Absolute Zone Zero: I survive in Liufen Street

"...Have you heard? Something strange is happening in our camp!!" In the dim utility room, several young soldiers in training uniforms were squatting or sitting on storage boxes. One of them was a dark-skinned young man who was talking in a low but excited voice about the strange things he had heard recently.

"Why are you so happy? Maybe there's a 'rat' infiltrated the camp. The captains have been stricter with the situation lately." A Wolf-Hilfiger soldier curled his lips and said disdainfully, "I thought only little girls would be interested in this kind of groundless gossip.

I didn't expect you, Max, to call everyone out for something so mysterious and waste everyone's rest time."

"Gray, do you want to fight?" The dark-skinned guy called Max stood up angrily and yelled at the wolf man after hearing this.

"What? Am I afraid of you? Come on!" When the wolf-man Gray heard that a fight was about to begin, he also stood up and glared at Max fiercely.

"Aiya! If you want to fight, go to the practice room. Don't let us get punished by the instructor." A very tall and burly man stretched out his hand to separate the two people who were about to fight, and said dissatisfiedly: "Aren't you just chatting to kill time? Why are you being so serious?"

"Yeah, gossip and weird stories are not only liked by little girls. At least I am now very interested in the 'weird things' that Max mentioned." The white-haired man sitting in the shadow of the corner with his hat brim pulled down also chimed in.

"Did you hear that? Just because you don't want to listen doesn't mean no one wants to listen. If you don't want to listen, you can go away. I don't want to tell you yet, so get out of here!" Max heard someone speaking up for him, and immediately started to show off to Gray.

"Tsk!" Gray slapped his companion's hand off his shoulder and sat back down, dismissive. "You chased me away, but I'm going to leave! I want to hear what new tricks you can come up with. Humph!"

"Okay, okay, Gray, just speak up. Our break time isn't long anyway, so don't waste it." The thin man who had been silent just now smiled and tried to smooth things over, urging Max.

"Ahem, this is the latest news I heard from the guys in the next camp." Max perked up at the sight of such support. He deliberately lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "A few days ago, during training in their camp, something really scary happened. That day..."

It was a cloudy day that day.

"Ah! Can't we be so unlucky?" The soldier carrying the training equipment looked up at the heavy clouds in frustration and wailed, "Today's obstacle course training is already difficult, and I hope it doesn't rain. Otherwise, we'll have to swallow a lot of mud, sand and dirty water while crawling forward!"

"Hey, God won't care about you. You said it wouldn't rain, so it won't rain. How can that be possible?" The teammate behind him, also fully armed, patted the soldier on the shoulder. Although his face, covered with goggles and camouflage, could not be seen with his expression, his body language could still tell that he was also very frustrated.

"Stop talking, it's time to line up." A soldier who was in a hurry and almost late kindly reminded the two people as he trotted past them.

"Oh! I'm coming. Brother, slow down, wait for me. Your equipment is not properly dressed, the helmet is crooked, and your hair is exposed.

I'll help you tidy it up, otherwise the instructor will punish you if he sees it."

"...Thank you." The man who was stopped raised his hand to straighten his helmet, his white hair completely hidden inside. He turned his head, pursed his lips, and explained in a cold voice with a hint of shyness, "This is my first time wearing this kind of equipment, and I was a little anxious just now. Thank you for your help."

"It's okay, we've all been through this kind of situation before." The teammate who was helping to tie up the equipment said nonchalantly, "Are you new here?

It seems that the size of your equipment is not suitable. When you go back, talk to the logistics department and they will exchange it for a suitable one for you.

Otherwise, you will suffer during training."

"Oh, I see. Thanks, big brother."

"Alright, let's line up." The older teammate, who had cleaned up the newbie's mess, nodded with satisfaction. Seeing how well-behaved the newbie was, completely different from his cold voice, he was pleased to instruct her, "When the training starts, come find me, big brother. I'll take you with me."

You're such a poor fellow, having just arrived at the camp and already having to go through a long training exercise. Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

The newcomer smiled broadly at his kind teammate and said, "You are such a good person!"

……

"Who wants to hear about this kind of thing?!" Gray frowned and listened for a while, then finally interrupted impatiently: "Are you telling a weird story or promoting brotherhood next door?

Can you please get to the point quickly!?"

"You're so impatient!" Max yelled back. "I just gave you a brief summary of what happened. Now you think I'm just being friendly and taking care of the 'newcomer', right?!"

Let me tell you, the unlucky one next door is this kind-hearted “old man”! He was taken away by the instructor and hasn’t come back yet.”

"Why?! Hurry up and tell me what happened?" The thin soldier patted Max's thigh and urged.

"..." The white-haired man sitting in the shadow of the corner couldn't help but sit up straight and concentrate when he heard Max's words.

"Because, that 'newcomer' doesn't exist at all~" Max made a wave gesture and said in a particularly terrifying voice.

"How could a living person not exist?"

"That's right! Didn't that 'old man' help me organize the equipment? He touched it with his hands, so it's impossible that he couldn't tell whether it was hot or cold, right?!"

Several people were talking at once, and even Gray, who was leaning sideways to show his disinterest, had one of his ears perked up.

"Our equipment is so thick, it's normal that we can't feel it! Oh, you will know after listening to me." Max cleared his throat and continued: "When the "newcomer" was training, he followed the previous agreement and ran with the kind "old man".

No matter which item I went through, I would watch the "old man" do it and then learn by copying him.

At the beginning, the "old man" was worried about the "newcomer", afraid that he would not be able to hold on.

But the further he ran, the more the "old man" realized that there was something wrong with this "newcomer".

Although this guy was not skilled, he never fell behind.

Moreover, by the second half of the run, the "old man" was exhausted, but the "newcomer" still looked clumsy in his movements, but in good physical condition.

Although the "old man" who was leading him was puzzled, he didn't think much about it and just thought that this "newcomer" had good physical strength.

Until he almost fell down due to exhaustion, and was pulled back by the "newcomer" and fell on him.

The “old man” then discovered…”

Small Theater

Max: To know what happens next, please listen to the next episode!

Audience: ...Tsk!!