Chapter 331 Risk And Benefit

"I hate to admit it, but it doesn't seem like we have any other choice," Mathew said while pursing his lips together.

He wasn't happy with the idea. It put Norbert at way too much risk while also splitting their forces and making everyone operate all on their own.

'I agreed with the idea of splitting up earlier, but it was only because no one would be left to fight on their own,' he thought, recalling the thoughts that were going through his mind when Beatrice proposed her plan.

"It doesn't seem like we have any other choice," Mathew repeated himself before releasing a long, heavy sigh. "And we don't have the time to think about anything else either."

Right now, every second that they wasted talking would mean a second more than the zombies could move in literally any direction. Add a few seconds together and the radius of the search would increase by an entire block.

"And if there is anything that I learned from the books I loved to read in the past," Mathew forced a small smile on his face, trying to fake some confidence, "then it's that even a bad action is infinitely better than no action at all," he stated.

"And why is that?" Nadia asked, raising her eyebrows when Mathew's words piqued her curiosity.

"Because by not doing anything, you are giving up control. Or in other words," Mathew managed to turn his fake smile into a real one, "you are asking your enemy to dictate the situation."

The only reason why Mathew's mood improved was due to how confident he was in this theorem.

It didn't come from a military manual. It wasn't some genius strategy of the ancient either.

It was a simple and possibly fake truth that he learned from reading some adventure story back before the apocalypse started.

And yet, at this precise moment, it was this possibly wrong statement that gave him the confidence necessary to push through.

"This entire action thing," Norbert muttered before raising his eyes. "I do agree with it," he stated before lowering his eyelids a little. "But if you are against this plan due to its risks…"

It was Norbert's turn to put a smile on his face, raise his chin and present the world with overwhelming confidence.

Yet, before he could utter any sort of nice-sounding trivia, Mathew opened his mouth first.

"The one thing I'm most worried about," he started, looking right into Norbert's eyes, "is the possibility that the zombies will be able to block our communication as well."

The entire plan rested upon the idea that they could somewhat maintain a constant line of communication between the three of them.

If one were to encounter the horde or even its scouting party, the others could converge on their position and deal with the enemies together.

Or to be more precise, if Norbert happened to stand on the path the zombies would ultimately take, all he would need was a single call for help through his ghost ability.

But if the zombies were capable of blocking this kind of communication, neither Mathew nor Nadia would know of Norbert's fate before actually meeting him once the entire thing would be over.

"It doesn't matter," Norbert stated, clearly paying no mind to what Mathew was worried about. "Because… No, let me put it in a different way," he was about to drop the bomb on his companions when he suddenly pursed his lips and shook his head. "Tell me just one thing, Mat," Norbert requested, raising his eyes and returning the stare.

"Since when has life stopped being one massive gamble?"

Mathew turned silent. This time, Nadia didn't bother to speak up either.

'Gamble? What gamble…'

Mathew only needed a moment to understand Norbert's idea.

One could walk out to school or work, all in perfect health and with a secure future… Only to die when a random AC unit would fall off the wall and crushed them. Or they might end up in a car accident. Or become an unfortunate victim of organized violence that just so happened to take place on the path they took.

The civilization minimized the risks that came with living… But one's life was never free of risks.

'People simply learned how to optimize their lives around the inevitable risks and the benefits of taking them,' Mathew realized.

When one sat down in the car, they accepted the risk that it would break down and cause an accident. And they accepted it because of how small the risk was when compared to saving hours upon hours of the time they would otherwise have to spend walking the distance.

And even by walking the distance, one would be putting themselves at risk, possibly even greater than the one he would be in while in the car!

"Never," Mathew finally gave his response once he understood the weight behind Norbert's words. "I guess I was too conceited trying to make everything as safe as possible," he admitted before lowering his head.

​ "Great," Nadia finally joined the conversation. And from the looks of it, she couldn't care less about all these risks and benefit topic. "Then can we finally get going?"

"Yeah, my bad," Mathew nodded his head, admitting to being at fault again. He then shook his head and took a step back before positioning himself to the left of their small group. "Good luck, you two," he then said while putting a small smile on his face.

"No, thank you," Nadia replied with a grin on her own, following the stupid belief that accepting one's well-wishes would always backfire, leading to immense bad luck.

And with a farewell that simple, Mathew's group split up again.

The young man rushed down the street, mapping out the path he should take in his brain as he ran.

He was surrounded by nothing but dead silence and rows upon rows of abandoned buildings.

It was silent. Way too silent for a city that should be bustling with zombies on literally every corner and every street.

'I know I noticed it before,' Mathew gulped his saliva down, 'but there aren't anywhere near enough zombies.'

Roughly fifteen seconds after splitting up, Mathew recalled the most important part of his current, solo mission. And so, he slowed down his run and closed his eyes.

'Good, nothing so far,' he thought once confirming Norbert's voice wasn't calling out for him.

Mathew then dashed forth. He ran past an entire block's worth of buildings before taking another stop and listening in.

This time, however, Norbert kindly reported back.

"We are okay, keep going," Mathew heard as soon as he closed his eyes.

He ran past another block and closed his eyes… only to hear exactly the same message again. Then again. And then yet again.

'If not for how important it is, I bet I would find it pretty damn annoying,' Mathew thought, squinting his eyebrows a tiny little bit.

Then, Mathew's eyes moved over to his shoulder.

At first, he would stop whenever he wanted to check on others. Then, he would just slow his jog down. And by the time he passed by the fourth block, Mathew left his defenses to his recently obtained protective spell, rushing all ahead even while he closed his eyes!

"Nadia made contact."

This time, the report was different. And as Mathew instinctively looked over in the direction his girl should be, his lips quivered before forming an uneasy smile.

"So did I."