Chapter 88 Zombie King x Ex-Girlfriend (10)

"Lyra," a low, stern voice called out to her.

Lyra snapped out of her racing thoughts and looked up at Senior Sister Claire.

"I am going inside the main vault to sign off on the ammunition manifests," Claire warned, her tall frame towering over her, her eyes fixing Lyra with an absolute glare. "You stay right here in the loading bay and wait for me. And you better not wander around or go poking your nose into places it doesn’t belong. Understood?"

Lyra gave a quick, obedient nod, her eyelashes fluttering innocently. "Understood, Sister! I’ll stay right here!"

The second Claire turned her back and stepped through the metal doors leading into the vault corridors, Lyra’s sweet expression completely melted away into a serious scowl.

System! Lyra called out frantically inside her mind, her soul clutching its head. What on earth is going on here?! The gates are locked and our truck is gone!

Ding!

[ SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT, HOST! ] the System’s blue panel chimed in a frantic digital tone, flashing orange icons across her vision!

"I ALSO KNOW THAT SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!" Lyra barked back internally, her eyes scanning the shadowy corners of the cavernous warehouse. "TELL ME WHAT IS NOT RIGHT!"

[ I... I can’t detect the exact anomaly details yet, Host! ] the System stammered out, sweating digital drops. [ The spatial interference in this sector is too heavy! You’ll have to investigate the layout yourself! But... I can run an environmental thermal scan of the surrounding sector for you! ]

"Do it now!" Lyra commanded.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

A bright blue mini-map materialized in the upper corner of her vision, sweeping a red radar line across the warehouse blueprint.

[ SCAN COMPLETE! HIGH-CONCENTRATION SUSPICIOUS ENERGY DETECTED ON THE RIGHT WING OF BASE B! ]

Lyra took a deep breath, her slender hand gripping her steel hunting dagger tightly.

Keeping her posture low to the ground, she moved with silent agility, slipping past the blind spots of the Base B guards stationed along the loading docks.

Jeez... Lyra thought with a small smirk as she navigated the complex labyrinth of industrial storage racks without making a single sound. Doing all these crazy system missions is actually helping me with my sense of direction! I no longer get lost like an idiot!

She followed the red signal on the System’s map, slipping into a narrow, dimly lit maintenance hallway filled with rusted pipes and flickering lights.

Suddenly, rough, angry human voices echoed from an open steel door at the end of the hall!

Lyra’s dark eyes narrowed. She pressed her back flat against the cold wall, ducking low behind a stack of empty oil drums to peek through the gap in the doorway.

Inside the room, three Base B guards in grey tactical uniforms were standing around a iron cage. Locked inside the cage were two snarling, chained Level 2 zombies, their pale, decaying claws scraping against the metal floorboards!

"Hey, hurry up and kill these damn zombies!" the lead guard growled, holding a iron spear. "We need to crack open their skulls and harvest more crystal cores right now!"

The younger guard beside him hesitated, his hands trembling as he held a blood-stained hunting knife. "B-But... isn’t this completely wrong, man?! We had a strict inter-base agreement to never hunt or harvest crystal cores unless we are awakened ability users! If Captain Kael or the upper council finds out-"

"Oh, please!" the lead guard spat out, sneering with absolute disdain. "You actually believe those arrogant, high-and-mighty ability users?! They only made up those stupid rules so normal humans like us don’t absorb the cores and become powerful like them! Now shut your mouth and hurry up!"

Lyra’s eyes widened.

ARE THESE IDIOTS COMPLETELY CRAZY?! Lyra screamed frantic warnings inside her mind! Eating raw zombie crystal cores as a normal, unawakened human won’t give you superpowers! It will literally melt your brain and turn you into a mutated abomination in three seconds!

Before the guards could thrust their weapons into the cage-

ROAR!

One of the chained Level 2 zombies suddenly snapped its iron restraints with a violent burst of strength! Its dislocated jaw swung wide open, plunging its razor-sharp yellow teeth straight into the younger guard’s forearm!

SPURT!

"AHHHHHHH! IT BIT ME! IT FREAKING BIT ME!" the young guard shrieked in agonizing terror, blood spraying everywhere!

"YOU STUPID FOOL!" the lead guard screamed in panic!

BANG! BANG!

In a desperate frenzy, the lead guard pulled out his pistol and fired two shots straight into the zombie’s head! the loud gunshot blasts echoed violently through the hollow ventilation shafts of the entire warehouse

GROAAN... HISS... GROAAN!

From the dark storage bays all around the right wing, hundreds of wet, guttural roars instantly answered the gunshots!

Lyra’s entire body went dead cold! "Shit..." she muttered under her breath.

She didn’t wait around to see the guards get devoured. She spun around on her heels and sprinted back down the maintenance hallway as fast as her legs could carry her!

However, as she dived back into the main loading atrium, her dark eyes widened in absolute shock!

The Base B guards who had been standing at the entrance just minutes ago were all slumped over the floor, their throats ripped open, their bodies completely wiped out in pools of fresh, dark red blood!

"Dang it..." Lyra gasped out, cold sweat trickling down her cheek. "Don’t tell me it’s..."

Ding!

A massive, flashing blood-red notification screen exploded into existence right in front of her face, pulsing with frantic alarm chimes!

[ URGENT PLOT TRIGGERED! ]

EVENT: Base B Trap & Outbreak Mission ACTIVATED!

SITUATION: Base B has fallen to an internal zombie containment breach! High-tier mutated variants are flooding the complex!

"SERIOUSLY?!" Lyra wailed frantically inside her mind, her soul clutching its head in absolute rage! "YOU HAVE TO TRIGGER THIS TRAP TODAY?! Don’t tell me I have to suffer and die here just to create a dramatic rescue plot for the Male Lead and Female Lead to meet?!!"

She gripped her dagger, her dark eyes flashing with determination. "SISTER! I HAVE TO FIND SENIOR SISTER CLAIRE!"

Lyra sprinted down the main vault corridor. As she turned a corner into the central administrative hall, a sickening scene met her eyes- dozens of mutated Level 2 zombies were swarming over the fallen Base B staff, tearing into fresh meat!

Seeing the gruesome sight, Lyra felt her stomach violently churn, an intense urge to throw up hitting her throat!

HISS!

Three blood-stained zombies suddenly snapped their heads toward her direction, their milky eyes locking onto her fresh, fair skin!

SHIT! Lyra screamed internally! I NEED TO FIND SISTER HURRY UP!

"AHHHHHH!" Lyra let out a terrified squeak, instantly clamping both hands tightly over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream any louder and attract the rest of the horde!

She ducked beneath a leaping zombie’s claw, driving her steel dagger straight into its throat, kicking its body away as she kept sprinting!

"SYSTEM! LOCATION! WHERE IS CLAIRE?!"

Ding!

[ RIGHT AHEAD IN THE COMMAND OFFICE! ] the System map flashed brightly!

Lyra burst through the double doors of the command office, panting heavily, her black tactical jacket soaked with sweat!

Inside the office, Senior Sister Claire was locked in an intense, life-or-death melee combat against the corrupt Captain of Base B!

Claire’s tall frame was ducking and weaving, her silver daggers clashing against the Captain’s broadsword. But the Base B Captain suddenly pulled a hidden secondary pistol from his coat, aiming it straight at Claire’s chest at point-blank range!

Claire’s sharp eyes widened in helpless horror!

BANG!

A gunshot echoed through the room!

A bullet flew through the air, hitting the Base B Captain straight through his wrist! He let out a painful roar, dropping his gun as his body collapsed backward onto the floor!

Claire gasped, spinning her head around in absolute shock- only to see Lyra standing near the doorway, holding a tactical pistol she had snatched off a dead guard, smoke curling from the barrel!

"Where on earth did you get that gun from?!" Claire scolded loudly, her voice trembling with adrenaline and disbelief!

"Don’t scold me right now!" Lyra huffed, pouting her rosy lips as she jogged over to Claire’s side, lowering the firearm. "This gun literally just saved your life, Sister!"

Claire looked down at the panting, small girl standing beside her, her sharp eyes softening with an unreadable touched light before she grabbed Lyra’s wrist. "We need to fall back to the roof right now!"

Meanwhile, back at Main Base A (The University Library)...

The doors of the central tactical command room were thrown wide open!

A high-ranking communications officer rushed into the room, his face pale as paper as he dropped onto one knee before Kael Noctis and the reddish-haired Vice Captain!

"Captain! Vice Captain! Something is terribly wrong!" the officer reported frantically! "All emergency communication signals and radio connections with Base B have been completely cut off! Senior Sister Claire was leading a supply run there, and we can no longer reach her radio!"

Kael and the reddish-haired Vice Captain both snapped their heads up instantly!

Kael stood up to his full height. His piercing emerald-green eyes scanned the table, a subtle chill radiating from his frame.

"Where is Lyra?" Kael asked, his deep voice dropping into a raspy tone.

The Vice Captain blinked, scratching his reddish hair. "Ah... that girl? She left with Sister Claire on the Base B supply truck earlier today."

The second those words left the Vice Captain’s mouth-

Kael’s emerald eyes turned deathly cold!

Without uttering another single word, Kael grabbed his tactical broadsword from the rack and marched straight toward the exit doors!

"Captain! Wait for us!" the Vice Captain shouted, motioning for the elite vanguard squad to assemble!

As they rushed down the hallway toward the armored transport vehicles, another officer jogged up to the Vice Captain’s side, pointing toward the reading nook. "Vice Captain! Should we take that healer girl, Seraphina, along with us? Her light healing abilities might be useful if there are injuries at Base B!"

The Vice Captain glanced over at Seraphina, who was standing near the medical desk looking anxious, and nodded curtly. "Bring her along."

Kael, walking far ahead at the front of the tactical squad, didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the golden-haired girl or the officer’s suggestion.