Hearing Asuna Yuuki's words, Asagiri Utsunomiya didn't say much but directly handed her the boxed muscle tape and bandages.
"Then you do it."
After getting Asagiri Utsunomiya's affirmative reply, Asuna Yuuki breathed a sigh of relief. After all, she didn't really want to see Asagiri Utsunomiya taking protective measures to prevent sprained ankles for other girls. That kind of scene felt a bit too intimate.
To put it simply, she would be jealous.
However, Asuna Yuuki always felt that Asagiri Utsunomiya seemed to have seen through her thoughts. Her pretty face was slightly flushed, and she was a bit flustered and distracted. To hide her emotions, she quickly took the muscle tape and bandages that Asagiri Utsunomiya handed over, then walked up to Kotoko Iwanaga and spoke up.
"Take off your shoes and stockings."
"Okay."
Seeing that Kotoko Iwanaga had only taken off her right shoe and white stocking, Asuna Yuuki subconsciously spoke.
"Take off the other one too. Both feet need to be wrapped."
Hearing this, Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asuna Yuuki with a speechless expression.
"Are you alright? My left leg is a prosthetic. What would I wrap?"
"Oh, right, I forgot..."
Seeing that she had made such a big joke, Asuna Yuuki was so embarrassed she didn't know what to say.
"Why are you so distracted? This isn't like you..." Kotoko Iwanaga frowned tightly. First, she looked at Asuna Yuuki's flushed face, and then she looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya sitting there. As if she suddenly thought of something, she said with great jealousy, "Could it be that when we entered the dungeon last time, he helped you..."
Just as Kotoko Iwanaga was halfway through speaking, Megumi Kato interrupted in a gentle voice, "Um... There are only seven minutes left until we enter the dungeon. Can we talk about it after we enter? Let Yuuki-san... oh, no, let Violet help us with the protective measures first."
Megumi Kato's words seemed to possess a kind of magic. Although her tone and voice were flat, they couldn't be easily dismissed. Kotoko Iwanaga, who was originally overcome with jealousy and wanted to ask if Asagiri Utsunomiya had helped Asuna Yuuki with the bandages and muscle tape when they entered the dungeon before, temporarily put aside her intention to ask after hearing Megumi Kato speak. After all, they were about to enter the dungeon, and at a time like this, she wouldn't act willfully or make trouble.
◆◇◈◇◆
A few minutes later, the four people who had finished all preparations simultaneously saw a thick, blood-red mist appear before their eyes.
[Now entering the dungeon!]
When the thick blood-red mist dispersed, Asagiri Utsunomiya, who was wearing his Job exclusive equipment, Ever-changing Mask, immediately looked around as soon as his vision returned.
Only after confirming that Kotoko Iwanaga, who had donned the Masquerade Mask, as well as Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato were all by his side, did he begin to observe the surrounding environment.
This seemed to be the living room of an apartment. Behind the two wooden doors were likely bedrooms, behind the glass door was likely the bathroom, and there was a small alcove for the kitchen. It was a small apartment of about eighty square meters, with two bedrooms and one living room, without a separate balcony.
And judging by the light coming through the windows, the time point in the world of this dungeon was different from the real world; it was daytime.
Asagiri Utsunomiya looked eager to try, and said softly, "Has it finally begun... Let's search this room to see if there's any information that could be valuable for clearing the dungeon."
"Okay."
"Got it."
Seeing that after Asagiri Utsunomiya finished speaking, Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga immediately started searching without any hesitation or delay, Megumi Kato reacted a bit later and also quickly began searching for information in the apartment.
At this moment, she had only one thought.
Was this the action efficiency of top Players? After entering a dungeon and appearing in a completely unfamiliar location, they didn't waste a single second, didn't need any psychological preparation, and could immediately enter the strategy state.
As expected, teaming up with these three people was the right choice.
Just then, Asuna Yuuki, holding the Exorcist Longsword, had already tensed her nerves and cautiously opened a wooden door. When she saw the scene inside the room, she couldn't help but frown slightly and call out softly.
"Captain, there's something here."
Asagiri Utsunomiya walked over to take a look and saw a corpse emitting a putrid smell lying on the bed in the bedroom. On the bedside table on the inner side, there was also a notebook with a black cover and a ballpoint pen.
He held his weapon, Vampiric Chain Dagger, in his hand and walked straight into the bedroom. The corpse on the bed didn't suddenly sit up and attack or open its eyes like in a cliché horror movie; it just lay there quietly.
Seeing this, Asuna Yuuki followed him into the bedroom. With a flash of metallic glint, the Exorcist Longsword in her hand pierced through the corpse's forehead. Then she nodded and muttered to herself, "Okay, this way, it's definitely completely dead."
After a thorough search, the four confirmed that there were no zombies or anything else of value in the apartment room, except for the black-covered notebook placed on the bedside table. The contents of the notebook seemed to be the diary of the apartment's owner, which was the corpse, from before their death.
Asagiri Utsunomiya didn't waste time. He just quickly scanned the initial content which had little information value, such as "What happened to this world?", "Why did these things appear?", "Zombies? How is this possible!". When he turned to the last few pages, he finally found valuable entries.
[Today is the fourteenth day since that incident.
[The bottled drinking water at home is gone, and there's not much food left... I have no choice but to take advantage of having some strength left and plan to go to the convenience store downstairs to gather supplies.]
After reading this page, Asagiri Utsunomiya turned to the next page, and what met his eyes were three large words.
[I WAS BITTEN]
At this moment, although it was quite hellish, this sudden reversal still made Asagiri Utsunomiya almost lose his composure.
He turned his head for a look and found that there was indeed a deep wound, visible to the bone, on the arm of the corpse wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
[Those things move so slowly... but I still accidentally got bitten. Why... why is this happening...
[So thirsty... so hungry... I can't worry about that anymore... I'll just drink the tap water directly... Even if I turn into that hideous state, it doesn't matter...]
[Today is the sixteenth day.
[I didn't turn into one of those things, but... my wound is infected and inflamed, and my whole body feels hot... I don't have the strength to go out and find medicine anymore... I also don't dare to go out again. Rather than being eaten alive by them, it's better to die in my own home...]
Here, the diary entry ended.
"Hmm? This isn't right..."
Asuna Yuuki had clearly done her homework before entering this dungeon. After reading the diary content, she immediately found something suspicious.
"This person drank tap water and didn't turn into a zombie, was bitten by a zombie and didn't turn into a zombie, and after dying, was just a normal corpse, which means he wasn't infected... Water source transmission is ruled out, air transmission is ruled out, blood transmission is ruled out. These transmission paths are all eliminated... Does the so-called zombie virus have no infectivity at all? Or is it... a virus that loses its infectivity after infecting a host?"
"There's too little information right now, we can't analyze it." Kotoko Iwanaga replied like this first, and then said, "However, this is good news. The diary says that the zombies' movements are very slow, and he himself has also verified for us that even if bitten by a zombie, one won't be infected with the virus. It seems just as captain said, the type of zombies in this dungeon is the easiest to deal with, the kind with the lowest difficulty."
"But don't forget, there are also so-called Special Infected. We can't let our guard down." Asuna Yuuki said this first, and then looked towards Asagiri Utsunomiya and asked, "Captain, did you get the city map?"
"I got it." Asagiri Utsunomiya took out his phone and opened the Survival Game app. Inside, a map had appeared, which was clearly the map of the city. "Each of you take a photo."
"Okay."
After Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato had each taken photos with their phones, thus completing a copy of the map in a way that worked without signal or internet, Asagiri Utsunomiya finally spoke.
"However, even with the map, if we want to figure out our direction and find the route to Mercy Hospital, we still need to find a reference point to determine where we are in the city. Okay, let's start moving."
Seeing that Asagiri Utsunomiya, Asuna Yuuki, and Kotoko Iwanaga had already determined the next course of action in just a few words, Megumi Kato clenched her hands and secretly made up her mind that she must keep up with the pace of these three as quickly as possible. After all, the relationship between teammates, in the end, is about mutual help. If she didn't show her abilities, she would only become a burden to these three.
"I'll go out first."
Hearing Megumi Kato's sudden remark, Asuna Yuuki spoke up with a slight worry.
"Huh? Phantom, you want to go out first? But what if there are zombies outside?"
"It's alright." Megumi Kato shook her head, revealing a calm smile. "It's not certain we'll encounter zombies, and even if we do, I can just test if my exclusive talent can be effective. This is also a part of information gathering, right? And if there's any danger, you can also save me, right?"
"Right." Asagiri Utsunomiya replied with a nod and then said reassuringly, "Even if the two of them can't react in time, as long as you encounter danger, I will activate Castling. If that's still not fast enough, I will use the Pocket Watch of Reversal."
"I see..." Megumi Kato's eyes flickered. She pursed her lips, tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, and said softly, "Thank you. I'm very touched that you're willing to use such precious items for me."
Seeing Megumi Kato's appearance, Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga had the same thought in their hearts.
'Something is very wrong!'