Translator: Nox

Chapter 50

Sweat was pouring down his face as if a faucet had been turned on.

“Oh… well, that is…”

The Inspector hesitated for a moment before slowly rolling up his sleeve.

“I went out for a second earlier and got bitten, but…”

“Dammit.”

Only then did I notice that the Inspector’s forearm had been torn away to a gruesome degree. It was so deep that the stark white bone was visible. Did he really not feel any pain?

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“That’s the thing. My senses… they’ve gone numb. I can’t… feel any pain… It’s… strange…”

Hans’s speech was gradually slowing down.

“Something’s wrong.”

Knox, who had been silently observing the situation, muttered. Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Eden stepped closer to me.

“Sir Eden. Is there anything useful we can take from here?”

Eden looked at me with a face that asked why I was suddenly bringing that up. Keeping my axe aimed at the Inspector, I spoke to him.

“If there is, grab it right now. We don’t have time.”

“There should be keys to the dungeon and some self-defense gear.”

“Good. Put them in the bag.”

At that moment, a stream of blood trickled down from Hans’s nose. He touched his philtrum with a puzzled expression, and his eyes widened when he saw the blood on his fingers.

The symptoms immediately following infection by the monsters varied from person to person. It seemed Hans had a slow progression but was suffering from hemoptysis.

I shouted at Eden, who was standing there awkwardly.

“What are you doing? Hurry!”

Eden moved, looking slightly flustered.

Regardless of what we were doing, Hans stared down at his blood-stained hand with a dazed face and muttered.

“Why is this happening…”

I watched in horror as one side of Hans’s face began to melt.

There was no other way to describe it—it was literally melting. As the right side of his face sloughed off, an eyeball popped out and rolled across the floor. I swallowed a scream and scrambled back.

“Uuuugh…”

A groan escaped Hans. His two arms began to swell up like balloons as he took a step toward me.

“Sir Eden.”

Without looking back, I watched Hans transform into a virus monster and called out to Eden in a trembling voice.

“Sir? Where are you?”

I was getting anxious when no answer came, but just as I called him again—

“I am right here.”

A low voice sounded right by my ear. My shaking hands steadied, and a wave of relief washed over me.

Eden’s large hand wrapped around my shoulder, and with a gentle motion, he pulled me back.

“Slowly.”

He spoke to me as if soothing a child. I backed away slowly with Eden, keeping my eyes fixed on Hans. One step at a time, very slowly.

Eventually, we reached the side door of the police station. According to Eden, it was the door leading to the dungeon.

Hans’s police uniform had completely shredded due to his bloated body. Now, with a half-collapsed face, he stared at us.

“My body feels strange… heavy… But, you all… leaving me behind… where are you going?”

His face distorted even further as he questioned us in a chilling tone. When he opened his mouth wide, I could see teeth that had turned sharp and jagged.

His voice resonated with a hum, sounding as if three or four people were speaking at once.

I felt as if my feet were nailed to the spot. I couldn’t move; I was too terrified, too revolted.

“Leaving me… behind… where are you goooing!”

Krrraaaaaagh!

Eden quickly cleared the desk he had placed in front of the back door. Then, drawing his sword, he stepped in front of me.

“Watch out for the teeth! Don’t let him bite you!”

With a swift swing of his blade, Eden sliced through the center of the Inspector’s body.

Riiiiiip—

Like a water balloon bursting, the surface of the skin split and then exploded.

A green liquid, presumably the monster’s blood, erupted like a fountain. I couldn’t tell if the monster that used to be the Inspector was truly dead, since his head hadn’t been split.

Hearing the sound of the explosion, the monsters outside the police station began to swarm toward us.

Knox opened the side door to the basement and shouted at us.

“Hurry up!”

Eden ran over, carrying the bag he had dropped, and I followed Knox through the side door with Eden right behind me.

Knox quickly shut the door and barred it with a wooden beam. I hoisted Knox over my shoulder like a sack of rice and sprinted down the basement stairs.

The basement was dark and damp. Just like a real cave.

“Phew… Sinclair. I appreciate the help, but could you please put me down now? Have some consideration for my social standing and dignity.”

Knox, hanging over my back, pleaded as if his life depended on it.

Hearing the sub-male lead of a romance novel (though I was starting to doubt if this was actually a romance) beg like that was quite entertaining. Of course, the situation of me carrying said sub-male lead on my back wasn’t particularly fun.

“If you were capable of doing this on your own, I wouldn’t have to. If you keep whining, I’ll take your social standing and dignity into account and toss you right into a monster’s maw, so shut up.”

Of course, I couldn’t actually throw away a precious doctor so easily.

However, I was genuinely considering it if the whining continued; unfortunately, Knox, as usual, didn’t cross the line.

In that sense, Knox was actually harder to deal with than Eden. I could never tell what he was thinking.

“You’ve been hanging around him so much that you’ve changed, Lady Cherry. Our socialite star has become far too violent. I think Lancaster has been a very bad influence on you.”

Knox suddenly aimed his barb at Eden instead of me. Eden, caught in the crossfire, glared at Knox.

“I’ve what?”

Ignoring them, I set Knox down on the floor. I dropped the bag from my shoulder and searched for a lantern.

“Look, Rudfercher. Just be glad we didn’t leave you behind and shut your trap.”

“ Lady Cherry was the one who dragged along someone who just wanted to be left behind, wasn’t she? You really have no grace. I’m hurt.”

I had to concede to Knox’s point. That was true. I had forcibly dragged along a man who would rather die than have Eden see him being carried by me.

Since Knox was a doctor, I felt I had to cut him some slack for being weaker than us. Like a handicap in a game.

I let their bickering go in one ear and out the other as I rummaged through the bag.

“Is that so? Well, that’s a relief. I’d rather not die while trying to stay graceful like you.”

“…Lady Cherry, you’ll be tainted if you keep hanging around a guy like that. We are intellectuals. We must have grace.”

“Ah. Dammit, I’m screwed. Where did the matches go?”

No matter how much I dug through the bag, I couldn’t find the matchbox. I didn’t want to pass through the dungeon and the corpse disposal area without any light.

While muttering curses under my breath, I locked eyes with Knox, who was staring blankly at me.

“Huh? Did you say something?”

“…I was just saying that Lady Cherry uses such lovely language.”

Knox looked at me with a straight face and gave a refreshing smile.

It seemed the words I had intended to keep internal had slipped out. But since when was ‘Dammit, I’m screwed’ considered lovely language? I hadn’t realized it, but I never knew he had a thing for foul-mouthed women.

Beside us, Eden was shaking with suppressed laughter. I didn’t know what his problem was, but Eden being weird wasn’t exactly news, so I decided to ignore it.

Anyway, after a frantic search, I finally found the matches. Only after lighting the lantern were we able to move.

Eden and I supported Knox from both sides, holding a lantern and a sword respectively.

“Hey. You’re being too loud. Do you think you own this cell block?”

Suddenly, someone spoke to us.

It wasn’t Eden’s voice, nor was it Knox’s.

I shone the lantern toward the source of the sound.

To the left of the path we were walking, a row of prison bars stretched out. Most were empty, but there was one cell that had an occupant.

A middle-aged man with a familiar face pressed himself against the bars and stared at us.

“Is it alright for civilians to just barge into the dungeon like this?”

The man seemed completely unaware of the situation outside. Then again, if he had been locked up here the whole time, it made sense.

Belatedly, I realized that this man was the domestic abuser whom Eden had mocked with a glass of whiskey before the world fell apart.

Eden pulled a key from his pocket and tossed it in front of the bars.

“Get out or don’t, it’s up to you. Just watch out, there are monsters outside.”

“It looks safer just staying locked up in there,” I muttered as I looked at the prison bars, but the domestic abuser, knowing nothing, didn’t hesitate for a second to reach his hand out through the bars.