The newcomers were given to Regina, who, first and foremost, made everyone clean themselves up, take a shower and get changed, before guiding them to the dining hall. If it wasn't for hundreds of dining people, the newcomers would've thought that this was all a trap or some sick torture. They haven't seen this much fresh and delicious food since the beginning of the apocalypse, whereas here even a regular civilian was given meals which were a hundred times better than what their previous leader used to eat…
It seemed impossible to surprise them even more, but Regina managed to do it again. Each of them was given their own apartments! Without any furniture, yes, but they were promised that the problem would be fixed by tomorrow. Even after receiving the keys to their new apartments, people still couldn't believe that it was all real…
***
"Boss! We've been starving again while waiting for you!" Anne bristled, stuffing her face with some baked rabbit meat.
"But it was worth it - we gained a little more than 100 000 coins. I think it's time to start thinking about more comfortable houses," the man replied calmly, leisurely finishing his meat soup.
"I personally like them the way they are now," spoke Martha, who like her boss, was eating soup. The girl changed more and more with each new day. She started smiling and laughing more. She became less insecure, turning from an insecure Barbie doll into an open and honest girl with pleasant personality and kind eyes.
Professor Curie was searching for an assistant to help him around the lab, which was also a medical clinic, where the residents could go to get their injuries and sicknesses treated. Martha made up her mind and became a nurse. She wasn't yet trusted with anything complex, but she turned out to be very understanding and disciplined, so Professor began training her to become a real nurse.
"But it's very uncomfortable! Toilets and bathrooms are outside the house!" Anne protested.
"But we all grew close to each other, almost like a family," Martha replied with a smile. "When you take a bath with someone you become close to them... You all became my family," after saying that the girl burst into tears.
"I love you too!" Anne ran up to her, engulfed her in a hug and started crying too. Then it sparked a chain rection and not even a minute later, two-thirds of their women population were bawling their eyes out...
Meanwhile, Sergei calmly proceeded with his meal - he distanced himself from the background noises and contemplated his further course of actions. He needed soldiers, a lot of soldiers - then he could stop worrying about the haven's protection in the case of a next invasion. It would also untie his hands and he could build the dimensional beacon. However he feared betrayal - because the more soldiers there were, the harder it was to control them. For that he needed more trusted, high-powered people. For now there was only Solomon. Sergei also wasn't really worried about other soldiers - their families lived here, after all. But if he keeps only recruiting soldiers with families, it would become really hard to get their numbers to 200.
There were only handful of people who managed to save themselves and their families. Especially considering the famine and disease in most camps. But there were a lot of loners with a damaged psyche...
"There's zero chance of finding trusted men capable of leading soldiers and keeping them in line in the near future, I shall just have to rely on my own strength..." boss pondered out loud (but barely audible). And then he remembered the skill books that Anne got while opening rewards.
Quickly finishing his meal, the boss hurried home. Besides, the events at the table started to descend into chaos - even the usually serious and calm Natasha, has fallen victim to the general mood and started crying, pouring out her heart. Everyone has been under a lot of stress and there was no opportunity to let things out... Until this very moment, of course. The girls even brought out some wine...
***
The boss sat down at the table and laid out all four skill books in front of him.
A skill book "Transformation into a snake"
A skill book "Cold"
A rare skill book "Gunsmith"
A unique skill book "Guaranteed protection"
"A unique skill book!" The boss gasped, and picked it up. It had a silver cover, whereas the skill book "Gunsmith" was bronze, and the rest had just common leather covers. Boss immediately read the description of the unique skill.
The skill "Guaranteed protection"
It is a unique skill, available in a single copy only. After your death, there's a chance of the book with that skill reappearing again.
If you are attacked, and the attack is guaranteed to kill you (immediately or after a short time), the barrier is created, protecting you from said attack. The protection can be triggered only once in 24 hours.
"Excellent! Now I don't have to worry about snipers or any sneak attacks anymore," the boss smiled from ear to ear and learned the skill. "But it won't be of any help if I'm being killed slowly..."
After five minutes of fantasizing about all kinds of slow and agonizing deaths - for example, being digested in a stomach of a giant snake or being eaten alive by man-eating ants - Sergei decided to take a walk to take his mind off of it.
Another concert was held by the lake, this time a middle-aged man was performing. People broke into pairs and danced to the slow music.
"You're here too, Alice?" Upon approaching the scene of action, he found his assistant with her son.
"Boss!" Upon hearing the voice, the girl turned her head and saw the man she's been thinking about just a moment ago.
"Enjoying the music with your son?" The man asked and sat down beside them.
"Yes, Pierre gets bored a lot at home, especially in the evenings."
"Talk to Natasha, I've already suggested it before, but now I'm completely sure that we need to build a daycare and a school. We've got a few teachers already."
"Boss... we have two English teachers, physics teacher and a professor of mathematical analysis..."
"We'll figure something out," the man replied with a laugh. He stood up and offered her his hand. "It's a great song - wanna dance?"
"I... yes!" The girl answered happily and turned to her son.
(fr) "Pierre, honey, sit here for a bit, okay?"
(fr) "Okay," the boy replied, took his phone that was on the grass nearby and started playing some game that quickly consumed him.
Alice took boss' hand and he guided her to the dancefloor. The pair hugged and started slowly dancing to calm and pleasant music.
"You are a good dancer, boss," the girl noted shyly, especially because most of those present were throwing glances at them.
"Business partners are very unpredictable people, I had no other choice than to learn how to dance along with some other skills that help with negotiations." Sergei was indeed a good dancer. He took some dancing classes when he was twenty two. More precisely, his old boss assigned him to those and since the teacher was his boss' old friend, Sergei was shown no mercy.
"Dancing helps with negotiations?" The girl asked, surprised.
"It turned out that it really does," the man laughed, trying to shrug off some unpleasant memories... But the dancing, did help, and it was a fact...
The music stopped and the new song started playing, then came the next one and so on... Sergei and Alice just danced and chatted happily, discussing various topics, starting from a favorite movie, to wandering who was behind the apocalypse.
The time flew by and the organizer of the concert - which was Kathrine, as it turned out... - announced a break and invited everyone to the buffet. Soon people appeared, who brought forth many different tables, from folding tables to wooden ones. Then people brought salads, vegetable snacks, tea and a few more high-calorie dishes for those who liked to munch on something before bedtime.
"Everything is organized really well!" Boss complimented Alice.
"Kate came up with the idea and I just made it happen," the girls answered with a smile, helping her son to put some salad on his plate.
The break that lasted half an hour was spent conversing and eating and the music started playing again.
"Thank you for this evening, it's been a long time since I danced," the girl said sadly, looking at her watch then picked up her sleepy son.
"Thanks to you too, I thought I would just be sitting and listening to the music."
"It's Pierre's bedtime now... So we should get going, boss," the girl was about to leave, when she suddenly stopped and turned around. "And one more thing... While we were dancing I've noticed Raine sitting all by herself and watching us with envy. I think she'll be happy if you ask her for a dance."
"I didn't even notice her... But I did notice Sylvie, she was dancing with some guy. There they are, dancing again," Sergei pointed at the redhead beauty and a young man beside her.
"That's one of our soldiers, though I don't really know his name... I'm sorry, boss, my son wants to sleep," Alice said and calmed down her capricious son.
After saying goodbye to the girl, Sergei spent some time watching Sylvie and her date, then went looking for Raine - he didn't want to sleep yet, as well as to sit here all by himself. He found the girl in no time - she sat on the grass under the willow tree, hugging her legs and sadly observing the dancing people.
The man didn't go straight to the girl, but rather made a small detour and ended up right behind the sad girl.
"Oh, you are here as well?" Sergei spoke suddenly, scaring the girl that was too deep in her own thoughts.
"Boss?" Raine jumped upon hearing the voice, but after taking a closer look, realized that in front of her was the very person that she was just thinking about. The girl blushed and took a few steps back. "Ouch!"
As she was backing down, the girl stumbled. But just a moment before the fall, Sergei jumped to her, like a love story character and gently grabbed the girl with his strong hands. Their faces were so close, they could feel each other's breathing. After a moment of hesitation, boss whispered something. Raine, didn't understand what he said, but her heart started beating like crazy and then the girl just fainted from excitement...
And now how it really happened, not what Raine's imagination pictured.
The girl backed away and tripped over a rock. There was another rock behind her, but much bigger and with the shape that didn't imply someone ever landing safely on it. Having understood that it wasn't good, boss activated his battle reflexes and rushed to the girl, grabbed her hand with one of his, his other hand grabbing Raine by the waist and then put her back on her feet, safe and unharmed.
(rus) "Damn it, I barely made it in time, even had to activate battle reflexes! Why women are such trouble!?" Sergei grumbled.
Before the hero of the girl's fantasies could get her back on her feet, she fainted and almost fell again.
(rus) "Motherf..."
***
August 9th, 2024.
The first rays of sunshine slipped through the leaves of the poplar that stood by the window and lit up a small room, where a young, beautiful girl slept on a huge bed with soft green bedding.
Knock-knock-knock - there was a knock on the door and Orianne's voice could be heard.
"Wake up, Raine, it's time for breakfast."
The girls lived together in a two-room house but Orianne was mostly the one who managed the household. She usually woke up earlier and was more active.
"One more minute, Ori..." mumbled the sleepy Raine, but then yesterday's events resurfaced in her mind and the girl abruptly jumped out of the bed.
"How did I get home, Ori? Did something happen between us? Ah..." Raine fell on the bed, grabbed her pillow and started rolling all over the sheets while clutching it to her chest, fantasizing about what had happened.
"Huh yeah, boss carried you back. Said that you got sick and lost consciousness," Orianne answered through the door and was about to go to her room.
"Carried... In his arms, like a princess..." Raine's imagination started running wild.
Orianne wanted to tell her that Sergei carried her on his shoulder, but remained tactically silent and left the girl alone with her imagination.
***
"Are you sure you don't need help, boss?"
"No, but tell Nica to switch her camera to me. You can monitor me at close range, while she does the same at long range," ordered the man, chopping off the head of another wheezing zombie.
"Roger that," Annette agreed.
Early in the morning, an hour before the breakfast, he woke her up and informed her of his desire to train. He was determined to increase his power and decided to start with some morning exercises.
He needed to get 640 experience points to reach level 9, and at the moment he got only 56 - less than nine percent of the required quantity. If hunting regular zombies only, he needed to kill 584 zombies...
Of course, he wasn't gonna level up like that - the weaklings were only good for training his body and reflexes. The big guys were more suited for leveling up, it only took one bullet in the eye or one stab of a sword through their skulls to finish them off. It was possible to chop their head off too, of course, but their necks were... It wasn't possible to cut through those in one... two strikes, not unless one's strength had 30 points.
While walking down the street, Sergei attacked every zombie that he met on his way. If there were too many of them, he shot them with a submachine gun first; if they were just many - he barricaded the path with some junk from the warehouse and killed them one at a time.
"Boss! There's a fast mutant lying in ambush on the third floor of the building across the street. It's waiting while you come closer," Annette informed him worriedly.
"Roger," Sergei affirmed and headed to the right building.
Boom! Boom!!! There was a sound of a muffled blow, then another on but louder, and a blown out window came flying from the third floor and a zombie mutant came flying with it. The window ended up being sturdier than the mutant anticipated - it didn't manage to break it...
Activating his battle reflexes, boss summoned the level 3 Gun and started firing at the falling corpse. Four shots and three hits - but none lethal. The zombie tried to get up and jump, but its left leg was practically blown off, and the next moment its head acquired a huge hole.
"Yea-a-ah! Finally I killed that thing!" The man with a gun sighed with delight. He finally took his revenge... Not on this specific zombie, but on all those fast mutant bastards through him.
"Annette, is everything okay?" He wanted to run to the corpse and take the loot that it dropped, but didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Those little devils were too smart.
"Everything's clear, boss, there are no mutants in the building."
Picking up the green reward, the boss entered the nearest apartment building and returned to the haven. The battle reflexes consumed an enormous amount of durability and calories, thus after rinsing off his sweaty body, Sergei went to breakfast.
There was a lot of meat and high-calorie food prepared for breakfast specifically for him. A big expedition was planned for the morning, so the regular soldiers also received particularly nutritious food.
"Are you heading to the Basillica today, boss?" Natasha asked.
"Yes, I want to sell food to them and buy some equipment. They promised biofuel and bombs, and getting the latest news also wouldn't hurt. Why, did you want something?"
"The Basillica has ambitious goals, so I think that they may have books or electronic data related to industry agriculture."
"Hm, I see your point," Sergei replied after some thought, then moved his gaze to the redhead girl. "Sylvie, you need to find yourself an assistant, Gender, age, etc. is up to you."
"Got it, boss!"
"What about you, Annette? Any luck?"
"I haven't found anyone yet, we don't have that many volunteers..."
"Ha, it's only temporary. The situation will change completely once we recruit people in the Louvre!" The boss laughed, finishing his big stake marinated in vegetable sauce.
"What's wrong with Raine? Raine, are feeling alright? You are completely red!" Spoke a slightly worried Martha.
"She's alright, don't worry," Orianne smirked.
Anne sensed some interesting gossip and perked up, however, the boss already finished his meal and went to prepare to the expedition. According to the plan, the group will head towards Basillica, killing all zombies in their way - except some really big crowds of undead, of course. They were also not to be side-tracked by the looting of shops and houses. The time, given by the system to complete the quest, was gradually coming to an end...
Almost fifty people were involved in the expedition. They consisted of forty six soldiers (three of those were the newbies that joined yesterday), the boss, Solomon and the brothers. There was also this one girl that wanted to join - she possessed an interesting skill called "The wailing of a banshee", but it turned out that it didn't work on zombies... More precisely, it didn't work on regular zombies, they didn't get to test it on mutants.
Upon returning to Paris, Sergei appeared in entrance of the apartment building. In order not to showcase his ability, little by little, he summoned the people from the haven, who then would go outside and wait for the "arrival of the assault force".
Just like the last time, the crowd was divided into two groups: one under boss' command, the other under Solomon's.
A small crowd of zombies has gathered outside during the night, but Gai quickly took care of it - and yet again ended up being scolded by Sergei and sent to collect the corpses.
"Boss, what happens if we send some metal into the pit?" Suddenly asked one of the soldiers.
"Erm... fuck knows, let's find out!" Strangely enough, the boss never thought about it before. But it was obvious that he wouldn't get any biomatter!
The abyss recycled the object, and the haven receives 377 points of matter.
(rus) "Matter? What the...?"