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2024-10-29 19:42:56When they stupidly went to open the modified van’s trunk – while ignoring the disgusting remains of the bulldozed infectores on the road and tires – Wade could only consent with a loud groan and flailing arms.
“Right. He’s practically a braindead zombie.” Seth closed the trunk again.
“Completely forgot about that.” Amy agreed, pinching her nose. “It’s useless anyway. We still have to kill people.”
“Infectores. Not people.”
“Oh, so it matters to you now? Didn’t you easily make a man explode into bits and blood?”
Seth gritted his teeth, “It’s not me. Victor exploded by himself, I just sat opposite him.”
“You know him?”
“My professor in uni. But the one who died came from the future.”
Amy guffawed, “There you go, let your creativity flow.” However, after his silence and humorless face, she faltered. “Wait, you’re serious?”
“We got this nonsensical System and ridiculous invasion where your cousin now drools at human brains. Appearing from the future and then spontaneously self-explode ten minutes later is not really that far fetch, does it?”
“Well, now that you say it out loud …”
Seth motioned them to return to the car, and Amy drove it. “Let’s find someplace first to camp before we go hunting preys. I also need to look around the System for more usable things.”
“Yeah. And while you’re at it, see what you can find about her.”
“Her?”
She nodded, “Our kind benefactor from the store, Himeyaka Izuka. I know she recognized you even when you didn’t.”
“Maybe I’m that famous.”
“Yes, for murdering your own professor in a café, now the whole state is looking for you in the mids of this Zombieland live action.” Amy flawlessly reminded before she continued. “But it’s not that. She didn’t look at you as a murderer.”
“That’s for the defense.”
“I feel like she knows you really well. Maybe she’s your childhood friend?”
“And I got mysterious amnesia I don’t know about?”
Amy huffed, “Memory loss is not that uncommon. I know someone who got it.”
“That’s not the point,” he rebuked, “But let’s see if the System know anything about her. I think we got three hundreds or so people with that name.”
In no time, the System displayed his intended search.
[Show 301 records for Himeyaka Izuka.]
Thankfully, it also featured a filter, and there weren’t that much Asian with the same name in New York state.
[Show 3 records for Himeyaka Izuka.]
Then, their jaws dropped.
[Himeyaka Izuka
Age: 89
May Go by: Izuka Himeyaka
Used to Live in: Amherst, NY
Related to: Himeyaka Daichi]
[View Full Report?]
[Himeyaka Jane Izuka
Age: 2
Address: Sapporo, JP – Brooklyn, NY
Relatives: Himeyaka Rei – Chloe Jane Fisher – Alexander John Fisher]
[View Full Report?]
[Himeyaka Izuka
Age: 75
Address: Rochester, NY – Cleveland, OH
Relatives: Himeyaka Hana – Himeyaka Akutsu]
[View Full Report?]
Seth reloaded the page and once again entered the name in the search bar. He also filtered the hundreds of findings, but the result was the same. Only three people remained, one deceased, and the other was either too young or too old.
“It’s useless,” he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose as he told Amy of the findings.
“She lied about her name?”
“Probably.”
“Huh. Suspicious, don’t you think?”
Seth hummed, didn’t reply to her clearly. However, he filed that in his brain. ‘Himeyaka Izuka’ became another thing he needed to solve.
‘Just who the hell is she?’
___
In a busy airport, an Asian woman stood in a queue, waiting for baggage and security check. A long beep resounded in the busy area when she stepped through the metal detection.
“Ah, sorry, I forgot something,” she said as the airport security closed on her with a narrowed gaze. She took a device from her back pocket, giving it to the officer. “It’s my parallel log. Like an electronic journal, you know?”
“Parallel log?” The airport security repeated, turning the square, phone-like device in his hand. It resembled a small pad, but a single short antenna on top was pretty strange. “Where did you get this?”
“Ah, my boss got it for me. Sadly, it’s not out in the market yet. Maybe next year? Or the years after, I’m not really sure when it’ll go public though.” The Asian girl fixed her eyeglasses, smiling sweetly.
The bearded security frowned but fiddled with the device while she went through the metal detector. However, his eyes lingered on it, suspicious showed. “Mind if I take a look?”
It sounded like a question, but she knew that it was not one. If she refused, he could take her to further search her person, and that was a no, no. She might be late for her flight, and her plan get jeopardized. “This is nothing important.”
“Cool, then you don’t mind, right? Unlock it and I’ll give it back to you after you got your things.”
The Asian girl sighed but did as told. She returned the device to the security guard, expecting a dismissive gesture. Instead, the security guy scrolled down the page.
She knew what was written there – her entire thoughts reeled back in discomfort.
[Log Entry 1: 03/07/2020]
Holy shit!
Someone is interested in my crap.
I never thought it would happen, but it did. They took a glance at the stuff I posted online and found a short story I made when I was thirteen to be pretty good. They got me an exclusive contract, and I have to make it into a novel.
Ah, they also got me this diary, or parallel log, as they call it. I’m supposed to write here every month on the same date I signed my exclusive contract, this March 7th. My editor said it’s supposed to help me ‘document my life’ and see how things change throughout the time I work on my story.
But enough about that. Between my day job and writing my big plot and first draft each night, I don’t really have enough time to spare for this. And I’m not skipping dinner when I have to figure out how to get my lazy, snarky Seth into working with Wade the infectore.
Talk to you next month!
Ah, the name’s Himeyaka Izuka, in case I got my memory erased. Somehow.
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100 Systems Invasion 23. The Hidden Elimination
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100 Systems Invasion 24. Skill Mastery 0%
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100 Systems Invasion 25. Dominant Pheromone
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100 Systems Invasion 26. Systemist Alert
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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
