Ethan, Chris, and Henry slept straight through from dusk until nearly midnight, finally dragging themselves out of bed at 11:50 p.m.

By then, Henry had fully recovered.

The three of them—plus one cat—made their way up to the rooftop.

The iron gate to the dorm's rooftop was still locked, untouched. No one else had been up here.

They pried it open with a barbell bar, slipped inside, and shut the door behind them.

Finding a clean patch of concrete, they lay down and waited for the Nine-Star Dipper to appear.

Right on cue, at exactly midnight, the constellation lit up the sky.

Having gone through this once before, they slipped into the rhythm quickly this time.

Pumpkin, curled up nearby, lifted her head and stared at the stars, eyes wide and unblinking.

That strange, pulsing energy began to seep into their bodies again, slow and steady.

Down below, thousands of zombies tilted their heads skyward in eerie unison. The night grew still.

Most of the remaining humans had already collapsed into exhausted sleep.

After a few days of trial and error, people had started to notice a pattern: by the second half of the night, the zombies would quiet down, no longer actively hunting. That window had become humanity's only real chance to rest.

Just like the night before, Chris and Henry alternated between watching the sky and dozing off. Ethan, though, stayed locked in place the entire time, eyes fixed upward.

At 5 a.m., the Nine-Star Dipper faded from view.

Ethan felt another surge—his strength jumped by over sixty pounds. Chris and Henry each gained a little over twenty.

The three of them, with Pumpkin in tow, headed back downstairs. Once inside their dorm room, they locked the door behind them and collapsed into bed.

This time, they woke around 9 a.m.—earlier than usual. They had work to do. Big work. They needed to find a way out of here.

"Ethan, those zombies down there haven't moved an inch," Chris said, peering out the window at the sea of undead. His scalp prickled. "How the hell are we supposed to get out?"

"If they're not leaving," Ethan said, voice low and steady, "then we kill them all. Use the stairwell to grind them down, one by one."

They couldn't stay trapped here forever. They had to get out. Had to get stronger.

"But the stairwell's too narrow," Chris argued. "Once we've got, what, a hundred corpses in there, it'll be completely blocked. How long would that even take?"

"We split up," Ethan said. "One person handles the killing in the stairwell. The other two drag the bodies into the dorm rooms next door. Slow and steady—we'll clear them out eventually."

Chris and Henry exchanged a look, then nodded.

"Hey, Ethan," Chris said, "didn't you say there were four girls upstairs? Why not ask them to help move the bodies? We do the killing, they handle the cleanup. Wouldn't that speed things up?"

Ethan's eyes lit up. "That could work."

Henry groaned. "You guys are dreaming. You really think those delicate little princesses are gonna haul rotting corpses around? They'll scream and slam the door in your face."

Ethan smirked. "Heh. Give 'em a few crystal cores, and they'll do more than haul bodies. Hell, they'd probably dissect them if we asked."

"Shit, you're right," Chris said, smacking his forehead. "Can't believe I forgot about that."

"Alright, let's go. Pumpkin, stay here or go do your own thing. If you see anyone else, keep out of sight."

"Meow," Pumpkin replied, then bounded down the hallway, leaping from railing to railing until she vanished from view.

"You think she'll run off?" Chris asked, a little worried.

"Doubt it," Ethan said. "If she was gonna bail, she wouldn't have risked her neck to save us yesterday."

"Good point."

The three of them made their way up to the sixth floor, stopping in front of a dorm room with a tightly locked door.

Ethan stepped forward and knocked.

"Who is it?!"

Inside the dorm room, the four girls jumped at the knock, eyes darting toward the door, tense and wide-eyed.

"We're the ones who came into this building yesterday," Ethan called through the door. "Open up—we want to talk."

The girls exchanged glances. In each other's eyes, they saw the same thing: understanding, and fear.

"What do we do, Grace?" one of them whispered, her voice trembling. She was petite, with a sweet, doll-like face. "They're really here, and I… I don't want to be under their control. I don't want to just… spread my legs and obey."

Grace took a deep breath, steadying herself.

"If it's fate, we can't dodge it. And if it's trouble, this door won't stop them anyway. Open it."

"…Okay."

A short girl tiptoed to the door and cracked it open.

The moment she saw the three blood-soaked men standing outside, she flinched hard.

This was Patterson Hall—strictly female dorms. The guys hadn't found any clean clothes that fit, so they were still wearing the same gore-splattered outfits from yesterday.

As the door swung wider, Chris and Henry's eyes lit up. The girls weren't just decent-looking—they were stunning. Especially the tall one. With that face, she had to be the campus queen.

That tall girl—Grace—stepped forward, polite but guarded. "Hi. What can we help you with?"

Ethan didn't even blink. "We're clearing out the zombies downstairs. If you're not busy, come help us move the bodies."

"…"

The four girls stared at him, speechless.

Who the hell just walks up and asks women to haul corpses?

If they weren't so sure these guys were dangerous, they might've slammed the door in their faces.

Grace clenched her jaw, forcing a smile. "Um… I don't think we'd be much help with that."

"Ah, that's a shame," Ethan said, sounding genuinely disappointed. "I was planning to give each of you two crystal cores for helping. But if you're not interested, we'll handle it ourselves."

He turned to leave, motioning for Chris and Henry to follow.

"Wait!"

The girls' reluctance vanished in an instant. Eyes wide, they surged forward.

"Are you serious?!" one of them blurted.

"Of course. No reason to lie," Ethan said.

"We're in!" they chorused, practically bouncing.

"Great. Let's go," Ethan said, already heading for the stairs.

As they followed, one of the girls leaned toward Grace and whispered, "Can we really trust them?"

"They've got no reason to trick us," Grace replied, her voice low but firm. "And this… this might be our shot."

They reached the fourth floor. The stairwell was packed with corpses—bloated, mangled, and reeking. The girls went pale, but none of them threw up. After all, it was the apocalypse. They'd seen worse. They'd survived worse.

Ethan pulled four crystal cores from his pocket and handed them over casually. "Here. Consider these a down payment. Once you absorb them, you'll be stronger—makes moving bodies easier."

He'd dug these out of the very corpses piled in front of them. They weren't useful to him or the guys anymore, but wasting them would've been stupid.

The girls stared at the glowing cores in his hand, stunned. He was just… giving them away?

This was the stuff people killed for.

He really was rich beyond reason.

Hands trembling, they took the cores. "Thank you… thank you so much."

To Ethan and the others, these might've been spare change. But to the girls, they were lifelines.

Mutated zombies weren't easy to kill. And they never came alone. Without enough manpower, you didn't stand a chance.

As the undead grew stronger, the odds of survival for ordinary people shrank by the day.

To these girls, each crystal core was practically a miracle drug.

"Alright, enough with the gratitude," Ethan said. "Eat them. Then start hauling."

"Right!"

The girls quickly wiped the cores clean and popped them into their mouths.

As the energy surged through them, they each reached Tier 1.

Without needing to be told, they got to work.

Sure, moving corpses was disgusting. But with crystal cores on the line? Totally worth it.

Ethan and the guys didn't sit around either. They helped drag the bodies into the empty dorm rooms nearby.

As they cleared the stairwell, the next wave of zombies came charging up.

Ethan, Chris, and Henry stepped forward to handle the killing.

The girls kept hauling the bodies away.

It wasn't glamorous, but it worked.

And for now, at least, they made a damn good team.

...

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