Su Yao listened to the little girl carefully, smiling and nodding along. From what she gathered, the child wanted to go find the rest of her family in the city.
A quick glance around confirmed it to be a sentiment many in the group shared.
"Alright, I'll tell him. So don't cry, okay?" The little girl sniffled once, nodding to Su Yao.
Su Yao conveyed their request to Lu Zhang, who contemplated briefly.
"If we can make it out of this library, sure."
Lu Zhang was actually concerned for his family as well, but suppressed the feeling easily. All that mattered right now was survival, and greater strength.
'Besides, that chuunibyou should be alive too,.' He thought, his sister's annoying appearance flashing in his mind.
"Tell them to write down where they need to go."
It would serve as a short term goal for them at least, a light at the end of this tunnel, no matter how small and flickering it was.
'Even a mouse struggles beyond its limits when it has hope.'
At least till they fully adjusted to the new world, this goal would be the hope that burned to illuminate the end of the tunnel.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The number of zombies on the first floor almost made Lu Zhang wonder if the zombies had been spawned in like a video game.
Just in the hallway alone, the number of zombies was almost double that of the second floor.
'Why were all of you even in the library at night?? I don't remember seeing so many toppers.' Lu Zhang complained to himself as he looked at the crowded hallway.
"Control the stairway. The commotion might pull more zombies from the ground floor."
Lu Zhang paused briefly, then said,
"If the mantis moves, just run."
Empty Fang
The familiar form of a fang enveloped his hand as he stepped into the hallway conspicuously.
The zombies heads snapped towards him together, groans and gurgles of decayed throats ringing out.
The zombie closest to him took it's first step, it's foot squelching against a stray bit of gore.
Squelch
That quiet sound hid another, as the human in front o the zombie disappeared.
It was about to return to searching for more humans, when a headless body appeared in front of it. The body was strangely decayed and torn in places, but nothing mattered as the zombie tried to reach out and bite it. Nothing happened.
It's final sensation was confusion when a foot crushed it's decapitated head.
[Zombie Lv 4 killed!]
Gra-
Another zombie's growl was cut short when it's head was cut in half down the middle.
Zombies were, on average, slower than others. Lu Zhang was faster even than higher levelled opponents.
This created an entirely mismatched opposition, like a higher dimensional strike upon the zombies.
The suppressive effect was visible to the group of survivor's watching, as Lu Zhang slaughtered the entire hallway before any of them could mount a defense.
...
[Zombie Lv 5 killed!]
[Zombie Lv 4 killed!]
[Zombie Lv 6 killed!]
[Zombie Lv 4 killed!]
...
"Watch for the doors. I doubt there's any survivors on this floor like ours." Lu Zhang said as the group began moving through the hallway.
The preliminary clearance was going well. Lu Zhang cleared any zombies visible within seconds, Su Yao and Cai Dajiang dealt with any stragglers and zombies lured up from the ground floor.
.....
[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 7]
[Strength: 17]
[Speed: 34]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Endurance: 17]
[Stat Points: 15]
[Mana: 194/200]
[Skills: Inspect lv 3, Empty Fang Lv 6, Double Jump Lv 4]
.....
Lu Zhang liked his new stats. The beauty of high stats were truly alluring.
'I was just thinking about skill applications, but the increased level proves that it's the right way.'
He compared his stats to Su Yao and Cai Dajiang's, noticing a strange difference.
.....
[Name: Su Yao]
[Level: 5]
[Strength: 10]
[Speed: 10]
[Intelligence: 19]
[Endurance: 9]
[Stat Points: 15]
[Mana: 190/190]
[Skills: Inspect lv 4]
.....
.....
[Name: Cai Dajiang]
[Level: 4]
[Strength: 11]
[Speed: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Endurance: 19]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Mana: 100/100]
[Skills: Inspect lv 2]
.....
Comparing the growth of their stats against his own, it was easy to find that the growth trends differed. Lu Zhang realized the differences quickly.
'So thats how it was?'
For a final confirmation, he asked them about every System related thing they had done.
"I keep using the Inspect skill every other second." Su Yao admitted without a change in expression, as Cai Dajiang eyed her weirdly.
"I invested my stat points to ensure maximum survivability." He declared proudly.
Even when fighting, Cai Dajiang would block most of the attacks for Su Yao to finish off the zombies.
'So the stat increases after levelling up are loosely based on which stats were utilized the most?'
'Cool.'
Lu Zhang lost interest after figuring it out, as they stood in the main library of the first floor, devoid of zombies anymore.
"The ground floor will probably have to be handled mostly by you two."
"If the mantis takes action, I'll need to give it my undivided attention. Meaning you'll have to pick up the slack, against a horde of higher level zombies." Lu Zhang said idly as he spun a book on his finger, sitting on a chair.
"If you want to wait and clear the ground floor bit by bit first, I'll understand. But I want to clear it in one go, as fast as possible."
Su Yao was the first to agree, "I can do it."
Cai Dajiang, ever cautious, thought about it more deeply.
"The number of zombies could be higher than usual, since the ground floor has three big library areas instead of one like the first and second floor."
"Besides, we'll have to both draw the zombies away from you and the mantis, while protecting the survivors up here, without any guarantee if you will win."
Su Yao frowned as she looked at Cai Dajiang accusingly.
"However, your method isn't without merit either. We don't know what's outside, but the chance of the mantis levelling up keep increasing the longer we wait. Even the zombies are evolving. We don't know if mutants like the Blob can be created naturally or need to be made that way."
"So it's best to eradicate this threat right now instead of give it time to fester."
"I will do it."
Su Yao finally looked away from Dajiang as he agreed to follow Lu ZHang's will.
"Fine. Accompany anyone who wants to use the bathroom on this floor. We'll begin the final floor clearance in half an hour."
Lu Zhang chose to watch the stairwell while the group rested briefly.
Sitting on the stairs, he could just barely make out the large front door, and the mantis lying down between it.
[Wind Mantis Lv 9 ->10]
He had another reason as to why he wanted to rush the ground floor clearance.
As he looked down, the mantis' compound eyes swiveled towards him. It's mandibles clakced together in an all too human laughter, before drooping down again after spearing a zombie in a blur of green.
He had hunted a higher level being once already. But the mantis felt different.
If they waited any longer...
.
.
.
He feared he might not be able to kill it at all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 7]
[Strength: 14 ->17]
[Speed: 28 ->34]
[Intelligence: 16 ->20]
[Endurance: 15 ->16]
[Stat Points: 15]
[Mana: 200/200]
[Skills: Inspect lv 3, Empty Fang Lv 6, Double Jump Lv 4]
[New Function Discovered!]
[Stat increases upon levelling are based on stat utilization pre-level up!]