"Two handsome gentlemen, is no one willing to help me?"
From inside the elevator came a voice as sweet as an oriole's song, tinged with a faint trace of grievance. The men present felt their hearts skip a beat. One of the men beside Tsumura craned his neck for a better look, his eyes lighting up with a greedy gleam. He quickly reached in and pulled her out only to be so stunned by her breathtaking beauty that he forgot even to sneak in a grope, nudging Tsumura instead.
"S-so beautiful…" he stammered in awe.
"Really? But you're all quite handsome yourselves," the woman said with a coy laugh, her tone hovering between teasing and shy, charm dripping from every word. Even Fujishima found it hard to tear his gaze away, let alone Tsumura and the other two men.
Her looks were exquisite, her figure tall and alluring, and most captivating of all were her large, liquid eyes that seemed to speak on their own. Just one glance was enough to ensnare the heart, stirring something deep in every man who saw her.
Even just standing there, she radiated a natural elegance laced with seduction a presence that drew men in instinctively, making them want to be near her… or claim her outright.
Among the men present, only Sosuke Kitahara refrained from looking as though he'd been completely bewitched. It wasn't that he was some upright gentleman; he, too, had raised an eyebrow in appreciation when he first saw her. But the stench wafting out of the elevator was overpowering so foul it made his stomach churn. Alongside the stench of rotting corpses was an equally thick smell of human waste. Judging by the odor, they must have been trapped in there for quite some time.
Haruno Yukinoshita gave the woman a quick once-over, something about her sparking a sense of familiarity. After a moment's thought, she murmured, "I've seen her on television before… no wonder she looked familiar."
"You know her?" Sosuke tilted his head, curious. He also found her face familiar but couldn't quite place it.
"She's Michiko, the weather presenter from Osaka TV," Haruno replied.
Yukino Yukinoshita's brow creased slightly. "My father always watches her weather forecast whenever he has time. Five years have passed, and she hasn't changed much."
"Oh, so it's her," Sosuke said, realization dawning.
Michiko, the Osaka TV weather presenter, was famed for both her beauty and elegance. She came from an ordinary family, without a prestigious school background, so when she became a television host and stepped into the public eye, the internet was split on her.
Some said she had risen to prominence purely on her looks, while others saw her as a grassroots success story, an inspiration to many especially young women from humble origins. The debates were so heated they turned into a long-running flame war online.
For ordinary people, such controversial stories especially ones tinged with scandal were entertainment, something to gossip about over tea, with no way to truly judge the truth. Many believed it was only natural that wealth and power could win beautiful women.
Later, Michiko abruptly announced her resignation and vanished from the public eye. Not long after, the Osaka TV executive board was abruptly reshuffled, with certain higher-ups demoted to remote stations news that set off a firestorm. For a time, she was the talk of every street corner.
Utaha Kasumigaoka glanced at Sosuke and said, "The more I think about it, the more this feels like bait."
"Could be a coincidence," Sosuke replied with a slight shake of his head, though his eyes stayed fixed on the elevator entrance.
By now, Fujishima and the others had also recognized Michiko, their excitement palpable. By Japanese social hierarchy, apart from Fujishima who had once been a firefighter the other three men were at society's bottom rung. Seeing Michiko was like meeting a movie star.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing? Pull us up already!"
The men still trapped inside had been completely forgotten, shouting furiously from below. Thankfully, the beautiful woman quickly lunged forward to help, with Fujishima shaking his head and joining her. Together, they hauled up a man in his thirties.
The moment his feet touched the floor, however, he shoved Fujishima hard, his face twisting in anger. "What the hell took you so long? You trying to get us all killed? Everyone's dead because of you!"
"Go to hell."
The retort came with a fist slamming straight into his nose, followed by a sharp kick to the chest that sent him sprawling. Tsumura then dropped another punch into his gut, planting a boot on his chest and twisting it with a smirk. "Smart guy. Not everyone's dead yet, but you're not far off."
"Stop! Don't hurt my husband!"
The beautiful woman cried out, rushing to push Tsumura away but the man who'd tried to grope her earlier seized her hair, yanking her back. Pulling a dagger from his belt, he pressed it to her neck and grinned darkly. "Don't move, sweetheart. This blade's sharp. If you so much as twitch and cut yourself, don't blame me."
"You bastard! Let go of my wife!"
The man on the ground roared in rage, clawing at Tsumura's leg in an attempt to get up only for Tsumura to stomp on his chest again, making him clutch it in pain.
"Let her go."
Sosuke's voice was low and cold as he stepped forward, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
"You"
The man's eyes widened, ready to curse but the instant his gaze met Sosuke's, his body jolted.
Sosuke's expression hadn't shifted much, yet the killing intent in his black eyes was enough to send a chill straight to the bone.
This… this was the man who had single-handedly slaughtered nearly a hundred zombies.
A tremor ran through the man's entire body, and he swallowed hard, fear coiling around him like a vice. He knew he couldn't take down a hundred zombies not even ten.
The only reason he dared lay hands on the woman was because the number of able-bodied men in the settlement had been plummeting, making veterans like him valuable. Fujishima had taken in many useless mouths, leading to growing discontent but so long as Fujishima had numbers and guns, that discontent stayed behind closed doors.
Fujishima knew the situation, too. His bottom line was keeping order in the settlement, but outside its walls, if his men crossed a line so long as it wasn't too far he often turned a blind eye.
Now, however, Sosuke's arrival shattered that unspoken rule.
With his combat ability, Sosuke alone was worth more than seven or eight of them combined.
And with the killing intent now stabbing into him like needles, the man had no doubt Sosuke would kill him without hesitation.
This guy was a killer.
And if Sosuke cut him down, Fujishima wouldn't say a word. No one else would either. Who mattered more was obvious one glance would tell you.
When that moment came, there wouldn't be a single person left to speak for him. If he died, he'd die for nothing.
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