January 20
With no other lights to interfere, the two girls' shadows stretched endlessly beneath the moon. Their dark silhouettes lay across the snow like reflections on a still lake, and each footstep sent ripples through the white surface.
Before entering, Kyoko switched on the tactical flashlight mounted to her rifle's handguard and shone it into the building where the Glutton had been lurking earlier.
In an instant, it was as if daylight had arrived.
The beam shredded the darkness ahead, illuminating every filthy corner of the room. Both of them could now clearly see every place where something nasty might be hiding.
"Whoa, is that a high-output flashlight? It's so bright!" Ye Ling stared at the beam in amazement. It was far stronger than the large headlamp she had been using.
"Of course. This one's a professional outdoor model," Kyoko said, even bumping it up to a brighter setting to prove her point.
The result spoke for itself. The whole room was drenched in artificial daylight.
The flashlight attached to her Type 20 rifle was a NITECORE MH25GTS. It put out 1,800 lumens, had a 250-hour runtime, an IPX8 waterproof rating, and even featured a strobe mode and an electroplated reflector for intense beam focus.
Because it was so powerful, it became scorching hot after being used for a while. That was why Kyoko had not used it outside and had relied instead on the ordinary headlamp attached to her gear.
The two stepped over the shattered doorway the obese infected had smashed through and entered the room, now bright as noon.
The chaos inside was exactly what they had expected.
Dark brown bloodstains covered the floor, and corpses were scattered everywhere. If anything, the scene explained how the Glutton had come to be.
"So disgusting. Watch your step. Don't touch any of the filth. Be careful not to get infected," Kyoko warned.
The two of them carefully picked their way through the mess.
The floor was covered in half-eaten corpses. Torn fur and severed limbs still bore jagged bite marks. There were mangled human remains, chickens with their heads bitten off, ducks reduced to nothing but a head, a dog with half its body gone, a pig hacked nearly in half, foxes with their brains splattered across the ground, and even a black bear with its belly ripped open.
Judging from the varying levels of decay, the bodies had piled up over time.
So this Glutton had not grown into what it was overnight.
And what a wasteful monster it had been. Every creature here had only been partially eaten before being discarded.
Nothing else on the first floor seemed unusual. There was nothing of value besides ruined furniture and blood.
But on the second floor they found something interesting.
In one room, where the door had been smashed apart, a desk stood amid the wreckage. Rotting food that stank to high heaven sat on top of it, and beneath the desk Kyoko found a peculiar map with several locations marked.
She pulled it out, gave it a quick glance, then rolled it up and shoved it into a side pouch.
One of the locations had a large X drawn over it.
What did that mean? A supply point? A death site? It did not really matter to Kyoko right now.
Maybe I'll check it out if we pass nearby, she thought. It does seem to be along tomorrow's route.
Meanwhile, Ye Ling was finishing off an infected slumped in one of the side rooms. Even after killing so many during the day, a few lucky stragglers had still managed to hide in corners.
As Kyoko rummaged through drawers and cabinets, she casually pocketed some jewelry—golden pieces, silver ones, anything that looked real. She ignored anything that only looked like glass.
When it came to the system's buyback values, real gold and silver still meant something. Rare objects with historical or artistic value could also fetch a decent price.
Diamonds and pearls, on the other hand, were almost worthless unless they were part of something especially notable. A plain gem was not even worth as much as a box of ordinary .45 caliber bullets.
Unless you had them in bulk, they barely amounted to anything.
That tiny bit of profit simply was not enough to motivate Kyoko to go hunting for them.
The truth was, her main reason for coming out tonight was to make money.
It was already obvious that with her new strategy of avoiding battle whenever possible, her income was going to plummet. For at least the next few weeks, she would have no real chance to roam around earning points the way she used to.
What if they went out and got caught by the migrating horde? Was she supposed to fight that with her bare head? If she really thought she could survive that, she would have stayed in Nihonmatsu instead of fleeing all the way here.
The system's missions appeared when they pleased and vanished just as unpredictably. At this point they were unreliable to the point of uselessness.
So instead, Kyoko had begun focusing on the system's recycling function.
Over the last few days, she had been studying it carefully.
She had discovered that truly valuable things were limited.
Special infected? Hard to kill, expensive in ammunition, and a pain to carve up afterward. The time cost alone made them inefficient.
Ordinary common items were worth too little. The system practically looked down on them.
That left only a narrow range of worthwhile targets.
At the moment, gold and silver were practically her emergency lifeline.
Kyoko suddenly regretted not looting a jewelry or bullion shop back in Nihonmatsu.
What a huge missed opportunity. I'm taking a massive loss here. Ugh.
"Come on. There's nothing else worth looking at here. Let's check the building next door," Kyoko said, walking to the doorway and calling for Ye Ling to come with her.
"Mm. But what should we do with this?" Ye Ling asked.
She held up a long, narrow object she had picked up beside the infected.
Kyoko looked over and let out a noise of surprise.
It was a bolt-action rifle.
"Where did you find that?"
"On the ground over there. I spotted it right away."
"Let me see…"
Kyoko took it and quickly identified it as a Japanese hunting rifle chambered in .308. It was a Winchester Hunter model—but the rifle was thoroughly ruined.
The metal parts were heavily corroded. There was no salvaging it.
"Throw it away. It's junk metal. If you really want to use a gun, I'll give you one."
"No, no, that's not it. I don't know how to use guns. Forget it."
Kyoko laughed.
"I didn't know how to use them before either. Now I'm pretty skilled. Shooting's simple enough. I can teach you later."
"I'm good with melee weapons," Ye Ling said. "I really don't know how to use firearms. And besides, aren't you here? Guns and ammo should go to the people who can make proper use of them."
That was what she said aloud.
But inwardly, Ye Ling was thinking something else entirely.
She could not tell whether this offer of a gun was sincere or some kind of test. Better safe than sorry.
After all, she had only known Kyoko for a day. She still had no idea what kind of person this girl really was. Kyoko could speak Chinese and seemed easygoing enough, but who knew what lay beneath that?
When she heard the refusal, Kyoko felt nothing in particular.
She knew what young people from back home were like—reserved, polite, reluctant to accept too much too quickly.
Especially people Ye Ling's age.
Since Ye Ling did not want the rifle, Kyoko dropped the matter.
The two girls moved on to the neighboring house and soon came back out.
There was nothing worth searching there. The infected had wrecked the furniture, and broken debris covered the floor.
On the way back, Kyoko cut a chunk of meat from the dead Glutton and stuffed it into a plastic bag she found nearby.
There was no way she could openly use the system's recycle function right in front of Ye Ling.
The line of footprints stretched all the way back to the motel.
When the two returned to the upstairs room, the others were standing out on the exterior corridor facing the street, watching for them.
It was time to rest.
After the long day, none of them had the energy left to chat much. Dorothy was so sleepy she looked ready to collapse on the spot. If Miranda had not insisted she wait until Kyoko returned, she would already have been sprawled across the bed.
Because the motel had plenty of rooms, they did not sleep piled together under one blanket like the night before.
Huaxiu and Kyoko shared one room.
Miranda, Dorothy, and Brent took another.
Ye Ling got one to herself.
Kyoko did not worry in the least that Ye Ling might sneak off during the night. Both vehicles were locked. Even if Ye Ling ran, she would not be able to take anything with her.
Once her gear was off, Kyoko went to deal with personal hygiene.
These last few days on the road had given her neither the time, place, nor conditions to clean herself properly.
This time, at least, they had found a motel with bathrooms.
True, there was no running water.
But there was a bathtub.
And that was enough.
The virus detector Kyoko had bought from the system long ago finally became useful again.
The viral load in the bathwater and the snow was effectively zero, so she could safely melt and boil the snow for washing.
She deliberately gathered snow from the rooftop, somewhere no infected had touched.
There was no time to filter it properly, but that did not matter. This was for bathing, not drinking.
Even so, after boiling pot after pot, three full kettles only managed to fill half the tub.
Steam rose thickly through the room. Once the water cooled just a little, Kyoko dipped a hand in to test it.
Not too hot.
Perfect.
And so, Kyoko began her luxurious bath.
"Damn, it's cold!"
The moment she stripped out of her clothes, the chill in the air hit her hard. She immediately plunged into the tub, letting the warmth wrap around her whole body, and let out a long, satisfied breath.
The room was not especially warm, maybe a little above ten degrees Celsius.
The floor was wooden, and lighting a fire inside would have been asking for a blaze, so there was no heating here. Kyoko had boiled the bathwater downstairs and carried it up.
Huaxiu had taken one look at the freezing bathroom and refused to join her, so Kyoko had the whole tub to herself.
Less than fifteen minutes later, she emerged wrapped in a loose cotton robe and collapsed into bed, pulling Huaxiu into her arms as she prepared to drift off.
The instant she shut her eyes, however, the system chimed in.
**[Yesterday's settlement:
Kill points: 138
Exploration points: 200
Mission points: 0
Recycling points: 5
Automatic service fee: -250
Map fee: -1000/day
Current total remaining: 18,215]**
So you wait until I'm about to sleep before you show up, huh? Real classy.
Too lazy to argue with it, Kyoko simply let herself fall asleep.
Her breathing became steady beneath the blanket, rising and falling in a calm rhythm.
Not only the room, but the world outside as well sank into silence.
Another day had passed.
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 139)
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 (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
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 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
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 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin