Being nice gets you nothing

"It's coming," Kael stood straight while tightening his fist and carefully looking around.

10 sec... Nothing happened.

20 sec... Nothing happened.

30 sec... Nothing happened.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck is happening here? I can sense those damn crawlers' presence, but where the fuck are they?" Kael cursed with an annoyed look on his face.

A crawler pierced its claws out of the wall and held his head.

"Oh, shit."

Kael reacted at lightning speed and tried to struggle free from the crawler's grasp, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't free himself from its clutches.

At that moment he knew he was thoroughly fucked.

The crawler held his leg with another limb and started crushing him to the ground again and again.

Kael could hear the sound of bones cracking all over his body; everything became blurry to his eyes. He understood that if he didn't retaliate right away, he would lose his life very soon.

"System, full heal!" shouted Kael while coughing blood out of his mouth.

[Full heal is initiated.]

"Huff... ha... Damn it, I still feel the pain mentally even though I was completely healed," Kael murmured while slowly standing up from the ground.

"What do you want me to say?" Kael shrugged his shoulders and continued, "Well, your surprise attack would have worked on a normal human, but I'm not normal."

Kael's gaze suddenly became sharp, and a ruthless glint flashed through his eyes. An iconic weapon, a baseball bat, appeared in his hand, and he tightened his grip. He moved at lightning speed, but it could still be seen by the crawler.

It countered his attack with its huge claws.

Clang...

Kael's arms went numb. He felt like he had just hit a huge iron wall. He knew it was strong, but only now did he understand the extent of its strength. After countering his attack, it moved its claw to attack him, but he dodged the strike by a hair's breadth.

Feeling frustrated, Kael realized that even though he could heal any injury, he still wasn't strong enough to face this damn crawler. Yet he didn't give up and continued fighting. He found a gap and crushed the baseball bat with all his strength concentrated in his arms.

Swoosh...

Clang...

Grrrroar...

A painful scream escaped from its mouth as flesh and blood gushed out of its chest. He didn't waste this chance. He jumped and crushed its head. It fell to the ground and started struggling violently. He didn't stop there—he crushed every bone in its body, turning it into a meat paste.

Then he turned to look at the level 1 crawler-type zombie leader with a maniacal smile on his face. They all freaked out, turned around, and ran away. He didn't want to leave any of the crawler types alive. He chased them down and crushed every last one to death.

He slowly walked out of the sewer and sat on the terrace with an exhausted look on his face. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, bought a soft drink, and drank it all in one gulp.

He lowered his head and slowly opened his eyes, but he was freaked out when he saw the young lady looking at his face up close.

"Oh shit!" He jumped to his feet and calmed down when he saw who she was.

"You scared me to death. Don't appear in front of me out of nowhere like that again," said Kael while sitting back on the terrace.

"Hmm, do you want a soft drink?" He bought a new one and offered it to her, but she shook her head and didn't take it.

"Okay," he said, sending it back to the inventory. He asked, "What are you doing here alone? Don't you know it's a dangerous place?"

The young lady smiled slightly but didn't respond. Kael shook his head and asked, "Okay, tell me what you want from me."

"Save my family," the young lady said, teardrops slowly falling down her face.

"Your family? Do you have a family? What happened to them? Where are they now?" asked Kael with a stern gaze.

"I have a family. They are forced to work in a mine. Help them, take them out of that mine," said the young lady, bowing her head.

"Okay, can you tell me your name?" asked Kael.

"Sorry for not telling you until now. You can call me Sareena."

"Sareena, you can call me Kael." He extended his hand for a handshake. She instinctively extended her hand but immediately pulled it back with an awkward smile.

Kael didn't think much of it and took his hand back with a smile. "Okay, can you lead the way to the mine where your family is working?"

"Hmm," Sareena nodded and led the way towards the mine.

It took them a few hours to reach the mine area, which was surrounded by huge fences. Kael approached the guards at the entrance and said, "I want to enter."

"Okay, show your entry pass," one guard said, extending his hand.

"Oh, I don't have that, but I have this," Kael replied, taking a pack of bread out of his pocket and extending it to the guards.

The guards' eyes lit up. They took the bread, tore open the pack, and started munching on it.

"Okay, now can I enter?" asked Kael.

"No pass, no entry," said the guard, bread crumbs falling from his mouth.

"Hmm," Kael nodded. "Fuck you." He grabbed the guard's hand, broke it thoroughly, and turned to look at the other guard.

The other guard hurriedly rushed to open the gate.

"Being nice gets you nothing. I have to be a scumbag to get what I want," Kael murmured inwardly as he walked through the entrance.

Inside the mine, people of all ages were laboring. They wore tattered clothes and had dust-filled faces and hunger-filled eyes. There wasn't an ounce of life in their expressions.

Kael felt pity seeing their pathetic appearance. He turned to the young lady and asked, "Tell me if you find your family members."

"Hmm," she nodded.

Everyone in the place looked at Kael with weird expressions, but he didn't think much of it and moved further into the mine.