“Marvin, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with our plan.
The only issue is: who’s going to be the one to put the sound source on the zombies?”
Elliot raised the key problem.
Attaching an alarm clock—or anything else that could make noise—to a zombie was not particularly difficult.
After all, zombies moved slowly.
But once you added the condition that Lickers were still present, the whole situation changed.
“Me.”
Holding the radio in his hand, Marvin pressed the talk button and answered immediately, without hesitation.
“…”
Marvin’s reply was exactly what Elliot had expected.
After a short pause to organize his words, Elliot finally pressed the talk button and said, “I think Luo should do it.”
“What?!
Elliot!
Have you lost your mind?
You’re a cop!”
When Officer Marvin heard that Elliot wanted Luo Guang to do a task that should have been done by police officers protecting civilians, he found it completely unbelievable.
“Marvin, listen to me first.”
Elliot knew exactly what kind of man Marvin was.
A model police officer.
That was the highest praise Elliot could give him.
But Elliot still had his reasons for suggesting that the job be pushed onto Luo Guang, even though he knew Marvin would object.
“Talk.”
Marvin was still angry, and he pressed the talk button so hard it seemed like he wanted to crush it.
Meanwhile, Luo Guang stood to the side listening without interrupting.
I’m not your subordinate.
Just because you say I should go doesn’t mean I’m going.
And if you’re thinking of trying to guilt-trip me into it, dream on.
That was what Luo Guang was thinking, so he did not get anxious or cut in.
He simply listened to Marvin and Elliot continue their exchange.
“Luo Guang went alone and completed the rooftop antenna repair mission, right?”
While Marvin had been repeating what Luo Guang said about the Lickers, Elliot had already guessed that Luo Guang had either finished the task successfully or, at the very least, had returned to the main hall unhurt.
After all, Elliot and Marvin had spent most of the outbreak together.
There was no way Marvin would suddenly know more than Elliot out of nowhere.
That left only one possibility: someone else—Luo Guang—had told Marvin those things.
“Yes.
He’s stronger than me, stronger than either of you.
But that still isn’t a reason to shove danger onto a civilian,” Marvin shot back, irritated.
Marvin had barely managed to justify agreeing earlier to let Luo Guang repair the antenna.
The slow-moving zombies were usually not capable of catching a living person, so if Luo Guang ran into danger, as long as Marvin raised the fire door in time, escape would not have been hard.
That was why, during the repair mission, Marvin had focused so much of his attention on Luo Guang—so he could pull him back from the east wing the moment things went wrong.
And there was another point.
The antenna repair had been Luo Guang’s own suggestion.
He had agreed to it voluntarily.
It had not been assigned to him by Marvin or anyone else, nor had anyone pushed it onto a civilian while spouting nonsense like “with greater power comes greater responsibility.”
But now they were not just dealing with slow zombies.
Now there were also those long-tongued monsters—Lickers—fast, deadly, and able to strike from range.
Elliot understood that simply saying Luo Guang was strong would never convince Marvin, so he kept explaining.
“Luo Guang’s combat ability is only one of the reasons.
I’m suggesting Luo do it because he’s the only one here with experience actually killing those creatures.
On top of that, whoever controls the broadcast has to be the most reliable person possible.
Even a slight delay, and the broadcast won’t cover the sound of us escaping.
“So if we go with my suggestion, the success rate of the mission—and the survival rate of everyone involved—will be the highest.
In the end, it’ll also give the four of us the best chance of all making it out alive.
“And in a disaster like this in Raccoon City, nobody gets to stand outside of it.
If we want to survive, everyone has to do their part.”
There were things Elliot did not say out loud.
During the fighting to hold back the zombies, Elliot had once seen civilians run away in the middle of it, locking him and his friend outside a door.
In the end, Elliot’s friend had been swallowed up by the zombies, while Elliot himself had managed to break through.
So Elliot was not targeting Luo Guang personally.
It was simply that no matter which civilian was put in charge of operating the fire doors, Elliot would not trust them.
If zombies broke into the main hall, would that civilian really still hold their position?
Elliot had his doubts.
Seeing Elliot’s attitude, Marvin waited a moment before replying, “Elliot, this shouldn’t be something we decide for him.
I’ll ask Luo Guang what he thinks first.”
He switched off the radio, feeling thoroughly drained, then turned to look at Luo Guang, who was leaning back in a chair with his head tilted upward.
Impossible to read.
That was Marvin’s current impression of Luo Guang.
The man was clearly very young, yet when Marvin and Elliot had started arguing, Luo Guang—the one they were arguing about—had remained astonishingly steady.
Elliot had been trying to morally pressure him, yet Luo Guang had not gotten angry at all.
He had simply sat there, as though the entire matter had nothing to do with him.
it didn’t have anything to do with him.
It wasn’t Luo Guang who was trapped in the Records Room with Lickers blocking the exit.
And Luo Guang had no obligation to save anyone.
On top of that, the antenna-repair mission—which had originally been Marvin’s responsibility—had already been done for them by Luo Guang, out of his own initiative, to everyone else’s benefit.
If they were eventually rescued because of it, everyone here would owe him for that.
As for survival rates and the like, those had even less to do with Luo Guang.
Marvin had the feeling that, with or without them police officers, if anyone had the best odds of surviving this disaster, it was Luo Guang.
Nobody gets to stay out of it.
Everyone has to do their part if they want to survive.
That line from Elliot had really been aimed at Luo Guang standing beside Marvin.
Elliot had probably misunderstood Luo Guang because Luo Guang had so readily taken on the antenna-repair job and then offered plans so enthusiastically just now.
Marvin was not saying Luo Guang was not kind-hearted.
It was just that he vaguely felt Luo Guang had taken on that repair mission partly out of self-interest, and for reasons beyond simple kindness.
Meanwhile, Luo Guang, leaning back with his head tilted upward, was not actually acting detached out of indifference.
Before transmigrating, Luo Guang had spent a lot of time hunched over working, so he had developed the habit of tilting his head back to ward off neck problems.
Over time, he had gotten used to thinking things through whenever he took that posture.
And right now, he really was thinking about the rescue plan.
Just not for the purpose of saving Elliot and David from the Records Room.
The real question in his mind was this: Should I wait until I’m stronger before challenging a Licker…
or should I test the waters now and see what they’re really like?
Yes—for Luo Guang, whether Elliot and David were saved really was not that important.
He had no real relationship with either of them.
They were acquaintances in name only.
“Wait.”
Suddenly thinking of something, Luo Guang turned to Marvin and asked, “Officer Marvin, how did you lure those monsters away the last time?”
“What?” Marvin had not expected that question at all and froze for a second.
“Why not just lure those hard-to-deal-with Lickers away again?
And the noise outside would also pull the zombies away from the Records Room door.
Then Elliot and the others could just come back the same way they went in.
That way, neither you nor I would need to take the risk, right?”
As he said it, something clicked in Luo Guang’s head.
He really had gotten stronger.
But human beings stood at the top of the food chain not just because of physical capability.
Brains mattered too.
There was no actual reason for him to fight the Lickers head-on with brute force.
His system was not the kind that handed out rewards for killing enemies.
Even if he wiped out all those Lickers, the system would not give him anything.
The system itself even chimed in with a confirmation that, yes, that was indeed the case.
Because he had evolved and become physically stronger, Luo Guang had, without noticing, drifted into the same kind of trap a lot of ordinary people fell into—he had started swelling with confidence.
Every time a problem or enemy appeared, his first instinct was to think about charging in and forcing it with violence, as though that alone proved he had become strong.
But that was wrong.
There was always someone stronger, always something higher.
Could he really guarantee that he would succeed every single time and never capsize in a gutter?
No.
Luo Guang fell into thought for a moment.
On the other side, Marvin also snapped back to his senses after hearing Luo Guang’s suggestion.
“Right…”
Marvin lifted his brows.
He, too, had unknowingly gotten boxed into the earlier plan and failed to step back from it.
Now he realized that both he and Luo Guang had been overcomplicating the situation.
“Marvin, how exactly did you lure those monsters away before?” Luo Guang asked again.
“This machine can control police electronic equipment all over Raccoon City.
Things like PA systems, public surveillance cameras, that sort of thing.” Marvin pointed at the computer in front of him.
“It’s also one of the newest computers and custom systems developed this year.
As long as this side can send out the signal, and the matching device on the other end still has power, it can be remotely operated.
“Earlier, that’s what I used—to set off the siren on the police car we were using as a barricade over by the west gate and lure the monsters there.
“After they got drawn out by the police siren, something else seemed to catch their attention before the siren even stopped, and they ran off somewhere.”
“They didn’t attack the police car?”
The police car at the west gate had been meant as a roadblock, but apparently it had turned out to be useful in a completely different way.
What Luo Guang found more interesting was that Marvin had not mentioned the Lickers attacking the car at all.
“Huh…
Now that you mention it, I don’t think they did.
I turned the siren off myself.”
Once Luo Guang asked, Marvin also started finding it strange.
Earlier, when the Lickers attacked the western defense line of the station, they had indiscriminately attacked humans and zombies alike as long as anything made even a slightly loud noise.
“Could it be because the siren’s sound was too high-pitched?
Too sharp, maybe?
Those creatures have incredible hearing, after all,” Luo Guang proposed.
“Mm…
that’s possible.” Marvin nodded along while continuing to work the controls.
It’s entirely possible they can’t stand piercing noises any more than humans can, which is why they just left the area.”
As he spoke, Marvin checked the status of the police cars near the west gate and said, “One of the police cars over there still has its headlights on and enough power left.
Confirmed—unit number C13.”
“That’s good.
Then let’s do this.
We’ll set up two plans, A and B.
First, we’ll try blasting a high-pitched screech on the west side.
If that doesn’t work, then we use other sounds to lure away both the Lickers and the zombies.”
“Oh, Marvin—one question.
Does the computer have the right kind of audio source built in?” Luo Guang suddenly realized they needed a sharp, high-frequency noise source first.
“No.
But we can try another method.” Marvin said, “If you put a live microphone close to an active speaker, it’ll create a really horrible feedback screech.”
“Oh, that can work.” Luo Guang actually had childhood memories of something like that happening—trying to record songs he liked by putting a microphone near the TV speakers, only to accidentally unleash a shrieking feedback noise and get yelled at by his parents.
“Then let’s go with that train of thought.
If we get lucky, we might not only drive the Lickers off—maybe we’ll even pull the zombies away too.”
“Mm.
And if that doesn’t work, then we fall back on my earlier method and use the west-side police car’s siren to draw the monsters away.” Marvin brought up the police station map and pointed to a location.
“By the way, Luo, could I trouble you to cover them when they come out?
Just as insurance—you’d only need to cover them from the doorway connecting the reception area to the west corridor.”
“Fine, as long as they don’t go firing wildly while they run for the reception area.” Luo Guang was more worried that Elliot and David might panic and accidentally shoot a friendly, especially David.
From the way David kept ducking and flinching around in the monitors, he looked like the more cowardly type.
Once the two of them had more or less worked out the details, Marvin told Luo Guang to get ready.
“All right, Luo Guang, get prepared.
I’ll tell them the updated plan.”
There was no time to waste.
Marvin picked up the radio and contacted Elliot and David, telling them about the new plan.
Officer David did not think it sounded good.
Yes, the sound would lure the zombies away from the door, but there would always be a few “hard-of-hearing” zombies left behind.
To him, the risk was still too high.
Elliot, meanwhile, found himself thinking something else entirely: Did Luo Guang see right through me?
Not only did he neatly remove himself from the whole thing, he also tossed the risk back onto me and David.
But if that were true, then why had Luo Guang not proposed this simpler plan from the start?
Why had he first suggested a more complicated one that would have required either Marvin or Luo Guang himself to take the risk?
Just like Marvin, Elliot found himself unable to read this young man.
Some of Luo Guang’s actions simply made no sense to him.
Still, back to the matter at hand.
Now that he no longer needed to morally pressure Luo Guang, Elliot did not feel disappointed.
If anything, he felt relieved.
Luo Guang was a civilian, after all.
There was no way Elliot could force him.
That would have gone against the reason Elliot had become a police officer in the first place.
Come to think of it, this hell had changed him a little without him even noticing.
He had become more selfish.
Less like a cop.
Thinking back over everything he had done along the way, and now in a comparatively safe environment, Elliot lowered his head and, for once, truly had time to think.
Remembering the friend who had died—and who had never uttered a word of blame even at the end—Elliot recovered a little of his sense of duty as a police officer.
He raised his head, his expression firm again, and said, “Then let’s do it.
We go with the plan you and Luo Guang worked out, Marvin.”
“Elliot!”
David instantly objected.
Elliot had just made the decision for him too.
If someone else cleared all the zombies outside the door, that was obviously the safest option for both of them.
Why had Elliot suddenly changed his mind and pulled the risk back onto them?
Elliot shot David a hard glare, as though only now truly seeing the man for what he was.
How had he never realized before that David was this timid?
If this guy had been the one in charge of the monitors…
With David there as a comparison, Elliot finally understood something.
Civilian or police officer—both were just people.
He should not assume Luo Guang would run simply because he was a civilian.
And he should not assume David was a suitable partner simply because he was a cop.
Looking at David now, Elliot felt certain that if things went wrong later, David would absolutely turn and run without looking back.
David shrank under that glare, muttering complaints under his breath, but he did not dare object any further.
“Tell us when everything’s ready, Marvin.”
Once he had dealt with David, Elliot gave Marvin the go-ahead.
“Understood.”
Marvin and Elliot were old colleagues.
They had once patrolled together as partners, and the two of them had their own unspoken understanding.
Marvin nodded and began the final checks for the plan.
It’s not really mandatory—I’ll eventually upload all the chapters here—but it helps a lot in supporting me and allows me to dedicate more time to it.