"Honestly, I don't know. I'm still a layman in these matters, although I've definitely come to understand some things," I said, looking over her shoulder.
"I'm more concerned about the results of Nemesis's DNA. The T-virus is certainly more stable and all that, but damn—even now, he's head and shoulders above me in terms of physical characteristics. I somehow arrogantly decided that I could be his equal. And then there's the sheer mass of that carcass and its overall impenetrability. It's good that I'm undeniably faster now," I sighed. Yes, my earlier conclusion about the equality of forces had been incorrect; it was just that he'd been pulling the tentacle with far less force than he actually possessed.
"Well, now it's better for no one to meet him at all, because we could accidentally damage the parasite that controls him. And so… I'm more surprised that even before meeting him, your data was comparable to that of the Tyrants. Except that your size and weight let you down in some cases, so you couldn't be portrayed as an impenetrable monster. But now I'm sure it wasn't a mistake on the part of my laboratory, because an ordinary Tyrant could do little against Nemesis. So we can consider the test a success… well, with some errors, but we only benefited from those." The scientist dismissed my ironic glance.
"In other words, we now have to break into the laboratory under the city and either search it for the virus or carefully drink Birkin's blood while staying alive ourselves. Fun. And how wonderful it would have been if the Nemesis option had been real… you deceived me cruelly," I sighed, climbing off the roof and heading toward its edge.
Now, in principle, we didn't have to run across rooftops anymore—especially considering the Umbrella helicopters. The ordinary infected below wouldn't react to us the way they had to Four Eyes before, and we could either outrun the rest or kill them even without weapons. Well, unless we ran into Nemesis again, of course—and even with two or three Tyrants, no matter how strong we were, we were unlikely to win. The same went for a dozen—or even fewer—Hunters, and considering their natural armor… yeah, I was still as far from the title of the strongest monster as I was from the moon on foot. Never mind. I'll get there, I'll obtain a proper G-virus, and then we'll see who wins.
"By the way, the Progenitor virus will serve us well too," Yamata said thoughtfully.
"No!!! How did you even find out about that?" I flinched— even physically—thanks to conditioned reflexes.
"I told you I managed to rummage through the lab's database a little during my first visit. But why such a reaction?" the girl asked in surprise.
"You know, I'd rather face Nemesis and Birkin in hand-to-hand combat than go after the only carrier of that virus. Lisa Trevor needs to be beaten not by just the two of us, but by a group of infected like us—armed, at least to distract her at first—and supported by at least fifty infected. Yes, yes, I'm talking about infected like us right now. Any fewer than that, and this monster will definitely kill us!" I shuddered again. Even now, I rated Lisa's speed far higher than my own, and I wouldn't even mention her other abilities—including her indestructibility.
"I see you've already encountered the carrier," Four Eyes chuckled.
"Yes. You should be hearing her call right now," I said.
"Call? Well… yes, there is something barely perceptible. But before you mentioned it, I hardly felt it," the girl replied.
"What? But it's getting louder and more insistent with every passing hour… it's really getting on my nerves, you know. And after the evolution, it's like—hang yourself. I know it's useless for me to hang myself; it was just an expression." I waved it off.
"Hmm. Is that because the virus is more developed, or because you're more incorrectness as an infected individual? Still, as I said, I'm much more stable in this regard, if only because the processes of infection development in me are almost three times slower, and therefore less chaotic. As you can see, the rate of change in you hasn't slowed down at all—only now, due to the new stage, the parameters are actively growing. But for how long… that's what I can't say. Not with this half-dead equipment," the scientist said sadly. For her, the destruction of the "miracle suitcase" was a greater blow than her own change of species.
Why destruction? Well, she had taken some of Nemesis's bullets, and some of them had gone straight through her—right where her trusty device was mounted on her back. It might have been shock-resistant, but it was clearly not anti-gatling. As a result, it was already malfunctioning badly and discharging rapidly during our analyses, and when it finally analyzed Nemesis, it produced a result and then modestly died two minutes later.
"Okay, enough whining. That's exactly why we're going to the lab—where, excuse the tautology, there are labs," I said, watching the utterly dejected expression on the face of my now-definite partner as she stared at her smoking suitcase. It was a shame, of course, but I thought we'd be able to find a replacement.
"Let's go," I grunted, holding out my hand to her. Still, it would be better for me to jump off the building with her in my arms—otherwise she'd break something again.
"Let's go," the girl said, turning away from her pocket lab and offering me her hand.
(End of Chapter)
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