SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System
Chapter 60: Infiltrating With Just Charm And Speech

Chapter 60: Infiltrating With Just Charm And Speech

Ainsworth sealed it with one final, flawless line—his voice booming with righteous conviction.

"If you truly care about humanity’s future, then let us in. Let us work together. Or, at the very least, let us prove that we deserve to stand by your side."

Silence. Then—

"...Gate open," the officer finally muttered, defeated by an overwhelming sense of trust he couldn’t logically justify.

The steel gates slowly parted.

Ainsworth didn’t smirk. He didn’t need to. With a calm nod of gratitude, he led the group forward, his footsteps unhurried. His presence alone spoke louder than any weapon.

Behind him, his party moved in silence, their wary eyes scanning the sprawling compound beyond the gate. Watchtowers loomed at every corner, armed with auto-turrets and snipers. High concrete walls topped with electrified wire enclosed the base like a fortress.

A subtle hum of generators and faint voices told of bustling activity inside. This wasn’t just a holdout shack in the ruins. It was already evolving into a coordinated military outpost.

Beyond the entrance, a paved path forked into several zones: makeshift barracks fashioned from shipping containers, improvised training grounds, temporary armory depots, a command tent with satellite uplinks, and even a garage where scavenged vehicles were being patched together.

Smoke curled from the chimneys of a prefab mess hall, and faint clatters echoed from a small but functional workshop area under assembly.

Among the soldiers stationed near the gate, a younger private—maybe twenty-one at most—stood frozen, gripping his rifle a little too tightly. He swallowed hard as Ainsworth passed by.

’Who... the hell is this guy?’ the soldier thought, stunned. ’Why did that sound like something out of a goddamn movie? I almost saluted...’

He watched Ainsworth walk like he belonged here more than the damn commander did. It should’ve felt off, but instead, it felt... right. Comforting, even. The guy was just that kind of presence—the type people instinctively rallied behind.

A sharp whistle snapped him out of it.

"Hoy. You—Private Mendez," barked the officer, his voice rough after the awkward surrender. "Escort them to the guest wing in Sector D. And brief them on base protocols."

Mendez stiffened. "Y-Yes, sir!"

He jogged forward, meeting Ainsworth with a nervous salute.

"This way, sir. Uh, I mean—Arthur. I mean—sir."

Ainsworth offered a small smile, not condescending, not amused—just kind. "Relax. Lead the way, soldier."

Mendez nearly tripped over himself turning around.

As they moved deeper into the base, Ainsworth walked beside him, not behind. A subtle dominance—one that said, "I’m not just following you. We’re equals. For now."

They passed dozens of soldiers—some drilling with live ammo, others unloading supply crates or welding armor plates onto vehicles.

Civilians moved in a slower, shell-shocked rhythm in the auxiliary sector to the east, tending to water barrels and makeshift hydroponic trays. Children peeked through tent flaps, their eyes wide with both fear and hope.

The survivors trailing behind stared in disbelief. It wasn’t paradise. But it was organized, functioning, and alive.

"Your base looks well-structured," Ainsworth said casually.

Mendez perked up. "Y-Yeah. We threw it together three days ago—right after comms with Central broke down. Started with half a company and a few engineers. It’s held together with duct tape and prayer, but somehow we’re still running."

Ainsworth’s eyes flicked toward a field hospital under construction, being guarded by two armed medics. "Better than most."

"Exactly," Mendez said, more confidently this time.

Ainsworth continued walking. A few more moments passed before he asked, like it was just idle conversation, "Who’s running all this? That officer back there—he seemed stressed."

"Captain Rourke. He’s in charge of Fort Echo-7. We were rerouted here from a supply convoy before the skies went dark. Now we report to no one. We’ve got a logistics officer, two field lieutenants, and a combat strategist—Lieutenant Bell. She’s the real brain of the base."

Ainsworth nodded, absorbing every word.

"You get many newcomers like us?" he asked.

"Not really. Since yesterday, we’ve been turning people away—no room, barely enough food. Honestly... I don’t know why they let you in."

Ainsworth tilted his head slightly, as if he, too, found it mysterious. "Then I suppose we’re lucky. We’ll make sure to repay that trust."

He didn’t need to press further. Mendez, under the light pressure of Ainsworth’s charisma and composure, had already laid out the base’s population, leadership, communication status, and operational capacity without even realizing it.

God-Level Charm, paired with Freedom of Speech (SSS), wasn’t just about rallying loyalty. It rewired social instinct, making others want to talk, to impress, to confide.

Soon, they reached a set of reinforced dormitories—modular prefab units with decent insulation, private bunks, and a shared latrine block. Solar panels buzzed quietly above the roof, struggling under storm-scarred skies.

This was the guest sector: Sector D, meant for diplomats, VIPs, or high-priority contingencies. It wasn’t luxury, but it was leagues above a refugee cot in the mud.

"Here’s your quarters," Mendez said, pointing toward the door panel. "You’ll have privacy here. Mess hall’s two sectors down. Showers are communal—hot water is rationed every other day. Uh... assuming the generator doesn’t blow again."

Ainsworth turned to him, offering a handshake.

"Thank you, Private. You’ve been more than helpful."

Mendez flushed a bit, then took the handshake, unsure why it made him feel seen.

’Why do I feel like I should be thanking him...?’

As the group settled into their assigned quarters, Ainsworth met with Rian and Dante. His mind was already drawing connections between everything he’d seen and heard.

He had already obtained sufficient information about how this base worked and Mendez didn’t even feel like him spilling those information was a dereliction of duty.

With Rian and Dante in his assigned quarter, Ainsworth used a sound barrier superpower to prevent others from eavesdropping on them. On top of that, he also used a technology control superpower to disable any surveillance bugs if they were present in his room.

Fortunately, when he used his technology control superpower, he discovered that there were no such bugs in his room. At least, he knew that those military people weren’t eavesdropping on them but that still didn’t make Ainsworth remove the sound barrier.

Even if he didn’t detect anyone eavesdropping, it was better safe than sorry. Furthermore, creating a sound barrier didn’t cost that much viral energy so he didn’t mind using it.

After setting up the sound barrier, Ainsworth mentioned to Rian and Dante, "To be honest, I don’t know why the Earth Will gave us a side mission just to infiltrate this human survival base."

Dante nodded, "This base isn’t even that advanced and doesn’t seem to contain any valuable treasures or artifacts. Even if it’s a B-grade side mission and isn’t as high as our S-grade one, it still doesn’t make sense to join a human survival base this weak and small."

When Ainsworth and Dante gave their opinion, Rian pondered for a while before saying, "To plunder world origin, the original world line must be disrupted. What if, this human survival base is where the protagonist went to? In the original world line, this human survival base might become the best one among them."

"It’s either due to the influence of the protagonist, or we just arrived too early in this human survival base. After all, it has only been four days since the apocalypse started and according to Mendez, this survival base has only been established by the military since three days ago."

"They have also rejected survivors due to lack of resources. However, if one of the soldiers or survivors who had joined early here before they started rejecting survivors, had become an evolver, they would be capable of assisting the military in expanding this base and making it better than it was now."

"Due to various factors we don’t know, this human survival base will become one of the last strongholds of humanity in the original world line and that became the reason why the Earth Will issued a side mission to infiltrate this base."

Hearing Rian’s speculation, Ainsworth agreed with it, "With how the Earth Will works, that does seem very plausible. The only problem left is if the Earth Will wanted us to destroy this base and prevent it from growing to the behemoth it would become in the original world line, or it wanted us to infiltrate and make it ours."

"Anyway, the B-grade Infiltration side mission is progression-based so if we do it right, we might be able to trigger another side mission after we complete it. For now, I’ll use my charm and charisma to lower the guard of the leaders of this base and when the time is right, I’ll plant my zombie virus in them."

"Although I won’t trigger it yet as that would either turn them into a zombie or an evolver and that would be suspicious, I’ll slowly let them become evolvers and after they join my Hive Mind, I’ll let them act as if they became evolvers by their luck and efforts alone."

"Eventually, this human survival base will be ours and we’ll expand it into the greatest human survival base."

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