The battle was over.
In this brutal skirmish, Lucas Kane and Lupo had taken down four Crawlers—counting the one eliminated at the elevator entrance—and one Broodmother.
Harvest.
Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained: [Energy Core] ×260+52, [Accelerated Fertilizer] ×25, [Evolver's Blood] ×5, [Reinforced Hide] ×12, [Sharp Claws] ×8, [Corrosion-Resistant Hide] ×2, [Corrosive Extract] ×1!
Jackpot.
An absolute jackpot.
The energy cores from these few Variant Type-II zombies were equivalent to slaying a hundred regular ones—an insanely efficient haul.
Lucas quickly checked his progression: 522/800 ×2.
The current energy cores in hand amounted to roughly one-third of the requirement for his next level.
Still, that was already impressive—he'd gained two levels just today.
If he could continue hunting this volume of Type-II variants, reaching Awakened – Stage 2 would be only a matter of time.
After another cautious sweep of the fourth floor with Lupo, Lucas didn't even need the system's scanning prompt; the wolf's behavior said it all.
Lupo, now reduced to his compact golden-retriever-sized form, padded around excitedly, sniffing here and there like a curious tourist.
That carefree energy meant only one thing—no zombies nearby.
Indeed, the fourth floor was clean.
Several storefronts had spray-painted markings on their doors; kitchens lay bare, stripped of anything edible.
Rot had long taken over—the spilled rice and flour had birthed carpets of toxic red fungus, covering walls and floors alike.
With the mall fully scouted, Lucas strolled toward the escalator, taking his time descending.
A mall could make for a decent shelter, after all—plenty of space, room for many survivors.
Its only real drawback was the lack of proper bedding; sleeping on cold tile was a misery few could endure.
As the escalator glided down to the second floor, Lucas found himself face-to-face with a group of survivors clutching assorted weapons, fear written across every expression.
Some had collapsed to the ground, pale as chalk—like they had just seen a ghost.
From this closer vantage, Lucas noticed more people in the distance.
At the doorway of a tutoring center, several young women clung to the frame like startled deer, eyes wide, ready to bolt inside at the slightest movement from his direction.
…Am I really that scary?
Lucas gave them a puzzled glance, remaining silent as the escalator carried him toward the first floor.
"You… are you human or zombie?!" a man at the front called out, his voice trembling, face ashen as he tried to muster courage.
Lucas didn't bother answering.
He simply stepped off the escalator, crossed the floor in silence, and disappeared out the main entrance.
"…Looks like he's human," someone muttered uncertainly.
"Human? Impossible! He came down from the third floor… we know exactly what's up there."
"Yeah. We were twenty-plus strong before—ordinary zombies on the fourth floor didn't scare us. But on the third floor? One monster killed over half our people in minutes…"
"And there were at least three or four more of those things—plus that long-haired horror. I still get chills thinking about it…"
"You're telling me he got past all that? Alone? No way."
"…Unless he killed them all."
The words silenced the group, followed by a ripple of disbelief and shock.
"That's impossible! Even Victor Steele, our strongest—he'd reached the Peak Human Limit—didn't last sixty seconds against that thing before it tore him apart!"
"Are you saying this man is beyond the Peak Human Limit?"
"Victor got that far only because all of us hunted together, pooling every single core to boost him. This guy? A lone survivor? How could he level up so fast?"
While they argued, one man slipped away, heading for the third floor. Minutes later, he returned, face drained of all color.
"It's true… the whole floor is covered in battle damage. And there's green… meat."
"Green meat? You mean from that green-skinned monster—?"
He nodded grimly. "Who else could it be? And this mall's completely sealed; no way those creatures just wandered off."
The conclusion was inescapable: the man had slaughtered every single one of those horrors—and turned the Broodmother into pulp.
"Turned it into pulp…? Does he have some kind of superpower?"
"I can't even imagine how…"
"I think we should follow him—make him our leader. With someone like him, we'd finally be safe."
The suggestion lit a spark among the group. The girls at the doorway nodded eagerly. The rest, shaken since Victor Steele's death, also looked tempted.
"Go—catch him before he gets away!" someone shouted.
A quick-footed survivor dashed toward the escalator, but returned moments later, crestfallen.
"He's long gone. And… you're not gonna believe this—the entire street outside? Cleared of zombies."
The revelation struck like thunder.
Shock and regret hit them all at once.
How did we blow a chance like that?
Instead of reaching out, they'd asked if he was a zombie. Brilliant.
Now, it was too late.
Outside the mall, Lucas stood atop a city bus, gazing toward Sunhaven University.
Only a single street separated him from the campus.
But the sight that met his eyes froze him in place—
The university grounds were packed with zombies, so dense they swayed shoulder to shoulder in a black, heaving tide, leaving barely any room to move.