In the end, Baron took Shaw to a large room in the precinct. There were at least twenty people inside. Some were brandishing their swords. Others were waving their spears around in practice, as if that would do them any good. A handful of Sorcerers seemed to be practicing their spells. Shaw suspected this was most of the precinct’s players in this room.

Once again, the lack of attention toward the players by the precinct’s leaders was concerning. In most of the settlements Shaw encountered in the past, players were usually treated with generosity and suspicion by their leaders. If most of their players secretly came together under someone else, most leaders would be terrified.

For a few minutes, Baron introduced Shaw to the various players. Many of the players from Shaw’s escort mission greeted her as well. One of them was Peter, the Warrior in the suit and tie. Shaw did her best to be patient with them. The entire time, she could tell how disgruntled they were toward their current situation. Many of them expected to do great things with their newfound power, only to be put on the sideline and given no special treatment.

Perhaps some of them thought they would be the protagonists in the story. That they would be the heroes who would save the day and possibly get the girl, or girls. Shaw knew that was nothing more than an illusion. By the end of the month, most of these players would likely be dead.

As far as Shaw could tell, the strongest of them was Baron, and he was only level 4. Even the level 7 tree that almost killed Shaw could slaughter everyone in this room. These players weren’t predators. They were just larger, stronger prey who would take a few more seconds to die.

At one point, Baron pulled out a few cans of beer from his storage space and invited everyone to come in for a drink. Shaw declined. Instead, she excused herself and, with the help of a very eager Peter, found her way to the room where Emily and the others were having a meeting.

The meeting was still ongoing, and she waited outside patiently for Emily to come out.

Finally, after at least twenty more minutes, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and people started walking out one by one. Many of them peeked at Shaw curiously, but no one really said or did anything. Finally, Shaw’s eyes landed on one young woman wearing a brand new police uniform that was clearly too big for her.

“Emily!” She called out.

Emily turned and immediately saw Shaw. A look of surprise popped onto her face. Emily hadn’t seen Shaw since the two of them parted ways and Shaw stayed behind to fight off the Shadow Spider. She had wondered what happened to Shaw, and the most likely possibility was that Shaw failed to survive either the spider or the other monsters out there. Abruptly seeing Shaw standing in the halls of the precinct, nice and alive, caught her completely off guard.

But when the surprise disappeared, Emily quickly found herself smiling. She didn't see eye to eye with Shaw. In fact, not long ago, she was disgusted by Shaw’s philosophy and actions. But a lot had changed since their initial encounter a day ago, and everything that Emily had witnessed since they parted ways justified many of the things Shaw did.

Emily quickly walked up to Shaw. A few officers glanced at them, but none thought too much of it.

“Glad to see you made it.” Shaw opened, scanning Emily from top to bottom. She couldn’t see Emily’s current level, but she could almost know for sure that it wasn’t that impressive. From what Peter told her, Emily only survived because he and a few other players saved her.

“I was lucky. Many of the others...they weren’t.” Emily replied drily. Even now, she could still hear the agonized screams of those who fell during the slaughter. He could still see the helpless look on their faces as they reached out to her for help. “You kept all of them alive for so long, and the moment you left...we lost almost everyone. It...it was all my fault.”

A nicer person would’ve argued otherwise. Shaw had no such intentions.

“It was.” Shaw simply said. If Emily leveled up more, she probably could’ve saved many of those people. Before saying anything, she glanced around. “Is this a good time to talk?”

Emily nodded slowly. She guided Shaw into an empty room before shutting the door and sitting down in front of her.

“Captain Larson is sending out a task force out of the precinct to search for living supplies.” She explained. “I will be a part of the task force. Apparently, my storage space will be useful in carrying the items. As far as the Captain saw, that is the only thing I am good at.”

She shrugged in frustration.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“It will be a while before Lieutenant Hans can assemble the task force. In the meantime, we should have plenty of time to chat.” Emily paused before turning to Shaw with a determined look in her eyes. “And I need your help.”

For the next few minutes, Emily quickly explained everything that happened in the last few hours. Shaw frowned when she heard about Captain Larson and his strategies. Like Emily, she knew exactly how stupid his calls were. Still, she kept quiet as Emily finished.

By the time Emily was done, Shaw finally started once again.

“Which level are you right now?”

“Level 3. I reached level 3 on the way back.”

“I see.” Shaw nodded thoughtfully. “Well, you are right in that the Captain’s decision to neglect the players will be very problematic. His ordinary police officers will not be able to carry out the tasks he wants them to. In fact, they are already lacking even now.” She pointed at the window and the world outside. “You may not know this, but last night, all the NPCs in the world got a power-up. If you go outside now, you’ll see that most of them are at level 3. Level 5 and level 6 NPCs are a lot more plentiful in numbers. If the task force goes outside...they will take a lot of losses, if not be completely wiped out.”

Emily sat there in silence. She knew that despite her failure in leveling up as much as possible, she was still one of the top players in the precinct. Only a handful of other players were at her level or higher. Almost all of the police officers were still at level 0. Most of the monsters outside could be as strong as her, if not stronger. All it would take was a pair of level 3 monsters to wipe out the entire so-called task force. And the firearms and training Captain Larson put so much faith in? It wouldn’t matter if the NPCs were moving faster than the officers' eyes could see.

And once the task force gets wiped out, the rest of the precinct would be doomed. The loss of so many officers would deal a crushing blow to the morale and the order of the settlement, and the starvation that would fall would spell the end of most of the survivors in this building. Hundreds of people would meet a horrific and brutal end.

“So...what should we do?” Emily frowned, her voice almost shaking as she pondered the horrible possibility. “What would you do if you’re in Captain Larson’s place? If you’re calling the shots around here?”

Shaw tapped the table.

“If I were in his place, I would gather up all the players I can find and take them out into the field, along with as many volunteers and officers I can find. I will do everything I can to hunt down the NPCs and help everyone level up and give them a fighting chance. A lot of people will die horribly, but those that survive will be a lot stronger. Once we’re all at a high enough level, finding food and other supplies is just a matter of time. Your captain’s decision to ignore the whole level thing...it is absurdly stupid.”

Emily nodded. What Shaw said was more or less the same as what she told her when they were on the way here. That was when Shaw’s tone changed.

“But then again, if it’s up to me, I would just stay as long as possible before abandoning this position altogether. I will choose a few individuals in the camp with great loyalty and potential, and I will focus on helping them level up. I will defend this position while paying little attention to those outside of my selected few, and once defending this position becomes too costly, I will abandon it.”

“I don’t understand.” Emily frowned before asking a question. “Why would you abandon the precinct when you can defend it? Isn’t it better to have a defensive position and hundreds of people with you instead of being on the run with a handful of people?”

“It is. Eventually.” Shaw agreed. “But at this stage in the game, it is not the best idea to do so. For one thing, at the lower levels, the NPCs and the other players will be leveling up at a much quicker rate. In other words, the opportunity cost of helping others level up is higher. I can help a few people get to level 4 or level 5 easily by feeding them exp, but dozens of people? That will slow me down.”

Emily still wasn’t convinced, so Shaw continued.

“At the same time, we are just a day into the game. Most of the people still have their mindsets from before the Launch. People like your Captain. They have yet to adjust to the apocalypse, which means ruling over them will be a lot more challenging. Give it a few months to adjust to what’s going on, and people will be a lot more grateful for what we do for them.”

“Perhaps eventually I will settle down and establish a faction, but as of now, I would like to keep myself on the move. It’s the more efficient thing to do.”

The young officer froze. She could hear the cruelty in the handful of sentences from Shaw. Shaw skimmed over it, but her decision would lead to the death of almost everyone in the precinct. The selected few would be leveled up and taken with her. What about everyone else? What about the hundreds of civilians who ran to the precinct in search of protection? They put their trust in the government, in the police uniform she was wearing right now. Could she answer that trust with betrayal?

She was willing to make the necessary sacrifices for the greater good. Let a few die to save everyone else. But this...abandoning hundreds of people sounded sickening, and by the sound of it, Shaw wasn’t talking about giving up when there was no other choice. She was suggesting actively abandoning the position when it became too costly. When it became too difficult.

“But...what about everyone else?” She couldn’t help but give voice to those words. “What about the people who...don’t have that much potential?”

Shaw frowned. She thought it was obvious. Plus, Emily should be able to tell that Shaw saw value in her. She should have no reason to be worried.

“They will most likely die, but since they don’t have much value, there is no need to keep them alive.” She replied quietly. “A lot of people have died and more will follow, but there will still be a lot of players out there. As long as we offer them protection, they will come to us. Most people in this precinct...they can be easily replaced.”