He moved stealthily through the city that had become his second home, making sure to lure as many chimeras as he could every time he went shopping.

Which were then dealt with by Molotovs.

Those bastards ran away most of the time after the initial assault and if he got too near, he'd be looking at a tough time tussling with the freaks who were way too good at adapting to his stupid fighting strategy.

To think that they would start feinting, even Ralph wasn't good at that yet. So he shamefully lured them to narrow spaces, making them think that he hadn't seen them at all.

And when they lined up like ducks at the entrances of buildings, he surprised them by tossing Molotovs. It was a simple plan but since it worked Ralph stuck to it. The success despite the high perception of the chimeras could only be attributed to their confidence in their hiding abilities, which were something to be prideful of but how could someone hide in the shadows when the target knew their pattern and anticipated their actions?

The power was stacking up within him with a minuscule margin, still not enough to be realised by him. He did feel more energetic than he did normally which mostly kept him awake at night. He ended up attributing it to stress-caused insomnia.

Not to say that his daily life wasn't stressful but he had been adapting to it after following a routine for such a long time. He did sometimes take a break after a fight which deviated from his plan. His experience did get him out alive with few injuries and a torn jacket. Those battles did shake him up most of the time. A good rest allowed him to forget.

On his off days, he cooked up lots of food for the days to come. The food not rotting quickly was the only saving grace of his wretched reality. His greed did make him eat food that was too old sometimes, which he paid for dearly.

'That makes 10 chimeras and 20 shadows I've hunted today. So this confirms that if I keep hunting them stronger monsters will spring out of the shadows.'

'It's not worth considering whether or not I will be overwhelmed by them. As long as I can keep getting stronger that is the only path forward for me.'

He didn't sleep in his own home nowadays. He picked out a house with a room which had steel doors thick enough to block them out or atleast hold on even under their combined assault. This was a contingency for when he missed a chimera and it sneaked up on him.

'I wonder what the homeowners used this room for. The walls are thick enough for my use but I should still set up alarms in the perimeter. What will I do if they end up surrounding the room, waiting for me to walk out.'

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The next day he studied how to set up an alarm system. Due to his experience with setting up the solar panel things went smoothly. He had set up an alarm system that went off when someone forcefully opened the front door.

'Let's test it out.'

The test went well. The alarm worked so well that he had to sleep with earplugs for the entire night. After arduous fixing, it finally worked well enough to get a pass from him. His standards weren't that high to begin with.

'Should I try the other towns now? My initial goal was to check for other survivors. Since I can use the sniper to look around for threats I won't die easily.'

He looked at the empty streets of his barren town, overgrown lawns that were once meticulously maintained by perfectionists. Gardens give you a perspective of what the person who tends to them is like, at least that's what those people want others to think.

'It feels off that my primary concern isn't to stay alive in this town. Somehow staying just feels like something that I'm more comfortable with. That's why I can't do it, If I stay still I'll just be waiting for death. I should be grateful that I can search for others without being afraid of death, I would've been dead by now if not for whatever is letting me try again.'

He let the gloomy thoughts slide away and walked to his car.

'Soon, I don't need to go right away, I should gain a trustworthy arsenal of skills and weapons first. I died mostly because I was unprepared and inexperienced, not that I would have expected to face monsters straight out of nightmares. I can't get experience without venturing to other towns and killing different types of enemies and I believe that Wiltsville is perfect as the first step in my journey.'

With an entirely newfound motivation, he started using the automated rifle on the shadowmen who were unaware of his presence. He did this after making sure that no chimeras were in the vicinity. He could kill them if needed but it was better not to give the chimera any idea of surrounding him with other shadows.

'Those fuckers are too smart. I need to clear them out regularly lest they organise an army to take me down.'

With his increased stamina he avoided the shadow whenever it got too close followed by return fire. Although it took a lot more effort to be chased around while firing, it was worth it though.

What better way to get good at guns than using them in combat?

This also helped him identify the chest area as a weak point for the shadows. It was unlikely that the same weakness was inherent in them all, he wasn't going to gun down a chimera, it could switch to a frontal battle if it realised his ranged attacks.

He could try to snipe one later, knowledge was the only advantage he had over others after all.

After a month of hunting, he decided that it was finally time to move on to other towns.

'So shall I head over to Lederberg or karyus. I mean both of them are almost at the same distance from here, if I make a beeline that is. Lederberg is the farthest from the skeleton. Also, Kranston's been seeing too much heat recently. I would have been done in by a chimera if it hadn't stepped on a dry leaf.'

'I have been having a hard time sleeping recently as well, maybe I shouldn't move to a new place, taking a cursory glance across the town should be fine enough.'

'I'm not going to roam on foot this time at least I can hit the pedal if something turns up.'

With that, he settled on taking a look around both the towns.

'I have been getting stronger recently as well. I could only lift 30 kgs last time I checked, should I go over to the gym later?'

'I think I'm going to cook some pasta tonight, with some garnishing it should be passable as dinner.'

After a sumptuous meal, he turned on the alarm and locked himself in for the night.