Ch.96Chapter 13. Superiority (3)

I stood my ground, holding Camilla back. If I let myself be dragged along like this, I felt I’d be caught up in Cassandra’s pace.

“Hey, Cassandra. There’s something I’ve wanted to say for a while. Will you listen?”

Cassandra seemed a bit annoyed but stopped and waited for me to speak.

“Make it quick.”

“We’re living together now, right?”

She nodded.

“I don’t mean we should expose all our private lives to each other without hiding anything. But health-related issues, specifically about the virus, aren’t private matters. They affect all of us, beyond the realm of personal boundaries.”

Another nod.

“So I’d like you to explain your reasons first. To both me and Camilla. Your way of speaking, well, I’m getting used to it by now, but I refuse to be dragged around without knowing why. Please explain that part openly.”

Cassandra looked at me and Camilla alternately with somewhat ambiguous eyes, then thrust out her large chest and placed her hands on her hips. She seemed displeased about something.

“You know, I learned something as a doctor—it’s better to just give patients orders. They don’t listen otherwise. Cassandra thinks you two aren’t much different. We need to do this for medicine and science, but we’re wasting time like this.”

“We call that ‘courtesy,’ you know. I know you’re smart. I admit it. But that doesn’t mean we have to follow your orders unconditionally. Johan and I aren’t your lab rats.”

Camilla, who had finished her sandwich, interjected. Cassandra seemed to finally understand.

“Ah, I see. I should speak softly, like making a request? Not ‘do this’ but ‘would you please do this?'”

“…Well. Let’s start there at least.”

Cassandra released my arm. Instead, she stepped closer to Camilla.

Though she merely moved closer, somehow it felt like their chests were almost touching. Camilla reflexively flinched and tried to cover her chest, but then, perhaps angry at her own shrinking back, she thrust it forward defiantly. Camilla wasn’t small either.

“Camilla. Would you do Cassandra one favor?”

“Fine. What is it?”

“Open that mouth of yours. Wide open.”

* * * * *

A moment later, Cassandra closed the lab door and came out. She looked very pleased. She seemed to have forgotten our argument about how she should have said, “Would you open your mouth so I can collect cells and saliva with a cotton swab?” to avoid misunderstandings.

“The results are in.”

Cassandra didn’t even look at Camilla. Somehow, I felt tension building between the two women. I decided to smooth things over with Camilla later and focus on getting answers to my questions first.

“Is analysis usually this fast?”

“Oh, Cassandra copied the entire Disease Control Agency database backup. It contains information on all discovered and analyzed Chro virus subspecies and variants.

By comparing with that, I can get clues about exactly what type of virus has infected you. In conclusion, there was no 100% match with any known virus.”

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Camilla waved her hand.

“So, am I turning into a zombie now?”

“Depending on how you define ‘zombie,’ but if we call a situation where the Chro virus has completely taken root and established itself chronically in the body a ‘zombie,’ then over 95% of people in Elza are already zombies.”

How can she say such frightening things so cheerfully?

“The virus in both of you is most similar to the most recently discovered one. The 8th National Gendarmerie rescued civilians from a golf resort, and at the time of rescue, their wrist and arm tendons had been severed.

They’d been cut for so long that even the Kibele emergency kit couldn’t regenerate the cells. But strangely, not long after being rescued, their tendons reattached. Amazing regenerative ability, right? Almost unnaturally so.”

I remember.

Those were the people Camilla and I rescued from the resort. They had been exposed to the same ‘contaminant’ as me. In the first-floor parking garage of the resort shopping center, where water from the sprinklers mixed with zombie blood.

The next time we saw them was in front of the Hampton Continental Hotel. Didn’t the pamphlets distributed by the fanatics say something like, “The goddess’s messenger saved the oppressed and reattached their severed tendons—if this isn’t divine grace, then what is?”

I thought it was nonsense at the time.

“So, what, are you saying if Camilla’s and my tendons were cut, they’d reattach too?”

“Probably not. Your virus doesn’t match 100% with theirs. And that’s not necessarily a good thing. It means the virus has that much control over the body. It’s definitely not a positive sign.”

“That sounds ominous.”

Cassandra explained the patterns of the Chro virus.

All living things in the world want to survive. If they can’t survive themselves, they want to leave offspring. That’s the law, and viruses are no exception.

Most viruses look for various means to ‘spread.’ That’s why influenza viruses spread through the respiratory system and cholera through water.

That’s why for most viruses, cutting off the source of infection can control the spread. That’s how it’s been until now. Except for the Chro virus.

“The Chro virus uses almost every infection transmission method. There haven’t been any respiratory transmission cases yet, but there have been droplet infection cases.

It crossed species boundaries long ago, and as your case shows, it can also spread through contaminated water.

In this way, it seems to analyze and find out which method is most effective on its own. Biting animals is one of them.”

That was unexpected.

“What do you mean?”

“While 95% of Elza’s population is infected, not everyone bites each other. But what we commonly call ‘zombies’ do that, right?

They devour anything, human or animal, and if you’re bitten, you get infected… that’s because the virus that’s taken over that person is ‘that type.’

The kind that needs to be transmitted through saliva and skin contact. The easiest way to do that is by biting. Chomp.

But normally, people don’t just bite living things when they’re hungry. So this virus found another way. By reducing judgment and heightening instincts.

In other words, zombies aren’t stupid. Their intelligence itself is similar to what the person originally had. They just have almost no judgment and follow their instincts. We don’t call someone delirious with high fever stupid. We say they’re sick. It’s the same thing.

That’s why zombies in human non-protected zones bite anything covered in blood. Because they’re hungry. Zombies in protected zones are violent and sensitive to stimuli. It increases aggression. That’s how the virus controls people. But you two are different.”

Camilla came over to me and sat right next to me. She placed her hand on my thigh and fidgeted. When I covered the back of her hand firmly, she seemed to find stability. Cassandra made a slightly strange expression, but I nodded for her to continue.

“The virus in you two doesn’t seem to be trying to take over your bodies. Rather, it’s more like… it’s trying to settle in your bodies.”

“Please don’t say such horrible…”

“…things. It’s not horrible, Camilla. How many bacteria are there in the human body? Especially in the intestines. We call things like lactic acid bacteria ‘beneficial bacteria,’ right?”

Camilla was horrified, but I thought I understood what she meant.

“You mean the Chro virus is trying to help me and Camilla?”

“More precisely, it seems to be trying to help your survival. Like it’s being cautious? It helps with fatigue relief to some extent, but that’s just a feeling and hasn’t been verified. Consider it just a hypothesis.

It seems the virus in your bodies has chosen to coexist. It seems to have decided that keeping you alive longer means it lives longer too. Congratulations. You won’t become judgment-impaired monsters that bite people.”

Camilla let out a sigh so deep it seemed like the ground would cave in. Her body swayed, so I quickly put my arm around her. Cassandra made another unreadable expression.

“And Cassandra thinks she knows why the virus in your bodies made such a decision. From what I’ve heard, shortly after being infected, you two were in a sealed, closed place for quite a long time. And you… ‘exercised’ quite vigorously.”

Cassandra still seemed suspicious. But even now, thinking about that time makes my calves tremble. It was truly grueling training.

“Yeah, we did?”

Camilla blushed. She must have remembered that night.

“My guess is that the virus tried to quickly take over your bodies and did everything to spread. It probably caused coughing and such.

But you two took the initiative to sweat and exhale through exercise. It must have been convenient for the virus. It’s almost as if you were ‘spreading’ it on your own without it having to do anything.

And surely the breath you exhaled was transmitted to each other’s respiratory systems… and when it was received thinking it was an enemy, it turned out to be a very similar virus, so there was no need for a big fight. No reason to become virulent.

Instead, some kind of enhancement must have occurred. You two seem to have… shared affection for quite a long time.”

“No, I’m telling you. We just exercised really hard!”

Unfortunately, Cassandra wasn’t listening to me.

“Let’s say that’s true. Anyway, during that time, you constantly shared saliva, had skin contact, and so on, right?

Thanks to that, the viruses in you two strengthened each other, made each other more solid, resolved errors, and caught mutations during that process. It determined that the current state is optimal.

You strengthened the viruses in each other’s bodies. That’s why I mixed it with Cassandra’s virus. Cassandra’s virus is quite robust, but yours is even more so.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be happy about this or deny it. I needed some time to think. I pulled Camilla’s body closer. She smelled lovely as always.

So, the virus in Camilla and me intends to settle in our bodies. But instead of ‘taking over’ our bodies and turning us into zombie monsters, it changed its strategy to live with us. A defensive approach, building and protecting a solid fortress.

“You mean coexistence?”

“If we have to put it that way, yes. Whether you intended it or not, I don’t know. At least in terms of judgment, it won’t interfere with you.”

“How merciful.”

Though it sounded sarcastic, Camilla seemed quite relieved and even managed a smile. But Cassandra’s face still looked serious.

“But is there really no effect at all?”

“Of course there is. This is something quite peculiar to you, Johan.”

I knew it. Camilla gripped my waist tightly. As if I might be taken away by a ghost.

“What? What is it!”

“It’s close to emotional amplification.”

“…Huh? What did you say?”

Did I hear something wrong?

“Let me put it more simply. Sorry. This is a first for Cassandra too. Um… how should I say this? Excitement? Or.”

“What are you talking about right now?”

“Heat?”

It feels like a hundred alarm bells are ringing in my head. Camilla gaped at Cassandra and me alternately. Cassandra seemed to have thought of something and nodded as if she’d found the right way to explain.

“The virus in your body, Johan, produces a very special substance and transmits it outside your body. It stimulates the other person’s nerves, but works in a very peculiar way. It amplifies the other person’s emotions.

If someone tries to attack you, their aggression will increase due to their own excitement. Your strategy, Johan, is to make the opponent angry and lose their reason. That increases the survival rate for you and your body’s virus.

But conversely, if they don’t threaten your body. It makes them feel goodwill, and in some cases, draws them in. If they already like you…”

At that point, something changed in Cassandra’s eyes. Something wriggling, surging, sticky. A strange glow emanated from her green eyes.

“…If they like you, what happens?”

“It will make them come irresistibly close, enough to transmit and infect your body’s virus.”

“W-what?”

Camilla looked at Cassandra in disbelief. And Camilla too seemed to have read Cassandra’s strange mood. She pulled me closer as if she didn’t want to lose me.

But Cassandra also looked at Camilla. Somehow, it was a look mixed with sympathy and pity.

“…How have you managed to hold back all this time? Your patience is admirable.”

“Doctor! Please! Keep! Personal matters!”

But Cassandra pointed at me.

“But Johan said health-related issues, specifically about the virus, aren’t private matters. They affect all of us beyond personal boundaries, so he asked me to explain openly, didn’t he?”

She’s turning it around like this? But Cassandra wasn’t finished.

“So from now on, Cassandra is going to tell you something very, very important. For the sake of all three of us. We need to become one.”