CH 91

For the time being, he started walking. Perhaps it was because it was nighttime, he met no one else aside from the middle-aged man. His impression after walking on the paved road was “great”. There were pillars placed at regular intervals on the well-maintained roads, illuminating the surrounding area even at midnight.



What kind of mechanism was this? It aroused his curiosity. After a while, the lights dissipated, but it didn’t matter for him as he could see in the darkness. He only thought that it was a pity that such beautiful lights disappeared.



Around five minutes later, he saw a large structure in front of him. What was this? He walked closer. It was a tall building. Was this made by humans? However, he couldn’t sense any humans around. He hesitated on what to do. He looked around his surrounding before losing to his curiosity and entering the building. When he tried to enter from what seemed to be the entrance, he was obstructed by something.



Gotsun!



What was this? An invisible barrier stopped him from entering. Once again, he tried to enter, only to hit the invisible barrier. He was frustrated. Without knowing anything, he pounded upon the barrier. As he was clueless, he didn’t have any knowledge to recognize the substance called glass.



He pounded, pounded, and pounded even harder. Eventually, a crack appeared on the barrier. He smiled. This invisible barrier was breakable. He pounded harder than before.



Gasshaaaan!



Along with such a sound, the invisible barrier broke down. He extended his arm. His hand was able to pass through the barrier which impeded him before. It seemed as if he could enter now. As such, he entered the building and roamed around. Some glass pieces got stuck onto his foot, but an injury of this degree didn’t faze him in the slightest.



Sometime later, a bookshelf appeared in front of his eyes. From there, he took one book out of the shelf. There was something written on it. He was oblivious to the fact that he was inside of a library. Observing the book carefully, he eventually came to a conclusion. This object recorded the knowledge of humans. Humans were intelligent creatures.



To prevent forgetting valuable information, humans tended to store their experience in other forms. Nevertheless, he couldn’t comprehend it. He knew that there existed some sort of pattern in the writing, but without knowing how to read, he couldn’t do anything.



“……”



Even so, he turned the pages crazily. Eventually, he came upon a page which contained not only words but pictures as well. It was the so-called animal picture book. There were words below the pictures of animals. This probably indicated the names of said animals.



He was grateful for this. By laying out the letters and organizing them together, there might be some pattern he could indentify. He read. He read. He read. For some animals, he realized that the same letters were used. There must be some rule in this. But what was this rule? A reason for the same letter to be used in different names… in other words, it was the pronunciation.



Same letters meant the same meaning. He read one book after another, all the while nodding. Animal picture books, plant picture books, insect picture books, cosmic picture books, and so on. Arranging each word and phrase, he looked out for patterns. From this, he learned that there were various characters outside of the ones used for names, such as characters connecting several words, characters indicating the state of the words, and characters indicating numbers and scales.



He was immersed in reading. If he had anything to complain about, it was the sound that kept ringing. Ever since he entered the building, he began to hear sounds. He believed that it was a signal indicating that the barrier was broken, but no human ever arrived. In the first place, no one was inside the building. Why was it that no one was inside despite the building being so large? Soon, he lost interest in this topic and chose to concentrate on the book in front of him.



Nobody knew how much time elapsed, but the outside was completely bright. There were many books scattered near his feet. As he was immersed in his reading, he didn’t notice the passage of time. He mostly understood the rules of letters. Next came the pronunciation. Although he understood the letters and the grammar behind them, speaking with accurate pronunciation was something completely different. So how should he proceed? The answer was simple. If he doesn’t know how to do it, he simply had to find someone who did. It was time to hunt.



When he exited the building, the morning sun greeted him. He squinted because of the sheer brightness. He smiled at such unimportant things. It was because he couldn’t enjoy such things before. On a basic level, zombies had low vision and had to hunt by detecting their preys’ presence or sound. However, it was different for him now. He could see better than ever before. The surrounding scenery appeared clearly visible. He thanked himself for his current state.



Looking around, he saw smoke and heard screams coming from people here and there. Without having to detect the people’s presence, he knew where they were. He moved towards the direction where the people seemed to be. After walking for a while, he arrived at an open place. He could see cracks all over the ground, with some parts of the ground being higher than others. It was probably because of the earthquake from the day before. Hiding, he looked around and found his prey.



There were two humans where his gaze landed. There was an injured girl being supported by a boy. There was no one else around them. They were his target. Eliminating his presence, he slowly creeped up behind the humans. Rushing out from the bushes, he first bit into the throat of the male.



“—! Wha, there is a zon gyAAAAAAAAA!”



Having his throat ripped off, the boy died instantly.



“You have gained experience.”



“ ‘s level has increased from 1 to 2.”



A voice resounded in his head. Ignoring the voice, he approached the girl. Looking at him and the boy who had his throat ripped off, the girl’s expressions turned into despair. Why did she make such an expression? He had yet to comprehend human emotions.



“Hyiii… Nooooooo…”



He walked closer to the shivering girl. The girl screamed and tried to escape. Of course, he did not allow this. Grabbing onto her ankles, he pulled, pulling the girl onto the ground. He tried this because it was on one of the books he found yesterday. If he did this, he knew that humans wouldn’t be able to move because of their innate structure. He understood this as he saw it on an illustration.



“Ouch… a… aaaaa…”



As expected, the injured girl couldn’t move away. Knowledge was great. He could gain power so easily. He believed that knowledge was equivalent to power. As a result, he yearned for it. Dragging the girl, he headed back to the building before. Because she resisted, he beat her and made her silent. When he arrived at the library, he pushed the book towards the girl who was dragged here.



“Huh?…What?”



“■■”



“Eh? A…eh?”



He had told her to read, but it appeared that she didn’t know what he said. Since there was no other way, he used gestures to say “Read the book”. Finally, the girl seemed to understand. While shivering, the girl read the book as ordered. He remembered each word carefully. The content of the book, which he just completely memorized because of his inability to read, was stored in his head. What was left was the pronunciation. Just by learning how to pronounce, his understanding would increase to a new level.



While urging her to read the second book and then the third, he began to absorb the knowledge at a frightening pace. The language was Japanese. Japanese involved the usage of Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana. By combining them, words and sentenced could be formed. Fascinating. New information continuously flowed into him. He could feel himself getting more and more powerful. Greatly moved, he ordered her to continue reading.



“—-You can stop. I roughly understand now.”



Having heard this, the girl shivered in surprise. Afterwards, she showed a shocked face. It was because the creature who she deemed incapable of speaking her language suddenly conversed with her.



“Um…. Do you understand… what I’m saying?”



“Yes, I could thanks to you.”



He smiled. The captured girl seemed relieved as well. As communication was possible, a faint ray of hope appeared inside her heart.



“Uh… I did exactly as I was told, so can you spar-KYAAAA”



“I have no use for you.”



He broke the girl’s neck without hesitation. The girl met her demise. She was no longer useful, so he got rid of her. That was all there was to it.



“You have gained experience.”



He heard a voice in his head. Ignoring the voice, he stared at the girl who was now a silent corpse.



“…Um, if I remember correctly, in this situation I’m supposed to say…”



He smiled once again.



“Thank you. I’m grateful.”



Having utilized something he just learned, he was satisfied.