"There's still a lot of time till afternoon. So how about testing the new equipment, huh, Sergei?" The man asked himself upon exiting the sewage system. "With pleasure! And here comes the perfect prey!"
A lone zombie was wandering aimlessly near a crashed bus.
"Hey yo, wassup?" A zombie turned abruptly after hearing an unexpected question, but it was too slow and just a moment later its head was cut off by the black sword like a piece of soft butter.
"No resistance whatsoever! It's like I'm cutting soft tofu." The man said holding his sword vertically and observing its blade.
"Biomatter!" The headsman was about to leave when he remembered that zombie corpses were quite useful. That's why he teleported the body along with the severed head to his haven and told Kid to throw them into the abyss.
***
The area around Hubert's camp was almost empty of any zombies. If the horde happened to come anywhere near, it would be immediately led away by the users who specialized in dexterity and speed. If it were just a lot of small groups instead, they were hunted down. So Sergei decided to leave that area and took a different route to the Louvre - there was no way he could get any XP this way.
"Sergei, you are awesome and everything but do not forget about mutants and bullets…" The man reminded himself. "Have you already forgotten how you almost shitted your pants when two speedsters nearly bit your arms off? Ooh regular zombies!"
A small group of undead slowly limped towards him from the distance. There were ten of them and they were all very slow and plus they were walking a good distance apart from each other.
"Hey girls, wanna have some fun? I have a very thick and veeeery long… sword! Ha-Ha-Ha!"
Zombies looked at him like he was an idiot, growled angrily and limped a little bit faster in his direction. They were so offended by his words that they tried their hardest to make him accountable for them as quick as possible. That's how instead of walking in one group they ended up forming a long line as everyone limped at their own speed.
***
"That was so easy! I would've kissed you if you wasn't covered in blood and pieces of flesh!" The man exclaimed looking lovingly at his new sword. All ten undead were slaughtered one by one without breaking a sweat!
"Woah! An egg!" Sergei finally got the egg of reward. He immediately devoured the most delicious chocolate (he didn't even think about sharing it with the girls in the haven) and opened the container. "A second level sword… Not the first level bat and thanks for that…"
After sending the bodies and severed limbs to his haven, our butcher went on his way and soon stumbled upon big grocery store. It was already looted, however there were still some fridges and other useful items left. In forty minutes Sergei left behind only bare walls and the haven received 21XP.
"A furniture store!" The marauder stopped in front of a huge furniture store. Sergei thought that it was unlikely that someone would rob the furniture store… But he was wrong. The store was partly looted, however only staff rooms were ransacked. Someone probably searched them for some food.
The store ended up being bigger than it looked and very expensive at that. "Dear customer's" eyes bulged out at the sight of all the affordable assortment. There was an abundance of furniture affordable for middle class and rich people as well. The most extraordinary item was the couch made of lion leather that costed million euros! The armchair without a price tag made of stuffed bear and a table made of the rarest types of wood - for three million euros…
Sergei didn't even think about leaving something behind. He took all of the furniture even from the office spaces. There was so much of it that the warehouse instantly ran out of free space and all of the remaining furniture was teleported to the meadow.
Sergei found a huge storage room in the basement but… he decided not to go down there. Alone with a flashlight… It was a sure death in horror movies… Slow and painful death…
He headed to the second floor and found the bedroom department! There were so many beds, mattresses, pillows and blankets!
"Pure bliss!" Sergei sighed with his eyes closed. He was lying on a huge bed that was soft and tender as a cloud.
"Such a pity…" he really wanted that bed but because of a childhood injury he could sleep only on firm mattress. That's why he ended up choosing an orthopedic mattress. But that didn't mean that he left everything else behind! Everything that could be teleported was sent to the haven…
Upon returning to his haven, the marauder realized that it now resembled a furniture warehouse. The furniture and beds took most of the free space. But… those beds were already occupied… His people didn't waste any time and already chose their beds. Even Old Mark and Louis were snoring peacefully in the beds that took their fancy!
"Wake up everyone! I'm expanding the warehouse and moving all the furniture there!" He shouted as loud as possible doing his best to wake up all of the lazy bodies. Everyone begrudgingly started getting up from soft and expensive beds.
"All of you chose double beds? Isn't that a bit too much?"
"But, Boss! I always wanted one…" Anne replied, she was already in love with her luxurious bed…
"Me too."
"And me…"
"Ugh, women! And you, Louis!?"
"My wife couldn't sleep on soft beds that's why I was always forced to sleep on firm orthopedic mattress, but now I'm breaking bad so to say." The old mechanic said with an awkward smile, trying his absolute best to leave the softest bed in his life.
"…Fine, okay, you've convinced me, I'll just have to build the bigger houses…"
The expansion of the warehouse costed 400 coins and Sergei allocated a lot of space for the furniture. In fact, all of the new space was filled with furniture…
In the afternoon everyone started renovating. It's hard for two people to agree on something, it's almost impossible to do the same for two women, but for a dozen women… There was a lot of swearing, insults and arguments, but after receiving a few slaps upside the head from Boss everything resolved peacefully and the plan was approved.
Because everyone wanted to sleep on double beds it was decided to buy houses with bigger rooms - and it resulted in those houses becoming pricier than it was expected… 300 coins for one-room houses and 400 - for two-room houses. Sergei and Alice chose one-room houses: Sergei because he wanted to live alone and Alice because she had a small child and she was planning to sleep with him on one bed - albeit a huge one… Others planned to share two-room houses. There were seven of those and it all costed 3400 coins.
Next was a public bathroom. Well… It was just a small one-story building with four men and four women bathrooms. Each one had a bath, a shower cabin and a sink. The building was made of brick and costed 4900 coins!
The restroom building costed 1400 coins, the boiler room - 2700 coins, but then he had to expand the pond because it was the only source of water - and it costed additional 400 coins. The solar power station, with all of the houses connected to electricity plus the street lightning - costed 6500 coins (!), breaking the record for price.
The power station was installed with the future expansion in mind, so it produced many times more electricity than the estimated consumption. The roofs of all residential buildings as well as the public bathroom's roof were equipped with solar panels. The laundry room was built as well but since the warehouse was filled with washing machines it turned out really cheap and costed only 900 coins. As a result, the reconstruction of the haven costed 20200 coins in total, and Sergei even had 3566 coins left.
The houses and non-residential premises were arranged in a circle. The tent with the laptop was still positioned in the center along with the place where everyone ate and cooked. The boiler room, the power station and the warehouse were positioned outside the circle.
They were almost out of free space yet again, so Sergei decided to go on a hunt in the morning and obtain more bodies - but it didn't go as planned.
Before dinner he moved the beds from the warehouse into the houses along with some furniture, then he instantly fell asleep and slept like a baby.
***
Gr-rrrr-rrrrr….
"What time is it?…" The man woke up from the loud growl of his empty stomach. "Afternoon!"
Through incredible efforts Sergei finally managed to get up and got dressed. It was too quiet outside, as if all life had completely died out.
"Everyone's still asleep?!"
He approached Alice's house and peaked through the window, she was indeed sleeping soundly on her new big bed along with her little son.
"…It looks like everyone missed sleeping in normal beds so much that they couldn't bring themselves to wake up… There's a three tons worth deal planned today, the crops are not harvested yet and what we already have is not enough… It looks like my "slaves" will have to work till they're run into the ground… Well, why don't I cook the poor souls something to eat?" The man thought out loud and headed to the warehouse.
After rummaging through foodstuffs he picked some canned vegetables and mushrooms, made some mushed potatoes - but instead of real milk he soaked some milk powder… He also made some hash browns and a sauce.
"Rise and shine! The breakfast is ready! If you don't come out in time - you'll end up with no food!" The very caring planter shouted through the megaphone that he found in the warehouse. Soon a movement could be noticed in the houses and one after another the sleepy people started coming out.
"What time is it, Boss?" Martha asked, after exiting her house in very revealing pajamas with her right eye barely opened. Her D cup breasts and round thighs that were barely covered with a semi-transparent fabric immediately woke up the sleepy male population of the haven. Martha had beautiful facial features and curly hair, but only Sergei was aware of that since he had a high level of resistance to female beauty.
"It's afternoon."
"What?!" The sleepy Sylvie who was sitting in a chair and barely making herself stay awake instantly woke up. "We need to harvest the crops!"
"Yeah, precisely. And I also have a deal today. I need three tons and we only have one and a half." Boss said with a huge smile.
(fr) "Guys! It's afternoon already! Get your asses here this instant!" The redhead beauty shouted at the top of her lungs.
(fr) "Afternoon?!"
(fr) "Let me sleep!"
(fr) "Guys help me get Orianne! I can't handle her, she's refusing to leave the bed!"
It was hard but eventually everyone showed up for lunch, which was light but pretty filling.
"Our Boss can really cook." Anne noted while stuffing her face with food.
"I'm surprised as well!" Annette nodded.
"I think… that Boss is good at everything…" Raine added while happily enjoying Sergei's cooking and sneaking some glances at him every now and then.
The happy owner of the longest legs in the haven was dressed in short shorts and a sleeveless top, but it looked like she forgot to put on a bra in a hurry, which attracted the teenagers' eyes. But luckily Raine - and basically everyone else aside the two little perverts - didn't notice that.
"You're blushing! Raine has a crush on our Boss! Look, she's blushing even more! She looks like a tomato! Ouch!" Anne got really excited but soon received a slap upside her head.
"Stop shouting during the meal and it's not polite to discuss such things openly!" Orianne scolded her. She had a heavy hand thus the slap was quite powerful.
"But…"
"You want another one?"
"Understood."
"I see you have a lot of energy. It means you'll manage to harvest 1,5 tons in an hour and a half." Sergei said with an impish smile.
"But…"
"No buts! I have a deal planned and all of you overslept and let me down. So eat, tidy up and get to work."
After lunch Sergei returned to Paris and hurried to Hubert's camp. On his way he ended up encountering three "sprinter" mutants so he was forced to "sit it out". But after that everything went smoothly: he met five regular zombies and dealt with them without breaking a sweat. The rest of the way was safe, but he ended up spending an hour trying to find a suitable place to store the food.
"You did a good job." Said the heartless planter after moving two tons of potatoes to the cellar. Every resident of the haven participated in the field work, even the elders and Alice's son. Only Gai was spared since he was behind the camera.
"Boss!" The younger brother's voice could be heard through the radio.
"What?"
"Someone be following you. That place not be safe to leave potatoes."
"Who's following me?" Sergei asked and ran to the laptop.
"I not know - three man."
"If I take a photo of their faces we could probable discern which camp they belong to." Sergei pondered. "The "camera" program cannot take pictures but if we update it… But the update would probably take the whole day… I need to buy a new laptop!" He made up a plan and got behind the computer.
"The second level laptop costs 300 coins. Third level - 800 coins. It looks like the third level one is the latest model. I'm buying this one!" The screen went black, then the laptop slowly vanished and in its place appeared the new one. It was slightly bigger and looked better, its screen seemed to be also bigger than the last one's.
"Awesome, now - apps. "Camera-2" costs 100 coins, "Camera-3" - 400 coins." The man thought for a moment but made his decision rather quickly. "Of course it should be "Camera-3"!"
THE SYSTEM STARTED UPDATING. WE APOLOGIZE, BUT YOU CANNOT USE APPS DURING THE UPDATE.
CURRENT PROGRESS 0%
"Now we wait. And while the system is updating… Go harvest potatoes!" The man laughed and pointed at the "slaves" who were working on the field.
"Yes, Boss…" Gai sighed miserably and slowly headed to the fields.
In forty minutes the system finished updating, the camera icon had slightly changed. The app opened almost immediately, the interface changed as well and there appeared to be a lot more features. Now the camera had the night vision mode and the thermal imager mode. The photo mode appeared as well. After giving the camera a spin, Sergei turned on the thermal imager mode and started searching the area.
"Hm, there really are three men in the building across the street. Hm? The camera distance has increased?" The surprised man directed the camera at the building where his followers were lying in wait.
***
*Meanwhile in the building across the street*
(fr) "You think that man is still there?"
(fr) "Who the fuck knows!"
Two people were talking in an unfamiliar (well it was familiar, he just didn't understand it) language while the third one was resting.
The observer behind the camera picked the right angle before taking some photos, then he decided to check the camera's maximum range. It turned out that the camera's distance has increased to twenty meters - incredibly happy news!
There was a printer in the warehouse albeit a monochrome one, and the man ended up being pleased with his skills of the photographer after printing the photos. However, in reality, the photos were not so good.
"Hey kid, familiarize yourself with the new program and keep monitoring my surroundings, I'm heading to the camp."
"But, Boss… the spying…"
"So what? Let them spy to their heart's content, but if they come closer to me - let me know immediately."
"Yes, Boss!"
Sergei returned to reality and headed to the Hubert's camp. But as soon as he left the building he heard the Kid's voice from the radio.
"Boss, they split up. Two follow you, one begin search the building."
"Those "colorado beetles" are 100% after my potatoes… I wish I could mine that whole building ha-ha-ha."
"We not have explosives, Boss."
"I know…"
***
"Sergei, you came! Well? Should I send my people to retrieve the goods?" Hubert said with a huge smile upon meeting Sergei near the camp.
"I was being followed so I couldn't risk leading them to the hiding place." The guest shook his head.
"Followed? By who? Have you seen them?!" Hubert's eye started twitching and the veins popped on his face from anger, which looked kinda scary. Hubert hated it when the outsiders dared to cross his territory and more so when they interfered with his business…
"Here." Sergei handed him the photos of three men - two young ones and one middle aged one.
"Such bad photos… Like an inept child was playing with the camera. But I know these guys - namely one in the middle. His name is Albus. He works for Louvre and has a bad reputation. Hey, how did you get these photos?"
"Well… I have a person with an interesting skill." Said the inept photographer. He was already used to explaining anything weird with a "person with an interesting skill" excuse.
"Interesting indeed. I will send some people to look for these three. If they dared to enter our territory they probably don't value their lives!" Hubert then called one of his men and after giving him a few orders returned to their conversation. "So the shipment is delayed?"
"A little. I need to settle some things in the Louvre, then I will return with one of my men and he will deliver the goods straight to your base, he has another "interesting skill"." Sergei said and watched how Hubert's expression changed from sadness to surprise. "Set up a secluded place without windows, cameras and etc."
"Got it."
"Then I'll see you in the evening."
After saying goodbye, Sergei headed to Louvre - killing a few more zombies on his way. They were unlucky to run into a man in a bad mood and a third level weapon in his hands. Upon reaching the apartment that he usually used to return to his haven he suddenly frowned.
"Someone was here." The Captain Obvious mumbled looking at the broken lock.
"My intuition is telling me to stay away from the Louvre… But a brewer… I want a brewer… Sergei! You don't have any wheat - what brew are you even talking about! You're not the only one with skills - survival is more important!" After a powerful speech he convinced himself not to go to the Louvre, so he ended up heading to the unexplored area.
***
The territory that the camps took under their control and what Sergei was witnessing now were complete opposites. The camps never allowed the undead to form huge crowds or hordes - they were either led somewhere else or destroyed. Here the crowds of zombies were everywhere!
"Kid, report." Sergei ordered quietly while hiding behind a minibus.
"Forward be ten zombie, they stay still, small group, thirty, head north, no see mutants." Gai answered in his broken English.
"Good!" Sergei threw a pebble in the direction of a small group of zombies and it worked! One of the zombies heard the noise and started limping to its source, the others upon seeing that their comrade was going somewhere started following him. The sly man lured the zombie into the alley then jumped it and swung his sword.
The third level sword was really sharp that's why it was much easier to behead zombies than before. But most importantly it could be done in one swift strike, which gave more opportunities while fighting a group of them. Our hero made three strikes and cut off three heads.
"Whatcha looking at? Never seen someone as handsome as me?" Sergei asked looking at the remaining seven zombies that froze in place.
"Argh-hh!" One of the zombies growled.
*gasp* "You take that back!"
***
After "unaliving" the undead, Sergei picked up the coins and didn't forget to send the bodies to the haven - there was no such thing as too much biomatter after all. After making sure that no one was waiting for him around the corner, the human went on his way while doing his best to avoid the big herds of the former citizens.
"Boss! In house near there be a fight, group of survivors be attack by zombies. The survivors have many woman and childs, and they be losing."
"How many zombies?" Sergei asked calmly, looking at the building that Gai pointed at, he couldn't even hear any gunshots.
"Twenty, and there be huge zombie too. Defenders have system weapons, but three be down, only two fight still."
"Hm, sounds like an easy way to earn a good reputation and find some new clients. Lead the way. Daddy has a new blade, I can even take out the big guy, but I'm still a little scared of fighting the quick ones."
"Yes, Boss…"
Sergei ran into an office building. From the inside it looked like a suicide bomber blew himself up, everything that could break was broken. The broken pieces of furniture and the floor were covered in blood and sleeves, but the owners of those were nowhere to be seen.
Upon reaching the third floor the man finally saw the battle. More than ten dead bodies were scattered across the huge room. There wasn't much left of those bodies but it was obvious that they belonged to the defenders. Their hands were still squeezed around their weapons.
There were a lot of undead bodies as well, the completely dead ones, the zombies. Two people behind the makeshift barricades were desperately trying to get rid of the undead. And among them was the big guy. He didn't attack, he was just waiting till his minions wore the humans off.
"You weren't expecting me, but here I come!" Sergei smiled and emptied the clip into the crowd of zombies.
*sigh* "it's such a waste of XP and bullets, but I value my life more." The man sighed as he saw that his shooting wasn't that effective - he ended up shooting only six of them in the head the rest escaped with non fatal wounds.
"Rrruuuuhhh!!!" The big guy screamed and the minions got distracted from the half dead defenders and rushed to get rid of the unknown savior. However he retreated towards the stairs where he previously installed the heavy wooden dresser - and the zombies ended up hitting the makeshift barricade.
"Off with your heads!" Sergei exclaimed and started chopping off their heads. What could be more pleasant than cutting off some zombies' heads while they could do nothing about it?
"RRRUUUHHH!" The big guy went berserk upon seeing the filthy human dishonestly killing his minions and rashes to the barricade.