Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Zombie Apocalypse (10)
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After taking down two zombies down in an instant, I looked around.
Does a zombie's head make less noise when it bursts based on how I kill it?
I swung the baseball bat like a sword, and it produced some pretty decent results.
If my strength were lacking, it might be different, but right now, swinging a blunt weapon with full force is now more lethal. It seems better than a sword that would need maintenance after use.
"Sian, you can't just think you can handle it and charge in! Be more careful!"
Having killed a zombie on her own once, Na-eun's resistance to corpses had gone up, and she approached me to say that.
"I think I can manage two. Three or more, and even I'd run if it gets too much."
My strength is high, but I'm not resistant to infection.
In truth, this was basically me stepping up to strengthen the Survival Rules as soon as possible.
If infection weren't a risk, I would've taken out the zombies buried under the corpses in the department store to rack up more quest counts.
Just four more to find and kill for the upgrade. I felt like getting a bit more aggressive.
"Last night around dawn, I saw you go out and kill a female zombie. You hit her several times back then, right?"
Since Jung Jun-ho lived next door, he'd apparently heard us go out last night, come to the hallway, and watched what we were doing.
Back then, it took two or three hits to the head, but now I could drop them in one.
"Looks like I've gotten the knack for it. Let's keep going. From now on, I'll handle any zombies that show up."
"Yeah. Feels pretty reassuring. Let's move."
I caught a momentary sense that he was wary of me, but I figured I'd feel the same if I were him.
A guy who smashes zombie heads in one blow living next door?
Reassuring, sure, but also scary.
Following the path Jung Jun-ho led us on, we arrived at a camping supplies store along the roadside.
The glass windows were all shattered, probably from people who'd already been through here. Bloodstains on the floor suggested a fight had broken out.
"Not a little late—we were way late."
Inside the store, expensive tents and such were mostly gone.
If you're not holing up in a building or room like us, you'd need to set up in a big mart or sports field. A tent would make life way more comfortable.
Makes sense why people flock together in groups early on.
If the Plague Lord didn't screw over zombie drops, those groups would have a huge advantage.
With Na-eun and Jung Jun-ho helping, we scoured every corner for camping gear.
Luckily, we found three lanterns like the ones we wanted, plus some batteries.
"They cleaned out hand-crank generators too."
Traces of generators and large power banks on display, but they're gone now. The firstcomers took them.
"Oh. Generators would be useful."
A hand-squeeze torch shaped like a toy had been swept up, but one dropped in the corner remained. Its value would skyrocket the moment power cuts out.
"Looks like they took everything that could make fire too. We're really late."
Our haul from the camping store: four lanterns and one portable light with a built-in generator.
Not super satisfying, but this was 15 hours into the zombie apocalypse—what remained essentially.
"Next up: power banks, meds and protective gear?"
I muttered to remind us what we'd come for. Jung Jun-ho, who'd heard, spoke up.
"For power banks, maybe check a phone shop?"
"Phone shop—sounds like a name screaming 'looted 100%'."
Like Na-eun said, without a specific goal, people would've rushed straight there for phones.
Leaving the camping store with our meager haul, we ran into four guys armed about like us.
A subtle standoff.
I spoke first.
"It's already been picked clean. Nothing worth taking. See? My bag's empty."
I patted my empty bag demonstratively.
The apparent leader, a buff-looking guy, replied in a gruff voice.
"What about that girl's bag?"
"Just four lanterns."
Na-eun clutched her bag and said.
The man scowled, puffed up a bit, and told us,
"One per person, and give the extra one to us?"
Threat mixed with negotiation.
Na-eun and Jung Jun-ho, we're short one person but I'm confident I could win if it came to blows, they waited for my response.
"Na-eun, give 'em one."
Na-eun opened her bag and tossed a lantern box over. The man caught it easily.
With that, we left the camping store, and the four guys rushed in.
Didn't we say there's nothing inside?
We decided to put distance before they realized and came after our stuff.
"Numbers are intimidating."
"That's a decent-sized group."
Seo Professor suggested ten, but even ten feels like a proper group.
"You could've taken them, right, Lee Sian?"
Jung Jun-ho asked cautiously.
"Against people, I'd have to hold back, so hard to say for sure. But for Zombies? Definitely."
I said if it's a fight to kill, I'm sure to win; subduing, not so much.
"You weren't thinking 1 vs. 4, were you? Include me and the girlfriend."
"Then subduing's a sure thing too."
I'd unconsciously assumed 1:4, but it was 3:4.
Thinking back on those four, minus the leader, they didn't look particularly fit. One was unarmed.
Even with Na-eun as a girl, she could handle an unarmed guy. We had the edge.
They seemed threatening, but maybe they were just yelling to survive?
Musing on that, we found the phone shop. Glass smashed, interior empty.
Checked just in case: only outdated stuff like 5-pin cables remained.
"Sian, nothing here. Even giveaway tissues are gone."
"Yeah. Looks like everything around this mart got cleaned out."
Should we have pulled an all-nighter at dawn?
Sleepy, but maybe we'd have grabbed more essentials if we'd pushed through.
With out regret lingering, we headed to the pharmacy as our last stop.
Of course, empty. Just oddities like knee pads left.
"Thought pharmacies had all sorts of random stuff. Never imagined it'd all be gone."
Simple painkillers, kid-friendly jelly, toys—everything, gone.
Leaving the pharmacy, we checked near the mart. People with long steel pipes guarded the entrance.
Is there a good leader there? They're already fortifying.
Unless it collapses inside, joining that group won't be easy now. We headed back to the officetel.
"I used to ate out a lot here."
Passing a small snack bar on the way, Jung Jun-ho said.
The shutter was down but broken into; signs of entry through the gap.
Lee Sian's memories: cheap eats for college kids.
After eating chicken breast, tteokbokki here would hit different.
That's why it didn't appeal much for our last delivery order last night.
Since I snuck some good eats without Na-eun knowing.
"Any food ingredients left inside?"
"Turning into quite the scavenger. Let's just check."
Turned on the shop lights, rummaged the kitchen: found a half-eaten sack of rice.
This is probably a huge score?
Dumplings, sundae, tteok—easy-cook stuff gone, but gochujang (heavy for bulk) remained. Solid haul.
Gochujang in Na-eun's bag, rice sack neatly packed in mine, Jung Jun-ho carried it.
Jung Jun-ho grunts because its heavy, but my combat power's higher, so it was a fair split.
Proving division of labor right: a zombie wandered. I charged and smashed its head.
Splat!
Jung Jun-ho, for a second time seeing a one-hit zombie head burst, didn't react big like before.
Maybe too weighed down by the rice to react?
Zombie kills reached (7/10). We returned to the officetel.
A zombie corpse in the flower bed: the elderly one with burst head we'd left on the stairs.
"Sian, look at this."
Red block letters on the officetel's main entrance:
"Officetel Survivors' Meeting. Front yard, 8 PM. Please attend."
"Should we go?"
Na-eun asked my take. I asked Jung Jun-ho, while dropping our bags for a rest.
"You attending, Jung Jun-ho?"
"It's good if survivors band together, but for a resource sharing talk? I'm kinda hesitant."
Six rooms per floor, four floors: 24 units. How many would be left?
"Skip and they might bust in, which would be a huge hassle. Better show our faces."
What's worst from skipping?: forced entry.
Then the fighting starts. Better we plan to minimize these fights.
We climbed to the third floor, then divided our loot.
Jung Jun-ho had a rice container; poured rice in, gave him a gochujang tub and one lantern too.
We then went back to our bachelor pad.
Na-eun, exhausted, washed up quick and flopped on the bed.
15 hours since the zombie outbreak. 5 hours until the survivors' meeting?
Upgrade my Survival Rules before then if possible.
The gas station fire from the morning's quiet now. So is the front yard meetup at night okay?
Kill (7/10) zombies.
On completion: Strengthen [Skill] Survival Rules (F)