Chapter 105: Human Nature
Eleventh day of the total lockdown.
Tolgon City.
Alice Grand Hotel, fourth-floor banquet hall.
The survivors in the hotel had all gathered here.
But the venue originally meant for joyous celebrations was now filled with an atmosphere of despair. Everyone hung their heads, eyes vacant.
They couldn't see where their future lay.
They had waited eleven days, but the expected royal rescue force never came.
"Who... who still has any food..."
A young girl lay on the floor, pale-faced, cradled in the arms of a young woman.
The girl had pre-existing stomach issues, and after so many days without proper food, she had reached her limit. She felt stabbing spasms in her stomach, making it difficult even to speak.
"Please, someone save my daughter."
The young woman held her daughter, pleading desperately with those around her.
No one spoke.
Food and water were now their most precious resources. The hotel corridors and stairways were filled with those wandering monsters.
The elevators no longer worked.
And the kitchen was on the first floor.
The previous organized attempt to search for food had ended in tragedy—more than half of those who went never returned.
Everyone looked grim. The room fell into silence, broken only by the woman's pained moans.
"I can give you food, but the exchange terms remain the same," a bald man said, grinning at the kneeling young woman.
He pulled out an energy bar and waved it in his hand.
Faced with such blatant threats and bullying, no one else in the room dared to speak up.
The bald man was one of the few who had survived the previous food-gathering expedition, naturally becoming the current leader of their makeshift external team.
The reason these people had survived at all was thanks to the food brought back then.
Though the share given to the elderly, weak, women, and children had been meager.
At least it kept them alive.
As for resistance?
How long had it been since they'd had a proper meal? They had no strength left, let alone the fact the man carried a knife.
The bald man glanced at his companion, face full of smug satisfaction.
"Raon, I told you I'd make this woman willingly climb into my bed. Didn't lie, did I? Might even get a two-for-one deal—"
Before he could finish, a sudden knocking sound came from the door.
At the noise, everyone in the room tensed, their eyes fixed on the barricaded entrance.
The bald man and the other young men responsible for field operations immediately drew their weapons.
"Is anyone in there?"
Hearing a human voice, the bald man and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn't a zombie monster, but they didn't let their guard down. After so many days, there shouldn't be any survivors in the hotel besides them.
Could it be someone who entered from outside? Impossible—with so many zombie monsters in the hotel's lobby, no one could have made it in.
That was also the reason they were trapped here.
"Who are you?" the bald man called out.
"I'm from the Hunter Association, here to rescue you."
A voice came from outside the door.
Hearing that it was someone coming to save them, the people in the room, whose eyes had once been dim, now gleamed with hope.
"Finally, someone has come to rescue us," someone said with excitement.
They had waited for so many days, and at last, their wait was over.
Their country had not abandoned them.
Listening to the cheers, the bald man felt only irritation and shouted loudly, "Everyone, shut up!"
"The person outside isn't from the royal army. He mentioned something called the Hunter Association—have any of you heard of it?"
"What if we open the door and let him in, and he turns out to be infected? What would we do then?"
The bald man's words finally calmed the others down.
None of them had ever heard of the Hunter Association, and the situation the bald man described was entirely possible. If that happened, it would be a devastating blow to them.
This made some of them hesitate.
"How many of you are there?" the bald man continued to ask.
"Just me."
As soon as the words fell, low, guttural growls suddenly echoed in everyone's ears. The sounds came from the corridor outside the room, accompanied by the patter of footsteps.
The faces of everyone in the room instantly changed.
"It's those monsters—they're back!"
"What do we do now? That person is still outside..."
...
For a moment, chaos erupted in the room.
The bald man's expression was equally grim. From the sounds, it was clear that this time, there were far more monsters than the usual zombies wandering on the fourth floor.
Damn it!
This guy had drawn the monsters from the other floors!
"We can't let him in. Opening the door now would be suicide!" The bald man gripped his knife, glaring fiercely at the others in the room.
No one dared to meet his gaze. Everyone lowered their heads and remained silent.
Only the young woman from earlier suddenly rushed to the room's door like a madwoman and began moving the chairs and tables barricading it.
"What are you doing?!"
"I told you to stop! Let go!"
The bald man raised his knife high and shouted angrily.
But the young woman seemed not to hear him at all. She continued alone, doing what she felt she had to do. She tried to push aside a table, but her body was too weak, and she lacked the strength.
"Damn it!" The bald man looked at the disheveled woman before him, a ferocious smile spreading across his face. He stepped forward, grabbed her by the hair, and threw her violently to the ground.
"I told you to stop! Didn't you hear me?!"
With that, he slapped her hard across the face and began tearing at her clothes.
...
Outside the door.
"Endless, these things, like ants." Watching the horde of zombie monsters charging toward him, Mord remained as calm as ever.
As he spoke, Mord raised the Zanpakutō in his hand and swung it forward.
A blood-red sword aura tore through the air.
Then the entire world fell completely silent.
"It seems quiet outside." Inside the room, someone noticed the strange situation outside and spoke up.
The bald man, however, was completely consumed by rage—whether from the young woman's disregard or the lust hidden in his heart these past days.
In any case, he had completely lost his sanity, his eyes red as if possessed.
Pinning the young woman beneath him, he began tearing at her clothes.
Boom!
The tightly shut door was suddenly smashed open by an external force, sending the furniture barricaded behind it flying in all directions, crashing against the walls and scattering in ruins.
The people in the room quickly dropped to the floor to take cover.
The bald man looked up, his expression stiffening at the sight of the man suddenly standing in the doorway.
"With so many zombie monsters outside, you still have the mind for this? Quite the player, aren't you?" Mord looked at the bald man and laughed, though his eyes were as cold as December frost.