CHAPTER 464 STRONGHOLDI woke up alone. A fact that dawned upon me slowly as my Observation Haki began to process the area around me. Turning my head to the right I noticed for the first time in over a year, Hancock wasn’t there.

    Though the body in this world had never felt her, it somehow ached for the weight of her head on it’s shoulder. Along with the feeling that she should have been there, I thought I caught a whiff of her perfume. She had never disclosed what she typically wore, and I didn’t know enough about flowers to begin to guess what her smell was. Knowing her it was probably some weird snake oil she rubbed all over her body.

    An ache in my stomach, it was a sobering moment for me. For so long I had been fighting for my life in these worlds. Manhwa really had been easy mode for the longest time since those worlds were meant for normal people. Hancock and I, with our otherworldly skills, had flown through most everything. It was sad to know that the moment things got really hard, we were left wanting.

    “Fucking hell,” I mumbled as my forearm covered my eyes. I actually felt like crying. A year ago, I would have killed for a break from her. Always watching me, tagging along wherever I went. I hadn’t known that the Companion Items would allow her to go with me on my adventures, and so I picked her. Immediately regretting it once I did. But after all the fights and drama between us, mainly from my own misconceptions, I really did love the hell out of her.

    Memories of us fighting side by side, sleeping with dozens of women, and carving our own path in the Manhwa worlds, put on a smile on my lips. But to be honest the greatest memories were the moments with just us. Her bathing in the moonlight of the Tutorial is Too Hard. Her laughter after reading some random book I suggested. Snuggling up to watch K-dramas after she talked me into buying a TV for the Capsule House. All of it made the reality of the situation come crashing down.

    “She really is…not fucking dead,” I said, gritting my teeth. Her body was alive. Though I didn’t know what the Monarch’s had done to her she had to be in there, deep down. I had tried everything in my arsenal to bring her out, even the Makuramoto couldn’t push back the Monarch in control of her body. But there had to be something.

    Easton hadn’t been the most help, but he would be. If worse came to worse, I would help him get back to the strongest psychics in Marvel or hell even Constantine in DC if I had to. Unsure if maybe the Monarch was some demon that needed to be cast out, I would find a solution. For now, I needed to help this world get back on track.

    Letting out a sigh, I got off the bed. The people in the hotel were just waking up, the dawn was already rising over the ocean. My body was tired, but not overly so. I would spend every day exhausting myself to ensure my new World Lasting Physique transferred to other worlds in Comics. Having replenished my stores of chakra in the last few hours, I cast a shadow clone jutsu. Two clones appeared on either side of me. They nodded and moved to the balcony window. Jumping out, they would continue killing the zombies in our vicinity and bringing more people to my new basecamp.

    I did consider ending my Handicap to increase my chakra stores, but this world was still new to me. Hopefully my strength would increase daily as this body got used to the chakra and other powers I controlled, until then, I planned to bring some stability to the chaos.

    Stepping outside the room near the top floor I walked over to the staircase. Running down it, I was the only one inside. No lights on, the electricity had been down for weeks. Only the dumb people lived so far up, the dumb and the strong. I practically had the top five floors to myself since elevators weren’t working. I began pushing the miniscule amount of chakra I had left to my legs. Jumping entire flights of stairs, I stopped before I ran into her.

    “Holy mother fucking shit!” She screamed as I screeched to a halt in front of her.

    “Grace?” I asked, recognizing the voice of the girl Easton had introduced me to. Pushing the door I let light leak into the stairwell to reveal her.

    She was rather short. Only about 5 foot four inches tall she had bright blonde hair that was almost yellow. Curly and disheveled after weeks without running water, the only bath she had probably gotten recently was from being pushed into the Atlantic the day before. Though she was short, she had more of a bust than I expected. Small C Cups, she wore no bra, which was easily noticed as her nipples poked out her shirt. Wearing baggy pants and a loose black shirt Easton had said that past him had a huge crush on the girl. They had spent every day before the apocalypse swimming and growing a relationship that moved from holding hands to kissing. That was until their parents were killed in the coming weeks during the apocalypse.

    “Of course it’s me, what the hell? I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” she said. Her blue eyes shining in the dim light from outside I had to admit she was rather pretty. But compared to Hancock-I stopped my train of thought. No one was as pretty as Hancock, a fact I knew and had to constantly remember.

    “Well I’m here, what’s up?” I asked.

    “What’s up?! You flew?! You walked on water! Fuck me, there was another one of you!” She yelled, her Haki all over the place as she looked me dead in the eyes.

    “I did,” I said with a sigh. “As I explained to everyone last night.” Rather than keep my powers secret I decided to do a little show for those left alive in the hotel. The previous warlord, or hotel lord, or whatever the hell they were calling themselves, had been killed when another survivor leader released zombies in our safe zone. His lackeys were either killed or scattered to other areas when we lost ground. Thanks to my show of random abilities there was a nice show of reverence that I hoped to use in the coming days.

    “Sorry, Grace, I can’t really explain it. I have super powers,” I said with a shrug. “Now, let’s go bust some skulls.” Smiling at her I moved past to begin descending the stairs again. Grace followed behind me, still rather lost, but it didn’t matter. I had a pretty good plan brewing.

    As we continued moving down the stairs more and more people appeared, doing the same. Some gave me a wide berth, but as the amount of people increased, I joined the crowd as we began to walk single file to the rather small dining area near the lobby. Cooks already beginning to pass out the few breakfast foodstuffs we had left, we only fed people at morning and night. Quite a few jobs assigned of scavenging and patrolling, this place was a nice semblance of what it could be. I planned to make it so much more soon enough.

    As I was served food, people began to whisper around me. Their haki leaking worry and wonder at what I could do, I gave smiles to all as I accepted a meager amount of hash browns. A table clearing for me as I sat at it, Grace moved to sit across from me. The only person unafraid of me, she actually looked annoyed by the reaction of the others.

    “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but if you really had super powers I would have seen something before today,” she whispered. Everyone around us was listening in. Rolling my eyes I did see her point.

    “I think they just awoke, or maybe I got bit by a zombie and they gave me powers,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, they are the dead walking. Who knows what else they can do?” Sear?h the Novёl?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    “What?!” She yelled.

    “I’m joking,” I said. Frowning, I looked around and more than a few people began whispering furiously. “Fucking hell,” I said. “I was not bitten!” I stood up, causing people to back away in their chairs. “Fuck this,” I said. “Sebastion, Carlos, Becca,” I said,pointing at the three people in the crowd. They practically jumped after being called out. Easton had pointed them out to me before he left after we made up a plan on how to get the city back. “Come with me.”

    I turned and walked away. The crowd parting for me, I headed to the front. The motion sensors doors permanently open now, I moved to under the awning. The area around the hotel was pretty scrambled. Cars forming a makeshift barrier around the front of the hotel, there were burned vehicles, scattered trash, and a number of random items strewn out the once busy boardwalk of Myrtle Beach.

    Doors that once held food stands, T-shirt artists, henna tattoo artists, and any number of tourist traps were closed. I had spent a few months there but hadn’t ventured out much since we were all put under a self-mandated quarantine. I needed to change that. The trio I had called as well as Grace and a few other stragglers walked outside to face me. Each nervous and unsure what was going to happen I turned to face them.

    “You each helped me and others out during our stay here. Bill was a dick, and at the end he got a little mad with power,” I said. At least that was what Easton told me. Bill had been the previous leader and hotel manager. “But he was right. We need to stick together. So, I plan to take over. If any of you want the job, try to kill me. I really don’t care. Stab me in the back, shoot me, whatever the hell you want to try. But I think you are smarter than that. I’ve shown you only a fraction of what I can do, and if you do try to kill me, I reserve the right to kill you back.”

    I let the words hang in the air like a noose ready to strangle one of them. They didn’t say anything and went through their own thoughts and emotions for a moment. “Great, get back to me on that. Until then, I want you all to work for me. Sebastian, you’re in charge of the guards now that Noah disappeared. Carlos, keep with the construction. I have a source on generators so we can begin building barriers again. I plan to push out our territory so keep welding up the sections and we will move them into the new zone soon. Becca, I have food on it’s way as well, hopefully expanding our menu. Sebastian, I want another guard on our food stores. I hope to expand enough to need one of these shops to hold it. Now, let’s go.”

    I turned and walked to the semi-circle of cars around us. Jumping to a hood I walked out past our protective zone for the first time in a while. Walking to the boardwalk I began heading south, to Ripley’s Believe it or Not. As I did, notifications appeared.

    Walking Dead Quest 1.2:

    Kill Zombies (1,000/1,000)

    Rewards:

    Disease Resistance

    Walking Dead Quest 1.3:

    Kill Zombies (0/5,000)

    Rewards:

    Bonus Upgrade+

    “Nice,” I said. My clones busy at work, it looked like I was a reward behind Easton since the 1.1 quest had rewarded me the World Lasting Physique. Ready for some easy rewards in this apocalypse I walked down the street without a care in the world. The others hesitated but jogged after me.

    “What are you doing? We haven’t patrolled yet,” Sebastian said.

    “Another change. I want patrols at night too. No more of this, letting people or Z’s near us. And the reason I am walking so nonchalantly through no man’s land is the fact that there are no zombies within about five blocks of us,” I said. My Observation Haki feeling everything around me, I knew for a fact we were safe, which was a nice thing to know. Easton let slip that the old us had dreaded stepping out here, but watching your dad get eaten by zombies tended to seat the fear of the undead into you.

    “How do you know that?” One of the stragglers following us asked.

    “Because I killed them all,” I said matter-of-factly, which was true. Or at least my shadow clones had. I currently had four running around doing various tasks. Each with their own set amount of chakra and control of haki, they were rather deadly. Though I wasn’t psychically linked to them, I knew they were doing what I planned, and would do so until they ran out of chakra or ended themselves.

    “Where are we going?” Grace asked as I continued to walk.

    “Believe it or not, we have an appointment,” I said. Some people moving between buildings as we entered someone else’s territory, it was easy to know we had been watched. Other groups were better set up than we were. I needed to assign a lot of work to people. We would need spies, emissaries, and most of all farmers. Since we were in South Carolina the soil was crap, but there had to be a trove of tillable soil somewhere nearby. I just needed to put in the work to find it.

    As we approached the bulk of tourist attractions I noticed more people walking our way from the other end of the street. Having gathered over a dozen people, the other two hotel groups that were surviving walked toward us, ready for a fight. Sporting weapons of guns, spears, clubs, and anything else they could get their hands on, they were as disheveled as my people were.

    “That’s the guys from the Hilton,” Carlos mumbled behind me. There was genuine fear in his voice.

    “I know who it is,” I said as I continued on without a care in the world. As they noticed us and walked more confidently, I slowed to a stop right outside the worst tourist attraction of all. Ripley’s Believe it or Not. A mix of fun house mirrors, weird circus freak show examples, and any other number of mindless attractions. Easton told me our family had stopped by there on the first day in Myrtle Beach. At the start of the boardwalk there was a wide open field that looked out onto the ocean from it.

    “Weston! What was that bullshit you were spouting!” The leader of the Hilton group yelled.

    “Exactly as I told you, Henry,” I said as he approached. “I will have what you need soon enough.” My clones had gone to him and the other leaders of the bigger groups the night before. Showing them some skills and offering peace in one fell sweep, it seemed it was enough to get the Southern groups to at least stop by for my little meet and greet.

    “Well, where is it?” Another asked.

    “Wait,” I said as they stopped a few paces from me. Their guards had hands on triggers, but were pointing them to the ground, which was an improvement from the night before.

    “For-” One asked but I stopped him by pointing to the coast. To their surprise another group walked toward us. A large fishing vessel anchored behind them, they had taken a long boat to the shore. More fishermen guarding the longboat, it was sign enough that the locals still didn’t trust me, which was fair enough.

    “What the shit is this about Trippers?” He asked. I frowned, the man knew my name was Weston, but then I remembered the fisherman was local. Trippers was probably a nickname for out of towners in the area.

    “You know what it’s about,” I said, charging my voice with chakra to cast it out. My voice echoed loudly in the area. A fact that showed how stupid or unafraid I was. No one yelled these days, it brought out the zombies. “We have been at each other’s throats for weeks. Some of you,” I eyed the other hotel warlords. “Have taken it a step too far. I will no longer stand for zombies to be loosed at our homes. No more attacking women or children.”

    From the shame leaking off one of the hotel leaders I knew for sure who had attacked us the day before. I filed that away for later. Revenge was always on the menu in these worlds.

    “We have done no such attack,” the fisherman captain barked. Part of me had hoped he had a pirate accent. Instead he spit some chewing tobacco on the street in front of me. “And if you lot go for one of my ships again, there will be retaliation.”

    “Ships?! You fuckers took my brother’s haul!” One yelled and the arguing began. I let it happen for a moment. Stuck in the same few miles of one another the survivors of this world were pretty good at starting fights. It wasn’t long until they were about ready to come to blows. My smaller group stepping back, I let out a tired sigh and released my Conqueror’s Haki.

    Like a wave crashing around me, it knocked people back, but not out. Their own spiritual energy reacting to my massive amount I put on a small smile as I looked them each in the eye. When they had quieted down enough I raised a finger in the air. They looked at me confused for a moment.

    “Do you hear that?” I whispered. They stared at me confused for a long few seconds, then the noise sounded to the West. Each turning in the direction of the noise they watched as a massive semi truck and trailer dodged around a tiny Honda car. Smoke billowing out of the vertical exhaust it was a sight none had seen in weeks.

    One of my clones behind the wheel, he was serving two purposes. Drawing a lot of the straggler zombies together for my other clones to kill, and bringing some much needed good will to the area.

    The truck screeched to a halt a half block away and I walked up to it unafraid. One of my clones jumped out before they could see him and began running back the way he had driven to help with the zombies following him. As the others recovered I opened the back of the trailer to reveal the loot for the day.

    Having stopped by a local Walmart another group had holed up in, and a hospital that was left to the dead, we were suddenly resupplied on everything we were lacking. I first pulled a stack of steaks that were somehow still cold. Throwing them to the concrete out the back of the trailer the men in the other groups let loose a wave of wonder in their Haki as they came to the back.

    “I’m not looking to take your groups over,” I assured them as I continued to dig through the loot. “We have not found a secret trove of goods, but our group is willing to go out into the city to get what we need.” I eyed the men who were staring at the contents of the trailer hungrily. “As a peace offering, you may take some. Any more than that, we will need to begin trading again.” I tossed a styrofoam cooler full of antibiotics to the local captain.

    He caught it, reading it quickly. His haki filling with relief I knew his daughter had been fighting an infection for days. The offer of antibiotics was the only thing that brought him to the table today.

    “What do you have in mind?” The captain asked.

    “Some people may want to use your boats to travel up the coast to find family. At the same time I would like to begin some people training on how to use ships. I’m sure that there are plenty sitting unused in the harbor. My people need to learn to fish,” I said. My eyes drifted to the other groups from the hotels. “Also, my sister has been missing for a few weeks. I expect every one of you and yours to start looking for her. I am putting a bounty on her head, alive. A trailer this filled with goods to the man that finds her.”

    My clones had had no luck finding her. Unfortunately we had no idea what her Haki felt like. Easton had given me a picture of her, and asked me to find her. Say what you will, I had a soft spot for my relatives in these worlds. Scanning each of these people as well as my own I knew I had them. Though I doubted I had their complete loyalty, for now they would listen to what I had to say. Which was all I could hope for in this shithole of a world.