Chapter 38
We hurried our pace to escape the swarming zombies.
They’d smashed the tracks, but it was only one stretch.
All we had to do was walk a little past that stretch to reach where the rails continued.
Once we arrived, I casually reached out and summoned the train.
“Come on, now. Please get on.”
Kuuung-!
The summoned train landed perfectly on the empty tracks with a heavy rumble.
“Uh...”
“It’s a train... It is a train, but...”
When the train suddenly popped out of thin air, the family gaped.
Faced with the train’s exterior, bristling with spikes and turrets, they flinched and froze for a moment.
“Y-you want us to get on this train...?”
“It’s scary...”
“It may look this way on the outside, but it’s cozy inside. Hurry and get in. You never know when the zombies might catch up.”
I urged the frozen family forward and opened the passenger car door.
With a soft whoosh of air, the door opened to reveal a luxurious cabin bathed in warm light.
“Huh? The inside is actually more...”
“Wooooow...”
“This is nice...?”
Seeing the plush seats and carpeted interior, so unlike the menacing exterior, the family let out cries of admiration.
It seemed they had even braced themselves to flee in a rattling truck bed, or on foot day and night.
Compared to that, the inside of my train seemed quite satisfactory.
They all slowly walked into the train interior.
“Oh... this is really nice.”
“Please leave your luggage wherever you like, and the water is back here.”
“Phew...”
They carefully settled into the plush seats and sighed in relief.
Even then, the family’s father kept scanning anxiously for the liquor box.
“My booze...”
Whirrr- thunk.
Just then, the combat drone that had followed us aboard with the luggage gently set the box of glass bottles down in the empty seat right beside the father.
Only then did the father hug the liquor box dearly, looking as if he’d gained the whole world.
“...Hmm.”
I cautiously gauged the mother sitting across from us.
I was worried she might be upset, since the husband and wife should have been sitting together, but the liquor box had claimed the seat outright.
Yet the mother looked as though it had worked out for the best, sinking deep into her seat with a carefree, comfortable expression.
“Ugh, I’m so glad there isn’t a booze-smelling old man sitting next to me.”
“Geez, Mom... there are people here too...”
At their mother’s scolding, the son and daughter, who had been frozen stiff with tension, finally burst out laughing.
Now that I looked at them, it showed they’d suffered for a long time, surrounded by zombies.
They all had dark circles under their eyes.
“Young man, thank you so much. But where are we going now?”
At the mother’s question, I smiled.
“The Yeouido safe zone. There’s nowhere safer to stay in the current situation.”
I’d only seen part of it, but it really was quite safe.
The population density was high, there were many Awakeners, and the internal infrastructure was gradually being put in order.
On top of that, as long as you had credits, you could improve your quality of life, so it was the perfect environment for this family.
This family would probably earn credits quickly.
They’d already won over one constellation, so if I even put a skill enhancement ticket up as a reward, surely they’d manage to make enough credits.
And there was a second reason for heading to Yeouido.
Since we were going to Yeouido anyway, this time I should have the reconnaissance drone check more places.
I wanted to inspect the inside of Yeouido and, if possible, eavesdrop on any politicians talking about finding Awakeners.
It was already where my younger siblings were staying, so I’d wanted to take a look around at least once.
My reconnaissance drone, specialized in silent flight and wiretapping, could do it.
“All right, then make yourselves comfortable. We’ll be departing soon.”
“Yes.”
“It’s been a while. I can sleep without worrying now.”
I returned to the cockpit of Car No. 1 and pulled the lever up.
***
As before, we arrived at Singil Station, and the train came to a smooth stop.
“We’ve arrived.”
“...Huh?”
“Ah, ssup... I slept too much...”
Perhaps because they were finally completely away from zombies after so long, the family was at ease.
They were all asleep in similar positions, mouths hanging open.
I felt bad about waking them right away, so I stopped for a bit in the middle and even had the drones loot the boxes, but they must have been exhausted from all that time spent under strain, because by the time we reached Singil Station, none of them had woken up.
When the doors opened and the family and their precious liquor box were carefully unloaded, the soldiers we’d met before came up to us first this time.
“Ah, you’re back again! I’m glad you’re safe.”
“This time too, more survivors...”
When I said I’d brought survivors to escort to the safe zone, they politely thanked me for my trouble, then picked up their radio and called someone over.
But after finishing the call, the soldiers kept glancing at the empty air behind my back.
What are they looking at?
I casually turned my gaze as well.
At the end of their line of sight, the combat drone and the sniper drone were hovering in the air.
Since I hadn’t told them to wait this time, they must have naturally followed along to escort me.
Well, there’s no need to hide them.
One of the soldiers cleared his throat and, his face flushed with excitement, gathered his courage and asked,
“Um... if it’s not too much trouble, may I take a photo?”
“Huh? Ah... yes, sure.”
I gave my permission with an awkward smile.
Hmm, honestly it had only been a fleeting moment... at first I thought they wanted me to take a photo with them.
But the soldiers’ eyes were fixed on the drones.
The drones really did look cool.
They looked like they belonged in a sci-fi movie.
If anything, they looked like the kind of robots that attack humans.
As I scratched my cheek and stepped aside, a message window popped up in midair.
[“Hammer Warrior” was deeply moved that you perfectly protected his bartender and liquor!]
[The transaction is complete. Reward paid out.]
[Additional reward granted.]
“Oh...”
The moment I read the message, items spilled out of the air.
A skill enhancement ticket, and 10 intermediate mana stones.
That was the promised reward.
And finally, a single pitch-black sphere a little larger than a bowling ball popped out of thin air.
Kuuung-!
It crashed down onto the platform with a deafening roar.
The impact was strong enough to shake the tips of my feet.
“W-what was that noise...”
“A bowling ball...?”
The startled family from the restaurant and the soldiers all jumped, then circled around me warily.
“Ah, well... that’s the trade reward dropping. Combat drone! Sniper drone! Move these things into the train for me.”
The drones that had been striking stylish poses for the soldiers rushed over the moment I gave the order and lifted the bowling-ball-like item and mana stones with their mechanical arms.
“Ah...”
“I should’ve taken more photos...”
Once the drones slipped back into the train, deep sighs of regret came from the soldiers holding their phones.
Before long, the people who would guide them arrived, and the family from the restaurant kept bowing to me as they said goodbye.
“Thank you so much.”
“...Especially this...”
“Ah...”
I was handed a bottle of liquor in a brown bottle.
I didn’t need this...
But I couldn’t refuse it.
[Satisfaction achieved.]
[Turret and passenger-car modifications have been unlocked.]
After confirming that the family had entered the safe zone, I boarded Car No. 1 with light steps.
I’d secured both a solid reward and the satisfaction, so now it was time to carry out my second objective.
First, I parked the train a little away from Singil Station.
It was some distance from Yeouido, but since the reconnaissance drone had been upgraded previously, it could go quite far on its own, so it seemed doable.
“Recon drone.”
I called the reconnaissance drone over.
“Turn on silent flight mode, and keep the altitude as high as possible. Inspect the Yeouido safe zone stealthily. I’ll keep giving you detailed orders from the cockpit.”
The reconnaissance drone blinked its lens and slipped away without a sound.
On the monitor I had set up in the cockpit, live footage of the Yeouido safe zone’s interior was being vividly transmitted from the reconnaissance drone.
It skillfully hid itself among the leaves of trees planted along the streets and in the deep shadows between buildings as it moved forward.
“There are more and more survivors.”
“Still, there are enough houses left...”
“Man... how many people must have lived here before—”
No one noticed the drone watching them from above.
What I mainly wanted was to eavesdrop on politicians, or on important conversations about the Yeouido safe zone.
So I planned to try wiretapping mainly through the windows of high-rise buildings or large buildings that looked heavily guarded.
Maybe it was just my prejudice, but it felt like important conversations usually happened in high-rise buildings like these.
As the reconnaissance drone approached the slightly open window of the first high-rise building, the voices of people gathered in a conference room drifted out clearly.
“The Awakeners in charge of the safe zone say the monsters appearing in dungeons and in the city seem to be getting stronger lately.”
“That’s right. And if you look at the mana stones being listed on the exchange, lower-grade stones are starting to creep up more and more... it’s clear the situation is taking a troubling turn.”
I already knew that dungeon difficulty was increasing and monsters were evolving.
It was something worth thinking about later too, but for now I was more curious about other information.
“Go somewhere else.”
The reconnaissance drone turned without hesitation and glided toward the high terrace of another building.
Just then, two men in suits were there, smoking cigarettes and talking.
“How’s the thing the assemblyman mentioned going?”
“Yes. We bought the item with the tracker from the exchange, so it should be traced soon.”
At that short conversation coming through the monitor, I shot upright from where I’d been sunk into the cockpit seat.
“An assemblyman? A tracker?”
Was this a conversation related to politicians?
I told the reconnaissance drone to move closer.
“Soon? You said you bought the item with the tracker. If you’ve already pinpointed it, you should send someone right away.”
“Ah, well... we have a rough location, but it’s a bit far, and it’s such a dangerous place. It seems we’d need the Awakeners’ cooperation to go there... But as you know, lately the Awakeners have been completely uncooperative with our side.”
“Damn... this is getting troublesome.”
I could even hear the man irritably grinding out his cigarette butt on the floor.
Seated in the cockpit, I frowned.
An uneasy thought flashed through my mind.
They made someone buy an item with a tracker from the exchange?
If they really were people on the politicians’ side, then the one they were probably targeting was Signal, who had the Gallery skill.
They’d said something like that before.
I didn’t know what method they’d used, but they must have hidden something with a tracking function inside an item and then lured Signal into buying it.
I quickly sent a warning message to Signal.
I might have to ask where they were and go protect them.