Bottom Rung

Erza stood guard by the entrance the whole night.

He was used to this lifestyle.

'A moment of carelessness brings death.'

Ten years' worth of experience is shown through his actions.

Although the living room echoed with sounds of loud car crashes and horrific screaming, the bedrooms were the opposite.

The soundproofing system in the bedrooms was excellent.

'To think I bought them noise-canceling earphones.'

He smiled a bit and shook his head.

A trained veteran like him only needed 3 to 4 hours of sleep every day.

He could even sleep while being on guard, distributing awareness to 70% during his rest.

'It's already 5.00 am. I'll wake them up after I finish my workout.'

2nd June 2020.

Erza hopped on the treadmill in the built-in gym that the hotel provided.

'Worth every single dollar.'

He pressed on the speed button of 20 km/hour and ran as long as he could.

Training your body during the apocalypse is essential.

'Looks like my limit is only 45 minutes.'

The pink bead, or what famously known as 'Evolution Nectar' strengthens the body.

'Let's try 100 consecutive push-ups.'

The Evolution Nectar is ingested orally and would be immediately digested.

It gave humans a boost of approximately 10% per bead.

'Good, no problem with 100 consecutive push-ups. Let's try at 150!'

The energy absorbed from the bead would take time to spread around the body through blood.

And what are the best way to make your blood flow?

Exercise!

"Huff! Seems like I can still handle 150! How about a consecutive 200 push-ups?"

Erza quickly realized that the single bead enhancement had its limitations.

He couldn't reach the 200 consecutive push-up limit!

'Seems like I'll need to hunt more today!'

He then went on to test how many consecutive squats and pull-ups he could do.

"As expected, it's within the range of a single bead enhancement."

He then wiped his sweat and woke everybody up.

…

"Ughh..so early."

"Bro, lemme sleep some more.."

All four of them had difficulty sleeping yesterday, because of what happened.

As a result, they only went to sleep around 4 am!

In order to train up his family member's survivability, he will start cultivating a good morning habit.

Waking up early in the morning gives them time to focus.

Also, it is the period where the Infected are the least active!

"I'll start cooking breakfast, you guys go and wash your faces, okay?"

Knowing that they need more time to adjust, he went for a shower.

…

On the dining table, a simple breakfast of toasts, eggs, and smoothies was served.

'In this life, I'll make sure my family gets the best!'

Although they got out of bed sluggishly, they slowly gained enough energy after their meals.

"Son, now that the world is in turmoil, what do we do about food?"

Mrs. Numee had a worried expression.

Instead of saying how much he has prepared, he asked them to follow him to one of the rooms.

"Wow!"

"H-How much food is in here?! This looks like a warehouse!"

There was enough food for five people for at least 3 to 4 months.

"Big bro, there are so many foodstuffs! How much did they cost?!"

Feera went ahead and checked each of the boxes upon boxes of goods.

He spent almost 80,000 dollars on all of it.

"I've prepared enough food with the necessary nutrition for all five of us. Especially water, we won't easily get clean water in the future because of the disease."

He has seen his fair share of people getting sick and turning into an Infected just by drinking water contaminated by corpses.

Coming out of the room, he gave few supplement pills to everyone.

"The food that we eat might not have enough vitamins and minerals, so these are essential."

They swallowed with gusto.

"Big bro, you just showered and washed plates using the tap water. Is, is it okay?"

Bucky was concerned.

Erza explained to them that the hotel's water tank is on the rooftop.

While they were sleeping, he made extra preparations to safeguard all the entrance to the rooftop.

He also installed a few mini cameras for surveillance along the emergency stairs.

At least for a few weeks, they could still get clean water.

After all the family members showered, they gathered at the Theater Room.

Befits a 10,000 square feet suite, the room has its own movie room.

"Son, what do we do for clothes? We didn't bring any."

Mr. Zayf is curious if they have to wear the same shirt every day.

"The walk-in closet in the East Wing has all the clothes that I bought. We have enough clothes to change for at least a few years!"

All of them walked towards the closet, and they were amazed by the number of clothing items prepared.

At this point, quite a few things could make them surprised.

They were desensitized, little by little.

"This section is for our in-house wear, warm and cozy. This section is pretty clothes section, although we…might not have many occasions to wear them."

All of them smiled bitterly.

"And this section…is what we are going to wear most of the time!"

Erza swung open the cabinets and stacks upon stacks of combat gears and military clothing was on display.

He swiftly put on a full combat suit, covering his body top to toe.

"Now everybody grab your gears and put it on. I'll help you fill in."

Slowly, his family members awkwardly took various parts of the combat attires and began putting them on.

"Bucky, you should put on these Kevlar Gloves, it'll protect your fingers from cuts."

"Dad, always tuck in your shirt with a belt. You don't want an Infected to pull up your shirt and bite you in the stomach."

"Mum, this helmet is too big for you. Here, this one is better."

"Feera, those boots are strong and reliable but you have to tie them up tightly!"

After getting everyone dressed up, they felt more secure and confident when they look at themselves in the mirror.

They almost looked like a SWAT team!

"Alright guys, follow me to the gym."

He led them to the gym, and start coaching them the basics of fitness.

He told them that the more they sweat and cry in the gym, the less they will bleed on the battlefield.

And shedding blood during the apocalypse meant death!

The workout session was moderate, but still leaving them panting and tired.

…

"Guys, I'm going to head outside to find more Evolution Nectar."

That statement raised their hair.

They were about to object to him risking his life fighting the animated corpses, but they knew that it is the only way to survive in this changing world.

"I'll be careful. Besides, I'm partially immune to the disease and I need you guys to be immune, too."

A person who has absorbed the Evolution Nectar would start developing antibodies to the virus.

The more beads they consume, the more resistant they would be.

After checking and equipping everything he needed, Erza hugged his family in a group hug.

A battle for the survival of the species begins!

…

Whirr!

A four-wheeled mini car strides through a dimly lit corridor.

A man is seemingly controlling the remote control car from behind a fire emergency exit.

To make sure the emergency stairs are clear of Infected, he flew a drone from his floor and flew down a few levels.

'That's a luxury hotel for you…12 floors down are clear.

He installed four laser tripwire alarm on every 3 floors on the stairs.

Any movements would be detected immediately as the laser would send signals to alert him via Bluetooth.

'Money really do wonders.'

With his 10 years worth of expertise in setting up traps and hot-wiring electronics, these survival skills prevailed in times of chaos.

Creaak!

On the 20th floor, there were only 4 rooms.

A dark entity was seen from the screen of his remote control.

'One..two..four!'

Four infected came out from the rooms that were already wide open.

They followed the little four-wheeler car until the end of the corridor.

Upon reaching the end of the corridor, they found out there was no food to be found.

Just as they were about to disperse…

Weng! Weng! Weng!

The four Infected went into a frenzy!

They tried to find the living organism making the noise, but all they saw was a little harmless toy car!

The early stages of Infected had little to no intelligence at all.

They only act according to their instinct to feed.

Siu! Siu! Siu! Siu!

Two fast shadows traversed across the corridor like lightning, and pierced the head of all four Infected!

'Easy.'

After searching through the zombified General Manager's body last night, he found the Master Key Card.

That enables him to access every single place in the hotel.

He could lock and unlock every single door, including the emergency stairs'.

Carrying a meter long modern crossbow, the black mechanism seemed to exude an aura of death.

Although his previous strength has been reset to zero, his accumulated skills still remained.

To survive in the harsh apocalyptic future, Erza was forced to pick up marksmanship.

Only after gaining sufficient strength, he had the power to go toe-to-toe with an Infected Horde or any powerful Infected.

He observed the corridor for another 30 seconds.

The loud ringing from the remote-controlled car, was a portable alarm he screwed to the car's chassis, which originally was meant to fend off robbers or sexual assaults.

Erza had modified it to be activated via remote control.

After making sure the coast is clear, and no other Infected rushed in because of the alarm sound, he proceeded to dissect the four corpses.

'Beautiful!'

It's a wonder how an ugly, putrified creatures could produce such pretty pink beads.

"It's like a lily flower, which blooms from the muddy waters."

He washed clean all four Evolution Nectars, and sling them into his mouth.

Delicious flavors permeated his tastebud, and it turned into an embracing and nourishing energy.

'50% boost!'

Erza is now stronger than most adults by half.

Early-stage Infected, or how the future survivors called 'Strain 1 Infected' are the bottom rung of the Infected's hierarchy.

Each Strain 1 Infected will only produce a pink bead in their spinal cord.

'There rooms are closed. I'll sweep them out once I get stronger.'

Erza then retrieved the crossbow bolts and threw the bodies out from the 20th-floor window.

He looked at his watch and it showed 11.30 am.

'I'll clear one more floor and head back up for lunch.'