A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 10: New Mission

A girl surveyed the area in silence when a sudden light turned on inside one of the nearby buildings. Her steps stopped at once, her eyes narrowing toward the apartment that just lit up in the middle of an otherwise dead block.

’How is that possible?’ she thought, crouching lower behind a broken wall. ’Is it solar power? A generator? Either way, whoever did that is stupid.’

In a place this quiet, that kind of light was the same as putting up a giant sign for every monster and desperate human nearby. Monsters were bad enough, but humans could be worse, especially the ones who acted friendly before trying something.

’Not my problem though,’ she thought, already starting to turn away. ’If they want to die due to their stupidity, let them go ahead.’ She only made it three steps before stopping again.

Curiosity got her in the end, biting her lip before circling back toward the building. Electricity this early into the collapse was not normal, and that alone was worth checking once.

The closer she got, the more careful her steps became. She stayed near walls, avoided open ground, and kept her breathing even while her eyes moved from window to window, checking for movement inside and outside at the same time.

’Hmm, this area is too quiet, not a single sound is coming from that house,’ she thought, slowing near the building. ’Should I really be doing this? What if there is some gang inside with powerful hunters?’

She moved closer to the house, stepping into the small open space around it, but before she could get much farther, her forehead hit something hard in midair and made her stumble back with a startled, "Huh?"

She stepped back at once and reached out with one hand, only to feel a smooth invisible surface stretched across the area around the house like some kind of fence. It didn’t feel like a wall or anything she could identify, yet it was solid enough that her fingers could not push through.

’What is this?’ she thought, pressing again from a different angle. ’I can’t go any further.’

A system screen suddenly opened in front of her.

[Unauthorized Individual]

[Entry denied.]

[You do not have permission to enter this Domain.]

Her brows pulled together right away, "domain?" she muttered under her breath. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She read the screen again, then stared at the barrier in front of her with a harder look. An interface? A skill? Some kind of territory effect? None of those answers made her feel better.

’No wonder the lights are on,’ she thought, taking a step back before immediately getting annoyed at herself for it. ’Whoever owns this place is hiding something weird.’

She lifted her fist and punched the barrier. Pain shot through her knuckles, and another system screen appeared before she could hit it a second time.

[Warning]

[Hostile action detected.]

[Repeat offense will trigger a defensive shock.]

She stared at the warning for a bit, then shook out her hand with a small curse. "Defensive shock?" she whispered, "are you serious?"

Part of her wanted to test it, just to see if the warning was bluffing, but before she could try, movement inside the building caught her eye. She straightened up immediately and fixed her gaze on the figure coming into view, ’so that is the owner of this weird power?’

Shu stepped into the light with one hand near the bat at his side, then stopped just inside the barrier while his eyes moved over her appearance, and the distance between them.

"Who are you, and what exactly do you want from my house?" he asked, keeping his voice flat while studying her face for any sign she was about to try something stupid.

The girl did not answer right away, her eyes shifted from him to the empty space between them before she lifted one hand and pressed it lightly to the invisible wall again.

"What is this thing around your house, and is this your power or some weird item?" she asked, sounding more confused than scared while her fingers slid over the barrier.

’Hmm, her gear is too good to be a random, so that means she must be a hunter,’ he thought, taking a glance at the sword on her back.

"Why are you dodging my question when I asked you something first?" he said, his tone turning colder. "Tell me who you are, and why you came here."

Her eyebrows twitched as she rubbed her forehead in annoyance.

"You are pretty arrogant for someone who just got lucky with a strange ability," she said, folding one arm across her stomach while the other hand stayed near the barrier.

"I saw your lights from far away and came over to warn you that turning on a whole building right now is asking for trouble."

She glanced up at the lit window behind him, then looked back at his face without lowering her guard for even a second.

"Light pulls attention from monsters and people, so I was going to tell you to shut that stupidity down," she said, tapping the invisible wall with one knuckle. "But if you have this thing around your house, then I guess you do not have much to worry about."

After saying that, she turned around and lifted one hand in a lazy wave before starting to walk off down the dark street.

"Hold on a second, do you know where the hunter building is around here?" he asked, stopping her before she got too far.

She stopped and turned around, looking at him with confusion all over her face.

"You have a barrier around your whole house, but you do not know where the hunter building is?" she asked, sounding genuinely thrown off by that part.

’Well, makes sense, to them, it’s been many months since the world ended,’ he thought, folding one arm over his chest. ’But for me, the world ended today, so excuse me for not memorizing the neighborhood meta yet.’

She studied him for another second, and some quick calculation moved behind her eyes before her mouth curled into something sharper.

"Fine, I will give you directions if you let me inside first," she said, resting one hand on her hip. "That is a fair trade, right?"

He looked at her, then turned around without even pretending to think it over.

"Then forget it and good bye," he said, walking back inside and leaving her standing there dumbfounded.

"T-That jerk, he really sees a pretty girl like me and just leaves?"

Shu went back toward the kitchen, to continue making dinner, ’should I have let her in for a minute?’ he thought, scratching the side of his face before shaking his head.

’No, that is dumb. She could have been bait, an assassin, a thief, or just plain annoying, and I am not gambling my safe house on directions.’

By the time he reached the counter again, his answer already felt settled, so he rolled his shoulders once and looked down at the half-prepared dinner waiting for him.

’Less just make dinner for now,’ he thought, reaching toward the knife. ’I have already dealt with enough nonsense for one day.’

The system window popped up in front of him right before his fingers touched the handle.

He stared at it for a second, then let out a dry laugh. "You are really doing this on purpose now, huh?"

[Mission Update]

[Objective 1: Register as a Hunter.]

[Objective 2: Hunt 50 Monsters.]