HSB Chapter 13

013：

Completely oblivious to Julius’ anger, the System promptly added another sentence: [What will you choose to help Bambi through this dangerous time?]

Julius: “…”

He couldn’t even spend money in-game. How could he help at all?

Julius burned his gaze into the screen. Was the only option left to stupidly hammer away at the screen with his fingers and scare away the undead beast by doing so?

[Oh, my bad! I forgot that Player One and Bambi’s intimacy isn’t enough to cash in gold. Unfortunately, you can only watch.]

 

Julius swore up a storm mentally. While he looked anxiously at the screen, he yelled at his Thirteen, “Thirteen, come in here!”

Thirteen rolled in, and Julius demanded, “Contact Kurt! Now!”

Kurt was the person who installed this game, so now that the System in the game was acting like such a bitch in his ass, Julius had nowhere to vent his anger, so naturally, he had to hunt down Kurt who installed this game for him.

Who knew? Maybe Kurt was very familiar with the inner workings of this game.

As for Kurt finding out that he hadn’t fantasized about a beautiful woman through the game but instead a little girl, it was no longer a concern to Julius whether or not it would leave a bad image of him in the heart of his subordinate.

He wanted to bash this loser System right now!

Thirteen received his orders, and then said, “Your Highness, Kurt didn’t pick up.”

Julius: “…”

A few seconds later:

[Given the special relationship between Player One and Bambi, although the intimacy isn’t enough, under these special circumstances, Bambi’s safety takes priority, so after some careful consideration, I’m giving you two choices.’

[1: Wake up Hugh. Let the zombie and undead beast face off each other and the crisis will be resolved.]

[2: Wait patiently. Wait for Bambi’s good luck to automatically solve this crisis.]

The screen popped up with two options: [Wake Hugh] and [Wait patiently].

Julius glared at it incredulously. “Can’t you just let me spend money on weapons at the store?”

He knew that there was a column for weapons in the mall, but they were all grayed out. As long as they were unlocked, he could afford them no matter how much they cost. It didn’t matter if Bambi couldn’t use the weapons. There was still Ivan; he could use it.

Yet, the System offered him two options that weren’t worth shit.

Hey, wait a minute…

“Does waking up Hugh mean to wake him to his senses?”

[You’re reading too much into this]

[Awakening Hugh here means allowing Hugh to break through the metal wall and gain freedom.]

“…”

So what the hell was he woken up for? After waking up Hugh to chase away the undead beast, who would be left to deal with Hugh then?

Ivan?

This kid was practically shaking in his shoes before he even saw Hugh. It was more probable to believe pigs could fly than to have any expectation of him going face-to-face with Hugh.

“Isn’t there any other options?”

The System was silent.

Julius yelled at Thirteen, “Keep calling!”

Thirteen continued to call Kurt, but no one answered.

[Please make your choice. If you do not select one after ten seconds, the first option will be automatically selected.]

“…”

Julius couldn’t allow Hugh to escape from the metal wall, so with great resentment, Julius tapped on [Wait patiently].

[Given that you made the correct choice, you are rewarded with +5 intimacy.] Perhaps knowing that this sentence was particularly infuriating, which would make Julius fly off the handle, the System didn’t make an appearance afterward.

Julius: “…”

After tucking in Bambi, Ivan went inside the bathroom to give himself a quick rinse with the hot water that Bambi bathed with, then washed and dried the clothes that Bambi had left soaking in the basin for him. After all this, he was ready to head off to bed.

 

 

It was then his ears twitched and Ivan heard a strange vibration.

Power users’ hearing was different from ordinary people’s, not to mention that it was so quiet at night, that any sound could be infinitely amplified in such a quiet environment.

There was something out there!

Ivan wasn’t sure what was out there. He listened intently and could feel it climbing and moving on the walls.

Zombie didn’t climb walls.

A guess surged in his mind as Ivan remembered the disappeared gun he had dropped downstairs. Ivan’s heart turned cold, his eyes wary.

The house was fortified by Bambi’s grandpa and served as a good defense, but Ivan still hastened to Bambi’s bedroom by the light of the candle flame and hesitated for a moment before he gently opened the door.

As soon as he entered, Ivan was surprised to find that the girl he thought had fallen asleep sitting upright in bed. In the dim light, Bambi raised her little finger in front of her mouth and made a “shh” motion at him.

She was the first to feel the shaking which woke her up from her slumber. The sound was familiar to Bambi. She could hear it every morning for the last few days.

The shaking would disappear after a while.

Ivan put the candle on the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed, ready to silently comfort the little girl.

SCREEECH!

Outside the closed window, there was a shrill sound like nails scraping the stone surface, and Ivan quickly picked Bambi up, took a few steps back, gathered a mass of wind in the palm of his other hand, and stared intently at the window.

“Mr. Ivan.” Bambi wrapped her small hands around Ivan’s neck, a hint of fear in her voice.

“It’s okay. I’m here.” Ivan patted the little girl on the back.

Bambi nodded, tightening her grip on Ivan’s neck, not forgetting to hold her little face close to her teddy bear.

She obediently kept quiet so as not to disturb Ivan.

The voice outside had been probing, circling, and seemed to have confirmed that there was “food” inside, and kept chafing, making screeching sounds, wanting to come in.

Unnoticed by Ivan and Bambi, in one of the darkly lit corners, a chair floated up into the air.

After some consideration, feeling that the chair was much too light, Julius changed to pinching the wardrobe in his fingers. The wardrobe was much heavier than the chair, so when the monster broke through, he’d smash it out with the wardrobe.

A moment later, suddenly, a loud crash came from upstairs, followed by an inhuman roar.

Then, the vibrations outside the window went from near and far—it was the sound of the monster running away, super-fast.

The surroundings became quiet once again.

A few seconds later, Bambi said, knowingly, “The monster ran away. “

Then, Bambi told Ivan that there had been vibrations these past few mornings, and after Ivan listened to this, he couldn’t help but feel fear gripping him, and even Julius almost cursed out loud.

According to Bambi, the Level 3 undead beast made its appearance long ago. This thing wasn’t passing by at all, but scouting. After scouting out for a few days and confirming that people were living here, it came to hunt tonight.

If it weren’t for Hugh’s roar just now, the undead beast would not have left so easily.

When Julius saw this, he finally understood why the System said the option he chose [Wait patiently] was the right choice. Hugh was a high-level zombie. Even if he was no longer sane, he was still very territorial. If one of his kind trespassed on his territory, of course, he wouldn’t be pleased about it.

One mountain did not allow for two tigers—this was a universal fact.

Julius previously thought that Hugh had sealed off the third floor because he didn’t want to give himself the chance to hurt Bambi, but now it seemed that, besides this, Hugh was still protecting his granddaughter in his own way.

Even if he had become a zombie.

Even if he lost his mind.

Everything was already arranged before he mutated.

Julius had only just started raising little Bambi. As a new father, he couldn’t fully empathize with Hugh’s behavior, but it didn’t stop him from being inspired by it.

The crisis was temporarily lifted, and Ivan began to think about their current situation.

With the powerful aura from Bambi’s grandpa drenching this area, no zombie dared to come over here to fight for territory. As for the escaped undead beast, from the way it escaped, Ivan conjectured it to be an undead beast, though he wasn’t sure what level it was.

However, from how this undead beast dared to risk coming here to hunt for food under the high-level presence, it meant its level wasn’t too low. A low-level undead beast would not have the guts.

Since the undead beast regarded Bambi as prey, even though he was scared away by Bambi’s grandpa tonight, as long as it didn’t give up, next time he’ll scout again and find out that Bambi’s grandpa was trapped upstairs and couldn’t get out. It would no longer have any reason to hesitate.

The higher the level of the zombie or undead Beast, even if they don’t have sanity, their brains would still evolve and become intelligent.

It was extremely difficult to get them to give up their food.

In other words, they were now being targeted by an undead beast. They could come face-to-face with this undead beast at any time.

As long as the undead beast wasn’t Level 3, Ivan was confident he could kill anything below that level.

However, the intuition he gained from years of facing life-and-death situations told him that the level of the undead beast just now was most likely Level 3.

If it was below Level 2, it would be impossible to run in under the presence of Bambi’s grandpa.

“Mr. Ivan, it was Grandpa who scared the monster away.”

The child’s soft voice dragged Ivan back from his wayward thoughts, and he shoved away the uneasy speculations in his mind and put Bambi back onto the bed.

Facing the little girl’s bright-eyed gaze, Ivan patted her head and said, “Grandpa is powerful. We have to thank Grandpa.””

The little girl was very happy, and that happiness infected Ivan and made his heavy heart relax.

Even if the enemy was stronger than himself, how could he be afraid before the war even started?

If he was to be such a coward, how was he to find Miles for his revenge?

Ivan scolded himself in his heart, and his mood was suddenly lightened. Even if the undead beast was Level 3, he was a C-class, not to mention that Bambi was a psychic-type power user. If they joined forces, self-preservation would certainly not be a problem.

“Mr. Ivan, you look tired. Go to sleep.” Bambi worriedly stretched out her little hand to push Ivan. Mr. Ivan had injuries so he should rest more to get better sooner.

“I’m not afraid of being by myself.” She shook the teddy bear gently and tucked herself under the covers. “I have Winnie with me.”

After confirming that the little girl did not need to be accompanied by him, Ivan left the bedroom, but to make Bambi feel more secure, he didn’t put out the candle this time.

Bambi rolled over and lifted her small face, her eyes brightened by the candle fire, and after a while, she whispered to the teddy bear, “Winnie, I want to be braver in the future, so that I won’t be so afraid of what happened just now.”

She even forced a nod from the teddy bear with her little finger, indicating that Winnie was cheering her on.

Satisfied, Bambi closed her eyes and, in the dim candlelight, fell asleep again.

Although the little girl felt bad for the candle, after the episode just now, the lit candle did make her feel safer.

It was this that gave her the idea of being more courageous.

As long as she was brave and fearless, she wouldn’t have to waste candles to get out of bed at night—the equation in children’s minds was sometimes so strange.

“Sweetie, you’re brave enough.”

Julius pulled the covers over the sleeping girl and saw the girl was sleeping on her stomach. Her little face was pressed up against it. How cute she looked! —Julius couldn’t help but poke her with his hand lovingly.

Seeing that his movements caused the girl’s long eyelashes to tremble, Julius quickly retracted his hand.

Julius wasn’t sure if it was just a psychological effect, but Julius felt that his baby girl looked like him, especially her nose.

Julius touched his nose and looked at Bambi’s. They were practically a mirror image.

He suddenly recalled a passage from some book that said sleeping on one’s stomach wasn’t a healthy habit. For the good of his baby girl’s health, Julius gingerly controlled the screen to lift the covers, flipped his baby girl over, and then covered her with the blanket.

After doing all this, he nodded in satisfaction.

If the virtual reality projector was still there, he would be able to crouch next to his baby girl and do this.

But instead…

Julius sighed depressed. It was late. Julius had a full schedule tomorrow, so he had to exit the game, do his skincare routine, and then head off to bed.

A new day began with checking for any traces left behind outside the window. When Bambi woke up and opened the blinds, Ivan examined the thick metal blinds, which were littered with countless deep gouges that were also on the outer walls.

It was as if a big guy had climbed up to the third-floor window last night and tried to lift the metal curtains with its sharp claws.

The reason why it was a big guy was because of the vibrations as it moved. From this, it can be seen that it was pretty big in stature.

What could it be?

Ivan frowned.

While eating breakfast, Ivan thought about it and decided to tell Bambi the truth so that the little girl could be mentally prepared.

Bambi was still small, but she was smart, and if the undead beast came, Ivan would need Bambi’s cooperation.

“Bambi, the monster that was scared away by Grandpa last night will most likely come for us again”

Bambi paused and put down the bread in her hand. She understood Ivan’s words. “Didn’t Grandpa scare it away?”

Ivan said, “If the monster knows that Grandpa can’t come out, it will come for us again. We are its prey.”

The little girl whispered, “Is it spying on us nearby?”

Ivan didn’t expect Bambi to grasp the point so fast and nodded. “Bambi is very smart.”

“Then let’s close the blinds…,” Bambi was a little embarrassed by the praise and quickly climbed down the chair, forgetting all about eating her bread, “…so that it can’t come in.”

“The monster won’t leave without eating us.” Ivan thought about it all night and barely got any sleep in. Since there was only one undead beast, likely to be Level 3, that had its eyes on them and they surely wouldn’t be able to shake it off or hide from it forever, it was better to use the terrain to their advantage to strike back first.

Bambi’s eyes lit up. “I know! Mr. Ivan, are you planning to kill the monster, right?”

She followed Hugh and had seen Hugh killing zombies.

“But you are injured. Can you defeat the monster?” The little girl’s delicate eyebrows lowered, and her big bright eyes brimmed with worry.

In the past, when Grandpa killed monsters, Bambi was also worried that Grandpa would be injured, but Grandpa was so powerful that he killed the monster every time.

“I can’t do it alone, but with the addition of Bambi and deterrence from your grandpa, I can.”

Before Bambi could react to the fact Ivan counted her in, she heard Ivan ask, “Bambi, did you help your grandpa kill zombies in the past?”

Bambi recalled the scene of Hugh killing zombies to get their crystals. Hugh did not keep these things from Bambi and even taught Bambi to recognize the crystals’ attributes.

Different colors correspond to different properties.

So after Ivan fell asleep, Bambi remembered that the crystals her grandpa taught her could heal injuries, but because she didn’t know what color crystal was useful to Ivan, she grabbed a handful of crystals and put them on Ian. She would know which color of crystal Ivan could use from which color lit up.

To Bambi, the rocks she helped take out of the monsters’ heads were helping her grandpa, which was equivalent to helping her grandpa kill zombies.

So the little girl nodded solemnly and added, “I killed a lot.”

Ivan naturally understood it to mean that Hugh taught Bambi to kill zombies with her powers and that she had experience killing zombies, so there was no need to worry that Bambi would be afraid of “taking a life.”

While Ivan made his plans, he treated his wounds. The first thing they had to confirm was what original form the undead beast was.

Each undead beast was mutated from an ordinary animal, and only by knowing what the original form was could they make plans against the beast based on its form.

 

……

Finding some spare time at around noon, Julius logged into the game. As soon as he enters the game, he receives a pop-up prompt from the System: [Ivan plans to strike first and kill the Level 3 undead beast with Bambi.]

[Ivan is looking for a death wish and is even dragging Bambi along. Player One, if you don’t want something to happen to Bambi, please prevent this from happening.]

[Below are two options: One, go with the flow. Two, kill Ivan.]

Julius: “?”