Chapter 9 Who’s Side

After receiving the message prompt, Zain quickly decided to check the system to see if he could make sense of what had happened, but other than the previous screen and his current stats, he didn't have much to go on.

'It's almost like those games that don't allow friendly fire on teammates, and if one does it, the player is penalised.' Zain thought. 'It's quite clear that this system also has a clear direction of what it wants me to do. Don't hurt zombies and turn others into zombies.

'But I can't figure out what the creators' goal is or who the creator is. For now though, the penalty doesn't really affect me since I have no exp in the first place. Losing exp has just kept me on 0, though it might cause a problem in the future. I can only guess that I'm not the only one like me, and perhaps there are more willing to tune others and level up to get stronger.

'If I was to face them, it would become a big problem, but for now, before thinking about any of that, I just need to focus on me.'

"Alright, we're done." Skittle said, gagging slightly as the odour wafted into his nose. While Zain was checking out his system, both Buke and Skittle had done as asked and covered themselves with guts and blood.

The zombie guts parts didn't stick on their body, but it had achieved what Zain wanted: it had somewhat diffused the human scent. From a distance, it was at least hard to tell where the sweet smell was coming from due to the other odours mixed in.

But up close, they still would have a problem, so they couldn't just pretend to be a Zombie.

'Being a Zombie is almost a cheat since I know all the ins and outs. This means we'll make fewer mistakes, and there will be more chances of survival.' Zain thought.

[User's body has deteriorated to 96 Percent.]

Upon getting this message, Zain clenched his fist. But he still couldn't feel any difference, and it still was a worry at just how fast that had occurred though. Maybe it had been a couple of hours since he had checked his stats.

Knowing that a sudden horde wouldn't be coming after them due to the smell of his two friends, they could start to move, but the two prepared themselves before leaving the place with Zain.

For one, both of them had thick clothing on and even multiple layers. Buke had even wrapped several shirts around his forearms since there weren't a lot of clothes that would fit him in case he got bit.

'ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ No(v) e lBin ᴏɴʟʏ.',

As for his choice of weapons, they were mainly small blades. This was why he needed some armour. Zain explained that it would be better if he had a longer weapon, but Buke said he felt safer with the long kitchen knives.

Then, Skittle persisted in holding the frying pan. As for why it was due to it being more of a defensive item than anything. And was meant to stop the others from hurting him if he got in a tricky situation.

They went down the dormitory floors and checked the hallways to see if there were any other undead creatures. This was just because Zain didn't want to end up in a situation where they would get trapped in both directions.

He would rather deal with them now if there were just one or two instead of ignoring them and letting them regroup, but they hardly saw any undead moving about or living. That was until they had reached the third floor.

The banging noise this time was so loud that even Buke and Skittle could hear it. Turning their heads, they saw a lone Zombie banging its arms against one of the doors.

It was relentlessly hitting it repeatedly, not caring about what happened to its body, not that any of the three was surprised by this.

"Why is it doing that?" Skittle asked.

"Does it matter? We're now on the third floor, just two more floors, and we're out of this place. So let's just make a run for it and head outside!" Buke shouted.

"I'm not sure if that's the best idea," Zain replied. "For one, We don't know the situation outside. On top of that, at least in this building, the places they can come to us from are limited."

Then, after a pause, Zain glanced at Buke while asking, "Do you mind if I borrow something?"

Buke had created little slots where he could hold plenty of knives around the waist. In this situation, Zain wanted to test something, so he had asked for one. Then without saying a word, he signalled the other two and told them to sit where they were.

Meanwhile, he walked toward the Zombie. The knife was in his dominant right hand and the wooden stake in the other.

'I noticed something back then when those two Zombies attacked me...I need to check out if it's true.'

Zain was tiptoeing almost, so his feet were silent, and the other two watching were nervous because he was getting closer and closer. They imagined what Zain was attempting to do, throw the blade at the Zombie or charge in and finish it off quickly, but he did neither as he stepped closer and closer.

'ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ No(ve) l Bi n',

Eventually, Zain was now only a metre away.

"Hey! I'm right here...don't you see me?" Zain said loud enough for the Zombie to hear but not the others. Not that he expected the latter to understand his words, it was more of him trying to attract its attention. However, the Zombie ignored him, continuing to punch the door.

'It's as I thought. Those other two weren't trying to attack me, but Skittle and Buke. These guys see me as one of them.' Zain thought while lifting the knife and throwing it as hard as he could, accurately hitting the Zombie in the head.

The blade had cleanly hit the side of the temple, and went right through to the other end and snapped a bit upon exiting the hard skull.

[- 2 Exp]

'This life... I'm not in danger like everyone else, it seems.'

After he finished dealing with the Zombie, the two came rushing over, and Buke stared at his broken knife on the floor while also looking at the wound, wondering if he could have done the same thing.

"You broke my knife," he finally said.

"There are plenty around. Just head to another room, and you'll probably find one." Zain replied.

"Hey, Hey, I think there are people outside!" The three suddenly heard a voice, and it was coming from the other side of the door.

Looking at the door, Zain knew that the Zombie was punching at it because he could smell it too.

'More people at this point and time while I still don't know everything...are just going to be a headache.' Zain thought. 'People's true colour comes out when the world is like this, and there's a higher chance of my secret getting out if there are more people in the group. But it might bring an opportunity...to test out this system.'

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