The massive clock that once defined the face of the main building was gone, likely shattered into a thousand pieces when the structure collapsed.
Now, nearly seventy-five percent of the structure had crumbled, leaving only fragments still standing.
Rina and Seraphine moved cautiously along the side of the ruin.
"Sera, there's a zombie!" Rina whispered, pointing at one zombie clawing mindlessly at a broken window.
The creature didn't even seem to know what it was doing.
"Shoot it with your arrow," Seraphine ordered.
"Eh? What?" Rina blinked, her grip tightening on the "showcase" bow.
"I said shoot it. Use an arrow."
"Are you sure? Sera, this thing is a toy! The description literally said it couldn't kill a bird. I'm pretty sure it'll just bounce off and piss him off."
"Just shoot. I know the description makes it sound like garbage, but trust me. Even if you miss, I'll finish it off," Seraphine said.
One thing she was absolutely certain of now was that this system couldn't be trusted, especially its weapon descriptions.
Or perhaps the system's benchmark for equipment was simply far too low.
That meant stronger weapons might exist, hidden behind misleading labels.
"Okay... okay, I'm shooting!" Rina whispered. She reached back, pulled one of her five arrows from the quiver, and notched it. Her hands shook as she pulled the string back, her elbow high. She closed one eye, trying to line up the tip with the back of the zombie's skull.
1... 2... 3...
Shoosh!
The arrow hissed through the air.
For a "toy," it flew with surprising speed.
The arrow sliced through the air effortlessly before punching a hole straight into the zombie's skull.
Headshot!
The creature collapsed instantly.
Thud!
And with its fall came a cascade of glowing notifications...
----------------------------
{ [ You have successfully killed and absorbed the Dharma Power of level :1 - 'Zombie Student' ]
[ You have acquired 300 Dharma Power (DP) ]
[ You have leveled up!! (LvL : 1-->2) ]
[ You have received (2) Attribute Points (AP) ] }
----------------------------
Rina brushed off the notification, already acting like a veteran in this nightmare.
She and Seraphine were deliberately targeting isolated zombies, unwilling to risk approaching the distant swarm. So far, their "guerilla" tactics were working perfectly.
"Wa... wait, what!" Rina gasped, staring at the corpse she just downed. "It actually worked again."
"See? I told you," Seraphine said boldly, her confidence in her own intuition growing.
But as they looked at the fallen body, the air remained still. No white light, no sparks, no floating boxes.
"No drop?" Seraphine asked, her voice tinged with genuine disappointment.
"I told you! From my gaming experience, I can tell this isn't a guaranteed thing. It's all about probabilities and drop rates," Rina said with a smug smirk, finally feeling like she had the upper hand in knowledge.
"Ooooh?" Seraphine raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Well, from my experience, the system doesn't like you at all. When I killed two zombies in a row, I got drops both times. But when you killed one, you got nothing. You get what I'm saying, right? The system clearly has a favorite."
"Hmph! Say whatever you want," Rina replied, unfazed by Seraphine's mockery. She walked toward the fallen zombie to retrieve her arrow. "Can't waste these arrows."
She had only five, and every single one mattered.
Inspecting the arrow, she muttered, "Good… still sharp." But before she could return it to her quiver, a faint sound reached her ears from inside the main building.
t was coming from deep inside the ruins of the main building.
"Ri… Rina… Riba… is t-that you? Please… please help us… we're stuck… here inside…"
Seraphine froze, hearing it too. The voice was faint, trembling and unmistakably human.
It was coming from inside the women's washroom.
-----------------------------
Inside the building...
inside the women's washroom.....
A few minute ago..
Four girls were trapped.....
Jessica, Jasmine, Lisa, and Meera had been stuck there for an entire day.
Meera sat on the damp floor, cradling Lisa in her lap. Lisa's right arm and left leg were completely broken....Far worse than Rina's earlier ankle injury.
She couldn't stand or walk without someone's help. Jasmine and Jessica had taken turns standing near the door, listening anxiously for any sound outside.
Originally, they had only come to the main building to deal with a fee issue. In truth, only one of them needed to be there, but all four had come together.
That was how girls' groups often worked--unlike boys, who usually handled things alone.
Then disaster struck. Out of nowhere, thousands of meteors showered down on Earth. Buildings crumbled under the impact, and Ashford College's main building was no exception.
In the chaos, the four girls searched desperately for shelter. During the rush, Jessica should have died when a ceiling collapsed above her, but Lisa had shoved her out of the way, saving her life. The miracle came at a terrible cost: Lisa's arm and leg were crushed.
Dragging themselves through the wreckage, they managed to reach the women's washroom. But before they could escape, heavy blocks of concrete collapsed against the door, sealing them inside.
Now, there was no way in or out. Unless someone helped them from the outside, they were trapped, helpless, waiting, and praying for rescue.
Jessica bit her lip as she stood near the entrance, her eyes fixed on the pathetic state of her best friend Lisa.
It was clear, Lisa's arm and leg were beyond recovery through normal treatment. Her arm and leg were mangled, the kind of injury that required a surgical team and a sterile theater, but in this chaos, such help was impossible.
Tears welled up in Jessica's eyes as she whispered, "Why… why did you save me that moment, Lisa? If..if you hadn't pushed me, yu..you wouldn't be in this situation. So…so why the hell did you save me?"
Lisa, lying weakly on Meera's lap, managed a faint smile despite the pain coursing through her body. "I..i just did… what I had to do."
Jessica opened her mouth to argue, but Meera cut her off sharply. "Shut up, Jessica. Stop blaming her." Her eyes locked firmly onto Jessica's, silencing her.
I… I'm sorry," Jessica muttered, sliding down against the wall. Her mind was in utter chaos. As if things weren't bad enough, a strange message had appeared before all of them earlier—announcing that some kind of shit trial had begun. Soon after, zombies started sprouting outside.
"Just stop, will you guys. We need to figure out a way to get out of here," Jasmine said, standing beside Jessica.
"BUT HOW? You saw the zombies outside through the hole, right? We can't even shout for help. And even if we did, do you really think anyone's waiting outside to save us? I… I think they're all dead," Jessica blurted out, her voice trembling.
Jasmine didn't reply, rather she couldn't, because everything Jessica said was true.
Through the tiny hole in the wall, they had seen the outside world. And what they saw was terrifying.
Zombies. A lot of zombies.
"J… just let's wait a little longer," Jasmine finally said, her voice low.
"How much longer, huh? It's almost been a day since we got trapped here. Look at Lisa's condition! We can't keep her like this. She needs treatment, or she'll get worse. Do you think staying here will—"
"Stop, Jessica!" Jasmine raised her voice this time. "We know all that. We're just as worried as you are. But we can't do anything except wait for help."
And then....
At that very moment....
They heard it....
Footsteps....
The sound of people walking toward their direction...