Chapter 5: Upstairs

Hans listened to Adam’s report, frowning as he made a crucial discovery.

“The zombies are eating their own?”

It was something he hadn’t considered, even after years of playing FPS zombie games.

The bottom floors are quiet, and two targets upstairs.

Hans considered the scenario in his mind. A quick strike could clear them both, but the sight of one corpse devouring another gnawed at him.

“This also means they’re either starving… or consuming to evolve.”

Whatever it was, the strange behavior unsettled Hans. If they were just hungry, he would let them eat all they want, but if that led to their evolution…

He looked at Adam and explained his plan.

“Commander, you do not need to concern yourself with exterminating vermin. I will do it myself.”

Hans raised his eyebrows, wondering if the soldier in front of him thought he was incompetent, or if it was something else.

Noticing the doubt in Hans’s eyes, Adam straightened and explained, “Soldiers like us should do the dirty work, Commander. We entrust the planning and strategies to you.”

System, is this really the case? Hans inquired.

“Commander, just like in-game, you are the brains and the link to each of your units. To them, it is important you remain safe, thus why your Conscript unit insist to do the work for you rather than joining him.”

Hans was conflicted. The units may have been fabricated and programmed to do his bidding, but to let them sacrifice themselves this easily wasn’t something he was comfortable with.

He sighed and waved a hand. “Enough. I’ll follow behind and cover you.”

Hans, aside from feeling empathetic, also wanted to observe and learn how his units would fight. He considered never relying on his units and always having a failsafe—the ability to protect himself.

After all, his soldiers were only humans, and humans sometimes made mistakes.

Adam could only follow his Commander’s will.

The two prepared themselves before moving out of the room.

Adam advanced first, clearing each corner before gesturing for Hans to follow.

Adam switched to his knife, tightening his grip on its black handle. He bent his body forward, and his legs low, each step as silent as a snake stalking its prey.

Hans furrowed his brows, realizing that his advance last night was louder than Adam’s. But now was not the time to ponder as his conscript neared the two zombies.

Blood pooled across the cement, spreading in thin scarlet veins.

The rotting smell of flesh soured Hans’s stomach, and he almost vomited on the spot.

Thankfully, he hadn’t seen how the two zombies tore off the skin and muscles from their kin, gnawing with yellowed teeth, savoring the rancid meat like animals.

Meanwhile, Adam stared at the gruesome scene. His cold, blue eyes marked the weak spots of the two kneeling zombies while he crept closer to his targets.

In one motion, he lunged. The knife drove clean through the skull of the left-hand zombie; the body collapsed without a sound. Adam twisted free, letting the blade slide out mid-air.

He pivoted, kicking the second zombie’s chest and sending it stumbling backward. Before it could recover, he closed the gap and plunged the knife straight into its brain.

Both corpses hit the ground, yet the sound wasn’t as loud as the zombie man in a suit last night.

Hans witnessed all of it, amazed at Adam’s quick movements and decisive actions. Then, his eyes fell onto the horrendous remains of the zombie man in a suit, leaving him belching in place.

If not for the system’s calming function, he would have vomited long ago.

“System, is this even a conscript at all?” Hans said hoarsely while wiping off the saliva dripping on his mouth.

“Commander, your unit’s parameters have been adjusted to match your world’s difficulty. Those two hostiles were distracted; the unit merely exploited an advantage.”

Hans narrowed his eyes, believing the system’s explanation for now. Anyway, he wasn’t willing to let Adam handle multiple zombies at once, as that was tantamount to suicide.

If one conscript unit could handle one or two zombies alone with a combat knife, then he would be more than satisfied.

The outside world was overrun with thousands or even millions of zombies. A single conscript unit wasn’t worth anything in the grander scale of things.

“Adam, check their bodies. See if they’re carrying anything valuable.” Hans ordered, trying to look downstairs and ignore the gruesome scene in front of him.

No movement below. Hans exhaled, just a little.

Meanwhile, Adam retrieved two silver necklaces, slightly increasing Hans’s Gold reserves.

[ Gold: 43 (+12) -> 55 ]

“Check the stairwell first. I’ll stay here until you secure it.” Hans ordered.

He felt that it was more important to secure the stairwell that connected every floor, particularly the one leading up to the ninth floor.

He wasn’t about to scavenge the eighth floor blind—not with the ninth unexplored.

Adam nodded and moved up, his bearing the same as ever. A while later, he returned.

“Hmm? Most of the rooms above were left open?” Hans was dumbfounded. “Did you check the interiors?”

“I didn’t dare to, Commander. I spotted some movements, however. Likely from zombies.”

“I see.” Hans contemplated his subsequent actions.

The eighth floor’s hallway was dark as most rooms were closed, but the ninth floor’s situation was quite the opposite, making him question the reason behind it.

They probably left, and there’s no need for a big mystery about this.

Hans shook his head. “Let’s go to the ninth floor then.”

The hallway exuded an aura of wealth, with a shiny granite floor, framed paintings still clinging to the cracked walls, and a faint scent of perfume mingling with the smell of flesh and blood.

Hans swept his gaze across the corridor, already picturing the potential inside each unit. A single Gold watch or platinum ring here could strike it rich, easily netting him hundreds of Gold at once.

The two cautiously stepped forward, inching toward the doors and peeking through the doorway.

The first room had its doors open. Adam entered, eyeing the bathroom door on the right.

Luckily, nobody was inside.

They both looked through everything, only to find a few scattered belongings and unspoilt food and drinks in the small refrigerator.

“Damn, they must have taken their expensive items.” Hans cursed, but he still gladly took the food away and put it into his backpack.

They entered the next room, only to find it locked, much to Hans’s frustration.

The doorknob click startled something in the room ahead.

Adam shuffled, covering Hans with his body and aiming the combat knife in front.

A stumbling figure walked out, a man with barely any clothing on his body. Its eyeballs were long gone, its mouth open wide, letting out a low but unsettling groan.

Adam harrumphed and struck its head with his combat knife, swiftly ending its suffering. He pinned it to the wall, then slowly slid its corpse.

Hans exhaled a long, deep breath, still unaccustomed to seeing corpses.

“Oh, what’s that?”

Hans noticed a faint glow on its neck, a silver chain ending in an oval pendant of white metal, the surface engraved with tiny, curling patterns.

Adam picked it up and handed it over to Hans.

[ Detected: 20 grams of platinum, 55 grams of silver. Convert to resources? ]

“System, can you automatically convert anything unless I tell you not to do so?”

Hans felt he would go crazy every time he said yes to the system’s conversion prompts.

“Acknowledged, Commander! Converting resources now!”

[ Gold: 55 (+46) -> 101 ]

He received 40 Gold units from the 20 grams of platinum, and the rest from the silver.

“What a bountiful harvest from this unknown benefactor.”

Hans was unsure if it was just him, but he felt no remorse in snatching things from others at this point.

No. He was a zombie; that was justification enough.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the distracting philosophical thought.

“I should train another conscript just in case.”

[ Gold: 101 (-100) -> 1 ]

As he did so, they managed to scavenge the room beside the locked door. Then, another soldier walked in from the hallway, carrying the same set of equipment, and saluted him.

“Conscript Alexei Novak, reporting for duty, Commander!”

Hans returned the salute, then ordered Alexei to work together with Adam to scavenge the rest of the rooms.

He didn’t see the need to verify Alexei’s information, as it was likely similar to Adam Orlov’s anyway.

As the two made way, Hans observed their coordination, seamless and unobstructed, with Adam checking in front of him, and Alexei checking the corners Adam passed through.

In just ten minutes, the entire ninth floor was inspected, leaving only the locked rooms unturned.

The glowing number on his interface steadied him; in this apocalyptic world, numbers meant safety.

[ Gold: 1 (+67) -> 68 ]

Hans felt that it wasn’t enough. The eighth floor has to be inspected as well!

“Adam, Alexei, check out the eighth floor.” he felt bolder and safer looking at the two conscripts he had trained.

The two soldiers descended from the stairwell, their momentum unstoppable as they checked every room and slashed at any zombie they found.

Hans didn’t permit them to shoot yet, as the sound might attract too many enemies. His troops were still few, and their accuracy remains to be seen.

As the last room on the eighth floor was scavenged clean, his Gold had skyrocketed.

Not only were some valuable materials left behind, but also the biggest reason was that Alexei noticed a ring with 2 grams of diamonds etched on the sides!

As each gram of diamond was worth 50 Gold, 2 grams meant an instant acquisition of 100 Gold.

[ Gold: 68 (+144) -> 212 ]

“Strange, the residents on the ninth floor managed to leave but those in the eighth were not?”

No matter how Hans mused about it, he couldn’t find anything logical about the drastically opposite situations of the ninth and eighth floors.

“Ah, whatever. Let’s train two conscripts first.”

Time ticked by slowly, and two minutes passed. Hans looked at the two new soldiers who appeared from the hallway on the seventh floor.

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