NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: Future Plans—Survival Base!
Prefectures, cities, towns, villages, wards, and districts make up Japan's administrative divisions. Depending on the size of a town, it could be regarded as a town or a village.
The mayor of such a town, named Oda Town in the Kanto Region where Enzo lived, was Masakazu Shimizu—a cheezy-looking fat man with a lot of gold jewelry and accessories on his body.
He appeared to be in his forties, and his corrupt nature was obvious at first glance.
"Master Busujima, it is truly an honor to have you here in person!"
Mayor Masakazu hurried out of his office, taking two quick steps and offering a slight bow to Master Busujima. Although Master Busujima held no official political position, his social status far surpassed that of a mere town official.
Kendo, after all, was one of Japan's most prestigious national arts. Both the emperor and the prime minister had nominally studied two-handed swordsmanship under Master Busujima. While they might not take a nominal swordsmanship instructor seriously, Master Busujima's connection to the top echelons of power made him an influential figure.
The mayor, aware of this, dared not be presumptuous in his presence.
"Mayor Masakazu, I, Enzo, have taken the liberty to come here because I have a favor to ask."
The two sat down in the conference room, and Enzo cleared his throat before beginning to speak.
Enzo knew that in two months, a zombie crisis would sweep the world. If he didn't take precautions with this knowledge of the future, he might as well buy a piece of tofu and let it kill him.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how the zombie outbreak would start.
There was no company like Umbrella in this world to trace the incident back to its source.
Of course, even if Enzo had known about the source of the apocalypse, he had no intention of saving the world by preventing the outbreak.
Instead, he could have acquired the company, modified the virus, and hoped to create some powerful drug to strengthen himself.
As for what happened to the people of this world?
They died or lived; Enzo didn't care as long as it didn't affect his mission. After all, his system was an evil system, not a savior system.
But since that wasn't possible, Enzo could only choose the next best alternative.
In the past two days, in addition to familiarizing himself with his surroundings, he also began planning for a survival base. The zombies in "Highschool of the Dead" were among the weakest in the zombie world.
They had no special abilities and no intelligence.
Logically, facing these weaklings, humans could defeat them with a little courage. It should have been possible to wipe them out entirely.
After all, even a group of high school students managed to navigate through the zombie swarms, yet the police, army, and special operations teams were somehow less effective than high schoolers?
It was an absurdity that defied logic.
So to be honest, initially, Enzo planned to find an island as a survival base, believing the zombies were afraid of water.
An island, surrounded by the sea, seemed like the perfect defensive position.
However, he later remembered that in the last episode of the anime, Takashi Komuro, the protagonist, encountered a group of zombies that had crossed the sea to reach the island.
This showed that zombies were not truly afraid of water; their supposed fear was merely an instinctive aversion. After all, why would a group of zombies, which didn't need to breathe, be afraid of water?
So, the idea of an island base was immediately discarded by Enzo.
While an island might be a good initial refuge in the early stages of the apocalypse, it would become a liability in the long run.
If a large number of zombies reached the island, the coastline would turn into a death trap.
"Master Busujima, are you planning to develop Henggou Mountain?" Masakazu Shimizu asked in a surprised tone after hearing Enzo's proposal.
Henggou Mountain, which was located behind the Busujima Dojo, was one of Oda City's iconic landscapes.
Its main peak rose about two hundred meters high, and thanks to excellent environmental protection, the trees and ecological environment on the mountain were well preserved. However, Henggou Mountain had once served as a temporary base for the U.S. military stationed in Japan. It was rumored that some military structures still remained on the mountain.
Because of this, even in a city where land was precious, no real estate developer dared to touch or have any idea about the Henggou Mountain.
Who would invest a fortune in the development of that place, only for the Americans to declare it a military-controlled zone and halt everything?
Of course, such worries were nonexistent for Enzo, who knew about this world's future.
"Henggou Mountain is a landmark of our city. We can't allow it to remain a temporary base for the Americans. Where would our Japanese spirit be then? So, I may be overestimating my capabilities, but I want to develop Henggou Mountain into a memorial park. It could be a significant tourist attraction, and I hope the mayor can facilitate this." Enzo declared.
His choice of Henggou Mountain was not random. After several days of investigation, he concluded that there was no better location for a survival base.
The mountain, with its two hundred-meter height and steep slopes, offered natural defense. He could block any zombie waves by deploying multiple lines of defense at the mountain's base and midpoint.
Additionally, Henggou Mountain had plenty of open spaces, as well as mountain springs and wells, making it self-sufficient. It was the perfect template for a survival base in the apocalypse.
"Tourist attraction? The town's funds are quite tight at the moment. This..."
Upon hearing Master Busujima mention a matter related to money, Masakazu Shimizu immediately hesitated. If it were a trivial matter that didn't touch on core interests—like helping to release a few prisoners or robbing someone's beautiful wife—Masakazu would agree for the sake of favor.
But developing Henggou Mountain was a major undertaking, and Masakazu was instantly at a loss.
Had Enzo suggested developing the mountain into real estate, Masakazu might have been interested, thinking that Master Busujima could provide some insider information. But a memorial park?
Masakazu suddenly wondered if Master Busujima had lost his mind while practicing swordsmanship.
In this day and age, who has the time to visit a theme park?
"Don't worry, Mayor Masakazu. I am prepared to bear all the costs of building the park, but I need your help and cooperation from all parties," Master Busujima explained.
He hadn't expected the fat man to fund it; he just needed his cooperation. It would be impossible to enclose the mountain and land without government support. But these days, money could solve 99.9% of problems.
As expected, the moment the mayor heard that Master Busujima was willing to fund the project himself, Masakazu's face broke into an honest smile. He patted his chest and promised that as long as Master Busujima gave the word, he would ensure everything went smoothly.
If Enzo was willing to pay, Masakazu assured him that he would make that memorial park the best of its kind!
After all, it was just a barren mountain sitting idle.
Now, not only could Masakazu establish a strong relationship with Master Busujima, but he could also claim a significant political achievement with the park's development.
Only a fool would refuse such a golden opportunity!
