Chapter 13: Who could resist such a paradise!

"Yes, let's go!" Tsubasa nodded decisively.

The trio grabbed some food and water, just to be safe.

By this time, with the sound of the class bell echoing through the school, all the zombies were in a frenzy. Their growls reverberated from every direction, Tsubasa even felt a slight tremor through the floor.

"Looks like there are quite a few more zombies this time!" Tsubasa narrowed his eyes, his grip tightening on the Kuyo Knife.

They cautiously approached the door, peering into the hallway. Luckily, their office was situated far from the school's loudspeakers, so not too many zombies had been drawn to their location.

But upon closer count, there were still more than thirty of them.

"There's a school bus in the parking lot, and the keys are in the teachers' lounge. We'll pass by the lounge on our way to the parking lot. Marikawa-sensei, you know where the keys are, right?" Tsubasa looked at Shizuka.

In the original storyline, the main characters had escaped the school on a school bus.

Now, it seemed to be their only viable way out.

After all, the bus had ample power, unlike a regular car. If they encountered any obstacles along the way, they could simply ram through them.

"Hmm... No problem, leave it to the teacher!" Shizuka pouted playfully, thought for a second, then raised her index finger. Her scarlet lips curved into a charmingly goofy smile, and with her other hand, she confidently patted her impressive chest.

"Could you... maybe pat a little lighter?"

Tsubasa's eye twitched slightly, the sight was rather overwhelming.

He quickly looked away, however, sensing a sharp glare directed at him from the side.

"Ahem, ahem... then this crucial task falls to Marikawa-sensei."

Tsubasa cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Ready? Then let's go!"

Finding a brief lull in the zombie activity, Tsubasa flung open the teachers' room door and sprinted out into the hallway.

Saeko Busujima and Shizuka Marikawa followed close behind.

"Hr! Hr-hr..."

"Uh-huh!"

"Uh-huh..."

The sudden appearance of the trio instantly drew the attention of the zombies, who had previously been agitated by the sound from the loudspeakers.

Among the thirty-odd zombies were both men and women, their blue and white school uniforms stained with black, decaying blood. Several of the female zombies in school uniforms had gruesome bite wounds through their thighs, revealing white bone.

Some had chunks of rotting flesh dangling from their faces, and upon spotting the trio, they began to gnaw and drool.

Seeing this gruesome sight, Saeko Busujima raised her wooden sword, a strange thrill flickering in her dark purple pupils. She was about to charge forward, but Tsubasa held her back.

"First, let's get out of here. There's no point in wasting energy on them now, or we'll just attract even more zombies."

Although he also wanted to earn points, now wasn't the time for unnecessary risks. If they accidentally found themselves surrounded by a horde, they would be in serious trouble.

"Fine!"

Saeko Busujima nodded immediately without hesitation—she rarely questioned Tsubasa's decisions.

Without waiting for the thirty-odd zombies to fully surround them, the trio dashed forward, moving swiftly down the corridor of the academic building towards the next one.

"R-r-r!!"

More than thirty zombies were giving chase, their guttural growls echoing behind them.

But they were too slow and soon began to fall behind.

Two minutes later!

The trio reached another academic building.

"Hr-hr... hr-hr..."

"R-r-r!!"

Before they even had a chance to catch their breath, three zombies suddenly rounded the corner.

They were powerfully built, clearly athletes.

The strength and bite force of such zombies were significantly greater than those of the average infected.

"Saeko, your responsibility is to protect Marikawa-sensei!" Tsubasa gripped the Kuyo Knife tightly.

This small number posed no real threat to him, he could easily handle them.

"Ho-ho-ho... R-r-r!!!"

The three zombies lunged at them with ferocious growls, their legs moving in unnatural, distorted ways, nothing like human locomotion.

Whee-whee-whee!

[Ding, three zombies killed, 45 points earned!]

The system's voice chimed in his mind.

"Tsubasa-kun is so strong!" Shizuka exclaimed in admiration, involuntarily clutching Saeko tightly.

...

Saeko remained silent. She also thought Tsubasa was amazing, truly worthy of being her boyfriend, but the intense pressure on her hand made her less inclined to speak.

That size – it was no wonder Tsubasa couldn't resist.

Who could resist such a paradise!

"Hurry, there are a lot of zombies following us!"

"Oh-oh!"

Shizuka nodded quickly, her eyes wide.

At the same time!

Within the school building, above the guttural roars of the zombies, even more piercing screams of students could be heard.

These terrifying sounds were relentless, filling the entire building with a chilling cacophony.

This only seemed to enrage the already agitated zombies further, as if the very air had turned a viscous, blood red.

Thinking about it, it made a grim kind of sense, the class bell had drawn the zombies together, inadvertently giving some of the remaining survivors a desperate glimmer of hope for rescue, and they had seized this moment to try and flee the school.

But dreams are often beautiful, and reality is invariably cruel.

They didn't possess the same formidable strength as Tsubasa. A direct confrontation with a horde of zombies meant certain, brutal death without the slightest chance of resistance.

Tsubasa moved ahead, relentlessly clearing a path. Even when seven or eight zombies lunged at him simultaneously, with the fluid grace of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu and the deadly precision of the Kuyo Knife, his speed was like lightning, and his strikes were like thunder.

In just a few breaths, more than a dozen zombies lost their heads, their headless bodies collapsing to the floor with dull, sickening thuds. He even cleaved some zombies clean in half with a single, brutal stroke.

A massive surge of points flooded his system account!

"Phew..." Tsubasa exhaled softly, the system notifications echoing in his mind like a siren song, almost addictive in their promise of power.

At this rate, he'd soon be able to grow even stronger.

Then, dispatching these zombies would become as effortless as chopping vegetables, or perhaps even more spectacularly impressive.

Like, for instance, cutting bullets out of the air!

Transcending the very limits of human capability!

As time wore on, the trio drew closer and closer to the teachers' lounge.

At the same time,

Due to their conspicuous actions, many survivors hiding nearby noticed Tsubasa and his companions.

"Hey, save me! My family has connections, my father..."

"Take me with you! Quickly! My family is wealthy, I'll pay you anything, just take me!"

"Hey, man, my family's tied to the yakuza! I order you to protect me and get me out of this damn place! I always said it wasn't worth studying in this crappy school, damn education system!"

The surviving students, witnessing how effortlessly Tsubasa dispatched the zombies and moved past them, began to desperately plead for help.

Some offered money, others invoked their family's influence, and some even resorted to pathetic threats against Tsubasa.

At this, Tsubasa merely offered a cold, dismissive smile.

The end of the world had arrived, and they were still clinging to the old rules?

How utterly ridiculous!

Money?

In the apocalypse, money was nothing more than worthless scraps of paper!