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2024-10-29 19:42:56By ‘farming,’ of course, Seth meant killing the newly-turned infectores.
It was not as funny as Seth thought, but Amy would also benefit from his murder in the end. So, she had to shut her mouth unless she wanted to annoy him and make him leave her behind. And for the record, she didn’t have an abandonment issue, no matter what Seth had said.
For now, she’d have to suck it and hide behind the abandoned van with Marnie. Seth, on the other hand, was busy with his hands.
There were seven infectores there, including her cousin-turned-infectore, Wade. Seth said he had to kill the infectores to get his cells back. Having zero balance in the System was no fun; she knew that much. But, she didn’t think that one time thoroughly out of desperation, so Seth had to forgive her.
So, with his leveled-up ‘Strength’ in the System and a knife, or dagger, to be precise, that he got from Izuka’s store, he was confident he could take all of them at the same time. However, for his big talk, Seth didn’t look like he had time to think too much. All seven infectores were already trotting upon him.
Seth leaped to the side, dodging one of the infectores that lunged at him with his broken hand. With a push from his left leg, Seth thrust his dagger into the infectore’s head.
He then turned to the six other infectores and swung his arm wide, preparing himself to greet them with his sharp dagger. When one infectore came in his reaching distance, he quickly slashed his – ‘its,’ she should start calling the nfectore ‘it’ – chest open.
Actually, now that Amy had a clear view of how Seth fought blindly against the infectores, he made it look easy. Not that she had any intention to join and help him, but he didn’t take long to render all infectores groaning on the ground. Except for Wade. Her cousin was lagging behind, merely observing how the others fell under Seth’s dominance.
She took her words back. Apparently, plus 0.2 in his ‘Strength’ really did some wonders. The System was not disappointing, it seemed.
However, even though the infectores were beaten to the ground, they were not dead. So, she yelled at Seth as he foolishly clicked on his phone instead of killing them all. “What are you doing?!”
“Looking for a way to kill them!” Seth shouted back. “It’s not like in the movie. How can I kill them when they already have no brain? The movies are all bullshit!”
Amy’s jaw dropped; how could he be this stupid?
“Try their heart!”
A light bulb switched in Seth’s mind. It was clear that he didn’t think of it before going out head first.
The moment he heard her, Seth turned on his heel and charged at the nearest infectore. He drove his sharp dagger right to the center of the infectore’s heart. The infectore struggled for a while, trying to claw Seth’s hands off. But, before it succeeded, its hands dropped to its side a second before its entire body dropped down to the ground. Truly listlessly this time.
“Nice!” Seth pulled his dagger back with a grin on his face. He didn’t waste any more time lunging at the next infectore.
In no time, her cousin Wade was the only infectore standing.
“Shall I finish him too?”
Dread fell on Amy. “No! Leave him alone!”
“Oh?”
“Don’t you dare come near Wade!”
Seth chuckled again, holding up both hands. The infectore’s darkened blood dripped from the dagger, disgusting her. “Fine, fine. I’ll let him go, but don’t ask me to buy things from the System for him again.”
Amy frowned, not liking the sound of it. “How can you say that?”
“Why not?”
“You said you’ll help cure Wade!”
Seth tilted his head, tapping one bodied finger against his chin. “I don’t remember saying such thing.”
“You did! Don’t you dare lie to me!”
He scoffed, turning his head to where Wade was stumbling on his own feet, trying to reach where they were standing. “You’re no fun, you know?”
“This is not the time nor the place to have fun!”
“Damn it, Amy. This is supposed to be the end of the world, we should be doing everything we can to have fun while we’re alive. Like that Asian chick, Izuka, for example.”
“Seth!”
“Geez … fine. Just hold him off while I do my magic.”
“I can’t,” she said, thinking it should be obvious because of Marnie in her arms.
Seth then stomped to her second-hand car, rummaging around the bloody back seat to retrieve a roll of rope from the bag and the metal baseball bat. He went to the advancing Wade and slammed the metal bat to the infectore’s head, causing Amy to scream bloody murder and Marnie to just – well, she wails like a toddler.
In quick succession, Seth managed to render Wade groaning on the ground, unable to get up. He gave some extra hits on Wade’s limbs before he got scratched by those bloody blunt nails. Then, he worked fast on securing Amy’s infectore cousin by tying the rope around him. Done with it, Seth stood proudly over the drooling, infectious bondage victim.
Nodding to himself, Seth shouldered the metal bat and strolled to where six dead bodies lay akimbo on the hard asphalt road. He instantly huffed in annoyance when Amy came near him, and the six years old wriggled out of her hold to latch onto his leg. “Hands off.”
Marnie tightened her hands around his leg, shaking her head vehemently.
Another grumble and Seth went back to his phone. Upon his fight with the infectores, he didn’t hear the ‘dong’ notifications, but most were useless.
[1 infectore eliminated.]
[5 exp + 2 cells + 1 core.]
[1 infectore eliminated.]
[5 exp + 2 cells + 1 core.]
[1 infectore eliminated.]
[5 exp + 2 cells + 1 core.]
[1 infectore eliminated.]
[5 exp + 2 cells + 1 core.]
[1 infectore eliminated.]
[5 exp + 2 cells + 1 core.]
[Congratulations!]
[You’ve completed a Daily Mission – Terminator Wannabe!]
[You’ve received rewards of 30 exp + 20 cells.]
[1 infectore eliminated.]
[5 exp + 2 cells + 1 core.]
[Status Update]
[Nickname: Jet Lynx
HP: 279/300
EXP: 100
Core: 6
Balance: 66 cells.]
[Do you want to distribute the core now?]
Seth readily touched the [Yes.] option, and he was once again given the choice to upgrade his statistics. He glanced at his [HP] and saw that it didn’t decrease much from the fight with those six infectores, so he’d let his [Regeneration] as it was. Then, he focused on the other stats and tapped his fingers against the metal bat. As he learned from last night, he could only level up his [Technique] after he got a skill, so only three choices remain.
That being said, Seth distributed his cores into [Strength], [Speed], and [Resistance] evenly.
[Strength + 0.2]
[Speed + 0.2]
[Resistance + 0.2]
As all six cores were distributed to him, the sensation freshened him up, just like before.
[Status Update]
[Strength: 0.4
Speed: 0.2
Resistance: 0.2]
“Seth?”
He was brought back to reality when Amy called his name. “What?”
“How many cells?”
It seemed that she already knew about the System's mechanism.
“Not enough to buy you snacks,” he answered offhandedly. Not that he was still angry after she spent almost all of his balance – truthfully, he had already brushed it off of his mind, but she didn’t need to know that, right?
However, he couldn’t trust Amy to not make the same mistake in the future again. “Let’s hide again and wait for the next–“
“We’re not doing it again!”
Seth looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “It’s the only way to get cells, and aren’t you the one who keeps asking me to help your cousin? Make up your mind, woman.”
Amy seemed to mull it over in her head, “I will not let you trick someone into stopping and be turned into an infectore just so Wade can be human again!”
He scoffed, sneering at her, “At least, think of a damn solution. Don’t just whine like a child.”
“I’m not whining!”
“Gosh!” Seth ruffled his messy hair, appearing frustrated, “Where is that illogical, crazy girl I met in the home décor store?”
She huffed and crossed her arms, “She left when Zombieland comes out of Hollywood overnight.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny. Now, help me look around their van. Your car is too cramped to stay in for long.”
Amy let his attitude slide, following him to where the metalhead’s van was in a slower manner. She held Marnie’s hand and helped her step inside the spacious van. “Don’t touch anything, okay?”
The little girl bobbed her head, staying silent most of the time. However, it didn’t last long.
“Amy!” Marnie pointed her finger to the front windshield.
The blond sales girl turned, catching something horrific happening in front of the van. “Wade?”
Her infectore cousin had freed himself from Seth’s measly bind, now standing with his bloody ashen hands on the glass. Writing in crude, bold letters with red liquid.
‘HELP’
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78. Make a Move
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77. Running for Life
She was not as reckless as Lucian sometimes said to her. But she was still new in this espionage thing, and Mikhal suddenly pushed her down to the ground. Her heart raced, pounding noisily along with the blood in her ears. Mikhal's tall figure was equally low by her side. Confidence may fool many people, but she had none of it right now. Especially not after a burly man in a tank top suddenly pointed his long firearm in her direction, right before she took another shot of the drug lab with her phone. Breathing quietly, they waited in suspenseful silence until the man turned his weapon away from their direction. Another man came out of the drug lab's door, probably exchanging words before both of them went inside again. Rhea exhaled in relief, shoulders slumping down as both Mikhal and her shared a look. They moved closer, trying to get more proof from the small window at the side of the building now known as the drug lab. Not only from the chemical glasses with some colored liquid
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76. Into Hidden View
After four days of work, Rhea finally got her day off again. Mikhal texted her, 'Meet you at East Station in twenty.' Smiling to herself, Rhea texted back an affirmation. "So…" Liz glanced at her from behind the steering wheel, "If I may ask, where are you going, Miss Rhea?""Out," she merely said."Any specific place in mind?"Rhea locked her phone, "Not really."The bespectacled girl looked uncomfortable for a second before she asked again. "Do you have any companions?""Yes.""Oh. Who is that?"Rhea narrowed her eyes, not liking where the bespectacled girl was going with this. "Is this an interrogation?""No, of course, not." Liz hastily said, topping it with an awkward laugh that she tried to make it sound natural. "I'm sorry if it came out like that, Miss Rhea. I didn't mean to."She sighed, turning to the sturdy houses that came into view as they finally reached the town's area. "It's fine. Lucian ordered you to do that, right?" Liz stayed silent, so she'd take that as a yes.
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75. Coping Mechanism
The cafeteria was full of cola and burgers. "Free dinner for everyone!" one of the senior staff called out as they entered it. Rhea grinned – almost jumped in excitement – as her favorite food was served in front of her for free. Emi, on the other hand, chimed in a loud voice, "We don't pay to eat here!"She stuffed her face with the burger. She sat surrounded by a white shirt and blue vest-wearing staff, finally having a nice break out of the craziness of the afternoon shift. "I can't believe I was so excited about it before."Emi smiled broadly, munching on her mouthful bite of burger. She looked funny. "Didn't I tell you that it's crazy?""Yes, but you carefully left out the fact that it is precisely like that oddball group all over again, except, it happens continuously. Marching in a group in the lobby, then shoving each other to get in the elevator. Why do we only have four elevators, anyway?""But it only happens in the afternoon. After that, it's pretty slow, isn't it?"Rhea h
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74. Unwritten Law
Lucian had been at the scene of serious diplomacy once, ages ago as he was still ten, where his father was showing him how to negotiate with a foreign mafia boss from another country. Earl would sign an agreement of letting said mafia boss move into Livingard and give him a little territory on the border to set up whatever operation they had planned. Earl would get back his prized butler slash right-hand man safely in one piece in exchange. He was fond of that man, his favorite butler. A middle-aged friendly guy who had a penchant for cutting apples into beautiful figures and dragging Lucian out of bed before dawn for a morning run. So, hearing that his favorite butler would be back after missing – he was captivated by the foreign mafia after accidentally crashing his motorbike to the mafia's daughter on the road – for three days, Lucian was eager when his father wanted him to tag along. It was supposed to be a valuable learning experience for him.One of the foreign mafia subordinat
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73. At Least We Try
'Let him be, don't talk to him, whatever, just ignore him.'She didn't even want to see him. But bottling her overflowing emotions? It was a ridiculous idea.Then a notification chimed in, breaking into her bubble of thought, pulling her from the suffocating underwater feeling. 'How's' your girl's day out with Emi?' Mikhal texted her, oblivious to the chaos she made herself. 'She was great.' She texted back.'Cool. No more outings today?' His reply came seconds later, followed by three dots, signifying he was typing now. 'Imma starts the afternoon shift today. Dunno what to expect.''Expect the worst.''Never know u'r such a pessimist.'She wasn't. Fine, maybe she was. Just at the moment, though. Rhea responded with a laughing emoticon. Followed by a string of crying yellow faces.'What was that?' She bit her bottom lip, 'I want to go out.' Her thumb sent it before she even read the line. She considered deleting it. No use, Mikhal already typed again.'I'm free, if you were asking
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72. The Walk Down
Sprinting to the beach, Rhea suddenly stopped before her sneakers touched the wet sand. Quickly taking them off, Rhea looked around for a place to put them without getting worried that the wave would sweep on them or someone take them away. Not that she was suspicious of some people enjoying the beach there, or that her shoes were extremely pricey – they were, not that Rhea knew about that, because it was Lucian who paid – but Rhea didn't want to lose her only pair of sneakers.She looked back to Lucian's parked car on the edge of the beach, where the dry ground met with green patches of grass. Squinting her blue eyes, Rhea calculated how much force she needed to get her shoes to the car's side. The light brown-haired girl got into a stance as if she would throw a slider with her sneaker as the ball. Then, Rhea let go of one of her sneakers in a powerful side swing. It flew in a bent trajectory and landed safely on the dry sand, though still a little far away from the car."Ah, I need
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71. Wolf in the Flesh
It was the first time Rhea saw a wolf in real life.The wolf looked like how a wolf would in a book or movie. Nothing special, unlike the jet-black wild wolf she saw in a show. Or the majestic white wolf in legends. The animal in front of her looked just like the usual wolf. Short, triangular ears. Broad snout. A long tail. Looking slender yet seems powerful in its built. Its back was grey, so was its upper head. While the rest of its fur was light brown, and the underside was white.Rhea could not believe it."Should we continue?" Jo asked, stepping slowly on the gas pedal.As Jo drove the car past the watchful gaze of the wolf, Rhea felt a shudder run through her body. Either it was a creepy coincidence, or Lucian somehow controlled the wolf to appear there and failed Rhea's escape. Which sounded impossible. Both of them.It was some minutes later that Jo stopped the car. They were near the first building in the outskirt of Stradfield's little town. "Are you sure you want to get off
