Several hours later, Ryan has finished making contracts with the survivors inside the basketball court. Many of the non-combatants forwent the contracts, but the ones who could fight, the majority, decided to accept Ryan’s offer.

In exchange for helping find Ryan’s parents, the signers would receive a motorbike, a handgun, and a fried chicken dinner. However, while searching for Ryan’s parents, the signers could not attack humans who didn’t pose a threat to them. If a signer found Ryan’s parents, they would receive a sports car and a sixty-gallon tank of gasoline.

Ryan made sure to place it into the contract that only telling him the location of his parent would be good enough if the finder was completely certain Ryan’s parents were there. If someone said the wrong place, they’d have their hands cut off.

“I don’t want to lose my hands,” Some of the signers said as opposition to Ryan’s condition.

“All you have to do is not lie,” Ryan said to them as simply as he could, and most signed.

Following the signing of the contracts, Ryan gave the survivors an extravagant dinner. Chicken, steak, ribs, soda, and all kinds of vegetables on the side. To brighten up the area, Ryan also bought tables and sofas for people to eat at.

These purchases cost Ryan several tens of thousands of credits, so he flies around the neighborhood several times and kills enough zombies to level the Fortune skill to 100,000 and the Discount skill to 100,000. These allow Ryan to buy more upgrades to the court and leave them some certainty that they won’t fall overnight.

“I’ll be back tomorrow to hear your progress. If you manage to find my parents before then, I’ll give you one of these,” Ryan says and holds up his gold-plated assault rifle.

Ryan leaves the court and gets back on his motorcycle, then starts riding back to his parents’ house. However, as he does, Ryan can feel tremors echoing through the ground. Somewhere, far away, a giant is moving.

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Meanwhile, a few blocks away from The Sanctuary, two cars from Jacob’s dealership are blazing down the deserted streets of downtown Detroit.

“Red One to Base, we’re moving past 16th, over,” The man in the passenger seat says into his walkie-talkie.

“Base to Red One, continue past 14th. Do not loose speed, over,” A voice replies from the radio, and the driver of the car shakes his head.

“They’re going to get us killed!” He lashes at the bad news, but continues to speed down the road. He’s rapidly using the blinker to indicate debris on the road but doesn’t change his path off the current road.

As the pair of cars passes 14th street, a fireball the size of an apartment comes flying into the space they once were, just barely shooting past a giant zombie that reaches past some of the smaller building tops.

“Base to Red One, Operation Fireball Four failed. Continue to 8th and swing back on 5th, over,” The voice from the walkie-talkie sounds.

“Shit!” The driver curses and steps on the peddle. “That’s the fourth one she’s missed!”

The two cars turn left onto 8th street, then turn left again onto 5th street. Each time he turns, in addition to using the blinker, the driver gives a lengthy honk. The second car makes the tight turn, but the giant stumbles at the sudden change of trajectory and falls on the ground. However, the giant stands back up in just a second, quickly resuming the chase.

On 14th street, a woman in blue robes is followed by six men and women while they run towards 5th street. As they run, the woman drinks down a bottle of blue liquid.

“I’ve got it this time,” She says, just like the two times before. “I feel good about this one.”

The women behind her admire the strength she’s gained from the system, and the men want to make it their own. None of them challenge her nor call her out for her incompetence. Each mana potion is costing them 500 credits, which takes sometimes an hour to procure.

After drinking the potion, the woman’s mana has been fully recharged and she is ready to fire another fireball at the legs of the giant. The first car goes by, and the woman begins to count up. The second car goes by, and the woman begins to count down and charge the spell. When she reaches one second left, she releases the fireball and it quickly expands at it leaves her hands.

A second later, the fireball makes contact with the left leg of the giant. The giant is flung into the corner building of 14th and 5th, breaking the glass windows which shower upon its body.

The explosion of the leg makes it impossible for the giant to support its weight, and it will easily be killed by the fighters who were following the woman.

“Great shot, Jess,” A woman says as she passes the mage, running towards the giant to finish it off.

“Thanks,” The mage replies and wipes sweat from her forehead.