CHAPTER 41: CHAPTER 41: UPGRADING THE CORE

Betty stood near the tree, clutching her throat and heaving.Maria glanced at Hazel, who leaned casually against the car, whistling like she wasn’t the cause.

"Sister, why were you driving so recklessly? Have you even looked at the front of our car?"

Hazel clicked her tongue and turned. The bumper dripped with thick green blood.

"What, Maria, should I have let the zombies block us? I had to slam through them; be grateful I saved you there."

Betty wiped her mouth, her eyes twitching at Hazel’s fake innocence.

"Yes, if they were blocking us. But no, you wanted to show off your ’skills’ and sped onto the sidewalk, nearly hitting a pole; we should beat you instead of thanking you."

Hazel pouted under the scolding, huffing as she slid back into the driver’s seat."Bennett, we didn’t crash, right? The car just... got inches away, we are safe, that’s what matters."

Betty’s messy short hair ruffled in the wind as she shook her head. "Get out. Let me or Maria drive; we don’t want to take a risk again."

Maria nodded, her ponytail swaying, and Hazel finally got out with a snort. "Fine, fine. I’ll just consider it me letting my driver drive. Hmph."

But before Betty could take the seat, a cold ripple spread through her chest. Maria’s brow furrowed. Betty’s face had gone pale.

"Huh? What’s wrong with you?" Maria asked, patting her shoulder.

Even Hazel, halfway out the window, instead of using the door. froze mid-climb, noticing her face.

"Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?"

The chill ebbed, but Betty’s pulse stayed high. ’This... again. The second time I’ve felt it.’

She slowly turned toward the building behind them, feeling someone looking at her intensely.

On the third floor, a figure stood at the window. Black hood. Black mask. Staring directly at her.

When Maria followed her gaze, there was nothing there.

Betty blinked, and the figure was gone. Along with the cold.

Hazel yelped as she slammed out the window into the cold road, snapping Betty back from her thoughts.

"Ow ow ow!"

"Sister, can’t you just open the door like a normal person?" Maria helped her up while scolding her.

Seeing Hazel’s messy state, Betty couldn’t help but laugh. She slid into the driver’s seat, but not before glancing one last time at the empty window. Then she accelerated.

---

In an abandoned office building, Betty hurled a zombie core at Hazel, who caught it and stuffed it into her bag.

Looking into the bag, hazel eyes shine, seeing many green cores inside.

"It’s enough, Bennett. According to Peter, we only need twenty to upgrade. We’ve got sixty now."

Betty nodded, grabbing a lunging zombie by the head and crushing it in her palm. Blood spattered across her already filthy clothes.

Maria ended her own fight and walked over, sitting beside Hazel on the stairs.

Betty leaned against the wall, eyes on the glowing cores.’I’ve already absorbed sixteen. Just need four more to reach grade two then.’

"Here, Bennett." Hazel passed her twenty cores.

Betty sat, letting the smoky essence rise and wrap around her as she cracked them one by one.

Crack... Crack...

At the fourth, a sharp clench twisted in her stomach where her core pulsed in place of a dantian.

"AGhhhhhh!" Hazel’s scream cut through the room. Betty whipped around. Hazel and Maria were both clutching their necks, their faces twisted in pain.

Sweat dripped down Betty’s temple. She gritted her teeth through the burning ache.

"Master! Congratulations, haha, you’ve leveled up the space!" Calista’s voice squealed in her mind.

"WTF was that?!" Hazel roared, punching the wall beside her—lightly.

Concrete exploded under her fist lightining lighting the dark hall.

Betty, still panting, arched a brow. ’Well... she does have lightning powers. Figures.’

---

Stopping the jeep a good distance away from prying eyes, David narrowed his gaze at the van they’d been tailing. It rolled straight into the underground parking of a tall, grim-looking building.

In the back seat, Henry’s fists were clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. Ethan sneered, flung the door open, and jumped out.

"Hah, finally," he said, stretching his shoulders. "Four laps around town, and these bastards decide to stop."

Henry followed him out, his eyes locked on the building with simmering fury. Without a word, he yanked the bound man out of the jeep and tossed him to the ground.

"Alright, fucker," Henry growled, crouching down. "Your whole gang’s in that building, right?"

The man flinched, gag muffling his protests. Henry ripped it off and immediately grabbed him by the throat, squeezing hard; the bound man’s face turned red in an instant.

"Bro," Ethan warned, watching him choke. "At this rate, he’s not gonna answer — he’s just gonna die."

Henry blinked, loosening his grip. The captive gasped, sucking in air like a drowning man breaking the surface.

"P-please," he stammered, voice shaking. "It wasn’t me. I didn’t kidnap anyone—"

David strode over, expression cold. Without hesitation, he kicked the man’s shin hard enough to make him scream.

"We’re not asking if you did it," David said, his voice flat and dangerous. "We’re asking if the girl your gang took from Midtown is in that building."

"A-ahhh! Yes! Yes, she’s in there! Please, don’t kill me!" the man cried, tears mixing with sweat on his dirt-streaked face.

David nodded indifferently."Henry, put this bastard back in the jeep. If he’s lying, he’ll reap the consequences later."

The man’s eyes widened, but before he could beg, Henry shoved the gag back into his mouth and tossed him into the back seat.

Sliding into the front, David picked up his trusty pistol. His gaze lingered on the second-grade core lying beside it. Expressionless, he clenched it in his palm—cracks spiderwebbed across its surface before it shattered to dust . Inside his neck, his own second-grade core pulsed faintly.

’This is the fifth one of this type...’ he thought. ’Does a core only upgrade once?’

---

"Boss, we don’t have enough food to keep feeding these bitches," a wiry man said, his voice low but trembling. "They’re useless now. Ever since hell broke loose, they’re just wasting rations."

The burly man in the leather chair opened his eyes, the scar cutting across his cheek making the lackey flinch.

"Are you stupid? You think their only value is squeezing money from rich parents?"

The lackey nodded hesitantly, still confused.

"But boss... we’ve only used them for ransom or harvesting organs. With the world like this, we can’t even do that properly."

"Fool—" the boss started, but the door banged open.

Four men stumbled in, laughing, each holding bags full of food.

The boss’s eyes swept over them. "Why are there only four of you? I sent six. Where are the others?"

"Boss," one of them said, panting, "we tried to track them in the mall, but those two... we couldn’t find ’em. Probably got bitten by zombies."

"Bitten..." the boss leaned against his chair, casually playing with his pistol.

"You useless things cant even do simple things.. HaH."

The four of them look down, fidgeting nervously.

"Get lost, and guard the outside and see if any bitch dies from hunger, and give half a bread to each of them."

They nodded, hurrying outside. The lackey, seeing them leaving, looked at his boss, then walked toward the food and took a cake and a Coke, giving them to the boss.

---

Pit... pat.

David frowned, glancing upward as raindrops fell from the sickly green clouds. The already dim sky seemed to swallow the last traces of light.

"Move," he muttered. "We don’t know if this rain’s toxic."

His gaze swept the building ahead, scanning for guards. Instead of approaching the main gate, they veered toward the parking lot.

David slid on a black glove, screwing a silencer onto his pistol. His eyes locked onto the van they had tailed.

Beside him, Ethan’s fist clenched. Black smoke coiled from his skin, curling into jagged, spiked tendrils.

Voices drifted from behind the van.

"Yeah, pass me that... I’m sick of plain bread."

"You’re kidding me? This jam’s a reward from my last job—snatched it after we grabbed those women. Hand it over? You got something better?"

David flicked his fingers toward Ethan. Ethan nodded and stepped forward, his shadow trailing unnaturally across the wet ground.

The smoke on his hand thinned into a creeping tendril that slithered along the floor, wrapping around the unsuspecting men’s ankles.

Both froze, eyes darting downward. Their faces drained of color as a claw of pure shadow gripped their legs.

"Ahhhmm—!"

Before the scream could escape, two more shadowy hands burst from the ground, clamping over their mouths.

"Well, well, you want jam right... I can extract red jam from your bodies... what the hell, the line was not cool at all."

Ethan shook his head regretfully, but in the next second, his face became serious, with the shocking and fearful eyes of two kidnappers. David shot one hole through their heads.