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"Ahhh!!!"
"I don't want to die!"
"Help!"
The young man ran around like a headless fly, panicking and darting in every direction.
The people around him were afraid they might hurt him by accident. For a moment, no one dared step in to help.
"Move!"
Nanami Kento pushed through the crowd with a fire axe in hand.
But it was already too late.
The zombie lunged forward and bit straight into the young man's neck.
The victim made a horrible choking sound, kak-kak, his throat clearly torn open. He couldn't even scream anymore.
Kento charged forward, raising his axe to cut the zombie down.
Unexpectedly, the zombie kicked off his shoulder and leapt straight toward the crowd.
This time, the unlucky one was Takeshi.
"Ah… I've got parents above me and kids below me…"
"I don't want to die!"
Gripping an iron rod, Takeshi swung wildly upward.
The frantic blows slowed the zombie down just enough to keep it from tearing into him immediately.
Kento didn't hesitate. He rushed forward and brought the axe down toward the zombie's back.
At that exact moment, he suddenly felt something inside his body snap open, like a blockage had been cleared.
Power flooded through him in an instant.
But that brief pause gave the zombie a chance to escape.
Sensing the attack behind it, the creature abandoned Takeshi and leapt toward Asuka, who stood alone a short distance away.
Asuka had already prepared.
With Bloodhowl in her hands, she flicked the axe up with the heel of her foot and swung downward in a brutal chop.
The poor zombie was still midair.
The next second, Bloodhowl split it clean in half.
The entire third floor fell silent.
Everyone on Kento's side stared blankly at Asuka.
That was… way too violent.
It was hard to imagine such power and reaction speed coming from a small girl.
At this point, everyone believed it. All the zombies nearby had probably been killed by her alone.
"I'm leaving."
"Take whatever you want."
Asuka slung her small backpack over her shoulder and headed downstairs.
She didn't look the least bit tense after the fight.
After all, she was a veteran zombie-game player.
She'd played plenty of VR zombie games too. This kind of thing barely fazed her anymore.
"Clean up. Then start searching."
Kento gave the order.
"Clean up" meant dealing with the two bodies of their fallen teammates.
If they left them like this, they'd soon turn into zombies and attack everyone.
The simplest method was to destroy the brain or spine.
Ryuji led a few men and quickly handled the corpses.
Meanwhile, Kento stood alone, quietly sensing the changes in his body.
He really had become much stronger.
What was going on?
A sudden burst of power in a life-or-death moment?
Whatever the reason, it was a good thing.
The stronger he was, the more people he could protect in this apocalypse.
Next came the search.
Kento had no idea that Julian wanted the PS4 and games specifically for Asuka, so he searched with extreme seriousness.
"PS…"
Julian said he wanted a PS4. Maybe he meant… four PS systems?"
Kento thought about it and decided that sounded possible.
He stuffed four antique PlayStations into his backpack.
After grabbing a handful of PS4 and Switch games at random, he led the group up to the fourth floor.
Julian had said to bring as many drones as they could find.
Clearly, drones were important to him.
So the fourth floor was Kento's real target.
Fortunately, there were no mutated zombies here, so clearing the area wasn't too difficult.
Although the men behind him had lost quite a bit of their courage after what just happened, Kento himself felt unstoppable.
He practically wiped out most of the zombies by himself.
"Hah… so this is what power feels like!"
He was thrilled with his sudden boost in strength.
If he ran into that female zombie from the bank vault again, he was confident he could kill it.
"So that must be it!"
Kento suddenly realized something.
Julian must have gone through the same thing he just did.
No wonder Julian was so strong. He must have broken past his limits at some point too.
After that, the search went smoothly.
Kento gathered more than thirty DJI drones before successfully driving back to the supermarket warehouse.
Julian had already returned with Hana half an hour earlier.
The warehouse doors opened, and the two groups met again.
"Brother Julian! I brought everything you asked for!"
Kento placed the scavenged games, graphics cards, drones, and four PS Ones in front of him.
Julian looked them over.
Overall, he was satisfied.
Except…
Those four PS Ones.
PS4 means PS4, okay?
Bringing four PlayStations… was that supposed to count?
Still, Julian knew Kento was a rough, straightforward guy, so he didn't make a big deal out of it.
He'd just talk it over with Asuka later.
Besides, the PS One had plenty of classic games anyway.
Crash Team Racing, Resident Evil, Twisted Metal…
"Mafuyu, bring out a thousand jin of food."
Julian gave the order.
Mafuyu nodded and went with Hana to prepare the supplies.
"A thousand jin? That much?"
Kento was stunned.
He thought getting five hundred jin this trip would already be pretty good.
"It's fine. If we don't eat it, it'll just go to waste."
Julian shrugged.
There were still more than thirteen hundred jin of food in the warehouse that was close to its expiration date.
Sure, it was the apocalypse. Eating slightly expired food wouldn't kill anyone.
But Julian had plenty of supplies.
No reason for him to eat stuff about to expire.
He might as well give it all to Kento and earn a favor.
After all, this guy was supposed to become the strongest person in N City in the future.
Well, maybe not the strongest this time, but still a powerhouse.
Having someone like Kento running errands for him would save a lot of trouble.
"Thank you so much, Brother Julian!"
Kento thanked him repeatedly.
Their camp population was almost two hundred now, and they went through food like hamsters.
These thousand jin of supplies would solve their food problem for quite a while.
"Honestly, I think you should start looking for food with a longer shelf life."
"Places like grain warehouses or canning factories."
"And it'd be best if you find a new camp somewhere you can grow crops."
"Otherwise, with more and more people joining you, there's no way you'll be able to feed them all."
Julian offered his advice.
"You're right, Brother Julian."
"I've already started scouting for a new location."
"Earlier today I ran into a zombie…"
"One that was completely different from the usual ones."
"If more of those things start appearing, my stadium base really won't be safe."
Kento sighed.
"A different zombie?"
"And you killed it?"
Julian paused.
It was obvious Kento was talking about a mutated zombie.
But he could defeat one already?
That was fast.
Did he awaken?
But Kento had never drunk his blood.
So how did he awaken?
Julian's mind filled with questions.
"....."