Leave a comment

There just so happened to be a hall large enough to hold all the survivors, as one would expect from a giant shopping mall. Thus the survivors were herded like schoolkids in a single file towards the hall where they were neatly lined up in rows and columns.

Some bemoaned the treatment, but for the most part, everyone complied quietly.

As I swept my eyes over them, I couldn’t help but marvel at the spread of survivors before me. Some of the survivors were just standing there with their arms folded and brows knitted in annoyance, as if this entire crisis had nothing to do with them. There were those who were shivering where they stood, as if a simple breeze could topple them. Then there were those who stood there with blood in their eyes, the look of grief written all over their haggard faces. In all likelihood, these were the unfortunate ones who had lost someone close to them during the crisis. However, the majority were just in a daze. Their soulless eyes would stare at me as they pleaded and cried about their lost future.

“All the survivors have been gathered, Lady Mo Ke. What should we do next?” Sima Junmo asked.

“Next, I need you all to watch them closely. I will search them for signs of the infection.” Having said that, I walked to the front of the survivors and raised my voice. “Amongst you are people who have been infected. If you’ve drunk the Gene Enhancement Serum, I hope that you would voluntarily step forward.”

My request was only for those who drank the serum to step forward, because only in them would the virus incubate silently for a period. If they were bitten, they would have turned to a zombie already.

A nearby youth immediately scoffed at my question, even going so far as to thumb his nose at me. “What a waste of time… If someone here had drunk the serum, they would have already turned into a zombie. Why would he wait till today to turn?”

I paid the youth no heed. “I hope those of you who have drunk that serum would stand out. I have the antidote.”

“Huh? You have the antidote?” Realising that I was ignoring him on purpose, the youth raised his voice even higher. “If you really have the antidote, why didn’t you take it out yesterday to save us?”

While that man’s attitude was annoying, this last question of his was on point. No longer able to ignore him anymore, I sighed before turning to him in earnest. “The availability of the antidote is low, and it just arrived as well.”

“The virus just began surfacing yesterday, and you’re telling me you have the antidote the next day? Are you the one who spread it?” The youth pointed his finger right in my face. “And even if you didn’t, I bet you had something to do with it.”

I had to really hold myself back when he said that. No matter how annoying his harassment was, I had to endure… since I was the face of the Federation right now… Not that I liked that status… But I had my principles – I won’t use violence against an ordinary civilian.

“The virus has nothing to do with me, and the antidote is real.”

“As if! You say the virus has nothing to do with you, and somehow this so-called antidote of yours is real?! No way, there’s definitely something up with you!”

He wasn’t wrong. If it wasn’t for my system, even I would find what he just said believable.

“It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not. What matters is that you’ve drunk that serum, haven’t you?” I could already see my detection pearl glow brighter as I stepped towards him. From the looks of things, he was one of those infected.

But there was no guarantee he was the only one either.

“Drink this and you will be saved.” I exchanged one of the antidotes for 10 points, then handed the bottle to the man, fingers still gripping its cap tightly.

“Oh hoh. So the mythical antidote does exist.” The youth unrepentantly threw a snide comment my way before reaching out with both hands to grab the antidote. However, his hands seemed to be stretching even further than the bottle cap…

That *******… there’s no way I’m letting some random man touch my hand.

I reflexively pulled back.

Because of that, the youth ended up grabbed onto nothing.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? You say you will give me the antidote, but you took it away at the last minute. You’re just trying to make fun of me.” And to no one’s surprise, the youth immediately turned around to accuse me.

“I want him segregated.” This time, I just ignored him entirely. I handed the antidote to one of the exosuit pilots. “Make him drink the antidote later, and take a video of the process.”

“Understood.” The SAT member received the antidote from me, then unceremoniously shoved the youth to a nearby room for segregation.

Naturally, the youth wasn’t going to cooperate at all. Unfortunately, this was an exosuit he was dealing with, and the pilot within had absolutely no fondness for him. Whether he liked it or not, he was tossed into an empty room, after which the antidote was placed inside. Whether he drank it or not was up to him.

If we were being perfectly honest here, I did not want to save him either. But I still had a duty to fulfill, and I couldn’t very well abandon him while I was still the face of the Federation.

And while we were being honest, I was damned sure this youth would end up turning into a hoodlum like that tri-colored scumbag, given the right circumstances. However, he still hadn’t done anything wrong yet, so I couldn’t punish him preemptively.

Shortly after dealing with that youth, I ended up finding three more infected. They were a young couple and a dead-looking teen. They were apprehensive of the antidote at first, but the Federation’s name still carried some weight. And it was true that they had taken that serum, so they knew that I wasn’t without reason. Thus, they drank the antidote I offered them.

As I watched them gulp down the contents of the bottles, I saw the glow in the detection pearl calm down before my eyes. I knew then that the infection was finally under control.

“Alright, you all can leave now.”

“Wai- wait…” A quaking hand was raised, belonging to a middle-aged aunty the size of a pig. “I… I’ve taken the serum as well. Can I have a bottle?”

“You’ve had the serum?” I paused in surprise, but I soon recovered and brought the detection pearl close to her. No reaction.

“You’re sure you’ve drunk it? My detection kit would have picked up the infection if you have.”

“Actually… I’ve drunk it as well…”

“Me too…”

Five other survivors raised their hands, all expressing that they’ve taken the serum. However, the detection pearl clearly showed that there were no traces of the virus on them. Were they special in some way? Perhaps they were immune to the virus?

Or maybe they were lying?

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE