The night dragged on forever. Bayuda Gunawan shouted in a furious, roaring voice, drawing even more undead toward him.
The moon shone brightly in the sky, bathing the earth in its enchanting light.
“Hey, kid! Where are you? Come out already! Don’t just hide up there!” Bayuda shouted, pointing at the roof of the three-story building.
On the roof, Raiden Pratama was relaxing as if he were enjoying a beautiful night of camping. In front of him, a campfire burned inside a paint can, with a makeshift grill arranged over it.
He turned a whole chicken and occasionally brushed it with honey butter.
Raiden grabbed the speaker beside him and shouted lazily.
“Boss, if you keep yelling like that, your life is going to be hanging by an even thinner thread. The undead are attracted to sound, not human movement. So if you want to survive down there a little longer, you’d better shut your mouth.”
“You insolent brat! You really are an unreliable little punk!”
Raiden was furious. He’d been branded an insolent, unreliable brat the entire time. Even though he wanted to fire back, he held himself back for several minutes.
Raiden spread honey butter over the slowly turning chicken on the grill. The aroma was truly mouthwatering, especially with the garlic he had managed to grow all this time.
Even though he liked moving from place to place, Raiden had a miniature garden that he carried with him everywhere. It contained all kinds of herbs and spices, each one carefully arranged. There wasn’t much, but it was enough to give him a taste of home before chaos descended upon the world.
About fifteen minutes later, Raiden finished roasting the chicken.
Then he deliberately showed it off to the old man below. Holding the speaker in one hand, he shouted in a joking, lazy tone.
“Hey, Old Man! If you can behave yourself a little better tonight, maybe I can rescue you sooner than I planned. I’m enjoying some honey-butter roasted chicken tonight. If you can be patient and stay quiet for a few minutes, maybe I can finish eating sooner than I’d like. Maybe you can even enjoy this chicken I just roasted!”
He raised the chicken high and gave him a mocking smile.
Bayuda Gunawan was clearly furious beyond belief. Both his hands clenched tightly as he held back his anger, which was on the verge of exploding.
“You have absolutely no manners! Talking to an elder like that! Were you never taught any manners by your parents?”
The insult left Raiden silent. He stared at Bayuda with a slight furrow in his brow, took a bite of chicken, and chewed for a while.
After swallowing and wiping the corner of his mouth, he raised the speaker in front of his face again.
“Boss, it seems you don’t really know my background. I’m an orphan. Do you think a little jab like that is going to make me angry? Boss, try being a little more creative. At least if you can actually make me mad and annoyed, I might give you one chicken thigh. Good entertainment deserves a reward!”
Bayuda was stunned. He never expected his words to come right back and slap him in the face.
Pointing at Raiden, his emotions boiled over, and his body began to tremble violently.
“You! You really have no manners! Who wants your chicken? Eat it all until you get high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and your heart explodes!”
Raiden viciously bit into the chicken in his hand, deliberately making the gesture to provoke the man below.
Yes, it worked. Bayuda Gunawan became so furious that he looked like a volcano about to erupt.
Of course, there was still a little logic left in him. If he lost his temper now, his life would be in danger too.
“Hey, Old Man! You know, if you can survive down there for three days and three nights, maybe I can share half of my food allowance for this month with you. How about we bet on how long you can last?” Raiden said through the speaker in an utterly irritating tone.
Bayuda Gunawan froze. He stared in horror at the young man above him, his body trembling. Once again, he pointed at Raiden with intense emotion.
“You... you! If you really don’t want to help me, why are you messing with me like this?”
Raiden leaned back casually.
“Old Man, listen. I do intend to help you. But you’re too noisy. See all those undead around you? They’re attracted to sound. If you can’t keep quiet, then I’d better postpone rescuing you.”
Bayuda Gunawan fell silent. His face turned deathly pale. He wanted to say something, but his eyes darted wildly around him.
What the young man had said was true. The undead surrounding him had doubled in number. But who had caused all of this in the first place?
Wasn’t it because he refused to help him from the very beginning?
“Ugh, ugh... Old Man, if you could just let me eat in peace, my energy might fully recover. Maybe I could climb down there and rescue you, or maybe I could find something to lower down so you could use it to climb up here. But it looks like interrupting my dinner has upset my digestion. What do you think?”
Bayuda Gunawan ground his teeth in annoyance. He didn’t shout like before. He merely glared at Raiden and pointed at him in silence.
Raiden burst into laughter.
“There you go, Old Man. You should learn to keep quiet. Wouldn’t the world be more peaceful that way?” Raiden said in an irritating tone. He waved the chicken thigh in the air, openly mocking him.
Bayuda Gunawan finally cursed loudly.
“Damn you! You cursed brat! Now you’re mocking me by calling me an old man. What’s next, huh? ‘Stinking old fossil’?”
“Ugh, ugh... So you really do prefer being called Boss, huh? But what can I say? The world’s already gone to hell, and people have turned into undead. The company’s closed down. Fine, fine. I’m not a stingy person either. Even though people often call me a coward, I’ll call you Boss again. But Boss, every time I call you that, there’ll be a price to pay.”
“What kind of price?”
Bayuda’s face darkened again. He ground his teeth angrily. The man seemed determined to toy with him using nothing but words. However, realizing that he would only put himself in danger, the old man finally sat cross-legged on the car hood and folded his arms across his chest.
He looked up at the third floor.
His silent act piqued Raiden’s curiosity. One of his eyebrows rose.
“What’s he doing now?” he wondered, amused.
Just as Raiden was about to say something, a distinctly loud explosion in the distance suddenly startled them both.
The crowd of undead surrounding them instantly stopped moving. They turned toward the source of the sound, then, almost in unison, slowly began leaving the grounds of the three-story building.
Bayuda Gunawan was confused, but excited at the same time.
“What... what happened?” he whispered softly, afraid of making them stop leaving the area.
Raiden said nothing. He merely stroked his chin with a thoughtful expression.