Maps of the route Kyoko had taken, design diagrams of the Type 24 armored vehicle, and the Type 87 assault rifle.
"System, why are you so late today?"
"Can't I slack off once in a while? It's not like you had anything urgent."
"Anything good in the shop today?"
"No."
Kyoko frowned. Still, considering that all her equipment and supplies came from the System, she let it slide. Whatever mood this lunatic was in today, she could endure it.
The tank on a single car emptied quickly, but the large fuel drum still wasn't full. Kyoko and Miranda repeated the process, and before long the heavy drum was filled to the brim.
Carrying the full fuel can back to the vehicles, the two women returned to the station.
"Huaxiu, what are you doing?" Kyoko asked as she lifted the fuel drum into the cargo compartment.
"We're making some hot soup," Huaxiu replied while prying open cans and dropping chunks of meat into a pot. "Something warm for the stomach."
"Sounds good. Miranda and I will be back soon. Stay alert, even if there aren't many infected around."
"Mm."
Kyoko and Miranda then headed for the nearby little shops, hoping to find anything useful.
"It's seriously freezing here," Miranda muttered, tugging her knit cap lower. Red marks had already formed on her face.
This wasn't the cute blush of a girl in the cold. If she didn't warm up soon, she was going to get frostbite.
"If you're cold, stick on some heat packs," Kyoko said. "Once we get back to the truck, do it right away."
Kyoko herself didn't feel cold at all. She was wrapped up from head to toe in full gear, her sealed helmet and neck guard leaving not even the wind a gap to sneak through.
Because they had left the relatively warmer city behind and entered harsher mountain country, the down jacket Kyoko had worn back in Nihonmatsu was no longer enough against the alpine wind.
The west wind howled. Snow rode the gusts and slapped against clothing and sheet metal alike, making a constant pattering sound.
This little place hardly had any infected. The supermarket had obviously been looted before. Shelves had collapsed all over the floor, stock was sparse, and the whole place looked miserable.
Torn food packaging and used toiletries were strewn everywhere. Trash and useful goods were mixed together so thoroughly it was hard to tell one from the other, making later scavenging far more troublesome.
Huh. There were even signs that someone had lit a fire here.
"So somebody was enough of a genius to build an open flame inside a gas station," Kyoko said, staring at the cold firepit. "Not afraid of blowing themselves to hell, I see."
"What else should we take?"
"Daily necessities. Soap, toilet paper… whatever looks useful. Just take what we need."
"Got it. Then I'll just grab whatever seems practical."
With human industry shattered, these ordinary household goods were being steadily consumed while becoming harder and harder to replace. And once people got used to modern conveniences, losing them became nearly unbearable. Even someone who wasn't particularly neat would have a hard time adapting. If conditions allowed it, they had to grab such things. Poor hygiene led straight to disease, and a weakened body couldn't possibly fend off so many germs and viruses.
There was still ice cream in the freezers, hilariously enough. But because the indoor temperature hovered around freezing rather than staying below it, the powerless freezers had thawed and refrozen their contents over and over. The ice cream was ruined.
Kyoko had wanted to find some easy fire-starting material, but even the newspaper rack by the door had been cleaned out.
After some searching, they found a few hygiene items, but not much else. Whoever had come before them had clearly looted the place several times already. It didn't take long to confirm there was nothing worthwhile left.
"Let's head back," Kyoko said. "There's not much here anyway."
"Okay."
Carrying their plastic bags, the two women stepped out of the convenience store. Just then, the rich smell of meat broth drifted toward them. After all the travelling and cold, they were starving.
Time to eat.
Huaxiu stood by the fire with a handled mess tin and a ladle, carefully serving hot soup to everyone.
Above them was a canopy that shielded them from the falling snow. They sat around the fire, warming themselves as they ate. No infected disturbed them. All they could hear was the sound of the wind and the snowfall.
It felt almost like camping.
Faced with even a low mountain of only four hundred meters, human beings seemed so small. Two rivers converged here, mountains danced beneath the snow, and the winter landscape was magnificent.
"Drinking meat soup in weather like this," Kyoko said, cradling the steaming tin, "is pure bliss."
No one waited for the soup to cool before drinking. It wasn't as if they would scald themselves—between the howling wind and the snow, the broth had already lost much of its heat. Right now it was perfect.
After the meal, Kyoko headed alone to the nearby repair shop to look for antifreeze. Frost had started building up on the vehicle windows, and scraping it off bit by bit was far too much trouble.
The door to the shop had already been forced open. Apparently the survivors who had passed through before had looted this place too.
She could only hope there was still something useful left.
Pulling aside the half-broken rolling shutter, Kyoko stepped inside.
And immediately froze.
There were several infected inside the repair shop.
They had been lying on the floor, but the moment they heard the rolling door rattle, they all turned toward her in unison.
Kyoko didn't panic. She calmly drew the weapon in her hand.
In a flash of sparks and gunfire, the infected—who had only just started raising their arms to get up—dropped dead before they could even rise.
"So that's where you were hiding. Staying in here to avoid the cold, huh?"
Carefully stepping around the corpses, Kyoko headed for the shelves.
Thank heaven—there was antifreeze, and even several cans of vehicle lubricant. There were spare tires too, though unfortunately none matched their vehicles.
"Kyoko, are you all right?"
"It's fine. Let's go. Take this."
The voice behind her belonged to Miranda. Hearing the gunshots, she had grabbed her pistol and hurried over, worried something had happened.
Kyoko, spotting free labor, immediately started handing things over. She tossed an armful of supplies to Miranda while picking up several more canisters herself.
For survival, there was no point in being precious.
"Huaxiu, give me a hand. Open the hatch."
Kyoko approached the armored vehicle with her arms full of lubricant and antifreeze, calling for help.
"Coming."
Huaxiu was nearby and had to use both hands to haul the transport's hatch open.
After a great deal of effort, Kyoko managed to fit the bulky containers in among the other supplies, arranging them like some cruel version of Tetris.
No time to waste now. They could apply the oil properly once they reached Yue Hot Springs.
"All right," she said. "Let's move."
"Everyone aboard. Next stop: the hot spring town at the foot of Mount Adatara!"
The engines roared to life, devouring the fuel they had just collected. Wrapped in heavy snow chains, the tires bit into the soft snow and left deep tracks under the weight of the vehicles.
"Kyoko, isn't this not the main road?" Huaxiu asked from inside the transport. "Are we taking the small route after crossing the bridge?"
"The main road makes a detour," Kyoko replied. "Besides, with the snow and all the wrecks, it's a mess. This shortcut saves time."
"Mm."
Anything Kyoko decided, Huaxiu supported wholeheartedly. If Kyoko said this was the way, then this was the way.
The truth, though, was that it wasn't only because the highway route was longer. On her real-time map, Kyoko had seen a pileup there. From here to Tateishi alone, the road would curve three times, and every single stretch was clogged with abandoned vehicles from earlier evacuations.
That was why they had to take the side road.
Though it was called a smaller road, it wasn't truly narrow. It was paved concrete at least. It probably wouldn't collapse under the weight of a twenty-ton armored vehicle.
"So many trees!" Huaxiu said, looking out. "I've never been here before."
"There are lots of places you haven't seen yet," Kyoko replied. "Wait until you see the hot springs."
"I grew up in the countryside near the coast in Fukushima, so I'm not familiar with this side," Huaxiu said, her voice lowering a little.
She might have been thinking about her grandparents.
"Don't worry. You'll get familiar with it. We may have to pass through here more than once."
Sensing her girlfriend's change in mood, Kyoko quickly shifted the subject.
At that moment Huaxiu did something unexpected—she was the one who comforted Kyoko.
"Don't treat me like a little girl," she said. "Something like this won't get to me. Just focus on driving. Don't end up crashing with Dorothy and me inside."
"All right, all right. I'll focus. Then go get Dorothy down from the turret. It's freezing up there."
"Fine. I won't keep you company up front, then. The driver's seat is cramped enough already."
"Hey—Huaxiu! Don't knock on my helmet!"
Kyoko felt a sharp little tap on the top of her head, like someone striking a wooden fish. It did absolutely nothing to her, but she still put on an exaggerated show of protest.
"Ehehe."
Huaxiu grinned mischievously, her smile bright.
Well, she was her wife. She could bully her all she wanted—for now.
Just wait, Huaxiu. One day Kyoko would settle the score.
For the moment, though, all Kyoko could do was endure this "abuse" in silence.
The thought made her smile a little. Her hands on the controls grew steadier, and the armored car picked up speed.
This side road ran past farmland. Small houses stood on either side, full of traces of ordinary life. Fenced-off homes with two-story buildings, balconies still hung with laundry that no one would ever take in again.
After they passed a fork in the road, Kyoko kept driving. A few infected came rushing out from the woods to ambush them.
She ran them straight over without a second thought.
Before the armored vehicle, such things meant nothing.
A little while later, after several more curves, a small village came into view beyond the trees.
"…Looks like we don't even have to wait until tonight," Kyoko said awkwardly. "We're almost at Yue Hot Springs already."
She had misjudged the distance based on the morning's travel. Back then, they had still been in the city, crawling through wrecks and blockades. Now the roads were clearer, and she had become much more familiar with driving. Naturally, they were moving far faster.
"So… are we stopping here?" Huaxiu and Dorothy asked almost at once.
"No," Kyoko said. "We keep going. It's only three in the afternoon. We'll reach the salt springs at Yugawa around five-thirty."
With that, she drove straight through the village marked 岳温泉.
"Miss… did we just pass it?" Brent asked from the other vehicle. "Didn't that sign say Yue Hot Springs?"
"It did," Miranda said. "But since Kyoko didn't stop, I'm guessing the plan changed. We'll just follow."
She wasn't too troubled by it. Plans changed all the time. If they stopped now, what would they do with the extra hours? Loot the hot spring village? Their vehicles were nearly full already. Besides, clearing the infected there would only waste more effort.
The village also seemed to have survivors.
Kyoko had spotted corpses piled along the main road.
"Kyoko, what's that?" Huaxiu asked from the open turret, where she was exposed enough to see farther ahead.
"I saw it. Bodies." Kyoko's voice sharpened at once. "Huaxiu, get down. There may be danger ahead."
This was wrong.
Bodies carefully placed beside the road could only have been arranged by human hands.
Would it be the Apostles? Or ordinary survivors?
Whatever the answer, this wasn't something Kyoko could simply ignore. If they were hostile, she could gun them down outright—but open attacks were easy to guard against. Hidden traps were another story. If the enemy had mines or ambushes set up, the convoy could be finished here.
"Everyone stay sharp," she said.
Kyoko shifted the vehicle up a gear and tried to accelerate through the settlement.
Miranda, seeing the lead vehicle speed up, did the same to keep pace.
The chains around the wheels bit into the snowy road. Before long, they were past the village.
But while Kyoko was wary of the survivors, the survivors were just as wary of them.
Inside a three-story building along the road, several men holding police pistols peered out through the slats of a narrow blind.
"Did that armored vehicle leave?"
"It did. Too bad… I was almost hoping they might save us."
"Idiot," their leader snapped. "They can barely save themselves. We need to hurry up and strip the rest of the houses in the village for food. Now that everyone else here is dead, the supplies left behind are enough for just a few of us to survive the winter."
This man clearly no longer trusted the Self-Defense Forces. He had seen the fall of Nihonmatsu and Fukushima with his own eyes. As a rural police officer, he had once been sent into Nihonmatsu when things started going wrong.
If luck hadn't favored him that day, he would have been another corpse in the heaps.
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 138)
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 (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
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 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
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 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 44
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