Ch.95Chapter 13. Superiority (2)

“If you don’t know, you should find out.”

Leticia searched the internet for that long and complex drug name. Even after reading it, she couldn’t quite understand what it meant, but words like “synthesis,” “compounding,” and “receptor” kept catching her eye.

Her anxiety grew.

‘Is that woman Cassandra trying to conduct research outside too?’

It was Virginia who had interrogated Cassandra, but it was Leticia who had transcribed her statements.

That’s why she knew all too well how gloomy and dangerous that CDC researcher was. How vulgar and frivolous was that problematic “report.”

Just recalling its explicit content made her back bend and her thighs clench. And now a man who had been “taken” by that woman was asking for these reagents.

‘Wait a minute?’

Caesar is a strong man. But even someone who can leg press a ton can’t lift their own eyelids when sleepy. Everyone has limitations that come with being human.

And with the power of “drugs,” even the strongest person can be crushed like a cookie.

‘Those countless needle marks on the arms of that woman with the oversized chest. No way… could she be using drugs to make him, like this, and like that…!’

But in Leticia’s mind, Caesar was already helplessly drooling while tied to a chair. In front of him was someone shaking her breasts—larger than her own head—approaching with a syringe saying, “Want to feel good?”

But she couldn’t just outright ask, “Caesar, could you send me some body photos?” Nor could she ask, “Did that perverted deviant give you some bad injections?!”

If a clever investigator caught on, Caesar’s life would be in even greater danger.

‘I need to figure out that woman’s plot. I also need to confirm if Caesar’s body is okay. To do that, I need to see his body, but I should have recorded that video earlier! There was so much information I could have gathered just from his eyes!’

But that was already in the past. Leticia resolved to do better going forward. So she searched for “how to check a man’s body in a long-distance relationship.”

“Distance from the body leads to distance from the heart? These people are crazy.”

Leticia tried changing her search terms. Finally, when she searched for “how to make a man take off his clothes voluntarily,” a keyword she was familiar with popped up.

Romance scams. Pretending to be professionals like soldiers, doctors, or lawyers, whispering sweet nothings, and then extorting money…

“No. I’m not committing fraud. We’re just making a fair exchange. And I have a duty to check if Caesar’s health is okay. What kind of soldier am I if I can’t even protect my family?”

So this isn’t a crime. But she couldn’t use it right now. She needed to find more case studies first. For now, she needed to let the hostage-takers know Caesar’s value to secure his safety.

– I’ll try my best to get it. It might take some time though. In return, please keep in touch frequently. I won’t give this drug to anyone unless Caesar comes himself. I’m sorry. The world is getting worse, so I have no choice.

– I understand. Thank you.

At least she’d bought some time.

Leticia activated her IP scrambling program. She entered command lines as complex as the reagent names and connected her mobile phone to her computer.

She hadn’t given Caesar the Minsk satellite access program without thinking. Pro-Minsk intelligence officers had distributed this program with a little “trick” built in.

A location tracking function.

It was similar to finding a lost child in a shopping center. “We’re looking for someone at such and such location, if you’ve seen them, please come to the information desk.”

A method that exposed both the pursuer and the person being sought. That’s why it couldn’t be drawn out for long. That’s also why Leticia had activated the IP scrambling program.

But she couldn’t pinpoint Caesar’s location. His position kept changing. He’d be in northern Elsa, then 10 seconds later, he’d move to western Römer.

“…Cunning bastards. They’ve already tampered with Caesar’s phone too. This function doesn’t activate unless deliberately turned on!”

Leticia frowned. She wanted to confirm his condition as soon as possible.

‘I’ll go to work early tomorrow. And look for romance scam cases. This is for justice.’

* * * * *

The process of securing the laboratory, which took almost a month, was unbearably tedious. After confirming that zombies don’t just mindlessly rush at you, the three of us changed our strategy.

Quietly, stealthily securing areas.

Since we couldn’t make noise, we made throwing weapons. We tore up scrap metal from the streets to make blades and attached them to sturdy broken tree branches. Hammers and nails, wood and saws, rebar.

And then we threw them at zombies.

It was less about “killing zombies with one hit” and more about “making them bleed out to death.”

Only when absolutely necessary did we finish them off with silenced pistols. It was effective, just too slow.

But eventually, we got our hands on the laboratory.

At first glance, it’s just a building with three floors above ground and two below. The only issue is that it’s surrounded by walls over 10 meters high, and the building doors are welded shut so they can’t be opened.

But there’s no rule saying we have to enter through the door.

We parked a truck next to the building and placed a ladder on top. The windows on the first and second floors had metal plates reinforced over them, but the third floor just had closed glass windows, which we broke with a hammer to get in.

The three of us examined the interior. No one was there. Not even corpses.

“They must have evacuated in advance.”

The first and second floors had experimental equipment, research analysis rooms, and conference rooms, while the third floor was living space. The water tank was on the roof, which meant water still flowed even without electricity. Though it was all spoiled.

In the basement, there were diesel generators and storage batteries. Well, things a laboratory should have. They were less than six months old.

We tried running them as a test. Electricity came on throughout the building. Cassandra inspected the equipment and found usable items, unplugging all unnecessary equipment.

We decided to use the generator only for research. For minor electricity use, the solar panels and power box I brought were sufficient.

We decided to leave the first-floor entrance closed as it was. Instead, we planned to come and go through the first-floor windows. People need to move in and out, and items need to be transported. But we agreed to block it with furniture during normal times, leaving no gaps.

Actually, I wasn’t very happy with it.

“If it were up to me, I would have destroyed everything from the first to third floors and lived in the basement. Then from the outside, it would look like an already looted building.

But now we’ve completely sealed it up. If someone passing by sees it, they might wonder what’s inside and break in.”

Perhaps understanding my concern, Camilla stroked my arm comfortingly.

“That would be true if there were people here. But you saw it. It’s just zombies.”

“Let’s not kill all the zombies from now on. Let them stand guard for us.”

The fence is high and sturdy, and the entrance is an iron gate that can be opened and closed. The 2.5-ton truck and pickup truck are parked behind the building, so they wouldn’t be noticeable at first glance.

It’s easy to say, but just stabilizing this place took almost a week. And the work isn’t even finished yet.

* * * * *

And finally today, we decided to skip dinner.

Once the situation had somewhat stabilized, Cassandra suggested we start with health checkups first. She said we needed to fast for a certain period of time.

Since all three of us—me, Camilla, and Cassandra—were concerned about our physical condition, there was no disagreement about that itself. The problem was that this is a human non-protected zone, and it’s a place where you feel hungry even when doing nothing.

Although the contamination concentration is supposedly lower here, hunger is hunger.

When hungry, people tend to get irritable. At times like this, it’s better for everyone to focus on their hobbies. So I introduced Leticia’s USB program to the two of them.

“How is it? Usable?”

Both Camilla and Cassandra nodded at my question. Both were sitting on the living room sofa, fiddling with their mobile phones.

The Minsk satellite access program from Leti—no, Leticia—was effective. Videos were too much, but exchanging photos or texts was no problem.

The fact that user locations could be exposed was a bit concerning, but Cassandra resolved it nicely. After receiving my USB, Cassandra said she would examine it first, turned on the computer, and inspected it thoroughly.

“Yes. The scrambling code itself is built into the program. I’ve activated it, so installing this should work.”

“You can read code too?”

“Self-taught. I made a program that automatically synthesizes, breaks down countless cells, and calculates expected results because there wasn’t one available.”

For Cassandra, even that seemed like no big deal.

“That can be self-taught?”

“It’s not that I learned blindly, but I had a specific image of ‘what I wanted to create.’ Cassandra doesn’t know how to write other programs. I only learned what I needed. It wasn’t particularly fun.”

Cassandra’s field of interest must be virus eradication. She’s sincere about it.

I briefly shared my conversation with Leticia. Of course, I excluded all the miscellaneous parts and summarized only what the two needed to know.

“She said she’ll try to get the reagent you mentioned. Through someone she knows. It might be faster to get it in the city.”

“…Can we trust that woman? She seemed a bit strange.”

Camilla pouted with disapproval. I admit she is strange. But I didn’t tell the two women that “Leti is actually a soldier.” If I did, they might throw her to zombies alive.

“She seems to be almost an alcoholic rather than just liking alcohol, but being an addict makes her easy to use. I don’t think badly of her. If necessary, I can go alone.”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to see that woman.”

Camilla lay down on the sofa. Well, it doesn’t matter since I can go to Hampton alone without any problems.

“But those reagents, are they really necessary?”

Cassandra nodded at my question.

“Actually, with the reagents we have now, I can only do basic checkups. Tomorrow’s examination will be fine, but for more detailed analysis, we need them. I only chose ones that can be commonly found in decent laboratories. If not, well, we might have to raid a university chemistry building.”

And the next day.

“…Interesting.”

Cassandra handed us the test results. They were filled with incomprehensible terms, but overall, they were marked as “normal.”

“What’s interesting?”

Camilla asked, chewing on a sandwich.

“First of all, your bodies are very healthy. The same goes for Cassandra. What’s interesting is the virus stability. Perhaps…”

“Yes?”

“Do you two have sex regularly?”

Camilla hastily turned her head.

“…Please. Cassandra.”

“I’m asking as a doctor and researcher. If my words were a bit indecent, I apologize. How often do you two engage in sexual relations on average per week?”

“We haven’t!”

My face flushed as I frantically waved my hands.

“We haven’t yet!”

Camilla said with irritation.

“I see…”

Cassandra tilted her head, then suddenly grabbed my hand. I stood up, led by her hand in confusion.

“What are you doing?”

“Let’s go to a private room with Cassandra.”

“Why so suddenly! The checkup is over!”

“I want to mix Johan’s bodily fluids with mine. It seems very interesting.”

Finally, Camilla stuffed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and jumped up.