A bruised and blooded man stood in the yard next to Baladan. He had just finished the fight ending it with a brutal barrage of attacks to the back of the head of his opponent with nothing but a brick in his hand.
???: "I-I did what you asked… c-can I go home now…"
He was clearly shaken up, he was just forced to kill one of his best friends to survive. He didn't like this feeling, the guilt in his chest from killing someone he would call his brother.
Bal: "Huh? Who said you could go home after you win? You really piss me off you know that? Where was that guilt when you guys purposely threw people to the Shadow Corpses? Were they not people? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
He noticed the man's head began to get lower and lower as he talked, finally he had enough and smacked him in the back of the head forcing him to look at Baladan.
Bal: "You have fed tons of people to the hordes of undead and yet you felt nothing. The moment you are forced to kill someone who means something to you, you start feeling guilt huh? You are trash, I want you to remember that. You are nothing but trash who believes they can kill anyone with no consequences. Well now you will be forced to atone, if you don't prove you are getting better I will kill you for the sake of those I love and care about. From now on your name is trash until you prove yourself got it!"
Trash: "Y-yes sir! I-I will try…"
Though he was reluctant he had no choice, the man before him was clearly stronger. The only hope he could have to get out of this bad situation is Markov! If they get back home and this man starts something with their leader he might be freed!
Trash: 'I will just bring him back to the base and see how things play out… I really don't want to get on either Markov's or this guys bad side…'
Bal: "Good choice, now go and get your truck. We are going to have a talk with Markov"
It didn't take long for both of them to leave, they drove through a mixture of open yards and the street. Every house they passed Baladan would look at as he tries to remember fond things about this street.
It wasn't too hard for Baladan but all he could remember was bad memories. Only a couple good memories was made between Baladan and the older folks who lived close by.
As they drove trash kept looking back at Baladan wondering what his plan is once they were at the camp. In a car it wouldn't take them long to get to their makeshift barricade made from all sorts of scrap and cars found around the housing district.
As the truck got close a guard on top of the scrap wall lifted his arm signaling the truck to stop as he pulls up his rifle with his other hand.
The people on the walls each were carrying automatic rifles. It was a surprise to Baladan since most automatic weapons were regulated by either the police or the gangs who distributed them.
This meant that Markov or someone inside the base had connections to his gang. That's the only possible reason they have automatic rifles, unless someone had been illegally stock piling guns in the housing district from outside of the city.
He was a little curious but soon a man came out of a gate connected to the scrap wall with a gun strapped to his chest. He went to the driver side window which trash had already opened for the man.
???: "Damian I thought you were supposed to be back a couple hours from now… where are the others? Who is that?"
Trash: "I-it's been a long day… we messed up, the other guys blew up the horde to early… they were caught in the blast radius and finished off by a Shadow Behemoth! I-if it wasn't for this man I would be dead right now… probably sloshing around inside a Shadow Corpses stomach!"
He looked like he was on the verge to cry, his body was heavily bruised and he looked ready to lay down and fall asleep. If he could never wake up from that sleep then he would be happy, if it meant not being abused by Baladan then he would choose to sleep forever instead of dealing with him.
???: "Are you serious!? Holy fuck! I can't imagine… I'm sorry for your loss… but I have a job to do… I'll need both of you to step out of the car and strip down to your underwear. If you don't have any bites then we will do an interview with your friend over there and get him his role in the camp…"
It was obvious he didn't want to do this, he had just told one of his friends to strip down after getting brutally beaten and now humiliated in front of the entire wall of armed guards.
With a sigh trash started to leave the truck slowly taking off his shirt at the same time. On the other hand Baladan was getting out but he first sent his pistol to Shoel before starting to strip off his shirt as well.
He had already read some of the memories of the guards close by, he knew this was a procedure all runners and new survivors had to go through to gain entry into the camp.
Everyone was gasping as they looked at Baladan, it felt like he had no shame as he stripped down with ease. However what they were looking at wasn't his muscular figure it was the bite mark scars!
???: "W-what? How the fuck are you still alive…? What are you!?"
The guard closest to them looked at Baladan unsure if he should take him out or not.
Bal: "I'm human obviously, but don't worry about these. My ability gives me immunity to the Shadow Corpses bites. That's why these are just scars that are likely to go away with time"
The man didn't know what to say, so he walked to the gate and began to talk to someone through a little slit. The next moment the person closed the slit as sounds of quickened footsteps could be heard on the other side.
Bal: 'Oh? Markov might be coming to me? That's good, I won't have to bother looking for him'
Currently Baladan still had Reading active, with his Pure Mana being at the max it didn't really take much Mana if any at all with how fast he was regenerating it.
Reading took 1 Pure Mana per 10 minutes, currently the rate he regenerated his mana was 20 every 5 minutes. Even to read memories it only took at most 5 Pure Mana for shallow memories and 10 Pure Mana to dive deeper.
Since no one was stopping him, he had put his clothes back on but left the shirt off to show the scars for Markov to see.
'If he is going to come to me I might as well catch him off guard when he is examining my bites'
He didn't have his crowbar in hand, to show he wasn't hostile he placed it down with his clothes. Now it was just a waiting game.
———
A young man ran into a metal fortress made from all sorts of scrap metal before being melted together then sanded down. If someone was to look at it for the first time they may think the building used to be a massive block of iron that they carved out into a building.
Shortly after running into the building he immediately went upstairs heading for the masters room before pushing open the door.
There sat a massive man standing at 7'5! The man had blonde hair, green eyes, and scars covered all over his muscular body. Currently he was laying in bed with a couple of the more beautiful slave women he had captured from the housing district.
"How dare you come in here boy! Who gave you the courage!"
He lifted one hand as the young man was lifted of the ground by his neck choking as Markov lays there peacefully.
"T-There is a-a survivor! A-at the gate- aghhh! H-he says he has an a-ability t-that makes him immune ha ha… to t-the Shadow C-Corpses bites!"
He was instantly dropped able to fully breath again as Markov begins to laugh at the news he just heard.
"Why didn't you say that sooner? Looks like I get to split open another skull~ what should I use? Take me to him now!"
He laughed maniacally as he jumped off the bed completely naked as he puts on some pants before wrapping a royal robe he found in a collectors house around himself. He quickly moved to the side of his bed pulling a halberd out from under it before heading out.
'Stay right there boy! The faster you accept your fate the faster I can get back to these lovely ladies~!'
He laughed again just thinking about how he is going to enjoy himself after killing Baladan.