"Brother Lux, so… what kind of person are you, really? I think you're amazing."
Catherine asked curiously.
"What kind of person? Just a lucky ordinary person. As long as you overcome fear, even ordinary people can kill zombies. Just destroy their brains."
Lux replied coldly while loading bullets into magazines.
He had a fairly good impression of this girl who knew how to repay kindness.
He could also tell that Catherine was deliberately trying to get closer to him. That was understandable—a high-school girl in a zombie-ridden world naturally wanted to rely on someone who could protect her.
However, since mutated zombies provided large amounts of resource points, Lux planned to summon sniper units with extremely strong single-target lethality to hunt mutated zombies in a more organized manner.
This unexpected encounter with a mutated zombie had nearly cost him his life. It highlighted his lack of firepower.
If there had been a sniper unit providing support, the situation wouldn't have been so dangerous.
Following him was actually quite risky. That was why he deliberately put on an unapproachable demeanor.
Under normal circumstances, anyone would choose to enter a military shelter rather than wander the apocalypse with him.
Still, once he finished collecting resources from the granary and Walmart and prepared to establish his own settlement, he could invite her over and arrange a relatively easy job for her.
Seeing that Lux had no intention of continuing the conversation, Catherine tactfully withdrew to the side and leaned against the truck wall to rest.
"Brother Lux, have a cigarette. I'm still not full—can you give me a bit more food?"
A boy came over, fawning as he offered a pack of cigarettes.
"I don't smoke, thanks. And my food supply is almost gone too. That compressed ration can provide an adult with enough calories for three to four days. You won't starve. In a world like this, unless you search for food yourself outside, even if you enter a shelter, you're not guaranteed to be full."
Lux glanced at the boy and spoke indifferently.
"Oh, I see. Alright then."
The boy withdrew dejectedly back into the crowd.
As for food, Lux still had some.
But these people had little to do with him, and feeding them was the military's responsibility. He had no intention of playing the good guy and filling everyone's stomachs.
"Um… may I ask how badly the city has been affected?"
The girl who had questioned Roy earlier walked over and looked at Lux seriously.
"Not optimistic. The most dangerous places are large supermarkets and the city center. Those areas are either surrounded by massive hordes of zombies, or occupied by mutated zombies of unknown capability—like the one at your school."
"Office buildings and other workplaces have basically all been taken over by zombies as well. When the disaster first broke out, the TV broadcasts told residents to stay at home and wait for rescue."
"But up to now, I haven't seen any military rescue operations. It's likely they also suffered a certain level of biohazard outbreak internally and haven't fully suppressed it yet."
Lux thought for a moment, then decided to tell the truth.
The girl's body swayed. Her face turned ashen as she collapsed to her knees.
Lux sighed, continuing to take bullets from his pocket and press them into MDR's magazines.
Cruel as it was, some people might not be able to withstand such a blow. But if they didn't accept that the world had already changed, they wouldn't be able to go on living in it.
Someone had to tell them that this world was no longer the same.
"After you enter the shelter, you may be assigned work in exchange for food and other resources. Don't think you can live without working, or rely on your parents anymore. From now on, the only one you can rely on is yourself."
Lux said calmly.
"Brother Lux, y-you're not planning to stay in the shelter?"
Catherine asked in surprise.
"Yeah. I'm not very sociable, and I don't like being managed. I won't stay. I'll take you to where you can see the shelter, then I'll get off."
Lux replied flatly.
"But… but it's so dangerous outside. And this is already outside the city—you'll be in danger if you get off alone."
Catherine said worriedly.
"How could we let Lux leave by himself? 416 and I are obviously going with Lux."
MDR declared immediately, chewing on chips.
"Only three people…"
Hearing that Lux didn't plan to stay in the shelter, all the students were shocked.
In a world full of danger, they couldn't understand why Lux would choose to remain outside instead of entering the shelter.
This only added another layer of mystery to him in their eyes.
After handing the loaded magazines back to MDR, Lux leaned against the truck's side panel and watched the landmark buildings along the roadside.
Knowing the locations of other gathering points was also important.
Two hours later, buildings gradually became sparse, and low suburban houses appeared in Lux's field of vision.
Soon after, the heavy truck turned onto a rural road.
A military truck approached from the opposite direction, letting out a loud horn before gradually slowing down.
Bob also reduced speed, eventually stopping by the roadside.
When they saw the military, the students burst into excited screams. With the people's army here, their lives were finally secure.
Although Lux and the two armed girls were strong, protecting so many people was clearly beyond their firepower. Along the way, the students had remained on edge.
Now that they had finally seen the real military, they could relax.
A fully armed soldier in camouflage jumped down from the military truck and ran to the driver's side.
Lux pressed one hand on the truck's side panel and lightly flipped down from the cargo bed. The move drew a flicker of surprise into the soldier's eyes.
Jumping down so effortlessly from nearly three meters up—even he wouldn't dare try that.
When he saw Bob in the driver's seat with his head wrapped in bandages, the soldier's gaze sharpened instantly.
He flicked off the safety and raised his weapon. Even though Bob hadn't turned into a zombie yet, he had to be responsible for the others in the cab.
"You, get out of the vehicle immediately. What's that injury on your head?"
"I'm getting out now. It's from a collision injury. I'm not infected—please rest assured."
Bob hurriedly opened the door, carefully climbed down using the external step, and jumped to the ground.
"Brother, don't worry. He's not infected. The wound is from yesterday morning. When I checked him today, it had already scabbed over. If he'd been bitten or scratched by a zombie, he would've turned long ago. Look—there's barely any blood on the bandage. Old Bob, take it off and show him."
Lux explained with a smile.
"Alright, alright."
Bob obediently removed the bandage from his head.
Seeing the scabbed-over wound, the soldier finally relaxed a little and lowered his weapon.
During the evacuation from the military district, he had personally witnessed a living hell. He had even been forced to put down his own platoon leader after he turned, and had seen comrades torn apart because they couldn't bring themselves to pull the trigger.
Because of that, he was extremely sensitive toward anyone who was injured.