Chapter 14: Rebuilding

The whole day, I spent fortifying my location by making blockades on the stairs and the hallways leading to my room. I learned from my mistake on my first defense.

Just having blockades in my entrance wouldn't necessarily help me. They would simply stall them. If it would just stall anyway, then I might as well put multiple blockades to alarm me of their arrival. I could also make traps while I'm at it!

I simply jumped into a dead alternate world instead of going to a Faded World, as it was cheaper. So it only took an entire day before I managed to make multiple copies of cabinets to act as blockage on the stairs and in the hallways. I made sure to line them up neatly so that there were no gaps the zombies could exploit or crawl through. I've learned from my mistake. Drawers, even a stack of them, wouldn't do anything, as those zombies don't care what happened to their body so long as they could get to me. I needed a full blockade where any intruders would be forced to choose brute force.

I didn't just line them up; I also bunched them up until they crowded the entire path to the stairs and the hallways. I've also put other objects on top of them, stacking them up and then bundling them with copies of my backpacks until they reach the ceilings. This is to ensure that they can't just climb and force themselves into the ceilings and have to make some effort to actually enter my place.

As I said, their only choice if they want to get to me is through brute force!

With that, I finally felt a bit more secure that I managed to sleep easily in my new room.

The following day, I started prepping with my next plan.

Hunting monsters and grinding mana!

I picked up my flashlight and my golf club before jumping into the Faded World and then going down the stairs by passing through the obstacles I made like they were air. Even when I got there, the sight of zombies made me flinch. Though at the same time, I noticed something. I couldn't smell anything while I was in the Faded World. So even with the hallway being filled with the rotten flesh of the zombies and blood both dry and wet around the floors and walls, the only scent I could smell was stale air. There waw also the fact that the world was incredibly silent. The only sound I could hear was the noise I made. Other than that, I couldn't hear the moans of the zombies despite being near them like this. Its like the world suddenly turned mute.

As for the zombies, just seeing them up close made my body seize up. Despite the black and white texture of the world, their appearance was incredibly disturbing. Just seeing one of them have the flesh on their cheek half-torn and their teeth showing made me shudder and made me instinctively swing my golf club in their way.

I forgot to activate my Invisible Strike against the zombie, so my golf club just passed through its see-through appearance.

Tsk. I slapped myself. Dammit, Yakumo. Focus!

After that inner reprimand to myself, I started focusing and activated my power. Other than Faded World, I've decided to name some of what I could do because it sounded fun, and it made it easier in my mind to activate them. Invisible Strike was the name I made when I influenced the real world with the force of my attack in the Faded World. I pointed my flashlight in its direction so I could properly see it and then swung my golf club on its head while using Invisible Strike.

My golf club still passed through its body, and I didn't feel any feedback, but a certain force still seemed to have been inflicted on top of its head as it flattened easily like a deflated balloon before it splattered around in a bloody mess. Its white and black blood just passed through my colored body, landing on the floor and walls as if I don't exist. At the same time as that happened, I felt it personally. A warm sensation enters within my inner core and settles within the metaphysical container where my mana gathers.

It's working. Killing them even in the Faded World gave me the same increase in mana as when I killed them above the buildings just throwing knives or molotov. I'm glad I made the decision to hunt them personally within my Faded World. With zombies inside this building, I couldn't just kill them with my incendiary bombs.

I saw other zombies looking in my direction—no, at the direction where the zombie I struck was lying on the ground, and it made me curious. Were they aware of their surroundings? I thought zombies were supposed to be unthinking and only driven by their instincts?

Regardless, they couldn't see me. I'm already in front of them, and not once did someone pounce at me. I've also tried reaching out to one, and my hands just passed through their grotesque body. It meant the Faded World truly worked. There was nothing for me to worry about anymore.

"Great, this will be a good practice for me to get used to killing zombies."

Another reason why I was personally hunting them was simply to get familiar with them. My first defensive stand in my former base was very disappointing. I realized that I am inexperienced in any personal combat. If I am just going to rely on dumb luck, then even if I have this power, I might just die without me knowing if something unexpected happens.

That is why I have to get used to this!

I clutched the handle of my golf club as I gazed at these zombies; all of them seemed to be gathering on their fallen kin. Imagining how much mana I could get after wiping them out made me a bit giddy before shaking my head.

Right, let's not get too excited. I only have a limited amount of mana.

First, I'll just sweep through the zombies near this spot before returning back to my room.

"Let's do this."

With that decision made, I started concentrating on my golf club, activating Invisible Strike in it before swinging it on the heads of the zombies who were grouping up around me.

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After wiping out the zombies near the stairs, I returned to my new base and took some rest. After a few hours, I recovered enough mana to start doing my scavenging run. Currently, I only have the bare minimum in my resources. I needed variety. A new type of food, another source of energy like a generator, and other resources would be great for my current base.

I entered the Faded World so I could start scavenging. Why Faded World? It was because I've blocked all of my paths with my fortifications, so I couldn't just leave my own base with a normal jump on a dead mirror world. Faded World was more convenient because I could just ignore obstacles as if they didn't exist.

Carrying an empty duplicate of my backpack and another copy of my flashlight, I left the room and walked past the barricade in the hallway. Their outline vanished from my eyes when I walked past them and let me see beyond them. I haven't checked the other rooms yet because I've only wanted to choose a room that was the farthest from that large flesh tentacle pit monster on the other side of this condominium, so this was the first time I would be thoroughly checking the neighboring room to my base.

Due to the dull, faded colors of this world, it was a bit hard to make out some objects, particularly when it was too dark, so I felt like a nearsighted person peering through objects closer just so I could see them properly when I found something interesting. All of the rooms in this condominium were identical, so it didn't take me long before I checked everything I wanted to check. I got some haul. A new set of clothes, a new pair of shoes, and a pair of protective gloves for bikers were added to my backpack. There was nothing else in this room, so I left and immediately checked the other neighboring room.

The next room barely had anything useful. The only interesting thing it had was detergent and some abandoned condiments in the pantry, like salt and ground pepper. I took them as they were important taste enhancers for my food before I left and went to the next and final room.

The final room was the same, with the only difference being that it had something useful in it. I found tapes. Specifically, I found both scotch tape and a used duct tape. I might not have a use for it right now, but I felt it would be important for my survival, so I put it in my bag.

After that, I jumped back to my starting point.

Thus ended my first scavenge run in my new base.

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When the evening came, I spent my time duplicating today's loot until I was low on mana before starting my dinner. Dinner was only canned tuna, as I haven't found anything that would let me heat up water for my ramen cup. It was a bit tiring just eating plain, oily, tuna-flavored processed food, so I decided to experiment by adding a pinch of salt on it and eating it. It was a bit salty, but it gave some variety to my otherwise bland palate.

If I was ever forced to leave my base once more due to some reason, I would bring the condiments with me!

"Thanks for the food!"

After a meal, I simply threw them outside by briefly entering the Faded World. I couldn't just risk peeking my head out outside my porch, even if I was on the fifth floor. The monstrous birds might have just dragged me out without me noticing.

I know there is a low chance of that, but I am not going to risk it!

After that brief stint, I lay on my bed and started thinking.

Right. For the following week, I'll be physically hunting zombies through the Faded World in the morning. After lunch, I'll go on a scavenging run. Then in the evening, it would be duplicating loot and rest. I think that is a simple enough self-imposed schedule for me.

I hope that is enough to secure my own sanctuary, but there is a persistent voice in my mind that it won't be forever.

There is still the food crisis. Preserved food doesn't mean it could be preserved forever. They would expire, and I would be forced to find food again. Drinking from the same water bottle, regardless of whether I duplicated it or not, might also be a bad idea. I needed some sort of water filter just to make sure the water I'm drinking was safe. I think I recall some people saying that water bottles have microplastics or whatnot, though I don't really understand it myself.

There was also the issue about the evolving monsters. I'm not blind. I could see the gradual rate those flesh monsters covered the entire street and how some other mutated animals, like those monstrous birds, kept increasing as time passed. It might not be now, it might not be this week, but I wouldn't know whether this place would still be habitable in the next two weeks or even the next month.

Those were worries that ran through my mind as I lay on my bed. Soon, sleep has claimed me.