Chapter 18: Adaptation
Chapter 18: Adaptation
#
Thwack.
I brought the bat down in a short, sharp blow against the back of the nearest zombie's head.
The controlled swing split the zombie's skull open.
That much force was plenty.
I still couldn't accurately judge how tough a zombie's skull was.
Looked like I'd need a bit more practice to dial in the right amount of power.
Graaaargh!
The instant its companion's head burst,
the suit-wearing zombie in front of 2001's door lunged at me.
I drove a kick into its solar plexus and sent it flying backward.
Boom.
The kick hurled it into the elevator doors, where it collapsed.
I could feel the increase in strength.
'Stay calm.'
Zombies only knew one thing: mindlessly trying to bite people.
Even if I couldn't finish one in a single move, reacting like this let me create distance and lowered the risk of getting bitten.
It hit me again: I wasn't dealing with a person who still had a mind.
When a zombie looked physically intact, its resemblance to a living person kept misleading me.
In a way, going up against a monster reduced to nothing but the instinct to bite was simpler than fighting someone who could think.
Kraaaagh.
Fwooosh. Crunch.
At the same moment I kicked the suit zombie back, a zombie charged from the stairwell.
I immediately swung the baseball bat horizontally, catching it in the head while it was still airborne.
Its head came clean off.
I moved at once, sidestepping the falling torso and finishing off the suit zombie as it struggled to rise.
"Hoo."
After all that tension, I'd put down three zombies with practically no effort.
Hardly any blood had splattered, and I had used little stamina.
Thanks to Body Enhancement, fighting zombies had become much easier.
I'd meant to save up a few points, but I changed my mind and put everything into Body Enhancement.
* Transformation: Optimization
* Enhanced Recovery (10), Body Enhancement (10)
* Available Points: 0
I brought both Enhanced Recovery and Body Enhancement to 10.
The situation was still too precarious to save points, so I postponed that plan.
My priority was investing enough to fight zombies reliably as soon as possible.
Grip.
After raising Body Enhancement, I gripped the baseball bat and squeezed.
Now that I had raised it to 10, I might be able to feel a change.
The Body Enhancement effects I could currently feel were greater stamina and strength.
Just looking at the words "Body Enhancement," you'd expect a broader range of effects, but I hadn't fully figured it out yet.
"Hmm."
Nothing dramatic happened, such as the handle shattering in my grip like in a comic or film.
Maybe because the strength boost wasn't so overwhelming that I couldn't control it.
Heading down the stairs, I repeatedly clenched and released my hand.
'I couldn't tell.'
The more experience I built up fighting zombies, the more I'd pick up the tricks.
How to move my body, the right amount of force to use, the ideal level of tension to maintain—things like that.
Even replaying the fight from moments earlier, I was already very different from the person I had been the day before.
I would keep gathering data.
This was the kind of experience you could never gain just by hiding.
Every experience would make me stronger.
#
I reached the ground floor.
I moved carefully, scanning my surroundings with every step.
It was quiet.
By now, not a single sound reached me from the outside world.
The distant echoes of explosions, the faint screams—all of it was gone.
Feeling like I'd been stranded in solitude in a ruined world, I headed for the convenience store in the apartment complex's commercial block.
Inside the store, I tested how much my strength had improved by picking up various items.
It would have been nice to have access to a gym.
Rustle.
I sat at the counter, ate chips, washed them down with a drink, and sorted through my thoughts.
The fact that the chips in my hand weren't crushed to dust told me controlling everyday strength wasn't an issue.
That meant this wasn't a situation where I could no longer control my own strength.
My strength had definitely increased, but I couldn't gauge the upper limit.
I needed to find something heavier.
'Let's go.'
After a short rest in the convenience store, I stepped out onto the road to reach the building that housed the drum academy.
Abandoned vehicles littered the street.
I held still for a moment and watched for any sign of movement, but there was nothing.
I emerged from behind an SUV I'd used for cover and kept walking.
Hmm... should I give it a lift?
The thought suddenly crossed my mind: An SUV this size had to weigh several hundred kilos, right?
I moved to the front of the SUV and set my baseball bat down beside me for a moment.
I pressed my body right up against the bumper.
Bending my knees, I settled into position.
"Hup."
I drew in a breath and braced my core tight.
As I locked in, I felt that my hip joints had become noticeably more flexible.
Taking a stance similar to a deadlift made it absolutely clear.
It made one thing clear: Body Enhancement did more than increase stamina and strength; it improved my body itself.
My flexibility and range of motion were definitely better, too.
I could also feel the imbalances built up over nearly ten years as a right-handed batter beginning to correct themselves.
Whoa... I didn't know my hips could feel this comfortable.
I aligned my spine, braced myself, and lifted the front of the vehicle.
I didn't know its weight, but I felt I could lift it all the way.
It wasn't especially strenuous.
I tucked my hips in and straightened my legs and back.
Thud.
After hoisting the front of the car completely off the ground, I simply let go.
The sound of the front wheels slamming back down rang out louder than I'd expected.
Probably because the street was so quiet.
'Holy shit.'
I didn't actually know how much the SUV weighed.
I hadn't lifted the whole vehicle clean into the air; the rear wheels stayed planted. I'd only lifted the front end.
Still, whatever way you sliced it, I'd just hit a one-rep max on an SUV.
Absolutely buzzing with excitement, I looked around, scanning for an even bigger vehicle.
Smack!
Then I slapped both cheeks and snapped myself out of it.
I quickly snatched up the baseball bat I'd set down and took a deep breath.
Drunk on my new strength, I'd momentarily forgotten exactly what kind of situation I was in.
This wasn't the time to show off my strength in the middle of the road.
Getting a precise measurement would be better done in a safer setting.
I set off again toward the convenience store inside the drum academy building.
#
The convenience store was a mess.
The shelves were noticeably emptier than before—someone had clearly been through.
Damn.
I'd come to grab more medicine, but none remained.
Since the backpack I'd brought was large, I checked to see if there was anything else worth taking.
What had mostly disappeared from the shelves was the kind of food you could eat right away.
Thankfully, plenty of other items still remained.
While preparing the survival pack, I'd learned that zipper-lock bags were extremely useful.
I took every size, along with the sanitary pads and tampons beside them.
I also took snacks from near the counter, including gum and gummies.
'Everyone thought alike.'
Just like whoever had already hit this place, our group had started out by scavenging mainly for calorie-dense foods.
This time, I scavenged with longer-term needs in mind.
Once I got greedy, there was just too much to take.
I swept up all of my usual cigarettes and the lighters, too.
Lighters had plenty of uses in various situations.
'I should check the stockroom.'
Whoever had come through apparently hadn't checked the stockroom.
Opening the boxes stacked inside, I found small packs of rice, four kilos each.
If they'd checked, there was no way the rice would still be sitting here untouched.
'Did convenience stores normally sell rice?'
Whatever. I set the entire box aside.
Into the remaining space in my backpack, I crammed every kind of seasoning I could grab—salt, pepper, chili flakes, the works.
The pack bulged out as if it were screaming for mercy.
After that, I lifted the entire box of rice.
Heavy backpack over my shoulders.
Baseball bat tucked at my side.
A box of rice weighing forty-eight kilos in both hands.
This made me a little uneasy.
Once I was outside the store, it hit me that I'd probably gotten too greedy.
My sightlines were fine, but both hands were tied up.
'I was a walking golden goblin.'
Feeling like a walking pile of loot, I made my way down the silent street.
Next time, I'd have to bring Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong along and finish stripping the convenience store clean.
#
"You're back!"
"Whoa. What is all this? Here, give it to me."
I made it back in one piece.
Ga-yeong had woken up while I was out, too.
"Nah, this is heavy. I'll set it down in the kitchen—just sort through it."
I kicked my shoes off roughly and set the box down on the kitchen table.
The load I'd hauled here was sixty kilos at the very least.
The rice alone was nearly fifty kilos, and the seasonings added some decent weight as well.
The distance wasn't far, but I'd still climbed stairs all the way to the fifth floor, and yet I wasn't particularly tired.
My breathing was just a little rough, that was all.
Now that I'd experienced the direct physical proof of how much my stamina and strength had improved, I was really starting to feel attached to this ability.
I wanted to enhance it even faster.
"Heave-ho. Here, the backpack too."
The two women latched onto the box and the pack like they'd just received a long-awaited delivery.
They didn't seem to need my help.
I headed to the study to find another large backpack.
This time, I planned to take an empty backpack and fill it while scavenging.
I couldn't stop thinking about everything I'd left in the convenience store.
I could make another quick trip alone without waiting for the two women.
"I'll make one more trip. Do either of you specifically need anything?"
"Are you the Hulk? How on earth did you carry all this back?"
"I raised my ability, so my strength's gone way up. It's all good."
When I stepped back out to the kitchen, Ga-yeong stared at me in amazement.
"Hey, if you happen to find a power bank, please grab one. But are you really okay?"
"Course. I've still got plenty left in the tank. I dealt with every zombie on the floors above us too, and the street to the store was dead empty—not so much as a single ant."
"You took out zombies alone?"
"Uh? Yeah."
Seon-yeong fixed me with a hard look at the mention of having dealt with zombies.
She said we'd talk later and told me to be careful.
Something about "we'll talk later" suddenly sounded frightening.
It didn't feel like the "I'm busy now, let's table this" tone she used at the office.
'But what did she want to discuss later?'
A vague unease settled in as I got ready to head back out.
By then, Seon-yeong was smiling brightly and chatting with Ga-yeong.
Seeing her smile, it felt like it was probably nothing.
"Oh? First-name basis now? What happened while I was asleep? You're speaking casually too."
"It's not like that. We've known each other for years. What's... that look supposed to mean?"
Ga-yeong poked Seon-yeong in the side, teasing her.
It was true that nothing like that had happened.
Whatever was so funny, the two of them kept whispering and giggling nonstop.
Then, as I was putting my shoes on at the front door, they both looked right at me in unison.
A strong urge to get out of there right then washed over me.
"I'll be back."
I nodded when they told me to be careful and hurried out.
Half a floor down the stairwell, I stopped, opened a window, and lit a cigarette.
'Oh, right. Schneider... I couldn't let my guard down.'
Maybe I'd gotten swept up in the mood, but my alertness had slipped when I'd opened the door earlier.
Probably also because I was now confident I could handle zombies as long as they didn't come in a mob.
But when things went too smoothly, your mind got lax, and that was exactly when accidents happened.
I couldn't live on perpetual high alert inside the apartment, but whenever I stepped outside, I had to tighten the reins.