Chapter 18
Chapter 18
About 3 hours passed.
"So this is why everyone keeps talking about 'business, business,' huh?"
I finally felt it in my bones why people are so obsessed with business.
Dopamine poured out as if pickling my brain, sending a tingling sensation through my entire body.
It wasn't just about feeling good.
"Because the money is rolling in like crazy."
Every time I gathered 1 million in capital, I bought exploration robots indiscriminately and deployed them to the field.
Money calls for robots, and those robots bring back even more money—a strange, virtuous cycle.
As soon as I checked my current Ether balance, a hollow laugh burst out.
[Ether Balance: 2 billion Ether]
"Wow, seriously......."
It was a harvest that made me exclaim in admiration without even realizing it.
2 billion Ether.
It was a huge sum that I couldn't believe was dug out of a pile of trash.
But at that moment, while I was drunk on victory, a voice poured cold water on the silence.
"Hey! Stop that and come down!"
I lowered my head to look down and saw a familiar face.
It was that thug I had encountered at the pawnshop.
But this time, he wasn't alone.
"Wow...... you never fail to live up to expectations."
The thug was wearing a despicable smile, flanked by two hulks the size of his own body.
It was obvious he intended to freeload off the results that someone else had sweated and bled for—well, technically, the robots did the work.
"I'm going, I'm going."
I recalled all 20 exploration robots scattered around into the 'Dark Room'.
After erasing my tracks to leave no evidence, I slowly climbed down the trash mountain.
"Hehehe! How was it, mister? Was the treasure hunt fun?"
As soon as my feet touched the ground, the thug scanned me with a greedy gaze.
The hulks on either side also gulped and glared at me like I was prey.
It was the look of hyenas waiting for some scraps to fall.
"Thanks to you, I had a great time. I'm satisfied."
I was sincere.
Since I had 2 billion Ether in my hands, I felt like thanking them.
But my relaxed attitude seemed to have rubbed the thug the wrong way.
"Is that so? Then hand it over while I'm asking nicely."
"Hand over what?"
"Don't play dumb! Hand over everything you scavenged here today!"
The thug scowled and barked at me.
The hulks also shrugged their shoulders threateningly and closed the distance.
But it was laughable.
I just lightly raised both arms, offering my empty torso.
"If you're curious, search me yourself."
"Search him!"
At the thug's command, the two hulks rushed in and roughly searched my body.
They searched everything from my pockets to the inside of my shoes, but naturally, nothing came out.
Because all my assets were already safely stored inside the 'Dark Room'.
"B-boss. There's really nothing here."
"It seems he hid it somewhere before coming down, boss."
The two guys, flustered by the lack of loot, reported to the thug and then grabbed my arms tightly so I couldn't run.
"Ha! You dare hide my stuff? You better know today is the day of your funeral."
The thug approached with a despicable laugh, murder in his eyes.
"Tsk, tsk....."
These guys must have lived by extorting other people's hard work like this.
But that habit ends today.
It worked out perfectly.
Spot!
"Uh...... uh-uh?"
"W-what?"
I forcibly jammed the Zombie Chips into the backs of the two guys holding me.
Shock filled the eyes of the hulks holding my arms.
At the same time, I issued a command.
It was time for an experiment.
"......What the hell, you!"
The thug froze with his mouth wide open at the sudden turn of events.
"Hey, you bastards, get a grip!"
At the thug's shout, I released the two guys holding me.
Then.
"Ugh... ughhh! M-my body won't listen to me!"
"B-boss! Dodge!"
The two hulks acted as if their bodies weren't their own.
It was as if they were being controlled by someone.
"Go! Boys!"
The two hulks, like wrestlers.
Wrapped their arms around the thug.
"N-nooooo!"
"Argh!"
"Ughhhhh!"
And dove straight off the trash mountain.
Thud!
Judging by the sound, it was an impact that suggested they wouldn't be able to act like thugs ever again.
Back at Kang Tae-san's building, I fell into deep thought.
"How should I spend this 2 billion so people say I spent it well?"
My original goal was to control zombies with the 'Zombie Chip'.
But once I actually had the huge sum in my hands, I got greedy.
"Should I get an implant?"
Technology that replaces parts of the body with machines.
But I instinctively felt a resistance to bodily mutilation, like gouging out my real eye to insert a prosthetic one.
I wanted to keep my body as it was.
So I decided to ask the gallery for advice.
└ [Marching Necromancer] : You want to implant machines into your body...... That's a quite profound topic.
└ [Necro-aspirant] : Can't you do it to your lackeys instead? Do you really need to do it to your main body?!
└ [Corpse Researcher] : A machine enthusiast...... That's a new realm. I respect it.
└ [No. 20] : There were many such Chimeras in the past. But most of them were weak.
The general opinion was negative, but there was a clue.
└ [Marching Necromancer] : Alker. If it's those alchemists, I think they might have a way to harmonize living tissue and machines......
I suddenly remembered.
There are a total of 4 galleries in the Fantasy dimension.
Valkar, Lumien, Alker, and Necra.
Among them, 'Alker', which mainly uses alchemy, might solve my problem.
"The problem is the level......."
Leveling up was essential to unlock the region.
My current level is 10.
Valkar opened at level 5, so Alker would probably require level 15.
"Alright, I'm rushing to level 15. The method is decided."
My immediate goal became clear.
Farming experience points by freeloading using the Zombie Chips.
This was it.
The next day, I headed to the zombie hunting ground alone.
Since Kang Tae-san's group and Lee Su-ah decided to rest at home, it was actually more comfortable for me to move alone.
'I'm itching to go.'
Inside my coat, dozens of the Zombie Chips I had crafted felt heavy.
"Today is for zombie testing."
What I used on the thugs earlier was a human test.
This time, it's a zombie test.
I passed the soldiers familiarly and climbed down the underground ladder.
I went deep inside and looked left and right.
"Asura, come out."
"Keu-uh-uh!"
Asura, who popped out of the Dark Room, exuded killing intent.
I threw the bundle of chips to the guy who was itching to fight.
"Go stick these into the backs of their necks. Don't kill them."
"Keu-uh?"
Asura made a dumb expression.
Then, as if he was getting annoyed,
"Keu-uh-uh!"
Asura darted out like lightning.
He frantically stirred through the zombie horde and accurately jammed the chips in.
Pu-pu-pu-puk!
In an instant, 10 zombies stopped in their tracks, stiffened.
At the same time, I pulled out a tablet equipped with a 100 million Ether AI.
[10 Zombie Entities - Synchronization Complete]
Pa-pa-pat!
The tablet screen split into 10, and the zombies' vision was transmitted in real-time.
The electrical signals that forcibly seized their neural pathways were hanging at my fingertips.
"They said it was an old AI, but it's pretty useful? Then.... shall I try a 'Charge' command first?"
[Command Issued: Charge]
As soon as the command was given, the 10 zombies that had been walking sluggishly.
Geu-deuk! Geu-deu-deuk!
Snapped their heads at the same time.
And then.
Du-du-du-du!
They began to run, kicking off the ground with explosive speed incomparable to before.
It was definitely not the speed of the zombies I knew.
The sound of them sprinting filled the underground clearing.
Deep in the darkness of the underground hunting ground, two men were moving while holding their breath.
"Be careful. Don't make any noise as much as possible."
"Got it."
Wearing headlamps like miners, they carefully targeted the zombies from behind.
Hunting here was survival.
If they let their guard down even once and made a noise, they would taste hell as nearby zombies swarmed like clouds.
That was when.
Just as they were cutting off a zombie's nose to collect it,
Du-du-du-du-du!
An unpleasant vibration shaking the floor broke the silence.
"Huh? What is this sound?"
"What's wrong?"
"No, can't you hear something?"
The two men froze and listened.
Du-du-du-du-du!
Now there was no room for doubt.
It was the sound of a full-speed sprint, with dozens of soles crushing the hard ground as they approached.
"F-fuck! We're screwed! Run!"
"Arghhhh!"
Instinctive fear dominated their brains.
The two young men started running into the darkness, forgetting about hunting or anything else.
But the footsteps coming from behind were closing the distance.
"N-no......!"
Crash!
With a desperate scream, the man in front tripped over a stone and tumbled.
The colleague in front hesitated and fell into a momentary dilemma.
Should he abandon him and live, or face death and stand his ground?
After a split-second conflict, he grabbed the back of his fallen colleague's neck.
"You son of a bitch! Get up quickly!"
"Damn it! Thanks, seriously!"
Friendship was stronger than fear.
But the situation was still desperate.
The bastards had already reached right in front of their noses.
"Th-this is crazy!"
"Get ready to fight!"
Faint shapes began to appear, piercing through the darkness in the distance.
They were definitely zombies.
But they weren't the slow corpses they knew.
They were mad monsters, hunching their bodies like beasts and sprinting at full speed.
"R-running zombies!"
"They must be variants! Damn it!"
The two men gritted their teeth and gripped the weapons in their hands to the limit.
Their hearts pounded as if they would burst, and the shadow of death loomed before their eyes.
Only 5 meters until they collided with them.
"Kuaaaa!"
The zombies rushed in with bizarre roars.
But.
"Uh......?"
"....Huh?"
The zombies, which they thought would collide with them, whipped up a wind and brushed right past the two men.
As if there was nothing there, or as if the two people didn't matter at all.
"D-did they not see us? They just passed by!"
Just as the men's legs gave out from the relief of returning from the threshold of hell and they were about to collapse.
"Damn it! How do I stop this command! Hey! Wait for me!"
From behind where the zombies had passed, some man was running past, panting while holding a tablet PC.
The two men just stared blankly at the back of the man who was moving away, holding the tablet.