Chapter 42: The Engineer and the Radar

The Commander’s Room was brightly lit, contrast to the deep darkness of the night.

Hans stared, wide-eyed, at the six glowing brick-sized gold bars on his table.

“All one kilograms,” he muttered, saliva dripping out of his mouth, “All a thousand grams!”

“Convert it all!”

The gold bars flickered in place before turning into countless golden digital pixels. Then, the rest of the haul from the bank operation followed.

[ Gold: 653 (+6000) -> 6653 ]

[ Gold: 6653 (+3480) -> 9480 ]

Hans exhaled slowly.

This was no longer scrapping for survival. This was capital—a means to further expand his army.

He switched to the Main Building tab and hovered over the familiar icon.

“System, start building the Radar!”

[ Gold: 9480 (-5000) -> 4480 ]

[ Virtual Radar construction initiated. ETA: 1 hour and 40 minutes. ]

“Twice the duration of unit training, huh?” Hans took note, observing the slow rotation of the queue.

When the Radar finally comes online, the army would not be as blind.

Streets. Movement. Clusters. Blind corners would disappear.

And after that was the War Factory.

Tanks, precious tanks.

“I hope the system retrofitted the tanks.” Hans said quietly, “Most of them are trash.”

“I still have Gold. Let’s train more soldiers.”

He ignored the temptation to over-invest in precision units.

Snipers were elite killers, perfect against superhumans and special infected. However, they weren’t meant to hold ground.

To hold over a vast area. Not against thousands. Not against the horde.

“One Sniper. Three Army Soldiers. Twelve Conscripts.”

The queue filled instantly.

[ Gold: 4480 (-4400) -> 80 ]

The number dropped to almost nothing, yet Hans didn’t regret it.

The urban fringe came first—to expand his territory, to control more.

Just as he was immersed in his excitement, hard, slow footsteps thudded outside the room, then the door creaked open.

A long sleeved, hard hatted person walked in. On his left hand was a large yellow case, and a bulky rucksack protruded on his back.

Shovel, ropes, and other objects hung on the side. Seeing it made Hans frown, A burden-laded unit?

Despite this, the Engineer unit introduced himself.

“Engineer Tomasz Kowalczyk, reporting for duty, Commander!”

Hans felt invigorated hearing Tomasz’s bright voice. So this is what the system considers an Engineer.

“As you were. What’s with the big setup?” he asked.

Tomasz’s brown eyes lit up. He launched into an explanation—nanofiber kits, restoration drones, modular tools, redundancy systems…

Hans raised a hand.

“That’s enough.”

Tomasz froze, then nodded rapidly. He knew he over-explained, but what can he do?

“In short,” Hans said, “you fix things that shouldn’t work anymore.”

“Yes, exactly that Commander!”

“How about capturing buildings?” Hans asked.

“If I can reach their interface point, I can capture any critical structure for the army’s needs.” Tomasz explained, “But it will cost Gold, Commander.”

“Any limits to that?” Hans added.

“I should not die before I capture the building, and it also takes time!”

“That’s a given.” Hans nodded, his gaze drifting past Tomasz’s figure.

His eyes hovered into a virtual panel only he could see.

——

Name: Tomasz Kowalczyk

Unit: Engineer

Tier: 0

Star Promotion: 0 – 0 / 3000 (+1 point / 5s of repair duration)

Primary Weapon: M1911 Pistol (7 rounds per mag, 2 mags)

Secondary Weapon: Electric shock tool (close-range melee, 0.5m range, used defensively)

Utility Equipment: Nanofiber repair toolkit; Bridge restoration device; Capture interface rod; Compact welder, screwdriver, and micro-drone for inspection tasks; Shovels for fortification purposes

Personal Kit: 1-day ration pack, 1 liter flask

Uniform: Reinforced tech-suit with insulated plating (shock-resistant, fire-retardant)

Gear: Integrated AR visor with structural integrity display, Heavy industrial composite for electrical safety

Auxiliary Gear: Multi-scanner tablet, foldable toolkit harness, small field generator for nano-bot drones

Trait: None

Remarks: Technical operations and structural maintenance unit capable of repairing damaged System buildings, restoring infrastructure, or capturing facilities through direct interface. Cannot fight effectively.

Note: Repairs require Engineer’s physical access. System cannot project through destroyed gaps until Engineer arrives.

——

A new star-promotion scheme? Hans perked up. Can this be abused?

Before he could think any further, Tomasz’s voice interrupted. Hans’s world was plunged back into the world of technicalities.

“Also, Commander!” Tomasz shouted.

The case was opened. A few buttons were pressed. Then Tomasz turned the case towards Hans—a laptop-sized digital interface glowing at its center.

Graphics floated on the screen, resembling nodes of a building.

“This is?” Hans asked.

“I have already analyzed this apartment’s structure, Commander!”

Tomasz leaned in, pressing a few more buttons. The interface shifted, showing nine floors, the rooftop of the first apartment building.

More symbols popped up. Hans couldn’t make a sense of it and turned to Tomasz.

“The structural integrity is good,” he muttered, “The electricity is fine, a few wires to fix here and there, some little plumbing to do, the drones should be able to deal with it. Ah, oh, I am very sorry Commander.”

Tomasz scratched his cheek, “I… just tend to get very excited… eh, sometimes! Let me explain it to you.”

Hans’s mouth twitched and raised his hands, “You don’t have to do that,” clearing his mouth, “I entrust you will do things… excellently.”

“Yes, yes!” Tomasz giggled, “I will do things excellently, Commander!”

“Okay, you can take back your case now,” Hans ordered.

With the case out of his face, he sat straight and looked at Tomasz’s still excited face.

“I have a task which I want you to accomplish.” he said, “Nothing groundbreaking, just a small repair order.”

“Whatever the Commander asks me to do, I will do it with perfection!”

“Right,” Hans stood up and walked to the window, “You should have been informed of the office building in the center?”

Tomasz nodded, “Yes I was, Commander. The building’s electricity is cut-off. Does the Commander wants me to fix that?”

“You’re on the right track, but it’s not just limited to the electricity.” Hans added.

“Oh? Does the Commander want me to fix the cameras too?”

“Uh huh.”

“And print the basement layout?”

“Uh huh,” Hans paused, “Wait, you can do that?”

“Commander, there is nothing in this world that an Engineer like me cannot do!”

Except killing zombies, that is. Hans remained quiet, letting Tomasz indulge on his narcissism. “I will assign a squad to guard you tonight while you fix things your own ways. Got it?”

With a laugh, Tomasz waved the case around.

“Leave it to me, Commander. I have already laid the plan all out!” he grinned, “Send the squad to the first floor. I’ll wait for them. Preliminary results before dawn. Engineer moving into duty!”

He bolted out of the door, leaving Hans alone and bewildered.

“Yeah, I just have to point things and they will do it, huh?” Hans shook his head and gazed outside the window.

“Dmitri, send a squad to the first floor, over.” He radioed, “Overtime tonight. Some Engineer wants to fix things.”

“Roger that, Commander,” Dmitri responded, “Moving out.”

Minutes later, Tomasz’s excited voice faintly echoed over the buzzing comms.

“…yes, yes—no, my drone goes first. Hey, careful with that cable!”

A pause.

Dmitri sighed. “Commander,” he subtly complained, “We have rendezvous with the Engineer. I will take over from here.”

Hans restrained himself, “Copy, Dmitri. Follow Tomasz’s directions. I need a lot of things fixed lately.”

“Understood, Commander. Dmitri out.”

The call ended.

Everything turned silent—no different from Grefort City in the distance. Dark and full of the horrific undead.

Like a domino, the city’s lights flickered out one building at a time. The once-beautiful night view of the city now dreaded Hans’s eyes.

“This is not good,” he frowned, “Either the lines are cut, or the reserves are dwindling.”

The Main Building tab slid in, focusing at the first slot—Geothermal Power Plant.

“System, can I connect my power plant’s virtual energy to the outside world?”

[ Commander, only by deploying an MCV and constructing a physical Geothermal Power Plant can this notion of yours be achieved. ]

“I see, what a loss then,” he sighed.

The MCV was his only gateway before he could truly build his own base. Without it, energy and water reserves were nothing but limited.

“I hope the soldiers has gotten enough rest,” he murmured, “The night shift is about to start.”

A squad of soldiers rotated into position. The watchtower resumed its steady sweep on the field.

For the first time since the outbreak, Hans felt something close to comfort.

[ Virtual Radar construction initiated. ETA: 1 hour 15 minutes. ]

“An hour and 15. Now we wait.”

The city remained silent.

Thirty minutes passed.

The new units were trained and sent to night patrol by Hans.

Then another came by.

Somewhere below, tools hummed. Drones whirred. Cables were rerouted.

The stars above twinkled through the broken, dark clouds.

*Beep.*

Hans straightened. The time has come—Radar was now online.

[ Virtual Radar construction completed. ]

[ Virtual Radar radius limited to 5 km. Coverage will move with the Commander. Static deployment requires a physical Radar. ]

The empty block on the top right section of his panel buzzed—static crawling across it like an old television tuning into signal.

“Just like the game…” Hans muttered, “Open Radar.”

The display expanded. The rectangular map unfolded, centered on his position.

Blue markers bloomed around the complex—mostly stationary and orderly. These were his units.

Around them were green markers, held inside the first apartment building.

Farther out, gray shapes clustered around abandoned buildings. Static. Unmoving.

Neutral.

Then came the red blips—countless, but faint. They didn’t cluster, but stretched thinly. An uneven trail beneath the area moving toward the city.

Hans’s pulse quickened as a small red arrow appeared beside them, angled downward.

“Enemies below ground?”

His brows furrowed.

Sewers.

He’d seen them before. The sewer monsters. A few popped out but never surfaced again.

If not for the Radar, Hans would have forgotten about them. He was about to zoom out but froze.

Two gray dots sat just outside the apartment complex.

Not moving.

“System, can I relay map coordinates to my units now?”

[ Virtual Radar synchronized to all units. The Commander may map pings to subordinates. ]

Hans clenched his fists and leaned into the comms.

“Zolyah. Do you copy?”

“Loud and clear, Commander.”

Hans panned the map, isolated a part, and sent the coordinates.

“Check this spot for me, will you?”

The channel remained silent for a while.

“Copy, Commander.” Zolyah replied at last, “Zolyah, out.”

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