Chapter 151 – The Tunnel (2)

The distance from Sunset Park to the Carey Tunnel was about 4 kilometers. It wasn’t a long distance if you were driving, but in the current situation, even 4 kilometers was no short feat.

Traveling 4 kilometers through a city infested with zombies was no easy task.

However, this time, the agents and I were able to reach the tunnel entrance without much difficulty and with only a few skirmishes.

When we arrived at the tunnel entrance, the agents looked back, puzzled.

“I didn’t think we’d make it here this easily,” Tom said.

The others who had come with us each chimed in.

“There wasn’t much fighting.”

“There weren’t many zombies wandering around either…”

“It almost seemed like they were avoiding us.”

When one of them got close to the answer, I pointed to Yerim, who had been walking quietly among the group.

“They were avoiding us. The zombies were avoiding Yerim because of her divine power.”

At my words, everyone looked at Yerim in surprise.

As their gazes focused on her, Yerim raised two fingers to form a “V” sign.

Seeing her show off like that, it seemed she had been envious of the attention Yelena and Zahina, being from another world, had been receiving.

In any case, we had arrived at the tunnel entrance without much trouble. Standing on the road that stretched underground, we stared into the dark tunnel.

The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel.

Commonly known as the Battery Tunnel, it was the longest underwater tunnel in the United States, consisting of two two-lane tubes.

“The ventilation building you see behind the tunnel entrance was the headquarters in the movie *ManX*. I remember watching that movie and thinking the setup was ridiculous, but now reality has turned out like this…” Tom sighed as he looked at the old building visible beyond the tunnel entrance leading underground.

He rubbed the smartwatch on his wrist and then started moving again.

“We don’t know how long the zombie repellent the girl has will last, so let’s move quickly.”

Perhaps because Yerim was Asian, Tom seemed to think she was a minor.

Yerim didn’t get angry at Tom’s assumption that she was a minor. Instead, she pouted.

“Zombie repellent? It’s like I’m some kind of mosquito repellent.”

We entered the left tube of the tunnel.

The left tube was the outbound lane, and abandoned cars were scattered around the entrance.

The unlit tunnel was dark.

The Americans turned on the flashlights attached to their guns or carried individually, while those of us with mana infused our eyes with mana to brighten our vision.

*Grrrr.*

There were still zombies inside the tunnel.

Zombies that had been in the cars, zombies that had taken refuge inside the tunnel (for some reason, zombies generally liked dark places), and zombies that had been trapped between cars, perhaps due to an accident.

Many zombies greeted us as we entered the tunnel.

“Open fire.”

Just like outside, there was no need for us to step in here.

When Tom gave the order in a low voice,

*Ratatat, ratatat, thud, thud.*

The agents with rifles fired hollow-point bullets in bursts to stop the zombies charging at them, while the agents with shotguns blasted the zombie corpses away with buckshot.

Of course, with just their flashlights, they couldn’t see all the zombies in the tunnel, but they had their own way of dealing with it.

“Two zombies under the truck 5 meters ahead, one on the roof of the car to the right.”

One of the agents pinpointed the locations of the zombies hiding in the dark.

It had been a while since I’d seen an Awakener, a psychic.

Awakeners weren’t just in Korea.

After the rifts opened and zombies poured out, Awakeners appeared en masse not just in Korea but all over the world.

Seeing the Awakener, it made sense how they had managed to hold out in New York despite the zombies.

In the end, once again, we just watched.

In any other situation, it might have been awkward, but thanks to Yerim acting as the zombie repellent, we could move comfortably.

After dealing with the zombies near the entrance, there were no more zombies or undead in sight.

The dark tunnel was now just filled with abandoned cars scattered around.

“So there were zombies here after all. Someone must’ve cleared them out,” Tom said as we walked through the darkness, pointing at an abandoned car.

The car was splattered with blood, but the bodies that had caused the blood were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, bullet holes were visible all over the car.

“They cleared out the zombies in the tunnel and disposed of the bodies. Zombies wouldn’t do something like this, and they wouldn’t shoot either, so there’s only one culprit.”

The raiders on Governors Island.

They were the ones who had cleaned up the tunnel.

We continued walking through the dark tunnel.

*Step, step.*

After walking more than a kilometer, we finally saw a faint light in the distance.

An electric light, a lamp, was illuminating the abandoned tunnel.

1.3 kilometers from the tunnel entrance, we were finally close to Governors Island, where the raiders were said to be.

Under the dim light, a small door in the wall was barricaded with cars and abandoned structures.

And behind the barricade, there were people.

“Stop! Who goes there!”

The fact that we could see the light meant they could see us too.

Moreover, since we had more light sources on our side, they were bound to notice us first.

Tom raised his hand to stop us and shouted loudly.

“We’re federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security. We’re heading to Manhattan Island.”

He seemed to want to resolve things with words first.

“Government agents? That’s a joke. What kind of government is there in a world like this?”

But Tom’s words were immediately refuted.

Honestly, the other side wasn’t wrong.

In my opinion, a government that couldn’t exercise its authority in a world like this wasn’t much different from any other survivor group.

“Put down your weapons and let us through. If you block our way, we’ll attack.”

“Goddammit! I knew it!”

Before Tom could finish, curses erupted from the barricade, followed by gunfire.

*Bang, ratatat! Ratatat!*

As the gunfire started, the agents immediately turned off their flashlights, and sparks flew in the now pitch-dark tunnel.

In the darkness, Tom asked one of the agents.

“How many?”

“Three behind the barricade.”

The Awakener confirmed the number of enemies.

Contrary to my expectations, Tom had no intention of resolving things through dialogue.

He had spoken to the raiders to buy time for the Awakener to check their numbers.

“Good. Take care of it.”

As soon as Tom gave the order, the agents moved quickly.

Firing their guns to suppress the enemy, they crouched and ran through the darkness, looking no different from what you’d see in a movie.

As the gunfire flew, the enemies couldn’t raise their heads above the barricade.

The agents quickly reached the barricade, and we followed, approaching it.

We were close enough to throw grenades.

A shout erupted from behind the barricade.

“Damn it! They’re pros! Just press it!”

It seemed the enemy also had a way to see in the dark.

The “press it” part likely meant they had some kind of bomb, and Tom and the agents quickly looked around.

Only now were they checking their surroundings.

As the agents surveyed the area, I gave instructions to my party members.

First, I signaled to Hoffman.

“Hoffman, shoot the hand of the man holding the detonator behind the barricade and make him drop it.”

Hoffman, who had been waiting with an arrow nocked, immediately fired.

*Whoosh!*

The arrow, thanks to the mana Zahina had infused into it, emitted a faint light as it flew toward the barricade.

*Thud!*

The mana-infused arrow pierced the barricade and embedded itself in the man’s hand holding the detonator.

With a scream, the detonator fell to the ground.

“Argh! Damn it, grab it and press it! Hurry!”

The man holding the detonator, true to his raider nature, endured the pain well.

He shouted at his companion next to him, and the companion immediately crouched down and pressed the detonator.

*Click.*

But the tunnel remained silent.

That was because I had given instructions before he pressed the detonator.

“Zahina, freeze the walls. Yelena, put up a shield.”

The other party members followed my instructions just as Hoffman had.

Zahina used her ability to instantly freeze the tunnel walls, and Yelena put up a shield around us.

Fortunately, Yelena didn’t need to maintain the shield for long.

Zahina had frozen all the bombs and detonators hidden in the tunnel walls.

In this world, Zahina couldn’t keep things frozen for as long as a mage could, but that was enough.

I leapt toward the barricade.

Dealing with three ordinary people was easy.

There was no need to kill them. I knocked all three out with the hilt of my sword.

Looking at the fallen men, I understood how they had been able to see in the dark.

One of the raiders was using night vision goggles.

“Military-grade night vision. They must’ve raided a military base or an armory,” Tom said, frowning as he examined the goggles.

Bombs and night vision goggles.

Tom seemed worried that the raiders’ equipment was better than expected.

Despite his concerns, Tom gave orders to the agents.

They tied up the unconscious raiders and forcibly woke them up.

Then, the questioning began.

“Where did you hide the bombs?”

“How many people are on the island?”

“How far have you cleared the tunnel?”

After some intense questioning, the agents managed to extract several pieces of information from them.

First, they located and retrieved the hidden bombs.

According to the agents, the bombs had been set with just enough firepower to avoid collapsing the tunnel, so the person who set them must have been an expert.

When asked about the people on the island, it turned out that the bomb expert was indeed a professional.

“We’re a group formed by former special forces soldiers and officers who deserted the military. There are civilians too, but there are about a dozen military personnel.”

Deserted special forces soldiers.

No wonder they had bombs and night vision goggles.

It made sense that they had taken over the island as their base.

In the end, attacking the island meant fighting not just ordinary raiders, but former special forces deserters.

But we couldn’t just leave such enemies behind and pass through the tunnel.

As I was thinking this, Tom asked me.

“What do we do now?”

Perhaps because we had shown our strength, their attitude toward us had changed.

Before, they had treated us as strange guests, but now they were starting to see us as capable allies.

I answered Tom’s question.

“We stick to the plan. Nothing’s changed.”

Everyone nodded at my words. We would proceed with the plan to clear the island.

I opened the door in the wall and began climbing the stairs.