After everyone was done collecting all the cores, they swiftly went back to the base, handing the cores to the safe zone leader and his people. And then, all of the survivors watched the group with glistening eyes. Surprisingly, the highest number of cores brought back belonged to both Neil's and Gavin's groups.
The leader was surprised at this. "You two could have achieved more if you were in one team." He silently muttered to himself, but he didn't want to say his words to others. He clearly knew that it was common to have arguments and separation from a team at this time.
So he didn't want to make matters worse.
After that, Clay and others went back to an empty hall and surrounded themselves with cores. Each of them held the cores in their palms, planning to think of a method when someone exclaimed in surprise.
"The core was bright earlier, but after a while, it suddenly turned grey!"
The leader frowned and squinted his eyes at the core in the hands of the person and asked thoughtfully, "Do you feel energetic?"
The man's brows furrowed as if he was in deep thoughts, and suddenly his eyes widened. "Yes!"
"What did you do?"
"How did you suck the power?"
But before the man could reply, others, who were also holding the cores in their hands, also exclaimed because their cores also turned grey. That means they just have to touch these cores to suck away the powers!
And after half an hour, the leader had already distributed the cores to everyone equally.
While this was happening, Tyler was already observing the expressions on the faces of all the people available. He wanted to know about the person who was keeping an eye on him and Neil while they collected cores. But right now, they couldn't see anyone suspicious. So he could only let the matter slide and give all the cores handed to him to the male lead.
Since he was a zombie king, the only thing that would work on Tyler was the human core. So what should he do about the zombie core given to him? It was nothing but a waste.
Neil, who was always trying to get more chances of flirting with his baby, didn't just take the core but also grabbed Tyler's hands and said, "I'll take them, but what about me? I had agreed to all your demands for the entire day, and now, you don't even look at me."
Tyler didn't reply and glanced at the male lead indifferently. This person was acting childish again, but he didn't want to admit that he was actually feeling pleased after facing such a male lead. The corner of his ears was turning red, which was also visible to the naked eye of Neil.
The latter smiled and gently pinched the ears. "Can we go for another round before I could suck the cores?"
Tyler's entire face turned red. "...Shameless." And then he refused to see this person's face. In broad daylight, Neil still had the audacity of saying such things even when they were standing in the middle of the crowd.
This response amused the male lead so much that he wanted to flirt even more and bring more reaction out of this person's face. But just as he had opened his mouth, someone cleared his throat.
"This is exactly why I wanted to separate from your group!" Gavin snorted after seeing the sickening exchange between these two people enviously. After the apocalypse, it was natural for even family members to go against each other. But people like Tyler and Neil made him envious the most.
He didn't want to believe that there were still some people who valued love more than life and resources!
Neil, who was interrupted for the hundredth time by Gavin, really wanted to kill that man.
"Okay, okay. Calm down, you two." Clay, who was also watching this exchange, couldn't help but interrupt the two of them. "Now that we know what to do, let us celebrate for a while before we can head out again, yeah?"
All of them cheered. They were all exhausted, and a small celebration was something they had wanted to feel more energetic.
But the expected celebration didn't come. Just as they were cheering, a loud bell rang in the speaker throughout the school, and an anxious voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"Zombie tide!" The person paused and added even more anxiously. "They're running faster than ever now!"
Everyone was stunned, especially the survivors from the first safe zone. They had just dealt with a zombie tied, and now it had come back again? Just why wouldn't these bunch of monsters let them have a relaxing day?!
On the other side, Tyler and Neil exchange a glance. They knew perfectly well what was going to happen this time.
In the storyline, the second zombie tide was also the work of the zombie king. But since the zombie king had mingled with humans and became the female lead, it looked like another powerful monster had emerged who could control the zombies.
And if that was the case, Neil and Tyler just had to make sure that the current villain died instead of the latter at the end of the arc. Then and only then would they be able to live without any fear.
So after thinking like that, Neil secretly determined that whoever the villain would be, he would definitely save his baby no matter what!
Then after this, the leader arranged for everyone to stand on guard. This safe zone was one rank higher than the previous one, and more facilities of protection were available. Clay had more powerful men with him who would defend the place when in dire situations.
Still, they were all afraid. They had heard what had happened to the previous base, and they didn't want to repeat it at all! So they all stood in front of the front gate in a fighting stance while a few of them guarded the boundary wall.
Just then, the herd of zombies came marching toward the gate. But what surprised most of the people available wasn't the number of zombies but the person who was leading them.
It was none other than Hope.