In the dimly lit village, torrential rain poured down as the howling wind swept through the streets. In the rain, twisted, dark figures emitted beast-like growls, drifting around like wandering spirits.

Amidst this apocalyptic street, a loud shout echoed.

"Sharpen shears—whet knives~~~~~"

Duanmu Huai gripped the Thunder Warhammer, striding up and down the street, while the speaker on his body blared like a street vendor, shouting hoarsely. Yet, other than the zombies, there wasn't a single living soul drawn to him.

"Sugar-coated... haws on a stick! Sugar-coated haws!"

"Bang!"

Amidst his shouting, Duanmu Huai raised his War Hammer again, mercilessly smashing the zombie charging at him to the ground, and sighed silently.

No, it seems there's no living person around.

Are my shouts ineffective?

Could everyone be dead?

Duanmu Huai recalled how Manager Bai Mu gleefully bragged to them yesterday that most of the villagers had initially left, but after the investment from the White Sail Group, many who were struggling outside had moved back with their families. The village population had risen from a bit over eight thousand to over ten thousand...

It's impossible that over ten thousand people are all dead?

This can't be, right? Like in a Biochemical Crisis, even if most of Raccoon City's populace turned into zombies, there were still some survivors, right?

Could I have scared them into hiding?

That can't be right either. To avoid frightening them, Duanmu Huai had even donned Power Armor to look professional, plus he wore a helmet — it shouldn't scare anyone, right?

You see, like this…

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai stopped and glanced at the restaurant window beside him. Reflected on the glass was a tall figure clad in Steel Armor. His chest and shoulders were emblazoned with skulls and the Double-Headed Eagle emblem, his skeletal helmet's eye sockets gleaming with bright red light, holding a massive Steel Warhammer — under the torrential rain, he looked so... professional and secure!

Yes, that's right.

Duanmu Huai surveyed his reflection again, nodding in satisfaction.

From top to bottom, he was the perfect picture of a Judge, the kind the Imperial Citizens would salute to directly with an Aquila gesture — absolutely flawless!

"Roar——!!"

Just then, several zombies crashed through the window on the second floor, jaws agape, lunging at Duanmu Huai. Their heads split open like petals, biting into Duanmu Huai's Power Armor!

Despite being a Shadow Copy printout, it wasn't something mere zombies could penetrate. Enraged, Duanmu Huai reached back, grabbing the zombies clinging to him, yanking them off, and throwing them heavily to the ground, gripping the War Hammer tightly in his right hand, and smashed it down fiercely!

"Boom!!"

As Duanmu Huai raised the War Hammer once more, the zombies on the ground had been utterly pulverized into pulp.

See, this is what professionalism looks like.

Duanmu Huai shouldered the War Hammer, nodding in satisfaction at the zombies on the ground, and continued forward. Although he could scan life signals using the Bird Divination Tool, the problem was these zombies weren't dead, they were alive. So if he merely relied on the Bird Divination Tool, the village would appear bustling, teeming with people... well, technically not wrong.

Humans are born of humans, devils are born of devils, so zombies are human too…

Therefore, Duanmu Huai couldn't rely on the Bird Divination Tool to locate survivors.

"———————"

However, at that moment, a flash of light appeared before Duanmu Huai, prompting him to instinctively raise his head. In the distance, a beam of light flitted through the window of an office building. But it flickered a few times before abruptly disappearing.

Is someone there?

Zombies wouldn't be running around with flashlights, would they?

Time to go check it out.

The office building wasn't far away, looking like some company's headquarters. Naturally, the entire building was pitch-black, but for Duanmu Huai, that was no concern. He simply pushed open the door and walked in.

"Hmm?"

Once inside, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but pause.

It wasn't due to a zombie attack, but because... the floor was littered with zombie corpses!

This got interesting!

Along his path, Duanmu Huai had dispatched a fair number of such zombies and was familiar with these monsters. Calling them zombies was more metaphorical since they were still alive; their bodies had twisted and mutated. Thus, killing them was akin to killing humans — targeting vital points led to a thorough demise.

Unlike movie zombies, which would still crawl after being cut in half or play dead after a shot to the heart.

In this sense, the "zombies" here seemed less formidable than movie zombies.

But the problem was their heads easily exploded, and despite their usual sluggish demeanor, once they spotted a target, they exhibited the prowess of a sprinter. In speed and strength, they surpassed humans. In this regard, those movie zombies, with their elderly shuffle, were no match for them.

So, for ordinary people, killing them wasn't impossible — but the speed and strength of these zombies weren't something ordinary people could handle.

In fact, on his journey, it was Duanmu Huai's first time seeing someone able to take out zombies — and so many of them!

Now this was intriguing.

His curiosity piqued, Duanmu Huai ascended the stairs.

The building had five stories, with zombie corpses sprawled everywhere. Duanmu Huai examined them and noticed these zombies were either cleaved in half at the waist or hacked apart — a rather brutal method... well, to Duanmu Huai, this was ordinary, but to most, it was quite surprising.

But come to think of it, anyone who has survived this "Biochemical Crisis" probably isn't an ordinary person.

It wasn't until Duanmu Huai reached the third floor that he discovered the fire door was tightly shut, sealed completely. Obviously, if there were any survivors, they should be behind this door.

So Duanmu Huai extended his hand and knocked on the door.

"Open up!"

"......…"

However, inside there was dead silence, not a single sound.

"Are there any survivors? Speak up."

Duanmu Huai knocked again, but still there was no response from inside.

Could they be dead inside?

Forget it, let's go in and take a look.

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai didn't hesitate, even though the fire door was tightly shut, with something braced against it from behind. But for Duanmu Huai, this was no big deal, right?

He clenched his fist and punched the fire door in front of him, and with a "boom," the heavy fire door was completely smashed to pieces by Duanmu Huai!

"Ahhhhhh!!"

"Help!!!"

"Ahhhhh-------!!"

Meanwhile, screams followed from inside, it seemed the people inside were indeed pretending to be dead.

But what Duanmu Huai didn't expect was that amidst the screaming chaos, a relaxed voice suddenly came through.

"Ah, it's really you, teacher, good evening~~~"

Hmm?

This tone, this voice...…

Duanmu Huai walked through the door, poking his head in to see, and there under the spotlight stood a green-haired girl, carrying a White Wooden Sword, waving and smiling at him.

There was no mistake, it was Mianmu Zuoniao!

"What are you doing here?"

Looking at Mianmu Zuoniao in front of him, Duanmu Huai was bewildered; he hadn't called her on this outing, right?

"Hmm......!"

Upon hearing Duanmu Huai's inquiry, Mianmu Zuoniao's cheeks puffed up with dissatisfaction.

"It's all your fault, teacher, you didn't invite Zoniao to the fun, so Zoniao followed along! Besides, Zoniao didn't come alone either!"

As she spoke, Mianmu Zuoniao stepped aside, revealing behind her a petite girl with white pigtails, wearing a red and white witch's clothes, holding a sword almost as big as herself......

If memory serves, she is one of the Five Swords, Inaba Tsukuyo?

"Why did you bring her along too?"

Duanmu Huai looked at Mianmu Zuoniao in surprise, who tilted her head.

"Because Little Yueye approached Zoniao, asking what Zoniao and teacher were doing together?"

Hearing Mianmu Zuoniao's answer, Duanmu Huai sighed helplessly.

"Didn't I say this is a secret between us, not to tell anyone else?"

"Did you?"

Mianmu Zuoniao nodded.

"So Zoniao didn't tell Little Yueye, but brought her along. After all, teacher only said not to tell others, didn't say not to bring others along, right?"

".........…"

At this moment, Duanmu Huai was utterly speechless.

Fine, you're crazy and you have a point, I'm not going to argue with you...... Speaking of which, reasoning with a madman is a mistake in itself. Forget it, at least Mianmu Zuoniao really didn't say...... looks like next time I'll have to patch this up.

"So, you two killed those zombies outside?"

"That's right, although they weren't as fun as those rabbits last time, these little cuties were quite interesting too...…"

Giggling, Mianmu Zuoniao swung the sword blade in her hand, flicking off the fresh blood. Next to her, Inaba Tsukuyo stood silently, eyes closed, clutching her sword with both hands.

Besides the two of them, Duanmu Huai also noticed a few others huddled nearby, watching him anxiously. It seemed these folks were the lucky survivors. If not for Mianmu Zuoniao and Inaba Tsukuyo, they probably wouldn't have made it.

But no matter what, finding survivors is good.

"That's good then."

Duanmu Huai walked in and stared at them.

"Now, why don't you explain what exactly happened."

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