Chapter 50
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Star Sanctuary
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The Adamantium fragment was located in a Salvation Church chapel. But there wasn't just one chapel in Scenario 2's area—there were four in total, one each in the city's east, west, south, and north.
The fragment was in one of those chapels.
Since its location was "random" rather than "fixed," even I didn't know exactly where it was. There was no way to find out, either. In other words, if luck was against me, I might have to check all four.
But saying there was "no way to find out" only applied to the game itself. Considering how close this world was to reality, the story changed.
In the game's lore, the Salvation Church followers saw the Adamantium fragment as a "blessing" bestowed by their leader and kept it enshrined. They called it the Star Hall.
I'd even uploaded a YouTube video titled "Four Must-Visit Spots in Team Apocalypse."
-Next up is the Star Hall. As one of Team Apocalypse's famous landmarks, its interior architecture is stunningly beautiful...
For a building made by fanatics who treated murder and cannibalism like daily meals, it was remarkably beautiful. I figured any proper devotee—not the riffraff—would know where the Star Hall was.
'But I absolutely can't let them find out it's me.'
If word got out that I'd stolen the Adamantium fragment, the Salvation Church would mark me as public enemy number one. After all, I'd swiped their leader's blessing—they'd throw everything they had at killing me, no question.
Sure, they were nuts, but their firepower ranked in the city's top three.
Shelter Apocalypse had grown a lot, and I'd deployed plenty of sentry guns, but against a massive horde charging in, we'd crumble eventually.
Of course, that was only if I got caught. Getting caught is adultery; not getting caught is romance, right? Yeah, just don't get caught. And as a veteran, I knew how to pull it off.
The method was simple: Disguise myself as a Salvation Church follower and slip into the Star Sanctuary. Any devotee could visit the Star Sanctuary. Everyone needed to witness the leader's blessing, after all.
Sure, they had walls to keep it from being taken, but as a Mechanic, I could use Metal Transformation to extract the Adamantium fragment from a distance.
Then, after snagging it, I'd escape through the secret passage—one only a few high-ranking devotees knew about. And I didn't just know its location; I had it memorized perfectly.
'First, let's gather the other materials.'
I loaded the truck bed with dozens of rifles and hundreds of rounds, then headed for Shelter A. It had one of the materials needed for firepower generation, too.
-Truth be told, Shelter D had materials as well, and it was closer, but after clashing with Sophia's group a few days ago, I wanted to put it off till last.
James had probably tossed it in storage without knowing what it was for.
I planned to trade the rifles for it. The munitions factory had rifles to spare. And I could make more myself, so it was a win for me.
Shelter A hadn't changed much. Emily lit up when she saw me. The first thing she asked was about the Shelter C survivors.
"I'm sorry. They looked so pitiful that I had to tell them."
"It's fine. Thanks to you, our population's grown."
Though supplies were dwindling faster as a result. Still, more people were better than fewer—especially in this apocalypse where sane folks were in short supply.
"Any trouble at Shelter A?"
"Just some creepy guys we think were Salvation Church followers hanging around... Oh, and Johnson's group left."
They'd been talking about leaving last time, and it looked like they'd finally gone. I nodded.
"Honestly, we weren't close, and we did give them the cold shoulder... but I'm still worried."
They were a huge asset. They might not have grown "properly" compared to me and Zixuan, but combat classes carried serious weight.
If they'd been my level with proper "firearms," they could've handled multiple Chasers. Solo, sure, but still.
"And James is starting to show his ambitions openly. I'm thinking of leaving, too."
Alicia had sided with James. With Johnson's party—one of the obstacles—gone, it was natural for him to make his move.
"Like I told you before..."
"The doors of Shelter Apocalypse are always open?"
I shrugged.
"If you want to come, I can take you today."
I said it half-jokingly, but I meant it. We had a personal connection, and skilled sniper NPCs like her were rare. Bringing her along was a no-brainer.
Emily looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head and changed the subject.
"Not yet. Just a bit longer. Anyway, what brings you here?"
She probably needed more time to think. Shrugging, I pulled rifles and ammo bags from the truck.
"Thought I'd trade."
Her eyes lit up.
"You came at the perfect time. We were just running low on ammo."
She led me to James, the resource manager, as expected. That's how I ended up face-to-face with him one-on-one.
He offered me a cigarette. But his attitude was like a superior talking down to a subordinate. I thought it was my imagination at first, but no—it wasn't.
"Heard you became shelter leader?"
I gave a curt reply.
"Not much different."
"Oh, sorry."
He seemed flustered by my informal speech, but true to form, he was quick on the uptake and realized why I was annoyed. Switching to polite speech right away proved it.
Whatever—he could badmouth me behind my back all he wanted; not my problem.
"Good, as long as you know."
I switched to polite, too.
"I checked the items you brought. Five VL rifles and about a hundred rounds. Anything specific you want from Shelter A?"
"I need an air preheater."
An air preheater did exactly what it sounded like: heated air. Why it was needed for the power plant? Hell if I knew the details.
"Huh? Air... what?"
James clearly had no clue what an air preheater was. No surprise—he probably didn't even know it was in storage. To a non-techie, it was just scrap metal.
I went with him to the warehouse and got the air preheater. He insisted it was embarrassing to trade scrap, so take something else...
But nothing caught my eye. They'd just be extra baggage. The only portable worthwhile thing was canned food, maybe?
Shelter A's situation didn't look great, though, so I skipped it, chalking it up to goodwill.
Five rifles and a hundred rounds weren't high-value to me anyway—I could produce them easily. And it wasn't like I got zero benefit.
If anything:
1. A stronger Shelter A could act as a breakwater against the Salvation Church.
2. It'd boost residents' goodwill, making future mergers easier.
That about summed it up.
James's attitude turned extremely courteous after my gesture.
With the air preheater secured, I left Shelter A without hesitation. I wanted to chat more, but I had to visit all the shelters today—time was tight.
The variant zombies posed a massive threat to every shelter. Shelter B, lacking proper walls compared to the others, was hit hardest.
It had a wall built by skilled technicians, but after a few rams from variant zombies, cracks formed, and it collapsed.
Fortunately, the leader wisely evacuated residents inside, averting total annihilation. But Shelter B's future was as good as gone.
Their attempted "wall repair operation" had failed, too, costing them more lives. The survivors were left in despair, waiting for the inevitable variant zombies.
That's when Park Si-hyun arrived at Shelter B.
He scanned the surroundings with a slightly puzzled expression. The wall was down, and zombies swarmed the area.
'Salvation Church's doing?'
Like Shelter C, it might've been wiped out by them. But Park Si-hyun considered it could've just been variant zombies breaching it.
Shelter B was an early-game one. No tall walls like Shelter A, no Team Apocalypse—it must've been tough holding off variants.
His gaze suddenly shifted to the building. He'd felt eyes on him from inside. He raised his shotgun at a zombie with grotesquely twisted arms.
He waited until it was right in his face, then pulled the trigger.
Clearing the internal zombies came before tracking the eyes, he figured. One zombie exploded.
Hearing the shot, nearby zombies rushed him.
But he didn't panic, landing shots calmly: one, two, three... Even variants among them fared no differently.
Meanwhile, Shelter B's residents watched Park Si-hyun from inside. He gunned down zombies like a movie hero, stylish as hell.
Their reaction, though...
"What the hell? Who's that lunatic...?"
It was only natural. They could handle normal zombies with guns, but the "real problem" was variants.
Facing variants on flat ground was impossible by their logic. If one showed up, he'd be zombie chow, they thought.
But seeing a "Jumper" variant—named for its leaps—blasted into meat chunks right in front of him started changing minds.
The follow-up variants didn't fare any better.
"Who the hell is that guy?"
They wondered about Park Si-hyun's identity. Meanwhile, his hunt continued unabated.
Apocalypse All-Purpose Machine