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Just as the Alliance seemed reluctant to engage in all-out war, I too tried to avoid it. If we only considered our strength, we were lacking.

The Alliance had too many weapons. Drones, explosives, reserve firearms, handguns, oil-fueled vehicles, bows, poison, and so on… Each one a perfect tool for killing people. If we fought head-on against those lunatics armed with such murderous tools, we would lose.

That’s why the core of my strategy is surprise and chaos.

Start a fire, use the fire to drive zombies and survivors into the Survivor Zone, have a masked companion’s family cause an internal accident, and have the combat forces attack while wearing Alliance uniforms.

‘Let’s see. Alliance outfits…’

At the interrogation of the two Riders, I quietly watched the bound Riders and folded my fingers one by one.

We don’t have police uniforms, but we do have police bulletproof vests. There are even more Rider outfits. We’ve already killed four Riders in this townhouse, and now we’ve captured two more.

Roughly six people can disguise themselves as Riders. Maybe we can even mimic police with police vests and handguns.

As I thought this, the Riders tied up in front of me began to show discomfort on their faces.

“Our leader will pay the ransom, so don’t do anything weird to us.”

They seemed to strongly believe in Rider Zero, but their tightly bound hands trembled slightly, as if my presence alone made them uneasy.

I chuckled.

“We’re planning to attack. Should I care about your situation?”

“You said you’d use us as prisoners. If you treat us properly, we can negotiate.”

Prisoners. If I wanted to maintain a proper Pillager Group, I might have used them for that purpose. Negotiate for their release or use them as shields.

I looked at them with interest.

“I don’t necessarily need to use you as prisoners.”

I’d rather use them as weapons. Infect one with the virus after catching a zombie and send them back to the Alliance.

Of course, time was tight. The attack is tomorrow. It’s too late to capture a zombie and infect them now.

Instead, I grinned and spoke with malice and amusement.

“I just thought of something fun. What if I infect you with the virus and send you back? How would you act if you were infected?”

The Riders, stripped of their helmets, muttered curses and glared at me. Like humans with a long history of animosity with me, they didn’t waver easily. Instead, they clearly showed their venomous hostility.

“If I get infected, I’ll have three weeks, right? I’ll kill you before that.”

“If you’re going to infect me, do it now.”

They dropped the formalities.

One Rider wiped his mask off with his bound hands, revealing his face. A rare sight in this world—a bare face. The skin under the mask was pale, while the exposed parts were sunburned.

The unmasked Rider spat.

“But can you be sure I’m not already infected? Come a little closer. I’ll spit on you.”

I looked at the spit at my feet and laughed incredulously.

‘Just for fun, or rather, to instill doubt and fear to extract information.’

Anyway, this Rider is also a member of the Alliance, and he’s not without madness. Come to think of it, they were humans who used to ride motorcycles and speed down roads, risking their lives even when the world was normal.

Especially since they were lunatics crossing dangerous cities even in the apocalypse.

I shook my head and pulled out a hammer.

“Forget the spit. I want to spill some blood.”

“Torture?”

The hammer, which had consumed countless amounts of blood, still looked clean, but the Riders chuckled.

“Do you know how many times I’ve crashed my bike? Even after all those accidents, I still rode. Pain means nothing.”

“Pain is momentary. Go ahead, hit me.”

Their attitude was dripping with venom.

I chuckled.

“Torture is meaningless. You don’t get accurate information from torture.”

Torture isn’t efficient. People might lie to escape the pain, or they might deliberately lie even in pain. Moreover, these guys are full of venom.

I never liked physical work anyway. In the end, playing with their psychology is what I’m good at, so I’ll use that.

“Since we’re attacking the Alliance tomorrow anyway, I’ll just cripple your legs enough to use you as meat shields.”

“…What?”

For a moment, the Riders looked like they couldn’t believe their ears, but I calmly swung the hammer. The target was the unmasked Rider’s knee. The hammer, with its smooth curve, struck the knee.

A cracking sound was heard, and the Rider clenched his teeth tightly.

But this Rider ignored the pain, sweating coldly, and opened his mouth.

“Tomorrow, you’re attacking?”

“Yeah.”

What they care about is ultimately the safety of the Alliance. The intersection of lines Rider Zero loves. A survival organization formed by many people joining hands.

How fun would it be if that line were completely destroyed? I hummed with great anticipation.

“The city will burn tomorrow. Aren’t you excited?”

“Are you really going to do that?”

They knew about the plan to burn the city. I’ve said it too openly in front of too many people. But the Alliance’s preparations didn’t seem sufficient.

The Rider with the broken knee, forgetting his pain, looked at me with trembling eyes.

“Are you insane? What do you gain from that? It’s just everyone dying together. Don’t you know that acting on such threats is madness?”

I giggled and swung the hammer.

“Yeah. Let’s all die together. You’re planning to attack us, so we’ll die together.”

“If you set the fire! Not just the Alliance, but other survivors will die too!”

“That’s what I want.”

Only ashes and corpses remain. Isn’t that the essence of a pillager?

The Rider with the intact knee quietly watched me and then tightly closed his eyes.

“The police and the leader were right. They said not to hesitate or fear threats and to attack immediately.”

It seems those who saw through my true nature advocated for a preemptive strike, but others refused.

‘What if we really set the fire? Attack after the rain. Use others to contain them and then attack. There must have been various opinions.’

It’s rational. That’s why they can’t handle madness.

Most of the Alliance didn’t expect me to move so drastically at this point, and that carelessness will become a vulnerability for me to stab through.

I looked at the Riders I was going to kill anyway.

“We’ll push zombies and survivors into the Survivor Zone with the flames. We’ll infiltrate wearing your clothes. People you don’t know will cause chaos inside. How about that?”

I watched the Riders closely. Their minds were already shaken. They’ll show their instinctive sincerity.

If they think they can stop my plan, they’ll feel relief. If they think it’s fatal, they’ll tremble with anxiety.

And the Riders showed a mix of anxiety and relief.

“That’s…”

“No.”

They seemed to think of something and felt reassured, but their hands trembled with anxiety. Some parts seemed prepared, while others seemed unexpected.

I didn’t even blink as I observed the Riders’ reactions and continued speaking.

“You must have prepared for the fire. But you didn’t expect me to attack so quickly, did you? You didn’t think about us infiltrating in your clothes, did you? Ah, you didn’t.”

The Rider reacted to my snake-like whisper. Honest and sincere reactions. I didn’t miss those reactions and continued to gather information piece by piece.

‘Of course, it’s all just intuition-based speculation.’

I stroked the hammer and fell into thought.

I couldn’t rely on this information entirely. There might be things these low-ranking Riders don’t know, or I might have misinterpreted their reactions.

It’s a small possibility, but the Riders might have been trained to respond to interrogations and deliberately hinted at false information, or the Alliance might have used Riders who don’t know much as decoys to create confusion from the start, waiting for us to capture them.

But I was confident about a few things.

‘They have fire countermeasures. But they don’t know about the surprise attack.’

That’s enough.

I suddenly turned and looked out the window.

Outside, my companions and family were busily moving. They loaded looted motorcycles with clumsily connected carts and placed bags of daily necessities on the streets.

The moving preparations were done faster than expected. This much…

Behind me, the Riders groaned.

“Are you really going to do that? Really?”

“No. Don’t react. He’s testing us. To see how prepared we are.”

They finally caught on to my scheme and shut their mouths, but it was too late. I turned back and looked down at the Riders.

“The attack tomorrow is a lie.”

“Right? Right. Doing that would just mean dying…”

“We’re planning to attack tonight, right now.”

I swung the hammer and knocked both Riders on the head. I hit their temples precisely, and the two Riders lost consciousness and collapsed.

I glanced at the corpses and left the house.

‘I need to move up the schedule.’

Quickly, even quicker. Before the Alliance gets suspicious because the Riders haven’t returned, I need to shoot when they least expect it.

And above all, isn’t it better to watch the fire at night?

 

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