Even though the beta had been a secret, thousands of people had gone through its first stage. Most of them simply quit as soon as they finished it, because of its hellish difficulty. Those who had sincerely lived through it would not do anything meaningless now. Instead, they would prepare for the end quietly, just like him.
Then a thought stopped his pen. If the Lab knew about all this, they would naturally know about him too, and men in black suits could knock on his door at any time.
"Let's stay calm..."
If push came to shove, he still had his last line of defense, Random Teleportation. They might have the same ability as him, but they would not be able to catch him.
"I need to at least have some equipment ready."
In case he suddenly had to go to the hills, he needed equipment and food that would last for several days. Jude was about to teleport to the hills with a pack of bottled water, but he stopped.
"Those stinky imps..."
He could be in danger if they found the water and the food. Who knew what they would do afterward? If they decided to camp there while he was running away from the men in black suits, it would not be pretty. He would store the food and equipment once he had secured a safe zone.
"Let's pack a basic survival kit first."
He took out his backpack and put some instant noodles and canned meat into it. It was not good for his health, but who would care about such things in an apocalyptic world? He put in knives, flashlights, lighters, wipes, locks, gloves, bandages and some candy. After he took the tent he used for fishing out of the storage room, the size of his luggage was quite a sight.
"If they really come, I just have to grab this bag before I teleport."
He would run as soon as the men in black suits knocked on his door.
For now, there was no choice but to act cautiously. Making lists, he was only able to fall asleep once dawn came.
He could prepare for the end quietly by himself. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he had no family. To be exact, he had relatives, but it had been a long time since he cut off his connection with them. He did not know if it was all right to be so cold-hearted, but for him, his own survival was the top priority.
Later that morning, Jude went to the main branch of his bank and took out a loan. The collateral was, of course, his old stone house.
The official hinted that the approval would come within a week, perhaps because he had no other debt and his credit was good. He asked him a question.
"What is the purpose of this loan?"
"I'm going to remodel the shop. It's quite old, you see."
"Oh, then you won't be able to do business for a while. That's too bad."
It turned out that the man in charge also bought his groceries at Jude's shop. It was true that he would not do business for a while, though not because of any remodeling.
When he came back with the survival necessities he had bought, the shutter of the shop was down, even during business hours. It seemed pointless to work at the shop when the end was approaching.
He stood in front of it and looked around. The street was quiet, just like usual. Maybe he was only making a fuss by himself. What if nothing happened in September?
"Well, I'll just suffer for two or three years."
If he sold everything he had bought secondhand, how much would he get back?
After thinking like that, he cleaned the house and then went out to buy a compound bow with a sixty pound draw weight that had been put up at the local flea market. According to the seller, he had bought it to use instead of an air gun during the hunting season, but it had been more difficult to handle than he had thought.
With the bow, Jude could attack the imps without any problem.
As he was on his way up to the second floor, someone walked out of the café next door. It was its owner and his regular customer, dressed in white shorts and a white shirt.
She sighed as she stretched out her legs and arms, and her shirt went up slightly. He turned his head, pretending not to see, and tried to climb the stairs, but unfortunately, she had found him.
"Oh. You aren't doing business today?"
"Ah, yes. Well, I'm going to remodel the place."
"Wow, you must have made a lot of money."
"Not really..."
He smiled awkwardly and went up the stairs, and then he heard her voice behind his back.
"By any chance..."
He was already on the second floor. She was probably just wondering where she would buy her milk now anyway.
Jude looked at the secondhand black carbon compound bow. The seller had told him that he had given it up because he lacked the strength to draw its string, and although he was sad about it, he had also handed over some aluminum and carbon arrows at a low price.
Out of curiosity, Jude nocked an arrow and drew the string with all his strength. His muscles were stretched to their fullest, and still it felt quite heavy.
"So this is what sixty pounds feels like."
In the beta, he had plenty of experience with the bow, and he had been able to draw and aim it easily as long as his stats met the minimum it required. In reality, there were many things to take care of. Aiming alone was difficult, since the bow shook along with the arm that was straining to hold back the string. It was truly a big fat lie when novels showed a slender girl drawing a bowstring with ease.