Chapter Fifteen: Survivors and the Escape from Carter Town

Chapter 15: Survivors and the Escape from Carter Town

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The story continues—

"Ding! An S-Class mission has been detected: Lead the remaining inhabitants of Carter Town out of town. For every person lost, the reward is halved. If more than half are lost, the reward items will vanish. Mission rewards: Soul Crystals x200,000, Magic Artifact: Netherworld Tower of Ten Thousand Ghosts."

The system only offered such generous rewards when the mission was of the utmost difficulty. This made the three of them instantly more cautious.

"Wait—stay alert!" At the end of the secret passage, a sturdy young man in his twenties suddenly stood up, quietly calling out.

"We’re here to rescue you!" The sudden voice startled Shuster and his companions; they hadn't expected to be detected despite their silence.

"Are you sent by the Church?" the voice from the other side asked.

"The Church? To be honest, I have no fondness for them at all. That so-called Church is exactly who caused this disaster. We’re just an independent team," Shuster replied, his anger flaring at the mention of the Church. If not for their ruthless quest for that interdimensional crystal, none of this would have happened.

"You’re not from the Church? State your identities, or we’ll consider you enemies," the other voice called out, its tone tinged with hostility.

"The Church is the culprit behind this catastrophe in the Eastern Empire. We’re students who escaped from the White Emperor Academy—my name is Shuster." Shuster had no choice but to explain. After all, he was a citizen of the Eastern Empire, and he’d promised Catherine to aid his country. These people could help reinforce the elven defenses.

"Why should we believe you? You’re slandering the Church," the other side retorted, though the previous hostility had faded from their voice.

"Bah, what’s so good about the Church? If you really believe they’ll come rescue you, go ahead and wait. We have the strength to get out ourselves; you’re on your own," Shuster snapped, growing irate at their misplaced faith in the Church.

"Fine, we’ll go with you. But can you really fight your way out?" The opposition suddenly softened, then asked.

"Tch," Shuster snorted, displeased, and led his two companions inside.

Before them stood a young man gripping a massive sword defensively, but upon seeing the three, he was left speechless—he’d expected perhaps a female voice, but hadn’t anticipated all three would be women. He promptly mistook Shuster for a particularly boyish girl.

"Is this really all the survivors?" Shuster and Lolita were stunned. Even though Carter Town was only a small town, this large shelter housed barely ten people, and only the young man with the greatsword seemed capable of fighting, at intermediate Fifth Tier.

"We had no choice. A Greater Demon attacked earlier; we’re the only ones who survived," the young man said, his voice tinged with sorrow.

"Well, take this ring and pack your food inside. You have ten minutes to gather your belongings. We’re heading for the imperial capital, White Stone City. There, we might find a larger survivor camp," Shuster sighed, tossing him a ring.

"Put this in your mouths, or your screams will bring the zombie horde down on us. We’ll get out safely, but you’re responsible for yourselves," Lolita said, handing out white cloths to the elderly, women, and children who couldn’t fight.

Ten minutes later—

"Alright, we’re leaving. Stay close behind me. If I make this gesture—raise one hand, fingers straight and together—stop immediately and keep quiet. For this gesture—thumb extended along the side of the straightened index and middle fingers, other two fingers curled into a fist—move forward. If you can’t interpret the signals, just stop. Lolita, you support from the middle. Sakuya, you take the rear," Shuster instructed, accepting the Paradise Spark from Lolita and leading the way.

"Don’t just stand there—move!" the young warrior called to the others, snapping them out of their daze as he hurried after Shuster.

The group set out, with Lolita in the center wielding a submachine gun transformed from Pandora’s Box, fully equipped with tactical flashlight and infrared laser on the rails, a suppressor, and an ACOG scope—a set that would be worth at least $1,500 on Earth.

Sakuya brought up the rear, twin silver throwing knives in hand—one with a red hilt, the other blue. Her graceful presence gave the survivors a sense of reassurance.

Shuster led them to the hole they’d previously used to descend, signaling a halt. The group crouched down in silence, watching him climb up.

"It’s safe! Everyone up, quietly!" Shuster called down after checking the room above.

"Wait here while I check the situation outside," he said once everyone was up, quietly slipping out.

Outside, there were three zombies—two standing together, one with its back to him. He planned to take out the one facing away first, then use throwing knives and headshots for the rest. Slipping to within two meters—Shuster, once a ninja, was adept at stealth. Zombies’ perception range was two meters.

A bullet to the cerebellum dropped the first zombie. Using its body as cover, Shuster crept to a large tree five meters from the other two. Leaning the corpse against the trunk, he readied himself.

A flash of silver—one knife embedded in the left zombie’s forehead, while a bullet shattered the right one’s skull. Shuster rushed in, gently lowering the bodies to the ground.

He exhaled in relief and reached for his knife—suddenly, the supposedly dead zombie seized his left arm and bit down hard.

Blood spattered.

Quick as lightning, Shuster fired the Paradise Spark into the zombie’s head, blowing it apart, then wiped the cold sweat from his brow and caught his breath.

"Damn it! That was a Tier Four magic weapon—how did it not kill it in one strike?" He yanked his arm free, wiped the blade clean on the zombie’s clothes, and returned to the house.

"It’s safe now. Lolita, you take the lead this time; I’ll support. Move quietly and don’t alert the zombies," he told the group.

Lolita crouched and crept out, the others following single file.

At a corner, she signaled a halt, then used a mirror to peek around—six zombies were visible. She withdrew the mirror and silently indicated "six" to Sakuya, who nodded and readied four throwing knives, signaling she’d take the left.

In the next instant, the two of them darted around the corner. Four knives buried themselves in the foreheads of the leftmost zombies, while the heads of the two on the right exploded under gunfire. Silently, Lolita and Sakuya dispatched the six zombies and rejoined the group.

The survivors continued forward. The Fifth Tier warrior was fascinated by the weapons Shuster and Lolita carried—they dispatched enemies at a distance, silently, something he’d only heard possible with bows or crossbows. Quietly, they picked off wave after wave of zombies, slowly making their way to the eastern gate of Carter Town.

Just as they were about to escape, disaster struck—

A zombie dog appeared, barking furiously and charging the group. Its howls roused the horde—suddenly, all the undead went berserk, their eyes turning red as they surged toward the survivors.

Lolita’s weapon let out a low roar; the zombie dog’s head was reduced to pulp.

"Everyone on high alert! No need to hide your strength—kill these monsters! Sakuya, lead the group out of town!" Shuster drew his Blood Dance Crescent Moon and shouted.

"I want to help too!" the Fifth Tier warrior insisted.

"Get out of here—this is no longer your fight! Go!" Shuster shouted without looking back, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lolita.

"No dawdling—my young master is an Eighth Tier powerhouse. He doesn’t need your help," Sakuya said, flinging a knife to kill another zombie as the horde grew.

"Eigh—Eighth Tier? That’s impossible!" the warrior was stunned—the two of them looked far too young.

"Lolita, suppressive fire!" Shuster commanded.

Lolita immediately transformed her weapon into a six-barreled Gatling gun, half-meter streams of fire spitting forth.

A fierce battle was about to erupt—

PS: Next chapter will be posted tonight! Please give it your all—let’s seize first place in this final week! We’re nearly at 300,000 words; if we go over, I may have to delete the side stories! Ha!