Chapter 136: Not Right Now
"How many more ’stores’ or people like you exist in this hotel?" Fredrinn asked Billy.
The clean-cut clerk didn’t hesitate, his practiced hospitality facade remaining completely unbothered by the bizarre nature of the inquiry.
"There are no other stores or people, sir. There are 3 Billy Clones situated within the hotel. One can be found in the Restrobar, One can be found at the Indoor Gaming Zone and the third is me." Billy replied with a polite smile.
Three clones. The concept hung in the air of the immaculate cafeteria, cementing just how deeply the Archive’s contamination ran through this building.
The young man wasn’t just a survivor stuck in a loop; his identity had been fractured and duplicated across the facility to staff essential service counters like an automated arcade.
"I see... Are there any more zombies within the hotel? And other humans?" Fredrinn hummed.
"There are currently 2 humans inhabiting a room on the 7th floor." Billy said, "As for the zombies, I am unfortunately not allowed to give you a count or about the location. The survival of the customers is their own responsibility."
"Okay. How can I get a few rooms?"
"You can just... go and take them, sir." Billy blinked and shrugged, "Do what you originally intended to do before you met me."
Hearing Billy’s words, he coughed slightly.
It was true that the original plan was to simply scout the hotel and secure a safe passage for the civilians so they could spend the night peacefully.
Only after meeting Billy were they distracted from the original plan. The sheer novelty of finding a talking, functional NPC offering legendary loot had completely derailed their tactical discipline.
"Would you like to buy anything, sir?" Billy asked when Fredrinn had gone silent for a bit.
"Not right now." Fredrinn smiled and shook his head. He didn’t even have any money on himself.
How was he supposed to buy it? He had arrived from Apolasia with zero fiat currency, and the idea of carrying green paper rectangles through an undead apocalypse had never crossed his mind until this bizarre shop appeared before him.
"Oh." Billy wasn’t pleased with Fredrinn’s response as his gaze darkened, staring at Fredrinn. "Kindly vacate the line then, sir."
His words were polite but the tone wasn’t, though Fredrinn didn’t take it to heart. The venomous edge in the clerk’s voice was purely systemic programming firing off against a non-paying customer wasting counter space.
He simply smiled and removed himself from the place, shifting the poor Billy’s expressions to back to the neutral, calm facade.
Since there was no one in front of him, he simply stood like a statue. His hands folded neatly over his black apron, his breathing slow and rhythmic, his eyes staring straight ahead into the empty dining room without a single blink.
"We should go secure the passage and take some rooms on the lower floors. Also, we should loot as much money from around here as we could, I want to learn why his items are so much more expensive." Fredrinn said calmly to his teammates, as Rose nodded to his words.
If regular dollars could still buy physical food created by Archive-tier creation magic, there had to be a catch. Normal cash was practically trash blowing in the wind outside; if Billy accepted paper bills alongside mythical cores, understanding that exchange rate was crucial.
"You’re right... We wasted too much time on this weirdo," Jenny murmured, still a little creeped out by seeing a human acting like an AI NPC. She kept casting suspicious glances back over her shoulder, instinctively reaching for her holster.
"I want a latte." Ash murmured his own goal as he slid one hand into his pocket, fishing out a 50$ note.
He stared down at the crumpled bill with a bitter grimace. This was all he got, and it wasn’t even able to buy him a fucking latte. He didn’t like that one bit. An apocalypse where he risked his life swinging light beams should at least grant him a cup of coffee without price-gouging.
"I will buy you one later." Max walked after Ash from behind as he placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder, patting lightly.
Since Max was much taller than Ash, it felt more like an older brother consoling the younger one.
"Uhm, there’s no need to... But thanks." Ash coughed, feeling awkward about being treated like a younger brother by a complete stranger.
Even his own real brother never treated him well. The sudden warmth from the scarred, hulking Awakener felt foreign, but beneath the teenage embarrassment, a tiny bit of respect took root.
Soon, the party was on the move again, leaving behind the cafe and the weirdo...
Time ticked by in utter silence.
The condition of the interior was mostly good apart from rare flickering of lights and several corpses on the ground.
There were also some zombies, but rarely were they of any threat. Charlie and Selene walked point like silent executioners, crushing skulls before the rotting stragglers could even turn their heads.
After checking the 2nd floor, Jenny suggested returning back to the bus, but Fredrinn was interested in checking the 3rd floor as well.
After all, there was one more thing that he needed from here.
He hadn’t forgotten the system’s requirements, nor had he forgotten the items Billy had listed. A single core was needed to close out his milestone, and if Billy was trading artifacts, stocking up on high-tier cores wasn’t optional—it was a necessity.
Once they reached the 3rd floor, it was filled with even more corpses, and they didn’t even have to walk much further before stumbling onto a zombie...
The hallway was choked with a thick, coppery stench that burned the nostrils, far worse than the dry rot below. Thick smears of dark, oily blood coated the wallpaper.
A zombie that felt different than the rest, the zombie that was feeding onto a corpse of another zombie, nearly devouring it completely.
It crouched over the remains like an apex predator, its elongated spine arched, pale grey skin stretched tight over thick, bulging cords of muscle. It gnawed with savage, mechanical ferocity, ripping through gristle and hardened sinew.
Only some flesh on the leg was left as the rest was brutally devoured, leaving some chunks of bones or sometimes not even those... It was actively cannibalizing its own kind to sustain an internal evolution.
"Rose, is that tier 3 or 4?" Fredrinn asked with a faint smile.
The moment he saw the shop in the cafeteria, he knew that there was one thing that he MUST buy.
Too bad, it cost a zombie core.
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A/N: Guess What He Wanna Buy.