In short, just as mentioned in Chapter 15, the two of them had some extremely erotic things happen before they departed from the tracks. Afterward, they got dressed again and left the tracks, entering the city roads of Iruma City. Once they reached the road, they stopped briefly, not to do anything lewd this time, but so that Ayn could send a message to Ari to let her know he was safe, and so they could also go online to check the latest updates.
It was during that online check that they learned Iruma City had no zombies, at least, that was what the government officially announced. Because of this information, they decided not to continue along the train route but instead to take the city roads like most ordinary people.
Of course, their purpose in checking the internet wasn't merely to confirm whether there were zombies in Iruma City. In fact, Aya's goal was to understand the global situation. She was concerned about two main things: first, whether Ayn's hometown had been affected by the outbreak; and second, whether the government could truly bring the zombie crisis under control.
Meanwhile, Ari back in Osaka was keeping a close eye on things too, sending Aya updates from time to time with real-time info from various places. Those messages saved Ayn and Aya a ton of time, helping them zero in on useful news faster. And from Ari's messages, the answer to the first question—whether zombies had appeared in Ayn's hometown—was clear: no. At least for now, there had been no such reports online.
The second question—whether the government could contain the crisis—was in fact just as closely tied to Ayn's hometown. If the authorities failed to maintain control and society collapsed completely like in anime or games, Ayn and Aya would have no choice but to reach Osaka as quickly as possible, then find a way to fly back to Ayn's hometown. If they moved too slow, Ayn's mom could end up in real danger, and that was something neither Ayn, Aya, nor Ari could ever accept.
So, what was the situation at that moment? The answer was that zombie outbreaks had appeared across multiple regions of the world, though not every city had fallen. In Japan, only Tokyo had been affected; other regions remained safe for now. In the United States, severe outbreaks had occurred in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, while the other states were still unaffected. As for India, infections had been reported in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, but other areas were still stable.
In other words, although this was a global catastrophe, not every city had been plunged into crisis. The closest infected city to Ayn's hometown was Beijing, roughly 600 kilometers away in a straight line, and by comparison, the distance between Tokyo and Osaka was only about 400 kilometers. Therefore, if the online information was accurate, Ayn's hometown was still safe for the time being.
As for the second issue, whether the government could really contain the outbreak, the data available online showed that every nation was adopting extremely tough measures. They had deployed military units to seal off key zones, dispatched police to maintain order, established quarantine areas and forcibly evacuated residents, shut down airports and ports to restrict travel, and urged citizens to stay home, stock supplies, and avoid going outside. Some countries had even declared a state of emergency and imposed curfews.
Officially, every government insisted that the situation was "under control," urging people not to panic and promising to "resolve everything within a few days." But the question remained, were they really telling the truth? No one could say for certain. Still, one thing was clear: the zombie crisis had not yet spread worldwide, and infections remained limited to the cities where the outbreak first began.
After all, if zombies had appeared elsewhere, the news would have already gone viral online. Even if the authorities tried to suppress the information or control public discussion, it would be nearly impossible. This wasn't a regular epidemic, it was a zombie incident. Even in North Korea, a country almost completely cut off from the global internet, confirmed reports had already leaked out: zombies had appeared in Pyongyang.
In fact, aside from the two matters mentioned earlier, Aya was also concerned about a third one—something related to the Transcendents. Before meeting Ayn and obtaining the System, Aya had already successfully awakened as a Transcendent. Since she could awaken, what about others? After all, there were 8.9 billion people on Earth. Even if only a very small fraction of them awakened, that number would still form an enormous group. Naturally, Aya wanted to know: had any information about Transcendents already appeared on the internet?
However, she hesitated. Why was she hesitating? Because once she searched for "Transcendent" online, such a query would leave a trace in the internet logs. The real danger was not the record itself, but what that record implied, it didn't just show what she had searched, but also raised a more sensitive question: why did she want to search for it?
If discussions about Transcendents already existed online and she merely wanted to learn more after seeing them, that would be fine. But if there was still no mention of Transcendents anywhere on the internet and she proactively searched for it, then that would be equivalent to declaring to the world: "I know Transcendents exist." And how would she know that? There was almost only one possible answer—she herself was a Transcendent. In other words, the act of searching alone could expose her identity.
Of course, some might think she was being overly cautious: "There are so many people online, who would bother checking my browsing history? And can't I just delete it afterward?" Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. So-called "deleting browsing history" only erases the traces on your own device; it doesn't remove the records stored on the server side. And the government didn't need to manually check each person's history, they only had to query their databases for certain keywords, such as "Transcendent," "Awakening," "Supernatural Power," "Extraordinary," or "Magic."
Moreover, they wouldn't need to check every time period either. They could simply filter for data ranging from the moment the zombie outbreak began to the moment the first public reports about Transcendents appeared online. That would already be enough to identify every "suspicious individual." As for those people, the government wouldn't act immediately. Instead, they would investigate gradually, screening out the ones who truly warranted suspicion.
For that reason, Aya couldn't decide whether she should search or not. In the end, she told Ayn about it and asked for his opinion. Ayn simply shrugged and said, "There's no need. Even if there are other Transcendents out there, what does that have to do with us? As long as our family stays safe, that's all that matters."
Those words finally made Aya understand. Yes, just as Ayn said, there was no need to care whether more Transcendents existed elsewhere in the world. As long as their family could live safely and happily, that was enough. Thinking so, Aya put down her phone and decided not to pursue the matter any further.
After that, Ayn and Aya resumed their journey. But when they entered the city's main roads, they found that the streets were already jam-packed with vehicles. Although the internet claimed that Iruma City was safe, the terrified residents didn't care whether the news was true or not—everyone only wanted to get as far away from Tokyo as possible. As a result, not only were the people of Tokyo fleeing, but almost the entire Kanto region was evacuating outward.
At this point, trains, subways, buses, and taxis had all but shut down. Perhaps a few people were still dutifully trying to go to work, but the vast majority had already given up. It was easy to imagine: those with cars were desperately escaping with their families, while those without were choosing to flee on foot, doing whatever they could to get out of Kanto.
Faced with such a situation, Ayn and Aya didn't choose to return to the railway tracks, yet they also didn't get trapped in traffic. Why not? Because a city wasn't made up of only main roads—it had a vast network of streets that branched out like veins into every district. Whenever they encountered heavy congestion, they would immediately change routes and keep moving forward. Those routes weren't just regular roads but also included narrow alleys where cars couldn't fit. After all, they were riding a motorcycle, not a car; if they had been driving, they would probably have been stuck in the city by now, unable to move at all.
When they crossed a river called Iruma River, the two stopped briefly at a park by the riverside. This stop wasn't for anything lewd, but to wash the blood off Aya's clothes—mainly her jacket, leather pants, and that katana. Why wash them? Because back in Chapter 4, Aya had cut down a zombie, and the blood had splattered all over her. If they kept riding like that, they might get stopped by the police. Ordinary people might not notice, but the police had sharp eyes; they could instantly tell whether a stain was just dirt or dried blood. To be safe, they decided to clean up a little here.
Of course, the two shameless creatures were always full of desire for each other. Under normal circumstances, they might indeed have ended up doing something indecent. Unfortunately, the park was right beside the main road, which was jammed with people fleeing the city. Doing anything like that here would basically be a public performance. Aya might not have cared much, but Ayn did. What bothered him wasn't that someone might see him naked, but that others might see Aya's body. Just imagining that made him feel uncomfortable. So he had absolutely no interest in doing anything inappropriate under such conditions.
In the end, Aya and Ayn only gave their clothes a simple rinse. Although the bloodstains couldn't be completely removed, the color had faded enough that even if a police officer saw them, they wouldn't notice easily. And even if they did run into a nosy officer, Aya had a way to deal with it, because she possessed a skill: [Dominate Others Lv.1].
Someone might ask: if she had that skill, why bother washing the clothes at all? Why not just use the ability to solve the problem? A fair question—and if it were Fushimi Ren, she probably would have done exactly that. Unfortunately, right now she was Aya, and Aya couldn't ignore Ayn's values. Ayn believed that whenever there was a choice, one shouldn't arbitrarily violate another person's free will.Because of that, they stopped by the river and handled this little matter in the most ordinary way possible.
After finishing those miscellaneous tasks, they got back on the road. At around 8:37 a.m., the two finally reached their first destination: Hannō City. According to their original plan, if they had stayed on the railway route the whole way, they should have arrived much earlier. But these two were simply too cautious, constantly thinking, "What if this happens?" or "What if that happens?"—enough to make even the author roll their eyes.
After arriving in Hannō City, they drove through the city for a while, then followed their original plan and took the mountain road leading toward Ōme City. Don't be fooled by the word "mountain"; it wasn't some deserted forest path. In fact, it was a proper road—two lanes wide, with greenery on both sides, and parts of Hannō's cityscape visible along the way. It didn't look like a remote mountain trail at all.
For that very reason, the road was heavily congested. After all, many people were trying to use it to escape from Kanto. Luckily, they were on a motorcycle; otherwise, they would have been trapped for hours just like all those cars. The motorcycle's advantage showed perfectly in this situation. Even when the line of vehicles stretched endlessly ahead, they could edge along the roadside or even the sidewalk to keep moving. Technically, that was against Japan's traffic laws—but it's not like the government had warned anyone that a zombie outbreak would hit Kanto today, right? So don't blame Aya for breaking a few rules~
They continued onward for over half an hour before finally reaching their planned route—the Ōme Highway. However, upon arrival, they discovered the reason for the traffic jam was quite simple: the road had been blocked off by the police. Of course, the officers here weren't like the ones in anime or movies who would lock humans and zombies together in the same place. They were still allowing civilians to evacuate, but only after conducting inspections. And what were they inspecting? Naturally, they had to confirm whether anyone was infected or if there were any zombies hidden in the vehicles. Otherwise, why else would the police be out here at dawn, setting up checkpoints?
The moment he heard the word "inspection," Ayn felt a twinge of irritation. Because in his mind, an unpleasant image appeared: police officers dragging Aya away and pinning her against a patrol car for a body search. Just imagining someone else touching Aya made him feel sick. Fortunately, reality turned out far more mundane. The police didn't have the time or patience for anything excessive—they merely asked to see their driver's license, glanced casually at the storage compartment under the seat, then gave a quick look at the backpack before waving them through. They didn't even bother to ask about the metal baseball bat or the katana. After all, the officers had their hands full already.
This scene wasn't the author teasing Ayn—it was Aya herself, shooting him a half-amused, half-knowing look. She could see right through that little possessiveness of his. Though she teased him on the surface, deep down she felt more than pleased, because that possessiveness was precisely what she longed for most.