Chapter 4

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

On the sixth floor of the student dormitory at Bastille University, Crowe made his way to the adjacent Room 607 after he avoided the wandering zombies that were on the way. 

The living room was filled with a putrid and moldy smell. Crowe clenched his teeth to resist the urge to vomit. His sneakers stepped on the wet floor, as he scanned his surroundings.

The water dispenser that was covered in dust was left with an empty container and the sofa in front of Crowe was in a mess. The potato chips that were scattered all around the floor had grown moldy. 

Afterward, Crowe entered three different bedrooms and there were signs of struggle in these rooms. He searched carefully but found nothing of use.

“It’s so d*mn empty! I searched four or five rooms but there is nothing to eat or drink!” Crowe complained in a low voice. He walked out of the room and continued this search for food.

The dormitory was a tall apartment building, and Room 607 was close to the edge of the corridor on the top floor. The corridors were long, and there were at least twenty units on each floor. 

Crowe observed through the reflection of the mirror and slowly considered his next approach. Apart from the potential zombies in the room and the two that he had just killed, there were at least three more zombies on this floor. A rough estimation indicated that about thirty zombies roamed the building, that were spread across the six floors of the dormitory.

When Crowe killed the two zombies earlier, other zombies were not attracted by the noise. This was possibly due to the distance between him and the zombies, and the fact that he was alone. 

Fortunately, these low-level zombies were relatively slow. Apart from their deranged and fearless demeanor, it was possible to deal with one zombie alone. Even if he was up against two zombies, as long as Crowe found the right opportunity, he could still retreat unscathed or even launch a counterattack.

Five minutes later in another room, Crowe picked up a piece of chocolate that was broken into half and emitted a rotting odor from a trash can. He looked at the maggots that were wriggling on it and sighed. 

“The scope of activity is still too small. It would be difficult to find food and water with just these few rooms.

“I need to expand my search area. As I recall, there were a few vending machines in the activity hall on the third floor. Even if there was no power to activate the vending machines, the snacks and drinks should still be there.”

His throat became more parched as time passed. Crowe tried his best to recall the places where there might be food. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. Before the apocalypse, the activity hall on the third floor of the dormitory had always been the place where the students gathered in the evening.

The facilities in the hall were well stocked in order to facilitate social activities among the students. They had specially prepared a large number of snacks. It had only been a month since the apocalypse happened. If he could get there now, he might’ve been able to find some food and drinks.

“It’s impossible to descend to the activity hall from here, as the stairwell has been locked. I need to go through the corridor to the third floor, which means that I have to deal with the remaining three zombies.

The most crucial problem now was that the emergency lights in the corridor were about to run out of power any time now. Since the weather outside was gloomy and when the emergency lights are turned off, no doubt it will affect Crowe’s vision.

“Besides the two zombies that I’ve killed, there are still three zombies on the third floor. As long as I don’t make too much noise and attract the zombies on the other floors to turn into small hordes of zombies, it is possible to defeat them one by one.” 

Crowe glanced at the old-fashioned pendulum clock on the wall and his brain was thinking quickly. After some consideration, the only way was to move forward.

It was 5:27 pm. It had been a few minutes since the sun began to set. The sky was not completely dark yet but it would get extremely dark in about an hour. Crowe had tried switching on lights just now but there was no power supply in these rooms. The emergency lights in the corridor would go off at some point. In other words, this remaining hour was his last chance at finding food and water.

When the sky was completely dark, his only option was to hide in a room. If he chose to deal with the zombies in the dark, the only way was for him to rely on his senses.

Currently, Crowe had increased strength that was equivalent to three times of an average person and with his extremely sharp alloy blade, it wouldn’t be hard for him to fend off the zombies.

However, the lack of supplies would cause Crowe to be at a disadvantage. A single bite would mean the end of him. He doubted that the basic strength enhancer that he consumed earlier would have given him resistance against the virus. Not to mention that fighting in the dark without proper vision would greatly reduce his reaction speed as well.

Regardless, Crowe knew that he had to deal with the three remaining zombies and make his way through the corridor before the sun set completely.

…

The emergency lights in the hallway were flickering.

After he made up his mind, Crowe took a step out of the safety of the room with the alloy blade in his hand. Slowly, he walked toward the end of the corridor. As he moved, his surroundings became more and more chaotic.

Suddenly, the sound of a whimper reached his ears. It was as if someone was being strangled at the neck.

Was it a survivor? Or was it a zombie?

The intermittent sound was weak but Crowe managed to hear it clearly by carefully listening.

“Something’s wrong!”

He relaxed his body and went into a fighting stance, Crowe was ready to face whatever that made those strange noises.

After he walked past three rooms, he saw a dog with a ripped chest being dragged out from a room. Its tiny body had its golden fur stripped from it, revealing patches of black and purple marks.

Crack! Crack!

The sound of bones being chewed could be heard. Crowe could see a young zombie in jeans who wore a gold necklace that was currently lowering its head to feast on the dog that had its stomach ripped open.

Crowe did not pay much attention to the zombie that was eating. Instead, it was the puppy that attracted him.

“Looks like the sound I just heard was made by this puppy. This means that there might be other survivors that are hiding in the dormitory building!”

His eyes were instantly lit up. Looking at the puppy that was soon swallowed whole, Crowe made a decision. He exposed more than half of his body outside of the room and readied himself to lure the zombies as he did before.

At the same time, the zombie that had finished his meal raised his head and looked Crowe in the eye. The scent of his flesh and blood was like a beacon in the dark, and it caught the attention of the young zombie.

Roar!

Roar… Ugh!

The zombie stuck out its half-rotten tongue and licked its lips as the zombie moved forward. Step by step, he stepped into the trap that Crowe had prepared.

Slash!

An alloy blade that glimmered with a metallic light was gradually magnified in the zombie’s eyes.

In an instant, the sharp blade cut through flesh, and blood spurted out, the zombie did not even get a chance to stand up and had its throat sliced through. Purple-black blood spurted out the zombie.

“A bunch of weaklings!”

Crowe kicked out the zombie’s severed head and waited quietly. As expected, the head rolled down the corridor and hit the heel of another zombie. The startled zombie turned around in response, and its eyes turned blood red before he pounced over toward Crowe.

Crowe retreated into the room, with his eyes filled with coldness.

Puff!

Without wasting any time, the zombie who had fallen into Crowe’s trap was greeted with two precise stabs at the head. Crowe turned the blade in a different direction and slashed downwards with a strong force. Blood spurted out and the head was split in half.

Even after he dealt with these two zombies, Crowe didn’t dare relax. He could already see that the zombies in the corridor were getting restless as if they were on to him.

“There are still two left!”

Time passed slowly in the long corridor.

Crowe carefully replicated the strategy that he used earlier. By making the best out of the dormitory building’s architecture, he chose an effective blind spot and controlled his time and distance between the zombies. Before the zombies could even react, he quickly dealt with the zombies that were lured into the room.

Twenty minutes passed and all the zombies on the top floor had been cleaned up. Crowe immediately went to the fifth floor through the stairwell. The door leading to the next floor was not locked, but the stairwell leading to the third floor from the fourth floor was blocked by a bunch of cabinets.

Crowe opened the door of the stairwell carefully, and as soon as he walked into the corridor on the fourth floor, he bumped into a wandering zombie.

‘What bad luck! Do I really need to go through all of them on this floor as well?’

Crowe cursed in silence due to his bad luck but had no choice but to clear his path again.

The time was 6:07 pm. After 15 minutes, the fourth floor was cleared. After the last zombie was killed, the long-awaited system voice rang again.

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully killing 10 low-level zombies, reward points +10!”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the [Ten Kills] achievement mission! The reward is a [Beginner’ Combat Technique] skill book!”