The two snuck their way through the neighbourhood like rats; crawling under shrubs, dashing past gates, and stopping only when they thought they heard something.
After a few minutes of sneaking around, they made it to the convenience store without a hitch. It seemed the streets were indeed completely deserted.
"What is that?" Chul asked, looking up at the exclamation mark that hovered over the convenience store.
Han stared at it for a moment. Even up close, it looked ethereal, and the yellow fog it let off didn't seem to be doing much to the 7/11 sign right below it.
'This place gives me the creeps...' he thought, before shaking his head.
"I don't know. But let's find what we need and get out of here," he replied, before walking towards the entrance.
The store itself was in bad shape. Its once green paint was now covered in char and soot. And parts of it had been eaten away by fleshy vines that seemed more like intestines than vegetation.
"Are we really going in there?" Chul asked with a gulp; however, Han had already entered. "Oi, don't leave me out here alone," he whispered, hurrying in behind Han.
The inside of the store was just as expected. Shattered glass littered on the ground, blood splattered everywhere, shelves tumbled over... and unfortunately, not a scrap of food left.
"You notice how there's blood everywhere, but not a single body?" Han whispered, searching through the freezers in the hopes that someone had left something behind.
Chul just shrugged at that. "Maybe whatever killed them ate them. Wouldn't be too surprised," he replied. "We might be dealing with zombies, by the vibe of this place," he added, searching for something behind the till.
"Found it!"
Han glanced back at him. "Found what?"
"The keys to the backroom," Chul replied with a smug expression, walking down the aisle towards the back.
'How'd he even know there was a backroom?' Han thought to himself, quickly catching up to Chul.
Right as they were about to open the door, they heard the front door open.
Han and Chul dove for cover behind some shelves.
"Aren't you tired of this?" A voice asked from the front of the store. It sounded female...
Han tried peeking over the shelf; however, Chul shook his head, pointing towards a mirror at the corner of the store. It gave them a full view of the entire store... though that also meant that the newcomers would be able to see them as well.
"Of doing the same quest over and over again?" another voice replied, this one male.
The newcomers were a duo, dressed in dirtied rags and rusted metallic gear. They looked straight out of a dystopian film, with weird hairstyles to boot.
"What? You'd rather go into the tower with the main team?" the male asked. He had a sword at his hip and a pan covering his chest.
"No... of course not," the female replied, metal nails decorating her hair. "I just mean we've been doing this quest for six months now," she added, taking a seat ontop of the checkout counter. "Just doesn't feel like Heron has a plan, you know."
The male rolled his eyes. "Heron keeps us alive, and he's trying to defeat the tower, ain't much more you can ask for."
Han looked towards Chul before mouthing; "I'm going to talk to them."
Chul shook his head violently, before mouthing; "Are you insane?" in response.
Perhaps he was. However, the duo that had just entered seemed to know something about this place. And they were the only humans Han and Chul had seen since arriving here. It was obviously a mistake, but perhaps they could find out something valuable.
After a bit more thought, Han smiled at Chul and gave a thumbs up; "Just stay here, and cover me."
"You're right," the female sighed. "I just want to go home..."
Han took a deep breath. 'Now or never.' He dashed towards his right to take attention off Chul's position, before taking cover behind another shelf at the other end of the store.
However, this movement didn't go unheard.
The duo unsheathed their weapons, staring towards where Han was hiding.
"You heard that too?" the male asked.
Han looked up at the mirror. 'One sword, and one dagger. No guns... good. But I have to watch out for trait abilities.' he thought, before getting to his feet with his hands raised.
"Hi."
The duo glanced at each other nervously before staring back at him.
Han just smiled, trying to seem as polite as possible. "I heard you two talking. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."
The duo took a cautious step back, eyes sweeping the store to make sure Han was alone.
"Which crew are you from?" the female asked.
"Doesn't matter. This is Heron's territory, you're overstepping," the male interrupted.
Han looked at them thoughtfully. "Heron? Territory?"
The female nugged her partner. "Look at his clothes... he's a school kid," she whispered.
The male nodded at that. "You just arrive here?" he asked.
Han thought it over for a moment before nodding.
"Didn't Heron say that spawns only happen once a ye..." the female was about to ask, right before being interrupted by her partner.
"Where's everyone else from your cohort?" the male asked. "You're the only one that made it out of the tutorial?"
'Tutorial? Was that what the metallic room was?' Han thought to himself before nodding at them. He wasn't just going to put all his cards on the table.
"Nolan, put away the sword, can't you see you're scaring him?" the female whispered, putting away her dagger.
She seemed to be in her early 30s, though her poor skin condition and matted hair probably aged her quite a bit. If Han had to guess, she was actually in her 20s.
'Still, if she's being kind towards kids, then perhaps this place hasn't gone to complete hell.'
The woman tried walking over to Han; however, her partner grabbed her by the arm.
"We can't just trust him," he said. "Little shitter, could be lying."
For a moment, there was silence, as the two just stared at Han.
'Ah, I have to play scared then?' Han thought to himself, before changing his facial expression to a more vulnerable one.
"He's just a kid, Nolan," the woman sighed, finally breaking the silence, before moving closer to get a better look at Han.
She looked sad and stared at Han with a pitying gaze. "The architects are sadists," she whispered, inspecting Han for injuries. "They've started spawning kids now?" she added, caressing Han's cheek.
Han had to fight the instinct to pull back.
He could use her to gather as much information as he needed. Besides, she might come in useful if he wanted to talk to this Heron figure. So it would be to his benefit to keep this facade running.
Just as the woman opened her mouth to say something, the ground shook.
『Quest dimension processing...』
"Fuck! The quest timer," Nolan shouted.
The woman hesitated. "We have to get him out of here." She pulled Han, trying to drag him towards the exit. However, it was too late.
Han and the woman bounced off the exit, just like with the metallic room; an invisible force field blocked their path.
『An imbalance has been detected.』
『Generating countermeasures...』
"What? Has that ever happened before?" Nolan asked the woman. However, she could only shake her head in response.
『Quest difficulty updated!』
『C-rank』
And with that, the world went black...