After touching the Red Diamond thing I found out that it was not Nameless Worm, just some red ruby. There goes my cool line delivery in the drain.

"Now that I think about it there's no way I was gonna get a whole capsule of nameless worms. If people could find it like that, there's no way it would only infect people from the Kanto region."

The only way the Nameless Worm spread through this region should be by air or water. Well, I knew what to do now. I had to run another marathon, this time towards the epicenter or the place where the future Deadman wonderland would be.

‘Wait a second, if Deadman Wonderland wasn’t even built yet what was that flier I found out before all this? The hell is going on here!??’

I was so lost in all my plans and thoughts that I didn’t notice the most important thing that didn’t match with the timeline of this world.

“Not that thinking about this would help much, that place where I found the flier must have sunk already. I should have kept that flier. You can’t keep making so many dumb mistakes, Axton.”

‘There being another deadman wonderland before the beginning of the events that lead to deadmen being made just doesn’t make sense. No way any sane person would name an amusement park “Deadman Wonderland”.’

I should complete the quest first. After that, I would have all the time in the world to think about all these things.

So, I started running once more, this time towards Tokyo using a Map I purchased from a bookstore. The way things were going I am pretty sure if running was a skill It would be leveling up like crazy. While running I decided to check my stats.

{ Name: Axton

Age: 25

Tier: 9-B [Can make dents on normal walls easily]

Status: Dead(Physically), Excited, Touched By The Void

Skills: Combat Skills Lv.13, Shooting Skills Lv.10}

‘My tier is decreasing instead of increasing. Probably, because I hurt my muscles during the last run and that stunt I pulled with the attacker. This is bad very bad, it looks like even though my skin heals quickly, my internals take a very long time to heal.’

“But still the tier system just doesn’t make sense. If my tier is 9-A then shouldn’t that mean my durability is also 9-A, my body shouldn’t be hurt like that. The only reason my body was hurt could be that I was overclocking my body to reach a higher tier during the run without realizing it. Yeah, that makes sense. If you can’t feel pain you would overexert your strength without knowing it.”

All my problems should be solved if I somehow find a cure for my body’s undead problems.

———————

After I reached Tokyo or what was left of it I could see lots of people, some were crying, some were trying to find people, etc. I could see the Police and The Disaster department trying to calm people down and sending boats to rescue more people. I blended into the crowd and started moving slowly towards the sea. After reaching the edge of the land, I jumped into the sea. I could see some people trying but failing to reach me as I sank fast.

They probably thought I was killing myself. Since I didn’t need to breathe I deliberately sank into the ocean and started swimming towards the direction of the island which I saw when I was above ground. Normally people wouldn’t be able to swim in one direction consistently because of the waves but I was able to because of my strong body.

Even then it looks like I was somewhat off in my direction as I ended up quite far from the island. I knew that the Island was the ground zero of the earthquake as well as the place where Shiro tried to kill herself. There should be no one on the Island right now except Sorae Igarashi and Hagire Rinchiro who should have Survived the explosion and they should be trying to keep Shiro alive right now in some facility.

‘If I get the opportunity, I should kill Hagire. He was truly a mad person and sadistic as hell. I think that at some point Hagire just lost his reason and liked to see Shiro suffer just for fun.’

I started swimming towards the island and got on the land. I looked around and saw that there were some people in militaristic uniforms patrolling. Looks like Hagire kept some backup in case something like this happened. I just sat near a wall and started breathing and drinking the water around me even though I didn't need to.

“There should be the highest chance of me getting infected here. If I still don’t get infected then I can only curse my bad luck.”

{Quest Completed.}

‘That’s it? I was expecting something more. I don’t feel any different.’

Just as I went into the sea again to swim back towards the mainland. I started feeling dizzy as I saw a blood-colored cocoon cover me. The last thing I saw was...

{ Beginning Integration with the body using the Nameless Worm as the catalyst. }

The blood-red cocoon fell into the water till it reached the base of the ocean. Years passed by and a rock-like covering covered the cocoon.

———————

[Akeno’s POV]

I was really angry that Vampire Uncle didn't even let me see my brother's face one last time. I knew I could tell the police everything so that they would help me find him but I didn't wanna bring trouble to Vampire uncle.

Even though he said he wasn't that old I just felt like he was an old man. I didn't even get to tell him my real name. He should have noticed that Akeno wasn't my real name, I mean who uses their real name when doing crimes?

I still couldn't get over the fact that he was that cold. When he hugged me he was cold but I found it weirdly comfortable. He was like a superhero when he fought that attacker. I just blinked once and the attacker was dead. I knew I should be sad right now that my brother was dead but I just couldn't get myself to cry after seeing what Uncle wrote in the letter.

Vampire Uncle is really naive. If I was a child I would have told the police everything and he would be in trouble but luckily I wasn't a child. I don't know why he didn't take me with him. I could help in whatever he was doing. I even told him I was not a child.

‘Hmph, Idiot Uncle..’

I wonder what he is doing right now, probably trying to help some other child.

______

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