Both sides were practically firing blind.
As long as their muzzles were pointed roughly in the right direction, accuracy stopped mattering. With automatic weapons chattering nonstop, once dozens of rounds were in the air, sooner or later one lucky bullet would hit something.
Shell casings spilled from the ejection port, clattering onto the ground. The bullets hammered into the opposite cover, punching holes into it before losing momentum and lodging there.
"Damn it… there's no way to fight like this."
The man tossed aside his empty metal magazine, jammed in a new one, and raised his rifle over his head, too terrified to expose either his face or torso. Regret was written all over him.
At this point, he was the only one in the whole team still fully intact. He should have run for it earlier, when he had the chance. Why had he stayed behind to take potshots?
The mission had failed. The whole squad had been wiped out. Going back to the organization was no longer realistic.
But he could still hide.
Would they really devote the manpower to track down one ordinary grunt? The team leader was dead, nearly everyone here was dead—how would anyone know whether he had survived or not?
Run. He had to run.
Having made up his mind, he hurled his last grenade, planning to use the blast as cover to retreat.
On Kyoko's side, she was pinned under heavy suppressive fire. Her already limited supply of 6.8mm rounds was almost gone, and the constant recoil was brutal on her body. She had no choice but to ease off for a moment.
That bastard really was a rat—hiding behind cover the whole time.
While swapping magazines, Kyoko cursed inwardly.
"If you won't come out, then eat this!"
She bit the pin free with her teeth and flung a grenade out one-handed, ready to rush forward the instant it went off.
It was an almost absurd coincidence.
Kyoko and the man on the other side threw grenades at almost the same moment. One planned to flee after the explosion; the other planned to charge.
The result was obvious.
The moment the blasts went off, both of them surged out at the same time.
Kyoko had only just sprinted through the snow from her cover when she spotted a man bolting westward without a single backward glance.
Because of the difference in equipment, Kyoko could see him far more clearly. Her night vision gear let her track him instantly, while his weapon-mounted optic only gave him limited visibility.
A person could run fast—but never faster than a bullet.
The shot hit him square in the hip. His legs folded under him and he pitched forward, crashing into the snow and throwing up a spray of white.
The bitter cold bit into the skin left exposed by the fall. Desperate to live, he immediately started begging.
"I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me!"
So he still had the strength to beg for mercy.
A mercenary truly afraid of death—how fitting. In reality, most mercenaries were exactly that: opportunists who cared about profit more than anything else.
"Now you know how to beg?" Kyoko snapped. "What were you doing just now? You coward! You pathetic coward!"
Seething, she rushed over and drove a vicious kick into his body.
Her boot slammed into the armor plate on his chest with a heavy crack.
The hundred-kilo man, gear and all, flew backward into the steel railing set into the concrete.
Maybe the impact had snapped his spine, because after that he just collapsed there like a dead dog, no longer making a sound.
Not that it mattered. Kyoko's anger had already boiled over.
Any talk of extracting information no longer mattered. She had no interest in trusting a craven piece of trash who would abandon his teammates the moment things went bad.
Just like she dealt with the infected, she offered him a clean release.
A 9×19mm round from her pistol bored straight through his brow.
And with that, the trouble from this morning was over.
The corpse lay sprawled on the ground, insignificant and already half-buried beneath falling snow.
Since she had judged from their gear and movements that the group had arrived by vehicle, Kyoko headed out the gate of the complex and onto the main road to look around.
And there it was—a vehicle, very much out of place. Its red taillights were still glowing faintly. Judging by its tall profile, it looked like some kind of jeep.
She hadn't found any keys on the bodies, though. Was she really going to have to hotwire it with a bent paperclip?
A few infected staggered nearby, slapping uselessly at the windows. Kyoko dropped them with a few quick shots.
The snow around the vehicle was carved up with deep tire tracks. Clearly, someone clever had driven off earlier. There was no way this one vehicle had carried over ten men by itself.
She stepped up and tugged on the door handle.
To her surprise, it opened immediately.
"So these idiots not only didn't lock it—they even left the keys inside?"
The mine had already proven how stupid this crew was, but this was taking it to another level. Still, Kyoko wasn't about to complain. The dumber her enemies were, the better.
She climbed into the vehicle and started the engine. She didn't bother checking what else was inside yet, though she did spot quite a few crates piled in the back seat. Ammunition, probably.
The engine roared to life, power surging through the wheels and biting into the snowy road.
Dawn was slowly breaking now, a line of crimson rising along the horizon.
It had already been three hours since the attack began.
With no new trouble cropping up, Kyoko finally drove back to the home she was about to abandon.
She told the others to keep packing while she went back to her bedroom to catch a brief nap.
The alarm clock she had set shook wildly, the little hammer knocking against the bells in a relentless clang.
Ngh… already time?
She forced her eyes open.
Even a second round of sleep hadn't erased the exhaustion from having her rest interrupted. Still, with practiced ease, she grabbed some candy from the bedside table, tore the wrapper off, and stuffed it into her mouth.
The sugar crunched between her teeth and spread quickly through her body, reviving her a little. After a few minutes, she finally pushed herself out of bed.
"How much longer does this kind of life have to go on?"
She laced up her shoes, pulled on fresh clothes, then went into the bathroom. She roughly tidied her messy black hair and tied it up into a brisk ponytail.
"Kyoko, breakfast's ready," Huaxiu called as she came in from downstairs. "We've already stacked all the supplies we need to take. Later you should go check and see whether we're still missing anything."
"Mm. I'll just eat something simple. We need to move fast."
Even though the mercenaries were dead, this place was no longer safe. Better to leave quickly than risk another disaster.
The dishes could wait.
The kitchen fire was put out. A great pile of unused firewood still leaned against the wall. The rooftop water collectors had been brought inside. The solar panels were fixed in place and impossible to take. The plants in the greenhouse would have to be left behind as well.
The diesel generator was too heavy, and with the vehicle's onboard batteries they had enough power for ordinary use anyway, so that too stayed behind.
"Should we still take these?" Huaxiu asked.
She pointed at sacks of flour and rice.
In truth, they took up too much room and were too inconvenient to handle. Canned food and vacuum-packed supplies were easier. They would bring some rice, but not too much.
"We have two vehicles now," Kyoko said. "Miranda, you said before that you can drive, right?"
Since they had gained another car, they could carry a lot more. She needed someone who could operate it.
"Yes. I'm actually pretty experienced behind the wheel," Miranda replied at once.
"Good. Then you and Brent take the jeep. Huaxiu, Dorothy, and I will use the armored transport."
"Understood!"
"That settles it. Let's move everything down."
And so the five of them got to work carrying the supplies.
Food. Water. Weapons and gear. Ammunition. Clothing. Tools. Medicine. Fuel.
"Everyone, get in the vehicles," Kyoko said once the cargo bays were stacked to the brim. Then she turned to Brent. "As for your sniper rifle—I found you something better. That Remington M24 can retire to the second line for now."
"This is the weapon from the sniper you killed earlier?"
Familiar with firearms, Brent recognized it at a glance as a KSVK. She had already guessed something like it from the sound of the gunshots that morning.
"Yeah. There are a little over thirty rounds left. Use them carefully. Our rocket launcher is spent, and the autocannon on the armored transport doesn't have a single round loaded. This is our only anti-materiel weapon right now."
"Understood," Brent said. "I'll make sure it counts. Let's go."
"Mm. Be careful on the road. I'll lead the way."
To fill both vehicles, Kyoko had spent quite a while prying open the tanks of nearby abandoned cars and siphoning fuel from them. Even after topping everything off, they still had three full barrels left. If they found another gas station on the road, they could replenish more.
And so they set out west, heading into the mountains.
They drove through the city first, then took Route 459. Because of the snow and the heavy load they were carrying, they kept their speed low. Driving too fast over roads cluttered with abandoned vehicles and wandering infected was just asking for an accident.
"So this is what the inside of a military transport feels like? It's kind of cramped," Dorothy complained.
"That's because we packed it full of supplies," Huaxiu answered.
Focused on driving, Kyoko called back over her shoulder, "You two stop messing around back there. If you really can't sit still, go up into the turret position. There's more room up there, and you can even enjoy the view."
"It's too cold. Pass," Huaxiu said immediately.
"Yay!"
Dorothy, on the other hand, had no objections. Tugging her thick hat down more firmly, she climbed up into the turret and stuck half her body out.
After a moment, though, she looked around and pouted.
"This is boring. It's just mountains everywhere."
Sure enough, the scenery was nothing but rolling hills and low ridges stretching one after another. They passed several tiny settlements along the way—so many, in fact, that they had already driven past half a dozen places all sharing some version of the name Nagata.
Every now and then they caught a few howls drifting down from hamlets perched on the hillsides. It seemed the infected had already claimed these once-peaceful mountain villages.
About half an hour later, they reached Bishamondō. On one side ran the Yorai River, now frozen over by winter.
Why stop here?
Because right by the bridge stood a gas station and a small auto repair shop, with a convenience store nearby as well.
"Let's stop and rest for a while," Kyoko said. "Eat something. I'll refuel the vehicles."
She parked beneath the gas station canopy, safely out of the falling snow. Miranda brought her own vehicle in beside it.
The area seemed remarkably safe. There was barely anything moving around them.
"Lunch break here," Kyoko announced. "We leave again at two this afternoon. If all goes well, we'll reach Dake Onsen before dark."
Dake Onsen actually wasn't far at all—under normal conditions, it would take less than an hour. But the snow, abandoned cars, and infected made fast driving dangerous. Better to go slowly and arrive safely.
"Then I'll help with the fuel," Miranda said, picking up a red canister. She turned to Brent. "You keep an eye on the two younger girls."
"Mm. Leave it to me."
Brent raised the huge sniper rifle in answer. At this point, there was hardly any sign she had suffered a gunshot wound only days earlier. Perhaps this was simply what passed for ordinary resilience in the post-apocalypse.
"Frozen solid, huh."
Kyoko looked at the gas pump. The nozzle and hose were jammed tight with ice and packed snow. No matter how she tugged, it wouldn't budge, and she didn't dare force it and risk breaking something.
"Guess we'll have to siphon gas from the nearby cars instead."
"Then let's go."
The convenience store and the other little shops around here had several vehicles parked out front. Drilling into a gas tank and catching the fuel in a can would be faster than wrestling with the pump.
"We should also grab some tools from the repair shop," Miranda said. "If one of the vehicles breaks down halfway there, we'll regret not having them."
She had a point. The tool set would be useful, and spare tires could simply be strapped to the outside of the vehicle instead of taking up cargo space.
"Fine. We'll check after this."
There was no reason to refuse something that practical, especially when they had no idea whether they would find another chance later on.
Right as she said it, the system settlement—delayed until noon for some reason—finally popped up before Kyoko's eyes.
She had thought the system might have decided to skip today.
Apparently not.
Yesterday's Settlement:
Kill Points: 451
Exploration Points: 321
Mission Points: 1500
Recovery Points: 282
Purchases: -500
System Service Fee: -250
Map Service Fee: -1000/day
Current Total Remaining: 16,976
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 44
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