Chapter 29: Living People.

(Marinkia’s POV)

By the time that I made it to the large city, the sun was already down. The moon, which honestly should still also hurt the zombies as the light from it is just a reflection of the sun, but for some reason doesn’t hurt them at all, was up and about, and decently bright.

Is this really a hunting ground for the Numens? If so, why does this place exist? From so far away, I couldn’t see it. But now that I was close to the city, I could see many manmade walls around the entire city.

Every section of the walls was lit up with UV lights, and the lights were set up a decent ways past the walls. Not to mention, the lights were very much protected. Those spitter zombies couldn’t raid this place, nor could the long ones.

On the walls were many people dressed up in classical riot gear. They seemed to be watching every inch of the walls. Probably to ensure that no zombies get inside.

Such a thing wouldn’t be done by those primitive humans. And the people on the walls were even fielding antique firearms. I think that those ones would be called “rifles” I think?…

Where the hell did they even get such weapons? I know that they weren’t outlawed, and nor was the ammunition for them. But each guard had a firearm. How long has this human city actually stood?

No special zombies were in the area, probably due to how lit up this place was. Taking my mirror, I saw that my eye was still golden. Though it’s not like people with heterochromatic eyes were that rare.

Taking off the bandage around my neck, I also saw that my bite wounds from Mai and Mercedes were gone. Not even a feint scar was left. With this, I should be able to get inside this city without any problems. And knowing the Numens, this place is also probably just a very complex human farm in disguise.

Marinkia: “Hello! Can someone let me in?” I shout up at the wall.

Guard: “Have you been bitten?” He calmly asked.

Marinkia: “Nope.” I reply.

Guard: “Prove it.” He said, dropping down something to me.

Even without being part Numen, it was pretty easy to catch it. What even was it? It looked to be some kind of scanner thing. Does… can this thing detect if you’re infected?…

Marinkia: “What is this thing?” I ask with a curious tone.

Guard: “Are you messing with me, missy?” He asked with a suspicious tone.

Marinkia: “Not at all. My district fell very recently, though I managed to climb over the wall and I did the same for the walls of this district.” I explain, lying through my teeth with ease.

Guard: “Ah, if so, then of course you have no idea what that is. Look, that device can detect the zombie virus inside you if you’re infected. Just put it on your wrist and pull the trigger.” He explained with a laugh.

Marinkia: “Okay.” I reply.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Shit… I didn’t expect them to have something like this. Why the fuck didn’t Grant supply people with something like this? It would have surely slowed down the spread of the zombies…

Inspecting it, I soon realized why Grant didn’t give people this thing. He didn’t make it… Instead, the name of the creator was printed on to the device. That being a one Anna. If a Numen made this, maybe it won’t detect other Numens?

After all, why would Anna make something to rat out of her kind? From the short period of when I met her, she seemed just as patriotic to her species as the next Numen did.

Swallowing my doubt, I placed the device on my wrist and pulled the trigger. Much to my pleasure, the screen lit up with a calming green. And had it said that I wasn’t infected. God… the Numens already own this world, don’t they?…

Guard: “Wow… you’ve managed to make it from your district, explore this one, and make it here without getting bitten?” He asked.

Marinkia: “I was always an active person, so yeah.” I reply with a smile.

Guard: “Those weapons on you aren’t for show, then. The entrance is on the left side, I will follow you there. On the way, you might run into more infected, but we will shoot them for you.” He explained.

Just as he said, he followed me along the wall. A few special zombies had tried to kill me, ignoring the UV lights, but they were nothing that a bullet to their brains couldn’t deal with. In just ten minutes, I made it to the front gate.

Guard: “Welcome to Paradise, little lady.” He said with a laugh.

Marinkia: “Paradise?” I say with a head tilt.

Guard: “That’s what this city is called. Weird name, I know. As far as we’re aware, this is the only city left in the entire world. A last bastion of shorts. IE, Paradise.” He replied.

Marinkia: “I see… Here is your device thingy back.” I reply, trying to hand it back to him.

Though, he backed away and then his fellow guards pointed their rifles at me. What the heck? I wasn’t seen through… was I? Surely not…

Guard: “Please try it again. You ran into a few of the normal undead on the small trip to the gate. Though you killed them beautifully, you might have gotten scratched or bitten.” He gestured for me to try the device again.

Ah, that’s right… I didn’t really notice that I killed those small fry zombies. To me, it was similar to killing flies. Or small bugs. With a sigh, I tried the device once more. As expected, it lit up green as Anna has rigged it for us Numens.

Guard: “Didn’t get nicked by them, either, huh? You’re a true modern day warrior, missy.” He said with a happy tone.

The rest of the guards went back to their posts, and this one had guided me inside the city. Unlike with most of the world, this city had full power. It was all lit up, but not in UV light.

Did you know that if you stare at a UV light, it will burn your eyes? As such, the lights of this city were of the normal kind. Ones that didn’t blind you, and ones that didn’t affect the undead at all. But with such good security, UV lights weren’t needed here.

Guard: “This city is a lawful one, and it is very nice. Since you aren’t from here, I am sure that you have no money. But if you have supplies in that backpack of yours, then you can trade for our currency.” He explained.

Marinkia: “I have a few of those crystals from the glowing eye zombies. Will those work?” I ask.

Guard: “Are you kidding me!?” He exclaimed.

Marinkia: “?”

Guard: “Look… you should keep quiet about that… Those crystals can give you powers, so they’re very, very expensive. Honestly, just sell the most common one and you can live here for years in luxury.” He whispered to me.

Marinkia: “That so?” I reply, taking out two common blue crystals and handing them to him.

Mel: “I don’t have any currency on me at the moment… but go over to that hotel. Tell them Mel sent you, and they won’t ask for any payment. In the morning, go sell one or more of these crystals.” He advised.

Marinkia: “Oh? A free room? How nice.” I say with a smile.

Mel: “Missy, you kind of people are called adventurers these days. They go out and come back with crystals. With just these two, I can quit this terribly dangerous job and never have to work again in my life.” He happily explained.

Marinkia: “That’s good. I am glad that I could help you out.” I reply.

Mel: “If you’ll excuse me, I am going back home and taking my husband out on a date!” He said with a smile before leaving me alone.

Following the directions that he left me, I ended up in a decent hotel. Nothing special, but it wasn’t a shithole, either. And it was free! Clearly, I was still covered in blood, and I actually looked very much out of place here.

So, before taking a well-deserved rest, I took a bath. Ah… it’s been so long since I’ve taken a bath, I honestly ended up falling asleep while bathing… A great zombie and human slayer like me surely won’t drown in a bathtub, right?…