“Broken it?”“Yes.”A moment of silence.When that silence was broken:“Are you crazy…?”The young man’s expression twisted into something fierce. The vein bulging on his forehead conveyed his anger.“Gaaaargh!!!”The impression of him was straightforward.He’s very angry.Ken Sasaki.It felt oddly good to realize that.I knew Ken was here, but I didn’t expect to run into him this easily.Ken Sasaki.He’s a well-known named survivor—though in a slightly different sense. Named survivors come in many types. Some are exceptional because of their abilities. Some have crucial information. There are countless reasons. One common thread is that they’re “outstanding” at something.But Ken doesn’t have outstanding stats. He doesn’t hold important information either. So why is he categorized as a named survivor? Because of a title:‘Extremely altruistic survivor.’—or rather—‘Cockroach-type survivor,’ maybe that nickname should be removed? Only a small number among long-time players called him that. Anyway.His specialty is an absurd survival ability that far outstrips his actual skills. And his behavior is the exact opposite of his sharp tongue. His official title is “Humanist.”Both domestic and overseas communities called him that.The reason? Despite how unbefitting it sounds, he has an ingrained personality: he never passes by a survivor in danger.Civil servant—that’s part of his identity. When a player is isolated and he’s nearby, he’ll stubbornly come find them like it’s the most obvious thing to do. He’ll even go after player characters who attacked him. Of course, the outcome is random. Because his stats are low, the help he can provide is limited. However it turns out, his lines afterward are almost always the same.[“Is this your first time someone helped you? Open your eyes wide and look nice.”][“Huh? Well, I’m a civil servant, after all.”][“Isn’t it natural to save a citizen in danger?”]With those annoying lines, he’d suddenly leave and wander off. So the first impression people had of him was hard not to like—especially players who enjoyed solo play, because he’d helped them a lot.You really helped me so much. Seeing you now brings back feelings.Ken’s voice, full of rage, pierced the eardrums and rattled the skull.“What were you thinking breaking the entrance! If the gang breaks in through there? We’ll all die! A hundred people here will die because of you!”“The door was reinforced properly, so there’s no need to worry.”“You’re laughing?”“Ah, well, um…”“You there, do you have a fire axe? Bring it here.”“S-sir, please calm down.”“No—he’s laughing. Want me to make you smile even brighter? Right? Wow, what a lunatic, he keeps laughing.”A commotion broke out. The corners of Ken’s mouth drew into a grim line unconsciously, and his face flushed red as if about to explode. But this wasn’t a situation to prolong a fight with him.Someone grabbed his shoulder. It was simply to restrain his movements.“Hu, huuh—!”What was that? Had he grabbed too hard? No, it didn’t seem only the strong grip on his shoulder.Ken’s gaze landed on the knife held in the hand that gripped his shoulder. Unintentionally, Zero had been pointing a violent posture at Ken. Maybe because of that, Ken’s posture changed in an instant.“…Teacher?”Where had the earlier loud voice gone? Ken forced a smile, his pupils shaking wildly in all directions.“Please put the knife down and let’s try to resolve this by talking.”A weapon is a good way to talk. At least in this world, you can’t deny that. Still, I didn’t want to stage an unnecessarily tense scene.I should sheath the knife quickly. People are looking at me like I’m a murderer.It must have been shocking. There’s a difference between someone who holds a knife and someone who casually points that knife at people. There was clearly a brief misunderstanding, but now things needed to be sorted out.“The problem is the gang at the main gate.”Driving the gang off wasn’t very important to me. The control center wouldn’t be breached anyway. But I could quietly tell the frightened people how to handle things. That would buy enough time.“If fighting them head-on is difficult, try passing an electric current to shock them.”“It doesn’t have to be very effective. Just enough to make them give up.”“And there will be patients here showing symptoms of unknown origin.”“We haven’t confirmed contagion, but it’s best to gather them in one place and quarantine them.”I delivered one-sided information. The civil servants listened with reluctant expressions. Or maybe they only pretended to listen.But one thing seemed to come across faintly: we weren’t like gang members or looters. Maybe for that reason, Ken—who had been looking doubtful—asked a more polite question.“May I ask one question? You left out something important.”“Yes, ask freely.”“Why exactly are you here? It seems like you have a purpose.”“I’ll just say I came on important business.”“Is that important enough to break down a government facility’s back door?”Ken expressed his annoyance with a sour face. He wanted to complain, but seeing the knife in front of him made him swallow the harsh words.“Since we have our positions, we should know your purpose for coming.”Should I bother trying to persuade them? I didn’t want to bother with that. Just as that thought crossed my mind—BANG-!! TAAANG-!! TAANG-!!—a series of shots drew everyone’s attention to one side.“Damn it! They’re shooting?”“Those bastards are for real!”A tiny hole appeared in the main gate. Through that hole, a human pupil peered.—They even set up a barricade behind the door?—Hey! Bring the plastic bomb! Blow the door and kill them all.“Pl-plastic bomb? Sir! What do we do now?”“…Arm ourselves, for now.”“If we open the door now—maybe they’ll spare us?”“Don’t be stupid. Do you think they’d come all the way here, make a mess, and leave witnesses? Get your heads straight.”The situation began to escalate urgently.They’re bluffing.Plastic bombs? Laughable. If they had something like that they’d have used it earlier, and from my experience, there were never traces of explosives at the control center. So this was the opportunity. A chance to slip into the control room alone and finish what needed doing.But was it already one step too late?“Uhm, sir, the parking-lot door should be safe.”“How’s the situation over there?”“Well…”A civil servant leaned in, whispering furtively, watching the reactions around him.Then Ken’s gaze turned toward me.I set up the barricade properly, so there shouldn’t be a problem.Maybe a little overboard.Having no real experience building barricades in the real world, I’d just shoved whatever I could find into place.“Are you traveling with anyone?”“No, I came alone.”“You moved all that by yourself…?”“Yes.”Wasn’t that heavy…Ken’s expression hardened with decision. The instant I noticed it, a strong intuition hit me: Should I cover my ears instead? It was a sharp premonition of what was about to happen.“Honestly, I don’t fully understand this situation, but it looks like we don’t have time to be picky. Help us. We must stop the main gate from being breached.”【Encounter triggered】“Sigh…”【Crisis at the Central Control Center】[In this disaster, the civil servants at the Central Control Center are in grave danger. They ask you for help.][(Help the civil servants)][(Help the gang members)][(Help no one)]I could already taste the metallic tang of blood. The odds of bloodshed in a standoff with the gang were very high.They were armed with guns. Brandishing a knife and scraping the floor was useless here.In fact, going out to fight now had little merit beyond calming the civil servants’ anxiety.So, the remaining practical choice was obvious.No need to waste energy needlessly.Still. Once an encounter triggers, you at least check the basics. Calmly, I moved up the stairs to the upper floors of the control center.“Where are you going?”“I need to check something.”Gang sizes vary wildly. Fifty people at this point were small fry. But at the prologue’s time, I didn’t know who had tried to invade the control center.So a reconnaissance was necessary. As each step creaked underfoot, the looks I met felt like a mix of distrust and a little hope. Walking between those two feelings made my steps a touch heavier.The windows of important facilities had an odd property: you could see out from the inside, but not in from the outside.[Activating ‘Hawk Eye’ trait.]Looking down through a window, I saw the gang’s numbers—larger than I’d first thought.Not many have guns.Even so, fighting people armed with firearms while under-equipped is reckless.Definitely not the time to stick my neck out.Then something caught my eye strangely.“Wait.”“Do you see anything…?”Ken Sasaki, following behind, squinted and peered outside, but what he saw wouldn’t be visible to an ordinary person.“…It’s the Monello family.”“Monello… family?”On closer look, I could barely make out capo-regime types—the squad leaders—mixed in. The Monello family was a gang ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) that had grown into a massive, vicious mafia family.They built power after occupying the Rosen Police Department and using various firearms and androids. Suddenly, pieces that hadn’t quite fit started snapping into place.So their initial attempt to seize this place wasn’t just to create chaos.Their target wasn’t merely the Rosen Police Department. If they were trying to take control of the Central Control Center, their aim would be the Defense Force base.From the control center they could intimidate the officials into lifting access restrictions and then siphon weapons from a defenseless Defense Force storage—practically an undefended armory.The civil servants at the control center were the ones who had originally foiled that plan. The flustered behavior of the officials suddenly took on a different meaning.With that background in mind, I let out a short appraisal.“They were a big pest.”“Why do you keep muttering to yourself like that…?”“Just nonsense talk.”Right—it was a lot to say and mostly pointless to spout aloud. Still, it started to nag at me.If it’s that much…

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