TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 261: Rebecca and Ada (Patreon)

As for the chief culprit, he was face-down against the sofa, looking utterly lifeless.

Bruce hadn’t shown his face the entire time. With all that chaos going on outside, the dog hadn’t even come out to mediate. Luke decided Bruce was going without food for a full day tomorrow!

“Luke, spill it!”

Even Maggie was nearly out of energy.

Luke muttered, “Rebecca just wanted to draw my blood and study my body.”

“I don’t know about Jade. I suspect she was just doing it for fun.”

“As for Claire... I have no idea what she wanted with me.”

“Ada... ahem. Let’s not talk about that.”

“Ashley... she came as a hostage.”

Maggie gave him a deeply suspicious look. “You really think I’m going to believe that?”

Luke: “...”

...

The chaotic showdown finally came to an end amid a storm of shouting and commotion.

After all, Luke really was innocent this time.

Rebecca, Jade, and Claire each took turns backing up his story, and Maggie eventually believed him.

However...

The next afternoon, Luke was finally kicked out of bed.

This time, it had been a full-scale operation.

...

(Ah, no. Not writing that.)

Ada and Rebecca were both waiting outside his office.

Luke’s guard immediately shot up.

Ada had changed into a black cheongsam today, cut exactly to Luke’s tastes. It hugged the female agent’s figure perfectly, outlining the supple yet powerful curve of her waist.

The slit along the hem was just right. Whenever she crossed or stretched out her legs, a glimpse of her fair, slender calf appeared, its smooth contours like the finest white jade.

Under the light, her skin seemed to carry a soft, lustrous glow.

Damn!!

Ada simply lounged there, looking impossibly striking and captivating.

Rebecca, meanwhile, gave off an entirely different impression.

For once, she had taken off her white lab coat and changed into a pure white sleeveless top, revealing her snow-pale arms.

Rebecca spent most of her time in the lab and rarely went out on missions anymore, so her skin was unbelievably fair.

She deliberately raised a hand to adjust her glasses, showing off a pair of delicate, jade-like hands. Her fingers were pale and slender, her joints evenly shaped, while her palms carried the faintest rosy flush.

Luke almost didn’t dare walk through the door.

Rebecca had clearly dressed up for the occasion too. She sat casually on the sofa in a simple pair of sandals, but even the small section of ankle left exposed looked especially slender and smooth. Her ten toes were neat and delicate, almost translucent.

There was an indescribably fresh, graceful beauty about her.

Jade! She was practically made of jade!

Rebecca and Ada were two completely different styles.

One was dazzling and cool, while the other was elegant and intellectual.

Both had that mature, understanding charm.

Normally, Luke would have stared for a few hundred extra glances.

Right now, though, every alarm bell in his head was ringing.

Mostly because the three of them had wrung him dry last night, and he was still stuck in cooldown.

Still, there was no denying it. With these two women sitting together in his office...

They were just... beau-ti-ful!

“You’re here?”

Ada seemed to have been waiting specifically for him. “They really put you through the wringer, huh? And you actually survived. You’re something else.”

Luke leaned against the doorframe and eyed the two of them suspiciously.

“You’re forming alliances too now? Well, thanks a lot...”

“Quit running your mouth!” Ada shot him an annoyed look.

She certainly wasn’t going to let herself get wrecked that badly.

Rebecca didn’t waste time either. She adjusted her glasses and said, “Luke, we actually have something serious to discuss this time. We’ve developed an improved version of the antidote.”

“The standard version can be used for treatment, but it has to be administered individually by injection.”

“The improved version is different. We’ve aerosolized it. As long as it’s dispersed over a large area from the air... it can wipe out Harran Virus walkers on a massive scale, including mutants.”

Luke’s eyes lit up.

Rebecca continued, “And it’s harmless to humans throughout the process. It shouldn’t cause any adverse effects... Well, maybe not absolutely none. It varies from person to person. Some people might get rhinitis!”

Rhinitis. That did sound a little serious.

Aerial dispersal over an entire area meant that hordes created by the Harran Virus would no longer be much of a problem. Volatiles, Night Hunters, even the most ordinary white-armored soldiers. Toss one into a nest, and a single person could clear the whole place out.

Now that was a biological weapon!

“Good stuff!” Luke nodded with genuine approval.

“Then there’s the second matter.”

Rebecca glanced at Ada. “Next, I plan to work on an antidote for the S-series viruses. Ada has provided critical virus samples and research data.”

“Work on the Wildfire virus is moving forward at the same time, but developing a targeted treatment for that virus will still take a great deal of time.”

Luke nodded.

That was within expectations.

Of every virus he had encountered so far, the Wildfire virus was the only one with truly global transmission.

But if they could develop a vaccine for the Wildfire virus, it would be equivalent to possessing a nuclear weapon. It was what every survivor needed most desperately.

He was currently recruiting and expanding his forces.

If the opportunity came up, he even wanted to trade for an actual nuclear warhead!

“You two can decide how to handle it. I completely respect the experts’ plans, and I guarantee you’ll have my full support!” Luke said.

“But...” Rebecca added.

“While researching those two viruses, I also want to study... your blood.”

There it was!

Good news first, bad news second.

Luke was just about to refuse when Rebecca cut him off. “Don’t say no yet. I know what you’re worried about. You’re afraid that if samples of your blood get out, they could become a threat to you.”

Rebecca looked more serious than Luke had ever seen her.

“So I can promise you this...”

“Every single time I study your blood, you can be there personally to supervise me. Everything I do will happen right under your eyes.”

“Second, once the research is finished, I’ll only keep the recorded data. Every blood sample will be incinerated. Not a single drop will remain.”

Rebecca even staked her personal integrity on it.

“I swear on my honor as a researcher that not one sample of your blood will ever leave this laboratory.”

She stared at Luke so intently she was practically drooling.

No one could understand just how irresistible a genetic sequence that might contain the secret to evolution was to her.

“So?”

Rebecca waited eagerly for Luke’s answer.

This time, Luke genuinely hesitated.

Rebecca was the scientist he valued most. She had already made enormous contributions, and he still needed her expertise going forward.

So...

Luke looked at Rebecca’s earnest expression.

Ada hadn’t said a word the entire time. All she had done was suggest that Rebecca wear something a little more persuasive.

Aside from that, she had made herself completely invisible.

She wasn’t going to interfere with Luke’s judgment.

Though she was certainly curious to see the data structure herself.

Luke turned to Ada. “I can agree, but you’ll have to make everything up to me. And then... Rebecca?”

Rebecca looked conflicted.

“No. I intend to devote myself to science...”

“Stop!” Luke cut her off loudly. “Don’t start imagining anything involving ethical complications. I mean you have to promise you’ll do exactly what you said! Don’t secretly keep samples of my blood, create a clone, and then end up falling in love with your own creation...”

Rebecca’s face darkened with exasperation.

What do you think this is, a movie?!

What kind of third-rate cliché plot is that?!

...