Chapter Eighty-Two: Treatment Time, Part One

For the three sisters, there had never been any morality or values from the time before the catastrophe. After the Great Calamity, human order and rules had changed beyond all recognition. Under the absolute premise that everything was for the sake of survival, anything could be permitted. There were no angels on the wasteland, nor were there any humans born kind by nature. Eluka and the others were no different. Born in the wild and raised in the wild, the girls did not recoil from killing, nor did they abhor it; the only thing that could restrain them was the calculation of cost against return.

Just as Eluka’s earlier concern had not stemmed from any rejection of killing the people in this settlement itself, but from the fact that the slaughter would not yield commensurate gain. But after Delin gave her assurance, the three sisters naturally no longer had to worry about such matters. If all they did could bring in a handsome reward, then they did not mind whether their actions amounted to murder, arson, or something else entirely. As a Hound Squad, that was the sort of work they always did anyway.

So what they had to do next was quite clear.

“First comes diagnosis.”

Standing by the window and looking out at the street beyond, Feron spoke with a smile.

“You must remember: as medical personnel, we must first confirm the patient’s condition and the site of onset. Only then can we formulate a treatment plan according to the illness, strive for a one-time success, and eliminate the source of the disease completely... So, Krona, how is it?”

“Ah, yes!”

At Feron’s question, Krona, who had been tightly shutting her eyes, opened them. Hugging the little bear in her arms, she spoke with some unease.

“I’ve finished the scan. This settlement currently has a total of five hundred and twenty people... All of them are ordinary people. No ability users were detected.”

“With the Federation’s usual behavior, they would never have ability users working for them anyway.”

At Krona’s report, Feron smiled lightly. Then he narrowed his eyes again and looked toward the camp in the distance. This place was less a town than a small community. In this country, such communities were everywhere. They were small in scale, yet complete in all essentials. They suited the residents of these low-level network coverage zones very well. The limitations of such zones were also obvious: because facilities were limited, once the population increased, great trouble would follow. One of the reasons why District Nine, on which the Blackstone Group relied, had begun exploring the ruins was precisely that more and more people had been joining District Nine, leaving it increasingly overcrowded. Compared with rebuilding everything anew through District Nine, developing urban ruins capable of housing millions—or even tens of millions—was clearly the better choice.

For now, Feron and the others were staying in an inn. It had been specially prepared by the Federation for outsiders, and the soldier who had brought them here had already told Feron and the others that their matter had been reported to the commander of this settlement. Early tomorrow morning, Feron and the others could go meet them.

But for Feron, at this point, that was clearly no longer necessary.

“Good. Next is the preparation for surgery. Remember, before operating you must confirm that every instrument is ready, and that sterilization has been carried out...”

As he spoke, Feron tugged at the black glove on his hand. Then, with his movement, a surgical knife flashed into being at his fingertips, reflecting the dim light in the room with a brilliant gleam. Seeing what he did, the three sisters all swallowed hard at once. If before, the two besides Eluka had not understood much about Feron’s way of fighting, then after the battle at Base Zero, after witnessing those corpses cut apart into pieces, they finally understood how terrifying this seemingly insignificant little blade was in Feron’s hands.

Under the three girls’ gaze, Feron turned around with a smile, then raised his head to look at them.

“Then next... first, the patient needs to be given an anesthetic... Chris, this task is yours.”

“Yes.”

At Feron’s words, Chris nodded in reply. After receiving her answer, Feron looked toward Eluka and Krona.

“During this process, the patient may exhibit all kinds of abnormal reactions. These reactions will affect the surgery, so I need you to detect any possible abnormalities as early as possible and report them promptly. Krona, do you understand? And Eluka, the patient’s resistance is not good for the operation. I need you to eliminate the threat as soon as possible after receiving the warning, to ensure the surgery proceeds smoothly. No problem, right? If anything goes wrong, wake Franca and have it help.”

“Ah, yes, understood, Commander!”

“No problem, Commander.”

Hugging her little bear tightly, Krona hurriedly gave her answer, and Eluka also nodded. At that moment, on the girl’s wrist was a bright blue bracelet. It was none other than the familiar spirit Franca, whom Feron had awakened earlier. However, because this familiar was utterly useless, it usually took the form of a bracelet worn on Eluka’s wrist. Though useless in ordinary times, it could at least be used in a crisis as bait to draw enemy fire. In any case, according to Delin, this familiar was almost impossible to kill unless it ran into a large-scale disaster like an electromagnetic storm. So even if it were thrown out and blasted full of holes, it was no great loss. When necessary, Eluka certainly would not mind using this slime to block bullets.

“Delin will assist me in the surgery... Very well, that concludes the pre-op meeting. Since you’re already prepared...”

As he spoke, Feron smiled and spread his hands, then issued the order.

“Then I declare... the surgery has begun.”

In the settlement late at night, all was silent.

Chris moved quietly up the stairs, keeping close to the wall. According to Krona’s mental sensing, there was no one above. But as a sniper who often needed the high ground, Chris knew very well that many factions liked to place traps on elevated positions to prevent enemies from infiltrating from above. She had suffered no small number of losses because of that in the past. Fortunately, this place clearly did not seem important in the Federation’s eyes, so no traps had been set, allowing Chris to reach the rooftop without incident.

Creaaak...

The dilapidated wooden door was slowly pushed open, emitting a harsh sound, but it was quickly swallowed by the howling winter wind. Chris dashed out in a single bound, then swiftly pressed herself into the shadowed corner of the rooftop wall and concealed herself. Only after confirming that everything was normal did the girl let out a breath, then lifted the sniper rifle slung behind her and aimed at the street in the distance.

One... two... three... four... five...

Through the scope, Chris silently counted the number of patrol members, then took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at the target before her.

One minute... two minutes... three minutes...

Under the scope, the patrol unit that had originally been on duty changed positions with the second team and moved away from where they were. The moment those soldiers left, Chris pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew soundlessly from the muzzle, carving an L-shaped trajectory through the night sky before suddenly turning and shooting toward the patrol that had already entered the depths of the street. Very soon, the soldier walking at the rear suddenly lurched forward, blood spurting from the top of his head. Before the others could even react, the bullet locked on by Absolute Targeting had already entered the back of the second man’s skull, shredded the brain inside to pulp, and burst out through his forehead, striking the third man in the eye... In less than ten seconds, the six-man patrol, fully armed, had collapsed in the dim alley and become six corpses.

Phew...

Chris exhaled slowly, then turned to aim at the street on the other side.

“Done. Let’s go!”

Watching the figures in the distance disappear one by one, Eluka hurriedly slipped out through the back door as well and led Krona out of the inn. They stepped over the bodies lying in the water, now devoid of even the slightest trace of life, and continued onward. Soon, the two followed the alley to a building not far away. It had once been a police station, but now it served as quarters for Federation soldiers.

“Eluka, there are eight...”

“Leave it to me!”

Seeing the figures on the other side of the wall ahead, Eluka revealed a trace of a proud smile. The girl tiptoed to the corner, gripping the battle rifle in her hands, staring intently at the figures that seemed to be on guard duty. The instant they turned away, she burst out and launched her attack.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh——!!

The suppressed automatic rifle, empowered by Fierce Firepower, erupted with a terrifying storm comparable to a Gatling gun. The soldiers, utterly unprepared, had no time even to turn and retaliate before the bullets tearing through the air ripped them to pieces. In the blink of an eye, the checkpoint was drenched in blood, and the soldiers were all dead, reduced to mangled corpses.

Phew... this really is troublesome.

Swapping magazines with a practiced motion, Eluka again watched warily as figures approached from afar. She could not help complaining softly, then raised the assault rifle in her hands and ran forward at speed.

“I just hope this time there really is, as the Commander said, a sufficiently generous reward—otherwise, we’ll be taking a huge loss!”