Chapter 138: On-Site Cleaning Service
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 138: On-Site Cleaning Service
A new product was registered on the Paradise Membership online store.
[Membership Level 3 (7 Days) + Level 3 Residency Voucher + Safe Escort Service: 2,000 Coins]
[Base Cleaning Service: 5,000 Coins (Additional fees may apply depending on scale)]
Well, it wasn't just one product, but they were of a similar nature.
Whether I cleared out the zombies in front of my base or someone else's house, it didn't make much of a difference to me anyway, so it was entirely feasible.
Since I was going to clear them out anyway, getting paid in coins made it a two-for-one deal.
Besides, if I used this opportunity to entice them into signing up for Membership Level 3, those who experienced it once would likely use it again ahead of the next Zombie Rush.
You could still sign up for Membership Level 3 right now.
But even if you signed up and applied for a Level 3 residency, there was no way to actually get in.
Sure, if they made it here on their own, I'd let them in. But if they were capable of fighting their way through hordes of zombies during a Zombie Rush to get here, they wouldn't have paid expensive coins to apply in the first place.
So, this was a premium service.
"If you want an escort service, you have to pay at least that much."
My special service, tailored for those who could afford to pay 2,000 coins for their lives.
I didn't think it was expensive.
Honestly, considering I was personally going out to clean up for them, this price was a steal.
As for the Base Cleaning Service, I added a disclaimer just in case some cheeky small faction tried to take advantage of me by paying only 5,000 coins for a massive job.
Although many posts popped up on the Gallery mocking the service and asking who would ever buy it, surprisingly, inquiries flooded in the moment I posted it.
I didn't take inquiries.
I put it in the store for people to buy, not to chat.
If they bought it, I deployed.
A very clean transaction.
Around lunchtime, a transaction request came in.
"Oh."
The Base Cleaning Service had been purchased, and the location was marked near Apgujeong Station.
It wasn't the station itself, but a spot with a lot of shops nearby, so they didn't seem like a particularly large faction.
"This is my first time heading toward Gangnam."
I had briefly gone down to the Sports Complex before, but that was technically Jamsil. I had never been to the Gangnam area proper.
With light footsteps, I packed only my weapons.
At some point, I had stopped wearing armor altogether, except for a thin bulletproof vest under my clothes. My stats had grown so high that armor actually hindered my movement.
It was much easier to just wear comfortable clothes.
All I had to do was avoid stray bullets. In fact, I didn't even need the bulletproof vest. Thanks to my ridiculously broken Hunting Expert skill, even if someone aimed a sniper rifle at me, I could already see the trajectory. Unless I stood perfectly still and waited for them to shoot, there was no way I'd get hit.
Wearing comfortable sneakers and sweatpants, with a short-sleeved shirt and a thin jacket thrown over it, I warmed up my body as if going out for a jog.
I had also raised the Late Bloomer skill I got from Jeon Jae-jung to Level 10. Since the options from Predation overlapped with the effects of Late Bloomer, I was looking forward to seeing how much I could raise them during this Zombie Rush.
Reaching Level 10 with Late Bloomer didn't grant any special extra stacks; it simply increased the limit to 15.
But that was more than enough.
An increase of +5 to all stat levels was far more valuable than any other option.
On top of that, thanks to my Cheat Mode effects, I could perform at twice the efficiency of Jeon Jae-jung, who had used the original Late Bloomer.
And since it said I could also raise Mode Levels using stacks, I figured that once I reached +15 to all stats, I might be able to invest my Normal Mode Points into the residents with a bit more breathing room.
The Zombie Predation modes weren't ones I used particularly often.
[Predation Damage (2★)]
- Damage dealt to zombies increases by 1.
- Level increases by 1 per 1,000 zombies (★) killed.
[Predation Efficiency (2★)]
- Coins obtained from zombies increase by 10%. (Minimum +1)
- Level increases by 1 per 200 zombies (2★) killed.
[Predation Defense (2★)]
- Damage received from zombies decreases by 1.
- Level increases by 1 per 30 zombies (3★) killed.
[Predation Luck (★)]
- Luck increases by 0.5%.
- Level increases by 1 per 10 zombies (4★) killed.
[Predation Point (★)]
- Gain points with a 0.1% chance upon killing a zombie.
- Level increases by 1 per 3 zombies (5★) killed.
These were modes that activated special effects once I reached a certain number of zombie kills.
They provided Level 1 by default, and the level would increase as I racked up kills.
"Predation Point is pretty good, though."
Needing to kill three Level 5 zombies just to increase the chance by 0.1% was a bit stingy, but simply having it meant I could get points if I got lucky, so there was no downside.
Besides, Luck didn't apply separately to "Rare," "Special," or "Transcendent" rates; a single Luck stat boosted the overall probability of everything, making it a pretty great option.
It was almost a shame that I had to stick to Level 1 for now, since there weren't many ways to level it up at the moment.
The effects from Level 1, 2, and 3 zombies weren't bad either, since they made me stronger relative to the zombies' levels.
Since my hunting-type Cheat Modes were slowly approaching Level 10, I needed to make sure my hunting capabilities were solid.
I was even looking forward to the possibility of reaching Level 40 or 50 in my stats all by myself, which might let me do something akin to pseudo-flight.
I immediately set off toward my customers.
*
I cleared out the zombie hordes I encountered along the way.
I wondered if clearing out every single zombie I met would take too long, but during a Zombie Rush, if your timing was right, there was actually a decent chance of not encountering any zombies at all, so it wasn't a big issue.
It was just that if you did run into them, the chances of getting absolutely fucked were so high that people were too terrified to step outside.
Wasn't that exactly how Kim Ji-hee managed to survive and make it here during the first Zombie Rush?
After clearing about three or four hordes, I arrived at my destination.
I had to clear out the Seongsu Bridge area at some point anyway, so this was a great excuse.
I arrived at the address shown on the navigation, but the alleys here were narrow, and there were so many barricades blocking the paths that finding a way in wasn't easy.
I didn't want to just smash through anywhere, since these barricades were built by people trying to survive.
I might be a bit of a punk, but I'm no thug.
They were a customer who had paid a whopping 5,000 coins; what would be the point if I destroyed their home?
As I searched for a suitable entrance, I spotted what looked like the main gate and headed inside.
"Doesn't look like there's much to clean."
Perhaps because they had avoided the Blood Hour, there weren't really enough zombies around to warrant paying 5,000 coins.
Although the term "Base Cleaning" was written rather vaguely, their base seemed reasonably sturdy, and I could sense signs of life in the alleys. It didn't seem like a place that desperately needed to call me for help.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a trajectory line aimed directly at me appeared.
Reflexively dodging the trajectory, I spun around and locked eyes with someone lunging down from above.
"Get him...!"
The guy flying at me with that shout realized something was terribly wrong, but my fist was already hurtling toward his face.
Thud.
With a dull smack, the guy was sent flying back in the exact direction he had jumped from.
"What the?"
Why are they suddenly attacking me?
As I pondered this, sensing the presence of people closing in from all directions, the realization hit me.
"Ah."
Have I been living in a dream world lately?
Since I was so selective about who I let into Paradise, I rarely had to deal with absolute pieces of shit. But this was what a zombie apocalypse was truly like.
Bastards who would use any petty, underhanded method—even murder—just to steal whatever they could get their hands on.
Fools who didn't realize they only enjoyed the benefits of Paradise because of me, yet wanted to slice open the golden goose just to live a tiny bit more comfortably.
"You were dumb enough to come alone. Heheh. You're the Owner of Paradise, right? You die here today. And we're going to take over Paradise and live there."
The bait, which cost them a whopping 5,000 coins, had worked perfectly.
How did they know that even I couldn't ignore 5,000 coins?
A tear almost welled up in my eye.
"Thank you."
"What?"
"Seriously, this is why I can't get enough of the apocalypse. No matter how many rumors they hear about me, there are always so many idiots acting like they have dementia, desperately begging to die. I guess I'll never have to worry about starving to death."