"Boss!" In the evening after dinner Sergei was lying in his hammock and reading a book on his tablet, but his rest was interrupted by anxious Sylvie.
"What?" Sergei asked tearing his gaze from the tablet.
"I fixed all of your equipment!" The red-head stated proudly.
"M? Good job, but why are you still so cheerful? You are supposed to be completely exhausted after spending so much mana."
"Huh? Well yeah." The girl smiled broadly and giggled. "To be honest, I'm barely standing on my feet, I'm just so excited that I'm high on adrenaline!"
"You just found out that Gai and Gautier are in fact both gay and love each other and you are a huge fan of gay love and came to share these news with me? Sorry, not interested."
"Huh? Is that a joke?" Asked a puzzled girl.
"Of course it is. Now tell me why are you here?" The man asked with exasperation and swayed in his hammock.
"Well…" Her enthusiasm disappeared after the stupid joke. "As it turned out, I receive experience points when I'm fixing the equipment or creating arrows, so now I'm at level 2…"
"Convenient, well done, congratulations. When you reach level 5 you'll get a skill point which will probably help you to upgrade your skill." Sergei answered without taking his eyes off the tablet. This day exhausted him, so he wasn't interested in long conversations, or any conversations for that matter, that's why his replies were short and cold.
"Probably?"
"Well, my skill cannot be upgraded. I don't know whether your skill will upgrade or not. Ask the system."
"The system?" The girl was surprised. "I tried to ask it some questions, but it wouldn't answer."
"System, why aren't you answering the girl?" The man asked but received no reply. "Nothing. Hey System, will I die if I jump into the abyss?"
ABSOLUTELY, BUT TRY NOT TO JUMP INTO THE ABYSS THAT IS LOCATED IN YOUR HAVEN - IT'S POINTLESS. SEARCH FOR A DEEP HOLE SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE.
"It answered, and trolled me as usual… Well, whether you're asking wrong questions, or it just doesn't want to answer you. Its creators are curious peo… beings. You won't get many XP by just fixing something or creating arrows, you don't have much mana and it takes a lot of time to restore it. It would be easier for you to kill a zombie."
"I… I'm not ready for it yet, I'm sorry, Boss."
"Okay, go take some rest, tomorrow's the harvest." Sergei waved his hand and went back to his book.
"Okay, Boss."
"Is it possible to sell arrows? Hm, and how much will it cost to repair other system users' equipment? What if I start buying used or damaged equipment then fix it and sell as new?" The heartless tyrant perked up the moment Sylvie left. He didn't think of it right away because of exhaustion, but Sylvie's skill was a real gold mine!
"Hmmm, is it possible to use Natasha as an electricity generating station?" Sergei got carried away and started dreaming about free electricity. He managed to calm down only by nightfall, washed himself and went to sleep.
***
"I'm enlarging the haven today." Sergei stated during breakfast. "We also need to hire some reliable fighters and other experts, however I have no idea how to find good experts nowadays."
"What about us?!" Anne gasped jumping from her seat.
"What about you? Who's gonna help me kill zombies or guard me during the deals? Besides, do you know how to brew beer? I want beer!"
"But Boss, you can't drink beer, you're on meds," said Alice.
"Yes, but sooner or later the treatment will be over and then I could have some beer!"
"But we could buy it from Hubert, right?" Asked usually silent Natasha.
"We could, but I also want to sell it. I'm not planning to stay in Paris forever. When I become more secured and surrounded with strong people I'm gonna head over to my homeland. And of course, I'm gonna sell some foods and beer on my way there. Paris-Moscow, The Great Beer Way, ha-ha. We also should scout some rural areas, I think we could start raising chickens and livestock."
"I want to raise piggies!" Orianne exclaimed happily. "I had a piglet when I was a kid, he was very kind and cute. They are indiscriminate in food and don't require much effort. The key is to maintain cleanliness and feed them correctly."
"Okay, if we find some pigs you'll be in the charge of piggies." Boss replied.
After breakfast Sergei got behind the laptop and bought the expansion of the haven. The area now was two hectares (20 000 square meters/215 278 square feet) and Sergei planned to expand it to ten hectares (100 000 square meters/1 076 391 square feet). He didn't spend any biomatter, there was too little of it and it would've only saved him 74 coins, while it might still be useful later. So he paid 1600 coins, which was like a drop in the ocean for his current budget - or more specifically about ten percent of it. After the purchase he still had about 15 566 coins left.
The system confirmed the purchase and suddenly there was a strong earthquake. It was much stronger than the previous one so the girls began to panic. It shook so bad that even furniture started falling. But, luckily, nothing serious happened, the property wasn't damaged.
"System, what's happening?"
YOU'VE MADE A HUGE EXPANSION AND ENLARGED THE AREA OF YOUR HAVEN SEVERAL TIMES. THE EARTHQUAKE IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF IT. THE BIGGER THE EXPANSION THE STRONGER THE EARTHQUAKE. IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO ENLARGE THE HAVEN MORE THAN DOUBLE ITS SIZE AT ONCE.
"You could've said it earlier, couldn't you?!"
YES.
"Then why didn't you?!"
YOU DIDN'T ASK.
"Bi… Okay, Sergei, calm down - it's provoking you. Do not give in to provocations…"
WARNING! YOUR DIMENSIONAL HAVEN REACHED 100 000 SQUARE METERS IN SIZE. THE HAVEN MOVED FROM "TINY" TO "SMALL" RANK. THE STRUCTURES FOR DIMENSIONAL SEARCH ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO YOU IN THE STORE.
"What's the dimensional search?"
GO READ ABOUT IT YOURSELF, IT'S ALL IN THE STORE.
Sergei opened the store and found a new section called "Dimensional structures". There was only one structure available - "The dimensional beacon".
THE DIMENSIONAL BEACON, LEVEL 1.
THE DIMENSIONAL HAVEN IS DRIFTING AMONG THE SHARDS OF PERISHED WORLDS. THIS STRUCTURE ALLOWS YOU TO FIND AND PULL THOSE SHARDS.
"Sounds like, if I build this beacon and pull some random shard it can be full of scary aliens similar to The Alien. No, thanks. I don't wish for some unknown shit to burst out of my chest."
COWARD.
"Not coward but a very cautious person. Are you provoking me? It only convinces me even more that I shouldn't build the damn beacon!"
"Boss is arguing with himself again…" Said Gai who stood nearby.
"He's speaking Russian so I don't understand a thing. But I'm very curious about what's he's saying!" Oddly enough, but Annette was standing near the guy. "Sylvie mentioned that boss can communicate with the system. But she can't prove it, plus boss is suffering from a head injury."
"Yeah I've seen his seizures, it looked pretty painful…"
After a cussing fit, Sergei decided to take his anger out on zombies. So after changing into his level 2 gear he hastily teleported to the real world.
"Kid, keep a careful watch of my surroundings."
"Yes, Boss, I be watching carefully."
"If Annette's with you, I'm allowing you to tape her mouth shut if she distracts you… on a second thought, no. Call Anne and tell her to watch you both. If Annette's distracting you tell Anne to put a tape on her mouth and drag her ass somewhere else. I'm sure she'll gladly do it."
"Uummm, yes, Boss."
"I'm warning you, I'll ask Anne upon my return whether you relayed her my order or not."
Anne was a very energetic and fun young woman who always charged everyone with positive energy, however she was really bored in haven, so boss was sure she wouldn't miss the opportunity to have some fun at Annette's expense.
Boss wasn't in the mood to loot abandoned apartments, it no longer gave him enough XPs and required huge amounts of effort at the same time. Now Sergei was looking for some rare places. The area he was in was previously occupied by a huge horde of zombies. After it left almost no zombies remained behind.
"Only three living corpses in fifteen minutes. It would've been better to move about such empty streets on a vehicle." He thought about motorbikes that he had in his haven but immediately dismissed that idea. The roar of the engine could lure all of the zombies for several kilometers - he wasn't afraid of the regular zombies of course, but the mutants…
***
"Whoah! A computer equipment store!" One of the buildings that Sergei was passing by, housed a rather large store of various electronics and it looked mainly untouched!
"Is it because of the horde that no one have looted this place yet? What a luck!" Sergei looked around and even peaked through the windows but didn't find anything suspicious. The door wasn't locked but the bell on it turned out to be an annoying setup. The loud noise not only could be heard in the whole store but outside as well…
"…Okay, if there are any zombies they'll come to me on their own, which will make my job easier… If there aren't any mutants, of course!" The man mumbled and prepared for battle.
"It's empty? Weird…" Sergei waited by the door for five minutes but no one came following the sound.
The sunlight perfectly illuminated the store - its owner could've saved a lot of money on lightning! That's why if there were any zombies in the store Sergei would've immediately noticed them.
"So, what do we have here… Wooooahh! What a huge screen! How much? Fucking 20 000 euros?! For that kind of money I can watch 3D porn every day, dammit, with live actors, and even participate in it! My inner Jew would've strangled me if I have bought it. But since there was a promotion "take what you want, money's not needed"…" Sergei waved his hand and sent the tv to the warehouse in the haven.
"First come, first served, right? What else this store will grace me with? iPhones, but what's the point… They're empty, no games or apps. A robotic vacuum cleaner? Nice, I'm taking them all! Laptops - I'm buying it! Here's your zero money and as a change I'll take everything that's left in your store." Sergei methodically emptied the store while laughing and talking to himself.
Claaang! A mechanical sound came from the exit.
"What the…?" The man turned to the exit and saw the windows and doors being swiftly blocked with metal plates from the outside. The second the last ray of sunlight disappeared the lights turned on and then there were footsteps.
(fr) "Finally some food! I thought I'll starve to death because of that stupid horde!
(fr) "We have enough meat in the fridge to last us a month, don't lie about being starved."
Some weird voices could be heard, but then THEY showed up… Old people… A whole gang of old people! Each of them had one-handed axes with blue colored blades and red handles in their hands. There were almost twenty of them with all of them being older than 60. They looked like shriveled raisins but their movements were confident and fluid!
"Gai, you little shit…" the man mumbled but barely held himself from cursing the little idiot who missed the danger… again! He took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked at old geezers with a nasty smile on his face. "Who the fuck are you? Have I just strayed into the territory of a nursing home? Or maybe you were so severely bitten by mutant mosquitoes that you just shriveled and became old?"
"Huh! Look, we've got a foreigner here! I've never tried one before - I wonder what he tastes like?" Said a chubby old fellow, licking his axe.
"Heart, I want his heart!" A hundred years old looking granny whispered in English. She had only two teeth and even those were crooked and rotten - how was she gonna eat his heart? Suck it in like a catfish?
"My heart belongs to beer, my job and hockey."
"He-he-he, defenseless but sooo arrogant. Take him, but try not to bleed him out completely, I want to make a blood sausage!" One of the old freaks shouted and the whole gang of cannibals let out a loud battle cry and rushed towards the lone spartan.
"Valera, it is your time!" Sergei remembered an old phrase and summoned an old 9mm Le Francais.
"What?" It was the first and the last thought of an old man dressed like a football fan. The bullet made a hole in his skull turning his brains into purée.
Bang-bang-bang-bang! Sergei released eight bullets completely emptying the clip.
"Muah-ha-ha-ha!" He heard a mad laughter behind his back and returned to his haven.
(fr) "Damn it! A system user! Be careful, it's either invisibility or teleportation. He's here somewhere! How many were killed?" Growled an old man whose face was covered in fur, his fingers adorned some sharp looking claws.
(fr) "Seven…"
(fr) "He killed granny Ma!" One of the geezers uttered between sobs.
(fr) "Bustard!"
(fr) "Find him! I will boil his balls and feed them to him!"
Meanwhile Sergei was staring at the monitor of his laptop. But not before he smacked Gai upside the head a few times. As it turned out, the teen searched whole store but didn't find anyone! Then he started searching the surroundings that's why he missed the entrance of the old canniballistic freaks.
"They be all system users!" Gai gasped. He watched as a few of them started growing fur, one even almost turned into an overgrown wolf. One granny's skin turned green while a chubby old grandpa grew four horns two in the front and two in the back.
"You're wrong, they are all just dead people and a good loot!" Sergei took another gun and sent Le Francais to the warehouse. He then grabbed a sword with his left hand and teleported back to the real world.
Swish, bang-bang-bang! A blow of a sword and three good shots - as a result the "four-horned" grandpa's head went rolling on the ground and another three old freaks fell with mortal wounds.
(fr) "Take cover! Use your skills!" A completely bald old man shouted.
Remembering that he had some skills, one of the cannibalistic grandpas with a long beard extended his hands and started forming a lightning.
"Boss, return! Quick!" Sergei heard Gai's panicked voice, who's been watching the cannibals' every move. Boss instantly appeared in the haven while the lightning flew right through the entrance point where he stood a second ago and collided with a wall, creating a huge explosion.
"Good job!" Sergei praised upon seeing the effect of the skill.
"And this?" On a nearby chair sat Annette, who was tied to that same chair with her mouth sealed with a duck tape. Boss was too furious to notice her before - but it was an interesting sight to behold, especially the way she was bound… It was pretty erotic.
"She couldn't shut her mouth, so I helped her." Laughed Anne, who stood near the bound girl with a proud look on her face.
"Excellent job." Sergei gave her a thumbs up, then took a last look at the monitor and teleported back to Earth.
(fr) "Where is he? Did you kill him?" The old man with two axes asked with a cough. The visibility was almost zero because of all the dust and chunks of plaster in the air, plus their sense of smell didn't really work either.
(fr) "I have no idea, mu glasses are covered in dust, I can't see any…" The old man didn't finish as gunshots rang around them one of which pierced his chest. Sergei shot almost at random, knowing only the approximate location of the enemies. The thermal imager showed the location of all the remaining old people, which was nine.
(fr) "Old Lu! You bastard!"
"The enemy be forward, behind "Samsung" tv."
"Got it." After changing the clip, Sergei immediately emptied it once again aiming at the tv in front of him.
"Boss he be dead, next one…"
Following Gai's directions Sergei killed off the remaining cannibals, however he wasn't able to finish the fight completely unharmed. The old geezer who turned into a wolf was very agile and managed to scratch him with his claws a few times. The scratches weren't deep but bled profusely. Although the second level equipment proved to be quite durable - it wouldn't stop a bullet of course, but it wasn't easy to cut either.
"Boss! You shouldn't be so reckless!" Said Alice, standing near Professor Curie who was cleaning and bandaging the reckless man's wounds.
"What was I supposed to do? The exit was locked and no one was strong enough to help me. It was me or them, I can't hide in the haven my whole life, can I?" Said the man and flexed his arms and legs. "Alright, the painkillers are working, I'll loot them real quick and be back."
"But, Boss!…"
"Well come and help me then."
"Okay!"
Sergei didn't think she would agree…
The two of them appeared in the half-ruined store and started ransacking.
"Boss, I've found an axe!"
"Bring it to me."
THE AXE OF CHANCE.
A WEAPON GIVEN TO PEOPLE OVER 60. SHARP AND LIGHT, IT GIVES OLDER PEOPLE A CHANCE TO SURVIVE.
"Such an unexpected thing from the system…"
Soon they collected twenty axes, the same amount of dead bodies and all of the surviving equipment. Someone made a hole in the ceiling in the utility room and the ladder they found there led them into cannibals' living quarters. What they saw made Alice nauseous - the old freaks were definitely out of their minds. All of their furniture was made from the bones of people that they had eaten. Tables, beds, chairs… Sergei sent the girl back to the haven and searched all of the apartments and soon found the main storage.
All twenty of old cannibals were the system users, which meant that they received coins and eggs of reward after killing zombies! There were a little more than 6 000 coins, six level 2 swords and two dozen bats. He also found some 1 and 2 level equipment, a few vaccine bracelets, two guns and one assault rifle. Aside from that there were found stocks of canned food with a total weight of a 100 kg and other useful stuff.
After that Sergei raised the metal plates blocking the exit on the first floor and then Louis helped him to cut down the power. The building was self-sustaining. The solar panels were found on the roof and a lot of batteries and electronics on the top floor. It was all of course confiscated and sent to the haven.
***
They had a feast for dinner - aside from rare canned food, Sergei also found an excellent cognac, a bottle of an expensive liquor and twenty plus bottles of various expensive booze in the cannibals' lair. One of the old freaks must've been a collector.
Some girls drank too much alcohol and started getting wild, Gai and Gautier were still underage so they weren't given any. Professor Curie refused, Alice drank only a little - she had a small child to take care of. But the one who drank the most was Louis, he was also the only one in a more or less adequate condition.
Petite Natasha didn't drink, but because of the alcohol fumes around, she became so intoxicated that she couldn't even speak, at all. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out of it… At the same time she looked quite sane, however as soon as she tried to go home she couldn't even make one step and fell face first on the ground.
(fr) "Women shouldn't compete with men, he-he-he. I may be old but I'm still in good shape!"
Drunk Zoey decided to compete against the male population of the haven and chose Old Louis as her first opponent. It was a fatal mistake - what was hidden under the old mechanic's clothes was not a flabby body but steel muscles! Louis spent all his life repairing machinery and most of those machines were pretty heavy. He worked the old-fashioned way so he often had to lift weights. So in order not to hurt himself he worked on his body and trained regularly. Even while in captivity he still trained in secret.
The dark skinned girl was no slouch herself, she was very athletic. Zoey trained for four hours every day so she was quite confident, but, as a result, she lost shamefully because she underestimated the old man. After losing at arm wrestling the girl was forced to drink another glass, then they wrestled again and so on for three times, until the girl passed out from intoxication.
"Drunkards. So lucky." Sergei mumbled. He wasn't allowed to drink so he was extremely jealous and just kept eating.
(fr) "Boss… I'm not really useful… Everything I know is how to please men… So please let me…" Martha approached him unsteadily. She was so drunk that she could barely speak.
"What did she say?" Boss turned to Alice.
"She's not feeling good and she wants to go take some rest!" Alice replied and quickly led the drunk girl away.
"I see, I'll go have some rest as well then. Sleep is the best medicine." After he washed his wounds with spring water they started healing rapidly, so in the afternoon they no longer bled and almost didn't hurt, but the rapid healing required an enormous amount of effort.
The haven maintained the normal temperature, that's why sleeping in the hammock was pure bliss. Only drawback - the drunkards were a little too loud… But Sergei decided not to ruin their fun. Each of them went through a lot of shit recently and people needed to let off some steam and pour out their souls.