As the planet rotated, the dimensional rift became visible in the sky above the city, and the night slowly brightened.
Livia woke Vincent up, and slowly, they departed.
The hospital's two-winged glass door was blocked. Each wing had an H-shaped handle. A metal pipe had been placed through the H-shaped handles, preventing the door from opening.
As an additional safety measure, a huge drawer blocked the door, and Prim stood guard outside.
Vincent and Livia moved the drawer and removed the metal pipes.
"Aghh..." As soon as they walked out, Vincent covered his mouth.
Despite everything he went through in the past few days, a wave of nausea still attacked him. He felt his vomit move up his throat, but he barely held it in. It would be too much of a waste if he vomited the food he ate.
A disgusting, rotting stench spread from Prim, contaminating the air around. His body had started rotting.
"Here," Livia reached into her pocket.
She tossed a white veil and a surgical mask.
Without hesitating, Vincent grabbed them in the air and put on the mask. It slightly elevated the rotting stench reaching his nose.
Livia took another pair out and put on the mask. Then, she tied the white bandage over her nose and mouth for further prevention.
Vincent followed her and did the same.
"Looks like you are prepared." He spoke.
"Of course. I may not look much, but I worked in the hospital laboratory. I have a habit and curiosity about research." She explained. "Do you think the rotting of the zombies is a coincidence or natural occurrence because they are dead?"
"Are they not?" Vincent raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not. How do you think the virus spreads?" She smiled at his naivety as she worked to bring the drawer outside.
"The virus spreads in two ways: actively and passively, " she started, explaining as they worked to block the entrance from outside. "Actively is when they start turning into zombies and spewing blood all around. A large amount of virus spreads then. And after they turn, biting someone is also active spreading.
However, the more powerful one is passive spreading. When the zombies start to rot, a large amount of zombie virus is mixed in with the stench of decay. So, the more zombies there are, the faster the virus spreads."
Vincent's eyes widened. He guessed the virus spreads when they vomit blood and when they bite, but he never would have thought the virus spreads from their rotting bodies. "How do you know?" He couldn't help but get suspicious.
But instantly, he was faced with her deadpan gaze. "Are you serious? I told you a few days ago." She pointed at her eyes. "I can see it."
Vincent kept his serious expression and just nodded, holding his embarrassment inside. How could he forget something so important?
As they finished blocking the door, a deep frown appeared on his face. His gaze was directed further down the street in the distance.
Compared to previously, when zombies were seldom on the streets and groups of three were rare, he could now see several zombies just a short distance down the street.
"The number of zombies increased so much," he muttered. It looks like we were lucky, and they avoided the hospital."
Livia sighed and shook her head. "Vincent, remember this. There is no such thing as coincidence."
"What do you mean?" Vincent was puzzled.
"Do you think the zombies avoiding the hospital is a coincidence?" She glared at him.
"Otherwise?" Vincent tilted his head.
A hint of anger flashed in her eyes. "This is why I tell you to move on. You are not thinking clearly, even though the truth is so basic and right before your eyes," she scolded.
'Hmph...' Vincent scoffed internally. "Please enlighten me."
"The zombies are avoiding the hospital because of your zombie. It is a superior zombie to the others. Otherwise, do you think every zombie is like your zombie?
I was utterly surprised by its senses. It could track my scent throughout the whole hospital. Do you think the humans could survive until now if every zombie had such crazy senses?"
Vincent fell silent.
"Alright." Livia broke the silence. "Let's not waste time. There is a large supermarket at the end of the street."
Swoosh!
She moved forward.
Vincent snapped out of his thoughts and followed after.
He immediately caught up to Livia. 'Such speed!' His heart trembled, excited at how much faster he had become.
They quickly approached the zombies.
"I'm not good at fighting, and we didn't bring any weapons. We'll have to rely on your zombie to kill our way through. When we reach the supermarket, we'll gear up. I've been in it before the towers descended. They sell axes and chainsaws for wood cutting."
'She's not good at fighting?' The scene of her effortlessly cutting Varlo's throat flashed before his eyes, but he still nodded. "Go!" With a thought, Prim, who ran several steps behind, stormed forward, passing them while they slowed down.
Uaghhhh!
The four zombies in front sensed the incoming superior existence among their kind.
However, with their sluggish bodies, they couldn't move out of the way fast enough.
'Use super strength,' Vincent willed in his mind. He wanted to test his ability.
With another thought, the status window of his zombie appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Prim]
[Species: Undead - Awakened Zombie]
[Awakened ability: Super Strength] - [Cooldown: 00:00:04/03:00:00]
[Strength: 24] - [00:00:04/00:10:00]
[Agility: 11.4]
'Hmm...' A pleasant surprise awaited Vincent. 'The ability increases his strength by 8 points, and the boost lasts 10 minutes.' This satisfied him. 'And the cooldown is only three hours.'
Plop! Splash! Splash!
With just a punch, the zombies' heads went flying. Green blood splashed in the air like a fountain as the zombies collapsed on the ground, and their heads rolled.
'Hmph.' Vincent scoffed. 'An ordinary zombie has a strength of 5 and an agility of 3. The difference is too vast.'
Prim had already dealt with the four zombies in the several seconds it took Livia and Vincent to reach him.
"Let's hurry up," Vincent urged. "I used the special ability. It gives him a boost in strength for ten minutes." He needed to reveal this information, as it was crucial for future planning, and they needed to act quickly. If something unexpected happened after those ten minutes were up, they would be left without a strong trump card. However, he left out the cooldown for the ability.
Livia would guess there was a cooldown, but he felt slightly at ease without the accurate information.
Swoosh!
Livia didn't speak and stormed forward at full speed.
Vincent followed after her.
Everything went smoothly.
Along the way, they met at least fifteen more zombies, but Prim took care of them with ease.
Without much danger, they almost reached their destination.
The supermarket was in sight.
Vincent felt his side and lungs burn. His agility was significantly higher than his stamina, so his stamina couldn't support his running at full speed.
Livia was no better.
But still, they accomplished their goal. They reached their destination before the boost to Prim expired.
They still had two minutes left.
"Wait," Livia suddenly stopped, stretching her arm and halting Vincent.
"What happened?" Vincent stopped, and with him, Prim.
Seeing the deep frown on her face, Vincent couldn't help but get serious.
Her eyes flashed with light green, a sign she activated her ability.
"There are no zombies around here," She stared after a few seconds of silence. "I also don't see zombie footsteps. The zombies are avoiding this place."
Her frown deepened.
"But I can see several monster footprints leading inside." She said.
"A demon," Vincent uttered grimly.
"More than one. At least two." She said.
"We should be able to deal with them," Vincent said.
Livia nodded.
Swoosh!
With an order, Prim stormed forward while Vincent and Livia cautiously moved forward.
In no time, Prim reached the entrance of the supermarket.
The glass door was shattered while shelves covered the glass walls, ensuring complete darkness inside.
On Vincent's order, Prim stopped before the entrance while he and Livia observed from a safe distance.
Grrr!
A growl sounded from inside.
Swoosh!
A figure leaped from inside, attacking Prim.
Before the attack could land, Prim dodged back.
Thud!
The figure landed on the ground—the demon hound.
Swoosh!
Immediately, another figure leaped from inside. Another demon hound landed beside the first.
A deep frown appeared on Vincent's face.
'There is barely a minute left.' He didn't need to use his skill Probe as he still remembered the stats of the demon hound. He knew that with the boost of his ability, Prim was enough to take care of them.
Roar!
A demon hound leaped at Prim.
'Don't break its limbs. Aim for its chest.' Vincent willed.
Swoosh!
But as the first demon hound got close, the second leaped as well.
Vincent could only grit his teeth and stop Prim from retreating. 'Take the hit! Kill them!' he willed.
Swoosh!
Prim jumped forward, and while the first demon hound was still in the air, he got underneath it.
THUD! CRACK!
With a dull sound, Prim's punch landed on the demon hound's chest.
The sound of bone breaking rang. The demon hound's chest dent in.
Thud!
The demon hound's body collapsed on the ground, rolling a distance from the supermarket entrance as the punch carried tremendous force and threw it away. It was on its last breath.
Grrrrr!
Unfortunately, Prim and the demon hounds had similar agility stats. He couldn't dodge the second demon hound.
Splash!
Green blood splashed as the demon hound barred its teeth on Prim's left shoulder.
Swoosh! THUD! THUD!
However, Prim was a zombie—an undead. Undead didn't feel pain.
Before the second demon hound could react, Prim punched at the demon hound's head, cracking its skull.
The demon hound couldn't move anymore and collapsed on the ground on its last breath.
It was an expected result. After all, Prim's strength was more than 10 points higher than the demon hound's.
'Good,' Vincent heaved a sigh of relief as his heart trembled in happiness. Slowly, he made his way to the first demon hound.
Seeing the harmless demon hound on its last breath, Vincent crouched next to its head and opened its mouth.
He glanced at Livia.
Without the need for words, she understood him and threw him a medical scalpel.
Vincent gritted his teeth and used it to cut his palm, feeding the demon hound his violet blood.
Now, he just had to wait for the blood to react. The demon hound will die and turn into a zombie.
ROOOOOOAR!
A sharp, deafening, high-pitched roar rang inside the supermarket, making Vincent's heart skip a beat.
BOOM!
Before he could even turn his head, a figure flew past him, crashing into the nearby building.