I Reincarnated Into a Healing Game… and It’s a Zombie Apocalypse?! - Chapter 57
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 57
【Main Quest: ‘There’s Always Only One Truth!’ has been triggered.</p】
Secretly find the real ‘Tea Recipe’ in the Royal Palace.
Reward: 5 million gold, massive experience points.
Penalty for failure: Death.
This is a time-limited Quest.
Time remaining: 3 days (72 hours)>
Nana stared at the system window for a long time, then closed her eyes and chuckled.
‘Look at this Quest’s attitude. Damn bastards.’
Find the tea recipe. At first glance, it looks like a simple errand Quest. So someone might say this.
‘What, did they ask you to grow tea trees? You’re just finding a recipe, right?’
But the problem is where to find it.
The front of the Royal Palace is a crime-ridden danger zone crawling with criminals.
It seemed like even the Royal Palace didn’t care about it. Otherwise, they would have taken quick action when the palace front became a mess. It’s still their front yard after all.
And the decisive factor. The word written in the Quest description.
Secretly.
It meant to sneak in. Without anyone noticing.
To summarize:
‘Pass through a lawless zone, infiltrate the Royal Palace, and gather information without anyone knowing. If caught, death.’
Yeah. I’d rather grow tea trees if they asked. At least that’s my main job. Farmowner.
Nana was about to close the system window in annoyance but glanced up at it again.
5 million gold.
Massive experience points.
And death upon failure.
‘These damn bastards always set death as the penalty for everything. Do they think my life is that cheap?’
Not only that. There was even a time limit. Confirmed death if not resolved within 3 days.
Would I respawn if I died? Probably not. If the operators had that ability, they would have fixed the bugs already.
When Nana let out a long sigh, Ishanka beside her tilted his head slightly.
“Adrien? Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, it’s just that my life’s difficulty seems to be on hard mode…”
I thought I’d enjoy a peaceful rural life after being transported into a healing game from harsh reality, but what is this bolt from the blue?
“Let’s sleep now. I need to restore my stamina if I’m going to infiltrate the Royal Palace tomorrow.”
She pulled up the blanket and sighed again.
‘Infiltration… I’m someone who gets so nervous about stealth missions in games that I postpone playing for days.’
While living as Song Nana, I complained that Masfarm was becoming more of a terrible game, but now I had to correct that.
My life was more of a disaster route.
Damn it.
* * *
The next morning at dawn.
Before the sun even rose, Nana’s group arrived at the Town Square in front of the Royal Palace.
“Don’t they have the concept of morning sleep here?”
Nana grumbled while hiding in the shadows at a corner of the Town Square.
People in shabby clothes with fierce eyes, reeking of crime, wandering the Town Square like stray dogs – all of them looked extraordinary.
It was truly a tearful waste to see such diligent workers who work day and night being used for the most useless purposes.
“I don’t see any guards. Normally there should be shift personnel at each wall section… Something’s strange.”
When Lucas, who had folded his telescope, spoke with puzzlement, Ishanka responded coldly.
“It means the high-ranking people inside the Royal Palace have no interest in the Capital City.”
That was really the case.
Even though the heart of the Capital City was in this state, the Royal Palace didn’t bat an eye. In such a situation, there were two possible scenarios.
First, the case where they only care about preserving their own lives and have no interest in the rest.
Second, the inside of the Royal Palace is already as broken as the outside.
But there were limits to speculating from the outside. In the end, there was only one method.
“Let’s go inside.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Nana at once.
“We won’t know what’s going on just by watching from here. We need to see the inside directly.”
Lucas expressed his concern.
“Going in without knowing what state the inside is in is dangerous.”
“I think differently.”
Ishanka quietly countered Lucas’s words.
“No matter how much we talk outside, we can’t know if the inside is rotten or fine. We have to go in directly to at least confirm.”
“Still, it’s better to move knowing the internal routes…”
“Are we just going to argue here?”
“Then you tell us how to get in without anyone noticing!”
At that moment, Sam, who had been quiet, raised his hand.
“There is. A way to sneak in.”
“…?”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Sam.
“When I used to live inside the castle, there were times I wanted to sneak out. That’s the path I used then.”
Sam pointed to the ground with his fingertip.
“There’s a secret passage in the Underground Waterway. It connects to the outside too. Probably almost no one in the royal family knows about it? If it’s not blocked yet, we should be able to get inside through that path.”
* * *
The Underground Waterway was made of old stone walls.
Age-old dampness, fishy smell, dripping dew, and echoing through it all were only the footsteps of the group.
But surprisingly, the path was stable. Sam led the way with familiar steps.
“If we turn right here, it connects to the Separate Palace.”
Following those words, they reached the end of a narrow tunnel. A rusty iron door opened with a creaking sound.
And the moment they saw the scenery beyond, the group’s feet stopped.
“…What is this.”
The inside of the Royal Palace was a completely different world from the outside. The sparkling marble floor had not a speck of dust, and soft lighting quietly illuminated the space.
“The outside is chaos because of zombies, but what is this? Queen Mother couldn’t have just left such a situation alone…”
Complex emotions flashed in his eyes.
But there was no time to be lost in sentiment.
Lucas stepped forward.
“Let’s scout the surroundings first. Your Highness and I will handle the Central Palace and Gardens.”
“Then Isha and I will check the Separate Palace side.”
The groups were divided like that, and Ishanka and Nana decided to explore the inside of the Separate Palace more.
The Separate Palace was strangely quiet.
There were no traces of people living there, nor any signs of guards protecting the Separate Palace.
“There’s no one. It’s like an empty house.”
Nana muttered while peering through a slightly open window.
While exploring the Separate Palace, Nana’s eyes caught sight of a building standing alone. Above the entrance, a small inscription was carved.
[Royal Library]
Her intuition kicked in. She felt like there was something here.
“Isha, over here.”
Nana quietly gestured with her hand.
She pushed the door without hesitation. Fortunately, it wasn’t locked. Inside was dark and quiet. Hazy dust and spider webs tangled between bookshelves, with an atmosphere of neglect enveloping the space.
“Looks like they don’t maintain this place.”
Nana smiled softly. Even better.
The library was much larger than expected, with bookshelves packed full of hundreds of books.
“There’s a saying that if you want to know about the royal palace, start by ransacking the library.”
“…Who says that?”
“Me. I just made it up.”
“That’s a wonderful saying.”
“Right? Anyway, let’s search around. If we’re lucky, we might even find blueprints of Sweet Little Village here.”
Nana carefully entered the library.
Soon her gaze stopped at one particular bookshelf.
It was a section filled with documents related to ‘tea’.
At that moment, the Quest text suddenly came to mind.
Tea recipe – could it possibly be here?
Without hesitation, Nana approached the bookshelf and began taking out books one by one in order.
[Tea and History of the Eurel Continent]
[300 Years of Noble Tea Culture]
[Royal Herb Cultivation Know-How]
“No reaction from the System Message at all.”
Nana pouted her lips as she shoved the books back onto the shelf. The book titles seemed plausible, but the Quest reaction was dead as a doornail.
‘Don’t tell me it’s an oral tradition? Or maybe it’s not in a book but hidden in some secret location?’
The plausible speculation made her irritated for no reason. Just as Nana was racking her brains, a single book stuck at the very bottom of the bookshelf caught her eye.
The hot pink hardcover book had this written on it:
[Magical Girl Mimi’s Tea Time Magic Recipes for Sparkling Girls]
“Why is a book like this in the Royal Library?”
Nana was about to put the book back on the shelf when she suddenly stopped.
‘No, this is exactly when clichés kick in. The most useless-looking thing could be the Quest item.’
She opened the book, figuring she might as well try.
[Heart-pounding~ Secret honey-sweet tea recipes revealed for girls!
With just one cup~ smoothly~ even Yeongae’s ideal type Youngsik’s heart will go thump! Hearts flying everywhere!]
She seriously wanted to close the book.
I’m an idiot for expecting anything from a book like this.
But one sentence that caught her eye held Nana’s fingertips captive.
[But~ you didn’t know this, did you?
The fact that ‘Tea’ actually also means ‘secret’!
When you drink tea, it feels like your information gathering ability increases by +10?!
In the old days, secret stories were called ‘Tea Recipe’~!]
“…What?”
Nana’s eyebrows twitched. That last sentence burrowed into her mind. And at that moment, a familiar sound hit her ears.
Ding!
【You have discovered the Tea Recipe.</p】
Tea is also used as slang meaning ‘gossip’ or ‘secret stories’ in certain societies.
Adrienne Rogueton, who completed the Quest, is granted partial access to hidden story content.>
Suddenly the floor warped. The air tore and colors disappeared.
And Nana fell into someone’s memory, into a secret heavier than life itself.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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