What… what is this?
“It’s the option to switch to autopilot. The moment you select it, the ‘Huntress’ will immediately sever all connections between you and the system, including all upstream and downstream data streams, retaining only the most basic life support functions,” Salome explained. “Naturally, this severing of connection also means the sensors will no longer transmit ‘unnecessary’ information to you. You won’t have to endure any more pain.”
“But this comes at a price, doesn’t it?” Shirley immediately inquired. Having spent a considerable time interacting with this ‘good daughter,’ she had largely deciphered Salome’s behavioral patterns: any “good deed” proposed by Salome inevitably carried a hidden cost, as Salome clearly reveled in witnessing Shirley’s reluctant payment of such tolls.
“Oh, one could say yes, or one could say no,” Salome responded, her voice brimming with barely contained excitement. “In truth, the ‘Huntress’s’ automated combat program operates with exceptional efficiency—far more so than when piloted by an inexperienced individual. Repeated trials have demonstrated its capacity to neutralize all enemies with remarkable speed… though it does possess one minor flaw: its friend-or-foe identification system is somewhat lacking. Anyone not pre-designated as ‘ally’ and equipped with a specialized identifier will be marked for elimination.”
“Could you perhaps provide us with some of these identifiers?” Shirley asked, her tone as humble as she could manage.
“Oh, I do possess some identifiers… but alas, having been utterly consumed by boundless joy upon seeing my dear mother, my poor little brain seems to have forgotten where I placed them. Nevertheless, I can assure you, Mother, that if you so wish, the ‘Huntress’s’ automatic mode will effortlessly allow you to break through any encirclement, survive, and no longer endure any suffering—”
“Consider that question unasked.” Having managed to subdue another infected faculty member, Shirley endured the intensely uncomfortable sensations of sharp pain, itching, and soreness, yet replied with a voice as calm as she could muster. “I will resolve this issue myself.”
“Understood, Mother.” Salome terminated the communication, but even after the call ended, the red button emblazoned with “AUTO” remained suspended within Shirley’s field of vision, now accompanied by a smaller line of text beneath it: “PAIN FREE.”
Shirley understood its implication, yet she forced herself to disregard it, refraining from mentioning her unsettling discovery to anyone.
****
“This girl hasn’t been parasitized for too long; there might still be hope!” Ji Bingyao shouted, after knocking down another girl wielding enormous pruning shears and subduing her with a joint lock. Immediately, Xia Hua produced a deworming agent and injected it directly into the girl’s arm, causing her to begin expelling gelatinous parasites in great gouts. Besides weapons and ammunition, Salome had also stashed a full box of deworming agents in the security room, and Shirley’s group had carried away as many of these syringes as possible when they departed, injecting anyone who still seemed to hold a glimmer of salvation.
Regrettably, some individuals were clearly beyond saving. As the group approached the kindergarten section, they glimpsed several familiar figures—these were classmates who had shared a dormitory with Shirley, individuals who had, just a day prior, joined an exploration team organized by Miss Huang, the dorm supervisor, venturing bravely into the encroaching mist. Now, like Miss Huang herself, they had all been transformed into appendages of the parasitic hive, companions to the very colossal insects they had once feared.
“Um… can we use lethal force against them directly?” Ji Bingyao bit her lip after seeing the transformed individuals, struggling to articulate the question. “While I don’t wish to abandon our classmates, they have almost certainly been infected for over twelve hours. Even with deworming agents…”
“No, I won’t give up, not even on the faintest glimmer of hope,” Shirley declared. “Perhaps some of them noticed the danger after we split up and managed to hide for a while before being infected? Perhaps some possess stronger physiques, making it possible for them to recover even after twelve hours if the deworming is successful? Regardless, I refuse to abandon anyone without a fight!”
As she spoke, Shirley propelled the ‘Huntress’ forward, accelerating into the formation composed of both humans and colossal insects. Fearing she might accidentally harm classmates who could still be saved, she merely fired bursts from her plasma rifle, downing a few hovering flying insects, but she refrained from firing upon the ground. Instead, she persisted in attempting to subdue the parasitized humans using the sheer formidable power of the mech’s mechanical body.
Unfortunately, the adversaries clearly felt no obligation to adhere to such rules. As the ‘Huntress’ charged, these hosts, entirely controlled by parasites and utterly devoid of fear, immediately unleashed their full firepower upon the colossal mech. Large insects, resembling a hybrid of water striders and scorpions, sprayed streams of acrid, white-smoking liquid from their tails, while certain flying insects launched chitinous spikes with their powerful muscles. As for the human hosts, some initiated attacks using javelins, shot puts, air rifles, and even bows, while those without such implements desperately hurled stones.
Admittedly, these attacks were incapable of destroying the heavily armored ‘Huntress.’ However, they were more than sufficient to inflict torment upon Shirley within. She felt as though she had become a cotton pincushion, relentlessly pierced and punctured by countless sharp needles. Even with her companions desperately providing covering fire, their efforts proved futile. What was even more terrifying was that just as she neared the infected throng, someone actually hurled a Molotov cocktail at her!
Shirley couldn’t discern if this individual had crafted the Molotov cocktail for self-preservation after the teleportation event, only to be tragically parasitized before using it; or if, after being infected, the parasite had delved into their mind for knowledge, fashioning the incendiary device as a weapon to assault other humans. All she knew was that this… this was utterly, excruciatingly painful!
Indeed, the ‘Huntress’ was powered by internal electric motors and a power source, lacking engine air intakes or delicate external sensors susceptible to fire damage. The localized blaze ignited by alcohol and gasoline inflicted relatively limited damage to the mech’s chassis. However, the terrifying heat was captured by the temperature sensors embedded in the mech’s outer shell, subsequently transmitted directly into Shirley’s brain via the specialized spinal cords within the tentacles! In mere heartbeats, the intense burning agony had pierced her very soul, feeling as though it sought to evaporate her spirit alive.
Unlike her previous torments, this time, even Shirley’s formidable rationality proved incapable of fully suppressing her reaction to the pain. Driven by instinct, she began to struggle, and the ‘Huntress’s’ mechanical limbs started to flail uncontrollably.
Shijō Yurizumi and Ji Bingyao, engaged in combat nearby, narrowly avoided becoming casualties of this berserk outburst. Fortunately, being in a state of heightened alert, they swiftly dodged what could have been a fatal blow. The uncontrolled mechanical foot swept past their ears, coincidentally impaling a ‘fat ball’—an infected individual wielding a cleaver and intent on attacking Shirley’s group. Thick, warm blood splattered across the mech’s surface.
Thus, Miss Huang, the former supervisor of Dormitory Building 7, now a host to an otherworldly parasite, silently met her end during one of Shirley’s spasms, collapsing to the ground like a deflated balloon. Neither side, however, had the luxury to notice this trivial detail.
As the searing pain reached its zenith, Salome’s seductive whisper once again echoed in Shirley’s ear, like the insidious murmur of a demon. “Give up, Mother. It’s not a bad thing. You don’t need to endure such agony… After all, as long as you survive, everyone else is irrelevant to you, aren’t they?”
“Ugh… agh… ahh!” Shirley endured with every fiber of her being, forcing herself to rally her spirits with sheer willpower, locating and activating the “Mech Automatic Fire Suppression System” option in the control menu. As a burst of high-pressure dry ice erupted from the exhaust vents along the cockpit’s edge, the flames engulfing the ‘Huntress’ finally extinguished. Yet, before the pain truly subsided, Shirley couldn’t help but let her anguished cries escape through the mech’s loudspeakers.
“Shirley-chan?! Are you in a lot of pain?” Ji Bingyao, who was fiercely firing an automatic pistol at a colossal insect approaching from below, displayed a look of concern… and envy. Shirley knew full well that this girl, a masochist at heart, undoubtedly yearned to trade places with her at this very moment. “If you really can’t bear it, don’t push yourself!”
“Exactly! If it’s just these guys, we can handle them even by ourselves! Shirley-chan, you just need to watch from the sidelines; I, Fujiwara Ason Shijō Yurizumi, will show them my family’s inherited prowess!” Shijō Yurizumi, standing nearby, swung her chainsaw in a wide arc, cleanly lopping off the pointed heads of several giant stink bugs. Then, retreating a few steps, she drew her bow and notched an arrow. With two swift “thwips,” she accurately pierced the knee joints of two junior high girls charging with crowbars.
While this action would undoubtedly leave the individuals crippled, attempting to subdue all the parasitized humans in the escalating melee was simply unrealistic, thus necessitating this less-than-ideal compromise. Alice and Eileen, positioned nearby, were performing similar actions with their lower-powered sporting air pistols, their shots remarkably accurate thanks to the effects of their physical enhancements.
Although the parasitic hosts held a significant numerical advantage, Shirley’s companions, whose physical capabilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, possessed superior firepower, and burned with fervent fighting spirit, gradually tipped the scales of victory in their favor through arduous combat.
When only five of Shijō Yurizumi’s twenty arrows remained in her quiver, and everyone else had depleted nearly half their ammunition, the parasitic hosts gathered at the kindergarten entrance were finally swept away. Over two hundred colossal insects had been reduced to ash, riddled like sieves, or otherwise hacked and minced in various ways. A total of twenty-one parasitized students and five faculty members were subdued, though eleven of them sustained a gun or arrow wound to the leg during the process. Only two truly perished: the unfortunate ‘fat ball’ Miss Huang, and a junior high girl who broke her neck upon falling.
As the battle concluded, within the kindergarten section, which had been transformed into a temporary stronghold, someone began waving towards Shirley’s group. “Are you students from our school?!” asked a man in a light blue security uniform, wielding a fire axe as a weapon. “Has the official rescue team arrived?”
“We’re high school students!” Ji Bingyao replied. “Excuse me, could you let us in first?”
The man hesitated for a moment, then pointed a hand towards the ‘Huntress’ that Shirley was piloting. “What is that?”
“That… that’s a bit hard to explain,” Ji Bingyao said, scratching her head. “Just know that it’s our equipment! Most of the monsters on campus have already been cleared by us! Please take the children and leave the kindergarten! This place could be dangerous at any moment!”