Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 191: Oplan Warmth (2)

The SN Angono Mall was at the center of the western part of the town. If you study the Angono Town Map, you could notice that most of the housings were divided into two. In the south-western part and the north-eastern part.

In the middle of the map, a massive open-pit mining site could be found, surrounded by various factories that make and process stones.

The clearing group would start from the center of the populated town and spiral outwards in a counter-clockwise manner.

'You own anything that you kill. Group effort? Then divide it.'

The people became glad about the loot distribution.

Even if the people were already used to getting mistreated, they still wished for fair distribution, receiving something in return after working hard made them motivated enough to work harder.

Jun led the group and entered the Rainbow Village through the Rainbow Avenue. It was the subdivision across the mall, and there were no carriers to be seen.

Everyone traveled with their groups and swept the streets of the subdivision. Cain's was especially active since they were tasked as helpers for those groups who will encounter trouble.

The group met a few scavengers along the way and managed to acquire some useful information. Besides the wild animals, the subdivision only has hidden carriers around the corner. It was expected since the neighborhood was the closest one to the mall. The people must have cleared the place a long time ago.

Jun moved on and brought everyone to the Carebi Village. The village was next to Municipal Street and mostly had wandering groups of carriers. The civilian group was able to deal with enemies calmly, and Cain's group hasn't acted even once.

During the clearing operation, Jun found an Art Museum.

The place had tons of artworks on the walls blockaded by crowd-control stanchions so people can't get too close with the paintings. On the process of appreciating the pieces of art, Jun suddenly felt dizzy while his energy becomes unstable. He looked at the end of the corridor but didn't find anyone.

He quickly left the place and checked whether he got cursed or something. Nothing happened to him except for the reduced energy. He didn't activate any skill, so he became confused. He shrugged and considered the event a strange encounter.

As the group moved further south, evolved carriers finally appeared. The southern part of the town was the docking area for fishermen. The H1's and D1 here were already used to traversing the alleyways. They even used the alley as hiding spots and waited for an unsuspecting scavenger. The housing was still cramped, sticking next to each other, preventing any vision of any kind.

The civilian groups were able to handle a Hunter by using their numbers, but they failed miserably with fighting a D1. H1's could be dealt with by striking its protruding back, but a D1 needs to be killed by stabbing through the eyes since their weapons could barely scratch its skin and muscles.

Skilled individuals shine at times like this.

Cain used excellent spearmanship to cripple the D1, forcing it to the ground. The serrated chainring at both sides of the spear effectively scraped the skins of the D1's joints.

The dog-owners also showed how useful their pets were. The dogs could fight the H1's on their own while only needing to double team a D1. The two-meter D1 plopped on the ground after getting tackled repeatedly on the back. The mangled leg muscles also contributed to its downfall.

Jun never intervened and only watched from the back. Despite the girls' desperate effort to convince him, he remained as an observer.

He wanted to see how skilled everyone was and was choosing people he could invite to his Faction.

Currently, he was eyeing three people who seem useful. They were; Cain, who had excellent spearmanship, Ralph, the only dog owner who takes the lead instead of his dog, and a civilian who has a unique support skill.

He later learned that the man was called Benjie, a street performer. Not much is known to him, aside from his skill to captivate a target.

When under his spell, the target could only stare at him in a daze and will only move when attacked or after some time passed. If it weren't for that man, a lot of the civilian members could have been injured.

The evolved carriers had a 100% chance to drop related essences and is a hard currency among the populace. You could trade a lot of food for a single stat essence. The groups that managed to kill evolved carriers on their own started auctioning whether to loot the body or take the body back. Some wealthy mutated pet owners liked feeding their pets advanced meats, so the meat of higher-ranked carriers sells for a lot of food stamps.

Cain bought his kill and distributed the payment to those who battled the D1. He got a discount since he 'rescued' them.

The members who owned a dog cried inside as their pets started eating their kills. They convinced themselves that they were investing for themselves, so it's okay to get some losses this time. If their pets become stronger, hunting would become more comfortable.

They arrived at Lakeside Park after the loot distribution. As the sun was starting to rise from the mountains in the east, Jun gave everyone some time to relax and cool down.

Jun watched Laguna Lake and searched the bay if there were any signs of water-carriers. The water was brownish, and it is impossible to see what lay beneath it. The change in the water's color was mostly because of human activity in the area. Aside from throwing waste at the lake, they also use the place as a public beach.

The others were hanging out near the coastline while some people played around the park.

As the sun rose higher, the area it illuminated increased. Everyone's visibility and movements would receive a boost.

The break was now over, and the group was gathering at the Lakeside Park before moving on.

A sudden high pitch scream startled the crowd.

A man came running out of a store, shaking his left arm. A spider, the size of a hand, fell down and hit the ground with its back.

Before the spider could even recover and stand up, the man's foot already stepped on it.

"Are you okay?" a friend of the man asked.

"Yeah, it's just itchy and a bit painful." the man replied.

Mellissa volunteered to disinfect the bite wound with her skill, and then she noticed that the area that got bit was swollen while the affected skin has become red.

She examined the swelling further and concluded that it was just a side effect of the bite.

She turned to look at the dead spider in the ground and discerned that it was just a common house spider.

With the commotion over, the group headed east and arrived at a street filled with murals.