Chapter 61

  “I think it’s over,” one of the guards said. “The system’s finished refreshing the world.”

  “Yep,” the other one said, peering out the window he sat at. “I ’t see any more mutants respawning anywhere either.”

  “There should be plenty of loot out there right now,” the first one said. “Maybe we should get out of here and go looking for it instead. Just imagine what treasures we discover while most of the other survivors iy are fast asleep.”

  “We already discussed it, Thomas,” the other one responded, a hint of irritation in his voice. “And we all reached a sensus that it’s not safe to wander around the city at night. The darkness, especially within buildings, poses too great a threat. We already lost David one evening. That mutant jumped at him from the shadows, and he was dead before we got the ce to save him. Have you fotten that already?”

  “No, Kaleb, I haven’t fotten,” Thomas replied grimly, shaking his head. “Poor David. I still ’t believe he’s gone.”

  “That’s why we’re gonna wait until night passes and head out for loot first thing in the m, just as we always do,” Kaleb said.

  For a moment, they psed into silence. As Jake watched them, listening in on their hushed versation, the beast within him seemed to awaken from its slumber. It wasted no time in beginning to whisper to him, trying to persuade him to attack the survivors. It told him that their backpacks that were lined along the otentially tained valuable mana ables, so it could be worth sying them, tearing all four of them to shreds.

  Not without some effort, but Jake mao silence his inner beast. He was not going to kill the four survivors. Even if they had mana ables in their backpacks, he wasn’t going to do that. He wasn’t going down the rabbit hole. He was already only partly human, and he wasn’t willing to lose the st shreds of humanity within him.

  Jake was about to turn away and steal his way out of the building when Thomas, who was fag the ter of the vast hall, suddenly turned his head to stare at the exact spot Jake occupied. He immediately froze, staring back at the survivor, ready to jump into a if necessary. However, while Thomas appeared a little more nervous than he’d been a sed before, Jake was sure he remained ued. Had Thomas somehow spotted him, his rea would’ve been way more intense.

  “Shouldn’t we also watch the entrahomas asked. “I mean what if a mutant es into the building?”

  Kaleb shook his head. “We’re at the farthest spot from the entrance. If a mutant happens to wander in and e at us, we’ll hear it right away. Those creatures aren’t known for being quiet.”

  “But what if a mutant spawns right behind us?” Thomas said, still seemingly staring directly at Jake. “And attacks us before we know what’s happening?”

  “Geez, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden?” Kaleb asked, raising his voice.

  One of the sleeping people stirred in their sleeping bag but didn’t awaken.

  “I dunno, man,” Thomas replied. “I just feel nervous for some reason. I feel like something is watg me.”

  “You’re just being paranoid,” Kaleb said without even b to look over his shoulder to see where Thomas was staring at. “Rex, man. First of all, the system has already finished refreshing the world. And sed, mutants never materialize anywhere near survivors. By now, all of us have lear. If that were the case, many survivors would have been torn apart in their sleep during the initial days, and we likely wouldn’t have been an exception.”

  “You’re right,” Thomas said after a brief pause, finally shifting his gaze away from Jake.

  “During the spawning process, mutants never pop up anywhere near us, survivors, whether we are asleep or awake. So don’t worry about it anymore, bud.”

  “Yeah.”

  After that, the two survivors went silent once more. Jake tinued croug at the ter of the hall with his palms resting on the floor, thinking about what he’d just heard from the two survivors. During the world-refreshing process, the system spawned mutants at a safe distance from survivors. It made sehe process typically took pce at midnight when most survivors were probably going to sleep or were already fast asleep. It would be unfair if a mutant materialized o a sleeping survivor, catg them off guard in their most vulnerable state.

  However, when Jake moved through the city, every now and then, mutants sporadically materialized right o him. It couldn’t be written off as a simple ce. It retty much obvious that the system didn’t cssify him as a survivor anymore. To the system, he was just another mutant now. However, it posed some questions. How e he was granted a unique progression system? Why was he still se while all the other mutants were not?

  The more Jake thought about it, the more fused he became. He’d been transformed into a mutant after being sucked into an anomaly known as the Dark Void. As far as he knew, he wasn’t supposed to survive that, but somehow he did. The purpose of the Dark Void was to turn regur mutants inter versions of themselves. He’d been a human at that time, so he should’ve either been killed or, in the best-case sario, turned into a mindless mutant. But not only did he retain his intelligence, but he was also given a system with unique abilities. Was it just a very rare fluke? Was it just aremely rare occurrence? Or perhaps it was a glitch that somehow iwined a survivor’s progression system with mutant capabilities?

  While Jake remained uain about his situatio least now khat he was regarded as a mutant rather than a survivor; otherwise, it wouldn’t have spawned mutants in such close proximity to him during the world-refreshing process. Evee the fact that he greatly deviated from typical mutants in many aspects, possessing a unique progression system of his owill seemed to be categorized as a regur mutant.

  Or maybe while the system beled him a mutant, it alsnized his uniqueness. Could it be that the system sidered him a hybrid straddling the liween humans and mutants? Jake wasn’t sure yet.

  A sudden scream shattered the silence, wreng him back to the moment.