Chapter 84 - Past

*Not the time to think about this.* He shook his head and focused on silently hopping to another tree. As they got closer, they finally reached where Hikari was. She was 15 meters away from them leaning on top of a tree, her body was tied with a rope, preventing her fall.

Looking at the heroic lady, he noticed how much she had matured.

Her temperament did a flip through. Before, she looked like a heroic lady who would help anyone. But then, looking at her eyes, she had toughened up and would stop helping someone who would bring trouble.

The most noteworthy change about her was her loss of weight. She was considerably thinner compared to when they first met.

But her mature beauty and the light and kindness in her eyes that influenced anyone who saw her was still there.

However, he noticed another thing, Caelus couldn't help but think she looked very stressed.

*She wants to save them…* he immediately came to the conclusion. She wanted to but it seems she doesn't know how.

A flash of image appeared in Caelus' mind, making him stop on track.

***

A familiar female figure was beside Caelus. He looked at her lovingly, yet, he felt a painful tug in his heart as he saw sadness in her eyes.

"Why are you sad?"

The female twitched in surprise. She forcefully put a smile on her face but her sadness didn't vanish. "I can do only this much. The Outreach program is just a momentary solution. It's not a permanent one. We could elevate their hunger for now, but look at those kids…"

She used her lips to point out to a little malnourished girl eating with so much gusto. The girl was very thin with hair that was clear that had not been washed for quite some time. Her clothes were also dirty, not for playing but for working trying to see anything they could sell in the heap of trash.

Caelus felt saddened looking at them. In their country, such a thing was common.

Because of poverty, kids aged five to fourteen would start working even when it was illegal for them to work. If they were lucky to have good parents, they would be working with garbage collection; if unlucky, they would be stealing… or they could be the one who had been sold off. Although it was already a modernized world, that didn't stop people from selling off their kids. They already had eight children to feed, selling off one was an act of mercy on their part… or what they tell themselves.

Caelus was not part of the poverty, so he could not be one to judge. He could only feel very saddened knowing how these people suffer.

Third-rate country.

It might be a sin to be born into one.

And because they were third-rate countries, the politicians would be more happy with fewer educated people around. They pushed through laws about anything else but education. It was an act to leash uneducated voters, making it easier for people to be manipulated by sweet words and momentary help of money.

It was an unending cycle.

And his fiancee was right. Even when they did an Outreach program or Feeding program, none of that could help these people. It would only serve as a day of good fortune in their hellish life. It would not change their fates.

"They don't have a future if we don't help more." She continued.

Caelus felt his heartbreak hearing his fiancee's anguish tone. He clasped her hands over his, hoping to soothe her sadness away. "Let's try helping. If in our tribe, we were able to promote education, then, maybe we can do it in this place?"

***

Before Caelus could even make out what was happening, he was pulled out of his memory.

*What…?*

He was confused. He couldn't even pay attention to the worried gazes Gouki and Asahi were giving him. His mind was with the random memory that suddenly emerged.

*Was not my memory locked? Didn't the System tell me that I need to be Tanzanite Rank to access them? W-what is happening? Why did I suddenly see a memory while I'm awake? Even when she was still blurred…*

He knew clearly that what he had experienced was another part of his memories. But this was different from before. Before, every memory fragment would just surface when he was sleeping. Right now, it surfaced while he was awake.

What was the difference?

*Hikari…*

Yes. He was looking at Hikari and it reminded him of someone special to him.

~Thump, thump, thump~

Hikari reminded him of his fiancee.

Whether it was her nature or her disposition, they were almost similar.

He gulped the lump in his throat.

More confusion was engulfing him, but he knew it was not the time to dwell on them.

He smiled forcefully to the three.

"I'll go to her, inform them." Caelus silently commanded Sanctuary. When Sanctuary were able to inform the three, he immediately jumped over to the strong branch on Hikari's tree. She was startled but he immediately covered her mouth to silence her. Lest they gather the hoard of Zombies' attention.

Caelus' heart was thumping as he met Hikari's widened gaze. His view of her was overlapping with someone amidst it being blurry.

*Now is not the time to be distracted.*

"Connect me to her, Sanctuary."

Being close to each other, Sanctuary was able to connect Hikari to their network. With Sanctuary as their voices, she transferred anything one said over to their head directly using her Mana as the cost. It was like being in a group chat call conversation. But without the phone.

"It's me, Sho Chad. I'm with Gouki, Akihiko and my best friend, Asahi. Don't make a noise and just voice your thoughts through Sanctuary." It was possible to hold a conversation with Sanctuary with thoughts as long as one was connected. Yet, Caelus didn't use the feature too much because he liked talking with Sanctuary as if she was any other human.

"What?"

"Yes, I can hear you." Caelus finally let go of her mouth. He was glad she was able to get used to this at first try. The four men had to get used to it for quite some minute before finally able to master it. Maybe it was talent. He refused to believe that it has to do with gender.

"Oh. This is amazing." a smile suddenly lifted on Hikari's face. All her stress seemed to have been lifted after seeing another human that wasn't infected by Zombies.

"This is not time for a happy reunion," it was Gouki. "We need to get out of here. There's 500 km of hoard of zombies, but that might become more as time goes by. Maybe more surviving humans would come into contact with this… weird phenomena. Let's leave for now and go over to the shelter. We can think better for a solution there."

Caelus wanted to say something but Hikari was quicker.

"No! I'm not going. I'm not leaving these people behind. There's two months before they become real undead. It's not two months yet. I need to find a solution. If I move away from here and think of a solution when I'm far away, how long would it take for me to come back here?"

"And what do you plan to do to find a solution? Throw yourself to these hoards and make yourself one of them?"

"I'm not that stupid!"

"For me, it's pretty stupid to stay here when you can't come up with a solution. How long have you been here? Don't tell me you wasted 2 months here and still couldn't figure out how to cure them?"

Hikari's face burned red. She looked embarrassed and angry at the same time. "I won't give up! I still have about a month to find a cure! I'll find it no matter what!"

"Guys… it's not the time to fight." Asahi's condescending voice sounded. It felt like he was talking to two children when he said that.

Caelus' jaw dropped, not knowing what to say. Caelus thought of how to intervene, yet, with only Sho's memory of being so introverted, he could not think of a solution.

"Leave me here. I won't go."

"That's good. At least we can just go and settle the matters in the Shelter. She could follow when she's done here."

"Hey. Stop!" Caelus finally found his voice to intervene. Two pairs of shocked eyes landed on him. He immediately raised his hands as if surrendering from those dagger eyes. "I'll stay with Hikari, I might know how to cure them, but it would be tricky. One month might not be enough."

"You can cure them?" Hikari was shocked. And so was everyone. "Have you encountered this virus before?"