The wind welcomed me with a slap the moment I stepped out. Luckily, my mouth and nose were already covered. Even then, I could still feel the bitter cold through the fabric.
Pulling the cloak’s hood to shield my eyes from the snow, I scanned the area around me.
The girls had already left the base’s compound. They were walking in the direction of one of the nearby houses.
Shifting my gaze from the pair, I found the path back to the hill we spawned on. It was through a broken section of the gate at the back of the house.
The footsteps we’d left in the path were already faint. It wouldn’t be long before they completely disappeared given the volume of snowfall.
I sighed, before carefully walking along it, crossbow at the ready. Scanning every nook, cranny, and shadow on my way there for even the slightest signs of motion. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novelFirｅ.net
Soon enough, I was near its top once again.
I crouched before ascending it, moving next to a black rock jutting out of its crest.
Leaning against it, I poked my crossbow out just enough that it could comfortably capture everything below. I hid the rest of my body as best I could behind the craggy outcrop.
Through the scope, I scanned the city below.
The layout of the city was somewhat concentric, with three segmented rings of districts forming the city proper. Multiple snow-covered roads emerged from its form, snaking and splitting along the snowy expanse beyond its reach, often ending in clusters of buildings and suburbs on its outskirts.
Our current location was likely one such suburb.
Turning my gaze back to the city.
The districts in its outside ring looked to have mainly been residential in nature, while the middle ring contained the remains of parks, office blocks, and malls.
The centre ring was a single district, and the largest among all the other districts. It contained colossal, skeletal corpses of skyscrapers, what looked to be a stadium, a town hall, hotels, and luxurious corporate complexes.
All of it was in a state of utter desolation. Slowly being buried beneath relentless snowfall.
However, within the ruined cityscape, I could see flashes of movement on the streets, figures darting in and out of buildings, and shadows constantly moving.
The movements only got more frequent the closer one moved to the city centre.
That just confirmed my suspicions about monster density.
Now, with such a setup, one might think it better to just stay in the outskirts of the city, only heading close to the city to hunt some monsters before retreating back to the safety of the outskirts.
It was a completely reasonable and safe play too. But it was exactly what the academy wanted you to do.
By the third day, the Predator would arrive from outside the city and start its hunt. Its first target area would be the outskirts. When it was done with that it would go deeper, then deeper, until it reached the central ring of the city.
So paradoxically, the safest place by the end would be the central ring, chock-full with monsters.
’We have to start moving inwards as soon as possible, if we want to stay ahead of the beast.’
I had to meet up with Song to be able to even dream of facing it.
Especially since a blizzard would be happening tomorrow.
Yeah, as though the monsters and Predator weren’t enough, there were also periodic blizzards that completely grounded you wherever you were.
Of course, said blizzards did absolutely nothing to slow the Predator down.
’Why was I such a cruel bastard before?’
I wouldn’t be having nearly as many problems if I’d just written an OP harem book. But nooo... I just had to be a special little snowflake.
Sighing, I shifted the scope to the environs close to our location.
It was rather easy finding the path connecting this suburb to the city. It was a modest, winding thing that eventually merged with a major highway leading into the city.
The path itself was relatively clear, with no visible movement occurring on or around it.
The highway it merged into, on the other hand, was littered with the bodies of cars. I could see figures roaming along its length as well.
Although their silhouettes were blurry due to me being quite far out, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were.
They were among the weakest monsters in the entirety of the simulation, being ranked only as Fledgling Whelps.
The ones out here were likely too weak to survive in competition in the city. As a result, they’d been pushed to the outskirts. However, just because they were weak didn’t mean they were exactly easy to deal with.
Using that road would pose considerable danger, especially if a horde of them spotted us in the open. Then we’d be well and truly fucked.
Unfortunately, there were no other alternatives.
’Have thirty minutes passed?’
As if to prove a point, I got a call from Maki right then. I picked it up without hesitation.
The call manifested itself in my vision as a holographic picture of a cat with stylized soundwaves floating just below it.
’Is that her profile pic?’
"Did anything happen?"
Her reply came through clear, but a bit staticky at the end there.
"I’m meant to be asking you that. Why aren’t you here yet? It’s already been thirty minutes."
’I lost track of time there?’
I let out a sigh, before replying.
"Sorry about that. There was just so much to scan, that I lost track of time in the end."
A sigh of relief came from her end.
"It’s fine. Just be more mindful next time. We thought something happened to you out there."
"Will do. Sorry for worrying you."
"Like I said, it’s fine. Are you done scouting now?"
I gave the city one last look, before nodding.
"Then come back as soon as possible. Let’s share our findings."
"Alright, I’m leaving now."
I cut the call, before withdrawing the crossbow behind the rock. My arms already felt sore from carrying it.
I rested it on its stirrup, before brushing off the snow piled on it. Picking it up again, I crouched before heading down the hill again.
The footsteps I’d left coming up here were already faint now.
It wasn’t long before I found myself in front of the house again. Giving the door a light knock, I only had to wait for a moment before it cracked open.
Angling the crossbow, I entered. Just in time to see Lily collapse back onto her couch.
I took some time to brush off the snow that settled on my cloak, before moving back to my previous seat. The moment I did, I dropped my crossbow to the side, then pulled both my hood and scarf-mask down.
Maki deemed I was settled enough then, as she asked.
"I’m guessing you found something, right?"
I brushed some bits of snow that had settled near my eyes, before replying.
"I found quite a few somethings, yes. What about you guys?"
Lily replied this time.
"Nothing much on our end, just some more empty houses and a road leading out of this dump."
’I expected as much.’
I nodded, before continuing.
"Well, that road you found, I saw it merge with a highway leading to the city down there. The road itself is clear for the most part, but the highway it connects to is not. It’s littered with car wreckages, likely monsters as well. Most of them were Shamblers though."
I paused, before adding.
"The monster density only seems to get worse the closer you get to the city."
I explained the layout of the city after that.
Both Lily and Maki were looking at me with shocked expressions by the time I was done. Eventually, Lily broke the stunned silence.
"That’s a pretty useful scope you’ve got there."
I could only flash her a smile at that. In truth, the information I’d given them came from a mix of my knowledge of the novel and the scouting I’d done with the scope.
Combining both allowed me to form a rather clear picture of the city in my mind.
Plus, I would usually have no way of explaining how I got this knowledge. Scouting was the perfect excuse to put some of my knowledge from the novel to good use.
Maki cut in after some consideration.
"So what should we do now?"
Two options available were obvious. Stay or leave.
Leaving would certainly be more dangerous now, with monsters roaming the road to the city. However, in the end, staying would be downright suicidal due to the Predator.
Lily, having no knowledge of that hidden danger, rationally chose the safe option.
"I think we should stay, at least till we get a better plan. This place seems safe enough to serve as a proper base of operations. We can head down the nearby road and do some hunting if we want to, then easily retreat and recover at the safe house if we get tired, or if things get dangerous."
Naturally, I was all for getting the hell away from here.
But of course, I couldn’t just explain the real reason I wanted to get away.
"I think we should leave. In the end, this is still an evaluation. If we wish to get better rankings, and more points, then risks are necessary. We need to go where the monsters are. The city."
Lily looked at me like I was crazy.
"What use are the points, if we end up dying and losing half of them anyway?"
"Then what’s the point of surviving if we end up with mediocre ranks because we played it too safe?"
In the end, the both of us could only turn to face Maki.
"What do you think, Maki?"