The others didn't like the sound of Zain's idea. There would be military personnel with weapons, and it would also be unfamiliar territory.
"Zain is right. There are no rewards without risks." Shark replied. "If we don't get brains, then we die. This will give us new ground to cover as well."
The others weren't so sure, but at least this time, they would be travelling together, and if Shark thought it was a good idea, they would follow him.
——
Once the group was done with the preparations, they stepped out of the club. It was a bright sunny day today, and as usual, zombies were slowly roaming around the streets.
"Look after the place, Jelly. We'll bring you some nice treats." Kun said as they waved him off.
While on the way, Shark told Zain that they had already searched two sections of the city, although not thoroughly.
They had gone in the four-mile radius of the club to the east and west of them but hadn't gone towards north or south yet.
They wanted to explore the area around them first, and once they had made sure it was all clear, they could start planning and making safety bases around the city they could use to stay overnight. It looked like Shark had managed to think it all through quite well.
Looking at the shape of the city, the north looked to be in the worst condition. Several large skyscrapers had fallen over on the side, while others were still standing but with large holes in them.
It was clear which side they should take, so they decided to head north. While walking through the streets, there was, of course, something that was going to occur, and it didn't take long for the first obstacle to appear in front of them.
[Mutated Zombie has been detected]
A zombie turned its head toward the group and began to run. The first one to act out of them all though, was Zain, as he threw a knife straight towards it hitting it right in the head and killing it in a single hit.
"That was some quick reflexes you have." Shark commented.
Although Zain's actions were quick, it was because the system would usually inform him of a mutated Zombie before they had acted, and out of instinct, he had gone through the motions as he had done so far.
"Check the zombie for a crystal. There should be one inside." Kun was on the task and had already started heading towards the zombie before anyone had said anything. However, this made Zain realise something.
'Crap, there's not going to be a crystal in that zombie…What should I do? I should have been more careful!' Zain frowned.
After a short while, Kun stood up with bloody hands.
"I Can't find anything."
"That's strange. I was sure that it was showing aggression to us. Was it just acting strangely?" Shark commented.
"Is it so strange?" Pink shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, you were the ones that told us that not all zombies have those crystals in them, and there was no way of telling who had what."
Although it was true what the others had said, there was an exception: if the zombies showed aggression towards you. Like Stage 2, the Mutated Zombies also tended to attack the Reborn.
Regardless, Shark decided to just let this one be gone as they continued to move, and Zain was happy he didn't have to come up with some type of excuse. After long hours of walking and coming across a few more Mutated Zombies, Zain did nothing, and the group found crystals whenever they hunted a Mutated Zombie. They put the crystals in a small pouch as they walked through the wide streets until they noticed large shards of glass all over the roads and streets.
"This means we are getting closer to the meteor." Shark explained. "The shattered glass is from the shockwave. We don't know what we'll be here from now on, so let's walk through the alleyways.
Whether it was military or stage two type zombies, they had to be careful. The gaps between the buildings were quite large, and at the same time, there seemed to be fewer zombies and dead bodies.
Eventually though, they wanted to go straight ahead and see the scene in front of them, so they went through a back door of the building. With a light push, Shark realised the door was already open, and they soon found themselves in the back of a kitchen, it was fairly a large one as well.
"I remember this place. It was a famous Chinese restaurant." Fingers chirped as he felt his footstep on something. He looked down and saw it was a dead body, but its skin looked slightly grey, indicating that it wasn't a human but a dead zombie.
The others seemed to know this as well, not just Zain since they had experience collecting flesh.
"There are a few bodies over here as well!" Pink pointed down one side of the kitchen leading to large double doors.
'A few dead zombies, does that mean humans were here?' Zain thought.
The look on Shark's face was also unsettling as he walked forward. And upon pushing the double doors, he stood still as if frozen on the spot. The others looked at each other before running towards him, but they also came to a screeching halt upon seeing the scene on the other side. The entire restaurant was covered in dead zombies.
It looked like a horde of around a hundred or so zombies had been killed in the restaurant, and they all had pale skin. They could hardly find a regular human corpse in the pile.
"We...have to get out of here. This is a mistake!" Shark spread his arms and pushed everyone back while he also stepped back.
*****
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