37. Lv.4 (1)
37. Lv.4 (1)
ㅡGgulleok
ㅡGgulleok
Blood gurgled out of the man's mouth.
Then, he collapsed forward with a thud.
ㅡTeolseok
There was so much I wanted to ask, but the man had already breathed his last.
His heart had stopped, and his pulse was gone.
Suicide.
I don't know what method he used, but the man killed himself.
'......'
To go as far as suicide, huh.
Is this really worth going that far for?
What on earth is their goal that they go around doing this bullshit, and then commit suicide the moment they're in danger of being interrogated?
Are the higher-ups using abilities like Brainwashing or Contract to control them?
Or maybe they were being threatened.
My brain can't wrap itself around it.
There must be something going on.
With my mentality, there's no way I could die like that for a corporation.
I tried to take them to interrogate them, but one guy was acting like a prick on the radio, and the other one just offed himself.
If I hadn't killed the guy with the radio, he probably would've ended up like that too.
'Whatever.'
Can't be helped.
What am I supposed to do about guys who are already dead?
It was better to just do what I had to do.
ㅡBbi
ㅡBbi
ㅡBbi
I looked at the Extractor.
What I saw was: Red Compatibility 22.7. 84.2.
'84.2.'
The blue gauge for the 22.7 one was at 100, and the 84.2 one was almost full too. 99.22.
It would be full if I waited about a day.
I picked up the one on the left.
A familiar Nexus Core appeared, asking if I wanted to swap.
The ability was Enhanced Vision. The 22.7 one.
Vision Enhancement? I guess I can see it as something like that.
I'll probably know the rest if I wait a bit.
I sighed, kicked the corpse, and leaned back in the chair.
#
A few hours passed.
As the morning of the 15th dawned.
=========================
Innovation Nexus Corporation.
Checking Nexus Energy.
Compatibility: 84.2%
User Compatibility: 97.2%
Nexus Core: Security Zone available.
Nexus Core: Metallokinesis lv.3 can be swapped for Nexus Core: Security Zone lv.1.
Swap?
Y/N
=========================
Security Zone.
I really have no clue about this.
Whether it's a defensive zone or a security zone.
But seeing as the compatibility is over 80, it must be worth that much.
ㅡBbi
ㅡBbi
ㅡBbi
Still, it's better to take it.
With this, I have a total of four flasks.
Enhanced Stamina, Enhanced Vision, Speed Enhancement, and Security Zone, the security area.
It would be fine to use these to change our people's abilities.
'I'll give the ones with Enhanced Strength things like Speed Enhancement or Security Zone.'
Of course, that compatibility thing is bothering me.
I haven't tested whether one can use high-level abilities even with low compatibility.
'I should just grab some asshole and use them for it.'
Grab a guy with 10% Enhanced Strength, give him an Enhanced Vision flask, and tell him to swap.
If he's fine, I'll use it, and if not, I'll just have someone with high compatibility but a crappy ability swap later.
I shouldn't experiment on our own people.
Well, that's enough of that.
I went outside and started the looting I'd put off.
I found quite a few useful things.
Decent firearms.
Ammunition.
Magazines.
Gas masks, rigs, etc.
'It's not great to bring the kids here.'
The location was shitty. Especially since there were Sentient Beings and it was crawling with Infected.
The only downside is that I'm short on bullets.
'......'
Should I have come earlier before the Infected attacked?
But because they attacked, I was able to kill them easily.
Since they drained their stamina and used up their bullets, I was able to pull off this surprise attack.
Also, I found out that Sentient Beings attack humans.
'Ah.'
Come to think of it, they aren't all dead yet.
I headed to the vehicle parked on the playground.
The vehicle.
I searched the truck.
Unfortunately, documents related to information or classified files, the kind of stuff you'd find in a game, didn't turn up.
Seeing as there weren't any orders or anything on the bodies of the people inside the school earlier, they must be a group that keeps things really tightly under wraps.
There was only about one box of magazines for emergency ammo.
'Is it 500?'
It's pretty heavy.
But hey, this is better than nothing. If I add the 100 rounds inside, that's about 600 rounds. This is enough to defend myself and go out on external reconnaissance.
Then I'll take this for now.
I want to take the clothes of the guys inside too, but it really sucks having only one body at times like this.
'......'
Let's choose and focus.
I didn't bother taking the Extractor. I already have one, and it doesn't seem like the Extractor is the important part.
When I plugged in the empty flask next to it, it changed back to 22.7 and 84.2.
'It seems it changes depending on the location, not the flask or the extractor.'
Of course, unfortunately, it seems consecutive extraction isn't possible, as the numbers didn't go up.
That means extraction is only possible once per area.
'......'
I turned around.
What's coming back now is...
ㅡGeuuu
ㅡKkieeee
This won't do.
I went back into the school.
#
March 15th, daytime.
I watched from the 4th floor of the school.
The scenery outside.
A few hours passed like that.
Just for a moment, watching the Infected.
I saw a Sentient Being passing by in front.
It was easy to distinguish a Sentient Being.
Walkers and Runners don't even have faces, just mouths, but the Sentient Beings had all their facial features.
They were indistinguishable from humans as long as they weren't among the Infected and didn't have any missing body parts.
They were significantly different from regular Infected.
'Maybe later they'll blend in among humans.'
And then just herd the Infected toward human bases.
I shook my head.
'I've watched too many movies.'
They didn't seem to have that level of intelligence. I threw a hammer outside and sniped the guy.
ㅡPpakak
The Sentient Being collapsed with a caved-in head.
===================================
Nexus Core: Metallokinesis lv3 [55/100]
===================================
It went up.
However, I didn't see any more Sentient Beings after that.
Unlike other Variants, it seems like they wander around, but there don't seem to be many of them.
Or maybe there aren't many Sentient Beings around here. Or they're hiding really well.
'I'm overthinking this.'
Sitting here blankly like this, various thoughts came to mind.
What on earth is IN Company's goal?
And just how far do these guys reach?
It seems true that they are either cooperating with the government or military, or have eaten them up in return. Otherwise, they couldn't be roaming around in this ruined world for the act of extraction.
That means their scale is enormous.
'If they're operating several groups like that in every city...'
The scale is getting too big.
But the problem is that it's possible.
It's true that if I had extracted information from them today, something might have been cleared up, so the regret was quite big.
Therefore, the next goal is to go to Bugang-myeon, or the IN Company Cheongju Branch.
Even if it's a branch, it might not be there.
If I find the military or their main base, wouldn't I be able to find out something?
Of course, I'll have to think about that after I crush the Flowers at GP Apartment first.
#
Night fell.
I only took one ammo box and three firearms.
Because I absolutely needed three firearms to have two people stand guard.
ㅡBuung
I followed the stream and came back toward Green Fresh Market.
I have to walk from here.
'Fucking heavy.'
3 guns in total, 600 rounds of ammo. It was about the weight of a sack of rice.
On top of that, unlike a sack of rice which is easy to carry, the equipment strapped all over my body is hard to even hold.
'If I had brought everything, I wouldn't have been able to make it from here.'
I didn't know when moving it from the school to the vehicle, but trying to get from here to the house is a real pain in the ass.
Still, I was able to arrive without incident. The Infected at night are sluggish.
#
"You're here?"
"Yeah."
"That is..."
"I'll tell you inside."
As always, Seo-yoon welcomed me.
I could also see Yun-ji and A-rin standing guard up there.
"Uh, give that to me."
"Can you carry it?"
"Ugh, this much is fine."
"You're here?"
"Yu-seong-ssi."
Others welcomed me from behind.
Like kids running up when their dad brings home chicken when they were young.
What are they saying.
"Gather the kids. Oh, and did you put Yun-ji and A-rin on guard duty?"
"Ah. Yes. Since the number of people increased, I told them to watch from the floor above while doing other things at night."
"Good."
Honestly, to be cold about it, everyone here except Seo-yoon and Eun-bin is useless.
Except for them, the rest are just for emergency use. Watchmen to keep an eye out in case someone gets inside.
'......'
This isn't very good.
Still, now that I have firearms, I'll be able to stop most guys.
It means the kids have become useful.
I brought Yun-ji and A-rin down from above.
Then I explained. The army of Sentient Beings and Infected, and IN Company and Future Girls' High School.
The firearms and 3 K7s I got after killing the people there.
"......"
"......"
I could see the three siblings looking surprised at the mention of killing them.
Of course, they didn't say anything more.
"An army of Infected?"
"Yeah. It's something created by those guys who have intelligence and lead the Infected, you've heard about it from them before, right."
"...That's right. The, the one Oppa called a Sentient Being."
"Right. Those guys led a massive army of Infected and attacked the girls' high school. And those IN Company guys were at the girls' high school."
The atmosphere became serious.
"...Then we have to consider that in addition to those IN Company people, the Infected might come to us too."
"Right. Of course, it doesn't seem like they're tracking humans. They probably just got caught by chance or made noise. The three siblings got caught by chance, and those IN Company guys got caught because they were showing themselves off."
Conversely, this means that this house we're in right now could be attacked by Sentient Beings at any time.
"......"
Silence flowed inside. They must have understood the situation.
"So, after I break through GP Apartment, I'm thinking of going to the lower area."
"By lower area, you mean?"
Eun-bin asked.
"I mean the outside of Cheongju, like I said before. This place is... not good in many ways. It's better than Hope Villa where we were before, but while the defense is good, it's too awkward to escape."
On top of that.
"I also need to find out if those IN Company bastards are doing this nationwide, or worldwide, or if they're just doing that bullshit locally."
Contact with other groups is essential.
Whether it's the military or whatever.
"Anyway, just know that."
#
Night of March 16th, after sleeping the whole day.
I headed to GP Apartment.
I've secured ammo, too. I plan to level up to 4 by killing the Flowers.
ㅡGgudeudeuk
ㅡGgudeudeuk
ㅡDeureureureuk!
Like that, a few hours where only the grinding noise of the Flowers and the sound of the submachine gun's silencer were heard.
===================================
Nexus Core: Metallokinesis lv4 [0/100]
===================================
'It went up.'
I was able to reach Metallokinesis level 4.