Early in the morning, just as the dawn broke.
Asahi looked at the girls sleeping side by side in the canvas tent and unconsciously offered a gentle smile.
It had been a week since he arrived in this world and established the camp. Currently, the number of Cursed Children residing there had reached the hundreds. However, he wasn't too happy about it; the more Cursed Children they took in, the more it proved that countless others were still suffering out there.
One must know that the current Tokyo Area was not the original Tokyo of ten years ago. The current Tokyo was only the territory calculated from the Monoliths inward.
There were a total of 43 Monolith slabs surrounding Tokyo. Between the main city area and the Monoliths was the vast, yet abandoned "Outskirts"—the dark shadow of the bustling metropolis inside. This area was intentionally created to serve as the main battleground between the Gastrea and the Self-Defense Force in case a large number of Gastrea invaded, rather than bringing the conflict directly into the city.
Each Monolith block had a corresponding Outskirts area. His current area, Section 40, had not yet finished gathering all the Cursed Children. So, just how massive was the number of abandoned Cursed Children spread across 43 such areas?
A long road ahead.
Asahi checked that the children were safe and soundly asleep, then nodded slightly. Compared to a week ago, the famished, pale, and sallow children had gained a bit of flesh under his care. At the very least, they had transformed from "starving children" to "malnourished children."
He did not wake the children. He quietly left the camp, which had become a spacious base with four large camping tents placed in a circle.
He wanted to venture outside the protection of the Monoliths. The place designated as the "Unexplored Zone."
After the failure of the Gastrea War, humanity only lived clustered together and never dared to consider expanding its territory outward. Of course, Asahi speculated that it wasn't impossible to expand, but that there must be some other reason.
Like the Monolith itself.
He now approached Monolith Block 40. This magnificent creation was truly enormous, stretching more than a kilometer from the ground up, piercing through the clouds. It was thanks to this structure that humanity could continue to live safely.
He touched the ice-cold metal block, clearly sensing that this was not merely an ordinary piece of metal, or just a shell containing something, or simply using its height to shield against Gastrea. The metal itself was what was holding back the monsters.
It emitted a special Force Field (lực trường) that radiated into the surrounding area. He could only sense it, as this force field could not affect him.
Based on the structure, the 43 Monolith slabs used 43 equal force fields to surround Tokyo, blocking the Gastrea. And with such height, even winged Gastrea could not fly over it.
"The one who thought this up is not bad."
Asahi exclaimed. With normal reasoning, people would typically think of building barriers or steel walls. However, that might not completely solve the problem, and would be extremely costly.
He guessed that humanity still had reserves of this special metal, but it was being saved for an emergency and was fundamentally unsuitable for territorial expansion.
Finally, he stepped outside.
Traces of architecture and civilization still remained here, but compared to the Outskirts, it was even more desolate and sparse. Jungles and green trees were unusually abundant here; some had grown to be much larger than normal.
He had to walk for a while to leave the range of the Monolith's influence. After wandering for a bit, he finally saw a Gastrea for the first time.
His impression of this monster species... how should he put it?
It reminded him of a kind of monster he had encountered in another world, only that species was more crustacean-like and quite uniform. The Gastrea, however, looked like someone had taken a few, or perhaps an unknown number, of genetic codes, mixed them into a bowl of soup, stirred it up, and let it swell.
"If the gods truly created this, they have rather poor taste."
Asahi grimaced, quietly using his claws to cleave the Gastrea in two so quickly that it couldn't even react.
The Unexplored Zone was genuinely dangerous, but he walked through it as if taking a stroll in a rear garden. There was no resistance at all.
After killing a few Gastrea, he collected them into a large cloth bag, hoisted it onto his back, and returned. But he didn't immediately go back to the Section 40 base; instead, he headed into Tokyo, the genuine Tokyo.
...
"Therefore, I hope that through this new Gastrea Law, equality and justice will come..."
On a large screen placed in the plaza was the image of the supreme leader of the Tokyo Area—Seitenshi, the Holy Maiden—giving a speech.
Some were indifferent, some were silent, some were opposed, but absolutely no sounds of support could be heard.
Asahi also observed from a distance.
The new Gastrea Law that Seitenshi mentioned was not too complex, but it included things like restoring the inherent human rights to the Cursed Children, along with welfare policies, administrative restructuring, and taking in the Cursed Children who were still wandering outside.
From this, it was clear that the seemingly young female leader harbored the intention of abolishing the separation between humans and Cursed Children.
However...
Indifference.
Aloofness.
Hostility.
Annoyance.
These were the only emotions he could read.
Absolutely no sympathy.
"The generation that was deprived."
That was what they were.
Stemming from the tragedy of the Gastrea War, hatred mixed with fear had been heaped upon the girls who carried the Gastrea virus from birth.
Ridiculous, but truly sad.
He walked away, trudging through the busy streets, feeling only lonely.
"This atmosphere is like the world before that..."
Oppressive, suffocating.
The people of this world perhaps continuously shut their eyes, or were used to it, or unconsciously ignored it. But only Asahi, an outsider who also possessed superhuman senses, truly felt the heaviness emanating from the air of this world.
Like a patient nearing the end of their life.
An enemy he could not touch.
He sighed, clearing his thoughts. Being too pessimistic was not a good thing.
He walked to a hospital, a place where people bought Gastrea body parts for research. Asahi had coincidentally learned of this method of earning money, which was why he took the trouble to venture outside the Monolith early in the morning for a haul. And this was not the first time he had made a transaction here.
However, the person making the transaction this time was not the bald doctor from before, but a... woman?
"Well, well, the quality is quite good, isn't it? Hey buddy, did you knock the Gastrea out and then cut them in half with a saw? No, that's not right. Even using a cutting machine wouldn't be this clean!"
She was an adult woman with messy purple hair covering her entire forehead. A part of her bangs covered her right eye and a portion of her cheekbone. Surrounding her eyes were thin eyebrows, and beneath them, slightly thick eyelashes framed her oval eyes and bright irises. Her hair was loose in all directions but maintained a moderate straightness at the back.
She wore a white coat, confirming she was likely a researcher here; it reached below her feet and covered most of her body. Underneath this attire was a collared shirt that wrapped around her neck, as well as a dark skirt that covered her thighs. Around her neck was a small necklace, with a name tag placed on her coat.
Name Tag: Muroto Sumire.