CH : 18 Grinding for others

"I have to change my clothes, can you turn around?" Julia looked at Ethan with puppy eyes. She felt very embarrassed if Ethan saw her change her clothes.

Ethan, staring at Julia, seriously asked: "You know it is very dangerous. If I don't see you, and while you are changing your clothes, something bad may happen. We don't know what kind of abilities the evolved zombies will have. Are you sure you want to let me look away? Can't you just put this protective garment over your clothes?"

Julia glanced at Ethan and shook her head: "Big brother Ethan, you really do not understand a girl's mind, it's no surprise that you don't have a girlfriend.

"Of course! It's as if you're juggling a bunch of boyfriends" Ethan said in scaram, "Honestly, it's not even worth telling you this stuff.

Hesitating a bit, Julia listened to Ethan and wore the protective clothing over her clothes.

Julia holding the Imitation Tang Sword, walked over to the zombies that had its limbs cut off. The zombie with its limbs cut off by Draugr was still alive. The zombie sensing that Julia was nearby started to constantly struggle, opening and closing its mouth.

Seeing the struggling zombie, Julia was startled and quickly took a few steps back, with a pale face.

The zombie's appearance was too scary. Once hurt by the zombie, you would turn into a zombie. Which is why all the people feared them. Few people can muster up the courage and fight the zombies in melee. Had Nate not been transmigrated into Ethan's body and faced a dead end, summoning the courage to engage in melee combat with zombies would have been a daunting task for the original Ethan.

After a while, Julia realized that the protective garment can resist the zombie's infection, which caused her fears to settled down. Watching the limbless zombie lying on the ground, she stepped forward and slash at it's head.

Julia sword slashed fell on the shoulder of the zombie, the sharp sword embedded in the bones of the zombie.

That zombie immediately struggled, scaring her so bad that she was trembling and wanted to throw the sword away and escape. Seeing the zombie unable to chase her, the fear subsided in her heart. She was a girl that never even killed a chicken before. Asking her to kill a zombie was too difficult.

Julia watched the zombies on the ground, took a deep breath for a moment, then continuously slashing at the zombie's head. Slashing six times in a row, she eventually cut off the zombie's head. A ball of white light from the zombie body flew out into her body.

"Big brother Ethan! I killed a zombie!" After killing the zombies, Julia proudly said to Ethan while looking a bit pale.

"That is great! Jul, well done." Ethan rubbed Julia's head and praised her.

"Hehe!" Julia smile sweetly at Ethan's praise. The fear in her heart has lessened.

"Why didn't I get promoted?" After calming down, Julia curiously asked Ethan.

Ethan said: "Continue to kill zombies, you have to kill more zombies in order to raise your level."

"Okay! I will kill more." Julianodded, holding the Imitation Tang Sword, walked towards those limbless zombies on the ground. Killing the first zombie had lessened her fears of zombies, while increasing her courage to fight. It's always difficult at the beginning, but then it gets easier.

Julia, with the sword in hands, continues to kill the zombies. After killing the 12th zombies, her face had a look of surprise, loudly said towards Ethan: "Big brother Ethan, I was promoted, I got the stats points."

Ethan has been observing Julia as she beheaded the zombies. After hearing the surprise sound from Julia, he had another frown on his face as he quietly thought: 'With the help of others, it takes 4 times as many monsters to level up?'

'Well, here goes another of my grand plans to grind EXP for others just got squashed like a bug' Ethan thought with a sigh.

Julia finished speaking, came over to Ethan and asked: "Big brother Ethan, what stats should I increase?"

Ethan quickly said: "Spirit! You should increase Spirit. You are mainly responsible for the rear support, while I will be responsible for the front."

"You will be the group's dedicated healer, like a little doctor."

Julia is not suitable for combat, Ethan decided to have her train as a priest class or a healer class. The only girl that Ethan saw that dared to fight the zombies was Grace.

In this post-apocalyptic world, a healer is indispensable. Doctors are rare, and medicines are even rarer—and in a few years, nearly all of them will expire. On top of that, in a zombie-infested landscape, who knows what new diseases this environment might spawn? A healer will be the lifeline, dramatically increasing the team's chances of survival in this unforsaken world.

"Okay!" Julia quickly chose to assign to Spirit. She also didn't want to fight those nasty zombies, that's the riskiest thing.

Ethan said, "You're tired! Go rest! Give the sword to William, and tell him to come out."

"Got it!" Julia quickly ran to the school bus.

"Did you level up?" As Julia got on the bus, Olivia came up and hastily asked.

Julia said proudly: "Yep!"

Maya, Ava, William, and Olivia had a hint of envy in their eyes. They also want to level up and grow stronger. Without levelling up, they felt inferior.

Luna, fortunately was able to learn the skill Small Fireball, which is equivalent to an ability. It can also be considered having level up.

"William, Ethan said to go out." Julia handed the Imitation Tang Sword to William and said.

William's face lit up, accepted the sword and then got off the bus. He also wanted to level up and grow as strong as Ethan.

Olivia looking at Julia wearing the protective garment revealed a hint of desire burning in her eyes: "Julia, we should have a talk. Can you lend me that protective garment for a moment?"

Olivia is very smart, she saw that Ethan has been wearing the protective garment, followed by Grace, Luke, and now Julia is wearing it. Obviously this protective garment is a great piece of equipment.

Julia hesitated for a moment, took off the protective garment and gave it to Olivia .

'This is amazing! It can fend off zombie's attacks twice, this is the equivalent of two lives. This Julia really is important to Ethan. Who is she to Ethan?' Olivia wearing the protective garment immediately felt different, her body was light by bit. Her thoughts were full of jealousy.

"Let me and Maya try it!" Ava started, and said to Olivia .

Olivia saw Ava and Maya, and remembered the escape scene, with a guilty conscience, took off the protective clothing and handed it to Ava.

"This is amazing. Seems like Ethan really values this Julia." Ava and Maya wore protective garments and thought.

Killing those limbless zombies is not a difficult thing; the psychological pressure compared to killing a normal zombie was completely different. With the help of Ethan, William killed 12 zombies and soon also levelled up.

William, after leveling up, immediately asked Ethan: "Ethan, what stats should I choose?"

Ethan said: "Agility! You should put all your stats points into agility, when your agility is more than 13 points, put it into stamina and strength. When fighting zombies, reaction time is most critical. As long as you are not hit, they are no match for us. "

William is also one of the fighting forces that Ethan is developing. Ethan's team fighting force is currently only Ethan, Luke, and Grace. This fight force is just too weak.

"Okay!" William did not hesitate to immediately assign the stats points.

William stamina was much more than Julia. Ethan helped William to kill the zombies until William was promoted to level 3 before they stopped hunting.

Beheading zombies was hard labor. Especially William with the help of Ethan, had to kill a lot more in order to advance to level 3. Afterwards, William was too tired and headed back to the school bus.

Maya, Ava, and Olivia with Ethan's help advance to level 2. Ethan also urged them to assign the points to Agility and Stamina.

Luna also advanced to level 2. Following Ethan's advice, she assigns her points to Spirit. Luna was also a focus of Ethan to train.

Here's a slightly shorter version that should be easier to copy:

After everyone leveled up, night began to fall, and Ethan knew better than to fight zombies in the dark. He quickly instructed Draugr to bring back three zombies unharmed.

When Draugr returned with the captive zombies, Ethan methodically went to work. While Draugr restrained them, Ethan broke their bones—crushing their jaws, fingers, upper arms, and thighs—ensuring they were incapacitated but not too damaged. To be certain they were immobilized, he tightly bound their limbs and heads, making sure they couldn't move at all.

As Ethan carried out this grim task, the others watched with a mix of curiosity and unease. Once he was done, Draugr hoisted the tightly bound zombies over his shoulder, carried them to the back of the bus, and tossed them into the trunk before securely closing the door. Ethan and Draugr then boarded the bus.

"Let's go home," Ethan said as he took his seat, noticing the bewildered stares from the others. They were dying to know what he planned to do with the zombies, but even the strongest among them—Grace and Luke—remained silent, too intimidated to ask.

With that, the bus started up, and they made their way back to the apartment without any hindrance.

"You are back! Come and eat!" Back home, Nina and Daisy greeted each other with a smile on their face, while looking at Ethan and said.

A girl immediately went into the kitchen and brought out a tray of dishes.

Dinner is stir fried vegetables, white rice, beef cooked with potatoes, stir fried ham with tomatoes and eggs. The group of people sat around the table and began to eat.

The girl's appetite was small and the meal was not lavish. But each of the girls ate three bowls of rice, before putting down their chopsticks. Especially for Daisy and Nina who were trapped in the dorm room for a couple days. It has only been a couple days since the world ended, but for them, it was so long.

After the meal, Daisy immediately started clearing the dishes.

Nina and Jessica hesitated for a moment but also started helping.

The rest of the girls then woke up, rushing to gather up the dishes.

Grace looked at the girls and lightly said: "Take turns to do it, first is Daisy, Nina, and Jessica, then substitute."

Hearing Grace say that, the other girls immediately stopped and circled around Julia and Olivia. Then started asking them about the leveling up process.

Sitting on the couch, Luke, holding a bottle of sports drinks, asked Ethan: "Are you going to go out in the dark?"

Ethan knows that Luke understands Ethan very well. Know that in a moment of crisis, Ethan would never waste a minute of time.

Ethan with his fingers overlapping, hesitated for a moment before slowly saying: "It is too dangerous out there at night. I do not know what has happened to the world. In the darkness, if you are suddenly attacked, something bad may happen."

Ethan's stamina through constant levelling has already more than doubled an ordinary person. Compared with the first day, he was not as tired. In the dark streets, it was extremely dangerous, if he encountered some S1 zombie that attacked, he might be injured.

Luke said: "We taking the initiative is indeed dangerous, but let them take the initiative to come to die. instead of attacking the zombies, lured them to a place where you can fight them easily"

Ethan understood right away, his face immediately brightened: "Luke, what you said is great. Wear the protective garment, we will immediately set out."

Ethan didn't want to waste time, as long as he has the stamina, he wants to continue fighting and level up. The initial period of this new world is most valuable. Waiting until all those zombies are stronger, killing them would be more risky and difficult.

Luke silently nodded, and put on the protective garment.

"Where are you going?" Seeing Ethan and Luke standing up, Luna couldn't help but asked.

All the other girls watched Ethan and Luke, their eyes flashed a touch of worry. The two men were the core of the team. They did not know how they would survive if they lost those two.

Ethan, with a serious face, instructs Luna: "We're going out to hunt and kill zombies. You stay here, shut the door, and do not go out! Also do not let anyone except us in."

Luna frowning, persuaded loudly: "Isn't it very dangerous to go out so late? What if you encounter some S1 or L1 zombies?"

Luna was greatly impressed by the S1 zombie's Strength. If they didn't have Ethan and Grace, an L1 zombie could kill everyone in the room.

Maya also opened her mouth to persuade: "Yeah! Ethan, go tomorrow!"

Ethan refused and said: "Thank you for your concern, but I must go."

Ethan's mind was made up, those that opposed did not have any effect.

Soon, Ethan and Luke left the safety of the room, heading outside.

At this time darkness had enveloped the sky. Although electricity was still uninterrupted, none of the apartments were lit. As if the whole city was already dead.

The only good news was the Moon in the sky. Moon light shining down everywhere, so that this dark world had a hint of light.

Ethan looked up at the Moon in the sky, and thought of the past: "Luke, we haven't fought together like this for how long?"

Luke simply said: "Two years!"

After squandering 2 years after high school, because something happened, og Ethan was greatly impacted. As if a changed man, began

to prepare for the university entrance exam.

A hint of loneliness flashed in Ethan's eyes, with a sigh: "Two years already?"

Two years ago, also on a moonlit night, the girl that Ethan loved left with another boy, just because the boy had a great inheritance. He had to work hard for a month to earn money for a decent gift for her birthday party.

Luke frowned: "Ethan, forget her. That girl is not good enough for you. She was a gold digger bitch."

Ethan was silent for a moment, to Luke laughed and said: "I've forgotten about her. The most urgent task now is to survive. I can distinguish what is important."

Luke looked at Ethan for a bit but did not say anything.

Leaving the area, Luke and Ethan quiet down, no longer talking.

Ethan went to the sales office outside the community, pointed towards the sales office, and ordered Draugr: "Destroy it!"

Draugr, receiving Ethan's order, immediately swung his axe. The axe hitting the glass door, smashing it to pieces.

The sound of breaking glass in the silent darkness was extremely foreboding. The zombies near the sales office began staggering over.

In this neighborhood, there were many zombies attracted by the sound of the school bus engine's sound. After hearing the sound of breaking glass, those zombies staggered over.

More than a hundred zombies soon staggered over towards Luke and Ethan.

"Big trouble!" Ethan looked at the crowded group, numbering more than a hundred zombies.

Zombies forming a dense formation are the most difficult to deal with. Scattered zombies can be dealt with by kiting over and over again. While with a crowded group of zombies, the smallest mistakes can get you caught.

"Up the steps!" Ethan said to Luke.

They quickly retreated up the stairs of the building.