[POV – Third Person]
Minutes later, they arrived at the supermarket without further incident.
Finding a zombie with a special ability was quite rare, especially in evacuated areas.
Zombies evolve, mainly, from the number of people they eat, and in a city with no people left, it's hard for zombies to evolve and become 'special zombies.'
"The usual, go in and grab everything that's intact quickly and coordinatedly," the leader of the road-clearing crew said loudly.
Without speaking, everyone nodded.
Soon, one by one, they began entering the supermarket.
Since Violet had already gone in before, they weren't afraid of being attacked, but they still remained cautious.
Sometimes, some zombies end up trapped and manage to break free, catching someone by surprise.
It's rare, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Theo also entered the supermarket.
He started looking around and saw some zombie corpses.
[HP: 0/200]
[HP: 0/200]
[HP: 0/210]
[HP: 0/275]
There was one with a high HP value.
There was a bullet mark on its head.
He wanted to go over there, but he couldn't just go straight to it, or it would look suspicious.
Grabbing a supermarket cart, he started putting in everything he found that didn't need to worry about short-term expiration.
He got closer and closer to the corpse.
It was a woman in a floral dress. Just bones.
'She must have been there for a few months,' Theo thought.
When he got close, he crouched down and touched it.
[It was identified that the Host found a level 1 [Stealth] skill core with 73% purity, do you wish to absorb it normally or absorb it to improve the [Stealth] skill?]
"Theo? What are you doing?" Someone called his attention.
By the voice, it was Sara.
Quickly, Theo chose to improve the [Stealth] skill.
After that, he pulled his hand back from the bony head, turning around, he said: "I thought I saw a core, but it seems I was mistaken."
"Ohh…" She simply stopped caring about him and continued pushing her shopping cart.
After she left, Theo felt like a thief who almost got caught in the act.
Simply… It's bad for the heart.
...
Later, in the Fiorino.
After storing everything, Theo sat next to Caleb and opened the Interface.
════════════
Theo Dimas
Race: Human
Age: 20 years
Level 1
Progress to the next level: 75%
HP: 175/175
Essence: 139
════════════
Awakened Skill:
[Stealth (Level 1 / 25%)]
════════════
'25%.' Theo thought: 'If I follow this logic of a 25% increase, I need 3 more to upgrade the [Stealth] skill to level 2.'
'With this, I know I won't be like the others who can't evolve their skills because they can't identify the 'normal' cores.' Theo thought.
That alone was already a big advantage.
From what he heard, there are two others with this skill, but none managed to raise it to level 2+.
...
In the road-clearing car.
Sara turned to her partner, Will, and said: "He's acting strange."
"Who?" Will asked.
"That rookie, Theo," she said while narrowing her eyes: "I've been suspicious of him since he decided to look for cores when he didn't even need to. Then he started skipping some zombies and choosing some specifically and found several cores in the process. It was like he knew which ones had them, but on purpose or not, he also chose ones that didn't."
"Must be just luck," Will didn't take it too seriously.
Sara added: "Not only that, just now in the supermarket, I saw him acting weird near a decomposing zombie woman's corpse. He was touching her head while looking dazed. When I talked to him, asking what he was doing, guess what he told me?"
"That he thought he recognized the woman?" Will asked.
"No, no, my friend, Will. He said: Oh, I thought I saw a core, but I guess I was wrong," she said, mimicking Theo.
"Huh? And what's weird about that?" Will still didn't see the problem.
"Haha, that's why you're the muscle and I'm the brains," she let out a chuckle and continued: "Of course something was off. Although the body was dried up, the corpse still had a good amount of tissue covering it, not to mention the hair hiding the exposed part of the head. So tell me, how did he think he saw a core?"
"He didn't see it and was lying," Will was still confused: "But then why would he do that?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll find out…!" she replied, biting her thumb.
...
Theo didn't know that someone was now watching his every step; he was almost dozing off until they started moving.
Just like before, Violet began attracting the zombies.
On purpose, she made explosive sounds with the motorcycle, making more and more zombies chase her.
She didn't care if the zombies came from the front and surrounded her; she simply created an ice ramp and jumped over them with the motorcycle.
She seemed so used to it that it looked like a professional in a video game, playing to break the record for the fastest time to clear a game level.
The road clearers simply kept moving forward, breaking the ice, running over the zombies in the process.
Many zombies survived but were crushed either by the Fiorino or the trucks.
This continued until they reached the end of the street.
When they arrived, several people holding firearms got out and started shooting at the zombies' heads.
They weren't afraid of hitting the cores – if the zombie had one. If it were that easy to break, they wouldn't make weapons, like swords, with the cores.
However, it was a rare material, and because of that, only 30 of them had weapons made from cores.
One of them, of course, was Violet. She had a short sword. Another was Sara, who had a dagger she used to pierce the head of the Incendiary.
When the shooting slowed down until it stopped, someone shouted: "Alright, you can start looking for the cores!"
In an organized manner, they moved as before.
It was automatic for them.
When Theo got out of the car, he borrowed Caleb's knife again. Wearing the surgical mask, he went over to ask for a pair of disposable gloves.
After receiving them, he put them on.
"I hope you get lucky again, Theo."
He turned toward Sara; she had a strange smile while looking at him.
"Thanks?" he replied, frowning.
'What's her problem?' he thought.
Shaking his head, not wanting to think about it, he went to one of the zombies.
Placing his hand on the back of the zombie's neck, he smiled behind the mask and was about to pierce the zombie's head.
"Wait!"
It was Sara's voice.
She came to his side and crouched down.
Without giving any explanation, she pierced the head of the zombie Theo was about to open and pulled.
When a tear opened, to Sara's disappointment, it was empty: "Was I wrong?" she murmured.
'I don't know what's gotten into her, but good thing I chose "yes" before she had time to act,' Theo thought.
She turned to him and asked in an interrogative tone: "Why were you smiling while you were about to pierce the zombie's head?"
"Huh? I was smiling? How would I know?" Theo feigned ignorance.
"Don't try to be funny with me; I know very well what I saw," she said in a louder tone.
"Sara, what's going on?" Will and two other armed people approached.
"I don't know what he did, but I believe he's doing something behind our backs," she pointed at Theo.
"You're being irrational," Theo said. "What exactly did I do wrong?"
"Damn it, I said I don't know. I just know you're up to something," she continued, stomping her foot hard on the ground, creating a crack.
'I know exactly what I did, but is this girl for real?' Theo thought.
This was getting him irritated.
Especially seeing signs of weapons being raised and pointed in his direction.
"Want to search me and see if I did something wrong? Be my guest," Theo said, annoyed, while raising his arms.
"You…" Sara turned red with anger, feeling provoked by his actions. She said: "Will, search him, and search him thoroughly. I bet he's hiding cores somewhere."
"Yes," Will agreed, handing the machine gun to her.
Quickly, he began searching Theo.
Violet approached as well.
When she heard Sara's summary, she looked at him with suspicion.
Will searched thoroughly; he even dared to squeeze Theo's balls hard.
'This bastard…'
When he finally gave up, he said helplessly: "I didn't find anything."
"Impossible!" Sara didn't want to believe it.
Soon she thought of something: "Search the car! Yes, he must have hidden it in the car!"
"Sara, he handed over several cores; why would you…"
"Will, shut up and just do what I said!" she demanded.
Raising his hands in surrender, he went to the car. Caleb got out of the car and let them search everything.
"Nothing."
"How can that be…" She was incredulous.
She was certain that he was somehow cheating, stealing their cores.
Theo already wanted to act alone. Doing things sneakily, even though he still went through the trouble of handing over some cores to them, more than anyone else managed to find that day, this shit happened.
Now he had a good excuse to leave and act alone.
"Violet, thank you for saving my life." Theo bowed in her direction and said: "If I ever meet you again, I promise to repay you."
After saying that, he went to Caleb: "Here's your knife, thanks."
"Wait, what's all this?" Sara called out to him.
Turning around expressionlessly, he said: "I'm out. Just as you don't trust me, I don't trust you. And not only that, when you suspected me, everyone was more inclined to believe you, even without proof. That's enough for me to not want to belong to this place."
Without another word, he turned back and continued walking.
"Wait!" She shouted, but he didn't stop.
"Are we just going to let him go like that?" Sara yelled at the others.
"Sara, enough," Violet sighed.
"But, but…" She bit her thumb.
She felt a little guilty, but she still thought she wasn't wrong.
"You're really going? With your strength, you won't survive," Caleb said.
"I won't die that easily," Theo replied.
Caleb couldn't understand where he got so much confidence from.
Theo thought: 'Anyway, I'll level up soon, and I just need to keep increasing my level. As long as I'm cautious, I won't die easily.'
He took the same path to the supermarket.
He wasn't a fool either.
There should be several corpses there, and with luck, it would be enough to level up.
'I remember seeing a gas and water store. Around here…'
He continued until he saw the first corpse of a dead zombie.
[HP: 0/205]
Looking at the HP, he smiled.
Touching it, he absorbed.
'Besides that, I need some kind of weapon,' he thought, looking around.
Then he saw one of those flags on an iron pole with a cement base at the end.
The iron pole was his height, while the cement part weighed about 10 kilos.
Holding the iron pole, he lifted and lowered it without much effort, then rested it on his shoulder.
At first, he wanted to drag it, but he feared making too much noise and attracting zombies to him.
[HP: 0/200]
[HP: 0/220]
Two zombies with crushed heads.
Probably by the wheels of the heavy trucks.
*VROOM!*
Before he could reach them, he heard the roar of a motorcycle.
Turning around, he saw it was Violet coming in his direction.
"Wait."
Theo stopped and waited.
She stopped beside him.
"Are you really leaving?" she asked.
"Do I have a choice?" he asked with an ironic smile.
"Sara is a good girl," she said.
"So good that she accuses someone without proof?" Theo retorted.
"..."
"It doesn't seem like Sara is the only reason you want to leave," she narrowed her eyes as if trying to see what was hidden in his soul.
Theo swallowed hard.
Sighing, she took something from the back seat. It was a water bottle, a flashlight, and a long knife. She said: "With this, it'll at least help you a bit."
Placing the iron pole on the ground, Theo accepted.
"Thanks," he said.
With a nasal sound, she revved the motorcycle and left.
Waiting for her to turn the corner, Theo stored the knife, flashlight, and water bottle in his inventory.
Picking up the iron pole with the concrete end, he rested it on his shoulder again.
Walking to the two zombies he had seen before, he looked back just to be sure.
Placing the iron pole on the ground, he touched the zombie's head.
[It was identified that the Host found a level 1 core, 55% pure, do you wish to absorb now [Yes] or [No]?]
[+5 essence]
After clicking 'yes,' he picked up the iron pole again.