Hearing Asuna's words, Asagiri didn't say much but directly handed her the boxed muscle tape and bandages. "Then you do it."
After getting Asagiri's affirmative reply, Asuna breathed a sigh of relief. After all, she didn't really want to see Asagiri taking protective measures to prevent sprained ankles for other girls.
That kind of scene felt a bit too intimate. To put it simply, she would be jealous. However, Asuna always felt that Asagiri seemed to have seen through her thoughts. Her pretty face was slightly flushed, and her heart felt a bit flustered and distracted.
To hide her emotions, she quickly took the muscle tape and bandages that Asagiri handed over, then walked up to Kotoko and said softly, "Take off your shoes and stockings."
"Okay." Seeing that Kotoko had only taken off her right shoe and white stocking, Asuna subconsciously spoke. "Take off the other one, too. Both feet need to be wrapped."
"Are you alright...?" Hearing this, Kotoko looked at Asuna with a speechless expression. "My left leg is a prosthetic. What would I wrap...?"
"Oh, right, I forgot..." Seeing that she had made such a big joke, Asuna was so embarrassed she didn't know what to say.
"Why are you so distracted? This isn't like you..." Kotoko frowned tightly. First, she looked at Asuna's flushed face, and then she looked at Asagiri sitting there. As if she suddenly thought of something, she said with great jealousy, "Could it be that when we entered the dungeon last time, he helped you..."
"Um..." Just as Kotoko was halfway through speaking, Megumi interrupted in a gentle voice. "There are only seven minutes left until we enter the dungeon. Can we talk about it after we enter? Let Asuna-san... oh, no, let Violet help us with the protective measures first."
Megumi's words seemed to possess a kind of magic. Although her tone and voice were very gentle, they couldn't be easily dismissed.
Kotoko, who was originally overcome with jealousy and wanted to ask if Asagiri had helped Asuna with the bandages and muscle tape when they entered the dungeon before, temporarily put aside her intention to ask after hearing Megumi speak. After all, they were about to enter the dungeon, and at a time like this, she wouldn't act willfully or make trouble.
-------
A few minutes later, the four people who had finished all preparations simultaneously saw a thick, dark red mist appear before their eyes.
[Now entering the dungeon]
When the thick red mist dispersed, Asagiri, who was wearing the equipment "Ever-changing Mask," immediately looked around as soon as his vision returned. Only after confirming that Kotoko, who had changed into a masquerade mask, as well as Asuna and Megumi, were all by his side, did he begin to observe the surrounding environment.
This seemed to be the living room of an apartment. Behind the two wooden doors were likely bedrooms, behind the glass door was likely the bathroom, and there was a small alcove for the kitchen. It was a small apartment of about eighty square meters, with two bedrooms and one living room, without a separate balcony. And judging by the light coming through the windows, the time point in the world of this dungeon was different from the real world; it was daytime.
"Has it finally begun..." Asagiri looked eager to try and said softly, "Let's search this room to see if there's any information that could be valuable for clearing the dungeon."
"Okay, got it." Seeing that after Asagiri finished speaking, Asuna and Kotoko immediately started searching without any hesitation or delay, Megumi reacted a bit later and also quickly began searching for information in the apartment. At this moment, she had only one thought: Is this the action efficiency of top Players? After entering a dungeon and appearing in a completely unfamiliar location, they don't waste a single second, don't need any psychological preparation, and can immediately enter the strategy state. As expected, teaming up with these three people was the right choice.
Just then, Asuna, holding The Exorcist Longsword, had already tensed her nerves and cautiously opened a wooden door. When she saw the scene inside the room, she couldn't help but frown slightly and call out softly. "Leader, there's something here."
Asagiri walked over to take a look and saw a corpse emitting a putrid smell lying on the bed in the bedroom. On the bedside table on the inner side, there was also a notebook with a black cover and a ballpoint pen. He held his equipment, the "Cursed Rope Dart," in his hand and walked straight into the bedroom. The corpse on the bed didn't suddenly sit up and attack or open its eyes like in a cliché horror movie; it just lay there quietly.
Seeing this, Asuna followed him into the bedroom. With a flash of cold light, the Exorcist Longsword in her hand pierced through the corpse's head from the forehead. Then she nodded and muttered to herself, "Okay, this way, it's definitely completely dead."
After a thorough search, the four confirmed that there were no zombies or anything else of value in the apartment room, except for the black-covered notebook placed on the bedside table. The contents of the notebook seemed to be the diary of the apartment's owner, who was the corpse, from before their death.
Asagiri didn't waste time. He just quickly scanned the initial content, which had little information value, such as "What happened to this world?", "Why did these things appear?", "Zombies? How is this possible!". When he turned to the last few pages, he finally found valuable entries.
[Today is the fourteenth day since that incident]
[The bottled drinking water at home is gone, and there's not much food left... I have no choice but to take advantage of having some strength left and plan to go to the convenience store downstairs to gather supplies]
After reading this page, Asagiri turned to the next page, and what met his eyes were four large characters.
[I was bitten]
At this moment, although it was quite hellish, this sudden reversal still made Asagiri almost lose his composure. He turned his head for a look and found that there was indeed a deep wound, visible to the bone, on the arm of the corpse wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
[Those things move so slowly... but I still accidentally got bitten. Why... why is this happening...]
[So thirsty... so hungry... I can't worry about that anymore... I'll just drink the tap water directly... Even if I turn into that hideous state, it doesn't matter...]
[Today is the sixteenth day]
[I didn't turn into one of those things, but... my wound is infected and inflamed, and my whole body feels hot... I don't have the strength to go out and find medicine anymore... I also don't dare to go out again. Rather than being eaten alive by them, it's better to die in my own home...]
Here, the diary entry ended.
"Hmm? This isn't right..." Asuna had clearly done her homework before entering this dungeon. After reading the diary content, she immediately found something suspicious. "This person drank tap water and didn't turn into a zombie, was bitten by a zombie and didn't turn into a zombie, and after dying, was just a normal corpse, which means he wasn't infected... Water source transmission is ruled out, air transmission is ruled out, and blood transmission is ruled out. These transmission paths are all eliminated... Does the so-called zombie virus have no infectivity at all? Or is it... a virus that loses its infectivity after infecting a host?"
"There's too little information right now, we can't analyze it," Kotoko replied first, and then said softly.
"However, this is good news. The diary says that the zombies' movements are very slow, and he himself has also verified for us that even if bitten by a zombie, one won't be infected with the virus. It seems just as the Leader said, the type of zombies in this dungeon is the easiest to deal with, the kind with the lowest difficulty."
"But don't forget, there are also so-called special infected individuals. We can't let our guard down." Asuna said this first, and then looked towards Asagiri. "Leader, did you get the city map?"
"I got it." Asagiri took out his phone and opened the app with the eye icon. Inside, a map had appeared, which was clearly the map of the city. "Each of you take a photo."
"Okay." After Asuna, Kotoko, and Megumi had each taken photos with their phones, thus completing a copy of the map in a way that worked without signal or internet, Asagiri finally spoke.
"However, even with the map, if we want to figure out our direction and find the route to 'Mochizuki Hospital,' we still need to find a reference point to determine where we are in the city."
"Okay, let's start moving." Seeing that Asagiri, Asuna, and Kotoko had already determined the next course of action in just a few words, Megumi clenched her hands and secretly made up her mind that she must keep up with the pace of these three as quickly as possible. After all, the relationship between teammates, in the end, is about mutual help. If she didn't show her abilities, she would only become a burden to these three.
"I'll go out first." Hearing Megumi's sudden remark, Asuna said with a slight worry.
"Huh? Phantom, you want to go out first? But what if there are zombies outside...?"
"It's alright." Megumi shook her head, revealing a gentle smile. "It's not certain we'll encounter zombies, and even if we do, I can just test if my exclusive talent can be effective. This is also a part of information gathering, right? And if there's any danger, you can also save me, right?"
"Right." Asagiri nodded, smiling reassuringly. "Even if the two of them can't react in time, as long as you encounter danger, I will activate 'King's Gambit.' If that's still not fast enough, I will use 'The Reverse Hourglass.'"
"I see..." Megumi's eyes flickered. She pursed her lips, tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, and said softly.
"Thank you. I'm very touched that you're willing to use such precious items for me."
Seeing Megumi's appearance, Asuna and Kotoko had the same thought in their hearts.
Something is very wrong.