Chapter 56: Recovering the System
"Report! Drone footage shows a massive horde of zombies—they all appear to be moving in the same direction!"
"Report! Current estimate places the total zombie count at approximately 40,000 to 50,000—roughly one-tenth of H City's population. However, drones have not yet reached the source of the sound. Situation unclear."
"Report! One of our drones has gone haywire—feed's nothing but static!"
"Report! Another drone down—appears to have crashed!"
"Report! The drones… all drones are down!"
"…"
The SDF had tried to use drones to get eyes on what was happening inside the quarantine zone. But every last one of them had crashed before penetrating even a couple of kilometers.
It was as though some strange magnetic field inside was interfering with them.
The entire command was baffled. Nobody had the faintest idea what was going on in there.
A middle-aged man who appeared to be the commanding officer held a black communications device, frowning as he spoke to someone on the other end.
"What? Even the satellites can't get a visual?"
His gaze fell on the towering wall of rebar and concrete before him.
A knot tightened in his chest. What the hell is happening in there?!
If not for the very real fear that any soldiers he sent in would never come back, he'd have dispatched several squads already.
But now even the drones were gone.
Sending in a helicopter wouldn't end any better. Helicopters relied on electronic instruments too—if an unknown magnetic field was scrambling them, a crash was all but guaranteed.
"Wait—if high-tech won't work, what about binoculars? Those should still function, right?"
The officer issued his orders immediately.
"You—get over here! Find me the longest-range pair of binoculars we've got, then order a helicopter to maximum altitude. It doesn't need to go inside—just lift off right here."
"Use binoculars, a telescope, anything—as long as it's not electronic—and get me a general picture of what's going on in there from above!"
"Sir!"
Shortly after the order went out, a military helicopter came thundering in from the distant skyline.
Following the officer's instructions to the letter, it did not enter the quarantine zone.
Instead, it climbed straight up from its current position.
Rising until it reached an altitude where binoculars could give them a view inside.
* * *
Another ten-odd minutes passed.
The officer received a report from the helicopter crew: they'd been unable to see anything specific. The dead center of the zombie zone was engulfed in a dense fog.
Nothing but a blanket of white, impenetrable to the naked eye.
The strange thing was that the fog was concentrated entirely in that one central area.
Everywhere else—not so much as a wisp.
And stranger still…
The zombies—creatures that had long since lost every shred of human reason—were surging toward the fog en masse, as if something inside it was drawing them in like moths to a flame. The SDF personnel were completely at a loss.
But given the cautionary tale of the drones, not a single person dared go in.
Nobody wanted to become one of those… things. Neither human nor ghost.
That was exactly what the zombies were in their eyes: neither human nor ghost.
As for what was actually happening inside—no one on the outside had a clue. Even getting in would be a challenge unless they committed to sending a massive SDF force to kill every last zombie.
Otherwise, even a tank rolling in there might end up stalling out.
* * *
[Group Quest 2: Travel to the world of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – Geniuses' War of Love and Wits. Develop a serum to eliminate the zombie virus!
Quest Complete! Click the link to the right → [Link] to claim your reward.
One quest remains incomplete. Admin "RawrSoFierce," Member "The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden," and Member "Green Grasslands Wolf King"—please complete the remaining Group Quest in listed order!]
While the SDF outside was still scratching their heads trying to figure out what had happened, Ryū and his team had already completed Group Quest 2.
Which meant the serum Wolffy had developed over those fifteen days was definitively, certifiably effective—and its effects were dramatic.
Inside the Dimensional Chat Group, Ryū posted another screenshot.
* * *
RawrSoFierce: "[Image] Second Group Quest is done. Now there's just one left. Once we wrap up the final quest, this haul mints three members with 10,000+ Points and one just shy of it."
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: "My my~ That really wasn't easy~"
RawrSoFierce: "You spent the whole time sightseeing. How was that 'not easy'?"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: "*ahem* This one did bring back food, did she not? Otherwise, Admin-dono, you'd all have been stuck eating dry rations."
Green Grasslands Wolf King: "Looks like the Gre—ahem,
Green Grasslands Wolf King: "5,000 Points secured. Feels good~"
Green Grasslands Wolf King: "When I get back to Wolf Castle, I'm eating ten cans of lamb to celebrate. These past few days nearly killed me."
Wolffy had indeed worked the hardest out of everyone. Though for him, this level of exhaustion was old hat. Back home, when one of his experiments accidentally blew up Wolf Castle, Red would force him to rebuild the entire thing in a single night.
That was real exhaustion. This was nothing.
At most, he'd only slept once every few days.
For a wolf who literally could not die no matter what—
A few hours of sleep every couple of days?
No big deal.
He could grind on.
Crazy Diamond: "Meanwhile, the guy with less than 500 Points is on his knees. Wait—scratch that, I burned some on Physical Enhancement. I don't even have 50 left."
Crazy Diamond: "Bosses, how about a Gift Package to celebrate early?"
The Little Wandering Planet: "Bosses, how about a Gift Package to celebrate early?"
Edward Newgate: "Bosses, how about a Gift Package to celebrate early?"
Green Grasslands Wolf King: "I'll send one out once the last quest is done."
The Little Wandering Planet: "Wolffy is the GOAT!"
Crazy Diamond: "Wolffy is the GOAT!"
We, Ying Zheng: "Wolffy is the GOAT!"
"…"
Watching the group chat scroll by, Ryū let out a soft, helpless laugh. He walked to the window and peered down. Below, the ground was carpeted wall-to-wall with zombies.
But every single one of them had gone completely still.
Presumably because the fog infused with the serum had done its work.
The moment their skin made contact with the mist—
The serum had begun taking effect.
And the fog was still spreading, creeping outward to blanket the entire zone. There would be no stragglers—otherwise the chat group wouldn't have popped up a quest-completion notice.
Ryū turned to look at a reeking corpse and murmured:
"Time to recover this System. That's a cool 11,000 Points sitting right there."
☆☆☆
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