Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: The Newbie is Still Hungry
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11 a.m.
Two vehicles pulled up to the Butchers' House.
A black-painted van and a truck.
In the truck bed, a stripped-naked man was shivering on the verge of freezing to death.
A survivor they'd caught to slaughter.
"What the hell? Bong-gu. What happened here? It was fine last week."
"Y-yellow Boss, sir. Looks like a fire broke out while they were cooking meat."
The bald man who stepped out of the van scowled at the completely burned-down Butchers' House.
He passed through the gate and approached the yard littered with corpses.
Three bodies.
The father and his two sons.
"Burned to a crisp. After gorging on human flesh like that, they ended up eating each other? Turned into a pile of ash."
Yellow Boss examined the corpses, then surveyed the ruins of the Butchers' House.
Accidental death or murder—he couldn't tell yet.
"Hey, Bong-gu."
"Yes, boss."
"Was there anything here that could cause a fire this bad?"
"Maybe the doc's chemicals for making drugs caught fire?"
"Nah. No way. Then you'd smell that chemical stink everywhere. This ain't it. Someone came, killed 'em, and set the fire. What's shocking is they had fuel to burn in this ice age."
Yellow Boss patted Bong-gu's cheek.
To him, this was murder.
The fire was just a cover-up.
Someone invaded, wiped them out, looted everything, then torched the place.
Figured the flames would erase all traces, no one the wiser.
But they couldn't fool Yellow Boss's eyes.
Before the ice age, he'd been a detective in the violent crimes unit.
He could see all the clues left at the scene.
Humans always leave traces, no matter how hard they hide.
"No matter how you try to bury it, the truth always surfaces."
Yellow Boss sniffed out the crime from the scene.
An arsonist raider had broken in here.
Probably two or three of them.
They might've had guns.
Yellow Boss kept tracking the clues.
"Come to think of it, where's the generator we gave them?"
"Huh. I haven't seen it either, boss."
"Fuck. I knew it. Even if it burned in the fire, it wouldn't vanish completely. There'd be scorch marks or something. It disappearing clean like this? Suspicious as hell, right?"
A red petrol generator.
It was a gift from Yellow Boss to the father and sons.
That's why it stuck in his memory.
Spotting its absence turned his suspicions into certainty.
"Someone was here before us. Building's still hot, so probably last night or this morning."
"Could it be zombies?"
"Zombies setting fires? This is human work. Real nasty bastards, too."
Yellow Boss drew his conclusion.
The father and sons were murdered.
The scene was burned to hide evidence.
Not content with killing valuable manpower.
They torched private property too—the work of madmen.
"Bong-gu."
"Yes, boss."
"Unleash White Dog and Yellow Dog. Grab every living fucker around here and drag 'em to me."
"Alive?"
"Yeah. Alive. So I can skin 'em myself."
Unable to contain his rage, Yellow Boss stomped a corpse to pieces.
Yellow Boss obsessively eliminated anything he saw as a threat.
The thought of something lurking in his territory filled him with uncontrollable fury and murderous intent.
"Can't let some dangerous fuck breathe easy in our neighborhood."
Now that he knew there was a pest, he wouldn't rest until it was exterminated.
He'd comb the neighborhood where the father and sons lived, killing everything alive until satisfied.
I returned to my hideout and unpacked.
Dealt with the cannibal trio and struck it rich!
I'd grabbed tons of tools that could double as weapons.
The toolbox was stuffed with hammers and all sorts of gear.
This would let me reinforce the hideout and make it cozier.
Best of all: blankets and bedding galore.
Thanks to the wheelbarrow, I salvaged towels and blankets I'd nearly left behind.
I moved the loot and erased the wheel tracks, so no one should notice.
What? Why are they calling me pitiful?
This haul was huge—I'm super satisfied!
Do these people live that well?
Makes sense—they're all nobles or big shots, so yeah.
Ended up flaunting my poverty...
Feels kinda pathetic...
Everyone pitied me.
Their sympathetic stares pierced through the text.
This is an amazing haul!
Generator with fuel in a resource-starved world!
Food's still short, sure.
But for solo survival, it's plenty.
I can use electricity now!
What a blessing to have lights.
Though zombies swarm at night if lit up.
And oil's too precious for daytime.
She zeroed in on medical supplies, as expected.
Per Potion Addict's request, I posted close-ups of the medical tools from the Butchers' House.
Potion Addict had listed tools for potion-making before.
Clean glass jars, a big cauldron, and more.
I fulfilled most of it this time.
High-grade potions should be doable now.
Potion Addict straight-up declared she'd teach me, asking my "master" first.
Finally, real potion recipes incoming?
She said she'd prep materials for me and dipped.
Looks like serious alchemy lessons ahead.
I'm pumped!
She's extra emotional today.
Obviously, no plans to ditch Phlogiston School.
Felt it fighting the cannibals yesterday.
Phlogiston flames are the ice age's best weapon.
I wanna level Phlogiston magic to at least 6th circle.
Then I could melt incoming bullets mid-air, right?
Not sure if Cosmic Dust can use the blood pressure monitor right.
But it's a quirky gadget—she'll figure it out.
I grabbed all visible books from the Butchers' House.
Some medical texts and classic literature.
The old man claimed to be an ex-doctor.
Guess he loved literature too—tons of books.
Not giving it all at once, though.
Need reserves to keep the food flowing.
A couple medical books this time.
Humanities next, etc.
What now? Another book or oddity request?
But Cosmic Dust's favor was totally unexpected.
She wanted to learn Hangul.
And was curious about King Sejong and Earth's history.
Guess my textbooks sparked deep interest in Earth culture.
Perfect.
Get her hooked on Earth culture, and she'll spoil me more, right?