The minimarket was near to the library and could be reached in less than 10 minutes. Furthermore, with Willie in their company, they were safe from unanticipated risks and could escape big groups of zombies.
Life pulse was useful for surviving situations. Its long-range ability to identify living things was essential to their safety on the journey.
Leo assists Willie and Adam in eliminating zombies along the way. Willie killed two more zombies with his help, and Adam killed four.
Leo had leveled up and could take on multiple zombies with ease. His exceptional strength made dispatching uninteresting and clumsy zombies a straightforward task. However, since he needed to kill almost a hundred of common zombies in order to advance his level by one, killing them was no longer helpful to him.
They would occasionally go right by a sizable horde of zombies because there wasn't always a completely safe route to take. Their group encountered old friends when they had to go through a sizable group of zombies in such a situation. From his hiding place, Willie murmured softly, "So I wasn't mistaken. Zombies surrounded a group of humans. However, because of them, there is a gap that allows us to pass."
Oliver and the other two students they met in the library were visible when they peered around a corner of a building. It appeared that the two of them had pursued Oliver in the belief that their chances of making an escape together were better. In addition, they were too terrified to consider any other options.
But the three of them appeared to be in a desperate situation. They had no means of escape because they were encircled from all sides. As he watched from his hiding place, Leo whispered to himself, 'Fortunate for me! My initial intention was to eliminate him, but the idea of Oliver being torn apart by zombies doesn't bother me either.'
Adam sighed as he observed everything silently. They were stranded in the library together moments ago, and their survival was dependent on one another. But now they were being devoured in front of his very eyes.
But Adam knew that they shouldn't risk their lives to save them, no matter how much he felt sorry for them. "I think we should start moving," he said. "It is too risky to stay here."
Leo muttered, "Wait a bit," wanting to see everything through to the very end.
Oliver was splattered with fear and trembling, backed against the wall. With fear, he yelled, "Avoid getting close to me. Leave now!"
Oliver grabbed a female student who was standing next to him as a zombie charged towards him, unsure of what to do. Then he threw her in the direction of the charging zombie.
"Aww!" Crashing into the zombie and falling with it among other zombies, the female student let out a cry. They charged at her right away, biting into her flesh and tearing her to pieces like a ferocious animal spotting its meal.
Oliver was visibly shaken and wet himself upon realizing the fate of the female student. He fell to the floor, his legs going limp. Oliver and the other student next to him were torn to pieces as they screamed in pain and zombies tore off pieces of their flesh because they had no desire to fight back and thought their situation was hopeless.
Resigning himself to that result, Leo uttered a gratifying "All right. Come on, let's go."
Adam didn't say anything to his friend, despite thinking that his behavior was rather odd. Conversely, Willie felt a chill run down his spine as he gazed at Leo's back for a long time. Leo didn't mind the odd looks they gave him, though, because they were unaware of his animosity toward Oliver. He saw it as a little retaliation for Adam's passing.
After that, they traveled without incident and arrived at their destination without incident. There before them was the minimarket. Although it wasn't as big as other supermarkets on campus, that didn't stop them.
Even though Leo knew there couldn't be that many zombies inside to endanger their lives, he didn't let his guard down. Nobody can predict what the future holds for them. Using the Life Pulse to scan the building, Willie discovers three zombies within the minimarket.
Their plan to enter the minimarket proceeded exactly as Leo had expected, Aside from a single instant. In any case, it was more surprising than problematic. "Leo, I got a white chest!"
Willie was clearly excited about the drop, his face lit up with happiness as he excitedly talked about his good luck. He could still recall where Leo had found the Rusty Sword in such a chest.
"You're lucky," Adam genuinely laughed. He didn't feel envious of Willie because he thought his turn to own a Treasure Chest would eventually arrive. It was only a question of time.
The white Treasure Chest vanished into thin air, and Willie opened it. A kitchen knife materialized in his hands in its place.
"Well, that weapon suits you, Willie." Adam chuckled as he noticed Willie holding a kitchen knife, teasing him good-naturedly.
"This knife isn't for cooking; it's a dagger," Willie explained, sounding increasingly disheartened.
Leo found Willie's reaction amusing. The system provided Willie with a weapon, but instead of getting a valuable item, he looked disappointed. Leo, finding the situation amusing, examined the knife to read its information panel.
[Failed Dagger]
[Attack: 8]
[Durability: 9]
[Description: An unsuccessful effort to fashion a dagger.]
Initially, it proved to be an excellent weapon for agile fighters due to its lightweight and maneuverability. It had to do with Willie's fighting technique. He wasn't a fighter who killed zombies with his quick reflexes. In actuality, he was only capable of killing them behind their backs, not directly facing them.
It was still preferable to a wooden bat, though. Willie had a better chance of defending his life because he was armed with the right weapon.
"Let us head to the storage area. Compared to here, it is far safer." Leo urged them on, showing them the way to the storage area. It was the only room in the market with metal door protection.
There was ample space in the storage room to keep a large amount of food. The storage room contained numerous bags of different grains and a long row of boxes arranged along the wall. This food would have lasted him a year in his previous life, but with three of them here, it might only last him four or six months, depending on how judiciously they used it.
Adam, Willie, and Leo were all worn out as they walked into the storage room due to the mental stress of being constantly cautious outside. They were constantly cautious, so going outside stressed them out mentally. Sitting on the ground, Adam and Willie are unwinding mentally.
"We can finally exhale with relief." Adam lay on the floor, trying to ease the tension in his body, while Willie breathed slowly, focusing on regulating his breath. They both relished the sense of security.
They have only recently begun to consider the future. Leo, Adam, and Willie shared the universal concern for families, reflecting the common thread of familial worries amidst the challenges they faced. Willie and Adam had parents. Leo had Carlos, his younger brother, and his uncle had an aunt.
His younger brother, uncle, and aunt were in a different city on a family vacation. He was unable to accompany them because he was a university student. Since rumors circulated about the city being lost, Leo had not seen his family in the past five years, adding to his distress.
He could only hope that Carlos and his family were safe because he had forewarned them. Since the area outside the city was inhabited by dangerous beasts, Leo realized that driving there would be suicidal. Leo was aware that their world had multiplied multiple times along with the outbreak of the Second Holocaust.
All across the world, new locations had emerged, such as islands emerging in the ocean or forests and deserts that had never existed before. And all that was the domain of the beasts, save for the cities that were brought back by force.
Because they lacked the obvious weaknesses that zombies did, beasts were much stronger than zombies. They lacked even rudimentary intelligence and were dull. One effective method to handle them was to eliminate the beasts stealthily.
Leo was even aware that the cities were shielded from the outside beasts by a special barrier installed by the system. It would vanish only if humans retook the city, or it would take three years for it to vanish naturally.
Zombies and other creatures can't pass through this barrier, but people can. In this way, it kept zombies inside the city for three years while also defending it from outside threats.
Establishing communication between cities will be a prolonged process due to the isolated nature of each city, complicating the coordination efforts. Leo can only cling to hope that Carlos locates his aunt and uncle and survives this ordeal.
"Leo, what will be our next move?" Adam and Willie had enough sleep to worry about what lay ahead. That was the meticulous nature Adam had always exhibited, as far as Leo could recall. He calculated every move he made, remaining cool and collected. Maybe it was the effect of coming from a wealthy background.
"It's pretty easy. We ought to get far stronger than we currently are. We can only live by growing stronger." It's true that having the strength to save someone's life is crucial in a world where the weak get crushed.
"Thankfully, Willie can identify zombies, so we can hunt them down efficiently. Adam should have a weapon, and both of you should at least be leveled up. However, we should all take a moment to relax and clear our minds." After locking the storage room door, they sat next to one another. They engaged in conversation about a variety of subjects, including their studies and likes and dislikes.
They filled their bellies with the food in the storage and chatted for several hours. They had fallen asleep without realizing it at that point.
…
"Move!"
Leo heard his captain yell at him. For a middle-aged man, he was somewhat enormous, with thick muscles all over his body. His captain was running out of the building, and although he usually had a bright disposition and was always laughing and joking, his face was pale.
"Zombies are in large numbers!" A swarm of zombies poured out of the building as his captain ran away. Leo noticed that the zombies' teeth were tearing at the man who had trained him.
As he and his allies began firing at streaming zombies, his heart grew cold at the sight of it. Leo was emptying a rifle magazine when he noticed the smell of gunpowder and lead.
Just as they believed they had eliminated every one of them, a shadow emerged from the structure. It traveled so quickly that it left behind images. Regardless of how many shots they had taken, none of them had found it.
Leo observed how it had eliminated armed men one by one. The soldiers' hearts grew desperate as they began to run in the direction of their vehicles. They could barely have been a hundred meters away.
Leo heard screams from behind and launched himself into a sprint. He never imagined that his first real mission would become a nightmare; he had joined the ranks of soldiers in order to eat to his heart's content and to be strong enough to survive.
The soldiers were thrown off guard when a shadow appeared outside the building. As it massacred over half of the soldiers, the shadow rushed into the ranks.
One of the soldiers took a grenade in his hands and used his fingers to hold a safety pin as he heard shrieks getting closer to him.
With a resolute expression, the soldier pulled the safety pin and blew himself up when the shriek got too close to where he was.
Baam!