Chapter 30
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Assessing the Situation
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I immediately opened the gallery and entered channel 3 the moment it crossed my mind.
As expected, channel 3 was completely flooded with posts about channel 2's exchange and items.
Posts about channel 2's exchange and items selling out were pouring into channel 3 nonstop.
Anyway, I'd figured out the cause easily enough, but it wasn't easy to say whether I'd try to stop it.
'Still, nothing like this had happened until now.'
Thinking about it for a moment, I recalled the previous [Channel Block].
To be precise, it was when I'd put ramen up for auction in channel 3—1:1 chats and messages had flooded in, so I'd followed Ice Queen's advice.
'With the channel block, no one in channel 3 had been able to buy my items until now.'
But this time, it wasn't just me—the Hero Party had also listed items on the exchange.
The Hero Party hadn't blocked channel 3, so they'd spotted the items, and this situation had unfolded.
"Hero. You bought them from channel 3?"
"Channel 3?"
Elisicia looked puzzled at the mention of channel 3.
Speaking for her, Rubyel asked curiously.
"Why buy from channel 3?"
"Channel 3's situation isn't great either."
In fact, staying only on the first floor of the Great Labyrinth was relatively safe, so channel 2's circumstances might actually be better.
'But why so much talk about weapons?'
Looking closer, the term [zombie queen] popped up frequently.
'Simply put, feels like the zombies' boss.'
I clicked on one of the posts mentioning zombie queen.
Think back to when the first zombie queen showed up.
It gathered and controlled every zombie within a 20km radius.
The second one that appeared this time probably isn't much different, right?
That means at least tens of thousands of zombies on the move. Weapons? Lol.
Don't waste your points. Run far from the battlefield. That's the way to survive.
'Hmm.'
From reading the post, it seemed the zombie queen had the ability to control zombies.
Plus, with at least tens of thousands moving, it was practically a war.
Still, you need weapons. What if you run into zombies while fleeing?
Heard they only sold machetes and wooden spears? Can't handle variants with that.
You gotta hold something and resist for any chance of survival. Meet a zombie and it's goodbye to this world?
In my view, mace. Or war club is the best.
At a time like this, I wish I'd awakened SSSSS-rank and swept the zombie queen.
Fuck lol, what rank is SSSSS?
Even pre-doom fantasy novels didn't have ranks like that lol.
Looking closely, the comment atmosphere was different from usual too.
Most comments focused on fleeing and survival—that was probably why.
'Should look into the zombie queen first.'
Of course, investigating wouldn't dramatically change things.
But maybe I could help a bit with Modern Item Purchase, so I pondered seriously.
'Should contact Ice Queen.'
She'd explain it in a way that's easy to understand.
Plus, I had questions about the exchange, so I immediately requested a 1:1 chat with Ice Queen.
[The other party has accepted the 1:1 chat.]
Was just about to contact you, but you reached out first.
Yes. Seems like something happened in channel 3, right?
The second zombie queen has appeared. Korea's on high alert.
Ice Queen mentioned the zombie queen too.
What's a zombie queen? Simply put, like the zombies' boss?
Exactly. Boss of the zombies. To end Korea's zombie crisis, we have to take down all 6 zombie queens.
'6 of them?'
She'd said this was the second, so even if they took one down, 4 more remained.
Still, since there'd been no major talk about the first zombie queen, they must have defeated it.
Guess you took down the first zombie queen.
...Yes. Seoul's population died by over 90%, but we got it.
"...".
I briefly recalled Seoul's population where I'd lived.
'Wasn't it over 9 million?'
If over 90% had died, that meant at least 8 million gone.
I didn't know how strong the zombie queen was, but causing that level of catastrophe meant it was no ordinary foe.
So nearly 8 million dead?
Not quite that much. A lot died in the initial zombie outbreak.
Ah, yeah, figures.
If one zombie queen had killed over 8 million, channel 3 would be hopeless.
With 5 more left, dying 8 million each time—how could anyone survive?
'No doubt the population's dwindled a lot by now.'
The fact that channel 3 was using the Doom Salvation Gallery was proof.
But at least 300,000 must have died.
So another zombie queen showed up and triggered the alert?
Yes.
Since things had come to this, I decided to dig deeper into channel 3.
So what kind of world is channel 3 anyway?
Channel 3 is... a world where a vile, brutal game has begun.
A game?
Can't call it anything but a game.
Ice Queen's following explanation went like this.
One day, when everyday life was dragging on as usual,
[Earth's population has reached a certain threshold.]
[Conditions met. Trials will be imposed.]
[Earth's population: approx. 8.2 billion.]
[Thus, 820 million zombies—1/10th of the population—will appear worldwide.]
[Conversely, a handicap will be granted.]
[1/10th of Earth's population, proportional to zombie numbers, will awaken.]
I luckily got picked in that 1/10th and awakened.
Zombies didn't spawn naturally, huh.
Zombies drop awakening stones and bloodstones when killed—can't be natural. Plus, eating an awakening stone gives you a rank.
"...".
Thinking about it, that made sense.
Anyway, zombies spawned everywhere. Total hell. At the same time, it told us the trial details.
[Trials are conducted by country.]
[Cannot leave the country until the trial ends.]
[Korea's total population: over 50 million.]
[6 zombie queens assigned proportional to population.]
[Kill all zombie queens to end Korea's trial.]
[Zombies respawn at midnight each month, proportional to national population.]
[Good luck.]
From what I heard, the number of zombie queens was set by each country's population.
'India or China...'
Roughly 1.4 billion meant 140 zombie queens.
I didn't know their exact abilities yet, but they definitely wouldn't be pushovers.
And.
What does it mean zombies appear every month?
Every 1st at midnight, zombies respawn in dark places. People call it respawn.
In other words, zombies respawned like game monsters.
'Expected as much, but channel 3's no joke.'
The silver lining was that awakeners could fight the zombies.
Plus, the respawning wasn't entirely bad.
Do you get points for killing zombies?
Yes, correct.
As expected, there were some small gains.
Anyway, my group and many other awakeners are joining the Incheon Alliance this time.
Pooling strength to take down the zombie queen, I guess.
Yes. Also getting one bloodstone there and trading for 200-point items.
Considering the situation, bloodstones might be better used in channel 3 than by me.
Wouldn't bloodstones be better used in channel 3?
When I asked, Ice Queen went silent for a bit.
Ice Queen?
Actually, I was going to ask you the same. Could we give you about 1,000 and use the rest here?
1,000 to me?
Your telekinesis will hit [Ability Specialization] at level 10. You'll outmatch most people then.
Level 10?
Abilities get stronger at level 10?
Yes. Specifically, you can choose ability specialization every 10 levels. That's when you'll be able to protect yourself.
Ice Queen said I needed power to protect myself, but I was already with the Hero Party.
Monsters lurked in this labyrinth too, so self-protection was necessary, but not as urgent as channel 3.
I'm already with the Hero Party, so I don't urgently need bloodstones.
You joined the Hero Party? Are you descending the labyrinth?
Yes.
Then you need more. If you die, all the items vanish too.
I'd said that because I didn't think it'd happen anytime soon.
Anyway, once I join the Incheon Alliance, I'll ask you to buy items.
"...".
I paused at Ice Queen's request for item purchases.
Then I asked about the original purpose: channel blocking.
By the way, was the channel block your idea, Ice Queen?