Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 101: New Territory

[Quest Complete! 'The Big Boss II']

[Description] You managed to tell the world that there's a new boss in town. Now, you just need a base of operations and a territory to lord over.]

[Claim or build a base. 1/1]

[Clear all of the infected in an area to become its lord. 1 km radius 1/1]

[Reward] Increase follower count.

[Guild Member count increased from 5 to 10.]

[New Guild Feature Unlocked! Guild Storage is now in operation. Every member would be notified of the changes.]

['Territory' sub-menu is now accessible.]

[Congratulations! You've cleared the quest within one month. Generating additional rewards.]

[Skill Upgrade Token] x1 received.

[Lvl.10 Weapon Crate] x1 received.

Jun felt happy after reading the string of notifications. Even though the plan failed, they were still able to win the fight.

The operation objective should be to decrease the density of the infected before killing them all the next day. If he knew that this would have happened, he would have brought his elite team to deal with this.

"Here's everything, sir." a masked man with a badge that says number one on his shoulder handed over a small plastic bag filled with various crystals and shards. The most numerous were the basic low-tier essence shards. Then, everything was a mix of the red power crystal, mostly dropped by D-series infected, and the green speed crystal, mostly dropped by H-series infected. There's a few pieces of energy stone that made him smile since he needed max energy to increase badly. His overall stat increased a lot, but there was no increase in his energy. He hasn't found a way to increase it except for the energy stones. The last thing that intrigued him was a large essence shard. He took the plastic bag and examined the large shard.

[Essence Shard - Mid-tier]

[Description] A shard fragment. Use to increase EXP by 100.]

"What a load of crap. Why would I use this for EXP when I know that it has a better use. If there's a God that made this new world, he probably likes tricking people. Humph!" Jun said as he stored everything in his dimensional storage.

"Gather everyone, we're recalling back for now," said Jun.

"Sir, I would like to report something."

Jun turned his head to see Rank Two stepping forward. He felt curious that someone would willingly report instead of being asked to. "Go on."

"On the way to our target area, we encountered a unique scene on the nearby south-east marina. As we were passing by, an old man begged us to help save their homes from sea dwellers. I don't really understand what he was trying to say at the time, so we followed him. We walked a few meters towards a barren pathway, then we saw that most of the houses were submerged halfway. We saw unique men patrolling the area. Their skins look slimy and they have gills. The old man then told us that fishmen abruptly appeared out of nowhere and garrisoned the marina. They enslaved everyone including the women and young children making them plant various seeds on the land. He escaped and is now looking for help." Rank Two stepped aside and an old man walked forward staring at Jun forlornly.

"H-hello, sir. My name is Gilbert and I'm the head of the marina. The marina where I live has been taken over by vicious creatures! Please help us!" the old man suddenly dropped on his knees and kowtowed without raising his head.

"What do you mean by vicious? You said they enslaved your people. How did you escape? How many are there?" Jun sternly said.

The old man shook his head vehemently, then tears dropped down from the side of his eyes.

"Th-they started eating the children." Gilbert started bawling unable to control his emotions.

The others were immediately affected and were ready to help voluntarily after hearing what he said. Though Jun had a different thing in his mind.

Jun said, "Why should I help you? People are dying since everything started and you're here not doing anything. You're quite lucky, you know. Most old people I know fought their way out of their predicaments. By enduring or doing things slyly. The first thing that you need to do is to fight back!"

"We did! And we lost! There's a mermaid that can control the water using a staff. It always stays underwater and only comes up when the fishmen were losing. They don't know how to fight on land, so we lured them ashore. But that mermaid... that woman flooded the marina! She raised the water level and submerged a quarter of the usual land."

Jun listened attentively to the story. If he guessed it correctly the staff should be an item that's pretty powerful if it could control water. He already devised a plan on how to kill the said mermaid since he wanted that staff but he had to know more information first.

"Where does the mermaid usually stay?" said Jun.

"It took one of the fisherman's house as its lair and gathered all the men there," said Gilbert.

"Then, what would I receive if I help you? You can't just ask for help without giving something in return. Or do you expect us to risk our lives for nothing just to help you?" said Jun.

Gilbert felt troubled. "I-I don't have anything on me right now, but I can give you those seeds! That's right! Those seeds look unique! They must be important right?"

"Yeah, I think so too. But they're not yours," said Jun.

Gilbert thought hard of something important that he owns, then smiled wryly after realizing that there's only one thing that belongs to himself. "My great grandfather, my grandfather, and my father were all fishermen. I was brought up as a fisherman and that's the only skill I have. I'll work under you for the rest of my life if you save my family. ."

Jun smiled. "Just your family? I thought you wanted your marina saved. Haha!"

"I want the marina to be saved, but please prioritize my family," Gilbert said.

"That's good. You have priorities. I have mine too. By the way, I have one last question. Did you see if the mermaid has legs?"

Before Gilbert could answer, the border patrol arrived with a bunch of survivors riding a pickup truck. They curiously examined the area as they approached. A police officer came out from the passenger seat of the pickup truck.

Jun spoke, "Don't mention anything about the marina to the police, they're pretty much useless. I'll be the one to deal with that."

Gilbert and the masked men nodded their heads.

"Hello there. I see you guys are having a party tonight, huh?" said the police officer right after he arrived. His face flushed still looking intoxicated. "My name's Tennis Drillo and I hate people who laugh at my name. I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me but that's a matter of the past. What I want to know is why the heck are guys out here! Don't you know that there's a huge horde just across the bridge!"

Officer Tennis peaked towards the bridge but didn't see any infected. Puzzled, he approached the bridge and saw the rubble that piled up. His eyes widen as he yelled in surprise.

"What happened here?!"

The officer ran back to them demanding an explanation.

"Who's going to fix that? What are we gonna do about that?" said the officer looking everyone in the eye.

Jun stepped back not wanting to deal with boring things like explanations or reporting. Heck, he doesn't even want to speak with this drunk officer. His breath literally stinks. He pulled Gilbert to the back of the group and continued his 'interrogation'.

The officer saw this and became unhappy, feeling that he was disrespected.

Nik blocked his path with his hand and asked, "Do you know him?"

Officer Tennis scoffed, then said, "The real question here is, do you know me!? I can send you to prison if I wanted to! I have enough connections for that!"

Toby bowed slightly then used his silver tongue to appeal to the officer. He narrated the reason and some factual events that happened which resulted in a scolding.

"What are you guys thinking!? Who are you to do that? If you failed, you could have annihilated the camp! If we're caught unprepared by that large horde, everyone would die! I will report this to the higher-ups." Officer Tennis said then haughtily turned around but was pulled back. The next thing he knew, he was already lying with his back on the ground.

Officer Tennis' men were alarmed and hurried to help him, but was immediately blocked by masked men. They couldn't see what's happening on the other side, but they could still hear him having a conversation with someone.

"Who the fvck are you? That's not important. How dare you do that to me! I'll remember you!"

"You would." said the other voice. "Lookie here~ Porn magazines, liquors, condoms and what the actual... Where did you find this stuffs? So you like playing around I see. You can keep your toys but I'm taking this and that."

"You can't do this! This is a robbery!"

"Yes, it is."