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Chapter 7: Temporary Life
🕑 Added 2025-05-06 08:55:12 +0000 UTCAnother morning, another dull and silent sight of my room.
Every day, I wake up in the same dull room. At first, I'm fine with it. I always prefer being alone to mingling with others. Though, as time passed, this constant reminder that I'm alone in a hostile environment where monsters lurked below me and nervous about whether some sort of amalgamation might be lurking outside my room was hitting my psyche negatively.
I thought I would feel safe just staying in my room, but sometimes, there was a nagging feeling in my mind that this life might be temporary. There might come a time when I would be forced to leave, and that scared me!
I don't want to leave this room!
I don't have any strong attachments in this room. I simply don't want to leave because I feel safer in this room than anywhere else!
I don't know if other places are safe. Maybe this place might actually be the last safe place, and anywhere else is filled with dangerous creatures, or maybe I'm just being paranoid and there are other safe places out there?
How would I know?
"... Ugh... I'm just feeling hungry..."
Right, thinking about useless stuff like this is just a waste of time. Whenever I woke up, my mind just fell on such depressive thoughts.
I'll just eat, do my usual activity, and calm myself.
So long as I continue burning enemies with Molotovs, I won't have to worry about those monsters reaching me.
____________________
Without running water, I'll have to be a bit creative when cleaning myself up. I used my water bottles just to clean myself. It might sound quite luxurious and incredibly dumb, but this is the apocalypse. Also, I'm the only one who can do it with my powers.
I still have my soap, shampoo, conditioner, and other stuff to take care of my hygiene. Just because the world has ended doesn't mean I have to forgo cleaning my body. In fact, I think hygiene is quite important, more than ever.
What if there are some incurable diseases out there that target people who haven't cleaned themselves... Okay, that's quite the reach.
I just want to feel clean. It will feel wrong not cleaning myself at all. If I have the chance, I have to continue doing so.
After cleaning myself up, I just picked my clothes randomly. It's getting quite cold lately, maybe because it is at the end of the autumn season right now. So I picked something that covered my entire body.
Unlike my body, I don't bother cleaning my clothes. I can just duplicate them. My dishes are likewise just thrown out of the window. My power makes my search for resources trivial.
"I'm really grateful about getting this power..."
I still don't know how I got this power. I have some questions, but it's not like someone will answer me, nor will an answer just fall on my lap conveniently. It's just a simple curiosity that passed through my mind.
"Hm?"
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of flapping. It came from beyond my windows. Curious, I opened the curtains to my window and looked out. I noticed a swarm of birds fluttering around under the dreary sky. I thought they were near to me at first, but when I looked closer, I realized they were rather far away. Their size made it appear as if they were closer to my eyes.
I pull out my phone and open the camera app to take a close look at them. After briefly expanding my window and focusing in on the flock, I finally see them properly. Chills flow down my spine at realizing their true visage. Their feathers were completely black. Their whole body appeared to be larger than a vehicle. They have sharp-looking beaks with indications of spiky teeth underneath. Their eyes resembled a swirl of yellow and black. Their talons appear sharp and dangerous.
They looked absolutely terrifying in my eyes!
And there is a flock of them that has roosted on top of a building a few houses distant from the high-rise apartment building where I live. There are more than twenty of them, according to my estimates. The majority of them landed on the building's roof, with only a few swooping down to the ground. I was curious, so I aimed my camera down, and I was astonished to see one of these crow-like creatures easily take one of those muscular zombies.
Each of these massive black birds captured tougher versions of the undead in their beaks. They brought them to the roof, where their flock was sleeping. As they returned, I saw them plainly munching on undead flesh. I feared they would become infected and transform into enormous zombified birds, but as time passed, none of them showed any signs of being affected by whatever virus the zombies possessed. They merely remained on top of the structure, with a couple of them sometimes diving into the streets to capture zombies.
When I saw one of those birds point their beaks in my direction, I nearly screamed in panic. I quickly closed my windows and covered them with drapes. I found myself sitting on the floor, gripping my chest, trying to calm my racing heart when I came to.
That is terrifying! What's with that creature!?
Those muscular zombies are quite large. How can they easily snap them up with their beaks!?
This is bad. What if they start targeting me!? Can I even survive?
... Right. I just have to stay inside my room. It's made of pure concrete. They cannot break through solid concrete walls, right?
Even as I attempt to convince myself with those thoughts, worry has already taken root in my heart. I felt in my heart that my quiet life huddled within my room was coming to an end!
I simply do not want to acknowledge it...
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The arrival of those birds and the fear I felt at their terrifying capabilities stopped me from doing my usual routine of throwing Molotovs. My mana grind has come to a halt, all because I'm scared of getting the attention of those giant crows!
I spent my entire day yesterday sitting on my bed, resting, rolling, and just distracting myself with anything without ever facing my window.
"This can't go on!"
Right. If I continue hiding pathetically like this, I will be wasting precious time that can be used to increase my mana. If I want to survive, I have to confront those birds!
Recently, I have accumulated enough money that will let me stay in an alternate dimension for fifty minutes. If I just only stay at the safe levels on my mana usage, I think I can comfortably stay at an alternate dimension for 35 minutes.
I really don't want to acknowledge this, but I have to prepare for that eventuality!
If I am going to be forced to flee from my base, then I need more mana to have enough time to leave the building and find a place that I can use to hide.
I have to grind more mana by killing monsters!
How can I do that then?
Well, I have a plan!
"Please, don't look at me."
I slightly parted the curtains covering my windows to peek outside. Seeing those folks still staying in that place made me hesitate, but the reminder that not doing so would be detrimental to me in the future forced me to go with it.
"Okay, Yakumo, this is just easy. I'll just open the window, throw it, and then close it quickly. Just do it. I can do it!"
I clenched my fist, pumping myself up for my next plan.
My plan is very simple. I'll just throw one Molotov and immediately close my windows. Then I'll gauge the reaction of those birds. If they target me, I'll immediately abandon this room and look for somewhere else. If they don't, then I'll continue doing this until they react.
Am I being foolish? Maybe I shouldn't be doing this at all!
Whatever. No one is there to give me advice. If the internet were still running, I would have asked in a forum what I should do in this situation. Sadly, it's impossible to do that.
So I have to just suck it up and leave it to fate what will happen to me.
It's scary. I don't want to do anything risky!
But I have to do it. I have to be strong if I want to survive this apocalypse!
"... This is not that dangerous."
That's right. I don't know about others, but if there are survivors out there, I'm sure they are still fighting these monsters with makeshift spears or anything that they can use to whack up someone. If they have a gun, then cool, but that doesn't mean anything. I assume they don't have a power that makes things convenient for them like mine.
Just imagining a life where I have to constantly check whether monsters are beside me and constantly scavenge for food while risking my life on each of those hunts is making me shiver. Compared to that, just throwing Molotovs and hoping for those birds not to notice me is preferable.
With that reassurance in my mind, I calmed down somewhat, and my fragile confidence hardened for a bit as I glared at the birds.
"Okay... time to do this!"
Once more, I hyped myself up before slowly opening the windows.
