Slade straightened, his throat raw from silence. A rough voice emerged, gravelly and unused: "Wanna team up?"
"?" (ㆆ_ㆆ)
Olivia didn't know what to say. She didn't know the guy—for all she knew, this was the person who had pushed desperate people out to their deaths and could do it again. It was better to keep away from him.
Almost reading her mind, Slade added, "I know what I did doesn't inspire much trust for working with me. However, teaming up gives us a higher chance. I understand you might have better control of energies than the rest of us right now."
Olivia froze for a moment. Does he know? But how? Does he have something from the Roulette that revealed info on me? She didn't think her previous group might have told him or that he could have eavesdropped on their conversations.
Danger bells rang in her head. She felt that rejecting him could bring immediate danger, and accepting might be risky with this mysterious person.
This danger sense seemed to have developed after she advanced further with her physique. Trying to stay calm, she probed, "You don't need to know about that. What do you plan to focus on—killing or exploration?"
She didn't plan to give away anything now—who knew, somewhere down the line she might be looking over her shoulder throughout the month, only to die from carelessness. She tried to look deep into Slade's almost-covered eyes.
Slade looked back into Olivia's eyes, where a spark of survival lit up her dark irises. After a moment's thought, he revealed, "I'm going to focus on killing. Exploration doesn't have clear rules like counting the number of monsters killed."
"Exterminating would lead to better exploration, and exploring would also require taking out monsters. So I think it's better to focus on extermination than pure exploring. However, if you plan to explore, we can take roles as explorer and exterminator."
Slade said this in one go—the most he might have said since the beginning of the apocalypse.
Olivia looked at Slade and considered his words. He made some valid points, but she was still uncomfortable trusting him to watch her back.
She suddenly thought, After talking with the group that was originally exploring with me and the people who had been kicked out, it seemed he had banished everyone. Some of the missing ones might have died in the forest. So, what happened to the original population? Did City 01 never have any people at the beginning?
Thinking up to here, Olivia stopped—because the next possibility was too unnerving and hair-raising. She instinctively glanced at the ground around her, recalling the rumor about the guy who was pulled underground.
Slade watched her, not knowing what she might be thinking. But seeing her suddenly look toward the ground set off alarms in his head: Does she know? Should I silence her— Before he could finish the thought, Olivia raised her head and extended her hand in a gesture of handshake.
"Let's team up. But first, let's complete collecting or making what we need. I also want to ask: would you be open to other people joining, or...?" Olivia let the end hang in the air.
Slade shook her hand and continued, "No, it would be better with fewer people—makes us a smaller target and easier to escape. If really necessary, then maybe one or max two, no more than that. Anything more becomes a crowd with too many opinions and hinders cooperation."
Olivia nodded and asked, "Do you know how to get something like Kevlar for protection?"
Slade thought for a moment and said, "Kevlar wouldn't be an option post-apocalypse unless bought from the Apocalypse Store. Although if you're really thinking of spending points, it would be better to buy something else."
Olivia feigned thoughtfulness about what he had said, but internally she thought, I know that—I'm just thinking of saving points, fool.
This somewhat assured her that he might not have spun the Roulette yet and was still just checking the Store—which was good. The Roulette was better than the Store because it offered better chances of getting something useful for cheaper points, despite the unknown odds of landing a truly valuable item.
"Okay, I'll check on my end. So, when do we leave?"
Slade responded, "Dawn, tomorrow."