After two hours of travel, they finally reached the survivor base Zeroy had spoken of.
The journey was smooth—no zombie attacks, no surprises. The active zombies were already few, and any stragglers that approached were decapitated in an instant.
Her presence was like an impenetrable barrier—no zombie could come within reach of the bus.
Still, physical safety did little to ease the students' mental burden.
The city's sights were too horrific.
The corpse mountains might have thinned the zombies, but walking through such a city was no different from walking in hell.
They also felt uneasy, speculating about the base.
Some imagined a hidden underground facility, heavily guarded.
Others thought it might be a heavily militarized fortress, impregnable.
Eventually, what they found shattered those ideas.
It was no fortress… just an ordinary city district, cleared of zombies, the streets eerily quiet.
No armed guards, no crowds of survivors, no signs of life. It was so silent it felt as if time had stopped, their footsteps echoing in the emptiness.
The "survivor base" was only a starting point—its story would begin from their arrival.
No one dared question Zeroy. She had never lied… never described what the base would look like.
A beginner base could still be called a survivor base.
And she had made it clear she didn't care what they thought. Whether they called her a liar or a dictator, the choice was to accept or die.
Here, they had abundant supplies and safety—the core of survival.
The absence of others meant no need to integrate into strange groups, no fear of exclusion or abuse.
Overall, it was a good thing, many told themselves.
It also meant they would have to build everything from scratch.
Zeroy assigned an office building as their temporary shelter.
Their first task: "Clear out your living area, especially the corpses and remains."
Though she had lured zombies away before clearing them, leaving this place untouched, inside still lay lifeless bodies and pieces of human remains that would soon rot.
They had to be removed—life here would be impossible otherwise.
Fortunately, there weren't many, and they only needed to move them to an open area for burning.
Still, it was tedious, and the corpses and blood were infection sources. A careless touch could mean contagion.
Zeroy remembered a zombie film—someone reached safety only to be infected when blood from a corpse dripped into their eye.
Too wary to leave it to chance, she supervised for a while.
Left unhandled, such sources could be used by malicious people.
The city was too dangerous.
To ensure humanity's survival, they would either have to move to places like Antarctica, where infection sources were scarce, or find a cure. There were a few other options.
...
The scarlet unknown prowled over Tokonosu City, its shadow blanketing the hell below.
Even with few zombies left on the streets, survivors dared not move. They stayed hidden, venturing out only briefly for supplies before retreating.
No one wanted to draw the attention of the scarlet shadow—it was everyone's nightmare.
Zombies weren't the true terror—the monster was.
Few slept last night. Even at midnight, the scarlet figure roamed, killing without rest.
The shriek of bloody wind, the crack of heads severed and flesh torn… it split the night again and again.
It was a tireless killing machine, day and night.
No one knew when it might appear.
Everyone feared that one gust of wind could mean their head flying like a zombie's.
But hiding didn't mean safety.
"Surrender, or die."
When the golden-haired girl, black-red blade in hand, sliced open their shelter wall, despair washed over them.
The wall crumbled, dust revealing her slender form, radiating cold killing intent.
They didn't know her, but they knew the blade—it had taken countless heads in seas of corpses. Now, its wielder's cold gaze swept over them.
No one knew her true intent.
She claimed to bring them to a safe base—few believed it. In the ruins of the world, trust was a luxury.
Regardless, facing death, they had no choice but to obey, trailing after her.
They soon saw the fate of those who defied this killing machine… In just a day and a night since the outbreak, some survivors had already formed groups.
Some clung to order, trying to hold onto humanity.
Others had torn away their masks entirely.
Before the outbreak, they had scorned rules. Now, with order gone, their inner beasts ran wild.
They thrived in the apocalypse, reveling in violence, looting, and destroying without restraint.
Then, they met Zeroy.
...
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