Chapter 94: Chapter 93

【Virtual VTuber Gallery】

[Broadcast] Why is Ace Girl in a different genre, lol?

While other VTubers are playing horror games, she’s over here doing hack and slash, lol.

[Comments]

It’s hilarious how she takes them down with just a dagger, lol.

Isn’t she actually a guy pretending to be a girl?

Even if she were a guy, he couldn't do it like that...

If she were a guy, Rion would have had to be pregnant by now.

Could Rion’s reason for quitting VTubing be…?

[No, that’s not true.]

[General] I’m not good with scary stuff.

(Link)

The lady, Asher, is taking down zombies left and right, so it’s not scary at all.

[Comments]

She’s calm and has a strong stomach, that’s why, lol.

But seriously, why is she cooking zombies?

We gotta eat to survive.

(Author) But isn’t a villainess supposed to be picky about her food?

Guess she’s a villainess who eats poorly.

[General] Uh, um!… My beautiful… my love… Laura… haha, I just want to hold you~~@@

(Laura meme)

It feels like it’s been forever since I last met you~~ lol!!

In my life, I’ve never met a lady as wonderful as you, Aurora~~!!

I may be 40 years old, but haha, just like the story of Ondal the Fool and Princess Pyeonggang, I hope you’ll accept me~~ ^^

Last year!! I’ve made many women cry, but it’s you who will have me, haha~

Even though I look like this, I’m a real man~~ lol

Laura, come to me!!

[Comments]

Is that Ainatsu?

If you cook the zombies well, you won’t get infected with the virus.

Speaking of which, you can eat zombie meat in Minecraft too. Is this how all sandbox games are?

This game is probably overly difficult, and acquiring food is tricky. So maybe they made it easier by allowing you to eat zombies.

Considering it’s still in early access, it might change when the official patch comes out. If that’s the case, eating zombies might be a luxury we can only enjoy now.

—That said, Rion didn’t really want to know this kind of game information. Who would want to eat zombie meat?

‘…But why is that woman so used to this?’

Even the butane gas seemed dubious in terms of safety. So making a fire was challenging, but she managed to light it up with just some twigs and junk she gathered.

Then she made a huge campfire on the roof, resulting in direct-fire grilled zombies.

“Please select some safe medicines for us to eat.”

As Laura spoke to her smart watch,

“《The relevant items have been marked.》”

An AI voice from a mini earphone identified the items.

It was the AI managing the hospital facilities. It was set up to follow Laura’s group.

In terms of authority, it was like a Pokémon or a supervisor like that one guy from the game.

This game has the AI serving as a 'guide' for the players. It provides various support and explains things that users might not know.

“Now, eat these medicines along with your food.” “...What’s this?” “If you eat it like this, your health will worsen. Fortunately, we have some medicines from the hospital, so we can fill our bellies without any issues.”

To fill her hunger, she had to eat zombie meat along with medicine. …Homeless people on the street probably live a bit more humanely than this.

For reference, Laura was the first to take the initiative.

Without a change in expression, she elegantly took a bite.

“Sis, is it good…?” “Food is something to enjoy when you have enough. But I think it’s better than eating bugs.”

Laura smiled brightly.

After that, Laura continued to act remarkably accustomed to it.

Climbing trees or lamp posts. Catching bugs and eating them. She even made a spear to hunt squirrels.

The first-ever wild-optimized noble lady, lol.

Is she really a noble lady?

How are you a lady?

Fake noble lady, lol.

Seriously, just admit it, are you a special forces operative?

Laura Grills, lol.

Wild-optimized noble lady.

…How could words that seem completely incompatible be placed side by side like that?

Anyway, thanks to Laura Grills’ expert survival activities, Rion, Sora, and Ainatsu were able to continue living without issue. They felt like they had gone through all sorts of food torture in the process.

Eventually, the group safely reached a shelter,

[To enter the shelter, please pay 5 million won per person.]

Hearing this in front of them was quite shocking.

Two robots stood at the entrance leading down to a basement.

It was hard to describe them with any words other than “robots.” The easiest way to understand them would be to say they looked like the big data-dripping robots you see in galleries.

Still, at least they could communicate, which was better than zombies.

But they were still dangerous since they were pointing guns at us.

“...5 million won? Are you serious? The world is ending, and you’re asking for money?”

Sora spoke incredulously.

[This facility operates under the rules set by the facility head. Any uninfected human may enter, but the entry fee is set at 5 million won, so we hope you understand.]

“Can’t you just let us through? What does money even mean in a world like this…?” [We’re sorry. That’s the rule set by the facility head.] “Ugh… Who is this facility head?” [Sorry, I cannot disclose that information.]

The robots didn’t budge an inch.

Fortunately, as long as they didn’t take hostile action, it seemed they wouldn’t fire their guns. They answered questions honestly enough.

So the information we gathered was as follows:

The shelter has infinite safety time. In other words, if you log out from the shelter, you won’t turn into a zombie.@@novelbin@@

The entry fee for the shelter is 5 million won per entry. There’s no time limit, and once you enter the shelter, you can stay indefinitely. However, if you exit the shelter, you must pay the same 5 million won to re-enter.

Inside the shelter, there are only sleeping facilities; no food items exist, except for water.

“So they’re saying if we want to safely log out, we need to pay money.”

Laura understood it like that.

“It seems that while we’re in the shelter, the game progress doesn’t decrease or increase, so it’s really just a place to log out.”

The prices are insane, lol.

Nowadays, do you have to pay to log out of games too?

Better than not being able to log out like in Sword Art Online, I guess?

“Are you saying we have to pay 5 million won every time we log out? How the hell are we supposed to get 5 million won…?” “Sora, you’re overthinking it.”

Laura shrugged.

Afterward, the party arrived at an ATM in front of a convenience store.

“I see… Since the world ended, there’s no such thing as theft, huh?” “Exactly. The ATM should have a lot of cash inside, so as long as we can get it out, we won’t have to worry about money.”

Oh, good idea.

Let’s rob it!

Your thought process is completely that of a robber.

Playing too much Thief has finally caught up to you…

“The problem is how to get it out.”

If we could just smash the ATM with construction equipment like a bulldozer, we could access the cash. Of course, it wouldn't be easy to find such equipment.

“I think I’ve seen construction sites a few times while driving here… Should we go back now, sis?” “Can you operate heavy machinery?” “...No.” “I was thinking that if we could hack the ATM's system, we might be able to open it. Can’t the AI hack it?”

《You need bank authorization to operate the ATM.》 《Please connect to the bank’s computer system to obtain withdrawal permissions.》

The AI stated this and marked the bank's location on the smart watch.

“Looks like we’re going to have to rob a bank.”

For now, we decided to loot the convenience store before the bank.

The convenience store door was firmly locked, and the interior lights were off.

But it seemed the only thing off was the lighting. The refrigerators were still operating normally. It looked like one of those stores that has to close at night due to not having any night staff.

Thanks to that, it hadn’t been affected much by the apocalypse. The inside of the convenience store was very tidy.

“...I’d rather live here.” “It’s not very safe for that.”

Anyway, we managed to obtain proper food for the first time since starting the game.

Of course, there were many items past their expiration dates, and transporting food wasn’t easy either. Still, we had a car, so we stuffed everything we could inside.

After memorizing the location of the convenience store, we moved to a nearby apartment.

I instructed the party members, including Rion, to wait in the car while I climbed the exterior wall of the apartment building.

As I climbed, I checked whether the windows were open or locked one by one, and I found one open window on the seventh floor, allowing me to enter without a problem.

【Safe time 20:32:44】

I opened the front door from the inside, cleared out the zombies wandering the hallway, and secured safety before gathering the party members in room 708.

“Let’s divide the team into two groups,” I said.

“We’ll use this room as our temporary base. We need to split into groups: one for securing the area and the other to go to the bank.” “Secure the area?” “For example, the safe time. Isn’t there a way to increase it?”

That was my guess.

To test it, I brought a wardrobe over to block the balcony window.

【Safe time 22:14:32】

“...Huh? It really increased? Why?” “Where else could zombies possibly enter besides the window?”

They couldn’t crawl out of a narrow sewer.

“That doesn’t make sense, right? Zombies aren’t ninjas; how could they come through a balcony window?” “There might be some high-level zombies capable of such things.” “What? High-level zombies…?” “Sora, we might have to experience a Biotic Hazard soon.”

I was convinced that there were stronger beings than the zombies wandering outside.

In fact, I had already figured out the cause of the apocalypse: ‘Sz-001.’

“A gate must have opened,” I thought. A gate likely appeared in Africa, my ‘second hometown.’

The gate probably spread some kind of virus, and humanity in this world couldn’t cope with it. That’s the game’s setup, isn’t it? While Labyrinthos had a medieval fantasy setting, it was still from the same game studio.

I could feel a faint magical aura from the zombies. My senses, as Laura Iris, couldn’t be fooled.

This world shares its setting with Labyrinthos.

“The group responsible for securing the area should ensure this location is as safe as possible. Also, please prepare as much portable and preserved food as you can by the time I return.”

Thus, Sora and Rion remained to cook. Ainatsu and I would handle the bank heist.

“Ugh… Do I really have to drive?” “Your viewers informed me that you have a driver’s license.”

If a tail is long, it will eventually be stepped on. Ainatsu actually had a license, but she couldn’t keep lying to me forever.

Since Rion had a hard time getting the car earlier, Ainatsu would take the wheel this time.

By the way, there are a few things to keep in mind when driving during a zombie apocalypse.

Intelligent beings don’t generally block the road at red lights, but zombies don’t possess that intelligence.

You might be able to run over one or two zombies, but cars lose durability every time they hit something. There’s no guarantee that only one or two zombies will block the road. If five or six block it at once, it would be difficult to clear a path.

That’s why I didn’t get inside the car.

I stood on top of it.

“Stop the car.”

I lightly knocked a couple of times on the car’s roof.

Once Ainatsu brought the car to a stop, I went to greet the zombies trying to block the way.

“Urghhh!”

Jumping off the car, I stomped on one zombie’s head and moved past it. Being alive, they obviously wouldn’t have eyes on their backs. Especially since zombies are essentially monsters with no remaining intelligence. To put it bluntly, they’re as close to beasts as you can get.

So when I snuck behind them, they were inevitably sluggish in their movements. Turning around in a 180-degree direction while bipedal isn’t exactly smooth.

Before the zombies even noticed me, I took the necks of about three of them.

With two remaining, I quickly plunged a knife under the chin of one and grabbed the neck of the other.

“Urgh….”

Holding its neck, I lifted it up.

Incredible strength…

Human praise is coming!

Human praise vs. zombie hot fight.

You’re the dinner tonight!

The world’s first physical type villainess!

Are you going to roast it too?

“Hmm.”

Was my strength lacking?

This game avatar was infinitely weaker compared to my original physical specs. Which was only natural.

If the physical specs were directly reflected in the game, balance would be impossible. Only athletes would have an overwhelming advantage, and shut-ins would be severely disadvantaged.

So it felt pretty weak, but this was a fine experience nonetheless. Isn’t this something you often encounter in souls-like games? Playing with self-imposed restrictions, like trying to clear the game without taking damage with a broken sword.

That’s what it felt like. I threw the zombie aside.

Puh!

“Ainatsu, let’s move out.”

I immediately climbed back onto the car.

Thinking back, I had never been to the headquarters of a bank in my life. In fact, I’d never been to the headquarters of a franchise restaurant or a telecom company either.

I’d wondered what the difference was between a headquarters and any other branch, but this building was massive.

Were they using the whole skyscraper?

《There are survivors nearby.》

As soon as we arrived in front of the bank headquarters, the AI spoke up.

“Survivors? Are there others besides us in this game?” “Huh? This is an ad server for streamers, mom.”

Ainatsu looked at me with a confused expression.

“It’s only natural that there are other streamers who got ads, right?”

And then she said that.

A moment later,

“Ugh… I really don’t want this. Why are you here?”

Four survivors approached us.

【Jeongseok_SerenadeKR】 【Elenoa_SerenadeKR】 【Choi Changyoung_SerenadeKR】 【Masina_SerenadeKR】

“Oh my, Shina! It’s been a while.”

I was glad to see them.