"So you're saying you found a survivor by the little lake?"
That was suspicious.
A stranger appearing near their base out of nowhere—if they had spotted her group, then had they been watching them ever since Shoko and the others arrived?
After all, the sound of car engines, trees being felled, and gunfire were all obvious sources of noise. Even if none of that had tipped them off, just looking down from the mountain at night would have done it. Those lights weren't fake. No matter how faint, in a pitch-black forest they would still shine like a beacon.
Because everything had happened so suddenly, the team had no contingency plan for this kind of situation, so Shoko had no choice but to handle it herself. Even with the real-time map zoomed in to its maximum precision of ten meters, she still could not make out the figure hidden in the woods. Across the vast silver expanse of snow, there was no visible anomaly.
Since that was the case, Shoko decided to go in person.
Though going out while sick clearly increased the danger, and both Huaxiu and Miranda had tried to talk her into staying behind, they failed in the end.
Once Takajo Shoko made up her mind, it was almost impossible to get her to change it.
Leaving Brent alone to watch the stranger didn't sit right with anyone, so the group moved quickly. Miranda was already downstairs with her weapon, waiting. Ye Ling stood nearby in her plate armor, spear in hand. Shoko came out from inside wearing several thick layers, but without her full combat gear.
This time, Shoko wasn't going to be the main damage dealer anyway, so she hadn't bothered to put on the entire set. More importantly, there simply wasn't time to gear up that heavily. They were only dealing with a few survivors, not preparing for a siege.
Shoko did not believe these strangers could possibly outgun them.
Gun control in Japan was no looser than in certain other countries. Japan wasn't completely gun-free, but firearms were very tightly regulated. The Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law clearly laid out the rules surrounding civilian ownership of weapons. The application and review process was a huge hassle.
And guns could only be bought from designated gun shops. Aside from air guns, hunting rifles, and shotguns, other firearms were forbidden. Owners had to comply with a long list of regulations. Purchasers needed a valid firearms license, and each time they bought ammunition, they had to return the spent casings from their previous batch so the police could keep track of every round.
Because of that, Shoko did not think it likely that these people would be carrying automatic weapons or large-caliber firepower.
Still, to prepare for what might happen next, she had taken some painkillers beforehand. They helped a little, but the aching in her lower abdomen hadn't gone away. By now, though, Shoko was almost numb to it.
They did not choose to go on foot. The distance was less than a kilometer, but walking was tiring, and more dangerous too. If they had a vehicle, why not use it? There was still a service road through the resort leading toward the lake, and the dirt access road wound all the way up the mountain. Road conditions weren't a concern.
"Take it slow with the jeep. Don't scare her," Shoko said, flicking the safety off her Type 20 rifle.
As if the rifle itself wouldn't be enough to terrify anyone.
"Relax. I'm driving. Just watch my skills," Miranda said with a proud smile as she turned the steering wheel.
The car started moving slowly.
Back at the house, Huaxiu and Doris stayed behind in case of theft.
Who knew whether there were more survivors lurking nearby?
The vehicle rolled over the snow, leaving behind dark tire tracks. Exhaust steamed out and drifted in its wake.
In less than three minutes, the group reached the lakeside area Doris had described.
No one got out right away. They decided to send the drone ahead first.
The small machine lifted from Shoko's hand, hovered briefly above them, then flew straight forward.
It passed through the woods, skimmed over the cabin by the lake, the shrubs along the shore, and the hole that had just been cut in the ice. All of it streamed back to the terminal, letting Shoko and the others see everything clearly.
What shocked them was that Brent was nowhere in sight.
Neither was the survivor.
"Did something happen to Brent again? Did she get captured even with a gun on her?"
"Maybe she followed that survivor. If there'd been a fight, we would've heard gunfire, wouldn't we?"
"Then let's hurry up and find her."
The car doors slammed shut behind them. Since Brent was missing, and the drone had trouble moving through the dense woods, Shoko and the others decided to search in person.
At the edge of the lake, they found tracks exactly where Doris had said. Footprints led both north and south. Judging by the sizes, they belonged to two different people.
There was no sign of a third person. At least, not nearby.
Fortunately, the falling snow had not completely buried the prints. From what remained, Shoko and the others could still make out the general direction they had gone.
Of course, if the person had moved erratically and deliberately hidden their tracks, searching would have become much harder.
The three of them advanced cautiously for a while, then found that the footprints suddenly vanished. They were deep in the woods now. There were no buildings nearby, no landmarks—just an overgrown stretch of wilderness.
"Look at this."
Shoko, rifle raised, spotted something off ahead, and what she saw immediately made her uneasy. Already irritable from being out while sick, she grew even more agitated.
There was an overturned bucket of water—
and Brent's sniper rifle.
There had clearly been a struggle. The melted snow was scuffed with chaotic marks: footprints, scrapes, and deeper impressions that didn't follow any pattern.
"This is bad. Something definitely happened to Brent."
At that instant, Miranda's hair stood on end. She panicked and tried to rush ahead, but Shoko stopped her.
"Don't go forward yet. It could be a trap."
Forcing herself calm, Shoko grabbed Miranda by the sleeve with one hand, while the finger of her other hand settled onto the rifle's trigger, ready to fire at any moment.
Something about this was deeply strange.
If Brent had been captured, why had her rifle been left behind instead of taken?
After stopping Miranda, Shoko carefully approached the dropped weapon herself. No danger. No trap. She reached it without incident.
The bucket. The sniper rifle. A hairpin. Snow knocked loose and scattered. Small saplings with exposed leaves.
So there really had been close combat here.
But why had Brent, who had a gun, not fired?
Before Shoko could think it through, the pink fox-girl beside her spoke up in halting Japanese.
"Takajo… there's a sound nearby."
Ye Ling had picked up something new. Her ears had caught a faint noise.
"You're sure? I can't hear anything at all," Shoko asked, scanning the surroundings for movement.
Meanwhile, Miranda picked up Brent's rifle and stared at Ye Ling, urgency plain in her eyes.
"Yes. Over there."
Ye Ling's pink ears twitched as she listened. The sound seemed to be coming from their left.
"Then let's go."
After another few dozen steps, they found footprints again—two sets this time. It looked as though there had been a chase here, and just ahead of them was a slope. Not too steep, but enough.
The three of them understood at once.
Brent had fallen down the slope.
Shoko immediately spotted the trail cut through the snow, then the two bodies lying motionless at the bottom, along with a faint cry for help.
Two people. Brent, and that survivor.
So they had fought, and both ended up tumbling down together.
"We go around from that side. It's less steep."
Shoko pointed toward a gentler descent nearby and led the others down.
At the bottom was a frozen stream. The three hurried toward the two figures lying in the snow.
As they got closer, they saw that both had rolled all the way down, plowing through the mud and snow.
Brent was still groaning in pain.
The brown-haired survivor, however, lay face-down, completely motionless, making it hard to tell whether she was merely unconscious or already dead.
Shoko quickly knelt beside the brown-haired girl, turned her over, and placed two fingers beneath her nose.
Air.
She was still breathing.
Not dead.
"We're heading back. Now," Shoko said. "Who knows what else could happen if we stay here?"
Brent's gunshot wounds had only just healed. And now she was hurt again. At this rate, if her body wasn't as freakishly resilient as it was, she might really be left with lasting damage.
"Miranda, Ye Ling—carry Brent. I'll take this brown-haired one!"
As she spoke, Shoko hoisted the unconscious woman up over her shoulder like a sack of rice.
"Got it."
Working together, the three of them quickly hauled the injured back the way they had come and returned to the jeep.
"So heavy," Shoko muttered after slamming the door shut behind her. "What is she made of?"
The woman weighed at least a hundred and twenty pounds. Worse, the "front armor" was enormous. Those two massive burdens pressed squarely into Shoko's back the entire way.
It was… an experience.
On the way back, Brent finally relaxed once her teammates arrived and promptly passed out, which made Miranda press harder on the gas. She drove the mountain road so fast that they made it back to the house in under fifty seconds.
The jeep screeched to a stop outside.
Huaxiu and Doris were already at the door, anxiously waiting for them.
"You're finally back! Shoko, what happened?"
"We picked up a survivor. Brent's hurt again. I'm checking her first. Huaxiu, go make lunch. Have the others eat."
With someone injured, everyone immediately threw themselves into what needed doing. There was no time for chatting.
Shoko spent a thousand points to have the system examine Brent.
The result: Brent had almost no serious injuries at all.
No internal bleeding. No broken bones. Just clothes torn by branches and brambles.
Not trusting the system completely, Shoko peeled back Brent's heavy clothing and checked for herself. It had been right. Brent had simply been dazed by the fall. The snow had absorbed most of the impact.
As for the unconscious brown-haired girl, her condition was less clear. Shoko guessed it was some combination of hunger and the fall that had knocked her out.
She stripped the woman's outer clothing off as well to inspect for injuries.
There were none.
Not a single wound anywhere on her body.
Shoko took glucose from the medical kit and hooked both of them up to it. Before heading out, she also found a sturdy rope and, just to be safe, bound the brown-haired girl's wrists and ankles.
After locking the doors and windows, Shoko was about to go downstairs for lunch—
when a sharp, familiar twist of pain shot through her lower abdomen.
Her expression changed immediately.
This was bad.
The awful scene repeated itself.
She had forgotten to put on a fresh pad.
Bright blood ran down her leg and dripped onto the floor. Worse, the painkillers had worn off.
Another casualty had just been added to the list, and that casualty was Shoko.
Her face flushing red with humiliation, she hurried upstairs to change.
Brent had just been taken away by Miranda, so the makeshift sickroom held only the newly rescued girl now.
An unidentified, potentially dangerous woman.
She had to stay tied up and watched carefully.
In the silent room, though, the unconscious girl suddenly murmured in her sleep.
"Uncle Saito… Ai… be careful… don't mind me… eat…"
A sheen of cold sweat covered her as if she were trapped in a nightmare, her words trembling and faint.
But Shoko and the others never heard it.
They were downstairs, eating a hot lunch.
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 142)
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 (Chapter181)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter103)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter192)
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 173
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 166
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 110
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 190
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 165
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 156
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 81
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 102
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 120
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 80
Uma Musume: I Want All 95
I Can Copy Unique Skills 84
Summoning an Evil God, but the 66
Supernatural Multiverse 83
My Harem Is Indescribable 75
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 81
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 75
Still playing traditional Honk 55
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 60
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 55
Checking In in Demon Slayer 60
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 65
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 35
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 35
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 39
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 58
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