The next morning, the sky was overcast.
I ended up putting on that red checkered shirt, and then together with Aoba, we used a rope to tie the patient Yukio to her bedroom bed, just like how we treated Mr. Sanroku.
After completing everything, we left the bedroom and came to the living room on the first floor.
Yukio has also become a patient...Aoba looked gloomy.
This incident has once again sounded the alarm in our hearts, and has also highlighted the unpredictability and high risk of Red Eye infection. The incident that happened to Yukio last night is certainly being played out among the survivors in River City every day, and we don't know who will be next.
I also have a sense of luck.
I, Aoba, and the never-before-met Alphonse Elric, we are different from all the other survivors in Beaver City, we do not originally belong to this world, we are special. Will this special nature also lead to us being treated differently in the Red Eye infection problem?
My meaning is... do Aoba and I possibly not get infected with Red Eye at all?
When we first fled River Beaver High School by car, our group had a total of four people; but now, Mr. Sanro and Yukio have undergone changes, while Aoba and I remain unharmed. From a probability standpoint, this is a rare event. In other words, if one person out of the initial four who escaped the school were to be randomly selected as a patient, each person would have a one in four chance of being chosen, and the probability of either Aoba or I being chosen would be one in two. Then, after Mr. Sanro became a patient, if one person were to be randomly selected from the remaining three, each person would have a one in three chance of being chosen, and the probability of either Aoba or I being chosen would be two in three. From the initial one in two probability to the subsequent two in three probability, Aoba and I have managed to avoid being selected in these two gambles of luck. While this can be attributed to good fortune, if we disregard the luck factor, could this be evidence that Aoba and I are not susceptible to the infection?
The dark forces can transport us to this world and have also provided me with the convenience of language and writing. Will they also provide the convenience of "not being infected by Red Eye"?
Although I do have a sense of luck in my heart, to be honest, I don't dare to gamble.
"Aoba, I have something to tell you," I said.
"Hm? Aoba looked at me with a puzzled expression."
"The situation is like this, last night, I went to a stronghold on the map......" I told Aoba about the situation.
Aoba listened to me attentively.
After listening, she had a contemplative expression.
"I don't know what the motive was of that guy in telling me the clues to saving Beaver City. Although destroying the stronghold was also an order from the dark background, even if he hadn't instigated me, I would have eventually done it, but I still can't feel at ease."
Even if the big guy didn't say anything at the time, as a person without any clues, I would still act according to the short message sent by the dark background, which is much better than waiting to die.
"I'm sorry, I don't have a clue either." Aoba said very apologetically.
"No problem. I didn't have any special expectations either."
"Are we going to continue destroying the strongholds established by the heretics next?" Aoba asked.
"Yes," I said.
Aside from that, I also want to find Alphonse Elric. Calling him by his full name is too long, so I'll just call him Alphonse from now on. I've heard from the strongman that Alphonse was defeated and taken away by the leader of the cult. Based on the previous interaction with the office worker, Alphonse seems to be a capable esper, but he was still defeated by the cult leader. I wonder how strong that cult leader must be. The strongman also said that Alphonse had a chance of winning against him, but he was utterly powerless against the cult leader, indicating that the cult leader must be extremely strong. Even the strongman, who is already quite strong, was difficult for me to defeat. If I were to face the cult leader, my fate might not be any better than Alphonse's.
But we must fight.
"I'm sorry, I can't be of much help..."Aoba sighed.
"No need to say goodbye, you......" I hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to comfort Aoba.
I am not a character who is good at communicating with others, so I naturally am not good at comforting others; and what's more, to be blunt, when it comes to the current situation, Aoba really can't be of any help, and it's already good that she is honestly not holding me back.
"Here, this is for you." I took out something.
It is a handgun.
This was originally Yukio's handgun, but since she has become a patient, it would be dangerous to continue leaving it in her hands; while I am a combatant, it would seem better for me to hold it, but I do not understand firearms, and for opponents within ten meters, psychic powers are far more handy than a handgun, and for opponents further than ten meters, my accuracy with a handgun is not high.
"But I can't use a gun either."Aoba looked troubled.
"It's better than having nothing."
Although I also feel that Aoba won't use a gun, perhaps her starting line in shooting is even further behind than mine, but having a weapon and not having a weapon is a different mindset
With a weapon in hand, it would increase her sense of security to some extent.
Aoba carefully and gently took the handgun.
"Ah, that's right."
"What's wrong?" I asked.
The food in the refrigerator has run out.
Except for cult members, almost no one could have predicted that a disaster would break out, so this villa didn't have much food and supplies to begin with, and it's not surprising that they ran out.
Since it has been used up, there is no other way, we can only go out and collect.
We arrived at the garage.
"Are you going to drive out?" Aoba asked.
"Of course." I opened the car door with the key that was originally on Yukio, "There are many patients outside, we can't fight and move forward at the same time, that would be too wasteful."
And, the car itself can also hold things.
"But..." Aoba couldn't help but ask, "Ninghai, you can't drive, can you?"
"Just practice and explore as you go along." I got into the driver's seat.
This trip ended in a short time, and I returned to the villa's garage with the food I had taken from the nearby supermarket, while the car I was driving became a complete mess.
Aoba, who stayed at home, heard the sound of the car, and when I got out of the car, she went into the garage.
"Eh.. " she stared blankly at the battered car.
This was also unavoidable, after all, this was my first time driving. Although I had slowed down to reduce the impact of collisions, I still inevitably collided many times, resulting in this situation.
Aoba silently touched the dent in the car's exterior.
"If Mr. Sanlin wakes up, he will definitely be very angry." she said. Provided that he can wake up.
"I've brought back all the food. I changed the subject, "It's all in the back seat, probably enough to last a few days."
We then had a simple breakfast.
Aoba started to actively tidy up the dining table.
"I will go out again after that." I said.
"Are you going to the cult's stronghold?" she asked.
"Yes," I nodded, "And there's one more thing..."
I told Aoba about the incident that happened while I was collecting food at the supermarket.
When collecting food, I encountered another group also collecting food. They had a total of four people, all of whom were young people wearing casual clothes and carrying simple sticks or knives, likely having avoided the patients to get here. After encountering me, they tried to attack me in an attempt to take the food I had collected, but ended up being the ones who got beaten up.
This appears to be just a robbery incident, but unlike the robberies during peacetime, the city of Beaver is now a lawless place, with no law and no law enforcement; and that group of people seem to have no qualms about harming others, and even before the fight, they have made statements about wanting to kill me.
I am a superhuman, I can protect myself, but what if I'm not? If I were an ordinary person, they surely wouldn't show me any mercy.
I can understand their mentality. In this city of widespread destruction, there are patients who are no different from murderers everywhere. It is easy for people to become violent in such a situation.
Even for Yukio, she has had the tendency to kill others more than once. I have witnessed all of this.
How many out-of-control citizens are there in Beaver City today? I don't know, but these people cannot be taken lightly.
"I came up with a secret code," I said to Aoba. "When I come back, I'll knock on the door with this rhythm..."
Boom, boom, boom, boom boom.
I bent my knuckles and tapped the desktop rhythmically.
"If the person knocking on the door does not use this code, do not open the door at all, and it is best not to speak."
Aoba listened to what I said very carefully and said, "I've memorized it."
Ten minutes later, I passed through the attic skylight and stood on the roof of the villa.
Next, I took out the black phone and re-confirmed the locations of the other three outposts on the map.
The SMS instruction requires us to choose three out of five outposts for destruction, and now Alphonse has destroyed one, I have destroyed one, so we only need to destroy one more to complete this instruction.
After completing the instructions, there should be new instructions sent over.
What instruction would it be?
Based on the intelligence revealed to me by that burly man, I believe it is possible that we are being asked to destroy the core of the ritual.
I started running and jumped from the rooftop of the villa to the rooftop across.
Run, jump, run, jump......
Thirty minutes later, I arrived at the entrance of Beaver High School.
Before the school gate that was initially destroyed by a truck, two cultists in black robes were silently standing guard.
This has also become a stronghold of the cult.
Based on the experience of destroying the previous base, this base should also have a guardian like that burly man, responsible for guarding the nodes of the ritual.
One must act with caution.
I cautiously hid nearby, putting on a black robe - this was one I had stripped from a cultist the night before when infiltrating the last stronghold, and it helped me reach the burly man undetected. I haven't discarded it since, waiting for this moment.
There are more disguise tools than just this one.
I took out another full-face mask.
The mask is black, without eye sockets, and only has a red eye symbol in the center.
This is the mask worn by the cult member who used a fireball spell to kill a family of three office workers. After I defeated him, Yukio removed it from the cult member's face and casually left it in the car. I found it while driving out to collect food.
I can now confirm that within the cult group, those who can use magic should be of higher status than those who cannot, and this mask was once worn by the cult member who could use the fireball spell.
Perhaps it can be utilized.
I wore it on my face.
Although this mask has no straps or other parts to help it stay in place, it is amazing that it is directly attached to my face without any tendency to fall off.
And what's even more unbelievable is...
I can see the scenery outside.
As mentioned earlier, this mask has no eye holes, it is completely sealed, and in theory it should obstruct the person's field of vision and prevent them from seeing the outside scenery
But I can directly see through the mask as if the mask itself does not exist, and I am not wearing the mask at all. Now I can see the outside scenery so clearly.
If I couldn't feel the cold touch and weight of the mask, I would even suspect that it had fallen off.
I touched the mask and confirmed its existence.
It feels like metal when touched.
This is amazing, could this be an item with some kind of supernatural power?
Afterwards, I wore a black robe of the cult, put on a mask, and came out of my hidden ship's location, and walked straight to the school gate.
The two cult members standing at the school gate saw me. Without masks on, they exchanged a glance and then made way for me.
I entered the school grounds with unwavering focus.
I'm in.
I don't know what meaning this mask holds for the cult members, they don't seem to show any reverence or make strange expressions towards me because of it. I had initially suspected that since this mask was worn by what appeared to be a high-ranking cult member, it might have some symbolic significance, but it seems I was overthinking it.
As long as they don't find my mask strange, that's fine. Even if the mask doesn't have the meaning of an identity symbol, it can at least cover my face, so that people won't recognize that I'm not a cult member.
Although I didn't expose myself the last time, since the conditions are better now, I naturally have to make good use of them.
I moved around and observed with the cover of disguise.
The school is very large, and there are not many cult members inside, it's as if the number of people in a class has been scattered throughout the empty school, and you can only see a few figures occasionally. I walked around for a while and soon found the suspected ritual site. It's the track around the playground.
On the red plastic running track, there is a bonfire with an iron sword stuck in it, and next to the bonfire is a wooden platform with a cultist sitting on it. This person must be the guardian of this checkpoint?
I carefully observed him.
Unlike the muscular man with a bare torso I encountered last time, he was properly dressed in a black robe, sitting on the steps and reading a book.
I noticed that the black robe he was wearing was different from that of a typical cult member, with a vibrant red totem pattern, just like the cult member I had once encountered who was able to use the fireball spell.
Is it true that masks are not symbols of identity, but clothes are? Are the cults with totem patterns on their black robes of higher status?
I noted this down and then stealthily crept over.
There is a small warehouse outside the runway, inside which are likely stored sports equipment. I am hiding behind the warehouse, less than 20 meters away from him.
He seemed not to have noticed me, quietly turning the page of the book.
I looked around.
Very good, no one else is watching this side.
Immediately, I took out a sharp fruit knife.
Under the driving force of psychokinesis, the fruit knife floated up out of nowhere, with the tip of the knife pointed at the guardian sitting in front of the campfire.
He still has no unusual movements.
Didn't you find me? If so, that's the best.
I stared at him and launched an attack.
The fruit knife shot out like a lightning bolt, crossing the less than 20-meter distance in an instant.
The blade pierced the back of the guardian's head.
He shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, the books fell to the ground, and his body collapsed heavily.
