30 Chapter 30 - The Cursed Children
(Sorry, a lil late. I'm binge reading some webtoon that I saved since march.)
After parting ways with the Cursed Child pair, Adam and his group spend half an hour navigating through the abandoned city and eventually approach the city with signs of life that he saw from the distance.
They simply just follow the tall black man made monolith, made with Varanium. However, compared to what Adam saw from the anime, the monolith of Tokyo area, the one here is in the shape of 'X', like an dome and the entire area of the city is small too.
He remembers that Varanium is a special material only found in areas with volcanic activities. Thus countries within the Ring of Fire of the Pacific, have the most monopoly over that metal. But anime being anime, in the show itself stated Japan is the country with the most abundance of Varanium on Earth for whatever reason.
"I forgot to ask. But do you know where we are?" Adam turns to Agent for an answer.
"The United States of America, Washington." Agent replied swiftly.
"The capital, huh." Adam mutters as he looks back at the size of the city surrounded by Varanium monoliths. "It looks too small." Adam wondered if America really had fallen that hard to the Gastrea war. The city looks at most can accommodate less than a hundred thousands people. Maybe even half of it. Unless…
"Does the city stretch down underground?" Adam asked Agent again as he noticed the buildings above ground aren't really homes or civilian buildings. Instead, it's filled with turrets, bunkers and other military installations.
Adam sighed. Getting into the city would be difficult like this. The soldiers are patrolling above ground and there isn't any visible entrance at all.
Adam looks at his minimap and it does point at the center of the city without changing.
"Are you worried about entering the city?" Winter asked after guessing what the problem might be plaguing Adam's mind.
"Yes." Adam nods.
"There is no layout or schematic of the underground city. The only entrance is the giant blast door guarded by the soldiers." Agents quickly try to find information but to no result. "I could hack the door open but we will be found out immediately."
"No. There's no need. I know someone that can help. But first. We need to find those girls again." Adam said as he remembered Cursed Child can't survive without the city's help.
They can't exactly produce food on their own. If they survived this long, there must be a way for them to acquire those needs and there is a high chance they know a way to enter the city.
Adam first explains this to the group before they go on a search for the girls or any Cursed Children they can find. The first place that comes to mind is the sewer which he got the idea from in the anime. After all, above ground is unlivable with Gastrea roaming around. Only logical place for them to live is sewers and bunkers.
———
The Cursed Children are hated by humanity for being half Gastrea. They view them as monsters to be hated and exterminated despite them being the only reason why humanity is still able to live behind their monoliths.
While in Japan they are treated badly because the government refused to offer them much protection and even actively killed them due to most of them being old veterans of the Gastrea War and harbor hatred towards Gastrea that robbed their loved ones. They directed their hate to those Cursed Children because they are easier to kill.
In America however, the government isn't narrow-minded to outright killing them. They understand their survival depends on these Cursed Children.
Thus, the military and government are actively taking care of them since to them, the Cursed Children are their weapon against the Gastrea. Varanium weapons are hard to obtain because they lack the means to mine them on their west coast that had fallen to the Gastrea. So, Cursed Children is their alternative.
Inside the sewer system outside of the underground city. Amy and Erin, instead of returning to their home. They take a detour to one of the gathering spots of Cursed Children. A hub of sorts for them where they usually gathered when it's the weekly supplies distribution by the military. But today, their purpose is different.
We must gather our sisters, Erin thought. They no longer need to obey those government and military people that see them as nothing but tools instead of humans. They no longer need to rely on their Inhibition drug to stave off the virus infection rate.
After all, they found someone that can effectively reduce it!
'We must quickly spread this news to everyone!' Erin whispers in her mind as they approach the hub area in the sewer.
———
"Not here too." Adam sighed as searching for the Cursed Children is like searching for a needle in the haystack.
They have to manually scour through every manhole they find.
Adam retrieved his Dinergate, Eric. Before he and Winter proceed to the next one. From the lack of contact from everyone, no one found it yet either.
"Should I use my summon after all?" Winter felt useless, unable to contribute much to the search.
"No need. Best save your Aura. You never know when we will encounter Gastrea again." Adam shook his head as he mentally crossed this manhole on the map and proceeded to the next one.
"O-Okay… If you said so…" She looks deflated from Adam's refusal.
"Speaking of the devil…" Adam halted and raised his hand to block Winter before he took out his shotgun.
"How many?" Winter looks at Adam while also drawing her sword. Adam raises four fingers for Winter before he signals her to let him go first to attract their attention.
Adam took out two Cryo Grenades and threw them at the four Ants Gastrea gathered in the middle of the road. He was about to throw his grenade but stopped at the last moment when he saw a small leg that belonged popped from behind one of the Ant. He put the Grenades back to his Inventory before firing his shotgun in the air.
*Kriee!*
The Ants turn their head to Adam. Upon identifying he is in fact a human, they charged at him. Winter, who was waiting behind, saw what Adam also saw and sneaked past them when their attention was on him and saved the person they saw.
Meaning Adam did a quick work of these grunts. His fist easily punch through their exoskeleton and ripped it off the head socket while he firing his shotgun like a full auto gun at the remaining three, turning each of them into swiss cheese, riddled with hole as the pellets pierced through their exoskeleton like it's wet tissue, barely any resistance.
Adam then quickly rushes to Winter and checks on the attacked girl.
"How is she?" Adam asks when he approaches Winter. Winter turned her head and shook it silently.
"We were too late. She is no longer breathing or has any pulse. The Gastrea was eating her corpse." Winter said after turning her head away.
Adam looked at the corpse without feeling any sort of sickness. The girl's gut was pulled out and devoured. An overall unpleasant sight not even a veteran soldier like Winter could bear but Adam didn't look affected. He was instead trying to recall if Gastrea was ever mentioned to require sustenance. He failed to recall any as it was never once mentioned in the anime.
While Adam is engrossed in his thoughts, he sees the gaping hole on the girl's body suddenly bloated with cancerous flesh.
"She is turning into Gastrea?!" Winter exclaimed. "But, the girl… the host is already dead!" Winter uttered in shock and horror as she grip her sword knowing what to do but didn't have the strength to.
"We… No, I will put her down." Adam borrowed Winter's sword because of how shaken she was from the thought of defiling the corpse of the girl. Adam swiftly decapitated the girl and burned her corpse with a Fire Dust.
Adam offers a brief prayer for her soul. Not that he believes in religion and all that stuff.
Don't get him wrong, he believes in higher beings as he met one and reincarnated by one. But what he didn't believe was the afterlife. He simply prayed to the higher being he met before so that the girl's soul will pass without trouble and perhaps get a better life after reincarnation.
"How were you able to stomach such a deed?" Winter stood next to Adam, staring at him in a mix of disbelief and also fear.
Adam had an idea what she was mentioning. About his lack of remorse to kill such an innocent child.
"How… You ask? Well, who else will do it? You? You who are incapable of drawing your own blade. Or are you going to let her turn into a monster before you are willing to raise your sword?" Adam didn't blame Winter. He is abnormal after all. Not that he cannot feel emotion. But he isn't attached to his emotions since his previous life and it intensified after his reincarnation.
"Well, at least this way she can preserve her humanity. Surely it's something she would ask if he was still alive." Adam said as he remembered all the Cursed Children that are at the verge of succumbing all ask for the same request.
To let them die a human rather than an abomination.
"Anyway, don't dwell much into it. I am not blaming you for being indecisive. To make choices is my job as the leader. As for you, should feel proud that you are still capable of feeling remorse like a normal human being." Adam said and walked toward the next manhole.
Winter was left in shock at the implications of Adam's own words. What he sees himself as. Which is a total misunderstanding as Adam just wanted to feel cool and spouting random quotes of fictional characters that he felt suitable for the situation.
Well, not really a total misunderstanding. He does tell the truth about his detachment with his emotions especially so after his reincarnation which his System explains is the side effects of being exposed to the 'Void' that have a hand in shaping his Semblance too.
Another 20 minutes later, Adam finally received a transmission from the Executioner who found the hideout of the Cursed Children. However, there was a problem.
———
"Is that really true? Someone can lower the Gastrea Virus in our body?" A large gathering of Cursed Children surround Amy and Erin.
"Yes! It's true! Erin and I were attacked by Gastrea and Erin was at the verge of turning into Gastrea when the kind mister did something to Erin and lowered the content of Gastrea Virus in her body so that the transformation stopped." Amy regaled her experience.
"Yes! It's true. The mister was kind and didn't hate me at all." Erin said with a slight dreamy expression and blush before she quickly coughed when there were countless intrigued eyes staring at her. "Anyway, rather than serving people that see us as nothing but disposable tools and monsters. I'd rather stay with the kind mister and I want to bring everyone along."
"We will gather everyone. We no longer need to keep lowering our heads like cattle for those people that hate us anyway." Erin rallied the Cursed Children with her passionate speech and everyone cheered back, supportive of Erin's suggestion.
"Still… will he really accept us? Like I mean sure he is kind. But can he really take care of everyone? There's more than a hundred of us here. Thousand more all across the city. Are we really going to gather everyone?" Someone in the crowd asked.
To this question, Erin is a little troubled. She didn't really think that far yet. In fact, she didn't even know if Adam would accept them at all.
"Hmn. What do we have here? A revolt?"
"Huh?!" Erin turned to the source of the sound and saw a man dressed in green camo tactical gear.
"The military!" Many exclaimed in shock and panic.
"It's troubling if you trash don't know your place. Even after we graciously spared you and fed you all. In the end, you all tried to bite our hand too." The man calmly scans his eyes through the room before he smirks sadistically as he savors the terror of the Cursed Children. "You all will be punished~"
"Everyone! Run!" Erin shouted as the man released his bloodlust and a Varanium combat dagger armed in his hand as he jumped in like a wolf into the sheep's pen.
"I wonder what your blood would look like. Keke! Hahaha! This is it! Those despair! This is what Gastrea hunting can never offer!" The man caught his first prey that struggled as he kicked and flailed with strength that will cripple any normal man. However he didn't even feel anything from the desperate thrashing of the girl as he choked her life out and slash open her gut, spilling it all out with an euphoric expression on his face.
To be continued…
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(Btw, the Aux chapter has been updated. Including the Augment and his recent changes in equipment. Kinda a spoiler but eh, I doubt much is interesting on reading the aux anyway.)
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