More accurately, there were two groups of players, and a fair number of them at that.
Judging by their clothes, appearance, and the aura they gave off, one group was definitely the same bunch of bastards who tried to drag her into their mess yesterday.
Even though she was already murderously furious with this group, Yuna Bishop’s face betrayed nothing.
‘After all, they were strong and I was weak.
A strategic retreat was absolutely necessary.’
Yuna Bishop was very clear about her objective, and she would stop at nothing to achieve it!
‘The process didn’t matter.
All that mattered was reaching the goal.’
“G-Good morning.”
Yuna Bishop’s appearance instantly broke the standoff between the two groups.
All eyes were on her.
She forced an awkward yet polite smile.
Yuna Bishop hadn’t wanted to make such a conspicuous entrance, but the street behind the building was swarming with zombies.
This was her only way through.
She had even deliberately avoided the door, instead climbing through a window in the most secluded corner.
And yet, she had still drawn their attention.
All sorts of gazes fell upon Yuna Bishop—some indifferent, others laced with malice.
Through it all, she maintained a look of bewildered helplessness, with just a hint of fear.
A perfect picture of an innocent, timid little flower.
“Move along.
This has nothing to do with you.”
The leader of one group gave Yuna Bishop a cool glance, his voice chilling.
“Going somewhere?
Don’t even think about it.
None of you are leaving today!”
Before Yuna Bishop could leave, the leader of the other group sneered.
“Hand over your supplies, and be quick about it!”
“Or else…
Heh heh.”
Hearing the bastards’ threats, Yuna Bishop glanced at their ragtag bunch of scrawny followers, then at the opposing group, which was composed entirely of tall, muscular men and women.
‘Yuna Bishop found it strange.
Where did they get the nerve to say something like that?’
‘Whether in terms of numbers or quality, didn’t Six-Three’s side have the clear advantage?’
Six-Three was the nickname Yuna Bishop had just given the leader of the tall group.
However, Yuna Bishop quickly found out why the scrawny guys were so confident.
CLICK—
The crisp sound of a round being chambered rang out.
He aimed it at Six-Three’s head, a wild grin spreading across his face.
“I said, hand over all your supplies!
Now!”
“And you over there!
Don’t even think about running!”
He added, not forgetting to shout at Yuna Bishop.
‘He’d seen her yesterday.
The woman with the dog, riding a bicycle!’
‘Someone that relaxed had to be loaded with supplies!’
It had to be said, while Scrawny’s strength and character were lacking, his eye for this sort of thing was sharp.
Six-Three’s entire group probably didn’t have as many supplies combined as Yuna Bishop did by herself.
The threat of a gun was substantial, and even Six-Three and his people had to be cautious.
She quietly lowered her head and took the handgun out of her Backpack Grids.
Because Yuna Bishop looked so easy to bully, and because she was alone, neither group of players paid her much mind.
As the two sides faced off, Yuna Bishop kept her head down, fiddling with her pistol.
She’d never handled anything like it before.
Seeing them in movies was one thing; holding a real one was something else entirely.
Yuna Bishop’s parents had divorced when she was young, and her grandmother had struggled to raise her.
She had also been a sickly child, so there was never any spare time or money for hobbies.
Holding a real pistol, Yuna Bishop found it surprisingly interesting.
It was heavy, and cool to the touch.
“Hey, you damn bitch—”
One of the players from The Simian Crew swaggered menacingly toward Yuna Bishop, his mouth opening to speak.
CLICK—
Another crisp click of a round being chambered.
But in a flash, Yuna Bishop had raised her hand, shoving the dark, cold barrel of her gun into his mouth.
…
It was early morning, with a lingering chill in the spring air, yet beads of sweat dripped from the player’s forehead.
He swallowed nervously, his whole body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.
The acrid stench of urine filled the air.
Yuna Bishop’s nose wrinkled in disgust, and she quickly shoved him a few steps away.
‘How disgusting.’
‘This guy’s a total coward.’
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, trying to rob people when you’re this gutless.”
Yuna Bishop’s voice was so quiet that only the player in front of her could hear.
Meanwhile, the situation with Scrawny wasn’t developing as he had envisioned.
He must have imagined the other players would see his gun, immediately drop to their knees and beg for mercy, and obediently offer up all their supplies and women.
In reality, however, one of the male players from the other group took him down with a single kick before he even had a chance to fire.
That was the difference between being trained and untrained.
Scrawny’s gun was quickly confiscated.
Just as Yuna Bishop was thinking she could trail this group and maybe pick up some easy loot, she heard Six-Three speak.
“Don’t ever do this again.”
“Now get out of here.”
“???”
Yuna Bishop was stunned.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
‘Fine, so he wasn’t going to kill them.
But to just let them all go!’
‘Not only did he let them go, he didn’t even take their things!
Just the one gun!’
‘Is this guy some kind of legendary saint?!’
Seeing the unruffled expressions on Six-Three’s companions, Yuna Bishop held her tongue.
‘A saint is better than a homicidal maniac, I suppose.
And it’s wonderful when someone like this is your enemy.’
‘The only problem was, given the circumstances, Scrawny’s crew would probably assume Yuna Bishop was on their side now.’
‘In reality, she had absolutely nothing to do with them!’
‘She had to find a way to kill Scrawny.’
Six-Three and his people were strong enough not to fear Scrawny’s crew.
Yuna Bishop wasn’t.
A lone woman, even one with a large, imposing dog, was still an easy target.
It had to be said that the kindness of Six-Three and his group had left Yuna Bishop with a serious, lingering threat.
After Scrawny and his crew scrambled away, Yuna Bishop, under Six-Three’s watchful gaze, reluctantly let go of the player who’d pissed his pants in fear.
Of course, on the surface, she maintained a look of quiet agreement.
The group of players didn’t linger.
They gave Yuna Bishop a nod and then departed swiftly.
Left behind, Yuna Bishop seethed, grinding her teeth.
‘They just left, and dumped all the trouble on me!’
‘And I couldn’t even show how pissed I was in front of them!’
Fortunately, Yuna Bishop still had her reliable Noir.
“Noir, let’s go!
Follow them!”
Yuna Bishop directed Noir to track the players, to scout out their trail.
‘Sooner or later, I’ll take them all out—the ones who just left included!’
This mess had to be cleaned up, or it would cause Yuna Bishop no end of trouble.
Yuna Bishop’s way of thinking was very simple.
The four words “eradicate root and stem” were deeply seared into her mind.
Her mindset was perfectly suited for this game: victory at any cost.
A little cruel, perhaps.