Ethan, Chris, and Henry climbed back up to Capstone House. The moment they reached the top, Ethan activated his [True Sight].

From here, the entire campus stretched out beneath them like a map. With [True Sight] engaged, Ethan could see every inch of it in sharp, uncanny detail.

Unlike yesterday, the school grounds weren't just crawling with zombies anymore. As he scanned the area, he spotted over a dozen groups of students—guys and girls alike—fighting off the undead.

"Looks like the lure of crystal cores is the real deal," Ethan muttered.

"Well, when it's the difference between living and dying, yeah, people are gonna risk it," Chris replied.

"If most of them weren't still trapped in the main dining hall, we'd be seeing twice this number out there," Ethan added, eyes narrowing.

"I wonder if the ones stuck inside are starting to hate the school officials for it."

"No need to wonder. Of course they are," Ethan said flatly. "Even if the officials meant well, the outcome's a slap in the face. No one's gonna accept that."

And sure enough, chaos had already erupted in the main dining hall.

The moment the authorities announced the existence of crystal cores, the simmering frustration among the students boiled over.

They'd come here thinking they'd finally get to eat properly—no more starving, no more scrounging.

Instead, they were served watery soup day after day, barely enough to keep them on their feet.

Now the place was surrounded by zombies, and there was no way out to hunt for cores themselves.

Meanwhile, social media was flooded with videos of people showing off their boosted powers after consuming crystal cores. Even the campus subreddit—r/uofsc—was full of posts flaunting new abilities.

Watching all that from behind barricaded doors only made things worse. The resentment turned into open fury.

"This is your fault! If you hadn't herded us into the dining hall, we might be out there living it up right now!"

"Yeah! All we get is watered-down soup every day—what are we, livestock?!"

Conveniently, they'd all forgotten that it was the lack of food that drove them to the dining hall in the first place. Without the school's soup, thin as it was, most of them would've starved by now.

The Dean of Students stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the angry faces, the shouting, the clenched fists. A deep, bitter sadness settled in his chest.

"Was it a mistake? Maybe. But if I hadn't worried so much about them… would it have come to this?"

"The apocalypse… it really is terrifying."

Back at Capstone House…

Ethan didn't need long to pick out a few targets.

Just as they'd expected, there were more Tier 2 zombies today. In just a few minutes, he'd spotted over a dozen. Some were buried deep in hordes, unreachable for now—but a few were isolated, vulnerable.

Those were the ones he marked.

"Targets locked. Let's move."

"Got it."

The three of them bolted down the stairs and headed straight for their first kill.

Just as they neared their target, Ethan spotted a group already closing in on the same zombies.

He frowned. He'd picked this spot precisely because he'd noticed people nearby and wanted to get there before they did. Apparently, he was still too late.

Not that he was worried about them stealing the kill—honestly, this ragtag bunch of twenty or so didn't stand a chance against a Tier 2 zombie.

What concerned him was the noise. If they started yelling and flailing around, they'd draw every undead in the area, and then it'd be a mess for everyone.

But it was already too late to stop them. The group had charged in, convinced that numbers alone would carry the day.

From their perspective, twenty-plus people versus four or five zombies? Easy win.

The zombies, however, had other ideas. The moment they saw the humans, they let out guttural screeches and lunged forward. Leading the charge was a Tier 2.

Two guys at the front—one wielding a fire axe, the other a katana—swung straight for its head.

To their credit, anyone bold enough to come out here hunting zombies wasn't completely clueless. At the very least, they'd brought decent weapons.

But their judgment? That was going to cost them.

Their blades struck true, biting into the zombie's skull. If it had been a Tier 1, that might've done the trick.

But this was Tier 2.

The blows cracked its head open, sure—but not deep enough to kill.

In a blur, the zombie tackled one of them to the ground and sank its teeth into his neck. Blood sprayed. The man didn't even have time to scream.

Tier 2 strength was no joke. The guy couldn't even struggle.

The others froze in horror. The katana-wielder slashed again, this time across the zombie's back, leaving a deep gash.

It didn't even flinch. It just turned and lunged at him.

He barely rolled aside in time, dodging the attack by inches.

"Mutated zombie! This one's mutated—it's got a crystal core!" he shouted, eyes wide with adrenaline and greed.

They'd killed a few zombies already, but this was the first mutated one they'd seen.

"But… can we even take it down?" someone asked, voice trembling.

"If others can do it, why can't we?" the katana guy snapped. "All of us together—we can kill it! Once we do, everything changes!"

The fear in their eyes flickered, then dimmed beneath the weight of desperation and hope. The promise of power was too strong.

They'd come out here for crystal cores. Now that one was right in front of them, how could they back down?

What they didn't know was that mutated zombies came in tiers too.

The fight exploded. Weapons swung, makeshift armor clattered, and the group swarmed the Tier 2 like ants on a lion.

But their attacks barely registered. The zombie moved like a wrecking ball—every strike it landed was fatal. Within minutes, half the group was dead. Several more were wounded, and everyone knew what that meant.

The other four zombies—regular ones—were hacked to pieces in the chaos. But the Tier 2? Still standing. Still hungry.

"Ethan, maybe we should step in," Henry said, watching the carnage with a tight jaw. "We could take the core and save them. They're our classmates, after all."

Ethan glanced at him, then said calmly, "You really think if we save them, they'll thank us? No. They'll turn on us and try to take the core."

Henry blinked. "No way. They have to know they can't beat that thing. If we don't help, they're all gonna die."

Ethan gave a dry chuckle. "Wanna bet? If I'm right, and they try to fight us for the core, you stop bringing up this 'save everyone' crap. If I'm wrong, I'll wash your socks for a month."

Henry hesitated. He still had that bleeding-heart instinct, hadn't seen enough to understand how people really worked when the world fell apart. To him, saving these people was just a matter of stepping in and swinging a weapon.

But he didn't see what Ethan saw—the madness in their eyes, the way they looked at that zombie like it was a golden ticket. They wouldn't see rescuers. They'd see rivals.

Chris, on the other hand, didn't say a word. He never questioned Ethan. If Ethan said jump, Chris was already in the air.

Henry wasn't blind, just inexperienced. So Ethan figured this was the perfect time for a lesson.

"Fine," Henry said at last. "Deal."

Down below, the battlefield was a bloodbath. Over half the group was already dead. The wounded were staggering, bleeding, doomed to turn.

Panic finally set in. The survivors broke ranks and bolted, abandoning the crystal core and their fallen friends.

But the Tier 2 zombie wasn't done. It let out a guttural snarl and charged after them, relentless.

...

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