DOOMSDAY LEDGER

Chapter 6: The Instant Noodle Barricade

The stench of blood mixed with the aroma of ozone left over from the lightning strike created a suffocating perfume of death. In front of Cosmo Mart's wide-open entrance, Elian was struggling to drag Mr. Bambang's corpse.

"He's so heavy, good grief," Elian complained, dragging the bulky body over shattered glass. "This guy must have eaten concrete when he was alive."

"Don't talk badly about customers, El," Rico replied, pushing the corpse of a woman in a party dress with the tip of his shoe, as if disgusted to touch her. "But it's true, Mr. Bambang hasn't paid off his debt at the coffee stall out front, that's why he's so heavy leaving this world."

They both threw the corpses into the dark parking lot, piling them up near the electric pole that had witnessed Elian's awakening. The rain was still pouring down, as if trying to wash away the sins of the night, but the pooling black blood was too thick to disappear easily.

"Is it clean?" Mr. Hendra asked from inside the store. He stood in the middle of the room holding his half-broken road sign, acting like a project foreman supervising construction workers.

"Yes, Sir. The bodies are all outside," Elian replied, wiping sweat mixed with rainwater from his forehead. He stepped back into the store, feeling the still-cold AC air touch his skin. Strange, in the middle of an apocalypse, the store's AC was still faithfully cooling a room that didn't even have a door anymore.

"Good. Now, phase two," Mr. Hendra clapped his hands once. "We close that hellhole. Lina, bring the brown duct tape from the stationery shelf. Take all the stock we have. Rico, Elian, follow me to the back warehouse. We're getting ammunition."

"Ammunition?" Rico's eyes sparkled. "We have rifles, Sir?"

"Better than a rifle," Mr. Hendra answered seriously. "Soto-flavored instant noodle soup."

They headed to the back warehouse. There, dozens of instant noodle boxes were neatly stacked, towering almost to the ceiling. Mr. Hendra looked at the stack with a melancholic gaze, as if looking at his children going off to war.

"Listen closely," Mr. Hendra said, his finger pointing at the stack of boxes. "This is the end-of-month promo stock. There are fifty cartons in total. The boxes are thick, the contents are dense. If arranged using the interlocking brick system technique, this can withstand a load of up to two hundred kilograms."

Elian looked at the stack of boxes, then at the gaping front door. "Sir, are you sure just noodle boxes can stop a zombie? Earlier, the tempered glass shattered."

"Glass is rigid, Elian. If hit hard, it breaks. But noodle boxes..." Mr. Hendra patted one of the boxes proudly. "...they are flexible. They absorb impact. Inside are forty packets of noodles acting as natural shock absorbers. Trust me, I once attended an anti-earthquake warehouse management seminar."

"Anti-earthquake seminars and anti-zombie seminars have different curricula, Sir," Rico muttered softly, but he still lifted one carton. "Damn, one is light. But if I have to lift fifty, I'll be exhausted."

"Work, Rico! Stop complaining! Consider it a free gym session!" Mr. Hendra commanded.

Thus began the operation to build the "Instant Noodle Fort." Elian and Rico served as haulers, moving the boxes from the warehouse to the front area. Lina served as the adhesive team, wrapping brown duct tape around each stack of boxes to bind them tightly.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hendra acted as the architect. He was incredibly fussy.

"Wrong, Rico! Wrong!" Mr. Hendra yelled when Rico stacked the third box. "Don't stack them aligned! They have to be staggered like brickwork! If they're aligned, a slight push will knock them down! Use your brain a little, not just your muscles!"

"Yeah, Sir, you're so fussy! I'm trying!" Rico grumbled, but he followed Mr. Hendra's instructions. He shifted the box half a position to the side.

Elian placed the next box on top. He observed the structure they were building. He had to admit, Mr. Hendra knew what he was doing. The cardboard wall began to take shape, closing off the store's main entrance up to an adult's waist height.

As Elian placed his hand on the stack of boxes to compact them, a transparent screen appeared in his view.

[Object Detected: Emergency Wall (Material: Instant Noodle Boxes)]

[Quality: Low]

[Durability: 150/150]

[Special Effect: Soto Aroma (Increases User's appetite within a 5-meter radius)]

Elian almost laughed at the description. This System truly had a messed-up sense of humor.

"Soto aroma, my ass," Elian muttered.

"What is it, El? Talking to yourself again?" asked Lina, who was busy taping the box joints. The girl's face was still pale, and there were traces of tears on her cheeks, but her hands worked quickly. Perhaps fear made her want to do something to keep from going crazy.

"Nothing, Lin. I was just thinking... it's a shame so many noodles are becoming a wall," Elian evaded.

"Don't worry," Mr. Hendra interjected, checking the wall's straightness with a small level—where he got it from, no one knew. "Later, when things are safe, we can dismantle it. Just make sure it doesn't get hit by direct rain. The plastic packaging is strong."

The atmosphere lightened slightly due to the busy work. But calm never lasts long on an apocalyptic night.

Just as the cardboard wall reached chest height, the sound of running footsteps came from the street. Fast. Heavy. And getting closer.

"Someone's coming!" Elian hissed. His new instinct warned him of danger. The hairs on his arms stood up.

"Turn off the flashlight!" Rico ordered, switching off his phone's flashlight.

The four of them crouched behind the half-finished wall. The store was pitch black, illuminated only by the occasional flash of lightning.

Through a gap between the stacks of boxes, Elian peeked out.

A black shadow was running fast toward the store. It wasn't a normal human. It was a runner-type zombie—a Runner. It ran hunched over, its long arms nearly touching the asphalt.

The zombie didn't see the newly built cardboard wall because it was dark and the brown color blended with the darkness.

*Crash!*

The zombie slammed into the cardboard wall at full speed.

The cardboard structure shook violently. The top stack shifted slightly. Rico and Elian instinctively braced the wall with their shoulders to keep it from collapsing.

"Damn, that collision was strong!" Rico whispered in a panic.

The zombie bounced back, groaning in pain—a sound like a dog whose leg was caught in a door. But a second later, it got up again, sniffing the air. It smelled humans behind the cardboard.

"Graaargh!"

The creature leaped, trying to climb the cardboard wall. Its pale, thin hands with sharp claws gripped the top of the boxes, tearing the packaging carton. Instant noodle packets scattered out.

"My assets!" Mr. Hendra squeaked, stifling his voice.

The zombie's head appeared over the wall. Its face was horrifying, its skin gray, its eyes glowing red, staring directly at Lina, who was crouching behind the cashier counter.

Lina let out a stifled scream.

Elian didn't have time to think. His Mana hadn't fully recovered, but he didn't need magic at this close range.

"Get down!"

Elian jumped up, stepping on the stack of boxes for footing, then slammed his iron pipe vertically onto the zombie's forehead.

*Thwack!*

The zombie didn't die instantly. Its skull was hard. Instead, it roared and tried to bite Elian's leg.

"Rico! Hold the wall! Don't let it fall!" Elian shouted.

"I'm holding it as hard as I can!" Rico pressed his shoulder against the stack of boxes that were swaying under the weight of Elian and the zombie.

Elian channeled the little Mana he had left.

"*Zzzzt!*"

Small sparks of electricity flew from the iron pipe. Elian thrust the tip of the pipe into the zombie's open mouth.

The electric shock made the zombie convulse, its grip on the cardboard released. It fell backward out of the store, landing back-first on the asphalt.

Elian didn't let the opportunity pass. He jumped over the cardboard wall, landing next to the zombie, and finished off the naughty "customer" with two hard blows to the head.

Silence returned. Only the sound of the rain remained.

Elian climbed back into the store, breathing heavily.

"Safe," Elian said simply.

Mr. Hendra quickly inspected the damage to the wall. "Lina! Tape this section again! The cardboard is torn! Its structural integrity is down ten percent!"

"Y-yes, Sir!" Lina ran with the duct tape, patching the torn section with layer upon layer until it was thick.

They continued working at double speed. Adrenaline made them work like machines. Within twenty minutes, the entire front door opening was tightly sealed by a two-meter-high wall of instant noodle boxes.

They left only a small gap at the very top for ventilation and a lookout post.

"Done," Rico slid down onto the floor, leaning against the newly finished cardboard wall. Sweat drenched his entire body. "Crazy. I never thought I'd build a fort out of instant noodles. If this made the news, I'd definitely go viral."

"This isn't about going viral, Rico. This is about survival," Mr. Hendra said, patting the cardboard wall with satisfaction. "See? Sturdy. Tidy. And most importantly, inventory checking is easy because everything is visible."

Elian stood looking at their handiwork. In his System's view, the wall's status had changed.

[Barricade Level 1 Complete]

[Durability: 450/500]

[Defense Bonus: Reduces external sound detection by 30%]

"Not bad," Elian muttered.

Lina came over carrying four bottles of cold mineral water she had taken from the fridge. "Drink first, Brother Elian, Brother Rico, Mr. Hendra."

"Thanks, Lin," Elian accepted the bottle, gulping it down greedily. It tasted like heaven.

Rico opened his bottle cap and immediately poured it over his head. "Aahhhh! Refreshing! I'm so hot."

"Rico!" Mr. Hendra scolded. "Water is a vital resource! Don't waste it on bathing!"

"Just once, Sir. We just fought a war," Rico grinned.

The four of them sat in a circle on the dirty store floor, surrounded by messy shelves and the noodle box wall. The store lights were still brightly lit thanks to Elian's power anomaly, providing a false sense of security amidst the city's darkness.

"So..." Lina started the conversation, her voice quiet. "We... we're going to be safe, right?"

The question hung in the air.

Mr. Hendra opened his mouth to give a manager-style motivational speech, but Elian cut him off.

"I can't promise we'll be safe forever, Lin," Elian said honestly, staring at the water bottle in his hand. "But tonight? Behind this instant noodle wall? I think we're safe. At least until tomorrow morning."

Rico gave a small, tired laugh. "Crazy. Humans are strange creatures. There are monsters eating people outside, and here we are sitting cross-legged like we're waiting for a job interview."

"A job interview for the position of 'Apocalypse Survivor'," Elian added.

Suddenly, Rico's stomach rumbled loudly. *Krucuk-krucuk.* The sound echoed in the quiet room.

All eyes turned to Rico's bulging stomach.

"Hehe," Rico grinned innocently. "I'm hungry after all that labor, boss. Can we open one of those walls? I want to brew some noodles."

"DON'T!" Mr. Hendra, Elian, and Lina exclaimed in unison.

"Eat bread! There's still plenty of intact packaged sliced bread that fell earlier!" Mr. Hendra threw a slightly dented loaf of sliced bread at Rico's face.

Rico caught it. "Ugh, bread again, bread again. Such is life."

Elian smiled faintly at their antics. In his peripheral vision, a small notification flashed, signaling that a new phase had just begun.

[Survival Tutorial Phase 1: Complete]

[Time until Dawn: 5 Hours 30 Minutes]

[Status: Base Camp Level 0 Established]

[Suggestion: Rest. Because tomorrow, the real tutorial will begin.]

Elian rested his head against the cashier counter, closing his eyes for a moment. His hand still tightly gripped the iron pipe, which was now his only guarantee of life. Outside, thousands of footsteps and screams could still be faintly heard, but inside this cardboard fort, for a moment, the world felt a little more sensible.

"Good night, Jakarta," Elian whispered. "Don't wake me up unless it's an emergency."