Chapter 67: The Silent City
"That's good news."
After hearing Asagiri's confirmation, Kotoko's lips curved upward. Like a child eager to show off, she lifted her chin with a smug little pride.
"Not only that, I can tell these zombies are dumb. Their mental resistance isn't just worse than a Banshee's, it's even worse than a normal person's. So my Curse Gaze, which usually only causes nasty side effects, can straight up kill them when I use it on them."
She leaned on her cane as if it were a trophy.
"Well? Amazing, right?"
Asagiri smiled and nodded. "Amazing."
Kotoko immediately went for the real objective, her grin bright.
"Then, Leader, reward me by carrying me, okay? My stamina is bad, and I have a disability. Moving around is hard. You wouldn't have the heart to watch me suffer, right?"
"Trying to morally blackmail me?" Asagiri returned her smile. "Lucky for you, I have no morals. Otherwise I might've fallen for it. Walk."
Kotoko muttered under her breath, sulking. "What an unkind guy…"
"Anyway, about the answer to this Dungeon's mystery…"
Asagiri took out his phone and studied the detailed city map. His gaze rested on the marker at the very center, clearly labeled Benevolence Hospital.
"Maybe we'll find it here."
…
After the four of them left the apartment building and stepped onto the street, they froze.
Within their line of sight, there wasn't a single zombie.
This wasn't the apocalyptic nightmare they'd pictured, streets crawling with the dead, a thick rot stench hanging in the air like a curse. Instead, it was a city that felt emptied out. Silent. Still. Lifeless.
That wrongness pressed down on them.
Asuna's grip tightened around the Exorcist Longsword. Her brows drew together.
"Not a single zombie…?"
Honestly, if they'd walked out into a swarm, dozens, even hundreds, she wouldn't have felt this tense. A visible threat was easier to deal with.
But danger you couldn't see was suffocating.
"Pay attention to the surroundings at all times…"
Asuna's eyes swept the street again, sharper now, until something caught her attention.
"Wait. What is that?"
There was a sticky yellow green liquid smeared along the exhaust pipe of a parked motorcycle.
Asuna had a slight mysophobia, but this was a Dungeon. She didn't have the luxury of being picky. She stepped closer to examine it.
"This is… disgusting. And the smell is horrible."
Asagiri came over and crouched beside her. He studied the viscous stain for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully.
"The color… it looks like bile."
"Bile?" Asuna tucked her long hair back, thinking. "So someone died here? Like, in a way where their body was ripped open and bile spilled out?"
"Unlikely." Asagiri shook his head and glanced around the ground. "There's no blood. No organs. No body parts."
He paused, then stood, looking at Asuna, Kotoko, and Megumi.
Then he voiced a hypothesis none of them had considered yet.
"Even though the keyword is Zombie, and the location says Abandoned City After the Apocalypse, and we've confirmed zombies exist, those slow ones that don't spread infection can't be a fatal threat to Players."
His eyes swept the empty street.
"It would be one thing if they were everywhere, but there isn't a single one in sight. So I don't think the main challenge of this Dungeon is the zombies."
Kotoko leaned on her cane, thinking as she spoke.
"Yeah. The difficulty is suspiciously low."
She tapped her cane lightly on the pavement, voice turning analytical.
"And the so called zombies aren't just weak. At our spawn point, there just happened to be a diary that told us they're slow, they don't spread infection, and the city's water source isn't contaminated."
She looked up, eyes narrowing.
"That kind of useful information doesn't feel like coincidence. The only reasonable explanation is that the system wants Players to go out and explore. That's why it fed them information early, to make sure they understand that even if they run into ordinary zombies, it won't be instantly lethal as long as they're careful."
Megumi spoke up cautiously.
"Then… what if someone understands that, but still doesn't want to take risks? What if they just hide where they spawned and wait for the time limit to end?"
"Then they're dead." Asagiri's tone was flat. "This isn't a newcomer Dungeon. It won't be that easy."
He glanced at them, calm and certain.
"Giving two objectives looks like freedom. In reality, it creates the perfect trap. Once there's a choice, people start gambling on luck."
He said it bluntly.
"The first part of this Dungeon's test is initiative. It's filtering out Players who only want to muddle through and don't care about rewards. Those Players have no value to this game."
Asuna's gaze lowered to the bile.
"Then the second part… is this trace?"
She inhaled slowly, connecting pieces.
"Could this be left by the Special Infected? The public hint says to always watch your surroundings. That sounds like the Dungeon is warning Players to avoid the Special Infected while moving. Then they collect information like the map and plan a route to Benevolence Hospital."
"Yes." Asagiri's voice was calm, but his eyes held a faint edge of excitement. "For ordinary Players, that's the most reasonable strategy for a high rating."
He looked at Asuna.
"But I want to confirm something. And Violet can grow stronger through kills, so…"
The eagerness in his gaze sharpened.
"Let's go find the Special Infected."
…
Nearly an hour later, they descended into an underground parking lot.
Asuna's eyes widened slightly.
"More bile… and a lot more of it."
Yellow green viscous liquid clung to the ground, the walls, and the sides of vehicles. The stench was heavier too, thick enough to make the air feel dirty.
Asuna looked at Asagiri. "We're close."
"Yeah." Asagiri's tone stayed steady. "And it's a parking lot. Convenient."
Just as he said it, a wet sound like vomiting came from behind a van roughly twenty meters ahead.
"Ugh…"
A large glob of yellow green slime splattered to the floor.
Then something stepped out from behind the van.
Its body was bloated, its belly swollen to an absurd size. Tumor like lumps covered its face, stomach, and arms.
"Is that the Special Infected…?" Asuna tightened her grip on the Exorcist Longsword and started forward.
"Wait." Asagiri caught her with a quick gesture. "Step back."
He led Asuna, Kotoko, and Megumi silently away. Then he raised his black, gun shaped summoner and pressed it to his temple.
"Persona…"
His voice was quiet, controlled.
"Human Asura."
The moment Human Asura appeared, the bloated infected seemed to sense movement. It turned slowly, then began shuffling toward them.
It didn't get far.
Human Asura was already in front of it.
A massive right hand reached out, grabbed the infected's head like it was a ball, and dragged it back behind the van. The infected's cyst swollen arms slapped uselessly at the air.
Then came a deafening explosion.
Bang!!!
Asuna and Kotoko both stiffened. They knew that sound. They'd heard it in the Hotel Dungeon, when the bodies of the two suicidal Players exploded.
Asagiri lowered his summoner. "Okay. Solved."
He canceled Human Asura. Because Persona was power condensed from his heart, he could sense the rough destructive force of the blast through it.
Then he led them around the van.
What greeted them was a nightmare collage. Bits of flesh, torn organs, splattered gore, and that yellow green mucus smeared across everything in a chaotic mess.
Asuna and Megumi instinctively turned their heads away.
Kotoko didn't.
She stared calmly, as if the disgust couldn't touch her, and murmured in understanding.
"So that's it. That swollen belly was full of bile. Once it takes an impact, it detonates."
Her voice stayed soft, clinical.
"It's the kind you can't kill up close. You have to deal with it from a distance."
Then she looked at Asagiri, curiosity sharp.
"You said you wanted to confirm something through the Special Infected. What was it?"
Asagiri pointed at the ground.
Asuna, Kotoko, and Megumi followed his finger.
Among the splattered remains and mucus lay a small black object, about two centimeters long. Easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
"This is…"
Kotoko recognized it instantly. Her brows furrowed.
"An implanted locator?"
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