Malrik and Lucien froze in place, dumbfounded. Neither of them expected to run into such a foolish idiot while they were in the middle of work.
"Cult Master, what should we do?" Lucien asked.
Now that he had officially joined the organization, even the way he addressed people had to change a little. He didn't feel uncomfortable about it at all.
"We finish our job first, then come back to settle the score with that fat bastard," Malrik replied, then immediately took off running.
Seeing the two of them dash away, the fat middle-aged man flew into a rage, stomping the ground repeatedly while pointing furiously in their direction.
"F*ck you bastards! Don't you dare come in here looking for food. I'll stand right here and watch the zombies tear you apart!"
Of course, neither of them paid any attention to the barking of a useless waste. They kept running straight ahead without looking back once.
"Head to the ward for patients who were in serious traffic accidents," Malrik said after thinking for a moment.
"You're targeting zombies whose bodies were severely injured? Not a bad idea." Lucien immediately caught on and nodded in agreement.
At that moment, he realized that maybe being a deliveryman wasn't such a bad gig after all. Not your average deliveryman, of course—more like the slightly deranged kind, like Malrik.
If being a deliveryman could make you stronger… If it allowed you to stay calm even in life-or-death situations… then hell, this might just be a dream job.
It didn't take long for the two of them to reach a hospital room. Inside were two zombies—one looked relatively normal, while the other was completely wrapped in bandages.
Judging from the room's location near the entrance, it was easy to piece together what had happened earlier.
Clearly, someone had been infected and turned into a zombie, then walked into the room from the entrance and attacked the patient lying in the hospital bed.
The number of zombies in the room was actually quite fortunate. If there had been more, they probably wouldn't have fought at all.
The moment they entered the room, Malrik immediately locked the door to prevent being ambushed by zombies outside.
"One each. You dare take it on?" Malrik glanced at Lucien's condition and asked.
"Why the hell not? If I can't handle one zombie with a one-star weapon in hand, I'd be a disgrace," Lucien responded, then immediately charged at the uninjured zombie.
He swung his sword down hard toward the zombie's head—but something unexpected happened.
The zombie reacted with shocking speed, tilting its head to the side to dodge. The blade only slashed across its shoulder.
It counterattacked instantly. With a swift motion, its powerful arm and razor-sharp claws slashed toward Lucien.
Lucien quickly pulled his sword back and raised it just in time to block. The impact forced both him and the zombie to stagger back a few steps.
The atmosphere in the room turned significantly more tense. They had seen zombies move quickly before, but they never expected this level of agility.
"F*ck, what the hell?! Since when were zombies this agile? The movies lied to me, huh? This is supposed to be a regular one, so why the hell is it so insane? Hey—don't underestimate them, or you're dead meat." Lucien cursed, but his eyes never left the zombie, locked in a serious glare.
Malrik gripped the two knives in his hands tightly, lowered his center of gravity, and focused his gaze on the bandage-wrapped zombie.
"I never underestimate anything that can threaten me. Whoever finishes their zombie first, help the other. Don't let it become a two-on-one situation," he said seriously.
"Got it. All in." Lucien nodded, then charged in again.
Malrik dashed forward as well, swinging his right arm across his body and slashing the knife toward the zombie's head.
To his surprise, the zombie managed to defend itself. In that split second, it raised one arm to block the strike.
The sheer force of the blow, combined with the knife's sharpness, nearly severed its arm.
Without hesitation, Malrik spun on the spot and slashed again toward the zombie's head.
This time, it failed to block in time. The hit connected—but it still wasn't enough to take it down.
The zombie was sent flying into the wall, a deep gash splitting open its head from the strike.
Seeing that the enemy was about to be finished off, Malrik didn't hesitate for even a second. He hurled his knife straight at the zombie's head.
Thud!
The blade sank deep into the zombie's skull. It stopped struggling immediately after.
But Malrik didn't rest. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Lucien. That other zombie was probably much stronger due to its previously uninjured human body before turning undead.
Lucien had inflicted several wounds on it, but he himself had also taken damage. Blood was dripping from his hand, staining the hilt of his sword.
Malrik seized the opportunity and once again threw a dagger at the zombie's head.
But this time, luck wasn't on his side—the handle of the knife struck the zombie instead of the blade.
The zombie's head jerked slightly from the impact. The attack wasn't completely useless, though—it managed to redirect the zombie's attention.
After all, zombies didn't possess any extraordinary perception. Their vision wasn't much different from that of humans, but they were definitely more sensitive to sound.
In that moment, when the zombie looked away, Lucien's eyes sharpened. With full focus, he thrust his sword forward without hesitation—driving the tip straight through the zombie's skull.
Its body collapsed completely, drained of all strength. Only then did Lucien dare to slump to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Haa… damn it… I'm seriously exhausted…" He muttered between breaths, cursing under his breath.
He was someone who had lived a life of luxury, used to comfort and indulgence. Never in his life had he imagined that he'd one day have to fight like this just to stay alive.
"Haha, judging from your moves, you clearly haven't had any formal martial arts training," Malrik said with a chuckle as he sat down to rest as well. "But that just means your talent is pretty damn good."
Lucien had clearly been holding back a question from earlier, but there hadn't been time to ask. Now that the battle was over, he finally voiced his doubt.
"Cult Master, why are we out here hunting zombies anyway? Taking over that cafeteria might be a passive move, but at least it means we won't die anytime soon."
Malrik didn't intend to hide anything. Although the method for crafting potions was quite complicated, he believed it wouldn't be long before the world learned about it anyway.
"I know how to craft a potion that can boost someone's strength to the one-star level. But the process requires hunting zombies, which is why we have to take these risks. Inside a zombie's head, there's something called a core. But since the zombies are so low-level, not all of them have one—so for now, finding one is just a matter of luck," he explained.
The moment Lucien heard the word potion, he immediately thought of those magical elixirs from movies and novels. But for some reason, he had a bad feeling that this particular potion would be absolutely awful to drink.
"If these two have one, that'd be great. That means we'll be able to power up soon. Once we're stronger, we won't have to struggle so much just to take down one zombie," Lucien said, glancing hopefully at the two corpses.