Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 176: Don't Make Me Angry

The living room was in disarray littered with all kinds of garbage. Some of the chairs were toppled as if people left in a hurry. Overall, the place seems like someone hosted a house party and forgot to clean up afterward.

Jun didn't search the kitchen or other parts of the house since he assumed that anything of importance would have been probably looted by now. The only thing he was interested was finding a photo of Marcus, so he would know his target's facial features.

He swept the living room for any kinds of photos. When he found nothing, he climbed upstairs and searched the rooms earnestly one by one, making sure that he won't unluckily miss it.

In the end, he found nothing after searching four rooms. It was noticeable that everything from drawers to closets were looted orderly, as if the person who took every piece of cloth wasn't in a hurry.

Jun attributed not finding a single photo of the man to his family safely surviving the initial phase. If that was really the case, he has no choice but to follow his backup plan. 

To go to the Barangay Hall.

Marcus was a well-known Barangay Official. With this as the lead, Jun easily came up with the idea that it was almost guaranteed to have Marcus' photograph at the Barangay Hall.

Though Jun doesn't know the area well, he could easily get information from strangers.

The only source of light on the streets were the still functioning solar-powered street lamps. Though they were dim and orangy in color, it was enough to traverse the streets safely.

The first time he met someone and asked for directions, he got ignored by the other person. He thought that the man was just in a hurry., so he tried asking the next person he met. Surprisingly, he got ignored again.

By the third time Jun met a stranger, he offered to give a can of food if the person was willing to answer a question. The man was about to ignore him but turned back and agreed. Before even hearing the question, the man demanded for the canned food to be handed over first; incase that Jun decided to renege on his promise after he answered his question.

Apparently, people have become so self-centered that they weren't willing to help other people unless they would stand to gain from it. Or probably, it was because there's only limited amount of time to scavenge with too many competitions.

After the exchange, the two gratefully thanked each other. Before the man could leave, Jun grabbed the man's neck from behind and used Rob.

After the stat check, Daylight Robbery was activated.

Instead of taking the maximum items that he could take, Jun only took the canned food that he paid the man. He even casually commented that he took his canned food back and left.

The man checked his dimensional storage after Jun left, and felt that his items were intact. He felt dismayed after getting scammed but felt relief when he realized that he just dodge a bullet there. He wasn't even a third of that man's strength! It was already lucky that he wasn't robbed clean.

The two went on their own ways and the man considered the event a strange encounter.

After several twists and turns, Jun finally arrived at the Barangay Hall. It was a simple two-storied building with land parcel measuring around 20 square meters. Aside from the front door and the second floor's balcony, there was literally nothing else to look at.

The walls were coated in blood-red just like Marcus' house. The front gate that serves as a safety measure to prevent crooked minded people from stealing things was destroyed by its gate lock. 

Normally, people could file complaints or ask for aide whenever necessary but with people acting like before, it was impossible for things to go back the same way.

Jun entered and stood at the center of the lobby. There is a Health Office, a canteen, and a Senior Citizen Office on the first floor. He won't be going upstairs to investigate what's up there since he already found what he was looking for.

Behind the reception desk, the wall was filled with portraits of the current Barangay Officials. He easily found Marcus' portrait since the girls gave him a description of the man.

Jun stared hard at the innocent-looking man on the photo.

The man had short hair with a round face. He chuckled a bit when he saw the crooked nose since he thought that the girls were exaggerating when they were describing him. It was either Marcus' liked brawling or something unfortunate happened for him to look like this.

Besides the beer-belly; a common trait of most barangay officials, Jun noticed that Marcus' left eyebrow was slashed at the center. There was a gap that made it look like the man received some injury before.

Jun memorized Marcus' face as best as he could.

When he was about to leave, the other person that he was ignoring since earlier came out of the canteen and pointed a kitchen knife on him.

The man was trembling and appeared desperate as if he was already on wit's end. The man said pleadingly, "Trust me. I don't want to do this, nor do I want to hurt you. Please leave some food behind and just go. We both don't want unnecessary trouble, right?"

Jun stared in awe above the man's head. The question marks were green, which means that the man has positive thoughts on him.

He's threatening me with a knife but still has green color? So things like this could happen? What a caring robber! Just like me!

Jun ignored the man's threats and dashed forward. He didn't use any weapon since it was too overkill for someone who looked like that he just found the knife recently at the canteen.

"No, please listen to me! Things get bad when I get angry! You won't like it when I'm angry!" the man pleaded once more. He sliced and diced but Jun easily dodged every one of his strikes.

Jun scoffed and said, "Then show me."

When the man realized that Jun wasn't the crowd type of mana type of person who only becomes strong when there's a lot of people behind him, the man sighed and let Jun's punch hit him. His eyes were staring at Jun in contempt as if saying that he asked for what's to come.

Upon seeing that the man willingly opened himself for an attack, Jun felt weirded out and reduced the force that he used on the attack.

Even if that was the case, the man still widened his eyes when he felt the excessive force that came from Jun's attack.

Jun's punch landed on the man's stomach causing him to arch his body backward as he spat out empty air. At the same time, the irises of his eyes reddened.

The man slightly flew in the air before regaining balance by taking a few steps backward. His body trembled and both of his hand clutched his head as if he was in severe pain. His body started emitting weird noises while his skin glowed in red.

All of a sudden, the man's biceps gained explosive growth which destroyed his sleeve. The jeans he was wearing exploded with the increase of size in the leg's muscle. Even the shirt was not an exception as the whole torso expanded along with every other muscle.

Jun had to look up now since the man was around two-meters tall.

If it weren't for the glaring red eyes, Jun would have suspected that the person in front of him was a Destroyer! It was cool but Jun wasn't affected. Unless the man was bald and wears a suit, he would never back down.

The two exchanged punches for a few times before the man passed out, shrinking to his original self. 

Even with the explosive changes on the man's physique, Jun easily overpowered him. His body has undergone an upgrade with his flesh and bones refined a tier above everyone else.

Even he was little compared to the man's transformation, the stats alone was already a great counter.

A few walls from the Barangay Hall were destroyed.

Jun carried the man on his shoulders, then started walking back to the hospital. Normally, he wouldn't care about other people's safety, but the man's skill was too unique. He needs to learn what it is and whether he could learn it.

Even if he can't learn it, he could counter the skill if he knew how it works. Its literally impossible for a skill to be unique. Someway or another, it would have a resemblance from the skill with a little adjustment. If he ever met someone with this kind of skill, later on, he wouldn't be surprised anymore.

The girls were surprised when Jun came back with an unconscious man.

Jun explained the events and takes the responsibility for watching over the unconscious man. Once he learned of what he wants, he would send the man away.

As he waited for the man to wake up, he checked his mail and saw Evo's reply.

The two started chatting about their discoveries for the day and the town's progress.