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"Amano, get back here!"
"You rode the elevator up by yourself—what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
The burly man who called Ryuji tried to grab Amano, but Amano only had one thing on his mind: escape. He had already rushed into the elevator and was frantically jabbing at the buttons.
The doors slowly slid shut.
"Damn it…"
The big man cursed under his breath.
"Forget it. Let's just move forward."
"Whatever shows up, we kill it."
Julian continued walking ahead.
"Brothers, follow him."
Nanami Kento quickly led the group after him.
He couldn't help but admire Julian. Even in a situation like this, the guy stayed completely calm.
Soon, Julian approached the end of the passage.
His flashlight illuminated a figure ahead.
A woman with long hair draped over her shoulders stood with her back to them, head lowered, chewing on something.
"Uuugh…"
Sensing the people behind her, the woman stopped eating and let out a sound that made everyone's skin crawl.
"Boss… is that a person or a ghost?" Ryuji whispered, goosebumps rising on his arms.
"Doesn't look like a living person…" Nanami's body trembled instinctively.
His gut told him something.
This thing was terrifying.
Julian tucked the flashlight into the waistband of his pajamas and switched to gripping his blade with both hands.
He was preparing to attack.
Crack… crack…
The long-haired woman slowly turned her head.
A ghastly pale face. Bloodshot eyes.
Her pupils were the unmistakable gray-white color.
Her chin and collar were stained with dark, dried blood.
Judging from the scene, every corpse in this underground tunnel had probably been gnawed on by her.
"A mutated female zombie, huh…"
"Too bad you're kind of ugly."
Julian smiled faintly.
"UAAAAH!"
With a mournful shriek, the long-haired zombie suddenly exploded into motion.
Her long claws scraped against the wall beside the corridor, carving deep gouges into the concrete.
BOOM!
Her razor-sharp nails raked across the wall, sending bits of stone and dust flying toward the group.
Then she began bouncing between the corridor walls, rapidly closing the distance.
"Trying to juke around?"
"Heh."
Julian's reaction speed was far beyond normal. In a split second, he locked onto the zombie's movement pattern midair.
His blade flashed.
One slash.
The zombie's arm was instantly severed by the Tang sword.
"SCREEEEECH!"
The female zombie let out an ear-piercing scream and crashed to the ground.
But she quickly scrambled back to her feet.
A short-haired man standing closest to her swung an iron rod straight at her head.
Thud.
The blow landed—but it barely seemed to hurt her.
Her jaws snapped open, and her claws swept across the man's forehead.
Plop…
The top of the man's skull and scalp fell to the ground together.
The zombie reached in, scooped out his brain, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Nanami's eyes turned red with fury as he swung a fire axe at the zombie.
The zombie shifted slightly and easily dodged the attack.
"Give me some room."
Julian spoke calmly as he rushed forward with his blade.
Nanami knew they were no match for this creature. Staying in the way would only make things worse, so he immediately stepped back.
Seeing Julian charging at her, the zombie's eyes flashed with caution.
"ROAR!"
After a brief hesitation, she decided not to fight Julian head-on. Instead, she lunged toward the easier targets—Nanami and the others.
"Damn, you're that cowardly?"
Julian immediately gave chase.
But judging by the speed difference, she might kill Nanami before he caught up.
Julian made a snap decision.
He flipped his blade into a reverse grip and hurled it straight at the zombie's back.
Thud.
The sword pierced straight through her body and pinned her to the ground.
Julian strode forward, planted his foot on her back, and pulled the blade free.
Crack… crack…
The zombie's head twisted a full 180 degrees, turning backward. Her foul-smelling mouth snapped open and shut.
"Bye."
Julian raised the Tang sword and brought it down.
Her head rolled across the floor.
"Whew…"
"Zombies can be this strong now?!"
"Damn thing was hard to deal with."
"If it weren't for you, Brother Julian, we'd all be dead."
Nanami let out a long breath.
A zombie capable of ripping a man's skull open with one swipe—he'd never seen anything like that.
"Looks like everyone down here turned into zombies."
"With so many zombies and nothing to eat, they started eating each other's brains."
"In the end, the strongest one survived."
"That's her."
Julian kicked the female zombie's head.
"In the future, zombies will only get stronger."
"You should start preparing early. That stadium isn't a safe place to stay long."
Julian gave them a warning.
"Thanks for the reminder, Brother Julian."
"Let's keep moving."
"Our goal this time is gold. We can't come all this way for nothing."
Nanami sighed.
Another brother had died.
If they went back empty-handed, it would hurt even worse.
The group reached the end of the tunnel.
There was a massive circular door handle there.
In the center of the handle was a keyhole.
Nanami stepped forward, inserted the key, and together with Julian began turning the handle.
Rumble…
Click!
The lock opened.
The heavy iron door slowly swung open.
Julian shined his flashlight inside.
"Holy…"
"This is insane!"
Beyond the iron door was a large square chamber.
It was piled high with cash and gold bars.
The cash was useless now.
Even vending machines weren't taking money anymore.
People usually just smashed them open.
The gold bars, on the other hand, each weighed exactly one kilogram.
There were roughly five hundred of them.
Before the apocalypse, that would have been worth one or two hundred million.
But right now, everyone was focused on finding food. No one cared about gold.
Only after the apocalypse stabilized would gold start becoming an important currency again.
In the future, survivor camps of all sizes would constantly collect gold.
Julian didn't know their exact purpose, but if people wanted it, then it had value.
"Start bagging it."
Julian grabbed a black canvas bag nearby and began filling it with gold bars.
"Give us a hand, brothers!"
Nanami and the others joined in.
Each bag weighed fifty kilograms.
Eleven bags in total.
"Now I finally understand…"
"Gold is damn heavy."
"I used to think if someone gave me a whole bag of gold, I'd run around like it weighed nothing…"
"It looks like I was too naïve."
Ryuji sighed.
Carrying their bags, the group rode the elevator back up to ground level.
Amano had already disappeared without a trace.
One by one, they hauled the bags of gold into the truck.
Just then, a figure suddenly appeared around the corner of the bank.
"Help!"
"Boss, save me!"
Amano staggered toward them, limping badly. His white shirt was soaked with blood.
Behind him trailed three or four zombies.
"Damn it, Amano!"
"You almost got us killed!"
"If Brother Julian hadn't been so skilled, we'd all be dead down there!"
Ryuji grabbed his axe and charged straight at Amano.
"....."