"I see. Shall we move on?" I am calmly interested, but even in that short phrase I could hear familiar to Foue Eyes intonations—and for me as well. After all, I hadn't merely watched Vector's life; I had lived it.
"No. It's time to get down to business. Now I'll collect samples from the zombies and their next stage and analyze them quickly. Don't worry—the mobile lab will be enough for that. And then, while the data is still 'hot,' we'll check your tests. At the same time, we'll compare the three different stages. Actually, even four, because I managed to obtain some Licker DNA particles when we encountered them."
She said, and there was a slightly fanatical note in the lady's voice. Hmm. We'll change scientists at the first opportunity—and I'm even afraid to absorb her, just in case this particular brand of madness is transmitted the same way. I have no desire to become a mad scientist.
While the girl enthusiastically took samples—two of each type, "to rule out errors," as she put it—I tried to understand what I was feeling.
No, that's not right. What a strange feeling has been growing inside me for the past hour, since we left city hall. To be precise, it had appeared even earlier. Anticipation? Apprehension? Something along those lines—but I couldn't interpret it. Nor could I understand where it was coming from.
And then, just as Foue Eyes was finishing her work with the syringe gun—at least, that's what it looked like—extracting samples from the "redheads" after having dealt with the ordinary ones, it happened.
Three zombies emerged from the backstreets. Nothing extraordinary, really—except that I didn't even have time to get close to them before they were crushed by something very fast that leaped out after them.
No, the speed of this something was comparable to mine. That alone was enough to shock me. But what truly froze me was the fact that I saw—albeit not clearly—what attacked them. It was not human, which was expected, and not a Tyrant, Hunter, or Licker(the latter, as far as I know, don't attack ordinary zombies). That realization caused me to lock up.
Or rather, to slow down unnaturally.
Still, the zombie killer looked closer to them. Yes, she was drenched in blood, but her speed—and her pale yet remarkably well-preserved skin—could even be called beautiful… at least to someone with a different aesthetic sense. For me, the blood in which this creature seemed to be bathing, along with its tattered clothes, completely ruined any appreciation of the spectacle. And the paleness seemed even more pronounced than mine.
No—more like the same, but only until the first meal.
All of this threw me off so badly that I didn't even react in time when she attacked me… No, that's not the right word—when this female individual knocked me off my feet. I only truly started reacting when she tried to pull down my pants, and a bizarre thought flashed through my mind:
Can zombies—even unusual ones—have an instinct to reproduce?
Perhaps I would have been raped. I wonder how, considering that I'm essentially a corpse, so that bodily function shouldn't work—and the sight of a blonde zombie did nothing to encourage the performance of a certain organ. Still, it might be worth checking its functionality someday. The charms of an impotent existence are definitely not compensated for by any superpowers.
That outcome was prevented only by Foue Eyes, who raised her gun and fired at my… attacker?
No. This individual should really be called a rapist.
But the only effect of the shot was that it forced the undead creature off me. Well, her reaction time was no worse than mine—possibly even better. Dodging a bullet… I'm not sure I could pull that off myself.
The individual who leaped off me wasn't in any hurry to stand upright. She remained on all fours—just as she'd landed—and even growled.
Pure instincts!
But I had no intention of getting involved in this any further and risking the only scientist we had on hand. If Foue Eyes became the first victim—and she was alive, so that was entirely possible—and I wasn't fast enough, the consequences would be unacceptable.
The backward jump—with my pants hastily pulled back up—turned out to be surprisingly dramatic. Landing beside Yamata, I grabbed her by the waist and jumped first onto a lamppost. Then, pushing off with all my strength, I launched us onto the roof of the nearest building.
I glanced back. It worked—and I hadn't even believed it would.
The undead repeated my maneuver of jumping onto the pole exactly, right down to the choice of lamppost. But here was the problem: I had deliberately pushed off in a way that would destabilize it.
Still, I expected something like this from someone who wasn't inferior to me in speed or strength—otherwise, she wouldn't have knocked me down in the first place.
As a result, the leaning pole began to fall and crushed the blonde undead beneath it. Even if you were Hercules, gravity would still win—especially with the added weight of a collapsing streetlight.
I gained a couple of seconds.
By the way… she reminded me of someone.
But it didn't matter., it's silly to stay and waste those few seconds thinking about it.
So, grabbing the squealing, "I'm not a sack of potatoes!" Yamata, I leapt across the rooftops and got us out of there. Yes, when faced with the choice between hiding my strength and abilities or running away from that thing, I chose the latter.
I'm not a coward—but I am cautious.
"Phew… what was that?" Yamata asked a few minutes later, once we were far enough away. "And by the way, next time carry me more carefully! You shook all my insides! Even jumping out of a falling helicopter has less G-force!"
🙌Bonus chapter for 100 power stones!
🎁The next bonus chapter will be for 200 power stones.