Chapter 6

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The moment Marina heard the knocking sound on the door, she immediately signaled the students in the room to be quiet. When she heard three evenly spaced knocks, her facial expression changed. Then, the voice of the stranger outside the room made her heart tremble. When she heard that the zombies on the third floor had all been cleaned up, her eyes widened and her heart was filled with joy and mixed emotions.

Based on Marina’s understanding of the situation, on the first day of the outbreak of the zombie virus, many students in Bastille University were vomiting and had a fever.

In order to prevent the spread of the news of the virus infection and to cause panic among the public, the government came to a decision, which was to block the news from spreading. At the same time, they secretly isolated the infected people nearby to prevent the spread of the virus. If the situation called for it, necessary measures were to be carried out.

The secret operation carried out by the government had successfully averted mass panic, but it was just the calm before the storm. The speed that the virus was spreading was far beyond their expectations. Soon, large numbers of zombies appeared, and even hordes of zombies were present in certain places.

Only then people realized that the rumors that had been spread on the Internet were true. Pictures of zombies that appeared caused a momentary sensation, but ultimately was dismissed as a prank done by some irresponsible individuals.

Within half a month, the outbreak of the virus had spread to all parts of the country. As the apocalypse was happening, the government also took extreme measures to provide help and rescue. However, it was already too late for the universities, which had not received accurate information.

A large number of students who had symptoms of infection were treated as common colds and fevers. Some medical personnel were also infected because of inadequate protection.

Among them, Bastille University was the first location that had the virus infection. With the lack of accurate information, the university missed the opportunity to prevent the outbreak, and inevitably became the center of the outbreak.

Soon, the government realized that the virus was out of control, and decided to concentrate its forces. After all, the country was too large. Even if they were willing to spread their resources thin and cover each area, it was still an extremely challenging task even for powerful armed forces. As a result, a large number of heavily affected areas were classified as restricted areas, including Bastille University.

Marina witnessed her students gradually reduced into mindless zombies while the authorities drove out and retreated from the university. She knew that Bastille University had been abandoned. No one was coming to save them, only they could fend for themselves.

In just half a month, the university’s defense system was torn apart. Most of the people had been infected and 90% of the students and teachers of Bastille University had turned into zombies.

Under such circumstances, Marina and the students carefully avoided the zombies. Finally, with their familiarity of the campus buildings, and at the cost of five students being infected, they hid in the study room of the activity hall on the third floor of the dormitory building.

‘So…there weren’t any armed forces around Bastille University.’

In a somewhat dull study room, Crowe quietly listened to Marina describe the situation in the outside world.

Behind Marina stood a boy and a girl, who were also students of Bastille University. The thin, bespectacled boy who holds a thin iron rod was Sean and the young girl next to him wearing a gothic-style black dress was called Joan.

The both of them had just woken up from their sleep and were looking at Crowe cautiously. Crowe did not pay attention to their vigilance.

After he listened to Marina’s explanation, Crowe roughly understood the situation outside and he could not help but to frown. He did not expect that Bastille University had already been declared as a restricted area by the government and all the reinforcements had already been evacuated.

‘It seems that we have to first find an armored vehicle before we can escape this place.’

Just as Crowe was deep in thought, Marina, who was at the side, was also secretly walking up toward Crowe. She was wearing a black and white sportswear and had blood stains on her face. As she heard Crowe’s description of the situation, her eyes were filled with curiosity. 

When she found out that he was also a student of Bastille University, she looked at the black alloy blade in his hand and the pungent smell of blood on his body. She was shocked.

‘How did he survive by himself?’

When she imagined that Crowe, who was much younger than her, had killed the zombies on the third floor all by himself, Marina found it unbelievable. However, what followed was the joy of surviving this disaster.

“If what he said is true, maybe we can really escape!”

Growl!

Crowe’s stomach growled and a wave of hunger swept through his entire body. Having his thoughts interrupted, Crowe spat out the gum in his mouth and rubbed his stomach.

“I guess it had been a while since you last ate something. I’ll go get some bread and a bottle of mineral water!”

Hearing Crowe’s stomach rumbled, Marina smiled gently and went to the back of the study room. She removed a layer of black velvet cloth and revealed the vending machines. She took out a bottle of mineral water and a bag of bread from the gap in the glass cabinet door of the vending machine and handed it to Crowe.

The corner of Crowe’s mouth twitched as he was handed the food. No wonder he didn’t find any food, as it turned out that all of it had been hidden by them. Without further adieu, he tore open the bag and the familiar smell of bread drifted into his nostrils. Crowe immediately wolfed down the food.

After they saw this, Marina and the other two let out a sigh of relief. They could now confirm that Crowe was a normal, uninfected person just like them.

After he swallowed the last mouthful of bread, Crowe was re-energized. The energy from the food instantly filled his entire body.

“Miss Marina, do you know where the cars are parked near the building?”

He got straight to the point, Crowe asked the question that he was most concerned about.

“There should be a lot of cars downstairs in the campus area, but that place is too far away. The surrounding zombies are very dense. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to break through!” Marina said helplessly.

Marina recalled carefully and seemed to have seen through Crowe’s thoughts. 

“Is there somewhere closer?” Crowe was a little disappointed and continued to ask.

Marina slowly shook her head. The vehicles that were parked downstairs of the dormitory were all bicycles and motorcycles. When the zombies appeared, many people had already rushed out and drove their cars away.

His heart sank to the bottom. Crowe couldn’t help but start thinking of ideas on how to break through the zombie crowd.

Suddenly, Joan, who was listening quietly, raised her head. “I know that there’s an abandoned van parked downstairs. It’s near the convenience store up front, about 300 meters away.”

“Are you sure?”

After he heard this news, Crowe looked at Joan excitedly. After he confirmed with Joan that there is indeed an abandoned van, he immediately came to a decision. He told Marina and the other two about his decision, then sat on the side and waited quietly as they decided whether the three of them would follow him out to look for the van. Honestly, Crowe couldn’t care more, as he had already gotten a general understanding of the situation in the outside world. 

There were about a dozen zombies on the first and second floors of the dormitory. With his current abilities, it wasn’t difficult to deal with them. As the zombie population outside the dormitory building was denser, that would require him to act more cautiously.

After a while, Crowe noticed a pair of slim legs in front of him. There stood Marina, and her sapphire-like eyes gleamed under her golden hair as she looked right at him.

“We’ve decided to join you. There’s not much food left in the dormitory. Rather than dying here, why not try escaping this place!”

Crowe looked at her with surprise. He understood that this decision was most probably her decision.

“In that case, we’ll rest for the night. Tomorrow, I’ll clean up the zombies downstairs. You guys bring all the food and water!

“It’s safe upstairs. We can go and continue our search..”