Rachel's eyes trembled at Justin's response. It was clear she hadn't expected to be rejected.
"Is there something wrong with me?" she asked, her voice trembling with anxiety.
The cheerful and confident demeanor she had shown earlier had completely disappeared. In this situation, anyone would lose confidence after being refused, especially when they had offered to act as a meat shield without hesitation, only to be turned down so quickly.
"If there's a problem, please tell me. I'll fix it right away," she pleaded.
"No, Rachel, there's no problem with you," Justin reassured her.
"Really?" she asked, surprised.
Her willingness to fix any perceived issues, even after being rejected, was admirable. If it were up to him, Justin would have gladly accepted her into his party. But this wasn't a matter of personal preference.
"The problem isn't with you. It's with the quest," he explained.
"The quest?" she repeated, confused.
"You fought the goblins, right? So, you must've received a quest to head to a safe zone," Justin said.
Rachel nodded, then quickly pulled up her status window to check. Justin couldn't see her status details, as they appeared blurry, obscured from his view. Apparently, the system didn't allow players to see each other's status windows.
Rachel scanned the quest section and nodded again. "Yes, I have. The quest is called 'Find Shelter.'"
"There should be a direction and distance displayed as well. Where does it point to?" Justin asked.
"The overpass down this street," she replied, pointing below.
"I was directed to the hiking trail up ahead," Justin said, pointing in the opposite direction.
Both their hands pointed in completely different directions, and Rachel blinked in surprise. Despite receiving the same quest, their destinations were entirely different.
"Why...?" she asked, confused.
"There's no way there's only one safe zone in a city this big. It's a measure to prevent everyone from crowding into a single place," Justin said, shrugging casually. The logic was simple if one thought about it for a moment.
In reality, Justin had already guessed this from his experience in World Rebuild. Exploration quests never directed players to the closest safe area. Rachel's house was likely nearby, which explained why her quest led her to a closer location, while Justin had already traveled a considerable distance from his apartment.
If they had been assigned the same safe zone, Rachel would've had an easier time compared to the effort Justin had put in. And the game's system wouldn't allow anyone to take the easy route.
"So... we really can't do anything about it?" Rachel said with a hint of sadness.
"No, we can't," Justin confirmed.
Rachel lowered her eyes, disappointment evident on her face. Although she knew the issue wasn't with her, it was clear she was still upset. It was understandable—people like Justin, who were both proactive and had considerable firepower, were rare in such times.
Justin watched her for a moment, then chuckled lightly. "Don't look so down. We can team up later when we meet again."
"Really?" she asked, hope returning to her eyes.
"The quest is just telling us to reach the safe zone, not live there forever. We might meet sooner than you think," Justin reassured her.
Though their paths had diverged for now, Rachel was a rare find. Justin figured it wouldn't hurt to leave the possibility of teaming up later open. Rachel's expression brightened, the hope returning to her face.
"You're right. I guess we'll see each other again soon," she said, smiling.
"Yeah, until then," Justin replied, shaking her hand with a smile before continuing on his way.
As they put some distance between them, Justin suddenly remembered something he had forgotten to tell her.
"Hey, Rachel! Since you're a warrior, focus on strength and agility first! You can increase stamina later!"
"Huh?! Why agility?!" Rachel called back, clearly confused.
"Strength and agility! Don't neglect agility!" Justin shouted, waving her off as he hurried away.
"Wait...!" she called after him, her face still showing confusion, but there wasn't enough time to explain in detail.
Justin figured she'd understand once she put a few points into agility. If she dismissed it as nonsense, then their connection wouldn't go any further. Leaving Rachel behind, Justin continued on toward the safe zone.
After parting ways with Rachel, Justin's journey to the safe zone continued smoothly. In fact, it was going so smoothly that it felt strange.
"Why haven't I encountered any goblins?" Justin wondered.
The streets weren't packed with goblins like in a zombie movie, but up until now, he'd encountered at least three goblins per block. However, since reaching this area, he hadn't seen a single one for several blocks.
There should have been at least 20 goblins by now, yet none appeared. Something was off. As he turned the corner into an alley, he finally understood why.
"They're all dead..."
Goblin corpses were strewn all over the ground, many of them torn apart. Some had been sliced clean in half. Upon closer inspection, it seemed they had been killed by a sharp weapon before their bodies were brutally mutilated.
"Was this the work of another beta tester?" Justin thought. It was likely another beta tester, someone who had chosen the warrior class like Rachel. Based on the clean cuts, the person had probably chosen a sword as their starting weapon.
Whoever they were, they had to be a lunatic. Killing the goblins for experience was one thing, but why go through the effort of tearing the bodies apart afterward?
"What kind of psycho..." Justin muttered.
"Justin ! YOU SON OF A BITCH! COME OUT HERE!" a voice screamed nearby.
"...."
Oh, right. He had almost forgotten. There was a psycho around here.
Gavin , that idiot. Of course, he'd come looking for Justin, going as far as tracking down his apartment address from the resume Justin had submitted. And now, Gavin was probably flipping out after not finding him at home.
"Great... this just keeps getting better," Justin sighed.
Of all the people to be angry at, why was Gavin so hell-bent on killing him? Fine. Justin decided he'd deal with this once and for all and headed toward the source of the yelling.
The voice grew louder as he approached, and it wasn't hard to find him.
"Justin ! COME OUT HERE, YOU BASTARD!"