Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

"Wow, that machine gun is cool?"

T-Dog said that with admiration as he looked at the machine gun I had on my back.

"Military issue."

"Then what’s that long rod you have on your side? It looks quite high-end."

"This is my personal sword. I specially ordered it before this outbreak happened."

I pulled the sword out slightly, showed the blade for a moment, then put it back in.

"You carry all kinds of things. Isn’t it heavy? It seems like it would weigh quite a bit."

"If you train, you can carry it all around too."

T-Dog seemed to have a lot of questions and asked about this and that. Then Rick also asked a question.

"Is the military not planning to rescue people?"

"It seems they’re prioritizing a vaccine. They probably judged that rescuing people now would be meaningless. Resources aren’t unlimited either. Instead, they’re preparing something. I can’t say because it’s classified."

As we were talking, Glenn stopped the car. Since the camp wasn’t that far from downtown Atlanta, we arrived quickly while chatting.

"From here, we walk. There are too many walkers to go all the way inside."

At that, we got out of the car.

Glenn, who knew the roads well, took the lead, and I followed right behind him. T-Dog was in the middle, while Daryl and Rick followed from the rear.

"Hold on... We can’t go this way. There are too many walkers."

Glenn peeked around the corner, looked at the street situation, and told us.

"Let’s use the sewers..."

I interrupted Glenn and asked.

"How many are there?"

"Huh? About... fifteen..."

"Really? Follow me slowly."

I drew the Vector and turned the corner, moving forward slowly while slicing through walkers, and at the same time used the Yukimura to aim and shoot at their heads.

Grrr...!

Swoosh-! Phut! Phut! Swish! Phut! Phut! Slice!

Thud! Thump! Thump! Thud!

The walkers fell to the ground one by one without even being able to react properly. The path was cleared in an instant, like dominoes falling in succession.

The group watching from behind looked at me with surprised faces. They had probably heard through Glenn that I was strong, but seeing it directly in front of them seemed to be on a whole different level.

I swung the Vector in a wide arc, stylishly flicking off the blood, then sheathed it and asked the dazed Glenn.

"Where do we go now?"

"Huh? Ah, this way."

We started moving again following Glenn’s guidance. Eventually, we arrived at the building where Merle was.

"As expected of you, brother. I didn’t think we’d get here this easily."

Daryl also said with admiration.

"This guy is a complete human weapon."

"I told you. This brother is from the famous Delta Force special forces."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, let’s hurry up and go up."

We started climbing the stairs to the rooftop. This time too, I took the lead, clearing the walkers on the stairs and opening the way.

After climbing for a while, we saw a rooftop door tightly locked with a chain. I signaled to the group, and T-Dog, who had the bolt cutter, came forward.

Clank! Clank!

When T-Dog cut the chain with the bolt cutter, we carefully entered the rooftop.

"No! Damn it..."

But what awaited us on the rooftop was only traces of Merle. On the floor, there was a severed wrist and blood stains left in various places.

It seemed that Merle, unable to find a way to remove the handcuffs, had eventually cut off his own wrist and escaped from there.

Enraged by this, Daryl raised his crossbow and tried to shoot T-Dog, who had lost the handcuff key. But Rick didn’t stay still either; he raised his pistol and aimed at Daryl, saying.

"I’ll shoot right now. I don’t care if every walker in the city hears it."

At that, Daryl closed his eyes, suppressed his anger, and lowered his aimed crossbow.

"Do you have a hood or cloth or something?"

"Here, here."

When T-Dog handed over a handkerchief, Daryl picked up Merle’s severed hand from the floor and began wrapping it carefully with the handkerchief.

"The hacksaw blade must have been too dull to cut through the cuffs. The pain must have been considerable, but that’s impressive. Hah..."

Daryl put his brother’s hand, wrapped like that, into Glenn’s backpack, then began following the bloodstains to find his brother. We silently followed Daryl.

Then we arrived at a warehouse, where several small heaters were lit, and there were burnt marks on a frying pan or something.

"There’s something burned on here."

When Glenn asked that, Rick said.

"It’s skin. He cauterized the cut area with fire. He probably tried to stop the bleeding here. He’s really a tough guy."

At that, Daryl said.

"My brother is a very tough person. He’s not someone who would die from something like this."

Daryl said that and continued tracking Merle’s traces. Then he saw broken glass, and it seemed Merle had gone down the fire escape through that glass.

"Why would he leave the building?"

I answered Glenn’s question.

"He couldn’t keep holding out here forever. There was no food. He probably went to find food or tried to go back to camp."

"I’m going to keep tracking my brother."

At that, Daryl turned around as if he was about to sprint off the rooftop right away. But Rick blocked his path and grabbed him.

"Daryl, wait."

"Don’t stop me!"

"I know how you feel. But you’ve confirmed that Merle is alive. He couldn’t have gone far with that wound. We can help you search the surrounding area too. So let’s move calmly for now."

"I can do that much on my own."

Then T-Dog interjected.

"I think we should find Rick’s dropped gun bag first. Right now, aside from that soldier, we’re practically empty-handed."

At that, Rick and Glenn also nodded.

"Right. Let’s do that first. We don’t know how long the search might take."

"Yeah, I think it’s good to secure the weapons properly."

Since everyone agreed, Daryl eventually nodded reluctantly.

Certainly, now that Merle had stopped the bleeding and left this place, there were almost no traces left to know where he went. Daryl also acknowledged that it was a much better situation to do what they could and systematically search the surroundings rather than recklessly running out to find him.

So they went to where Rick said the bag of guns was, which was right behind that building. They could also confirm the location through a window.

"You guys stay here. I’ll go get it."

After confirming the location of the bag, I loaded my magazines and said to the group. Then Rick asked.

"Are you sure you’ll be okay?"

"Yeah, I’m actually more comfortable alone. I don’t have to worry about various things."

There weren’t many walkers on the streets than I expected. So it seemed like I could just take out a few, grab the bag, and come back.

Once ready, I quickly went out, sliced through the walkers blocking the way, snatched the bag, and was about to re-enter the building. But then some guy who looked like a high school student blocked my path and shouted loudly.

"Over here!"

Thud!

"Oof!"

When the guy kept making noise, I immediately kicked him in the stomach to knock him out, then dragged him quickly into the building.

"Who is this guy?"

"I don’t know. He suddenly blocked my path, so I kicked him and dragged him here. I think he’s probably from a survivor group in Atlanta... Anyway, I brought the weapons, so everyone arm yourselves."

At that, the group each took a pistol, and Rick and T-Dog even took shotguns. Then they loaded ammunition into their magazines.

But a moment later, the guy I had knocked out regained consciousness and suddenly sat up, starting to vomit what was inside him. It seemed I had kicked him harder than I thought.

"Uweeeeh!!!"

"Oh, shit!"

The group watched with grimaces, and after the guy calmed down a bit, they sat him in a chair, and Rick began questioning him.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?"

"I’m not saying anything."

The guy spoke with a swagger, like a gangster. At that, Daryl got pissed and tried to kick him, but Rick calmed him down first.

"Should I do it? I’m kind of an expert. I can inflict pain without any physical damage. It’s a method I used a lot on Middle Eastern guys. With this, they always talk. I’ve even seen guys who couldn’t stand the pain and shit and pissed themselves."

When I said that, the guy got scared, and Rick sighed and said.

"Calm down. He’s still a kid. Let’s try talking first."

Rick said that to me and then looked at the guy again.

"Listen. It’d be better for you to talk while we’re being nice. I don’t want to do this either, but if you keep not talking, we have no choice but to leave you to that guy. He’s Delta Force, so he’s a torture expert. You might actually shit yourself. Do you want that?"

"No, no. I’ll talk."

Since he said he’d talk, apparently not wanting to shit himself, Daryl asked first.

"Did you happen to see a guy with a severed hand?"

"No, I didn’t. I just came because I heard there was a bag full of weapons lying on the street, and I was going to take it with my group."

"Then we might have just missed him."

Then Rick asked.

"How big is your camp?"

"About forty people."

"Location?"

"It’s hard to explain in words, but if you go straight down the railroad tracks, you’ll see a red brick building."

From the way he spoke, it seemed like we wouldn’t be able to find the camp location just by description.

This time I asked.

"Is there anyone in your camp who doesn’t turn even after being bitten?"

"No, I’ve never seen anyone like that."

"Then do you know anything about other camps in Atlanta?"

"I don’t think so. I’ve wandered around a few times to get supplies in the city, but this is the first time I’ve seen survivors."

Thinking we had asked everything, Daryl grabbed the guy, forcibly stood him up, pushed him, and said.

"Guide us. We need to check first if Merle is with your survivor group."

Since Daryl said that, the group decided to meet the survivor group people first. It was clearly a dangerous thing to do since they were outnumbered, but since they had promised to help find Merle together, no one could say much.

We were moving toward their camp with the high school student guiding us. The distance was farther than expected, so we had to walk for a while.

"I’m craving some fried chicken and beer."

"Oh, hyung, you know about chimaek too?"

"Yeah, crispy, slightly spicy fried chicken with a cold beer—it felt like having the whole world."

When I said that, Glenn also smacked his lips and said.

"You’re making me hungry, hyung. Chimaek... We can’t have it anymore, can we?"

"If we have chicken, I can make it. I learned it because it was so delicious."

"Oh, really? I wonder if there are any wild chickens around?"

"If you look carefully, there might be."

Then T-Dog, who was next to us, joined the conversation.

"So chimaek is a chicken dish, right?"

"Yeah, it’s really delicious."

"I used to have a regular burger place I went to. I wish I could eat that burger again."

"Isn’t a burger easy to make?"

"That’s what someone who doesn’t know burgers would say. First of all, the patty is hard to make. You need beef and pork. Plus, bread is hard to bake in this situation."

"Now that you mention it, that makes sense."

Then Daryl frowned.

"Stop with the food talk. I haven’t eaten anything since morning and came here."

Then the guy guiding us pointed to a building and said.

"We’re here. It’s that building you see over there."

Then Rick said to the guy.

"Hey, what’s your name?"

"Miguel."

"Good, Miguel. We’ll let you go, so tell your camp leader this. We’re not here to fight, we have something to discuss."

At that, Miguel looked around cautiously and asked.

"By any chance, are you planning to shoot me from behind after I go?"

"That’s not it, so just hurry and deliver the message."

"Are you really not?"

"I said no."

Only after getting confirmation several times did Miguel walk toward the building. Then Glenn asked Rick.

"What should we do? Should we meet them here?"

"That’s better. Their camp is their den, and they might suddenly ambush us. First, we meet the leader and see if they’re reasonable. T-Dog, take the rear and act as sniper. Just in case things go wrong."

"Got it."

Following Rick’s orders, T-Dog took a Remington sniper rifle from the weapons bag and went up to a building in the back to prepare for sniping.

After waiting for a moment, five people from the building Miguel had gone to walked toward us carrying weapons. The interesting thing was that there were only two pistols, and the rest came holding baseball bats, clubs, and crowbars.

"You’re the leader."

Rick spoke to the one who seemed to be the leader among them.

"Yeah. I’m the leader, Guillermo."

"Just to be clear, we’re not here to fight. That’s why we sent that Miguel guy back."

"Yeah, I appreciate that. But what do you want to know that you called me out here?"

"By any chance, have you seen a man with a severed hand?"

At that question, Guillermo thought for a moment, then proposed a trade to Rick.

"How about half of the guns you have as information fee?"

"Sorry, but that’s out of the question."

"Since you took the guns we were after, I think that’s a fair information fee."

"This is from the police station I used to work at. Just because you were after them doesn’t mean they’re yours."

Hearing that, I started laughing in disbelief.

"Hey, why are you suddenly laughing?"

"No, it’s just so absurd. First of all, Merle isn’t with that group. If they had him, knowing we were looking for him, they would have brought him out and threatened us first. Besides, even though they’re bluffing, that group only has two pistols for weapons. That’s why they brought out clubs. So they’re not worth trading with."

At my words, Guillermo looked very embarrassed. I had accurately pinpointed their situation.

Then Daryl kicked the ground in frustration.

Thud!

"Damn, we just wasted time! Let’s go check other places."

"Yeah."

As we were about to leave, Guillermo suddenly proposed another trade.

"Wait! We have food. How about trading guns for that?"

"Do you people even realize that guns are more precious than gold in this situation?"

"I know. That’s why I’m saying this. We have a lot of canned fruit with plenty of shelf life left. Please."

Now that the situation had reversed, Guillermo spoke pleadingly. So I quietly advised Rick.

"Canned fruit is valuable. Handing over two guns and bringing them to the camp people wouldn’t be so bad."

At that, Rick thought for a moment and said.

"Four cans of fruit for one pistol, one shotgun, and a bit of ammo. How about that?"

"Hoo... Fine."

With the deal settled, Guillermo signaled to someone behind him. The person who received the signal went back to their camp, quickly brought four cans of fruit, and handed them over. So we also gave them the pistol, shotgun, and some ammo as promised.

"It was a good deal. We might trade again next time, so please take care of us then."

"Yeah, we’ll do the same."

When Rick said that, Guillermo, thinking the first trade wasn’t bad, shook hands with Rick with a bright face and returned to his camp. The group put the received cans into Glenn’s backpack and set off again.

The identity of this group was actually nurses and doctors who had worked at a nursing home, along with their families. They couldn’t bear to abandon the elderly left at the nursing home, so they lived there together, protecting the seniors.

According to deleted content from the original, one could see their future, and they would eventually be attacked by raiders and all die.

Still, the fortunate thing was that since it was literally deleted content, what would actually happen to them remained unknown. But they were trying to protect the elderly while barely being able to protect themselves, and they even lacked guns.

No matter how good people they were, in this situation, they were carrying too many weaknesses. In the end, if nothing changed, it seemed very likely they would meet a bad ending.

We continued wandering around and searching for Merle. Then, as the sun was about to set, Rick spoke up.

"Daryl, we need to head back now. The sun is about to set. It’s dangerous at night."

"Hah... I guess we have no choice. Let’s go back for now. But I’m coming back tomorrow."

But a problem arose. The car we had come in was gone.

"It was right there! Who the hell took it?!"

Glenn asked incredulously, and Rick sighed and said.

"Merle."

At that, Daryl looked very flustered.

"Oh no... If my brother went to the camp, he’s going to take revenge on everyone."