The phone call ended.
To be precise, it suddenly disconnected.
After trying to dial several more times, it couldn't connect.
However, Saya Takagi understood that nothing unusual had happened on her father's end - it was purely a problem with the communication lines.
She had roughly conveyed what she wanted to tell her father. Surely he would hear the hidden meaning in her words and understand that the guest coming to their house wasn't simple.
So Saya Takagi returned the phone to Senior Saeko Busujima.
Under normal circumstances, students weren't allowed to bring phones to school, and as a good student, Saya Takagi naturally hadn't brought one.
As for Senior Saeko Busujima, today was probably her first time bringing one too. From her behavior, the senior obviously knew this kind of thing would happen today.
Today, the world welcomed the apocalypse!
Yes, it was definitely the apocalypse - her father had confirmed it.
This made Saya Takagi feel it was still somewhat unreal.
If that was the case, then the truth behind what that guy guarding the door said about this world possibly being saved was that whatever medicine was in that hard drive was some kind of vaccine that could target the virus causing the world's end.
However, she was also somewhat puzzled about why he had asked her to help.
If he purely wanted the Takagi family's power to help, there would be no need for her to decrypt it.
How did he determine that she, a high school student, could open that thing?
Wait, perhaps he knew she was a genius, so only she could quickly learn and pass through.
This wasn't Saya Takagi being narcissistic - she truly was a genuine genius with considerable analytical abilities.
Only she could learn quickly, be taught well, pass through each 'test,' and unlock the contents inside.
"Alright, we can go now."
Teacher Shizuka Marikawa's words brought Saya Takagi back to her senses.
This scatterbrained teacher showed no fear at all regarding the current situation, remaining as naive as always.
Such innocence was actually nice.
So Saya Takagi stepped forward to help carry a bag, since the teacher couldn't walk well carrying everything alone.
Senior Saeko Busujima and that very rude man were the combat personnel - carrying things would definitely affect them.
Correction: for that man, it probably wouldn't matter anyway.
Those mad people posed absolutely no danger to him. When he had brought her here earlier, encountering over ten of them swarming at once, it was ridiculously easy for him to kill them all effortlessly.
Of course, Saya Takagi wouldn't be stupid enough to throw tantrums at a time like this. This person was truly a maniac who killed people without blinking.
Being obedient was best now, and she needed to be proactive - helping whenever she could.
So following him, she truly felt completely safe along the way.
Just how abnormal was this guy anyway?
Along the way, Saya Takagi carefully observed these monsters that were already living dead, discovering that although their movements were slow, their strength was terrifyingly great. She saw one of these things blocked by iron railings simply bend and break them.
That was something a normal human couldn't possibly do - doing that would cause human muscles to rupture.
Yet this living dead could accomplish such feats without its hands being affected, meaning its body had been strengthened and its physical toughness increased.
To behead such creatures or easily sever their limbs showed his strength was even more frightening.
Of course, it was also possible his weapon was abnormally sharp, but the speed was so fast that even with her excellent dynamic vision, she could only see blurred afterimages of his movements. This told her he was a monster even more terrifying than the living dead.
Speaking of which, because his performance looked so effortless, some careless fools who didn't carefully analyze the living dead's condition might mistakenly think they were also easy to defeat. If they arrogantly attacked thinking that way, they would be courting death.
Suddenly, their normal progress stopped because the road ahead was truly hair-raising - it was packed full of living dead.
The next second, she saw him aim his gun muzzle forward.
Was he going to shoot? Were there enough bullets?
They all needed headshots to stop moving.
Bang—!
The sound was quite loud - you'd think it was a sniper rifle firing.
"Ah~!"
Saya Takagi couldn't help but cry out in shock, because the living dead crowding the passage ahead were instantly engulfed by flames, with more than half melted away.
It was as if he had fired white phosphorus rounds, instantly burning away most of their bodies.
However, according to Saya Takagi's knowledge, white phosphorus rounds didn't have such terrifying burning power.
After pulling the trigger several more times, he finally melted through the crowded passage.
When they walked through, Saya Takagi discovered the power was even greater than she had imagined - the ground, walls, and ceiling had also been partially melted where affected.
What kind of gun was this? How terrifying.
More precisely, it was the bullets - what kind of ammunition could achieve this level of destruction?
Probably even ordinary armored vehicles could be melted through with three shots.
So with this kind of weapon clearing the way, they had smooth passage all the way to the staff room, where teachers' car keys were kept together.
"Drive the school bus."
This man said to the teacher who was looking for keys.
"Ah? My car can fit all four of us perfectly."
"Teacher, your car is too fragile - it could easily be torn open by these living dead. Plus it's small, so if we encounter too many living dead blocking the road, it'll be troublesome. Better to drive a large vehicle and ram straight through - it's less likely to flip over."
Saya Takagi explained this way. Surely this man also chose the school bus, a large vehicle, for the same reason - it would be more stable to drive.
"Oh oh, I see. For the school bus, which key would it be? Ah, found it!"
The teacher was really like a child, making Saya sigh.
With such a personality, in a world that had lost order, people like the teacher would have a very hard time surviving.
"Should we depart now then?"
Teacher Shizuka Marikawa asked a very stupid question.
No wait, from her hesitant expression, Saya Takagi deduced the teacher's real thoughts.
The school surely didn't only have them as survivors. In fact, along the way here, they had seen quite a few living people, but he completely ignored them. He had no obligation to help clear the living dead around those who had survived.
Teacher Shizuka Marikawa had also seen this and hoped he could help, or wait a bit, but he gave a reason that forced Teacher Shizuka to remain silent.
In his hands was pharmaceutical technology to counter the current virus, which needed to be delivered promptly to a location where the medicine could be developed.
The question was whether Teacher Shizuka wanted to delay some time to save a few more people, resulting in more people not receiving treatment, or even accidentally causing problems with the only copy of technical data on his side, leading to this world being beyond salvation.
He was letting Teacher Shizuka weigh the pros and cons.
It was this reasoning that silenced Teacher Shizuka.
And now, the kind Teacher Shizuka Marikawa still hoped he could help save others, or wait for some survivors following behind.
Then, before he could answer, noticing his subtle frown, Teacher Shizuka suddenly seemed to understand something herself.
"Ah, I'm so stupid. Of course we should leave now, otherwise it'll be troublesome when those living dead catch up."
This made Saya Takagi also breathe a sigh of relief inwardly. She could understand the inner pain of a very dedicated teacher at this moment.
But understanding was one thing - now wasn't the time for 'negotiations,' nor did they have the right to make demands.
If the teacher had really been that stupid, she might have been abandoned.
However, Saya Takagi also knew the teacher wasn't purely abandoning others just to survive herself.
The teacher should have someone she cared about - she was living for that person's sake.
So the pharmaceutical technology in his hands might be the hope for her loved one's survival, and the teacher would also help protect it.
So without much delay, they took the keys and headed straight for the parking lot.
However, the worst still happened.
Now it wasn't just four people - several students had successfully run over to join them.
With so many people, the mini bus simply couldn't seat everyone, which easily triggered human nature problems.
And that mysterious man didn't want to drag things out.
Suddenly, everything went quiet in an instant, and Saya Takagi was also scared pale.
He had killed someone - truly killed a living person, not a living dead.
A living head just fell to the ground and rolled, eyes blinking once, going from shock to confusion before the expression froze with no more reaction.
A headless corpse also collapsed, blood quickly staining the ground.
Moreover, this killing looked like he had impatiently and casually killed someone at random.
This made everyone tremble in fear, afraid they might be next.
...
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