As we advanced further into the food district, we steered away from the zombies to avoid their line of sight. Making sure as to keep the contents of our bags from moving as well. Slowly, we crept through the street filled with broken stalls set up by the vendors. The smell of rotting food was rather strong as maggots could be seen growing out of them. There were flies buzzing around, attracting the zombies to start attacking them. I was glad to see that the insects have not evolved in some strange way that makes them dangerous. Ahead of us, there was a supermarket, a large one that went by the name of "Fresh Storage". There were shelves upon shelves of canned food stacked up and toppled over the floor. I could see some zombies roaming around inside from the transparent windows. Their levels were ranging between 2-3.
Sean signaled me to make a move into the supermarket. There were traces of dried blood all around the area with the familiar scent of iron lingering in the air. Threading carefully, we made our way inside. I looked around the area to see zombies roaming between shelves. They weren't doing much but making small groaning sounds as they roamed around and bumped against objects. Each time they did, they began to attack whatever object that they had hit against. I observed the zombies who were wearing shirts that showed who they previously were. Be it a staff or customer. I signalled the two that I would head towards the canned food area and we began to creep towards it. The pressure of ensuring each step taken was silent was high, as even a single misstep would be costly. The two of them didn't seem to be having any trouble as they nimbly made their way ahead of me. I observed that there were a total of 5 zombies around the store. Much lesser than expected for the size of the entire place. Usually, the number of staff would already be much higher than this... could the zombies have headed outside and these were the ones remaining? How did people even get infected in the first place? There were many burning questions in mind but I pushed them back and looked around for any unexpected dangers. But there truthfully were only a few zombies around. Heading into the canned food section, the bag was designed like a draw-string on the top compartment, allowing us to gently place the canned tuna, tomato, soup and everything else into the bags silently. Carefully stacking them up and filling as much of the bag as we could. When we were done, there were still lots of cans left on the shelves.
The weight of the bag wasn't something to scoff at, as each step I took felt heavy. It was now much harder to walk around silently. Not to mention the cans might shuffle around inside the bag. Taking steps as gently as we could, the 3 of us made our way out of the supermarket. Since we didn't see any medicine along the way, I guess that it was done. The journey felt much safer than I had anticipated. It was no wonder that they would choose to travel hours to locations than to head to a supermarket nearby hoping that there wouldn't be monsters.
With nothing interesting happening, we found ourselves out of the food district making our way back towards Haven. I couldn't help but wonder when the other pairs will arrive only to see them crossing paths with us on our way back. "That went way smoother than I thought it would" I voiced my thoughts. "Well, its an area with one of the lowest risk" Sean replied. "The scouts went around mapping the place just a few days back" he continued. It meant that the data was relatively new and reliable.
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"AHHHHHHHHHHH" a loud shout broke our train of thoughts from the direction of the food district. "SAVE MEEEEEEE" a long elaborated shout came from the panicked voice of a man. I could hear the sounds of a zombir stampede, and it was getting louder.
"RUN" Sean shouted at me and I noticed the couple already sprinting ahead of me. I chased after them and turned back to see the man running towards our direction. "Why is he running towards us?!" I could only curse mentally. Carrying the heavy load on my bag wasn't helping as I struggled to keep speed. We made our way to hide in the nearest building that happened to be an apartment. It was dangerous to head in without knowing what it contained but at this point, everything was better than the zombies. We made our way into the buildng and immediately headed for the stairs. The lobby didn't have the smell of iron and somehow, that made me feel uneasy. But regardless, we first made our way to the second floor and attempted to break into the nearest apartment. I rammed my shoulders against the wooden door and unlike what happens in movies, the door refused to budge. Changing my stance to kick the door with my feet, Sean mimicked the action and we could see the wooden door finally gave way. We burst into the apartment and I was glad that it was empty. Using the chance where it was still safe, I looked down from the second floor to see the same man running towards our apartment with the stampede in tow. We made eye contact for a brief moment and he seemed to be saying to wait for him with his eyes.
"Who is that?" I asked out loud and could see Sean and Adeline who had placed their bags down were scrambling around for weapons. They were eventually equipped with kichen knives and a guitar. "We don't know" they replied. "But he's not part of Haven, that's for sure". I heard the footsteps of the man coming up the stairs and contemplated if I should close the broken door on him. Deciding not to, the man dashed into the apartment and I could see the Level 8 above his head as he entered the room. However, the level above his head was red in colour. He then shut the door close behind him. I could hear the zombie hoard rushing through the floor and footsteps all around. Heading upstairs and everywhere. I could only feel relieved that the zombies didn't start to hit against the apartment doors. The man kept quiet and silenced his breathing while we held our breaths. Soon enough, the footsteps quiet down and I could hear the sound of zombies begining to roam around. Peeking from the wooden door, I could see the entire floor flooded with them, leaving almost no space between them.
Sean and Adeline had knives pointed towards the man's neck. And he held his hands up in an almost comical surrender position. I could see the man's eyes, they felt unconcetrated and even somehow crazed. I had seen thoese eyes before. "Thank god for the kindness of..." the man began to speak before Sean pressed his knife almost touching the man's neck. Under his nails were the traces of dried blood. His level was red in colour and there were zombies around and he was attempting to speak at a normal volume. I could see the appearence of the man appearing to be a gentle and timid man. I notice his gaze above each of our heads and my experience was telling me that we had to run.
"Sean, Adeline get your bags..." I took the kitchen knife out of Sean's hands and replaced him in threatening the man. It was a simple thought. If the world had flipped upside down, the people that would adapt to it the fastest won't be the military... nor would it be the talented and influencial people. It would be the people that were alreaedy flipped before the world was. He was already level 8, and the system had just been updated today. There were only 2 things that can come to mind. Either he had earnestly slaughtered the monsters, or... he had earnestly slaughtered. "Will you please lower your weapon?" the man attempted to guide my arms away. I pushed the knife deeper, digging slightly into his skin. "Don't move, keep your hands up" I uttered. "Okay, okay no need to be so harsh" he replied. The standstill lasted for a while, as I could see Sean and Adeline carrying the bags and looking for a way out from the windows. It was fortunate that we were only on the 2nd floor. "Without giving a man a chance to explain himself, you keep a knife pointed to his throat. How horrible" the man began to speak. I ignored him and pushed the knife even deeper. It gently pierced into his skin, causing a trickle of blood to flow. Despite this, the man didn't even flinch. His eyes seem to sparkle with some sort of mysterious pleasure as he tried to open his mouth once again.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"We found a way" Sean informed me, cutting off the man before he could utter a single word. "Go" I told him "I'll be right behind". I watched as Sean head towards the windows before putting my attention back on the man. The man was essentially double my level. Even though I was the one with the weapon towards his throat, I couldn't help but feel this strange sensation that I wasn't the one in the position of power.
"Hey, have you ever played RPG games? Do you know that you unlock skills as you level up?" the man began to speak. His words were a premonition to what was to come. I was never one to react to problems. Quickly, I stabbed my knife forward, only to have it cut a little deeper. The man disappeared from my sight as I could feel a tremendous force blowing me away from my right. I crashed against the wall on the right and saw him where the direction of the force was from. "You really are ruthless aren't you?" I could see him holding the wound on his neck as blood slowly poured. I felt faint. That was simply from a kick? My ribs probably cracked and I didn't have the luxury to do a damage check. As fast as I could, I tried to move away from the door.
I could hear the alerted zombie hoard rushing towards the room. The man was still struggling to stop the bleeding from his neck. If I was lucky, I might have accidentally nicked an artery. Seeing as his blood was somewhat squirting out, that might just have been the case. Despite the predicament, the man still held onto a crazed smile. I hurried towards the windows where Sean had left previously. The pain from my ribs was apparent as I struggled to make my way there.
You have slain player "Jackson Hether". As the player's infamy is extremely high, no fame will be deducted. 115 points of experience has been gain!
Calculating rewards...
There was a notification from the system and I could only briefly glance at it as I looked down from the windows to see Sean and Adeline looking towards me from the bottom. The zombies could be heard extremely close to me now as I decided to take a leap down towards the first floor. Bracing myself for impact, I could feel my heart thump repeatedly. The air seemed to freeze around me for just a moment. It was a 3 metre fall and I could feel the impact running through my legs as I landed while protecting my head. I was still carrying the bag behind me and I couldn't be more glad that it didn't smack into my head from the back. Instead, some of the contents fell out during the jump. I didn't feel anything wrong with me as I tried to stand up.
The pain was electric. I could feel the broken bones in my legs screaming at me. It went all the way up to my hips. I saw Sean and Adeline offering their hands to me as the both attempted to do a 2-man carry by supporting me and slinging my arms around their shoulders. "That was reckless! You should've went onto the rope!" Adeline chided. I turned around and saw a rope hanging down from the window. I must've missed it in such a hurry.
"My bad" I replied as the strength slowly returned to my legs. Walking was impossible as each time my feet touched the ground a horrible sharp pain went through my body. I was unable to support my own weight.
Level up! All status has been automatically distributed. To disable automatic distribution, please obtain at least an equal-contract blessing and negotiate with your god. Thank you!
The system prompted. I could feel the weight of murder when I saw the message. Even though it was kill or be killed, I struck first following just my instincts. It also felt wierd to see a message that almost felt like instructions. So there were gods and we were supposed to obtain blessings from them? My head churned for a brief moment. It was then that I realise that my legs began to feel fine.
"I can walk now" I told Sean and Adeline as I removed my arms around them. "Your level rose" Sean pointed to the area above my head.
"Yeah I was informed" I nodded towards him. They probably could have guessed what happened and yet they didn't show any signs of fear or disgust. "I guess that's why you recovered" Adeline chipped in. I only nodded in response. We started to run away from the apartment and head towards the general direction of Haven.
"What was with that man?" Adeline asked as we made our way back.
"He didn't seem right... and his level was red" Sean added on.
"He was able to teleport and even gave me a really strong kick. But I managed to stab him in the neck before that." I said bluntly. "Apparently having a red level means you have quite the number of misdeeds"
"Teleport?! Are you sure that he was human?" Adeline asked.
"He was telling me something about learning skills? Just like a game." I replied.
"So the world really became something like that huh? I read that once in a web novel" Sean remarked. Which reminded me of the time where web novels were popularised. Perhaps it was for its simplicity or its offer as a form of escapism for the mundane life we were living. At its core, it might be the simple fact that we enjoy a good story.
"There was a time where I enjoyed web novels too" I carried on the conversation. "Now that's a surprise, I didn't expect someone like you to read thoese kind of things" Adeline added on. "What's wrong with enjoying a good story?" I replied. Enjoying a mundane chat, I found myself feeling rather chatty. Perhaps it was due to the crime I just commited. Our footsteps carried us ahead and we arrived at Haven as the sun fully set. I could see Benson waiting for our arrival with his arms crossed.
"Your level has increased" he remarked.
"I'll go over the details later" I replied.
"After dinner" Benson said, as he turned his back away. It was a wierd feeling. How long has it been since I had to report to someone else? My heart scrunched up strangely. Somehow, it doesn't feel all that bad. The image of my wife waiting for me at the doors gently faded away, as i saw Liya running towards me from the distance.
"Welcome back" she said, albeit softly. I could see her back covered in sweat. She must have done her best.
"I'm back" I replied.