Wheeze—
Heavy breathing could be heard, accompanied by the sight of sweat continuously dripping down, falling onto trembling hands resting on his legs.
His pupils dilated slightly as he noticed the grotesque bite marks on the back of his hand gradually healing.
So it was true—he had become immune to the virus of the dead.
Therefore, Takashi Komuro smiled, his expression carrying both the joy of surviving a disaster and the horror of having caused someone's death.
Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder, startling him as he looked toward its owner. It was a bespectacled, scholarly-looking man—Teacher Koichi Shido from Fujimi Academy.
"Student Takashi Komuro, you did nothing wrong. On the contrary, it was precisely because you took and used that serum that you became humanity's hope."
Koichi Shido gently comforted the student who was still trembling in fear.
"Hu-humanity's hope?"
Takashi Komuro felt bewildered, while deep in his heart, a thread of expectation emerged—an expectation that could cover his guilt, making him feel he had done nothing wrong.
"Yes, humanity's hope—you are the savior! Think about it: that serum was said to be incomplete, meaning it might not work when used. If Chairman Soichiro Takagi had used it, it might have been ineffective, which would have been a waste. But you used it, and you successfully became immune to the virus of the dead, meaning your blood now carries humanity's hope—the antibodies to resist the virus..."
Koichi Shido explained and guided him with such care and gentleness, gradually calming the psychologically distressed student and slowly bewitching him.
Yes, it was indeed bewitchment.
However, his words weren't entirely wrong. The Takashi Komuro before him had used the serum and become immune to the virus of the dead, making him an important material for developing a vaccine against the virus.
And such experimental material should naturally be controlled by him, Koichi Shido.
"So don't feel guilty. I'm sure Chairman Takagi would forgive you too, and would even be glad that you used the serum. You won't need to worry about his family hating you either. After all, you'll be the savior who will rescue his family. Maybe Saya Takagi will even come to worship you as this savior, and you might even win the heart of this young lady..."
Little by little, Koichi Shido was inducing the eruption of desires within this person's heart.
Seeing the wavering in student Takashi Komuro's eyes and the subtle movement of his throat, Koichi Shido couldn't help but curl his lips slightly.
Very good.
As for Soichiro Takagi, he should be finished, but Koichi Shido wouldn't let it end there.
He lightly touched his neck, where there was a wound. If not for this good child Takashi Komuro rushing in to block it, his head would have been severed.
Therefore, he wanted revenge—to completely destroy the Takagi family.
Soichiro Takagi never expected that he too would misjudge someone.
Having been acquainted with Takashi Komuro's family, he never would have thought that the child born to that couple would be this kind of person.
As a result, this led to his current predicament.
After his team entered the hospital and began collecting medical supplies, they also rescued people who were still alive in the hospital and nearby areas, including Takashi Komuro's group who had also escaped from the academy.
It wasn't surprising at all that Takashi Komuro knew about the serum that could treat the virus of the dead.
After all, when they set out, this information had been disclosed openly in front of everyone.
As for why he hadn't used the serum himself, it wasn't because he didn't trust it—his wife and daughter had both used it, so what was there for him not to trust?
The reason he kept it was his concern that some accident might occur, leaving them without samples to manufacture a vaccine.
Therefore, he had preserved this serum, also planning to send it to a national region with more substantial capabilities.
There would be military forces there, which would certainly be more stable than Tokonosu City, making it more conducive to vaccine production.
While the medical supplies were being collected normally, dead bodies suddenly broke through their defenses, causing momentary chaos.
For this reason, Soichiro Takagi had to personally deal with the situation, otherwise his own people might suffer heavy casualties.
During the chaos, he saw someone—Koichi Shido.
Recalling that he had been instructed to kill this person without hesitation upon sight, because the family behind him was connected to the dark forces and was one of their financial backers.
Therefore, Soichiro Takagi naturally wouldn't hesitate to strike him down.
Moreover, he noticed that there was clearly something wrong with how their solid defensive line had been breached. So as he strode toward Koichi Shido, the other's guilty expression suggested that this guy was probably the cause of this chaos.
That made killing him even less worthy of hesitation.
For someone like this, he could almost effortlessly cut him down with a single stroke.
Just as the other was about to be beheaded with a scream, suddenly a metal baseball bat intervened, blocking this fatal strike.
The person who saved Koichi Shido was Takashi Komuro, which stunned him.
Then, because a dead body fell from the building beside them and would have hit Takashi Komuro, he naturally would save him.
On one hand, he had a good relationship with the Komuro family, and he also thought well of Takashi Komuro.
So he immediately grabbed Takashi Komuro with his large hand and pushed him away.
But an accident occurred—he was affected by the falling dead body and was bitten on the arm.
Furthermore, Takashi Komuro couldn't avoid it either and was accidentally scratched by another dead body behind him.
Under these circumstances, the serum on his person was knocked off and rolled toward Koichi Shido.
After immediately dealing with the dead body that had bitten him, Soichiro Takagi was about to immediately retrieve the serum and kill Koichi Shido, but the other realized something and immediately kicked the serum away.
In this situation, Soichiro Takagi naturally had to prioritize securing the serum.
Fortunately, the serum flew right into Takashi Komuro's hands, but this also created a problem.
At this moment, Koichi Shido told Takashi Komuro that it was a serum that could prevent people from being infected and turning into dead bodies. Under his inflammatory and urging words, and with survival instincts aroused, Takashi Komuro was like a non-swimmer who had fallen into water—when someone came down to rescue him, he would grab onto them regardless of everything, trying to push the other person down so he could surface.
Not caring about others' lives, only concerned with his own survival.
Thus, in his panic, Takashi Komuro drank the serum, causing Soichiro Takagi to smile bitterly.
When he came to his senses to kill Koichi Shido, the man had already fled.
Therefore, he could only arrange everything as best as possible while his consciousness hadn't yet been eroded.
"Commander, hold on a little longer, we'll be home soon."
His trusted subordinate's voice reached his ears again.
Were they almost home?
After understanding his condition, they immediately stopped collecting medical supplies and hurried back, hoping to reach home—perhaps the other team had returned and brought back that miracle drug.
Using his extremely blurred vision to look ahead, it seemed they were indeed almost there.
That he could endure this long was because he had decisively severed his own arm, though unfortunately the virus still couldn't be stopped.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but he felt he had reached his limit.
At this moment, he heard familiar, heavy footsteps approaching.
"Hasn't Saya returned yet?"
"Not yet."
"So we won't make it in time?"
"Correct."
"Then let me die as a human being for the last time."
This was the final request from Soichiro Takagi's dying consciousness, a request made to his wife.
...
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