Chapter 10: The Man and His Dead End! Mysterious Virus Samples, Obtain Special Abilities!
After Akira went inside the medicine storage, the man with medium height quickly locked the door, removed the key, and smiled with an extremely sinister and wicked look in his eyes.
"What are you doing?"
Aya frowned, clearly suspicious.
"Oh, it's nothing much, I just prepared a little surprise for him."
"No one is going to bother us now, so it's finally time for us to have lots and lots of fun."
The man of medium height immediately dropped his fake nice-guy mask and looked directly at Aya without any kind of shame, decency, or scruples.
Before the terrible virus outbreak, a woman like this — full of curves, sexy body, absolute beauty — was completely unreachable, totally untouchable for a man like him.
But now... she is nothing more than a weak woman, without even the strength to hold a chicken, completely without any kind of protection.
Isn't this simply the perfect opportunity for lowly men like him to finally taste something that they could never, ever touch before?
"We came here just to help you, we didn't want to do absolutely anything to you... But you are the ones deciding to kill yourselves..."
Aya shook her head, visibly disappointed.
"Tsk... Stop bragging, you stuck-up arrogant bitch."
"There are at least more than a thousand zombies spread all over this entire building!"
"Do you really think zombies are like airport security that will open the way for you just because you are holding a passport?"
The man of medium height mocked with sarcasm, completely full of scorn and contempt.
So what if you try to run away?
Out there, there are thousands and thousands of zombies wandering around everywhere. It's simply impossible to survive!
So it's way better to enjoy right now, have as much fun as possible before dying, than just sitting around waiting for death to come for free.
The man of medium height started walking towards Aya slowly, step by step, with a disgusting and nasty smile plastered all over his face.
The man with glasses also moved, discreetly positioning himself behind her, clearly with the intention of blocking completely any possibility of Aya escaping.
"Since it's truly the end of the world... Then why should you keep pretending to be some noble, holy, pure and untouchable virgin, huh? Why don't you take this chance and have fun together with us, it's going to be way, way better."
"Don't worry, babe... I promise, I swear I'll be really gentle with you."
The smile of the man with the skinny, thin face became more and more filthy, more and more obscene, more and more revolting.
In the very next second...
Aya delivered a brutal kick straight into his chin, so strong, so powerful that it made the man literally fly.
An entire mouth full of teeth was completely crushed, exploded, shattered, and scattered all over the floor, just like popcorn bursting, flying in every direction.
"Ghah... Guh... Nghak... Ngahh... Guhh..."
The man with medium height rolled and rolled on the floor, twisting and convulsing uncontrollably, both because of the devastating impact of her violent kick and because of the unbearable, excruciating pain coming from the teeth smashed into pieces, that felt like they had been driven deep even into his very soul.
Covering his mouth, now entirely full of blood, he wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted to desperately call for help... but he simply couldn't emit any kind of sound, only muffled groans, choking constantly on his own blood.
Aya approached him calmly, walking slowly, looking directly into his eyes with a completely indifferent, cold, emotionless expression, as if she was just observing something entirely meaningless, totally irrelevant.
"...Idiot."
Click!
She simply raised her leg and, without the slightest bit of ceremony, stomped down with full force right in the very middle of his head.
With a dry, crisp cracking sound, the skull bone broke instantly, caving in and sinking like an egg crushed by a hammer.
The eyes of the short-haired man widened instantly, filled entirely with disbelief, absolute shock, and pure terror... and right after that, everything turned into darkness. An eternal, endless darkness.
With the head crushed like that, the brain smashed into pieces, there wasn't even the slightest chance, not even a tiny possibility of him transforming into a zombie anymore.
That was officially... the very first murder committed by Aya.
She didn't feel any kind of psychological barrier, no mental breakdown... only a slight, small sensation of tightness, of tension, a faint trace of apprehension deep inside her chest.
Taking a deep breath, she then slowly turned her body around, directing her cold, sharp, razor-like gaze straight towards the man wearing glasses.
The man with glasses was already completely paralyzed, frozen in place from pure terror, by everything he had just witnessed right in front of his own eyes.
As soon as he noticed that she was looking directly at him, his knees and his legs instantly became weak, completely soft, like jelly, with absolutely no strength left, and he collapsed down to his knees on the floor, hitting the ground with both hands, totally desperate.
"I have absolutely nothing to do with this, I swear! This was all his idea! All his fault!"
"He forced me! I didn't want this, I was forced, I swear to God!"
"Please, please... Don't kill me... I beg you... Spare me... Spare my life..."
His voice trembled so much, so violently, that it felt like it was going to completely shatter, break into pieces at any second. He begged, he pleaded, desperate, repeating the words over and over almost without even breathing.
Aya's eyes were now completely filled with pure disgust, repulsion, and absolute contempt.
This man with glasses... had also participated directly in what just happened right now.
Weakness... has never been, and will never be, a valid excuse for committing evil. Never.
"Disappear from my sight."
"I will give you three seconds... Three seconds for you to vanish completely from my eyes."
Aya spoke this in an incredibly calm, cold, emotionless, impassive tone, as if she was merely commenting on something meaningless, something without any importance.
As if he had been miraculously forgiven by the gods themselves, the man with glasses became completely clumsy, stumbling over his own legs, stood up in any way possible and, without even thinking twice, turned his back and ran away as fast as he possibly could, fleeing from the laboratory in total, absolute desperation.
"Haaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!!!"
But... it didn't take long. Just a few minutes later, a miserable, horrifying, terrifying scream echoed directly from the direction of the emergency staircase.
The entire laboratory building of Tokyo University was completely taken, totally occupied, absolutely dominated by zombies.
The fate of that man with glasses was something entirely predictable.
He... now is nothing more than simple walking food, fresh natural meat, to feed the hungry zombies.
After completely dealing with both of them, Aya felt her heart a little bit heavy, somewhat suffocated, as if being squeezed.
She had no complaints, no debts, no grudges against those two people... But they...
They wanted to kill Akira.
And more than that... They tried to do filthy, disgusting, absolutely repugnant things to her.
All of that... just because she is beautiful.
It's terrifying, shocking, painful to even imagine... That this came from classmates, students of the same university.
Only three days. Yes... Only three miserable, pathetic days since the deadly virus outbreak started... And the ugliness, the rottenness, the purest, vilest evil of human nature... had already revealed itself completely, with no masks, with no limits.
"If on that day I hadn't met Akira..."
"But... someone else instead..."
"Probably... my ending... would have been absolutely miserable, right?"
Aya bit her lower lip, with so much strength that it almost tore, feeling a cold shiver, an icy current running all the way down her spine.
She was completely terrified just by imagining those horrible, nightmarish possibilities...
And, at the same time, immensely, infinitely grateful for having encountered a man so reliable, so strong... like Takayama Akira.
...
Akira casually finished eliminating some small-fry zombie fish that had appeared along the way.
With his current strength, such a small number of zombies does not represent absolutely any real threat to him whatsoever.
He then started searching through the shelves and the cabinets that were scattered all around the room.
Right in front of him, there was an absolutely impressive, astonishing amount of medicine.
Honestly speaking, it almost looked like an entire reserve of medication comparable to the stock of a small neighborhood hospital!
Following exactly the names of the medicines that Aya had listed and explained to him earlier, Akira meticulously picked up everything that was truly useful and necessary.
But it didn't stop there — he also collected several syringes, needles, and various other medical supplies.
These things are absurdly valuable in the current scenario... Even if he himself doesn't need them, they could be easily used as valuable trade items in the near future.
"Over there too..."
"I grabbed everything that needed to be taken." — he murmured quietly to himself, satisfied.
Akira then organized everything carefully inside his robust, sturdy backpack and was already getting ready to leave that place.
It was at that exact moment when, suddenly, he noticed something unusual sitting in one corner of the room.
A silver safe, half hidden.
"What's this...?" — he frowned, feeling a bit curious.
Without wasting a second, he immediately pulled the safe onto the top of a rusty metal table.
Without any hesitation, he threw a strong and precise punch right at the lock, destroying it instantly and forcing the lid to pop open right away.
As soon as it opened, a burst of cold air escaped from the inside, as if it had been sealed under vacuum pressure for a very long time.
The interior of the box was lined with special cotton foam, entirely designed for thermal insulation and maximum protection.
Right in the center, perfectly fitted, there was a test tube with a strange appearance, half filled with a pitch-black liquid, extremely dense, with an incredibly viscous texture.
The liquid shimmered faintly, looking like a tiny black star, glowing, spinning on its own axis, emitting a dark, mysterious, ominous glow.
For some reason, that thing felt... inexplicably familiar.
And it was exactly at that precise moment when the system emitted a notification sound:
[Virus sample detected.]
[Serial number: 41.]
"Virus... sample?" — Akira murmured, surprised.
It was only then that he realized... That black liquid looked incredibly similar to that dark light he had already seen before... That would come out from the bodies of the zombies he defeated.
But there was a huge difference — the concentration of that liquid here was visibly much, much more intense, overwhelmingly more powerful.
"If this is a virus... then, theoretically, it should be... absorbable..."
Without the slightest hesitation, Akira squeezed the test tube tightly until it shattered completely in his hand.
The black liquid flowed out quickly and, the instant it touched his skin, it was immediately absorbed, as if it was being sucked straight into his pores.
An extremely restless, violent, ferocious, and chaotic force exploded violently inside his body in that exact instant!
Akira's eyes instantly turned blood red, completely bloodshot.
His breathing became heavy, rushed, out of control... An absurd, overwhelming desire to destroy absolutely everything around him consumed his mind entirely at that precise moment!
Unable to contain that bestial, savage impulse, he punched the wall right next to him with all his strength — and his fist went straight through the reinforced concrete, opening a huge hole!
The veins on his forehead bulged intensely, looking like they were about to explode at any second.
Akira struggled desperately, fighting with all his willpower to resist that insane, monstrous desire for destruction, forcing himself to stay conscious.
After some time — which felt like an eternity — that violent storm inside him finally began to calm down, slowly, little by little.
And then, another system notification appeared, in a clear and direct tone:
[Level up.]
[Promoted to awakened level 3.]
[Number of followers that can be linked: +1.]
[Virus sample successfully absorbed.]
[Special ability acquired: Rapid Healing.]
At the exact moment when he had punched the wall, the exposed steel bars inside the structure had deeply cut his hand, and blood was dripping nonstop, pouring onto the floor.
But now... right before his very eyes...
The wound began to close at an absurd, ridiculous speed, completely visible, as if it were being magically stitched up — until it disappeared entirely, without leaving behind even the slightest scar.
The only apparent side effect seemed to be a slight loss of physical stamina, as if the body consumed vital energy during the process.
"...I... healed myself?" — Akira was absolutely, completely shocked.
Immediately, that shock was replaced by pure excitement, fascination, and overwhelming surprise.
He had never expected to find something like this... A completely unexpected gain, an absolute jackpot!
With this ability now... as long as he doesn't suffer a fatal blow or instant destruction, he basically becomes... invincible!
"From what it looks like... this virus sample must be something very similar — or perhaps even identical — to the virus that infected the mutant zombies."
"Absorbing this type of sample... must provide a real chance of awakening special abilities..."
"But... then what exactly does this serial number 41 mean?" — he thought, staring at the foam where the tube had been.
"Could it be... that each number represents a different ability...? Some kind of classification code?"
Akira reflected deeply, processing everything carefully.
The inevitable conclusion seemed to become clearer and clearer — this virus outbreak... was definitely not something natural.
It was, without a single shadow of doubt... something entirely caused by humans.
But then, a new question arose, one even more disturbing, even more unsettling...
Why exactly... would such an important sample of this virus be hidden here...?
Could it be... that Tokyo University was also conducting secret experiments with the virus...?
...