the artillery positions deliver full suppressive fire! Get the air force airborne immediately and clear the front! Do it fast—I refuse to let the central committee people spend their first day here losing confidence in us. Tighten security around the research center at once! Do not allow any mistakes!"
"Understood."
At last, the call ended.
Letting out a slow breath, the man pulled on his coat and stepped outside.
The anti-air illumination lamps bathed the entire research compound in stark artificial daylight.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
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TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
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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 195
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
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 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 30
I'm Definitely Not the King of 25
After Maxing Out Every Class 25
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