Watching her struggle made me feel… guilty.
I didn't understand why. I had no real obligation to care, but something in me stirred. Watching her fight with everything she had, while her body screamed for rest—it tugged at something deep inside. I wanted to help her. Desperately.
But I held back.
She hadn't reached her second awakening yet. If I stepped in too early, it might rob her of that crucial breakthrough. So I waited, watching quietly from the edge of the battlefield, concealed by shadows.
Then, at just the right moment, I moved.
I leapt into the fray, landing with a shockwave that knocked a few lesser zombies off their feet. Without a word, I gestured to one of the robots.
"Protect her," I ordered.
The robot moved instantly, taking position in front of the injured Maria like a steel guardian. Its motions were precise—efficient. Every movement was optimized for combat.
Maria's eyes widened. She was stunned—not just by the robot's sudden appearance, but by how flawlessly it dispatched the zombies. Groups of undead fell like grass under a mower, torn apart without mercy.
And then he moved.
The masked one.
Even among the robots, he stood out. His figure blurred with speed, his presence distorted the very air around him. Just like the videos that had once gone viral—footage of the Demon Twins at war. It was real. And it was terrifying.
The other robots were no less impressive. Their rifles tore through hundreds of zombies with mechanical precision. Limbs flew. Heads exploded. Gore coated the ground.
Maria stood there for half an hour, watching in disbelief. Her body trembled. Her muscles were torn, her arms barely functional. She was drenched in blood and sweat, pain etched into every line of her face.
Still, she endured.
And then… it was over.
The mutated zombies—every last one of them—were gone, reduced to twitching corpses. I didn't help her immediately. Instead, I gave another command.
"Heal her. Gently."
One of the robots moved to Maria's side, administering medical aid from the System Shop's advanced nanomed kits. She winced but didn't complain. Her eyes remained on me, trying to decipher who I was beneath the mask.
But I had other priorities.
I turned and made my way to the crater left behind by the meteor.
It was enormous—easily the size of a building. A gaping hole yawned at its center, glowing faintly with residual heat. Climbing down, I spotted them—two super-class zombies, larger and stronger than anything most survivors would ever live to see.
A smile crept onto my face.
Points.
They were nothing more than points to me.
But that wasn't all. Around them were dozens of high-tier zombies, stronger than average but still fodder compared to me.
I activated the full strength of my body—a physique enhanced by countless attribute boosts and body mods. My current physical stats made me the equivalent of a walking fortress—a creature with the power of four elephants, packed into the frame of a man.
I could kill super zombies now. Not just one—multiple.
I left the second robot to continue Maria's treatment and summoned the others to join me in the crater. The fight began in an instant.
The super-class zombies let out deafening roars. Even the people in the shelter above felt the tremors. Maria, whose senses were now drastically enhanced, shuddered from the shockwave alone.
But to me?
It was exhilarating.
I tore through them, blade and fist, unleashing pure destruction. Every zombie I struck exploded into red mist. The robots provided cover fire, cutting through the chaos with merciless accuracy.
Within the hour, silence returned.
The battlefield was still. The crater reeked of burning flesh. I stood amidst the corpses, victorious.
I checked my total points. 2,200. Not bad.
Then I noticed something gleaming inside the remains of the meteor. I tore through the cracked husk and found it—a golden scroll. Another rare reward. But something else was buried deeper.
My eyes lit up.
Inside a high-tech incubator, surrounded by glowing energy circuits, lay a creature unlike any I had seen.
The Devil Fox.
The government's ultimate trump card. A monster capable of slaughtering Stellar-level and other high-calamity zombies.
It wasn't fully matured yet—its body was still small, curled within the stasis pod—but the potential it held was enormous. This was no ordinary beast. It was a living weapon.
I smiled.
I would raise it myself. Train it. Mold it to be the perfect killing machine.
I handed the incubator to one of the robots.
"Take this to Noel. Explain everything about the fox. Make sure it's safe."
The robot nodded and disappeared into the forest, heading toward my base.
With that done, I turned toward the shelter.
Time to handle the next issue.
---
Inside the shelter, Maria was recovering. The medicine from the System Shop had worked. She could move her arm again—barely. The pain was still there, but at least she wasn't helpless anymore.
I approached her.
She looked up at me, eyes narrowed, full of suspicion.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice cold, guarded.
I pointed at her without a word.
Her face twisted.
"You pervert. I'd rather kill myself than let you touch me."
I blinked. Huh?
A misunderstanding. Fair, given the situation.
Her fiery personality was just like I remembered… from my past life. It made me chuckle beneath the mask.
"My offer isn't what you think," I said, my voice deep. "I want you to join me."
Her brows furrowed. Realization dawned in her eyes—but so did wariness.
"Why would I ever do that?" she said, her tone shaky but defiant. "Why would I follow someone like you?"
I smiled behind the mask and let the threat seep into my words.
"The shelter is abandoned. Reinforcements aren't coming. You're alive only because I let you live. If I wanted to, I could wipe out everyone here and walk away."
I leaned forward slightly, voice dropping to a near-whisper.
"So either join me… or watch this place burn."
Her jaw clenched. She looked down, then sighed in resignation. She didn't know what my true intentions were. But she understood the reality.
She had no choice.
---
I walked into the shelter fully, and to my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I expected. The interior was clean, the tents organized. But the people?
Trash.
Weak. Afraid. Useless.
And then… I saw them.
Lorraine. Trish. Rhian. Samminah. Jasmine. Aria.
A wave of anger surged through me. These six—once arrogant, once dismissive—now sitting in conversation..
Samminah had been asleep, but the chaos had woken her. They were all leaning against the tent walls, huddled, powerless.
I sighed.
Even if they were bitches… there was potential here.
None of them had awakened yet, but when they did… they could be useful. Very useful.
They just needed to be broken first.
And I would be the one to do it.