Outbreak Chronicles: Dead Pandemic

Chapter 305 - The Hunt for the Deadly Core
Day 333: 5:41 P.M

Osaka: Blood Batallion Base

Equipment: Melee: Piyavka Machete, Piyavka Cleaver

Gun: AR15, Beretta M9 Pistol

(Kyosei’s View)

Kato is in dire need of help. He is now undergoing the mutation and if things got worse, he will turn into a variant just like how it happened with Kaze turning him into a Juggernaut.

I can tell that the infection in his body was undetected but he could get infected during the last battle against the Hammerhead. If the virus of the Hammerhead can be transmitted not only by a bite but also by its attacks, that means that must be the reason why his infection is slow and because his limbs that were affected were amputated to save him, it won’t be a far fetched theory if he still has a remnant of the virus and only got to m.a.t.u.r.e slowly in his body, causing him to remain as an uninfected individual before.

As I was thinking of something to do, I saw Izayoi and the two variants rushing in our direction.

”Kyosei! How is Kato-san?” Izayoi asked.

”He is currently suffering a troublesome thing and he is undergoing a mutation.”

When Roku heard this, he went inside to the infirmary’s operating room. Then, I heard Izayoi talk again.

”Nana is the first one to detect the strange fluctuations happening on Kato’s body and when she found the source of the fluctuation, it was Kato who was writhing in pain,” Izayoi said.

”I found him with the unusual signals of the virus coming from his body. Because we are quite s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to the fluctuations coming from an infected individual, we can tell if someone is going to become infected or not. His chances are very close to zero and he has a big chance to turn into the Variants you humans spoke of. I tried to alter the infection rate of his body with some of my methods though I know it didn’t help much. I asked Izayoi for help and he went to Cindy to fetch my brother too.”

”You delayed the infection rate?” I asked.

”Yes. It might not be of much help but I managed to delay it at least a few hours, but if it remained to be untreated, it will become much worse and we won’t have much time before we can even rescue him.”

”What are we going to do?” 

”We have already taken back one ingredient to help ease his mutation. If it works, he will be able to survive this ordeal and remain his human sanity. However, this is one of the three main ingredients that is needed to stabilize his mutation. We still need two pieces. One is already abundant and you all have heaps of it so we don’t need to harvest more to find one.”

”You mean the Piyavka?”

”Yes. It has some particles that cancel the mutation f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y to a certain extent. Using it will allow us to lower his chances of mutating to a variant.”

”Then what is the last one?”

”A core. Every variant has one but they break the moment the Variants die so if you want to take them from a variant, taking it while they are still alive is the only way to avoid it from breaking.”

”Are you sure you will be doing this alone, Singularity?” Nana asked.

”There is no other choice and out of all the people here who can fight a Variant, only I can kill a Variant in close combat and has a bigger chance of taking one core back to the base.”

”Then be sure to carry it in one piece. It easily breaks the moment you kill the target, you needed to take the core out of their body before they die first to avoid them breaking it. Most have the cores located in their c.h.e.s.t area as a replacement for the heart but some have their brains as the core. So if you hunt a bigger Variant, the better.”

I nodded and departed from the base, hoping to find the core as soon as possible.

Day 333: 6:00 P.M

Osaka Streets

Equipment: Melee: Piyavka Machete, Piyavka Cleaver

Gun: AR15, Beretta M9 Pistol

(Kyosei’s View)

Once they started to manifest, I quickly took this chance to hunt a variant this time around without any actual support and just me and my trusty weapons. I kinda remember this feeling when I managed to kill the first Variant, the Juggernaut by myself. Although I rely on a grenade that time, forcing the Juggernaut to die, I am confident to take out the Variants if needed.

Arriving in an area where there is fewer undead than expected, I went down from the motorcycle and went out for the kill of the normal undead who are all idle at the moment.

I made quick movements on getting rid of them that they don’t even get the chance to attack me.

Since it is Night Rage already, I know there is more undead who will be chasing me here after arriving on a motorcycle so before they can even catch up, I took this chance to escape their sight and went inside the nearby buildings. My chances of meeting a variant inside the building are minimal but it has a chance to meet one. Also, the ones inside the buildings are the ones who are much easier to restrain and kill compared to the Juggernaut and the Decapitator that finding a chance to kill them won’t be good as they can kill you before you can even make a move yourself.

And as expected, there are none available in the said building I went in. It was empty and there is not even undead in there due to the Night Rage which causes them to go out in full rage finding human food.

Because there is nothing for me to gain here and the enemies below might be already running their way up to my location, the next location became my target next. Breaking off the window from the top floor, the moment the undead chasing me arrived at the floor I was in, I jump off the broken window and do a freefall.

Before reaching the ground, I shoot my grappling hook and hooked myself before getting into the action of pulling myself from the hook. The undead who are chasing me also jumped off blindly as they try to chase and unlike me who has a grappling hook to use, the poor bastards didn’t have a chance and crushed themselves the moment they all died.

Seeing the efficient elimination of the running bastards, I started running around the area looking for any variant. There are most of the undead here to be normal ones. I find a few Variants but they are too dangerous to kill alone so I have to lower the target requirements for me to efficiently get a core while the variant is still alive.

Then, just as I was busy looking for one, a scream has suddenly awoken my senses. Because it is a variant and I met this one before.

Since the Banshee is a woman-shaped variant, it is much easier for me to restrain the variant and take its core. Finding where the banshee is, I managed to locate the location of the banshee not too far from me, crouching while eating a dead undead. The moment my eyes landed on the variant, I took my grappling hook and throw it to the Banshee’s neck, restraining it in the process.

The banshee tried screaming but before it can scream, I tug the rope hard causing the banshee to fall to the ground. It is still not letting up and even in my full strength, it is a struggle to pull the Banshee into submission.

It started screaming the moment it managed to overpower me but because I still have my headphones on, the banshee’s effort to stun me from her scream failed to make any kind o if the effect on me.

Before it can do anything, I cut off the two sharp hands of the Banshee in quick succession causing it to scream in pain as it tries to stop me from attacking but due to my move of cutting of the Banshees arm, it failed in doing so, leaving her in a very vulnerable state.

”Do me a favor and let me take your core and I will end you silently.”