6-4 Festering Scars

Hurry! Get back! The Infected have turned into monsters!

Agh! I've been bit! I've been bit!

Ung.

Aaaahh!

(Terrifying screaming).

......

How could this happen...?

What has that nasty little boy done?!

Doctor, we need to move! We have to meet up with Amiya!

A small fire team can't handle a herd of this size. We have to tread carefully!

There's nothing we can do for the L. G. D. now. We're in a much worse position than them.

Set them aside. My top priority is to guarantee your safety.

We're being overrun!

We're dead if we don't retreat!

Don't panic.

Huh?! Who's...?

That uniform... You're...

The cavalry is here. Stand firm.

Form two teams and move on their flanks.

But, Master...

Trust me. While I cannot take action myself, this method will succeed.

Execute a pincer attack, hold the enemy in place, and leave the stragglers to your reinforcements.

Nnng... Ngaaaa!

...Thank you, sir!

If you hadn't come to help...

......

Behind you.

C- counterattack!

It is no use.

Form up. And fall back.

Yes, sir!

No, if we do that...

We can't hold here. We have to find a way out...

Of course! The high ground! We move up the stairs and attack down into the corridor!

...No. All we can do is hold. But at least we won't get cornered by this crowd of lunatics!

Right. Come about, gather up at each doorway, pull back the teams, and take a defensive formation! Hurry! Move!

Well done. I approve.

Sir, come with us!

No need.

What?

Go.

I will move on the ground.

......

We can't hold them!

All we have is piercing weapons, and they're useless against these things!

Hold your ground!

We're the last line of defense for the civilians behind us!

Then what do we do?!

We fight to the last man!

Watch the Originium they're throwing. It corrodes your equipment, and some of them explode!

Ah...! They hit Ah Chung!

Ah Chung, get back! You, move up! Don't let them through!

Guuhhh.

Aaaaaagh! Th- they got me! They're eating me! Noo! Aaaaieeeee!!!

Ah Yee!!!

How embarrassing!

Zongguan Bailei Zhengfa, loose!

Nnng...!!

Lightning Arts?!

H- how... you wiped them all out in one bright flash?

*Pant...* *pant...*

I just said I would not act. Little did I know how incapable you are of protecting the masses.

That I would be forced to take such action, it's humiliating!

Madam Censor...

Madam nothing! Were you not told to ignore my presence?

...We never thought...

I found your spirit laudable. How disappointing it was to see you hopping about aimlessly, leaving me to do your work. Honestly, what were you doing?

Now! To your place!

But you just said...

Chop chop! How have you not learned to move with haste even after witnessing me?

Oh, but of course. You did not witness me. I did nothing. Is that clear?

Crystal!

But if a single hair on the head of a single commoner comes to harm, you are all terminated. Even I must resign. We are all unemployed.

Y- yes, of course... We'll fight with all our strength.

Very good. Now why are you just standing there? Move!

By the way...? Do you know those Black Cloaks?

Black Cloak? What's that?

Get your eyes checked! Those people on the rooftops, wearing the billowing black cloaks.

Apologies, Madam. What are you talking about?

Defenders, fan out!

Recon team, fall back! Hold firing position!

Are these Infected mutants messing with the radio waves? Our scouts could be in trouble.

We can't hold them...! There's so many! Didn't you cut through a whole wave of these things back there? Why haven't you done that already?!

This is different!

Hah. Leave it to this puk gaai Lung to be so useless right when we need her most!

Then why don't you show us what you can do!

Drone!

Huh.

SUPERINTENDENT CH'EN SAYS: RECON TEAM! FALL BACK! HOLD FIRING POSITION!

How was that?

Huh?

I said how was that?! Fire team, loose explosive bolts!

What did you say?!

......

Am I deaf now thanks to you?!

Go. Use your talents to get the word out to the communications team at Originium Transciever Beta. Have them tell everyone: the herd is tough, hold your positions, minimize casualties, don't conserve firepower.

You really are a *Lungmen profanity*!

I can read your lips!

(Mouthing the word 'diu').

Sir!

I can't hear you!

SIR!

(Din of roaring).

Speak up!

SIR!!!

Use the bunker-busters! Hurry!

......

......

It's quiet.

Sir.

Okay. I can hear you.

......

Go ahead. Speak.

We have... guests.

Already? They took the chance to infiltrate our unit, huh.

I guess it's to be expected. They were never going to give us free rein.

Anyway, it doesn't change our plans. Let them see how strong Lungmen is.

One more thing. I... I'm not sure how accurate the reports are.

Out with it.

Some units have reported sightings of individuals wearing black raincoats.

Reunion?

Thankfully no. We've seen evidence of them clashing with Reunion. And...

And what?

And... the Reunion they clashed with all seem to have died in, how can I describe it...?

Sounds like an urban legend. You've got shadowy figures running around Lungmen in black raincoats on a bright, sunny day? Somebody needs help...

......

Black raincoats?

......

What is... that?

......

Sector 12 cleansed. Purged of Infected.

Teams 3 and 4 operating.

Moving to next sector.

Guh... Ugh...

(Strange crying).

W- why! Why are you hurting your people? Snap out of it!

N- no! Run! Hurry!

Get out of here! Don't let them get you! Run!

Additional target acquired.

Infected fugitive group on the border of Sectors 13 and 6. 44 individuals.

Completion estimate: within five minutes.

Operation commencing.

Agh! H- help!

We surrender! We——

......

............

Um... N- no...

Everything's gone to hell out there.

Word is Mephisto's used his Arts to whip up some monsters that even attack us. They'll eat Infected same as anyone.

Hah. It's over. We lost.

Somebody found one of Mephisto's teams in some basement room in the slums.

They said the corpses were covered in plants, still growing, to the point they were unrecognizable. Any ideas?

I'm not sure.

It's so weird. Why is everything so weird?

We took down Chernobog, but we haven't been able to break Lungmen. It must be because Talulah hasn't shown.

We made the right choice by not going with Crownslayer's crew. No one's been able to find them on the comms.

We're the only ones left here. Sigh.

What about you, Lungmen's infected?

Sigh. You know, Lungmenite, you might end up better off than us just for not joining Reunion.

We won't be better off for not joining.

Was it Talulah's speech that inspired you to join?

No. Fancy talking doesn't do much for me.

To ask me something like that... I guess you don't care much for Infected identity politics.

Oh. Sounds like you don't really believe in that stuff.

So why do you stay with Reunion?

Because I have nowhere else to go. But if we never came here, would you still be able to live normal lives?

The Infected purge was always coming. Reunion just sped up the timeline.

You're pretty clear on that.

And you're right. My hometown was a little place, far from any of the big cities. They weren't too bad to the Infected either.

The noble family who ran the show had an Infected daughter. They let us live pretty normal lives in the ghetto. Mine work wasn't too hard.

And the uninfected treated us okay. At least they'd trade with us a bit, sometimes even squat by the wall and share a drink.

Then, a few years later, the duke lost a battle or something and got taken away. They sent us a new mayor.

'The Great Rebellion'?

Nobles were getting stripped of their titles left and right.

Maybe. I never understood politics. We'd only get whispers every once in a while.

Supposedly there are Infected Messengers out there somewhere, but Ursus never had them. We didn't know anything.

At first, everyone lived pretty much like they did before. But there was a sense of something heavier in the air. And every day the food stores ran a little lower.

Slowly but surely, things turned bad. When supplies really started to run low, the uninfected began throwing rocks at us. Then we started disappearing.

And after a few dozen speeches in the town square, nobody brought up the mayor's embezzlement, or the way he was renovating the town center for himself.

I mean, we Infected could see it. The ordinary townsfolk had to know.

From the other side of the ghetto wall, we could hear them chanting things like 'purify the town' and 'exterminate the Infected.'

You were his scapegoat.

When life gives you lemons, right? But weren't we always scapegoats? I know I said the town treated us pretty well, but that's just for the last few decades.

The rest of the story is pretty simple. They came in and killed most of the Infected. The rest of us fled into the wilderness, where about half of us starved to death.

Now here in Lungmen, more of us died. Everyone from my hometown is already dead.

So yeah, you're right. This is the way it goes. There's no place in this world for the Infected. The only cause for hope is that we didn't see it go down ourselves.

Why are you telling me this?

I got the feeling I don't have much time left. You don't happen to have a nice, painless way to kill somebody, do you?

What are you saying...?

Huh?

Oh...

Sorry? I may have misread this.

Lungmenites still hate you. You attacked our city.

Sure. But where's the Infected city?

......

Huh? Fire?

Hey, let's not fly off the handle here... All you had to say was you wanted the window seat. There's no need for violence.

The fire spreads so quickly. Strange. This is no natural flame.

Why?

It doesn't spread like a 'true flame.'

Then let's get out of here. Who knew this place would go to hell too.

And where do we go?

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Come with us. You Lungmenites don't like leaving home, right? Might as well leave it with us.

Go with you?

Sure, why not? You don't have to if you don't want it.

...I'll think about it.

But, home...

Where is home?