Chapter 99: Chapter 98

A fallen wall. Various debris scattered across the ground.

The dilapidated safe house, revealing its bare rebar, was fully illuminated from the inside.

It looked as if a bomb had dropped.

I stepped inside the destroyed safe house. No, since it could no longer be considered safe, it was just a house now.

Zombies had managed to filter in through the collapsed wall. I moved forward and casually took down the zombies.

For now, I had hastily barricaded the gap in the wall with a cash transport vehicle, and instructed Sora and Ainatsu to stay alert.

But unless we repaired the collapsed wall, it would be difficult to use this as a base anymore. And in this destroyed world, there were no construction workers to fix the wall.

'We need to grab weapons and food and move somewhere else.'

Fortunately, we had established several bases here and there, so relocating wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Though there were other issues remaining.

“Rion.”

I called for Rion.

On the top floor of the safe house, Rion was tied up with her hands and feet.

“Sis...?”

Her gaze was unfocused, as if she couldn’t see well.

Of course, our eyes wouldn’t meet. Her skin had a slight reddish tint.

The most noticeable thing was the bite mark on her shoulder.

Summarizing the current situation was simple. While Laura was away, she had been attacked by a zombie.

'…She got too carried away.'

Rion felt a twinge of regret.

Thanks to Laura granting her withdrawal rights last time, the "Great Artisan" had obtained a large sum of cash.

And with that cash, she had purchased weapons from an NPC merchant, reducing her dependency on Laura.

Since Laura seemed busy, let’s prepare among ourselves for now.

That reckless venture outdoors had led us to encounter a stage 4 infected zombie, which was the cause of all this trouble.

“I roughly understand. In other words, the problem is that the zombies were aggroed outside the safe house.”

It felt like the perspective of someone whose vision was less than 0.1 when they took off their glasses.

Rion’s view was all blurry.

She vaguely sensed Laura sitting in a chair, but there was no way to recognize her face.

“With strength enough to demolish buildings and a severe obsession, it’s just like that thing from Biohazard.”

“That thing?”

“Oh, Sora wouldn’t know. There’s a guy who wears a fedora.”

“……”

That sister is talking about something so nonchalantly while we’re slowly turning into zombies.

It might be inevitable. After all, what’s happening now is not the real situation; it’s just a game.

No matter how realistic it is, it isn’t reality.

So perhaps there’s no reason to be serious or to be sad.

“Anyway, if aggro gets pulled outside the building again, defeat the zombies and then go inside the building. Let’s make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“……Got it.”

“Then let’s think about the plan moving forward.”

Laura’s silhouette moved slightly.

I couldn’t be sure since I couldn’t see well, but it seemed like she crossed her legs and folded her arms.

“You can kill me, sis.”

What if she doesn’t feel burdened by it?

Thinking that, Rion said it out loud.

“Just kill me before I turn into a zombie, and later bring me back with cloning technology.”

As she spoke, Rion thought that this might be a good opportunity.

In truth, she didn’t really want to stream.

She had played as an assassin for three days, but she couldn’t get used to those zombies. Ghosts would be better. She truly loathed zombies.

More than that, she didn’t want to stream at all.

The current Rion couldn’t be considered a VTuber.

In the end, it was just filling the numbers.

As Laura’s manager, she was only participating to ensure the broadcast’s success; nothing more, nothing less.

So, it crossed her mind that it might be fine to bow out at this point.

Even if one person disappeared, it wouldn’t lead to Laura failing her broadcast.

After all, Laura was already doing everything by herself, so did she really need to be involved?

“Please be quiet for a moment, Rion.”

However, Laura spoke firmly for once.

Swallowing her breath at the unexpected tone, Rion felt a bit startled.

What expression Laura was making…was, again, impossible to tell.

“Sora, how long has it been since Rion was infected?”

“About 2 hours…?”

“Just in case, put a gag on her. Aggressiveness appears after about 5 hours, so until then, Sora will watch over Rion.”

“Got it….”

“Ainatsu, you’ll drive. Rion can sit in the backseat.”

“Alright. Where are we going?”

“For now, we need to meet up with the SerenadeKR people.”

So, Laura loaded Rion into the car and visited the SerenadeKR base again.

However,

“I’m sorry. We no longer have any vaccines.”

That was the reply she received.

“We only had one vaccine from the beginning.”

“Is that so?”

Nodding to Jeongseok’s words, Laura remained calm.

Noah observed Laura’s composed profile from a distance.

…It was uncomfortable.

Did it really have to come to this…?

“Why don’t you try visiting a health center or a hospital? Since there’s still plenty of time before she turns into a zombie, I think there’s a chance.”

Jeongseok spoke with a serious expression.

This was the SerenadeKR base. Noah never anticipated she would see Aurora twice in one day.

Of course, it wasn’t just Noah who didn’t expect it; other members of SerenadeKR felt the same.

Moreover, the fact that Rion was infected was quite shocking for them as well.

“Thank you for the advice. I appreciate your concern.”

“It’s nothing. We should help each other survive.”

“That’s nice. But there really are no more vaccines here, right?”

“Yes, the one we used on Sina was the only vaccine.”

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

Laura let out a small sigh.

Noah thought it was rare. She hadn’t watched Aurora’s streams extensively, but it seemed like she hadn’t sighed very much.

After all, she always tried to present herself as a composed noblewoman.

Noah was somewhat taken aback by this slightly unfamiliar sight.

“What will you do from now on, Aurora?”

“First, I need to talk to the colleagues waiting outside.”

“Understood. If you need help, please let me know.”

And then Aurora turned her back.

As Aurora left, both Jeongseok and Choi Changyoung let out a sigh of relief.

Everyone had been unusually tense since Aurora arrived. She had that unique charisma or perhaps an overwhelming presence.@@novelbin@@

They unconsciously found themselves tensing up.

“I-I’ll see you off.”

Noah rushed after Laura.

It might not even be necessary to guide her, but Noah felt a strange sense of guilt.

“I’m sorry…”

“Oh my, why are you apologizing?”

“Laura helped us, but we couldn’t be of any assistance…”

The words of apology flowed out naturally.

Upon hearing that, Laura still wore a calm expression.

“I see.”

She only responded calmly.

It was unclear whether she accepted the apology or not…

That ambiguous attitude further intensified Noah’s guilt.

“Is there… anything I can help with?”

“You want to help me?”

“Yes… I thought it wouldn’t be good to only receive help unilaterally…”

Noah spoke shyly.

“If you’re going to search for a health center or a hospital, can I come along? Of course, I’m not as good at fighting as Laura…”

Changyoung, Sina, and Jeongseok would probably come too.

In any case, Noah wanted to help Laura.

She felt guilty, and beyond that, she wanted to get closer to Laura.

Even though she had debuted about two months earlier than Laura, Noah was also a new VTuber.

It had only been about five months since her debut. She had had some exchanges with senior VTubers, but this was her first time getting involved with VTubers from another company.

Noah had no real aversion to expanding her social circles.

In particular, Noah was attracted to people who were better than herself. Laura, who had displayed exceptional abilities so far, was incredibly charming and currently ranked as her number one target for wanting to get closer.

“I appreciate your intentions. As it happens, there’s something I’d like your help with. So can I ask you for a favor?”

“Yes! Anything! What can I do for you?”

“Come a little closer.”

“? Yes?”

Come a little closer? She had expected Laura to ask her to go look for vaccines together.

Feeling puzzled, Noah closed the distance between them.

And then—

Thud!

A sharp pain radiated from her chest.

By the time she noticed, Laura’s survival knife was precisely piercing her heart.

“W-Why…?”

“I’m sorry. I value Rion more.”

Laura pushed the knife further in.

To ensure Noah was completely dead.

“There’s actually one more vaccine, right?”

Laura whispered into Noah’s ear.

Having escorted Sina back to the base and witnessed the vaccination process, Laura clearly remembered Changyoung taking the vaccine out of the drawer.

There had definitely been two vaccines.

Yet, Jeongseok stated that there was only one from the beginning.

The intent was clear. It meant that they wouldn’t easily part with the vaccine they had secured.

'Do they think I have no sense of loyalty?'

SerenadeKR had given Laura the safe house, and in return, she had saved Sina.

Perhaps Jeongseok thought that was where the calculations ended.

I wouldn’t say that judgment was wrong. After all, everyone has different thoughts.

However, Jeongseok couldn’t deceive Laura, and Laura already knew that SerenadeKR had secured one more vaccine.

From now on, it was uncertain whether they could find a vaccine by searching hospitals or health centers.

Given that uncertainty, wouldn’t it be smarter to choose the most certain option?

“They say the most dangerous thing in a zombie apocalypse isn’t the zombies, but humans. Isn’t this a game from the start?”

A game where PK was deliberately allowed.

Because only then could a more realistic zombie apocalypse world be constructed.

“So don’t blame me.”

Swish!

Laura pulled the knife out from Noah’s chest.

Noah’s corpse fell to the ground.

Sora and Ainatsu, who had been hiding nearby, approached.

“What will you do now?”

“Of course, we’ll attack SerenadeKR.”

In response to Sora’s question, Laura replied.

VTubers face each other in competitions,

or engage in friendly matches, or even civil wars.

They sometimes split factions in sandbox-style games to stream battles.

War.

Without needing to express it any differently, war was merely content for VTubers and their viewers.

The content had only just begun.