Employment Ice Age of the Dead - Chapter 3

 Scavenging

"Aaaah!"

"Uuuugh!"

"Itchy... tasty..."

"Since it's before opening hours, are they employees?"

To secure daily necessities, I ran to a shopping mall near my home.

On the way, I scavenged products from stores and convenience stores I passed by... strictly speaking, it's theft, but since this is an emergency, I mentally apologized... Then, I smashed the front entrance of the unopened shopping mall with my bronze sword and stepped inside, only to be attacked by dozens of zombies.

Swinging my sword, I severed the zombies' heads and burned their bodies with Heal.

Simply decapitating them won't defeat zombies, nor does it grant experience points or level me up.

Since it doesn't yield mana stones either, killing them this way was a hassle, but I had no choice.

"Can't forget to replenish my mana..."

I made sure to collect the mana stones dropped by the defeated zombies and used them to recharge my mana.

When it comes to zombies, burning them works to defeat them, but this is going to be tough for regular people.

"I reached Level 4."

Progress is steady, but leveling up will gradually become harder from here on out.

In the other world, there were plenty of powerful non-undead enemies, but in this world, there are currently only zombies.

I could easily imagine that, going forward, no matter how many I defeated, my level wouldn't go up as easily.

Either special individuals acting as strong bosses would need to appear, or I'd have to speed up leveling by defeating skeletons that revive from the bones of slain zombies.

"Since it takes time for skeletons to revive from zombie bones, I'll just have to leave them as they are for now."

In the other world, to prevent skeletons from reviving, I tried grinding bones into powder, soaking them in holy water, and scattering them around, but in the end, they still revived.

I just had to give up and accept that it's how the system works.

More importantly right now, I need to grow strong enough to reliably defeat skeletons.

I must stay focused, use my brain, and avoid getting surrounded and overwhelmed by hordes of undead.

Because the strength of weak undead like zombies lies in group tactics utilizing their vast numbers.

"I'm sweeping up all the goods in this shopping mall!"

It housed a general supermarket, home improvement center, restaurants, and various specialty stores, so I thoroughly gathered products and anything that looked useful.

I made sure not to forget collecting items stored in the backroom as well.

Once finished, I moved to the gas station adjacent to the shopping mall.

"Filling the portable gas cans I obtained with gasoline and diesel before storing them. And filling the plastic jerrycans with kerosene..."

If you store liquids like gasoline directly into the Item Box, they'll spill all over the ground when taken out, so the portable gas cans and jerrycans I gathered from the home center proved useful.

Moving forward, it's highly likely these fuels will become impossible to obtain.

Cruel oil imports from overseas and the refining of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene will surely grind to a halt.

"Fuel will become precious. Since I also gathered generators, I can use those to power home appliances. No, maybe solar panels and storage batteries would be better. For the electricity one person needs to live, generating power with solar panels should be enough."

At the same time, I gathered heaters and stoves.

It's the middle of summer right now, but winter will arrive soon enough.

Stoves should be more useful than electric heaters that rely on power.

Naturally, I didn't forget to collect firewood, charcoal, gas canisters, and portable gas stoves either.

"The camping gear store had a lot of convenient items. I took everything."

I don't quite know the exact capacity limit of my Item Box, so as long as I can store things, I'll keep packing them in; if it gets full, discarding unnecessary items won't be a problem.

With zombies spawning en masse all over the world and people attacked by zombies turning into zombies one after another, I need to collect as many supplies and food items as I can right now.

"From now on, many things taken for granted in modern society will no longer be possible. That's why securing supplies while I can is essential."

If I try hard enough, I should be able to gather enough supplies and food to maintain a modern lifestyle until I die.

Fortunately, I am single, with no responsibility for a wife or children.

Living alone, I should be able to manage somehow.

Having gone through something as harsh as defeating the Demon Lord, my only wish now is to live peacefully for the rest of my life.

"Guess I'll check other places too..."

A while back, a certain comedy duo's phrase became popular: "You can never have too much of this stuff."

Supplies and food will never go to waste, no matter how much I have.

I borrowed cars belonging to the people working at the shopping mall.

I don't own a car, but I do hold a license... though I've been a paper driver for a long time... and best of all, driving without a license in this situation means there's no fear of getting pulled over by police officers.

Driving a car for the first time in a while, I systematically scavenged everything useful from stores, warehouses, and homes across town.

"Still, why haven't I run into any survivors?"

Ever since returning to this world, everyone I've encountered has already turned into a zombie.

I doubt every single resident in this town has become a zombie, but even if there are survivors, they've likely already fled the town.

Among the numerous zombies, many were bloated from drowning, missing parts of their bodies eaten by fish, or rotted beyond recognition.

"It seems highly likely the zombies came ashore from the sea."

My apartment, the shopping mall, the warehouses, and the stores I've visited so far are all along the coast.

People along the coast were probably attacked and turned into zombies by those coming ashore.

There might still be survivors inland or in the mountains, but to go check on them, securing supplies and leveling up remain my top priorities right now.

"It's been a while since I last drove, but there don't seem to be any problems."

This is probably thanks to my improved reflexes and dynamic vision from training and leveling up in the other world.

And as I deduced, there are plenty of zombies along the coast; I gather supplies from seaside shops and warehouses while defeating them along the way.

"...I need to hurry."

You can never have too much food.

Above all, the electricity has finally gone out.

I wanted to collect as much fresh food as possible before it spoils.

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