I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop – Chapter 108

Chapter 108: Extermination of the Infected, 3

The Caracas Heavy Industry Steps were provisionally concluded to have become a Blood Contamination Zone.

In the past, I might have hesitated, asking here and there if such an approach was acceptable.

But Overseers are granted full authority to handle all incidents within their assigned zone upon receiving a mission.

Especially with cases like blood contamination, which infect both the land and humans.

The process to dismantle a Blood Contamination Zone is simple.

All identified infected individuals must be killed.

If it were a case of intermediate infection, there might still be hope.

Taking the infected to a healer or administering potions could offer a chance of recovery.

Usually, once blood contamination becomes known in the upper layers, citizens rush to report it.

There are rewards for reporting, and the disease becomes more dangerous the longer it’s left unchecked.

Here, however, the infected seemed determined to hide their condition among themselves.

Most had long ceased to be human, moving far beyond the final stages of infection.

Watching them intoxicated by human blood and flesh, oblivious to the fact they were ever human, was pitiful.

Living in the lower layers, they likely harbored considerable resentment or envy toward the upper layers.

Their refusal to report blood contamination likely stemmed from a belief that Ark wouldn’t assist them.

Still, I felt no guilt.

The criminal organizations in the Caracas Heavy Industry Steps made their own choices.

Everyone must bear the consequences of their decisions.

If they chose to abandon their humanity and become monsters, their fate to die at the hands of Ark’s humans was inevitable.

“Giving up humanity to become vampires, yet pretending to play family—it’s ridiculous.”

【Having lost their human memories, they seem to have formed groups with other infected individuals in similar circumstances.】

【Family is the most basic human unit. Intelligent beings naturally band together to overcome difficulties and address problems.】

【According to the Overseer Disaster Response Database, this is a common phenomenon among those showing blood contamination symptoms.】

It was disgusting to hear them tenderly call each other “mother” or “dear” when they didn’t resemble each other at all.

These were the same creatures that abducted innocent orphans to fry and roast them, yet threw fits when their own “family” was killed.

It was heartbreaking and infuriating, so I sent them all to the same place.

Their final destination was my heart.

Although I technically don’t have a heart—just a core engine—it didn’t matter.

Their deaths became fuel and sustenance for me, far more useful than dying for nothing.

“Marlang!”

Marlang grabbed a vampire’s arm with one hand and spun it around like a propeller.

The vampire’s original owner had already died from my Drain, but its severed arm, flopping like a squid leg, seemed alive.

“Marlang.”

“Marlang!”

When I called, Marlang trotted over to me.

Having enjoyed wielding her blade and hunting freely in Ark, her face was smeared with blood, yet she beamed with a cheerful smile.

Despite her innocent appearance and demeanor, Marlang was as old as Sohi, a first-class Overseer with formidable power, and an undead girl who relished bloody hunts.

It was no surprise she derived such joy from slicing up vampires.

“Oh, our Marlang got all messy.”

“Marlang!”

As I wiped the blood from her cheeks, she leaned into me, nuzzling her face.

Her soft, plump cheeks reminded me of a hamster.

The doll-like girls were cute too, but they hadn’t regained their humanity yet.

If I touched their cheeks, they’d stiffly say something like, “What is the meaning of this, Alice?”

Look at them now.

Even though we’ve eliminated all nearby vampires, one of them, stuck on Ernest Rail’s insufferable manual, is keeping watch and maintaining a vigilant stance.

It wouldn’t hurt to take a break, but they stubbornly insist on maintaining their guard for my safety.

I had no choice but to rest while stroking Marlang’s cheeks.

“So, Marlang, how many did you hunt?”

“Hmm… Marlang!”

Marlang spread both hands wide in response.

It seemed she had hunted around ten or more.

For the infected or vampires who crossed my path, their fate was relatively merciful.

I used my mechanical tendrils to execute them with a clean Drain, ending it in one go.

Marlang, however, lacked detailed knowledge of vampire or infected biology.

She simply sliced and shot them repeatedly with her spirit-infused blade and gun until they could no longer regenerate.

Ark considered vampires and progenitors a major nuisance because their bodies were rooted in blood, not organs or the brain.

Essentially, as long as they had blood, all vampires and progenitors were virtually immortal.

However, no matter how potent their regeneration, it consumed energy and vitality.

At first, vampires might dismiss Marlang’s fierce attacks, thinking she couldn’t harm them.

Yet within seconds, they’d be shredded hundreds of times by her spirit-laden strikes.

Once they retaliated, they’d be met with overwhelming force.

Marlang’s regenerative powers eclipsed theirs, and her cheerful smile as she swung her blade filled with spirit energy likely made them wish for a swift death.

A vampire subjected to relentless mutilation until all the mana and life force in their blood were drained would die a horrific death.

Still, Marlang remained adorable as always.

The cheeks were soft and smooth, and even now, she was rubbing her face against my hand, emphasizing her cuteness.

No, does she perhaps know she’s this cute?

“Ah, that’s right. Marlang, could you take her with you to the Silion Residential Zone?”

“Marlang?”

I pointed at the orphaned girl for Marlang to see.

She was the orphan girl who had been captured alive by the vampire clan.

The girl seemed exhausted, possibly from stabbing her vampire mother—the one who had captured her and cooked her friends—with a knife.

Yeah, that’s the normal reaction.

On the other hand, I’m the abnormal one for feeling no guilt about killing vampires who were once human.

“Well… considering I slaughtered and killed vampires right in front of her, she’d obviously be scared if I spoke to her.”

“I’m not scared of you, Sensei.”

“That’s because it’s you. Honestly, is there anything you or your sisters are afraid of, Marlang?”

“Um… Nope!”

Marlang giggled.

What could girls who were more unkillable than vampires possibly fear?

“Marlang!”

Marlang nodded and gently helped the sobbing girl, who was sitting on the ground, to her feet.

“Um, excuse me…”

“Hmm?”

At that moment, the girl, about to be taken away by Marlang, staggered and looked at me.

“Help, help… me…”

“Hmm?”

“Other, others, the kids, they’re in danger…”

“Other kids?”

Marlang, who had been about to escort the girl, seemed to sense something and steadied the staggering girl.

I approached her.

She still seemed frightened of me, as her eyes trembled when I came closer, but there was a sense of desperation stronger than her fear.

“Are there other children here besides you?”

“Yes, yes. Uh… sniff… sob…”

The girl’s emotions seemed to overflow as tears welled up in her eyes.

“We, we live in Plum Blossom Cave.”

“Plum Blossom Cave?”

【Search results indicate it’s a term for the underground sewers of Caracas Step. It appears to be a place where orphaned children with nowhere else to go gather.】

Theresa explained this to me while simultaneously projecting a 3D map of the route to Plum Blossom Cave in one corner of my vision.

It wasn’t too far from here.

With my ability to levitate using magnetic force, I could reach it in about 10 to 20 minutes.

However, what wasn’t far for me was a different matter for the girl.

An orphaned girl in poor physical condition wouldn’t be able to walk that distance without stumbling.

“Our Plum Blossom Cave… the older boys and girls in suits took over… they drove us all out… all my friends, all of them, got thrown out….”

“What?”

“They said it’s dangerous outside and that they’d wait, but they told us all to leave… wandering around, I got caught and brought here… all my friends, all of them… sob….”

Older boys and girls in suits.

Her words made me frown for a moment.

I was reminded of why I had come to the Caracas Step in the first place.

Academy students.

I wasn’t here to solve the blood contamination problem. I had come down to investigate the disappearance of an entire team of academy students during their field training in the lower layers.

“Could the suits those older boys and girls were wearing look like this?”

Using my fingernail, I transformed it into a blade and sketched the academy uniform design Theresa was showing me in real-time.

Though I had no artistic talent, my fingers, guided by the data Theresa downloaded, drew an image identical to the design on the wall.

“Yes, yes… that’s it. That’s exactly it! The people wearing that drove me and all of us out…!”

“I see.”

Listening to the orphaned girl, I began to grasp the situation.

The academy students must have come here for their field training but ended up trapped due to the blood contamination zone and vampires.

At first, they must have underestimated the lower layers.

Most criminal organizations here could easily be wiped out by academy students.

However, the blood contamination zone, terminally infected individuals, and vampires were likely too much for them to handle.

I had the absurd skill Drain and Mantis Blades imbued with fragments of the Holy Sword and Demonic Sword, which could sever vampires’ blood and the life force within it.

But for academy students, whose level of skill I wasn’t sure of, complete beginners with no field experience would inevitably hit their limits.

They were either defeated by the vampires or ended up fleeing into Plum Blossom Cave, where orphaned children lived, and drove them all out.

“Hmmm…”

By principle, I was supposed to rescue the academy students.

But…

“Do I really need to save those who threw orphans into hell just to save themselves?”