The Tenth House
The constant worry of running out of water kept nagging at me.
Each building got its water from rooftop tanks. Even if the electricity cut out, the tanks held enough to keep flowing until they ran dry. The point when each building lost water was different, though.
When we went out looting at night, I decided to pack a bunch of empty pet bottles so I could grab water wherever we found it.
I could just head to the nearby creek and scoop some up, but the water there was pretty shitty. Bugs, algae, garbage. Without a purification device, I wasn't eager to drink it straight. I'd survive, sure, but it would taste disgusting and make me feel grossed out. Not to mention, safe water was essential for the others.
Night fell and we set out on another looting run. We needed to hit more houses. Empty buildings and bodies were piling up everywhere.
Most of the empty houses were completely out of food. Someone must have gone out looking for supplies and never come back.
Fortunately, filling the pet bottles was easy.
"There's a burner here. There's also some spare butane gas. If you find any more of these, just stockpile everything."
I held up the burner and told the big guy.
"Got it. Propane or LPG from restaurants should work too. Big capacity."
"You can use those as burners?"
"Yeah, there are specialized burners, or you can hook them up to a gas stove."
We found a whole countertop water purifier in one empty house. It filtered tap water through a filter.
"Water purifiers are available everywhere, but if the tap runs out, the water itself becomes the problem."
"We can walk to the nearby creek. The water's just too dirty."
"I can make a direct purification device. You know, use tight fabric like nylon or cotton to filter out big stuff, add gravel and sand and charcoal, then boil the water and run it through the filter."
"Huh? The big guy is pretty smart."
"Haha. You strain it through dense cloth and most big debris gets caught. Then you put gravel, sand, and charcoal in a container to filter it. After that, you boil the water and run it through the purifier."
"I've seen something about a simple purification device. If you keep boiling water, you'll need a lot of gas cylinders."
"Yeah. If boiling isn't an option, you can use bleach. There's plenty of bleach around every house."
"Bleach? Drinking that will kill you, right?"
"It'll kill you if you drink too much, but a little is fine."
This guy was smarter and more useful than I expected. I only knew how to build crossbows, but he had a ton of practical knowledge.
As we were looting and heading back down, we ran into another group. The distance was about fifty meters.
They looked like our long-range type, but there were eight of them. Six men and two women.
They were also keeping a close eye on us.
"Should I fire the crossbow...?"
"No. Don't provoke them."
We moved apart and headed toward the opposite direction. The gap between us widened.
But the guys staring at us started moving quickly toward us. Our full backpacks of food must have been tempting. And with fewer of us, we must have looked easy targets.
I sped up too and the bastards started running full out.
"Two of you hide in the alley. When I start shooting, all of you fire your crossbows, then reload immediately. I'll hold them off as much as possible."
"Got it."
The big guy and the guy with the keys hid behind the wall of the alley. I stood in place, crossbow aimed at them.
"Stop right there! If you come any closer, you die."
My words made them slow down.
They looked young and well-built. Strong muscles showed on their shoulders and forearms. At most thirty years old, three of them already had tattoos.
The two women they were dragging were shorter and slimmer, typical skinny girls.
"What's that? Some clumsy bow? How many of us are there? You think you can win? Leave the bags and we'll let you go."
"Come on in then. The first time one of you is hit, it's infection and death. No treatment, just pain and then death. Hey, is there a doctor here?"
"Shit... fuck..."
They couldn't approach easily. The crossbow must have been intimidating.
"Move."
But from behind, a skinny guy with a fierce expression started slowly stepping forward.
He held a jungle knife in one hand and moved diagonally, inching forward.
He radiated killing intent and showed excellent movement. Coming out fearless with the crossbow right in front of him was terrifying.
I fired the crossbow, but he twisted with incredible reflexes and dodged the bolt. Impressive...
As he charged, the others ran toward me too.
I immediately dropped the crossbow, drew the knife, and stabbed forward.
The guy's jungle knife was short. His movements were fast and sharp, but I was faster.
Before the knife could reach me, my blade pierced his chest.
"Gah!"
He fell from the blow, and bolts flew from behind me too. One missed, but the other luckily hit someone.
I took the wooden club from the flying bastard and stabbed the guy at the same time.
The knife stabbed my stomach, I grabbed it with my hand and drove my blade into his chest.
The guy I stabbed stared wide-eyed. He must never have imagined the one who stabbed him deeply could counter instantly.
The guy with the hammer swung it down at my shoulder. It felt like my shoulder bone was shattering. I dropped the knife, picked up the jungle knife from the ground, and swung it into his leg.
Bolts from my allies fired again from behind and hit the other guy.
We fought without holding back. This was my style.
If I gave up flesh and he did the same, I won either way. I'd heal and they'd die soon.
The difference between fighting with the knowledge that I could heal from injury and fighting knowing injury meant death was huge.
Now only the two women were left. The girls who were clumsily holding weapons approached me and panicked when the men in front fell instantly.
"Hik... hic..."
I pulled out the knife stuck in my stomach and threw it. They flinched.
"W-what... why... aren't you dying..."
The voices were mixed with sobs.
One girl ran at me swinging her fists, but I knocked her hand away with the jungle knife and dropped her to the ground. The other girl swung a hammer at my shoulder.
It was weak and she didn't put in full strength because of fear, so it only gave me a small bruise.
The terrified girl immediately dropped the hammer and lay down on the ground.
"S-save me!"
It was over. One girl was lying on the ground surrendering, and the other was crying while bleeding from her wrist.
The two guys stabbed in the chest by the knife were dead, and the ones hit by bolts were staggering to their feet.
The big guy and the guy with the keys had finished reloading and rushed to my side.
"A-are you okay?!"
"I'm fine. Neutralize the women so they can't run."
I walked up to the injured guys with the jungle knife in my hand.
I put power into the blow and hit their necks. It didn't cut them clean through, but I could clearly feel the bone.
I cut deep and pulled out the jungle knife, and blood gushed from the neck. Half the neck muscle was probably severed.
The tactical knife was versatile, but for fighting, the longer jungle knife seemed better.
"S-save me! I-I was wrong! S-save me... gah! Kuh..."
The guy's neck was half cut and blood poured out as he begged to be saved. It was the perfect killing method. With a shattered shoulder, I couldn't move one hand well, so I used the jungle knife to cut the throats of all six men.
[ Soul 6 absorbed ]
[ Super Regeneration: 15 ]
My Super Regeneration level had grown.
"You two. Do you have more people?"
The girls were trembling and crying after seeing their comrades' necks sliced and dying in front of them.
Because of the will to survive, their answer was sharp.
"N-no! We always went out to get food together..."
"You two know each other?"
"Me and my sister. And four worked at the gym... the other two joined later... A-are you going to kill us too? We didn't want to fight! They said suddenly attack..."
Bullshit. The girls who had picked up weapons and were swinging them...
One was pretty and the other not so much, but both had good figures. They must have been gym trainers. Not stunning beauties, but decent.
"Sigh... The big guy and the guy with the keys. You want these two?"
The two guys looked at me and the girls in surprise.
"Y-you think it's okay?"
"We were the ones who wanted to kill you. If you couldn't beat us, your heads would be rolling on the ground by now. We're not going to spare the women either."
One of the ugly girls shouted, lashing out.
"D-don't touch our bodies! J-just kill me!"
"Okay. I'll kill you."
I pressed the jungle knife into the girl's mouth as she cried.
"Ugh! M-motherf... agh..."
With the knife in her mouth and blood flowing, she said she wanted to die.
With power in my hand, I shoved it deeper and the blade went all the way down her throat. I pulled it out again with force.
"Gulp... gurg... gah..."
The girl kept vomiting blood while rolling her eyes around and fell to the ground, blood still pouring from her mouth. The girl next to her peed herself watching.
[ Soul 1 absorbed ]
[ Super Regeneration: 16 ]
The girl's death raised my Super Regeneration level.
"Next. If you want to die too, open your mouth."
"Hah... hah... A-ah, I-I..."
"What? Say it straight."
"S-save me... I-I... p-please rape me! I'll do anything if you just save me! P-please!"
The girl, gasping and barely able to speak, started begging to be raped.
As expected. Fortunately the ugly one started panicking first.
"For now, let's go into that empty house next door."
I picked up all the weapons and bags they had. The bags weren't full, but there was quite a bit of food.
This was how farming in one go worked. If we hadn't been greedy, the bastards could have quietly gone home and lived.
The guy with the keys grabbed the girl by the arm behind her back and held her hair, dragging her along. She staggered with her waist half-bent.