A youth story of a passerby at the end of the world

"Don't say it, you idiot," his companion called out as he turned around.

"I can go back to sleep soon." Thinking of his warm and cozy bed, the boy looked down at his watch.

"Yeah, I feel like my biological clock is all messed up." Their duty hours are from midnight to 6 a.m., with much shorter shifts at night, which is a very humane arrangement.

In addition, at least there's someone to chat with at night, so I don't dare to sleep, but talking is no problem.

The sound of rustling leaves arose, but it didn't sound like the wind blowing.

"What did you just do...?" "Did you hear me...?"

The two of them simultaneously asked each other for confirmation, and as they spoke, the rustling of the leaves became even more intense.

"..." The two looked at each other, not forgetting their duties.

Generally speaking, when a problem arises, the first person to be suspected should be the one most likely to be suspected.

They looked towards the Inage Beach Park, where only a green belt separated the park from the road.

The rustling of leaves I heard earlier, upon closer reflection, was probably not from leaves, but rather from the branches and leaves of bushes.

Something came out at the right time.

A zombie with a gruesome, terrifying smile emerged from the bushes, its clothes covered in leaves; its arrival had not been easy for it either.

The reason it's described as having a miserable smile is because it's baring its teeth; to avoid misunderstanding, we need to add an adjective to describe that expression as a smile.

Just as I expected!!!

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"Yes, that's how it is." After understanding the details, the cause and effect of the matter became clear.

Genshin Uesugi took a bite of his sandwich in the student council room. He had just delivered the food yesterday, and it was already on the menu today. The people in the cooking club were really efficient.

"They must have been talking too loudly at night, which attracted the zombies."

Zombies don't stay in one place for long; they move around unconsciously. When they hear a faint sound, they will unconsciously move in that direction.

Little by little each day, I could always sense that there was someone on the other side of the trees.

"That's probably it." Hayasaka Ai submitted the task her superior had assigned her that morning when he first learned about the matter: drafting a proposal.

After taking it, Uesugi Genshin handed it to Yukino Yukinoshita.

"What is this?" Yukino Yukinoshita frowned, while Iroha Isshiki kept glancing at Genshin Uesugi and Yukino Yukinoshita.

"Regarding preparations for the reserve force." Uesugi Genshin quickly stuffed the food in his hand into his mouth, then licked the crumbs off his fingers.

“We can’t rely on the executive department every time. Everyone involved in going out should have basic combat capabilities. In a one-on-one situation, they should at least be able to pick up a weapon and kill a zombie,” he explained.

"So, how about a bounty of 6 copper coins for each zombie head obtained daily?"

Those who are not in the Executive Department can collect the money by killing a zombie alone in the afternoon, accompanied by members of the Executive Department.

Two of them were for the hard work of the executive department staff, in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

The remaining amount is the minimum daily wage for a department. Based on this calculation, it's roughly equivalent to one person receiving two salaries.

And it was confirmed that the head of the zombie was hard to get, and even if you got it, it wouldn't be of any use, so they specially used the zombie's left ear as a substitute, which is quite humane, isn't it?

"As long as you can muster the courage." It's both easy and difficult to get, but someone has to take the money.

Yukino Yukinoshita asked worriedly, "Could it be dangerous?"

“Slow-moving zombies won’t pose much of a danger; even one won’t be a threat,” Uesugi Genshin said.

“Yes.” Yukino Yukinoshita rested her long fingers on her chin. “It can probably be done.”

"Hmm." Uesugi Genshin smiled. "I'm going to take a nap. We have an operation this afternoon."

As he passed by Hayasaka Ai, he reminded her, "Remember to be there this afternoon."

"I understand." This should be her first time being forced to go out as a member of the executive department.

Chapter 140: Dark Humor

They were still driving that small light truck, which had been polished to a gleaming shine and had become the standard for the executive department's large-scale operations.

Aside from being a bit noisy, since we're already driving, the noise level isn't really a problem.

And there was that Wrangler jeep, driven by the head of the executive department himself, with his direct staff.

Driving along the coastal road, you'll find piers over the sea at the end.

Since it's uncertain which ship is actually available, we'll probably need to circle around Newport starting from here.

The car turned a corner, facing the road it had come from, and stopped on the empty roadside.

There were no zombie corpses along the way, as they had already been cleaned up by the "corpse-collecting team" of scavengers.

By default, it's my own private space, a place I'll visit often; I can't let it be swarming with flies and maggots.

Moreover, we need to find them some work to do so as not to waste manpower.

"Get out of the car." Uesugi Genshin turned off the car and said to the two girls inside.

"Hmm." Hayasaka Ai responded calmly from the passenger seat. Her poker face made it impossible to tell what she was thinking, but... she had already entered a capable state.

"We're here." Mai Sakurajima revealed her current thoughts. It was indeed too fast because it was so close; it wasn't that far to begin with.

But walking might take more than ten minutes because there are no extra traffic lights, just a straight route, making driving much faster.

“Yeah, I understand that feeling.” Uesugi Genshin nodded repeatedly and yawned. On the other side of the road, Hachiman had already gotten out of his light truck and started calling for people.

"It's like looking at the time in the afternoon and realizing that your midday nap has already passed, and you want to sleep a little longer."

"That's just because she wants to sleep in!" Sakurajima Mai, who was speechless, raised her head and glared at Uesugi Genshin through the rearview mirror.

"They're pretty much the same." He didn't see any difference.

They got out of the car and looked at the "No Smoking" sign posted on the grid fence of the building on their left.

"Isn't this an oil storage facility?" Hayasaka Ai, wearing a raincoat, said, looking at Uesugi Genshin's side.

“Yes, it seems to be an oil and gas company under Marubeni.” Genshin Uesugi nodded, pointing to the way they came. “Next door also seems to be the Narita Airport’s oil storage facility.”

It's Narita, not Haneda. Narita International Airport is located in Narita City, Chiba Prefecture, an inland city, while Haneda Airport is located in Ota Ward, Tokyo, near Kanagawa Prefecture.

“In that case…” Hayasaka Ai raised her head slightly in thought, “Isn’t that an oil tanker anchored here?”

"Well, let's see how it goes first. Although we only need a small cargo ship, it might not be that easy."

If we can't find one, we'll have to make do with other ships for now.

"Shall we take action?" Hachiman walked over.

"Let's move." Uesugi Genshin placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Hachiman began to give instructions: "Zaimokuza in front, Hadano on the right, Sagami on the left."

He himself is on the right, thus completing the division of forwards, defenders, left wingers, and right wingers.

Uesugi Genshin and his group stood at the very back as the procession began to move inwards.

It's a place I've never been to before, so naturally there will be a lot of zombies.

There's a dead end ahead, and a wall at the southern end. Beyond that lies the sea. You need to enter the company area on the left before you can proceed from west to east.

As soon as they entered, three zombies ran towards them, dressed in blue overalls with black and red bloodstains on their bodies.

"Here they come, here they come!" Yoshiteru Zaimoto exclaimed excitedly, his voice thick with youthful exuberance. He raised his baseball bat high and, in perfect unison with his teammates, stepped forward, each taking one and swiftly finishing it off.

"Keep moving forward." The Yawata indicator wood base group continued to clear the way.

Each group is spaced a few meters apart, leaving adequate space without being too scattered.

From between several huge oil tanks on the left, the zombies simultaneously twisted their bodies, using the whites of their eyes to "look" this way.

Then he ran over here and Hachiman smashed a zombie to the ground with a stick.

If there's free time, I'll help others share the burden; at least everyone is prepared to be fatally attacked.

He wiped the blood off the stick tip on the zombie's blue overalls; Hachiman had also gone astray.

“If all of these can be used.” Hayasaka Ai turned her head to look at the oil storage tank.

“It will definitely work.” Uesugi Genshin replied, his blue eyes also looking in that direction.

Even if there's a power outage, as long as a generator is found, the gasoline here can last for a very long time.

"This isn't what I expected," Hachiman murmured, looking at the pier he had arrived at.

"That's true to some extent," Vice Captain Shiroyama agreed.

Because it faces the sea directly, the wall wasn't removed despite the presence of the pier; instead, a staircase was built to cross it.

Watching the metal staircase that one person could pass through, Uesugi Genshin led Hayasaka Ai, Sakurajima Mai, and Hachiman up the stairs. Their feet passed over the breakwater before they were truly suspended in mid-air over the sea.

"It really is an oil tanker," Hayasaka Ai said, listening to the sound of the waves beneath her feet.

"How is it?" Hachiman asked Genshin.

Uesugi Genshin closed his eyes. "Ha. Let's go to the next place."

"That's fine then." Hachiman had no objections; let's go around once more.

And so they continued on, until they reached the next pier. It was much the same as before, except the boats were different, but they weren't small cargo ships either.

When the ship turned from south to north, there were no ships docked at the third sea pier. However, the breakwater and other structures ended there, since the tsunami wouldn't be coming from the opposite direction anyway.

Further ahead, we reached the edge of this facility, with the inter-district road in front of us.

The company across the wall must be related to the construction site; it was filled with rows of yellow excavators.

"Should we climb over the wall?" Hachiman suggested.

“Okay.” Uesugi Genshin agreed; there was no need to go back the way they came if they could get over there.

They threw the weapons over first, and Qin Ye's group grabbed the netting, climbed to the top, flipped over, clapped their hands, picked up the weapons on the ground, and stood guard.

"No abnormalities." "Safe."

Others followed suit and scaled the wall.

Hayasaka Ai wore sportswear under her raincoat, so she didn't have to worry about showing too much skin. Even Sakurajima Mai wore the same loose yellow jacket she used to wear, with pants on the bottom. It seems she really liked that outfit.

Crossing the excavator factory area, you can walk directly along the sea. There are no obstructing walls, and you can see the opposite shore directly. The opposite shore is also a new port, but unlike this side, which is an artificial peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, the opposite shore is directly land, adjacent to the Central Port of the Central District.

"One, two, three, four..." Yoshiteru Zaimokuza placed his palm on his forehead and counted them. There were five boats moored on the opposite bank.

"Do we have to go to the other side?" Qin Ye pushed up his glasses, not very interested, since it would be a detour.

"Let's keep walking for a while longer." Hachiman didn't say anything more.

It wasn't easy to see our side from here. Yoshiteru Zaimokuza lay on the ground, instructing his team members to hold him down and not let him fall into the sea. Then he craned his neck to look to the left, hoping to see something.

"I think I see it. There's another ship ahead." Although Yoshiteru Zaimokuza's posture was inelegant, it worked.

"Really?" Hachiman climbed down in the same manner, and if he sniffed carefully, he could smell the salty, damp scent of the seawater below.

"I can't see very clearly," said Yoshiteru Zaimoto, squinting.

"It looks like a logistics company up ahead," Hayasaka Ai said, flipping through the map.

"That's it then." Uesugi Genshin smiled, finally seeing some progress.

They then began to travel in that direction, which was actually on the second transverse road. At the end of the road, a small cargo ship, which matched Uesugi Genshin's expectations, was moored at the pier.

As they approached the ship, the figures on it began to move. Upon seeing someone approaching, one of the zombies "excitedly" fell off the ship.

He hit his forehead on the shore, then fell into the sea in the opposite direction with a "plop," splashing water everywhere.

There was a semi-circular fresh bloodstain on the edge. If it were a human, they would definitely have been smashed in the head, but the zombie was already dead.

Uesugi Genshin leaned closer and saw that the sea was calm, with only gentle waves lapping against the shore.

Ah... though the ocean is said to purify everything.

"I won't be able to eat sashimi anymore."

Seafood should always be thoroughly cooked before eating; it's best to do so.