Chapter 247 That was a close call.

"Growls."

Just when Ivy signaled for Darren to drive in, the loud growls of monsters suddenly filled the air, making Darren glance back over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw dozens of monsters, most of them appearing to be low-level creatures, sprinting toward them from a distance.

"Oh, shit!" Darren cursed under his breath as he immediately slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

The vehicle shot through the opening at full speed, its tires crushing several monsters that had gotten too close. Their bodies were sent tumbling beneath the wheels as Darren gritted his teeth and kept driving, refusing to slow down until the vehicle was safely inside the compound.

The moment they crossed the entrance, Ivy slammed her hand against the control panel and the heavy metal gate immediately began closing again.

Just then...

"Growls!"

A monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere on Ivy’s right side, almost pouncing on her. However, Ivy reacted instantly. She raised her gun and fired directly at its head.

Bang!

The monster’s head exploded, spraying blood and pieces of flesh across the ground as its body dropped heavily beside her.

"Phew! That was a close call," Ivy breathed out, releasing a heavy sigh as she examined the dead monster. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she noticed the position from which it had emerged. "Turns out there really was a security guard stationed at this gate after all. It was hiding and waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce on me."

"Exactly! These monsters aren’t all dumb, after all. I mean, they’re starting to take up duties for themselves now," Darren remarked with a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.

"GROWLS!"

"Oh, shit!" Darren’s laughter was abruptly cut short as he nearly jumped out of his skin. "My heart almost ripped out of my chest!"

He quickly turned toward the source of the sound, and his expression changed the moment he saw what was approaching.

"Oh, fuck! Those motherfuckers are fast!" he exclaimed.

Hundreds of low-level monsters were rushing toward the compound at terrifying speed, their rotten bodies stumbling and sprinting over one another as they desperately tried to reach the closing gate.

Ivy, however, remained completely calm. She simply watched as the heavy metal gate continued descending, slowly narrowing the opening between them and the approaching monsters.

"What do you expect?" Ivy muttered with a scoff, her eyes fixed on the horde. "They’re monsters. Of course they’re going to rush toward us when they see an opening."

Several monsters reached the gate just as it was about to close. Their rotten hands stretched desperately through the narrowing gap, clawing at the ground as they tried to force their way inside.

One particularly large monster managed to squeeze its upper body underneath the gate.

Ivy immediately raised her gun.

Bang!

The monster’s head exploded.

Another monster lunged toward the opening, but Ivy fired again before it could get through.

Bang!

Its body crumpled to the ground.

Soon, the heavy metal gate finally slammed shut.

The remaining monsters outside crashed violently against it, their roars and growls echoing throughout the compound. Some clawed at the metal while others repeatedly slammed their bodies against it, creating loud, terrifying bangs that made the entire gate tremble.

Ivy and Darren exchanged a brief glance.

The sheer number of monsters gathered outside was enough to make both their hearts skip a beat. There were simply too many of them. If the gate wasn’t strong enough, it was only a matter of time before the horde managed to break through.

"And why don’t you want us to kill them now?" Darren asked, raising an eyebrow as he lifted his gun and prepared to shoot through the gate. "If we leave them there, they might actually break the gate."

"We’re not wasting our time on them yet," Ivy replied calmly, her expression remaining serious despite the monsters continuously pounding against the metal. "Let them break the gate if they want to. In fact, let them get into the building."

Darren stared at her in surprise.

"They’ll be killed eventually when the time is right," Ivy continued, lowering her weapon. "There’s no point wasting our ammunition and energy on them now. Let’s go inside and empty the supplies while the gate keeps those monsters outside."

Darren couldn’t help but to nod his head in response afterwhich he lowered his gun and followed Ivy deeper into the compound and soon arrived at the door of the main supply room which Ivy opened immediately but however, three different types of monsters suddenly rushed toward them.

One had a body covered in what appeared to be layers of hardened rock, its limbs thick and heavy. Another had a strange slime-like body that constantly shifted as it moved, leaving a disgusting trail behind it. The third still retained the general shape of a human being, but its body had undergone a terrifying transformation. Its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, while its fingers had elongated into claws.

All three monsters charged toward Ivy and Darren at once but before they could reach them...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots rang through the building while the monsters collapsed almost simultaneously, their heads blown apart and their bodies crashing heavily onto the floor. Blood splattered across the ground, mixing with the disgusting fluids leaking from their bodies.

The terrible stench immediately filled the air.

"Damn, that smell is horrible." Darren voiced out, his face contorted in disgust.

Ivy quickly pulled out her nose mask and put it on while Darren did the same immediately, covering his nose and mouth as tightly as possible.

Unfortunately, the masks did little to completely block the stench but atleast it was better than having nothing.

"Professor Thomas was right," Ivy murmured, her eyes scanning the enormous building finally making Darren to turn his gaze towards where she was looking at too.

Rows upon rows of shelves stretched across the warehouse, most of them packed with different kinds of food and supplies. There were canned foods, bags of rice, packaged noodles, bottled drinks, preserved food, cooking ingredients, and countless other necessities.

Although some of the shelves had been damaged by the monsters that had wandered into the building, the damage was nowhere near enough to destroy the majority of the supplies. Several shelves had collapsed, and some packages had been crushed beneath the monsters’ feet, but there were still countless intact supplies waiting to be collected.

Even Darren’s eyes widened when he saw the sheer amount of food stored inside.

"This place is practically a treasure vault," he said, unable to hide his satisfaction.

Ivy nodded slightly.

"There’s much more here than I expected."

She looked around once more before turning toward Darren.

"Let’s get to work. My storage ability can hold everything, so we don’t need to worry about transporting it manually."

"Cool!" Darren replied afterwhich he began moving toward the nearest shelves, ready to start gathering the supplies.

His smile wasn’t entirely because of the enormous amount of food surrounding them, though. It was because of Ivy.

Being made her second-in-command meant far more to Darren than he was willing to admit. Ivy had gradually entrusted him with more responsibilities and, more importantly, she trust him with the secrets surrounding her abilities and plans and that trust meant everything to him.

His loyalty toward Ivy had already been at a hundred percent before, but now, after everything she had entrusted to him, it felt as though even the scale itself had been broken.

Darren glanced at Ivy for a moment before turning back toward the shelves.