Chapter 30 30: Antarctica?

— — — — — — 『Ordinary Person: She's not lying. Everything she said checks out.』 『Ordinary Person: Though it's also possible she's been kept in the dark from the very start.』 As Takagi Yuriko finished speaking, Veyron, who had his Observation Haki active, chimed in through the group chat. 『Lady Avalon: I didn't detect any signs of lying from her either while she was talking.』 『Hellish Blizzard: If both of you say that, then we can probably trust her.』 『Earth's Cancer: Turning the whole world into a zombie-infested hellhole like Tokonosu City in such a short time... It's hard to believe this was just some accident.』 『Earth's Cancer: Umbrella Corporation really is terrifying.』 『Catwoman: This is what happens when futuristic tech gets out of control.』 『Catwoman: But the main reason is probably because Umbrella is basically untouchable in this world. There's no force or individual that can keep them in check.』 『Ordinary Person: Alright, let's put this discussion aside for now. We should focus on that mission.』 『Ordinary Person: We've already found all five of them. Next, we need to figure out how to make sure they can survive even after we're gone. Any ideas?』 『Ghost Spider: I've seen a few zombie apocalypse stories in my world. From what I know, survival in these scenarios comes down to two things: safety and sustainability.』 『Ghost Spider: Safety means giving them a base that's secure—someplace the undead can't overrun unless they do something dumb—and a decent supply of weapons.』 『Ghost Spider: Sustainability means stockpiling enough food, clean water, medicine, and other essentials. Ideally, they'd also have the means to produce these things on their own.』 『Earth's Cancer: One more thing—we need something like a serum to stop them from turning if they ever get bitten.』 『Ghost Spider: Oh right, good catch. I didn't think of that.』 『Ghost Spider: Considering Umbrella had the tech to turn zombies into bioweapons at least twenty years ago, there should be an anti-virus serum, right?』 『Ghost Spider: ...』 『Ghost Spider: Wait... if they had a cure, then how did things end up this bad? Could it really be that they deliberately let the virus spread? But if that's the case, what's the point of turning the world into this mess?』 『Ordinary Person: Maybe someone at the top thought the world was too dirty and needed to be "cleansed" by zombies... and they wanted to play god in a new world?』 『Ghost Spider: ...』 『Catwoman: ...』 『Hellish Blizzard: ...』 『Earth's Cancer: Nice imagination, but maybe tone it down next time. (facepalm.jpg)』 『Earth's Cancer: Even if that were true, what would the Umbrella higher-ups do once the whole planet's crawling with zombies? Let's say they had a way to survive—what then? Rebuild civilization from scratch with just a handful of people? Gonna start laying bricks themselves?』 『Lady Avalon: Not necessarily~』 『Earth's Cancer: ??!』 『Ghost Spider: Did you find something, Miss Merlin?』 『Lady Avalon: Nope, just a theory.』 『Lady Avalon: I mean, I'm just a magician from 1,500 years ago, so I don't really get all this modern tech stuff. But if Umbrella already had the ability to create bio-weapons for the battlefield two decades ago, isn't it reasonable to assume that by now they've figured out how to mass-produce "human tools" as long as they have a few "samples"?』 As she spoke, Merlin glanced over at Yuriko and Saya, along with Kiriko and Rei—two sets of mother and daughter—and seemed to notice something interesting. While Merlin was observing the four women, Veyron was watching her. "Veyron?" Sensing his gaze, Merlin sent him a message through the mental link. "It's nothing."Veyron shook his head slightly. He just thought her guess was spot-on. Whether Umbrella in this world really has that kind of tech is still unclear to him. But in the Resident Evil movie universe, they really did reach the point where they could mass-produce clones on an assembly line. 『Ordinary Person: Anyway, back to the main topic.』 『Ordinary Person: To sum it up—we need a base more secure than the current military facility, decades' worth of supplies or a way to produce them, and a serum to save them if they get bitten. Did I miss anything?』 『Lady Avalon: That covers it. We can add more if anything else comes up.』 『Earth's Cancer: +1』 『Hellish Blizzard: +1』 『Ghost Spider: +1』 『Catwoman: +1』 『Ordinary Person: Hancock? @Snake Empress』 Veyron tagged a certain quiet girl who'd been unusually silent since arriving in this world—at the moment, she looked completely spaced out. 『Snake Empress: Nope, nothing to add. I trust your judgment, Mr. Veyron.』 『Snake Empress: You guys know a bit about my world too. Even though Miss Merlin already confirmed that the Four Seas, Grand Line, and Red Line are all on the same planet like your world, the tech in my world and this one are basically two different things. And our Kuja tribe isn't exactly tech-savvy either...』 『Ordinary Person: Got it. I'll go explain everything to them now.』 After organizing his thoughts, Veyron gave a summary of their group's plans to the nine girls and asked for their input. "Can't you just... take us with you? To wherever you guys live... There aren't any zombies there, right?" Saya bit her lip and asked, even though she could tell from Veyron's earlier words that the chances were slim. But still, she couldn't help but hope. "If we could, we would. That would be the easiest and safest option. But unfortunately..." Veyron shook his head under their expectant gazes. "The way we travel back and forth only works for us." They had already tested the chat group's bugged teleportation function several times over the past few days. Every time, it failed to bring non-group members along. In other words, it wasn't a bug they exploited—it was a hidden feature of the chat group itself. Just not listed alongside the usual stuff like missions, sign-ins, and the shop. "I see..." Saya looked visibly disappointed, but she quickly pulled herself together. "We've actually talked a bit these past few days about what we'd do in the future—whether it's if the base eventually falls, or if we decide to move out. Maybe our ideas can help." She pulled out a folded world map from her bag and spread it out, pointing to the southernmost part: "We think the best destination is Antarctica." "From our observations, the zombies still seem to need oxygen like humans. If they've been burned, they can't move far before collapsing. They also can't swim. That's how we were able to rely on the surrounding water to build a defensive perimeter around this base." "Antarctica is surrounded by the ocean and has the least human development. Even if the people or creatures there mutated too, we think the danger level should be much lower compared to other places." "Plus, the extreme cold would help preserve our supplies and slow down spoilage..." . . .