Chapter 39 39: The Blood Moon Approaches

Judging from the chaotic scene, the Takagi family estate had completely fallen into disorder.

The off-road vehicle did not approach. Instead, it stopped on the street several dozen meters away from the mansion.

"It seems the people here don't exactly welcome us."

After clearing out the nearby zombies, Drake looked around.

The road leading to the estate was blocked by a barricade made of barbed wire.

The sound of the vehicle's engine attracted swarms of zombies from the other side of the barbed wire.

These people should have been the ones under protection.

Now, they had become trapped beasts inside a cage.

"Ah…!"

Saya's face turned pale as she lightly covered her mouth. She recognized several faces among those wearing uniforms.

People who had once been familiar to her had now become zombies with hideous expressions.

This gave rise to an extremely ominous feeling in her heart.

Even the estate guards had turned into zombies.

Then her parents…

"Please… Please go look for my mom and dad!"

Saya Takagi's request already carried a sobbing tone.

It was clear that she was truly worried about her parents' safety.

"The road ahead is blocked. Everyone else, stay where you are and wait for my message."

After thinking for a moment, Drake decided to use his grappling hook to sneak in first and avoid battle.

"As for Saya… you're coming with me. I need someone to guide the way."

"O-okay, no problem."

Saya hurriedly nodded and agreed without hesitation.

"Rika, Saeko, after I leave, I'm counting on you."

"Don't worry, Boss."

Rika Minami gave Drake a confident look.

She had brought out all the guns and ammunition from the weapons cabinet in her villa. Her firepower was extremely strong.

"I… I can fight too."

Rei Miyamoto also volunteered, picking up a handgun in an attempt to prove her usefulness.

"Good. Wait for me to come back."

The next moment, Drake shot out a slime hook and pulled Saya in front of him.

After holding the bewildered Saya firmly in front of him, Drake fired the hook again, climbed onto a nearby building, and instantly pulled both of them away from the ground.

"Unless you want your scream to attract every zombie nearby, don't make a sound."

Before Saya could scream from fear of heights, Drake covered her mouth.

A moment later, the two of them finally landed on solid ground, arriving on the rooftop of the mansion.

"This is your house. You should know it better than I do."

Drake stood at the edge of the rooftop and looked down into the estate.

"Where are your family members most likely to be?"

"I… I'm not sure."

Saya thought desperately with a nervous expression, but in the end, she shook her head in confusion.

"If they were attacked by zombies, they definitely wouldn't stay somewhere safe. They would choose to fight on the front line."

"Tch. That's basically saying nothing."

Drake swept his gaze across the zombies inside the estate.

There were at least thousands of them. If he stubbornly tried to clear them all out, it would waste both time and mana potions.

"Looks like it's time to let these things come in handy early."

As he spoke, a half-human-tall mechanical device suddenly appeared in Drake's hand.

The device had a spider-leg-like base and a very obvious shooting structure.

[Laboratory Turret (Orange): Automatically fires laser beams at enemies within range, dealing 68 damage. Maximum range: 60 meters. Ineffective against bosses.]

That's right. This was an automatic attack turret.

Back when Drake explored Draedon's Laboratory on the asteroid, there had been two of these things on the top floor of the lab.

After being placed down, the turret could automatically search for and attack all enemies within its range.

Although the firing rate of the laser was not fast, its strength lay in the fact that it was fully automatic and had no consumption!

As long as he found a place to set it down, it could stand guard without requiring any energy!

Crafting one [Laboratory Turret] required two materials: Suspicious Plating and Mysterious Circuitry.

Both of these could be obtained from security chests in Draedon's Laboratories.

However, that acquisition method was a one-time thing. Once the lab was explored, there would be no more.

Drake used the second method instead.

He used a special device called the [Extractinator] to refine "Draedon Power Cells" produced by the Power Cell Factory into those two materials.

The Extractinator was a rare reward obtained from treasure chests. It could sift valuable minerals—and even gems—from silt and slush!

Over the past few days, Drake had continuously explored Terraria, so he had naturally encountered many treasure chests.

And the Extractinator was one of the very practical rewards found in those chests.

Although each extraction had only a pitiful 2.5% chance of producing one of those materials, fortunately, Drake had a massive reserve of power cells.

With one Power Cell Factory producing nonstop for over twenty-four hours, it could accumulate more than five thousand power cells per day.

And Drake had obtained a total of four Power Cell Factories from the asteroid laboratory!

The amount of power cells automatically generated every day was quite astonishing.

Unfortunately, aside from refining those power cells into materials, he had no other use for them right now.

Using these cells, Drake had crafted nearly a three-digit number of Laboratory Turrets!

He carried some of them on himself, while the rest were stored in Lili's inventory.

"Let these turrets clear out the zombies in the courtyard by themselves. We'll search inside the mansion."

Drake glanced at the gloomy-looking young lady of the Takagi family.

"Look on the bright side. There might be survivors. Your parents may still be alive."

"…Mm."

Saya Takagi no longer held much hope at this point, but she still followed him.

Under her guidance, Drake quickly searched every floor and every corner of the mansion.

"No. Not here either…"

When they saw that the final room was empty as well, Saya finally recognized reality. Her eyes turned hollow as she stood in place, looking completely lost.

Only after the grief in her heart had slightly eased did Drake speak.

"It may be somewhat heartless to make this request at a time like this."

"But… I want to requisition your home, this mansion, as a 'base.'"

"In return, I will protect this place from the disaster."

"…Do whatever you want."

Saya Takagi answered absentmindedly.

"You'll be able to clear out the zombies here soon anyway."

"The 'disaster' I'm talking about isn't limited to that."

Drake looked at the sky outside the window. There was still about half a day before nightfall.

According to the information he had…

Tonight, the Blood Moon would arrive.

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