The next day, Nic headed to Valle City to meet Atha.
Atha was already waiting with her female friend, a fellow former military officer named Giselle.
Seeing Nic arrive, Atha was impressed. "So you actually came?"
Nic just nodded, then Giselle looked around. "Are you not being followed by any DP members?"
Nic hadn't felt like he was being followed at all along the way, so he shook his head but was slightly curious why she asked that.
"Let's hurry, we must not be seen by anyone," Atha said.
"Wait, since it's the Dead City, are we really allowed to go there?" Nic asked.
Atha explained that technically they were not allowed, but because Atha was a former military officer, she knew a secret path to the Dead City without being seen by others, which was through an underground route.
After that, the three of them immediately left for the location.
Meanwhile, at the DP headquarters, all members, including Lamia and Alexa, saw Cecilia covering her face. She looked annoyed.
"This is it... do you guys want to come with me to that Dead City..." Cecilia said in a low voice.
Rya immediately refused. "Boss! But that city..."
Cecilia slammed the table. "It's fine... we need to see what that ex-military woman will do to Nic... it's dangerous if Nic enters that zombie nest."
Lamia and Alexa exchanged glances, then Alexa raised her hand. "Sorry, Boss Cecilia, but I have a feeling that no matter how bad the conditions are... Nic can always handle it."
Cecilia looked at her. "I know that, Alexa. What I'm worried about is that the conditions there can change a person's nature..."
After that, they started planning. Cecilia wore her old clothes that she had once worn in that city.
Rya, who had known Cecilia for a long time, felt a little sorry... why was Cecilia wearing those clothes when something bad happened when she wore them.
---
On the other side, Nic, Atha, and Giselle had entered the secret path to the Dead City through an underground tunnel.
"What do I have to do there?" Nic asked.
Atha was silent, and finally, Giselle answered. "You just need to survey the city's condition and see what happens there... and whether you can get out alive after entering."
"That sounds very extreme," Nic said.
After a while, they saw an exit from the underground tunnel, and they went up.
"Be careful, this exit leads directly to the center of this Dead City... be prepared," Atha said.
And when they went up... they were immediately greeted by a pungent smell.
Atha and Giselle immediately coughed and felt nauseous. Their chests felt tight, as if the air here was very bad.
"BLEGH... I CAN'T TAKE IT..." Giselle said.
Then Atha took out her equipment, which was a gas mask to withstand the foul odor. When Atha was about to give one to Nic, she was confused... Nic didn't react at all to the foul and pungent smell.
"Oh... I don't need that mask, just you two. I can withstand this foul odor," Nic said casually.
Giselle was amazed while Atha was still trying to disbelieve Nic's capabilities.
The sight of the city was terrifying. A destroyed city, moss on every building. Atha even felt traumatized when she saw that there were still scattered corpses, and some had turned into skeletons. Both of them felt nauseous again.
"Can you explain to me why this city became like this?" Nic asked.
"I will explain now that we are here..." Atha said.
And Atha began to explain, it all started because of the previous President's leadership, who was a dictator. This President took extreme measures by bringing in several mad doctors to conduct weapon experiments to fight the West.
They initially offered medicine that would make them strong, but the excessive dosage made them overdo it and eventually start rioting and causing chaos like zombies. Instead of stopping it, the President allowed it... he seemed to want to create a zombie human army to fight the West.
However, the military and some citizens of other cities disagreed and condemned their own President's actions, but the President didn't care and continued to give the medicine to the citizens of this dead city until finally, the zombie-like city residents became hungry and rioted in other cities.
Finally, the military decided to oppose the President and fight those zombie-like people, but they clearly exchanged many lives due to the civil war.
Suddenly Atha stopped explaining... her face looked pale to continue the story.
Giselle told Nic that Atha and she still had severe trauma with this city, so it was better to stop the explanation there.
"I understand the gist of it. If you want to leave, go ahead... I will explore this city alone, and you can just see the results later," Nic said.
"What do you say, Atha? Should we not accompany him?" Giselle asked.
Atha nodded. "He said he's strong... he has to prove it. Let's go down and wait below."
After that, the two of them left Nic to go downstairs.
Nic took a deep breath and started walking around the city. The aroma was very foul, but Nic didn't mind because he had a passive anti-foul odor.
Nic thought that the city was uninhabited, but he felt something staring at him from every corner.
"The negative aura is very strong..." Nic stopped and looked around.
And sure enough, suddenly a female figure jumped towards Nic with a pale, zombie-like face, looking like she wanted to eat Nic.
But Nic immediately stopped her movement and punched the back of the woman's neck, and she didn't faint. Instead, she kept struggling and trying to attack Nic again.
"Zeta, can I cure her with God of Health?" Nic asked.
[ Yes, and I suggest also using the God of Scientist skill to create a healing potion. Don't cure her directly because there will be a negative effect on Master Nic. ]
"You're right, Zeta... alright, activate both skills!"
[ Active ]
Nic immediately used both skills to create a potion that restores a person's sanity.
"Zeta, I want to use the new system skill Absorbing Negative Aura, and combine that skill into the potion I will make."
[ Understood, Master Nic ]
And the potion was ready. Nic immediately poured the potion on the woman, and she instantly started to calm down. Her negative aura began to disappear, and her face returned to normal, then she fainted.
"Is she still alive?" Nic tapped her cheek.
[ She should be. It seems that because of the medicine they consumed, their bodies forced them to stay alive. ]
"Huh... those people are truly cruel."
Nic decided to wait for this girl to wake up because Nic could get information from her.
A moment later, the woman coughed, then she panicked.
"ARGHHH PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! I DON'T WANT THAT MEDICINE ANYMORE!! PLEASE!!" the woman shouted in great fear and cried.
But she slowly began to realize... and suddenly fell silent. "W-what... happened... here... where am I... and who are you!?"
"Hey, try to calm down first. I'm not the person who gave the medicine. Can you explain what happened?" Nic asked.
The woman explained that the last thing she remembered was being forced into a room that smelled of medicine, then forced to drink medicine called the Power Capsule. Many people who were initially forced really became strong, but after a while, they became strange and uncontrollable.
"That's all I remember... I thought I had lost my mind and died... but why am I still alive and normal... what happened?" the woman asked.
Nic explained what he heard about this city being dead and isolated by the South because of that incident.
"I came to this place to check, and suddenly I was attacked by you, who were still under the effect of the medicine. Then I cured you with a potion I made. Thank goodness it worked," Nic said.
The woman cried and thanked Nic, then she said, "May I ask for a favor... save... all of them who are in that jerk doctor's experiment cell..."
"So... there are still many people here...?" Nic asked.
"I don't know if they are still alive or not, but since I am still alive, they should be too... please!!" the woman pleaded.
"Alright, calm down. Take me there," Nic said.
They immediately left for the location, which was a large hospital building that served as the mad doctor's experiment site.
To be continued...