Chapter 46
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Shelter D Standoff
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Yuna, a resident of Shelter D, owed her life to Zixuan and me. If she'd gone back and spread the word about it, Sophia's sudden remark actually made sense.
Well, I'd hoped Yuna would spread the rumor in Shelter D. It was somewhat intentional on my part. To swallow up Shelter D cleanly and quickly, nothing works better than religion.
Of course, that didn't mean I had any intention of accepting it.
Because, naturally... it wasn't true.
"That never happened."
She asked me again.
"You told Yuna to do it, didn't you?"
I'd never given Yuna any such order or asked her for a favor. What she was saying to me now was nothing more than her own speculation.
Or Yuna had lied.
Unless she was being threatened, Yuna had no reason to do that, so it was probably the former.
I let out a sigh as I spoke. And that sigh was genuine. I'd finally escaped the shelter after being cooped up like a slave, hoping to get some fresh air, only to end up listening to this nonsense. My situation was just pathetic.
"Not content with stealing our supplies, now you're slandering me too? What's your angle?"
"Slandering? I was just repeating what Yuna told me. Take it or leave it."
She shrugged with a playful expression, as if asking why I was getting so worked up. I'd been inclined to find her cute, but damn, she had a talent for pissing people off.
Just like with that whole "good neighbor" incident last time.
I was starting to feel the need to reset our relationship. There was no reason for me, of all people, to put up with this bullshit. I wasn't some random survivor anymore—I was the leader of a shelter.
"I'm the leader of Shelter Apocalypse. Are you saying Shelter D is hostile to us? Should I take it that way?"
Sophia twitched her eyebrows, clearly not expecting me to push back like this. Her face turned serious as she waved her hands dismissively.
"Don't take it so seriously. I was just—"
I cut her off.
"Then what's the point of holding me here? All you're saying is 'don't spread rumors'? What do I gain from spreading rumors about your shelter?"
Well, the rumors spreading would be good for me, but I didn't add that.
"This is all just what Yuna—"
She kept trying to pin it on Yuna. I interrupted her and opened my mouth.
"Fine, if you want to be hostile, go ahead. I won't stop you. But if you do..."
Tension rippled across the survivors' faces. Some of them even reached for their gun barrels. But I ignored it and continued.
"You'd better prepare to go down."
"...This bastard!"
One of the survivors couldn't hold back anymore and leveled his rifle at me.
"Go ahead, shoot."
I said as I stood up.
My voice was calm, but I was already bracing for the shot. It was close range, but unless I got really unlucky, I could block it or deflect it.
"I said shoot. What, can't you?"
I already had the upper hand. Backing down now would mean a loss of face not just for me, but for the entire shelter.
At almost the same moment, Sophia shouted.
"Lower the gun!"
"This bastard!"
If only he'd listen. He refused to drop the rifle. In my opinion, it was pride. Tsk tsk, that damn pride.
Of course, contradicting that flimsy pride, his hand gripping the gun was visibly shaking. I stared at him with cold eyes and muttered.
"A Shelter D resident pointing a gun at the leader of Shelter Apocalypse. And we know each other, too. It'll be fun to see how this plays out when word gets back to my shelter."
It wasn't a bluff—it was fact.
The residents of Shelter Apocalypse had incredibly high loyalty toward me.
「Owned Shelter」
Shelter Name: Apocalypse
Level: 1
Population: 37
Owner: Park Si-hyun (Mechanic)
Sub-Owner: Zixuan (Healer)
Loyalty: 92
Loyalty had shot past the dreaded 90s from the 60s without stopping.
Well, considering how I'd raised their quality of life beyond any other shelter and, more importantly, shown them a vision for the future, it was only natural.
Anyway, I was confident those people wouldn't sit idly by if they heard a Shelter D resident had threatened me.
Most of them were scavengers, after all. Scavengers with combat experience far beyond that of ordinary survivors.
We wouldn't lose to Shelter D in a head-on fight.
Even judging purely by the "survivors'" combat prowess. Our weapons were superior, but if Zixuan or I got involved, crushing Shelter D right now wouldn't be hard at all.
I just had no need to, and I didn't want to resort to such heavy-handed methods, so I'd stayed quiet.
But if they came at me like this, that changed things.
"Lower the gun!"
Only then did Sophia shout in a more frantic voice.
Like a beast tucking its tail, the survivor finally lowered his weapon. I glared at him with an irritated expression, like he was some pathetic bug. He avoided my gaze.
This time, I turned to Sophia. She looked at me with trembling eyes.
"Sorry, I really didn't mean for it to go like this."
"Sorry? Save it for your leader."
I stood up from my seat. She hurriedly handed me my backpack.
"It's not much... but it's canned goods."
The backpack was stuffed full of cans. To the starving survivors of Shelter D, they might as well be worth their weight in gold.
It was probably the best compensation she could offer.
I didn't need it. We still had food left from raiding that department store, and if we ran out, I could always go get more.
Besides, accepting this would just hurt my pride.
"Don't need it."
I tossed her backpack to the ground and headed outside. I could feel eyes on my back, but I ignored them and climbed onto the Diablo RX. I was suddenly craving a smoke.
After Park Si-hyun left, Sophia sat motionless at the table like a statue for a long while. She chewed her lip. In fact, even as he was leaving, she'd been agonizing.
Should she kill him before he could report this back to Shelter Apocalypse? That agonizing thought had continued even after he was gone.
Should she chase him down and kill him now?
But her hesitation won out in the end. She hadn't forgotten the "power" he'd shown when she came to pick up Zixuan.
The way he'd effortlessly taken down those mutant zombies. Even if she ambushed him in his power suit, could she really kill him? That doubt had held her back.
Sophia's mind lingered on his words and actions.
'What if he really doesn't let this slide?'
It had started as a casual warning during a chance encounter, but things had escalated. What if Shelter Apocalypse turned hostile?
She'd seen the inside of Shelter Apocalypse with her own eyes, so she knew exactly what they were capable of.
Incredibly, they'd built a massive steel wall on barren land that rivaled their own. And not only that—they'd deployed sentry guns straight out of a military base to fend off zombies.
Proof that their tech was far superior.
To make matters worse, most of them were scavengers.
Could they really stand against them if push came to shove?
And if the leader found out? Would he let it slide? No, knowing his personality, he'd start cutting off loose ends.
And she'd likely be the first one cut.
Her head started to ache the more she thought about it, so she decided to blame the guy who'd pointed the gun at Park Si-hyun.
Strictly speaking, she was more at fault for underestimating him—maybe 50% or more—but his wasn't negligible either. And she knew it. But she had to worry about her team's eyes on her.
"You idiot, you moron. Use your damn head."
Whether his pride was hurt or he realized she was scapegoating him, the man scowled but bowed his head to Sophia. No choice if he wanted to live.
* * *
Riding the Diablo RX helped vent my irritation and lift the funk. Women really are something else. After circling the industrial district for quite a while, I pulled up in front of a truck.
A small truck. I strode over and opened the door, and a zombie with its lower half torn off came tumbling out at me. I kicked it away without flinching and smashed its head with my gun.
I don't know if it was already low on health, but it died in one shot.
「Job experience gained. (Solo party bonus +150%)」
Having dispatched it easily, I climbed into the truck.
But it was out of fuel. Talk about bad luck...
I siphoned gas from a nearby car's tank using Metal Transformation, then fashioned an aluminum pump by combining Metal Generation and Metal Transformation and stuck it into the fuel inlet.
Chug-chug-chug.
After filling the truck, I drove it to my target building and parked. A paper mill. Not much worth farming inside, but the solar panels plastered all over the roof were my goal.
I used Metal Transformation from atop the truck to make a ladder and climbed to the roof. Then I touched a solar panel and easily detached it with Metal Decomposition.
I loaded the detached panels into the truck bed. One, two, three, four, five... Once I'd filled it with my target haul, I got back in the driver's seat.
I toured the entire industrial district like that, collecting solar panels until the truck bed was packed full. The sun was already dipping low.
I lit a cigarette I'd found in the factory, took a deep drag, and exhaled. Whew. The smoke rose into the silent sky.
Maybe because it had been a while since I'd been out, or maybe because of the big incident, but I felt pretty good. Wonder how Shelter D will react. They won't go crazy and ambush us first, right?
But I had no regrets.
I'd figured we'd clash eventually anyway—it had just come a little sooner. It had felt iffy at the time, but looking back now, it felt good. Refreshing, even.
I dropped the cigarette, ground it out under my boot, and headed back to Shelter Apocalypse.
Time to get back to routine.
Apocalypse All-Purpose Machine