This was the largest general hospital, and there were still some survivors here.
In a sense, that was a good thing, but it was also a bad thing.
The good thing was that people were still alive. The more living people remained in the world, the more "human vitality" the world still had.
The bad thing was that when people had already fallen into despair, they were easily emotionally triggered and prone to irrational behavior.
So, once they saw that this team had real strength, they desperately wanted help.
If you couldn't keep them under control, they would keep nagging, and everything would become difficult at every step.
As for this situation, they had anticipated it. So Saya and the others watched as a Takagi family member walked over to those people.
This person was like a politician, the type who "knew how to talk," and was suited to the job of soothing people's emotions.
With that side handled, Saya's collection of pharmaceuticals began to proceed smoothly as well.
And the selection of medicines here was more complete, so she connected the "Eye" into her laptop and began preparing multiple formula sets.
She had to admit it. This "Eye" really was high-tech. The "Eye" was an extremely precious treasure.
She plugged it directly into computers that had been scrapped by the EMP attack, and somehow it could still read their data, even open the hospital's internal system.
Right now, Saya was also working on a special formula, something he had specifically reminded her to try.
He told her to make use of those extremely expensive drugs, the special medications ordinary people could never afford, and the kinds of drugs that normally weren't even used. She was to filter those out and feed them into the Earth Elixir manufacturing program, letting it analyze and derive new formulae.
And also those medicines that required refrigeration. Because of the EMP attack, the environmental temperature was shifting, and those drugs would quickly spoil and be ruined, so they needed to be added as well.
After that, she would use other drugs, building around the Earth Elixir manufacturing program, using Earth Elixir's formula as the baseline.
"Shizuka-sensei, what is this?"
"Oh, this is for…"
She also had Shizuka-sensei help, because Saya could only understand the drug descriptions at the literal level. She didn't know the targeted properties and professional specifics behind them.
For example, what reactions occurred between two drugs, and what the description meant in terms only industry professionals would understand. Of course she couldn't read that at a glance.
She could have the Earth Elixir system further interpret it and make it comprehensible to her, but that would cost even more time.
With a professional like Shizuka-sensei on hand, who understood what those reactions and descriptions meant, they could save a great deal of effort.
In the blink of an eye—
"So this is what you call 'making a vaccine'?"
Mikoto stared at the scene in front of her in disbelief.
She had already seen them produce a vaccine in another general hospital before, and it had even been a group of high school students helping.
But now, watching the production process from this close distance, it was so outrageous that it felt like children playing house.
And the so-called raw materials for the vaccine really were just pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients.
It didn't even look like they needed rare materials. It was as if any medicine could be used as a material, so long as it was medicine.
It looked that simple?
How could that be possible.
The real secret had to be in that laptop in Saya's hands.
No, not the laptop.
That Hard Drive.
Suddenly, Mikoto frowned when she noticed something.
Three people were approaching. They looked like a nurse and a doctor from this hospital, plus a patient, or perhaps the patient's family member.
They were probably coming to take some medicine.
That had happened before.
However, Mikoto sensed that these three were different. The closer they got, the more tense they looked, even frightened.
"Save me…"
The voice came out in a sobbing whimper, their face filled with terror.
"Stop. Answer me!"
Mikoto raised her handgun at them immediately, and with her other hand she slammed the door shut behind her.
She fired a warning shot, because they didn't stop.
That also proved something. They were being threatened by something so severe they dared to keep running straight into her muzzle.
Yet they only hesitated briefly, and then kept charging forward.
And at that moment, Mikoto noticed an earpiece hanging by their ear.
She understood. Someone was threatening them through the earpiece.
Threatening them with what?
Family?
No.
Mikoto's face changed drastically when she saw something. Something was bulging under their clothes, an odd outline in light and shadow.
A bomb?
Very likely.
So, should she shoot them?
But they were obviously innocent people being forced.
If she didn't shoot, then her own life was threatened, and so were the lives of the people behind her.
Damn it.
Bang—!
She pulled the trigger, but they still kept coming.
Because she hadn't hit them.
Because she still couldn't bring herself to shoot an innocent person.
She couldn't hesitate again.
At that moment, a streak of light flashed past Mikoto's side and struck the runner in the neck, piercing deep.
The one who threw it was Saeko.
She had been watching the corridor on the other side, noticed what was happening here, and acted without the slightest hesitation.
This woman was brutal.
No, it wasn't "brutal."
It was clear-headed judgment. That person was doomed either way, destined to become a human bomb.
Since they were going to die regardless, it was better to end it sooner and keep their own side as safe as possible.
That was rational thinking based on the surrounding environment.
Mikoto spun around immediately and yanked open the door behind her.
"Bomb. Get down, now!"
As she shouted the warning, she slammed the door shut again, then lunged toward two people, tackling them to the floor.
What followed was not the heavy sound of the door closing.
It was a deafening explosion.
Just as Mikoto had expected.
The mastermind realized they could no longer push forward, and detonated the bomb.
In an instant, the entire pharmacy shook as if an earthquake had struck, chaos erupting everywhere.
At the same time, the glass wall on the same side as the door shattered with a crash, fragments spraying inward.
"W-what happened?"
"What exploded?"
"It hurts!"
…
The students and adults who had been helping to produce medicine panicked, and some were injured, crying out in pain.
After Mikoto adjusted first, she immediately stood and looked toward the front of the pharmacy.
The door had been blasted open.
The explosion zone was a wreck, and the corridor walls on both sides had collapsed inward.
You could tell how terrifying the bomb's power had been.
"What the hell? A terrorist attack? Bastards!"
Saya cursed as she pushed herself up.
"Miss, c-cousin, we're under attack outside. What about inside? Are you alive?"
A warning came through the radio, from one of their own.
So which bastards attacked them?
Saya's first thought was—
Syringe.
…
Outside, they were suddenly hit by a fierce barrage of fire from below.
The two guns opened up almost to the split second, and the ambush angles were perfectly symmetrical.
This didn't look like human-operated fire.
It looked like preset, automated fire.
And the enemy was clever. The two fire positions could not be observed at the same time.
That meant no matter how you moved, one fire position would always be blocked by obstacles.
So you couldn't destroy both at once.
The result was that the vehicles loaded with medicine were turned into honeycombs.
Fine.
At that moment, his gaze locked onto someone who had brazenly appeared right in front of him.
A heavily built figure, covered head to toe in something like armor.
It looked like heavy powered armor at first glance, but it clearly wasn't. It was more like a layer of metal skin laminated over the entire body.
And the face was covered by a mask like something out of a nightmare.
Syringe. Confirmed.
"Winged Golden Horse Leech: A2, if that set can be used now, transmit it over here immediately."
(End of Chapter)
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