My trepidation grows stronger the closer we get to Tiendas City. It's on the horizon now. The violet-streaked grassy hills are rippling with a strong wind, the aftermath of the dungeon pillar. Even Yin is starting to notice my unease. It's not unusual for me to be quiet, but right now, I don't have the energy to spare to even make basic small talk.
Tiendas City...think, Hei! Think! There must be some hints, some record you forgot in the early days. Maybe Sasha said something? Or Jerold, wasn't he always up to date with the gossip? Damnit, if only I hadn't been so focused on leveling instead of socializing, I might know more about what happened. Is the only explanation really that everyone died?
"Hei..." Yin puts a hand on the back of my shoulder worriedly. I want to shrug it off, but she just squeezes tighter and I give in. She feels the rock-hard tension in my muscles. "You're shaking."
"It's okay. About this event...there's something I have to say." I want to confess, to tell her the truth. But I don't even know how to explain how I know, let alone the implications. "Up until now, you've only experienced the horrors of the dead. But I've always warned you, that's only half the Calamity. The real game begins now. I don't know how many people live in Tiendas City. But it has to be a lot, and all of them are going to get the chance to become Hunters now. Amongst people, no...that's not right. Amongst all living beings, there are some who you might call strong and some who you call weak, right?"
"Uhm, yea?" Yin says shakily, her eyes meeting mine in the dim beginnings of daylight. "Sure. I'm with you."
"Well, make sure you stay with me. I had hoped to get you stronger, at least Lvl. 30 before we truly interacted with other Hunters, but that's going to prove impossible now." I sigh. "The truth is, wherever many Hunters gather, even new ones like these, inevitably, the second way to gain experience will spread. You think the System's virus is bad, but that's just a disease. The dead must bite you to infect you. Knowledge is different. All it takes is one wrong word and suddenly everyone will turn on you. A true plague, or worse, it's like standing in the midst of a wildfire. You might see the blaze starting but by the time you realize you need to run, it's already all around you. Yin, you're not ready or this. It's a fact. Don't look at me like that, it's true."
"I get it, Hei." Yin's eyes water, but she holds my gaze and I nod approvingly. "I know I'm still relying on you. But I'm trying to get stronger. It's just...hard."
"It is. The point is not to get you down, but the opposite. I'm trying to show you that in the face of what's coming, you need to become stronger! Much stronger, and not just physically, but mentally. In a dungeon, there is the potential to encounter great rewards, unique System Skills, high experience creatures. Hunters all thirst for such things, but you must remember, no matter what, no matter how much you believe in your fellow human. They are not one of us. From their perspective, WE are also high value targets, full of experience and equipment. Dungeons have a low survival rate not just because of the horrors they contain...but the horrors they unleash inside us. If you look at another person and don't see the evil inside them until they reanimate as an undead, then maybe you'll be the one coming back as a zombie."
"..." Yin doesn't reply.
As I finish my speech, I lick my lips. My throat suddenly feels a bit dry. Yin narrows her eyes at me and I can't tell what she's thinking. Hopefully I didn't scare her too much. The things I said are not something an average youth should be saying. Even as a former fighter, had someone repeated these things to me at the beginning of the Calamity in my first life, I probably would not have taken them too seriously. Gradually, after several hours of walking, the sun fully comes up and I'm getting more and more tired. However, Yin got some sleep in, last night and we're too wired from the system notification to stop now. When we get to the top of a particularly tall hill, she calls out.
"Look at that!" Her finger leads directly to the gates of the city. It used to be a metropolitan hub not too long ago. However, the corrupting power of the System has already changed it. The skyscrapers have aged greatly, many windows have been shattered from the light of the pillar. Most of the electric streetlamps have gone dark, instead oil lamps and torches hang from the sides of buildings. A great concrete wall has been hastily constructed in the last few days when electricity still worked. The dead bulldozers and excavators which gave their all to create such a defense have already begun to fall apart. Pieces of their scattered frames lie like broken skeletons. Technology no longer has any place in this world. Now there is only the System.
"I see them." My voice grows grim. It's impossible not to see all of them. Shadows lingering outside the city wall. Countless thousands of them. "Wait. They're not zombies."
"Huh...you're right. Th-They're people! My god, how many are there?" Yin stutters as we climb up higher and the full scale of what we're seeing is revealed. I start to employ some basic counting tactics we used to use to ascertain the size of larger zombie hordes.
"500,000...600,000! No, it might be higher, maybe a million!" Even I'm shocked. "The entire population of Tiendas City must be outside the walls. Did the System kick them out?" I look around the grassy hills. From our high vantage point, I can see streams of people pouring in from all sides. The city is vast, big enough that it stretches out farther than the eye can see. From our angle, I can only see a portion of the wall. A faint green translucent barrier surrounds everything. Inside Yin's arm, the ginger cat meows, its blue and emerald eyes gleaming. Absentmindedly, she pats it, though whether to calm the cat or herself is hard to say.
"It's crazy. We've been all alone. At most, the town from before had a few hundred people. But now...this. I can't believe it! We're not alone!" Yin bursts out in happy laughter. She jumps up and down. The cat howls in protest, but stays with her. It seems to have a developed a strange attachment to the girl, even though I'm technically it's master. "Hei?"
"Yea, it's great." I squint, trying to get an accurate count, but it's impossible. People are coming from everywhere. Were there really this many people in Tiendas City in the beginning? What the hell could have happened to turn this place into a wasteland? "Just don't forget about what I said. As a Lvl. 9, you could be considered one of the strongest Hunters here. If people find out, you'll regret it."
"Of c-course! Aren't you happy though?" She stops jumping with a quizzical look in her eye. "Surely there must be good people mixed with the bad. There's so many!"
"Good and evil are just mere figments of human imagination. The System will decide everything. You'll see. If we live that long." I say grimly. Yin shuts up, finally realizing just how on edge I am. Up on the hill, a gentle roar has begun to reach us. It is the sound of hundreds of thousands of people living, breathing, laughing. Everyone here is waiting for the timer to countdown. They may be excited now, but if they knew what I did they would be terrified. This dungeon...is not an opportunity. Not at our level.
It's a goddamn deathtrap.
#
As we walk closer to the city walls, the following message appears.
System Call: Tiendas City Main Quest –
There Can Only Be One...Is A Multitiered Event.
Complete The 1st Objective To Unlock The Next.
Citywide Dungeon Will Load In 16:32:16
All Hunters Must Enter Within One Hour Of Dungeon Opening Or Accept System Punishment