Chapter 20

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 20

Chapter Title: Floor 2: Battlegrounds 2

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I climbed up to the attic on the second floor of a single-family house.

But I was pretty sure this spot only had one item farming point?

Checked out the second-floor attic, and yeah, there was a gun...

But...

It was a pistol.

"Holy shit, what the fuck is this? This goddamn old-ass gun... 7-round pistol, fuck..."

What was it called? A revolver?

Anyway, not a gun I like much.

My buddy back in the day raved about it, saying it was the strongest pistol out there...

Holy shit, having to pick up crap like this as a gun.

"Subspace Storage...? Yeah, for experiments."

I opened my Subspace Storage and tossed in the gun along with its bullets.

It went in smooth.

"Good."

I headed to ransack the house next door.

Ran over, threw open the door to start looting... but someone had beaten me to it. Half the interior doors were already ajar.

And more than that, I heard a 'rustle rustle' sound.

"Fuck."

Thought about booking it the hell out of there...

But then I locked eyes with some asshole coming out of a room he'd been looting right in front of me.

He must've just snagged a gun,

because I heard the loading rack, and sure enough, he was fumbling to chamber rounds.

The weapon in his hands? An M16 assault rifle.

Once that reload finished, I was toast.

Dead for sure.

No running at this range.

I yanked the machete from my belt and charged like a madman.

No choice—if he finished loading, I was done. Only option was to rush him.

"Die, you little shit!"

"...Huh?! Wha?!"

I slashed big at the panicking bastard—once, twice, three times.

Left diagonal chop, right diagonal chop, and finally a horizontal sweep!

The enemy panicked hard, fat-fingered the keys or something,

his near-complete reload reset, he yanked out his secondary Glock pistol...

then panicked again and swapped back to the M16 to reload.

If it were me, I'd have just blasted me with the Glock.

"Hahaha! What a clown! Reload reset!"

"...Gah! Hold on! ...Just wait! ...Let's talk this out!"

"Fuck that! Drop the gun first, then say hold on!"

He barely dodged my second slash by backing up,

but the first and third caught him good. Blood was pouring.

No bleeding in Battlegrounds 1, but Battlegrounds 2 added bleed damage. He was taking it hard.

This was going my way big time.

But regardless, he kept backing up while his reload bar filled almost completely.

Reload nearly done.

- Rat-tat-tat! -

- Slash! -

He squeezed off about three rounds.

First one whiffed, but the next two pinged off my Level 3 helmet and Level 3 pot lid, one each.

In return, I smashed my machete down hard on his exposed pot lid.

"Ugh... I said wait, you bastard..."

"Quit whining—if you lose to a machete with an M16, just quick regen and go."

A crate spawned where his corpse had been.

"Whew... fuck..."

First scrap had me wiped out, mentally rattled.

Still, loot the spoils and gear up. I cracked open his death crate.

"Ugh... nothing beats farming players for the good stuff."

Scored his M16 assault rifle and the Glock pistol that took 9mm rounds.

Didn't plan to use the Glock much as a sidearm, so straight into Subspace Storage it went.

Now Subspace held the 7-round revolver and the Glock.

"Alright, next up—bandages and painkillers..."

Wrapped up with bandages and downed some painkillers.

Was about to finish looting the rest of his house for him...

- Bang! -

A window shattered inside the house, and my Level 3 pot lid went flying.

'...Sniper?!'

Oh, fuck.

My position was totally exposed now.

That asshole had died all quiet-like, it would've been fine...

But my guess? He popped those three shots before dropping,

and someone heard the gunfire, came sniffing around my way.

'...Skipped the medkit to save it, stuck to bandages... HP's critical...'

HP hanging by a thread.

One graze from that sniper rifle, and I'm gone.

And worst, no clue where it came from exactly.

Judging by the shattered window, that direction maybe...

'Just stash this M16 in Subspace first...'

Impulse ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hit, so I shoved the rifle and ammo into Subspace right away.

- Bang! -

Turned out to be the right call.

The instant the M16 and ammo vanished into Subspace,

headshot. Dead.

Fell victim to some Battlegrounds sniper god, looks like.

I respawned in the Tower lobby—the void space.

"Nah. No retry. Show me my remaining points."

In Project Zombie World on Floor 1, surviving 24 hours up to Day 10 netted me 900 points total,

first day's 100 points went to buying Subspace Storage right away...,

earned 206 here..., totals 1006. Yeah, checks out.

"Hmm... saved up without spending, got a decent pile. Drop about 500 on Subspace upgrades..."

'Earlier rush to stash the gun, space felt tight as hell. Hoard the rest, spend on real needs.'

M16 variants differ a bit by version,

but this game's M16 clocks in around 1 meter long.

So stashing it earlier with other junk filling Subspace had me sweating it wouldn't fit.

Luckily diagonal worked fine, but point is, Subspace was starting to feel cramped. Time to upgrade.

I fed 200 points into Subspace for the first upgrade.

Size bumped to 2m × 2m × 2m—8 cubic meters.

Felt roomy enough, but...

I tossed in 300 more for another go.

Now 3m × 3m × 3m—27 cubic meters.

This felt solid, reassuring. Plenty of room even if I cram in a ton of guns next time.

"Got my gun. Time to head back to Floor 1. Gotta fuck Hye-jeong's cuter little sister than Hye-jeong herself."

I returned to Floor 1's Project Zombie World.

Hye-jeong was frozen in that exact moment,

no way she knew I'd dipped to another world and back.

Not even 0.0001 seconds had passed.

"Hye-jeong-ah. Got us a gun."

I pulled the M16 from Subspace and showed it off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to Hye-jeong.

Her eyes went saucer-wide, just like the first time she saw me use Subspace.

"...H-Huh? ...G-Guns too? Oppa, you can get guns...?

Were guns... part of the 'necessities' you mentioned last time...?"

"Nah. It's... well, anyway, I got it. Just roll with that.

Point is, we blast all the zombies with this. Heh heh..."

Before mowing down zombies, I took stock of my guns and ammo.

Current arsenal:

7-round revolver pistol and 60 rounds of 7.62mm ammo.

M16 assault rifle and 87 rounds of 5.56mm ammo.

9mm Glock and 60 rounds of 9mm ammo.

5.56mm at 87, not 90? Yeah, that prick burst-fired three before dying.

"Hmm, this oughta be plenty to drop that delivery driver zombie loitering out front...?"

Thought about hosing it with the M16, but

tight quarters made the pistol Glock the smarter play.

I drew the Glock, ran a mental sim of dropping the zombie, then prepped to open the door with a deep breath.

"...Whew, whew..."

'One, two, three...!'

- Beep. Click. -

Door lock disengaged, door swung open.

The zombie shambling out front whipped its head my way.

"Groooaaar..."

In Project Zombie World, normal zombies shamble until prey's close, then they sprint.

Slower than full sprint, but way faster than walking. They ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hunt like that.

This one broke into a sprint my way, faster than a shuffle.

Prey radius hit—I was on the menu.

- Bang! Bang! Bang! -

Cooler head than I expected...,

and way more skilled, I popped the pistol shots clean: chest, neck, head.