Hans accepted.
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[ Commander promotion confirmed. ]
[ Rank: 0 — Recruit => 1 — Squad Leader ]
[ Unlocked units: Army Soldier | Attack Dog | Scout ]
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Warmth spread through Hans. It wasn't painful, but it ran through his whole body strongly enough that he stopped moving until it passed. His breathing felt easier, his reactions sharper, and when he looked across the room, everything came into focus.
Hans slowly removed his eyeglasses. He blinked several times and looked toward the far wall again.
Those glasses had been with him for almost a decade. He stared at them for another second before setting them aside and opening his Commander panel.
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[ Commander: Hans Flemmens ]
[ Rank: 1 — Squad Leader ]
[ Soldiers: 12 Conscripts | 0 Army Soldiers | 0 Attack Dogs | 0 Scouts ]
[ Primary Weapon: MP5 Submachine Gun | 9mm | 30 rounds per magazine | 3 magazines ]
[ Sidearm: M1911 Pistol | 7 rounds per magazine | 4 magazines ]
[ Melee Weapon: Combat Knife | 18 cm steel-alloy blade | Indestructible ]
[ Personal Storage: 2 m³ ]
[ Commander Vehicles: Sidecar Motorcycle | Armored SUV ]
[ Vehicle Fuel: Refreshes every 36 hours ]
[ Stat Boost: +15% reaction speed | +15% stamina ]
[ Weapon Proficiency: +15% SMG/pistol accuracy | +10% reload speed ]
[ Medical Support Pack: 2 first-aid kits | 2 infection suppressant injections | 60% infection threshold | Refreshes every 24 hours ]
[ Platoon Leader Promotion Requirement: At least 5 squads (~60 units) | 10 Army Soldiers | 3 Scouts | 2 Attack Dogs ]
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Hans opened the Infantry tab next and checked the three newly unlocked units.
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[ Army Soldier | Cost: 400 Gold ]
[ Attack Dog | Cost: 600 Gold ]
[ Scout | Cost: 1,000 Gold ]
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The Army Soldier didn't surprise him much. Every faction needed its standard infantry, and Hans already knew what that role looked like in the game. What the System's version actually carried was another matter, and he wanted to train one eventually just to see the difference.
The Scout's price made him stop.
"A thousand Gold?"
There had been no equivalent unit in the Red Alert he remembered, which meant the name was almost all he had to work with.
"Reconnaissance, obviously, but what the hell are you carrying for a thousand Gold?"
The next step in Hans's plans was to clear the surrounding area: the three other apartment buildings, the parking area, and the large convenience store. If the Scout checked the routes and entrances first, he could send the others in with some idea of what they were walking into.
Better to know what was waiting outside before sending everyone into it.
"I should pair the Scout with a dog too."
Attack Dogs were powerful anti-infantry units in the game and could detect spies that ordinary troops missed. Hans had no idea how literally the System translated any of that here, but pairing a dog with a reconnaissance unit made enough sense on its own.
The smell of burning flesh reached him before he got much farther with that thought.
Across the open ground, well away from the apartment entrance, Adam and several Conscripts had piled the bodies from the stairwell fight. Flames crawled over the heap while Adam poured fuel onto a section that hadn't caught properly.
At least the bodies won't be rotting beside the building.
Hans walked over. "Where did you get the gasoline?"
"Commander, we found a few cans of gasoline in the apartment entrance over there." Adam pointed at the corner of the entrance where a few toppled green cans could be seen.
Hans wondered how that came about and felt that it was probably a few survivors who wanted to refuel their escape.
Whether they were dead or alive remained to be seen.
"Save a few cans. We're going to need them later."
That reminded Hans of the two vehicles he owned: the sidecar motorcycle and the armored SUV.
Transportation was necessary if he was going to explore far from this area soon. Although the vehicles would be noisy, Hans wasn't stupid enough to drive directly into the city's center.
"System, where are my vehicles?"
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[ Commander vehicles are parked behind the apartment building. ]
[ Only Commander-issued keys can activate them. ]
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"I'm going to look around. Alexei, Kenji, come with me," Hans said.
"As you order, Commander."
The two newly promoted Conscripts followed him out, keeping their MP5s ready while Hans walked around the open grounds and tried to piece the complex back together from memory.
All four apartment buildings stood along the curved access road. Beyond the complex, the wider roads were packed with abandoned cars, lines of them stretching farther than Hans could see.
"It seems everyone tried to leave at the same time."
And accomplished the opposite.
There was a gas station not far from the complex. Some drivers probably tried to reach it while others headed for the highway, but whatever happened, the roads outside had locked themselves solid.
The apartment complex itself was different, and Hans looked across the wide road between the buildings. "Why isn't this place clogged too?"
The internal roads had been built for heavy traffic during peak hours, yet surprisingly few vehicles remained around the entrances.
"Did everyone here get unlucky at the same time?"
The thought stayed with him as he crossed toward the parking lot.
The parking lot was huge, large enough for hundreds of cars, motorcycles, and big bikes, yet it was almost empty. Hans used to complain about the nightly parking fee whenever he had to pay it, but right now the size mattered more than anything else.
Only a few cars remained near his building, and most looked like they had been abandoned in a hurry. Tires were flat or torn, windows were shattered, and several side mirrors hung loose. A few vehicles had their bumpers or rear panels crushed inward.
The other apartment buildings had even fewer cars around them.
"Strange indeed..." Hans looked toward the other buildings.
Still, the complex wasn't a bad place for a temporary base. There was plenty of open ground, several large buildings, nearby stores, and enough room to take in survivors later, though the same openness also made Hans uneasy.
"This place was built for the view. Of course they didn't put walls around it."
Hans looked between the buildings and toward the open roads leading outside. Infected could approach from several directions, and humans were another problem entirely. With only twelve Conscripts, trying to watch every side would become annoying very quickly.
"I can have them put wooden fences here and here..." He traced the gaps between the buildings with one hand. "Maybe use the cars as barricades too, if we can move them."
Most of the damaged vehicles weren't going anywhere for now.
"If I can find a carpenter, or just a few survivors who know how to build things, that would make this much easier."
He had soldiers, but soldiers were still only twelve pairs of hands.
If nobody useful showed up, Hans would have to train more units himself, which brought him back to the same problem: Gold.
That brought the manager's office back to mind.
"The manager's office is between Buildings Two and Three."
The office itself wasn't worth much for securing the complex, but the manager and his assistants had never been shy about showing off. Hans still remembered the man's fat face, balding head, and those carrot-sized fingers covered in gold rings and diamond-studded jewelry.
Hans's eyes brightened. You might already be dead, so how about contributing to my cause with all that money you squeezed out of us, eh?
If the manager kept even half of what Hans imagined inside that office, it might be worth checking before they cleared the next building.
Alexei and Kenji watched their Commander grin to himself for several seconds before his stomach growled loudly enough to ruin it.
Another System ping sounded before Hans could start walking back.
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[ Ground-unit ammunition refreshed. ]
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Hans checked the time. It was already a little past noon.
"Perfect timing."
The rest of the survey could wait. For now, he needed to eat.
They returned to the apartment entrance, where the corpse fire had grown large enough for smoke to rise above the open grounds.
"This is a bit too much of a signal..." Any survivors nearby would notice that.
Hans walked over to Adam. "Don't keep feeding the fire after the bodies are gone. Put it out when you're done."
"Understood, Commander."
"After that, collect silver, gold, jewelry, watches, or anything else valuable you can find inside the building and bring it to me. If the System accepts enough of it, you'll have new brothers and sisters joining you soon."
That got the Conscripts' attention. The twelfth had only joined them recently, and more units meant more people to split the work.
"I'm getting lunch. Alexei, help them. Kenji, come with me. Send someone up if anything changes."