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‘I didn’t expect him to be so eager,’ Mathew thought as he obediently followed after Daniel’s lead.

Yet, their run lasted for only a few seconds for as soon as the group moved beyond the gate and closed it behind them, Daniel came to a complete stop.

He then turned around and raised his hand to scratch the back of his ear as he then looked at Norbert. “Which way exactly should we go?”

It was a simple yet extremely important question.

‘Shouldn’t we just follow the direction the army of zombies took?’ Mathew thought, looking at Daniel’s face with a hint of confusion behind his eyes. ‘Or wait, I’m dumb,’ the young man was quick to chastise himself. ‘If we just follow them, we would have to somehow go through all of those zombies to get to the people we want to help, wouldn’t we?’

“Give me a second,” Norbert replied before resting his back against the outer side of the compound’s wall and closing his eyes.

“Since we have to wait for him to get us on the path, how about we talk for a little?” Daniel said out of nowhere as he moved up and took a spot right in front of Mathew. Even though there was no hostility in his eyes, his attitude was clearly confrontational.

“Talk about what, exactly?” Mathew asked, even though he could more or less tell what the other party was worried about.

“About what is your plan for the future,” Daniel revealed his thoughts without any further hesitation._.

“You really did give this question some thought, didn’t you?” Mathew asked as a small smile of satisfaction mixing with shrewdness appeared on his lips.

“I thought about it ever since you announced that you no longer know what to do next,” Daniel said. He then shrugged his shoulders and shook his head before raising his eyes to stare directly into Mathew’s.

“And here is what I figured out. At first, you really were extremely confused about everything. According to your own story, when you established the fortress you also reached the point where your past experiences cannot be of any further use.

“Back then, I could tell that you were telling the truth. I might not be a great empath but my years as a negotiator gave me this sort of expertise to see through stuff like that,” Daniel went on a long rant.

Mathew didn’t bother to stop Daniel’s words. He simply allowed them to flow.

‘If the cost of securing his loyalty is shedding some light on some of my secrets then I would have to be an idiot not to take this trade,’ he thought, his lips twitching into a small smile. ‘Especially when I didn’t reveal my plans not because I wanted to keep them a secret but because I didn’t want to give others false hope.’

“But?” Mathew opened up his eyes only when Daniel took a short break to take a breath.

“Scuse me?” Daniel furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Everything that you said so far is about the past me, about me yesterday night,” Mathew pointed out, even going as far as to raise his hand and then stretch one of his fingers only to then use it to poke at Daniel’s chest. “And that means it was all leading to some sort of conclusion about today.”

A momentary break ensued. Mathew released a deep sigh.

“And it’s the conclusion that I’m curious about, now,” he finally admitted before taking a step back to relax the atmosphere a bit.

“Back then, when you said that you have no idea what to do next, you were honest,” Daniel shortened his entire passage from earlier to this simple conjunction. “But now, I don’t think it’s the case anymore,” he stated.

The policeman then heaved a deep sigh.

“I won’t ask you to go into details about why you are still hiding your plans from the rest, but if you want me to follow you without questions when hard times come, I need to understand what you are trying to accomplish.”

It was such a simple statement. Yet, for how simple it was, it was just the right message that Mathew had to hear to realize something even simpler.

‘How can others trust me if I hold back my thoughts simply because I’m not sure about them?’

“First, let me answer the question that you just claimed not to be bothered by,” Mathew started as he crossed his arms on his chest before leaning his head to the back and looking at the sky. “I didn’t talk out loud about my plans because I’m sure they will work out in the first place,” he said.

Mathew then lowered his eyes back to their normal level before sending a long glance over everyone in the group.

“I didn’t want to promise the development of our situation if it would all end up as my misunderstanding,” he revealed while shaking his head. “As to not waste the time, I think everything in this new world works in the same way,” he stated the crux of his understanding of the apocalypse.

“I don’t really…”

“I know, just give me a moment,” Mathew interjected Daniel’s objection before the man could even voice it out. “We had to establish and then control three merchants to create the fortress, right?” Mathew pointed out before turning his statement into a question.

“Yeah,” Daniel nodded his head. He was well aware of the details of the fortress even if he didn’t know everything about it.

“I”m not sure, though, if I told you about the choice I had when creating the fortress,” Mathew admitted. “Basically, I could choose one of those merchants as the…” the young man took a break to figure out what words would best describe what he had in mind. “No, I could choose one of three different bonuses for the fortress. And those bonuses would change based on which merchant would become the main one to control the fortress,” Mathew explained.

“I still don’t see the point you are aiming for,” Daniel protested while pursing his lips.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ “Can’t you see the pattern already?” Mathew asked, raising his eyebrow just like an adult would do when their kid would be unable to solve a simple exercise they got for their homework.

“Three merchants, three choices, I can see it,” Daniel countered Mathew’s mental nudge. “But I can’t really see what you want to imply with this pattern,” he stated.

“God damn it!” Mathew cursed in a silent voice. “Isn’t this perfectly obvious already?” he asked.

“We need to establish two more fortresses in order to turn all three of them into something one level higher,” Nadia suddenly joined in the discussion upon realizing just how annoyed Mathew was. She then turned her head to her lover before leaning it to the side. “Am I right?”

“Finally, someone who can get it,” Mathew moaned before nodding his head. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant,” he properly admitted before turning his eyes back to Daniel. “That’s what I am aiming for,” he stated. “That, and various improvements that could allow us to abuse how poorly designed this apocalypse is.”

“Designed?” Daniel’s eyes opened wide. “Designed by who?” he asked as his face turned dark.

“What, do you think I’m behind it now?’ Mathew nabbed only to then shake his head. “No, sorry for that. And to answer your question,” the young man took a short pause, “I have no idea.”

“…”

This time, it wasn’t just Daniel that replied to Mathew’s words with silence. Even though Norbert was busy scouting the area while both Daria and Leila didn’t join the discussion in the first place, they somehow managed to make their silence all the more… silent.

“Okay then, what did you mean by poorly designed?” Daniel asked after heaving yet another deep sigh.

“I need to tell in advance that it’s just my understanding of what I saw and what I noticed so far,” Mathew started before lowering his head. “But isn’t it weird how we might be able to level up in two different ways?”

“Huh?” This time, it was Leila who couldn’t hold her surprise back and released a shocked moan. “Why I don’t know the first thing about it?”

“Because we can’t do it yet,” Mathew replied without any hesitation. “I can’t say for sure it will work like that, but that touching grass that saved Daria before was originally only one of the uses of, well, touching grass.”

“Leveling up being one of the other possible options, right?” Daria commented, finally bringing everyone into the discussion.

“That’s right,” Mathew nodded his head. “But in order to activate this possibility we still need to upgrade this feature of the merchant,” he explained before shaking his shoulders. “That’s why I was so desperate to farm some more cores as soon as possible,” Mathew added.

“Still, there is one thing I don’t understand,” Daniel stopped Mathew from entering a long rant about the wonders of leveling up in two different ways. “How does this connect to what we are currently going to do?”

“Guys, I found it!” Norbert suddenly woke up only to point his hand in exactly the same direction that Mathew initially wanted to explore. “It’s the building that you wanted to take over, kid,” he said as he looked at Mathew only to then move away from the wall and rush ahead.

Yet, after making only a few steps, Norbert realized he was the only one who moved.

“It does not,” Mathew replied before finally starting to move. “Sure, it would be great to become stronger first and then go help others… but I’m worried that if we stall now, then there will be no one to help in the near future.”