First Planet - Day 1 of New Season.
On a high hill.
After 10 hours of travel on his 'minion-size' motorcycle, Little Mortal finally reached this high ground with a view of a city that you could at most call a small town rather than a city.
Then he released one of the elderly people, the old lady who guided him the most, and said,
"Sorry to bother you, but I have some questions."
The old lady, while surprised that they had already reached a city, nodded,
"Ask away, Boss."
"What's the fastest way to reach the last wave?"
The old lady frowned,
"The fastest way is the 'sure lose' way, Boss.
You'd better forget about it."
Little Mortal raised an eyebrow,
"And why is that?"
The old lady thought for a moment and explained,
"The reason for it is something that I only heard about.
Once, a group of tycoons who didn't want to waste their time on the First planet killed everyone in 6 cities without entering them.
I say without entering, because if any citizen dies while you are outside, you won't receive negative points.
But the moment you enter each city for the first time, that city will be your registered area to protect, and the citizens' safety will be on your shoulders.
That's why everyone avoids entering the cities until the first wave is finished, and won't bother looking for the cities either."
Little Mortal nodded,
"Got it.
Get to the point.
They killed everyone in 6 cities.
What happened next?"
"I heard a 24-hour 'special-event' triggered.
All seven waves were mixed, enhanced, and focused on the last city.
But that wave was so strong that everyone, including the participants, inside or outside of the last city, was slaughtered without reaching the end of the countdown!
It is a known fact that when at least three cities fall or stop functioning for any reason, all participants will receive a notice from the system, advising them not to go to or stay in those fallen cities.
That's why the day that this special event triggered, everybody already knew about it, and they were all in the last city, or in ambush outside of it.
But even so, they couldn't stop the waves..."
Little Mortal noted down the new information and, while stroking his chin, asked,
"Is there a special event on every planet?"
"Yes, and they can be triggered in different ways.
But from what I heard, nobody tries them because it involves extreme measures that might cause everyone's death, and it increases the season's difficulty drastically."
"Got it, and what's the fastest way to take control over a city on this planet?"
The old lady smiled,
"Become the Mayor.
But there is a big problem with that, and no one tries it."
"What problem?"
The old lady chuckled,
"The responsibility of keeping all of the citizens safe will be yours if you are the Mayor.
Anyone who dies will be a negative point for you only.
Believe me, Boss, others will be happy to see someone become mayor, and they support whoever has such an idea.
If we newborns didn't know we would 'harm' the citizens with such an act, I'm sure they would ask us to become Mayor.
But we never agree to such a request, even if they kill us."
The old lady indirectly told him that he can't force them to become the Mayor.
Little Mortal didn't care about the hidden meaning behind her words and nodded,
"Alright, and what's the fastest way to meet with the current Mayor?"
The old lady pointed at the biggest building at the center of the town,
"Just go to the 'City Hall'.
They welcome any 'hero' with open arms.
You can just go there and ask for a meeting directly."
Little Mortal, after saying goodbye to the old lady and sending her back to her card, rode his motorcycle to the town.
When he reached the town gate, he saw broken walls, tired guards, and weak citizens everywhere.
"Were they like this from the start, or became like this after being brainwashed?"
The city guards who saw him were surprised and immediately opened the gate,
"Welcome, young hero!"
Little Mortal waved at them,
"Hello, hello.
I'm here to see your Mayor."
"Sure, just go straight down this road, Sir."
On his way to the City Hall, everyone looked at him with admiration and a smile on their face, while welcoming him.
Little Mortal was speechless,
"That's some high-level 'information manipulation'."
When he arrived at the City Hall entrance and parked his motorcycle, a man ran to him,
"Welcome, young hero!
How can I help you?"
Little Mortal stretched his hand and, while shaking hands with him, said,
"Greetings, good sir.
I want to have a talk with your Mayor if possible."
The man hurriedly led the way for him,
"This way, young hero.
This way."
Not long after, Little Mortal found himself in a waiting room, eating tea and cookies.
The door suddenly opened, and a chubby lady, looking happy and excited, entered.
"Young hero!
I didn't expect to see you so soon!"
Little Mortal stood up and smiled back,
"Sorry to bother you, Ms. Mayor.
I had an urgent matter, so I came here without further notice."
The chubby Mayor waved her hand nonchalantly,
"That's fine, that's fine!
I'm happy to see a hero like yourself any time, especially before the first wave."
Then she sat down beside him and asked,
"How can I help you?
Do you want to take over the defense of a certain part?
Are you looking for information about the waves?
Or you want to know about the condition and the location of the other cities?"
Little Mortal nodded,
"I do want to know about those.
But first, I want to become Mayor."
The smile on the Mayor's face froze.
"Y-young hero, I don't think that's possible...
You need to first become a candidate, and then we need to hold an election for-"
But before she could finish her sentence, she saw a silver item in front of her face, and the one who had this item in his hand said,
"But I have a gun."
The Mayor shivered when she saw the smile on this little gentleman's face that wasn't adorable anymore at all...
She gulped down and brought out a token with a trembling hand.
"H-here you go.
With this token, you are the Mayor..."
Little Mortal received the token,
Put the gun away, and nodded in satisfaction,
"Good.
Now, you are my Deputy Mayor."
The chubby Deputy Mayor nodded obediently.
"Bring out a map of the 7 cities if you have any."
The chubby Deputy immediately brought out a card that transformed into a map, along with additional information about the path zombies would take to reach the cities and their abilities.
Little Mortal commented on the placement of cities while looking at the map,
"Interesting.
The biggest city with the least population is above a mountain,
So it will be the last city, naturally, because everyone will see this one as the easiest to defend.
And there is no zombie that can dig into the ground or fly in this season.
Well, that makes sense.
On this planet, nobody is supposed to fly anyway.
But what is this 'Berserker' zombie?"
The Deputy Mayor answered immediately,
"Mr. Mayor, that's a big kind of zombie with a sturdy body.
There is always one in a random wave, and it will simply run through everything to reach its target, and nothing can stop it.
By the way, its target is always the gathering place of the largest number of people."
Little Mortal noted down the information about this special kind of zombie.
"Alright.
Now, think carefully, and answer my questions.
How long will it take to evacuate the city and take everyone to this big city above the mountain?
And what do you need for your trip?"
The Deputy Mayor was dumbfounded.
She was going to say that with the current shortage of food and roads, it's impossible, but the little Mayor said another sentence that made her think again.
"With a two-lane road, vehicles to transport everyone, and enough food."
The Deputy Mayor, after a brief moment of contemplation, answered,
"We are 90 kilometers away.
It takes a day for me to spread the news and the supply.
If the supply is really enough for 120,000 citizens, then we can get there in half a day to 2 days,
depending on how many vehicles there are to transport our people."
Little Mortal nodded and gave her two '100k one week citizens pack' cards.
"I want you and my citizens to be there in 3 days.
The road and transportation will be ready in a couple of hours.
The ones who take you there will be at the city entrance.
Goodbye."
And left the meeting room.
The stunned Deputy Mayor,
"... How is he going to transport so many people?"
...
When Little Mortal was out, the same man who led him in came to him in a hurry,
"Mayor.
Any orders?"
Little Mortal was taken aback,
"My identity changed so fast...
*Cough*
Come with me to the gate."
"Yes, Sir!"
And the two left.
In the front gate, Little Mortal took out his storage card, and after he found the newborn's card that he gathered from the 'causality' at the third elevator,
He released 3 out of more than 2000 cards of newborns he had.
Three newborns of different ages came out and nodded obediently,
"How can we help you?"
Looking at their lifeless eyes, Little Mortal gritted his teeth,
"Can you guys drive?"
The three nodded.
"Alright, take these.
I want a two-lane road from here to the city above the mountain.
This sir here will be your guide.
After you are done, come here to help with transportation."
Then he gave the confused newborns a bunch of cards and left on his motorcycle with a map in hand.
The newborns looked at the cards with dropped jaws.
- Newborn card x300
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
- 40 capacity Bus card x300
- 180 km Road card x2
- 3-seat motorcycle card x1
- Full equipment pack cards x303
"What a Tycoon!"
"That was a Tycoon among Tycoons!"
"Aren't we in First Planet? How is he so rich already?"
"Let's get to the job! These Tycoons aren't good people!
We can't mess up!"
"Alright!"
After the three newborns talked to the deputy mayor, they immediately understood the assignment.
"So, we should 'build' the road to the city at the center.
Then come back here and release the 300 newborns, give them each a full equipment pack and a bus to evacuate the citizens, right?"
"Just two of us are enough to build the road.
We only need to throw the road cards.
That's easy, and it's better not to go around with so many cards."
"Alright, I will stay here and release the rest of us to explain to them what we should do."
Not long after, a road was being 'built', if you could call dropping cards on the ground that could transform into the road by itself, 'building' road.
And in no time, around 300 newborns, all equipped in military clothes, swords, and other necessary stuff,
Were waiting by their bus, ready to transport people.
.....
14 hours later.
First planet - Day 2 of the new season
The 7th city, and the city at the highest altitude.
This place was indeed as big as a city, and not a town like the rest.
But population-wise, it had the least population.
"But I have a gun."
The chubby mayor looked at the small hero who was pointing a gun at him helplessly,
"Alright... Here is my token.
You are the mayor now."
The now little Mayor of all 7 cities nodded,
"Good, now you are my deputy.
Gather everyone for an emergency meeting.
We have lots of work to do."
The chubby deputy left immediately after leading the new little Mayor to a conference room.
On his trip to all 7 cities, little mortal barely saw a vehicle.
It seems they all belong to 'rich' people only, and carriages were the main mode of travel.
And he barely saw any firearms.
Only a couple of guards had some weapons that were like 'muskets' that required gunpowder and a projectile to be loaded from the front of the barrel.
Everything here seems to be far from a modern civilization, which wasn't too far from reality.
Little mortal looked at the big conference hall and released the group of the elderly.
"Oh, we already arrived?"
"Boss, how was the trip?"
"What made you bring us old timers out?"
Little mortal cleared his throat and said,
"Everyone, be quiet and sit down."
The crowd sat down obediently.
The underworld psychopath tells you to sit, you sit.
"First of all, don't call me boss.
Call me Mr. Mayor, like everybody else."
The elderly,
"...!?"
"Second of all, I asked my deputy to invite the important people in the city for an emergency meeting."
The elderly,
"...!??"
"Third,
You need to tell me how we can gather all of the participants here before the special wave.
And fourth,
We need to come up with a defense plan and how to give shelter to the citizens of my other 6 cities here."
The elderly,
"...!?????"
The crowd looked at the big map of the city and its surroundings on the wall behind him, then at each other, and then at him again.
Seeing them looking confused, Little Mortal knocked on the table.
"Why are you guys so quiet?
No need to raise your hand.
Just say your ideas and thoughts,
I'm listening."
An old man from the back asked,
"Bo- I mean, Mr. Mayor.
Is this the last day of the first planet?"
Little Mayor frowned,
"No, why would you think that?"
The old man said what others thought,
"You said before the 'last wave', and the other 6 cities are coming here...
So it should be the last day when other cities have fallen and only this one has left."
Little mortal sighed in frustration,
"Old man... Your hearing is that bad?
I said the special wave, not the last wave.
And I said, my other 6 cities are coming here,
Not because they have fallen, but because I am trying to evacuate them here.
Your juniors are already taking care of that."
The crowd gulped down.
The familiar old lady from before asked cautiously,
"Mr. Mayor, by any chance, you aren't trying to trigger the special event that I told you about by gathering everyone in one city, right?"
Little mortal smiled at the old lady,
"Exactly!"
The crowd turned pale.
"Why would you do that?"
"That gets everyone killed!"
The crowd lost it when they heard what he was trying to do.
Little mortal ran to the panicked crowd and said,
"But, but, I did it for you guys!"
The crowd looked at him in shock.
"For us!?"
They didn't believe a criminal minion from the underworld would do such a thing for them at all.
Little mortal nodded with a face full of honesty,
"Yes!
You said you will die this season if it takes too long.
But how can I lose you? How can I allow that?
You are my trusted advisors!
I- I want you to stay with me to the end!"
He even almost cried out of overwhelming emotions in the midst of his words.
But none of them believed him!
'You mean you want to get us and everyone else killed sooner?'
The wise-looking old man shook his head,
"This is what it is, friends.
Let's just try our best..."
Little mortal ran to him, gave him a kick, and shouted angrily,
"What's this depressed tone, old man?
Why do you say this like we are going to die? Huh?
My P2W ability looks like a joke to you?
Why are you pretending that some difficult obstacles are on our way?
I just buy everything and crush everything with my money!"
The other elders, seeing the underworld psychopath losing it and his hand going to his pocket, probably to bring his gun out, tried to calm him down.
"Mr. Mayor, that's how he always talks!"
"Mr. Mayor, don't take it to heart!"
"Mr. Mayor, calm your anger, that's not good for your heart!"
"Mr. Mayor..."
After 10 minutes, Mr. Mayor finally calmed down and, while huffing and puffing, returned to the front row and sat down in his special seat with a dissatisfied look.
The group of elderly people looked at each other and tried to manage the situation.
If their guess was correct, he emptied more than one warehouse, so he might be rich enough.
The old lady said,
"Mr. Mayor, can you give us a moment to discuss?"
Little mortal nodded and left to welcome his guests.
The group of elderly people starts their discussion.
"First, how to gather all of the participants here."
"That shouldn't be hard."
"If you are talking about the bounty on his head, that only brings a certain number of them here.
Do you know how many participants entered the first planet?
I say around three hundred thousand.
Each hour, only one person gets lucky with his coordination, that's not enough..."
"What I meant was the notification they receive.
I don't know how he is trying to bring everyone here, but after a city becomes empty, it's like when everyone in that city is dead.
So all the participants receive a notification that one city has fallen."
"What's the point?
Can they find the city we are in?"
"We never paid attention to this,
But when 3 cities have fallen, everyone receives an emergency notification with the coordinates of the other remaining cities.
They need to rush over and defend them, or they receive a penalty every day.
If it's the end of the season, it doesn't matter because they can offset the negative points with what they've already gained.
But now..."
"Oh, you are right!
They are forced to come here and see what's happening before their total point becomes negative and the system disqualifies them!"
"Then what should we do?
He is evacuating all 6 cities.
If all of them are empty, it triggers the special event immediately, and everyone outside will die before they even get here."
"Right, I think he wants to bring all of the participants here to help him defend.
So we need to buy time for them."
"Well, the event triggers if everyone dies.
But the citizens are alive.
Which means they won't count as 'dead' until they enter this city.
The moment they enter, they change citizenship and count as dead in their previous city, even if it's temporary."
"You mean if we keep at least one person from another city outside, the event won't trigger?"
"That should be it.
And it's easy to test, we can try it with one of the new citizens.
We only need to see if we receive the 'fallen city' notification after all of them arrive here, or a percentage."
The crowd nodded.
"That's done.
Next is how to shelter the citizens of the other cities, and the defense lines."
"This is the mayor's map; it has all the information."
"Oh, we have a berserker zombie that goes straight to the crowd of people as a random boss."
"Then, no blockage, or the berserker can destroy it.
And we need to deal enough damage to kill it before it gets passed the defenses.
More importantly, we are dealing with a special event, so it might be more than one."
"If we shelter the citizens in a specific way,
We can even bait all of the waves to move in the path we want."
"This part depends on him and how much 'money' he has..."
"Alright then, let's ask him what kind of trap equipment he stole - *cough* I mean, he bought with his P2W ability.
Then we can plan the rest."
The crowd nodded.
Not long after, little Mayor entered with a group of people.
"Look, everyone.
These are my wise advisors.
Each one is more knowledgeable than the other.
I want you to listen to them for our upcoming special event."
The crowd of newcomers went to the group of knowledgeable elderly and greeted them happily.
The old lady came to Little Mortal and told him about their thoughts.
"So efficient!
You guys are the best!
Here, this is my trap collection.
Use them as you like."
The old lady received the 'collection', and when she saw the things inside, her hand froze.
It took her a couple of seconds to come back to her senses.
"A-as expected of you, Mr. Mayor.
Do you have any specific design in mind for your defense line?"
Little mortal nodded,
"Yes."
Then he signaled her to follow him, and the two went behind a wall.
Little mortal looked around vigilantly, and when he was sure no one was around, whispered,
"I'm going to tell you a secret, but you can't tell anybody about it!"
The old lady who felt the atmosphere become heavy nodded solemnly.
Little mortal, continued in a low voice,
"I am actually... From the underworld!"
And he himself was the first to gasp in shock from the secret that was suddenly revealed!
The old lady, who already knew, gasped in shock with a second delay.
What else could she do?
"And I am here on a secret mission!
My secret mission is to..."
He paused and looked around once more to be sure no one eavesdropped, and continued,
"To kill sinners in my Queen's name!
I am here to bring justice!"
The old lady bit her lips.
She didn't believe a single word.
Did the Queen of Hell need him to come here and bring justice?
It was exactly the opposite; she needs sinners to sin more, then go down to the underworld and feed her realm...
"That's why I need you to make a single entry to my city, with hidden traps.
At the entrance, I'm going to use my magic power and distinguish the sinners from your kind.
It is easy for me to tell who is a sinner just with one glance!
All because of my line of work in the past!
Then we can -"
He didn't continue, and only did a 'neck-cutting gesture'.
The old lady shivered.
She knew exactly what he was trying to do!
'This thief planned all of this to force everyone here, kill the participants, take over their cards and newborns, and win the season at the same time!
He actually wants to rob everybody using his special innate ability that lets him see through sinners!
Maybe a useless innate ability on the surface, but here, it is the best way to find your target among newborns!
He can kill the enemy and gather the trusted reinforcement for the city defense!'
The old lady nodded while feeling her back covered in cold sweat.
This little adorable Mayor was a real demon from hell.
She thought to herself,
'Is this a small retribution for higher beings? "
In the end, she knew none of these so-called sinners would die for real, and the rest of the newborns would be forced to work for this new boss.
Feeling confused, she returned to the rest of the group.
When the old lady showed them the cards, their heads felt dizzy.
Not because of the quality of the trap cards, but because they knew who owned them.
"The bounty didn't say anything about these!"
"Would anyone go after him if they knew?"
"Did he empty the whole 'trap vault' of Agent 33?"
"Shhh!
Didn't you hear him?
They are friends, what do you mean emptied?"
" *Cough* I meant, he received them as a gift..."
"Agent 33 is indeed a generous friend."
" Alright, enough.
We aren't supposed to know about what happened outside.
Alright?
Now, let's design the defense line and get to work.
All of these cards are special cards.
Even an idiot can make an unbreakable defense with them."
......
First planet - Day 3 of the new season.
"Mr. Mayor, we already confirmed how to trigger the special event and how to force all of the participants to gather here."
Above the tallest tower of the city, Little Mortal, while eating his breakfast, nodded.
"Good.
Come here and eat with me."
The old lady sat on the chair and joined him awkwardly.
This minion was so familiar with their customs and acted like a human, as if he were a real one.
If they didn't know who he really was, they might be fooled by his acting...
Little Mortal, as if he were a king or something, chuckled,
"Ah, how sweet the morning looks when others do the work, huh?"
The old lady smiled bitterly.
It was only last night that they saw the 6 paths from the other 6 cities leading here and discovered how he plans to bring everyone here.
6 cities, 303 newborns deployed in each one, and 300 buses to bring the people using these roads.
Each city's population, except the one they were in, was around 100 thousand to 150 thousand.
The distance was between 60 to 120 km.
So, with 300 buses, going back and forth around 10 times was enough to bring everyone here.
But what made them speechless was the number of newborns he already had...
More than 1800 newborns were working for him, all fully equipped.
When they asked the newborns who bought them, everyone answered differently, and none of them mentioned him as the buyer.
And not only that, all of them were supposed to enter the third planet.
They didn't even realize they were on the First planet until they discovered that the new boss was actually an outlaw, who was considered a normal criminal by most participants.
But from the bounty, which was a 'wish', everyone knew that he wasn't simple at all.
And the Newborns, after seeing so many of their kind, equipment, and vehicles,
could tell that the ones who put a bounty on his head are trying their best to portray him as 'not so dangerous', so people don't run from him.
After breakfast, the old lady led the new Mayor to the area with 'hidden traps'.
"Mr. Mayor, this is the place."
Little Mortal, who pretends to see nothing, gasped,
"So hidden?
Can you show me how it works?
Where should I draw my sinner detector magic circle?
It should be somewhere that everyone walks close to it."
The old lady brought out her infopad.
"Take a look.
You can see the hidden traps here.
Anyone who enters this area will be scanned.
Then you can see them on the infopad and choose who to kill."
Little Mortal looked behind him.
He saw 5 long corridor-like tunnels, at least 1 km long, and 10 meters wide, all leading to the city entrance.
The corridors were made of 4-meter-tall iron walls, looking indestructible.
On the ceilings were some kind of electric traps.
On the floor were spikes, oil pits, and floors covered in glue.
On the walls were some kind of sharp darts or small cannons in line.
At the end of the corridors, you could see settlements for the people.
Little Mortal was speechless.
"Wise Elderly Number 1.
Won't our guests see these trap tunnels and run away?
What's the point of hiding just this small part?"
The old lady who found out about her new name shook her head,
"They can't see it.
Please follow me."
After walking around 30 meters, she stopped and said,
"This is what they see."
Little Mortal looked back again and gasped,
"No way!
Did you use a device to display a view from the inside of the city here?
Isn't that too advanced for this season?"
The old lady chuckled,
"Mr. Mayor, your friend's gifts are all special cards.
There is no limit on them.
We can easily hide the 5 trap tunnels from outside view.
And we only show them a limited number of citizens, so they think the rest are already dead.
That's more realistic.
If the number is too high, it will be too hard to protect them.
That's why participants mostly like to see half of them at least dead."
Little Mortal sighed, seeming to feel sentimental,
"Agent 33, you were such a good friend.
Even in death, you are saving lives...
Rest in peace..."
The corner of the old lady's eyes twitched.
The scene of what really happened outside formed in her mind.
'He killed the guy, emptied his vault, killed lots of people going to the third elevator that Agent 33 was responsible for, and then escaped here, didn't he?'
She didn't even want to think about what kind of chaos was made after he killed an agent...
No one on the level 3 civilization's mainland knew that the agents had more copies because they had never lost a fight to anyone.
After learning how to use the infopad of Wise Elderly number 1 to control the traps, Little Mortal said,
"Alright.
Oh, and by the way,
We need every 'dead' participant to be 'alive' in the city."
The old lady nodded,
"Got it.
We assemble a team to immediately impersonate those whom you kill.
We have so many newborns that we can find a match between them immediately.
But... Mr. Mayor, you know how we are, right?"
Little Mortal nodded,
"I know, I know.
If I kill a newborn by mistake, you won't follow my orders anymore in this matter.
I know your kind better than you."
The old lady sighed in relief.
He didn't make things difficult for them.
"How about we ask for an entrance fee too?"
Little Mortal agreed,
"Good idea.
You guys are all experts.
Just bait everyone in, and when we are done with all of them, we can start the special event."
The old lady checked with another old man and said,
"In one day, we will be completely ready.
We are keeping one person from three cities outside, so everyone will be forced to get here sooner.
But we won't allow the three citizens to enter the city, leading the participants to believe we are preparing a strong defense in the last city without triggering the special event.
What about you, Mr. Mayor?
Are you going back to the watchtower?"
Little Mayor shook his head,
"No.
First, I draw my bloo- *cough* sin detector magic circle.
After that, I go outside.
You guys just do as we planned, don't care about me.
We will see each other after the robbery-
Wait, no, what I meant was after bringing justice to sinners!"
The old lady,
" -_- "
You just said it openly!
And do you even need to draw that circle?
We already know you can just see people's sins...
