[Another month has passed and it has been seven months since the zombie apocalypse started. Lynn is currently at A-rank Late Stage while you are at A-rank Peak Stage.]
[You have noticed that you have hit the bottleneck in your evolution. Reaching the S-rank was almost impossible from your estimations. Even if you drank the blood and ate the flesh of A-rank zombies, it still wasn't enough for you to break the bottleneck in your evolution.]
[You have started to doubt whether S-rank even existed and whether it was possible for a lifeform to reach that level. It was as if you had reached the limit of evolution.]
[Lynn had noticed your worries. She even proposed to let you kill her so that you can eat her flesh and drink her blood in hopes of becoming an S-rank awakener. She said that she didn't mind sacrificing her life for you as long as you became invincible in this world.]
[If not for the fact that you could reset the world after your death, you would have dismissed Lynn's suggestion. But since you can reset the world, you contemplated whether to do it or not.]
[Even after noticing that you didn't dismiss her suggestion and still contemplated whether to kill her or not, Lynn's affection for you still didn't waver and she wasn't testing your love for her or anything like that.]
[She had spent the most time with you and she realized how much you love her. So at this time, Lynn knew that even if you killed her, you must have a reason for it.]
[You further realized how much Lynn loved you. It was to the point she was even willing to sacrifice herself just for your sake.]
[You were moved by Lynn's love for you. But in the end, your heart felt like a thousand needles were pierced into it as you spoke, "I'm sorry, Lynn."]
["I will make it up to you in the next timeline after I reset this world." Hearing your words, Lynn didn't know what you meant by 'next timeline' or 'world reset' but she still smiled and agreed.]
[It was the last time you saw Lynn's smile as for the first time in this world, you unsheathed your steel sword from your scabbard. After unsheathing your sword, you utilized your swordsmanship to kill Lynn as painlessly as possible, decapitating her in an instant.]
[Before Lynn's head could fall on the ground, you caught it with your air manipulation. Even after she died, Lynn's smile was still present on her face.]
[You gazed at Lynn's smile that was still present on her corpse. You didn't shed any tears but deep inside, your heart felt excruciating agony and grief.]
[At this moment, you felt that the viral energy in your body became rampant. The extreme emotions of grief, pain, agony, and melancholy had riled up the viral energy in your body.]
[Even before you could eat Lynn's flesh and drink her blood, you realized and discovered a new method of evolution. It was none other than to perform self-harm to stimulate the zombie viruses in your body.]
[Because of the intense emotional pain you felt, the zombie virus in your body was extremely stimulated and it kept on producing waves of surging viral energy.]
[You have successfully broken through and become the first S-rank awakener in this world!]
[You didn't want to waste Lynn's sacrifice so you ate her flesh and drank her blood. It allowed you to further consolidate your evolution rank and you broke through again.]
[You are now at the S-rank Intermediate Stage. You are undoubtedly the strongest in this world and you are now invincible.]
[But, this didn't bring you any happiness or sadness. You felt that there was no point in living without Lynn.]
["Heh. What's the point of becoming the strongest if I can't enjoy it with Lynn? Life without Lynn is meaningless." You let out a self-depreciating laugh as you mobilized the air around you.]
["Don't worry, Lynn. I will keep my word. I will accompany you again." You spoke your last words as a wind blade penetrated through your neck and decapitated you.]
[You died.]
-Ding!
[The simulation has ended. Simulation score is A+.]
[Loading rewards…]
[Choose four from these rewards:]
[(1) Comprehensive strength obtained during the simulation + Air Manipulation Superpower + Combat experience]
[(2) Knowledge and research of the zombie virus + Viral Energy Usage Method + Viral Evolution Breathing Method + memories and life experience in the simulation]
[(3) Necrophiliac (Green)]
[(4) Zombie Virus Immunity (Purple)]
[(5) Swordsman (Blue)]
Although it was only a simulation and he read all of it through the text displayed on the system screen, Alister seemed to feel and resonate with the emotions of the self in the simulation.
"Sigh… I'll make it up to Lynn in the next simulation."
Alister's current mood was quite heavy. He knew that what the self in the simulation did was very irrational.
After all, he could have gone on a killing spree in the zombie world and eaten all of the awakeners and evolved zombies to reach the S-rank Late Stage. There might also be the possibility of finding out the mastermind of the zombie apocalypse but if that happened, then he would receive an S-grade as his simulation score.
If he received S-grade, even Alister wasn't confident that he could complete the world since he knew that his strength was still insufficient to deal with the mastermind of the zombie apocalypse.
If he died in the full-dive simulation, he would die in the real world as well.
The self in the simulation must have known about that so instead of aiming to reach S-rank Late Stage and confronting the mastermind of the zombie apocalypse, he committed suicide.
Unless Alister was confident that he could complete the zombie world, he would rather not get an S-grade simulation score.
"The self in the simulation might have also known that I badly need power right now or else I can't survive in this world."
"I must make it up to Lynn in the next simulation. Otherwise, I won't forgive myself!"
After making up his mind, Alister started to choose the rewards that he would receive in the simulation.