January 17
Before the ambush, Brent had been upstairs with her sniper rifle set up, scanning the surroundings while keeping one eye on Kyoko's group from time to time.
With the barrel extended out the window, she watched Kyoko and her young mistress through the scope mounted on the rail.
"So milady's really improving. She's handling the infected easily now."
A pleased smile spread across Brent's face at the sight of her mistress managing multiple infected on her own.
She could not help feeling proud. As expected of the finest young lady in her household.
Alright. Time to check somewhere else.
A good sniper and spotter could not stay in the same firing position too long, or the risk of exposure would rise.
In modern warfare, if a sniper stayed put after firing, were they waiting for the enemy's drone or artillery strike? It was not as if the rifle in her hands were some anti-materiel cannon. If enemy armor rolled up, it would already be too late to move.
She was in the middle of relocating.
Then suddenly Brent's eyes widened.
Something terrifying appeared in her scope.
Clutching her sniper rifle, she hurried to another, more concealed window and peered outside as carefully as she could.
"That's… people from the Apostle organization!"
Around a dozen men in clothes marked with six-pointed star emblems were moving together, surrounded by roughly a hundred infected.
And beyond them, scattered groups of infected were all drifting south through Nihonmatsu.
What were they trying to do?
Brent had no idea. For the moment, she had not been spotted, so staying hidden against the wall was still the best option.
Just a little more.
The southbound infected were nearly disappearing from her field of view.
Only a few dark specks remained.
The danger was almost over.
Letting out a small breath of relief, Brent wiped the cold sweat from her body and ejected the round from the chamber. She was afraid of firing by accident.
If she caused an unavoidable clash now, it would be a disaster.
Kyoko's stance had always been clear: they were not afraid of trouble, but they would not go out looking for it either.
Best to avoid unnecessary conflict. Their supplies and current living conditions were good enough that they had no need to go head-to-head with anyone.
"They've passed. Crisis resolved. Miss Kyoko and milady are safe."
She muttered it quietly to herself.
What Brent did not know was that in the East there was an old saying: when things reach an extreme, they reverse.
She celebrated too soon.
Fate had no intention of indulging her.
Some distance away, Kyoko and Miranda created a massive disturbance.
The flash and sound of an explosion spread at the speed of light and sound respectively.
And just like that, everything went to hell.
"What are milady and Miss Kyoko doing?!"
Brent was numb with shock.
The infected that had been about to leave were all turning back now.
This fight could no longer be avoided.
If Kyoko and Miranda had already been forced to use a grenade, then they had clearly run into serious trouble.
And if Brent let this entire pack of infected and armed thugs pass through—
She did not even dare imagine the consequences.
No.
She could not let them get through.
Brent did not hesitate.
Raise rifle. Chamber round. Aim. Fire.
All in one fluid motion.
The head of the thug at the front exploded.
By then the opposite side had already fallen into chaos. Driven by the armed men, the infected rushed forward in a frenzy.
And there, mixed in with the horde, were several special infected—the same type that had been nowhere to be seen when they first arrived.
Compared to Kyoko's self-taught marksmanship, Brent, who had undergone systematic firearms training and had real battlefield experience, knew far better how to use the weapon in her hands.
Faced with a special infected, she brought up the Remington M24 and sent a 7.62 round straight at its head.
"Damn—damn it, missed."
The infected were moving too fast. Her eyes were struggling to keep up.
She had no choice but to rely on prediction and her sharpened battlefield instincts.
Even so, she dropped the fastest of them.
Swapping out the empty magazine, she found she had only ten sniper rounds left.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Gunfire from the enemy side hammered the area where Brent was hiding.
No choice now. That position was burned.
If she showed herself again, she would be shot to pieces.
She had to move.
Carrying her rifle and the rest of her gear, she prepared to relocate.
But if she ran toward Kyoko and the others—what if even the three of them together could not stop these people?
No. The park.
She had to head into the park across the way. If she did not move now, she would not be moving at all.
Brent ran.
On the way, she was forced into close combat and used her pistol to kill several infected at short range.
By the time she reached cover, she was out of ammunition.
About three hundred meters from the artificial hill Kyoko and Miranda were trying to reach, there was a residential cluster.
One of the buildings there became Brent's temporary shelter.
Inside, a dark trail of blood stretched in from outside.
Leaning against a ruined wall, Brent looked deathly pale. Her guns and equipment had been thrown aside in haste. Spent casings and broken debris littered the floor in a glimmering golden heap.
Behind her, there were dozens of fake cloth flowers.
This place might once have been a flower shop.
Brent did not care.
The spent M72 LAW launcher lay discarded on the floor.
That rocket had done its job. The infected and armed thugs in front had been blasted hard enough to halt their advance for the moment.
Without that explosive power, Brent felt that she might already have been choosing where to place her final shot—through the heart, or through the brain.
Cute and headless, or mindless and heartless.
Her torn clothes were stained everywhere with dirt and red splashes. She was badly hurt. Each breath came in ragged, trembling gulps.
"Hah… hah… ngh…"
Gritting her teeth, she began emergency treatment.
She cut open her thick winter trousers. Inside, the cotton padding had clotted together into red masses from blood and cold.
When she had fired the rocket indoors, the blast had shattered the nearby windows, and the spray of flying glass had cut into her unprotected thigh.
One shard in particular had bitten deep.
It was lodged in her flesh.
Blood was still steadily seeping from the wound.
Staring at the gash—nearly seven centimeters long—Brent thought of her young mistress, of the younger miss back home, of the master and mistress's instructions, and resolve filled her eyes again.
With no hesitation at all, she pulled apart the wound the glass had torn open.
"For everyone. For milady. I have to live!"
As if she were operating on someone else instead of herself, Brent shoved two fingers deep into the wound.
Pain wracked her body. Sweat beaded heavily on her forehead. Her teeth clenched so hard her jaw ached.
"Ah—ahh—ngh… got you, you bastard."
Like pulling money from a wallet, Brent finally pinched out a whole shard of glass between her long fingers, now slick with blood.
Without even glancing at it, she tossed it aside into a pile of trash.
The blood kept pouring.
A dark pool had already spread across the floor beneath her, like a red carpet.
She slapped clotting agent onto the wound and wrapped it in bandages—quickly, carelessly.
Why so rough?
Because those damned Apostles and their "pets" were already bearing down on her.
She had only three sniper rounds left.
Her pistol was nearly empty too.
Miss Miranda… Miss Kyoko… will you come save me…?
Her heart was in turmoil.
Part of her wanted desperately to live, to believe they would come for her.
Another part hoped they would not.
What if they came, only to be dragged into this and killed as well?
No. Better that milady and the younger miss keep living…
Making her peace with death, Brent decided to save one last bullet for herself.
Dragging her injured leg, she raised the sniper rifle and put another of the charging enemies down.
Pain was clouding her mind so badly she was no longer sure how many rounds were left.
Damn it!
She aimed, squeezed the trigger—
Nothing. No shot. No burst of skull.
Swearing aloud, she dropped the sniper rifle and yanked out her pistol, checking the magazine to make sure there was at least one final round left for the end.
They were less than thirty meters away now.
Gunfire screamed toward her.
She coughed, then grunted in pain.
Another wave of agony hit.
Brent looked down.
A 5.56 round had punched through the lower left side of her abdomen.
Not a neat hole.
A ragged cavity.
Flesh turned outward.
Then came the crushing exhaustion.
Her body stopped listening to her. The handgun slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a sharp metallic clatter.
As she collapsed, the world around her went out of focus.
In the final instant before unconsciousness took her, she realized the fighting outside had not stopped.
It had intensified.
Did they really come to save me?
Idiots… idiots… milady, Miss Kyoko… why didn't you run? I bought you so much time…
That was her final thought before darkness swallowed everything.
In the spreading pool of blood beside her, several fake flowers had been stained red.
Their broken petals and leaves looked just like Brent's shattered body.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 132)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin