Chapter 18
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Bait Trap Harvest
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The next morning, I headed straight out to check the living bait traps I'd set up outside.
I wondered if they'd worked as well as I'd hoped. I'd placed a total of six traps, and honestly, if even one turned into a jackpot, I'd be satisfied.
"Oh... this is way bigger than I expected?"
I approached the first trap, and sure enough, zombies were swarming around the transparent enclosure, trying to tear into the human inside. There had to be at least eighty of them.
I hadn't dared hope for a hundred, figuring forty or fifty would be fine, but this was way more than I'd imagined.
Even running around all day hunting zombies, I'd only managed about a hundred on a good day. On the first day of the zombie apocalypse, I'd quickly taken out a big cluster because there were so many people outside drawing aggro and bunching them up. But now, it was hard to even run into people outdoors.
Everyone was either hiding to avoid zombies or hunkered down in their shelters, refusing to come out. So the zombies were scattered here and there instead of clumped together, forcing me to hunt them down one by one.
But luring them like this? Perfect. It was the same number I'd snag in a whole day before, all gathered in one spot. Sweeping them up here would give me a full day's worth in one go.
Time for a Predation, then.
I landed near the cluster of zombies and wiped them all out. Sliced some apart with my blade, drained others with Mana Drain to convert them into my demonic energy.
It took about five minutes to clear them. Without the trap, hunting down eighty scattered zombies would've meant spending at least an hour prowling around, tracking down and picking off the stragglers. But now? Just stroll up in the morning and mop them up.
This saves so much time—feels amazing. No wasted effort; every second's productive.
After dealing with the zombies, I glanced at the man locked in the enclosure, and my face soured involuntarily.
Trapped inside all day without being able to come out, he'd pissed and shat himself as his legs were crushed, the stench enough to wrinkle anyone's nose. Starving too, clutching his stomach and gazing at me with desperate, pleading eyes begging to live.
He wanted to stand but couldn't with his legs twisted at unnatural angles. Instead, he dragged himself closer with his arms, inching toward me.
"Hngh... p-please... save me... please..."
Clearly, I couldn't just leave him like this. I pulled an item from my Subspace and tossed it into the transparent enclosure.
He flinched in shock when I produced the item from empty air, then scrambled desperately toward it once he saw what it was.
"Hey, that's your ration of water for the day. Make it last."
"Wha... one day's worth?!"
He grabbed the one-liter plastic bottle and yelled in disbelief.
"What, you've got the energy to shout? Then nurse that along and we'll talk tomorrow."
"W-wait! Please wait! I beg you!!"
I waved as I turned away after tossing the bottle, but he desperately called after me. I didn't look back, sprinting off to the next bait trap.
Not bad—the experimental setup exceeded expectations. Leaving him like that seemed fine, so I gave him a day's water as a minimum.
A person needs two or three liters of water a day to survive, from what I remember, but skimping won't kill him right away. Just enough to scrape by. Feeding him food and water indefinitely to keep him alive doesn't make sense.
These bait traps were just prototypes to test if the concept worked.
Once confirmed, I can build proper ones next time. Maintaining that one already wastes too much of my demonic energy.
The demonic energy forming the transparent enclosure doesn't last forever—it persists only until the infused energy depletes. To keep it going indefinitely, I'd have to recharge it constantly, which is inefficient for these slapdash traps. Plus, zombies slamming into the walls accelerates the drain.
Might be better to use non-demonic materials for the walls, something that lets zombies see the bait inside and charge at it.
"Oh, plenty here too."
The second trap had a similar swarm surrounding it. I cleared the zombies, tossed in a water bottle like before, planning to let the bait survive minimally until he croaks, then replace him.
All the other traps performed perfectly too.
"Man, this is too convenient. Next time, maybe clear out entire buildings to make it easier for zombies to spot the bait from afar?"
Instead of ground level, suspending the bait at arm's reach height might draw even more zombies. Worth trying next.
I'd left at around 8 a.m., and after a bit over an hour, I reached the last trap.
Let's see—how many zombies did I bag from these traps today?
The best way to check kill counts like this is the Achievements menu. There's an achievement that rewards you for hitting zombie milestones, so it tracks the numbers perfectly.
[Zombie Slayer 2]
[Eliminate 300 zombies.]
[Reward: 20 Coins]
[Current Kills: 427/300]
I hadn't checked achievements since massacring zombies at K-Mart last time, but my total's at 427 now?
This only counts zombies I've killed directly without magic, so multiply by about 1.5 to 2 for the real tally. That's up to 856 zombies downed.
The zombie apocalypse hasn't even been a week yet, and I've racked up this many? Includes today's trap haul, but still impressive.
Now to finish off the zombies at this last trap.
I casually wiped them out, tossed a water bottle to the bait inside like before, and pondered my next move. Normally, I'd be scouting the area for zombies, but these traps handled that until they dissolve—no need to roam.
The local zombies probably swarmed here after spotting the bait, so barring new spawns, the 500-meter radius around my house is basically zombie-free.
Should I venture farther out?
"Grr... you bastard!!"
A curse came from behind. I turned to see one of the baits—the guy who'd been called "hyungnim"—glaring at me with pure hatred.
This guy's interesting.
All the other baits had begged for mercy once I cleared the zombies, pleading to be let out. But this one? Straight to insults over pleading.
Intrigued by the entertaining one, I approached.
"You call me?"
"Grr... yeah, you fucking prick! What the hell are you? Making these... weird walls, using me to lure zombies... what are you?!"
Seriously? You stopped me just to demand my identity? Lame. Got nothing more entertaining to say?
"H-hey, why not team up with me?"
"Huh?"
"I-I know a big shot, Hyungnim Lee Younggil—he runs the Haedong Faction. Join us. You can have whatever you want. Pretty girls, tons of money, even rule this messed-up world. So join Haedong Faction. I'll forget everything you did to me and the guys."
Scouting me in this situation? Now that's intriguing.
I don't know exactly what Haedong Faction is, but sounds like a group of survivors.
"That the place where guys like you hang out?"
"G-guys like me? Well, yeah, but..."
"I'll think about it. I'll come back tomorrow—if you're still alive, I'll drop you off at this Haedong whatever-or-shit place. Might even consider joining."
"R-really?! Wait, tomorrow? No, wait!! Come back!!!"
Ignoring his desperate cries, I headed farther out. No zombies left nearby anyway—better to hunt clusters farther away for efficiency.
Plus, now I'm curious about this Haedong Faction he mentioned.
If he's alive when I return tomorrow, I'll take him there.
The way he hyped it up, they've gotta have a decent number of people and stockpiles of useful stuff.
And I can just claim it all for myself, right?
No reason to turn down a honey pot offering to guide me right to it.
Honey pot rolls in~ come on in~