Chapter 59: Chapter59-Gluttony Bags

When we stepped outside the school building, I scanned the surrounding neighborhood, which was currently filled with silence. I wasn't too surprised by the silent and empty street, considering I was the main reason for it. I had killed nearly a hundred zombies on these streets just a few days ago. Then I turned to Lia and said, "Lia, for now, let's split up and search those houses in different directions. Collect as much packaged food as you can, but make sure it's not expired." Given the chance that the zone might start shrinking and the barrier could expand, it was better to gather as many resources and as much food as possible to survive in the upcoming days. She nodded and was about to head off when I called out, "Wait!" She turned back, "What, Michael?" I tossed one of my explosive guns toward her. "Take this with you in case you run into any monsters. You can use it to protect yourself." I could see the question forming on her face, so I added, "I'm giving you the gun because it's dangerous out there. Better safe than sorry, right?" She nodded, a little sheepishly. "Thanks again, Michael." I nodded back. "Be careful." When she finally walked away from me, I breathed a sigh of relief. Man, it was tough to keep up my usual character around her... I tried to avoid eye contact with her because of what happened between us. I felt a bit ashamed for what I did. Leave it for now, I have others things to do. And, then, I looked at houses in front of me. "Let's go!" Then, I entered the first house, which was only a few meters away from me. I moved quickly since I had to check other houses too. I searched each room as fast as I could to find anything useful. In the kitchen, I found some packaged foods in the fridge. As I worked, I kept an eye out for any signs of danger, ready to use my own weapons if needed. *** Minutes turned into hours as we searched through the houses. I found some packaged foods and a few useful supplies, but I stayed vigilant, knowing danger could be lurking around any corner. After two or three hours of searching, I regrouped with Lia at the same place we split up. I hadn't told her where we'd meet, but she was atleast a little smart enough to come back here. I looked at Lia. She looked a bit worn out but determined. "I found a good amount of food," she said. She turned to show me her bag of packaged foods. "Good job," I replied. "Sorry, I didn't get much food, though." As expected, kind-hearted Lia said, "It's okay, Michael. Not every place will have food. Don't be sad." Then, I responded with a voice still pretending to be sad, "Thanks for your encouragement, Lia." And then I said, "Let's keep going." Lia replied, "Okay." As we continued moving forward, my thoughts lingered on our recent conversation. I didn't tell Lia that I gathered lots of packaged foods, opting instead to store them in my inventory rather than in my bag. I wanted to keep this knowledge to myself, thinking about my future survival. If food ever becomes scarce, I know I can rely on the stored provisions in my inventory. I was certain that food would become scarce because our bags aren't like Gluttony Bags. Unlike a Gluttony Bag, which is made from an uncommon Gluttony monster with an endless stomach, ours don't have unlimited storage. Gluttony Bags are widely used by humans because they offer limitless space and can be carried anywhere. Similar to my inventory, which also provides unlimited space and portability, but my inventory has an extra benefit of preserving any items for extended periods, unlike the Gluttony Bag. Suddenly, I snapped back to reality at the sound of a gunshot. I turned to Lia, who had fired the gun, and then looked ahead to see a zombie lying on the ground with a hole in its stomach. So, it was a zombie... For a moment there, I thought she had fired randomly for no reason. I rushed over to Lia's side, scanning the area for any other threats while she caught her breath. "Are you alright?" I asked, concern evident in my voice. "Yeah," Lia replied, still a bit shaky but regaining her composure. "Just one zombie. I heard it coming from behind and had to react." I nodded, relieved that it was just a lone zombie. "Good job. Stay alert; there might be more nearby." We continued cautiously moving around the streets... As we moved, I kept a close eye on Lia, making sure she was handling herself well. *** After what felt like a long time of walking, I checked my watch and saw that it was currently 3:30 p.m. Feeling tired and thirsty from walking in the heat, I decided it was time to rest for a bit. I turned to Lia and said, "Lia, let's take a break in one of these houses before we continue." "Sure, Michael, if that's how you feel," Lia replied without hesitating much. I didn't know if she was feeling the intense heat of the sun like I was, but I didn't pay much attention to it. We entered a random house, and I quickly looked around. There were four rooms in the house, so I chose one to rest in. After entering the room, I noticed it was just as ordinary as the one I had back in my previous world. There was a single bed, two cupboards, and a reading desk. I lay down on the bed to rest and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't as fancy as what I was used to. It felt strangely nostalgic to be resting in this room. As I think about it more, this city really resembles the South Korean city from my previous world, except there are no humans here and it's overrun by zombies. The presence of electricity here indicates that the zombie outbreak must have occurred recently. This suggests that this city isn't from this world because if it were, there wouldn't be any electricity due to years of neglect, malfunctions, and damage caused by zombies and earthquakes. *** After about 45 minutes, we decided to go deeper into the city to find more supplies and a safer place to plan our next move. As we moved further into the city, we saw more destruction. Buildings were falling apart, and the streets showed clear signs of zombie activity with remnants of past battles. But something else caught both my and Lia's attention right away. Lia said, "Michael, look at this blood..." There was a drop of blood in the middle of the street. It stood out because you don't see blood every day, especially in a city. I replied, "Hmm, you're right. It looks like it's from a human. Judging by the surroundings, it seems like a fight happened here recently, and the drop of blood suggests that guy got injured during the fight." "Then, let's find that person who got injured, he might be nearby." Lia suggested me. I stared at her. Lia asked, "What happened? Why are you looking at me like that?" "I mean, seriously, how kind-hearted could you be?" I replied. "We're talking about a stranger who just got injured by some unknown monster recently, and we have no idea where to find him." "You want us to find him? Are you serious?" I asked, incredulous. "But, Michael-" "Think about it, Lia. We're already dealing with our own problems, and now you want to go on a wild goose chase for someone we don't even know? What if it's a trap? What if we end up getting injured or worse because of this? We can't just risk everything for someone we might never find." I shouted at her. I was really frustrated by her kind-hearted nature. Helping others is fine, but risking your life to do it is just idiotic and dumb. I couldn't do it. "Michael yo" I cut her off again and said, "Sheesh." I put a finger to my lips, signaling her to be quiet. She got the message and stayed silent. I heard a noise. We both remained quiet, trying to listen more closely. The silence was eerie, broken only by occasional distant growls or shuffling footsteps. Zombies? Suddenly, as we turned a corner, we saw something terrifying: a large group of zombies, maybe dozens, slowly coming toward us down the street. Lia and I froze, trying to figure out what to do. Without hesitation, I used my Appraisal skill to check out the zombies. "No way, there are so many zombies..." One might expect a nervous or scared tone in the voice, but I was feeling excitedimmense happiness surged through my body. Oh my god, so many essences... Without hesitation, I used my Appraisal skill to check the ranks of the zombies to make sure they were lower-ranked. I quickly confirmed they were all lower-level zombies, not dangerous on their own, but together, they posed a serious threat to anyone elsethough not to me. Turning to Lia, I said urgently, "Lia, start shooting!" She hesitated, nervousness in her eyes as she looked at the mass of undead. "Michael, there are too many of them, we can't" Before she could finish, I raised my weapon and started shooting, aiming carefully at the nearest zombies. If you don't want that kill, then don't. But don't tell me not to kill just because there are too many. I'm not going to miss any essences. They're all mine. The shots echoed in the quiet air, each bullet hitting its target accurately. The cries of the zombies filled the air. I was on a killing spree. Not one zombie could get close to me as I shot in a zig-zag pattern, covering the entire area. Zombie bodies fell and disappeared one by one. The zombies' barrage and charge failed because of my shooting pattern, and it was clear that it was only a matter of time until I killed them all. I didn't know their exact number, but it was probably around 50 or 60. It didn't take me long to kill them all, but not every zombie was killed by me since Lia also helped out. This made me a little unhappy because I didn't get to kill them all. The evening air was no longer filled with their disgusting smell. I turned toward Lia to say something until I heard a cry for help. "Help! Anybody, please help us!" The voice belonged to a woman. I immediately went toward the source of the noise, not because I wanted to help her, but because I wanted to kill more monsters. The cry for help came from another corner. I ran as fast as I could to get as close as possible. It took just a minute or two to get there, but what I saw really surprised me.