Chapter 113: In the Darkness

When consciousness returned, he found himself in pitch-black darkness.

He blinked, opening and closing his eyes.

First, he confirmed that nothing was visible at all.

His arms and legs—

...seemed to be bound.

Without understanding why, he desperately struggled to move both arms.

To his surprise, the restraints loosened with astonishing ease.

After untying the ropes around his arms, he turned to his legs next. Those were bound rather tightly.

After some difficulty, he managed to free his legs and calmly assessed his surroundings.

A single room underground, with no windows.

That was the impression it gave.

It seemed his backpack had been stolen... of course, his helmet too.

Quickly checking his pockets, he noticed that emergency matches remained.

He struck a light with hurried hands.

"...Where exactly am I...?"

Likely, this was originally a place where power supply was managed. Numerous mysterious machines, covered in buttons, were stored here.

There was only one entrance.

A sturdy iron door, naturally locked.

"Agh, damn it, what the hell is going on...?"

At that moment,

"Gnugh..."

A voice—someone else's—was heard.

Of course, the first thing I must be on guard against is "zombies."

Keeping alert, I directed my attention toward the source of the voice.

"...Ah."

In the corner of the room, a man resembling a ragged mop lay collapsed.

The man's face was familiar.

"Old man!"

He was the elderly homeless-looking man I'd shared water with just a moment ago.

"Guh... gugugu..."

The old man's face was drenched in sweat.

"S-say... is that... the kind young man from earlier?"

Apparently, he recognized me just by my voice.

Back then, I was fully armored, after all. It's lucky I'm dealing with such a sharp-eyed old man.

"What happened? And do you understand the current situation?"

By that point, I'd definitely noticed I'd been tricked into a heavy dose of something.

But I had no idea why.

Had I been mistaken for some malicious intruder?

No. If that were the case, Shōichi would have vouched for me.

"Good grief. Even you got caught? Looks like there's no god or Buddha in this world."

"What do you mean?"

The old man ignored the question,

"Ah well. I heard it was supposed to be a better place. Damn it. Once a person goes mad, it's all downhill from there."

At that moment, I noticed something off.

The old man's figure, vaguely flickering in the dim light.

And something crucial seemed to be missing.

Eventually, I realized — the truth.

"…Hey, old man… what happened to your leg?"

The homeless-looking man was missing his right leg. There was no doubt it had been removed artificially. The wound was crudely wrapped in bandages.

"Yeah… this? Got eaten."

"Eaten…?"

Confusion set in.

"Zombies"… shouldn't have been this well-behaved.

"Impossible..."

"Yeah, just as you'd imagine. Hereabouts, they seem awfully hungry for flesh."

My head pounded as if I'd been wracked by a fever all night.

"I even saw my own severed legs boiling in a big pot, seasoned with salt and pepper... Honestly! I'd have preferred if they'd just killed me outright. They're just trying to avoid speeding up their expiration date."

During these past five months, I might have fainted if I hadn't built up a tolerance to gore from dealing with those "zombies."

"Hah, hahahaha... hahahaha..."

My heart races. My breathing quickens. The world swims before my eyes.

The old man's figure isn't someone else's story—it's my own future.

Just thinking that made my vision waver and distort.

That already dark and suffocating room now seemed like an overwhelmingly ominous space.

Anyway, I had to blow out the candle.

Even for a moment, exposing myself defenseless felt too dangerous.

The old man had already fallen silent.

Perhaps he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Or maybe he had passed out.

In the darkness, I muttered to myself.

"Even so, I’m not completely helpless."

I was mostly just trying to convince myself.

For some reason, now that the bonds had been loosened, perhaps...

That moment when they come for the "staple food" might be... my last chance.

▼

The door opened about an hour later, after waiting.

The soundproofing in the room was perfect—no footsteps could be heard from outside—until suddenly, the door swung open.

"―!"

Two figures appeared in my line of sight.

Both were powerfully built men.

I silently crept up from behind and leapt at one of them.

Without hesitation, I wrapped my arm around his neck,

"…Wha—?! What the hell?!"

The man staggered backward in shock.

(Perfect!)

At the same time, I tightened my grip with all my strength—of course, with no intention of letting him live.

I've never killed anyone before.

But that's fine—I'm used to zombies. I'm sure I can do this.

But I was too optimistic.

The man I had grabbed fought back with far more strength than I'd imagined.

"Damn you...!"

He kicked hard against the ground, slamming me into the wall with the force of his body pressing against mine.

"Gah...!"

The impact knocked the breath out of me, loosening the grip on my arms.

(Problem... if this continues...)

Though my mind screamed the warning, I couldn't summon any strength in my body.

"Hey! Hurry up and shut this guy up!"

"Y-yeah!"

Suddenly, something like a spray can was pressed against my face, and I heard a *pssh* as something was sprayed.

At the same instant, intense pain shot through my eyeballs.

"Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs, clutching both eyes.

I writhed on the floor like a dying cockroach.

Trying to wipe it away with the sleeve of my clothes was already too late.

Tears poured forth uncontrollably, my face burning hot.

"Damn it!"

A sharp, dull pain struck my abdomen.

The man who'd freed himself from my restraints had kicked me, probably out of frustration.

"Hey! You were supposed to be tied up!"

"That creepy nerd deliberately loosened the ropes. It's obvious."

"That brat... next time we meet, I'm pulling out his eyeballs!"

"Never mind that—tie him up already! Make sure it's tight enough he can't get free again!"

By the time I was bound once more with rope, I had completely lost the will to resist.

What was sprayed on me was... probably some kind of pepper spray for self-defense.

The only thing I could hope for at that moment was that the pain would eventually subside.

"What should we do? Should we go ahead and handle this guy first...?"

"No, let's not. If he's strong enough to fight back, that means he's got a long life ahead. Better to start with the one who's already near death."

"Whatever."

One of the men spat.

"Guess we'll just have to endure the old man's stench."

"Yeah..."

And they watched helplessly as the homeless-looking old man was dragged away.

The door closed.

The light filtering into the room vanished, leaving darkness and silence.

I waited.

I stayed right there, waiting without moving.

Just like that... I must have waited for about half a day.

The old man never came back.