Simon glanced at Dominik behind the steering wheel and smirked beneath his pulled-down mask. "I've known you most of my life, Dom, and I still wouldn't have pegged you for the type to fawn over corrupt border guards."
"Me? Fawn over people?" Dominik pointed at his own chest, momentarily stunned, but quickly regained his composure. He nudged Simon's shoulder with his elbow, slipping easily into their old, familiar banter. "With how close you were to taking his head off from the treeline, it's a miracle that Captain didn't just execute us on the spot. I did what I had to do."
"Was I that obvious?" Simon said, resting his SCAR-L between his knees.
"Not bad," Dominik twisted his neck, stretching his stiff muscles. "Sometimes you have to make necessary sacrifices, even if it's against your will. As long as your true nature remains unchanged, it's fine."
"Forget it," Simon waved his hand dismissively. "I'm not going to argue with the driver. Keep your eyes on the road."
Just as Dominik and Simon finished their conversation, Professor Quaid, sitting in the back, spoke up. "Is the military authority here really that corrupt?"
Simon didn't answer, but Dominik glanced at Quaid in the rearview mirror and said, "Professor, if the regional governments were honest and effective, then there wouldn't be warlord cartels like The Syndicate running half the continent."
"Hmm... that's true," Quaid nodded with a troubled expression, then added, "Dominik, when we reach Bangkok proper, please drop us off at the US Embassy."
"Mhm, mhm." At this moment, Ashley also nodded from the side and said, "My father is a member of the American Congress... uh, he has connections at the Embassy. We can go there, so we won't trouble you any further."
"Is that so—" Dominik gave Ashley a meaningful look through the mirror, careful not to blow her cover, and said to Simon, "Hey, you know where the US Embassy in Bangkok is, right?"
Simon said calmly, "I know. Wireless Road."
Dominik had no objection to sending Quaid and the others on their way. After all, this group had already provided him with a solid 45 System points. Plus, he knew these people truly trusted him, and gaining the favor of a high-ranking American politician's daughter wasn't a bad thing to have in his back pocket.
After a moment of internal calculation, Dominik said, "Alright, Professor. We'll part ways once we get into the city. We'll drop you off directly at the Embassy gates."
Upon hearing this, Quaid laughed, a sound of profound relief. "Haha, we've really troubled you these past few days, my boy. If it weren't for you and Simon, we would have died in the mouths of those monsters long ago."
"You're welcome," Dominik smiled slightly. "Didn't you also take care of Laura when she needed it?"
Half an hour later.
Everyone in the back seat, relieved by the promise of safety, was softly chatting and even managing a few exhausted laughs. Unbeknownst to them, they were already crossing the outer limits of Thailand's sprawling capital, Bangkok.
At this time, their Hilux was driving on an elevated tollway, soaring high above the ground traffic.
Looking down at Bangkok from the skyway, the entire megacity seemed to be divided into three distinct, heavily stratified zones.
The first stage was the Central Business District—areas like Sukhumvit and Sathorn. The buildings here were towering, hyper-modern, and glittering with glass, truly a haven for the wealthy and the political elite. This core boasted top-tier shopping malls, luxury apartments, and fortified corporate headquarters.
Surrounding this elite city center was a massive, newly constructed militarized perimeter. Concrete blast walls standing twenty feet high were heavily reinforced and patrolled by fully armed soldiers, physically separating the elite from the rest of the city.
Outside this wall was the second stage: the civilian district.
Within this sprawling urban zone, the concrete mid-rises and tangled power lines were a bit dilapidated, but by modern standards, it was still highly functional. The people here seemed to completely disregard the apocalyptic zombie crisis raging just a few hundred miles north. They were still mechanically busy with their own affairs, braving the streets to keep the economy churning, essentially working to sustain the heavily guarded wealthy elite in the center.
Further out, bleeding into the horizon, was the chaotic slum district, drastically swollen by the influx of refugees fleeing the Golden Triangle. Of course, there was no protective wall separating the slums from the civilian districts.
The term "slum district" was almost too mild. It resembled the worst urban decay of the 1980s. The average living space per person was less than fifteen square meters, yet nearly half of Bangkok's newly exploded population resided here.
On the streets below the tollway, neon-lit red-light districts were openly operating, and on some corners, heavily tattooed thugs were brawling. Some streets even echoed with the faint pops of gunfights, as local gangs and displaced cartels vied for territory.
And the police? They just hid in their armored cruisers, turning a blind eye to everything happening on the streets, completely ignoring the desperate people who needed help.
However, the passengers in the back of the Hilux couldn't clearly see this grim reality. They were currently just marveling at finally escaping the infection zones and arriving at their destination.
For Quaid and his two students, it was a harrowing reflection on a research trip turned nightmare.
For Simon, beneath the hardened exterior of a Tier One operator, it was the quiet, profound satisfaction of fulfilling his promise and successfully extracting the kid who was practically his own brother, along with Laura, who he had always viewed as his little sister since their childhood l.
As for Laura, she was simply curious about the massive city, hoping to finally find a safe place to sleep.
But what did Bangkok mean to Dominik?
First and foremost, he had arrived within the System's five-day time limit, so he didn't have to worry about the bizarre, terrifying penalty of becoming a eunuch. But this was only a temporary relief.
Because even after arriving in the capital, Dominik had no idea where to claim his bounty or how to officially register as a Mercenary. And in a city this chaotic, he knew establishing a Private Military Company was not going to be a simple matter of filling out paperwork.
Just as everyone was experiencing their different emotions, the Hilux drove down the tollway off-ramp and arrived at the final military checkpoint leading into the city limits.
Thanks to the Priority Transit Pass bought with the Captain's bribe, the group only stopped for a brief wave before driving straight into the Bangkok outskirts under the envious gazes of the massive refugee caravans stuck at the gates.
If Dominik and the others still held a shred of illusion about the Thai government or the global coalition's ability to maintain order, seeing the slums up close completely shattered it.
Beggars lined the exhaust-choked streets; it was not uncommon to see seven or eight clustered around every intersection. There were desperate streetwalkers and heavily armed gang members openly brandishing machetes and old pistols.
Upon seeing this scene, Dominik gripped the steering wheel tightly and murmured, "This is the capital? The so-called safe zone? Is the public security really this bad?"
Dominik had initially thought the safe zone would be a heavily regulated, martial-law utopia with strict curfews and absolute order. The reality was the exact opposite.
This made him intensely nostalgic for Hungary before he transmigrated. Although his homeland wasn't a global superpower, and wealth there wasn't perfectly distributed, its public safety was truly something to be proud of.
At least Hungary had strict laws and order. Even if a thug chased you with a knife in the eighth district of Budapest, you still had a chance to run. But here? With military-grade weapons flooding the streets? Haha, you could only pray that the bandit's aim was terrible—but in this world, that chance was extremely low.