When I was heading to Heshbon, my plan was exceedingly simple.
Go down to the underground bunker.
Retrieve Ganesha Tripathi's ID card from his corpse.
Grab the enhancement serum while I'm at it.
Then leave Heshbon without any fuss.
But I never expected Ganesha Tripathi to still be alive.
'Come to think of it... I did find his corpse only after the mid-stage of the game.'
In other words, considering that the fourth stage had just ended, it wasn't entirely strange for Ganesha Tripathi to still be alive.
I didn't know how much supply remained in the underground bunker, but surviving this long wasn't completely impossible.
"Person? Are you really a person?"
Ganesha Tripathi spoke, still pointing his trembling gun at me.
Instead of answering, I just stared at his face.
He flinched.
'Hmm...'
To be honest, this situation wasn't particularly favorable to me.
If I had come dressed like a normal rescuer, I could have easily posed as part of a rescue team.
The problem was my current attire, which unmistakably screamed Traitor Pawn.
'If I leave Ganesha Tripathi alive, there's a high chance my identity will leak.'
Eliminating the variable would be simple.
I could just kill Ganesha Tripathi here and take his ID card as planned.
It wouldn't be difficult.
Despite his high rank in Ark, Ganesha Tripathi wasn't a combatant.
He was a senator, not a soldier.
If I intended to kill him, his life was already forfeit.
And yet, I was hesitating for a reason.
The reason was the sheer influence and power that Ganesha Tripathi held within Ark.
If I could build a favorable relationship with him, things would become significantly easier down the road.
'Besides, saving his life in this situation would naturally create a strong connection.'
Originally, Ganesha Tripathi was destined to die here.
If I save him from this place, he would feel grateful—human nature being what it is.
'But the biggest problem is my current appearance. If he returns to Ark, it won't take long for him to figure out that I'm Traitor Pawn.'
Even if I revealed my true identity and claimed I wasn't a Skull Turncoat, it wouldn't make much difference.
The difference between being a Skull Turncoat and a lawless rogue in bone armor was trivial—either way, I would be deemed an enemy of Ark.
In the worst-case scenario, my Carl Marcus identity could be exposed, resulting in a bounty or an arrest warrant.
It might even force me to sever all connections with Ark.
'What should I do...'
My thoughts grew deeper.
Logically, I wanted to just kill Ganesha Tripathi and proceed as planned, but something kept bothering me.
'It's just too much of a waste to throw away.'
Even with just his ID card, I could create chaos among the lines.
If I could leverage the influence of a living Ganesha Tripathi, how much more powerful could it be?
Even if it wasn't a card I could freely use, it felt too valuable to simply discard.
'First, I'll look around.'
Leaving Ganesha Tripathi behind, I moved deeper into the bunker.
If he was alive, it was possible there might be other survivors too.
"...Stop! I'll shoot if you come any closer!"
Says the guy who's already fired a few rounds.
He tried to sound threatening, but the gun in his hand posed no threat to me at all.
'HS-714 Automatic Pistol.'
A standard-issue Heshbon sidearm.
Its performance was about four levels lower than the HE2050, the standard sidearm used in Ark.
It couldn't penetrate the bone armor surrounding me, courtesy of Janus.
When I was shot earlier, there wasn't even a crack on the bone mask, and I hardly felt any impact.
That meant the damage was fully absorbed by Janus, indicating that the weapon posed zero threat to me.
'Might as well take a look around.'
Since I still needed time to decide what to do with Ganesha Tripathi, I opted to inspect the area.
The elevator shaft I used to enter was the only way out.
In other words, the only way to escape was to climb up the shaft with just a single cable.
There was no way Ganesha Tripathi could pull that off.
'If there was a way out, his corpse wouldn't have been found here later.'
What puzzled me was how the bunker still had power, yet Ganesha Tripathi was discovered dead here in the future.
Was it a missed escape opportunity, or something else entirely?
Either way, it was worth investigating.
"This is your final warning! I'll shoot if you move any closer!"
Ganesha Tripathi shouted again.
I ignored him and walked past, heading deeper into the bunker.
"Where do you think you're going..."
He froze for a moment but didn't pull the trigger.
Maybe he sensed that I didn't mean harm, which was a reasonably wise choice.
As I expected, Ganesha Tripathi didn't make any attempt to stop me from exploring the bunker.
He just stood there, watching me as I moved forward.
The underground bunker was quite spacious.
In this wretched world, where monsters and beasts posed constant threats, underground bunkers weren't just hypothetical shelters—they were essential structures.
Naturally, they were built with considerable effort and scale, and this bunker was no exception.
'Are there any other survivors besides Ganesha Tripathi?'
As I opened one of the doors—
Thud—
A corpse fell forward as the door swung open.
Even I couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the rotting body.
["Kyaa!"]
Hearing a ghost scream at the sight of a corpse was a rare experience, and I quickly examined the body.
And I discovered one crucial fact.
'It wasn't killed by monsters or beasts.'
There was a neat, round hole in its forehead.
It was a gunshot wound.
'...Was there an internal conflict?'
It was a plausible hypothesis.
But since it was something I couldn't confirm right now, I continued examining the bunker.
The corpse I found was just the beginning.
The Heshbon underground bunker was far more expansive than the exterior would suggest, and naturally, the number of corpses matched its size.
And most of the corpses bore gunshot wounds.
'Were there always this many corpses here?'
Even though I had previously visited Heshbon during the mid-stage, the scenery now was strikingly different.
The most significant difference was that, despite the ongoing power supply, Ganesha Tripathi was eventually found dead here.
'What the hell happened here?'
I couldn't find an answer.
Coming to Heshbon's underground bunker much earlier than expected revealed too many differences compared to my memories.
It felt like something significant was about to happen here.
The bunker's interior still carried a lived-in atmosphere, suggesting people had been living here until recently.
Eventually, I arrived at a location that seemed to be a secure area.
I decided to use Janus to forcefully dismantle the security system.
Crackle, fizz—!
The already flickering red warning lights didn't change when I broke the security system.
Since the alarms had been going off since I forced open the elevator doors, breaking more stuff didn't make much difference.
As I stepped inside the safety door, a metal storage box caught my eye.
It was an insulated box with a temperature control system.
The box required a password to unlock, but it wasn't like I'd bother with such trivialities.
Crack—
Crunch—
Using a bone tendril, I pried open the entrance of the box, tearing it apart completely.
What I found inside surprised me.
It was something I knew well.
'This is...'
The Heshbon Enhancement Serum.
Something that shouldn't have been here was right in front of me.
'Moreover, the color... It's different from what I remember.'
The enhancement serum from Heshbon was supposed to have a blue glow, but the one in front of me was purple.
I inspected the serum.
──────────────
[HSB-A001 Enhancement Serum][★★★★★★★★★ (9 stars)]
— Heshbon Enhancement Serum.
— Alpha Type.
— An enhancement serum created by chance.
— The base serum for all other Heshbon enhancement serums.
— Can absorb the power of other serum types.
"View Details"
──────────────
'Alpha Type?'
All the Heshbon enhancement serums I knew were Omega Type.
And their rating never exceeded 5 stars.
But the Alpha Type in front of me boasted a whopping 9 stars.
Since most items rated 8 stars or higher usually had unique qualities, there was a high possibility that this serum was one of a kind.
'Moreover... it can absorb the power of other serum types?'
This was an enhancement serum I had never encountered before.
If the description was accurate, I had obtained something truly phenomenal.
'There's no reason to hesitate...'
I picked up the serum without delay.
Carrying such a dangerous item without using it was reckless.
Besides, I had destroyed the temperature control box, which meant leaving the serum unused would likely render it useless.
'I've already ruined the storage system. Letting it go to waste would be foolish.'
I opened the serum cap and brought the syringe to my arm.
Thunk—!
The serum swiftly entered my bloodstream.
[You have injected the HSB-A001 Enhancement Serum.]
[All stats increase by 20%. This effect is permanently applied whenever stats increase.]
[You have injected the Alpha Type Serum. You can absorb the power of other serum types as well.]
[Each serum type has unique effects.]
[Currently absorbed serum types: ─]
'This is... incredible.'
The enhancement serum I knew—the Omega Type—only permanently increased all stats by 5 points at best.
But this serum increased 20% of my current stats, and the effect would permanently grow alongside my future progress.
'Moreover, the ability to absorb other serum types... I need to investigate this further.'
Does that mean I can inject other types of enhancement serums and absorb their powers too?
'But finding them will be nearly impossible since Heshbon is already destroyed...'
As I pondered over this thought—
Bang—!
A thunderous noise echoed from a distance.
It came from the elevator shaft.