Laughter was echoing throughout the area. She couldn't help but smile. The happy kids of around her age, the celebrating parents… even the sickly were happy. They knew that they wouldn't last long, but still, they chose to be happy.
The girl in white dress looked up to her father.
"I want to be someone like you, Papa!"
The father laughed gleefully. He was beaming with pride hearing his daughter's praise. "I'm looking forward to it!"
"I'm curious, Papa. How did you do it? How did you make everyone so happy?" The girl was so curious. According to people around her, she was more mature than the rest of her age. But even so, she still has a curiosity the same as a child.
She knew how everyone, even her, was depressed. They lost all hope. But then, her father made everyone smile brightly, as if they do not have any more health problems.
She could understand it if she was the only one who was smiling. She had to be brave to comfort her father. But what about the others?
Lily, a five year old, who was so scared before, didn't show anymore fear, she was laughing brightly that anyone would mistake her for a healthy child.
Hime, a ten year old, who was silent all throughout their days in the Children's Hospital, suddenly became chatty.
She couldn't help but wonder what was the mystery with everything that happened.
The father of the child who was wearing white lab gown smoothed the girl's hair.
"Some things are beyond our understanding. I just gave them direction. I just healed them the way I could. Isn't it better for everyone to just be happy?"
***
Hikari sighed after remembering her childhood.
Papa… Even when you are gone now, I'll still be a person you would be proud of. You're always happy whenever I told you I'll be someone like you and mom. I'll help people. I'll never stop helping. I won't give up on Nozomi-neechan. I'll save her no matter what.
She looked down at the… Zombies. Yes, they looked like zombies.
They were below her, still roaming even when they didn't notice her as she had stopped making noise.
It was a virus released by the Vampire princess. She wanted to test Hikari's resolve. She wanted to break her for wanting to understand the Vampire. The Vampire wanted revenge because Hikari was…
Happiness.
Just like the happiness her father gave everyone before.
She understands the Vampire Princess. She knew why she was angry. She knew why she wanted revenge. And all she could do was accept.
Yet, it didn't mean she would let her kill all the humans who had turned into Zombies.
She didn't despair when the Vampire spread the virus, instead, she felt relief.
Although it disgusted her thinking how rotten she could feel, she still could not help it.
She saw and felt the emotion of the Vampire Princess.
She felt guilty for being the cause of the virus spreading to this area. With her guilt, Hikari tried her best to find a cure for everyone. She could not find it. More than one month has passed.
She still has time.
She wouldn't give up.
Not when she found hope.
She took a deep breath and started to think deeply of everything she knew about the virus. She discarded everything that the modern world knows about Zombies.
Any unrealistic knowledge led her to failure.
It was best to thread with a path that was facts.
Even if she would draw a theory or hypothesis, it was best that she disregard what she had seen or read about zombies from their books.
What she could trust was what she had seen.
Although it looks like the virus is transferred by contact, it was not as simple as that. It needs a contact of inner flesh with the virus. The most common way to achieve that was through biting. But even when someone was bitten, if the duration was just one second, it wouldn't be enough to transfer the virus. The virus walks slowly. But even so, it is still a short time for humans. They get transferred in just five seconds.
Five seconds is a short time for humans. They could barely react after ten seconds if one was shocked. And thus, the humans below Hikari got infected uncontrollably.
There were no other races among the infected.
It wasn't because the virus only works for humans. It's because other races like Dragon Riders and Vampires have quick reactions.
They could react as fast as millisecond.
Humans were outclassed.
Humans were far too weak compared to other races. Even the orcs, goblins, trolls and wolves have higher reactions. If she would use the term like the game-like feature she sees in her interface, then she could conclude that the starting stats of other races far exceeds humans.
To be honest, the only advantages humans had compared to other races were their intelligence, adaptability and technology. But the technology was taken down the moment the Super Phenomena happened. Now, they only have intelligence and adaptability, but still, they weren't the best race that excel in that area.
In all honesty, she felt bitter, especially after she heard the God's Army congratulating her for taking down 5 Zones.
The God's Army clearly stated how humans were the least expected race to survive in this chaos, but still, they're persisting.
From what the God's Army told her, she saw the pros and cons of the situation. With the countless cons, she focused her mind on the pros to not be depressed.
The pros of humanity is that they are evolving to betterment. Once the Super Phenomena started and once the humans started getting registered by the System, she saw how humans mutated. Even her deadly disorder she had since birth was miraculously cured. That was not all, she noticed how the cell regeneration was faster than usual.
She also saw how growth was being pushed for everyone. Some old people even started to look younger when they upgraded their stats.
It was a miracle.
And as per usual, humans would do their best to survive.
That's what humanity is best at.
She just hoped that even after going through all hell, she hoped that they would still keep their humanity intact.
She didn't want to lose her humanity at all.
She wanted to stay human.
***
[Master, you are close to her. About 100 meters away from her.]
Sanctuary's voice echoed to the four who were hopping from one tree to another. Even though it was his first time doing such a thing, Sho didn't feel uncomfortable at all. It felt like he had been doing that for centuries.
Caelus looked at the other three with him. Asahi and Gouki nodded to him. They looked more cautious. If he would pick a word, he would pick "battle ready" or "combat mode on" for how he perceived the two.
He also started circulating his Qi, expanding his senses so he could easily react to anything abnormal.
Since his Qi Aura distance detection was 500 meters, he could already detect Hikari, yet he only activated it now since he was more proficient in using Qi Cloak and Qi Boost. He had been relying on Sanctuary to survey the surroundings, he only used Qi Aura when he instinctively felt he should use it.
Once he had used his Qi Aura the horde of weird humans below distracted him.
Zombies.
That was the first thing he thought when he saw them and when he scanned them with his Qi Aura, reading their Qi Energies.
Yet, even though they looked like Zombies, they weren't exactly Zombies.
While he was scanning them, he felt the dead and living energy inside them. It seems the dead energy is attacking the living energy and the dead energy is actually winning.
He was actually awed when he discovered that.
It means that the "Zombification" process was actually dead energy dominating the body until no more living energy was left. If one was too weak, then they won't be able to stop the Zombification and become Zombie.
So far, he hasn't seen any real Zombies yet. It seems the dead energy released hasn't been long ago. There was a chance to save the humans. But it would be tricky to save them.
Theoretically, he thinks he could help.
He could somehow help with his Qi Energy, letting the Living Energy be more active inside them. Theoretically, it was almost the same principle behind how he had saved Sumaya. Yet, it was a different type of Energy.
When Sanctuary explained the principle between Mana and Energy, he realized his Qi was a mix of the both. When he saved Sumaya, he was only using the compatible Energy to Sumaya, however, this time, he needed to find the right Mana, Energy or Natural Essence the person needed.
All of it was just a theory.
If he wanted to try it, he had to capture one to test it out. And because there were humans who were close to becoming Zombies and those who weren't, it would be hard to separate them being everyone was hoarding together wherever the sound was.