Chapter 131
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Silence from the Daycare Massacre
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As I headed north toward the Han River, I realized I'd be passing by the daycare near the spot where I'd met those people during the shop lockdown last time.
Should I try using the Skill Theft I picked up today to steal that skill from the person at the daycare?
It was definitely called Silence—a skill that prevents noise from being heard.
If you asked whether I really needed it, honestly, for me at least, it's not something essential.
It's a skill for weaklings who have to hide from zombie threats. For someone like me who can smash through anything, soundproofing isn't exactly a must-have.
But I have a feeling it'd let me pull off some fun stuff, so it seems worth grabbing anyway.
Just imagining it is sweet enough to make my lips curl up.
After running for a while, I soon arrived at the daycare.
But as I got close, I spotted something off.
"What the hell? Why is it smashed to pieces?"
It had only been about two days since I'd last seen it, but the daycare was completely collapsed.
The walls were totally gone, leaving the interior fully exposed.
Wondering what had happened, I approached and peered inside. A thick stench of blood wafted from deeper in.
Following the smell, I pushed open a door to go further—and there they were: countless corpses scattered all over the place.
Judging by their small sizes, they looked like the kids from the daycare.
It was the kind of gruesome scene that would make an ordinary person puke on sight, I suppose.
I've been through every kind of hell, so even seeing bodies torn apart and strewn about like a gore flick scene didn't turn my stomach anymore.
Of course, that doesn't mean I'm totally unfazed by it.
It just reminded me of the first village I saw massacred by monsters back in that other world, making me grimace.
"What the hell happened here to leave it like this... It's a real mess, a total tragedy."
As I muttered while eyeing the corpses around me, I noticed something strange about them.
A normal person might not even look closely and just assume zombies attacked, then hightail it out. But not me.
Examining the kids' bodies carefully, it wasn't just physical force that tore them apart.
I couldn't say exactly what, but it looked like they'd been sliced by something sharp, chopped into pieces.
If it had been regular zombies, there'd be bite marks everywhere from their teeth—but there wasn't a single one.
That left just two possibilities.
First up: humans did this.
Doesn't seem like zombies, and clean cuts mean it had to be people.
My initial thought was that several people had come in here and massacred the kids before leaving.
But after thinking it over, it didn't feel right.
No real reason to do something like this, and no obvious gain from it.
If humans raided, they'd just grab food or supplies and go—no need to make corpses, let alone hack them up, which takes time.
That'd just agro nearby zombies and make things annoying.
Even if it was humans, it'd have to be some sick pleasure killer who slaughtered all these kids—the odds of that are ridiculously low.
Second possibility—and the one I'm leaning toward—is a mutant zombie.
That makes a lot more sense.
Even with Silence, something tipped off the mutant to people being here. It smashed through the wall, slaughtered the kids inside. That fits the scene perfectly.
Especially since one trait I've seen in mutants so far is they don't treat humans like prey—they attack purely to kill.
That explains these bodies too.
For whatever reason, the mutant figured out people were inside, broke through the wall, invaded, and massacred every last kid. Totally plausible.
And with mutants showing weirder forms lately, the sliced-up corpses make sense too.
Take the first one I found, the Lacer—it attacked with long, sharp claws, nothing like regular zombies. Then the Smasher, Taker, and the dungeon mutants: all way beyond human shape.
So, no reason a mutant couldn't wield sharp weapons.
"Sharp weapons, huh... Would be nice to run into one sometime."
No point sticking around. I headed back out, thinking of the mutant that did this.
I came here to steal Silence, but the woman who had it is nowhere in sight.
She either fled from the attackers or got swept up and is one of these bodies.
No adult corpses in sight, though, so probably the former—she ran far away.
Came to steal a skill and ended up on a wild goose chase.
I turned to head toward the Han River as planned when I sensed a faint presence from behind a closed door.
It was so subtle, a normal person wouldn't have noticed.
Might be a survivor. I opened the door and stepped in. Sunlight pierced the dark room, revealing two people collapsed on the floor.
One looked like the husband I'd seen before—his body riddled with slashes, clearly dead.
The other was the woman with Silence. She'd been attacked too, covered in wounds.
Bad enough she'd probably survive, barely.
But she'd lost too much blood—death was imminent.
I knelt beside the dying woman.
"Hard to even ask if you're okay. Hey, can you hear me?"
She was pretty much gone—eyes unfocused, no real reaction to my words.
But her chest rose and fell faintly. Still breathing, just barely.
Too late to save her and carry her out.
But leaving now felt like a waste of time.
Maybe give Skill Theft a shot?
Sooner or later I'd have to test it—might as well now.
If it fails, I lose 1,000 coins. But think of it as the cost of learning how it works.
I targeted the fallen woman and activated Skill Theft.
Obviously aiming for Silence—I pictured its name and effects in my head.
[Skill Theft successful.]
I'd tried it just in case, and boom—20% chance hit paydirt.
1,000 coins gone from my pocket, but for learning Skill Theft and scoring a new one? Bargain.
Could've cost way more. This is pocket change.
Let's check out the skill.
[Silence]
Blocks sounds generated inside an enclosed (walled-off) space from being heard outside.
They said stolen skills reset to level 1, but some have no levels anyway. Guess they transfer as-is in those cases.
Got the skill I came for. Time to bounce—when suddenly her arm twitched faintly.
"W-Wait..."
I stayed put, curious what the near-dead woman had to say.
"Kill... that guy..."
She figured she was done for—no pleas to save her. Just vengeance on her attacker.
"Kill him? How am I supposed to know who 'that guy' is?"
"Mut...ant..."
She mustered her last strength to spit out "mutant," then went silent.
That confirmed my hunch, of course.
Guess it's time to go mutant hunting.
No loyalty or anything forcing me to grant her wish, but as payback for handing over Silence before dying, I can handle a simple request.