n

n

nThe contract came as expected and I simply signed after reading it. Everything we agreed upon was there. I had a moment of hesitation to force that girl to follow me, just like Angelica. However I refrained from doing that for now.

nFirst I didn't know what this ace was really capable of. Despite the fact that she gave me a slight surprise out there with that dungeon key, I didn't know if she had any more surprises or not.

nSecondly I wasn't sure about her curse. Having a high intelligence stat and locking up the rest wasn't something good in the long run. If she couldn't break through this curse then she would become a great liability.

nSo I decided to wait and see when I meet her later on. Who knew, she might turn out to be a loser, or be a real ace as in legends.

n

"Isabella,

" I didn't hurry to tell my plans to Angelica to save her friend as I ushered Isabella to come closer.

"Do you know if there are any big hospitals in the distance between here and the statue of Liberty?

"

nMy sudden question was unexpected. No one knew what I was thinking about. It was expected, after all they still lacked the right mindset to deal with things here.

nThe key thing to face the monsters was one of three things, either strong stat individuals like myself, the use of heat, or the use of light.

nHospitals were one of the few places out in the world to have the innate advantage early on. They had backup generators that could work for days without problems, providing light and security to hospitals.

nSo at the early stages of the apocalypse, hospitals were considered slightly safer places. The reason I didn't select a hospital before was simple, I was after the item hidden deeply in the central park.

nBut that didn't mean the angels didn't have their own ways to crush this advantage. The apocalypse didn't happen out of the blue, and those bastards were having their own time studying us before everything happened.

nThe presence of traitors was something out of the question. In fact if there was a big hospital out there, then aside from patients, their families would rush over at the start of the apocalypse.

nSo the number of humans there would be large, so their survival might be better than other places coupled with the light.

n

"There are few,

" Isabella's eyes showed her doubt but she didn't ask about the reason,

"I believe that there is a good hospital I once visited before. It's called the New York health center.

"

n

"Is it close to us?

" I asked as if that hospital wasn't, then it might get submerged by the ocean waters by now.

n

"I know where it is,

" Angelica cut our speech in such impatience,

"but what does this have to do with saving my friend?

"

n

"She has to go there,

" I said before adding in a firm tone,

"let her see if this hospital is still standing or not.

"

n

"In the middle of all this… It might be hard to find it,

" Angelica wasn't trusting my judge, and I didn't take the trouble to explain for now.

n

"Let her follow the light,

" I said.

n

"The lights?!

"

n

"Just tell her that, and eventually she'll get it,

" I saw this issue was over before turning around,

"let's keep going.

"

nDespite her reluctance, Angelica relayed my words. It seemed like her friend was much calmer than her as she didn't ask about the details.

n

"You are full of mysteries and always speaking in riddles,

" Angelica pouted in a displeased tone while walking side by side with me.

n

"Ain't I always right all the time?

" I replied with a girl. Despite acting in some strange way most of the time, I always brought results in the end.

nMy answer managed to silence her until we finally reached the place we wanted. The museum was still ushering under darkness but the people there kept their vigilance as they surveyed the parameter.

nI could see groups of ten people moving all around, looking for any monster attack. It seemed that the angels had to draw all the monsters from the museum as well to hit Angelica before.

nSo that meant this place might be secured. However I lacked any trust in the angels. Those bastards proved to be relentless in achieving their goals with different methods.

n

"Look!

"

n

"It's the witch!

"

n

"The witch is back!

"

n

"Yeah, we knew she won't be easily killed, hahaha!

"

nAll of sudden our appearance was spotted half a mile away. The people there seemed to have few with night vision skill it seemed, a weird thing to be honest.

nI looked at Angelica for a moment before asking in seriousness;

"Did you scan all of them before?

"

n

"Sure, I spent a great deal of my fortune on them,

" she said in a tone that didn't give me any sense of confidence.

nI saw how she acted before when I asked her to scan a slightly smaller group in size. She acted all bitter and seemed to not be willing to do it.

nEven with my presence and request she was reluctant to do it. So how come she would do it out of her good will?

n

"I want you to retest them,

" I said while linking the dots together. In fact the presence of the hybrid monster was something that came out of the blue.

nWhat if this was done by one of the traitors? That would also explain how some of them had the night vision skill.

nI doubt anyone else in this world would be aware of the secret and very pricey way to gain skills. In addition to that, the other way to gain skills from the killed monsters was something hard to know so early.

nSomething was wrong here, and I wouldn't risk the presence of other traitors around me again.

n

"But…

"

n

"I'll take all the cost this time,

" I simply shrugged,

"I have tons of cores and monster materials. You can take them and sell them at the market to gather enough coins.

"

n

"Uhm, that will do,

" her face was covered by the helmet but I saw the corners of her mouth curving upwards. This fool… She seemed to only scan only those she selected to be with her.

nDuring our march, Gerry was busy scanning the attributes of everyone. As I expected, there were all common grades, with few of them at special grade. There wasn't even a single one with a unique grade or above.

nThat proved that we already lost a good deal of goot seedlings even before the apocalypse hit us. Scary!

n

"Hey hey, stop it,

" Angelica was instantly absorbed in between the large crowd that came darting from the museum. She acted stingy and had some bad traits, but she was trusted by her group and that was a good thing.

n

"Let me introduce someone to you,

" after she controlled the situation, it was time for her to introduce me,

"this is Hye. you all saw him before. He is the one who saved my life back there and from now on I've decided to follow him.

"

nThe next instant I sensed many hostile gazes falling on me. C'mon, she said she was following me, not sleeping with me or something.

n

"Hi everyone,

" I said after clearing my throat,

"let's get things organized first. Stand in one line facing that way,

" I pointed to one side before adding,

"we are going to scan you first.

"

n

"Scan? With the witch's sacred ability?

" one of the large group asked and I only nodded. I turned to Angelica before saying,

"I'll take things out, you store them and do as we agreed.

"

nI couldn't use the full abilities of the system for now. So the only way to transfer items to her was by taking them out. Under the questionable gazes of everyone I moved to one side while Angelica turned and spoke a few words with them to make them listen to my orders.

n

"Isabella,

" I ushered her towards the museum,

"go place our esteemed guest there. Make Allen watch Allen,

" I added while cracking a wide smile. I found it funny, but others seemed not to share the same idea.

n

"Sara, take everyone and help organize others.

" The number of Angelica's group was really big. Trying to control things here would prove to be challenging.

nIf a group of traitors were there, then things might get messy fast. Everyone heeded by my orders while I started taking things out for Angelica.

nAfter roughly ten minutes of pouring out items like a waterfall, Angelica was ready. She took off her helmet and her face appeared with a bright smile.

n

"Don't think too much about this,

" I simply said,

"any extra is given back to me.

"

n

"C'mon, you already take too much of wealth from those traitors,

" she seemed a bit displeased but I had plans for each penny I had.

n

"If not then I'd force you by the contract,

" I threatened and all she could do was to mumble to herself about how stingy I was.

nIn fact I was sure she would keep part to herself. It wasn't bad. After all, I didn't know for how long I would be separated from them. What if a new group of traitors were sent here as refugees? I had to look over for them even if I was away.

nThings proceeded like I expected. There were many traitors here as well. When the first traitor was discovered and killed, Angelica looked at me and tried to give me some lousy excuse.

nBut when we killed the tenth traitor, her face was all dark and her eyes were filled with apologetic gazes.

nI didn't say anything and I only took the responsibility to kill traitors alongside others. The same thing we did before about distributing the loot was applied here. Plus I left a few inventories for Allen to get his share as well.

nWe took roughly an hour and a couple of big battles when traitors started to cause a ruckus. However at the end, the remaining main core team of Angelica remained loyal and that was a good sign.

nYet they only had eight people left, with half of them having wounds.

nAs for the traitors, we killed two hundred, almost one fourth of the big group here.

nAfter everything was settled, my own balance grew up with three hundred thousand coins, many monster drops, plus potions and stat points. Things looked good to me, as this was like having a free meal when one was hungry.

nAs I thought about it, John suddenly blurted out:

"I'm hungry! Is there any food left over here?

"

nI suddenly realized that we were fighting for our lives all this time. Under the stress of death, no one ever thought about food or sleep.

nIn fact when increasing stats, one could feel less hunger and need to sleep. But we were humans after all. We needed to eat, drink, and sleep.

n

"We…

" Angelica's face looked hesitant as she looked around at her group. It seemed they had some food and water with them.

n

"Sorry esteemed witch,

" one of her core team without any injuries said,

"we have already consumed everything.

"

nDespite him speaking to her, his eyes were fixed on me. He didn't harbor any ill intentions. He looked grateful with his eyes. After all, I gave them such a good chance to get coins, monster drops, and even potions and stat points.

nI had to organize things here first. Even having such wealth, potions, and stats didn't mean they would use these things for their best uses.

n

"Listen up,

" I shouted and waited until everyone's attention was focused on me,

"don't use anything for now. As for the monster drops, take half out and give them to Angelica,

" I turned to Angelica while my eyes warned her not to mess with this.

n

"What for?

" Angelica noticed my warning gazes and couldn't help but ask.

n

"I'll tell you later,

" I slowly said before adding,

"I want someone with a good memory to keep track of the number of drops everyone is giving to Angelica. I also want people who are chefs or are studying to be so.

"

n

"Chefs? What for?

" Sara asked while her face told me she expected something bizarre from me this time.

n