Khalifa: Queen in the Apocalypse

Ryo sneezed.

He scrunched his nose for a bit, ensuring there was no follow up. Then, he turned in a direction only to see the complicated expression on his young uncle’s face.

His eyes twitched, knowing this young uncle of his probably thought he was dying. "I’m fine, uncle."

Kylo’s deep ocean eyes stared at his nephew. Or, more accurately, the bandages that covered half of his body.

"Well, your mother thinks you’re broken."

"..."

"Do you want to hear her sobs of panic?" Kylo said, his indifferent voice making everything more stressful. "She already told me to get married so the family line would continue…"

Kylo felt a headache coming at the memory of his sister’s nonstop rant. He could only massage his head in an attempt to ease it.

However, he couldn’t blame his sister for this either. Who would’ve thought things would get so bad?

They were currently in Fuyu, a small country Southeast of their Atlas Country.

They were called to participate in a secret worldwide activity to guard scientists and researchers as they figured out the source of this plague.

Because of the love for social interactions of the culture here, a lockdown was extremely difficult to implement. At some point, over 30% of the population caught it.

Now even military from allied countries had been called to assist. Ryo was injured during a scuffle with a mob trying to get out of the quarantine zone.

The lockdown had gotten in their heads, and they brought knives and fought like insane people.

Witnesses said they were borderline… rabid.

Rabid like mad dogs, but worse, because they were large and had some semblance of intelligence.

And… from what he had been hearing so far, this was a common occurrence across the globe.

How was it in their home country? How was his sister and brother-in-law? His comrades?

And that girl.

The image of the beautiful girl with her striking eyes mirroring her brave soul, flashed by his head, making his chest constrict a little.

He remembered she was still just a woman, a weak one, and he couldn’t help but feel dread that these events would also happen on their home soil.

In any case, he wondered how that girl was. Was her wound treated on time?

Even if he was an ice block, he still knew that girls didn’t like scars on their bodies, didn’t they?

If Ryo knew what was running in his uncle’s head, he would gape at him in disbelief.

"It’s worsening, especially the symptoms. More and more people just don’t… wake up from the fevers." Ryo reported to his uncle. "Fortunately, no one has died."

He couldn’t help but feel something heavy in his gut. "I feel something big is coming." He said, baritone voice exuding seriousness.

Ryo paused, also worrying for his home country. But he still believed in it.

"I’m sure our country’s making enough preparations."

***

In a deep underground facility in the heart of Atlas Country, an advanced scientific facility was located.

The elevator door opened to reveal a huge space over a thousand square meters in size. Dozens of people in lab coats go to and fro each laboratory area, serious expressions on their faces.

A middle-aged man walked in. His steps were coordinated, disciplined, and his aura terrifying.

He strode all the way to the end, where the lead scientists were stationed.

He was tall and strong, and even for his advanced age any younger man would feel intimidated. Anyone could see that this man was someone of high position.

"Any news?"

He asked the person nearest to him, who just stared at him in response.

It was a handsome man, white skin, and an alien-like completely white hair. But his sharp reddish irises brought a bit of fright to the strong man.

This man had the rare combination of poliosis and albinism.

It could be scary and an unusual sight, but his handsome features and temperament made the odd feature look elven and holy.

However, the man had a somber temperament that he was more like a vampire instead.

It was still the type that women would willingly lose their lives to.

The old man knew of this man. Sigmus Zed, the youngest winner of the Great Scientist award.

Despite his young age, he was actually leading this team with a combined age of a millenia.

The pale man ignored him and resumed doing his work at hand, making the older man’s eye twitch.

The old woman in a lab coat beside him answered.

"Yes. We managed to isolate the strain that causes the flu, we call it X-56."

"Where did it come from?"

"It was unknown what caused the mutation." She said, "But we know there was nothing extraterrestrial about it. It was likely that the planet simply released the contagion by itself."

The old man frowned, but was also a bit relieved. At the very least, it was still in their own soil.

"What about the cure?"

"It will not be easy. Please give us another eight to ten weeks and we should be able to find a cure."

"Make it five weeks."

"We will do our best."

Seeing that there could be no improvement, the man decided to leave them be, albeit not forgetting to give a subtle glance at the white-haired young man.

The old woman watched the man leave, going to another section to the floor under them, the weapons research facilities.

She heard they recruited another handsome young man there, but he had questionable origins.

But this was not her concern and she just turned to the young man next to her and sighed. "Sigmus, you could’ve just answered."

The white-haired lad sneered, mocking, but it was still an image that would definitely make girls outside swoon.

At this time, his sharp red eyes stared at the data in front of him, his eyebrows furrowed into a deep arch.

His crimson eye traced over the data, over and over, doing calculations in his head repeatedly, wondering if the outcome would change.

There was none. At best, they could only delay the inevitable.

"Let’s not kid ourselves," he said, a soft sneer gracing his lips.

"We definitely don’t have five weeks."