5:40 PM.
Team 5"s convoy was moving at a very slow pace as it headed towards outside West of Cram City.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The level 10 zombies that were charging towards the convoy were being killed one by one by Nathan alone, leaving a trail of corpses and [White] Treasure Chests behind.
Whoosh!
"Ding! Congratulations on reaching Level 19!"
"Finally…"
Level: 19
Exp: 0%
Stats:
STR - 32
VIT - 30
AGI - 27 (+14)
INT - 27
Equipment:
[Grade D] Sword (4/12)
[Grade D] Dagger (12/12)
[Grade D] Long Dagger (10/12)
[Grade D] Leather Cap (12/15): +2 Agi
[Grade D] Leather Armor (12/15): +2 Agi
[Grade D] Leather Gloves (10/15): +2 Agi
[Grade D] Boots (10/15): +2 Agi
[Grade D] Ring: +2 Agi
[Grade D] Ring: +2 Agi
[Grade D] Amulet: +2 Agi
Skill:
Level X [Coward"s Walk]
Sorry, as I mentioned in the earlier chapters (I think in the comment section?), I wrote the first 10 chapters or so on a whim.>
From time to time, Nathan will pick up the [White] Treasure Chests and toss them inside the back of the second truck.
Witnessing Nathan"s killing prowess, the remaining Team 5 members all found themselves speechless.
Although they"ve heard about last night and seen the trail of corpses he left behind, and even fought him today, it was only now that they fully realized the advantage that Chosen Ones had. They also concluded that his skill doesn"t require any mana and has no cooldown.
"With this strength and his personality that isn"t bounded by morals, no wonder the Boss wanted to recruit him…" Kaija muttered under her breath as she glanced over at the side mirror to see the trail of zombie corpses.
When she returned her gaze in front of the road, a black-skinned man around his late 20s suddenly rushed in the middle of the road.
"PLEASE STOP!"
"s.h.i.t!"
Kaija immediately hit the brakes. The two trucks behind her also stopped.
"Please help us! A child is sick and needs immediate medical attention! Please!"
Kaija looked over at the man. He was around 6"2" tall, athletic build, above-average face and was wearing some System items. As for his weapons, the only visible weapons were the sword on his waist and the shield on his back.
Hearing the man"s story, she wanted to get off the car and help. However, after remembering their captain"s personality, she didn"t dare to and instead picked up the radio.
"Lieutenant Kaija to Captain Nathan. Do you copy? Over."
"This is Nathan. Stay within your vehicles. As for you Lieutenant, stall that man without letting him get close. I will search around the area to see if there are others lying in ambush. Over."
"Roger that, Captain. Over."
Kaija put down the radio and rolled down the window.
"Sir, I need you to calm down and tell me what happened."
"The child is over there with his mother. The child has been sick for 3 days now. Please help us," said the man as he tried to approach the armored car while pointing at a direction with one hand.
"Sir, please wait a moment and stay where you are!"
The man continued walking.
Kaija pulled out a handgun and aimed it at him.
"I said stay where you are! I"m warning you!"
The man stopped and raised his hand.
"I don"t mean any harm! Look, a child is dying and -"
"Back off or I"ll shoot!"
The man took a few steps back.
Suddenly, a Caucasian woman who was in her mid-30s and carrying an unconscious child came out from one of the buildings.
"Please, we mean no harm! This is my son and he needs help! I beg of you!" said the woman in her mid-30s.
Kaija looked over the child.
The kid was only 5 years old and unconscious. He looked skinny and was so pale.
"Is he infected?" Kaija asked.
"He isn"t. He"s just sick. Look!" said the mother and approached the armored car.
"Don"t come near! Stand back!"
Kaija aimed the handgun at the mother.
The mother stopped.
"Please, my child is dying! He has been sick for three days!"
Still holding the child in her arms, the mother dropped to her knees and tears started flowing from her eyes.
"Please, I don"t mind if you take my child and leave me. All I ask is for you to save him."
Seeing the mother and child duo, Kaija"s heart ached.
"Miss, if you don"t have any intentions of helping us, can we please just leave?" said the man.
"What?" Kaija said.
"We risked exposing ourselves to you because we"re in desperate need of help. If you don"t have any plans of helping us save the child, can we please just leave?"
"Um… I…" Kaija found herself tongue-tied.
Whether this child is infected or not, thinking about Nathan"s action earlier on how he dealt with her fellow teammates made her feel sorry for these people because they will most likely be killed.
She could tell them to leave but she was ordered by Nathan to stall them and she didn"t want to go against his orders. She too had people back at Haven Town she cared about and was depending on her.
"Germaine, what are you saying?" said the mother.
Germaine shook his head and said, "Ca.s.sandra, there"s no point -"
Tap!
A tip of a sword laid on Germaine"s shoulder from behind and a man"s voice entered his ears.
"Let me decide on that~"
Nathan"s POV.
After searching around the area, he concluded that these three were the only people nearby. Now, his only problem left was to determine who these people really are and what are their real intentions.
He didn"t care if he will be sending a potential spy in Haven Town. However, the fact that about 60% of the System items Team 5 looted today were made by him, he didn"t like the idea of it going to the hands of people he isn"t a.s.sociated with.
"What"s the meaning of this? We already told you that we were only asking for help," Germaine said.
"Exactly," Nathan said.
With the tip of the sword still on Germaine"s shoulder, Nathan slowly walked to his side.
"Officer, please, we don"t mean any harm. My son is sick but he isn"t infected. We"re just desperate for help," Ca.s.sandra said.
"Officer?" Nathan was confused for a moment before realizing that he was wearing a police vest.
He chuckled.
Putting that aside, there were many things that didn"t seem right here.
Looking at Germaine, there was something about his temperament. He had this military air on him. It was subtle, but it wasn"t hard for Nathan to spot.
Although Nathan wasn"t exactly close with his father who was a policeman and the only father-and-son bonding time they had was him getting disciplined, he also had an uncle who used to be in the military.
"Tell me about your professions before the zombie apocalypse," Nathan said.
Everyone was confused for a moment.
"I used to work as an MMA instructor," Germaine replied first.
"I - I used to run a flower shop and also sold cosmetics online," Ca.s.sandra replied.
Nathan squinted his eyes.
When he heard about Germaine being an MMA instructor, it aroused his interest. If he had given a different answer, he would"ve left these three. There"s bound to be other good Samaritans anyway.
And although he refuses to kill children, that doesn"t mean he will go out of his way to save them.
As for Germaine being an MMA instructor, a.s.suming it"s true, he could have this man, who he suspects isn"t related to Red Dust, join his team and train him.
But if he proves to be useless to him…
However, it was still too early to decide. He needed more information.
"You mentioned that this child has been sick for 3 days now. Tell me, why did you wait 3 days?"
As far as Nathan knows, once a person is infected with the zombie virus, it will take an hour before the victim becomes a zombie. As for the level, if the person"s level is lower compared to the overall level of the zombies, it will take hours before the person"s level catches up with the overall level of the zombies.
Meanwhile, if the victim"s level is higher than the overall level of the zombies, there will be no changes on the victim"s level. It will simply wait for the overall level of the zombies to catch up before growing along with the overall level of the zombies.
"I can explain, officer," replied Ca.s.sandra. "When the zombie apocalypse happened, I hid inside my apartment with my child and waited until the government takes care of the zombie threat. Unfortunately, that didn"t happen. And 3 days ago, not only did we ran out of supplies, but my child also got sick. Look, he has no bites."
Ca.s.sandra lifted the child"s shirt and pulled down his pants to show that he wasn"t infected.
Nathan looked over at the child. There were no bites.
He also noticed that the child was clearly white, not mixed.
Nathan"s eyes bounced between the child and the black man, Germaine.
"Adopted? Or is this man a white knight?" Nathan thought before moving the tip of his sword under Germaine"s chin.
"What"s your relationship with each other?"
"We just met this morning, officer," replied Ca.s.sandra.
"It"s true. We just met this morning. I used to be part of a group at the South, but we were overrun by a horde of zombies led by 3m-tall zombies. I"m the only one left," said Germaine.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Nathan recalled what Twitch told him before leaving Haven Town. The southern government shelter fell from the zombies.
He raised Germaine"s chin with the tip of his sword. "So you guys just met today, huh. Tell me, what made you decide to help this mother and child?"
"Isn"t it normal for everyone to help those in need?"
Hearing his answer, Nathan couldn"t help but grin.
He also noticed how calm Germaine was.
Perhaps it was simply because he was an MMA instructor? Was it because he"s somehow related to the military or police? Or was he just faking it? Or perhaps it was due to his experience these past few days? Who knows.
Nevertheless, Nathan still suspected that he was hiding something else - everyone has their own story and secrets anyway.
He put away his sword.
"One last question. Why us? I doubt that we"re the only people you guys encountered today," Nathan said.
"We did encounter a few people but neither of them had good intentions," Germaine said.
"And you think we do?"
"The people we encountered today were hooligans, lowlifes that you could smell a mile away. As soon as they saw us, their eyes told us everything about them."
Nathan raised his eyebrow and thought about the drone-like thing he saw earlier.
"It can"t be related to them, right?"
"And based on your group"s equipment and the way you guys reacted, I think you have a stable camp and you guys look trustworthy," Germaine confidently said.
Nathan laughed inwardly. He couldn"t tell whether this guy was telling the truth or not. If he was lying, then he was one h.e.l.l of an actor.
"Heh~ You don"t say."
He pondered.
And after much thought, he finally decided.
"Hmm… Unfortunately, just like you, we also encountered many untrustworthy people and lost many family and friends. All we can do is give you some medicine and leave you guys."
"Wait! Please don"t leave us, officer! My son is very sick. He needs help! Please let us come with you! I promise I will do anything!" Ca.s.sandra cried out.
"Everyone has the System. Level up and then f.u.c.king go to a hospital to loot or to one of the government shelters!" Nathan retorted inside his head. "Have you tried using [Small] Healing Potions?"
"Ca.s.sandra, relax," Germaine said and turned towards Nathan. "We"ve tried but it"s not working. The kid"s malnourished. What he needs is vitamins, and proper food and rest."
Nathan was starting to have a headache about this woman called Ca.s.sandra. Although he refuses to kill children, that doesn"t mean he will go out of his way to save one. And based on what he heard, her son"s suffering was due to her own decision.
"I only need Germaine here. He isn"t related to Red Dust... I think. However, his att.i.tude…"
"Hmm... I guess I can bring you guys to our camp. However, let me warn you that it isn"t paradise. Everyone there needs to contribute."
"I"m ready to do anything for my son."
"What kind of contribution do I have to give for the three of us? If it"s protecting the camp and fighting these zombies, I think I"m capable enough," Germaine said.
"Germaine, you don"t have to…" Ca.s.sandra was touched.
"I will be helping you until your son gets well. It"s not a big deal at all."
"But…"
"Don"t worry, it"s really not a problem. And plus, I"m getting tired of living like a rat here in Cram city."
A teardrop fell off of Ca.s.sandra"s eye.
"If you say so… Still, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. We"re both strangers, yet you"re doing this much for me and my son. I promise to repay you one day."
"You really don"t have to..."
"Okay, that"s enough," Nathan said and turned to Kaija. "They will be riding with you."
"Yes, Captain."
Ca.s.sandra immediately got up and thanked "Officer" Nathan.
Author"s thoughts:
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading!
I have an announcement to make. I won"t be able to release a chapter tomorrow. I have some important matters to deal with.
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