"The vault is underground," Zero whispered, crouching beside me. "Sub-level two. Stairs are on the east side of the lobby, assuming they haven’t collapsed."

"And if they have?" I asked, wanting to have everything planned out instead of rushing blindly.

"Then we find another way down. I scouted the exterior, not the inside. Too many of them to clear quietly on my own without attracting more from deeper in." She responded softly.

"So we’re going through them." I concluded.

"You’re going through them." She smiled at me sweetly. "I’ll handle anything above E-rank. Everything else is your education."

"You have a very aggressive teaching philosophy, you know that?" My lips twitched at her words.

"And yet my student keeps passing. Funny how that works."

This woman!

I took a breath and studied the layout. The lobby was wide and open, pillars running along both sides.

Most of the zombies were clustered in the center, which meant the edges were relatively clear. If I moved along the left wall, I could reach the east corridor without engaging more than three or four of them.

"I’ll hug the left wall," I told Zero. "Draw the ones near the pillar with a distraction, take out the stragglers, and push to the stairwell. You handle the E-ranks at the desk if they notice us."

She tilted her head. "Look at you, making battle plans. I’m getting warm and fuzzy."

"Save the fuzzy for after I survive this."

"Deal."

I moved first.

The first F-rank near the left wall didn’t even see me coming. I drove the pipe into the base of its skull from behind, quick and quiet, and caught its body before it hit the ground. Zero raised an eyebrow approvingly from across the lobby.

The second one heard something and turned. I was already swinging. The pipe connected with its temple and it dropped. Louder this time. A third zombie near the pillar perked up, its head swiveling toward me.

I grabbed a piece of ceiling tile from the floor and skidded it across the lobby to the right. The zombie tracked the sound and lurched away from me.

’Still idiots. Thank god.’

I slipped past the pillar and into the east corridor. Behind me, I heard two wet thuds as Zero casually dealt with the E-ranks. She appeared beside me a moment later, not even breathing hard.

"Show-off," I muttered, definitely not jealous of her monstrous strength.

"You love it."

I did. Damnit.

The stairwell was intact, barely. The steps were cracked and missing chunks, and the railing had rusted into orange lace. We descended carefully, the air growing heavier with every floor. By the time we reached sub-level two, I felt like I was breathing through a straw.

"Radiation’s dense down here," Zero murmured. "Stay close to me. My biofield has a larger radius." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

I didn’t need to be told twice. I practically glued myself to her side, which she seemed to enjoy far too much.

"If you wanted to be close to me, you just had to ask, darling." She giggled.

"I’m literally trying not to get cancer right now."

"Multitask." She responded. "Also, we have worse things than cancers, you know. Cancers is easily curable."

Noted. One more thing to take from here to get famous on earth. Would I get assassinated for it? Maybe I would do sucide.

The vault corridor was long and dark, lit only by the faint bioluminescent moss that covered the walls. Old safety deposit boxes lined both sides, most of them torn open and empty. But the main vault door sat at the far end, massive and steel, still sealed.

And standing in front of it was something that made every zombie I’d fought today look like a house pet.

It was big. Not just human-big, but way-big. Nearly seven feet tall with arms that hung past its knees, each one thick as my torso. Its skin wasn’t the dull gray of the lower ranks but a darker shade, almost black and it had a faint sheen to it, like chitin. Its eyes glowed a deep, angry red.

The air around it felt wrong too. Heavier, charged, like standing too close to a power line.

’What the fuck!? Did Khali become a zombie in this world?’ I cursed mentally.

"D-rank," Zero whispered, and for the first time, I heard a change in her voice, which I couldn’t identify. "Core Stone carrier. See the glow in its chest?"

I followed her gaze and sure enough, I could see it. Through the creature’s cracked skin, I could see a faint blue light pulsing near its sternum. The Core Stone.

"That thing’s been feeding on the radiation down here for decades. It’s the reason no one’s cracked this vault." She looked at me. "I can kill it easily but I want you to try first."

I stared hard at her. "You want me to fight that thing?The thing that’s seven feet tall with armor skin and glowing murder eyes. A fucking boss!"

"I want to see what you do."

Same words as yesterday. Same crossed arms. Same infuriating confidence in me that I absolutely did not share.

"And if it kills me?" I asked.

"It won’t. I’m right here." Her voice softened, just a fraction. "I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Lukas. You know that."

I did know that. And that was the only reason I tightened my grip on the pipe and stepped forward.

The D-rank’s red eyes locked onto me instantly. It didn’t lunge like the others. It simply watched and studied me. This damned thing was intelligent, atleast more than other idiots.

’Okay. Think, Lukas, you can’t overpower it. You can’t outrun it. The pipe won’t do much against that skin. Which means...’

I looked down at the gun on my hip. Twelve Core Stone rounds. Then I looked at the corridor. Narrow, lined with metal deposit boxes, low ceiling.

’Use the terrain. Use the brain. That’s your weapon.’ I took a deep breath. ’Use everything in your disposal. That’s the first rule of battle.’

The zombie took its first step toward me, and the ground cracked under its weight.

I had a plan. A terrible, reckless, probably-going-to-get-me-killed plan.

’Perfect. Just my style.’