《Level up Zombie》


 Chapter 1 Abandoned

    "Where are we heading? We can''t just stay on this thing forever. We''ll eventually run out of food." The Co-captain asked, looking into the distance, with the endless sea reflecting in his eyes.


    "I don''t know. Maybe we can find an ind or somewhere where there are none of ''them''." His Captain replied, tilting his hat by pulling down its tip to hide the expression on his face so the other person couldn''t see, but he could not contain his worry.


    The Captain then ced his bony hand on the handrails. His wrist was frail, and the clothes were baggy. He gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and as he gripped the handrails tightly, a drop of tear streamed down from his cheek.


    ''Someone..please... tell us what to do.'' The Captain prayed as he listened to the roars around him.


    The giant waves of the sea were being torn apart as therge cruise ship crashed into them. The cold, bottomless night covered the sky, and it was hard for them to judge where they were heading. Most of the equipment on the vast ship had malfunctioned, and an unknown dreadful ominous fear clutched everyone''s heart.


    However, the biggest worry of the two people standing on the deck was neither the unknown fear nor the uncertainty of survival.


    "We should at least be able to survive a month on this thing even if we don''t find anywhere safe. We have plenty of time." The Co-Captain gulped, trying to reassure himself, "As long as no one on board is infected."


    The Captain''s hand trembled as memories began to flood his thoughts.


    "Don''t worry. I made sure we scanned everybody. We had their temperature taken before allowing them on board."


    "AHHHHH!"


    Both of them immediately moved their heads as they heard a frightful scream. They looked down below on one of the floors of the cruise ship and saw several shadows running in a particr direction.


    The two officers'' mouths fell, and their eyes widened from the shock and fear of what was happening.


    The Captain''s hand bled as he clenched his fists and nails dug into his palm.


    ''Someone save us from this nightmare.''


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Someone on the ship...


    Removing the eye mask from his face, the first thing the university student saw was the bunk bed above him.


    "Why is everyone so goddamn loud tonight? It calmed down a bit, but what the hell is going on? Go on a cruise ship Kyle. It would be fun, they said." Kyle grumbled to himself. But that''s when he noticed something weird.


    Across from where Kyle had been sleeping was another set of bunk beds. Only, there was no one else there.


    "Shirley?... Now, where did she go in the middle of the night?" Kyle wondered. ''Did she go to check on the noise? But what about the rest? Where is everyone?''


    They were staying in a small metal room that could hold four people. Yet, Kyle found himself alone in the quiet room.


    Although he had always been a deep sleeper, what concerned him was that the group he had toured with had resolved to leave him alone without giving him any heads-up of where they were going.


    The next thing Kyle noticed was the heavy metal door of the room which was slightly open, letting in a thin line of light reflect on the floor. Kyle decided to open it, feeling something was wrong and that the others might have gotten into trouble.


    Popping his head out and staring down the hallway, the reality of the situation hit him. Directly in front of him, there was a body on the ground. It was stripped, wed, and covered in red, marking everywhere, but the worst part was that its head was caved in as if someone had bludgeoned its head with a big hammer.


    Immediately, Kyle felt his inwards twisting, and he sensed that he would throw up.


    Then, as he tried to gasp for air and get a hold of himself, a thought shed in his mind, ''That''s... that''s the person staying with us!''


    He suddenly heard slow growls, which caused him to turn his head. Down the hallway, he saw her...it was Shirley. She looked frightened and scared. Her make-up was ruined from crying, and she had blood marks over her body. In her hands, she was holding onto an axe, which itself was dyed red, indicating it wasn''t just for show.


    ''What the hell is going on!'' Kyle''s heart dropped.


    Kyle took a deep breath and readied himself to run towards her, but he couldn''t quiteprehend what happened next as two people suddenly leapt towards her. Shirley swung her axe and immediately hit one of them in the head, pushing him onto the other one. Regardless, the one from behind fell but managed totch onto her leg. Then pulling its body, the man opened his mouth and bit down hard on her leg.


    His teeth easily sunk through the skin, and Shirley''s body suddenly froze on the spot as a warm liquid ran down her leg from the wound.


    Immediately, seeing this scene, Kyle recalled the news reports on tv that he had seen so far. He knew it was toote for her. He stepped back and covered his mouth with his hand as tears blurred his vision.<sub> </sub>


    ''I''m sorry!'' Kyle gulped, and after cursing himself, he ran in the exact opposite direction.


    Heading down the hallway in terror, Kyle didn''t know where he was going. As he ran, he saw more blood on the walls and came across bodies lying through the hallway, many of them with one or the other body parts missing. In particr, their heads seemed to haverge holes in them.


    As he was running, two more people appeared around the corner on the other end, heading towards him. However, their steps were stumbling, and their skin was ashen.


    "Damn it." Kyle used his hands to hold the wall and stop himself. Then, without hesitation, he turned around and ran.


    He ran around the cruise ship and soon pushed open doors to the dining room, only to find people fighting against a horde of creatures attacking them.


    Kyle ran across the room, seeing a door on the other side rather than helping anyone in their struggles. He shut his eyes from fear as he ran as fast as possible. Suddenly, he heard a growl, and upon opening his eyes, he saw one of those ''creatures'' on the ground.


    Jumping as high as he could, the person tried to grab his legs but missed, letting Kyle clear him easily.


    "No, they said we were okay. They said we will be fine here!" Kyle shouted as he pushed the double doors open to the front deck.


    It was at this point that Kyle slowly walked out, losing hope. Everyone on the ship was attacking one another, trying to bite or eat each other.


    This was precisely what the news reports had warned them about.


    However, Kyle, at this moment, noticed something. With all the chaos going on around him, one person stood out. He was arge man who looked around eight feet tall.


    His back was turned away, looking out towards the sea, but no one was attacking him. The fights on the deck were alsoing to an end.


    From the beginning, it was clear who would win.


    And soon, the ''winners'' began to turn towards him slowly. Their mouths dripped with the blood of someone else.


    ''I only have one choice!'' Kyle clenched his fists and sprinted towards the man on the other end. He ran as fast as he could, but the others came after him from behind.


    ''Damn it, they just turned, so they''re still quite fast!''


    Reaching his hand out, Kyle had no choice but to shout.


    "Help me!"


    Hearing these words, the man turned around. It was an old gentleman with a full grey beard leaning back. But Kyle didn''t pay attention to all these details because the only important thing to note was that this man was a human, just as he had thought.


    As Kyle reached out his hand, hoping the old man would take it, thetter began to walk towards Kyle.


    However, he didn''t take Kyle''s hand but walked past him and raised his hand out, signalling for the others to stop.


    Rubbing his eyes, Kyle wondered if he was dreaming or not because the unhinged enemy had stopped.


    These creatures, the ''winners'', known as Zombies, who desired nothing but human flesh, had suddenly halted in their tracks following a human''s orders!


    ''Why are they listening to him, and why aren''t theying close to him?'' Kyle got confused with every passing moment.


    "We must use evil to fight against evil. It is the only way we will survive this." The old man slowly spoke, and after a slight pause, he added, "I will not make you suffer."


    Then, he turned around, and in his hand was a pistol.


    Thest thing Kyle heard was a gunshot before his vision turned dark, and his body fell backwards on the deck.


    ****


    [Level Up Zombie], initially meant to be a webtoon, is a story that I wrote a few years ago.


    I''m entering the Webnovel Spirity Award 2022 Contest with this novel. Please support this work if you enjoy it. Thank you, everyone, for allowing me to write stories. Without you and your immeasurable support, I wouldn''t have reached this stage.

 Chapter 2 Survive The Longest

    A man''s footsteps slowly crept across the wooden floor. Each time he ced his foot down, he prayed to the gods, if any, to not let the floor creak. Covered in ragged clothes, the man had a crowbar in his hands, and with his hunched stance, his body was on full alert.


    He continued to walk down the hallway of the house, looking left-right and paying attention to every detail. Still, slowly, his movements came to a halt.


    ''There seem to be signs of struggle. Damn it, has this ce already been raided?''


    The man had alreadye too far not to check the ce out. Turning down the hallway would be the kitchen, which would give him the answers he needed and, hopefully, the supplies as well.


    ''Depending on what I see, I will decide what to do next.''


    Turning around the corner, the man stood upright, and his eyes widened as he found the blood-stained kitchen. It was smeared across the wall, and he could still see the pool of blood dripping from the edges of the countertop.


    -drip!


    -drip!


    ''Sh*t!''


    Before he could react, a head slowly rose from the other side of the kitchen counter, and now in full view, the man could see how disfigured it was. Its teeth were rotten and barely hanging into its gums, an eyeball had popped out of its head and was dangling halfway down its face, its skin was rotting, and there were deep flesh wounds.


    ''Come here, you b*tch!''


    Grabbing his belt, the man yanked an object off and threw it straight towards the head. The next moment, a thunk sound came out of the kitchen as a small de pierced through its skull, right between its eyebrows.


    The strange figure began to fall backwards and copsed onto the ground.


    "Phew that was a close one. That would have been really troublesome if it had cried and alerted the others."


    "Will you get off that game already, Zain?!" A deep voice suddenly echoed in his ears, pulling his attention from the scene in front of him.


    Inside one of the many university dorm rooms, a red-haired student was sitting at his desk ying one of his favourite types of games, a zombie-survival game. He was a true Gamer in and out, and almost every moment he could spare, he would be ying one game or the other.


    Although, Zain didn''t look like one would expect. He finally exited the game and stood up from his seat. He was well built with muscle and was around 6 foot 2 inches tall. Some would even say he was handsome if it weren''t for his boring t hairstyle.


    In fact, due to his muscr body and athletic capabilities, many of his friends advised him to try out for a few of the university sports teams, but then when would he have time for his precious games?


    "I said that I would join you guys when I died," Zain replied, staring at his screen, not even making eye contact with the other two in the room.


    Zain''s obsession with survival games was due to his father, who loved watching zombie movies growing up. Perhaps Zain watched things a little too old for his age, but his father''s passion had be his own.


    As the thought entered his head, he couldn''t help but think, for another time, how would he fare if the world had suddenlye against a zombie apocalypse? How long could he survive?


    Because of these questions Zain had, he trained his body as if a zombie apocalypse would happen one day. It had then be a habit for him to train. That''s when survival games finally came out, which was the closest Zain could experience to a real-life zombie apocalypse.


    "Looking at that game reminds me of something," Skittle, one of the other two in the room, said as he sniffled a little.


    Skittle was one of Zain''s best friends. They had known each other since school. He was small in size and body frame, and for some reason, he always had a red nose. Along with his tiny round specs, these things made him quite an easy target to be picked on in school until Zain stepped into the picture.<sub> </sub>


    As for why Zain had helped Skittle back then, it was a secret that he hadn''t told thetter even now. He knew Skittle was smart, and if there was ever a zombie attack, he would be the one that knew how to survive and manage basic necessities like power and food.


    "I was searching on the dark web, and there are multiple videos and forums posted about attacks happening in other countries." Skittle gulped before saying the next part. "All of the attacks, they look like there being bitten and as if by eaten alive..by-"


    "By zombies!" Zain jumped up from his seat, his eyes shining as he interrupted Skittle before thetter could finish.


    "Don''t be so stupid, both of you." The deep voice from earlier echoed once again, and leaning up against the bunk bed in the room, with his arms crossed, was Buke.


    If people thought Zain was well built, Buke was another thing altogether. It was simr toparing a tank and a horse. Buke had naturally been strong with arge upper body and was nearly 7 feet tall.


    However, it seemed like he was unlucky in one department...his hair. He waspletely bald.


    "If something like this did happen, then it would be all over the news, and we would all get an alert on our phones," Buke argued. "Not on some fake Dark web sh*t."


    "But it''sing from multiple sources and in different ces!" Skittle argued back. "The Dark web is more reliable than the news you see anywhere else. Do you think the news channels and websites are independent? No, they are all controlled by the rich and the powerful, while the dark web is from individual users like you and me!"


    "Damn it!" Buke shouted and pushed the bed with the side of his arm, shaking the whole thing and leading it to creak a bit. "You sound like those damned conspiracy theorists! Of course, if something were happening, we would see it outside, but look, everything is fine...go on, if zombies are here, then go out there and show me one right now! Don''t just bring some edited video or fake posts iming they''re real."


    Stepping forward, Zain stood between the two, but honestly, he was a little concerned. He ced his hand at the two of them but felt like Buke could hit him any second. It wouldn''t be the first time something like this happened either.


    "Look, why don''t we just calm down a little? As you said, Buke, we don''t know what''s true or not unless we see it with our own eyes. The only thing we can do if anything happens is to be ready for it. There''s no harm in that, is there?" Zain smiled.


    It was clear Buke found the other two quite delusional, and although Buke was calm most of the time, if things got a little too far, Zain would always step in and take the hit for Skittle.


    If Skittle were on the receiving end of Buke''s fist, Zain would worry for them both. One of his friends could quite possibly end up dead while the other would be sent to prison, and although he enjoyed ying games, his life was already lonely enough.


    *DING *DING


    "Oh, that''s the rm! The ss is about to start. Let''s go; we better hurry!" Skittle said, already picking up his things and getting ready to leave the room.


    Buke also took his stuff and was about to leave until he noticed Zain standing on the spot.


    "Hey? Aren''t youing to ss?" He asked.


    "Nah, not today. I''m nning to skip it. There''s a new gameing out, and I want to pick it up and take the whole day to y it. So you guys go ahead without me." Zain said.


    Buke shrugged and headed for the door. It wasn''t the first time Zain was skipping the ss.


    Just then, a thought shed in his mind, and he couldn''t help but chuckle while turning around and then saying to Zain.


    "Hey, if there ever was a zombie apocalypse, at least I know who to count on. You would probably be the one to survive the longest, right?"


    "I hope so...."

 Chapter 3 First Bite

    Walking down the street with a hop in his step, Zain couldn''t help but smile. Although he loved ying video games, he would not usually skip sses. However, there was an exception to this rule on the first day of a big release.


    That way, he could enjoy the game for a full day uninterrupted by anyone, and today had been a long timeing.


    Walking past the shop windows, he could see arge poster. It had a bloody main character on the front with a shipwreck behind him and the font with the game''s name: Allies.


    The game was based on a world where the ice caps have melted, causing sea levels to rise. And because of this, thend was now limited, and nuclear waste fell into the sea, creating deadly sea creatures.


    "You must create your raft ships and hop ind to ind while fighting the deadly mutant sea creatures. I can''t wait to y it!" Zain said, holding the box in his hand.


    "I know, Zain. I work here. I know just as much about the game as you do, so why are you telling me all this." The store clerk replied, who had a name tag that read Ben.


    "Sorry, I was just reading it aloud," Zain replied. "Where is everyone anyway? Isn''t it a big release day? Don''t tell me nobody''s hyped for the game? How can that be? It was all over the game forums."


    "HA!" Ben rolled his eyes, "I don''t know what cave you''re living in and what you''re smoking these days. Bring some for me the next time youe. Also, people don''t line up to collect their games anymore. Instead, they order it online or download it. Long gone are the days of queues andrge events. Sometimes... I just wish the whole world would change, and I hope everyone around me burns." He mumbled.


    Now it looked like Ben was the one to speak his mind. As he realised this, he stood up straight.


    "Just go and enjoy your game."


    Walking out of the store, Zain found himself with a weird feeling. Today is a big day, but the interaction spoilt his mood quite a bit.


    "What got shoved up his arse?" Zain said, turning around. "Maybe he''s just having a bad day, but still, what he said was strange."


    Walking back down the street, Zain held the box tightly. He brought it in and started to sniff the new stic, and then it was time for his favourite bit: the unboxing.


    As he heard the clicking noise, the box opened, and the smell of the disk and foam wafted into his nose.


    ''Man, if anyone saw the look on my face right now, they would think I''m some kinda weirdo, but who cares? The streets are quite empty today anyway.'' Zain thought.


    In the middle of admiring the artwork that was imprinted on the disk, for a second, he could see a shadow cast over it, but it was toote to do anything, as the person had run straight into him.


    The two collided, the momentum of that person pushed Zayn back, and his stomach winded a little, but he made sure not to let go of the box as he firmly held it in his right hand. At thest second, he had pulled the box away, taking the hit rather than crushing the game below his weight.


    ''Damn it, that hurts. Who the f*ck is running in this heat?'' Zain squinted and opened his eyes to see a pair of long thin, slender legs on the ground.


    "I''m sorry." The woman said, "I''m in a rush!" She had gotten up before Zain could do anything, ran right past him, and continued sprinting forward.


    ''I never got to see her face, but she had beautiful blonde hair and long legs. Damn it! she was totally my type!'' Zain thought and felt he was stuck ten years in the past.


    Looking down at the ground, Zain noticed something on the floor. It was clearly a pendant but not one he had seen people wear before. On closer inspection, he noticed it was silver with a blue gem in the middle. As for the design, it had several feathers all over, leading to the top.


    ''This looks like a game item.'' Zain picked it up. ''I''ll just give it back to the woman if I see her again, even though I don''t know what her face looks like..this isn''t stealing, right?''<sub> </sub>


    Finally, the university student had returned to his room, and with how the day had gone for him until now, he really needed to get the game in as soon as possible. So he loaded it up into his PC, which still had a disk drive just for these moments. Then, after finishing the necessary long updates, it was finally time to enjoy the game.


    cing his headphones over his head, Zain got to work and started exploring the game. Whenever ying, he truly imagined being in that world and ignored everyone around him. Although it was often hard with his two noisy friends, no one was here to disturb him today. This was also why he had been looking forward to this day for a long time.


    Zain''s fingers were moving fast, his mouse was clicking away, and he had already set up all his macro buttons so he could y in the most optimal way. Everything was a new experience, and when entering a new world, one had to be prepared as much as possible to avoid dying too early.


    *BANG


    *BANG


    *BANG


    ''What is that? Is that in the game?''


    *BANG


    *BANG


    After removing his headphones from one ear, he could hear someone banging on the door. Zain had the volume turned up while ying to immerse himself more, but the banging disturbed his whole immersion.


    "What the hell? Who is it at this time!"


    *BANG


    *BANG


    "Alright, cut it out, Buke! And if it''s not you, then whoever it is, can just f*ck off!" Zain swung the door open ready to give whoever it was an earful, and almost instantly, a person fell onto him.


    Zain held them up hands for a bit, but a rustic smell entered his nose.


    ''What the..''


    Before he could do anything else, the head that rested on his shoulder moved, and its mouth opened wide before sinking its teeth into his skin. The next instant, he felt heart-wrenching pain around his shoulder and neck.


    "You F*cking bit me!" Zain then lifted his leg and kicked the person right in the stomach as hard as he could, sending them back and hitting the hallway wall.


    "I''m going to give you a new face today." Zain clenched his fist, but that''s when he noticed he felt weak, his legs were giving in, and he tumbled to the floor as his body slowly lost all strength. Looking at the person he had just hit, he now noticed thetter was covered in blood.


    ''Wait a sec...is that...am I...am I dreaming?...were those videos on the dark web real? Damn it! I guess you were wrong, Buke. I wasn''t the one to survive the longest after all.''


    Just as he finished his words, something fell out of his pocket and began to shine, illuminating the whole hallway.

 Chapter 4 The Start Of A New Life

    Zain''s eyelids twitched twice before slowly opening up. He felt them be somewhat heavy as if he was waking up from a deep sleep, and his body felt quite weak, as if he was in the middle of recovering from a fever.


    It felt like he had almost run a marathon the day before and was slowly recovering, a familiar feeling for Zain since he had once attempted a marathon run to test his limits. After all, if one were in an apocalypse situation where vehicles didn''t exactly work, they would need to run.


    However, this feeling didn''tst long as it slowly disappeared, and soon Zain stood up and carefully scanned his surroundings while turning his head left and right. He didn''t know where to start and just pped his hands on his forehead.


    ''Did I get robbed!'' Zain assumed. Quickly, he rushed over to where hisputer desk was and fell to his knees in disbelief.


    ''Why the hell would a robber break in and destroy myputer? What the hell did they have to get from this?''


    The whole room was aplete mess. The drawers, even the bunk bed, looked to be partially destroyed. It was as if the entire room had been ransacked and picked apart, as if someone was searching for something.


    After realising there was no way of him being able to restore hisputer, he stood up and looked around at everything.


    ''Wait a second, what happened again? Was it really a robber? My head is a little fuzzy.'' While trying to recall the moments before he had passed out, he rubbed the side of his neck close to his shoulder and could feel a few bumps on his skin.


    Suddenly, the memories of the final moments before he lost consciousness shed in his mind.


    ''I was bit...and the person who bit me, they didn''t exactly look normal¡­it can''t be¡­why would someone juste in and bite me?''


    Thinking fast and seeing that his door was wide open, Zain first made sure that there was no one inside, and soon after, he had closed the door shut and locked the door. But, before doing anything else, he had to ensure the situation was what he thought.


    Then, when he took out his phone from his pocket, the ne from before dropped onto the ground. Looking at it, he noticed it no longer had a shine like before. Instead, the crystal inside looked more like a regr old rock. Either way, he still picked it up and, rather than cing it in his pocket, he put it around his neck for now.


    Then checking his phone, all he could see was a ck screen. Upon pressing the power button, he expected it to turn on, but nothing happened. Quickly, he searched for a charger and put his phone on charge, but there was still no response on the screen.


    Upon clicking the two light switches, he discovered the power was out.


    ''I would love to think that the whole building has just had a power cut, but based on what''s been happening the whole day and with the video that Skittle had shown¡­I don''t think there''s a simple reason behind the current situation.''


    Without his phone andputer, there was no way for Zain to get information on the current situation. He knew he needed to learn as much as possible before leaving the room.


    Of course, he would like to know if Skittle and Buke were okay, but in the end, he had to first look after himself before he could think about anyone else. While thinking of this, one pressing and worrying matter was running through Zain''s head, and that was the bite on his neck.


    If the current situation was really what he thought it was, and from the several movies and games he yed, getting bitten was one of the most dangerous things.


    Heading into the toilet, which was close to the door, Zain was surprised to see that the water supply was still operating, so he sshed his face a few times, trying to get his thoughts straight.


    Although, he didn''t feel a cold refreshing feeling like he usually would when using the water. Still, he pulled the hoodie he had on himself and then titled it towards the mirror to get a better look at his wound.


    The wound looked precisely like a bite mark, and Zain could easily confirm that it was indeed a human bite. The strange thing was that the wound looked a couple of days old, and most of it was already healed. There was still quite the visible mark though.


    ''That''s strange...and it doesn''t hurt either.''


    After observing the wound for a long time, he finally calmed down and looked at himself in the mirror. Then, in the next moment, Zain''s eyes opened wide, and he couldn''t help but rub them a couple of times. He blinked as fast as he could before stumbling back and almost falling on the bathroom floor.


    ''What the F*ck! What the¡­who the¡­who the f*ck is this! What happened to me!''<sub> </sub>


    At first, Zain noticed that his general appearance had changed a bit. His skin seemed paler than usual. It was not quite snow-white like a female novel character. Instead, his skin had turned dull grey, as if there was no life in it at all.


    However, that wasn''t the most shocking thing for him. Instead, it was the fact that there were a couple of bars above his head and varying numbers in them.


    ''This is¡­just like a game interface...but what''s wrong with my skin? Did the fall hurt my eyesight? Am I dreaming or something? ''


    In these sorts of cases, one would usually try and pinch themselves to wake them up, which was exactly what Zain did in his case. But when he pinched himself, using little force on the palm of his hand, he surprisingly ended up ripping through his skin. While staring at the wound in shock, a stream of blood began to bubble out of the wound, but he was even more surprised upon noticing that he wasn''t feeling any pain.


    ''No¡­no, this can''t be...this has to be a dream, right? Someone tell me what is going on!''


    When such a strange thought shed in his mind, and he clenched the wash basin, Zain suddenly heard a ''ding'' notification prompt, and upon looking straight, he found a translucent screen in front of him.


    [Name: Zain Talen]


    [Current Body State: 98 Percent Functional]


    [Energy Level: 100 Percent]


    [Level: 1]


    [EXP: 0/100]


    [Race: Undead]


    Notifications soon shed in front of Zain, shrouding his reflection of his face in the mirror. He carefully read the informationing to him. Beside each stat was a small ''i'' icon; when Zain focused on it, a new prompt would appear and reveal information about that particr stat.


    And when he read thest line, he was once more stumped.


    ''I haven''t misread, right? It definitely says Undead here¡­''


    How long Zain had stared at himself in the mirror after reading that, he didn''t know, but it was long enough for the value of his energy stat to drop by one point.


    [Energy level: 99]


    [Note: Get a taste of human flesh to restore your energy!]


    [New (Bonus) quest received]


    [Eat fresh flesh straight from a human]


    [Quest reward: 10 EXP]


    *****


    Level Up Zombie Updates daily, please vote with stones to show your support for the Webnovel Spirity Competition 2022.

 Chapter 5 Level Up Zombie

    Eventually, Zain had no choice but to ept his situation. He couldn''t just stare at the mirror forever. Of course, that wouldn''t change anything, but now he had multiple questions going through his head that he needed answers for.


    ''So I''m an undead? A fancy word for a zombie, but why can I think? Aren''t zombies supposed to be mindless? I can speak, and my body is also under my control. This is nothing like the zombie games or movies that I y. Although they are all different, case to case, something like this never happened in any game I have yed.


    ''And I have this game-like interface that I can summon anytime? I need to find out as much as possible about myself and this damned zombie system. I swear if this were a novel, they would call it My Zombie System or something.'' Zain tried to joke to relieve him of his situation, and it was the only thing he could do to uplift the mood.


    Through a few checks, he could confirm that he did indeed appear dead. For one, there was no heartbeat, and his sense of pain seemed gone. He still had the sense of touch and pressure, but it wasn''t as urate as before.


    To test it somewhat, he picked up a toothbrush. He could feel his hand holding the brush, but he couldn''t sense its temperature. Just to be double-sure, he rotated the tap, and as the water flushed out of it, he put his fingers in the stream of water.


    Once again, although he felt the water, he couldn''t tell if it was hot or cold.


    As for the other questions he had about himself, fortunately for Zain, the system had plenty of in-depth exnations. An exnation prompt would appear after focusing on the (i) icons next to the stats.


    [Body function]


    [An undead''s body will naturally continue to deteriorate with time. As this stat decreases, the functions of the human body will start to slow down. Consuming flesh will allow the body to restore itself. Based on the freshness of the flesh the user consumes, the higher the body''s functions will be.]


    At the moment, this Stat was at 98 percent, and most of his body functions seemed to be working fine, mainly to be able to walk and talk. However, how bad or quickly his body would deteriorate, he didn''t know, and he was just hoping it wasn''t some time soon; otherwise, he would have toplete the quest sooner than he thought.


    [Energy]


    [Energy is consumed naturally throughout the day depending on the user''s activity. User can also use energy to heal wounds. The amount of energy consumed in this will depend on the severity of the wound. Once all energy has been used, the Undead body will deteriorate quicker.]


    Based on the quest he had received, Zain also knew that consuming flesh was the way to restore his energy as well.


    ''At least I don''t have to look for two separate substances or items to help my body. But that quest stated that I needed to consume human flesh toplete it. So perhaps that doesn''t mean that it''s a requirement to restore my energy and body function but only toplete the quest. At least, I hope.


    ''I don''t know how long my mind will stay sane, but while it is, I would prefer just to eat animals and such over humans.''


    It was quite quick for a person to ept the position Zain was in, but due to the system interface, it helped Zain think of the whole situation like a game scenario, and there was also the fact that at the moment, he couldn''t feel pain either.


    ''Then there''s the exp bar, levels and quests.'' Zain thought. ''How am I seeing this screen? Is there a chip in my brain or a server sending me updates? It doesn''t make any sense. Do all of the Zombies have a system like this? Can they all think like me?''


    Eventually, staring down into the sink, Zain noticed there were hand prints, his own hand prints. When in shock, he had clenched onto the sink so hard that his handprints were embedded in it. Something that, as a human, would be impossible for him to do.


    Then, he let out a big sigh and looked at his face in the mirror.<sub> </sub>


    ''This isn''t a game; I will have to keep reminding myself of that. But if I take this as a game scenario, I would try to level up as quickly as possible in this type of situation. Higher levels mean more chances of surviving with more skills, items and information at my disposal, but based on the first quest, I''m not going to like this.


    ''First, I need to see what''s going on.''


    Before leaving the bathroom, Zain wrapped bandages around his hands and his neck where the bite mark was. Although it was unlikely that perhaps Zain was the cure to all of this, the virus must have affected him differently from the way it had to the others.


    Because one thing was clear, the person who had bitten him wasn''t acting rationally. Clearing his thoughts, Zain lightly punched the mirror in front of him. It cracked it into several shards, and then taking arge piece of it, he ced it behind his belt underneath his shirt.


    ''I don''t have much choice for weapons. I don''t even have a knife here in the University dorms, so this will have to do.''


    Back in the room, Zain could only find a piece of wood that had broken from the bunk bed, the piece was quite long, and with a rounded end, Zain didn''t think it would be much use.


    However, using his strength, he pushed on both ends and then, while holding it vertically, he mmed his knee into it, snapping it, creating a sharp edge. The wood log now looked like a stake that he could use to finish a vampire, but he wasn''t going up against vampires.


    ''I can''t rely on my strength to defeat whatever is out there. I have to assume that whatever I can do now, others can as well, so I need to stay a step ahead.''


    Rather than heading to the door, Zain went towards the closed curtain, which had been untouched for days since he preferred to y games in the dark. Upon drawing the curtains, the view outside his apartment block finally came into his sight, and it was hard to tell if he was surprised.


    ''It was what I thought¡­the human race¡­will have to fight for their survival.''


    He could see smoke rising from several buildings, while many buildings were even destroyed. Looking closely, Zain noticed that most of the windows were broken, and there was chaos everywhere.


    ''This doesn''t just look like some type of attack. It almost looks like a meteor strike has hit the earth or someone hasunched missiles on this city. And with how the buildings are destroyed, it almost looks like a crater is in the distance.


    ''Just..what in the world happened? Did this happen while I was unconscious, or maybe when I was ying the game...no, that can''t be possible. I would have definitely heard the explosions since I even heard that zombie knocking on the door. Either way, I won''t get my answers orplete my quest just by staying here.''


    Turning around, Zain walked towards the door and ced his hand on the door handle.


    ''This wasn''t how I imagined I would start my journey if something like this happened, but I''ll just have to deal with the fact that I''m now a zombie."


    Then, without hesitation, unlocking the door, Zain opened it and took his first steps into the newly changed world.


    *****


    Level Up Zombie Updates daily, please vote with stones to show your support for the Webnovel Spirity Competition 2022.

 Chapter 6 No Pain

    Opening the door, Zain didn''t just confidently walk into the Hallway as he would any other day. Years of preparation and ying games had taught him to be cautious, and that he was.


    First, he took out the mirror shard, and using the reflection, he scouted the hallway. He wanted to see if anyone was present, and he was in for a right surprise.


    ''It''s worse than I expected. How long was I even out for all of this to happen.''


    Seeing no one, he walked into the Hallway and took a right. At least there seemed to be no one alive. The walls looked partly destroyed, with scratches and cracks, made by what was hard to guess.


    Then there was blood, not just a small amount, but plenty of it. It was smeared across the wall, on the floor, and on top of that, there were a couple of bodies slumped.


    Parts of their body were missing as if someone had eaten them. Walking up to one of the bodies, Zain had a good look at it. It was a girl slumped up against the wall, who was around the same age as him.


    There were several bite marks around her neck, and there seemed to be arge chunk of her head missing. Zain would have indeed assumed her dead if he hadn''t been through enough surprises already.


    Just in case, Zain did two things. First, he stepped on her foot as hard as possible, right by her ankle. Doing this, he could tell that if he just applied the right amount of pressure, he would crush her bones.


    At the same time, if she were a zombie and reacted to this, Zain would have enough time to react, which was why the second thing he had, was his self-made stake, which he pointed directly at her head.


    Seeing no reaction, he jabbed her a second time and could confirm she was indeed dead unless zombies were just good at acting, which he thought was unlikely. He swiftly did the same to the other bloodied bodies lying on the floor.


    ''Based on the situation, these creatures aren''t like me. They can''t be sane if they''re doing something like this. It makes me wonder, who gets turned and who gets used as food in this situation.''


    Before leaving, Zain thought of carrying some dead human flesh with him as a backup. For one, he wanted to see if his system would count it and see if he couldplete the quest, but at the same time, there was one of his senses that seemed to be working just fine that happened to keep reminding him that this was reality and that was the sense of smell.


    An unfamiliar heavy scent had spread throughout the hallway. It was pungent yet unique enough that Zain knew he had never smelled something like this. However, although he could remember that these would be unpleasant smells to him in the past, his body wasn''t reacting for some reason.


    He wasn''t gagging, nor did his stomach feel queasy from the scenes he saw in front of him.


    ''It has to be an effect of what I am now.'' Zain thought.


    His body was still functioning well, there was no rush in these things, and it would be harder to exin why he was carrying such things if he did meet the others, which was where he was nning to go next.


    ''I shared the room with Skittle, but Buke was on his own. There was not much blood in my room, so I doubt Skittle ever returned. Most likely, he stayed with Buke after ss because he knew I would y games all day.''


    Buke''s room was only on the floor below, so Zain decided to check it out before leaving the building, but he didn''t have much hope. For one, there seemed to be ack of living or dead in the apartment block, as if the whole ce had already been attacked.


    At the same time, it depended on when the attack had urred, maybe they were in the middle of ss when this happened as well.


    Several rooms had their doors hanging wide open while a few were shut closed, but thest thing Zain wanted to do now was get involved with a stranger, even if someone was on the other side of that door.


    Buke''s floor was in a simr condition to the one above. A few dead bodies on the outside, blood and broken doors. As usual, Zain made sure to check those on who were dead and who were actually dead.


    Gettingfortable was what caused the death of people in such a situation. Finally, he had reached Buke''s door, which was shut. Pressing his hand against the handle, he pulled down and tried to open it.<sub> </sub>


    ''It''s locked...I don''t exactly want to say anything in case I alert anyone else in the building.'' Zain thought.


    Instead, this was a chance for him to use something else. With the handle down and his shoulder against the door, Zain used his newfound strength to slightly push against the door, a smooth, fast action that broke the lock. It made a rtively loud sound, but it was only for a second.


    Now, pushing the door open, Zain was hoping he wouldn''te across a nightmare.


    "Please¡­.please¡­." He heard a mumbling voice.


    Walking forward, Zain couldn''t believe it.


    "Skittle!"


    Skittle was standing at the very back of the room by the window, clutching a frying pan in his hand. His whole body was shaking. At the same time, he was looking at Zain, but it didn''t seem like he noticed him.


    "It''s me, Skittle! I''m d you''re okay." Zain said as he walked forward.


    It was then that Skittle hearing his name for the second time had snapped out of his weird daze and realised who it was in front of him.


    "Zain¡­No, Wait!" Skittle shouted with his hand held out as if he was trying to stop something.


    Just then, Zain felt a deep pressure around his chest, and blood had suddenly split onto the floor. That''s when he noticed a knife had pierced his chest, right through his heart.


    "Buke! What did you do¡­he''s Zain!" Skittle panicked.


    Hearing this, Buke quickly walked back and went by Skittle''s side, pushing him back a little as if he was trying to protect him while also getting a look at who he had just hit.


    "I know you think that, but look¡­look at his skin! It''s pale like theirs, and his eyes are different, and from the bandages he has on him, they''re probably to cover up some type of bite mark." Buke was speaking irationally, and Skittle didn''t know if it was just to cover up the ident he hadmitted or if he really thought this.


    cing his hand over the knife, Zain felt no pain. Of course, there was no pain, but Zain was in shock. He had been careful against all the zombies, even worried about how to deal with people in the situation outside, but what he didn''t expect was to immediately get stabbed by his best friend.


    ''He came out from the toilet, and it''s quite a good n, I have to admit. And seeing Skittle caused me to let my guard down.''


    While trying to figure out the next move, he suddenly heard the newly familiar ''ding'' in his head, and a prompt appeared in front of him.


    [New Quest received]


    [Form Your Horde!]


    [Infected: 0/10]

 Chapter 7 End Of The World

    The arrival of the prompt couldn''t havee at a worse moment for Zain. He was still in the middle of deciding what to do, and it seemed like the system was trying to steer him in a certain direction.


    ''Damned system, so you want to push me in a certain direction, don''t you? The first human''s I see, and this is your suggestion!?''


    Zain had taken a step back but still had the kitchen knife pierced through his heart. It had gone pretty deep from one side to the other.


    ''Only someone like Buke would have been able to push a knife through someone this easily, but at least I can tell from his face that he did this because of fear.''


    Reaching into a bandage that Zain had brought with him, he started to wrap the wound around his chest a few times, and it looked like he was struggling.


    "The bandages were to make it harder for those guys to bite me," Zain smiled while he left the knife and continued to wrap around the area. "Let me tell you one thing, it''s a good thing that you don''t study well because youpletely missed my heart."


    Zain smiled because it was a lie. Buke had done well. The only thing was that Zain''s heart was no longer working anymore. Looking at the kitchen countertop next to him, Zain pulled out another knife.


    It was then that Buke snatched the frying pan out of Skittle''s hand and shouted, "You going to kill us, you damned Zombie!"


    Holding the knife, Zain whacked the pointed bit of the de in his body with the handle of the knife, breaking it clean off. Then continued to wrap the rest of his body.


    "It''s best to keep the de in. Otherwise, I might bleed to death, but damn, it hurts." Zain lied again.


    "What is wrong with you?" Skittle said, pushing past Buke. "Look, he''s talking fine and acting normal, so he''s clearly not one of them."


    Buke had to admit that from how Zain was acting, he didn''t seem like the others.


    "But, he still could have been bit. Maybe he''s turning slowly like in those movies and just hiding it? He could put us both in danger!"


    "Right now, I''m more scared of you. I can see how you would have stabbed anyone who walked through that door, never mind it being Zain. We have to get him to a hospital."


    [System message]


    [You have received a deep wound]


    [Would you like to use your energy to heal the wound?]


    Although the system stated this, Zain felt no different from how he was before Buke stabbed him. He could still do the same things, and it didn''t appear the system had an HP bar either, but that was probably because he was already dead.


    ''For now, there''s no point wasting my energy, and it seems like with Skittle believing I''m a human, Buke wille around in a second. As more time passes, they should believe me, but I have no idea what this even is. A virus or what and how long it takes to turn people.''


    [You have selected ''No'']


    [The User may use his energy at any time to heal the wound]


    [Warning, if more wounds are inflicted on the User''s body, and you choose not to heal them, the body will deteriorate quickly.]<sub> </sub>


    ''I should have known that it would work like that. It could not have just been all upsides.''


    [Body state: 97 percent]


    "Let''s not go to the hospital. Depending on what happened, I guess the hospital might be the most overrun ce, and besides, I''ll be fine as long as we get to a small shop or something. I just need a few supplies, and I can deal with this myself."


    Finally admitting he might be wrong, Buke clenched his fist and walked forward.


    "I''m sorry, Zain, I¡­ didn''t know. I just saw you from behind, and with the bandages---"


    "It''s okay, Buke. I would have done the same, and I''m just happy to see that you were protecting Skittle." Zain interrupted. He couldn''t really be angry at Buke because thetter''s instincts were spot on.


    "Can you guys exin to me what happened? I passed out in my room and then woke up to all this." Zain said.


    "We don''t know much about them ourselves," Buke exined. "On the way back from sses, we wereing to the dormitory, and suddenly we heard screams from behind us. That''s when we saw a group of ''them'' running after the other students, jumping on them and biting their bodies, especially the necks.


    "Skittle said that they looked like the videos he had seen and started to call them Zombies. We didn''t waste any time and ran into the dorms, but it looked like they had already somewhat gotten inside.


    "They were behind, and in front of us, we were surrounded, so we had no choice but to enter and lock ourselves in."


    "I tried to gather information, and reports wereing in that attacks were popping up all over the ce. Small ones." Skittle exined. "We stayed inside, thinking that maybe the army woulde or something, but then the strike came.


    "Small rocks, not too big but looked covered in mes, came from the sky and struck the city. They destroyed buildings and created shockwaves when they crashed.


    "After that, the inte, phone signals, and electronic devices seemed to no longer be working the way they usually would have. It felt like¡­it was the end of the world."


    In truth, Zain would have liked to get a little more information than he had done. Especially, more details about the zombies, their speed-strength, were they like him but just crazy. Anyway, there was one thing in the story that stood out.


    ''The meteor strike came after the zombie attack, not at the same time. Does that mean the two events are unrted? Can two world-changing events happen on the same day? The zombie attacks, if real on the dark web, have also been reported for weeks.


    ''Just what is going on, and why is this system encouraging me to make more zombies? It doesn''t make any sense.''


    Just then, turning his head slightly, Zain could hear something down the hallway. One step after another, it sounded like someone was running, but the most crucial thing was Zain could hear distant growls.


    "Get ready," He said to the other two, lifting his wooden stake.


    *****


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 Chapter 8 Penalty

    Zain tightened his grip over the wooden stake and carefully stared at the end of the hallway. The other two noticed his reaction and could see that something had caught his attention, but they had no clue what it was.


    "Is everything okay, Zain? What do you mean by ''to get ready''?" Skittle was the first to react.


    ''Hm? They can''t hear it?... It''s so loud. Did my hearing improve as well?''


    "Something''sing," Zain continued to state in the direction of the hallway where the sound wasing from, but he couldn''t see anything.


    Looking more for a while, he finally saw two people reach the stairs and run straight towards them.


    "What the hell! They''re back?! Why have theye back? I thought all of them would have already left this ce!" Buke called.


    "Maybe it was all the noise we were making, or there are still some on the other floors or something." Skittle said, his teeth crackling with each other as the nerves got the better of him.


    The two iing people had blood running down their arms, parts of the flesh on their bodies were missing, and their eyes looked erged and bulging, blood dripping out of them.


    ''It''s clear that these are undead, they have more traits than me, but this wasn''t what I expected. These guys are quite fast...is it their body? They haven''t deteriorated yet. If they are like me, and my system is anything to go by, then considering that they have just turned, it would mean their bodies haven''t had time to slow down yet.''


    "Zain, let''s go into another room! Or let''s just leave the building. We can''t let these guys get to us!" Skittle said in a nervous tone.


    Instead of running away or walking away, Zain walked forward, straight towards the iing zombies.


    "Running away when there''s only two of them? These guys are noisy, and if we don''t get rid of them, they will attract more zombies, and soon a horde will be after us." Zain got his stake ready, and one of the female Zombies opened her mouth wide, revealing a set of bloodied rotten teeth.


    Her hands dangled out and reached for Zain. At that moment, he swung the stake hitting it clean in the head, and her whole body moved to the side with the head mming into the wall.


    As for the other one, Zain showed no fear as he charged in, taking out the mirror shard and mming it down into the Zombie guy''s head. It easily went through the skull, and Zain could feel the weight of the zombie leave its body as it fell to the ground.


    "The best option is to get rid of them."


    When he turned around, the other two were surprised to see some of the zombie blood sttered on the bandages he had wrapped around his chest wound and his face.


    The two gulped at the scene in front of them because it was frightening to them, and for a split second, they thought that Zain was scarier than the Zombies themselves.


    Zain realised in this small scuffle that, unlike the game character, he now had something that wouldn''t be possible in that case. For one, he was supernatural, had extra strength, hearing and more.<sub> </sub>


    Then there was another point that worked greatly in his favour, and that was the fact that he was already a Zombie. So there was no fear of bing a zombie in case he got bitten. This decreased his fear factor and gave him a huge advantagepared to everyone else who now had to live in this world.


    ''Seeing those zombies, I noticed something else as well, it''s the smell. Both Buke and Skittle smell a bit sweet. While the zombies smell like whatever they are covered in. If others are like me, then it will cause a problem.''


    Thinking about this, Zain started to use his stake and hit the dead on the ground, making more wounds, so their blood and guts would spill. He knew what he was doing was strange, but since the smell and the sight weren''t making him feel sick, the only thing that was trying to stop him was his mental state, his mind telling him it was wrong.


    And by now, the will to survive was taking over.


    "What are you doing, Zain? They''re already dead! Stop it!" Skittle shouted.


    Zain finally stopped, not because skittle asked, but because he had already finished beating the dead body into pulp. Then without hesitation, he started smothering the blood and guts all over his clothes.


    "The zombies, it''s most likely that they can smell us as well. We smell alive to them, so if you want to live, I suggest you do the same." Zain exined. "Just make sure you don''t have cuts and wounds that the zombie blood can get into, and don''t let it get into your eyes. Just rub it on your clothes."


    Once again, Zain''s actions were freaking them out a bit. He was acting as if someone had been in this situation for years even though it hadn''t been an entire day yet for them, and Buke was concerned about how easily he could kill those two Zombies.


    ''Was he always that strong and fast? And how could he do that without any hesitation...he wasn''t scared of them? Is that something I would be able to do too? No, at least not yet. I guess I should be happy that he''s on our side.''


    Before moving ahead to the other floors, Zain wanted to check something out. It was the message he had received just after defeating those zombies.


    [Detected, User has eliminated Two Zombies]


    [Penalty will be applied]


    [-4 exp]


    [Current exp: 0]


    ''Hm? That''s not how the script is supposed to go. No, this is not good.''


    *******


    Thank you for all the stones andments so far, please continue your support and don''t forget to leave a review!

 Chapter 9 Whos Side

    After receiving the message prompt, Zain quickly decided to check the system to see if he could make sense of what had happened, but other than the previous screen and his current stats, he didn''t have much to go on.


    ''It''s almost like those games that don''t allow friendly fire on teammates, and if one does it, the yer is penalised.'' Zain thought. ''It''s quite clear that this system also has a clear direction of what it wants me to do. Don''t hurt zombies and turn others into zombies.


    ''But I can''t figure out what the creators'' goal is or who the creator is. For now though, the penalty doesn''t really affect me since I have no exp in the first ce. Losing exp has just kept me on 0, though it might cause a problem in the future. I can only guess that I''m not the only one like me, and perhaps there are more willing to tune others and level up to get stronger.


    ''If I was to face them, it would be a big problem, but for now, before thinking about any of that, I just need to focus on me.''


    "Alright, we''re done." Skittle said, gagging slightly as the odour wafted into his nose. While Zain was checking out his system, both Buke and Skittle had done as asked and covered themselves with guts and blood.


    The zombie guts parts didn''t stick on their body, but it had achieved what Zain wanted: it had somewhat diffused the human scent. From a distance, it was at least hard to tell where the sweet smell wasing from due to the other odours mixed in.


    But up close, they still would have a problem, so they couldn''t just pretend to be a Zombie.


    ''Being a Zombie is almost a cheat since I know all the ins and outs. This means we''ll make fewer mistakes, and there will be more chances of survival.'' Zain thought.


    [User''s body has deteriorated to 96 Percent.]


    Upon getting this message, Zain clenched his fist. But he still couldn''t feel any difference, and it still was a worry at just how fast that had urred though. Maybe it had been a couple of hours since he had checked his stats.


    Knowing that a sudden horde wouldn''t being after them due to the smell of his two friends, they could start to move, but the two prepared themselves before leaving the ce with Zain.


    For one, both of them had thick clothing on and even multipleyers. Buke had even wrapped several shirts around his forearms since there weren''t a lot of clothes that would fit him in case he got bit.


    As for his choice of weapons, they were mainly small des. This was why he needed some armour. Zain exined that it would be better if he had a longer weapon, but Buke said he felt safer with the long kitchen knives.


    Then, Skittle persisted in holding the frying pan. As for why it was due to it being more of a defensive item than anything. And was meant to stop the others from hurting him if he got in a tricky situation.


    They went down the dormitory floors and checked the hallways to see if there were any other undead creatures. This was just because Zain didn''t want to end up in a situation where they would get trapped in both directions.


    He would rather deal with them now if there were just one or two instead of ignoring them and letting them regroup, but they hardly saw any undead moving about or living. That was until they had reached the third floor.


    The banging noise this time was so loud that even Buke and Skittle could hear it. Turning their heads, they saw a lone Zombie banging its arms against one of the doors.


    It was relentlessly hitting it repeatedly, not caring about what happened to its body, not that any of the three was surprised by this.


    "Why is it doing that?" Skittle asked.


    "Does it matter? We''re now on the third floor, just two more floors, and we''re out of this ce. So let''s just make a run for it and head outside!" Buke shouted.


    "I''m not sure if that''s the best idea," Zain replied. "For one, We don''t know the situation outside. On top of that, at least in this building, the ces they cane to us from are limited."<sub> </sub>


    Then, after a pause, Zain nced at Buke while asking, "Do you mind if I borrow something?"


    Buke had created little slots where he could hold plenty of knives around the waist. In this situation, Zain wanted to test something, so he had asked for one. Then without saying a word, he signalled the other two and told them to sit where they were.


    Meanwhile, he walked toward the Zombie. The knife was in his dominant right hand and the wooden stake in the other.


    ''I noticed something back then when those two Zombies attacked me...I need to check out if it''s true.''


    Zain was tiptoeing almost, so his feet were silent, and the other two watching were nervous because he was getting closer and closer. They imagined what Zain was attempting to do, throw the de at the Zombie or charge in and finish it off quickly, but he did neither as he stepped closer and closer.


    Eventually, Zain was now only a metre away.


    "Hey! I''m right here...don''t you see me?" Zain said loud enough for the Zombie to hear but not the others. Not that he expected thetter to understand his words, it was more of him trying to attract its attention. However, the Zombie ignored him, continuing to punch the door.


    ''It''s as I thought. Those other two weren''t trying to attack me, but Skittle and Buke. These guys see me as one of them.'' Zain thought while lifting the knife and throwing it as hard as he could, urately hitting the Zombie in the head.


    The de had cleanly hit the side of the temple, and went right through to the other end and snapped a bit upon exiting the hard skull.


    [- 2 Exp]


    ''This life... I''m not in danger like everyone else, it seems.''


    After he finished dealing with the Zombie, the two came rushing over, and Buke stared at his broken knife on the floor while also looking at the wound, wondering if he could have done the same thing.


    "You broke my knife," he finally said.


    "There are plenty around. Just head to another room, and you''ll probably find one." Zain replied.


    "Hey, Hey, I think there are people outside!" The three suddenly heard a voice, and it wasing from the other side of the door.


    Looking at the door, Zain knew that the Zombie was punching at it because he could smell it too.


    ''More people at this point and time while I still don''t know everything...are just going to be a headache.'' Zain thought. ''People''s true coloures out when the world is like this, and there''s a higher chance of my secret getting out if there are more people in the group. But it might bring an opportunity...to test out this system.''


    ****


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote this book for WSA 2022

 Chapter 10 Trouble

    "Did you guys hear that?" Skittle asked, and there was a faint smile on his face. After facing a life and death situation in a scenario like today''s incidents, it was normal for a person to seek others''pany to rely upon.


    At the same time, knowing that they weren''t the only ones going through it and that others were experiencing the same thing brought themfort. "We should see if they''re okay!"


    Skittle''s hand was already reaching out towards the door, ready to pull on it, but it was stopped seconds before, being grabbed by none other than Zain.


    "This event has just started, so it might be okay now, but I want to warn you, Skittle," Zain said. "In the future, there will be those who will attempt to trick you, use you, or even attack you after seeing you for no reason whatsoever. So just because you hear someone else''s voice, don''t rush in to help them."


    If Zain were alone, he wouldn''t have opened the door. If one was to think with their head and try to survive, meeting a person in this situation wasn''t the best, but he knew how the others would think if he told them to walk away, and he knew how his old self would have thought.


    Maybe it was because he had changed, but he could think a lot more with just his head and not be driven by certain emotions.


    "I''m already injured, so let me go first, in case they have something nned like you two," Zain said, ready to push the handle.


    ''Yeah, you''re so injured but still able to move as you did before?'' Buke thought.


    As for Skittle, he also thought something was strange as he looked at his hand, realising something.


    ''Zain''s hands, they were cold¡­ they were literally freezing.'' Skittle thought.


    The door was locked, as expected. Zain was ready to use his previous trick but thought it might attract attention if there were more zombies on the lower two floors.


    Just as he was about to force it open, he heard a click from the other side, and the door swung open as someone pulled the handle down from the other side.


    "There are people.. there are other normal people." A woman shaking voice entered their ears, and as the door opened, they saw a young woman with tears running down her face.


    There were two young women in the room, one brte with long hair and dark smooth skin, while the other had slightly red-dyed hair tied up in a ponytail.


    Skittle and Buke ran into the room tofort the two, going past Zain while he stood there for a few seconds, holding his weapons in his hands.


    "Hey, it''s Jade and Tanisha, right? Are you two okay? Are any of you hurt at all?" Buke asked, mainly focusing on Jade, while Skittle went to see if Tanisha was okay.


    The two could talk to these women frankly because thetter were also students at the university and were in the same ss as them. In particr, Jade, Zain knew her well.


    For a long time, Zain had somewhat of a crush on Jade, but being his antisocial self, it was a bit hard for him to talk to girls, never mind the one he liked. On top of that, he always believed, from the movies he saw and other things he read, that there were certain types of girls that would just cause trouble.


    Too often, people have sacrificed their lives for the one they loved or tried to look brave and put themselves in situations they wouldn''t have been in.


    However, seeing Jade in this situation, there was no feeling at all for some reason. His stomach didn''t churn, nor did he feel embarrassment just from looking at her.<sub> </sub>


    "So you two have had bad luck as well and were stuck in the room," Buke said after listening to their story, which was simr to theirs.


    "Anyway, we can''t stay here forever. There''s no food in the dorms, we should leave while we have strength, and with more people, it should be safer, right Zain?" Skittle asked.


    Both Jade and Tinisha feltfortable due to the boys'' presence, but one of them was seriously freaking them out, and it was the one standing by the door, not letting go of the weapons in his hands the whole time.


    They could see that it seemed like he was somewhat the decision-maker or leader of this small group.


    "Being in a group only is safer if we stay put in one ce, but as you said, we have to move, so if we move together, I''m going to have to set some rules that we should all follow," Zain said and then staring at the two girls, he added, "Cover yourself in the dead''s blood and guts, just like these two. We won''t be taking you if you can''t agree to that. Take a weapon, one that won''t make much noise.


    "We look after each other''s backs, and we have signals to inform one another without making noise if we see something. Then finally, this is important for you two, don''t stick your neck out for others.


    "Don''t ever put yourself in a situation where you would be the one that suffers, even if it''s only a small chance."


    After hearing the rules, everyone was silent for a moment, the two boys had nothing to say, but he knew that they would bepliant, which was why he was looking at the two girls in the group.


    "Wait¡­ can''t we stay in here and wait for the army, or the police or anyone to arrive?" Jade said. "I mean, it hasn''t been a day yet. I don''t think we should go out and explore. Why don''t we just wait a day or so? If another Zombiees, then you guys can help us fight it off, right?"


    "She does have a point," Buke chimed.


    "You''re going to trust the ones who hid this situation from us for a while now to solve this? If the military or police could have solved this, they would have done so before it got to this situation. The longer we wait, the weaker and less energy we have and the more mistakes we will likely make." Zain replied. "So get some blood on you, and let''s get out of here before it gets dark."


    Zain said, already turning around and looking out the window. The sun was still out but at most for another three hours.


    "Wait!" Jade almost shouted but quickly put her hands over her mouth, trying to quiet down. "I mean, what he said is true, but you really think that we won''t be saved? Our country''s military is robust enough, and we will all be risking our lives unnecessarily by going outside.


    "I understand if you want to go out there, but you shouldn''t be dragging your friends and us with you, no? So if you want to go, then just go on your own, don''t force these two!"


    Jade said as she stood closer to Buke, almost hiding behind him.


    ''This bi*ch is trouble.'' Zain was irked.


    *****


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA 2022

 Chapter 11 Trapped

    In certain situations, a natural leader within the group arises when they have to make a big decision. The person bes the decision-maker, allowing the group to move on a certain path.


    The group could choose a leader based on several things due to their expertise in a certain field or their situation. For example, being the strongest in the group, maybe even having the confidence to get things done, or just being the overall peacemaker who is the most trusting.


    However, there would be times when problems arise, often, there would be a troublesome one in a group or those with conflicting views, but that wasn''t what Zain was worried about. It was when someone believed they knew better and felt like they should be the ones leading.


    Zain couldn''t help himself as he scorned when looking at Jade. It caused her to flinch back and hide even further behind Buke.


    "Jade...do you even know my name?" Zain asked.


    This unexpected question made a few in the room tilt their heads, including her friend Tanisha.


    "Why does it matter? How is this going to prove anything?" Jade replied.


    "It does matter. What is my name? Your name''s Jade Padda, and that''s Tanisha Burns." Zain replied. "It''s a simple question. What''s my name?"


    For a second, Jade paused, and it looked like she was wondering what to say, but she bit her lip when nothing came to her mind.


    "You don''t even know my name, and I bet you don''t know the ones you are trying to convince either. Of course, when pushes to shove, you''re not going to care about them, but for me, it''s different.


    "I''ve known Skittle since Primary School, and we had each other''s back whenever one of us was in trouble. As for Buke, Skittle helped him when he almost dropped out of school, upping his grades, and the three of us have been through our fair share of trouble together.


    "I''m not forcing them to do anything, and they don''t ask me to do anything either, and it''s the same now. So I''m not requesting, but I''m telling you, I will be leaving this ce, and they can choose to follow me or stay. It''s up to them.


    "But I will say something before I go. I won''t do anything that would put them in danger. What I''m about to say might contradict some of my previous statements before, but I realised something when ying those games.


    "If the world has gone to sh*t, what''s the point of surviving if you have no one to enjoy it with?" Zayn smiled, and with that, he turned around, already heading out of the door.


    Hearing these words, Buke shook off Jade from his arm and walked forward, and Skittle did the same and the three of them left the room, leaving the two girls behind.


    Seeing this, Jade was grinding her teeth.


    ''Who the f*ck is this loser!'' She thought, only to see another person go past her.


    "Tanisha, what are you doing?" Jade almost shouted at her friend.


    "We would have died if they didn''te. I don''t know if you noticed, but the door is already almost broken. I''m sorry, Jade, but I want to live." Tanisha said.<sub> </sub>


    Clenching her fist, Jade was so furious that a vein appeared on the side of her head.


    ''You...you used to follow me everywhere. It was only because of me that you were able to get into our group! And look at you know, you are abandoning me just like that!''


    Tanisha hadn''t left the room yet, as she was covering her body in the blood of the dead Zombie just like the others asked. Walking up behind her was Jade. Thetter stood directly behind her for a few seconds.


    -- --


    "Wait!" Jade called out, running down the hallway and catching up with the others. They were now on the second floor, below where they had met the two girls. The others noticed she had blood all over her clothes, and more, just like the others.


    The two boys turned around and were somewhat pleased that she had decided toe with them. Sure Jade was being stubborn, but in their eyes, she hadn''t done anything bad and was just thinking what was best, even if they knew that Zain might have felt differently,


    "Wait, where is Tanisha? Wasn''t she with you?" Skittle asked. "Or did she choose not toe?"


    "That...damned Zombie that you guys took out was still alive. While she was trying to cover her body in its blood, it suddenly got up and grabbed her. It started to bite her. I tried my best and eventually killed the Zombie, but Tanisha was already gone." Tears began to roll down her face, and she pulled away, looking in the other direction.


    The two boys didn''t know what to say. They felt somewhat guilty and had their heads lowered. Because they had left, a person had died. They had seen a few deaths already when running into the apartment group. However, this was the first one where they felt they could have genuinely prevented it.


    "I just...I just didn''t want you guys to leave!" Jade said out loud once again.


    "Stop crying!" Zain said in a quiet but stern voice, going right up to her. "If you make any more noise, I''ll shut that mouth of yours myself. They''re here, there, underneath us."


    Not knowing what he meant, the group moved to the staircase which would lead to the reception room. The firstrge open space didn''t have a narrow staircase. Reaching here, they could see at least fifteen Zombies were walking around, and then there was the exit.


    The exit had been barricaded, and it looked like someone had put a  chain on it with a lock.


    ''Someone was trying to block the zombie, but this has caused a problem for us.'' Zain thought. ''But there''s a bigger problem...Jade, she''s lying. I confirmed that Zombie was dead. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have got the Exp loss for killing it.


    ''So what did this woman do to her friend?''


    ******


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA 2022

 Chapter 12 A Mutation

    Everyone in the group gulped upon seeing the huge number of zombies flocked together in one ce.


    So far, they had only seen a couple or so zombies, other then when they had originally left their ss. Now, seeing that the exit was chained and locked, they were even more nervous.


    The group retreated to the second floor, where they had confirmed that there were no zombies but still kept their voice down in case there was one in some of the locked rooms they hadn''t checked or the ones downstairs could hear them.


    "What about the emergency exits? or any window or something?" Skittle asked.


    "I checked them out on the way down. This is an old building." Zain exined. "The emergency exits lead todders. Some of them were locked like the entrance, so I didn''t want to say anything.


    "Most likely, all those on the second floor, maybe even on the third floor, are locked. Also, if we go via thedders, the zombies will see us and start to gather."


    There was silence as everyone thought about a way to get out. Honestly, Zain was wondering if, with the whole group, they could take out all of the zombies. However, doing it without getting hurt was a different thing altogether, and he didn''t want to take any chances with a certain person in their group.


    ''Jade would just throw the other two under the bus the moment she gets a chance.'' Zain thought.


    "I thought you made us cover ourselves in blood so that the zombies won''t notice us?" Jade asked.


    "That''s to cover up our smell. We don''t know if their eyes work or not. I don''t know much about them, so I didn''t want to take that risk. Imagine going down thedder, and they start piling on top of one another. We must sneak out if possible or fight if it''s our only choice."


    In the end, it looked like no one in the group coulde up with a good solution other than attempting to just jump from the third or fourth floor from a window, which seemed to be the only option.


    "If that''s the case, then let me try first." Zain volunteered. "Once I''m outside, maybe I can find a way to break the lock or something."


    For a second, Zain thought that he might have to argue his case to Buke and Skittle as to why he should be the one to go, but none of them said anything. However, this didn''t surprise him. In this situation, no one wanted to risk their lives.


    And, if Zain weren''t what he was right now, maybe he would have been the same because, in the end, the risk for him was a lot less than theirs.


    "Wait by the reception area. You can hide near the desk, it looked like there were no zombies in that spot. They seemed to be hovering around the ss on the outside. Also, be alert because you might have to sprint to get out of here any time."


    After Zain passed those instructions, the rest went downstairs. At the same time, he stayed on the second floor, but rather than jumping out of the window on the second floor after the others had disappeared, Zain continued to go up, heading back to the third floor, where they had first met the other girls.


    -----


    The others had sessfully reached therge oval desk in the reception area. As Zain had informed them, there were no zombies, apart from those around ten metres away. It was frightening, but they stayed with their backs facing away from the entrance while Skittle was on the lookout.<sub> </sub>


    "Hey, I was just wondering, why do you listen to that guy so much?" Jade asked. "I mean, you''re big and strong. You could probably break the door yourself. Don''t you think we should listen and hear what you have to say instead of him?"


    While saying these words, Jade once again grabbed Buke''s arm and pressed her breasts against his arm. He could feel the softness of her breasts d around.


    "I guess you really think I''m an idiot, all muscle and no brain, don''t you?" Buke replied, shaking Jade off of his arm, "You have no idea what we have been through together."


    ¡ª


    Reaching the third floor, Zain carefully walked and peeked from the corner of the windows to have a better look at the situation outside. There were zombies outside, but they seemed to be just strolling around instead of targeting anyone. This was In the university area, which was the only area Zain could see clearly. Either everyone had already left the ce, hiding or was already dead.


    Either way, the situation was not good for his group. If there were others, at least they could be used as a distraction, and if they were all dead, that just meant more zombies would being after them.


    Walking down, Zain eventually stopped and tightly clutched his stake as he noticed a certain dark-skinned girle out of a room. She was Tanisha, Jade''s friend, who was allegedly attacked and killed by a zombie. She didn''t look like she used to. Her skin looked paler and less alive, and her eyes were slightly different.


    "She''s a zombie now...I should have seen thising. I should have kept an eye on her." Zain thought. "I''m sorry, I left. I just thought that girl was at least half a decent human being. I don''t even know what she has done to you."


    Zain was saying this because there didn''t seem to be any visible wounds on her. No bite marks, or injury, only arge blood mark on her head that looked like someone had whacked her.


    So as for how she was turned into a zombie, Zain didn''t know. Maybe Jade had killed her or something else, but one thing was for sure, he would get his answer.


    "I will make sure you pass on," Zain said in a low tone, but as soon as he took a step forward, a prompt screen shed in front of him as a notification sound chimed.


    [An anomaly has urred, a mutated zombie has appeared]


    [You will not lose Exp for killing the zombie]


    [Quest: Survive]


    ****


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA 2022

 Chapter 13 A Strong One

    Lately, it seemed like nothing was going Jade''s way. And because no one was falling for her innocent nature, she did what she always would in this situation. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the inside of her bra.


    Then, from her pocket, she pulled out a lighter as well. Jade avoided smoking in front of others to keep her image, but what image was left to keep up here? The two boys weren''t fawning over her.


    Just when she started to press down on the lighter, Skittle had turned around, seeing what she was about to do


    "Stop!" Skittle said in a hushed voice. "Don''t do that. Not here. Don''t you know, there is a no-smoking rule inside the dorms?"


    Moving and sitting across the floor away from Skittle, Jade pulled a face and took the cigarette out of her mouth.


    "Are you crazy? Do you think I would give two f*cks about that right now?" She said in an annoyed tone before putting the cigarette back in her mouth, ready to pull the lighter again. But, before she could do it, arge hand had grabbed over the whole thing.


    "Listen to him," Buke said with his head towering over Jade, and he didn''t exactly have a nice-guy look on his face.


    "What I mean is the smell. The new smell could attract the zombies and bring them here. Also, don''t forget the smoke rms. They''re very sensitive to help catch the defaulters. So if you smoke, it could cause the fire rm to go off, and we might really be in trouble. So it''s best if we do nothing to try and attract their attention and just wait." Skittle exined.


    Jade didn''t feel like she had a choice because if she didn''t listen, the giant muscle head would surely snatch the lighter, and she would end up getting hurt.


    ''What the hell did I do to end up with these weirdos!'' Jade thought in her head. Then, out of frustration, she put her lighter and pack of cigarettes away but decided to try and explore the reception area.


    "Just leave her be," Buke said. "She''s the selfish type and would never put her life in danger. Now that you have exined it to her, we won''t have to worry."


    Keeping an eye on the entrances, Skittle continued to wait, hoping that Zain would send the signal soon.


    -----


    ''This is a surprise, a mutated zombie? Well, if I won''t lose exp for defeating her does it mean I might gain exp?'' Zain thought. ''And what exactly is different about her? She looks the same as any ---"


    Before Zain could finish his thoughts, Tanisha started sprinting toward him. She wasn''t running like a normal human, but her legs moved just as fast. She had also let her arms loose, allowing them to dangle in the wind while running.


    ''I see. Although the normal zombies won''t attack me, these mutated ones will. That''s why the system doesn''t mind if I smash their head in!'' Zain swung his stake like a baseball bat, aiming straight for Tanisha''s head.


    <o>,m Before it could hit her though, the Zombie raised her arm, covering her head. Then, as the stake mmed into her arm, Zain heard a cracking of bones, but in the next moment, the stake instantly snapped into two as well.</o>


    Pushing through, Tanisha had leapt in the air andnded right on Zain, pinning him to the ground with her knees. Immediately, she attempted to bite Zain, but before she could, he shoved the half of the stake he had into her mouth sideways.


    ''Her strength and speed, she''s just as strong as me!'' Zain thought


    Then, he noticed that the stake was starting to break in her mouth. Using her good arm as well, she wants to w toward Zain. With his hand free, he stopped her by the wrist, and a power struggle began between the two.<sub> </sub>


    ''The other zombies didn''t seem to have extra strength, but it''s clear that she does...was it because of how she was turned?''


    He was trying to muster his strength and had somewhat pushed her off him. After all, Zain was already stronger than your average person, and now with his zombied self, he could beat another zombie.


    Next, he stepped away from her and pulled the mirror shard he had put away behind him and held it firmly in his hand. In doing so, the edge of the ss had cut into his hand, and blood started to trickle. It didn''t hurt, but he needed a firm grip for what he was about to do next.


    Then, he ran forward and shed right towards the mutated zombie''s neck. Seeing the iing attack, Tanisha leant back a bit, avoiding the blow, and a cracking sound resounded like she had broken her back because of the pull.


    Now, her torso and body bent backwards had created a right angle.


    ''Does it have intelligence, or is it just doing whatever it can to survive the attack no matter what?''


    While trying to figure out what was happening, the strange-looking Zombie''s body kicked up and hit Zain''s hand. This time he felt the fingers in his hands break, and the piece of the mirror was thrown into the ceiling.


    It almost looked like he was fighting against just a pair of legs since it was hard to see the body. Now, the legs had attempted to kick him, but Zain, stepping back, could easily avoid it.


    ''I have no weapons, but I can still do this!''


    The hallway was narrow, and using that to his advantage, Zain jumped on one side. He wouldn''t have been able to do this easily before, but his new body gave him a big advantage. Jumping off from one side of the wall, Zain lept to the other, and then in the third jump, he had leapt over the Zombie and now was on the other side.


    Quickly, he spun around and went for a kick.


    "Let''s hope this is enough!" Zain thought as he mmed his leg down, right into the zombie''s head as hard as he could.


    He felt the heel of his foot hitting the skull, and on impact, Tanisha''s leg convulsed, and the head had dented the floor a little as the whole body dropped on the group. There was no need to check if the Zombie was dead because the notification screens shing in front of him were more than enough.


    [Congrattions, you have managed to survive.]


    [You have defeated the Mutated Zombie.]


    [You will now receive the following rewards...]


    ****


    Thank you for voting so far, please continue to vote for LUZ for the WSA 2022

 Chapter 14 First Reward

    [Rewards will now be given]


    [1 Mutated Zombie defeated: 10 exp]


    [First time Kill bonus has been rewarded: 50 exp]


    [Note: You are not the first person to kill a mutated Zombie. No additional rewards will be given.]


    [60/100 EXP]


    ''It''s a shame. I was hoping to level up from that quest and get help from the system.'' Zain thought. ''Still, ten exp is a good reward because I lost only two exp for killing one zombie. So this means the system thinks the mutated zombie is worth around five zombies? I guess strength-wise, this should be about right.''


    Zain knelt and looked closer at Tanisha. He was in a rush, but he needed to know how Tanisha was turned. The mutated zombie was simr to him in many ways, but it was clear that the two weren''t the same.


    For one, Zain could talk and think straight while the other, still seemed like they were possessed or infected by something. It couldn''t have been a time thing because Tanisha was clearly turned after Zain so there had to be something else.


    In the end, the only thing Zain could find on her body was a deep bruise on the head. It wouldn''t have been enough to kill someone, perhaps just knock them out or keep them dazed for a few seconds.


    After having no sess in solving the mystery behind the mutation, Zain decided to focus on his fractured hand.


    [Would you like to use your energy to heal the wound?]


    [Yes]


    After selecting the option, Zain found his fingers and hand twitch and crackle as his fractured bone began to mend. It was as if someone was magically healing his hands.


    [You have used 6 points of energy.]


    Looking at the cut on his hand from holding his mirror shard, Zain decided to heal that as well. If someone saw him with the wound, they might suspect it was a zombie bite.


    [You have used 2 points of energy.]


    There was onest wound that could give away that Zain was bitten, the one on his neck. Since he couldn''t see it, he just tried to focus on where the wound would be just like before and was hoping the system would pop up another message. It did indeed prompt a screen, but not the one he was expecting.


    [This is not deemed a wound by the system]


    [The user is only able to heal his body to the state it was when first turned into an undead]


    It was a shame, but it looked like there was nothing he could do. He would just have to keep the bandages around his neck for longer until he found some tools or make-up to cover it up.


    [Energy: 76/100]


    [Body Functionality: 93 percent]


    Not just healing but also the fight itself had caused Zain to expand a lot of energy. Although he didn''t feel tired, the energy count was something he would have to keep his eye on. Otherwise, he could be lunging on his two friends at some point.


    His body still didn''t feel different or slowed down, but it was most likely due to the slow decline that he wasn''t feeling much different. So, from now on, to keep both numbers up high for a while, Zain would have to try to avoid getting severe injuries.<sub> </sub>


    ...


    Tanisha''s body was mostly intact as Zain lifted her arm. He stared at it, and honestly, it didn''t look appetising at all.


    Then shutting his eyes, he tried hard to imagine, envisioning that there was something else in his hand, something tasty.


    A steak, a burger, that was all it was--then clenching down with his teeth and his strong jaw, Zain bit through the flesh. Once again, he didn''t feel sick, but his mind was what he needed to focus on, to handle his mentality and do something like this.


    It helped that he practically had no taste buds, or the body itself tasted of nothing. Finally, he swallowed and gulped down whatever was in his mouth.


    [Undead creature''s flesh detected]


    [No energy has been gained]


    Wiping his mouth, Zain stood up and stared down at Tanisha''s hand.


    ''Didn''t the system say it was fine to eat old flesh and that it didn''t need to be fresh? Is it because she''s a zombie?'' Zain thought.


    Upon looking carefully at her body, he finally noticed some change. Tanshioa''s skin had turned paler. While the others that had died, although their skin had changed colour, it wasn''t as drastic. The zombies looked like someone had put them in a chiller for a few months.


    ''That means there is a difference between those that be zombies and those that end up being zombie food. Either way, if I can, it would be best if I restore my energy here before meeting with the others.


    Turning his head, Zain was looking for someone easier to eat. The mental image in his head of what he was going to do kept halting him, and it didn''t help that all of the dead lying on the ground were fellow students.


    ''I have to be careful from now on. Killing zombies will lower my exp now that I have some. I need to know what levelling up will do. What the system said before was interesting as well. I am not the first to kill a mutated zombie. The zombies existed before today''s events, so that''s no surprise, but I wonder how much exp I would have gained if I was.


    ''And it makes me wonder if there are other things out there besides zombies?''


    While musing in thoughts, Zain had found someone. As he knelt to brace himself again, he suddenly heard a loud bang, and upon raising his head, he began to hear loud, non-stop rms throughout the building.


    ''This is...the fire rm!'' Zain thought.


    Immediately, he stood up and ran forward. He couldn''t afford to waste any more time, and he leapt towards the window, tucking his knees and raising his arms to cover his face. His momentum and weight allowed him to smash through the ss.


    This was the third floor, so it was pretty high. But as Zain closed into the ground, he moved his legs and rolled on the ground to decrease the impact. But still, the force was too much, and he heard a crack in his right foot just before rolling.


    ''I think I broke my ankle!'' Zain thought.


    But the situation around him required most of his attention. And when he looked around, he found his worst fearing true: Zombies from all over the university were now sprinting towards the dormitory building, heading straight towards its entrance, where his two friends were waiting for his return.


    ''Buke! Skittle!''


    *****


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 Chapter 15 99 Percent

    The whole situation was frustrating beyond belief for Jade. She had a perfect life, was doing well at university, and was popr with boys, girls and even the teachers. If things continued the way they were, she would have found a husband to look after her, and she could live the rest of her life in luxury, enjoying a better life than 99 percent of others of her age.


    However, right now, it was as if her whole world hade crashing down, and it had only been half a day at best. Jade wasn''t stupid. She knew whatever was happening in the city, neither the police nor the military had a grip over the situation, and it didn''t look like anyone wasing to save her. Jade just wanted to hold onto the hope that her life would return to normal.


    ''Everyone is just treating me like I''m a nobody and a waste of space¡­they won''t even listen to what I have to say.'' Jade thought as she crept around the reception, trying to find a way out of the building.


    In the end, her searching had led her to the reception toilets. Pushing the door slowly, she opened it and wondered if there was anyone or anything in the toilet. The first thing she saw as soon as she stepped on the floor was spilt blood all over the floor.


    Some of the stall doors were broken, and she also noticed a hand lying outward from one of the stalls. There was clearly a dead body inside.


    ''I am sure most of those Zombies left the dormitory block after they ate nearly everyone in the building.'' Jade thought to herself. ''And then some sicko locked us in this ce...I bet it was a guy. They''re always running around thinking they''re the boss of the ce, and I bet he didn''t even think of checking the girls'' bathroom. Stupid boys.''


    After making sure there were no Zombies in the bathroom and almost throwing up due to what she had seen in one of the stalls, Jade went ahead to one of the windows. It was a little high up, but on her tiptoes, she grabbed the handle, twisted it and pulled, opening the window.


    ''Yes!'' Jade thought.


    Although the window could open, it was a narrow exit. It was designed to not be fully open and only left a small gap. Jade was a thin and petite girl, so the gap was just big enough for her. Perhaps Skittle could fit through the thing as well, but he was shorter than Jade. Unless someone helped him up, it would not be easy.


    As for Zain and Buke, there was no chance they could fit through the gap without breaking the window, and not to mention, breaking this window would create noise, and that''s thest thing one would want in the current situation.


    Jumping up, Jade managed to hold onto the edges. Then, in a desperate situation and remembering her old gymnastics sses, she started to pull herself up and lead her elbow on the small ledge.


    Then peeking her head under the window, she now could see a clear view of the outside, and it wasn''t the one she was hoping for.


    Around five zombies were just wandering around lifeless on the other side. They were walking back and forth as if they were patrolling the area, and there was no assurance that these five were the only ones.


    Getting off of the ledge, Jade began to bite her nail.


    ''The whole Uni was under attack. There are thousands of students here. Sure, some might have escaped, but many died, meaning there are almost as many zombies here¡­ I can''t just run out. Damn it! I need some distraction.''


    Jade mmed her foot on the ground.


    ''I could really do with a smoke right now, but I can''t.''


    Just when she was tempted to smoke, an idea shed in her mind. She walked into the stalls and grabbed a load of toilet paper. She piled it up as big as she could, and a smile appeared on her face as she stared at it. Then, she took out the lighter from her pocket and clicked it.


    ''This is what you guys get for not following me. Go follow your useless friend.'' Jade smirked as she pulled the lighter to the pile of tissue papers, and it quickly went up in mes. Just for extra measure, Jade had also thrown in a few of the body parts and the corpses'' clothes.<sub> </sub>


    Then, going to the window, she pulled herself up and squeezed out, eventually falling onto the ground. But fortunately, the zombies who were still outside didn''t pay attention even after the noise from the fall.


    ''They''re noting after me. I was expecting to have to run for it afternding...wait, is it because of the smell? Was that guy right? I guess he knew one or two things.''


    Either way, Jade started to carefully walk away from the building, avoiding the zombies as best she could, and that''s when she heard the loud fire rming from the dormitory behind her.


    The zombies'' heads turned as they looked at the building, and in the next instant, they all started running towards it. Some of them even began banging on the outside wall where the girls'' toilets were, but most were heading to the front reception, which was made of ss.


    Before entering the woods around the university, Jade looked onest time at the building. ''It''s a shame none of you will live to see me build the best life for myself in this world.''


    ¡ª¡ª


    With the fire rm going off throughout the building, Zombies from all over the campus sprinted toward the dormitory. They pushed each other and began to bang on the ss.


    For now, the chain seemed to be holding, and Zain was witnessing it all.


    ''I have to do something. Come on, leg, heal!''


    [You have used 6 points of energy to heal your broken ankle]


    Once Zain''s leg was back to its original state, he stood up, but by now, there was a swarm of zombies at the entrance, and more and more were gathering.


    -----


    The zombies inside the building were spinning around, confused about where to go. There was great disarray for them. At the same time, looking at the ss, Skittle had resorted to praying.


    "Hey, that isn''t going to help us! We need to use our brain to get out of this situation!" Buke said. His voice was quite loud, but the zombies didn''t hear him due to the noise of the rm.


    It was then that they both heard a crackling sound, and turning their heads, they could see a crack through the ss entrance.


    *****


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 Chapter 16 Abandoned

    The ss door was thick and hard, so a few Zombies pounding it didn''t worry the two, but a few zombies soon turned into many, and even more Zombies were running towards the ss.


    The force of the Zombie horde could have pushed open the door, but the chain around it seemed to be holding out. The chains were also thick and strong, and now Skittle and Buke were thanking whoever had ced such a thing.


    It was then that the two boys heard a cracking noise and upon raising their heads, they found the ss door had started to break.


    "This isn''t good!" Buck gulped, his breathing quickened. "The crack will weaken the whole door. They''re going to get through any second now!"


    Buke tried to regain hisposure and use his head in this situation. The only thing he could think of was to go back into the building and either start running up or lock themselves in a room again, but if the Zombies could break through this chained door, then a normal door would be nothing.


    Turning his head, Buke could also see that the zombies which were originally in the reception hall, had spread out, going a bit crazy due to the fire rm''s noise. And some were even by the staircase, thwarting his n to hide in the rooms.


    ''What..do I do¡­Zain.'' Buke thought of his friend at this moment. Thetter was the only person who might have known best but he wasn''t even with them.


    "Look, it''s Zain!" Skittle''s sudden shout pulled him out of his thoughts.


    Through the ss, and past the Zombies, both could see Zain standing there, watching the scene in front of him.


    "He must have managed to get out." A smile appeared on Skittle''s face, but the short ray of hope doused when reality set in. What could Zain even do in this type of situation?


    There was a horde of zombies at the ss door, and if he got close, he would be eaten alive. That was when they saw Zain turn around and run in the other direction, going out of sight.


    "He''s doing the right thing," Buke sighed as he stared at the spot where Zain was standing a few moments ago, "There''s no reason for him to risk his life."


    "No.." Skittle said softly as his throat swelled up, and he could feel tears down his cheeks. "He wille back. Zain will help us...he has to!"


    "You need to ept it, Skittle. He''s abandoned us and we''re on our own. We have to get out of here!"


    Just then, they heard a resounding m, and upon turning their head, they saw the ss copsing on the floor. The impact had broken it entirely, and the zombies tumbled on each other. However, the ones at the end ran over the fallen and began to head towards Skittle and Buke.


    The noise spooked the zombies around the reception area, but it looked like thoseing from outside had a clear target in mind. Just when Skittle thought they would meet their end, and at that moment, he heard another loud noise.


    Initially, he wanted to ignore it, afraid of seeing the zombies, but curiosity got the better of him and looking up, he noticed a shing red and blue light behind the zombie horde and the rattling noise of a car soon resounded throughout the area.<sub> </sub>


    The car soon crashed into the Zombies from behind. Several of them went under the wheel or were thrown backwards. There were even a few cracks on the windshield because of the impact, but it was still holding up because it wasn''t just any car, rather, it was a modified police car.


    The car spun on its side just in front of the Zombies, almost blocking their way.


    "Buke, Skittle! I''ll distract the Zombies, you two head into the forest and wait for me there. I''ll find you!" The two in the building heard the wordsing from the in-car speaker, and without a doubt, Skittle and Buke knew it was Zain''s voice.


    After sending the message, Zain stepped on the gas pedal and spun the wheels for a few seconds. He had sted the siren as loud as he could while also shouting words through the megaphone. It didn''t take long for him to get what he wanted: the attention of the zombies.


    Many of themtched onto the car and held on. At the same time, Zain drifted the police car away from the building and did a couple of round drifts just outside the dormitory to ensure he had gotten most of the Zombies'' attention. Then, when he knew they were finally following, he decided to drive off towards the University field, opposite the forest surrounding it.


    Although Zain had aggroed most of them, there were still a few left from the horde of zombies in the reception room. And some who were following the car had a plodding movement speed, so they returned to the dorm building as soon as the car had reached a certain distance.


    Amongst the zombies there were those that were crushed or injured by the car, a few had half of their bodies mangled, but they were still moving and clearly alive, or at least moving undead.


    "Come on, Skittle, we need to move!" Buke shouted as he lifted Skittle with one arm and held him above the ground with his hand around thetter''s body. Thankfully, Buke was arge and muscr young man, and Skittle being much lighter, was easier for the former to carry.


    Buke then ran as fast as he could, and upon exiting the dorm building, the pair headed straight for the forest. He ran pretty deep but ensured they stayed in a primarily wooded area to avoid trouble.


    Buke kept turning his head around, trying to see if anyone was following them. He hadn''t seen anyone in a long time but continued to run.


    "What are you doing? Put me down!" Skittle tried to get out of his friend''s grasp now that they were in a safe location. He hit Buke in the stomach, but his hands bounced off thetter''s tight abs.


    Buke put Skittle down, and the two hid behind arge tree. He then took this opportunity to catch his breath. The adrenaline was starting to wear out, and he could now feel how tired he was.


    Now that he could think a little clearer, Buke kept reying a particr scene in his head.


    ''When Zain was standing there, the zombies, they all just ran straight past him¡­was it the noise...or was it because he had covered himself in blood?...or maybe..''


    ******


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA 2022

 Chapter 17 Survive The Night

    Buke was still tired and panting, but he had recovered enough to at least be able to speak.


    "Once I''m better, we will continue to run towards the town. Maybe we can find someone that can help us?" He said, taking deep breaths. Honestly, he was pretty amazed at what he had done.


    He was an athlete, but carrying someone in a single arm and running this far and fast for that long, was almost inhuman. But after some thought, Buke credited this to his desperation in the situation. It wasn''t strange for the body to aplish extraordinary feats when it senses danger.


    "What are you talking about? You heard Zain. He told us to wait for him in the forest." Skittle replied.


    "Skittle, are you still not facing reality? Did you see how many were chasing after Zain? No one can get out of that situation."


    Standing up, honestly Skittle had enough.


    "Just like you said Zain wouldn''te back for us? You always act like I''m being stupid, but you were the one that was wrong about those videos not being fake, you were also the one who was wrong about Zain being a Zombie, and you were again wrong about him noting back to help us. So don''t you think you could be wrong now?!" Skittle said while falling to the ground on his backside.


    It had been a tough day for both of them, and they were tired. All they wanted to do now was sleep, but they couldn''t. They hadn''t even thought about food or realised how thirsty they were.


    Ultimately, the two of them didn''t say anything and chose toy in wait for Zain. Finally, the sun was about to set, and the sky above had a beautiful orange hue.


    Just then, they heard the noise of dried leaves on the ground rustling as someone approached them.


    Immediately, Buke picked up arge stick from nearby and had a knife in his dominant hand, ready to attack.


    "Hey, you''re not going to stab me again, are you?" It was Zain. He walked up to them with a smile on his face.


    Standing up, Skittle ran over and gave Zain a big tight hug.


    "Zain, you''re alive...I knew you would make it back alive!"


    Buke stood there in disbelief as if he was looking at a ghost. Every situation he went through in his head, he couldn''t imagine how someone would get out of something like that, yet here Zain was not only with them, but there wasn''t even any injury on thetter.


    "Sorry I took so long," Zain said. "It was hard getting rid of them, and I needed to ensure that no one was following me when I met up with you guys."


    "How did you find us?" Skittle asked, finally letting go. It was another worry Skittle had. Even though they had entered the forest as Zain asked, the area was big. Even if Zain survived, there was a good chance they wouldn''t run into each other.


    "It was a lucky guess. I assumed you guys would run from the Dorms to the closest side of the forest and just keep heading straight. Also, this is the way to Town, so I just guessed you two would be heading this way too." Zain answered, but it was a lie.


    Although everything he said sounded logical, there was only a slight chance of it being possible. It was also likely that the two could have run into some zombies in the forest, which would have made them take a detour or even run into other people.


    There was even the chance they would have thought Zain was dead and continued to head into the town without him. Either way, Zain could only find them because of his enhanced sense of smell, especially against humans.


    Another thing he realised was that the blood of the other dead they rubbed on themselves had started to fade with time, and their natural smell was beginning toe through.


    After some time of entering the spot, Zain had eventually locked onto their smell and headed here.


    "Anyway, that''s enough talking, we need to find a ce to stay for the night, and it would be good if we could get some food," Zain stated.<sub> </sub>


    <o>,m "Yeah, let''s head to the town then," Buke replied. "There should be plenty of shops and other people as well. Also what happened to the car you had, how did you even find it."</o>


    "The car makes too much noise and is beyond working. I can exin the rest but I suggest we get moving soon. Heading into town might not be such a good idea." Zain looked back behind him. "Remember what happened thest time we ran into someone? I''m guessing that it wasn''t one of you two that set off that rm."


    These words instantly angered the two boys as the truth dawned upon them. Due to the circumstances, they didn''t have time to think about who could have caused the fire rms to go off. They were more focused on their survival, but now, the answer was quite evident.


    Seeing their expression, Zain also added some more words.


    "I saw Tanisha...she wasn''t the same as before, she had turned. I don''t know what happened, but I can only guess that Jade was the one responsible. Although I don''t think everyone we meet will turn out like this, as time goes on and the situation gets more desperate, there will be fewer people we can trust.


    "At the same time, towns and cities will be the most overrun ces. So it''s best to find a neighbourhood or a house and look for some food there. So if you guys are ready, we should start moving."


    Without waiting for a response, Zain began to walk, and the other two stared at his back for a moment before promptly running and catching up to him.


    They had a strange intuition that if they continued to follow him, they would survive this apocalypse.


    While walking, Zain decided to check on a few things as he had received some notifications while distracting the zombies.


    [Exp: 48/100]


    ''My experience went down for killing a few of those guys. The car didn''t kill as many as I thought, but it''s still a blow to my Exp.''


    [Energy: 68/100]


    ''I also healed my wound and used up quite a bit of energy, although I''m still above fifty percent, but then there are two things I''m worried about.''


    Zian tried to clench his fist, and he could feel a difference for the first time since waking up in the room. It was a contrast in control over his body.


    [Body Functionality: 90 percent]


    ''And what am I meant to make of this?''


    [New quest received]


    [Survive your first night]


    ''I must find a shelter before it gets dark, but since I''m now an undead, is it me who should be worried, or them?''


    ******


    Thank you for reaching 800 stones here is an Extra chapter.


    1200 stones for another extra chapter and to help me in the WSA.

 Chapter 18 A Perfect Weapon

    The university grounds covered quite arge area, including the forest within the University boundaries. It was mainly to give a more aesthetic feeling to the students, so they could rx or take a stroll, although, for the group of boys right now, there was nothing rxing about walking through these woods.


    "Not being able to use any car sucks, man. Maybe we should have seen if there was a bike or something. That wouldn''t have been too bad." Bukeined as his feet were starting to get sore.


    Zain was keeping up a quick pace, the sun was about to set, and soon it would be dusk, but they had yet to get out of the forest, never mind find somece to stay for the night.


    "It makes me wonder, how about finding electric cars? They don''t produce a lot of noise, and maybe we could also use one of them? And can keep the sound system off. But then, the problem would be charging such a thing once the grids are offline, although they are working right now." Skittle mumbled, recalling the fire rm, which was actually hard-wired throughout the campus.


    It was an interesting idea, Zain thought. Sometimes in survival games, they just disregarded things for the convenience factor, but in real life, something like an electric car would be useful, but there was one more problem.


    "It would be hard to drive through all the wreckage," Zain replied. "Remember, it''s not just a Zombie attack, but many of the town''s buildings were also destroyed, and I am pretty sure the Zombies alone can''t do that. At the same time, I think many cars must have been abandoned or are now unusable.


    "That was how I found the police car as well. There was more than one of those cars where I found it. Their front doors were open, and although I didn''t get a good look, it looked like there were empty shells all over the road. Luckily the key was still in the ignition, which is why I was able to save you guys." Zain exined.


    The mood had turned a little sombre. Hearing that the police had shown up, the group could only imagine that they had attempted to control the situation but had failed even with the use of weapons.


    Buke wanted to ask if Zain had seen any weapons or guns, but knowing Zain, if there was one, he might not have picked it up. They had already seen how frightening the situation turned when the fire rm rang, and firing guns could lead to something simr. Although, Buke would have liked to have one in an emergency, at least.


    Finally, the group exited the forest. They were surprised that they hadn''t seen any zombies wandering through it, but then again, there was not exactly any food for them, so why would they stray into it.


    p It was at that moment they got a view of the city in the distance. Most tall buildings were half-destroyed, and a cloud of smoke had covered half of the city. There were even several rms that they could faintly hear from here.</anda>


    "I guess you were right. Heading to the city or a town would be a death sentence." Buke gulped.


    If Zain remembered correctly, once they had exited the forest, not too far from where there was a little neighbourhood that consisted of around fifty or so houses. They were designed for the University teachers and their families to move into, so they could work close to home.


    There was also a local supermarket, a park and more in the area. So as they continued to follow Zain, it looked like he was right.


    Knowing the surrounding area and where to get resources from was key to survival. The map andyout of the area were well-plotted inside of Zain''s head. Another thing was, by now, it was already nightfall, and within minutes, it would be dark.


    By the time the group of three reached the neighbourhood, it was pitch ck. They didn''t even have the advantage of the moonlight because of the smoke-covered sky.


    "Be cautious from this moment. We can''t see that well, and we don''t know what''s out there," Zain whispered to the others. "There are likely to be at least some Zombies around here, don''t make any noise and take your steps carefully."


    The other two nodded, and they saw that Zain was looking through the back fences of the houses. He was trying to see if he could spot something. Fortunately, it didn''t take long for him to find what he was looking for.


    Leaning up against the fence, Zain motioned the two of them to jump over the fence as Zain would push up their leg. Buke found itughable as he couldn''t imagine Zain pushing him up.<sub> </sub>


    Skittle also looked nervous, but in the end, Zain picked up Skittle, and it looked like he just pushed his legs up and almost threw him over the fence. Skittle had a roughnding on the other side, hitting his shoulder but made sure to make no noise.


    "How will you get to the other side without help?" Buke asked.


    "I''m going to go through the front door and see if the house is empty. If it''s all good, we can stay here for the night. In the garden, this house has a shed. Try to look for a wrench, a crowbar or anything we can use as a weapon. Longer weapons would be better, so you keep your distance while attacking and just wait for me in the garden." Zain exined.


    "Hey," Buke replied. "Look, I know you''re into all this survival crap, and I admit you know a lot more than us, but that doesn''t mean you should be the one risking your life all the time, alright?"


    It was nice to hear that Buke cared for him, but Zain was doing this because he had already turned, so there was no risk since the normal zombies would ignore his presence. Pushing Buke''s leg up, he managed to push him over the fence, though, unlike Skittle, Bukended on his toes without getting hurt.


    The two entered the shed while Zain ran around the fence towards the house''s front entrance. The shed door was open, and a treasure trove of equipment was inside.


    Immediately, Buke saw a trusted bat that he could use. It was a metal one, and immediate, he tried swinging it in the air. As for Skittle, he had grabbed a tool belt, which he would wrap around his waist.


    It had several different items, but one of the more noticeable ones was a Hammer. Still, knowing he needed a long weapon, he grabbed a rake from the back. There were several other tools, like shovels and things used for gardening, but most of them felt too heavy for Skittle.


    Instead, Buke had picked up therge shovel and found some tools that allowed him to strap it to his back. It wouldn''t be easy to get hold of it in a tough situation, but if he lost his bat, he would at least have something to protect himself.


    Just then, they heard a door sliding, and upon turning around, they saw Zain was slowly opening up the ss door that led to the back of the garden.


    "So, is it empty?" Buke asked.


    Zain shook his head as he walked up to the others and inspected their weapons. Maybe there was something nice inside for him too.


    "There are two zombies inside, one in the kitchen and the other in the Living room. Upstairs looks clear, and from what I could see, there seemed to be some food." Zain replied.


    "Two?...you didn''t take care of them." Skittle said nervously.


    "No, because I thought about what Buke said, and now I have a job for both of you. I want you two to take them out. It''s time for you two to level up a bit."


    *****


    Thank you for reading the story so far. Remember to use your stones to vote for WSA 2022

 Chapter 19 Level Up Zombie!

    For a second, Skittle and Buke thought that Zain was kidding. However, from the look on his face, it was clear he wasn''t.


    "You guys can''t keep on relying on me. You need to learn the best way to beat them by yourself." Zain exined. "There mighte a time when I''m not even around you. How will you fare then? There''s still a lot you guys need to understand."


    Zain ced his hand around his chest, which was still bandaged, and his dark red blood was soaking through.


    "First of all, aiming for the heart is useless. It won''t do anything. You have to keep in mind that these Zombies are already dead. The best way to stop them from biting you is to go either for their head or attack their spine."


    While talking about this, Zain recalled when he fought against Tanisha and how she could still move despite her broken spine.


    "Actually, scratch that. I have noticed that those who didn''t get turned after being bitten had an injury to their skulls. So that''s our best option. Attacking the spine will mainly stop their movement, but it won''t kill them.


    "It''s a strange feeling. Even though these guys are monsters, it still feels weird hitting someone, hitting flesh, so it''s something you will have to get used to."


    Everything Zain said was true. Of course, he wanted his friends to be able to fend for themselves. They would have stood a better chance at survival if a simr situation, like the one at the dormitory, happened again.


    However, there was another reason. For every Zombie they killed, it meant less exp loss for Zain himself.


    Soon, they had a n to enter the house. They were both to work together to take on one Zombie at a time, with one person being the main attacker and the other to finish off the Zombie.


    While keeping an eye on the two, Zain would stand between the Kitchen and the living room in case they caught the other Zombie''s attention and it tried to attack them. The clothes they were now wearing were thick enough to block a bite or two if the zombies got hold of their hands or legs, so they were safe.


    Entering the house, each of them took their position. The first person who was designated the killer was Skittle. Instead of the pitchfork, he was wielding the hammer since it could deal a powerful, decisive blow to the head.


    Just then, the Zombie sniffed the air, and it soon noticed both Buke and Skittle. However, its movement was slow. Upon closer inspection, the three noticed that the zombie''s body was beginning to decay.


    ''Is that why that Zombie is slow? Has its body function started to go down? Is that what will eventually happen to me as well? Maybe the Zombies will all naturally start to slow down, and along with the mutated ones, only those that have recently been turned have closer to full body function,'' Zain thought.


    At this speed, the Zombie was no trouble for Buke. The first thing he did was swing the baseball bat hitting the knee of the Zombie. He stayed far and clear, and a cracking sound reverberated in the room as the Zombie almost copsed.


    ''That was a bit easier than I thought... their bones are a bit softer..not that I know what it would be like to do this, but it just seemed easier.'' Buke thought.


    Zain noticed it as well. Although Buke had put a bit of strength behind his swing, the bones had broken far too easily, which meant one of two things, Either the zombie''s bones were indeed weak in this weekend state, or Buke was stronger than he thought, but this strength seemed a little inhuman if that was the case.


    With its knee shattered, the zombie was struggling to move forward. Buke just held out the bat and pointed it towards its chest. It continued to reach out with its arms moaning a little, but it could not do anything.


    Now it was Skittle''s turn. His hands were shaking as he approached the Zombie. He lifted the hammer with both hands.<sub> </sub>


    "I''m sorry!" Skittle said as he started to heave it down while looking away. He couldn''t even dare to see what he was doing and continued hitting the Zombie repeatedly.


    In fact, the first few hits seemed to do nothing, but eventually, the hits got stronger and cracked the skull, finally killing the Zombie.


    "What have I done...what if there was some cure for them...I mean, not all of them have missing body parts, right? So it has to be some infection!" Skittle argued.


    His panicked voice was loud enough to draw the attention of the other Zombie in the living room and was now moving down the hallway towards them.


    "Don''t worry, Zain. I got this one." Buke said as he moved past Zain and swung the bat again, hitting the Zombie clean on the head. Then, they heard a snap, its head tilted backwards, and after a moment of silence, the zombie''s body fell back and mmed to the floor.


    p "Skittle, either they kill us, or we kill them. It''s simple. Killing us is the only thing on these zombies'' minds, so it should be the only thing you have on yours when fighting against them." Buke headed towards the kitchen, looking for some well-deserved grub.</anda>


    The group managed to find quite a lot of food in the house. Most of it was fresh in the fridge and perfectly with-in date. Everyone decided to eat up, having as big a feast as possible. They didn''t bother to cook anything as they were worried the smell or sound would attract more.


    Skittle didn''t say anything after the previous incident. He seemed lost deep in his thoughts, and as for Zain, he didn''t eat much. He could eat food, but it would do nothing for him. He wasn''t feeling the urge to eat. Neither was he feeling hungry, at least not yet.


    But he still took a few bites, and after eating a few things, he confirmed it did not stimte his stats, so it was better to leave it to the others. Meanwhile, he decided to set up a few traps in the house. They weren''t traps designed to hurt the zombies but tools that would make a sound if someone tried to intrude the house through the window, back door, or front door.


    Everyone decided to stay in the master bedroom. In this situation, sleeping in one room seemed like the right thing to do.


    "Everything has been set up, so have a good sleep tonight. We might not get these often in future." Zain exined.


    Both Skittle and Buke were fast asleep almost immediately. Zain thought they would have a lot on their mind or be too scared, but their bodies seemed too exhausted even to do that.


    Or they felt pretty safe with Zain in the room. However, Zain pretended to be asleep because he realised another thing. He had lost the urge toward not just food but sleep too. Turns out, his body didn''t need it. Sleep was unnecessary for his body to function, and his energy would go down even during this time.


    Standing up, he nced at the other two.


    "I guess this means I can only do one thing. I need to go out and get my energy back. Hopefully, as well, I''ll find some other Mutated Zombies. If there are others like me, then I need to get ahead. I need to Level up."


    ****


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 Chapter 20 Light Source

    With the help of his newfound strength and athletic capabilities, Zain got out of the room through the window and bnced his body by putting his toe on the pipeline on the wall. Then, putting his feet on the ledges, he got on the fence and jumped on the street and was soon out of the house.


    Even before turning into an undead, Zain wasn''t an average joe and used to be an active person, regrly maintaining his physique. However, the extra strength and pain-free body allowed him to surpass his previous limits, which was one of the reasons he could quickly get out of the house without any stress on his body.


    And now that he was standing in the street, his next task was to set his priorities straight.


    ''There are two objectives to this night trip. The main priority is to find some flesh to eat and refill my energy, and the second is to, if possible, level up and see what I can do.


    ''You know what, let''s add a bonus objective, if I happen to run into Jade, I''ll make her my first test subject. I never thought of ruining anyone''s life, but she is a different story. She murdered her own friend and even put the lives of my friends in extreme danger. With such crimes under her belt, she has already given up her right to live.''


    With these objectives in his mind, Zain began walking toward the one ce where he might get the most benefits in a short time. This ce was the main light source throughout the whole neighbourhood, especially at this time of the night. It was the Supermarket. This was also where any survivor would try to get in to find any kind of supplies or just anything that could help them, survive for longer.


    Zain knew that the building would most likely be full of corpses and zombies, and he might even encounter some humans.


    Walking to the supermarket, Zain first went past a few zombies, and as expected, they paid him no attention. And finally, he entered the car park. There were several abandoned cars, some of which had even crashed into each other.


    Looking at one of the cars, Zain found a woman''s corpse lying on the driver''s seat. He first noticed that its head was caved, and all of the brain matter was missing.


    ''Oh, another one,'' Zain thought. This wasn''t the first corpse he hade across, and he had found one thingmon in them.


    ''So the zombies are going for the brain.''


    However, the rest of the corpse mattered the most to him. The Zombies hadn''t fully eaten the flesh on the victim like how they did the brain. Sure there were bite marks and missing parts, but it was enough for him to get closer to one of his objectives.


    "I''m sorry, but I will use your body for a good reason. At least for me, the reason is good," Zain thought before he bit his teeth into the arm of the corpse. It was a lot easier for him this time, having done it twice.


    [You have consumed flesh]


    [Flesh is around five hours old]


    [You have recovered 2 Points of energy]


    [Body functionality remains the same]


    [Note: Consume fresher flesh to gain more energy]


    [Note: Certain parts of the human body consumed are better for recovering body functionality.]


    Honestly, Zain wasn''t satisfied by the energy points he gained. He had eaten quite a bit of the arm of the poor woman before the message appeared. But one thing was clear, he either needed to eat fresh flesh, or he needed to eat a lot more meat.


    ''There is one good thing though. Eating the flesh would reveal how long ago the person died. It can give me an idea of how much I have to worry about, but there''s another thing. This corpse is five hours old. Isn''t it around the same time the University was attacked?''


    p Usually, if Zain imagined this type of scenario, it would be like a gue swiftly spreading out from its epicentre. The police and the military would try to contain it, and humans would be able to hold up in certain ces fighting against it.</anda>


    However, if the city off in the distance was anything to go by, perhaps this whole Zombie attack started in multiple ces simultaneously, making it nearly impossible to contain.


    After some more thought, Zain put this matter back in his mind since he still didn''t have the whole picture of what was happening.


    In the end, Zain checked a few more cars and found more dead humans that he could somewhat eat. However, they all had one identical injury. Their brain would be entirely missing.


    By the time he finished, Zain had recovered some of his energy.<sub> </sub>


    [Energy: 78/100]


    ''My body functionality is still at 90 percent though. I feel the message from the system was trying to give me a hint. I''ve tried a few body parts, but it hasn''t helped. The most vital body part that''s left is the brain...and with other Zombies going for the same thing...finding enough won''t be possible. Maybe that is the only way to get some of my body function back to a 100 percent.''


    While walking through the car park, Zain was around two more rows until the front entrance. That was when he noticed something unexpected. He found some corpses on the floor, but these were actually zombies.


    Some had bullet marks on their heads, a few were stabbed or beaten to death. And upon raising his head, he found the shutter of the main entrance closed as well.


    ''It looks like there are people inside.'' Zain smiled.


    --


    "Hey, hey!" A woman with sses was running into the supermarket. She wore a zer with a name tag stating ''Substitute Teacher: Kelly''.


    "There''s someone outside. It looks like a person!"


    There were around five others in the supermarket, people of different ages and gender. Hearing the woman''s words, they all turned their heads with hope in their eyes.


    "What did they look like? Is it the police or military? How many people?!" Arge middle-aged woman asked.


    "It...looks like it''s just one person...they just look like a normal person, maybe a student from the university?" Kelly replied. "I''ll go to the shutters and let him in when he gets close."


    But just when the substitute teacher turned around, she felt herself knock into another person.


    "If you open those shutters, I''ll throw you out and close them again. You can''t risk the lives of everyone in here for one person.


    Hearing these words, Kelly couldn''t help but gulp, but she stood up for herself.


    "If we carefully watch him from the camera room, we can see if there are any zombies outside and safely bring him in. That''s what we did for you as well."


    The man in gym clothes had his arms crossed, and silence descended on the group.


    "Fine, let''s have a look."


    Following therge man, everyone went to the camera room, and when they arrived, they found that the student was now in a tricky situation.


    ----


    Standing in Zain''s way was a single Zombie, who had a ck hat on, and was wearing a white shirt with a baton in his hand. His attire indicated he was most likely one of the security guards of this ce before he lost his life to the horde.


    [Mutated Zombie has been discovered]


    [You will lose not lose exp for killing the zombie]


    ''Excellent.'' Zain thought to himself.


    ****


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 Chapter 21 A New Weapon

    The six people were hiding in the security room of the supermarket to monitor what was happening at the entrance. It was pretty safe inside since there were cameras throughout the building, and not just on the outside. Because of this, they had their eyes everywhere even if something unexpected urred.


    "This is ridiculous. Are we really just going to watch one of our students fight for his life out there?!" Kellyined.


    "Should I remind you that most of the zombies who attacked us were also our students when the sun rose this morning?" Therger man in gym clothing replied in a cold tone, "The world isn''t the same as it was before. We can''t afford to trust any outsider."


    "Yes, but we''re the adults in this situation... we''ve lived long enough, can''t we all show some empathy and be mature?" Kelly frowned. Although she was annoyed that no one seemed to be backing her, what annoyed her even more, was that the only other teacher with them, the Gym teacher Mr rk, was the one going against her.


    ----


    Zain looked at the security guard, and he was pretty d he hade across a mutated Zombie randomly. It meant he was closer to achieving one of his objectives for the night.


    ? ''I guess it''s time for me to test a few new weapons I bought.'' Zain thought.


    While his friends were getting ready to attack the zombies inside the house, Zain didn''t waste his time and entered the shed to look for possible tools that he could use and found something to his liking.


    From his behind, he had pulled out arge pair of shears tied to his back. It was a tool that one mainly used to trim hedges and unwanted branches. It wasn''t an ideal weapon as it was just a pair of giant scissors, which also needed two hands to operate. And even with a strong force, it was unlikely to cut through matters like bone. Maybe with Zain''s strength, it would work, but that wasn''t why he had picked this tool.


    Zain gripped the two handles and pulled them apart, and after a moment, he heard a snap as the centre of the shear broke and now in his hand, it looked like he had two strangely bent long swords.


    ''These shears are good quality and usually quite heavy, but I can barely feel any weight with my strength. It feels more like I''m holding a stick.''


    In front of him, the mutated Zombie had charged. It ran forward a bit sloppily as if he didn''t haveplete control over his body but was holding the baton with his hand raised, ready to swing it down.


    As soon as the Zombie got close to Zain, it swung down the baton with an almighty force, and Zain did the same swing with the shear in his left hand. As the two weapons shed, a ng rang out as they both countered each other.


    ''It seems like all the mutated Zombies have extra strength, and this damn security guard is a bit stronger than Tanisha.''


    Moving his weight to the side, forcing the Shear onwards, Zain pushed back the zombie, stumbling. Then, seeing an opening, Zain attacked with the other Shear making arge cut across the guard''s back. Blood sttered everywhere, and it looked like it would have been a severe wound, but for a zombie, it was nothing, and even Zain wasn''t expecting it to get defeated just like this.


    The attack didn''t even stagger the guard, and at that moment, the guard spun its body, swinging the baton behind himself. It managed to hit Zain on the shoulder, and he could hear his bones cracking as he fell to the ground.


    The Zombie didn''t give up as it swung the baton again and tried to hit Zain lying on the floor, but thetter quickly rolled to the side and pushed off the ground. Then, since he was close to the Zombie''s feet, he swung his shear, shing at the Achilles tendon. Then, he swung the other half of the weapon, hitting the back of the knee.


    ''Even though you don''t feel pain, the tendons, your achilles, and everything in your body still work the same!''


    At the same time, Zain knew he needed to fight like what he was. He was a zombie, someone who didn''t tire quickly and had great strength. So after the first two attacks, he continued swinging, this time aiming for the arm that the security guard was using. This attack cut the arm, and as it fell to the ground, Zain thrusted one of the shear''s right through the zombie''s head, killing it on the spot.


    [You have killed a Mutated Zombie]<sub> </sub>


    [10 exp has been granted]


    [Exp: 58/100]


    [Energy: 74/100]


    [Body functionality: 88 percent]


    ''The weapons significantly increased my chances, but that fight was still harder than against Tanisha. So I guess not all Mutated zombies are the same, and it also depends on what they were before.


    ''Or it might be the fact that my body functionality is not the same as it was before. My movements, even if slower, will greatly affect me. I should heal my shoulder.


    [Energy: 70/100]


    ''After I just got my energy up it''s back down again. I guess fighting has its risks of injuries, which means I''ll have to eat more, the more I fight as well.''


    Looking at the Zombie he had just killed, Zain pulled out half a shear from its head and swung off the blood from it. The baton it used was quite sturdy and effective, so Zain thought it would make a good addition to the rest of his weapons.


    Bending down to pick it up, Zain noticed a crackling sounding from the shop.


    "There''s one behind you!" A voice boomed out from the supermarket''s megaphone system.


    Heeding the warning, Zian rolled out of the way, and he heard another baton hitting the ground. While shing out his weapon simultaneously, Zain had managed to get it lodged in the attacker''s throat.


    It was another Zombie, also dressed as a security guard. Pulling out the shear, Zain put one in his belt and then, gripping both hands on the other, swung it like a baseball bat, slicing through the guard''s neck with a clean cut.


    [Exp: 68/100]


    ''Another mutated Zombie, that''s a jackpot. So now I''m even closer to levelling up. And thanks to that voice, I could avoid getting a bad injury.''


    Looking around, Zain could soon hear several moans. Due to the sound of the megaphone, it seemed like the zombies in the car park were now heading toward the supermarket.


    *****


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 Chapter 22 Victims

    "Look at what you''ve done, you stupid bitch!" rk yanked the mic out of Kelly''s hand and gave a p across her face so hard that she fell on the floor. And staring at her with bloodshot eyes, he shouted, "You are so concerned about a random student that you have just attracted all the zombies here. Now not only will he die because of your stupidity, but you have also put everyone here in danger! How can you be so careless and make a loud noise, alerting the zombies of our location?"


    Kelly had lowered her head, and her cheek had turned red and was stinging with pain. She could even taste blood in her mouth. In fact, rk hadn''t held back his strength when pping her. And even though she was in this situation, everyone looked at her with the same angry, murderous expressions as rk.


    They were approving of his reaction.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Outside the entrance, Zain had already noticed the iing zombies moving slowly towards him, or to be more precise, towards the noise source. Fortunately, there were only four of them because the speaker wasn''t loud enough to attract too many of them, and whoever had spoken through the microphone had apparently been careful not to draw too much attention.


    ''Whoever it was, although they risked themselves to help me, they were also aware of the consequences of their action in a situation like this. A kind-hearted fool.'' Zain thought. ''But sometimes, kindness should be rewarded, and I''ll reward that kindness!''


    Stepping forward, Zain ran up to the first zombie and shed the shear on its head, instantly killing it in a single hit. He then targeted the next one and hit it with his other shear before throwing the first shear at the third. However, the attack missed, and the shear struck it in the chest instead of the head.


    Seeing this, Zain pulled out the baton he had taken from the mutated zombie and whacked the third zombie on the side of the head. After that, he also dealt with thest one effortlessly. Everything transpired instantaneously, and Zain defeated the zombies without fear or hesitation in his attacks.


    "Whoa!" An involuntary exim resounded within the group watching the live video feed in the security room. It came from a young man in the supermarket staff uniform. He stared at the screen in amazement, "Did you see that? Who is this guy? Is he from the special forces or something? He killed them so easily and wasn''t scared at all. Maybe we should let him in? He can be a great help."


    [60/100 exp]


    ''I lost some exp, but the end result is still positive, and I am sure the people in the supermarket are observing me, so losing a small amount of exp to show strength is a good deal. Now...how do I get them to open this door.''


    Zain thought, standing in front of the shutter. Then, just as he was looking for the cameras, he noticed the shutter shake and then went up as it rolled open. And when it finally rose, the six people huddled together inside the security room nervously stepped out and stood in front of Zain, on the other side of the entrance.


    There was a ss door between them and Zain. But he could clearly distinguish their faces, and he even recognised two.


    ''Huh? Isn''t that the gym teacher at the university and the clumsy substitute teacher?''


    He also noticed the red p mark on her cheek, and it didn''t take a genius to understand its possible reasons.


    Not to mention that the warning from earlier was in a female voice. Honestly though, Zain didn''t me these people''s reactions. It was rational to not risk your life for others in a situation like this. Still, however, since this woman had helped him, if he could, he would try to return the favour as well.


    "Come inside quickly before any more of the undeade!" rk gestured at him to enter while speaking in a hushed voice.<sub> </sub>


    Zain nodded and rushed inside, and as soon as he entered, the shutters rolled down once again. Now in the store, the first thing he noticed was the appearance of the store, and although he had expected it, the scene in front of him turned out to be much worse.


    It looked like the inside of the supermarket had already been attacked and ransacked. Shelves had fallen over, several food jars were spilt across the floor in the grocery aisle, and on top of that, there was blood sttered across the floor. However, the ce seemed void of Zombies, and these six looked to be the only ones inside the building.


    ''Well, at least they don''t have a food shortage.'' Zain thought.


    "Wait, aren''t you Zain Talen?!" rk suddenly eximed, now noticing the former''s face up close.


    "Yeah, I go to Westfield University. I have seen you two as well." Zain replied.


    Hearing this, the other three were a bit disappointed. Zain could see the look on their face, and they didn''t even appear to hide it.


    "You did a good job protecting yourself, Zain," rk said, cing his hand on the former''s shoulder. Zain had heard a lot about the gym teacher, and one of the most prevalent rumours was that he was always the touchy type with his students. "We couldn''t risk stepping out of this ce, so we don''t know what the situation is like. Hopefully, you can help us out? but before that, let''s introduce ourselves."


    Everyone introduced themselves to Zain and revealed who they were before the attack. First, there was Mark, a young man who worked at the supermarket and was still in his uniform.


    Next to him was an old woman who was quite round and had white curly hair, her name was Barbara. Next, there was a man in a suit named Ben, who looked to have juste out of a meeting, and thest one was a teenager in a tracksuit with a backpack on his back.


    Zain wondered how this group of people of all people managed to survive and why the situation was what it was in the supermarket. Still, even more so than that, while everyone had their introductions, Zain noticed something off about one of them. To be more precise, it was the scent of one of them.


    ''Now¡­this is interesting.'' Zain thought straight away, concealing the smile he had within. Because the situation he was in now reminded him of the many movies, games, and books he had read and it was clear that this group had no idea.


    ''One of them is already infected.''


    ******


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    1000 Stones = Extra Chapter

 Chapter 23 A Zombie Horde

    "Now, there are some things that we want to ask you, Zain," rk said, folding his arms and puffing out his chest as if he was trying to intimidate Zain. Maybe this might have worked before, but an over-muscr gym teacher was the least of Zain''s worries after what he had been through.


    "How did you survive out there so far? What''s the situation? What have you seen?" rk asked.


    "What have I seen?" Zain replied. "I don''t think you will like my answer. The University was already run over by the zombies when I woke up, and from my dorm room, I saw destroyed buildings, many of which were engulfed in mes. And, ultimately, I decided to head here hoping to find someone."


    For now, Zain thought he didn''t need to tell this group of people about Buke and Skittle. At least not until he figured out what they were like and who they were.


    From the answer, rk clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed, and the older woman seemed to express it more openly.


    "You mean you''re not military and haven''t seen them. Is no oneing to help us? What about the police?" Barbara asked.


    "The police? I saw a few cars outside the University, but there was no one. And honestly, if you want to get out of this ce, you''re on your own." Zain replied.


    Hearing these words, the old woman put her nails on her cheeks and started to pull them down, revealing her under eye, and it looked like her eyeballs were about to pop out. Then, turning around, she began to chew her fingernails as she ignored everyone and headed to one of the food sections, most likely to stuff herself--something the others had seen her do a few times whenever she got anxious.


    After hearing that Zain was just a university student and knew nothing, most of the group members just shook their heads in disappointment and decided to go off and do their own thing. In the end, only rk, Kelly and Mark, the young adult who worked at the store, were left.


    "Sorry about them. They just haven''t been able to sleep well." Kelly exined. "You should know how it is, and after seeing how skillfully you dealt with that Zombie out there, well, we thought you might have been part of a special operations team or something."


    As soon as Zain heard her voice, he instantly knew it was this woman who had saved his life by alerting him about the other mutated zombie.


    "I owe you one," Zain said without any context. Kelly looked confused, but then a smile appeared as she figured it out and mouthed the words ''You''re wee.''


    "Alright, I better head to the CCTV room," rk said. "It would be my shift anyway. Just so you know, we take three-hour shifts in turns so everyone can get a good sleep. As a group, we have decided to stay here and live off the food that shouldst us a few months until help arrives. So go and sleep, and we''ll wake you up when it''s your turn."


    Inwardly, Zain wasughing at thisment because if he hadn''t arrived, the most likely case was that they wouldst only a day here, with what he knew.


    Kelly and Mark took it upon themselves to show the neer around and exin a few things. The two of them seemed to be the only ones interested in helping. On top of that, they couldn''t get any sleep in the first ce after what they had seen.


    While walking around, Mark organised the shop and rearranged stuff by date of expression. For example, the food that would go out first was ced at the front, and they were allowed to eat these items, slowly moving back to the things that wouldst a long time, such as food cans.<sub> </sub>


    Zain was really impressed that he could do this in such a short amount of time, but there were still a lot of holes in their n. For example, what would they do when the electric grid shuts off? Then, all the frozen food, light, and cameras would be useless.


    At the same time, he noticed none of them were holding weapons, even though they were in a supermarket full of things they could use to defend themselves in an emergency. But in the end, Zain had to remind himself that it hadn''t even been a whole day since the start of everything, and since they hadn''t expected it and were still hoping that the government woulde and save them, they weren''t fully prepared for it.


    Eventually, the group came across arge blood stain on the floor. It was not just at one spot as Zain noticed blood trails, indicating someone had dragged the bodies across the floor.


    "What happened here? And I don''t just mean here in this aisle. What happened to the whole store when the attack started? Where are all the workers and dead bodies?" Zain asked.


    Mark and Kelly looked at each other for a second, their eyes wide as if they were reliving a particr moment. They then gulped before one of them started to exin.


    "You said you came from the University, right? Well, we don''t really know what happened here either." Kelly exined. "There was an attack, and it seemed like it started in one of the houses. At least that is what people say happened.


    "A woman ran out of her door screaming for help. The neighbours heard her and opened their doors to have a look, and the next second, who everyone thought was her husband, pounced on her and started biting her neck with her teeth and digging into other parts of her body."


    "However, after speaking, we learnt that multiple people seem to have seen other events around the same time," Mark added. "So we have no clue where or when it started. We know that we had it somewhat under control until a whole wave of them came running out of the forest from the direction of the University. Thousands of Zombies were running in this direction, which was a total massacre."


    What Mark was describing wasmonly known as a Zombie horde. Zain knew of it well, and the closest thing he hade to experience it was at the University when he went to save his friends, but that horde was too small.


    ''I was wondering where the zombies went. So they headed towards this neighbourhood, but it''s clear they''re not here anymore, which means they must have left somewhere else...but why, is it just for food? Or is it something else?'' Zain thought.


    [New Main quest received]


    [Find out the zombies'' objective]


    *****


    1000 Stone goal for 2 chapters


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 Chapter 24 An Ally

    Seeing the quest prompt in front of him finally raised the questions that Zain had ignored all this time. For instance, who had created this system in the first ce and what was its use? There was also a chance that whoever designed the system might have also been responsible for the Zombie outbreak.


    And judging by the quest title as well, it didn''t seem like an ident. This whole thing wasn''t some disease that got out of ab or an experiment that had gone wrong. Or maybe it was but if the system was anything to go buy, it meant someone did it on purpose, but why?


    ''Well, I guess that''s what the system wants me to find out. Anyway, I was interested in it before it even sent the quest.'' Zain thought.


    Hearing the whole story, Zain came to know that the Zombie horde from the University had overwhelmed the few people that lived here, and there were only a couple hundred people in the neighbourhood. So it was not hard to imagine how defenceless everyone was.


    Everyone had a different story how they had managed to survive, locking themselves in a basement or hiding in the trunk of a car, but as far as they knew, everyone in this store was the only survivor.


    "Before you, thest person to arrive was Mr rk," Kelly exined.


    "Yeah, and he has been acting like he runs the ce. Although the others seem to be happy to just sit there and nod." Markined, clenching his fist, but just looking at Mark, Zain could see why he didn''t try to say what was on his mind.


    Judging by the red mark on Kelly''s cheek, there was an apparent reason. In times like this, people, who are physically superior to others, believe that in this type of situation, they''re the most critical part of the group, an Alpha, but that''s always their delusion.


    Those that survive these types of situations are the mentally strong ones.


    "I see, but then what about the blood?" Zain asked.


    "That was me¡­let me show you something," Kelly said as she led Zain and Mark to the back of the room. They soon reached arge door, and from underneath it, Zain noticed cold airing out, in fact, there was frost covering the door''s edges.


    The other noticeable thing was arge bar had been ced over the door handle, although that isn''t an urate description. Actually, someone had twisted the bar, creating a type of knot over the door handle so no one could open it unless they could bend metal.


    "When we came here, there were a lot of dead bodies, and that was not long after the horde of zombies had gone towards the city centre," Kelly exined. "So I decided it was best if we got a pair of gloves and moved all the dead bodies inside.


    "We weren''t sure what turns the dead into zombies and how long after death would they rise and turn into one of them. In the end, the freezer was thergest ce I could think of."


    Once again, Zain was impressed. Kelly seemed to be a person that was thinking straight and what she had done was right. Based on what he had observed in the case of Tanisha, there was a chance that those that had just died could rise from the dead, perhaps as long as their brain was kept intact.


    Taking a step forward, Zain pressed his ear against the metal door, wondering if he could hear something, and after a moment, he pulled away, walking away from the storage freezer section with the others.


    "Who did that..the thing with the metal bar?" Zain asked as they headed back towards the food aisles.


    "That was Mr rk," Mark answered. "I must admit, even though I hate the guy, it was pretty amazing. He broke a piece of a metal rod from another room, brought it over, and then started to twist it with his bare hands after putting it through the door handle...I couldn''t believe it!"


    Now Zain understood even more now why no one decided to go against rk, but that was twice now that he had experienced human''s doing something out of the ordinary. The first instance was with Buke.


    ''Maybe I could bend that thing since I am now a zombie with my extra strength, but it shouldn''t be possible for a normal person like rk, even though he is a big guy. So there must be something that''s also bringing changes in normal humans.''


    "The door already had a lock on it. So why did he need to use the metal rod?" Zain couldn''t help but ask.


    "Do you remember the man in the suit, Ben?" Kelly replied. "Well, his wife was shopping at the time and was one of the bodies we put in there. He was acting strange. Once in a while we would see him standing there.


    "Once rk learnt of it, he decided to act."


    Although this Mr rk didn''t sound like the nicest person in the world, Zain agreed with most of his actions.


    "Thank you for everything. You two should get some rest. I will talk to the others and see if I can get more information. If you need anything, then don''t hesitate toe to find me." Zain said, already walking away, but before exiting the aisle, he turned around. "Oh, and just a tip for both of you, if I were you, I would be carrying a weapon on me at all times."


    ¡ª¡ª


    Walking through the aisles, Zain eventually spotted another person who waspletely on his own. It was the teenager who had his hood up at all times, and currently, he was stuffing his backpack with essentials.


    "Are you nning to escape this ce? or-"<sub> </sub>


    Before Zain could finish the question, he saw the teenager turn around with a knife in his hand. It was aiming straight for his head, but before it could reach him, Zain had stopped it, grabbing him by the wrist.


    "What are you doing?" Zain asked and threw thetter''s wrist down forcefully.


    ''The kid was quite fast...if it were someone else, that knife would have been in their head by now.''


    Grabbing his wrist as if it was in pain, the teenager was rolling it.


    "Sorry." The boy replied, "I thought you were one of them. It was out of reflex...and it''s none of your business whatever I do."


    The teenager turned around, continuing to pack his bag full of things like snacks and treats. Zain also noticed that he was the only one with weapons, mainly knives, but most of them were well hidden.


    "You know, that rk guy wouldn''t let you out if you asked. Didn''t you all vote to stay in here?" Zain asked, ignoring thetter''s previousment.


    "They voted to stay, and I voted to leave. This ce will be the death of us all and is dangerous." The teenager picked up his backpack, and it looked like he was ready to head somewhere else.


    "I actually agree with you, you know. I don''t n to stay here myself either." Zain said. "But for now, I will stay here. You''re skilled, but I don''t think you can take out that P.E teacher, not alone at least."


    The kid had stopped as if he was slightly interested and finally turned around.


    "Why are you telling me this? What do you want?"


    "I would say nothing, but that''s not true." Zain exined. "While we''re here, I just want you to do one thing, keep an eye on that Ben guy. Let me know if you see anything strange."


    After that, the kid just huffed and walked off, whether or not he would do it was another story. On the other hand, Zain had more pressing matters because, at the end of the day, whether people listened to him or not wasn''t his concern. He would survive this whole thing no matter what.


    Finally, after walking in the shop for five minutes, Zain found himself at the butchers, following the smell from his nose. It looked like a normal counter with meat disyed, and it wasn''t an ideal ce for one to be.


    Zain also noticed a door behind the counter, and when Zain was about to pass by, he heard some strange noises.


    Quietly, Zain looked around to see if there was anyone, but he didn''t find anyone. Then he stared at the door for a moment and slowly stepped toward it. Upon reaching the door, he carefully opened it and peeked inside. Then, seeing the scene on the other side, a smile appeared on his face, and he quietly stepped in and shut the door behind him.


    There he could see a carcass of what looked like a cow slowly moving. He then heard the sound of slurping and chewing from behind and noticed two hands hugging it.


    "I thought you would be here," Zain said.


    Suddenly, the slurping and chewing noises stopped, and someone moved their head from behind. In the next moment, a bloody-faced Barbara pulled her head out of the carcass.


    Then, seeing Zain, she panicked and tried to exin herself.


    "This...is not what it looks like!"


    "What? You''re saying that you weren''t just eating a dead cow?" Zain smiled, not bothered by her state. "Don''t worry, I already know you''re infected, and I''m not here to oust you to the others."


    *****


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 Chapter 25 The Hunger

    When Kelly introduced Zain to everyone, thetter had found from the scents in the air that one of them was infected. However, what surprised him was that this person was fully functioning and had control over their actions.


    They could speak and weren''t going after the others to eat their brain. Thinking of this, Zain doubted that he might have encountered someone exactly like him.


    "What do you mean?!" Barbara shouted upon hearing his words, "There''s nothing wrong with me, I just eat when I''m stressed, and this food will go off!"


    While exining herself, Barbara stepped back with the help of her hands and legs, and eventually, her back bumped into therge wooden table at the back of the room.


    "You can trust me, Barbara. I already knew your secret and kept it from the others." Zain exined, trying to calm her down. "Don''t you think there has to be a reason for that? Do you have a system, a screen in front of you that you can see?"


    The easiest way for Zain to get Barbara to trust him was to show the bite mark on his neck. However, he had yet to reveal it since he wasn''t entirely sure that he and Barbara were the same, and if she found out what he was, there was a chance she would alert the others, which would put him in a difficult spot.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about!" Barbara said again and looked to her right, and her eyes found a cleaving knife. She immediately stretched her hand and grabbed it.


    "You want to kill me, don''t you? Don''t you?! But I''m telling you, I''m not one of them! I''m not one of them!" She shrieked and charged forward.


    It was clear to Zain she had lost it and was in denial over the whole thing, and since she hadn''t reacted to his words, it was most likely that they weren''t the same. So Zain lifted his leg and kicked the cow''s carcass hard.


    It swung where it was hung and hit Barabra. She stumbled face-first on the floor, and the cleaver in her hand gottched into the carcass.


    When she regained herposure and raised her head, the first thing she saw was the tip of the shear de just a few millimetres away from her.


    "It was only a scratch...that''s all it was...I wasn''t bit or anything...so why...why is this happening to me!!" Barbara wailed.


    Based of her smell, Barbara was already one of them to Zain, but perhaps whatever the cause behind the outbreak was, it was spreading slower in Barbara. But there were so many variables that he couldn''t pinpoint the exact reason.


    Maybe it was because it was only a scratch instead of a bite, or there were various reactions, or it could just be that she had a strong will. But, in the end, it was hard to tell without having the clear picture.


    "I won''t kill you, not while you can think properly," Zain exined. "But you have to be honest with your answers. What changes have you noticed in your body and mind? And most importantly, when? Lastly, I might also need to do a few things with you.


    "As long as you agree, I won''t tell the others. However, that''s on the condition that you''re still like you are now and don''t start attacking others. The second you go crazy, I will end it. You understand?"


    Barbara nodded.


    Zain asked many more questions, using his gaming experience and determination to discover why he was different. He interrogated her for any possible clues, but in the end, he wasn''t any further than he believed.<sub> </sub>


    Barbara stood up off the ground and continued to stare at the carcass.


    "Is it okay if I eat that?" She asked.


    "If it stops you from eating people, then be my guest," Zain replied while still thinking about her answers.


    Barbara knew next to nothing about Zombies, and from what she had seen, people who just died didn''t rise from the dead. Although this was unconfirmed, if it was true, that those that just died didn''t turn into a Zombie straightway or at all, this confirmed that Jade must have done something to Tanisha to turn her.


    ording to Barbara, the scratch started to itch but looked no different to anything else, and it even had scabbed over it just like any scratch would have. After that, however, she started having certain visions in her head, felt a lot more irritated when talking to others, and had a hunger that wouldn''t go away.


    At first, she could eat just fine, although she ate more than usual. Then slowly, the only thing that would fill her was meat. Now, she had reached a stage where she had an urge to eat raw meat.


    She said something was drawing her to the flesh, the colour and the smell. After hearing about this, while Barbara was distracted in her thoughts about describing the urge, Zain secretly took a small bite of the cow meat to see if it affected him, but nothing happened.


    After that, Zain asked if there was anything else, other than her hunger. Was there a job or task that she needed to do, maybe a message in her head telling her to go somewhere, but there was nothing. So he got no closer topleting the recent quest he had received.


    ''Unfortunately, it looks like, with the way Barbra is going, it won''t be long before she can get full from eating raw meat, leaving her nothing but one thing to control her hunger.'' But Zain didn''t tell her his thoughts. She was already too startled, and it would cause her to tip over the edge.


    Instead, he wanted to test one more thing.


    Looking around, Zain found pieces of raw meat everywhere. Putting the de back on his belt, he then grabbed the cleaver from the cow''s carcass and made a small cut on his hand. His blood started to drip onto the meat, coating it.


    ''I know I can turn other people, but I don''t know what they will turn into if I do turn them. Will they be undead like the ones outside, or more like me? Right now, I can''t test that, but I can test something else.''


    "Eat this," Zain said, holding the piece of meat with his blood on it. "Let''s see if it will help with your hunger problem."


    *****


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 Chapter 26 Everyone Has A Past

    Barbara didn''t hesitate to feast on the piece of meat offered by Zain. She now somewhat trusted Zain since he didn''t seem bothered or scared of her actions, which was one of the fears that had been racing through her head at the time. It made her feel normal, despite her uncontroble urge to eat raw meat.


    Zain carefully observed Barbara devour the flesh covered with his blood to see if there were any reactions.


    "I still feel a bit hungry. I don''t think it worked." She said, standing up to look for more food, which there was plenty of here, in the butcher''s back room. She had ignored the carcass and was looking for something else.


    ''I know Barbara is already on her way to bing a Zombie, but I thought my blood might overwhelm whatever the others have, considering the mutation I have gone through.


    ''And it''s safer to test what my blood can do on someone like Barbara, who is halfway less than a normal human, before I think about testing it on others. But, since there is no reaction, I''ll continue to observe her for some time longer.''


    "Where are you going?" Barbara suddenly asked. She could see that he was already at the door and had opened it slightly, ready to leave this ce, but her hunger had yet to subside.


    "I am going back to the store. You know I can''t just stay here, and it''s nighttime, I need some rest too. But in your case, it would be best to stay here until it''s safe. If others found you like this, they might not react as calmly as I have." Zain replied.


    Looking at her own hands, Barbara found herself in a mess. If there were a small amount of blood on her clothes, it wouldn''t have been a problem. But when she lowered her head, she saw so much blood and the mess in all her clothes and mostly below her chin. Underneath her mouth, it looked like she had a bib made of blood.


    Even if she was a normal human, seeing this sight would make one think twice. In the end, she relented and resumed her search for more meat.


    Stepping out of the room, Zain slowly closed the door behind him. He looked left and right before continuing to look around the supermarket to see if he could find anything.


    ''Maybe, I should head to that control room. I know that rk is there, but I can''t just avoid him. I don''t want to stay here too long after all.'' Zain thought.


    Unbeknownst to him, someone was hiding behind one of the aisles taking a peak and had seen hime out of the butcher''s room.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The supermarket had a camping section with a few sleeping bags, quilts and pillows for customers to buy. Mark and Kelly had set up a little camping area for everyone just at the end of the aisle, but they were the only two, and neither of them could sleep.


    "So what do you think about the new guy, huh?" Mark said, giving her a nudge on her arm.


    "Huh?" Kelly''s face turned red in embarrassment. "He''s a student, and I''m a teacher. I don''t think anything about him."


    "Isn''t every guy''s fantasy to hook up with a good-looking teacher?" Mark joked before shaking his head and adding, "Anyway, I wasn''t even asking about that. I was referring to his skills. You saw that, right? He''s quite a good fighter. I don''t think we could have done what he did against those two Zombies.


    "I mean, he said he went to the same university you teach at, right? Are you sure he''s a normal student? Because it''s a little hard to believe after seeing that," Mark exined.


    "Well, I''m just a substitute teacher, and I only recently joined," Kelly replied, hugging her knees and cing her head on them. "I just cover certain subjects when needed, so I don''t know most of the students on a personal level."


    "Really, well, I wonder how he learnt to fight like that, and he gave us a good tip by telling us to gather something to defend ourselves." Mark picked up a broom and thrust it forward in the air.<sub> </sub>


    Meanwhile, Kelly was left deep in her thoughts with a memory of when she first joined the university shed in her mind.


    ¡ª¡ª


    A few months back, Kelly had sessfully passed the interview process and was having her first official meeting with the Principal. The two of them were in thetter''s office for the meeting before she would begin her first day as a substitute teacher.


    "You seem like a pleasant person, and I''m sure the students will love you here, but there is just one thing I need to warn you about." The Principal pulled out a fat file and ced it on the table in front of Kelly.


    Then, he added, "There''s a student here who is a bitplicated. All teachers need to be informed about him. There hasn''t been any trouble yet with him, and he seems like a perfectly normal student, but I''m required to give you his file since there is a chance you could be dealing with him sometime in the future."


    She picked up the file, and as soon as she opened it, there was the admission form of a student, with his picture and the name, Zain Talen,


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    ''There''s nothing to worry about.'' Kelly told herself. ''I thought his face looked familiar.''


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Inside the security control room, rk paid attention to the security footage. However, since he didn''t have to worry about the people inside the store, and with nothing going on outside, he decided to watch the recordings, especially of the fight between Zain and the zombies.


    ''The kid is good, and he''s fast as well. He would have made a great sportsman, but I never saw him apply for any clubs.'' rk thought.


    When rewinding the clip to the fight, rk wondered if there were any other incidents in which Zain had to fight? It didn''t seem impossible, considering the number of zombies outside. Maybe he fought before when he tried to enter the car parking area?


    Rewinding the recording while following Zain, rk switched to the cameras that showed the very end of the car park. The cameras mainly recorded the main four at the front of the store and would rotate every so often.


    So it was the first time rk saw this recording; however, while rewinding, he suddenly stopped the footage when he saw Zain do something unexpected.


    ''What...is he doing in that car?'' rk narrowed his eyes and came closer to the screen to have a clear look.


    *****


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 Chapter 27 A Cannibal

    When heading to the security room, there was more than one objective in Zain''s mind.


    He wanted to see if there were more mutated zombies he needed to deal with, either in the parking lot or around the supermarket.


    As for the normal ones, they wouldn''t react to Zain, and not to mention that if he takes them out, he will end up losing exp instead of gaining more. This was why he was only concerned about the mutated ones so he could level up and increase his stats.


    ''If I just say I want to do my part and look at the security room for my shift, he will agree, right?'' Zain thought.


    Although if he didn''t find any zombies, there was still one ce where he was sure toe across something, and that''s the freezer where Kelly and others had moved all the bodies. Although the doors were tightly shut and made the freezer soundproof, he heard something move inside when he pressed his ear against the metal door.


    Just then, while walking through the aisles, a figure dropped down directly in front of him. It had startled Zain a bit and caused him to step back, but noticing the hood, he realised that it was the teenager from earlier.


    ''Where did this guye from? Did he climb over the aisles? Without making any noise?'' Zain thought.


    "I followed that suit guy as you asked." The teenager broke the silence, "For a while, he was just walking up and down the aisles, but then, I saw him head down the cutlery section and grab a few knives.


    "After that, he stayed behind an aisle, as if waiting for something. Then, while hiding, he would peek in and out, acting as if he was in a spy movie or something."


    ''Hiding himself?'' Zain thought.


    "Thanks for the help. If you could continue to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn''t do anything, that would be good. When you saw him hiding, where was he? Do you know what he was looking at?" Zain asked.


    "Yeah, he was staring at the Butcher''s Section."


    Zain''s pupils constricted upon hearing this. There was no reason for someone to act like that if they didn''t want to be seen, perhaps following someone, and he knew quite well who had been to the butchers recently.


    ''Was he following me? If that''s the case, he would have seen Barbara and me enter...Damn it! I will have to go and check on her and see if she''s alright. Maybe I should tell her to move to another location? I didn''t think someone would be following me.''


    Turning around, Zain exited the aisle and headed back to the butcher room, but just as he did, arge figure in a red sports outfit was standing behind him. It was none other than Mr. rk, clutching a tennis racket.


    "Excuse me, I just need to check something," Zain said, walking past him. But as soon as he walked past the former, he suddenly heard something whip through the air, and before he knew it, he heard a resounding snap.


    [Your leg is now broken]


    [Would you like to use your energy to heal?]


    Zain copsed onto the floor, falling on his knee. One of his legs hadpletely given up on him, and when turning around, he found the tennis racket in rk''s hand was now bent, and thetter was already beginning to tie Zain''s hands with the help of some rope.


    ''He broke my leg with a tennis racket...damn, this guy has some serious strength..but why? What happened? Did I mess up somewhere?'' Zain racked his brain as he realised that the games were far more effortless than real life because people were unpredictable.


    "Come on, kid! Help me tie him up!" rk instructed the teenager while handing one end of the rope to him. Thetter looked a bit confused, but in the end, he did as rk told him, and they had tied both of Zain''s legs and arms in no time.


    ------


    A short whileter, they put Zain on a garden chair. Not only were his limbs restrained with a high-duty rope that one would use for rock climbing and such, but he was also bound with the chair, with his leg still broken. On top of that, Mr. rk had shut his mouth with duct tape, so he couldn''t even say anything.


    Looking around, Zain found himself near the closed shutters of the front entrance. Mr. rk had pulled the chair here, had taken away all his stuff, and piled them on the other side of the hallway.


    After double-checking the knots, rk called everyone to the entrance to tell them what was happening.


    "Where the hell is that damned old woman and that office guy!" rk shouted, but the others shrugged their shoulders. They hadn''t seen the other two either.


    "What happened? Why have you tied up Zain?" Kelly asked as soon as she noticed him, "And his leg...what did you do?"


    Straight away, Kelly had an assumption as to who had done this. There was no one else that could have possibly done something like this.


    "Before you start shouting at me for saving your life, I think you should see something because I am sure you''ll be thanking me," rk interrupted her, walking into the security room, which was not too far off.


    The others stared at Zain in confusion for a few seconds before following rk.<sub> </sub>


    ''They''re heading to the control room... Wait! No! It can''t be...''


    Once everyone entered the room, rk rewound the video, and soon, Zain appeared on the screen. They mainly saw him looking into the vehicles in the area, trying to find something, and he continued to inspect each car.


    Zooming in on the video, rk showed them all a clip of a certain individual in a car. His body was blocking what he was doing, so it was hard to see, but then an arm came into view flopping out from the driver''s seat onto the ground, and they saw him picking it up and moving it towards their mouth.


    "This damned kid is a cannibal!" rk said, pausing the video. "He might be human, or he might even be one of them!"


    Walking back to where Zain was after seeing the clip, there were different looks toward him. He could see the look in all those eyes. It was a look that Zain had seen a few times before and started to stir some feelings inside him.


    ''These guys!!! What are they looking at! I''m trying to help you...I''m the one that stopped you from rotting in here!'' Zain thought as he scooted forward in his chair with his strength and the others took a step back.


    "Oh...you want to exin yourself, huh? Exin to us what you were doing in those cars? Very well, but I doubt you can say anything that will change our minds." rk said as he pulled the tape off of Zain''s mouth


    ------


    Over at one of the houses in the neighbourhood, one could hear the sound of loud snoring, and it had eventually woken up Skittle.


    "Damn it, this guy''s snoring will attract Zombies from the whole street!" Skittle said, lifting his head. Although he said this out of frustration, it was also partially true. Getting his sses that were on the side table, Skittle started to look around the room.


    He was disced for a second, not noticing where he was, but then all the events from the day shed in his mind.


    "That''s right...so it was all real." Skittle murmured, and then looking to his right, he found something strange.


    "Hm? Zain? Wait, where''s Zain?"


    Suddenly finding his friend missing, Skittle panicked and turned to his other friend, "Buke! Buke!"


    But Buke was in a deep sleep. Skittle threw away the rug he had on himself and ran up to his friend.


    "Get up, Buke! Zain, he''s gone. He''s not here! wake up!" He shouted while trying to wake up his friend.


    Buke''s eyes shot open, and he stood up. "What happened?"


    "Zain!"


    "Zain what?"


    "Yeah, he''s not here!"


    Buke frowned, "Did you check the other rooms?"


    "...no."


    Buke shook his head, "Go and check. No wait, let''s look for him together."


    The two of them walked out of the room and searched the house but couldn''t find anything.


    There was no Zain, so now they needed to decide what to do themselves.


    *******


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 Chapter 28 A Mistake

    The whole stage was set for Zain, and if he wanted to get out of this situation, he would need to give the performance of a lifetime. The only thing was, like most who would do this for the first time, Zain had gotten a bit of stage fright.


    Mr rk removed the tape, and now all eyes were on him to hear his exnation about what he was doing in the parking lot.


    ''I...I don''t know what to say...how do I get out of this situation.'' Zain was nervous. He tried pulling his hands, but he could feel that his strength wasn''t enough to break free from the ropes.


    His life at the moment was at the mercy of the people in front of him, and the way they were looking at him, it was as if they had already made their judgement even before knowing the whole truth.


    "Speak up then!" rk said, stepping closer. "I guess you don''t have an answer. Don''t you know we''re teachers, Zain? We know when someone is guilty, and the fact that you can''t say anything proves your guilt. This means we need to decide what to do with you.


    "Should we kill you? Throw you back outside? Or just leave you here to starve, so you don''t eat anyone else?" rk then got close to Zain and looked directly into his eyes. Now up close, rk noticed his eye colour was quite strange and even seemed somewhat hollow, which furthered his suspicion.


    "If it was up to me, I''d smash your head until I was sure you couldn''t get back up, but then these people behind me would think I am the monster here," rk whispered, walking back to the others.


    While rk turned around and walked back, Zain made eye contact with Kelly. Although she had saved him before, there was something inside him that thought she would save him again. However, after a few seconds, Kelly looked away. Her hand was clutching her other arm.


    ''I''m sorry... I want to help, but after seeing that, and thinking about your file...I just can''t.''


    The group discussed for a while, and it looked like they hade up with a decision. Then, rk started to pull out the duct tape once again.


    "Don''t do this!" Zain finally spoke. "I was just trying to help you, I was trying to help you all, and this is what you do!" When speaking though, rather than words of fear, it sounded as if Zain was angry at them for making this decision.


    "You''re going to mess up. You''re doing the wrong thing, trust me!"


    "Just be quiet," rk retorted as he brought the tape close to his mouth. Zain looked toward the teenager since Kelly wasn''t being helpful.


    "Kid, remember the job I gave you. If you want to live...Keep doing it!" Zain shouted. He wanted to say more, but his mouth was already tied up, and his words just turned into iprehensible muffles.


    With the help of all of them, rk then checked the knots once again and called the others over. Everyone then lifted Zain''s chair and moved him to the back room close to the freezer section.


    There was a supply closet where the staff put the cleaning equipment and trash. The room wasn''t thergest, but it was effortless to put Zain in the middle with a single light bulb above his head.


    Everyone left the room, and rk was atst to shut the door.


    "It seems the decision was to lock you in here for now, but don''t count on us letting you out."


    ''F*ck!'' Zain wanted to yell out. ''F*ck, f*ck, f*ck. You screwed up, Zain...just like you always do, just like back then. I screwed up this time too. F*ck!''


    He tried to calm himself, but his anxiety increased, and even his mind went nk for a moment. He knew the longer he stayed here, the lower his chances of survival were.


    [Body Functionality: 84 Percent]<sub> </sub>


    ----


    rk quickly returned to his post as if he was doing a regr job, while the others were left feeling slightly ufortable with what they had done. If they couldn''t sleep before, they surely couldn''t sleep now.


    While left in their thoughts, though, a certain teenager named Cody was thinking about Zain''sst words.


    ''I saw the video and what he did, but I still feel that rk guy is more dangerous. I don''t like the fact that he''s forcefully bossing us around as if he owns the pce either. Anyway, what did he mean by telling me to keep following Ben? I''ve lost track of him for a while. Thest ce I saw him was heading towards the Butchers, and when I told Zain about this, his reaction was quite strange.''


    Thinking about this, Cody found himself heading towards the butchers'' section.


    ''Was this his hint? To check what''s going on in here? What did he mean if I don''t keep an eye on Ben, we would all be in trouble?''


    Approaching the counter, Cody soon noticed the door behind it was slightly open. He narrowed his eyes and slowly stepped towards the door. He then pushed it with one hand while the other was already holding a de, ready to react to whatever was inside.


    However, once the door was open wide enough, Cody saw something that made him grip around his de harder. He slowly walked forward, and he found his feet stepping on something wet.


    The whole ce reeked, but he didn''t have time to focus on that as he followed where the pool of liquid was heading, and this liquid wasn''t water. After he took a few more steps, a body appeared directly behind a devoured cow carcass.


    ''What... Why is Barbara...dead?''


    ----


    In the control room, rk whistled while keeping an eye on the cameras. After what he had done, he was in a bright mood, but suddenly his whistling stopped, and he leaned toward the monitor with a frown.


    "More guests?"


    ----


    Just outside of the supermarket, two young men stood next to each other.


    "Are you sure he would go here? Wouldn''t there be a crap load of Zombies inside?" Buke asked.


    "I''m sure. This is the most likely ce he would go to." Skittle replied.


    *****


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 Chapter 29 Two Brutes

    A cranking sound resounded throughout the supermarket. When turning around, Mark and Kelly noticed someone pulling up the shutter. Seeing this as a worry, they had rushed over to the front entrance to see if something had gone wrong,


    After all, there were two ways the shutters worked. One by manually moving them up and down after hitting the lock switch or using theputer system. When the two arrived, they saw rk standing there with his hands by his side, looking at the door.


    "What''s going on?" Kelly asked. "Why is the door opening?"


    "There were a couple of people outside; they looked like students. I even know one of them because he''s on the wrestling team." rk said with a proud smile. "He should make a good addition to this group."


    Both Mark and Kelly looked at each other for a brief moment. They had discussed how slowly Mark was changing. The face Mark had on currently was a ''I told you so.'' expression. With how things were going, it was only a matter of time before rk just decided that he was the leader and would do things without talking to the others about it.


    rk should have discussed this with everyone before letting someone in, just like when Zain arrived.


    ''Well, rk isn''t aplete idiot. He wouldn''t have opened the shutter unless he knew it was safe. Still, with what happenedst time with a student...I''m a little worried.'' Kelly thought.


    A skinny, bespectacled student stepped into the store as the shutter fully opened. On him, there was a backpack and tool bag strapped around his waist. It was hard to imagine a small student like him had survived for so long.


    But upon noticing the size of the young man behind him, it was understandable. He had a shovel on his back and a baseball bat in his hand. After the two were inside the store, the shutter immediately started to fall back down, and soon, the entrance to the supermarket was once again closed.


    "Buke! My star wrestler!" rk said, stepping forward with open arms. "If anyone would have survived, I knew it would have been you."


    When he came close to Buke, thetter lifted his bat and pointed at the former''s chest, making sure rk couldn''t get near.


    This made the look in rk''s eyes change.


    "What do you think you''re doing? Pointing a weapon at your teacher."


    "Sorry, but we have had a few run-ins with bad people and a few zombies, so we are not exactly the trusting type right off the bat." Buke chuckled at his joke a little.


    After what Jade did, Skittle and Buke felt they could only trust each other and Zain. They had a n when entering this ce. They would juste in, and if there were people here, they would ask about Zain.


    "We don''t want to fight or cause any trouble. The zombies are our enemy, not each other." Skittle said, trying to defuse the tense situation. He saw rk had also lifted his hand and gripped the edge of the baseball bat in Buke''s hand.


    "We were just wondering if you saw another student? He''s our age, has red hair, and is lean and quite tall." Skittle described while doing a few actions.


    No one said a word, but the change in all of the three faces there had told both Buke and Skittle that they had seen him.


    ''They''re looking for Zain.'' Kelly thought. ''Are these his friends? But then why didn''t he tell us about them? Why was he travelling on his own?''


    "We haven''t seen him," rk answered before anyone else could. "Sorry, but maybe we can look for him when the sun is out. Why don''t you guys stay inside here for a while? Buke, we could use some muscle like yourself."


    Scanning the room, Skittle noticed the unsettled faces of the others. He knew something wasn''t right, and just then, his eyes fell on something past them, and he spotted two des from the pair of shears on the floor, near the wall.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s Zain''s weapon!" Skittle shouted out. "He''s here! You''re lying!"


    Immediately, Skittle pulled out his hammer. Although Skittle wanted to know what these people were hiding, he trusted Zain more than them and felt like he was in extreme danger.


    At that moment, rk gripped the baseball bat in Buke''s hand and threw it off into the wall. Buke instantly went to grab the shovel from behind, but he was tackled and sent to the floor before he could take it out.


    "Why is a sportsman like you hanging out with a monster? I thought you were like me! I thought you were better than this!" rk shouted.


    Buke had arge figure, and this was the first time someone tackled him so effortlessly and swept him off of his feet.


    Seeing this, Skittle threw the hammer towards Calrk, it was perfectly going for his body, but with a swing of his hand, rk pped the solid hammer away, sending it flying faster in another direction.


    Doing such a thing would have broken a human''s hand, but it had done no such thing.


    ''There it is! That superhuman strength!!'' Mark thought, wondering what was about to happen. He was semi-okay with what they had done to Zain. After all, thetter was a monster, but as for these two, they looked just like regr students.


    In that brief moment, when rk had used his hand to whack the hammer away, Buke had a hand free, and he punched rk directly in the face, sending him tumbling off to the side.


    "I see, you''re quite strong. Well, how about this?" Buke frowned as he pulled the shovel from his back and swung it at the gym teacher.


    rk had raised his hand to block, and as the shovel hit him, he could feel the bone in his shoulder shatter, but the shovel was also now bent.


    As the others stood by, it was as if they were watching a fight between two super-brutes with superhuman strength.


    "You''re strong, Buke. I knew you were like me!" rk said, getting ready to fight back as he slowly moved into position to tackle Buke, but thetter was ready this time.


    "Everyone!"


    A  sudden shout attracted their attention. Everyone turned their heads to find the hooded teenager running out from one of the aisles.


    "It''s Barbara! She''s dead, and Ben is missing...I think...we are in some serious trouble." Cody said, revealing to others what he had seen in that room.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 30 Frozen Door

    Cody''s sudden arrival caused the quarrel to cease. Although they had already witnessed many deaths the previous day, death within their small group in a ce and just when they all felt they were safe was a big deal.


    As everyone followed Cody around the supermarket, rk was close to the front, clutching his shoulder, which seemed to still be in pain. Buke had used all his strength to attack him with the shovel. It was a wonder he could still walk after the hit.


    On the other hand, Buke walked up to the front, and since the shovel was now bent and useless, he had picked up the baseball bat and was carrying it on his shoulder. And he wasn''t going to put away after the fight, that was for sure.


    "Look, I really don''t care what''s going on here. We just want you to take us to Zain!" He said in annoyance.


    "I will. But I think everyone needs to see this first, and it was Zain who told me toe in here, and I''m not sure what to make of it." The teenager replied while quickening his pace.


    While walking with all the others, Kelly couldn''t quite believe how the situation had taken such a turn. A few moments ago, rk was leading everyone, and now they were following this other teenager.


    "Hey..so I''m guessing you''re friends with Zain, right?" Kelly eventually asked. "Does that mean you know about what he did?"


    "About what? The car?" Buke shouted, "About how he''s eating people? The damn coach won''t shut up about it, just like how he would never shut up about being number 1 back in the day."


    For one, Kelly was surprised that the two didn''t seem to care about this fact. Maybe they were good at hiding their thoughts, but she wasn''t sure. However, she wasn''t talking about his cannibalistic actions. Instead, she was talking about Zain''s past.


    As they arrived at the Butcher''s section, Cody''s steps slowed down as he looked around with caution. Then, he climbed over the counter easily, using one hand to vault himself, showing a normal level of athleticism.


    They eventually entered the dimly lit cold room with a dull red shadeing from the small bulb in the ceiling, and they soon found what Cody was talking about.


    Barbara''s corpse was lying there on the floor.


    "Was she killed by a Zombie? Does that mean there''s another one in here? What if she turns into one!" Mark shrieked, holding Kelly by the arm.


    "I don''t think she will turn into one. She was already like this when I got in here, and she still hasn''t moved." Cody replied.,


    "I don''t think this was done by a zombie either." Skittle said as he got closer to look at the body but stayed far enough away so that he could jump out if something happened.


    "Look at the body, there are wounds all over. But they all look like stab marks." Skittle exined. "And then you have the head and the body, there are no visible bite marks. Also, I noticed something before. Nearly every corpse we have walked past, the zombies had taken out the inside of their heads."


    Noticing the things that Skittle had pointed out, it made it quite clear to everyone that someone had murdered Barbara, but the question was who and why?


    "Why were you in here? I mean, how did you even know Barbra was here," Kelly asked the teenager.


    Cody stayed silent for a while because he knew that some of them might jump to conclusions from his words.


    "Zain told me to follow Ben," Cody answered. "I didn''t think much of it, but I decided to do it anyway since there was nothing else for me to do, and it looked like he was either following Zain or Barbara, who hade into here.


    "When you locked up Zain, he told me to keep following Ben, but I couldn''t find him, so I decided to go back to thest ce he was."


    From this, the others could conclude that there were two most likely suspects, Zain and Ben, who had killed Barbra.<sub> </sub>


    "Zain didn''t do anything!" Skittle immediately defended his friend, "All we need to do is speak to Zain or find this Ben guy."


    "Ha." A loud chuckle came out from behind. "After knowing what your friend has done and him possibly killing another one of us, no way in hell would I let you free him. I''ll fight you all to the death, and you can take him over my dead body!"


    From rk''s actions and words, Buke and Skittle could tell he wasn''t joking. And from what they had heard so far, at least they knew Zain was still alive, which gave them hope.


    "Why don''t we get Zain''s side of the story? You don''t have to set him free. Just let us speak to him." Skittle said with a gentle voice.


    When rk looked like he was about to say more, Buke started to pat the bat in his other hand, ready to rumble at any second. Since this was a solution with the least risk and everyone, for now, was being civil, they decided to do this, heading toward where rk had locked up Zain earlier.


    But just as they were halfway through, everyone''s steps suddenly stopped when they spotted someone.


    "Ben!" Kelly called out.


    The man in a suit was standing right in front of the freezer. His hand was on the door. At the same time, the bent pole used to keep the door locked was thrown to the ground.


    "Ben, what are you doing?!" rk yelled.


    "Are you trying to open the door? Are you crazy? You''ll kill all of us if there are zombies in there!" Mark shouted.


    On closer inspection, Skittle saw blood all over his suit, mainly dripping from his arm.


    "He...he was the one that killed Barbara!" He immediately called out.


    "That''s right." Ben pushed his sses back onto his nose. Something strange had happened to him as his veins started to bulge slightly. "It turns out the lord has answered my prayers.


    "Did you know..she was a Zombie? Or at least turning into one. When I figured this out, I had to end her, but in the struggle, I was bit. And I don''t want to cause any harm, I just wish to spend thest moments of my life with my wife.


    "My lord has given me the strength to open this door, as he too wishes for us to be together." Ben turned the lock, and everyone heard a clicking sound.


    The others saw this and ran towards him to try and stop him, while Skittle pulled Buke to run back instead.


    With a push of the door, Ben opened it, but the smile on Ben''s face quickly disappeared. The next second, one hand came out and held him by the neck. Then, before the others could react, Ben was pulled inside.


    *****


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 Chapter 31 Stage 2

    Zain had lost the sense of time. He had no clue how long he had been in that room, bound to the chair. His head was looking down at the floor, staring at his feet, both tied to the chair legs.


    ''I messed up. Once again. Even though I was only trying to do the right thing over and over.'' Zain thought to himself. While staring down, a memory shed in his head, and images of a dark room appeared in his mind, just that it was much smaller than the current one.


    His legs weren''t tied, although they were much smaller. It didn''t take long for him to reckon that he was in his much younger self.


    "Just stay in here, hero." A voice resonated inside his head, and the door knob''s clicking sound came as if someone had closed the door. "Try and get yourself out of this one if you want to help her."


    The younger Zain struggled as he tried to get out of the chair. Muffled screams could be heard as he tried with all his strength to get out, and then there was a strange sight. Blood slowly crept from below the door, spreading across the room as it got closer to his feet.


    His heart began to beat rapidly, his whole body was sweating, and his wrists were bleeding as he continued to struggle.


    "What is that?! Get away!" Strange voices appeared in his ear but seemed different from the voice from before. The voice from before had resounded in his head, whereas this one sounded as if it was not far from him but just on the other side of the door.


    Zain frowned and blinked a few times. Just then, the entire room changed. He found himself in the storage room again, with his heartbeat calm, he wasn''t sweating, and his legs looked like they were the normal size again.


    ''That voice...was that Skittle?'' Zain thought. ''Am I losing my mind, or is it really him?''


    He pulled his head forward and tried to listen carefully. Soon, he could hear several voices and the sound of the familiar grunt from the undead creatures, the Zombies.


    ''What are you doing, Zain¡­why is that nightmare repeating itself? You are not the same person you were once. You got yourself out of that situation on your own but failed to get someone else.'' Zain thought. ''I won''t let that happen again.''


    Looking up and staring at the door, Zain was determined to get out of the room. He couldn''t just sit here and do nothing. If he knew his friends, they most likely had woken up ande here looking for him, and now it sounded like they were in trouble.


    Using whatever force Zain could build up, he started to twist his body. There was a slight movement in his feet, and perhaps a normal human wouldn''t have been able to do anything, but Zain could.


    From the little strength in his toes, Zain continued to twist his body and push off, turning the chair slightly. He continued to do this until his body was now facing apletely different direction.


    That was when Zain started using his toes again to push himself off the floor. His chair rocked backwards slightly, and then leaning forward and back, he began to build momentum.


    He continued this, and the chair''s hind legs were eventually the only thing touching the ground, and when the chair rocked forward, just as he was about to fall, he used all the strength in his toes to push himself off.


    It allowed for Zain to head straight into the shelves of the storage room, and his face and whole body crashed into them, causing several tools and all sorts of equipment to fall off the ground.


    Zain was now lying on the floor but still bound to the chair, although he had his fingers slightly free. He reached behind him, looking for anything that could be useful. He picked up the first thing that felt like a screwdriver. He tried to twist his wrist and began chafing it on the rope.<sub> </sub>


    ''Come on!!! Come on!!! Work!!! Let me out. If I don''t get out there in time, the same thing will happen again!'' Unsure if the screwdriver was working, he threw it away and started to reach around for something else. The next thing he touched was sharp and thin. If he was to guess, it felt like a piece of ss that had broken from the fall.


    Holding it tightly, he started to use it on the rope. He could feel liquid falling from his hand, which was most likely blood, but there was no pain, and Zain didn''t care because his mind was focused on just one thing.


    ''Come on break! Cut it! Cut the damn rope!'' At that moment, he could finally feel the tension decrease as one of the ropes snapped, and now there were only a few more to go.


    With the reduced tension, Zain could work on it a lot quicker. He had more movement, and it didn''t take long for Zain topletely free himself from the chair.


    The first thing he did was grab a mop from the corner and kick its end off with his feet to snap it and create a sharp-pointed pole.


    ''It isn''t as good as my other weapons, but it will do.'' Zain thought.


    As he walked towards the door and put his hand on the doorknob, he thought about his earlier vision. ''That voice...I thought I had forgotten about it.''


    Then clearing his thoughts, he pulled the door knob towards himself and broke the lock.


    As soon as he walked out, Zain saw the open freezer door, and there was a dead body in the freezer. It was unrecognisable, but a familiar suit was on the body, which made Zain quickly realise who it was.


    ''I knew he would be the one to cause all of this trouble. I should have acted on my instincts¡­but I wanted to test a few things with Barbara.''


    Just then, two system prompts appeared in front of him.


    [Warning: A stage 2 Evolved Zombie has appeared]


    [New quest received: Survive]


    ****


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 Chapter 32 A New Type

    The group members reacted differently when they found Ben standing by the freezer door. rk, Mark and Kelly ran toward the freezer to stop him from opening the door.


    As for Skittle, he had pulled Buke away, and they ran in the opposite direction past the open area and toward where the aisles would start. Skittle had an intuition that was just telling him that whatever was in that freezer was terrible news, and at that moment, when something had pulled in Ben, it had confirmed his fear.


    Shortly after, a group of zombies emerged out of the freezer. They were walking fairly slowly, but there were many of them. Kelly recognised that nearly all the corpses they had dragged in from the supermarket floor were nowing out, although parts of their body were frozen, making their movements awkward.


    ''I thought they were all dead, and we decided to put them in the freezer just in case. Howe they can still get up now.'' Kelly thought.


    "Give me that!" rk shouted as he snatched the broom in Mark''s hand and snapped it in half. "Their bodies are frozen, so they''re slower than normal. So let''s go, we can finish off these damned zombies."


    rk snapped the broom in half with his bare hands as he went forward and whacked the first one right across the head, causing its neck to twist and break. Then, he went towards the next one, thrusting the broom right through the zombie''s mouth.


    However, the zombie continued to move and tried to grab rk with its hands, even with the broom right through its head.


    "It''s not dead¡­even though I hit it through the head?" rk thought as he kicked the zombie off from the end of his broom, as more and more wereing towards him.


    "Are you guys just going to stand there, or do you have some guts to help?!" rk shouted at the others.


    At that moment, the teenager threw one of his des directly at the zombie''s head, but once again, it took it like nothing as it continued to move forward. Now holding two knives in his hands like daggers, Cody was wondering what to do next.


    Skittle and Buke were taking cover in one of the aisles, watching everything.


    p "What should we do? Should we help them get rid of those guys? Look for Zain? or just get out of here?" Buke whispered.</anda>


    Honestly, he had the same idea as rk. There weren''t many zombies, and just around fifteen zombies hade out from the freezer. But due to their incredibly slow movements, he believed with his baseball bat, he could take them all out. After all, the supermarket was an excellent safe haven for them, at least that''s what Buke thought.


    "We can''t leave without Zain, and once we press the shutters, it will attract the zombie''s attention. As for fighting them¡­I''m not sure. Can''t you tell these Zombies are different?


    "Before, I thought that Zombies needed their brains to function. And based on the bodies we have seen so far, the ones without a brain wouldn''t rise from the dead. But these guys, even if we attack the brain, they are moving around. In fact, some of them don''t even have their brains intact."


    Just then, the first one that rk had hit hade up from the floor, and the group soon got tired as they realised that these Zombies weren''t dying no matter how hard they hit them, be it on their head or somewhere else.


    "What''s that?" Skittle asked, pointing at one of the Zombies from behind.


    Looking closely, Buke noticed what Skittle was talking about. It was a strange red substance that was stuck onto that zombie. It looked like a t octopus that was pulsating. Then looking at all the other zombies, they found the other zombies had the same thing, just in different spots.


    During the fight, rk whacked one of the Zombie''s legs, breaking them. However, the Zombie was still alive and began to crawl toward him across the floor.<sub> </sub>


    "Buke, try attacking the strange red spot on their bodies¡­I think something is causing them to act like this." Skittle suggested.


    The two moved at the end of the aisle and soon reached the open area in front of the freezer where the others were fighting the zombies.


    rk and the others were in a circle with their backs against each other as they fought the zombies. They were scared and worried but not in huge danger due to the slow movement of the half-frozen zombies.


    When Skittle and Buke reached the zombie crawling on the ground, Buke lifted his bat and mmed it on the strange pulsating red thing on the Zombie. This one had it on the back of her hand.


    As Buke whacked it, strange red fluid began to spew out of the marking, it was simr to arge boil being popped, but in the next instant, the Zombie had stopped moving.


    "That''s great! Now we know how to get rid of these guys. We can just beat all the zombies, get Zain and head on out of here." Buke said.


    "I don''t think it will be that easy." Skittle replied. "Something or someone must have put these weird markings on the zombies in the first ce¡­."


    He turned towards the freezer, and that was when Skittle noticed a strange green hand on therge door. It pulled itself out, revealing its entire body. It was the same size as the other zombies, only its entire skin was green in colour.


    All over it were these strange red boils that could be seen on the other zombies. They were pulsating in size, but what was most sickening about this creature was its mouth. It resembled nothing like a human''s as it had spread open wide like a blossomed flower, revealing hundreds of razor-sharp teeth with blood oozing from its mouth, dripping over its already drenched shirt.


    "What is that?! Everyone, Get away!" Skittle shouted, noticing that the others were yet to see it. Buke and Skittle were still the furthest away from the freezer, with the others in between.


    The creature''s mouth became even wider, and it started vibrating all over. The boils on its body grewrger, slightly like a balloon, and as it swung its head, something had flown out of its mouth.


    A bright red liquid flew through the air,nding directly on rk, covering his upper body.


    "What is this?" rk was rmed, and suddenly all of the Zombie''s eyes were on him.


    *****


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 Chapter 33 The Spitter

    The route of their problems was clearly this new type of zombie in front of them. Skittle understood this fact, but the only thing was, he had no idea how dangerous their current situation actually was.


    When the green zombie spat the strange red liquid from its mouth, Skittle assumed that this liquid would perhaps turn people or control them as it had done with the zombies, but it was far more dangerous than that.


    "What is all of this stuff!" rk said as he began to wipe it off him. The strange spit was gooey, making it hard to wipe it off the skin. However, he didn''t feel anything weird. Instead, his mind felt clear, which made him unsure if it actually did anything.


    However, a zombie came up to him, and its presence pulled him out of his stupor. rk swung his stick and hit the zombie on the head, sending it to the ground, but there was another zombie behind that one, and rk quickly realised something.


    In fact, not just him, the others realised something as well. All the zombies they were fighting against seemed to no longer care about them, and instead, they were heading straight for rk. Seeing this as an opportunity, Mark ran away to the aisle.


    Cody quickly followed, and Kelly was thest one. She was hesitant, but in the end, she left as well.


    "What are you guys doing?! Why are you running away? Why aren''t they attacking you?!" rk shouted as panic started to set in, although he continued to kick and hit the zombies away. Luckily rk had inhuman strength, allowing him to fend off therge group.


    "That red substance, it must be attracting the zombies¡­." Skittle mumbled. "We can''t let ourselves be hit by that Spitter!"


    Spitter was what he was calling that strange green zombie, due to the creature''srge mouth and actions before.


    The Spitter itself seemed to be focused on rk as well. It hadn''t moved far from the freezer and was standing in silence, staring in the direction of rk.


    "Come on, let''s get out of here. We can escape this ce if we open the shutters while they''re all after him." Mark suggested.


    "You guys can go, but we''re going to stay." Skittle replied. "You said Zain is in that room, behind that Spitter Zombie, right?" Skittle asked. "Then I''m staying until I can get him out. We figured out how to kill the zombies. We have to attack the red boils on their body. We can do this."


    Mark looked at them for a while and turned his head toward where the entrance was. If they wanted to risk their lives for the others, they could be his guest. Then, leaving them all, he headed towards the shutters.


    "Aim for the red mark right, and avoid getting spat on. Understood." Cody replied.


    "I might not be able to be much help. So I''ll just stay here and warn you guys if I see anything else." Kelly replied.


    Running forward, Cody sprung into action. While the zombies were distracted, it was the best opportunity for them. Since they were all going after rk, Cody could easily use his des to stab the red spots.


    He slid across the floor and stabbed it on the leg while heading to the next one. Skittle had his hammer from before in one hand while a frying pan in the other, making him look like he was holding some type of sword and shieldbo.


    Then there was Buke. With his bat, it didn''t matter if they would get back up because, with arge swing, he would crush their ribs, making them worse off if they dide back up.


    It seemed like he had limitless power as he swung the bat.


    "When they''re not attacking us, this is actually easier!" Buke said, swinging so hard that the head of one of the Zombies got decapitated and hit the wall. However, the zombie was still moving and alive since the attack hadn''t destroyed its red boil.<sub> </sub>


    "There''s moreing out of the freezer!" Kelly shouted, warning them.


    The group looked ahead, and just as Kelly said, there were more of them, but it wasn''t a small number. Instead, around fifteen more were rushing out, but their bodies weren''t frozen for some reason, unlike the others. They still had the boils on their body, but they ran straight toward rk at full speed, just as fast as a normal person.


    Skittle froze, allowing them to run past him, Buke had hit one in the chest, sending it flying back, but others simply ignored him and went for rk.


    Cody also took this chance and stabbed one of them on the head where a boil was.


    "Arghh!" rk''s scream resonated throughout the supermarket. His fingers were bit when a zombietched its jaws down and wouldn''t let go. After that, two more Zombies leapt on top of his body and started biting his neck and chest.


    Within seconds, rk was overwhelmed with so many zombies that the others couldn''t see him anymore, and even with his super strength, there was no chance for him to survive. As they watched rk in disbelief, Skittle noticed a zombieing from one of the aisles and had lept to attack rk as well.


    "No..." Skittle thought as he looked back toward the entrance of the store.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Mark had reached the shutters and immediately pressed the door button. He was in a panic, constantly turning his head back and side to side.


    "Come on! Come on! Open up!" Mark said.


    In a rush, as soon as the bottom of the shutters started to lift, he grabbed it and lifted it himself. In that second, he felt great pain in his leg and all over his body as a horde of zombies was right outside of the shop, ready to pounce on him.


    They could barely fit through the entrance of the door because they were that many. On the other hand, Mark fell to the floor, and his eyes turned lifeless as the zombies ate his flesh.


    While a few zombies were biting on Mark, the other zombies started to make their way toward the others inside.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Seeing not just one but a couple of other Zombies that didn''t have the strange boil, Skittle''s face paled as his heart filled with regret.


    "We should have run! We should have gotten out of here! That spit doesn''t just attract the boil-Zombies but all of them."


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 Chapter 34 The Fallen

    Grunts reverberated throughout the Supermarket, and now what Skittle had been the first to notice, the others were catching on as well. An unknown amount of zombies were treading down the aisles and had entered the Supermarket.


    Thankfully there was one good thing on their side. The fact that most of these zombies were extremely slow. Their steps were slumped as if they could barely handle their own body weight.


    Either way, the problem now was to get out of the building. It was a considerable risk trying to get out of the entrance, and judging by the banging they could hear in other corners, they knew the situation was worsening with every second.


    "What do we do now?" Kelly had asked, moving closer to Skittle, who was heading towards where Buke and Cody were. It looked like the Boil Zombies were still busy attacking rk.


    Once in a while, one of the Zombies would be seen getting knocked off. For once, everyone was thankful that rk was strong while also being big, so the Zombies were getting quite the feast out of him, but with how many more wereing over and heading in his direction, it won''t be long before they were done with him.


    "I have a n! And it''s quite a simple one!" Buke said, pping the bat into the palm of his hand and turning towards the Spitter. "He''s the one causing all of our problems, so I''m going to get rid of him!"


    Buke let out some sort of war cry as he shouted, charging towards the Spitter, while Skittle reached out to stop Buke but was toote.


    ''I''m not sure getting rid of that thing is our best option. Right now, the Spitter has only picked one target, and all zombiesing in the store are heading towards rk.


    ''If we kill the Spitter now, what will happen to these Zombies?''


    It seemed this question didn''t matter too much because the group of zombies that were attacking rk were done with him. Noticing this, the group raised their weapons as they got ready to protect themselves.


    "Are we just going to sit here and fight them? I''m not sure that''s the best option!" Kelly said nervously.


    Honestly, Skitlltte wasn''t sure what to do either. Should they head down an aisle and find a way of getting out of here? But heading into a narrow space would mean doom for them all. There was too much on the line for him to make a decision.


    That''s when he noticed something. Apart from the Boil Zombies that had eaten rk, the normal zombies were heading toward them. But, instead, they were heading back to the Spitter.


    "Let''s back up, Buke!" Skittle shouted. "Get rid of the boils on the other Zombies first, and then let''s get out of here."


    Charging forward, they went to intercept the zombies that were heading towards Buke.


    ----


    When Buke came forward, it looked like the Spitter hadn''t noticed him.


    When he was in range, Buke swung his bat, aiming to hit thergemouth and head of the zombie.


    But the Spitter jumped back, avoiding the bat, and the boils had started to light up again, getting ready to spit again.


    <o>,m ''I can''t let that thing hit me!'' Buke thought, immediately rolling onto the ground. Then, looking to his side, he saw that the red liquid had narrowly missed him.</o>


    ''The boils on his body aren''t growing as brightly as they did just now. So I''m guessing you won''t be using that soon!'' Buke jumped from his crouching position and had the bat over his head before he swung it down.<sub> </sub>


    Once again, though, the creature avoided the attack by moving backwards, allowing the bat to crash into the ground, and the force from it cracked the floor tiles.


    ''This Zombie has full control of its body, it has full movement, and it''s reacting even faster than me.'' Buke looked up and could see at that moment that it had opened itsrge mouth and was ready to mp down on him.


    His instincts kicked in, and with the bat in his hand, he shoved it straight into the Spitter''s mouth. Almost immediately, the inner part of the Spitter''s mouth began to crunch the bat as if it wasn''t metal but a cookie.


    Seeing this, Buke immediately let go, and with his bare fist and in a fit of rage, he went and punched the Spitter right in the head. It flinched and slightly moved its head but didn''t step away from its position.


    ''What the...With my newfound strength, I thought I would be able to injure it at least...but it''s done nothing.'' Seeing this, Buke lost hope and decided to pull back.


    "I''m guessing you don''t have any good news?" Cody asked as he saw Buke retreating toward them.


    The others had done well. They had killed four of the Boil Zombies, but it was challenging to fight properly without getting a scratch on themselves. They all had thick clothes on, which helped, but being cautious was making it hard, and by now, many of the slow Zombies had caught up and had surrounded them from all directions.


    "That thing is a lot stronger than the others. We''ll at least need a gun or something to hurt it." Buke felt helpless. And having no weapons in his hands worsened the situation.


    "Then I guess we''ll have to pick a direction and get out of this ce," Cody said. The problem was, where should they go? Since there was no easy path to get out of the store.


    One of the zombies that was close mustered up the strength and leapt toward kelly, making her flinch. Both Cody and Skittle reacted, heading towards it. But just then, something strange happened.


    A sharp object flew through the air and went right through the zombie''s head, forcing it to the floor.


    "I... won''t let the same thing happen again." A voice resounded, attracting everyone''s attention.


    Turning to their right towards the freezer section, they noticed a red-haired young man just behind the Spitter.


    "Zain..." Skittle''s voice cracked a bit upon seeing his best friend. The situation felt hopeless, and many would think about what one person could do, but it wasn''t long ago when he felt the same, and this friend of his had taken him out safely from an almost impossible situation.


    "Help us?" Skittle cried out again.


    "Of course!" Zain replied and headed straight for the Stage two zombie, the Splitter.


    *****


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 Chapter 35 Stage 2 Fight

    Zain had healed his broken leg by consuming quite a bit of energy and was now up on his feet.


    [Energy: 64/100]


    However, the bigger problem was his body functionality, which had now dropped to 86 percent. As time passed, his movements were getting slower and weaker, and overall, he felt his body be less responsive. Yet, the situations the group was in were getting more dangerous by the second.


    When Zain appeared, instead of targeting the humans, the Spitter Zombie turned around and focused on him. Then, it opened its mouth, vibrating all its teeth, creating a strange shriek sound.


    It wasn''t quite trying to let out a cry or a loud shout, but it was as if he was trying to speak. At that moment, Zain noticed that the Boil zombies, about the six of them who were still alive, also turned toward him and ran at Zain.


    ''So that''s the Stage Two Zombie that the system warned me about. Well, at least my presence has aggroed his attention to me,'' Zain thought.


    The Boil zombies were fast. They weren''t at the mutated zombie''s level but were just as fast as a newly turned zombie.


    Seeing the iing zombies, Zain took out two mops from his back that he had turned into sharp spears. He gripped them tightly as he shoved the first one right through a zombie''s head. But the zombie kept moving forward, which was weird, however, Zain didn''t stop there.


    With his newfound strength, he quickly lifted the metal pole with the zombie''s head on top of it and swung it, crashing the pole and his body into the other zombies, sending them off to the side.


    "You have to get rid of the boil marks!" Skittle''s sudden shout entered his ears.


    Hearing this, when the next Boil zombie came towards Zain, he whacked away its lingering arm dangling towards him and stabbed the boil right by the zombie''s hip.


    [You have sessfully eliminated a Controlled zombie]


    [+2EXP]


    ''Only two exp, for killing something like that¡­but I guess I can''tin. At least killing them doesn''t lower my exp.''


    Now armed with more information, Zain was going in toward the boil zombies more confidently. He grabbed one of them by its head, not worried if he was to be a bit or not, and stabbed the pole through the top of the head where he had noticed a boil.


    Quickly another approached from behind, and Zain whacked it a couple of times on its leg before hitting it across the head, sending it to the floor. But before Zain could finish that one off on the floor, another came and bit him on the arm.


    Fortunately, its teeth couldn''t chew through his thick clothing, but it wouldn''t have mattered anyway. It just gave Zain a sitting target, something easy to beat. Dealing with two more and the others, he had quickly gotten rid of the six boil zombies.


    [+ 10 Exp]


    ''I knew he was strong from the video we saw¡­but he was really able to deal with them quickly and calmly. How can a student be like this?'' Kelly thought, watching things y out. The others were too busy to notice, they had their own set of problems.


    Although the zombies they faced weren''t fast, they were high in number, and pulling off an attack that could pierce their skull or kill them in one go was quite difficult. Only Buke was having an easy time.


    "Argh!" Buke shouted, mming a frying pan on top of a zombie''s head so hard that its head got mushed into its ribcage, killing it instantly. "Look, we''re doing fine for now, but even someone like me will tire out eventually. We need a n to get out of this ce. Zain will deal with that thing, but all of these, not even Zain will be able to take these guys out."


    "The back," Kelly answered. "In the back, there is a lorry which was used to move and deliver things. We can use that Lorry to get out of here, but there is one problem. The door to the outside where the Lorry is is locked by a chain. You should be strong enough to break the chain, right?" Kelly asked, looking at Buke.


    It didn''t sound like a bad idea. Although using arge vehicle like that would make a lot of noise and attract attention, they had already done that. At least with a vehicle, they could outrun these guys and get to a safer location than they are now.<sub> </sub>


    "Alright, we will run towards the back door once Zain is done with that dangerous one. I''ll break the door, and you guys drive, got it?!" Buke instructed.


    Everyone nodded, but the teenager, Cody, did something strange at that moment. He charged forward from the circle the group was in and broke out of it. Soon, he used his agility to run through the zombie horde, not letting them take a single hit.


    Then when reaching the aisles, he used one of the shelves as a base to push his body up and instantly got on top of the aisle. Then, without wasting any time, he ran across the top of them.


    "Where is he going?" Kelly asked.


    "I don''t know. Maybe he didn''t like the n or something?" Skittle replied.


    In the first ce, a particr zombie was in their way of getting out of this store, and it was the most dangerous one. So it was all up to Zain now. With the two spear-like objects, Zain charged forward toward the Spitter.


    Thetter''s body lit up and spat out red coloured substance. Although Zain didn''t know what the red liquid could do, he was smart enough to avoid it, and then, moving to the side, he continued forward. When he was within range, he swung one of the poles and hit the Spitter on the side of its head. The attack was sessful, unlike Buke''s wild bat swings.


    It had somewhat been heavy as well, and it looked like even the zombie was surprised by this, but so was Zain.


    ''I hit that thing with a full swing. It would have snapped a zombie''s neck off, but this one ispletely fine.'' Zain thought, swinging his other hand, attempting to hit it from the other side of its head


    Before it reached its head though, the Spitter lifted its arm, and on impact, the pole had snapped. The Spitter then leapt towards Zain with its mouth, and just like Buke, Zain shoved the spear directly into its mouth, assuming it might be a weak spot for the enemy.


    The spear was quickly disappearing like the Spitter''s mouth was some type of ck hole, and much to his disappointment, the attack didn''t do any damage either.


    With his other hand free, Zain continued to whack the Spitter on its neck, and he had done so three times until, with a swing of its own arms, the Spitter hit Zain and sent him in the air skidding across the floor.


    Zain wasn''t hurt and quickly got back up, although he was surprised by its strength.


    ''I didn''t break any bones, but it really does have power.''


    "Zain!" A familiar shout suddenly attracted his attention.


    Turning his head, Zain saw the hooded teenager running across the top of one of the aisles. The zombies from below tried to reach up, but Cody ran too fast for them to react.


    "Catch!" Cody shouted as he pulled off a strap bag one would put around their chest. It hurled in the air, and that''s when Zain understood why


    He easily caught the bag with one hand. It was already torn and not really used as a back to Cary things but something else. He understood why Cody had run off to the back. In the bag were the two familiar shear des he had with him before rk took them away.


    "Let''s try this again," Zain said while holding onto one de in each hand.


    *****


    1200 Stones for 2 chapters for the WSA 2022 please!

 Chapter 36 The First Bonus

    With the shear des in his hands, Zain felt much more confident than before. The mopes were make-shift spears and weren''t very sharp and sturdy in the first ce. Although the des on the edge of the shear weren''t sharp, they were good quality and heavy.


    "Come on then, let''s go for a second round!" Zain shouted, charging forward. The others didn''t know it, but he had somewhat heard the n they were discussing and knew it was reliant on him.


    When Zain got close enough, he swung the de from the side, aiming right for the Spitter''s head. It seemed to be the most dangerous part of the zombie. Seeing this, the zombie turned its head and spread itsrge mouth, ready to eat his weapon.


    That''s when Zain quickly pulled back, and at the same time, the other shear in his other hand had hit the Spitter''s side, striking right into one of the boils on its body. It burst like a sack full of liquid, draining the strange substance down the side of its arm.


    ''Your skin''s hard, you''re strong, and you can do some weird crap. But if this is the weakness of those other zombies you created, it should be the same for you as well.''


    The Spitter furiously swung his arm, but Zain had rolled to the ground to avoid the attack. Then, he spun his body and swung both shears together, pounding into the zombie''s knee. It was a solid hit but only scratched the zombie''s skin.


    After fighting several zombies in the day, he noticed the zombie he fought against wouldn''t feel any pain and could attack the enemy as long as their brain was intact, so he rolled back and jumped to his feet before the Spitter could counterattack.


    ''I''m getting used to this... and I won''t run out of breath now that I''m a zombie. So I can keep going, keep fighting without getting tired. I have to use what I have now to my advantage!''


    When he tightened the grip around the des, visions shed in his head once again.


    A young Zain was running while huffing and panting through a dark forest at night. He was almost naked, with several scars on his body.


    What was noticeable in the young Zain though, was the blood on his hands as he continued to run through the forest.


    "I have been ready for this. Something like you is not going to stop me!" Zain shouted. His head was now clear as he ran forward again.


    The boils on the stage 2 zombie''s body lit up, and it quickly spat out the red liquid towards him. At thest moment, Zain jumped to the side, not wasting any time or movement, and as soon as his feet touched the floor, he pushed his weight and continued to head straight toward the zombie.


    He shed one of the shear des as soon as he was within range and quickly sliced one of the boils on the zombie''s chest, and without giving any time for thetter to react, he cut through other boils on its body.


    The Spitter struggled against the continuous barrage of attacks, and although it couldn''t feel pain, Zain''s strength behind his attacks made blocking it difficult.


    From side to side, Zain continued his wild swings while hitting different areas of the body. They never pierced the Spitter much, but it was enough to impair the zombie slowly, and it was then that Zain noticed something.


    With fewer boils on its body, it was almost as if the zombie was starting to slow down. But the Spitter finally reacted when Zain jumped in for another attack and it had leapt onto him. However, it had missed his body but still managed totch onto his arm.


    It opened its mouth wide, and with its set of several hundred teeth, it chomped on his arm.


    "Take it if you want it, but I''m not going to let you have it for free!" Zain grunted as he lifted one of the shears and, with all his strength, stabbed it down in the back of the Spitter''s Neck. This time it had gone quite deep. Although not enough to go right through the neck, it was enough to force it to let go of Zain''s arm.<sub> </sub>


    The zombie wobbled back a bit as it tried to find the weapon in its back but struggled to get hold of the shear. Seeing this, Zain grabbed the other shear in both arms. Although the teeth marks on his arm looked deep, since he was a zombie, they didn''t affect him, and he was able to regain hisposure quickly.


    Gripping the shear like a sword, Zain ran forward as fast as he could. The Spitter lit up the boils on its body once again and spat right at Zain. However, due to its wild swinging, the spit missed Zain without him having to avoid it.


    Seeing this attack fail, it attacked him again with itsrge mouth, but before it could, Zain crouched down and pushed his legs, shoving the de right through the zombie''s chin.


    Zain pushed it up as hard as he could until the de was right through the top of its head. Letting go, Zain then kicked the bottom of the shear, hitting it again and shoving it through the head even more.


    The Spitter finally fell onto the floor, and the boils on its body no longer emitted any light. Seeing this, Zain knew he had sessfully taken out the Stage Two Mutated zombie, and then the ''ding'' of the system prompt confirmed his thoughts as a screen appeared in front of him.


    [150 exp has been earned]


    [You are the first to defeat a Stage 2 zombie who has been given the name ''Spitter'']


    [500 Bonus exp has been given]


    [You have sessfully levelled up]


    [Congrattions, you are now level 3]


    [262/2626 exp]


    A few more screens appeared and a few more prompts which Zain had to answer, but he soon heard a shaky voice from his side, which pulled his attention.


    "What do I do?" A shaky voice asked.


    Turning his head, Zain was left with his mouth hanging wide open as he stared at Skittle, now covered head to toe in the strange red liquid.


    *****


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 Chapter 37 A Split

    Zain targeted the Spitter because he knew killing this second-stage mutated zombie would end their biggest concern. After that, the group would get out of the supermarket, find the lorry and escape somewhere, but the situation took an unexpected turn.


    For a moment, Zain hoped that the red liquid wouldn''t work. With the Spitter zombie dead, maybe it couldn''t control them, but it didn''t take long for Zain to know that it had worked because he could sense it.


    When the red liquidnded on the floor, it didn''t react, but now that it was on Skittle, Zain could sense an aroma and felt a strong urge to walk towards it. For Zain, it was easy to hold back, but for all the other zombies, who could no longer use their brains properly, they were unable to.


    They had already stopped focusing on the entire group as all the zombies in the area headed towards Skittle. Since Mark opened the store shutters a while ago, over a hundred zombies were already inside.


    "No..no!" Skittle''s voice cracked.


    Kelly instinctively stepped away from him as the zombies began to move even faster as they got closer. One of them leapt from its position even with a broken leg and jumped at Skittle.


    Although he had a hammer in his hand, he was still in a stupor and couldn''t react in time. Fortunately, just then, someone swung down arge bat as it hit the zombie on top of the head, breaking its skull and stomping it to the floor.


    "Don''t worry, Skittle, we can get out of this!" The person was none other than Buke. He was now covered in zombies'' guts and was visibly sweating.


    He and the others except Zain were all exhausted from defending themselves from the zombies.


    Cody didn''t falter though, and Kelly hade back with the second wind of confidence, a will to live.


    A couple of secondster, they heard a resounding crash in the distance. It was from past the freezer room, close to where the deliveries woulde from.


    A door had fallen, but fallen wouldn''t be the best way to describe it. It had been pushed. As soon as the crash subsided, grunts resonated in the store, and through the door, more Zombies wereing toward them. They continued to pour in through the door, blocking the entire way to the trucks and exit.


    "We''re trapped. We have no way of getting out of this situation. They''ve blocked us in!" Kelly panicked.


    Usually, in this type of situation, Skittle would have felt guilty and grumbled to himself about why he hadn''t been paying attention and could have stepped away from the spit. Right now, he could only think about getting out of this situation alive, but his hands had frozen out of fear.


    On the other hand, just as Buke took down another zombie, Zain stepped in and struck down two more zombies.


    "We stick to the n!" He shouted. "Right now, they are just after Skittle and me. We have to use this to our advantage. I''ll protect Skittle, and we will run around this whole ce. Once the hallway is clear, you guys get on that truck and get out of this ce."


    Although they didn''t want to risk abandoning them, Zain was right. The oue of the situation was actually better for them all. If Skittle led the zombies away, their escape would be nearly a hundred percent confirmed.


    It was just no one was willing to say this. Would anyone be willing to do this, or act on this thought.


    "You''re nning to stay here, Zain? They''re not after you, but him!" Buke shouted. "Either way, let''s all get out of here!"


    By now, countless zombies had already gathered around them, and stepping back away from the others, along with Skittle, Zain had his weapons out to protect him.


    "Look at me," Zain replied while pointing at his arm. There was a deep bite mark on his blood-covered hand. "I was already bit by that thing. I''m not one of them yet, but I eventually will be."<sub> </sub>


    "You know what I''m like. I will do everything I can to ensure Skittle survives, but it''s the same for you, Buke. So get out of here!" Zain urged and started to run, and along with him was Skittle.


    They had picked one of the aisles, and even this ce was filled with zombies, though the numbers were considerably low.


    Zain didn''t hesitate to attack them while thinking about how to get out of the situation because when he reached the end of the aisle, he could see the zombies were still pouring in from the entrance.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Buke wanted to chase after his two friends badly, but his own life took priority in a situation like this. It didn''t take long for the zombies to clear out of the path toward the freezer section, and the group didn''t waste this opportunity as they started to run.


    "Come on! You heard Zain. You said you trusted him, didn''t you?" Kelly asked. "Then trust him one more time."


    After the other two left, Buke followed them, but he couldn''t help but think about what had just happened.


    ''Zain showed he was bit¡­I guess I was wrong about him. It looks like he will be turning into one of them. Goodbye, my good friend...and Skittle, I hope you can get out of this situation.'' Buke took a deep breath and increased his pace.


    They soon stepped out of the store and found two trucks parked near the exit. One had its door open with a body lying upside down as if someone had tried to pull it out of the truck. When they rushed over, they were relieved to find the key still in the truck.


    "Does anyone know how to drive?" Cody asked. "I''m too young."


    "I''ve never driven before."


    "I have," Kelly answered. "But I''m still learning. I haven''t passed yet."


    With all of their options in front of them, they could only rely on Kelly. So the three of them sat inside, and Kelly took the driver''s seat. With the turn of the key, the engine started, and they could feel the familiar vibration within the driver''s cabin.


    A beeping noise went off as the truck backed out of the supermarket. Regardless, all the zombies seemed to ignore it as they continued to enter the supermarket.


    After sessfully turning enough, they could now head off and onto the road.


    ''Am I doing the right thing? Leaving the two of them? Would they have done the same for me?'' Buke thought, biting his lip so hard that it started to bleed.


    There was no turning back on the road, and thinking of this, tears started to stream down Buke''s cheeks. No matter how strong Zain and Skittle were, there was no chance for the two of them to get out of that.


    ****


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 Chapter 38 Take The Pill

    Running down the aisle, Skittle was following Zain''s lead, as he knocked down zombie after Zombie. One leapt towards them and with a swing of his shear, he had whacked it right across the face and crashed into the shelves, causing a load of the food to drop to the ground.


    He continued forward, kicking another in the face, and then grabbing one by its head and mming it down on the floor.


    [You have defeated a Zombie]


    [- 2Exp]


    [You have defeated a Zombie]


    [- 2Exp]


    [You have defeated a Zombie]


    [- 2Exp]


    [You have defeated a Zombie]


    [- 2Exp]


    ''Damn it all of these messages!'' Zain thought.


    Level 3


    [248/2626 exp]


    ''At least I have a lot of exp this time, but I don''t even have time to check the benefits of levelling up with all of this going on.''


    At the same time, as quickly as Zain was defeating a zombie, there seemed to be more and more that were gathering at either end of the aisle. If it were wider, even more zombies would havee toward them.


    "Just how many of the Zombies are there, there weren''t even this many people living in the area, right? They had to havee from the university." Zainmented, and turned his head to look at his small friend.


    Skittle was still shaking a bit, the red liquid was still on him, and more were still trying to grab him by the second. A hand came bursting through from one side of the shelves, and went to reach Skittle but before it could touch him, there was arge object swung down hitting the arm. It didn''t it off but broke it in the process.


    "Skittle!" Zain shouted. "I''m going to need you to wake up. I can''t fight and think at the same time, at least not to the best of my ability, so if you can''t fight right now, then I''m going to at least need you to think!"


    There was more in Skittle''s head other than the fact that all of the zombies were after him, it was the fact that Zain had been bit. If that was the case then it meant he would be turning into a zombie. Honestly, if that wasn''t the case then Skittle would have told Zain to leave him so that he could be the bate.


    However, seeing Zain try so hard, there was a reason for it, and Skittle could only think it was because it was his best friend''s final breath of life.


    p "Let''s go to where the others were, the entrance was smaller there, and if we use your body we can push through and maybe get in a vehicle of some sort." Skittle said.</anda>


    Unsure if it was a good n or not, Zain sprung into action as he ran forward and mmed the side of his arm into one of the shelving sections. It started to fall slightly but due to the number of Zombies on the other side that were holding it up, it was at a tilted angle.


    The next second and Zain, had grabbed Skittle.<sub> </sub>


    "Hold on." Zain ran forward cing his feet on the shelves, and when he got to the end he leapt over as far as he could to the other side reaching the top of the aisle. He nearly overshot it and fell into another aisle but after regaining his bnce he was okay.


    ''That cody kid made it look easy.''  Zain thought.


    Running at a height made it hard for the Zombies to reach them, but they were aggressively pushing each other into the shelves making them wobble slightly. They were ready to topple over at any second. Luckily in his arms, Skittle was light, allowing Zain to sprint through as fast as he could.


    One of the stack of shelves had fallen from the Zombies trying to reach them too much, but with a leap from his powerful legs, he cleared the distance with ease. Due to the situation, Skittle wasn''t even noticing the amazing human feats that Zain was going through.


    When they finally got to the end of the aisle, Zain leapt down with Skittle and they were back to the open area just where the freezer section was, only there was a huge problem. Breaking through several emergency doors, fire exits and windows, the Zombies were heavily packed in the hallway.


    "We can''t force ourselves through this. If we did with Skittle, then without a doubt he would be bitten by one of them.'' Clenching his teeth, Zain had toe up with a n quickly. Although he wasn''t tired, his energy was getting lower, as he continued to fight and his body functionality was getting worse.


    ''There''s also a good chance with this many zombiesing here, that there could be another stage 2 Zombie.''


    Looking around for options, Zain saw something, it wasn''t really an option but it was the only thing he could think of.


    "Follow me!" Zain shouted as he headed over to arge door. The fresh air could be felt as they approached the room. Skittle didn''t hesitate to follow his friend and when they were finally inside, Zain mmed the door shut behind them.


    Skittle was shivering and his breath was frosty, as he looekd around at all the eaten bodies inside. The two of them were now in the freezer section. Bangign from outside continued on the metal door.


    Lifting the handle, Zain was able to lock it, but how long it would hold with so many outside it was impossible to tell.


    "Zain, I''m so sorry! I''m so sorry for getting you into this mess!" Skittle said wiping his tears.


    "Stop it," Zain said. "You weren''t the one that caused all of this, to change the world so don''t go ming yourself for anything!"


    Sniffling, he felt the words did reassure Skittle a little.


    "But Zain you arm, because of me, you''re now going to turn into one of them."


    Hearing this, Zain started to pull down the wrappings that were around his neck and showed the bite mark that remained.


    "Skittle I was bitten a long time ago, look at me.  I''mpletely fine, this bite won''t do anything to me as well. This is why I have a proposal for you, and it''s up to you what you want to do.


    "I can bite you, and there''s a chance you could be something like me, or... they get through this door and we try to escape. But I''ll be honest it''s unlikely you will make it out of here without being bit."


    The option was now in Skittle''s hands.


    *****


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 Chapter 39 Reborn

    Skittle was a smart boy, he was always top of his ss during school and had even managed to enter the university on a special Schrship. Although there were times when he would think too much, and it would get in the way of hismon sense.


    He was a nervous wreck multiple times which would cause him to fumble some of his scores at times. To put it simply he didn''t do well in high-pressure situations.


    Right now though, he was thinking back to everything he had seen about Zain. His skin colour slightly getting paler, his eyes changed, and the fact that even though he was stabbed in the chest and they had yet to go to a hospital, he was acting like nothing had happened.


    "You were bit...from the beginning. Are you saying that you were bit when you first came to us!" Skittle asked.


    At first, when he heard the suggestion from Zain he thought it was crazy. Perhaps he had been bit recently and it still hadn''t taken effect on him, but Zain waspletely normal despite so much time passing. Just like with a virus everyone''s body would react differently and just maybe that was what had happened to Zain.


    However, it was unlikely that just getting Zain to bite him would change the way the virus was, to the point it was mutated and that was if it was even a virus in the first ce. There was just too much risk.


    While in the middle of his thoughts, the banging increased against the metallic door, it was consistent and sounded as if it was gettingrger by the second. For a moment, it looked like the door had moved slightly, meaning it was only a matter of time before they would get in.


    "The zombies, they don''t attack me," Zain exined. "The reason why I was able to save you guys and get out of the situation from before, was because they were never after me. I could just ditch the car and attract the zombies with the sound."


    Hearing this, Skittle understood what Zain was saying, right now the Zombies were only banging and trying to enter this room because of him. If this crazy n worked then there was a good chance that they would go away.


    "Skittle, it''s our best chance right now. I don''t want to see you die, I don''t want to do nothing, this is the best chance of survival!" Zain shouted, kicking the door behind him, shoving it slightly back, as it had been pushed forward from the others.


    It was a hard hit and shove that had bent the door, making it a bit harder to open.


    Skittle quickly took off the overcoat he was wearing and pulled up the sleeve, revealing his skin.


    "Zain, you have been a good friend to me, you and both Buke helped me when I was getting bullied. You helped me get my items back from those guys, and ever since you continued to protect me.


    "I know, even now you''re trying to protect me. If what you said is true you could have left this ce a long time ago. I know you have had your own troubles, and I was unable to help you back then, I was unable to see what you were going through. But this time I can do something, and won''t be a burden to you!"


    When Skittle said these words, it reminded Zain of a certain moment. Once again visions started to sh in his mind. The freezer had turned into an incredibly dark room. Once again, there was blood on his hands.


    ''You will fail again...now you''re going to kill your friend as well. You once again are useless, unable to help anybody.'' A voice was heard echoing in his head.


    ''No.'' Zain shook his head. ''This will work, it has to work!''


    Skittle ran forward, closing his eyes not slowing down, he had made a decision but didn''t want to back out of it.


    "Zain, if it''s out of you or them, then I would rather take a chance with you. Please if anything happens to me...just make sure my family and Buke are okay!"<sub> </sub>


    As Skittle reached him, Zain pressed his hand against his forehead stopping him. Skittle was so hell-bent on running he nearly crashed into Zain.


    Zain grabbed his friend''s arm next and could see he still had his eyes closed.


    Even now while holding Skittle he could feel his whole body shaking.


    ''Please, whoever is looking over me, whoever created this damned Zombie system and is looking over me, make this work!'' Zain opened his mouth, and with his teeth bite down.


    Screaming in pain, Skittle quickly put his shirt in his mouth to bite against and take in the pain. Still, Zain didn''t let go, he could feel somethinging through his teeth. It was as if blood was being drawn out of him from the bite, and was entering Skittle.


    Whatever had turned him this way, he wanted to turn Skittle as quickly as possible. It seemed like it was working as the colour of his veins could be seen darkening through his skin.


    It was running up his neck, and soon had reached his eyes, turning them paler by the second.


    ''Is it working..is it really turning him into something like me!'' Zain thought.


    Suddenly, his eyes had gone hollow, and the banging on the door behind them started to stop. Zain could no longer smell the attractive scent that had been ced on Skittle. Like a  chemical reaction, the red liquid seemed to only work on humans which meant one thing.


    [Congrattions! You have sessfully turned your first victim]


    [1/10 Zombies in your current horde]


    [New skills have been unlocked]


    [10 exp has been granted]


    Now letting go of Skittlehsi teeth marks had been made deep on the arm, blood dripping from it, but the real question remained.


    "Skittle...Skittle...are you okay, can you hear me?" Zain asked.


    *****


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 Chapter 40 An Upgrade

    It was a tense moment for Zain. In truth, he would have liked to test what he could do and what turning someone would do, which was why he hade to such an area in the first ce. There was Barbara, but who knew what had happened to her.


    In the end, the circumstances meant that his friend would be the first one to get turned.


    "Skittles, speak to me!" Zain shouted. "Say anything if you understand?"


    Slowly Skittle turned his head. He looked at Zain and tilted his head to the side for a second. Then opening his mouth, he let out an iprehensible gibberish.


    "Ahh gragk!" "Ahk! gragk!"


    "No! No, no!" Zain panicked. "Skittle shake my hand if you understand me?"


    Skittle titled his head to the other side and made the same noises again, and Zain''s hand was left hanging in the air. Helpless, Zain fell to his knees, and his head mmed on the floor.


    "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Zain grunted out as he punched the hard floor over and over again. "Why¡­why didn''t it work..why didn''t he turn into something like me!"


    Just then, a shadow was cast over him as the Zombie Skittle moved closer. It didn''t say anything and just stood there. The truth was, Zain knew there was a good chance that something like this was likely to ensue. Both knew the risks, and it was highly likely that the oue wouldn''t be in their favour.


    ''Wait, maybe there is something in the system that can help? It said I gained new skills or something, right?''


    Thinking about this, Zain opened his system panel, and an entirely new section of the system interface opened in front of him. There was a tab called Horde, and when clicking on it, a picture of Skittle''s zombie state appeared on the next screen.


    Next to his name were a bunch of stats just like what Zain had on himself, although they were slightly different.


    [Name: Skittle]


    [Type: Undead]


    [Hunger: 99 percent]


    [Level 1]


    ''He has a level as well. So does that mean that Skittle can level up?'' Thinking about this reminded him that he also needed to check what levelling up would do for himself, but for now, he was more focused on Skittle.


    ''There''s no energy stat like mine, but there is a hunger stat.'' Zain thought. ''I assume it works the same way as my energy stat does, which means at some point Skittle will have to eat.''


    When clicking on Skittle''s name, Zain found the new skills that had been unlocked.


    [Horde Skills]


    [These Skills can be used individually or as a group]


    [Follow: Those in the Zombie Horde will follow the Head. If the Head attacks a certain individual, members of the Horde will Auto attack thest target the Head has hit unless further instructions are given]


    [Stay: This instruction forces the Undead to stay in its ce.]


    [Attack: The Horde will attack a target that has been selected]<sub> </sub>


    [Protect: The Horde will do its best to take any damageing towards the Head]


    [Freeroam: This lets the Undead act on their own.]


    [Note: If the hunger of a zombie reaches below twenty percent, they can no longer followmands until it goes above twenty once again and they will make finding food their priority]


    The skills were interesting, to say the least. Although Zain''s favourite games were survival-based, he would y others from time to time, and the skills and instructionmands he gained from the system reminded him of those other games he would y, so he understood the concept.


    The only thing was, he would perhaps be willing to use these skills if it was just a regr zombie rather than his best friend.


    Either way, Zain needed to test out how it worked. It looked like, at the moment, Skittle had themand-follow set. So wherever Zain would go, Skittle would go, and thetter could keep up with him as well.


    Skittle was running at the pace he would have done before he even got turned. After that, Zain tried the othermands and even tried the [Attack]mand on one of the dead bodies in the room.


    Surprisingly Skittle went towards it and started hitting it, despite it being dead already.


    <o>,m So, all in all, Zain tested every skill apart from the [Protect], but then again, he would never want to use this skill with Skittle in mind.</o>


    One plus was there was no need to ess the system to use thesemands. Instead, he could just subconsciously think ofmands with the zombie in mind, and it would work. How this would work when Zain had a bigger horde, he didn''t know.


    After his testing wasplete, Zain felt a little glum. Although Skittle wasn''t like the other Zombies, he couldn''t think for himself. He was doing whatever the system from Zain told him. It was almost as if he didn''t have his own will anymore.


    "Skittle, I promise I will do everything I can to find a type of Cure, a way to bring you back to normal. I won''t fail again...I won''t fail another time!" Zain said, putting his hand on his friend''s shoulder, who seemed to respond with the same iprehensible gibberish.


    The only good thing was that there was some control, and he believed he hadn''t fully lost his best friend.


    Now, with no more zombies outside, they weren''t in any immediate danger, and it was time for him to n his next step. However, before that, he needed to do one more thing. Earlier, he had heard the notification of levelling up, and now it was time to check how much stronger he had be and what he had gained after getting to Level Three.


    When he opened his stats panel, he noticed a small upgrade icon next to his name.


    ''Was this here before?'' Zain thought.


    There was nothing else he could do, and it looked like his only option was to click this before deciding something. In the end, Zain clicked it thinking what the worst that could happen was.


    [After sessfully levelling up, you may now choose from the following.]


    [Please choose your upgrade and what type of Zombie you wish to be.]


    *****


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 Chapter 41 Select Your Path

    [Picking the type of Undead you would like to be will greatly affect your evolution path. So please read each option carefully, as once you have chosen your evolution path, you can no longer revert this change.]


    Reading the message was just making Zain think of the whole system even more so like a game. So far, his experience from gaming had helped him well with the system and surviving in the real world, but he also learnt that in real life, there were a lot of variables that one couldn''t control, which had put him in this type of situation in the first ce.


    ''Let''s see what you have for me.'' Zain thought.


    [Aggro Path: The Undead that focuses on this path will concentrate mainly on themselves. It will increase the strength of the Undead through power, speed, resistance and more, with all things focusing on the Undead''s own body.


    [These types of Undead are usually the most powerful in a one-on-one situation and are aggressive in nature]


    Reading the system message, Zain realised that it wasn''t going to be as clear as he wanted it to be, and that was because this was just a path and not the evolutions themselves. At times, after building a character in a game, he would wish he had made it a different way.


    In a game, one could reset their character so they could fix the mistakes they had done before, and he had done this many times, but there was no option to do that here.


    ''Body improvements, from what I have seen, people like Buke and rk shoulde under this. But do humans have this type of path as well?'' Zain thought.


    [Control Path: This Undead controls the might of other Undead to handle the situation. Its strength spreads to the ones that it controls. The user of this path must be able to keep hisposure and have a clear and calm mind.]


    The control path was interesting, making him wonder about the Stage 2 Zombie he had met. After Zain upgraded himself, would he also be a Stage 2 Zombie? The ability of the Spitter zombie he had fought with was simr to the Control path, and he knew how dangerous that could be.


    [All-Rounder Path: This type of Undead doesn''t solely focus on oneself or those they control and turn. It''s a mixture of the two other paths. It''s neither strong in one department or weak in the other. It allows the user to mix their way to fight and survive.]


    Those were all three of the different options that Zain could choose from, and he was sure, based on the description, thatter on, he could further refine these options to suit his needs more, but the question was, what should he choose?


    ''I know this is real life, but I have no experience of being in an apocalyptic situation before other than the games I have yed. If it was a game, and it was my first run, then I would have picked the All-Rounder Path.


    ''That way, I could see what I liked and didn''t like, and on the next run-through, chose one of the other options, but this isn''t a game, and I only get one choice.''


    From his experience, the fastest role with one strong attribute usually won out in most situations. But, at the same time, he could try to make up for what hecked by using his head. So he wanted to select either the Aggro or Control path, instead of theirbination.


    After thinking for a while, Zain finally came to a decision.


    ''If I was a human trying to survive in this world, I would pick the Aggro path. So there''s no doubt I will pick the Aggro path if this situation arises in a game with a human character.


    ''Making me the best I can be, but unfortunately, I''m not a human. I''m trying to live my life as a Zombie, and there''s Skittle too. I can''t let him remain like this forever. So the best choice that I have is... control.''


    After selecting the option, a confirmation screen appeared in front of him, and with Zain having made his choice, he hit confirm and didn''t want to look back. In the next moment, a light appeared around his whole body for a few seconds and soon quickly disappeared.


    It was strange because it was one of the first times that he felt a slight difference in his body, a feeling even. Earlier, he hadn''t felt anything except losing the sense of pain and urge to kill.


    ''What is all of this? I can sense things straight away. I can smell better, all the different scentsing toward me. It looks like my vision veil has widened, and my hearing has also improved.''


    When he clenched his fist, there seemed to be no change in his body strength-wise, so he threw a punch to test one more thing and found no change in his speed either. Rather, it was as if his perspective powers had increased overall.<sub> </sub>


    [You have selected the Control Path]


    [Your maximum Horde Size has expanded.]


    [Horde: 1/15]


    [Undead under your control can turn humans into Undead that will be part of your Horde. If there are no more slots remaining, they will just be regr Undead unless the leader wishes to make space by setting one of their own Undead in their control free]


    ''I''m guessing this means, if Skittle bites a human, then it would be mine...but it makes me wonder if I can set Undead free, is there also a way I can get other Undeads to join my Horde, not just the humans I or my Undeads turn? Maybe what I did to Barbara would have worked now...and maybe I can obtain a Stage 2 Zombie in my Horde.'' Zain thought.


    [1 Stat point has been given for each level up.]


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 0]


    [Intelligence: 0]


    [Endurance: 0]


    [You have two avable stat points.]


    [Please note, Although you have selected the Control path, your evolution will depend on how you decide to distribute your stats.]


    There were no skills or anything special he could do like that of the Stage 2 Zombie, so perhaps he wasn''t at that level yet, and that''s what he needed to do, to level up so he could eventually evolve. To be honest, he was thankful because he didn''t want to turn into something as ugly as that. For now, looking like a human was to his advantage.


    ''This whole thing is about surviving, so I know what I want.''


    [Your endurance has increased by 2 points]


    Immediately, he felt a strange tingling feeling all over his skin. He recalled how tough the Stage Two Zombie''s skin was. At least it means now, if an enemy stabs him, it wouldn''t hurt as much, and he would need less energy to heal himself..


    [1/15 Horde]


    "I won''t let the same situation happen again. Let''s go, Skittle." Zain said as he opened the door for the room, and the two of them left the ce.


    *****


    1200 Stones for 2 chapters for the WSA 2022 please!

 Chapter 42 The Horde Grows Stronger

    Upon exiting the cold freezer and stepping back into the supermarket, the scene that came in front of them was as per Zain''s expectations. The whole store was now scattered with zombies, although it didn''t seem as packed as before as the zombies tended to roam and scatter around.


    They would just walk aimlessly until the human scent wafted into their nose, urging them where to go next. One good thing was when walking around, they noticed that the zombies weren''t attacking either of them.


    ''Well, at least my n would have worked if Skittle had ended up like me.'' Zain said to himself, trying to reassure himself that he had made the right decision.


    He decided not to leave the supermarket just yet and began to walk around to look for a few items. First, they headed to the clothes section of the ce and decided to change from their bloodstained clothes into something else.


    The only thing was that Skittle wasn''t really able to take off clothes on his own, and since there was nomand for that, Zain had to do it for him.


    ''I should be able to do this much after turning you into this.''


    It was simr to getting a child out of their clothing, as his limbs were quite stiff, but after a struggle, Zain had finally seeded. Soon, the two of them were in a new set of clothes. Zain was wearing a dark red hoodie, if someone''s blood did get on it, then it wouldn''t be too easy to notice. On top of that, he had coiled a soft scarf around his neck.


    As for Skittle, he was wearing arge ck shirt, brown overcoat, ck pants and brown boots. He now looked the same Skittle Zain would see every day during normal times, only it was impossible not to tell Skittle was an undead. His skin was much paler than Zain''s, and his movements were weird, to say the least, and the most troubling thing was he couldn''t even speak.


    Still, if the two of them ran into people, no doubt they would be caught straight away. There wasn''t an immediate solution to this, and one never knew who or what they would face, so Zain decided to deal with it as it came.


    They then took a few more things and soon had two backpacks filled with necessities. Zain''s shears were done for, and he couldn''t quite find good long weapons, so he had to make do with a pair of sharp kitchen knives he came across in the cutlery aisle.


    ''A permanent weapon would be a better solution, and maybe we should head to a ce where we can get one.''


    A certain shed''s image shed in his head, with a wall full of different tools. Shaking it off, he tried to forget that memory.


    The bag was also filled with canned food and more, not for them but for who they might possibly meet in the future. It was mainly filled with items that would be valuable as time passed, and he could use them to bargain with others.


    However, nearly all of the food was kept in Skittle''s bag, while anything which would be used as weapons were with Zain.


    "Hey, will you look at that? You are now much stronger than you were before." Zain said, amazed that his friend could carry such arge weight and move with ease. Just like him, Skittle must have gained some sort of exceptional strength boost, which not all zombies seemed to have.


    "You understand that I''m the main fighter of this group, so I need to be as light on my toes as possible. You just have to carry that and stay out of trouble. Alright?" Zain asked.


    "Krak ka!"


    "I''ll take that as a yes."


    Talking to someone, even if it was his undead friend who most likely didn''t understand his words, was the only thing that was keeping him somewhat sane in this situation and helping him evade the guilt.


    Finally ready to leave, the two were heading towards the exit when something strange urred. One of the Zombies in the aisle suddenly turned its head to look at them. It hadn''t happened so far before, but it was clearly looking their way.


    Zain stood in front of Skittle, and it was a good thing he had done because the Zombie immediately started to rush toward them. It ran forward with its arms dangling out.<sub> </sub>


    [A mutated Zombie]


    Pulling out one of the knives at the right time, Zain threw it right at the Zombie''s knee; it didn''t slow it down but caused it to walk strangely, which was enough time for Zain to give the zombie a hit with his strong fist.


    Knocking his head back, the Zombie fell to the floor, and now with Zain''s foot on top of its chest, it was wriggling about, unable to move. It grabbed onto Zain''s leg, but it didn''t have the strength to rip through his skin or pull him off.


    ''The endurance stat has worked out quite well for me.'' Zain thought. ''But why do you guys just attack us and not any of the other Zombies in the Supermarket? Can you somehow tell that we''re different, just like I can tell about you?''


    While seeing the Zombie struggling on the floor, Zain had an idea. He stomped on his arm, breaking it in the process, and then lifted him from behind, holding his two arms in ce.


    "Skittle, Attack this guy.  Come on, you''re going to level up as well!"


    The order was heard, and in an instant, like flicking a light switch, Skittle started to run over and started to punch the Zombie, hit after hit; it didn''t tire him out, especially with Zain holding him, it was making his job easy.


    "Go on, Skittle,e on, hit him, take it, attack!" Zain encouraged the little Skittle. He had hardly seen his friend fight before, and for some reason, seeing this excited him a bit. In the end, the zombie fell to the floor.


    [10 exp has been gained]


    [A member of the Horde has helped with the kill]


    [Exp has been granted to those that have contributed most]


    This was what Zain was expecting to see; with the type of Path he had chosen and for not just him to survive, he needed to not ust level up himself but level up Skittle as well, and soon he would have a whole army that he would be levelling up.


    There was a problem though, and that was their hunger and energy; without food and flesh, they would soon run out of energy, and Zain''s body functionality was getting worse. The levelling up did nothing to resolve that problem.


    Which was why the two of them needed to head out of the store and look for something they could eat. When exiting out of the door, Zain turned around to make sure Skittle was following him, and that''s when a certain smell entered his nose. Turning to the direction of the smell, he was now looking in front of him.


    Standing there was a human, but not just any human, one that wasrge in size with a ck leather jacket, that and tearsing out of his eyes.


    "Buke¡­what are you doing here?" Zain asked. But this was not the sentimental meeting the two thought they would have.


    "What¡­.What happened to Skittle." Buke asked.


    *****


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    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA

 Chapter 43 Rid The World

    Therge truck was riding on the highway road with the others inside. It was easier for them to travel along the roads than they thought. Some believed that the streets would be blocked and filled with stagnant cars trying to enter the city.


    However, that wasn''t the case at all. The vehicles were far and few between. Some had crashed, pulled over, or driven into the ditches and side rail, but there wasn''t significant traffic, at least not yet. Perhaps it was because they weren''t in the city.


    "You''re going to the city?" Buke asked. "Zain said that most likely they have the most Zombies there." When speaking, it was in a disheartened voice, as if he had no energy to say those words.


    "I mean, at the same time, that''s where most people will be right. Maybe all of the military force is concentrated there. We should be able to find someone, and where else can we go?" Kelly replied. "What''s surprised me is how clear the roads are...for something like this to happen, it''s almost as if the whole event happened at once. When those meteor strikes hit the."


    Buke would have guessed the same thing, and many would havee to the same conclusion, but there was one problem with that. Buke knew because of Skittle that there had been reports of Zombie attacks already on the dark web.


    He had refused to listen to Skittle at the time, even though he was right like always; he was right about most things.


    "Stop!" Buke suddenly said.


    "Huh, what do you mean stop?" Kelly asked.


    "I said stop, stop the car!" Buke repeated.


    Seeing the look in the student''s eyes, Kelly thought that she was going to get hit if she didn''t listen to the order. Cody felt this as well, but there wasn''t a lot of space for him to manoeuvre or use his agility to his advantage. He had seen how strong Buke was.


    In the end, the truck hade to a halt on the highway, and Buke had jumped down, walking away.


    "Wait, what are you nning on doing?" Kelly asked.


    "I''m going back for the other two. I can''t just leave them like that. I''m not asking you guys toe with me, you''re just strangers, but it''s different for me." Buke said. "Don''t worry, I''ll make my own way there."


    Cody and Kelly looked at each other and started to remember the scene that they had seen before leaving. They had narrowly escaped death, and to head back into the same ce, their bodies just wouldn''t let them do it. They were already shaking, thinking about the thought. All they could do in their heads was wish him good luck.


    It was because of them after all, that they had managed to survive.


    ''Maybe we will end up running into each other in the future.'' Kelly thought.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Finding an abandoned car that worked, driving all the way back, and avoiding as many zombies as he could while he parked away from the Supermarket, Buke had done all of that toe back to the two of them, and he finally had done.


    When he arrived though, seeing Skittle, his mouth open and dribbling, his incredibly pale skin, it was clear he was toote. He had already been turned.<sub> </sub>


    ''If only I hade sooner. If only I hadn''t left, maybe Skittle would have been okay?'' Buke thought.


    That was when something wasn''t processing in his head, though, why was Zain, who looked to be fine, standing right next to him, and how did Zain manage to get out of the whole mess rather than Skittle?


    "Buke listen, I can exin!" Zain said as he moved closer, slowly, and Skittle followed behind him. "Me and Skittle were not like the other Zombies."


    Zain pulled down his scarf and showed the bite mark on his neck.


    "You were right, I was bit back then, but I have been fine. I''m not like the others. I can speak and think for myself¡­we were in trouble back there, so I thought that I could make Skittle like me. I thought if I bit him, he would turn into a type of Zombie like me." Zain was speaking with passion and pain in his voice as he released the mistake he had made at the time.


    After hearing what Zain had to say, Buke''s whole body was shaking.


    "So you''re the one that did this Zain, that you were a freaking Zombie this whole time while travelling with us!" Buke shouted back. "You said you tried saving Skittle. Look what the F*ck you did. You turned him into one of those damned monsters.


    "Those damned monsters, you didn''t even let him live in peace and instead turned him into this!"


    "You don''t understand!" Zain shouted back. "We had no choice, and maybe there is a way to bring him back. He can understand me; he isn''t like the others!"


    Memories of the fun times Buke and Skittle had together were shing through his head. When he was on the brink of helplessness, wanting to leave the university and during his darkest times, how Skittle was there for him.


    Skittle had practically saved Buke''s life more than once, and he didn''t appreciate it or ever get the chance to say thank you. The reason for that was because of the Zombies, because of the undead that were crawling through the country and turning people.


    "You say you''re not the same as Zain, you and Skittle, but your bite still turned Skittle into a Zombie, so answer me this¡­do you need to eat humans to live? I remember what the rk guy said, about what he saw on the video.


    "Do you and Skittle need to eat people to live?" Buke asked.


    Zain was nervous. He didn''t speak immediately because he didn''t know how to answer, to answer it in a way so it didn''t look bad on him.


    "The fact that you didn''t give me an answer, is an answer in itself," Buke said, lifting his head. "I vow that I will get rid of every freaking zombie in existence and get rid of this gue that is running the world, and I''m going to start with you two."


    *****


    1200 Stones for 2 chapters for the WSA 2022 please!

 Chapter 44 Human Vs Zombie

    Buke pulled out what looked like a fairlyrge pipe from his back. It was a solid piece of metal he had picked from one of the cars. Buke had noticed many such things lying on the ground beside corpses on his way to the supermarket. Clearly, the people had brought them for protection, but unfortunately, they couldn''t survive. Among the various weapons, he found a pipe. It was simr to the bat he previously had, but this one felt lighter in his hands for some reason.


    "So this is what you''ve decided? You''ve decided to kill your friends?!" Zain shouted back.


    "Friends? Both of my friends are dead. There is a new world out there, and I must protect myself and make sure you two can rest." Buke retorted as he ran forward.


    Thinking quickly, Zain needed to know what to do, he had knives, and with only a pair of short weapons on him, he was at a disadvantage.


    ''First, I need to get Skittle out of here. I vowed I would protect him.''


    Using the system, Zain set Skittle to attack one of the dead bodies. Skittle moved out of the way and walked towards one of the cars. After, he quickly gave the staymand, making him stay put. At that moment, Buke had already reached Zain and swung the pipe down.


    Zain lifted his forearm to block the attack, and when the metal pipe hit him, it bent around his arm. An attack like this before would have broken his arm, but his evolved body and the increased resistance seemed to have done the trick.


    "I see you''ve gotten stronger. You must have also realised it, but you''re not the only one!" Zain dropped his knives onto the ground and kicked therge teen in the stomach. It caused Buke to lean forward slightly, and seeing this opportunity, Zain threw his arm underneath, delivering an uppercut right to his chin.


    Buke stumbled back, but he quickly got up from the ground. The blow rattled his head a bit, but he recovered fast.


    "Can''t you see I don''t want to hurt you? Why do you think I dropped my weapons?" Zain asked.


    Immediately, Buke got up from the floor and charged forward, going for a tackle. In a battle of strength, even though Zain had a lot of it, he wasn''t sure who would win, so at thest second, he spun to the side and avoided the iing attack like one would avoid a bull.


    The momentum of his body had carried him forward, and with his upper body weight moving forward, Buke stumbled once again and crashed into one of the car doors, leaving a deep dent. Seeing this made Zain thankful that he hadn''t taken that head-on.


    "Are you not even listening to me anymore?" Zain asked.


    Buke stood up while shaking his head. And then looked towards the door, found its side, and began to pull.


    "Everything I''m seeing right now is proving more and more that you''re a monster!" Buke shouted, pulling the broken car door off its hinge and ready to throw it at his old friend.


    ''He thinks I''m the monster? Does he not even see what he''s doing right now? I''m afraid that...Buke might be too far lost, but I don''t want to lose another friend.''


    Zain began to run forward and saw that Buke had lifted the car door above his head. And without hesitation, he hurled it towards Zain.


    There was no time to dodge, so Zain moved his body so the door would collide against his shoulder. The door bashed against Zain, pushing him off his feet, and after a long while, the familiar system prompt appeared in front of him again.


    [Your shoulder is broken]


    [Would you like to use your energy to heal your wounds?]<sub> </sub>


    ''I have to. I can''t take it easy in this fight. In some ways, this is more difficult than the stage 2 Zombie because I don''t want to kill him!''


    [40/100 Energy]


    ''After all this fighting, I lost a lot of energy. The wounds from before, then during this fight, and now this, I¡­I need to this fight right now!''


    Zain pushed on the door, lifted it, and threw it to the side. His strength was still there, but his body wasn''t responding as fast as he would have liked.


    [Body functionality: 74/100]


    <o>,m Once again, Zain ran forward, and as he did, he leaned down, picking something up off the ground.</o>


    Buke decided to stay next to the car, waiting for the right moment to tackle the former. When he threw out a fist, Zain threw something out of his hand, and a knife passed right through the palm of Buke''s hand.


    "There''s a big difference between you and me; I don''t feel pain anymore!" Zain noticed that Buke had flinched.


    He charged forward and punched Buke in the chest, shoving his back against the car. Zain then stepped on his knee and jumped up, gaining additional momentum. When he was in the air, he punched Buke right across the face, sending his head spinning to the side with a mouth full of blood. Heid on the ground and breathed heavily.


    Zain looked at him for a while, and it didn''t look like he was going to get up. He was far too hurt.


    "I already lost a friend today. I don''t want to lose another¡­but you forced me to do this. Whatever happens to you from now is up to you." Zain said as he walked away, and Skittle followed.


    In a blurry vision, Buke saw his two friends exit the car parking in the distance.


    "I already lost all my friends¡­and it was because of these damn Zombies like you¡­I will make sure to get rid of every single Zombie in the world no matter what I have to do!"


    It had been a while, but both Zain and Skittle had long gone out of Buke''s view, and suddenly the sound of growls resonated throughout the car parking lot, which could only mean one thing, that zombies wereing towards him.


    "I¡­I can''t die like this. I won''t die like this!" Buke said to himself, and something strange started to ur, aplete change in Buke''s body. It felt like bugs were crawling all over him, and looking at his arm, something strange was happening.


    "It''s happened a bit sooner than I thought, but it looks like someone was a sess." A male voice was heard, and Buke could see the shoes of a man. "It looks like the other one is doing better than I thought as well. We will see who was right in the end."


    *****


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 Chapter 45 Body Function

    In a high-rise building that was still intact, Zain peaked out of the window and could see three people entering one of the shops on the ground floor. Many of the buildings in the area had been destroyed by the strange meteorite strike but not all of them.


    Even if there weren''t people to keep the building maintained and such, it would still stand for several years before anything happened. Usually, Zain would advise against trapping oneself in a building like so, but that was if they weren''t a zombie.


    "But the two of us are Zombies, isn''t that right Skittle?" Zain said out loud.


    "Krak ra!" Skittle replied back.


    A total of three days had passed since Zain had woken up and the whole world had changed. So much had happened in that time that the unique zombie boy had to get his head around it.


    For one, the strange system that only he seemed to have. A system that would help him get stronger as he levelled up and gave him odd quests from time to time, such as surviving the first night.


    Currently, Zain was still only a level three but had gained quite a bit of exp.


    [Zain Talen]


    [Level 3]


    [558/2626 exp]


    This was thanks to surviving the first night quest, after that though, Zain never gained any other exp for surviving the next nights, it seemed to be a one-day thing. On top of that, during their current journeys once in a while they woulde across a mutated Zombie which was easy for him and Skittle to deal with together.


    However, they were still rtively rare, and Skittle had yet to level up himself, still being a level 1 undead.


    There was a reason why Zain was starting to keep a close eye on the system, because it was perhaps one of the ways to getting Skittle better, at least to the point where both of them would be the same. Regardless, Zain''s character did not allow him to just think of one way or stick to one n, he needed to know more and have a few backup ns.


    If he really wanted to help Skittle then they would need to find a cure for this thing. They would not be the only ones trying to fix the current problem, there wereboratories, militaries and governments all over the world.


    To get this information, or find out what was going on, they needed to head to a ce with people, and that''s why they had decided to enter the City.  The city had a high poption of around 6 million people.


    This was why Zain wanted to avoid the pce at all costs, but strangely it didn''t seem like there were that many Zombies when they had entered the ce. There were a lot, but nowhere near to the number of six million.


    Either way, it allowed for more people to stay in the city, and at the same time for Zain to focus on his second goal. He wanted to head to where one of these meteors had hit. It was what people imed had started all of this. Although Zain didn''t believe that, he still thought there had to be a link to the two events.


    "They''ve been in that shop for a long time. Maybe they found something this time?" Zain said, and seeing this, he started to head down the stairs of the apartment building with Skittle following him.<sub> </sub>


    The truth was, Skittle and Zain had been following the group of people for an entire day. When arriving in the city and overhearing them, Zain didn''t introduce himself to them.


    He had learnt what kind of troubles that had caused before. He wouldn''t make the same mistake again. Still, he followed them closely, listening to their conversations and more. It was how he learnt about the different theories people talked about and how all of this started.


    His senses were improved and Zain could even somewhat tell where they were without seeing them since his field of vision had increased as well. There was a reason as to why they were following them.


    During the trip, both Zain and Skittle were able to find rtively fresh flesh in the city. In the apartment buildings, there were those that had died not too long ago. Consuming their flesh both he and Skittle had their energy bar and hunger bare back to what they were.


    Zain had even pulled out part of the knife in his chest and healed himself, meaning he no longer had to wear bloody bandages. Still, there was a major problem and that was, the body functionality.


    [Body functionality currently at 33 Percent]


    Zain had been putting it off for a while, but no matter how fresh the flesh would be, it looked like it wasn''t restoring his body to how it was and he began to notice some side effects. At times he would just forget things, forget where he was, who he was.


    There would also be ck-out phases, where he suddenly lost control of everything as if in a deep sleep not knowing what was going on. When waking up he would then suddenly be in a different ce. It was clear that this body functionality wasn''t just affecting how well he could use his body, in terms of physicality, but also mentailiy.


    Slowly, he was bing a mindless Zombie like the rest of them, and he needed to do something fast. There was a solution to his problem, and it was the reason why he had been following these people for a while now.


    The three ran out from the shop, and one of them could be seen, getting grabbed by the leg. The man fell to the floor, he tried his hardest to crawl away but a great pain was already felt in his leg, and soon a few more Zombies had climbed on top of him, consuming him on the spot.


    "F*Ck they got Din!" One of the men shouted.


    "He''s gone, we have to get out of here!" The other man shouted, but when turning around, they could see a human figure in a red hood standing behind them.


    "I''m sorry, but I need to live as well," Zain stated.


    ****


    let''s go for 1200 Stone goal for 2 chapters


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA

 Chapter 46 Body Function (Part 2)

    The truth was, at the moment, Zain couldn''t bring himself to kill humans just so he could survive. Letting people die and killing them himself was a distinction he had made in his head.


    If people were to die in front of him, even though he could help, he would say to himself that it was meant to be, and they were meant to die.


    It was somewhat a cruel and strange way to think. Zain knew this very well, but it was what he had to tell himself in this current situation. Which was why he was able to twist his views a little more to do what he needed.


    The two men were startled for a second when they saw the red hooded figure, but they decided to ignore the person and continue to run forward, but that''s when the zombie who had leapt through the air spread his hands and was ready to grab the human.


    "You guys are a good distraction!" Zain said as he ran past the two men and held his knife firmly as he stabbed it right through the head. The knife pierced through its skull and killed it on the spot.


    [Mutated Zombie has been defeated]


    [+ 10 exp]


    ''It would take quite a bit to defeat a mutated Zombie since my movements are much slower than before. But when he had to choose between a human and me to attack next, it went after a human, which is good for me.''


    "You saved me!" the man said. "Come on, let''s get out of here before the others catch up!"


    "Hey, there''s a zombie in the way. Let''s get rid of this one and get out of here." The other said.


    The zombie in question was standing still. These men each had a weapon in their hands, a crowbar and a bat, to be specific. The one in the front gripped his crowbar and swung it to the side of the zombie''s head.


    But before it reached, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg. It wasn''t just one of them, but both men felt intense pain. Blood trickled down their legs, and the man with the crowbar stumbled. Before he could understand what was happening, the zombie in front had taken a swing and hit him right in the head, sending him to the ground.


    "Andrew!" Thest man yelled. Turning to look at his leg, he could see a rtivelyrge de punctured in it, and it was the same for his friend.


    "What are you doing? Why are you helping the zombie? Oh, now it makes sense, it was you! You were the one that threw that knife at us. What are you trying to do? We''re on the same side!" the man shouted.


    Zain shook his head while slowly walking toward the man.


    "The mutated zombie would have caught you, and then this small horde would have caught up and killed you. Besides, I''ve watched you guys for a while and heard what you said. And I concluded you aren''t good people at all¡­ let''s leave it at that."


    The man gulped as he started to remember the few words he had had with the others, but he was sure no one was around them then, so how could this person know? Nothing made sense.


    "And you''re wrong about another thing," Zain said. "I''m not on your side."


    Just as the man heard those words, he felt someone biting on his neck, and it was none other than Skittle, having attacked the man from behind. In seconds he started falling to the floor, and blood was making him bleed out.


    To make his death quicker, Zain stabbed him in the head. He didn''t look away, he was conscious of what he was doing, and he realised that the more his body functionality lowered, the more he detached himself from his human-like emotion and feelings, which had been gradually changing since he turned.<sub> </sub>


    "You did a good job, Skittle, but no eating yet, not until I figured something out," Zain said.


    Based on the system message, Zain had a good idea that the brain would be what restored the Body Functionality stat. The only thing was that every dead body they came across, which wasn''t a zombie, had its brain already consumed by the other zombies.


    As for these two, they had both died before the attacks from Skittle could have any effect on turning them. Or at least that''s what he hoped. However, their bodies still looked normal, so he had to act fast.


    Using his hands, Zain smashed the skull''s top as if it was a big coconut. His strength allowed him to, and blood started to ooze immediately. This was harder for him to do than he thought, even though he was detached from it.


    Still, if he wanted to survive in this world, it was something he had to do. An essential task. Grasping whatever was inside, he used one hand and shoved it into his mouth.


    Not thinking about what he was eating, he chewed and swallowed. He was d that his sense of taste seemed to have somewhat faded. After the struggle, he finally heard the system prompt he was waiting for.


    [50 percent of body functionality has been recovered]


    [Body Functionality: 71 percent]


    Zain sighed a relief upon seeing the prompt, and thankfully, the percentage gained wasrge enough that it wasn''t something he would have to worry about, unlike his energy stat.


    After consuming the second brain, Zain''s functionality was back at 100 percent, and the strange fog in his mind he had seemed to have disappeared.


    ''That''s good, and it''s good that I won''t have to do it again if we spot more people, '' Zain thought.


    It was time for Zain and Skittle to either try to find arge group of people now or find a meteorite toplete one of his objectives. The thought of turning the two in front of him into a part of his horde had crossed his mind earlier, but since Zain nned to meet others, he didn''t think having to be responsible for more was a good idea, and he had the other problem to deal with first.


    "You did a good job, Skittle. I hope you level up soon. Then I wouldn''t have to worry about you so much." Zainmented with a smile.


    *BANG * BANG * BANG


    Just then, several loud shots were heard, and they didn''te from too far away. It was constant noise, and it seemed to be attracting the attention not just of him but others as well. Without a doubt, these were gunshots.


    ''Who could it be?''


    ******


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 Chapter 47 The Titan (Part 1)

    There were constant bangs resounding throughout, and it was clear now that these were guns, and they wereing from more than just one person. In Zain''s country, only three types of people would have ess to firearms.


    The police force, the military, and gangs. The number of gunshots that resonated made it seem like they were either the police force or the military.


    ''It would make sense for the army or police force to create a stronghold in the city. They would focus on saving most from here¡­but the problem is the weapons themselves.'' Zain thought as he looked at his hand.


    Although his resistance had improved and his skin was tougher, sharp des could still cut his skin, making him think a bullet would kill him without a doubt. No matter how good his healing was, a shot to the head would cause him a problem and Skittle.


    ''Still, I have to find out what''s going on, and I should check out the situation for myself.''


    It was quite easy for the two of them to figure out where the shooting wasing from. The gunshots could be heard throughout the whole city, and the zombies roaming in the shops and streets had started toe out as well and were in that direction.


    ''As I thought, using guns isn''t the best idea. It''s just telling them toe towards you.''


    In the end, the zombies had formed a horde down one of the streets and started to run in a certain direction. It was hard for Zain to smell if there were humans on the other side or not since the other scents, such as gunpowder, were too overwhelming.


    Suddenly, he saw a zombie fall as a bullet hit its head and jerked his whole body back.


    ''Let''s try looking for a safer ce.''


    Looking at the buildings around them, Zain headed inside one of them and went up the staircase. The elevators in the apartment blocks would usually be full of dead bodies and out of order. Although the electricity was still working in some ces, thest thing Zain wanted was for him to get stuck in the elevator of all things or fall to his death.


    Eventually, they had reached the fifth floor, which gave both of them a good enough height to see what was going on.


    ''That''s¡­strange...I wonder how long they have been here. And what started all of this?'' Zain thought.


    He noticed a few military men with sandbags in front of them. They were in pairs and had adult rifles, firing out at the zombies. They seemed well trained because they were aiming well and quickly taking out the zombies.


    In total, there were ten in army uniform, but they weren''t alone. Behind them was arger force of what looked like the police¡ªjust standard police who had handguns. There were around fifteen of them, and they were also constantly firing out and reloading.


    Looking harder, Zain could not see any Civilians, so it didn''t look like they were here for a rescue mission of some sort.


    "More and more areing!" One of the army men at the front shouted, "We have enough ammo to survive around an hour. Tell them to hurry up!"


    On the way here, Zain had seen some swat forces that had been killed. They seemed to be more trained than the police officers, which was why he thought the two groups'' meeting had to be a coincidence of some sort. The police force also clearly followed the orders of what the soldiers said.<sub> </sub>


    "Kwak Ka!" Skittle made a few noises as he did from time to time.


    "No, Skittle, we''re going to stay here and watch. It''s not best to help them until we know what they''re here for. They seem to be guarding the building and have it somewhat barricaded, it has to be for something important if they''re not here to rescue or escort civilians. What building is that even?''


    It wasn''t a police station or a government building. It looked like just a normal apartment block like the one they were in, only it was more destroyed by the meteorite.


    ''Wait, don''t tell me, are they after the meteorites? Do they have something to do with all of this after all?''


    Guns seemed to be very effective against the zombies. Even a couple of mutated ones were dealt with just as easily as the others, which only confirmed Zain''s thoughts even more.


    ? Although the guns attracted a lot of attention, they were certainly handy in an emergency situation, and seeing the results, he wanted some for himself.


    ''They haven''t slipped up so far, though. They''re doing well and not letting the zombies get close. While one person is reloading, another is firing. Maybe they''ll eventually move and leave something behind? That''s the only thing I can hope for.


    ''But if they n to stay here one hour, there might be another problem.'' Zain thought.


    A system screen appeared as if someone was watching over his thoughts, confirming his worst fears.


    [A Stage 2 Zombie is in the area]


    [Quest: Defeat the stage 2 Zombie]


    Due to him being in the area, the quest had appeared, but Zain had no interest in fighting another Stage 2, not with Skittle with him in that state. Instead, he wanted his friend to level up first. Still, it would be interesting to see how this small squad fairs against Stage 2.


    Looking out the window, Zain was trying to spot the Stage 2 Zombie and was expecting to see a Spitter. However, what he saw walking down the other end of the street, with heavy footsteps, was nothing like a Spitter.


    It was twice the height of any other Zombie. Its skin was almost a dark ck, and it looked to be encased in concrete of some sort. Its eyes were sunken in and glowed white, and the road below his feet cracked with each step.


    ''This¡­it must be one of the three types, an Agro type Stage 2 Zombie.''


    *******


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 Chapter 48 The Titan (Part 2)

    Based on what Zain knew from the system, he himself was yet to be a stage two Zombie. For one, he had no special abilities apart from being able to control other zombies. Although, then again, he was different to the other Zombies, so it was most likely that he worked differentlypared to them as well.


    Still, the system had confirmed that this was a stage 2 zombie, which meant that it was most likely to be at the same level as the Spitter. Yet, they lookedpletely different. Looking at its body, Zain felt the need to call it a Titan.


    [A name has been attached to the Stage 2 Zombie ''Titan'']


    ''So we have a Spitter and a Titan. I wonder how many stage 2 zombies there are, and if I''m guessing correctly, there will be those above stage 2 as well. If they evolve like me, it''s too early for that toe yet.'' Zain thought.


    "A big one, 9 o''clock!" One of the soldiers shouted. Immediately, the two closest turned and started to fire their guns. The bullets went through the Zombies in front of them, but when they hit the Titan, they had immediately fallen to the ground.


    ''It''s skin is even harder than the Spitter, I should have guessed though.'' Zain thought.


    The two continued to fire their bullets at the Titan, who continued to move towards them. It was slow in its moment, but at the same time, they weren''t slowing it down, and it would only be a matter of time before it got to them.


    "He''s not going down. We need something stronger!" The soldier shouted.


    Instead of focusing bullets on the Titan, they continued to fire at the Zombies around it. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers had moved from his sandbag to head back into the building.


    "Cover the front and do a good job, or I''ll shoot you myself." The soldier ordered the policemen.


    Doing as they said, they concentrated their handguns at the front, but the police were a worse shot, and more Zombies wereing to the front.


    At the same time, seeing the Titan almost reach them, the police changed targets and started to fire at the Titan. Bullets hit its head but did nothing as they fell to the floor.


    "What are you doing!" The soldier shouted. "Fire at the Zombies!"


    At that moment, the Titan was right in front of the sandbag and had lifted its giant fist. It threw it down, and the soldiers rolled out of the way. The fist destroyed the sand bags, chucking sand everywhere, and the fist pounded into the ground, creating cracks in the road.


    "If that thing hits us, it''s going to kill us! We have to get out of here!" The chief of police that was with them said. They started to move back, forgetting about the front, and at the same time, Zombies were starting toe into the perfect barrier wall that had been created.


    The soldier towards the front stayed at his post, continuing to fire at them all, backing away slowly, but one of the Zombies that were crawling on the ground grabbed his leg, pulling him, and immediately the horde started to consume him.


    "You useless bastards!" One of the soldiers shouted. The police and the soldiers had nowhere to run. The armoured vehicle they had arrived in was on the side of the Titan, and there was no way they were getting past that.


    The Titan started to move forward again, heading towards them, but at that moment, something flew past their heads and hit the Titan right in the body, exploding on impact. The soldiers turned around and could see their Commander had an RPG on his shoulder.


    "Haha, that''s ourmander!" The soldiers cheered. "But the Commander knew it might not be enough to take out the giant Titan.


    It was already back on its feet. Part of its hard skin had been ripped off, showing a fleshy muscle tissue interior, but it was alive. From his belt, he pulled a few pins and threw what looked like a small can toward the Titan.


    "Clear the way!" The Commander ordered.


    As the items thrown touched the floor, they exploded into mes, lighting up the Titan. They weren''t grenades but incendiary bombs instead.<sub> </sub>


    Still not sure that the Titan would die, the Commander grabbed his rifle that was by his side and continued to fire bullet after bullet towards the Titan, and eventually, someone in the area received a notification.


    [Quest failed]


    [Stage 2 Zombie has been defeated]


    Watching everything y out, Zain was left stunned.


    ''That Stage 2 Zombie, if we met that instead of the Spitter in the supermarket. It would have been impossible to kill. A grenadeuncher, bombs and guns, and it still took all of that to take it out.


    ''But then again, maybe we would have been able to outrun it. It was incredibly slow. I guess each stage 2 type zombie has its advantages and disadvantages.''


    There was something ying in Zain''s mind, although he didn''t have to worry about the Titan, he did try to think how he would have dealt with it, if he had been the one toe across it.


    In the end, the Zombies that had surrounded them were still gathering.


    "Everyone move out! It''s a dud!" The Commander shouted.


    The soldiers got in an arrow-like formation and started to fire their guns as they went toward their vehicle. They all got on one by one in the back and continued to fire.


    "Wait, what about us!" The police chief shouted.


    "You¡­you abandoned your post. You couldn''t even do the job you were asked. You''re a liability, which means you are useless to us." The soldier replied as the vehicle drove off.


    It didn''t take long, even with their hand guns, for the rest of the Zombies to finish off the policemen who had been abandoned.


    ''This world¡­has be cruel.'' Zain thought. Waiting for the Zombies to eventually clear the area, he saw his chance.


    ''Let''s see what they were trying to get.''


    [New quest received]


    [Find a meteorite]


    ''Oh, this is nice. I was already doing that anyway.''


    ******


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 Chapter 49 Get Out!

    After waiting for a while, most of the zombies that had amassed started to disperse. They moved away from the building, and a couple of police officers in the group had risen, now as zombies, while the others had their brains chewed out.


    ''I still can''t figure out how the zombies choose which ones to eat and which ones to turn to. Can they sense something that even I can''t? Or is it just because I haven''t started to really eat people yet.'' Zain thought.


    Another thing he noticed in the zombies'' movements was that some seemed to be heading in a specific direction. They were slowly walking away, heading towards the outskirts of the city.


    ''Maybe if I followed the Zombies, I might be able to figure out that quest. Find out what the Zombie''s goal is in all of this. Maybe the answer to that question is why there aren''t so many in the city either.''


    In the end, before doing any of that, Zain wanted to check out the building first. So, both Skittle and Zain began to move. With the [Follow]mand, Skittle stayed a good two metres behind him, but before entering the building, there was something else he wanted to do.


    Walking to the corpses, the student zombie picked up a couple of handguns. He also went ahead and collected the magazines from the officers and took off a belt so he could wrap it around himself and carry more ammo.


    There were still more guns, and that''s when Zain hade up with an idea.


    "Try holding this." Zain handed a gun out to Skittle.


    He managed to hold onto it but just kept it in the palm of both of his hands.


    "Krak ka!" Skittle replied back.


    "Try holding it like this." Zain held the gun showing a pose, and then pulled the trigger a few times.


    Skittle just tilted his head, not understanding what to do. Thest resort for Zain was the attackmand, and he hoped he would use the gun in his hand. However, as soon as he gave themand, Skittle dropped the gun and sprinted towards the body.


    "I guess it won''t work out. We''ll have to get you stronger some other way." Zain smiled.


    With the rest of the guns, it wasn''t easy for others to find them< Zain took them off the policemen and tried to hide them under other bodies. While holding one gun under a dead body, his head started to ring, and an image appeared in his head.


    The whole scenery changed in front of him. It was dark out, the moon was shining brightly, and one could see the stars just above the tip of the trees. Then, turning around, he noticed he was in a forest, and looking at his hands, they had gotten smaller again.


    ''Are these memories, but I don''t remember any of this¡­the other stuff I tried to forget but this..are they mine?''


    Standing next to him was a fairlyrge figure. He was wearing a camo uniform as if he was in the army, but when his face turned, it was nothing but blue. There were no distinctive features, so Zain had no clue who this was.


    "Why do I have to learn to use this?" A voice said, but not just any voice. It wasing from the body Zain was currently in, and suddenly a gun appeared in his hand. "Where did you get it from?"


    "I''m not letting you keep it, so that''s unimportant." The blurred man''s face said. "This world is getting worse and worse every day. People can''t see it while they''re being distracted, but in the end, we will be too busy fighting each other that we won''t be able to see the real threat.<sub> </sub>


    "When the timees, I want you to be able to protect yourself. Now just follow what I do and listen to my words." The man lifted up his gun and started to exin a few things.


    The different parts of a gun, how it worked, and how to aim and fire. After showing an example, it was now Zain''s turn to use the weapon. In the forest, someone had stuck targets on the trees in different ces.


    It was hard to see, almost impossible to see due to the dark, but Zain, using the tips he had heard, tried again anyway. After letting out a few bullets, he was surprised that he could use the gun far better than he imagined.


    "Good, you did better thanst time, but try again until you can do it properly." The man ordered.


    After changing the magazine on the gun, Zain aimed once again, but this time, he decided not to fire. For a while now, it was almost a movie. When Zayn was watching everything happen, he wasn''t the one in control, but now he was once again.


    Turning to the man with the blurred face, Zain gulped for a second.


    He didn''t know why but this strange fear was consuming him.


    "Who are you?" Zain asked.


    There was a pause for a second from the man as he stood absolutely still, then his head turned to look at Zain.


    "What do you mean? Who am I?" The man''s face still couldn''t be seen, and he took a step forward. "Now I see¡­who are you?! Get out of here!" The man started to shout and stepped closer.


    The hairs all over Zain''s body started to stand up on his arms. Although he couldn''t see the expression on the person''s face, he knew he was in trouble. Immediately Zain turned to run through the woods.


    Before he could do anything, two bangs were heard, hitting him right in the back of the leg and causing him to fall to the floor on the leaves. When he looked up, the faceless man''s head was right in front of him.


    "GET OUT!" The man said, cing the gun on Cain''s forehead.


    *BANG


    "Don''te in here again.."


    ******


    Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA

 Chapter 50 Choose Wisely

    The scene in front of Zain blurred again, and when his vision refocused, he found himself back on the road with the gun in his hand.


    His heart felt pounding, and the sweat drenched all his clothes, but it was all in his head and wasn''t true.


    After turning, his heart had stopped beating, and sweat wasn''t really something his body seemed to release, but why did he feel that way?


    Standing up, Zain looked around, wondering how much time had passed, but Skittle was still next to him, and there were still plenty of zombies roaming the streets.


    ''Ever since that change, I''ve been having strange visions. They appear all of a sudden and seem like shbacks¡­and at the same time, all of them feel so real.'' Zain thought. ''But this new one, it was so strange, and why couldn''t I see that man''s face? My head is beyond messed up.''


    When he pulled the gun out from the holster around his belt, Zain suddenly remembered everything he had learned in the vision, and now he felt a strange confidence in using this weapon. Before the vision, the only times he had held guns in his hand were in RPG and zombie hunter games.


    Although he had trained for survival, guns were something that, at his age and with his connections, almost impossible to get. Yet why did the weapon now feel so familiar in his hands?


    Trying to forget about what he had seen since there was no way of figuring it out, he ced the gun away and grabbed a couple of the police batons. Physical weapons were still king in this world.


    It was then that Skittle and Zain headed into the apartment''s main reception area, and it took a second for Zain to take everything in.


    ''I can''t even imagine what happened here.''


    Bodies upon bodies were piled up all across the floor. There were so many of them that he could hardly see any spot to put his feet on. From looking at them, it was clear that it wasn''t a zombie attack either. In fact, nearly all of them in the apartment building looked to have been zombies at one point, but instead, there were several holes in their bodies made from bullets.


    ''I guess what happened outside was just the tail end of what actually went on in this ce. Were they inside for a while then?'' Zain thought as he looked at the boarded-up windows making it harder to see in the pce since it was dark.


    Although there were patches of lighting out from the sun through cracks in the ceiling, the exhaust fan, and from the back of the reception, where someone had made arge hole.


    ''There are even dead soldiers among them. So it looks like this ce really was important to them.''


    When Skittle and Zain walked forward though, they noticed that a few Zombies hade out from behind the reception desk, and a few from hallways that led to other rooms.


    Then, behind therge reception desk, there was arge hole leading into themunity garden that would be shared by all those who lived in the apartment. A few Zombies could be seening through there as well.


    [Mutated Zombie has been detected]


    [Mutated Zombie has been detected]


    The messages kept on appearing. It was the first time he had encountered such a massive number of mutated Zombies in one ce. However, Zain just saw this as an opportunity as he pulled out both the batons.


    ''It''s good that my body''s functionality is at its best. Let''s see what I can do!''<sub> </sub>


    There were around 11 Mutated Zombies that had entered the room, and immediately once they got close enough, these zombies started to run toward him and Skittle.


    Zain moved to the side and hit one of the dangling Zombie''s arms up with his Baton. The hit bent the arm strangely, but the Zombie didn''t stop there. Zain knew it wouldn''t, which was why with the other Baton at the same time, he hit it right in its knee with his full strength causing it to fall to the ground.


    "Skittle, attack!" Zain ordered the Zombie he had just Immobilised while going towards the next one.


    In kicking, punching, and speed, Zain was now no longer on par with the mutated Zombies. He was beyond them. However, when attacking, he wasn''t aiming for their heads. Instead, he tried to immobilise them by breaking their bones. He had even grabbed one of them and threw them over his back on the hard concrete floor, snapping a part of their spine.


    He noticed that the Zombie was struggling to move after that but still was yet to be killed. With each Zombie, he symbolised he allowed Skittle to finish them off after, and frequently he would hear the exp prompts from the System.


    [Level 3]


    [668/2626 exp]


    In the end, he had defeated all of the Zombies.


    ''That was a good batch of exp, but it looks like if I want to level up more, I''m going to have to find an entire group of these guys or start going for the stage 2 Zombies, but I don''t want to do that just yet.''


    It was then that Zain saw there was a new notification, and this was what he had been waiting for so far.


    [A member of your horde has levelled up]


    [Skittle is now a Level 2 Undead]


    The reason why he had been allowing Skittle to finish off the other undead was simple: to make him stronger. Allowing him to worry less about Skittle in a  fight and, of course, increase his own power.


    [You may now upgrade one aspect of your Horde member ''Skittle'' You can not revert this change.]


    [Please choose wisely]


    [¡­..]


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUV so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUV in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 51 Undead Army

    [Each time an Undead in your group levels up, a stat point will be granted for the Undead]


    [If an undead reaches the maximum level cap, they can evolve to the next stage]


    [Evolution will be dependent on the Undead itself and the stats given]


    Just as the System prompts appeared, Zain decided to open Skittle''s profile. When the new screen shed, he noticed the new changes. Now not only did a hunger bar appear, but there were also a few new stats.


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 0]


    [Intelligence: 0]


    [Vitality: 0]


    ''The stat options are the same as what I have as well, but he doesn''t have a path type unlike me.'' Zain thought.


    Out of all of the avable stats, there was one that stood out, and that was intelligence. Zain wanted to ce the stat point in it immediately when he saw it. This stat was most likely the answer to Skittle''s problem, but he had to be realistic about the current situation.


    One point of intelligence would barely amount to anything for now. It was unlikely to show great effect, and in a fight, this stat would be useless if it''s low. He had not increased his own intelligence either because he felt there was no use for it at the moment himself.


    ''If we''re thinking about survival, then vitality would make sense. I''m guessing that''s simr to health in a game. He doesn''t have the endurance stat like me, vitality the closest thing to it...but it won''t help Skittle much in being independent.''


    ? In the end, he had a choice of either strength or agility. In the future, Zain imagined himself controlling a horde of Zombies, and he knew it would be best to bnce out his little army to have those that specialised in certain things.


    Then the bncing act would be on his army itself, which was why he was to select one of these two options.


    ''At the moment though, I don''t know what we''ll be fighting against more. Is it the Zombies? Or will it be Humans?''


    Looking at Skittle''s small body, Zain had made his decision and decided to put the stat in strength.


    [Strength 1]


    Skittle was not good at anything sports-wise, running, lifting anything. So his speed wasparable to his strength. When looking at Skittle, one would never expect him to have immense power, which was why Zain was going for the element of surprise.


    "Hey Skittle, let''s have a little match."


    Zain was wondering if this would work or not. He had never tried it before, but it was worth a try. Using the System, he had set the attack target on himself. Skittle started to turn his head, and the next moment he came right for Zain.


    ''I have to be careful. I don''t want to hurt him and just want to test out his strength.''


    The zombies were a bit mindless when attacking. They would dangle their arms out towards their opponent and just swing, with no form or anything. Then if times got desperate, they would sometimes use their legs and,stly, their mouths.


    Skittle was no different in this aspect, so Zain went to grab his arms and tried to push him back. The two were pushing against each other, with neither one of them winning.


    "Stop!" Zain ordered, and Skittle immediately halted.<sub> </sub>


    Zain was quite surprised by the oue. Skittle was nowparable to Zain with just one stat in strength. He had superhuman strength. Although Zain didn''t have any stats in strength, it was still relieving to know that if Skittle went up against a regr Zombie, he would most likely win.


    This small spar was enough for Zain to conclude. Now, it was time for them to head to the real task at hand. Walking up to the reception, Zain crouched down and went through the rtivelyrge crack. Now he stood in the Community Garden that residents of the apartment building shared.


    It was an ample square garden space simr to a courtyard. The sunlight reached the ground from the left half of the building, which had been hit and destroyed. The floors had copsed on each other, and some of the apartments in the corner seemed missing.


    As for the reason behind all the damage and wreckage, there was a deep crack in the apartment building, like arge object, around the size of a car, had crashed through it.


    When he followed through the paths, he saw arge rock in the middle of the courtyard. It had destroyed the area around it, burned the grass in the area, and created a huge crater where itid.


    The only thing was the size of the meteor itself. It was nearly the same size as someone''s head.


    ''Is that it? Are these the rocks that cause so much trouble?''


    Moving closer, Zain instructed Skittle to stay back. He was afraid that it might react in some way. Heading down into the crater caused by the rock, Zain got closer and could visibly see lines in the rock, a strange pattern with a faded green colour through the rock.


    It certainly looked like nothing from the earth.


    ''Is this it? Is this the reason for the Zombies? Maybe one of these crashed here first, and then many came soon after?'' Zain thought.


    Reaching out slowly, Zain eventually touched the head-size rock, expecting something to happen.


    [The meteorite is no longer active]


    [New quest received]


    [Please find an active meteorite so it can be analysed by the System]


    ''Not active¡­and another quest? What are these quests that the System keeps giving me? I feel like. Someone is just making me do their bidding for them.'' Zain thought.


    Next to therge head-sized rock, Zain grabbed a small piece that looked to have broken off, ced it in his pocket just in case it was important and started walking away with Skittle.


    ''Come on, let''s get out of here.''


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    In one of the many apartment buildings on the street, looking into the building, a figure was keeping an eye on it. They soon saw a man walk out, but following after him was something else.


    ''Is that¡­a zombie following a human?''


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 52 A Second Try

    Stepping out in the street, Zain wondered what their next move should be. First, there were the military personnel. He could try to find their base and follow them, but what would happen if they spotted Skittle?


    He could look for other survivors, but that would likely turn into a mess, and then there were the two Main quests he had received. First, finding a live meteorite and what the Zombies'' goals were.


    He had looked around the city and noticed plenty of areas covered in smoke, which meant there was some fighting going on there, or like this spot, it was due to the wreckage caused by the meteor strike.


    Just when Zain decided to head in the direction of what he judged as the least probable to encounter someone, Zain noticed a zombie next to therge dead body of the Titan.


    [Mutated Zombie]


    ''I guess if there is nothing else to do, I can always level up.'' Zain pulled out his baton and was ready to charge forward, but suddenly, he noticed that the mutated Zombie was acting weird.


    It had bent down and stuck its whole head into the Titan that was already dead. Zain also heard the crunching noise, as if someone was eating ice. When the Mutated Zombie lifted its head out of the Titan''s body, Zain noticed blood could be seen all over its clothes and was still dripping out of its mouth, but the most significant change was in its hollow eyes.


    ''Don''t tell me..''


    It was toote. Suddenly, the veins on the mutated zombie started to bulge. Its eyes were sinking deeper into the back of its skull. Soon, its muscles began to expand, and the skin texture started to change.


    Everything was happening so quickly that Zain knew he had to act fast. He ran forward while the zombie was growing in size and swung his baton hitting its arms, but it felt like he was hitting it against a brick wall as the rebound deflected it back.


    Trying to find a soft spot, Zain brought out the other baton and used both, hitting the zombie everywhere he could. Still, unfortunately, the evolution wasplete, and he could not do anything to stop it.


    [A stage 2 ''Titan'' has appeared]


    From the second it started to turn, Zain knew what the oue would be. He didn''t know why or how, but a bad feeling kicked in.


    Immediately, the Stage 2 Titan threw down its fist, attempting to hit Zain, who rolled backwards and avoided the blow. However, when he stood up, the ground below his feet was shaking, making him stumble before he could regain his bnce, and that was when he saw the damage the Titan had done to the road.


    ''Even if I had ten points of resistance, I don''t think I would survive that.'' Zain thought. ''But if I found some way to kill it, I would be able to get exp points to level up.''


    Seeing the Titan fight before, Zain knew it wasn''t going to be an easy task to defeat it, but the ck skin that covered the zombie''s body looked to have little cracks, revealing the fleshy interior that one wouldn''t notice or hit unless they were up close.


    However, in the current area, Zain wasn''t alone, as someone else was nearby and observing the whole fight.


    ''I thought this person knew what they were doing, but they didn''t take the crystal out of the Titan. The best thing to do now is just get out of here. But, should I help?'' the stranger pondered.


    He was expecting Zain to run away, but he soon saw thetter doing something entirely different.


    "I''m fighting to survive!" Zain shouted as he ran toward the new Titan. He inclined himself and slid underneath its legs when he got close enough. Then, before the new Titan could turn around, Zain jumped on its back and pulled on arge portion of ck skin on his back.<sub> </sub>


    It was as Zain had felt. The skin was more like armour. Then, using his hands, he pulled it with all his might, severing the muscr flesh from its skin.


    "ARGHHH!" The Titan screamed as if it was in pain. Which was a surprise since Zain believed the zombies couldn''t feel pain.


    Since the strength of his arms alone didn''t seem to work, Zain then proceeded to stick the baton in the small gap he made and tried to use its hardness as leverage as he pulled his body weight on it. He had to weaken the mutated zombie as much as possible. But just then, something unexpected happened.


    The next second, the zombie jumped andy t on its back, crushing Zain on the ground. The zombie was too heavy for Zain to use his strength and push it off, and he could only fight with willpower against the crushing weight.


    [Several bones have been broken]


    [Would you like to use emergency healing?]


    The zombie was slowly getting off Zain, and as it did, he immediately used the emergency healing function.


    [-40 Energy]


    Because the number of bones that were crushed was too many, hence he needed a lot of energy to heal himself and have the ability to fight back. But Zain''s legs were also destroyed, which heavily affected his movements, so the healing wasn''t working quickly.


    ''I need a distraction. I can only use Skittle.'' Zain sighed. He didn''t wish to use this n, but thinking of the Strength stat point he had added, he felt Skittle would have a good chance of survival in this sh.


    As soon as hemanded Skittle to attack, thetter had run forward like he always did when set for an attackmand, and Zain''s n seemed to have worked. Unfortunately, however, it seemed to work a little too well. The Titan stood up from its feet, ignored Zain, and threw a powerful punch straight toward Skittle''s head.


    "Skittle duck!" Zain shouted.


    Skittle didn''t understand and continued forward until someone from the side swept him off his feet. Then that person pulled Zain up and ced him down. Before they could react to what happened, the two of them were standing on the street near an alleyway in front of the stranger.


    "If you can get up, I suggest you follow me." The man said.


    Zain noticed something strange was happening, but the fact that this man saved Skittle and the Titan was trying to kill them made him more inclined to go with the man. His legs had healed, and he had given up on the idea of defeating the Titan. It was just too risky, and it was better to get out of there if they didn''t have to fight that zombie.


    Sprinting towards the alleyway, Zain followed the man into it, and Skittle wasn''t far behind either.


    ''Now that I''m close, I''m sure of it, this guy...he doesn''t smell like a human.''


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 53 Another Like Me

    Unlike Zain, it was clear that Skittle was a zombie. His eyes were hollow, and his movements were usually rigid. When giving the attackmand, it was most obvious as Skittle would just charge in dangling his arms.


    Caught up in the moment, Zain didn''t really think about it, but no one would choose to save Skittle because it was obvious what he was. Currently, all three of them were going through an alleyway, and he was trying to get a good look at their saviour.


    The man was dressed in what oddly looked like a suit. As if he had juste from a type of wedding event. It was clearly a man by the body structure, one that looked quite lean and tall and his long ck hair, that he looked somewhat like a rockstar ready to get on stage, and the bva face mask that covered his whole face was just part of his strange costume.


    The most important detail about him that Zain had noticed was his scent. He didn''t have the sweet scent like that of a human, the one that he was able to detect in others.


    ''I''m pretty sure this guy is like me.'' Zain thought. ''He has to be a Zombie. If that''s the case, then how can he move? And I''m sure I also said something when he pulled us.''


    After taking several turns through different alleyways and more, the person leading them in front eventually stopped. The original entrance they hade in through was wide enough for the Titan to fit into, but these next set of alleyways were small.


    The alleyways were also small, and having already run quite a distance, they were sure that the Titan would no longer be on their trail.


    "So, are you going to tell us who you are?" Zain asked with his hand around his waist, holding onto the newly acquired gun he had received. He had not quite pulled it out but was ready to, at any time. He and Skittle were standing far from him, believing a hand-to-hand confrontation would have a lot more risk than just putting a bullet in the enemy''s head.


    Zain never did understand those videos he used to watch, where the person holding the gun was directly in front of the person, just asking for them to be snatched or stopped. A bullet could travel distance much faster, so there was no need to get up close.


    "Ah, great!" the man replied. "I saved you and your little pet, and this is how you treat me?"


    "Pet?" ncing at Skittle, Zain could only assume he was talking about thetter, but why did he call him a pet? "I haven''t pulled out my gun because you saved my ''Friend'', not pet. And I''m sorry, I''m not really in the mood to trust people with what''s happening here. So tell me, who are you? Or should I ask, what are you?"


    When asked this question, the man went to pull his bva down, revealing a horrid smile.


    "It seems I was right about you, but it''s the first time I''ve seen one of us look so human, so I wasn''t quite sure." The man replied.


    For the first time in a while, Zain was getting quite excited. The man in front of him was a zombie, and he now understood why the former covered his face with a bva mask. There was quite arge hole in the side of his mouth. It was hard to tell if it was a bullet or a scratch mark.


    The wound looked rotten, with the area around the wound looking red as if someone was constantly scratching it roughly.


    Also, if Zain had not misheard the man from the way he was speaking, there were others that were like them.


    "The name is Kun, and now that you have seen that the two of us are the same, I hope that you don''t see me so much as a threat anymore?" Kun replied, holding his hands up to show he meant no harm.<sub> </sub>


    Deciding it was for the better, Zain ced his hand away from the gun.


    "Thank you for saving my friend."


    "Don''t worry. I understand that times are hard with everything going on, so you have the right to act that way." Kun smiled again. He seemed like quite theid-back and optimistic character.


    Something hard toe by in the current world they were in.


    "But seriously, how do you look so human?" Kun walked closer, lifting up the suit on his arms, revealing more bite marks and parts of his flesh missing. "They were chomping the sh*t out of me when I got turned."


    With how open and friendly Kun was, it was hard for Zain to keep his barriers up, and in the end, he gave out a big sigh, pulling away the cloth wrapped around his neck.


    "That''s it, you only got one little tidgy bite, man, you''re lucky," Kun stated. "But seriously, if it wasn''t for the fact that you pe- I mean, that zombie friend of yours was following you, I would have never thought that you were like us."


    It was actually nice for Zain to hear this because that was the whole idea in the first ce. Kun and Skittle could never pass as humans, but this was the reaffirmation he needed, and once again, Zain had heard Kun use a specific word.


    "So, um, am I going to have to ask for your name?" Kun asked, pulling thetter out of his thoughts.


    "The name is Zain," Zain replied. "And, when you were talking earlier, you mentioned the words'' us'' and ''we'' a few times. Does that mean there are more like us?"


    Zain wanted to ask many questions, whether he also had a system or if he had evolved and what they had seen, but this was the most pressing thing on his mind.


    "Run!" Kun suddenly shouted in panic.


    Confused, Zain turned around and saw the Titan was looking at them through the alleyway. It had followed them till here. Immediately Zain pulled away Skittle and pushed him behind himself, and faced the Titan.


    Just then, the Titan sent a giant fist straight toward him.


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 54 Fall Titan

    The giant fist smashed through the alleyway walls as if they were nothing, and now, after recoiling, it came straight toward Zain. He moved his head at the right time, causing it to miss himpletely. The attack was powerful, and one could feel a gust of wind as it moved Kun''s hair.


    "F*ck F*ck F*ck. Do these things follow you? If that''s the case, we can''t go back to the base like this." Kun started to pull his hair when he looked back to see what was happening.


    However, Zain was wondering something else. How was the Titan able to sneak up on them? Before, when it walked, its footsteps were so heavy that they could feel the ground beneath their feet would shake, but now it seemed to havee out of nowhere.


    Noticing how its punch didn''t work, the Titan bent back and pulled its arm out again. It was still toorge to go through the small alleyway gap. Getting its shoulders in, it started to get ready, and the next second it began to run right after them.


    Its shoulders were breaking through both sides of the solid wall, not slowing it down even for a second. The bricks falling on the ground were crushed by the Titan''s feet, and it looked like the zombie was even picking up speed.


    Kun had started running a long time ago, and Zain had set the [Follow]mand on Skittle and made him follow the former, since one thing Kun seemed to be good at was running.


    While running down the alleyway, they could see its other end, which opened to the main street. All three of them ran as fast as they could, but the sound of the wall breaking and bricks getting crushed was getting closer and closer.


    <o>,m "Don''t look back. Just keep running. Don''t look back, don''t look back!" Kun turned his head and saw that the Titan was now just a metre away. Something that looked slow had caught up with them. "Why did I turn around!"</o>


    "Jump!" Zain shouted as he could feel that the Titan was on their backs. All of them leapt forward, and while jumping, Zain turned around to see the Titan right in front of him.


    He took out the baton and ced it in front of him, but the Titan threw his punch right into Zain and sent him flying across the street, all the way through a ss window of a shop.


    Skittle and Kun got up from the floor, and thetter wondered what to do. He soon heard the cracking of ss from behind them to run left or right.


    Zain had gotten up, ss pieces were pierced in his body here and there, while the impact had twisted his arm, and even his baton was now bent to the point where it was useless.


    [Energy has been used to perform healing]


    [-25 Energy]


    "You damned Titan!" Zain shouted as his arm healed and his bones began to get attached back into ce. Theceration on his skin also began to patch up as well. "I wanted to kill you thest time we met, but then you followed us and hurt me again. Now I''m pissed."


    Stepping over the shop''s ss window, Zain jumped out of the window with a fierce look in his eyes.


    ''What is going on? Who is this guy? How could he just heal like that?'' Kun thought. ''Never mind that, is he really thinking of fighting an evolved Zombie on his own? I would¡­.never do something like that.''


    Looking at himself, Kun noticed a couple of weapons on himself, but in a situation like this, a knife and a make-shift molotov cocktail wouldn''t be able to do much. They were not designed for situations like this, and Kun had seen how strong the armour was on this thing when it took out the military.


    The incendiary grenade only worked because the rocketuncher had taken out the armour on the outside.


    Before Kun could make up his mind on whether to help or not, he saw that Zain had already run past. Thetter stopped dead in front of the Titan. The next second the Titan lifted itsrge arm and went for a punch.


    It was powerful, and to most, it might have been considered fast, but to Zain, this one was slow. He easily moved out of the way, and the powerful punch mmed into the ground. Then Zain started to climb up the Titan''s arm and swung round its back like a monkey.<sub> </sub>


    Zain held onto therge back piece of armour the Titan had, the hard skin he had tried to pry open earlier.


    "I won''t be on here long, so you can do the same thing again," Zain said as he pulled out one of the guns and ced it right in the gap, tilting it.


    Immediately, Zain fired, shot after shot, and the Titan shrieked in pain. The bangs resounded throughout the main street, and it was starting to gather the attention of the other zombies. He knew this was a risky move because the higher the density of regr zombies, the higher the chance there were Stage 2 types amongst them, but the only solution he could think of right now needed him to use these guns.


    ''I know I told myself only to use these in an emergency situation, and I''m just going to have to count this situation as an emergency situation!" Zain quickly switched guns before he had to change magazines on one of them.


    There was no clicking sound. It was as if he instinctively knew how many bullets one could hold in a gun like this.


    The Titan was now writhing in pain. With the other gun, Zain decided to fire down its back again but was now aiming for the joints, where the armour was connected to the skin tissue.


    As he fired downward, the flesh would rip away from the armour, and it was bing loose by the second. Zain continued to fire more and more again, and then, putting the gun away, he pulled its back armour with all his might, ripping it off the Titan and throwing it to the ground.


    Quickly clenching his fist, Zain didn''t hesitate as he went towards its back and shoved his entire arm right through its flesh. However, he didn''t stick it the whole way as he knew he wouldn''t be able to pierce through it to the other side.


    He then grasped a hand full of flesh and organs and ripped them out from its body.


    ''I noticed, for some reason, this guy feels pain unlike me and the others, but I am sure, just like the other Zombies, I have to go for the head to take him out.''


    Now that there was a hole in its back, Zain again put his hand in. However, this time, he had his gun with him. The Titan was in too much pain to react, and Zain simply did everything too fast. He ced his hand in the hole with a gun pointing upwards and began to shoot, bullet after bullet.


    From inside, the bullets went up the Titan''s head, where there was no armour, and it didn''t take long for the system prompts to appear.


    As he pulled his arm out, the Titan fell to the ground, and Kun witnessed everything in disbelief.


    "You really killed it¡­all on your own."


    [You have sessfully killed a Stage 2 Zombie]


    [You have levelled up]


    [You have levelled up]


    [You are now Level 5]


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 55 Zombie Talk (Part 1)

    [You have sessfully defeated a Stage 2 Zombie, ''Titan'']


    [You have gained 2000 exp]


    [First-time kill bonus has been added: 5000 exp]


    [You are not the first to kill a Titan.]


    [There will be no other rewards]


    [You are now level 5]


    [208/10,005 exp]


    [2 Stat points have been awarded]


    Zain was surprised by the amount of exp he had obtained. He thought it would be a standard amount across the board for all stage 2 type Zombies. Simr to how every mutated Zombie gave him two exp as well.


    However, that didn''t seem to be the case at all, and it was hard to tell what the pattern exactly was.


    ''So, defeating a new type of Zombie I have never faced before gets me more exp, and then there''s the first to kill bonus, rather than the first time bonus. That was obvious as early in the day he had seen the army kill one, and who knew what was happening across the world.''


    Just as Zain was about to decide where to put his two stats, he could hear the growling from nearby streets. The zombies were approaching, attracted by the sound of gunshots.


    "Hey, we really need to get out of here!" Kun cried, getting out of the stupor, "The gunshots attracted all of these guys. And with more zombies, there''s a higher chance of one of them being an evolved."


    Kun was right. Zain himself hade to the same conclusion before, and looking to his left and right, he noticed the zombies were gathering by the second. They hadn''t started running yet because the typical humans they would usually see weren''t here.


    ''This is why the gun should only be ast resort.'' Zain said as he put the two guns away and was ready to run away with the others, back through one of the alleyways.


    Zain was going to follow Kun, but he noticed thetter was doing something strange. He had gone to therge Titan that Zain had killed not too long ago. So he knelt down and began to search for something.


    Kun was ripping parts of its body the next second with his knife.


    "Come on, where is it? Where is it? I can''t find it anywhere?"


    This scene reminded Zain of when he saw the mutated Zombie kneel down earlier. Just what was he looking for?


    "Ah, screw it! We''re just going to have to leave this ce!" Kun said


    The three had run out of the area where the attack had urred. They ran for a  good fifteen minutes to ensure they had cleared the area. Still, all they could see were apartment blocks in the sky.


    It made Zain realise how much of the modern-day city he disliked. He would have much rather lived in a suburban area with houses and a neighbourhood, a county they could go by, and a nice forest nearby.


    ''Forest...why do I think about the forest...I never thought about that before. I didn''t care where I was unless it was at home ying video games.'' Touching his head, Zain was starting to worry a little bit.<sub> </sub>


    "Alright, it''s probably getting dark in around half an hour, so we should probably head inside," Kun said.


    Zain didn''t mind too much. Although it was hard for them to feel tired, he had used much of his energy. Taking a break to recover his mental state would be good. They went into the closest apartment building, which hadn''t been affected as much by the zombie attack or the meteorite strike.


    <o>,m Once inside, they walked up to the second floor and went through the doors to look for a nice and safe apartment for the night. While walking through the hallways, they encountered quite a few dead people. Kun went up to a middle-aged female corpse slumped on the floor with blood sttered against the wall behind her.</o>


    The first thing he did was check her head, where all three noticed a cracked hole, but there seemed to be nothing inside. He gave out a sigh as he proceeded to pull out his knife.


    "Hey, so you know what I''m going to do, right? I need to eat. Is this okay for you? There have been some people that were ufortable with this." Kun asked, just to make sure.


    "If you weren''t going to do it, then I was," Zain shrugged. He didn''t mind this, and saying no to the former would make him a hypocrite.


    This was some sort offort between the two of them. They both knew what they were doing was wrong. And it was quite ironic that they would have been dubbed as monsters for doing such things if it was just a week ago.


    Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined they would be doing the things they were doing right now. After cutting off a few parts, Kun handed some over to his ally.


    He then proceeded to look away as he began to eat the food, and out of respect, Zain did the same, looking away as well. This was an embarrassment to them. They were no longer in the society they were in before, and neither of them had fully gotten used to the new state of the world.


    However, Zain found it easier to ept things like this. His emotions dulled, acting like a human was getting harder, leaving him with a strong will to survive and protect his now only friend.


    After getting some food, Zain''s energy had gone up to 60 percent. It still wasn''t full, but he didn''t want to say anything to Kun. It made him wonder if Kun was full or if Zain''s body just had arger appetite.


    After that, they broke the door to one of the closed apartment buildings. It looked like no one was inside or had broken in, so the entire apartment appeared rather clean.


    "We hit the jackpot!" Kun said as he jumped andy down on the sofa. "I guess these guys weren''t home when the attack happened. There''s no reason for the Zombies toe in here, and it''s good that it was on the second floor."


    Zain nodded, but before rxing, he started to put the chain lock on and grabbed a chair, cing it at an angle underneath. He also moved a cupboard easily and put it in front of the door.


    "What are you doing? If we get attacked, how are we going to get out?" Kun asked.


    "We jump. It''s only the second floor. Your body can handle it, right?" Zain replied.


    "That might be the case, but I want to make something clear, me and you are not the same," Kun said.


    Zain was a little taken back by this because he didn''t understand.


    "That super-healing power you had back there. That... I''ve never seen that before. So you need to exin yourself a little bit to me."


    Sitting down on a chair not too far from Kun, Zain was wondering what to say, as it was time for them to have a talk and find out the circumstances they each had.


    ****


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 Chapter 56 Zombie Talk (Part 2)

    Hearing Kun''s words, Zain had just learned that not all of those like him could heal as he did. Which made him wonder if he was different from the person across from him and how much he should tell the others if he was different.


    "I''m just a student who was bitten in his room. I''ve been through a few tough situations, and this is how I am. My body keeps on changing as time goes on."


    Kun was staring directly at Zain. He then raised his finger and scratched the wound on the side of his mouth but soon stopped himself before he did so.


    "Sorry, I''m just a bit jealous, that''s all," Kun replied. "I forget everyone has their own story, things they have gone through¡ªlives of close ones that they lost along the way. You see, I was in a band, ying a gig when this all kicked off.


    "I was the only one out of the others that ended up like this after being bit. I don''t know why either. I don''t even know how my family is doing, at least they don''t live in the city. Maybe it hasn''t reached that far yet¡­at least that''s what I tell myself, but even if they are safe, how would they react when they see me? I''m sure you understand what I''m talking about."


    There was an intense look on Zain''s face when Kun said those words.


    "I don''t have a family anymore, only that guy," Zain replied, pointing to Skittle, who was just standing in the room obediently.


    "I have been meaning to ask, why is that Zombie following you? I mean, he''s not like us, right? And it seems like he listens to everything you say." Kun asked curiously.


    "You know the system, the game screen?" Zain mentioned.


    "Huh, what are you talking about?" Kun replied.


    Zain stopped there, he had thrown out a few words to see how Kun reacted, but his reaction seemed genuine. So the two of them weren''t the same after all. At least not entirely.


    "Sorry, I was just saying that the two of us yed games together all the time. We have a close bond, and it seems to have stayed after an ident turned him as well." Zain was careful to give out limited information.


    If others found out he was the one that turned him, then word could spread, and there would be people after him. So it was best to keep the information to a minimum, asserting everything to be a mystery.


    "I wanted to ask you a few questions too." Zain leaned forward in his chair, looking toward Kun, showing his seriousness. "After killing that Titan, you said you were looking for something. What were you looking for?"


    Since the topic seemed to be quite serious, Kun, in return, sat up, no longer lying on the sofa.


    "It''s strange for someone as strong as you not to know much about the Evolved Zombies."


    Zain had gathered that the zombies that the system had referred to as Stage 2 Zombies were the Evolved Zombies that Kun was referring to.


    "A lot happened in four days. The whole city was in chaos, with the military police force, special SWAT teams and others trying tobat whatever was happening," Kun exined. "So, I have seen my fair share of those guys, and just like you saw, the military is capable of taking out therge guys."<sub> </sub>


    "Titans." Zain interrupted him. "I named them titans."


    "Okay?" Kun replied. "I saw the military take out these ''Titans'', But what happened was regr-looking Zombies woulde over and find this small crystal inside the Titan and eat it. Then, secondster, they themselves would turn into a Titan."


    Hearing this, now Zain knew what had happened earlier and how the Mutated Zombie had turned into a Titan.


    "I was looking for that crystal, so there was one less thing on the streets for people to worry about, but I couldn''t find it anywhere. I didn''t have much time to look, to be honest, so maybe I just missed it, but the crystal is usually contained in the upper half of the body.


    "They are also not the only ones with the crystals inside them. Some Zombies have them as well. Although it''s impossible to tell which ones do or don''t just from looking, they tend to attack us if we get close, which is a clear sign."


    Without a doubt, Zain knew that Kun was referring to the Mutated Zombies he had seen. What was interesting to note was that they had no way to tell which ones were mutated, but Zain did.


    His system would inform him when looking at a Zombie if it was a Stage 2 or a mutated one. Zain had never attempted to open a zombie''s body after killing them, so maybe this crystal inside their body could be significant, and the system would be able to analyse it and use it somehow. It was a test he wanted to try out, so opening the sliding floor to the balcony, Zain looked out.


    "What are you doing?!" Kun panicked and pulled Zian back inside immediately.


    "I was just going to try and see if there were any zombies with those crystals you were talking about. It sounded interesting." Zain replied.


    Facepalming, Kun felt like he had befriended a loose cannon, but due to the former''s strength and healing abilities, he didn''t want to lose this person either.


    "Look, there is one rule in our group that you should know and follow no matter what, and it''s for your own safety, so I''ll tell you," Kun said, looking directly into Zain''s eyes, "Never ever go out at night if you want to live."


    It was strange to hear this. Zombies were out on the streets at night, and although it was harder to see, Zain didn''t understand the problem. But just then, he remembered the quest on the first night- Survive the night.


    ''Is there something about the night that I don''t know?''


    "Just rest up for the night, and tomorrow morning I''m going to take you somewhere special," Kun smiled and returned to the sofa. "I''ll take you to meet the others, the ones that are like us."


    *****


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 Chapter 57 A Wounded Past

    From the conversation, Zain concluded that Kun was a zombie that had yet to evolve. Although he did seem fast, it wasn''t to the point where one believes it was super speed.


    The fact was, Zain didn''t know if Kun was even capable of evolving or levelling up like him, he needed more information, and perhaps this group of other zombies simr to him would be the ce to find it.


    Observing Kun, Zain noticed that he was a bit paranoid about things and wouldn''t bother to exin why. He insisted on turning off all the lights and asked him not to stay as far away from the window as possible.


    Although zombies didn''t need sleep, resting appeared to decrease the energy depletion rate, and Kun refused to talk and put his finger on his own mouth every time Zain spoke, signalling him to remain silent. With all this, thetter had stopped there.


    ''I wonder why he''s so paranoid at night. What is the big threat at night that we have to worry about? I mean, is there really something out there that''s scarier than the Titan we fought against?'' Zain wondered.


    Honestly, Zain disliked doing nothing, if he were left to himself and his own thoughts, bad memories and visions would start to emerge, so before that could happen, he needed to distract himself with something else.


    Hence, to keep himself distracted, he decided to think over how to best use his newly acquired stat points.


    ''After fighting that Titan, I doubt no matter how high I put my endurance stat, I wouldn''t have armour as strong as that. Each path type has to have its advantages and disadvantages. If the Titan is an Aggressive type, then I shouldn''t be able to reach that level. Otherwise, why even have the other types in the first ce?'' Zain believed.


    Thinking about this, he wanted to put his other two stats in a different area.


    ''Should I go for a well-bnced character, or maybe I should..'' There was one particr stat that intrigued him.


    Intelligence.


    Zain considered himself quite the clever guy when it came to things to do with Survival. Although he wasn''t book smart like Skittle, intelligence might help him in other ways.


    [1 point has been added to Intelligence]


    He felt a strange tingling sensation around his head, but other than that, everything seemed normal until another System notification prompt materialised in front of him.


    [Your intelligence has increased. Now your body functionality will decrease at a slower rate.]


    ''This is¡­this is good.'' Zain thought.


    [Body functionality is at 88 Percent]


    Energy didn''t seem to be much of a problem for Zain. There were plenty of dead bodies on the street with their flesh left. However, for body functionality to stay up, he needed brains, which were almost impossible toe by.


    The zombies would only eat that bit while leaving the rest of the body behind. This meant only fresh kill off someone who was uninfected or recently killed after being bitten could be used.


    However, if increasing intelligence slowed down this process, he had more time to solve this problem.


    ''The only thing is, it doesn''t say how much an intelligence point actually affects the decrease. A percentage of something would have been nice. I doubt it''s arge number unless I ced a lot of points in it.''


    The other thing was that intelligence at the moment felt like it had no further effect. While they were facing things like Titans and more, and with only Skittle by his side, he would need to make sure he was strong enough.,<sub> </sub>


    [1 Point has been added to the strength.]


    ''For now, being a well-bnced character won''t matter too much. After all, my evolution path focuses on controlling others.'' Zain looked at Skittle. ''More strength would have done me well in thest fight, so I just went with that.''


    With passing time, it seemed like Zain was treating this like a game, but he was good at games, so maybe it would do him well.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The following day had arrived, and the sunlight was shooting from therge ss panel windows and through the curtain gaps. Kun had somewhat dozed off on the sofa. He didn''t go to sleep, but it was almost as if he had shut his mind off for the duration of the night.


    That was when he suddenly heard an odd creaking noiseing from one of the other rooms. His eyes instantly shot open as he looked around, only to notice he was alone in the room.


    ''What is that, and where are the other two?'' Kun thought as he pulled out a knife and pulled his bva over his face.


    He started to creep over towards the source of the noise, and it wasing from one of the rooms. Slowly he opened the door and could finally see what was making the strange noise.


    "What are you doing? Have you been doing that all night?" Kun asked as he looked on the floor and saw Zain topless doing push-ups.


    One would think that Zombies might not have sweat, and Zain would have said the same thing before since he could do things without tiring, but that was not the case because sweat was dripping off his body.


    All that energy from eating flesh had toe out of the body somehow, one way or another.


    Zain stood up now that he hadpleted his quest, and his whole body was in view, glistening from the sunlight entering the room. Maybe it was because of the sweat or that he had just worked out, but Kun could see how defined his muscles were for the first time.


    What was also surprising though, was that there were quite a few scars on his body. It was hard to determine where they were or how old they were, but some were long and others small in different ces.


    "Were you doing that all night?" Kun asked. "I did hear some noise, but I decided to just ignore it, and why are you even doing this stuff."


    Reaching one of the towels he had taken from the bathroom, Zain wiped the sweat off his body while replying.


    "It''s routine. I used to do the same thing before. I don''t really know how our bodies work. I wonder if they are simr to how they were before. But I don''t want everything I worked for just to go away.


    "Fortunately, it looks like I''m in better shape than ever. I was never able to do 500 push up in one set before. It makes me wonder if I can naturally improve this body as well. Have you tried this?"


    Honestly, Kun didn''t really know what Zain was saying, and he was starting to think, for a student, this person was quite strange. Five hundred push-ups in one sitting, Kun believed that would be impossible for him even in his current state right now.


    "Didn''t you say you were a student?" Kun asked. "Why do you have a body like that? Why are you training so hard? Now that I think of it, how do you even know how to use a gun so well? Are you actually special ops, a secret agent or something? You can tell me if you want. We don''t care about your past."


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 58 My Zombie System

    Putting on a shirt after wiping himself down, Zain was getting everything else ready. Next, he ced his belt on, his two serviceable guns, two knives, and the one good baton he had left. After that, he wore a tight-fitting sports shirt from the closet that allowed him more unrestricted movement.


    However, he still had a piece of what looked like ck cloth tied around his neck to cover the bite mark.


    "I had a dream," Zain replied as he went past Kun to get a few other things, such as his bag that he left in the main room.


    "Wait, what? So, you had a dream? I thought you were about to make some grand speech about wanting to be a soldier or something when you were younger." Kun followed.


    "No," Zain replied, putting the backpack back on Skittle, who could carry things more conveniently now that his strength stat had increased.


    "I learnt how to use a gun in a dream."


    "But, Zombies don''t have dreams, at least I haven''t since the day I have been bit."


    There was no more response from Zain, so it meant there was not much Kun could do.


    Either way, he still wanted to introduce him to the others. He couldn''t wait to see their faces when he told them about them taking out a Titan, although, without the crystal, it would be incredibly hard for them to make others believe their story.


    Before heading out to the streets to follow Kun, Zain had requested to search the upper floors. In doing so, he wanted to find some more flesh. Since he had been working out throughout the night to keep his mind upied, his energy was a little low.


    Kun was fine with this since he wanted to eat as well, only this time Zain wasn''t holding back. He went on to eat until he was full, and seeing him eat so much flesh made Kun feel a little queasy.


    ''Why does he eat so much? After just a bit, I feel full. He''s not that much bigger than me either. But he is different, especially with that super healing as well. He reminds me of Boss. I hope the two of them can get along at least.'' Kun thought.


    When entering the streets, they noticed the usual zombies roaming around, although the streets looked a bit emptier than before. Regardless there was enough for Zain to test out what he wanted.


    While looking around, the system had prompted that there was a mutated Zombie in the distance. Immediately, Zain ran past the other two and went towards it. Leaping up in the air, he held his baton and whacked the mutated zombie on its head.


    A single blow had cracked the skull and killed the zombie on the spot.


    ''That one point of strength feels like it''s made quite a difference.''


    [+10 exp has been gained]


    "Hey, what are you doing? Why are you just killing Zombies randomly, you know that doesn''t help us at all, and it could attract others," Kun shouted.


    "You saidst night that these guys sometimes have crystals, right? Well, do you mind checking?" Zain asked.


    The chances of someone finding a crystal in a zombie were incredibly rare, so Kun felt like it was useless, but he decided to do it just this one time anyway. Carving out the body and searching in the end, Kun could not find anything.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s empty. As I said, it''s only some Zombies, and it''s impossible to tell which ones," Kun replied.


    ''That''s strange. Was I wrong? I thought that the Mutated Zombies and the stage 2 Zombies would have crystals inside them. In fact, we can even look at the Mutated Zombies as a type of Stage 1, and the regr zombies a stage 0. Unless¡­''


    "Do you mind if we try something else?" Zain smiled.


    Walking through the city streets again, with the parked cars, the trees on the sidewalk and zombies just walking around. Zain eventually spotted a zombie woman holding onto a tree.


    "Alright, can you kill that one?" Zain asked.


    Kun looked a bit nervous and didn''t see the point in this, but he had done things like this before. He got closer, sneaking up to the zombie, and then suddenly sprinted from his position. He was using his advantage of speed and surprise.


    When getting close, he stabbed the knife right through the back of her head¡ªkilling the zombie woman in one hit.


    ''Oh, he''s quite good. I guess he had to be to survive all of this, even if he is a Zombie.'' Zain thought.


    Since Zain wasn''t involved in the kill, he didn''t get any system prompt regarding gained exp, and once again, he had told Kun to search the zombie for a crystal.


    "Look, I''m telling you, you can''t; just pick out and choose¡­ there''s a crystal inside!" Kun said, pulling it out from the zombie''s stomach and lifting it in the air. It was small, about the same size as a ring. It was almost see-through with a tint of green as well.


    "You lucky guy!" Kun said,ing over to Zain and patting him on the back.


    The thing was, it wasn''t luck, and Zain somewhat understood now. The crystals were not appearing in the dead Zombies'' bodies because they were the ones he had killed. So for one reason or another, he gained Exp instead.


    Maybe the crystals were the things that were causing him to evolve as well? Just like it did other Zombies? But why was it automatic for him? Maybe it was because he had the system? Looking at the crystal closely, Zain felt like it looked familiar, and looking down at the ne around his neck, everything had hit him.


    ''Is it this, is this what gave me my system? The thing that stopped me from turning into a zombie? That woman I bumped into had this on her.'' Holding the crystal around his neck, he didn''t know whether to be thankful or not.


    It was only a theory, but it was also the only one he had and was quite convincing at that.


    ''So who was that woman? And what does she have to do with this whole thing?''


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 59 Roka Cluck Club

    Zain and Skittle followed Kun without knowing where he was taking them. Along the way, they hunted any mutated zombies they came across, and at the same time, Zain was also experimenting.


    Through killing Zombies, or at least mutated ones, he found out that if he or Skittle were involved in killing a mutated Zombie, he would gain exp, and there would be no crystal. However, if Kun killed the mutated zombie, there would always be a crystal.


    Zain did want to analyse the crystal, but Kun seemed to be quite possessive of the crystals he gained and ced them in a little pouch inside his suit''s zer. Zain had a thought, or more like a theory, that maybe if he touched the crystal, it would tell him what he needed to do with it to gain exp or at least a new set of information.


    However, it wasn''t worth getting into an argument over the crystals, so he decided to put this matter at the back of his head for now. Without a doubt though, it was the system that was causing the crystals to disappear and turning them into exp.


    "I can''t believe it. How is someone able to tell who has a crystal in them and who doesn''t?" Kun wasn''t yet used to how Zain was able to judge urately and find the Evolved Zombies, "I mean, you didn''t get any of them right when you were hunting, but I hit the jackpot almost every time, wait till I tell the others about this, haha!"


    Hearing this, a red g popped up in Zain''s mind.


    "It was just luck. I mostly guessed them and tried to see if I could tell the difference or not, but as you can see, it was a string of bad luck for me. I was unsessful, and as you said, it''s impossible to tell."


    <o>,m Kun and his group had to be collecting the crystals for a reason, and if they found out there was someone like him who could tell Evolved Zombies apart from regr zombies, without a doubt, they would try to use him in some way, which he definitely wanted to avoid.</o>


    They had eventually entered one of the rough neighbourhoods. There were hardly anyrge skyscrapers with fancy designs or giant shopping malls with several floors in this part of the city.


    Instead, the streets were filled with litter, there was graffiti on the walls, and ces had been boarded up before the whole Zombie attack had started. There were still Zombies here, but they just seemed to be fewer in number.


    "Well, here we are, the Roka Cluck Club!" Kun said excitedly and spread out his arms as if he was showing something impressive.


    From the outside, the building was square-shaped, and it looked small due to it being right between two apartment buildings, but one would imagine it was actually big inside if it was a single venue.


    Right above the door, there was a sign with the club''s name, but it wasn''t in the best condition. From the word ''Cluck'', the L had fallen off, and someone had spray painted the U into an O, spelling out an entirely different word.


    "I see you are not impressed, but trust me, the inside is a lot better than the outside, and this is the ce I''ve been talking about, so why don''t we go in and say hello to everyone," Kun suggested.


    Walking up to the entrance, Kun knocked on the door. The knocks weren''t direct, and there was a set of patterns, which Zain instantly noticed. The former had knocked on the door twice, then paused, and knocked once again three times, and atst, two times again after another pause.


    "We had to keep it simple...because, well, you will see what I mean," Kun said with a slightly embarrassed expression.


    After a few moments, the unlocking and unwinding of locks were heard from the other side, and the door was pulled open. Kun walked in without hesitation and looked to his right, a little up.


    "Thanks for that, Jelly," Kun said. "Oh, and I have two guests, so be nice, alright?"


    Waving his hand, Kun was telling the two of them to follow. Usually, Zain wouldn''t have done such a thing, entering a ce without confirming the risk, but at the moment, there was no reason for them to trap or trick him. He was entering a ce where they were all like him.


    Moving forward, the two stepped through the door, and now Zain knew why Kun was looking up because there was a man asrge as Buke in height. As for his body mass, he certainly was a huge person. Inparison, nearly twice the width of Buke.<sub> </sub>


    His clothes had been torn, revealing the skin of his belly, which looked to have been bitten and chewed on. In addition, he was bald, which just made his head and belly look evenrger.


    "Alright." Kun pped. "This is one of the venues that my band used to y at, and in fact, Jelly and I have known each other long before the zombie apocalypse. He was one of the bouncers. You know those guys who decide who goes in and out of the club. But just keep in mind he had a bit of an anger issue, though he has been working on it, haha!"


    Jelly chuckled, and hisrge belly was jiggling, moving up and down.


    "I was actually the one that rmended this to be our base of operations, and when we came in here, we found Jelly, although he seems to have memory problems, which is why we gave him that name."


    The zombie man named Jelly looked at the person who had entered the door.


    "He looks human." Then, Jelly asked, "Why did you bring a human here?"


    "He''s not human. Do you think with you around, I would bring a human here? You would probably eat him before even saying hello." Kun rolled his eyes.


    Not wanting to cause trouble, Zain took off the scarf around his neck, showing the bite wound.


    "You should be able to smell. I''m not like them." Zain eventually said.


    Jelly sniffed the air around Zain for a few seconds.


    "You''re right. This one is not a human."


    It was quite impressive seeing another zombie talk. And what was interesting, though, was the level of intelligence the current zombie held. The problem was, it was hard to tell if Jelly had always been like this or was it after turning into a zombie.


    Now inside the ce, with Skittle in as well, Jelly shut the door behind them and put back all the locks. Meanwhile, Zain took a moment to look around the club.


    The ce wasrger than he had expected from the outside. It had several tables and seats with a stage at the other end. Then there was also a bar area on either side. The only thing was, the ce was quite empty.


    Another thing he noticed was that there were no dead bodies on the ground or zombies anyway, apart from a few blood spills here and there. That''s when Zain and the others heard voicesing from the back of the stage.


    "Come on, let''s go meet the rest. I''m sure they will be excited to see you." Kun said.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 60 The Reborn

    It was rare for Zain to feel anything, but at the moment, his hands were a bit shaky, and he could only imagine it was due to nerves. If it were people or zombies he was up against, he wouldn''t mind, but there was something about meeting others simr to him that created a strange feeling within him.


    Kun walked forward while Zain and Skittle followed with Jelly at the very back. Although his size wasrge, his footsteps weren''t heavy like the Titan they had gone up against.


    Then, three people walked around the corner and looked up to see Kun. Although three ''people'' wouldn''t be the right term to describe them because they were, without a doubt, Zombies.


    Just like Kun, all of them had wounds somewhere on their bodies. It now made sense why Kun was so surprised when he saw Zain and why he also remarked that thetter was one of the lucky ones.


    The second they saw the neers, though, they had frozen in ce. Until a female with bright pink hair and a dirty pink shirt and skirt pressed both of her hands together and stood on her tiptoes. Upon carefully observing, Zain noticed bite marks all over her legs leading up to her thigh.


    "Kun, you really found another Reborn. Oh wait, you found two!" the female zombie eximed.


    "Yeah," Kun seemed nervous as he scratched the back of his head. "Because of it, I was only able to bring back flesh, I thought this was more important and sorry to burst your bubble, but it''s only one. The other one is just a regr zombie, and it''s his friend. He follows the Reborn around."


    "You mean like a pet?" The female replied instantly, and immediately Kun could feel the change in mood behind him.


    "A friend, he''s a friend," Kun replied.


    Listening to the conversation, Zain had taken note of the word Reborn. He could only assume that was referring to themselves, the zombies that hade back to life.


    "Alright, so since I brought a guest here for the first time in a very long time, why don''t I introduce you all," Kun then looked at the others and said.


    "You''ve already met Jelly, and he is the type of guard to this ce. He doesn''t go out on missions and always looks after everything. I know a lot of this is a bit confusing, but it will all make sense to youter." Kun exined to Zain.


    "The beautiful youngdy here is Pink. Since it''s a new life for everyone, everyone also decided to dub new names for themselves that suit them, which is why we call Pink, Pink. She recently graduated and moved to the city to follow her dream of bing an actress."


    "Next, we have Fingers!"


    The zombie Fingers waved to Zain when Kun called out his name. He looked the most friendly out of the lot but had a few bite marks on his arms. Zain also noticed that he had extremely long fingers, which now made sense why they had given him such a name. Other than that, he had a nice soft smile, and the short hair on his head added to his amicable vibe.


    "Fingers was an ountant, if you would believe it or not. So he is in charge of our stock, who contributed what and the distribution between us, basically, the brain of the Group. Then finally, we have Shark."


    After hearing his name, Shark was the only one that put his hand out for a shake, which Zain willingly epted.


    The man was well built, simr to Zain. He also wore what looked like a swat uniform. A bulletproof vest, boots, and gloves, among other things. Although his white hair made him stand out, he didn''t look too old, at most around histe thirties, which made Zain think it had to be dyed


    As for his nickname Shark, that bit was obvious as well. They were tworge marks on either side of his mouth. They looked like giant holes, and through them, one could see his teeth that looked unusually sharp.<sub> </sub>


    "Shark here says he worked in a normal office, but none of us believes him. We think he has to be a special agent of some sort. Anyway, he is the leader of the Group, and because of him, we have been able to survive for so long."


    Just from looking, Zain knew that Shark was the leader of the Group. He had this air of confidence around him. What he was interested to know was what exactly Shark had told the others or done in order for them to survive till now.


    "And finally, it''s time for our newpanion and new Reborn member," Kun introduced him to everyone, "This is Zain. We haven''t been together long, but I still know a few things. Zain was a university student, and guess what, he''s a kickass fighter as well!


    "On our way here, there was an Evolved Zombie chasing after us, one of therge ones with the ck armour, and Zain here took him out all on his own!"


    The expression on all of their faces had changed then.


    "No way!" Pink was first to show her scepticism, "Are you sure it just wasn''t arge Zombie that looked like an evolved one?"


    "Does that mean you brought the crystal back?" Fingers inquired, although he didn''t outright show his disbelief.


    Hearing this, an awkward expression formed over Kun as he scratched the back of his head and exined the situation,


    "Well, we were in such a rush, and I couldn''t find it in time, so we had to leave it behind."


    From the looks on their faces, it looked like Fingers and Pink thought it was an excuse.


    "I believe you." Just then, Shark opened his mouth. He had been silent all along, and his voice came out a bit gruff.


    "I don''t think Kun would make that sort of mistake, and besides, we shouldn''t discredit what anyone has been through. Why don''t I show you around, Zain? And we can talk more about how things work around here. I will also tell you the rules of what we do, and you can decide if you want to stay with us or not."


    "That sounds good." Zain nodded.


    Soon Kun and the others went off to do their own thing. Both Fingers and Pink seemed interested to know more about Zain, but Shark said they could do thatter. Just as they were heading behind the stage from where they hade out before, Zain spotted something strange.


    There was a notice board out, and drawings and red pen marks were everywhere on it. Some were descriptions of the various Evolved Zombies he hade across, like the Spitter and Titan, but then he saw something else that caught his eye.


    [Don''t go out at night. Otherwise, the Demons will get you.]


    *****


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 Chapter 61 A Third Type

    The others were huddled around Kun, and from the sounds of it, he was telling them all about the encounters and troubles the two of them had gone through, starting with seeing the military taking on a horde of zombies and then the fight against the Titan.


    Zain knew he would go on to give out other details as well.


    ''I thought as much, Kun seems to be the bbermouth of the group, so it was a good thing I didn''t tell him too much. Otherwise, it could have turned into a problem.''


    Either way, Zain would not be there to listen to the rest of the former''s story as he enjoyed a tour from Shark. Behind the stage, towards the right, there was a door, and going through, Zain and Shark walked into the kitchen area.


    "This whole thing is rtively new to us. Remember, it''s only been five days, but we have been doing our best to adjust to the situation, and our first priority is survival." Shark exined as he went over to arge double-door fridge.


    Zain liked the sound of the leader''s importance to survival. He knew there had to be at least one capable person in the group to set up such things. And when opening the door, Zain was quite surprised at what appeared in front of him.


    From top to bottom, parts of human flesh had been wrapped up in cling film. It was set up in a way that they didn''t even look like human flesh, but from the familiar smell, Zain knew it was the same.


    "If you have survived this long, then I''m sure I don''t need to tell you. We need to eat to survive. It''s been hard on us, Zain. Pink was actually a vegan, so she refused to eat until her body wouldn''t let her anymore. It only took two days for the hunger to set in for her." Shark sighed.


    Looking at the fridge, there was plenty of flesh for them to survive for around two whole weeks. It was packed.


    "How did you get all of this?" Zain asked.


    "The club," Shark replied immediately as if he had expected this question. "Kun told you, right? We all met up through a series of events that I won''t bore you with, but I suggested we needed to make a ce our permanent shelter, and he thought of this ce. When we got inside, there were a few zombies. We just pushed them out of ce since there was no need to kill them, and then with the rest of the bodies¡­well, I decided to skin the meat from them."


    Zain couldn''t imagine doing such a thing himself. How much work had to have been done in this kitchen to get all those bodies a certain way? It was hard to guess.


    ''Are they like me? Their emotions for certain things have just been dulled now that we are dead.'' Zain thought. After all, something like this definitely wouldn''t be possible for a normal human without any repercussions.


    As the two walked forward, Zain noticed there was a smaller fridge next to therge one, and when opening this up, Zain could instantly tell what it was. He had only tasted it once, but the feeling was so refreshing on his body that he honestly wanted to try it again.


    "This is where the brains go if we find any, but as you can see, we only have one here." Shark exined. "They are hard toe by. Approaching living people is dangerous for us due to how we look.


    "You might not know this because it''s only been five days, but our Reborn bodies require a brain at least once a week to function. This single brain can be split up between five of us fine, but now that you and your friend are here, we''re going to need more. It''s time to show you the more important bits." Shark exined, already walking off.


    There were a few questions in Zain''s mind. First, from what Shark had said, the body wouldn''t deteriorate until a full week. So there was no need to eat a brain for a long time. Yet, Zain''s body functionality had gone down in two days.<sub> </sub>


    ''Was it because of all my injuries and energy I used up? That could be the case, but I''m more interested in how Shark even has this information. Without the system, I would have never known about flesh and brains restoring anything.


    ''He could have just figured it out, but his information is so specific. Seven days have yet to pass, and he knows that a brain is needed every seven days. Something doesn''t add up.''


    Stepping out of the kitchen behind the stage, there was a door heading inside, and it looked like it was an office room with a chair and a desk. On the desk was arge radio transmitter, a specialised one that you wouldn''t normally find in a ce like this in this day and age.


    "What do you use that for?" Zain asked.


    "To see if anyone is out there, anyone like us, or to find out information about what is currently happening in the world," Shark replied and quickly went to show another detail. On the wall, there were countless draws, and when he opened one of them up, there were crystals inside.


    "We havee up with a n. Once in a while, we head out. Either on our own, in pairs or maybe even as an entire group. If we collect any crystals, we put them in here.


    "I''ll be honest, there is no use for the crystals for now, but I believe they have to do with this whole damn zombie thing, So I''m keeping them for now in case anyone needs to do research in the future. On top of that, it proves that we are cleaning the streets of dangerous zombies one at a time."


    If Zain had to guess, the crystals had something to do with the zombies'' evolution and maybe that was why Stage 2 and Mutated Zombies were the only ones with crystals. Making a note of this room, Zain thought maybe he could test somethingter on.


    "You heard me talk about missions, which is rtively a new thing that Fingers has set up. If you follow me again, please." Shark stated that when leaving the room, they had entered the main hall, and here arge whiteboard form before could be seen.


    There was everyone''s name in the group, when they hadst gone out, how much food they had collected and more. Even the amount of brain cirction amongst them, which showed its importance.


    "Ah, you have the stage 2 Zombies on here," Zain said out loud, looking at the drawings.


    "Stage 2¡­ that''s an interesting name." Shark smiled. "Here, we call them Evolved. So far, we have only encountered three types. Are there any that you have seen?"


    Zain pointed to the pictures.


    <o>,m "The Spitter and the Titan, but I''ve never seen this one before." Zain pointed at the new type of stage 2 he had never seen before."</o>


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 62 Joining The Reborn

    Hearing the names that Zain had given to the evolved zombies, Shark felt like they fit well, so he took the ck marker that was in its holder along the bottom and scribbled the names Spitter and Titan under the two illustrations on the whiteboard.


    "It seems like you have gone through quite a lot yourself." Shark said while putting back the marker, "I have only seen the Spitter once, but as soon as I saw one, I decided it was my cue to get out of there."


    Once again, Shark''s words and what was written underneath the Spitter didn''t make sense. Mainly because there were notes as to what the Spitter could do and how it was able to spit a type of liquid that could attract the zombies in the area, and about the Boil Zombies it could create as well.


    "The Titan seems to be the mostmon ''Stage 2'' Zombie, and thankfully due to their slow movement, it''s easier to avoid them. As for the third type of Evolved... I would say it''s the most dangerous of the three."


    The drawings weren''t great, so it was hard for Zain to imagine what it looked like. But it had a normal human figure, or a normal Zombie figure, apart from these strange long parts that were sticking out from the arms, back of the legs and other ces.


    "Their bones." Shark exined. "Extremely sharp bones. The Zombie is able to sprout them out of its body and use them to slice and cut everything while at the same time, they''re solid as well. The most worrying thing about it is its speed.


    "Going one on one against this is impossible, and it would be best to deal with it from a long-range and in some cases, retreating would be the best option."


    This certainly did sound like a hard stage 2 Zombie. Going through his head, Zain was thinking of how he would defeat it, and he could only think of using his guns as well. There was another way, but right now, that was impossible.


    "How did you survive," Zain asked.


    There was a pause from Shark before answering.


    "At the time, I was with a group of humans¡­ I ran away, leaving them."


    As Kun stated before, everyone had their own story. Zain wanted to know more, but as the new guy in the group, he didn''t want to push or step on anyone''s toes. There was no rush to leave this ce. It was safe for them, and a good system had been set up.


    An organized group like this would do well for their survival, and with time, Zain could learn whatever it was that Shark was hiding.


    "While you are here, I might as well update you on some information, although you might already know some of this. Actually, I am not sure, but from the sound of it, Kun thinks you''re a good fighter, and we need good fighters to survive. So I want you to live, Zain."


    When hearing Shark talk for a while now, he talked like an officer of some kind, perhaps a sergeant who had men under him. This made Zain understand why Kun and the others were willing to give him the lead role and why they thought the former might be some sort of a government agent.


    "If two Stage 2 Zombies evere across and you''re also at the scene, that is your best chance to get out of there because at Stage 2, the zombies fight amongst each other. We don''t know why this is, but it might be a simr situation to us, the Reborn.


    "The regr zombies don''t go after us, and the Stage 2 Zombies don''t go after them either. Yet, the stage 2 zombies do go after each other and us. I have a feeling that it might be linked to those crystals, and maybe inside of us, there is a crystal as well.


    "Fortunately, none of us has died yet to confirm if my theory is true, and I hope it stays that way."


    It was interesting because somehow, Zain and Shark hade to a simr conclusion, only Zain was basing it all off because he had the system.


    "And thest but the most important thing: We will not step out at night." Shark pointed to the words written in capital letters. There was no image, though, just a question mark. "I call them Demons. We don''t know much about them, other than the fact that they kill everything, humans, Zombies stage 2, anything they can find. I will leave it at that, but it is one rule that must be obeyed. I will not let a single person get killed in this group by them, so you too must follow this rule."


    Zain nodded, showing he understood, but he was a bit disappointed that he didn''t find out more information about them. So far, he had survived all the nights, even when out on the streets. So just what was this threat?


    "I understand. While I''m here, I will follow your rules. I wanted to ask though, have you seen any military personnel in the city at all, or do you know anything about them? I saw them before meeting Kun." Zain asked.<sub> </sub>


    Tapping his chin, it looked like Shark was trying to think for a second.


    "There were a lot of military camps in the city at the start, but because of what we looked like, we would get attacked the second we stepped in front of them. And I don''t think our existence is known to others. However, after the second day in the city, everything seemed to calm down, mostly silence but a few things here and there."


    "And the meteorites?" Zain asked. "Have you approached one at all or been close to one."


    "That''s actually on my bucket list." Shark pointed toward the board. "At the moment, we need to focus on enough food for ourselves before trying to figure out this whole situation. Zain, I have to say I''m impressed by you for only being a student and thinking this much. I like you."


    After giving the tour, the two walked back to the others, who were all hanging around the bar area and sitting on the stools. They had been captivated by Kun''s story of everything he said.


    "Hey, is it really true that you can heal your body in seconds?" Pink asked.


    Zain was surprised by the sudden question and how close Pink had gotten to his face.


    "Yeah, my bones and wounds heal. As long as I eat some flesh after, it will be alright," Zain replied.


    "OHHHH, I want to see it, I want to see it so badly!" Pink imitated her wrist breaking and then the bones mending themselves.


    ? "That''s quite interesting to know." Shark smiled and sat down. "Come on, Zain, you n on staying here, right? After giving you the tour, why don''t you tell us a bit about yourself? I''m really interested to know how you got that zombie friend of yours to follow you. He doesn''t seem like us."


    During the whole tour, Skittle had been following them the entire time, and Shark would take nces. At the time, he could hear Skittle make noises, but most of it was gibberish, making it obvious who these were.


    "Alright," Zain said. "Well, I do n on staying." He sat on a stool and looked toward them.


    Kun then pulled out sses and filled them up with alcohol behind the bar handing one to each of them.


    "To the new member of our Reborn Group!" Kun cheered.


    They all raised their sses and cheered together, taking a sip. They could hardly taste anything, but it went through their bodies as it normally would.


    "So go on, tell us about your past!" Pink asked.


    "My past?" Zain replied. But suddenly, something clicked in his head at that moment, and his vision started to blur. The next second, he felt his whole body swaying to the side as he fell off his chair and onto the ground.


    Everything happened so suddenly that others couldn''t even react, and Zain himself was confused at what was happening, and soon his vision went ck.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 63 Another Life

    Slowly opening his eyes, Zain''s vision started toe back. But he didn''t find himself in the club. Instead, everything was pitch ck around him, and he couldn''t see where he was. However, he could tell what he was currently looking at was the hard floorboards of a room.


    That''s when he noticed something else as well.


    ''I''m back here again. It''s those damn visions.'' Zain cursed while staring at his small hands, which belonged to a ten-year-old, and not just any, but his own self.


    After a while, he stood up and looked around as his eyes got used to the darkness and deduced that he was in a bedroom. There was also a window in the room, and when he looked outside, he found the night sky was out, and a half moon shone brightly through it. It didn''t take long before Zain began to feel a sense of familiarity within the room.


    Walking around, Zain looked at one of the posters on the wall and brushed his hand against it. It was one of the survival games that hade out a long time ago, <Train to Huzan>, where one would fight a horde of Zombies on a train while also trying to get to the next destination.


    ''This is my old room.'' Zain had realised, ''But why? Why are these visions happening now? Am I dreaming? Is it this damn Zombie head of mine?''


    Zain tried to knock the side of his head a few times with the palm of his hand, but nothing seemed to be working. It was also hard for him to tell if he could feel pain or not. Things just didn''t quite make sense to him.


    In the end, since it didn''t look like he would get himself out of the current situation by just standing here, he decided to find the door and leave the room.


    ''I don''t like this ce¡­the quicker I get out of here, the better.''


    He soon found the door. He pressed his hand on the doorknob, twisting it to unlock the door. It made quite a loud creak when he pushed the door open. After a few seconds of observation, he concluded he was between the kitchen and living room. On the left was an kitchen ind, although the kitchen was small as whole, while on the right was the living room, a sofa facing the TV.


    Further through the hallway on the other side, if one was to walk right across, would be his parents'' room and the washroom. But, just like the other rooms, this one was dark as well.


    Scouting the room, Zain wondered if he would see others here, although it wouldn''t be the first time that others had appeared in his vision.


    ''I thought I might see my mother¡­or father here.'' Zain mused.


    Tuning his head, he looked at the light switch and found himself reluctant to switch it on. Maybe because he had been living in the real world, in a high tense situation, he felt like turning on the light would attract whoever it was that might be in there.


    ''This whole ce feels so real. It''s not like a dream, I can see everything clearly, move around, and theyout is exactly the same as my apartment, but why bring me back to this age?'' Zain frowned while trying to make sense of the situation, ''At least I remember what this ce is, and it''s not like thest time when I had no clue where I was.''


    A little uptight, Zain headed to the kitchen. He saw a knife on the countertop, and after tiptoeing a bit more, he stretched his arm forward and pulled it out from the block. Soon, he was holding it in his hands. This action was reflexive, and he justified it by thinking he needed to protect himself.


    But as soon as he held it though, for a second, his hand lookedpletely covered in blood, and so did the knife. Taken aback, Zain let go of the knife out of shock and dropped it onto the floor.


    It made a nging noise, and quickly, using his feet, he stepped on it to make it stop.


    ''Sh*t, there''s no way someone didn''t hear that¡­but what was that? Why was the knife suddenly covered in blood?''


    Bending down, Zain picked up the knife once again, carefully looking at it this time, seeing if it would do the same, but nothing had happened. Neither the knife nor his hands turned red this time.


    ''I''m having visions in visions. This is great.'' Zain sighed.


    Just then, he heard a clicking noise, and a slight creak resonated as if someone had opened a door. Zain''s heart started to thump and almost jumped to his throat. He immediately crouched down and hid behind the ind of the kitchen''s countertop.


    His heart raced and thumped even louder. Zain wanted it to stop, worried that it might give him away. By now, he was hearing footsteps, one after another, as someone walked toward him. Zain counted them in his head until they had eventually stopped.


    ''What do I do? Do I make a run for the exit, or to the room and lock it, or do I try attacking them¡­but this is all fake right? Everything in here is fake.''


    Gripping the knife tightly, Zain looked above him and found a faceless man staring at him. In the next moment, a mouth suddenly appeared on the nk face.<sub> </sub>


    "What did I tell you abouting in here again?!" the man hollered and reached out to grab Zain.


    Thetter quickly rolled back onto the ground, but the man easily climbed over the kitchen top and walked with heavy-footed steps. He could feel the vibration in the floorboards as the man stomped his feet with full force.


    ''I can''t fight with this weak body!'' Panicked, Zain threw the knife toward the faceless man, aiming straight for the head.


    Moving his arm, the man flicked it away mid-air as if it was just a simple toy and the next instant, the knife stuck on the wall. Then grabbing Zain by the arms, the man lifted him up off the ground.


    Zain kicked his legs and tried to use all his strength to break free, but everything turned out to be useless in his current size and strength. His body had yet to grow, and he wasn''t even in his teenage years. It was impossible to break free from an adult.


    "You like to think you can survive anything, don''t you? Well, let''s see you survive this." The man''s voice resounded once again, confusing him with those words.


    Holding onto the little Zain, the faceless man walked over to the living room and right up to the window. The next second he hurled the young kid and threw him against it. Zain''s back crashed into the window, shattering the casing ss as he fell outside into the darkness.


    As he fell through the window, Zain noticed the night sky above and staring at him from the other side of the window through where he had just fallen, was the faceless man.


    "Bye-bye." The man muttered, waving at him.


    ''Shit, Shit! Am I going to die? Am I going to fall to my death? I''ve never died in one of these visions before. Maybe it''s one of those things if I die in the vision I do in real life too? Wait, I''m already dead, so I can''t possibly die again, right? But no, I can''t risk it. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!'' Zain screamed in his head as he continued to fall.


    However, before he hit the ground, his vision started to fade. It was beginning to disappear, and soon everything around him turned to pitch ck again. Zain couldn''t see, hear or feel anything and was left with his thoughts.


    ''What was all of that? Who the hell is that faceless man¡­I could hear his voice clearer this time, but it was not the same as before. It''s not the same one I heard when I was stuck in that chair. That voice, without a doubt, was him, so who is this man?


    ''He must have been the same one from the forest that time, but then why is he in my real memories now, or real ces unlike the forest from before?''


    Suddenly he started to feel a headache. It was dull at the start but was turning into excruciating pain by the second until Zain''s eyes opened up. There was light this time as he found himself staring at a crummy old brown ceiling.


    There were even a few bugs flying around. And when he slowly lifted his body, he noticed he was on a thin mattress that someone had ced on the floor.


    ''Am I still in the club? Where are the others?'' Zain touched his head and saw something from the corner of his eye.


    Skittle was there, staring at Zain, but right next to him was a man tapping his fingers on the former''s face.


    "So interesting.." The man mumbled.


    Jumping up from the ground, Zain instantly leapt to where Skittle was and knocked the man''s hand away, trying to defend his friend. And then, grabbing the man by the neck, he pushed him up against the wall.


    Without giving any chance to retaliate, Zain held both of the man''s hands above and tightened the grip around thetter''s neck.


    "Why were you touching Skittle?!" Zain shouted. He didn''t know what was going on and had done everything instinctively.


    Just then, the door was pushed open, and Kun stepped in. Staring at the scene, he was shocked for a moment and then shouted, "Zain, what are you doing to Fingers?! Let go of him!"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you continue your support for LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 64 Faces Everywhere

    Fingers freed his hands and tried to grab Zain''s and attempted to pull them away, but it was clear who was stronger because thetter''s grip wouldn''t even budge slightly. It was strange because after experiencing death once, Fingers thought he would never have to fear it again.


    He couldn''t feel pain, but he could tell that at any second, the person in front of him could use the strength in his grip to end it all.


    "Zain! Can''t you hear me, you idiot?!" Kun shouted, but it didn''t look like Zain would even give him the time of day. His head didn''t even turn towards thetter.


    At that moment, the others had caught up to Kun and could see through the door what was happening. Shark and Pink stepped into the room, seeing that Kun was frozen. As for a reason for this, Kun was worried that he would be on the receiving end of Zain''s anger and had seen what he could do.


    "Move," Pink said as she pushed him out of the way. Running forward and getting into position, she immediately threw out a kick right towards the back of Zain''s head. It was fast, strong, and had perfect form. It was clear she had some type of martial arts experience.


    "Protect," Zain said one word, and at that moment, Skittle instantly moved in between the two. He lifted his hand and knocked her leg away. Usually, a kick would be stronger than a strike from a fist, but Pink''s leg was knocked back so strongly that her other foot on the ground was partly knocked off bnce.


    ''Did he just¡­give an order to that Zombie of his?'' Shark was more surprised by Zain''s actions, ''I thought it was just following him around.''


    "Zain, you just woke up, right? Fingers was just looking over you, making sure you were okay. Did you have a bad dream or something? We can work this out." Kun pleaded.


    It was then that the leader of the Reborn group, Shark, walked forward while cracking knuckles and twisting his neck. Although it hardly did anything in his current state, it was a habit for him, a habit from his past.


    "If you don''t let him go, then your little friend will get hurt instead!" Shark shouted out as he went to throw out a punch.


    Skittle did the same thing. He went to knock it away, but rather than a punch, Shark, had gone and grabbed his arm. Then, lifting him over his shoulder, he threw Skittle to the ground.


    However, Skittle was a Zombie and didn''t feel any pain. Instead, he got up quickly, and it looked like he was ready to attack until Zain gave another order.


    "Stop," He ordered.


    When Fingers got out of the grip, he fell to the floor and desperately started to crawl on the floor toward the others.


    Shark had again thrown out a punch, but Zain had grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him forward and going for another punch of his own. Shark moved his head, avoiding the hit, and then bumped into Zain with his whole shoulder hitting him back.


    Zain stumbled backwards a little but could see that kicks wereing his way, he blocked one with his right arm, and another blocked with his leg, then lifting his knee, he threw two punches back, but it had hit nothing but air.


    "I''m not as easy as those others, am I?!" Shark shouted as he threw a fist and hit Zain right on the shoulder, sliding him a little across the ground. Just then, Shark heard a crack.


    ''This guy is skilled. Is he really a student? Either way, I could feel that his shoulder should be broken.''


    It was then that something strange happened. Zain''s arm looked hurt, but the next second, a  few popping sounds resonated through the room as his body started to heal, and his arm was back to normal as he took a fighting stance once again.


    "It looks like that super healing power you have is real after all. This is going to make things more difficult." Shark smiled.<sub> </sub>


    Meanwhile, Zain was looking at his opponent in front of him, and all he could see was a person with no face.


    ? ''I''m still not out of that ce¡­ I''m still in that vision, I have to get out of here¡­I have to survive.''


    It was then that Zain pulled out the knives from his belt and held them both in his hands.


    "Well, now this has seriously gotten dangerous." Fingers said.


    "You, what did you do? Why is he like this?" Kun asked. Although Kun thought Zain had a screw loose here or there, he seemed like a good person. At the same time, there weren''t many of them in this world, he just wished they could all get along. Was that too much to ask?


    "Me? I mean, I was just checking out the Zombie. He was just standing in the room, staring at Zain, so I was trying to see if I could get a reaction from him, so I was touching him." Fingers replied.


    "Well, keep your long dangly fingers to yourself next time!" Kun blurted, "Of course, if he just woke up and saw a creep like you doing that, he would be worried. Apologise!"


    Although Fingers didn''t think he had done anything wrong, he didn''t want the leader to get hurt, so he turned.


    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry for touching your zombie!"


    "Friend, friend, and his name is Skittle!" Kun exined.


    Zain was ready to go in again and ran forward with both knives in his hand, but Shark looked ready as well.


    "I''m sorry I tried touching your friend Skittle!" Fingers shouted.


    The next second and Zain had stopped. He was around a meter away from Shark, and after a moment, he ced his hands to his side and put away the knives.


    "What¡­I can see your face. You''re Shark." Zain muttered in confusion. "Wait, I''m back."


    Looking around the whole room, Zain could tell from the look on the others'' faces he certainly was back.


    Although the situation had calmed down, something like this happened for the first time in the Reborn group, and they needed to decide what to do next.


    ******


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 Chapter 65 A Startled Zain

    Zain tried to recall what had happened in his head. Looking around the room, he noticed a frightened Fingers. Pink was also still on the floor, she hadn''t moved as she was witnessing the fight between the leader Shark and Zain.


    ''When I saw the person touching Skittle...I thought it was the faceless man, I thought I was still hallucinating...I guess in a way I was, but the visions from that ce had disillusioned me even though I have woken up.'' Zain thought, touching his head.


    Walking over, Shark, with no worry, ced his hand on the other''s shoulder and asked with a smile.


    "Are you awake now? It looks like you have gone through a lot."


    "Hey, I was nearly killed, and that''s all you are going to say to him?!" Fingersined, but after a quick look from Shark, he had shut up.


    "Honestly, this is a first for us. Never before has someone just copsed like that. We didn''t even know if you were alive, you know, with no heartbeat and all. So we brought you in this room for now, and your friend followed you in here." Shark exined.


    It was as Zain thought. He himself had no clue why but he had practically been knocked out, and while having those visions, his body was still active in this ce. From the sounds of it though, it didn''t sound like a zombie thing and sounded more like his own problem.


    "I''m sorry," Zain replied, looking toward Fingers. "I had a nightmare, and when I woke up, I thought I was still in it. I thought you were trying to hurt Skittle." Zain exined, but he could see from the looks on the others'' faces that now they no longer trusted him the same way as they did before.


    "Because of Kun, you let me in this ce, and I don''t want to cause you any trouble. You''re a good group of people, so I''ll take my leave." Zain said, already walking toward the door.


    Pink felt a bit pity and down. Although it hadn''t been long, this world was incredibly lonely for them. On the first day, she remembered approaching a few humans who had immediately tried to kill her.


    At the moment, they didn''t fit in with the zombies, nor did they with the humans. This ce was essentially the only group they could stay with, the only family they had. Kicking Zain out of this ce would mean he truly would be alone outside.


    ''This person will be valuable to us.'' Shark thought. ''His Zombie friend was strong enough to overpower Pink, and I know how strong her kick is. Then there is Zain himself. Can he control other Zombies? On top of that, his skills. He is no amateur fighter, that''s for sure.''


    Thinking about all of this, Shark had to say something.


    "I want you to stay," He broke the silence. "You should know it better that we stay together, and if something like what happened just now happened outside, then there is a good chance you would be dead. Sure, you have your bodyguard." Shark nodded towards Skittle. "But he won''t be enough to protect you from the things out there."


    "I want you to stay as well," Pink spoke up, getting off the ground and jumping to her feet. "I don''t want anyone to leave. That''s why I tried stopping you, even creepy Fingers. I want both of you to stay alive and remain as a part of this group."


    "You already exined yourself, so don''t worry, we understand, right Fingers?"


    Turning back, she noticed Fingers was ufortable. Strangely if one just looked at his eyes, it looked like he was smiling, but he was clearly ufortable about the whole situation.


    "I guess I shouldn''t have been touching Skittle in the first ce." Fingers rubbed the back of his neck. "And I know you could have killed me, but you didn''t, so you did hold yourself back."<sub> </sub>


    Hearing this, Zain was surprised himself. It was as if he hadn''t noticed, but if he had thought the faceless man was hurting Skittle, then why didn''t Zain stop him straight away? The faceless man had no problem attempting to kill him.


    "Well, then it''s decided, Zain, you can stay, and we will just have to be careful around you next time if you ckout again, I hope you understand," Shark said.


    "Of course, if it happens again, I would leave myself anyway," Zain replied.


    With the little scuffle over and everything turning out alright, Shark wanted to call a meeting and asked everyone to head over to the stage area, where he had shown the whiteboard to Zain earlier. While they walked there, Shark had a question that had been on his mind for a while. He waited until the others were ahead and pulled on Zain''s sleeve a bit, indicating him to stop.


    "You''re a good fighter. Are you sure you''re just a normal student? If you are with an organisation or a certain group, I will keep it from the others." Shark asked.


    "Me?" Zain repleid. "Im just a normal unvieirsty student that likes to y games."


    "Yet knows how to use guns, takes down a Stage 2 Zombie and can fight the way you did there?"


    "Then let me ask you a question. It''s clear you are not an office worker. All the information you have on Zombies and different types. How would you know that we canst up to 7 days without eating brains when 7 days hasn''t even passed yet?" Zain asked.


    This had left Shark a little quiet for a while until he eventually smiled and walked past.


    "When you tell me who you really are, then I''ll tell you who I am? I think that''s fair, right?" Shark winked.


    The only thing was, Zain wasn''t lying.


    When reaching the white bored, it looked like Shark was ready to say something to them all.


    "In truth, I had been waiting to either train you guys up to a more capable level or for a more capable person to join our group, and since we have somewhat done both, I think we can move onto the next step." Shark exined. "There is something we seriously need to get, and that is Brains. I suggest we go out on a group outing together. It will be safer this way, and we can get to know each other better. Time is short so we should do it today."


    The others looked at each other nervously. Outside was dangerous for many reasons but what they were worried about was if they needed brains, it meant they needed to look for humans.


    **********


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 Chapter 66 Back Outside (Part 1)

    Zain had been in the strange vision for much longer than he thought. At first he was confused by Shark''s wording as he believed that in a few hours time it would be night. Zain had remembered the number one rule of the Reborn, and that was to never go out at night, and for now until he actually knew how dangerous these Demon''s were he wouldply.


    It only further proved that he needed to continue to level up and gain exp to fight the new dangers in the world that were popping up.


    In the end, he found out that an entire day had passed, and it was the next morning already. How that was possible Zain didn''t know, and it was hard to say without observing himself or going through a few more of those visions, which he didn''t want to experience any time soon.


    Either way, he was surprised when Shark said they would be leaving today.


    After checking his system out, he now realised it was indeed the case.


    [Body Functionality at 84 percent]


    ''Hmm, it''s hard to tell if the body functionality is decreasing at a slow rate because of my intelligence or the fact I was just lying idle doing nothing for the entire day. Probably abination of the two reasons.''


    In terms of energy, it didn''t matter much as there was so much flesh in the fridge being stored that the group didn''t even see the need to ration it. The meat was pretty easy for them to get by heading outside, but it did make Zain wonder that although it wasn''t a problem right now, there was a chance it could be one in the future.


    Flesh that was fresh enough for them to eat was abundant because plenty of newly killed bodies were lying around, even from the attack not too long ago. However, as time passes, the flesh on those corpses would begin to rot, and it would be harder to get hold of fresh meat.


    After the initial stage, the number of human deaths would decrease as they build Shelters and adapt to the world''s current situation. Then, the only way they could get fresh flesh would be by killing humans themselves. It would no longer be avable on the streets like so.


    ''This might also be a factor for all the other Zombies as well. What is going to happen when they have nothing to eat? Hopefully, unlike those games, this whole situation will be solved by then, and we might even have a way to cure ourselves as well. Either way, if Shark hasn''t thought of anything I should bring it up. We could always use the freezer section here, and in other ces nearby.''


    Whether this would be a long term base for Zain or not, it was hard to say. But he had to be prepared for anything, and staying here for a while might be one of them. If answers were unable to be found by the military then Zain was sure he could find some from Shark, but it was getting the other to trust him enough that he would spill them.


    The rest of the group started to make preparations, each of them gathered weapons and took a bag to store valuable items, like the crystals, they might find on the way.


    The only one that wasn''t packing was Jelly. Apparently, Shark didn''t include him when discussing all of them going together. Jelly was the protector of the ce. Although it did make Zain wonder if there was any other reason for leaving him behind due to hisrge size, the former did seem slow, but it didn''t concern him too much, for Zain would be bringing his most valuable item, Skittle.<sub> </sub>


    Turning therge white board over of notes about the Evolved Zombies and more, there was arge map of the city. It was an old fashioned map that Zain hadn''t seen in ages, since nearly everyone used their mobile phones these days.


    It had a red dot for where they were, and then arrows pointing out words along with circles and more.


    "Where are we going to be heading to this time? An area we have been to before, so we at least know theyout would be safest, right?" Pink asked, pointing to one of the circles on the map that wasn''t too far from where they were.


    "But we have already been to those areas before, and we didn''t find any people. I think we have a better chance of finding people holding up somewhere in one ce. Many will think the military ising to save them." Kun exined. "It''s unlikely they would move about unless they don''t have any food."


    "Oh, then a supermarket or a shopping mall would be good." Fingers suggested. "I know that there are a lot of people in those areas, which means a lot of zombies, but there are also plenty of ces for people to hide and unlimited resources for them to use. People get hungry so they will eventually go to these ces."


    "Yes, eventually is the problem." Kun replied.


    The conversation between everyone continued as it was unclear which would be the best method, but that was why they had a leader for making these decisions. When they all turned to Shark though, his response surprised them.


    "What do you think, new guy?" Shark asked. "Where would you go if you were travelling on your own or in charge of this group?"


    Zain hadn''t expected them to take his opinion, not of a new guy, and his way certainly wasn''t the safest way, that was for sure.


    "I would have gone to one of the craters, where the meteorites hadnded. There are other personal reasons, but I mainly want to see what they are or do. There might be others thinking the same, and the military seems to be after them as well.


    "We might not find any brains or humans, but time is precious for us, right? So we might as well get something done." Zain replied, and there were a few pulled faces around the room.


    *****


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 Chapter 67 Back Outside (Part 2)

    The others didn''t like the sound of Zain''s idea. There would be military personnel with weapons, and it would also be unfamiliar territory.


    "Zain is right. There are no rewards without risks." Shark replied. "If we don''t get brains, then we die. This will give us new ground to cover as well."


    The others weren''t so sure, but at least this time, they would be travelling together, and if Shark thought it was a good idea, they would follow him.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Once the group was done with the preparations, they stepped out of the club. It was a bright sunny day today, and as usual, zombies were slowly roaming around the streets.


    "Look after the ce, Jelly. We''ll bring you some nice treats." Kun said as they waved him off.


    While on the way, Shark told Zain that they had already searched two sections of the city, although not thoroughly.


    They had gone in the four-mile radius of the club to the east and west of them but hadn''t gone towards north or south yet.


    They wanted to explore the area around them first, and once they had made sure it was all clear, they could start nning and making safety bases around the city they could use to stay overnight. It looked like Shark had managed to think it all through quite well.


    Looking at the shape of the city, the north looked to be in the worst condition. Severalrge skyscrapers had fallen over on the side, while others were still standing but withrge holes in them.


    It was clear which side they should take, so they decided to head north. While walking through the streets, there was, of course, something that was going to ur, and it didn''t take long for the first obstacle to appear in front of them.


    [Mutated Zombie has been detected]


    A zombie turned its head toward the group and began to run. The first one to act out of them all though, was Zain, as he threw a knife straight towards it hitting it right in the head and killing it in a single hit.


    "That was some quick reflexes you have." Sharkmented.


    Although Zain''s actions were quick, it was because the system would usually inform him of a mutated Zombie before they had acted, and out of instinct, he had gone through the motions as he had done so far.


    "Check the zombie for a crystal. There should be one inside." Kun was on the task and had already started heading towards the zombie before anyone had said anything. However, this made Zain realise something.


    ''Crap, there''s not going to be a crystal in that zombie¡­What should I do? I should have been more careful!'' Zain frowned.


    After a short while, Kun stood up with bloody hands.<sub> </sub>


    "I Can''t find anything."


    "That''s strange. I was sure that it was showing aggression to us. Was it just acting strangely?" Sharkmented.


    "Is it so strange?" Pink shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, you were the ones that told us that not all zombies have those crystals in them, and there was no way of telling who had what."


    Although it was true what the others had said, there was an exception: if the zombies showed aggression towards you. Like Stage 2, the Mutated Zombies also tended to attack the Reborn.


    Regardless, Shark decided to just let this one be gone as they continued to move, and Zain was happy he didn''t have toe up with some type of excuse. After long hours of walking anding across a few more Mutated Zombies, Zain did nothing, and the group found crystals whenever they hunted a Mutated Zombie. They put the crystals in a small pouch as they walked through the wide streets until they noticedrge shards of ss all over the roads and streets.


    "This means we are getting closer to the meteor." Shark exined. "The shattered ss is from the shockwave. We don''t know what we''ll be here from now on, so let''s walk through the alleyways.


    Whether it was military or stage two type zombies, they had to be careful. The gaps between the buildings were quiterge, and at the same time, there seemed to be fewer zombies and dead bodies.


    Eventually though, they wanted to go straight ahead and see the scene in front of them, so they went through a back door of the building. With a light push, Shark realised the door was already open, and they soon found themselves in the back of a kitchen, it was fairly arge one as well.


    "I remember this ce. It was a famous Chinese restaurant." Fingers chirped as he felt his footstep on something. He looked down and saw it was a dead body, but its skin looked slightly grey, indicating that it wasn''t a human but a dead zombie.


    The others seemed to know this as well, not just Zain since they had experience collecting flesh.


    "There are a few bodies over here as well!" Pink pointed down one side of the kitchen leading torge double doors.


    ''A few dead zombies, does that mean humans were here?'' Zain thought.


    The look on Shark''s face was also unsettling as he walked forward. And upon pushing the double doors, he stood still as if frozen on the spot. The others looked at each other before running towards him, but they also came to a screeching halt upon seeing the scene on the other side. The entire restaurant was covered in dead zombies.


    It looked like a horde of around a hundred or so zombies had been killed in the restaurant, and they all had pale skin. They could hardly find a regr human corpse in the pile.


    "We...have to get out of here. This is a mistake!" Shark spread his arms and pushed everyone back while he also stepped back.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 68 The Mystrey Man

    While roaming through the streets, apartment buildings, and even the university, there was something that Zain noticed, and he was sure it had be obvious to anyone who had traversed through the area. Most of the dead bodies that were on the ground were of humans rather than the undead, such as the zombies.


    It was easy to tell because when one gets turned, their skin will turn slightly pale, almost a shade of grey. The Reborn didn''t have this characteristic, but the other traits gave them away. However, with Skittle, it was easy to tell that he was a Zombie due to his pale skin.


    It was clear that not many zombies were being killed. This was because in a short period, at least where they were currently, the Zombies seemed like the majority, and they didn''t attack each other.


    This was why the scene in the restaurant was so bizarre for all of them. Usually, where there were dead zombies, there would be people too, but something definitely was not right for there to be this many zombie corpses.


    "What do you think happened?" Pink asked as she started to step in the few spaces on the ground, heading forward, ignoring Shark''s prior warning.


    "It''s most likely the military, right?" Kun asked. "I mean, they''re the only ones that would have this amount of firepower to even do something like this. Normal people can at most hunt a few zombies, even that would need a lot of luck."


    Ever since seeing the pile of zombie corpses, apart from his first words where he said they should all get out of there, Shark hadn''t said anything else and remained silent while looking around. But suddenly, he started moving and headed to one of the two staircases at the side of the restaurant leading up to the second floor.


    "Where are you going? Should we follow?" Fingers asked.


    "I''m just checking something out," Shark replied. "But just to be safe, all of you get ready to leave this ce if you hear anything worse, and don''t head upstairs for the time being."


    Although the others didn''t question Shark''s strange actions, Zain, however, had been wary of the former since the beginning, so he was more interested in solving this thing himself. He knelt down to one of the bodies and inspected them one by one.


    After looking at a few, Kun had also eventuallye over and began to do the same, or at least he made it look like he had done the same.


    "So, what do you think?" He whispered to Zain.


    Zain lifted one of the dead Zombie''s bodies and rolled them over. Arge gap was missing from their shoulder and other parts of their body. The main noticeable thing was the missing portion of its head.


    "None of these wounds look like they came from bullets, at least not from the conventional ones anyway. If it was the military or some type of police force, then they would have used guns to kill this many, right?


    "Even if they didn''t have these markings, they don''t look like they were made from some type of blunt weapon. At the same time, there are no bullet shells, guns, dropped magazines or even holes in the restaurant walls that would indicate a shootout had urred. It''s almost as if a beast of some sort has killed them." Zain exined his conclusion.<sub> </sub>


    Kun gulped listening to this. For him, the unknown was scarier than the known. If it was the military, then they knew what to avoid and how to be safe, but he was trying to understand what exactly Zain was saying here, and he didn''t like it at all.


    "Thanks for all that information." Kun scratched the back of his head. "But I was actually talking about the leader Shark. I mean, don''t you think he''s strange? Like as in, not you strange but stranger than a normal person."


    Zain was quite surprised that Kun had brought this up because he thought he was the only one that had noticed the leader''s strange actions, and then it clicked in his head.


    "You don''t trust him, do you?" Zain asked. "But you are scared of him as well. He''s a strong person, and due to his mysterious background, you are worried about what will happen if you choose to leave or press him for answers. Now I know why you wanted me toe back. You wanted someone who could push up to him and find out the truth."


    Kun chuckled and turned his head around to look at the others.


    "Man, you are too smart for your own good, you know? You see, Shark has looked after us well, but the others haven''t known him for as long as I have.


    "I was the first to meet up with him. Look, you do strange things as well, but I don''t get these weird feelings from you, but Shark, he''s always doing strange stuff and not involving us.


    "Like collecting crystals and using the radiomunicator to talk to someone. He always seems to be hiding something from us," Kun added.


    All of these things, Zain had noticed as well, so he understood Kun''s feelings, and in the world of survival, one needed to know, even if the other person was hiding things when to use people to their advantage.


    "I wouldn''t worry so much. Shark needs the group, and he knows that, which is why he is doing everything he can to help you. You don''t have to worry about him so much if it stays that way. Also, don''t worry about the other thing either, I will eventually get to the bottom of it." Zain replied, standing up.


    He then headed to the restaurant entrance and was ready to push open the double doors to the other side. Not too far from where the restaurant was, was the meteorite and all the other destroyed buildings around it. However, before he could, a sudden shout attracted everyone''s attention.


    "Everyone!" It was Shark from the second floor, "It was as I thought! The one that attacked this ce, and killed all these zombies, was a Demon or maybe a group of demons. We have to leave this ce right now!"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 69 China Town

    For a second, Zain''s hand hovered over the door handle. He was so close to finally finding another meteorite. It was only a few metres away for him to see what these things were. However, there was also the chance that it could be nothing, and the meteorite was not even active unlike thest one he had seen.


    The most likely case was that the military had already taken all the living and brought them in for testing. Still, there was a small chance, and it was just past that door.


    "Hey Zain,e on, let''s get out of here," Kun said.


    In the end, Zain believed that, for some reason, Shark knew more than him in this situation, and as the saying went, curiosity killed the cat; it was better to y it safe and follow what Shark wanted, at least for now.


    He stepped back, and soon, everyone was back in the alleyway, having exited from the restaurant''s backdoor. Shark was already walking ahead and heading back in the direction they hade from.


    "Wait, you have to exin, Shark!" Pink said. "What did you see up there? I know you said Demons were dangerous but don''t they juste out at night? Aren''t we safe then?"


    "I don''t know," Shark replied. "I don''t know much about these demons. In fact, all I know is right now isn''t our time to face them. We are too weak."


    These words Zaintched onto, slowly like a puzzle piece he was going to put Shark''s knowledge together.


    "I don''t know much about the demons, but upstairs there was a stage 2 Zombie, the Spitter, and it was also ''dead'' like the other zombies. The Demon killed each of those zombies, so we are all dead if we run into it too. We will continue on the mission in the safest way." Shark replied, turning around.


    "What about the brains?" Zain brought it up. "I agree with getting out of here if it is that dangerous and away from the meteorite if that might be rted somehow, but we are running out of time. Is there another ce nearby that we can check out?"


    Shark clenched his fist as he knew Zain was right. Honestly, more than anything, Shark wanted to head back to base and find out what was going on himself, but they needed to think about themselves first.


    "I have a suggestion. Around a kilometre away from here is Chinatown. It''s a nice open street with plenty of shops, supermarkets, and low building apartments, no giant skyscrapers like over here." Pink said. "If I was still human, then it would be somewhere I would hide..and¡­"


    Pink didn''t say anything after the end, but Zain could tell that there was another reason why she wanted to go there, and if he was to take a guess, it was most likely to check up on her family. In these types of situations, the first thing people wanted to know was if their family was okay.


    Without the avability of cell phones or the inte working, they could only check in person.


    While debating about it, Shark wondered if a kilometre was far enough, but pulling out a map from his backpack, simr to the one in the club, he figured since it was more inward and away from the fallen meteorite, it was a safer option.<sub> </sub>


    With that decided, the group was walking again, but they had already wasted quite some time on theirst trip, and it was now around 2 PM. The sun tended to set around six, so they had around four hours toplete the task in front of them and return to the club.


    Chinatown was a walking shopping street. Cars were not allowed to travel during a certain time of day, and it looked like there were next to none in the street. Decorations of rednterns and good luck charms were out all over the ce, and strangest of all, the street itself seemed to be quite empty.


    One or two zombies could be seen just strolling around the area.


    "China town is quite big, and there are a lot of shops." Zain prompted. "With arge group like ours, it''s going to be hard to go through it without getting spotted. So it will be best if we split up in pairs."


    Kun and Shark group in a pair, while Fingers and Pink group together, and though it didn''t really count, Zain and Skittle paired up as well. Although Zain was the one that had made this suggestion, he preferred it this way.


    "After an hour of exploring, we''ll meet up underneath this archway to report anything we find. If you see people, then don''t engage on your own." Shark instructed everyone.


    Everyone understood, and they split up going through Chinatown. After a while, Zain had gone through quite several different shops, restaurants, gift shops and more, but he had yet to find anything. However, he noticed signs of raids and looting throughout the streets, so there were sure to be people who had at least been here before.


    That''s when he entered a hairdresser shop of all ces. The ce looked empty apart from the fact that there was a smear of blood across the floor leading to the back room. And, when walking close, Zain pressed his ear against it and could hear something through the door, and with a sniff, a scent went into his nose.


    It was clear that there was a human on the other side of this door, but the question was, was it the only one? There didn''t seem to be any conversation, and Zain decided to push the handle in a few minutes after hearing no other signs.


    It was locked, but he easily broke through it with his strength. The door snapped open, and right in the centre of the storage room, there was a person, who had been tied up to a chair, and her body was beaten and bruised.


    When the woman looked up, life came into her eyes as she saw a familiar face.


    "Kelly¡­" Zain was shocked.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 70 A Meet Up

    The young woman tied up in the chair wore the same dress that Zain had seen her thest time. She looked like an officedy who was wearing a tight skirt, stockings and a light blue shirt. Zain could never understand why one would choose to wear such things in the situation they were in.


    But it was because of these clothes that Zain went to take a second look at the person. Her face was quite badly beaten, and one of her eyes was ck, while her lip was busted and swollen.


    That''s when he nced carefully at her face, and without a doubt, this was Kelly. The person Zain had met in the supermarket and the one who had let him inside that store.


    ''So they decided toe to the city of all ces, and what''s happened that''s made her get herself into this situation?'' He couldn''t help but wonder.


    ? Closing the door behind him, Zain quickly went to inspect her body. She smelt like a human, so it was unlikely that she had been bitten, but he just wanted to make sure, and it was as he thought. He couldn''t find any bite marks.


    At least not where her skin was visible. Anyway, if he wanted to do a thorough check, he would have to take all her clothes off, but Zain assumed that if she was hiding the bite, it would mean she was bitten a while ago, and by now, he would have detected the scent, so there was no need to go through any more trouble.


    As Zain was observing her, Kelly was screaming. While making muffled noises, her eyes widened, and her heart jumped consistently. It was as if she had been left in a room with a tiger.


    However, this fear wasn''t towards Zain, it was toward the person behind him. With his mouth left slightly open, his arms dragging by his side, and his pale skin, Kelly was afraid that the zombie was about to eat her.


    "Will you calm down, Kelly?" Zain finally couldn''t hold back, "You remember him, don''t you? He''s my friend Skittle."


    Hearing these words, images shed through her head. She hadn''t noticed the person who had entered. She was just thankful that someone had found her, and she would be saved until she saw the zombie.


    With her struggleing to a halt, she noticed that the zombie just stood by the door and was doing nothing. It wasn''t attempting to attack her or anything like that. Although she was no longer screaming, her heart was still racing for what she was seeing in front of her.


    With her having calmed down, her thoughts finally straightened after a while, and she soon realised who exactly hade into the room.


    "It''s Zain¡­he survived that...he survived the attack from the supermarket that day, but his friend¡­what happened to him, why is he like this?" Kelly had a hundred questions, but she could only nkly stare at the situation.


    Pulling out one of the knives from his belt, Zain went behind her and was ready to cut her free, but his de stopped for a second.


    ''Wait, if I set her free, then what?'' Zain thought. ''I can''t bring her with me, not while I''m with the Reborn group, and if the others find her¡­I don''t know what they will do.


    ''From what I have noticed about Shark, if he believes the group really needs a brain, then he will kill her for the group''s survival. And it''s not even strange because I know that''s what I would have done as well. The only thing was, she did me a favour back then, and I need to do the same for her.''


    Instead of cutting the ropes that were tied around her arms, Zain went toward the tape that was on her mouth instead. He pulled it off and also could see something simr to a sock had been stuffed in there, making it almost impossible for her to speak anything and was another reason behind her muffled voice.


    "Don''t make any noise. We can''t let anyone know you''re here or attract anyone''s attention, okay? If you do, I''m going to shove this sock right back into your mouth," Zain warned her.<sub> </sub>


    Kelly nodded, and Zain pulled out the sock. Immediately she took in a few deep breaths and spitted a few times on the floor.


    "Thank you¡­thank you so much, and I''m d it''s you who came here¡­I was so scared."


    "I''m sure there are a lot of questions you want to ask me," Zain said. "And there are a lot of questions I want to ask you as well."


    When thinking about this, Zain wanted to ask about Buke and what made him turn around that day.


    "However, we need to get out of this situation first. It''s dangerous outside, so let''s stick to the essential questions that will help us understand our current situation." He added after the thought. He was afraid of the others barging into the room and finding Kelly. It wouldn''t do him any good, especially when he had not gotten any answers.


    Kelly understood, there were a lot of questions on her mind, like why Skittle was with him, how they got out of the supermarket and ended up in the situation they were in now, but she also understood that they weren''t out of the danger zone yet.


    "Who tied you up here? How many people were there, and where are they now?" Zain asked.


    "It was a group of five men," Kelly answered. "I don''t really know them, me and Cody came across them, and we joined their group since they seemed pretty strong and nice as well. They shared food and water with us and brought us back here.


    "When we returned though, they started to act strange, one of them¡­one of them grabbed me¡­ me from behind. Then, he started to pull at my shirt¡­it was obvious what they were nning to do. They wanted to **** me!


    "Cody had caught on pretty quickly, and the others were trying to convince him to get involved, but Cody¡­he¡­he¡­." Kelly started to sniffle.


    "I know he''s a good kid," Zain replied, remembering it was because of thetter that he was able to get his weapons to defeat the Stage 2 Spitter. He was quite talented for his age and resourceful as well.


    "He tried saving me, he fought back against them, but their leader was faster. Still, Cody didn''t give up, and I tried to help him as well. I don''t know what happened and where they have gone, but they locked me in here while they took Cody somewhere else¡­Zain, I know it''s not fair of me to ask you this...but you''re strong, I have seen it first hand. Please help him, please save Cody." Kelly pleaded.


    When she lifted up her head, she saw a deep frown on his face, and his eyes had turned a little bloodshot as he clenched his fists hard.


    Zain was not a hero, and neither was he trying to be. But if someone does him a favour, he would surely return it.


    "I''ll kill them." He muttered.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 71 Illegal Shop

    Kelly''s heart started beating faster as she saw Zain like this, mainly due to fear. When asking for help from him, she never thought that he would outright decide to kill that group just like that, but she soon remembered the file, his file that the Principle had shown her, and shivers ran down her body as she felt goosebumps.


    Zain''s blood boiled i anger, and he wanted to punish these people, however, there were multiple reasons why he had epted the job. First, he liked Cody''s nature and also owed him a favour. They needed to find other humans in the first ce, andstly, if there was anyone who deserved to have their brains taken out, then it was them.


    Having decided what he would do, Zain shoved the sock back into Kelly''s mouth and ced the tape back on. He heard muffled cries again as she was confused by Zain''s sudden actions. She thought he would help her get out of this ce, but he was instead nning to leave her behind.


    ? "Trust me. You''re better off here." Zain exined. "You can''t travel with me, and you will only slow me down. Sure, you could hide, but the zombies wille looking for you. I''ll bring back Cody, or at least tell him where to find you.


    "If it doesn''t work out, then worst case, I''lle backter to give you some food and make sure you are alright. It will be a bit scary, but you''ll survive. I will try my best."


    Skittle and Zain soon exited the room, closing the door behind them and leaving Kelly in the same state she was earlier, although her emotional state was now much better, although it wasn''t too good either.


    ''That damn Zain!'' Kelly sighed. ''How could he leave me like this tied up? He could have just told me to stay inside, and I would have listened.''


    After a while, Kelly calmed down and realised that at least he was doing something, and there was no point in her wasting any energy.


    ¡ª¡ª


    At the same time, Kun and Shark were walking around looking for any signs of humans. There were several different shops in Chinatown, and Kun enjoyed each of them as they went into them one by one. At the moment, the two of them were in a fancy dress shop in traditional Chinese clothing.


    There was even a warrior''s outfit, but Kun could immediately tell it was fake upon touching it. Something like this would only slow him down if he wore it.


    "Can you not run around all excited so much?" Shark said. "Don''t forget we''re trying to be sneaky here, and unlike your friend, for the two of us, it''s pretty hard to hide the fact that we''re zombies."


    Kun knew what Shark meant because almost at all times of the day, the two would wear a type of scarf around their face to hide their obvious bite marks and wounds. However, wearing the masks alone made them look untrustworthy, so it didn''t really help much.


    "Fine, but you need to lighten up a bit. I mean, what''s the worst that could happen? Will we die? Well, surprise, we are already dead." Kun replied.


    "Fine, but do me a favour, the new guy you brought in, keep an eye on him. He has a lot of information, and there is a good chance that he might be on the other side." Shark whispered, seeing the chance to bring up the topic he was recently pondering about.<sub> </sub>


    "I doubt it. The guy is just as suspicious about you as you are of him. It''s strange to say this, but I think he might actually be the lone wolf type.


    "He''s hiding something for sure, but it''s not like a secret agent hiding, unlike you, and besides, from what you''ve heard, do you really think that someone from that group would be like him?" Kun asked as he leaned against the door of the back of the shop.


    Shark looked to be in thought for a while, and he had to admit he didn''t think so.


    "You''re right. In fact, he didn''t even know about Demons that day. But if he''s not with us, or with them, then who is this guy? Someone who fights like that and can take out a Titan on his own can''t just be a normal high school student, right?"


    "Maybe?" Kun shrugged and pressed his hand against the handle, only to find the door locked. "I mean, maybe he''s just a natural, or someone good at fighting and practised for all this stuff, or he''s just crazy.


    "For anyone to have survived in this world, we all need to be a little crazy, right?"


    Shoving the door as hard as he could, thetch broke, and the door swung wide open. Stepping into the room, Kun expected to see more clothes or stock of clothes. But upon pressing the light switch, his eyes lit up as he saw everything on the wall.


    "Hey Shark, I think you better get in here." Kun suddenly called out as a smile formed on his face. The scene in front of him was thest he would think ofing across when going through a cloth shop.


    "Why would I care about useless clothes?" Shark grumbled but decided to follow him anyway because he knew otherwise Kun would never leave the shop.


    Stepping into the room, Shark also stopped by the door as he was amazed at everything in front of him.


    "This...has to be illegal." He mumbled as he stared at the wall filled with weapons. They were all put out on disy. From spears, swords, and katana des to everything was there, and these didn''t look like replicas or fakes either.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 72 Tied Up (Correct Chapter)

    Although Chinatown didn''t have huge skyscrapers like the rest of the city, there were still apartments located within Chinatown itself. Oftentimes it would be directly above the shop, and most of the time, owners would live there, making it easier for their work and lifestyle.


    In fact, some people had turned their homes into shops and just doubled them up as a ce to sleep. It was just the way of living for those who thrived here and based on a certain Reborn zombie girl''s action, it didn''t look like she had suggested Chinatown just because she liked the style of clothing they had.


    Along with Fingers, Pink had practically walked past most of the shops after giving a few seconds of nces. They didn''t even give them a proper look to see if people were hiding or anything like that. At the pace Pink was walking out, it was clear she knew where she wanted to go. Fingers did notice this but he didn''t say anything because he had a faint doubt about why they hade here in the first ce.


    Eventually, she hade to a stop and upon lifting her head, she stared at the sign above the shop. It had arge meat bun sign with the words "Fresh Baozi" written underneath It.


    "Are you hungry?" Fingers asked, not really knowing why she had decided to stop outside of this shop out of all of them. In all the previous shops, she would instantly enter ande out, but here she was staring at the sign.


    Instead of giving a reply, Pink directly rushed right towards the shop, which was actually a small restaurant. She then started to lift all of the nt pots in the corner of the restaurant. It wasn''t a big shop and had a few seating areas, but eventually, she found a small key.


    Using that Key, she went to the back counter and rushed upstairs. That was when it finally hit Fingers. This wasn''t just any shop, this was her home, her real home before the Zombie apocalypse changed everything. This exined why she had been acting strange, and also confirmed his earlier doubts.


    Just in case there was any trouble, Fingers rushed up the stairs as well but stood by the door. After all, this was quite a private matter, and he didn''t wish to interfere too much.


    "Mom!" Pink cried aloud while looking left, right and throughout the second floor. "Dad¡­Jasmine!"


    There was no response, but Pink continued to look for them, searching their bedrooms, the living room and the kitchen, but she was unable to find them. It was clear that they weren''t there, but when going into the bathroom, that was when she spotted something else.


    "Huh..No¡­no¡­they have to be okay." Pink started to sob. The scene in front of her had shocked her.


    Hearing this, Fingers ran into the room. It was easy to find Pink due to the noise she was making, and when he saw the scene in front of her, he pressed his hand onto her shoulder in constion.


    "You can''t give up yet." Fingers said, "This is just blood. We don''t know what happened, so don''t jump to conclusions."


    The room had streaks of blood inside, though there were no corpses, and when looking around the room, there were a lot of blood streaks on the walls as well. It wasn''t an overlyrge amount, but clearly, there had been some type of struggle.


    After around fifteen minutes, Pink had managed to regain herposure enough to leave the ce. She had taken a contact diary that her parents kept. It had the names of those that possibly they would have gone to. Then she also took a family photo of all four of them.


    In the photo was she herself, her sister, who was older than her by a few years, and her parents, all smiling at a local funfair.


    With no leads and still in Chinatown, Pink decided it was time to get serious about her task, and it seemed like they were in luck. Just as Pink was about to exit the shop, Fingers pushed her back behind the door.


    "Hey, watch where your hands are going, I know your names, Fingers, but that doesn''t mean you can put your fingers wherever you want!" Pinkined.


    Quickly, Fingers put a single finger to his mouth, indicating her to shush, as he pointed towards one of the cross sections of the street. Since Chinatown wasn''t just a single row of streets with several shops, it had different sections and alleyways that could be explored as well.<sub> </sub>


    "Man, this kid is tough, he looked like an easy one, but he really fought with all he had, didn''t he." They heard a hoarse voice.


    Both Pink and Fingers leaned forward, hiding their head mostly behind the exit of the shop, and around twenty metres away, walking across, they could see several people. Without a doubt, this group wasn''t Reborns because even from the house, the two could smell that they were humans.


    At first nce, there were two people in front with weapons, mostly crowbars or pipes. Behind them were two men, dragging a person across the road, and finally, there was a man at the very back, wearing a ck suit, with a tattoo of a snake going up his neck.


    "That''s Cobra," Pink whispered.


    "Who? Is he some type of celebrity or something?" Fingers asked.


    "He''s a well-known person in Chinatown because he''s basically a gangster. He''s thendlord that owns most of thend in this ce, and he uses it to abuse the shopkeepers. There are a lot of Asian businesses here that thrive in this particr area.


    "Taking advantage of immigration exploitation, Cobra charges more and more each year, and whenever he visits ces, he expects the hosts to give him something for free otherwise, they might lose their shops."


    "So he''s a thug." Fingers said. "I guess we don''t need to feel too bad about getting these guys'' brains then, after all. Let''s head back and tell Shark."


    Pink wasn''t so quick to move, though, she was watching what was happening, the person they were dragging looked young, and he was badly hurt. This was something she had seen happen once or twice in Chinatown, with these people before, those that tried to cross with them.


    It was strange for Pink to see the same thing that was happening now despite the current situation. She was sure if anything like this was to happen, those with wealth and power currently it would mean nothing in a world like so.


    "Shouldn''t we follow them?" Pink asked. "I mean, we don''t even know where they''re heading yet. If we brought Shark back here, we would only know a general direction. At the same time, it looks like that other person they have hostage will die if we don''t step in to help."


    Fingers chuckled hearing this.


    "Die? Are you really worried about that? Here we are willing to kill people, so we get to live, and we are in a world where people are dying left, right and centre, and now you''re worried about a random kid''s death? I know you feel bad at the moment, but you have to look reality in the face. We are Zombies. We are the ones that need to kill humans to live. We are not the Heros, so we don''t need to start doing heroic stuff."


    After hearing how Fingers put everything out like so, she understood that he was right. Perhaps it was because of her emotions after returning home, but she had to get a hold of herself. But just as she turned around to head back to where they hade from, she heard the others say one more thing.


    "Come on, let''s hurry and deal with this guy, that way, we can get back to that fine woman as quickly as possible!" A man chuckled.


    Immediately, images of Pink''s older sister appeared in her mind, and before Fingers could react, she was already racing ahead as she went towards Cobra and his gang.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 73 Family

    It was hard for Cody to get a sense of where he was even and what was happening around him. He had been beaten up so badly, that his vision was blurry, both of his eyes were swollen, and his whole body was aching. His condition was so severe that if the two guys dragging him across the street were to let go, he wasn''t sure if he could even move a finger, much less stand up from the ground.


    ''What are these guys even nning to do with me? Why didn''t they just kill me back there.'' This was the biggest worry that Cody had in his head, and he just couldn''t understand what the Cobra gang was attempting to do.


    Earlier, when seeing their nefarious actions, Cody couldn''t help himself but try to give him a chance for Kelly to escape. He himself was quite skilled, and he was aware of his strengths. In fact, from a young age, he was able to move faster than others making it difficult even for bigger kids at his school to mess with him.


    It turned out that his ugliness and quickness were also an advantage in the current situation. Yet he still lost against this group, and it was all because of a person, in particr, the one who Cody had heard them call Cobra, the leader of the gang. The gap between him and thetter was so much that he could barely hold his ground against him.


    "Pay attention, you two. Clear the area, and don''t make too any noise." Cobra ordered.


    Although the streets were rtively quiet, they weren''tpletely clear or void of zombies, and as the scent of the group wafted into their noses, those that were close by had proceeded to stop dragging their feet.


    Around four zombies had caught the group''s attention and began running toward them at different intervals. However, as soon as one got close, the men at the front swung their heavy weapons, hitting them cleanly on the head.


    A crack was heard, and with a single hit, they were able to kill the zombie as it copsed on the ground with a thud. Unfortunately, the man on the right wasn''t so fortunate. Three Zombies hade his way, and just like the other guy, he swung his crowbar, hitting the zombie right in the head, killing it in a single blow.


    As another of the Zombies went toward him, he swung his weapon again, giving out a wide swing. It had hit cleanly on the head, but the endpoint that curled ended up getting wedged into the head. The third zombie would be on him at any second, and there was nothing he could do.


    The zombie''s arms reached out, and its mouth opened wide to gobble him up when suddenly, a de was stuck right into the Zombies mouth, killing it in a single hit. Now staring at the back of a man''s neck, all one could see was the man with a tattoo of a snake running up his neck.


    "I told you to be careful. I can''t have more of you guys dying on me because of your stupid brains." Cobra shouted as he pulled therge knife out. It was ck in colour and around 8 inches long.


    It was a strange knife, to say the least, but it was due to it being custom-made. Once again though, the others had seen Cobrae right from the back, straight to the front to save them. This was part of the reason why they continued to follow him. Their leader was very powerful and swift.


    Eventually, exiting the main area of Chinatown, a little behind all the shops, they had reached what looked like arge metallic warehouse. It was a shared space where shipments and packages woulde in for all the shops from all over. However, Cobra had turned it into something elsepletely.


    There was arge chain covering the front of the door, to stop anyone from trespassing, and of course only Cobra had the key. He soon unlocked it to allow the chains to fall to the floor. Entering inside the ce, there looked to be a pair of crates and equipment that were pushed to the side, and also a few shipping crates at the back that had been tied up as well.<sub> </sub>


    At the same time, Pink and Fingers were now on the outside of the warehouse. Standing just by the door, they were peeking in. It was arge warehouse that was quite deep, so the distance from the door and where the group were was great enough for them to be able to run if they did get caught.


    Throwing a rope up to one of the metal beams, one of the men tied it around Cody''s body. They soon tied up his arms and legs but left his mouth free .


    Pulling the rope up and cutting it at the right point, now Cody was left hanging in the air.


    "I can''t believe it." Cobra said. "You caused all of this fuss over just one girl. Do you know even in the real world, women are attacked everyday? And now the whole world has changed and only the one who is strongest will rule.


    "And those that are strongest, that provide protection andfort for those around them, should be rewarded. The people below them should be lucky they are even alive in this world. So why can''t I get a bit of pussy, for me risking my life to protect them, that''s fair, right?


    "But I understand your actions as well. A teenager like you, is probably quite the horny dog. You probably thought, hey, if I protect this woman, and show her how much of a white knight I am, then maybe she''ll suck me off? Don''t worry, we''re all the same, so I understand and I like that you were brave enough to try to fight us, which is why I''m giving you a chance."


    While Cobra was talking, two men had gone to gather bolt cutters, and then they ran up to the containers that were at the back of the room and chained up, and proceeded to cut them. Quickly they returned, and as soon as the container doors opened, zombies started toe out, crawling from the ce.


    There were hundreds of Zombies, around fifty or so bunched up in the two containers, however they were incredibly slow, some dragging themselves across the floor. This was because they had been severely injured.


    Their legs, spine, arms and more were broken, to make them practically useless.


    "This is your fighting chance, survive this if you can." Cobra said with a smile, but when turning around, he could see another female standing in front of him, in front of the entrance of the warehouse.


    "You..You¡­" Pink was struggling to find the words. "What did you do to Jasmine?"


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 74 Fighting Dirty

    Usually, the zombies one woulde across would have some of their body parts missing, or maybe a few broken bones here and there, but they would still be able to function. It was the norm since, for one, Zombies couldn''t feel pain, and second, the way they had died, either being chased down by others or fighting to the death for their lives before being bitten.


    However, the Zombiesing out of the crate were different. Their arms were moving inward, bones were sticking out from their bodies, and many even had some of their limbspletely missing. In particr, there was one, a female zombie with short ck hair.


    She had her mouth open wide and was dragging herself across the floor. Using her hands and nails to dig into the ground, she pulled herself to move. It was the only way she could move because it looked like someone had ripped off her legs from the knee down.


    There were bandages wrapped around the ends, soaked in blood. For Pink, this Zombie stood out more than any other.


    "What did you do to my sister? What did you do to Jasmine!" Pink shouted while pointing toward the Zombie on the ground.


    "Jasmine?" Cobra said with his finger on his chin. Even with the fact that two people now stood in his way, blocking the exit, he was unafraid and unfazed by the situation. Not to mention the zombies were moving incredibly slow from the container, and it would take around 5 minutes before they reached Cody.


    On top of that, they would consume him before they moved on to the others.


    "Ah, I remember, Jasmine, it was that girl, wasn''t it? The poor thing." Cobra shook his head.


    "You see, she was one of our first in the new world and was quite the feisty one," Cobra replied, grabbing his crotch, and the othersughed. "The only thing was, she kept thinking that she could try to escape, so in the end, we had no choice but to make some adjustments to her body. It wasn''t our fault though, you see, for some reason, she didn''t seem to survive the procedure and ended up turning into that. So we put her along with the rest of them."


    Pink had her head lowered, and her fists were shaking, but tears weren''t falling out from her face. No matter how hard she wanted to cry, it was as if her body just wouldn''t let her. As for Fingers, he was taken aback and even took a step back.


    ''These people, I didn''t even know these types of people existed. How could they do such things...just because the world has changed? It''s not even been a week, and they''re already acting like this?!'' Every cell in Fingers'' body was telling him to get out of the ce.


    What Fingers didn''t know was that it was very easy for Cobra and his gang to do things like this because they had already been doing this before the zombies started to rise. People, in their eyes, were just products that could be sold to others in different ways.


    Whether that was body parts, internal organs, or services they could provide, the gang members had long lost the emotional connection they had with their fellow humans, and now that their world was like this, any little bit of humanity they might have had before hadpletely disappeared.


    "I''ll kill you and do the same to you as you did to my sister!" Pink shouted at the top of her lungs.


    It was then that one of the men next to Cobra pointed towards Pink''s legs. Due to the situation, they hadn''t noticed, but Pink''s legs were covered in bite marks.


    "Now, this is interesting, very interesting." Cobra licked his lips again. He was carefully observing the actions of the weird couple in front of him.


    Pink was done with talking, and she couldn''t take the sight of the man in front of her anymore, and she instantly ran forward, straight toward the Cobra gang.


    "I''ll kill you and then take my sister out of here!"<sub> </sub>


    The two men with weapons from before stood in her way. They were ready, and when Pink was close enough to the first one, one of them swung the bar at her head. Moving to the side, Pink avoided the hit, and the crowbar crashed against the ground.


    With a strong high kick right to the man''s face, she made him fall over backwards, falling straight to the ground, and it didn''t look like he was going to get up any time soon as an imprint and indent on his nose could be seen.


    ''It was a good kick, it looks like she''s trained in fighting of some sort, and she has quite flexible hips as well, but what is with that power?'' Cobra thought. ''A woman that size shouldn''t be able to make a big guy like that fall over so easily, and it looks like he''s knocked out cold, can''t even get up. Ugh, do I have to handle everything now? What a bunch of useless tools.''


    After seeing the first kick, the remaining three weren''t going to take the opponent lightly. The small woman dressed in Pink was no longer a small threat. And upon seeing an opening, one of the men threw out a punch.


    Trying to match it, Pink went for a kick. Her kick hit him right at the elbow, and his arm was whacked away. But before Pink could get her foot down, another one had run into her, and rugby tackled her, mming her onto the ground and pinning her down with his knees.


    "We fight every day. You think we can''t deal with a little bitch like you?!" the man hollered.


    Seeing this, Fingers realised that he would have to now get involved but wondered if he could. In the end, he made his decision and ran away.


    "I''ll get help!" Pink heard a fading voice.


    Seeing this made Cobra and the otherugh out loud.


    "Some friend you have there, it looks like you''re all on your own now. Maybe if there were two of you and just as skilled as yourself, then I would have had to fight a bit more seriously." Cobra smirked.


    Pink gritted her teeth while ring at Cobra.


    "Screw you!" Pink cursed and twisted her wrists as much as possible in order to get her nails into the right ce to dig them right into the man''s thigh.


    Before the man could react, she had dug them in deep, causing him to scream and move his leg slightly. Instantly, Pink got her chance and was able to get up, but instead of going for a kick, or a punch, she opened her mouth wide and bit down hard on the man''s neck.


    ''I don''t care what happens to you guys. You can all go and eat each other for all I care!''


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 75 A Monster And A Human

    Seeing the bite marks on Pink''s legs, Cobra thought many things. First, he thought maybe this woman was already infected and had chosen toe to them even though she knew she would eventually turn. However, the bite marks were too many and based on what he had seen in the recent days, he hade to make a few deductions of his own.


    A light scratch at times wouldn''t turn someone into a Zombie, but it wasn''t always the case and would actually depend on the victim''s ability to resist the turning. However, a deep scratch would turn one into a zombie no matter how strong their will is. The time it would take was dependent on two things.


    The person themselves, and how deep the wound itself was. However, a bite was what turned people the quickest, but even then, it would depend on where the bite was, the quicker or slower it would turn a person.


    This was the same for the deep cut on one''s body. The closer it was to the head, the quicker one would turn. This also made him conclude that whatever was infecting them, a virus or anything else, looked like it had to reach the brain for it to fully affect them.


    To verify his theories, Cobra experimented with many members of his own and even on the people from Chinatown. Those who got bit or scratched, he cut off their limbs, hoping it would stop the infection, but it looked like it would still somehow reach the brain, and his experiments were quite unsessful in saving the people, but still verified his theory.


    At the same time, with so many bite marks on one''s legs, he believed that it was unlikely she had been bit recently, and what was more likely was the fact that she seemed immune and oblivious to them. This made Cobra''s heart race at this point.


    If they could capture her, how much would the scientists around the world pay them to use her? All he had to do was wait for the situation to worsen everywhere and then reveal his trump card. Pink was valuable in a world like this.


    The only thing was, he waspletely wrong, and never in his wildest dreams would he think that Pink, a person who could speak and move, was a Zombie herself. Shetched onto the man''s neck with her mouth, continuing to bite down as long as possible.


    The veins on the man''s neck started to bulge, and he could feel pressure in his head. A few secondster, his eyes started to change, the skin on his outside began to turn paler, and at this moment, Pink had let go.


    The man''s entire body started to shake. The others stepped away, seeing the sudden turn of events. They had seen something like this happen before, but they couldn''t believe it.


    While everyone was in shock, Pink rolled on the floor and went past them, moving back towards the zombies that were creeping forward towards the hanging Cody.


    She knew the zombies wouldn''t attack her, so there was no problem, but there was someone she wanted to meet. Running forward, Pink fell to her knees as she could see her sister crawling with her arms.


    "ARghhk!" Only gibberish came out of her sister''s mouth and didn''t make sense, but Pink still lifted up her body and embraced her with a hug.


    "I''m sorry, Jasmine. I''m sorry I wasn''t there." Pink clutched her tighter. "I''m sorry I was selfish and didn''t help out with the family business. I''m sorry you had to take my ce instead¡­ I''m sorry I was such a bad sister!" She shouted. "Why¡­why didn''t you turn out like me? Why couldn''t you have be a Reborn like me!"


    Meanwhile, the others had seen their ally stop shaking, his body stopped twitching, and slowly he got up from the floor and turned around. His mouth was left wide open hanging and loose, and he started to make noises and groans as he stared at his ownpanions.


    "That bitch, she turned him, she f*cking turned Mike! How is that even possible?!" Shouted one of the men with a crowbar in his hands.


    "Move." Cobra was still not worried about the situation.


    Immediately, the men moved away from their friend Mike, and Cobra instantly appeared in front of Mike with his long ck knife in his hand. Before thetter could react, he stabbed him right through the top of his skull with ease.


    Then kicking his body, the knife came out from his skull, and Mike fell to the floor.<sub> </sub>


    "No mistakes¡­otherwise, you''re going to end up dead like him."


    Seeing this all y out, Cody had somewhate to a realisation, and his mind was clear, but his eyes were still swollen, so he wasn''t at his best. Instead, he turned to possibly one person who could help them out in this room. He twisted his body, pivoting himself toward Pink.


    The Cobra gang hadn''t even bothered to tie up his mouth because they knew that if he did scream or shout, it would just attract more zombies toward him.


    "Free me!" Cody asked. "Break me free, and I''ll help you. I don''t know what you are, and I don''t care. You hate that guy, right? Well, I f*cking do too. So free me, and we can both kill these arseholes together."


    His voice was hoarse, but it reached Pink.


    And hearing his words, Pink put her sister back down and turned around. It was then through the door that she could see Fingers had returned.


    ''He came back. Did he get help as he said?'' Pink thought.


    "I''m sorry, Pink, I think we''re screwed." Fingers said as he backed up, and there were three more men that hade in behind Fingers. None of them she recognised, and they were clearly human with machetes in their hands.


    "Haha, so you managed to gather the whole gang for me? Excellent." Cobra suddenlyughed, "Now we don''t have to chase after you."


    Hearing this, Pink decided to take a gamble. She instantly used her sharp nails and strength to hit the rope from above. It had scratched a big chunk of it out, so she pulled the rest with her bare hands. As a Reborn, she had more strength than the average human, and it was working to her advantage.


    After unknotting a few loops, Cody freed and jumped by Pink''s side before anyone from the Cobra gang could react.


    "What the f*ck! Do you think that little sh*t can help you?! hah!" Cobra snarled. "I''ll kill all of you."


    While Cobra was shouting, Cody muttered a few words to alert Pink.


    "There''s one thing you should know. That guy¡­we have to be careful...he''s superhuman."


    The second Cody finished his sentence, Cobra ran from where he was and was already across the room with his de heading straight for Pink''s neck.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 76 A Dead Zombie

    Although Cody had given a warning, it was hard to understand what he was talking about. What exactly did he mean when calling another person superhuman? However, it didn''t take her long to find out, as she could see a knife being shed toward her.


    ''How did he get here so fast? Wasn''t he on the other side of the room? He covered around ten metres in an instant!'' Pink was rmed.


    She suddenly felt a jerk on her hip as someone kicked her, and the de had hit nothing but the air. Luckily, there was a teenage boy who knew what wasing, having fought against Cobra before, so he kicked Pink to save her from an iing attack.


    "You are annoying." Cobra flipped the de, so now it was in his hand backwards and was going to strike Cody.


    While on the ground, Pink saw what was going to happen, so she quickly got up and went to kick Cobra on the back of the leg, causing one of his legs to give in and bend slightly. Seeing this as an opportunity, Cody threw out a fist, but Cobra easily blocked it with his forearm.


    There wasn''t much strength in Cody''s attack since he still hadn''t recovered, and at the same time, he was a teenager whose body had yet to fully develop. This disadvantage was what propelled Cody to use weapons.


    He was skilful, fast and agile, but the first time around, when they fought, he never expected someone to have a super speed like him.


    Still, Pink was already up and ready to attack again. Throwing her own hand out with her sharp nails, ready to dig them into Cobra''s temple. Hearing the grunts, Cobra quickly sped up and ran straight back away to where the group was, making Pink''s attack hit nothing but the air.


    "You monster." Cobra snarled, "I can''t even fight against you fairly. If you hit me even once, I''m done for."


    This was true, and Pink knew it as well, which was why she was trying to use her zombie self to her advantage.


    While this fight was ongoing, Fingers was fighting for his own life as well.


    He was avoiding the deadly machetes. It was arge ded weapon, and it was hard to defend against it. In the first ce, out of everyone in the Reborn, Fingers wasn''t a fighter. He had learnt a few things from Shark, but even Jelly, who had been left behind, was a better option for fightingpared to him.


    Still, his Zombie self had a slight advantage over humans, like feeling no pain and the extra increase in strength. Another thing was, if he got wounded, it wouldn''t really be fatal unless it was a blow to the head. Because of this, he was able to avoid all the strikes from the others and quickly ran to where Pink and Cody were.


    Cobra could see now that the three that were on the same side were now standing together.


    "I''ll deal with the troublesome one. You guys get rid of the extras." Cobra ordered and set his eyes on Pink.


    There were six people in the Cobra gang, and five of them had brandished their weapons as they walked toward Cody and Fingers. Their odds didn''t look good at all.


    "I think I have a n." Fingers gulped while whispering to Cody, "The zombies, they''re right behind us. Let''s run into them."


    "What!" Cody shouted.


    "I mean all of us, you don''t understand, the zombies won''t attack Pink or me, but at the same time, the others will be reluctant to jump in. We can use them as a type of shield. They might go after you, but Pink and I can protect you."


    It sounded like a crazy idea, but Cody didn''t know what else to do.


    And before he could even decide, he noticed that Fingers was already on the move, and Pink nced back and forth between the two of them. In the end, she grabbed Cody''s shirt, and they were now going with the flow.


    Fingers pushed some of the Zombies out of the way as they got in deeper and deeper. The zombies started to turn as they got a certain smell, and soon, the three of them were standing in the middle of the hoard.


    Pink started to kick some of the Zombies away while Fingers was pushing them. They didn''t need to kill them but just keep them from getting Cody. Honestly, his heart was racing as he stood in the middle of this all. He could see some hands breaking through the two of them and reaching out, but they were quickly hit away by the other two.


    The only good thing was that these zombies were already injured and beyond hurt, so it was easy for the two of them to push them back.


    "Boss, what do we do now?" One of the men asked.


    "It''s simple. We get them and kill every single one of these zombies!" Cobra growled. He was the first one to use his de and stick it right into the skull of one of the zombies.<sub> </sub>


    The gang members came out strong and swung their crowbars and machetes at the heads of the zombies one by one.


    "Make sure you kill them all, don''t let them get behind us. Otherwise, you risk yourself getting turned!" Cobra warned.


    The three of them at the other end gulped. They had never expected this gang to risk their lives for this. This wasn''t part of Fingers'' n. He thought there was just too much risk for a human to dive into a horde of zombies even if they were weakened just to kill some people.


    In his head, the rational thing a normal human would do was to run away, but everyone was different, and these people, especially Cobra, didn''t view Zombies as such a scary thing. They had put all of these guys in the container for their own entertainment in the first ce.


    "Now what we do, this is only going to buy us about three minutes at this rate," Cody exined.


    "Buy time." Fingers replied. "Maybe if we just buy enough time, the others wille to help us¡­and..and they should get tired from fighting the zombies. This is still the best n, we just have to stick with it."


    "Just be ready to fight, human," Pink said as she kicked one of the Zombies so hard in the stomach that she sent them toward their attackers. It hadn''t died but soon turned to one of the nearby gang members, only to get stabbed right on the top of the head.


    "Oh, what''s this one?" Cobra said out loud.


    Looking at Cobra, one could see he was standing in front of a zombie and was looking down at the ground. There was a single one that wasing toward him, trying her best as she pulled on the floor.


    "If I remember correctly, isn''t this your dear sister? Well, this is great. Now I get to kill her twice." Cobraughed as he lifted the de in his hand.


    "I can''t watch this!" Pink said as she went to leave the circle, but Fingers quickly grabbed onto her hand.


    "Pink, you sister, she''s not like us... she''s already dead. Our priority is to survive." He pleaded.


    Shaking Fingers off, Pink didn''t care, but when she turned back around, it was toote. Cobra had stabbed his ck dagger right into Jasmine''s head. She was no longer moving, it was clear the zombie was dead, but even so, he lifted the de out of her head and stabbed her again in the head.


    "Haha, this might be more fun than when she was alive!" Cobra continued tough as he did the same action over and over, just digging his de into the dead zombie''s head.


    "Stop it! Stop it!" Pink screamed, and not being to take it anymore, she ran through the Zombie horde, knocking over some of them in the process while heading straight for Cobra.


    "I guess it''s time for a change of ns!" Fingers muttered, knowing that he wouldn''t be able to hold them all off on his own. He ran out as well, and Cody followed closely. They were out of the pit of zombies but now were back to where they had started and were here a lot sooner than Fingers had expected.


    Seeing Pink continue to run toward Cobra, he grabbed his ck de and threw it straight toward her. In an instant, it had gone right through into her stomach, and blood poured out, but it didn''t slow her down for a second.


    "You really are a monster!" Cobra smiled as he stood up with the bloodied knife in his hand


    The others were now standing between Cobra and Pink and were ready to give the final blow to Pink.


    "Stop!" A voice shouted from the back.


    The instant everyone inside heard this voice, they halted, and when turning around, they saw two men standing there. Both of them had simr scars over their body, like Fingers and Pink, and in their hands and on their back were several weapons.


    "There are¡­more of you?" Cobra said as he looked at both Shark and Kun.


    ****


    A note from author:


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 77 Leave Behind One

    The Cobra gang had taken out most of the zombies from the crate. There were a few still walking around, but the gang effortlessly finished them in single strikes.


    They had also done so in an intimidating way so their new guests would know who they had messed with.


    "This is really interesting. You guys are the first zombies that I have found who have some intelligence. This is going to be a huge payday!!" After finishing thest of the zombie, Cobra stared at Shark and Kun and licked his lips again.


    "Payday?" Shark replied as he held a spear in his hand. He wasn''t yetfortable in using long weapons or these types of weapons, but in the weapon room Kun had found, there were too many choices that he went with the most logical one.


    A spear gave him a versatility advantage, and he wouldn''t have to get close to those he would attack and could stay quite a distance away.


    "Do you really think that money still matters in our world? The old world order is gone, and if you try to take us, then I will make you pay in other ways." Shark replied, hitting the bottom of his spear on the ground.


    One of the men holding a machete covered in blood and a piece of human flesh chuckled at this.


    "Screw you!" the man said as he charged at the former. "I hate dogs who are all bark but no bite."


    Seeing the persone in, Kun took a step back. He had a heavy backpack on him, filled with weapons inside, and as for the one he had picked for himself, it was a ball and chain. The chain had a heavy spiked ball at the end, which could do severe damage to enemies when swung.


    Still, with the bag full of other weapons, whose even handles could be seen sticking out the top, he decided to let Shark deal with this. Stabbing the tip of the spear into the ground, Shark went to use his hands instead.


    He watched the machete carefully as it was swung down, moving to the side. Shark then quickly grabbed the wrist of the attacker and twisted it, forcing the man to let go of the machete. He then twisted the man''s entire arm and turned him around. The next second he used his knee to put pressure on him and kicked him to the ground, and the man was now on his knees.


    ''He¡­did that on purpose.'' Cobra noticed.


    Shark had not inflicted any wounds on the man. He hadn''t used a weapon and yet quickly took out a street fighter. It was clear that this wasn''t an average person beyond being a zombie, and Shark had done all of this on purpose.


    "Leave my people," Shark said.


    Just when he finished those words though, Cobra instantly appeared right in front of him and picked up the spear Shark had stabbed into the ground.


    "Thanks for the new weapon," Cobra smirked.


    Then taking it out of the ground, he swung it wide to hit Shark. Unfortunately, it was too close to use the sharp pointed end, and instead, the wooden handle hit Shark on the side.


    Using his armpit, Shark had grabbed onto the spear and mmed his other hand on the handle, breaking it in an instant. Seeing this, Cobra removed a ck de from his trousers and shed it across right at Shark, taking advantage of the distraction.


    However, Shark blocked the attack with his forearm, although he received quite a deep cut. Finally, Shark threw out a fist, but it hit nothing as Cobra had already retreated to his earlier position.


    ''What is this¡­how is this person so fast? It''s almost inhuman...no, it is inhuman, I''m sure of it. Does this person have some type of special power?'' Shark wondered. ''Fighting against this gang could be dangerous for us. It''s better if we just leave and find another group. There are plenty out there, and we can still survive a couple of days more with a single brain. This is just too risky.''


    At the same time, Cobra was thinking along the same lines. After seeing Shark fight, he knew it was not worth the risk to try to win this battle without getting hit by these guys.


    "Alright, I''ll hear you out," Cobra said after making up his mind, "I''m assuming you want your two zombie friends, right? Well, let''s say you can have one of them."


    Hearing this, Shark held out his hand, and immediately Kun knew what to do, as he ced a dagger into it from his backpack.


    "Both, or we fight." Shark replied and looked Cobra right in the eyes.


    In the end, Cobra let out a big sigh.


    "Alright, fine, you can have both, but we get to keep the human boy. You see, he disrespected us, and we won''t let him go even if he''s a part of your zombie group."


    By now, Pink had pulled the de which Fingers had thrown at her stomach to stop her. She looked back at the human who had helped her earlier. This human had saved her life. It didn''t feel right to just leave him here.


    But before Pink could even speak up, Shark had already made up his mind.


    "Deal."<sub> </sub>


    Hearing this, Pink was unsure if she could say anything to Shark, and she knew that in his head, this was the best deal to make, and he would not change his mind. After all, to him, the Reborn took higher priority than humans.


    Nodding his head, it looked like Cobra had agreed to the deal, and slowly, both Pink and Fingers walked across the warehouse. They were cautious as they walked past the gang members, but the gang stayed true to their word and didn''t try anything funny.


    When Pink finally got over to Shark, she thought she might as well try something.


    "Shark, is there really nothing we can do? That kid saved my life."


    Shark shook his head.


    "If we fight, there is a good chance that more than one of us will die. If I was on my own, maybe, but with his speed, there is a high chance of all of you dying and me being the only one left alive. That is not exactly a good trade if you ask me."


    Just as Pink thought, Shark would have his reasons for doing these things. As she turned around, Cody saw the disheartened look on her face, but for some reason, he wasn''t upset.


    At least he had managed to save someone.


    When leaving the warehouse, the Reborn group wanted to get away from Chinatown as much as possible, but to their surprise, a person was walking toward them. In fact, it was Nnt just one but two.


    "Zain? What are you doing here? How did you know where we were?" Kun asked.


    "I didn''t," Zain replied. "I''ve just been going around everywhere."


    Now that Zain was rtively close to the warehouse, with a whiff of his nose, he could smell a human.


    "Hey, check what we found. Take any you like," Kun said as he opened his back, revealing a bunch of weapons. Immediately, Zain went to pick one by the handle. It was a short sword, something the knights of the mediaeval era used to use.


    "Pink, Fingers, you should pick one as well. If none of these looks good, we can head back to the shop where we found them to get more." Kun said.


    Holding the sword in his hand, Zain shed it in the air a few times and came to like it, but he was far more concerned about something else.


    "I smell humans from that area, so why are you guys walking away?" Zain went straight to the point. From the look on all of their faces, it seemed like something that they didn''t want to talk about.


    "It''s a gang," Shark replied. "It''s best if we don''t get involved with them and move on."


    With that said, Shark started to move away, but he soon stopped as he noticed that Zain wasn''t following them.


    "Zain...are youing?" Kun asked as he put the backpack on.


    Images of Kelly strapped to the chair shed through Zain''s mind, but then they changed to images of another woman, beaten as well, making him tightly grip his sword.


    "Skittle, follow them," Zain ordered as he went off to walk. "I won''t let these people live."


    Walking right up to the door of the warehouse, Zain pulled out one of the knives he had tucked into his belt and threw it, instantly hitting one of the gang members right in the head and causing him to fall to his death.


    The gang was rmed and stunned. They instantly turned around, only to see a teen with a hoodie at the entrance.


    "Who the f*ck are you!" Cobra shouted. He had just dealt with a zombie group, and now someone else had disturbed them. And this guy even dared to kill one of his men? Cobra was incensed.


    Backed into a corner, pressed up against the wall, Cody could only move his eyes, and when he looked at the face of the person at the entrance, he couldn''t help but wonder if he was fantasising about things.


    "Zain¡­?"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 78 Superhuman

    The warehouse was located up a gentle slope, so the others were unable to see what was happening right now, but they could hear themotion inside it. It was clear that Zain had started a fight right now.


    "Should we go inside and help him?" Pink asked.


    "My answer remains the same," Shark shook his head. "Right now, it is too risky to fight against that superhuman. Look at the wound that he inflicted on your stomach. If we were to go in, there is a high chance that at least one of us would die."


    There were multiple reasons why Pink wanted to go inside. Of course, a lot of it was driven by anger and thurst for revenge, wanting to get back at the one who had killed her sister and also to help out the one that had saved her life, but she wasn''t sure she could do much on her own. Hence she needed Shark''s help.


    Nothing the clenched fist Shark knew he needed to say more to convince her.


    "Look, why do you think he even told his friend to stay behind with us rather than take him along? His friend is strong, yet he didn''t take him with him." Shark exined.


    "I understand what you''re saying, I really do, but then what if just the two went in there," Kun suggested. "Won''t that give Zain a better chance at surviving?"


    There was silence from Shark at the moment, as if he was debating it himself.


    "Why did Zain go in there?" Shark asked. "Most likely because there were humans, but even after telling him that it was dangerous and we had decided not to go inside, he had decided to go anyway.


    "I''ll be honest, we are a group, and a group needs order. Zain is a loose cannon. In some situations, that can be good and work out as long as we can channel that canon in some way. Either way, we can''t all get dragged down with him, and he needs to learn the consequences of his actions. We will wait here for now."


    The group was now feeling. Even Pink was biting her fingernails or not because she desperately wanted to go inside. She had seen how skilful Cobra was, but if Shark felt like he couldn''t defeat him, could Zain really do this on his own?


    Meanwhile, Kun was looking at Shark in a different light.


    ''Are you testing him?'' He wondered.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Inside the warehouse, Zain instantly dealt with the first human by throwing out the small knife. His advantages were his increased strength, and he happened to be quite a good aim with throwing knives. This was something that he would practice in his dorm, albeit with pens.


    Observing the person in front of him, Cobra had assumed he was a human since he didn''t quite look like the zombie group he had just fought against.


    ''This person just came and attacked us straight away¡­there was no hesitation in the killing. That''s not normal. He''s like us, which means he''s dangerous.'' He thought.


    Just then, one of the men with a machete ran forward, and Zain held onto his newly gained sword. He didn''t really know how to use it, although he had practised swinging sticks a few times, a sword''s weight and bnce were different.


    However, his supernatural strength allowed him to make up for a few things. Seeing the machetee his way, Zain swung the sword and hit the machete so hard that part of the sword got stuck in the machete itself.


    The gang member''s grip loosened as he had to let go. His entire arm felt numb from the attack. After pulling the machete off from his sword, Zain swung it down, chopping off the man''s arm, causing him to cry in pain.


    "You guys were the ones that hurt her, aren''t you?" Zain asked.


    The man was screaming now that his arm was missing, screaming so loud that there was a good chance it would attract other zombies, And because of this, Zain had no choice but to finish him off as he swung the sword cleanly diagonally, instantly chopping off the man''s head.<sub> </sub>


    There was next to no hesitation as Zain looked at the other gang members.


    "I''ll ask again, were you the ones that hurt her?"


    The gangsters were a little more frightened for Zain by now than they were of the Reborn group when they came in. There was a certain look in his eye that screamed madness. They turned to each other and also turned to the one that could help them out in this situation.


    "Woman?" Cobra asked with a slight smile while also taking anotherrge ck dagger from his back. He now held one in each hand. "There have been a lot of women that we have met during our time, I''m afraid I do-"


    "Hairdressers." Zain cut him off. "The women at the hairdressers, she said there was a group¡­and a man that had a cobra tattoo around his neck." He added while pointing his sword.


    Hearing this, Cody started to gain a little understanding. He knew straight away that he was talking about Kelly.


    ''Did Zain¡­did hee all of this way because of her? But they hardly know each other, why is he so mad right now?''


    "Ah, that woman," Cobra replied. "We haven''t done anything to her yet, but we definitely n to."


    Cody saw that Cobra was moving his feet slightly.


    "Zain!" Cody shouted. "Be careful! He has super speed!"


    Knowing that his gang would be able to do nothing in this fight to help, Cobra was still confident he could win because, for some reason, in this new world, when it all started, his body had gone through a change. It was a gift from the heavens that he told him he was meant to be special in this world.


    Running from his spot, Cobra had reached Zain and thrust one of the daggers right towards his head, but Zain had lifted his hand, and the dagger went right through, but it had stopped right there as Zain had grabbed Cobra''s hand.


    The dagger went into the palm of Zain, and it was through to the other side. Blood oozed out, but Zain didn''t show an ounce of pain.


    "Thank you, Cody, but I already knew."


    [New quest has been received]


    [A true superhuman has been discovered]


    [Quest: Survive or defeat the superhuman]


    [Reward: unknown]


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 79 Quest Update

    The system message had popped up the moment Zain stepped into the warehouse. It was why he knew that someone in the room had to be special, and he just had a feeling that it was the man at the very back of the room.


    It was a little strange since a prompt like this hadn''t appeared when he was around Buke or around rk. Both of them also showed traits of superhuman capabilities, which meant one of two things. The two of them were still growing stronger, and the system had yet to recognise them as superhuman.


    Or, in a case like this, it never saw them as a threat while the system had shown it now. Cody''s little shout had also given Zain the knowledge he needed. Thinking about it, he wondered what he would do in the other situation.


    If it was him, then he would use his speed, the element of surprise and everything he could to finish off his opponent in one hit. So he knew Cobra''s next target would be his head, which was why Zain was ready.


    Zain blocked the knife attack once again with his left hand while holding the sword in his right.


    "You should have never gotten this close to me," Zain said as he held onto Cobra''s hand.


    Cobra tried to yank his arm away, but it wasn''t budging at all.


    ''His strength¡­this person, he''s not normal as well. I made¡­I made a mistake!''


    It was a desperate situation, and for the first time in a long time, Cobra was panicking. With his other hand free and a dagger in it, he went to attack Zain. He was faster, and Zain couldn''t hit him with the sword. The only thing he could do was lift his forearm, so it got in the way.


    When the dagger cut through Zain''s arm, it didn''t make a deep cut and only gave a light wound.


    ''His skin, why is it like leather?'' Cobra cursed inwardly.


    "Come on! Get this guy off me!" He shouted and called for his gang.


    A ng was heard, and Zain dropped his sword to the ground. Then he used his other hand to grab Cobra''s shoulder and pulled him in. It was too close for Cobra to attack Zain''s head.


    "I hate people like you the most," Zain said as he opened his mouth and bit right into the shoulder and neck of Cobra.


    One of his arms was stuck, the dagger still through Zain''s hand, while the other, he had been grabbed by the shoulder, barely able to move. Cobra moved his elbow, using the dagger as best he could, but it couldn''t even pierce his skin.


    The endurance that Zain had gained made it so a weak attack would hardly work. The only reason why the first attack had somewhat seeded was that rather than a shing motion, it was a stabbing one, while at the same time, the extra speed had given a lot of force to the attack.


    In the end, Cobra found himself losing strength in his body. While his skin colour started to change, Zain received a system message.


    [You have sessfully defeated a super human]


    [Quest reward: 1000 Exp]


    [First-time reward: 5000 exp]


    [You have sessfully turned a human into a part of your horde]


    [Reward: 10 exp]


    [2/15 Horde]


    [Quest has been updated]


    [Form your horde]


    [Horde: 2/10]


    [Hidden Quest aplished: Turn a Superhuman]


    [Reward: 100 exp]


    [Note: Superhumans are more resistant to the special virus strain]<sub> </sub>


    [Chances of being turned vary from person to person]


    One after another, the system prompts appeared in front of Zain. The truth was, Zain just wished to inflict as much pain on this person as possible, and he couldn''t think of a better way than turning him into a Zombie himself.


    But from the looks of it, it was able to do a number of things. By the time he let go of Cobra, the other gang members were now extremely worried.


    "Cobra¡­Cobra was turned¡­ he''s a zombie now."


    Cobra was looking toward them, and he still had both daggers loosely held in his hand. At the same time, Cody couldn''t believe what he was seeing.


    ''Zain¡­you were one of them. You''re with those guys from earlier, aren''t you? Now it makes sense about what we saw in that video. No wonder you were able to get out of that ce.''


    Opening the system, Zain brought up the horde tab and noticed that along with Skittle, there was Cobra as well on the list.


    Skittle was level 2, while Cobra was level 1. However, there was something even more surprising than that, and it was the stats.


    [Name: Cobra]


    [Race: Super Undead]


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 5]


    [Intelligence: 2]


    [Vitality: 0]


    Unlike Skittle, who had no such stats when he was at Level 1, the superhuman already had stats. It seemed to be linked to how strong they were before they were turned as well, as there were already a few points in agility.


    ''Intelligence two, I mean, that guy didn''t seem like the smartest person, but let''s see how this goes.''


    With the newest member of his horde, Zain pointed to the gang members.


    "Attack."


    Immediately, the Zombie Cobra ran from where he was toward the man who had a crowbar. The man swung towards Cobra''s head in panic, but the Zombie Cobra ducked and used the de to stab him right in the stomach and next right up through the chin.


    ''He can¡­use weapons, and it looks like he is as skilful as he was before. Is this because of intelligence stats? It must have something to do with it.''


    The only thing was, Zain didn''t really get any exp for killing humans, only for turning them. Either way, this was better. Since he wasn''t using his hands or teeth, it meant that he wasn''t turning them either.


    Although creating a horde was good, at this point and time, Zain still felt like it was a bad idea, and besides, he needed something else, their brains.


    After a minute of screaming or so, everything calmed down in the warehouse. The noise had stopped, and Cobra was standing in the middle of a blood pool, surrounded by the corpses of his men.


    ''This whole trip has gone better than I thought.''


    "Zain¡­" Cody finally asked, getting up from the floor. "Who are you?"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 80 Join Us

    There was no one left in the room, or at least no one left alive in the room, other than Zombie Cobra, Zain and Cody in the very back. For a good while, Cody just stared at Zain and thought back to everything he had seen, putting it all together.


    "Kelly," Zain said. "She''s alive, tied up in the hairdressers in Chinatown near the entrance. When you get out of here, go save her."


    Cody shook his head as he was snapped out of his daze.


    "Thank you¡­" Cody replied. "Thank you for saving Kelly and me as well, but what do you mean, Zain? Aren''t youing with me? The two of us can get her together."


    Hearing this response from Cody surprised Zain. It was clear the former had seen what he had done, and the fact that Cobra was a zombie standing there next to him made it clear as day, yet he wanted him to go along with him.


    The unexpected response had made Zain go silent.


    "Is it because of what you are?" Cody asked. "Did this happen to you because we left you at the department store¡­or were you-" He stopped there, unsure if his next words would be considered rude or not.


    "Cody¡­right. I remember you from the department store. I came here as a favour because you helped me back then. I don''t know why I''m like this, I just didn''t get turned for some reason.


    "Anyway, my debt has been paid back. So just stay inside here, and then, around fifteen minutes after I leave, you go to Kelly." Zain said as he went to one of the dead bodies lying motionless on the floor and then bent down on his knees to take a look.


    "Wait," Cody called out. "You saved Kelly and me. I''m sure she won''t care what you are. I mean, you are more human than them. You can speak and think, just like us. Honestly, if the situation wasn''t like it was before, I would have followed you, and I believe Kelly would havee for sure."


    Zain smiled back at the teenager. He always liked something about him from the beginning, but maybe because he was still a teenager, he had yet to understand the situation fully.


    Pulling out a knife from his belt, Zain cut the top part of the skull, blood gushing out, and started pulling at it with his bare fingers, cracking the top of it open. It was so gruesome that Cody had no choice but to look away.


    "Cody, you, me and the people out there are very different. This is how I have to live now. It''s too dangerous to travel with me. Maybe one day, this could be you on the ground, and even if I can control my own actions, you saw the people before, right? I can''t control theirs."


    After that, Zain went to the rest of the dead bodies on the ground of the Cobra gang members. He also found a bag in the warehouse that one of the men seemed to have used to bring the rope to tie up Cody.


    Zain carefully ced each brain in the bag, and while his back was turned away from Cody, he began to eat down on one. Since he had done all the work, he thought the others couldn''tin, but he wasn''t going to tell them anyway. He needed his body at as close to 100 percent body functionality to stay as strong as possible.


    Level 5


    [6,318/10,005 exp]


    Strength: 1<sub> </sub>


    Agility: 0


    Intelligence: 1


    Endurance: 2


    ''Even after all that Exp bonuses I got, I still couldn''t level up. Levelling up will get much harder unless I start grinding out Quests and mutated zombies. Still, I got a lot out of this trip. Cobra was a big bonus.'' Zain nced at thetter and set themand to follow as he was ready to leave.


    "Zain!" Cody called out. "If it doesn''t work out with your current group you are with, then you will always be wee with me. You saved my life."


    Zain didn''t turn around and continued to walk out of the warehouse while thinking that if he hadn''t turned into a zombie, the two of them would have made quite the team together in this world.


    After heading down the slope, Zain and the others were surprised to see each other. It looked like the group had waited for him to see the oue, but they were even more stunned about what was following behind Zain, holding two daggers in his hands.


    "That''s¡­. that''s that Cobra guy!" Pink said, still filled with anger, but after carefully observing Cobra, her anger started fading away as she noticed certain zombie-like features on him and a huge bite mark on his neck.


    ''This is¡­what is this? Has he now gotten control over Cobra as well? Just like his friend Skittle?'' Shark thought. ''That Cobra was no easy opponent, but he managed to defeat him and now controls him as well. How is this possible? I should contact the base about this.''


    "This one, you can call my pet," Zain said, pointing his thumb back towards Cobra. "He follows me now and here; take this."


    Zain took off the backpack and threw it towards Fingers, who managed to catch it and could smell somethinging from the bag straight away. Once he unzipped it, everyone took a peek and saw that it was exactly what they were looking for.


    "You got Brains! Does that mean you managed to kill them? There are so many in here!" Kun eximed in excitement.


    "What about the boy?" Pink asked. "There was a boy in there. What happened to him."


    "He...was already dead when I got in there," Zain replied as he continued to walk forward and went up to Shark. "The Brains are my gift. I hope I have shown my worth in this group."


    ''This guy...I just hope he really is on our side.'' Shark thought.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 81 Contact Who?

    Even though it had yet to be nightfall, the group decided to head back now that they hadpleted their main objective: to find more brains.


    They had enough tost them for at least three weeks, and the brains needed to be stored properly so they couldst that long for everyone.


    What the others couldn''t help but keep looking at though, was the new Zombie that followed Zain, Cobra. Skittle and Cobra followed closely behind Zain, and Pink was still quite infuriated. Whenever she saw Cobra''s face, she had this urge to just stab him.


    Yet, at the same time, she was quite satisfied with his state after what he had done to her sister and was enjoying every moment of him being a mindless undead.


    "So, any person you have turned to just happens to start following you like this?" Kun asked since Zain couldn''t avoid giving a better exnation. Still, he avoided telling them anything about the System or that he wasn''t a typical Reborn Zombie.


    "Yeah, they listen to what I say. I thought the first one might have been a fluke, or I thought others would be like me as well, but I guess not." Zain replied.


    "Wait, does that mean you were also the one that turned your friend? What happened between you guys?" Fingers asked.


    Immediately, the others felt sweating down their face, and Zain just stared at Fingers, not answering the question. In the end, Kun kicked Fingers.


    "What the hell are you asking that question for? Do you really have a death wish or something?" Kun asked.


    "It seems like there are differences even amongst us, Reborns." Shark stated. "This world has changed a lot more than we originally thought. For instance, that Cobra. He is the first Superhuman I have ever seen."


    Hearing this, Zain was quite surprised. He knew that Shark had to be getting his information from somewhere either currently or in the past before all of this happened, but Zain had met a few superhumans before, which was why it hadn''te as a surprise to him.


    ''Maybe whoever he''s working for doesn''t know everything.'' Zain thought.


    Eventually, they made it back to the club. After doing the secret knock code, they were let in by Jelly on the other side. He looked to be doing well, and the ce seemed just as good as how they left it earlier today.


    Due to the tense situation, everyone felt like they needed to sit or lie down.


    "Everyone did well today. We will rest and maybe have a break tomorrow while deciding what to do next."


    The others seemed happy about this because there was a lot on their mind. The only thing was, there wasn''t much for them to do, so all they could do was think.


    Fingers gathered the crystals they had obtained and ced them back in the room. Kun was looking for an area to disy the new weapons they got. In the meantime, he thought he might even train with a few of them, so he and Jelly were moving tables to make an open ce where they could train better.<sub> </sub>


    Then there was Pink, who had decided to just sit at the bar, with her fingers running through her head. Zain was keeping an eye on Shark, but it looked like thetter was keeping an eye on him as well.


    Which was why he had decided to head toward Pink. It seemed like she knew something about Cody, and although Zain wanted to forget about them, he was worried and wondered how they were doing.


    "Go away," Pink said. "If you''re going to bring that Cobra guy here, then please just go away."


    Zain shook his head and ordered Cobra to walk up to the wall on the other side of the room. Then, when thetter reached it, he ordered him to stay, and now Cobra''s zombie self was just standing on the spot while staring at a wall. It was strange how obedient he was.


    "You look troubled, and I know it''s not my ce to ask and probably not the best person to talk to, but I was just wondering what happened before I arrived at the warehouse. What did that Cobra guy do?" Zain asked.


    Filled with anger and sadness, it wasn''t hard for Pink to speak and get everything off her chest. After hearing about what happened, including when entering her apartment, Zain''s clenched fists trembled with anger.


    "I was right. These people are the worst!" Zain expressed, nearly breaking the top of the bar counter.


    Pink noticed how filled with rage Zain was. It was strange after listening to a story to be...this angry. It made sense for her because of what had happened to her sister, but Zain was mainly a bystander in all this. Was he an extremely empathic person?


    ''I remember when he entered the warehouse, it was almost as if he had a goal. But, like Shark said, why did Zain go into that warehouse? It wasn''t just because he wanted the brains. Did something happen?'' Pink wondered.


    Although she was curious, she was too afraid to ask in case something simr to what happened to Fingers would also end up happening to her. In the end, Zain got up and left, leaving Skittle behind to keep Pinkpany.


    She seemed to not care where he was going, and neither did the others, as they were busy with their own things. However, Zain was heading to thest ce he had seen Shark and passing by the office, he could hear thetter''s voice as if he was talking to someone.


    "What do you mean this wasn''t part of your predictions?" He heard Shark''s frustration-filled voice, "If you knew about it, then you should have informed us immediately. Anyway, have you looked into what I asked for¡­."


    ''Is he on a telephone call¡­no, the telephones don''t work. So it must be that radio system he has in the office.''


    "I see," Shark replied. "If he doesn''t match anyone, I will continue to proceed cautiously. Maybe we can use him to help us."


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 82 Graded Crystals

    It was hard for Zain to figure out the full conversation just by listening through the door since he could hear Shark but not the other side, but there was one thing that was certain. Shark was working with others, and Zain was pretty sure that he was gathering members of the Reborn for another reason.


    ''Based on his fighting skills and his coordination, he really seems to be part of the military or at least the government. Different factions might be involved in all of this, each trying to do their own thing.''


    In the end, it looked like the conversation was ending, and Zain had to make a swift exit out of the ce, heading back to the bar area. Just so it didn''t look like he was just waiting around, Zain had decided to head over to Kun.


    Out of everyone there, Kun seemed to know the most about Shark. Not only that though, but he was also setting out all of the weapons that he had gathered from the shop and had cleared out an area to create a fighting area.


    Right now, Kun was just widely swinging two random curved swords with red tassels on the end. At the same time, he was making strange noises as he swung each of them, like he was in some type of kung fu movie.


    "Have you found a weapon you liked yet?" Zain asked.


    Kun ced the swords down and picked up a single-handed axe.


    "Not really, but I mean, there were so many weapons in the ce. I think I might go back and bring some more. What about you, you seem to like that sword, do you know how to use that as well?


    "Did they teach you how to use swords like they did guns in university?" Kun asked sarcastically.


    Zain carefully pulled it out from his belt. He had yet to create or make a proper holder for it. Ideally, he would have liked one on his back. Maybe if they headed back to the shop, there would be the type of thing he was looking for, but it was now nighttime, so there was no leaving the ce.


    "I''ve practised swinging a stick before, but it''s not really the same thing," Zain replied, but then a certain idea popped into his head. "I wonder."


    Looking at Cobra, Zain had given him the order to attack. The next second, Cobra ran from the wall he was looking at and started heading straight across the room. Not just at anyone, it was toward Zain.


    The two ck daggers were in his hands, and he immediately swung one out to attack, aiming for his throat. Lifting the sword up in time, the two weapons shed, but Zain was clearly stronger, able to hold the weapon firmly.


    Straight after, Zain swung his sword in a vertical fashion, but Cobra leapt back and quickly charged in again, but before he could do any damage to Zain, he had made an order telling him to stop, which he did instantly.


    ''Now that''s really interesting. Unlike Skittle, Cobra seems to also avoid attacks and not just mindlessly attack whatever I tell it to. This has to be due to the intelligence, and why he can use weapons as well.


    ''If I level up Skittle, then maybe he can do the same, and maybe he might be able to speak one day.''


    "Whoa, what was that? Did Cobra get his memories back there for a second?" Kun asked.


    "No, I ordered him to attack me," Zain replied. "It''s good training. Do you want to have a go?"


    Immediately Kun started to shake his head.


    "No thanks. I mean, when I saw him the first time, he was a problem, but now he''s a zombie. He won''t even feel any pain if the two of us fight."


    It was true; honestly, Zain wasn''t even sure if he could use him as a training partner. Cobra was simply too fast. Looking at his speed, if Cobra had the element of surprise, if Zain''s system didn''t tell him he had super powers, or Cody didn''t shout out, then it would have been a difficult fight for Zain to win.


    It was a number of different factors that allowed him to win that fight.


    While the two were conversing, Shark was seen crossing the side of the stage and heading into a different room. A door was heard being shut behind him.


    "Where is he going? I don''t think there was anything in those rooms?" Zain asked.


    "There are rehearsal rooms for bands that used toe and y on stage. There is nothing in them, which is why Shark didn''t bother showing them to you. However, Shark trains every day with his body, fighting and all sorts in there for an hour.


    "After that, he invites us in one on one for some training and to improve our fighting skills. Now that I''ve cleared the tables though, maybe we will fight out here, or he''ll teach us a lesson on weapons." Kun exined. "You might want to prepare yourself because Shark is strong."<sub> </sub>


    "Good idea." Zain said, maybe I''ll go rest in one of those rooms myself." Zain said as he walked away and looked at the main floor. Everyone was ounted for apart from Shark, which meant the main office was now open.


    Heading inside, therge radio device could be seen. Some headphones were out on the table like they had recently been used. Going to the seat, Zain looked around to see if there were any notes written down.


    He was opening draws, but there was nothing apart from one draw that was locked.


    ''Although I could just pull and break this open, that would make it obvious that I was in here. At the same time, it has to be locked for a reason.''


    For a second, Zain wondered if he should try to use the radio transmission device. Honestly, he had no clue what the dials or buttons did. It was too old for him to understand, and without just pressing everything he wouldn''t know how to get it started or put it back the way he remembered it.


    At the same time, even if he did contact someone, what would he say, what would he do, and how would Shark act? The two of them were already suspicious of each other, and there was no need for the two of them to be fighting each other.


    Just in case there was anything that had been missed, Zain had another look around the desk and decided to look around the office, pulling the draws out to the side, and that''s when he discovered the crystals that had been ced inside the tray.


    There was a tag saying Grade 1, and right next to it, another one that said grade 2, going all the way up to grade 5. There were only crystals in the grade 1 and 2 box and none in the others.


    The grade 1 crystal were quite thin in size but still about asrge as one''s finger, whereas the grade 2 were simr in length but were about as thick as a golf ball.


    ''I wonder if the grade is just the size of the crystal or if they are linked to the different Zombies as well. If I was to guess, Grade 2 crystals have to be from the stage 2 zombies...wait, but does that mean there are all the way up to stage 5 Zombies, even now.''


    Thinking about it, Zain was thinking about how dangerous the Stage 2 zombies were and with a name like stage 2, it was obvious there would be higher stages. Which meant he had to level up.


    In the grade 1 tray, there were around 20 small crystals, and in the grade 2 tray, there were 2rger crystals.


    ''Why are they even collecting these if they aren''t going to be using them? Is whoever is working asking for them, but then why would they need them as well, or is it the answer to the zombie apocalypse that has started.'' Zain thought.


    In the end, he decided to pick one of the crystals up.


    [System has detected a mutated crystal]


    [Would you like to absorb the crystal?]


    [Reward: 10 exp]


    Now Zain''s theory has been confirmed, why he wasn''t getting crystals when killing the mutated Zombies. cing the crystal back down, Zain thought 10 exp wasn''t worth getting in trouble over.


    Even if he did absorb them all, 200 exp wouldn''t level him up to the next stage. Picking up the grade 2 crystal, Zain wanted to see what this would say.


    [System has detected a stage 2 crystal ]


    [Would you like to absorb the crystal?]


    [Reward: 1000 exp]


    ''Now, with this amount, I am a little more tempted.'' Zain said with a smile.


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUV so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUV in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 83 Crystal Power

    After touching the Stage 2 Crystal, many thoughts shed through Zain''s mind. The first one was the fact that it would bring him closer to reaching the next level. However, after absorbing the crystal, it was only a matter of time until the others would find out, but he was quite concerned about what would happen then.


    ''Shark is the strongest of the group, but if he tried to kick me out or fight me because of this, can he do anything? I now have Skittle and Cobra, and Cobra is a huge asset for me during a fight.


    ''On top of that, I will have my own strength and will be closer to level 6, making it even harder for Shark to fight against me.''


    With that thought in his head, there was no one he had to worry about here. Worst case, he would be kicked out of the group, but that would allow him to travel and find out more things on his own anyway.


    The one thing Zain wanted to learn about before he left was about Shark. Who was he working for, and how much exactly did they know?


    Picking up the crystal again, Zain held it in his hand and was ready, but he began to have second thoughts for a while.


    ''No, I need to absorb this. I need to increase my level and grow stronger. Judging by the categories, there is a chance that we could run into a Stage Three Zombie in the future. With the way the group is currently, there is no way for them to survive unless they get stronger parallelly with me.''


    [Would you like to absorb the crystal?]


    [You will gain 1000 Exp points]


    [Yes] [No]


    After clicking yes, the crystal lit up slightly with a bluish tint. Zain felt a tingling sensation run through his body, and a few secondster, the crystal disappeared.


    [7,318/10,500 EXP]


    [Would you like to absorb the crystal?]


    [You will gain 1000 Exp points]


    [Yes] [No]


    [8,318/10,500 EXP]


    ''This is great. I just got loads of exp without having to do anything. It''s a shame the exp requirement is getting quite high. If I could have used this on Skittle or Cobra, they probably would have levelled up straight away.''


    The moment he thought of this, it made him wonder why he couldn''t. So he decided to test something out. Then, trusting that the others wouldn''t attack them anymore, Skittle and Cobra were both outside the room.


    If Zain needed to make a quick getaway, it was easier for them to spot two zombies following him everywhere.


    Now wanting to test something, he decided to order them inside, letting them into the room.


    ''Since Skittle is already a level 2, let''s try this on Cobra first.''


    Grabbing the stage one, smaller crystal, Zain took one of the daggers from Cobra''s hand that seemed to have a tight grip on them.<sub> </sub>


    There was nomand to let go, so Zain had to use his strength to pull his fingers open. Then, after he ced the crystal in his hand, he closed his fist.


    ''Huh, I was expecting some type of system prompt?''


    [Horde member Cobra has gained ten exp]


    When Zain opened Cobra''s palm, the crystal was gone. It had disappeared just like when he had used the crystal himself.


    When looking back at the tray, there were now 19 small crystals still inside the thing. Although they wouldn''t be enough for him to level up, looking at the other two, there was a good chance it could level them up.


    ''I''m going to get caught for taking the other crystals anyway, so I might as well as use them all up.'' Zain thought.


    Since Cobra was currently Level 1, it was justmon sense that it would be easier to level him up first. Although he cared more about Skittle and would have liked to grow him first, in the end, Exp did nothing unless one levelled up.


    Zain then went on to use nine more crystals and did the same thing over and over again until the system gave another notification to him.


    [Super Undead Cobra is now level 2]


    [1 stat point can now be allocated]


    After acquiring Cobra, Zain had thought about what to do with the stat point once the former levels up in the future, and now, there was no hesitation in his mind.


    [Stat point has been used on Agility]


    [Agility 5 >> 6]


    There was a picture in Zina''s head. He wanted to build an army of those that specialised in different things, and because Corba was already fast, he was going to make him even faster. To the point where no one was able to hit him.


    Since there were still more crystals to go, Zain started to put the rest into Skittle this time, who had gained some Exp already after levelling up. He wasn''t exactly sure how close he was to the next level up.


    For some reason, the system didn''t show the exp of those in the horde, only their level.


    p Getting Skittle to use the crystals was a little harder, as he wouldn''t hold onto anything. So Zain had to ce the crystal in his hand and shut it for him, but the process was still the same.</anda>


    Four more crystals had been used up, and there were only six left. It was hard to say if Skittle was going to level up or not. Just when he had put the crystal in his hand though, he suddenly heard the sound of the door knob turn, and the door was already opened before Zain could react.


    "Zain!" Kun said as he stared at the crystal in Skittles hand and back at Zain, wondering what thetter was doing. He could even see the tray pulled out and how many little crystals there were left in it. Immediately, Kun shut the door behind him. "What are you doing?" he then asked.


    *****


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 Chapter 84 Everyone Power Up

    Although Zain did expect to get caught with the crystals, at least not so soon. He expected others to notice this when they perhaps went on another outing and needed to ce the crystals inside again.


    On top of that, he had prepared himself to be caught by Shark, not Kun. Out of everyone here, Zain liked Kun the best. Thetter was the first Reborn he had met, so thest member of the group he would want to deal with would be him. This was why he was genuinely taken aback when Kun called him out.


    "You can''t just take those crystals! And Why are you handing them to Skittle? Oh man, if Shark finds out about this, he''s gonna rip your head off. I don''t even know why, but he really cares about those things!" Kun was speaking incredibly fast and was taking deep breaths. It was hard for him to speak, and Zain could tell the situation was tough for him as well.


    "Please just put the crystals back, Zain. I know you like doing crazy sh*t, but now is not the time for this. We can easily resolve this, and I''ll just pretend I never saw it." Kun pleaded.


    The fact that Zain wasn''t saying anything and was looking at Kun like he was hesitating about how to answer was worrying the former. Kun now wished that his curious mind hadn''t gotten the better of him.


    When he saw Skittle walking this way, he decided to follow. Seeing Skittle enter the office did raise suspicions, but it wasn''t like any area in the club was off limits. However, wherever Skittle went, he knew that was where Zain would be as well.


    Still looking Kun directly in the eye, Zain moved his hands, clinging to Skittles'' fingers, and the next second, the system message appeared saying the Crystal had been absorbed.


    "What are you doing? Are you even listening to me!" Kun shouted.


    "I''m sorry," Zain replied. "The crystals, I can''t just put them back."


    "What do you mean? Please, Zain, I''m begging you. Can you do it for me, just this one time? I don''t want to see you get kicked out of this ce. Not after you helped us out so much already." Kun pleaded again.


    Letting out a sigh, Zain opened the palm of Skittles'' hand, only for Kun to find it empty.


    But Kun was sure he had seen the Crystal ced in Skittles'' hand, so how could it suddenly disappear?


    "Is this some type of magic trick?" Kun asked.


    "It''s not magic," Zain replied. "I came in here, wondering why Shark insists on us collecting the Crystals. I mean, it doesn''t make sense if they do nothing, but what if they really do nothing?


    "You told me yourself, if a Zombie eats one of these crystals, they will mutate and get stronger. So there has to be a reason for that, right? So what if we can use them somehow? These crystals, we can use to get stronger." Zain revealed his theory.


    This was the best way out of the current situation, to bring Kun over to their side. In a world they were currently in, it wasn''t money that people cared about, rather, it was the strength to survive the cruel world that he needed.


    Getting stronger would be too tempting, and if Kun were on his side, who seemed to be popr with nearly everyone in the Reborn group, including Shark himself, then it would be a big bonus.<sub> </sub>


    "I''m not lying. You can try it for yourself." Zain took one of the Crystals out of the box and walked over to Kun. "Let''s try, and you can say it was me. You can tell Shark that I absorbed the Crystal, but don''t you think it''s unfair?


    "Shark kept these crystals for himself because he knew it was making him stronger. Everyone in the Reborn was collecting them, and no one but only he was benefiting from them."


    Kun knew much more than Zain did. He was closer to Shark. It was clear that Shark also had no clue what these crystals could do, but what Zain said made sense, and if that was the case, why didn''t the others tell Shark?


    Were they just using their group?


    Kun closed his eyes and held out his hand without saying a word. Zain ced the Crystal in the palm and closed it. He wasn''t sure how this would work because the system had done the job for him when it came to Cobra.


    So instead, he thought back to the feeling when he had absorbed the Crystal into his own body.


    "When holding the Crystal, you should be able to sense or feel some heat in your palm. That is Crystal''s energy. What you need to do is draw it out inside you.


    "Focus on the palm of your hand, then focus more on the part of the skin where the Crystal is touching, the top and bottom of it. Now feel the heat, the energy on the surface of your skin flowing into you. Imagine that it''s moving the Crystal into yourself."


    Having already absorbed the two Stage 2 crystals, it was much easier for Zain to describe the sensation he had felt, and he could see that it was starting to light up slightly through the cracks and sides of Kun''s hand.


    Finally, Kun opened his eyes and opened his hand, and the Crystal disappeared from his palm.


    p "It actually worked. I felt the Crystal get absorbed into my body and even felt some change. How? How did you manage to figure something like that out."</anda>


    The feeling Kun had experienced was impossible to describe, but he could tell a change was happening in his body, and he wanted to do it again. However, just as Kun went to move forward, someone else stepped into the room.


    "Now, what is going on here?" Shark frowned.


    *****


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 Chapter 85 Zain Vs The Reborn

    When Kun had entered, Zain honestly didn''t know how thetter would react. He seemed to be on the fence a lot when certain situations arose and wanted Zain to stay quite a great deal. This was why Zain hadn''t acted aggressively from the beginning.


    However, Shark was apletely different story. He was a person who liked to take charge and do things his way. When taking the crystals, Zain imagined many scenarios, and this was one of them, meaning he needed to act fast.


    Shark''s eyes had caught on to the missing crystal and started to widen. He opened his mouth, looking ready to say something, but Zian was one step ahead.


    ''Cobra, Attack!'' Zain thought.


    The room wasn''t a particrlyrge one, and immediately Cobra went from one side, and this time, he didn''t only give the order to Cobra as Skittle was moving from the other side as well.


    Shark carried small des on him, and taking them out, he was ready to defend himself, but Cobra was unexpectedly too fast and had already made a cut on his shoulder and threw him towards Skittle, who went to punch him on the other side. However, Cobra reacted fast enough against thetter and grabbed Skittles'' punch by the wrist.


    ''This superhuman, is it even faster than before...but how?'' Shark was stunned at Cobra''s increase in strength.


    However, he soon regained hisposure and was ready to begin the counterattack, and a small room like the one they were in was perfect for him to do something against Cobra.


    ''I''ll just need to get rid of the easy one first!'' Shark thought as he ignored Cobra going for an attack on Skittle.


    "What did I say about trying to hurt my friends?" Zain shouted and kicked Shark directly in the stomach, sending him through the door, which broke off its hinge instantly upon impact.


    "Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, what is going on!" Kun shouted. "Why did you suddenly just attack him like that?"


    "Shark is strong, and I needed to get the upper hand," Zain replied, pulling out his sword and walking forward.


    "What? Wait! Don''t kill Shark. He''s not a bad guy! I''m sure we can talk about this, don''t attack. Let me talk to him!" Kun pleased, pulling on Zain''s sleeve.


    "I''m just trying to survive. I don''t know how he would have reacted to seeing us do that. I can''t put myself in a disadvantageous situation anymore. We need to know who he''s working for." Zain shook his head.


    He turned his head, only to find Shark was no longer there. Zain frowned and quickly ran out of the room, he climbed up onto the backstage and pulled the curtain away while his two zombies followed him. Here he saw Shark in the centre of the seating area, which had mostly been cleared to be made as a sparring area by Kun earlier that day.


    However, Shark wasn''t alone. Fingers, Pink, and Jelly, were all next to him.


    "Zain has decided to betray us, which isn''t really a surprise for me," Shark said and revealed the reason behind themotion to the others. "He has stolen the crystals we have been collecting and has just attacked me. So now we can see his true colours, I knew he was working for the other side."


    "Other side?" Zain frowned. "Do the people next to you even know why you are collecting Crystals or who you talk to daily on your radio device? If anyone is hiding something, then it''s clearly you.


    "Those crystals, why have you been collecting them, and why didn''t you tell anyone, what they could do, how they could make us stronger?" Zain asked.


    The others around Shark were confused, and their silence was making him seem guiltier.


    "I have done everything I can to protect everyone. I have shared all the information I have with everyone. Because of me, everyone has survived this long. I have no clue what crystal does, and you shouldn''t care either!" Shark shouted.


    "Because of me, we have survived. When I say jump, you are meant to ask how high! That is how we will survive this world."


    Hearing this speech, Zain smiled once again.


    "I''m sorry, I guess I''m just the type of person who would rather ask why we are jumping."


    Since it didn''t look like Shark would answer, Zain ordered Combra to move and go on the attack again. Instantly, the undead ran across the stage and leapt onto the floor, and the moment his feet touched the ground, he charged forward.


    Reacting much faster this time, Shark lifted arge round shield off the ground using his foot and caught it mid-air, stopping the Cobra''s des just in time. Then shoving it forward, he caused Cobra to stumble and go off bnce.


    Seeing the opening, Shark moved the shield to the side and was ready to thrust with his dagger until he saw arge swording down and hitting his de straight on, nearly knocking it out of Shark''s hand.


    Immediately, he leapt back and retreated.


    ''To fight against Zain alone on my own is tough enough, but to fight against the Superhuman at the same time is going to be nearly impossible to win.''<sub> </sub>


    "Everyone, we have to get rid of him. I won''t be able to beat him on my own," Shark shouted and ordered the others.


    Looking at their faces, it seemed like they were all unsure about acting either. This enraged Shark, and he instantly let out his frustration.


    "I was with you all from the beginning. I helped you multiple times. But, if you stay and stick with Zain, then he will have you all killed. Don''t you understand? He only cares about himself, and soon he will do something that will get you all killed."


    After the passionate shout from their leader, Fingers was the first one to act.S. Still remembering what Zian had done to him. He picked up a long sword that needed two hands to wield and took a fighting stance.


    And seeing him pick up the weapons, Pink and Jelly also made up their minds and were ready to act as well.


    "He was our first friend. You are a new friend." Jelly said. It was one of the first times Zain heard him speak, and now he knew why they didn''t bring Jelly out with them.


    "Cobra, you deal with Shark, and I''ll deal with the others," Zain ordered.


    Immediately, Cobra started to go in. Zain was confident in his abilities, especially since the former could also dodge attacks. This meant he also had a survival instinct, not just fighting unless ordered otherwise.


    Now seeing that Fingers was the first oneing toward him, Zain was ready to act as well.


    Before reaching, Fingers had swung therge sword wide and from the side. To avoid it, Zian ducked under the weapon rolling underneath. And raised his head, only to see a kick from Pinking his way.


    However, he easily grabbed it mid-air.


    "You picked the wrong side." Zain lifted the hilt of his weapon and mmed it down on Pink''s shin. It snapped immediately with bones sticking out the other end, and Zain let go of her.


    Just then, he heard Fingers running at him and swinging the sword. Zain turned around and saw the sword, but he knew he would be too slow to react or block it with his own weapon, so he lifted his forearm instead.


    The sword pierced through his skin but stopped when it reached the bone. Blood was dripping down his forearm, and Zain thanked the advantage of not sensing pain.


    "How...even a normal swing of a sword would have chopped your arm off. We have super strength as well!" Fingers'' mouth was chittering as he said these words.


    ''I wasn''t sure if my endurance would hold out, but it looks like my skin and bones have also hardened.'' Ignoring Fingers'' rambling, Zain thought while holding the side of the sword with his hands and managed to overpower the former by pulling the sword out.


    The next second, Fingers saw something else. The wound on Zain''s forearm was beginning to heal right in front of his eyes!


    "This...we chose to fight against a monster!" fingers replied.


    By now, Jelly was behind Zian and had grabbed him with both hands. With his strength, Zain tried to pull out, but it wasn''t easy.


    ''I can''t overpower this guy...is he different from the others? Or is it just his natural strength that got multiplied? I guess just one point isn''t enough.'' Zain thought.


    At that point, since his arms were in a tight grip and he could not use the sword, Zain dropped it. The whole time, Zain had a trump card, and he just didn''t want to use it until now.


    Using all his strength, he could move his hands slightly and pull something out from his belt. Pointing it towards Jelly''s right foot, he pulled the trigger.


    -Bang!


    A hole appeared in Jelly''s foot, and blood and mass sshed everywhere. Although Jelly didn''t feel pain, the loud bang caused him to loosen his grip slightly, and it was enough distraction for Zain to get out. Then, without hesitation, he pulled out the second pistol and clicked the safety switch.


    "Alright, since you want to get rid of me that badly. It''s time to start getting rid of you all." Zain said while pointing one gun at Pink and the other at Fingers.


    "Wait!" Kun shouted just then, "I''ll tell you everything! I know the answers you are looking for because me and Shark...are working together. So please put the guns down! I''ll talk."


    ****


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 Chapter 86 The Corporation (Part 1)

    The tension in Zain''s arm had left him a little dilemma when he heard Kun shout because, for him, it was an unexpected curveball.


    Usually, Zain would say he was a good judge of character. This whole time he was going after Shark to find out the truth when he had Kun by his side.


    ''If I knew Kun was involved with all that stuff, I would have targeted him instead and never put myself in this type of position.'' Zain inwardly frowned. It can''t be ignored that Kun had fooled him into believing that he was as ignorant as him about Shark and his secrets.


    But he didn''t feel like he was cheated. This was a dog-eat-dog world now, and Zain epted that he fell for Kun''s amicable nature. But nothing matters against absolute power, and in the current scenario, Zain knew the grip he held over their neck.


    Hence, he continued to hold the two guns in his hand and pointed them at Pink and Fingers. He had also moved to a position that allowed him to target Jelly if needed. At the same time, he ordered Cobra to stop the attack ande to his side.


    "I''m going to order Skittle toe by my side!" Zain shouted. "Nobody is to stop him, or I will shoot. Because I''m telling you this right now, I care about his life much more than a bunch of strangers I only met a couple of days ago who are now trying to beat me down. Trust me, I can take a good enough shot." Zain imed.


    It was harder than people thought to shoot a gun urately if they had never fired one before. Shark thought for a split second he would try to attack regardless; as long as they didn''t get hit in the head, it would be fine, but when he made eye contact with Kun, he just shook his head.


    Kun had seen Zain use his guns well, and since Jelly''s foot was still bleeding, it was clear he wasn''t afraid to use it. When Skittle was eventually by his side, Zain ordered both his zombies to stay next to him.


    "Alright, speak! Tell everyone who you guys really are, why you are collecting the crystals and why you are hiding everything from us?" Zain asked.


    It was a tough situation for the group because the others clearly had no idea that Kun was also working with Shark. Everyone had their suspicions about Shark, and they wanted to know why they had survived the Zombie attack.


    "Both Shark and I¡­ are special agents that work for a privatepany¡­and it has contracts rted to the Military," Kun started to exin, "I''m happy to tell you the truth, but I''m afraid it won''t change anything.


    "The truth is, the Zombies, the undead, this same type of scenario has happened before, many times. When it came to it, our group of people would be sent in to deal with the aftermath."


    "Wait, what!" Pink eximed with shock, and she was starting to be filled with anger. "What do you mean¡­ it has happened before? So are you saying this is the same thing that was just part of arge experiment!"


    From Kun''s words, it was starting to sound like this whole thing could have been stopped, and having recently lost her whole family due to this experiment, Pink was furious.


    "Not quite, I think they were trying to stop this from happening, but honestly, being lowly agents, we weren''t told much. On top of that, for a long time now, both Shark and I have been with what was called the Reborn Corp."<sub> </sub>


    Listening to the story so far, Zain thought something like this might have been the case. Skittle had been doing research about the zombie attacks popping up in different ces. If they were Reborn now, then it would make sense that there were some still out there.


    "Some of our missions were tougher than others, and a lot of men were lost to these missions. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, Shark and I were bit, and we turned into what we are right now.


    "The private organisation kept what happened to us a secret from the military. I don''t quite know why, but I''m guessing they wanted to be the ones to find out what made us different from the rest.


    "Shark and I don''t quite understand what happened after that. On the day of the apocalypse, the day the meteor strikes before any of that happened, we were released by¡­a young scientist woman. She was the one looking after us for a while ever since we were turned.


    "She told us toe here. At this club, where we met Jelly, but Jelly doesn''t seem to know anything, and the radio was already here."


    Zain was hoping to find out why they were different. Maybe they had been injected with a type of vine, or they found out a way to multiply what happened in their bodies into others, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    However, what was interesting was the female scientist Kun spoke of before he continued with the rest of the story Zain had to ask. When Kun mentioned her, it reminded him of a certain woman he had bumped into a few days ago.


    "This female scientist. Was she about this height, a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair and¡­slender legs?" Zain asked.


    There were a lot of people with this description that would fit the bill, but in this type of situation, without them having exined any details, what were the chances that Zain would be able to guess her height and hair colour?


    Both Kun and Shark''s eyes widened when they heard his words.


    "How¡­how do you know her?" Shark asked.


    *****


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 Chapter 87 The Corporation (Part 2)

    Hearing Shark''s question, it looked like Zain was now at least getting somewhere. He always had a theory that the crystal around his neck might be the thing that saved him when he was attacked by the zombie for the first time. Moreover, it looked simr to the crystals that the zombies had in their bodies.


    This theory of the person he crashed into being the same person they knew was like an arrow shot in the dark, but from their reaction, it looked like it had hit a target.


    <o>,m "I met her once while I was heading back to my dorm after buying a game. But that was out of pure coincidence," Zain answered.</o>


    Shark raised an eyebrow. He wasn''t sure if Zian was telling the truth because thetter''s response was quite unexpected. However, they were sure that he was like them. Either Zain worked for a private organisation that dealt with simr affairs and knew of the situation or was just part of the military.


    ''Is he sticking to his student story? I mean, buying games sounds like something kids his age would do. And if he is really an agent, he is a good one and has done his homework." Shark thought.


    "Did anyone else bump into a girl of the same description?" Zain asked.


    "I mean, I meet people that look like that every day, it''s hard to say, but I''ve never met a scientist," Pink replied.


    "It''s the same for me." Fingers replied.


    "Me doesn''t know," Jelly added as well, but Zain wasn''t holding out much hope after the other two spoke.


    Moving his gun slightly, Zain motioned Kun to carry on his story. After taking a deep breath, he started again with a gulp.


    "Most of the club looked normal, how anyone would have imagined it, but the office was set up before we came here. The Radio station and thebelling of all the trays. We asked Jelly if he saw anyone, but you know what he''s like."


    Even now, Jelly had drooping eyes, and his mouth was wide open, saliva was just trickling from it onto his shirt. He certainly wasn''t like the other Reborn but was better than Skittle and Cobra in terms of being more human.


    "I assume that the scientist is still contacting you then and has given you a job?" Zain asked.


    "Not quite. It''s true that someone else contacted us through the Radio. After confirming a few details, it seems like they work for the same private organisation...called the Reborn group, which is where we got our name from."


    "They told us things that we didn''t know about during our trial, about the Evolved zombies, about the demons that wereing at night, and what we needed to do to survive. They are the reason why we knew about the Brains as well as other things."


    "None of this we knew beforehand, but they stated that as long as we help them, they will continue to support us as well, which is why we''ve been collecting crystals. For now, they have just asked us to continue doing this, and they will soon send help to us."


    "I wasn''t lying to you, Zain, when I told you we didn''t know what the Crystals could do, that is something that only you found out, and we never asked why they needed the crystals either. We''re stuck in this situation, and they are the only ones that we can rely on."<sub> </sub>


    "Is it our turn now?" Shark asked. "We told you everything we know, so why don''t we ask you? Why are crystals important? Why did you steal them from us, and who are you really working for?"


    Zain smiled after hearing this question as he repeated himself once more.


    "I already told you who I am. I''m a university student. That''s all I am. The crystals, I figured out that we could absorb them to make ourselves stronger and make it so we can survive. In fact, I even showed Kun how to do it.


    I don''t care about the crystals, you can give them to others or use them to make yourself stronger, but doesn''t it make you think? Why was your organisation hoarding them rather than telling you their use? I''m sure they already knew what they could do. Besides, I''m not done with my questions."


    "Why were you gathering us? Why were you gathering the Reborn and not telling us all the truth about who you were?" Zain asked.


    There was silence in the room. Pink and Fingers wanted to know the answer to this as well.


    "Because...they were our orders. To gather those like us, bring them to a safe ce, teach them how to fight while being careful of the other side, like you." Shark replied.


    Like an excellent agent, Shark was someone who just did as he was told, and it seemed like it was more out of fear than anything else. If they didn''t listen to that organisation, then they would be abandoned, and he was uncertain what would happen to them.


    At the same time, since they were contractors for the military, there were sure to be others involved who knew the truth, not just this small organisation. Which was the other side that Shark talked about.


    Not wanting to correct thetter that he was a student again, Zain decided to do something else since Shark would never believe him anyway.


    "Let''s head to the office." Zain requested. "We can get in contact with them and see if they''ll speak to me."


    "We can''t do that!" Shark said.


    Instantly, Zain moved the gun and pointed it right at Shark''s head.


    "Since you love following orders so much, I''ll use yournguage so you can understand a bit better. That wasn''t a request; it was an order."


    ****


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 Chapter 88 Code 4

    In the first ce, Zain wasn''t sure if he would ever be able to talk to this blonde woman. He was pretty sure that she perhaps wouldn''t even remember him because their meeting was more of a short encounter, but there were two things that he could mention that might catch her attention if he were to meet her again.


    Firstly, the pendant around his neck. She must have dropped it by mistake and realisedter that it was missing, and the second was the System. More than anything, Zain thought, perhaps this person had the answer to his Zombie system and maybe to all of the Zombies around them today.


    While Zain was musing over his thoughts, Shark dropped his shield, removed the weapons on his body to show he was no longer a threat, and kept his hands raised as Zain pointed the gun at him.


    "Alright, if you really think talking to them will make any of a difference, then let''s go," Shark replied, walking over to the stage where Kun was standing still. Following behind was Zain, as he ensured his two guards followed him.


    The others didn''t even attempt to move, although Zain no longer had his guns pointed at them. They just knew if they tried anything, it would only worsen the situation. Not to mention they weren''t even sure if they could take on Skittle and Cobra in the first ce.


    "I just want to warn you," Shark said as he walked up front. "They might not even speak to you if you ask them to. There''s no reason for them too."


    "You let me worry about that. I have my ways." Zain replied.


    Eventually, he told Kun to enter the room first. Then after that, Shark and Zain followed him. Finally, both Skittle and Cobra entered as well, and Zain told Kun to sit by the door.


    "Kun, I want to thank you for telling me the truth, but if we''re going to live in this world, we can''t just follow blind orders," Zain exined. "Think, how many times would you have lost your life already if you didn''t run into me? Unfortunately, the people on the radio don''t care about you, and I''m only telling you this because I like you."


    Kun didn''t reply. Mainly because he didn''t really know what to say.


    ''Zain¡­I know you''re noting from a bad ce, but what you''re doing now is a little crazy.'' Kun thought.


    While pointing his gun but staying a safe distance away so Shark couldn''t do anything, Zain nudged it at thetter, ordering him to do his thing.


    Thetter walked in front of the radio, moved some of the dials around, and some static noise began to pop out. Then, picking up the small radio speaker, Shark paused before he said anything.


    "This is Agent 12. I have a code 4, I repeat, code 4!" Shark shouted, and immediately after that, he threw out his other hand, hitting the radio. The punch sent the radio flying across the room, and it crashed into the wall, breaking into pieces.


    Immediately, Zain moved the gun down away from Shark''s head and pointed it at his legs.


    "Zain, no!" Kun shouted, charging forward, but when Cobra and Skittle had entered the room, they were set on protect mode. Skittle was the first to act, pushing Kun away. It was a powerful push that made him fall through the door since the previous scuffle had already broken it earlier.


    The next second, Kun heard a loud bang. In the next moment, he saw Shark fall to the floor while clutching his knee. He wasn''t hurt, but it had caused thetter''s leg to have a strange reaction.


    "The next one goes in your head," Zain said, with his finger on the trigger. "Why did you do that, and what is code four? And don''t you dare try to feed any bull crap."


    Zain was a bit disappointed in himself. He was a bit foolish in the situation and didn''t think Shark would act like so. Now the only lead he had was gone like that.


    "Code 4 is what they instructed us to say if circumstances put us in a situation like this one if someone took us hostage." Shark replied, "They instructed us to break the radio as well if this was to ur."


    Clicking his tongue, Zain felt like this banter wouldn''t get anywhere. Because, for one, he had no clue if Shark was telling the truth, and if he was, he didn''t know how the other side would act.


    Somehow they were able to make Shark so loyal without telling him anything.


    ''Shark probably doesn''t know where the Reborn base of operations is, and he probably may not even know what Code 4 actually means. Will a group of peoplee here and take out everyone here, or is it something else?''


    In the end, Zain had made up his mind. He went over to the trays and grabbed the rest of the crystals, cing them into one of his pockets.


    "Follow me," Zain replied as he walked to the kitchen at a quick speed.


    First, he opened up the fridge and ordered the two zombies to begin eating and unzipping the flesh, Zain then did the same and started eating to restore his energy. And then, he opened up the smaller fridge next to it. All of the brains were stored inside it.<sub> </sub>


    Taking one of them, Zain began to eat that as well. His body capacity had hardly gone down, but that didn''t matter. He was going to restore his body back to full.


    "What are you trying to do?" Shark asked in an aggressive tone, his leg still bleeding from the bullet wound. "Are you trying to kill us, leaving us to die?"


    The group had yet to eat the brains they had gotten because Shark had mandated them to eat them on the seventh day to get the maximum time and for them tost longer.


    "I got all of these for us in the first ce. You wanted me to leave so I can do what I want with them, and besides, I''m just eating my fill." Zain replied.


    Grabbing another of the brains and holding it in his hand, Zain continued to walk while telling Shark to follow him the whole time. Shark''s legs were working, but he would need to eat food to start the healing process since the others weren''t like Zain.


    Whening out, the others saw Shark limping slightly. The loud bang had made them fear the worst, but they were relieved to see that the former was alive. Going to the weapons floor, Zain picked up his sword and also the empty backpack.


    Putting the brain inside and the sword right through the bag so it would get stuck in ce ande through the bottom, Zain carried them both on his back.


    "You have all been living under a lie, and I don''t know what will happen to you guys after this. In fact, I doubt that even Shark knows. If you want to follow a person blindly that doesn''t know what he is doing, then be my guest.


    "I''m not asking any of you to follow me. I''m not a leader in this world, I''m a survivor, and right now, I have decided that the best chance of me surviving is leaving this ce, so I want you all to think long and hard about that."


    After saying those words, Zain left out from the front door without waiting for any response, and it closed behind him. The Reborn group was left speechless. Everything that had transpired was a massive shock to them all.


    Eventually, Pink decided to speak.


    "Kun¡­what should we do?" Pink asked.


    Hearing this was the first time Shark had begun to self-reflect on himself as he held his head down. The whole time they had asked him for advice, they asked him what the next course of action they needed to do.


    The fact that Pink had done this meant he had already lost the entire group''s trust.


    ¡ª¡ª


    After exiting the Club, Zain wondered what to do now. He walked a bit away from the club, but it was now dark out. Although Shark had perhaps done a lot of things he wouldn''t have, it was worth it joining the group in the end, especially for the information they had.


    After running across from the club, he found a few rundown apartments around two stories tall. After a moment, Zani headed inside, thinking it would be a good ce for the night.


    ''I doubt they would think I would be staying across the road, but waiting here is also a good move because I can see what they are doing.'' Zain thought.


    Setting up his room andying it out in a certain way, Zain nced at Cobra and Skittle.


    ''I guess it''s just us again on this journey¡­''


    When thinking about this, it did make him think about two others, Cody and Kelly.


    "I wonder, how are they doing?" Zain thought as he realised his body was getting weaker and slowly starting to drift off. He shook his head for once, but it didn''t help much.


    And since zombies don''t sleep, Zain could only imagine he was going to that ce once again.


    ****


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 Chapter 89 Dont Trust Zain

    The night hadn''t fully set and there was still daylight outside. Cody was resting as he leaned his back against the metal wall and looked at the beam of sunlight shining through the hole in the metal roof. He could feel the slight heat on his leg, but slowly it was getting cooler.


    ''The sun is about to go down, I should really get a move on.'' Cody thought. The swelling on his face had decreased a little, making it easier for him to see, and resting on the ground had allowed him to regain his energy for whatever threats he could encounter next.


    When he tried lifting himself up with both hands on his knees, he noticed his legs were still wobbly.


    ''If I run into anyone or anything dangerous, I''m not sure if I can even do something about it¡­but that is if there is still something that I have to worry about.''


    Looking around him, Cody nced at all the dead bodies on the floor, most of them were Zombies, other than members of the Cobra gang with the side of their skulls smashed.


    There were many things that Cody had seen in thest week, things that he could never delete from his memory. Honestly, he thought he had seen the worst until he had witnessed Zain smash those skulls.


    Just thinking about it had made him a bit queasy in the stomach, but he quickly diminished the memory from his head. Right now, getting sick wasn''t an option.


    ''I can''t think of him like that¡­because of him, because of them and that little group, he saved me. Why should I care what he is¡­in fact, he is a lot better than these people near on the ground. No matter what he is.''


    Walking out of the warehouse, Cody picked up a couple of machetes from the floor that Cobra''s men had used. He continued to walk out of the ce carefully trying not to attract anyone through the noise.


    Chinatown was mostly quiet already, one thing Cobra''s gang did well was getting rid of most of the zombies and storing them in the container. They were quite lucky that they didn''t run into anything like what Cody and others had done in the supermarket.


    While navigating through the streets, somewhere inside Cody''s mind, he was hoping that he would run into Zain.


    ''Why didn''t he stay...is it because of the others that are with him? Or is it about self control?''


    Eventually, Cody had reached the area he had been looking for, the hairdresser shop that Zain had instructed him to go to. Heading inside, he noticed there were small traces of blood inside the shop. After a few moments, he deduced they were not from arge physical wound but just droplets here and there.


    Then finally, going towards the back door, Cody pushed it open, and there he could see her.


    Muffled sounds came from the chair, and tears streamed down her eyes. Kelly couldn''t help herself as she continued to cry over and over again.


    "You need to be a bit quiet, or we might get caught," Cody whispered and tried to calm her down. Using the machete, he released Kelly from her bounds. And when she was no longer on the chair and could now talk again, the first thing she did was pull Cody towards her and bring his head right into her chest.


    "Thank you¡­thank you so much for saving me¡­and I''m so d that you''re alive...I really thought something happened to you." Kelly said as she wound her body and continued to pull Cody''s head deeper into her chest.<sub> </sub>


    Cody didn''tin. But in the end, he had to tap her body to inform her that he couldn''t breathe.


    "What happened to the Cobra gang? Are they still alive? Are theying back? We should start getting out of here as soon as possible!" panic started to settle into her voice.


    "It''s okay, we are okay," Cody replied. "But it''s getting dark outside, so I think we should stay here for the night. Let''s head upstairs."


    Above the hairdressers, there was a one-bedroom apartment. A living room with a sofa and a small double bed. As they closed the lights and turned the curtains, all they could do now was to wait for the sun to set, and Cody started exining what happened. Luckily, there were some food cans that they could still eat in the cupboards as well.


    "Honestly, the Cobra Gang had me tied up and they were going to feed me to the Zombies, but in the end, Zain was the one who came and saved me," Cody exined.


    "Zain came to you as well! I guess he really did go and help you, and that''s how you knew where I was?" Kelly replied.


    Cody went on to tell the story of what had urred, although there was a big detail that he had decided to miss out on, however, he didn''t touch on the fact that Zain was a Zombie.


    He felt like there would be a lot of people that wouldn''t be able to ept this fact. Even he could only because he had been saved by Zain. It was simr to if he was saved by a tiger. Just because he had been saved by one, didn''t mean that people would stop being afraid of tigers.


    "I guess Zain is really strong...but did you see Skittle as well? That friend of his, he was here as well, and he was definitely¡ª"


    "I don''t know. Skittle was there but was just following him all the time, maybe his friend remembers a bit still from being attacked and just follows Zain around." Cody replied. "Still, getting out of the supermarket, and saving both of us, that''s twice now because of him we are alive.


    "I asked Zain to join us, but I don''t know where he is now...which is why I think we should go looking for him."


    Kelly didn''t respond straight away, she had a nervous look on her face and was even biting her nail. After a long silence, she replied.


    "I''m not so sure about that¡­I was a teacher at his university, and because of that I know his past, I don''t think it''s a good idea if we travel with him."


    ****


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 Chapter 90 Vison, Dream Or Reality

    Ever since Zain turned into a zombie, he came to know quite a number of facts about zombies, and one such interesting discovery was that the zombies didn''t need sleep. However, they could somewhat make their mind go into a daze instead of switching off as if one was daydreaming. By doing this, the energy consumptionpared to being awake would decrease quite a lot and they would be able to conserve it.


    However, although zombies didn''t sleep, once in a while, Zain would feel a familiar sensation he had felt a few times as if he was suddenly being possessed by something and would then begin to fall asleep. Thest time this had happened he was surrounded by the reborn group.


    This time it was happening at night and he was alone. Just before he hadpletely gone into the daze, through the system he had given the order to Cobra and Skittle to protect, hoping it would be enough for anyone that came their way.


    ''It''s happening again, am I going to that ce¡­ I have to prepare myself for what coulde, and I might meet the faceless man again.'' Zain collected his thoughts.


    It was a guess, but after a few moments in darkness, Zain found himself awake once again. Looking around, it was hard to tell where he was because it was dark, but he could move around.


    When moving though, he realized his body didn''t move as it usually would have, and putting his palm against his chest he sensed a heartbeat.


    ''I''m in my childhood body again,'' Zain thought. ''I wonder what age I am? Maybe about 11 or something? And howe whenever Ie to this ce, I''m younger than I am? I guess, in this daydream or vision,  I''m human as well since I can feel my heartbeat.''


    Eventually, Zain''s eyes started to adjust to the darkness and he could see slightly in front of him, but it was still incredibly difficult to see a far distance ahead. Everything looked fuzzy, and even his own hands looked more like just an outline.


    When moving to the side, Zain eventually felt the surface of the wall, it was hard and slightly wet.


    ''Is this¡­a cave?'' Zain thought.


    Looking for a while, there was only one way to go, and he began to move towards it with caution. The faceless man would most likely appear around the corner.


    ''This whole situation is weird. Are these memories? The ones that I have locked away¡­ I mean, I can somewhat remember my childhood, but I don''t remember any of this. This has to be more of a dream.'' Zain thought.


    Eventually, the cave started to open up and there seemed to be more light in the cave. There were small glowing blue rocks spread out around the ce lighting it up. It really did look quite beautiful, but Zain wasn''t in the mood to appreciate the scenery.


    The open area was rtivelyrge, around the size of a football field. At the same time, there looked to be countless numbers of tunnels to choose from in terms of exiting, and it was impossible to tell which one would allow Zain to exit out of this ce.


    However, with a closer look, Zain had eventually spotted arge table. Walking over to it, he thought there might be a note or something informing him why he was here.


    ''Why would there even be a table in a cave in the first ce?'' Zain thought.


    When reaching the table, Zain was surprised by what he saw, becauseid out on it were a bunch of different weapons. It looked simr to what Kun had set up back at the club. There were axes, swords, spears, and even a crossbow had been ced in here.<sub> </sub>


    On top of that, there were a number of weapons that he had never seen before. Unfortunately, there was no note exining what was going on, or what he needed to do.


    ''If my instincts are right, as soon as I go through one of those tunnels, there is going to be something I face, and the weapons here are for me to use to defeat whatever it is I''m going to fight against¡­ but I''m in my childhood body.'' Zain thought.


    Now Zain somewhat wished for the faceless man, as the fear of the unknown was settling in, but remembering that horrifying no face, he shook it off and realized maybe he was in a better situation as he shook his head, and decided to go ahead for the short sword.


    It was the same weapon that he had taken from Kun, although this one was smaller to suit his size. It was a bit heavy, but Zain thought that was most likely due to his Zombie strength helping him in the real world rather than in this world.


    After picking up the sword, Zain was ready to go through one of the many tunnels, but that was when he started to hear a slight low-level growling noise.


    Immediately, Zain got a little away from the table to give him more room to manoeuvre. Hearing the sound, he was wondering where the noise wasing from, but that''s when he realized it wasn''t justing from one of the rooms, it wasing from several of them.


    A few secondster, and a number of zombies could be seen running out of the tunnels heading straight toward Zain. They had nothing in their hands and weren''t super fast as such, but they were running just like a mutated one would on the outside.


    Before the zombies reached Zain though, a ding was heard in his head, and a notification screen had appeared.


    ''What, that''s the system noise, this is the system¡­ it still works here, what is it doing?''


    [Quest: Defeat the Zombie horde using the weapon of your choice.]


    [Reward: Sword Mastery Level 1]


    [Failure: A penalty will be applied.]


    ''What kind of dream is this? Is this real?''


    ****


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 Chapter 91 Master The Sword

    This was the first time that he had seen the system prompt appear in front of him while being in his younger self. He had always thought of these visions as simr to dreams. In the first ce, he couldn''t have travelled back to his childhood, so this had to be a dream.


    ''Wait, I never tried to check the system before because I thought this was a dream, but does that mean it isn''t? This has really confused me.'' Zain wondered, but he didn''t have much time before the first zombie pounced at him.


    Zain jumped to the side, avoiding its range. Then with all his strength, taking a swing from above, he tried to chop the zombie''s arms off. As the cut went down, it easily went through the skin but suddenly stopped when it hit the bone.


    ''Crap, this body is small, and the sword feels heavy. I can''t cut through.''


    In most situations, one would try to pull out the sword by lifting it, but knowing that his strength was weak and he needed to act fast, he instead held onto the sword''s handle and dragged it across, elongating the cut.


    And although the zombie was alive and kicking and still going after him, he felt he stood some chance against it. That''s when he heard the sound of another from his side. And now, in total, there seemed to be five zombies.


    ''I''m not strong enough to slice off their limbs, so I won''t be strong enough to cut off their heads either. So the first thing I need to do is slow them down.''


    The zombies Zain was facing were not slow ones, but he still could out manoeuvre them, as they seemed to be slightly slower at turning. Whenever they got close, they would almost leap at him trying to grab him and take a bite.


    It wasn''t like being in a fight, where they would try to punch or kick you. Rather, these were simr to hungry bloodthirsty monsters. When another one got close, Zain moved to the side, then moving behind them, he bent slightly and shed at the back of their foot.


    ''If I strike the Achilles heel, it should make it harder for them to move. I just need to buy time.''


    Using the zombie''s slowed body as an advantage, Zain could run around them all in circles repeating this process. He would wait for them to try to grab him and dodge quickly to get behind one of them.


    The zombies were so stupid that they would crash into each other, and while this was happening, Zain would attempt to attack the back of their foot or sh the tendons in their legs.


    Not all shes were perfect, and the Zombies wouldn''t fall to the ground after just one attack. However, after repeating this for a while, nearly all of them eventually were crawling on the floor.


    ''I''m out of breath, sweating and tired. This all feels real as well. I am definitely not dreaming, then where am I?''


    Now that the zombies were crawling on the floor, it was easier for him to finish them. First, he pulled one of them away from the other by pulling its leg and then, lifting the sword, he stabbed it right through their skull, putting all his body weight behind it.


    It still wasn''t an easy task, and the gruesome act for the first time had made him queasy. However, he had somewhat gotten used to this because it was something he had done a few times before, not to mention he had done a lot worse.


    After killing the first one, Zain had to take a break. He was dealing with the shock of what he was doing.


    ''I have to do this. If I don''t, then they will just kill me. And look at them. They aren''t human. They are monsters.''


    Zain continued to stab them through the head one by one, with the thought of them being monsters but something crossed his mind. Maybe in here, he was a human, but out there, he was just like them?


    Perhaps, this was what they thought when they saw him as well, that he was a monster. While thinking of this before killing thest one, Zain waited for his stamina, energy and breath to calm down.<sub> </sub>


    ''Since no more Zombies areing out, I''m guessing thisst one is the end. However, I should try to figure out this ce before killing it.


    Clutching his sword tightly, Zain looked down at the tunnels, which werepletely pitch ck, unlike the room they were in currently, so there was nothing he could see.


    He was tempted to go down one of them, but there was an immense fear in his mind. Everything was like a game with the system, and to be honest, what he was experiencing right now was more game-like than anything.


    This was the fighting area, and more so than likely, if he were to leave it, it would mean death, or it was just impossible to leave until hepleted the task. In the end, he didn''t want to risk anything, so he changed his mind and decided to head back to the zombie.


    ''There''s another thought in my head that after I kill you, I''m going to be in for more trouble.'' Zain wondered as he pushed the sword down, and the system notifications rang in his head.


    [Congrattions! Questplete]


    [You have unlocked Passive Skill: Sword Mastery Level 1]


    [You can level up the passive sword mastery skill with more experience one gets with the sword]


    [Sword mastery Level 1]


    [1/100]


    Instantly, Zain felt a strange feeling on the back of his head. It felt like someone had hit him, but after a few seconds, it disappeared as if nothing had happened.


    ''What was that pain¡­but since I got the sword mastery, does that mean I can use the sword skills better now?''


    Zain thought as he swung the sword. When he did, the sword felt more natural to swing, and the movement was slightly less awkward and easier. Honestly, he didn''t know how to distinguish this either, but his sword fight capabilities were far from perfect.


    ''I can¡­level this up as well from repeated use.


    [You havepleted Round 1]


    [Would you like to proceed to round 2?]


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 92 Survival Game

    Seeing the system message pop up, it turned out to be what Zain thought before killing thest zombie. What he was going through right now was indeed simr to the games he had yed. And often, these games would have a survival mode, where one would have to face increasingly stronger waves of enemies after each round or a time period.


    In this case, it was a type of horde.


    ''I still don''t know if what I learn here will be transferable to outside, but why else would it put me through all the trouble? Thest time I had a vision with that faceless man, I learned to shoot a gun and could do so in the real world as well, even though I had never fired one before. So I am betting it''s the same thing here.


    ''Usually, in these games, the higher the round one survives, the better the reward they get as well. And since I didn''t struggle too much with thest one, I should at least be able to handle Round 2, right? Especially now that I have some sword mastery.''


    The pros outnumbered the cons. Zain also believed that if he continued to use the sword against the new waves, his sword mastery would also increase. In the end, his gamer addict side kicked in, and he could not refuse the challenge.


    [Round 2 has been epted]


    [The next round will start in 30 seconds]


    [Quest: defeat all the enemies thate your way]


    [Reward: All weapon trees unlocked]


    [Failure: A penalty will be applied]


    ''As I thought, the penalty will be applicable in this round as well. But since failure means death anyway, I wonder what the penalty would even be?'' Zain thought as he tightly held the sword with both hands.


    Round 2 would certainly be harder than the previous one, yet, he couldn''t help but anticipate just what woulde out of those tunnels. When the thirty-second timer ended, he began to hear several growls just likest time, and then storming out of the holes were the same type of zombies as before.


    ''8..9..10. So it''s double the amount, but they don''t seem any faster or stronger, so I can use the same tactic as before.''


    Since they had alle out simultaneously, Zain decided to head confidently toward one. At thest moment, he sidestepped and cut the hand that went toward him. Then when he was behind, with a single strike, he cut both of the back of the heel of the zombie in one strike.


    Before, it would take him a few times, and he could only do them one at a time, but this time the zombie instantly fell to its knees as it tried to get up, and the rest of the Zombies stumbled over the first one.


    [1.4/100 Sword mastery]


    ''This sword mastery, it goes up the more I use it, and it feels like I know how to use it now.''


    Seeing how one of the Zombies had tripped over, Zain usually wouldn''t have done this, but he went with the flow and thrust the sword right through the Zombies'' head while quickly pulling it out again. It was as if he knew the right amount of force and pull needed to move the sword out of position, and his grip felt stronger around the handle as well.


    ''I¡­I can definitely do this!''


    Constantly running in circles, Zain used the side of the sword to cut another zombie''s arms and then struck at the back of one''s leg to make it fall. He quickly kicked another zombie, causing it to fall, and as it fell to the ground, his sword was ready to pierce its head from below.


    With fewer zombies, Zain could test and practice his sword skills a bit more. He was getting more confident, and rather than just outright killing them, he would strike certain parts of their body, attacking without facing any counterattack. The only thing that seemed to be affecting him a lot was his stamina, and finally, there were only thest two zombies left.<sub> </sub>


    ''This is amazing. If I had my zombie strength and my energy in a Zombie''s body, then even if a whole horde came at us likest time, I could take them on all at once.''


    As he thought about this, the image of Skittle appeared in his head, and he tightened his grip over the sword handle.


    ''If I could do this before if I had prepared like this before, or the system had given me these visions, then maybe I could have seeded in saving Skittle.''


    Thinking about this, out of anger, Zain went to sh at the zombie''s neck, and the sword got stuck. He pulled out the sword and quickly thrust it forward, killing the first one. Then, after charging in, and jumping off the ground, he stabbed the sword right through thest one''s head.


    As the zombie fell to the ground, he found himself huffing and panting but soon heard the sound signifying that he hadpleted the Quest again.


    [Congrattions! Questpleted]


    [Reward: You have received all weapons'' mastery]


    [You may now level up and unlock mastery of any weapon]


    [Would you like to proceed to Round 3?]


    Before deciding whether or not to go to Round three, Zain wanted to rify what the system was talking about and decided to bring up his own stats. Surprisingly, it worked.


    He could see his name and stats as he did outside, stating that he was an Undead. But it was clear he was far weaker in this ce than outside. When looking at the skills, he could see that Sword mastery was there, and every weapon he had seen at the table had greyed out, with the stat point being 0 on them.


    [Handgun mastery: level 2]


    [1/100 EP]


    ''Oh¡­so I guess I already had some skills in the gun after what happenedst time. So yeah, this makes sense.


    [Sword mastery: level 1]


    [64.5/100]


    ''My sword mastery is close to levelling up, although dealing with ten was tough¡­I should be able to do round three as well.''


    [Round 3 will start in 30 seconds]


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 93 Return Key

    [Round 3 will begin in 30 seconds]


    [New Quest received: Finish the round]


    [Reward: A return Key will be given]


    [Failure: A penalty will be applied]


    The rewards for being in this ce so far were beyond great. Zain could feel the improvement in his sword skills, but he was in the body of his 11-year-old self. Hopefully, afterpleting the third round, Zain''s sword skills would then reach level 2. Possibly allowing him to go even further through the rounds and get even more rewards.


    For a second, Zain nced at the table behind him.


    ''Now that I have unlocked the Weapon''s Skill tree, I can use any of the weapons on that table and improve myself with them. Still, I think the best thing to do would be to focus on improving one weapon''s proficiency for now. Especially considering I currently have a sword on me in the real world.''


    There was another thing that crossed Zain''s mind, and it was the quest reward this time. Although the other rewards weren''t so clear, this was the most confusing of the lot.


    ''What can I do with a Key? But the word Return? Is it a key that will let me return to my real body?''


    Regardless, the reward was just a by-product of what he really wanted in the first ce anyway. To upgrade his sword mastery.


    "What''s it going to be this time? 20 zombies? 25?" While musing to himself, Zain found something strange as 30 seconds had already passed. The usual growls and groans that echoed through the tunnels into therge cave hadn''te.


    Instead, he only heard a groan.


    ''It can''t be¡­'' Zain thought.


    Stepping out from the tunnel, it was what Zain feared.


    "ARGHLLLEK!" The creature opened its mouth wide, and like a flower, severalrge teeth could be seen in its mouth before it closed up again. The zombie''s body was covered in boils that looked to be pulsating and ready to pop.


    ''This is the Stage 2 Zombie, the Spitter. I beat it before, but I''m now in a weaker body¡­can I do it again?'' There was hesitation in Zain''s mind, but he had to act soon because the Spitter was already running towards Zain.


    All the boils on its body lit up, and in the next moment, it spat out the red liquid towards him. Quickly, Zain rolled out of the way. Thending was a bit rough as he scraped his knee on the hard floor. However, he managed to avoid the spit.


    ''Sh*t, that hurt. I''m not in my own zombie body either.'' Zain gritted his teeth as he stood up and tried to ignore the pain, and went straight toward the zombie. Having been in the zombie body for a while, he had gotten used to not feeling pain and would thus take some risks while fighting against other zombies, but this put him at a disadvantage here because there was no instant self-healing or painless state in the human body.


    Swinging his sword, he went for its side, but the Spitter lifted its arm and easily blocked the iing attack. And, in doing so, the sword shed against it and nked as if it had hit a rock, and the recoil pushed back Zain''s arms.


    ''This is just like before with the hardened skin!''


    Before Zain could fully regain hisposure, the Spitter opened its mouth and leapt towards Zain, who had no choice but to move at thest second again and try shing his sword towards the back of its head. This time it was a sessful hit, and the sword had gone in a bit easier but had done next to nothing to seriously hurt it.


    ''Its head seems to still be the weakest part of its body, but I hit the bottom of the neck. Maybe if I give a proper hit on its temple instead, it will get injured.''


    When the Spitter turned around, it shot out the red liquid from its mouth again and spat it in a line across rather than straight towards Zain. The only way to avoid it was to head in closer, and that''s what Zain did.


    He thrust his sword for a stab and hit one of therge boils on its body, which popped then and there, releasing part of the liquid on Zain. The Spitter screamed, but this chance gave enough time for Zain to get away.


    ''The liquid, I got some of the liquid on me¡­does that mean?''


    Looking left and right, Zain was expecting more zombies toe toward him, but in the end, there were none.


    ''Wait a second, the main danger of the Spitter is how it uses its boils on dead zombies and how it attracts all of the zombies in the area. If this is like a game, then right now, the only enemy I have to face is the Spitter, so I don''t have to worry about the red liquid.


    ''The Spitter must act in a certain way to defeat its enemy, but in a ce like this, it''s actually severely weakened.''


    Thinking of this, Zain knew what he was to do next. He continued to lure the Spitter, allowing it to attack him, although he easily avoided the attacks repeatedly. At times, a hand nearly came to his face, but even if he couldn''t pierce the Spitter''s skin, he could still knock it away with his sword.


    That''s when the boils on its body started to light up and glow again. However, this time Zain stood right before the Spitter''s attack. The red goo went all over Zain, and simultaneously, he thrust his sword forward. Twisting his arm, he gave it a little spin and felt it dig deep into the Spitter''s head.


    The sword got stuck, and he knew it wouldn''t be enough, so jumping up, he kicked the sword''s hilt with both his legs, pushing the sword in as deep as it would go while falling to the ground andnding on the floor.


    "Ahh, that hurt!" Zain said as he got off the floor and saw that the Spitter had also copsed.<sub> </sub>


    ''I did it...I killed the Spitter in this body.'' Zain smiled.


    Thinking back to when the red goo had hit Skittle, it had done nothing to thetter. There was no pain whatsoever, so it made sense to do the same here. With no zombies, there were no worries, apart from his strength.


    No amount of sword skill was going to help him take down something he couldn''t pierce. But, in the end, he managed to seed.


    [Congrattions, you havepleted the quest]


    [Sword mastery is now at level 2]


    [You have received the item ''Return Key'']


    [The Return Key is a one-time use item that can be used at any time to return to the Melee Weapons Horde Challenge]


    ''Oh, so the Return Key was to return to this ce. That''s a really good reward. But, I wonder, will I start from round one again if I return? That way, I could use another weapon and improve with that as well.''


    [Would you like to proceed to round four?]


    [Yes] [No]


    So far, every round came with a great reward, but there was also always a mention of a penalty. As to what that penalty was, it was hard to say, and it made him wonder if he should go through to the next round.


    He had barely managed to pass the third round. If his n hadn''t worked out, then he would have lost the fight. However, there was the fact that he now had level 2 sword mastery.


    ''Usually, in games, one would still try to see how far they could get to anyway, and it looks like I won''t be able to enter this ce again unless I get a key. I don''t even know if the rewards will be the same when I get here the next time.


    ''This cave, the opportunity is too good to pass up. I just have to take that risk.


    [Round 4 will begin in 30 seconds]


    [Reward: Instant Level up of any weapon skill]


    [Failure: Penalty will be applied]


    Seeing the possible reward brought a smile to Zain''s face, and he thought it was the right choice to make


    ''What am I going to face next? A simple horde, or a horde with Stage 2 Zombies, or maybe even a Titan?''


    The timer soon ended, and once again, Zain could only hear growls and noisesing from one tunnel direction. Again, he would rely on his sword for whatever was toe out.


    The next second, running straight out, was a creature Zain had never seen before, but it did look familiar.


    ''This is¡­the Stage 2 on Shark''s board.''


    Before Zain knew it, the creature swung its arm, which looked like a curved de itself. The stage two zombie''s skin was green, and its eyes wererger than a human''s, around two times the size.


    Zain blocked the attack using his new sword skill, but his whole hand shook from the impact and went numb.


    ''This thing is fast and stro-''


    Before Zain could finish his thought, the new Stage 2 Zombie''s hand had already pierced right through his stomach and blood began to pour out. The next moment, the creature used its other arm to slice Zain''s head off, and thetter''s whole vision slowly went ck.


    [You have failed the quest]


    [Penalty will now be applied.]


    *****


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 Chapter 94 Back In The Real World

    Everything had happened so fast that Zain could not even try out his newly levelled-up Sword Mastery skill, and by now, he was starting to realise his mistake of how heavily he had underestimated the enemy. After taking out the Spitter, he believed he was ready for whatever was toe next and had be quitecent.


    He had forgotten that due to the situation they were in, the Spitter was severely weakened in terms of its full capabilities, which was why, when Zain had to face a Stage 2 that could use its real strength in every way, he was hopeless.


    ''That stage 2...it was fast, its body was hard and strong. I don''t know what was worse, the Titan or this.''


    Thinking back to what the Stage 2 Zombie looked like, he recalled it had a normal human figure and was the same size as a human, unlike the Titan. However, both of the new Stage 2 Zombies were ded in a strange thick white colour.


    Thinking back to what Shark had said, Zain recalled that thetter had referred to the parts of the body as bones. The back, the chest and the rest of its body had these sharp white bits sticking out from it that indeed did look like bones.


    The fact that Zain was unable to cut through them meant that the bones were most likely a bit harder than regr bones. ording to Shark, this was the most dangerous type of evolved Zombie.


    ''I guess, Bonezom is an appropriate name for it?'' Zain wondered. He was naming it based on its characteristics and thus came up with a direct and simple name.


    [The Stage 2 type Zombie has been assigned the name ''Bonezom'']


    With this, Zain had crossed paths with all of the Stage 2 type Zombies: the Spitter, the Bonezom, and the Titan. The only thing was, he just hoped he wouldn''t see a Bonezom in real life, at least not yet in any way.


    At the moment, Zain had a lot of time to think about what went wrong or possibly how he would have defeated the Bonezom if he was to face it again in the future because right now, he was experiencing the penalty applied to him for failing the quest.


    [Your real body will be inactive for four hours]


    This was the message that Zain had seen as soon as the quest hade to an end. Out of all the possible penalties, he never thought that something that happened in his vision would affect his real-world body.


    Now though, it was making him think that maybe all of the visions he was having, everything that was going on, was to do with the System in one way or another. He was also lucky that they were currently in hiding, and he had both Cobra and Skittle to protect him.


    It made him wonder if he didn''t have them, or in the future, if something like this happened, how much trouble he could possibly end up in?


    ''The time of the penalty as well, is it four hours because I reached Round Four? Or is the penalty the same regardless? If I was to guess, it is most likely rted to the different rounds. I got pretty good items as a reward, so in a way, it''s given that I will most likely receive a bigger penalty for failing as well.''


    In the end, with the current child-like body, Zain was unable to think of a single way to defeat that Stage Two Zombie. If only there was a way to enter the ce again but with his real body.


    [The penalty hase to an end, you are now returning to your real body]


    In almost an instant, Zain could feel a difference, and his body was no longer alive. In all honesty, it was a feeling that he didn''t know that he had missed.


    To feel things fully with a sense of touch, to feel one''s heart beating and to work as it should, was an experience one could only treasure after losing it. Slowly, when opening his eyes, he found himself in the same room, and Cobra, along with Skittle, were still around him, keeping watch.


    When staring out of the window and looking up at the sky, Zain noticed its grey tone. The sun was only starting to rise and had yet to fully light up the streets.


    In a couple of hours, he would be able to safely move out of the room.


    ''If Shark was right about that Stage 2 Zombie, then he probably is right about those Demons as well. It''s best not to take any chances for now and stay back.''


    Getting a bit morefortable but still lying on the couch, Zain decided to open up his System to check out his new stats and also observe if there has been a new change.


    ''It''s all there, the Sword mastery, the Gun mastery and all of the other weapons. Everything that I got in that ce hase here as well, but how is that possible?''


    There was no point for Zain to fully understand his position. He didn''t even understand how a gaming system along with him and how still being alive as a zombie was possible.


    ''The Return Key is here as well. So can I really return to that ce when I want?'' Zain thought. ''For now, it''s best if I don''t use it, but when I do, I should use it during a time where I know my real body remains safe. I got lucky today.


    ''And besides, if I want to take full advantage of that ce, then it would be best to wait until I was stronger to enter it again or improve my sword skills and more outside of the area. Next time I get back in there, I will definitely get past Round Four.''<sub> </sub>


    For the first time in a while, Zain felt anticipation and excitement over something. Since turning into a zombie, his emotions seemed to be slightly dulled, he was unable to feel things, but now, it was as if his old self was taking over, wanting to surpass the challenge of prevailing as long as possible.


    He stood up and raised the sword, and then Zain also finally. He wouldn''t be able to leave until the sun went up anyway, so he tried swinging his sword about.


    A vertical sh, a horizontal one, and a thrust forward. They were all basic moves, but everything felt several times easier than before.


    ''I''m faster than I was in the cave since I have the added stats here as well. I did the right thing by levelling up my sword skills.''


    Continuing his practice session, Zain started to swing the sword whilebining strikes and imagining multiple enemies in front of him. He needed to also use his mind to find the best out of situations with his new-found skills.


    After getting the hang of it for a while, Zain wanted to test something else and checked on his System again.


    [Sword Mastery: Level 2]


    [6.32/100]


    ''My sword mastery went up after all that training? It''s still not as fast as using it in a real fight, but it still went up¡­wait, isn''t there something I could do then?''


    Standing in the centre of the room, Zain prepared himself and looked directly at Cobra.


    ''Attack.''


    Cobra came charging in with his two daggers and went for a sh from above. Swinging his sword up, Zain deflected the iing dagger and also hit the second one with his sword path before it could reach him.


    It was then that Zain went for a vertical sh, but Cobra had jumped back in time, avoiding the attack, and instantly went for another and kept on asking for the Crates.


    ''I should be careful. I don''t want to hurt Cobra. Right now, he''s my ace. Even with my improved sword skills, Cobra is giving me a tough challenge.''


    Due to the small size of the room, all Zain had to do was defend, and, as he continued to use his sword skills against Cobra, he noticed that the stats were now slowly going up bit by bit.


    Eventually, the messages Zain raised on his phone to alert him about energy going down, Cobra''s hunger alerts, and the sun rising had caused them to stop.


    [12.7/100]


    ''It''s still not going up fast enough, but that might be the fact that it''s now at Level 2. Either way, this is a good way to upgrade my skills. If possible, maybe I should start upgrading other weapons like the dagger and stuff as well.


    ''The sun is out, so I should focus on getting some food before returning to this ce as well.''


    The current n was to stay in the apartment opposite the club in which the Reborn group were. Zain was sure that whoever was behind the scenes and giving orders to Shark woulde back eventually, but he needed to get some food and perhaps even go and explore to find meteorites during the day.


    When looking out the window, Zain''s eyes opened wide as he saw something he hadn''t noticed before.


    ''The door¡­.why is the door to the club open?''


    Constantly, the door was swinging from the wind mming shut, open and closed, open and closed as if there wasn''t a single person inside who had noticed.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 95 Follow Or Stay

    The atmosphere in the club had taken a worse turn after Zain left the group. It had only been about thirty minutes since he walked out of the door, but everyone was sitting apart and hadn''t said a word to each other since.


    It was the same with Shark, who was just picking up the weaponsid out and trying them one by one. In the end, though, Shark was the one who had broken the silence.


    "I can see that no one will be up for training, but I must continue training to protect all of us. If you need time to think, or have any concerns, feel free to talk to me in the training room."


    After picking up a pair of curved swords and a couple of daggers, Shark walked to the other room and began his night training on his own like he usually would have done.


    After waiting 10 to 15 minutes, they knew Shark wouldn''te out, so Pink decided to go to someone else who was on his own, sitting at a table and staring at the stage.


    "Do you mind if I sit here?" Pink asked. There was some hesitation in her voice.


    "Please." Kun gestured towards one of the seats. He didn''t have much reaction to Pink''s arrival. Rather, it was as if he was trying to distract himself from everything. There was arge bottle of whisky in front of him, and Kun was slowly taking sips.


    However, he barely felt the taste of strong alcohol, but neither its taste nor the effect he wanted it to have was the same as it used to be in the past. Still, it was hard to get rid of old habits in a situation like this.


    "I know you might be in an ufortable position Kun, but honestly, right now, we trust you more than Shark." Pink started.


    Kun wondered why that was because he and Shark were both lying to them and were part of the same organisation. Maybe it was his face, his mannerisms, or the fact that this whole situation seemed to be affecting Kun quite a bit, while on the other hand, Shark was more like an emotionless robot and was quite indifferent about everything.


    "Just remember," Kun replied. "I''m not a good guy either. I lied to you all as well."


    "You''re right, but Zain trusted you for some reason, and so do we. Even though we haven''t known each other long, there are some things that you just can''t hide.


    "Anyway, Fingers and I have decided on something. Although we initially were scared of Zain, now we think we need him. So I believe we should chase after Zain and ask him toe back and stay with us."


    Zain was a crazy guy. Everyone knew that, and Kun was most surprised that Fingers also wanted this, especially after Zain almost killed him in the previous scuffle.


    It just went to show how skilful they saw Zain asor how afraid they were of Shark. Sometimes, having two different dynamics and opinions in a group was good. And in this case, it would be Zain and Shark ¡ª making the former a really important figure for them.


    Otherwise, if there''s only one leader, they would have to follow whatever they were told to say or told without a choice. At first, they were fine with that because they trusted in Shark, but that trust was crushed when they came to know Shark was hiding something from them, and now they couldn''t blindly follow him anymore, but without him, how would the group even survive?


    After taking a long sip, Kun mmed the ss on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Some of the drink had poured out from the wound on his cheek.


    "Honestly, I was thinking the same thing. "


    "Don''t be a fool." A voice suddenly called out, and when turning to the side, they saw Shark stepping out of the room. They didn''t know when he came and couldn''t help but wonder how much he had heard them.


    "Shark, I know you can be stubborn sometimes, but do you truly believe we don''t need him? He was the one that managed to get us the brains after all. Maybe this group needs that bit of craziness." Kun replied.


    It looked like Shark was a bit upset that even Kun was now against him.


    "I''m not talking about that, you idiot." Shark''s words, however, scrubbed that assumption.


    "I''m saying you can''t go out now. Zain left about half an hour ago, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be to find him in this city. I am sure we both are fully aware of this fact.


    "The best thing to do would be to leave right now, but you shouldn''t do that. It''s very risky and almost nighttime."


    Shark didn''t have to say anything else because it had been drilled in their heads to avoid the demons by not going out at night.


    "Do you still believe them?" Kun replied. "I mean, how do we even know anything they informed us before is the truth? What if there is another reason why they don''t want us out at night?"


    Shark didn''t reply immediately because, for a brief second, there was some hesitation in his mind. The story of him having seen a demon before had been made up. It was a way to get the others to go along with the request without asking too many questions.


    "I mean, they didn''t tell us about the Crystals either. So Zain did have a point." Kun continued.<sub> </sub>


    Before Shark could reply, Kun walked to the office room and brought back the remaining crystals. He then ced one in his hand and closed his eyes.


    Following what he had done before, as the crystal''s energy disappeared and went into him, he could feel a new energy and his body became stronger.


    "Look, Zain was right. We can absorb these crystals, and they seem to make us stronger. So why would those people not tell us something like this? Of course, I am talking about the people who we work for. I believe the reason behind it is quite clear. They want to use us. Also, with how they have so much information, they might likely be why we are in this mess in the first ce, and that''s why they are trying so hard to fix it!"


    This was something Shark certainly couldn''t argue because he was having simr thoughts as well.


    In the end, seeing Shark remain silent, Kun went ahead and started to absorb the crystals one by one. And with each crystal that he absorbed, he felt himself get stronger each time, and eventually, all of the Crystals disappeared by the time he was done.


    ''If there really is something out there, then I need the best chance I can get.''


    Kun went over to the weapons and picked up a chain and ball first, then he ced the shield around his back, among a few other things.


    The first thing he felt was that the items were slightly lighter than before. Soon, he was ready and was already heading toward the exit.


    "The rest of you stay here. There is no need for all of us to go out if we''re looking for just one person. If I don''t find Zain, I will be back during the day, and we can look again then." Kun replied.


    "Wait." Shark suddenly called out. "Just be careful out there."


    "Don''t worry about that." Kun smiled. "You know I''m the best at this sneaking stuff. I''ll be okay. Just take it easy on the rest of these guys. They''re a bit scared of you at the moment."


    Shark sighed upon hearing those words. Unfortunately, he didn''t really have a solution to that problem, and only time could mend their distrust and fear.


    Kun had reached the door by now, and when he opened it and looked up, the pitch ck sky stared back at him. Once he was out, Jelly shut the door and went to stand by its side like he always had done.


    "Good luck, Kun," Pink muttered. She was worried if anything went wrong tonight and wished nothing but luck for Kun.


    The group began to wait for their friend to return and began to get nervous as time passed. At night time, it was most likely even harder for Kun to find someone, and they worried that something might have happened to him.


    In a situation as such, one most likely thinks of the worst oue and their reaction and thought process was quite natural.


    Soon, more than three hours had passed, and Kun had yet to return. With no contact on the radio, since Shark had no way of reporting this.


    All of them were in the main room waiting, none of them talking to each other, until ---


    *KNOCK *KNOCK *KNOCK*


    There was a clear distinctive knock on the door.


    "That must be Kun! Does that mean he came back?" Pink said, jumping up from her seat, overwhelmed.


    *Knock *Knock *Knock.


    There were three knocks again, this time faster, which sounded quite urgent.


    "Is there anyone inside!" A voice shouted. "Please let me in¡­please!"


    It wasn''t a voice any of them recognised.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUVZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 96 Abandoned Club

    Originally, Zain never nned to go back into the club unless he saw others enter. Possibly the ones that were giving orders to Shark and Kun. However, due to certain circumstances, Zain was unable to keep a close eye on the club, and now after waking up, it was clear that something had happened.


    In the end, now that the sun had fully risen, Zain had decided to head back there. He looked outside of the building and the area around it slowly to see if there was anything he could spot.


    Any signs of the others leaving or anything strange urring, and that''s when he realized he found nothing.


    ''This is really strange, there is absolutely nothing within five hundred meters from the club.'' Zain thought. ''Not a single dead body on the ground or a zombie just treading its feet along. Was it the military that arrived here and cleaned it up, or was it the other group?''


    Regardless of who it was to clean up a ce this well, it had to be the work of several people. Walking slowly, Zain could hear the door constantly banging, again and again as the wind continued to m it shut.


    p Holding his hand out, he stopped the door from making the noise, took a deep breath and took a step inside. Zain didn''t know what he was expecting. Entering, Zain closed the door behind him softly.</anda>


    While in the ce he needed to use his senses to hear what was going on.


    ''Cobra, stay by the door for now, if you are attacked protect your life.'' Zain ordered.


    Looking from left to right of the room, it waspletely different from when he wasst here. So much had changed in a  single day. All of the tables looked to be destroyed, chairs had been flung all over the ce, ss bottles shattered everywhere.


    ''Is this because of me? Did those people that Shark was working fore and decide to ruin the entire ce, but why? I was sure that they needed him for more. They wouldn''t have gotten rid of him so easily, not someone who was that loyal.''


    Walking around, Zain had decided that it was best to order Skittle to wait by the door as well. Because after a few steps, cracking noises were heard and it was Skittle stepping on the ss on the floor behind him.


    It looked like themand ''follow'' for Skittle, literally meant follow, so he wasn''t careful with his footsteps like Zain.


    ''I have to treat it like, whatever was here, could still be here.'' Zain thought.


    Inspecting the room, he walked around with pictures of a fight ying out in his head. He tried to imagine how chairs could be chucked around in such a way. Straight down the middle it looked almost like someone was chucked right up and into the stage, cracking the bottom part of it, and causing all the chairs and seats in the middle to move away.


    Yet, there were also a few chairs on stage as well, as if someone was throwing them at whoever they were fighting.


    ''It''s not military, at least I don''t think it Is.'' Zain thought. ''There are no bullet holes, signs of guns being used, and there are no empty shells anywhere. Sure they could have cleaned the ce up, but it would be impossible and there is no reason for them to do it with all the holes in the ce.''


    Eventually, Zain went behind the bar area, which looked to have some of the most damage done to it. Part of it looked to be ripped in half, and there was blood all over on the ground. Taking a turn around the corner, Zain stopped and looked at the floor for a while.


    He just stood there staring at the body for a good five minutes before he decided to walk forward, and kneel down at their side.


    "Severalrge piercing wounds all over his body. He was bleeding all over¡­ I imagine since he was such a big guy that it was hard for them to kill." Zain said. "I''m sorry the two of us didn''t really talk much during my stay here."


    "You didn''t seem like a bad guy¡­ and it''s possible that I was the one that caused this for you. If we had talked, maybe you could have told me your final wishes and I would have tried to aplish them for you."


    After inspecting the body for a while, Zain stood up knowing there was nothing he could do, nor anything he could figure out, apart from the fact that Jelly was dead. From what he knew, Jelly was the door guard of the Reborn.


    There was once where Zain had felt his strength and it was real, looking at his body as well, even for Zain he felt like it would have been a long and winded battle.


    When looking at Jelly, for the first time since turning, he felt a little down, a feeling in his chest where there was meant to be no feeling. He was unsure why. Especially when there was no real connection to Jelly.<sub> </sub>


    ''If this has happend to Jelly, then I need to expect the worst for the others as well.''


    Pulling out his sword, Zain was now on high alert. Looking at the wounds, and on such arge person, there was another thought in his head. This could have been the work of a stage 2 bone zombie, or something simr to that.


    While walking to the other side of the room, where another bar was present. Zain could see the scattered weapons all over the ce as well. He imagined the group being quite pleased when they had found these, thinking that their days for survival wouldst a bit longer, only to result in this.


    In the end, Zain didn''t have to walk all the way to the other side of the bar, because turning his head, looking a little past the stage, there was another body that was slumped up against the wall.


    Walking over, Zain looked at the wall itself behind the stage. There were severalrge fist sized holes in it, and blood scattered all over where the holes were. As for the slumped over body, there was an axe in thier hand but no blood on it at all.


    "Whoever he fought against, didn''t even get a scratch on them." Zain said as he lifted the head slighty confiming that it was Fingers.


    There were wounds on his body simr to that of the wall. Which made Zain think, was he pinned up against it?


    ''Judging by the sliding of the blood as well. Would all of the wounds have been done at the same time? And from a distance?'' Right now there was some strange imagery going on in Zain''s mind thinking of what it could possibly be.


    He could imagine some military force with a spike gun of sorts, that shot out and stabbed through one''s body with four different points. However, it seemed cruel but did make sense for an organization to make more silent and effective weapons against Zombies.


    With Fingers and Jelly dead, it meant that Zain was expecting to see more, he thought he would see Pink, Kun andstly Shark as well. It was hard for him to imagine Shark getting killed though.


    Heading behind the stage, more destruction could be seen, Stage boxespletely destroyed, parts of the back wall being destroyed and crumbling to the ground. Stepping forward, Zain turned as he went to look in the office and that''s where he could see it.


    Down underneath some of the destroyed wall rubble, there were a pair of legs that looked to have been badly cut, but they were detached, separate from the waist down from something.


    Then walking forward and into the office, lying on the ground there was the other half of the body in a pool of blood. Looking at his mouth and seeing the side along with the visible teeth it was confirmed that this was Shark.


    ''Out of all the people I thought you would have probably been the one to have made it out of here.'' Zain thought.


    Still, the whole thing was confusing and the fact that Shark had been dealt with and in this fashion as well, made Zain think only more it was nothing to do with the people that Shark was in contact with.


    Just like all the other bodies, Zain went to inspect Shark''s to see if he could see anything different. Other than the missing bottom half, like the others there were severalrge marks all over. To get a good look though Zain needed to turn him over and that''s what he did.


    When flipping him from his front to his back, Zain could see something, it looked like words written in blood.


    "D..e..m..demon¡­"


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!


    *****

 Chapter 97 Hunters Hunt

    With thest of his strength, it looked like Shark had left a message for whoever was to find his body, most likely the organisation that he was working for. While observing the message, Zain didn''t believe Shark would leave such a message behind as a way to trick someone.


    Whenever he talked or mentioned the demons, Shark''s demeanour would change, and he was always serious about such a fact. At the same time, it didn''t add up. Everything that Zain had seen didn''t look to be the work of the military. It was definitely some sort of creature.


    ''Just how strong are these demons that you were so afraid of.'' Zain thought. ''You were a strong fighter, and not just you, but the enemy took out the whole group, and from the looks of it, the former didn''t even face any challenge.''


    Upon walking out of the room, Zain went to have a look at the state of the outer area. Now that he had somewhat confirmed that it was the work of a demon, he started to evaluate its strength and how it had managed to rip Shark''s body in half.


    The Reborn group were stronger than regr humans, and they had the added fact they couldn''t feel pain. On top of that, they had Shark, who was skilful and tactical. Zain imagined that the former hadn''t shown his all in the fight against him earlier in the evening, and if Zain hadn''t had the guns on him from before, maybe the whole fight would have turned into a different story altogether.


    ''Wait a second, Kun and Pink''s bodies aren''t here.''


    Having realised this, Zain started to check the other rooms he had yet to go into: the one that Zain had woken up in and the one that Shark would use to train himself. Upon heading inside, he didn''t find anything out of the ordinary, and neither were there any signs of a fight taking ce.


    ''I guess the Demon or demons dealt with all of them quickly, but then how did Pink and Kun escape? Or is it possible that their bodies had justpletely disappeared? Did the demons eat them?''


    Even with this line of thought, it wouldn''t confirm everything. Unless he knew someone who was there, it wouldn''t do.


    Upon heading back into the room Shark was in, Zain was hoping that he could find something, like a journal or some kind of notes as to when the people from that organisation would being or where their base was. However, as soon as he entered though, he soon heard a sound.


    Someone had pushed open the main entrance of the club, and in the next instant, it was mmed shut.


    ''Skittle and Cobra are by the entrance. I have to give them amand.''


    It was the first time Zain was trying this, but he thought it could work out somehow, and he had given the order of protection for one to protect the other and vice versa. So if they were to be attacked, they would fight the enemy off together.


    At the same time, Zain ran from the office, jumped up backstage, went through the back curtain, walking out on stage to look at who had entered the club.


    "Zain!!!" A voice. "How could you?! How could you have done this!"


    There was a man at the entrance who was looking at Jelly from behind the bar. He hadn''t attacked Skittle or Cobra since he knew who they were because the one who had returned was Kun.


    "You damn basta*d! I stuck up for you! I knew you were crazy, but I never thought that you would do something like this!" Kun was incensed, "I told you everything we knew, we are just doing our job, but we tried our best to protect them, so then why¡­why did you have to go and kill them?!"


    After hearing these words, Zain finally knew why Kun was acting in such a way. It looked like the reason why Kun had survived was that he wasn''t even here in the first ce to witness it.


    "Kun, you''re wrong." Zain immediately tried to rify, "I didn''t kill them, I just arrived here like you about five minutes ago, and they were all like this."


    Wiping his tears away, Kun had a confused look on his face.


    "What do you mean?¡­it has to be you! Who else could have killed them like this?"


    "Like what exactly?" Zain replied. "Look at the wounds on their body? Do you really think I could have done something like that? Do you think my gun could have done something like that?"


    Quickly, Kun had a further look at the bodies again. He could see therge holes that had pierced through them and the cuts that were made on their body.


    He ran over to Fingers, who was closer by the stage and looked at him as well, and the wounds on him appeared to be the same.


    "You were an agent, right? So you should understand that me doing something like this is impossible." Zain added, "And if you go into the office, I''m sure you will have your answer, and again, I would never do something like that."


    Kun quickly rushed into the office soon after, and a few grunts, shrieks and banging on the door were heard. Although Kun didn''t know these guys for long, he did feel like it was his responsibility to look after them.


    It was even the reason why he had left them here, thinking that it was a safe ce, and then there was also Shark himself, a fellow agent with who he had worked together for an incredibly long time.


    After giving Kun a few minutes, Zain decided to enter the room and could see Kun just staring down at the body in front of him.


    He looked like a statue, not moving at all and just staring at the body.<sub> </sub>


    "I''m sure you saw the words that he wrote. I don''t know what happened more than you do now. The two of us can only guess." Zain replied.


    A few more secondster and Kun wasing a little bit.


    "Where is Pink? Her body? We have to find her body as well and be respectful to them all."


    Kun was ready to go searching, but Zain quickly stopped him from doing so.


    "I already looked, but I couldn''t find her anywhere. I thought she might have gone with you, but I guess that''s not the case."


    "That means she''s most likely alive! But then, how did she survive? Why are the rest like this, and she''s not here!" Kun asked.


    However, Zain didn''t have the answers to that, and the two of them were just going through the same questions again.


    "You¡­this is your fault." Kun couldn''t think straight, "I went out looking for you, I wasn''t here, and because of that, everyone ended up like this. And look at you know, you came back here anyway! This is all on your shoulders."


    Zain started to walk up to Kun, who stepped back bit by bit.


    "Was I the one that created this zombie virus in the first ce? Or the one who chose to hide out in this area?


    "I told everyone they were free to leave ore with me. It was their choice to stay here. In life, you can''t just me others for your own mistakes, you are in control of yourself, and no one else controls your life.


    "If you were here, do you think that would have made a difference? You would be dead and on the floor just like them!" Zain shouted.


    The look on Kun''s face was of utter despair and defeat. He knew that Zain was right. At the end of the day, the same thing was most likely going to happen if they had met him or not.


    In one way or the other, Kun had only survived because Zain had escaped and left the ce.


    "This world sucks," Kun said, clenching his fist.


    "That is something we both can agree on," Zain said. "These demons seem pretty strong to take out, Shark. Do you know anything about them?"


    "No¡­not anything that you don''t already know. Just the Reborn organisation would always make a big deal about them. It was strange they couldn''t really tell us what they looked like or their strengths and just stated that they were the most dangerous things that we could run into."


    Hearing Kun''s response, Zain was even more curious and went up to Shark''s corpse again.


    ''If only I could find out what exactly happened to you.''


    Just when he had this thought, a familiar sound rang in his head, and a system prompt appeared.


    -Ding!


    [Consume the Reborn Zombie''s brain to gain ess to the host''s memories in thest 24 hours]


    ''Oh, what a jackpot this is.''


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets! For some reason, Webnovel Won''t let me take away so many words.


    There was a mistake with this chapter so just adding extra for the sake of this. Sorry for the dy in Chapters. I have been busy doing podcasts and also have been in and out of the hospital to check what the problem is with my back.


    Have had blood tests and going for an Ultrasound scan as well. Usually I would have chapters ready. for Quick updates please join the discord where you will get the most information and can talk to me as well.

 Chapter 98 The System Activates

    It was the first time the System had prompted a message for Zain, and it wasn''t a quest but rather a piece of information which could help him in this current situation.


    ''Why would the system do such a thing now when it has never done anything like this before?'' Zain thought. ''And it seemed toe up when I was thinking about the problem, not when I first entered the room. Is there more to this system that I still don''t know about.''


    Based on the message, it meant he had the choice to do it or not. In one way or another, it was clear that the System was trying to help him in this situation.


    ''This System is strange, helping me out now of all times. It''s like I''m still in some type of tutorial mode, and it''s still taking me through all of the avable features.'' Zain thought as he walked over to Shark''s head and lifted it.


    Memories of the days when he would be ying games came up to him. Each survival game was different in how it worked, and how it would take one through a tutorial. However, this possibly would have had to have been the worst tutorial by far if it really was the case.


    If he met the developers of this system, he wanted to give them a p around the face. The least they could have done is some basic research to find out how these things worked.


    Zain started to lift the head and roll it around a little as if he was inspecting it, like a detective.


    "What are you doing to his body?" Kun asked.


    Tilting the head to its side, Zain saw an opening.


    "You want to know what happened to these guys, right?" Zain replied. "Well, remember I''m different from the rest of you? My body can heal at a fast rate, and I can control the people that I turn, but it turns out that''s not the only thing I can do. There is a way for me to see thest moments of the dead."


    "Really!" Kun eximed in excitement but seeing Zain take out a dagger, he knew what was going toe next. He looked away as the all too familiar sound had been made. Then when turning back, he could see that Shark''s brain was in Zain''s hand.


    Although Kun wanted to respect his dead colleague''s body, if what Zain said was true, it was important for them to find out what happened. For one, they could know what happened to Pink, and two, they were curious about how everything transpired, and Zain was hoping to find out something more.


    Which was why Kun didn''t bother to say anything, not that he believed he could do anything even if he was against Zain doing such things. It was clear from the little scuffle they had with everyone that Zain was just far too strong.


    ''I wonder how this thing is going to work. I have already eaten a brain a few times, so this is no different, but something like this has never happened before.'' Zain thought as he gobbled down on the brain, bit by bit while keeping his mind off the action.


    Once again, he thanked the fact that his taste buds were dulled, and so was the sense of touch, so the texture and taste weren''t really a problem. Rather it was just the act of eating the brain itself.


    Unlike with the other Brain''s there wasn''t a refreshing feeling, and it didn''t seem to do anything to up his body functionality like human brains did. So it still didn''t solve the other problem he had.


    ''It said 24 hours, so maybe I''ll get the chance to see something else as well?''


    [You have consumed a ''Reborn'' Zombie''s brain]


    [You can now ess the memories the brain has seen in thest 24 hours before its death. Would you like to proceed?]


    "Hey Kun, this whole looking thing might take a while. So make sure you protect me or wake me up if something happens." Zain replied.


    Zain had thought about going back to an apartment or some other ce else, but it was quite clear this pce was abandoned, and whatever had done this was unlikely to return. The only thing he was worried about was the Reborn Organisation that the others worked for.


    However, it had only been a day, and since it was high risk to send out a team to see what happened to them, Zain theorised that they would be moving slowly.


    At the same time, he had ordered Skittle and Cobra toe and protect him once again. It was possible that he might have be unconscious for 24 hours. Whoever attacked this ce was unlikely to return, but they couldn''t be too optimistic, so it was as safe as anywhere.


    [Yes]<sub> </sub>


    Zain didn''t pass out as he had expected, nor was he transported to a certain ce. Instead, a system screen appeared, and it was now as if he was watching something on arge TV. In fact, there was even the option to skip and move the yer bar that went on for 24 hours.


    Some of it showed the tail end of what had urred in Chinatown. Seeing this, Zain skipped through and went through all that he knew. It was ying from a Shark''s perspective, like a point-of-view video.


    ''I wonder, is the footage stored in the System forever? Will I be able to have ess to this whenever I want?''


    Continuing on the video, Zain finally stopped it when Shark was in his office and had begun the call with the others. This was when Zain was standing outside the door and had only heard half of the conversation.


    After a few introductions, Shark had begun speaking to a male agent on the other side. The voice was clear, and it wasn''t the women that he had run into or that the others had known.


    "We just found hundreds of dead Zombies, and upstairs there were Stage two zombies that were eliminated in the simr fashion that you told us the Demons would kill. You said we would be safe after the first meteor strike if we waited a few days." Sharkined.


    There was a pause for a few seconds on the other end, and a few sounds of shuffling could be heard as if the man was speaking to someone before giving a reply.


    "This was out of our predictions. We could only guess so much. The only thing we can state is to keep doing as you are doing. Collect the Crystals. They will help us win this in the future. You have to remember the Reborn are there for a reason, just like the evolved are there for a reason.


    "Everything you are doing is for the sake of humanity''s survival. Keep working hard, Agent Shark."


    Shark had almost let out augh, and from the video, Zain could see he was also frustrated by the way he had clenched his fist around the speaker.


    p "What do you mean this wasn''t part of your predictions?" Shark almost shouted, "If you knew about it, then you should have informed us immediately. Anyway, have you looked into what I asked for?"</anda>


    "We have checked all our files for agents that are within the Reborn group. Your description doesn''t match a single one of them. We advise you to proceed with caution as, at this moment, the only thing we can confirm is that he is not one of us. He wasn''t part of the Reborn program."


    After that, the call had pretty much ended there, and Zain knew how the rest of the story went. Listening to this Reborn organisation talk more and more, Zain was starting to believe that they knew this was going to happen at some point.


    From the sounds of it, they knew a lot about what was happening around the world, but the question was, why were they doing such things?


    Since it didn''t look like he would find an answer, Zain continued to go through the video, and soon, he reached the part where he heard the mysterious visitor knocking at the Club''s door.


    ****


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    We haveunched our first Kickstarter which allows ess to a physical volume book with all Shrine series first chapters. Which includes a physical version of the first chapter of My Werewolf System.


    Search: Shrineics Kickstarter.


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 Chapter 99 Uninvited Guest

    All of them heard the knock on the Club''s main entrance, and then came a voice from the other side. Jelly, who was closest to the door, was ready to slide open the shutter. It was a small envelope-size shutter that allowed one to see outside of the ce.


    Before he did though, Shark shouted out to him.


    "Wait!" Shark shouted. "That voice, it''s not Kun, nor does it sound like Zain. Check who they are first before letting them in."


    Hearing Shark shout, everyone gathered in the main room. Fingers went off to the side along with Pink as both of them continued to stare at the door. They had originally run forward, excited that Kun might be back with the others.


    Listening to Shark''s orders, Jelly didn''t open the shutter and instead just spoke through the door.


    "Name!" Jelly asked.


    "Please! My name is Jerry. There are zombies outside of this ce chasing me! Please let me in!" Jerry shouted as he started to panic and banged the door with his two fists. He was banging it again and again frantically, sounding desperate, and it was loud.


    "He smells human," Jelly confirmed to the rest. "What do you want me to do?"


    Since it was a human, letting him in might give him a bigger fright, but they couldn''t imagine a human causing them a lot of trouble, especially for Shark, but there was a bad feeling in his gut that was telling him something was wrong.


    ''This is the first time since being here that something like this has happened, and why sote? Why are they outside?''


    "Shouldn''t we let him in?" Pink asked. "He''ll die out there. I know that we are not the same but¡­but we still have a family who still might be humans as well. What if that was our family member out there?"


    Due to the recent events, Pink was more inclined to try and help out others. She imagined if that man was her father, or perhaps if someone had helped out her sister during their desperate time, they would be okay.


    "We can''t take the risk. What happens if that man tries to attack us, then? The safest thing to do is to look out for ourselves." Shark stated.


    Perhaps if this had happened before, happening a few hours before Zain had disappeared, the others would have listened to him, but their trust in Shark had been muddled. They looked at him in a different waypared to before.


    "Why are you always so selfish!" Pink shouted.


    "I also feel like if the banging on the door continues like this, it will attract more Zombies to this area and then the evolved ones mighte here and attack us. A human is easier to deal with aspared to Evolved zombies, right?" Fingers argued, supporting Pink.


    With the backup she needed, Pink felt like she was strong enough to take charge.


    "Open the door!" Pink ordered.


    It felt like everyone was going against Shark right now, and while in the middle of his thoughts, he hadn''t given another order to Jelly for him to stop, and the door was soon opened.<sub> </sub>


    A middle-aged man with ck hair soon ran in, with his hands both on his knees and was huffing and panting, looking at the floor. Jelly looked outside and quickly closed the door.


    "Thank you, thank you so much for saving me." The man said, still breathing heavily. "You don''t understand I was so close to being bitten and eaten. A man like me can''t survive out there."


    The man was wearing a suit that had been ripped torn and was also a little bloody as well. It seemed like he had gone through a lot. Still, the others seemed nervous because they all wondered how the man would react once he lifted his head and saw them, finding out that they were Zombies as well.


    At that moment, Fingers was the first to walk out towards the man seeing that he had no weapons on him. He didn''t seem like a threat, and Fingers also had the least obvious wounds on his body which indicated that he was a Zombie.


    "Ahh!" The man screamed in a frightened voice as he fell over backwards and onto his back. "You¡­you ¡­you''re Zombies!" the man shouted.


    He twisted his head, looking at each and every one of them, noticing all of the strange marks they had, their pale skin and their slightly dull coloured eyes.


    "Please, sir, we are not here to hurt you." Fingers said in a calm voice while also having his usualrge smile on his face. "We have run into the Zombies outside like you, but as you can see, we are a group of people that have found ourselves immune to their effect."


    "We can talk and still do everything just like a human. It''s only our appearance that is like this. We mean you no harm; after all, we wouldn''t have let you in and saved you from the real Zombies outside otherwise."


    Fingers had been wondering what to say for a while if he had ever met another human, and it looked like his practice was working as the man seemed to calm down. Lowering his head, the man stared at the floor. However, for some reason, Fingers noticed the man''s shoulders were trembling.


    "Man isn''t being chased." Jelly suddenly said.


    At that moment, Shark''s ears pricked up.


    "What did you say, Jelly? What do you mean?"


    "Outside...there are no Zombies chasing the man." Jelly replied.


    The man who was on the ground, his shoulders started to shake more and more until he started tough.


    "Haha, looks like I''ve hit the jackpot here."


    "Everyone!'' Shark shouted at the top of his lungs. "Run!"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 100 Too Powerful

    The man''s shoulders continued to tremble, and as he looked up, Fingers saw a strange smile on the former''s face. He instinctively stepped back for a second, afraid of what this person would do.


    ''Wait, isn''t this guy just a human? Then why¡­why am I so afraid?'' Fingers thought.


    Suddenly, the side of the man''s mouth started to rip, the skin peeled and broke out from the top of the head, and a strange brown colour could be seen on whatever wasing out from the Skin. A strange pink goo could be seen as the skin was stretched and peeled.


    Breaking out from the top of its head, a figure that was the same size as a human, with nothing butrge white eyes and sharp jagged teeth, was now standing in front of Fingers.


    "I said run!" Shark shouted as he leapt up with an axe in his hand that he had been carrying and swung it down as hard as he could, right on the strange Creature''s head. The axe pierced its skin and moved, cutting it down the middle, but it didn''t gopletely through it.


    The human skin that it was wearing now hadpletely gone off from its body, and out from its back, six strange long tentacle-like figures could be seen, and each of them had a very sharp end.


    Its arms were the same size as a human''s as well, only that its fingers were quite elongated than a typical person''s and were pointy as well. The Creature swung its arm, trying to throw away Shark. Thetter could see the attack wasing, so he let go of the axe and created a cross-shape block with both of his arms.


    However, when he was hit, he felt the sheer strength of the Creature. His body went flying, hitting the tables and chairs away.


    Shark continued to skid as he went across the room, and his back eventually hit the bottom of the stage.


    The Creature then pulled the axe out of its head, and blood fell on the floor from its body, but the wound quickly healed right in front of them, something simr to what Zain could do.


    "Pink, get out of here!" Shark shouted. "We can''t win this. Warn them, warn everyone about this. Go to the Kitchen! Find a way out!"


    When Shark turned his head back around, he saw the Creature had now lifted Fingers into the air. In the next instant, the sharp tentacles pierced through his body.


    "ARGHH!" The Creature screamed, and the tentacles started to grow longer as it pushed Fingers back and mmed him right up against the wall, piercing him then and there. Strangely, it looked like something was happening to the tentacles as part of it grewrger and began to move down towards the Creature''s body.


    It was as if something out of the Zombies body was being transported to him.


    Pink was stunned upon witnessing the scene in front of her. Fingers were dead before any one of them could even react to the Creature''s attacks.


    ''This is¡­all my fault. I was the one that did this. I was the one that told them to open the doors. Fingers is now dead because of me.''


    The strange tentacles soon came out of Fingers, and his body fell to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the wall. After the fall, Fingers remained still, confirming the fact that he was now dead. There wasn''t a third chance for this poor soul.


    Just as the tentacles were retracting to the Creature''s body though, Jelly hade up from behind the Creature and grabbed its body.


    "Pink¡­run!" Jelly shouted as he tried to use all his strength in his legs and weight to lift the Demon up. However, no matter how hard Jelly tried, he couldn''t budge the strange Creature for some reason.<sub> </sub>


    Shark got up from where he was and noticed that the Creature''s legs had changed, creating these small spikes from its body that had dug into the ground.


    ''This¡­this creature can only be one thing, what they warned us about: a Demon!'' Shark thought as he pulled out two daggers from his belt. ncing to his right, he could see Pink had escaped to the kitchen as he had asked.


    However, he was going to try to take out this Demon that was in front of him.


    "How can I just leave when even Jelly is fighting damn hard!"


    Shark charged forward, but he was toote. The pointed tentacles had dug into the Jelly''s back, instantly piercing him. Then he was lifted in the air and chucked to the bar area, crashing into it and breaking the bottles and more on the very back wall.


    Using the tentacles, the Demon started to lift up chairs and tables, chucking everything it could at Shark, which was making it hard for thetter to fight properly.


    When Shark avoided the chair that had been thrown at a great speed, he could see the Demon had already shed through the bar and had taken out Jelly as well.


    With Fingers and Jelly dead and Pink hopefully having escaped, there was nothing that Shark could do, so he decided to retreat to another room. As he was running behind the stage, a tentacle came out and mmed him right through the door, breaking part of the rubble.


    Shark was still alive at this point and was now in the office, but when looking at the lower half of his body, he noticed it was missing. The Creature hadpletely sliced off.


    "I have to warn them¡­I have to warn anyone thates in here." Using his own blood from the bottom half of his body, he started to write the final message, and a few secondster, the video ended there.


    ¡ª¡ª


    "So¡­what happened?" Kun asked after a gulp upon seeing that Zain had stood up from his position.


    "They ran into a Demon. They were no match and couldn''t even hurt the thing. The good news is though, I''m guessing Pink is alive, or at least she was alive before Shark died." Zain exined.


    "Is there bad news?" Kun asked as it looked like Zain wanted to say something else.


    "Yeah, these Demon''s not only are strong, but it looks like they can disguise themselves as humans as well. Which means¡­this world just got a lot more dangerous."


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 101 Ranked System

    Kun gulped upon hearing Zain''s words.


    "I''m guessing they didn''t tell you that demons could disguise themselves as humans," Zain asked.


    Kun nodded, "They didn''t."


    "It was quite a disgusting thing. The Creature was wearing human skin, but it looked human-like when it came out. If that''s the case, then we need to be more careful with who we interact with from now on. The only information we have is the fact that theye out at night.


    "I wonder if that still applies if the Demon wears human skin." Zainid out his doubts.


    Then he went on to tell Kun everything he witnessed in the footage. Honestly, it was a shame that he couldn''t just show the video to Kun. Either way, he had gotten the gist of the horror and power of a Demon. In the end, there was only one Demon, but everyone was helpless against it.


    Hearing Zain''s words, Kun actually felt less guilty. Even if he was there, he knew that it wouldn''t have made a difference, but he wondered if the same could be said for Zain. After seeing Zain defeat the Titan and Cobra''s gang, thetter seemed like the type of person who could get out of any situation.


    On the other hand, there was something else that also surprised Zain. After watching the video clip and fully digesting the brain, a notification appeared from the System.


    [+ 1 Intelligence]


    [Intelligence: 1>>2]


    [Your mind grows stronger]


    [Your body functionality will deteriorate at a slower rate.]


    Gaining a stat without levelling up was a big bonus, and after seeing the strength of the Demon, he knew that he would need more stats.


    ''The video is saved in the System, and I can ess it at any time. That''s good, not that I think I will need it.'' Zain thought. ''With the Demon, now there are two powerful enemies who can most likely defeat me with ease. I need to get stronger as fast as I can so when I go against any of them, I can at least hold my ground.''


    Thinking about the Stage 2 creature that he had lost to in the training room and now the Demon, Zain''s fingers were twitching slightly, and he started to think. What would he do if this was a game-like situation?


    After getting an idea, he headed out of the room and went towards Fingers. Kun also got up and quickly followed him out of the room to see him use the dagger once again to crack open another Skull.


    "Is there really any point in doing that?" Kun asked. "I mean, I doubt whatever you saw from Shark''s memories will be different from theirs."


    "You never know," Zain replied as he chewed on it.


    The truth was, he was hoping for another stat increase by consuming the brain and increasing the intelligence stat. Once he finished consuming the brain, Fingers memories appeared in front of him on a screen and got saved in the System, just like Shark''s.


    He quickly went through them, but there was nothing new apart from realising that Fingers was a creepy guy who liked to touch things and would frequently nce at Pink from time to time.


    However, unlike before, Zain didn''t receive any stat points for consuming the brain.


    ''Is it only certain members of the Reborn group? Or is it more like an Exp thing? But if that was the case, the System would have shown something. It was for Sword Mastery and my Exp, so it wouldn''t make sense for the rest.''


    There was one more brain to eat, and that was Jelly''s. If eating Fingers'' brain did nothing, then Zain didn''t have high hopes for eating Jelly''s brain, but perhaps there was someone that could benefit from it.


    After taking out Jelly''s brain, he went on to hand it out to Skittle, who grabbed it. He wasn''t sure if this would work but just said the words "Eat!" out loud, and thankfully it seemed like Skittle knew what to do with it.


    After Skittle finished eating the brain, Zain heard the familiar notification sound in his ears, and a System screen appeared in front of him.<sub> </sub>


    [A member of your Horde has increased a stat]


    [+ 1 Intelligence]


    ''It words. But it looks like if Skittle eats the brain, I won''t have ess to the footage in the System, but I already knew what happened, and Jelly just stands by the door all day. Hopefully, this means Skittle will start to fight a bit better and will begin to gain his own intelligence back.''


    Zain realised that the Undead horde that he had so far created didn''t just followmands that the System allowed it to. When hemunicated with Cobra, thetter could move freely and understood things much more easilypared to Skittle.


    He could only assume this was because of the intelligence stat.


    "Why did you do that?" Kun asked.


    "I.. I''m trying to train them." Zain answered and said nothing else as he continued to check out the rest of his stats on the screen. While in the middle of doing this, a light bulb moment came for Kun.


    "Wait a second, didn''t you say Pink ran into the Kitchen?¡­ Then she should still be there!" Kun almost shouted, and without waiting for a response, he ran towards the Kitchen.


    Zain followed behind him. Pink was probably the person he liked the second most out of the Reborn group. She seemed like she could easily be influenced to do things, and that''s what Zain needed: people that could follow his direction and orders.


    Upon entering the Kitchen, Kun went up to the barricaded emergency exit, but there were no signs of damage. Zain had checked the area but didn''t really think much, but now after seeing the footage from Shark, he figured she had to be in here.


    That''s when Kun stopped and could see that part of the vent had been ripped off.


    "Did¡­she go through there?" Kun guessed.


    Due to it being a kitchen, the venttion system actually passed through the floor of the Club and went up to the Club''s roof. From the apartment building, Zain hadn''t seen anything, but it was hard to see the entire terrace.


    Kun looked like he was ready to climb up when he heard a bang. Looking to his right, he saw Zain had just kicked the back door breaking the barrier.


    "I think this is a bit easier, and there is no need for us to be careful anymore. I n to leave this ce. Of course, I''ll give you the option again. You can either stay here or leave with me." Zain said, walking through the barrier towards adder that led to the rooftop.


    "Arghh, of course, I''m going to stay with you, you crazy Bast*rd!" Kuns said, running after Zain.


    While climbing thedder, a new quest appeared.


    [You have received a Main Quest]


    [Form your own group]


    [Reward: Reward cards will be unlocked]


    [Additional Reward: A golden card will be received]


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 102 A New Group

    Before climbing up thedder at the side of the building, Zain put a small knife in between his teeth, ready to use it at any moment and time. Therge sword was still stuck in his backpack, but it was going to be hard to ess it while climbing thedder.


    Just below him was Kun, while Skittle and Cobra stayed at the bottom of thedder.


    ''I¡­ I''m worried about what we will see up here.'' Kun muttered.


    Finally reaching the top, Zain gave Kun a hand and pulled thetter up.


    "So it looks like you are going to follow me this time?"


    "What choice do I have?" Kun rolled his eyes, "Shark and I decided to follow that Reborn Organisation, and look what happened to us. I don''t want to die twice."


    Zain smiled, and soon both of them began to look around. It didn''t take them long for them to find the person they were looking for. Covered in arge ck sheet of some sort, behind a storage room on the roof, there was Pink. Her eyes were wide open, and she was spacing out while staring at the sky.


    "Pink! Thank god you''re here!" Kun shouted while running over. He knelt down and quickly went in front of her to see that she was alright.


    "Kun.." She softly spoke as she looked at him, and a bit of life seemed to return to her eyes. "Kun, you''re back, you''re finally back!"


    Immediately, she hugged Kun and held him tightly as her whole body trembled. Thest night had been hell for her, and the fact that she could only helplessly run away upon seeing her friends get killed only made it worse. She had cried all throughout the night, and upon seeing Kun, she felt a lump in her throat but had no tears to cry.


    "Kun¡­ they''re all dead, our whole group, they all died because of me!" She started to sob and make a few strange noises out of her mouth.


    "I know you''re upset, but it would be best if you kept quiet for now."


    Pink had heard someone speak, but it wasn''t Kun. At the moment, she hadn''t realised who else was around, and that''s when she noticed Zain standing at the back.


    Wiping away her face, she tried to get rid of the tears, but there was nothing.


    "Kun, you found him," Pink asked.


    "Well, we kind of just encountered each other in the Club¡­but Pink, I''m d you''re okay. We saw everything, well, I mean, Zain saw everything, but he exined to me what happened. It''s not your fault.


    "You didn''t even know about the Demons, and to be honest, none of us did. Our organisation never told us that they could turn into Humans like that. No one is to me for the situation that we are currently in. And now that we''re together, we have to move on¡­together."


    Unlike Kun, who originally had med Zain for leaving them in the first ce, it was clear that Pink had med herself for this whole ordeal. After a while, when it looked like she was starting to feel better, she finally felt easier to speak.


    "How, how did you guys know I was up here?¡­I was so scared of everything that was happening. I was worried that even if I ran in the middle of the night that¡­that Demon would get me. So I thought it was best to just hide instead." Pink asked.


    "As I said, Zain was able to see everything that had happened. He can extract memories from the dead. So he saw what had happened. Can you tell us anything else tho''? Did you see or hear anything after the Demon left?"


    Pink shook her head while thinking about Zain. Thetter was certainly a strange Reborn Zombie, and it was clear he was differentpared to the rest of them.


    After a few moments, Pink replied, "Like I said, I stayed put. I heard the door m but just stayed here, not even taking a peek at what could have happened or returned back to the Club. Honestly, I didn''t even notice when the night turned into day."


    After a while, Kun pulled up Pink, and then both of them walked around the terrace to see if they could spot anything. They talked for a little bit about what had urred down there when he had met with Zain, and she exined in detail what she had seen as well, which had matched up with what Zain had told him.


    Eventually, the two returned, and there was a firm look on Pink''s face.<sub> </sub>


    "Zain¡­I want to follow you. Kun and I have talked, and we both want to follow you. We know you are the lone wolf type, and we will give you the space when you need to do your own thing. We will take care of ourselves.


    "But you should know that a group is better for survival in these circumstances. If a simr situation happens again, like what happenedst night, then you will need all of us. But I have also realised the mistake that we made with Shark. There was no trust within the group, and everything was one way.


    "So, before we ask to join you, or before you would even be willing to ept us, we both want to know, who are you? Who do you work for, and what are you?"


    Originally Zain was nning to head out alone, but what Pink was suggesting was the best of both worlds. As long as he was the leader, he could say when he wanted to go alone and when he wanted these guys to follow him.


    On top of that, there was the Quest that he had just received, and the new rewards had piqued his interest. It was just how he would spin this. Before answering, there was a smile on his face.


    "I have always been honest with you all from day one," Zain replied. "I don''t know why I am different from the rest of you. I really am just a university student. If we encounter one of my teachers in the future, they will confirm it.


    "I was someone who always thought what life would be like if it ended up like this, so I always prepared for it, but that''s it. There is nothing to hide on my end. You can believe me, or you don''t, but why do you think I have been walking around with my Zombie friend this whole time.? We were good friends and attended ss together.


    "Does Skittle really look like an agent to you guys?"


    Looking at each other, they thought Zain had a point.


    "This world has changed a lot," Zain exined. "And I think all of us have changed from what we were before. So I have a suggestion as well. Let''s create a new group in this world and survive this thing.


    "All five of us." Zain smiled, including Skittle and Cobra in the group as well.


    cing his hand out, Zain was waiting for the two of them. The first one was Kun, who ced his hand on top of Zain''s. Then, Pink did the same.


    "What is the name of this group?" Pink asked.


    "How about ''Level up''?" Zain asked.


    "That''s¡­a really strange name," Kun said with a raised eyebrow.


    "It''s what we are going to need to do. To survive this world, we must rise and level up above everyone else and all our enemies."


    In the end, they all lifted their hands in the air and agreed despite the strange name.


    [Questplete]


    [You have created the ''Level Up'' Group]


    [You will now receive your rewards]


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 103 Collect Them All

    At first, when receiving the Quest, Zain didn''t think much of it. Cards didn''t sound all that impressive, but he thought there had to be a reason behind it. Everything that the System had done so far was always for one reason or another.


    This was why, when he saw the opportunity, he decided to take it, even though he wasn''t sure if it would be worth it or not.


    [You have received the following rewards]


    [System has now been updated to show Quest rewards in the form of cards]


    [Different levels of quests will each have a different level of reward card]


    [You have received a gold card forpleting the Quest!]


    Zain thought that the reward cards might be something simr to his weapon skills tree, but that didn''t seem to be the case. Instead, they were more of a system change or updated to such a thing.


    Based on what the System had stated, Zain quickly opened it up and looked at the ongoing quests he currently had.


    [Quest: Form your Horde]


    [Reward: 10 exp]


    [Reward: Silver card]


    [Quest: Find a live meteorite]


    [Reward: tinum Card]


    [Quest: Find out the Zombie''s Objective]


    [Reward: Diamond Card]


    Before, when checking out the System, there were no such rewards or reward cards to be obtained forpleting the Quest, but now he could see them.


    ''If the card follows the rankings of other games that I have yed, then it''s based on difficulty-based quests: Bronze, Silver, Gold, tinum and Diamond, with there possibly being more as well.'' Zain thought. ''The higher the card, the better the reward that I will receive. But what this also means is the Quest should be more difficult to achieve.


    ''When looking at this, that meteorite Quest isn''t easy to achieve at all, while I thought it would be a walk in the park. As for the first Quest I received, although it is technically easy, it''s not quite so since I won''t turn back from my morals. Although if I met more people like Cobra and his gang, it would be a different story.''


    However, perhaps there were some quests that weren''t too difficult that would give him high rewards, such as creating the group, although he assumed these would be rare. Changing to his items tab, Zain could currently see two items inside.


    [Return Key x1]


    [Golden Card x1]


    ''Let''s see what a golden card can even do.'' Zain thought as he selected the item.


    [Cards can be used to give random rewards. The level of the rewards will depend on the card]


    ''Then couldn''t you just give me the reward, and we could avoid all of this? Who created this gaming system.''<sub> </sub>


    Selecting the card, Zain decided to ept and see what the card would give him. Most likely, there were a number of different rewards in the Gold Card section, and the card itself would just be a random reward.


    [You have received Tame Skill (Level 1) Skill.]


    [The Tame Skill allows the user to tame Zombies into their own Horde.]


    [To use the Tame Skill, the user must bite a zombie for five seconds. Chance to tame will be dependent on the level of the Skill and the Zombie it is used on]


    ''That''s certainly interesting,'' Zain thought. ''This means I no longer have to look for Humans to turn them. I can just pick a zombie off the street. However, I still don''t know if a zombie in my Horde were to die, will I permanently lose that spot?


    ''If so, it will be advantageous to have zombies of great power. Someone like Cobra. It makes me wonder if I could also tame one of the Stage 2 Zombies. Taming something like a Titan would be good to have as well.''


    Since the Skill also had a level by its name, Zain assumed that he could level this Skill up the more he used it. So far, from the first reward card he had been given, he was impressed, but it was a gold card in the first ce. Silver and Bronze cards would definitely have much lesscklustre rewards.


    Just as he was musing over these thoughts, another system prompt appeared in front of him.


    [New Quest received]


    [Quest: Use the Tame Skill to tame one zombie into your Horde]


    [Reward: Bronze card]


    The System was just getting better by the second for Zain. There were so many things that he wanted to try out, including the weapon skills that he wanted to improve.


    "Zain, are you okay?" Pink''s voice pulled him out of his thoughts, "You have been staring off into space for a while now. Is there anything you''re waiting for?"


    Looking at the System and the current Quests he had, Zain decided on what to do next.


    "Both of you need to get stronger, and it''s the same for me as well," Zain stated. "Kun, I already taught you how to absorb the crystals. I want you to teach Pink the same. All of us are going to level up to the next stage. That way, if a demones and attacks us, they will be in for a nice surprise."


    Hearing his words, Kun and Pink nodded. The Demon was very powerful, and they didn''t have any doubts about that. Hence, getting stronger was the utmost priority for them.


    Both of them wanted enough strength to hold the ground on their own the next time they encountered the Demon.


    On the other hand, Zain was thinking about something else.


    ''If this is what a Gold Card gives me, I wonder what a Diamond Card''s reward will be.''


    Day by day, Zain''s gaming instincts were kicking in. He wanted to collect them all, rise to the top and be the best of the best.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 104 Tame

    A few minutester, the group stepped out of the club and walked through the city streets once again. Even though the number of zombies was still huge, the density of zombies was now far less, and their numbers had decreased a lot whenpared to the state of the city a few days back.


    "Shouldn''t there be more zombies now? Do you guys have any idea what could be the reason behind this? Where are those zombies?" All three of them noticed the strangeness, and Pink asked the other two.


    "I don''t know. Maybe it''s those demons. Maybe they are the ones killing the zombies?" Kun shrugged.


    "It could also be that they are moving," Zain chipped in, "The zombies seem to be moving from ce to ce, but that could be because ofck of food as well. As in, there are not enough humans.


    "We will have the same problem as well."


    Before leaving, everyone had eaten the remainder of the flesh and the Brains to get their whole body function back to the peak. Unlike Shark, who was making them wait until thest moment, Zain knew that it affected their performance, and he needed the other two to be at their best.


    If they were to run into humans this time around, well, it was safe to treat nearly everyone like an enemy.


    For now, the group was headed back to Chinatown. Zain wanted to have a look at the weapons shop they hade across and hoped that there was a good strap and sheath to put his sword in.


    While on the way there, though, they were frequently stopping.


    "The one in the blue shirt." Zain pointed at a zombie with his sword.


    "I guess it''s my turn," Pink said as she ran forward and immediately jumped in the air, kicking the blue shirt zombie right in the head.


    It was a strong hit, causing the zombie''s head to crash against the ground, but it hadn''t finished it off as it was attempting to get up. Before it could, though, she lifted up her leg and mmed her heel into the zombie''s head, crushing its skull and killing it instantly.


    Straight after, she used the knife she had on her that was strapped around her leg and stabbed the zombie. After a few seconds, she took out a crystal from the zombie''s corpse.


    "Good, it''s Skittle and Cobra''s turn next," Zain said.


    While walking toward Chinatown, Zain was using his system to find every mutated zombie they could. Then, they would each take out the Zombies in turns. And whoever killed the zombie would keep the crystal.


    After every hour, the group would find a ce to rest, and that would also be the time when they would absorb the crystals. Pink was a quick learner, just like Kun, and the two of them said they could feel their bodies getting stronger.


    So far from observing them, there were no drastic changes to their bodies, but they had only been consuming the small basic crystals. Still, Zain was also trying to get both Skittle and Cobra to level up as well.


    If they took out the zombie together, they would both gain exp, including Zain. However, Zain would also fight a few mutated Zombies on his own, as he was trying to also get his Sword Mastery skill up.


    Regardless of how much he used his sword though, it was going up incredibly slow for each zombie he had killed. He imagined it was because it took little effort and skill to kill them.


    While walking through one of the streets, a mutated Zombie ran towards him, and in a single strike, he cut the zombie''s head clean off.


    The others stared in amazement upon seeing this skill. They were now getting used to Zain doing new things and things that they could never do or understand. It was to the point where they stopped asking questions.


    ''To think that these Mutated Zombies had given me a bit of trouble at some point.'' Zain smirked.


    [Horde member ''Skittle'' has levelled up!]<sub> </sub>


    [A skill point has been granted]


    Ever since Skittle had gained the intelligence stat, his fighting ability had improved a little. He would no longer just charge in with his arms held forward. He was now throwing punches and would also try to avoid certain attacks.


    Still, there was a lot of improvement to be made, and it didn''t seem like he could use weapons as Cobra could. For now, Zain was sticking to his original n.


    [Strength: 1>>2]


    He would continue to increase Skittle''s strength. There was something quite humorous about giving such a small guy the power of a titan, and someday he felt like he would be able to use that to his advantage.


    The group had walked through half of Chinatown and soon reached the store where Kun and Shark had found weaponsst time. Suddenly, Pink had a bad feeling about this, and she hoped this would be thest time they would have toe here.


    In the weapons room, there was more than the Pink and Zain had expected. It made them wonder what exactly this ce was used for. It didn''t take long for Zain to find the strap that he could attack around his belt, which let him put the sword on his side rather than his back.


    He then was able to ce a bag on his back for supplies that they possibly needed. On top of that, he also put a knife belt around his waist, with numerous small knives and daggers he could use in case of emergency.


    As for Pink, she had found a particr pair of boots. They had a trigger that allowed one to kick and activate a small de toe out from the heel and toe sole. Since Pink had been a taekwondo student for a while, she was good with her legs, and this was the perfect weapon for her.


    As for Kun, he grabbed some ninja stars, as well as two long curved des that looked simr to sickles. ording to him, he was an all-rounder in the first ce.


    After gathering everything, they were free to leave the room, but just then, something scurried across the floor.


    "ARGHH! There''s something on my leg!" Kun shouted as he kicked and screamed.


    When they turned around to look at it, the thing turned out to be a dog. It mainly had brown fur with a white pattern around its neck.


    "Is that...a corgi?" Zain asked, not helping or rmed by the situation.


    Eventually, the dog was knocked off by Kun as he kicked it with its other foot. It went off in the distance but quickly got up again, and now they had a good look at it.


    Its mouth waspletely red with blood, and its eyes were hollowed out in a grey colour. This wasn''t just a normal dog but a zombie dog.


    [You have discovered a Mutated Zombie dog]


    Kun was so angry he was ready to kill the little thing because the bite made several holes through his ankle, but before he could do anything, Zain stopped him.


    "Move, this Zombie dog is mine." Zain smiled.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 105 A New Member

    If the strange virus was causing humans to act like zombies, then there was also a chance that it could affect the animals as well. Not always were diseases and viruses transferable from different species of animals, but it seemed like it was the case here.


    "They say a dog is a man''s best friend, so it''s only right that you join our group!" Zain stated, as he put his sword away. In this fight and match up, he didn''t want to hurt his newpanion.


    Watching all of this go on, Kun was a bit annoyed, as he held his ankle.


    "Damn that dog, now I''m going to have to eat more flesh for this to heal!"


    The other Reborn Zombies were able to heal wounds, broken bones and such just like Zain. The only difference was that they needed to consume flesh each time and allow for their bodies to naturally heal somewhat like a human.


    The healing process was a lot faster than for a human, it would take an hour or so at most to heal even a broken arm, but it was nothingpared to Zain''s healing speed, and he didn''t need to eat flesh unless his energy hadpletely been depleted.


    "GRRR!!" The dog parted its lips, baring its teeth towards Zain, but he wasn''t afraid, instead he was just focused.


    "Come at me!"  Zain shouted.


    Immediately, the dog started running forward at a fast speed, then when it was close enough, Zain moved to the side, rolling out of the way. However, the dog was quick to turn, and leapt up again, straight towards Zain.


    ''This is going to be harder than I thought without hurting it. Guess there is only one thing I can do.''


    When seeing the dog open up its mouth, rather than hitting the dog, or avoiding the bite once again. Zain shoved his forearm right into the dog''s mouth. It mped down hard and blood started to pour down Zain''s forearm.


    The others watching flinched, but they quickly realized that Zain felt no pain, it was just their memories of what it would have felt like were embedded into their heads.


    "Why did Zain even let the dog bite him? I mean, I know he won''t turn but was there a need to take a bite?" Pink asked, confused, and the next scene had confused them even more.


    Lifting the dog up in the air, it hung onto Zain''s arm, and then opening his own mouth he bit down on the dog''s front paws.


    "What the!" Kun said in shock. "Zain have you gone mad? Or are you just retaliating by biting the dog back."


    [Tame skill has been activated]


    It was none of those things, it was simply the requirement that was needed for him toplete his tame. Although ording to the system there was always a chance it wouldn''t work out.


    Once again, there was a strange feeling in Zain''s teeth. It was almost as if when he bit into something, he could feel something flowing out from his teeth. A strange sensation that is somewhat simr to one urinating themselves.


    The dog''s grip started to loosen, but Zain was still waiting for something, and that''s when the familiar noise dinged in his head.


    [You have sessfully Tamed ''Mutated Zombie Dog'']


    [Would you like to keep the name ''Mutated Zombie Dog?'']


    Its grip had loosened and the dog fell to the ground, it then sat there as it looked up at Zain with itsrge eyes.


    "Are you seeing what I''m seeing?" Pink asked.


    "I think¡­ Zain just tamed that dog, is that what he meant earlier?" Kun replied.


    When they were with Shark, the others had tried a few things themselves or at least Shark had. He had stated that once someone was a Zombie, they were unable to eat their flesh to gain energy from it and it had no effect on them if they were to bite them.


    However, it was clear Zain knew quite a few things.<sub> </sub>


    Bending down, Zain looked at the Corgi Dog''s face. He could see that it had quite therge white mane making it look somewhat like a lion, but all over its face, it was covered in a red colour. It was clear it was blood and had dyed a lot of the dog''s fur.


    "Let''s call you Jam." Zain said.


    [''Mutated Zombie dog'' has been renamed to ''Jam'']


    [Jam has sessfully been tamed and is now a member of your horde]


    [3/15]


    [Quest update]


    [Form your horde]


    [3/10]


    [Reward: Silver Card]


    It was as Zain thought, taming zombies was also a way to bring them into his horde. Which meant there was no need to go around looking for humans. However, at the moment, arger group would attract more attention.


    ''Maybe there is something that I can do¡­ I just need to see first.''


    [Horde Member Jam]


    [Level 1]


    [Strength: 1]


    [Agility: 1]


    [Vitality: 1]


    [Intelligence: 2]


    ''Jam has better stats than I imagined.'' Zian thought. ''It''s not quite at the level of a super human, but it certainly is decent and with its intelligence, it should be able to follow quiteplicated orders then.''


    When looking at Skittle, it was strange to think that his starting stats were worse then this dog. It was either due to the fact the dog was special, or just Skittle was incredibly weak.


    "Alright everyone, wee the newest member to the group, Jam." Zain introduced, and showed that it could do a few tricks.


    Saying words like, sit, stay, roll over, jump, and bite. All of thesemands seemed to work, but when Kun tried them, the dog just sat there doing nothing. It seemed only Zain was the one that was able to control the dog.


    "What do we do now?" Kun asked. "Now that we got our weapons sorted."


    "You guys, continue hunting for the crystals and clear the streets, as for me, I got toplete something I was given a long time ago. I''m going to form my horde." Zain smiled.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 106 Finish What I Started

    The group had left Chinatown since there was ack of mutated zombies there and headed into the outskirts of the City until they found a residential area. An area where thend is predominantly used for housing apartment buildings, as opposed to industrial andmercial areas.


    These ces usually also have arge open central area with a park, a kindergarten and a few basic utility shops here and there. The idea of the housing here was to build amunity where everyone could live.


    Since this ce was away from the main streets, there were fewer zombies, but there was still plenty for them to fight against.


    At the moment, Pink and Kun were just fighting against any zombies they came across. Unfortunately, Zain seemed to be busy doing his own thing, so he was unable to tell them which were mutated zombies and which zombies were just regr ones.


    Once in a while, they woulde across a crystal, and while one absorbed the power of the crystal, the other would protect the former. Just in case anything was to take ce. Still, they couldn''t help but try to figure out what Zain was doing.


    Zain was still looking for Mutated Zombies, but instead of killing them, he was trying to Tame them, just like he had done with Jam. Eventually, he did find one, and after twisting its arm and getting Skittle to hold the other, Zain bit down on the zombie''s neck just like he had done with Jam.


    [Taming has failed]


    [You can try again after another hour.]


    ''That''s interesting, so there''s a cooldown on this, and I can try taming it again after one hour. But I don''t want to waste that much time on something like this.'' Zain thought as he ordered all three to get rid of it, giving Zain and every one of them more Exp.


    Continuing this, Zain eventually found another Mutated Zombie and did the same thing. This time the system message was a positive one.


    [You have sessfully tamed a Mutated Zombie]


    [Would you like to give it a name?]


    "Five."


    The reason Zain had called the Zombie five was simple. It was because it was the fifth member of the horde.


    [Mutated Zombie: Five]


    [Level 1]


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 0]


    [Vitality: 0]


    [Intelligence: 0]


    ''That makes me feel a bit better about Skittle since the mutated Zombies seem to start at 0 as well. Meaning regr zombies are pretty much just cannon fodder. Anyway, I need to test something.''


    Making the others follow him, Zain headed into one of the buildings. Upon reaching the entrance on the ground floor, Zain stopped and waited for the others. The other four also stopped upon reaching his side as Zain gave all of them themand to stay.


    After a while, Zain stepped forward and began to run towards the other end of the area. He continued to run, and two to three kilometerster, when he had reached the other side of the apartment area, he ordered them toe towards him. He wanted to observe the time they would take or if they could even receive his order since the distance he had run would easily take about thirty minutes to cover by walking.


    He waited and waited, and the first one to turn up out of them all was Cobra. Behind him was Jam, running with its tongue out, and atst, were Skittle and the mutated Zombie, both of them reached together.


    ''I guess this was as expected. Since Cobra is the fastest out of all of them for him toe first, I was hoping they woulde as a group so they could each protect each other.'' Zain thought. ''The good news is that themands through the system can work no matter how far I am.


    ''However, moreplicatedmands need to bemunicated through words, which they can understand depending on their intelligence. This is good...this can work, but there is just one more thing I need to try.''<sub> </sub>


    Pulling out his sword, Zain shed the Mutated Zombie in front of him. It was a clean strike that cut through the bones and sliced the zombie into two.


    [You have attacked a member of your own horde]


    [''Five'' Has died.]


    [-100 Exp]


    Zain nodded his head at this.


    Killing a Mutated Zombie would do nothing, but if one was a member of his own horde, it would count as friendly fire, so Zain felt it was reasonable for him to lose Exp in the process of this, but there was a bigger reason why he did this.


    He needed to see if the number of his horde would go back down to [4/15]


    The system wasn''t clear, so it was either he could turn up to 15 people or control 15 Zombies at one time.


    If he could only turn 15 people, then Zain needed to be picky about who he decided to turn, and it would be best to create a team of Superhumans. However, if it was thetter, then Zain could create his horde right now andplete his quest.


    At the same time, he could give them all themand to stay in an apartment, calling on them only when he needed them, allowing him to still be discreet with his current group.


    [4/15 Horde Members]


    ''This...is perfect.'' Zain smiled.


    Now, all he had to do was put his n into action.


    On the first floor, Zain emptied an apartment, and every time he turned into a mutated Zombie, Zain brought it into the apartment block to keep all of them in one ce. Slowly, the numbers rose, and he named each of them based on the number they joined the group.


    Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and atst, Zain also managed to tame the tenth zombie.


    [Questplete]


    [Form your horde: 10/10]


    [You have received Silver Card]


    After bringing thest zombie into the apartment, Zain stepped out and opened his system to look at the Silver card.


    ''Now let''s see what I get this time.''


    [Would you like to use the silver card?]


    [Yes] [No]


    *****


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 Chapter 107 Silver Reward

    Zain had received the Tame skill from the gold card and was quite satisfied with it. However, he wasn''t sure what to expect from a Silver Card. In a way, his hopes weren''t too high due to it being a lower-tier card. After taking a deep breath, he bet on his luck and used the Silver Card.


    [You have used the Silver Card]


    [Reward: You have gained 5000 exp]


    At first, Zain thought the reward was quitecklustre, but he soon realised the quest had been pending for a long time, and he should have expected these rewards since he had dyed the quest long enough. If he had finished the quest earlier, such arge amount of EXP would have boosted him a few levels allowing him to get a better head start, still it had done him well now as well.


    [Congrattions! You are now level 6]


    [Level 6]


    [3,513/17,721 exp]


    <o>,m The amount of exp he needed to reach the next level was much a lot more. It had already taken Zain a rtively long time to reach Level 6. However, he knew games worked this way, and as he levels up and gets stronger, he would easily be able to hunt the Stage 2 Zombies without any trouble.</o>


    As for the stat point he gained for levelling up, he already knew where he needed to add the stat.


    [Agility: 0>>1]


    After losing the fight in the strange ce within the dream, Zain knew his speed wascking. Even in this world where he was somewhat of a superhuman, he felt he would be too slow to deal with that Stage 2 Zombie.


    On top of that, he wanted to make his own character quite bnced while those around him would continue to raise their powers in specialised strengths.


    Now that the quest was over, Zain decided to head back to the others to see how they were doing. To his surprise, the other two had pretty much cleared out the area.


    Both Pink and Kun had killed nearly all the zombies in the area, and Zain saw them tired for the first time, but they weren''t resting. Instead, they were wrapping sliced human flesh in stic bags and containers and carrying it around behind them.


    It was as if they had stopped to have a pic in the middle of everything going on. Zain soon reached them, along with Jam, Cobra and Skittle.


    ''There is no need for me to tell them about my zombie horde in the apartment and the fact that I can control them at will. I don''t want to make them rely on me too much, or else they might start cking and dy their evolution. They must get stronger to survive in this world.''


    "You have returned? Are you done with your work? Here, have some food." Kun noticed Zain and offered some meat, handing over a stic tub. Soon, the three of them took a break and started to eat their fill.


    Before, they would look away when eating from each other, but as the days went by, it was bing more of amon thing for them, and they were getting morefortable with eating human flesh next to each other.


    "I was just thinking, maybe what Shark said about the brains wasn''t true? Maybe we can live without them?" Pink said. "There will be plenty of bodies, and if the world gets back to normal, can''t we just live off eating those that have died recently?"<sub> </sub>


    Pink was thinking extremely far into the future, but that was normal because she was thinking of the end, which many people do in this type of situation. They never adjust to the new world nor think that what they have now will be their world forever.


    "He didn''t lie," Zain answered. "We must face the fact that for our survival, we have to get rid of humans no matter what. There''s a chance there are more people like us out there.


    "If that is the case, then think about it, when we are stronger, we feel no pain, we don''t get tired, and we can even continue to grow stronger with each other. So won''t we be a species stronger than humans?


    "Do you think humans will ever be able to ept us the way we are now? No, in the future, it will get worse, and they will attempt to eliminate every single one of us, which is why I want to tell you all something right now for your own survival.


    "Attack before asking questions. That''s how we have to live in this world."


    Zain got up and started to put the stic tubs away in the bag as they were getting ready to move.


    "Then why did you go to that hairdresser?" Pink asked.


    For a second, Zain paused. Before leaving Chinatown, Zain had told them there was one ce that he wished to visit. It was the hairdressers. When he went inside, he searched the ce and went to the back room, but there was no one.


    For a second, both Kun and Pink saw it, but there was a smile. Although Zain always acted as if he was void of all emotion and feeling, that just didn''t seem urate.


    "Where are you looking for your family? Was it someone you knew?" Pink asked.


    Hearing the word family, Zain touched the top of his head and looked down.


    "They were-- "


    But before he could answer, a loud humming noise came from above. Then, looking at the sky through the apartment buildings, they saw a ne, and not just that, the ne was dropping down what looked like care packages.


    [New quest received]


    [Reach the care package before anyone else]


    [Bronze card reward]


    *****


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 Chapter 108 Care Package

    Quickly, Zain exited the apartmentplex area and saw multiple military-style aerones dropping off several care packages in different areas. Not just around the city but also in the suburban areas outside of the city as well.


    ''This means the military hasn''tpletely failed to control this situation. Perhaps the military bases are still safe ces for people to be, regr people at least.'' Zain thought.


    "What is in thoserge crates?" Pink asked.


    "Most likely food, water, supplies, medicine, and¡­weapons," Kun answered. "It''s standard for the military to do this in times of war or when a country is supporting a resistance of some sort, without really showing that they are supporting the group.


    "Essentially, by doing this, they are trying to give the people hope, but it also means you''re on your own."


    When Kun spoke these words, one could tell it was something he had experienced personally, and it wasn''t just a guess. Kun had seen it all after working in an organisation that had close ties with the military.


    "Should we go towards it then? Maybe there will be something that we can use." Pink suggested.


    Both Kun and Zain turned, giving her a disappointing look.


    "Don''t forget what we are," Zain stated. "The only thing that could be useful to us is probably the weapons. Still, giving normal people weapons might just send this whole ce into even bigger chaos. I need some time to decide on this."


    There was one thing that interested Zain, and it was the quest. However, the award didn''t seem too great. A Bronze Card was probably something not much, even worth less than 5000 Exp, so if he were to lose out on this one, it wouldn''t really be a loss for him. However, that also meant giving humans the advantage of getting their hands on guns.


    "I''m guessing both of you will now be busy absorbing the crystal you gathered, right? I think it''s best if you finish that before we move any further, I''ll get Cobra and Skittle to keep youpany. I won''t be far."


    Agreeing to this, the two of them went into a convenience store across the street to absorb the crystals. While they were busy, Zain stayed on the street just outside, ordering Jam to continue attacking the mutated zombies, with him finishing them off, but rather than using his sword, Zain was throwing a small knife at them towards their heads.


    After killing a few mutated Zombies, two things happened.


    [Dagger Mastery is now level 1]


    [Now you have unlocked three different weapons mastery, Dagger, Sword and Handgun mastery.]


    [Undead Mutated Zombie dog ''Jam'' is now level 2]


    [Stat point has been used on Intelligence]


    ? [Intelligence: 2>>3]


    Jam''s intelligence was already high, and Zian wanted to see what exactly one could do with high intelligence. He was hoping that he could give Jamplex orders and maybe even use him to track down things.<sub> </sub>


    Dogs had a better sense of smellpared to humans. However, after turning into a zombie, the sense of smell for humans would increase greatly, so he imagined that something simr must have happened with Jam as well, and the heightened sense of smell would make it so they would never have to worry about finding humans again.


    Back inside the shop, Zain checked up on the two who were sitting down. Intense energy wasing off from both Kun and Pink''s bodies, to the point where it looked like steam wasing out from their heads.


    Their skin colour had also changed slightly, making it look more like Zian''s. Although it was pale, it wasn''t to the point where one would instantly think they were undead.


    "This is amazing," Pink said, taking a deep breath. "I can''t believe it. These crystals really do make us feel stronger, I can tell."


    Standing up, Pink started to do some kicks in the air. They were fast and swift kicks. One could tell that these were from a trained person, and as she continued to kick the air, she soon noticed the shop wall in front of her.


    Spinning on her leg, she threw her other leg and performed a spinning back kick. As it hit the wall, the whole shop shook upon impact, and arge crack formed on the wall.


    ''They''ve both evolved¡­that has to be it.'' Zain thought. ''But is there a specific path they have chosen? Is it like me, if it was the case, I would guess that Pink was the Agro-type evolution path, but what about Kun?''


    "Did you see that? I think if I kick a Titan with this, it would definitely fall over." Pink excitedly said. "Kun, what about you? It looks like you have changed as well."


    Kun was clenching and unclenching his fist a few times. Finally, he stood up and threw out a punch, but it looked the same as it always did, and it didn''t feel any different either.


    "I''m not sure...if I have changed. I mean, I can feel that the crystals worked on me, that''s for sure, but I''m not a natural fighter like you. Will getting stronger make much of a difference?"


    "It''s okay," Zain stated. "Remember, everything is for survival, so even if your body is a little bit stronger than before, it will be for the best. Anyway, with the way the two of you look right now, all we need is some clothes to cover you up a bit."


    Zain pointed to Kun''s mouth and Pink''s legs, where both had wounds.


    "Wait, why do you want to cover us up?" Kun asked.


    "Because we''ll be going to those care packages where there will be people. We need the element of surprise on our side."


    Just as Zain finished those words, they suddenly heard distant gunshots.


    All three of them frowned upon hearing the noise. They knew that if humans got their hands on the weapons, it might get much harder.


    ****


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 Chapter 109 Groups Rise

    It was natural for humans to gather up and take hold in certain ces, and in thest few days, one group had done quite well to protect itself. On one of the buildings on the main streets, there were giant pirs and sandbags put together to create barriers.


    Leading up to the ce was a giant staircase giving the group advantage of height over whatever was toe their way. The ce that they had chosen for their protection was a museum.


    It was arge area with plenty of stages, a gift shop, and even a restaurant inside. Although many wouldn''t think of it as the best ce to create a base, it had worked well for them. As for those who were inside, their numbers were in the hundreds.


    Walking in the main hall were two males, one of them was a blonde man with arge scar going across his chin and had cut part of his lip. He was wearing a suit, and as he walked through the hallway, people would wave and greet him as he passed by.


    "Thank you for all your help, Ryan!"


    "Thank you for taking us in, Ryan!"


    The people continued to praise the man who was known as Ryan Cook and was the leader at the current base of operations. Before the zombie apocalypse, he was the head of one of the biggest electronicpanies in the city.


    When speaking to others, he had this natural presence around him, and on top of that, he also had multiple resources at his disposal. Ryan always had this fear that world war three would be around the corner, so he had arge stock of food, among other things.


    Due to this information, and only Ryan having ess to it, from time to time, he and a strong force could go to one of these storage facilities and bring back food and more for the others to enjoy.


    It was a safety for the others that were here. He was providing for them, so they were happy toply and oblige to his orders.


    Standing by his side was a man with sunsses covering his eyes, a gun strapped around his waist and was wearing a S.W.A.T. uniform.


    "Give me a report on the current situation, Brandon," Ryan asked, while he continued to wave and eventually sat down on a round table in the canteen eating area.


    "We have kept an eye on several dangerous groups that are in the area," Bradon stated. "In the city alone, there are around four. Although there are more groups than that, we are unable to determine whether they are willing to cooperate or not."


    The current group at the base they were inprised of a S.W.A.T. team, a few police force officers and general people from the public with all sorts of different skills. Brandon was a squad leader who was close friends with the Mayor, which was why the two had managed toe out of the situation and join forces together.


    One had resources, great charisma and a face that people trusted, while the other would be the one to do all the dirty work behind the scenes, and Ryan was well aware that Brandon was a man who was capable of doing that.


    "We have made a note of the care packages sent by the military and have sent groups out to collect them. However, in order to keep this ce safe as well from attack, we have had to keep the main of our attack force here. So I''m not sure how they will fare with the task." Brandon exined.<sub> </sub>


    "Most of the ones you sent out are strong university students, correct? Well, they have the basic weapons on them. All should be okay unless they haven''t been sent to collect the care packages in other areas." Ryan replied.


    "On other news, one of the dangerous groups that we were following seems to have beenpletely annihted."


    Hearing this, Ryan raised an interested eyebrow. Groups had set up fake territory lines and would attack anyone who hade close with a warning or so, but there had yet to be aplete fight between any of these groups.


    Of course, these were just the ones they knew about.


    "Our scouts around Chinatown have reported that the Cobra gang has suddenly gone missing, and many of the gang members'' dead bodies have been found."


    Although the Cobra gang didn''t have arge number of people, Ryan knew that they were fierce. There were two reasons for not doing anything. For one, if they attacked thetter, they would lose quite a lot of their fighters in the process, and the second reason they would be seen as an aggressive group themselves.


    Maybe the others that had been silent so far would step in.


    "What has the worlde to? What and where is the military doing, or do they just want us to kill each other?" Ryanmented but wasn''t expecting an answer. There was a time when he believed that money was power and that he would know everything, but he knew nothing of this, nothing of what was going on right now, and it was the same for his friend Brandon.


    The S.W.A.T. team wasn''t aware of anything that was going on, and there was nomunication to them from the military or the government. It was as if thetter were telling everyone that they were on their own, and that''s why they needed to act on their own.


    "I think it might be best if you follow not too far behind the care packages closest to Chinatown. There could be a strong group of people that we don''t know about yet."


    Brandon smiled hearing this.


    "Maybe... I''ll get the chance to see something special again."


    *****


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 Chapter 110 No Pull Back

    Zain and his group had decided to move out, but while on the way, Zain was cautious with his followers. Although the small dog was easy to hide and perhaps easy for him to order to run away, the same couldn''t be said for Cobra and Skittle.


    This was why Zain would tell them to stay still every once in a while, walking ahead, and they were also walking on the streets where there were more Zombies rather than on the roads. The unique Zombie didn''t want to be too far away from his friends; he didn''t want to lose them, but it was the safest way to act.


    The group had decided to head to the closest care package that they had seen, but when they arrived, they were in for quite a shock. From a distance, they could see that the lid of it was already open.


    Getting closer, Pink carefully ced her foot as she tipped her head inside.


    "It''s empty. It looks like someone got here before us." Pink turned around, telling the rest of them.


    "You think, or did you just happen to miss the pile of dead bodies that you walked past," Kun replied.


    While Kun went to check on therge crate, Zain went down to inspect the bodies, trying to figure out who had exactly done this because, from a nce, it didn''t seem like a work of Zombies or a demon.


    The wounds were mostly blunt, and the bodies had yet to be eaten as well by those that were nearby. In fact, there were quite a few Zombies killed in the area as well.


    "My guess is that two groups had gone after the car package and ended up like this," Zain stated. "It had to be recent as well because some of the zombies are onlying over now. Let''s take what we can from these bodies and move forward."


    The others knew what Zain meant. A few of them seemed to have their brains intact since they were killed by humans.


    "I have some bad news for you as well. It looks like you were right. Judging by these boxes, the military also supplied the others with weapons as well." Kun remarked, which spelt trouble.


    After gathering whatever they found useful, the group decided to continue to move forward to the next location. When the care packages hadnded, the smoke had also lit up from them in the sky, informing everyone of where they were.


    They could see that there was one not too far away as well.


    "So why are we travelling by foot?" Pink asked.


    "Noise," Zain replied. "The noise will attract more Zombies to the area. Unless a group is confident that they can get somewhere, hold the ce for a few minutes and get out, it is unlikely anyone will use a vehicle in these built-up areas. Besides, it''s easier for us to movepared to them."


    "What makes you say that?" Pink asked.


    "Maybe you haven''t noticed it, but if you were a human, all of these Zombies that are just wandering about in the street would be going after them. They have to be careful in their movement, whereas we can go directly to the ce."


    As expected, it didn''t take long for Quinn and his group to reach the area of the car package, and once again, Cobra and Skittle were left behind.


    "GRRRR!" Jam started to crawl as they got closer.<sub> </sub>


    "I guess you really can smell them before we can." Zain smiled.


    When Zain''s group was around a hundred metres from the car package on the other side, they could see a group of around eight people with makeshift weapons in their hands. Zain and the others had covered up their markings with clothes so as not to attract too much attention, but the moment the human group noticed their presence, they started to run toward the care package.


    "There are others here!" A female shouted to the other group, and they were all running as fast as they could.


    p This was a reaction that Zain wasn''t expecting, and the other group was much closer to the crates. Even with Zain running forward, the others had slid the lid of the case and immediately picked out what looked like a machine gun.</anda>


    "Shoot them, shoot!" One of the men shouted.


    The female pulled out the gun and went to aim it right toward the others, but when she did, she failed to see that Zain was now right by her side. The sword was in his hand and had been swung down.


    The strength and speed had cut right through her hands, causing her to drop the gun, but before it fell to the ground, Zain had caught the gun and ced the knife right in front of the other female that had helped with the weapon.


    "Ahhh! my hands!" The woman screamed as blood continued to pour from her hands.


    The others that had yet to reach the care package and were only a few metres away had attempted toe forward swinging their weapons. However, Zain easily whacked the crowbars away just with the sword.


    Then with another, he stabbed them right through the thigh, causing them to fall to the ground. To them, they felt like they stood no chance, as Zain was too strong, too fast and was like a master swordsman.


    Seeing him take out three of them so quickly, the others stopped their attack.


    "Hey, why are you attacking us?" The man asked. "We''re all human here. Why don''t we share the content of the care package together."


    "Share?" Zain replied back. "You were nning to take the guns out and kill me. Do you think I''m an idiot?"


    The woman behind him with his hands continued to scream in pain, and she soon felt a sword being ced right on her shoulder.


    "Shut up, or I will shut you up for good."


    Seeing this scene, Pink and Kun realised that Zain was dead serious about this... he had already decided that he wasn''t on the side of humans and would do anything to ensure his own survival.


    *****


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 Chapter 111 Life Is Not A Game

    "What are you doing!" The other woman who was knelt down by the side of her friend said. There was sweat running down her face and her heart was thumping loudly because when looking into the eyes of Zain, she felt like she was somewhat looking at a madman.


    "If we don''t get her treated, then she will die from blood loss!" Ripping part of her shirt she was starting to wrap and tie them around her friend''s wounds, but honestly, she didn''t know how much that was going to help. "Don''t worry when we go back to the base, the doctor will look after you, I''ll do whatever I can to make him treat you."


    The woman continued to sob as she looked at her hands, the hands she could see on the floor, but seeing them again, the shock of everything was starting to make her squeal even more. The build up in her cries was getting worse, and eventually, she started to scream once more.


    "AHHHH!" The women screamed, and Zain could see that it was attracting unwanted attention from those nearby.


    "AHHH!'' the woman continued to scream, but eventually, itpletely stopped. "Kuk...ku."


    Sound was attempting toe out from her throat, but nothing was working, and she could feel a slight warm trickleing down her neck. When attempting to move her head there was a slight dull pain and secondster she could see the tip of the sword right through her neck. She didn''tst long after that as her vision went ck and her head fell down slightly.


    Pulling out the sword, Zain flicked it, throwing the blood off, and held it firmly in his hand.


    "What are you doing, you killed her!" The woman shouted and went to go toward Zain in anger, who quickly pointed the sword toward her now. She had stopped with the tip now just touching her neck.


    "You attempted to shoot us, and then you failed to listen when I said to shut her up and now you are doing the same thing," Zain exined. "If you make noise, then we will all die! Don''t any of you understand that after living in this new world for so long?"


    At the moment, Zain was thinking back to his games. It was crucial to not make a lot of noise, especially in the city where they were surrounded by enemies which is why he said his next phrase.


    "If this was a game you would all be dead," Zain stated.


    In the game world, Zain would have no problems killing a human for him to survive, because in the games he liked to y, death meant restarting from the ground up. However, he knew the stakes were even higher here.


    All of sudden, Zain''s sword had been kicked out the side and it was so powerful that it made his whole arm move. When turning his head to look at who had done such a thing, he realized that it was Pink of all people.


    "There were other ways you could have dealt with the situation!" Pink said with her face scrunched up, her heart hurting. "You keep talking like this, saying it''s a game but this isn''t a game, the people you are hurting... you are hurting in real life. They have family, they have people that care for them."


    Once again, Zain felt a slight pain in his head, and pulled the sword down, holding the back of his head. It was then that the group took the chance to run away.


    "We will remember you!" The men shouted as they led the others away. "The doctor won''t be happy with this!"


    After that, the other group left, leaving the supplies behind.


    "I''m... sorry Zain," Pink said. "I know you mean well for us, I just."<sub> </sub>


    Thinking about the situation kept making Pink think about her family. Her mother and father were still out there somewhere at least she hoped, and it was likely they were with one of these groups of people.


    Zain for a second looked at the dead body on the floor.


    "If she had gotten that gun then she would have shot us all, and it''s been a long time since I''ve had to think about family."


    Not wasting resources, Zain proceeded to do the dirty work.  With the life he had just taken, he needed their brain and flesh and proceeded to put them in stic tubs. They would only stay fresh for a few days without a fridge or freezer lowering their effectiveness, but it was still better than having nothing.


    At the same time, Kun and Pink decided to go through the box of supplies that had been dropped. There were several tins, packs of food, and dry food as well as other things. They had decided to only take a small amount since it wasn''t what they needed and leave it for the others who would find the crate.


    There was an automatic machine gun, as well as two handguns inside. Pink had kept the two handguns while Kun took the automatic machine gun and aimed it carefully... he looked to know how to use the gun quite well.


    "It was part of our training or did you forget I was an agent, but like Zain says, it''s best we don''t use these things unless we really have to," Kun replied.


    On top of that, there were first aid supplies as well as plenty of medicine of all sorts inside the crate as well. They would be taking all of this for now. Not for themselves but Kun believed that it maye in handy in the future, at least for trading.


    While packing the supplies up, Pink looked at Zain behind Kun.


    "Do you think Zain is okay?" Pink asked. "I mean, I understand why he did the things he did, and it makes sense, but he seems to be detached from the world."


    "That''s why we need him." Kun replied. "I''ve seen the look in his eyes, and in the military in the Reborn group, there were guys that I saw that were just like him. You should just be happy that he''s on our side. Could you imagine if he was human?"


    An image appeared in Pink''s head, of Zain fighting Zombies, chasing after them being ruthless not giving them a single chance, and if Zain had met the Reborn group as a human, he would have done everything in his power to get rid of them.


    "I guess you''re right." Pinkughed. "But I think I might have noticed a trigger of some sort to stop him."


    Kun didn''t ask further about this, because he had noticed it as well. Whenever anyone mentioned his past, or mentioned the world family, it seemed like Zain''s mood had reacted differently. Zain had the right to keep his past to himself, but it made Kun wonder.


    If Zain was telling the truth about him being a student, then what life did he live to be able to be this way, to be able to make decisions that most would hesitate with at the snap of his fingers?


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 112 Shoot Them All

    Just then, a few growls were heard from Jam. Zain had told Jam to stay close by but to hide behind some of the destroyed cars while the confrontation was going on, and he was a good mark for when other humans wereing.


    Rather than using the sword, Zain ced it away and pulled out his hand gun instead, pointing it in the direction where Jam was growling towards.


    ''Is it the group we just chased off, have theye with reinforcements?''


    Seven students could be seening toward them, and they were holding onto melee weapons but had nothing else on their body. Most of them looked around Zain''s age but there were a couple of older ones.


    "Hey there''s a person pointing a gun at us, what do we do?" one of them asked as they froze standing in ce.


    "It looks like they got to the care package before us as well." Anotherined.


    "Are we going to be okay?" some of the girls worriedly said.


    "Sorry, we don''t want to fight." A young man with sses at the front said. "We just came to see the care package and collect it, bringing it back together with us. Are you with any group?"


    Seeing how the others had no guns on them, Zain ced his away so they wouldn''t have their guard up so much.


    "We are our own group, the Level Up group." Zain prepaid. "This is everyone."


    The others looked at each other.


    "I see, does that mean you really don''t have a ce to stay, we are a group of around 100. If you want, in return for letting us have some of the supplies you have there, we can bring you back. It would be safer if we were together, would it not?"


    Zain thought about it for a while, these people didn''t seem as aggressive as thest group that hade towards them, and by the sound of it 100 people was quite therge group in this type of situation. It meant that someone capable must be running it, and they must also have the power to make sure order is in ce within their group.


    "At least Zain is a bit calmer this time." Pink let out a breath of relief. "I thought that he might just shoot them all before he even let them speak."


    "Zain is not that crazy," Kun replied. "I think."


    "Zain, I don''t think giving them some supplies from here is a bad idea." Kun replied. "Maybe if we meet them we can ask them some questions, and besides we don''t really need it."


    It was true, the medicine and food was useless to them, only the weapons were of interest, but it meant a lot to the humans.  Someone in charge of arge group like so was most likely to know at least some details that they could piece together.


    There was arge worry for Zain though, and that was the fact that they would be found out. As time went on they would be found. Right now he was weighing the gamble and trying to think what the best situation was.


    "We won''t agree to join your group just yet, but in return for some of the supplies, I ask for two things." Zain asked. "First, we have a meeting with your leader, so we can talk together, and second, we go to another care package that''s in the area, and we get the first pick of what is out of the crate. We will still share it with you."


    Kun was a bit surprised by the request form Zain, because they had no use to go to another care package, even if it was for more weapons, unless Zain just wanted a stronger bargaining position with this new group... he wasn''t sure.<sub> </sub>


    However, Zain''s reasons for going to the crate were a lot more simpler than this. It was because he still had his quest to reach a care package before anyone else. It looked like just getting the items out of the care package wasn''t enough and they needed to get to one first.


    "Can I talk about it with the others first?'' The man with sses asked.


    After getting the nod, he turned around to his group to discuss.


    "Thats unfair, they get first pick at both of the crates. That means they will take all the weapons. We can''te back to the museum empty handed." One of themined.


    "I think it''s less risky with them. They have weapons and guns and we don''t. If there is another group in the area, then they will be able to help us. Besides it looks like they want to meet the leader anyway, so why not just go with them.


    "They are a small group so they can''t just hoard all of the weapons they find, so they will probably pass some onto us anyway."


    Turning around, the leader of the small group, called Dave, pushed his sses up on his nose and nodded.


    "We agree!" Dave said. "It looks like your group isn''t as aggressive as the others, so maybe it will be a nice bridge between us too."


    Although Dave thought it was a bit strange to call three people a group, he didn''t wish to offend the person.


    "Feel free to take what''s left of the crate and we will get a move on straight away."  Zain ordered as he stepped to the side along with the others watching the whole group.


    Dave and his team started to pile up the supplies into the bags they had, and that''s when Dave had spotted something, near the crate on the floor, there was a dead body. The blood looked fresh, but flesh from the body and its head had been carved in.


    ''Did a Zombie do that?''Dave thought, but noticed the marking right through the neck, which caused him to gulp a little. ''Maybe we were a little too hasty.''


    As the group came closer though, two towards the back turned to look at Pink, and suddenly.


    "Sarah! Sarah it really is you!" the voice shouted, and immediately two of them came running right towards Pink.


    As they embraced her in arge hug, she knew straight away who they were.


    "Mum..Dad!" Pink sobbed as she hugged them both tightly.


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 113 The Bronze Card

    Zain''s eyes stood up a little when he heard those words, dad and mum. The headache that he would get hade back once again, and it was worse than before. It hit the back of his head, to the point were his vision started to blur.


    ''Am I going to have another vision again¡­ am I going to go back to that ce, or will it be something else, likest time.'' Zain thought.


    The problem was, why now of all times, in front of all these people when they were just about to go on the move, Skittle and Cobra were still left in hiding on top of that as well. So even if they did move him, or Kun was to carry him, what about them two?


    "She sure looks happy right? I never thought I would see a sight like that." Kun said as he ced his hands on Zain''s shoulder. It was only then that he could feel the other was heavily breathing in deep breaths.


    "Whoa, are you okay?" Kun asked, the breathing started to slow down, and the headache that Zain had went away as well. "Yeah I''m fine, I''m just worried that this is going to cause problems."


    Zain didn''t have to say anymore, because Kun felt the same way. With what Pink was right now, and what her parents were, she couldn''t be herself, and she was unable to stay with them, at least not without hiding her secret which would also risk exposing their secret.


    On top of that, Pink who was still emotional, and was unable to deal with the entire situation, she was the worst person to be put in this type of situation.


    "Let''s just let her enjoy this for now, and hey. Don''t go stabbing them alright, you can just chill out for a second." Kun said. "I would hate for you two to get into a big argument, and if you really want to stab things there are plenty of undead walking around."


    Zain smiled at thement, it was nice to have someone like Kun who could joke to ease the tense situation.


    The group had gathered the leftover supplies and were ready to move again, Dave was leading the way, and also Kun and Zain were by his side. The young student who was leading the group felt safer this way, since the two of them had guns, and he didn''t just in case they ran into something more dangerous.


    Zain had asked Jam to follow them, but to do so by the side and slowly.  Since Jam had a high level of intelligence he could do that with ease as well.


    Meanwhile Pink travelled at the back with her parents, as they caught up on as much as they could. Pink ahd to make up some borate story about how she had survived, iming it was due to the help of Zain and Kun.


    In her stories she was making them out to be quite the warriors. The others nearby could hear Pink''s stories as well and it was making them feel safer. When they looked at the two of them though, they felt like the stories had to be made up, because they couldn''t imagine small people being able to do such things


    "I see, so you met them when you went back to Chinatown to look for us, did you see Jasmine by any chance then." Her mother asked.


    Pink''s lips started to quiver, she was unsure what to say, and the scene repeated in her head, of her on the floor as a zombie being killed over and over.


    "No," Pink replied with a painful smile she had to hide behind to say the next words. "I''m sure she is safe somewhere, just like you guys are."


    ¡ª¡ª


    "So, Zain right, you look quite young? Are you a student as well?" Dave asked.


    "Yeah, I used to go to MT university," Zain replied.


    "What no way, I went there as well. At the camp, there are quite a few survivors there, maybe you will know someone, or maybe someone will know you. I think this is a sign that your group should really join our camp." Dave cheerfully said.


    Zain still wasn''t sure if this person genuinely wanted them to join or to join just because of their weapons. Unlike the others as well, he seemed a bit more unafraid. The other students were cursing under their breath turning their heads at any noise that was made.<sub> </sub>


    From what Zain had learned from Dave so far, several groups had been picked to go out scouting for the care packages that were dropped, and those that had been picked felt like they were the unlucky ones.


    It had been a long time since Zain had talked to someone new, and it wasn''t talking about zombies, so it made him rx a little. However, they had soon reached the crate in front of them.


    It stayed there in the middle of the street, broken cars were scattered on the walkway, with one in front of the crate on its side. The lid was opened and there was no other group in sight.


    "This is great!" One of the female members said.


    Everyone got in closer, and passed the broken cars as they approached the crate. They were now a few meters away, and the female was ready to walk past and push it open.


    "Wait!" Zain shouted at her. "Remember our deal. We get first pick of what is inside."


    The woman wanted toin, but when she saw that Zain had two hand guns on him, she didn''t n to argue, and just folded her arms in disappointment.


    "Why don''t you all just stop right there!" A deep male voice said.


    Turning around, they could see a man with goggles covering his eyes, a scar across his cheek, and worst of all there was an automatic machine gun around his waist. Soon after they heard him, several clicks were heard, and from the shops on the side, and apartment buildings, there were several of them with guns all pointing toward their group.


    "Damn it, it''s a trap! That''s why the box was left untouched." Kunined.


    Due to them travelling with humans they were unable to smell the fact that there were others and there was another thing that they noticed. They had also covered their bodies and clothes with the guts of the dead, blending in their smell even more.


    ''These guys are good, and they have a lot of weapons, they probably collected quite a few care packages already.''


    "Alright listen up, if you want to live, then it would be best if you lis-" The man stopped his speech midway as he noticed something. "You, what are you doing? Do you want to die? I said don''t move!"


    The person who he was talking to, was none other than Zain who had decided to ignore him, and push the top lid of the care package open.


    ''I''m sorry, but I need toplete this quest.''


    [Be the first to reach a care package]


    [You have received a Bronze Card]


    "I don''t think pointing a gun at me is a smart idea," Zain said.


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 114 Trapped

    With Zain being so close to his goal and a reward so close to him, he wasn''t going to let it slip away. Which was why, while the crazy man was doing his monologue, Zain decided to push the crate open thus allowing him toplete his task, and in turn it had allowed him to receive a bronze card.


    "Did you hear me!" The man shouted. "I said don''t move unless you want your brains shot out from your head!"


    Lifting his hands up, Zain slowly turned around and now was looking at all the people that were around them. The group of university students were frightened.  They were shaking and had dropped their weapons on the ground.


    "Everyone just stay calm," Dave said, trying to get a hold of the situation, but Zain could tell his voice was shaky and he truly feared the situation that he was in at the moment.


    ''These people, what do they want? They obviously could have just taken the contents of the care package before we reached here. It looks like this was set up way in advance.'' Zain started to dart his eyeballs around the area.


    There were two people on the second floor of the apartments on either side. One of them holding a handgun, the other what looked like a sniper rifle as well. Which meant they either found the weapons or there are different weapons in each crate.


    Then on the ground floor, there were three on either side with hand guns, hiding in the shops or behind the cars as well. Still, based on the uniform and the way they were holding the guns, they looked somewhat like amateurs.


    ''That sniper rifle probably will have a lot of kickback, he most likely won''t be able to hit his target, but then again there are a lot of people to hit. It will be the same with the handgun. I will be able to move fast enough, but not the rest¡­ What is the best way to solve this?'' Zain thought.


    It went back to figuring out why these people had ambushed them, because if they really wanted their supplies as well, then they could have just killed them and gathered their belongings, unless it was due to them having somewhat of a heart, but Zain felt like it was unlikely based on the leader he was looking at¡­ he had crazy eyes.


    "Alright, so I want everyone to drop their belongings on the floor, and drop their weapons. I see a few of you have guns over there. Please don''t try anything, otherwise, I''ll have to shoot a bullet in your head." The man stated.


    Kun looked at Zain, for confirmation, and so did Pink. The two of them didn''t act straight away, because they were hoping Zain had some n to get out of this. The thing was, guns were still a very dangerous thing for them.


    One shot to the head, and they wouldn''t be getting up again. When they saw Zain take both hand guns and ce them on the floor, the others did the same as well, and eventually Zain had done the same with his sword as well.


    ''Let''s see, while I''m doing this, let''s have a look at that bronze reward shall we.'' Zain thought.


    After epting the Bronze reward, Zain started to smile inwardly. This was more so a blessing than he thought, and he was somewhat happy that he had pushed the crate of that lid.


    ''I can see why this would be ssified as a bronze reward, but to me right now, this is just as good as a gold reward.'' Zain thought.


    "Alright, I''m happy to see that you are all listening to our orders. You guys are loyal little sheep which is what we like to see! The name is War, you should remember if from now on, as the days go past you will all learn to curse the name under your breaths as you follow me back to camp." Opening his mouth, his teeth showed as he smirked. "As you all be loyal ves."


    Zain had predicted that this might be the reason. A wild group like this, with high power of weapons. In this type of world, they would force those to work with them.


    "ves¡­ what do they mean by that?" The girl said.<sub> </sub>


    The men on the side started to lick their lips and cheer, as they looked at the women.


    "Don''t worry pretty darling, I promise I won''t go so rough on you, but I can''t promise what the others at the camp will do!" a man said.


    "As long as you spread your legs. You can live quite afortable life at ours." anothermented.


    The sheer look of horror had set in for the females as they dropped down to the ground and on their knees. They had it so well at the museum and now it had turned to this, just from one simple mission, and who could possibly be here to save them?


    "Alright, everyone take off your clothes, and check for bite marks!" War shouted, "We don''t want anyone turning on us."


    Once again, Kun and Pink looked towards Zain, they would surely be found out now. Once taking off their clothes, it would mean the end for them, and for Pink to do such a thing in front of her parents¡­ how would they look at her, when they found out what she really was.


    However, instead of replying, Zain stood there, with all ten of his fingers spread out, not saying a word. Then he ced one finger down making it 9, then 8.


    ''Is he counting down¡­ does he want us to act?'' Kun wondered. ''Zain I''m not a freaking mind reader, what do you want us to do, when you get to 0!''


    Zain continued to put his fingers down, one by one, until he was down to thest three.


    "3¡­2..1!"


    "ARGHHH!" A man from behind a car screamed at the top of his lungs.


    "I''ve been bit, I''ve been bit!" the man shouted, as he looked down and could see a dog on his leg.


    Soon, the others could hear the sound of growling, and when turning around, they could see a group of zombies running their way.


    "Let the chaos begin," Zain whispered.


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 115 Eliminate The Risk

    A group of zombies had appeared from behind them, but the sight looked quite strange. Because it was a group of seven or so that were running towards them, while the other zombies that were far off in the distance were doing nothing of the sort.


    But they didn''t have time to worry about why this was the case, instead the people began to panic as they saw them, and instead of pointing their guns towards their captives, they moved and pointed them towards the Zombies instead.


    Meanwhile everything that was happening, was exactly how Zain had envisioned it. His original n had stayed the same, but due to the nice Bronze reward card, he had been given a little bit of help.


    He didn''t think the Bronze card would amount to much, especially after the silver card had given him 5000 exp. The reward should have been less than that, but with the situation he was in right now, it was as if the heavens were watching him from above.


    [Bronze card has been used]


    [Reward: Basic System upgrade]


    Zain somewhat knew why this was a bronze card because it didn''t outright help him in any way. It wasn''t a new skill that he could use, nor did it increase his strength in any way. Instead it had given him the ability to locate roughly where all his horde members were.


    A map could now be disyed. It wasn''t detailed and didn''t show where the city was, but did disy the distance between where his horde members were to him in the middle. Each member appeared as a dot.


    As soon as the attackers had arrived, Zain had given the order to his Horde members toe and attack. It was the break he needed, and due to the system, he knew exactly when they would arrive.


    There was something else as well though, due to this upgrade, giving orders from the system to his individual horde members was easy, as he could look at the map and give orders to the ones he wanted to attack¡­ ordering each individual to specifically go to a certain area.


    "Shoot them all and let''s get the F*ck out of here!" War ordered.


    There was a problem though, Jam was strong, he had good stats and was stronger than the average person. The one he had bitten on the leg earlier, after letting go it had leapt up into the air and bit on the man''s neck ripping it out.


    His teammate that was closest, grabbed his gun ready to shoot Jam.


    "If they''re going to make some sound anyway, then this is just what we''re going to have to do!" Zain rolled onto the ground picking up his two hand guns in the process, as he shot several times hitting the man in the shoulder first and the next bullet going through his head.


    At the same time an order was given to Jam to get out of there and head into the alleway to hide for the time being. This was one ally he didn''t want to lose.


    At the same time, War was expecting some support from above, but there wasn''t any fire at all. That was because Cobra had already entered the building and reached the second floor and took out the one with the sniper rifle, the one that would make the most noise.


    As for someone else, they would need a bit more help, so Zain turned to the other side and started firing away. Even though Zain was a good shot, it was hard for him to hit a target so far with such a small opening, but that wasn''t his aim anyway.


    Because a secondter the man was hit, breaking through the window and falling andnding on the ground, killed by the hit and the fall.


    ''Looks like your extra strength has done you well, Skittle.''


    The gunshots were just a distraction. Cobra he knew was fast enough to seed without help but Skittle, there was no way Zain wanted him to be hurt.


    "Now''s our chance, we have to act!" Zain shouted.


    Hearing this, Kun picked up his automatic gun and held it firmly.


    "Everyone down!" Kun shouted.


    Dave, and the others listened to what they were saying and took cover on the ground. The whole thing wasplete chaos, but what they had witnessed was Zain''s amazing skill and the look on his face of no fear as he had acted.


    If they didn''t know better, they would have thought they were in a movie, or at least that he was a trained soldier, it was hard to believe that Zain was just a student.


    Getting behind one of the cars, Kun started to fire towards those in the shop. He did so in short bursts and quite urately as well. Everything that was going on was reminding him of his days when he worked for the reborn group.


    ''Zain¡­ did you n all this, are those zombies that are attacking right now yours? This is beyond what I imagined you could do.'' Kun thought.


    The reason why Kun was thinking this wasn''t because he could do this, it was because Zain had done this. Even if another person had the same set of skills as or talents as Zain had right now, it didn''t mean they could utilize it like this, or pull off something like this either.


    This was the act of someone who was experienced, but how could someone be experienced in warfare like this with zombies.


    Shots were fired out, from War and the other side of the shop. In doing so, two of the Zombies had instantly fallen to the ground as they had been killed. Zain could tell they were dead because the system had given a prompt.


    Although most of the people were bad shots as Zain expected, especially in a panicked situation. War was a different story, he was good, and if Zain didn''t do something, then all his new followers would be dead before they even reached the group.


    There was just one more thing he needed before he could act in a proper way.


    "What are you doing!" Pink''s mother said as she gripped onto Pink''s arm.


    "I have to help, I have to get rid of those guys that are shooting!" Pink replied.


    "But, they are killing the zombies that areing towards us, if you get rid of them then we will all die!" Her father replied.


    "You think they are the bad guys in this situation?" Pink started with a serious look on her face. Right now, even though the zombies were helping them in their current situation, her parents still saw the humans as their protectors. "We would have been made into ves. I''m sorry but I need to do this."<sub> </sub>


    Pink pulled away. She kept low and crouched¡­ kicking the guns that she had put on the floor over to her parents, in case they needed them. No matter what, they were the people that had raised her, looked after her this whole time, so she would protect them, even if they were no longer willing to protect her.


    ''Zain is worried that these guys will start shooting at him the second he goes after War, so I need to do my part as well.''


    When in a good position, Pink sprinted to the shop and kicked the door down with her strength, snapping it off its hinges. For a second the person closest turned around, but before he could act, a kick had been delivered right to his head.


    The other person had turned and went to fire a shot toward Pink, but slowly she could see it, see where the bullet was going, and moving to the side she had avoided the shot. It wasn''t that the bullet was too slow, but the user was unable to predict where Pink would be next.


    While in the shop, which looked like a type of restaurant, Pink kicked a chair that went flying and, in doing so, it had hit the gun out of his hand. Before he could recover, Pink was already in the air, and delivered a kick straight to his head.


    Dave''s group, who had kept low to the ground, could hear that the shooting was lessening, and had seen what Pink had done. She was fearless, and extremely skillful in a type of martial arts, it looked like.


    While at the same time, Kun had dealt with the other side professionally, moving from cover to cover and having the perfect timing when shooting back.


    ''Three people¡­ were able to take out nearly a whole group with weapons, just like that. Who are these people, what is this group?'' Dave thought gulping, and thankful that they didn''t attempt to take them on.


    War had turned around to look at the chaos, he had killed one more Zombie of Zain''s but what was starting to happen due to the gun fire, was more zombies wereing toward them due to the noise that was being created.


    So even though War had killed perhaps around 20 or so zombies, most of them were just the regr types. Knowing this, Zain had finally ordered his Zombies to go hide along with Jam, making it so four of them were still left alive.


    "You useless b*stards!" War screamed, and pointed his gun now to the people. "Before I get out of here, I''m taking you all to hell!"


    "You stop F*cking shooting!" Zain said, as he shot a single bullet.


    War had seen this and moved slightly, but he was too slow to act causing the bullet to hit his shoulder.


    [Handgun mastery is now level 3]


    Zain wasn''t nning to level up his handgun mastery any time soon, it had just turned out that way.


    "Pink, Kun, take care of the zombies that areing towards us, but stop using your guns!"


    There were still a number of Zombies that were heading to the area, but hopefully if they dealt with the ones close, then the people would be okay, and the others would stoping due to the no noise.


    "The rest of you¡­ I suggest you pick your weapons up off the ground and get to work as well." Zain said, putting his gun away and now holding onto his sword.


    He could see that War was now hiding behind a car, waiting to shoot back, but at the same time from the other side of the car, zombies wereing towards him.


    ''This damn kid is trouble. Who is he!'' War thought.


    The second he went to lift his head to shoot, a ng was heard, but it wasn''t a bullet, it was due to Zain having thrown a knife at the car. The fear of what it could be had caused War to stay under cover.


    He wasn''t thinking straight, if he was, he could have easily been able to tell that it wasn''t the sound of a bullet. Another ng was heard, and soon a loud crash came, as Zain stood on top of the car.


    Zain immediately kicked the man in the head, and dropped down, holding onto his gun. Zain had dropped the sword and then proceeded to knee the guy right in the gut.


    Spit came out of his mouth and his eyes were bulging.


    ''I feel like I''ve been hit by a bulldozer! I can''t win¡­ I need to get out of here.''


    As War thought this, he could see that the strange person had opened his mouth wide, and had bit down right on his arm, ripping through the clothing that he had on.


    "Arghh¡­ you bit me!" War shouted.


    After a few seconds, Zain stopped biting and held onto both of War''s arms, as he smiled.


    "You seem to be quite skillful with guns and you got rid of some of my Horde, so I could do with a recement."


    It was at that moment, as War could feel something changing in his body, he understood. It was unbelievable, but now it made sense. The only way for this all to happen¡­ the Zombie horde that attacked, the fearlessness in his eyes, and the extreme strength.


    "You''re a Zo¡­" His voice trailed off, as War had been turned.


    It was a tough battle, but it looked like they were experiencing the tail end of it, or at least that was what Zain had thought. Because suddenly on his system, he could see that four of his Horde members had disappeared just like that, and a loud bang hade from the alleyway.


    ''They''re dead¡­ what was that?''


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 116 Level The Group

    All of the Zombies that Zain had in his possession were mutated Zombies. If they were to go up against an average human there was a fifty-fifty chance of them winning out of the fight. They were stronger than an average human but still had next to no brains.


    So a skilled fighter or one with experience would still be able to take one down. However, Zain had ced all four of his remaining horde down one of the alleyways nearby in case there was the need for them again.


    The whole group was together, making him wonder just what was able to take out all four of them. It was a shame really because now it meant Zain would have to go through the whole taming process again.


    The saving grace was the fact that Jam, Skittle, Corba, and now War were all okay. The main cast of his horde.


    As Zain turned to have a look at what wasing around the corner, he had a somewhat bad feeling as he heard several heavy thumps that sounded like the footsteps of an elephant. When seeing what had turned around the corner, it appeared that his guess was right.


    "That''s¡­ that''s one of thoserge zombies that attacked the base!" Dave shouted out. "We have to¡­ we have to get out of here."


    The others were in agreement and didn''t need to be told twice. From time to time, the base would be under attack from zombies such as this, and they had all seen how much firepower and people were needed to deal with such a thing. Without the base''s help they could never kill such a thing.


    As they all began to run though, they noticed that their new allies hadn''te with them.


    "Pink, what are you doing, let''s get out of here and head back to the base!" her mother shouted. "They will help deal with this thing."


    It was interesting to hear that the base had enough firepower to deal with a Titan, making him want to see it even more.


    [New Quest received]


    [Defeat the Titan using the power of the Level Up Group (Do not get involved)]


    [Reward: Silver card]


    It made sense now how something like the Titan had killed Zain''s horde. If they were just standing idle, a single hit from such a thing would have crushed them all. Still, Zain wasn''t worried because he had defeated one before.


    That was when he was on his own, with no help from Skittle, Cobra, and wasn''t the same level as he was now. On top of that, he now had the sword mastery as well. It was almost as if the system knew it would be too easy for him, which was why it had given him such a task.


    "It''s good that you two stayed." Zain said. "You guys have been absorbing crystals and getting stronger, so it''s time to see just how strong you''ve gotten, take out the Titan, and try not to use any guns."


    Both Kun and Pink looked at each other¡­ before they would have never dreamed of doing such a thing, but for some reason after the events that they had just experienced, there was a new confidence that was growing in both of them.


    "It''s best if you guys get out of here so they can focus." Zain said without turning his head.


    Dave wanted to stay, he wanted to help out but didn''t know how he could, and since the others had left, they needed someone to help them, so he decided to run off with them in the end.


    Looking at the Titan, Zain was wondering if using Cobra or Skittle would count as help, it would be interesting to see how much strength stats Skittle would need to be able to match a Titan, but just for the sake of the reward card Zain wouldn''t risk it.<sub> </sub>


    Besides if they looked like they were in some sort of trouble, then he could always get involved and just lose the quest.


    ¡ª¡ª


    As Dave and the rest of his group ran down the streets, back in the direction of the museum, they soon ran out of breath, and started to take in a breather. Pink''s mother and father wanted to turn back, but the father reassured his wife that Pink was a strong person who knew what she was doing. They had seen how she had dealt with those in the group of people.


    "The supplies!" One of the females shouted. "We left the supplies back there¡­"


    When being ambushed they had taken off the supplies and left them on the ground after seeing the Titan. They were all too afraid, too young, and it was their first trip out without supervision from the attack force of the museum.


    "I''m d to see you are all alive." A voice said walking down.


    Turning their heads they could see a man wearing sunsses, a full swat uniform with a submachine gun around him, as well as tworge daggers attached to his belt.


    "Brandon!" They all shouted, and Dave immediately rushed over to him.


    "Brandon you have to help. We left the supplies back there, and these three guys¡­ they helped us, they saved our lives and are now facing off against one of thoserge Zombies that attacked the base!"


    Hearing this, Brandon''s heart started to thump. He knew exactly how dangerous those Zombies were. He had lost two of his precious men to them as well.


    "They stayed back to fight." Brandon said thinking about what to do. "I know you want to help your saviours but¡­ I would have to go back to the base and ask for more help."


    Dave clenched his hand, feeling useless, because he knew by the time they went back to the base, and came back it was most likely that those three would be dead.


    "I think¡­ with you they can do it. They''re strong." Dave argued.


    ¡ª¡ª


    After around 10 minutes of running back together as a group, Brandon had turned the corner entering the street that they were on, but it seemed quiet. When reaching the area, Brandon could see a dead Titan on the ground and three people surrounding it.


    "Oh, who''s this?" Zain asked.


    [Silver Reward card received]


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 117 Spread The Word

    Brandon was at a loss for words as he looked at the three in front of him, and there were several reasons for it. For one, the fact that they had been able to take out a Titan themselves. On the way here there was no sound of gunshots. Which meant they either had taken the thing out at an incredible speed, or they hadn''t used weapons at all.


    Judging by the blood on their clothes and the female''s legs, it looked like it was thetter. Even for Brandon, who was a former swat team member, with several other trained men by his side had to use a number of weapons and coordinated focused attacks to take out such a thing.


    Then, there was the fact that they all looked extremely young. University students just like Dave and the majority of his group, there was also a lone adult with him but he didn''t look like much either. None of them looked like fighters, nor had the bodies of one, so just what had happened?


    "It looks like you all came back." Zain said, as he motioned for Kun to hide the crystal that they had just extracted from the Titan. The two had yet to choose which one of them would use it, and Zain didn''t have time to im the Silver reward card yet either.


    In all honesty, Zain wasn''t expecting the others toe back... he thought they would have run from fear, and luckily Zain didn''t have to use Cobra or Skittle either, otherwise them being there would be a problem. The new addition War had been sent away as well into one of the apartments nearby. This way they were all safe especially if another Stage 2 zombie appeared likest time as well.


    "I guess you wanted your supplies right? Don''t worry, I will still keep our side of the deal, you guys are free to take what supplies you wish."


    Hearing this, Brandon was wondering what Zain was talking about, because he was unaware of the deal that had been made, or the situation the group were in beforehand. He had just rushed over here after hearing Dave''s plea.


    Dave gave a quick low down of what had urred, and how they hade to meet Zain and his group. It was an interesting tale, and even more so now Brandon was interested in these guys.


    "Thank you for looking after this group, we are in debt to you." Brandon said as he put out a hand for a shake.


    Zain didn''t hesitate and shook it firmly as well. The man seemed respectable and it was clear he was different from the others.


    "Honestly, it''s a shame that we live in a world where we have to send people out to gather supplies, but we are low on attack power, and most of the men at the base have to look after the rest. I was sent out just in case things would... happen, just like this.


    "Honestly, I don''t doubt that if you weren''t there, that any of these would have survived such a thing. So thank you again."


    "Hey, do you really think you should be saying that in front of us!" Dave joked as heined.


    Zain and his group went through the box of goods. They had mainly taken ammunition for their weapons but didn''t take any of the other weapons. There was only so much that they could carry in the first ce.


    Honestly, there was no need for Zain and the others to take anything else from the care package, they had already gotten what they needed from thest one, but just so things didn''t look suspicious, they took some food as well.


    After that, it was time for the others to pack the rest of the things from the care package up. While doing so, Brandon kept taking nces at Zain.


    ''I wonder... should we invite someone like that back with us. If everything that has happened is true, then these people could be very dangerous, but at the same time they saved Dave and the others. This could be the power that we need in our group.


    ''If only I could contact Ryan and ask for his opinion.''


    While thinking this, Brandon saw that Pink was talking to her parents. He could hear the conversations between the two of them slightly.


    "What''s going on with them?" Brandon asked.


    "Ah, it seems that they are rted. What a coincidence to meet up in a ce like this." Dave replied.<sub> </sub>


    Now, Brandon had found his coteral if anything was to go wrong.


    After gathering everything, Brandon walked up to Zain.


    "I''ll be honest, I would like for you three toe back with us. If there is anyone else in your group they cane back as well. Our group is doing well, we treat each other well, and we could really do with people like you. You have already helped us enough by leaving these weapons and much of the supplies with us, I can tell you have a good heart."


    The words ''good heart'' rang in Zain''s head, because he didn''t think it was true at all. The whole time, he was just thinking how useful Brandon and his group could be to him in this situation. The problem was, if they were to join the group, then Skittle and the others would have to be kept outside nearby.


    It wouldn''t be too much of a problem, but was still something to think about, and of course there was always the worry of getting caught, about them finding out who they were.


    "Before that, I want to ask, do you know anything about the Reborn Group?" Zain asked.


    There was a pause while Brandon was thinking.


    "The Reborn group, I can''t say I have, but our leader Ryan is a well connected man. Enough to know someone like me. So maybe he knows something."


    Thinking about it for a while, Zain currently had no leads, and he wanted to wait a little before attempting the higher reward quests as he believed they would be more difficult.


    "Alright, our group wille along for now. We won''t be joining but I would like to meet your leader before making a decision." Zain answered.


    It was an expected reply, and Brandon nodded epting the request.


    [New Quest received]


    [Spread the name of the ''Level Up Group'']


    [Reward: Gold card]


    ''Spread the name? How far and wide does it want me to spread the name of our group? Well, no better time than now to get started.''


    "Oh by the way, this is the whole group, this is all we have, and we are known as the Level Up Group." Zain said, which was random and seemed out of nowhere, but the smirk still managed to put a smile on Brandon''s face.


    "I think you and our leader will get along just fine."


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 118 The Doctor (Part 1)

    Care packages had been distributed to every part of the city. The government believed that this was where most survivors would be and, at the same time, the areas where the Zombies were concentrated the most.


    <o>,m However, something like this had never happened before, and the military was believed to have been stretched incredibly thin, which was why a solution was suggested, to arm the local people with weapons and give them a fighting chance to survive.</o>


    To the cities, they were unable to reach or help. They had dropped more care packagespared to the rest. What they didn''t expect was that after just two weeks, humanity and society wouldpletely copsepared to what it was, turning into awless zone with everyone doing whatever they could to survive.


    And one of the groups had been quite unsessful so far. They had a member of their team killed right in front of them. Their hands were chopped off, and they were also stabbed right through the neck.


    The woman was unable to get over the scene, and it was vividly shing in her head. It wasn''t just her though, the whole group was demoralised after experiencing their first care package, and unknown to them, they had taken these feelings into their second one.


    When the group reached another care package, there was another group in front of them. After what happenedst time, they were frightened and scared, and in the end, the girl known as Nay, the one that had recently lost her friend to a red-haired crazy swordsman, acted rashly.


    As soon as she had pulled a gun out of the care package, she attempted to kill the other group''s members. Even though they had agreed to split the rewards, she ended up firing a few shots and had done well in killing them by surprise, but one of them had a knife and, in ast-ditch effort, used it to stab one of the men in the group before being shot to death.


    Because of this, with the supplies they had managed to get, they had decided to rush back to their base. The man held tight onto his stomach in great pain.


    "This is all your fault, Nay!" one of the men shouted. "Because of you, Chris has been seriously hurt!"


    "I already said I''m sorry!" Nay retorted back. "And we had no clue what the other group was going to do. What if they were like thatst person and suddenly turned on us? In the end, they''re the ones that are dead, and we are alive. Only Sky was the one that got hurt out of all this."


    The others didn''t have the same thoughts as her, and she could tell from the look in their eyes of the others that they were all ming her for this.


    "Fine, I will speak to Dr Ricky¡­I will do whatever it takes to get him to treat Chris. Are you all happy now?"


    Hearing this, they no longer looked at Nay but instead continued to track forward.


    ''Why am I getting the me for all this? I wasn''t the one who stabbed Sky. I wasn''t the one that dropped the care packages or sent us all out to get them!'' Nay clenched her jaw in frustration.


    Eventually, the group reached their base, which was surprisingly a medium-sized hospital. It wasn''t a general hospital but a private hospital of a dermatologist who specialises in Skin treatments. It was also one of the reasons why they hadn''t suffered as much as the other hospitals when all the mess started, and as well as due to Dr Ricky''s quick thinking, who was the leader of the current group.<sub> </sub>


    Each one of them hesitated before walking in, but after a few groans from Sky and seeing the pale look on his face, they had to go inside. By the door, there were tworge baskets, one that would be used for the hospital''sundry. There were also somewhat armed people standing on the outside of the door.


    Nearly no words were spoken as they dropped their bags inside before entering the hospital. This included all of the supplies that they had. After going through the entrance, they continued forward down a hallway and entered the reception waiting area of the hospital.


    While walking around, once again, they came across some people with weapons on them. When heading to the reception, they handed all their weapons to the person behind the desk, the receptionist of the group.


    "Tell Dr Ricky that we need his help immediately!" One of the men shouted.


    "I will book you in for an appointment once you have filled in these forms and contact him straight away." The receptionist said her hands were shaky as she went to reach the phone, and she was doing her best to keep up the way she was currently acting.


    The group was beyond frustrated but knew there was nothing they could do. As they ced the Sky down, they went to fill in the forms as quickly as possible and handed them back. Arguing would only waste more time.


    ''That damn, crazy Doctor, what is wrong with him? This world has gone to crap, and he''s still roleying like this is a real hospital¡­but what choice do we have if we want Sky to live, we have to follow his stupid rules just like everyone else!''


    The phone rang a few times, and eventually, the other end answered.


    "Yes..yes¡­the group has returned¡­.One of them is missing. It says they died, and another is injured¡­yes..okay."


    The phone call ended there.


    "The doctor is free to see you now. Please head up to the fourth floor, and he will be waiting for you."


    The entire group turned towards the double doors, and each one of them gulped as they were about to meet with the doctor once again, something they would never look forward to.


    ****


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 Chapter 119 The Doctor (Part 2)

    A group of around fifty stayed at the hospital. It was quite arge group for the area, but they weren''t a threatening group. In fact, there had been some cases where other nearby groups had approached the one known as the Doctor and asked him for help.


    There would be times when injuries would ur, or there would be those that got incredibly sick and needed treatment; however, there weren''t many left in the world who knew how to treat wounds and attend to the sick.


    When the attack began, the hospitals were rammed with patients, and at first, whatever was being passed on by these zombies had a dyed effect on humans. It would take a while for them to activate, and it was also the reason why the hospitals were some of the most overrun ces, filled with zombies.


    This meant that most of the doctors and nurses that were working in the hospitals at the time were killed or turned. Even most of the doctors who were having an off day were asked toe in on a busy day, and they, too, had been dealt a bad hand.


    However, even though this was the case, it was strange howcking the city was of those with medical knowledge, and the popr opinion amongst the groups was that the military or police force was rounding up those with medical knowledge and using them to try and find a cure for this thing.


    In the end, what this meant though was that Ricky, the Doctor, had be a well-known figure in the nearby groups, and if someone asked him to treat them, then they better have something in return for them.


    This was how the group were able to get supplies of weapons and more, and it was why there were those that worked for the Doctor and chose to stay with him. Some felt like it was their best bet to stay in a group with a doctor because they could be treated if anything happened.


    The only thing was, only those that actually stayed at the base knew how strange and weird the rules were in the group, and no one outside of the hospital knew why they themselves feared the Doctor that they worked for.


    After putting Sky on a hospital bed, the group then started to wheel their friend through the doors. Soon, they reached the director''s office. Pushing the double door down once again, they walked into arge office space.


    There was a singlerge desk with a chair at the end, and the side was filled with countless books and awards. The back of the office also was made fully of ss, allowing one to look outside at the front of the hospital and out to the street in the distance.


    There was a car park and entranceway to the hospital where ambnces would pull up, so the hospital wasn''t directly on the street.


    "Please, you have to help. Sky has been stabbed, the knife was pulled out, and because of that, it won''t stop bleeding. You can do something, right?" the man requested.


    Slowly getting up from his seat, the man was wearing a white robe. He looked to be in his fifties with grey hair here and there and a small white beard. On top of that, he had square-shaped ck frame sses. This man was Ricky, the Doctor.


    As he got up, he walked towards the group and took a nce at the injured man.


    "I heard you did well. You received the items from the care package. Each of you has proved your point.


    "I would like to hear more about what exactly happened at one point, but I see we have another matter to take care of."


    Walking up, the Doctor inspected the wound even more. He lifted up the shirt so carefully as not to directly touch the wound.<sub> </sub>


    "I have conducted my evolution. With my skills, he will be able to live, but you all know the rules here. With the treatment, there will be a price."


    Everyone''s face sank when they heard these words, and they looked to the ground as if to avoid eye contact with Ricky, and this was what they were dreading. A certain person, in particr, was shaking, but eventually, she spoke out.


    "I¡­I will do whatever you wish in order for treatment." Nay proposed.


    The Doctor looked Nay up and down, she was a young woman in her twenties, and she had a good figure. She didn''t have the face to be a model though, that was for sure, and it was a bit bruised up from the encounters she had been in before.


    "Very well. I will proceed with the treatment for now, and the rest of you can leave. As for you, Nay, you can stay in my office, and I will collect treatment from youter."


    Pushing the bed with Sky on it, the doctor was going to get to work. The others felt guilty, but with everything done, all they could do was leave the ce and leave it all to Nay.


    In a way, they were thankful that they weren''t the ones paying the price because they had no clue what they would have to even offer the Doctor.


    ¡ª¡ª


    An hour or soter, outside the hospital building, two people arrived at the entrance. The guards on the outside could see this but saw them as no threat, as there was a tired woman holding onto what looked like a teenage boy.


    "Please, is there a doctor inside?!" the woman asked. "I need help, he''s had a fever for a while now, and he keeps getting hotter; his body is burning up. We need help."


    The two looked at each other and nodded towards the other for one of them to head inside.


    "Just wait here for a moment." The man said.


    While waiting, the woman was anxious and looked at the teenager.


    ''You have helped me so many times, I promise I will be here for you, I will help you as well. So please, Cody, pull through, and I know you can get through this!''


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 120 The Museum

    Zain had agreed to travel with the others, and unlike thest group, no one in the group was too curious to see if there were any wounds on their body. Instead, they simply just asked if they had any.


    To be honest, although it was favorable for their situation, Zain would speak to the leader and felt like it was best to force a check on whoever they brought into their group.


    At the end of the day, when life or death is on the line, people would lie about these things. Being so trustworthy in a world like this wouldn''t get one far, but it did make Zain want to meet this interesting leader even more.


    What type of person was he to lead such arge group, and how was such a person able to survive so long?


    They soon reached the Museum, and it was in the same state as they had left it in. There were sandbags on top of therge staircase, and behind them were people guarding the building with weapons. Observing from outside alone, Zain noticed at least ten of them with weapons on them.


    ''These are different from thest group. That time, I could tell, maybe it was their first time holding a weapon, but these guys, they have either been trained pretty well in this short time or knew how to use weapons beforehand.''


    After passing all the guards and Brandon giving a bit of a nod to one of them, the double doors began to open, and they entered the main hallway of the Museum. Once again, he noticed that there were sandbag barricades even in the hallways as well, and there were more people with weapons.


    It was set up in a way that would dy whatever walked inside without them putting all of the forces in one ce.


    "It''s important to protect this ce. That''s why I was sent out to try and look after this scout team. The rest were to stay behind."


    Going through the hallway, they finally reached the first main exhibit area, and arge model of a tyrannosaurus rex was ced there. It was a huge, fake bone model of the creature, with several other different things scattered around the side.


    It looked like this was where most of the people were staying for the time being. As there were clothes, sheets, and sleeping bags all ced inside of the room, and along with that were all of the civilians inside as well.


    "Everyone, you must have been tired. You are free to rest up. Please remember to give your reports as well." Brandon ordered the group that had returned with him.


    After saying thanks to the saviors, each of them went off, including Pink''s parents, to join the others, and immediately, the people began to ask them questions about what they had been through, the state of the outside world, and what they had witnessed outside.


    The group wasn''t shy at all and began to tell the tales of how they had narrowly escaped the clutches of death. First, they revealed the state they were in, and finally, they talked about the new group that had saved them, the Level Up group, and their disy of skills.


    "I will need to speak to Ryan first, and we should be able to meet in around thirty minutes to an hour. I hope that''s all okay, and in the meantime, I will have Dave show you around the entire ce.


    Before leaving, Brandon had pulled Dave in and whispered in his ear.


    "Treat them with extreme courtesy, and make them feel so wee that they never want to leave this ce."


    Dave was the lead student of the group from before, so Zain didn''t mind since the young student seemed to be an amiable person. After Brandon left, Dave gave the three a tour. While they were walking around, Zain was looking out to check if there was anyone he knew.


    Dave told them that there were quite a few students who had arrived and were from the same university. Among the civilians, there were a few faces that Zain did find familiar, but none of them was from his sses, so he doubted they would know him or anything about him.


    "And this is our canteen!" Dave said with a smile as they walked into another hall. "Food is already being rationed in this ce, so everyone is asked toe here and eat at a certain time of the day. Since you''re our special guests because you helped bring back that food from the care package, I''m sure Brandon won''t mind if I let you guys grab something to eat here first."


    There were a few people who hung around in the canteen. Even though they weren''t eating due to the tables and chairs, often they would juste here to y cards or just chat with each other, and they had overheard this as well.


    "Dave, I think it might be best that you wait before doing that." An older gentleman said. He had a skinny status, and as he came up from his seat, around four other older gentlemen walked with haste and bare belly and stood in front of the two. They didn''t look like the kindest bunch.


    "This food was gathered all with our own hard work. Our very own blood was split to gather that food, and you want to give it away to some neers?" The man asked.<sub> </sub>


    Dave looked a bit nervous because, of all things, he didn''t want to start a fight, and on top of that, the way they were acting wasn''t exactly weing. There was a high chance that Zain wouldn''t join this group after meeting the leader and getting what he wanted.


    So Dave had figured that Brandon wanted them to stay.


    "You don''t understand, Roy. These guys saved the scout team. We would have died if it wasn''t for them, and they had even brought back a lot of food from the care packages for us." Dave exined.


    "Just these three? And are you talking about the care packages that were sent from the government to help all of us that didn''t give us diddly squat?" Roy, the old man replied.


    Although no one said anything out loud, it seemed like a lot of those in the canteen agreed with what Roy was saying. This was typical to happen in a group. Judging from their reaction, it was unlikely that they had new people joining them for a while.


    Since this had been the group dynamic with everyone''s roles during that time, they had grown close together and were now territorial over any new person that was to join.


    "It''s okay." Zain sighed. "We don''t need to eat anyway, and none of us is hungry. Let''s just continue on with the tour,"


    Zain was the first one to start walking.


    Seeing this, Roy thought that they had managed to win, but the truth was Zain, and his group didn''t really eat that type of food anyway, and there was no need to cause a mess. If the two of them were to fight, and Zain identally cut one with his finger or something like that, then there was a chance that the former could be turned.


    When they reached the doors on the other end and pushed through. Dave apologized.


    "I''m sorry about all of that. I promise you that sort of the people here are few and far between. Everyone has been through tough times, which I''m sure you can understand."


    "Don''t worry, we understand. All sorts of things happened when we first met Zain, so we definitely understand." Pink replied, remembering that Zain had almost strangled Fingers when he woke up after passing out on his first day with them.


    The group soon entered anotherrge exhibit room, but it looked like it had been cleared of all items that were on disy, and instead, they had three different training sessions going on.


    There were three men in swat uniforms simr to the one on Brandom. One of them was teaching them how to use guns, reload, take the gun apart, maintenance, and to do a whole bunch of other things.


    Then, another part of the room was teaching hand-to-handbat. Here, the instructor was demonstrating how to fight by throwing your opponent and more. It looked skilful, but it was hard to tell how well it would fare against a zombie. Frankly, it seemed like it was more so something to be used against humans.


    Then finally, there was also a weapons section, where the instructor was teaching how to use knives, daggers, andrge lung blunt objects such as poles and baseball bats that the group had umted since the beginning.


    "If you haven''t guessed, this is our training room. Ryan has been trying his best to get it, so everyone reaches a certain standard, including us...but of course, we still aren''t anythingpared to you three." Dave scratched the back of his head because he thought their group had done quite well, at least well enough to be trusted with getting the care package but then this had urred.


    Just as Dave was going to introduce Zain and the others to everyone, the doors behind them opened again, and Brandon stepped inside the hall.


    "Our leader Ryan is d to meet you," Brandon smiled as he walked toward Zain and his group.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 121 Prove Yourself

    When Brandon entered the room, it had turned somewhat quiet. The people who were practicing hard, letting out yells and grunts, had alsoe to a halt. This was because of their instructors.


    They had noticed Brandon and lifted their hands as a sign of silence. There was a reason for this, inside of the Museum, there were technically two leaders, Ryan, the smart and caring businessman who was in charge of electronicpanies in the past, and Brandon, the captain of his previous swat team that was protecting the building.


    The two of them had different roles in the ce. To the public, they saw Ryan more as their leader. He was the one that gave them orders and gave them food and Shelter. He would also be the public speaker at times to calm down their worries.


    Then there was Brandon, the one withbat experience and who protected the ce from outside threats. Along with instructors, who were part of SWAT, he taught the others how to fight and survive in the current world.


    Inside the Museum, many people were more in line with one leaderpared to the other, and it was also why they all showed great respect to Brandon as he entered the room. However, what surprised them, even more, were the words that came out of Brandon''s mouth when he stepped into the room.


    "Our Leader Ryan is happy to meet you." He had said.


    Almost everyone in the hall was shocked and was looking at each other in surprise. Ryan didn''t just meet up with anyone, he seemed to be a busy man, and the way the group worked was that only certain people could approach Ryan for requests. Everything else would have to be moved up the chain of people.


    This was to stop people from bombarding Ryan. Of course, there were still times when he would go around the ce, wave hello, and make conversation with the people, but they too knew that if they wanted to speak to him, they would have to report it to their group leader, who would then send the message upwards in the chain ofmand.


    When the group was initially created, and more people started to join, this was just something that had to be implemented, and now with more than a hundred people and non-stop growth, the hierarchy had be essential within the group.


    "Oh?" Brandon said, noticing the look on the instructor''s face. "It seems there are some people that aren''t exactly happy about the decision I made. Stu, Max, Tod, guys, feel free to speak your mind. You know I will always listen to you."


    The three instructors had been called out, and there was a guilty look on their faces. Stu was a thin man with light blond hair, he was one of the instructors for the weapons ss and also one of the higher ranking people in the group who could talk freely to Ryan.


    This was the same for the other two. They had the same privileges to make decisions and form their current groups and squads if need be. Then there was Max, arger gentleman who stood at 6''6". His figure reminded Zain a bit of Buke. Only this man looked quite a bit older with a rough gray beard over his chin. He was in charge of the hand-to-handbat sses.


    Then there was Stu, a fairly round-faced man with small eyes and short hair. He looked more like the silent type and was the weapons instructor. He himself currently had two short swords by his side as well.


    All three of the instructors walked forward, stepping away from their students, and looked at each other because it seemed like they all had the same opinion, and Max was the first one to speak.


    "We don''t like it," Max stated with his arms folded as he looked down at three. "We have all been protecting this base for a while now, and not just us, but the people that have been here every day as well.


    "There are many in our groups who have requested to meet up with Ryan, and each time it has been denied. There has even been a plea put in for a fifth squad on top of our four to help with the current situation.


    "Ryan decides to ignore everything and then suddenly has a meeting with these new guys? There will be people whoin. If they are going to join the group, then they should just join the normal way like everyone else."


    Brandon let out a smiling sigh and decided to lift his sunsses to the top of his head as he rubbed his eyes with his fingers showing how stressful the situation was. These were his people, but at the same time, he understood what Ryan was doing.


    ? "Look, the situation isn''t the same as it was in the past. We can''t just keep making squads willy-nilly. We have to trust the people, and before you say anything, trust me, I don''t trust these guys.


    "They might not even join us in the first ce, but they did save one of the scouting groups, and they had the power just with three of them to defeat that giant Armored Zombie. Is that not a good enough reason for them being here?" Brandon asked.


    Whispers started from behind the instructors. Everyone in the room knew what giant Zombie they were talking about, but to hear that just three of them were able to take it out seemed like a bit of an exaggeration.<sub> </sub>


    "These three? I can''t believe it. Most of them just look like students," Max replied. "Did you see them beat the thing with your own eyes?"


    Brandon hadn''t done it, he had only seen the Zombie down and out for the count, as well as the words for the others, but it seemed too hard to fake such a situation. Besides, what else could have happened even if he didn''t see it?


    "What, are you saying we''re liars?" Pink asked out of frustration because it had taken a lot of effort for her and Kun to defeat it. It wasn''t a walk in the park, and they were proud of this fact, so for someone to deny them, just infuriated them.


    "Then prove it," Stumented. "If you really were able to defeat such a thing, surely you can prove your skills to all of us here."


    Pink looked at Zain, wondering how they could exactly prove their skills, it was then though that Kun was the first one to act, as he went ahead and picked up a pistol from one of the tables.


    The weapons were not loaded, just in case there was a misfire by ident in the ce, but that''s when Kun started to strip down the weapon bit by bit. He released the slide on the weapon, the slide spring, and the barrel, taking apart each of the weapons bit by bit,pletely stripping them down, andying them out on the table.


    It was then that he put it back together again, bit by bit. It was smooth, with no trouble at all, as if a person had done this for years.


    "You¡­ you''re trained," Stu was surprised. It was without a doubt that Kun was trained.


    "Still, just knowing how to use weapons wouldn''t work against the Armored Zombie, what about the rest of you?" Todd asked. "The bullets can''t pierce the zombie, so you had to have used weapons of some sort. I see you have a sword. Do you know how to use it?"


    The question was directed at Zain, and the thing was, Zain wasn''t so sure how skilful a level 2 mastery in sword actually was. In the first ce, it was due to his strength that he had taken out such a thing.


    "Hey, you don''t have to test him," Pink said, "He''s the strongest out of all of us. If you really want to test someone, then big guy, why don''t you take me on in a one-on-one fight?"


    The students were excited by the proposal, and at the same time, Max didn''t think he would lose to a small girl like so in front of him.


    "Fine, if you can''t even take me out, then I doubt that you would have taken the Armored Titan out. If you can beat me, then I will not stop you from meeting Ryan." Max dered.


    The two of them stood side by side, around five meters apart, and everyone around was watching. Brandon didn''t stop it because he, too, was interested in what was going to happen and their skill, but before the fight started, Zain whispered something in her ear.


    "Seriously¡­alright," Pink replied, somewhat disappointed.


    When Zain went to join the crowd, Brandon stood next to him.


    "What did you tell your friend over there, some tips to win?" Brandon asked.


    "No, there was no need to. I just told her to hold back a little." Zain smiled.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 122 Taking Advantage

    The bystanders, or anyone who wasn''t aware of Pink''s ability, looking at the two that were ready to fight, imagined that it was aplete mismatch.


    Max easily weighed at least three times that of his opponent. On top of that, he was professionally trained and older, which meant he was ahead in terms of experience as well.


    If there were bets going on, not a single person would bet on Pink to win the fight, at least not one that didn''t know about who she really was.


    ''After absorbing those crystals, Pink must have levelled up, but not just that, it seems like if she had received and followed one of the paths which I received as well, then she would be an Agro type which excels when ites to physical ability.''


    "Fight!" One of the men at the side shouted, and it was the sign for both of them to begin. Pink got into a fighting stance spreading her legs out and stood there waiting.


    "I see. You have trained in some type of martial arts, right? But this is not a movie. I will show you what a real fight is." Max cracked his knuckles as he spread out his hands and went in for a tackle.


    With the size difference between the two, as long as he didn''t get hurt in a vital area, Max was sure that he could m her and continue on to tackle her to the ground. And then, he could restrain her and easily win the fight in doing so without making himself look like a brute.


    Although Max wanted to prove himself, he didn''t want to hurt the woman either, just wanted to prove that the feat that they had imed was impossible.


    When Max was finally in range, Pink lifted her foot up, delivering a kick right to his side.


    ''Zain told me not to use all of my strength, but I don''t think this guy will feel anything if I don''t put in a little bit of strength!''


    The kick mmed right into Max''s ribs before he could block it, but it wasn''t what she was going for. For a second, he had squinted as the kick was heavier than he thought, but he soon went to grab the leg, blocking it under his armpit.


    Before Max could hold it, though, Pink pulled her leg out quickly and spun her body. She delivered a side kick right into Max''s stomach.


    Max suddenly felt an excruciating amount of pain and found it hard to breathe. The woman in front of him was a lot faster than he had imagined, and getting a hold of her was proving difficult. And even though Max was more of a grappler than anything, he was finding it hard to use his strengths.


    Due to his big size, he was already slow, and in order to slow down a person, even more, Pink knew it was best to hit them in the stomach.


    The natural reaction for one when in pain and to be hit in the stomach was to bring their head down as they curled up their body and held down. Max was trained. But the pain had caught him off guard, and in that brief moment, he leant forward and brought his chin down ever so slightly.


    Seeing this as an opportunity, Pink threw out a kick, but it missed, brushing just past Max''s nose. The others let out a breath of relief seeing this. They didn''t want the teacher to lose. They didn''t want some outsider to beat the one who had been looking after them this whole time, so naturally, they were rooting for Max.


    However, the kick wasn''t done there. The first kick was just to build up momentum. As the first leg came across her body and touched the ground, she raised her other knee. With a slight hop, her right leg hade back again after doing aplete spin andnded right on Max''s neck.


    The power of the kick had put great pressure, bringing his head down even further. He stumbled to the side but somehow managed to regain bnce as well.


    "I''m not just a fighter. I''m a champion." Pink dered with confidence as she brushed her hair away from her face.


    "You have managed to gather some impressive people," Brandonmented.


    "I have to admit I had no clue she was this good either," Zain replied. But this did make Brandon wonder, what did he mean by the fact that Pink was holding back? In what way was she holding back? Because she was clearly demonstrating all her skills.


    "Your might has worked on me, but if you tried that on those big zombies, you would have been done for, and in a real fight, I can use weapons as well," Maxined while rubbing his neck.


    Honestly, it was quite embarrassing for the others because it was clear he was just making excuses.


    Noticing the others wince, Max took a deep breath and grumbled, "Alright, now I really will pound you!"


    Hearing these words, Pink tapped her foot in a certain way, and a small de came out from the tip of her boot. These were the special boots that had been retrieved from Chinatown, but after tapping them away again, they had disappeared.


    "That''s enough." Brandon suddenly called out, interrupting the fight. He stepped forward and said, "We don''t need anyone to die, and this is your loss, Max. If this fight had happened in the real world, then you would be dead.


    "You tried to use your natural advantages, and it didn''t work, but on top of that, Pink would have been able to use the weapon in her boots at any time. And with a knife behind that devastating kick to the neck, it would have ended your life."


    Hearing this, Max stayed silent. He wouldn''t argue with Brandon and knew that thetter was right in the end. The truth was, his neck was throbbing even now. The woman looked small, but she sure packed a punch in her hits.<sub> </sub>


    Still, it was hard for them to imagine, even with the two of them, that they were able to take down a Titan Zombie.


    "Alright, with the show over, let''s get going. Stu, Max, and Tod, you three are asked to be in the meeting as well." Brandon imed.


    "Wait!" Tod said as he pulled out his two swords and started to wave them in his hands. He had done so effortlessly and started to swing them around through the air at a great speed. "You have a sword, so surely you should be a swordsman, right? Or at least know how to use that thing.


    "We still have yet to assess your skill,"


    It was the second time that Tod had called out Zain, this time, his friends weren''t there to stop the fight from happening.


    ''This guy is clearly more skilful than me with his swords. If I was to go up against him, without using my strength and the other Zombies that are around me...it would be a hard fight.''


    [New quest receive]


    [Defeat the man named Tod]


    [Reward: Silver card]


    To be honest, Zain knew that this was going to be a challenge, and he didn''t need the system to give him a quest because he was already going to ept the chance. The quest was just the icing on the cake.


    "Alright, sure," Zain said as he pulled out his single sword as well. "I do have to say though, I''m kinda a jack of all trades. My sword skills aren''t that great, and neither are my weapons, but I can do a bit of both."


    Brandon didn''t know if Zain was just being polite with his words because the other two were extremely strong, yet they were following him and even called him their leader or at least acted that way. He doubted that anyone would follow someone who was weaker than them in the current world.


    At the same time, regardless of this fact, Tod was incredibly skilled at weapons. Before joining SWAT, he didn''t reside in a western country but in a ce where swords were used quite frequently.


    Brandon doubted that there was a single person more skilful than him when it came to using weapons.


    "Fight, Begin!" a man shouted.


    Tod immediately went in and was running low, and when he was close enough to Zain, he struck with both of his swords, swinging them out in an outward direction. At that moment, Zain swung his sword forward, hitting the attack in the middle and stopping it.


    The two struggled as they pushed together in a battle of strength. Zain pressed forward and eventually managed to push Tod back, but instantly, thetter changed his position and was now attacking from the side with another swing.


    Lifting his sword up, Zain blocked it just in time but was unable to make another attack.


    "This whole fight, you won''t ever get to make an attack like that again," Todd imed.


    Strangely though, there was a smile on Zain''s face, and Tod didn''t understand why.


    [Sword mastery has increased]


    [Level 2 (32.6/100%)]


    Squinting his eyes, Tod swung the swords once again, but Zain managed to block it just in time as well.


    [Level 2 (35.8/100%)]


    ''This is perfect.''


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 123 Sword Master In A World Of Zombies

    While watching the fight, it was clear there was one that was better than the other, and that was Tod. He had more refined skills and swiftness in his two swords that were unmatched, and it was true here as well.


    The fight was slowly turning one-sided as the faster opponent pushed the other back. All that Zain could do was awkwardly block each iing attack, and it looked like, at times, he would get hit but barely manage to just deflect the sword away at thest moment.


    "Will Zain be alright?" Kun asked. "I thought he was good with a sword, but this guy is on a whole other level."


    "That''s what you''re worried about, whether he will win or lose this match?" Pink replied. "If Zain gets hit, then won''t his body do that extreme healing thing? If that happens, then everyone will find out who he is. I think that''s the main reason why he''s blocking each of those strikes, as if his life depended on it.


    "Because I don''t think even Zain could get us out of ce with over a hundred people holding weapons."


    When agreeing to engage in the challenge, Kun had failed to realise that point. Perhaps just like him, Zain had forgotten as well. They had gotten out of plenty of tough situations due to his skill, and even Kun thought it would be the same this time, but that didn''t seem to be the case at all.


    "Is this how you managed to take out therge Zombie, by just blocking the entire time?'''' Tod swung the sword below, aiming for Zain''s leg.


    Zain had just blocked a strike from hitting his chest from the top, and due to that, he was lightly stepped inward. Since his sword was busy, he now had nothing to block the attack from below.


    Rather than retreat or attempt to block though, Zain shifted his weight forward and pushed with his strength on the sword, causing Toe to lose bnce and fall back slightly. His swung sword had ripped through Zain''s trousers and made a surface mark on his skin.


    Blood trickled while Todd managed to regain his bnce.


    ''This guy, once in a while, he will show a strange surge in strength, but for some reason, when he attacks, there isn''t the same strength in those attacks.'' Tod thought. He was trying to figure out his opponent because, despite the barrage of sword attacks, there was still confidence on the person''s face.


    It was why Tod had avoided doing anything risky during his attacks. There was a fear of something telling him in the back of his mind that if he went for arge attack, it would be he who would be the one suffering and not the other.


    Seeing the cut, Pink was concerned and had brought both of her hands toward her chest. Kun was looking at all of the exits trying to make some sort of escape n in his head, but the cut continued to bleed like it would have any other cut.


    ''Those two worry too much.'' Zain thought of catching them out of the corner of his eye. ''Do they really think that I would join a fight that had so much risk on my end?''


    In the first ce, the super healing was something that Zain had to activate, using up his energy points. Keeping a wound would only make it, so his body deteriorates quicker, and in this case, such a small attack wouldn''t do anything. Besides, he was getting a lot more from this fight than the others realised.


    "Come on, keep going," Zain said as he held his hands firmly.


    After sending consistent strikes, Tod felt that his hands were getting a little numb. The constant pressure of Zain''s sword shing against his sword was taking a toll on him, and yet the person in front of him wasn''t suffering from the same thing, and they didn''t even look tired.


    Tod didn''t give up though, as he charged in again. He would just have to wait for his opponent to tire out, or if that didn''t work, then he would have to take risks before he himself got too tired.


    A block from above, to a block from below, and finally, Zain had blocked the third one to his rib and jumped back soon after. It was the first time he had jumped back rather than just blocking.


    ''`1¡­.2¡­3, that''s all I needed now let''s see!'' Zain jumped in and kept his sword down by his side.


    This was the opportunity that Tod had been waiting for. The time that people left themselves the most vulnerable was when they attacked. During the fight, Tod was able to block a couple of attacks with ease which was why he decided to go on the offensive, but Zain was still able to block them.


    ''Now, where will he strike?''<sub> </sub>


    The swords continued to stay by Zain''s side, and just as they got within range, it was a strike directly from below at a diagonal angle. Leaning back, it had just skimmed Tod''s face and to top it off. The sword strike wasn''t done yet.


    While it was in the air, Zain was able to control the momentum, and with the strength in his hand, he was able to strike down again. At thest second, Tod rolled to the ground, and the strike had missed himpletely, but his heart was racing, and his body was sweating.


    ''What happened, the strikes were so clean, and they weren''t telegraphed at all. I had no idea where they wereing from. Was he hiding his true ability this whole time?''


    The attacks that Zain had just made, he was pleased with them himself. Never did he expect his skills to improve this much. Not for a single moment other than his strength was Zain holding back during this fight. He just had levelled up.


    [Sword mastery is now at level 3]


    Based on how much his sword experience was rising, Zain could guess how many more blocks he needed to level it up further. Tod, being so skilful in using the sword, had to send only a few more hits until Zain would eventually level up, and with three more blocks, Zain had be a level three swordsman.


    ''As much as I would like to continue this fight for a bit longer and continue to level up off this guy, I think that the others might get suspicious when I''m not getting tired, and I don''t trust my acting skills enough to take such a risk.'' Zain thought as he ran forward towards Tod once more.


    He then quickly pulled out a dagger from his belt and threw them right toward Tod. He did this twice, and Tod was once again surprised at how urate and fast the throws were, but he was still able to deflect them.


    He was ready for a counterattack. That was until arge sword came swinging at him and mmed into both of the swords, thrusting his hands off to the side. For the first time in the fight, Zain had used his strength to the max to end this, yet the swords were still in Tod''s grasp.


    Still, it was enough for Zain to do what he needed to do next, and with his free hand, he grabbed onto the scruff of Tod''s neck.


    "The fight is over!" Brandon shouted. "You have proven your skill enough already. There is no need for either one of you to get hurt. We are all on the same side in the end, and neither of us is the enemy. I hope these people have proven their skills to you all, and you won''t second guess them again."


    Zain, at that moment, let go of Tod. It was time for them to see the person they had been waiting for and to get their answers, but before that, he wanted to tell Tod something.


    "Your skills are better than mine, but you fight too clean. You fight only using your swords and nothing else. The only reason why I got the advantage was that I was prepared to do anything and everything to win. You need to get into that mindset, and then I think you will find it pretty hard to lose to anyone."


    Hearing these words, Tod smiled. For someone he hated at first, there was now a degree of respect for him. Putting out his hand, he shook hands with his opponent and just then, the familiar system prompt alert reverberated in Zain''s mind.


    [Questplete]


    [Reward: A silver card has been obtained.]


    "Alright, Stu, Max, Tod, all of you follow me. Let''s meet him." Brandon ordered.


    Although Tod was satisfied, the same couldn''t be sad for Stu and Max, who were staring daggers into the back of Pink and Kun.


    ''That Kun was the least impressive out of the lot¡­let''s see how long he willst here.''


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 124 Striking A Deal

    The museum actually had two floors, although the general public, as well as the trained swat members, stayed on the bottom floor. However, Ryan had his office ced upstairs, and this was also where the supplies for the group were kept as well.


    It was a strange room with a lock to which only he and Brandon knew thebination to. Of course, a simple lock wouldn''t stop someone with a gun from shooting at the door and opening it, but something like this would alert the others, and this fact alone was a good deterrent.


    While heading upstairs, Brandon continued to talk about what they had done to the ce, including the troubles they had faced and was also giving background to the groups in the area.


    He also told them that there were some groups who ideally weren''t the best to work with. At the same time, there were natural territories that they respected. However, how long this would keep up, they didn''t know.


    Ryan''s main concern was with the zombies and just wished to protect as many people as possible, at least ording to Brandon.


    The truth was, Zain didn''t really listen too much, and that was because he was too busy checking out the new reward card he had received from the system.


    [Would you like to use the Silver Reward card]


    [Yes]


    [You have received 1 Horde Stat point]


    [The stat point can be used to upgrade the stat of any member of the Horde and on any stat]


    ''This is quite good for a silver card reward. The system is quite focused on improving the Horde, not just me. Making a strong undead army would be good.'' Zain thought.


    The problem was not what stats to upgrade but who to upgrade. Out of all his horde members, he wanted to improve Skittle or Cobra. If it was Skittle, he would increase his strength, and if it was Cobra, he would improve his speed.


    This did also give him time to look at his newest member of the Horde, War.


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 1]


    [Vitality: 1]


    [Intelligence: 4]


    War wasn''t ssified as a superhuman like Cobra was, but he had good stats to start off with. Out of all of them, he seemed to have the highest intelligence, and although Zain was unable to test it, he was hoping it meant his skills with a gun would stille in handy.


    It was a good decision to turn him in the middle of it all, but at the end of the day, a stat point wouldn''t improve him much.


    ''I want to improve Skittle''s stats to increase his survival rate, but at the same time, if I increase Cobra, then it will be better for the Horde as a whole. Having someone fast to get to situations when needed is quite good to have.''


    There was a conflict in Zain''s mind, whether to focus on the survivability of his Horde group or that of his friend. If it was a game, he would have picked Cobra without a second of hesitation, but it was the first time that perhaps his heart had ruled over his head.


    [Strength 2>>>3]


    The group finally reached the office and was now standing in front of tworge doors. Brandon knocked on them before pushing them to open, and arge table could be seen inside the room. Ryan was staring at arge whiteboard with a map stuck on it. On the map, there were pins ced in certain areas and a pen in his hand.


    ''He seems like a busy guy,'' Zain thought. ''The map, has he circled all the territory areas, the areas of the other groups?''


    Looking at it, Zain could see that Chinatown was also circled, and on top of that, there was the hospital as well as many other locations. There was a red mark over Chinatown, which Zain guessed meant it was a dangerous group.


    There were some that had a green coloured marker next to them, and then finally there was another one, a question mark next to the hospital. ording to the notes marked on the corner of the map, there were conflicting rumours as to whether this was a good group or not.


    <o>,m "Ah, sorry, my mind was in the clouds. Please, everyone, sit." Ryan greeted them with arge smile. Ryan was wearing a suit which seemed strange with what was going on at the moment. One would think that a person would wear clothing that was a bit more rxing.<sub> </sub></o>


    "It is great to meet the people who saved our people''s lives. Although I would love to see all your faces a bit clearer but with the current situation at hand, I understand."


    His words were directed towards Kun, who had a ck scarf covering his face, of course, because he had to hide the marking that would reveal exactly who he was.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you as well," Zain replied. "You have a good operation going on here. But let''s cut to the chase. I have my reasons for wanting to see you, but I am also curious about what are your reasons for wanting to meet us?"


    Ryan was surprised by how straightforward the university student was. This one was the most confident university student he had seen, that was for sure.


    "Well, the situation is getting dangerous. More and more groups are pushing the borders they have, and not all of them have good intentions. With a strong group like yours, you three are arge asset in a time like this, and I wish for you to join our group.


    "You will be given a high position in the group, with your own squad to lead and with whatever you wish to request. There will also be a supply chain granted to you."


    Clear signs of anger were visible on the faces of the other three upon hearing this. A group of strangers were being treated as if they were some sort of messiah. Their group had only struggled slightly. Why did they desperately need these three?


    "Don''t you think you''re giving them a bit too much?" Stu asked, clenching his fist. "I mean, I understand asking them to join. They are skilled, I will admit that, but to give them positions as high as ours when you don''t even know them? That''s too soon."


    Brandon was also confused by how much Ryan was giving them, but with everything, he was sure that there was something that thetter was nning.


    "Before I answer, I think you should give us a reward for protecting your people and bringing back the supplies," Zain replied. "Have you ever heard of the Reborn group?"


    Ryan tapped his chin for a few seconds and eventually shook his head.


    "I can''t say I have. It''s not one of the groups in the area, that''s for sure, or at least not in this city. Nor was it something that I knew within my time. If I did know, I would certainly tell you, and if you stay with us, you will also be able to perhaps find out information about them."


    "Okay, then, do you know anything about the military and what they n to do with the meteorites they are going after?"


    Once again, Ryan was surprised by Zain''s questioning, surprised that a student would have any interest in the meteorites in the first ce. This certainly wasn''t a normal kid.


    "The military, I don''t know much about their movements. However, I have asked Brandon to try and set up a meeting with them. We have been following their movements and n to ask for a meeting between the two of us."


    The answers were disappointing, but Zain didn''t expect he could get much from this group, and he wasn''t nning on staying. He had his Horde of zombies. Those were his strength and skills he would use to survive this world, not a bunch of untrustworthy humans.


    "I''m sorry, but we n to stay as our own little group," Zain replied. "I thank you for the information, and truth be told, I was hoping you would have answers, but it looks like you don''t. I hope you understand, and I also hope that the rtionship between the two of us doesn''t sour over my rejection."


    The others on the table felt a bit offended, although they didn''t want Zain to join, to easily just say no to an offer like that. It was almost as if Zain was iming to be above them all.


    "Then please, could the three of you at least stay the day? I will try my best to gather the information for you about the Reborn group and see if anyone knows anything. Besides, it should be safer to stay in here for the day than go out there, right?"


    Zain looked at the hostile people in the room, but then he caught the eye of another, a certain person that had been acting somewhat strange after the questions. It was Brandon.


    ''It looks like he might know something. Maybe it''s best just for one day.''


    "Okay, we will stay for one day," Zain answered. "But we will do our own thing. However, you don''t have to worry. We won''t cause any trouble. Oh, and by the way, you can cross off the Cobra gang in Chinatown from that map of yours."


    The smile on Ryan''s face widened upon hearing these words because he knew he was right. These guys were the ones responsible for defeating the Cobra gang. He must do what he can to keep these people.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 125 Anger Is A Mistake (Part 1)

    After Zain and the other two had left the room, Ryan had a few words for the squad leaders who were still in the room.


    "Look, I know you guys might not like the situation that we are in, but in theing days, things will only get worse. I imagine what we see at the moment is only the beginning of everything." Ryan sighed, "Which is why I want you guys to bite your tongue and do the best you can to make these guys feel wee, and I promise you won''t regret itter."


    However, despite the careful words that Ryan had chosen and because this wasing from Ryan instead of Brandon, Stu, who was the angriest out of the squad, was unable to hold back his tongue.


    "You''re going to get us all killed!" Stu almost shouted, "First of all, these guys aren''t as impressive as you think they are. We tested them before they came up here, and secondly, that damned Kun guy even knows how to use a gun.


    "I don''t mean I am the only one who should know how to use one, but I am professionally trained. You know what that means, right? He''s probably a spy from other groups."


    It looked like Stu wanted to say more, but it was at that point that Brandon had stepped in and raised his hand, gesturing for the other to stop.


    "I don''t doubt that they could be working for someone else, or maybe in the past that they were, but there are two things you need to keep in mind. They saved Dave and his group for whatever reason that be. In this world as well, I feel like there is always a chance to change someone''s mind. Besides, if I''m right, you think they''re the ones that took out the gang from Chinatown, right?"


    The others were taken aback by thisment. They had known the stories of those from Chinatown and the Cobra gang. Although that gang didn''t have many guns, their groups had run into them before, and they had certain difficulties when facing the former.


    There were even rumours of them keeping their own horde of zombies to use them as bait and attack. In the end, Ryan decided to just mark them as a dangerous group and avoid any confrontation.


    "The Cobra gang has been eliminated. Almost all of their members were found dead. So they haven''t just simply moved. This information was something that we received just recently and based on Zain''s words at the end. It looks like he figured out we were keeping an eye on them." Ryan replied.


    Still, Stu and Max couldn''t believe that just three people were able to take out an entire gang, not one like the Cobra Gang. Even the ounts that Dave had told them, it seemed unbelievable for just three people to do such a thing, and if the zombie horde didn''te when it had done, they would have certainly been unlucky.


    However, Tod, who had fought Zain, felt differently about the whole thing. During his fight with Zain, there was something he noticed in thetter. Even though Tod was more skilful in every way, it felt like no matter what he did in that fight, he would have lost.


    He didn''t know why but he couldn''t shake off this feeling that Zain was extremely dangerous and was not a person he wanted to cross.


    Since Brandon had ordered it, the leaders decided not to argue anymore and left the room.


    ¡ª¡ª<sub> </sub>


    Seeing the three return from upstairs and join the main hall, Dave and his group hade rushing over, including Pink''s parents.


    "We didn''t get the chance to say it before because we were all in shock, but we just wanted to say thank you, thank you so much for saving us." The people weren''t shy in saying their thanks, and as they said it loudly, the others around them wondered what had happened.


    Dave and his people had already told some around them, and the news was spreading about the feat these three had in helping and saving their group.


    "So, are you staying with us? Did Ryan allow you to stay with us?" Pink''s mother asked.


    Pulling an awkward face and scratching the back of her head, Pink didn''t know what to say. It wasn''t that Ryan was letting them stay, they had asked them to stay and were trying to convince them, but it was whether or not they would stay.


    "We don''t want to disrupt what you have here," Zain replied. "We will be staying here for one night and then making our own moves, however, we would like to keep up rtions with your group. You have a good family here, and we have our own family."


    Hearing those words, Pink''s mother shook her head, and it looked like the three of them went off to allow Pink more time to exin. Zain gave her a final look as if to say whatever you do, don''t tell them who we are.


    While Zain was talking to Dave and the others, there was another group of people that had approached Kun, and they were the ones that had been in the training hall earlier. They had finished their training and were rxing for the rest of the day but were still impressed by his skills with the gun.


    "I think you did that faster than the instructor. Do you mind showing us how you did that?" One of them asked.


    "Yeah, does that mean you''re a professional? You should be good at shooting, right? Maybe you can give us a few tips."


    Just as all of the people were gathering around Kun, the squad leaders started to walk down the stairs, and Stu could overhear them all, a vein popping out from the side of his head, and his hand hovering over the gun.


    *****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUV so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUV in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 126 Anger Is A Mistake (Part 2)

    Hearing all of the students asking him questions about guns and more, Kun''s shoulders started to shake up and down.


    "Finally! After all these years, being a gun freak has made me popr! Haha!" Kunughed out loud.


    "Whatever you guys need, I will teach you and show you my secret ways, but remember that the great Kun Magnus was the one who taught you."


    Pulling out the submachine, Kun started to show off as he did a number of different hits, aiming down his sight, rolling on the ground, putting his gun in certain positions and more.


    No one had asked him to do these things yet, so it was quite embarrassing just watching the gun rolling and shooting at imaginary targets making gunshot noises with his mouth, but it was entertaining for the young ones.


    Most of those that were at the base were young in the first ce, and since Kun was closer in age to them, it was easier for them to look up to him. On the other hand, their instructor was more hard-headed and tough on them.


    At the end of the day, they were just normal people and not the ones that Stu would be used to teach. However, as Stu came down the stairs, he witnessed and heard everything.


    Standing behind Kun was Stu, with a certain heating off his body. The students looked guilty as they were unable to make eye contact, and their enthusiasm hadpletely snapped.


    "It''s fine. Follow this idiot into battle and see what happens!" Stu shouted. "At the end of the day, I am taking my time to train you every day, and we are the ones that are on the front lines to protect you. While these people won''t even stay to protect you.


    "They''re happy to take these weapons and protect themselves."


    Kun was clenching his hand around his gun. The thing was, if Kun was still like them, still a human, and had arrived at this ce, he would quite happily use his skills to help protect them, but it was impossible for them to stay here, at least not at the moment while everyone was scared of the said zombies.


    Which was why he was unable to argue back, because it did really look like he was just abandoning all of these guys.


    "Listen to your instructor," Kun said. "He is right. He is the one protecting you, not me."


    "Hmph, spineless."


    Despite everything that happened, it seemed like the people got along with Zain and the others. They continued to talk to them and wanted to ask them about their stories of how they had managed to survive so long.


    Seeing this scene and how calm and happy everyone was, was still annoying Stu. His anger had been bottling up for a long time now, which was why he had decided to head out of the hallway and out through the entrance of the museum.


    "Sir, where are you going?" The front two guards stationed at the sandbags said.


    "Outside, I need to clear my head. If anyone needs my help with anything, tell them to talk to that Kun guy." Stu grumbled.


    As he left the museum, the sun was starting to set in the ce.<sub> </sub>


    Stu had grabbed a de and was taking out his frustration on the zombies in the streets. shing at their heads and stabbing them again and again.


    One zombie he had taken down an alleyway and kicked it right in its stomach, causing it to fall and trip to the ground.


    "Why!" Stu shouted. "Why does no one respect me in that ce after everything I have done? Even before the world went to shit, I risked my life to save and protect people, and this is how I got treated?!"


    Stu stabbed the zombie in the stomach, again and again, cutting part of its arms, so it was unable to strike him. He knew it wouldn''t kill the zombie, but he needed something to take out his anger on.


    The zombie attempted to get up, but as it did, Stu whacked its head with the back of his gun, sending it back down.


    "You stay still, damn it, or I''ll shoot you in the head!" He shouted.


    Stu was huffing and panting with the gun pointed at the zombie, but of course, it didn''t listen and tried to attack him again. Turning the de around, Stu was ready to finish the zombie off.


    While doing this though, distracted by his anger, what he didn''t notice was a zombie that was climbing out of the window. It had smelt the scent of a human for a while now and had dropped down andtched right onto the back of Stu''s back.


    "You weak piece of shit, get off me!" Satu shouted as he wiggled and did everything he could to stop the zombie from biting him. When it opened his move, Stu quickly ran backwards, mming the zombie into the wall behind him. Eventually, the grip of the zombie weakened, and turning around, Stu gave it a powerful kick to the face.


    Before getting his de and stabbing it at the top of the head.


    "Ha ha, that was a close one. Dman, those guys, they nearly made me turn into one of them!"


    It was then that Stu could feel a slight stinging pain in his neck. When using his hand to brush against it, he could tell that there was a scratch on his neck, not just a small one either. It was bleeding quite heavily and was a deep one.


    "Why does the world f*cking hates me?!" Stu cried out loud. "All of this, all of it is those guys'' fault. If they had never turned up, none of this would have ever happened to me!" Stu''s eyes were bulging with anger, and it was then, pulling out the guns he had on him, he walked out onto the street.


    "Well, it looks like I will soon turn into one of you guys. Let''s see if those damn students can protect the ce without me and how good that Kun guy really will be for those annoying shits."


    Lifting his gun in the air, he let out several gunshots, attracting the attention of the Zombies, and now, Stu was making his way back to the museum.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 127 Red Fever

    Opening the System interface, Zain ensured that his Horde members were safe. He observed that they were still on the map, their hunger levels were good, and it looked like there was no trouble in sight, at least at where they were.


    Since they were in the city, there were plenty of apartments and rooms that one could hide in, making the area somewhat safe for them. Food was the only problem when leaving them for a few days like that. However, Zain knew that making the stay for one day wouldn''t be a problem.


    And the main reason why Zain had agreed to stay with Ryan''s group for the day was that he wanted to speak to Brandon. There was a reaction he felt or sensed, it was very minute, but Zain had caught onto it when he had asked questions to Ryan.


    Whether Brandon reacted like so because of the Reborn group or the military, Zain wasn''t so sure, but there was something he was hiding for sure, and it seemed like he was keeping it a secret even from Ryan. On the other hand, Ryan seemed to be telling the truth, which meant if Zain wanted his answers, he would have to take his questions to the group''s other leader.


    But the problem was, there didn''t seem to be an opportunity so far. The group were rxing in the main hall, where they had been provided with sleeping bags like the others. There were also tin cans of food distributed to them, but of course, they did not need to eat that.


    Brandon was going back and forth, talking to the different guards, and even now, reports wereing in as groups joined and left. He also had to discuss other matters and ns for where people would need to go next.


    It honestly made Zain wonder what Ryan did, as Brandon was the one who seemed to be most of the work. Then, as it got closer to night and the sky began to turn dark, the people returned, and the movement started to slow down.


    ''Do they also know about the Demons? It was something that I didn''t ask, but it could just be the fact that it''s smarter if they don''t move at night. It''s easier to make mistakes.''


    p "Where is Stu?" Brandon suddenly asked, frustrated, putting his sunsses on the top of his head again. The lights were always on in the museum, and whenever Brandon was stressed, he would rub his eyes and move his sunsses about.</anda>


    "The front team reported that he left about an hour and a half ago, but we haven''t received any report about his report." One of the squad guards reported.


    "That damn fool, when he returns, I''ll kill him myself. How could he leave at a time like this?" Brandon replied in frustration and stormed off into another separate room.


    It was a room where Zain had seen a few people enter but had yet toe out.


    ''The people who have gone inside, are they...''


    As time passed, Zain continued to watch everything that was going on, and he was starting to think his guess was true.


    "Man, there sure are a lot of people coughing," Kunmented, snuggling into his sleeping bag. Just then, there were a few more coughs going around the room, it echoed slightly due to therge hall.


    "I think you might be right...and it could be quite serious," Zain replied.


    "Wait, surely it''s just a simple cough, right?" Kun frowned. "If there is something even more severe spreading other than that zombie virus, I mean, then isn''t everyone in here in serious trouble? I mean, we are so close to each other, so we are bound to spread it to each other."


    "I don''t think we have to worry about anything." Zain quickly corrected the other. "There were medical supplies in that crate, they should be able to use them, but depending on what''s being passed around and how bad it is, it could seriously weaken their group and soldiers."


    "Somebody help! Her body''s burning!" A familiar voice shouted, and it wasing from Pink of all people.


    She had been staying with her parents since it could possibly be thest time she would see them in a while, and while talking to them, her mother suddenly copsed on the ground. She was short of breath, and her cheeks were flushed red.


    When Pink went to touch the top of her head, she was unsure if she was burning up or not because she couldn''t really feel, but her father could.


    Immediately, a few guards ran over along with Brandon, and Ryan also exited his room as he came downstairs. The guards carried her mother and moved her to the other room where others were staying, and Ryan quickly went to join them.


    In the other room, there were a total of six people that were in a simr condition to Pink''s mother lying on the floor and were being looked after by a single person.


    "It doesn''t look like anything we are doing is helping. I have also given them anti-inmmatory painkillers, but their temperature isn''t dropping. We have isted the worst ones inside here, but I''m afraid that others outside are also starting to show signs." The man exined.


    "Do you have any ideas?" Ryan asked with his finger on his chin, thinking about the situation. The problem was creating a lot of trouble for the group, and they wanted to resolve it as soon as possible.<sub> </sub>


    "We could iste everyone who is beginning to show symptoms and bring them away from the others. It will stop the spread of whatever this is, and then if anyone is showing simr signs, we will just ce them inside here as well." Brandon suggested.


    Ryan thought about it for a while and eventually shook his head.


    "Our group is still very new. Just because we''re the leaders doesn''t mean our words are aw for them. They just follow us out of respect. If we start forcing people or splitting them up, it might cause an uproar, which will only worsen the situation because the people are already on edge as it is.


    "Something like this, or treating others differently, could cause a big problem. On top of that, what about the guards? If they are part of the sick ones, we might not have the manpower to defend this ce if there is an attack."


    "Then what do you suggest?" Brandon asked, agreeing with Ryan, but what solution was there? How would they solve the problem?


    "There is one thing we could do. The Hospital. That group has a doctor there. If we send out a small group, then we can ask them to help us in our current situation." Ryan replied.


    There was an uneasy look on Brandon''s face when he heard Ryan''s suggestion.


    "But...can we trust them? If we were to do that, I would only befortable with sending a somewhat strong group, but if we did that, then this ce won''t be well protected either."


    That''s when a smile appeared on Ryan''s face as if he knew that was the question that was going to be asked.


    "There are quite a few strong people that recently joined us, are there not? If we sent you along with them, I think that your group would be a capable enough team. If the doctor is unwilling to help us or strike a deal, then there may be a chance that you might need to force them."


    It was a good choice. Honestly, it was the best choice, but Zain and the others were already reluctant to join their group, so why would they do a favour like this for them? However, Brandon looked at one person in the room, and he was looking at the one reason that group of three would help.


    A few momentster, Zain, Kun, and Pink were invited into the room. The situation was exined to them, and honestly, Ryan had said the condition of the others was worse than what they really were. He had practically told them that they wouldn''t get better without seeing the doctor, even though he didn''t know if that was true or not.


    In the end, Ryan requested as per the n, and now it was time for Zain and his group to respond.


    "We have to help, Zain, it''s my mother...I need to save her." Pink asked, pleading with her voice.


    Kun didn''t say anything because he was unsure Zain would ept. After all, it wasn''t his mother that was in trouble.


    "We don''t know anything about this hospital," Zain replied. "There are a lot of risks, and the reward for us is nil."


    "You damn robot, can''t you see I''m trying to help my family!!" Pink shouted. "What if this was your family?!"


    When he heard those words, the ringing in the back of his head started again, and Zain rubbed it, wincing in pain.


    "You won''t be the only ones taking the risk. We will send Dave and Brandon with you. It won''t just be your burden alone," Ryan exined. "And I promise we will owe you a great favour for this."


    Zain was still rubbing the back of his head due to the excruciating pain he was feeling, and that was when the doors burst open behind them.


    "Sir, it''s an emergency. There is a horde of zombiesing our way!"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 128 Zombies Vs Humans (Part 1)

    Brandon and Ryan had decided to immediately rush outside, while telling one person to keep an eye on the sick. Both of their eyebrows frowned as they were worried about what this could mean on the camp.


    "Why now of all times!" Brandon said with an aggressive voice, the veins on his hand were bulging as he walked quickly out form the room and into the main hall. He could see the look of worry on everyone''s faces as they looked towards them, and all of the guards getting ready with their weapons.


    "We can''t predict everything that is going to happen in these times." Ryan replied. "That is why we just have to do our best and why I was so worried about sending arge group out."


    As they got closer to the exit, several bangs were heard which was strange. The guards on duty knew not to act, and even if they did see zombiesing toward them, they would have at least a bit of leeway before they reached the front doors of the museum.


    Yet the familiar sound was clearly a gun but sounded off in the distance which was making Brandon worry that the attack could be not just from Zombies but someone else as well.


    In the meantime, rather than follow the rest of the group, Zain asked the others to follow him and had decided to head up to the second floor. If he remembered correctly, there was a balcony overseeing everything which would allow them to get a better look at the situation.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Standing out in front, by therge staircase, Brandon was outside with ten guards that each had guns on them. They also had melee weapons on standby, close to the sandbags.


    Immediately, he could see straight ahead, down the street that there were hordes of zombiesing towards them, but due to how far they were they looked like ants. However, every once in a while along with the loud bang, a small sh could be seen, a shing off from a gun.


    "What started this, does anyone have any idea?" Brandon asked.


    One of the men had binocrs and was looking out at the zombies off in the distance, he was trying to predict an estimate for the others as to how long it would take them to reach their current position.


    The good thing was therge staircase that led up to the museum. It was one of the reasons why the museum was being used as a holdout because the zombies found it tricky to climb up them.


    They would just push and shove climbing over each other making it easier for their group to deal with them.


    "Sir, I don''t think you''re going to like what I''m seeing." The man gulped with the binocrs in his hand.


    Immediately, Brandon snatched it out of his hands and took a look for himself from where the shes wereing, and that''s when he could see standing in front of the zombies was a human, but not just any human, one that they recognized well.


    "What is that B*stard doing!  Has he gone mad!" Brandon was at a loss for words. Stu had been in the squad with him for a while, even before this whole mess and although he would sometimes have a bad temper, he couldn''t imagine what would lead someone to do something like this.<sub> </sub>


    "The zombies, they aren''t attacking him, my best guess is he has a few hours until hepletely turns. Maybe he mes us, or me, for what has happened to him and he is wanting to get revenge, either way it doesn''t matter. He is the problem now and we need to deal with it as quickly as we can."


    After saying those words, Ryan turned around and headed back into the museum. Brandon didn''t know what Ryan was nning to do or why he had gone inside, but it was his job, with the squad members to protect this ce, that''s what they had agreed.


    Looking through the binocrs again, Brandon had predicted that they had two minutes¡­ two minutes until the zombies reached the staircase of the museum.


    "Alright, Max, Tod, we have been preparing for this day for a while now, we knew something like this was going to happen. From the looks of things, there are some of those giant Zombies within the crowd that areing towards us as well.


    "None of this is going to be easy. Since Stu is using his gun to attract the attention of the zombies around, that means it doesn''t matter if we use our own firepower. You are permitted to use guns.


    "However, the main task is to eliminate Stu and stop the noise. Once Stu has been eliminated we are to switch to standard protocol. Weapons are not to be used unless absolutely necessary, and we are to get rid of the zombies¡­ do you understand!"


    "Yes sir!" They shouted back, but they were unsure.


    The amount of zombies were in the hundreds perhaps even reaching around a 1000 Zombies that wereing. The entire squad, their truly trained members, numbers were around fifteen.


    With just them, they were unsure they would be enough to deal with this attack.


    Back inside the ce, there was one person who had already predicted all of this, and that was Ryan.


    "What we have feared has finallye," Ryan stated. "It looks like the Zombies have chosen to attack this ce. However, I truly believe that we can protect this ce, that was what this ce was built for, and why we all trained every single day.


    "Everyone here is worth something, everyone here has a role. Those that have been training, those that are ready to fight¡­ pick up a weapon by your side and protect the people you care about." Ryan said, as he bent down and took off his suit jacket and threw it on the floor, before picking up a bat that had several nails hammered into it, and turning around to head back out.


    Ryan''s eyes were focused, and right now, the others looking at him felt like he was a general from the past, one that led by example rather than from behind. They were about to go into a war zone.


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 129 Zombies Vs Humans (Part 2)

    As he stood on the second floor, the wind blew Zain''s long red hair. It was quite gusty today as he walked out of the building, overlooking the sight in front of him.


    "Holy sh*t! Just how many of them are there?!" Kun couldn''t help but exim at the scene in front of him as he, too, walked out along with the others.


    The zombies were heading towards them and were about a minute away, and on top of that, Kun, with his improved eyesight ever since he had been consuming crystals, could clearly see who was leading the charge.


    "Damn it. It''s that guy! I knew that he would do something like this. If he was in the Reborn organisation, they would have kicked someone troublesome like him a long time ago." Kun started toin. Although he didn''t have a good feeling from Stu anyway, he still didn''t expect thetter to go this far.


    "What are you thinking, Zain? Are you nning to get out of here?" Pink asked. "I mean, knowing you, that''s the safest thing to do, right? To survive, we just need to leave this ce and let everyone die. It makes sense.


    "While the zombies are eating them, we can just safely escape, right? Well, I might as well head downstairs and say farewell to my family onest time then."


    Kun was pulling a face because he understood from both sides. He knew how Pink felt with her family being here and also understood Zain being in the right to prioritise their survival because the way he acted was very much like those in the Reborn group.


    On arge scale, Zain''s way was also less selfish since it didn''t sacrifice anyone who didn''t need to be sacrificed.


    [New quest received]


    [Defend the museum from the Horde attack]


    [Reward: Gold card]


    ''Sometimes, I''m not sure what you want from me. Do you want me to protect these people, turn them or what?''


    Either way, despite the questing up there, there was still one thing on his mind whether or not he would attempt something like this.


    "I have an answer." Zain finally said, looking at the zombies. "As long as I think there is a chance that we can survive this attack, then I will help them out, but we need to see what will happen first."


    At the moment, looking at his own horde of zombies, Zain could see that they were all alright, but there was no point in calling them in this type of situation. There were multiple mutated zombies mixed among the regr zombies, and he imagined his horse would be killed fairly quickly against the former. For now, he was nning to observe and understand the capabilities of Ryan''s group to make a stand on their own.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Down below, the rest of the squad had walked out of the museum.


    Tod and Max both had guns in their hands. However, they were the only ones holding automatic weapons, and the others had handguns. It was because even with the supply boxes, good weapons were difficult toe by.


    They waited, aimed and were in position.


    Then, when they were around thirty seconds away from the stairs, they organised themselves into a wall-like formation to increase their defence.


    "Fire!" Brandon shouted.


    Constant bangs were heard one after another as they fired gunshots at the zombies as best they could. They needed to aim for the heads more than anything to make any sort of impact, which was a slight problem.


    However, these were professionally trained, and the zombies were starting to fall with ease. As they had done, just in front of the staircase, the fallen dead bodies looked to be creating a type of barrier that was making it difficult for the others to climb over.


    It was slowing them down, but as always, there needed to be a time for the team to reload. Although there was backup fire, it wasn''t enough for the number of zombies that were attempting to climb the stairs, and they were beginning to make it through.


    Taking out his binocrs, Brandon was looking at the situation, and through the alleyways out of the apartment buildings, more zombies were making their way to where the group was.


    ''We need to find Stu.'' Brandon thought that when he suddenly saw someone among the zombies with a gun pointed directly at the group.


    -Bang!


    A bullet was fired toward them.<sub> </sub>


    "Duck!" Brandon shouted, and the people hid behind the sandbags. However, one was too slow, causing a bullet to go right through his shoulder.


    "AGHHH! I''m hit!" The man cried out.


    Pulling out his handgun, Brandon started to fire as he was also a trained gunman and wasn''t injured. However, Stu had pulled a zombie in front of him, using its body to block the bullets.


    "Sh*t, he''s got a million meat shields, and as long as we keep using weapons, the zombies just won''t stop. We will eventually run out of ammo and get tired."


    The zombies were now around a quarter way up the stairs, falling over each other and being shot down, falling back into each other.


    It was then that the doors behind opened up, and they saw Ryan with a bat in his hand.


    "We will defend this ce!" Ryan shouted, and behind him, there were around twenty other people with their own weapons ready to fight. Most of them were young ones, but there were a few brave older ones in the group as well, all of them ready to do battle.


    ''That was always a skill of yours, right, being able to connect with people and get them to follow you.''


    "Thanks, I think we''ve got you. We might be able to win this now," Brandon said, and although he said these words, he didn''t really believe them, not without taking out Stu.


    The zombies continued to climb while Stu stayed at the bottom of the stairs firing back. He had no intention of getting closer.


    The gunmen moved to the side of the open tform area of the museum. At the same time, giving space for the rest of them to use their weapons on those that woulde towards them. Everyone was nervous, holding their weapons tightly.


    Then finally, the first zombie reached the stairs. Ryan gripped his bat, ready to swing at his head, but just as he was about to, a loud bang was heard, and the zombie fell to the ground, stumbling back down the stairs.


    Soon, two other zombies that were close to the stop started to fall as well. Branding was left confused as the bullets weren''ting from any of his men.


    The next moment, dropping down on another zombie that had reached the stairs, was someone from above, holding a sword in their hand. It went down and sliced directly in the middle of the zombie, causing its body to split apart.


    A feat that seemed inhuman and impossible with human strength at least. Soon after, two more figures dropped down as well.


    "¡­Zain.." Ryan called out as he noticed the red-coloured hair from behind.


    It was then that everyone saw Zain calmly walking down the stairs. He had a handgun in one hand and the sword in another. He shot the zombies that were climbing the stairs one by one.


    -Bang Bang!


    The zombies fell, and then one close to him. He swung the sword, slicing its head off, and it could be seen floating through the air. Fearless, this person single-handedly walked right into the army of Zombies.


    Everyone watching it right now had more fear in Zain than the attackers.


    ''I knew there was something that felt off about that guy.'' Tod thought.


    "So you decided to help in the end." Pink smiled as she kicked a zombie to the head, killing it with a single strike as she swiped the sword in her hand.


    Meanwhile, Kun was keeping track of Stu.


    "Yeah, I saw what I needed to see. These people have the will to live. That''s all I needed to see. We have a chance." Zain replied.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 130 Deadly Staircase

    The people who hade out were ready to risk their lives. It had taken all of their will to muster up the strength toe out here to fight against the zombies. Some of them had even bid theirst farewell to their loved ones, including children, older rtives and significant others.


    The sheer sound outside gave them an idea of how many zombies wereing towards them, and based on the worried look on the faces of those they had relied on so far, their chances didn''t look hopeful. In the end, there was one person who had convinced them.


    Seeing Ryan risk his life so confidently, they felt guilty, extremely guilty that someone else would be fighting on their behalf while they sat inside and did nothing. In the end, if they didn''te out to help Ryan and others to fight back against the zombie herd, it would only hasten the inevitable.


    Seeing the zombies in front of them they were all ready to attack, but something in their bodies weren''t allowing them to move. It was fear, many of them had seen what would happen if they were to be bit, they would be one of them. In many ways, that was worse than dying. This was the fear that had nted their feet in the ground.


    However, they were all now left speechless as they witnessed three people walk into the group of zombies like they were nothing and quite simrly, they were taking out the horde as if it was nothing as well.


    Zain sliced one Zombie with a single shove of his sword right through the bottom of its chin, and when another came close to him, he used his handgun to shoot it right through the head. A couple of bangs were heard after causing two more behind the zombie to fall.Right after that, he kicked the zombie off his sword and down the flight of stairs, making it crash into the others.


    "These cannon fodder aren''t the important ones, and honestly, I don''t want to kill too many of these," Zainmented.


    He didn''t tell others why he was saying this, but only he knew that for every regr zombie he killed, he was losing two points of exp. It didn''t seem like much, but with the number he had to kill, the exp loss would be more than what it was worth.


    "I guess when he said he was a jack of all trades he wasn;''t joking. He knows his way around a gun." Brandonmented.


    The mystery of who Zain was began to grow in their minds. In the first ce they were curious after knowing about Kun, now another. The only normal one, or at least partially normal one seemed to be Pink.


    Just then, two more zombies started to charge toward Zain, they were mutated zombies, so unlike the others, they were actually trying to attack him. Footsteps from behind were heard, and Zain believed that it was Pink or Kuning to back him up. Yet, that was impossible, because they were busy fighting their own groups of zombies that were trying toe up from the side of him.


    When he saw the two swords shing both zombies'' heads though, he knew it was neither.


    "I don''t want to lose out." Tod smiled. "Maybe one day, you might even surpass me in sword skills. So I can''t get rusty, and let you do all of the work."


    Looking at his sword mastery now being level three, and seeing how slow it was going up from killing these Zombies, Zain smiled back.


    "Maybe one day." Zain smiled, thinking that the system was a blessing. Once his sword skill levelled up a few times, he would be able to go back to that ce, and see just how far he could progress. Perhaps that was the time he could challenge Tod again.


    Tod continued forward, hacking and shing against the zombies. Blood and flesh were sttering all over the ce in different directions, but it never got on his face. Tod had a helmet with a stic covering that covered his face. It looked simr to the ones which the swat and police would wear during riots and unrests. It was clearly part of their squad uniform from before. However, Tod was the only one of the group that was wearing one at the moment.


    ''Is it to stop the blood from getting into his eyes? That would make sense then.'' Zain thought. ''Since he fights in close quartersbat style, he would need something like that. Most likely, blood entering any part of you''


    "Everyone, what are you doing?! Keep firing!" Brandon shouted, pulling the others out of their stupor, "Shoot the zombies from the side, make them only focus on the one in the centre, and get that damned traitor Stu!"


    At the same time, no matter how good Tod and Zain were in killing, hacking and shing zombies, as well with the weapon support, some zombies would still get through. Eventually even Zain would tire, so they needed to stop creating loud noise as soon as possible attracting the others, and the answer to that was Stu.<sub> </sub>


    Just like they thought, eventually Zombies were managing to climb the difficult stairs as they just crawled over their dead allies'' bodies, when running past Zain though there were others they needed to worry about. There was a second line of defence, with that being Pink.


    With her powerful kicks, she mmed one zombie right in the face sending it in the air. The strength was incredible. She no longer had to hold back with her strength making the zombies feel like nothing but skin and bones which was practically what some of them were. The flying Zombie did well to reach a distance as it crashed down into the horde below.


    Proud of her achievement two more zombies were approaching her. Just then, a couple of gunshots were heard next to Pink. It had hit the zombie but not in the head, it had caused the zombie to flinch but it wouldn''t stop moving. Soon after, arge foot hit the Zombie in the stomach, causing it to stumble and fall.


    "Judging from the way you made thatst one fly, I thought I would have been able to do the same but it doesn''t seem like it.I''m actually happy that you''re with us." A deep loud voice called out. And turning her head, Pink could see therge man that she had fought with Max.


    The fighting continued, with most of the group being able to stop the Zombies from reaching the top of the stairs, but as Zain and Tod went in deeper, it meant more zombies were starting to go around them and get through.


    ''These damn neers, they''re ruining everything!'' Stu grunted, as the veins on his neck bulged, his arms were aching, his body was burning up as well. He could still think but was unsure how much longer he would exactly be himself. ''You guys like to show off, don''t you? Because of you, because of you I have be a zombie! If I have to live a life like this, then all of you should too!''


    Pulling out his gun, Stu aimed carefully, he had a handgun as well as a semi-automatic, on top of that he was the best shooter in the squad.


    "I''ll take care of the big guy first, that will give the people a shock!" Pulling out the handgun, Stu had it aimed perfectly and was ready to pull the trigger until.


    Several loud gunshots were heard, and Stu was suddenly hit in the hand.


    "Sh*t!" Stu shouted as he hid behind a body. "Who could shoot from that far away!"


    Stu tried to peek behind a zombie to see who it was, but more bullets wereing his way. Eventually, he managed to get a good look, and it was the neer who wore the stupid scarf around his face for some reason.


    "It''s him! Stu was shocked.


    "Zain!" Kun shouted, as he quickly fired at the zombies at the front, making them fall down, and pulled out his automatic gun, and began to fire, making a rtively clear way. "Let me deal with that guy. I think he has some type of grudge against me."


    Seeing Kun fight like this for the first time, Zain was beyond impressed. When going up against the zombies before, Zain didn''t really have much of an impression on Kun, but it seemed like his skills really shone when he was using weapons of all things.


    ''It must have something to do with the Reborn group.'' Zain thought.


    "Sure, you go deal with Stu, we...need to deal with the two Titans." Zain said, looking at the two huge zombiesing towards them.


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 131 The Exp Farmer

    Due to the situation, now Ryan and the people on top of the stairs had met with their first group of zombies. They began to swing their weapons aiming for either their legs to topple them or their heads to finish them off in one hit.


    The melee weapon practice they had been going through with Tod sure came in handy, and the fact that they were lined up at the top of the stairs helped as well. Because of this, no one really had time to focus on the situation below anymore, apart from Brandon.


    The sound of growling came from the bottom side, and ncing for a second where the zombie was, he had put a bullet through its head as he continued to watch the others.


    "Are they going to make it, or are we going to have to change our ns?" Brandon thought. It was then that he saw something unbelievable, something he never thought he would witness.


    Out of all the neers, Kun had decided to charge in deeper into the zombies, and he was fearless doing so as he ran past them toward the location of Stu. While doing this as well Brandon noticed that for some reason, the other Zombies weren''t heading toward him.


    ''How can he run in like that? Is he not scared of getting bitten. Now that I look at them, there all like that, there fearless. Not even Tod canpletely act like that, yet these guys can. Is there something that they know that we don''t?''


    Regardless, Brandon had soon lost sight of where Kun had gone. All he could hope was that Stu would be dealt with, and they could deal with the rest of these guys. Instead, his view now had changed to the main attraction, Zain. He was going to witness first hand how he nned to take on the Titan of a Zombie.


    Zain stood there, allowing the zombies to go right past him as he looked at the two titans. He had reached the bottom of the stairs, so they were now on level flooring again.


    ''I guess I don''t have to worry too much about using guns this time.'' Zain thought since constant bangs were going off in the area.


    In terms of strength or agility, Zainhadn''tt improved muchpared to thest time he had fought one of these things, and it was a close call. The only thing that had increased was his sword mastery and the strong allies he had gathered, but he coudln''t use them in this situation.


    "First, let''s get both of your attention," Zain said as he lifted the handgun and shot out two bullets, both of them hitting the head of the Titans. After that, he ran forward toward one on his left that was closer.


    It was already in the middle of lifting itsrge fist as it powers up, and Zain knew that it had a slight increase in speed as it threw out the punch giving it a devastating blow. When in range, the Titan threw down itsrge fist. Zain spun himself, and his sword had hit therge fist, pushing it to the side lightly and causing him to dodge.


    The fist mmed into a zombie instead crushing its bones as it hit the ground and caused arge crack and imprint to be left behind. Along with guts and blood of the dead.


    "Still just as storng as alwasy but there are some chinks in your armour!" Zain stated as he went ahead and stabbed right between the elbow joint of the Titan. On its body the thick ck substance was almost like armour.


    And like any armour not the entirety of the body could be covered and this was what Zain was aiming for, the only thing was, although his attack was a sess and the sword had stabbed through, the muscles were strong as well.


    Zain wanted to slice the joint, breaking it, causing one of its arms to no longer be in action, but that didn''t happen at all. Instead the Titan had tensed up its muscles and lifted its arm up in the air, when doing so it had lifted Zain up with it.


    Now in the air, Zain was prime ready to be a punching bag. The other fist of the Titan was ready to throw, and just then Zain swung his body forward, pulling the sword out andnding on the Titan''s chest, letting go of his gun and allowing it to drop to the floor as he clinged onto the Titan''s neck.


    "AHRMM!" the Titan shouted and screamed right next to Zain''s ear. Spinning around kicking off the Titan''s arm, Zain had changed position, so he was now behind it. With the sword in his hand, just like before, he looked at the opening on the Titan''s back te.


    The sword was lifted into the air and constantly was being stabbed into it again and again.


    ''I just have to remember to jump off. Before it falls on its back likest time, these things seem to all act in the same way.''


    Just as Zain thought about this though, he noticed something else. He needed to act fast and using the neck, he swung his legs. Zain changed his position back to the front of the Titan, now he''s head was directly in front of the other and decided to let go dropping him back to the ground.


    Momentster, arge bang was heard, and the Titan stumbled right in front of Zain. Rolling underneath its arms, he was able to avoid it falling on him, and it was a good thing he did because it had copsed a secondter, and now he could see what had urred.<sub> </sub>


    Because standing over the fallen Titan. It was another Titan. Just before Zain was about to jump off, he could see the Titan was winding up a punch, ready to throw one at him. This was never in his original n, he wanted to take them out one at a time, but it seemed like therge zombies had a small brain or at least a low level of intelligence.


    When looking at the Titan that was now on the ground, the back te, the hard amrou was cracked, it waspletely broken. It slowly started toe up off the ground, and the ck hardened pieces fell.


    "Well, it looks like there is an easy way to get rid of both of you," Zain stated.


    Running forward, Zain picked up his gun and started to fire at one of the Titans to get its attention, just like he did before. Their movements were slow, so he could round them in a way, so they were getting closer and closer to each other.


    Then finally, when they were at the right distance, Zain would just have to fire a bullet at each of them to get their attention. The timing was perfect. Both of them had disregard for the space around them. They were unaware of what was happening as they threw a fist right at each other both shing and breaking away their heavy armour.


    All Zain had to do now was y it safe and repeat this a few times, and eventually, both of the Titans had fallen. He had managed to trick one of them into hitting the other''s head, killing it on the spot, then with the Titan with its back open, Zain could do what he did before, giving him an angle to shoot the Titan''s brain from inside the zombie itself.


    [Due to the difficulty of the situation, extra exp will be awarded for your kills]


    [2000 exp]


    [2000 exp]


    [7,513/17,721 exp]


    [The exp boost will now remain during the event of the quest]


    At first Zain was going to help Kun find Stu. Get rid of him so he couldplete the quest and get the golden reward, but now seeing this message another thought came into his head.


    Looking around he could see quite a few mutated zombies in the crowd of zombies.


    ''If I only targeted the mutated zombies, or another Titan appeared I could use this situation to my advantage, and continue to level up.''


    It was then that Zain lifted his gun and shot a bullet through two of the mutated zombies; he had missed a shot but ended up killing two of them still.


    [20 exp has been gained]


    [20 exp has been gained]


    ''Maybe it won''t be so bad if this thing went on for a little longer. I''ll leave it to Kun just like he said, for me, it''s time for me to farm.'' Zain inwardly smiled as he went deeper into the group of zombies not killing any of the regrs and allowing more of them to get through and up onto the staircase.


    ****


    Thank you everyone for supporting LUV so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUV in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 132 We Are The Same

    Now only Pink was the only one from the neers that was left on the staircase, she was fighting side by side with Max, but the two of them slowly had to go back up toward the front entrance of the museum.


    There was one thing she was nothing, although Max was impressive with his hand to handbat skills and was decent using weapons, he was tiring out rtively fast, and it wasn''t just him but it was true for the rest of them as well.


    ''Normal people can only fight for about 5 minutes if they haven''t been trained. The initial adrenaline rush they had when the zombies first came out, it has to be starting to fade by now. They aren''t like me.'' Pink thought, as she dived in front of Max and kicked another Zombie right at the back of the kegs causing its to fall.


    Then, with the de on the top of her foot out, she kicked it in the head, stabbing it and killing it in one go. The strength of the kick had caused the head to bend back, snapping it.


    "More zombies areing up. We should head back to the entrance!" Max shouted, huffing and panting.


    Pink looked back down into the group of zombies, even Tod was starting to move back, and he seemed to have more staminapared to the rest of them, but the only ones she couldn''t see were Kun and Zain.


    "I''m sorry about your friends, they were brave and a little crazy, but I somewhat think that''s why they were able to fight so well in the first ce. They knew they weren''t going to survive this, so let''s not let their sacrifice be in vain." Max stated.


    Pink, Tod and Max decided to head back up the stairs, as more zombies followed them, and went to join the wall of people on the top tform.


    "By the way, those two, they won''t die so easily, don''t count them out yet. If I''m still alive and kicking, then they definitely are." Pink said with a smile.


    It was absurd to think anyone who went into the middle of the horde could survive, but Brandon, who had seen Kun just charge in, felt like there might just be a reason behind Pink''s confidence.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    In the middle of the zombie horde, in the street, it was packed with zombies, not quite so packed that one was unable to move without touching them, but there were slow moving zombies just plodding, their feet with their arms stretched out, heading to the front of the museum.


    Kun was moving between these Zombies as he moved closer to a certain someone and he was using the zombies for cover for a good reason.


    Just then, a few shots were heard, and Kun rolled on the ground, between the zombies, the bullets had hit them, killing them on the spot, and hiding behind arge male zombie''s body, Kun stayed there for a while until the bullets stopped.


    "Come on!" Stu shouted from an unknown direction. Kun wasn''t going to peek his head out and get shot. "Aren''t you meant to be some super talented agent, right? What are you part of the SAS or something?


    "Is that why they admired you?"


    Pulling out just his hand, Kun fired a few shots with his hand gun, it was blind fire without leaking his head. He just shot in the direction where he heard the voice wasing from.


    "Let me guess, you were bit, right?" Kun shouted back. "You got angry, you went out to vent your frustration, and you lost your concentration and got bit. Now you''re ming the whole shelter just because you couldn''t control your anger."


    Several more shots were heard, and Kun continued to stay behind therge zombie. It did well to take the bullets.


    "You think you know everything, look at who is going to live and who is going to die!" Stu shouted back.


    Kun then grabbed the zombie, digging his hand into its chest. With his fingers, he had made a wound that allowed him to dig into the skin and the fibre muscle, while at the same time, he held the hand gun firmly in his other hand.


    "People like you are all over the world. It''s the same all over you''re no different. You never take ountability for your own actions and are always trying to me what happens to you on other people!" Shouting these words Kun, then using his newfound strength, he lifted the zombie off the ground.


    With his hand dug into the chest of the zombie he had quite the strength, and the grip to do something like this and was reminded of a conversation he had back with Pink.


    ¡ª¡ª


    "I think you should take it," Pink said as she handed over the tier 2 crystal.<sub> </sub>


    "Wait, but we dealt with that Titan together. Isn''t there a way we can like split this, absorb the energy half and half?" Kun replied.


    "It seems like I have, I don''t know, I think I evolved after absorbing so many crystals," Pink replied. "I''ll be honest, I don''t think me absorbing this crystal would do anything right now, it''s better in your hands."


    Thinking back, Kun and Pink had absorbed the same amount of crystals and although he did feel like he had gotten stronger, he didn''t feel this sense of a new person and evolution the same as Pink had done.


    "I know what you''re thinking." Pink said. "But I wouldn''t worry about it too much. You know how Zain thinks of this whole thing like a game. Maybe we should start thinking that way as well, and if this really was a game well.


    "It just means you have a higher amount of exp to fill before getting to the next level. Im not sure you understand what I''m saying, but usually those that require more Exp to level up, as Zain would say, are the ones that be incredibly strong in the future."


    Taking the crystal, Kun had decided to absorb it while everyone was resting up.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Lifting the zombie in the air by two inches, Kun, was starting to run forward. He ran and ran and the bullets were being shot again and again toward him. Due to the sound and bullets it allowed Kun to know exactly where Stu was, and when he was finally there, he threw the Zombie body right towards his direction, and rolled to the side.


    Stu, had moved out of the way, avoiding the zombie that had been thrown at him, and pulled out his gun trying to aim it toward whoever was behind it, but before he could, Kun had ced his hand on the gun, and pulled it.


    In seconds he started to dismantle the hand gun, pulling it apart into pieces and dropping them all on the floor.


    "Arghh!" Stu shouted as he went to kick Kun, right on the side. Lifting up his knee, Kun had blocked the hit.


    When seeing this, Stu started to smile as a thought ran through his head, and pulling himself closer to Kun he opened his mouth wide and bit down right on his arm, soon after Kun had let go of Stu, allowing him to fall to the floor.


    Stu startedughing like a madman.


    "HAHAH, well look at that. Now you will be like me!" Stu imed. "Your little guess form before was right. I was scratched and I can tell slowly that my mind is rotting away. Do you know why I could do all of this, I could fight without caring. Without caring about anybody!


    "At first, I thought I might have had a chance, but when the zombies no longer attacked me, I knew, I knew that they saw me as one of them, and now¡­now that I have bitten you as well. You will turn into one of them.


    "Now you can feel the same sense of despair as I have done!" Stu continued tough as he looked at Kun, but looking into his eyes, he didn''t seem scared at all. This wasn''t the reaction he was expecting from someone who had just been bit.


    "Look around you," Stu replied. "Do you see any of the zombies attacking me right now? Why do you think that is?"


    Stu looked to his left and right, and it was true all of the zombies around were ignoring both of them. Which led him to a realization.


    "You¡­you have been bit as well¡­they let an infected into the base. That''s just great. Still, I get to have the pleasure of knowing that you too will be like me." Stuughed.


    Raising his hand, it looked like Kun was about to finish him off, but instead, his hand reached around for the scarf that was covering his face. Then he had pulled it away, revealing the marking on his face showing part of his teeth.


    "No¡­we are not the same. You see, I''m not turning into a zombie, I was already a zombie."


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 133 Getting The Horde

    Hearing Kun''s words, Stu was left speechless. His mouth was hanging wide open as his brain went through aplete meltdown. The images in front of him were starting to be distorted, and he didn''t know if it was because he was turning or because of what he was seeing right now.


    "You¡­ you''re a zombie! Wait, do you mean you always have been?" Stu asked, confused. Whatever the case was, he realised something he could now cling on to as hope. "You mean there is a chance I can be like you?! Can I still keep my mind? Tell me! Tell me what to do!"


    Kun looked at Stu up and down, who was on the ground. Thetter held his hands together as he begged for the secret to bing a conscious zombie.


    "Did you just forget about everything that you attempted to do? The fact that you just tried to gather a whole horde of zombies to storm your own group?! Did you have a memory loss, or do you truly think I will pity you and help you survive in any way?"


    While these words, Kun noticed that more significant changes were happening to Stu, his skin was turning more a dull grey, his eyes were starting to hollow out as well, and the veins on his neck were beginning to bulge.,


    "No, I won''t save you...you will now turn and be what you hate," Kun said as he kicked Stu''s chest and pinned him to the ground with his leg. Around twenty secondster, Stu had finished his transformation and had turned into a zombie.


    It was strange that he hadsted this long. Perhaps a person''s willpower can affect the rate of transformation, and when Stu found out that he had lost and caught, all of that willpower holding him on dispersed, and he gave in.


    The truth was, Kun had no clue how to turn others like him, but even if he did, he would have never done a favour for someone like Stu. Kun just wanted to make sure that while Stu turned, he thought about his actions and the fact that he could have been saved if he hadn''t acted so stupid and betrayed his own people.


    "We don''t need another zombie like you in this world," Kun said, lifting his leg and using all his strength to stomp on Stu''s head, breaking the skull and killing him in one go. The man, the person who had caused all of this mess, was finally dealt with.


    It was somewhat pathetic and scary at the same time that a single person could cause so much trouble. In a world where there was danger all around them, they still had to worry about other humans the most.


    When looking around, Kun noticed that the horde of zombies was still there. They were stillrge in numbers, reaching close to a thousand. Now that there weren''t anymore gunshots, it would mean the number wouldn''t increase by too much.


    However, with a group of hundred people, most of them being untrained, they would have to take out at least ten zombies per person.


    ''That will be impossible for them, and the others are still shooting even though Stu stopped. Hopefully, Brandon will notice it soon. He''s a smart guy, he reminds me of Shark. Still, something needs to be done, or they''ll all end up dying, and I don''t really think Zain could care less if they survive or not.'' Kun thought as he started to rack his brain and began to look around to see what or where exactly Zain was.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Zain had been swinging his sword nonstop. Ever since he had found out that the mutated zombies he killed would give him 20 exp, he had been rushing through them all.


    The mutated zombies no longer posed a threat to Zain. He could take them out in a single swing with his sword skill. This was making his task easier, and slowly, seeing the exp go up, he could see how close he was to level up.


    Using the system, he spotted another mutated Zombie and ran right towards them, thrust his sword in its head before it could do anything.


    [+20 exp]


    [9,713/17,721 exp]


    ''I am already past the half and have only been fighting for around fifteen minutes. Will there ever be a chance to get this sort of exp boost? This sure is fun.''


    Zain''s emotional senses had long dulled, but for the first time in a while, he felt alive as he looked at the exp increase rapidly. This reminded him of ying all those survival games when the world was normal.


    That rush he had before was again here right now, only it was much more potent this time.


    ''But I need to get more.'' Just then, Zain noticed a Spitter within the horde. He hadn''t seen one in person for a while, but in a situation like this, where there was a horde around them, if the strange liquid was to get on him or anyone, it would worsen the situation.


    However, Zain wasn''t thinking too much about that and instead was just focused on the exp.


    ''I killed you in training in a child''s body, with a weaker sword mastery at that time, so taking out something like you here is not going to be a big deal.''


    ¡ª¡ª


    At the museum entrance staircase, the group had lost three people so far. One man was bitten on his shoulder before he could push the zombie away. It was an older gentleman, a father who had already lost his children but was too afraid of death to do anything.<sub> </sub>


    It was in this battle that he had decided to offer himself up to protect against the horde in the hopes that the younger ones could live.


    When he was bit, he knew it was his end, so instead of doing nothing, he ran forward, pushed the zombie off the staircase, and leapt, crashing himself and the zombie into others iing from below.


    A group of zombies seemed to swarm the man, choosing to eat him rather than let him turn.


    The other two that perished faced a simr fate. They were a university couple, a young man and a woman. When the situation took a bad turn, the woman who was tired abandoned her partner.


    He was eaten and bitten down before anyone coulde to help, and while she was getting away, a zombie grabbed her leg and dragged her across the ground. It was only because of her partner in the first ce that the zombies were unable to get to her.


    However, these three were a small number of losses for what they had aplished, but everyone knew that if this battle prolongs, more people would begin to give up and will begin to slip up more and more, and with every death, the pressure on the others would also increase.


    That''s when Brandon noticed something.


    "Everyone, cease fire!" Brandon shouted.


    He had been looking out on the field for a while now and observing the whole battlefield. Earlier, he had noticed there was no more sh of light or a bang heard in the distance. He had been keeping an eye and waited for a few minutes just in case.


    ''Did he do it? Did he really manage to stop Stu? Or did he just turn into one of those zombies?'' Brandon thought. "Everyone, pick up your weapons. The shooting has stopped, this is thest of them."


    Ryan, hearing this, smiled as he looked back at his people.


    "If we can get through this, then we can survive!" Brandon shouted as he swung his baseball bat, killing one of the zombies on the tforms and went towards the end of the stairs to look at just how many zombies there were left. Still, the number was far higher than he imagined and truthfully, even he was finding it hard to stay positive in a situation like this.


    That was until they heard gunfire once again. Several gunshots resounded a bit further and far off in the distance. The shes were away from them, and the shots were getting further away.


    The zombies towards the bottom, and even those on the stairs, were turning their heads.


    Immediately, Ryan took this opportunity and turned to everyone putting his index fingers on his lips and alerting all the others to be quiet.


    As the bangs continued, the noise began to attract the zombies, and they started to walk down the stairs. The few closer to the top could smell the humans and were stilling after them, but the numbers were far fewer.


    "I think we were just saved." Brandon''s words reached everyone''s ear.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Off in the distance, Kun hade up with a n, he would make them go away the same way they were brought here. He didn''t have to worry about getting bit, so running in another direction, he continued to fire and would split off from them and join the restter.


    At the same time, Zain could also tell the zombies around him were leaving. The Spitter was there on the ground, dead.


    [11,713/17,721 exp]


    [Quest has beenpleted]


    [A gold card will now be rewarded]


    ''It looks like they made it.'' Zain smiled. ''And I got another card.''


    ****


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 Chapter 134 Completing The Quest

    [Forpleting the quest, additional rewards have been given.]


    [+5000 exp]


    [Congrattions you have leveled up]


    [You are now level 7]


    [1,092/29,865 Exp]


    ''It looks like it was a good thing I decided to join in this thing after all. On top of the gold card, now 5000 exp as well. After defeating all those zombies it was finally enough for me to level up.'' Zain thought.


    However, looking at his exp bar, and the requirements to reach the next level¡­ it was going to be a tall order.


    In the first ce, each level up only rewarded him with one extra stat point. So although he grew stronger, it wasn''t as if it was by leaps and bounds.


    Fighting against the Stage 2 zombies, such as the Titans and Spitters, did have its risks. Perhaps if he had chosen the other sses, he might have received more stat points for improving himself physically.


    Perhaps things were just harder for him, in a levelling up sense, because he had yet to use his little army to fight zombies. On top of that, if he used his zombies to turn humans,  that would also be an easy exp boost as well.


    As for what to do with the stat point, of course Zain was going to use it straight away.


    [Agility 0>>>>>1]


    There was still one stage 2 Zombie that Zain had seen in Shark''s diagrams, and that strange cave, that he had yet to see in real life, and its speed was beyond what Zain could handle.


    If he wanted to be something that could take on anyone with his own strength, just in case, then he needed to be able to increase his stats so they were able to do so as well.


    As most of the zombies started to clear out of the area, Zain stood on the street for a while. His nose had been picking up something for a while now and during the fight he had caught glimpses of them.


    In the apartment windows, behind the convenience store and down the alley, they were those that were watching them. Watching the entire group fight against the horde the whole time, and specifically were watching him as well.


    ''Were they military? Or maybe just part of the other groups?'' Zain thought. Either way, the best thing to do is leave them for now. It doesn''t look like they''re nning to attack, and I need to see what is up with the others.''


    ¡ª¡ª


    At the top of the museum, the area had been cleared. Pink had finished off most of the remaining zombies that had lingered and were crawling up the staircase. She used the front of her toe most of the time to give them a quick end.


    As for the rest of them, they didn''t even have time to mourn over those who had died, instead they justid there at the front of the museum, on the floor breathing heavily, their mouths dry and their hands shaky.<sub> </sub>


    "Everyone this is a rest well deserved for you all." Ryan said. "Because of everyone''s efforts here, not only have you saved your lives but also of those inside as well."


    The SWAT team were the ones that were able to recover the fastest, and they were also used to being in this type of scenario. The first thing they did was make sure nobody had any wounds on them.


    After that, the dead zombie bodies were moved off to the side, including those on the staircase. Although they weren''t taken offpletely as Ryan imed their bodies made good obstacles.


    "I''m okay." Pink said, as Max went and approached her. "Do you think someone like me could get bit?"


    She opened her arms and revealed herself showing no such marks. In truth, inside she was just hoping that Max would give her the benefit of the doubt, and he had done that as he turned away.


    "If I didn''t get bit or scratched, then I know they couldn''t haveid a finger on you," Max said with a thumbs up, but in truth, he did notice that Pink seemed to be worried when he was approaching her.


    "Look¡­ they''re still alive." Dave, the university student with his square sses, said as he pointed at the staircase.


    The top of their heads could be seen, and a red haired student as well as a long haired rock star with a mask around his face could be seen. Kun and Zain had somehow made it, even though they had dived deep into fighting the zombies.


    "How strong are these guys, how were they able to get out of the Horde alive, it makes no sense." Another said.


    "I don''t know, did you see how skillful they were. I mean if they were able to do that, and take out Titans then maybe they could survive anything."


    When Kun and Zain met, the two of them talked for a bit, and asked about what the other had done. Kun after shooting his gun and leading the zombies away, it was rtively easy for him to get back.


    On top of that, he had done as he said he would by getting rid of Stu. Honestly, with his quick thinking and decision making, Zain thought Kun was a good asset to have, even better than before.


    "You two are something else," Ryan said with a big smile on his face. "Honestly, I would love for everyone to give you a big cheer, here and now, but that might just attract more of the zombies.


    "Although I am interested, just how did the two of you manage to survive?"


    When asking this question, Ryan was thinking back to when he saw Kun, the zombies didn''t seem to be attacking the two of them.


    Kun didn''t say a word, and wanted Zain to answer, but before they even could speak, the door was opened to the museum.


    "Sir Ryan¡­ we really need your help inside, we don''t know what to do?" One of the squad members said.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 135 Clearing A Debt

    A few men were left outside to stand as guards while all the others returned inside. There was a huge smile on everyone''s face as they were relieved to see that nearly everyone had survived the ordeal.


    Inside the museum, there were around fifty people, and half of the group was deemed unable to fight for whatever reason. They were either too young, weak, or elderly. Still, all of them were proud of the ones who had decided to risk their lives for theirs and were willing to try and make up for it in other ways.


    Whether it was massaging them, getting them supplies, making the clothes, or cleaning the area for them, they would do what they could to help and settle down the ones who had fought against the zombie horde and saved everyone''s lives.


    Ryan and others followed the panicked man, and they eventually entered the room where they had isted the infected people. The man then told Ryan and the others to stand by the door since he was the only one with a mask on, whereas they didn''t have any for themselves.


    <o>,m From the door, they could all see the state of the sick people inside. They were coughing non stop, and a metal bowl was ced by the side. In the metal bowl itself, blood could be seen, and on top of that, it was on the sheets that had covered them as well.</o>


    "I know we just went through one problem and managed to survive that, but the sickness is getting worse. More and more people are coughing. Whatever this is, it''s spreading fast. We need to find a cure or find out what it is." The man said to everyone.


    Ryan looked at Zain and Brandon ufortably. On top of that, Pink had rushed to her sick mother''s side. The man wanted to stop her, but Kun grabbed his hand to not let him block her.


    The three figured that due to them being Reborn humans, this disease wouldn''t really affect them.


    "We need to leave straight away. We will take one of the patients with us." Brandon said, "Everyone else should stay here just in case another attack is to happen. Are you still up foring?"


    When Brandon asked this question, he was looking at Zain, knowing thetter was the decision maker. Pink had pleading eyes, and either way, Zain knew she would go.


    "I''ll carry my mother. No one else should get sick, and after she is treated, we will get the medication that is required ande back here. Heck! We will bring the doctor back with us if we have to!" Pink shouted.


    Understanding the situation, Zain made up his mind.


    "Fine, we will go, but only if you tell me everything you know about the Rebron group and the second I notice you''re lying, I''ll leave from here." Zain outright said.


    These words surprised Ryan, but judging by the nod that Brandon had given, it looked like thetter did know something after all.


    "We can talk about it on the way. We have to get to the hospital right now."


    Soon, some wooden nks were gathered to create a small makeshift bed, and then it was tied around Pink, and now she was able to carry her mother on her back.


    Everyone was quite surprised by the strength she disyed, which she wasn''t hiding anymore. In fact, she didn''t really care. Although this would still restrict her movement, she still needed to be the one to carry her mother.


    In no time, a team of five, or six if one was to count Pink''s mother, walked out of the museum. Kun, Pink, Zain, Brandon, and Dave from the University group. ording to Brandon, due to thetter''s innocent face and sweet tongue, he had a knack for convincing people and calming them down.


    Since they were going to ask another group for a favour, they thought they could use him well in this type of situation.


    "I''m happy to be working with you. I hope if I am in danger, you can help me out, and I will try to do the same." Dave said with a thumbs up toward Zain.<sub> </sub>


    "Let''s just get moving. We have to get there before it''s dark and may even have to stay the night."


    While leaving the museum, Zain also began to check his system. He then opened the Horde tab to check his horde''s status. He hadn''t had the chance or time to add more members to his Horde. Still, the main group was there, and he wanted to order them to move along with him.


    After all, there might be a situation where he could use his horde to get out of it.


    ''I might as well check out what exactly this gold card will do as well. Maybe it can give me something else. Last time, I got the skill to turn other zombies into horde members, and it was very useful. Let''s see what I get this time.''


    [Gold reward card has been used]


    ¡ª¡ª


    At that moment in the hospital, one of the groups had returned, and they had all met with the doctor to give him their report.


    "Is what you''re saying true?" The doctor asked. "That the museum managed to survive an entire horde attack of that size?"


    "Yes, sir, and the reports about the others we saw, the ones who helped them, are true as well." The man gulped.


    "Very well." The doctor waved off his hand, brushing them away. "You have recovered your debt to me fromst time. You may all leave."


    Seated on his chair, the doctor was left in his thoughts as he thought about the reports that hade in.


    "Those three certainly sound impressive. It is clearly because of them that the museum group even managed to survive. It makes me wonder, they clearly can''t be normal. I wonder if they are Superhuman as well? Have they figured out the secret to unlocking such a thing?


    "I¡­need more subjects." The doctor said as he stood up and zipped up the fly on his trousers.


    "You have paid your debt as well. You may leave."


    Just then, a woman appeared from underneath his desk, whipping saliva from her mouth as she stormed out of the room with tears running down her face.


    "What a beautiful world we live in." The doctor smiled.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 136 Through The Eyes Of Others

    The usual three had almost forgotten that they were now travelling with humans because Pink and the others were just going to walk through the streets filled with zombies. Luckily, Brandon was the one leading the way and instead chose a route of alleyways, streets and more to get to the hospital while avoiding zombies and also picked the quickest path possible.


    Every time Pink''s mother coughed, the former could feel how violent it was for her. She could feel the vibrations on her back, and sometimes her mother would even spit blood on her hand while coughing.


    "Hey, I don''t want to be a downer or anything," Dave said, pushing his sses up on his nose. The group were currently down an alleyway looking at the street, trying to see how clear it was for them. "But, if your mom is already in this state, I don''t think we will be able to save the others by the time we get back because it looks really serious."


    Pink turned to Dave and almost reached out to break his sses in half, but as she moved her hand, Zain was the one who had grabbed her arm to stop her. Although he could easily stop her with his strength, she had stopped herself upon realising what was about to happen.


    "He is right, we are moving too slowly, we can go directly to the hospital via the streets, and I know something that will work," Zain said as he looked back in the alleyway at some dead bodies.


    He told the others to cover themselves in dead body parts to disguise their scent. This made sense to them, and it seemed like Brandon had already somewhat known this as well, but there was another reason why Zain had suggested this.


    It gave him and his friends a sneaky chance to consume some meat on the side to regain their energy while covering their bodies. After therge fight, they needed to replenish their energy, but they were constantly around people and couldn''t afford to take the risk of consuming meat.


    Since the act was quite disgusting in itself anyway, everyone somewhat did it while looking away from each other, making it easy for them to consume some flesh. As for Pink''s mother on the former''s back, she couldn''t see anything anyway.


    After secretly eating food and getting their bodies covered with guts and blood, they resumed walking down the street. Dave found this task the hardest as he nearly threw up doing such a thing, and the smell constantly made him gag.


    "Keep in mind that this won''tpletely disguise your smell. It will just make it harder." Zain started telling them not to get too close to the zombies. Since at a close distance, zombies could still react.


    Besides, there always seemed to never be too many zombies at once on the streets. Only when an extremely loud noise or event went off would the zombies gather in a single area and form a horde.


    While the group were walking down, Zain decided to look at the reward he had received from the system once again.


    [Gold Card reward received]


    [You have received a new skill. ''Through the eyes of others'']


    [This skill can be used on any other members of the Horde]


    [It allows the users to transfer their state of mind to another Horde member giving him full control over the member''s body.]


    [Commands must be given to the original body before one is to use the skill.]<sub> </sub>


    The Gold card was impressive, and as Zain had guessed, it was another skill. Although he had only received one other Gold card before, he was hoping for it to be another skill because they were precious and helped him greatly in many ways to sustain himself in his zombie lifestyle and once again, it had done the same thing.


    ''I can think of so many uses for this skill already. For example, rather than giving orders, if I want, I can just take control of Cobra and use his speed in a fight, Or if Skittle was amped up with super strength, I could change to him as well.


    ''The problem is, what exactly does my real body do in that situation and how safe is it to do such a thing?''


    Honestly, Zain wanted to test it right away rather than in a situation when he needed it. If he was caught or trapped, he could always transfer himself to the others and fight in their body.


    Seeing how this was a gold reward, Zain started to think just what the tinum and diamond rewards were like, and maybe after the current objectives were achieved, he could focus on finding one of the meteorites since he had improved a lot since thest time.


    "Kun, do you mind keeping an eye on me for a bit? I feel a bit light-headed, and I think my body might zone out for a second or so." Zain said as the two of them continued walking at the end of the group.


    Kun thought it was a strange request, but then again, he had seen Zain act strange before, so he decided to go along with it. If thetter''s body suddenly went limp, he would just carry him.


    [Skill ''Through the eyes of others'' has been used]


    A system message simr to that he would use to control the Horde members hade up, and for now, he had just set himself to protect Kun. It didn''t seem like anything dangerous was happening, and he would only test this for a few seconds.


    His vision went nk for a few seconds, and shortly after, he could now see that he was in an apartment room. Not just him, but Jam, War, Corba and of course Skittle, who Zain currently body he was in.


    ''I can move everything just fine...I really am in Skittle''s body?'' Zain thought.


    Bringing up the system, it also showed him as Skittle, and he could see his current stats. The ability was beyond what he had imagined. While testing out Skittle''s body, throwing a few punches here and there to check movement, he heard a few people talking, and it sounded like it wasing from directly underneath.


    "There''s nothing in this room. Let''s go and check the next one." The voice said.


    ''There are people...near my horde members.'' Zain frowned.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 137 Knock Knock

    Transferring his mind into Skittle was literally a transcendent experience for Zain. For the first few seconds, it was hard toprehend that he was in an entirely new body. His height was much lower than what he was used to, and it was almost as if he had just been transported.


    The thing was, the concept was quite normal in video games, to switch between characters that one controlled. However, it made sense for it to work in a video game. After all, a game was just a program that allowed one to do what they intended, but here it was different.


    This was real life, so just how in the world was such a thing possible, especially with the current technology? Another thing that confused Zain was how he could even bring up the System now that he was in Skittle''s body.


    Was the System something inherently his now and not in his body but in his mind instead? Was he truthfully going crazy? It was hard to say, but he knew he needed to use everything he could to survive.


    This was why, the moment he heard those voices from below, he began to panic. Then, somewhat calming himself down, he began to move the horde bit by bit. Every time he went down a few blocks, he would tell them to do the same and would hide them in an apartment while checking by himself if the coast was clear.


    This was just in case the group ran into any Stage 2 zombies along the way. At the same time, the system upgrade allowed him to see just how far his Horde members were, but the thing was, it didn''t show anyone else on the map other than himself.


    And now that he was in Skittle''s body and had Skittle''s senses, he could hear it, the voice from below, and from the way they were talking, without a doubt, they were humans.


    p ''I don''t know how big the apartment building is or what their goal is, but if they are going to continue searching room by room, they will eventually run into us.''</anda>


    Although Zain was confident that his group of super zombies could deal with anyone who walked through the door, there was always a chance of things going wrong, and he wanted to y it safe, which was why he had quickly moved back into his original body.


    "Everyone!" Zain said, causing them to turn around on the street. "There is somewhere I must go to right now. I know where the hospital is, I promise I''ll meet you guys there."


    Before anyone could even react, Zain started to run in apletely different direction. Brandon wanted to call out to him, but the task was more important, and he didn''t think Zain would abandon his friends with them if he wasn''t going to return, although he didn''t know Zain very well either.


    "Your leader is a strange one..but he''s kinda cool," Davemented. "I wonder what matter did he suddenly remember that made him so worked up. Don''t you guys have to follow him to help?"


    "We couldn''t even if we wanted to," Kun replied. "I have no clue what he''s doing. He can be strange like this sometimes. You know how university students are, just very impulsive."


    Looking at Pink, she didn''t even think of going after Zain and instead was still carrying her mother as she continued to walk towards the hospital.


    "I see, so you''re still going with that, huh? With the story that he''s a university student." Brandonmented.


    "But he is." Dave shrugged. "There were a few in our group who knew about him, he really is a university student, but based on his skills, I could see why everyone probably thinks he''s part of the army or something."


    Brandon scoffed at this fact because it was so unbelievable.


    "If he is a University student, then he must be some type of superhuman or something."<sub> </sub>


    "You might be right about this part," Kun replied. "But if you were to ask him yourself, I''m sure he would just tell you the same answer that he''s just a university student who likes to y many games."


    --


    While Zain was running towards Skittle and the others, he opened the system panel and was ready to use the skill again, only this time, he set an order for Zain to protect Skittle. This way, his body would run towards Skittle''s location. After setting things up, he again used the skill and found himself back in Skittle''s body in the apartment building.


    "Alright, the rest of you, I''m just hiding somewhere," Zain said as he instructed the others, and with their current intelligence, all of them seemed to somewhat understand hismands.


    As they hid behind sofas, under the beds, in the bathroom, or in any possible hiding spot, Zain decided to open the door and step out into the hallway.


    ''I must not forget that I am not in your own body, so if I have to fight, it''s going to feel different, and I don''t have my sword either...maybe it would be better if I was Cobra...but Skittle is the most important person for me.'' Zain thought, and he just felt morefortable directly controlling Skittlepared to anyone else.


    At that moment, he heard the voices from below once again.


    --


    In the apartment block, on the floor below, there was a group of humans, all dressed up in imalri clothing. They had ck leather clothing all over their bodies as if they were part of some type of gang.


    There were five of them in total, and they had weapons on themselves, including guns. Among them, there were two women and three males in total in the group. They had been going door to door in the apartment building and were ready to open the next one.


    A tall thin man with sunken eyeballs and dark ck bags under his eyes was at the front, and he had a small knife in his hand. Two zombies appeared in front of him when he kicked open the door.


    "These two are mine!" the man dered as he stepped into the room and threw two small knives in the air. He hadn''t thrown them towards the zombies though, he had thrown them just straight ahead, then, when they had reached a certain distance, he moved his hands, and the knives moved as well, going right through both of the zombie''s heads, killing them on the spot.


    "I did it. I''m getting better at using this!" the man cheered.


    A man with a perfect V-shaped body, with the same ck leather jacket on as the others, walked in front of him and stared down at the unmoving zombies. He had bushy eyebrows and a fierce straight look on his face as he then began to look around the room.


    "There doesn''t seem to be any more in here. Come on, let''s keep clearing this ce and get rid of all the zombies in this apartment."


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 138 Zombie Hunters (Part 1)

    The ck-clothed group, whose members were mostly wearing leather jackets and ck jeans, continued to search the apartment block, going through the rooms one by one. As they went inside, they would take turns in eliminating the zombies they would find in the apartments.


    Most of the apartment rooms'' locks were already broken in one way or another, so it was easy for them to enter the ce. However, the group of ck jackets weren''t ordinary people by any means.


    The slender man with ck eye bags was known as Sharp. His weapon of choice was knives of any kind; in fact, in difficult situations, he could make use of any objects he had in his hand. When fighting against the zombies, he would weaponise any object that he could control to a certain degree and move it in the air.


    This allowed him to fine-tune his aim when targeting the zombie''s heads or go around the corner to attack others if need be.


    Out of the group of five, he wasn''t the only one who could do special things. In fact, everyone in the group had something special that they could do. Entering the next apartment, the one who walked in front of the others this time was the man with a fine-toned v-shaped upper body and short brown hair. One might confuse him with a movie star if they were toe across him on a normal day..


    There were three zombies in the room, but he confidently walked into the room and began to punch the zombie with his fists. After a single hit, a loud fracture resonated in the room, and the zombie''s skull cracked. The fists themselves were heavy and hard, as if they were made out of metal, and that was because it was close to it.


    One of the other zombies noticed the human that was in the room and leapt right at the man, and that''s when he did something that no sane human would ever dare do. Unlike others, he had a sleeveless leather jacket which was strangepared to the rest. His arms, shoulders and forearms were all on disy which made his next set of actions even weirder as he shoved his forearm right into the Zombies mouth.


    As he did this, his forearm suddenly began to shine in a strange light and turned into what almost looked like a type of metal. As the zombie attempted to bite down, it was unable to get its teeth through the skin, only leaving at most a few scratch marks. And in the next second, a heavy fistnded right on top of the zombie''s skull crushing it to pieces as well and killing it on the spot.


    This man had a special power, and his name was Farris.


    Before Farris could go for the third zombie that was in the room, he suddenly noticed his female partner. Standing there with her long slender legs and long ck hair, with her leather jacket, she stood over the dead zombie.


    There were no weapons on her body, no guns or other things as well, but she had dealt with it quickly and silentlypared to the others.


    "Alright, I think all of you have had enough practice with your abilities." The woman said.


    "What about me, Wendy!" Hazel asked.


    Out of the entire group, Hazel was the most petite female; her ck leather jacket was actually two sizes too big for her, so the sleeves were covering her arms. She had a hairband in her hair, and her cheeks glowed a slight red, making it hard for anyone to believe that this type of person could survive in this world, and yet she had done.


    "I didn''t really get to try and use my powers," Hazel asked.


    Wendy turned around, and her face could be seen by the entire group. She had a crevice look, showing next to no expression to the others.<sub> </sub>


    "Our main goal is to get rid of the zombies," Wendy replied. "It''s okay to grow our powers and test them when things are safe, but the noise all this is making will attract more zombies towards us, and it''s starting to get a bit dark as well.


    "If we want to survive, then we need to fight together, cover each other''s backs and more. If this was a ga-"


    "We know!" Sharp moaned back. "If this was a game, then none of us would have survived. It''s all thanks to you, our group leader, that we have gotten this far. We have heard this again and again."


    Hearing these words, Wendy''s face went a shade redder from the embarrassment, but she soon cleared her throat.


    "I''m sorry, it''s just I have a lot of experience when ites to games with these types of things," Wendy said. "Anyway, from now on, we need to clear the rooms quicker, and we will all work together. Understand?"


    The others nodded, and they continued to rid the world of one zombie at a time. When exiting the room, the back of their ck leather jackets had white writing on, as if someone had painted something on them, and it had the words, Zombie Hunters.


    These weren''t a group of people that were trying to just survive in this world, they were actively going out with the task of ridding the world of zombies, and that''s what they would do.


    Exiting the door, they went down the hallway and were ready to go into the next room until the one at the very end of the group, who had long hair covering his entire face and his jacket zipped up with his hands in his pockets, said something.


    "One of them is moving fast,ing down the hallway."


    The group turned their heads, and right by the staircase, they could see rtively small zombies right in front of them. It had frozen in ce as it looked at them.


    "That''s a bit strange?" Sharp said. "Why is the zombie frozen and staring at us?"


    It was at that moment that Zain saw this person as well and knew that he should run.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 139 Zombie Hunters (Part 2)

    For thest few minutes, Zain was listening to the group of people and was wondering what exactly it was that they were doing, and he realised that they were searching every apartment room for some reason.


    It was only a matter of time before they discovered all the zombies in one of the rooms. Even if they tried to move as a group, there was a chance that they would be caught, which was why Zain, being in Skittle''s body, had two goals.


    One was to check out just what group was doing this. Was it the military? Or perhaps just some random people. If it was thetter, then maybe he would just use the whole horde to take them out and take their brains for safe keeping, leaving them be.


    This was why he decided to make a move and assess the situation. When reaching the staircase and looking down the hallway, there was an unfortunate coincidence of timing.


    As Zain looked them up and down, he noticed that they had no guns, it was a relief that it wasn''t military and he wouldn''t suddenly get shot, but that''s when he noticed something else as well.


    All of them had a confident look on their face, there was no worry, simr to that of those in the Reborn group, and at the same time, it looked like they almost had no weapons on them at all. To survive this long with no weapons, and with this level of confidence, was certainly not because of a dumb luck.


    rm bells were screaming in Zain''s head that these people were certainly trouble, and he needed to get out of there. With the current way he was now, without a doubt, they would know he was a zombie.


    Unlike in his own body, Zain didn''t have the usual pale grey skin, but Skittle did. Which meant, straight away, they would know.


    ''I can''t run back up. There is a chance that they will follow me¡­and if I fight¡­ that''s not a good idea. I don''t want to lose Skittle''s body, but honestly, while using this skill, I''m not even sure what will happen if I do die!'' Zain thought.


    That''s when he decided to make a break for it and continued running down the stairs.


    "That zombie¡­ it''s running away from us!" Sharp shouted.


    Out of all the zombies they had met, it was the first time anything like this had ever happened before, so of course, they were interested.


    "Let''s split up!" Wendy ordered. "Make sure that it can''t exit out the other staircase, and we will chase it from here!"


    Farris, and the long-haired man at the back, turned the other way, running to the staircase on the other side. At the same time, the others ran after Zain.


    While going down the stairs, he didn''t step into the next floor but rather continued running down. Looking up, he saw the one woman leading them had jumped over the staircase and was hanging over the handrail.


    ''What in the¡­'' Zain thought as he looked. The next second she dropped down and managed to grab the handrail beneath the next floor. The woman was athletic beyond belief, and even if Zain was in his body, he didn''t think he could do that.


    ''Okay, maybe the stairs aren''t a good way to throw them off. I need to go down the hallway. Right now, I really wish I had picked Cobra instead. He would have been able to outrun these guys.'' Zain thought.


    The second Zain took a right down the hallway, the female who was chasing him shouted.<sub> </sub>


    "He''s going down to the second floor!"


    Running down, Zain could see in front of him the two that had split up were nowing towards him and blocking his way forward.


    ''Skittle''s strength was upgraded to two points. Already as a zombie, one is naturally stronger, then at one point, its super strength and at two, I should be able to take these two guys out.'' Zain thought.


    When running straight ahead, at the right time, he threw a fist out as hard as he could from underneath. The others were surprised because they had never seen a zombie throw a punch.


    Immediately, Farris braced himself as he went ahead to turn his stomach to metal. As soon as the fist shed against his hard body, Farris felt his whole body being shifted backwards as he skidded across the floor, at the same time, Zain could feel that Skittle''s knuckles had broken.


    What he had hit wasn''t human flesh. It felt like he had gone up against a brick wall. Thankfully, there was no pain because Skittle was a zombie at the end of the day.


    ''What was that¡­ that zombie, it doesn''t look like a special type, and somehow, he managed to push back Farris that far? This zombie, there is definitely something strange about this zombie.'' Wendy frowned.


    "Sharp, slow it down, but don''t kill it!" Wendy ordered.


    Immediately, Sharp pulled out two small normal butter knives from his belt and threw them toward the zombie. Seeing this, Zain thought there was no chance that the knives would go toward him, but that''s when he saw the knives'' trajectory change.


    ''He can control them? And it looks like it''s going for my knees!'' Zain readied himself.


    It was then that Zain decided to act fast. He pulled at one of the doors of the apartment that was closest to him. With his strength, he could rip it off its hinge and use it as a shield at the right moment. The knives were stuck in the wooden door and could no longer move.


    "I guess you''re just good at hitting zombies that can''t really think for themselves." Hazel started to giggle, seeing Sharp''s attack fail.


    Then, Zain threw the door at therge man who had originally attacked while running into the apartment.


    "Keep chasing after him. We can''t let that zombie go!" Wendy shouted, seeing this, and all of them ran after Zain.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 140 Smell Of Death

    The group had continued forward without Zain. It had been a while, so it was clear he didn''t just go for some kind of toilet break, but had gone off for a legitimate reason.


    ''I wonder what that kid is doing?'' Kun thought. ''When we spoke about family before, he said he didn''t have any right? So he couldn''t be going back there, and he couldn''t be going back to the university, not if he said he would be meeting us at the hospital.


    ''Whenever we ask him if he is hiding anything, he always say''s he isn''t, but surely this means that he is hiding something. That person is a strange person.''


    The others were thinking the same, but they knew they had an important task at hand, and the coughing that wasing from Pink''s mother was a reminder of that. Which allowed them to continue marching on.


    "Brandon, there was a question, a question that Zian wanted to ask you." Kun stated. While they were walking they might as well get the awkward bits over and done with."He wanted to ask you about the Reborn group¡­ What do you know about them?"


    There was silence from Brandon, as he continued to walk in front of everyone. The streets seemed to be getting quiet as they got closer to the hospital. Whether that was a good thing or bad thing, it was hard to tell.


    "Ah, so I see your interested in it as well. Honestly, I was just surprised by the name that was all. I mean the Reborn group? There''s no real connection."


    Although this was his answer, Kun wasn''t so sure that he was still telling the truth¡­ there had to be something else.


    "Come on, you''re like the SWAT captain for your squad right? The squad that protects and runs the city. Are you saying you''ve never heard of the name Reborn group?" With the extra questioning Kun was pushing for an answer, but with no further response from Brandon he was about to give up, until a thought had entered his mind.


    ''Maybe this will work.''


    "Oh I see, well if you didn''t know, I''m part of the Reborn group you see." Kun stated, with a smile hidden behind his mask.


    It was then that Brandon had stopped walking for a second, and continued on forward. It was clear now that he did know something.


    "I don''t know much about them, and if you are really part of the Reborn group then you should know more than me." Brandon replied. "When I was working, the sergeant of the city had a meeting once. I was called in and there was a file that had the name Reborn group on.


    "Honestly, I didn''t think much of it, or even remembered that day till it was mentioned. The only reason why it was rming to me as well, was because it was a week before this whole event started and by event I''m sure you know what I mean."


    Kun definitely knew what he meant by those words, the thing was, he had no idea what was going on with the Reborn project for them to be involved with the city, and specifically this one. Because at that time, both him and Shark had already been turned.


    Because of that, they were kept in containment cells, being observed for the time being, and only being let out once in a while, so as for what thepany was doing at that moment, he had no idea.


    "So tell me then, what type of group is the Reborn group, and I''m guessing that''s where you learned to use that gun in your hand." Brandon asked.


    Starting the open question, Kun had thought that it might lead to this, which was why he didn''t want to do such a thing in the first ce.


    "Sorry, that was a lie, I just wanted you to tell me what you knew." Kun shrugged his shoulders. "I knew you were hiding something, but honestly, I used to serve in the military for two years after leaving school. Never went to university or any of that stuff, and I was just pretty good, if I do say so myself."


    It was hard to know whether or not Brandon would believe what he had said, but at the end of the day it made things clear. Kun wasn''t going to talk about it, and he wasn''t willing to. At the same time, Brandon hadn''t asked any more questions.


    Finally, they could see the hospital in sight. It was on a main road, and it was extremelyrge, with a natural high wall around it. There was no barbed wire on top though, so if someone was skillful enough, they should be able to climb it, but they still could only enter through one entrance.


    There were also other entrances, but it looked like they had been blocked off purposely with cars.


    "I think we could climb those cars instead of going all the way round." Dave suggested.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s not a good idea." Brandon replied. "Those cars have been set up like that for a reason, and if we were to go through that way, uninvited, when we are the ones trying to ask for a favor, it could spell great trouble for us."


    It looked like Zain had never caught up in the end, so they would have to at least do this part without him. Just before they reached the Hospital though, Kun pulled Pink to the side.


    "We can''t go in there." Kun whispered.


    "What do you mean, we can''t go in there? We need to, I have to make sure my mum gets better!"


    "Did you forget what we are?" Kun replied. "The two of us are zombies, and we are going into a hospital of all things. It won''t be a surprise that before they even let us in, that they check all of us for bite marks. We have to give them a good reason for why we can''t go in, but we will stay outside."


    Pink wanted to reply, she wanted to see her mother get better, and she was sure that she would be the most convincing person if push came to shove to get her mother treatment, but in the end, what else could they do.


    If they found out what they were, then the only choice they had was force, and that was unlikely to go down well.


    "Alright, but you bettere up with something good."


    The entrance could be seen just up ahead, and when they were about to reach it, Kun called out while Pink started to take her mother off the hand made stretcher.


    "Wait... Maybe it''s best if we don''t go inside with you." Kun replied. "We don''t know how they are going to react, but it''s unlikely that they will just fire bullets at you. We were thinking its better if we stay back, and if you need support we can help you out then.


    "Besides, it might be best if we wait for Zain anyway, and I doubt that they will let you guys in with these weapons strapped to you, so rather than take them off there, I think it would be better if you handed it to us,"


    Brandon looked at Kun wondering what to do, and surprisingly in the end he had agreed, handing over his submachine gun he had on him, but kept a handgun just in case.


    "If you here us yelling, or noting out after an hour, then you guys know what to do." Brandon stated, as Dave and Pink''s mother walked ahead.


    They eventually got to the entrance of the hospital. As they stood in front of it, they could see guards right by the double door ss entrance, they too had guns, which made them think that this ce was well guarded.


    Walking forward, both Brandon and Dave ced their hands up in the air, as they made it clear they were surrendering.


    "We are a group from the museum!" Brandon shouted. "We do note in harm, we have a sick patient, and we believe that there is someone here that can help us."


    One of the men pointed their gun towards the group, which made Dave gulp. Meanwhile the other guard rushed inside, as if he had gone to inform the others.


    "Let''s hope things go smoothly." Brandon muttered under his breath.


    At the same time, while Kun and Pink were waiting outside, Kun had a bad feeling that, just like nearly all of their interactions with humans so far, something was going to go wrong.


    ''An hour Zain, you have an hour to get back to us before we head inside this ce.'' Kun thought, wondering just what on earth Zain was doing at this point and time.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 141 Clever Zombie

    While inside Skittle''s body, Zain regretted picking himpared to one of the others. Even Jam would have been a better choice. As a small dog, there were a number of ces he could get to, and his agility could easily throw them off.


    ''These guys, I''m sure, after hitting that guy and seeing those knives, they have to be superhuman. Like Cobra, like that guy from the supermarket, but their powers might even be more advanced.''


    There was one choice that Zain had made that was the right one, and that was to not attempt to engage with these guys with the full group because he was sure it would have ended up with a loss for at least some members of his team, and there were still others in their group of whom he had no clue what their power was.


    Sharp had run into the apartment room with a smile on his face and a small knife in his hand again, only to be greeted with a flying chair that had hit him and broken on impact.


    "Argh!" Sharp shouted as he stumbled back and fell to the ground.


    "My word, you really are stupid, aren''t you?" Hazel couldn''t help but chuckle, seeing Sharp hurt and up against the wall. "We already know this is a zombie with intelligence, and you just ran through that door?"


    Following up after Sharp though, was Farris, and the strange long-haired man, who still had his hands in his pockets.


    "Step to the right the second you go in." The long-haired man said.


    Farris followed, doing just that, and another chair was thrown through the doorway, but this time it had missed its target and went on to hit the wall. Seeing this, Zain continued to throw objects he could find in the living room.


    He threw amp, a side table, books and more at the two men who had entered the room. The long-haired man seemed to be able to avoid most of them, and Zain could hear that he was informing therger man where to step to avoid his attack.


    ''What is this? Some type of foresight ability? But then that guy should have been able to warn about my punch that wasing that time. It can''t be simple foresight...''


    Either way, it was dangerous because now the two women were in the room. Zain wasn''t hopeful with his odds against the two guys, and it wouldn''t be long until Sharp was back on his feet.


    "You can''t take us all on. Just give up, and let us take you. You can understand us, right?" Wendy asked.


    When stepping back, Zain could feel his back touch the apartment wall. His head was racing as to what to do. Should he send for the others toe to the room to have an all-out battle? Should he bite one of them during a fight, maybe there was a good chance he could turn them?


    Then he remembered that superhumans were more resistant to a zombie''s bite, so it was a risky move.


    ''Is this a game-over situation¡­while in Skittle''s body?''


    Thinking back to his games as he did in the past, it really would be game over in this type of situation. He had ventured into unknown territory and wasn''t at a high enough level to deal with it.


    "It''s game over for you." Wendy continued to say as the group surrounded him and closed in slowly, still knowing he was dangerous after his scuffle with Farris.


    Hearing those words match ups with his own thoughts, he couldn''t help but smile.


    "You''re right," Zain replied.


    The surprise use of somewhat clear speech had stunned them all to a halt. They thought that maybe the zombie could understand them, but to now even be able to speak, was beyond their imagination which was why they had stopped moving forward as well.


    "What am I right about?" Wendy asked.


    The smirk on Zain''s face grew wider.


    "That if this was a game it certainly would be game over, but this isn''t one, and I''m not bound by the limitation."


    After saying these words, Zain made a bolt for it toward the window that was at the back wall not too far from him and jumped up, covering himself, as he pulled his knees into his chest, making him deliver somewhat of a cannonball jump.


    When he smashed through the ss, the impact sent shards everywhere.<sub> </sub>


    Right now, they were on the second floor.


    ''From this height, I should be okay.'' Zain thought. ''But just in case, I have a bit of a theory, but I''m not sure if it will work.'';


    Just as Zain said those words,nding on his two feet, he hadnded on his leg oddly, causing him to twist his ankle, and the whole impact of his weight and the jump''s momentum had caused it to snap.


    ''As I thought, when it rains, it pours, luck is not on my side, but I counted on that.'' Zain thought, and the system message that hade up several times whenever a severe injury would take ce had alsoe up.


    Asking Zain if he would like to use his energy to heal his body, Immediately Zain had chosen to do so, and his ankle was healing on the spot. When talking to the others, it spread that all zombies had a healing factor.


    As long as they ate flesh, it would allow them to heal. The thing was, they couldn''t activate like Zain could and exchange his energy to heal on the spot. There was a guess that they were all the same; it was just that Zain''s system allowed him to skip this option, and it seemed to be the case.


    ''I don''t think those guys would risking down here like I did.'' Zain thought as he looked behind him, but his eyes opened wide to see that although most of them hadn''t continued the chase, there was one somehow on the ground, and that was none other than the leader Wendy.


    Immediately, Zain sprinted, running through the wide streets as fast as he could. Up ahead, there was a small convenient shop. Heading inside, there were several aisles, but they weren''t filled with food like they used to be, there was rubbish, blood and everything else all over the ce.


    "If it''s just one of them, then maybe I can do something," Zain mumbled under his breath.


    He started to walk slower as he silenced his footsteps and continued to move between the aisles.


    Soon, he heard Wendy enter after him.


    "I don''t have time to y hide-and-seek games," Wendy said as she walked down the aisle and looked left and right, trying to spot anyone. That''s when she could see it, she could see a figure on the other side.


    When she kicked the aisle, the shelves had banged into Skittle''s body, causing him to be stable, but raising his hand, Zain was able to push the shelf back with amazing strength and slid it across the shop floor. He continued to push it, for the two aisles to crash against each other and sandwich the intruder.


    The aisle mmed into the other so hard that the shelves broke and snapped. However, the feeling wasn''t quite right. There was no residence or extra force needed. When looking, Zain could see no one there.


    A foot suddenly appeared in front of Zain''s face before he could react and mmed into the face. Taking the shot, since he could feel no pain, he threw out a fist of his own, but it had hit nothing but the air, but he could feel someone had grabbed it.


    Before he knew it, he was being lifted in the air, and his back mmed on the floor.


    "I''m taking you back with me," Wendy said, and while huffing and panting to catch her breath, she opened up the palm of her hand as a mystical see-through orb of energy appeared in her palm, and the next second, arge sword was in her hand and the energy was gone.


    The time looked to have spread out of thin air, making Zain realise that she had been going easy during the fight because she didn''t want to hurt her precious test subject.


    "I''ll die if I go back with you. I would never not fight for my life!" Zain got up off the ground and charged in for a tackle, and that''s when Wendy instinctively swung her sword as well, and with the trajectory it was going, it would slice the zombie vertically right between the neck and head, killing it.


    ''No! We needed this!''


    Just when it was about to Skittle, another sword suddenly shed against hers, sending her sword back up in the air as she felt a great force.


    "Don''t touch him," Zain''s real body had finally arrived.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 142 Battle Of Gamers

    While in control of Skittle''s body, there was no need for him to look at where his actual body was because he had given his body a singlemand with the help of the system. And themand was to protect Skittle from any danger.


    Doing this meant that his body would take the quickest route to reach Skittle. Zain didn''t know what would happen on the way or whether his real body would run into danger. However, when his real body was close, a system prompt shed in front of him.


    The system prompt alerted him that his real body was close. Still, he was in danger and didn''t know when his real body would get here, and he could rely on that information when he had someone right on his back. However, just then, he saw his real body.


    And seeing his body enter the shop from behind was the moment, the moment when he made the switch once again. Now Zain was in control of his own body once again, and he continued to run as fast as he could, swinging his sword up. As soon as the swords shed, he knocked Wendy''s sword in the air with his powerful strength.


    Zain didn''t follow up with an attack. Instead, he immediately shifted his body so now it was in-between Skittle and Wendy and held his sword firmly in his hand.


    "Who are you?!" Wendy called out, looking at the strange man. "Do you know what you are doing? You''re protecting a zombie!"


    Not saying anything, Zain went to attack the left arm. This was the side that didn''t have a sword, it was an awkward position, and he knew that the woman would have to shift in a certain way to block the attack. This was part of the knowledge he had gained due to his sword mastery reaching level three.


    It wasn''t just about skills but the knowledge of swords and how it worked as well. Once again though, Wendy opened the palm of her hand, and a strange see-through orb of energy appeared. The next moment, a short sword was in her other hand.


    Lifting it up, the two swords shed, and the attack was blocked. However, Zain wasn''t ying around, and he hadn''t held back when using his strength. He pushed the sword deep, and the back of the sword hit her arm.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t the sharp end making it, so it didn''t pierce her, but the blow did still hurt. Trying to bear the pain, she swung her sword with her right hand towards Zain, who was able to step out of the way and swung the sword hard again at the iing attack.


    They shed, and the sword nearly came loose, falling out of Wendy''s grip. The hits were making her hand numb, and she could barely hold onto the sword. Seeing this, she decided to jump back a few steps, getting out of the way of being hit once more by the powerful blows.


    These few blows had made one thing clear in her mind, whoever this person was, it was clear that he was incredibly skilful and powerful.


    ''This woman, the skill she used earlier to make the sword appear out of nowhere. It''s clear that is another special ability. I saw it twice now. Is it some kind of space? Like a game inventory where she can pull out and store things at will? That''s quite a handy thing to have.''


    Just like Wendy, Zain was also assessing the enemy. Even though he was able to push her back and had the upper hand, he knew better not to underestimate her.


    ''If I turn her, and add to my horde, then maybe I would in some capacity have the skill as well. The problem is, since she is superhuman, the chances of her turning are low, and at the same time, there are others I need to be careful of. They will soon appear to back her up. This is the only chance I have because even though she is quite strong, I can beat her before the others arrive.''


    While Zain was assessing the situation, the strange orb appeared around her hands again, and one of the swords was reced by what looked like a chain. Without hesitation, she swung it out towards Zain and Skittle.


    Zain had forgotten to give Skittle an order, so to save him, he leaned forward and kicked Skittle in the stomach, sending him far away and preventing the chain from hitting his head. Then, before Wendy could pull back the chain, Zain thrust his sword up from underneath, hitting it in the perfect spot to block the chain.


    The chin started to swirl around the sword a few times, wrapping around it, but that was exactly what Zain was aiming for. With a tug and his strength, he yanked it out of her hand. Wendy''s strength turned out to be futile against him as the chain was pulled, and in an instant, she had lost her weapon.


    "Damn you two, I don''t understand why a human would protect a zombie, but I have had enough of ying with your games!" Wendy shouted in frustration.


    The energy ball appeared around her hand once more, and Zain''s guess was right. Wendy''s ability did allow her to have storage to put weapons, food, medical supplies and all sorts of necessities for her.


    At the same time, she could take them out and ce them in her hand whenever she wished, and this time, she had brought out a handgun. Lifting it in the air, she pointed it right toward Zain with her finger on the trigger.


    "It looks like you got weapons on yourself as well, but just like me, you decided not to use them, just in case it would attract others," Wendy said. "Unfortunately for you, I have a few special powers. You see, even if you are skilful and powerful, I will win this fight."


    Instead of continuing to point the gun at Zain though, she directed it towards the zombie instead.<sub> </sub>


    "No!" Zain shouted as he moved and stood in front of her bullet path.


    "What are you doing?" Wendy asked again. "I don''t even care about you, but that zombie. It''s special, don''t you understand? If we were to take it, then-"


    "I can''t," Zain replied. "If you are going to attempt to kill him, then I promise that you won''t make it out of this ce alive. I promise you that."


    Wendy could see the intensity in his eyes, he was serious about it, and she didn''t know who he was and why he was doing this. In fact, none of this made any sense. But if she just waited for her friends to arrive, then for sure with them, they could take them out.


    It was then that Zain had made a choice. It was very risky and borderline reckless, but there was something that he could do that maybe would get them out of this situation. Pulling the scarf off around his neck, he slowly revealed something as he turned his head to the side.


    "You wanted to know why I''m trying so hard to protect him? It''s because I know he is special. It''s not just him that''s special, but I am as well." Zain stated.


    What he was showing to Wendy right now was the bite mark that was on his neck, it was there clear as day, and confusing thoughts were going through Wendy''s head.


    Could this person not get infected? Was he saying he was a zombie, or was it something else? That''s when she could also see the zombie from before standing up, it walked over to where Zain was as the protection mode was ced on it, and it stood right in front of Zain, without biting him or doing anything.


    ''A bit mark is nothing special, some of the others have been bitten before, and it was fine. This¡­this is something else, why is the zombie protecting him¡­this is portably a huge secret, a secret that he doesn''t want to reveal. Judging by his eyes, he was serious about what he said before.''


    Wendy was making up in her mind what was the best thing to do, and that''s when she could hear voices from bending as well.


    "Wendy, where are you? Are you okay?!" A man''s shout came from outside.


    She nced behind her and looked deep into Zain''s eyes once more. Trying to figure out what to do.


    "I''m fine!'' Wendy shouted out loud at the top of her lungs. Depending on what she was going to say next, Zain was getting ready to act.


    "The zombie, it escaped. There''s no one here, let''s just leave this ce and continue on."


    Putting the gun down, Wendy started to back up out of the shop without showing her back to the dangerous two. For her sake and those with her, she thought it was best if they left Zain alone.


    At the same time, Zain thought it was best that he didn''t try to get involved with them either.


    "You, you and I owe one. If you ever see me again in the future. Remember this." Wendy said as she left the shop.


    Smiling and letting out a big sigh, Zain felt relieved. Because he honestly didn''t know if he was going to make it out or not, and when checking his system, he noticed the rest of the horde was only around twenty seconds away from here, and there was arge chance that there would be a big fight on their hands.


    "I wonder¡­if we will ever meet again." Zain sighed. Honestly, he wasn''t looking forward to it.


    ****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 143 Powers Colide

    Leaving the small convenience shop, Wendy had to avoid all the possible urges to look back when she noticed that her group members had also arrived. However, they didn''t look panicked or worried as they were confident that whatever or whoever she encountered, she would be able to deal with it.


    After all, she was appointed as the squad captain of this small team because she was one of the most powerful members of the group, which called itself the Zombie Hunters.


    "That zombie, you let him get away?" Hazel asked, having heard Wendy''s earlier response and seeing her walk out alone.


    "I didn''t let him get away," Wendy replied in a matter-of-factly way, "He got away, you know how smart he was, and besides, I don''t think it''s wise for us to chase a zombie that is smart enough to talk without investigating the matter properly. We never know what we might be getting into. After all, there could be an evolved zombie or worst, it might be leading us into a trap. So we should understand the situation first."


    They nodded at Wendy''s words, and if she thought it was dangerous for the rest of the group, then the rest felt like it most probably was, and she did the right thing. Still, they couldn''t help but think about just what type of zombie they had encountered. How was it possible for a zombie to act human?


    "It would have really done us well if we had caught that zombie, don''t you think?" Sharp said with a smile. "I didn''t even give him a few cuts for hurting me like that. Next time he won''t be able to escape."


    Sharp started to spin his de using just his fingers, which was something he would do whenever he tried imagining a scene ying out in his head.


    "For all of us, it''s best if we don''t tell others about this," Wendy said, which caused a few eyebrows to be raised. Looking at their expressions, it was clear that they believed they should report this to their base and make the higher-ups look into this matter.


    "I can understand why you all are giving me strange looks, but we don''t know what the case was with that zombie, and not to mention the fact that we weren''t able to catch it, which might just bring more trouble for us. So for now, we should keep this to ourselves until we find more clues and understand the situation better."


    Right now, all Wendy could think about was the other person who hade out towards the end, the man that had protected the zombie. It still didn''t make sense in her head as she thought about everything that had happened. However, she could only guess that he, too, was probably a zombie, and the two of them had a rtionship somehow.


    As for why she had let them live or decided not to try and take them on, she didn''t know herself fully. However, what she had done at that point and time was quite possibly because she was treated as if this event had urred in a game. She thought back to what she would have done in a game situation.


    An encounter like that in a game would be one that would create two paths for the yer. Either she could fight and attack the strange zombies or let them live, and in her mind, the more interesting path in a game was to let them live and find out what would ensue in the future.


    ''Redhead Zombie, we might be meeting again in the future.'' Wendy inwardly smiled.


    "Alright, let''s clear up this ce, we have five more days here, and after that, we are to head back and get our next assignment," Wendy said, and the others nodded as they headed back to the apartment building. Maybe they could find something else or some other clues.


    ¡ª¡ª


    After making sure that the group chasing after them had decided to head back inside an apartment building, Zain quickly scouted the area. He was marking in his head where they were.


    He didn''t want to cross paths with them again, and since the female leader knew what his face looked like, even if the two groups were to meet in the future, Zain had already revealed something to a person he would have liked to have kept hidden. And anyway, in this case, he could not pretend he was human.


    ''Judging by that group, they aren''t the type to work with others. I''ll have to ask Brandon or Ryan if they know anything about them. Speaking of which, I should make my way to the others. There could be trouble.''


    Zain was on the move towards the hospital, only this time, he was moving with his entire horde and had the scarf wrapped around his neck.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After waiting outside the hospital for a few minutes with their hands raised up, Dave and Brandon were getting somewhat tired, but the fact that guns were pointed towards them, and nudged forward every time their hands started to falter, had gotten rid of some of the tiredness.


    Eventually, the man who had gone in hade back out.


    "The doctor has agreed to see you. However, you must hand in all your weapons before entering the hospital."<sub> </sub>


    It was hard to tell what the current situation was for Brandon, and he was happy that Kun had suggested that they leave their guns behind.


    ''This was one of the groups that Ryan was unsure about. There were some strange rumours from the people who hade out of the area.'' Brandon thought.


    After handing in their weapons, they stepped inside, pulling Pink''s mother along the way. There was a guard inside with a gun as well. While trying to gauge their strength, Brandon noticed that the group wasn''t particrly short of weapon supply.


    However, when they reached the end of the double doors, the guard told them to take a right instead of heading to the main reception, where Brandon could see quite a few people through the ss. The guard then instructed them to take arge elevator on the side.


    "Please, wear these masks." The man said, handing them over. He was the one leading them.


    "Due to the severity of the case, it is possible that you might spread the infection to others, so only the doctor can see you." The man informed them.


    Understanding the situation, they all went into the elevator and pressed the number 6, as the 6th floor of the hospital was where the doctor''s office was known to be located. The tension was heavy in the elevator as it began to move up.


    No one said a word as the elevator slowly moved up, and Brandon was just looking at how the guard was standing inside. Although they had weapons and were seemingly disciplined, he clearly knew they were not professionally trained and were most likely normal citizens.


    The guard had his back facing them as he stood near the front, and at any point and time, Brandon was confident that he could disarm him and take control of the whole situation, but they needed the doctor''s help, so he restrained himself for now.


    -Ding!


    As soon as the elevator made the noise, it began to slow down. They had reached the 6th floor, and upon stepping out of the elevator, they found themselves in a long hallway.


    It was intimidating, to say the least, as they noticed a set of brown double doors at the other end. Although, there was no need for them to head down the hallway of double doors because the doctor was already waiting for them.


    "Wee, wee." The doctor greeted them with open arms. However, he had gloves and a mask on. "I heard that there is a sick patient here with you."


    Although Brandon couldn''t see anything, he was sure that the doctor had a big smile underneath that mask.


    At the same time, Dave was getting shivers as the hair all over his body stood up in surprise. There was an odd feeling that he was getting from this doctor that he had never sensed from anyone else. It was an intuition, and the intuition was telling him to get out of this ce as soon as possible.


    "Please, I think it is best if we all head to the treatment rooms together. There is a need for an x-ray, and based on your patient, there is a chance that the two of you are infected as well. So please, if you could follow me to one of the rooms, I think we can get to work straight away."


    Although he felt the danger, Dave started walking forward as he wished to deliver Pink''s mother. He was carrying her like a piggy bank, and he wasn''t exactly the strongest person regarding these things.


    "Wait!" Brandon said. "This treatment, are you willing to look at her and treat her for free?" Brandon asked.


    It was then that the doctor started to shake his head.


    "I see you don''t understand how things work around here. When a favour is made, there is, of course, always a debt to be paid, and depending on the severity of the case from where you guys havee from, the debt could be very high, very high indeed."


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 144 Strange Place

    Brandon was well aware that even before the world had changed to how it was, people weren''t so quick to trust each other. It was the society and the rules put in ce that controlled the people because if everyone naturally had true freedom of their actions, then the entire world would have long turnedwless.


    Now they were starting to see parts of thiswless worlding out, and Brandon wouldn''t be so quick to trust everyone. In the first ce, how could a doctor be a leader of arge group and have full control over it? There were certainly hidden factors leading to this situation, and Brandon strongly felt that things might go wrong at any wrong step.


    After all, even Ryan managed to control people only due to the secret supply of resources he had gathered, which was why people were willing to listen to him. As for Brandon, he had skills and strength, which helped him gain the respect and position he had within the group.


    "What do you want from us?" Brandon asked, still not moving forward while also keeping an eye on the guard in front of them. "Weapons? Supplies? Medicine? Although I doubt you would need thest one."


    The doctor pulled down his mask, revealing a smile so wide that it created wrinkles on his face and squinted his eyes in the shape of crescent moons.


    "I am a fair person. And I will only ask for a debt if there is one in the first ce. It would bepletely unfair of me if I were to ask for something without even helping with your problem. But if I were you, I would hurry up or else forget about the ones at your base. You might not even be able to save the one on your back."


    Dave turned his head and looked at Brandon. Although he was worried, he was concerned for Pink''s mother more than anyone. She was still coughing even now, and although he had yet to tell the others because he didn''t want to worry them, she had been coughing a bit of blood for a while as well.


    It was hidden underneath her sheets and her hands. Dave could only imagine the pain she was suffering from and why she had hidden it, not wishing to worry her daughter. In the end, he took a deep breath, firmed himself, began to walk forward, and passed the guards as he headed through the hallway to the other side.


    It was then that Brandon realised that even if he wanted to do something, it would now put Dave and Pink''s mother at risk, so he decided to stand down and just let things transpire without interfering.


    After a while, Dave ced the woman on the floor. The doctor clicked his tongue, and two men stepped out from the side doors, each with weapons. They weren''t in any uniform like those at the museums but just looked like average citizens.


    However, even if they weren''t trained in some ways, people with no training at all with guns were more dangerous, and Brandon was relieved he hadn''t made a move or else the situation would have turned into an ambush.


    "Alright, you two, put her in operating room three, and we will get to work." The doctor ordered the two men.


    One knelt but stopped a few seconds before touching the mother.


    "Will we be okay, touching her, I mean? Won''t we be infected by whatever she has? I mean, you didn''t even give us masks."


    Before the man heard a reply, the doctor lifted up his foot and kicked the man right in the face.


    "Did you forget your current position?" The doctor sneered, "Besides, if you do get unwell, I will be the one helping you out, so I don''t think it''s a good decision to start talking back to the person who can save your life."


    It was as Brandon expected, so he wasn''t too surprised, Dave looked like he wanted to say something, but Brandon kicked the back of his leg before he did. This wasn''t their ce to get involved, not yet, anyway. But Brandon was going to make sure to report everything back to Ryan, and only then would they n about further business with the Hospital group.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The pair continued to follow the guard that had brought them to see the doctor, and as they waited for the doctor to go through the checkups and examine the woman''s condition, the guard brought them to the reception area.


    This was arge hall with several hundred seats. It was where patients would wait before being called into different sections of the hospital. At the same time, it looked like it was also the ce where most of the hospital group was staying. Their numbers were quite huge, however, almost all of them seemed like normal citizens.


    Everyone had formed their own little groups as they talked amongst themselves. However, there was a strange tension in the air. No one came to greet or talk to the strangers, and at the same time, there were those that had been allocated guns and were guards in the room, as well as a couple working behind the reception desk.


    ''They all have their positions in this ce, but it seems like everything is assigned out of fear more so than anything else.'' Brandon thought.


    Some people were sitting in the seats on their own, not part of any group, and that''s when Brandon noticed a young man seated alone at the very back. Brandon walked over and sat in the second back row, with the teenager just behind them.


    Leaning back, he noticed that the teenager was bandaged up here and there but had this worried look on his face as his knees were trembling up and down.<sub> </sub>


    Dave was wondering what they were doing but didn''t say anything, believing that Brandon was onto something and it was best for them not to attract any attention.


    "There is something wrong with this ce," Brandon whispered. "We are from around here, and from the looks of it, you aren''t part of this group as well. Someone in our group is unwell, so we havee here to take them to the doctor. Do you know what''s going on?"


    After whispering those words, Brandon was expecting a response, but instead, even after a few minutes had passed, the teenager didn''t say anything. Then, just when he was about to ask again, thetter suddenly stood up and started to walk towards the bathroom without saying any word.


    ''Is he a spy? I''m sure there are people seeking rewards for telling on each other in this ce. That would make sense. Otherwise, how do they decide who is responsible for what?'' Brandon thought.


    As Dave turned around, he noticed a small piece of paper and picked it up.


    Pulling it open, there were a few words written on it.


    [Don''t trust anyone in this ce, don''t talk, or you will pay, and the most important thing: Never trust the doctor. But, if you really are like me, then follow me.]


    After reading these words, Dave quickly showed the piece of paper to Brandon, who looked up and saw that the teenager had turned back at them before entering the toilet. After waiting a couple of minutes, Brandon stood up and stretched his arms.


    "Stay here, and if anything happens, try to get my attention, if not mine, then of those outside, but hopefully it won''te to that," Brandon whispered to Dave, who nodded.


    Then heading off, he too had entered the toilet. Although there were guards near the other entrances, there weren''t any by the toilets, and when heading inside, he could see the teenager standing by the sink, staring back at the entrance.


    "So it looks like you really aren''t with them. I thought you might have been a trap to lure me in or something." The teenager said.


    "No¡­as I said before, we had someone sick." Brandon replied. "What''s with this ce? Why does it seem so strange, and what''s with the doctor?"


    Clenching his fist, the teenager grumbled.


    "This ce¡­ And that doctor¡­I hate him¡­and I hate that she keeps getting in trouble with me around, if Zain was here, I bet nothing like that would happen."


    "Zain?" Brandon said with a raised eyebrow, "Wait, what? You know Zain? The guy with red hair?"


    The teenager''s eyes lit up hearing this, and he started to get somewhat excited.


    "Yeah, that Zain, the university student, you also know him? Is he here? He can definitely help me."


    Brandon didn''t know what to say and just shook his head.


    "He''s not with us at the moment, he rushed off to do something else, but yeah, I know Zain, though I am not close to him, he recently joined our group. Well, he kind of joined us. To be honest, it''splicated with that guy."


    The teenager chuckled because he felt the same way since he also had a somewhat simr rtionship with Zain in the first ce.


    "The name is Cody." The teenager introduced himself, "If you know Zain, and you''re still alive, I can only believe that you are either strong enough to survive with him or you''re a good person. Whatever it is, I need¡­I need your help! Please help me and my friend get out of here... this ce is hell!"


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 145 The Experiment

    Earlier that day, Cody had arrived at the hospital, and with him was Kelly. The two of them had travelled together after separating from Zain, who had saved them from their situation. In truth, Cody was hoping that Zain woulde back and try to find them, but in the end, due to Kelly''s careful nature, she had convinced him otherwise.


    She even said she was somewhat afraid of Zain, and although at times Cody did feel that way, he never felt any of the threatening vibes directed toward him. And as they continued their travel, Cody suddenly began to show symptoms of fever.


    At first, he thought it was a simple cold and would go away with time, but as time passed, the fever started to get worse and worse. He could hardly move and felt deenergized, and his body was sore, making it harder and harder for him to move.


    With no choice, Kelly had picked him up over her shoulder, and they came across the hospital. Since she also noticed there were people here, she had hope. In the end, upon meeting the Doctor, he told them that he could help Cody but that there would be a price that they must pay.


    From what Cody could gather, his fever was the result of the multiple wounds and bruises he had received on his body due to the severe beating he had taken from the Cobra gang. Due to his strong will and the adrenaline rush, he was able to ignore it for a while, but it slowly overpowered him, and his state got worse.


    He didn''t know what the Doctor had done, but whatever it was, it had worked. However, uponing out of the hospital, he couldn''t find Kelly. She wasn''t in the reception room, and when he ran around the ce asking the others about her, the second that Cody had gotten too noisy, the guards had pulled out their guns and told him to shut up and sit down.


    At that point, Cody had tried to call a meeting with the Doctor again, but the Doctor refused to see him. It had left Cody in a difficult situation because, from what he could gather, Kelly was still here somewhere in the hospital.


    Cody quietly attempted to ask the others for help, but it was futile, no one was willing to talk to him. Slowly Cody started to observe the ce and realised that they were spying on each other, watching out for mistakes that any of the others would make.


    That would be reported to the reception and then, from there, to the Doctor. Although the strange thing was, even if they did step out of line, nothing happened to them, but from listening and observing the conversations around him, he heard that their debt was increasing.


    Also, from listening in on other people''s conversations, he had gathered that those with the biggest amount of debt would be forced to go outside. At the same time, the weapons that were given to them to fend for themselves would be practically useless if they had too much debt.


    It was at that point that Cody found out that he was now sucked into this strange system, and with the way people and the things outside were, even if they went out, they would alwayse back, but if they had left earlier with the intentions of leaving this ce, it was just another reason for the Doctor to increase the debt.


    Instilling this fear in them had led to not even one person had thought of running, much less attempting to run out, because at any point and time, those that you thought were your closest friends would backstab you to rise up thedder.


    "And that is everything that I know of this ce. Right now, I have no clue where Kelly is. She''s the one that saved my life, and I couldn''t even help her once. I''m not sure what this debt is that the Doctor always talks about, but some of the faces of others look horrified, and the reactions are worse when the Doctor calls them up.


    "Everyone is living in trepidation,plying out of fear in this ce, and because of the weapons, I can''t even fight back."


    After listening to Cody''s story, Brandon somewhat understood why the former wanted someone like Zain to help. Having seen what those three could do, he believed that maybe an attack from outside could work.


    "I want to help." Brandon replied, "And if this debt that the Doctor is talking about really is a big thing, then it will be worse for us if he actually finds a cure. For now, though, our group needs the help of this Doctor, so I can''t act straight away, not until I get the full picture.


    "Also, if we stay in this toilet for any longer, they''re going to get suspicious, but before we get out, I want you to listen to a n I have¡­ but we will need help from outside as well if anything goes wrong."


    ¡ª¡ª


    On the top floor, the Doctor had run a number of things on Pink''s mother, including an X-ray scan, ultrasound, and heart rate monitor, among other things, but after just a few tests, it became apparent what the condition was.


    ''That''s certainly interesting, I guess a case like this, with the way things are, it could easily spread throughout the city.'' The Doctor thought. ''The good thing is there are plenty of things that can be used to treat her and all of those at the museum.


    ''But first, I will have to take care of my people and iste them first so they don''t continue to spread this. Although the medicine is plentiful, we don''t want a dire situation on our hands.''


    The Doctor then went into the pharmacy section of the hospital, an area that was locked off and only able to be essed by himself; after grabbing a few of the boxes from the shelf, he walked back toward where Pink''s mother was.<sub> </sub>


    He was ready to hand it to her until a thought came into his mind, and arge smile appeared on his face.


    ''Now, let''s start adding up their debt, shall we? They stayed safely in the hospital for a few hours. On top of that, they have used my equipment, and I am doing an emergency treatment procedure out of hours.


    ''A consultation fee, and the price of medicine, as well as all the information I will be giving them to save their people. Well, that just means that this is going to be an extremely, extremelyrge debt that needs to be paid. So it makes me wonder, what exactly should I ask for from them? What could they possibly give me to cure thisrge debt?''


    He handed over a ss of water along with the medicine to Pink''s mother, who drank it in one gulp without any hesitation. After all, the person in front of her was a doctor. After going through everything together and all the tests, she would trust him. Just like she would have done in the world before.


    "This medicine needs to be taken daily. There are two pills." The Doctor exined. "Now, here is the important part. The medicine needs to be taken for six months every day; otherwise, there is a high chance that it won''t go awaypletely.


    "Now, here is six months'' worth of medicine. For now, just rest up here while I go inform the others of your sessful diagnoses."


    After saying those words, the Doctor proceeded to leave the room.


    "Thank you, doctor, do you mind telling me what it is that I have?" Pink''s mother asked.


    Shaking his finger, the Doctor opened the door.


    <o>,m "Now, we can''t be letting people find that out now, can we? Otherwise, it will ruin my ns."</o>


    With that said, the Doctor shut the door, leaving Pink''s mother slightly confused but still grateful to the man.


    "Tell those two neers toe up to the office in around¡­ let''s say 30 minutes." The Doctor ordered one of the guards. "I have something else that I need to take care of first."


    Heading back to his office, the Doctor turned down the corridor and entered one of the operating rooms. As he entered, he could see a certain person lying on the floor.


    "Ah, that''s no good. Did the tranquilliser wear off? I guess you must be getting used to it." The Doctor let out a sigh as he lifted the female off the floor and back onto the operating table. "Well, I will just have to give you a higher dosage, right?"


    Holding onto her arm and the Doctor jolted the woman.


    The woman was none other than Kelly, and on the table, she started to feel weak again. Her eyes were still open, but it was as if her mind was going to sleep as she was unaware even of where she was.


    "I asked you when you got here if you knew anything about strangers getting extraordinary powers, and since you were unable to satisfy my answer, your debt has to be paid in another way. And since I also saved your life, that means your life is now mine.


    "So, let''s start the experiment. It''s time to make a superhuman!"


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 146 A Loud Bang

    With somewhat of a n in ce, the two walked out of the toilet at separate times, and when Brandon went to sit next to Dave, Cody went ahead and took the very first seat in front of the reception area. The front row was mostly empty for a number of reasons, one of them being the fact that everyone could easily keep an eye on your movements.


    "So what happened? Is everything okay? Did you speak to him?" Dave asked nervously as he looked around the room.


    Brandon was unsure whether he should say anything or not or how much of the n he could afford to reveal. After all, Dave was just a student, and it was easy to crack him. In fact, just being here had put a lot of pressure on him.


    "Look, the only thing I will say is that in this ce, it''s best if you don''t trust anyone," Brandon said. "Keep to yourself, keep quiet, and if worsees to worst, I think you will know what to do. You''re a good kid, and you have a good set of instincts on you, so trust your instincts when in the clutch."


    Dave smiled, he liked thepliment, and since he had never heard such words from Brandon, they meant a bit more to him. The effect was so good that he was suddenly brimming with more confidence.


    At that moment, the doors opened, and one of the men with a gun walked down. Without paying heed to anyone, he headed over to where Brandon was.


    "The doctor would like to meet you about the results of the patient that you brought in." The man said.


    Taking a deep breath for the first time and sliding his pair of dark sunsses on even though they were inside the building and he could see fine, Brandon was getting in the mode to react to whatever was going to happen next.


    The elevator ride was the same as before. The only difference was, Dave was told to stay downstairs. Honestly, Brandon preferred it this way, and before entering the elevator, he looked toward Cody.


    Whatever happened, the two of them would need to work their hardest to get out of the situation. While in the elevator, Brandon started to think about a particr person.


    ''That''s an interesting kid you know, Zain. I wonder what''s the story between you two.'' Brandon thought.


    When the elevator door opened, Brandon headed down the hall and walked to the office and double doors that he was in before, but before he reached the door, the guard pulled on his shoulder and stopped him.


    "Not yet. You''re not allowed to go in yet." The man said. "Just wait here till the doctores out."


    Brandon felt like it was a little strange, but what could he do? When darting his eyes around the ce, Brandon was trying to look for clues, clues about where that teenager''s friend would be kept, it might even be the same ce as where Pink''s mother was at the moment.


    With only one guard on him, Brandon was confident he could take him out but then what would he do? He still needed the medicine. While he waited there and guessed multiple situations in his head, the Doctor had finallye out of one of the rooms.


    "Oh, it looks like you are here already. My men do quick work, and they are trustworthy as well, just like me." The Doctor smiled as he walked over.


    "I have some good news for you. I can cure the old woman you brought in. However, the bad news is that she will need to continue to take medication for the next six months. On top of that, this infection can be passed through the air.


    "Which means that all those sick people that are at your museum, they too are in need of treatment for the next six months."


    In Brandon''s head, this was one of the worst-case situations. For one, it was the fact that they needed to rely on the Doctor for a long time. Even if they had the name of the medicine, what if something went wrong? What if the people got worse?


    A disease or illness that took six months to heal was nothing to scoff at. Of course, there was also always the chance that the Doctor was lying just to get them on the end of their stick.


    "Thank you for that," Brandon answered. "What is the name of the disease? And you spoke before about wanting something. What is it that you want."


    The Doctor didn''t speak straight away, pretending to still be deciding, even though he had thought about what he wanted to ask for a while now.


    "I was thinking, I want to talk to your leader and talk about our two groups teaming up." The Doctor requested. "I mean, after all, we are arge group of people, we have a lot of supplies and my knowledge, and I''m sure it is the same for your leader as well.<sub> </sub>


    "So, in return for helping your group, I suggest that our two groups be one." The Doctor smiled.


    Immediately, Brandon had a bad gut feeling, but maybe this was the best oue. Maybe they could use this to their advantage.


    "And¡­who would be the leader then? You should know that too many cooks spoil the broth. It would be the same here. In the first ce, there are those that follow me, and those that follow Ryan, adding one more would be.."


    "We can sort out the finer detailster, don''t you think? Anyway, if you ept, the medicine for the first month will be delivered at once."


    When thinking about it, Brandon wanted to say no, because he knew how the general public would react. The people would feel indebted to the Doctor, and they would start looking up to him, and at the same time, the current control that Ryan and he had would start to fade bit by bit.


    Just this was enough for Brandon to judge the Doctor as a dangerous man who understood his means and power well.


    "Anyway, if you can''t decide now, then I will give you the time to think about it." The Doctor said, not saying anything else at all, and began to walk away back to his room. "The old woman has taken her medicine and will be fine, she has supplies tost a while, but whether you believe me or not about the situation you have on your hands, that''s up to you."


    Closing the door behind, Brandon wanted to cook up a storm there and force the Doctor toply, but in his work, he had dealt with these types of people before, and that just didn''t work. And since threats wouldn''t work with these people, there was nothing he could do for now.


    ''I should be patient. When I know what is happening, when I have more answers about where the medicine is and what the disease is, then Cody and I can act out our n. I just hope everything will work out in the end.


    Walking back, Brandon was going to exit out of the elevator. Although it wasn''t worded, it was clear that Pink''s mother was a hostage. Since they weren''t told what room she was in, and even if they did have her, she was now a hostage to the medicine as well.


    The n was to stay there for a few days. And try to work things out. This was the n that was going through Brandon''s head until he had walked past a particr room.


    "Stop! Stop! Just Stop it!" The sound was quite weak, maybe most people wouldn''t have heard it, but for some reason, Brandon was able to hear it instantly.


    ''That voice belonged to a woman, and it sounded young. I can''t be sure it''s her, but for someone to scream like that¡­ they''re in danger. Everything is telling me in my body not to do a deal with this man, so then why am I hesitating!'' Brandon shouted in his head, trying to convince himself, but he never needed it in the first ce.


    Using his leg, he kicked the back of the guard in front of him, causing his knees to cheek and for him to almost fall over. After that, using his arm, he had gotten the other in a chokehold. Pressing tightly on one arm and pushing his head forward, the man''s entire face was starting to glow red.


    The guard tried his best to break free, but he was an untrained man, and against Brandon, it was useless until, in a desperate attempt, he pulled on the gun in his hand, and a loud bang resounded throughout the entire area.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Downstairs, the gunshot resounded, and everyone stood up in a panic and huddled within their groups. They were already at the edge, and the gunshot had made it worse.


    "Did you hear that...it sounded like a gunshot. What is happening?" One of them asked.


    The guards seemed distracted, unaware of what was going on, and before they knew it, without anyone even noticing, the double doors by the entrance were pushed open. Cody had escaped, and he only had one thought in his mind.


    ''I must get help!''


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 147 SUPER HUMAN

    When Kelly first walked in front of the hospital with people surrounding it, she thought it was a godsend. She was already extremely worried about Cody''s health, who seemed to be hanging on a thread for his life.


    They had been travelling together for days now, and he had always helped her a lot, but she never felt like she had done anything to return the favour.


    In the first ce, Cody was only around 15 years old, he was a teenager, and yet in this world where she was an adult and a teacher no less, it felt like she was being a burden on him.


    However, after everything that had urred, Kelly soon learnt that this wasn''t a godsend at all. In fact, it was aplete nightmare. After Cody had gotten treatment and she was informed he was now safe, the Doctor set up another meeting with her.


    She was sitting in the office, directly opposite the Doctor''s, but rather than in his seat, he was standing up and walking around as he talked. They had already talked about a strange subject, whether or not she knew about these beings that were superhuman.


    Although one person''s face came to mind, she decided to ignore that as an answer and just said she was unaware of any of that, which moved the conversation onward.


    "Your friend is recovering well, and there will no longer be any problems. It was a good thing that you got him to me in time. Otherwise, with a fever like that, outside, the zombies would eat him up in seconds.


    "I would say that I did a pretty big favour for you, correct?" The Doctor asked with a grin.


    Kelly didn''t know where this was going, but she assumed that the Doctor might want her to now do things around the ce and Cody as well once he gets back on his feet. So she just put on a fake smile and nodded.


    "Great, so you agree that I was the one that saved his life, so in return for saving a life, then it means that another life is now mine, correct?" The Doctor was now directly standing in front of her saying these words, and a strange feeling was being given off.


    Immediately, Kelly stood up. She had felt this feeling from certain people before, one of them being Cobra, and she immediately wanted to get out of there, but before she could stand up, the Doctor put both hands on her shoulders.


    She was ready to fight through, kick, bite and scratch her way at the person in front of her to get out of this ce. There was no longer the chance to y nice, but she never got the chance to fight back.


    Because immediately after being touched by the Doctor, she could feel a strange motioning over her. Her pupils started to erge, and the feeling around her whole body was getting numb. Before she knew it, control of her mouth and other parts of her body felt foreign to her. It was as if someone else was controlling her body, or for theck of better words, it was as if she was in a theatre, watching a live telecast of her life through her eyes.


    Kelly, although awake and there, wasn''t really there in front of the Doctor, she was almost absent from her mind, and when she finally got a hold of herself, she found herself in one of the operating rooms.


    There were several bright white lights, trays of equipment and tools next to her. When she tried to move, she found herself strapped to a chair and couldn''t even budge from the spot. She tried to tug, twirl, and pull, but it was impossible for her to break free.


    "Ah, you''re awake!" The Doctor''s voice entered her ears, making her flinch. The man then walked in front of her, snapping on a glove and now in scrubspared to the normal long white overcoat that he had on before. "Honestly, if I could, I would like to make this as painless as possible


    "Unfortunately, for this experiment, I will need you to feel everything for this to¡­work." The Doctor added as he went to grab a tool.


    "Remember our small talk about superhumans? Well, what if I told you they exist? Reports from groups and from simr observations have beening around that there are people with different abilities all over the ce.


    "What type of abilities they have, I don''t really have the whole picture. However, I n to find out how and why everything happened. Was it due to the current caution, a mutation of the virus or something else? Maybe there might even be a way to unlock this power in others.


    "Fortunately, you and your friend are a small group of two without any backing, so no matter what I do to you, it most likely will only anger one person, and we can deal with that. Don''t worry though, I won''t kill him no matter what happens to you.


    "I just saved his life after all."


    ------


    Right now, unstrapped Kelly was on the table, and the strange dopey state she was in was starting to wear off. Honestly, she couldn''t remember much of what the Doctor had done to her. However, her body was heavily damaged in ces.<sub> </sub>


    Her hair was wet, she no longer had her own fingernails either, as well as multiple scratches on her body, but worst of all, she felt sick and weak. Only slowly was she remembering the Doctor taking blood samples andparing them with other blood, as well as some of the torture procedures she had gone through.


    That quickly left her mind as her brain attempted to delete such a horrific event. As she finally came to, though, she knew that she needed to get out of the ce.


    She was strapped in once more, but her mind was in a better ce.


    ''I see no way out of this.'' Kelly thought. ''There''s nothing I can grab, kick or spit out of my mouth like in those movies together¡­I guess there is only one thing I can do.''


    With this thought in mind, Kelly screamed as loud as she could, hoping that maybe someone could hear, that something could happen that would help her out of the current situation, and a momentter, a few gunshots were heard.


    ''What''s going on? Don''t tell me it''s because¡­ of me?'' Kelly frowned.


    ¡ª¡ª


    After the gunshots resounded, it was time for Cody to spring into action. He was told by Brandon that maybe this n would take a day or so, or perhaps half a day. Yet, Cody had decided to be ready to go at the drop of a hat, and if he needed to, he was going to go ahead with the n.


    This was why Cody had sat down right at the front of the reception, and during that time, he had kept his eyes off the metal doors. During the chaos, Cody found an opportunity and ran forward while everyone was just thinking and turning their heads, looking at one thing.


    It was the exit hallway of the hospital, with two metallic double doors with ss windows, but not only that, there was a problem outside as well. Knowing this, Cody opened the door and kicked it as hard as he could, swinging both of them outward.


    Upon reaching halfway of its max opening, the door hit both of the guards in the arm. It had surprised them both, and they fumbled with what to do.


    Reaching down to his ankle, Cody pulled out a small knife that he had hidden just underneath his sock. Immediately, turning and looking at the man, Cody threw it as hard as he could, and it pierced the man''s neck. Blood splurged out of it before he could no longer breathe and passed out.


    ''I thought I would be okay with killing a human after killing so many zombies, but it''s still a vastly different feeling to what I expected.'' Cody thought. ''Either way, to save Kelly and my own life, I need to act and deal with both of the guards'' Cody thought.


    After taking out one guard, Cody picked up his small de and threw it at the other, stabbing him in the thigh. But only a small amount of blood came out from his thick tree trunk-like thighs.


    The guard pulled out the de and didn''t seem bothered, as if Cody''s attack had done nothing. In the next moment, the guard threw the de back at Cody. Thetter''s fast reflexes allowed him to dodge the attack, but now he was in a dangerous situation.


    Because, for one, the guard had pulled out the gun on the other hand, and now Cody was just standing there with his hands up as the gun was pointed at atheism, ready to deal with him at any second.


    ''I needed to take out both of the guards..and call the others for help that Brandon had¡­now..now, what do I do.'' Cody thought.


    Looking at the rtivelyrge man, Cody imagined kicking his head, but it was too high and the man toorge. Regardless, before he could even act, he saw a foot hit the man the next second right in the side of the head, knocking him outpletely.


    "I didn''t think I would see you here." A woman appeared in front of him with a smile, standing behind the fallen man.


    It was a familiar face for Cody.


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 148 The Dark One

    LUZ Chapter


    It took a second look for Cody to realise who was in front of him. He panicked and was ready to fight whoever wasing towards him that he had nearlyshed out at his saviour. As he slowed down and looked at the person carefully, he finally recognised her.


    "You... wait, weren''t you part of the group that came into the Cobra gang''s hideout?" Cody asked in a surprised tone.


    Hearing footsteps from behind him, Cody spun around and swung his arm out, but before it hit the person, he felt his fist being grabbed and stopped. Whoever could stop his sudden punch had to have two things, good reflexes and powerful strength.


    When speaking about who it was, it was someone that Cody didn''t quite recognise.


    "You have quite good reflexes, Kid, I don''t know who you are, but you should say thanks to the prettydy since she asked us to help you out."


    Both Kun and Pink were keeping an eye on the ce. Kun had a feeling that something was about to go wrong. It always did in these types of situations, so they were waiting to see if anything would happen and just as they said that, they saw Cody kicking the entrance and running out.


    When Pink recognised the human, a smile appeared on her face upon realising that he had survived, and from the impression she had gotten from the person, he didn''t seem to be a bad seed. However, his actions were rash as he went outside.


    Although he had managed to kill one of the guards, the other had easily overpowered him. Pink had to make a decision, and trusting her intuition, she decided to act.


    "Thank you for helping me out, but I need to go, I need to find the people who came here with Bradon!" Cody said as he ran off, but Kun grabbed him again.


    "Hey, did you just say Brandon? I think the ones that he might be talking about are us. Why don''t you go and tell us what exactly is going on inside." Kun asked.


    Two groups, who had somewhat of a connection with each other and even though they didn''t really know each other, Kun and Pink hade to this ce with them, not to mention that if Brandon was in danger, Pink''s mother was as well.


    ----


    While this was happening outside, Brandon was in a struggle. The man he had a grip on had just shot a bullet, and he was sure that everyone must have heard it and that soon there would be many guardsing after him.


    Putting more force behind his choke hold, Brandon knocked out the guard and took his gun. Shortly after, he started to run towards the room where the sound wasing from. Pressing on the Handle, he attempted to open the door, but it seemed to be locked.


    Turning his head, he could hear the sound of the elevator moving as well, and the number above it was changing.


    "You two just go out there and see what is going on!" A voice shouted on the other end, and it was clear it was from the doctor.


    ''I''ve made a lot of noise already, so I guess it honestly doesn''t matter too much.'' Brandon thought as he pointed the gun towards the door and shot a few more times after that. Kicking the door open, he entered one of the many operating rooms.


    He was wondering if he would see Pink''s mother here, but instead, it was a sight that he could never imagine. Blood was dripping on the floor, and a young man was lying on the table, strapped to a make-shift operating table, crying in pain, with her clothes drenched red in blood.


    "Is...who is that...I don''t know who you are, but please help me, please save me... It hurts so much. I don''t want to go through this anymore, it really hurts, just kill me, please."


    Quickly running towards the young woman on the table, Brandon was stunned. He stood there for a second as he looked her up and down and looked at the tools by the side of the table.


    "What the f*ck did that sick doctor do to you?" Brandon could barely control the volume of his due to the shock. There was almost no clear skin on her body that appeared to the normal eyes because there were cuts and burn marks all over her body.


    It was clear to Brandon, as he had seen this type of thing a few times in the past, these were signs of torture. On top of that, from the wounds inflicted on the woman''s body, it was clear the doctor had tried various tools, as if he was trying out different methods, to see if he could get a different result, or maybe just for fun.


    "That doctor..." Kelly replied in a weak voice, barely holding on to her consciousness. "He was trying to create a superhuman...trying to test and see if I would be one."


    "Superhuman?" Brandon repeated the word.


    Thinking about the reports of other groups, there were some talks of superhumans, but even in their whole group, there currently wasn''t a single one. Although, some face dide to his mind that he had met recently who perhaps could be referred to as superhuman.<sub> </sub>


    Either way, it wasn''t the time for him to think about these things. Brandon grabbed some of the tools by the side and started to work away at the straps. There were sharp tools, and they still had traces of blood on them.


    It looked like the doctor didn''t care too much if there was an infection or if Kelly would have died.


    "What''s your name?" Brandon asked as he used the metal stick to try and break away the straps. He wanted to keep her awake and distract her from the pain, thus was asking the question. Meanwhile, he was also going back and forth as quickly as he could but didn''t want to harm the woman anymore. She had already been hurt enough.


    "It''s Kelly...there was a boy...he was with me," Kelly spoke.


    "Yes, don''t worry about him," Brandon replied, breaking two of the straps away. "I met him. In fact, he was the one that asked me toe and help you. So don''t worry, you two will be back together. I''ll make sure of that."


    Finally, breaking off thest strap, Brandon freed her.


    However, he didn''t immediately get her out of her room. He had wasted a lot of time in untying her, and there would surely be people outside. Therefore, he kicked out the operation table to its side, turning it into a small barrier, and as soon as he heard the door knob turning, he started firing the gun without giving any chance to the people outside.


    The bullets went through the door and hit several men in the stomach and limbs, making them scream in pain.


    "I''ve been hit... I''ve been hit!" One of them shouted.


    "Who cares about that? Just fire back!" Another shouted.


    Bullets started toe out from the other side as well after that shout. They hit the table, but the two had already moved to the side. The table was just a temporary safety measure.


    "Every time I''m going to fire, I will move. These guys aren''t trained, so it should give us a chance to get out of here." Brandon exined to Kelly, making her aware of what would happen.


    The only thing was, there was a lot of firepowering from outside, much more than he had expected. Making him wonder where they get so many guns suddenly from.


    ''They must have more guns somewhere. Where are they hiding them? Have they given them to those people in the reception just to take me out?''


    Right now, the two of them were in the corner of the room, he asked Kelly to move first along the side of the wall, and then, while continuing to fire back at them, he would get to her shortly after.


    It seemed to work since there was one location for Brandon to shoot at, and he could hear by the sounds he was sessfully hitting others on the other side. Truthfully though, he didn''t like it. He didn''t like the feeling that he was hurting others who were most likely innocent in this. They weren''t fighters by any means.


    And, from the sounds of it, someone was forcing them to continue firing.


    "Get in there now!" Regardless of their injuries and such, the next moment, they stormed the room.


    "You don''t want to fight!" Bradon shouted, warning them onest time. "If you do, a lot of you will lose your lives. I''m a squad captain, highly trained and have been using a gun for years. So even if you manage to take me down, there will be a lot of you who will go down with me."


    Shooting the ground by the feet of those that had just entered, Brandon also made a warning shot to show them just how skilful he was with a gun. If he had hit them, there was a higher chance that they would panic, so this was the only option he had.


    "Just let us through," Brandon said. "Look at what your doctor did to this woman, he will do the same to you, and you don''t need to stay here. We have a ce, a safe ce for you all."


    Soon after, in the hallway, just behind those with guns, there were several with strange-looking rifles, and without hesitation, they fired away at the two of them. Brandon had avoided most of them, thinking they were bullets, but suddenly, he felt a small prick in his arm.


    ''A dart...and I feel so sleepy..is this a tranquiliser?" Brandon thought, but it was strong, and before fully understanding what had happened, he fell to the floor unconscious.


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 149 Im A Zombie!

    After hearing about what had happened in the Hospital from Cody, it was time for Kun and Pink to decide what to do next. It was clear that Brando needed their help, but the thing was, Kun was really hoping that Zain would have returned or arrived by now, but thetter was still missing and hadn''t regrouped with them yet.


    Thinking about this, Kun smiled to himself.


    ''I guess I didn''t realise how we have started to rely on him so much. We have gotten strong because of him, stronger than we were before. And it''s time to use our new strengths.''


    With this thought, he suggested some things to Cody and Pink before they headed in.


    "We need to move now. If there are gunshots and several people under the doctor''s control like you said they are, then it means we need to hurry. Otherwise, there will be a lot of trouble."


    As the other two nodded, Kun took the gun from Cody''s hand and gave him a quick guide on how to use it, although he could only tell him the basics for now.


    "In all honesty, it would be best if you didn''t have to use it since most people inside are just scared and cautious," Kun said.


    With a determined nod, all three of them ran into the hallway. They sprinted down the hallway, and in doing so, it looked like there were quite a few panicked people inside.


    "Everyone, we have received an order from the Doctor!" The person at the reception yelled at them, "We have to attack the people who havee today with that patient."


    At the same time, one of the guards pulled out arge crate from behind. And soon, they began to hand out guns to the general public. As that was happening, many of those in their seats had turned and looked toward Dave, who was still sitting in the back.


    "Wait, I haven''t done anything. Why are you guys looking at me?!" Dave shouted. "You can see that I have been here the whole time. There has to be a mistake."


    Without giving a chance for Dave to convince them, one of the scrawny men, who looked weak and possibly also a university student, leapt towards Dave and tried to punch him, but Dave didn''t sit still.


    The training that Dave had received at the museum had kicked in, and seeing his hand cocked back, he waited for thetter to throw the punch since the direction of where it was going to be easy to read, and so he easily avoided it, then throwing a punch fo his own right in the scrawny guy''s face.


    It was a hard hit that had hurt Dave''s knuckles and hand, but he had a sense of achievement as he looked at the student on the floor.


    "Look at that smile on his face, he just hit one of us, and he acts like that!"


    "He must be evil. That''s why the doctor has told us to get their group."


    Themotion suddenly resumed as if the people were trying to convince themselves. It was obvious that Dave hadn''t thrown the first attack, yet they were making it seem like it had happened that way.


    A group of around seven people walked towards him, all intending to kill. Dave''s punch might have allowed him to knock one person down, but the question was whether or not he could survive seven at once.


    ''Think about your training.'' Dave thought.


    "Remember now, if you are ever in a situation where you are to face multiple people at once, the best thing you can do is run." The voice in Dave''s head told him. But this information was useless to him now because he waspletely surrounded.


    *Bang *Bang *Bang


    A small burst of bullets was suddenly heard from the hallway, making everyone freeze. There were many in the queue to get their guns. Around ten already had weapons in their hands, while others were in the middle of getting their guns, and some had grabbed melee weapons since there didn''t seem to be enough guns for them all.


    Bullets were shot at the feet of those towards the front and closest to the reception. Everyone froze as they saw guns pointed at them.


    "Don''t you even think of acting smart, if you do, then there will, of course, be a price to pay." Kun ordered.


    One of the men with a handgun finger was twitching, he was nervous in the situation he was in, unsure about what to do, but a strange thought was running through his head.


    ''If I get rid of these attackers and all three of them now, I will be by the doctor''s side. I can get rid of all my debt in one go and start collecting debts from others!'' The man thought.


    So he turned his gun and pointed it towards Kun, but thetter instantly noticed this and pulled his trigger. A short burst of bullets came out and hit the man on his knees, causing him to fall to the floor.


    Blood streamed from the man''s knees as he was on the floor, as he wailed and screamed in pain.<sub> </sub>


    "Save me. Someone save me! Call the doctor! Quick, save me!" The man shouted.


    "If any of you move, then there will be another bullet in you. I''m a good shot, I hit the knees on purpose. Now, drop the guns!" Kun ordered.


    They all were reluctantly looking at each other, and after two seconds of them not following Kun''s order, he lifted up the gun again, pointing it toward the entire group, causing them to immediately drop the guns on the ground.


    Soon, the guns were gathered and ced in the toilet, and the room was then locked with a key by Dave, and after that, he took one gun for himself as well.


    "Dave, now listen up, you did well back there, but now you''re going to have a bigger job. You have to make sure these people stay here and don''t go for the guns. Make sure everyone stays in line, and that means, even if you have to shoot them." Kun said, as he looked at the injured man on the floor who was bleeding out, he looked pale.


    In truth, Kun didn''t want to kill anyone, but they needed to make an example of someone to put a bigger fear into thempared to what the doctor had set. Dave didn''t know if he was up to the task, but the truth was he needed to be. It didn''t matter how he felt.


    After that, Kun Pink and Cody continued down the hall, making their way to the elevator, hoping to find Brandon, and Kelly, saving them just in time from the chaos that was appearing.


    "Hey!" Dave shouted. "They said don''t move! If you move, I will shoot."


    The people were slowly shuffling out, and Dave could hear a lot of talking between them.


    "This is the guy from before, right, and he only has a handgun. He can''t shoot us all if we rush him at once."


    "But should we go after him, I mean, what if these guys get rid of the doctor? Wouldn''t that mean we will be free from our debts?" Another one said.


    "I can''t believe you just said that. I will tell the doctor what type of person you are!"


    It was starting to get rowdy, and Dave made up his mind as he pointed the gun toward a particr person and fired two shots. Everyone instantly stopped, and silence fell in the hall. When looking at where Dave had shot, they could see that he had killed someone.


    ''He.. he''s dead.''


    The person who Dave had shot was the man who was already bleeding out. He was screaming the most, and was also the main reason why the others were getting agitated. But now, without a doubt, he was dead.


    Dave knew this needed to be done because after this, no one was going to step out of line.


    ----


    The others had reached the elevator, but it turned out to be useless when they pushed the button. The elevator was out of service, and now it seemed like getting up to the doctor''s office would be impossible this way.


    "We are just going to have to take the stairs," Cody said as he ran ahead and started climbing the stairs quickly.


    He was fast and agile, and even Pink struggled to keep up, but they weren''t too far behind him. At that moment, as they turned around the corner of a staircase, a door was heard mming open, and on the other side, there was a man with a gun.


    Immediately, he fired, and the bullets headed towards Cody. But the next moment, Cody saw Pink appear before him, with her back facing the other way. The bullets went through her, and blood could be seening out of her mouth.


    Cody''s eyes widened as he saw this.


    "Why...why would you save me? How will you survive now?!" Cody shouted.


    Wiping the blood away from her mouth, Pink smiled as she turned around and fired bullets back, hitting the man cleanly and pushing him to slide against the wall.


    "This is fine for me.. because I''m a zombie." Pink smiled.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 150 The Third Floor

    The bullets plunged into Pink''s back, and when she turned around, Cody noticed the two blood holes appearing on the back of her clothes. Without a doubt, she had been shot. Two bullets had prated the skin, and blood was beginning to soak her top.


    Yet, Pink wasn''t screaming in pain. Instead, she actedpletely fine as she continued to walk up the stairs along with Kun.


    ''That''s right...I almost forgot what I saw her do. When she bit that Corba gang member, she turned him into a zombie as well, and that can only happen if one is infected.'' Cody recalled the incident that happened when the woman in front of her fought one of the Cobra gang men.


    Thinking about it a bit more, Cody remembered what Zain had told him, and thest time he had seen Zain, he had seen Pink as well. It was quite possible that they were all in the same boat. All of them were some type of special zombies who could still think freely and do what they wanted.


    "Are you going to be okay?" Cody asked, still looking at her blood-soaked back. "I mean, I don''t really know how your body works."


    "I''ll be fine. You just worry about yourself. I can take a bullet or two and will recover after a nice meal, and anyway, after we''re done here, there will be plenty of meat to eat around." Pink joked.


    However, listening to this, Cody could only think about one thing, that Pink ate humans, and it was somewhat true as well, although the joke didn''t really showcase the seriousness of the situation.


    As they continued to run up, Kun, who was leading the group, heard themotion ahead and the sound of doors opening.


    They were on the third-floor staircase, but from the sound of things, there would be quite a few people with weapons up ahead to stop them.


    "Detour. If they rain down bullets from above on us, I don''t even think we are going to survive that," Kun instructed the other two.


    They went through the next set of double doors leading to the hallway of the third floor. The hospital was quiterge and had four staircases in total that led to the top. One in each corner. It had four hallways as well as the main reception room that led to multiple rooms as well.


    So as soon as they ran through the halls, with the trolleys in the hallway, and the several doors and rooms, they noticed how strange such a ce looked. A hospital was usually filled with patients at all times, and nurses moving about everywhere taking care of the patients.


    But here, there was nothing, there was no one, and to top it all off, there was a lot of blood. Now that it would be weird considering the state of the world, however, this whole group was centered around a doctor, so it was at least expected to have some other staff as well.


    "Okay, let''s take a break," Kun said as he turned to one of the consultation rooms and opened the door, closing it quickly behind him after the other two stepped in.


    There were a couple of seats, a drawn curtain, and a chair for one to lie down in, as well as a brokenputer. The room looked unused, to say the least. As for Cody, he was happy that they were taking a break.


    His hands were on his knees, and he was panting heavily, trying to catch a breath. They had sprinted non-stop, and with the panicked situation they were in, Cody was feeling somewhat nervous as well.


    For the zombies, however, this was somewhat a normal situation, but he needed a break.


    "Alright, so let''s have them wait and look for us for some time, and then we will continue ahead up from there. Most likely, the Doctor will stay at the very top of this ce, away from themotion, while sending others down." Kun said to the other two.


    ----


    At the moment, as Kun had guessed, the Doctor was indeed on the top floor. He had asked some of his men to deal with the situation, and while they did, he didn''t stay in his office but went to the CCTV room, looking at the live footage throughout the hospital.


    There were cameras in the hallways but not in the patient rooms themselves. However, they were enough for him to know what floor they were on.


    Grabbing onto the microphone in front of him, the Doctor cleared his throat and began to speak.


    "It looks like the young kid brought some people back." The Doctor revealed it to his people. "And there''s something strange happening at the reception. This is such a shame, but I understand that these things happen.


    "Everyone, you have done well so far, continue at it, and anyone who manages to catch one of those that is disrupting the ce will have their entire debt cleared. On top of that, you will be able to apply debt to others for helping run the ce and making such a greatmunity.


    "Because, of course, if you''re able to stop the intruders, then it means that the rest of the people that live here will owe you a debt for helping them."


    Kun was just shaking his head as he heard these words because he had figured out pretty quickly how this entire ce was run. The people were practically brainwashed, living in a new and different society from what they were used to.<sub> </sub>


    "Anyway, I see that the intruders are on the third floor, but I ask that no one is to head to the third floor, I repeat, no one is to head to the third floor. You are to stay put where you are, and if they manage to escape, only then are you to act. I doubt that you will need to be put to use because they won''t make it out alive."


    ----


    The message was broadcasted, and it ended there, but Kun was starting to wonder why the Doctor was so confident. Eventually, they decided to leave the room after a few minutes. They tried to use their ears to listen out for anything people or the sound of guns, but there was no such thing.


    "Should we head back to the staircase or head to a different one?" Pink asked.


    "I''m not sure. Let''s just keep walking for now." Kun replied.


    The three continued to walk, and up ahead, there were the double doors that would lead to arge main reception area where all the hallways intersected. When they slowly opened it, they saw something strange. It looked like a hospital bed that was standing on the bottom half and held upright.


    There were multiple straps on it, but they looked to have been cut, and worse for all, there was blood all over the hospital bed.


    "Can you smell that?" Kun asked.


    "Yeah...I can." Pink replied. "But I can''t tell if it is human, or...is it dead."


    Kun was getting a strange tingling feeling, and he didn''t like it at all, which was why he had turned back around and mmed the double doors shut. Soon after that, he started running and looked at the thick windows by the side.


    Using his hand and drawing all his strength, he punched at it with full force. Several cracks appeared on the window panel, but the ss didn''t break.


    ''That rancid smell ising closer to the door. Whatever it ising from, that thing will be here at any second.''


    A loud bang was heard, and ss shattering all over the ce and falling to the floor could be heard as well. The window now had Pink''s foot there instead, as she had kicked the window open.


    "I thought I would help you out a bit," Pink smiled.


    "Okay, look, Cody, you have been a big help to us so far, but in order for us to fight without worrying, we are going to have to get you out of here," Kun said. "Find another way to the top, maybe from the bottom. Just get out of here!"


    Cody didn''t know what was going on and why Kun was so scared, but from the looks of the strange hospital bed, they had seen it had to be something bad. When peeking out the window, Cody could see several ledges and remembered the days when he was extremely into parkour. Perhaps he could do something to help them out as well, without putting anyone''s life at risk.


    The next second, another loud bang was heard, and it hade from the double doors. Before Cody knew it, he was pushed by Kun out of the window. Reaching out his hand, Cody grabbed onto the ledge, slowing himself down but slipped.


    He then banged his back into what looked like a dustbin. And several ss shards pierced him as well, making him cry out in pain.


    "Arghh...that wasn''t a goodnding," Cody muttered to himself as he slowly got up from the floor. "But...I need to help them somehow, I need to find that damn Doctor and stop all of this."


    Cody rolled off and slowly got up. His whole body was aching, and he was also bleeding from his back.


    "I...need to do something," Cody said as he walked forward and headed back around to the front of the hospital. When he finally reached it, he stopped there for a few seconds as a young man walked up to him.


    "Please...help me," Cody said, instantly recognizing the young man. "Please...Zain."


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 151 Pizza Hand

    Looking out of the window and seeing that Cody was still moving, Kun was happy to see that the other was safe and sound, but now they had their problem to deal with. Immediately, he turned towards the door, and by now, the nasty odour had also reached the hallway.


    "I believe the two of us will have to be on top of our game to get out of this one," Kun said while holding the gun up.


    Hearing this, Pink actually put her weapon away, as she was much morefortable and confident with using her own body to fight. And with this, the two took a fighting stance.


    The next moment, a screeching cry came from the other side. And instantly, breaking the door, and cutting through it, bit by bit, it looked like some kind of a saw that was spinning and cutting through the door.


    A few momentster, half of one of the doors fell to the ground, and now both of them could see what they were facing.


    As soon as they saw the sight in front of them, they were shocked. Pink involuntarily brought her hand over her mouth as she cried in confusion and stupor, "What..is that?"


    It was hard to tell just from looking at it whether it was a human or if it was a zombie because it didn''t look like any of the two. The creature had a somewhat human body-like shape, but there were blood-soaked bandages wrapped around it from head to toe.


    Its head was twice the size of an average human, and it was hard to figure out the exact face since the head was wrapped around the most in bandages. Its legs were gigantic and split apart, making it look like a crab.


    And, other than that, it also had its hand chopped off below the elbow, and recing that limb was something that looked like a round saw. It had a sharp edge with spike ends and was circr in shape. One clear look would tell that it was a tool used by doctors to cut open the skulls of others during an operation or surgery. In addition, there were strange red tendons that had formed around it as if the hand had grown around the saw and it had be part of the creature''s body.


    "I''m still unsure if that''s a zombie or a human....what the hell has this doctor been doing to the people here? How can they still follow him!" Pink was breathing heavily, almost in tears, because she couldn''t believe that her mother was in the hands of the said person. And to make it worse, she was the one that had agreed to send her mother to this monster, and she couldn''t imagine the things that were happening to the former right now.


    "I''m sorry, I don''t know if you are alive in there, but I need to get past you to make sure no one else suffers from the same thing as you," Kun said, not knowing whether or not the creature understood his words.


    And upon seeing no response. Kun raised his hand and carefully aimed the gun. The head was a big target, and the next moment, he shot out a burst of bullets towards the head. They pierced it just like they would have done anyone else, creating several holes and pushing the creature by a few steps.


    However, it didn''t fall down but instead screamed. Then, running ahead, it bashed the doors open, throwing them off their hingespletely.


    Shooting out more bursts of bullets toward the creature, Kun tried to stop it by targeting the brain, but it didn''t look like the normal method was working on this creature.


    "That isn''t working!" Pink shouted as she charged forward. However, when she got close, the creature swung its arm, and the saw missed Pink by around an inch. Whatever this creature was, it was faster than a regr zombie. Nevertheless, she had also increased her agility since upgrading herself with the help of crystals.


    Immediately, she kicked the saw hand as hard as possible, making the creature''s body wobble to the side. And when its other hand wasing towards Pink, she chose to ignore it and was getting ready to deliver a knife kick toward the head because she was confident her partner had her back.


    Just as expected, gunshots rang out, and the bullets pierced through the other arm, hitting it away and causing the creature to flinch. Now, when she jumped up and spun her leg, a de appeared out of Pink''s boot andnded right in the side of the creature''s head.


    It was a powerful hit, so hard that it tilted therge creature''s body onto its side, causing it to fall to the ground.


    "This thing... it''s still alive." Pink said as she could see that it was still breathing, still moving and attempting to get back up.


    "Then just ignore it, and let''s keep moving," Kun said as he ran past them, and Pink wasn''t so far behind either. However, when they entered the main reception hall, they found that the creature they had faced wasn''t the only one they would have to deal with.


    ----


    In the reception room on the ground floor, Dave was still holding his gun. But after the doctor''s words were broadcasted throughout the hospital, it looked to have been changing the views and opinions of a few people in the room. The doctor''s words had struck fear in their minds once again, and now, what Dave had done before was starting to disappear from their minds.


    "Everyone be quiet!" Dave shouted. "If you keep talking, I will have to shoot this thing."<sub> </sub>


    His hands were shaking again, trembling from the shock which he still hadn''t processed of what he had done before. Shooting someone who was begging for life and someone alive and well were twopletely different things altogether.


    "Look, his hands are shaking. He''s scared, we will definitely be able to do something."


    Thesements made Dave even more nervous than before, and he could tell if he didn''t do something now, then the situation would only get worse.


    ''What do I do!'' Dave was racking his brain for an answer, ''Who do I shoot? Someone how old, but what if they die? They will bleed out because of me...but Brandon trusted me, if I don''t do this, then we all will die, and then what will happen to everyone else at the museum.''


    At the same time, there were conflicting thoughts in Dave''s head. This was a hospital with a doctor, and what had they ever done?


    Brandon hadn''t updated Dave on what was actually happening, and it meant thetter had no clue what was actually happening. He was just given an order that he needed to follow. But at the end of the day, he was just a normal university student, not a trained professional.


    ''I...I can''t do this. Dave squinted, and before he knew it, he felt something heavy hit his hand. The grip around the gun had loosened, and it was heard falling to the floor and sliding across it.


    Another thud was heard, and a water bottle could be seen on the floor. While he was distracted, one of the others threw it and hit the gun. Immediately, Dave could see the peopleing towards him.


    However, he knew what was dangerous and dived for the gun. His body was now on top of it, but before his hands could reach it, he felt a kick, a punch, and now a bombardment of hits rained down upon him.


    Never in his life had Dave felt this kind of pain. He was getting stomped, hit, kicked, and punched, and he was sure his bones would break because everyone was hitting him as hard as they could. But if he moved away from the gun, he felt like he would die. However, staying in this potion as well would also only lead to the same oue.


    "Kill him! Kill him and tell the doctor!" A man shouted as he used his fists and hammered down right on Dave''s head. He used the bottom part of his hands, but the good thing was Dave had been informed what to do in this situation, and it was to turtle up.


    Both hands covered the back of his head, and he brought his knees close to his body to protect his vitals until the grip on his head worsened.


    "You f*cker, you really pointed a gun at us, but you couldn''t even use it!" The man shouted. "You made us fear for our lives, someone like you? I can''t wait to make you do unimaginable things with the debt you will have after this!"


    The man then went and lifted one of the chairs. The others moved away, allowing him to get through, then with the metal legs, he lifted it and was ready to m it right on Dave''s head.


    "You should have killed me when you had the chance, you f*cking stupid boy!" The man shouted in anger, ready to hammer it down.


    *BANG *BANG *BANG


    The man stopped with the chair midway as he looked down at his chest, and in the next instant, he fell to the floor. There were three bullet holes in him, and the man was dead.


    "He might be afraid to shoot you all, but I won''t hesitate to shoot you, and right now, I think all of you deserve to die."


    A red-haired young man wearing a hoodie walked in with a gun pointed at them.


    Instantly, silence fell in the room once again.


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Ticket!

 Chapter 152 Youre Screwed

    Opening his eyes, the entirety of Brandon''s body felt groggy. It wasn''t hurting, he had only received a few scratches from the onught of bullets from before, but even then, it was hard to tell why his wounds weren''t hurting in the first ce.


    The initial adrenaline rush should have been over by now, yet he could hardly feel and control his body. He just felt incredibly weak.


    ''Is it some type of drug, sedative maybe? That would make sense why my mind isn''tplete there, and it was the same with that woman from before. What did that kid say her name was¡­Kelly?''


    Just when he was thinking about this, he heard a few groans from his left, and it looked like there was someone with him, and it was none other than Kelly herself. She seemed to be more awake than him, judging by her eyes.


    But that wasn''t what stood out. Instead, it was the fact that they were in another operating room, different from the one before, this one looked a lot cleaner, and the two of them were tied and strapped up to strange chairs, simr to the ones used on mental patients or the prisoners on death row.


    "I''m sorry. I should have told you before." Kelly said in a low voice, now seeing that Brandon was awake. "They have these potent tranquillizers that they can use. That''s how they got me before, and the doctor himself has this tranquillizer in his body. I mean, It''s happened a few times, but when he touches me with his hand, even when he''s barehanded, I start to feel heavy-headed and sleepy."


    It wasn''t strange for the hospital to have some substances that could make one go under, but what was strange was Kelly''sst sentence.


    "Sorry, I know I''m not making much sense right now, but I was so panicked, and I think I''m just putting things together now." Then, she began to borate, "You see, the doctor, he was asking about superhumans and was running all sorts of different tests on me.


    "I think...honestly, he was trying to turn me into a superhuman by torturing me, but now that I think about it, how could the doctor be such sure superhumans even exist? I haven''t even really seen any for myself. Which makes me believe that he has to be sure of it for one reason."


    "Because he is a superhuman himself." Brandon finished off her sentenceing to the same conclusion. "Well, knowing that information won''t help us out now because we''re stuck here. Either way, the only thing we can rely on is that teenager calling for help."


    Hearing the word teenager had perked up Kelly''s ears a bit. Regardless, her energy was incredibly low, and she had already suffered a lot when Brandon had tried his best to get both of them out of the situation they were in not too long ago.


    The only saving grace was the fact that whatever was causing her body to feel this way was wearing off, and the time for her waking up was getting shorter and shorter.


    "I don''t think you will be able to rely on that teenager for long." The doctor said as he entered the room from the side. He then picked up a remote that was ced on the side of a table and pressed a button.


    There was a screen directly above the two of them, it was one that doctors would usually use when performing surgery, but it had been set up for something else. After a few buttons were pushed, they could see surveince footage inside the hospital.


    In the hallway, they were able to see Cody, along with Pink and Kun as well. Suddenly Cody jumped out of the window as it looked like something dangerous wasing their way.


    ''This¡­is it live footage or something from before?''


    Listening closely to the video, Brandon could hear the sound of gunshots, and he could only assume that this was going on at the same time while they were dealing with their own mess, which meant some time had passed.<sub> </sub>


    "I can tell you are someone who had special training, and it looks like you were prepared for something like this, and even had two waiting outside toe in. I have to admit they are skillful, but they won''t be able to reach this floor."


    Pressing another button, it switched to the live feed, showing the two of them in the main hall, arge oval space that branched off to several hallways and stairs. Here they could see a number of mutated creatures, experiments performed by the doctor mashing up man and zombie, creating something horrid, and the two of them, even with their guns, seemed to be somewhat struggling to take them down.


    "Your reinforcements will fail, and rather than worrying about the two. I think the two of you should worry about yourself. You see, I have an experiment I have been working on, and so far, the results have been unsatisfactory.


    "At some point, even I eventually give up, or my methods go a little too far, to the point where the only way of saving someone is turning them into something like that."


    Kelly gulped as she imagined her body being meshed up like that. Thankfully, she had held out against all the methods used so far, but at one point, she did feel like her mind was on the verge of breaking.


    Pressing another button, the camera switched to multiple views, allowing the doctor to see several different cameras around the hospital and on all floors. However, he didn''t wish to pay too much attention to that as he turned around and was ready to put on his white gloves, snapping them on one at a time.


    "Usually, we would sanitize everything before doing such an operation, but there is no reason for me to follow the rules and procedures anymore." The doctor said, walking closer towards both of them, but that''s when he could see a smile on the two faces.


    ''What is this? Rather than fear, they are smiling instead?'' Then, looking in the direction of their eyes, they could see that it was towards the CCTV screen. That''s when the doctor noticed someone he didn''t recognize on the screen.


    "Oh, it looks like you have one more. But do you really think a single red-haired guy will change anything?" The doctor asked.


    Hearing these words, Brandon started to chuckle.


    "Yeah, I do." He recalled all the amazing feats this person could aplish, things that should have been impossible for a human. He recalled how the same red-haired young man yed a crucial role in taking down the zombie horde and saving the museum.


    And after seeing him appear here, a ray of hope lit up in his heart, and he felt quite relieved.


    He smiled while staring at the doctor and only added two more words.


    "You''re f*cked."


    ***********


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 153 Trigger Happy

    Things had been hectic for the museum group, especially for Dave. Not too long ago, he had experienced a life-and-death situation on his outing. Having gotten out of that from the skin of his teeth, he had hoped that he wouldn''t need to deal with a simr situation for a while.


    However, fate had other ns, and once again, Dave found himself in a dire situation. Coming to the hospital, something that would have been a simple task, easy in the past, was now a nightmare, and the eyes of all the people around were those of monsters, worse than the zombies themselves.


    Regardless of this, one person had managed to catch the attention of them all. Zain stood there with not just one handgun but two in his hands. They were both pointing toward therge group of people, and Cody was not too far behind him.


    ''It''s...it''s Zain, you finally got here. Where were you?'' Dave asked in his head, but he didn''t say those words out loud; he was too filled with joy to have his life just saved for that.


    "I''m here to see the doctor, and if any of you get in my way, I won''t be afraid to shoot. I''m not as nice as he is. " Zain stated, and as he walked over, the people cleared a clear pathway for him.


    They then saw him step over the body he had just shot, lying on the floor dead with the blood slowly draining out of him.


    "You did a good job," Zain said as he moved by Dave''s side. "I got caught up in something, so part of what happened here is my fault."


    Dave shook his head as he heard these words.


    "You can''t say that; it''s twice now that you''ve saved me. I don''t even know how I''m going to repay you."


    In the middle of the two talking, Cody was getting ready to open the door. His hands were shaking as he was worried about what happened to Kelly, not just her but Pink and Kun, who had heard him as well.


    "Come on, there''s still a lot of uspared to them. What are we doing standing here? We should all rush and get them together." A voice was heard crumbling from the crowd, and many of them started to mumble after that.


    Dave had seen this scene before because it was exactly what had happened to him. At first, they were all frightened, but slowly their confidence grew, and soon they wouldsh out and attack them again.


    "Who said that?" Zain shouted out. "Bring out which one said those words right now, or I''m going to start shooting the front row of you all one by one."


    There were darting eyes around the room, and unlike with Dave, there was confidence in Zain''s voice, which eventually led to the older gentleman with a grey beard being pushed out towards the front.


    "What are you guys doing!" The man said, turning around. "We should all go toward him together!"


    *BANG


    "AHHH!" The man screamed as he felt the bullet hitting him; holding onto his bleeding thigh, he shouted,


    "I''ve been shot! He shot me, he shot me!"


    Zain walked over to the man and pointed the gun at his head.


    "Stop making noise if you want to live," Zain stated, and the man immediately shut up.


    "If any of you try toe forward, or go through these doors, once we pass them, I will shoot, and I will kill all of you. Because unlike my friend here, I am not afraid to pull the trigger, as you have seen twice now.


    "Because there is one thing you should all know. To me, my life is a lot more important than yours, and I will do anything to survive."<sub> </sub>


    At that point, Zain had turned his back toward them, a brave move because if the others were going to act, now would be the time, but not a single one did, as they saw the man holding onto his knee and the dead on the floor.


    After that, he pushed open the double doors and continued to walk.


    ''That was a little lesson to you, Dave. When your life''s on the line, this is how you need to act if you are to survive in the world.''


    "Cody, lead the way. Take me to Kun and Pink, and then you go after the doctor if you''re confident enough. If not, then you can always wait, but it might be toote by then." Zain honestly said.


    Cody gritted his teeth and nodded. He couldn''t just rely on Zain; he needed to do things himself.


    As they were ready to run through the hallway and to the staircase on the other side, Zain stopped hearing a ding sound.


    [The system has recognised the two Reborn Zombies as your allies]


    [Would you like to add them to your party?]


    ''A party system, like in a game? Wait, if I add them to my party, then won''t I be able to see things like their stats or health and where they are? Maybe then the other skill will be able to locate them as well.''


    Thinking of this, Zain immediately clicked on the [Yes] icon.


    [A party has been formed]


    [Party members will not use up slots in your Horde]


    [A new quest has been received]


    [Your party members are in trouble. Rescue and regroup with your party members and eliminate the threat.]


    [Reward: Gold card]


    ''A gold card reward, that''s quite the nice reward, but then that means that this quest might be a little difficult.''


    Zain turned his head and looked back at the door with the people on the other side. Maybe there was a way to make this quest a bit easier.


    *****


    Authornote:


    I am back from holiday, which means LUZ updates every day again. Sorry to all those who have had to wait.


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 154 Turning Point

    A gold card, so far, the rewards from the high-level cards had been more than helpful, and Zain couldn''t lose out on this opportunity for more than one reason. First, he didn''t know when another chance like this to get a gold card woulde up again, especially in a situation he needed toplete anyway.


    This wasn''t like the tinum or other higher cards where he was going into the unknown. On top of that, he wanted to save Pink and Kun anyway. Since improving their abilities by using crystals to upgrade their bodies and strength, they have proven to be a strong and reliable asset for the future.


    ''If the system is making the quest a gold one, then that would mean it must think it''s quite the difficult one as well. So let''s not take any chances.''


    Rather than continue walking forward, Zain turned around, and in doing so, he pushed the double doors open wide with his two arms, heading back into the reception room.


    The people inside the room flinched slightly as they saw Zain. Cody and Dave were still in the hallway, and as he closed the doors, he said a few words.


    "Just wait for me by the staircase for a moment," Zain asked as he closed the doors.


    Upon turning around, he noticed the people were nervous, and one of them was wrapping a bandage around the thigh of the old man that had been shot before. Although it didn''t look like it would do much since no one in the room seemed to have much medical training.


    ''I guess the doctor is the only one that can actually do something around here, but that''s strange, shouldn''t there have been other staff in the hospital as well.'' Zain thought.


    When thinking about it a bit more, and thinking about what type of person the doctor was, then it made sense. Because Zain would have done the same in the same position, in this world, everything was about resources.


    If others could do the same job as you, then it would mean your job or task was less valuable, so the best thing to do was to take out all of those that could threaten your position.


    To put it simply, the doctor must have ordered all of them to have been eliminated, which left regr citizens to help out now and then.


    ''We should have done more research before even thinking about asking for help from this type of person.'' Zain thought.


    Either way, Zain was still going to continue ahead as he walked over to the group and knelt to the old man that he had shot before. The others stepped back from Zain; there was just something about him screaming that he was a crazy person.


    ? "The doctor might not live after today, so your life was unlikely to be saved, and anyone who did look after you, well, their chances of survival would have been lowered by you anyway."


    Grabbing the man''s head, Zain pulled it back, revealing part of his neck.


    "Arghh What¡­what are you nning on doing?" the man asked.


    "You don''t need to know, but let me just tell you one thing, That little n of yours, could have gotten me and the others killed. I don''t take too kindly to threats."


    Right there and then, in front of all the others, Zain opened his mouth, and in doing so, he bit down on the man''s neck. It only took a few seconds as his veins bulge, and his eyes started to turn for the system notification to appear.<sub> </sub>


    [An undead has been created, you have one new horde member!]


    ''This is good, I lost quite a lot in the fight before anyway, and I don''t want to lose the others. I don''t know what I will be going up against, but it''s best to make an army of my own anyway.''


    As the newly created Zombie stood up from the ground, the others were still confused about what had happened. Then without hesitation, Zain threw the man directly into the group of people.


    Doing this, the man knocked a couple over, and immediately he started biting on those he fell on. Everyone heard more screams of pain, and the people were all too familiar with this scene. They had seen it many times before entering the hospital.


    "You will all be the army I need to take over this ce," Zain said as he got up and turned around. There were only so many horde members that he could control in the first ce, so the rest of them would be free to do as they wished.


    In Zain''s head, it was easier to protect the few humans he cared about from the zombies than everyone in the building, so it was an easy decision to make.


    The door opened once again, and Zain was seen walking through, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and closing the doors behind him to nothing but the screams of the others.


    "Zombies!! It''s a Zombie!!!" The other two could hear muffled screams on the other side of the door.


    "What¡­ happened there?" Dave asked.


    "Nothing for you guys to worry about. They will be the ones helping us get out of this ce and ensure there are no more problems here." Zain stated as he walked past them and headed for the stairs.


    From behind, Cody looked at Zain''s sleeve and saw it was slightly darker in colour, having soaked up some of the blood.


    ''Zain¡­I have an idea of what you did. I''m not sure I agree with your methods or what you really are, but right now, I''m happy that you are on our side in all of this.'' Cody thought.


    [15/15 Horde members You have reached the maximum number of members]


    ''That was quicker than I thought.'' Zain smiled.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 155 Mutant Creatures

    Reaching the staircase was easy, but going up them was where the difficult bit started toe into y. As they went up to the second floor, Zain could hear that there were people up ahead near the top of the staircase.


    "Just stay behind me," Zain whispered, holding both of the handguns in his hand. As soon as he turned a corner, he immediately fired. It had clearly hit one of the men in the arm and then the head.


    The man was killed in a single shot as he slid down the stairs. The others were confused, but before the man next to him could pull a shot, a few more bullets shot through his body and rendered him useless.


    Storming through the hallway door of the second floor were more people with guns, but as soon as they saw the blood, they started to just fire randomly. In a panic, one of the female women, standing behind the man in the doorway, had shot her ally, causing him to fall to the floor, allowing Zain to carefully aim and take them out.


    Upon reaching the tform, they found four dead bodies on the ground.


    ''He took out four people just like that?'' Cody thought. ''I knew he was skillful with weapons. We saw him at the supermarket, but with guns as well. And there''s no hesitation when pulling the trigger either.''


    Zain handed one hand gun to Cody and the other to Dave.


    "This is where we split ways, and you guys need to do what we discussed earlier. Cody, you need to save Kelly, and Dave, you go and find Brandon. While I need to look after my people. I showed you what needs to be done.


    "When pulling the trigger in this type of situation, the one with the least hesitation is most likely to win the fight. These people aren''t trained to use guns, so all you need is a strong mind to win. Once I''m done with what I need to do, I''ll try my best toe to where you guys are." Zain exined.


    The two nodded, and with Cody and Dave continuing to head upstairs, Zain went through the hallway.


    ¡ª¡ª


    "It looks like we''re trapped between a rock and a hard ce right now," Kun said, and if he was in his normal body, he was sure he would have been covered from head to toe in sweat from the nerves he was feeling.


    Currently, both Kun and Pink had entered the main reception hall on the third floor. It was arge oval tform with an esctor to go up one floor or four sets of staircases in each corner down the hallway to enter the ce.


    This was, after all, a rtivelyrge hospital. The problem though, was not how to get up to the next floor but even if they could. There were several strange creatures in the room, exactly like the one they had just fought to get into the pce.


    There were disfigured mutants that didn''t quite look like zombies, nor did they look human. Someone had switched different body parts for medical devices. Their flesh had been reformed and looked to have grown other strange objects making it part of their body.


    In total, there were eight of them. Four of them were blocking the doors that would lead to the staircase, then there was one at either of the esctors andstly, there were two of them heading towards them right now, although they were moving rtively slowly.


    A loud bang was heard as the doors behind them were mmed open, and the man with the razor-sharp tool, which was now spinning, was right behind them. His head was bleeding from the wound Pink had inflicted on his head.


    "We will have to pick a direction and deal with one of them. Otherwise, they will all surround us, and we''ll be dead!" Kun shouted.


    Pink looked at Kun strangely for a second.


    "Fine, we will be dead ''again''!" Kun corrected himself and rolled his eyes.


    Running around the overall room, one of the creatures moving towards them had several knives, des and syringes stuck in the belly of its body. As the two got close, it pulled a syringe from its body and hurled it right towards Kun and Pink.


    The two of them dived in opposite directions to avoid the syringe. Itnded and pierced on the floor, being stuck upright.


    "That thing, it was as fast as a bullet. How much strength does that one have?" Pink was rmed. They had barely gotten out of the way. If there was a normal human, or may they themselves without having upgraded their powers through the crystals, then the syringe would have definitely hit one of them.


    "Super strength, feels no pain, has lost all sense of reason, and can''t be killed. It''s almost like we''re going against a new type of super zombie." Kun suggested. "Don''t waste your bullets. Focus on the task!"


    The creature started to pull more medical tools from its body and was hurling them towards the pair. One hand was throwing items at Kun, who just continued to run around the creature, and the other hand was targeting Pink.<sub> </sub>


    However, unlike Kun, she had decided to run by the side of the wall, then cing her foot on the wall, she ran it up as a trail of weapons was being embedded into the wall as they targeted her, and she flipped right over them.


    "Show off," Kun smirked as he reached the esctor.


    "I was just trying to make him get rid of all those weapons he has," Pink shouted back. "If we have to fight one of these other guys, we don''t want this one trying to throw stuff at us. You just get rid of the other one."


    Pink continued to run in zig-zag-like patterns, as the creature now was slowly focusing on pulling out scissors from its body and hurling them at Pink.


    "I was actually counting on your strength and kicking powers to take this one out, but I guess I need to figure out how to take this one out myself," Kun said as he took a good look at the one in front of him.


    It was arge human-sized body. Its face looked somewhat burnt, with its eyeballs nearly hanging out from its head, but now that he was closer, Kun realised that this human had no top on, and he hardly had any changes to his body, apart from the fact that around his chest, where his nipples would be there were two round barrel looking things sticking out from them.


    "What s*ck f*ck worked on this?" Kun said, but there was something very familiar about those barrels, and it had finally clicked in his head. "Don''t tell me¡­ those barrels there!"


    Loud bangs were heard as Kun dived and rolled off to the side, and the bullets made arge hole in the ground, and now he was sure. Without a doubt, what was in the man''s chest was a pair of guns.


    The bullets continued to fire, and Kun didn''t know what to do other than run, however, the bullets eventually caught up to him, and he was hit in the side of the leg, but having lost his sense of pain long ago, he didn''t falter and continued to run as fast as he could.


    "At this rate, I''m going to die from holes in my body, we need to do something, and we need to do it fast!" Kun shouted.


    Pink wanted to help, all of the objects had been removed from the creature''s body, and it screamed in frustration. However, there was another problem now, all of the other creatures that were blocking the way had somewhat surrounded them.


    "I guess we have no choice but to fight, but how do we kill these guys!" Pink squinted her eyes.


    "Everything can die, even us, so there has to be a way!" A voice shouted.


    Turning her head, Pink couldn''t believe her eyes as she saw the familiar red-haired figure.


    Zain was running across the room and had the sword held in his hand, he threw it out as strong as he could, and it pierced right through the head of the zombie shooting at Kun.


    It caused the bullets to hit the side and miss, and a few secondster, Zain was seen jumping towards the creatures in the air. Using his body weight, he grabbed onto the sword and pushed it right through the creature''s head. The crash was strong, causing the creature to fall to the side.


    Immediately, Zain pulled the sword out and looked at the creatures on the ground.


    ''No exp¡­does that mean it''s not dead?''


    "Stabbing it and hosting it through the head doesn''t work!" Kun shouted.


    Quickly, Zain then moved away, and as Kun had just said, it started to move and get up from the ground. Sniffing the air, Zain tried to figure out what these creatures were because they weren''t zombies.


    "I¡­have an idea to take these guys out. There is always a way to kill something." Zain smiled. "And it looks like backup has arrived."


    Just then, the noise of growling came from the hallway. It was the sound of iing zombies.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 156 Eat Them Up

    The sound of growling could only be heard by Zain because of his enhanced hearing, the others had yet to hear it, which just showed that Zain was perhaps still ahead of them in terms of evolving as a Reborn.


    "We just need to hold off a little longer," Zain suggested.


    The creature from before had risen again, and it looked like he was ready to use his weapons, but instead of running away as Kun had done, Zain went in closer and stood behind the creature.


    It attempted to turn around, trying to shoot Zain, but each time, Zain would swing the sword toward the leg of the Zombies as he continued to pivot, duck and stay close.


    ''This guy, he always seems to amaze me in one way or the other.'' Kun thought, watching this. ''The creature isrge in size and slow, so it''s harder for it to use its weapons. Especially since it''s part of the body and is in a certain ce.''


    Kun started to think back to his training; they were always taught that the closer they were to someone, the easier it was to disarm them. In some way, Zain''s actions were a perfect example of that.


    In his panic, Kun hadn''t thought of this, which was why Zain was so impressive.


    ''It''s impossible to think that this person has never received any type of military training or anything of the sort before, and he''s so skilful for his age as well.''


    Even now, Zain was one step ahead; not only was he avoiding and not allowing the creature to use the strange weapons on its body, but his sword strikes were aimed at the legs to slow it down.


    The human body works in certain ways, and just because one didn''t feel pain didn''t mean it could still work with tendons and certain parts of the body getting cut. Due to the thickness and the strange hardened skin, it was just taking a few more swings than it usually would have, but eventually, the creature fell to its knees, unable to turn its body as well as it used to.


    Now that Zain was taller than the creature itself, it was a strange sight since previously the creature would tower over Zain when standing. It was as if Kun was seeing someone tackling the gods and bringing them down to his level.


    Despite all the work Zain had done, they now looked to be surrounded by the other creatures.


    "What do we do!" Pink asked as she ran over to the other two.


    "Don''t worry, we have a backup now," Zain replied.


    Now, the sound of growling filled the halls, and bursting right through the double doors, was a number of zombies, around 10 of them rushed in first, but there were sounds of more growlsing towards them.


    The creatures turned around as they reacted to the noise. The man with the round head cutter was closest, and a zombie leapt up with its arms dangling out towards him, Zain swung his arm, slicing off the arm of the Zombie, but two more had already jumped andtched on.


    ''These are the members of my horde, and I can still control them, but I don''t think I will have to, I''m pretty sure this will work.''


    Soon, nearly five zombies had jumped on top of the creature and were using their hands and teeth to dig into the creature, pulling part of its flesh into its mouth by breaking every muscle fibre they could pull and bite.


    "Are the zombies...eating each other... Can zombies even do that?" Pink asked.


    "The Doctor''s creations, they are not quite zombies. I don''t know what they are, but you should have been able to tell from the smell, right? They smelled more like a human rather than a zombie." Zain exined.


    The zombies had worked quickly, and although these creatures seemed unkible for whatever reason, once most of their bodies had been eaten away to nothing but only a few parts of flesh on a bone, they were no longer moving.


    After the initial ten zombies had stormed in, more wereing through the hallway. These were all the people from the reception. Unlike the first group, Zain didn''t control these since they weren''t part of his horde, but now that his little test was done, he was sure it would all work out.


    The zombies didn''t attack the Reborn in the first ce, but they were going straight for these strange creatures in front of them. A little battle on the third floor''s reception was ying out.


    The creatures were no longer paying any attention to the reborn; instead, they were all swinging their arms, and weapons at the zombies, smashing their heads in and tearing off their limbs, but the numbers were overwhelming for them.


    Not caring for what would happen to them, the zombies leapt up, even with broken arms and missing limbs, they continued to bite at the creatures as if trying to get rid of them.


    "How did Zombiese into the hospital in the first ce? It was well guarded when we arrived, and for them to be this many. Were they attracted by the noise?" Kun asked. Thinking that it could be possible.<sub> </sub>


    The Doctor and his men werefortably using weapons, which should have meant they were confident enough to know that the weapons being used inside wouldn''t attract anything from the outside.


    Then the most likely case was that the people from inside had been turned into zombies. For Kun, there was straight away a number one suspect in all of this, and he looked at Zain.


    "If I didn''t do that, then we would have died," Zain replied. "We need to look at the bigger picture. Come on, let''s get moving and give that Doctor some payback before getting out of here."


    Kun looked at Zain walking up the esctor and smiled. Although Zain was acting like the big toughie why was he walking up right now. Sure, he could havee to save him and Pink, but that task was done.


    Right now, they could just walk out of the hospital and return. The information that Zain wanted off Brandon couldn''t have been that important, right?


    ''I guess you do have a soft side and want to help people, even if you don''t want to show it.'' Kun thought.


    Walking up the stairs, Zain was gritting his teeth because there had been an update to the quest.


    [You have rescued your allies! Congrattions part 1 of the quest has beenpleted]


    [Find and rescue ally Brandon toplete the quest]


    ''This system never stated there was a part 2 to the damn quest, and now I have to save him as well. I''vee this far anyway, and I said I would help out Cody, besides I want to meet this doctor who created these mutants in the first ce.


    ''Then I can get the gold reward card and get out of this ce.''


    Halfway up the esctor, there was a sudden feeling in the back of Zain''s head. It started off as a dull ring which got louder and the pain. Zain had felt this before. Falling to one knee, Zain held the back of his head.


    "No, not now, why now of all times, this stupid Sh*t body!" Zain said as he tried to push through, his vision getting blurry and trying to stand up.


    "Zain, are you okay? Is everything alright!" Pink asked as she rushed to his side. She wanted to check if he had any wounds, but he seemed fine. Then it hit her, she had seen Zain act like this a few times before.


    ''He''s going to pass out again, but if that happens here...''


    The fighting was still going on below between the creatures, and they were close to the top. The other problem was that if Zain did pass out, just how long would it be for? Would they continue the task without him, or would one of them have to wait with Zain while the others continued to go up?


    Zain was pushing through, and sweat was running down the side of his face; the pain, the headache, all of these things were more human-like actions.


    ''Now is the worst time for this to happen. This is dangerous. My life could be on the line. Isn''t there anything I can do?''


    Thinking fast and desperately, the fact that Zain could feel pain, he pulled out the dagger from the belt he was wearing. Then lifting it up, he swung it down right into the middle of his hand.


    The de stabbed right through, and just like Zain thought, pain signals were running through his entire body; the veins on his neck were bulging, but after that, his vision started to clear, and he could see fine again.


    Standing up, Zain wiped the sweat off his head.


    "Let''s go, we have to do this quickly before this happens again."


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 157 The Mad Doctor

    A strange grating sound could be heard in a certain room, and it wasing from a certain individual who had his head held back, staring up at a particr screen. It was the doctor, grinding his teeth back and forth as he looked at what he was witnessing.


    "All of my creations, they are being taken down just like that!" The doctor said. "Why, where did the zombies evene from? How did they enter the building?"


    At the time, the doctor was paying attention to multiple things. Mainly focusing and watching those that hade in and were fighting his creations, rather than the red-haired student.


    Even though the confidence in both Kelly and Brandon grew since they had seen this person, of course, the doctor wouldn''t think much of the student, but he did soon realise that one of the reports he had matched up. The description of one of those at the other base.


    "These people havee into my hospital, without my permission, causing chaos!" The doctor shouted at the top of his lungs and was heavily breathing in and out. If the others thought he had a screw loose before, it was safe to say they definitely thought he had one now.


    "I don''t know what he did, but it had to have been that Red head, everything changed whe4n he came, it was almost as if he knew the ce was going to be overrun by zombies."


    Brandon couldn''t help but smile seeing the doctor this way. Even through watching the video, honestly Bradon wasn''t so sure how they would deal with the strange creations the doctor created.


    If a bullet through the head wouldn''t work, then what would, but it was Zain, the person who seemingly had a solution for everything, and he had done so now.


    "Doctor, we can still try and sort out something together!" Brandon shouted out. "Zain ising to save us to help us, but if the zombies are inside the hospital, there is no telling what their numbers will be.


    "There is a good chance that this ce could be overrun soon, but if you let us help you, maybe we can defend and protect this ce." Brandon pleaded.


    Of course, Brandon had no intention of helping out the doctor after what had happened, at least not as an equal partner, but right now both him and Kelly were strapped down to chairs, and they needed to get out of them, before they could even attempt to do anything.


    "You think your in control of the situation, I''m in control of the situation!" The doctor shouted as he pulled out a gun from his waist and without a second thought, pulled the trigger.


    A loud bang was heard and Brandon bit his lip, as he felt the bullet go right through his foot.


    "You are not in a position to negotiate, I hold all the cards here, and I always will. There are ten people on this floor with assault rifles and guns. Do you really think they can reach me!"


    The doctor took a deep breath after saying those words and put the gun away under his belt as he calmed himself down slightly.


    "You''re right. Things have taken a turn for the worse, which means it is time that I get out of this ce." The doctor stated. "If the zombies reach the top floor and there are too many of them, then I would have just been a fool and trapped myself.


    "I thank you, for your great insight, which is why I have to make the big decision and leave this ce."


    After saying those words, the doctor headed towards the door, ready to leave


    "Wait!" Brandon called out. "You''re just going to abandon everyone just like that."


    Brandon was starting to realise that the doctor was perhaps more selfish than he first thought. Not only that, but a confident person who felt like they could just rebuild everything that they built up here back up again.


    "If you are going to leave, then at least tell us what the sickness was? What medicine do we need to help people!" Brandon asked. "I know we might not survive, but on the off chance we can, then it will save a lot of people. You''re a doctor right, which means at some point and time, you decided to get this job because you wanted to help people, and this way, you still can."


    "Help people?" the doctor repeated back. "If you really think every doctor bes one to help people, then you really didn''t even understand the way the world worked before it went to crap.


    "I like this world that we are in now, because it''s a lot more honest, and right now. I like the fact that what you need is in here." The doctor tapped the side of his head. "You should have spent more time studying you piece of sh*t."


    Exiting the room, there were several people in the hallway standing there with guns just like the doctor had said. He looked to the staircase. Based on the video, if they were taking the esctor then they would have to run superficially down the front hallway to reach the office.<sub> </sub>


    Which was why the doctor decided that he would take the side staircases to get out of the building. Then head out the emergency exit, on the third floor and get out from the outside staircase on the side of the building that were for emergencies.


    "Sir is everything okay, there were quite a few gunshots heard earlier, should we head down and see what is going on?" One of the men asked.


    "No need to, it''s best if you stay up here. The most important thing is to keep the prisoners here." The doctor replied. "Anyway, all of you, after today, you will no longer have any debt, and I will grant you all permission to apply debt onto others as much as you like.


    "You will practically have the same authority as me." The doctor smiled.


    His words, he could see how much strength they had because in an instant, there were beaming smiles on the other faces. They were already imagining what they could do with this power, how they could control the others underneath them.


    ''I would have liked to have experimented on those superhumans, in all honesty, but due to the zombies being here, it might be difficult to survive this one, but at least it looks like one experiment was a sess.'' The doctor thought,


    "Thank you, thank you so much, doctor!" Several shots were heard down the hallway as he went and exited the room.


    ''Yes, all of you are happy with the power I have given you. At least you will be pleased in yourst moments before your death. Even if you survive the zombie attack, from those words, I know that you will fight with your life on the line for that position.''


    ¡ª¡ª


    Two young men who were unfamiliar with each other were currently travelling together. This was Dave and Cody. They were carefully heading up the staircase, They weren''t moving fast for fear that they would make noise that would attract others.


    "I have your back, so we can move a bit quicker if you want," Dave said as he held the gun firmly in his hand.


    Cody looked at the university student who was technically older than him.


    "I''m sorry..I just don''t know you that well, so I need to cover my own back as well."


    The words had hurt Dave quite a bit because the one job he had been given by Branodn he didn;t do well, but he felt like since he was the older of the two in this situation, he would be able to step up to the te when needed.


    "I wish I was like Zain," Dave mumbled.


    Cody took a nce and realised now his words might have deterred the other.


    "You know, I had to jump out of a window and leave both Pink and Kun because I was unable to do anything, and when Inded safely and was okay, I felt the same thing, I said the same words in my head. I wish I were Zain.


    "But, I realised that''s not quite true,. Wedon''t even really know much about Zain, what he has been through to be able to act the way he is. We just see certain traits that he has that we wish we had as well.


    "So take what you want about Zain; is it confidence? Isn''t that something that we can have as well then? Let''s get through this together and save the people we care about." Cody said with a smile.


    At that moment, their conversation was interrupted as they heard the sound of a door opening. A few secondster, walking down the stairs, they had met each other. Cody and Dave were looking right at the doctor.


    ****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 158 The Final Experiment

    When seeing the doctor, both Cody and Dave froze for a second. They thought they might run into people going up the staircase, but thest person they expected to see was the doctor himself. This was the main person they were aiming for, hoping to capture. Shouldn''t there have been several guards, or perhaps a big creature protecting him towards the end?


    Either way, both of them were too slow to act, as the doctor had immediately gone down to his waist to pull out the hand gun he had on him.


    "Cody!" Dave shouted as he closed his eyes and started to fire away. There was no aiming from Dave, and all the training that he had before had gone out the window, as he fired in panic.


    The doctor seeing this moved to the side of the door, and was hiding just behind the staircase that would lead them up to the roof.


    "Wait!" Cody shouted. "We can shoot him, but we need him alive. We don''t know where the others are?"


    "Your right, sorry, I just kind of panicked, when I saw him reach for his-"


    Before Dave could finish his sentence, several shots were fired back. Each of them missing, but causing the two of them to head back down the stairs as quickly as they could. Thankfully, the doctor didn''t seem to be so much of a shot either, and was blind firing.


    The doctor had only held out his hand and was firing, around the corner without looking at what he was trying to hit.


    "You fools! You think firing at me, will help protect your friends!" The doctor shouted. "Well screw you all, screw you. When I get back up, I''m going to put a bullet through every single one of their heads, all because of you. You ruined my life, so I will make sure to ruin yours!"


    The doctor continued to fire, and Dave was ready to fire back, until Cody put up his hand telling him to wait.


    "I have an idea, when he stops firing, he has to reload at some point, if you can just fire away from me, make sure not to hit me, I can probably run up the stairs and get to him in time," Cody exined.


    Dave looked at the staircase, they were quite steep, and since the doctor had the high ground it was a lot easier for him to hit them, then the other way round.


    "You could die," Dave said.


    "Remember what I said before. You said it yourself, you wanted to act like Zain right, well think about it, think what would he do?" Cody asked.


    The bullets continued to fire down, and soon they both could hear a clicking noise, the doctor was out of bullets. It was now or never. Cody bolted out from the corner, and started to climb the stairs two at a time, getting up as fast as he could.


    Dave counted in his head, one two, then pulled out the gun, this time looking at where he was shooting. Due to Cody running up the right side of the staircase it was very easy for Dave to just miss him.


    "Please don''t hit anyone!" Dave prayed as he started to fire.


    The doctor, too scared of the bullets, wasn''t going to just run out and head to the door, depending on where the person was shooting from, it was possible that they would have an angle of him, but what else could he do?


    "Damn it, I''m just going to have to try!" The doctor stated as he ran toward the door.


    As he did, he took a peak behind him, and that''s when he could see that Cody was running up the stairs.


    ''Crap, he went for the door, it will be fine, as long as I can shoot him first!'' Cody thought. Aiming carefully as he lifted the gun up.


    However, running up and trying to get a good aim, Cody''s footing was misced, he had missed the staircase slightly as his foot slipped.


    ''Crap, at a time like this!''


    The doctor had a smile on his face, and instead of continuing toward the door, he aimed carefully, ready to pull the bullet.


    *BANG


    Another bullet was heard, and the doctor immediately dropped his hand gun, due to the pain, because he had been hit, and it was right in the shoulder of his arm as well. Looking at the staircase, not too far behind Cody, was Dave, holding the gun with both of his hands firmly, and his eyes open.


    "Shit!" The doctor said as he opened the door and closed it behind him, heading back into the hallway where he hade from.


    "Hey, are you okay?" Dave asked.<sub> </sub>


    "Yeah, thank you¡­I think you might have just saved my life." Cody stated.


    "It''s nothing." Dave rubbed the back of his head. "Like I said, I got your back, and I needed to do something."


    Cody now felt horrible about his words before, but it was a lesson for him. To not always see everyone around him as useless, maybe this was a trait that he tried getting from Zain, but at the end of the day, in his own words he was not Zain.


    There were those that needed people to help them, and those that could do everything on their own.


    "Come on, let''s go get that doctor."


    ¡ª¡ª


    Going back through the door, the guards in the hallway were able to see the doctor holding onto his arm, and with his white clothing now a little red, it was also obvious that he was bleeding.


    "Sir, what happened, is everything okay!" The man asked.


    The doctor walked quickly to the patent room, where both Brandon, and Kelly were.


    "Does it look like I was okay? Two damned kids, with guns are in the hallway and they shot at me!" The Doctor shouted. "Get rid of them immediately!"


    The doctor was so angry, his head was beaming red and the veins on his neck looked like they were going to burst as he shouted. Huffing and panting he was losing his breath as well, and when things looked like they couldn''t get worse for the doctor, from the other side of the hallway doors could be heard opening.


    ''That hallway, it''s the one that links to the main hall, which means¡­''


    The doctor guess was right, because the next second, bursting through the other doors on the other side, where three people in particr. Immediately, the red haired student with two hand guns fired at the first two men.


    Hitting one of them in the head, and the other in the chest sending them to the ground. On top of that, Kun had rolled in, holding his semi automatic weapon, and with no hesitation just like Zain was firing away at the people in the room.


    Immediately, the rest turned to those on the other side, and started to shoot in a panic. While all the noise was going off, the doctor took a nce behind him to see that the other two had caught up, and had entered through the door.


    It was clear now that the doctor was trapped. There was no way out for him, out of this entire situation, and it looked like the doctor was going to lose this one.


    "Where is my mother!" Pink shouted, as she charged forward ignoring most of the raining bullets, both Zain and Kun were doing their best to cover her.


    A few bullets had hit Kun and Zain, but not in the head, which was fine for them. On top of that, it would only take a few more seconds, before all of them were eliminated. Opening the door, the doctor had no choice but to head back inside away from the chaos.


    "What''s the matter doc?" Brandon asked. "You don''t look to well. You really should have taken up my offer when you had the chance." Brandon smirked.


    All of the shooting outside, it was lessening, as there were less guns being used, and it was clear the doctor had been hit.


    "You still think this is over. I''ll tell you now, no matter what that information will die with me, and there is a good chance that everyone at your base will die as well. I will die a happy man thinking of that." The doc said as he headed to a small room linked to the patient room.


    A few secondster,ing out he pulled out a syringe that was green in colour. It didn''t look like anything they had seen before.


    "If I''m going to die anyway, then I might as well go through with my final experiment. You see, I didn''t want to resort to this without testing it on some other subjects other than humans first, but it would be a shame for all my research to go to waste.


    "So the question is, which one of you two, will be a part of my final experiment!"


    ******


    Please remember to vote, using stones and tickets! It helps the story grow, and encourages me to write more chapters for all my works!

 Chapter 159 The Big Change

    The syringe held by the doctor in his hand was much bigger than any other they had seen before. It was almost as thick as the doctor''s arm, and it was apparent, based on the experiences the others had seen the doctor perform before, that this wasn''t going to be anything pleasant.


    "So, do we have any volunteers?" The doctor slowly moved his head from one side to the other, staring into everyone''s eyes.


    By now, Kelly was mustering up her strength, trying to pull herself out of the chair. She pulled so hard that the skin had rubbed off around her wrist and was scratched slightly, but no matter what she wanted, she couldn''t break free.


    Kelly had already been through a lot due to the doctor''s countless experiments, which thetter had performed to activate any superpower in her, but none of them had seeded. Seeing the syringe and hearing the doctor''s words, her mind went into flight and fight mode. She didn''t want to go through it again; she didn''t want to experience the excruciating pain like that again.


    "You don''t have to do this, I can convince them that we still need you!" Brandon pleaded. "You can keep the medicine and the disease that people have a secret, that way we have to keep you alive."


    "And what will happen when you are all cured and don''t need me anymore? Don''t try to outsmart me, you monkey." The doctor red at them as he looked back and forth between the two; there wasn''t much time to pick.


    "Pick me." Brandon volunteered. "I volunteer, and I''ll take whatever crap you give me."


    Brandon had seen the condition Kelly was in when he attempted to rescue her. He didn''t want her to go through that again, especially since he had failed to help her.


    "Great, it looks like we have our answer." The doctor smiled, but instead of walking towards Brandon, he stepped towards Kelly.


    Seeing this, she began to scream at the top of her lungs, but as soon as the doctor ced his hand on her arm, she soon felt drowsy. It was an unusual feeling, the power of the doctor. Soon after, the syringe pierced right into her neck, and slowly, the liquid in it went into her veins.


    "You Bastard! I said to pick me! I can''t believe how evil one person can be!" Brandon shouted and screamed at the top of his lungs, "I said to pick me! Pick me!"


    The liquid was halfway already into Kelly. There had been no changes yet, but who knew when or what would happen? That was right when the doors mmed open.


    "Brandon!" It was Dave, and someone else also sprinted in


    "KELLY!" This was Cody. He screamed and ran forward right towards the doctor. "Get your hands off her!"


    Cody threw out a fist, but with his other hand, the doctor caught it. Cody was still a teenager, while the doctor was an adult, and thetter was better with his hands than expected.


    "Go to sleep!" the doctor said, and Cody started to feel faint as he felt a strange energy enter him through the doctor''s hand.


    "Let me say the same thing to you, go to sleep."


    Several bullets were shot out, hitting the doctor in the upper torso. His hand lost its grip, and the syringe came out of Kelly''s neck, and he dropped it on the floor. It had surprisingly smashed to pieces as soon as it touched the floor.


    Not the entirety of the liquid had gone into Kelly, but there was a good two-thirds of it that had flowed in her before shots were fired.


    Stepping into the room, Pink had her mother on her back, Kun was in the room as well, andstly, Zain walked over to the doctor with the handgun in his hand, the one he had used to shoot the doctor.


    They were a littleterpared to Cody and Dave because they were checking out the other patient rooms; that''s where they had found Pink''s mother, while Cody and Dave were closer to this room.


    Kneeling down, Zain noticed that the doctor was still alive. He was bleeding and reached out a hand toward Zain.


    "Save...me." The doctor mumbled.


    "I don''t think even a doctor can save you now," Zain answered. However, there was a chance that Zain could save him if he was to bite him right before his final moments, but Zain didn''t want to.


    Even if this person in front of him was superhuman, due to what he had done and the creations he had made, Zain didn''t want to give the doctor any kind of hope. The others unstrapped both Kelly and Brandon while Zain watched the doctor take hisst breaths.


    Both Cody and Kelly hade to their senses, it took them a while to figure out what had happened, but it was clear they had been saved.


    "Thank you...thank you so much." Kelly cried as soon as she could speak. Her eyes were teared up, but her eyes had light.


    However, Brandon was watching Kelly carefully. It seemed like she was being her normal self at the moment. There was nothing strange about her yet; maybe it was due to the liquid not entirely going into her body.


    Either way, he would keep an eye on her, as he was the only one who had heard what the doctor had said about the syringe. About it being hisst experiment.


    "We came here to get a cure from the doctor, and now he''s dead." Brandon turned towards Zain as he continued, "The best thing we could do is take all the medicine in this ce or make this ce our second base with all the equipment inside. It''s about an hour''s walk from our base, so it''s not too bad, but the problem is the zombies.<sub> </sub>


    "Now that I think about it, it would be best if we were to get out of the ce as well before the whole ce gets overrun."


    "There is no need to worry about that," Zain said as he stood up. "The Zombies, we have dealt with them. There will be no problem apart from getting rid of the bodies."


    Brandon was trying to understand what Zain meant, but he could only imagine that Zain and his group had gotten rid of them all. Yet, based on the footage he had seen, that didn''t make any sense.


    How could they have gotten rid of all the zombies and headed up here at the same time? Of course, only Zain knew the answer to that, and that was due to his Horde Zombies. They had been given the task of killing the other zombies.


    Due to the other zombies not attacking back, it was an easy task, and once all the zombies were taken out, Zainmanded the horde to head back to where Skittle and the others were, bringing his group back up again.


    Although he couldn''t directly see what the zombies were doing, the reason he knew the task wasplete was simple, it was because he had finally received the reward from his quest.


    [A gold card has been received]


    Unlike before, Zain immediately decided to use the gold card.


    [The gold card has been used]


    [You have sessfully acquired a new skill]


    [Brain Eater]


    [This skill can be used when consuming a human brain.]


    [The skill allows the user to acquire a certain amount of knowledge from the brain that the user has eaten. It will also allow the user to filter through thest 24 hours of the brain.]


    ''It''s just like I thought. All of the gold cards have been skills so far, and once again, it has given me quite a good skill to have. This skill is the same as what was used on Shark, but I guess it means I can use this on humans now as well.'' Zain couldn''t stop smiling as he thought about this skill.


    There was no longer any need for him to ask people questions when he could get them from memory himself; the only thing that was limited was the time frame.


    "Mother, did the doctor say anything about what your condition was or the medicine that he gave you?" Pink asked.


    "No." She replied. "He just gave me the separate pills and some orange boxes."


    It was a disappointing answer. She knew that, but it was the truth.


    "Maybe we can take the pills and find another doctor or university student. If they know the medicine, then we could find out what is spreading to everyone back at the base."


    "I think I might have the answer." Zain interrupted everyone again.


    "Wait, Zain, are you a med student?" Dave asked.


    "Umm... Not quite." Zain looked at the doctor.


    "Why don''t you guys make sure there aren''t any more patients like Pink''s mother? Rest up, and before we leave, I think I might be able to have an answer to your problem." Zain smiled.


    Others noticed Zain was acting weird, but when had he not? However, a certain someone had gotten the gist.


    "Alright, everyone, let''s clear out of the room and do as Zain says, besides this room needs to be cleaned up as well. I''ll leave that to Zain." Kun secretly winked at thetter.


    Once everyone had left the room, it was time for Zain to try out his new skill.


    ****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ.


    LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope to do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 160 Intelligent Zombie

    With everyone out of the room, Zain could finally feast on the brain peacefully. It was a weird thing to think about, even in Zain''s mind, but it was something that he would just have to do. His body functionality would go up to hundred percent again even though it hadn''t dropped down as much asst time, and more importantly, he would now get the added benefit.


    Rather than using his hands to crack the Doctor''s skull open, Zain decided to do things in a more humane way and used one of the medical tools to prop the head open. After that, it was time to do the disgusting act that didn''t seem so disgusting.


    It didn''t take long for Zain to gobble it down. After the first bite, which would feel strange, his hand would flow the brains into his mouth. It was one of the acts that reminded Zain that he was, in fact, a zombie.


    After finishing consuming the brain, a few notifications popped up in front of him, and the contents in them were a bit unexpected.


    [The brain that has been consumed has a high level of intelligence.]


    [+5 Intelligence]


    ''This wasn''t part of the skills,'' Zain thought. ''I''ve gotten different signs from consuming brains before, but this is amazing. This is a huge improvement without the need to level up.''


    It wasn''t the only thing Zain got out of it all though. As he gulped down the brain, information started to flow in his head. It was a strange rush, and it wasn''t quite clear what information it was that he was obtaining. When the feeling finally went away, honestly, Zain felt no different.


    ''The skill said I would gain some knowledge. Is that part of the stats or?'' Zain started to look at the medical tool that was on the table and could tell it was a craniotome cutter. Then there was the autopsy saw that he had used to open up the skull in the first ce.


    Both of these things, Zain had no knowledge of beforehand, but now he did. It looked like the system''s skills wereing through once again.


    ''How is this even possible in the name of science? I guess I shouldn''t worry too much about that, I mean, how am I even alive, and this system and everything around me just can''t simply be exined by science. Well, I guess the only thing that''s left is to look through the Doctor''s history for some answers.''


    When Zain brought up the system, just like in Shark''s case, there was a video avable, and it allowed him to go through every part of the memory, and that was exactly what he was doing.


    It didn''te as a surprise that some of the things that he could see the Doctor doing were forms of debt. For example, there were quite a few times when the Doctor had asked for sexual favours to pay off some of the others'' debt.


    At the same time, there were scenes of the experiments on the creatures he had gone through. None of these was practically helpful but made Zain feel less guilty about killing the Doctor, not that he had a lot to begin with.


    There was no useful information, and although Zain could follow the experiments the Doctor was doing to some degree, he had no understanding of why thetter was doing certain things. It was clear that not all of the knowledge from the Doctor had been passed on.


    Or it was more like he had the ingredients and understood everything but didn''t know how to bake a cake. So the information was somewhat useless. However, eventually going through everything, he found what the Doctor was looking for from the conversation between Pink''s mother and the Doctor.


    ying the video carefully, Zain heard every wording from the Doctor''s mouth.


    ''Now I see, I see how he was able to use this against us, but now with this knowledge, we can get past this.''


    It was then that Zain was going to end the video there, right down a list of the medicine that was needed and go from there, but for some reason, he thought he would continue to watch the video just in case to the end.


    As he did, Zain was able to listen to the conversation that had happened in the room before they had entered.


    ''The Doctor''s final experiment. In the video, there was nothing about that. I guess he didn''t work on it on thest day, but if it was something like his final experiment, it had to be something important, and now it''s inside Kelly. Brandon saw the whole thing, but I understand why he didn''t tell us.'' Zain thought to himself.


    ----<sub> </sub>


    The others were exploring the hospital in case Zain''s n didn''t quite work out. Trying to see if they could find any survivors or maybe even some files on theputer system and more. As they explored the hospital more though, they noticed that most of theputers had been destroyed.


    The Doctor had clearly ruled over this ce with an iron fist, not giving a chance for anyone to rise in any way at all.


    "This ce has power generators, and the electricity is working quite well here. I don''t know how long they willst, but it''s quite a good base to stay at." Brandon said. "Also, there is general medicine that we can still use that the people and maybe even separate the sick from the healthy."


    "Maybe we could move all the sick people to the hospital with a few of the guards," Dave said. "This way, the others won''t have to worry about being sick."


    "That''s a good idea, but..." Brandon wasn''t sure how willing people would allow themselves to be separated, and on top of that, the Doctor had stated it was a disease that could wipe out all of them. Meaning it was dangerous if they didn''t know what it was or with no cure, people wouldn''t just head to the hospital."


    Either way, they continued to explore, and they also knew they needed to do more than that because when looking around their ce, there were plenty of dead bodies everywhere. They needed to clear the dead bodies if there was any chance of them using the ce.


    "I can see the worried look on your faces, Pink, and I will clear the ce for you. We can do the dirty work, so don''t have to worry." Kun suggested.


    "Ah, so very nice of you to volunteer me before even asking me." Pink rolled her eyes, but she knew why Kun was suggesting such a thing.


    At the same time, the two of them could perhaps find a brain or so that they could store away and see for themselves. Whatever other opportunity they would get, the hospital would even have a freezer section to keep the brains, or maybe there were already several brains stored in a ce like this anyway.


    After searching all of the floors though, they realised that there wasn''t any person alive in the ce. The zombies had managed to get them all, and strangely, there were no zombies inside as well. Brandon was looking at the dead bodies that were on the ground, or more particrly, he was looking at the dead zombie bodies.


    ''How did the zombies die? They don''t have bullets orrge winds from knives and axes. It looks almost as if they were beaten and bitten to death as well. Did the zombies fight amongst each other?'' Brandon thought, but he knew that was unlikely.


    The original reception area where they came in was the biggest mess, and they were sorting bodies in a temporary room, for now, that was used to keep the dead in the hospital in the first ce. It was easier than they thought with the tools and such for them to move, and with Kun and Pink''s extra strength, the group was able to get to work fast.


    They did wonder where Zain was and what he was doing since he had been gone a few hours, and unbeknownst to them, he was watching all of the video footage, trying to find the information or anything else.


    The reception was cleared of bodies now, but there were still blood marks and more, but they were only nning to do a tidy-up for now, not do a thorough cleaning. Because once they return to Ryan, they could send more people here and get the whole ce up to standard to convert this ce into a second base of some sort.


    The thought of returning came in everyone''s mind when Zain had finallye down and was in the reception room as well with a piece of paper in his hand.


    "I have some good news for you, we have enough medicine to cure everyone, and I know what the disease is," Zain said as he addressed them all.


    The others didn''t question how he knew about this. They were just happy that he did and were following the unspoken rule of not asking too much.


    "The condition that they are suffering from is...is.." Zain''s voice started to stutter there as his body began to sway, and once again, his vision was fading.


    ''Damn it, it''s happening again! What was the trigger this time...and why now in front of everyone?'' Zain gritted his teeth, trying to keep his senses.


    *****


    Please remember to vote using stones and tickets! It helps the story grow and encourages me to write more chapters for all my works!

 Chapter 161 The Disease

    Lying there on the ground with a piece of paper in his hand, they all saw Zain suddenly hold his head and fall on the floor in the reception hall. If they didn''t know any better, they would have thought he was dead because his chest wasn''t moving up and down, as it should when one breathes.


    "Holy sh*t! Is he okay?!" Dave shouted, ready to rush to Zain''s side. But before he or the others could reach him, both Pink and Kun stood in front of Zain, crossing their hands and stopping anybody from getting close to Zain.


    "He''s okay, kinda," Kun paused in between.


    "Yeah, there''s no reason for you to worry. You see, Zain gets these headaches from time to time, and once in a while, he just passes out for a few hours." Pink chuckled as if it was no big deal, but as she said these words, she realised just how strange they sounded.


    It was clear to Brandon that both Pink and Kun were acting strange, this group certainly had secrets of their own, and it wasn''t just surrounding Zain but the two as well. They, too, were strange.


    While everyone was concerned for Zain, Kun had shelled out a bed for him. It was one of those that would be used to transport patients from the ambnces to a hospital bed, and Zain was plopped on for the time being with ease.


    This was no easy task for a single person to do, yet Kun was able to do such a thing. The others didn''t release this, but Brandon, who had done things like this in the past. He also noticed how easily they were moving the bodies before as well.


    When Kun lifted Zain onto the bed, he noticed the piece of paper that was still in his hand. Grabbing it, he looked at what was written down, and he was quite impressed.


    "Hey, I think you should all know what Zain was about to tell us all," Kun said as he addressed the room. Starting out the piece of paper, Kun made sure that he would say everything clearly.


    "The disease that Pink''s mum and suspected others at the base have is Tuberculosis. It''s a disease that can spread through the air. It''s not amon disease in this country, so people aren''t really vinated against it.


    "It''s also rtively easy to treat as long as you have the right medicine. Zain has written down the medication that needs to be taken for each person that shows signs for the next six months. If we gather the medicine and iste the two groups, I think everything will be alright."


    "Tuberculosis? I haven''t heard about that in a long time." Kelly said. "I wonder how someone in the group was infected in the first ce."


    It was something that Brandon wondered about as well, but the important thing was to make sure everyone was treated and to stop the spreading.


    "Who knows," Codymented. "I mean, we have dead people walking around. All sorts of different diseases might start to pop up, even new ones. We should just be thankful that this can be solved with what we have, right?"


    The rest nodded, and Brandon took over rtively quickly. Following the list, he told everyone to grab a bag and stock up on medicine. Not just the medicine for Tuberculosis but general medicine bags and disinfectants that could be helpful back at the museum.


    It was quite easy for the group to find bags, as they were plentiful among the dead. While collecting the medicine, Kelly and Cody were together.


    "It''s amazing, right? How did Zain know the disease and the right medicine to use? I''m sure he wasn''t a med student at uni." Davemented from the other side out loud.


    "It really is," Kelly mumbled as she went to grab something off the top shelf and squinted in pain, letting out a little noise.


    "Are you okay? It would be best if you rest and let us deal with this. You went through so much." Cody suggested.


    "Thanks. I do feel sore all over and a bit light-headed." Kelly replied as she went to leave the room, but before she did, Cody called out to her.


    "Oh, and Kelly, when you''re feeling better and Zain wakes up, it might be good to thank him. It was because of him again that we could get to you."


    Kelly smiled at this.


    "Sure, but it''s because of you that he even bothered to help, I bet."<sub> </sub>


    Outside the storage room, Brandon was sitting on one of the waiting area chairs, with his finger on his chin, thinking about the next step and what to do.


    "Actually, I owe you my thanks as well," Kelly said as she sat down next to him. "Although you said it was a failed rescue attempt, I''m sure that things would have gotten a lot worse without you being there next to me."


    "Yeah, but if I had kept my mouth shut, then maybe I would have been the one to have suffered from the injection," Brandon replied.


    "That''s not your fault. You know, I think you might have been hanging around the young ones too much, but you have to remember that I''m a teacher as well, even if it''s just a substitute teacher. The doctor is the one to me for all of this, and the one to really get the me for all of this should be whoever started this whole zombie mess."


    "Agreed, and sorry to ask you this, but I''m going to have to. Do you feel any different at all? Any changes that you noticed?" Brandon asked as he inspected her up and down to see if he could notice anything different himself.


    If there was one thing, she looked better than he imagined for osmose, who had gone through all that. All the injuries on her body from before seemed to clean up quite well.


    "No changes so far, apart from my body hurting all over, but that''s to be expected."


    There was silence between the two for a while until Brandon finally spoke again.


    "I want to invite you and Cody back to the museum. You survived in the world this long, and you are both strong people. We need more strong people. Eventually, the two of you will need to join a group anyway, otherwise, something like today might happen again, and you might not be as fortunate next time.


    "Besides, I''m sure you''re worried that whatever the doctor injected into you might do something. If it''s just you and Cody travelling together, there will be no one to stop you, but if youe to the base, I promise I will keep an eye on you."


    Honestly, Kelly was going to reject Brandon''s offer, but there were two things that he had mentioned that stood out to her. One, the events of today, which had taken a big toll, and two, protecting Cody.


    If she really turned into a monster of some sort down the line, Cody, who had saved her, would be hurt.


    "I''ll speak to the boy and try to convince him, but I would be happy to ept your request."


    After everyone gathered the needed things, it looked like they were ready to leave the hospital. Apart from one problem, Zain was still fast asleep.


    "Look, I have a suggestion for you all. You all n toe back here anyway, right?" Kun said. "Well, rather than wasting your time, head back. I''m sure that Ryan guy is worried about you all. Tell everyone the good news. Pink, you can go with your mother ande back here when you''re ready, while I will stay here looking after Zain."


    It felt somewhat wrong to leave the main saviour of the group, but time was of the essence as they needed to hurry back to base before sunset.


    "Sorry for all the trouble, and I am grateful for your help. We all are. Tell Zain I will definitely meet him again." Brandon said as the entire group got ready to leave and left the ce to head back to the museum leaving Kun and Zain alone.


    Looking at him lying in bed, Kun couldn''t help but think.


    ''I wonder, what is happening to you right now?''


    *****


    Please remember to vote using stones and tickets! It helps the story grow and encourages me to write more chapters for all my works!

 Chapter 162 Reborn Lab

    Unlike the previous times when Zain felt drowsiness, this time, the headache in the back of his head hade out much more intense, not giving him enough time to try to fight it, hurting him more in the process.


    If only there was a way for him to control when these episodes happen. Although they hade at appropriate times so far, there was always the chance that in the middle of a fight if he didn''t learn what was setting them off.


    Either way, he had to deal with the current one right now.


    ''What will it be this time?'' Zain thought. Will it be a memory with that faceless man? Although they feel like a dream, I''m still worried about what would happen if I were to die in one of those visions.


    ''However, I''m no fool. Each time I have had some type of lesson with that person, I''ve never learnt something I never knew how to do before.''


    Thinking about it, not all of the ckouts had been like that. There was the one time he had entered the cave, and in doing so, he had earned a return key and sword mastery bypleting the objective. Maybe it was time for the system to give him another reward.


    When Zain finally was able to regain hisposure, he found himself in apletely unfamiliar scene, and what surprised him more than anything was his body. No longer was he in a child-like form. He was his regr self, his zombie self, although it was quite different.


    The scene in front of him was what could only be described as a scientificb, or at least what Zain imagined one would look like. He was in a fairlyrge room with several tables, papers, test tubes, and all sorts of research-rted instruments ced on the tables and cupboards.


    However, he was not alone.


    There were others, and all of them were wearingb coats. As for where Zain was in all of this and what he had to do with the vision, that was something that he needed to find out for himself.


    Zain was floating up in the air, almost touching the ceiling and looking down at everything. When looking at his own body, it was like a ghost.


    ''Does this mean I''m not ying a part, and these guys, they can''t see me?''


    In order to test this, Zain thought about moving, and his body did as it was told. There was no need to pretend to swim through the air. If he wanted to move to a certain position, his body would move to that said position.


    Then getting in front of one of the workers, Zain waved a hand in front of his face to see if thetter noticed anything, but the person didn''t even flinch. Next, he tried to interact with the equipment, but his hands would just go through everything.


    ''I guess I''m just a bystander, but then what do I do? How am I meant to wake up from this ce?''


    With nothing else to do, Zain decided to explore to see what the scientists were working on, but other than looking through microscopes and writing down words that just didn''t make sense to him. There was nothing until Zain had spotted something, or more rightly so, someone.


    A blonde female scientist who looked to be in her mid-thirties. Zain wasn''t so sure yet until he flew directly behind her and had a look at the long slender legs.


    ''I''m sure of it. This has to be the scientist that works for the Reborn group, the same scientist who crashed into me and gave me the pendant. I mean the pendant I picked up.'' Zain corrected himself.<sub> </sub>


    Thinking this had to be linked somehow, Zain decided to stay close to the blonde female. Just like the others, she seemed to be whisking away, focused on her work. The only thing was several of the other scientists seemed to being up to her and asking her several questions.


    As time passed and he observed the room, he found out that the scientist''s name was Sarah Bain. Not a name that he recognised which was making him wonder how he was even receiving these images in the first ce.


    Regardless, it seemed that Sarah was the go-to person in the department that really knew her stuff. That was until a certain person entered the room from a different area.


    ''I''m such an idiot. Why didn''t I think to try and explore outside of thisb? With this body, I should be able to get out, right?''


    Before Zain could attempt to get out, he was interested in who this person was because immediately after he came in, all of those in theb bowed down.


    Seeing this, Zain took a closer look at the man. He looked a bit older than the woman, most likely in his forties, if Zain were to guess. His beard was a little grey in ces, while his hair was mostly white already, but his skin was quite young, which was why it was hard for Zain to judge.


    As for the man, he came straight over to where Zain was. It almost looked like he was looking directly at him. As he took steps closer and closer, Zain wondered if he would need to fight back, but how was he meant to in a body like this?


    That was until the man gave Sarah a big hug.


    "I think I did it, I think I finally managed to make a breakthrough!" The man said.


    It was clear by the way he hugged the woman that the two knew each other quite well.


    "You really did¡­does this mean we can save them? Can we save everyone?" Sarah''s face lit up with a smile.


    ''Save everyone? These words and who she is¡­  and her words, I am sure this blonde woman, Sarah, has to be involved in this whole thing. My instincts were right. If I find her, maybe I can find out what happened to me and what started this whole zombie mess in the first ce.''


    Suddenly, a bright white light started to fill the room, filling the whole ce and making it harder for Zain to see. It was clear the vision wasing to an end, and at thest moment, Zain saw the man hugging Sarah move back and slightly turn his head.


    The man was staring right into Zain''s eyes.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 163 A Silent Army

    The season was currently autumn, and in autumn it would get dark at just after 6 PM. This was important information for the group because right now, they had a couple of hours until the daylight wouldpletely disappear.


    "It would be best if we make it back before it''s dark. Worst case, we should just stay and sleep in one of the apartments." Pink suggested as she continued to carry her mother, as it was just easier that way.


    "Is that really necessary?" Dave replied. "I mean I know it''s harder to see in the dark, but the ce is about an hour away if we walk at a good pace."


    Although what Dave said was true, there were a couple of times already on the way there where they had to take detours, walking around through certain alleyways where there were less zombies.


    Or at times, even wait for zombies to pass. Worst case they would make small distractions with noise, but this also had the chance to attract other zombies as well which is why they didn''t do this too much.


    "We can''t!" Pink shouted. "Otherwise, the demons will get us!"


    "Demons?" Kelly replied, now walking fine. It was almost as if she had never been injured in the first ce. So she was able to keep up with everyone.


    "Do you mean, the special type of zombies, like the one you call a Titan? Is it another type like that?" Brandon asked.


    It seemed like the others didn''t know about the demons or had any interactions with them, but just thinking about those things, had already caused the entirety of Pink''s body to shiver. After all, thest time she had met with one, the whole of the Reborn group had been killed and she narrowly escaped with her life.


    Since the demons only seemed toe out at night for whatever reason, none of the others had interactions with them. Due to them staying on a normal sleeping cycle and what Dave said before was correct.


    It was more dangerous at night with zombies around regardless of demons or not. With no light source, and one''s vision being worse you were most likely to get bit or be put in a worse situation.


    "Please, just if we don''t make it back in time we have to sleep somewhere else. Just until the sun rises again." Pink pleaded with them.


    If, of all people, Pink was worried out of the group, Brandon felt like it was something that they all needed to worry about as well.


    "I think it''s okay, the camp will be fine if it''s a day extra. We need to stay safe after all."


    Brandon ordered.


    As the group continued to trek through the streets, they hade across something they didn''t quite expect on their way back. Outside of a sandwich shop, there were several people with makeshift weapons, pots, and pansing out.


    There were four in total, a man who looked to be losing his hair holding a spear with a young adult next to him. A middle aged woman and a teen girl as well.


    "Look honey, there are other people, we''re saved!" the man said as he ran forward, but Cody quickly pulled his hand gun and pointed it toward them telling them not to get any closer.<sub> </sub>


    "Wait, we''re human, please don''t shoot. Please, military man tell him." The man asked, pleading towards Brandon.


    At least, everyone guessed ''military man'' was aimed at Brandon, with his sunsses back on his head and the SWAT outfit he was wearing, one could easily mistake him for being a military person.


    "Before we do, are you guys affiliated with any group? How did you survive for so long?" Brandon asked.


    "Me and my wife, we had a lot of food in storage, the other two that are with us. They are our neighbours and when trouble started we all huddled up together, stayed quiet, and continued to eat the food.


    "We waited for the military toe, we don''t even know how long it''s really been, but when we ran out of food we had no choice but toe outside. We really, really, thought that there was no one else. Please, take us with you... please." The man pleaded and the others soon got on their knees and begged as well.


    This world had created all sorts of different types of people, and these people  just wanted someone to tell them what to do, an ounce of the old civilization they wanted back. In a way though, these people were perfect to take back to the museum, they listened well to orders.


    In the end, Brandon had agreed to take them, but the weapons were taken off them and they were ced to travel in the middle of the group, that way Dave could keep an eye on them if they were to do anything.


    The group was over half way there, and had run into some zombies down an alleyway route they had taken. With a knife, both Cody and Brandon had dealt with them easily. Running up on them and stabbing them in the head.


    There was no hesitation in their actions, and the ones who had just joined the group were quite impressed, still thinking that they were with some army personnel and normal civilians. Seeing this just strengthened that fact.


    Just as they were about to get out of the alleyway, they could see something go past. It was almost silent as it drove, but they all saw it causing everyone to rush out and have a look.


    Now they were looking at the back of the vehicle, it was arge jeep like vehicle. It was an electric car which was why it hadn''t made so much noise. It was perfect for this type of situation but the most shocking thing was, there was a group of men, in military uniform... real military uniforms.


    ''Is the army finally here, are they actually doing a real evacuation?'' Brandon thought. ''If that''s the case, it may be best to follow them.''


    ----


    ? At the same time, Zain had finally woken up from his dream, and when waking up he had a seriously bad feeling and not too long after, there was a notification from the system that made him feel the most panicked he had ever been.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future.

 Chapter 164 A Powerful Group

    "What are you doing?" were the words that hade out from Pink''s mouth, as she saw Brandon following the vehicle. It wasn''t moving fast since there was a lot of debris in the way, and at times, some of the military even had to get off and move some things so the vehicle could safely travel.


    "It''s military." Brandon replied. "If they are here, they could be looking for people to evacuate them out of the city."


    The others nodded their heads. If anything, the neers who went by Andy, Martha, Suszan and Cube wanted to shout out towards the army before they got away. However, they had been informed if they were to make any type of noise, they would be kicked out of the group immediately.


    "This is a detour to the museum though, if we head this way then there is no chance that we will make it back before the sun sets." Pink questioned. "I have my mother with me as well."


    "But this is the first time we have seen military personnel." Dave chimed in. "If we don''t approach them now¡­ then what''s going to happen?"


    It was safe to say that there were more that agreed with Brandon than Pink, in fact she wasn''t sure if anyone was on her side, and before she knew it, they all started to follow Brandon, who had picked up the pace to reach the military vehicle quicker.


    The only one that stayed behind for a bit, was both Cody and Kelly.


    "You yed a big part in helping me save Kelly, so I trust your judgement." Cody said. "But I do think that they might need your help. Just because they''re military doesn''t mean they''re good people."


    "He''s right." Kelly added. "Look at what that doctor did."


    There was another fear that was going through Pink''s mind, and it was the fact that if they really were here to evacuate people, then she wouldn''t be able to go with them. Because they would notice the bite marks that went up and down her leg.


    "Move out of the way!"


    In the distance, Pink''s enhanced hearing, now that she had absorbed quite a number of crystals, had managed to pick the voice up, and it didn''t sound like it was anyone from their group.


    In the end, this led her to run and try to catch up with the others. It didn''t take her long to reach the others, as they hadn''t gone too far, and what had surprised her was the fact that they were all currently hiding behind abandoned cars.


    It was a fourne street, so there were plenty of cars they could get behind, and Pink went ahead to join where Brandon was staying. Up ahead the military vehicle hade to a halt, around 20 metres away from where they were, and Pink could see why.


    There was a blockade of vehicles. It looked like someone had moved cars purposely in a way so that the cars were on their sides, blocking the street. There were even cars on top of each other which seemed impossible to do without some type of machinery.


    "When I saw the blockade, I told everyone to hide. I have a bad feeling about this." Brandon said, as he got his gun ready as well. Indicating to the others that they might need to do the same.<sub> </sub>


    ¡ª¡ª


    Getting out of the driver''s seat, the captain of the 10 man squad looked furious. Without hesitation he held his gun out as he pointed it toward someone. There was a person that was standing at the front of the blockade and it was who he was shouting at before.


    "Are you responsible for this?" the captain asked.


    The man who had the gun pointed at him, and who was standing in front of the blockade, was quiterge in size, and he was wearing what looked like an american football outfit, red and white in colour with shoulder pads and the helmet that was on top of his head.


    "No one is allowed to enter here, turn around!" The football yer shouted back, which was getting the attention of the others around them.


    "Is that person crazy?" Dave asked. "He must have a death wish, how can he be so brave when he has guns from the military pointed at him."


    Pink was taking a longer peek to see if she could notice anything, and soon her and Brandon had noticed something, on top of the cars there were now others appearing. One of them dressed as arge clown with a giant bottom half.


    Another freak looked to have a guitar on him as if he was ready to y it at any moment, andstly one that was in diator-like gear including a helmet. The group looked like they hade out of some type of performance ss, but not a single one of them had a weapon on them.


    Seeing the strange group of people, the soldiers couldn''t help but crack augh.


    "Are youughing at me! Are youughing at me!" the American football yer sounded like he was getting angrier, and from there he charged right in. It was faster than the soldier was expecting and before he could get a shot in, a fist mmed his head so hard that it caved into his chest and the soldier fell to the floor dead.


    "This is bad, we have to get out of here!" Pink eximed.


    Gunshots were heard as the other army personnel started to fire, but the footballer soon turned and lifted one of the abandoned cars above his head. It looked like he was lifting up a pillow as he threw it right at the truck, crushing most of the people in there.


    "These aren''t humans, they''re Reborn!" Pink eximed.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future.

 Chapter 165 A Hard Quest

    Due to the sound of the loud crash of the car, the others were unable to hear the words that hade out of Pink''s mouth. Either way, they wouldn''t understand what they meant anyway.


    Seeing them, she thought something was strange and Dave was right, how could one have such confidence in the face of a gun. The only person she had seen have that level of confidence before was Zain and that was because he was a Zombie.


    Usually, Pink would rely on her nose for such situations but due to the distance they were from her, and also the fact that there was military in front of them, the scents were confusing and she was unable to tell who was human and who wasn''t but without a doubt, now it was clear.


    The crashed car had flipped the military vehicle and had crushed a couple of the soldiers, but a few of them had gotten out quite quick, and started firing away towards the one in the american football outfit.


    "Get that monster, it must be one of those evolved Zombies, it can just speak that''s all. There is no need to worry, fire!" The man shouted as he hid behind the military vehicle and fired away.


    "Oh, this one has a big mouth, too bad you are not good enough for my collection" a high pitched voice said which started tough, the second the man looked up, all he could see was a clown, and that was thest thing he could see as his head was held up in the air, next to a bloody scythe that had been used.


    The clown zombie had jumped down from the vehicle, and swung its scythe again, letting the head fall to the ground. It had hit two of the soldiers by their waists, causing their top halves to fall to the ground.


    It was done so effortlessly, with next to no resistance at all, and now it was hard for them to tell which one was more dangerous. The football yer or the clown. Seeing this, Pink felt like it was more than likely that all of them were dangerous.


    "Shouldn''t you be helping them?" Andy loudly whispered.


    "What and get ourselves killed!" Cody shouted.


    "But we have guns, even if they are special zombies, a bullet to the head will kill them, right? They don''t know you are here and, if we get rid of them, we can finally be somewhere safe." Andy replied.


    Brandon wasn''t so sure about that, just like Pink, he also feared what the other two, who had yet to join in, could do. The only reason why he hadn''t signalled for them to move yet, was because they had the high ground.


    While on top of the vehicles it would be easy for them to spot the group running away.


    ''Will the others join the fight, if they do, then it will be our chance to run away. If not... then as Andy said, maybe we stand more of a chance fighting with them.


    ''Or we can risk running away now, and them not caring about us.''


    It was a decision that needed quick action but just as he thought about this, the diator looking man jumped down from cars and walked forward. As he did, some of the soldiers started to shoot toward him, but lifting his hand they would hit his skin and fall to the floor.


    Suddenly, the footballer picked up the man shooting and mmed him to the ground, breaking every bone in his body.


    As the diator man continued to walk, it looked like he was sniffing the air, like some type of dog.


    "I can smell it... there are more people." The diator man said.


    "Run!" Brandon shouted, as he popped up and started to shoot toward the diator man. He was a good shot and all of the bullets were aimed at the head, but just like before he lifted his hand blocking them.<sub> </sub>


    The others didn''t hesitate as they saw Pink was the first to run, and she was running ahead of the others despite her mother on her back. Cody, who had a gun in his hand, would turn around once in a while and fire as well, because he knew what Brandon had done.


    He was staying behind, giving them cover fire, so they could get away.


    At that moment, all of the soldiers had been killed mostly by the clown, as it came back to join the diator by his side with his scythe full of blood and his mouth partly as well.


    "Oh, there''s more that were hiding. It''s a good thing we have your nose!" the clown said.


    "Rive! Stop them!" the diator shouted.


    Running towards the nearest car, the footballer lifted it up above his head and continued to run forward as he hurled it. It went quite far in the streets andnded directly in front of the runners.


    Not just one car was thrown though, as soon many started to fall from the sky,nding in the way of the others. For fear of being hit, they turned around, but soon realised that the cars had now formed another blockade.


    "We can try climbing over the cars, but I have a feeling that he could have just as easily hit us with the cars as well.'' Pink thought. ''They''re trapping us... they want to y with us, like a sick game.''


    ----


    In the hospital, Zain had woken up a few moments ago, and a ding from his system was heard as a message had been received.


    [A new quest has been received]


    [Your party member ''Pink'' is in trouble]


    ''Oh, the party system is still active?'' Zain thought.


    [Save your party member]


    [Reward: tinum card]


    ''A... tinum quest, and thats just for saving Pink. That must mean they are in really big trouble.''


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 166 Do You Like Music?

    The situation was clear to Pink at that point, that the only way they would be able to get out of this was by fighting. She quickly ced her mother down on the road, by the side.


    "Mum, you need to just stay out of this fight, and no matter what happens, don''t worry about me," Pink stated, as she turned around and headed back to where the strange zombies had appeared.


    "What are you doing, are you crazy?  We should just climb on out of here. If the military with their weapons were unable to do anything, what do you think we can do?" Andy asked.


    Pink wasn''t the only one that figured out that there was no way of escaping, Brandon did as well, as he had stopped shooting out suppressive fire, and started to make his way towards Pink and the others as well.


    Dave, Cody, Kelly, all of them inherently trusted her judgement, they could tell something was off.


    "Come on dear, we have to live!" Andy said, as he started to climb on top of the heaped cars, as he did though, a shadow was cast on him, and when turning around another car was seen flying in the air.


    It was toote for Andy to do anything, other than lift his hand which was useless. The car crushed his entire body,nding directly on top of him and crashing onto the other. The only thing that could be seen was his hand dangling out from the side, limp.


    "NOOOO!" Suszan screamed as she saw her husband'' arm, she went to reach out to it, and when she did she could hear the sound of raucousughing,ing from above.


    "So sad, right... this is so sad." The clown-like zombie with pale skin said. "You will be much happier with him!"


    With a swing of his scythe, Suszan''s head was rolling on the floor.


    Quickly, Cube and Martha had decided to run to where the others were who had formed a circle, in the centre, trying to cover each of their backs. Now behind them was the clown, on the other side, the football yer, and the diator,stly it looked like the one holding a guitar had finally jumped off and was joining the fight as well.


    "Brandon... Do you have a n?" Dave asked.


    "Usually my n is bullets, and bullets don''t seem to be working." Brandon replied.


    "If bullets don''t work, I don''t think my daggers are going to be much help either."Cody stated.


    "What about Zain?" Kelly said. "What if one of us goes back and gets Zain?"


    "Zain?" Martha asked, hearing a name she had only just heard for the first time. They had only just joined the group, but she had paid attention to all of their names so she wouldn''te across as rude.


    "We can''t rely on Zain, he won''t know we are in trouble, and honestly with this one, I don''t even know if he could even get us out of this mess. We have to take care of these guys ourselves. Right now, I''m the best chance we have at taking these people out.


    "I''ll take on the diator since your bullets don''t seem to be working on him. You guys just hold onto the rest until I can help." Pink ordered.


    With that agreed, she ran out from the circle toward the diator. Seeing as how the football yer was next to him, Cody decided to grab one of his daggers and throw it as hard as he could towards him.


    Itnded right in his shoulder, sticking in but doing nothing in terms of damage, but it did get his attention. With Kelly behind the two of them would attempt to distract the footballer.


    "I''ll take on the clown, so that leaves that guitarist to the rest of you. Dave protect them!" Brandon shouted.


    With the gun sight up to his eye, Brandon aimed carefully as he shot out a burst of bullets right at the clown''s head. Lifting the scythe, the de blocked the bullets as they would fall to the ground, but the next burst had hit the clown in the stomach causing him to bleed.<sub> </sub>


    "I guess your skin isn''t as tough as your friend''s back there." Brandon taunted.


    "Ah yes, but bullets to my stomach don''t hurt me you see!" The clownughed as he ran forward.


    ----


    Pink stood right up next to the diator and took a fighting stance, just like how she used to back when she was doingpetitions. She clenched a fist, cing it slightly ahead.


    "You smell different from them." The diator stated.


    "You''re right," Pink said, as she shifted forward a step, almost jumping, then the second her footnded, she swung a kick out right to the head, activating the hidden de. Lifting his arm, the attack was blocked.


    However, this was in her predictions, as Pink spun her body, and lifted her other leg in the air, kicking the diator right in the face, a ng was heard that vibrated out loudly as the face was swung to the side, and the diator had to ce his hand on the ground to stop himself frompletely falling.


    "I am different, I can fight."


    After finishing her kick, out of the corner of her eye Pink was distracted by something and that was the guitarist who walked past. Both Martha and Cube were holding onto their weapons, kitchen knives, while hiding behind Dave with the gun.


    "Do you like my music?" The guitarist asked as he strummed the guitar, but there were no strings making any sound.


    A step closer, and Dave shot out a bullet but hadpletely missed since the distance was too far.


    "Do you like my music?" the man asked again.


    Once again Dave took another shot, and the musician decided to jump. It was at such a height that they could no longer see him, but when hended again, he hadnded right next to where Pink''s mother was.


    "Do you like my music?" the man asked.


    "I''m... so sorry?" Her mother said, tears filling up, her voice shaky as she looked at Pink.


    Hearing the reply, the face of the guitarist hadpletely changed.


    "You don''t like my MUSIC!" He shouted so loud that vibrations almost looked visibleing out of his mouth. When the sound stopped they all turned to look at Pink''s mother, and POP!


    Pink''s mother''s head had exploded there and then.


    ****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 167 Broken

    Pink couldn''t believe it, she was there to witness everything, her mother''s head just exploded right in front of her eyes. She was right there yet she could do nothing to stop it. A great pain entered Pink''s heart while at the same time, so many thoughts were swirling through her mind.


    I did everything to try and keep you alive, after losing my sister I didn''t want to lose anyone else.


    How do I exin this to dad, he will be heartbroken.


    The truth is, he really is all alone now, because his daughter, who is right here, is also already dead.


    In the middle of all of those thoughts, a big hand came out right from the side, and Pink only noticed it at thest second. Due to her fast reflexes she was able to lift both of her hands to block it but it was useless.


    As she was wacked to the side, the force felt like that of a car, and she was knocked off her feet in the airnding on the ground. Getting up quickly she felt no pain and it had knocked some sense into her, but she realised that her right arm was now broken.


    ''I can''t heal without consuming flesh, I''m not like Zain.'' Pink thought, looking at the diator maning toward her. ''Why... should I heal, is there any reason for me to keep on living?''


    While Pink was facing the diator, the others were all dealing with their own troubles. Firstly, Dave, Martha and Cube, after seeing the old woman die like so, they knew how dangerous this musician was and Dave was no longer holding back as he shot bullet after bullet at the person.


    Turning his head, he lifted his guitar, using it to stop all of the bullets, each time moving it in the right ce.


    "I guess she didn''t really like my music." The zombie said as he walked forward. "Let me ask you guys again. Do you like my music?" The zombie asked.


    Dave continued to shoot but he needed to reload, and as he did, the guitarist let go of the guitar allowing it to hang around his neck via the strap and suddenly ran right towards them.


    Both Cube and Martha, who wielded weapons thrust them forward. One of the knives had hit the zombie in the chest, while the other had gone for its head, but the zombie had used its teeth to bite down on the knife, biting hard and crushing it to pieces.


    "I can''t sing if you stab me in the head." The zombie said, as it was ready to open its mouth wide at all three of them again.


    Elsewhere, there was Kelly and Cody dealing with the footballer. However, rather than try to attack the zombie like the others had been doing, Cody was buying time, just like Pink had asked.


    The footballer ran towards him, and swiftly moving to the side at thest moment, Cody was able to dodge the attack. It was like one of those men at the bull fights that held up the red piece of cloth.


    As he avoided the charge, Cody threw out a small knife aiming for the back of the head but missed, hitting it in the shoulder instead. As it continued forward, it crashed into one of the side shops breaking the ss and running into the counter.


    Seeing this, Kelly had run in, and jumped on the zombie''s back.


    "What are you doing Kelly! We just need to buy time." Cody shouted out.<sub> </sub>


    Unlike Cody, she didn''t believe that Pink would be able to deal with them all, she was the only one watching the ongoing situation and knew that they would all have to give it everything they had to get out of this bad situation.


    Which was why she jumped on the zombie''s back, and repeatedly stabbed at the back of the footballer''s head. The thing was, he was wearing a helmet, and the knife was slipping off to the side.


    Grabbing Kelly by her arm, the footballer threw her over his shoulder and directly onto the floor, crashing her back into pieces of ss shards and more.


    "Get away from her!" Cody shouted, as he threw knife after knife, getting the footballer''s attention. He was unsure if Kelly had survived or not, after all this zombie seemed to have the same strength as a titan, if not more, and no human would be able to survive a blow from them.


    As Cody readied up, the sound of bullets were raining, and it was Brandon who was dealing with the clown. The clown had managed to close the distance between the two. As it swung its scythe, Brandon used the gun to block the attack.


    He could feel that it was breaking in half, and his strength couldn''t match up to the clown, so he had no choice but to abandon his submachine gun as he rolled out the way and pulled out a handgun,  continuing to fire.


    ''If Pink can''t do anything, I''m not sure we''re going to survive this.'' Brandon thought, as he could see the clown smiling.


    That was when Brandon too, had run out of bullets at that moment, and needed to reload. He could see the clown was waiting for this moment as he charged, but suddenly the sound of bullets could be heard.


    The clown immediately lifted up its scythe, blocking more shotsing from the side.


    ''Bullets, but from above?'' When taking a look, he could see someone shooting from one of the apartments and they had to be a good shot to be able to shoot from there, but who was the one helping them.


    Where Dave and the others were as the guitarist opened its mouth, it felt something biting down on its leg, as it looked down there was a small little corgi dog. Then, Pink could see zombies were running towards the shop, going after the footballer.


    When she turned her head, she heard the sound of metal shing against metal, as she could see Cobra swinging two daggers, hitting the diator at a speed faster than it could react, and when the diator tried to grab onto him,  itpletely missed as Cobra had moved back.


    ''All of these that areing again is it...''


    "These guys look a little difficult." Cobra said.


    Ever since Cobra had been turned, it was the first time Pink had heard him speak, but the inflection of voice and that attitude reminded her of a certain someone, this wasn''t Cobra, it was Zain.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 168 Super Undeads

    Seeing the tinum quest appear in front of him, Zain was wondering what to do. He had neverpleted a tinum quest to date, and he knew that the others had to be in serious trouble.


    On top of that, it didn''t look like the system was adjusting quests based on his state. For example, Zain had gotten the quest to find an active and live meteor, yet the reward of that quest never changed despite Zain being far stronger than he was when he had received the quest.


    In Zain''s experience from his games, it just meant these types of quests were just that difficult regardless and it could be the same right now, which was why for a second he thought about forgetting about this quest altogether.


    "Zain, what''s wrong, is everything okay?" Kun asked.


    "I think¡­ Pink and the others there in trouble." Zain replied. "And I don''t know what to do."


    Although Kun had no idea how Zain knew that the others might be in trouble, it had got to the point where he stopped questioning Zain''s words.


    "Isn''t it obvious, we have to try and help them right? I mean, I know you''re big on the survival part, but isn''t there a way to help them without us risking our lives." Kun suggested.


    He had travelled with Zain long enough to know what type of person he was. Judging by the look on his face, this was a hard one, if it was up to Kun he would have gone to help Pink already, but for Zain there had to be next to no risk.


    ? "There is a way." Zain mumbled.


    If he was to use his Horde members, he could try and help them out of their pinch. On top of that, being in control of one of them, it would be a good evaluation on whether or not Zain believed they couldplete the quest.


    There was a chance he could lose the super zombies he had built up, but an army could always be rebuilt; he would just have to leave Skittle behind. His strength was great, but Zain still couldn''t afford to lose him at this point and time.


    Which was why, while him and Kun started to make way, he decided to do the same type of trick he had done before, taking control of Cobra this time instead of Skittle, perhaps the best suited super Zombie, and right now, in Cobra''s body, Zain was standing in front of the diator.


    "You¡­ you are just like her." The diator said, sniffing the air. "Who are you with?"


    "Who are we with?" Zain replied. "These guys are with me, and I won''t let you take them away so easily!"


    Not speaking anymore, Zain got to work, as heunched from his position and went straight for the diator''s neck. The dagger hit cleanly but a ding sound was heard as he continued past him.


    Quickly turning around, Zain shed the dagger in a few more spots and the constant dings were heard before the diator swung its arms in frustration, hitting nothing.


    [Dagger mastery is now level 2]


    ''At least that''s something to be happy about, but just because my skill with the dagger increased, doesn''t mean I''ll be able to pierce his skin anytime soon. Unlike the titan, his whole skin is solid. Is this really a zombie?  It feels more like a superhuman, or maybe they are closer to the body I am in now, like a superhuman zombie.''


    "Zain, don''t worry about him. I will keep him busy, help out the others and then we can try to take this thing down together!" Pink shouted.


    Thinking about it, it wasn''t a horrible suggestion.  If Zain was to defeat the others, then there was a good chance that Cobra would level up and if he was to increase his strength or speed, it would be a way to end this whole thing.


    Out of the entire group, looking at which ones would be the easiest to deal with, Zain decided to run as fast as he could towards the guitarist. Jam was growling heavily at him as the guitarist was getting ready to open its mouth.<sub> </sub>


    Although the students were unsure who this belonged to, or where it hade from, due to it saving their life, they weren''t quick to give up as they started to fire the guns once again.


    The guitarist was hit in the shoulder, causing it to close its mouth and as it turned around it saw a knife heading straight for its shoulder.


    The guitarist turned around giving its attention back to Dave and the other two, as it walked forward through, Cobra''s body was seening in front of them and went to stab the zombie right in the head who managed to lift the guitar quickly, blocking its head.


    "Do you want to hear my music?" The guitarist asked.


    "No, I want you to die!" Zain replied, as he kicked the zombie in the stomach causing it to fall to the floor.


    "Who is that?" Cube asked.


    "I have no idea¡­" Dave replied.


    Putting the guitar down, the zombie had its mouth open as he heard the answer and strange screams started toe out. The students ducked, and Zain ran to the side. As the zombie moved its head, the ss from the side streets was breaking by the second.


    "I told you to shut up!" Zain shouted again, throwing the dagger as fast as he could and itnded right in the zombie''s skull. It didn''t seem to be dead yet, as the dagger hadn''t pierced far enough, but it got the zombie to shut its mouth.


    Using his super speed, Zain ran right over and threw the second dagger towards the body, then suddenly moved to the zombie''s side. The second dagger being a distraction, Zain now was able to grab the first dagger and push it in as deep as possible.


    The zombie was lifted by the head from the dagger and then mmed into the ground, no longer moving.


    [A super zombie has been killed]


    [Super Undead Cobra has levelled up]


    [Super Undead Cobra has levelled up]


    [Super Undead Cobra is now level 4]


    From the corner of his eye Brandon was looking at what was going on, it seemed like all the super zombies they were going against had noticed it, one of them had died, but the question was to who and what.


    ''Isn''t that Cobra from the Cobra gang. I knew what he looked like because Ryan was scouting them, but then they were eliminated. Didn''t Zain say he was the one that eliminated the gang¡­ so what is he doing here?'' Brandon thought.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future.

 Chapter 169 A Vision Or A Dream

    Killing the strange guitarist was more beneficial than Zain had thought, because he had gained quite a bit of exp. At first seeing all of these super zombies, Zain thought that even if he was to arrive and with the help of his small Horde, it would be impossible to get Pink out of this alive.


    However, now he was starting to think differently. Not all of the superhuman zombies were of equal strength, and they were kible. If he racked up this much exp, then perhaps in this fight alone, Zain could get strong enough to take care of them all.


    [Congrattions you are now level 8]


    [1 stat point has been received]


    The good thing was, while in another body Zain was still able to receive messages about his main body. Although he couldn''t directly see stats unless he switched control, so he would just have to wait tillter to apply the stat point.


    However, the same wasn''t true for Cobra, who had just levelled up two times.


    ''I can''t take too long to think about this, although I need strength, two points in strength won''t be enough to help Cobra that much, and with more speed a bigger blow can be delivered!''


    [Agility 6 >>> 8]


    Super Undead Cobra


    Level 4


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 8]


    [Intelligence: 2]


    [Vitality: 0]


    The death of one of their allies seemed to set off a chain reaction in the area, as they were no longer concentrating so much on their own fight, but instead were all now looking towards Cobra.


    One moment they were looking at him though, and the next hepletely disappeared from sight, and a sh was heard as two daggers were seen shing against the clown''s scythe.


    "Oh, a fast one who managed to kill Dug, but Dug was the weakest of all of us by far you fool!" the clownughed, as it started to spin the scythe, attacking Cobra non stop. Using the daggers, all Zain could do was defend.


    ''In that small moment, I only had a few seconds to try and decide which was the weakest out of them all... did I pick wrong? But that doesn''t matter too much now, I just have tost a bit longer.''


    As Zain continued to block the attacks, he could feel he was losing out in strength and would need to do something soon.


    "Brandon, don''t worry about me, help Pink deal with the diator, he will be the most difficult of the lot!" Zain ordered.


    For a second Brandon was hesitant, why would he listen to Cobra of all people, and why was he helping them. Either way, for some reason he was and Brandon needed to act fast, and that''s what he did.


    The strikes from the clown''s scythe were so heavy that Zain had almost lost grip, but just then a few shots were fired from the window again and the clown had to stop its barrage as it defended itself from the bullets.


    "This is getting annoying, why don''t I take that one out first!" The clown said, but Zain wasn''t going to let that happen so easily.


    ----


    Although Cody wasn''t getting any help from Cobra, Zain, or the little zombie dog, around nine other zombies hade to his aid. They had rushed through what looked like a diner, and were all heading towards the football yer.


    As the footballer saw this, he bashed his hands togther as he charged forward crashing into one of the zombies. As he did, the zombie went flying into the air and through the window. After that, two of the zombies had jumpedtching onto the footballer and began to bite and chomp on him.


    "Why are these sh*ts eating me? I''m just like you!" The footballer screamed, as he grabbed one by the shoulder and mmed it on the floor detaching its head from its body.


    It was clear that the zombies weren''t going to be enough to take this one down. So while he was busy, Cody had crept around the corner to see if Kelly was okay, as he reached the counter he could see she was slowly getting up.


    "Kelly, is everything okay, we need to get out of here, or hide while keeping him off our tail, can you move?" Cody asked.


    When checking out her own body, to her and his surprise, she seemed fine. There were no broken bones, and she wasn''t heavily bleeding even though she had suffered the same impact as the zombie had done earlier.


    "I can move... I can move." Kelly answered.


    At first Cody had put Kelly on his shoulder as the two of them were ready to get out of the shop. A couple more zombies, and it looked like the footballer would be giving them all of his attention once again.


    As they got out of the shop though, Cody could hear something over by the cars that were blocking their way, and that''s when he could see a figure standing on top.


    "Zain!"


    Once again Zain had arrived, but strangely he was just standing there, and perhaps it was coincidence, but at the same time as Zain stood there, all of the super zombies stopped their assault and retreated back to the other side. The thing was, even Zain was confused by this, as he switched back to his own body and jumped down.


    "Everyone gather!" Zain shouted.


    They didn''t need to be told more than once, Cobra, even War who was in the apartment building, was making his way down. While the others such as Dave and the rest started toe down.


    "Zain, how did you know, how did you even know we were in trouble?" Pink asked.


    "I don''t think that''s very important now, what I''m worried about is what they''re doing?" Zain replied.


    The diator, the footballer, and the clown had lined up. Then the footballer moved, pushing one of the cars behind them out of the way, leaving an opening like a door, that''s when they could see a person walking out, quite an old looking man in his fifties.


    "That.... he looks human?"  Brandon asked.


    Pink didn''t want to say anything, but he was human. As for Zain, he needed to rub his eyes, although it wasn''t a one for one because of the age difference,  Zain was sure he had seen this person before, and it was in a recent vision of his. It was the man from theb that worked at Reborn.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 170 A Hard Quest

    Zain''s real body had only just arrived, so he didn''t have time to help the others like he had originally nned to, because it looked like the fighting had nowe to aplete halt. Not because of him though, it was due to the older gentleman who had just entered the scene.


    Looking at the man, Zain was unable to keep his eyes off him, staring at his face and cross-referencing him to the memories inside his head.


    ''I''m sure of it, I have never met this man before, ever in my entire life, yet I recognise his face, because of the vision that I recently had.'' Zain thought.


    Why had his vision shown him someone he had never seen before and now there was a man suddenly in front of him that matched his vision. Was this man really working for the Reborn group that Kun and the others were a part of?


    "How could you all be struggling at a time like this?" The man said, as he walked forward. The strange zombies had their heads down as if they were in shame or being told off by a teacher.


    "They... are like us." The diator man replied.


    The old man was looking at Zain and the others, trying to see what the diator meant by this, as he saw him push his sses back up onto the ridge of his nose, as something had caught his eye.


    "I see... for today that is a valid excuse, but it just shows how far you all have to go still." The man said, as he walked out in front of them, but still stayed close to them all.


    "All of you, I can only guess that you are either part of her creations, or have happened to resist a few parts of the virus. Either way, I suggest that you join us, the Dark Zombies, in our goal."


    "Dark Zombies, who cares about your name!" Cube shouted. "Why would we join you after you just tried to kill us all?"


    After what they had just seen, the death of the military and a few of the close friends that they had been travelling with, it was hard to say they felt safe in these strangers'' hands, who in their eyes looked like monsters.


    The man started tough.


    "I think you have things a little wrong, I wasn''t inviting you." The man then proceeded to point at Zain, he pointed at Kun, Pink, Cobra, War in the apartment, and even Jam, "My offer is only for them to join us."


    Brandon and the others were left slightly confused by why the man had pointed at them, but for Kun, Pink and Zain it was quite clear, he had selected all of the zombies.


    ''This man, how much does he know? Is it safe to go along with him? The one thing that is clear, is that the zombies aren''t attacking him. The Dark Zombies or whatever it is he calls them, they''re not attacking him even though he''s human."


    While no one said anything, Brandon was looking for a way out. With Zain and the strong help of Cobra and the others, now it seemed like maybe they could fight if need be, or if they were to refuse, both sides would turn around due to the equivalent loss. However, Brandon wasn''t saying anything because right now, he trusted Zain''s judgement more than anything.


    ''For now... it''s too risky to join another group. Not while we know nothing about them, and not while I''m not sure myself whether I''m the strongest in the group or not. Being controlled, or in an area where there is constant danger around us, is not a good deal.''


    Which is why Zain opened his mouth and gave his answer.


    "I''m sorry, but right now we won''t be able to join your Dark Zombies. It seems... it would be best if both our groups went the other way."


    The man signed as he heard this.


    "I''m disappointed by your answer. Get... rid of them."


    Those words had caused everyone to be on the defensive, it looked like they were going to have to fight after all. Strangely, it didn''t look like any of the others they were fighting before were moving though.


    "That was one offer that you shouldn''t have refused."


    For a second, it felt like the ground was shaking. Small explosions were heard a little ways away, as dust could be seening up from behind the barrier of cars behind the group.  After that,ing through the same hole where the others had made, were what smelled like zombies. Only they had chains wrapped around their arms and legs.


    There looked to be around three of theming through the opening. They didn''t look to be any more frightening than what they had been facing before, to be honest, but Zain felt like there had to be a reason.


    A reason why this man was confident, a reason why the other zombies were still just standing there, and a reason why this was considered a tinum quest, and he had a feeling that these were them.


    Jumping up in the air, the zombie with chains reached about ten metres in the sky beforending right in front of Dave, Martha and Cube. They stood behind Dave as he was ready to fire his gun.


    Before he could, the zombie lifted its arm, and the chain around its wrist swung out, hitting all three of them in the head. As it did their skulls were crushed. It was so powerful that the chain had gone through like a knife, splitting all three of their heads in half.


    "F*CKK!!!!" Brandon screamed, as he saw all three of them die and lifted his gun. Zain swung his sword, as a sh was heard. Hitting one of the chains in front of him. Brandon had failed to notice another one of the chained zombiese toward him.


    However, even though Zain had blocked one strike, the other chain had hit Brandon in the head... killing him on the spot as well.


    ******


    Please remember to vote, using stones and tickets! It helps the story grow, and encourages me to write more chapters for all my works!

 Chapter 171 The Last One

    A loss of lives, it had happened before, Zain had seen it on the streets and he had even taken lives in this new world. However, there was a distinct life that he remembered and that was Skittle.


    In his past, there weren''t many people that Zain was close with, but Skittle was one of them. Although he wouldn''t ssify the people around him as friends, he had been with them for a little while now, and just like that time with Skittle, he was unable to help others.


    To his right, there was the young student Dave, dead along with two others. Now in front of him, there was Brandon, a person who he had been through a bit with. It was also his lead to knowing about the Reborn group.


    However, once again it was a life that Zain had tried to protect and yet had failed at doing so.


    ''Brandon, Dave, not just them too, but If I don''t do something now. Then everyone, we all will die right here.'' Zain thought.


    When looking up, Zain could hear the chains of the third chained zombie on the floor. Now he could see who it was targeting, it was looking at both Cody and Kelly.


    ''No¡­ I can''t let these guys do what they want!'' Zain thought.


    The chain was swung and he knew he wouldn''t be quick enough, but there was someone who was. The chain shed against two daggers as a person appeared in front of the two. The person, or body they were looking at was Cobra, but Cobra wasn''t the one inside, or at least not the one in the mind.


    ''The attack is so strong, I can''t push it back!'' Zain thought, as he skidded across the ground. After taking that one attack, Zain knew what to do now.


    "Run." Zain mumbled. "Run!! All of you run and get out of here. I will be able to stall them for some time, but there is no point in all our lives being lost, so all of you run while I deal with them."


    Zain had gone through the scenarios in his head, and this in the end was the only option. If they all stayed and fought together they would die. If he tried running on his own, the others wouldn''t be able to hold them and they would die.


    The only option was for Zain himself to hold them back, while the others got on with their lives.


    Kun, Pink, Cody and Kelly. These were the only ones that were still alive, and each of them tightened their fists as they heard these words. After everything this person had done for them, were they really just going to leave him here?


    "You heard what he said!" Kun shouted. "Everyone run now!"


    The chained zombies were looking in their direction, but Zain had moved to the side of Cobra and supportive fire wasing from War at the window. It was hitting the chained zombies and the bullets were piercing them, but when it went through their bodies, they immediately healed.


    This power, and ability, seemed even stronger than Zain''s ability to heal.


    One of the chain zombies swung again, and Zain swung his sword at the same time. Due to his increased skill, he knew exactly where to hit it to stop its momentum. When the sword shed against the chain though, the top had snapped right off, and the chain continued, hitting Zain right on the arm, breaking it in an instant and sending him to his knees.


    [Your arm has broken]


    [Would you like to use energy to fix it?]


    "ZAIN!!!" Pink screamed, as she saw this but Kun quickly pulled her back. The group were in the shop where Kelly and Cody were fighting. The n was to escape out of a back entrance and head to another street.


    Standing up, Zain stretched out his arm, and it started to heal on the spot, regrowing and going back to what it used to be. However in his hand now, was nothing but a broken swordpared to before.


    "Don''te back here, and don''t try looking for me. I hope I have taught all of you everything you need to know about surviving. So use it!" Zain shouted.


    Continuing to pull Pink away, they headed deeper inside, with Kun saying a few words under his breath.


    "At times you seemed cruel, but you are a good person Zain, I will look after them." Kun said.


    With the others gone, Zain was now ready to do whatever it took to survive, he had even called over Skittle from his hiding ce. If there was a slim chance, he would take it. Dropping the sword to the ground he pulled out both handguns.


    He shot bullets towards all three of the chained zombies, until two of them swung their chains and hit the guns out of Zain''s hands.


    [Your hands have been crushed]


    [Would you like to use your energy to heal them]


    "Yes!" Zain shouted, and his hands healed, but with the broken bones so far  and the fighting, his energy was down to nearly half, but that''s when he noticed that the chain zombies were just standing there, they weren''t moving forward, and instead the old man was in the centre of them.


    He looked to Zain again, and was looking toward his chest.


    "You seem to be the person who she has put her hope in. " The man said. "Because of that I will let you live, and we shall soon see, who''s method was better out of the two of us. When youe to realise why you are still alive, I am sure you will join us, along with your followers."


    With that said, the man had turned around, and the chained zombies followed him along with those he called the Dark Zombies, and staying there in ce Zain witnessed them leave the area, leaving him alive along with his zombies.


    ''What happened¡­ why did he just... leave me?''


    [A new Quest has been received]


    [Meet with one of two of the creators of the zombie apocalypse]


    [Reward: Diamond Card]


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 172 Platinum Reward

    How long had Zain stayed in that position for, he wasn''t sure himself. He was on his knees, and the others that he had turned had now surrounded him, Skittle, Cobra, War and Jam. It had been so long that the zombies that, once they had cleared the area, were now just walking around the ce freely.


    If it wasn''t for the constant system messages telling him that his energy was low, he perhaps would have stayed there for even longer.


    ''Why¡­ Why did that man let me live? He could have easily killed me, and after I killed one of his zombies as well?'' Zain thought.


    It was certainly a strange feeling, because it was the first time since acquiring this zombie body of his that he was close to death.


    ''The system as well, giving me such a quest. That man, he was one of the ones that started this apocalypse in the first ce, a human. How does the system even know such a thing?


    ''I guess if it is true, it would make sense as to why he had all of those zombies listening to him, even though he was a human and had those powerful chained zombies as well. That makes me wonder though, if the man I saw in the vision really was the one who started this, then his partner¡­ Is it the blonde woman?


    ''The blonde woman¡­ Her name was Sarah, the one who dropped this pendant, and started the Reborn group. It would make sense, and if I find her, it would allow me toplete a diamond quest.''


    Zain started to clench his fist hard.


    ''I don''t know anything about this system, but it looks like I was on the right path, but what do I do¡­ if I run into that man again, if the same thing happens again?''


    While thinking of this and quests, he remembered a certain message that had appeared after the others left. After all, Pink had managed to escape, which meant he hadpleted his first tinum quest.


    [Reward: tinum Card]


    [Would you like to use the tinum Card]


    Zain was quite excited to see what it would entail. Skills, system upgrades and exp was what he had received so far.


    [The tinum Card has been used]


    [A forced body evolution is now urring]


    Immediately, it felt like Zain was in the middle of absorbing multiple high grade crystals as something was oveing himself. He could feel a tingling sensation all over his body. A feeling that he hadn''t felt often since turning.


    [Body evolution has beenplete]


    [The user has gained +5 to all stats]


    [Level 8]


    [Experience [1,092/48,273]


    [Strength: 7]


    [Agility: 5]


    [Intelligence: 13]


    [Endurance: 7]


    With the extra stat point Zain had gained from when Cobra had killed one of the Dark Zombies, he had decided to put the stat point into his intelligence as well, because this was an amazing reward without a doubt.


    ''Each level up only gives me one stat. Sure there might be cards and eating certain people that increase my stats, but this is like going up multiple levels at once.''


    All of a sudden, Zain''s speed, strength and everything else was beyond those of the members of his horde. He was stronger than Skittle, although not faster than Cobra, but it sure was a big improvementpared to before.


    ''I don''t understand, if you have the ability to give me strength like this, then why didn''t you just give me strength from the beginning!'' Zain said in anger. With this power, he would have been able to perhaps save Skittle as well before.


    On top of that, there was one more message that had urred separate from the evolution.


    [Your intelligence is now over 10]


    [The maximum number of Horde members has increased]


    [4/20]


    ''I had a feeling, with the path I had chosen, that one of the stats would allow me to increase my power and my guess was correct. My type of character isn''t meant to directly get involved in fights, but because of the quests and me having to get involved myself all the time, I''m more like a hybrid character. Between a control type and an enhanced type.'' Zain thought.


    Still there was a problem, even with these rewards, with these stats, Zain imagined that he still would have lost a fight to just one of the Chained Zombies, and there were three of them. Who knew how many more there were out there as well. 20 zombies they would have easily been able to deal with, he needed to be able to control hundreds.


    If he was to meet that man again, and get the answers he wanted, or to even continue surviving in the world as he had done, something needed to be done.


    ''With the system I thought I was already growing at a rapid pace but now I can see that''s not true. I was getting sofortable being surrounded by others, that I neglected the most important aspect.'' Zain thought.


    ''I need to keep levelling up. I need to just focus on getting stronger, myself. I will hunt the Stage 2 Zombies, get their crystals and level up, then when I have finally started to stagnate, I will go back to that weapon room using the return key.


    ''I''m sure the others got away, but I''m sorry my journey with you will end here, and if we are meant to meet in the future, then we will.'' Zain thought, walking over to one of the dead bodies.


    "I''m sorry Brandon, but a part of you will be a part of me. I need energy, and I need to know what you know as well." Zain said, as he knelt down and started to eat part of his body and brain. epting what he was, Zain was going to push through this, so he was never in that same situation again.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 173 Run Run Run

    Run, run, and run. That was what all the others did. They listened to Zain''s words, they knew the danger and the threat that was in front of them not too long ago, and they all knew that they wouldn''t have been able to survive and that it was the only way.


    Running at the back of the group, as Pink directed the others where to go, each time one of them turned their backs, Kun would speak up.


    "Keep running, if you even try to turn around, I''m going to hit you myself." Kun said, which scared the life out of all of them, even Pink. She had never heard such anger in Kun''s voice.


    He was always the lighthearted and calm one, who seemed impossible to anger, yet here he was.


    "If any of us die, after what he just did for us, then his sacrifice would have been in vain, don''t any of you understand that?" Kun shouted.


    Because of those words, the group continued to run as Kun asked. On top of that, they were noticing it was getting dark. As they ran, Pink was thinking of the whole group. She couldn''t believe it.


    They had left with her mother, had left with Brandon and Dave, yet they weren''ting back with them. Worst of all, not even Zain was with them now. Someone who Pink had decided to stick with.


    When they reached the museum, what were they meant to tell the leader, what were they going to tell Ryan?


    Unfortunately, due to everything that had happened to them, the sun set had caught up with them and it was soon to get dark. Because of this, the group had decided that it was best if they were to head to one of the apartments indoors.


    It was easy for them to find one, and easy for Pink and Kun to clear it out. They dragged the dead bodies out of the apartment, cing them in the room next door. Allowing for both Cody and Kelly to enter.


    When the two of them entered, they fell onto the sofa that was in the rooms. The tension that they felt, having gone from fight to flight mode, left them incredibly exhausted.


    They weren''t like Kun and Pink. Who both, even now, were trying to find items to cover up the windows and drawing the curtains to block out any sign of them being inside.


    After they were done, they decided to sit down with the others, and all of them weren''t asleep, but were just resting, staring down at the ground. All of them were thinking about what had happened back there.


    "What were those things?" Kelly eventually asked, breaking the silence.


    "I have no idea. We never ran into them before." Kun replied. "But it was clear that they weren''t human. They were just like us."


    Hearing this, usually it woulde as a big surprise, but Cody, and somewhat Kelly, had already figured it out. Kelly knew about Zain and since these two were travelling with him and were almost superhuman, she had a guess.


    "Do you think¡­" Pink didn''t say another word as Kun looked at her, knowing what she wanted to ask.


    "Let''s just get some sleep." Kun said, as he stood up and walked to one of the bedrooms. "None of us can think properly in this situation."


    Although everyone agreed, it was hard for both Kelly and Cody to get any sleep at all. They felt safe but the danger that was around them gave them quite a restless night, until a certain point. They were so exhausted that they couldn''t help but fall asleep, and when they woke up it was mid-day already.


    The curtains had been drawn, and beaming sunlight was shining on their two faces, as both of them had slept on the sofa.


    "Get off me, your dribbling on me!" Codyined, as he practically pushed Kelly off the sofa who wasying on top of him. She fell to the floor, waking up, her hair sticking up and her eyelids half asleep.


    "I''m happy to see that you guys got some good rest in the end." Kun said. "While you were sleeping, I wrote down some instructions for you."


    The piece of paper was handed over to Cody, since he seemed to be the more awake one and surprisingly the more responsible one, even though he was younger. When looking at the list, it was instructions on how to get to the museum.


    Then there were also instructions to the hospital and the medicine that was needed as well.


    "Why are you giving us this?" Cody asked. "It''s almost as if you''re leaving us?"


    "That''s because we are." Kun replied. "Me and Pink, the two of us, can''t go back to the museum. We were never nning to stay there in the first ce, but we need to pass on the message of what happened. The two of you will be well looked after, that Ryan guy, he seemed like a good leader."


    Knowing what the two were, that they were zombies, Cody understood why they couldn''t go back and stay at a human settlement, at least not for too long, but he was still worried about them, they had saved him and Kelly.


    "What are you two going to do then?" Cody asked.


    Kun looked at Pink for a few seconds.


    "I spoke with Pink yesterday after you two fell asleep. Honestly, everything in my head is telling me there was no way Zain could have survived what had ured. It doesn''t make any sense.


    "But, somehow he knew that everyone was in trouble, and he came rushing straight towards us. In a way that doesn''t make any sense either, so there''s a chance that Zain is still alive. I know he told us not to look for him, but it''s the only thing we can do."


    Cody understood, because if he was in the same situation as them, then he probably would have done the same. Which is why he stood up and held out his hand.


    "Remember each other. We should remember each other for the future." Cody said.


    Kun smiled, even though Cody knew what they were, he wasn''t afraid to shake his hand. Taking the hand shake, the two said each other''s names as they were ready to leave the door.


    "Wait!" Kelly shouted. "I think there is something that you should know, that everyone should know before you go looking for Zain¡­ it''s about his past."


    ******


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 174 Getting Stronger

    In just one city, there were always groups of people who were struggling. In a handful of areas, not everyone had been so lucky to join a big group. While others had decided that it was best to avoid them all together.


    One small group of high school students, who were a group of six, were one group that had managed to survive. At the time of the attack, each of them were working on their bikes. So they had plenty of weapons to use.


    Of course, not all of them survived, but the ones that did were good fighters. Being a delinquent in their school meant they got into all sorts of trouble all the time. They had a lot of experience fighting against groups and in groups.


    It allowed them to walk down the streets with next to no fear, as long as it was the regr type of zombies they dealt with. They were also quick to learn that it was best to avoid any zombie that didn''t look so human.


    Unfortunately for them, it wasn''t the only thing they had to worry about. Dali was the leader of the biker group. He was a 16 year old teen who always wore a ck leather jacket and had his hair gelled back.


    However, due to the situation, he was unable to get a constant supply of gel, so his hair was in a bit of a mess. Then there was his best friend, Nit. He had messy hair and was always scratching his head, which was why they called him Nit.


    These two, working together, was the core of the whole group, which included three other members. There was one more member that wasn''t really a member, and that was Wiz. A ten year old boy, who was Dali''s younger brother.


    It was safe to say that, thanks to Dali, Wiz was able to survive, but he still had to be useful to the group. Wiz''s task was acting as a scavenger. After an area had been cleared, he would pick up supplies and look after those that were most important to them, such as medicine and food.


    Everyone carried bags on them, but Wiz''s had the essential stuff, and a few odd bits and bobs in there.


    On one of the streets, there was a store that looked like it still had a few supplies but there were also quite a few zombies inside. On Dali''s order, they went in with their hammers and spanners and started to swing, killing the zombies in a few hits.


    Once the area was cleared, it was time for them to get to work. With a smile on his face, Wiz quickly ran into the shop and started to get to work. He was happy to be helping the group in some way.


    While the others were looking for their favourite drinks and more, Nit and Dali were standing guard, on the outside the shop, just in case there was anything unexpected that would ur.


    "Hey, my heads itching, and you know what happens when that happens, right?" Nit said, as he was aggressively scratching his head back and forth.


    "Yeah, it means we need to get you some cream for your dry scalp again. We should head to a pharmacy next. I doubt people would bother to take that stuff." Dali replied.


    "No!" Nit said back. "It means that something bad is going to happen."


    "You know I don''t believe in that-" before Dali could finish his sentence, he could see a group of desperate people charging towards them.


    Their bodies were thin, facial hair had grown over their faces, and their clothes were ripped and ragged with holes.


    "Gives us the stuff, give us everything!" A woman screamed, holding two knives.


    Immediately, with a spanner in his hand, Dali went forward and whacked the woman on the side of her head. These people were ones that were too afraid to go up against the zombies.


    Too scared that they might get bit, infected, and turn into one themselves. So what they did was target human groups instead. To them, humans were easier to kill, at least less risky to kill.


    There were a lot of them, around double the numbers of their group. Which meant even though Dali, Nit and the others were better fighters, some had gone into the shop, and one of the old men with a beard had headed straight for Wiz.


    He ran past all of those that were busy and reached out for Wiz, who jumped to the side, causing the man to crash into one of the shelves. Quickly, grabbing the bag, Wiz ran, with the man chasing him.


    "Wiz!" Dali shouted, as he kicked one person in the knee and then punched the other right in the face, but another person was soon in front of him before he could get to Wiz.


    The old man continued to chase the kid, until they had reached the entrance of the subway station. Turning around, Wiz nned to go somewhere else, but the old man was right next to Wiz, and had crashed into him, pushing him down the subway stairs.


    The bag was on his back, and a few lucky bounces meant that the stairs didn''t injure him too much, as he continued to fall down them. Seeing how Wiz had gotten up, the old man smiled.


    "Get back here!" the old man said, as he started to descend the stairs, until he saw Wiz run into the dark subway station. The old man stopped and clicked his tongue as he turned around and headed back up the stairs.


    A few momentster, what the old man had expected to see was the rest of his group gathering supplies from the dead, but instead, it was his group that was dead, and the five biker gang members were standing in front of him.


    "Where is Wiz!" Dali grabbed the old man''s cor and immediately punched him in the face, it broke his nose and blood was spewing everywhere. "Tell me, where is Wiz?"


    Dali punched the man again, asking the same question as he punched him again, and eventually threw him on the floor. He then lifted his foot ready to stomp him on his head.


    "He ran underground¡­ he ran into the subway station!" The old man said, as he passed out and his head tilted to the side.


    "No¡­ no!" Dali said, as he went towards the subway station, but Nit quickly pulled his arm back.


    "What do you think you are doing, if you go down there you will die. We can''t lose you, you have other people you need to help." Nit stated.


    "But that''s my brother, are you telling me to just leave my brother!" Dali asked, his eyes watering up.


    "Look, your brother is clever, he might just be hiding and then wille backter. I''m sure of it, so let''s just hide somewhere and wait for your brother." Nit exined.


    Although Dali wanted to chase after his brother¡­ his legs were shaking at the thought of entering the subway. The group had entered the shop near the subway. Hiding inside it, behind the counters and sitting down toward the back.


    No one said a word to Dali, they knew how worried he had to be. The subway was a dangerous ce. Because it was underground, there was next to no light sources or electricity that was working down there.


    On top of that, at the time of the attack, there was a highly concentrated amount of people. However, it wasn''t as full of zombies as one would expect. Instead, it was full of specially evolved zombies.


    Originally it was full of zombies, but due to thepacted space, the special ones started to eat each other, eating the crystals and began to evolve. The groups didn''t know this, but had just heard that there were many special zombies underneath the surface, for what reason¡­ only a few knew.


    As they waited, no one seemed to being out, but instead a person was seen walking down the street. He looked calm, his clothes were in good condition, and his body was well built as well.


    It was a male that didn''t look too much older than they were.  The man stopped at the staircase of the subway for a second, before deciding to walk in.


    "What in the world¡­ is that red haired person crazy?" Nit thought. Most people would think that in this situation, but Dali thought it was a good chance for him to save his brother.


    The red haired man continued to walk in until he had reached the bottom of the staircase, and walked into the darkness.


    "It''s time¡­ to get stronger."


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 175 The Subway

    With what Zain would ssify as his recent defeat, he knew he needed to get stronger. The problem was being in a city filled with zombies. There were more popted areas that Zain didn''t even attempt to go to.


    At first, those areas were just filled with mindless zombies and the odd mutant here or there. That was fine, but as time went on, they would start to evolve and get stronger, as the mutant zombies ate each other turning into Stage 2 zombies and growing from there.


    Zain was confident in taking out stage 2 zombies, if it was a one on one situation, but as he was now, if a group of them or anything worse than a stage 2 appeared he wasn''t so confident.


    The thought of leaving the city hade into his mind, but this was where the meteors were, so Zain had to bide his time, and finally he felt like he was ready¡­ to head into the subway.


    ? He had already descended down the stairs, and had two machete-like swords on his back. They weren''t as good as the other sword, but it was the best weapons he could find.


    As he walked through the tunnel, it was incredibly dark. Eventually Zain had snapped a glow stick and ced it on the front pocket of his armoured vest. It was the lightest piece of equipment he had found that didn''t restrict movement, while offering some sort of protection from bullets.


    After all, the zombies weren''t the only thing he needed to worry about. When entering the subway though, a quest screen hade up.


    [Clear the Hundwon Subway station ofrge threats]


    [0/13 threats]


    [Reward: Gold card]


    It was the first subway station Zain had gone into, so he had no idea that they were these types of quests.


    ''Threats, what does it mean by threats?'' Zain thought. ''Does it mean stage 2 Zombies like I thought? It can''t mean regr zombies.''


    The glow stick illuminated the area around him to around 1 and a half metres. While in the tunnel, it wasn''t much, but using a torch he thought it might attract attention of others while in this ce.


    It was arge tform, and right now he was in the security check section. From there would be tunnels that led off to the tforms of the subway trains. Right now, the sound of growling could be hearding from all sorts of different areas.


    When Zain turned, he could see a group of three zombies almost hunched over, doing nothing but banging their bodies into each other.


    ''It isn''t my job to get rid of the regr zombies. Not that it''s possible in the first ce, and it lowers my exp.'' Zain thought, as he continued forward.


    When walking to the security section and the barriers where one would have to disy a ticket, Zain avoided the scanner just in case his weapons would set them off. Nothing seemed to work, but thest thing he wanted to do was attract a load of attention by making a lot of noise.


    When jumping over the barrier though, he could see and hear the sound of growling getting louder, and it was running straight towards him.


    Turning towards the noise, he could see that it was a regr mutated zombie, with its mouth open and its arms dangling in front.


    "Shut up." Zain said, as he ran forward and grabbed the zombie''s head. With his finger grip strength, he had crushed the skull slightly before pulling hard and ripping it off from its body.


    [Mutated Zombie killed +5 exp]


    ''There''s no update to the system, so when it''s talking about threats, it definitely doesn''t mean these guys.''


    Walking further in, Zain headed down one of the hallways that would lead to the tform where the subway stations would be, and that''s where he could see it, standing in front of him, was not just one, but two Titans


    As they saw Zain, the two of them started to move, as they did their heavy footsteps shook the ground as they did, and when getting closer they let out a deep growl that echoed through the entire area.


    At the front of the subway, Dali had just covered himself in blood and guts of the other zombies. It kept away some of the regr ones as long as they didn''t get too close but he recognized the loud growls.


    A frown appeared on Dali''s face and his heart was starting to race.


    ''There in there¡­ I have to go in, I have to save my brother!'' Dali thought, running in, hoping that the man who went in earlier would at least be able to distract some of the zombies.


    Walking up to the two Titans, Zain was calm, when he got close, they swung theirrge fists and he moved out of the way with ease, dodging the blow. Before they could make another move, Zain had already gotten on the back of one of the Titans.


    ''I have dealt with you guys, more times than I can count!''


    Once again using his hand, Zain grabbed the back of the ck skull-like armour. He gripped tightly as he pulled using all his strength, ripping the hard shell off revealing a wall of flesh. Soon after he pulled out a machete and stabbed it right through its head.


    As the body was falling to its death, Zain jumped from the shoulder of the Titan and onto the other one. With his hand he had punched the Titan in the face, sending the Titan tumbling as it hit the side of the wall, and shook the whole ce.


    After that Zain stood on top of its body and used his pure strength to rip off the mask and stab it through the head again. He had dealt with the two Titans, those that the military and others struggled with, with ease.


    [2/13 Threats have been defeated]


    [2000 exp has been gained]


    Level 10


    [3,098/48,273]


    Strength: 9


    Agility: 5


    Intelligence: 14


    Endurance: 7


    ¡ª¡ª


    Rushing through the tunnel, using a wind up torch Dali had a little light source with him. He would ce his hand over it most of the time, but when wanting to know where to go or see his way, he would have to use it.


    Following the noise, Dali thought that it might have been his brother but when he entered the tunnel and shined his torch on them, he couldn''t believe what he had seen.


    ''Did¡­ someone kill these two Titans? But that''s impossible?''


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 176 Deja Vu

    The rest of the biker gang had decided to gather the supplies that they could. They were hoping that they might get a few extra items from the desperate people that had attacked them before, but it looked like whatever they did have, they had already eaten up.


    It was also part of the reason as to why they had so desperately attacked in the first ce. After that they were now all standing by the entrance of the subway, or rather the rest of the members were sitting down, while Nit stood up, looking at the staircase.


    "Nit¡­ you know he can''t survive in there, right? He would need some type of miracle to be able to." One of the members said.


    "Hey, who was the one that got us this far in the first ce?" Nit replied. "Dali is a strong person, I have no doubt that he will be able to get out of there. Which is why we will be waiting for him. It''s not him that I''m worried about, it''s whether his little brother will make it out or not."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After ying the two Titans, Zain soon hade across an esctor that went deeper into the ground. It wasn''t working and there was arge staircase nearby. The weird thing though was that Zain didn''t need his glow stick to see in this area and that was because of the zombies.


    There were several zombies on the staircase as well as on the esctor, just standing there patient, as if on guard, and all of them hadrge orange-like boils. Zain didn''t notice it before, but now that they were in the dark, they seemed to light up.


    ''The way they are positioned here. It''s almost like it is intentional. This reminds me of entering a dungeon, like in those games.'' Zain thought, as he pulled out both of the machetes from his back.


    Heading down the regr staircase, Zain quickly went towards one, slicing its head off with a single swing. He then turned around and stabbed another through the head. Those that were on the esctor were attempting to climb over it to get to where Zain was, but he had reached them, swinging the machetes and slicing their heads off too.


    As a head was sliced off, it would bounce on the floor each time and then when it reached the bottom it would start to roll. With his strength and swordsmanship, one strike was all Zain needed to deal with them all.


    ''If the Spitter manages to hit me with its goo for some reason, then all the zombies in the area will be after me. So it''s best to get rid of the ones I can with no penalty, just in case.'' Zain thought.


    Due to being down in the subway and the smells being amplified by whatever dead creatures were down here, Zain was unaware of the human that had been on his trail and was currently watching everything


    From around the corner of one of the hallways, Dali peeked as he heard sounds, and could witness the redhead taking out everything that came towards him. Since it was dark, it should have been easy to follow the person''s movements.


    After all, the glow stick revealed his position, but it was moving too fast and a glowing blood could be seen spilling everywhere.


    ''How¡­ How, who is this person? Is he one of the zombie hunters I''ve heard about? But he isn''t dressed like them and I heard that they travel in groups. Either way, I haven''t been able to find my brother and with him clearing the way, he can help me.''


    There was a chance that his brother wasn''t on this tform or had ventured too deep, but going any other way, there was arge risk associated with it.


    Eventually, Zain had managed to clear the area as he swung his sword through thest of the boil zombies and he could see and set foot on the tform. To his left and right, there were railway tracks for the trains, but no train in sight at the tform.


    What he was more concerned about was the Spitter that was directly in front of him.


    "There you are!"


    The Spitter''s body lit up as it was ready to fire out a strange goo. Zain ran toward it, and as the spit left its mouth, he jumped to the side, avoiding the hitpletely. Putting one of the machetes away, Zain threw two daggers that were on the side of his belt.


    The Spitter lifted its arms blocking them, and when it put them down, Zain was right there in front of the Spitter. He grabbed it right from its neck, and as he squeezed tight using all his strength, it looked like it was struggling to open its mouth properly.


    "You guys are easier to deal withpared to the Titans." Zain stated, as he lifted up the machete and stabbed it forward at the same time letting go of its neck. It opened its mouth wide, allowing for the machete to go through with ease, killing it on the spot.


    [3/12 threats have been Eliminated]


    Letting the stage two zombie go, it fell to the floor.


    ''Looks like I was right, it wants me to clear this area of all the evolved zombies. For 13 of them to be in this area. It should be a nice reward and a nice boost in exp as well. I wonder if there will be a chance for me to evolve again¡­ I look nothing like these guys.'' Zain thought.


    "Look out!" A voice shouted from behind.


    Turning his head, he could see a human by the staircase, but what was more frightening was that there was another Spitter with its mouth open already, having shot out its liquid.


    Zain was quick to react, as he rolled on the ground and avoided the spit.


    "Ahhh!" Another voice screamed, it was a little high pitched, and when Zain turned his head again. A boy, who looked to be around ten years old, waspletely covered in the strange substance.


    "WIZZ!" Dali shouted, as he ran up to him sliding on his knees and grabbing his brother''s face. "We have to get this off you, we have to get it off you quickly!"


    Dali was rubbing the strange slime substance off his brother and throwing it onto the floor.


    "Crap¡­ this whole subway is going to be filled!" Zain shouted.


    It was worse than that though, heavy footsteps could be heard, and it felt like more Titans wereing their way. The screams of zombies from all directions were being heard.


    "Stranger!" Dali shouted. "I don''t care who you are, but take my brother, and get out of here, I''ll use my body to stop them."


    Zain looked at the two, the kid covered in the strange substance and the older brother crying non stop. The scene right now, the feelings of the brother, how helpless he felt¡­ It reminded Zain a lot about what had happened with Skittle.


    At the time, he would have done anything to help him out, but it was impossible¡­ But was it impossible now?


    Zain stood in front of the two, who were next to one of the pirs.


    "Stay in front of me, and make sure nothing grabs you from the sides. Even if you gave them your body¡­ it would onlyst a few seconds and your brother would die anyway."


    Zain then ced his free hand on the floor.


    ''Now is a good time to use one of the new skills I got. Summon!''


    [Your Horde is being summoned]


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 177 Class Skill

    After receiving the tinum reward, Zain''s stats had improved considerably. He no longer felt like he was a zombie that was going along the control path, and instead was one that was going on the enhanced path.


    The stats he received was as if he had jumped a few levels. It was then that Zain realised that day he should have died. The quest was almost impossible toplete, which was why Zain had decided to put off the other high level quest, such as finding a meteorite.


    Still, Zain continued to hunt the level 2 zombies and he managed to level up, growing stronger and stronger. He had gone up by two levels reaching level 10, and that was when a special quest had arrived for him.


    A quest to unlock a ss skill. It was ssified as a gold reward, but it gave him an idea of what the reward would be. Surprisingly it was easier than he thought though, since it was for him to defeat three Level 2 zombies, which was something he had done before.


    Leaving him to believe that the tinum questpletion had made his life easier than expected. Afterpleting the ss quest though, he received a skill that was more useful than ever, a skill called Summon.


    Right now in the subway, with all the zombiesing towards them, boil zombies, stage 2 titans, a couple of Spitters, as well as the regr zombies, if he was to stay close to these two humans then surely he would die.


    When he was ever in a situation like this, Zain didn''t hesitate to leave them. Zain had watched people fight for their lives against zombies and had refused to help them, but it was the very scene in front of him that made him act because of how simr the situation was to the one before.


    [You are now summoning your horde!]


    The first member of the horde that had appeared was none other than Cobra. He quickly chased forward, slicing up the lower level zombies, cutting them cleanly by their neck.


    "What the hell... did a person just appear from his hand... what magic is this?" Dali thought, as he still held onto his brother.


    However, the summoning didn''t stop there, next was War, and as he was summoned, he appeared with an automatic machine gun. He started to fire at the zombies that wereing towards them as well. Hitting them clean in the head, causing them to drop.


    ''Both of their levels have increased. With War''s intelligence improving he''s bing a better shot, and as for Cobra... well, he was fast to begin with.''


    Not only had Zain himself levelled up, but so did the special zombies that he had in his possession. Jam, hade out, Skittle next, and soon after all of them. Zain then started to summon the regr zombies from his hand.


    Seeing this, Dali took a step back, but his back had hit the pir behind him. The zombies were fighting each other as they crashed into the wall of zombies that wereing towards them.


    "This is... he can control Zombies." Dali went from being thankful of this person, to now being fearful of him. His whole body was shaking. How was it possible, how could one have magic and how could one control these monsters?


    In Dali''s mind this was only possible if the person was an even bigger monster.


    "Stay in this circle, the zombies here, they won''t attack you, so you don''t have to worry."


    Hiding his identity, keeping it a secret from others. None of that mattered at all. In the end, Zain was just going to leave them anyway, and they could spread the news however they liked.


    Zain quickly went off into the distance and Skittle came with him. One of the zombies was picked up by his head and chucked into the pile, making it easy for Zain. The first target were the Spitters.


    The easiest, but also most troublesome of the group. Heading forward with Skittle it was easier, a single punch shoved the Spitter''s head to the side, and with his strength he could open their mouths wide without worrying about their teeth locking onto his hands.


    Even if they did, it wouldn''t hurt and they would heal soon after. With Skittle doing the dirty work, it allowed Zain to simply stab his machete through their mouths one after another.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    [6/13 Threats have been defeated]


    ''After defeating all 13 I might level up as well. And the reward on top of this is a good haul.''


    With twenty zombies, including the super zombies minus Skittle protecting the others, they were a force that was imprable. When War needed to reload he was able to be covered adequately.


    Jam also had quite a high level of intelligence and with his speed and strength increasing, it allowed for the small zombie dog to bite some of the zombie''s legs off, causing them to fall on the ground. He knew the right time, or when toe in and help out War. The two of them were a good duo.


    Now it was time for Zain to go after the Titans. A few of them seemed to be on the rail tracks, and jumping down from them once again with Skittle, he was confident in taking them out.


    Skittle and Zain would hit one of the legs together. With both of their strength having increased, it was enough to knock down the being that Zain had first nicknamed Titan upon seeing its giant size and strength, but now it was nothing.


    When knocked down, it was easy work for the two of them. Eventually Zain had defeated all the level 2 zombies in the subway, and looking back, he could see that all of the zombies that had attempted to take the little boy named Wiz had failed as well.


    ''I did it... Skittle.'' Zain looked toward him. ''I was able to protect someone from the thing that managed to get you.'' It was an achievement, but Zain could also see that both the humans were frightened to move.


    Even though the zombies that were still alive were just standing still in a circle around them and weren''t even facing them.


    [Questplete]


    [Gold card received]


    [Would you like to use your Gold card]


    "Yes" Zain said, lifting his hand, not having patience.


    [A new skill has been granted]


    [Territory master]


    [You now have the ability to im territories]


    [Subway station Hundwon is cleared. Would you like to im the territory?]


    ''im a territory, what is this?''


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 178 Territory Master

    When he first got the system, Zain believed it was a truly strange thing, but he allowed himself to disregard all of the strange facts because the system reminded him a lot of the survival games he used to y.


    He still believed that although this system falling into his hands was a drastic ident, there was no one that could utilize it better than he could. If a talented soldier had gotten something simr, they would have been stuck with the number of options while also being confused by many of the terms.


    This is why when Zain saw the skill Territory Master, he thought this was a big breakthrough in the system.


    [You have leveled up!]


    [Horde Member Jam has leveled up!]


    [Horde member Skittle has leveled up]


    [Horde member War has leveled up!]


    [Horde member Cobra has leveled up!]


    In some games, it was best to leave the stats be and then when needed to. That way, one could adjust the statspared to what they were going to face, but if it came to the situation they were in before, Zain felt like it was best to improve everyone straight away.


    Zain


    Level 11


    [2,098/75,273]


    [Strength: 9]


    [Agility: 5]


    [Intelligence: 15]


    [Endurance: 7]


    Skittle


    Level 6


    [Strength: 5]


    [Agility: 0]


    [Intelligence: 1]


    [Vitality: 0]


    ''Skittle''s strength ising on nicely. For now, it''s at an unbeatable level. I think I can now start focusing on increasing his intelligence, which would make him have a better sense of using his strength¡­and maybe, there is a chance that I canmunicate with him, no matter how low it is.''


    Super Undead Cobra


    Level 7


    [Strength: 0]


    [Agility: 10]


    [Intelligence: 2]


    [Vitality: 0]


    Cobra was the speed king in Zain''s group. Also, it was the one Zain found himself taking control over most often. This zombie was good for scouting dangerous areas and getting in and out of ces.


    The only downside was whening across zombies or special zombies with a harder outer skin like the Titans. Cobra would be at a heavy disadvantage.


    ? War


    Level 4


    [Strength: 1]


    [Agility: 1]


    [Intelligence: 4]


    [Vitality: 0]


    With War, raising intelligence was the best, mainly for his gun skills. Another thing to note was, increasing his intelligence was also a good experiment to see at what stage Zain could perhapsmunicate with another zombie that he himself had turned.


    Jam<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Level 3


    [Strength: 1]


    [Agility: 1]


    [Intelligence 3]


    [Vitality: 4]


    Lastly, there was Jam. Honestly, although the zombie dog wasn''t the most helpful of things, after having cleaned it up, it hardly looked like a zombie at all. Zain had somewhat grown attached to the dogpanion leaving it by his side rather than keeping it away like he did the others.


    Thest thing he wanted to happen to it was for it to die, which was why Zain prioritized increasing his vitality stat. In the end, Zain was experimenting with the stats for each member, and now, he knew what to increase himself.


    However, he had decided to increase his intelligence for the time being, as the intelligence seemed to be linked to the number of zombies he could control.


    "Umm hey¡­.is everything okay?" Dali called out as he continued to cover the eyes of his little brother. He had done so since the zombies had started toe after them. For a second, he truly believed that his and his brother''s lives were over, and he didn''t want his brother to witness such a thing.


    Still, the zombies had still surrounded them, and Dali was too afraid to move.


    "Oh, sorry, I was a bit busy. The two of you are free to move!" Zain shouted back.


    When he did, the Zombies that were standing in his way moved to the side, opening up a path for them.


    ''He¡­.he really can control zombies, but how¡­.how is this all possible?'' Dali thought.


    Still covering his brother''s eyes, Dali took a step at a time. He felt that the zombies could turn and bite him at any moment, even though they hadn''t done such a thing so far. Slowly, he shuffled across the floor until they were finally past them.


    When around two meters away, Dali turned his head, Zain was still on the tform staring off into space, and the zombies were still standing there. Dali was doing his best to inspect the zombies to see if there was anything different about them, but they looked no different from any other zombies he had previously seen.


    "Thank you¡­thank you for saving my brother and my life." Dali bowed a little to show his gratitude because he was running up the stairs with his brother.


    Now Zain had time to look at what this Territory Master skill was.


    [Territory Master]


    [This skill allows you to im a territory that has been cleared as yours]


    [Each day a territory is protected, the user will earn Exp depending on the size of the territory.]


    [Members from your Horde can be assigned to each territory, depending on the size of the territory, the number that can be assigned will be higher or lower]


    [If a territory is attacked, you will be informed]


    [If a territory is sessfully defended, the user will gain exp]


    ''This is a great way to earn passive exp. If I have loads of territories under me, and if all of them farm exp at once, I would be able to level up at a quicker pace than if I try to increase exp by hunting.'' Zain couldn''t help but wonder.


    ''I guess I should give it a go and see exactly how this thing works.''


    [Skill Territory Master has been used]


    [The Hockdown subway station now belongs to you]


    [The maximum amount of protectors is 15]


    [0/15]


    [The User will gain 1000 Exp for each day the territory is yours.]


    ''15 protectors? But the maximum number of Zombies I can have in my horde at the moment is twenty. I wonder if the two are separate or conjoined. Hopefully, it''s the former. It would be troublesome if the protectors are included in my horde, I will have very few zombies at my disposal if I leave the territory.''


    Thinking about this, Zain moved his eyes over to his horde tab and selected one of the random Zombies, and then changed its assigned role. When he clicked on it, the system prompted him with another message,


    [You have sessfully assigned one protector]


    [1/15 Protectors]


    [You now have 16 out of 20 Zombies in your horde]


    A big smile appeared on Zain''s face. It turns out assigning a slot as a Protector would be taken away from Zain''s own horde. This meant now if he was ever to get into a fight, and if he were to go into his own territory, for instance, the subway station, he would have an army of 35 zombies, but that was not it because Zain was thinking bigger, much bigger.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 179 Not A Good Person

    While ying with the new skill he had just received, Zain decided that he would assign all of the regr zombies he had in his possession or part of his horde to the subway station. It wasn''t enough to increase the limit to its maximum capacity, but he could always find more regr zombies to turn.


    Since he had received the skill to turn regr zombies and not just humans, it was always easy for him to just get more if need be. With the summon skill, Zain had been using them a lot more to distract the enemy if there was more than one stage 2 enemy zombie.


    ''The question is what to do next?'' Zain thought. ''I''m still not at the level where I could defeat those Chained Zombies if I were toe across them as well. Although, I believe if I brought them to my territory like this, there could be a chance.


    ''I guess the best course of action, for now, is to gain more territories and gainrger amounts of exp to level up. First, I will max out the number of Zombies that can be assigned to protect this ce.''


    After looking around the ce, Zain found out there wasn''t a single regr zombie that looked to be alive, which meant he would need to venture outside.


    When walking up the stairs to exit the subway, Zain could sense two things. One was the smell that wasing from the top, it was humans and the other was the noise that they were making.


    "I can''t believe you made it out there, man. Is there nothing that our Dali can''t do?!"


    "Hey, maybe they were just rumours about the subway. It probably isn''t as bad as we thought?"


    "Guys, I keep telling you that wasn''t it. The subway stations are full of zombies. Trust me, it is a ce that no one should go if they want to live." Dali exined, "I survived all because of the guy that went in before me."


    "You mean the guy that''s standing right behind you?" Nit said, pointing at someone behind him.


    Turning around, Dali almost jumped as he saw the red-haired student while also letting out a little yeep, but quickly he bowed his head down and forced his brother to do so with a hand on top of his head.


    "Again, thank you for saving mine and my brother''s life¡­thank you so much," he tried to show his gratitude.


    From the way Dali was acting, it seemed his words were true. He had told the others that this man was someone powerful who struck down all of the zombies below with no fear. It sounded barbaric. Of course, Dali had left out the craziest thing he had seen, and that was the control the red-haired young man had over the zombies.


    Thest thing that Dali wanted to do was make an enemy out of his saviour. These types of people would usually want to keep such things a secret, and bbing his mouth was an easy way for him to get killed.


    However, when the others saw who hade out, they found it hard to believe. This was a student that was perhaps a couple of years older than them. How could one person take on so many zombies?


    While the others were giving unsure looks, Nit was looking at the blood on his clothes and those on the machetes that were on his back. Whether or not he was the one that cleared the subway, he was certainly killing something down there.


    "Hey, stranger, my friend and I that you saved over there run this group. We have survived quite a while due to our fighting skills, and it seems that you are quite skilful yourself, so why don''t you join us?" Nit proposed an invitation.


    The other members were shocked by this.


    "Hey Nit, you can''t just go inviting strangers. We''re a fighting gang who look out for each other. We cover each other''s backs. The only thing this guy is going to do is slow us down!" The one arguing back was named Bob. He had quite therge afro-top hair on his head, and when he disagreed with something, it would shake quite widely like It was doing so now.


    "You guys might be the leader of the gang, but if it involves our lives, then we have a choice as well."<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    While the others were arguing amongst themselves, Zain turned around and went to walk in the other direction. He was going to head into a couple of apartments to turn a few zombies.


    "Wait!" Dali shouted out. "Please ignore what my friends said. They''re just being cautious and careful. I¡­also would like it if you could join us. "


    Zain waved his hand off without even turning around.


    "Trust me. You don''t want to be around me. I''m not good to be around unless you all want to end up dead, and besides. I''m not a good person anyway."


    Zain continued to walk and was ready to head into one of the apartments when he heard the little voice instead.


    "You are a good person, mister!" Wiz shouted. "Because you saved me¡­a bad person wouldn''t have saved me.


    Walking into the apartment, Zain still didn''t look back, but for some reason, out of all the words, these were the ones that made him happiest as a smile broke through on his face.


    "Bob!" Dali said, clenching his fist. "I wasn''t lying, that person was strong, and there is a good chance that with him, our lives could have changed. I know you mean well but next time, think of the ss being half full."


    Bob stayed quiet as he knew he was getting told off by their dear leader. However, the other members, apart from Nit, agreed with him as well and were just thankful it would be them again.


    "So where should we head, boss? Should we continue following the arrows of those paintings?" Nit asked.


    "The ones that said, Reborn group?" Dali replied.


    Just as Zain had reached the second floor of the stairs, his system had pinged him.


    [Alert! A stage three Zombie has entered the area]


    [A new quest has been received]


    [Eliminate the level three Zombie]


    [Reward: tinum card]


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 180 Level 3

    After checking that they had everything they needed with them, including their weapons and supplies, Dali and his group were ready to move out. As for where they were heading, well, they had two options in their minds.


    "Have you decided yet?" Nit asked as they continued to walk down the road where the subway station was located. They could head straight on or to the left or right of the city. There was a reason why Nit was asking the crucial question now of all times.


    Because their two choices were in opposite directions.


    "I''ve heard that there is a base in the west, and I am sure you know about it as well. The problem is if we go there, I''m pretty sure we will be asked to y a big part in their operation, or we might not be let in at all." Dali replied.


    "But it can''t be worse than roaming around like we have been doing. The situation is getting more dangerous. We were lucky to get you and your brother back." Nit replied.


    When they finally reached the crossing, where there were several zebra crossings on the road, they stopped. That was when Dali looked toward the east.


    "The message we found said to head to the east of the city if we were a part of the Reborn group. But what does that even mean? I can''t even imagine what would happen if we were to head there." Dali said his thoughts aloud.


    As he and the group looked to the right, waiting for a decision to be made, they suddenly heard a screaming from in front of them. People were running as fast as they could, huffing and panting, full of torn clothing down the street.


    They looked simr to the desperate ones that had attacked them before, and that was why the others raised their weapons, ready to fight again. But with a closer look on their faces, they appeared to be running for their lives instead.


    Their eyes were erged, and some didn''t have shoes on, but none of it slowed them down.


    "What are they running from?" Nit wondered.


    Behind them, a few zombies could be seen, but there were only the odd one or two. It certainly wasn''t enough for the humans to be panicking so much, especially since there were around five of them, more than the zombies.


    Looking at the group running, at the very back, one of the Zombies had been stabbed right through its chest. Arge pointed object was bending upwards out of its body and soon was thrown to the ground.


    Hovering over it, looking down, was a strange skinny creature. It didn''t quite look like a zombie, not the Spitter or the Titans. It was around 8 feet tall and was mostly bone, yet it had several strange spikes sticking out from its body that looked more like human bones.


    All of them were pointed and covered in blood as well. As for its face, it was non-existent, all that could be seen were small teeth that looked to be ovepping each other in some way and sticking out of the mouth. With its face, it dug into the zombie and started to consume it bit by bit.


    "What the F*ck is that? I''ve never seen anything like it before!" Bob shouted.


    Turning around and running would be the best thing to do in a situation like this, and they thought about it for a second until the creature had lifted up its head, and ran on its legs towards the next person, which was a human closest.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Swinging its sharp curve shaped arm that looked like the end of a scythe, it ripped the person''s head off in one swing. Instead of using its mouth to consume it as it had done for the zombie, it continued moving to the next, leaping up in the air, andnding right on top of another person.


    All of their bones had been crushed, and then extending from its stomach was one of the pointed bones extended out from its body stabbing the man right through the head, killing him in an instant.


    Running again after killing its next victim, it went to the next thing closest which was another Zombie and it was a repeat of thest time, after the Zombie was killed, it began to consume it right there and then on the spot.


    "That thing...why is it only eating the Zombies?" Nit asked.


    "I don''t think that matters right now, everyone, get ready, protect yourselves at all costs. That thing is killing whatever it reaches first, huddle up!" Dali ordered.


    All of them gathered, with their backs facing each other. From what Dali could see, it was impossible to outrun the creature because it was far faster than anything they had faced.


    After it dealt with the Zombie, it was going for the rest one by one. Then it lifted its head toward their direction. Even though it had no eyes, the creature was looking dead right at them.


    "Bob, will you stop shaking! My back is touching yours and I can feel it. I''m going to drop my weapon!" Nit shouted.


    "You really think we can kill that f*ck? We are dead, so dead!" Bob was on the verge of crying.


    The creature started to run towards them like it did the others, and now not only was Bob shaking, they all were. The moments in their lives, the happiest times they had were shing through their head at that moment.


    Some even felt a warm substance down their legs. When the creature got close enough it leapt up with its two hands ready to slice right through their bodies.


    Just then, the red haired student, with two machetes was seen in the air, came between them and the creature and swung the machetes down, shing at the two arms of the creature. It was a powerful attack with a lot of weight behind it that caused its arms to swing down and hit the floor.


    Then with the machete in his hand, Zain swung it again, hitting the side of its body, causing therge thing to go swinging to the side and crash right into a car.


    "Give me my tinum reward," Zain said, turning his head to the creature, who soon got out and bared its fangs toward him.


    ******


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 181 A Trap

    The creature before the biker gang had made them see their life sh before their eyes. Even if they managed to survive the encounter, they imagined that they would have nightmares about this very moment for years.


    After all, they had just seen it kill humans and zombies alike without any effort at all, and they were sure they were next on that list, that was until they saw a mane out of the air and hit the creature with such strength that it crashed into a car causing arge dent.


    "The strange mister is helping us again," Wiz said, pointing.


    The others couldn''t quite believe it. They thought what Dali had told them was all a lie, it had to be a lie, but now seeing that a person was able to do something superhuman, they were more inclined to believe it, and not to mention, he was now their only hope of getting out of here alive.


    "I think someone has an apology to make after this," Nit said with a nce towards one of the members behind them.


    "You guys, make sure no zombies get involved. There is going to be quite a bit of noise." Zain shouted as he put his machetes away and pulled out both of his handguns. Before the level three zombie could even charge forward, Zain started to fire bullets at it.


    Using its long sharp hands, it was blocking where the bullets would hit.


    ''This is a level 3 zombie. It reminds me of that other level 2 that I met in the secret weapon room. It must be an evolution of that type.''


    Zain continued to fire bullets, hitting different parts of the body, and in the end, it looked like the level 3 zombie lost its patience as it charged forward, swinging its arm toward Zain.


    He rolled on the ground and the arm of the zombie sliced through a car. When it''s back was turned, Zain fired a few more bullets towards its back. They had hit the target. Most of them were deflected and fell to the ground, but a few bullets had hit a certain area on its back, and Zain noticed the blooding out of the wounds.


    ''A zombie type that focuses on speed, they all have a high level of endurance, and no doubt a level 3 would have a high level of endurance as well, but since it''s not the type to focus on endurance, there has to be a part that can be hit.''


    Zain was searching for a weak point in the zombie. Earlier, when he swung his machetes, he noticed they had chipped from the initial attack, which showed how strong the strange elongated bone parts of the zombie were, which was why he was shooting it with his guns, to find a weak point quicker.


    Now, switching his weapons again, Zain was ready to go in.


    ''It''s weak point is its lower back, but it''s not going to make it easy, and let me just attack it.''


    Zain went for a stab, but his sword was deflected. He leaned back as the zombie made arge cut across his chest, cutting through the stab-proof vest he had. The zombie quickly swung its other sharp limb, lifting Zain. He managed to block it, but his grip was weakened, and the machete had gone flying out of his hand down the street.


    The other gang members were paying attention to what was happening while also doing as Zain had requested. They were fighting off the zombies that wereing towards them due to the gunshot noise, but there weren''t many in the area, perhaps due to the level 3 zombie in the first ce.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    With only one machete in Zain''s hand, he was now going on the defensive as he carefully avoided each swing, following it as closely as possible.


    ''The creature¡­ it''s just as fast as me¡­no, it''s probably faster than me. But thanks to my sword mastery, I can see which direction he is going to strike before it does it itself, allowing me to react quicker.''


    Zain could tell this was a dangerous task. One swing from that and even his endurance wouldn''t be able to help him survive an attack. That was, in the end, the reason why it was a tinum-level quest.


    After the vast improvement that Zain had madest time, he couldn''t give this chance up. With one machete in his hand, all he could do was dodge. Zain did so carefully, moving back until he could feel his foot touch the weapon.


    A swing from the right side and Zain ducked, picking it up from the ground, and now the zombie had swung both of its arms in an x-shape. Zain lifted his own weapon in an x to block the hit but was sent flying into the car, crashing with a loud bang.


    As the evolved zombie charged towards him, he quickly jumped up onto the roof of the car and leapt back, making the zombie crash into the car and slice a part of it.


    ''This Zombie, although it''s at level 3, it still isn''t too bright, is it? Maybe there is something I can use.'' Zain thought.


    Due to the danger of the creature, if Zain was unable to kill it, then he was thinking about giving up on the quest if he couldn''t find a way, but the answer soon came to him. Putting one of the machetes away, he pulled out a gun and started to fire towards the creature.


    It went on a ramp on the car, cutting it to bits as they flew out everywhere. Then Zain stood there, continuing to fire. Just as he expected, the creature continued to charge at him when Zain suddenly jumped, not forwards but backwards, and the creature didn''t stop and jumped after him.


    The two of them suddenly started to fall down, along with Zain.


    "Wee to my territory." He smiled.


    [An intruder has entered the territory ''Subway Station Hockdwon'']


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 182 Enter My Territory

    Jumping backwards into the subway station, Zain didn''t quitend the way he wanted, as his foot had hit one of the stairs in an awkward way, causing him to tumble down the rest of them. A snap was heard, but no pain was felt and simrly it looked like the level 3 zombie was taking quite a tumble down them as well.


    "Use energy to heal body!" Zain urgently said, as he continued to move, immediately getting back on his feet and heading deeper into the subway station.


    [Alert, an intruder has entered your territory]


    [Optional quest received]


    [Defend your territory and eliminate the attacker(s)]


    Unlike the other quests, this one was optional while at the same time, there was also no reward, at least no guaranteed reward, but that wasn''t why Zain hade in here. Using the system, a map had popped up, and he could see it, he could see all of them.


    ''It was a good thing I took my time to prepare this ce.'' Zain thought, as he turned around and the level three zombie swung its arm right at him. Leaning back a bit too much, Zain had fallen on the ground and immediately started to roll as the feet of the level 3 zombie were being used to stab into the ground.


    Each time it would miss Zain, it would leave arge indent on the floor. Getting up on his feet, Zain pulled out his gun this time and started to fire away. It didn''t damage the zombie, but did cause it to momentarily stop its advance, as it blocked the bullets.


    When the level three zombie sensed that the bullets had stopped, it opened up its arms ready to charge forward, until it felt something jump on top of its body¡­ not just one but there were multiple of them, multiple zombies.


    Swinging its arm, it sliced one zombie right in half, and attempted to slice through another, but before it could, Zain was already right in front of it, swinging his machete up to match with its w. It whacked the zombies arm out of the way.


    There were already zombies hanging on its arm, with thebined weight pulling it down and slowing its speed. There wasn''t much difference between Zain and the level 3 zombie at the moment, which was why the help of a few strong allies, 20 of them to be precise, was a big advantage.


    There was a reason why Zain had arrived a little after he had received the system message about the level 3 zombie, it was because there was something he wanted to test out¡­ Whether he could assign zombies to his territory to protect it without being there.


    It turned out it was the case. Zain could add zombies to his horde, and then using the system assign them to his territory. When he did, the zombie would move from his maximum horde amount, to the specific territory amount, which was why there were 11 zombies all under Zain''s order and control inside the ce.


    [11/15 Zombies currently left in territory]


    ''That''s okay, because if there is one thing that I can get more of in this world it''s zombies!'' Zain thought as he ced his hand on the ground, and soon around the area and around him, there was another army of zombies appearing.


    "This is my territory! You b*stards have already taken over too much of this world, and its time I take it back, one bit at a time!" Zain shouted, as he charged forward with the others by his side.


    He swung his machete with all his strength, hitting parts of its body, and with the zombies to distract it and overwhelm the creature, Zain was able to get to its weak point towards its back, eventually stabbing right through its body. Then, lifting the sword as much as he could, he tore through most of its body reaching the zombie''s neck before pulling it out.


    Standing there, Zain didn''t need to turn around to see if the zombie was still moving or not; he had already received the messages for doing so.


    [You have sessfully defended your territory from an attack]


    [All Protectors that have survived the attack will receive a small boost]<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    [10,000 exp has been rewarded]


    [13,098/75,273]


    ''Oh, this is somewhat like those defence games. The ones that are alive are essentially upgraded, but all new zombies will only be at the level they are at when they are put in here. Well, it''s a good thing only five of them died. With this I should be confident in leaving the zombies in the subway station.


    ''I wonder how often a ce like this will get attacked though? For now I guess this can be the test territory until I figure things out, but it certainly was helpful when fighting a strong enemy, and I can imagine it being helpful when running away from arge horde as well.''


    [You have sessfully defeated a stage 3 zombie]


    [10,000 exp]


    [You are the first to defeat a stage 3 zombie]


    [30,000 exp]


    [It is your first stage 3 zombie that has been defeated]


    [10,000 exp]


    [63,098/75,273]


    The first exp bonus was always a good bonus, what Zain was surprised about was the fact that he was the first one to ever defeat a stage 3 zombie, he would have thought there would have been others before him.


    ''Is it¡­ just that they are still evolving and there aren''t many out there? I''m sure there are other zombies that can take this thing on, like those chained zombies. I wonder what stage they are at.''


    [tinum card has been received]


    ''I got a boost in stat points from thisst time, but this will only be my second tinum card, so I have no clue what it will do.''


    [tinum card has been used]


    [...]


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future.

 Chapter 183 A Dangerous Weapon

    After almost losing his life, Zain now used the reward cards pretty much as soon as he had earned them as long as he was in a situation where he felt it was safe to do so. In his own territory, where there were zombies all around him, that allowed him to feel safe.


    [tinum card has been used]


    [A new part of the system has been unlocked]


    [Weapon crafting can now be used from the system]


    ''Weapon crafting... is this really what I think it is?'' The excitement couldn''t be contained. Weapon crafting was a vital part of survival games. One would use it to continue to make better weapons, and in doing so, their journey through the apocalypse was easier.


    One of the big problems Zain always had was his weapons.  They weren''t strong enough to fight against the advanced zombies, and at the same time, whenever his weapon would break, it would always take a while before he found new ones.


    It was one of the reasons why his sword skills hadn''t raised up to the level he wished they were at. That and he realised his skills were stagnating due to the level of opponents he had been facing as the skill got higher.


    [Opening weapon crafting]


    Immediately, Zain could see a bunch of weapons in front of him. Ones that didn''t even look like creations that were from this. They were all greyed out, but he could see their information.


    Underneath a weapon he would pick, there were items that were needed. It gave the option of either basic things, like iron, copper, leather and other materials, but this seemed incredibly difficult to get.


    This was a modern city, it wasn''t like they were living in the past where this stuff could easily be obtained, but it did make him think. What about the leather from shoes, or car seats... would that work? And same with Iron from other items.


    Either way, there was an easier option. He could use base materials, simr to the machetes he had, instead and craft that weapon into something else or upgrade it even more.


    There were still other requirements though, depending on the difficulty to make or the stronger a weapon looked, Zain noticed that the intelligence needed to craft it was quite high. Some of them required him to have at least 50 points in intelligence.


    ''Volcanic sher.''


    It was a single handed sword with a curved edge. On the sword itself it looked to be having veins running through it, ones that looked like they were glowingva streaks on the weapon. This was one of the items that Zain felt was out of this world.


    [Requirements]


    [50 Intelligence is needed to craft this weapon]


    [Base material required: One handed sword]


    [ 2 stage 3 crystals]


    [1 active piece of meteorite]


    ''This weapon, it requires crystals to be used... but then how will I ever be able to make the weapons? The crystals from the zombies disappear... most likely into the exp I get. I guess it makes sense for a powerful weapon to be able to do the same thing... and what''s with the piece of meteorite?''


    Zain could only guess it had something to do with the diamond level quest he had received, to find an active meteorite, which meant if he wanted strong weapons he would have to take risks.


    [More weapons will be unlocked as the useres across more materials]


    ''So this isn''t even the extent of weapons I can have. Well for now, I should concentrate and aim for something I can make.''<novelnext></novelnext>


    Looking at his machetes it seemed like there was an easy upgrade for them.


    [Super sharp machetes]


    [15 intelligence required]


    [1 stage 2 crystal]


    [Base  material: Machete]


    ''If I want to upgrade both of them I''ll need two stage 2 crystals. Hopefully then they are a lot harder to break, but still how do I get crystals, the only way I was able to before, was if other people gathered them. That''s an option, but I don''t really have other people beside me right now.''


    With nothing else to do, Zain decided it was time to leave the subway station. The crafting system was a good reward though, as he imagined in the future that maybe he could even make weapons for his fellow zombies.


    Heck, if intelligence was all that was needed to craft them, maybe he could have a factory of intelligent zombies crafting weapons for him. His mind was working well with all the various possibilities.


    As Zain began to walk into the sunlight, what he didn''t expect was to see a group of people that were there waiting for him.


    "Holy crap, he''sing out!" One of the men shouted. "That means he must have beaten that monster... how...?"


    When Zain had reached the top of stairs, Dali immediately bowed down.


    "Thank you, we are all very thankful... not only did you save my brother''s life and my life, but you saved all our group''s lives as well."


    The thanks didn''t mean much for Zain, in the first ce it was just a side job to what his real goal was... getting the tinum reward.


    "I wanted to apologise as well for everything I said earlier." Bill said, with his head down. "I feel like such an idiot for badmouthing the person who eventually saved us."


    They all then kept their bodies straight and looked at Zain with stars in their eyes.


    ''They don''t seem like bad people, but travelling with them is always going to be a risk.'' Zain thought. ''But maybe I can get something out of this, in the short term.''


    "Zain, we wanted to ask you a question." Nit said. "Are you part of the Zombie Hunters group?"


    This name rang a bell, as Zain remembered seeing it on the back of a few shirts. It was the special ability users, the superhumans he hade across that nearly killed Skittle. It was certainly one way to exin how he survived, but he was surprised that their name was known by this lot.


    "I mean it would make sense. We were thinking of heading there... and asking if we could join them, but if you''re not part of the Zombie Hunters, maybe you''re part of that other group, the Reborn group."


    It was hard for Zain to hide, as his eyes lit up hearing this.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 184 The Past

    The museum was bing well known as one of thergest ces in the city that had a decent size poption. All of this was mostly due to Ryan running it efficiently. He already had arge amount of supplies and on top of that he had created a system where people would go out in groups and search for even more supplies.


    Then there was the fact that the museum group had recently gained another area that they could use, the hospital. Rather than moving all of the medicine, Ryan had transported the sick patients to the hospital, while leaving a small group to run the ce.


    The hospital wasn''t far and it allowed the group to cover more ground and be alert if there was any more troubleing their way. However, the group did suffer a great loss, Brandon.


    Brandon was head of the defence team, he was in charge of the squad members that had been trained for situations simr to this. They all followed his word without a second thought.


    When two neers had arrived and exined what had ured, it was a sad day for the squad, but not just for them for Ryan as well. In truth there was a bit of infighting between members after that happened, but Ryan knew it was them just expressing their feelings of their loss.


    What Ryan was surprised about was how all the squad members hade to him the next day, stating that they would continue to protect the ce. The people relied on them and most importantly Brandon trusted Ryan, so in turn they would follow in his trust.


    Sitting in the cafeteria and enjoying their food, was Cody and Kelly, they had been here for a while now in this safe ce. They were the ones that had passed on the news as to what had happened with the others.


    ? "I can''t believe that Pink and Kun just left like that." Kelly said. "I thought they would at least decide to stay after hearing the story about Zain."


    Cody scoffed down some baked beans. He was a growing teeneager after all, and the food here was tastier than any he had on the street. Once he was done he sat back in his chair.


    "You have been saying the same thing for thest week, ever since we got here. Your story about Zain may have changed the minds of a lot of people, but everyone makes mistakes." Cody said. "You should think about the number of times he has helped us now, rather than his past."


    Kelly had to admit, there were two sides of herself that were fighting against each other. The one where Zain had saved them multiple times, and the one where she knew his history.


    "It... exins a lot about how he is though, and you know what he really is right?" Kelly asked.


    "Yes." Cody nodded. "But not just him, Pink and Kun as well. Put it this way... we know nothing of Pink and Kun''s past yet you openly trust them, but because you know about Zain''s you are wary and unsure, does that make any sense?"


    Kelly was silent for a moment, and one could tell she was feeling guilty about what she had said. What was she trying to do... telling everyone about Zain''s past, which was none of her business, before the others left.


    It was almost as if she wanted everyone to have the same fear as she did when being around him. Everytime she looked at Zain, it shook her very core, and yet everyone was praising him.


    "Let''s talk about how you are feeling, have you noticed any other changes." Cody asked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Since leaving the hospital, Cody had noticed a lot of things that happened to Kelly. One of them being that she was able to heal at an incredibly fast rate. Attacks that should have knocked her out, or broken her bones, did next to no damage.


    It was almost as if she was bing a superhuman, the doctor''s final exprement might have actually worked, or maybe it was all the torture she had been put through before.


    "I don''t have much of an appetite these days, I can get by on little to no food, and I don''t sleep much, but the thing is... I feelpletely fine. If I''m honest, I''m scared." Kelly said, putting both her hands together, they were shaking slightly.


    "Scared... you''re turning into a superhuman. You have more chances of surviving this apocalypse, more than others. I... of course don''t want to go through what you have been through, but I wouldn''t mind getting few superpowers myself." Cody smiled.


    At heart he was still a teeneager.


    "Even if it meant turning into something like them?" Kelly asked.


    Now that Cody thought about it, there was that special footage, the one where Zain was eating a particr body. In some ways, Cody was looking at just the good not the bad, while Kelly was doing the opposite.


    "You know, this might be a weird thing to say, but I think the person who would be able to help you out the most, if something does happen to you, is Zain." Cody stated. "There is something about him, I think he might be the one who solves all of this mess in the end."


    Kelly smiled, she liked Cody a lot, even if he did look up to Zain like a type of superhero, she didn''t think it was entirely a bad thing.


    Just then, arge pain could be felt running up and down Kelly''s neck. She was squinting her eyes, and held onto the table tightly, bending it.


    "Kelly, is something wrong?" Cody asked worriedly.


    At the same time, the sound of bullets could be heard raining from outside.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 185 An Attack From Within

    The sound of gunshots was a clear sign that the ce was under attack. Immediately, the people began to panic as they did what they were trained to do. They were to head toward the back of the museum, where they could securely lock themselves away and be safe from the attacks.


    While those that were able to fight were to take up arms and weapons, and surprisingly, that''s what the people did. This included both Kelly and Cody as well. He wrapped his small knives around his belt and pulled two out.


    While Kelly held onto arge metal pole crafted from some mop, she cut down the edge to make it more like a spear.


    The group had gathered in the main hall, and they were nearly a hundred armed with weapons, while around 100 young children, elderly or injured, had gone deeper into the rear of the museum. On top of this, they also had those on the outside with guns themselves and around four on the inside with weapons pointed towards the main door.


    "Everyone...get out of here." They heard a voiceing down the stairs. "Those without guns, get out of here and hide in the back. We aren''t under attack from zombies but humans."


    It was Ryan giving out the order with a walkie-talkie in his hand. The bullets that they had all heard weren''t from their group. It was from the attackers. Although they had many more weapons, thanks to those from the hospital, the count still wasn''t enough to arm everyone with a weapon.


    Fighting with current weapons against those with full atomic guns was just a death trap waiting to happen.


    The people quickly listened to Ryan''s orders and rushed towards the back of the museum. Meanwhile, the others with the weapons were called up to the top, where Ryan was. The location was quite advantageous as it gave a better view, and they could easily target their enemies from above.


    Both Kelly and Cody decided to run along with the others, and as they did, just like everyone else, they could hear the sound of bullets getting closer and closer to the door. Then, before they knew it, arge explosion destroyed the door open, and several men wearing strange masks looked to have been picked up from a Halloween section rushed into the building.


    Before anyone could react, the men began to fire, killing many of those with guns, but suppressive fire from Ryan and the top hit a few of them as well, causing them to be on guard as well.


    "Let us in!" A voice shouted.


    Having reached the back of the museum through the hallway, they started to bang on the doors that would seal off each section. The people were piled up, knocking on the door.


    "Please let us in. There are gunmen outside!!! Please!" The people begged.


    But those on the inside weren''t opening the door for some reason.


    "They''re terrified," Kelly said. "They can hear the shooting. They won''t open the door because they''re scared for their own lives."


    "But some of these people here are rted to them. How can they be so cruel?" Cody asked.


    Just then, Cody and Kelly, standing toward the back of the group, noticed a few more people enter. Immediately, the two of them dived out of the way and crashed through the door that let them back into the canteen.


    As they looked through the door behind them, they could see a string of bullets hitting the people, making them all fall to the ground one by one. Some had managed to escape and were trickling into the canteen as well.


    "Come on! We have to hide!" Kelly said as the two of them went behind the counter where the workers would usually serve the food to the others.


    Taking a peek and looking through the ss where one would serve the food, they could still hear bullets and saw a masked man step inside the canteen. He had a submachine gun tied around his neck and was wearing a musk of a skull.


    Immediately, he shot at the people he could see in the room, finishing them off quickly. Cody and Kelly deduced that these mysterious men seemed like professionals.


    The masked man started to walk around the room, examining to see if there were any survivors. He was looking thoroughly, so it was only a matter of time before the two of them got caught.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Cody pulled out his life and looked carefully.


    "What are you doing?" Kelly whispered.


    "We have to get rid of him, and we have to fight. It''s the only thing we can do." Cody replied.


    When the man''s back was turned, Cody stood up and threw the weapon. The man turned slightly and managed to block the knife with his shoulder. It had dug deep, but it didn''t finish him off.


    Pulling out another knife though, Cody was ready to think again. But that was when another man entered the room.


    "Cody!" Kelly shouted and raised, pushing him out of the way.


    Bullets rained down on both of them, destroying the grass and shattering everywhere.


    "Kelly!...oh no, you''re bleeding," Cody said as he noticed a lot of blood falling from her shoulder.


    "It''s okay...we will be okay," Kelly said. "I have superpowers like you said, right...so let me deal with them."


    After saying these words, Kelly started to run out with the metal pole in her hand. She went towards the new masked man who had entered the room. He began to fire away, hitting her right in the chest, and before she could even reach him, she fell to the ground.


    Cody started to scurry against the floor and ran right by her side.


    "Kelly, you idiot...what did you do..." Cody cried. His eyes were full of tears and shock.


    He had no idea why Kelly would do something reckless, and now she had been hit by multiple bullets, was bleeding all over, and it looked like the bullets had hit her in the heart.


    "Wait!" The first skull-masked man suddenly said, "That brat hit me with a knife. Let me get rid of them."


    The man walked up to Cody, still full of tears and bloody hands. He then pushed the gun right against his head.


    "You and your girlfriend can now be together. Isn''t that sweet, although I think she''s a bit old for--!"


    Before the man could finish his sentence, his neck looked to have turned the other way. A hand could be seen behind it. When Cody looked to his left, the other masked man had a hole through his chest, almost the size of a fist and was lying dead on the floor, but that''s when he noticed Kelly wasn''t on the floor either.


    The next moment, he heard a thud, and when he turned around, he saw Kelly standing in front of him. The bullets were being pushed out of her body and falling to the floor, but her face... was streaming with tears.


    "I''m sorry, Cody...I think I might have...just be one of them." Kelly gulped. Her mouth was full of blood, and the next moment, as if out of instinct, she dug her hand through the masked man''s chest, ripping out his heart and putting it straight into her mouth.


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 186 A Fair Trade

    After hearing the words Reborn group, Zain had immediately asked the others about what they knew. It turned out it wasn''t very much. All they had seen wererge painted signs written in white.


    It stated that if you were part of the Reborn group to head in a certain direction but there was no ce written, or directions, instead there would just be arge arrow that would point in a particr direction.


    So far they had been following the white arrows, because it was also in the same direction of another location, where the Zombie Hunters were. News had already spread that they were people who had special abilities.


    Apparently this Zombie Hunter group woulde, disy their powers, get rid of the zombies, and then continue on. They wouldn''t invite those that they saved, or ask them for anything in return after saving them.


    It was certainly a strange thing, it was as if they were there for one thing and one thing only, to eliminate the zombies.


    The group was happy to tell Zain the details and everything that he needed to know. After all they had just been saved by him, but based on hisck of knowledge of these two things, it became clear that he wasn''t part of either of the two groups which was why his next words seemed a little bit strange to them.


    "I think it would be best if you headed to the Zombie Hunters." Zain said. "Like you said, I''m not sure if they will let you in or not, but if you are looking for a ce to go, the Reborn group isn''t one. They aren''t for people like you."


    Most likely, Zain believed the Reborn group would be for those like Shark, or for those like himself. Humans that had been turned into zombies, that still had a consciousness that could still speak.


    "So... I''m guessing with your strength, you would be trying to join the Zombie Hunters then?" Nit asked. "I won''t ask what your powers are but you must have something to be able to take on a creature like that."


    "No." Zain replied instantly. "I was just giving some advice, I have no intention of going to the Zombie Hunters. I will be going my own way."


    If Zain admitted he was heading to where the arrows were pointing, to the Reborn group, he felt like the others would attempt to follow him. Exining to them, that it was a ce for zombies, even if it was just a theory, it would be hard for anyone to believe.


    "So I guess, that means this is where our two sides split then." Nit stated.


    "Wait!" Dali said, as he looked at his younger brother Wiz, who was frightened. He was holding onto his shoulders and when hearing that Zain wouldn''t be travelling with them, his body already started to shake.


    "I know it''s not right for us to ask, but if I don''t ask then I might regret it for the rest of my life. I know you have no intention of joining the Zombie Hunters, but could you escort us there at least. It won''t have to be all the way. Just part way until we get out of most trouble."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Immediately, the glow in the other''s eyes could be seen a bit brighter. They too would have much preferred if Zain was to help them. However, for Zain this was an incredibly risky thing to do. He had already crossed with the Zombie Hunters once before, and without a doubt if they ever found out what he was... then they would attempt to capture him just like they had done before.


    ''The Reborn group might also be a dangerous ce for me to go. If I can, I would like to be as strong as I can before heading there. The biggest priority is getting a new set of weapons, and then new territories.'' Zain thought.


    "I can agree to your deal, but there is something that I need from you guys as well." Zain stated. "I need for you to defeat two Stage 2 zombies. Evolved ones, if you are confused by those words. I can help you, but you guys are the ones that need to finish them off, and the crystal inside of their bodies, it needs to go to me."


    The others looked at each other, it was a really strange request. What could a person do with the crystals that came from the zombies bodies? At the same time, Zain was asking them to risk their lives fighting, but he would be by their side.


    "Okay, I think it''s a fair deal. On the way to the Zombie Hunters we will get those crystals for you, after that we will part ways." Dali said, as he put his hand out.


    Zain looked at it for a few seconds, out of everyone here Dali had seen the most of what Zain could do. Controlling zombies... yet he was still willing to take his help.


    For some reason, whenever Zain found someone who wasn''t scared of his true self right now, he wished to help them a bit, but his survival mode kicked in. Since there was something that the two of them could get out of this deal, he decided to agree as he shook the other''s hand.


    ''His hands... they''re really cold.'' Dali thought.


    The group went off, heading to where the Zombie Hunters'' base was, and while heading there Zain started to think. It was a strange ce, there was the military, the Reborn group, meteors, demons, zombies, Dark Zombies, and the Zombie Hunters.


    All of these different groups had been created out of this apocalypse and where did he fit in to all of this, and what would happen at the end of it all. Why did such a thinge to be in the first ce?


    ''Let''s upgrade my weapons... ande out on top of all these groups. Just like in those games, I wille out on top in the real world as well.'' Zain inwardly smiled to himself.


    ******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ in the WSA journey by voting for the story! Please continue to use your Stones and Tickets!

 Chapter 187 Wild Bones

    The biker gang, that was really just a bunch of high schoolers, seemed to refer to themselves as the Wild Bones. They were pretty excited to talk about it in front of Zain, talking about all of their aplishments and how they had taken over a lot of schools.


    However, Zain having never heard about them had put a slight damper on their mood, but he quickly exined that he was a university student, and that if he was still in high school, he was sure he would have known about the Wild Bones.


    When the attack had started, it had actually happened while they were in school. ording to them, the teachers were useless and unorganised and most of them had abandoned the ce instantly to get in their cars and drive away.


    At the time, it was because of the Wild Bones, who were originally a much bigger group, that they were able to protect a school. One of the hardest ces to make sure it was clear of zombies.


    It was then that Dali had also left the group for a brief moment after figuring out things were okay. He had gone on his own to his brother''s primary school, and rescued him from there as well. Then when all was well, he decided to return and that''s when they noticed that the school was being attacked.


    It wasn''t from zombies though, and instead it was from the other biker gangs that they had ruled over in the past. They had failed to defend their schools from the attack and wished to not just join the others, but beat them and take over their hideoutpletely.


    When Dali returned, he had taken out most of the attackers and they were able to defend the school once more. Still, they had to eventually move from the school. The group was under attack from people more than they would have liked.


    The fact that the area was clear and boarded up meant they got quite a bit of attention, not just from the past gangs that they fought against but also from local people looking to join in. At first they were trusting of others, but they quickly realised through a series of problems that the only ones they could trust were themselves, and now the entire Wild Bones group was just down to those in front of them.


    Their story was what Zain expected to happen in a world like this. The one thing he was surprised about was the fact that they were able to hold onto a school for so long.


    ''Perhaps on my way back, when I head to the Reborn group, I should pass a school. It should be a ce that could be made into a territory allowing me to get more passive exp from it.''


    "It''s getting dark." Zain said. "We should hold up in an apartment, and then we can start our hunt tomorrow."


    The others agreed, they had normally been resting at night. It was the natural reaction of most, and judging from their conversation they knew nothing about these demons. So far everyone who Zain had met didn''t know about them.


    Due to the memories he had seen though, he knew they existed.


    Aftering out on the third floor of an apartment block and clearing out all of the rooms. Zain didn''t say anything as he went into the bedroom himself, and locked the door behind him, not allowing any of the others to follow.


    "Well, he is a very friendly person to have around isn''t he?" One of the men asked. "We told him everything that happened to us, and we still don''t know a single thing about him."


    "Just be happy that he''s helping us." Nit said, as he pped his friend at the back of the head. "He can survive out there on his own, we are the ones that need him."


    ? "Then¡­ Why is he helping us?" The member asked.


    That was something that Dali wanted to know as well. Was there something to these crystals that Zain wished to collect, is that where he got his strength from?


    As soon as the sun had risen, Zain unlocked his room door, and pped his hands hard, waking everyone up.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The sun has risen, let''s get this over with, and after that I will take you to the Zombie Hunters." Zain stated.


    Half asleep, many of them were rubbing their eyes, but the adrenaline had kicked in as soon as they left the door. A sleepy move could cost them their life so they were on high alert.


    They had veered away from the Zombie Hunters location for a bit, so Zain could aplish his goal, because in the first ce, it seemed like the closer they were getting to the Zombie Hunter areas area the less zombies there were, and in a way that made sense.


    After a while though, they had finallye across a Titan among a group of zombies in the wild. It was standing there in the middle of a crossing, among a bunch of cars.


    "Remember, you guys have to deal the finishing blow." Zain said, as he was the first one to move out.


    As soon as Zain got close enough, the Titan turned its head and picked up one of the cars that was in front of it. Running across though, Zain was already right by the Titan''s side before it could throw the car.


    Jumping in the air, Zain threw out a punch, hitting it in its chest. It stumbled backwards and dropped the car. Sprinting in again, Zain gave it a couple more punches, and then a kick to its legs, causing it to fall down.


    When it was on the ground, Zain proceeded to use both hands grabbing onto its harder shell and using his strength to rip off the hard ck armour. After that, Zain jumped back,nded on top of a car and whistled.


    It was a signal, a signal to the others that it was now their turn. Coming out from the alleyways where they were hiding from, they held weapons in their hands. They could see the Titan slowly standing up, with the hard armour from its chest ripped.


    Killing a zombie meant hitting it in its brain, so they wondered just how Zain opting up its chest was going to help.


    ''In the past, we would have done everything we could to avoid these evolved zombies¡­ so maybe with this we''ll learn something.''


    Nit was the first to reach the Titan, but he was so focused on the Titan that he was unaware of a zombieing out from the side, with its mouth wide open toward him. Nit looked panicked and lifted his arm but if he was bit then it would mean turning.


    As its mouth opened, a pole went right through its head from the side, and the zombie copsed on the ground.


    Turning his head, he could see Zain, standing on top of a car with a makeshift pole in his hand.


    "I said I would help you guys¡­ just focus on taking out the Titan, and I will do the rest." Zain stated.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUZ by using your stones.

 Chapter 188 Gathering Material

    The Wild Bones were unable to see what Zain could do, at least the extent of what he could do, because he had fought the devastating creatures mostly in the subway, and they were distracted trying to fight for their own lives against the zombies that were gathering around them.


    Now though, they were able to witness Zain''s greatness. He would constantly break parts off of the cars around him with ease, as if they were made of bits of cheap stic, then as if he had a birds eye view, he was keeping an eye on everyone in the group.


    He would use the bits of the vehicles he had torn off to throw them toward the zombies that were attacking them and getting in the way of them fighting the stage 2 Titan. As Zain inched closer, he soon stopped throwing items at them and instead used his two machetes he had on him instead.


    Swirling around, he sliced through one head of a zombie, and thrust through the head of another. To the others it looked like a scene from the movie, it was done so effortlessly. In this day and age, when would you ever find someone who was so skilled with swords?


    In an age where guns usually would have ruled, they were seeing the advantage of the old age weapons. They made no noise, not attracting a horde of creatures around you. If one was on their own they always needed to reload at some point, and unless you had someone covering you or were able to supply yourself with an unlimited amount of ammo this was the better option for a densely popted city.


    After a while, the Wild Bones, thanks to Nit and Dali mainly, were able to defeat the Titan. As they angled a long makeshift spear to go through its body and pierce its head at an odd angle. It was hard work as they needed to avoid therge fists that would have smashed their bodies in one go.


    "Great work!" Zain said with a smile, as he approached the two of them. "Try find therge crystal in its body, and make sure you don''t get any blood in your eyes. I don''t have to tell you why that would be bad."


    Both Nit and Dali looked at each other. All of it felt very strange, why didn''t Zain just fight the stage 2 himself, he was very capable and now they were asking him to extract the crystal as well? In the end they listened, because there was one thing Dali thought he was getting out of this and it was experience.


    He was learning how to take out these altered zombies, and what their group needed to improve on. After all, there was also a chance that the Zombie Hunters wouldn''t take them in at all, and when Zain left them, they would all be on their own again.


    The crystal had been retrieved and, as promised, the crystal was handed to Zain. When it was given to him, the system message popped up, asking whether he wanted to absorb the crystal for exp, but he refused because there was a better use for the crystals this time.


    After continuing on through the busy district, the group had eventually reached a park. It had pathways set with trees on the side, but on top of it all, in the distance, in the centre of the grass fields there was once again another Titan.


    "This time¡­ I won''t remove the armour from the stage 2 for you." Zain stated. "But, I will stay closer to you, so if it looks like you are going to be hit, I will defend the attack."


    Inwardly a smile had appeared on Dali. It looked like he was somewhat right, that Zain was training them to be self-sufficient. With that, he willingly epted the request and before charging in, the group had a talk first on how to deal with the problem in front of them.


    When heading in, they had a much more organised n, and Dali, not wanting to rely on Zain at all, had decided to take out the zombies in the wooded areas first. They struck them down so they wouldn''t get involved in the fight against the Titan, and finally it was time for them to take out the main target.


    ''Oh, now it makes sense how they were able to defend a school so well, but it makes me wonder, what makes a territory, what''s the limit of the amount of zombies I can have? If we were to clear this entire area, if we were to clear the entire city, and only the zombies under my control were still here, would I have territory mastery over this whole city?''<novelnext></novelnext>


    While thinking these thoughts, Zain had to dive in as the Titan had gotten close to hitting one of the Wild Bones. Swinging both of his fists out Zain had managed to match the Titan''s strength stopping the blow.


    Dali was thankful that they had Zain, because it was a harder task than they thought. In the end, though, they managed to pry open a part of its hard shell that was toward the back of its neck. It was a small part that had been attacked over and over again, and eventually a part of it had chipped off.


    The only one that was confident enough to climb onto the Titan''s back and deliver the final blow, as expected, was Dali. The others were too afraid of getting hurt, but what had surprised Zain was, after seeing Dali on the back of the Titan, the others didn''t waste time in distracting it and were attacking fiercer and more daring than before.


    In the end, the zombie had been defeated and a second crystal was obtained.


    Holding them both in his hands, Zain had a smile on his face.


    "Let''s rest for the night." Zain stated. "I know it''s a bit early, but I will be a bit busy myself."


    Rather than an apartment building like they usually stayed in. There was a house situated opposite the park, and they were able to clear the area quickly and rest up in a different ce for a change, but for Zain, he had almost immediately picked a room, entered it and they heard the sound of it being locked quickly behind him.


    "I wonder¡­ What is he doing in there?" Nit asked.


    "I''m not too sure." Dali replied. "But did you see that grin on his face when we gave him the crystal? I''m sure there is something in those crystals. Maybe we should try to get our hands on those crystals ourselves."


    "I agree."


    In the room,id out on the bed, Zain had the crystals and the weapons next to each other. He wasn''t sure how this was going to work, but he finally had all the items required to upgrade his weapons.


    ''Let''s open this crafting thing and get started.'' Zain smiled.


    *****


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I Hope you can continue to support LUz.

 Chapter 189 A New Weapon

    In survival games, surely there would be something simr to that of a workbench, an area where one would improve weapons with the materials they had. The thing was, that only worked in games where the developers would put them in certain ces around the world.


    Was Zain meant to go to a mechanic shop to get his things done, not that it seemed like a ridiculous restriction to put on the system in a real world situation, which was why he was honestly hoping for something a little bit more magical.


    At first the system and its powers had stuck to the rules of the world rtively well, all the information and things he could do could be exined by technology or be replicated by a type of technology in the same way. That was until he was able to store zombies in his system and release them at will.


    This was something that the current technology or current science of the world was unable to exin, and he believed that the system might act in the same way now. The machetes were ced next to the crystals.


    Tworge ones, the size of half a cucumber. He ced his hands on the crystals, and ced his hand on the machetes at the same time and the system had reacted,  but not in the way he thought.


    [Error, not enough stage 2 crystals are currently present for upgrade]


    ''What¡­ I''m sure the recipe for upgrading the weapons states that I just needed two stage 2 crystals; it didn''t even ask for a type.''


    Zain quickly brought up the recipe again, and he soon realized his mistake.


    ''This amount¡­ is to only upgrade one of the weapons. Well, I guess it''s good to test this thing out first anyway.'' Zain thought.


    After taking a look at which machete was in better condition, he decided to ce the higher quality one along with the crystals and the system had reacted once more.


    [The current materials gathered may be used to upgrade the weapon ''Machete'' Would you like to upgrade your weapon?]


    It was a simple yes and no, and Zain had of course clicked yes. He could see the crystal lighting up and the sword at the same time. In front of his eyes, both of the items were breaking down into particles. All he could see was small little white parts of the sword and crystal and the two of them were starting to morph together,bining to make apletely different item.


    ''Without getting quests, I have somewhat hit a teau. Levelling up is a good way to get me stronger, but I need a lot of exp. The territories will solve that problem but it will take me a while to build up the territories until it''s worthwhile.


    ''My skills with weapons, the sword skill mastery, has been hard to level up after reaching level 4. So this is the answer for a quick boost in strength!''


    The light around the item finally started to dim down, and now the outline that Zain could see was just that of a machete. It was slightlyrger than before with a slightly bigger curve,  but still had the same shape.


    Then when the light finally faded a message appeared and he could see his new weapon fully.


    [You have sessfully created ''Titan Machete]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [Using the raw crystals of the stage 2 evolve zombie, the Titan, a weapon has been created that has a strong durability. The hard outer shell of what protects the Titan has been forged into a de making it almost indestructible. The edge has been refined and sharpened, and with the Titan''s powers has made it so the weapon will never go dull.]


    The description of the weapon had Zain smiling, this was something that was impossible for humans to create in a way, and with the challenges he had been facing,  it was exactly what he needed.


    With the regr machete and his strength increasing, using all his strength to swing the weapon had a risk of breaking it, especially against zombies that had a strong endurance. The only thing now was to test the new weapon out.


    [You have sessfully created 1/3 variants of the upgraded Machete]


    ''Wait, 1 of 3? Does that mean there are three different versions of this weapon that could be made.'' A thought had hit Zain, ''It stated it turned out like this because of the Titan crystals. If I used other stage 2 crystals, then would the sword turn into something else, and what if I had used a mix of crystals.''


    There was a chance that the upgrade wouldn''t have worked, or it would have been improved slightly instead of drastically like it had done now. Even the weapon itself looked like it had been forged from the armour of the Titan. It was now a single solid ck colour, with only the handle slightly changing, curving a bit more and giving it a better fit in his hand.


    ''My journey with the others hasn''te to aplete end, perhaps I can use them to gather more crystals for me. This time creating another weapon¡­ it would be nice if I could meet the third type of zombie, creating a weapon with that would be nice.''


    While thinking about this, and thinking of the chained zombies on top of where he was about to go, to the Reborn group, Zain hade to a decision, as he opened up his inventory, a bright key was seen in his hand.


    [Would you like to use the return key to enter the Melee Weapons Horde Challenge?]


    Zain gave it some thought, but now was the right time, to try and reap the benefits, he had improved a lot, and he was hoping to grow into the next step.


    [Yes]


    [The key has sessfully been used]


    [You are now entering the Melee Weapons Horde Challenge]


    *******


    Thank you, everyone, for supporting LUZ so far, and I hope you can continue to support LUZ by voting for the story!


    Remember to follow me on Instagram and P.a.t.r.e.o.n. JKSManga

 Chapter 190 Titan Vs Titan

    [Melee Weapons Horde Challenge has begun]


    Since it was night time for the others,and trusting that they wouldn''t burst into his room especially since it was locked, Zain thought it was the perfect opportunity. Although it was unlikely that anything would happen, the Wild Bones were in some ways protecting his body if anything crazy did ur.


    For all Zain knew, during these ''Episodes'' he would have his bodypletely inactive; he was as good as dead until he would wake up.


    [Please make your way to the assigned area]


    When opening his eyes, Zain was surrounded by the strange walls once again. They were familiar to him so he knew it was the inside of the cave, but there was a big differencepared tost time.


    For one, he was an adult this time, rather than in the body of a child.


    ''With this, I should be able to get through more wavespared to before¡­ and if I want to make the most out of this experience then I need to get through as many waves as I can.''


    While walking down the cave, Zain was thinking about the rewards, they had changed with each wave, getting better as they went on, but he doubted that every single time he passed a certain number of waves he would get a return key to this ce.


    On his second go, Zain thought it was unlikely for him toplete the challenge, which was why he had to keep doing well until he at least got another chance at the return key. It was why he had decided to wait so long to use it in the first ce.


    Checking out the system, Zain''s stats this time were the same as they were in the outside world, so he practically could use his full strength, but his skills weren''t present, neither were the items on his body.


    He was unable to summon the zombies to help now and he didn''t have any of his weapons on him. Eventually he came out from the tunnel structure he was in and now was in therge open space of the cave, where there were several tunnels all leading from the one room.


    Rushing over, he quickly went to the table that was full of weapons, and he saw that there was a new addition on the table, and picked it up immediately.


    ''This is¡­ the Titan machete that I created¡­ it''s in here.''


    Not only was there that weapon but there were two of them as well. Picking them both up, before he realised it the system had disyed a message once again.


    [Your weapons have been selected]


    [Wave 1 will begin in 10 seconds]


    The waves were the same as they werest time with the first one being a single mutated zombie. As it rushed toward him, Zain swung the sword through the air a few times before it had even hit the zombie.


    The weapon was light, and sturdy¡­ It was perfect and as it got within range, from the top down Zain swung it again, slicing right through the zombie''s body, splitting it in half.


    [A bronze card has been awarded]


    ''Oh, so the reward changed this time? Is it because the system began rewarding me in cards that it wants to do the same this time? Well for now, I''ll just keep the low tier cards. If I was to guess, a return key would at least be a  gold tier card.''


    The good news was the waves were just like before, with the second wave being a total of five mutated zombies and the third wave being a total of ten. Two more bronze cards were rewarded.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Even without the Titan weapons with Zain''s current body taking the assessment this time, he felt like he would have been able to stillplete this task, and he would just have to wait for the next set of waves toe.


    In the fourth round, a Spitter had been sent out, and this was the first real test for the new Titan weapons. Running from his spot as soon as he heard the Spittering out from the tunnel, he swung the weapon, before it could even get its spit ready.


    The weapon touched the harder outer casing of the Spitter, and there was a slight resistance, but it was almost nothing as the hand was chopped off, and with another swing with the other sword in his hand, its head rolled onto the ground.


    Slicing through the zombies, it felt like he was just swinging his sword through the air, whereas cutting through the Spitter''s body was like that of butter.


    [A Bronze card has been rewarded]


    ''A Bronze card, even for an Evolved zombie, I guess I''m at that stage now then, huh?'' Zain thought as he waited for the next opponent.


    There was a chance that the waves would change slightlypared tost time, as all of the stage 2 zombies should be at the same level just difficult for different people to deal with, and that''s when he could hear the heavy footstepsing one after the other.


    It was the sound of the Titaning through the tunnel walls.


    [Wave 5 will now begin]


    ''Now this is where the real test begins, the Titan sword against the Titan itself.''


    Once again, Zain rushed forward towards the tunnel where the Titan wasing out from, he leapt up in the air and held both of the machetes behind his back. The Titan seeing this, seemed to lift both of itsrge hands with the ck armour, as an attempt to block this.


    Swinging overhead, Zain mmed both of the weapons into the arms, he used his full strength, not holding back, because if there was one thing the description said about these weapons, it was the fact that they were unbreakable.


    A few secondster, and the ck armour on the Titan could be seen cracking.


    ''I guess the same can''t be said for your armour!''


    Zain thought, as he fell to the ground and saw the ck armour falling to the ground, this was a huge improvement and it made him wonder what the other weapons could do as well.


    [Wave 5 has been cleared]


    [Wave 6 will now begin]


    This was it, the wave at which Zain failed atst time, but he knew that today, he wasn''t going to fail here, just what wave would he be able to get to?


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future

 Chapter 191 Anew Crystal

    Zain knew who the opponent would be for this wave, because there was a distinct memory in his head. Thest time he had participated in the challenge it was where he failed, the only stage 2 evolved zombie that he hadn''t seen outside of the ce.


    Coming out of the tunnel, it was simr to the stage 3 zombie he had faced, only it was smaller in size, around the same size as himself. It had ded hands that weren''t asrge and the bones sticking out of its body weren''t as long either.


    Unlike thest opponents Zain had faced, he didn''t go out straight away and instead he took a deep breath as he waited, and the zombie soon ran straight towards him.


    It swung its arm, and Zain used minimal strength as he parried the attack away. With its other hand it swung for his stomach, but Zain avoided the hit, by jumping back, as soon as his feetnded, he charged in, and used the back of the machete to hit the evolved creature.


    Sword mastery [Level 4] 38.2/100


    ''As I thought, out of all the stage 2, you''re the only one that is useful in getting my sword mastery up. So I''m sorry but I''m going to use you!''


    Zain watched carefully, the stage 2 creature was about as fast as himself but the stage 3 had two advantages over the creature in front of him. One of them was the strange bones on its body could extend but it didn''t seem to be the case here, at least not in the same way.


    The second, was the strength of the stage 3 was far superior. Due to his new weapon Zain could tell if he swung at full strength he would be able to cut through the evolved Zombie''s body, the Bonezom as Zain named it.


    Which was why he was swinging with next to no strength and only speed, so he could go against a worthy opponent.


    The Bonezom seemed to be frustrated as it swung both ded parts of its body towards Zain. Instead of using two of his des, Zain skimmed it with one, and allowed for most of the weight of the attack to carry on and hit the ground.


    There was a clear opening, and it was almost as if Zain knew the right moment and ce to hit. Swinging his sword, he had hit the back of the Bonezom''s neck. It cut through, even though he wasn''t using arge amount of strength. When pulling it out, the Bonezom looked to be acting strange and suddenly it fell to the ground.


    ''Did it die... I got carried away a little bit there, but it was a zombie that doesn''t need the brain crushed for it to die. I guess evolution can really change a zombie.'' Zain thought.


    Sword mastery [Level 4] 39.4/100


    Although his sword mastery had increased for the first time in a while, it wasn''t close to the level he wished. He had been fighting against the Bonezom for around half an hour or so, and it seemed to be slowing down as he got used to the Bonezom''s movement.


    [Questplete]


    [A Silver card has been given.]


    ''Silver, for the other two Stage 2 zombies I still only got a bronze reward. Is it because I didn''t clear this stage thest time? I guess it would make sense to give lesser rewards for stages that have already beenpleted.''


    Unlike the bronze cards, Zain decided that it was best for him to open the silver card immediately, just in case it was a return Key, even though he believed that a return key would be rarer than that.


    [Silver card has been used]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [You have received a stage 2 Bonezom crystal]


    ''A stage 2 crystal!'' Zain was excited. The mostmon stage 2 zombie he saw in the real world was the Titan. Having already created a weapon with the Titan crystals, he was interested in the other variations.


    But, honestly Zain couldn''t imagine that weapons created with the Spitter type crystals would be strong weapons on their own, most likely it would have some trait, but Zain wanted to increase his individual strength.


    What he wanted was a weapon created out of the Bonezom crystals. In his opinion it was the hardest stage 2 he had fought, so he thought it would create a weapon that would make up for his shorings.


    ''This is great, if I can get another stage two Bonezom crystal then I can upgrade the other machete as well!''


    If Zain wasn''t already pumped to continue the challenge, he was over the moon now, but the messages didn''t end there, as there were more toe.


    [The yer seems to be too advanced for the current wave levels]


    [The yer is able to jump to wave 10]


    [In doing so, the yer will receive an additional gold card reward uponpleting wave 10]


    It was an interesting proposal and if games were anything to go by, every ten or five waves there would be a jump in difficulty. One would have to think of it as a boss of a particr stage. The fact that the system wanted him to do level 10 was somewhat proof of that as well.


    ''I have beenpleting these stages rather easily, even if stage 10 is a jump in difficulty, with the new weapons, I should be able toplete it. The question is whether the gold reward is bigger than the rewards that I would have received naturally for passing the other waves.''


    A lot of thought was given into making his decision, and in the end, Zain had made his choice.


    ''There are always Silver quests and Bronze quests thate up, but anything Gold and above, is a rare urrence. I won''t get this chance again.''


    [You have epted the request]


    [Wave 10 will begin in 10 seconds.]


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 192 A Pause In The System

    Wave 10 was just about to begin and Zain was thinking of all the possibilities it could have. Would it be several of the stage 2 types, maybe even one of each? It was tricky because he had skipped a few levels, so it could possibly even be something he had never seen before.


    When the timer finished counting down, right out of the tunnel a creature had run in and jumped up in the air. It wasrge in size and it was something Zain had seen before. From its body, one of the strange bones grew, extending out like a spike and headed out right towards him.


    It was unexpected, so rather than dodge, Zain lifted his weapon on its side and blocked the hit. The attack had pushed Zain back making him skid across the ground slightly.


    ''It''s the stage 3! The same one I fought against outside the subway.'' Zain realised. ''I won that fight because I was able to summon the other zombies,  but here I can''t. I have to beat it with my own skill.''


    Just as the zombiended, it dashed forward from the ground and started to swing its two hands. Its speed was greater than Zain''s and with it, its power was stronger as well.


    This fight was a disadvantage for him, he was on his own and was less than the zombie in front of him when onepared the stats.


    Swinging his sword, Zain shed against the ded hand, but both of them were hit back with recoil as if they had smashed against something harder than them. The de wasn''t damaged but neither was the zombie.


    ''I guess it makes sense, why would a stage 2 weapon be able to out match a stage 3 zombie!''


    Carefully Zain was watching the attacks, the second he saw a part of the zombie''s arms move, he knew the direction of the strike would be and moved out of the way. There were some close calls and those were the times where he would parry it with his sword slightly.


    The problem in all of this though, was that he couldn''t do it forever, not if he wanted to win.


    ''I still don''t have a return key yet!'' Zain thought. ''If I lose now, I won''t die, but I''ll never be able toe to this ce again... I have to do something.''


    After avoiding another swipe, the ded part of the zombie had scratched the outer cave rock and a big mark was made. It was clear that one attack from it and Zain would be a goner, but a ping was heard as well.


    Sword mastery [Level 4] 41.3/100


    ''My sword mastery increased, just from avoiding the attacks. I didn''t even think about increasing my sword mastery skills with this thing just because I was surviving, but that''s the fastest it''s ever gone up... if I can''t get a return key out of this thing or beat it, then I can at least improve my swordsmanship.''


    The whole view of the fight had changed for Zain, he was carefully avoiding strikes, and only attacking when it felt absolutely safe to. His sword would hit the body or ded arm of the Zombie, it would do nothing but he was getting a better sense of timing and the attack patterns the beast had.


    The only thing was, it seemed like the zombie itself was aware of its weak point, because everytime Zain tried to get behind it, it would swivel quickly around defending its back.


    ''I just realised, when did this fight get easier?'' Zain thought.


    He was so panicked about surviving in the beginning, but now that his mind was focused on something else, he realised he could block every hit. He could hit the zombie and it couldn''t hit him. In this fight he was the superior one, and there was a big advantage in this fight, he could still evolve.


    [Sword mastery is now level  5]


    [A passive skill has been added]<novelnext></novelnext>


    [When using long ded weapons, the attack strength of the user will increase by 20%]


    The second the system message hade up, there was a new rise of power in Zain. The zombie was running towards him again. When it was a few metres away, it was almost as if Zain knew what to do. He bent his knees down, and with all his strength, pushed off the ground and with one of the Titan des, he swung it, hitting both of the ded arms away, and twisting the other machete like a screw, Zain aimed right for the creature''s head.


    With the boost in Zain''s power, the momentum of the zombie, and the Titan sword, Zain had crushed the outer skull of the zombie, killing it on the spot.


    [Congrattions you have passed the 10th wave]


    [A checkmark has now been ced]


    [Whenever you return to the challenge will start from wave 11]


    [You may now leave the space and put it on pause, returning to challenge it whenever you wish]


    [Note: The pause can only be used now, in the future a return key is needed to return.


    [2 Gold cards have been received]


    Reading the rewards it made sense to Zain that it would start from Wave 11, he was far too strong and would only get stronger if the other waves were worth something. The good thing about the pause was, it was essentially a free Return key as well.


    In this case, he thought it was best not to waste it, especially since he still didn''t have a return key. If he went on to wave 11 and failed,  then he would never be able to return, or at least he thought that''s how it would work.


    Just in case, Zain imed the two Gold reward cards right there and then.


    [2 random stage 2 crystals have been given]


    [A double exp card thatsts 1 hour has been granted]


    Depending on the situation, that could be really valuable, especially since it''s been getting harder to level up and the crystals, one of them is from the Bonezom, which means I can create a new weapon. It''s time to get out of here.''


    [You have paused the challenge]


    ******


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 193 The White Machete

    When exiting the special challenge, Zain looked around him and he was lying on the floor. He was in the same room as he left, and a small beam ray of light could be seen poking through the windows.


    A habit from when Zain was travelling with Kun, he would board up the windows, but since Zain was on his own and wouldn''t turn on the lights anyway, he never did a full job of it.


    ''I was in that challenge for the whole night, and judging from my nose I can still smell that the others are in the other room. It looks like nothing bad happened while I was away.''


    Checking out the system, Zain could see that he could still ess the challenge.  There was a little pause icon next to it, and whenever he wished he could select continue and would be thrown back into the challenge where he left off, but that wasn''t what he was checking on.  He was checking to see what type of crystals the system had rewarded him.


    ''It''s just like I thought, I have two Bonezom crystals, which means I can unlock a different weapon!'' Zain thought.


    Wasting next to no time, he immediately stood up and looked at his bed. The Titan machete was still there, but his other machete was just its regr self. Just like thest time, the crystals were called from his system and then when touching the two items together the prompt to begin crafting had appeared and he selected.


    [Yes]


    It was turning out to be quite a haul. First a new weapon and now a second one, one that would be different from the Titan de. He was sure that each weapon created with the different crystals would have their advantages and disadvantages, but for the Stage 2 zombie that gave him the most trouble, he was expecting quite a bit.


    When the light faded around the weapon, it was the sign that the crafting wasplete, and the weapon in front of him now looked differentpared to before, just likest time.


    It still had its machete like shape, but the edges looked to be more jagged, like a set of razor sharp teeth. On top of that, the colour of the weapon hadpletely changed. It was now a pale white. It looked like the whole weapon was made from some type of tooth.


    ''The evolved zombie was fast, sharp, and agile, so I was expecting something like that, but I guess it would be hard to put those traits in a weapon. Holding the Bonezom weapon, I don''t feel any stronger, just the strength of the weapon changed. The shape of this weapon¡­ it hasn''t changed much and I doubt it''s stronger than the Titan. Was I expecting too much?''


    Either way he needed to read the system details to get more information.


    [Bonezom Machete (Current form)]


    [You have unlocked a second variation of the machete evolved weapon 2/3]


    [This weapon is made from the crystals from the Bonezom. A zombie that is light on its feet, fast and is able to reproduce the bones in its body. Like the Bonezom, the weapon is also incredibly light, yet still stronger than the regr machete.


    [The weapon has a passive skill (regrow)]


    [Skill Regrow: If the weapon is broken, depending on damage, over time the weapon will regrow back to what it once was]


    [The weapon has an active skill (Reshape)]


    [Skill Reshape: Once an hour, the user is able to reshape the weapon to the image in its head, to a certain degree.]<novelnext></novelnext>


    After reading everything about the weapon, his opinion had quickly changed and picking it up, he had to double check if he had something in his hand. It was so light. He swung it a few times in the current shape. It was at the moment, and with his strength and speed, it sliced through the air making a sound like a rope.


    ''This thing, it''s stronger, lighter, and can be repaired on its own. On top of that,  I can reshape it. It will do well to allow me to improve the mastery of other weapons. For now though, I''ll keep the shape as it is.''


    Exiting out of the room, Zain was in a happier mood than he thought, and the Wild Bones seemed to notice this as well. With these weapons he was confident that his journey to the Reborn group would be easier, so it was time he escorted the group as soon as possible.


    While walking down the streets of the city, it didn''t go unnoticed by the others that Zain had two different coloured weaponspared to before on his back. Where he had got them from no one had a clue, and they certainly weren''t going to ask¡­ not while he was in a good mood.


    "Hey, don''t you need us to fight one of those Titan''s for you again?" Nit asked.


    "No need." Zain repleid. "Today, is the day we head to the Zombie Hunters base and after that, we will part ways."


    Dali and Wiz were both sad to hear this news, but they knew that this day was going toe eventually, so they needed to pick up their spirits and start whacking some zombie heads.


    Before heading straight to the base they were getting hungry and their supplies were running low, so they took a slight detour, but still in the general direction of where they wished to head, and that was when they ended up arriving at a supermarket store.


    For a second, images shed in Zain''s head, as he pressed his hand against it.


    "Are you okay?" Dali asked.


    "Yeah¡­ I''m fine, it''s just a bad memory." Zain replied.


    The group continued walking forward, but Dali was having second thoughts on whether they should continue or not. In the end they needed the supplies, so they pushed forward walking through the carpark.


    "Hey look at this?" Nit said, as he pointed to a dead zombie next to a car, which had a hole through its head that looked to be burnt. It didn''t look like an ordinary bullet by any means.


    At that moment, the doors to the supermarket could be heard opening and a group of people were seening out. All of them were wearing ck leather jackets that had white paint spelling out certain words¡­ the words ''Zombie Hunters''


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future

 Chapter 194 A New Toy

    Zain wasn''t so much of an idiot that he never thought that this would happen. The closer they were to the base of the Zombie Hunters, the more likely they were to run into the group. However, travelling with other humans and in the state he was in now, at a first nce no one would guess that he was a zombie like thest time.


    ''I guess, we can see if all of these people from the Zombie Hunters group have those special abilities likest time, or if it was just a one off.''


    The group of people leaving the supermarket were five in total. They all seemed to be talking to each other with ease, and with big grins on their faces. A rare urrence when running into someone in this new world.


    ''If all five of them have abilities, will I be able to deal with them?'' Zain thought. ''I was lucky thest time that the other one let me escape, but I don''t think everyone from the Zombie Hunters will be like that.''


    The Zombie Hunters were so nonchnt about everything that they hadn''t even realised that there was a group of people right in front of their eyes.


    "Hey, are you seeing what I''m seeing?" Nit asked.


    The atmosphere was strangely quite tense, and unlike Zain thought, there weren''t bright smiles on the faces of the Wild Bones, instead they were all holding their weapons in their hands rather tightly.


    "Yeah¡­ to think that we would run into them again, of all people." Dali said, as he moved his brother so he was standing directly behind him.


    Finally, after walking out a few steps, the one in front of the others, who had a fairly square like frame and bright pink hair, had noticed the others.


    "Look at this!" The Zombie Hunter dered, as he started tough hysterically and soon when the others saw who were in front of them they started tough as well. "If it isn''t Dali and his gang of misfits."


    "Crunk." Dali said under his breath while clenching his fist, but he soon shook his head, the situation wasn''t the same as what it was before. Things were different now.


    "Who is this guy?" Zain asked, standing next to Nit. Based on the tension, it felt like any second a fight was going to break out between these two, so he wanted to at least know some context.


    "Crunk was the leader of the Oil Burners, our two high school gangs used to go up against each other all the time." Nit exined. "There was a big sh at the end of the year, and in the end we won the war. The deal was that the other gang would disband after the fight.


    "But of course, someone like Crunk would never ept the oue, and ever since then, he had been attacking members of our school here and there. To put it simple, there is a lot of bad blood between Dali and Crunk."


    Zain could only imagine how the Wild Bones were feeling right now. They had been fighting endlessly with a goal in mind to join the Zombie Hunters. Perhaps after joining such a group, they thought they would be able to rest for a while.


    After all that, they then find out the very group that they wanted to join already had members of a rival gang. In this type of situation, Zain was wondering what he would do, and wondered if the Dali would make the right choice for his group.


    "Crunk!" Dali called out. "We should forget about what happened in the past between us two. Right now, people are dying left and right. A lot of my ssmates died. This is nothing like our petty little fights that we had in school¡­ I don''t even have my parents anymore."<novelnext></novelnext>


    When Dali shouted these words, they wereing from deep within, his voice cracked a little, and everyone who was angry at seeing these people in front of them, that were in the Wild Bones, lost the will to fight at that moment.


    They too were tired, extremely tired, and had lost too much.


    ''He made the right choice. To forget about the past, and move on, especially if they are now with the group known as the Zombie Hunters.'' Zain thought, but there was a big BUT on his mind.


    "Hahaha." Crunk started tough. "This is not the Dali I know. You''re giving up, without even trying to fight. Oh, how the great have fallen."


    This was Zain''s worry, because now that the other, who had felt resentment this entire time, had power¡­ power to defeat the other, they wouldn''t let this chance slip them up.


    "Let me take a guess as to why you''re all the way out here, away from that kingdom of yours." Crunk said. "You heard about the Zombie Hunters right? So you came wishing to join them. Well, too bad for you.


    "You see, they only let a certain type of people into the Zombie Hunters organisation. Special people like me. I was chosen by the gods you see, chosen to thrive in this new world, as for you, you are nothing in this world.


    "Oh, how I wished you would have charged in like before, trying to defeat me, but I guess this will have to do."


    Crunk started to twiddle his finger and it began to glow red. That''s when Dali realised when looking at the zombies, all of them had strange holes in their heads, one that didn''t look to have been made from bullets.


    ''The Zombie Hunters are people with special abilities. I should have known that Crunk would have one, but why him¡­ why him and not me!!'' Dali thought.


    Out from his finger, a beam of energy left, heading straight for Dali''s head, it looked like aser bullet. Dali lifted his hand but the smile on Crunk''s face told him it would be useless.


    Right in front of Dali''s face arge ck machete was ced in front of it. Theser hit it clean on its side, and disappeared, doing nothing. Crunk''s eyes, seeing this, opened up.


    "I¡­ like you." Zain said, holding the Titan sword. "Let me add you to my collection."


    ******


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 195 A Different Type Of Test

    For a second, Crunk was frozen in ce as he looked at the person that was standing in front of the Wild Bones with his strange weapon being held out.


    ''I haven''t gotten my ability too long ago, but this is the first time someone was able to stop my attack so easily.'' Crunk thought. ''My heated finger st can even melt metal, so how is his sword able to block my attack?''


    Ever since receiving his ability, Crunk had no trouble facing off against zombies or threatening humans to do his bidding. Just like back at school, people were naturally following him and listening to him once more because of his power and now it had been stopped just like that.


    Crunk scrunched up his face.


    "Hey! Who the f*ck even are you. What are you doing getting involved in someone else''s business!"


    So fixated on the reunion of schoolmates, Crunk as well as the others, had failed to notice that there was a person that didn''t quite fit the bill. Although Zain was older than the others, it wasn''t by much. He was, after all, only a university student.


    Dali, now stood behind Zain and was looking at the weapon that had literally saved his life. It was one of the new ones that he hadn''t recognised before. Still, even he was confused as to why Zain had gotten involved.


    So far, during the journey, there were times where Zain seemed to have little interest in helping the group. If there was something that he could gain from it as well, then he would do so.


    Which made Dali wonder, what was there that he could gain from this?


    [New quest received]


    [You are being attacked by a group of superhumans]


    [Survive the attack, or make them retreat!]


    [Reward: Silver card]


    There were multiple things for Zain to gain out of this alteration. For one, there was the reward for a silver card, which made Zain think that this task wasn''t too hard of one, at least for him.


    On top of that, he had a chance to grow his army, and add a new super zombie to the team.


    "Move out of the way! Otherwise, I''ll have to kill you as well!" Crunk shouted.


    It seemed that whatever had caused Crunk to be stunned, and silenced, for a few seconds was no longer working as he reverted back to his regr self.


    "Brother, why does that man want to kill us?" Wiz asked, shaking after he could see what he could do with his fingers.


    How was Dali meant to exin this situation to his brother, and would Zain continue¡­ No, could he even protect them all?<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You guys helped me obtain the crystals from before, and I still haven''t gotten you to the Zombie Hunters base yet. So I will protect you." Zain said, as he started to walk forward.


    "I wish to join the Zombie Hunters." Zain said, as he walked forward. "I want to have a fight with you. If I win, then I join the Hunters. If I lose, I won''t get in the way."


    Before saying anything, Crunk looked at the person, up and down. His body wasn''t abnormallyrge, he didn''t look well built. The only worrying thing was the weapon he had. Which made Crunk think that the weapons, or their state, might be an ability that he had.


    ''Another ability user, if I win the fight and bring him back with me, the base would reward me greatly. Even if I lose, he wille with us anyway. I can still give payback to the others.


    ''By then, it will be toote for him to do anything, and the other members can stop him if necessary. Besides, I doubt he would do such a thing, if he has interest in joining the Zombie Hunters.  I guess this is just a little act from him, a final farewell to hisrades. He can live peacefully knowing he did everything he could to help them.''


    "Alright, I ept, let''s see if you have what it takes to be a Zombie Hunter." Crunk said, as heughed and stepped forward.


    Zain did the same and the two were around ten metres away from each other in the car park. There wasn''t apletely clear area, as there were a couple of destroyed cars towards the side of the two of them.


    The Wild Bones had actually decided to hide behind one of these cars, as they watched the fight from afar.


    "If he tries to zapp us at least we have a bit of cover, and he can''t say he hit us by ident during the fight." Nit exined to the others.


    "Hey¡­ are we going to dart while the two of them are fighting?" One of the members asked.


    "What!" Dali said, turning around and nearly hit his fellow gang member but soon stopped himself. "Don''t you understand, we were the one that brought him here. We were the one that got him into this mess and without him we would have died twice now, and now you want us to run."


    The member felt ashamed after hearing Dali''s exnation, but it was in human nature to want to survive, and honestly based on the past of the Oil Burners, they felt like Crunk wasn''t going to make this a fair match.


    To top it all off, there was a high chance that all of those that were with Crunk were ability users as well. Judging by the deep smirks they had behind Crunk on their faces, it seemed to very well be the case.


    Zain pulled out the white and ck swords, and was ready to try out his new weapons, to see if he was ready for the Reborn group.


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 196 Becoming An Enemy

    The side that was supporting Crunk were confident, as they were almost leaning on cars, sitting back and rxing. As for the rest of the Wild Bones, they were nervous. Even though Zain had proved himself when fighting against the evolved zombies, this was somethingpletely different.


    Humans were smarter than the zombies, and this one in particr had a special power. The things Zain did, they seemed extraordinary, but were still within the realm of human capabilities.


    "Do you think he can win?" Nit asked.


    Hearing this question, Dali started to think back to the subway station. In his mind there was a sure way for Zain to win this fight, but would he reveal that type of power here?


    ''If someone learned he had the power to control zombies, then maybe even the military and other countries would search for him.''


    There was no chime or bell for when the fight would start, which was why hidden behind his back, Crunk was already heating up one of his fingers. From behind, his team members could see him charging up his power, then swinging his arm out, aser-like bullet shot out.


    The attack wasn''t as fast as a bullet, but in a lot of ways it worked a lot better than one. For one, it made no noise, meaning it wouldn''t attract the surrounding zombies in the area.


    ''Let''s test this out first.'' Zain thought, as he stepped to the side and swung his white sword out. The energy beam wouldn''t hit him, but still could potentially cut through the sword.


    Just like before, the energy beam was unable to go through the weapon. However, it shook a bit as it took the attack.


    ''The good news is that the weapon can take his power, but it''s not as sturdy as the Titan de. A few more hits and it might break.'' Zain thought.


    The surprise attack didn''t quite work, and it was mainly due to Zain''s agility stat. It didn''t just increase his speed, but also his perception and was how he was able to track things so well.


    After all, if there was a point where Zain could truly move at the speed of a car, what was the point if he was unable to see things around him? For now though, he would keep his true speed underwraps.


    Pulling out his other hand, Crunk started to fire anotherser, and matching it Zain swung his Titan sword. As it hit, a small ping sound was made and theser evaporated into nothing.


    "Damn you!" Crunk shouted, as Crunk fired oneser after another toward Zain. He continued to swing his Titan sword, hitting each one. It was easy for him to tell which hand Crunk would use and when he would fire because Crunk''s fingers lit up.


    ''I guess this whole time all you''ve been doing is fighting zombies, so you don''t even know your own weaknesses yet. Oh well, it just means it''s better for me!'' Zain thought.


    So far he had been in a stationary position blocking all of the attacks, but for the first time while blocking theser hits, he started to move forward as well. For now, it was very important for Zain not to win this fight outright or too easily.


    If he struggled it wouldn''t look good either, as the other members would think they could do what they wished. For him, the best way was to win the fight suddenly.


    "Your sword, just because you have that sword, you''re able to block my hits. Well then, try and block this!" Crunk shouted, as he pointed all of his fingers at Zain.


    Each one of them lit up, but it gave Zain a brief break. Still, tensers at once wasn''t something that he would be able to block.


    ''I could just block the attacks aimed at my head. My body should be able to deal with it.'' Zain thought.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Just as he was about to do that, he looked down at the Bonezom machete, and remembered one of its abilities.


    ''Wait a second, maybe that will work.''


    [Weapon skill has been activated]


    The machete started to change its form, as the shaft turned into a handle and the rest of the weapon spread out slightly, now round in shape andrger in size. What Zain had created for himself was a shield.


    All of thesers came out, and moving out of the way, Zain dodged a few of them, and used his shield to block most of the hits that were aimed at his head and heart. It looked like Crunk had let his anger get the better of him and he had tried to kill Zain.


    If he had aimed at several different ces, then Zain would have maybe still been hit.


    ''The weapon''s transformation skill is good, but a few more hits and it would be done for. The shield shape doesn''t suit it, but ites handy in situations like this!''


    Zain charged forward,  his head under the shield, with nothing to worry about. He was also already at a close enough distance where it took only two steps to reach him, then out from behind the shield, Zain swung the Titan sword cutting off the hand of Crunk.


    "ARGHHH MY HA-"


    Before Crunk could finish his sentence, Zain swung it again, slicing off the other hand. It went through with ease and was nothing like when he cut through the Titan''s or the other zombies'' bodies.


    Out of shock and unable to use his powers, Crunk fell to the floor and could see Zain standing over him.


    "Wait, what are you doing! Are you going to kill me?" Crunk asked.


    "Isn''t that what you tried to do to me, moments ago?" Zain replied.


    "You can''t kill me, if you do, you''ll be an enemy of the Zombie Hunters. They wille after you for killing one of us! You said you wanted to join us as well, right... just don''t kill me!" Crunk cried.


    The others that were standing by the side, were afraid to jump in. It was taking them some time to process what had just urred.


    "It''s okay." Zain replied. "I''m already the main enemy of you Zombie Hunters anyway."


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 197 Bad Timing

    "It''s okay." Zain replied. "I''m already the main enemy of you Zombie Hunters anyway."


    The others were too far away to hear these words, and Crunk who had heard them, didn''t understand the meaning behind them and was far too scared for his life to be thinking about those things.


    His only life line, his powers which were in his fingers, he was unable to use and he had no idea how to use his powers any other way.


    With a swing of the sword, Zain stopped just after cutting the skin from his throat. The surface had been cut and blood was trickling down. However, the eyes of Crunk were gone.


    He was feeling lightheaded and suddenly fell over backwards as he had passed out at that moment.


    ''Oh?'' Zain thought. ''I was never going to kill him in the first ce, as I wanted to turn him, but I guess this works as well.''


    Zain then turned to the others and it appeared his n had worked. Defeating what was most likely their strongest member in a blink of an eye in front of them, would make them all feel powerless. This feeling that they had right now though, would soon disappear so Zain had to act fast.


    Stepping forward, Zain was ready to run over to the others, but it looked like one of them had acted fast.


    "Everyone grab on!" One of the youngest members said, and the others seemed to listen as they grabbed their packs and held onto whatever part of the member they could. They grabbed his arms, legs, chest and more.


    With a blink, the next second they were all gone and they had disappeared just like that. Zain couldn''t even use his sense of smell to smell them anymore.


    "So they left, it must be some type of teleportation power." Zain looked down, as Crunk was still passed out on the floor. "It looks like they need to all touch him to teleport though. All the powers I''ve seen so far have some type of limitation. Guess they had no choice but to leave you behind.


    "But based on what I just saw your friends do, I doubt that they will be searching for me. They didn''t even stay behind to attempt to save you. What a naive person."


    It was then that the rest of the Wild Bones came running out from behind the car they were hiding behind. They had waited a little bit after seeing the Zombie Hunters disappear thinking that they might being back, but quickly realised that they had to have run away.


    "Zain you were so cool!" Wiz shouted, as he was the first to approach, and the little kid couldn''t help but look at the hand that was on the floor. Of course, the kid, after surviving for as long as he had done, had seen a lot worse than this.


    "Zain, thank you for fighting for us." Dali finally said. "I never imagined that of all the people from the Zombie Hunters, we would run into someone like him."


    The real question on everyone''s mind though, was what did they do now? The other Zombie Hunters had seen their faces, and their first impression of the group they were seeking out didn''t give them a good impression.


    "Our journey, it ends here." Zain said, as he stood up and put Crunk''s body over his shoulder. "The Zombie''s Hunters'' base is not far from here and there is a chance I could run into more of them.


    "After this they will be after me, not you. Not all of the Zombie Hunters you have met will be like this guy."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Zain was speaking from experience as he remembered the same woman he had met from before.


    "I''m sure that if you exin to them what happened, they would understand your situation. You guys are talented and they will need people like you. They won''t just be a group of ability users, they will need regr people to do other tasks as well, and you guys are a good group.


    "You don''t have to join them, but I was just giving you my opinion on what would be best for your survival, for you, your friends and your brother."


    Without letting them reply, Zain was already walking off with Crunk''s body and everyone was left looking at the back of Zain. It was a strange feeling for them all, as they felt like they had just lost a leader looking at this.


    "Do we have to go with the Zombie Hunters, why can''t we keep travelling with Zain?" Wiz asked.


    "I would have liked that as well." Dali stated. "But I think he''s just different from us, and we would only slow someone as great as him down. Maybe one day, we''ll be able to help him."


    "I think your right Dali." Nit said with a big smile. "Zain gave us options and not one of them was to travel with him. In the future, we will have to make him consider it as an option. We will pay him back."


    ¡ª¡ª


    When Zain was finally a good distance away from the others, he entered an alleyway and ced Crunk down. He was still bleeding from his wound. It was no wonder he hadn''t woken up, and if Zain didn''t turn him soon, Crunk would lose his life.


    "I wanted to turn a few of the others as well. It''s a shame that they ran away. Oh well, I hope you can use your ability without your hands, or at least grow them back." Zain thought as he went to open his mouth and deliver a bite.


    Superhumans were more resistant to the virus, so there was a chance that he wouldn''t turn, but he had to try.


    As Zain opened his mouth to bite down, a pain in the back of his head started.


    ''No¡­ not now.'' Zain thought.


    His vision started to go blurry, and his whole body was going weak, as he fell to the ground, passing out himself.


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future

 Chapter 198 A Bad And Worse Choice

    Once in a while, a trigger would ur as Zain had named it. Arge headache would ur which was strange for his zombie self which didn''t feel pain anywhere on his body, and soon after he would pass out.


    At times it would be a vision and he would appear as a child and after experiencing these visions, he would remember what had ured in them.


    At other times it seemed to be something more to do with the system, but he still hadn''t quite figured it out yet nor the reason behind them.


    Regardless, right now this trigger was uring at one of the worst times possible. He had yet to bite Crunk, the superhuman, if the other was to wake up and Zain was seen there on the floor, without a doubt he would attempt to kill him¡­ ending his life.


    ''This piece of crap body, can''t you see what situation I was in. I''m doing everything I can to survive and it feels like sometimes you are trying to do everything you can to kill me!''


    There was no answer, at least Zain thought there was no answer, but soon a familiar message box appeared in front of him.


    [The system is currently receiving an update]


    The message had appeared in apletely dark room. There was nothing¡­ Zain was unable to see his own hands, or body; it was almost as if he was stuck here while the system was updating.


    "You have improved considerably." A deep voice said.


    This voice, it was one that Zain recognised, it wasing from the faceless man that he saw in his visions.


    Although Zain wanted to reply, he was unsure if it was talking to him, and in the past the faceless man appeared to dislike when it found out Zain truly wasn''t the one in the visions.


    "I have done my best to teach you as much knowledge as I can, passing on everything that you might need to survive in this world.


    "However, there are some things that might ur where you will be forced into a choice. Right now, you will be forced to choose."


    The ck space that he was in was starting to go away and an image was reappearing once again. The night sky could be seen out.


    Zain could feel his heartbeating once again and the wind was blowing quite strongly. When looking out from the view, it appeared they were on top of an apartment building of some sort.


    The surface was t and the rooftop was clear with a short ledge, but in front of him there was the one thing he wasn''t hoping to see.


    The faceless man was standing there. He had his camo uniform on as if he was a member of the army, but as usual there was no face.


    This time he wasn''t alone either. There were two people that had ck bags over their heads sitting on chairs and had been tied up.


    "These two people here you do not know." The faceless man said. "So you don''t have to worry about them. However, they have a family, people who care and worry about them dearly. If they were to die they would be greatly missed, that is a fact."


    Zain had to wonder what type of vision this was and who was this mad man in the first ce. When he looked at himself once again he was in his child-like body, around 11 years old at the top.


    Was this someone else''s memories, because he sure didn''t ever do something like this, yet a situation like this had reminded him of something simr.


    Looking down at his hands for a second they were covered with blood, but it soon disappeared quickly.


    ''I''m having visions in visions, great.'' Zain sarcastically said to himself.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I said before that you would have to make a choice and one of the important things that you need to do is to get used to killing."


    For a second, Zain was worried, worried that he knew where the faceless man was going with this. As he looked down to his right, on the ground there was arge dagger sitting unused.


    Zain went to pick it up.


    "You are catching on, as I would expect. Your duty is to kill one of these people. You can ask any question you wish and I will answer about their lives.


    "Kill one, and the other lives. Kill none, and they will both die by my hands."


    Immediately Zain scrunched his face at the choice.


    Although this was a vision, there was a sense of reality to this that he didn''t like.


    In some ways, the real world felt like the fake one to Zain. He was a zombie, a person who couldn''t feel pain and there was madness and death everywhere.


    Yet here, he could hear his heartbeat, feel the wind and even smell the air. This world, apart from the faceless man, felt very real.


    Which made him second guess himself, if this was real or the real world, then did he really have to decide.


    With the dagger held in his hand, Zain walked forward toward the two wondering what to do.


    As he walked he tried to ess the system, but the same message asst time had appeared, stating that it was in the middle of updating.


    ''Come on, get me out of this thing¡­ I can''t do this?''


    Why was it so hard, Zain had killed easily ever since turning into a zombie. No, more correctly, it was ever since he lost Skittle¡­ So why was this so hard?


    "You''re shaking." The faceless man said. "Hurry, are there any questions you want to ask?"


    Zain stopped, in front of the two people, while the faceless man stood to his side.


    "I do have a question." Zain finally spoke. "Are those really the only two options?"


    "What do you me-"


    Before the man could finish his sentence, Zain had leap toward him with the dagger in hand. There were always other options if one looked hard enough.


    ******


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time frees up in the future

 Chapter 199 Option 3

    There was a simple reason that Zain had survived in the new zombie world out there so far. At least it was the reason he believed he had survived for so long, and it was because he treated everything like a game.


    The many survival games he yed were ones where one made the best decision at the time for the situation. In real life, there were times where feelings, emotions and more were in y. However, in his zombie body he had learned somewhat how to disregard this.


    It never felt very real to him, due to his new body, the emotions were numbed down on top of every other feeling. Yet here, in this what he assumed was a vision, it wasn''t the same.


    He could feel his heartbeat, was alive, and his senses were sharp. When trying to put himself in a game situation, once again he found it difficult, which had allowed him to think a little more clearly.


    If this was a game, then right now there were two forced options he could choose from, and it was obvious¡­ kill one to save the other. Perhaps one would ask about their family situation, how old their rtives were, if they were a good person or not, and choose from there.


    This is what the faceless man wanted him to do, and there was this urge inside of Zain, to try and not to do whatever the faceless man wished.


    ''In games, there are only two options because it''s been coded that way, but here I can feel, I''m in control of my body and I can do what I want. There aren''t only two options, I can make a third option!'' Zain shouted inside his head, as he had leapt with the dagger towards the faceless man.


    Due to the height difference between the two, Zain could only really aim for his upper chest or the stomach, and instead went for a stab toward the stomach. The tip of the de looked to have pierced part of his uniform but soon an arm had grabbed his wrist and pushed it off to the side.


    Arge cut was made on the man, across his stomach. It was only a flesh wound but blood had still been split. Twisting the dagger in an odd way, Zain had broken free from the grip and had caught the dagger as it was falling, quickly jumping back.


    ''That''s strange. I was always good with swordsmanship, but never so much with the dagger.'' Zain thought. ''But all the actions I just did then, it felt so natural. Is it because I''m here again.''


    "Look at you." The faceless man said. It was still hard to get used to when the man was speaking, as the sound was clear, yet nothing on his body moved other than his arms to indicate he was talking.


    "After everything I have done for you. Everything I have done for this world, is for you to survive, for us to survive as a race, and yet now, you are here attacking me!" The faceless man yelled, he was clearly annoyed.


    "I was the one who brought you into this world, and now you want me to take you out yet!"


    Zain looked at his hand and it was slightly shaking, it was thest words the man spoke, it made him react in a certain way. His stomach was starting to churn slightly and now his mouth was starting to move on its own.


    "I have to do it again." Zain said.


    These words had confused the faceless man.


    "I have to get rid of you again!" Zain ran forward, more wild than before, and went to stab the man who moved out of the way, to the side. He went to grab Zain''s wrist again, but with an upward sh he had cut the man''s hand, and the system message had appeared.<novelnext></novelnext>


    [Dagger mastery is now level 3]


    shing and stabbing, the man was avoiding it all, and he was being careful now about when he would go and try to grab the wrist. The way he was acting, it was as if he or it could truly die.


    "I see now." The man said, when Zain charged in once again, instead of using his hands, he kicked upward, hitting the bottom of the dagger. It was a forceful kick that had sent the dagger flying into the air and off in the distance, now there was no weapon in Zain''s hand.


    ''Sh*t with the size difference, and the strength of this body, there is no way I can beat this guy.'' Zain thought.


    "You are not them. Why are you here again? Did I not warn you thest time, that if you were toe in here, I would kill you. Yet for some reason you keeping here!" The faceless man stated.


    [System haspleted its update]


    At that moment, Zain felt his body was fading, the area around him, the sky and everything was disappearing and it looked like the faceless man could tell as well. As he just stood there epting his fate, but his head was aimed in the direction of Zain.


    "I have a feeling now that we will meet again, and next time I will recognise you right away."


    A chill was sent down Zain''s spine when he heard those words, which made him hope that he wouldn''t being back to wherever this was any time soon.


    Everything had disappeared, and Zain was seeing nothing but ck once again. Control over his eyes were starting to work, and as he started to open them there was one good sign.


    ''I''m not dead¡­ did Crunk not wake up. Or was I gone for a short enough time?'' Zain thought.


    When opening his eyes though, he soon saw another face looking down at him, staring right into his eyes.


    "K¡ªKe ¡ªKelly!"


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 200 A System Update?

    Opening his eyes, one of thest people that Zain expected to see was Kelly. Maybe Kun, a stranger or maybe even Crunk ready to bash his head in, but why of all people, was she in front of him?


    Kelly was a person who he had met, what felt like a long time ago, with Skittle.


    Right now, it looked almost as if she was looking from top down, her body was to the right, and based on this angle, it was almost as if he was lying on herp.


    Lifting his head, he looked back and quickly realised.


    ''It didn''t feel like I was lying on herp, but I am lying on herp.''


    "You must be a bit confused." Kelly said, as she could see Zain was looking at his surroundings. They were in a normal everyday apartment, but that was what confused him even more, because thest thing that he could remember was that he was on the street.


    "You were passed out when I came across you and it was starting to get dark, so I dragged you in here." Kelly exined.


    For a second, Zain was trying to get his bearings, because the vision he had moments ago felt very real, and in some ways, this did as well. There was a need to clear his head in order to think things through logically.


    ''How, was she able to drag me to an apartment floor? We look like we are on the second floor. I know I don''t weigh much, about 80kg, but still, that would be hard for a single person?''


    "Alright." Zain said, shaking his head. "You said, you found me, I was in the street. At least that part adds up. If you really saw me, there was a person wearing a ck leather jacket with me."


    "There was, might be the right word." Kelly replied back. "I was roaming around on the streets, and that''s when I saw the zombies all heading towards a certain direction. When I arrived, it seemed like they were making quite the meal out of the one in the leather jacket you spoke of."


    Zain clicked his tongue. It was a shame that a superhuman had died just like that. He would have loved to have turned him, and even then, his brain would have been useful to find out what he knew about the Zombie Hunters and how they operated.


    Perhaps now their numbers were small, but the fact that Zain was running into more and more superhumans, it was a worry. Maybe, zombie''s would no longer be the problem in the future.


    "Well, thank you for getting me out of that situation." Zain stated. "But I have a few questions if you don''t mind."


    The two were never particrly close with each other, not how he was with Cody, which was why it felt slightly awkward and he felt the need to speak politely when talking.


    "Where is Cody, or better yet, what happened, after I stayed behind. Did you finally manage to get to the museum?" Zain asked.


    Kelly had been expecting this question, and she wasn''t so sure how to answer it when she knew Zain would eventually wake up.


    "There is a lot I need to talk to you about¡­" Kelly stated.


    Kelly went on to exin what had ured, how Kun and Pink had left, as they went to search for him. Meanwhile, her and Cody had joined the museum and their group. Things were good and everything was fine until they had suffered arge scale attack from a random group of people.


    After that, she had paused again, because this was where the tricky exnations would start toe in for her, but if there was anyone that might understand something simr to what she was going through, it would be Zain.


    So after taking a big deep breath she went on to exin how she had fought back, and the changes she had experienced in her body.


    "I¡­ really don''t know what is happening to me, and after getting rid of the attackers, I could see the look on their faces. I wasn''t wee there anymore, so I didn''t even get to say a proper goodbye to Cody.


    "I was wandering around outside for a while, and that''s when I realised as well, not even the zombies seem to attack me anymore." These words were clearly painful for her, because she started to tear up, and was no longer able to speak.


    Zain listened to her story well, but found everything a little strange. What was Kelly? She hadn''t been bitten, and honestly with her right next to him, she didn''t smell like a zombie, but she didn''t smell like a human either. So he understood why the zombies weren''t going after her.


    ''The only thing I can guess is the final experiment from that doctor had worked, he had managed to create a superhuman, but even a superhuman smelled like a superhuman, whereas Kelly didn''t.''


    "I don''t think you have to worry too much." Zain replied. "Let me put you a little at ease. You''re not like me. I''m sure you already know, but I''m an undead, a zombie, I''m like those out there but slightly different, which is why I can tell you''re not like me."


    Kelly wiped her tears away, and although it was some relief, it still ced arge question mark in her mind/


    "Then, what am I?" Kelly asked.


    "I''m not sure. I don''t really know why I am like the way I am either, and I''m trying to find out. I''m not a scientist or doctor so I can''t help you, but I am going somewhere, somewhere they might be able to." Zain stated.


    When waking up, there was another change, a change to his system. In the vision it was stated that his system had been updated, but with what exactly? The only thing he noticed that was something different, was that a new quest had been received, but it came with no reward.


    [New quest]


    [Head to the Reborn group]


    At the same time, when selecting the quest, a map appeared, showing him the exact location of the Reborn group.


    ''It looks like my hunch was right, they have something to do with this system after all.''


    *****


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 201 Growing Territory

    When looking at the system, Zain thought he was in luck a little bit. Because ording to his map, the Reborn group wasn''t even something that was in this city, it was in a small town that was quite a drive away.


    ''I guess it would make sense. It''s not like they can have a secret room, doing all sorts of things in a big city like this.'' Zain thought.


    Eventually, as well, Zain believed that he would have to leave this ce at some point. He didn''t know why but there was just an initial attraction to this ce for a reason.


    ''There are a couple of things that I need to decide before leaving this ce though.'' Zain thought. ''Do Iplete some of the quests that I still have. There was the meteorite one. I guess due to how high-level of a quest it is, it would make more sense to find out more, and I can alwayse back here.''


    With that Zain had made his decision, he would visit the Reborn group first, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t do a few things on his way there. Both him and Kelly were walking through the streets, and Kelly was blindly following him.


    She had nowhere to go, no direction and the person who she felt was most like her now, was Zain. So she decided to travel with him to wherever this Reborn group was.


    "So what are we looking for?" Kelly asked.


    "We need a car, but the centre of the city is too cluttered. It would take a long time to drive out of the ce and the noise would just attract attention. So we''re walking to the edge of the city to see if we can find a clearer way out of this ce."


    The answer satisfied Kelly, but there was still a lot on her mind. When she asked Zain about how he knew this group, or why he thought they could help them, he didn''t really have an answer, apart from that they might not.


    His words didn''t really give her confidence but she wanted to find out more about herself.


    Eventually, like Zain had said, the two had walked out of the main centre where traffic would have been busy, and now were approaching what looked like arge school. There was a wall surrounding it and multiple entrances covered in blood.


    When the two reached the main entrance, they could see multiple zombies roaming around it and in the open area, including children that had been turned as well.


    "Is this the Reborn group area?" Kelly asked.


    "Does it look like it to you?" Zain snappily replied. "I told you before. There is an underground carpark for the teachers in this ce. We''re going to be borrowing a car, but before that, we need to clear the area."


    "Wait, by clear, you don''t mean to get rid of all the zombies. In a school, there could be 1000''s here. Why do we need to do that?" Kelly asked.


    Raising his hand, Zain had three fingers up.


    "First, I want to see your capabilities. While fighting the zombies, I want to see the limit of your powers, skills and more, and if the zombies will see you as an enemy. If your going to travel with me, I need to see everything you''re able to do."


    Putting one finger down, there looked to be two more points.


    "Second, when this area is cleared it will be our base. We need a ce to store things, and the school isrge and secure. There is even a big wall so it''s a good ce to hold up in, if there is ever a need."


    After that, Zain had one finger raised up, and just headed into the front of the school.


    "Wait, didn''t you say there were three points! What''s thest point?" Kelly asked.


    Zain''s hand was now on the ground and she was wondering what he was doing. When his hand started to light up, soon she could see figures being summoned in the area around him. They were humans! No, she was wrong about that, they were zombies, and some of them she recognised well, such as Cobra.


    The zombies quickly went into action and seeing that, Kelly had forgotten about thest point, but Zain hadn''t; he just didn''t say it out loud because it only made sense to him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''I need to see, if clearing the area, will make this my territory and just howrge of a territory I can keep. The passive exp from areas is sure to be a game changer.


    Inside the ce, it seemed to be filled with mostly zombies. So Zain wouldn''t lose exp, he decided to let the others do most of the work including Kelly. Watching her carefully, he noticed that she certainly was special and looked to be an all arounder.


    Zain had done a lot to improve his stats, but she was just as fast, just as strong, and just as durable as well. The only thing was, she didn''t have any of the skills to back it up. She had been scratched, and even bitten by a couple of zombies who would see her as hostile as soon as she started to attack them, including the regr zombies.


    But with this, Zain could make out two things. Her healing capabilities were far superior than his, and it looked like she was unable to turn into a zombie, even though she wasn''t one.


    ''Does this mean she''s immune? Maybe it''s a good thing to keep her by my side. In some ways, she might even be a superior version of me, because I''m an undead that can still pass on the infection.'' Zain thought to himself.


    When the area was eventually cleared, the system reacted.


    [The area is now clear and has be a imable territory]


    [Would you like to im the Chovan Experimental School?]


    [Yes]


    [Territory has been imed]


    [0/100 Current protectors]


    ''A 100? That''s arge number. I guess it''s because the ce is arge one as well. It will take me a while to fill it up, but I can do it on the way to the Reborn group.''


    Heading down to the carpark, there were plenty of cars to pick from, but he was searching for arge SUV that looked to be bulky and good and could take a few hits. Zain had eventually picked his car, even though there were a couple of sports cars to choose from, and his inner self wanted to pick them since he had never driven such things before, he chose not to.


    Driving together, the two of them eventually left the city, and were finally on the way to the Reborn group. Sitting in the seat next to Zain, Kelly couldn''t help but continue to look at him until words eventually blurted out of her mouth.


    "I''m sorry." Kelly said. "You probably have no idea why I''m saying sorry to you, but it''s because I prejudged you about your past. I know we don''t know each other that well, but you''ve saved me more than once. I think I''m starting to know what type of person you are.


    "Which is why I apologise. There must have been some mistake about you in your file at the school or something." Kelly smiled.


    There was silence for a moment, until Zain replied.


    "It''s not a mistake, what you read about me, it''s probably all true."


    Saying these words, Zain started to think back, about his past.


    *****


    Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free''s up in the future

 Chapter 202 A Hint Of A Past

    When looking at the highway the two of them were on, it was emptier than Kelly had expected. For one, many of the cars looked to have been moved to the side of the road and onto thend or in with the trees and such.


    In some cases, it looked like arge vehicle had just bulldozed them out of the way. On top of that, there just weren''t many cars. It looked like whenever the attack happened, and where the attacks were concentrated, most people weren''t out on the road at the time. They were in the cities and such.


    Because of this, their driving experience was quite smooth. Still, there was silence in the car between the two, as neither person was talking to the other and it was just leaving Kelly to think about the conversation they had not too long before.


    ''I remember at school when they gave me that report. So what it said, ording to Zain, it was all true?'' Kelly thought.


    On the report she was given, the warning from the principal of the school was the fact that Zain was a juvie student. A student who had been to a Juvenile Detention Centre. They were called by many different names but practically, it was a prison for kids who were underage.


    Kelly was a substitute teacher at the same university as Zain. At that age, Zain was able to go to prison, which meant whatever it was he had done, he had done it before university when he was still considered a child.


    There were multiple reasons why a kid might go to a Juvie centre, but it was usually cases that were beyond what teachers or parents could handle, and when looking at Zain''s file, it was one of the worst crimes one couldmit.


    ''Zain said what was written on his file was true, so that means¡­ he really was a murderer.'' Kelly thought.


    Those were the words that were written on his report. The thing was, what was clearly stated on the report was "murder" and not manughter, which were two clearly different things.


    In many cases, where one kills the victim by ident, through self defence or with no intention, it would be considered manughter, but in Zain''s case, the file indicated murder, which meant he was sane, it was intentional as well.


    It was something Kelly had never seen before, and it was the reason why she was so frightened of him. Sure, she had seen many peoplemit such an act in the current world, and if Zain was to do those things now, she would understand, but what could have possibly driven a person so much to make themmit such an act before the world had be like so.


    Once in a while, thinking about this, Kelly would nce over at Zain. He didn''t seem like a crazy person, and all of her interactions with him had been rtively nice. She wanted to ask about his past, ask about what happened back then, but it didn''t seem like Zain wanted to talk about it.


    When he was in the position to, or when she felt close enough to ask that question, she would find out the reason why.


    For Zain though, this exined a lot, he wondered why Kelly was so cautious about him, and now that he knew she knew about his past, he felt like he could rx slightly.


    "So¡­ you want to know, don''t you?" Zain said with a smile. "I¡­ don''t like speaking about it too much, and a lot of it I tried to remove out of my mind, but it''s impossible, especiallytely with all the visions I''ve been having. I-"


    Just when Zain was about to talk about it, he started to slow down the vehicle because there was a row of cars in front, a barricade that almost blocked the car from going further.


    Looking at the map, they still weren''t really out of the current city area, and they still had a ways to go before heading to the Reborn group.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What''s happening?" Kelly asked.


    The two got out of the car, to see what was going on, and that''s when they could see other people had gotten out of their cars as well. After exiting from their vehicles, they would start to walk around the barricade of cars, or through the small gaps that were left open.


    "We will just have to see." Zain replied. "We''ll have a look, and if there is trouble, then we''ll try heading another way."


    Zain wondered with his current strength if he could push and move the cars out of the way, but the amount of humans that were here was what was rming him. In this area alone there were around ten or so, doing the same thing.


    When they eventually went through one of the small gaps in the barricade, they could see up ahead there were several rows of people, each one containing around 20 people, there had to be hundreds of people here.


    "What do we do?" Kelly asked, because she had seen why people were lining up.


    "I''m not sure what our best option is." Zain replied while thinking.


    The reason why the people were queuing up was to exit out of the city, because the military had formed a barrier. They all had weapons, andrge vehicles were surrounding the exits. It looked like they were checking every person that went in and out of the ce.


    If it was set up here, it was most likely set up everywhere in the area. Which meant they were stuck. If they wanted to head to the Reborn group''s hideout, they would have to confront the military either way, and Zain was sure he would be sniffed out.


    *****


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 203 A Plan Or No Plan

    After seeing the soldiers in front of them, Kelly''s initial reaction was to turn around, and that''s exactly what she did, but she soon stopped as she realised something. There were more soldiers that were standing behind them.


    ''Were they hiding behind the barrier of cars?'' Kelly thought.


    It seemed to be the case, from the other side of the barrier all they could see was a gap, but the soldiers didn''t reveal themselves. If they were to attempt to head back the other way now, it was clear that they would be suspicious to say the least.


    "Let''s just stay looking in this direction for now." Zain said, as he bent down and pretended to tie his shoece. There were quite a few others that seemed to be startled by the sight of the soldiers and weren''t heading forward, so they were safe to think for a bit¡­ for now.


    Looking around him, Zain was looking at his options. Every single one of them had automatic rifles. On top of that, they had even more equipment on the back of the trucks near the self made border.


    ''All of these are trained on how to use weapons, as well. I can see one way of surviving, and that''s rushing back, and getting back in the car, to head back to the school. Or maybe I could head to another territory like the Zombie Hunters.


    ''I doubt these groups will be so weing to the military after everything has happened, but that''s incredibly risky with how many there are, and who knows how many units they have in the city.''


    Zain soon stood up, and Kelly was right behind him, wondering what he was going to do.


    "So what''s the n?" Kelly asked.


    After a few seconds of thinking Zain had his answer, it was the only thing that he could think of that would solve a few other questions that he had.


    "I''m going to find out what they''re looking for." Zain asked, as he started to walk.


    Kelly quickly pulled up her hood that she was wearing and looked around, as she got close into Zain.


    "What do you mean by that, what are we going to do, are you nning to fight? I know we both can heal, but I don''t think we can heal from a few hundred bullets inside of us." Kelly stated.


    The reason why Kelly was worried was because Zain was walking forward rather than backwards. She too felt like they had a chance if they just got back in their car and rushed their way back.


    With the border up, they might not even chase them, but instead he was walking forward, to the area where there were more soldiers.


    "There is a big difference between me and you." Zain said. "You will head on first, they will check you and let you through the border with no problems. There are no bite marks on your body. From a visual inspection, you show no signs of being a zombie. Even if you are bit, you can heal the bite mark on your body, but for me it''s different."


    Zain pulled on his shirt, showing a bite mark that was around his neck.


    "It was the first bite, those that call themselves the Reborn all have it. The bite marks we received before turning. Now I need you to listen to me carefully."


    Kelly was expecting Zain to start to talk about a master n he had, but instead he was just giving her a set of directions. Directions beyond the city they were in, and they weren''t precise either, just a general idea of where to go.


    ''Why is he telling me all of this?'' Kelly thought, confused but soon Zain gave her a little nudge. Indicating that she was to go through first.


    Kelly was queued up in one of the lines for inspection and as she turned her head she could see Zain was standing there waiting.


    ''Is he trying to see if I''ll get caught or not? He''s using me as a tester?'' Kelly thought and was a little annoyed by this. If she did get caught, she then would have to rely on Zain toe help her, or her own strength and she wasn''t so sure based on who Zain was, whether or not he would help.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The que was moving slowly, but people were getting through and were allowed to walk to the other side, a little away from all the military vehicles. It looked like they had almost prepared cars for everyone to use if they wished, that were working. They were ced out in the field, one by one, and were even giving out keys.


    It was strange, even Kelly was finding it hard to figure out what the military''s goal was. Apart from the fact that they were looking for something in the city and whatever it was, they wanted to keep it inside.


    Eventually it was Kelly''s turn.


    There was a makeshift curtain that was drawn, blocking the view from the others in the line.


    The soldier used a torch and shined it in Kelly''s eyes, looking at each one of them. He then proceeded to check the rest of her face and used a machine to take her body temperature as well.


    "Alright take off all your clothes." The soldier asked.


    Kelly''s face went a little red but she understood why and did as asked, after an inspection, and with no bite marks present, the man shouted one word.


    "Pass!" The soldier said. "Put on your clothes and take only one of the keys from the basket. If you wish to return to the city, you will need to go through the same check again. Don''t get bit."


    Going through the border Kelly couldn''t believe it. She knew she wasn''t like them, she wasn''t a normal human, and yet she had passed all their checks.


    ''Does that mean¡­''


    However, Kelly''s happiness was short-lived as she could see Zain on the other side, he gave her a thumbs up, and there was a smile on his face. He had expected this result, and now it was his turn to stay in the que.


    He waited his turn, one person after another, and Kelly was carefully watching.


    "Hey, move along and get in a car, don''t block the way!" a soldier shouted.


    "I know, I know, just two seconds, I''m waiting for someone!" Kelly snapped back.


    Finally it was Zain''s turn and the curtain was drawn. The soldier grabbed his shlight but before he reached Zain, Zain spoke first.


    "I''m telling you now, I''m going to fail every single one of your tests." Zain said. "So rather than you getting scared and shooting me on the spot, let''s just call out your sergeant or general, or whoever is in charge okay?" Zain smiled.


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 204 A Deal

    The soldier was frozen stiff as he heard the man in front of him speak. To be honest, he didn''t really know what to do as it was the first time something like this had ever happened. The temperature measuring machine was held in his hand along with the torch in the other and he just stood there.


    ''Is this person joking?'' The soldier thought.


    Working at the border, the soldier had seen a number of different reactions from people. Those who would be nervous, sweating in buckets as they were checked. There would be those that were hiding a bite, and then when caught did a number of things.


    They would try to push past and run through the curtain, only to be shot down shortly after, others begged the soldier to let them go, to not tell anyone that they had been bitten. Stating that they were normal, they could speak well.


    Some had even tried to bribe the soldiers, in many different ways, using their bodies, giving them information among other things, but none of them worked.


    The thing was, depending on the wound and the person themselves, each person was different after they had been bit, but everyone who was bit would turn eventually. Even if they didn''t notice it, their body temperature would drop to abnormal levels.


    Their pupils wouldn''t react to a light being shone in their eye. Then finally, one was to check for a bite mark.


    Yet, this person in front of them, wasn''t nervous, and was practically telling him he was a zombie.


    "What, you don''t believe me?" Zain finally said. "Look, as I said, I will stay here, but you let me speak to whoever is in charge. You guys have to be looking for something right? But maybe at your level you don''t even know what you''re looking for."


    The soldier still didn''t know what to do, as he slowly walked forward and was ready to just proceed with his routine, he first pointed the temperature machine at Zain, and as expected, the machine came up with 23 celsius. That was the current temperature of the room.


    ''His temperature¡­ it''s not just a few degrees less, it''s room temperature. That makes no sense?'' The soldier thought.


    The human''s body temperature should measure around 37 degrees, it could be 1 above or less, or slightly high if one had a fever. The test they did, was to bring in anyone that was just a couple of degrees under, because it meant their body was in the process of dying.


    But for the body temperature of a person to reach room temperature, it would only be the case for apletely dead body.


    "Look I have important information about myself, as you can see I''m a strange one." Zain continued.


    "Marcus!" The soldier called out.


    Soon one of the soldiers that were standing guard watching the people came into the curtain. After whispering a few words, the original soldier ran off, and a few momentster, it looked like Zain had got the person he was looking for.


    An older gentleman with a chiselled face and with a grey beard and hair walked into the room. Although his face looked old,  his body was something that most would never achieve in their lifetime.


    There was a different sense of aura around this person and it was clear he was the one in charge. Immediately, the general also pulled out his hand gun and pointed it right at Zain''s head.


    ''I thought something like this would happen.'' Zain thought. ''It''s a good thing I unlocked the storage skill.''


    There were multiple bronze card rewards that Zain had received, and beforeing here he had imed all of the cards, most of them were exp, or subtle upgrades to the system and one of them was a storage unit.


    The storage unit, unfortunately, wasn''t like one of those from those games that had unlimited space, but it would hide whatever it was he could carry on his body. So his two weapons and hand guns had been ced inside the storage unit for now.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "They said you wanted to speak to me, you are either very brave, or an idiot, and so far all I''ve met are idiots." The general said.


    Zain solely went to reach towards the top of his neck, and then pulled down, to show the bite mark he had received.


    "This is a wound I received one month ago." Zain started to exin. "I''m sure the soldier told you about the strange readings, but as you can see, even though I have been bit, I am still talking, I can still move and am very aware of my actions."


    The general seemed to raise an eyebrow as he heard this, but he wasn''t quite jumping for joy like Zain expected.


    ''Does this mean they were looking for something else, regardless I should still show an interest.''  Zain thought.


    "How can we trust you on your word? You could have been bit five minutes ago. Who cares what your body temperature is!" The general shouted.


    Zain smiled as he had an answer for this.


    "Well, I haven''t told you the best bit yet. You see, it''s clear my body had changed. In fact I would say that I''m a living, talking zombie, and the zombies don''t attack me.


    "I don''t know why I''ve turned out like this, but I thought you could perhaps use me, and if you don''t believe me. You can lock me up in a cell for a few days. I''m sure by then, you can tell if I was lying or not, or better yet, chuck me into a horde of zombies and see how they react."


    The general normally wouldn''t give anyone a chance to say such things and put a bullet through them as soon as he saw the bite mark, but the odd confidence this person showed. It was clear that they were confident for a reason, there wasn''t even a single hint of fear, as if one wasn''t afraid of death at all, and even soldiers were afraid of death.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Kelly had been waiting by the side for a while now, wondering what would happen to Zain, she slowly walked towards the car and finally could see it, a group of soldiers all walking out, and they had Zain held there, with handcuffs on, and rope tied around his arms as they walked along with him.


    "Zain''s been¡­ captured?" Kelly thought, but through all the people, she had seen something, she could see a smile on his face. "Is this¡­ part of his n?"


    ******


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 205 A Smart Choice

    The crowd behind the group of people that were lined up waiting to go past the border, could see a man getting carted off somewhere, and the way they were treating him wasn''t humane at all. As not a single soldier wanted to get close to the person.


    "Look at that. They don''t even have the manpower to enter the city and try to stop the situation, yet they are quite happy to ce a border, and treat us like crap." One of those in the queue said.


    "It most likely he got bit. We should be lucky that they aren''t just killing him outright. If one of us gets bit, maybe they will be taking us to a medical centre to see if they can do something."


    Of course, none were aware of the special situation Zain was in, and in the end, the army had locked him up in the back of a police van. There were bars at the back that would allow him to see through, but it was reinforced on the inside and no one else would be travelling with them.


    "Take him to the base!" The old man''s voice was heard.


    The van Zain was in started to drive away, and there was an escort truck not too far behind. There looked to be a total of eight soldiers with assault rifles held in their hand, and including the driver and his passenger, there were ten in total.


    ''It''s a lot less people than there were at the border. I guess they''ve never had a situation like mine if they''re treating me like this. If I really wanted to, I think with all my powers I could break out of here and escape, but then I wouldn''t find out everything I wanted.'' Zain thought.


    Through the small gap area that he could see, Zain noticed that the vehicle he was in wasn''t heading back into the city, but was heading somewhere else instead.


    ''There should be multiple military bases stationed in different areas. I guess their military base is a little ways out from the city. Away from people, making their life a bit easier.'' Zain thought. ''Judging by their reaction though, they weren''t looking for me. The border was set up for another reason, but at least, I managed to peak their interest.


    ''Let''s just see how much the military is involved in this, and how much they know.''


    Eventually from the small window, Zain could see that they were heading into the middle of some fields. There was just grasnd everywhere, and a fewrge trees here and there. There were almost no signs of life at all.


    However, with his sensitive hearing he could hear the sound of many people, vehicles moving,rge and heavy, even the sound of helicopter propellers. Without a doubt, they had arrived at an army base, and it seemed to be a rather big one.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Kelly, had seen everything. Since Zain''smotion had caused quite a stir, she as well as the other soldiers were stunned as they watched the scene in front of them. So she was no longer being told off for standing idly by.


    As Zain was practically forced into the vehicle, in her head, she kept flip flopping about what to do.


    ''I¡­ have strength and Zain himself is strong. If I was to try and break him out of that car now. We can maybe make it, right?'' Kelly thought. ''But then, wouldn''t Zain have asked me to do such a thing, or is he in a situation right now that even he didn''t know about.''


    In the end, it was the smile, the smile she had witnessed on his face that made her decide that the best thing to do was nothing, because before being captured he had given her a bunch of directions.


    ''Zain¡­ you told me these directions because you knew you would be caught, but why is this ce so¡­ important.'' Kelly thought.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The key''s were held in her hand, and it was herst chance, she could take the car and try to follow where Zain was going, or head to the location that had been given to her, and a choice had been made.


    Travelling in the car, Kelly''s eyes were beginning to fill with tears as memories were filling her head.


    ''Crap, why am I so useless!'' Kelly thought, as she banged her hand on the steering wheel, and bent it slightly. It still worked, but any harder and she would have destroyed the thing.


    ''Everyone around me gets hurt, and I finally find someone that can help me, and he gets taken away, right in front of me!'' Kelly thought.


    The destination was still a little away, about forty minutes of constant driving on the highway. She had eventually reached her destination. It was a small town, known for doing a lot of industrial work.


    There were a lot of factories and even a power nt as well. Like the city though, as soon as she got close with the car, it was practically useless for Kelly to drive on the roads. So she stopped the car by a petrol station that was just on the outskirts of the city.


    ''I''ll take the keys with me, never know when I might need the vehicle again.'' Kelly thought.


    From there she started to walk, and was repeating the name of streets in her head, she had no reference, and there was no phone to try and find where a particr location was. Luckily, Zain had told her to head to the power nt that could be seen from nearly anywhere in the city.


    From there, she needed to find the street names, and continue, and that''s exactly what she was doing.


    Until she had finally reached her destination. Not too far from the power nt, attached to the side, was a ratherrge factory. It was a big rectangr shaped building that was still quite intact.


    There was a wall surrounding it with barbed wire as well, and now she stood in front of a solid gate that needed to be opened, either from a button, or something Kelly didn''t really know.


    "Hello!" Kelly shouted. "Is this¡­ the Reborn group?" She asked, and eventually saw a camera on the wall blinking slightly red, showing that they were watching her.


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 206 The Reborn Base

    It didn''t take long for Kelly to notice that the camera was looking at her, and as she moved it seemed to be tracking her movements as well.


    ''What is this ce, there are obviously people inside, and zombies aren''t even gathered around here for some reason.'' Kelly thought. ''But, Zain asked me toe here for a reason, and he said that this might be the ce that can help me out.''


    Taking a deep breath, she soon turned toward the camera.


    "Hello, I know you can see me, you can hear me as well right?" Kelly asked. "I''m¡­ I''m here¡­  to find the Reborn group."


    Kelly decided not to say more than that, at least not for now, and only say what Zain had told her so far which wasn''t very much. After waiting a while, it seemed like there was next to no response.


    ''Should I just try and use my strength to break this?'' Kelly was starting to think, looking at her fist.


    "Please don''t do what your about to do." A disheartened voice said from a speaker that Kelly was finding it hard to locate. "How did youe to know of this location?" The voice finally asked.


    Now, Kelly was wishing she had pushed Zain a bit more, because she didn''t know anything about this group, so she decided to just go with the truth.


    "A friend." Kelly answered. "A friend was the one that said toe here, toe here to help with my situation."


    Once again there was a pause and next to no answer, but eventually there was a clicking sound that was heard and the door was seen sliding open slightly. She had been let in.


    When the door finally opened to the facility it looked the same as any other building. There was a space for cars to be parked in the car park, and then there was arge door on the other side that looked like it was locked by some type of pin code.


    Kelly tried the door, pulling it by the handle, but as she expected there was no luck.


    ''Well, they let me in, so I guess I''ll just wait.''


    While looking around, she was noticing more and more, how the ce really hadn''t been affected by the current circumstances that the world was facing. Beyond the wall, it was a different story but inside the wall, there was no blood, no signs of fighting or being hit by anything.


    A momentter, a young adult, around in his twenties with ck spiked hair and a scarf around his neck hade out of the door.


    "Stay still and don''t move." The boy said.


    She had noticed that it was the same voice that was on the speaker from before.


    "I''ll listen to what you say, but really I mean no harm." Kelly replied. "I''m just here because I have nowhere else to go."


    "Show me." The boy said. "Show me your bite mark."


    Now, Kelly really was out of options as to what to do, and guesses as to what this ce might be wereing into her head.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I don''t have one." Kelly replied, a little worried. "But I know why you''re asking. You''re like my friend right, you''re a zombie, a zombie that can think and talk. He had a bite mark on his neck, but for me, I can''t have a bite mark, my bite marks heal!"


    The boy raised an eyebrow as he heard her speak, and it was quite clear that he was suspicious of her. In a way, this made Kelly feel even more like an outsider. She couldn''t even fit in with the Reborn group, and what was she going to do if they were to turn her away.


    "Bring her to me." A voice was hearding from around the boy''s hip. A small radio was ced there, and the voice that hade out of it sounded like a female''s.


    The man kissed his teeth, not pleased with what was going on. He then went and undid his mask, revealing his face, which was a little scarred up. Part of his ear was missing, as it looked like it had arge bite taken out of it.


    "Hmm, maybe you are telling the truth, you don''t seem to scared." The man said, turning around. "Follow me."


    The two entered therge facility, and now they were walking through multiple white halls. There wasn''t much on the walls like there would be in a normal building, posters, or signs for the doors.


    Instead there were just doors with no signs at all, which was quite freaky in a way.


    ''The Reborn group, are they a group of people like Zain then? Is that why he said I might be able to find out what I am, and what he is, but how did he know about this ce? Did hee from here, no he was just a university student, so how would that be possible.''


    Kelly was incredibly confused, but for a second, depending on how many people were here and who they really were, she thought they might not just be able to help her, but help the captured Zain as well.


    Eventually, the man stopped and entered a room, he held the door open.


    "I''m not going to hold this all day for you, will you hurry up."


    Kelly skipped as she went into the room, and soon noticed that he and she weren''t the only ones here. It was a small room, with grey walls, and a mirror in the back. In the room, there was a desk and two chairs, one was empty, while the other, there was a woman sitting in it.


    On top of that, there were two people who were by her side wearing a thick uniform that looked simr to what a SWAT unit would wear. At that moment, Kelly noticed something, it was the fact that she was quite different from Zain and the zombies, because her nose was unable to tell the difference between a human and a zombie, but when looking at the person sitting down, for some reason, Kelly was sure she was human.


    "Please take a seat, you don''t have to worry, it''s just rare that we have visitors so we want to ask you a few questions." The woman, with blonde hair and in a whiteb coat asked.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 207 A Fresh Start

    The man who had let Kelly in was standing by the door, then there were the two dressed in SWAT-like uniforms standing by the side of the woman in theb coat. It was intimidating to say the least, and it was clear, there was no way of trying to get out of this room, not unless she wanted to fight her way out.


    ''I wonder how all of thesepare to Zain. The other''s we met, like the chained zombies, were a lot stronger than him. Maybe, it''s the same here, and I don''t think I could beat Zain in a fight, even with my new strength.'' Kelly thought.


    "Please, rx a little." The blonde woman in theb coat said. "This is just a procedure we do with all of our guests. As you would expect, we have some secrets that we can''t exactly let out."


    The woman was smiling, it was a warm smile, and for some reason, even though Kelly didn''t know this person, she wanted to trust her, wanted to pour everything out.


    "From what I''ve heard, your friend was the one that told you about this ce, Correct? Do you mind describing him to me?"


    Kelly gulped before answering, she thought the subject of speaking about Zain at least to others was taboo, but in a ce like this, where they were those like him, it should be fine, right? At least that''s what she thought.


    "He had red hair, and was a university student. There was a bite mark on his neck, he was fast and strong as well. He was also like you, I mean not like you, but like the others in the room." Kelly nervously answered.


    "Oh, so you can tell." The woman replied. "ording to my friends here, they say that you are not like us. I''m sure you might have guessed it by now, but this facility is for people like my friend, not for people like you and I."


    Kelly wanted to snap back, and ask why she was here then, and it also confirmed her suspicions that the one in front of her was a human. However, she kept her head held down. The fact was, based on how the first man listened to her radio call, it meant she was some type of big shot in this ce.


    "My friend." Kelly answered. "He said you could help us, you can help people like us. Even though I''m not the same. I''m not human. I can get bit, and I don''t turn into one of you guys. I have fast healing, super strength and speed as well. I¡­ don''t know what''s happening to me."


    The blonde researcher sat back in her seat for a while, and then leant forward once again.


    "Are you aware that from all of this chaos, there have been superhumans that have risen up, a new generation of humans as some people would say."


    Kelly nodded, she had seen a few things, Cobra with his superspeed, and the doctor who was obsessed in trying to create a superhuman. Is that what she was?


    "I have¡­ but there is one other thing. Zombies¡­ they don''t attack me."


    The researcher looked over to the man that was standing by the door, as if looking for an answer.


    "It''s true." The man replied. "She doesn''t smell like a human, but she doesn''t smell like a zombie either."


    This was a first case of its kind, as superhumans still attracted zombies, and with thatst bit of information. The researcher had made her decision.


    "First, I think I should introduce myself. My name is Sarah Bain, and I am in charge of running the Reborn group." The researcher stated. "Based on what you have told me so far, I want to give you a couple options.


    "You are free to join the Reborn group, once you do, you will follow the rules of the base.  Riley, the young gentlemen, will be the one that will guide you in that aspect. Of course, if you do decide to join, I will do my very best to help answer your questions that you are looking for, but I can''t promise anything.


    "And of course you always have the other option of leaving this ce, we won''t stop you, but just ask that you don''t spread the name of this ce, unnecessarily."


    Once again, the words of Sarah were what was drawing her in. Since she hadn''t seen deeper into the facility, it could be a cruel ce that would run experiments on her, just like thest doctor she had met.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Due to that, Kelly had a hard time trusting people, but she wanted to trust Sarah, more so, she needed to trust her, and felt like right now, she was the only person who could help.


    "I would¡­ like to join the Reborn group." Kelly finally answered.


    At that time, Sarah ced her hand out, for a hand shake.


    "Wee to the Reborn group."


    Kelly took it and the two of them shook hands, something she felt like she would never do again after someone knew the real her, yet here she was.


    Riley and Kelly were left alone, while Sarah went off somewhere. Just as stated, Riley would give her a tour of the ce, while exining the rules and the two of them were walking down the nd hallways once again.


    "Everyone in the Reborn group is assigned a leader, and that leader at times is assigned different tasks. If you ever want to leave this ce, then you need to speak to your leader. There are all sorts of different tasks around here that you will get to learn, once you stay with us for a while.


    "Some might ask you to stay on the outside for a certain amount of time. When this happens, we actually ask for volunteers and Sarah or the leader in charge of the task will select who they think is best.


    "Other than that, there will be a daily schedule for you to follow as well." Riley exined.


    It was a lot for Kelly to take in, especially when she had no context of the situation, but soon she understood, as a door slid up and she entered and there was an incrediblyrge open space where she could see them all.


    It was arge facility filled with a number of different things, books, weapons on the wall, rooms upon rooms of entertainment and training areas as well, but most importantly it was filled with people, those that were like Riley, the Reborn zombies.


    If Kelly was to take a quick guess she would have assumed there were at least fifty or so of them inside.


    "For now, just try to mingle with the others, everyone has a cool story on how they got bit or changed, and they''re quite open to talk about it. After that I will assign you to a leader and they will go through the rest with you."


    Scanning around the room, some of the Reborn looked quite frightening to approach, but if her eyes weren''t deceiving her, she was sure that she could see someone she recognized, not just someone, but a couple.


    "Pink¡­ Kun?"


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 208 The Goal Of The Military

    Zain was stuck in the specially crafted vehicle for a while, as he continued to hear the sound of many footsteps, helicopters and perhaps more. It was as clear as day that he had made it to an Army base.


    ''Based on the state of the city, I thought the Army would have already dissolved into nothing. They didn''t seem to be doing any evacuations of any sorts.'' Zain thought. ''Yet, a base like this, to still be operating with this much power.''


    It seemed like Zain had underestimated humanities capabilities. Although his frame of reference was only from the games he yed, where there would be next to no military help at all.


    The sound of the doors being cracked open were heard and for a second the bright light had startled Zain as he lifted his hands. When he finally let them down, he could see the outside.


    It was just as he expected. There were two rows of men with military weapons, and on the other end of them, was the same older gentleman that he had seen before with the grey beard and hair, only the overcoat he was wearing was a bit different this time.


    "I guess you might be surprised, but I am the general of this entire ce." The old man said. "You were smart enough to call for a high ranking officer, so I believe you will be smart enough to know what that means."


    A general was one of the highest positions in the army that was attainable, and the way he was speaking, it made it clear that he was actually the one that was in charge of the entire base.


    Beyond the people, Zain could see a small army of around 2000 people, all with supplies, helicopters, tanks and more. The area looked intact, as if there was not a single zombie that was inside the area.


    The concrete ground and the untouched barracks, everything looked well organised as well.


    "My name is General Begal!" The old man shouted, and the soldiers standing by the side felt a response in their body as they stood more upright. "It''s a name that you should know well, and remember around here.


    "You stated that you were a living zombie. We have heard quite a few reports, but you are the first one that I have seen, and you are the first that has willingly been captured! It was a brave move on your part. You could be left in the hands of a scientist that would pull your body apart, or drain you of your blood and see what is different."


    "But¡­" Zain said confidently. With the general so close to him, he was confident he could summon his zombies to make a wall and take the general as hostage to get himself out of here.


    "But¡­ we are more concerned with other things." Begal folded his arms. "For now, we need to test things out and see if what you are saying is the truth. You will be locked up and kept under wraps for a few days.


    "We will get someone to check to see if there are any changes to your body. If there are none, then we will start with a few other tests, and see if you can be useful in other ways."


    The general started to walk away at that point leaving the rest up to the others, but Zain still had a big question on his mind.


    "General Begal!" Zain shouted out. "If I prove to you that I can be useful to you, in more ways than one, will you tell me why you set up borders around the city, would you tell me what you''re looking for?"


    The general stopped for a second, and smiled.


    ''So he knew we were looking for something. Even if he isn''t really a walking living undead, he seems to have a smart head on his shoulders. It would be good to keep him.''<novelnext></novelnext>


    "There is something that is concentrated in this city,pared to the others, and perhaps even the whole world." Begal replied. "For now, it doesn''t concern you."


    It hadn''t answered Zain''s question but it did give him a hint.


    ''Is there something in this city that is attracting everyone? The weird man from before with the Chained zombies, the Reborn group that is stationed in another ce not too far away, and the military as well. What''s so special about this area?'' Zain tried to think.


    His hands were tied up in thick iron cuff''s rather than the standard handcuffs, and Zain was wondering if he actually had the strength to break out of these, but continued anyway.


    While the army wasn''t trying to kill him, there was no problem with him staying here. They continued to take Zain with them until they had reached a separate building that was on the outskirts of the base, that seemed to be made for confining people. There were cells inside and more but before Zain reached the cell he could see several vehicles driving past him and heading somewhere, the soldiers were acting out.


    "Open the doors, we have one!" They shouted.


    Turning his head, Zain was taking a look. The doors were open to the base, and on the back of arge truck, they were pulling something in. When it went in further, Zain could finally see it. It wasrge as a car and ck in colour, it was a meteorite.


    ''The soldiers, they were looking for the meteorites before as well.'' Zain thought. ''Is that what they were looking for, but that makes no sense, why would they put a border up?''


    That''s when Zain noticed something different about this meteorite, because in parts of the rock, it was glowing red, and almost looked like it was breathing. As the glow got brighter and weaker like a pulse.


    ''This meteorite, it''s active!'' Zain was excited, because there was one quest, a Diamond level quest, to find an active meteorite and it hade right to him.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 209 Infamous News Spreading (Part 1)

    For a while Kelly felt like she was alone in this new world. She had moved to a new city, far away from her family in the countryside to work at the university for the first time. She hadn''t been teaching long and hadn''t made any friends, and then all of this had happened.


    The closest person she could call a friend in this new world was Cody and after leaving him, she didn''t have a clue how he was doing, or what he was doing. In the end, she had somewhat started to trust Zain and now he was gone as well.


    Which was why joining the Reborn group was a scary thought for her but seeing certain people in the same ce, it brought herfort, afort she never thought she would have. Kelly didn''t even know Kun or Pink that well, other than the brief moment they had met each other.


    But in this ce, where she felt alone again, she had someone that she could speak to. Since it looked like Kelly already knew Kun and Pink, the person who was meant to show her the ropes had decided it was best for the two of them to do so instead, and that''s exactly what they did.


    She had spent an entire day at the Reborn group, and thanks to just general observations as well as Kun and Pink, Kelly had learned quite a bit about the ce. For one, the Reborn group were encouraged to fight each other quite a bit.


    There would be sessions where the Reborn would train, using weapons and testing out their capabilities and strength. Kelly had seen some crazy healing capabilities, as well as other unnatural things, but they were also things she had seen before.


    However, none of them had a skill that was simr to Zain''s one that would allow him to control others, or one that would allow him to summon zombies seemingly out of nowhere. On top of that, a lot of the Reborn zombies would fight outside of the training sessions as well.


    They were always fighting for something, what their goal was or the entire goal of the Reborn group was unclear.


    ording to Kun and Pink, each individual would get scattered information. At the same time, there would be times where different groups with their leaders would be assigned different jobs and the jobs truly did vary from anything.


    The one that knew all and was controlling everything was Sarah, the researcher she had seen before, just like Kelly, a lot of the Reborn zombies trusted her, and that was mainly because she had answers to the many problems and questions they had.


    Why were their bodies stiffening up, was there a way for them to survive without eating brains. As for Kelly''s own research, Sarah did drop by briefly to inform her that only after she had settled in a bit more, that she would start running some tests on her.


    After a full day, it was time for them to get some rest, and although zombie''s didn''t really sleep, they were trained to go in a meditative state that would allow their bodies tost longer. One of the other Reborn members kindly had moved and cleared out their room so Kelly was able to stay next to Kun and Pink, and during the night, they didn''t waste timeing over to her.


    "I never thought... I would see you in here." Kun finally said, as he sat on the one bed next to Pink, while allowing Kelly to sit on the chair in the room.


    "Trust me, I never thought that I would be here either." Kelly stated. "Things just changed so much and happened so fast."


    "Well, now that you''re here, why don''t you exin, how did you even get here in the first ce?" Pink asked. "What happened to that young boy you travelled with?"


    Pink always liked Cody, he was a human that had helped her quite a bit, and she would be willing to help him out again if he was in trouble.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "We split ways." Kelly answered. "It was after I found out I had powers, that I was more like you guys, that I ended up looking for answers. I felt like it was unfair for Cody to travel around with someone like me. Sooner orter, he would only get hurt."


    Although some would say Kelly''s actions were strange, Pink could understand because she felt the same way with her parents as well. They could never find out the truth and if they did, then she would attempt to stay away from them as much as possible.


    "How did you guys get here anyway, I thought you were looking for Zain?" Kelly asked, quickly changing the subject.


    "We never did find Zain, but we did run into another person from the Reborn group." Kun exined. "They told us about this ce, and I already had some knowledge about this ce, so they agreed to send us here for now. I thought there might be a chance Zain was here as well, but there was no luck."


    "Wait." Kelly raised an eyebrow. "This was in the city? But how did you get to the Reborn group? How did you manage to get through the barriers?"


    "It was because of Fry." Pink answered. "In one of the subway stations North of the city you can get out of the city. The subway station was still in development so I guess they thought just nobody would use it, but it allowed us to get through the borders."


    "Really!" Kelly seemed excited but her face quickly dropped after. "If I had known that, then maybe Zain wouldn''t have been caught."


    Kun stood up, as soon as he heard these words and looked at Kelly.


    "What did you say, you were with Zain?! Why didn''t you say anything sooner, and not just that, what do you mean he was caught!"


    ********


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 210 How To Use A Zombie?

    There was only so far ahead that Zain could think as to what would happen or try to predict what would ur. He hade up with multiple solutions but the military was certainly something that was more unpredictable to him.


    He had been held up in a cell in a military facility, the sounds of moans and groans could be heard from left, right, and above. When entering the ce, he could see there were three floors and the cells were ced in a rectangle shape.


    This allowed Zain to see the prisoners that were on the other side, and unsurprisingly some of them were zombies. It was hard to tell whether they were human originally and had been turned or were just human, but judging by the uniforms being military, he imagined it was those who had been bit going out on missions.


    Sitting in the cell, Zain wasn''t doing much movement and was just keeping an eye on the little bit of sunlight he got from the back of his cell. It was a small set of bars that allowed one to look outside, but not much had happened.


    ''I''ve been in the cell for at least three days now. All they''ve done ise check up on me once in a while and try to hand me food.'' Zain thought to himself, but he made it a point to never take the food, because it didn''t do anything for him in the first ce.


    ''During this time my energy has lowered and my body funcinaitly is down to 77 percent. It''s a good thing that my intelligence is keeping my body function from going down too fast. If something like this had happened when I first turned, things wouldn''t be so pretty.''


    ? The problem was, if the military didn''t try to do something with Zain soon, then he would have to act. The longer he waited, the lower his body function would get, and it would affect his ability to fight his way out of the facility.


    ''I thought something might have happened when they brought that meteorite in. Since the quest didn''tplete, I might need to get closer to it. It''s a higher level quest, there has to be a reason for it, and with all this fire power and the military around me, it would be safer to do it here than anywhere, maybe I can convince the general to let me see it?''


    As Zain was thinking about the general, it didn''t take long for the door to open. Some of the prisoners immediately stood up looking out of their cells and that included the zombies that held out their hands, trying their hardest to reach those walking past.


    Zain was on the second floor, but just based on the footsteps alone, Zain could tell who it was, as the old white haired man came into view with four guards by his side.


    ''The general at least seems to be cautious of me, most people would be confident just with two guards with guns, and ording to them I''mpletely unarmed.''


    "It''s been three days Zain." General Begal stated. "As you can imagine we have observed quite a few of ours that have been bit. We have even gone to extreme measures of amputating the limbs of where the bite marks were. In some cases, it worked, in other situations it only slowed down the process, but you see your bite mark was on your neck.


    "From our research, the closer a bite is to the head, the quicker the person turns. Not only do you have a deep visible bite but it''s right next to your head. By now, you should have turned into a mindless zombie, but you seem just fine."


    Zain stood up and slowly approached the bars but didn''t get too close as to worry the others.


    "I didn''t lie to you. I have already been bitten a long time ago. I think and act just like a human, the only downside is, I don''t eat regr food." Zain stated as he looked at the meals that had spoiled in the cell.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Maybe in some cases there would be those that would try to act as human as possible, but Zain knew that it wouldn''t get him anywhere, for the General, Zain had to prove how useful he could be.


    "There is one other thing that you mentioned, and today we are here to see if you pass the test, if you do, then we can talk." Begal exined.


    Zain was let out of his cell and brought down to the first floor. Between the stairs and the floors there was a special type of fencing that looked to have been electrified. They were locked and Zain was told to go to the open area on the first floor.


    Soon, Begal and the other guards with him closed the door behind him, and walked up to the second floor. They then entered a control room, where there were several other soldiers that were acting as wardens and kept watch over the ones being held there.


    "You said that the zombies, they recognise you as one of their own, well let''s see how true that is." Begal stated through the microphone.


    A buzzer sound had gone off, and several of the locked cells started to open, but not all of them, and the ones that did open, there were zombies that started toe out. When they did though, Begal was expecting them to swarm right towards Zain, but instead they went up to the wall, and tried to reach up at the humans that were above them.


    The smile was quite wide on Begal''s face. Meanwhile one of the other men that were in the room seemed to be doing something under the table. At the same time, in the Reborn group''s office¡­


    "Ma''am, we have been informed that the military has managed to capture one of us."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 211 A Tough Choice

    Kelly had gone into detail about what had ured between her and Zain, during their travels. How she had met up with him, what skills she saw and what he was nning, and in the end how he had managed to get captured.


    At first, both Pink and Kun were frustrated and it almost felt like they were about to take out their frustrations on her, but they soon realised that it wasn''t her fault, and in the end she had only done what Zain had asked of her.


    Still, they failed to understand why had Zain done what he had done, why had he let himself go so easily. It was safe to say regardless, the two of them wanted to go outside and attempt to save him, but they had no information at all.


    Where would Zain be, where was he taken, or anything of the sort. The only thing they had was to go back to where Zain wasst seen. On top of that, they needed permission if they wanted to leave this area in the first ce.


    So in the meantime they were unable to do anything. For Kelly, she had entered a few practical lessons, and the main instructor seemed to be ncing Kelly''s way. She wasn''t too sure if this was due to her being the new student or not.


    The instructor''s name was X. It seemed like a nickname as he had an X shaped mark on his forehead that appeared to be there from before he had been bitten, otherwise the wound would have healed.


    As for the reason why Instructor X was looking at her, it was because of the sound of her fists as she hit the air, the movement of her kicks and more, it was safe to say he was impressed.


    ''Her speed, and the snap in her attacks. Although her form is off, and it looks like she''s never been in a fight in her life, if they are tuned up, it''s quite possible that she could be one of the strongest ones in here.'' X thought.


    In a way, Kelly felt quite guilty about her life at the moment, because she was in a safe ce and she was living stress free, while Zain was still out there.


    When the third day had arrived, after having stayed at the Reborn group for three whole days, the young Reborn zombie who she had first met, named Sid, had called her away and the others could see them leaving the Reborn area.


    They walked throughbs and more, and Kelly was too nervous to ask what was going on, as she just assumed that Sarah, the leader of the ce, had called her to run a few experiments on her, as she had yet to do so since arriving.


    Soon, she did find herself entering ab as Sid held the door open for her, but the sight she could see was not what she was expecting at all.


    On a high desk, where usually bunsen burners and sks would be ced, it had been cleared out with only a few stools, and on those stools, Sarah, Kun, Pink, and Instructor X were sitting down.


    ''What is going on? Why are Pink and Kun here as well? It''s strange to bring them to run some tests on me.''


    "You must be slightly confused, but I have had to call an emergency meeting to discuss something with you three." Sarah stated. "Please, it would be best if you sit down."


    There were nervous darting eyes, and it seemed like Pink and Kun didn''t know the reason why the three of them were called either.


    "Ourwork of the Reborn group isrger than you think. Kun should know this." Sarah started to exin. "Although this facility is strictly for the Reborn zombies, at times there are humans that wille and go from this facility.


    "At the same time, we have tried our best to create awork that is spread far and wide. Now that you know this, I will cut to the chase.


    "All three of you have described a particr Reborn zombie that showed extraordinary skills with red hair, and it appears the military has captured him."


    The news wasn''t so shocking to the others as they had talked about it already, but what was surprising was the fact that Sarah knew about this information. Based on what she said earlier, it was clear they knew where Zain currently was.


    "Unfortunately, the zombie you have described is not someone that is in our file or has ever been to the Reborn group before, and as you know, to go against the military, even if its a single base, would require the might of all our power, but I thought that you should at least know this."<novelnext></novelnext>


    For all of them, it felt like they were being teased, a ray of hope was shone in front of them and immediately it was taken away. It would have been better if they knew nothing at all, and in the end Kun couldn''t hold it in anymore.


    "We have to go rescue him." Kun said. "The whole reason we agreed toe to this base was because we thought he was here."


    "I agree!" Pink said, and Kelly nodded soon after.


    "I know you would have strong feelings, but the rules were exined to you before. Although I would like to save your friend and invite him back here, we have more to lose than gain in this situation."


    Hearing those words, Kun stood up from his seat.


    "I don''t think that''s the case." Kun exined. "Zain had quickly overtaken Shark, one of our best agents, in terms of smarts, strength, and knowledge. It seemed he even knew things that Shark didn''t."


    This seemed to cause a slight reaction from Sarah, as she opened her eyes slightly wider.


    "He¡­ was also the one that told us about the crystals. He had told us about how to use the crystals to make us stronger before we hade across the Reborn group."


    Now Sarah was really interested as she put her finger on her lips.


    This was knowledge that she didn''t know about either, untilter on, so how would a zombie she had never met before know about this? There had to be a reason, and there was something that was peaking her interest about this zombie that had met with all three.


    "I see, I can see how strongly you three feel about this person, they must be truly great for you to act like this." Sarah sighed in defeat. "It seems even if I forced you to stay that you would attempt to leave anyway, and that in itself is a risk, so I guess there could be another solution.


    Sarah looked to Sid, and looked to instructor X as well.


    "A small group of five, with two talented individuals, are to attempt to bring him back. It''s a hard first mission for you three, so I don''t expect any results and your survival is the most important.


    "Instructor X will be in charge, and if he deems the mission impossible, you are to return immediately."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 212 A Deal With The Army

    In one of the military bases, in the temporary prison that had been built, an experiment was being conducted to see whether or not a certain individual had told the truth, and from the looks of it, it seemed to be the case.


    ''A person that doesn''t get attacked by zombies?'' General Begal smiled. ''With someone like this, we can explore the more popted areas of the city. Perhaps use them to scout out the areas as well.


    ''This is a gold mine. It would be good if we could find out how he came to be in the first ce. Maybe there is a chance to turn some of our own¡­ but that would require sending him off, which might not be the best situation.''


    On the ground floor, where the experiment was taking ce, Zain was looking up at the general while the rest of the zombies continued to w at them, and just to make sure he could be of use to them.


    Zain walked up to the group of zombies and pulled one of them by their shoulder dragging them away. He then pulled down its head, kneeing it in its face. Due to the strength Zain currently had, his knee had crushed the skull and had killed the zombie.


    ''I need to hold back when showing my strength, otherwise they will think they can''t control me.'' Zain thought. ''Still, judging by the general''s smile, it looks like he is quite pleased.''


    General Begal was really pleased, and a meeting had been set up between the two of them. They had entered what looked like the warden''s office. As usual there were several people in the room with guns. Although it did seem like there were a little more than usual.


    ''I guess they''re taking extra precautions after seeing me knee that zombie''s skull in, but I had no weapons on me, what else could I do.'' Zain thought.


    "This world is a dangerous ce now, and there aren''t many ces where one can rx freely." Begal started his conversation. "There are many who would wish to be protected by us soldiers that are here. You are in a very safe ce.


    "However, based on what I have seen you are very safe out there as well. You seem like a smart person, if you wanted to, you probably could have evaded us at the border, so tell me, what do you want from this?"


    Zain didn''t reply instantly as he was thinking about how to answer the question. It was true that Zain could have escaped from the border, and done what? His goal was to reach the Reborn group and since he was unable to do that, he wanted to know what the military was looking for.


    If he said that he was a curious student who got wrapped up in all of this, he couldn''t imagine them reacting too well to this.


    "What else could I do?" Zain eventually replied back. "If anyone found out what I really was, then there was a good chance they would kill me on the spot, or at least try to. There is nowhere for me to go, and I''m tired of being on my own.


    "Sure, I thought you guys might run a few experiments on me, it was a risk I was willing to take, but I thought that maybe, once I showed you what I could do, that you would find out there were better uses for me."


    The general didn''t say anything as he rubbed his chin, up and down. It was a reasonable exnation, and Begal wasn''t so sure, but maybe the fact that he was a zombie had a reason to do with why he was so calm. It was one of the things that couldn''t be exined.


    "Very well." Begal said, leaning forward with both his elbows on the table. "It seems you know that from here on out you will be used, but I am a fair person. Since we will be using you from now on, is there anything that you would like us to do for you.


    "Search a particr area, or maybe look for a specific person perhaps?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Zain wanted to ask why they had made borders around the city, but if he showed too much interest in what the military were doing then maybe it would put him in a suspicious position.


    On top of that, it was most likely that Begal would only do him one big favour, so when thinking about everything that he could ask for, he had finally decided.


    "There are two things that I would like to request but they are somewhat linked to each other." Zain exined. "If you grant me these things, then I will work for you, no questions asked."


    Begal nodded for the time being, as long as it wasn''t a ridiculous request then he wouldply.


    "First, I don''t know why I''m like this, I don''t know why I can still think and do things like a normal human. If there is any information you have, on those that are like me, then it would be nice to have."


    "That is a reasonable request, but I will tell you now that you could be in for a big disappointment, as you should know more than us." Begal replied, as he gestured for Zain to say his next request.


    "When¡­ the whole attack started, that was the day I changed, but there was something else that happened on that day as well. The meteors that fell onto the city. I''m not sure if it''s rted to me or not, but I would like to see one. I saw your team bring one in not too long ago." Zain stated.


    Hearing these words, for some reason Begal smiled. As for why Zain had chosen this, it was toplete the diamond reward.


    "Well, that certainly is an interesting request, because that was the first ce that I was going to take you anyway." Begal stated.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 213 To One Place

    One of the biggest bases and one of the biggest groups in the city was located at the museum. Due to an unfortunate event, most of those that were located at the museum had been dealt with and they had been killed.


    The news had spread to other groups that were stationed in the city and because of this attack, it caused all of the groups to tighten up their defences more. Therge group that belonged to Ryan, had now dwindled to a group of fifteen.


    In total, there were five members of the SWAT team that had managed to survive, while the rest were regr civilians. Most were students, since the old and young were unable to get away in time.


    Out of those that managed to survive, there was Max and Tod. Tod, the weapons specialist who used two des to fight, and Max, who was practically a wall of muscle for the group. If it wasn''t for these two, then perhaps even more would have died on that day.


    Currently, Ryan was in the hospital that they had taken over, the group''s second location. Most were in the reception area, while Ryan had called for the guards to have a meeting in one of the surgical rooms.


    Chairs had been set up for them to sit on, while he sat on one end. All five of the guards were there but there was one more seat that was empty.


    "We''ll wait for everyone to arrive before I talk about our next move and what we have found." When Ryan spoke it was straight and to the point, at the same time, he no longer had the same smile on his face as he had in the past.


    There was aplete change in demeanour and attitude after what had urred. Eventually, the door opened and a young man walked through.


    "I spoke to the others, they are resting for now, and a couple are on guard. Everything seems to be fine." Cody reported, as he sat down.


    One of the survivors who had decided to stick by Ryan was Cody. He had thought about going off and searching for Kelly, but based on herst words to him and how she had reacted back then, he knew she would be long gone.


    Although Cody trusted in his skills, to go out in the world on his own, without any help whatsoever, was an incredibly big risk.


    "That''s great to hear." Ryan said. "Once they have rested, it might be time for us to make a big move. Thanks to Max, we have been able to gather information on the army bases that have moved around.


    "I have triedmunicating with other groups, but after what happened to us, they are afraid whoever targeted us might go for them. The only group that is big enough to protect us right now¡­ is the army."


    There was a shocked look on the faces of the others, as they twisted and turned their heads, and there was a simple reason for that.


    "Are you sure about this?" Tod asked. "Our scouting groups in the past have met up with military personnel and they didn''t seem interested in helping us out. What do you think will be different this time?"


    Ryan stood up as he went to answer this question, he looked at the ground for a few seconds before lifting his head.


    "Because we don''t have a choice." Ryan replied. "We can stay here and survive but for how long? We might get attacked again, we can''t join any other groups, and we can''t go out as much as we did before in search of supplies.


    "Everywhere that is good for shelter will eventually just be a target, even this hospital will have peopleing in and out of it. We have stumbled across the location of a military base, just outside of the city.  We will force them to ept us, even if we need to do their bidding. It''s the only thing we can do."


    Those in the room were frustrated because they knew Ryan was right, they had already lost a lot, and there wasn''t much choice.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    However, Ryan and his group weren''t the only ones that had managed to intercept and find out about the army base that was not too far from the city they were currently in.


    In the back of arge truck that the military would use to transport arge number of personnel, was a group of people, but those inside the vehicle weren''t military at all, as they were all wearing ck leather jackets inside, with words painted in white on the back.


    "Alright listen up!" A female was standing, with her hair tied up, with her hand hanging on top of a railing to hold onto. "I know for a lot of you that are here, this is your first job as part of our group and it should be an easy one.


    "We have made a deal to meet up with the military base in cooperation to exchange information as well as a few items. However, I warn you all, that things can very quickly go sour.


    "So you all need to be alert and listen to me."


    "Yes, Wendy!" One of the men said in a sarcastic voice as if they were in the military and started tough.


    "We''re going to a military base, this really is a big deal for our first mission." One of the younger boys said, shaking his knees up and down.


    "It''s okay¡­ they''re looking after the others, and they are looking after Wiz." The other smiled.


    Wendy was looking at the two new members, they were young, around 16 years of age, and she felt slightly bad for them. Because there was a good chance that this would turn sour and if that was the case they were most likely to be left behind.


    "Dali¡­ and Nit. I will remember their names, in case something happens to them, so they will live on with me." Wendy whispered to herself.


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 214 Under One Roof

    For once, while in his zombie state, Zain was excited and for more reasons than just one. Currently, he was undergoing a few basic tests, he had been moved to a military unit and guards were to stay with him at all times.


    They were handing him a military uniform to wear, and not just the light weight clothes either. Since they knew he had slightly more strength than usual, they allowed him to wear a bulletproof vest, heavy duty boots and so on. It was more along the lines of what a SWAT team or a specialist team would wear, but they all had a tint of dark green to them.


    ? It was essentially an upgrade to what Zain had on before, but a new set that was more protective. Of course, they hadn''t given him any weapons. The trust wasn''t quite there yet, and judging by the wandering eyes of the other soldiers, it perhaps would never be there.


    "It''s okay, I have my goals, I can stay and find out what the military is looking for, and I will be able to tell why those meteorites are so important.''


    The main reason he was excited though, was the diamond quest. Wondering what type of reward he would receive.


    ''But it makes me wonder, what is taking General Begal so long?'' Zain thought.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Today of all days, it seemed to be quite busy for the army base, as they were preparing for a number of things. The base was rtivelyrge with multiple sections, and each area had theirmanders that would take care of things, but due to the importance of certain matters Begal was getting called all over the ce.


    After leaving Zain, Begal was heading to the barrack headquarters to prepare for a meeting with a particr group of people, but on his way there, amander rushed out and intercepted him.


    "Sir, there is a situation at the gate that I think needs your direction as we are not sure what to do." The man stated.


    Begal looked at the man while shaking his head.


    "Is it really not something you can take care of yourself?" Begal replied.


    "Sir, it is civilians, we asked them to leave and turn back, but they refuse to, and wish to make a deal." The man exined.


    The front gate of the army base was opened, as Begal walked out with a small group of around ten men, all with weapons held in their hands. It was quite a presence for one to march up to, but it was something that needed to be done, especially when the other side had weapons.


    Taking a quick look, these civilians, it seemed at most only three of them would be much of a threat, and Begal was wondering why he had been called out here in the first ce.


    "I''m sorry to say, but this is a wasted trip. I know the situation is tough inside the city, but this base cannot ept outsiders and is for military personnel only." Begal was going to leave it at that and turn around.


    "Wait!" The man shouted. "We have nowhere to go, but we aren''t useless to you. We don''t expect you to take us in for nothing. If you do, we will join you, do whatever you ask of us, to do whatever tasks you need from us.


    "We don''t just expect you to take us in. The fact that we have survived this long, with just us, must show you that we are capable in some way. On top of that, we have brought arge amount of medical supplies, and food that you can use¡­ in this type of situation you know eventually these will be important."


    Begal turned around and looked at the man one more time.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''Lately I have been meeting quite a few people with a good head on their shoulders.'' Begal thought. ''His words are quite convincing, and we have more and more losses everyday. Eventually, we will have to ask the public to take up arms. The people, though, rely on the military too much and expect them to protect them at all times.


    ''Which is why he said what he said. The only problem is, other than the four of them I don''t think the others will be of much use, but I doubt he would leave the others behind. It''s a take all, or take none, type of situation.''


    "It''s time we starting up with a n. As things change we need to change as well." Begal said. "Commander, Tin take these people to the medical centre to get checked. If all is good, then I want you to take them to the training centre. Let''s see what these people can do.


    "As for you." Begal said, looking at the man in front. "What''s your name?"


    "Ryan, sir! And thank you."


    Ryan, Cody and his fellow survivors had been invited into the camp as their next safety spot, but they weren''t the only ones that had arrived at their destination. In the base, in one of therge tents, there was a team of five, that were in thick suits, wearingrge helmets on their heads covering up most of what they looked like.


    Standing in front of the five was what looked like a normal soldier, who was nervous with sweat running down his face and peaking over his shoulder.


    "This was the best I could do to get you in here. Luckily, there is a lot going on so the base is distracted. If anyone asks, you are EOD specialists. It gives you an excuse to wear those costumes you understand." The man asked.


    "What is going to happen to us¡­ if we get caught?" Kelly asked.


    "Well, based on the fact that we are sneaking around like this, we will probably be shot to death, but at least we''re in the right ce." Kun replied.


    "Don''t worry too much, we can take a few bullets." Pink joked, although it was only to lighten the mood as they were in for a serious task ahead of them.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 215 The Red Hair

    There seemed to be a lot of distractions in the camp for the general today, but after letting Ryan and the others in, he believed that they would settle on their own, and he could decide how useful they would be to the baseter.


    Now, it was time for him to continue to the barracks headquarters, it was arge makeshift container-like material rather than a bunch of tents that had been set up for the other areas, and here his meeting would take ce.


    Opening the door, into arge room, with several guards lined up on the side of the wall with weapons, his guests could be seen already sitting down.


    "I apologise for beingte, there was an unexpected matter that needed to be taken care of." Begal exined.


    The others stood up as soon as they saw the general, not sure what to do, but did so out of respect. There was quite arge group in the room, around ten or so of them, all with ck leather jackets, with the word Zombie Hunters written on the back, but only one of them had bright beaming confidence.


    "I suspect that you are the one in charge of your group here." Begal said, approaching the dark haired woman and cing his hand out for a shake.


    The two shook hands and Begal offered her a seat, soon they were both sitting opposite each other and it was time for them to get to the matter of things.


    "I would like to note that I am here as a representative of the Zombie Hunters, or ZH faction as our leader would like to call us. I am not the actual leader but one of the heads of the group." Wendy exined.


    "Yes, I have hadmunication with your leader, and that is why we set up this meeting in the first ce. He has shown me what you are capable of. You managed to clear a whole district and you have imed it as your own. Your name has also spread to groups all over. Of course, most of that is due to the strange powers that you have." Begal exined.


    "Yes." Wendy nodded. "Which is why our leader is wondering if you will supply us with what we have asked for. We are stillcking in two departments and since our goals are the same, then we should support each other, don''t you agree?"


    Part of the deal with the ZH faction was that if they were able to prove themselves useful and clear out a district of the city, then they would provide them with more weapons and food supplies as well.


    The army had plenty of rations that wouldst a long time. Food that wouldn''t deteriorate quickly. Whereas food from the supermarkets, that were at least within the city that were still edible, was fading fast.


    However, Begal never expected them toplete the task, at least not this quickly. It showed their strength in more ways than one, and he had to be careful, because if he supplied them with weapons, then what if this group happend to get bigger and stronger than the military.


    The military was the only form of control that the humans had left of a functioning society, but a deal was a deal, and they couldn''t back out of it now.


    "I have to ask you, while clearing the district did your groupe across any problems?" Begal asked.


    "Problems, of course there were problems. The zombies seem to be getting stronger which is why it''s important to eliminate them all as soon as possible." Wendy answered.


    It didn''t seem to be the answer that the general was looking for, but he was unsure if she knew what he was talking about. Perhaps, someone at her level didn''t have enough information either.


    "We will give you what you need, and if you could clear the district next to you then we will supply you with the same amount again. However, please do contact us, if there are any problems while clearing the districts." Begal ended the meeting as simple as that.


    Dali and Nit, let out a big breath of relief and so did the other Zombie Hunters. Although a lot of them had been sent, it looked like they weren''t needed, and there would be no cause for action.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Begal and the ZH faction walked out from the building, as he went to show the location where they could pick up their supplies, but as they walked out, Dali had spotted someone else, walking across the hard ground being sent to another location.


    "Hey, are my eyes deceiving me, or is that¡­ Zain!" Dali asked.


    Being escorted by four guards with guns, there was a redhead passing through.


    "No, you''re right, that is Zain." Nit asked as well.


    At the same time, while outside they weren''t the only ones that had spotted Zain. Ryan and the others had changed into clothes and their first job was to help pack up the supplies for the Zombie Hunters.


    Cody and Ryan had both spotted the red head, but didn''t say anything out loud, because the way they were walking with him, it made him look like a prisoner.


    And out of those from the ZH faction, Wendy had recognised the red head as well.


    ''Isn''t that person¡­''


    shbacks appeared in her head, a scene of a certain person protecting the zombie. She was sure of it back then, both of them were zombies, but one could think and this person was the same person.


    ''Is that why they have guards around him as well. Do they know what he is?'' Wendy thought.


    "Where are you taking that man?" Wendy asked.


    "Oh¡­ do you know him?" Begal asked with a raised eyebrow. "He is being escorted to have a look at the meteorite we found. Do you want to have a look?"


    ******


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 Chapter 216 Starting A Quest

    Inside theirrge suits, Pink and the others had also spotted Zain, but only for a few moments before he was escorted into a fairlyrge tent that almost looked like a circus from the outside. It was so big.


    It was designed in a way to stop outsiders from looking at what was inside.


    "Did you see¡­ we finally found him, he really was here?" Pink said, shaking her friend. "Kun¡­ did you see that."


    "I''m not Kun¡­ you''re shaking me, Sid!" The otherined.


    "Oh¡­ sorry." Pink replied, as she quickly stopped.


    Since the suits also had an entire face helmet that would cover them. It was hard to tell who was who from just a nce.


    "It looks like they have guards on him at all times, and there are a lot of military personnel around." Mr X started to exin. "I''ll be honest, it will be hard to break him out of here. Whening, I was hoping that the military might be on an expedition and there would be less people.


    "Or the other option was if your friend was stuck in his cell. If that was the case, then we perhaps could have broken him out, but if he''s like this¡­ then there isn''t much we can do."


    The others never expected the Reborn group to take a big risk. Honestly, they thought justing to a military base was a big risk in itself, but aftering all this way, and seeing the person in front of them, the one that had saved their lives, they wanted to do something.


    "Can we¡­ just wait and see for a while?" Kelly asked. "Maybe something will happen, and most of the military will have to leave the ce."


    "Are you serious?" Sid replied. "We have a lot of work to do as it is¡­ we already listened to your request and if it wasn''t for Sarah being interested in this person, we would have never-"


    X raised his hand, ordering Sid to stop speaking. His raised voice would attract attention in this situation.


    "A day¡­ is the most I can give. We will keep an eye on your friend Zain and see if there are any opportunities, but it has to be one that doesn''t put a single one of us at risk. Even if we were to save your friend, if two of us were caught in the process then it wouldn''t be a good deal, would it."


    They understood when X phrased it like that, but in the others'' heads Zain was worth a lot more than just the two of them.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Entering the tent, Zain could see that the military had quite the operation going on. The meteorite was about as big as a house and there were countless different machines which had already been attached to it.


    There were workers in Hazmat suits that got close to it, and a type of stic sent that had been ced around the meteorite to separate those that were working inside with the meteorite and those working outside of it.


    Unlike the one that Zain had seen, this one, from within the small creators on it a red glow could be seen getting brighter then sinking in, as if it was alive, as if it was breathing.


    ''Damn it¡­ I''m this close to it¡­ and still the quest hasn''t beenpleted. Judging by how careful they are being, I don''t think they''ll just let me inside. Maybe I cane up with an excuse.''


    Zain, along with his escorts waited for a while, standing on a metal flooring that was ced around the entire meteorite along with countless numbers of terminals, and eventually the one they were waiting for had arrived, Begal, but as he didn''t do so on his own. There was the normal squad that would go everywhere with Begal to protect him, but there were also the Zombie Hunters.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''That woman¡­ she''s the one that let me and Skittle go that time!!!'' Zain was thinking of the scenarios going through his head. In a ce like this, he never thought he would recognise someone, yet here he had, but he soon started to calm down.


    The military already knew what Zain was, so the fact that she did, didn''t make a difference. If anything, to her fellow Zombie Hunters, it might hurt her more if they did find out what he was.


    "Zain!" A person called out. "Is it really you¡­ It is¡­ I thought I recognized you."


    The person who was calling out to him was none other than Dali. Since Zain had been paying attention to Wendy, he had failed to notice Dali and Nit who were with them. For a second Wendy nced at them, looking back and forth, wondering whether they knew who this person was, and even the general found the turn of events quite interesting.


    ''Zombie Hunters know this kid¡­ things are certainly very interesting.'' Begal thought.


    "It''s good to see that you made it to the Zombie Hunters in the end, and I told you there were some nice people in the group." Zain pushed his luck as he gave a little wink to Wendy, because when hemented that, she was just the person he was thinking about.


    "Anyway, so what is this thing, why is the military going around trying to gather these meteorites?" Wendy asked, almost sounding annoyed.


    "So you really don''t know, well we have a theory you see about these meteorites." Begal exined.


    "That the virus came from them?" Nit interrupted. "A lot of people think that since the meteorites were the same day the wave of attacks happened."


    The thing was Zain knew this wasn''t true, because the Reborn group were already hiding the fact there were zombies and there were reports of them on the Dark web.


    "No¡­ it''s something else." Begal said, but he was soon interrupted by a cracking noise, several of the machine''s beepers were starting to go off, and something happened to Zain as well.


    [You have found an active meteorite]


    [Your diamond quest is starting.]


    *****


    ******


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 Chapter 217 Active Meteorite

    Originally Zain thought that if he just got close to the meteorite then the diamond quest wouldplete. Due to the difficulty of the quest, he thought that maybe an active meteorite would just be hard toe across.


    After all, it seemed like the military were after them and the one that he had happened across, wasn''t active at all. Yet, here he was, in front of it, and the quest had only just begun.


    ''The quest has just started, what does it mean? Is something going to happen?''


    Zain was keeping an eye on the scene in front of him, as it was all starting to unfold. The equipment was buzzing, the sound of rms and beepsing from everything.


    "Everyone, quickly, you know what to do!" General Begal shouted.


    Those in hazmat suits were in a panic, they started to run from the ss cover and were exiting as quickly as they could. Meanwhile, the other soldiers had their guns pointed and aimed at the meteorite, but it wasn''t just guns.


    They soon started to bring out rocket propelled grenades and sniper rifles as well. It reminded him of when Zain had firste across the army, they had used a lot of fire power to try and get rid of a level 2 zombie.


    ''It''s almost as if they''re getting ready for war. If they''re using this much fire power, and acting like this, then it means they know what''s about to happen.''


    "Zombie Hunters, and the special kid." Begal said, to make sure not to reveal the identity of Zain in case the others didn''t know. "Stay back for now, this situation could turn ugly at any moment."


    The meteorite was continuing to glow, as the craters on it were glowing brighter and the intervals between the glow were getting shorter. Now it seemed even more like a heartbeat as they could feel a thud each time through the vibrations on the floor.


    "What on earth is inside that thing?" Wendy thought. In her whole time with the Zombie Hunters, she had never heard of anything like this. Like Zain, she had onlye across deactivated meteorites.


    Finally, the red pulsing had stopped, the vibrations on the floor had stopped, but not a single person had put down their weapons. Looking closely, a small crack could be seen, it was a hairline crack that quickly expanded into arge crack.


    A piece of the meteorite fell onto the floor, and immediately the order was given.


    "Fire!" Begal shouted.


    Bullets rained down at the one area where the crack had appeared. The ss that surrounded it all had shattered. Shortly after, five different rockets left theirunchers heading to the same location.


    They exploded on the spot and the heat from the explosions could be felt by Dali and the others. Now smoke was covering the front of the meteorite and they were unable to see anything, but the bullets didn''t stop.


    When one group reloaded, another continued to fire. A loud bang would go off once in a while as a sniper bullet was sent out.


    ''They''re using everything they have, what could possibly being out of that meteorite for them to use so much power. Is it a stage 3 Zombie, no it could even be a stage 4 for them to be this worried.''


    Outside of the camp, the bullets and explosions were being heard from everywhere. Multiple different toons were getting ready, gathering their weapons to go intobat.


    "What''s happening?" Ryan asked.


    "There''s no time to exin." The soldier opened up a crate which was full of weapons. They had been packing the weapons away for the Zombie Hunters in the first ce, and now they were being given out to them.


    "Just grab a weapon, listen to what I say, and let''s just pray that those inside can take it out."<novelnext></novelnext>


    After grabbing their weapons, Ryan, Cody and the others quickly went to therge tent where the meteorite was being held. Vehicles were being used to create a miniature border on one side around therge tent.


    "That noise, I''m sure of it, that''s where Zain went. Something is going on, we need to go inside and help!"


    From the sound of the voice, Cody felt like it was familiar, when turning his head, he could only see the Bomb squad in their uniforms and each one of them were arguing with each other.


    ''How¡­ would they know Zain?'' Cody thought.


    There was something else that he found a little strange, for some reason, it looked like one of the bomb squad specialist was staring right at him. They were ignoring what was going on with their teammates and just looked at him unmoving like a statue.


    ''Cody¡­ I''m so happy to see that you''re still alive.'' Kelly thought.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The bullets continued and those that were using the RPG''s started to reload, but before they could, out from the smoke, arge brown tentacle hade out lightning fast. It shed right through the body of one of the soldiers holding one of the RPG''s.


    His top half started to slide down and fall on the floor, as a fountain of blood came from his legs. Soon, not just one of these strange long tentacle-like limbs hade out from the smoke, there were a lot of them.


    ''This¡­ I''ve seen it before.''


    Zain was trying to figure out where he had seen something like this before, but what he was more concerned about was where the limbs, or who the limbs were aiming for. They had attacked and killed every single one of the soldiers who held the RPG''s and it looked like they were going for those with the sniper rifles next.


    Begal''s whole hand was shaking with anger as he needed to decide the next move. The smoke from the intal RPG attack was starting to die down, and three figures could be seen, standing just in front of the meteorite.


    "These damn Demons! We will get rid of them all!" Begal shouted.


    [Diamond quest has begun]


    [Eliminate 0/3 Demons]


    *****


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 218 The Diamond Quest (Part 1)

    The dust had settled and the demons were in full view, all three of them just as Zain''s system had stated. They were dark skinned in colour, and had a mostly humanoid shape. However, towards their upper back it would hunch slightly and was also slightlyrger than that of a human.


    On of that, they had white eyes with what looked like almost no pupils inside them, sharp teeth and pointy ears, but the most deadliest part of their body, seemed to be therge tentacles that woulde off from their back. They had the ability to extend and reshape with great strength.


    ''They look the same¡­ the same as what I saw in Shark''s memory. These are the demons that killed the Reborn group that I was with.'' Zain thought.


    In the memories he had seen, the demon''s strength looked great and ever since then Zain had listened to the advice of thete Shark, to avoid travelling at night. It was unknown what these demons really were or where they hade from but now Zain had a clear idea.


    ''The meteorites¡­ this has to be the reason why it stated it was a diamond tier quest, but why would the system try to make me find and run into these things. What exactly are they as well, are they a different form of zombie, did the original viruse from these guys from a meteorite before, or are they just some type of alien?''


    There were too many unanswered questions in his head, but the real concern was whether the military had the strength to beat them or not, because right now it wasn''t looking so hopeful.


    Their hard bodies were able to take the rocketunchers and it was unlikely in the base that they had anything more powerful than that.


    ''Beforeing across these things it would have been nice to try and face one of them on my own, but now with three. I think I might need to use everything I have.''


    The army were repositioning themselves, as they were trying to run from the second floor on the railing down to the first floor, but as they did, one of the demons turned towards them, and Zain wasn''t sure if he imagined it or not, but it looked to have a smile on its face.


    Therge tentacle from its back, shot out stretching far and wide and blocked the stairwell. The men in a panic started to fire at the tentacle, it was doing little to no damage as the bullets fell to the floor and some men had even shot at their own men.


    After that, the tentacle went and grabbed the first soldier, and ripped his body in half. With the same tentacle it then hit the head of another knocking it off and hitting one of the soldiers behind.


    The tentacle was moving fast and with each hit it was ripping the bodies of the humans with ease. Seeing how the soldiers knew that they were going to die on the second floor, they had done something unexpected.


    Pulling the pins out of their grenades and incendiary grenades, they set them off, exploding their bodies and starting arge fire. The tentacle pulled away and half of it seemed to be damaged. A good chunk of the tentacle had been torn off and it was throbbing in pain.


    The look on the demon''s face wasn''t pleased but, it wasn''t panicked either as it used another tentacle and went for one of the troops on the ground. The others started to fire at the tentacle but just like before, it was doing nothing.


    When it reached the closest soldier, the tentacle opened up looking more like that of an elephant trunk, it attached itself to the chest of the person, and in an instant the energy from the man''s body could be felt leaving him.


    He dropped his weapon to the ground, and his skin was shrivelling up, he was unable to do anything until his skin looked like that of a raisin. The tentacle let go and now the other tentacle on the Demon looked to havepletely healed.


    ''Did it just drain that person''s life force and heal¡­ these things can do some crazy things.''<novelnext></novelnext>


    Seeing all of this, the General had made a decision. He wanted to suppress the demons to try to get the soldiers on the second floor to safety as there were still some up there, but if they stayed here any longer, without a clear n, then it would simply mean the death of more of them.


    "Everyone, retreat to the outside! They won''te out in the sun! We will regroup and form a n then!"


    The soldiers nodded, and the ones that were on the second floor still there, knew their fate. Surprisingly, the soldiers didn''t just form around Begal trying to protect him but had done so around the Zombie Hunters and Zain as well.


    They were backing away, continuing to fire their weapons. Although the bullets didn''t pierce their skin, the heavy amount of fire did seem to deter or knock away the tentacles.


    While they were backing away, all of the demon''s tentacles from all three went toward the centre, right where General Begal was. They knocked the soldiers to the side. The attacks didn''t seem to kill them as it was just a quick hit to move them.


    It continued to hit soldier after soldier away and now there was a clear path, as the tentacle was heading straight for Begal. Even with a gun in his hand, he doubted he could do anything.


    From Begal''s left side, at that moment he saw a ck looking machete. It swung right in front of him, and hit the tip of the tentacle, it didn''t slice through but mmed the tentacle right into the floor making an imprint on the ground


    "Zain." Begal saw who had just saved his life, but as for the weapon in his hand, he wondered when did he get such a thing, and how was it able to do that.


    "I have a lot of questions I want to ask him, so you can''t kill him just yet." Zain pointed his weapon at the Demon in the centre and smiled.


    *****


    ******


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 Chapter 219 The Diamond Quest (Part 2)

    The sheer sight of these creatures, that most had never seen before, had shook their very core. If one thought the zombies were scary, this would make them look like no threat at all.


    Guns, grenades, nothing was working against them, and when they eventually injured them, still they were able to heal. They felt like there was arge wall in front of them, one that was too high for them to beat.


    Yet, a single person had changed the atmosphere in the room, with a swing of his sword, he had watched therge tentacle m into the ground, and instead was smiling toward them.


    "I''ve gone through and experienced things far more scary than you." Zain said to them.


    He looked at the tentacle, and although it hadn''t been sliced through, the top of its skin had been cut. His new Titan weapon was doing him well.


    The demons, in retaliation to this, sent out another tentacle toward him, but with his speed and strength, he was able to knock it away. The original tentacle that had attacked lifted up from the ground trying to hit him from the other side.


    Swinging his empty hand, soon a white coloured weapon appeared, and sliced right through the tentacle. It was now wiggling about on the ground, and ck blood from the demon was squirting out everywhere.


    Soon from the wound, the tentacle was regrowing. Zain could see that the demon he was fighting with, had used another one of its tentacles to grab onto a soldier that was on the floor still alive, but not for long as it was draining its life force.


    "Good job kid!" General Begal shouted. "But it''s time we all get out of here. Trust me, they can''t get us outside."


    While Zain so far was faring fairly well against the demon, he wasn''t so sure he could take on three of them on his own, otherwise, it wouldn''t have been considered a Diamond tier quest.


    Since everyone was leaving the area, the best thing for them to do was leave with them, for his survival. While they were running backwards just like the general stated, it looked like the demons weren''t moving from their position and were staying where they were.


    At the same time, Wendy looked at Zain''s hands and the weapons in his hands.


    ''I''m sure of it, that sword appeared in his hand midway? Is it a superpower? Like what we have, but he''s a zombie, how can he have both and those weapons don''t exactly look normal either.''


    Exiting out of the tent, they could see that the ground was filled with vehicles and weapons pointed at them, as soon as they saw the general though, the fingers went away from the triggers.


    "Stand down, we are okay for now." The general shouted.


    Standing on the sideline, Pink, Kun, Ryan, Cody, Kelly, all of them were watching intensely as they were watching everyonee out, and they could finally see him, the red haired figure.


    They wanted to shout out his name, call out to him to see if he was fine, he had a bit of ck blood on his clothes, he looked fine, and for now that would have to be enough as they were unable to say anything.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "General, I think you have some exining to do here." Wendy asked. "What is going on, and are we safe?"


    Begal didn''t answer straight away, instead he looked at the sun, and could see that it was starting to set slightly, but it was still bright outside. Meanwhile Wendy was looking at the tent, waiting for the strange creatures toe out at any second.


    "I can''t exin much and we don''t have much time, but since we are all in the same situation, I''ll tell you what I know." Begal started to exin. "The military has been unable to get a hold of certain cities not because of the zombies, but because of these creatures.


    "We don''t know who gave them the name, but we call them demons. As you saw, the demons seem to havee from the meteorites thatnded and you have seen their strength for yourselves.


    "Although other cities are struggling, it''s not at the same level as this one. Arge number of meteorites have fallen in this area, and that''s why a border has been set up. If you were to attempt to travel out further, the border that has been set up is almost imprable. Those of you in this city don''t realise it, but we are isted from the rest of the world."


    ''A bigger border than the one we tried to go past?'' Zain thought. ''No wonder they weren''t too bothered with people leaving the city so much, but then what was their border for?''


    "You asked before what we were looking for, well we were looking for these demons. There are a few things that we have learned from them. First theye from the meteorites, they act like a cocoon for the demons. We were trying to figure out a way to get rid of them before they hatched, and now it has turned into this situation.


    "We had a theory that maybe when the demons hatched out of the meteorite they wouldn''t be as strong but it doesn''t seem to be the case. As for the other details, the demon''s skin doesn''t react well to sunlight.


    "While the sun is out, all of us are safe, but they do have a way they can travel in the sun, and that is by using human skin. The demons are able to disguise themselves as humans and travel during the day just fine."


    Zain had seen this in Shark''s memories, and now he understood why the border was there, but with the general''s exnation over, it looked as if they had around five more minutes left of sunlight... before the demons would be out, and ready to attack.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 220 The Diamond Quest (Part 3)

    There were nervous faces all around, including that of Begal himself. There wasn''t much they could do now, if they wanted to escape, then they would have to try and take one of the vehicles. If that happened would they be chased down by the demons?


    The army was staying there because they knew it was their best chance for survival, as for Zain, well, he decided that he still had a quest toplete in the end.


    ''If ites to it, I''ll have no choice but to summon the others, but in a situation like this, I already have the support of the army, so things should be okay.'' Zain thought.


    ''We can''t leave without those supplies, and that thing looked dangerous, the military might even need our help to take it out.'' Wendy thought.


    At the same time, there was Mr X, along with Sid who were whispering away at each other.


    "Now we''re in this situation we can''t just really leave, the army will think of us as deserters." Sidmented.


    "I know." Mr X replied. "Of all the things we coulde to face with, it had to be demons and three of them as well. Honestly, I''m not sure this was worth the risk and if we knew demons were going to be here we would have brought more with us."


    "Are demons really that strong?" Pink asked.


    A few sharp screams were heard at that moment, ones that didn''t exactly sound humaning from the tent. The sun hadpletely set and it was now night time.


    The strange screech mixed with a growl stopped, and ripping through the outer tent were the same tentacles that they had seen from inside.


    "Everyone,unchers... fire now!" Begal ordered.


    Rather than grenades they were usingunchers instead for fear that the grenades could be hit back. Unlike with theunchers that blew up on impact. The demons seeing this strangely brought their tentacles together and they started to intertwine.


    Soon it looked like a giant ball of demon flesh was in front of them. The rockets blew up creating arge amount of smoke, but next came a raining fire of bullets.


    ''I''ve seen this routine before... it won''t work.'' Zain thought.


    ''If they had a tank, or maybe some other weapons to use, then maybe we can expect a different result. Looking at things as well, it looks like they''re learning how to deal with the more troublesome weapons as well.''


    The smoke disappeared but the bullets didn''t stop, and just as Zain had predicted the demons were fine. Unlike before, their limbs weren''t damaged, and they began to untangle them, revealing the main bodies of the three of them.


    The bullets were hitting their bodies, and it looked to sting a little, but they weren''t getting damaged at all. Seeing this, Zain knew he needed to do something.


    "General, I''m going to make a move, we won''t win the fight this way, and they''re just going to figure out how to get through the rain of bullets like they did before." Zain ordered. "Just keep two of them busy, and I''ll take care of the one in the centre."


    Before the general could disagree or agree, they could see Zain running off ahead.


    "Soldiers avoid the middle one, continue to fire on the two at the sides. If you think you''re going to hit our friend then don''t fire. Make sure you don''t get in his way and support him!" Begal ordered and the soldiers understood, immediatelyplying.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Although Zain was strong and his endurance was high, unlike the demons, if he was hit in the head by a few bullets he would be down for the count.


    The demon in the centre saw Zain, and there was no smile on its face like before, but there was one on Zain''s. The tentacles came out right toward him and just like before Zain hit it with his Titan sword, knocking it up in the air.


    Another tentacle tried to get him from below, but with a jump and a spin he managed to cut the bottom one slightly. A third tentacle was ready to hit him, but Zain pushed off, jumping to the side and avoiding the third, and the tentacle smashed on the ground lifting up part of the concrete rocks.


    When Zain jumped though, he had gotten in the way of the soldiers bullets, and now the demon next to the one he was attacking was free to attack. Since Zain was closer, the demon seemed to charge in, but when it moved from its position a rocketuncher came out hitting the demon on its side, it managed to stop its advance for a few seconds but it would take a while before another woulde and help him.


    Three tentacles at once, intertwining each other came straight for Zain and it was at a fast speed. Not being able to dodge this one, he ced both of his weapons in an X shape blocking the attack.


    It was heavy as he felt it push him back rtively far.


    ''Three tentacles, these demons have four on their back, where''s the fourth one!''


    Before he knew it, another tentacle came from his side and hit him right on the leg. It was a powerful strike crashing through his bones, but Zain felt no pain, and he used his other leg to jump back out of the firing line, allowing for his leg to heal.


    While healing though, the two demons seemed to be getting used to the rain of bullets, and were pressing forward. Using their tentacles they lifted them in the air, and all of them went toward Zain in different areas.


    "It looks like, your going to need a bit of help!" A voice shouted out.


    The tentacles to the left of Zain were hit away, it looked like by some invisible force, but he could see the Zombie Hunter named Wendy standing there.


    Meanwhile, a bunch of soldiers dressed in strange suits and helmets came out, hitting the other tentacles on his right side with their bare hands.


    Finally, another rocketuncher was fired towards the demon in the centre, giving more time for Zain to heal his leg, but the shot turned out toe from incredibly close to Zain''s side.


    "It looks like there are a lot of people that want to help you, Zain." Ryan smiled as he stood by his side.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 221 The Diamond Quest (Part 4)

    Someone standing by Zain''s side, it was something he wasn''t used to, and of all people to help him out personally in this situation, he didn''t think it would be a regr human like Ryan.


    Although behind him, Ryan wasn''t alone, helping him reload the rocketuncher as fast as he could was Cody, a person that Zain had known for a long time now, and was one of the few people that when he saw, was happy that he was still alive.


    "Zain!" Cody said. "If you need a rest or a break, just jump back, or to the side. We''ll st them with a rocket to give you time to recover."


    Zain''s leg had already healed thanks to the interruption, and as they said, although the Demon wasn''t severely hurt, the rockets did somewhat startle them.


    To his left and to his right, the other two Demon''s were busy as well. A group of strong figures wearing helmets and thick suits looked to be attmepting ot take on one of the demons.


    It was a strange site to see, as Zain would have guessed they were some sort of bomb squad. The soldiers watching the whole thing were confused as well, but in this situation they were just happy that there were those that could hold the Demon''s back.


    Then there were the zombie hunters as well. Zain knew that many of their members had special powers, so they had a good chance of dealing with the Demon as well.


    "Okay, I''ll trust you for now!" Zain said as he ran forward, toward the demon.


    Ryan was looking at the young person''s back and was happy he could help. Due to certain decisions, he had made, he had already lost a close friend, Brandon. Based on what he heard from the others, Zain had done his best to let the others live, and he was still here fighting even now.


    The world didn''t need more people like him, it needed more people like Brandon and Zain, which was why he was happy to help. The only thing was, the first one to act from their group was Cody and not him.


    With the supplies they had gathered for the Zombie hunters, Cody went to grab one of the rocketunchers but had no clue how to use it, and that''s when Ryan stepped in, turning the situation around.


    -----


    General Begal was at a loss of what to do, there were others fighting on his behalf, while he and his soldiers were unable to do anything.


    "Rocketunchers, aim at the two demons at the side, support the Zombie hunters and the bomb squad! Medics get ready to treat anyone injured. Men, head through the back and see if anyone is still alive in that tent, now!"


    Leading the Zombie hunters in the centre was Wendy, she stood strong in the centre looking at the Demon.


    ''I''ve dealt with stage 3 zombies before, so how much tougher can this demon really be?'' Wendy thought.


    All four of the tentacles from the demon came toward her.


    "Those without powers stand back, this is not your ce to die!" Wendy said.


    Quickly, Nit and Dali, both knew this was a message to them, along with a couple of others. Four of them moved to behind the line where the regr soldiers were, while the rest of the Zombie hunters were ready.


    "Don''t hold back not showing your power, I want everyone toe out of here alive."


    When the tentacles were close, Wendy leapt to the side, but with a single jump, it looked like she had travelled a great distance and at a great speed. She expected the tentacles to continue following her, but instead, three of them went to the others while one went toward her.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The tentacle lifted in the air, ready to m down on top of her head, but moving her hand through the air, once again it looked like an invisible force had hit the tentacle away. She hadn''t touched the Demon, yet it physically could be seen being mmed away.


    As for the other tentacles, one of the Zombie''s hunter''s hands were covered in a strange rock, and mming down at the right time, he hit the tentacle into the floor. It was a powerful blow.


    With another hunter, spikes appeared all over their body, and they stood there in ce. When the tentacle hit the person, the spikes stabbed right through, but the tentacle continued its powerful hit sending the zombie hunter flying through the air.


    As for thest one, the Zombie hunter moved, but his arm was a bit too slow, the destructive power of the Demon could be seen again, as it pulled at the Zombie hunter''s arm ripping it right off.


    However, the Zombie hunter continued to run forward, and his arm was seen starting to regrow.


    Watching from the other side, in his bomb suit was Kun.


    "Man¡­I can''t even do that? Isn''t he the zombie hunter, and he can do that? I would say he''s more Zombie than me."


    Turning his head back around though, what was perhaps even more impressive was the Reborn group. They had no weapons on them, they had nothing but their bare fists, but both Sid and X, were able to work together and navigate with their strengths.


    Two of the tentacles came at X, who managed to grab onto them both. He then stood on top of part of the tentacle with his foot while pulling at another part. Then threw one of the tentacles to the side so he could use both hands to pull the demon in.


    While all of this was happening, Sid was already behind the demon and had jumped on its back, cing its legs between where the tentacles woulde from and held its neck.


    "Hey, are you two just going to watch us do all the work here? Help us!" Sid shouted. Kun, Pink and Kelly soon snapped out of it and started to charge forward at the Demon.


    With the way things were going, they would defeat the demon first, at least that''s what they thought. Before Kun and the others could evene toward the Demon, a ck sword was shoved from right under its chin through its head, and the sword point was close to Sid.


    "That''s two down¡­one more, and I''vepleted the quest,"  Zain said.


    The Reborn group were left confused, but Ryan and Cody had seen it all.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 222 The End Of The Diamond Quest

    The Reborn group knew their strength and there was a reason why Sarah had sent Sid and X out together without too much worry, because they were some of the best and strongest members that the Reborn group had.


    Skilled in fighting, excellent strength and speed, and they knew quite a lot about the current situation and their reason for the Reborn group in the first ce.


    They knew their strength and believed that with all of them, they would have been the first to take out a demon, which was why it hade as such a big surprise when they could see the red haired zombie in front of them.


    "Did he¡­ kill the other demon?" Sid said, as he got off from the demon''s back allowing it to drop on the floor as it was certainly lifeless. What was also impressive was the weapons that Zain held in his hand.


    "You¡­ you''re Zain, right?" X said,ing over. "You are like us, right?"


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A little while before Zain had gone against the second demon he was still facing one of them on his own. With Cody and Ryan backing him up, it gave him a slight amount of room to breathe, and now that the other two demons were busy with their own groups, in a way it felt like a much fairer fight.


    Zain ran forward as fast as he could and the tentacles came toward him, when the first one went to grab him he swung the titan sword with great strength. Rather than trying to cut it, Zain hit the tentacle with the side of his sword, whacking the tentacle away.


    ''I can''t slow down, if I want to get rid of it, the best thing to do is attack its main body, not the tentacles.'' Zain thought. ''The Titan sword isn''t sharp enough to cut through the tentacles in one go, so this is better.''


    When another one appeared, rather than trying to strike it, Zain decided to avoid the tentacle by jumping the side, it mmed against the floor leaving arge mark. It was no wonder it broke his bones even with the endurance stat.


    Still, although he had avoided two, the third and fourth tentacle once again seemed like they would be too much for Zain, as he wasn''t ready to use his weapons, but a click was heard and secondster arge bang and explosion went off.


    A rocket had hit the main body of the demon, the tentacles moved slightly off target and it allowed Zain to run through again.


    ''I might only get one chance, so let''s use it wisely.'' Zain thought.


    He could see Ryan and Cody reloading the rocketuncher again, it was a good distraction and now it allowed for Zain to get in striking distance of the demon.


    He swung the sharper but more fragile white weapon sideways, aiming to slice off its head, but what Zain didn''t realise through the smoke was that one of the tentacles had retracted, getting smaller in size. It swung from the side and hit him in the ribs, he could hear them breaking and although there was no pain, his whole body was swung to the side.


    ''I can''t get too far away, I have to stick close to it!'' Zain lifted the Titan sword and stabbed it in the ground, stopping him from rolling away any further. He started to use his energy to heal his broken side, and immediately ran right at the demon.


    "Fire away!" Zain shouted.


    It was a clear signal to the others, and theyplied as Ryan pulled the trigger. The rocketuncher flew through the air, and once again, at the right time, it hit the demon cleanly, right on its body and a ck cloud of smoke had been made blocking the view for both of them.


    Zain ran forward, and through the smoke he could see it, two tentacles that looked slightly different. The ends had opened up like a mouth and were heading right for him. Rather than trying to avoid the hit, instead he thrust the white weapon forward, and both of the tentacles hit him right on his shoulder. It felt like two suction cups were suddenly on him.


    The suction power didn''tst long as the two tentacles soon fell off from him. When the ck cloud cleared up, Ryan and Cody could see it, somehow, Zain was no longer holding onto a sword, and instead it had turned into a spear.


    The spear end had been shoved right through the demon''s head killing it on the spot. Zain had used the transformation skill of the weapon. An element of surprise while the smoke was clearing up.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was safe to say thanks to the help of Ryan and Cody, he was able toplete this far easier than he intended. It wasn''t soon after that though, that Zain went to help the other Reborn group finish off the second demon which led him to the situation he was in now.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Pink, Kun and Kelly all came running over, and as they did, they lifted up their helmets a little to show Zain who it was.


    "Zain, we have been looking everywhere for you!" Pink shouted.


    "X, you don''t have to worry, this is the person we were talking about, this is who we wanted to save." Kun exined.


    Zain looked at all of them with smiles on his face, and turned to Kelly as well.


    "It looks like you made it then, is this the Reborn group?" Zain guessed.


    "Yes." X replied, he still had his helmet on and Sid quickly pushed down the Helmet of the others.


    "We are part of the Reborn group, and you should be able to tell that we are just like you." X exined. "While the army, and the others are still dealing with thest demon, we should get out of here. After they''re done with that, they will soone for us."


    Zain looked and could see that the Zombie Hunters were still fighting, and Begal was concentrating on thest enemy as well as helping those that had been hurt. It was a good opportunity to leave, but there was one worry he had.


    ''If I''m away while thest demon gets defeated, will I still get the diamond quest¡­ but, the Reborn group, they should have the answer to all the questions I have, right?'' Zain thought.


    It was a risk but it looked like the Zombie Hunters would be able to finish thest demon, so more likely he should still get the quest reward.


    "Alright, let''s get out of here, and head to the Reborn group." Zain answered.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 223 Moving To The Next Step

    Most of the army''s attention was being directed at the final demon and the rescue missions. Now that there were fewer demons, they were more free to move to get to the others. This worked to the Reborn group''s advantage.


    They fell back and a group approached them asking if they were okay. All of them answered and then shrugged them off and went towards the closest vehicle. It was arge truck that had a few soldiers on top with their guns out, carefully aimed at the demon.


    X lifted up his hand and put his thumb up, that was the signal for all of them to act. Quickly, all of those in the bomb squad suits jumped on board at the back. Meanwhile, Z had used his strength to force the door open, breaking the lock, then pulling the driver out and throwing him to the ground.


    "What is going on?" the soldier said, confused.


    At the top, as soon as Zain had climbed on board, he ran forward and grabbed the two guns, pulling them hard, breaking the strap and throwing them to the ground. Straight after Kelly was by his side, throwing the two of them off to the side.


    "Hold on!" X shouted, as the engine of the vehicle was turned on, and it was revving hard as the car spun around and headed straight for the gate, they were going to crash their way out of the ce.


    "Sir, the bomb squad along with the captured Zain are escaping!" One of the men shouted, and lifted his gun ready to fire at the wheels of the vehicle.


    Before he could pull the trigger though, he had been hit by his side, and arched over, firing out bullets butpletely missing the vehicle.


    "What are you doing kid, why are you getting in my way!" the soldier shouted.


    The kid in question was one of the civilians they had brought in, it was Cody, and barging into the soldier wasn''t an ident at all.


    Still the man ignored the teeneager and lifted up his gun again and now a few others that had noticed lifted their gun up as well.


    "Let them go!" General Begal shouted. "It''s because of them in the first ce that we were able to get rid of two of those things. We should concentrate on finishing off thest one, and on our own people."


    The soldiers ced their guns down, as they witnessed therge vehicle crash right through the metal gate, and continue to drive off in the distance.


    "We made it, we really made it out of all of that." Pink said, falling to the floor, and just sitting there. Seeing the demons again, it was tough for her. Thest time she had met with one, not just her, but her whole team waspletely overpowered by them.


    Without the others, if she saw one again, then she would have been too frightened to move.


    "It was a sess." Kun said. "We managed to find Zain, bring him out of there, and all without losing one of us. We can finally put our guard down a bit."


    Although Kun said that, Zain didn''t feel the same way, and one could tell by his reactions. In the car, nearly everyone was on one side, while the rest were on the other side, including Sid.


    "I''m sorry, although I agreed to join your group, I didn''t mean I was actually joining your group. I just have some questions of my own, and I would like some information. If I''m not happy with what you tell me, well then I''ll just leave." Zain exined.


    Sid knew that Zain was strong, and the problem was with having a strong Reborn zombie like this, it meant that they could back up their words with action.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I''m Sid, and the person driving is X, although I could tell you a few things here and there, we probably couldn''t answer all the questions that you have. The best thing to do is to head to the Reborn group, where our leader Sarah will answer your questions the best." Sid exined calmly.


    The fact that Kelly, Kun, and Pink were here, and hade out on this mission to save him was a plus for the Reborn group. If they allowed them to do this, then they weren''t so controlling like many other groups and that was one of the worries for Zain.


    He wanted to do things his way, not under someone else, who he didn''t really understand.


    "This Sarah person, is she a researcher, blonde hair, blue eyes, with a thin small nose?"


    Zain remembered from some of his visions, the girl Sarah that was in it couldn''t be a coincidence.


    "Yes... have you met her before?" Sid asked, now a little confused.


    Zain didn''t answer his question but decided to sit down, showing his willingness to follow them, at least for now. He felt like he was close and with this Sarah person, he could find out how all this zombie mess started in the first ce, what were the demons and why was he like what he was.


    Why did he be a Reborn, why did he have a system? What were the demons, and was there a way they could end this all, a way to turn back those that had been turned?


    The journey in the vehicle continued and eventually it stopped. There was the border that they had to get past, and they were now going through the secret path that the Reborn group used.


    It was an unfinished subway station, while walking through it though, Zain had received a ding from his system, and it had brightened his mood.


    [3/3 Demons have been defeated]


    [You will now receive your Diamond reward card]


    ******


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 Chapter 224 Max Your Stats!

    After leaving the Army base, Zain had epted the fact that he might not get the diamond reward. It was why he was so hesitant in the first ce, but due to the quest details itself, there was a slight hope that there was no need for him to kill all three.


    Originally the diamond quest had stated for him to only find the active meteorite, and after finding it, the real quest had begun. Thankfully, the military along with the Zombie Hunters were able to beat thest demon without their help, and in turn the quest had beenpleted.


    ''I wonder what the diamond card will give me. The rewards have been all over the ce once they hit gold, so it should be something quite valuable.'' Zain thought. ''But, the diamond quest was easier than I thought. I wonder, is it because I was given that quest a long time ago.


    ''Is that''s the case, maybe I''ve just improved a lot, or it was the fact that everyone else just happened to be there when I discovered the meteorite.''


    Thinking about it more, Zain wasn''t so sure if he could beat three demons on his own, not without summoning his own army to help him, and even then, there would have been significant losses.


    If he was to lose his super zombies, it would be a big hit to him in the long run.


    ''I don''t know how long this journey is going to take, but while I''m here, I might as well see what the diamond card will give me.''


    [Are you sure you would like to use the Diamond card now?]


    [Yes]


    [Diamond card has been used]


    [You have received ''Max out stat!'' Reward]


    [''Max out stat'']


    [The Max out stats is a one time use item. It can be used on yourself or anyone in your Horde. This will allow one stat to be maxed out to the user''s capability.]


    ''It will max out one of my stats! This is¡­ amazing!'' Zain thought.


    Although there was an initial excitement, that excitement started to dwindle for a moment, as he thought about it more. Because there were some questions that he was unable to get answers to, which might decide whether or not this reward was truly a great one or not.


    One of them was, what was the max amount a stat could improve by? Every game Zain yed there would be a cap, and since this was the real world, the cap had to be realistic. It wasn''t as if he could max out his strength stat and suddenly destroy the world with one punch.


    Currently, his highest stat was 15 and he was level 13. He had gained two levels, one each for defeating the two demons so he had two stat points to improve his own skills. Perhaps based on this, he could imagine the max stats for something being around 25 or 50 at the high end.


    ''That would improve my strength or speed by fivefold. It would make fighting against others a lot easier.''


    For now Zain didn''t use the two stat points he had gained, if he was going to max out one of his stats anyway it would be a waste, on top of that there was something else he was considering as well.


    ''This reward, it said, could be used on other members of the Horde as well. Does that mean I can use it on Skittle, or Cobra? If so, Cobra would be the fastest zombie or Skittle the strongest.''


    There was one more thing Zain was thinking about, but he wasn''t too sure about it, and that was using the stat to max out Skittle''s intelligence. In doing so, it made Zain wonder, would Skittle be like him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Capable of speech, remembering everything that happened, more normal. If he knew it was for certain, then maybe Zain would have already done it. Still, it conflicted with his new principles since this whole world went to crap.


    It was the fact that it wasn''t the best thing to do in terms of survival.


    ''It¡­ was because of me that Skittle ended up this way. I promised myself that I would try to find a way to bring him back, and this might just do that. So why am I hesitating, was I always this selfish, or is it this world?'' Zain thought.


    Opening up his own stats again, Zain was ready to use the skill, he was aiming for the agility stat. It was one of his lowest stats, but he had power from the weapons. He was ready to use it but then hesitated for a second.


    ''If Skittle was in my situation¡­ I bet he wouldn''t have hesitated that much. After this, I''ll continue just caring about myself, but I can''t let this opportunity slip.''


    Zain ced his hand on the ground, and a spark of light was seen in the tunnel.  Sid and the others turned to look at it wondering what he was doing and soon a small zombie appeared.


    Sid was less rmed when he saw that it was a zombie but was still confused.


    ''Did he just summon a zombie, what is going on, is it some type of power, or something?'' Sid thought. More so, why did Zain just randomly summon a zombie here of all ces.


    ''Skittle,e back.'' Zain said.


    [Max out stat has been used]


    [Horde member ''Skittle'' Stats have been upgraded]


    [Intelligence: 1 >>> 50]


    After the reward had been used, a new light could be seen in Skittle''s eyes as he turned his head and looked at Zain.


    "Skittle¡­ are you there? Can you understand me?" Zain asked.


    *****


    ******


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 Chapter 225 Back To Normal?

    For a second, Zain thought he might be acting a bit rash. This wasn''t like him, to make a decision on a whim, to not make the best choice possible without all of the information first. Sure, he had seen signs that improved intelligence in his Horde meant they could understand more instructions, but there was no proof.


    There was no proof that if their intelligence increased to a certain level, that they would be back to the way they were or that they would be a Reborn. In the first ce, Zain''s intelligence wasn''t even that high, yet he could do these things.


    For some reason though, when it came to a decision including Skittle, for a lot of those decisions, he would disregard his more thinking side and just did what he really wanted to do.


    "Zain¡­ Zain¡­ Zain¡­" Skittle said back, opening his mouth. His hand slowly moved towards his lips and his own small arms were shaking. "Zain¡­ I can speak¡­ I can speak."


    It was arge relief for Zain at that moment, but the feelings that he had expected weren''ting out. He imagined at this point and time he would have cried, it almost felt like he was crying yet his body wasn''t reacting¡­ doing nothing.


    It was bringing the reality of the situation that his zombie self had changed him quite a bit.


    "I can''t believe it, it actually worked, you can speak right, do you remember everything that happened, everything that happened before?" Zain asked.


    The others that were leading the way in the dark tunnel weren''t so sure what was going on, but Pink and Kun gestured for the two not to get involved. Both Pink and Kun had seen the small zombie always by his side.


    They knew that it was a mindless zombie, not able to do anything, but Zain always had a strong reaction when something urred that was rted to him. It was amazing to them as well, seeing this, seeing a zombie be like them. It gave them a sense of hope.


    "I remember everything, Zain." Skittle answered. "I remember how we first met, I remember everything that happened at the Supermarket with Buke, and I can remember everything that happened while I was a zombie."


    This came as a surprise to Zain, during the time together, he was unsure if he would know what the two had gone through, but it made it easier, it meant he didn''t have to exin as much.


    "You still are a zombie." Zain joked. "Just a clever one now."


    "What did you do?" Skittle asked. "How did you fix me?"


    Hearing this question it was clear that although Skittle could remember everything they had been through together, he had no clue about the system and the rewards that it would give. The thing was Zain couldn''t really exin it himself, it looked like none of the Reborn had the same thing.


    "I''m not exactly sure¡­ but I''m hoping I can find it with where we''re going." Zain answered.


    X and Sid were getting annoyed, and Zain could somewhat see this, besides now that Skittle couldmunicate, it just opened more questions for him. He wanted to head to the Reborn base as soon as possible himself.


    While they walked, Skittle and Zain started to talk about the old days, the times before all of this mess started. It was an enjoyable experience for them both, but they gradually moved on to what happened during their fight for survival.


    It was true Skittle really could remember everything that was happening, but the way he exined it, it was almost as if he was taking a back seat in his head. As if he was watching a movie, he could have thoughts that would try to influence the actions but they just weren''t quite working the way he wanted them to.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Then, there were just instincts in the head that would take over, such as smell, eating another brain and so on.


    After that, Zain introduced Skittle to the other two, Pink and Kun, who were both friendly. Skittle thanked them for all the help they had given Zain back then, and they had done the same for him. Kelly also gave her thanks but seemed to be a little more shypared to the other two.


    That''s when Zain started to ask questions about what the Reborn group was like.


    "We weren''t there long, so none of us really know, but to answer some of your questions it seems like there are around 200, maybe more, Reborn that are like us." Pink answered. "It seems like from time to time, there are even scouts that are sent out that will find more Reborn like us."


    200 was quite a small number considering how many zombies there were out there, and he had no clue how many demons were out there either. He was trying to figure out what was the goal in all of this.


    "What about that man that we met before, and the Reborn zombies that were with him?" Zain asked. "Are they at the facility?"


    When hearing this question, X turned his head.


    "Man¡­ and other Reborn. If you met with who I think you met, they are not part of the Reborn group."


    From the aggressive tone in the voice, it sounded like X had a disliking for these other zombies that were like them, but that was to be expected after what had ured with them thest time as well, but why the two groups.


    Were they against each other? There were so many things that didn''t add up, and he knew that X''s answer would be to wait until they reached the facility, and after a short while, they had done just that, as Zain stood in front of therge door.


    "We''re here." Zain said.


    *****


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 Chapter 226 Learning The Truth (Part 1)

    Just from the initial look outside of the facility Zain was pretty impressed. There was no damage to the facility at all, and to top it off, it looked like there was ack of zombies in the area as well.


    ''Is it because there is ack of humans here, or did the Reborn group clear them out?'' Zain thought.


    Currently, Zain had been told to wait outside while X and Sid headed inside. It was the standard procedure whenever a new person came to their hideout. The others had all experienced it.


    Apart from Zain, they were told that they coulde inside, but they had decided to stay outside, including Kelly. X allowed this for the time being as he went to exin the situation.


    When inside, Sid and X had met up with Sarah, the head of the Reborn group, the only human present there and in her normal whiteb clothes.


    "I see, it seems like quite a lot happened on your journey, I am happy that I sent out the two of you, and I''m happy that you came back in one piece." Sarah replied. "What I''m most interested in is this new Reborn, if he''s that strong he might even be better than Tork."


    "Don''t you think this might cause a problem if we let him in?" X asked. "The others that we brought in, they are staying by his side even now. Unlike those that we have looked after for a while now, they seem to have more loyalty to him, than to the Reborn group.


    "If he bes a pir among the Reborn, then if anything was to happen in the future¡­"


    "That is for me to worry about." Sarah replied. "We have to believe in people, and believe in their will to do what''s best for the whole world."


    With those words, a decision had been made and Sid as well as X went back to call in the others.


    "Our leader has agreed to meet with you." X said as the door was slowly opening. "Everyone goes through an interview before meeting up with the others, and me and Sid will be by your side escorting you.


    "The rest of you feel free to wait for him inside, as you usually would do."


    The other three were slightly nervous because they knew at times Zain would do crazy things. If he was to stir up trouble and leave, they wanted to do so with him, but with a gesture from him, it seemed like he was okay.


    "I have Skittle with me as well." Zain exined. "The two of us will be fine."


    The whole group walked down the hallway before splitting off, Zain wasn''t too worried as they had no idea the full extent of his capabilities, there were still plenty of zombies that he could summon if need be.


    On top of that, he doubted anything would happen if he was right with his guess. Sid opened the door for him, heading into a small square room. Inside there were two chairs, and other Reborn group members.


    When they went to sit in the chairs, both Sid and X went to stand quite close behind them, and as for who was in front of them, sitting in the chair opposite, it was of course Sarah.


    When Zain had entered the room, he couldn''t help but stare at her. He looked deeply into her eyes and continued to look all over, but didn''t even notice the others in the room.


    "Do you¡­ know me?" Sarah asked, as she noticed just how deeply Zain was looking at her.


    ''This woman, although she looks a bit older, there is no doubt she is the same person that was in my vision, and if I was to gamble, I bet she was the same person that ran into me that time.'' Zain thought, and was wondering just how he should y out this whole thing.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Since Zain hadn''t said anything yet, Sarah went on to speak.


    "I should exin a few of the basics here, but I assume your friends have already told you a lot." Sarah continued. "We are the Reborn Foundation, a group that focuses on gathering those that are like yourself. We look out for each other and work together to achieve our goal."


    "Which is?" Zain asked, it was the first words out of his mouth. "Why¡­ does the Reborn group exist, why do zombies exist, why do demons exist, and Sarah, what do you know about the man that controls the other zombies?"


    Those in the room were now slightly on guard, and Sarah was looking at Zain one more time, to see if she recognised him at all. Because she didn''t have her name badge on, there was no way that Zain should have known her name.


    Although the others could have told him, the way he was saying these words¡­


    Zain went to reach in under his armour and shirt, loosening it up, and X immediately went to grab his hand.


    "What are you doing, do you think I''m going to try something?" Zain asked, and forcefully shook his hand off.


    It was the first time X was experincing Zain''s strength first hand and it was like he expected, Zain was differentpared to the other Reborns. He continued and eventually pulled out a pendant that was around his neck that contained a crystal.


    Something that he had kept on him for a while.


    "For a while now, I wanted to meet the person who dropped this. I''m not sure if I''m right or not, but I have a feeling that it''s because of this crystal, that I am what I am right now."


    Zain soon took it off and ced it on the table.


    "This belongs to you, correct?"


    Sarha''s eyes lit up as she saw the crystal and answered.


    "It does."


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 227 Learning The Truth (Part 2)

    Sarah''s words were the confirmation that he needed. The pieces of what was happening to him, and everything else, were slowlying together. Now that he had found the person that he was looking for, he could ask all the questions he wanted, especially about the system that just popped up stating he hadpleted a quest.


    [Find 2/2 of the people that started the Zombie Apocalypse]


    [Quest reward: 4 Silver cards.]


    ''Well, I wasn''t expecting something like the diamond reward since there was no quest difficulty set with this, but 4 silver cards could also be good. It might just be a bunch of experience or stat points but everything is helpful in the end.''


    After looking at the pendant intently, Sarah pushed it back toward Zain, and let out a big sigh.


    "You must have a lot of questions." Sarah said. "There is a lot to exin to you, things that might confuse the others, so I think it''s best if we walk around for a bit. I''ll show you around the ce." Sarah stated.


    It was the first time that she had decided to show around a new Reborn, since their numbers had grownrge in size, and she was willingly epting him before asking him a number of questions.


    To Sid and X, this scene felt oddly weird, but judging from the conversation they had overheard so far, it seemed like the two possibly knew each other.


    Standing up from her seat, she made sure to inform the two as well as the others not to follow them again, and Zain quickly followed Sarah. He wasn''t worried, he could smell that she was still a human.


    Walking down the corridors, they were heading away from where the rest of the Reborn were, and instead they were heading to the second floor where her currentb was.


    "First off, I want to say that I''m d you are alive, and secondly, I''m sorry for getting you mixed up in all of this mess." These words were said just before Sarah pushed the door open to herb, and inside there were a number of machines as well as different things wrapped up in containers and being monitored.


    "I''m not the only one that works here, a few of the other Reborn also work and help out with the research, but they don''t enter unless I''m here as well."


    There were a number of different things that had caught Zain''s eye immediately.


    There were crystals around the ce, all at different stages, and he could even see a stage three crystal being analysed.


    At the same time, there was what looked like a piece of active meteorite, and then there were a few more shocking things. One was the tentacle of a demon, swirling about in a tube.


    Eventually, in the room there was a resting table where the workers would have a coffee away from all the equipment. Sarah sat down and waited for Zain to join her.


    "Alright¡­ So where should I begin?" Sarah said as she ced her finger on her chin. There was just so much to talk about.


    "Why don''t we first talk about the zombies, the thing that started this whole thing." Zain said, and he wanted to add one more bit of information that he knew. "And the fact that you, and that man, were the one that started this whole thing."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was clear that the news had shocked her, the person in front of her, out of his own curiosity had done some digging, or at least that''s what she thought had happened.


    "I was told about the fact that you met that man. I assume he has told you a few things?" Sarah asked.


    Zain didn''t want to say anything, otherwise he feared that the other might withhold information.


    "The man that you met back then, the one in question, was a researcher like me who was part of the Reborn group, and to be more urate, he was my husband." Sarah exined. "However, when you talk about us creating this zombie outbreak, that''s not true at all, we were simply the ones that discovered it first.


    "As part of the Reborn research group we were looking into ways of stopping what has happened from happening. We were also trying to find a cure, to turn those that had been turned back.


    "We had done well to keep it all contained and our research was going well, all until the meteor strike had happened. There is a reason why when the meteorite strike appeared, that the zombie outbreak had urred as well.


    "One of the meteorites hit the facility, and those demons appeared. It caused an outbreak to ur, one that we couldn''t, and the military couldn''t, handle. At least not at the same time as these demons appearing, which is why the area, a little further than this town that we are in, has beenpletely cordoned and sealed off by the military."


    It was hard for Zain to confirm if what Sarah was saying was the truth or not, but he did know a few things. Although many thought the zombie virus had started when the meteorites struck, that in itself was false.


    Sarah confirmed this as well, then there was the fact that she and the man that he had met before had worked together. Once again, she had confirmed that with her exnation as well.


    "Then what about the Reborn group now, why the Reborn zombies, why the evolution of zombies, and what of the demons'' goal, or your own goal in creating this ce?" Zain asked.


    "I can answer all of those questions for you." Sarah replied. "But don''t you want to know about yourself first, and why you became a Reborn, a Reborn with a system?"


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 228 Chosen One?

    Zain was interested in finding out about everything, more so than the average person for a few reasons. He had always yed games preparing for a situation like this to happen, and he knew in the back of his mind that it was very unlikely that it would happen, at least during his lifetime.


    Yet, here he was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and perhaps an alien attack as well.  Not only that but he had be a zombie himself, one that was still sound of mind and had a game like system.


    When putting things together, he somewhat felt like he had been chosen to do this, but was that even possible, would that even make sense, he was just a regr student.


    "Alright." Zain replied. "Let''s talk about this system I have, why me? Why am I the only one with a system unlike the rest of the Reborn?"


    Sarah pointed to the pendant and crystal around his neck.


    "The truth is, it is all an ident that you got involved in all of this, and I apologise, although you could also say because of this ident, it saved your life."


    "ident?" Zain repeated, his previous thoughts of being chosen were somewhat dashed.


    "We already had reports that a meteor strike wasing that day. The general public were unaware of this and it was decided that if they told everyone at thest moment it would just cause a wide panic.


    "We had run a simtion and somewhat predicted that due to the meteor strike that the zombie outbreak would ur. In order to keep everything in one ce, it was the best thing to do, to not inform anyone.


    "I was in a panic myself trying to get things sorted, trying to create a safe ce for people, and those that would be like us, and on top of that, I didn''t have time to test my prototype, the very thing that ended up in your hands."


    Zain lifted the pendant up that was no longer glowing, he did remember it seemed like the scientist had dropped it at the time, and had just continued running forward.


    "This crystal is what gave me the system in the end. And judging by what you said. I guess it was what allowed me to turn into a Reborn. I guess without it, that day when I was ying games in my room, when I got bit I would have just turned into a zombie."


    Sarah could see the disheartened look on the young man''s face.


    "It''s possible that you would have still be a Reborn anyway. During our time experimenting, we realised that the effect of the virus did three things.  Turn people into zombies, turn them into Reborn, or grant them some type of superpower. In all of these, the same virus is shared in the body yet the oue was different on a person to person basis."


    "Wait, are you saying all those with powers have been bit?" Zain asked.


    "Not quite." Sarah replied. "The virus is also airborne, but the particles that are emitted through the airpared to a bite are harmless. For most, they are unaffected by these particles while in others it causes them to have a drastic mutation in their body, I''ll be honest further research needs to be done on that part."


    It did make sense to Zain and exined why superhumans were harder to turn, because they already had a variant of the virus in their body.


    "So what about the system, why did you create it and why was it in the crystal?" Zain asked.


    "I was researching a way to make sure those that turned into a zombie would turn into a Reborn zombie. I felt like we would have less of a problem on our hands if we did so." Sarah exined. "As for the system itself, it was to not cause the person to panic.


    "A way to help them navigate their new body, their new self and a way for them toe back here, so I could help them do more research. It''s not perfect of course, which is why I said it was a prototype."


    There were still so many questions on Zain''s mind, but he thought he would continue on with the system.


    "How does it even all work though?" Zain asked. "How are quests being granted, how am I getting rewards based on these quests that allow me to do certain things. I can create weapons, summon other zombies, control other zombies, and even with Skittle.


    "He was just a regr zombie before, but now he''s a Reborn just like me. Then there all these visions I keep having¡­ I pass out all of sudden, and this man is trying to kill me."


    Sarah at first tried to hide the fact that she was surprised, but as she heard more and more of Zain''s words it was nearly impossible for her, she was frozen in ce, her eyes wide. She shook her head trying to focus and get back to the young man before he panicked at herck of answers.


    "Zain¡­ right? First, that man that you saw in your visions, the faceless man. He was a tutorial system that I set up. It was to teach the Reborn skills that they could use to survive.  That man is based on a real person, but what you are seeing is just vision.


    "However¡­ when you speak I can sense a slight fear in your voice. I will need to ask for further details of your vision if you will allow me to, so I can see if there are any bugs and such.


    "As for everything else you said, with rewards creating weapons¡­ none of that was part of the System I created."


    Right now, Zain was in front of the system creator, so he thought she would have the answers¡­ but now what was she saying to him?


    *****


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 229 Unique Zombie

    Before continuing on with the conversation with the shocked Zain, Sarah had gone ahead and reached for herptop. There was a lot of information that she needed to record down because, unknown to her, the system she herself had created had somewhat evolved into something else entirely.


    "I know you might not fully trust me, but I have told you nothing but the truth so far. If you really want to know what is happening, and continue surviving in this world, while you protect those around you, then it''s best that you tell me everything so we can get through this together.


    "I''m the best chance that you have."


    Zain sat there in silence for a while, he never wished to tell anyone the secret about his system. There was fear in the back of his mind, that maybe someone else would try to obtain it, or somehow use it as a weakness against him.


    Trust was a hard thing, this new world had caused him to lose a lot of trust and even one of his best friends turned against them. It was why it was difficult for him to give an answer straight away.


    Yet this person in front of him clearly knew about the system, and he had more to gain out of this rtionship than to lose.


    "Okay, let''s work together. I''ll try my best to exin everything, and in turn you have to help me, with these visions that I keep having and tell me what you n to do with this Reborn group, the real goal." Zain asked.


    "Of course."


    Typing away, Sarah was writing down everything that Zain had told her, how the system worked at the beginning, how the stats affected his body, and how he figured out that eating a person''s brain was a mainponent when it came to keeping his body stable and working as well as it did.


    Of course he went into detail about some of his powers, being a control type and the quest rewards but didn''t go intoplete detail. For one, Zain didn''t tell her what his current stats were nor about the zombies that he had in his possession.


    At the same time, he didn''t tell her that he had superhumans that had been turned into zombies in his Horde as well. He made sure to tell her just enough so she was able to figure everything out, while not revealing all of his trump cards.


    Sarah went ahead and uploaded her notes to the main server, it looked like she was running a type of analysis. Since she created the original system, she was able topare the differences and hopefully figure out why Zain was the way he was.


    After that, she continued with her notes, as they moved on to the visions that Zain had in his head. He exined as far back as when the visions ured. Sarah was asking him about any links, was it every time he touched an item, and what he got out of those visions, apart from a fear of faceless man.


    "This is amazing." Sarah said as she finished typing up her notes and hit the enter button. At the same time the original analysis hade back from her main server.


    "Have you got an answer then?" Zain asked.


    "I have an answer." Sarah replied. "But I have to warn you, what I have is just an answer, it might not be the correct one, but is based on all the information we currently have, and I hope you don''t mind, but I pulled up information from your personal life as well."


    If Zain had a heart beat it would have started racing right there and then.


    ''She is going to see everything about my personal life¡­ if she finds out about that, then¡­ what will she do with me?'' Zain thought.


    In a way, he was in too deep now though and had to just see how things rolled. Worst case he would attempt to escape this ce by summoning his horde.


    "Don''t look so shocked." Sarah said. "All information can do is help you, don''t worry it''s not going to kill you. Anyway, my guess is that you must have unlocked a power. A power just like those that are superhuman that we talked about.


    "If it is the case, it is the first case of its kind, but you see the abilities and powers one unlocks have a lot to do with the person and they differ greatly. A person who likes to travel a lot, may get the power to teleport.


    "One who feels free like a bird, and always wished to be in the sky might get the ability of flight and so on. From what you told me, you loved to y games and in particr survival games.


    "All of that, mixed in with the crystal, my system and your special case, would allow for the perfect set of circumstances to create¡­ well, you."


    Zain thought about what Sarah was saying, and since it was the only exnation they had so far, he was quite inclined to believe it.


    "I want to change what I said before, when I said that the crystal falling into your hands was an ident, because from your history, and everything you said, it seemed like you were the perfect person to obtain the crystal and that is why you are here today.


    "If someone else had gotten the crystal, well, I would assume that they would be dead by now and I would have never got to learn of the possibilities of my invention."


    Seeing Sarah smile like so, Zain felt like it was a genuine smile, he wanted to believe her, he wanted to trust her and he was getting sucked in.


    "So we somewhat cleared up how the system worked¡­ but then what about those visions I had?" Zain asked.


    Sarah closed theptop, and in doing so the look on her face had changed.


    "This is also a theory¡­ but I will do my best to exin, I also think this has something to do with your past."


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 230 The Faceless Mans Identity

    Hearing what Sarah said before, there was no doubt that she had managed to get files about him on everything. The schools already knew before, the university knew, so judging by her ess or way of gathering information she must have known as well.


    The problem with reports was the fact that they didn''t tell the whole story. They would have the main points, but not the full report.


    "Are you worried, Zain?" Sarah suddenly asked as without realising it, he hadn''t said anything for a while. "If you worried about what I saw¡­"


    After hearing those words, there was almost a ring in Zain''s head, it was so loud that the rest of Sarah''s words were drowned out. Flickering memories had appeared in his head at that moment.


    In the past, whenever someone had learned the truth about Zain, about what he had done, they started to treat him differently. There were some that attempted to hide it, but it was impossible for them to.


    It was the same even in school. HIs past, which was meant to be kept hidden, had somehow gotten out among the other students. An interesting past like his would alwayse out and spread like so. It was expected among young kids, but the worst offenders were actually the adults and the parents.


    Zain could hear them all talking about it, and the parents demanded to be protected from a child like him. They had even formed a protest group. They held banners outside of the school, while forcing their children to not attend.


    In the end, the school could do nothing but kick Zain out, transferring him to another ce, in the hope that his secret wouldn''te out.


    It was because of this difference in treatment, that Zain had only managed to make two very close friends, in Buke and Skittle. Both of them knew about Zain''s past, and regardless of that, they were the only ones that didn''t treat him any differently.


    They were better than his family, better than the adults around, they meant everything to him and it was why he felt somewhat guilty for hesitating even a second before using the Diamond reward on Skittle.


    "Zain!¡­Zain!" Sarah shouted and reached out grabbing his hand. The second she did, he seemed to snap out of his shes of memories of the past. He looked down and noticed that she was holding onto him with no fear.


    Even though she knew he was a zombie, she was a human and even though she knew about his past as well.


    "Did you just have one of those visions right now, is that what happened?" Sarah asked.


    "It''s not that, I was just thinking of the past." Zain replied, as he pulled his hand away, ufortable with the touch. Although his sense of feeling was extremely dulled, he still didn''t like it.


    "Zain you don''t have to worry, the report doesn''t tell the entire story of what happened, and believe me I know things can beplicated when we don''t get the full story." Sarah exined. "Besides, even if you did do something bad in the past, people can change, and sometimes it can be for the worse rather than for the better."


    From the tone of her voice, it sounded like she was speaking from experience, and Zain could only imagine it had something to do with the strange man, the other one that was said to be responsible for the virus.


    "What happened to you, happened at a very young age, and although it might have felt like it didn''t affect you, there is no doubt in my mind that there is trauma there even if it''s been hidden deep within your mind." Sarah exined.


    "You see, the system was designed to set up a number of tutorials for the user. How to use certain weapons, how to fire a gun. It was a simtion that was run through the mind, run through dreams of the person. To do this the system had to go into the users subconsciousness.


    "In your case, I believe during those tutorials that had been set up, they were being interfered with by your real mind. Mixing in your past with what was happening. Without realising it, your memories of what happened in the past are strong, so strong that it even caused the tutorial to act a certain way."


    When thinking about it, he hade back with knowledge, how to use weapons, how to use a gun and so on. The faceless man wasn''t someone he recognised and at times the voice sounded simr, yet different.


    Then there was one thing that made Sarah say was very likely, the fact that when he assessed the tutorials at times he was in the body of a child. He was around the same age as when that event happened.


    ''My hands, they would sometimes be covered in blood as well¡­ this woman, she really has managed to figure it all out.''


    "Is there a way to stop them? And before you said the faceless man I saw was based on someone." Zain asked.


    "Stopping them honestly will be difficult. The only thing that I could do is wait for you to have one of these visions and observe from there. Then perhaps we could stop it, but there is next to no pattern of when these ur.


    "As for the faceless man, he was a part of the Reborn group, before all of this happened. He was one of the best agents we had, the most skilled, the best fighter and more . Unfortunately he had turned into a Reborn, and in an ident, had lost his face.


    "Still, his skills had improvedpared to before, once he had turned into a Reborn, and while me and my partner were still working together, he was the basis for the tutorials. In the original Reborn group, not what it is today, there was a split in our forces, a split between me and my partner and the faceless man decided to go with him."


    "And this partner?" Zain asked, thinking back to one of the visions he had, the vision of when he saw Sarah and the man in theb, and the name on hisb coat. "Was it the man that tried to kill me, the man named Hanfree?"


    Sarah looked surprised but less so than before, somehow Zain kept bringing up things that she didn''t expect, one after the other. It just made her think that he truly was a special person.


    "Yes, you are right, that man is Hanfree Bain, and he is my husband who helped me work on the system and the Reborn group, but he has a very different goal from me, and we now no longer work together."


    *****


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 Chapter 231 With Us, Or Not?

    There was a slight thought in Zain''s mind when he had received the system, that perhaps there was a goal behind it, something that it wanted him to do. Now that he had met the creator, he thought that she might know what that goal was.


    Or perhaps there was arge server-like machine where she could input the quests into it, and it would direct him where he was going. Yet in the end, after meeting one of the creators, he seemed quite disappointed by the answer.


    Still, he couldn''t shake off this feeling that the system maybe had grown beyond what the creators had intended and it had its own purposes, because why would it show him visions of the past, of the lives of the creators. On top of that, why would it tell him to meet the two creators of the whole zombie mess in the first ce.


    It was almost as if the system wanted him to learn the truth.


    "So, let me just make sure I have my facts right." Zain stated. "You, Sarah Bain and Hanfree Bain were both working on the Reborn project, a project to try and control the zombie virus and learn what it does.


    "In turn you both created the system together, a way to make sure that zombies would turn into Reborn zombies like me. I was the prototype but it was toote. The meteor strike that had brought these demons over had managed to disturb one of your facilities allowing for the outbreak to happen. Is that right so far?"


    Sarah nodded.


    "Then, what do you mean when you say that the two of you went your separate ways? Why isn''t he helping you now with the Reborn Group, and what are you and him even trying to do still with the Reborn group if your mission already failed?" Zain asked.


    Sarah took a moment to answer, he wondered if it was aplicated matter for her because of who was involved, her husband, or the fact that she was trying toe up with some lie that could put all of the pieces together.


    "When you first came, you asked me if I was responsible for creating the zombie virus. I told you that I wasn''t and I more so discovered it, but that doesn''t change one fact. I still feel responsible for the zombie virus.


    "The Reborn Zombies, I feel like have been dragged in the middle of all of this when they didn''t ask for it. Most of them here at the facility aren''t part of the military of any sort or are just like you, a normal student.


    "I am still trying toplete my goal, and that is creating a cure, to turn the zombies back to humans. I believe that studying the Reborn is the closest to that. The fact that you have told me that you were able to make a regr zombie into one like yourself, a Reborn, makes me believe even more in that goal.


    "Those that stayed with me, those that are close to me at this facility and the ones that regrly go out on these missions, also believe in the goal. You see, some of the zombies have naturally be more developed and we split these into different stages.


    "What we have found is that different stage zombies produce different crystals, and the crystals seem to be the key to helping out the Reborn into evolving. I am hoping to understand the Reborn, and the zombies by studying all of these crystals."


    What Sarah had said so far seemed to be true based on Zain''s own experience as well, as he had found the crystals helped improve the others, while himself, the crystal in the zombies seemed to disappear into exp through the system for him.


    "For your second question, as I said, me and my husband, or ex-husband unofficially, our goals greatly differ. He wishes to use the crystals to power the zombies, to create an army of super zombies and in doing so, get rid of the demons that are here.


    "Why he had attacked you back then, I have no idea, maybe he was low on brains to feed his force, or he thought he could get something out of attacking you."


    That answer for Zain wasn''t good enough, because those exnations in his head didn''t make any sense, and there was something else he didn''t mention why he was left alive.


    "I have answered all of your questions to the best of my ability and I have exined what we do here as well as what we can do to help you. Now it is up to you to decide, do you and your friend wish to help us, help us find a way to turn you back to human." Sarah asked with a smile.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    When she had put it that way, the answer seemed simple¡­ but he still looked at Skittle for confirmation.


    "Zain, I will go wherever you go, you know that."


    ¡ª¡ª


    Inside the facility, Kun, Pink and Kelly were all waiting patiently to see if Zain would stay or at least had been epted into the facility. It had been a long time, a lot longer than when they had first arrived, and were starting to think if they would have to leave the facility to try and search for Zain again.


    Just then, Sid had opened the door, and in doing so they could see a small short zombie and a redhead standing next to him.


    "Zain!" Pink shouted.


    Going over to where the others were, Zain looked at them all.


    "It looks like I will be in the Reborn group¡­ for now." Zain stated.


    Up above, watching everything on the third floor through a one-way ss window, Sarah was looking at everything, and by her side X was standing there as well.


    "People seem to gather around him and trust him quite a bit, and his strength is not something tough at." X said. "Don''t you think he could be a dangerous influence if he found out the truth?"


    "For now it''s fine, it''s better that he is here with us, rather than on his side."


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 232 Settling In

    Joining the Reborn group in some way had brought back a bit of normality to Zain, and everyone else''s life. They were able to feel safe and not witness what was going on in the outside world.


    At the same time, everyone was learning more about each other. Now that Skittle could speak, often Skittle would speak about stories from when they were at school, or at the University. They were nice to hear, even for Kelly, as she remembered what the school was like, and for Kun it reminded him of his younger days as well.


    Pink was a bit upset, she was younger than the others and hadn''t gone to University yet, but with most of her family gone and away from her, she just liked being with everyone else, as this was, in a way, her family now.


    When speaking, there did seem to be one sore subject for Zain though, and it was memories containing Buke. Skittle was still speaking of him quite highly, and although Zain didn''t stop him from doing so, he would quiet down once the name was mentioned.


    After all, Zain could only imagine that Buke was out there somewhere walking as a zombie, or more likely having already been killed by those trying to survive.


    Regardless, they focused their time on the Reborn group. The neers, as they were described by the other Reborns that were there, spent most of their time together and away from getting to know the others.


    This was quite normal, and nearly everyone did it when they first joined the Reborn group, sticking to those that they did know.


    There was another reason though, since they were neers, they didn''t get sent on missions so often, or sent out exploring like the other groups. They needed to settle in, and learn more, such as fighting techniques, paths, information and so on.


    In the meantime, Kelly was also constantly being monitored by Sarah. She had told Zain that she wished to solve her problems before getting to the bottom of Zain''s visions, and since he hadn''t had any in a while anyway, he was okay with that.


    One thing that they did have to take part in with everyone else though was training. There were many types, learning how to build makeshift bombs, how the basics of electronics worked, making a makeshift battery and so on.


    Zain was interested in a lot of it, and Skittle seemed to pick up things to do with electronics fairly easily. Whether it was because his intelligence was now higher, or because he was smart before this he was unsure.


    Out of all the things, there was still one thing that he wasn''t interested in, and that was the physical training. A lot of it was conditioning training, to improve one''s fitness and there were alsobat lessons, but for Zain, the lessons weren''t advanced enough.


    It was just a waste of time in his eyes, so he performed the actions half-heartedly, and this had caught the eye of the instructor Wix.


    "You need to put in more effort, Zain!" Wix shouted. "I was told that you were a talented one, that managed to defeat a demon on its own, but if this is all you can do, then I can only guess that you were lucky."


    Wix wasn''t a bad person, but his body frame, and military style uniform reminded him a lot of the faceless man, and that was someone Zain didn''t like, so at times a bit of his anger woulde out.


    The other Reborn had heard thement Wix had made, and those that had met with demons before couldn''t quite believe their ears.


    "That has to be a lie right, he took out a demon on his own?"


    "Is there anyone in the facility that could even do that?"


    "Maybe Mr X, or Sid... not all demons are the same strength but still, if he was able to do something like that, it would make him one of the strongest in here."


    Based on their experience, they could only imagine one of them defeating a demon if it was heavily injured but either way one would still have to be quite strong.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t like to waste my time." Zain replied. "I think it might be better if I was to train on my own, or maybe be allowed to go outside during this time."


    For Zainpleting quests was most important for gaining exp, or gaining crystals. The only upside was while he was inside, he was gaining passive exp from the territories he had on the outside.


    "You really think you have nothing to learn from this ss, is that what you have observed after these few days?" Wiz asked.


    Zain nodded in response, staying honest, because he really did want to get out of there.


    "Fine, we needed to do this at some point anyway. There will be a change of lesson for today!" Wix shouted to them all. "In this facility it is important to know our ce and where we stand in terms of strength.


    "This is a group where you will need to rely on the person by your side, and we need to pick the right people for the right tasks, so it''s important we evaluate  everyone''s strength, so we will have a spar, but you won''t be going against each other.


    "Since Zain says there is nothing for him to learn, then you are to show him he is wrong. One by one, use your skills to show to Zain what you have learned in your lessons to defeat him in sparring." Wix smiled.


    "Danny, you''re up first"


    A man, with a sleeveless shirt and a bullet proof vest came forward. He had arge bite mark in his arm, where he had been bit. He was also a Reborn student who had been at the facility for a while now, so it was quite clear that Wix wanted to teach him a lesson with the first student.


    [New quest received]


    [Win the sparring match against the Reborn]


    [Reward: Bronze card]


    ''Oh, now this might be something worthwhile after all.''


    "Let''s hurry this up." Zain said.


    *****


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 Chapter 233 Mismatch

    The spar wasn''t your typical spar and that was because the opponents involved were not normal either. Any use of weapons was allowed apart from guns. Guns in the first ce were a weapon that wasn''t used by much in the Reborn group and Zain could understand why.


    They weren''t effective against demons nor any zombie that was above the 2nd stage. Using them as well would just attract a horde of zombies including the higher stage zombies.


    It was best to train the Reborn to use their new talents. As for why weapons were allowed, it again was to simte a real battle that they might have. Besides, even if they were injured by having a limb cut off or so, they wouldn''t feel any pain, and as long as the body part was still present, it could be reattached.


    After eating some food, the Reborn bodies would start to heal the detached limb. However, if a body part was burnt as such, then they were unable to regrow that part of the body, they could only reattach it.


    This meant there was one more rule as well, no strikes to the head. Thest thing Sarah wanted was for the Reborn to kill each other, there were enough creatures and things out there attempting to do that.


    Zain wasn''t going to go easy on his opponent who was wielding arge metal rod, in turn Zain had summoned the two weapons to his hands, the two swords that appeared out of nowhere.


    "What the¡­ does he have some type of ability?" The zombies were curious.


    "But, I''ve never met a zombie with an ability before."


    "I think I have." Another replied. "But they weren''t a Reborn zombie, they were one of those Zombie Hunters that had a power before and then they turned, but they still weren''t like one of us a Reborn, maybe this guy really is special."


    Zain could hear the others talking, and he felt like there was no need to hide his power, at least this part of it, he still kept the big surprises for emergency situations, such as being able to summon a zombie horde filled with super zombies. Who knew what the future would bring, maybe there would be a time when he would have to go against the Reborn group.


    "The weapons he has in his hands as well, they don''t look normal, they almost look like they''re out of some video game."


    Thisment made Zain inwardly happy the most, he thought the same thing, and he greatly appreciated the fact that there were others who were in awe over them.


    "You should pay more attention, the fight can start at any moment!" Dannyunched forward with a long metal rod in his hand, he held it with both hands to get more power in his swing.


    Instead of swinging it from the side like a baseball bat, he had it above his head, like one would do in kendo. Swinging it, he struck diagonally across, but managed to hit nothing but the air.


    "You are a bit too slow." Zain said, as he gave a powerful kick to the side of his legs, one leg crashed into the other that made him topple to his side on the ground. Before he knew it, a heavy weight was on his chest.


    Zain had his knee and whole body weight on top of him, while having the sword pointed at his neck. The fight was over, and it had ended in only a few seconds.


    "Hey, what the hell, how did something like that end so fast?"


    "Yeah, isn''t there supposed to be a whole load of swinging, bashing, and punches before it gets to this point."


    The Reborn trainees were confused because this hadn''t happened before. Usually, Wix would allow them to spar with those that were the same level or slightly better than them. There was no point getting someone so advanced or above them to fight.


    They wouldn''t be able to learn or understand what had happened, but this was exactly what happened when there were two opponents that were no match for each other.


    [Bronze card received]


    [Would you like to use your bronze card]


    [2000 exp points awarded]<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    [You have levelled up, you are now level 17]


    Zain had levelled up a few times after defeating the demons, he didn''t just get the diamond reward but he had left most of his stat points he had earned unused. So far intelligence had been one of the better ones for him to level up while he was outside.


    This was because it allowed his body to deteriorate slower and seemed to be linked to how many zombies he could control.


    In here though, the horde wasn''t with him, it didn''t need to be used, and there was nock of brains he could eat, which is why he had decided to give his stats a little boost in the strength and agility department.


    Strength: 10


    Agility: 10


    Intelligence: 15


    Endurance: 7


    ''With my stats now, I''m just as fast as Cobra is as well. It''s a shame that they can''t fight against these guys here and increase their strength as well. The original n was to make an unbeatable undead army, and somehow I''ve ended up bing the strongest one. Oh well, I can''t do anything about it now.''


    "Wix,  I''m guessing there are a few more that are still willing to spar me?" Zain asked.


    Out of stubbornness, Wix called out another opponent, and although they had fared a bit better against Zain, it had ended in the same type of defeat. There were three more losses and it meant Zain had gained three more Bronze cards,  getting him exp each time.


    ''This is crazy, this guy is just as strong as the agents. Other than myself, or those not in the training room, I don''t think there is anyone that can beat him.'' Wix thought.


    "Is it okay, if we give it a go." Pink said with her hand raised, and Kun was standing by her side as well.


    ''Oh, his friends are interested as well, I guess it would be a good chance to see how strong they are as well.'' Wix thought, since his original n of teaching Zain a lesson hadn''t worked out, but he needed to look into new things, this wasn''t a bad thing¡­ it was a good thing they had someone strong join this time.


    Now, Wix just wanted to know how strong were the others that had joined.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 234 Give It Your Best

    The first one to step up toward the centre, was Kun, even though Pink was more eager, but Kun had insisted that he be the one to fight Zain first, because he felt like in terms ofbat, he was actually worse than Pink, who was incredibly talented at fighting before bing a Reborn zombie.


    "My specialty is guns, but the rule states no guns, so I''m just going to have to go with my bare hands." Kun said.


    [Optional quest received]


    [Defeat your opponent: Bronze reward]


    [Defeat your opponent with no weapons: Silver award]


    "I''ll be fair, there might be a time where I have no weapons on me, and I will have to use just my fists." Zain said, as the weapons disappeared into his inventory as quickly as they had appeared.


    Those around him were still amazed by this and the weapons themselves, as in thest few fights they had seen, anything the swords shed against, they would break right through them.


    ''If the system has decided to give me a silver reward for defeating Kun, then that must mean it thinks he''s a level above all the rest of the Reborn.'' Zain thought.


    "Don''t think this will be a walk in the park." Kun stated. "While we were separated from you, we did our best to consume and absorb as many crystals as we could find, so you might be quite surprised.


    Kun dashed forward and it looked like he was going for an overhead right, towards Zain''s chest, since they weren''t allowed to hit in the head. In order to test his opponent''s strength Zain wanted to block the hit, but that was when he was suddenly kicked in the stomach instead.


    HIs body slid, being pushed back a little, but Zain was in no pain, when he looked through his guard, he could see that Kun was already keeping his distance.


    ''In and out.'' Wixmented, watching the fight carefully. ''That and surprise attacks, is the only thing one can do, when the opponent they are going up against is faster and stronger than you. I remember Kun, he was part of the Reborn group like me, so he already knows the standard hand to handbat basics, but he was never one to excel with them, he was more the type of person to use their head.''


    Zain didn''t charge forward, because he thought it would be good for him to learn as well, to see the different ways to fight an opponent. So far he had been fighting, practically monsters, but there would be times where he would have to go against those that were more human.


    Once again, Kun rushed forward this time going for an uppercut towards his ribs. With his new strength he could break them in one hit, and although zombies didn''t feel pain, broken bones still affected them.


    Carefully Zain watched the small movements, the twitch of Kun''s muscles and could see where the attack was going. Swinging his arm down, with his elbow pointed, Zain mashed it right into Kun''s fist.


    A loud crack was heard, his fist was clearly broken, but Kun also didn''t feel pain and continued on with the same kick as before, only this time the leg had been caught.


    "I caught you before you could get away!" Zain said, as he pushed forward. He could have easily overpowered him with his strength or charged in with his speed, instead Zain went to throw a punch toward Kun''s chest.


    Kun lifted both hands in a cross to block, but arge foot was felt right in his stomach, pushing him over and he could soon see the ceiling above, not only that but his entire body slid across the floor.


    "F*ck!" Kun struggled to say as it felt like his diaphragm had been messed up slightly.


    Zain had tried to hold back, but was caught up in the moment and kicked Kun a little too hard, and it was clear the match was over as Kun didn''t get off the floor for a good few moments.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Fighting in the open like this is the worst scenario for someone like Kun. His speed and strength is perhaps as good as mine.'' Wix thought. ''But he has no talent in putting strength behind his hits. Fighting in a warehouse, a kitchen, anything where he could use the environment to his benefit is where Kun shines, but it''s interesting to see someone from the outside that just joined to be this far along in Reborn development.


    ''What''s crazier is how much stronger this Zain guy is, just how many crystals did he absorb to get this far along. If I was to guess, he has to be simr to a stage 3? Which means he could be hiding a special skill of some sort? And I''m not talking about his little trick to make weapons appear and disappear.''


    [Silver reward has been received]


    [Would you like to use the silver card?]


    [Yes]


    [Reward received: Hand to handbat Lvl 1]


    Images started to sh in Zain''s head of a soldier fighting, it looked a bit like the way Kun fought and what Wix was teaching, but had brint form. While looking at these movements, his muscles were twitching, trying his best to follow along.


    ''That''s quite a handy reward, after learning the basics, it''s easy to level up the different skills, just like with the sword mastery and gun mastery. This was the type of training I needed.''


    "I guess I''m next." Pink said, walking forward. "And I think it''s best if you use your weapons against me."


    There was another reason why Kun wanted to go first. Although the two of them would mostly share crystals, a lot of the time Kun gave his to Pink to use. There were times where he felt he wasn''t getting a lot of benefit, while Pink felt like she was close to a breakthrough, and one day that breakthrough had happened.


    She was unable to show her skills against the demon, because she was too distracted, but today she would show her skills.


    [Quest: Defeat your opponent]


    [Reward: Gold Card]


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 235 Enhancement

    Pink and Kun were two of Zain''s first true allies in this world. He hated to admit it, but he had grown to like them and because of that, he had shown both of them how to use the crystals to grow stronger.


    Based on what he saw, Zain believed that the two of them had the potential to grow, and as a result increase his chance of survival. After all, a group was the basis of survival as each person did what they were specialised at.


    Surviving on your own would be difficult no matter who you were, even for him, but the two of them somewhat seemed to rely on him, more so than they realised, and with his split, in a way he was hoping for this to happen.


    ''Kun already surprised me with his strength and speed even though hand- to-hand fighting isn''t his speciality, but you Pink, you are strong enough to make the system give me a gold card for defeating you. You must have really improved.''


    It was a stark differencepared to fighting against Kun, because when the quest popped up for him, to receive a silver award he had to win without the use of his weapons, but here the system just stated that it wished for him to win.


    ''Let''s trust the system, and not go easy on Pink.'' Zain thought as he manifested the two weapons into his hands.


    ''From what I remember before, she was a taekwondo expert, so she was good at using her legs. When she absorbed the crystals, she was close to the Enhancement type of zombie as well.''


    Taking a look at Pink in the centre though, he noticed that she wasn''t wearing her special boots that she had before. Those that would allow her to hide a small de in the tip. Strangely, she was now just wearing in trainers forfort, at least she was until a few seconds ago.


    Immediately she started to take them off and flung them to the side, revealing her bare legs, as she continued to wear a skirt.


    "Thank you for taking me seriously, after losing my family¡­ I don''t want to lose anyone else, and that includes you Zain, so I want to show you how much I''ve improved."


    From the tip of Pink toes, her skin started to change colour, it started to turn ck and thicken. The ck skin started to shine slightly like a piece of armour and went right up to her knee.


    ''This substance around her leg, it looks like the same thing around the Titans, and the same thing that my Titan de is made out of?'' Zain noticed. ''Is this something she can do now, after absorbing all of those crystals?''


    Zain was bang on with his guess, and Wix didn''t look too surprised to see this, unlike some of the other Reborn.


    ''She can do an enhancement¡­ I was hopeful for her since she seemed to be the most skilled during the training, but this is beyond what I expected. Just what did these guys go through to get so strong on their own. How were they able to find out about the crystal power without anyone telling them?'' Wix thought.


    Either way, it would mean that now this fight wouldn''t be as one sided as the others.


    "Let''s start this!" Pink shouted, running in. It looked as if she was just going to try her best with her legs, but when she reached Zain, she jumped up in the air and spun her body. She was high up in the air, and the spinning kick went right towards his head.


    "If you have that armour on your leg, then I don''t have to worry about hurting you, not that I was in the first ce!" Zain shouted back, as he swung the Titan machete as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It mmed into Pink''s kick, but there was a clear winner when it came to power, Zain''s arm was forced into swinging downward. When Pinknded on the floor, she spun her leg across the floor, sweeping it, and hitting both of Zain''s legs, causing him to fall on his back.


    Standing up, Pink lifted her foot in the air, and swung it down, her heel aiming right towards his chest. Rolling to the side, and kicking off the ground, Zain managed to get back up on his feet to see Pink''s heel stuck in the floor right where he was.


    ''I lost in a battle of strength?'' Zain thought, but calmed himself down as he thought about it more logically. ''Legs are able to produce far more power than arms in the first ce. She also spun in the air giving her more momentum.


    ''On top of that, she is an enhancement type. As she absorbed more crystals, her stats were what was going to increase the most. I was foolish to try and go up against her head to head.''


    This time, Zain was the one that charged in, after collecting his thoughts. When he was just in range, Pink went to kick his forearm aiming to break them. If she got rid of his arms, then he would no longer be able to use the strange swords that seemed to be just as strong as her legs.


    "I have improved in more ways than just my strength!" Zain said, as he leaned back a bit, avoiding most of the weight of the kick, then he swung the Titan sword following the leg just behind it.


    [Sword mastery level 4]


    Scraping the back of her leg with his weapon, he was able to somewhat parry it and force it where he wanted it to go, lifting her leg from the bottom, he made her go off bnce for a second, and in that moment, there was one more thing Zain had on him, the element of surprise.


    In his other hand, the white sword had suddenly be arge spear. Pink, this whole time, was keeping her distance away from the swords, but now she had a spear shoved right through her stomach.


    "You told me not to hold back." Zain simled.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 236 At The Top

    After the spear had prated Pink''s stomach, although she could still continue to fight, she knew it was over, with Zain''s speed and strength, he could make sure she was unbnced, and would be able to charge in and chop her head off, which was why she had decided that it was the end of her battle.


    No words needed to be spoken between the two, instead Zain had just received a message from his system.


    [Questplete]


    [You have received a gold card]


    [Would you like to use the gold card]


    Taking the spear out from Pink, it looked like some of the other recruits had been told to bring some flesh by Wix, before things continued. This would give Pink a chance for her body to heal the now big hole in her stomach.


    ''This fight, it was won because of my sword mastery.'' Zain thought.


    It was clear as day that Pink was more skilled when it came to fighting, her skills were the very best he had evere across, the first attack alone showed that. Even with Zain''s speed and strength, she would have been able to ovee both of those.


    However, due to his sword mastery, Zain could follow her movements, it was as if his instincts were telling him when he needed to go in and out, how to parry the leg and when to use the force against herself.


    The high level of sword mastery Zain currently had, made it so his skill level was above hers. Without it, he thought the match could have turned out to be very different. Meanwhile Pink was thinking along simr lines, but in the opposite way.


    ''Zain is so strong¡­ he has managed to improve and carry on improving, I thought I might have caught up with him, but he isn''t even a fighter. His strength lies in the zombies that he can control. Everyone here has no idea how strong Zain really is. I''m d that I chose to follow him.


    ''This gives me a goal, and a reason to keep getting stronger.'' Pink thought.


    Not waiting around, Zain decided to use the gold card and see what the reward was right away. Right now, he felt like he was hitting jackpot after jackpot with all these sparring sessions giving him rewards.


    [Gold card has been used]


    [You may level up any mastery by 1]


    ''This reward is great, it might not seem like a big thing if I was to get it early on, but right now, my sword mastery has been stuck on level 4, unable to improve. There are also a few other masteries that I could level up that are hard toe by, but as masteries go up in level they be harder to level up, so I know which one to choose straight away.''


    [You have levelled up Sword Mastery]


    [Sword mastery is now level 5]


    [You have reached max level of sword mastery]


    [It can no longer level up]


    ''The max level, I see, so the max that stats can increase to is 50 ording to the system and level 5 for the masteries. Now that my sword mastery is at its max, I should use my dagger, hand to hand, and gun mastery more often. These are the most useful to me.


    ''Then if I really need to, I can use my swords. Otherwise, I''ll just be wasting exp¡­e to think of it, I can still go to that ce. I had put it on pause after reaching wave 10, but who knows if I''ll ever be able to go back there again, since I don''t have a return key.''


    The flesh had arrived and PInk had no trouble gobbling it down. Gone were the days where she would struggle to eat flesh. Soon her body was reacting and at a slow pace it was healing the wound.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "So Kelly, I''m guessing that means you''re up next." Kun smiled.


    "What, me? Fight against Zain? If you guys don''t stand a chance, then it would be the same for me, and besides I''m not much of a fighter in the first ce." Kelly replied.


    Although she did say that, there were a few instances when travelling together they got to witness Kelly''s strength. If anything, the one thing that was holding her back was her personality. If she did go up against Zain the way she was now, it would show next to no benefit.


    "It''s okay, I think we all have an idea of how strong this person is." Wix said walking toward the centre, he started to take off his army-like uniform revealing just a vest underneath. It covered his chest but revealed his arms from the shoulder down. They were covered in bite marks, while being muscr at the same time.


    "It''s time for you to face the instructor. If you manage to beat me Zain, then I will allow you to have free reign to train as you wish., After all, like you said, then you will have nothing to learn from me, but if you end up losing, then I expect you to never speak up again."


    Swinging his arms out, and lifting them up in a type of boxing stance just like with Pink, they started to cover in the same hard ck material right up to his elbow.


    [New Quest received]


    [Defeat instructor Wix]


    [Reward Gold Card]


    "Alright, you have a deal!" Zain said, as he went in trying to finish this quickly. Since he had already transformed the white sword once into a spear he now had an awkward spear and Titan sword in his hands.


    It was a mistake on Zain''s behalf because his sword mastery skills didn''t transfer to his spear skills. Thrusting it forward it was easy for Wix to avoid. Zain then swung the sword, but still with the spear in his other hand, things felt slightly off, it gave a chance for Wix to pivot and as he did he threw out arge hook, from his toes to his waist he spun into it and mmed right into Zain''s forearm breaking the bone.


    Before Zain could retaliate Wix jumped back out.


    "Now with a broken arm, you won''t be able to use your sword so well. I think I might have the upper hand in this match." Wix smiled, but that smile soon disappeared.


    Right in front of his eyes, he was witnessing the quick healing speed of the Reborn named Zain Talen, his bones that were cracked, his forearm that bent in two ces, wasing back together and was as good as new.


    "Just what type of zombie are you?" Wix asked.


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 237 The Strongest Reborn

    Reborn Zombies didn''t feel pain and they were able to heal themselves from extraordinary wounds. There was a limit to what could be done with their healing, but in most cases as long as the body part wasn''t missing and it was nothing to do with the brain, they could heal it.


    However, what Zain could do waspletely differentpared to every Reborn they hade across, because he was able to heal on the spot, without having to consume human flesh. Healing did take from Zain''s stamina and he would have to consume flesh if he wanted to constantly heal.


    The difference was, in a way he could borrow from his body''s energy reserves to force his body to heal there and then, and in that way, he wouldn''t be so disadvantaged in the fight. This was why the instructor Wix ended up so surprised.


    He looked at Zain''s hand in amazement as if it was as good as new, and before he knew it, he could see a white spear heading straight toward his body. Wix managed to grab the spear but the throw was more forceful than he thought and the tip had just managed to pierce his stomach.


    With his other hand, he lifted it up and mmed down on the spear, breaking it in half. There was some hesitancy as to whether or not he should break the item, since the weapon was clearly special being able to transform.


    In the end, Wix needed to treat this as if it was a real fight, and he felt that the weapon with its transform ability was dangerous, even though he had no idea Zain could no longer change its shape.


    It was no problem though, due to the passive effect of the weapon that allowed it to heal itself, and in the first ce, it was all meant to be a distraction. Zain had run forward after throwing the spear, and with his speed, he was nearly as fast as the spear itself.


    So after Wix had broken the spear he was wide open. Zain had jumped in the air, and spun his body with the single sword in his hand; it looked simr to what Pink had done to him not too long ago.


    ''Holding the spear affected my ability to use my sword mastery to its full potential, and now, I know exactly what I need to do.''


    With the spin, the sword came right down toward Wix, who went to punch the sword strike. When the two shed, there were a few sparks, but there was more forceful powering from the sword that punished the hand away and almost all of Wix''s body.


    When Zainnded on the ground, he could see Wix was on the back foot, and used his full speed to run ahead swinging the sword again, aiming for the hand once more. Rather than hitting him at the forearm though, he shed through with the titan sword just above the elbow.


    A clean cut was made followed by a thud as something had hit the ground. The contestants around could see it, an arm was on the floor. With Zain''s speed, strength and the Titan sword, he had managed to cut off the instructor''s hand.


    "You are a more calcting man than I ever thought." Wix smiled and the other arm that was still intact, the special ck skin was starting to disappear. "You have a great sense of what to do when fighting against different opponents as well.


    "It was a good choice, I''m skillful enough to hurt you and defend my vitals with my arms, so the best thing to do is to get rid of them. Well done, with regret, I have to say that there is nothing I can teach."


    [Questpleted]


    [Golf Card received]


    "No, thank you." Zain bowed. "Because of you, I have managed to gain a lot more than I could have imagined."


    These words were true and it appeared whatever bad blood there was between the two seemed to disappear right after the fight.


    Thankfully,  the effects of the fight between the two caused no permanent harm. The arm was still intact, so it could just be palced back on Wix and healed like so. After the match was over, Wix had dered that training was over.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He told everyone to make note of what they saw today, as everyone had their own fighting style that seemed to work for them. It was good that they used the fundamentals that he taught them, to suit their strengths best just like those that were fighting today.


    After that, Wix had said he wished to speak with Zain on his own, and the two were left sitting down against the wall in the changing room.


    "I wanted to officially apologise to you." Wix said. "We get a lot of new recruits thate in here, thinking that they are ...well hot shit, since they gained new found strength and were much stronger then they were before.


    "They ck on the training and if they do that they either end up dead, or hurting others, but you were the real deal."


    Zain was happy to ept Wix''s apology and thought he was actually a good teacher, there was just a reason he wanted to show his strength. It was so they didn''t pamper him so much.


    Now they would know, either he could go out and do tasks on his own, or allow him to at least improve on his own, and his progression wouldn''t slow down in the slightest.


    "I wanted to ask, you have fought me and you said I was strong,pared to the other Reborn in here, how strong do you think I am?" Zain asked.


    "Don''t tell me your thinking of challenging them as well." Wix smiled. "It''s hard to say, as we don''t really know until we get in a fight. There are quite a few Reborn agents, captains of groups that are around as strong as me. Since you beat me, they wouldn''t be a challenge for you.


    "In terms of stronger than me, then that would leave Sid, who I believe you''ve already met, and the strongest out of the group to be Mr X. Other than those two, there are the two guards that wear the riot headgear that are with Sarah at all times.


    "I know they''re strong but I don''t know how strong. Either way, I think it''s best if you avoid fighting with them for now, and besides, while you are in the Reborn group, when you get strong enough, both Sid and X wille and ask to fight you anyway. So just enjoy the time while you are here."


    Zain liked the sound of that, it was good that there were other strong Reborn it meant the ce was safe, and the current position he was in, was perfect for him to improve.


    ''While I''m here, I''ll figure everything out, while also getting stronger in the process.''


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remeber to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be abel to see it there frist, and you can reach out to me. If im not to busy I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 238 Growing Quickly

    Time had passed quickly for Zain after joining the Reborn group, in total 6 months had gone by, and not a single day had been wasted. The situation in the city in some cases could be described as worse, or better for a number of reasons.


    The Reborn group had stayed in the current location the whole time. ording to the situation that they knew about on the outside, there was still a tight military blockade in the area, not allowing anyone to leave.


    From what Zain had learned, the zombie infection had spread all over the world, but in most cases they were able to get a handle on the situation. Flights, ships and more had all been stopped in order to slow down the rate of infection and in all that time there still hadn''t been a cure.


    As for the city where they were in, it was affected the most by far.


    During his time with the Reborn group, Zain went on many missions with the others. Most of them were to do with clearing areas or gathering information on where the meteorites had hit.


    This meant that they went into the city quite often. This gave the chance for Zain to improve quite a bit. He killed plenty of stage 2, and even a few stage 3 zombies during those times, allowing him to grow stronger.


    Due to the clearing of certain areas, the zombie situation was better in some cases, there were even other forces that were now dealing with the situation in the city quite well. The rise of the Zombie Hunter group, and the Military group as well.


    However, as time passed there was a reason why some would say the situation was getting worse, it was because more and more zombies were evolving. Those that were regr zombies were turning into mutant zombies, the stage 2 zombies were evolving to stage 3 and there were even stage 4 zombies that had been sighted.


    They were harder and harder to deal with, and on top of that, the appearance of demons were bing more frequent as well. The fact that they could disguise themselves as humans was causing some infighting between groups as well. They were fighting against each other out of fear.


    Regardless, for Zain he felt like he had improved his situation quite a bit. By showing his strength in the missions he was sent out on, he had eventually be one of themanders in the Reborn group. A leader who would be in charge of the small teams that went out.


    This gave Zain a lot of opportunity to do things away from the eyes of others because often he would leave things to Kun as he went out on his own, if he needed to.


    In that time, there were a few things that Zain had done, one was to increase the number of territories that he had imed. Every mission that was based on clearing an area Zain had gained the territory and were able to put zombies in that area.


    At the same time, Zain was also able to ce his special zombies in these areas, such as Cobra and still summon them to his side as long as his own horde wasn''t full up.


    What he also noticed was if two territories were next to each other, they would be one big territory, and he could ce even more zombies inside. Essentially, this was creating quite a few safe ces that they could go to around the city.


    It did make him wonder, if he cleared the whole city, would that be a territory of his as well? For now though, he was mainly doing it due to the exp boost he would get. With clearing out areas, the passive exp from territories and protecting areas when they were under attack, Zain was able to level up fairly quickly.


    In fact, he even had gone through another evolution. This evolution had increased the intelligence of all of those in his horde. To the point where he could give them orders that they would understand.


    They were still unable to speak back to him, but he could tell them to hunt or clear areas on his behalf. With this, they were able to get stronger without Zain having to be by their side.


    Name: Zain Talen


    Level 31


    Strength: 19


    Agility: 16<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Intelligence: 30


    Endurance: 10


    Horde: 45/50


    With all the levels he had increased, his stats were beyond impressive, and with the evolution two things had increased greatly. His intelligence and in turn how many zombies he could have in his direct horde.


    The fact that Zain could summon a horde of zombies was kept secret till this day. Although, Zain didn''t get everything out of the Reborn group as he had suspected. Sarah seemed to be busy doing research on Kelly.


    He didn''t mind so much since she was here before him and he thought it was important for Kelly to find out what she really was. Sarah did suggest she would look into things when Zain had one of his episodes or ck outs, but the thing was, ever since being here he never did have one.


    Other than that though Zain was fitting in well, so well that many of the Reborn group were growing close to him, thanks to the missions and his great strength. This also led to rumours, who was the strongest in the Reborn group, was it Zain¡­or was it Mr. X?


    "It seems you have quite a bit of fans behind you." Mr. X said with a smile. They were in the centre of the Reborn group, the sides were filled with every Reborn member as they stood watching Zain and Mr. X in the centre.


    "I was told when I came in here, that you would eventually challenge me, if I got strong enough." Zain smiled. "Don''t you think you''re a bit toote?"


    "I''m here to show you that there still is a mountain to climb." Mr. X answered.


    A big fight between the two wasing, one that was wanted by the rest of the Reborn for a long time, and finally they would get to see it.


    "Are you both ready!" Wix said, who was there by the side in the centre officiating the fight.


    Mr. X nodded, and then Wix turned to look at Zain¡­ who looked strangely like he was wobbly on his feet.


    "What''s happening?" Wix thought. The next second, and Zain had copsed on the floor, passed out.


    *****


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 Chapter 239 Why Show Me?

    A zombie didn''t just copse on the floor, in fact, if there was one thing they were known for, it was being up at all times of the day, walking either at a fast pace looking for its next meal, or slowly just wandering about, perhaps conserving its energy until it found something to eat.


    Which was why all of those in the Reborn group were quite worried, Zain didn''t look sluggish moments before, and just like that, it was almost as if he was shot dead and had fallen to the floor.


    Rushing out of the startled group, were the three that were nearly by his side the entire time. They quickly went onto the floor and checked to see if everything was okay.


    "What''s wrong, you guys don''t seem so surprised by this?" Mr. X asked. "Is he okay?"


    "This type of thing has happened before when we first met Zain, we don''t really know what it is, but thest time, he did eventually wake up." Kun exined. "He said if this was to happen, then we were to call Sarah immediately."


    Mr. X did just that, and Sarah quickly ordered Mr. X to take him to herb. Here there was a special bed that had beenid out in case this was to ur. Honestly, it had been set up a while ago as she expected something to happen sooner, when Zain had told her about these instances. So it took her a while to get everything set up.


    Strange devices were attached to Zain''s head, and multiple monitors were put on the screen.


    ''I''m not sure how much we will be able to get, but maybe we can at least figure out why you are getting these ckouts. From the looks of it, your brain is active¡­ a lot more active than usual.''


    Looking at Zain, it was hard to tell if he was having a good vision this time or a bad one.


    ''Just what is happening to you right now?''


    ¡ª¡ª


    Moments before, as Zain could feel what was happening to his body, many thoughts ran through his mind.


    ''Why hasn''t it happened in so long? Why did you wait now, until of all times to let me see something, just before I was about to have a fight. You couldn''t have picked a better time, could you?


    ''Well, at least this didn''t happen during the fight, that might have been worse.''


    When these ck outs happen they weren''t always the same thing, a game of some type, meeting the faceless man, a memory, or even a vision of things that he should have never been able to see, he wondered what would hee across this time.


    His whole vision went from ck to a bright white, and slowly he could see the objects around him.


    "Wait a second, I recognise that¡­ Why is it showing me this?''


    Zain''s body was transparent like that of a ghost, he had experienced this once before and it was when it was showing him a vision of what had happened in the past. Perhaps it was showing the same thing now, which made Zain wonder, why was it showing him ab.


    It wasn''t just anyb though, it was the currentb in the Reborn group. Theb looked identical to what it looked like now with a few things moved about here and there. It didn''t look old and it wasn''t the sameb that was in the other vision he had seen before, this was without a doubt the Reborn group''sb, and that''s when his eyes found Sarah.


    She was in her white overcoat that she would always wear, and based on her appearance she looked to be the same age as the current Sarah that Zain knew, it wasn''t like the old vision he had seen a younger version of Sarah.


    ''Does this mean, what it''s showing me is fairly recent, it has to be, but why is it showing me this, what does it want me to see?''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Standing opposite of Sarah was a man, with short ck hair and he was wearing what looked like an army uniform. There were no fancy medals or stripes so the man didn''t appear to be a high ranking general of sorts, and was just an ordinary soldier around his thirties.


    ''I''ve never seen this person before, at the army base or at the Reborn group, if I was to guess I would say he looks human.'' Zain thought.


    "So do we have a deal?" Sarah asked, fidgeting and looking extremely nervous.


    "I would be happy to take part in the deal." The man replied. "But we do have a problem don''t we. You don''t speak for everyone, and you are unable to control the other''s actions.


    "I assume you know we have had major problems, and I believe you know this person very well."


    After hearing these words, unconsciously Sarah had taken a step back and nearly went to bite her nails but stopped herself. It was the first time Zain was seeing Sarah like this, so unconfident. Just who was this person?


    "If I stop him¡­ if I manage to convince him, then will you take the deal?" Sarah asked.


    The man smirked as he turned around, giving a wave.


    "I will be back to see your progress, and I will be back soon."


    The vision was starting toe to an end, it was short, and it didn''t tell Zain a lot, other than the fact Sarah desperately wanted to do a deal with this person, just who were they?


    [New quest received]


    [Find out the real identity of the mysterious man]


    [Reward: Diamond card]


    ''What are you trying to tell me, System?''


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 240 Survival Genius

    Zain couldn''t speak about his n openly inside, there were too many that would listen in and suspect something else was happening, at the same time, he didn''t want to make a big deal out of something that possibly could be nothing, but based on the System he didn''t think that was the case.


    Zain was quite aware of his poprity inside the Reborn group, there were many that found great confidence in his strength and quick leadership while out on missions. So much so that if he was to leave the Reborn group and asked others toe with him, a little more than a few perhaps would take up on that offer.


    Which was why he needed to investigate on his own, as he didn''t want there to be any infighting, at least not until he learned the truth.


    Currently, all six of them were waiting out in an office building on the same street as the Reborn group, they were keeping an eye out at a diagonal angle across the street, seeing who entered and left.


    "So we''re looking for a person in military uniform that we haven''t seen around the Reborn group, correct?" Kun asked, to which Zain nodded. "But doesn''t that mean he might not turn up at all.


    "If he hasn''t been in the Reborn group for the six months while we were away, then why would he turn up now, and how do you even know about this person and why are you so worried about him?"


    Zain couldn''t even begin to answer those questions. If he told Kun it was a vision they would think he was mad. Regardless, Kun did have a point about one thing, and that was the fact that they didn''t know whether this person would turn up or not.


    "I say we can stay out here about a little over two weeks before Sarah starts getting concerned." Zain said. "If wee back then, she will think everything is normal."


    "I can get us food and flesh!" Dab said, already licking his lips. Zain was wondering if he should have bought a slimmer zombie for a stake out mission, but Dab was one he could trust with this.


    He was newer to the Reborn group than them, and because of his first missions being with Zain and his group he clearly had more loyalty towards Zain than the Reborn group itself.


    "When we need it that would be nice, but we still need to be careful going out on our own and you will need to take one of the others with you." Zain stated.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Zain stayed by the window watching like a hawk and the others joined him from time to time, but since they were sure that he wouldn''t miss anything, they decided to do their own thing.


    The other five would often go in the room opposite for some training, just so the noise wouldn''t distract Zain so much. Skittle, having a levelling system like Zain had managed to catch up to the others fairly quickly, and focused mainly on his strength.


    He wasn''t as quick as any of the other four, but if he grabbed you, Skittle could perhaps rip you apart, or rip your limbs off, which was very contrary to his looks. In terms of strength, his stats were around 20.


    The only thing that Skittle still was unable to do was harden part of his body. Zain didn''t know the reason why, apart from the fact that he never had an evolution regardless of the levels he went through. Still with his strength he could better than match a Titan.


    Pink and Kun had improved quite a bit by continuing to absorb crystals and the same could be said for Dab. However, Dab was special in his own way. For one, he was faster than he looked, not entirely fast like the superhuman Cobra, but faster than Kun, yet a bit slower than Pink, perhaps due to natural ability.


    On top of that, Dab could harden parts of his body, and also change the shape of the hardening to create weapons from his body. His hardening ability was almost an extension of his own body.


    With it, he could do things simr to Zain, creating a hardened sword, or a hardened shield as such. The only thing was Dab didn''t have a limit as he could continuously change the shape.


    This seemed to be unique to him, as he didn''t have great strength like the others, but it was what allowed him to survive morepared to some of the Reborn. After all, in the six months they were in the Reborn group, it didn''t go without its deaths.


    They had all seen some groups return with four, or even only oneing back. The thing was, there was a constant flow of those finding out about the Reborn group and those dying on missions.


    So the Reborn group often stayed to a close number of around 200 or so people. Which was why those that managed to survive for longer, were more well knownpared to the others.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With Zain''s group not losing a single person no matter who he went with, there would be those that always wanted to go out on missions with him. After all, Zain had been given the nickname of the Survival Genius. Doing everything he could for him and his group to survive.


    This was how he managed to get quite the high reputation within the group. He was aware of the control he had over others though.


    ''With the current situation, what do I do if I find out something that I wasn''t meant to?'' Zain thought.


    ''I still haven''t found out about myself or how to stop these visions. We only have clues, but I guess at least Kelly somewhat found out about herself.''


    It turned out after running a number of tests, that Kelly was not an undead, or at least she wasn''t a zombie like the rest of them. Zain could tell, based on her smell, but as stated before she didn''t exactly smell human either, which was what made it a little confusing.


    ording to Sarah, Kelly was more of a supernatural, she was closer to what the Zombie Hunters were. The thing was, her powers gave her Reborn like qualities and this was where the confusiony.


    Just like an undead, a wound that was given anywhere on her body would heal, but would do so at a rate that was closer to Zain''s rather than other zombies. Just like a zombie she would also need to consume flesh to somewhat replenish flesh.


    However, there was no need for her to consume brains, this had no advantage and her body wouldn''t deteriorate over time as well. Some zombies would be confused by her smell and not go after her, but it seemed to be a fifty-fifty situation.


    Her strength was like that of a zombie and her speed as well, the only thing was, she was not a zombie at all. Because of this there was also no way for her to pass on the virus either.


    If she was to bite another person, it would do nothing since it wasn''t the same strand of virus that affected people in the same way. Some would say she was the perfect zombie, if all Reborns were like her, they would just say she was a superhuman. One that could heal with a bit of cannibalism.


    Hearing the results, it was a big weight off Kelly''s mind and apparently Sarah had given her a choice there and then. If she wanted to stay with the Reborn group, or whether she wanted to be escorted to a human camp, maybe even the military camp where Cody was at, or even the Zombie Hunters.


    Zain thought that after she had learned the truth that she would want to be with Cody. After all, when the two of them travelled, she was always weary of him due to his past, however she had made the surprising decision to stay with him and the others.


    ''Having a superhuman could be handy in many situations, and she seems to naturally grow in strength as well, even without crystals. It would be good to do a few tests and see how the crystals affect a superhuman, because if they do it could be quite difficult to deal with the Zombie Hunters if they know of this fact.''


    A week had passed watching the Reborn group base and they saw people enter and leave. Zain was starting to lose out hope, but believed the system gave him a quest there and then for a reason, and he was right.


    Because walking up to the base, was the very same man he saw in his vision, in the same military uniform as before.


    ****


    *****


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 Chapter 241 The Mystery Man

    This confirmed that just likest time it seemed like the System was trying to give him visions, and was trying to tell him something. Zain had never met this person before, he didn''t even know about him, yet the system did and decided to show him a vision.


    "So now you know that she really is meeting with someone, what do you n to do, are we going to head inside and confront them?" Kun asked.


    "Do you have any recollection of who the man is, from the days when you were a Reborn Agent?" Zain asked.


    "Honestly, I can''t say that I do." Kun replied. "I only saw the side of his face and only for a few seconds, but I remembered all the important figures I saw, most of them were old men but he seemed a bit too young."


    "There''s something else strange as well." Pink said, as she came to the window.


    The man in question had long gone into the building but they were still keeping watch as they discussed what to do.


    "What do you mean?" Kelly asked.


    "Think about it, that person travelled here all on his own? Wearing a military uniform as well. If he was part of the army, wouldn''t he be with others and he would have a weapon on him as well but he has none of those things.


    "A regr human that can just travel to this ce, to even still be alive in this world with no weapons is a rarity, it''s most likely that he is a Reborn like us."


    Zain understood Pink''s train of thought, from here they were unable to smell the person, so they could only guess based on what they had seen so far.


    "I think the best thing to do, would be to carry on waiting." Zain suggested. "This man that has been meeting with Sarah, they have been doing it without the others'' knowledge. No one has seen this man before in the Reborn group which means he can''t have stayed there for a long time.


    "Most likely, right after the meeting he will be out, and then we will ask the man questions of our own."


    The others looked at each other, unsure. In the first ce, Zain wasn''t really telling the others how he knew about the man, but their trust in him was strong. However, these actions that they were taking, that were behind Sarah''s back, could cause a split among the Reborn group, when there hadn''t been one so far.


    The group waited and waited, and the sun was starting to set. The sky was turning slightly orange, they perhaps had about an hour worth of sunlight left.


    "If this persones out at night, I''ll be really surprised." Kunmented. "I guess he just isn''t going toe out today then. Let''s rest up."


    A moment after Kun had said those words, it looked like he was greatly mistaken as the same man that had entered hade out. When he did, he looked left and right as if he was trying to see if there was anyone following him.


    "That person''s crazy!" Dab said. "He has to be staying somewhere close by, especially if he''s going out at night on his own, the only person that I know that would be strong enough to travel at night on their own is Zain."


    It was true, and even Zain didn''t like to do it. There were more than one reason for doing so as well. The demons were more active at night, but also the higher stage zombies now as well.


    Above stage three, the stage 4 zombies were able to give the demons a run for their money, and at times the battles close by could be heard, as people held up in their apartments and more.


    "We can''t lose this opportunity, we have to follow him. If the sun drops, then you guys hold up in the closest building you can." Zain ordered, already getting ready to move.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Kun was surprised at this, the Survival Genius was asking them to go out so close to the sun setting, it just meant how important this person was.


    While the others headed down the stairs, so the man wouldn''t get out of Zain''s sight, he took a more drastic route as he opened the window and started to climb down. Dropping bit by bit and catching the window sill.


    It was easy for him to do with his strength. When he reached the bottom floor, he waited for the others, and as soon as he heard their footsteps, he started to move.


    The man in the military uniform seemed to be walking at a normal pace, as if there was no worry in the world. Based on the direction he was heading to, it was to the abandoned subway station the others would use to get to the Reborn base as well.


    ''I need to make sure he is far enough away from Sarah, so he can''t ask her for help, who knows if they have a walkie talkie of some kind.''


    Eventually, the man had entered the subway station and the sun had lowered even more.


    "Are we going to enter?" Zun asked. "The sun will set, if we don''t grab him now, then it will be dark by the time we get out."


    Knowing this, Zain still decided to enter.


    "I have a worst case scenario in my head."


    They continued to move and headed down steps until they were eventually on the half built tform. One would then have to walk down the tunnel where the trains would go to head back into the city.


    On the tform though, the military man had stopped.


    "I think this is a good ce for us to talk, don''t you think?" The man said, making it clear that he was aware he was being followed.


    ______


    *****


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 Chapter 242 Upgraded Quest

    The man in the military uniform stood there confidently, there was a smile on his face that looked at Zain, and taking no chances, Zain had the weapons tied onto his back. He would often do this rather than keep them in his system when he was out on missions and this was a pretty big one.


    "Hey, the rest of you cane out as well, I know you''re all there." The soldier stated.


    The group did nothing until Zain was the first that eventually spoke.


    "Juste out, but don''t get too close." Zain ordered.


    Hiding behind pirs,rge tforms, and more they came out one by one and were looking at the soldier. They didn''t know why, but this human gave them the shivers when looking at him.


    Maybe it was the fact that he was so confident in this situation, but how could a human, apart from Sarah, be so confident like this. They knew he wasn''t a Reborn from the smelling off him.


    "What''s with the silence, you were following me because you wanted to know something, or find out something. Maybe you were even ordered to do this, so speak?" The man said.


    "Who are you?" Zain asked.


    It was a simple question, there was a good chance that this person didn''t know them. Since they had never seen each other in the Reborn group.


    "Who am I? Don''t you think you should say who you are first, but I guess I can already see that." The man said. "All of you are zombies, considering the way you are moving around and the area we are in, a safe guess would be that you are part of the Reborn group.


    "Don''t be so shocked, I am on good terms with Sarah, we understand each other. At least I thought we did, until I saw you guys."


    Based on these words, Zain had figured out that this man didn''t know whether or not Sarah had sent them after him. Which would mean they weren''t friends, but just had some type of deal with each other.


    "We weren''t sent by Sarah, we followed you on our own ord. We''ve never seen you before, so why are you and Sarah meeting up?" Zain asked again.


    This question had caused the man to break out into augh.


    "I see a curious bunch, but if Sarah didn''t send you, then it means you know absolutely nothing about me, and if you guys were to disappear, then she would know nothing about it either."


    The others took a step back out of instinct. It was the look in the person''s eyes again. The fact of being in this situation and showing no fear, to the point where he could even threaten others.


    "You''re a little wrong." Zain said. "I know a little about you. You have met up with Sarah more than once before. When youe to the Reborn base youe alone. Sarah wishes to hide you from the others for some reason.


    "Based on your military uniform you aren''t of significant rank so you hold no power in the military either."


    "Oh, you got those facts right, but that doesn''t tell you who I am?" the man replied.


    "You travelled on your own to the Reborn group, you have no weapons on you either. Most likely, since it''s dark outside at the moment, it means you don''t fear whates out at night.


    "All of these things could be cleared up if you were a Reborn, but you don''t smell like us. Lastly, your identity is a Diamond card reward."


    The others were following Zain a little bit, as well as the man until thest sentence, because they had no clue what he meant by this.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "All of these things mean one thing, you are a demon."


    "A demon!" Dab shouted hearing those words. "Why¡­ why would Sarah be meeting up with a demon?"


    "That''s probably what Zain wants to find out. Why has she been meeting with the demons in secret? The beings that kill humans and zombies without a second thought!" Kun shouted.


    The man started to p, echoing in the tunnel loudly.


    "I would give you 4 out of 5 stars for your deduction. You were close, but there''s one important part that you missed out. A demon making deals with the Reborn group, do you really think I was just any demon?"


    Sprouting out from the military man''s back, several tentacles could be seen. Unlike the four or six that demons would usually have, there were so many on each side, that it almost looked like the demon had a pair of giant wings.


    The skin started to rip from the man''s head, and fall off to the ground, it was torn by the forearms, and all over, until there was nothing left. All they could see now was the demon''s brown skin, and body.


    However, not just the amount of tentacles were different about this demon, but also its size, it was two times bigger than a regr demon, and in the subway station, the top of its wing-like tentacles were almost touching the ceiling.


    [You have discovered who the mystery man is.]


    [You havee across a Demon Leader]


    ''A Demon leader, so Sarah was trying to make some type of deal, but what, what does she have to offer them and what can they do for each other?'' Zain thought.


    [New quest received: Escape the Demon leader]


    [Reward: Diamond card]


    [New Quest received: Defeat the Demon leader]


    [Reward: Master card]


    ''A master card¡­ that''s a reward I''ve never seen before. If this was a game I would try getting it in a heartbeat, but we only get one chance in real life.''


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 243 Master Grade Quest

    It was clear on appearance alone that the demon in front of them was no ordinary demon, even the others knew that without the system telling them, but they were all waiting on one person as to what to do.


    "Zain, it''s your call!" Kun shouted.


    It took a moment, but in the end the temptation was too much for Zain.


    ''This could be the only time I ever get the chance to get a master level card. I have to go for it!''


    "We fight!" Zain shouted with his two weapons.


    Immediately, Kun pulled the gun by his side, and started to shoot at the demon. The bullets were in short bursts and all of them were aiming for the head. It didn''t pierce the skin, but it was making it hard to see, and for the demon to react in a proper way.


    ''We''re in the subway, and still in the Reborn part of town, there aren''t many zombies in this area, so we should be fine to make a bit of noise.''


    Regardless, out from the demon''s back, the several hundred or so tentacles went out towards them all. While Kun stayed at the back, the others rushed toward Zain. Pink, Skittle and Dab.


    First thing Zain did with his two des was attempt to cut the tentacles, he swung his Titan de and the white sword. It managed to hit the tentacles away, making a slight cut on them, but it was just a small dent and the tentacles were still there.


    The others were struggling as well. Pink had covered her arms and legs and was kicking the tentacles away, the same was for Skittle but he was mainly using his fists. The problem was he was a little slow, which was why Dab was staying next to him so the two of them could work together.


    "You Reborn are strong, to be able to block all of these attacks, and withstand my strength, but it''s only been around ten seconds or so, how long can you keep it up for?'' The demon asked.


    The only reason why the demon was unable to move forward was due to the suppressive fire from Kun. Zain knew this, which was why as he moved he was hitting the tentacles away that would go towards him, but he also knew the demon was right.


    "Zain, I''ll grab it and you charge in, just give him everything, and take him out all at once, I''m sure he''ll be surprised!" Skittle shouted.


    The others heard Skittle as well, and they had an idea what he meant.


    "Alright, Skittle, since you put your trust in me, then I will put my trust in you." Zain stated.


    He continued to hit the tentacles that wereing towards him, his speed stats, strength stat, and his sword skills were all at work, as he chose the best path to hit the tentacles away.


    While going up a gear, the demon noticed this, and naturally started to pull some tentacles that were attacking the others toward him.


    ''It''s getting harder, but I just have to keep this up for a while more.'' Zain thought.


    No one had been injured, and this wasing as arge surprise to the demon, but he still wasn''t worried because in his head, it was only a matter of time.


    When the number of tentacles lessened around Skittle, he went ahead and grabbed one of them by the centre. With his great strength he immediately started to pull.


    The other tentacles tried to stop him and went toward him. At that point, Dab had transformed part of his body and hardened them into small little shields blocking them from hitting Skittle.


    With a big yank, the strength of Skittle moved the demon. It had to stick its foot out to rebnce itself.


    "How can such a small zombie have so much strength!" The demon shouted.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At that moment, everyone moved into position, and were heading straight toward the demon from other angles.


    "Let me tell you, for one second I was never worried." Zain said. "Worried that we wouldn''t be able to beat you, because not once have I ever had to use my full strength, but this time, just to make sure we beat you, I will."


    Zain touched the ground and the area around him started to light up. At that moment zombies started to appear, and they weren''t a small amount either, there were fifty of them in total.


    This was a part of Zain''s Zombie Horde, mixed in there was Cobra, Jam and a few other superhumans he had gathered along the way, as well as a few stronger regr zombies.


    Immediately, they all charged forward towards the demon, including Pink, Kun and Kelly, who had also stayed in hiding until this moment.


    The tentacles went wild as they attempted to attack the zombies, but with the group already doing well, blocking them and now with more of them and the super zombies, for a single demon this was far too much.


    The first one that had reached the demon was Cobra, who shoved its daggers continuously into the demon''s stomach. It chipped away part of its skin, not going fully in.


    "How is this possible, there is a zombie that can control its own army? Did Sarah know about this? Did she hide it from me!" The demon said.


    Zain, blending in with the other zombies, was already behind the demon, he shoved his Titan de into the back of the demon''s head, allowing it to go in by around an inch. Then jumping through the air, Pink spun her body and swung her leg out, transforming the end of it into a type of hammer.


    She mmed the bottom of the Titan de into the back of the demon''s head, and it soon fell to the floor dead.


    [42/50 Horde members]


    "You managed to kill a few of my zombies, no one has done that in a long time, so that proves how difficult of an opponent you were. I wanted to ask you a lot of questions but you were a bit too dangerous to keep alive."


    This was now the extent of Zain and his group''s power, he had be an unstoppable force, beyond what anyone could imagine, and that included Sarah.


    [You have sessfullypleted the quest]


    [You have received the Master card]


    [Would you like to use the Master card?]


    *****


    ******


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 Chapter 244 The Master Reward

    The demon leader, it certainly was stronger than the others that Zain had faced, and he imagined if he was on his own, the task perhaps would have been a bit harder. It was simple, the enemy never expected there to be so many talented Reborn in one ce.


    Zain did pride himself of having made those around him some of the best in the Reborn group in order to fit his ways, and since they had been travelling together for a while as well. It also meant they were used to his way of fighting as well.


    ''I doubt that was the only demon leader that they have, but it does mean the group is being run like an organisation of some sort. The important point is that Sarah was having a meeting with one of these leaders.


    ''There is a good chance that she actually knows more about these demons than she is letting on.''


    essing his system there was something that was on his mind, which wasn''t allowing him to think straight about other things. He could see it staring right at him, it was the reward card he had received.


    ''The highest card I achieved before was the diamond card, and that allowed me to max out one of my stats. In the end I decided to use that on Skittle. This is meant to be somethign even better than that!


    ''Will it max out all of my stats, or maybe it will be something else, another evolution, increasing my horde numbers.''


    It was safe to say that Zain couldn''t wait, so he unlocked the reward card right there and then.


    [The Master Card has been used]<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    [A new skill has been unlocked. ''Demon Detection.'']


    [The Demon Detection skill is a passive skill. When the user is looking at a demon the system will alert them.]


    The description was simple and the sudden excitement that Zain had disappeared in an instant. The master card, the pinnacle of rewards, was just a passive skill that didn''t seem to be useful at all, that was until he started to think about it more.


    ''Wait, the quest reward seems to be rted to the quest itself. If I had this skill, it would mean even if they are disguised as humans, wearing the human skin, then I would be able to tell if they were a demon or not.


    ''If I had this skill before, then there would have been no need to confront him. I would have already known about this and we wouldn''t of had to risk our lives. Right now, the most dangerous thing to humans and zombies are the demons, but with this skill, their number one hiding mechanism will be useless.''


    In a way, Zain was slowly understanding why such a skill was considered at the master level. It was probably something that he could only do. There was no way for a Reborn to tell who was and who wans''t a demon. They smelled the same, but this would give him an advantage wherever he went.


    "What are you smiling about?" Kun asked, walking over.


    He and the others were checking the demon''s body, to see if there was anything interesting on him, that would tell them a bit more, but none of them were able to find anything.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 245 Caught in the act

    Chapter 245 Caught in the act


    Approaching the Reborn gate they were able to see Zain standing just outside, usually when they saw this they would let him right in, but this time it was slightly different. He looked at the cameras and could see they were shing red just like before, so then why hadn''t they opened the door straight away?


    "This is agent Sid!" A voice was heard through a speaker. "Zain, what happened, why are you alone, where is the rest of your group?"


    Now he understood why they were acting slighty strange. Zain was known foring back with all of his members and this time, he was returning alone.


    ''Thankfully, it seems like they don''t know anything yet.'' Zain thought.


    "There was trouble on my mission. I think its better if I was to speak inside." Zain stated.


    Sid seemed to agree, as the door was open. When walking into the building and through the hallways this time, Zain was on edge. Nervous wasn''t the right word, but perhaps if he was a human that would be the feeling.


    Entering the main reception area of the hallway, Zain could see the rest of the Reborn were there as usual. A good sign that nothing had happened to them. However, they had also noticed him, and noticed the fact that he was alone as well.


    "What is this, did all of Zain''s team get wiped?"


    "That''s never happened before, they had to run into something big then."


    "Yeah, but then why does Zain look absoulty fine."


    "Well, he always looks fine, he has that super healing thing, remember. Either way, this is a bit worrying for what is happening outside. If this can happen to him, it means that it can happen to any of us as well."


    The whispers and rumours didn''t stop and Zain could hear it all. As he stood there, two of the highest ranking Reborn members hade toward him.


    X looked at Zain from head to toe, and looked at his facial reaction to see if he could understand what happened. Pink, Kun, Kelly, Skittle, those four were always with him, and thought that even a zombie as emotionless as Zain would show some type of expression but it was impossible to tell.


    "I think it''s best if we talked about what happened with Sarah." Zain suggested. "She would want to know as well, and it saves me from repeating myself."


    The other person that had approached Zain was Sid, and looking at X the two of them nodded as they walked to theb where Sarah would usually be working.


    For a while, Zain had been thinking if this was the smart thing to do. Both Sid and X seemed to be quite close to Sarah and were two of the strongest Reborn in the group. The thing was, in the vision she had met the demon alone, so there was a chance that neither of them knew about this either.


    So, perhaps he could use these two to also pressure Sarah into telling the truth, or they could turn against him.


    Eventually all three of them entered theb, it looked no different to before, and nothing had changed. There also was no one else inside either. Zain was trying to see if there were any differences within the Reborn group since the demon had visited.


    "It seems that you have gotten in quite a bit of trouble this time." Sarah said. "Maybe it''s better if we all take a seat."


    "It''s okay, I''ll stand." Zain said, as he moved forward and took a peak at Sid and X, in a way he was telling them not to move closer to him. He liked the position he was in now, not too far away from Sarah and not too close to those behind him.


    The two of them got the message loud and clear, and since what happened to him recently they thought he might be a bit on edge and allowed him to have the space.


    "We managed to meet with a demon on our way back from the city." Zain exined. "We met them in the subway, but this wasn''t just any demon, it was like one that we had never faced before.


    "At first, he was just an ordinary man in a military uniform, and then when he transformed he wasrger, his skin was harder, his strength was more, and he had hundreds of tentacles on his back that looked like wings."


    The best way for one to tell a lie, was always to mix up some truth in the lie, and Zain had done this in order to get a reaction out of Sarah. He thought she might have been able to hide it, but it was impossible for her,.


    Her eyes had widened, and her heart was beating somewhat faster.


    "A new demon!" Sid said. "This is the first time a report like this hase through. If the rest of your team died¡­ then it must be truly strong, are they evolving like the zombies?"


    "The rest of your team, were they really killed by this demon?" X asked. "And¡­ is the demon dead?"


    The reaction from the two people, they were different. Sid''s reaction was more of what he was expecting, curious about the new demon, while X''s question, he had next to no fear as if he knew the demon already existed.


    "Yes." Zain answered. "I managed to kill him and there was something else as well Sarah."


    There was no reason for Zain to mention the vision he had from the system. He wanted to keep the full extent of the system a secret but he was going to get his answer.


    "The demon, he begged me not to kill him, stating that he had a deal. Saying that I should check with you Sarah. Of course, I had no intention of believing him, so I killed him, but tell me, what did he mean by those words, how did a demon know your name?"


    *****


    ******


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 Chapter 246 Turning It On You

    ?


    The expression on Sarah''s face said it all. She couldn''t hide her shock, taking a step back and grasping the back of ab chair near her as if she had nearly fallen over.


    It was clear evidence that she had met the demon, even though Zain had already seen the image of the two of them in his System vision.


    "Zain¡­ you said you killed him, but why did you kill him?" Sarah eventually asked. "Do you know what you have done?"


    "Why did I kill him?" Zain replied with a bit of anger in his voice. X heard this and moved over from behind Zain, standing by Sarah''s side just in case an attack was going to take ce.


    Seeing this, Zain backed off a bit.


    "He tried to kill us. It''s natural. Every demon we have met has tried to kill us. None of the Reborn or humans can even travel safely at night because of the demons. So how could you even ask me such a question of why did I kill him? Why don''t you answer my question of why were you meeting with him? What were you two talking about?"


    Sarah looked disinclined to answer, or perhaps she was still too shocked to respond based on everything she had just found out herself.


    "If you killed him, then that means we have to act¡­ will they still honor what we talked about? No, I doubt that. They''re not that type." Sarah muttered to herself, but her words were heard clearly by everyone in the room.


    "So it''s true?" Sid asked. "You were really meeting with a demon¡­ and one of these supernatural demons? And judging by the fact you aren''t asking any questions, I guess that you already knew this, X?"


    X didn''t reply because it was the truth, and he thought the only person who could exin the whole situation was Sarah.


    "Sid, you know everything I do is for the sake of humanity and the Reborn group. You have to trust me. If I was talking to the demon, then there is a good reason behind it," Sarah imed.


    "But Zain, what I can''t undo are the actions that you decided to take. The demon, I can''t believe he would have just attacked you. Even if the two of you confronted each other, he would have just stayed in his human form.


    "Now I don''t know what the demons will do, or what we will have to give to calm them down."


    Zain didn''t like the sound of that. It was almost like a suggestion. Was Sarah going to offer him up to the demons as a way to apologize for killing their leaders? Right now, there was still mistrust in the room.


    "If the meeting really was for the sake of everyone, then why didn''t you just tell everyone?" Zain asked.


    "I was going to. I didn''t have time. I just met with the demon. You just came back after running into him yourself, so you know that," she replied.


    "You''re lying," Zain said, clenching his fist. If he was going to go down anyway, then he might as well reveal everything. "This wasn''t the first time you met with them. You met before, and still didn''t inform anyone, so what are you trying to hide?"


    Sarah felt like she was being pushed back into a corner from this and started to bite her fingernail. She had X on her side, but Sid was clearly on the fence, and what would happen if all of the Reborn found out about this before she had a chance to exin herself.


    "Zain¡­ how did you know that?" Sarah said. "That meeting I had with him was before you even joined the Reborn group, so it would have been impossible for you to know this information," Zain exined, looking directly at Sid.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I had my doubts about you when you first came here, about your strength and knowledge, but are you actually working for the Dark Zombies? Are you on their side as a spy?" Sid asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.


    The whole Reborn group knew about the Dark Zombies, as it was something Sarah didn''t keep from the others since they had run into them a few times. Another group of Reborn zombies ran by the other person who had started all of this mess.


    "So you''re going to pin it all on me like that?" Zain smiled as he turned around to face Sid.


    "Remember everything that was said today. Get the real answer from her, and then decide what to do. People should know the truth and get to make a decision for themselves. That''s the best thing to do."


    "The people who care about your own survival the most are you yourselves, not some scientist. They always force things upon us while caring about the bigger picture, iming it''s for the greater good. I don''t know about you, but I would rather have control of my own life," Zain added firmly.


    At that moment, Zain ced his hand on the ground, and it started to light up.


    "X, Sid, both of you stop him from getting away. We will need him. I promise I''ll tell you everything. Just stop, Zain!" Sarah shouted urgently.


    Already having predicted that this would happen, Zain wasn''t going to get into a fight with all of the Reborn. Instead, he had summoned ten zombies into the room around him, and immediately they spread out to attack Sid, X, and Sarah.


    ''He can summon and control zombies¡­what is this? He really was hiding a lot of stuff from us?'' Sarah thought, shocked.


    In that brief interaction, using his speed, Zain ran past all of them and continued, not slowing down, heading right for the exit. As he saw the door, with his momentum, he lifted his leg and kicked the door open, breaking it off its hinges.


    Next was the barricaded wall, but with a single jump, Zain was able to clear it andnd on the other side.


    "I guess this is the end of my time with the Reborn group. The question is¡­what do I do now?" Zain wondered, looking around at the deste wastnd that surrounded him.


    ****


    ******


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 Chapter 247 A New Plan

    ?


    Before returning to the others, Zain had ventured in different directions, checking if anyone had followed him from the Reborn facility. Although he wasn''t being followed, there was always a possibility, so he didn''t stray too far from the small town surrounding the base, especially since it was currently dark outside. However, the area around the Reborn base was rtively safe, thanks to countless missions they had undertaken to clear the area. Zain had just defeated one of the Demon leaders, so he felt less anxious for the time being.


    At the same time, summoning a few more Zombies, Zain made sure they stayed in the area, and that way he would know if there was anyone after them at the time.


    "From the looks of things, they haven''t killed all of the zombies in my horde," Zain checked the system and noticed. "They are still trying to experiment and learn about me. I guess it''s best to abandon them."


    Zain could release members of his horde through the system, and they would be just like any other zombie attacking humans on-site. He knew there was a chance that this could affect Sarah, but with the two guards by her side, he felt it was unlikely.


    When Zain found the others at the subway station, they were pleased to see him, but they could tell that the journey had not gone well by the expression on his face. He had decided to tell them everything.


    "Seriously, so Sarah was really working with that Demon?" Kun repeated. "I knew it was true, but for her to then act like that. I think you did the right thing. If you stayed, you would have been the scapegoat to all of this.


    "I think she has always been worried about the influence you carried within the Rebron group as well."


    "What do you think will happen now?" Dab asked. "They all knew Zain returned right, so when they ask what happened to him, what is she even going to say? Will she tell them the truth?"


    They all had their doubts in their minds because she wouldn''t even tell Zain the truth, and even Sid, one of the closest and most loyal that worked with her, had no clue.


    "There''s nothing we can really do about what happened, but it would appear that the Reborn base is no longer a safe ce for us to go, so we need to make a decision," Skittle spoke up.


    At first, he didn''t speak to the group much due to his shyness and only stuck close to Zain, speaking to him at times, but he had started to open up to the others a bit more.


    "Where are we going to go?" Kelly blurted out, which was precisely what Skittle was referring to.


    The current situation had be dangerous for those like them: Reborn Zombies that were just wanderers. The city was bing more dangerous as there was more intense fighting going on from multiple groups.


    There were the evolved Zombies, the Zombie hunters that were bing bigger in number, and the Army. Although the forces inside the city had grown rtively small, apparently, the core members of the Army were quite a skilled group that worked well together.


    ''Although some humans are okay with Reborn Zombies, not all of them are,'' Zain thought. ''It does make me wonder how Cody and Ryan are doing.''


    It was a tough decision because there was no guidance from the system. Usually, he would go off and attempt toplete a quest, hoping the system would show him a way.


    ''Come on, you were the one that dragged me into all of this by showing me that vision¡­so don''t you have an answer?''


    In the end, the system had nothing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After considering their options, the group decided to stay in the subway for the night, as it would be safer to move in the morning. They knew they needed to leave early, however, as the Reborn group also used the subway as a passage to and from the main city.


    Before going to sleep, Zain used his zombies to take guard at the front of the subway and in the tunnel. It was unlikely, but there was a chance that there would be those that ventured into the night. There was also the chance that they could run into another Demon as well.


    When they woke up, the group quickly set off into the city, it was simr to how they remembered it before. Greenery was growing on the side of the buildings now that there was no one to look after them. The ground was full of pot holes and cracks from the meteorites and there was countless bodies and bugs everywhere one walked, although most of the flesh had been eaten away or deteriorated.


    Unsure of where they were going. Pink spoke up, asking if Zain had made a decision on what to do next.


    Zain replied, "For now, we need to find somewhere safe, somewhere we can call our own. We''ll head to the school. It''s arge area where the CCTV cameras are still working. I can control around a hundred zombies, plus the fifty on me, around there, so we''ll have a big army of our own to defend with."


    Zain didn''t mention it, but because the school would be his territory, they would also be notified if they were attacked.


    "From then on, we''ll continue to gain territory next to the school, spreading out more and more. With that, the number of zombies I can control in an area will increase."


    Zain had been nning to do this anyway. He knew that when two territories next to each other were taken over and acknowledged by the system, they would be one. If he could continue to do this, just how far could he go?


    He wasn''t sure, but he was determined to find out.


    "We''re going to take over this whole city," Zain said with a smile.


    ******


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 Chapter 248 Controlling The City

    ?


    The group of six, led by Zain, had arrived at the school with rtive ease. It hadn''t been attacked during the time that Zain had spent at the Reborn group. He knew this because it was his territory, and each day he would gain experience points for each of the territories he owned.


    They set up base, sleeping areas, as well as a canteen in the school where they could store the special food they would require. Without the Reborn group, they would have to do everything themselves, but they were used to this by now.


    Watching everyone working so hard, Zain was thinking about defenses and where to go next.


    "This ce is the perfect ce. It''srge in size and has a gate at the front. It allows me to control arge number of zombies, and I can use them to keep guard as well. Even the inside of the school is equipped with everything we need, as well as a CCTV room.


    "On top of that, out of all the locations that I have, this ce hasn''t been attacked once. I guess the fact that many believe there will be arge number of zombies here, no one has tried to raid it. The effort vs reward just doesn''t make sense."


    With all of this, the group had settled in rather quickly. If they thought they would get a few days'' rest,pared to when they were at the Reborn group, they were wrong because Zain worked them even harder than Sarah did.


    At the Reborn group, different leaders would go out at different times for missions, giving them turns to rest, but now Zain was in charge and was taking on everything himself. The expansion job had started. In the area of the city they were in, they cleared out the houses, the streets of zombies, and then the apartments nearby.


    At times, just clearing out a house wouldn''t increase their territory, not until they cleared out a whole street and then the area would be added to the system. However, clearing out the area didn''t mean just killing all of the zombies.


    In fact, Zain wanted the zombies to remain there; otherwise, it would make it more difficult for him to find zombies to use that he could control. Which was why, at times, with his own horde, he would just push the zombies out of their territory. This seemed to be enough for the ce to be epted as his. All of this continued for a month, and slowly the areas were bing his.


    ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom Back at the school, the whole group was in a ssroom, and a map of the city had been pinned to the wall. Skittle was standing up while the rest were sitting down.


    "The areas that we have taken care of, and that now have Zain controlling them with his zombies, is this section here. We have remained safe and have suffered little in the way of attacks for a number of reasons," Skittle exined.


    "For one, there are no routes that lead outside of the city. There are no train stations, airports, or any form of transportation apart from a road, which has pretty much been blocked by the military.


    "At the same time, the area was known for having already been taken over by the zombies and was also heavily raided when all this mess started. Essentially, people have already moved out of this area, so to them, there was nothing left behind, but now, this is where we run into a bit of a problem.


    "There are major groups that control certain areas of the city. The subway station located east of the city leads to the small town just by the set-up military border. We know that the Reborn group keeps a close eye here, and we have been avoiding it for a while.


    "Then there is the area to the south. Although their territory is small, the military has a stronghold here, and many humans know about this. From what we know, most of the general public are travelling southward.


    "Lastly, we have the group that controls the majority of the city, the Zombie Hunters. They have expanded the quickest and grown in strengthpared to all the rest."


    "What about the area in the centre and the demons?" Kun asked. "Do we know where they are?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "The area in the centre is considered a danger zone. From those who have travelled through the centre rather than through the outskirts of the city, they say there is a high concentration of evolved zombies there.


    "This is currently part of the problem. You see, all groups know this, so they have been pushing territory to the right and left of them, rather than taking over the centre of the city. For the military, this means they will soon be pushing into our territory and the Reborn group''s territory.


    "For the Zombie Hunters, it means they will also be pushing into the Reborn territory and ours. There is a problem that our group and the Reborn group have though, that the others don''t."


    Skittle paused there as if he was waiting for someone to say the answer, but no one did, to which he just shook his head.


    "It''s the fact that no one knows we exist. To both groups, we just look like more troublesome zombies. So they will continue to push without a second thought. Which is why we need to make a decision about what to do.


    "Do we wait for one of our areas to be attacked, do we attack one of their areas first, or do we push toward the centre? As for your question about the demons, our guess is they are among every group, hiding."


    Thinking about Skittle''s suggestion, Zain didn''t want to attack the military. There were those that they knew, and they didn''t seem to know any better; their goal was pretty much the same as theirs.


    There was even a chance that they could have another meeting and try to work out some agreement. The Zombie Hunters, their group was toorge to get into a scuffle with right now. So the best thing to do was enter the centre, getting stronger and bringing more allies to their horde.


    [Warning: Westfield Farm is under attack.]


    "The farm¡­ it''s under attack," Zain said, standing up.


    Looking at the map and the closest area that was close to it, they could all see that it was most likely the Zombie Hunters.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 249 At The Start

    ?


    The decision looked to have been made for them, as the group of five had decided to leave the school and head out. Dab was left behind in this case to look after the school, just in case anything was to happen.


    However, he wouldn''t be alone and the school would actually be one of the safer ces. For one, it had Cobra there as well as a few other super zombies. Zombies who had raised intelligence and were handed guns by the gates.


    If anyone tried to attack the school they would be in for a surprise, and on top of that, they would have to travel through several territories around that were owned by Zain anyway, so it was safer for him to be there and he knew that, which was why he didn''t mind.


    "You have to remember, these guys think that they''re just attacking normal zombies." Skittle stated. "Zain said he just wanted to go over so we could observe them. Their strength, their tactics, and more."


    They were heading to the area, in an electric vehicle. It was silent so it didn''t attract much attention and for Skittle, it was easy for him to recharge. He had managed to get a hold ofponents that would help generate electricity, evenrge lead batteries.


    On top of that, one of the other projects they had been working on was clearing the roads so they were somewhat useful as well, and this would allow them to get to any area that they wanted as quickly as possible.


    While in the car, Zain was looking at the situation, he had a map of the area and his zombies getting killed one by one. Using the map he also was able tomand the zombies to attack in certain ways, and the Zombie Hunters were having a tough time.


    ¡ª¡ª


    On the farm, the Zombie Hunters were a group of seven, wearing the same level jackets. They were sweating and nervous as they were walking through the fields with tall corn. It was blocking their view.


    "I can''t see sh*t!" One of themined. "Who thought it was a good idea to run into here?"


    All of them were sweating, had blood stters on their clothes, and turned their heads frantically as they could hear different noisesing from all over the ce. Suddenly, a zombie jumped out right at them, and one of the Zombie Hunters ran forward in front of the zombie and stared right at it.


    It looked like it was frozen still in ce, its eyes were moving, but the rest of its body wasn''t. From the side, arger hunter lifted up hisrge axe and swung it down right on its neck. The headnded on the floor and the zombie''s body started to move again.


    The first hunter, a young student named Terry started to rub his eyes. He had kept them open the entire time, and they felt dry.


    "Hey, be careful, I know you need to keep your eyes open to use your powers but if blood gets in them, there''s a good chance that you might turn as well." Cleve said, who was in charge of the group.


    He was a little older than the rest, in histe twenties, and although he didn''t think he was the strongest of the group, he decided to take the role of leader here because it was hard controlling young ones with a bunch of powers in this dangerous world.


    "Is no one going to answer the question from before?" The only female in the group said. "Whose bright idea was it toe into the fields, where we can hardly see anything. It might be best if we just burn this ce to the ground."


    e¦Áglesn?¦Íel "Are you an idiot, Jade! " Therge man with the axe, Benny said. "If you use your powers here, on these dry crops, everything including us will go up in mes in a second. You might have a powerful super power, but you have a thick skull."


    Jade was grinding her teeth, and Cleve felt like it was his ce to jump in. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "m down, this situation is troublesome and it''s no one''s fault. The zombies, they were attacking us in a way that pushed us to this area."


    "Do you think thats possible?" Terry asked. "Can the zombies really do that? I''ve only seen that happen when there is a boil zombie, but none of these guys have those strange boils on them."


    It was a guess on Cleve''s part, but even now, why weren''t the zombies just rushing out to them like they usually would. Instead, all of this tension and noises they were making was wearing the group down.


    One of the other hunters bent down and did arge jump. In doing so he went nearly ten metres up in the air and, looking around, he spotted something they could use andnded safely back on the ground.


    "There''s a barn that we can go to. It''s more open and has less crap around it, so it means we can fight these guys off easier. If there are a lot of them, it will give us a ce to rest for the night as well, and we can clear up this area in a few days."


    Cleve thought it was a good choice, so they would head in that direction, they were getting tired anyway.


    ¡ª¡ª


    A little ways away, at the single dirt road that led up to the farm, the car was parked up.


    "It''s best if we walk from here." Kun said. "Let''s just hope they don''t find the car."


    "Just remember what I said before. We aren''t here to kill them." Skittle added. "If we do, then there is a good chance that it will only encourage the Zombie Hunters to push more into our area."


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 250 If He Was Alive

    ?


    The farm was arge territory in Zain''s system. It covered a massive area and was on the border between their territory and the Zombie Hunter''s territory. It was quite well ced because even though there was a vast amount ofnd, the number of zombies on thend itself was rtively small.


    In the first ce, there just weren''t many humans that were here from the beginning. It did, however, get overrun by hungry zombies at some point searching for food, but even then not many zombies would linger around due to theck of humans.


    This was why Zain was only able to control around fifty zombies in the area. Usually, for something this size, he should have been able tomand at least 200. The good news for the group as well was the fact that they knew the area well. They hade here to clear it before, and were following the same path that they went throughst time, walking through therge cornfields.


    "Do you know where they are, Zain?" Skittle asked.


    "Yeah, it seems that they have hidden in one of therge barns, one away from the Farmhouse. They did quite well and have gotten rid of half of the zombies I had controlling the area. For now, I''ve ordered them not to attack, but to make some noise once in a while," Zain stated.


    Hearing this, Skittle could only imagine the torture in the others'' minds. They had no clue how many zombies were out there, and hearing the zombies just outside their doorstep once in a while was sure to make it difficult to rest and sleep.


    "You have to remember, Zain, it''s not their fault that they''re like this," Skittle said. "I know you care a lot about survival, and I think a lot of the decisions you made make sense, but I also think you have to remember that they too are only doing everything they need to, to survive."


    "You mean like Buke?" Zain replied. "When he found out that you were a zombie, he tried to kill you immediately and didn''t care for what I had to say either. It''s the same for these guys. I know we were originally human, but I believe that they will always see us differently from them."


    "But haven''t you found those that don''t care that we are what we are?" Skittle asked.


    He had seen what Zain went through. Images of Kelly, who was now with them, and images of Cody and the general had appeared in his mind.


    "I''m happy that you saved me that day, I really am, and I don''t know what would have happened to me if you didn''t, but I can''t help but think that maybe Buke was just initially shocked. All of what happened to us, it started at the beginning of all of this mess.


    "Maybe with everything we know now, he might act different, and the three of us could be working together." There was arge smile on Skittle''s face when he said these words.


    Images of all of them when they went to university together appeared in his mind, the good days, the bad days, and even when they would all get in trouble together.


    "I guess we''ll never know because Buke is dead," Zain said.


    The group had approached the barn and had exited out of the woods. The door was closed, and they had walked past a few of the dead zombies on the way there. From the look of their bodies, it was hard to tell just what type of powers they had.


    In the first ce, this was a scouting mission, which was why all of them decided to hide. Zain and Skittle hid behind a tractor. The other three, Kelly, Kun, and Pink, had hidden behindrge haystacks that were blocking their view.


    When everything was ready, it was time for the signal to start. Zain opened up his system, and with the remaining zombies in the area, ordered them all to storm towards the door at once.


    One zombie was seen running out from the cornfield, and soon, following it, were others all sprinting ahead. When reaching the door, they banged on it with their fists. The door was only made out of wood, and the strength of the door itself wasn''t that great.


    When more and more zombies started to appear, the door was starting to break under the repeated banging one after the other.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Inside the barn, all of them had popped up to their feet and were looking at the situation.


    "Crap, they were all so calm before, and now they''re acting up like this!" Cleve said. "I thought we could take it easy with this one. I know something wasn''t right since we got here."


    "What are we going to do?" Benny asked, already holding onto the axe.


    "We have no choice; we have to fight. Come on!"


    The door was broken, and one or two zombies could nowe inside at a time, but it wasn''t big enough to let them all in. Benny was the first one to charge forward and swinging his axe to the side, he had killed one immediately.


    As for the other zombie, it was frozen in ce, and it allowed Benny to swing his axe again, killing the other zombie.


    Zain, noticing this, made it so the zombies backed off a bit, and just as expected, the whole group of Zombie Hunters broke through the door to see that they were surrounded.


    "Alright, there aren''t as many as I thought there would be, we can do this!" Cleve said.


    eaglesnov?1,§ão§® Hiding behind the truck, Skittle and Zain were watching everything, and they soon noticed someone in the group, a member of the Zombie Hunters.


    "Hey Zain, are you seeing what I''m seeing?" Skittle asked.


    "Yeah," Zain replied. "It''s Jade."


    ******


    *****


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 Chapter 251 The Worst From The Past

    eaglesnov?1,§ão§® ?


    Without a doubt, the person they were both looking at was Jade. Zain and Skittle knew her well, and there were many reasons for that. One of them was the fact that she hade from their university, and not only that, but she was treated as a type of goddess among the boys.


    For whatever reason that was, it was hard to imagine her being seen so well in their eyes because both of them still had clear memories of what she had done when the whole zombie outbreak had begun.


    At the time, she was on the same dormitory floor as the others. On the reception floor, she was with Buke and Skittle, trying to wait for Zain to find a way for them to escape. However, it didn''t take long for them to see Jade''s dark side. She had tripped the fire rm, causing all of the zombies in the area to head towards their building. Using that as a distraction, she was able to escape while leaving the other two for dead.


    In the end, Zain had managed to save both of them, but the memories of what happened were fresh in their heads. For Zain, he also had another concern back then: Jade had a friend with her who had suddenly been turned. From his inspection, it seemed like a forced turning, most likely due to Jade''s doing.


    "As much as I want to go over there now and give her a clean hit, it''s dangerous even for us," Skittle said. "We still don''t know all their powers. The group seems to be split between those who are taking action and those who aren''t."


    Zain had analyzed the same thing. There was a group of attackers, showing their powers quite easily, for example, the man with the axe seemed to have great strength and stamina beyond that of a human. One could see this just by how easily he sliced through the bones of the zombies, but the others in the back weren''t doing anything apart from telling them where zombies wereing from.


    "I have a n that might be able to draw out their powers," Zain smiled.


    With where they were, Zain ced his hand on the ground and summoned five more zombies. While the hunters were distracted fighting the zombies, the summoned zombies started to move where he had asked them to and eventually went behind the barn.


    The hunters were doing well, and Cleve could see that the number of zombies attacking them had lessened. However, they weren''t directly charging forward towards them either.


    "I thought that if we came outside, we might be able to see who''s leading these guys," Cleve thought. "None of these guys look like an advanced zombie, though. Are they in hiding somewhere? If that''s the case, they would have to be nearby, right?"


    At the back of the group, there was a smaller bald-headed hunter who had yet to do anything. Truth was, it was one of his first missions, which was why he stayed at the back. But that''s when he noticed something. There were growling sounds and moans of pain that the zombies made, but they weren''ting from the front.


    Turning around, he tried to see if they wereing from inside the barn, but they weren''t there either. It wasn''t until he eventually looked up that he found the source.


    "Above!" The Bald-headed man shouted.


    In doing so, Jade and Terry looked up, and they could see zombies having jumped up from the top of the barn. These were the zombies that Zain had sent out before. Although he could order them and move them about as he wished, he was unable to stop them from making noise.


    Still, even though they had been noticed, the n worked as the ones in the back had to take action, and the person who went first was Jade. She leaned back a bit while opening her mouth wide. In doing so, her belly grewrger, letting more air in, until she blew out.


    mes came out from her mouth and hit the zombie, catching two of them on fire. Terry and the bald man moved out of the way of the other two, letting themnd on the floor. When they crashed into the ground, some of their bones had broken, but it didn''t stop the zombies as they crawled and stood up toward their target.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    One of the zombies wasn''t moving as Terry kept his eyes open as long as he could, and the others subdued them. There was no need for the frontal attack team to act because Jade had it all sorted.


    Taking in short breaths, she was still able to produce fire from her mouth, although much smaller than her original attack, and had lit each one of them in mes. The only thing was, even if the zombies were being burned, they still were able to walk for a few moments before their brains were affected.


    Still, it meant the job was dealt with, and they didn''t have to worry about the zombies anymore. The thing was, after nearly being hit, and making her heart race so fast, Jade was furious.


    She started to walk to the front, and walked past those that were fighting.


    "I told you, we should have just done this from the beginning." Jade said.


    "No, she''s not is she?" Cleve said to himself, as he kicked a zombie in the stomach, sending it tumbling to the ground. "Wait, Jade, we can use these crops to feed everyone. It''s a good resource!"


    His words weren''t getting through, and she was already in the middle of her actions. Blowing out mes were released from her mouth, and she moved her head to the left and to the right, burning all of the crops.


    A fire had started, and it was beginning to spread.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 252 Stop The Fire

    ?


    The fire that was lit on one part of the crops started to spread from one area to the next, and it was moving fast. Soon the fire would start to grow in all areas and would be out of control.


    The current farm was filled with dry crops, nts, leaves and more, all of it perfect for making a fire spread. The problem for them wasn''t losing the farm, but trying to get out of the ce.


    The fire would soon start to surround all of them, and if that was the case, Zain wasn''t even sure that their zombie-like bodies would be able to handle that.


    "Zain, there is a water pipe that runs under the ground between the two halves of the crops." Skittle started to exin. "It''s hopeless trying to stop thisrge amount of fire with some water now. So the best thing to do is to just stop it from spreading.


    "If you burst the water pipe all along the track, then you can flood the midsection of the farm. There is already arge distance between the crops, so it''s unlikely to spread to the next patch if you do this. Then the mes will just burn out."


    It was a solution, but one that wasn''t sure would work in the first ce, and on top of that, it was one that would still lose half the farm. Judging by the look of the Zombie Hunters, they weren''t too afraid of the fire and were just short of food.


    Likely they had a way to escape, just like they had done thest time.


    ''Jade. Although she isn''t the nicest person in the world, she''s not stupid. She should have realised the mess that this caused, but she seems calm. If she can create this fire, she might have a way to diffuse it as well.


    ''For putting us in this situation, I don''t want to let her escape today.''


    With that thought in mind, Zain quickly ran off from his position into the field of crops that had yet to be burnt. With his speed the way it currently was, he could run incredibly fast.


    It didn''t take him long to reach the area that Skittle was talking about, and now it was time for him to get to work.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Meanwhile Skittle, Kun, Kelly and Pink continued to observe the situation between the Hunters. They had nearly finished dealing with the zombies in the area including those of the surprise attack.


    "Do you think we should take them out?" Pink asked.


    "Didn''t you hear what Skittle said, that this was a situation just to observe the powers the Zombie Hunters have." Kun replied.


    "Although I do agree, do you think Zain thinks of it this way, now they''ve done what they''ve done?" Kelly replied. "He probably never expected them to cause this much destruction in the area, and he''ll want to pay them back."


    The other two somewhat agreed on this, they had seen Zain on multiple missions act this way. When something was meant to be simple, or one of them would get hurt, Zain would go in against the enemy stronger than intended.


    While thinking about what to do, it seemed like the decision had been made for them. The Hunters had finished dealing with the zombies.


    "Dona, are there any more of them?" Cleve asked.


    The small bald man closed his eyes. There should still be four of them nearby. The Hunters took a quick scan around the area, but were unable to see anyone, this made Cleve think that the ones in hiding had to be the ones that were controlling the zombies.


    ''They had someone with that type of ability, but they said four, does that mean Zain went off somewhere?'' Kun thought. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He knew where the other two had originally gone to hide, but was unable to see Zain running from the area, which meant that Skittle was all on his own.


    While the group was searching and looking around, Benny, the man who wielded therge axe and had done most of the killing of the zombies by beheading them in one strike, he was heading towards a particr stack of hay.


    "This looks like the perfect ce for someone to watch everything that''s been going on." Benny smiled, and rather than just checking behind the haystack, he decided to lift his axe up, ready to swing it down.


    Out from the haystack, Skittle was seen breaking through. He ran straight ahead with his fist clenched and punched Benny right in the stomach. The main stat that had been improved for Skittle the whole time, was his strength. Even if Benny was a superhuman, Skittle''s fist was going to hurt.


    Benny''s feet lifted off the ground as his body bent inwards from the punch, and before he knew it, hisrge self was flying through the air, until he eventuallynded on the ground just by the barn door.


    He couldn''t breathe, the hit had him deep in the stomach. Seeing how that was done by a small zombie with bite marks all over him, Cleve felt like this was trouble.


    "Be careful, this one is a special one!" Cleve shouted.


    Observing them all so far, Skittle had realised that Cleve seemed to be the leader of them all, if he could take him out, then the rest of them would fall apart. They would practically self-destruct without his decision making.


    So Skittle went for him next.


    ''After I told the others not to fight, now I''m the one fighting.'' Skittle thought.


    Before Skittle could reach Cleve though, another Hunter stood in-between them. It was a nervous young Hunter, but keeping his eyes wide open he looked straight into Skittle''s and his whole body suddenly froze.


    ''What is this power¡­ this¡­ I saw it before but I had no clue how it worked. Is it through eye contact?'' Skittle thought.


    "Wait a second, I recognise this person." Jade said with a smile.


    "Same to you, Jade." Skittle replied, and the Hunters were surprised to hear the small Zombie boy speak.


    ****


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 Chapter 253 Get Out Of My Territory

    ?


    The hunters were amazed by what they had just heard: a zombie speaking ¡ª not just mumbling a few words here or there, but one that was able to speak a whole sentence.


    Never had the hunterse across this, nor had they heard reports of this before, which made them think they had just discovered something amazing. In doing so, Cleve''s first thought was that they had to keep this person alive.


    This was what Skittle was going for. Even if the Zombie Hunters had met a few Reborn Zombies before, he was counting on them not informing the rest of the group.


    It was normal for humans to be curious in this situation, so hearing a zombie speak would cause them to hesitate, and in turn, he could defeat them and escape.


    The only thing was, their powers were more than he had expected, and there was a person in the group who remembered him very well.


    "I can''t believe it. This twerp and I used to go to the same university!" Jadeughed. "It looks like you never were able to get out of that situation after all and you''ve turned into a zombie."


    "Actually, we got out of that situation, no thanks to you," Skittle replied instantly. "These marks are from something else. But if you want to talk more about what happened back then, I''m sure your new allies will be interested."


    There were bite marks over Skittle''s body in several ces, including his face, so it was obvious he was a zombie, unlike the others.


    "You two knew each other? Jade, you should talk to him and bring him in. Get him to work with us. Maybe we can figure out how to make more like him, so people don''t have to worry about being bitten," Cleve stated.


    "Work with her? She left me and my friends all to die, and I''m pretty sure she would do the same to all of you," Skittle replied. "It''s better that you guys get away from monsters like her."


    Skittle was trying to make the hunters wary of her, but he knew it was a hard sell. He was a zombie, and of course, he would say things that would try to put Jade in a bad light. Based on the reaction from the others, they didn''t really care about what he was saying right now.


    "My eyes are really starting to hurt," Terry said, his eyes turning a little bloodshot.


    "It''s alright, rest your eyes a bit," Jade said as she walked over to where Skittle was. She stood an arm''s length away from him. "If he moves, I''ll make sure to burn him to a crisp."


    If it were any of the other hunters, then Skittle would think they might hesitate, and he would have a chance, but with Jade, he felt like she would really attack him without a second thought.


    Hiding behind arge tractor, the three others were debating what to do.


    "It''s a tricky situation now that Skittle''s been caught," Kunmented.


    "I told you we should have gone in early. Do you remember how Zain acted thest time anyone even touched Skittle? Could you imagine what would happen if Skittle died because of the Zombie Hunters?" Pink asked.


    "He would wage war and attempt to kill all of the Zombie Hunters," Kelly replied, shivering slightly.


    "What are you doing?" A deep voice was heard, and this one made them all shiver. When taking a peek around the tractor, they could see the person in question standing there.


    The Zombie Hunters turned around and could see a man dressed in dark leather clothing over his body. It was quite thick, stopping sh attacks here and there. Zain''s neck was covered, so it was hard to see the bite mark on him.


    "Is that a human or another zombie?" Terry asked.


    "Who are you?" Cleve asked.


    "Right now, you guys are in my area, and you are the ones that are hurting those that belong to me. Let him go, if you all don''t want to die," Zain stated.


    The hunters found this quite hrious. After all, Zain was one person while they were a group with multiple people. Even Benny, who had been hit by Skittle, was now up and had heard everything so far.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Oh, it''s you. It looks like you''re still the same, aren''t you?" Jademented. "Ordering everyone around like you''re the big boss. I have to say, the fact that you and this zombie are friends, does that mean you''re one as well?"


    "I am," Zain answered immediately. "But we are far better than someone who turns their so-called friends into Zombies. That day, when I went back to the dorm room, I found your dear friend that was with us.


    "She had no bite marks on her body and had a blunt wound on her. It seemed she had been knocked out, and my guess is forced to drink some blood. It couldn''t be, the person I am looking at right now, did all of that, right?


    "If a zombie bites another person, at least they have an excuse, but your actions¡­ you are the worst monster I have everid my eyes on," Zain said, pointing his sword toward her. "I gave you all a warning."


    Zain rushed forward, and as he did, Terry went ahead to stand in front of them.


    "Zain, close your eyes!" Skittle shouted.


    Zain didn''t know why Skittle would say this, but he trusted his friend and did so, closing his eyes, which meant he was still able to move.


    Seeing this, Jade moved from Skittle and took a deep breath.


    "Zain, fire!" Skittle shouted again.


    She blew out mes from her mouth thatpletely covered Zain''s body from head to toe. The mes continued out of her mouth, the same way they did when she burnt the fields.


    ''That was a close call. I know everyone else was pretty rxed, but I had a bad feeling about that one,'' Cleve thought. ''I think he might have been the one behind this whole thing in the first ce, especially considering the confidence he had. Although Jade is annoying to work with, her powers are incredibly strong.''


    The mes had stopped, and in its ce, there was now a burnt remains of a human body in sight. When the human body fell, behind it, Zain could be seen intact.


    "He summoned one of his zombies to take the hit," Skittle noticed.


    Out from his hands, a gun appeared. He first pointed it toward Terry and fired. A bullet went right through his head, killing him in an instant.


    "Get rid of the most troublesome one first," Zain said. He then moved forward and drew the Titan sword from his back. Slicing upward, he cut the next one''s hands right off. They fell to the floor, blood squirting out while Jade was left screaming.


    "Then cause pain to the one that deserves it the most."


    ******


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 254 No Escape

    ?


    The screaming from Jade was deafening, she couldn''t even feel any pain in her hands, but as she looked down and the blood continued to drip¡­ the sound just continued toe out from her mouth.


    That was until Skittle decided to act. Seeing how Zain had already joined the fight, he was sure that all of the Zombie Hunters would decide to act out now. At the same time, after cutting the hands off from Jade, Zain was already running past her going to the others.


    "You need to shut up for a bit!'' Skittle shouted, lifting Jade by the back of her shirt into the air and mming her into the ground. It was a heavy hit that made her cough and immediately Skittle ced his hand over her mouth, keeping it shut.


    He needed to make sure she was unable to use her fire powers, and he had good grip strength anyway.


    ''I can''t lie, I enjoyed that a bit. Anyway this should take her out of the fight. Someone like her wouldn''t try and bite me.'' Skittle thought.


    There was a risk of one turning when taking in the other''s blood, superhumans like the Zombie Hunters were more resilient to turning but it didn''t mean it was impossible.


    Terry was dead, and Jade was out of the fight, but the Zombie Hunters gathered around. If it was just one person surely they could focus their attacks toward them. At least that''s what Cleve thought.


    Almost immediately, running from the back, three more had joined the fight. Pink, Kun and Kelly. Not only that but they were unmatched in strength and skill, as they kicked, punched, and knocked out or broke a few of the bones of the Zombie Hunters. Before Cleve could even do anything, he had been kicked, his leg broken on the spot and hit on the face as he went tumbling to the ground.


    He looked around him and none of the Zombie Hunters were left standing.


    ''What is going on here, are they all superhuman, or are they all zombies? How can so many zombies that can speak and do things like these have gathered in one ce?'' Cleve thought.


    "What do you want to do?" Pink asked, looking at those she had just beaten up on the ground. "We kept them alive in case you wanted to turn them. They could make pretty good Zombies."


    "No." Skittle said. "Once they find out about what happened, they could send more of them to the area. They might evenunch a full scale attack. The best thing to do is keep them and take them back to the school with us. Then we have some bargaining power. Besides, we could use them to find out just how strong the Zombie Hunters have be."


    What Skittle said made a lot of sense, and the group were happy to have someone like him on the team. It helped them think ahead a bit. Although Zain was good at making decisions for the present, sometimes he wascking when it came to thinking about the future.


    ''A school¡­ if they''re going to keep the rest alive, then this is my chance to get out of here.'' Cleve looked at the others, he wanted to say sorry to them. Sorry that he wasn''t a better leader.


    At the first sign of trouble they should have gotten out of there and now he felt responsible for having put them in the current situation, but this was the only way to secure their survival.


    With a snap of his fingers, Cleve''s bodypletely disappeared from the area. He was gone.


    Seeing this, Zain stomped his foot on the ground.


    "Damn it, I should have known that there could be more than one of them with that power." Zain said to himself. "It would have been better to just get rid of them all."


    Skittle felt partly guilty because it was his decision, and now the enemy would know about them. Who knew how they would react once they learned of this information. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I guess we should go ahead with Skittle''s n, and keep them as hostages."  Kelly said.


    Zain then walked up to Jade, and ced his sword right above her chest where her heart was.


    "No, kill the ones whose powers we don''t know about. It would be a risk to bring them back. They could break out or take out any of us when we know nothing about them." Zain ordered.


    Zain gestured for Skittle to remove his hand from Jade''s mouth.


    "Wait what are you doing?" Jade asked. "You said you would keep us hostage right, and you already know my power."


    "We already have plenty to choose from." Zain said. "And anyone but you deserves to live in this world."


    From the looks of it, Jade was building something up in her mouth, ready to spit out mes, before she could Zain had pushed down on the sword, stabbing right through her heart with a speck of bloodnding on his face.


    ¡ª¡ª


    With his powers, Cleve had teleported back to the base of the Zombie Hunters, he was on the ground and could barely move due to his broken legs. Immediately other hunters noticed him.


    "Hey, get someone with some healing powers to help!" One of them shouted.


    "Cleve what happened to you, how did you end up like this¡­ where are the others?"


    The hunters were a bit worried, it had been a while since a group hade back like this. Usually, if they were in a tough situation they could just escape before things got bad, and Cleve''s team was quite strong as well.


    "Get the boss." Cleve said. "He needs to know, he needs to know about these Zombies."


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 255 An Attack

    ?


    The five who had traveled out had decided to return, and they had done as Zain suggested. The other hunters had been killed. An attempt had been made by Zain at turning them, but they had all failed, so there were no new super zombie allies on their side.


    The single person that had been kept alive was Benny, the man with therge axes. They had been observing him enough and witnessed him in close call situations to know that his power had to be that of super strength. It was one of the more basic superhuman traits but was also extremely useful.


    However, Skittle, Pink, and Zain''s own strength outmatched Benny''s, which was why they were confident in bringing him back with them. Eventually, they had arrived back at the school.


    "What in the world is this? All of these zombies in this area, and you even have them standing by the school gate." Benny gasped. "Cleve was right, one of you, you can control zombies, can''t you?"


    "I think it would be best you keep quiet." Kun replied. "We will be the ones asking you questions in the end."


    "Yeah, you already killed the rest, and I know that''s the only reason I''m alive."


    Walking through the front concrete yground area, one individual, Dab, came running toward them with arge smile on his face. He was energetic that they had all arrived back.


    "Whoa, what is this? Is that a Zombie Hunter? Why did you bring him here?"


    Zain continued to walk forward, with Skittle by his side.


    "Come on, Dab, I''ll exin to you," Kun said, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. "Let me paint you a nice picture. The fierce Zombie Hunters¡­"


    The other three left to rx, rest up, and do what they usually did. They also had taken the brains out of the Zombie Hunters, and they needed to store them as soon as possible. This was still something that none of them had ovee but just got better at eating less of.


    While they were doing that, a ssroom was picked, filled with desk chairs and the ckboard at the back. Zain and Skittle offered Benny a seat, and they took a seat as well.


    "What is this? Is this going to be some type of good cop, bad cop while you interrogate me?" Benny scoffed.


    "Good cop, bad cop? Do I look like someone who would do such things?" Zain said.


    Zain stared right into Benny''s eyes, and memories of how easily he had killed all the others hade into his mind. He couldn''t help but gulp or back off when talking to Zain.


    "What I want to know is how many people are in the Zombie Hunters at the moment, and what do you n to do with the current situation?" Zain asked.


    "I''ll answer because I want no pain," Benny replied. "The Zombie Hunters are made up of core and non-core members. Non-core members have no sign of powers and help run the day-to-day stuff. We don''t take anyone in who can''t work though.


    "So not the sick nor the elderly. There is an exception if one is a core member, then we are willing to look after their family. Their numbers are probably around 2000 or so. Since I told you about the non-core members, I''m guessing you have an idea of what the core members are already.


    "It''s those that have supernatural powers. At the moment, I would say there are around 1,000 of us, but the number is growing as more and more non-core members find out they have powers."


    The numbers didn''t sound like a lie with how many people there were in the city. One thing that was clear was that the Zombie Hunters were a bigger force than the military and most likely more powerful with all the power users.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Your second answer is obvious, to rid the world of zombies, we will do so one area at a time, but it''s important that we don''t lose our lives, so we are doing it slowly. Our numbers are growing anyway."


    When Benny said those words, his tone of voice changed slightly. He was generally a confident person, and Zain had noticed the difference when he spoke this time.


    "Have you been getting attacked by the Demons more these days¡­ is there a reason why you''re expanding and looking into new areas?" Zain asked.


    Benny scrunched up his face.


    "We are having more attacks than usual but nothing we can''t handle."


    From this information, it was most likely that the Demons were aware of the situation as well. They wouldn''t allow the Zombie Hunters to get stronger, which was why they were experiencing more attacks.


    The reason why Zain''s territory was untouched was that it didn''t look like they had any territory at all. It was just zombies roaming around the ce.


    "You guys look calm as ever," Benny suddenly said. "It''s amazing how there are zombies like you guys, ones who can speak, talk, act just like us, but you aren''t like us, and you control them right out there.


    "Do you think you''re safe here?"


    Skittle didn''t answer, but he did think they were safe. He knew that the Zombie Hunters would retaliate, but because of Zain''s power, he knew when other territories had been entered and were being attacked, so they would have time to prepare.


    "I can see it on your face. You know, you made a big mistake, letting it slip out that your base was a school. How many schools do you think are in this area, 5, 6 maybe¡­ if you ask me, it''s only a matter of time."


    It didn''t take the Zombie Hunters long at all, at that moment in time, Skittle and Zain could see it from the window. Inside the school''s yground, in front of the gate, a mass of around forty or so Zombie Hunters had been teleported in.


    "F*ck," Zain said, looking at the situation.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remeber to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 256 Take Out As Many As You Can

    ?


    Looking out of the window, it wasn''t just a small group of Zombie Hunters that had arrived in one go. There were several groups arriving one after the other. They had more than one teleporter in their group allowing them to bring a mass of the hunters and they had now brought around fifty or so hunters, all of them with powers.


    As to how they knew they had powers, it was because without any type of scouting or preparation, they began to attack the zombies around them. Using their powers, mes, lightning, super strength, duplication, and all sorts they were killing all of the zombies at the gate and in the yground left and right.


    The others soon rushed into the room where Zain and Skittle currently were.


    [Danger, your territory is under attack!]


    ''System, you''re a littlete in telling me this time.'' Zain thought.


    "Zain, what do we do¡­ Do we go out and confront them?" Kun asked.


    Seeing the situation and how it was, even if Zain was to use his super zombies such as Cobra, Jam, and War, this was going to be an incredibly hard fight to survive, no, almost impossible.


    "We won''t fight to win this fight," Zain said, and ced his hand on the ground, the next moment War was summoned, and he had a semi automatic as well as a few other weapons strapped to his body.


    "We''re going to lower their numbers as much as we can, and then get out of here. We can''t let them juste to us and get away with it." Zain said. "Kun, go with War, you two are the best shooters, head to the roof top and get as many of the troublesome ones as you can."


    For a second, Zain peeked out of the window, out of those that arrived, he was going to see which ones he recognized. There were, after all, a few hunters that he did know about, such as the hunter named Wendy, who had let him and Skittle live, as well as the young men he had saved before.


    Thankfully, there was no one he could see.


    Kun and War went up to the roof, leaving the ce quickly, and started to rush up the stairs. War had a high level of intelligence for a zombie that allowed him to use guns, he could also understandmands, but his intelligence wasn''t high enough for him to speak, and themands needed to be kept simple.


    The two of them were crouching as they reached the rooftop. There was a metal gate on the roof as well. They slowly moved forward until they hid behind a lip where they could look through the gate and see down below.


    "They haven''t spotted us up here, it seem''s there to focused on the zombies." Kunmented. "That would make sense, they are probably just clearing the area. They won''t even know if they are in the right ce or not, but still it would be best to wait for the right chance, the right moment, and then we can be most effective.


    "For now, I''ll try and see which ones are the most troublesome ones of the group."


    ¡ª¡ª


    Back in the ssroom, the others were still there, and Zain was staring at Benny.


    "Hahah, I love that look on your face, you truly messed with the wrong person and now you know it." Bennymented.


    Zain then walked up to Benny and was standing right in front of him.


    "We originally kept you here, so we could use you in a situation like this, so we could use you as a hostage, but based on the way they are attacking and with such arge force, they are not here to talk.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "In this attack, they will lose more than one Hunter''s life. Your life is not worth more than the other hunter''s life, they are just using you as an excuse to attack, or they might have just decided to attack an unknown threat."


    Benny was listening but had no clue why Zain was saying his thoughts out loud like so.


    "So that means." Zain reached out and grabbed Benny right by the neck, he then lifted him out of his seat with ease.


    Benny couldn''t believe it, he, arge person, was lifted so easily with a single hand from a man who was two times smaller than him.


    "It means, we no longer need you." Zain said, as he grabbed tightly around Benny''s neck, and in doing so he hurled him out of the window. His body smashed through the ss and was thrown a great distance.


    In the air, the hunters could see the objecting towards them, they moved out of the way as the body mmed onto the ground. It sttered and blood sprayed out. Now on the floor they could see their ally, Benny, dead on the ground, havinge from the school.


    "What in the world¡­ could do something like this?" The hunters said.


    At that moment, while everyone was looking at the body. It was the perfect distraction for them all. Bullets started to fire from the top of the roof, with their good shots they were able to hit many of the hunters.


    Not only them, but Zain had also pulled out guns from his inventory and with his skill level rtively high, he was also able to hit a few from where he was as he was shooting one after the other.


    Many of the hunters had gone down before they could react, but they had abilities that could soon block the bullets creatingrge shields in front of the rest.


    "I guess that''s our cue to get out of here, we have done as much damage as we can." Kun said to his partner.


    In the ssroom below, Zain hade to the same conclusion, he turned around and looked at the others.


    "Alright, let''s get out of here."


    Taking a step forward, Zain''s mind started to go ck, his body swayed to the side, and he crashed¡­ passed out on the floor.


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 257 A Bad Memory

    ?


    This empty feeling of darkness, where his mind was conscious but unable to see or think of anything. It was the familiar feeling that Zain had experienced before, but as time went on during his time as a zombie, he was passing out less and less.


    Yet, he knew in the back of his mind that it was always a possibility, that it could ur at any time, and now it had urred again. Why did it have to happen at the worst times? Lately, it felt like someone was doing it on purpose, as if to put him in a worse situation than he already was.


    "It was so sudden this time, I didn''t have a chance to even fight against it or stop it like I had done that one time in the hospital," Zain thought.


    He started to think about the current situation and how the others would handle it without him.


    "The situation was already tough to get out of, we would have just barely made it. The only chance for the others to survive, and the best thing for them to do, is to just leave me behind... there is a good chance that I''ll be killed, but that''s how I taught them."


    Finally, the darkness started to disappear, and in its ce was a room. A familiar room to Zain, small with a single bed and a desk, and posters on the wall. It was a typical teenage or young one''s bedroom. What stood out, though, was the desk and on that desk, there was aputer set up.


    All of this was familiar to Zain because it was his childhood bedroom, the one he had grown up in as a child. Right now, he was in the body of a child, his former self, perhaps 8 or 10 years old.


    It was a memory from long ago, so it was hard for him to remember, but the vision he was experiencing this time was different from all the others. For one, he was in his own body, but he was unable to control it.


    It was almost as if he was watching a movie, but through the eyes of himself. The mouse could be heard clicking and the keyboard tapping away. Zain tried to stop clicking for a second, but nothing happened, and the child version of himself continued to y the game.


    "What do you mean it''s not ready!" A loud voice was heard from the other side of the house. It felt like it was almost shaking the walls. "I have been ving away day after day, and all I''m asking for is one thing, and now you''ve ruined my entire day. You useless B*tch.


    "I should have thrown you and that useless kid under the bridge!"


    This voice instantly caused a sick feeling to brew in Zain''s stomach. It was a voice he thought he would never have to hear again, and now, thanks to the system, he had heard it once more.


    Looking at his child self, though, he could see that it was affecting him as well. His hands were shaking.


    The shouting continued, and eventually, loud thuds were heard. The child Zain then ced headphones over his head and started to turn the volume up as he continued to shake, sitting in his seat.


    He was trying his best to just focus on the game. "Survive, survive, I need to do what I can to survive. I need to get the wood and more resources," Zain mumbled to himself.


    He flinched a couple of times as he heard louder thuds from the other room but continued to y the game, that was until a figure made of dark mist started to appear.


    The mist started to form, and a military uniform could be seen. It looked to be the body of a man, until the face appeared because it was the faceless man, with nothing but a mouth on his head.


    "You weakling, why don''t you do something about it, something to stop it?" The faceless man asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    For the first time, the child Zain stopped ying his game and turned around.


    "I''m just a child, there is nothing I can do."


    "There is always something you can do, but instead, you just sit in here and ignore it all while your mother out there takes the brunt of everything."


    "What can I do!" Zain shouted. "He''s stronger than me and bigger than me. Maybe if it was like a game, where I could level up and get stronger, I could beat him. But right now, if I tried to do anything, I could never beat him!"


    The faceless man looked to be turning back into a ck mist, but he had a fewst words to say.


    "You will never know until you try," the faceless man stated.


    With the faceless man disappearing, so did the rest of the room, and it looked like the vision wasing to an end.


    "That wasn''t a pleasant vision this time... not a good one at all," Zain said.


    A few momentster, Zain was opening his eyes just like the times before. He had somewhat expected to see maybe the school ceiling, and if not that, to never be able to open his eyes again.


    Instead, the walls werepletely ck. Turning his head to the right, there were barred cells. Looking around the dark room, he could soon see others in there with him, curled up in balls in corners of the room. Some were just standing there on their own.


    "Where am I?" Zain thought.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 258 Trapped

    ?


    Before doing anything else, Zain was trying to get a grasp of where he was. He looked up, but the ceiling was dark¡ªtoo dark to see what material it was made out of. Then, turning his head through the bars, he could see the flooring.


    The flooring was made of wood, but when he banged on the floor, it didn''t break. Instead, it felt like there was concrete underneath.


    "I guess there''s no escaping out this way, but¡­" Zain started to walk up to the bars and ced his hand around them. He held them and gave them a small tug, not using his full strength. "If I tried hard enough, I think I could rip these bars out."


    However, that idea, at least for now, had gone out of Zain''s head as he could hear footsteps walking up and down the hallway.


    "What are you doing!" a voice shouted. "Step away from the bars, or I''ll st your head off."


    The man that was standing in the hallway had the uniform of the Zombie Hunters on, and in his hand was a gun¡ªnot just any gun. Zain was staring down the barrel of arge shotgun pointed right at his head.


    If he was hit cleanly with that at the distance he was at, then he was pretty sure he wouldn''t still be alive.


    "That uniform, so it''s the Zombie Hunters after all. After I passed out, they must have caught me and trapped me down here, but why would they keep me alive? Maybe they don''t even know who I am." Zain thought.


    Quickly, he decided to check his system, and in doing so, he could see Skittle''s name, which meant that he was alive and well. What he also noticed was the location that they were in.


    "This isn''t the Zombie Hunters'' base, at least it''s not where I thought the base is, and it''s a long way from where Skittle and the others are. We must have been transported here."


    "Didn''t you hear what I said!" The man loaded the gun, pulling part of it back, and pointed the gun forward a bit more again. For a second, Zain thought about grabbing it and attempting to get out of this ce.


    "Hey, rx, will you? You know that he''s new here. He doesn''t know what''s going on," a voice said from behind.


    Zain could smell who was approaching him, and of all things, it smelled like a zombie. Judging from the fact that it could speak, it meant it was a Reborn Zombie.


    The hand was ced on Zain''s shoulder, and he let go of the bars and moved away. The man politely waved to the guard with a smile as the two of them went away.


    "Look, I know you''re a tough zombie and everything, but trust me, you don''t want to try and escape. I''ve been here a while, and thest guys that tried that became a pile of nothing before they could even leave the cells."


    From those words, it sounded like there was more than one guard, and it was one of the reasons why Zain hadn''t acted out irrationally as well¡ªit wasn''t good for survival.


    "The name is Dart!" The zombie man imed.


    Zain looked him up and down, and Dart looked like a farmer based on the clothes he had on his body. They were badly ripped as if he had never changed clothes since the day the zombie attack had urred.


    But his face was friendly with arge grin, and in farmer''s terms, he seemed quite young, in his thirties or so.


    "Dart... are you part of the Reborn Group, and where are we?" Zain asked.


    The two of them continued back deeper into the cell until they had reached the very back. Zain looked at the others in the room¡ªthere were six of them inside in total¡ªand what was even stranger was the fact that there weren''t just Reborn Zombies here, there were also a couple of humans as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Reborn group... I''m not part of any group," Dart replied. "I was just doing my own thing when I got bit. When I woke up, I was like this. I''m sure it''s the same for you. Anyway, one day those hunters came and found me.


    "I thought I was dead, but instead, they brought me here."


    If Dart was someone from the Reborn group, Zain thought they would know him, and there were always Reborn Zombies out there that knew nothing about themselves.


    "And what exactly is here? Why have they put us all in a cell together? There has to be a reason for them to keep us alive," Zain asked.


    Dart ced his finger on his chin as he twisted and turned his head. He was unsure how to phrase it.


    "What''s the point of telling him?" A female voice said from the corner. She was sitting on the ground, rocking back and forth, blonde hair in pigtails. From the smell, Zain was able to tell she was human as well¡ªa human that wasn''t even scared of zombies.


    "I don''t know why you do this, Dart. You''re friendly with everyone whoes into this ce, and yet you know that it''s unlikely we will see him again."


    "Hey, we don''t know that," Dart replied back. "And what else are we supposed to do, just stay in this cell until it''s our turn?"


    Dart sighed.


    "She is right about one thing, though. Since you are the newest one to be in here, you will be called soon."


    The sound of multiple footsteps was heard, and Dart turned his head. He looked nervous and grabbed both shoulders of Zain.


    "Crap, you were asleep for too long. I didn''t have time to tell you. All I can say is, you need to do your best, your best to survive. I know we will meet again!" Dart shouted.


    Zain wondered just what was going on.


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 259 Live Or Die

    ?


    After somewhat helping Zain out, the friendly Reborn had decided to back away, and many of the others in the room had turned their heads or faced their bodies away from the bars. One could tell just from this that they were nervous about whatever was walking through that hallway.


    "Alright!" A loud voice echoed through the halls. Stopping in front of them were a group of around eight zombie hunters, all wearing identical ck leather jackets with white words painted on the back. Unlike the other zombie hunters that Zain had seen, these looked a bit older and more rugged. Their eyes said a lot about them as well.


    ''I guess these aren''t your normal newbie zombie hunters. Although I would like to say I would still be confident about breaking out of this ce, I still have no idea where we are,'' Zain thought.


    "Follow us, and don''t even think about trying to fight us. We wouldn''t want to injure you before your big debut, and trust me, if anything were to happen to you before your debut, it would only make it harder for you," therge man said.


    Zain didn''t respond, but he seemed willing toply as he didn''t say much. The bars were unlocked, and two of the hunters came in withrge metal poles. They pressed them against Zain, one towards the front of his body and another towards the back, while the hunters divided themselves, escorting Zain in the front and the back.


    ''I guess they''re still worried about getting infected.''


    "So, redhead!" one of the skinny hunters who were holding the pole called out while they walked down the hall. "Tell me, is there anything special about you? Like, are you strong, used to be in the army, or maybe a martial artist or something?"


    "Are you crazy?" one of the hunters replied. "Does he even look that old? My bet is he won''t evenst five minutes."


    "Hey," therge man, who seemed to be the leader of the group and was walking out front, shouted. "What are you guys doing, asking him questions? You know it''s against the rules to try to get any information beforehand. It would make it unfair to all the others."


    Due to their careful movement of Zain, to the point where one of them had to walk backward, they were going through the area slowly, but it allowed the red-haired zombie to take in his surroundings.


    ''There are a lot of cells down here, and from the smell, I can tell that they have captives as well. How many people are down here, and just what are they trying to do? From the sounds of it, the others have been through the same thing and they''re still alive... I guess I''m just going to have to find out.''


    Eventually, Zain had gone up a flight of stairs and had reached an empty,rge room. It looked like the reception of a hotel, with a front desk, sofas, and marble flooring.


    ''Were we in the basement?'' Zain thought.


    Soon, however, he realized that he wasn''t the only one who was out and being treated as a captive. There were about ten others. One of them looked to be a Stage 2 Zombie, tied up and restrained. Another was a human, severely beaten and wearing a Zombie hunter uniform.


    There were regr humans as well, and a couple of Reborn Zombies in the mix. All of them were being led by a group of Zombie hunters to prevent them from running away.


    Looking at the hunters, he soon locked eyes with one of them because he recognized the girl with long ck hair. He had seen her before.


    ''It''s the hunter that goes by Wendy. She was the one... that helped me out before with Skittle.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It wasn''t just Zain who recognized her because when they made eye contact, they held it for a couple of seconds before she realized who or what she was looking at and turned away.


    To the right of the reception, there were a set of double doors. If this was a hotel, it had an old Victorian feeling to it, but it wasrge and grand in size. Out from the double doors, a wild-looking white-haired hunter with nothing but the leather jacket and arge scar across his chest emerged.


    "Haha, so these are the lucky contestants!" the man shouted. "It looks like we have a good batch today. I think we will have some history makers!"


    Many of the hunters stood upright upon seeing this person. It was clear he held a high position of power.


    ''Is he the leader?'' Zain thought. ''No, that wouldn''t make sense based on where we are on the map, but it all has to be linked. Why even the need to do all of this in the first ce?''


    "Alright, there''s no time to chat. All of you will learn as you go," the white-haired hunter dered, heading back through the door he had just exited from. After that, the rest of the groups of hunters started to follow.


    Passing through the door, they entered a bigger hallway, and at the end of the hallway, an arched entrance could be seen. The sound of many voices could be heard, and soon they knew where all the noise wasing from.


    Cheers erupted as each one of the groups entered. They were in arge ballroom that had two floors and a banister that went all around the top. It was a room that would be used to decorate for weddings at times. Now, it was being used for something else entirely.


    The wooden floors were stained with blood, and the whole area was surrounded by the Zombie hunters. But on the second floor, there were several men and women dressed inpletely different attire, something unexpected given the current situation everyone was in.


    Elegant dresses, suits, clothes that in the past people would have saved for special asions.


    "Alright, everyone, you know the rules. We will introduce everyone one by one, and with that, you are all to make your bets. Will they survive or... will they die!!!"


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 260 Outside Situation

    ?


    Hearing the news from the white-haired hunter, the crowd cheered so loud that the whole room started to shake, and with the announcement being made, Zain had somewhat figured out what was going on.


    "They''re making bets on us? So that''s why they kept us alive, and why that hunter from before was asking if I could do anything special," Zain thought. "To do this type of thing, to have captives that are Reborn, and possibly even some of those that are Superhuman, they have to be confident in their strength."


    Nearly everyone in the room were Zombie Hunters, and there had to be around 200 or so of them here. Even with the use of other zombies, Zain felt like it was difficult for him to survive, and he was sure they would have some Titans with great power.


    "Actually, not all of them are hunters." Zain looked up at the balcony, at those who were well-dressed and different from the others.


    Right now, the white-haired hunter was describing each of the participants, exining how they had managed to get caught and what their crimes were. For one of the humans, they were part of the Zombie Hunters but had tried to steal from them and run away. Their punishment had resulted in this.


    Through their introductions, Zain did realise one thing: just like him, for all of them, it must have been their first time going through this. Otherwise, there wouldn''t have been any need for the introductions.


    "Are they betting on which of us will survive? Are we going to go up against each other?" Zain thought.


    Closing his eyes, he was trying to focus. His hearing was better than others, but there was a lot of speaking going on. So he had to pay attention to the sounding from a particr direction, and his aim was the second floor.


    "It looks like there is no one that''s really worth looking at this time. They all look incredibly weak; they hardly have any meat on their bones."


    "You still think that way, after everything you have seen. You know, just from the outside, one is unable to tell what ability they have, and some are stronger than they look."


    "We should still bet while we still can," another added. "Who knows when this situation will end? Nearly every other country and city has everything under control."


    "It might be longer than you think. You know they discovered that nearly all the meteorites hit this area. Can''t you tell from what you have seen? This ce is special. It''s no wonder that they haven''t cleared it yet."


    "Either way, this has be quite a good way to entertain ourselves, in return for goods to support those who live in this rotten city. We''re hoping to maybe even get some underground broadcasting rights. I''m sure it could be a big hit among other clients."


    Zain continued to listen in on what the others were saying, and he was starting to get a bigger picture of what was going on, not just here but outside of their current city.


    "It was the same as what the others said. Outside of the city, the other ces don''t have a high amount of infected and from the sounds of it, demons either. The military has made a border to make sure no one gets out and makes the situation worse for the other cities.


    Why did the demons choose this ce? Was it just coincidence, and what do they n to do? If the whole country, the whole world, has already resolved the problem, I can''t believe it.


    These powerful rich snobs. Instead of trying to help lessen the burden of the situation, they are just using us to entertain themselves."


    "And you, redhead!" the white-haired hunter asked. "Please tell us a little about yourself. It is said that they found you in a school. They thought you were dead, but one of them believed they had seen you as a Reborn before, and on the off chance that you were alive, they brought you in.


    It looks like you were alive after all. Still, it''s amazing. I have never seen a sleeping zombie before. Please tell us about yourself."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Zain opened his eyes. "Sleeping Zombie" wasn''t such a bad name for himself. On his body, they had left his armour on, but his weapons, they were gone. His Titan sword and white transformation sword. He hoped that the others would have picked them up.


    "I... am a student from a university. I studied with the sword from time to time," Zain mentioned.


    He didn''t want to give too much away. Maybe they would think he was too big of a threat if he did and just get rid of him. But the second sentence was a lie; he never had practised with the sword until he had received the system.


    "A sword, that''s very interesting," the man said, looking up at the others, and they nodded.


    "Alright, that''s all the information that you have gotten on the participants taking part today! You know the drill. You have five minutes to make your bets, and after that, they can''t be changed."


    While others were taking bets, the white-haired man pointed to one of the men who had a Zombie Hunter uniform on. He was thin and frail with shaggy hair going to his shoulders.


    The other participants were moved back to a different space, away from the audience, and were still being kept back.


    "I guess we''re not going up against each other after all. So the Zombie Hunter is going first... but I wonder what we''re going to see."


    On the other side of the room, there were a set of double doors, and the hunters stood a clear distance away from the door. The five minutes were finally up.


    "Okay, the first round will start! Open the door!"


    The double doors opened, and walking right through was a dark brown-skinned figure with white hollow eyes and sharp razor teeth. Finally, there were tentacles sticking out from its back.


    Their opponent was a demon.


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remeber to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too bus, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 261 Out Of Place

    ?


    When the Demon exited from the other side of the room, the Zombie Hunters didn''t look surprised and instead cheered at the top of their lungs. From the look of things, unlike the rest of them, the Demon didn''t look to be tied up, nor were there any signs of it being forced.


    ''Is it some type of ability one of the Zombie Hunters have. It wouldn''t be too much of a surprise if one of them could do something like that. Which means I would have to be careful if there is. Other than that, there is also a chance that the Demons are in on this, and maybe even made a deal with them.''


    Whatever the case was, now this frail man had to deal with the Demon, and as a former Zombie Hunter, there were a lot of those that had high hopes cingrge bets on him.


    The fight didn''t need to be announced, the Demon was the first to attack, stretching out its long tentacles. They came out fast like spears but the Zombie Hunter used his powers and suddenly had moved across the floor and was in apletely different area.


    All four of the tentacle-like attacks had hit the floor, piercing the ground.


    "How am I meant to kill this thing without any weapons? I can''t just do it with my hands!" The manined.


    The Demon was on the move. Moving closer and using its tentacles to strike at the man again. From what they had seen, the man had the power of super speed, he moved quickly avoiding the tentacles again but when he stopped he held his stomach.


    "I''m so hungry as well, these bastards didn''t even feed me properly before the fight!" The man shouted.


    Another of the tentacles came toward him, and he had avoided it like thest attacks but the Demon was also slowly moving in closer and closer. Without a way to fight back the man was wondering what to do, and he soon saw a problem. The Demoning in closer was cutting off ways for him to run.


    It had extended out its tentacles and in doing so, was now using them to block the way the man could run without running into the tentacles. In this situation everything felt hopeless to him. That was until a hammer skidded across the floor.


    It was a simple weapon but with his powers, it could be used in an explosive way, in an attack. The man picked up the hammer and immediately ran toward the demon, screaming.


    "Arghhh!"


    He avoided the tentacles and then when he was in close, he avoided the swipes of the Demon''s hands as well. Swinging the hammer as hard as he could, he hit the side of the head. A loud bang was heard, as if it had hit a solid wall, and a small crack could be seen in the Demon''s skin.


    "I did it!" The man said with a big smile, until he felt something creeping up along his back. The tentacles prated his skin, right through his clothes. Blood was soaking through and his body lifted in the air. The grip of his hand weakened until the hammer was dropped onto the floor.


    The Demon opened up its mouth, stretching it wider than the man''s head. Its sharp fangs were seening down and as it bit down, it snapped off the man''s headpletely. Only the neck and the rest of the body could be seen, as it shrivelled up, being absorbed for its energy.


    "Ouch!" The white haired hunter said. "It looks like he was unfortunate and he was one of the fan favourites. Well, better luck next time to all of you."


    A man had just died in front of them all, and not just any man but one that used to be part of their group, yet none of them looked to have any remorse and instead were just upset that they had lost their bets.


    ''These people, how long have they been doing this for, to be so numb to these types of actions.'' Zain thought.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Looking at all the hunters, he did see one that was quite disgusted by what was happening, and that was the hunter Wendy.


    ''Maybe¡­ if I get a chance to speak to her.''


    After the Demon had defeated its opponent, it stood there. It had probably gained additional energy from consuming its opponent and all of its wounds were healed. So, in some cases, now for the next contestants they would just find it even harder to deal with.


    What was surprising was how the Demon wasn''t going on a rampage and attacking those around it, and was patiently waiting for the next participant. Another name had been called, this time it was another Reborn Zombie.


    Zain watched this match, but it had ended quicker than thest. The Reborn Zombie had next to no skills, and was hardly able to avoid the tentacles, losing the match fairly quickly.


    "I can''t believe this is happening, after the favourite went away, the odds of anyone else beating the Demon this time are close to 0."


    Those on top looked extremely disappointed in the results as if it was a waste of time for them toe.


    ''Maybe if I was to catch the interest of one of them¡­ this could work.''


    The third participant was called, and once again it wasn''t Zain but before they stepped forward Zain raised his hand.


    "Can I volunteer?" Zain asked. "I want to be next to fight that thing¡­ but in return for volunteering before the others, I want a sword."


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 262 The Volunteer

    ?


    It was the first for all of those watching. The Zombie Hunters as well as the well-dressed guests had seen a number of events, but during this whole time, they had never seen one volunteer to go first. At least not after knowing and seeing what their opponent could do.


    Yet, here the university student of all things had decided to go forward after seeing their opponent.


    "Maybe he has a crush on you Sherry." One of the men in a suit chuckled.


    "It does seem like he is looking up here when he dered to take part in this event. Perhaps that red zombie does wish to impress us."


    Since it was a first, the onlookers didn''t know what was going to happen, and in the end, the white haired hunter was the one that had to make a decision.


    "Very well, if you wish to impress us, or make your death even quicker, then I will not stop you." The hunter said.


    With that done, Zain was allowed to move forward, and the others soon stepped away, for the fight between him and the demon to begin.


    "Wait!" Zain called out. "For volunteering shouldn''t I at least get a reward of some sort?"


    Everyone was puzzled by this request, but Sherry who was standing there in the silver dress could see that Zain''s eyes were still on her, which had caused her to make a decision of her own.


    "I believe he is right, a reward is needed. After all, how could anyone expect to defeat such a creature without a weapon." The woman stated. "You said you were a swordsman correct, then someone give him a sword, and I will increase my bet tenfold on the red haired zombie."


    The white haired hunter had a smirk bigger than he could have ever imagined, and quickly asked for a sword to be thrown from the crowd. One was and slid across the floor. With his foot Zain kicked it up and caught it mid air.


    He held the sword in front of him, and it looked natural in his hand. The stance made it so he looked like a true swordsman.


    "I thought the fact that he could use a sword was a lie." One of those from the second floormented.


    "I don''t me you, in this day and age, unless forpetition, who would practise with such a thing. Either way, whether he can use a sword or not, it doesn''t change anything. There is only a small amount that manages to survive."


    "You have to admit that number has been increasingtely though, there are more and more people in the cells. If this continues on, we might have to try and do something about it."


    The others nodded in agreement, but there was no more talking between them because now, it was time for the battle tomence.


    On the side, Wendy was watching the whole thing intently.


    ''After leaving that army base¡­ I heard the news, apparently this zombie was able to defeat a demon all on its own. It was quite tough for us to do, but if that was the case, I wonder how he was caught. I didn''t even know he was here. I guess I should look into things¡­ if he survives this.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The tentacles came out right toward Zain like thest fight, and rather than running and avoiding all the tentacles. Zain had stepped to the left, right and then forward, missing all four of the sharp ends. His movements were so smooth.


    What he did, it looked so simple, but everyone knew that it had to be difficult. Lifting up the sword, Zain swung it down on the tentacle, when he did he soon felt it bounce off form the demon''s skin.


    ''The demon''s skin is too hard, I wish I had my titan sword right now, but I don''t so I''m just going to have to do this the old fashioned way.''


    The tentacles from the demon had lifted in the air, and swinging about they were all heading toward him. Unlike before, he ran to the side, and started to run in a curve toward the demon. It was fast, and the demon was unable to react with its tentacles quick enough.


    ''I can''t use too much speed, otherwise they might think that I''m too much of a threat, but if I can get the attention of one of them.''


    While running toward the demon, Zain took a nce at Sherry. She noticed, in the middle of an intense battle to do such a thing, it meant one thing, he wasn''t scared.


    When getting close enough to the demon, it tried to swing its arm to w at him. And using his own hand, he knocked it away hitting the demon''s forearm. It was with such strength that it flung back in the air. After that, leading in with his shoulder he tackled the demon right in the centre.


    It lost its footing and fell right down to the ground. Quickly following up, Zain jumped in the air, and held the sword with both hands. He swung it downward right through the demon''s mouth. It periced through the soft flesh in its throat, and pushing on it further, Zain allowed it to get stuck right in.


    Letting go, the sword was staying up in ce, lifting up his leg, he then mmed it down on the bottom of the sword, pushing it down further. At that moment, the tentacles of the demon stopped moving, its whole body had stopped moving, and it was clear the demon was dead.


    "He defeated the demon¡­ and without getting a scratch on his body." The white haired hunter said with his mouth left open.


    *****


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 263 A Visitor

    ?


    Calmly, Zain pulled the sword out from the demon''s mouth. He did it as if no one around him was watching. After that, he flicked the sword, allowing the blood to stter onto the ground, and then swung it about a few times in the air.


    ''It''s heavier and less sturdy, but when I have a sword in my hand, the sword mastery activates. Not only does it make my skills better, but it allows me to make better judgments of where and when to attack. It was a good thing using this thing, otherwise I would have had to deal with the demon in a different way.''


    The main aim of the game was to get the attention of the others around him, but not to garner so much attention to the point where they felt like they were unable to contain Zain. Finally, Zain had realized that all those around him were silent.


    ''Crap¡­don''t tell me. I overdid it?'' Zain thought.


    Many had defeated the demons they went against, but none had done it the way Zain had. Others struggled with their life on the line, made great sacrifices or had great skill.


    Although Zain had great skill, there was something off about the way he killed the demon. It felt like he had done it before.


    The sound of pping could be hearding from above. Turning his head, he could see the woman in the sparkly dress. Soon the room followed, as everyone started to p as well.


    "It would seem the red-haired is one to pay attention to next time. It will be quite impressive to see what hees up with next!" the white-haired hunter announced.


    Heading back, Zain went ahead and joined the others. The ballroom floor was cleaned up, and he was forced to stay and watch. Nothing was said to him or anything given to him, and eventually, just like before, through the double doors, there was another demon.


    ''I''m slowly starting to gather what everyone said, so it was expected that they would have more than one demon.''


    Folding his arms, the show continued as the next participant from their lineup was sent out. It was a woman this time, and she was shaking just in front of the demon. In particr, this person didn''t look like a zombie hunter nor a reborn zombie. It was clear that she would already lose the fight.


    For a second, Zain had thought about volunteering again. What if he was to fight on everyone''s behalf and defeat all of the demons? Then their lives would be saved, but he quickly decided against it when he got control over his feelings.


    Defeating all of the demons would draw unwanted attention to him. If that happened and they got rid of him, then he would have yed the hero for no reason.


    If he was to fight them, there was a good chance they wouldn''t even be saved. They would just be made to fight again, and if they couldn''t survive the first time, then they wouldn''t survive again.


    These people were making bets on the participants, so it was unlikely that they would allow him to get involved anyway.


    As expected, the woman had onlysted a few seconds against the demon, and after that, the other participants would have to face the demon. The crowd was a littlecklustre after seeing Zain''s performance.


    The matches just didn''t excite them that much, apart from one. It was a reborn zombie with a big afro on top of his head. His fight was a struggle and a half. His athleticism allowed him to flip over and avoid most of the attacks.


    With just his bare hands though, he had been hit a few times. That was until he managed to get behind the demon during the fight, and m its head into the ground. A m wasn''t enough to kill the thing.


    From the side though during the match, all sorts of things were thrown out, scissors and anything sharp. With the strength of the reborn, they were able to jam multiple items in its head and continued to m its head into the ground until it was eventually beat.


    Out of all of them that were present, only two ended up surviving the whole thing. With the bets over, all of the hunters started to leave the room, and the two survivors were escorted back.


    There was nothing said by anyone to the two of them, as they went down below and started to walk down the long dark hallway.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hey, will you look at that, two of them managed to survive this time!" A voice shouted from the cells.


    "I saw some of them pass, I thought no one would pass this time."


    The zombie with therge afro was pushed into another cell around five doors down. Zain looked at him and it seemed the two of them nodded as a sort of respect for surviving. Then finally, Zain was taken to his cell, pushed inside, and the door mmed behind him.


    "Hey, you made it!" Dart said, running forward with big eyes. "I knew you would, I knew I had a good feeling about you!"


    The others in the cell looked at Zain, and the woman who had her back up against the wall had noticed something.


    "Did you even fight, you don''t have a scratch on you?" She asked.


    "I did." Zain replied, "Just what is this ce?"


    The others looked at each other, ready to speak to Zain, until they heard a voice from behind.


    "Hey, you!" The voice said.


    "Oh, what''s this, it looks like a prettydy hase to visit you as well. Just what type of luck do you have!" Dart stated.


    Before turning around, Zain was excited that his n had worked, and soon he could learn more about the entire situation. Upon seeing who was calling out to him, it wasn''t what he was expecting.


    "You¡­are not her." Zain blurted out loud.


    "Oh, you''re disappointed to see me. I guess I should have killed you back then," Wendy stated.


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remeber to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 264 Working Together?

    ?


    Walking closer to the cell bars, Zain just had to make sure what he was seeing was right, that the person standing on the other side was Wendy, the Zombie Hunter. She wasn''t just any Zombie Hunter, but one of the first that Zain had evere across, and at the time, she could have easily killed Skittle.


    However, after seeing Zain trying to protect Skittle, she had lied to her allies and allowed the two of them to escape. He never quite understood her actions back then, but as he thought about it more as time passed, perhaps not everyone had gone crazy with fear in this new world.


    "I disyed a great set of skills, hoping that the woman in the dress would request a meeting with me," Zain thought. "Then, I could have maybe used her somehow, to get more information, or even as a hostage. She seemed quite important, but this woman, she won''t help me much since she''s just a simple Zombie Hunter."


    "I can see you''re quite disappointed to see me," Wendy said. "But I''m sure you''re interested in how your friends are doing and how you got here in the first ce. Why don''t the two of us have a private conversation?"


    Wendy tilted her head to the side to see just behind Zain and could see Dart with a big smile on his face, hearing every word.


    Wendy decided to move towards the corner of the cell they were in, and Zain did the same. Since the others could see they didn''t want to be heard, they had decided to move the other way. Since it was a Zombie Hunter Zain was talking to, thest thing they wanted was to end their life faster by doing something that she didn''t like.


    "Alright, so are you going to tell me, tell me why you wanted to speak to me, or what happened to me?" Zain asked.


    "Honestly, I''m not too sure myself what happened to you, but I can give a pretty good guess," Wendy replied. "I''m sure you have figured it out, but this ce is a betting ring, run by the Zombie Hunters.


    "Everyone in here is a contestant, who is sent out from time to time to do battle. Sometimes, it''s against high stage zombies, sometimes it''s against demons. As for those that you saw on the second floor, those are the Zombie Hunters'' very special guests.


    "They aren''t from the city and are from the outside world. People with great wealth or in high positions. When making bets, they are betting for supplies to be brought in to the Zombie Hunters: weapons, food, medicine, things we need.


    "While they bet amongst themselves with cash and money, things that are still exchanged on the outside. For you, you must have caught someone''s eye. And when they captured you, they brought you here because they thought you would be a good participant."


    Zain had guessed all of this was the case from everything he had heard. What surprised him was that all of those in his cell must have already fought before, which meant they had survived something he had gone through. If that was the case, then they had to be somewhat strong.


    "That makes sense, but I wasn''t caught, at least not on purpose. The fact that the others aren''t here must mean they are safe," Zain mumbled.


    "I thought as much," Wendy replied. "I saw you at the military base at that time. I didn''t think you would be caught, and not so easily. You''re different from the ones thate in here. You have been looking for a way out of here ever since you set foot in this cell, right?"


    Zain didn''t say anything. Why would he? He was trapped in here, and she was the enemy.


    "You asked me before why I came to see you, right? So why do you think I came here to talk to you?" Wendy asked.


    "The answer is obvious, you want something from me," Zain replied, but he was still unsure what in the current situation they were in.


    "This whole operation is being run by the Zombie Hunters, but it wasn''t permitted by the Zombie Hunter leader. It''s a side business they have. They have been running it under the nose of the leader, whether it''s just to earn extra power or at some point overrun the main base of the Zombie Hunters, we don''t know.


    "I was sent here to gather a report on them, but they have been keeping a strict eye on me. I''m unable to leave this ce and report back. So if I can''t leave this ce, then I wish to take it down."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    This was a surprise. It seemed that although the Zombie Hunters were onerge organisation, like an empire and such, when a group got big enough, there would be factions that went against each other.


    It did make Zain wonder, though, who was the leader. At least they had the foresight to investigate this matter.


    "As you can see, I''m stuck here. How do you n to even get me out of this ce?" Zain asked.


    "There is one way," Wendy stated. "We would have to cause a pretty big mess and would need to do it the next time you get called out. You remember that white-haired hunter that was making all of the announcements? His name is Tack. He is the one that''s been running this whole thing.


    "You see, he has the ability to somewhat control others. It''s how he is able to keep the other zombies and demons at bay. I don''t know exactly how he does it, since he hasn''t done it to any of the contestants.


    "However, he''s always out on the field. If there was some way to make him identally fall during a fight, or maybe even purposely kill him, the control of the demons and zombies on the other side would stop and they would be free to roam. That will be your chance, and my chance to escape."


    Working with a Zombie Hunter was something Zain never expected, but for now, it was an option for him.


    "I like the sound of making this ce a bit chaotic," Zain replied.


    *****


    **


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 265 Humans Are Evil

    ?


    The conversation between Wendy and Zain had ended, and there was no real n for now, aside from getting rid of the white-haired hunter named Tack. However, all Zain had was her word for it. There was a chance that this could all be an borate n to manipte him into doing something that would justify their decision to eliminate him.


    "There''s also a chance that Wendy herself doesn''t want to be exposed for what she did in the past. She might be having second thoughts about saving me and wouldn''t want to be revealed as a traitor," Zain thought as he walked back.


    Her actions during the conversation did suggest that she was being truthful. She consistently looked back to see if anyone else was listening in on them.


    "Hey, so you''re finally back. So, what did the pretty hunter girl want with you?" Dart asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "She just wanted to know where I came from," Zain replied. "She was curious about the skills I disyed."


    It was a good lie, considering Zain had returned without any injuries or scratches on his body. Even Dart was intrigued by his skills.


    "I wanted to ask, what happens to the rest of you? From the conversation we had before, I''m guessing all of you went through the same thing I just did. So, what happens to us now?" Zain asked.


    These were some of the questions Zain wanted to ask Wendy, but it was always best to gather information from multiple sources to verify and form his own understanding. Besides, Wendy seemed to be in a hurry to leave the ce in the first ce.


    "You''re right," Dart replied. "Every single one of us currently in this cell went through what you just experienced and survived. That''s why the mood here is somewhat somber. Some of us came in with friends and allies, but we are all that''s left, and none of us really know each other well."


    Zain was d to have someone like Dart there. He seemed to be the type of person who was enthusiastic about any situation he found himself in, while the others were reluctant to talk.


    "When neers like yourself arrive here, they wait until there is enough for an entertaining show. After that, all the neers participate in an event together. Since neers are rare, it sometimes takes a while before a neer event begins.


    "In your case, you were lying on the floor for who knows how long. If you hadn''t woken up by the time the event started, you might have just been thrown into the dead pile."


    Zain thought that might have been an easier way out of this whole thing. If they thought he was dead, they would have left him outside, and when he woke up, he could have just gone to meet the others.


    "As for what happens now, each cell is brought out together in groups. All we can do is wait until our group is called and we have to fight. This isn''t the diator times. There''s no fighting for your freedom, no fighting for honour.


    "We''re just fighting to see another day in this rotten cell."


    Under these conditions, Zain wouldn''t be surprised if some chose death when it was their turn for the next event because there was next to no hope. However, that probably made it even more interesting for those who bet on these events.


    "I wish... I never joined the hunters!" the woman who was sitting down and had her back against the wall shouted out after hearing everything. Zain had only heard her and Dart''s voices before.


    "I''ve been here for two weeks, and in those two weeks, I fought a total of five times, and they still ask me to fight and fight... when... when will it stop?"


    Dart looked at the woman and then turned back to Zain.


    "Humans are certainly evil creatures to set up something like this, don''t you think, Zain?


    -----


    Inside the presidential suite of therge hotel they were staying at, which had been converted into an office, those on the second balcony had gathered. They discussed and talked to the hunters about how and when to provide their deliveries for their betting services.


    "That red hair was certainly exciting. I wonder if I could ever convince them to let me take him out of here," the woman in the sparkly dress said.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Good luck with that. It''s hard enough for us toe in and out. They check me every single time for at least six hours, and that''s even with no scars or bites," another manmented.


    Soon, the doors opened, and Tack entered the room.


    "Ah, here you all are. I hope today''s event pleased you all!"


    The group of people cheered as they saw Tack.


    "It was a splendid show. Broadcasting these events live to the rest of the world via the dark web was a great idea. Every day, there are double the number of people watching and betting on all of this," one of the menmented.


    "Of course, we always aim to please. The neers always bring a sense of unpredictability," Tack replied.


    While looking at the group of people, Tack noticed one man, wearing a ck mask over his face, who seemed uninterested in the whole thing.


    "Did today not please your tastes?" Tack asked.


    "Today was a great event. Just like everyone else, I wish to see more of the Red-Haired Zombie. But I do believe the events have gotten a little stale. Why don''t we try something more interesting for the next event?"


    Tack smiled, rubbing his hands together.


    "I believe I can make this whole event very interesting."


    The man behind the mask had a thought as he looked at Tack.


    ''Humans are certainly... evil creatures.''


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 266 Double Escape

    ?


    While in the cells there wasn''t much for Zain to do. He couldn''t practise using his skills and if he did it would only deplete his energy while in there. Since he had increased his intelligence, it was very rare that Zain had to worry about his body functions deteriorating.


    Now though, stuck in a ce where he was unable to hunt, who knew how long he would be in here for. Eventually, Zain felt like the best option was to continue to gather information about this ce.


    Just as he was about to open his mouth though, footsteps could be hearding down the hallway. A smell lingered with the group of people and it was a smell many recognised. Those that had been sitting down or standing away doing nothing had even reacted to this because it was food.


    "Alright, as usual, red trays are for the undead, while the grey trays are for the rest."  The man stated.


    Each cell door was open and a team of Zombie Hunters would enter the room first with a long pole in their hands. The ends had been sharpened, making them more deadly.


    After that, another team followed and ced the food on the floor, the right amount for the amount of people in the cell. Once all that was done they quickly left and continued to do the same for the other cells.


    ''Although confident that we can''t overpower them, they are still cautious of us trying to infect them.''


    Although Zain didn''t like the group of people, he did have to admit that they were running things efficiently.


    What came as more of a surprise was the meal itself. When looking at the red tray in his hands, he could tell it was made up of flesh, and it even had brains in there.


    "We get to eat well today." Dartmented. "Most likely they used the neers who lost in battle. It''s not everyday that we get brains."


    Zain had no problem digging in, but he did find the situation a little odd. All in the same room, there were humans eating regr food meanwhile the zombies were eating humans.


    "I guess they want us to be well when we fight." Zain replied, putting his tray down. Afterwards, he started to look at the stic bowl that had been given and the tray itself to see if there was some way he could use these things.


    "You''re still thinking of escaping, huh?" Dart said. "Don''t worry, everyone is like that when we first get here."


    "And has anyone tried to escape?" Zain asked.


    "Of course." The female voice from before said.


    Her name was Anna, part of the Zombie Hunters, as for the reason why she was behind the cell doors no one knew, not even Dart who spoke to everyone.


    "No one has gotten very far though." Anna continued. "I think someone might have reached the above reception floor, but you must have seen how many hunters there are in this ce.


    "All of them, with their powers, even if you can get out of here, it''s up there that matters."


    Zain wanted a back up n, just in case fighting, or killing Tack didn''t work.  All of those in this cell and the other cells had resentment against the hunters, so maybe if Zain was to break them all out, and they fought against the hunters together, it would work. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "People are scared, Zain." Dartmented. It was almost as if he could read the other''s mind as to what he was thinking of doing.


    "They won''t risk their life out of fear, unless there is something else that they fear even more."


    After the meals were done, Zain decided to walk around the cell. He made eye contact with a few others and even started to walk towards them. He was hoping to talk to them, to gauge how they felt about attempting a breakout.


    However, they clearly weren''t interested as many of them would just move away, and avoid eye contact with Zain, if possible. The only two that would talk were Anna and Dart, at least in this cell.


    "Come here." Dart said, waving Zain over, when looking at him he felt like he was almost a lost cause, just wandering around the cell room. The footsteps were annoying everyone as well, based on their looks anyway.


    "Look, I like you Zain, I think I''ve made that quite clear from the beginning." Dart said. He started to move further away from everyone to the corner of the cell as if he didn''t want any of the others to hear the conversation between the two.


    "You''re still looking for a way to escape, you still have spirit. So I''m going to tell you something. Don''t rush to get out of this ce. Just be a bit patient, you won''t have to wait long either. They will eventuallye save us, so don''t worry, and remember I''m only telling you this because I like you."


    Dart was a strange person and was confident, even though he was stuck in this ce. It had always made Zain wonder how he could be that way, but was this his reason, because he was confident someone was going to break them out.


    "Who''s they?" Zain asked.


    "He''s already managed to arrive here, so it won''t be too much longer, until the Dark Zombies act."


    Zain''s eyes widened at the information. He had heard the name before, while staying at Sarah''s. The group that called themselves the Dark Zombies, the ones that had attacked Zain, killing Brandon and more, and for some reason had let him live that day.


    If they were here with the strong Chained Zombies, then that would change everything.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 267 Patience Is Hard

    ?


    At first, Zain didn''t know what the Dark Zombies were, but having spent time with the Reborn organisation and with Sarah, he had quickly learned about the group. Before joining the Reborn group, Zain had a run-in with them before.


    A strange old man seemed to be controlling the Chained Zombies that, at the time, Zain was unable to defeat. After that event, he had travelled solo, trying to do everything he could to grow stronger, just in case he ran into them again.


    The thing was, he never did run into them again, yet he had heard of others encountering the Dark Zombies. One of the rules of the Reborn group was not to engage with those who called themselves Dark Zombies and to run away.


    As for why, Sarah never really exined. Other than the few details she had told him personally, he had his own guesses¡­ that they were a group of strong Reborn Zombies, much stronger than the Reborn group. Even Sarah knew this, which is why she told everyone to run away.


    "If I remember correctly, the Dark Zombies are being run by Sarah''s husband, Humphrey Bain. The two of them worked on this whole thing together, but the Reborn Zombies have decided to take another path or something."


    Zain''s first impression of the Dark Zombies wasn''t a good one since they had killed his allies on sight without much discussion, but he still wondered why he hadn''t been killed that day.


    "In this facility, why am I running into those who spared my life recently?" Zain thought.


    Looking at Dart, Zain started to see him in a different light, and now a question had popped into his head.


    "Are you part of the Dark Zombies?" Zain asked.


    "Oh?" Dart raised an eyebrow. "You don''t ask me what or who the Dark Zombies are, but instead ask if I''m part of them. You are an interesting one. I never thought I would see someone who knew about us, yet I know nothing about them."


    Kissing his teeth, Zain was a little annoyed at himself for letting that slip, but there was nothing he could do about it now.


    "I was part of the Reborn group, so we heard about you but were told to just stay away," Zain answered.


    "Oh, that group! I guess you might have heard a few bad things about us then! No wonder you reacted like that. But don''t worry, it''s normal for one side to bash the other. We''re allpeting for the same Reborn Zombies, after all."


    Zain had to admit he had only heard one side of the story, and he had eventually found out that Sarah wasn''t one to trust either, so how could he trust anything she said?


    "Anyway, I wasn''t asking you to join us, even though that would be a big plus," Dart continued. "I just didn''t want to see a fellow Reborn Zombie, as you guys call it, get killed. Not when things are soon to be set in motion. As I said before, just be a little patient before using everything you have to break out."


    With that said, Dart started to walk off with a hop in his step. Regardless of whether the Dark Zombies were good or bad, there was one thing Zain was sure of¡­ Dart had confidence in them to deal with the situation.


    "A group of around two hundred Zombie Hunters. That''s a force probably bigger than what we could deal with, or even the Reborn group. Are the Dark Zombies that strong, or are they thatrge in number?"


    Since the Reborn Zombies didn''t sleep, a lot of time would pass. With this in mind, Zain decided to check his system, examining the others, his stats, and so on. Even as the days passed, he continued to gain experience due to all the territories he owned, allowing him to grow stronger with each passing day. A couple of days had gone by, Zain knew this because of the system, and the hunters brought food as usual. The sound of them releasing other groups could be heard, but not their group.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually, a third day passed, and Zain had levelled up due to the ongoing experience he had earned.


    Level 32


    Strength: 20


    Agility: 16


    Intelligence: 30


    Endurance: 10


    He decided to allocate a stat point into his strength, as it was the closest to a round number. He used these benchmarks for all his other skills, and in the grand scheme of things, an extra point in agility wouldn''t make much of a difference at the moment.


    "This is taking a lot longer than I thought. I thought we might have to fight every day, but it seems they''re taking groups out one by one. I have to be much more patient than I originally thought," Zain pondered.


    For a moment, he wondered if he should enter the Weapons Carnival. He could return there and continue from where he left off. He had been waiting to be stronger to attempt as many waves as possible, but there was one problem. If he entered, how long would he stay there? What if they came to get him at that very moment? It was too much of a risk, so he dismissed the idea. It turned out to be a good decision because the sound of footsteps could be heard once again, and this time they stopped just outside the cell.


    "Alright, all of you, get ready to leave the cell and prepare for a fight!" the Zombie Hunter stated.


    "All of us are taking part in this one... that includes Dart. I guess I''ll finally be able to see the skill levels of the Dark Zombies after all. Let''s see how strong they are."


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 268 A Bigger Event

    ?


    Ray''s story, My Dragon System has a Webtoon already has 30 chapters on webnovel! This is your chance to experience it inic form. Just search on webnovel through theic section of the app!


    *****


    Just like the time before, Zain was being escorted to the ground floor of the hotel they were in, but this time he wasn''t alone. All the people in his cell were chosen toe out. Upon reaching the second floor, the lights illuminated their faces, allowing him to take a good look at everyone.


    First, it actually made him realise how bright Anna''s hair was, along with her shining blue eyes. If it weren''t for all the dirt covering her body, the burn marks, and her somewhat malnourished appearance, she would have been quite the looker.


    "She was part of the Zombie Hunters before. I wonder what her power is, and maybe there''s a way we could use it," Zain thought.


    The other seven or so other individuals didn''t look all that impressive upon observing their bodies. There were a couple of confused Reborn Zombies and a few more still wearing the Zombie Hunter uniform. Zain didn''t understand why they would wear such a thing even after being sent to a ce like this.


    "Maybe it''s a way for them to show their loyalty, with the hope that they''ll be taken back in," he spected.


    Last, there were just regr humans, or at least that''s what Zain thought since none of them wore the Zombie Hunter uniform. There was one man who had a more serious look on his face, with straighter posture than the others. From the look in his eyes, he seemed to have more hope than the rest.


    "If I were to take a guess, he''s possibly in the military. The Zombie Hunters have really caught everyone in here. It looks like they don''t care who they anger and they''re only in this for themselves," Zain mused, reflecting on their reckless attack on the school without doing any research on their enemy.


    Just likest time, Wendy could be seen at the reception of the hotel. Zain made eye contact with her, and this time itsted longer before she pulled her head away, clearly expecting him to act today.


    The target in question, Tack, the white-haired hunter, came out as enthusiastic as ever, with a big smile on his face.


    "Today is a big day for all of you because there''s a big event nned," Tack exined. "As you know, all of those in front of us have passed the initiation assessment, so we know they all have some strength.


    "It wouldn''t be fun to make them go through the same trials again. Instead, we have something else nned. So let me tell you all, if you want to live, you''ll need to fight even harder than you didst time."


    A lot of the participants standing there started to feel strange parts of their bodies shake. Memories were surfacing of how they had barely survived the previous events, so how would they get through this one?


    Without much exnation and no room for questions, they were all escorted into the main ballroom, where the battles were to take ce. The same people could be seen gathered to watch the fights, including the prominent VIP guests who would be standing on the second floor.


    When Zain looked above, he noticed a woman in a sparkly dress blowing a kiss toward him.


    "I bet big on you, red-haired! You better survive this one!"


    It was clear that she had a favourite, but there was another VIP who was also staring at those below¡ªan older gentleman wearing a mask. Zain could tell he was a bit older due to the wrinkles on his hands.


    "None of them are a demon at least. I know that due to my own skill, but he feels oddly familiar."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ncing at Dart, Zain noticed that he, too, was looking up at the VIPs, while the rest were more focused on the task ahead.


    "Is he... Humphrey Bain? When Dart said to be patient, is this what he meant?"


    "Alright, everyone, I hope you''ve ced your bets on who will survive thisrge sh event, as the whole group will be fighting together," announced the voice.


    The metal restraints held by the other Hunters were lowered, and they prodded the contestants to enter the centre of the hall together.


    "This is a first. They''re letting us all fight together?" Anna asked.


    "It looks like it, but then you should know what that means. Whatever opponent they have for us is worth putting us all together," Dart replied.


    Zain had to agree, looking ahead at the double doors, now focused on whatever was about toe their way.


    Therge double doors opened, and immediately the first thing the group could see were three demons with their tentacles wiggling behind them in the background, but they weren''t alone.


    If it were just three Demons, Zain would have been confident in the group''s ability to survive, considering they had already defeated at least one before. However, there was more behind them.


    There were two Stage 2 Titans and one Stage 3 creature. It was the same type that Zain had fought beforerge in size, with a skinny, bone-like body, but incredibly fast and agile. Zain had defeated one of these before, but without any of his weapons, this might prove to be a challenging task.


    "The zombies and demons would never work together. The zombies don''t even have enough intelligence to do such a thing. It looks like what Wendy said might be true, that all of this is due to Tack... Do I act now, or wait for the Dark Zombies to act?" Zain pondered.


    ****


    *****


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 Chapter 269 A Need Of Weapons

    ?


    Everyone who was participating in the fight were all from Zain''s cell, and with him being the newest member, it meant all of them had survived, one way or another, the first fight they had. Whether they were fighting against a demon or not, like he had done in his first event, he didn''t know.


    Still, he expected them to be somewhat skilled, having survived before. Strangely, out of the group, there was a human woman who walked forward first. She stood ahead of everyone.


    "What is she doing?" Anna raised an eyebrow, clearly this wasn''t the normal action one would take.


    The next moment, she started to just run right into the group of enemies and stood there with her arms spread out. One of the demons wasted no time as a tentacle was swung out, going right through the person''s head.


    The tentacle erged as something was sucked out and went toward the demon. The body in front of all, their eyes shriveled up and fell to the floor.


    "I guess she was just tired of going through this again and again," Dartmented. "Maybe she just wanted to end it all here. She should have been a bit more patient, right?"


    When Dart said these words, he looked at Zain. He was treating him as if he was already part of the Dark Zombies. Although Zain didn''t mind this too much, as for now, it wasn''t a good idea to make more enemies but to make more friends.


    A rush of tentacles from the three demons came down towards them all, and everyone decided to roll out of the way in a different direction. Dart, Anna, and Zain had all rolled in the same direction, missing the tentacles.


    However, one person had been caught and was sliced in half by the tentacle.


    "That''s not good, we''re losing some of the good ones," Dart said.


    "Weapons!" Zain shouted out. "We need weapons!"


    None of the fighters had anything on them, and the sword Zain had usedst time had been taken off him. Against three demons and a stage 3, they needed something to pierce their skin.


    After Zain''s shout for weapons, he had expected someone from the crowd to throw something toward them, but none of them did and just hadrge smirks on their faces. He even turned up toward the second balcony, but could only see a smile from the woman above.


    ''They''re only going to help us if it fits their agenda,'' Zain thought. ''If they''ve bet against us, for us to die today, then no one is going to help us.''


    The group couldn''t do much as a set of tentacles wereing their way.


    "It looks like your little n didn''t work out too well, but don''t worry, I have a backup n," Dart stated. "Anna, make me two daggers and whatever this guy needs."


    Anna''s eyes widened.


    "How did you know about that?" she asked, but the tentacles were sent towards them again.


    They all moved out of the way swiftly, and while moving back, Anna used her teeth to cause a small cut on her thumb. The blood started to swirl out, it started to form a shape, and eventually finished creating arge red solid ive in her hand.


    It looked like a spear that had a sword attached to the end of it. Swinging the ive from below, she sliced one part of a tentacle. It fell to the floor and wiggled about for a few moments before stopping.


    ''Is that her power? She can create weapons out of her own blood?'' Zain thought.


    For the tentaclesing toward Zain, he had swiftly moved to the side and with his bare hands, he punched both of them. They were hard hits that bent the tentacles inward and sent them flying far away.


    Both Dart and Anna, who saw this, were impressed. Based on his shape and size, they never expected Zain to pack such a punch.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Are you going to tell me about how you knew about my power?" Anna asked.


    "Do you really think that''s important?" Dart ran from where he was, jumping in the air and spinning his body, avoiding the other tentacles andnding right in front of Anna.


    He was nimble and fast.


    "People like to talk here about what they''ve seen, so of course, I knew about your power. Now make me some daggers."


    Anna looked at how the others were faring. For some reason, the three demons had decided to go against the three of them, while the rest were dealing with the stage 3. For the others who were fighting, it was aplete massacre.


    Nearly all of them had already fallen with these strangerge white spikes in their bodies. The speed of the stage three was just too much for them to handle. There were only two left who were still alive.


    The military man and the Reborn Zombie. The military man was avoiding all of the strikes by the skin of his teeth, but he was tiring, whereas the Reborn Zombie had already been scratched a few times.


    If he wasn''t already a dead man walking, he would be dead soon.


    "You''re right, we need to live!" Anna ced the spear in her other hand, and the blood started to flow out from her thumb again. Two small daggers were made, and she quickly threw them to Dart.


    He had no trouble catching them, and in his hands and the stance he took, he was a natural.


    "And for you?" Anna said, looking a little paler.


    In truth, Zain wanted to ask for two swords, but from the looks of things, she could only use so much of her blood to create weapons, and she had to be close to her limit. The good thing was the weapons themselves were sharp, sharp enough to go through a demon''s body.


    "Just a short sword will do," Zain answered.


    Soon, there was a blood sword in Zain''s hands, and the three of them were ready to fight.


    ****


    ****


    *****


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 Chapter 270 Blood Zombie

    ?


    With weapons in their hands the crowd were getting somewhat excited. Regardless of who they had bet on, they also wanted to be entertained and so far everything was too one sided.


    The first to act was Dart, he had no fear with the daggers in his hands, and when the tentacles came toward him he leapt up in the air spinning his body. Several cuts were made along the tentacles, not deep enough topletely slice them off but enough to knock them away.


    It didn''t take long for Dart to be right next to the demon. He charged in, slicing at its stomach, and then moving his position before he could be hit back. He was being extra cautious with his attacks, hurting it while making sure he didn''t get hurt.


    Anna, seeing this as her best chance, also started to move forward. One of the tentacles came straight toward her but lifting up her ive she just continued to run forward, her blood weapons were strong and extremely sharp.


    One could see this because when the tentacle touched the ded edge, the tentacle was just split in half as she continued forward. It looked like even the demon hadn''t expected this as the other tentacles were going toward Zain or Dart.


    With all the tentacles that wereing toward Zain, he waited for the right moment and then from the bottom, he swung the sword up in a circr motion nearly making aplete circle. It was a smooth motion, there was no resistance as the sword travelled through the tentacles.


    When he stopped, four ends of the tentacles had fallen to the floor. The demon tentacles that seemed impossible to cut were sliced with ease.


    ''This really is a good weapon.'' Zain thought, holding it in his hand. He wondered if it was permanent or if there was a time frame as to when the weapon would run out. Judging by the fact that Anna had no weapons on her, it was safer to assume that the weapons would eventually disappear.


    "You two, you''ll be fine dealing with the demons, right?" Zain asked, not really waiting for an answer as he set his eyes on another.


    The Reborn Zombie had just been killed, sliced in half, the top and bottom falling to the floor. Then the stage 3 zombie simply stepped on its head, crushing it. Now there was only the military man that was left.


    "I''m going to deal with the bigger problem!" Zain started to run toward the stage 3 zombie.


    The military man continued to avoid its blows by the skin of his teeth, but looking at them, he could see a person in particr, standing just by the side.


    ''That''s Tack¡­ right now, it would be a perfect opportunity, to kill him and make it look like I was trying to attack the zombie.'' Zain thought.


    This was the original n, the n set up by Wendy, and looking around the room, he caught eyes with Wendy as well. He could see that she could also see the perfect opportunity.


    Running with his full speed, the zombie lifted up its w and swiped at the military man. The bones in its hands had suddenly extended. This time, the attack would hit the military man even though he had perfected his timing.


    A red sword came out from the side, and shed right on the long dangly bones of the zombie, as the sword and ws were locked, Zain used his strength to move the arm out of the way, flinging it to the side, and swung the sword again striking its hand.


    "Booo! Boo!!"


    Many from the crowd started to boo, because they had bet on the military man on dying, but instead he had been saved by Zain<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Even if I killed Tack, and started to cause chaos in this room, it wouldn''t get me very far. All of the Zombie Hunters could turn on me and try to fry me on the spot, I would have no way of stopping that.''


    Which was why Zain thought the best thing to do was to kill this stage 3, get stronger, and just be patient for what was toe.


    Zain charged in, and unlike before when he fought against the stage 3, he wasn''t on the back foot. His strength with his speed was enough to keep up with the strikes from the creature.


    He could knock away its long dangly limbs with his weapon and arms. The blood weapon was indeed very good. Having fought a stage 3 before, he knew its weakness as well.


    There was a slight soft spot on the back of the stage 3. Which, even with Zain''s speed, made it somewhat difficult.


    In the end, through their struggles Dart and Anna managed to defeat the three demons. Dart had done most of the work, but without the weapons created by Anna, he might have not been able to get through this all.


    The two turned their heads looking at Zain, looking at his skill and speed. There were times, where he would speed up, at a certain point to strike with the sword. He was so skillful, so fast, and it was almost like watching a show the way Zain handled the sword.


    "Weapon!" Zain shouted, he could see from the corner of his eye that the other two were done.


    Anna didn''t hesitate, knowing this person could deal with the creature, and threw her ive. Jumping up in the air, Zain grabbed onto the ive and before hended he hurled it right at the zombie.


    It stabbed it in its chest, and it was struggling to pull it out. Landing on his feet Zain ran forward and spun behind it, stabbing his sword through its back, then holding onto the handle with both hands he pulled upwards, slicing the sword through its body and head, cutting it right in half.


    Blood rained and fell on top of Zain, as the zombie fell to the ground.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 271 Stage 4 And 5

    ?


    Zain stood there, covered in blood. Parts of it were dripping on the floor. It was an unusual scene for the crowd, and rather than breaking out in cheers as such, the image of him with the blood sword in his hand was rather frightening.


    The blood sword broke apart while in Zain''s hand and turned into nothing but small red particles that fell to the floor like dust. The same had happened to the rest of the blood weapons that Anna had created.


    "It''s a good thing I decided to finish that match quickly."


    Once again, the first person to start pping was from above, on the second floor, but it wasn''t the woman. Instead, it was the older man with the mask on his face, the one that Quinn assumed was the leader of the Dark Zombies.


    Soon, everyone started to p, but there were, of course, those who refused to, upset that they had lost big time on this bet.


    "The way he killed the stage 3 zombie," Tack thought. "He attacked it from behind, aiming for its weakness. That means he knew its weakness, he must have fought one before. This red head zombie is quite special."


    "Maybe... I should get him out of here and see if the leader will want to meet with him," Tack thought.


    Although Tack ran this whole thing behind the leader''s back, he thought of it as a simple side job. He was still quite loyal to the Zombie Hunters and their end goal: getting rid of all the zombies.


    "Thank you for saving me," the soldier saluted Zain. His face was wincing, and there was a big mark on the side of his body where his clothes had been ripped. Most likely his ribs were broken, yet he still wanted to salute Zain.


    "I will forever remember this, and if I ever get the chance to return the favour in the future, then I will do so," the soldier said, saluting once more.


    Up on the second balcony, although most of them lost the fight, they couldn''t stop talking about the performance of those below. Not just Zain, but the other two as well. They could tell they were all skilled fighters.


    "It''s a shame," the woman with the sparkly dress sighed. "With a disy like that, I doubt we''ll see them fight again. If they can take on a stage 3, well, there''s nothing for them left to beat. I believe we haven''t seen one beyond a stage 3."


    "There are those beyond stage 3," the old man with a mask imed. "There are even stage 4 and 5 zombies."


    "Stage 5?" anothermented. "What reports have you been getting? We have had news of a stage 4, and even then it wiped out 300 people, and even uranium rockets were used to eventually take it out. If there were stage 5 zombies, then I''m sure I would have heard about it by now."


    The others didn''t say anything out loud, but they agreed as well because they all had ess to the same private information, but there was nothing about a stage 5.


    "The thought makes me shudder a bit," another man said. "If a stage 4 is that strong, just how strong is a stage 5? Would they be able to escape from the military zone? If that happened, wouldn''t there be a chance for the infection to spread to the whole country and then to the whole world?"


    The people on the second floor weren''t from the city. They lived outside of it, where life continued on like normal, but first hand they had seen the effects of such a thing.


    "It''s not the zombies we have to worry about," the old man said.


    The rest of the group returned back to their cell, and as they did, many of the others ran up to the bars. They could see that hardly any at all had survived. It was surprising, and it made the others worry about what was toe when it was their turn to get out of the ce.


    They were all shoved in, and the door was closed behind them. When the guards finally left, Dart let out a big sigh.


    "Finally, we can rest for a bit. Good job, you guys, all of you!" Dart said. "Even you, soldier man. If you had died any quicker, then maybe that stage 3 would havee after us!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The soldier didn''t know whether to take it as apliment or not, but there was one thing he wanted to correct the other on.


    "The name is Kyle!" the soldier almost shouted.


    "Alright, alright, you don''t need to let the whole room know your name, Kyle," Dart said.


    "Zain," Anna called out. "You were so skillful with the sword. How... how can someone your age even use a sword like that? No, how did the Zombie Hunters even manage to catch you?"


    For a lot of them, they had only run into a few Zombie Hunters. Usually, they could take on one on their own, but if there were three or so with powers, it would be difficult. But after seeing Zain''s skills, they felt like even a group of five would have had a hard time apprehending him.


    Just as Zain was about to answer, someone approached the bar cells once again, and it was a familiar face.


    "Hey, your girlfriend is back!" Dart said.


    Zain looked at the others and walked towards the bars, heading down to the corner where the others were unable to hear.


    "Zain," Wendy said. "I thought we had a n. That was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Tack."


    "I only do things if there''s a 100 percent chance of survival," Zain replied. "Tack will have to go some other way."


    Wendy couldn''t be too hard on Zain because she knew that she was asking a lot of him. While she was thinking about what to say, an echoing tap was hearding from one of the other cells.


    Immediately, Dart ran toward the cell doors and held on tight. The next second, several loud explosions went off, shaking the whole area. Some of the ceiling fell to the floor.


    "What is going on?" Wendy managed to stop herself from falling over.


    "Zain!" Dart called over. "It''s beginning. The Dark Zombies are here."


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 272 The Great Attack

    ?


    The loud explosions from above continued, and it was hard to tell if they were from actual explosions or just shockwaves sent off due to some sort of attack. If one listened closer, the sound of screaming could be heard as well.


    "Is it some sort of attack?" Wendy asked. "But who would even attack a ce like this, where there are over two hundred Zombie Hunters?"


    Dart, who hade closer to the two, started tough.


    "You Zombie Hunters really thought you were some type of untouchable force or something?" Dart said, as he continued tough. It was hard to tell whether he was some type of madman or knew something that she didn''t, but Zain did know.


    "Is this the attack you were talking about? Have the Dark Zombies decided to act?" Zain asked.


    Dart nodded.


    "My friend in the other cell, he signalled that it was time." Dart exined.


    "What type of attack is this? Who are the Dark Zombies? I mean, it''s impossible anyway. Even if there is an attack, it''s impossible for them to get through all of the Zombie Hunters," Wendy said once more.


    It was because she was second-guessing herself. Even now, as they continued to talk, screams were heard from above, and the fighting was continuing. If there was a small-scale attack, then it would have been over by now.


    "What''s your n? How are we going to get out of here?" Zain asked.


    "The n, we are part of the n," Dart exined. "It was set in motion long ago. Did you think we were caught and sent here? No, we were here to just pass on information. All for this moment."


    Anna had her eyes wide open with excitement as she came over.


    "You mean, someone is here to break us out, a group you''re part of?" She asked.


    Dart looked her up and down and turned away in disgust.


    "This whole thing was set up to get rid of part of the Zombie Hunters group. We are zombies, and you have chosen to make us your enemy. It''s toote now. We''ll get rid of every single one of you."


    Anna''s hands were shaking.


    "You bastard, are we really any different? You were a human before you were a zombie, you''re just an undead human. Why are you acting like you''re some type of different race? And I helped you to survive!"


    "If what you say is true, then why do you treat us so differently then, to the point where you created a group called the Zombie Hunters? Now that you''re no longer the ones hunting, you suddenly try to justify why we are the same. It''s those kinds of actions that make me sick."


    Wendy was gritting her teeth as well, but hurting Dart in this situation would do nothing. She decided it would be best for her to just go ahead and join the others.


    "Wait!" Zain called out. "If you want to live, then I think it''s better off that you stay here."


    For some reason, she felt inclined to believe Zain, even though he was a prisoner while she wasn''t. During those few moments, where she thought about staying, the noise of the fighting had stopped.


    "It''s only been about ten minutes," Wendy thought. A nervous smile appeared.


    "It looks like the problem was dealt with after all. I have to admit, you had me worried for a second," Wendy imed.


    "I wouldn''t be too sure. How do you know which side has won the battle?" Dart replied.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The sound of footsteps echoed in the underground cer as people wereing down the stairs. At the same time, another sound followed, something scratching along the floor as if it was being dragged, dropping down from each step once in a while.


    ''The sound of chains,'' Zain thought.


    A distinctive memory came back to Zain. Through the dark, Wendy was unable to see so well down the tunnel, but she was sure of it, the ones that had entered weren''t Zombie Hunters.


    The door to the first cell, the sound of the metal bending, was heard.


    "We''re saved, we can finally get out of this ce."


    "Yes, yes!" The sounds of cheers continued.


    However, they were followed by a dull scream before there wasplete silence. Zain could smell it, it was the smell of blood.


    "As I said before, the only ones that will be leaving this ce are the zombies and nothing else," Dart imed.


    The sound from before continued, as if metal was being bent, and straight after a few words of happiness before they fell silent. Eventually, the cells that were nearby had caught on.


    "No... no, please, I''ll stay inside, just don''te in here, don''t. I promise I''ll stay inside."


    "I''m not even part of the Zombie Hunters, I''m just someone that they managed to capture!"


    Hearing these words was daunting for both Kyle and Anna. The two of them knew what was toe of them. After they had survived so long, in battle after battle, this was how it was going to end.


    "You bastard, if I''m going to die, then I might as well kill you or take you as a hostage or something!" Anna said. She quickly cut her thumb and drew out blood, creating the ive for herself and a sword for the soldier. At least she knew he was on their side.


    "Zain, are you with him? Are you with these Dark Zombie guys?" Anna asked.


    Zain wasn''t with them, but he was unsure of what his answer should be.


    "Yes, I am quite interested in that question as well, Zain," an old voice said from behind.


    Turning around, he could see the old man with the mask, and by his side, two zombies with no eyes, just a mouth, and chains wrapped around their arms, dangling on the floor.


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 273 A Tool

    ?


    The old man with the mask on his face stood there. His mouth raised to the side of his cheeks. His stance showed arge amount of confidence even though he was deep in enemy territory, and by his side, there were two of the chained zombies.


    Zain had experienced this scene before, and just like before he felt like he was still in a helpless situation.


    ''Would I be able to beat them now? It''s been a long time. Maybe not on my own, but if I was to summon my horde, I would have a chance¡­ but why, why didn''t he kill me back then?'' Zain thought.


    Zain could understand when Wendy spared his life, he was aware of the situation he was in, but he had seen the old man, the one named Humfree kill people without a second thought, and he was unsure if there was a reason behind it or not.


    The strangest thing about it all, was just like Sarah, there were loyal zombies around him, far stronger than him and listening to his every word.


    "It''s been a long time Red Head, and in that short amount of time, I would say you have improved quite a bit." Humfree dered. He lifted his hand pulling the mask off his face, there was no longer any reason for him to keep up a particr charade.


    His deep dark eyes could be seen, his bald head, his wrinkled skin, and visible veins. It was strange to think of such an old frail man as being so intimidating.


    "That day, I knew you were special, and would continue to grow, but I just never thought I would see you in this ce? It''s strange, I thought by now you would have met up with Sarah¡­ what do the group call themselves again, the Reborn group?"


    ording to Sarah, she and Humfree had worked together on the virus, but eventually split ways, but her reason, whether it was the truth or not, was hard to say.


    "Can you not speak? Have you not met with Sarah?" Humfree asked.


    "I have." Zain answered. "She told me about you and your group of Dark Zombies, but I decided to leave them after I found out that she was working with the demons. I left them and ended up here."


    Zain had opened up to telling the truth because it would have been hard to hide the fact he knew nothing about Sarah or the Reborn group, but at the end of the day, the two sides were meant to be somewhat enemies.


    The reason for him leaving was sound, and essentially Zain was dropping hints to him that at the moment he was a free agent.


    "I see where you are getting at. It seems me and you are quite simr in the reason for us parting ways. I guess you want to know the full story, but here is not an appropriate ce.


    "So I will give you an offer,e, and join us Dark Zombies."


    Zain looked around, everyone apart from Dart was mortified, their hearts were beating stronger than before, racing and trying to jump out of their throats.


    "Do I have a choice, if I said no, then what would you do?" Zain asked.


    The creepy smile on the man''s face appeared again.


    "Everyone always has a choice, no matter how desperate the situation may be, but I will say this, you shouldn''t ask a question you don''t want to know the answer to."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Humfree had the upper hand, and Zain doubted that the only zombies with him were the two by his side. To take out an entire group of Zombie Hunters in ten minutes. There had to be more of them in here.


    "I will join, but I have a couple of conditions. The Zombie Hunter girls, Anna and Wendy, you let them live, and also the soldier man back there, I kinda like him." Zain said.


    The old man was surprised by this and raised his eyebrows.


    "You wish to save them¡­ but they aren''t like you, the soldier man perhaps I can understand but the other two, they once tried to hunt you. And, do you really think I have to listen to your demands?"


    "Aren''t you getting something in return, you are getting me. Besides, both of them I owe them my life at one point of time or another. So if I can, I wish to repay them. I can''t just watch them die. That''s the type of person I am, as you said, we all have a choice. I''m confident in my skills, I''m wishing to join you because I want to, not out of force."


    Wendy and Anna had never been more thankful in their life that Zain was trying to make this deal for them. For Wendy she never really believed in karma, but felt like some was at work right now.


    Meanwhile, Humfree was thinking about what Zain said. Based on his performance, he still believed that he was unable to beat one of the chained zombies, but Zain showed confidence like he felt like he could. He knew their strength, so did it mean Zain was hiding something even more than what he showed?


    A skill perhaps that they hadn''t seen.


    ''If I remember correctly, he was able to control zombies well¡­ perhaps that number has berger.''


    "Deal!" Humfree stated. "Wee to the Dark Zombies, but I''m afraid for your friends, although they will live, they will have toe with us as well.


    "I can not allow them to leave this ce, so they will have to stay with us, and if they die during our stay, then that is really not my fault. I look forward to working with you, Zain."


    *****


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 274 From The Dream

    ?


    A deal had been struck with Humfree, one that he himself didn''t expect going into this. His smile wasrge as he ordered one of the Chained Zombies to use their strength and bend the bars.


    They had done exactly that, making it look like an easy task. The others were now happy that they didn''t try to fight back.


    "Alright, follow behind us, and don''t try to do something stupid like run away," Humfree said.


    The old man carelessly walked off with the two Chained Zombies following him. It seemed like they were free to do what they liked, maybe it was even a chance to escape, but the words that Humfree spoke rang in their minds.


    Dart had run ahead already, joining therge afro zombie who seemed to be a Dark Zombie member as well, and the others that were broken out of their cage. Meanwhile, Zain, Wendy, Anna, and Kyle all trod along at the back.


    "Zain... I just want to say thank you," Anna said. "You really had no reason to do that, to try and strike a deal. We don''t know what this man is like, and he could have taken out his anger on you or said no and tried to kill you, so I want to say thank you."


    After hearing Anna say thank you, Wendy and Kyle were quick to say their thanks as well.


    "It''s okay," Zain replied. "It''s not as if I didn''t have my own reasons for saving you guys. I''m not a good person like you think I am. I think a lot of you can be useful in certain situations, but if I saw no use, then I wouldn''t have said anything."


    Zain''s words, they didn''t sound like they were joking, but regardless, the fact still remained that their lives were saved. The group could see that more as they walked past the other cells.


    The other Zombie Hunters had been killed, and the humans. There wasn''t a single one that was left alive.


    "We didn''t try to kill them all," Humfree said from the front, turning his head around. He was practically shouting back to the others; the distance between the two groups was that great.


    "We tried to turn them. Unfortunately, it''s a bit harder to turn you Zombie Hunters, and besides, I promise you, not all is what it seems, there is a good cause behind all this," Humfree said.


    They found that hard to believe but continued to follow. When getting out of the cer, they were now in the main reception room, and the sight was aplete bloodbath. Bodies had been split in half, guts were spilled everywhere, and the room was soaked in blood.


    The flooring was broken, the side of the walls, furniture, and more. It was filled with the Zombie Hunters'' uniforms on the ground.


    Walking around the ce, there were Zombies, but not regr Zombies. It was those that were Reborn, they had full thought and were going around collecting all of the dead on the ground.


    The others found it hard to even walk, as their feet would step on a part of something once in a while. They wanted to be sick, throw up. They thought they had gotten used to seeing death, but this was on a whole different level.


    While the others were slowly trodding along, Zain sped up his pace and eventually reached Humfree and the other group. They hadn''t gone to the hall where the fights and events would take ce.


    Instead, they were walking to the entrance, exiting from the ce. Zain could only imagine that it was even worse inside there.


    "How many of you were there involved in the attack?" Zain asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Oh?" Humfree raised an eyebrow. "You''re already trying to gather information. I guess you''re trying to get an idea of what our strength is. So, how are wepared to the Reborn group?"


    From the initial impression, Zain felt like the Dark Zombies were far stronger.


    "There were thirty involved in the attack in total, but we lost two of our people. In turn, though, we gained five allies, including you. So it was a good result."


    The others had picked up their pace, wanting to stay close to Zain. They were afraid that the other zombies might attack them at any second and had heard what Humfree had said. They couldn''t believe it. How could a group of thirty take out two hundred Zombie Hunters? It made no sense.


    "This is a big hit to the Zombie Hunters," Zain said. "Aren''t you scared that they might retaliate with full force?"


    Zain asked this because that was exactly what had happened to him and his group, a sudden attack.


    "Scared of the Zombie Hunters? No, we''re not scared of them, but we are scared of one thing, and it''s what everyone should be scared of¡­ Demons. Everyone has somewhat be deluded in their own thoughts... I thought maybe the hunters could help us, but they have just been a thorn in our side.


    "I guess I should have killed that person when I had the chance... oh well, it''s toote to think about now. Everyone makes mistakes, right?"


    The old man started to ramble on too much about things Quinn couldn''t understand, but he felt like it wasn''t the right time to ask either.


    Continuing on, the group finally exited out of the ce. They could see the street and arge fountain in front of them. They were indeed in arge hotel venue. Seeing this, they had figured out how the Dark Zombies had arrived because there were severalrge military-style helicopters outside.


    Looking at the helicopters, though, Zain could spot a single zombie standing among them, his clothes soaked in blood; he was sure of it. He was sure he recognized the person.


    "That''s... the faceless man."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 275 The Face Man?

    ?


    At the entrance of the hotel, just through therge ss doors, Zain stood still as he stared at the man directly in the helicopter. Humfree, along with the Chained Zombies, had continued moving forward.


    ''I''m certain of it! That body shape, that height, everything about him, it''s definitely the man I see in my visions,'' Zain thought.


    Although he could recognize the man straight away, there were a few significant differences. For one, the man in Zain''s mental images that he had referred to as the faceless man, was because at times he would have no features of a face.


    There were no eyes, no nose, and sometimes no mouth. At times, there was a mouth, though, and it would move when it spoke, but the person Zain was looking at had all of those things.


    A clear strong pointed nose,rge eyes, and thick bushy eyebrows. His bald-headed hairstyle was still the same, and even his mannerisms of how he stood up straight were the same as well.


    Which was why Zain knew in an instant that they were the same person.


    ''With his facial features... he seems a bit less frightening,'' Zain thought to himself, but it made sense.


    He was reminded of a conversation he had with Sarah about his visions. ording to her, the system was meant to implement training sessions for the user. A guide on how to use certain things, increasing the chance of the person''s survival.


    The model for the tutorial, that it had been based on, was this person he could now see. The strongest agent that was in the original Reborn group before it had be a group of Reborn Zombies.


    She had stated that he now worked for the other side as well, and it looked like it was true.


    ''Hey Zain, is everything okay? Why have you just stopped so suddenly?'' Anna whispered. ''Are you nning to make a break for it now that we''re outside? If that''s the case, I''ll follow whatever you do.''


    The humans of the group clearly didn''t want to go along with Humfree, but running would be a stupid idea. Turning his head, Zain looked at the rest of the Dark Zombies that were now exiting out of the hotel.


    "For now, I would try to throw away all of those ideas of running away and do your best to fit in or be helpful to them," Zain stated, as he carried on moving forward.


    As expected, Zain watched Humfree get on the helicopter with the not-so-faceless man. Turning around, he looked at him and his group, expecting them to follow. The others quickly ran up, staying not too far from Zain, and entered.


    There were seats lined up on the side, and each of them took a seat next to each other but made sure that Zain sat on the edge of one of the seats where Dart was sitting as well.


    "What''s the matter, you''re afraid that I''m going to bite you?" Dart asked Wendy, who was sitting on the left side of Zain and was closest to him. "You should rx. If I was going to bite you guys, I would have done so long ago."


    The helicopter started to fly off into the air, and the others would soon follow. It was frightening for many of them; it was the first time they had been on a helicopter.


    The noise was loud, and for them to even hear each other, they would have to shout at the top of their lungs, and even then, they would have to guess what the other was saying through reading their lips.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Humfree hadn''t said anything since they had gotten on the helicopter, but he was making some observations and noticed something.


    "Have you met Carl before?" Humfree shouted. "You keep staring his way."


    Zain had tried to make it not look so obvious, but it appeared he had failed at doing so. He could only assume that Carl was the name of the faceless man since he was the only one he had been looking at.


    It was because Zain was quite surprised. In his visions, Carl was always human, but right now in front of him, Carl was clearly a zombie. That fact might have made him more frightening in itself since zombies were stronger than humans, especially Reborn ones.


    "I''ve never met him before... he just looks strong," Zain said.


    Thisment had managed to make Carl himself even smile. "I have never seen him myself either," Carl replied back. "But I look forward to working with him."


    The conversation was a little strange, almost as if the two were speaking through Humfree while looking at each other.


    Observing the situation, Zain was taking in where they had left from. He had an image of the map of the city in his head and in his system. He could now see that they were indeed in the area of the Zombie Hunters.


    It was on the edge of their territory that was on the border of the Reborn group''s territory as well. It made him wonder if the two groups had a run-in or if the Reborn group knew about this but felt like it was too much of a threat to even attempt to sort it out.


    On the map, he had ounted for the different territories, but then what about the Dark Zombies? Where were they based? To Zain''s surprise, the helicopters were flying to the centre of the city, where it was believed the high-stage zombies and the demons resided. The most dangerous ce that none of the other groups had decided to set foot in.


    ''For a group to survive here, no wonder they''re strong.''


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 276 A New Stage

    ?


    The group continued in the helicopter while looking down below, and as they got toward the centre of the city, the main hub where there would be a number of shops, wide walkways, paths, restaurants and more, all of it was unrecognisable to them.


    There wererge amounts of grey smoke for one, it was hovering over the city like a type of dust cloud, making it hard to see what was on the streets clearly. They would only catch glimpses of there being hordes of zombies about.


    Wendy was looking closely at it all, the Zombie Hunters had sent some groups in as scouts, but they had never returned. Which was the reason why they had decided to expand their area in another direction, and that was how their group had collided with Zain''s.


    As she watched carefully, she could see part of the grey smoke swirling around and moving in a particr area. She couldn''t quite make out what it was, but it wasrge. That was until a hand had reached out and grabbed one of the buldings.


    It was quite clearly a hand, grey in colour with several bite marks on it, but the bite marks were small. No that wasn''t it, it was the hand itself, it was gigantic. The hand had spread out and was covering two floors of windows.


    Seeing the hand only, she could only imagine what size the whole thing was.


    "Hey, did anyone else see that?" Wendy asked.


    The others were too focused on other things, there was so much of the city to look at after all.


    "I saw it." Zain answered. "A stage four zombie, a stage 4 titan."''


    The stage 2 titan was perhaps thergest zombie that most people had seen before. There was also the stage three bone zombie, but due to its hunched over position, it felt smaller, and itsck of muscle and flesh made it feel smaller as well.


    However, Zain hadn''t seen any stage three zombies of the other types, such as the Boil Zombie or the Titan, and he was starting to think there weren''t any, until now.


    His system had popped up, informing him that what he was seeing was a stage 4 zombie, a Titan type, but just like Wendy, he only saw a hand and nothing else.


    "I''m surprised you''ve seen one of these before, there shouldn''t be many of them yet around the outer sides of the city, but I wouldn''t worry too much, they are strong fighters, and are helping our cause." Humfree imed.


    Through the grey mist, it was getting harder and harder to see what was going on, but sounds would eventually be heard, and Zain wasn''t so sure if he was correct in his guess, but it was almost as if constant fighting was going on.


    Groans, small explosions, the destruction of equipment, cars and such all around. Not being able to see it, he was unable to confirm it, or confirm who was fighting.


    Eventually the helicopters had reached their destination, they started to lower and travel through the grey mist, and once through it, the area was far more clear underneath it.


    The group could see an extremelyrge manor. It looked like one of those that would be protected by the government due to howrge and old it was. With these types of ces, they often had protected files and were tourist hotspots.


    So there wererge fences built around them, with only a few ways of entering and exiting. This stayed true, apart from there being a pile of cars at all of the exits. Blocking people from getting in and out.


    The front garden was extremmlyrge, and calling it a garden wasn''t quite right either, it was more like a field. It was filled with zombies, but not regr zombies, those from the Dark Zombies.


    On top of that, there was arge pool at the front, and then finally at the rear there wererge fields again that seemed to be connected to some type of forest at the back. It was quite amazing to see a ce like this, in the middle of the city. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It most likely only worked out because it was a protected histordmark, but was now being used as the Dark Zombies'' base.


    The helicoptersnded on the back field, with the others still in the airndingter with the attack group.


    "Let''s head inside to somehwere morefortable." Humfree said.


    All of the other zombies went off to do as they wished, including that of the faceless man. It looked like things were less organised herepared to the Reborn group. There were even some zombies that looked like they were just sunbathing as they had a sunbed out and were just lying there in the fields.


    However, the number of them were quite high, at a guess Zain assumed around 250. When they got to the back of the building, many of the zombies around had noticed who was with them.


    They could see a couple of new recruits, and some unexpected guests.


    "There are humans¡­ It''s been a while since humans have been brought in." One of them said.


    "Maybe they''re here just as an emergency fresh snack or something."


    "Hey, don''t talk like that, if Humfree brought them, there could be a chance that they''re very special guests."


    Inside therge building, Humfree walked around while others waved at him, and he had eventually entered the library. What everyone noticed was that the two zombies with chains around their arms stayed right by his side, never leaving.


    "Please, all of you take a seat." Humfree asked.


    There was arge sofa that could seat around ten people at the back, so all of them sat there including Zain.


    "I might as well tell you all, since you are all here at the Dark Zombies base, but what you might hear will shock you. Because, there is a reason why the zombies exist and if we were to get rid of them, then it would doom us all."


    *****


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 Chapter 277 Dark Zombies, The Good Guys?

    ?


    If anyone else had said these words, Zain would have regarded them as a madman, and the others sitting on the sofa felt that way now. However, Zain knew from the system message that the person in front of him was one of the creators or one of those who started the zombie apocalypse in the first ce.


    That was why he was inclined to listen to what he had to say. As for the others, they believed there had to be a reason why all the zombies were following this man, so they paid attention to his words.


    "I see I have managed to get all your attention," Humfree smiled. "First of all, I think it''s important to mention to all of you that this isn''t mine and Zain''s first meeting, unlike the rest of you, isn''t that right?"


    The others turned to Zain. They didn''t really know him that well. After all, they had only met him in the prison or outside for a few seconds.


    "That''s right, and I think I should mention that thest time we met, you had killed a few of my friends." The others'' hearts started to thump upon finding this out. If Zain knew he was such a dangerous man, then why would he agree toe with him?


    In the end, what choice did he really have, though?


    "I see you''re not shy about sharing things," Humfreeughed off thement. "But you see, there was a reason for doing what I had done back there. Just in case no one knows anything, I will exin with a bit of context.


    "Back then, Zain was travelling with a group of humans, as well as those who are like him¡ªconscious zombies. However, I''m sure some of you know that there are things in this world that we now call demons, and they have the ability to shift into a human''s skin, disguising themselves as one of you. I apologise for what happened back then.


    "But I did what I did because one of the humans you were travelling with was, in fact, a demon. Killing them allowed you to be saved back then. Otherwise, at one point or another, you would have all been unexpectedly betrayed and killed on the spot.


    "You see, these demons are tricky, difficult creatures because you have no clue when they have taken over someone close to you. If they manage to absorb them as well, they will even have the human''s previous memories, making them almost indistinguishable from the person they stole."


    If there was one thing the group could be sure of, it was the hatred that Humfree had for these demons. He had made a couple ofments on the way here that had made that quite clear.


    "Are you stating that they were all demons at that time?" Zain asked. "I doubt that very much, and how can you be so sure there was a demon among us? Or are you just untrusting of all humans in general?"


    The others raised their eyebrows because they thought Zain had a very good point.


    Humfree dug into his pocket, pulling out a small square device with a screen and an arrow on it. The arrow was dead in the centre, unmoving. It somewhat looked like a radiation scanner one would see on TV shows.


    "This is a device that I managed to create myself. It works within a 1-kilometre radius," Humfree exined. "The pointer in the centre will start to move to the right when it gets a signal, but it''s very sensitive. When it detects that there is a demon, the pointer will go straight to the right, so I am unable to use it to pinpoint who the demon is.


    "A few adjustments need to be made, and then we might be able to do it in the future. But you see, it was this device that allowed me to know there was a demon among you back then. At the same time, I want to make it clear that this device is on even now, and it''s only because there are no demons among this group that I decided to allow you toe back."


    Zain started to think back to their initial interaction. Out of all those who were killed, all of them were humans. All the Reborn Zombies had managed to survive. The reason why he was left alone was somewhat making sense... but then why not just tell the group? Perhaps they could have outed the demon by acknowledging they were among them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Perhaps Humfree just didn''t want to take the risk. From what they knew of him, he would never allow a demon to roam free.


    "There is another thing... I wonder how Humfree would react if I told him I can detect who is a demon and who isn''t. The system reward I received. It will tell me instantly. I didn''t have it back then, so I can''t confirm, and I have yet to see a demon disguised since then."


    "Now that all of that has been cleared, before I continue exining what the Dark Zombies are and what we do, I need to ask you a question, Zain. I''m guessing you were with the Reborn Zombies before?"


    Zain felt like there was no need to hide his situation. Humfree wouldn''t be exining all this and then just kill them after. Only a madman would waste his time doing such a thing.


    "Correct," Zain nodded.


    "I see, so that means you would have met my wife, Sarah. I am quite happy to hear that she is still alive. I should have guessed with the Reborn group still running strong. Again, for those who don''t know, I am Humfree Bain, and I run a group called the Dark Zombies, a group of zombies that have consciousness.


    "While my wife, her name is Sarah Bain, runs a group of zombies called the Reborn group. At one point, we had the same goal, but we started to drift away. I don''t know what Sarah told you all, but I am here to tell you the truth and nothing but the truth.


    "And first, you should all know that I and Sarah were both the ones who created the zombie virus."


    Zain picked up clearly on the words that were used. He said "created," and not "found" like Sarah. Just why would someone want to create Zombies?


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 278 The Start Of It All

    ?


    It was strange. You would think anyone who had actually caused the zombie apocalypse and this disastrous situation would have kept it quiet to the best of their abilities. Yet, here Humfree was, iming that he and his wife had created the zombie virus, and quite proudly.


    "Judging from your reaction, I''m guessing Sarah might have told you differently," the old man sighed, like a father disappointed in his kid''s actions. "You see, all of what I am about to tell you is true.


    "Both Sarah and I were scientists for the military. Our job, though, was to produce the next set of bioweapons. I''m sure you have probably heard of biowarfare before, but you see, we were also tasked with creating a solution that would increase the strength of our own forces," Humfree exined.


    "Now, you might be surprised at what I''m about to tell you, but we had virtually zero sesses. Only small ones here and there, but nothing that would be winning us any awards. But something had urred.


    "A drastic change that would force all the world governments to work together."


    --------


    20 years ago.


    A meeting had been called, where the Prime Minister, as well as high-ranking military officials, top scientists, and more had all been summoned. They were sitting in one room, with several guards standing by the door.


    Other than the look on the Prime Minister''s face, the others all looked nervous as they turned to each other.


    "Before you came in here, each one of you signed a very important contract, so I''m sure you all know just how confidential this project that I am about to talk to you about is," the Prime Minister said.


    He stood up and paced around the oval desk where the others were sitting.


    "You might find all of this hard to believe... but I think it might be easier if I yed you the video instead."


    A projector rolled down from the top of the ceiling, and a video started to y. There was a person on the screen. They looked hurt, with scratches and burns on their face, and their hair was oddly purple.


    If one saw a human with purple hair, they would automatically assume it was dyed. But when looking at this person, the hair colour appeared natural. The facial hair and eyebrows were all just perfect in colour.


    "My name is Bookloh. Please do not be frightened by this message. I don''t have much time, none of us do, which is why I am sending this out. Our was attacked by what we have called Deemoon.


    "They came through a meteor shower that hit us. They appeared small in number at first and weren''t too difficult for us to deal with. But somehow, they started to multiply and grow in number, at the same time they were growing stronger as well.


    "We are but a small resistance force now against them, and I don''t think we will live much longer. Which is why I am sending out this message to warn you. We have managed to obtain some information from the Deemoon.


    "They seem to have done this before, travelling to differents. Based on the information we have, their next target is you. That is why I have sent out this video. If we fail to get rid of them, then I wish for the next to have more of a fighting chance.


    "If you wish to confirm the information I have sent you is true, then please have a look at these coordinates. May you be blessed."


    The video ended, and the lights in the room turned on.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Is this some kind of joke, sir?" one of the men asked.


    "Does it look like I amughing? Would I bring you all here because it''s a joke?" the Prime Minister replied. "The original footage that was sent to us was in a strangenguage we did not know.


    "We received the information from afar, and when downloading the device, it went through our database, and the video''snguage had changed to English. It is clear that the technology of those who sent us this is far more advanced than our own.


    "Finally, we checked the coordinates that had been given to us. We have confirmed there is indeed a meteor strike heading our way. It will reach us in approximately 20 years'' time.


    "We have gone through several solutions already, trying to blow these things up before they even reach us, but it will just cause even more trouble for the entire. We currently have around 20 years'' time before there is an invasion of Earth."


    --------


    Humfree exined the events that had urred back then.


    "You see, we were aware that something wasing. They even sent us some basic information on the demons'' appearance and their skills as well. The military had managed to act rtively quickly all around the world.


    "But they had no answer for this city. The main area that was affected and had the most meteorites fall was right here. The information we got from our aliens showed us a few things as well.


    "They had nuclear weapons just like us, and they had tried to use them on the demons. However, for some reason, that only elerated their growth. In fact, it showed that when they attempted using nuclear weapons, that was when the demons started to multiply.


    "Since all the information we received so far seemed to be true, the military won''t test it out on this city, and instead, Sarah and I were left toe up with a solution. Care to guess what that solution was?"


    After hearing everything so far, Zain had a pretty good guess. Based on the way Humfree was proud of those around him.


    "The zombies."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 279 The Reason For The Zombies

    ?


    It was an interesting tale, one that was almost impossible to believe. But then again, if they hadn''t experienced the current situation and gone through the things each one of them had, none of them would have imagined the current world the way it was.


    "Why zombies though?" Wendy spoke up for the first time. "At the same time, when the demons appeared, people started to gain powers. We have the superhumans. So why did you attack the Zombie Hunters when we could help you?"


    Being a Zombie Hunter herself, she felt the need to somewhat defend her cause, but she was careful with her words not to offend. Thankfully, Humfree justughed off thement.


    "The answer is simpler than you think. In the first ce, you were the ones that chose the zombies as your enemy by your name, rather than epting the situation. When the demons are our real enemy.


    "But regardless of that, the answer is simple," Humfree exined. "It''s because the zombies are superior, and I''m not just talking about the conscious ones like we have here or at the Reborn group.


    "Think about it for a moment. Zombies are creatures that naturally unlock more strength within humans. They feel no pain, and they can be injured almost anywhere on their body other than the head without problems.


    "This makes them practically fighting machines, but that''s not even the best part. The virus inside them condenses the cells into the shape of a crystal. When one zombie dies, another is able to consume it, and in turn, they continue to grow stronger.


    "Arge army that even in death can pass on their strength to another."


    Zain understood what Humfree was talking about. He grew stronger from the crystals, and testing it out on the others showed that they could as well. As for the growth he mentioned, there were Stage 3, 4, and possibly 5 zombies. He couldn''t imagine the demons having an easy time taking them down.


    "All of the superhumans you''re talking about are byproducts. The virus is somewhat airborne. The cells have already entered your body but mutated you in a different way. You guys, the superhumans as you call it, are just a simple byproduct.


    "You might have powers, but that''s it. The powers don''t grow. You aren''t strong enough to defeat the demons. However, you can still help by at least using a part of your body in death."


    Wendy wanted to argue back. The way he was talking, it was as if he didn''t value life at all. He just wanted to aplish his goal, using the creation he made.


    "Why are some conscious and some unconscious?" the soldier asked.


    "That is a good question, one for which we haven''t found the answer. When creating this virus, we went through many phases of experimentation. We found that some had consciousness while others didn''t.


    "It wasn''t part of the solution itself but seemed to change on an individual basis, almost like a different mutation, simr to that of the superhumans. We ran multiple tests trying to fix it or create a type of vine that would allow everyone who came into contact with the virus to be conscious.


    "Yet, time was running out. In a desperate attempt, we had to start running real-life trial tests. The military made us a private branch called the Reborn group, and if we were ever to be discovered, the government could distance themselves from us that way."


    The real-life trials were the cases that must have happened before the meteor strike. Zain could only imagine. He remembered being told by Skittle and seeing the videos on the dark web.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''A lot of people believe that the meteor strike and the zombie outbreak happened at the same time, so they had to be rted, but the cases before on the Dark Web prove it otherwise. This exins it,'' Zain thought.


    "There was one breakthrough. Using the crystals and cells from inside those that were already zombies, we could create a new crystal. If a person were toe into contact with the crystal, part of the virus would already be inside them," Humfree continued.


    Now Zain was putting it all together¡ªthe crystal that Sarah had, the one he had found, which contained the system she implemented.


    "Although that wasn''t a solution for all. Many zombies had to be created in the first ce to create just one crystal. In the end, we ran out of time before discovering a solution.


    "The meteor strike urred and several of our facilities were hit, releasing those we had in captivity, thus spreading the zombie virus."


    Zain finally got the answer he was looking for. His involvement in all of this mess was simply an ident. He yed no big part in all of this; he was just a string being pulled along in this world.


    "You said you and Sarah worked together, but you split both ways. Why? What is the difference between your goals and hers?" Zain asked.


    Humfree paused for a second before answering.


    "The goal of the Dark Zombies has remained true from the beginning. We are a group of zombies that will take out the demons attacking us. We know that there will be sacrifices, but we will use everything we have to get rid of them.


    "As for Sarah, she regrets what she has done. She regrets creating the zombie virus, even though it''s our only chance against them. She is attempting to strike a deal with the demons and create a cure to turn everyone back into a human.


    "If she seeds, then we won''t have a fighting chance. The virus in the superhumans will disappear as well, and we will be defenceless against the threat."


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 280 A break in

    Chapter 280 A break in


    A hard truth had hit many of them in the room, and they were left to contemte everything they had just learned. At that moment, a lot of them actually agreed more with Sarah than with Humfree standing in front of them.


    Perhaps it was because they were human rather than zombies, but even then, when they thought about everything that had happened in the city so far, the cause of most of their pain, in their minds, was the zombies.


    The zombies were the ones who attacked, killed their loved ones, and did whatever they could to survive. Some of them had to kill their own family members and friends because they were no longer recognizable. Whereas for the demons, they had only heard a few stories of people encountering them. Wendy had fought against one herself. Sure, they were strong, but they were few in numberpared to the zombies, which was why she saw them as a lesser threat.


    "I can imagine what you are thinking," Humfree said. "But the only reason you haven''t been encountering the demons as much as you would have is because the zombies, including us, the Dark Zombies, have been fighting against them this whole time. Your lives are as peaceful as they are because of us."


    Those words silenced any thoughts of protest. It was quite clear to Humfree that his answer was the only answer, and whether it worked or not, he believed it. It made sense for the conscious zombies to follow him as well.


    "Thank you for exining everything to us," Zain said. "I have now heard both your and Sarah''s side of the story. Both of you were trying to give the human race a chance to survive and had decided on the best method."


    In many ways, they were like Zain, but rather than seeking individual survival, Humfree was looking at it from a collective human race perspective. If Zain were in the same situation, he wasn''t sure which route he would choose due to ack of knowledge.


    "I see that you somewhat understand, but I''m not sure the rest of you are as convinced," Humfree said, standing up. "Don''t worry, I will send you all on a task to the frontline, right here in the city centre, and then I''m sure you would all understand what we have been dealing with this entire time."


    As they were about to leave through the same door they entered, someone was heard entering, and they all recognized him. He was chewing on something in his mouth, like a piece of grass sticking out.


    "Alright, everyone, since I know you all best, I will be looking after you while you stay here," Dart smiled. "And don''t worry, I already told the others not to touch you, even if they are a bit hungry."


    The usual happy smile was on his face, but now they felt like there was a double meaning behind his words. They got up and started to follow Dart through therge manor one by one. The hallways were extremely wide, wide enough for all of them to walk side by side, and asionally, the hallways would open up to go in different directions where they could see other zombies hanging about and talking.


    While walking, they soon heard the sound of an rm. It continued to re for a second before going off again.


    "What''s that?" Anna asked, her voice filled with concern.


    "That means¡­ someone is at the front gate," Dart exined, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of danger.


    They all turned their attention towards the source of the rm, their hearts pounding with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. Dart and the other zombies that had apanied them rushed out towards the nearest exit, their instincts guiding them to protect their territory.


    "If someone is at the front gate, doesn''t that mean we''re being attacked?" Wendy''s voice trembled with worry.


    "So then why do they all have smiles on their faces?" she added, her confusion evident.


    Curiosity outweighed their fear, and they decided to follow Dart, their steps quickening as they moved towards the front of the house. They exited through one of the side doors and continued running across the expansive grounds, the tall grass brushing against their legs.


    Finally, they reached their destination¡­ the front gate, and what they saw made their eyes widen in astonishment.


    Standing before them was a colossal figure, as imposing as the ancient trees that surrounded them. Its massive form was covered in ck, imprable armour, resembling a titan from the tales of old. This titan, however, surpassed any they had encountered before in both size and menace.


    The Dark Zombies, with their unwavering determination, had already encircled the titan and wereunching relentless attacks in an attempt to weaken it. Yet, the titan remained an unconscious force of destruction, its primal instincts driving it to attack anything in its path, be it humans, demons, or even fellow zombies.


    "Why is everyone smiling? I don''t understand," the soldier spoke, his voice filled with a mix of confusion and awe.


    "This is a jackpot," Dart''s voice carried a mixture of excitement and determination. "You see, this is a stage 4 titan¡­ an unconscious one. It relentlessly attacks anything it sees, including us zombies. But the key is the crystal inside it."


    He paused, his gaze fixed on the titan''s towering form, before continuing with a tone of anticipation.


    "We zombies grow stronger by consuming the crystals found within these titans. Normally, we have to venture outside these walls in search of them. But now, fate has brought a titan to our doorstep."


    A sense of urgency filled the air as Dart turned his attention to Zain, his voice carrying a note of encouragement.


    "So, what do you say? Are you thinking of joining them? You are now part of the Dark Zombies. If you take down that titan, it will be a substantial upgrade for you, an opportunity to enhance your strength."


    The gravity of the moment hung in the air, the immense titan towering before them, its presence demanding action.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 281 Taking the stage 4

    Chapter 281 Taking the stage 4


    The group didn''t want to get anywhere near the stage 4 titan. It was as if they had been told to go up against a giant, and they saw no way that their involvement could make a difference. Even the Dark Zombies currently fighting were struggling.


    Several used weapons to attack the legs, but when they struck it, the blows would just bounce off the hard armour. There wererger Dark Zombie members with giant clubs who managed to whack the sides of the legs, leaving a big ring each time.


    This seemed to have some effect on the stage 4, but it still wasn''t enough to break through the armour.


    The stage 4 itself, despite its size, wasn''tpletely slow. It swung its arm, and the Dark Zombies would often attempt to warn each other, but one person was too slow and had been pped to the ground. Immediately, his body went flying in the air, and as he hit the ground, his bones could be seen twisting and breaking in ways they wouldn''t on a normal human body.


    When he eventually came to a stop, the zombie blinked a few times. "Ahhh, damn it!" the zombie shouted, and a few others rushed to his aid. He was still alive, and it was a good thing they were unable to experience pain.


    Then there were those zombies capable of flight. Zain had never seen this before, but they had summoned wings from their backs and were flying in, striking at the stage 4''s head.


    It was annoying therge zombie, like a swarm of flies. Still, it demonstrated the sheer might of the stage 4. If it were to face just one of these zombies on its own, it would be able to beat every single one of them in a fight. But together, they were able to do something.


    "Why isn''t everyone taking part? What about you, Dart?" Anna asked.


    "Only the zombies who think they have a chance at taking that thing out are participating," Dart exined. "The ones on the side, like us, know we don''t stand a chance, or maybe we''ve tried before and failed. These guys have most likely all taken out a stage 3 before, so they think they can do this. They''re blinded by their greed to get stronger.


    "However, the gap between the stages is incredibly high. I don''t bother because I know I can''t beat it."


    Zain looked around at the others who were watching, and that''s when he spotted someone familiar.


    "Then what about him, Carl... was that his name?" Zain asked, thinking that it was best to stop referring to him as the faceless man.


    "Oh, him. Well, Carl is a different case," Dart exined. "He always gives everyone else a ten-minute head start. If he didn''t, all the crystals would just end up falling into his hands. This is the Dark Zombie group, not the Carl group. Although there are no rules against it, if he wanted every crystal for himself, that''s just something he has decided."


    [New quest received]


    [Defeat the stage 4 titan]


    [Diamond reward avable]


    As soon as Zain saw the stage 4, the quest popped up, and due to the level of reward he would receive forpleting it, he also knew that it would be a next to impossible task, unless there was one thing he could do.


    And that was to wait until the veryst moment and take the kill. But judging by how the other zombies were doing, it was unlikely that would happen either.


    "I''ll wait ten minutes as well, just to make it fair," Zainmented.


    Dart couldn''t help butugh. There were many like Zain who werepetitive and wanted to prove that they were the best among those present, but no one had ever defeated Carl. When they witnessed his strength, they quickly gave up on that idea.


    Although the Dark Zombies seemed to be faring better now. Realising that they couldn''t defeat stage 4 on their own, they began working together. Therger zombies, who seemed to possess greater strength with their clubs, took turns delivering powerful swings to one side of the stage 4''s ankle.


    It was a sessful hit, causing the zombie to stumble to one knee. While it was in the midst of stumbling, the flying zombies charged forward, aiming piercing strikes at the top of its forehead.


    A loud ng was heard, but the spear-like weapons they had used were bent in the attack, and there were no marks left on the stage 4 in the end.


    Lifting its hands, the stage 4 swung them in an attempt to swat away the little fly-like zombies. One missed, while the other hit, taking another zombie out of the fight.


    Multiple zombies jumped on its back, attempting to climb up to the back of its neck. They had a strong grip, and some seemed to have specially made equipment on their fingers for doing such a thing. But Zain had seen this before; he knew what the titan did when something was on its back, and he could only imagine how much worse it would be with a zombie this size.


    Getting back up on its legs, the stage 4 jumped and fell with its back towards the ground. Some of the zombies let go and ran off, escaping whatever fate awaited them. Others were pulled out by their friends or the flying zombies. The zombiended on its back, and thankfully, no one was hurt by its attack, but it was certainly a close call.


    At that moment, Carl started to move forward. "Ten minutes are up, and things are looking a bit dangerous now anyway," Carl said.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 282 The power of enhancement

    Chapter 282 The power of enhancement


    Immediately after the ten minutes were up, Carl started running across the long field. He wasn''t moving incredibly fast, but his movements were smooth and confident, without a hint of hesitation.


    His legs were gliding of the crass and with each step, it looked almost as if the grass was moving to the side for his feet, rather than it being trampled on.


    Some of the other zombies who could see Carl running toward the stage 4, started to give up as well, moving away. However, others saw this as a sign to push harder.


    "Crap, he''s participating! We don''t have much longer,e on, let''s finish this!" One of the Zombies shouted, and they all knew what wasing.


    The ones flying above the Stage 4 became more desperate in theirrge-scale attacks, flying at full speed and striking with their hands. Despite their powerful attacks that could easily bring down buildings, they were unable to take down the Stage 4.


    Eventually, Carl got close enough and leaped off the grass, reaching head height with the Stage 4. It seemed that Carl had caught the attention of the zombie, as it started to ignore everyone else around it.


    The zombie tightened its fist and threw it at Carl. The fist was muchrger than Carl''s entire body, and after witnessing the devastating effect of a simple p, they expected the punch to stter Carl''s body like a bug hit by a high-speed car.


    However, Carl extended his own hand, which started to change, encasing itself in a hard ck skin. The others were surprised, but Zain wasn''t. He had seen this before with Pink and the others in his group, so he expected some of them would have this ability. Observing the other zombies attacking the Stage 4, he had noticed a few of them doing the same, indicating there was something more to it.


    As Carl''s fist hardened with the ck substance, he stretched out his fingers, causing cracks to appear throughout the hardened skin. Within these cracks, red lines of energy flowed, resembling a broken river.


    This was what Zain had been searching for. He had never seen this before. Carl thrust his hand forward, his glowing red fist striking therge Stage 4. As they collided, the red from his fist began to glow even brighter, pulsating with power.


    The outer casing on the Stage 4 started to break, and a shockwave of power was sent out simultaneously. Carl had managed to match the power of the giant Stage 4.


    While falling back to the ground, Carl pulled out two daggers from his belt. They appeared to be regr weapons, but as soon as they touched his hands, they too were covered in the special hard casing, turningpletely ck. They resembled the titan swords that Zain used, but they had been made on the go.


    Throwing the daggers, one of them hit the Stage 4 in the head, cracking the outer shell and protruding out. The other dagger struck the bottom shin of the Stage 4, near its feet.


    As soon as Carlnded on the ground, he dashed forward. With his one glowing red hand, he prepared for another attack. He threw it, hitting the handle of the dagger embedded in the foot.


    The hard ck outer casing cracked even more, revealing the exposed flesh underneath. The titan looked like it was in pain as it fell to one leg again, clearly injured.


    "Part of the hard armour is exposed! Let''s go for it!" one of the zombies shouted.


    The other zombies that had backed off immediately went for the injured leg. It was strange, but just like with the Stage 2 Titans, it seemed that the zombies could feel pain after the outer skin was damaged.


    This was something Zain had discovered. While watching Carl and witnessing his abilities, an immediate thought entered his mind.


    "I can''t beat this person," Zain thought. "Even if I were to use my Horde and everything at my disposal. It''s clear that he is an enhancement type. The ability to coat any weapon... I thought my ability to create weapons was strong. If I were to face him head-on in a fair battle, I would undoubtedly lose."


    Wendy was observing Zain more than Carl, sensing his calctions and theparison he was making with the Dark Zombies. His mind was always working, analysing the situation.


    "The Dark Zombies, they''re strong. They''re really strong. We have no chance of getting out of here. Is that what you''re thinking too, Zain? Or are you considering that there might be a way?"


    While the other zombies focused on attacking the exposed leg, Carl''s attention was elsewhere. He noticed the head of the Stage 4 tilted down to observe its attackers. Seizing the opportunity, he jumped onto the bent knee of the Stage 4.


    Using his single red hand, he pushed off the leg and thrust his fist up towards the second dagger, hitting the handle once again. Large cracks appeared, and any moment now, the pieces of hardened skin would fall off.


    "Those guys... Did they forget everything, despite being zombies themselves? If they want to kill the zombie, they need to go for the head. The leg was a distraction in the first ce. Carl was in it for the kill from the beginning, and so was I."


    "Anna, can you make me a blood spear, asrge as you possibly can?" Zain requested.


    Anna was taken aback. "Um, yeah. Are you nning on joining the fight? It looks like it''s about to be over."


    "Yes, I am. I need that reward," Zain replied, smiling to himself.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 283 Who Got What?

    ?


    It was quite clear from the look on Zain''s face that he indeed was going to take part, and knowing this Anna decided to help him out. She bit into her thumb and it started to form into a blood spear. Just as Zain had asked she made it quiterge in size.


    Still, the handle where it could be held in the centre, she made sure it wasn''t too thick so that Zain could still hold onto the spear. She was just worried that it might turn out to be too heavy for him, to take part in the fight.


    ''At the moment, in this ce, it feels like we''re all some type of trapped survivors, and he''s the closest one to our side. He saved our life, so I should try and trust him a bit.'' Anna thought as the spear was finished being made.


    It was floating there in the air, with some parts as thick as a human''s body. Holding his arm up, Zain grabbed it there and then with a single hand holding it with no problem.


    ''His strength must be quite high as well. It looks like he''s got some things up his sleeve, but why join the fight now, when it looks like it''s already over.'' Dart thought.


    Holding onto the spear, Zain then started to run, he ran at a great speed across the field. Everyone was surprised, because it looked like it was faster than Carl had done. However, the movements weren''t as smooth. The grass was being trampled on aggressively as he pushed as hard as he could.


    Then he could see it, the broken part of the stage 4, falling, and Carl gearing up for another big punch. Swinging his arm back, there was one more thing Zain wanted to do.


    [+1 strength stat]


    Having fought in the strange ce that was controlled by the Zombie Hunters, Zain had managed to level up one more time, but yet to use the stat. He didn''t know how much this would help, but he wanted this.


    ''I need to get this stage 4, I need toplete these quests, if I have any chance ofpeting and catching up to Carl!'' Zain thought.


    He pulled back his arm, then leaning his body forward he hurled the blood spear with all of his might. It was breaking through the air, going past everything. Some of the zombies that were standing further back so when it went past they could see right where it was heading.


    Carl, was too busy, focused on killing the stage 4, as he kicked off the ground jumping in the air once more, and when to throw out his fist, but right by the side of his face, the spear impaled the stage 4, hitting it right through the head, while Carl''s fist had hit the outside, pulsing, before the head had eventually exploded due to the strength of the hit.


    The spear carried on forward and got caught in the ground, standing tall, full of blood. While Carl fell to the ground, along with the Stage 4 Titan, looking back, wondering where the attack hade from.


    "Did somone just throw that?" A zombie asked.


    "Yeah, I saw it go right through the zombie''s head."


    "Yeha, but did you see Carl''s punch explode the head?"


    "Wait, but the spear went through the head first, so whoever threw the spear killed the stage 4 right?"


    "That depends, what if the spear didn''t kill the zombie, how can we tell who killed the stage 4 first, how do we decide whose it rightfully is."


    "What we need to figure out first is who threw the spear."


    The others that were by Zain''s side were amazed. It looked like it was what he was going for from the beginning. He knew he didn''t have the strength to kill the zombie, so when it was at its weakest, he did something that only he could possibly do, and it worked, at least they thought it worked.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Because even they were unsure who had killed the zombie, was it Zain or was it Carl. Looking at Zain, they were thinking he would go forward, maybe talk with Carl and decide who deserved the crystal inside of its body, but there was no need.


    Zain turned around, and there was a big smile on his face, when walking back to the others.


    "Hey, what are you doing?" Dart asked. "Don''t you want to fight for the crystal in the body?"


    The other zombies had gathered around the stage 4. Although they didn''t kill it, they were trying to help get the reward, they knew it belonged to someone, and they weren''t going to take it for themselves otherwise they would have to answer to Humfree, but as they cut the body up, more and more, they started to realise something.


    "We can''t find it¡­ we can''t find the crystal!" A zombie shouted.


    "What?" Dart raised an eyebrow. "That''s impossible, there has to be a crystal, every stage 2 and above zombie has a crystal in their body, this has never happened before, just what is going on."


    The group continued to search, but they really were unable to find anything, and even if they continued to search all day, they would still find nothing. The reason Zain was smiling was because he already knew, that he had gotten the kill.


    [Diamond questpleted]


    [Diamond card has been received]


    ''This¡­ this is what I need if I want to catch up with Carl, and survive in this world.''


    When Zain defeated an enemy, the crystal would automatically turn into experience as well, and due to the level of quest there was quite a boost.


    [Level up]


    [Level up]


    [Level up]


    *****


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 Chapter 284 Your Place Here

    ?


    On the top floor of the manor, there was a balcony that looked out onto the fields. Standing there with his two chained zombies by his side was Humfree. He had his hands behind his back, and he was watching everything that was going on.


    The smirk on his face was wide and so high, almost touching his eyes.


    "I knew he was impressive when I saw him at that ce, but I never expected him to be this good. I can feel it, he might be the one that will help create a big change in this world. With him, there is a good chance that we can progress forward."


    Not only did Zain receive the Diamond reward for defeating the stage 4 zombie. There were also the normal rewards that hade with it. This allowed him to level up a total of three times.


    [Level 35]


    With three level ups, there were three stat points, and this time, to go hand in hand with his strength, he increased his agility.


    Agility: 16 >>> 19


    Both of the stats went hand in hand with each other. Even if he had great strength, it didn''t mean he could deliver a forceful punch like that of Carl. It only meant that he could lift things or push things harder than others.


    However, for power, there needed to be speed on top of that punch to deliver arge blow. Honestly, he would have liked to increase his intelligence to enable him to control arger number of zombies in his horde, but after seeing Carl, there was apetitive nature inside Zain.


    ''Let''s go ahead and see what this reward is.'' Zain thought.


    [Diamond reward has been used]


    [You may now receive your reward]


    [15 Stat points have been given]


    [Note: these stat points can only be used on one stat and cannot be distributed between different stats]


    The reward was a huge boost to his personal strength. With most of his stats, apart from intelligence, hovering around the 20 mark, a 15 stat boost would almost double one of his stats. It was almost as good as the max stat reward at this rate.


    What the real struggle now was, which stat it would be best to use it on.


    "Man, no matter what they do, it looks like they can''t find the crystal." Another zombie said who was rtively close to them.


    They had dissected the whole stage 4, thinking that maybe it wasn''t in the usual ce. A crystal that strong would boost their strength multiple times. One person had given up looking though, and that seemed to be Carl, who was making his way back to the manor.


    "Well, I guess that crisis is over, right?" Dart said. "So we should probably go back to what we were doing."


    Dart headed back into the manor along with the others. He showed them where they could get food if they were hungry. There were no rules on rationing food out or anything like that, and that went for zombies and humans.


    He then also showed them where they could rx and where they could practice fighting. Although he stated that most of the fighting was to be done outdoors as they didn''t want to ruin the building they had.


    Although most of the ce seemed to be rxed, there were some rules they needed to know about. Humfree woulde to them if he needed them. If they wished to talk to him, then they were to ask a female zombie named ire who would often roam around on the second floor, below where Humfree himself would stay.


    ire was somewhat the boss that ran the ce when Humfree didn''t, it seemed. If there were issues or problems they wanted to discuss, even ideas about what they would like to do, they would have to go to ire.


    ording to Dart, she would actually say yes to most things. If a group wished to go out and hunt, then that was fine with them. There was no tracking, making sure they came back. The only time they would say no is if there was ack of people at the base.


    It seemed this freedom, this style of working, was what everyone liked about the group. They seemed to be more loyal. When Zain thought about it, where did the zombies have to go? Sticking together was the safer option.


    Finally, Dart exined things like the sound of rms that would go off if they were under attack or if there was a big meeting to take ce. The examples he gave here were the n where Dart and the other Dark Zombies were to be captured on purpose, and of course, the rescue attempt and annihtion of one of the Zombie Hunter groups.


    "Alright, and here we have your sleeping area!" Dart smiled. "There are a lot of empty halls in this ce. Apparently, they were used for wedding parties and ceremonies, so we have mattresses and beds and stuff, but it''s more just for people to rx."


    "Erghhh!" Anna raised her hand. She had a question to ask as she looked into the room, which had around 20 to 30 members already inside.


    "Yes?"


    "Is there a ce for humans, or are we expected to sleep side by side with the zombies?" She asked.


    "Do you really think you have a choice? Does it look like we usually take humans in?" Dart asked.


    "If you''re that worried, then you''re just going to have to keep watch over each other during the night." Dart exined. "Anyway, it''s best you guys get some rest and then get ready. There is an assessment that everyone needs to do here, so we can tell how useful you are and what your strengths are."


    "Assessment?" Wendy asked.


    "Yeah, Humfree wants you humans to take part as well. You remember Carl, that seriously strong zombie? Well, each one of you will have to go up against him. So get some rest, so you don''t die."


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 285 Feeling safe

    Chapter 285 Feeling safe


    The group had decided to set up in the corner of a room, and it came as no surprise that people were looking at them. The zombies were used to just smelling them around the ce, and when they saw humans, it was free reign for them to hunt.


    There was an exception, of course, and that was Humfree. But then again, Humfree wasn''t sleeping in the same room as the rest of them.


    "This is going to be hard," Anna said. "I feel like every single one of them is waiting for the chance to just jump on me."


    Wendy couldn''t agree more, but there were two people who were fine with it, and that was the soldier man, Kyle. He was setting out his bed calmly, and even straightening it, which seemed pointless in a ce like this.


    "Would you guys feel morefortable if I slept away?" Zain asked.


    The others had to check that their ears were working properly. It was the first time they had heard him say something so considerate. But for both of the girls, there was the immediate answer that came to their mind.


    "No!" they both said at the same time.


    "It''s okay," Wendy said. "You can stay near us. I don''t know why, but I feel safer if you''re next to us."


    Zain started to set up his bed next to the soldier man. Since they were in the corner, they had set it up in a way where they could corner the two girls, making them feel safer.


    When Zain finished making his bed, he looked at the girls.


    "I just thought I should tell you, if these guys in this room team up on you and try to eat your brains, I won''t be helping you. Now, get some rest."


    The two girls were frozen in ce for a second. They had no clue as to why Zain would just randomly say that to them.


    "Can you believe him!" Wendy said. "Just when I thought he was being nice and considerate to us, he said something like that. Does he have something wrong with his brain?"


    Anna was nodding along as she got under her nket.


    "It is a bit strange, though, don''t you think? Why do we feel sofortable with Zain? You have to remember he''s like them as well. Which means, just like them, he also eats brains."


    The two looked over at Zain again, and then beyond him. Even now, there were some zombies that were feasting on human flesh. The rotten, rancid smell filled the room somewhat, but it was a smell they had gotten used to.


    However, the sight itself was still a big stomach churner. Honestly, they both felt in that moment, if it wasn''t for Zain, then they perhaps would have gone mad. Since he had protected them back then, when they were stuck inside the cages, they thought he would do the same even though the opposite was said.


    ---


    "Hey, it looks like you guys were able to get some sleep after all. I was a little worried," a voice was heard.


    Both of the girls were hugging each other tightly. They couldn''t even remember when they fell asleep. All they remembered was being worried, cold, and shaking together. When they slowly opened their eyes, though, they were surprised to see that Dart was standing right over them.


    "AHHHH!" the girls screamed, and the sound echoed due to the room they were in. Several angry grunts and growls wereing over from the others. Even Dart was covering both of his ears.


    "What the hell! If you guys keep this up, then someone is going to want to eat you just to make you shut up!" Dart angrily said, stomping his foot.


    The girls looked over toward Kyle and Zain. Both of them were already awake and preparing. They had put on their thick clothes and some pieces of armour, such as a bulletproof vest.


    What they noticed behind Dart was that he had some equipment as well, in a wheelbarrow.


    "These are for you," Dart said. "Pick what you want and get ready for your assessment today."


    The girls hadpletely forgotten. Today was the day where they were meant to go up against Carl, the special zombie they had seen practically single-handedly defeat a stage 4.


    Looking through the wheelbarrow, they noticed that there weren''t just clothes inside but a few weapons. However, the weapons were only melee weapons. There were no guns as such, even though they could see some of the other zombies holding onto them.


    It was quite clear that they still weren''t trusted with these things, but not that they were the best things to use to fight against zombies anyway.


    Even when the stage 4 attacked, not a single one of the zombies had used a weapon. In the end, Anna just selected some clothes that weren''t too heavy to wear, with Wendy doing the same.


    Anna had decided against choosing any weapons since she could make some with her blood anyway, and Wendy had done the same. Zain, who had been keeping an eye on them, saw this.


    "Are you sure about that?" Zain asked. "I know you can make weapons out of your blood, but isn''t there a limit to how long those weapons canst? And I assume it makes you feel weak.


    "If you have a real weapon on you, at least you can use that in emergencies. Besides, if I were you, I would see how much energy using my blood takes, and then try to use a regr weapon as much as I could before resorting to blood weapons.


    "And for you, your power... if I remember correctly, it''s something like wind. Well, then, isn''t there a way you can use your powers along with these weapons?"


    Both of them thought about it, and they realised that Zain was right. All this time, they had been using their powers in the way they thought was best, and here Zain had analysed a better way to use them.


    Picking up a few things, they were now ready.


    "Alright, it looks like you are all ready. Let''s go," Dart said.


    ****


    *****


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 Chapter 286 Facing Carl

    Chapter 286 Facing Carl


    The assessment was to take ce outside at the back of the manor. Here, there wererge fields with plenty of people who were practicing their skills. Since the Dark zombies were quite strong, they didn''t want to ruin the ce they were staying in.


    On top of this, because they used it as a ce to train, white chalk had been used on the field to draw a few things that would help them in terms of using their skills. Chalkdders, points to run to and from, and there was also a circr arena.


    It was almost like a sumo ring, but with chalk on the outside. They had made it quiterge though; it was far bigger than a boxing ring and bigger than the area that the Zombie hunters had used to fight.


    Heading to the area was Dart, along with the neers. Seeing them walk through the manor, they had gathered quite a bit of attention and noticed that many of the Dark Zombies were now following them.


    "Umm, should we be worried?" Anna asked.


    "Ah, what them?" Dart nced behind him. "Don''t worry, what you guys are going through, everyone goes through when they first get here. Carl was one of the first that worked by Humfree''s side, and I guess he''s just always been that strong.


    "Everyone knows that you guys are going to take part in an assessment, so they are curious, of course." Dart exined.


    Eventually, they had reached the outside chalk-drawn arena, and there were even more of the Dark Zombies that had surrounded the area, waiting for what was going to happen, and the main star people were there as well.


    Humfree, along with his chained Zombies, and Carl himself with his arms folded. It was almost as if he never did unfold his arms unless they were fighting.


    "Good morning, everyone. As you all know, we have some unique new members that have recently joined us." Humfree started to exin. Almost instantly when he started to speak, the rest went quiet; there was no need for him to even yell or announce he was going to speak.


    "Now, I will warn everyone not to expect too much, as those that have arrived this time are quite different from the usual lot."


    Some of the zombiesughed and chuckled because it was clear what Humfree meant by different, but the subject of conversation had moved to Zian.


    "Hey, I think I saw that guy... that''s the guy that threw that giant spear at the stage 4!"


    "Wait, you mean it was the new guy, but I didn''t even see him on the field. How did he manage to do that?"


    Only a few had seen Zain, but the word was now spreading quite quickly, and they were excited to see what he could do against Carl.


    "I will go first!" Kyle announced as he stepped forward. He pulled out one short dagger, cing it in front of him while his fist was rtively close to his face. It was a military style of fighting.


    "I will find out what this person can do and try to bring out all of their skills so you guys can better prepare yourselves."


    The way Kyle was talking, it was as if he expected to lose, but it was clear as day if anyone saw Carl fighting against the stage 4, and everyone watching thought that as well.


    Carl looked around before going up to one of the Zombies, and he reached for their dagger. He pulled it out without saying a word, and then came into the arena, staying in the same stance as Kyle.


    He stood there in the center until Kyle made the first move, although the first move was putting it lightly. With his two feet still firmly nted to the ground, he was almost shuffling forward.


    Carl was doing the same, imitating him. When he got in the center and was within range, Kyle went to attack. He swung the dagger skillfully, going for the vital points in the neck.


    They were swiftly blocked by Carl, but Kyle didn''t stop there. He went for the arms next. Then, when he was brought in close, Kyle went to grab Carl''s arm and pulled it in.


    Twisting his arm around, Carl loosened Kyle''s grip before kicking him in the stomach. Kyle fell to the floor and skidded across the grass. He was hurt but not too badly.


    The soldier was somewhat expecting his enemy to leap on top of him and finish his attack, but that didn''t happen at all.


    When Kyle stood up, he was able to reposition himself and go in for the strike again. A simr scene from before yed out.


    Kyle looked skillful with the dagger and using his hand-to-handbat, but every time he would get close, Carl would do something to get out of the situation and was able to counter-attack.


    It was strange. Although Kyle knew Carl was far stronger than him, in the fight, and everyone else watching, they all felt like Carl was only a little better.


    "Well, there are two situations to this scenario. Lowering your skill level so you are only a little better than your opponent will allow us to clearly see how good Kyle is. It seems he was a well-trained soldier.


    "But someone can only do this if their skill level is clearly above the other. What''s frightening isn''t just that, but he''s also going toe to toe in dagger and hand-to-handbat against Kyle, which is the soldier''s specialty."


    Eventually, Kyle had been kicked and punched too many times. He was exhausted and bruised all over. Meanwhile, Carl hadn''t been touched.


    "Alright, that''s enough!" Humfree said. "The soldier shows good spirit and incredible talent for a human. Wee to the Dark Zombies!"


    Everyone started to cheer in the air as they heard the noise. It was as if they had finally epted him as one of their own.


    "Alright, next up, let''s have one of the Zombie hunters, shall we?" Humfree smiled.


    *****


    *****


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 Chapter 287 The power of blood

    Chapter 287 The power of blood


    Both of the women were Zombie Hunters and this fact was known by a few of them and had spread to the others.


    The stares from the other zombies said it all, in the first ce they weren''t pleased that humans were here but the fact that they were Zombie Hunters made it that much worse.


    ''Ah with the way everyone is looking at us, I seriously wonder how long we''ll survive in this ce before someonees and attacks us.'' Wendy thought. ''Although it''s only fair. Some of the zombies we killed might have been their friends or family members¡­ we didn''t even know there were this many zombies that are conscious.


    ''Maybe, there''s not a way topletely categorise them, but if all of the zombies could live like this would that be enough?''


    While Wendy was in the middle of her thoughts, Anna decided to be the one to step forward.


    "I''ll go first." Anna said, she stood forward with weapons on her body and a spear attached to her back. She pulled it out and held it in her hands.


    Rather than using her own powers, she had decided to take Zain''s advice, especially since it seemed like Carl was going easy on them.


    Pulling out the spear, she pointed toward Carl.


    "I want to make it clear to everyone here, I hate the Zombie Hunters as much as you guys!" Anna dered. "You guys know nothing about me, but you can ask Dart, I was their captive when they found him, so I am not on their side."


    Carl looked into the crowd once more and this time rather than taking a weapon, one of the members from the crowd had thrown At that moment, Wendy thought one thing, it was a shame that she was unable to say something simr.


    Carl looked into the crowd once more and this time rather than taking a weapon, one of the members from the crowd had thrown him a spear.


    Calmly he grabbed it and stood in a simr stance as Anna.


    ''Is he trying to prove that he''s better than everyone with every weapon?'' Zain thought. ''Still, I guess it is possible for me to do the same thing as well due to the system. If I had enough practice it allows me to master anything, but for a person to be capable of all of this without a system, they would have to be some kind of monster.''


    There was another thought in the back of Zain''s head, the system had been given to him by chance, but what if someone like Carl had the system, what if someone like Carl was meant to have the system.


    Could they have done a lot more to stop all of this?


    The fight had started and simr to thest one, Anna was the first to charge in; she had done so slowly and then sped up when getting close,ing to a sudden halt as she thrust her spear forward.


    Leaning to the side, Carl avoided the attack and with a single hand lifted up his own spear whacking her spear away.


    Anna could feel the impact of the attack, her forearms already felt numb and it was just one.


    Holding on tight though, she pulled the spear back down and spun side of his head in time.


    09:38


    "That was quite good¡­ but a spear is meant to keep distance. If her body aiming to hit Carl on the side.


    It was a smooth movement and the spear had sessfully hit as a bang was heard, but It had hit Carl''s forearm. He had raised it to the side of his head in time.


    "That was quite good¡­ but a spear is meant to keep distance. If your opponent is stronger than you and you get close..."


    With his arm he quickly grabbed the spear, and then pulled on it. Anna could feel her whole body weight fall forward and if she didn''t let go her face would be right in the mud.


    Ultimately, she had no choice but to let go of the spear and now it was in the hands of Carl and she had no weapon at all.


    "You see, now you have nothing?" Carl said with a smile. It was the first smile they had seen from him but it seemed like he quite enjoyed being a teacher.


    With this and thest fight, he was teaching them both.


    "Now try and avoid this." Carl said, as he held the spear like a javelin and threw it over his shoulder.


    It was going at a fast speed but not too fast that Anna wasn''t able to dodge, weight was put on her foot, but that''s when Carl went ahead and threw the other spear with more strength and slightly faster.


    Now the two of them were moving at the same speed.


    "I won''t be able to dodge in time!" She thought.


    That''s when Carl noticed something on the spear he had taken from Anna, as well as on his own hand¡­ there was blood.


    Looking up, a ng was heard as the spear shed against a dark red shield. Anna was pushed back a few steps but she had blocked the attack.


    ''It was a good thing, to prepare those cuts beforehand. From the beginning of the fight I had cut my hand so I could create a weapon if I needed it in a desperate situation and it worked out.''


    Anna had created a blood shield just in time to block the spear, and Carl didn''t throw the spear lightly; he was quite surprised by the strength of the shield.


    ''I don''t understand what he''s doing.'' Zain thought. ''I thought he was trying to teach her, but with the strength of that spear it would have gone right through her. There is no way he would have known about her ability.''


    "That''s a strong shield." Carl said and now with no weapons in his hand, his hand started to transform and was covered in the ck casing.


    Running forward he reached Anna before she could even react and threw it right into the shield. She braced herself but strangely she felt almost no impact herself.


    When looking in front of her though she could see her blood shield crumbling into nothing, it was the first time one of her blood weapons had broken like that.


    "It looks like my arm is a little stronger." Carl smiled. "This match is over, bring on the next one."


    After seeing such a disy of power, Wendy was nervous.

 Chapter 288 The power of a zombie hunter elite

    Chapter 288 The power of a zombie hunter elite


    After witnessing the fight between Carl and Anna, Wendy was nervous to go up next. She had heard that this was an assessment and it was one to see how useful they were. Anna had done quite well, and Kyle had shown great determination.


    For her though, how would she be able to fare, it was clear that she wouldn''t be able to win, so the other thought was, if she would be good enough.


    ''If I don''t do well, or show I can do something, will the Dark Zombies get rid of me? If that happens, I''m sure that Zain won''t do anything to stand up for me.''


    "You''re right." Zain said, as if he could hear her thoughts. "You are on your own on this one. You have to treat it like your life is on the line. Don''t hold back."


    Maybe it was the words she needed to hear, because it allowed her to take a few steps forward and enter the fighting area. Thanks to Zain''s advice, Wendy did end up picking up a weapon.


    It was a single short sword, on top of that she had a belt of small daggers around her waist as well. For most it was a strange weapon of choice. Why not use two weapons, or a great sword if they were to fight.


    If one used a short sword, then in their other hand they would tend to hold a shield at least, rather than have it open like so, but there had to be a reason.


    ''Let''s see why you were a high ranking member of the Zombie Hunters.'' Zain thought with his arms folded, and was hoping that Wendy would be able to push Carl so he could evaluate the situation a little more.


    The fight had begun, and Wendy was waiting there patiently for Carl to make the first move. She wasn''t going to go in first and eventually he had decided to head in. In his hands, he had no weapons, with a fresh fight it was almost like a fresh start.


    However, something strange happened that next to no one expected, as soon as he ran forward before he was even within range of the sword, Wendy swung it down. Some thought that she might have been nervous or misjudged something.


    But a sharp sound was sent through the air, and Carl had noticed it. Lifting his hand up, his hand started to materialise the ck armour around his arm. A ng noise was made as if two swords had bashed against each other, yet there was nothing that had touched anything at all.


    Wendy, at that point, wouldn''t let up, as the words that Zain said to her rang through her head. She continued to swing the sword and several shes went against Carl, hitting him all over. He had materialised the ck armour on both of his hands at this point, stopping the attacks from making a major hit on him.


    ''If I just keep hitting like this, he''s going to find a way to break through.''


    While swinging her arm with one hand, she had decided to gather something in her other hand. It was faint, but almost looked like a small tornado.


    Slowly, she could see that Carl was getting used to blocking all of the attacks, and was inching his way forward, then when she felt it was the right time, she thrust her other hand out.


    A small vortex of wind hade out, and went right for Carl''s right leg. It had hit and pushed him back through the ground, but he was fine and still standing.


    ''My wind powers¡­ they weren''t able to knock him down, even though I aimed for just one leg, how much strength does this person have?'' Wendy thought.


    Although her n didn''t work out, she continued to swing her sword through the air, trying to buy time until she coulde up with another n.


    ''I see, so she has some type of wind powers, and they don''t seem to be weak by any means.'' Humfree thought to himself. For him it was the most entertaining match so far.


    Instead of going straight ahead, Carl had decided to run around the side. Reacting quickly, Wendy had pulled a dagger from the belt around her waist and threw it out. Added with her wind power she was able to give it a quick speed boost.


    Yet, Carl was able to still avoid It, somehow he was able to see it. Unfortunately for the zombie standing in the crowd, he now had a small dagger in his stomach. Luckily he was a zombie so it didn''t do much.


    It looked like Carl was nning something and Wendy didn''t like it, so with her free hand she started to use her powers on herself, raising her off the ground. While in the air, she continued to take daggers out of her belt and throw them from above, but still Carl avoided them all.


    "Do you think I can''t get to you up there?" Carl said, as he bent his legs, and prepared for a jump.


    add my powers to the swing of my sword, increasing the speed and strength and slice him down.''


    Seeing this, Wendy thought this was her chance.


    ''This is it, if hees for me, he can onlye in one direction. I''ll add my powers to the swing of my sword, increasing the speed and strength and slice him down.''


    Before there might have been other thoughts going through her head, what would happen if she did win this fight and ended up killing Carl, but the advice Zain gave made her throw away all signs of hesitation.


    With her free hand, she brushed it against the sword, and then Carl sted off from below.


    "This is it!" Wendy shouted as she swung the sword down with great power, and the power of the wind helping her out.


    ******


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 Chapter 289 Not holding back

    Chapter 289 Not holding back


    A great amount of force had been put into Wendy''s swing. She had never thought about using her powers this way before. She either used weapons or just her wind powers to defeat her enemy, but after hearing Zain say a few words, it almost seemed so simple.


    Why hadn''t she thought about it, enhancing her own strength and attacks with her sword? With this attack, the wind pushing and swirling around the sword creating a sharp edge, she felt like it was possible to defeat stage three Zombies with her strength alone and could perhaps do the same as Zain had done in defeating the demons.


    The sword struck Carl''s fist, and arge amount of power continued forward through Carl and hitting the ground. The grass that was on the floor had been cut into tiny little pieces. For a moment, it looked like Carl''s fist was being pushed back.


    That was until the hardening around his arm had changed, cracks appeared in it, showing red lines looking like the veins on a human hand. The hardening on the arm looked as if it was transitioning in color from a ck to a light grey, moving towards the end of the fist before an explosion of red power hit the sword.


    It exploded and the sword shattered, causing shards to fly all over the ce, and some even cutting her face. They were light scratches, but she had closed her eyes for fear that a shard might get in her eye.


    She soon felt someone grab onto her head, and the two of them going through the air. When she opened her eyes, she could see that Carl was holding onto her head, and her feet were dangling a few inches from the floor.


    "I... I lost," Wendy said.


    It was clear at any time after her sword had broken, Carl was able to kill her.


    Humfree, who was watching, started to p, and so did a few of the others, and before she knew it, everyone started to p. It was a good performance from the human.


    "You did well. I believe you are the first person who has ever been able to push Carl that far. That deserves praise in itself; you are wee here to the Dark Zombies!" Humfree said.


    Arge weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders, all the muscles in her arm were sore, she wouldn''t be surprised if she had torn a few of them and was only holding on due to the adrenaline in her body.


    With all those matches out of the way, it was finally time, there was only one fight that was left, Zain.


    Walking forward, unlike all the others before him, there was no fear as he entered the fighting area.


    "Are you sure you don''t want to take a break? You have fought a few fights in a row," Zain said.


    Carl couldn''t help but smile as he heard this, but just shook his head and got in the center.


    "Ha, what a cocky bastard," one of the zombies said. "How can he be like that after already seeing everything that Carl can do?"


    "Hey, who knows, maybe there''s a reason why he''s so confident."


    Humfree was extremely excited about this match, and he had to agree, there had to be a reason why Zain was so confident. Last night as they stayed here, although they were left to their own devices, Humfree had actually asked the other Zombies to report back if they noticed anything.


    While all the others he hade with were asleep and he was keeping guard, the zombies had reported something extremely strange - Zain had suddenly copsed, falling to his side. It was almost as if he was asleep, even though Zombies didn''t need any sleep, which was why it was strange.


    "Hey, do you need me to make you some weapons likest time? You fight best with two swords, right?" Anna asked.


    She had used a lot of her blood energy already but she had been trying to regain her energy as much as possible for Zain. For some reason, she wanted him to win this fight. If he did, then she felt like it would almost cement the position they were in. Carl was clearly the strongest Zombie here but if Zain was able to overtake that title, then they would have to respect him and those that were with him.


    "It''s okay," Zain said, shaking his head, and stretching out both of his hands. "I have my own weapons I can use."


    Everyone raised an eyebrow, wondering what Zain meant by this because there was nothing in his hands or on his body. So how would he have his own weapons? Seemingly, out of thin air, a glow was seen in both of his hands as objects started to materialize.


    In one hand, a dark ck single-handed sword. It wasn''t a machete but an actual sword like they would use in ancient times to fight, and then in the other hand there was a white sword, that looked more so to be made of a bony material rather than metal.


    "How did he manage to do that, was it magic?" One of the zombies said.


    "Maybe he has a power like the others as well, but wait, isn''t he a zombie? Have you heard of a zombie having abilities before?"


    Humfree''s heart was beating even faster, ready to jump out of his throat.


    "I got these just for you because I''m going to win this fight no matter what the cost," Zain said.


    On the night before when he had passed out, it was because he had decided to re-enter the weapons carnival once more. It was thest time he could enter since he didn''t have any type of return pass and he tried his best to go through as many waves as possible.


    In the end, there were a few things that Zain had unlocked, multiple crafting recipes he could use, as well as stage 3 crystals. Enough to create a stage 3 Titan sword, as well as a Stage 3 Zombon sword.


    With his mastery already being the highest at level 5, he was well prepared for the match. Truth be told, Zain wasn''t so sure about revealing the weapons or his skills like so in front of everyone. He always thought it was best for him to hide them.


    However, there were two things that convinced him. Humfree was a person that just wanted power, from the look on his face he was obsessed with getting rid of these demons, so showing him what he could do was just a plus.


    Humfree would never attempt to get rid of him after seeing how strong he was. As for the second reason, this was what sealed the deal, it was the quest that hade up.


    [Defeat the person who has been haunting your dreams]


    [Quest reward: Master Card]


    ''A Master card, it''s the first time I''ve seen that before, I can''t let this go, no matter what. I have to get this system reward.''


    *****


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 Chapter 290 Stage 3 Weapons

    Chapter 290 Stage 3 Weapons


    There was a lot of talk among the zombies about what Zain had just done, how he had just made weapons appear out of thin air in his hands. Even Anna was wondering if he could do such a thing, why he hadn''t done it before when they were in a tough situation.


    Little did they know it was impossible, the original weapons Zain had created out of the zombie crystals had been lost during his captivity. Most likely they had just been left on the school grounds where he had copsed or thrown away by the Zombie Hunters.


    ''This zombie, I knew there was something about him that was special.'' Humfree thought.'' To think even in the tough situation he was in with the Zombie Hunters he only reveals something like this now. It makes me wonder if there''s anything else he might be hiding.''


    Humfree knew there were special zombies out there, one would only have to see Carl fight to know he was above and beyond the rest. Yet there hadn''t been a single person who hade through the doors and could match up to Carl. Seeing this he had high hopes.


    While everyone was surprised by the ability that Zain had, Carl was much more focused on the weapons themselves. He could feel there was something different.


    ''Those weapons in his hands, they aren''t ordinary. They are giving me the same power feeling as the evolved zombies, my own body, is even reacting to it. I''ll have to be careful.''


    Unlike all the other fights before where Carl would face them with no weapons and such, he had already covered both of his arms in the solid ck casing, all the way up to the shoulders.


    In fact, Zain could even see it partly reach up to his neck just below his chin. Carl''s clothes were covering the rest of his body so it was hard to see just how much of his body he had hardened.


    "I see you have decided to take this seriously from the start, good choice." Zain said, still oozing with confidence.


    Carl got into a fighting stance himself, one that looked like that of a boxer with his left hand out further, and his right hand tucked by the side of his chin.


    "Let''s hope you have the strength to back up your words."


    Immediately, before the fight had been dered to start, Zain was the first to make his move. He swung the swords cleanly through the air. Carl leaned back, avoiding the strike allowing the tip just to miss him.


    The sound of the sword going through the air was clean, it was with such speed that they were able to hear it like a whip or skipping rope going through the air. Another strike went downward and to the side a few times, yet Carl was focusing as he avoided each of the strikes.


    Those watching didn''t know why, but they were pulled in as they witnessed the way Zain swung the swords. He should have just been swinging the swords, yet it almost looked like an art as they watched him continue.


    What was even more impressive was Carl avoiding them all, although so far in the fights he had mainly shown his strength and endurance, it looked like his speed was just as good as well.


    Having pushed Carl to the edge where the onlookers were standing though, Zain then purposely struck ahead towards one of Carl''s eyes. Carl had noticed the strike and stopped himself from dodging to the right and that''s when he could see the titan swording down from above.


    ''He''s swinging that at full force, and he''s incredibly close to me. If I avoid this strike, then the people behind me will get hit.'' Carl thought. ''Doesn''t he care?''


    From the look in his eyes, he could tell Zain wasn''t going to pull back if he avoided this strike and then the people behind him would die.


    ''I will get that master card!'' Zain thought in his head as he swung down. Carl lifted both hands above his head, and managed to stop the sword. It was held in ce for a moment and the people now were able to move back.


    The moment they did, it almost looked like Carl was crushed under the strength of the sword. His legs broke the ground underneath where he was, and pushed him down, but the titan sword still hadn''t cut his skin.


    "Hey¡­ are you seeing what I''m seeing, did Carl just lose in a contest of strength?" One of the zombies said.


    "I think¡­ he just did, I''ve never even seen that look on Carl''s face.


    It was slightly strained and even he had to admit he never expected Zain to have this kind of strength either.


    ''Oh¡­ the stage 3 titan sword is working better than I thought, with this being a master ss quest I thought this would be hard, but maybe it won''t be in the end.''


    [Stage 3 Titan sword]


    [Made from the powerful evolved Titans. The sword has great endurance and is next to unbreakable. The sword also gives the wielder of the power of a titan. (+10 strength stat)]


    The new weapons weren''t just better by a small margin but they were almost night and day, as they gave even better resultspared to the stage 2 weapons.


    [Strength 20 (+10)]


    "Do you think I have the strength to back up my words?" Zain asked.


    "I have to admit, you might, but you will have to do more than that to win." Carl replied.


    "You''re right, let''s try hitting a bit harder this time." Zain said, as he lifted the sword once again.


    There was still the quest reward for defeating the stage 4 Titan. His diamond card reward gave him a total of 15 stat points to do as he wished.


    [5 stat points have been added into strength]


    [Strength +5]


    [Strength 25 (+10)]


    "Brace yourself."


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 291 Growing into the strongest

    Chapter 291 Growing into the strongest


    Lifting his sword up, Zain just added five strength to his stats, due to the diamond reward he had received before, and swung it down right towards Carl. It looked like an exact repeat of what had happened before.


    ''I can''t afford to lose this fight!'' Zain thought.


    The sword shed against Carl''s ck armoured arms again. His feet dug into the floor and his knees bent further than they didst time. It was a struggle, and a clear one at that.


    ''His hit, it just got stronger, was he holding back?'' Carl thought.


    Not only that, but for the first time in a while, Carl could feel a sharp pain on his arm. That was because the stage three Titan sword, being swung that hard, with the speed and strength of its additional stats, had managed to cut through the ck armour, and a small cut had been made on the skin.


    It wasn''t quite pain that Carl could feel, because zombies didn''t feel pain, but more so the pressure, he could still feel the touch of the de ripping through his skin now that it had got through the armour.


    Immediately, the whole air around Carl had changed. The ck armour started to ripple and the red energy was going through his hands, until it suddenly exploded with power.


    Zain was sent flying backwards, his legs skidding across the grass. When he finally recovered, he could see that Carl was already on top of him, having jumped up in the air with pulling his fist back, and the same red energy surrounded his fist.


    Zain wasn''t just strong though, he was quick as well, and he managed to roll out of the way, while doing so he made sure to attack with his Zombone sword , while avoiding the attack.


    It scratched the back of Carl, but did next to nothing.


    ''Damn, without taking a full swing, it looks like I can''t get through his armour even with all my strength, but just making little scratches here and there isn''t going to make me win this fight either.''


    When Carlnded, his fist mmed into the ground. It uplifted the ground beneath it, and made cracks on the floor, while sending out a red pulse that hit Zain, he could feel the pressure and the energy from the attacks.


    ''I''m not an enhanced fighter type like Carl. I need to think and use my head to beat him, or get him to drop his guard down.'' Zain thought.


    Maybe some thought that this wasn''t fair, with how Zain was nning to win, but he didn''t care, he just wanted that reward card.


    Holding both swords out, Zain waited for Carl to attack with his red fist, rather than hitting them with the sword head on, Zain decided to avoid the strikes. He was able to narrowly avoid them, while swinging his sword smoothly, but Carl also wasn''t slow and he too was able to avoid the strikes.


    The two were taking it in turns, almost as one would strike and avoid the attacks, the other woulde in fast. Zain swung his swords while Carl avoided them, then Carl threw out punches while Zain stepped to the side as well.


    The onlookers could tell that it was a high ss battle and one that was a lot closer than they originally thought.


    ''Alright, now that the two of us are used to each other''s speed, it''s time to change things up a bit.'' Zain thought.


    [19 Agility >>>> 20 Agility]


    [1 stat point has been used]


    [9 Stat points remaining.]


    The sword wings continued like before,ing from the sides, but the sword was ever so closer to hitting Carl.


    ''Not fast enough!''


    [20 Agility >>>> 21 Agility]


    [1 stat point has been used]


    [8 Stat points remaining.]


    ''Faster!'' Zain thought to himself as he continued to swing, he could see his swords nearly getting there.


    [21 Agility >>>> 22 Agility]


    [1 stat point has been used]


    [7 Stat points remaining.]


    Zain''s swords were now skimming the sides of Carl''s skin bit by bit, and for the first time, he was unable to attack back, because Zain''s swords skills were perfect. One moment would follow after the other, just in the right ce not giving a chance for Carl to attack back, and Zain was still getting stronger and faster.


    [Agility 24]


    [5 stat points remaining]


    Now the shallow strikes had be clean strikes, hitting the sides of Carl''s arms. He was no longer able to dodge but was still able to block but it was hard work. When one was faster it meant their blows were stronger as well.


    Small cuts were appearing all over the hard ck scales of Carl.


    "Hey this is crazy, is Carl going to lose?" One of the zombies asked.


    The attacks were relentless with no sign of slowing down from Zain and he still wasn''t done.


    ''Now that I''m fast enough, I just need to increase my strength, here It goes!''


    [Strength 30 (+10)]


    The Titan sword was the first to hit, and this time it had cut in a few inches deep. Pulling the sword out, if Zain used it again it would slice off Carl''s other arm, making him a lot easier to fight and a lot easier to hit.


    He came swinging with the white sword first though, and rather than block, Carl went to grab it, he managed to grab it, but with a pull, Zain strength won out, and the de sliced the armoured part of the hand, making a deep cut in his palm.


    ''The armour, he can cut through it now.'' Carl realised. ''Was he ying this whole time, was he the one that was trying to test me?''


    It was hard for Carl to believe, usually he would be the one that would up the ante as things went along, but it was the first time anything like this had happened before.


    Swinging his sword again, Zain was ready to cut off Carl''s arm, he had to do something. Carl''s legs now started to light up with red energy, and he stomped the ground. Dirt flew up in the face of Zain.


    Having somewhat expected it though, Zain was ready as he appeared from the side, but before Zain could react, Carl went to punch, the hit though, it wouldn''t hit Zain, his arms weren''t long enough, which left Zain confused.


    Until the red energy shot out as the fist hit the air. The red ripples came out, and the energy had disrupted Zain for a moment, the ripples had broken his flow.


    "Clench your teeth!" Carl said, with another punch ready, right for his face.


    *****


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 Chapter 292 The conclusion

    Chapter 292 The conclusion


    The fist from Carl wasn''t just an ordinary fist with his extreme strength, but it also had the red energy running through his hand. It was a full force hit, and Zain knew that he wouldn''t be able to use his swords to block in time.


    ''If I get hit with that, I might very well be done for.'' Zain thought. ''Because of my speed and strength, there''s a good chance that Carl might have overestimated my strength, and there''s a good chance this hit to my head could kill me.''


    There was a reason why Zain thought this, and it was because his Endurance was the lowest stat he had. At the moment, it was set to 10 points. Originally, when Zain had be a zombie, he was opting for a control type.


    One that would fight from a distance while mainly using his horde. For stronger enemies, he woulde in at thest moment to take them out. If that failed, he also had his agility stat.


    He was already incredibly fast, he was superhuman with his speed. If he could avoid all hits, then why would he need to increase his endurance? This was his theory anyway. It was the first time he was facing one with this strength, and it was why he was extremely worried.


    ''Even if I don''t die, if I get hit by this, I''m going to lose this fight!''


    Looking directly at Carl in the eye, memories started to appear of all the times he had faced the faceless man in his dreams and how much it tormented him back then. If he didn''t beat Carl now, would he still be tormented by the dreams, but there was an even more important matter at hand.


    ''I have to¡­ I have to get that Master card!'' Zain twisted his foot, and from beneath, something started to glow between the two. It looked simr to when Zain had summoned the weapons in his hands, but instead there was now a figure right in front of the two.


    Carl was still in the middle of his punch, and it was toote to hold back. He threw it out and as it hit the summoned figure''s head with the red pulse of power, it exploded. Pieces of the skull and brain went flying all over the ce, and the body had copsed on the floor.


    ''Did I just¡­ just kill.''


    Carl was clearly distracted, having no idea what had happened. Even those watching couldn''t quite figure out what was happening, only that Zain wasn''t dead. He very much wasn''t, as he appeared by the side of Carl''s body swinging the titan sword as hard as he could.


    It hit Carl''s arm, slicing through it, causing it to fall to the floor. It was a first for Carl losing his arm like so.


    "What is going on!" Humfree said out loud, he didn''t know whether to feel upset or excited. He was wondering if someone had intervened because there was a dead zombie''s body on the floor.


    This was all due to Zain, who had used his summon skill to summon a zombie from his horde. The skill and the fact that he could control zombies he had been hiding for a long time now. Now he had revealed it, the idea of the reward, it was just too good for him to lose.


    After cutting off the arm, Zain didn''t stop there, the moment of surprise would onlyst so long, and it was time for him to use all the tricks he had up his sleeve. Thrusting the white sword forward, just like the stage 2 weapon, it was able to change its shape.


    Thrusting it forward it started to elongate and the end turned into a spear. Carl was still confused by everything and felt it hit him right in the centre of the body. With the speed and power it had behind it, it started to scratch the scales off and went a few inches deep into his stomach.


    With only one good hand he was unable to block as well before. At that moment, he was ready with his other hand, and made an attempt to grab the spearhead, but that''s when he felt somethingtch on and grab onto his hand.


    It wasn''t particrly strong, but he could smell and straight away noticed that it was a group of three Zombies. The reason why Carl was panicking, was because he thought that maybe those from the crowd had intervened.


    But the others from the outside saw it, they had appeared out of nowhere, seemingly, and there was another thing. Zombies didn''t usually attack other zombies, not unless they were mutated.


    These, they were clearly being controlled.


    Zain let go of the spear, and as he did the bottom of the spear''s shape changed into a rounded part like that of a shield. The difference between the stage 2 and the stage 3 was that he could transform the weapon as many times as he wanted.


    Kicking the shield part with all his strength, the spear was pushed in even further, and soon more zombies started to appear around the ce, grabbing Carl by the bottom of his feet. Before Carl knew it, Zain was standing above him with his titan sword pointed towards his neck, and around him were a group of zombies that were pinning him down.


    ''Honestly, with my current strength and the titan sword the way it is, a single thrust won''t be able to beat him, and these zombies on top of him wouldn''t be able to keep him down. If it was a fight for his life, then he would stille out the winner, but in the situation we are in now.


    ''I''m hoping he will admit defeat. While I have continuously regained the upper hand this whole fight¡­ the only way I can beat him in a fight, is if he gives up.''


    Humfree was left speechless and so were the others. If what they were seeing was true, Zain either had the ability to summon zombies, or control them, perhaps even do both. Humfree knew he was hiding something, he just never knew that it was of this calibre.


    Carl, lying there on the ground, gave a big smile, the hardened scales on his body started to fade away, as he said a few words.


    "I admit defeat." Carl said.


    [Questpleted]


    [You have received the Master card]


    *****


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 Chapter 293 Master card reward

    Chapter 293 Master card reward


    The zombies that were summoned had been unsummoned and ced back into the system. If there was any doubt as to who the zombies belonged to, now it was certainly cleared up.


    "Wait, so the new guy, the new guy actually beat Carl? Does this mean he''s the strongest in the Dark Zombies?"


    "Hey and what about his summoning power, howe he can do that, what is with that, that''s a first, right?" Another said.


    There were whispers all over the ce, some were happy that Carl had finally been defeated, amazed at what happend, but there was also a lot of caution among the Dark Zombies.


    Carl, although he was the strongest, strictly followed Humfree''s orders, and having been with Humfree for a while now, they knew he meant no harm to them. Whereas this neer, doing this, there was a good chance that it could change the status quo of everything.


    ''That fight, although a lot of people think I''m stronger than Carl since he had admitted defeat, that''s certainly not the case.'' Zain thought. ''Even based on the previous fights, he was adapting as he learned more information.''


    ''I overwhelmed him with tricks and surprises that he didn''t have time to adapt to. Increasing my strength, my speed, using the new skills from the weapons and using the zombie horde at my control.''


    ''Most likely Humfree was the one that had ordered him to fight in a certain way, to allow him to bring out the best in his opponents. If it wasn''t for the fact this was a training session, in the real world, there is no such thing as admitting defeat, only those who live and die.''


    ''If it was a fight to the death then I would lose, at least that was the case before I received the master card. I have no clue what it has in store for me.''


    Humfree''s hands were shaking as he held onto his cane, his knuckles were turning white due to the pressure.


    "Everyone, the show is over!" Humfree shouted. "Please wee our new members into the Dark Zombies!"


    The zombies cheered as they heard Humfree dere these words. Whatever the case was, for now, having strong allies like these join the group was good for them.


    "Now, we should allow our fellow fighters to rest. They have been put under a lot of pressure, as for you Zain, Dart wille to collect you in an hour or so, it seems we have more to talk about."


    There was no doubt in Zain''s mind what Humfree wanted to talk about, his powers and how he could use them. He expected this, which was why he had hidden it from others for so long as well.


    While walking back to the main building, the others stayed close to Zain. They felt like they had made the right decision to stick as close to him as possible and with him winning the fight, had allowed them to have some sort of position in this ce, since they hade along with him. Yet no one said a word, they were somewhat afraid.


    Wendy in particr was thinking back to when she had first met Zain.


    ''At the time, he was protecting that other zombie, I had never seen anything like it before¡­ It looked human. That was before I knew about Reborn zombies and before the Zombie Hunters knew about them as well, but even back then was that what Zain was capable of, controlling zombies?''


    There was a deeper question in the back of Wendy''s head. Was it the ability to create or control zombies, and if so how many? Could he possibly be able to stop the random attacks altogether?


    The group had eventually arrived in therge ballroom where several of the other zombies were staying and where they had slept for the night. As expected, they were exhausted and went to copse on the mattresses immediately.


    They were quick to notice that there were a number of eyes that were looking their way as well, it was the other zombies.


    "I think if you guys want a proper rest, it''s best if I''m not here. If Dartes looking for me, tell him I''ll be outside, in the fields." Zain replied.


    After everything that happened, especially Humfree dering they were now all part of the Dark Zombies, he felt that they wouldn''t be attacked without him, and besides, he wanted to be on his own, so he was able to focus on something else.


    Once outside, Zain could see a few other zombies talking, fighting and such, but the field was enormous so he found a safe ce away from all the others and sat down with his legs crossed, almost in a meditating-like position.


    ''It''s time to see what this card can do.'' Zain thought.


    [Would you like to use the Master card]


    [Yes]


    [Master card reward has been used]


    [The Master card is the top reward that can be granted from the system]


    [Initiating special response procedure]


    [Requirements have been unlocked.]


    The crystal that Zain would always wear around his neck, that he had picked up from Sarah, started to glow once more, and the strangest thing had urred. It looked as if it was melting and had created a circle marking on his chest.


    [The reward has been received]


    [All stats have been maxed out.]


    Level 50


    Strength: 50


    Agility: 50


    Intelligence: 50


    Endurance: 50


    [Intelligence has reached 50]


    [1000 Horde members may now be stored and controlled]


    [Your body functions will no longer deteriorate]


    [Brains will no longer be needed to be consumed]


    [Endurance has reached level 50]


    [Your body will no longer naturally consume energy during fights]


    [Energy will only be used to heal the body]


    [Human flesh is still needed to restore the body.]


    [Your body is no longer able to grow. You have reached the max level. All exp gained can be converted to members of the Horde]


    All of this, it was beyond what Zain was expecting.


    *****


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 Chapter 294 A quest not to be completed

    Chapter 294 A quest not to bepleted


    The master card reward was beyond what Zain could imagine. Just from looking at the system alone it was clear that he had reached his peak potential. The strength he could gather was double than what he had before, he was superhuman.


    Clenching his fist, he could feel the strength that he was able to gather in one hand. Although many would have called all of the feats of Zain before superhuman, it was the first time he actually felt superhuman.


    To Zain it was clear after fighting Carl, that his stats were better than his. At least in multiple departments, but now he clearly had surpassed him.


    ''This system, how is it able to do such a thing, is it because of the crystal, just what is this?'' Zain thought to himself.


    It was clear, the reason why this quest was at the master level was because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. When would he face Carl again and their levels be so far apart, yet somehow Zain had won the fight.


    ''This was a quest that I was never meant toplete, an impossible quest, which is why I got such a big reward.'' Zain thought to himself.


    There was still one part of the quest reward that Zain had to read, and it was a big sigh of relief.


    [You have defeated the person of your nightmares]


    [Your training has beenpleted]


    [You will no longer enter the dream state]


    "With this, I guess it means I will no longer suffer from those random ckouts that I keep getting, but I wonder, if it means I can no longer enter the weapon carnival as well? Either way, I should be thankful for what the system has given me. I''m in the situation to do exactly what I want." Zain said to himself as he stood up.


    Returning to the others, Zain could see that Dart was talking to the others, he was asking them where the main person in question was.


    "It looks like I came just in time, I''m ready to meet Humfree." Zain said.


    Dart nearly jumped as soon as he heard Zain''s voice. The way Dart now looked at Zain, it waspletely differentpared to before. In fact, on the walk to the main office where Humfree resided, Dart waspletely silent.


    Upon entering the room, Dart closed the door behind him, and Zain could see Humfree by a desk that was propped in the corner behind tworge bookshelves, by his side were two of the Chained Zombies.


    Unlike before, when Zain first met them, he was no longer worried, and it was no longer a question of whether he could beat them or not, it was more so a question of how many.


    ''This¡­ right now, Humfree probably evaluated me on my performance from before, he thinks that I showed him everything I had, when in reality I am now beyond what he could imagine.''


    It was a great feeling to have, as Zainfortably sat across the seat from him.


    "Congrattions." Humfree said, lifting both arms wide. "You are indeed a very special person, and who would have thought you were hiding so many things from us, but let me start by saying I don''t me you, in fact I apud you for hiding your powers because you are exactly the type of person we need."


    Zain was ready for the onught of questions about his powers, and as he revealed more information, then Humfree would try and figure out a way to use him. It was normal, it was just business.


    "I only have one question for you, Zain." Humfree said. "


    ''Here it is.''


    "Will you use your powers to defeat the demons no matter what?" Humfree asked.


    Zain was slightly taken aback by the question. Wasn''t he going to ask him how he was able to control the zombies, give him an ultimatum of him revealing his secrets or get kicked out of the Dark Zombies?


    When thinking about the actual question though, Zain knew how strong and dangerous the demons were. Sure the zombies were a problem but from what he had gathered, it was only true for this city.


    "I think getting rid of the demons is the top priority, and I will do that." Zain answered.


    "Then great." Humfree said. "That is all I care about, not what powers you have, just that the two of us have the same goal. I am not the one in control of you, you control you, just like the other Dark Zombies here.


    "I am just doing everything in my power to get rid of the demons and if everyone is doing the same, then we won''t get in each other''s way."


    It was an unexpected scenario but it actually was one Zain was more pleased about. He wondered if Humfree did know the truth whether he would change his tune, because once the demons were gone, with his powers then Zain could achieve much more, it was just that he wasn''t that type of person, but to convince them that he wasn''t.


    "Once we''ve gotten rid of all the demons, will you then focus on making a cure, a cure for the zombies."


    "Of course." Humfree answered immediately.


    With that, their conversation was practically over. The two weren''t friends, they weren''t partners, but two who were working towards the same goal in the same area, and Zain much preferred that.


    On his walk back, it made him wonder what he was to do, would he just continue to tag along with the Dark Zombies, or should he go looking for the others. His goal was originally just to get to the bottom of this. Which he had done, and now he was in a position to try and change things, especially with his power.


    "Hey!" A voice called out.


    Looking up, Zain could see that it was Carl in the hallway.


    "At midnight, meet me around the back, I want to talk."


    *****


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 Chapter 295 Levels above everyone else

    Chapter 295 Level''s above everyone else


    Having achieved everything Zain wanted to in the Dark Zombies, he was thinking it was best for him to leave. He needed to increase his territory as well as get his horde members up to the 1000 max limit so he could summon them whenever he wanted.


    Also, the more territories he had, the more exp he would gain and continue to grow his army of zombies, because there was still one focus on his mind and that was surviving. They had the demons on their back, and after that even if the demons were dealt with they needed to deal with the rest of the world.


    They weren''t going to be ready to ept zombies and most likely after the zombies did their part of getting rid of the demons like Humfree hoped, there was a good chance that the army would then juste in and get rid of all the zombies.


    This was why Zain wanted to continue to grow his personal zombies. Ones that he hadplete control of regardless of what happened. This was the best way to survive.


    Zain was leaning up against the window in the ballroom. He was looking at the sky and looking at the moon. Although the zombies were told not to go out at night, that wasn''t true for the area they were currently in, they just weren''t allowed to go beyond the wall at night.


    Although Humfree did say that all of the zombies had freedom while being here, doing such an action would bring trouble to the rest, so he understood why there was that rule.


    "I guess it''s time for me to meet up with him," Zain said, as he walked out from the ballroom heading towards the back of the main building. Before leaving, he looked at Wendy and the others who were now sound asleep.


    ''If I was to leave this ce, they would be alright now, right? Just because I helped them, doesn''t mean they need to be stuck to me like glue. Besides if others or the real enemy were to find out my strength now. There''s a good chance they''ll be after me, so travelling with me will just put them in more danger.''


    Walking down the hallway, Zain looked out the window again before looking at one of therge grandfather clocks. Therge bell sound had been removed but the short andrge hands were close to the 12 at the top.


    Exiting from the back, he carried on walking, as he saw a man in the distance standing where Zain had fought not long ago, not just that, but it was the same person he had fought against.


    "There doesn''t appear to be anyone out here, is that your doing?" Zain asked.


    Turning around, Carl gave a big smile as he saw him.


    "I''m not their boss, they have no reason to listen to me."


    The words and cheeky smirk didn''t quite match up with what he was saying. Either way, Zain was here now. After havingpleted the master ss quest, the least he could do before leaving this ce was listen to Carl.


    "So what would the strongest in the Dark Zombies want from me then?" Zain asked.


    The smile disappeared from Carl''s face and he soon got into a fighting stance with his fists in front of his face.


    "That is the exact reason why I wanted to call you. Back then, I was unable to fight properly, because the idea was to test out what you had. I never thought that there would be someone out there that was as strong as you.


    "So, as for the favour I''m asking from you, I want to fight you now, both of us going all out from the start."


    This was a surprise to Zain, he looked at Carl and thought back to the fight. Towards the end of it, Carl was using his full strength; he just got tricked with the summoned zombies. As he said before, if the two of them were to fight with everything they had from the start, Zain was to lose, but that was before, before he had gained the master card.


    "And what if you were to lose again?" Zain asked.


    "Then it would just mean that I would need to work harder out there to survive." Carl answered.


    Based on the answer, Zain was going to decide whether to fight him or not, because he felt like he owed Carl one now, so if beating him would ruin Carl''s progression then he would decline the offer, but based on the answer he gave, Carl would just grow stronger from a loss.


    "Alright, but the result is going to be a lot more different than you think." Zain said.


    Zain lifted his hands and gestured for Carl toe at him, moving his fingers.


    "Hey!" Carl said, as he dashed forward his whole body changing to the ck armour. "I said to take this seriously from the start."


    A punch was thrown out, and immediately Zain moved his head to the side avoiding the blow. As the attack hit the air, arge red pulse was made. Carl was going full strength from the start.


    "If I used my full strength from the start, then you would be dead already." Zain answered.


    Not believing that to be the case, Carl continued to throw punches out but Zain avoided them all. Even though he didn''t have the highest hand to handbat mastery, he was just too fast and was able to see things too clearly.


    The red pulses of power that hit the air, which before made him uneasy and affected him, due to his high endurance they didn''t any more.


    ''I''m punching as fast as I can, how can he avoid them all¡­ what is this!''


    That was when Zain decided to not avoid the punch, and instead he went ahead and grabbed hold of Carl''s fist. The red pulse went through his hand and Zain''s hand wasn''t pushed back or injured at all.


    "The difference between the two of us is too different now." Zain lifted Carl in the air, and mmed him into the ground. He was unable to see anything and was just staring at the sky as he felt every bone in his back having been destroyed.


    "I¡­ lost." Carl said.


    ****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 296 Emergency meeting

    Chapter 296 Emergency meeting


    The morning sun rose, and with it, Zain had finallye to a decision about what he wanted to do. He had decided the best thing was for him to leave the ce. There was a lot going on, in terms of his system and the others that he had left behind.


    He wished to know what was happening, but he thought that it was best to inform Humfree as well as the others that he intended to leave. They hade in handy a few times, especially Wendy saving his life and Anna giving him the blood weapons when needed.


    So he felt it was the least he could do before leaving. He didn''t want to travel through the night, due to the demons outside, and he needed everyone, including Humfree to wake up.


    As everyone was stretching with yawns, and arms trying to reach the feeling Zain was checking out his system.


    ''The terrors that I had, a lot of them have been dealt with. Some of them had some strong memories left in ce. It makes me wonder, was it the Zombie Hunters, the demons or maybe even the military.'' Zain thought.


    There was some good news though, and it was that he could still see Skittle, along with the other more advanced zombies he stored in his group, in the system, they were still appearing as small dots.


    ''For now, I know that the others are alive, and I know how to get to them. It might take a few days to reach them if I''m only travelling through the day. If I ran though, at top speed with my endurance now, would it really take so long?''


    It was an interesting thought, ever since Zain''s stats had changed he hadn''t really had a chance to see how much stronger he was, the only test he had was his fight with Carlst night.


    Thinking back, when the fight had ended, Zain was expecting a reaction from Carl. For him to say anything, maybe ask him a few questions but instead, Carl once again admitted defeat, he stood up off the ground and just said a few words.


    ''It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do.''


    It seemed Zain was right about the type of person Carl was. It was just a shame that it was his head and body shape that haunted many of his dreams. With everything sorted, the first lot of people Zain wanted to talk to were the humans he had travelled with.


    ''I guess here it goes, I hope they don''t ask toe with me¡­ I mean if they force themselves to follow me, then I''ll just run away.'' Zain thought.


    He felt like he would try to subconsciously try and protect those around him. The difference between them and Kun and Pink, was that the others were zombies, and less likely to die or get infected, like this lot.


    Protecting them meant there was a higher chance of his own downfall.


    "Hey!" A voice shouted from the entrance of the room. It echoed, it was shouted so loud and all of those in the room turned around including the zombies.


    "There''s an emergency meeting, everyone meet outside on the field now, Humfree''s order!" Dart exined.


    "Oh¡­ emergency meeting, what could it be about?" Anna wondered.


    "Maybe it''s an attack like what happened the other day." Wendy replied.


    From the concerned look on the other zombies'' faces, this type of meeting wasn''t normal by any means.


    ''I might need to dy my leaving here just a bit.''


    ¡ª¡ª-


    The whole zombie group had gathered outside, there were a lot of them, close to two hundred zombies that were all gathered in one space. At the front their was Dart, Carl and the two chained zombies.


    When looking at Carl there was a deep look on his face. Despite everything happening there was always an uplifting sense of air around him, like despite everything going on, he thought everything would turn out okay, yet it was clear that something was up.


    "Everyone!" Humfree shouted with a loud booming voice. It was surprisingly loud considering they were outside. There was no use of a microphone and everyone could still hear him.


    "You all know the importance of our tasks, as I have not lied to any one of you and exined in full detail what we are all to do, the extermination of the demons. All of you here are our hope!"


    The zombies continued to listen as they were taking in Humfree''s words.


    "As you know, we have many groups that are spread through the city, reporting to me about what the situation is, and big news has recentlye through. The Reborn group.


    "A group of Reborn Zombies that don''t share the same goal as us, but are fellow zombies like all of you. I have just received news that their base has been attacked, and they have been wiped outpletely." There was a slight crack in Humfree''s voice.


    Was it a worry for the Reborn zombies, no that wasn''t it. The leader of the Reborn group was none other than Sarah Bain, and although she and Humfree had their differences, they were husband and wife.


    He still cared for her and that was proof of it.


    "The Reborn group were a group of strong zombies, and we had many on the inside. Those that were on the inside have been eliminated. We have only received information from our scouting groups.


    "But to me, this is clear, it is the work of the demons that we are fighting against! They have taken them out, those that tried to work with the demons have been taken out by them!"


    It was clear to Zain that there was no way for Humfree to know if this was true or not, but he was using this opportunity to cement the idea of his way, which Zain agreed with anyway, so he didn''t have a problem with it.


    "I believe we can no longer just stay and hold up in this base of ours. The time hase¡­ it is time for us to act!"


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 297 Choosing where to go

    Chapter 297 Choosing where to go


    While Zain was part of the Reborn group, there were people that he had travelled with and had done a number of missions together. Quite a bit of time had been spent together and they got along well, at least everyone else did regardless whether or not they spoke to Zain, since he was a man of few words.


    Still, these people grew to trust Zain more than anyone, and they were Pink, Kun, Dab, Kelly andstly Skittle, who had been his childhood friend.


    Recently, a tough decision hade up for them and that was leaving Zain behind. There was an attack at where they had made their base, the school, and as the Zombie Hunters attacked with arge force, the only thing they could do was escape.


    Skittle, with his great strength, wanted to carry Zain out of the area, but they had constantly ran into trouble one time after another with the super users. They could see that they were trying hard to protect Zain for some reason, and eventually they had no choice but to leave him behind.


    Little did they know, it was because of these actions that the Zombie Hunters had decided to take Zain in, even though it looked like he was at the point of death.


    The group had gathered together and were in an apartment room. These areas were scattered all over the city, and they had chosen one that was full of zombies. There was less chance of them being raided by humans looking for a ce to stay.


    "What are you doing?" Dab asked, as he sat next to Skittle at the dining table.


    There was arge map of the city spread out, with multiple areas crossed out and colour coordinated. As they moved, Dab had seen Skittle adding to the map more and more.


    "I''m tracking the movements of all the groups with the information we have." Skittle said. "At first, we moved to the other areas within our territory, the areas that Zain had already taken over, but everywhere we went, the Zombie Hunters ended up attacking the area and taking it over.


    "To the point where we''ve had to enter the inner circle of the city. We can''t go much closer to the centre, that''s where the higher stage zombies are at. No group has entered that area at all yet." Skittle exined.


    "With the way the Zombie Hunters are moving, it looks like they''ve made their move." Kun said,ing over and taking a look at the map while standing with his hands on the table. "Doesn''t that mean that they''ll be spread more thin, they should be losing power as well, it will be a chance for us to get Zain."


    "With just us?" Kelly said, drinking a ss of water in the kitchen area. "You saw how many of those Zombie Hunters they had that attacked the school. If they''ve decided to go through with this extermination n, then they have to be confident they have enough strength to get rid of all of the zombies.


    "Once they get rid of all the outer areas, they''ll probably move toward the centre as well. Besides, we don''t even know where Zain is, so we would just be going in blind."


    They all wanted to rescue Zain, but none of them could see a way of doing so. As time passed they were hoping he would just burst through the door, telling them all he was back. They had run into him before, he hade to them before, so why wouldn''t it happen again?


    "There is no one else here, more than me, that wishes to save Zain." Skittle said. "Right now though, we would just be risking our lives for no reason as we have no information. If it was Zain, you know what he would tell us all to do. He would tell us that we need to survive."


    Memories started to appear of Zian in their heads, the amount of times he had said those words as they were out on their missions, right now, they could hear the same voice saying the same words in their heads putting a small smile on all of their faces.


    "Okay, so then with the current situation the way it is, how the heck do we survive all of this?" Pink asked. "If we go deeper, we risk running into the demons and the higher stage zombies. If we stay in the outer areas and the Zombie Hunters get us. So what does that leave us with doing?"


    "Well." Skittle said. "We could continue wandering around as we are doing, but that''s not the safest thing, and if we do want to help Zain, we need information. So the best thing to do would be to get help. The Military had quite a good rtionship with Zain. We also know that Kelly is close with a particr person there, and Zain also has a group of humans that he had saved in the past that are there.


    "However, the military''s situation is unclear. They answer to those on the outside, and we don''t know how cut off the current military is from within. If we were to work with them, most likely we would need to bring something to them as well."


    Hearing this, they felt like they knew where this was going, because it meant they only had one option.


    "There is one group that is epting of us Reborn Zombies, and if we exined the situation, I''m sure they would let us in. It''s a bit of a risk but I don''t think they would be hostile towards us¡­ but there is a chance."


    Skittle''s finger pointed to one area on the map. They all leaned forward and as expected his finger was where they guessed.


    "The Reborn facility." Pink said.


    ******


    ****


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 Chapter 298 The secret item!

    Chapter 298 The secret item!


    The group had made a decision, and it was to head back to the Reborn group, which was run by Sarah Bain, one of the two creators of the zombie apocalypse. It was one of the safest ces for the group currently, and on top of that it was the ce that would most likely help them find the whereabouts of Zain.


    Getting there was no easy task though, since they would have to travel through multiple territories. As time went on, zombies of higher stages were being seen more frequently, but it also meant that the group could also grow stronger.


    As they travelled through multiple areas, they defeated the high stage beast with their teamwork, and with the crystals they continued to absorb their power through the technique that Zain had shown them.


    All of them could feel themselves getting stronger, this included Skittle as well. He too was able to absorb crystals, so he increased his strength and power even without Zain''s use of the system.


    Before arriving at the Reborn group, they wanted to be as strong as possible, that way if they did need to use force or use their powers they would have a chance to escape.


    "Here we are." Pink said, standing in front of the Reborn gate. The infamous sliding door, the only way in and out to the facility.


    "Man, I really hope they just let us in with no trouble." Dab said, staring up at the camera, they hadn''t moved forward enough to be caught on the camera just yet. All of them felt a little uneasy.


    Taking a deep breath, Kun was the one that went ahead, and the rest soon followed. Now they knew they could clearly be seen on the camera.


    "This is Kun!" He shouted. "We have returned with no intentions of conflict, Zain is currently not with us, we just wish to talk."


    The group waited in silence. They were waiting for someone to speak on the other side with a microphone as they had done in the past, but instead the door started to slide open.


    "Wait a second, do we go in?" Kelly asked. "What if it''s a trap, what if the whole Reborn group is waiting for us. They could have even more people than they did before we left."


    "That''s just a risk that we have to take." Skittle said, and this time he was the one that went ahead, and the rest stayed behind him.


    Entering the long white hallway, they could see at the other end, there was Sarah and standing by her side was X and Sid. The two strongest and closest members of the Reborn group.


    However, when looking at Sarah, her expression was that of a soft smile, for some reason she always had this weing aura around them.


    "It''s nice to see you are back here again, it''s a shame that Zain isn''t with you." Sarah said. "Back then, I wish I had time to exin myself, but I never got the chance. If youe in, maybe we can talk again."


    The five looked at each other. It didn''t seem like a trap, and if it was, Sarah was an incredible actor. The thing was, that might have been the case, afterall she had kept the secret meetings with the demons underwraps.


    Either way, nearly the entire group took a step forward and continued to follow Sarah. Not much had changed so they all knew where they were heading to, and it was the privateb.


    When they entered inside, they looked around to see if there was anyone that was hiding out of sight, but it didn''t seem to be the case, and when staring out of the ss window that would look at the main area underneath them, they could see that the Reborn zombies were high in number.


    ''At least it doesn''t look like Sarah has given up the Reborn Zombies to the demons.'' Skittle thought.


    "What did you expect to see, no zombies here?" Sarah jokingly said, seeing the reaction of everyone.


    The two groups stood on either side of arge work top table. It was wide enough to the point where one even if they stretched, wouldn''t be able to reach the other side. One group stood on one side while the other group stood on the other.


    They both thought it was better this way just in case it became more hostile.


    "I don''t know your situation with Zain, but I can understand all of your reactions that day full heartedly." Sarah said. "Which is why, with you returning today I have no malice against any of you.


    "I just want to have a chance to exin myself. As you know, the truth is I have been talking to the ones that we know as demons. I know their power, and I know ours as well, and I believe that if both sides fight, then there will be no winner for either side of this.


    "If all of us die trying to save ourselves then what are we fighting for? At the same time, of course I know we can''t trust the demons whoel heartedly, which is why the negotiations had been taking a lot of time. Because I need to know for certain that everyone is safe, that includes the Reborn Zombies and humans."


    From her words, Sarah had good intentions. She was trying to solve this where everybody won, but the real question was whether or not that was possible, or if it was just a dream.


    "But how¡­ whatever deal you make here with the demons, how can you get the military and the outside world to agree, they would never agree to letting even us zombies roam free, with this infection in our blood." Kun said, having worked with the Reborn group and military before he knew what they were like the most.


    "Because I have something that both the demons and military would be interested in." Sarah said.


    Just as she was about to say those words, an rm went off in her base. X quickly rushed at one of the terminals and turned on the screen showing the cameras that were outside.


    Here they could see a Reborn Zombie by the door covered in blood.


    "What''s the situation?" X asked.


    "Quickly open up, they''reing, they''reing!" the zombie urgently shouted. "It''s the Zombie Hunters, they''re attacking the town, they''reing for us!"


    ******


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 Chapter 299 Leader of the Zombie hunters

    Chapter 299 Leader of the Zombie hunters


    The Reborn group had a policy that zombies when sent out on missions were to go out in groups, yet only a single Reborn zombie had returned, and they were incredibly panicked.


    Sarah wasted no time in bringing the zombie in, while X was sorting out the facility as it was put on high alert. They had gone through a few procedures, thinking that a day like this mighte.


    Maybe they thought it would be the military, or the Dark Zombies, or even the demons, but today it was the Zombie Hunters that were taking aim at them.


    "What happened, rk?" Sarah asked, as the Reborn zombie had been brought into theb. Sid, as well as Pink and the others were still there. "You need to exin to us what is going on, so we have a clear picture before they arrive."


    "The situation outside is getting more dire." rk started to exin. "The resources, the brains that we need to function, need toe from a certain dead, or a certain type of people that are alive.


    "As time goes on, less resources can just be picked up off the ground, and less people are dying. We didn''t want toe back empty handed. So we went a little deeper than we usually would have done, but we had been there a couple of times before.


    "This time, as we were searching through the apartment buildings, we ran into them, Zombie Hunters. There weren''t a small amount either. By the time we realised it, we were trapped. They were going through all of the buildings in the entire area."


    rk''s exnation sounded quite simr to what Pink and the others had experienced, it was only due to Zain''s survival techniques that they hadn''t ran into anyone and were able to spot the Zombie Hunters first.


    "Their strength was overwhelming, they were so strong with their powers that they didn''t even need to kill us. Instead they trapped us and ced us in one room altogether.


    "After that, they brought in two others, one was their leader. Everyone acted differently when they saw him. A big guy, broad shoulders, young and confident. By his side there was another man wearing a hoodie.


    "The man with the hoodie, he touched the others head''s and he was able to read their memories. They managed to find out everything about the Reborn group. How many of us there are, and where we''re located.


    "Luckily, I was thest person for them to interrogate, and while they were busy, I made a run for it and bolted out of the window. I managed to make somewhat of a softnding, because Inded in a pile of dead zombie bodies, corpses that they had been piling up high.


    "They''reing, I know they are, I could see the look on their faces. They didn''t care that we could speak just like them, they just cared whether we were zombies or not!"


    It was clear rk was shaken up by the whole experience, and what he said seemed true and exined why his clothes were so bloody.


    "Out of all of the groups that attacked us first, it had to be the Zombie Hunters, the most unreasonable out of the bunch." Sarah mumbled, biting on the back of a pen lid.


    If it was any of the other groups, she could attempt to talk to them in some way, but not the Zombie Hunters.


    Sarah headed to one of the terminals that had multiple screens on disy, at the moment it was disying the camera feed just outside of the base. She typed away a few times and the cameras changed splitting to even more feeds, a grid of around twenty.


    The others rushed over as they looked at the cameras. It was the CCTV system through the town.


    "I hacked into the town''s CCTV feed a while ago. I did this just for situations like this. When battling arge group, the best thing one can have is information, and this should give us a lot of information." Sarah exined.


    Looking at the feeds, it certainly did, but the situation seemed a lot worse than they imagined. In the town, nearly every alleyway the camera was pointed at, groups of people could be seen going through the streets.


    Most of them were wearing the ck clothing with the words Zombie Hunters written on the back, and while they were walking through the streets, they were getting rid of every zombie they could see with ease.


    They went down as easy as stomping on ants. The regr zombies were unable to put up a fight, and the other stage zombies had been cleared in the area long ago.


    "What is this?" Sid''s mouth was left wide open. "Did they send the whole Zombie Hunters after us! There has to be around 5000 people!"


    It certainly looked that way, and if it was the case, it meant there were 5000 humansing after them, with strong abilities all here to do just one thing.


    "What do we do?" Kun asked.


    "What can we do?" Pink replied. "The Zombie Hunters have already nearly taken over all the other territories. It seems like they are forcing our hand. At some point, we need to fight back, and with these guys, it might be the best chance we have."


    Kelly, Skittle and Dab couldn''t agree more about that, because there certainly wasn''t something they could do with the five of them, and even if Zain was here the situation would be tough.


    "That''s him¡­ that''s the leader!" rk pointed out at the camera.


    Standing at the front of one group was the upscale young man. Staring into the camera, Skittle squinted his eyes, and then they suddenly opened extremely wide.


    "That''s¡­ it''s Buke!"


    *****


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 Chapter 300 Zombie Hunters Attack

    Chapter 300 Zombie Hunter''s Attack


    Skittle continued to stare at the camera feed of therge young man who was standing in front of all the other Zombie Hunters. The camera didn''t have any sound, but based on his actions as he pointed and directed the other members to act, it was quite clear that he was someone important.


    If he wasn''t the leader, then he was at least someone who was very high up thedder in the Zombie Hunters.


    "Wait, you know him, by name as well?" Kun asked.


    "He¡­ he was a university student, a close friend of mine and Zain. This was before the whole apocalypse started." Skittle exined.


    The three of them, although all of their personalities were extremely different, somehow they stayed friends, hanging out with each other whatever opportunity they would get.


    Even if it was just hanging out in a room together while Zain yed games, Skittle would study and Buke would just make fun of the two all the time for being such giant nerds, at least in his head that''s what he saw them as.


    Looking back, a small smile appeared on Skittle''s face. So much had changed since then. He would often hear people talk about how they hoped something like a zombie apocalypse woulde.


    It would make the world more interesting and it would put the real skills of people to the test. He was sure most people who thought that way were either dead, or regretting those words. One only knew what they had until they no longer had it.


    Meanwhile Pink was thinking about these three friends. Someone as amazing as Zain, and even Skittle, was impressive but now one of the three was the leader of the Zombie Hunters.


    If the leader was half as impressive as Zain, then she felt like they might have arge problem on their hands.


    "If you are friends, can''t you go out there and speak to him, he should listen to you, right?" Dab asked.


    "I don''t think that''s going to work." Skittle answered. "You see, when the apocalypse started the three of us were still in this together. We travelled where we could together, but in the end, I was put in a situation where I was bit, and that''s how I became what I am now.


    "You know what I was like before, I was unable to speak, I was wandering aimlessly just like the other zombies. Of course, in Buke''s eyes I was no longer his friend, and was nothing but just a monster.


    "Buke tried to kill me, while Zain did everything to protect me. I don''t know much of what happened after that, apart from Zain winning the fight."


    Sarah was rushing frantically as she typed a few things on theputer, and it looked like she was trying to send a lot of information somece else. The way she was acting it was as if the Zombie Hunters would enter even theb they were in now.


    "It''s quite obvious what happened." Sarah said, as she finished doing whatever it was she was doing. "Zain let his friend live and in turn he managed to gain super abilities. He had a hatred for his friend being turned, you, and for his friend who was a zombie as well for beating him and putting him in that situation.


    "Using his new powers, he decided to create an organisation that would get rid of all of the zombies all together."


    The way Sarah spoke, they were able to put an image in their head. It made sense, they could see all of that happening, especially with Zain''s personality, he might have even said a few words which spurred him on to an even deeper hatred.


    It was time for them all to move, not the time to be trying to figure things out, as they had a base to look after. The zombies staying in the facility were sitting ducks, so instead they all got into different positions.


    Many of them were on the rooftop of buildings, or on the buildings near the side. They were taking cover, hiding behind ledges, all facing outward. Then standing out the front of the gate, were X and Sid.


    "We''ve sent our fastest Reborn groups to take them out, when they see an opportunity. It looks like a lot of these Zombie Hunters are reckless and confident in their strength. So much to the point where they break off from their group and act solo." Sid exined.


    "Yes, but they are muchrger in numbers than us." X replied. "It''s easier to defend than attack, but we have ack of weapons, while they have a wide range of ability users that can do all sorts of things."


    One of the main advantages of zombies was their high numbers but for the Reborn group, that just wasn''t the case.


    "We will wait, and at the first sign, we will do the best we can. If the two of us get rid of arge number of their forces, then there is a chance that they will back off." X stated. "They don''t know how strong our forces are, and just assume everyone is as strong as us."


    Cheering, chanting, andughter could be heard, as they looked down the street that led toward them. There was more than one street that led to the Reborn base, but they had used cars to block the pathways from the left, right, and the smaller pathways from the side, concentrating the Zombie Hunters toe through one direction only.


    Soon they could see it, a horde packed the streets, walking down as if they were taking part in some type of parade. It was hard to tell who were the zombies when looking at this type of situation.


    "Get ready." X said.


    Suddenly, in front of his eyes, a blur appeared and therge young man named Buke, along with another fellow Zombie Hunter had teleported right in front of them. Holding up a fist, Buke threw it out hitting X.


    He was sent flying into the air, breaking right through the metal door, bending it apart and sending it right through the concrete base.


    "There''s something you have that I want." Buke said with a smile.


    *****


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 Chapter 301 Reunited

    Chapter 301 Reunited


    After the Dark Zombies had learned of what had urred, Humfree had made the decision that it was time for them to move out. So far they had been building up their strength, not makingrge movements, and mainly focusing on the demons.


    However, from the information they had gathered, it appeared that allowing others to take each other out wasn''t going to work. So, they gathered the helicopters and arge chunk of the team was on the move.


    A good 90 percent of them had gone out on this expedition, it was the bulk of their forces, leaving just a token group behind, and that token group didn''t really have anyone of significance either.


    Those that had arrived with Zain were leaving, Carl was going as well as the two Chained Zombies that would always be by his side.


    "Hey!" Humfree said as he was boarding his chopper, along Carl and the Chained Zombies. "You,e with us."


    Zain was split from Anna and the others, as he boarded therge helicopter along with Carl and Humfree. They soon took off, and they were flying over the city once again.


    "What do you think of all this?" Humfree asked, looking at Zain who seemed to be sitting there with no expression at all.


    "What do I think?" Zain said. "The truth is, I was going to leave anyway, so the fact that you''re giving me a free ride is great, but if you''re asking me something else, as in whether the right time to strike is correct or not, I think it''s a big risk to your group."


    Humfree let the words settle in for a while, until a smile appeared on his face.


    "I can see why you''ve survived for so long." Humfree said, "But, it''s because your viewpoint is¡­ let''s not use the word wrong, but different."


    "Right now, you''re in survival mode, and all you can think about is making the best decision to survive. Now, if we were to look at the current situation I would say you are right."


    "If someone took out the Reborn group, then we are also unlikely to be strong enough to take them out. So there is a big risk there, but then what? If the Reborn group gets taken out, then next would be the military, then after that the Zombie Hunters, andstly, it''s us."


    "There''s a reason why the demons have yet to make big movements, because they''re waiting for all of us to take on each other. With their powers of disguise, they can manipte the situation so they don''t have to do the work."


    "In truth, we need to act now, and as a way to make sure of our permanent survival and not temporary survival, the best choice would be if we were all to work together."


    For the first time, Zain felt like he actually had his eyes open up a bit. What Humfree was telling him made a lot of sense, but he also wanted to take the advice with a grain of salt.


    After all, this was the person who refused to work with his partner, and abandoned her because they both had different paths. Maybe because she was in danger, he was having a change of hearts and was making all these excuses just to help her.


    ''I wonder¡­ Humfree is still human, my intelligence has increased, but I still don''t feel so emotionally attached, if anything less so.'' Zain thought. ''Will things always be like this.''


    It was an odd feeling of almost loss, he wanted to feel sad that he had an inability to feel an emotion, yet, he couldn''t even do that, which was making him feel as if there was something partly wrong with him.


    The helicopters soon came across the area the Reborn group was once in, and it looked as if they had gone over a battlefield. Therge apartment buildings had huge chunks missing and rubble on the floor.


    The ground was littered with dead zombies, and humans as well. Many buildings were set aze, continuing to burn, while others were charcoal ck, no longer able to burn.


    From a distance they could see the Reborn building and it looked the same. Out of the corner of his eyes, Zain could see that Humfree''s knuckles were turning white once again.


    "Hey wait!" Zain said, as his system had popped up with something. They were down one street away from the main Reborn building. "Can wend here, there''s something I want to see."


    If it was a request from anyone else, then Humfree would have declined straight away, but this zombie had been surprising himtely in more ways than he could imagine, and if he was to make a request, then surely it would be something interesting once again.


    As the helicopternded, the others continuednding in different areas yet close together, with most of them being based around the base of the Reborn group. Before the helicopternded, Zain had jumped down confident his legs would take the fall and rushed off.


    "Keep an eye on him!" Humfree shouted through the loud sound of the des above, looking at Carl.


    Carl jumped off and went after Zain, but he was sure if Zain wanted to, that he wouldn''t be able to keep up with him. After running the street for a while, Zain continually looked at his system, until he took a sudden right turn.


    It was a crumbled apartment building, he lifted therge piles of rubble throwing them behind him as if they were styrofoam. He continued and continued until he had reached the foundations of the bottom floor.


    Up ahead, he could see them.


    "The system was right." Zain mumbled to himself.


    The sound of footsteps were hearding toward him, Carl appeared by Zain''s side and could see what he was looking at.


    "I''m assuming you know these people?" Carl asked.


    "I do." Zain replied.


    Out from the apartment building, Skittle, Pink, Kun, Kelly and Dab were all alive and well, and were surprised to see Zain in front of them.


    "Zain!" They shouted and ran over, as they did, many of them grabbed onto Zain tightly, especially Skittle who wrapped his arms around his waist.


    "What a surprise this is to see." Carl smiled. "I thought someone like him would have no friends."


    The group had a moment, before they started to correct themselves, as they brushed rubble off their clothes and pretended to be nonchnt about their meeting, However, Skittle had a serious look on his face.


    "Zain¡­ there''s something you need to know. The Zombie Hunters, their leader, it''s Buke¡­ and he did all of this." Skittle said.


    *****


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 Chapter 302 Fate Intertwined

    ?


    The system allowed Zain to locate where the others were, and that was mostly due to the fact that nearly all the other zombies that he had forced to join his horde had been defeated.


    There were still a few that he had kept in more hidden ces that were alive, since his summoning didn''t quite store the zombies, but it allowed him to bring them more so from one ce to another.


    So his super zombies, such as Cobra, were kept in a more hidden area. Zain could always transfer his mind over to them and move them as he wished if it was a real emergency anyway.


    The Dark Zombies were searching the area, trying to see if there was anyone else that they could find, but so far there was no luck. In the meantime, Zain and the others had been brought to the helicopter they had arrived in.


    A few makeshift tables had beenid out as well as gazebos that were used to block the sun and wind. They looked to be making a little base here. It didn''te as too much of a surprise, especially since from the big movements they had made, the Dark Zombies wouldn''t be going back until they had found something.


    Zain could tell as well, they were searching for something, and it wasn''t clues as to who had done it, that was obvious.


    Humfree, along with Carl, Pink, and the rest had all been given foldable chairs to sit on. The tension seemed heavy, and honestly Zain wanted to talk to the others on his own, but it seemed like Humfree would never allow for something like that to happen.


    "It''s good to know that Zain''s friends have safely survived this atrocious attack." Humfree said with a smile. "I guess introductions are in order first, my name is Humfree Bain, I am Sarah''s husband who I''m sure you knew very well, and also in charge of these zombies which we call the Dark Zombies."


    It was short, sweet and to the point, so much had been revealed to the others they didn''t know how to take it, or when they could butt in to say something.


    "We have been looking after your friend Zain for a while now, when we learned of this attack, we rushed over here but it appears we were toote, now I would like to ask." The smile on Humfree''s face had gotten wider, to the point where you couldn''t see his eyes and just what looked like two upside down crescent moons. Underneath that smile they could tell there were intense emotions floating about.


    "What happened here, and where is Sarah?" Humfree asked.


    The others looked at each other before answering andstly, which was noticed by everyone, they looked at Zain. It was almost as if they were asking for permission. Despite Humfree clearly dering he was the leader there and the one asking the question.


    To be honest, Zain couldn''t lie, it was a nice feeling seeing them act this way. He gave them the nod to go ahead and Skittle cleared his throat as he went onto exin.


    "I''m sure you already know this but it was the Zombie Hunters." Skittle exined. "They had been clearing the areas before all of this happened. It seemed like they were making their move.


    "One of the Reborn groups had been caught on a mission and that''s when they had learned about the group. After that, it looked like the whole group of five thousand, maybe ten thousand, of them came down the streets all with their powers attacking everything they could see.


    "It was a ughter, and not a single person could stop the leader¡­ Buke."


    The name brought a wave of rushing memories for Zain. Skittle had already told him a bit before, about how Buke was the leader of the Zombie Hunters. With his strong personality and his ability to lead, Zain always thought in the future he would amount to something spectacr like this.


    However, that was before the situation had be one like this one. Zain''s prediction turned out to be true, just in a bad way for all of them.


    "Did he manage to see you?" Zain asked, interrupting the story.


    "Wait, why would it be a big deal if he saw him?" Carl asked, noticing the question was directed at Skittle.


    "We knew each other, but we parted ways after a little incident at a supermarket." Zain exined.


    "Wait." Humfree said his finger on his chin. "Supermarket, this friend of yours, he didn''t happen to be around your age, wide shoulders, strong upper body and had light brown spikey hair¡­ and was it the supermarket in Ragent town?"


    Now it was time for Zain to be shocked. The description Humfree had given, matched perfectly with their friend. It was a vague description so he wasn''t so surprised, that was until they had heard the name of the area they were in.


    A small town that was next to the university they stayed at, the supermarket where everything had changed for everyone, and they had all gone their separate ways.


    "You''re right¡­ how did you know that?" Zain asked.


    "It was a coincidence." Humfree answered. "You see, during our tests we did find the chance that there were those that could transform into superhuman. You know this from what I told you.


    "I had run into him outside of the supermarket. I could tell he had all the signs of being a superhuman, so I decided to leave him be. I never thought he would create an organisation like the Zombie Hunters¡­ honestly, I thought that they might even be able to help us against the demons."


    It hade as a surprise that Humfree was there back then. The fate of everyone involved was intertwining but just not in the right direction.


    "And what about Sarah, do you know what happened to her?" Humfree asked again.


    To which, Skittle gave a nervous nod.


    ****


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 Chapter 303 Bring Her Back!

    ?


    Piles of dead bodies had already been brought out and identified. As Humfree had stated, he had been keeping an eye on the Reborn group for a while, so he had a type of list of who was part of the Reborn group.


    There were even some zombies there that he had invited over to the Dark Zombies, but they had refused to join, eventually joining the Reborn Zombies. He wouldn''t have punished them just because they chose to join another side.


    What it did show was that nearly every Reborn zombie had been killed, which was why there was the big question in their mind, what happened to Sarah?


    "Sarah." Skittle said. "She was the first to realise that the fight was a lost cause. When X had already lost to Buke, she had given the order to everyone, to escape, to run away and do whatever they could to survive.


    "The Reborn group had attempted to do that, but the Zombie Hunters were ruthless and powerful."


    "We only survived because of Skittle!" Dab interrupted. He felt like it was an important point to make, credit needed to be given to their saviour and it didn''t sound like Skittle was going to do it himself.


    "Running away, they would just catch us, so we went into this building, Pink and Kun destroyed the support pirs so the building would copse on itself. The rest of us fortified a certain area of the building while using our own strength to protect ourselves."


    "I see." Carl said. "The Zombie Hunters weren''t meticulous in their search. It''s not as if they were going to go around making sure each zombie is dead. So they just assumed you had been crushed."


    "Not just that." Skittle added. "I believe we were just an afterthought. From the beginning, it seemed like their goal was to get Sarah. They continued to shout out her name, and they were very careful to not use anyrge scale attacks on the base until they got Sarah.


    "In short, although we didn''t see it with our own eyes, due to the situation we were in. We believe that Sarah was taken by the Zombie Hunters, alive."


    With a wave of his finger, Humfree had called Dart over. He came by his side, and whispered in his ear. The two of them nodded for a bit, until he ced his hands together as if he had a hard decision to make.


    "So far, among the dead, there has been no one that resembles Sarah." Humfree reported. "So what you say is most likely to be true, although there are some extremely burnt and disfigured bodies that it''s impossible to tell who is who. We just have to hope that the Zombie Hunters stick true to their name, and they only go after zombies and not humans."


    It was a tense situation and the group broke up for a while after sharing what information they had. Zain did some more exploring. He wanted to refill his horde members with hordes of zombies, but in the area they were in now, it waspletelycking in zombies.


    Zain was wondering what to do next with the others, or if he should try to slowly im back the territories he had lost, or maybe even try to go for new territories with his powers. If he entered deeper into the centre of the city, there was a chance he could even recruit higher stage zombies to join his horde.


    With his strength, he would be able to survive, and the exp gained, he could make those in his horde stronger. He put a pin in that idea, for a moment, as he saw movement from Humfree and the Dark Zombies. They were clearly getting ready for something, and Humfree had called over for another meeting.


    Humfree then stood up and mmed his fist on the table. A little of his frustration was shown.


    "Alright,  I''ve made the decision, we have to go and rescue Sarah Bain." Humfree dered. "The Zombie Hunters force isrge. The Dark Zombies will attack directly from the front. We will aim to hold out as long as we can while minimising the amount of losses on our side, but it''s important that we make it look like we are pushing.


    "Meanwhile, Carl, Zain, I want you guys to take a small group with you, ten people maximum in size, that is focused on rescuing Sarah. Once Sarah has been rescued we will pull back to the base, and figure out our next move from there."


    A n had been made, but it was one that involved Zain.


    ''I''ve been on this ride with Humfree for long enough. There is no need for me to risk going up against the Zombie Hunters now. Humfree is putting us on a suicide mission just because of his feelings.''


    Zain raised his hand at that moment.


    "I can''t join this mission." Zain said. "I know you said that it''s important for us to work together. So why are we attacking instead of talking? I know the Zombie Hunters won''t talk to us, but then in my opinion, there is no need to risk so many lives, including mine, just to save one person, even if she is your wife."


    Sarah was a kind hearted person, Zain could tell from what he had learned, but many would die in the process. Having Sarah on their side, without the Reborn group gave them no benefit. She was just one scientist and they already had Humfree.


    "I thought you might say that, and you are not the only one that feels this way, trust me Carl said the same thing to me when I suggested this." Humfree said. "But thier is a reason why the Zombie Hunters had kept her alive. The reason why they came looking for her.


    "After hearing your friends'' story, I think it''s clear now. They already know that Sarah has a cure for the Zombies." Humfree dered.


    *****


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 Chapter 304 A Raid!

    ?


    The Zombie Hunter''s base was uniquepared to all the other bases, and this was because they didn''t reside in a single building, and instead had made their base within a gatedmunity area.


    A housing area that was located away from the centre of the city. It was on a road where there was arge ck gate that one would have to go through and then beyond that there were a number ofrge houses.


    In this housingmunity, there were roughly thirty or so houses that each had ten bedrooms along with multiple shower facilities and more. The houses themselves could amodate a lot more people than that, that was just how many rooms a single house had.


    There was plenty of open space and a lot of distance between the houses as well, and in between them there were now a number of tents set up, sleeping bags on the floor along with other things.


    It almost looked like they had turned the housing area into a small little vige. There was even trade going on within themunity of Zombie Hunters. Trading baked goods, trading equipment, and so on.


    Then there was thergest house in themunity, it was a mansion that spread out wide and looked to be a floorrger than anywhere else. It was white in colour with hints of brown wood decor on the outside.


    The main feature was therge balcony that was ced on the top floor.  It was the reason why Buke had imed this ce for himself, as he was able to stand outside and overlook everything that was going on.


    "A functioning society." Buke said with a smile. "One that works because people aren''t afraid of getting infected and losing their minds."


    "We had a functioning society as well before you killed them all!" A voice shouted out from behind.


    Turning around, Buke walked back into the master bedroom of the house. There were around ten people inside, almost all of them members of the Zombie Hunters. Some were sitting on chairs off to the side, rxing on the sofa, or just lying on the bed.


    In the room as well though, was Sarah, tied up with her hands behind her back, sitting on a wooden chair.


    "Killed them?" Buke replied. "I think you''re very wrong about that. How can we kill something that is already dead, and do you know what we found when we raided your facility?


    "Human flesh hoarded and stored in containers, along with our brains. Do you really think people can willingly live side by side with something they know requires them to be eaten to survive."


    It was the natural fear, she understood why they were scared, why anyone would be scared.


    "Anyway, you see there is a reason why we kept you alive, you see, we looked in the brains of a few of the colleagues you had close to you." Buke said, pushing the side of his head with his index finger. "And it turns out, you this entire time had a cure¡­ a cure to turn the zombies back."


    Sarah gritted her teeth when she heard this.


    "It''s not what you think it is¡­" Sarah said.


    "Oh, don''t worry." Buke clicked his fingers, signalling one of the other hunters toe forward. One of the men with long ck hair covering his eyes and reaching the top of his nose, walked forward. He then ced both of his hands around the side of her head.


    "I''m somewhat counting on it not being what it sounds like, whether it kills all the zombies rather than cures them, well, that''s not really my problem, is it?" Buke said.


    The man ced both hands on the side of Sarah''s head and started to focus. Memories were shifting inside his mind, multiple types of information were being gathered. The man''s head was twitching and sweat was running down the side of his head. He then could feel something else, dripping from his nose andnding on top of Sarah''s head.


    "Ah!" the man let go, wiping his nose only to realise he had a nosebleed. "There''s too much information. I''m getting all sorts of things, and I can''t actually find out about the cure. It will take some time for me to search through everything."


    "Well, continue at it." Buke said. "Get some rest and we''ll keep searching until we find out our answer."


    "You don''t realise what you are doing." Sarah said. "You ruined everything! I was talking to the demons, that''s who we need to worry about. We can''t get rid of the zombies until we learn to strike a deal with the demons.


    "If you get rid of the zombies now, with no deal having been struck, then it will be the end for us all!" Sarah was pleading, her voice was cracking as it sounded like she was almost at the point of tears.


    Truthfully things had already been ruined. With all of the Reborn zombies gone now, what could she do? What bargaining tool did she even have against the demons, apart from the cure, but they needed something more than just the demon''s words.


    Still, the cure was herst trump card, and these fools were just going to hasten the whole world''s demise.


    Loud banging from outside, beyond the balcony, could be heard. Several people started to hit pots and pans together. Quickly rushing outside, he could see there was amotion going on.


    "Alert, alert, we''re being attacked by zombies!" The men were shouting from below.


    "Zombies,ing to attack us¡­ can the guards not deal with a simple matter?" Buke thought.


    That was until he saw an object flying in the air, it was ck and small but gettingrger by the second.


    It then crashed right into the middle of the grounds, hitting several of the Zombie Hunters as it slid across the floor. Looking at the object, it was the front gate.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 305 Dark Zombies Vs Zombie Hunters

    ?


    Humfree along with his Dark Zombies, which numbered close to 200, walked down the street toward the Zombie Hunter base. Humfree was taking the lead, and it didn''t take long for the scout team to spot the zombies that wereing toward them.


    "What the F-" Before the hunter could finish his sentence, a chain was wrapped around his neck and pulled tight, ripping his neck apart from his head.


    The others turned around, firing abilities out, beams of energy, or hardened scraps of metaling from their bodies. However, the Chained Zombies would swing the chains in such a fashion that it allowed them to block anything from reaching Humfree.


    Before the guards could go in and inform the others of what was happening, another zombie appeared by their sides, looking like that of arge clown, it had a scythe in its hand and swung it, ripping one of them in half.


    Another appeared opening its mouth wide until the jaw was dislocated and letting out a huge scream, their heads exploded on the spot.


    There was one, who had a short range teleport ability, that had managed to get away but not without blood on their clothes.


    Still, Humfree wasn''t going to slow down, the Chained Zombies used their chains totch onto the front gate, and with a pull, it was taken out of the concrete floor. There looked to be next to no resistance at all.


    With a swing, it went straight over the wall, andnded right in the middle of the Zombie Hunters'' base, and that was the start of the chaotic battle.


    The zombies ran right past Humfree. It looked chaotic but it was more organised than it might seem. At the front, therger bulky zombies that were able to use hardening were the first.


    As the Zombie Hunters reacted using their abilities, they were surprised as their attacks did nothing to harm their skin, and before they knew it, with just a punch or so they would fall on the floor, defeated.


    It was amon theme, and the Zombie Hunters, believing that they were in a safe haven, didn''t have a clue how to act.


    "Not always the one with the biggest army will win the war." Humfree said, from the back looking at the scene. Even with theirrge numbers some were afraid of using abilities for fear they would hit their own teammates, and the zombies were all over the ce, not afraid to dive into the centre of the base.


    "Today will be a great disy, as to why the zombies are needed to defeat the demons, rather than the superhumans. Look, as the humans are defeated in one or two hits, but the zombies survive a thrashing and have no fear!"


    A bright redser was shot out right toward Humfree, but the Chained Zombie lifted its hand up in time, managed to block the attack.


    When looking up, Humfree could see that the shot hade from the balcony at the house at the very far back of everything.


    "Oh¡­ they have managed to find out who the leader is, that is more impressive than I thought."


    In the first ce, all of this was just a big distraction. The housing area had arge wall that was connected to the gate. It wasn''t particrly high and was actually lower than most of the houses.


    So it was easy for the zombies to scale, especially for the likes of Zain and his group, who were all powerful.


    "Wait, can you give me a hand." Anna asked Pink, out of all the zombies that were present.


    Wendy turned to Kelly to ask the same question as well.


    "Can you remind me why we brought these humans along with us for this mission?" Pink asked.


    "Hey, don''t be too harsh, you make it sound like we weren''t once human ourselves." Kun replied. "Just give them a hand."


    With a single push, they now had scaled the wall. On this mission, both Anna and Wendy had been brought, added to the group along with Carl. The reason was quite obvious, for one they were both Zombie Hunters in the past, they knew the base well.


    At the same time, there could be a chance where they could use them to disguise and infiltrate on the inside.


    With the Zombie Hunters distracted by therge fighting at them from the front, the group ran across the side of the wall, to get to where they needed to be.


    "Will the Dark Zombies be okay?" Kun asked.


    "Humfree''s goal is not to win this battle." Carl said. "It''s just to buy enough time for us to get to where we need to be, so let''s hurry."


    Seeing everything going on, that was when Buke had decided to make a decision, he jumped down, and as he did, his fistnded right on top of a zombie''s head. It bashed the head through its body crushing it on the floor, killing it in one go.


    Buke had an unmatched strength,pared to all the other Zombie Hunters, but that wasn''t the only thing he had. One of the clown-like zombies had swung its scythe, and as it did, it scratched causing a small cut on Buke, but stopped as his muscles restricted the scythe from going in any further.


    Holding onto the scythe, Buke yanked it out of the zombie''s hands and threw it behind him. He went to throw another fist, until chains wrapped around his wrist and pulled it causing him to miss the zombie.


    "You are the leader right, I am the leader of my small group as well." Humfree said with a smile. One of the Chained Zombies was facing Buke, while another was continuing to protect Humfree.


    "Hahaha, the leader of the zombies is a human, what a world we live in." Buke started tough. "Come on, let''s go head to head, leader to leader."


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 306 A Interrupter

    ?


    Therge-scale battle was raging on but the Dark Zombies were careful about a number of things. For one, they wouldn''t push too far or deep into the enemy territory. Instead they stayed huddled up in formations where they could protect each other.


    There were far too many Zombie Hunters in a small ce for them all to be effective in the first ce. Which was part of another reason why they didn''t push. Killing the Zombie Hunters would put them in a more difficult position.


    While already injured they would suffer from a new wave of powers, and at the same time, the goal was to hold their position while losing as little as possible.


    One of the zombies had a unique trait, where he could stretch out his arms. The muscle fibers would break down, allowing him to grab onto his opponent from far away, or with a swing he could elongate his arm and hit several people .


    Swinging his arm he had done just that. It extended out and the flesh between his joints, the muscle fibers were on view. As it was about to crash into the group of Zombie Hunters, one stood forward with a hand by their side stopping it in its tracks.


    "He stopped my attack, I guess he''s some type of strength power."


    It was a rtivelymon superhuman ability, but the power also ranged widely between users, so the zombie had nothing to fear, that was until he could feel a pinch of pressure in the side of his arm.


    As a zombie, one didn''t feel pain, but they could still feel the pressure of things. It was simr to when one would go to the dentist. The anaesthetic they would use would numb the pain but the feeling of the dentist yanking on your tooth was still felt.


    This was why the zombie knew something was up.


    ''The energy from my body, why am I feeling so¡­ weak.''


    The zombie tried to pull its arm away, but the hands of the hunter held on tight, and with his strength getting weaker the chances of him escaping were lessening. Before he knew it, his body was shrivelling up, the body mass was disappearing on the spot and he was turning into something that looked like a dry raisin.


    "Holy crap, good job Diego!"


    "What power is that, I''ve never seen anything like that." Another huntermented.


    "Yeah, I thought Diego had some strange clicking power, I don''t remember him having anything like that."


    The hunters didn''t have much time to think about what was going on around them, because all of them were fighting for their lives. What they didn''t notice was that the strange absorption of the zombies was urring in more areas than one.


    The Chained Zombie and Buke were evenly matched as they continued to attack each other. Buke had even suffered a couple of direct blows, and he had even overpowered the Chained Zombie, lifting it by its chains and mming it into the ground.


    Its body was rtively mushypared to regr zombies though, making it a lot harder to kill even with direct hits. If a bullet were to hit its head, it would even be able to allow it to pass through without going through its brain. It was that flexible.


    Meanwhile, Humfree with his keen eye of observation was noticing the dried up bodies on the battlefield.


    ''It''s them¡­ they''ve arrived.''


    "At the back, more areing in from behind!" one of the Dark Zombies shouted.


    With a nce behind, they looked at the situation, and could see that a group of those dressed in the Zombie Hunter uniform wereing toward them. They weren''trge in number, maybe around an extra thirty or so.


    "Oh¡­ that''s surprising to see, it looks like fate is on our side, and someone wants us to win." Buke smiled.


    The reason for him smiling was because of the members he could see. They were Zombie Hunters who had been sent out a while ago, and had yet to return. He hadn''t seen them and naturally presumed that they were dead.


    Inside therge white mansion, at the top floor where Buke had jumped off the balcony. Sarah was able to witness just over the edge everything that was happening, she could see Reborn zombies going to war with the Zombie Hunters.


    ''Is it Humfree, did hee for me, or juste to stop what could happen.'' Sarah thought, biting onto her bottom lip.


    She was going through all the decisions and mistakes she had made, wondering if she did something different, maybe the oue would have changed, but it resulted into this.


    ''I guess I really was an idiot, thinking that we could solve this issue with no fighting. It wasn''t as if I didn''t believe in any conflict at all, just that I thought there was a better way.''


    There were around four people in the room, looking over Sarah. The man with the hair covering his eyes, who could read minds was one of them, stood up standing by the bathroom door.


    "Ah man!" One of the hunters said. "All this tension of this fight going on, it makes me need to piss."


    The man started to walk into the toilet, and shortly after one of the other hunters went to follow him in.


    "Wait, Jer is in there?" The hunter said.


    But the man ignored him as he followed him into the bathroom. The hunter just shrugged his shoulders, it wasn''t his problem to deal with. After a few moments, the second hunter that went in, a man with a white stripe in his har hade out, even though he had gone in after the other.,


    He then ced both of his hands on the mind reader''s shoulders.


    "You are a big problem that needs getting rid off."


    The man started to shrivel up on the spot, his muscles shrinking until he eventually fell onto the ground.


    "What the f*ck, did you just kill him!" the hunter said.


    "And you''re thest one." Out from the striped hair hunter, a tentacle sprouted out from his back and went right through the man''s chest, killing him on the spot.


    All the hunters in the room were dead, apart from one, although hunter wasn''t the right word to use for them.


    "We had a deal Sarah, but now it looks like that deal will have to be called off."


    ***


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 307 Stage 5 Zombie

    ?


    The intense fighting continued and Buke was going for a more drastic approach as he fought against the Chained Zombie. He had grabbed one of its arms, and mmed down with all his strength.


    The arm broke and bent in, but it wasn''t torn off, and bones weren''t piercing out of its skin. Instead, it was almost like rubber as it bent and mmed against the floor.


    "You''re one of the trickiest zombies I have met. If I take care of you though, does that mean there''s no longer anyone that is a match for me?" Buke said, as he pulled in the zombie close and smashed his fist into its head.


    It bent inward slightly but then the head popped back out again, Buke dragged in the zombie once more and hit its head again. As he let it go, the zombie screamed and rushed forward, with its mouth it bit onto Buke''srge forearm.


    "Hey, stupid zombie, don''t you know, nearly all of us Zombie Hunters can''t get infected by your crap!" Buke with the zombietching onto his forearm mmed it into the ground. The ground beneath cracked as its body hit the floor.


    It was true, the superhuman were a by-product of zombification. They had gained powers due to the virus in the first ce. It wasn''t impossible for them to turn, but it was extremely unlikely, and it was even more true for the ones that had great powers like Buke, which was why he was unafraid.


    "Let''s see, if I tear your head open, if you can still live!" Buke shoved both of his hands into the Chained Zombie''s mouth, and he started to pull. He did so with such force until two parts of the head were pulled apart.


    The brain that was inside the zombie was ripped as well falling to the ground. The Chained Zombie had been defeated.


    ''That was a stage 5 zombie.'' Humfree thought. He still had another Chained Zombie by his side protecting him from the attacks of others, but this was beyond what he thought was capable for the Zombie Hunters.


    He was hoping right now Carl was by his side, but maybe Carl wouldn''t even be enough for him to take on this hunter.


    "What do you think your doing!" Humfree shouted. "Look around you, look at what is happening behind us."


    Buke, unfazed by the situation, decided to look behind Humfree, he could see the hunters doing a good job getting rid of the zombies. It appeared that those that had gone missing hade back quite a bit stronger.


    "I can see in your eyes, you can''t see it. Those people that just came back, those hunters of yours, they''re not human!" Humfree dered. "Look closely whether they care or not, look at how they fight!"


    The new hunters were strangely able to turn the zombies into nothing but skin and bones, but what Buke did notice was not only were there zombies that looked like that, but some of the hunters as well.


    In the middle of the fight, he saw one of the zombies jump out of the way, but the fist of the hunter continued hitting another right in the head, piercing through it.


    The powers being used, the powers on disy, weren''t that of the hunters he knew, but not only that, when killing a fellow human there was next to no hesitation as they continued on their attacks on the zombies.


    Although the Zombie Hunters had be ustomed to killing zombies, that was because they had managed to flick a switch in their head, that the zombies weren''t human. It was something that they all needed to do.


    Because, some were killing people they knew, those they had lived with, and even fellow friends if they were to get infected.


    "You see it don''t you!" Humfree shouted. "You going against us is helping them, the demons!"


    Buke had some run in with the demons in his group. Particrly at night. The hunters had killed a few here and there, but they didn''t know much about them. There was a rumour going around stating that they were able to take the skin of other humans, but this would have been the first instance that he had seen of it.


    Now the question was, what would Buke do.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Back in the room, one of the demons had managed to infiltrate one of the top Zombie Hunters, and he had just killed every hunter in the room, leaving only him and Sarah.


    The demon brushed its hand against Sarah''s face.


    "You said it yourself, the deal is off, so you won''t get the cure!" Sarah shouted.


    "Do you think that''s something that we really wanted? Look at how the situation has turned out. This is perfect for us. This situation has made it very clear. The zombies or the humans are not a threat to us at all.


    "Because all of you will be too busy killing yourselves for us to worry about any of you causing us trouble. "


    The demon walked to the balcony and looked out, the sight was perfect. Now that the demons had joined, they had gotten rid of arge number of the Dark Zombies already, and a quarter of the Zombie Hunters'' forces had already been lost.


    This all without them having to use much force of their own.


    "If I was to take your face and body, I think that would be perfect, don''t you think?"


    Walking back into the room, the skin started to shed off from the demon. It ripped apart from the top, and the dark brown skinned figure with white coloured eyes came out. The flesh was left on the floor, as the demon reached out with its tentacle heading straight for Sarah.


    From the side, the tentacle had been grabbed, and Zain was seen looking right at him.


    "Where did youe from, did youe from behind? But how were you so fast?" The demon said.


    With a red power fist, Carl jumped up and smashed it right into the demon''s head causing it to explode into pieces, the demon''s body fell to the ground, it had been killed in a single hit.


    The others who had just entered from the balcony it was the first time they had seen Carl''s strength and they were impressed.


    "Zain!" Pink shouted. "Sarah¡­ she''s been hit."


    Although Zain had stopped the tentacle, he had stopped it short as it still had gone through her stomach and the chair on the other side.


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 308 Doom And Gloom For All

    The demon in the room had been defeated, killed on the spot from a punch delivered by Carl. Unfortunately, even with Zain''s quick speed, which allowed him to run past everyone before the others could act, it was a little too slow.


    The tentacle from the demon had already pierced right through Sarah. With his Titan sword, he shed the parts going through her body from either end, so it wasn''t connected to the main body, but didn''t pull out the tentacle, for fear it would allow Sarah to bleed to death even quicker.


    Carl seeing this, pulled out aser pointer from his belt, he then ran to the balcony and started to shine it until Humfree was able to see the signal.


    ''I guess it''s our time to leave.'' Humfree said.


    He started to retreat, and the Chained Zombie with its free hand mmed the chain onto the ground three times. It created a loud echoing bang. It was the signal for them to get out of there.


    "Do you really think you can just leave, aftering to our home like this!" Buke said.


    He started to move forward with zombies getting in his way, but he was able to bulldoze his way with his massive strength. He lifted zombies up with a single hand, and threw them off into the distance crashing into the other buildings.


    "I have to go help Humfree!" Carl said. "I trust that you will all do what is needed to do."


    Carl jumped down, pulling out two small daggers. He started to run straight towards Humfree, shing the humans that were causing trouble on his way. Then hardening his body, he leapt up in the air,nding between the two.


    "Humfree, get out of here, I''ll hold him off!" Carl stated.


    There was no need for Humfree to argue, as he quickly went ahead to leave the scene. In doing so, he could now use the Chained Zombie to help those behind him. They were struggling with the demons that were disguised as Zombie Hunters.


    An arm reached out toward them, but the Chained Zombie wrapped its chains around its neck, and pulled the other end, causing the head to pop off. As it fell to the floor, part of the demon head could be seen ripping out from the skin of the human.


    "We must focus on getting out of here, we have done our job." Humfree said.


    It was a struggle for all of them, Carl was fearful of Buke''s strength, and in his fight he decided to use hisbat skills to avoid getting hit. He had hit Buke a few times to show him that he also had strength that the others had to be careful of, but none of the attacks were life threatening.


    Thankfully, because of this, the Dark Zombies finally were able to escape, going back through the broken gate they had entered, but with almost a quarter of the numbers they had before.


    "Keep going, we will head back to the helicopters and head to the base. Carl will meet us there!" Humfree shouted.


    He was concerned because the losses they had suffered were far greater than he imagined. The group continued to run, and it looked like no one was following them as they turned and continued. They had eventually reached where they had left the helicopters but every single one of them stopped in their tracks.


    "Hey¡­ what do they think they''re doing!" one of the zombies shouted out.


    A group of around a hundred or so humans all in different forms of clothing were standing around the helicopters. Some in military uniform, some children, and others just looking like ordinary civilians. They weren''t Zombie Hunters.


    "There not human." Carl said. "It''s an ambush, the demons, they nned it. They nned to get rid of us here and now. Everyone¡­ this is our fight now, we must do our best to get rid of as many as possible!" Humfree screamed.


    From the sides, and from the back, more humans wereing out, and it was a ughter house, as all of the zombies fell one after the other. In the end, there was only one left, and it was the old man Humfree holding onto his cane.


    "It looks like this is the end for you, thest resistance against us. We have been following you for a while, and we deemed you the biggest threat. It''s thankful that you got rid of each other." The demon said.


    "With you, and that other scientist gone, there will now be only the military and hunters to go against us, but who knows maybe they will take out each other as well."


    Humfree smiled; he knew it was the end of his life, there was no escaping out of this situation, but he had lived a long life.


    "If you think taking me out is the end, you are wrong. In times of need, you will be surprised at what we are capable of." Humfree''s final words, as a tentacle was shot right through his head.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "I can save you!" Zain said, holding onto Sarah. "If I give you my blood or bite you, you would turn into a Zombie."


    Blood was filling Sarah''s mouth, making it hard for her to talk, but she shook her head.


    "Please¡­ I think I deserve this. There is no reason for me to live on. Everything I did was wrong. I don''t wish to turn into a zombie."


    Hearing this, Zain was debating whether he should just force turn her into a zombie. She had information, at least about the demons she had been meeting with, their numbers and more that they could use.


    Which is why he was thinking about going against her wishes.


    "Don''t!" Sarah shook her head again. "In return for saving me, I''ll tell you where the antidote is¡­ to fix all of this, and I will leave it up to you Zain, to decide the future."


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    Discord: d.I.s.cord.gg/jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

 Chapter 309 Finding The Cure

    ?


    The short battle hade to an end, but it had done so revealing a lot of truths to everyone. Zain and hispanions had quickly left, taking Sarah''s body along with them. He did as she wished and hadn''t turned her.


    Meanwhile, Buke wasn''t so upset about what had happened or the loss of Sarah, but was mulling over the words of Humfree. He had looked at the dead bodies of not just the zombies but some of his own hunters and he could tell something wasn''t right.


    Meanwhile, when Carl and the others had reached the area where they were meant to meet up with Humfree, they found only a few remains of his body. The helicopters themselves had been destroyed along with most of what was known as the Dark Zombies.


    A big change had started to ur from these events, after that day. One of them was the movement of the demons. For a long time, it was theorised that one of the reasons they hadn''t expanded out much or seen as much as they had done until now, was due to the high stage zombies in the centre of the city.


    It turned out, that wasn''t the case at all. The demons were just waiting for the right time, and with the two organisations disappearing, they felt like it was now the right time. The demons were making their move, spreading out, surpassing what territory the civilians and military had, while also taking the Zombie Hunters that were out as scouts.


    As for Zain and his group, they too were put in a difficult situation. Carl was to lead the Dark Zombies, what was left of them. It was a token group of around ten members, one of them being Dart who had managed to survive.


    On top of that, Wendy, Anna, and Kyle were all to stay with him as well. The trust seemed to grow as they lessened in numbers and had been through what they had been through.


    However, Carl had actuallye to Zain wishing to stay with him. Zain understood his position and he felt it was best the two work together. For now, the Dark Zombies were constantly on the move, not staying in one ce for long.


    Zain had ced a zombie horde member, Cobra along with him. He would use this tomunicate with Carl when the time was right, meanwhile, Skittle, Pink, Kun, Dab and Kelly all came along with him, in the search of the cure that Sarah had mentioned.


    "We''re finally here." Zain said. "It took us a while to get here."


    "Who would have thought that she would have ced something so important, in an important ce." Kun said.


    Right now, the group was standing at a bank ced toward the centre of the city. The outside of the building was destroyed, such as the windows, but not much else.


    "I guess in our world right now, there is no need for money." Kelly stated. "She probably put it in a bank thinking that no one woulde looking for it here of all ces. It''s one of those things, it''s probably the first ce you think people would look but at the same time thest."


    When they entered the inside, it did certainly seem that way. The inside of the counters, the sofas and more were trashed up, but based on the way the dust had settled on things, it appeared as if no one had been here in a long time. Only at the start of everything.


    After climbing over the counter, the group went towards the back, and that''s when they came across arge vault door.


    "Ah, I know what this is!" Dab said excitedly. "It''s where people lock away those important items like diamonds or something, and then you need a key, like the bank manager and the one on the person."


    Kun went to the vault and attempted to pull it a few times but it just wouldn''t budge.


    "Did Sarah tell you the location of the key by any chance?" Skittle asked.


    "No." Zain replied as he walked forward, he then readied his fst, and tensed it tightly.


    "I have a feeling, she could tell, that as long as I knew where it was I could get it."


    Throwing out a fist, it smashed into the metal vault door and bent it inward, nearly folding it in half. It hadn''tpletely broken off just from one hit, but they all could tell the strength Zain had in his fist.


    "What the heck happened while we were away!" Pink thought. Even if she kicked the thick steel vault door a hundred times, it would look nothing like this.


    Zain went on to hold onto the bent metal, and with a pull he broke it away from the wall and threw it behind him. Giving them a clear entrance into the vault room.


    Just as Dab had said, it was a room full of numbers on the wall. There were drawers of different shapes and sizes and when one would pull it open, several items woulde out.


    Most of them would be filled with either important documents or expensive jewellery that was pretty much useless.


    "7169." Zain said,  as he came to a rtivelyrge locker, one that was big enough to fit a suitcase in. Giving it a hard pull, the door came off once again, and they could see it, a strange device.


    It was around the size of a football. It was standing up, tall somewhat like a tower, with a crystal in the centre of the device. There was see through ss and the crystal itself was glowing with power.


    "I''ve seen one of those before." Kun said. "We used it one time. You''re meant to set them up in a high area, and then activate it. When you do, it will release a cloud of smoke that will cover the area."


    "So that''s the cure." Pink said. "The wide area cure that will turn everyone back to a human¡­ even those that are dead. Is there not even a way we can test it."


    Zain shook his head.


    "There is only one button, and Sarah made sure to tell me we only get one chance. We can''t take this back."


    Everyone was silent for a moment, until Kelly spoke out.


    "Well Zain, now you have the cure, what are we going to do?"


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    Discord: d.I.s.cord.gg/jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 310 The Final Plan (Part 1)

    ?


    The cure was located and Zain needed to figure out what to do. What was the best option? Using it now would better the situation in the city. Perhaps,  because there would no longer be any zombies, then the armies from the outside could move in.


    They could always meet with General Begal and maybe hand him the cure. That would then mean putting trust in someone else''s hand though. There were also the words of Humfree that humans weren''t strong enough.


    This was a group of demons that had taken over countless others before. Were they only being suppressed now because of the high stage zombies in the middle of the city? If they were all to disappear, would that allow the demons to spread out?


    There was also the thought of what would happen to them as well. What did cure even mean, did it mean that all of them would die? Would therge Titan zombies really revert back, as well as the higher stage zombies that were gigantic in size and no longer looked human?


    It was hard to believe that a cure had been created to stop all of that.


    "So what have you decided?" Skittle asked, seeing the determined look on Zain''s face, he figured he hade to a decision.


    "I''m going to pick what gives us the best chance of surviving." Zain answered. "And I''m not just talking about now."


    A message had been sent out to Carl, giving him orders on what the n was on what they were to do next. Immediately after hearing it, he thought Zain was mad, even crazier than Humfree.


    "You n won''t work!" Carl immediately rejected it. "I just don''t see it working out the way you do."


    "This is what Humfree talked about." Zain replied. "He just never had the means to do it, but I do. If it doesn''t work, then it means death for everyone and I just need them to see that."


    In the end, Carl was trying to think of any other solutions, apart from the one Zain suggested. It wasn''t that the ideas he came up with were bad, but they didn''t have the potential to resolve the bigger problem, whereas Zain''s did.


    The Dark Zombies moved out, and they were heading to another territory, the territory owned by the Military base.


    They trekked through the different areas, and came through a border that had been set up. The soldiers were dressed up with their uniforms and guns in their hands, standing by piled up cars.


    Dart and Carl were the only two that went to the military''s territory while the others would be hiding nearby.


    "Man, I''m going to get killed again." Dart said, with his hands raised.


    "Stop!" A soldier shouted out. "If you move any closer you will be shot."


    Carl then stepped out in front of Dart.


    "We havee here to talk!" Carl shouted back. " I believe that the one in charge is a General Begal! I have been sent on behalf of Zain¡­ to discuss an important matter."


    The soldiers looked at each other, before one went through a makeshift entrance behind the barrier of cars.


    "Come on, this isn''t going to work, just because we mentioned Zain''s name, why would they speak to us?" Dartined.


    When the soldier came back, even they seemed rtively surprised as they shouted an answer.


    "You maye in¡­ but you will be escorted by us, and don''t try any sudden movements."


    Elsewhere in the city, there was another section that had been kept by the military. If one was to include all of the military''s territory, it was the smallest out of them all, especially now that the Zombie Hunters started to expand. But it had grown, and amazingly the military had split up into two groups, although still working together.


    One of them was a group led by General Begal, mostly in charge of protection as well as trying to take over dangerous territories. The second group, was lead by Ryan, that were focused on the wellbeing of the people and survivors out there.


    They had taken over an apartment block. There were around fifteenrge apartment buildings that had been cleared out and cleared of zombies. An open grass area where supplies would be given out everyday and a park for people to y sports in.


    It was the most home-like ce that currently existed within the city. Helping the people forget where they were.


    A young strong man lifted a few supplies and ced them on the ground. Opening the top, he wiped the sweat off from his head.


    "That''s thest box, right Cody?" Ryan asked.


    "Yeah, thest of what Begal sent us, he said we might have to start rationing by the end of next week if they don''t find any more. By the sound of it, most of the city has been cleared out. At least the safe areas."


    Ryan rubbed his eyebrows together, when people got hungry they were more agitated causing more problems from that. The people never really understood how difficult things were on their end as well.


    "We need toe up with some type of n." Ryan said.


    Tapping Cody on the back, the two of them walked off. They were heading to one of the apartment buildings'' first floor, where they used the reception area as the base. The two of them had both joined the military around the same time, Cody having spent a long time with him after he had been left.


    Although he never had resentment for being left, he knew full well why that happened. When entering their reception room to strategize, the two of them were shocked as they looked up and saw others were inside.


    "Did you¡­ miss me, Cody?" Kelly asked.


    Standing by her side were Pink, Kun and Dab.


    "Hey kid, hey Ryan, it''s been a while." Kun said, remembering the time they had spent at the museum together.


    It was a long awaited reunion.


    "Don''t look too shocked, but Zain sent us over, I think we need to talk."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    Discord: d.I.s.cord.gg/jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 311 The Final Plan (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 311 The Final n (Part 2)</h4>


    Dart and Carl walked into the military zone, and it was far more organised than they thought. They looked side to side as they could see gunners set up in the buildings around them.


    Then there wasn''t ack of vehicles that they were using either. There was even a team that seemed to be brewing makeshift molotov cocktails to use. Most likely having already run out of major supplies.


    While walking, they had six men on them at all times. Each with guns pointed at them, and they were aiming at two areas: the legs, as well as the head. Not only that but they stayed a few metres away from the two as they walked through the base.


    ''They have learned a lot, no wonder they have survived this long.'' Carl thought. ''At least the general seemspetent. They seem to be preparing for arge-scale battle as well. I wonder if it''s the demons or the Zombie Hunters that are giving them problems.''


    Several demolished buildings could be seen up ahead. Whether it was from meteor strikes or something that they had done themselves, the area had been cleared out of rubble, and the rubble pushed to the sides to make a small circle, a wall within a wall.


    In the centre of the cleared out space, severalrge tents were set up, and this was the current base of the military.


    "Wait here!" A soldier shouted, as they stood outside the tent. A few momentster, General Begal walked out with his hands behind his back.


    He looked at the two zombies in front of him, and started to stare at Carl for a few moments.


    "I recognise you." Begal said. "Not the way you are now." Commenting on the fact that he was no longer human. "You were in the SAS before. You were stationed with us to help train the locals on special operative missions.


    "There was an incident which you and your team managed to resolve extremely quickly. You were one that caught my eye back then and left an impression that I would never forget."


    Carl had forgotten the name Begal but now that he had mentioned it, in his time before he had joined the private organisation of the Reborn group, he had spent his time in the SAS.


    "I never thought we would meet like this again, sir." Carl said respectfully, and saluted.


    "There is no need for that, you were never under mymand." Begal said. "What I''m more interested in, is who on earth managed to get your respect, to send you out on a job like this?"


    "I believe you were already informed of that, sir." Carl answered. "It is the one that you havee to know as Zain."


    It was true, it was this name that allowed for the two to meet in the first ce, because for Begal, Zain was the second person that had left a strong andsting impression on him. To have this person working for him, Begal was wondering what on earth was going on.


    "From the looks of things, you are no longer receiving outside help from the military. Your supplies are running low, and they have practically abandoned you." Carl said.


    Begal didn''t say a word, but it was true. No more ammunition, no more orders, and no more food. They had been left to their own devices.


    "And you and Zain have an offer for us?" Begal said. "Don''t you think it''s a little rude that he hasn''te here in person."


    "He is busy." Carl replied. "Once I exin to you our proposal, I think you will understand why he is busy."


    ¡ª¡ª


    Elsewhere through the city, the Zombie Hunters were expanding their operations but for the first time they were meeting resistance. It wasn''t from the zombies, or the military, instead it was from the demons. Groups had been sent out, on longer expeditions than before, all of it with the goal of finding their base.


    Night was starting to fall, and one of the Zombie Hunter groups in particr were holding up in an apartment room together, ready to get some sleep for the night.


    "Don''t you think Buke has been acting a little more crazy than usual these days?" Nit said, scratching his head.


    "I guess it''s to be expected after he found out a group of us hunters were actually these demons in disguise." Dali replied.


    "I know, but at this rate, I''m a little frightened to go back." Nit said. "I mean, I heard of another group returning and Buke punching off his head. Suspecting he was a demon only to find he was a human¡­ he seems to have been really shaken up by this."


    A loud bang was heard from the door, it had been hit and the lock was broken. All of the hunters immediately stood up ready to attack, until they saw who it was.


    "Z¡ªZain!" Dali called out. "I thought¡­ I would never see you again."


    During Zain''s solo travels he had run into a group of youngsters, who had the goal of joining the Zombie Hunters, Zain had taken them there, leaving them be afterwards.


    Although one was a hunter and the other was a zombie, the two never had a dislike for each other. They had been through things together and Zain had saved their life, even though he was a zombie.


    For them, the hunters were just a safe ce for them to live.


    "It''s good to see that you are all alive, I''ve been trying to track you down for a while now." Zain said. "I''ll get to the point, I need you guys to do me a favour. I need you to go to your leader, and ask for a meeting between me and Buke."


    The heartfelt and uplifted reunion, quickly changed as they heard Zain''s request.


    "Zain that''s crazy, you don''t know what Buke is like!" Nit said. "If we go back, and say that¡­ a zombie wants a meeting, he''ll kill us on the spot."


    Zain shook his head.


    "He won''t¡­ Tell him that Zain and Skittle are the ones that wish to meet him. I''m sure he will answer to that."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    Discord: d.I.s.cord.gg/jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 312 The Final Plan (Part 3)

    <h4>Chapter 312 The Final n (Part 3)</h4>


    Author note: A new Novel is out! Dark Magus Returns. With the end of My vampire systeming up, I am able to spend my time working on my next big project and you can read it now on webnovel!


    ------


    Out of all the ces Zain had been to during his time in this new world, he didn''t quite expect he would be returning here. Right now, he was standing outside of, and looking up at, arge grand building.


    Behind him was a fountain and in front of him there was arge hotel establishment, and not just any hotel, but one that had once belonged to the Zombie Hunters. He wasn''t alone though, around him, Carl was present with the Dark Zombies off to the side with Wendy and Anna.


    Right by his side was the group he had raised up during his time in the Reborn facility. To his left though, there was arge military carrier with around thirty men in the back with guns.


    They were ring over at their group, and inside, the ce was once again filled with Zombie Hunters.


    "Did you really think this was the best ce?" Wendy asked.


    "Right now, the Zombie Hunters are without a doubt the biggest group." Zain exined. "They have the upper hand in all of this and if we were to invite them anywhere they would just decline. So we had to pick something within their territory.


    "This ce, since the incident though, hasn''t been looked after or manned by the Zombie Hunters, it was abandoned. So I thought it was a perfect in-between."


    Saying all of that, it was time for them to head inside. Zain walked forward and heading in with him, by his side, was Skittle. It was only the two of them while the rest would remain outside.


    For the Dark Zombies, Carl stepped forward and most would have assumed that it would have also been Dart, but instead Wendy was the one that walked ahead by his side.


    "Are you sure this will be okay?" Skittle said. "Won''t the fact that you''re an ex Zombie Hunter ruffle a few feathers?"


    "Do you think he will really care?" Wendy replied. "If this person was an old friend of yours like you said, then I''m pretty sure he''s just going to be focused on you."


    Everyone was keeping an eye and track on each other, as if they were waiting for another to make the first move as they watched the four of them scale the stairs. When they opened the door and headed inside, it was dead silent on the outside.


    They knew the hotel was full of Zombie Hunters and were waiting to see if this whole thing was a trap, but there was no noise, at least no noise of panic.


    On the inside, although there were Zombie Hunters, they were spread out and low in number. Zain was looking at them all carefully. In total there were perhaps thirty or so inside.


    They didn''t move closer to Zain and his group and instead stayed far away. The group soon took the stairs down below. Where they were in arge hallway, with several double doors leading to different rooms.


    It was often a hotel that would be used as a convention centre by businesses, or to conduct big events such as weddings and so on. Finally, they had reached the room in question. Tworge ck double doors reaching from the floor to the ceiling, around ten metres in height.


    Zain confidently pushed the door open, and walked in with the others behind him, and immediately, a person on the other side of the giant roundtable, who was standing, had his mouth open and words weren''ting out.


    "I never thought, if we were to meet again, we would meet like this, Buke." Zain said, with a smile as he went to confidently take his seat along with the others.


    Buke wasn''t the only one that was present in the room. Cody and Ryan were seated, along with General Begal and another man by his side. That was the rules that had been set out for this meeting.


    That each group could bring in a total of two people each, the exception to the rule was the Zombie Hunters who would be hosting the meeting. There needed to be a few extra conditions to convince them.


    In the meeting room itself, there were five Zombie Hunters standing up against the wall on the outside of the room.


    "I get to actually speak to you this time as well." Skittle said, sitting down.


    Buke sat down as well, but when he heard Skittle speak, there was a great pang felt around his chest. Shaking his head he tried to quickly disregard those thoughts.


    "I am happy that everyone hade today, to discuss an important matter." Zain said. "I have worked with each of you in the past, or at least collided with you in one way or the other, and I''m sure it''s the same for the rest of you.


    "However, we all need to understand that we are not each other''s enemy, the demons are, and if we don''t work together, then our survival is at stake, and everyone one of us will die." Zain dered.


    He had gotten straight to the point.


    "Ha!" Bukeughed. "Zain, I don''t know what funky juice you''ve been drinking but everyone here can see that the Zombie Hunters have been doing just fine. We''ve cleared out more zombies than we can count.


    "They are no longer a match for us, and it will be the same for the demons. We have nothing against the military, or civilians apart from them getting in our way. Right now, there are two enemies, and that''s you and the demons."


    Zain and Skittle looked at each other for a moment, they were hoping that their presence could calm Buke down a little but it didn''t seem to be the case. Even though Skittle was now fine, they were functioning and talking. He still acted this way.


    The ones that needed convincing were the Zombie Hunters, if he could pull them in, then the rest would follow.


    "We can''t do this unless we all work together and that includes me, and I''ll prove to you right now, why you need me to win this fight."


    *****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


    Instagram: Jksmanga


    Discord: d.I.s.cord.gg/jksmanga


    When news of MVS, MWS or any other serieses out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I''m not too busy, I tend to reply back

 Chapter 313 The Final plan (Part 4)

    <h4>Chapter 313 The Final n (Part 4)</h4>


    Zain needed to do something to get Buke on his side, and he was recalling the talks that he had with Dali and Nit, about the current problems that the Zombie Hunters were facing. It fit well with how much Zain knew about Buke, It was quite typical for him to act that way.


    So he hade up with a n, and thankfully, it was going to be a lot easier than he thought. Standing up from his seat, Zain looked around the room. They were wondering if he was going to act.


    His eyes locked onto one of the hunters and he started to walk his way, when he was about halfway, Zain sprinted at full speed grabbing the hunter by the head.


    "What are you doing!" Buke shouted.


    Zain, grabbing the hunter by the head, quickly ran back dragging the body in the air and mmed his head down on the table. He was moving too fast for anyone to react, and that included Buke.


    Lifting his hand up, a weapon had formed, one of the Titan swords and swinging it down, he had shed right on the hunter''s face off.


    "You ba*stard, I knew you had changed when you had be a zombie!" Buke shouted. "You emotionless freak, this is why we need to get rid of you all."


    Zain lifted up the hunter whose face had been shed off, and that''s when Buke stopped speaking. The others looked, as they could see a thick dark brown creature with white eyes beneath.


    Before it could do anything, Zain lifted the sword again and shoved it right through its head, killing it on the post.


    "I don''t think I need to tell you all, that this was a demon, not a human." Zain said. "This is the main issue that we are all facing. Not just the Zombie Hunters but the military as well. In our ranks they can disguise as us, and when they take over our bodies, they take over our memories as well.


    "So they can blend in perfectly and it''s almost impossible to stop them. How are we meant to fight against an enemy, when we are fighting against ourselves and don''t know who to trust. If it continues like this, then it''s only a matter of time until they reduce each group to nothing.


    "It happened to the Reborn group, it happened to the Dark Zombies, and right now Buke, I know it''s happening within the Zombie Hunters as well."


    Buke didn''t know what to say as he slowly went back to his seat. He had been going through problems, and even struggling to sleep. The guards that were protecting him, or next to him¡­ what if they were demons as well.


    The scary part was, Buke had already killed some on suspicion of being a demon, and while some of them turned out not to be, some of them were, which just sprialed him into more negative thoughts.


    "That certainly is a problem." Begal said. "If that hunter would have left today, then he would have informed the demons of everything that we have nned¡­ but then I ask, how can you help us solve this issue?"


    "It''s simple." Zain said. "I have a way of knowing who is a demon by looking at them or not, and I just proved it to you all just then. It wasn''t a random guess and I didn''t nt the demon there.


    "Which is why I called this meeting, I have a suggestion that we all go in and attack the demons who are located in the centre of the city. If we attack from all sides at once, from three different areas, it will be difficult for them to react and run away.


    "Before that though, I will get rid of the demons from all the groups, but we have to move quickly from there, before the demons realise what is going on, so our attacks work out."


    It was a n alright, and the movements made sense to the general. Although Begal hadn''t said it yet, with their current supplies they only had the chance to go out in one big fight. If they were to just stay and defend, they would grow weaker with time.


    "You said attack with three forces." Buke said. "The military can attack from one side, we can attack from the other, but you guys. Your force is small, you have no army, how would it even work?"


    "I have an army." Zain replied. "I have a 1000 zombies at my call that I can use at any time. Trust me Buke, I don''t want to die, I wouldn''t be suggesting this to you if I didn''t think we could win, you know that."


    Buke was mulling it over, and Zain knew he had nearly convinced him. The real question was, which was a greater fear or disgust to him, was it the demons, or the zombies.


    For Buke though it wasplicated, in his mind the zombies were what had taken away everything from him. That was how the chaos started and how he had lost his two best friends. Even when speaking with the other Zombie Hunters, it was the zombies that had caused the loss of family members to them, not the demons.


    This image that they weren''t the enemy was almost impossible to get out of Buke''s head.


    "Buke¡­ I have the cure." Zain said. "But, my ability to detect demons, ites from me being a zombie, as well as the strength you just saw. We need the zombies to fight against the demons, and when it''s over. I''ll use the cure that Sarah gave me, to turn everyone back."


    Immediately Buke stood up.


    "You mean¡­ you and Skittle, you can turn back into being human again¡­ everyone can."


    Zain wasn''t too sure about that, not knowing how the cure worked, so he said nothing, but the look in Buke''s eyes hadpletely changed.


    "If that''s the case, we''ll do it, let''s get rid of these demons!"


    ******


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 314 Get rid of them all

    <h4>Chapter 314 Get rid of them all</h4>


    Towards the centre of the city, all of the big facilities were present. There wererge convention centres, giant shopping malls, and streets with designer shops filled side by side.


    It was a ce that would have often been filled with people, but it was nothing like it was in the past. Since the start of the zombie outbreak, there were now very few zombies.


    Inside therge shopping mall on the very first floor, a giant stage 4 titan lifted up a show model car, and flung it to the other side. A small figure could be seen jumping over the car, andnding on the ground.


    "These ones are more troublesomepared to the others." The person said, his mouth filled with sharp teeth. It was a demon.


    Running forward, the demon grew out its tentacles on its back and started to change the end shape. The zombie''s attention had turned towards them, and opened its mouth wide letting out a loud roar as it lifted up its fist.


    "NOW!" the demon shouted.


    From the third floor of the shopping mall, a demon was seen in the air. It had the same features as the others, but rather than a dark brown skin, this one was dark green coloured. It also didn''t have the tentacles on its back like that of the others.


    Its hand suddenly started to transform, and it grew in size, and had be shaped like the end of the axe, twice the size of the demon''s own body.


    When swinging it down, the arm of the zombie had been chopped right through, despite it having the hard ck armour.


    With no fist, the zombie was left confused about what to hit, and demons that were ced on the second floor had appeared out from the shops going to the side of the barrier. With their tentacles stretching out from their back, they reached out into the zombie''s wound, and something could be seen pumping from the zombie into the demons.


    Slowly, the zombie was losing energy, it fell to one knee, its body shrinking, and all of the demons continued to absorb the zombie until it was just an empty shell, only the hard ck substance could be seen on the ground and a small shrivelled up corpse.


    "It''s quite amazing how small these things get when all the energy is sucked out of them." The green coloured demon said.


    He was one of the leaders of the demons who went by the name, Izec.


    "We have been progressing well, sir. Getting rid of all the stage 4 and stage 5 zombies out of the area." One of the demons said. "I believe we will soon have enough energy to wake up the main meteor."


    Izec nodded, and started to walk off, with the rest of the demons following him.


    As Izec walked through the city, he could see groups of his demonsing out sessful with their tasks. The streets of the city centre were ruined from battle with the zombies, which wasing to an end, as nearly all of them had been defeated.


    They had also slowly gotten rid of the resisting forces, and were infiltrating them more every day. Everything was going smoothly for the demons. There was now only one thing left for them to do.


    Izec looked at therge arena in front of him, it was once used to hold the world championship football matches, allowing it to hold hundreds of thousands of people, but one side of it hadpletely been broken from the meteor strike.


    An entire part of the stadium had fallen. Right now it was being used as an entrance for the demons, as Izec and a few others were walking in and out. He had even walked past another dark greened demon that looked simr to him and the two acknowledged each other with a little nod.


    Once on the field, Izec continued forward until he had eventually stopped with a shadow casting over him. He looked up and it was the giant meteor that had fallen.


    It was incrediblyrge to the point where the top of the meteorite reached the halfway point of the stands. It just sat there pulsating with red energy, breathing in and out as if it was alive.


    Around the meteorite there were several demons, all with their tentacles out and injected into the giant rock. Energy was pumping out of their body through their tentacles.


    Those that hade along with Izec soon let out their tentacles, attaching them to the meteorite and began to do the same.


    "I wonder how much longer till you wake up, mother."


    ¡ª¡ª


    The n was in motion from the allied forces but before they were to make a move Zain would take a visit to each camp. He had already visited Ryan, Cody and his group, along with General Begal and his group, now thest group for him to head to was the Zombie Hunters, and it was all the same process.


    Zain had been at the Zombie Hunter''s vige for a while under disguise and now it was time.


    "Would the following people please enter the back, where the tennis courts are located." A loud booming voice said.


    The Zombie Hunters looked confused but as their names were called out, around fifty of them were now all lined up at the back, standing side by side next to each other.


    They weren''t alone though, there were some hunters that had been ced around the side whose names hadn''t been called out. The Zombie Hunters looked confused as they talked and looked at each other.


    Eventually, Zain went up to the front row, and was now standing by Buke''s side.


    "Are you sure of this?" Buke said.


    "100 percent, you will see." Zain replied.


    Buke then raised his hand, and all of the Zombie Hunters that were on the edge, turned in to look at the group. They didn''t waste any time as they activated their powers and started to st the fifty hunters that were on the inside.


    Immediately, as parts of their skin fell to the ground, they could see that every single one of them were demons.


    "It looks like you were right." Buke said.


    "Now¡­ is the important part, we have to act." Zain dered. "Before it''s toote."


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 315 Attack the Demons (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 315 Attack the Demons (Part 1)</h4>


    The green coloured demon named Izec was the one that was taking charge so far. However the n always remained the same regardless of what they would go to.


    The process had been the same as they went from to. Consuming life, because that was how they needed to live. The energy from active life forms allowed them to reproduce and continue their own life span.


    To them everything they were doing was just in their nature. So far everything was going well, Izec thought.


    Izec was with a few of the demons by his side, walking down therge wide street. It was the shopping area of the city, where there was a single road that stretched a mile down and on either side there wererge morous shops, billboard signs and even shopping malls.


    The area had been cleaned up of the dead, the shrivelled up bodies moved to the side, along with the rubble of a few broken buildings, making it look somewhat like it had been before.


    "It''s been a while since we have had a report on the Zombie Hunters, is everything okay?" Izec asked his fellow demon by his side.


    None of them were in disguises, the area was full of demons that were just in their darkened brown skin with the tentacles crawling out from their back.


    "Thest report was to do with that group called the Dark Zombies." A demon replied back. "We were sessful in eliminating them, but there seemed to be some problems. They have been quite suspicious."


    "That is good news." Izec said. "We''ve seen this pattern before. As it continues there will be more that will lose trust in their leader, and when that happens, a civil fight will break out."


    That was when a group of two demons could be seen frantically running down their street. They were desperate as they used their tentacles to go out ahead creating a w shape across the floor and then pulling them across.


    This would allow them to cover arge area in a short amount of time and the two hadnded in front of Izec.


    "There''s an attack¡­ they''reing down Main Street!" The demon said.


    "An attack, is it a high stage zombie, or is it the hunters, maybe the military?" Izec asked. It was sooner than he thought, but the demons were still ready for what was toe.


    When the attack would start, that''s when the demons that had been hiding within each group would act, and would start getting rid of them from the inside, there was no worry for them.


    "No, it''s none of that, it''s zombies, they''re all just zombies! There''s so many of them!" The demon reported.


    Just as the demon stated, a horde of zombies were rushing down the Main Street. The demons who had been held up in the shops on the outside hade out, and a great battle was taking ce.


    The demons were lifting up the zombies in the air with their tentacles, chucking them back. While others had decided to just sh them apart. Some were draining them with their tentacles but found it was too risky.


    Among the regr type zombies, there were a few that were quite talented. One of the demons had been draining a zombie away, and out like a blur from the horde, a zombie with a cobra tattoo riding up their neck came out with a dagger.


    With immense speed, it jumped on the demon and started to rapidly stab the dagger through the demon''s head again and again.


    Not only that, but there were some zombies that were firing out bullets, hitting the demons that were high up in the buildings. They had aimed at the structures, causing them to crumble making it harder for the demons to move.


    At the moment, the zombies outnumbered the demon''s 10 to 1, usually this wouldn''t be a problem, but somehow the zombies were organised. Even grouping up and attacking one demon at a time.


    Even going against the stage 4 and stage 5 zombies seemed easier than this. Eventually, reaching the scene, jumping from his position, Izec had arrived.


    "What is going on¡­ why would the zombies suddenly attack us in this way, and they''re not the same as the other zombies either, they seem like they''re mindless. Then how are they so organised?"


    Izec was getting ready to get involved, until two more zombies came running from the side.


    "Sir!" The demon shouted, panicked. "It''s not just from the north side, they areing from the east and west as well. It looks like the Zombie Hunters and the Military."


    Arge sinking feeling of despair was felt by Izec, had this ever happened before in any of theirst attacks? Things had been a little difficult on thispared to the others, but he had put that down to the warning the humans had received from the others beforehand.


    "How¡­ it can''t be a coincidence, it must mean that they''ve all decided to team up. How? They were so broken, they were fighting against each other not too long ago, who was it, who was it that brought them all together!"


    Izec was realising that it was a much bigger problem because he hadn''t received a report about this from any of the demons. Which meant they had somehow managed to eliminate all of the demons as well.


    "I have to get back to the arena¡­ it''s an emergency, we have to protect her until she breaks out! That''s the only way we can recover from this! Alert the Stek team to stay near the arena, we can''t let them destroy mother before she wakes up!"


    ******


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 316 Attack the demons (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 316 Attack the demons (Part 2)</h4>


    The Zombie Hunters hade in from one of the sides heading towards the main centre. They could see therge arena in sight and they were currently heading over arge bridge that went over arge river that was part of the main city.


    The Zombie Hunters were attacking harder than ever with all of their abilities. Groups were using their long ranged abilities hitting the demons as much as they could. While others were shing with them directly on the bridge itself.


    There was a stalemate as the majority of the hunters were now on the bridge fighting against the demons.


    Buke was leading the charge, standing at the front confidently. A demon stretched out its tentacle trying to slice at him, but he avoided the hit and grabbed onto the end, pulling the demon over. It flew in the air before he punched it in its body, sending it flying off the edge and dunking into the water.


    "NOW!" Buke shouted at the top of his lungs.


    Several of the hunters that were ced in different areas, started to click their fingers and therge number of hunters were being teleported onto the other side of the bridge, where the centre of the city along with the stadium were present.


    When all had teleported over, Buke lifted his fist in the air, and jumped up. Falling back down he mmed his fist into part of the bridge. Concrete exploded and arge chunk of the bridge had been broken off.


    At the same time, several small explosions went off where the overhanging wires were, breaking one by one, finally causing the bridge to plunge into the water along with the many demons that were there.


    "We will continue going forward, we are not turning back until we win this fight today!" Buke shouted.


    From the other side of the city, the military were doing their part fighting against the oing demons as well. They had entered arge greenery area, a park with a few monuments that used to disyrge pieces of artwork and statues, but nearly all of it was destroyed.


    The sound of gunshots were constant as they continued to fire. On top of that, Molotov cocktails were thrown, hitting the buildings the demons would appear from. However, the military wasn''t holding back, as they proceeded to use their grenades, theirunchers and whatever they had at their disposal.


    The military force was a lotrger than before as well, as Ryan along with multiple civilians had announced that they would volunteer in the battle.


    "There aren''t too many demons in the area." Ryan said.


    "Doesn''t that just mean that Zain''s n is actually working?" Cody replied.


    "Could be, or it could be that they''ve decided to group up, in order to protect something." Ryan replied.


    Begal could see it as well. He was currently in arge military vehicle, a pair of binocrs in his hands, he was looking out the window. He could see quite a few of the demons scurrying off, heading back.


    "From the looks of things, they''re heading to that stadium. I wonder why?"


    The zombie horde that had led the attack had a straight mile long line down a street full of shops, and then they only had to cross two roads before they could see the arena in front of them.


    The zombies were pushing slowly as they were getting rid of the demons bit by bit. Pink had covered the outside of her legs with the ck hardening, she had kicked a couple of tentacles away before sharpening the end of her foot and mming it right into a demon''s head.


    "Hey¡­ things are going well here, I think we''re doing better than we expected." Pink said. As she looked around to see which group of zombies were struggling. "Should we go and try help out Zain?""


    "No." Skittle answered, as he jumped up and grabbed arge piece of concrete that had been thrown by a demon. He then hurled it right back at the demons. "What we are doing now is helping Zain. It''s important we get rid of as many demons as possible. We need to make sure not a single one of them is left alive¡­ let Zain handle the rest."


    Zain had been one of the first to notice theck of demons in the area, he had seen that it wasn''t that there weren''t many of them, but that they were retreating, heading back to the stadium, seeing this, he had gone ahead of the rest and was at the carpark, right where lerge opening was.


    With his two swords he had already sliced through about twelve demons but more and more wereing after him and surrounding him.


    Zain jumped up on one of the cars, and jumped straight towards a group of demons. They shot out their tentacles, but with a spin of his body and his two swords, he sliced through all of them like butter.


    Whennding, Zain easily stabbed one through the head, pulling his sword out quickly before slicing the other. His swordsmanship was immacte and at the same time, with his new weapons, the demons'' bodies were nothing to be afraid of.


    ''Why are there so many here, and it feels like more areing this way.'' Zain thought, as he shed through one of them.


    Out of the corner of his eye though he could see through therge opening of the stadium and he had witnessed therge meteorite.


    ''Is that it¡­ that''s still a live meteorite, is that what they are all trying to protect!''


    Zain, wanting to find out the answer, started to sh his sword through the now horde of demons. Limbs were falling off, heads were rolling as he would swing, moving side to side, and getting closer to the stadium.


    Eventually he stood on top of the debris and his foot had stepped onto the grass field. In front of him, in front of the meteorite were three green coloured demons.


    "It was you wasn''t it?" Izec asked. "You were the one who caused all of this mess, I can tell."


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 317 Attack the demons (Part 3)

    <h4>Chapter 317 Attack the demons (Part 3)</h4>


    It wasn''t just the three green demons in front of Zain, a lot of the demons that he had ignored to get here had nowe through the back, and in doing so they had blocked the way for him to exit.


    "There''s no way for you to escape now." Izec said.


    "Do you think that if I got through just as many to get here, that I couldn''t get away, and in the first ce¡­" The demonsing in from the back extended out their tentacles towards Zain, he lifted his sword and swung it in half a circr motion, cutting off and dropping several of them to the ground in one swoop.


    "I have no intention of trying to escape. In order to survive, we have to get rid of you!"


    Zain charged forward, exploding from his position, and Izec transformed his entire arm into what looked like a giant axe. The titan sword had been swung and the two shed with Izec being pushed back against the grass.


    Another one of the other green demons leapt up, and turned their hand into a giant club. Seeing this, Zain pointed his white sword toward the demon, and extended it out changing its shape into a long spear, stabbing it right through the centre of the demon.


    Swinging with all his strength, Zain pushed away Izec, and then focused on the demon who he had just stabbed. He transformed the white sword again, thickening it from a spear into arge pole.


    cing the titan sword back into his system for a moment, he held the white sword that was now a thick pole with both hands and swung it down, mming it onto the ground. The dirt from underneath it was lifted into the air, as the green coloured demon was smashed into the ground.


    Right on his tail though was the third green demon, and this one had transformed both of his hands into des and struck right at him. He was incredibly fast, even by Zain''s standards, and he only had the time to avoid a fatal strike, moving out of the way and receiving arge cut on his shoulder.


    Quickly spinning, the titan sword whacked at his side, creating a big sh and sending the green demon skidding away across the floor. Not wasting time, Zain jumped up, with the titan sword in hand, andnded right down on the green demon from earlier that he had mmed into the ground. The sword pierced right through his head, killing him on the spot, or at least making sure he was dead.


    "You didn''t even flinch when you got hit. You''re a zombie." Izec said. "How did you do it? How did you get the groups to convince themselves to work together!"


    With one out of the way and both swords in hand, Zain went up against the double ded green demon. He swung them both and the green demon was doing well to deflect the attacks.


    Several shes and sparks went off in the air, one after the other, but bit by bit the demon was being pushed back and there looked to be a struggle on his face. Seeing this, Izec desperately tried to join in, swinging his axe down. He had hit nothing but the grass. Zain had avoided the blow cleanly and lifting up his leg, side kicked Izec right in the face sending him back.


    "Arghh!" Izec shouted in frustration. "Did you force them with your strength, through fear!"


    Zain lifted up both of his swords and swung them down as hard as he could, the green demon''s arms were finally sliced off with this move, and in one motion, he swung at the neck, slicing it right off.


    "Forced them?" Zain said. "No, I just simply talked to them."


    There was only one demon left, and from the looks of things, it had to be the leader. Sincepleting the quest, Zain had an unmatched strength. Thanks to the lessons that had been taught to him by Humfree and to the crystal that turned him from Sarah, he was able to use his strength.


    Zain charged forward explosively and held both of the swords by his side, he swung them with all his strength, shing right against Izec''srge hand axe, and sent his body flying in the air, until it had hit therge meteorite behind him.


    "With this, I will allow for the human race to survive." Zain said, as he walked over.


    From the looks of things in his system, he could see that the zombies were doing incredibly well, and he imagined the other groups were progressing as well. It was quite amazing in a way.


    They had struggled with the current situation so much alone, as individual groups, but now together, the situation was so easy to resolve. All of the groups were now seeing this as they worked together, and wondered what would''ve happened if they hadn''t had Zain, a simple university student.


    One who stumbled across the Crystal, who was obsessed with survival.


    "Hahaha!" Izecughed. "Never has this ever before happened to us, I wondered what was so different about thispared to the others. It made no sense, intelligent life forms always acted in the same way.


    "They were always the makers of their own demise, and for the first time a situation has turned out like this. Well, it''s not the end yet, let''s see you survive this!"


    Izec ced his hand on therge meteorite behind him, and his body started to shrivel up, the life in his eyes waspletely disappearing and he had turned into nothing but a sack of skin, exactly like those the demons drained.


    Therge meteorite, right after that, pulsated with arge glow, and started to crack at the top, like a giant egg.


    ****


    *****


    For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.


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 Chapter 318 The Last System Message

    <h4>Chapter 318 The Last System Message</h4>


    The energy had been sucked from Izec''s body and went straight into the meteorite behind him. Zain had noticed the meteorite, it was just like the others'' in terms of looks, the ones that the demons came from.


    ''This is bigger than any of them seen before, and the demon''s energy was taken away. Was this what the demons were doing?'' Zain thought. ''Were they gathering energy to feed this meteorite? Wait, that''s crazy, it''s been over a year since the meteoritesnded.''


    ''Every single one that has been discovered has already broken out, yet this one hasn''t this entire time, just what is going to break out of that thing!''


    The top of the meteorite cracked like a shell, and severalrge thick tentacles came out from the top. They looked simr to that of the regr demons, only they were as thick as a tree''s trunk, and they were red in colour.


    ''Is there anything I can even do to stop this!''


    From the top of the meteorite, it started to crack, going right down the centre bit by bit, until it had reached the bottom. Both of the sides split open and a hundredrge tentacles reached out heading right for Zain.


    He immediately jumped back, and swung both of his swords deflecting the tentaclesing towards him.


    ''I have to focus, there''s so many of them!''


    Despite his strength and speed, the sword was unable to break through. The sword was unable to break through the demon''s skin. The tentacles, as they were knocked away by the weapon, woulde straight back and hit Zain like a whip even harder.


    "Grhh!!" Zain grunted, as he had been hit by tworge tentacles from above. They were incredibly heavy, pushing his feet into the ground. He had managed to lift both of the swords above his head in time, but that allowed for one of therge tentacles to wrap around his body and lift him up in the air.


    In the process Zain had dropped both of his weapons onto the floor, and now he was being squeezed.


    ''Crap¡­ this might be the worst situation I''ve been in.'' Zain thought.


    He looked down and now he could see the creature that had fully appeared from the meteorite. It walked on all fours like that of an animal. It had hands on its arms and legs at the back and it was just asrge as the meteorite in size.


    One of the otherrge differences that it hadpared to the other demons was its face. It had the trademark white eye, but it was singr and covered almost the entire head, leaving only space for a mouth that had sharp teeth at the bottom.


    Lifting his hands, Zain mmed them down again and again. But there was no give at all with the tentacle wrapped around him.


    ''Sh*t¡­ I think¡­ I don''t see a way out of this¡­ is this how I die?'' Zain thought.


    The tentacle pulled him in closer as the demon opened its mouth wide, ready to eat him in one go.


    "Zain, together, one more time, use all your strength!" A voice shouted.


    ''That voice, it''s Skittle''s!''


    The voice hadn''te from below, or anything like that, instead it hade from above. When looking up, it appeared that a group of people were falling out from the sky. Skittle, Buke, Carl as well as another Zombie Hunter were all falling down right where Zain was.


    They had their fists ready, while Carl had hardened the ck substance around his arm and it was starting to glow red.


    ''This is¡­ a chance!'' Zain lifted both of his hands, and at the same time as everyone arrived, they swung their fists, hitting the tentacle hard. Loud explosions went off, and the tentacle was sent shooting to the ground.


    Zain had been released from the tentacle and rolled on the ground. He quickly got up, and dashed for his two weapons that were on the ground but they weren''t there.


    "Are you looking for these?" Kun said, handing them over, and Pink was next to him. Not only that Cody, Kelly, Ryan and all the others were arriving in the background, even the military were present.


    "Everyone fire your grenadeunchers!" Begal shouted.


    A group came out from the side and started to fire away. They exploded as they hit therge demon, causing its tentacles to go flying all over the ce. It appeared to flinch the creature but it wasn''t going to be enough to finish it off.


    Eventually Buke, Carl and Skittle were standing by Zain''s side again.


    "It won''t be enough to finish it off¡­ Carl, do you remember what happened when that stage 4 zombie was suddenly stolen from you?" Zain asked. "Well, it''s time to do it again."


    The white weapon started to transform into a fairlyrge thick spear. It had to be big because Zain wanted all of them to hold onto the spear, and they did as the four of them lined up, with Zain at the very start.


    "We have to throw it together with all our strength, right at its eye, it''s the only way!" Zain shouted.


    He looked toward the general and he seemed to have an idea of what was happening.


    "Men stop cease fire in 3¡­..2¡­..1¡­. cease fire!"


    The grenadeunchers stopped, and immediately after, all four of them, the strength from the bottom of their toes all the way to the top of their body, hurled therge white spear right at the demon.


    Until this moment it had been distracted by the bombardment of grenades that had hit it, then when it stopped therge white spear was already right in front of its eye. It pierced right through, green blood soaked out from it, draining down the middle of its face.


    "It''s still not done yet!" Buke said, as he charged ahead, and jumped from his position, he gathered his fist and punched the end of the spear, pushing it further into the demon.


    Right after him, Skittle wasn''t too far behind.


    "I thought you might not be enough to finish the job!" Skittlemented, as he hit the back and pushed it even further inside, and not far behind him was Carl.


    He had leapt up, his hand pulsating, and smashed the bottom of the spear, pushing it just enough so the spear had gone through reaching the other end.


    "I left thest bit, for the person that should finish all of this off." Carl said.


    Looking behind them they could see that Zain was also already in the air, both of his fists wounded up behind him. Seeing the bottom of the spear, he pounded it, pushing the spear until it went right through the demon''s head.


    As Zainnded on the ground, a few momentster, the body of the demon copsed behind him. Standing up for a moment, he started to huff and pant.


    Everyone was silent, as he turned around, and looked at the dead demon. It was unmoving, through the city there were almost no signs of fighting, and everyone just looked at Zain, waiting for him to say something.


    "We¡­We did it, we survived!" Zain yelled at the top of his lungs, and the sound of cheering that shook the whole stadium followed after.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A week after the events that had ured, each of the groups went on to search if there were any demons present. Surprisingly, they had found none. It was as if they had all condensed to one area of the city.


    Just in case, Zain had done another check, a round on all of the groups, and all of the survivors they could find. With no demons having been found, it was finally time for them to act.


    In the city, the tallestndmark was a building that used to be used as a radio tower. It was shaped in arge cylinder shape and looked over the city. Zain, along with the friends he had made, new and old were all standing there looking out at the city. While the device that Sarah had made had been set up.


    "Are we sure about this, guys? What if this ends up killing all of the zombies?" Pink asked.


    "We already went through this, then that''s just the risk we have to take." Kun replied. "The military on the outside stated that either the cure works and we prove it does, or they will eliminate us all.


    "If they do that, then all of the people that aren''t zombies will die, and that includes us."


    "We shouldn''t have to worry though." Skittle said. "The documents we found in Sarah''sbs show that she was sessful. The results were pretty amazing as well. The human''s body will revert back to what it once was, even clearing the markings, but due to the mass amount of energy used, they will stay in aa for a few days. Unfortunately it won''t just cure the zombies, it will also cure the infection in the super humans as well."


    "At that point I will get in contact with the military." Begal said. "And ask them to escort everyone out of the city."


    They did well, the group had gone through a lot, and it was finally time for them.


    "Well Zain, I think you should have the honour." Buke said. "Without you, none of this would have worked out."


    Nodding to the others Zain bent down, and pressed therge button that was on the front. The contraption split apart, and the glowing power side started to release a mist. The mist spread out wide over the city, hitting Zain along with the others.


    Immediately, as it hit Skittle, he could feel something in his body changing. His skin, his sense of feeling it was alling back, but he was starting to lose the energy in his eyes. It was the same for Buke as well along with the others, but Zain hadn''t been affected at all.


    That was because the crystal around his neck started to glow as well.


    ''What''s this, another System message?''


    [A substance has entered your body]


    [A cure has been detected]


    [The system can reject the substance, please select from one of the following]


    [Zombie] [Human]


    ''What is this¡­ it''s giving me a choice, to stay the way I am¡­ or to be a human?'' Zain thought. ''The world, it''s safe right now, but technically it was an alien attack? Who knows if something like that would happen again.


    ''And the way my body is now, I''m stronger and faster than everyone else. I would be pretty much like an undead superhero.


    ''But, if I ever got found out, then the military, maybe even the whole world would be after me.'' Zain thought.


    It was a tough choice, but he decided toe up with an answer.


    ''I''ll pick what gives me the most chance of survival.''


    THE END


    Thank you to everyone who has gone through the start to the end of the story. Zain has been an interesting character to write, as well as the world it was set up in. Honestly, saying goodbye to these characters was harder than in My Dragon System.


    The story didn''t end up bing the biggest hit out there, but it was one that I wanted to finish no matter what.


    If you wish to help me as an author and want to scratch that itch, please check out my new story, Dark Magus Returns. It''s important to support the story as best you can with golden tickets and power stones so the story can get shared around, and I can continue writing them as a full time author.


    Thank you again everyone for reading, and I hope to see you all with my next book. Please follow me on social media to get updated on my new works.


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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!