Chapter 52

A sandstorm tore through the northern wilderness all day, swallowing up what little life was left. The creatures that survived weren't your average critters – like level 2 Hellhounds or level 3 Bloodthirsty Pigs. Even the zombies got shredded beyond recognition in that storm.

When the storm finally died down, Selena pulled back the canvas covering the cave entrance. This canvas was a gift from Mr. Steele, way bigger than the cloak she used to wear. It could double as a small tent to keep the rain off. Without it, she might've been buried under all that sand.

Selena dusted herself off, squinted at the dim sunlight, and tried to get her bearings. In a canyon, she spotted a mark on a stone – a secret sign used by her lab partners. Her heart skipped a beat. It meant she was close to Linda and Ellie. "Thank goodness, they're still at Maple Camp," she muttered.

By evening, Selena reached a massive camp. Instead of using the main entrance, she followed some special signs and crawled in through a hole.

The streets were eerily quiet, no lights in any of the huts. But Selena knew this was normal. In a refugee area, no one wasted candles at night.

Following the marks, she found a hidden safe house. Just as she was about to enter, something felt off. She froze, eyeing the small gap in the door. The lab survivors were always super careful, so why was the door left open?

Standing at the entrance, a sense of danger washed over her. Carefully, she pulled out a small crossbow from her cloak, pushed the door open, and stepped inside. Her blue eyes glowed as she activated her superpower, making the dark room dimly visible.

The moment she stepped in, a shadowy figure lunged at her. A tall figure started clapping. "Impressive, Selena. I was planning to ambush you, but you caught on."

"Are you the pursuer?" Selena's face went pale. She ducked behind cover, her crossbow glowing with a white light. An enchanted bolt shot out faster than sound, aimed at the mysterious figure.

There was a metallic clang as the arrow hit, but the figure caught it with his hand and tossed it aside. "Too weak. Your arrows have no strength," he sneered.

Selena narrowed her eyes, the blue light in her pupils intensifying. She finally got a good look at him. His skin was deathly pale, covered in irregular red birthmarks, and his eyes glowed a dark red, like a demon straight out of hell.

"You're infected with the 'Super Zombie Virus,' how are you still alive?" Selena couldn't believe her eyes. She knew all too well what people looked like in the final stages of the virus. But this guy? He was still kicking, still conscious, moving around like it was no big deal. "You actually succeeded!" she gasped.

"Thanks to you traitors, we got the chance to evolve," the mysterious figure said, tilting his head. He waved his hand, and a burst of fire lit up the oil lamp in the safe house, casting light on his devilish face.

"You're not human anymore!" Selena spat, glaring at his grotesque features.

"Human? Don't insult me with that outdated term. Humans are the lowest creatures, just food," he sneered, sticking out a forked tongue like a snake's. His skin was pallid, covered in black veins, like a corpse long dead.

"You're a zombie!" Selena finally realized.

"Call me whatever you want," he said with a sneer. "Selena, haven't you figured it out yet? You're a failed experiment, a joke. Come back with me, and maybe you can find redemption. Otherwise, you'll be destroyed."

"Redemption? You killed my family, turned us into lab rats, and you call that redemption?" Selena's anger flared, her eyes glowing with icy killing intent, matching the mysterious person's.

Every lab subject had lived through the nightmare of their tribe being wiped out. After the massacre, so-called 'kind people' would save the sole survivor, like Selena. But it was all a lie. They just wanted the surviving kids to become test subjects, undergo training, complete missions, and then be disposed of.

"So you all knew. Now I get why you four defected," the mysterious person laughed coldly. "But it doesn't matter. You're worthless as experiments now." His expression turned ferocious, black lips splitting to reveal fangs. "You shouldn't have blown up the lab when you escaped. Now you must die!"

Two sonic booms rang out, followed by two white lights aimed at his eyes. With a quick move, he blocked the arrows with his pale arm. "It's useless, you can't escape!" he sneered.

Selena's heart raced as she bolted out of the safe house, the mysterious figure chasing her like a beast. "Selena, let me take a bite of your flesh, it's your redemption!" he shouted.

With a loud bang, he used the wooden wall to bounce up, causing the hut to collapse. Inside, Selena saw a headless family of three, long dead.

"I'll bite off your head," he swooped down like an eagle, smashing another room full of headless corpses. Selena felt a chill down her spine, finally understanding why it was so eerily quiet around her.

Finally, the loud commotion caught the attention of a patrol team in the distance. A squad holding torches rushed over. "What's going on?" the squad leader shouted.

In a split second, the mysterious figure leaped into the crowd, grabbing the squad leader's throat and slamming his elbow into the guy's chest. In less than five seconds, everyone was dead. The mysterious figure let out a manic laugh, biting off one of the squad member's heads. "I'll come back for this snack later," he sneered, pushing the corpses aside and continuing his chase after Selena.

Selena frowned, using every ounce of strength to escape. She couldn't gauge the power level of this mysterious guy. Her face showed a hint of bitterness. "I might not make it out of this. Mr. Steele... don't avenge me," she murmured. Did she regret it? Maybe a little. At that moment, she mostly regretted not hugging Ryan a bit longer.

"You're wasting my time. I'm gonna suck your brains dry," the mysterious figure's massive form loomed behind her, his pale hand with gleaming nails reaching for the back of her head.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the mysterious figure was knocked away by something. Selena's mind went blank, her hair fluttering in the wind.

It was then that Selena noticed a girl standing in front of her, red birthmarks on her face. "Ellie!" Selena recognized her partner, Ellie Griffin.

Ellie, with her long pink hair and fluffy skirt, looked clean and neat, though her brow was furrowed. "Run! That monster will be back soon," Ellie urged, turning to flee.

Selena didn't hesitate, following Ellie into the darkness.

The camp was in chaos, more patrol teams rushing towards the noise. Following Ellie, they dodged every team using the terrain, eventually escaping from Maple Camp.

Leaning against a huge rock, Selena panted heavily. "That zombie should be busy for a while," she said, then looked at Ellie. "Ellie, you've grown taller. You're eighteen now, right? What's going on? And where's Linda?" she asked.

Ellie looked pained. "We've been exposed... those monsters have been after us for over ten days! Linda lured three of them away to help me escape. I haven't heard from her since."

"What? Four of those monsters!" Selena was in shock.

Ellie nodded. "They call themselves 'gods,' with powers surpassing a Level 5 Esper."

"All surpassing Level 5 Espers?" Selena was stunned again.

Ellie rubbed her arms, looking sore. "Yeah, they're all powerful Espers. If I hadn't ambushed that guy just now, we wouldn't have escaped."

"I didn't expect the pursuers to be this strong, but Linda is tough. She'll be okay. By the way, did Linda mention where to meet up?" Selena's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. Among the four who escaped the lab, only Linda had the strength of a Level 5 Esper, followed by Selena as a Level 4, and the rest were at most Level 3.

"She went to Bright City," Ellie said, lowering her head.

"What? Why did she go there?" Selena's expression changed drastically as she looked at Ellie. The ruins of the laboratory were in Bright City. "We just managed to escape from there, why would she go back?"

"Linda said she wanted to investigate the lab's information. If we can't survive, maybe... maybe we can choose to become those monsters," Ellie struggled to explain.

"What? She's lost it!" Selena exclaimed angrily.

"Not exactly, Linda wants revenge," Ellie defended Linda, lowering her head.

"Revenge? Who doesn't want revenge? Can becoming a monster really bring revenge?" Selena's eyes turned red with anger. She recalled the four of them who escaped from the lab. Except for Jessica, the families of the others were all killed by those vicious people in the lab. However, besides revenge, they needed to survive first. Selena furrowed her brow.

"Selena, don't worry. Linda says it's just an investigation, she doesn't really mean to try to become a monster," Ellie looked at Selena.

“Why didn't you stop her?” Selena asked.

"At that time, three monsters were chasing Linda, I couldn't stop them," Ellie replied, looking at Selena.

"What should we do now?" Selena asked, feeling overwhelmed.

"How about waiting for Jessica to come back?" Ellie's eyes lit up. "Jessica always has the best ideas. It was her idea to blow up the lab in the first place."

Selena shook her head. She thought it would be better not to involve kind-hearted Jessica in these matters. Tortoise City was a good place to settle. "Jessica... she's still as scatterbrained as ever. If she comes, things will only get more complicated," Selena said with a smile.

Ellie nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I remember when we escaped, she only said she wanted to blow open the lab gate, but it turned out the entire lab was blown up. And it was lucky for us to make a narrow escape from being crushed under that. Afterwards, I asked Jessica how much explosive she had set before..."

Selena also remembered their escape, covered in dirt, their faces blackened by explosives, like four clowns. But it was also satisfying because they had destroyed the lab. "Unfortunately, the explosion didn't kill the high-ranking officials in the lab," Selena sighed.

"There will be a chance to get our revenge," Ellie began to comfort Selena.

At that moment, flames soared in Maple Camp, the sound of automatic rifles echoing in the night, mixed with screams. The noise was getting closer to the camp gate.

"We better get moving. I think that monster is about to come out," Selena pointed ahead.

"Where else can we go?" Ellie was frustrated.

Selena instantly thought of Wasteland City, thinking of Mr. Steele and their agreement. "Let's go to Wasteland City!" Selena replied firmly.

Ellie looked puzzled. "Why go to Wasteland City? There's nothing special there, and the refugees are really annoying. Can we get any useful information from there?"

"No, Wasteland City has what we need, the 'Devil Fruit'," Selena revealed some important information but didn't mention Tortoise City. She had promised Mr. Steele to keep the secret.

After hearing Selena's words, Ellie widened her eyes in shock.