The group gathered in the ruined kitchen of the suburban house as the afternoon sun finally dipped below the shattered, burning skyline.
Evening descended upon the city with a heavy, suffocating finality as the fading light caused the shadows of the destroyed neighborhood to elongate, transforming mundane debris into twisted, monstrous silhouettes.
"We move now," Lu Zhang said quietly.
They mapped out their route in hushed whispers. The next destination on their path was the upscale neighborhood where Su Yao's family resided.
The group gathered their hastily salvaged crude weapons, stepping out of the relative safety of the house and back into the cold reality of the streets.
The atmosphere was tangibly different from the afternoon. The darkness seemed to actively press against them, hiding lethal threats in every single alleyway and behind every overturned vehicle.
They moved with extreme stealth, sticking entirely to the deep shadows and avoiding the open roads.
Despite their caution, the city was teeming with unnatural life. A pair of grotesque, mutated felines dropped from a low rooftop, blocking their path.
[Corpse Feline Lv 4]
[Mutated Hound Lv 5]
Lu Zhang did not hesitate. His extreme speed allowed him to close the distance before the beasts could even let out a warning growl.
An azure Empty Fang flashed in the dim light, cleanly severing the feline's head. He spun on his heel, driving his other hand directly into the hound's throat, activating Devour on the beast that choked on it's own blood. The warm rush of vitality and mana flowed into him as the beast withered slightly before it's death.
Lu Zhang stood up, looking at the floating blue text fading away in the dark. 'Level 4 and 5 already?' he thought to himself idly, his eyes narrowing.
Just hours ago, the wandering monsters serving as the bottom of the food chain were entirely Level 1 or 2. These things were just stray beasts, yet their levels had doubled.
He looked back at the terrified survivors huddling behind Cai Dajian. 'The window for regular humans to adapt is shrinking by the hour.'
They continued their slow, agonizing progression. As they navigated a particularly narrow, debris-choked alleyway flanked by towering brick walls, a sudden, overwhelming sensation slammed into Lu Zhang.
His survival instincts flared up with such absolute, terrifying intensity that it felt like a physical blow to his chest. Every single hair on his body stood on end. The air itself suddenly felt unbearably heavy, thick with a suffocating, metallic pressure.
Lu Zhang moved entirely on pure, primal reflex. He pressed his back against the wall, putting a finger to his lips, his eyes wide with a silent, absolute command for total stillness.
Boom
A massive, earth-shattering footstep hit the main road just outside the mouth of their alleyway. The cracked asphalt groaned and shattered further under an impossible weight.
[Minotaur Lv 20]
For that brief glimpse, time seemed to stretch out into an agonizing eternity.
A colossal figure walked past the narrow opening of the alley. It was a towering mountain of dark, scarred muscle and coarse fur, easily standing twenty feet tall.
A pair of massive, bloodstained horns curved toward the sky, capable of impaling a truck with a single thrust. The sheer, overwhelming aura radiating from the beast was not just intimidating, it was biologically suppressive.
It was the vivid, paralyzing terror of a prey animal realizing it is entirely powerless. The human mind could not process the scale of the violence passing just feet away. The air grew freezing cold. The sound of the group's own collective heartbeat was deafening in their ears.
Cai Dajian, the man who had confidently relied on his high endurance to crush monsters all day, stood completely unmoving. His large frame trembled violently, his face pale, his knuckles white as he gripped his metal pipe with useless, frozen strength.
Su Yao, the usually cold and calculating anchor, was equally paralyzed. Her eyes were fixed on the passing shadow, her breath caught entirely in her throat, her pale hands shaking uncontrollably against the brick wall. The absolute rationality she prided herself on was completely crushed under the overwhelming weight of the beast's presence.
Yet, as Lu Zhang stood pressed against the wall, perfectly still, his psychological response was entirely different. He felt the crushing fear trying to press down on him. He felt the biological suppression the same as the rest of the group.
But intertwined deeply within that cold terror was a sudden, twisting spark of profound excitement.
His heart pounded against his ribs, not just in fear, but in a strange sense of anticipation.
'Level 20...'
All he saw in the beast-
'I can keep growing stronger.'
-was that there was still a higher ceiling beyond him to overcome.
Boom.
Boom.
The Minotaur continued its slow, heavy march as it plodded down the main avenue, completely unaware- or uncaring, of the insignificant insects hiding in the dark crevice of the alley.
The suffocating pressure slowly lifted as the massive shadow disappeared into the smoke and darkness.
A collective, shuddering gasp of relief echoed in the alleyway. Cai Dajian slumped against the wall, wiping a thick layer of cold sweat from his forehead. Su Yao closed her eyes tight, forcing her trembling hands to steady themselves.
"Keep moving," Lu Zhang whispered, his voice relatively steady, with just a hint of awe, unlike the shaking survivors behind him.
They left the alleyway, the horrifying encounter serving as a brutal reminder of their place in the food chain.
They pushed through the fear, finally reaching the sprawling, manicured streets of Su Yao's affluent neighborhood.
They stood before her house silently.
It was massive, practically a mansion, enclosed by high iron gates. The architecture was imposing and modern.
Cai Dajian looked up at the sweeping windows and expensive stone facades, letting out a low whistle. "This is your house? It's practically a fortress. Why does a family even need so much space ?"
Su Yao stared at the violently smashed mahogany front door. It was hanging loosely on a single shattered hinge.
She did not elaborate, stepping through the ruined doorway without waiting for them.
The group infiltrated the dark, silent mansion with weapons drawn, stepping into a grand foyer which opened to reveal four massive rooms.
The opulent interior was a scene of absolute carnage. The expensive marble floors were slick with congealed blood, and the imported furniture was torn to shreds.
Three figures shuffled aimlessly in the grand foyer, wearing the shredded, bloody remains of domestic uniforms. They groaned, turning their milky white eyes toward the intruders.
Lu Zhang and Cai Dajian stepped forward smoothly, dispatching the three Level 3 servant zombies with swift, silent blows to the head, preventing them from making any loud noise.
They moved deeper into the house, checking the rooms from the ground floor up. In the ruined dining room, they found what remained of the masters of the house, Su Yao's parents.
A man and a woman in expensive, blood-soaked evening wear lay tangled on the floor. Their throats had been entirely ripped out, their bodies partially devoured and beginning to rot. They were completely, undeniably dead.
Su Yao stood in the doorway, looking down at the gruesome remains of her parents. The group of survivors behind them held their breath, expecting a scream, a collapse, or a flood of tears.
Su Yao's expression was entirely blank. Her eyes swept over the mangled corpses of her mother and father with the exact same cold, absolute apathy she used to regard the low level monsters in the streets. There was no grief or sorrow in her eyes.
"Check the other rooms," Su Yao instructed, her voice entirely flat and devoid of emotion. "Make sure the house is clear."
Any murmurs were shut down the second she looked at them. No one had forgotten how she had incinerated the last person to stir the pot.
They swept through the rest of the massive mansion, including the remaining bedrooms, the studies, and the kitchens. There were no other monsters left alive.
"Barricade the doors and the broken windows," Lu Zhang ordered, taking command of the silent, tense situation. "We'll rest here until midnight."
The group moved into action, driven by lingering adrenaline and the promise of rest as they dragged heavy, solid oak dining tables, marble statues, and thick bookshelves to block the shattered front door and the large ground floor windows.
While Lu Zhang was pushing a heavy wooden credenza against a broken glass pane in the main hallway, his analytical eyes scanned the environment idly. The walls of the hallway were lined with dozens of expensive, silver-framed family photographs.
He paused, his eyes narrowing as he inspected the pictures in the dim moonlight.
There was a portrait of the father, looking stern in a tailored suit. A picture of the mother, smiling warmly on a yacht. And picture after picture of a young, bright-eyed girl who looked similar to Su Yao. The same black hair, pale skin, as tall as her, yet she seemed different in some way.
'Right. It's her eyes.'
It was hard to make out, but Su Yao had black eyes. Her sister's were an extremely dark brown.
'Besides that, she seems happier than Su Yao.'
Vacations, birthdays, graduation ceremonies. The three of them looked like the picture perfect, wealthy family.
But as Lu Zhang looked closer at the timeline of the framed memories, his brow furrowed. 'Where is she?', he wondered, his eyes jumping from frame to frame.
Su Yao was not in a single one of them.
From the earliest childhood photos to the most recent family portraits taken in this very hallway, her existence was completely erased. She was entirely absent from the walls of her own home.
Lu Zhang looked back over his shoulder, seeing Su Yao standing in the living room, calmly observing and directing the barricading process, her posture perfect, her face an unreadable, emotionless mask.
He turned back to his work, pushing the heavy credenza firmly against the wall, choosing to keep his absolute silence on the matter.
The heavy physical exertion of the day had caught up to the weakest members of the group. Anne was rubbing her eyes, yawning loudly, her small body swaying with exhaustion.
Su Yao walked over to the little girl. "Come. You need to sleep," she said, her voice softening just a fraction.
She took Anne by the hand and led her up the grand staircase. She brought the tired girl to a specific, lavishly decorated bedroom on the second floor.
Su Yao gently put Anne to bed, pulling the thick, expensive duvet over her small shoulders, displaying a strange, protective humanity that sharply contrasted with her earlier apathy.
Downstairs, the group realized they finally had a moment of true respite.
The city's power grid had failed hours ago, but the mansion's massive overhead water tank still held a significant amount of residual pressure.
They organized a rotation to take quick, efficient showers in the ground floor guest bathrooms, desperate to wash the stench of rot and death from their skin.
Lu Zhang stood under the mixer shower, letting the cold, gravity-fed water wash over his exhausted muscles. The yellowish-green blood of the Wind Mantis, mixed with the dark venom and human gore of the day, swirled down the expensive marble drain. He scrubbed the grime from his skin, feeling the absolute physical relief of his completely healed shoulder and foot - a product of levelling up and Devour.
He stepped out, drying off with a clean towel. His original clothes were completely ruined, stiff with dried blood and utterly impractical for continued stealth. He navigated the dark room and entered one of the master closets, instantly bypassing the expensive suits and designer jackets, searching for functionality.
Lu Zhang naturally rejected the lighter coloured clothing, and things that would be difficult to move in. Anything with metal or any shine was discarded as well.
In the end, he found a simple black T-shirt that fit him snugly, yet was flexible enough to not impede him. He also threw on a pair of dark, comfortable, reinforced utility pants. He put them on, restoring his practicality and tying his sneakers tight.
'What sort of psychopath only has dress shoes? And stores them in their closet?' Lu Zhang complained in broke.
He was entirely comfortable and prepared for combat again.
The rest of the group finished their silent routines, settling down in the barricaded living room to catch a few hours of sleep before the final push.
Lu Zhang did not sleep yet, as he sat perfectly still in a high-backed leather chair near a covered and barricaded window, staring into nothingness.
The long, violent day was finally catching up to his mind. The final destination of their route was the next stop.
The quiet, suburban home where his parents and lazy, unmotivated sister, Chunxia, had been completely alone when the apocalypse began.
In the quiet of the night, without the immediate distraction of combat or the need to plan a tactical retreat, his mind began to wander into incredibly dark, horrific territory.
'She barely even exercises, let alone be able to escape,' he thought, the cold logic turning against him.
He imagined the front door smashed in. He imagined finding a Level 4 Zombie standing over a bloody, torn apart body on the living room couch. He imagined milky white eyes looking up at him from a familiar, zombified face.
Lu Zhang's jaw clenched tight. His hands gripped the armrests of the leather chair with enough force to shatter the wood beneath the upholstery.
'No.'
He violently rejected the dark, paralyzing thoughts away, stopping them entirely on purpose. He built a cold, impenetrable psychological wall in his mind, shutting down the panic before it could take root.
He closed his eyes, controlling his breathing, waiting in the absolute silence, for the right moment to move out.
'I wonder, how do I level up next?' He thought to himself, entirely pushing away the thoughts that had plagued him moments ago.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 10 (First Limit)]
[Strength: 26]
[Speed: 59]
[Intelligence: 28]
[Endurance: 26]
[Stat Points: 15]
[Mana: 280/280]
[Skills: Inspect lv 5, Empty Fang Lv 7, Double Jump Lv 4, Mandate Lv 1, Devour Lv 3]