Chapter 49
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Reverse Snipe
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On top of a high-rise building with a meaningless name, a young man scanned Shelter A through the scope of his sniper rifle. The interior of Shelter A looked no different from any other shelter, aside from slightly tighter security.
'So that's my next target?'
The leader of the Salvation Church had ordered them to absorb the shelters into their forces, and Shelter A was one of the designated "targets."
The young man had climbed the tall building for reconnaissance.
'Of course, I don't plan on just looking.'
He steadied his breathing and placed his finger on the trigger. He had only five rounds left. There was no way he'd waste the chance to hunt five more animals.
A smile crept across his lips as he waited for his target.
Soon, a woman with red hair entered his scope's view. She looked small due to the distance, but she was clearly a beauty. She must be pretty popular among the survivors.
The thought of putting a bullet through her heart suddenly excited him. His breathing grew a bit ragged, so he steadied it again and aligned the crosshairs on her chest.
One pull of this trigger, and the bullet would rip through her body. She'd turn into a lifeless doll, spilling her guts all over the floor.
Just imagining it was thrilling.
'Sip.'
Saliva pooled in his mouth. He applied pressure to the trigger in his hand.
Bang!
The bullet tore through flesh like a predator's sharp fang. But in that split second, the young man realized it had pierced not the woman's body, but his own.
No one survives a headshot. Without even a dying gasp, his life ended. If it felt empty, well, that was the young man's pathetic finale.
The blond man—Johnson—who had landed the long-range counter-snipe shook his head and set down his sniper rifle. It morphed into a small pistol. With an impassive expression, he muttered,
"What the hell was that psycho?"
"Boss, what happened?"
His party members asked, puzzled by the gunshot.
"Someone was up there with a sniper rifle, targeting us."
The Blader, Cheonghan, tilted his head. They were the same level, but the Blader's Perception was lower than his, so he hadn't noticed.
"...What? Salvation Church guys? We're leaving tomorrow anyway, so who cares?"
Johnson nodded. It was true. They'd planned to leave Shelter A tomorrow, so he agreed it didn't matter what happened to it now.
Meanwhile, the young man's death became quite the topic among the Salvation Church followers, especially the executives. He'd successfully completed countless snipes without fail.
This had been his first miss, but for a sniper, the first failure meant death.
They realized there was an exceptional sniper inside Shelter A. Snipers were tricky opponents. If any frontline commanding executives got assassinated, it would be a disaster.
After discussion, they decided to postpone the invasion of Shelter A.
* * *
"Can't I ride too?"
Zixuan, standing in front of me as I mounted the Diablo RX, fidgeted with her hands and asked.
Come to think of it, she'd really wanted to ride the Diablo RX. We were heading to the gas station first anyway, not straight to the power plant, so I nodded.
"Sure, hop on."
"Thanks."
With an oddly giddy expression, she climbed onto the back seat and wrapped her arms around my waist. I revved the accelerator. Zero to max in just four seconds. The insane acceleration made her scream.
Her grip around my waist tightened. Like a seatbelt or something... But since I didn't mind the sensation, I just drove the Diablo RX without complaint.
Of course, the drive didn't last long. The gas station wasn't far from the munitions factory where we'd been, and the Diablo RX was a demonic machine that covered that distance in seconds.
Arriving at the destination, I stopped the bike and approached the gas pump, placing my hand on it. Checking the info, there was still fuel inside.
I set down the plastic canister I'd prepared and started filling it with gasoline.
"What are you filling gasoline for?"
Zixuan, who was glancing around the gas station, asked. I shrugged and replied.
"To kill zombies."
"By setting them on fire?"
"No, not to set fire... The power plant we're heading to today has invisible zombies."
"Invisible zombies?"
"They're a variant called Stalkers."
The zombies inside the power plant were Stalkers, also known as invisible zombies.
With the lore that radiation exposure granted them the ability to turn transparent, Stalkers were truly terrifying for newbies.
Even though VR games had no pain, the uncertainty of when or where they'd appear, combined with their grotesque appearance, was plenty horrifying.
Of course, for veterans, Stalkers weren't hard. Transparent body? Just make them not transparent. There were all sorts of ways.
Set up a bomb trap and blow them up, use thermal goggles, or splash them with liquid. The method I chose was the third.
I'd splash gasoline to neutralize their transparency, then kill them.
"You're going to do something dangerous again."
Muttering that, she glared at me, then cast a shield and buffs on me. She looked at me with a cat-like expression, as if expecting praise for a job well done.
I stroked her head.
She purred like a cat, clearly delighted.
"Let's go. We're gonna be late."
"I'll drop you off. Hop on."
"Aw, come on, it's a shelter. What could happen here?"
She had a point. Even as a Healer, her level was a whopping 26. Her physical stats could take down regular zombies and even variants.
Plus, she could heal, shield, and buff herself, so honestly, she might be stronger than me without my Aegis.
Looking at it this way, Mechanic seems like trash...
"Hop on."
...Still, I wasn't about to leave her alone at an empty gas station.
After a few refusals, she pretended to give in and got on the bike—and I secretly thought she might have been hoping for this—and I dropped her off at the munitions factory.
I passed through the barrier and headed to my real destination: the power plant.
Arriving at the power plant, I parked the Diablo RX and picked up the gasoline canister. As I trudged toward the entrance, two zombies sprawled on the ground spotted me and charged.
I set down the canister and drew my acid shotgun. Bang! Bang! The zombies flew backward. I remembered there being more in the game...
Just in case, I scanned the surroundings, but nothing seemed off.
Well, this power plant was in the industrial zone too.
Most zombies in the industrial zone had been killed by Sentry Guns, so this place was probably the same. With that thought, I placed my hand on the main gate.
The door was locked, but using Metal Transformation warped it into a lump of scrap metal. Without hesitation, I stepped inside.
Then I fired into the air. Bang! The thing would surely hear the shot. Like any zombie, it'd come running. I stood still, shotgun ready.
How long did I wait? Something suddenly materialized in front of me. A zombie with pus oozing from burn-like scars all over its body, veins bulging grotesquely—it was a Stalker.
It thrust its elongated claws at me. Even at my level 30, a surprise attack might've been dangerous. But I'd prepared for it.
The claws stopped just short of my face. Thanks to Zixuan's shield. Though that attack had probably shattered it.
In that brief opening, I uncapped the canister and splashed gasoline on its body. Grraaah. It made a weird noise and turned transparent. But the gasoline on its body dripped down through empty air.
I drew my shotgun and pulled the trigger at the falling droplets. The shotgun blast ignited the gasoline in a violent explosion.
Its transparency broke. As an elite variant zombie, it clung to life tenaciously, still alive.
But too crippled to move, it was as good as dead. I approached and finished it with a headshot.
Acid shotgun critical damage.
「Job experience gained. (Solo party bonus +150%) (First elite zombie kill bonus +300%) (Explosion maniac bonus +100%)」
I'd just leveled up, so no new level, but as expected, a ton of exp.
I smothered the fire still burning on its corpse with Metal Creation, covering it in metal, and entered the power plant.
Zombies inside started emerging one by one, drawn by the noise. Some wore hazmat suits—probably plant workers.
As always, I cleared them all with my shotgun.
Finally, I'd completely swept the Zaira Power Plant interior.
「Zaira Thermal Power Plant」
Max charge: 0/250,000
Hourly charge: 2,000
Durability: 390/1,500
Description: Zaira Corporation's thermal power plant. It converts the alien metal 'Adamantium' into electricity. A tiny amount can run the plant, boasting excellent efficiency, but current low durability has reduced output.
Of course, clearing zombies wasn't the end. Repairs were one thing, but restarting required all sorts of materials.
Yeah, everything else could be scavenged from shelters, but Adamantium was the issue. Adamantium, the alien metal for starships.
Its hardness surpassed mithril—which was said to be tougher than diamond—and its versatility too. In short, mithril's superior in every way.
But as far as I knew, in Scenario 2, there was only one place to get Adamantium. And only a tiny amount.
Originally, I'd planned to mix it with mithril for power suits or work androids. Boosted performance and synthesis success rate.
Of course, using it in the power plant wasn't bad either.
It'd run for a long time.
Apocalypse All-Purpose Machine