Chapter 32: Entering Civilization with a Bang

Jack crossed the woods, feeling like Christopher Colombus discovering America. Everything he saw was the same as he remembered, but different. Being outside the nature reserve—the Forest of the Strong dungeon—felt like a dream.

What had changed? How had the System impacted humanity? What was the world like?

Was it all real?

Everything was exactly as he remembered. The trees, the broken branches, that fat bush he’d stepped over once upon a time… It made him doubt whether this was all a hallucination induced by some gas in the cave.

He grabbed a thick branch from the ground and easily snapped it in two. Shrugging, he threw it away.

“What do you think, Brock?” he asked the monkey on his shoulder—its short legs made walking side by side annoying. “Will we like what we find?”

Brock made monkey sounds. There was undeniable excitement there, though he clearly missed his home, too. He’d turned around multiple times on the way and almost ran back once but stopped himself. He really was a brave little monkey.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Jack said with a smile.

The System’s arrival had breathed life into his world. He was strong. Whatever happened, he could take it.

He was just worried about the state of his loved ones, especially the Professor, whose old age wasn’t suitable for punching monsters.

Jack stepped out of the trees and onto a dirt trail. He looked down. For the first time, he realized what he looked like: a wild, dirty, bare-chested dude. He was ripped, too. He must have seemed like a savage—maybe even a handsome savage.

He shrugged again and went on his way.

The dirt trail snaked through the forest before ending at a wider trail, where a gray jeep was parked. Seeing a car was completely disorienting. It made such a hard contrast against last week’s primal lifestyle that Jack had to stop and stare for a moment, unable to reconcile the two worlds.

With a low chuckle, he fished the keys from his pocket—he’d recovered them from their hiding place before leaving—unlocked the door, and sat in the vehicle. It groaned under his weight. Constitution made him heavier; not too much, but noticeably.

Brock jumped in the co-driver’s seat like the experienced monkey he wasn’t. He then realized he couldn’t see anything from there, so he jumped behind the steering wheel. The windshield was a shock—the poor thing hadn’t seen glass before. Thankfully, it was dirty, or he would have headbutted it for sure. It took three swipes of the wipers to make out the road beyond.

Jack revved up the engine, feeling the familiar rumbling of the car under him. The seat was soft on his back and a bit scratchy, while the wheel felt like a toy in his hands.

The car jumped a bit as it started, then rolled on slowly. Jack lowered the windows and let his arm hang outside, while Brock was quick to stick out his head and enjoy the faint breeze. He even occasionally put his hand out and tried to resist the breeze. It was nice.

The dirt trail quickly ended on a snaking asphalt road that crossed the forest, and Jack could finally pick up some speed. He stepped on the pedal, eager to feel the acceleration; the wind buffeting his face. The trees zoomed past him, the occasional stone crunched under the wheels, his body leaned on the turns.

It was fun for a moment. Then, the acceleration stopped, and Jack got bored. He could run faster than this.

Poor car companies…

At least it was comfortable.

The snaking road gave way to a larger one, where the speed still wasn’t up to Jack’s standards, until small houses began to pepper the countryside. It was Jack’s first contact with civilization in over a week. He kept his eyes wide.

By the side, Brock had climbed on the co-driver’s seat and couldn’t pull his eyes from the forest behind them. His tail curled up sadly. Eventually, the forest drifted out of sight, and the little monkey fell on the seat defeated, staring at the empty road ahead.

Theirs was the only car on the road.

The houses were mostly abandoned. The few people he saw stared hard at him until he made some distance. They held guns, bread knives, or anything dangerous they could get their hands on and protected their homes. Many were injured.

He also saw a few monsters. There were small packs of goblins roaming the countryside, along with feral wolves, oversized wild dogs, small scaly people, walking mushrooms, and all sorts of nasty things. There were even large maneater plants in the middle of nowhere, where it would take tremendous amounts of idiocy to fall for them.

Jack didn’t approach enough to scan any of them, but they seemed weak. Only a stag with vines on its antlers was somewhat threatening, and that’s because everything else avoided it. The monsters were pretty sparse overall and didn’t seem to group together, letting the few farmhouses survive.

They also had the good idea of keeping their distance from the road, which let Jack simply drive through.

Soon, the houses grew denser and the monsters thinner. Neighborhoods appeared, which soon gave way to wide streets and dense infrastructure. Jack saw an upturned bus by the side of the street, along with a few burned or violently ruined houses. Most cars were just sitting there, acting as trees.

The System’s coming had not been easy, but at the very least, the scenery reaffirmed that Jack wasn’t hallucinating.

There were more people, too. Jack spotted them roving in large bands, upwards of ten members each, and attacking any monsters that came within sight. A twelve-person group armed with bread knives fell on a pack of five goblins. After a fierce fight where three of them were injured, they managed to take the goblins down.

Jack shook his head. Their weakness would have been funny if it wasn’t sad—or even expected. The leveling speed of such large groups would be atrocious, but why would anyone go against the odds to hunt alone?

He didn’t stop the car.

As he rode deeper, the people had been growing denser, too. There were guards where the town began, holding handguns. They flagged him down.

“Halt,” said one of them, a woman with sharp eyes and a ponytail. “You are approaching Valville, the territory of Henry’s Fang. Please enter on foot and surrender any firearms you’re carrying.”

Brock narrowed his eyes at them, and Jack saw him clenching his little fists. He was already getting a headache; maybe that’s why Harambe dumped the little menace on him like that.

“No attacking,” he told Brock strictly. “Everyone here is a friend by default. You won’t touch anybody unless I say so. Understood?”

Brock released a small holler of protest but eventually buckled under Jack’s gaze. He was in an unknown place, surrounded by unknown people, and his only connection to his home was this weird man next to him. He would listen.

Jack parked at the side of the road and got out of the jeep. Their eyes widened. Whether that was due to Brock on his shoulder or his barbaric appearance, he didn’t know.

“I have no firearms, as you can see,” he said, approaching carefully, “and I don’t mind leaving my car here.”

He didn’t intend to cause trouble, though he was pretty sure he could survive gunshots. His close to 100 Constitution wasn’t for show. As he approached, he scanned them.

Human (Earth-387), Level 5

Faction: Henry’s Fang (F-Grade)

The System wasn’t too talkative about sapients, it seemed. Still, Jack got a bunch of information.

The head guard here, on a major road artery, was only Level 5. The other four were even lower. Moreover, what kind of stupid name was Henry’s Fang? Jack finally felt better for naming his faction Bare Fist Brotherhood.

As he willed away the screens, he saw the five guards look at him like they saw a ghost—they’d obviously scanned him back.

“Welcome to Valville, sir.” The head guard suddenly got way politer. “If I may ask, what is the purpose of your visit? Are you here as a representative of the Bare Fist Brotherhood?”

“Not sure yet. For now, I’m just making sure my family is okay.”

“Would you like to arrange an audience with Henry’s Fang?”

“Not yet.”

“Very well. Please go on, sir.”

“Thank you.”

For the first time, Jack felt like a VIP. Life was easy when you were strong.

He didn’t spare the guards another glance as he entered the town, walking through streets he knew.

Valville wasn’t large. With a population of only twenty thousand, its area was even smaller than the Greenway nature reserve. It was almost a village, practically, and its only notable quality was the nearby town of Tahlequah, which housed the Northeastern State University’s Department of Natural Science. It was where Jack studied, and where his foster parents used to teach before retiring.

Valville itself was a dot that didn’t even appear on most maps, but it was a nice place. The scenery from above the mountain was beautiful, and the streets well-maintained.

Jack liked it here. It was peaceful and pretty—or, at least, it used to be.

Now, rubble and trash was everywhere. Jack saw no monsters corpses, but he did spot some human bodies haphazardly thrown in alleys. There was no sign of the police.

Stares fell on him as he walked. He stood out, what with his bare-chested musculature and monkey on his shoulder, so it was natural. He even felt kind of proud when a wave of whispers followed his path through the town, as people noticed his Level.

He was quite an outlier. Jack scanned dozens of people and only saw one person above Level 7; everyone else ranged between 1 and 5. The members of Henry’s Fang were rare—most people were factionless—but when he found one, they usually walked around with a swag that resembled his.

They also glared at him before noticing his Level, at which point they instantly became subservient. Jack shook his head and ignored them.

Brock was clearly excited, too. He tried to jump off once or twice and explore or play something, but Jack held him back—any random accident could get him sliced to pieces. He was just a monster-looking monkey, after all, and the people of Valville...

They were different than he remembered; hardened. Only hushed whispers or commanding voices could be heard. When he crossed gazes with random people, most held his gaze for a moment. Many carried bladed weapons—but not guns—most walked with tension, and the overall feeling was one of wariness. Jack had never been at war, but he imagined it must have felt like this.

Most groups of people were either going out to hunt monsters or returning, carrying their wounded and seemingly random monster parts—from goblin eyes to brown hearts. The former had clenched fists and set jaws; the latter, empty eyes and palpable relief that they were still whole.

They had also tried to armor themselves. Jack saw people wearing several thick coats, with pans and pots tied in front of their vulnerable parts as armor, or even holding ripped, thin iron plates like shields—maybe that’s why most cars lacked a roof. When it rained, they would quickly begin to stink of rot.

Overall, the weapons and armor of these monster hunters were makeshift, and their tactics ineffective, but they were clearly doing their best. Jack could respect them.

The exception to that was the members of Henry’s Fang. They held actual swords or handguns as they went out hunting in groups of three to five people, and they wore what looked like real leather armor. They must have had leatherworkers working for them.

Moreover, they were relaxed, even cracking jokes as they strutted through the town, shooting mocking glances and pointed comments at those who weren’t as well-equipped. Despite their overt mockery of others’ misfortune, nobody dared look at them the wrong way. No doubt there would be consequences.

The people of Henry’s Fang seemed like dickheads, but Jack didn’t want to judge too quickly.

After all, he stood out himself. His steps carried confidence, and his gait was wide. His Level sent everyone out of his way, including the members of Henry’s Fang.

It felt good.

Jack made a beeline for the town’s west side. His first priority was making sure the professor was okay—most of his friends were in other towns, and the signal was down, so he couldn’t contact them. Then, he’d speak to Henry of Henry’s Fang. If they were good guys, Jack could work with them to ensure the town’s safety. He had much to offer.

His walk through the town took the better part of an hour. He didn’t hurry, taking the time to observe the situation.

Overall, it was shit. There were destroyed buildings and injured people everywhere. Many were obviously sick, too, probably from the dust and grime they carried. Nobody was cleaning or working for the benefit of the town, only hustling from place to place to hunt monsters or procure necessities. There were no ambulances or electricity, either, though the hospital would certainly be filled to the brim.

It seemed like nobody cared for the townspeople, but again, Jack didn’t want to judge too quickly. This was a ton of work, and it was the apocalypse. Maybe Henry’s Fang was just doing their best—though their many hunting groups indicated otherwise.

At least the town seemed safe from monsters.

A small white house entered Jack’s vision as the sun reached its peak. It had a single story and a pink chimney rising from its tiled roof, while the windows were clean. It would have been a picturesque image if not for the patches of blood where the walls met the floor.

Jack’s worry mounted as he approached. A stubborn knot was in his throat, like when he’d been about to fight the rock bear. There were no sounds coming from the house, and no lights were on, either—but why would they? It was noon.

Jack reached the door, mustered his resolve, and knocked.

“Coming!”

His worry deflated instantly. “Oh, thank God,” he whispered.

The door opened to reveal a woman in casual clothing. She was short and slim, while her brown eyes remained sharp despite their wrinkles. Jack used to joke that her mind was filled with firecrackers. She kept her white hair short, above shoulder-length, and always spoke and moved around with an energy that belied her old age.

When her gaze met Jack’s barbaric form and monkey, she gasped in fear. Then, she scoured his face and recognized the lines. She shivered.

“Jack!” she exclaimed in joyful disbelief.

“Professor!” Jack shouted back, rushing in to hug her—carefully. Besides a suspicious swelling on her cheek, she was not injured. Everything was okay.

Except for the unknown burly man standing with crossed arms behind her. That one was not okay.