I hide among the mountain of metal and aim. They are different from the previous ones. They do not wear any armor or hold any weapons. They look like zombies from the movie. However, they are grosser because I can see pus and maggots coming out of their bodies.
There are four of them, and so far, they are the only infected in this area.
I look through the scope on my lasgun and take a deep breath. I aim at one of the infected and press the trigger. A flash of red light appears, and the head explodes. I aim at the next infected and do the same.
It does not take long before all of them are dead.
I quickly move away from my current location and wait for reinforcement, in case there is one. It looks like there is one. There are five more unarmored infected, but two are holding weapons this time.
I take a prone position, hidden among the rusted metals, and aim at the one carrying a weapon. When I press the trigger, another head explodes, and I quickly aim at the infected next to it and shoot him right in the head.
I ignore a new notification in the corner of my vision and continue killing the infected.
I wait for another reinforcement, and after a couple of minutes of silence, I release a sigh. The bubble has yet to appear, which means there are still infected in the area. I summon the gacha and look at what I got.
|Congratulations on killing your first Dreg Stalker! You receive 1 Bronze Ticket!|
Right. That is good, I guess. I need to clean this area first. I slowly walk through the convoluted 'road' made of metal and keep myself in the dark. Rob is kind enough to give me dark clothes, which I will use to my advantage.
Luckily, I don't need to think about the supply because I have already changed my magazine to the one I got from Gacha. I leave the power pack back in the base and will use it in an emergency.
After walking for a minute, I stopped when I noticed a group of infected people kneeling and praying in front of a Star of Chaos made of metal. I can see screaming humans being sacrificed on the altar in front of them, and I aim.
There are seven of them. Two of them are holding lasguns, and I can see four lasguns on the ground. I take a deep breath, aim for one of the ones holding a lasgun, and press the trigger. When I kill him, I aim at the one next to him and kill him.
The others take their weapons and start firing at me.
I take cover and use the small opening in my cover to kill one of them. I keep firing and kill two more infected before I need to take cover as one of the lasers almost hits me. I duck under the cover and aim at the infected who try to run away.
I kill one of them who tries to run away, and quickly kill the one who tries to enter a room.
I can see a bubble appear in the middle of the area and expand. With this, the hangar and the entrance are protected from Nurgle's gift. I am lucky to get here because the hangar and the entrance are open and do not have a complicated room.
It looks like it is a recycling area where the Cog Boys put all their recyclable metal and send the recycled metal to other areas. I saw a small mountain of recycled metal near the hangar.
If I get power that lets me build something, I will have a good resource in this area. Sadly, I need to get them through gacha, a notorious power that will not grant you the power you want or even need.
I am lucky so far, but I know my luck will run out soon.
I decided to return to my base and rest for the day. It has been a few hours since I did my patrol, and I am hungry. While walking, I decide to open the notification.
|Congratulations on killing 5 Dreg Stalkers! You receive 1 Bronze Gacha!|
|Congratulations on killing 10 Infected! You receive 1 Bronze Gacha!|
Oh! I can get more after killing a certain number of enemies, huh? Number is not a problem on this planet. Hive City is known for its number. Hive Tertium might not reach a hundred billion in population, but it still reaches double-digit billions of humans.
There are a lot of infected. I don't know if the infection has already reached a billion, but I will not be surprised.
I am on the edge of the hive city, and I know there will still be a lot of people when I go deeper.
After walking for a few minutes, I arrive inside my base and release a sigh. I summon an apple and take a bite. It is crisp and sweet. Man, this apple is good.
I open my gacha and start rolling. I have three tickets and use all of them.
[Spray Water]
|Common Ability|
Allows you to unleash a spray of water from your hands like a showerhead or a hose. Useful for putting out fires and dousing people.
This one is not bad. I don't know if this is drinkable water or not, but at least I can conjure water.
[Novice Biology]
|Common Skill|
You have the skills and knowledge of a Biology Major. You have a decent repertoire of knowledge regarding biology, bodies, organs, and how things interact with biology.
I can feel a rush of knowledge entering my eyes. The gacha cramps my head with all kinds of knowledge that let me become a biologist. Sadly, all of them are 21st-century knowledge. It is impressive, but outdated if we go by this world's knowledge.
It is impressive but useless to me at the moment.
Let's hope the last one is better.
[Canto]
|Rare Item|
Cyberpunk - The Canto is a legendary Cyberdeck that many consider a myth. This implant functions as a very powerful computer connected to your brain, allowing you to interface with and easily hack even the toughest networks, thanks to the sentient Super AI loaded inside, helping you with your endeavours. Manifests as a ticket that installs itself in your body when you rip it.
I look at the description in shock and can feel a massive grin appearing on my face. Without hesitation, I take out the ticket and tear it apart. A second later, I can feel something change inside of me.
{Initialization complete. Neural pathways aligned. Cognitive capacity expanded. Hello, Master Kael. I am Canto.}
I gasp as schematics, data streams, and encrypted signals flicker across my vision. I blink for a second and turn off the vision, returning to my normal vision.
"Right, Canto."
{Yes, Master Kael?}
"Can you hack into this sector's system?"
{Of course, Master Kael.}
"Please stop calling me Master. Call me Kael."
{Of course. Searching for connection… Establishing foundation… Entering Cyberspace… Granting full access… Access established. I am in, Kael. I have access to the Refinery Delta-17. Sadly, the other regions have stronger firewalls and require time and external help to let me enter the system.}
"Perfect! We can think of the other region later. For now, can you access the camera around this place? Is the camera looking here?"
{There are a total of 347 cameras, Kael. However, only one working camera is looking in this place's general direction.}
"Really? Can it see me when I leave?"
{No. However, it can see you when you walk toward the vault gate to the east.}
Right, that is good. I am not exploring that area.
"Can you create a map for me and the location of the infected? The people who look like zombies."
{I can do that, Kael. However, there are a lot of black spots because of the lack of cameras.}
"That's fine. As long as I know the general location of the enemies, it is good."
{Generating the map… Map Generated}
A map appears in the corner of my vision, and I can see the nearby infected. Perfect! With this, I will have an easier time surviving in this hellhole.
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For you guys who don't know, I took a loan to pay for all the funeral expenses, and I need to pay quite a bit for the first installment. I don't have enough money to pay for rent, the electric bill, and food, alongside that monthly payment. I need your help to pay for the first few payments so I have enough savings to pay the rest without risking my family and me going starving or not paying rent.
For anyone who wants to help me, you can go to my Ko-fi: Ko-fi.com/fangrove
I post the Warhammer: Darktide fanfic there as well. There are three chapters there!
Or if you want to read more of my work, you can visit my P@treon at: [email protected]/fangrove