Unexpected Visitor

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"What's the situation in there?"

At the road near the village, several Enforcement Squad members stood in the freezing wind with their arms folded, respirators hanging open.

It was far too cold. Even the Infected Enforcement Squad members wearing thick coats and fur hats were having trouble enduring it.

If not for the orders from above—and that big shot in their group—who in their right mind would stand around freezing in the wilderness in this kind of weather? They could last a while during the day, but if they failed to find somewhere warm before sunset, they would definitely freeze to death on the wasteland.

Hopefully this'll be over soon. Then we can hurry back before sunset. Maybe we'll even make it in time for a hot meal.

"Who knows? But hey, Firestarter, how about doing a little trick and making some fire to warm the brothers up?"

One of the Enforcement Squad members rubbed his hands and grinned as he slapped the only unusually dressed person in the group on the shoulder.

"Trick my ass! It's Arts! Arts, you illiterate bastard! Noble Originium Arts aren't for rubbing together a flame to warm you lot up! That's noble Originium Arts!"

The man wore glasses and looked rather refined—at least compared to the rough-looking men around him.

"What's the difference? You rub together a fireball, and a campfire is fire too. What's the difference? Come on, hurry up and show us what you've got."

"Show your mother's—! I'm here to stop anyone from entering from outside! Arts are limited, you know. Good steel belongs on the cutting edge. If something goes wrong, none of us will get away with it."

The man shoved the busybody off balance, then adjusted his glasses.

"Didn't you see that killer enter the village? Keep your eyes peeled today. I don't want that killer setting his sights on me. As long as I'm here, we'll definitely be able to leave soon. Anyway, whether there are any survivors in that village or not, anyone who runs into that killer is as good as dead. He'll be out soon."

"Then we're counting on you. Don't screw up when the time comes."

"Get lost! The outside has been rigged with Originium Trigger Devices. Step on one without knowing where it is, and you're dead. Do you think an Arts Caster only knows how to rub out fireballs?!"

The men chatted merrily, stamping their feet as they prepared to endure the cold a little longer. Then, through the curtain of snow, a figure appeared.

"Who are you people? What are you doing here?"

None of them had even noticed her arrival. Her sudden voice startled the Enforcement Squad members.

"Who's there?!"

They whipped around. The refined scumbag with glasses widened his eyes.

His face was filled with disbelief.

"Y-you... Where did you come from?!"

"Huh?"

So you Ursus people start by checking identities too?

That's troublesome. I'm an undocumented resident.

But when the man saw that Chlorine Sodium was completely unharmed, his expression changed dramatically.

"You... Impossible! How could you have crossed the cordon without a scratch?! Careful! She definitely has accomplices!"

In his eyes, the woman could only have crossed the cordon unharmed with the help of teammates—even at the cost of their lives. That meant there had to be a lot of people coming!

Perhaps they were members of that guerilla force wandering the snowfields!

Then who was she?

She looked like nothing more than a frail woman.

At least in the eyes of the other burly men, Chlorine Sodium's height of one hundred sixty-three centimeters was nothing to look at. What threat could a petite woman pose? The four-eyes had definitely made a mistake.

Yes, he had definitely made a mistake.

Seeing that Four-Eyes was panicking, the other hulking Enforcement Squad members remained unconcerned.

Whether he was mistaken or not could wait. They first had to determine whether this woman had a problem.

As for the matter of robbing her...

Rob her... rob her... rob her of her chastity first.

It was easy to understand. On this land, where material scarcity, ignorance, and superstition dominated, explaining what Originium infection actually was to most people remained difficult.

Most people could only judge whether someone was infected by their appearance.

That meant the conspicuous crystals on the skin. Almost every infected person developed more or fewer of these things on their bodies.

As for crystals caused by Originium infection being injected into the brain while no crystals appeared on the surface—that was rare. Thus, as long as Originium Crystals appeared on someone's skin, they were definitely infected.

That was how most people identified the infected, and naturally, the Infected Enforcement Squad, a half-civilian and half-official organization that threw its weight around, did the same.

After all, they couldn't afford one infection-detection machine per person.

In the eyes of these men, filled with primitive desire and greed, the woman before them had no visible crystals on her body. Otherwise, she would never have been so bold as to dress so lightly. Most infected people could barely cover themselves up enough.

Her long silver hair flowed down like a waterfall. Her blue-gray eyes resembled the most precious blue crystal, while her fair, translucent skin matched this pure white land perfectly.

She was, without exaggeration, a beauty who fit the aesthetic preferences of ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the population.

"You stop right there! This is a military exclusion zone. Anyone who enters without permission must come with us for questioning."

"That's right. You must be interrogated."

Interrogated?

The girl walked forward several steps and tilted her head.

This world is beyond saving.

At least, from what she saw in the eyes of these men, there was nothing but the most primitive malice and muddled apathy.

It was disgusting.

She didn't even need to deploy her Herrscher armor.

There were six people in total: five big men with barely any energy response, and one elite enemy with a small amount of energy fluctuation.

Each wore battered but practical leather armor, along with thick cold-weather clothing. They could at least take a hit. The Ursus men were powerfully built, all apparently over six feet tall and broad-shouldered.

They were armed as well. At full strength, each person's combat power could be counted as two points. Five ordinary grunts made ten points.

The elite enemy seemed to be a mage-type unit, so he got an extra point, making three.

Thirteen points of threat.

Six men against one weak girl.

Rounding it off, that equaled—

Zero~

No threat whatsoever.

"I'm asking you a question, you idiots! Why are you answering me with questions?! Didn't your mothers teach you not to answer a question with another question?!!!"

Chlorine Sodium was no pushover. From the very beginning, she had intended to force her way in with violence. Leaving survivors was not her style.

P.S. Posting twice a day feels so stressful—aaaaaaah!

Since I've been updating so diligently, hurry up and hand over your votes! Hands on hips.

Section 13: Chapter Thirteen—An Unexpected Visitor

"Bitch, you're looking to die!"

The leader of the Enforcement Squad raised his hand to strike. If an ordinary person took that punch head-on, they would probably be seriously hurt. After all, the fist was practically the size of a cooking pot.

However, the descending fist felt no contact with flesh.

Because in the next instant, the girl's figure had already vanished from before them and appeared in the center of the group. Strange purple patterns had spread across her raised fist.

Inch-Punch: Rock Break!

It was the sign that enhancement had activated. In an instant, the force of her punch kicked up a wall of snow! Centered on the girl, an invisible shock wave blasted the snow three or four meters into the air, and the snowflakes completely cut everyone off from one another visually.

"What's going on?!"

"I told you she was suspicious!!"

The Arts Caster with glasses had noticed something was wrong long ago, but his teammates were useless pigs who refused to listen.

Had they ever seen an ordinary woman wandering around the snowfields dressed so lightly?

Moreover, in such atrocious conditions, the silver-haired girl's clothes were completely undamaged. There wasn't even a trace of snow on her legs. Wasn't that strange?!

"Damn it! Clear a path with fire!"

Fire could melt ice and snow. The damaged lighter in the Arts Caster's hand sparked.

Arts Casters needed a casting medium, and it had to be something containing Originium.

Powerful mages could possess fine staffs, while these poorer fellows could only find a way to make their own.

A flame sprang up. The spark from the Originium lighter suddenly transformed, amid an ancient chant, into a serpentine tongue of fire that formed as his palm moved.

Luckily, they weren't those deranged infected who preferred using their own blood as a medium for Arts.

Unfortunately, the shrill sound of something tearing through the air had already heralded the enemy's attack. Everyone's vision was blocked by the sudden wall of snow, though the snowstorm's frenzy would perhaps last only a few seconds.

But for Chlorine Sodium, a few seconds were more than enough.

The Arts Caster had already been sent flying, a steaming fist mark stamped into his chest. Chlorine Sodium had already withdrawn her fist and launched a second punch toward another direction where she could sense signs of life.

There was no technique involved. She simply blocked their vision, then gave each person one punch.

Then came the crisp sound of breaking bones, the howl of something cutting through the air, and agonized groans.

The snow wall had not even fallen before the roaring gale suddenly scattered it!

Like an explosion at the center, figures flew outward amid the flurrying snow.

Only Chlorine Sodium remained standing at the center. The fallen Enforcement Squad members lay scattered outward around her like opening petals.

Yes, it was only when everything was over that the overlapping booms finally rang out: the sound of air splitting, groans, curses of pain, the muffled thuds of internal organs damaged by shattered bones, and bodies hitting the ground.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye.

At the center, Chlorine Sodium had already lowered her hands, which steamed from their high-speed friction with the air. Her faintly glowing golden eyes fixed on the only one of the six who was still alive.

She had deliberately spared him so she could extract some information.

The fallen Arts Caster had not yet finished spitting out the blood in his mouth when he struggled to rise, only to feel as if someone had kicked him hard in the stomach.

The man cried out in pain and curled up, but someone grabbed him by the collar and hauled him upright.

"Please, don't—don't kill me! I-I'm just a runner..."

The man went limp in her grip, like a duck struggling in vain. His distorted face was reflected in a pair of utterly emotionless, ice-cold eyes.

"Now, tell me everything you know. And..."

"I hate it when people answer my questions with questions. Understood, idiot?"

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After throwing aside the infected man in her hand, the Emperor's Royal Guard leaped to the side and warily surveyed the surroundings.

"Who's there?!"

Why didn't I detect that attack?

The Emperor's Royal Guard didn't dare let down their guard. Ordinary attacks were incredibly slow in the eyes of an elite like them—except for this one.

Although the bullet had failed to injure an existence on the level of the Emperor's Royal Guard, the fact that they had not detected such an attack was extremely unusual.

Who was it?!

However, when the Guard turned to search for the bullet's origin, they saw a silver-haired girl slowly walking inside. She calmly shoved the slug in her pocket back into the gun's chamber.

"Who would have thought the Emperor's Royal Guard would come to a godforsaken place like this? I'm truly honored by your visit."

"Who are you?"

Multiple viewfinders glowed red, all reflecting the approaching silver-haired girl.

"Me? An ordinary investor, a doctor from afar, and an ordinary office worker who enjoys a peaceful life."

"Your answer is irrelevant. No matter. You appear to be involved, so we'll take you in first."

The red viewfinders suddenly blazed with an ominous light, while the surrounding air rapidly shifted from color to black and white.

It was like an invisible cage descending over a person. Beyond the distorted light, the air gradually solidified!