"Student council president… that really does train a person. If she managed to stay calm and accept reality in the early stages of the disaster, then at least she still has a chance."
Lux nodded slightly. A student council president had to handle many things, especially as a girl.
Without sufficient execution ability and judgment, she would never have been elected.
"Yeah, and Anna runs really fast. If it's about escaping, she'll definitely be fine."
Bob said seriously. His daughter was now his sole emotional anchor—no matter what, he firmly believed she was still alive.
"Sigh, this damned world. I was just promoted to head of the security team a month ago, and then this happened. Talk about bad luck."
"Oh right—do you know what this disaster actually is? You seem… kind of special."
Bob sighed and asked.
"I don't know either, but it's probably a virus. It's not airborne—transmitted through bodily fluids. Also, that wound on your head absolutely must not come into contact with zombies."
Lux said seriously.
"Then do you think it can be cured?"
"In theory, yes. It's a virus, after all."
"But I think most biological scientists probably died in this disaster, and accidents could also happen during research. Even if a small amount of vaccine could be produced, it likely wouldn't be our turn to use it. So it's better to focus on protecting yourself."
Even though Lux had access to vaccines through the system, that didn't mean he was willing to use them on Bob. From the very beginning, he wanted Bob to clearly understand what kind of world this had become.
"Makes sense… makes sense…"
Bob said dejectedly.
Just like how he had previously hoped the military would come to rescue them, Lux's words completely shattered his naïveté.
After that, the truck fell into silence, with only the sounds of HK416 and Lux quietly loading bullets into magazines.
Two hours later—
"We're almost there. Should we sleep overnight in the outdoor equipment store, or just make do in the truck?"
Bob asked.
"Tomorrow we'll be tense all day, fighting for survival among zombies. Let's rest properly in the store tonight."
"Judging from the roadside, there aren't many zombies in this area. I'll go down alone to clear them out."
"A-alone?"
Bob was shocked. If it were up to him, everyone would definitely go down together. Facing more than one zombie alone was something he wouldn't even dare imagine.
"They don't have suitable weapons yet, and you're about the same. If you go down, I'd have to protect you too. So just stay in the truck."
After saying that, Lux casually handed the fully loaded magazine to MDR and picked up his katana.
Bob drove the heavy truck to the entrance of the outdoor equipment store. Lux quickly opened the door, jumped down, and stabbed the katana straight into the brain of the zombie closest to the door. Then he pulled the scabbard back and shut the door.
A pungent stench of decay hit him. Lux instinctively lunged forward two steps. Turning back, he saw a female zombie miss her grab, her torn top swaying as she lunged again, exposing pale flesh marked with bloody scratches.
"Tsk. Why didn't beautiful women ever throw themselves at me before?"
Lux muttered helplessly. With a forward thrust of the katana, the female zombie's fearless charge ended with her brain pierced straight through.
"No thinking ability… ignorance really is fearless. Still, that's a good thing for me."
Thanks to the zombies' lack of intelligence, once the fear of death was overcome, killing a zombie wasn't actually that hard for an ordinary person.
It was precisely for this reason that some humans had managed to survive.
If zombies ever regained rational thought… combined with bodies that were hard to kill, humanity would have no way to survive at all.
After quickly dealing with the three zombies drawn over by the truck's engine noise, Lux walked toward the outdoor equipment store.
Even if there weren't many people here, if the shop owner had turned into a zombie, a confined space like this would still be extremely dangerous. It was also possible that customers had been inside shopping when the disaster broke out and later turned.
Although the shop door was wide open, dusk made it hard for Lux to clearly see inside.
Behind the counter, or behind the door itself, a zombie could leap out at any moment, knocking down a survivor and feasting on them.
The darkened pool of blood on the ground at the entrance showed that at least one living person—or zombie—had once been here.
Lux stepped forward, tapped the door with his scabbard, then retreated a step.
Given how sensitive zombies were to sound, if there were any inside, they would definitely be drawn out.
After waiting about a minute, Lux entered the shop.
A sharp whooshing sound cut through the air. Sensing danger, Lux raised the scabbard in his left hand behind his back like a martial arts move. A jolt ran through his arm.
"What the hell, it can even sneak attack?"
He stepped forward quickly, turned around, and swung horizontally, intending to take off the attacker's head—only to see a terrified little face, and a small knife thrusting forward in the girl's hand.
The sharp blade stopped beside the little girl's ear. Lux slowly withdrew his katana.
After a whole day of killing zombies, he no longer felt fear toward them.
But killing a human being… especially a little girl like this—he truly couldn't do it.
"Ahem. I just plan to stay here for one night and take some supplies, then leave tomorrow morning. That's okay, right?"
Lux looked at the little girl and asked.
He hadn't expected to meet a survivor here—let alone such a cute little girl.
"T-take whatever you want. Do you have fever medicine? Can you give me a bottle? You can take as much stuff as you like—I don't need payment. One bottle of fever medicine is enough."
"I do have some, but you don't need a whole bottle. I can give you a dozen pills. That should be enough to cure one person."
Lux said calmly. Although HK416's medical module allowed one bottle of medicine per day,
he planned to build a settlement in the future. Medicine was a resource you could never have too much of. Giving her a whole bottle would just go to waste, and might even benefit someone else later.