With so many problems—enough to potentially cause division within the alliance—wouldn't they create an external enemy? Naturally, we made a suitable target.
A force ard with military weapons, a vicious streak that wouldn't hesitate to set fire to mountains, and already revealed conflicts. More than enough reason to attack raiders who were already a thorn in their side.
But Do-hyung looked at with slightly annoyed eyes and poured out words that sounded like nagging.
"I don't think that's the case. If you'd just spoken properly when the police ca to warn us, couldn't we have gotten past this?"
"Not possible. If their situation is that bad, targeting us would be the natural move."
I answered in an incredulous tone, but Do-hyung just shook his head.
"I heard they're still debating whether to fight us even after you killed that rider in front of the police. So want to attack, saying we can't be left alone, while others say there's no need to create trouble by bothering us."
Listening carefully to Do-hyung, it seed the alliance was in the midst of heated discussions about us.
The police and archers naturally wanted to eliminate us, and the riders and firefighters were quietly agreeing. Riders obviously due to vengeance, firefighters believing potential arsonists needed to be suppressed quickly.
On the other hand, the Hope Community opposed action, perhaps due to past connections, and the doctors objected because treating potential casualties would be difficult...
After listening to Do-hyung, I adjusted my mask and summarized the situation.
"So Ho's scavengers are distracted after being attacked by zombies, and the Electricity Nomads don't care. Four votes for, two against, two abstentions? They'll fight."
"If you'd just handled things better when the police ca, none of this would even be up for discussion."
I wasn't convinced.
The situation was bad in many ways. The world had dried up, turning into kindling. With just the smallest spark, the alliance would beco a great fire attacking in all directions.
Do-hyung relayed the evangelist elder's advice, but I barely paid attention.
"He says if you co and apologize first, they might be able to smooth things over, so think carefully about your actions."
"Hmm..."
aningless. Drought, zombies, fires. The alliance was suffering from three calamities. Conflict was already inevitable.
This called for serious consideration of war. Counterasures against drones and assassination, timing for using forest fires as a weapon, and what would follow the fires.
I muttered as if talking to myself.
"What should we do if we fight the alliance?"
"You really want to fight?"
Do-hyung asked in a low, sunken voice. He watched with dark eyes.
"We need to prepare for the worst. Let's say we apologize first. But what if the alliance doesn't accept it? No, what if they want other conditions?"
I laid out various scenarios.
"What if they drive us out of the townhouse because they're afraid of forest fires? We'd lose the solar-powered house and groundwater facilities. Above all, we'd lose one of our weapons against the alliance."
Show weakness once and you'll be pushed back continuously. Both the alliance and we were predatory groups, and in this wild world, if you appear weak to predators, you beco prey.
Moreover, this predator called the alliance seed increasingly hungry.
"Besides, would the alliance really leave us alone?"
"So people don't want to fight, and others don't care."
"No. If things get worse, those people will target us first."
I looked up at the ceiling, writing a scenario from the alliance's perspective.
A townhouse with groundwater facilities. Advantageous for defense. An area suitable for farming that the alliance would naturally covet.
Additionally, eliminating us as a risk factor would be appropriate, and the various resources we possessed made fighting worthwhile.
Do-hyung also seed lost in thought, remaining silent for a while before slowly opening his mouth.
"If we have to fight... wouldn't it be better to escape the city before fighting starts?"
"Not a bad idea."
As Sa Gi-hyeok emphasized, an exit strategy was important.
Even though I was soone satisfied with dying together, living wasn't a bad option either. As long as I was alive, I could enjoy the pleasure of raiding.
The most important thing was causing maximum damage even while escaping.
Various scenarios flowed through my mind.
'Arson is essential. The flas will create chaos and divide the alliance's manpower.'
Then I suddenly said:
"Let's start by making an escape plan in case the alliance suddenly attacks."
"Should I get the map?"
"There's one here already."
Do-hyung sighed in relief like soone feeling reassured and spoke brightly, while I brought the map kept in this house.
"We need to start fires first. That will give us ti to escape."
"No..."
Do-hyung looked at with incomprehensible eyes, but soon understood the situation and wiped his face.
"I guess that's true. Ah. This is really too much..."
"Don't waste ti with unnecessary talk. First, we need to prepare survival backpacks so we can flee at any ti, and when we escape, everyone should scatter and then et up here."
I poked a spot on the map with my finger. The place where I'd killed soone for the first ti, where I'd experienced the beginning of the zombie outbreak.
The villa district.
"We'll et there a few hours after escaping, and once gathered, we'll leave the city imdiately. Of course, everyone should set fires throughout the city while escaping."
The street trees had disappeared, becoming firewood, but there was still plenty of kindling in the world. The drainage ditches were full of fallen leaves and trash, and abandoned cars and corpses lined the streets.
With these properly ignited, the fire would spread far, carried by the wind.
I had a vision of the map burning red and black. I could almost feel the acrid smoke and swirling ashes.
'Firewood for winter, food and resources that might remain sowhere, all will beco garbage.'
Even the alliance would struggle to handle it. And that was necessary. If they ssed with , they should be prepared to accept this much.
That's when it happened.
Bang, bang, gunshots rang out. Perhaps because we were on a mountainside, the echoing gunshots sounded sowhat light, like pistol fire. We jerked our heads up and looked out the window.
"They're attacking after just one day? With a gunfight?"
***
I rushed hurriedly to the entrance. Going straight up to the rooftop of the watchtower-like building, I found the guard on duty frowning deeply while looking down at the road below.
The companion turned.
"You're here, sir?"
"Yes. It sounded like pistol fire. What's happening?"
"Soone was shooting at us from far away down there."
Following the companion's pointing finger, I could see the comrcial area below the townhouse.
"From inside the building?"
"Yes. It was too far to see clearly."
"I saw it!"
A shout ca from the opposite watchtower. Since we had mounted machine guns on both sides of the entrance, there were guards there too.
The guard on the opposite side pointed to his eyes and reported in an irritated voice.
"I have good eyesight and I saw them. They weren't alliance people. They were townhouse people."
"I see."
Survivors from the townhouse? Suddenly ard with pistols and shooting at us aninglessly? This seed less like revenge and more like soone following orders.
"The police..."
I let out a hollow laugh. This was the police's doing. No, not just the police—the riders must have helped too.
The riders probably found townhouse survivors, and the police recruited them. Just as they had previously recruited rcenaries to fight the military, they were now gathering local survivors to counter us.
"Is this the alliance's doing?"
"Looks like they're using rcenaries again. Direct confrontation would cost them too much, so they're trying to get under our skin in small ways..."
It was their way of keeping within certain boundaries. If they fought us directly and we felt threatened, we'd set fire to the mountain, so they were applying steady pressure with non-lethal but constant harassnt.
I smiled calmly and told the companions on guard duty:
"The alliance won't directly engage with us."
"That's a relief, but..."
The guard's voice was tinged with worry. They seed anxious about the possibility of surprise attacks day or night. Even with machine guns mounted, this place had no light. It would be hard to detect soone approaching stealthily in the dark.
"Let's see. We'll set up alarm systems by connecting cans to strings on the roads. And."
I tapped the machine gun while looking across the road.
"If we kill those people, there won't be any surprise attacks for a while."
They were just following police orders, not vengeful people. If they were truly vengeful, they would have set fires first.
Without that level of malice, they were rely prey. Relying on weapons provided by the police rather than earned through their own fighting, perhaps harboring optimistic dreams of reclaiming the townhouse, they were just flies trying to annoy us.
That's when Do-hyung spoke up, fidgeting with his hands.
"Wouldn't it be dangerous if they provided explosives like before?"
"They won't do that. Using explosives would an a real fight with the alliance, and then we'd set fire to the mountain."
If they were going to give explosives to rcenaries, they would have used drones from the start. I glanced at the sky.
Clear, high, and blue. I'd looked at the sky thinking about drones, but another thought occurred to .
'We've been able to threaten them with forest fires because it hasn't rained. If it rains... the alliance probably won't hesitate.'
I'd made a natural disaster—forest fire—my most important weapon. But being a natural disaster, it ultimately depended on the weather.
Perhaps the alliance was stalling for ti, waiting for rain to fall.
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