Once the fires finally burned themselves out, Li Yun led his team into the Lost City.
Nearly a hundred other squads entered alongside them.
This cleanup operation would continue for quite some time.
Fernando put a bullet through the head of a zombie rushing them.
There really were very few zombies left in the city now.
The radio was filled mostly with the chatter and bullshit of other teams—not exactly cheerful, but enough to keep the work from becoming unbearably dull.
“Captain, at this rate we should be able to clear the city within a week, right?” Keith’s specialty did not have much room to shine under these conditions, but even with an ordinary firearm he was an excellent marksman.
Li Yun considered their progress.
Clearing the streets and then sweeping the buildings…
a week sounded about right.
With this many personnel committed, the cleanup was advancing extremely quickly.
From time to time, Blair fired her twin Silver Lugers to pick off zombies lunging in from the surrounding streets.
Yet her interest seemed less focused on the zombies than on Natasha.
She could feel Natasha’s vigilance and faint hostility toward her.
After several days together, Blair had also worked out exactly why Natasha felt that way.
It was painfully obvious.
Blair could read Natasha like an open book.
Thinking about it, Blair looked toward Li Yun at the head of the group.
He seemed completely unconcerned, calmly repeating the same monotonous work day after day.
[Fuck, is he fifty years old or something?
Does this guy have no sex drive at all?]
Blair was genuinely speechless.
The bastard seemed utterly immune to earthly temptation.
His own team had Natasha if he wanted a cold tsundere beauty and Blair herself if he preferred someone seductive and glamorous—yet even now, he could barely be bothered to say a damn thing.
If Li Yun knew what Blair was thinking, he might actually have admitted that his mental age really was around fifty.
In his previous life, physical circumstances had kept him from marrying, but it was not as though he had never dated.
As for his resistance to beautiful women, Li Yun had always lived by one principle.
The world was full of beautiful women.
If one or two died, the world would keep turning just fine.
“That’s enough for today.
Withdraw.”
Li Yun raised a hand to stop the team from advancing any farther.
Nightfall was not far away.
Rather than continue this work in darkness, it was better to return, rest, and resume tomorrow.
The others nodded and headed back to the military jeep they had driven in.
Fernando and Keith took the front seats; Li Yun, Natasha, and Blair sat in the back.
Natasha could also tell that, compared with Blair, Li Yun was more willing to be physically close to her.
He simply did not seem eager to get near Blair at all.
Natasha found that fact surprisingly pleasant.
“Captain, what’s the word from above?
Once we finish clearing this city, are they going to let the former residents move straight back in?”
Fernando found the atmosphere inside the vehicle a little stifling, so he tossed out a question to liven things up.
“Probably not for around three months.
Dr.
Soi says the Z-Virus vaccine still needs roughly another month.
Once production is ready, and after the remaining Z-Virus burns itself out naturally, the residents should be able to return to Zeta City.”
Li Yun leaned back in his seat and flicked a finger against his tactical knife.
He needed to find an opportunity to ask Dr.
Soi to custom-build him a proper melee weapon.
Stabbing zombies with a little knife was getting ridiculous.
Come to think of it, Soi was impressive in more ways than one.
Li Yun had no idea how she had found his email address, but she sent him messages from time to time.
Through those emails, Li Yun had learned that Soi had moved to the government-run Aegis Institute, where she was developing new weapons and viral vaccines.
If he remembered correctly, weren’t the classic SKULL weapons and the BALROG series products of the Aegis Institute?
Well, there was probably no chance of seeing BALROG weapons before the actual Balrog was killed.
The SKULL series, on the other hand, was worth looking forward to.
Those weapons were specifically designed to tear zombies apart.
He refused to believe that, in the real world, Prototype Phobos could somehow eat all 120 rounds from a SKULL-7 and still refuse to die.
“You and Dr.
Soi have been keeping in touch?” Keith suddenly asked.
Li Yun answered with an absentminded “Mm.”
“She’s a good person, and an outstanding genius of a researcher.
Honestly, I think she acts more human than Dr.
Rex ever did.”
Li Yun offered the opinion casually.
Rex was nowhere to be found anyway, so he could say whatever he liked.
But the moment the words left his mouth, Li Yun felt a sudden chill at the back of his neck.
He instinctively turned.
Natasha and Blair were both staring intently at him, apparently trying to read something from his face.
“Why are you two looking at me?
I’m stating facts.
She’s an excellent researcher, and she’s very kind.
With her leading the Aegis Institute, I think we’ll see some impressive research results before long.”
Keith watched through the rearview mirror, taking in Li Yun’s earnest expression and the speechless looks on Natasha and Blair.
Inside, he was laughing himself senseless.
Natasha and Blair finally looked away.
This man was steel-reinforced straight.
Tell him your eyes felt dry and he’d probably hand you his personal bottle of eye drops.
Fernando was an excellent driver.
After a fast ride, they were already back at the camp General Victor had established outside the Lost City.
“Yo, you’re back, Li.” Walter greeted Li Yun with a smile, then turned back to help the others inventory the day’s newly delivered supplies.
Li Yun saw how busy Walter was and decided not to bother him.
He led the others away.
They had been living at this camp the entire time and had not returned to Raccoon City.
Keith and Fernando shared Li Yun’s tent.
Blair and Natasha stayed in the women’s quarters.
The two groups barely saw each other at night anyway; none of the three men were pathetic enough to go peeping.
“Captain, have you heard about what’s happening around Raccoon City?”
Fernando picked up a bottle and poured everyone a glass of whiskey he had bought.
It had become one of the three men’s evening diversions—basically their version of a girls’ night chat.
Li Yun shook his head.
He had paid no attention to outside news recently.
But given Fernando’s tone, he could already guess what this was about.
“The cannibal disease, right?
And it’s not just people…
there’ve been dogs too, haven’t there?”
Keith had heard about it.
Whenever their team rotated off duty, he liked wandering around the camp and collecting bits of gossip.
Fernando nodded, then turned toward Li Yun to hear his opinion.
From that description alone, the problem was almost certainly connected to zombies.
As the person here with the most experience fighting biological weapons, what did Li Yun make of it?
“Now that you’ve told me that, I basically know what’s happening over there.
If you want my advice, all I can say is prepare yourselves for a real war.
Victor didn’t recruit you so you could enjoy an easy life.”
Li Yun grinned and extended his glass.
The other two understood and clinked theirs against it.
Drink today while there is wine.
Tomorrow’s troubles could be fought with their lives.