Chapter 82: Behind Kazuichi’s Hybrid Identity

Kazuichi stared at the vial of blood he balanced on his hand. He then put it up, causing the sun’s rays to bounce off of it.

He couldn’t believe that this particular vial of blood was personal, and it was by far the tastiest, most effective vial of blood he had ever consumed.

Once again, he remembered the last words that Ayaka told him. His face reddened, and he inadvertently pocketed the vial of blood, saving it up for later.

Before they left, Ayaka gave him a bag full of packets of blood. Based on its scent, Kazuichi could tell that it was the same thing— that it came from a single person.

"Wait... does that mean that... Ayaka is just like me?" He asked himself before shaking his head. While most of their questions were answered in the past two months, some questions were still left unanswered.

For one, Kazuichi had no idea what type of Hybrid he was, and he had no idea why Ayaka knew his identity. She even went as far as to tell him that they were of the same type.

Gragh~!

Kazuichi flinched when a zombie fell in front of him. Tris was the one who knocked the zombie out before it could pounce on Kazuichi.

"Come on, Kazuichi, what are you spacing out for?" Tris asked.

"Oh, um, sorry," Kazuichi muttered as he stepped over the ’dead’ undead. "Still, how could he charge at us when we have a Canary? How desperate is he?" Kazuichi asked. It was certainly a baffling action from the zombie.

"I don’t know either. This is becoming rather frequent, don’t you think?" Tris asked, gesturing at Amaya to scoot closer since she was getting relatively comfortable walking freely.

"This is certainly weird, and we haven’t even reached the outskirts of the city just yet."

It had only been an hour or so since they left the Scarlet Blood Stronghold. From afar, they could see the vague figure of the Ice Wing Stronghold but they weren’t tempted to visit it. After all, it would only prolong their stay if they went there.

And Kazuichi was kind of in a hurry since he had postponed going back home for the longest time now. Now that he had the means to get back, he decided to hurry at a reasonable pace.

"It’s weird that we haven’t encountered an Omega Zombie," Kazuichi commented while looking around. He briefly remembered what Cerulean Bluelock told him about Omega Zombies—

— that they manifest from zombies who absorbed a huge meteorite ore, that usually they stay underground or inside large dilapidated buildings, out of sight.

"What, we can’t afford to meet one right now, Kazuichi," Tris had no idea how Kazuichi’s mind works. Right now, she’d prefer it if they didn’t run into trouble.

But Kazuichi seemed to be expecting more trouble than normal. It was probably because he had leveled up the past two months.

"Ah, by the way, the stronghold leader, that Cerulean guy? He gave you a meteorite ore, right? Where is it?"

"Oh, that? I absorbed it." Kazuichi replied a matter of factly, much to Tris’s surprise.

"You WHAT?!" Tris almost screamed, but she realized that they were outside, and the quietest of noises could easily attract the undead. "What are you doing? What if you turned into a mindless zombie?"

There was a hint of concern in Tris’s question, but Kazuichi knew all too well that Tris shouldn’t worry about anything. "I know my limits. And also, I’ve been bitten a couple of times before, right? And I didn’t turn into a mindless zombie, right?"

"I absorbed the meteor little by little. It was pretty easy to absorb the meteor, I just have to cut myself and put the meteor on top of the wound. It would then dissolve like salt on water." Kazuichi explained, showing the palm of his hand where a healing cut could be seen.

"If you turn into a mindless zombie, I won’t hesitate to kill you," Tris said, even though she didn’t mean it. If that were to happen, she didn’t know if she could even survive the apocalypse, much less survive the day-to-day without him.

After all, they’d been together for the past two months, and without warning, Kazuichi had become an irreplaceable companion for her. At the very least, she’d cry if something were to happen to Kazuichi.

Kiaaghhkk~!

Skreee~!

Tris’s depressing thoughts were interrupted by a couple of shrieks that came from a distance. They were nearing the outskirts of the city, entering new territory with different threats and presumably stronger infected,

Since they were told that Omega Zombies prefer to stay underground, Kazuichi and Tris couldn’t help but think that an Omega Zombie would appear if they walked into the new land. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Unsurprisingly, the city was adjacent to a forest, and they had to cross it to reach the new city. Well, they could take a detour and cross another city, but that would just slow down their progress since the forest was a better shortcut.

Adding to that, the cities were more inhabited by the infected, and the forest was home to Hybrids most of the time.

One can reason out with the Hybrids, but one can’t even talk to mindless zombies. Objectively speaking, the mindless infected were more of a threat than Hybrids.

Then again, the risks were higher since Kazuichi was traveling with two uninfected humans. If by any chance the Hybrids inside the forest formed a faction, then they’d be in greater trouble. On the bright side, if the Hybrids couldn’t care less about forming a group, then they could take care of them, as long as they didn’t attack simultaneously, that is.

Just a couple of steps in front of them was the huge forest expanse that they’d be crossing. Nervously gulping, Tris took a step forward, hoping that their traverse through the forest would be anything but difficult.

"Well, let’s go," Kazuichi announced, trailing right behind Tris since she decided to temporarily take the lead.