TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 244: That’s Against the Rules, Buddy. How Can a Boss Enter the Safe Room? (Patreon)

There was no sign of Krauser, but Luke was pretty sure he’d hit him. He just had no idea where.

Luke turned back.

Luis and Ashley, still shaken, expertly peeked out from behind a laboratory cabinet. Bruce stared at the severed arm on the floor, swallowing hard, but ultimately resisted the urge to take a bite.

“Hey, hey! You definitely can’t eat that!”

Luke kicked the arm away. He’d never heard of Plaga affecting animals, but this wasn’t something worth testing.

The big white dog was his beloved pet now.

“I’m starting to believe you’re not human anymore. Other than the two of us, I don’t think there’s a single normal human left in this castle!” Luis said, his expression complicated.

He had watched Luke catch Krauser’s bone blade with his bare hand, then chop off the man’s arm like he was taking apart a machine.

Even the Winter Soldier’s arm didn’t come off that easily!

What was this, some kind of detachable toy?

At this point, simply calling Luke’s combat ability “strong” didn’t even begin to cover it.

He was cheating!

He was absolutely cheating!

“Nonsense. Don’t start believing in supernatural crap. This is pure science!” Luke hadn’t even broken a sweat.

He could barely remember the last creature that had actually made him sweat.

Clown walker?

No.

Night Hunter?

Maybe.

Witch?

Trash.

At the end of the corridor, the laboratory doors stood wide open.

Krauser was nowhere to be seen, but there were streaks of blood on the floor, most likely left behind during his escape.

That was a lot of blood, though.

Where exactly had the knife hit him?

Inside the laboratory, the room was packed with precision instruments, test tubes, and petri dishes.

The walls were covered in dense research charts and detailed data on the Plaga parasites.

Several cryogenic containers held Plaga samples in different stages and forms. At the center of the room, suspended inside a massive cylindrical culture tank, was an enormous Plaga mother organism.

It was one of the mothers that had already hatched.

“Found it!” Luis’s eyes lit up as he hurried forward. “They really did keep one of these things. We got lucky, Luke! Give me some time. I need to extract a sample from the mother organism and pull the research data from these systems. Then I can synthesize a real antidote!”

“Fine. How long?”

“Two or three hours if everything goes smoothly.”

Luis had already buried himself among the instruments, his hands moving rapidly across the equipment.

When he focused on research, he was nothing like his usual smooth-talking self. He practically became a different person.

“That long? In the game, don’t you just activate some machine and the antidote pops right out?” Luke asked incredulously.

“Have you been chewing on too many green herbs and started hallucinating? Virology is a rigorous science. Of course it takes time. And there’s some chemistry involved too... You do know what chemistry is, right?”

“Uh... hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron...?”

“Whatever. You and Ashley move aside. You’re getting in the way.”

Luke was already used to scientists talking to him like this.

Luis was much gentler than the Tolga brothers.

“Fine. Do your thing.”

Luke looked over at Ashley, who had remained unusually quiet.

The college girl had mostly recovered from her fear, but she still looked hesitant, clearly wanting to say something.

“Sit down and rest. If you’re hungry, chew on a couple of green herbs. They’re pretty filling.”

Chew on green herbs?

Ashley wondered what kind of strange diet that was.

Was eating green herbs the secret to becoming that strong?

Luke had no idea that one casual remark had just installed an entirely new line of logic into Ashley’s head.

The two sat there in silence for a while.

Ashley’s emerald eyes kept sneaking glances at Luke’s face. Every time he moved, she quickly looked away.

Eventually, their eyes met.

“Handsome, wasn’t I?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if I looked cool back there!”

“You... you did!”

Ashley hadn’t expected Luke to be so direct.

He was kind of full of himself.

Her cheeks turned red. “You’re really amazing.”

“Huh?” This time, Luke was the confused one.

I know that, but how did you know?

“Those monsters are terrifying, but you... you’re never scared. And you’re always the first one to stand in front of me.” She twisted her fingers together, her voice gradually growing quieter. “Ever since I was little, everyone around me either treated me with extreme respect because of who my father is, or... they were like Saddler, approaching me because they wanted something.”

“Only you... only you guys treat me like a princess and genuinely protect me.”

Luke raised an eyebrow.

So the sheltered girl was developing her first crush.

A pampered young lady raised in safety had probably never experienced anything like this before. Being rescued from one nightmare after another by someone risking his life for her, and a good-looking guy at that, it was only natural for her to feel something.

If her rescuer had been ugly, it might have been more like, “I’ll repay you by serving you in my next life.”

That would’ve been pretty damn rough.

Unfortunately, Luke really didn’t dare get involved with anyone else this time.

He already had several women back home willing to use every trick imaginable to squeeze him dry.

Besides, in their line of work, sleeping with the employer’s... mission target was one of the biggest taboos.

Still, what exactly did Ashley’s father have?

An Ark housing 200,000 people was impressive, but given enough time and resources, something like that could eventually be built.

There had to be some other major bargaining chip involved.

It couldn’t be nukes, could it?

Luke shook his head and pushed the ridiculous thought aside.

Then again, if you still had nuclear weapons after the apocalypse, that would definitely make you a major player.

“It’s nothing. Who’d come vacation in this godforsaken place without getting paid?” Luke laughed and deliberately changed the subject. “Mixing feelings with business is bad for profits. Just make sure your dad reimburses me. At least ten cargo planes’ worth of supplies!”

“Some cutting-edge medical equipment would be nice too. Throw in a few researchers while you’re at it. I’m not greedy...”

Ashley opened her mouth.

He called that not greedy?

That was insanely greedy!

Still, maybe that wasn’t so bad.

At least he wasn’t after her looks. He only wanted money.

Compared to plenty of people who had approached her before, that almost made him seem noble.

At least, that was how Ashley chose to see it.

While Luis remained absorbed in synthesizing the antidote, Ramon’s laughter suddenly echoed from the laboratory ceiling.

“Hehehe... Did you really think reaching the depths of my castle would make you safe?”

“Fools! Every inch of this place belongs to me!”

“That useless Krauser couldn’t even keep one of his arms! It seems I’ll have to entertain you personally!”

The moment he finished speaking, the entire laboratory began to shake violently.

Deep inside the lab, a massive alloy door was blasted open by an enormous force.

Ramon appeared behind it.

Except this time, he was no longer a tiny dwarf.

Behind him, something made of countless parasites and masses of flesh was slowly growing out of the wall.

The creature had countless tentacles and an enormous mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth at its center. Ramon’s head protruded from the mountain of flesh, looking almost like a tumor unless you stared closely.

“Man, this is where reality really differs from the game.”

“In a game, monsters can’t enter the safe room, so at least you get a chance to breathe. Reality doesn’t work that way. Ramon’s already turned himself into some kind of Almighty Father cosplay.”