In an ordinary civilian room, a silhouette was shaking.
"Let me think, let me think..."
Lucius sat on the sofa in the room, looking at the ceiling all the time. Thinking about one thing. There were several large highways to exit Wenhan City. But now, they were completely blocked off by the military.
Lucius stretched out his hand, which was stained with blood. Human blood. After being active for so long, of course, he was hungry. Good thing that he was discovered by a pair of survivor siblings.
What happened after that?
"Umm...Umm..." A little boy who was no more than ten years old sat in the corner. His hands tied tightly with a rope, and his mouth covered by the cloth. Looking fearfully at Lucius, who was sitting on the couch with tears in his eyes. What made him feel afraid was not Lucius. But the woman who fell on the floor with a weak breath. There were two bloody holes in her neck.
Who told these siblings to go out for food when Lucius was about to return?
Monsters aren't scary.
What was scary was monsters who possessed human emotions and intelligence that was even better than humans.
"Heh... "Lucius sat up on the couch, a map of the entire Wenhan City was spread above the coffee table in front of him, and a Black Star* pistol was placed next to the map.
Lucius ignored the small struggling child.
"My strongest pawn is a level 3 mutant enhanced by the Black Light Virus." Lucius scribbled on the map with his blood-soaked, not yet dried hands. "Each enhancement cost 10.000 despair points. True, it can break through walls…"
Lucius drew a large red cross on the edge of the map. "With that Major here, it's not enough to just rely on a Level 3 mutant."
Humans were powerful creatures. They understood fear, and because of fear, they became stronger and had a strong will to continue living. Even though that fear continued to haunt them.
The Major, on the other hand, was the best among humans.
"So, a big nope." Lucius crossed all the exits on the map with a big red cross in blood.
You're really something, Major. Lucius leaned back on the couch and continued to look up at the ceiling.
It had been a full few hours since the last time a Level 3 mutant crow had attacked the city walls. Lucius hadn't got the Level 5 infected life form notification yet. That meant that Major had suppressed the virus! He definitely didn't destroy it. Lucius didn't believe that someone was immune to the Black Light Virus. He merely suppressed the Black Light virus. Perhaps the antibodies of A-rank Espers were exceptionally strong. But eventually, the virus would evolve and devour him.
After a few hours, Lucius walked on the street and saw a few zombies with hot breath on their bodies one after another. The A-rank flame manipulation genes began to work among the zombies. Soon, a few mutants that could manipulate flames would evolve.
Now, Lucius seemed to be faced with a choice. It was waiting for the Major, who was called a hero to resist the virus, before attempting to break through the blockade again. Lucius straightened his sitting position on the couch and kept looking at the map that had been painted with blood.
After a moment of contemplation, a notification flashed in his mind. It was a message from the system, finished reading...
"That's...pretty impressive, Major." His scarlet eyes bloomed with a gloomy glow. "Though, I'm looking forward to the moment when you evolve into a new lifeform, Major." Lucius' eyes reflected a message from the system.
[Level 5 lifeform's cells have suppressed the virus, expect full infection time in fifteen days.]
Is this because he's an Esper? Lucius walked next to the window and looked at the zombies that were swaying and wandering the street. On ordinary humans, once they were infected by the Black Light virus, the virus would devour their cells within a few seconds. As long as their brain remained intact. But...Espers were more interesting than Lucius had imagined.
"Fifteen days." Lucius looked out the window, "The New Federation of China can do a lot of things in fifteen days. such as sending an army to wipe out this city even with huge civilian casualties!"
Civilians were something optional before the government of the New Federation of China. After all, the New Federation of China lacked everything, but not humans. Every ruler had to be a cold-blooded killer before he could rise to power. If Lucius remembered correctly, the current President of the New Federation of China was a total executioner! Trading the human life of one city for the peace of the entire country was definitely a good deal.
"But you won't do that, Major." Lucius's hand stopped drawing on the map. His figure slowly disappeared into the darkness, "A soldier's duty is to protect the people, isn't it?"
Lucius turned around to lock eyes with the child sitting in the corner with his limbs bound. He didn't have to break through the blockade with violence. He could just disguise himself as a harmless civilian. He could leave the city as long as he didn't carry the virus. Lucius's goal now was just to leave the city. There was no need to fight the strongest person in this country. So Lucius was planning to take out his disguise glasses to change his appearance into a human. After all, everyone would notice something amiss once they saw Lucius' scarlet eyes. Just now, he seemed to have thought of something.
"Sorry, little brother, I forgot about you." Lucius's hand holding his glasses paused in mid-air, and his eyes met up with the pupils of the little boy sitting down in the corner.
"Umm! Ugh!" He struggled more intensely.
"Ha, don't get so excited. I just want to thank you for giving me a place to stay and a wonderful dinner..."
Lucius picked up the Black Star pistol that was placed next to the table. It was the sister and brother's and the reason they were able to survive until now in the doomsday. The New Federation of China didn't implement a ban on guns for civilians, and some guns with less-lethal power could still be bought in gun shops. Even though it didn't have good destructive strength, shooting through a small child's skull was more than enough.
Lucius had one hand on the handle of the gun, aiming it at the little boy bound in the corner! His finger rested on the trigger.
"Ummm! Ugh!!!" He realized he was going to die just like his sister, killed by this man! Human potential tends to explode in moments like this. His body hit the floor hard, eyes gazed widely. The door was open, and even though his hands and feet were bound, his body struggled to move towards the door. The ground was overflowing with his own sister's blood. The feeling of his body covered in blood brought him close to collapse.
I don't want to die! The thought flooded his brain, even though his jaw was already cracked from rubbing against the ground, but...he still didn't give up.
"Shoot."
"Mmm!"
Listening to the demon's voice, the boy finally closed his eyes in fear!
Bang!
A gunfire sound, the sound of bullets being fired...
The boy had thought he was going to die, but he found there's no pain in his body. Had the demon missed? The boy opened his eyes in fear. It didn't miss...the shot was very accurate! The boy suddenly realized that the rope that binds his hands had been shot through!
Bang! Another shot was fired, this time through the rope that bound the boy's feet.
He stood up and looked up incredulously in the direction of the couch, and it was not the demon with the scarlet eyes. It was not a demon...
Instead, it's a reliable-looking big brother with dark glasses. The gentle smile on that big brother's face wasn't that terrifying demon's malicious smile!
"Run quickly." Lucius' smile remained, looking at the little boy standing, "Follow this walkway, and you'll be able to get outside."
He's….saved?! He can't believe it! But the door was open, and his hand and feet were unbound!
"Thanks...thanks!" He would rather believe that the gentle and kind-looking big brother in front of him was definitely not that demon! Absolutely not!
The boy who thought he could live ran up the corridor, hope flooding his heart. To survive! He looked out the window at the horizon where the sun was rising, and felt suddenly that his life was in color full of hope!
"Heh..." But he hadn't noticed what kind of smile Lucius had been maintaining. A bone-chilling grin!
"Grrrr!"
The boy's hopeful expression was trampled by a horrible snarl! The zombies quickly noticed their prey covered in fresh blood and pelted the boy to the ground. After that, only human cries of pain and flesh shredded sound were heard.
"Help me..." He knew what would happen to him. The feeling of his own flesh and blood being eaten away bit by bit made him desperate! It's better to get shot by that guy than to die like that! At least it'll be less painful!
"Help me!" In his eyes, Lucius's gentle smile was still there, but it was drifting away. The monster behind him, dragging his body to the end of the corridor… tearing him apart!
"What a troublesome kid." After Lucius saw the figure disappear in the doorway, he removed the Black Star's clip and looked at the bullets inside. No more, no less, exactly one round. "If you didn't struggle in the first place, maybe I would have just killed you instead of having you killed by them... it's your choice."
The so-called mercy...a concept that humans don't possess when they're about to die. Lucius looked at the faintly breathing woman on the ground. The little boy's sister was still alive...but he ignored his sister's fate and fled alone.
Lucius never had mercy on humans. Don't humans have a saying? Those who were not of our kind will be killed.
"It's time to play a role-playing game." The disguise glasses worked brilliantly after he saw the boy's reaction. Judging by the way, he turned from fear to courage and then to fear again.
Now, Lucius looked like a slender teenager, absolutely harmless. Then, getting past the inspection would be easy. Next, he should get out of this city.
Just.....
"Uh...ahhh!"
"Is that you? Long time no see, little girl." Lucius discovered that a zombie had suddenly appeared at the door. It was the young girl in the white dress that he had met before.
After a while, the white dress was stained with blood, its hair was disheveled, and its tiny face splattered with blood. With her appearance, she was gruesomely beautiful. But this time it wasn't as friendly as it had acted before!
"Uhhh!"
When she saw Lucius, she rushed up, as if she wanted to eat Lucius.
Bang!
Another gunshot rang out. Lucius held the handle of the gun in both hands, maintaining his shooting stance. That petite figure had fallen to the ground, blood flowing from her forehead...
"Oh, sorry, sorry, I give off a human vibe, so you're starting to take an interest in me? But I'm not interested in you, little one!"
Lucius had thought it was over. But instead...the young girl whose brain had been penetrated by the bullet stood up again. Sharp claws popped out of her small hands. Its petite body gave off a strange aura.
A Level 2 infected life form?!
This was no longer a monster that a Black Star pistol could shoot.
"Do you want to keep playing with me?" Lucius looked at the Level 2 infected life form that was lunging at him, "Anytime! Little one!"
TL's note:
*Black Star Pistol: The Type 54 and its variants are Chinese copies of the Soviet-type Tokarev TT-33. Type 54 pistols are also known colloquially as "Black Star" pistols due to the five-pointed star engraved on its all-black grip panel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_54_pistol