Chapter 22
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Eliminating the Variable
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Jo Jae-hwan, who had fled from Shelter A, devoured every variant zombie he came across in the vicinity. The emotion burning within him now was not fear or terror, but a blazing thirst for revenge.
He would get revenge on the humans somehow. And he would destroy Shelter A. Staring in the direction of Shelter A, Jo Jae-hwan vowed it again and again.
But the withdrawal symptoms hit him. He could no longer maintain rational thought. Following his instincts, he prowled around Shelter A.
The only reason he didn't enter Shelter A was that he was barely clinging to the last thread of his sanity.
Yet no matter how much he prowled, the humans showed no sign of coming out. He glared at the metal walls with bloodshot eyes.
Even though he could easily scale them in his current state, those walls felt like an impenetrable barrier.
After staring at the walls with wistful eyes for a long while, a sudden thought struck him.
'Yeah, you think those punks can hole up in there forever?'
Back when he was human, he loved games of endurance.
When an ant that bit him retreated into its anthill, he obsessively waited for it to come out and killed it.
When a kid who hit him went into his house, he stayed up all night waiting and then smashed his head with a hammer.
When his classmates who treated him like a loser went into their dorm during a training camp, he waited at the door until it opened and stabbed them to death one by one.
Accustomed to waiting, he had never lost a battle of time. He always emerged victorious in the end. And this time would be no different.
They might not come out now, but in a week they would, in a month they would, in two months they definitely would. With that thought, his explosive rage began to subside.
Yeah, the ones inside Shelter A were just ants. Ones that bit a little hard. And he was the sentry. All he had to do was watch for any ants coming out.
He prowled around Shelter A once more. Two days passed like that. He was still circling Shelter A without fail. It was while he had been wandering for a good while.
That's when he spotted a human. It was a young woman. She was in a car, anxiously rolling her eyes around.
In truth, a closer look would reveal something was off, but he no longer had the rationality to notice such things.
Feeling his blood boil, Jo Jae-hwan charged at the woman. A part of him wondered if it might be a trap, but with instinct overriding reason in his mind, it didn't matter.
He easily ripped off the car door and dragged the woman out. Then he tore her apart with his claws and sniffed. A faint perfume scent wafted up.
Now it was time to savor her. He shoved her into his mouth. Chomp chomp. He soon realized something was wrong. She didn't taste like human flesh.
'What is this?'
And this metallic texture from inside... But he couldn't pursue that rational thought any further. A bomb detonated within him.
Boom!
The intense explosion tore him to pieces. And that wasn't all. Every bomb planted in the car went off. Immense pain overwhelmed him.
Jo Jae-hwan's severed head rolled around, looking bewildered. He couldn't comprehend what had happened to him. A brilliant white flash filled his vision.
Emily's anti-materiel sniper rifle pierced his head without a moment's hesitation. Jo Jae-hwan, the serial killer who once ignited society with cries to abolish juvenile laws, fell silent forever.
「Occupation experience points have increased. (2-person party bonus +160%) (First elite zombie kill bonus +300%)」
「Your occupation level has risen to 17.」
「Metal Reinforcement skill level has risen to 3.」
Even after all that, I was still anxious that the bastard might not be dead. He was such a monstrous freak that I half-expected him to survive.
But Emily's anti-materiel rifle fired, the experience gain message appeared, and only then could I finally relax. Man, that's a huge amount of experience.
Even though my level was nearly 16, it jumped up by more than a full level in one go. It was proof of just how terrifying a variant he was, mismatched for his level range.
I went to where he died and incinerated the body. I erased every last trace of him cleanly. Only then did I let out a deep breath.
Anyway, the wildcard was gone.
"It went up to 10 at once. I learned a new shield skill too..."
In Zixuan's case, her level shot up to 10 in one go. And she even acquired a shield skill. A shield skill did exactly what it sounded like—it absorbed a certain amount of zombie attacks.
Along with healing, it was one of the buffs that let healers earn their keep.
"Good for you. Mind throwing up a shield for me?"
"Excuse me?"
Zixuan looked flustered at my sudden request, so I shrugged and nodded toward the zombies approaching from afar. Did he send out a dying curse or something?
Regular zombies were heading our way. Not just one or two, but dozens. Zixuan hurriedly cast her shield on me and ducked behind my back.
Looking at the faint barrier enveloping me, I picked up a shard from the exploded car. The shard transformed into a sword via Metal Transformation. I activated Metal Reinforcement.
The three swords, sharp enough to cut through anything, grew even keener. In terms of attack power, they swelled by more than 1.2 times.
I was pretty worn out, but killing zombies wasn't hard. It was just repetitive and boring. The shield made them no real threat.
About fifteen minutes later, zombie corpses littered the area around me. Zixuan, who hadn't strayed an inch from behind me, spoke up.
"Where to now? Shelter A?"
I shook my head. With the Devourer dead, there was no need to stay at Shelter A anymore. It was time to relocate to Shelter D.
We returned to Houseplus. Not much had changed there. Of course, regular zombies couldn't get inside, so it was only natural.
I told Zixuan to get in the cargo truck, then climbed to the roof of Houseplus and pried off the solar panels.
They were needed for power supply, and also as materials for remaking the Aegis.
I could find solar panels on other buildings, but I chose the convenient option. After loading the solar panels onto the cargo truck, I flung open the underground parking garage.
There was no reason to stay here anymore. Sure, some supplies remained inside Houseplus, but they were all (by my standards) useless junk.
I slowly drove the cargo truck out of the underground garage. I'd already cleared the nearby zombies, so none swarmed us.
"What's Shelter D like?"
Zixuan asked from the passenger seat. I thought for a moment before answering.
"What’s it like... Not a great place."
Shelter D.
A small industrial city. The survivors there easily subdued zombies with more effective weapons. But they lacked the essentials for human survival.
Clean water and food. Unable to endure hunger and thirst, survivors often turned into raiders and scavengers who attacked fellow survivors.
In the game, players got attacked with high probability too.
Not everyone was like that, of course, but in Apocalypse, survivors who could turn hostile at any moment were a major threat.
'But if I can supply them with enough water and food, the scavengers will turn into allies.'
Pretty powerful ones, at that.
'Of course, securing enough to feed all those people won't be easy.'
But it was possible. At least for a Mechanic. Of course, after securing a 'machine factory.'
With that in mind, I hit the brakes. A zombie stood in the road to Shelter D. Not a regular one—it was Baal, the boss zombie from Scenario 1.
Several zombies that seemed to be variants stood around him.
"Are those variants too?"
"In other game terms, boss monsters."
"Then we're screwed?"
I understood her despairing expression. The Devourer was already so horrifyingly strong—what would a boss be like?
But Baal was weaker than the Devourer. No, he wasn't even on the Night Witch's level to begin with. What made him tricky was his ability to turn regular zombies into variants.
That was it, in a nutshell.
"He's not that strong, even so."
Muttering that, I activated the Sentry Gun mounted on the cargo truck. No need for me to handle it personally. Rat-tat-tat. The machine gun roared, the recoil shaking the truck violently.
Zixuan plugged her ears, but I watched unfazed. The zombies charged, but the gunshots pierced them mercilessly, dropping them before they could reach the truck.
Baal let out a ferocious roar and lunged with his elongated claws, but he fared no better. A pathetic end for a Scenario 1 boss. But in a way, it was fitting.
The Devourer had been the abnormality—Scenario 1 should end like this.
I got out of the truck and picked up the 'glowing notebook' he dropped. Baal gave a hidden item corresponding to the killer's occupation.
「Acquired Sci-Fi Notebook x1.」
A Sci-Fi Notebook. I'd check its contents later. For now, I stuffed it into my backpack.
Back in the truck gripping the wheel, I thought to myself.
Scenario 2 was starting now. The emergence of variant zombies. Regular zombies would grow stronger, and variants would appear everywhere.
Because of me, countless survivors—maybe even Team Apocalypse—might die, but I had no regrets.
If we hadn't progressed the stage, something worse than variants, the Chasers, would have appeared.
Now my job was to pray they survived and hurry to Shelter D to secure a foothold.
I shoved the zombie corpses aside, shut off the Sentry Gun, and drove toward Shelter D again.
A few regular zombies trailed us, but thankfully, no more variants showed up right after. Baal hadn't been dead long enough for their numbers to recover.
Of course, they'd swarm like cockroaches soon enough.
After driving for about an hour more, factory buildings came into view in the distance. The industrial zone where Shelter D was located.