I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  Chapter 301: Daisan High School |

  "However, Basilisk was still continuously morphing…"

  Fujiwara Aoki continued recalling the events. His face was nearly void of any trace of emotion, appearing to have sunken into a state of numbness. "Until one day, people started noticing that it was no longer limited to just images. Even a simple passage, a string of spoken sentences, even mere contact with people could trigger a response similar to Basilisk!

  "By that point, there was no saving the world anymore!"

  Upon hearing this, Chen Chen was visibly shocked. "When you said triggering a response similar to Basilisk, what are you referring to?"

  "It's just something I've heard other people saying."

  Fujiwara Aoki snapped back to his senses. He seemed reluctant to discuss this but still gritted his teeth and resumed. "Before most people could realize what was going on, they were seeing that the number of people around them was quickly dwindling and the death toll was only going up. It started with the government disappearing, then their neighbors, even their own relatives… The world was rapidly deteriorating. We survivors began to group together and exchange our survival experience…"

  Fujiwara Aoki pondered briefly before going on. "Some people started saying that the Basilisk image was slowly starting to evolve. It had broken free of the limitations of an image and adapted into messages of different shapes and forms. These messages had also surpassed the capability of Gödel's shock and they made their victims lose their minds, sometimes their memories as well. In the end, we even received word that Basilisk was causing biological changes!"

  Chen Chen began ruminating on everything he had heard from this man. These forms of transmission had surpassed his understanding. If not for the fact that Fujiwara Aoki was expressing himself in a lucid manner, Chen Chen may have believed that he was driven to insanity due to fear and solitary.

  "These past five years, Basilisk is continuously evolving every day."

  Fujiwara Aoki muttered, "At first, despite the missing government and rapidly deteriorating social order, my group and I continued heading out to scavenge every day. We still met other people, various conflicts would break out…

  "However, with each passing day, we started to notice the number of other people in the city was declining as well. It was like those people just vanished into thin air. Some of their remains can be found inside the buildings while some barely left behind their remains…"

  A wipe of fear appeared in Fujiwara Aoki's eyes. "On several occasions, I've even witnessed Basilisk morphing into a new form and killing someone right before my very eyes. This one time, I was sleeping in a dormitory and it was midnight. Just as I was about to get up to head to the toilet, I suddenly saw a woman slowly emerging from the chest of my partner sleeping on the upper bunk. It was just the upper part of the woman appearing, I remembered her hair was a complete mess. She reached out with her hands and strangled my partner…"

  Chen Chen's shrunken eyes instinctively darted toward the diary in his hand, seemingly realizing something.

  "After that, I heard from another partner that the woman appeared in your dreams."

  Fujiwara Aoki explained, "There appeared to be some sort of rule. Once you have triggered it, the woman in white will begin appearing in your dreams and she'd draw closer and closer each time you dreamt of her until she appeared right in front of your bed…

  "There are plenty of similar cases. Can you imagine? That all kinds of strange occurrences had stemmed from that Basilisk image pattern?"

  Capping his tale, Fujiwara Aoki spread his hands out helplessly. "This is truly a d*mned world. This is why I said that reading the diary of a deceased is extremely dangerous because nobody could say for sure that this diary wouldn't contain any variation of those messages that triggers instant death…"

  At this point, Fujiwara Aoki had nearly told Chen Chen everything that he needed to know. Chen Chen also gained an impression of the truth of this world. Chen Chen nodded and sighed. "If not for the current state of this world, I might not have believed everything you just told me."

  "I understand."

  Fujiwara Aoki smiled with a crooked expression. "But it is the truth, pressed under the imposing power of Basilisk, the entirety of human civilization has collapsed. Until today, I've only met two groups of outsiders, that includes you guys."

  "In that case, please bring me to your group."

  Chen Chen nodded. "I'd like to meet your group. This way, I can gain a better, complete understanding of the situation regarding Basilisk."

  "I'm afraid that's not possible."

  Fujiwara Aoki shook his head somewhat reluctantly. "Your weapons are extremely advanced. There might not be many of you, but if a fight were to break out, our group is no match for you at all. Besides, I'll be kicked out of the group by the leader if I brought you guys back before getting the green light from the group."

  Chen Chen waved his hand. "If you're worried that we harbor ill intentions, then just take me with you. I can come with you unarmed."

  As Chen Chen said this, he began to take off the GS Combat Suit. He handed the suit to the Black Knight behind him before swapping out into another set of common clothes. "Aoki-san, you must understand that I have no reason to harm you or your group for that matter. Besides, if I had any ill intentions, I'd simply capture and interrogate you with more effective means. I'd be able to obtain answers far easier that way, isn't it?"

  Fujiwara Aoki immediately fell silent, seemingly still debating with himself.

  "It must be rather difficult scavenging for food with things the way they are now."

  After mentioning this, Chen Chen gave a signal. The Black Knights behind him quickly produced a large box of energy bars from the spaceship. "I can give your group these in exchange for information."

  Upon seeing this, Fujiwara Aoki seemed to be tempted. In the end, he still gritted his teeth and held his ground. "I believe in Chen Chen-san's sincerity. However, this is no trivial matter. This directly concerns the lives of more than thirty people in my group, please forgive me for this difficult decision!"

  "Why so?"

  Chen Chen shook his head and smiled faintly. "Actually, you won't have to lead me there, I can already roughly pinpoint the location of your group. When I found you, you were walking from west to east. The city center is on the east while the suburbs lie on the west. This suggests that you were coming from the suburbs area.

  "Also, I can see that your backpack is nearly full, you also have more than half a bottle of water remaining, meaning that you haven't exhausted many resources yet. This way, I can conclude that you mustn't be more than 10 hours away from your group's position."

  With that, Chen Chen snapped his fingers lightly. Immediately, the spaceship shot out a ray of light and projected a top-down view of Tokyo and quickly zoomed inward.

  "This is our current position and the suburbs are down there. There aren't many suitable places to hide in the suburb, but a location that can fit more than thirty people must be a large venue."

  Upon noting this, Chen Chen pointed at a high school on the edges of the suburbs. "Based on your mention of 'dormitory' and 'upper-bunk', I can conclude that…

  "The base where your group is located is the Tokyo Daisan High School."

  Chapter 302: Betrayal |

  Half an hour later, four drones stealthily approached and surrounded a middle school in the Tokyo suburb district.

  At the same time, the Bugatti Spaceship began approaching from afar. It quickly landed on a rooftop near the abandoned school.

  When Fujiwara Aoki stepped out of the spaceship, his expression was full of powerlessness. "Chen Chen-kun, since you've already had an idea of the location of our group, why not come here directly? Why must you bring me along?"

  "It's easier to gain your group's trust if I bring you along with me, otherwise your friends may think that you were met with misfortune."

  Chen Chen answered.

  "Bu
t if you do it this way, the leader might think that I led you to them…"

  Fujiwara Aoki refuted in a low voice.

  Chen Chen did not bother with giving further explanations. After all, he came to figure out the situation so he would do whatever it took for him to obtain the information he was after. If these people were not going to tell him what he needed, he did not mind resorting to more violent methods and inject them with the truth serum.

  With this in mind, Chen Chen had the three Black Knights watch over the ship while he took Fujiwara Aoki with him and approached the main entrance of the school.

  From the outside, this appeared to be a completely deserted school. Even the iron fence gates had long collapsed due to lack of maintenance. Dense vines grew all over the compound and the buildings like a thick rug laying over them.

  Fujiwara and his group of survivors were well aware of the rules of survival in the end times. Nobody would be able to figure out at first glance that this abandoned school was the gathering point of a small group of survivors.

  Right after stepping through the main entrance, Chen Chen could faintly feel peering eyes surrounding him from all sides. However, since he took off the PK Armor, he did not have access to thermal imaging vision to spot where the sentries were posted.

  "Chen Chen-kun, please come with me."

  Fujiwara Aoki decided that his words were not of much use. He let out a sigh before leading the way to the largest school building.

  This building was probably the main lecture area of Daisan High School. It was the largest and also tallest of them all and functioned as the main sector of the compound. Based on the competency that this surviving group had displayed, they had good reason to not use this building as a primary meeting spot.

  Since Fujiwara Aoki was leading him to this building first, this further proved that this building was designated as a defensive building. The group must have strategized ahead of time that in the event where one of their members was captured, the captured member could lead the enemy here for the group to ambush.

  When Chen Chen considered this, he only flicked an eyebrow gently without saying a word. He continued to silently trail behind Fujiwara Aoki.

  It was only when they arrived outside the building when Fujiwara Aoki finally stole a calculative glance at Chen Chen. He gently pushed open the entrance. "Chen Chen-kun, please come in with me."

  At this point, Chen Chen had a sharp and clear impression of someone stalking him from the darkness. Apart from that, he also sensed a slight sting in his temples. Chen Chen had attained a form of bioelectricity sensitivity ever since acquiring "Field".

  The faint pangs of pain he felt in his temple implied that whoever was hiding in the darkness harbored ominous intent toward him.

  "I believe that you may have been mistaken."

  Chen Chen knitted his brows together. Instead of following Fujiwara Aoki into the building, he snickered and said, "I came here to speak with your group, not to be butchered. What's the meaning of this?"

  "What, what do you mean?"

  Fujiwara Aoki chuckled uncomfortably. "I'm only following the procedures of our group. If you want to join our group, this is the required process…"

  "Is that so?"

  Chen Chen's expression turned grim. "This is what I get in return for the great generosity I have displayed? In that case, have your leader come out here and talk with me right here. Just know that my patience is limited."

  "This…"

  Fujiwara Aoki's expression changed. He was well aware that Chen Chen was not alone since there were the three accomplices wearing the GS Combat Suit as well as the small-sized spacecraft. If a battle were to break out, there was no way his small group could put up a fight against their opponents.

  "Still not willing to come out?"

  Chen Chen turned in the direction of the school building and looked into the pitch-black windows, he beckoned, "If you guys aren't going to come out, then allow me to have someone escort you out."

  The color went out of Fujiwara Aoki's face when he heard this. Before he could get a word in, four rapid swishes slicing across the air could be heard. At the same time, the parrot on his shoulders began chirping endlessly. Something fast seemed to be approaching!

  "Ah!"

  "Idiot!"

  Following the abrupt commotion, Fujiwara Aoki could hear several shrieks coming from the windows in the building. It was only then when he finally realized that four nearly completely transparent drones had appeared above him without him noticing!

  That was not the end of it. The four drones appeared to be the signal for the small spaceship that took him here. He saw that the spaceship was also approaching from afar!

  At the same time, there was a blue flash of light as Chen Chen's figure instantly vanished into thin air. From where Fujiwara Aoki stood, he only caught a glimpse of a figure dashing into the school building.

  Fujiwara Aoki's expression became twisted as he gritted his teeth and made a resolution. He took out a gun and aimed it at the distorted air. "Chen Chen-kun, stop this immediately or else I will… Ah!"

  Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a flash of pain coursing along his arm. When he instinctively looked down to inspect the pain, he saw his right wrist still holding the gun had been sliced off. The cut was so clean it was as if it had been polished!

  Chen Chen hardly paid a second thought to Fujiwara Aoki. After entering the building under the guise of invisibility, he immediately went toward the classroom where the drone fired a bullet into. Just as he stepped into the classroom, he met a tough-looking, large, and stocky man who was howling miserably and clutching his right hand as he dashed out of the classroom.

  Unlike Fujiwara Aoki, the right hand of this large man had turned into an indistinguishable mash of meat.

  Survivors in the end times were few and far between. If not for Chen Chen needing to keep them alive to obtain information, it would not just be the right hand of this man that was turned into lumps of flesh.

  The large man did not notice Chen Chen who was invisible. He continued charging for the door with his unwounded hand clutching his bleeding hand. Chen Chen instantly grabbed the man by his neck while at the same time forming a fist with his left hand and viciously jabbed it into the man's stomach!

  More than half of Chen Chen's arm instantly sunk into the large beer belly of the charging man…

  "Oof!"

  Suddenly ambushed, the brawny man barely had the strength to whimper. His eyes turned into giant globes as he clutched at his stomach and slid into the ground, temporarily losing his mobility.

  There was a scarcely-used medical term for such a scenario – stomach coma.

  Chapter 303: First Confrontation with Basilisk |

  After subduing the first enemy, the door to another classroom in front of Chen Chen suddenly snapped open. Another bearded man clutching at his arm rushed out of the door just in time to see Chen Chen taking down his partner.

  Despite being invisible, Chen Chen's large movement made his silhouette instantly noticeable to the other party.

  The bearded man's expression quickly changed as he instinctively reached for the gun before remembering that his arm was wounded. He immediately used his healthy arm to reach for a flashlight and charged at Chen Chen!

  Enhanced flashlight?

  The moment the flashlight emitted the first ray of light, Chen Chen quickly turned away from the source of light. It took a second before he realized that the bearded man did not aim the flashlight at his eyes, but instead at the wall right beside him!

  A strange image appeared before Chen Chen!

  It was an extremely bizarre image where hundreds of polygons seemed to be arranged in a predetermined pattern. They seemed to form the shape of an eye, but the eye was a combination of countless eyes drawn on top of each other. Some of them were laughing and some of them were crying. Some of them were like the squinting, smiling eyes of a lover while others were full of fear. It was like st
aring into a depthless abyss…

  Joy, anger, sorrow, resentment, fear…

  Countless eyes stacked on top of each other to produce this distinctive pattern. They were etched with senseless ink, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing left…

  Upon seeing this image, Chen Chen felt his heart skipping a beat as he quickly twisted his neck away from the source. However, it was too late as the image had been carved into Chen Chen's mind.

  "Blasted!"

  Chen Chen immediately made the connection and realized what he was looking at. His expression turned sharply while at the same time, countless graphene poker cards appeared and shot toward the bearded man!

  "Swoosh swoosh swoosh!"

  The light emitted from the flashlight in the bearded man's hand was extinguished instantly. His eyes remained as large as they had been and he appeared as if he was frozen in place.

  The very next second, his eyes, facial features, neck, body… Faint traces of blood appeared all over his body.

  After that, the bearded man crumbled onto the ground like a tower of crumbling building blocks. Hundreds of chunks of broken flesh scattered all over the floor.

  The hallway was immediately filled with a misty haze of blood.

  At this moment, Chen Chen kept his eyes completely shut and his jaw was clenched together as tightly as he could. He felt as if there was a gigantic hand wrapping itself around his brain, the world appeared to be spinning out of control. The image illuminated by the flashlight was still burning in his mind, refusing to fade away…

  "Sir Commander? Sir Commander!"

  Inside the Bluetooth earpiece, the voice of X-112 sounded like it came from another dimension. Chen Chen tried to elicit a response but his voice was caught in his throat. He focused on taking repeated gasp, forcing air into his lungs even when his lungs were already inflated with air.

  From the moment of Chen Chen's betrayal until now, barely half a minute had passed. At the same time, the three Black Knights that were invisible and posted a short distance away had also arrived at the scene. They rushed into the building and surrounded Chen Chen to cover for him.