What Kazuichi feared the most was an inevitable event in the apocalypse. And no matter how diligent he worked to suppress that inevitable, ultimately there was nothing he could do about it.

The appearance of the Aberrants was one thing, and Kazuichi realized that these Aberrants were bound to evolve further.

Thus he went on missions, destroying every Aberrant’s nest he could find while he made his way back home.

Nevertheless, that gesture wasn’t enough. Despite his hard work and zealousness to rid the world of the infected, there was only so much he could do.

Besides, later on, Kazuichi learned that the entire world was suffering from the apocalypse. When Japan was infected, it had already been a couple of weeks since the zombie apocalypse had commenced.

The only reason why the masses didn’t know anything about it was because the governments tried to keep it under wraps.

That notion wasn’t a good idea, though. It didn’t take long before the outbreak exploded right in front of their faces. Oblivious people were sent straight to the apocalypse without warning.

More or less, it was a lucky break that Japan was the last one to get involved in the outbreak. It gave Kazuichi a bit of time to figure out what was going on, and because of that, he was able to survive despite being a shut-in.

Before Kazuichi knew it, he was thrown straight outside. He had been a shut-in since his childhood, and now he had no choice but to deal with the outside world without prior preparation.

"Then again... it’s probably harder if I had to come out in the normal world." Kazuichi muttered to himself. While the apocalyptic setting was unpleasant, it gave Kazuichi an easier time to adjust.

It was more like playing an RPG, except one wrong move would get one killed.

But back to the inevitable that Kazuichi feared the most— it was the rapid evolution of the infected. Omega Zombies were one thing, but the Aberrants were evolving into more powerful infected, and it won’t be long before the Hybrids won’t be able to keep up with them anymore.

Even now, upon stepping into the forest, Kazuichi felt a certain anxiousness overcoming him. He couldn’t quite put his finger around it, so he decided to ignore it for now.

"Kazuichi," Tris called out, squeezing her nose as she continued taking the lead.

"What is it?" Kazuichi asked. He knew that a faint scent of death never bothered Tris before, but now she was pinching her nose as if she caught a whiff of a horrible scent.

"Do you smell that? That smells weird." Tris said.

Sensing that something was wrong, Amaya scooted closer toward Kazuichi. If anything, she was well aware that Kazuichi’s side was much safer than her older sister’s. That’s why she reluctantly walked away from her older sister.

Weirdly enough, Amaya also caught the weird scent that Tris smelled. It was a somewhat sweet fragrance, and it made her mouth water.

"What are you talking about? I don’t smell anything weird." Kazuichi responded. Sure, he felt like something was weird about the place, but he couldn’t smell anything.

As they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, Amaya and Tris informed Kazuichi that the scent was getting stronger. They clarified that it wasn’t a horrible scent, but a somewhat sweet scent that lured them in.

Since Kazuichi had no idea what kind of scent they were smelling, he didn’t perceive as a threat. Instead, he continued following Tris as she led the way.

It was almost unnoticeable, but there was a faint shift in Amaya and Tris’s expression and Kazuichi was a bit bothered by it. He didn’t say anything, though, since it felt like Tris didn’t want to talk at the moment.

"Ey... this is weird, all right," Kazuichi muttered to himself while he took a closer inspection of the vicinity.

This portion of the forest was greener than usual, and the trees were especially lush compared to other portions of the forest. There was a cold breeze that occasionally blew through the forest, making it oddly more comfortable than normal.

And adding to that, there were no infected in the vicinity. No scent of survivors. No sign of wildlife.

No nothing.

"This is definitely weird. What is going on here?!" Kazuichi now had ample reason to panic. There was something wrong with this forest, and the scent that Amaya and Tris detected might be the key to knowing what it was.

"Amaya, Tris, what kind of scent do you smell again?" Kazuichi asked.

Silence.

Amaya, who had been clinging onto the hems of Kazuichi’s shirt, suddenly let go and started walking forward as if she was in a trance. As for Tris, she didn’t even bother looking back when Kazuichi talked to her. She was out of it... no, she was being hypnotized.

Kazuichi didn’t hesitate to grab Amaya, carrying her before he caught up to Tris.

"Tris, what’s wrong?" Kazuichi asked, grabbing her by the shoulder as he tried to shake her out of it.

But Tris couldn’t hear him. In silence, she continued her traverse through the forest, walking towards the center of it as if that was their initial destination.

"What’s going on?" Kazuichi muttered to himself.

Since he was a bit curious about the phenomenon, Kazuichi decided to follow Tris instead of steering her away from the place. Whatever it was causing her to act like an undead, Kazuichi had to find out about it and get rid of it.

"Is it an Aberrant? But why does it only affect the uninfected? Did it develop a hypnotic that attracts the uninfected and kills them?" He asked himself.

All his questions were eventually answered when they got into the clearing by the center of the forest. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

There, a huge rafflesia-like flower stood, its pistil pointing directly to the sky. Kazuichi couldn’t smell the scent, but judging from the haze that formed on top of the flower, a strong scent might be emanating from it.

"So that’s what it was, huh... " Kazuichi’s eyebrows twitched as he witnessed the monstrosity, simultaneously grabbing Tris by the waist to stop her from entering the clearing.