"Iron sword!"
"Iron helmet!"
"Iron chestplate!"
"Iron leggings!"
"Iron boots!"
As Rei had promised, the construction site was barely three minutes away by motorcycle (keys looted from the teachers' office). Though the engine noise drew zombies, the trip was uneventful—further proof of this world's pathetic undead.
At the site, Liz confirmed that "unprocessed steel" could be mined as "iron ingots" with a stone pickaxe. The yield was pitiful (one ingot per steel beam), but with entire city blocks of construction materials, the entire party was soon decked in full iron gear—tools included. The system's compensation for Liz's iron-starved hub world?
But this raised a question: If steel beams counted as iron, what about diamonds? Would a diamond ring mined with an iron pickaxe yield a gem? ...Probably not. Not that it mattered. These zombies were so weak, diamond gear would be overkill. Besides, nothing here could be taken back to his hub world.
"Even if you're excited... it looks plain." Rei circled Hisashi's iron-clad form. No ornate engravings, no regal flair—just generic soldier armor.
"But it weighs nothing..." Hisashi jumped lightly, boots clanking yet movement unhindered.
"WHAT?!" Kohta gaped, his own armor weighing him down. (No way he'd kiss a dude for that perk.)
"Appearance doesn't matter! Defense does!" Liz thumbed-up.
"...And if you visualize the armor as 'hidden,' half the defense remains." Saya tapped her bare arm with her iron katana's back—no metallic sound, but the resistance was tangible.
"Wait, that's an option?!" Liz promptly dismissed his armor, trading half his defense for not looking like a medieval cosplayer. (Full armor for hordes, though.)
"Why are you surprised?"
"My hub world's iron-less... I've got theory, no practice." Even the crafting table had shocked him at first. Now? He'd accepted game logic—like using doors to create air pockets underwater. (Untested here.)
"No iron?" Saya's interest deepened.
"One tree, one pond. Upgrading expands it." No iron, no coal, no mobs—hence his early world-hopping. "Enough chatter! New gear means zombie-slaying spree on the way to the police station!"
Ambush
(BANG!)
"Come out, brats!"
(BANG! BANG!)
"Haha, aim carefully—two cute schoolgirls in there~"
Liz's group stopped—not for zombies, but gunfire.
"Hisashi! Eat to heal!" Rei dragged him behind a car, bypassing wound checks for instant food. (System habits die hard.)
"I-I'm fine... The armor blocked some damage..." Yet his chest was soaked in blood. Bullets packed a punch.
Kohta, helmet-only and system-less, yelled from cover: "W-We're human! Why shoot us?!" (Lucky he lagged behind—he'd have been first target.)
"IDIOT!" Rei snarled.
Why ask? These men—tattooed, armed, leering—were clearly predators.
"You guys okay with this?" Liz, now fully armored, glanced at Saya.
"Of course... Leave the right one to me." She smiled, blade thirsting.
"Huh?"
Before Rei could process it, they charged.
Saya dodged bullets with kendo grace. Liz tanked a shot head-on.
Results?
"Attacking me = red-name mobs, right?" Liz's iron sword cleaved through the first thug. (Humans die easier than zombies.)
"Letting you live endangers others." Saya sheathed her katana—a head rolled at her feet.
If such scum roamed freely...
The government had collapsed.
And with fallen humans rising as zombies?
This world was doomed.