Terror Infinity Side B

Chapter 7 - 3, H.O.T.D

After Aqua left, the most anticipated event finally occurred within the apartment were us Players and the main Character were staying for the night. Yes, it was one of the most amazing scenes of both manga and anime that must have contributed to H.O.T.D's ban in China... The after bath event of the female main haracters.

The women of the group Rei, Saya, Saeko, and Shizuka were walking around the apartment with little to nothing on (Shizuka with only TOWEL) since they were washing their clothes all at once. Half of them were drunk from alcohol they found around the apartment and didn't hesitate to drink with all the stress they have built up. It was poison to the eyes and I had no attention of looking away and nor did Misaki by my side, but in the end we could only watch.

They just stuck with the males of the group to the end.

Shizuka did nearly walk over our way and her bath towel was just about to fall off, but Hikari intervened and Takashi took her somewhere else (Takashi had to carry her on his back... She was leaning her chest against his back and when she almost slipped he got to touch her...GODDAMMIT, THAT BASTARD! He already has Rei and is about to enter the Saeko route as well. Die!).

Hikari: Perverted bastards, die! How gross!

Shin: Gross, gross, gross and gross, is that all you can say? Are you Kirino!?

Hikari: Who the hell is that? Probably some anime character. You two, can you be anymore morons? Just looking at women like they are objects. Have you no shame?

Misaki: I... we... we really weren't...

Shin: Hey Hikari.

Hikari: What is it?

Shin: If beautiful women are going to walk across the room half naked or more (Shizuka), there is no man in the world who would look away! Maybe there are some unrealistic manga protagonist with no spine as men (Ichika Orimura, Rito Yuuki, and and formerly Kodaka Hasegawa) who are like that, but such a person doesn't exist in the real world. If I am wrong may this horror world's God strike me down ( To real a possibility when there is a a whole lot of proof that he is here, when people end up in an entirely different world filled with fantasy and horror ).

Hikari: ...

Misaki: ...

Shin: ...See! I am right, so apologies!

Hikari: Wh-why are you all of the sudden confidently lecturing me here, when it is you who is in the wrong?

Shin: Then why didn't you stop the girls earlier if you felt so strongly?

Hikari: ...They didn't when listen to me and didn't care that much if others saw them.

Shin: Then no harm no foul. Also...

Hikari: What?

Shin: You joined them in the bath just now, right?

Hikari: Yeah, what of it?

Shin: I read the manga and watched the anime, so I know what happened in there.

Hikari: ...Do you want to die!

With a beet red face, Hikari stared daggers at me. Misaki didn't seem to know what this silence was about, but Hikari would kill me if I told him about the erotic scene that took place in the bath and how Hikari, not knowing the story either (And didn't tell her), got caught up in it. Her eyes were clearly telling me to go die 1000 times, so I took it that I just won our argument.

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After Hikari finally calmed down and was willing to join us, us three Players were currently watching the news for the latest on the apocalypse of H.O.T.D (There were still news reports). There was less then two hours left before the mission comes to a end, and because none of us wanted to go out and kill THEM or rioters in the middle of the night, we had nothing else to do. There were very few stations still going on through this zombie apocalypse, and we were currently watching intently to was the very same broadcast that the MCs watched originally in the manga/anime, which was coverage of what was happening on the bridge.

Over the bridge, a police barricade was in effect to stop THEM from crossing. The police were trying to help everyone they could, but the situation all over was so bad, that they even told survivors trying to cross the bridge to abandon family members if they were slowing them down. You would never imagine the police saying such things, but that was just where they were. They were very much undermanned and had men abandoning their post as well. It was the apocalypse after all, and in an apocalypse there will also come disorder and those who will abuse it.

Besides the police there was another group at work on top of the bridge. There was a large protest currently ongoing. They were blaming the police, Japanese government, and the American superpower for the "Killer Disease", their word for THEM. It was nonsense to think that humans could, and without warning could create a virus that turns human beings into the walking dead (Choice of words were honestly a coincidence) and that they would spread it around the world, including their own countries. Yes, it was 100% nonsense, but because of unnecessary hype and stress, the protesters were believing the garbage they were being fed, and it only got worse.

When the police began to actively shoot THEM the protesters intensified their actions. The police tried to reason with them, but it was no use. The protesters didn't gather together to talk it out and were not a bunch to be reasoned with anyways. It was then, when the rioter's protest was at it's peak, after the police began to actively shoot THEM that the commanding officer of the police was caught on camera walking over to the protesters. He had been just given orders to use whatever means, illegal or inhuman to gain control of the area. If the story follows the original plot, he will walk over to the leader of the rioter, ask him to leave and when the man didn't comply the commanding officer will shot the man dead to quiet down the crowd. Then the rest of the police force would use more forceful methods to deal with both THEM, civilians and rioters.

I told the others what was going to happen, so we were surprised as to what just happened on the news. As the rioters were acting up and the police were about to shoot, bullets from behind the protesters are fired in rapid succession. All of us watching were shocked. In no time at all almost all the rioters were killed by someone they couldn't even see. This didn't happen in the original plot, so I said out loud that it must have been Aqua who fired those shoots. Hikari remained somewhat composed when I said this, but Misaki was visibly angered at that sight of that carnage and my reveal that it was her.

Misaki: Why is she shooting into a crowd innocent people!? They weren't THEM, so why? Is she insane!?

Hikari: Don't you remember? Rioter are worth 5 points per kill and undead are 1 point per 20 kills. That makes it effectively 100 times more cost efficient to kill rioters than the undead.

Misaki: It's still an horrible scene and is is alright to shoot into a crowd just because they are technically rioting? Some of those people were just there to relive pent up stress, not hurting anyone.

Misaki had a point there. Over there on the bridge were just a lot of foolish people who weren't really crazy, they just didn't know what else to do to let out their frustration. They were and are a far breed from the ones who attacked us these last two days, but despite knowing this, I can't and am not allowed to blame Aqua for her actions. During missions, the highest priority after staying alive should be to gain as many points and rewards as possible. Points will allow you to become stronger, increasing a person's chances of survival. Far more so than someone who does not enhance by a large margin.

Also, far as I know I'm the only newbie here who has experienced first hand the power of increased stats and their effects thanks to the Physical and Mental Realm Breakthroughs. Not only has there been a increase in my physical power and reaction speed, I even feel slightly smarter. I'm now able to look at subjects in different angles and can come up with better solutions. The power of stats are very real and should be gained at all cost.

We should all know how hard it is to get points, but because I am the only one here who has acquired points from both THEM and human rioters, I know how much easier it is to get as many points as possible from rioters then it is from THEM. It is exactly as Hikari said. It is 100 times more efficient to kill rioters then THEM for points.

If say, God's mission was for us to gain 1000 points within twenty-four hours, which way would be easier to go about completing the mission, killing THEM or rioters? It would be rioters hands down. You would need to kill 20,000 undead to gain 1000 points, yet with rioters you would only need to kill 200 to reach your end goal. 20,000 vs 200, which would be easier to accomplish within twenty-four hours..... You don't need to be a genius to figure it out.

I was honestly jealous of Aqua who had the ability to go out there and kill as many THEM and rioters as she liked. Just now on the bridge, she should have gotten hundreds, maybe over a thousand easy points from killing those rioters. With that many points you could double a selected stat of the average person. Yes, I was jealous, but because I felt this way I had no right to say anything to Aqua and preach morality.

I killed a person, no many people for the sole sake of points in the last two days, with that purpose in mind. I am the same as Aqua who kills for points, but if I was allowed to argue back, I would say that it just depends on whether you see the people of this world as real humans or NPCs. Aqua, and maybe not as much Hikari, she saw the people here as NPCs just here for our missions. Misaki, he sees the people here as human, no different then our own world, but he might just be in denial. He has adapted like all of us, knowing we have actually been sent to the world of a manga/anime and that we could be killed here, but the people here are just too life-like for him to just decide that they aren't real.

As for me I can understand both sides. I'm somewhere in the middle myself since I do consider the main characters of H.O.T.D comrades just like Hikari, Aqua and Misaki. I wouldn't hesitate to kill the rioters that threaten me or my comrades, and I would even see them as points to make myself stronger, yet I feel a real sense of camaraderie with the main characters who I have been through life and death struggles with, so I can't disregard them as just NPCs. They are comrades. And if they are just NPCs, where do you draw the line? If they look exactly like us, talk like us, can think for themselves, can bleed and die, and most of all undergo emotional growth through experience... can you really just say their lives have no value? Less then a humans?

Shin: What the hell? Never in my seventeen years of life have I given so much thought to the meaning of existence, and here I am, debating whether or not artificial intelligence is real life worth protecting. Damn increased Intelligence!

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Authors Note:

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Proofread by Deltoren.