Chapter 89

"Dognose, you catch a whiff of that? Where'd that dragon cub run off to?"

The guy in the Bullhead mask was being pretty blunt.

But from the way he talked, it was clear he was one of Lord Ox's followers, and Dognose was with Lord Dog.

"Bullhead, chill out. If you're so good at this, why don't you do it yourself? Seriously, you think I like crawling around sniffing all day? I'm not an actual dog!"

Dognose sounded pretty annoyed.

"Alright, let's not fight. We're all just doing our jobs here. I bet when the dragon cub saw Dognose yesterday, he figured out he should take routes that don't leave a scent, right?" said the guy in the horse face mask.

The team of four stopped in their tracks.

Routes that don't leave a scent?

That could only mean...

"The sewer!"

With that thought, their mission suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Bullhead, Lambleg, check out the area and see where there might be food. Dognose, you head down first and take a look. If you catch his scent, great. If not, we'll figure it out." Horseface gave the orders.

"Don't boss me around. We're supposed to be working together, not taking orders from you!" Bullhead grumbled.

But he didn't waste any time. He jumped up to the rooftop to get a better view of the area.

That's when he spotted Avery High School not too far away!

"There's a school over there, probably got some leftover food. Dognose, stop sniffing around, let's head into the sewer and surround it!"

With their target in sight, the team picked up the pace and headed straight into the sewer.

Meanwhile, a girl named Monroe was casually strolling towards Tower City.

She hadn't let any of the bad guys who killed the big girl get away.

As for how she dealt with them...

"It takes thirty minutes for humans to turn into zombies, and for ability users, it takes even longer. After the second evolution, they're basically immune to the zombie virus. Practice really is the best way to learn. The greatness of medicine is built on sacrifice, so thanks for your contribution." Monroe happily tallied up her revenge gains.

Besides getting a basic understanding of ability users, she now knew exactly how zombies turned humans.

As for the deaths of those bad guys, there's not much to say.

Monroe had tied them up, made them watch their friends get bitten by zombies, slowly turn into zombies, and then get bitten themselves.

In the end, they became the fuel for Monroe's first evolution.

"So, besides the energy from killing zombies, what's this other powerful force inside me? Could it be the magic that devil gave me? Whatever, he asked me to help kill someone, and we made a deal, so I'll do my best." Monroe said, stepping into Tower City's limits.

Her hometown had luckily avoided the last zombie wave, but after losing friends, Monroe didn't want to stay there anymore. She figured she might as well check out the biggest nearby city.Maybe she'd find other survivors, and maybe even run into that guy with the weird name, Lord Dragon.

Avery High School.

This place had suddenly become the center of attention.

The Richardson team had been here yesterday and found a bunch of zombies. Helen also sensed there might be something powerful lurking around.

So, after a quick regroup, they decided to come back for some more training.

"The weather feels kinda weird today." Anna pouted cutely as the strong wind blew, hinting that today might not be the best day to be out.

"We can't just stay cooped up on the eleventh floor all the time, right? It's fine once or twice, but if we don't get out often, we'll turn into couch potatoes."

Karen hugged Anna, feeling her fuller figure compared to her own, and smiled like she was comforting a child.

"I know, I won't get lazy." Anna said, glancing at Richardson beside her.

"You better work hard today! Ever since Helen scolded Little Black Dragon last time, she's been acting all high and mighty about the Dragon Clan. You better hatch a new playmate for her soon."

Talking about Helen, Richardson always felt like she was asking for trouble.

Since she scolded Little Black Dragon a week ago, she kept bringing it up.

She even seemed like she wanted to do it again.

Not a good sign!

Sure, dragons grow slowly, but that doesn't mean they won't grow at all! If Helen kept messing with him, Richardson couldn't even imagine what would happen when Little Black Dragon got bigger.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her happy."

Since Helen liked new companions, Richardson didn't mind. After all, it wouldn't be him getting beat up in the future.

"Thank you, my greatest master."

Helen, of course, had no clue about Richardson's thoughts and thanked him happily.

But she didn't notice the little Black Dragon crawling around Karen, a sharp glint in its eyes.

The Dragon Clan never surrenders! When I grow up, we'll fight again!

"Master, that building over there has a powerful zombie. Number Zero said he felt a hint of fear."

After entering the school, Number One reported.

Karen, on the side, was a bit surprised to hear this.

To make Number Zero feel fear?

How many mutations had this zombie gone through?

In theory, with Number Zero's crazy talent for devouring and strengthening himself, he shouldn't feel fear towards his kind!

Other zombies should be the ones fearing Number Zero, the killer of their kind.

How could a zombie make him scared?

"Five times, or six times mutation?" Taking a deep breath, Jasmine wasn't scared, but rather excited as she asked.

"Not sure, but at least five times, maybe more."

After answering her question, Number One felt Jasmine's fighting spirit and added, "Calm down, facing a strong opponent isn't what we want. If possible, I'd rather all opponents be easy to defeat. That way, the master will always be safe!"

Number One was definitely the most loyal protector.

Who knows how much Cathy had drilled into him before she left. Either way, he was now passing on this chivalric spirit to Jasmine.

"Does facing weak opponents really align with our principles of protection?"

Thinking about Number One's words, Jasmine slowly fell behind the team.Seeing Jasmine following Number One around all day, almost obsessively, Karen couldn't help but ask, "Richardson, are you sure everything's okay? Jasmine's a good girl. I don't want her turning into some kind of suicide squad member. Why does Number One's guidance feel a bit like brainwashing?"

"Don't underestimate Number One's abilities; his spiritual guidance is pretty much like brainwashing! But Jasmine asked for this. If she can forget her past and find a reason to keep going through this, isn't that a kind of happiness? After all, who can say for sure that the way we think is right isn't just ideas forced on us by others?"

Karen shook her head. Richardson's reasoning was a bit out there, but everyone knew Jasmine's situation. Maybe learning from Number One was her way of coping.

"Don't worry, I've been keeping a close eye on Number One's combat and spiritual guidance; there's nothing wrong. Jasmine's learning voluntarily, not being brainwashed by Number One's intentions. Besides, what you call brainwashing is nothing compared to how assassin organizations train their recruits—that's real brainwashing!" Iris chimed in, speaking with authority.

Richardson and Karen both fell silent. Compared to assassin organizations, Number One's guidance was pretty tame, almost laughable, like kids playing pretend.

"Hey, look! There's a woman in red watching us!" Lily, usually quiet, suddenly shouted, pointing towards the building Number One had mentioned earlier.

She wasn't scared of zombies, but ghosts freaked her out.

Lily's scream was loud enough to attract zombies from at least a hundred feet away.

As Number One and Number Zero quickly took care of the attacking zombies, Richardson looked where Lily was pointing but didn't see any strange red figure.

"Don't scare me like that, I'm freaked out by this stuff too."

Karen leaned against Richardson, grabbing Iris with one hand and Lily with the other.

When it came to zombies, Karen was always the first to jump into the fight. But when it came to supernatural stuff, she got uneasy. To be honest, she was scared!

"So, Karen, you have fears too? Don't worry, I sense some magic. The thing upstairs isn't likely a zombie, but a monster from the Demon Beast civilization. It's definitely not a ghost. We're good!"

Iris laughed and started walking towards the building.

But as soon as she took the first step, a bone-chilling coldness hit her, making her sense danger!

She instinctively rolled on the ground, barely dodging the ambush of the red-clothed zombie!

Yeah, Iris had sensed it wrong!

The magic she mentioned was from another group's battle nearby!

And the red-clothed woman Lily saw was a real mutated zombie, evolved six times!

"Damn it..." Richardson was startled by the sudden turn of events.He immediately used his telekinetic power to start the stopwatch! In the frozen world, he finally saw what was going on.

It was a zombie dressed in a red theatrical costume, looking like a ghost straight out of a horror story!

"Holy crap, this thing's at least sixth-tier! We can't take it down, no way!"

Richardson didn't hold back, swinging his blade at the zombie's head.

The feedback from the blade and the zombie's unscathed state confirmed it—this was a six-times mutated zombie!

No wonder Number Zero was scared. Heck, Richardson was pretty freaked out too.

He had never faced a sixth-tier zombie head-on before.

He figured if his team worked well together, they could handle a fifth-tier mutated zombie or Demon Beast.

The Dragon Lure Grass incident was proof of that.

But sixth-tier?

Iris's bow was gone.

To pull off another miracle, they'd need another miracle.

"What do I do? While time's stopped, should I just carry everyone back? Then tell them we had a dream about a sixth-tier mutated zombie in the school, so today's mission is canceled?"

Richardson awkwardly smiled.

He hadn't expected such a terrifying opponent to show up, and now he was stumped on what to do.

"Wait, Iris said she sensed a magic fluctuation? So, are there other Demon Beast civilization creatures or humans from the Battlefield World nearby?"

With that thought, Richardson had an idea!

He stopped worrying about the red-clothed zombie and jumped onto a building to look around.

Unfortunately, after scanning the entire school, he couldn't find any signs of other humans or Demon Beast civilization creatures.

This was weird!

"Could Iris have sensed it wrong? That can't be right. How could an assassin make such a rookie mistake? Something's off here."

Richardson didn't believe Iris could make a mistake like that.

So, he made a bold decision.

If there was nothing on the surface, what about underground?

Kicking open a manhole cover, Richardson looked down!

Then, he fell silent.

Sometimes reality was stranger than fiction.

By casually kicking open a manhole cover, Richardson found five people down there—one of whom was an old friend!

The muscular guy he fought with Iris last time!

"So, you're not dead yet? It's really fate; every time we meet, it's always in a crisis. And each time, I end up tricking you with a pocket watch. Honestly, I'm starting to feel a bit embarrassed!"

Seeing the situation below, Richardson noticed these five people seemed to be in a post-battle state, and he couldn't help but smile.

It was really interesting!

Life was like this: you never knew which would come first, the unexpected or the surprise.

For example, just now, Richardson had just experienced the unexpected ambush by a sixth-tier mutated zombie.

And then he encountered such a surprise.

Now, it was time for the surprise and the unexpected to collide.

Richardson grabbed the sixth-tier mutated zombie and tossed it directly into the sewer.

Then he closed the manhole cover.

Time resumed!