Chapter 342: Premonition, Familiar Friends

Chapter 342: Chapter 342: Premonition, Familiar Friends

With Flora and her other pets handling the fighting.

Seraphina Sullivan could feel the counter for her [Clear Normal Zombies] mission steadily, albeit slowly, ticking upward on her mission panel.

This eased some of her pressure.

After setting up a rotation for guard duty and "mission grinding," Seraphina Sullivan could finally relax her tense nerves a little.

With a thought, she retrieved a comfortable rocking chair and a soft wool blanket from her personal Space.

She set them up in a corner on the top floor, relatively sheltered from the wind and covered by a piece of a broken eave. Wrapping herself in the blanket, she slowly settled in.

The rocking chair swayed gently.

She tilted her head back and gazed up at the night sky of the Zombie Kingdom.

To her surprise, the night sky here was exceptionally clear and beautiful.

Perhaps it was because industrial civilization had long since ground to a halt.

With no light pollution, the Milky Way stretched across the pitch-black canvas of the night like a brilliant ribbon of light.

Countless stars twinkled with a cold, pure light, so clear they seemed almost within reach.

In cruel contrast to the beautiful starry sky was the incessant background noise from the city ruins below.

The low, unending roars of the zombies, rising and falling in waves.

These sounds mingled with the whistling wind and the occasional crash of a collapsing building, composing a grotesque symphony of the apocalypse.

As she listened, an absurd thought suddenly popped into Seraphina Sullivan’s head.

’You know, hearing the zombies’ constant roaring from so far away... it’s just a low drone. It’s almost... like white noise to help you sleep.’

She was almost amused by her own thought.

The corners of her tense mouth curved up ever so slightly.

In a place fraught with danger, where death could come at any moment, she was probably the only one who could afford such a whimsical thought—someone with powerful teammates and pets to shoulder the pressure, and the ability to pick off targets from a distance.

Not far away, Sean Chandler was sitting against the corner of a wall.

He held the Warm Crystal in one hand.

The crystal warmed the area around him.

In his other hand, he held a piping-hot meat bun that Seraphina Sullivan had casually conjured up with her Magic Cuisine, eating it quietly while closing his eyes to regulate his breathing.

The warmth and calories from the food were helping him quickly recover his stamina.

After a moment, he opened his eyes.

He looked over at Seraphina Sullivan, who seemed to be stargazing, and spoke. "If the rest of the special zombies are at this level, or even a little stronger, we shouldn’t have much trouble surviving the month, as long as we coordinate well and pick them off one by one.

"With Flora and the others helping, we can eventually grind through the thirty-thousand-zombie mission, slow as it may be. That is... assuming nothing else unexpected happens."

Sean Chandler’s analysis was pragmatic, based on their current strength and the day’s results.

Hearing this, Seraphina Sullivan gently shook her head.

Her gaze remained on the stars, but her expression grew profound.

"I agree with your tactical analysis. But... this instance feels very different to me. It’s a Civilization-Linked type, where the outcome is determined by the total completion rate of all Players. If we fail, a [Zombie Virus] disaster will be unleashed on the real world... The system is placing an extraordinary amount of importance on this."

"I have a feeling this month will be anything but peaceful. There will definitely be many developments that are far beyond what we can currently anticipate."

Seraphina Sullivan’s intuition was rarely wrong.

Especially when it came to matters of life and death.

Sean Chandler fell silent for a moment, then nodded without arguing.

The unknown was, in itself, the greatest danger in an apocalypse.

...

Meanwhile, about seven or eight blocks from Seraphina Sullivan’s high-rise, another group was navigating a maze of dilapidated, low-lying ruins.

"Shaw! Dustin! I’m not wrong this time, I swear! There was an incredibly powerful burst of Energy from the northeast just now!"

"It was brief, but the residual Energy is unmistakable."

"An extremely powerful Player must be fighting over there. They might’ve just taken down a tough special zombie!"

Trevor Tanner whispered excitedly to the two young men beside him—one with a steady demeanor, the other carrying a longsword on his back.

Julian Shaw, the man he’d addressed, frowned slightly and looked in the direction Trevor Tanner was pointing.

After an upgrade, Trevor Tanner’s [Power of Earth] Talent had granted him the [Earth Perception] Ability.

It made him extremely sensitive to the Energy fluctuations of ground-based combat, and he was rarely wrong when it came to detecting high-intensity, unusual bursts of power.

But...

"Heh,"

a crisp but clearly mocking laugh came from nearby.

It was Coco Sullivan, a girl with a high ponytail dressed in practical sportswear.

Her arms were crossed, and she was giving Trevor Tanner a sidelong glance.

"I seem to recall that in the [Miasma Rainforest] instance, a certain someone was just as confident when they sensed a ’powerful friendly Energy source.’ And what happened?"

"We went sneaking over all excited and nearly walked right into the lair of the Lord of the Centipede Mire!"

"We had to spend the next three days hiding, and we almost failed to complete the main quest line!"

Called out in front of everyone, Trevor Tanner’s face instantly flushed.

He didn’t know how to respond to Coco Sullivan and stammered out an embarrassed defense.

"Th-that was an accident! That Lord was an expert at Energy Disguise and concealment... Besides, it was a blessing in disguise, wasn’t it? We found that hidden safe passage because of it!"

"A blessing in disguise? You call almost becoming monster food a ’blessing’?" Coco Sullivan rolled her eyes.

Julian Shaw gave the Full-Firepower Coco Sullivan a pained look.

Then he glanced at the sword-wielding young man, Dustin Sullivan, who had been silently watching the whole exchange.

He was Coco Sullivan’s older brother.

"Dustin, aren’t you going to rein in your sister?" Julian Shaw asked helplessly.

Dustin Sullivan barely looked up, his tone perfectly level. "My sister isn’t wrong. Trevor’s perception Ability may be rare, but its error rate and the associated risks must be taken into account."

He was always rational, objective, and even a bit blunt.

Hearing this, Julian Shaw put his hands on his hips and feigned anger. "Hey! Dustin Sullivan! Don’t think you two can gang up on him just because my Trevor here has a crush on your sister!"

His words were half in jest, half in defense of his teammate.

"Julian! Shaw! You—what are you talking about?!" Coco Sullivan yelled.

Trevor Tanner’s face turned so red it looked like it might burst. He shot a panicked glance at Coco Sullivan before quickly looking down at the ground.

"Who asked him to like me?! Stop spouting nonsense, Julian Shaw!"

Coco Sullivan was both mortified and furious. Her ponytail swished with indignation as she stomped her foot hard. She accidentally kicked up a small piece of rubble, and the noise drew a few low growls from distant zombies, startling her into clamping a hand over her mouth.

Dustin Sullivan’s voice held a trace of exasperation. "Everyone, could we please remember where we are and what we’re supposed to be doing?"

Julian Shaw immediately dropped his playful demeanor, raising his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! Just trying to lighten the mood. It’s nothing but zombies out here, and the atmosphere is getting a little too tense."

He quickly reverted to his usual competent self.

"Trevor’s perception is worth looking into, but Coco’s caution is also valid. Here’s the plan: Dustin, you and I will carefully scout the periphery of the area Trevor indicated and confirm what’s going on. If there really is a powerful Player over there and the situation allows, it might be worth trying to make contact and team up. In this instance, there’s strength in numbers."