Sekou woke up the next morning and got dressed.
The chaotic voices in his head did not stop mumbling, but it was still at a tolerable amount.
Besides, he didn't have the time to waste on speculations about voices that couldn't harm him currently.
He had the mentality that the time to be depressed was over, and now it was time to take action.
He first went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
But it was only when he saw the line that he remembered he hadn't gone to work the day before.
He wasn't sure if he had enough points to buy even the cheapest stale bread.
He decided to just go with the flow and hope for some free food.
"What do you want?" the server asked once he reached the front of the line.
"Anything that costs no points," Sekou said cautiously.
The hand holding the tray was tight and his eyes were lowered.
"That happens to be everything on the list for now," the server chuckled.
"And how long will that last?" Sekou was already thinking of his lunch.
His eyes were surprised at first, but then they rested on the heavier meals.
His thinking was simply that it should be better to eat more in case it was no longer free once it was time for lunch.
"Until the horde successfully passes," the server said.
Sekou was both surprised and grateful.
The principal might be a madman, but at least he was a considerate madman.
He even made sure they could search for the weapons with peace of mind.
With such conditions, Sekou doubted anyone would want to leave.
He nodded to the server and listed food he didn't dare think about until now.
The server smiled at him and gave him a generous amount.
Sekou carried his tray to an empty table and felt that it wasn't all bad.
He quickly finished his breakfast and then left the cafeteria.
He stood at the door wondering where to go.
The base didn't have many buildings inside it.
There were just the living accommodations, the cafeteria, the administrative building, and the storage.
In fact, Sekou was quite confused as to what this place was before the apocalypse.
Because it didn't look like a specific place—for example, a school or a hotel.
No, instead it had a few buildings that you could see anywhere.
For instance, a school could have all these things.
Though a school would have classrooms, so that could be ruled out.
But an estate might also have these buildings.
And I seem to have gone off track now, Sekou sighed.
He used both hands to slap his cheeks.
Then he walked over to the storage.
There he found some random people searching.
The boxes that contained random items like toothpaste, towels, or soap had been overturned.
The contents of different boxes lay on the ground, scattered in different directions.
The people inside didn't seem to care about the mess and stepped directly on these objects.
Instead, their eyes were now focused on him.
Their movements of searching had paused.
Sekou felt sweat trickle down his back as he tried to ignore the hostile gazes.
Then, remembering that being too calm in this situation would be suspicious, he glared at them and threw the closest intact box to him on the ground.
He dug around the fallen contents in a hurry.
His eyes focused only on searching.
Eventually the others looked away.
Sekou, feigning tiredness, wiped the sweat from his head.
He had a feeling that anyone who wasn't careful would die.
After all, the weapons were limited.
And the competition was fierce.
If one carelessness revealed that they found one, then they would be killed.
Also, someone who seemed too calm would be watched.
If that person found the weapon too quickly, then they would not be killed.
No, they might suffer a fate worse than death.
They might be tortured into telling where the other weapons were.
After all, some people naturally didn't believe that the principal could hide those weapons without anyone noticing.
Something that could guarantee a 100% survival rate must be big.
And the principal was an old man, so it could be deduced that he would not have the strength to carry all of it by himself.
In essence, there must be someone in the base who had an idea.
And that person would be very calm during the entire situation.
They wouldn't be searching frantically like Sekou was doing.
Sekou focused on searching but still found nothing.
He actually thought about prying open the floorboards or making a hole in the wall.
But he didn't have the tools or the strength to do it.
Sekou eventually gave up on the storage and went to another place to search.
As expected, there was another group of people searching.
He repeated the same trick and got to searching.
By the time it was lunch, he had found nothing.
Sekou was tired and went to eat at the cafeteria.
He had a big lunch and went to his room to rest.
He figured that since no one had found anything yet, then the principal was very skilled.
Too skilled, in fact.
He had hidden it much too deeply.
So Sekou chose to retreat for the day.
.....
Sekou awoke the next day and continued with his search.
The second day was fruitless.
Sekou searched and found nothing.
He also heard nothing.
The third day was also fruitless.
He heard nothing too.
The fifth day made the survivors agitated.
Fights broke out more easily.
Sekou was still searching for the third time that day when he witnessed two people bumping into each other.
They seemed to have been heading for the same overturned box.
"Watch it," the first person said while swinging a fist.
The second person also returned the favor.
They rolled on the ground, cursing and punching each other.
The other people around didn't even bother to stop and look.
Their eyes were still searching for their way to survive.
The buildings were damaged to varying degrees.
The wall was busted by some burly men and the floorboards were cracked open.
Sekou finally saw his previous idea come true.
A burly man found a sledgehammer from who knows where and broke the walls.
He smashed the floorboards apart while the others used their hands to completely pry them off.
The survivors had deep dark circles around their eyes, and one could see the light slowly fading.
The sixth day was silent.
There was no noise, and neither was there much conversation.
The survivors were like stiff robots.
They ate their food, then went to search.
Their minds were filled with the danger that was said to arrive the next day.
Sekou also felt his mood becoming worse.
It was like there was a voice in the back of your head telling you that you were going to die.
No—it wasn't a "like" for him.
Because there was actually a voice telling him that he would die in the horde.
That is, unless he killed everyone here.
Sekou obviously wouldn't listen to such a thing.
Firstly, Sekou doesn't seem how killing all these people would help him survive.
It would probably have an opposite effect and would lead to him facing the horde alone.
Only to die after being overwhelmed.
Second of all, he didn't like getting his hands dirty.
It wasn't the self-righteousness of refusing to kill a person.
After all, he had killed someone before.
It was a pervert who wanted to kidnap his daughter.
Or that one time he was attacked by a group of cannibals.
So he had killed people before.
But all the people he killed were those who intended to harm his daughter.
He was a father whose first priority was his daughter.
So he could bear any grievance that had to do with himself.
But he would never allow anything to happen to his daughter.
Just thinking about her made him smile.
I wonder what she's doing now, he thought.
.....
Nia blinked and stared at the plate in a daze.
Suddenly a warm hand rubbed her black curly hair.
Nia snapped out of it and looked up to see Luo Feng.
He was still a bit bloody, but the hand on her head was clean.
Added with the fact that the blood was faded on his shirt meant that he had wiped most of it off his body before coming to see her.
"Uncle Luo, it's time to eat," Nia offered the bowl with both hands.
Luo Feng felt that the child was too sensible.
The red in her eyes had already faded as she stopped crying on the second day.
But sometimes Luo Feng would hear the quiet sniffles in the dark.
He would have no choice but to rub her furry head and close his eyes to sleep.
He was a loner before all this began, so he didn't have experience in handling children.
Besides, the days in the orphanage weren't that good.
The only thing Luo Feng could do for her was to be there and comfort her in his own way.
"Thank you," Luo Feng took the steaming bowl of porridge and sat at the dining table.
They were now in an empty house he randomly picked after searching the area.
The outside of the house was quiet and the two weren't ones to talk.
So they sat in silence.
Nia, on the other hand, was full of thoughts of her father.
...
"Instead of waiting to die, why don't we fight?" Sekou got courage from thinking about his daughter.
So he boldly made a suggestion in the silent cafeteria.
"Why don't you go fight those monsters on your own?" someone sneered.
"Why drag us into it?" another voice echoed.
The survivors grumbled, obviously taking out their frustrations on the person who dared to jump out.
"Whether you agree or not doesn't matter." Sekou didn't even glance at them.
"After all, the horde is coming for everyone and there's nothing we can do about that," Sekou chuckled.
"But what we can do is at least try to fight," Sekou said calmly.
"Why do we have to risk our lives when we can just survive by finding a weapon?" someone said.
"Or are you just saying this to monopolize the weapons after you found them?" someone else added.
The gazes that looked at Sekou became sharp.
"I'm not trying to lead you guys into anything, I'm just doing my duty as a human being to advise you," Sekou continued eating.
"Besides, would I dare to speak out if I did find the weapon? If I was smart enough to find it, then I wouldn't be so dumb as to step into the light." Sekou looked at them like they were stupid.
The crowd thought about it and felt that he was right.
Sekou didn't want to bother with them anymore.
After lunch, he stopped looking for the weapon.
Instead, he wanted to find a gun.
He found one in the inventory for the hunters.
The management team was quiet.
They just watched the whole drama unfold without saying a word.
And they weren't people to be intimidated, so they beat up anyone who dared to try.
And that's how the survivors remembered that these people were also military.
So the two sides left each other alone.
Even now, they didn't bother Sekou, and he easily obtained a gun.
Sekou hid the gun in a huge bag and hurried to his room.
As expected, he found it in a mess and someone had just stepped out.
He expected that some people would still be suspicious and would check his room.
Now he had thrown their suspicion away, so he was free for the rest of the day.
He lay down on the bed that was covered in knife marks.
He took out the phone he had hidden in an inner pocket.
Childish laughter rang out in the quiet room as he prepared himself mentally for the horde that was said to approach the next day.