Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 98.5: Mausoleum (5)

There’s both good news and bad news.

Let me start with the bad news. They’re Chinese.

A well-equipped force of at least 40 soldiers is camped out, supported by new command vehicles, reconnaissance and combat drones, and various surveillance equipment.

No matter how elite we were once called as humanity's finest hunters, it would be impossible for just three of us to take on such a force.

If they were the Tang dynasty army, maybe, but they’re likely some of the best and most elite troops that China has left.

As expected, both Cheon Young-jae and Ha Tae-hoon flatly refused to engage the Chinese head-on.

And the country would refuse as well.

But there is some good news.

The Chinese are stationed more than 2 kilometers away from the sacred tomb of Jeonnalon.

There are many reasons for that, but the biggest one is probably the radiation.

When I last visited, Jeonnalon’s sacred tomb was covered in radiation that made it impossible to survive without protective suits. After the nuclear batteries collapsed, the radiation must have become even more deadly and destructive.

If that weren’t the case, the Chinese wouldn’t have set up camp so far away, considering how ruthless they are when it comes to achieving their goals.

In this situation, I could propose a bold idea.

"What? You want to send only drones?"

"You’re saying we’re going to wage a war with toys?"

Cheon Young-jae’s opinion lined up perfectly with my idea.

"Good choice of words. Yeah. Anyway, it’s an area where humans can’t go, and only drones, those toys, can enter. In a place like that, we can still have a battle of toys without the need for a direct human-to-human fight."

Moreover, I had information that the Chinese didn’t.

The fact that Jeonnalon had stored the disk with the important data in a secret compartment within a drawer.

The Chinese would aim to target the entire Failnet server, but what we were after was simpler and much easier to retrieve.

And I had Jeonnalon’s disciple as well.

Once we return to the underground shelter, I plan to ask Valentine for the layout of the sacred tomb.

Of course, the Chinese are certainly no pushovers.

Though they were utterly defeated in the previous war, losing everything to the West Sea, their drones are something even the prideful American military admits are impressive.

Having given up on the powerful "Awaken" demon resources, the Chinese had no choice but to pour everything into drone technology, and that led to rapid advancements in that area.

It was only natural that Ha Tae-hoon, who mainly operated Chinese-made drones, pointed this out.

"All I have are civilian drones and a few military ones. Judging by their state, they look like a top-tier unit, and with hunters mixed in, they’re probably using the latest model drones."

One of the latest drones was clearly visible in a video Ha Tae-hoon had filmed from a high altitude.

It was a humanoid drone that could move on two legs, similar in size to a human.

He zoomed in on the drone and began explaining with a somber voice.

"QBX-37. It’s a copy of a model from an American drone company. Unlike the original company that developed it with private investors' funds, this one is even said to be superior because they copied the tech and got government funding too."

"It’s like a Terminator," Cheon Young-jae added.

I thought the same. The combat robot I saw once was tracked by treads, but seeing that the Chinese were using a two-legged one showed a clear # Nоvеlight # technological gap.

"You can’t really see it here, but do you see the hand? That’s a manipulator. It only has three fingers, but it can do pretty much anything a human can. And that’s not all."

Ha Tae-hoon showed us a variety of drones, each with different functions.

"QBX-22. It’s a sort of drone carrier for suicide drones. It can support drone attacks over a 30 km range. The drones inside are Israeli-made, just copied and renamed. It can carry up to 16 of them."

"QBX-34. A cheap area-control drone. As you can see, it just stays in one spot and shoots at anything without friendly identification marks. It’s inexpensive and there are a lot of them."

"QBX-8. A high-altitude reconnaissance drone. This one’s a copy of a U.S. military model. It doesn’t have night sensors like the American version, but its daytime performance is almost identical."

Ha Tae-hoon sighed deeply, showing his usual pessimism.

"Compared to that, all we’ve got are junk. Even if we’re having a toy war, we need to match the specs, right? What’s it called... a motor car? Even in kids’ toy car races, the one with the better engine wins, right?"

I finally understood another reason Ha Tae-hoon wasn’t well-regarded.

He’s just too negative.

In battle, it’s common to face setbacks or seemingly unfair situations, but constantly focusing on the worst case doesn’t help morale.

Maybe that’s why he didn’t get along well with the Chinese, who likely earned a poor reputation for themselves.

That’s probably why he ended up in Korea, after being forced out of the frontlines.

Even though he’s my senior, I can understand why he’s having a hard time.

"So what you’re saying is, we just need to avoid those toys, right?"

Seeing Ha Tae-hoon sigh again, I responded.

Ha Tae-hoon gave me a look of disbelief, but I grinned and said,

"Senior Ha, we’re not looking to engage in battle."

That means we weren’t planning to fight the terrifying super toys head-on.

"We just need to slip in, grab what we need, and get out of there."

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Ha Tae-hoon still looked puzzled, but this was something we had to do.

"First, let’s head to my underground shelter."

If he sees my paradise, maybe his pessimistic mindset will shift a little.

*

Ha Tae-hoon also had quite a few assets of his own.

Unlike the free-spirited Cheon Young-jae, he diligently collected materials and hid them well.

He owned a small truck, and since Cheon Young-jae’s vehicle wasn’t in great condition, we decided to leave it behind and use Ha Tae-hoon’s truck instead.

Ha Tae-hoon’s collection was varied, but the most noticeable items were the various drones and video equipment he had either scavenged or bought at flea markets.

He had three guns, one of which was a shotgun, and around 200 rounds of ammunition.

One of the other noticeable items was a real doll.

"What’s this?!" Cheon Young-jae said, looking at the rubbery, nightmare-inducing mannequin with a wig.

"My wife," Ha Tae-hoon replied, his face expressionless as he loaded his shameful possession onto the truck.

The journey was relatively smooth.

We heard intense gunfire coming from the end of our route, so we circled around the outskirts of Seoul.

The road was clear, but the city was engulfed in bright lights, as if on the verge of war.

Bang! Bang! Tatatatatang!

The city was at war.

Intermittent gunfire never stopped, and occasional artillery shook the quiet night air.

"They say the people who fled Seoul are heading back to Incheon. Sounds about right," Ha Tae-hoon muttered, watching the war-torn city.

The truck moved through the darkness, heading toward my territory.

"From here on, I’ll take the wheel."

I don’t turn on the headlights when driving at night.

The headlights of a vehicle can be seen from far away, and once they disappear, they give observers valuable information.

Clunk! Clunk!

I relied solely on my instincts and subtle outlines to navigate through a rough incline.

It was a shame that Old Man Kim’s house was gone, but at the same time, it was an opportunity.

With the house gone, the narrow, unpaved road had a little more breathing room.

When the incline ended, a small flat area appeared.

The truck parked precisely in front of the entrance to my underground shelter.

"Is this it?"

I nodded and opened the door to the shelter.

"I don’t usually show this to anyone, but today’s a special case."

My underground shelter was not a place I showed to just anyone.

Even if they were from the same school, they were no exception.

But now, I was about to show this beloved, life-sustaining shelter to others.

"This is my home," I said, and those who had the same background as me were awestruck by the sight.

"Wow."

"...It’s like a palace."

The hunters marveled, but they were also cautiously eyeing every corner of the shelter.

"Is that toilet in the center a trap? A fake to distract us?"

"It's a strange shelter. Or is it a booby trap?"

However, their reactions were somewhat different from the women’s.

After giving them a rough tour of the inside, I showed them a place they would likely enjoy.

That place was my garage.

Strictly speaking, it was the creative workshop that made my shelter truly special.

After all of humanity was wiped out, expanding and modifying my shelter was what made it capable of competing with other shelters. That was its biggest feature.

But those humans—they were incredibly persistent.

Honestly, the tenacity of humans was enough to make one sick.

I sometimes wonder if there will be humans still squirming around even after the entire Earth is eroded.

Anyway, the effect my garage had on the hunters was several times more impressive than my shelter.

“Senior Park, I guessed, but this is no joke.”

“...Isn’t this big enough to turn into a fortress?”

Cheon Young-jae wasn’t as surprised since he had visited my shelter a few times, but Ha Tae-hoon definitely had a strong desire in his eyes.

“I’ve got something to discuss.”

I gathered them again in my shelter.

“It’s time I explain why I’m willing to wage a toy war in a place infested with radiation and Chinese people.”

I told them my true objective.

It was to retrieve the disc left in the underground tomb of John Nae-non and head to Jeju Island.

Jeju Island, now not the paradise it once was but rather a dystopian wasteland with not even a single bird in sight, was at least a place where I could escape from the people trying to kill me.

“...I heard there are a lot of academy graduates under Kim Daram. Those guys, once the organization disappears, they’ll come after me, won’t they?”

“Senior, you could probably kill them all, right?”

“A day is 24 hours, and a week is 168 hours. Sure, you can stay awake for 24 hours, but no one can last more than 100 hours without sleep.”

“But we’re here, right? If we gather more people, we could make it work, don’t you think?”

“...You know we can’t fight forever, right?”

Both Cheon Young-jae and Ha Tae-hoon understood my point deeply.

We couldn’t fight forever.

Sure, my shelter had thousands of rounds of ammunition, but in a fight, the bullets would run out in no time.

And if we were injured, there was a high chance we’d die.

A fight between humans is always like that.

Unless one side has overwhelming superiority, it always ends in a pitiful, disgraceful, and cowardly way.

“But about the guy who said he’ll send us to Jeju. Can we trust him?”

Ha Tae-hoon asked sharply, his eyes flashing.

“I don’t see that scammer anymore, but back when we were on Hunter Street, he was around quite a bit.”

“...He’s someone we can trust.”

Unicorn18.

His identity is either Kang Han-min or Na Hye-in.

No, to be precise, I’m not certain.

Still, I had no choice but to rely on him.

An inexplicable urgency was pushing me toward Jeju.

“...If I go to Jeju, I’ll leave the management of this shelter to both of you.”

Ha Tae-hoon and Cheon Young-jae looked at each other.

“Oh, but leave the laptop and internet equipment out.”

Ha Tae-hoon nodded.

Just hours ago, he was talking about dying when facing Chinese forces, but now he was laughing heartily as if he had become a different person.

“This level of shelter management... of course, managing it means using it, right? If the reward’s this good, I’ll work hard for it.”

“If Senior goes to Jeju, it’s a shame, but if we get to use a palace like this, it doesn’t sound like a bad deal.”

I spoke to them with a slight smile.

“We’re just managing it, not handing it over completely.”

Though I said that, if I went to Jeju, it would be up to the remaining people to decide.

My seniors and juniors were now on the same page with me.

They agreed to help with the exploration of John Nae-non’s underground tomb in order to send Park Gyu there.

Just as I had survival DVDs and Blu-rays, Ha Tae-hoon also had several books and materials on drones.

However, unlike mine, his materials were written in Simplified Chinese or spoken in Beijing dialect.

As unfamiliar languages echoed inside the shelter, Ha Tae-hoon pulled out a box from deep within his truck and spread it out in front of us.

It was eerily similar to the Chinese-made drone we had seen from the aerial footage.

Ha Tae-hoon, wearing a welding mask, began repairing the damaged and unassembled parts of the drone.

“...Those Chinese bastards copied the American drones like crazy.”

Everywhere his hands passed, new parts seemed to come together like magic.

“So, if we copy their drones, it’s not a crime, right?”

Ha Tae-hoon removed the welding mask and grinned.

Beneath it was a bipedal drone that looked like it was imitating a human, standing firmly on two legs.

He operated the remote control, and the drone moved through the shelter like a person, bending its knees as it walked.

Its movements were surprisingly nimble and agile.

Wheeee-

The three-fingered manipulator spun and lightly picked up a fishbowl with a plastic goldfish from my desk.

“Wow.”

“Hmmm...”

Both I and Cheon Young-jae couldn’t help but exclaim at the sight.

Ha Tae-hoon proudly revealed the name of his creation.

“KBX-69. A 100% domestic drone.”

The performance of the drone was assured.

After all, it was almost a new product, and since it was perfectly repaired with reference to Chinese drone materials, its capabilities were impressive.

While the drone performed a show of force, I didn’t forget to capture its movements with the camera.

And then...

Message from Ballantine: "Here’s the requested map of the server room. I’ve marked the desk location."

The map had arrived.

John Nae-non’s underground tomb, which had once seemed so distant, was now suddenly within reach.