The next day, Rendell woke up feeling much better. The long wound that stretched from his face down to his hips still hurt, but it was less painful compared to yesterday. He could also move his limbs better now.
Rendell ate two packets of biscuits and drank a bottle of 200 mL water for his breakfast. It wasn't exactly satisfying for him, but he had to make do with whatever he had.
"I should get out of the city and seek shelter with the government, but I have to observe the situation first. There might be monstrous creatures in the vicinity. After I have properly mapped out the area, that's when I'll leave this place." He couldn't continue staying here forever. He might be temporarily safe, but what if more creatures similar to that giant rat come knocking on his door?
He was only able to kill the giant rat by sheer luck. If he encountered another giant rat in his present condition, he knew that he would only end up as a meal.
"I should find a running vehicle and some gas." It would be difficult to leave the city without a vehicle so he needs to find one as soon as possible.
Rendell grabbed the backpack and filled it with some rations. He didn't put a lot of food in the bag since he didn't plan to stay outside for too long. He only brought enough food and also the medicine kit. He didn't want to bring the fire axe, but it might come in handy so he tied it to the backpack. For his safety, he brought the steel sword with him. Other than the fire axe, it was the only weapon he had. It was also a lot easier to use for someone like him who only had one arm.
"I need to be more accustomed to using my left arm." He was right-handed so it still felt awkward for him to use his left arm.
Rendell stepped out of the storage room. He squinted his eyes and observed the surroundings.
'What if somebody comes here and grabs all the stuff?' When this thought came into his mind, Rendell furrowed his eyebrows. He knew that the items inside the storage room weren't his, but in this ruined world, he couldn't care less about that anymore. Surely, the government authorities wouldn't blame him. After all, it was an emergency.
Rendell quickly moved into action. He gathered some heavy furniture that survived the explosion and used them to cover the door. Although this would make him have a hard time getting in later, it was better to be safe than sorry.
More than half an hour later, the door of the storage room was no longer visible.
Rendell double-checked everything and he only left after making sure that things were in place.
…
There was a forest situated outside the northern border of Lochwall. What separates the city from the forest is the elevated railway that connects to all major cities in Norhen.
Rendell's neighborhood was near the elevated railway, but he still had to pass by a few buildings, including Lochwall College.
'The nearest city is Greyork, but I need to enter the forest before I can get there. Going there now is not a good idea so I should first map out a safe route.'
Rendell inspected the buildings and he found more human corpses. Most of them were already starting to decompose and there were even some with missing parts. He believed that the culprit behind this were creatures like the giant rat.
"Just what happened that caused those animals to evolve?" He shivered in trepidation.
Rendell encountered some intact vehicles along the way, but for some strange reason, he couldn't start them up. At first, he thought that those vehicles were just damaged by the explosion, but all the vehicles he found had the same problem. "What's wrong with these damned cars?"
The perplexing situation made him more furious.
Soon, he was only a few buildings away from Lochwall College. He hadn't encountered any evolved creatures or humans along the way.
"Hm?" He narrowed his eyes and quickly hid behind a broken wall while observing the building across the street.
At this moment, a huge insect was eating a human corpse. The bloody scene almost made him gag, but he stopped himself from making any kind of noise. 'What the hell?! That thing looks like a ladybug, except that it's as big as a car!'
Rendell nervously hid behind the wall. 'I can't go through this path.' He immediately retreated and made a quick detour.
'Should I go back?' He hesitated.
After almost three minutes of internal struggle, he decided to continue.
'I might find some survivors who can give me an explanation about what's happening. What I need right now is information.'
After walking for another fifteen minutes, Lochwall College finally came into his view.
To his surprise, he saw some people on the fifth floor of the school building, but they seemed to be trapped inside a classroom.
'They are trapped?' The most logical thing he could think of was that there was an evolved creature inside the school building.
Rendell carefully moved closer to the metal fence that surrounded the school. "Hm? There's an evolved creature?" He quickly dove into the ground and slowly lifted his head.
Crawling beneath the school building was a massive creature the size of two buses combined. 'Is that a centipede or a millipede? What a nasty creature! No wonder those people don't dare go down using a rope.'
The creature was busy snacking on some corpses. He also noticed a few half-eaten remains around the creature. From his estimates, there were about fifteen to twenty corpses over there.
'Do I need to endanger my life just for some information?' Rendell laughed at his thoughts. A suicidal person like him was afraid to die. It was funny.
He tried to create a small opening in the metal fence, but when he exerted some strength, he felt a stinging pain in his chest.
He immediately let go of the fence.
"What should I do?" He looked around, searching for a way to get in. A moment later, an idea occurred to him.
He threw the backpack and the steel sword over the fence. The overgrown grass muffled the sound of their fall so the huge crawler didn't notice anything.
Rendell quickly climbed up the metal fence while nervously observing the creature. To his relief, nothing happened. The creature was still snacking on the corpses.
As soon as he climbed down the fence, he grabbed his stuff and rushed towards the wall of the school building.
"Now… how do I get in?"