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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Before they could even loot the first house, I, Camilla, and Cassandra had already gathered on the research facility rooftop and had made thorough preparations. In fact, since they had been coming, firing their guns loudly from a distance, it was impossible not to know.
But I couldn’t get a grasp of what kind of things they were.
“Look at that. That movement. They’re definitely not street thugs. They’re moving in an organized manner.”
But for that, they were wasting too much ammunition. Now, that sight. They were only projecting firepower on the one that had come closest, but if I were to spray bullets, I would have rather shot widely at their legs.
Slowing down their overall speed rather than finishing off one was the most basic of dealing with zombies, but they didn’t know that right now.
“Their armament is good, but they don’t know how to deal with zombies….”
As I was muttering that, Cassandra looked at me as if I were a strange one.
“What’s wrong?”
“You don’t think that you’re the strange one, Johan?”
“What about me?”
“Cassandra has never seen a person fight like you before.”
Putting Cassandra aside, for even Camilla to nod. A sense of betrayal was felt. ‘I’ll have to torment her at night.’
“I agree with that too. I also fought very inefficiently before I met you. In fact, the Liberation Army members had a guideline that ‘shooting zombies is a waste.’ The policy was also to just leave the area if you met a zombie.”
So those armed forces were at a slightly better level in this world.
“Let’s just watch for now.”
They approached the first house. They broke the door and entered, firing from the entrance. But the zombies were incredibly ferocious. They definitely weren’t that aggressive before.
“The zombies seem strangely angry. Why are they like that?”
Camilla and Cassandra looked at me strangely again.
“No, why are you guys like that?”
“…Hey, hey, Johan. D-do you really not know?”
It was one thing for Camilla to give me a hard time sometimes, but why Cassandra?
“I don’t know.”
“You locked them up, Johan.”
“Is that something to be so angry about?”
“Hey, hey. Johan. A zombie is also an animal, an animal…”
No, I knew that. Ah. An animal? An animal? It felt like something ‘flashed’ in my head. But it was a little too soon to bring it out yet.
For now, I would be calm and observe them.
A head-on confrontation with those guys now? Dangerous. It didn’t matter if that side died or not, but we couldn’t get hurt even a little.
To do that, I had to find a pattern. If you break through a gap in the pattern, you can surprisingly turn the tables easily. And surprisingly, I think I just found one.
“Camilla. By any chance, can you see if they have something like a grenade? A grenade launcher or something.”
“No. They don’t. They don’t have flashbangs or smoke grenades either. Why?”
“Isn’t it a little strange that they came so heavily armed and yet don’t have a single grenade?”
Of course, it was a little different from the time I had enjoyed, but still, people that were that well-armed were almost at the level of a mid-boss.
And those guys, if they thought they had met a hostile force, would immediately throw a flashbang.
It was best not to get hit, but if you did get hit, you had to run back.
Because it was better to take one or two bullets than to be shattered by the grenade or grenades that would fly in next.
But they had no such armament at all. Why? Why hadn’t they brought a wide-area destruction weapon.
To approach stealthily? That was nonsense. They were the ones that had come, firing away from that field over there. There was no reason not to use an explosive weapon.
“…Those guys, I think they’re looking for something right now.”
Camilla scratched exactly where it itched. I narrowed my eyes and looked through the scope and was convinced.
“That’s right. Those guys are looking for something right now. Going around meticulously from the upper floor to the lower floor. That’s why they didn’t bring any grenades at all. It could be that they’re being complacent, or maybe… hey, look at the zelkova tree over there.”
A vehicle was seen standing on the road by the zelkova tree. It was a truck with a trailer connected. The machine gun mounted on the truck was spewing fire toward the approaching zombies.
“They might not have brought it because they were relying on that. And as far as we know, there’s only one thing to look for in this small town.”
Cassandra’s face turned pale.
“Th-th-th-they, d-don’t tell me, the-the research facility?”
There was no other explanation. Those guys, they had definitely come for the research facility.
And looking at what they were doing, it didn’t seem like it would be of any benefit to us.
But we couldn’t attack now. Even if we launched a surprise attack, their firepower was too strong. If so…
“Cassandra.”
“Uh, yeah?”
“You know how to shoot, right?”
“I-I’m not confident, but uh, uh-huh. I know how.”
Where had her confident appearance gone, she looked like a hikikomori who had come out into the sun. I told Camilla what I was thinking. Camilla looked at me as if she were dumbfounded.
“Do you think it will work, or do you think it won’t?”
“Th-that much, Cassandra is, p-possible…”
“And you, Camilla?”
“…Johan. Don’t die, really.”
“Alright, then I’m going. Ah, and by the way… if you happen to see a zombie with a chain around it, don’t shoot it and just leave it be.”
Camilla’s lips twitched.
“I’ll decide that.”
“Thanks.”
I gave her a light kiss. Camilla shuddered. As I passed the wide-eyed Cassandra, I thought I heard a sound like, ‘Ca-Cassandra too…’ but I just ignored it.
I was about to go to my room, but I headed for the recovery room.
There was a musty smell. The source of the smell was a blanket. I ripped off the blanket that was covering the bed with the vinyl sheet on it. It was a blanket full of my sweat and scent from groaning in pain due to the infection.
I grabbed it tightly and quickly went outside. I waited for the things to enter the second house, and then I threw the blanket onto the street.
I whispered into the radio.
“Camilla, is it okay to go?”
– It’s fine, so hurry up and go. Uh, you won’t be seen there.
What arrogant bastards. They didn’t even make an effort to reduce the noise. I heard the sound of the zombies inside the house getting angry and thumping. As the sound of human voices and gunshots was heard, they got excited and started to run wild.
‘How could I have been so stupid.’
A zombie is an animal. To train an animal, you have to make it understand, ‘why do I have to receive this training?’ But I had just thrown a blanket with my scent on it.
There are two methods of training. Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
Dog trainers giving food and treats to a dog that has listened to their words well is positive reinforcement. It’s giving a good reward for a good deed.
On the other hand, falconers starving a falcon and then giving it only a very small piece when it brings back prey is negative reinforcement. It’s deliberately putting it in a bad situation and then reducing that ‘discomfort’ if it listens well.
But I hadn’t done either for the zombie. Before asking what the zombie would do for me, I should have thought about what I could do for the zombie.
I had to starve them.
I climbed up onto the abandoned car next to the wall. I quickly made a makeshift flag and waved it from on top.
“Hey! Need help?”
A gruff voice was heard from the other side.
“Who’s there!”
“I am a person waiting for the goddess’s blessing! Are you perhaps such people as well?”
Were they flustered? They whispered among themselves. Then an answer like this came back.
“Let’s not stick our heads over the wall. It’s dangerous. You can hear me well, right?”
“This is good enough.”
“Good. We are people who have come to help you. We had an order to rescue as many people as possible. We’re from the Elza government!”
To lie, they deserved to die. But for now, I will play along. I had to find out the exact purpose of these bastards.
“Ah, that’s a relief. A relief… the goddess has finally answered our prayers! I, can I cross over…”
At my words, the man on the other side was horrified.
“No, no! Don’t come yet. It’s dangerous here.”
‘It wasn’t dangerous until you guys came.’
“Ahem. Anyway, you are a citizen of Elza. Right? We will go, clearing out these houses one by one. Ah, by any chance, where are you staying right now?”
“That 4-story building over there.”
I told him honestly.
“Ah, you mean the one with all the windows boarded up. Right?”
A voice filled with subtle anticipation and thrill. It was as if his true intentions were all visible.
“Yes.”
“Ah, by any chance, is there a computer there, or some kind of research equipment… is there anything like that?”
“Ah! Yes. There is. But why…”
“Ahem, no, it’s nothing. That’s a relief! By any chance, then, the person who is alive right now… you said ‘we’ earlier.”
Even a dog in front of food would drool less than you.
“…I’m alone.”
“Really?”
This bastard.
I wasn’t angry because he had spoken to me informally. The sound of footsteps was subtly heard. While this bastard was tying me down with conversation, he had his subordinates go around the corner. He was planning on attacking me.
“Ah, that’s a relief! I can finally get out of here!”
As if I were truly happy, I shouted and took out a gift I had prepared for them. A flashbang.
“The blessing of the goddess will sparkle all over the world!”
I pulled it and threw it.
“Aack! You fucking son of a bitch…!”
I hadn’t just stayed in this neighborhood for no reason. I had carefully scouted the infiltration routes and had also planned out the escape routes in advance. A path that only those who knew would see.
Before the remaining bastards could come around the corner, I lowered my body and ran, then I stepped on a box and jumped over to the next house.
“Fire!”
The sound of gunshots rang out from the rooftop of the building.
Bang! Bang! Crash!
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Camilla and Cassandra had shot and broken the doorknobs and windows of each house. Liberation. The trapped zombies all poured out onto the street.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound of footsteps shook the ground. The things, hungry and with their eyes rolled back, gathered in one place.
The blanket I had thrown.
“I’m a little disappointed. I was so good to you guys…”
The things that had smelled the blanket charged in a frenzy. Even the slightly dazed one seemed to be running along because the one in front was running.
And then they tore the blanket to shreds, as if it were me.
“Zombies! It’s zombies!”
But that was also for a moment. The mercenary squad gathered on the street and began to shoot. The zombies immediately dropped the blanket.
And they ran toward the being that was a greater threat.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”
“It’s a trap! It’s a trap! 7, 8! Come quick! An unexpected situation…!”
Now.
Now was the crucial moment.
The time of truth.
“Cassandra, now!”
It couldn’t be helped even if it didn’t come. But, I believed that my true feelings had been conveyed to the thing. The thing would surely understand my true feelings.
– Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
My whistle, which I had recorded on my phone in advance, spread from the rooftop of the 4-story building through a megaphone like a siren.
– Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
– Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
– Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
“Grrrrrrr!”
And, a clanking sound was heard.
“You bastard. I was counting on you…”
“Gyaaaaaaaaaah!”
From the other side of the alley, the gendarmerie zombie, with its chain flying, was running like a dog that had found its master.
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