91. Other Survivors (1)
91. Other Survivors (1)
Well, I can check on that in three days.
Since an Abomination gives a gauge of 5 at lv.5, I have to kill Abominations from now on.
The place where an Abomination exists, other than the one north of Cheongju City Hall, is southern Cheonan.
'......'
Should I go later?
I thought about it, but after some deliberation, I went up.
I have to kill them now so that if they regenerate, I can kill them again.
Besides, Abominations aren't hard to find like Hunters, and they have massive bodies.
Plus, I can fly now, so there was no reason not to go.
I headed to Cheonan.
A quiet night.
A quiet road.
'I don't see a single person.'
That just shows how fucked up the Infected are.
Anyway, I arrived in southern Cheonan.
To be precise, you could say it's a different neighborhood before entering Cheonan proper.
I can see an apartment complex that's completely smashed up.
And an Abomination sleeping on the road in front of it.
'Found it easily.'
—!!!!!!!!!!
I killed the Abomination.
===================================
Nexus Core : Metallokinesis lv5[10/100]
===================================
A massive amount of bloody fluid flows out, covering the ground.
Followed by Infected from various places swarming in like ghosts.
Now, I just had to see when it regenerates in a few days.
Since I've caught the two Abominations I know of, I can experiment with them now.
I figured I could do other things during that time.
Namely, searching for humans and searching for a Multi.
Well, calling it a 'Multi' is just a name; it's basically a place to put the people I saved earlier.
#
I returned to I-Pension.
—Click
I came to my room and opened the map.
Location-wise, a small village to the bottom-right of I-Pension seemed decent.
About 10 households.
I figured I could clear out those houses and have them farm the nearby area.
It's not bad as a temporary place to use.
'I'll set this as a temporary spot for now, and move them later once I gather more Ability Users.'
Bottom-right village.
Let's just call it Multi for now.
I should go right away.
I flew through the air to get there.
The place I arrived at was just as expected.
No one was there, and if there was anyone, it was just Infected.
Judging by the rotten corpses of elderly people inside the buildings who had been attacked by Infected, Walkers, and Runners, it seems they were wiped out when the incident happened.
There were traces of resistance, but it was meaningless.
'I can use the front as a field.'
Since water and electricity were still being supplied, there were no issues with cultivation for now.
I decided to just set this place as the Multi for now.
After that, it was time to search for people.
#
Searching for people.
It's called searching for people, but it's too tricky.
'I need to get Seo-yoon's Contract.'
As if that's an easy task.
Frankly, if I bring people who are living well and say, 'You're joining us, but you need to accept this mental ability,' how many people would say yes?
On top of that, bringing such people is a problem. It might be easy to bring them with abilities, but then they'd inevitably be at odds with me and our base.
Plus, I need to bring people who will at least listen, I can't have assholes.
But finding people with decent abilities while doing that was really difficult.
'Let's play the long game.'
Setting aside base defense, it seemed better to offer it to people in bad situations.
Like Hae-il Han's group, who were being mentally dominated.
Or victims like the three women who died, unlike Seol-hwa's group back at Eunha University.
Anyway, you know.
There are also abilities that come from the Extractor.
If I follow the IN Company, I'll be able to transfer abilities now.
If I'm lucky, I might be able to find a high-grade Ability User and use the Extractor to transfer it.
Aren't there still Flasks I haven't used yet?
Aside from Stamina Enhancement, there's Speed Enhancement, and the Security Zone, which I haven't even checked the ability of yet; I'll be able to use those later.
Anyway.
I found a car at the Multi and brought it.
It was broken, but it doesn't matter if it's broken or not now. It just needs to have working windows.
I came to the Bugang-myeon area first.
The place where I and Sergeant Jae-ho Park of the 32nd Division previously cleared the Nest at Bugang Traditional Market.
Besides that, several Intelligent Creature Clusters were discovered, and Second Lieutenant In-seop Kim's group tried to clear this area.
There's no Hive.
And there aren't that many Infected.
No powerful Infected were visible, and I went to where the previous Nest was, but it doesn't seem to have revived.
It doesn't seem like there are any strong ones, but I was a bit hesitant because I'd have to go outside the township to get farmland.
Plus, it was confirmed that an Intelligent Creature Cluster is still alive.
I lifted my body into the sky.
This is the first time I've floated out in the open like this since reaching level 5, but this is a neighborhood where I've already confirmed there are no IN Company people or soldiers.
This was the easiest way to check for survivors.
'......'
Of course...
Even though I kept flying around Bugang-myeon, all I could see were Infected.
Well, 5 months after the apocalypse, only groups or powerful Ability Users would have survived.
The former, which I was looking for, was nowhere to be seen.
'Come to think of it, even when Second Lieutenant In-seop Kim was here, he said all the survivors here were killed by the Intelligent Creature Cluster.'
Plus, it's a neighborhood with a small population to begin with.
The chances of finding anyone would be that much lower.
Huh..?
Wait a second.
Bugang-myeon actually had more Infected than I thought.
They even swarmed toward the logistics center.
I'm sure the population here isn't that large.
Yet there are so many Infected.
—Thud
I came to the Bugang Traditional Market where the Nest used to be.
I looked down at the market from the rooftop of a nearby tall commercial building.
Bugang Traditional Market, which is just a row of commercial buildings rather than a market.
Flesh-like things were stuck to the sky here, and Stalkers that looked like hooks came out and killed the soldiers.
And they took them to the eggs, whether to use them as food or turn them into monsters.
'......'
Of course, only traces remain now, but the memory from back then is still vivid.
But no matter how I look at it, this feels similar to that Hive in Cheonan.
'Could it be that if a Nest is maintained for a long time, it becomes a Hive?'
I should check the Hive too.
I should have checked when I went to Cheonan earlier.
Forget it.
I can't enter the Hive anyway.
How could I go into a place swarming with thousands or tens of thousands of Infected?
Searching for people is the priority right now.
I returned to the vehicle and headed to the apartment complex.
Apartment complex.
This is how I searched when I was looking for Seo-yoon before.
Like a spot-the-difference game.
But now, there's no need for that.
I can just float in the air and look to see if anyone is in the apartments.
However, it seemed like there were no people in the various apartment complexes in Bugang-myeon.
'How can there be none?'
Is it because the transportation here is bad, and there aren't any big marts nearby?
I flew into the sky and inspected places where I felt signs of life, but they were all just Infected.
'...It's been 5 months.'
I guess so.
'If I bring Seol-hwa, I might be able to find them somehow.'
Since I couldn't bring Seol-hwa, I just left it.
With Intelligent Creatures around, I can't worry about that too.
So, I came to Cheongju.
Cheongju.
For the first time in a while, I came toward Hope Villa, where my home used to be.
'Nothing special.'
I came to U-Gwang Apartment, where I had brought Seo-yoon.
The scenery looking down from here was the same.
'Doesn't look like there are any people.'
It's not like the IN Company people are roaming around like back in February.
From here to the underground shopping center. And from the underground shopping center to Green Fresh Market.
Mirae Middle School. Cheongju Elementary School. Eunha General Hospital. I really wandered around a lot.
'I was lucky.'
Luckily, an Abomination appeared in Cheongju instead of a Hunter, and there were no powerful Infected like Nests near Hope Villa.
The strongest thing in this area was the Crawler that was at Green Fresh Market.
Of course, even these were powerful enough that people kept dying.
On top of that, it wasn't just the Infected; the world turned upside down, and there were tons of people looting others.
Why, look at Min-jun Kim and Han-min Woo's gang from Eunha High School; weren't they doing exactly that?
They had captured Yun-ji and A-rin and were using them as slaves.
'......'
Fucked up world.
The funny thing is, that situation was the luckiest one in this world.
Well, enough of these sentiments; I figured I should just look around this area today.
I went to the southeast and northeast a lot when I was saving people before. Now I planned to check the neighborhood on the left side of Cheongju.
It's a neighborhood where Hunters haven't been confirmed yet, and since there's an Abomination to the north, you never know.
A decent group, or perhaps some capable Ability Users might still be alive.
Especially since Cheongju, unlike Bugang-myeon, had many marts and small shops selling food nearby, so if I was lucky, there was a chance they might be alive.
#
5th month of the apocalypse.
Dawn of the 18th.
Cheongju wasn't much different from Bugang-myeon.
People who were in apartments eventually had no choice but to come outside because of food.
Therefore, the living people weren't in the apartments.
Conversely, it means they were in places other than apartments.
K-Mart, located on the outskirts of the bottom-left of Cheongju.
A place I went to because I heard the Infected making a ruckus inside.
After waiting for about an hour, the source of the noise came outside.
K-Mart.
As a medium-sized mart, it's not that big.
In Korea, where large marts and online orders are the norm, medium-sized marts aren't exactly great spaces.
I saw a group of people coming out of that place.
A group of men, each holding tools and wrapped up tight to avoid getting attacked by Infected.
—Kieeeek!
—Crunch
People who were handling the Infected, fitting for the 5th month of the apocalypse.
They easily handled the Walkers and Runners, likely possessing Muscle Enhancement or Arm Enhancement abilities.
Seeing them wearing thick bags, it seems they brought supplies from K-Mart.
They kept loading them into the truck in front.
'Right, because there would be a mart warehouse.'
If it hadn't been looted, even a medium-sized mart would be able to provide enough supplies to survive.
More than that, it looks like they cleared out the inside.
If so, that means they came here today.
Are they not people from here?
As I was thinking that, the vehicle moved.
—Kieeeek!
—Clunk
The vehicle hit the Infected and drove off.
I continued to tail them.
Tail them from the air, from rooftop to rooftop.
Since it's night, it's not easy for them to notice me.
Plus, those humans were moving while constantly fighting.
That was the moment.
I saw Infected with white eyes wandering in front of them.
'That...'
It's a Crawler.
A Crawler.
An Infected beast with white eyes and a mouth that splits into four.
The Crawlers carefully tailed them. As if they were trying to ambush them in a good spot.
And the moment they entered the residential area, six Crawlers ambushed the vehicle from the side.
...They didn't ambush like that in my time, but the Infected are definitely evolving.
If they do that, it's tough to deal with them using just Muscle Enhancement or Strength Enhancement.
There's also a chance the vehicle could tip over.
It would be easy if they had firearms, but if they used them in the middle of the night, they'd attract all the nearby Infected.
However, they fought back against the Crawlers as if to show they didn't survive this long for nothing.
And in a way I hadn't thought of.
A fireball is created outside the passenger seat. The fireball flies in an instant and hits the Crawler's head. The Crawler collapses while exploding.
Fire ability.
No, to be precise, it's the Ignition ability I only saw in experiments at the former IN Company Cheongju Branch.
'...Wow.'
—Clunk
The vehicle then crushes the Crawler's head and moves on.
Well, if they've survived until now, they must have that kind of ability.
The vehicle, which quietly but surely dealt with the Crawlers and moved into the residential area. I continued to tail them.