Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Moving (1)
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The uninvited guests from Failnet slunk away like the outgoing tide.
An anonymous user's verdict said it all.
I had no idea why I kept catching the flak, but at this point, Defender's claim that I was hopeless with the internet might actually hold water.
Defender dropped his bombshell suggestion about a week after the gunfire up north had finally died down.
Oh, there was a problem, alright.
Let's be real—neither the brother nor the sister was exactly what you'd call normal.
Those two showing up at my bunker?
Just the thought sent chills down my spine.
We'll respect your privacy as much as we can, so lend a hand. We're friends now, right?
(Scream of a beauty) If you don't help, we're dead!
This didn't sound like some throwaway joke.
Defender's turf had been trouble from the start, and now ex-military raiders were prowling the area.
Moving house during the apocalypse? Not just any time—it was life-or-death even before the world went to hell, and now it was straight-up suicidal.
Defender sent over his relocation plan, complete with a marked-up map of the route.
What can I say about his plan?
It was pure Defender.
The perfect compromise between reason and madness.
With ex-Legion raiders—who were heavily armed—controlling the surroundings, he'd plotted a path steering clear of their zones as much as possible.
That meant crossing zombie territory, cultist-held areas, and monster-infested zones.
"..."
I had to. What choice did I have?
It was a route I'd traversed before, and these were the friends who'd refused to let me die.
Even if luck was on their side and the siblings pulled off the move without me, that'd be a problem too.
They'd cut me loose for sure—and turn into my fiercest haters as Skeleton fans.
That might hurt worse than if Defender bit the dust.
Above all, weren't we internet buddies?
I fired back with gusto, channeling my idol John_nenon's latest style.
"..."
Too advanced for Defender, maybe.
*Defender's got a sharp eye and plenty of sense—he just kills people a bit too easily and talks rough.
We agreed to link up midway.
As always, we set out late evening, crossing through the darkness.
Bang!
Gunfire echoing in the distance was no longer a rarity.
A unfamiliar glow flickered far to the northeast.
Pioneers, probably.
Bang! Bang!
One reason pioneers ventured into the perilously wild outskirts was guns, they said.
Better to starve unarmed in the city than head outside with a firearm— at least then you had a shot at something.
Bang! Rat-tat-tat!
The shots came in frantic bursts.
A firefight, by the looks of it.
I flicked on the radio.
Moments later, the radio crackled again.
It was a full moon night.
These mix-ups rarely happened under a full moon, but the clouds were so thick it might as well have been new moon.
That explained the mistaken shots.
The full moon peeked through drifting clouds only when they allowed it.
Using the distant gunfire and faint lights as beacons, I reached the rendezvous.
Checked GPS, then signaled on the K-walkie-talkie.
Beep— beep beep beep beep—
Two short bursts, repeated.
I scanned the surroundings.
Three flashes from the northeast woods: on, off, on, off, on, off.
No reply, as agreed beforehand.
One side signals by radio, the other by light.
Unconvenient, but with people being the biggest threat, it was necessary. Defender had picked a spot where I'd spot the light easily.
"Skeleton."
Defender looked a bit leaner than last time, but still every bit the brazen, handsome bastard.
His eyes seemed sharper now.
Maybe from killing so many people—leveled up or something.
"Let's go."
He handed me a headset.
I slipped it on, and amid the static, his sister's voice came through.
"Skeleton! For real?!"
"What?"
"You know... that 30cm thing...?! "
"...It's a metaphor."
"Not some oxymoron, right?"
I bit back the urge to ask what an oxymoron was.
Jokes could wait till we got to Defender's place.
More pressing: the air felt off.
Not a stench, exactly—but a gut-churning dread, like foreboding incarnate.
Defender pointed south.
Monster territory. The same one I'd seen before.
Obviously, it'd grown.
What had been a distant blot on the riverbank dunes now sprawled right to the water's edge.
If I hadn't taken out the monster in my zone in time, my area would've been shrouded in that same gloomy gray, twisting and desiccating all life.
"Rough road from here on."
Defender nimbly scaled a pathless slope.
I grabbed branches and followed.
He hugged the ridge just below the crest.
Avoiding sightlines from the other side, no doubt.
Soon he beckoned from behind a rock.
"Check that out."
Beyond the ridge, countless lights flickered.
An army.
Armored vehicles, jeeps, even tanks crammed into an abandoned factory lot.
"?"
But the numbers... way too many.
Dozens of tanks, attack choppers with folded rotors perched on trailers.
Why mass this much firepower here, now?
Didn't look like they were prepping for monsters.
Defender gazed down at the camp with a bitter smile.
"Now you get why I have to move?"
"Yeah. But why are they bunched up like that?"
"Been digging in for two months, numbers swelling by the day. All on encrypted comms."
"...That story?"
A chill raced up my spine.
I could guess what this army was after.
"Failnet and our boards say the Legion splintered months ago... but maybe it's all staged."
Could be.
Defender moved out.
"Legion grabs power, Congress does—doesn't matter to us."
I agreed.
Whoever took the reins, it was another world, unrelated to ours.
One wish: whoever it was, hold out long.
The longer rebels or legit gov clung on up north, the more time I had.
Beyond the covert army muster lay another gray-white expanse.
What a godforsaken hellhole, I thought, casually opening up.
"Eroded here too?"
Last visit, it'd been fine.
No erosion signs, no monster rumors.
Defender let out a shallow sigh, spilling a truth I didn't know.
"Heard some lunatics hauled in multiple capsules."
"Capsules?"
"Didn't see 'em myself, but military freqs were buzzing about it."
Capsules.
I'd manhandled one once—unavoidable choice.
Back then, I had no breathing room, and Kim Daram plus the gov were still kicking.
One monster? Piece of cake with her help.
But unlike me, some folks were peddling monsters to the world on purpose.
"Don't tell me those cultists..."
Fools mistaking the result—peaceful coexistence—for the cause.
They were the true culprits who'd doomed China.
"Wanliu Ghost Cult?"
The profane name felt foreign on my tongue after so long.
Defender nodded.
"Yeah. That's what they went by."
He ground his teeth.
"...Should've wiped 'em all when I crossed paths on the road."
Beyond the gray woods, faint smoke wisped up.
Wood smoke.
People lived there.
No way—was it really the Wanliu Ghost Cult?
No other faith taught nesting beside monsters.
"...They made it to Korea too?"
"Soulless cult freaks don't care about borders."
Defender had a point.
Plenty chose self-destruction via cults, apocalypse or not.
These folks I was staring at? That type.
They'd have burned out even without the end times.
"Coulda warned me."
"Figured you'd bail if I did."
Straight talk from Defender.
No doubt—this guy had been in China.
He knew cultists rivaled armies in threat level.
Some underestimated them: crap gear, no training versus military.
But they weren't pushovers.
Not just fanaticism, numbers, or death-wish.
Sometimes, among cultists, "God's chosen" emerged—in their tongue.
I held my breath, whispering to Defender.
"Any Awakeners down there?"
He paused, then nodded.
"...Dunno for sure. But something like that, yeah."
Folks say the first Awakener came from Hunter ranks.
Truth's different.
The original sprang from cultists surviving erosion zones.
Witnessed by me and the PLA unit I'd fought beside.
Still vivid: Captain I Jaho's bugged eyes.
"That's... a human mutation? No—human turning monster?"
That intel got scrubbed back when I had clearance.
Now? Myth to the few who remember.
Inevitable.
Dark ages birth heroes, but only in drama.
Defender keyed his headset to his sister.
"Open ground. Scout it."
"Aye, Captain!"
We waited.
A black speck appeared against the dark.
Chinese combat drone with night-vision gear.
"Clear. Go time."
Before she finished, Defender sprinted full-tilt across the flat.
Clouds thinned; moonlight bathed the earth, but he didn't hesitate a beat.
I followed suit, lungs burning sweetly.
We plunged into dense woods.
"My turf from here."
Heavy clouds soon blanketed moon and sky, forcing us through pitch black by feel.
Mid-climb and descent, Defender halted.
"Backtrack."
His laser pointer speared a dark corner.
Claymore anti-personnel mine.
Vicious: wired across a rocky shortcut. Trip it, and steel balls shredded the trigger-man and followers alike.
"Wasn't here before. Recent install."
"Those guys from earlier?"
"Who knows. Point is, they can't stay in this hood anymore."
"Fair."
Detour was more cliff-climb than path.
Darkness made the stunt possible.
Ahead, a tall gabled roof loomed faintly.
Defender's house.
Took a while, but we made it unscathed.
Then Defender whipped around.
"Sorry."
He brushed past me.
"Different route."
"Why?"
"Something I don't wanna see. Really sorry."
No half-assed apology—this was genuine regret.
Why loop back, abandoning the house?
As I turned, puzzled—
The world lit up.
A sliver parted the thick clouds veiling moon and stars; hidden moonlight poured through, gracing the earth.
That fleeting gleam unveiled darkness's secret.
A corpse dangled from a tree.
Desiccated, mummified.
Self-hanged, staring hollow-eyed at the theme park sprawled below.
The withered face bore an eerie resemblance to Defender and his sister.