Chapter 14
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Night Witch of the Subway
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The sky was clear without a single cloud, the sun beating down brightly.
It was such fine weather that if I were my old self from reality, I'd probably think about heading to the park for a stroll just looking at it...
But unlike the weather, my mood wasn't great. I looked down. A young female zombie, tongue lolling out, dead.
Its body was heavily decayed, maggots swarming inside. Sighing at the gruesome sight and stench, I hoisted the female zombie with all my strength and dumped it onto the burial cart.
The burial cart already had some prior occupants. A male zombie corpse with its neck half-torn off, a female zombie corpse with grotesquely twisted limbs—they seemed to be greeting the new arrival.
Remembering the puppet show "For Me" from my childhood for a moment, I pulled the cart along.
Rattle, rattle.
The cart's wheels scraped against the escalator floor, making a ticklish sound in my ears.
I'd decided to do some burial cleanup. I planned to convert this place into my own shelter, and I couldn't just leave the zombie corpses strewn across the first, second, and third floors any longer.
But having to haul stinking corpses on such a beautiful day was truly unfortunate. Passing through the second floor and first floor, I descended to the underground parking lot.
The underground parking lot was already filled with the bodies I'd moved earlier. I tossed the female zombie corpse into the pile. It was quickly buried under the others.
It took a full half-day to move even the movie theater zombies. I'd started at sunrise and only finished after the sun had fully set.
Exhausted, I collapsed into bed without even washing up and fell straight asleep.
「Job experience has increased. (Solo Party Bonus +150%) (Massacre Bonus +100%)」
「Job level has risen to 14.」
The sentry gun I'd set up had faithfully done its duty overnight, it seemed. It had gone from level 13 to 14. Though it looked like it'd burned through all its ammo again.
Ammo I could always gather more of. Anyway, after checking the messages, I booted up my laptop, tinkered with the Power Suit blueprint for a bit, then got up to have breakfast.
My breakfast was nothing fancy. Just nuking some frozen food from the mart's stock in the microwave. Compared to other survivors, though, it was plenty luxurious.
After wolfing down a cup pizza and washing it down with cola, I stretched and began preparing to start the day proper.
I pulled up a map on my laptop. I'd transferred it over from my smartwatch via the Wi-Fi module. It was rough, but as a veteran, it was more than good enough for me to navigate.
Now that I had the sentry gun, next up was gathering materials for the Power Suit. The materials for a Power Suit were, obviously, metal.
Just as obviously, the performance varied wildly depending on what metal you used. The metal I planned to use for the Power Suit's main body was mithril.
In reality, you'd get called crazy for hunting mithril, but it existed in this world. Its hardness rivaled that of corundum or diamond.
It was also incredibly light, so most of the android robots I'd make later would use mithril too. Anyway, back to the point—I needed to find some mithril.
Truth be told, at this stage, mithril didn't drop at all. It wasn't a probability issue; it was impossible. With no variant zombies even appearing yet, the drop rate was 0%.
But paradoxically, I knew a way to get mithril. It was...
'Using Metal Decomposition.'
Instead of hunting raw mithril, find something made of it and decompose the metal. And thanks to my game knowledge, I knew where to find a mithril item.
Subway train cars.
Not many knew this, but train wheels were made of mithril. For the citizens' safety or whatever.
Anyway, decomposing the wheels would yield a small amount of mithril, and breaking down the wheels from three or four cars should give me enough for a full mithril Power Suit.
But like the military base, the subway was no place to take lightly. It had been used as an evacuation site for civilians, drawing huge crowds...
Among all the places I'd cleared so far, the subway had by far the most regular zombies, even compared to the military base. Plus, there was one variant zombie.
Night Witch.
Not on the level of the military base's Destroyer, but still a nightmare for me right now.
Of course, that didn't mean I could skip it. As always in this world, I knew the answer. The question was whether I could pull it off.
I started checking the route to the subway and the paths inside it. Relying on my memory, using the laptop's blueprint tool to draw up detailed maps.
Once I felt ready, I exited the large mart. On the way out, I used Metal Transformation to seal the entrance tight.
Zombies couldn't get in anyway, but the real issue was other survivors. If someone like Johnson showed up and tried to take over the mart...
I had no good counter. I'd just have to hand it over.
'Well, if they're dead set on getting in, they will.'
Instead, I'd hidden the sentry gun well. No one would find it. I'd built a whole new wall on the third floor and stashed it inside.
In the underground parking lot, I mounted my motorcycle and checked its status. I'd been riding it hard lately, so I wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.
「MT 338」
Durability: 17/50
Speed: 10
Stability: 13
Description: Cassiopeia Inc.'s mass-produced motorcycle. Low speed, but high stability makes it easy even for beginners.
The durability had dropped a lot. I'd need to swap parts soon. Mechanics did get a metal repair skill, but that unlocked at level 30.
Anyway, aside from the durability, everything else was fine.
I rode the motorcycle toward the subway station. It wasn't far from here. Ironically, the station was named "Terminal," so people called it Terminal Station.
There were a ton of regular zombies around the subway station.
I took them out with the Screw Gun.
I had the pistol and rifle now, way more powerful than the Screw Gun, but I didn't want to make noise and draw every zombie in the area.
After clearing the area around the station, I stepped toward the entrance. It was pitch black inside. Power was completely out, just inky darkness.
Of course, I had no intention of charging straight into that blackness.
I grabbed gasoline from the gas station next to the subway. Then I started pouring it at the entrance. Gush, gush. It flowed freely.
"Haven't played with fire since I was a kid."
Unlike when I was a kid, though, this was on a whole different scale. I was about to set a subway on fire. With two cans of gas, no less.
Zombies started swarming, drawn by the gasoline smell. Slipping on it but crawling up the stairs anyway. Blinded by the sun, they could barely open their eyes.
Makes sense—they'd been holed up underground forever. I watched them intently, then tossed my lighter.
Fwoom. The lighter exploded violently, igniting the gasoline. The flames spread along the gas and...
Roarrrrr.
Hell unfolded.
The zombies wailed. But feeling no pain, they kept coming even as the fire caught them.
I kicked a middle-aged male zombie that made it to the top—its face already charred black—sending it tumbling back down. Thud, thud.
It rolled, taking other climbing zombies with it. And they didn't come back up.
The flames engulfing them burned their bodies as fuel.
The zombies tangled comically, like Charlie Chaplin in a slapstick routine. Eventually, they stopped moving. Skin charred black, flowing blood dried and shriveled.
The smell of roasting meat assaulted my nose.
Disgusting, but I pulled my rifle from my backpack and aimed at the entrance. It was about time for the Night Witch to appear.
Soon, a woman's silhouette emerged from the chaos. Beautiful enough to recognize from afar. But I knew that stunning woman was the Night Witch.
She stepped into the fire without hesitation. The flames that had devoured the other zombies leaped to her. In an instant, she dropped to all fours and bolted.
She cleared the stairs in a flash. Heart pounding, I steadied myself and fired the rifle. Muzzle flash, metal rounds slamming into her body.
But she ignored the bullets and kept charging. Her skin cracked grotesquely. Strange tentacles sprouted from her back.
Her body turned gooey, and a massive flower emerged from within. Not a normal flower—a bizarre tentacle bloom. The tentacles lashed toward me.
They grabbed me. The body armor kept it from hurting, but her strength was beyond imagination. If I stayed, she'd crush me armor and all.
But I waited. For her to open her mouth.
And she did. To swallow me, or use the tongue inside, who knows. I hurled a grenade from my pocket right into her maw.
It arced perfectly into her mouth.
I counted three seconds inside. Boom! The grenade detonated in her throat. Shrapnel flew everywhere.
The grenade's damage landed as a critical hit. Factoring in the fire and rifle rounds before that, she was definitely dead.
'That was gross. Let's never meet again.'
I aimed my rifle at her shattered remains and pulled the trigger. No experience message. Proof she was still alive somehow.
Luckily, the final shot took her out.
「Job experience has increased. (Solo Party Bonus +150%)」
That was the only message.
Apocalypse All-Purpose Machine