Chapter 129

  Jake tio search the city for sleeping survivors. He o use Mind Reader just two more times tress it to 100%. He believed it would be a quick task, but he soon realized that log survivors who hadn’t taken measures to guard against intruders at night was harder than he had anticipated.

  To eheir safety throughout the night, many groups of survivors took turns standing watot all of them opted for that approach, though. Some set up protective wards ical traps to prevent enemies from getting the drop on them while they slept. Others created booby traps or makeshift arm systems to alert them about intruders. On more than one occasion, Jake found shards of gss strewn across the floor just outside a room where a group of survivors had settled down for the night.

  However, survivors anticipated uninvited visitors ing from below, not from above. That’s why they set up makeshift traps and arm systems on the routes ing from below—like oairs leading up to their floor—rather than on those leading down to their hiding spots. For this reason, Jake decided to return to the roof level aer buildings from above.

  Still, it was challenging to find approachable survivors. By that point, they had all learned not to take any ces in this wless world where danger lurked around every er. As a result, they implemented various protective measures to prevent anyone or anything from approag them ued during their sleep.

  So, his pn to use Mind Reader on sleeping survivors to adva to 100% wasn’t as good as it had seemed at first. He was about to give up when he finally came across troachable survivors. Upon disc a building devoid of mutants, Jake desded its front wall, sing the gssless windows, searg for a room where survivors might be resting for the night.

  It didn’t take him long to find it. He spotted two survivors led in sleeping bags in a small room on the eighth floor. Jake hung from the wall, gripping a crack with one hand while peering inside, looking for any protective measures they might have taken. There were only two survivors taking refuge in the room, and they hadn’t bothered to establish a rotating watch. Additionally, Jake didn’t sense aale signs of magical activity in the room, indig that there were nuarding the two survivors.

  Jake tio peer into the room. It had only one door, which was closed and cked any means to lock it. He noticed several open tin s suspended from the ceiling, positioned just below the door’s upper edge. If aempted to open the door from the other side, the s would rattle, waking the survivors inside.

  Aside from the tin s hanging above the door, which was the orao the room aside from the window, Jake didn’t notiy other makeshift arm systems i ossible the two survivors had set up additional primitive arms outside in the corridor, such as scattering shards of gss or setting up booby traps. However, ihe room, there were no other security measures. The window cked any arm system, probably because the two survivors believed that her other survivors nor mutants could access the room through it.

  Making no all, Jake climbed into the room through the window. The two survivors, a man and a woman, slept in their sleeping bags o each other, and their oed within easy reach beside them. Jake was surprised to see that the two survivors hardly had any supplies. Unlike most of the survivors he had entered, this pair seemed poorly equipped. Even during his early days of survival, when he was still human, he had stored more supplies in his hideout thawo had. Aside from the two sleeping bags and one on each, they seemingly had nothing else. They even possessed only a single rucksack, which looked almost empty.

  The woman was closest to him, and he crouched down beside her. For a brief moment, he examined her face, which was torted in a troubled expression. Whatever she was dreaming about wasn’t pleasant. Jake reached out, lightly toug her forehead with the tips of his fingers. He feared that this wouldn’t be enough and that he would o press his entire palm against her head to activate Mind Reader. Fortunately, when he issued the mental and, the ability kicked in without any issues.

  The survivor’s memories surged into his mind. At first, he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. She had been asleep for several hours, so what he was witnessing was not her memories but her dreams, making it hard to uand what was happening. Her dreams formed a tangled web of fial and surreal events iwined with glimpses of her real memories from the previous day.

  After a moment, Jake was able to separate the images in her mind that were pure fantasy from those that represented her true memories. He learhat the previous day, she, the man sleeping beside her, and two other survivors had been ambushed by some of the bandits from the Los Demonios gang. The four of them had tried to escape, but the Demons tracked them to their hideout. Tragically, two of her panions were killed, but she and the male survivor mao escape.

  So they had lost everything, which expined why they currently had so little with them. They were lucky to have escaped with their lives. In her dreams, the woman was reliving the tragic events of the previous day, so it was no wonder she had such a troubled expression on her face as she slept.

  Suddenly, she stirred in her sleep, and Jake immediately pulled away from her mind, withdrawing his hand. He stared at the woman, ready to jump to his feet and leap out the window. He had no desire to fight these two humans. They had already been through a lot over the past day. The woman stirred for a few seds, but fortunately, she didn’t wake up. When she y still again, Jake checked the status of his ability.

  Mind Reader: Rank I (80%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  He o use it one more time to adva to 100%, and it had to be a different person. So he stood up and moved toward the man lying in his sleeping bag o the woman. Jake crouched beside him and, for a moment, studied his face. He bore a simirly troubled expression. Jake extended his hand to touch the survivor’s forehead. At that moment, he felt like a vampire slipping into people’s homes at night, feeding on the unaware souls as they slept.

  The man’s dream resembled the woman’s, blending fial events with memories of the tragic csh against the Demons, which had cost them two friends and their hideout where all their supplies had been stored. Moments ter, Jake withdrew from the survivor’s mind and checked the status of his ability.

  Mind Reader: Rank I (100%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)

  Finally, the ability was at 100%. When he leveled up aime, he would use one of the skill points to upgrade Mind Reader to the rank.

  Just as he stood up, the survivor, whose troubled dreams he had been watg, suddenly opened his eyes. Jake froze as the man seemingly stared directly at him. But a split sed ter, he realized that while the survivor had opened his eyes, he wasn’t fully awake yet. Without making a sound, Jake leaped bad melted into the shadows of a er of the room. He remained motionless, pletely blending in with the surrounding darkness.

  The male survivor blinked a few times, trying tain his focus. He might have spotted Jake when he just opened his eyes, but at that moment, his mind was still half asleep, and he didn’t realize that what he saw before him was real rather than just remnants of his dreams. Now that he was somewhat awake, the survivor appeared to be thinking more clearly. He sat up and looked around the room with a puzzled look on his face.

  With one hand, he reached for the pump-a shotgun lying on the floor to his left. He pced his palm on the on but didn’t pick it up. He tio slowly survey his surroundings. At first, he didn’t reize the pce, which must have looked very different from the hideout where the group usually spent their nights. Then he seemed to finally remember what had happehe day before and where he was.

  A devastated expressioled on his face as he slowly surveyed the room. His gaze drifted to the tin s dangling from the upper edge of the door, as if he were trying to figure out what had disturbed his sleep. Seeing that the s were still intad the door was shut, he resumed sing his surroundings.

  Eventually, his gaze settled on the dark er where Jake stood. He remained pletely still. Although it appeared as if the man was looking right at him, Jake khe male survivor couldn’t actually see him. If he could, his rea would have been very different.

  Having found no threats in the room, the survivor finally mao rex. He turned his head and looked down at the woman sleeping beside him. For a moment, he watched her with sadness in his eyes. Then he y back down and closed his eyes once more.

  Jake remaiill in his er. He was gd he had mao stay ued. He didn’t want to give another person nightmares about him. This couple had already endured a really bad day. He didn’t want to fight them or instill a sting fear of falling asleep from then on, leaving them anxious that some horrifying bck mutant might e to visit them in the night again.

  When the male survivor’s breathing steadied, Jake quietly emerged from the er and moved toward the window. His movements were pletely silent. Moments ter, he reached the window, climbed through, and vanished into the night.