Likewise, Saya, who witnessed the scene, bit down hard on her lip, because she understood this was Mom's real objective.
Even though Mom had not told her that objective at the start, once Mom began speaking and deliberately provoking the crowd, Saya realized what she was about to do.
And even though Saya knew Earth Elixir worked on Alice after she had already been infected—so long as she had not fully turned into a living dead, she could still be cured—Mom's reckless action still made her deeply uneasy.
This was a direct bite, not like Alice's earlier case, where she had been accidentally cut by something sharp and infected through contact with the living dead's blood.
"Hurry, hurry and drink it, Mom!"
Saya couldn't help shouting, because Mom still hadn't taken it. Saya knew exactly what Mom intended to do.
To prove she was truly infected, and that the virus was spreading, she planned to wait until symptoms appeared before drinking it.
No. Saya couldn't endure that. She rushed forward—
—and was thrown back by Dad.
Dad even raised the blade in his hand, standing right behind Mom.
Once it was confirmed she had fully turned into a living dead, he would personally cut down his own wife.
"Mom, what are you waiting for? Drink it, now!"
Her arm had already become visibly horrific. Veins bulged, the skin turning a bruised purple-black.
Then she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and Saya's heart leapt into her throat.
"Mm. We really can't drag it out any longer."
Yuriko's voice came out like a growl, strained with pain as the virus invaded her body, her veins standing out in stark relief.
If she delayed any longer, she could feel her consciousness slipping past the point of resistance. She brought the Earth Elixir to her lips and drank it down in one gulp.
This was the whole point of the performance—she did not take it first, but allowed herself to be bitten before taking it.
If it failed in the end, wouldn't that be a disaster?
But even if it failed, it would still be a data point: proof that the best practice was to take Earth Elixir before being bitten, because taking it after the fact could not be relied upon.
However, if she drank it after such obvious infection symptoms had already manifested, and then recovered—
—then the shock value would be far greater, and the proof of the drug's potency far more convincing.
Yuriko was personally acting as the test subject, and she was doing it in front of her own daughter.
Mm?
The violent dizziness in her head rapidly receded. The pain in her body ebbed away like a tide, quickly draining into nothing.
The abnormalities in her arm—its corpse-like pallor and the black vein-like markings—visibly faded at speed, faster even than the infection had advanced.
In only a few breaths, her arm returned to normal.
Not only that, she also felt the wound itching as it healed, and the bleeding stopped swiftly.
It seemed what her daughter had said was true: it also carried a rapid wound-healing effect.
But according to her daughter, this thing did not merely treat the living-dead virus.
She claimed it could cure almost all diseases in the current world.
If that was true, it was nothing short of a miracle—a mythical panacea that healed all ailments.
Calling it Earth Elixir was, in that sense, perfectly fitting.
"Did you see that?"
Souichiro's low, forceful words made everyone's eyes burn hotter and hotter.
Good. This was exactly what he wanted.
Most of that heat, of course, was naked craving for the medicine. If they had not feared him, they might have rushed in to seize it on the spot.
But at the very least, now that they knew a drug existed that could prevent the living-dead virus, their will to survive—their desire for a future—became fiercely real.
"And now, I need people to step forward and come with me to collect the raw materials to manufacture it!"
After he said that, no one stepped out immediately.
Ten seconds of silence passed.
Then Tanaka Ayaha and the others came forward.
"Very good. These brave volunteers will, of course, be the most qualified to receive this medicine, and their families will be given priority access as well."
"This isn't fair…"
It was that sharp-tongued, malicious woman again. Saya nearly pulled out her pistol and put a round through her right there.
If Saya remembered correctly, that woman was even younger than Mom. As for why she looked like such an awful, middle-aged hag—there was only one explanation: her face matched her heart.
A person with an ugly soul wore an ugly face.
That woman even tried to rally the other women, shouting about what women "should"—
"Bang—!"
She shut up forever.
A hole appeared in her head.
The gunshot stunned everyone into silence.
Saya, startled as well, turned her gaze stiffly toward the source of the sound—
—and saw Mom holding a pistol, the muzzle still faintly smoking.
Clearly, Mom had finally had enough of that vicious troublemaker.
Wait—
Mom's decision to act so decisively, was also because of that guy.
Which meant he was losing patience too. If they wasted any more time, he might start killing to clear the way.
The pistol Mom used was not the one that fired bullets capable of melting almost any material. That weapon was too dangerous—one shot could affect far too many people.
This was an ordinary sidearm from this world, seized from personnel on an armed helicopter.
"If you want priority access to the medicine, then join the team. If you have objections, sorry—we do not accept your objections. If you won't accept that, then leave the Takagi household. And if you keep making trouble, you will be permanently silenced."
Mom was no longer gentle.
She had become a cold, ruthless queen.
She was too cool.
…
In the blink of an eye, only ten minutes remained before departure.
The team split into two groups. One would be led by Kain himself, and his members included the original few—especially three people who were essentially indispensable.
Saya, the glasses girl certified by the obtained "Hard Drive."
Shizuka, the school nurse familiar with pharmaceuticals.
And Saeko, the kendo girl who had invited him into this world.
"Hm?"
Kain noticed a distinct change in Saeko, who had just stepped out of Room 630, and he froze for a beat.
That should have been at least D-'grade'. How had it dropped by a full one and a half grades?
As for why he noticed immediately—he couldn't help it. Just now, those D-grade "assets" had helped massage his back, along with some more subtle "assistance" that left his blood pressure dropping in a way that was hard to ignore.
"I used cloth strips to bind them. It makes it easier to massage your back."
Seeing his confusion, she explained it like that.
So that was it.
Then the reason she had called him over earlier was to ask him to help.
What a pity—Saya had suddenly run over and shoved him out of the way.
Suddenly, with hearing far sharper than any of theirs, Kain caught the familiar sound of a motorcycle engine—the same kind of roaring he had heard before from the bike that had been secretly tailing them on the dirt road.
He walked to the balcony and looked toward the source of the sound. His pupils widened as he caught sight of the figure.
So they were only coming now, to make formal contact with him?
That was rather slow.
If possible, he would have preferred to cooperate with the Black Label people. Their side offered better security, and their equipment would be more comprehensive than what was available here.
Unfortunately, their headquarters was not in Tokonosu City, but in Lower Ward City.
If, when he had first been invited into this world, he had known that the story from that work was also unfolding here, he might have been able to reach that organization's location before the living-dead outbreak.
If the verification failed, it would have been a pointless trip.
(End of Chapter)
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