SWNOVELXO Chapter 92 - Emergency Rations
It seemed like the place we had woken up in was a hospital.
First off, we had taken care of all the zombies in the hospital.
《This location will remain safe for the next 49:28:24.》
Then, the smart watch displayed the safe time. It seemed that safe time would be generated when security was ensured.
So, we were safe for the time being, but staying here forever didn’t seem feasible.
“Since it seems no one here really understands, let me explain in advance.”
Rion glanced around at each of us and said.
“This game’s a little unusual. Even if you log out, your avatar stays in the game.”
“What does that mean? If a zombie attacks while we’re logged out, what happens…?”
“You’ll probably find yourself a zombie when you log back in.”
Rion replied to Sora’s question.
Apparently, once you became a zombie, controlling the avatar would become entirely impossible.
As the avatar moved freely under a preset AI, it would truly be like being imprisoned within one’s own body.
-Damn, this game’s brutal…
-Is this a roguelike game?
-There was talk in a developer interview about roguelite elements.
-Wow, sounds fun!
“Is there a way to turn back into a human after becoming a zombie?”
“I know! I found it in the archive earlier!” Ainatsu shouted.
“After being bitten by a zombie, you’ll experience a rash in an hour, lose rationality in three hours, and start exhibiting aggression in five hours! And after 24 hours, the vaccine won’t work anymore!”
“Then, after 24 hours, wouldn’t you be unable to play the game anymore?”
“I’ve heard something about that, unnie. It seems there’s a way to play by creating a clone of yourself.”
Summing up what Ainatsu and Rion had said, it was like this:
In this game, even logging out wasn’t easy. If you logged out in an unsafe location, you might find yourself a zombie when you reconnected.
If more than 24 hours in-game passed after becoming a zombie, you’d have to abandon that body.
While it was possible to create a new body using clone technology to continue playing, that clone technology would only be available later on.
And if all four members of our party were wiped out before the clone technology unlocked, we’d be unable to play on this server anymore.
“It seems like the goal of this game is simply to survive.”
When I operated the smart watch, a survival time display appeared.
It might turn into one of those games where players post things like, ‘[Casual] Survived 1,000 hours in Hard Mode, lol’ in the gallery or something.
In other words, it was a tough game.
A ridiculously tough game.
“So, let’s make finding a ‘safe place to log out’ our top priority.”
“If that’s the case, I think heading to the central control room is a good idea!”
Ainatsu exclaimed. When did this kid get so smart? Did she eat something wrong??
Maybe it would be best to leave finding clues and information up to Ainatsu.
They say even dung has its uses, and Ainatsu turned out to be more helpful than expected in various ways. I might even consider commuting her sentence as a prisoner of the Ducal Family.
Anyway, as Ainatsu suggested, we headed to the central control room, where a large map appeared on the computer.
《The world has fallen to ruin due to an unknown virus.》
《Go to Sz-001 and find the cause and solution to this ruin.》
With those words, Sz-001 was displayed. The voice that had been echoing in my head from earlier seemed to belong to the AI managing this hospital.
And as for the location of Sz-001…
-Africa?
-Looks like Nigeria
-Are you kidding? How are we supposed to get all the way to Africa, lol?
It was right in the middle of the African continent.
And of course, we were in Korea.
“The main objective in this game must be to reach Sz-001, right?”
“Seems like it….”
“But how are we supposed to get to Africa? Are there planes?”
“No idea… Oh, and they say the game’s scale matches the actual Earth, unnie.”
“Hm.”
This was an apocalyptic world where civilization had collapsed. While we might be able to find a car, reaching Africa was probably too far.
If planes or ships couldn’t be operated, the game would likely involve moving inch by inch by car or on foot to reach Sz-001.
It might take several in-game years.
Along the way, we’d likely face the threat of zombies wandering the streets.
If the clone technology were available, we’d switch between clones until we finally reached the end goal.
If we made a mistake and got wiped out, we’d start over in a new world (though with some roguelite elements) from almost scratch—a damn hard game, no matter how you sliced it.
“This game is incredible….”
Sora muttered in disbelief.
***
Rion fiddled with the smart watch.
Then, a hologram appeared before her eyes.
She had downloaded the central control room map onto the smart watch.
On the map, several locations labeled as ‘Shelters’ were marked.
The spots were highlighted in green, making it clear we’d need to check them out.
“Do we really have to go outside…?”
Sora asked in a terrified voice.
“No choice. In fifty hours, the zombies in the basement will wake up, won’t they?”
“I know that, but all we have is a knife and a handgun with only one magazine…. Isn’t this too risky?”
Sora said as she looked around.
Just to be sure, they had searched the hospital thoroughly, but all they found were items like bandages, flashlights, and medicine.
Their weapons amounted to a knife and a handgun, which only had eight bullets, and the shelters were quite a distance away.
It definitely wasn’t a distance they could cover in a single day.
“Let’s do this. Rion, you take the gun.”
Laura held out the handgun to Rion.
“…Why are you giving this to me?”
“Are you just going to stand there if a zombie comes close? I won’t stop you if you want to become a zombie, of course.”
“No, I mean…. What are we supposed to do with this?”
“Let’s just the two of us go out for a bit.”
“Seriously?”
Maybe because they were streaming, a curse slipped out of Rion’s mouth before she could help it.
“Why me and you?”
“We’re going to get a car. If the four of us walk together as if taking a stroll, it’d be way too dangerous.”
“Unnie, can’t you go alone…?”
“Who’d drive the car?”
Laura tilted her head as if confused.
Just in case, Rion looked to Ainatsu and Sora.
“Wahh… Ainatsu is a baby… Doesn’t know how to drive… Dyuttyai…”
“I’m a bard, okay? Bards wander around on foot from place to place, alright? Now that I think of it, of course, I don’t have a license.”
These guys…
Suddenly, they started role-playing out of nowhere.
Left with no choice, Rion, the maid-in-chief (and sometimes personal chauffeur), had to follow Laura.
“Try to find a car that’ll start.”
Laura skillfully twirled the knife in her hand. Anyone watching might mistake her for an assassin rather than a noblewoman.
Anyway, here was the plan:
They scavenge car keys from the corpses of the zombies they’d killed in the hospital. (Ainatsu and Sora stayed back to guard the place while they searched the zombie corpses.)
Laura moved to the hospital parking lot and sliced down any zombies she spotted.
While Laura drew the zombies’ attention, Rion searched for a car that matched the key.
If the car door opened, she tried starting the engine. If it didn’t start, she moved on to the next car.
If they didn’t find a matching key, Laura scavenged more keys from the freshly slain zombies.
If there were still no matching keys, they’d expand the search area outside the hospital.
“Please work… Please work….”
Rion prayed as she turned the ignition.
Click.
Battery dead.
“Oh, come on…!”
Rion pounded the steering wheel in frustration.
Then something stuck to the car window.
“Ugh, arghh…”
“Ahhh?!”
A zombie was pounding on the glass.
Rion quickly drew the handgun.
‘Uh, what should I do…? Should I shoot…?
But we only have eight bullets….
The glass hasn’t even broken, so does it make sense to shoot…?
But what if it breaks the window and gets in? Shouldn’t I shoot first…?’
Rion’s hand shook as she gripped the gun tightly.
Just then, Laura reached out and threw the zombie aside.
“The aggro draws more than I thought.”
Laura muttered, sounding a bit annoyed.
A zombie approached from behind Laura.
But, as if she had eyes on the back of her head, she turned and kicked the zombie’s head off.
Ignoring the fallen zombie, Laura lunged at the next one.
She deftly dodged the reaching hands of a moaning zombie and drove the knife up under its chin, quickly pushing it deeper in.
Like opening a can lid, she sliced through its neck and then shoved its body aside indifferently.
The zombie, which had already been dead, became a corpse in the truest sense.
Soon, more zombies approached from all directions, and Laura extended her hand toward the nearest one.
After faking a move to make it swing at empty air, she grabbed its arm and swung it like a baseball bat.
She slammed the zombie into others, sending several tumbling to the ground.
Then, without a second thought, she punched a zombie on the left in the face and stabbed the one on the right at the nape of its neck.
The knife entered easily since the flesh was rotten.
“…Why’s she so good at fighting?”
Rion murmured involuntarily.
-I dunno.
-If you don’t know, how would we know?
-Was your lady a special forces operative???
-In what world is she a noblewoman, lol
-The rumor about her being a combat-trained villainess was true.
The viewers’ chat was scrolling by, but none of it resolved Rion’s worries or questions.
Isn’t this weird…?
Her unnie’s parents were ordinary office workers, but she had the air of a rich young lady and fought like a pro fighter.
Since she was good at gaming, it was understandable that she’d be skilled at Labyrinthos.
But taking down zombies with just a knife was beyond comprehension.
“All cleared, come on out.”
Of course, just because it didn’t make sense, she wasn’t the type to explain herself.
Because she was a villainous noblewoman.
“Not coming out? If you keep dragging your feet, more zombies will come. Are you into getting surrounded by zombies? Should I start yelling to speed it up?”
“…Alright, alright, no need to rush. I’m coming out, sigh…”
Rion stepped out of the car.
‘Fine. Even if I understood, would anything change?
Just like understanding why stars shine isn’t necessary, Aurora’s existence was probably like that.
For now, I decided to think of it that way.’
***
“Let’s roast a zombie.”
‘It seemed I had thought wrong.
Maybe I shouldn’t leave things I didn’t understand as they were.’
“…What did you just say?”
“I said, let’s chop up a zombie and roast it.”
“No, I mean… what?!”
Rion asked again.
Thirty minutes had passed since they finally managed to get a car started and escape.
The Iris Ducal Family members had arrived in front of a neighborhood market.
“The food’s all gone bad, and even the canned food isn’t in great shape. At this rate, we’re bound to face a food shortage,” Laura said, waving her smart watch.
Displayed on it was something called a “Hunger Gauge.”
A common gauge in survival games.
“But… cooking a zombie… No way…”
“Oh my, Rion. You seem to be under a misconception.”
Laura smiled.
“Picking and choosing only works when you have food. Right now, we don’t have food, or anything at all.”
“Well, that may be, but…”
“If you’re that reluctant to eat zombies, there is one last resort.”
“Last resort?”
“Yes.”
Laura nodded.
“One of us would become emergency rations. If anyone wants to volunteer, I’m taking applications before I start slicing.”
“……”
Rion stayed silent.
-Zombie on the grill, lol
-Turns out she’s actually emergency rations, not a lady of the family…
-Found the chef I was looking for ■□
【SoraIsNo1Retainer donated 1,000 won.】
【Come down here, Sora!】
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【So that’s what Rion tastes like…】
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【The taste is surprisingly stable.】
‘If I’m going to be eaten, I might as well eat.’
Rion narrowly avoided death.