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After a few minutes of driving, the group pulled up in front of a bank.
This was the largest bank in N City, one of the very few that had a dedicated underground vault.
Even though the world had already fallen into chaos, the bank's security system was still intact.
The cash vault and the gold vault were both tightly locked.
Without the keys, there was no way anyone was getting inside.
"Let's go," Nanami Kento said as he got out of the car.
"We've been here once before. Shouldn't be too dangerous."
The group lifted the metal security shutter and stepped into the bank.
Inside, the lighting was dim and the place was eerily quiet.
Julian gently rubbed the little golden retriever's head in his arms, signaling it not to bark.
There was no way he'd leave the little guy alone in the car. As far as safety went, sticking close to Julian was the best option.
"Two doors ahead leads to the elevator that goes down to the vault," Nanami said, patting his pocket. "We've got the keycard and the key."
Julian nodded. Without those, there would've been no way to get the gold out of the vault.
And once the entire city lost power, coming back here later would be even harder.
Nanami swiped the card and led everyone smoothly through the two security doors.
Along the way, they didn't run into a single zombie.
"The last time we came here, we didn't go this deep," Nanami whispered. "But there's not a single zombie here. That feels… strange."
"There are definitely zombies here," Julian said firmly.
He could feel the little golden retriever trembling in his arms.
Animals had sharp instincts. The moment the puppy entered the building, it started shaking. That alone meant something was wrong.
Still, the little guy was surprisingly obedient. Even though it was scared stiff, it hadn't made a single sound.
"Brother Julian is strong. If you say so, I believe you," Nanami replied quietly. "Everyone, stay alert."
Just then, one of the men accidentally kicked a flashlight on the floor.
The noise was sharp and loud in the silent building.
Everyone froze instantly and looked around.
Nothing happened.
"If there were zombies around, they would've rushed us already," Nanami muttered, frowning. "Unless…"
"Unless the zombies are downstairs," Julian said, pointing at the floor.
This level probably wasn't dangerous anymore.
Most likely, when the outbreak started, the bank staff had taken the elevator down to the vault to hide.
Judging by the situation now, though, it didn't seem like any of them were still alive.
The only question was how many zombies were waiting down there.
"Let's go. We have to head down eventually," Julian said, walking over and pressing the elevator button.
For security reasons, the bank vault could only be accessed through this elevator.
Up or down, the elevator was the only way.
The elevator slowly rose toward them.
As it climbed, the tension among Nanami's group kept rising.
Every weapon was aimed straight at the elevator doors.
Ding.
The arrival chime made everyone flinch.
The doors slowly slid open.
Inside… it was empty.
A long smear of blood stretched across the elevator floor. Aside from that, everything looked normal.
"That bloodstain is strange…" Nanami muttered.
"It's pretty obvious," Julian said. "Someone tried to hide in the elevator and escape, but they got dragged out."
"And there's no blood on this floor."
"That means everything happened downstairs."
"There are definitely zombies below. Stay sharp."
After saying that, Julian stepped into the elevator first.
The others hesitated for a moment before quickly following.
The doors closed slowly, and the elevator began descending.
Going down felt far more nerve-wracking than waiting for the elevator to come up.
The space inside was cramped. If something unexpected happened, there'd be nowhere to run.
And the unknown was always the scariest part.
No one knew what would be waiting when the doors opened underground.
The fluorescent light above flickered, crackling with a sharp buzzing sound.
The man with long hair, clearly the most timid of the group, jerked violently in fright.
"Hahaha! Amano, are all you educated types this cowardly?" one of the burly men joked.
"I… I'm just a normal person. Being scared is pretty normal…" Amano stammered.
Amano was an elementary school teacher. His combat ability was indeed weak.
If Hammerhead and the other three hadn't gone looking for Julian and gotten themselves killed, leaving the group short-handed, Nanami wouldn't have brought Amano along in the first place.
"If things get dangerous later, don't piss your pants," the big man teased.
Their banter eased the tense atmosphere inside the elevator a little.
Thud.
The elevator stopped.
Everyone immediately focused again.
All weapons were raised and aimed at the doors.
Ding.
With a crisp sound, the elevator doors slowly opened.
Darkness stretched out in front of them. They couldn't see what was inside.
A gust of cold air rushed toward them.
Everyone felt the hair on the back of their necks stand up.
The little golden retriever in Julian's arms trembled even harder.
"Be careful. Whatever's ahead feels dangerous," Julian said.
He held a knife in one hand and a flashlight in the other, gripping it backward against the knife handle as he stepped forward.
Under Nanami's lead, the others followed close behind.
It was a long corridor.
The flashlight beam couldn't reach the end. It only illuminated a small area about a dozen meters ahead.
On both sides of the corridor…
There were corpses everywhere.
"Holy crap…" the burly man muttered.
"Why are all these bodies torn to pieces?"
"This doesn't look like something zombies would do."
Normally, zombies just devoured living people.
None of them had ever seen anything this brutal.
"Something's wrong," Julian said.
"Some of these bodies had already turned into zombies, and they were still dismembered."
"This definitely wasn't done by ordinary zombies."
"Maybe…"
A troubling thought flashed through Julian's mind.
A mutated zombie.
People had observed something like this before. In enclosed spaces packed with zombies, mutated zombies were far more likely to appear.
It worked like raising poisonous insects in a jar.
After enough brutal infighting, eventually one powerful mutant would emerge.
Originally, Julian believed mutated zombies wouldn't start appearing until almost a month into the apocalypse.
But now, only a few days in, they had already run into one.
It seemed the mutants hadn't appeared late after all.
They had probably just been trapped in certain places and unable to get out.
"Uuuu…"
A faint whimper echoed from the end of the corridor.
It sent chills down everyone's spine.
"I… I'm done with this!"
"I'm going back!"
Amano suddenly shouted and bolted straight for the elevator.
"Damn it! Amano, what the hell are you doing?!" Nanami cursed.
Yelling like that was the fastest way to wake up whatever was lurking down here.
"....."