"It's so soft and warm!" The girl buried her face into the soft fur and squealed from happiness. Then immediately other girls joined in as well. Even the brothers couldn't help but pet these cute rabbits.
"What species are they, Sergei? I've never heard of such before." Professor Curie asked thoughtfully.
"It's called the "omnivorous rabbit". I don't think that they exist on earth."
"You are probably right. What is their growth and reproduction rates?" Professor asked, observing the poor animal that was suffering in a woman's embrace, with a great deal of interest.
"It fully grows up in five days. But how many of their kin they will be able to produce… Who knows?"
Soon the news about cute rabbits spread across the haven, so he was forced to post guards - otherwise the rabbits would've been smothered to death. He also had to set a time limit for cuddles - no more than two hours a day! If they were to be bothered all the time then when would they reproduce?
"I'm done with rabbits, now let's deal with the meat locker…"
Sergei chose a refrigeration chamber with a cooling space of 50 tons and a price of 2 500 coins.
PLEASE SELECT THE POWER SYSTEM: THE HAVEN'S POWER SYSTEM; IT'S OWN.
"It's own."
SELECT THE FUEL TYPE: CHARCOAL; ENERGY CORE; BIOMATTER; GASOLINE/DIESEL.
"Energy core? Never heard of it. Well, let's choose biomatter."
ACCEPTED. THE FINAL PRICE IS 3100 coins.
"Pay, pay, pay… What kind of life is this? The more I earn the more I spend!" Sergei kept grumbling but still paid for the purchase and even enlarged the cellar while he was at it. The old one's capacity was ten tons while the predicted harvest of just potatoes alone was about to be more than sixty tons… He had to expand the cellar to five hundred tons (such capacity was available on level 3), and paid 10 000 coins for it.
"And now I have only 1824 coins left…" Sergei spent almost 30 000 coins during the day, yet he earned only 25 000. His heart was aching, but money must work. The dinner time came abruptly - but luckily the boss was able to finish with his work in time and was now happily stuffing his face with some food.
"Boss, you've promised to tell us why we should guard the perimeter." Solomon spoke suddenly and everyone stopped eating.
"The system told me that there grew to be far too many of us, so there's a possibility of getting a visit from some unwanted guests. Probably zombies."
"Zombies? Here, in haven?" Anne freaked out. She had a severe case of zombie phobia - the girl would freeze in place without being able to move, the second she saw the living dead. Sergei had to go to enormous lengths to make her kill even one zombie in order for her to become a system user.
"We have the fence, we can also build some walls if need be. But let's see who'll come visit first."
"But how would they even get here?" Asked a usually taciturn Natasha.
"The thing is, that the haven is located in the dimensional ocean. We are just like a little boat, which is being moved back and forth by the waves. However, aside from our boat, there are also some islands and fragments of ships. As far as I understand, when we get near such an island or a fragment, some of its inhabitants are able to sense us, jump into the ocean and swim to our boat."
"Sounds like a science fiction. But doesn't it mean that we can also land on such islands or fragments?"
"You're right, there's even this item called "The dimensional beacon". It allows us to find and then pull dimensional fragments. With all their inhabitants…"
"Yes, but isn't it possible that we can also find some treasures there?"
(rus) "Hey, System, what happens if I land on a dimensional fragment?"
YOU CAN CONQUER IT.
(rus) "What will I get out of that conquest?"
ALL THE RESOURCES AND EVEN THE FRAGMENT ITSELF WILL BE FUSED WITH THE HAVEN.
(rus) "Awesome! Can I land on it, grab its treasures and then get back?"
YES, BUT THAT'S A COWARD'S TACTIC.
(rus) "Intelligence is the general's best friend, just so you know!" The man smirked.
"Boss?" Natasha called him. She was one of the few residents who knew Russian, so the boss's monologue seemed a little weird to her…
"I was talking to the system. Yes, we can conquer the fragments and fuse with them, also all of their resources will become ours."
"But what kind of resources can even be there?" Annette inquired.
"If those are really the fragments of different worlds - then any kind. Technology, buildings, supplies, natural resources." Natasha started explaining with a raised index finger.
"How do you know all this?" Annette asked, looking at the miniature beauty in bewilderment.
"It's just a simple logic." Natasha replied after taking a sip of her tea. "If I understood it correctly, then the other worlds were shattered like jigsaw puzzles. Depending on which piece of that jigsaw we get we can determine which resources we could find there. If it's a city, then we can find some extraterrestrial machinery there, or technology."
"And zombies." Sergei added.
"Yeah, and zombies…"
"That's why I didn't build the beacon - we are still too weak. We need to concentrate on the haven and it's current problems for now. We'll play the conquerors of the galaxy some other time."
That's where the discussion has ended: everyone finished their meal and returned to their homes. A big surprise was waiting for everyone in the morning - rabbits gave offspring!
"Oh my god, they are so cute!" Anne was holding a bunny with a weight of half a kilo.
"But still though, ten bunnies in just one night…" Annette uttered in bewilderment, she had another bunny in her hands.
"What they be eating?" Asked Zoey, who also had a fluffy bunny hugged to her chest.
"They are omnivorous, and literally so. They can eat anything. But I feed them hay, residues from wheat and corn and some gnawed corn cobs as well. I think they'll even eat a zombie if we get them one."
"No!" Anne shouted. "We can't, they're too cute, we can't feed them dead people!"
"I wasn't even going to, we are going to eat them - I wouldn't want my food to be eating zombies."
"Eat?" Anne looked into sweet and innocent eyes of the bunny, it even cutely moved its little nose… "No! How can we possibly eat someone this cute?!"
"Why the hell do you think we are raising them in the first place?" The cruel man smirked. "For fur and meat. Do you want a white rabbit fur coat?"
"I… do, but I don't want the bunnies to suffer!"
Sergei didn't continue the conversation and went about his business. Along with Solomon, they organized a training field for their soldiers. Others found something to do as well. The newcomers were all in bad shape - they required to be washed, fed and provided with everything necessary.
***
"Stop being a pussy! I open the door, they run into the dresser, you cut their heads off. Easy! You kill one - go and pass the sword to Louis. Got it?"
"I… Okay!"
Sergei, Gautier, Old Louis and Professor Curie were standing in front of the door behind which a few zombies were locked. Upon learning about a possible invasion, boss decided to take a more responsible approach towards improving the strength of his subordinates. And he didn't really have anything else to do. He had no money, no goods to sell, but what he did have were people and zombies.
Gautier was really nervous, but the presence of the vaccine bracelet on his wrist gave him much needed reassurance. He wouldn't turn into a zombie even if one of them bit him. The door was opened and a massive dresser appeared in the passageway. Three zombies on the other side of the door roared and ran towards their "guests".
(fr) "Forgive me!" Gautier shouted and slashed at zombie's head with his sword.
"Good job! Next!"
Louis took the sword and looked at remaining zombies that tried to reach him with their accursed hands and gaping mouths. He suffered a lot because of these cursed creatures, he lost his family, his friends and loved ones…
"Just fucking die!" Louis exclaimed angrily and pierced his sword through a zombie's gaping mouth.
"Well done. Your turn Professor."
Unlike everybody else, the old professor didn't kill his zombie right away. He observed it carefully - its veins, body movements, the state of its pupils and skin. Only after being reminded for the third time did he overcame his curiosity and swung his sword at it - though he didn't have enough strength to kill it on his first try and only pierced its shoulder. But on his third try Curie finally managed to kill the living dead.
"Well done, all of you. Now tell me, what each of you got?"
(fr) "What's happening?" Gautier screamed when his body started changing. His skin started to cover with fur, fangs and claws replaced his usual teeth and nails. His muscles became denser and his height changed, now the teen was twenty centimeters taller.
(fr) "It is an activation of a skill. You've got the skill of transformation?" Curie asked.
(fr) "Huh? Yes, the skill is called "Transformation into a bear". Is it why I became like this?" The teen asked, observing his hairy hands with sharp claws.
(fr) "Most certainly. I once saw Sergei fighting someone who almost completely turned into a wolf. Tell us, what other abilities did you get?"
(fr) "The immunity to the first level infection, accelerated healing and physique enhancement."
(fr) "Ho ho! Congratulations, I'm sure it's a powerful skill!" Professor really thought so, because he was almost immune to zombie-virus right now! Namely to the first level virus of course, but he himself was only at level 1!
When Gautier managed to calm down he was able to cancel the transformation and turn back into a human. Professor received a skill called "Assessor" - despite its name, the skill allowed to get all the information about the subject of assessment and to understand how it worked. Louis got the skill called "X-ray vision" - it wasn't really an x-ray, but it allowed its user to look through the walls and other things. However Louis was over the moon - it would be much easier for him to repair machinery now.
The next batch consisted of the girls, and, of course, the first thing they did the moment their boss opened the door and put the dresser in zombies' way, was scream bloody murder. Such a sound wave did not leave the audience indifferent of course - zombies from all around the building wished to meet the vocalists and get themselves some souvenirs. You know, the usual… A finger, an ear, a piece of a butt cheek… However, they weren't able to meet their favorite "singing stars" - Sergei, as their manager, was against unscheduled meet and greet with "fans". So the "fans" had to lose their lives. Luckily, the "meet and greet" didn't go to waste - Sergei found the egg of reward which gave him a level 2 sword.
Realizing that the matter was bad, Sergei decided to bring one girl at a time. The first one was Zoey, but the situation with her proved to be difficult. As a result Sergei tied up a few zombies and only then a blindfolded Zoey was able to kill them. But because of Sergei's help, Zoey got access to the system only after her third zombie. Her skill turned out to be "The pet panther", more specifically - a black kitten that according to its name was indeed a panther. It was pretty much useless, but the girls were ecstatic, it was too cute for its own good! That's how that long and hard day has finally ended.
During the day Solomon organized the training of new recruits: they were all given as many second level swords as possible so they could practice their blows on trees. Obviously no one knew how to wield a sword, all of their knowledge was from the movies, and as it turned out, the techniques from movies didn't really work in real life… That's why people just struck as well as they could, with their purpose being getting used to the sword so it wouldn't fly out of their hands during the attack. In the beginning of the training two people were injured because of weapons that fell from people's hands… Fortunately there were no stupid deaths, only some cuts and bruises.
There was nothing else to do so people were getting bored. Some of them were spending time near the pond, others were playing with their phones and tablets, but most of them spent their free time watching the rabbits. Whose numbers now exceeded fifty specimen! Many of them weighed more than a kilo already.
With boss's permission, Orianne installed a box with corn near the enclosure where people took corn cobs and fed them to bunnies. And an interesting phenomenon was observed: the rabbits started growing right in front of their eyes after being fed the corn cobs. And there was no fecal matter. Boss wasn't against his people having some fun and relaxing for a while because tomorrow was… Tomorrow was the day when potatoes and corn were about to ripen! Thankfully, Sergei had gathered a lot of agricultural tools this time.
The evening and the night were surprisingly peaceful, people now had a shared passion and an opportunity to relieve stress. But still, the possibility of a zombie attack bothered Sergei greatly and it was late in the night when he was finally able to fall asleep. Luckily, Alice cheered him up in the morning, otherwise he would've waken up in a very bad mood.
After the breakfast, Sergei decided to go and loot a little. Louis just finished upgrading another bike - it was a brutal biker motorcycle "Triumph Rocket 3". Though Sergei wasn't such a big fan of motorcycles, but he immediately fell in love with this marvel of engineering! Besides, the bike was indeed heavily modernized: at the touch of a button two long steel blades came out of its sides which were supposed to cut the legs of all those unfortunate to appear in the way of that steel monster. The engine was running very quietly, its body was reinforced with light but durable materials.
Blaise, the leader of a small group that Sergei saved a while ago, gave him a lot of information about the city, including the info about the places that weren't occupied by any big groups. One such place was where Sergei was headed to at the moment. No big groups - meant more untouched loot!
The engine whispered quietly, indicating that it was in fact a very powerful beast; the bike moved smoothly, easily maneuvering between abandoned cars and groups of zombies.
"Turn left at the next junction, Boss."
"Copy."
Sergei wasn't driving around aimlessly - he had a specific location in his mind. One of the survivors happened to own a phone with the detailed map of the entire city, with all shops, offices and various descriptions. It was with the help of that map that Annette was leading him to the gardening and horticulture shop.
*bang**bang**bang*
The sounds of machine gun fire filled the air out of nowhere, it was notably something of heavy caliber! Then the explosions went off, quickly followed by a flurry of gunshots. However, it turned out that the source of the battle wasn't as near as it seemed. After a couple of kilometers, Sergei finally witnessed a rare scene for a city: a large convoy of military vehicles got stuck in the endless sea of zombies.
The machine gun rounds cut through rows of undead like a hot knife through butter; a single shot pierced right through three to four zombies! Many rifles and light machine guns fired at the hordes of zombies, but they kept coming and coming like a flood. The convoy consisted of two infantry fighting vehicles at the beginning and at the end of the column, several SUVs with installed machine guns and grenade launchers in the middle and a couple of trucks with infantry. There were about a hundred of them and all of them well armed - but all of it amounted to nothing. The undead had a lot of mutants among them, and some of the species were ones Sergei had never even seen before.
A giant zombie - two and a half meters tall, with a bony growth on its chest and a horn on its head - crashed into an SUV and flipped it over. Even though the rifles were firing at it, they didn't do any damage. Only the machine gun was able to leave bloody wounds, but it was already too late. Another, more powerful machine gun turned the mutant into a mess of flesh and bones, but the defense was already barely holding together, plus the bullets were being wasted with great speed…
One of the soldiers shouted something and all of the other soldiers jumped into one of the trucks, then the convoy started pulling away. Some napalm grenades were launched in order to secure a more safer retreat, but even after that the column lost two more trucks. The convoy was able to retreat, but whether it would be able to return to where it came from - remained questionable. The horde started following them, along with a whole lot of mutants.
"Annette, start scouting the area!" Boss ordered happily, observing the fresh battlefield.
"Already on it, Boss. All the undead in the area followed after the convoy. Only the wounded ones, the ones that lost ability to move, remained behind, including a couple of mutants."
"Yeah? Awesome, tell Solomon and the brothers to get ready. Oh, and tell Solomon to get our fighters ready too - we have a good opportunity to level up for free."
After three minutes, fifty three soldiers (fifty new recruits, Solomon and the brothers) were summoned into the battlefield.
"As you can see, a battle took place here. Your job is to finish off wounded zombies and collect their bodies." Sergei waved his hand and the fighters were assigned a new position…
YOU ARE ASSIGNED TO NEW POSITION "A SLAVE IN THE WILD".
YOU ARE NOW AUTHORIZED TO TRANSFER INANIMATE MATTER INTO THE HAVEN.
"We have six vaccine bracelets, twenty axes, twenty bats and thirteen swords. Those who get the level and connect to the system are to start collecting the corpses. However, I recommend you all to damage the enemy's head first - in case it's not dead yet. I hope you won't do anything stupid and die because of it… But if you still do - then you were indeed idiots and I have no use for them. Leave mutants for me and the rewards are also to be handed to me. That's it, get to work!"
The crowd froze in place. People were scared - only yesterday they were civilians and now they were forced to finish off zombies and collect the corpses…
"Yeah, now I can finally level up and become stronger." Solomon spoke loudly and severed the head of a zombie that was crawling nearby.
"Boss! I got the egg - do I get rewarded for it?" Solomon shouted.
"Beginner's luck… Yes you do, I have some good alcohol stashed away."
"Deal!" Solomon laughed and continued cracking some zombie skulls.
"I can do that too!" One of the soldiers shouted, then ran to another crippled zombie and crashed its skull. It wasn't long until others joined in as well.
***
"What the fuck is it, Boss?" Solomon and Sergei stood in front of a creature that used to be a zombie. The creature had an elongated ass with another pair of legs growing out of it, they were still small and underdeveloped, but still…
"I think that's how the centaurs are born." Boss smirked. The centaur-like creature before them was heavily injured, its spine was punctured so its lower body wasn't moving, while the mutant still wheezed and stretched its hands towards the living. One swing of a sword - and its hands dropped on the ground, another swing - its head got detached from its body.
"A blue egg!" Sergei was beyond happy while picking up his prize.
"There are different kinds of those? Hm… mine is white…" Solomon asked, surprised.
"They differ by the color of their packages, the quality of reward also depends on a color. The green one is better than the white one, and the blue one should supposedly be better than the green one. You can treat your family to some chocolate in the evening, for now get back to work." Sergei ordered and looked at the battlefield. There were thousands of dead and almost dead zombies!
"Yes, Boss."
The soldiers killed off the undead and sent their corpses to the haven. Overall, it went without any incidents, but one of the soldiers still got bitten - thankfully he was immune to the bite because of his skill. After becoming a system user, the soldier got the skill "Transformation into a wolf" and became a half-wolf, just as Gautier became half-bear. Thinking himself better than others, the newly turned werewolf became careless and paid for it with a big nasty bite on his ankle.
"Boss, I've found a survivor!" One of the soldiers shouted.
"Finish it off then, more experience can't hurt." Sergei responded dryly.
"Ermm… No, Boss, I meant, there's a living human." After a few moments of thinking, the fighter finally understood that he needed to elaborate.
"Is that so? Let's see."
As it turned out, a soldier of the convoy was found lying under one of the overturned trucks, he didn't have any visible injuries but was unconscious.
"Pull him out carefully, and it is best to disarm him and tie him up. There's a chance of him turning into a zombie, after all."
"Yes, Boss."
Together, several people were able to lift the truck and the man was pulled out from under it. Without much thought, Sergei sent the truck into his haven - why not? It was a good car - a bit dented but still good car. The same could be said about the rest of the vehicles that the convoy left behind.
"We're almost done here, Boss. Are we going to follow them?" Solomon inquired, looking towards the direction the convoy left in.
"I think we should. At the very least we can collect the biomatter and scout the area. But only the combat-ready are to go - it's possible that we may have to fight and this time for real…" The sounds of gunfire could still be heard from afar, but they were getting quieter and quieter.
After finishing collecting corpses and rewards, the majority of the crowd was sent back to haven. Only seventeen people remained with Sergei: Solomon, the brothers, thirteen fighters and the rescued soldier. The soldier was put into the shopping cart for easier transportation. The group moved slowly in order for Annette to be able to scout ahead - well and so they could collect all the corpses on their way.
"Everyone stop! A group of zombies is about to emerge from around the corner, let's reduce their numbers from the distance. Archers - you are going to be shooting from there." With a wave of Sergei's hand, Gai and one other new archer appeared on the roof of a bus stop.
Just like Sergei said, thirty zombies appeared from around the corner, they were the regular kind, not even one mutant in sight.
Two arrows and foreign objects appeared in two zombies' heads. Their audacious act didn't remain without consequences - the zombies roared and rushed towards their bullies. Unfortunately, they all moved at the same speed, so the tactic "divide and conquer" was out of question. Fortunately, they had archers on their side that could kill two enemies in one volley.
Soon another fighter joined in - he mumbled something and the shards of glass were sent flying towards zombies. Unfortunately, his attack didn't deal much damage… But on his second try, the guy managed to kill one zombie - he just got lucky, the shard pierced through zombie's eye, then went further and hit its brain.
"Animals, get ready, I'm going to put a barricade in their way and you will outflank them." Boss declared and instantly some furniture appeared in front of the group. It didn't stop the undead, but definitely slowed down and divided them.