Chapter 132: The Second Zombie Rush Begins
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132: The Second Zombie Rush Begins
[The Zombie Rush has begun.]
[Time Remaining: 119 hours, 59 minutes, 50 seconds]
The message popped up the moment it struck midnight.
This must have appeared not just to me, but to all survivors.
Since that was how it went during the 1st Zombie Rush.
By now, people had probably realized.
That my words were not a lie.
And some were bound to regret it.
I should have spent my Coins to stock up on food, even if it was a bit expensive.
I should have requested outer wall repairs, even if I thought it was a rip-off.
But regret came too late.
Even if they came looking for me now, there was nothing I could do for them.
Because I wasn't at the base.
[Zombies are starved under the influence of the Blood Moon.]
[Zombies grow highly sensitive under the influence of the Blood Moon.]
[Zombies' stats are enhanced under the influence of the Blood Moon.]
[Due to the stronger effects of the Blood Moon, the "Blood Hour" has been added. During the "Blood Hour," creatures influenced by the Blood Moon grow even stronger and have their abilities enhanced, while creatures not influenced by the Blood Moon are weakened.]
[Under the powerful influence of the Blood Moon, the zombies' "Berserk" state will persist permanently.]
[The strengthened zombies will yield more Coins.]
Considering the nature of the Zombie Apocalypse Mode, the Zombie Rush gets stronger every single time.
In reality, some level of plausibility had to be maintained, so the "Blood Moon" was introduced to explain why the zombies grew stronger.
And this Blood Moon concept actually seemed pretty good.
It made sense.
That red moon floating up in the sky.
Setting aside any scientific questions about how a crimson moon could hang in the sky, the "Blood Moon" was certainly a sufficient explanation for why the zombies suddenly became so active.
"Here it comes."
This time, something called the "Blood Hour" had been added.
The name sounded grand, but in reality, it wouldn't be much different.
Just as there were specific times when zombies moved during previous Zombie Rushes, this was likely just that same active window rebranded as the "Blood Hour," making the zombies even stronger.
It also seemed designed to weaken humans during that period, placing restrictions on hunting zombies.
The difficulty was ramping up.
Even factions with enough power to easily fend off the Zombie Rush itself would have to lay low and hide during the "Blood Hour."
This was good news for me.
The harder the Zombie Rush became and the tougher it was to survive, the more the value of Paradise would skyrocket. If simply having a foothold in my Paradise yielded a far higher survival rate than other areas, the property values of the Safe Base—which defined Paradise's boundaries—would steadily rise.
Eventually, there might even be people whose ultimate dream was simply to live in Paradise.
"This is brutal."
The path to Yongsan was quite long.
Since it was located on the westernmost edge of my Safe Base, it was a distance of nearly 2.5 kilometers on foot.
The Zombie Rush had started while I was on my way, so I picked up the pace. However, I couldn't afford to waste time fighting zombies along the route, so I raised the level of "Cat Step" to Level 10.
– Upon use, conceals your presence for 600 seconds (+600 seconds). Noise from movement is reduced by 100%. Presence is reduced by 100%.
– Mana Cost: 1
"Cat Step" was a skill I had picked up at the police station and used so often it felt like my own signature move. The only reason I hadn't maxed it to Level 10 until now was that even at Level 4, its performance already exceeded 100% thanks to the "Normal Mode Effect +100%."
Investing Normal Mode Points would only increase its duration, and I had figured it was a bit of a waste to spend them on that.
But here, duration was actually quite important.
Sure, I had mana to burn, so I could just recast it whenever it wore off. But rather than dealing with the annoyance of casting it every few minutes, it was a skill I used frequently and would continue to rely on, so I decided to just level it up now and move around with peace of mind.
This Zombie Rush was definitely on a whole different level.
The zombies were roaming in hordes of at least a hundred by default.
Even as I slipped past them, the thought naturally crossed my mind: Wow, if I get caught, I'm absolutely fucked.
To make matters worse, every single horde had at least three or four Level 2 Zombies mixed in.
I wondered how many people would actually survive this.
Even though the zombies inside my Safe Base had all their stats reduced by 1 due to my Cheat Mode, the average stats of the Level 1 Zombies had still reached around 1.5 to 2.
[You are exposed to the "Blood Hour".]
[All stats decrease by ★.]
[Damage dealt to zombies decreases by 1.]
[You will grow thirsty quickly.]
[You will grow hungry quickly.]
This was the combined result of the stat boosts from the basic Zombie Rush and the additional buffs from the Blood Hour.
If I didn't have my Cheat Mode that reduced all enemy stats by 1 level, we would have faced the absurd situation of Level 1 Zombies putting the base stats of Level 2 Zombies to shame.
Of course, they were already doing exactly that.
Looking at the stats, the most rational choice during the "Blood Hour" would definitely be to just curl up and stay hidden.
Though I didn't know how long this "Blood Hour" would last.
On my way, I took down one of the few isolated Level 1 Zombies.
[Acquired 2 Coins]
The system message did say the amount of Coins dropped by zombies would increase, but I hadn't expected it to double.
"Whoa."
That's a pretty massive jump.
What if this only applied during the Blood Hour?
If so, wouldn't it be worth it for people to brave the danger and jump into this double-Coin event?
Then again, the system never specified that the increased Coin drops only applied during the Blood Hour.
If the Coin drop rate had simply doubled across the board with no extra bonus during the Blood Hour, then the Blood Hour would definitely just be a time for ordinary people to hide safely at home.
Though the problem was, staying safe wasn't something they could just choose to do.
As I drew closer to Yongsan, the number of zombies multiplied.
Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
"Crazy bastards."
The sound of gunfire echoing over the hills from a distance explained exactly why.
Zombies would have swarmed them anyway even if they stayed quiet, but with them firing guns like that, every zombie in the vicinity was bound to head straight in their direction.
The Yongsan US Military Base.
There had been talk of it relocating to the Pyeongtaek US Military Base, disbanding soon, and being turned into some kind of park. But before that could happen, the zombie apocalypse had broken out, and it seemed they had seized the remaining supplies.
Because the base was so vast, completely blocking out the zombies was impossible. Instead, they seemed to be concentrating their firepower to herd and slaughter them in one spot.
This was actually better for me.
The fact that their firepower was concentrated over there meant the interior would be empty.
I headed toward the side where the zombies weren't gathering.
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There wasn't anything particularly grand about the Yongsan US Military Base.
Most of Yongsan Park consisted of spaces for soldiers, and the actual restricted area wasn't all that large.
Beyond the barbed wire fence, I could see ammunition and various weapons.
The ammunition depots and other warehouses appeared to have been converted into drug manufacturing factories.
Naturally, there was no one guarding them.
They wouldn't have the luxury of guarding them right now.
Every single person capable of fighting would have gone to slaughter the zombies.
"Hurry up and move the ammo! Fuck! If they break through, we're all dead!"
"What about... the door..."
"You motherfucker. Do you want to just die here? Does opening and closing the door matter right now? Leave it open and move it, fast!"
A guy who looked like an organization henchman was badgering a group of haggard-looking people.
Just like elsewhere, it wasn't only drug cartel members here.
This was incredibly risky on their part, though.
No matter how desperate the situation, giving the subjugated class a chance to take up arms in a crisis like this was a massive gamble.
But the subjugated people weren't fools either. Though hesitation was written all over their faces, none of them rashly tried anything.
They must have seen the system messages too.
And they surely knew what was happening outside.
To pull anything off, they first had to deal with the external threat to ensure their own survival.
Staging a rebellion now would mean mutual destruction even if they succeeded, and instant death if they failed.
Thanks to that, things were going to be easy for me.
I slipped quietly into the restricted area through the slightly open entrance.
I saw people moving cargo and a few henchmen rushing them, but considering the scale of this armory, it was practically deserted.
Since they were all clustered near the entrance, the open warehouses further inside were basically begging to be looted.
Of course, many of them were already empty.
Which made sense, since they had opened them to move supplies and hunt zombies.
But it was still the early stages of the Zombie Rush, and most of the warehouses still held a significant amount of resources.
"This one's empty..."
There were also warehouses that had likely been emptied earlier when they distributed weapons and ammo to various branches.
Those places were stacked high with drugs.
Seriously, how could I ever repay this kindness?
First the hospital, and now a military base.
As I began to thoroughly plunder the place, I casually fired a flare I had brought along into the sky.
It was the early hours of the morning.
In the dark Seoul sky, the night over Yongsan lit up brilliantly.