It was dark outside. During the time Asan had been fighting for survival, the blood-red sky had been obscured by a black veil.
First of all, Asan decided to find his comrade, hoping that the latter had not met the same fate as he himself. To his joy, he and Laszlo met up quickly. Although it was dark, a crimson light managed to filter through the veil of darkness, like moonlight. When Laszlo saw his friend at first, he noticed nothing, but as soon as he got closer, concern appeared on his face.
"Asan, what's wrong, you look... Exhausted?" his concerned friend said, looking at the slightly pale kid whose hands were covered in pink scraps.
"There was a guest in the house, I managed to deal with him somehow," Asan explained without any fuss.
Fatigue still lingered in his voice, which Laszlo noticed. He examined his friend, but his gaze was drawn to a bag containing something valuable.
"Are you okay? What did you find there?" Laszlo asked, still worried about his friend.
Asan nodded positively and reached into the bag. The first thing he felt was a serrated knife, which he immediately showed to Laszlo. The latter took the knife with a satisfied expression and started examining it as if he were a true connoisseur. After a couple of moments, he returned it.
"Not bad. I see you have one in your hand too. Don't worry about me, I found several pairs of socks, new boots, and a couple cans of meat. But what's more important..."
Laszlo reached into the bag and pulled out a knife that, unlike Asan's, looked simply incredible. It was sheathed in black cloth scabbards. Its handle was black. When Asan took it in his hand, he felt pleasant rubber and how well the knife fit in his palm. Putting the bag on the floor, he drew it from its sheath. Its short blade reflected a dull crimson color, in which he could make out an inscription.
"Hunting..." — Asan said aloud.
"Ah! It's very sharp—I almost cut myself when I was looking at it. So, do you like it?" Laszlo said with a childish and naive smile.
Looking at him, Asan felt a bit better. Despite the horror he had just experienced a few minutes ago, his friend's smile, whom he could partially trust, gave him strength.
"But! It's mine! I won't give him away!" Laszlo snatched the knife out of Asan's hand.
Well… Fine? Asan wasn't planning on taking his find anyway; he had a knife too, though not as sharp and comfortable. Besides, maybe they would find better weapons in the camp when everyone returned.
"Las, we need to move. I don't think it's a good idea to stay here longer. God knows how the creatures act at night," Asan said, looking Laszlo in the face.
In turn, he nodded and, putting his knife into sheath, after they headed towards the restaurant.
Walking down a dark street, a pleasant, cooling breeze was blowing in his face. It seemed to wash Asan's face, soothing his overloaded mind. He wanted to dissolve into this wonderful feeling. For some reason, all of this seemed beautiful to him. The deserted street, shrouded in darkness, the gentle breeze that pleasantly caressed him, and the ruby light that faintly illuminated his path in the darkness. This created an atmosphere of detachment, as if he were alone in this perfect moment.
Unfortunately, such a state could not last long, and the constant corpses did not please the eye. The stench carried by the wind prevented him from getting lost in the moment, constantly pulling him out of his melancholic state.
Ahead, in the darkness, the outlines of a new building appeared. Its exterior paint had peeled off, revealing cracked bricks. Judging by the geographer's map that was stuck in Asan's mind, they were at their destination.
And yes, he was right about Ronnie — there were a lot of them. Right now, two guys were near the bush, hiding from the creatures passing by. They were slowly wandering down the street.
Asan noticed something strange; they seemed... kind of drowsy? Did they sleep at night too?
His theory was confirmed when he saw a couple of the creatures lower their heads and stand still in the middle of the street.
"What are we going to do? We need to somehow sneak past them" Laszlo whispered.
"You answered your own question. Let's try to quietly walk past them without making contact" Asan replied in a whisper as well.
The two guys waited for the nearest group of monsters to pass and then moved forward themselves. They walked on the sidewalk where there shouldn't have been any creatures.
Every step was silent; the guys had to take off their shoes, putting them in a bag to become even quieter. Step by step, they approached the building. When the creature was nearby, Asan's heart raced, but he didn't give in to panic. After all, victory had a good effect on him; let's say, he simply didn't have the nerve to be nervous. While they were walking, Asan got an idea to quickly check on his Health points to see if the situation had improved with them.
[Health points 36/105]
Indeed, it had improved. His regeneration was still far from perfect, but seeing how his points slowly restored themselves, he was glad about it. Maybe there are some new ways to restore health faster in this world? Potions for example. They exist in every role-playing game, and since everything seems like a game based on the system, shouldn't something similar be here as well?
Shaking his head negatively, the guy realized that it was nonsense.
Even if all this seems like a game, he is still in reality, which means any comparisons could be wrong.
Thus, the guys managed to reach the restaurant intact, bypassing crowds of "Sunflowers" — that's what Laszlo decided to call them, since they "also lower their heads if they don't see the sun." The comparison, of course, is total shit, but whatever.
The entrance to the restaurant was an arch, inside of which were, surprisingly, doors. Asan was surprised by this fact, as they had only encountered torn-out doors before, so does this mean the restaurant wasn't damaged?
Quietly slipping inside, the guys found themselves in pitch darkness, making it impossible to see anything. Without much thought, Laszlo extended his hand forward and summoned a small flame, which was enough to illuminate the interior of the restaurant. The first thing that caught the eye was yet another chaos.
Most of the tables and chairs had been thrown around, and on the cracked wooden floor were scattered glass shards and wood shavings everywhere. The guys quickly put their shoes back on so as not to accidentally cut themselves.
"Well, since you're the only one with light, we'll have to walk together," Asan whispered.
"Jealous?" Laszlo replied with a smile. Asan just rolled his eyes.
"Move it already, quick in, quick out, a 20-minute adventure."
With every step, the boys' shoes crunched on the glass shards beneath them. They constantly had to watch their feet to avoid tripping and falling, the last thing they needed was to shove glass into their faces. On the few tables that were still intact, there were white tablecloths with stains on them. Laszlo decided to take them; they might come in handy for eating off the ground. Any comfort was welcome at this time.
Asan was keeping an eye on wooden salt cellars. Salt is the key to everything; it can turn even the most tasteless dish into a masterpiece and greatly helps in cooking. The same went for pepper and sugar. Soon, two guys ended up behind the bar. A couple of bottles of spirits survived, they could make a good disinfectant for various infections, which is why Asan took them. The bag gradually became heavier. In the kitchen, the guys found what they had come here for. They were more interested in disposable or wooden plates.
They weren't very sturdy, and if not handled carefully, they would definitely break. Besides, there was a lot of food found, but unfortunately, it had gone bad. Such a coincidence couldn't be called accidental anymore; maybe System thought it necessary to remove all prepared or perishable food.
From the good news side – there were many different canned goods with beans, mushrooms, pineapples, and so on. Two guys split them evenly between themselves. Now one of their sacks was packed full. It all weighed quite a bit. Asan, still not fully recovered after the fight, felt the heavy weight, so it was decided that Laszlo would be the one carrying the load.
Meanwhile, Asan was gathering utensils along with wooden ware. He also didn't forget to take a couple of pots in which someone could cook soups.
While looking around the kitchen, Asan noticed clear boot prints. This slightly worried him, but he assumed they could have been there before the catastrophe. Fatigue kept weighing heavily on his shoulders. He wanted to sleep.
"Listen, Las, let's eat something, I haven't eaten anything since morning, and I'm thirsty," said Asan with his growling stomach.
Laszlo nodded at him and took out his knife, quickly opening one of the cans of beans. At the same time, the guys would see what state they were in now. And surprisingly, everything was fine. Of course, it was silly to assume that System couldn't bypass the aluminum can in which the food was stored, but then why didn't the food rot like the rest? Shrugging, he began to eat.
By the way, they also found water. A couple of five-liter jugs should last them for a couple of days. However, there was a question: how to carry all this? It was decided to get rid of one bag of canned goods, first pulling out everything that was most valuable. Laszlo will carry one jug, and Asan the other.
"Damn, I don't want to leave all this stuff here" Laszlo grumbled, shoving another portion of beans into his mouth.
Asan, who by this point had already eaten an entire can, was washing himself clean of the blood that covered his body. Since they weren't going to take the other cans, he wouldn't get another chance like this.
Suddenly, something fell for both guys. Jumping up quickly with a mouth full of beans, Laszlo pulled out his knife and pointed his hand with fire towards the sound.
In the light of the fire, a chubby man appeared with a terrified look on his face. His large belly rose and fell rapidly as if he were choking.
"Who the hell are you?"