章 25: Living Dead

After the death of Mr. Watson, Olivia was crying for some time. With Elena doing her best to comfort the woman. After all, it was an enormous weight to take the life of another human being, at least it was for most people.

Then there were those like Zane who were so dead inside that emotions such as empathy, compassion, and guilt had no meaning to him, and were quite honestly alien concepts. In the old world, people like Zane hid their true nature. Trying to blend in with a world they found to be nothing short of tiresome.

But in times of crisis, such as the collapse of civilization, it was these men who found themselves in positions of power. After all, their ability to adapt to a lawless society easily outstripped a normal human being like Olivia.

It was perhaps because of this that Zane was harsh to the woman as her sobbing continued while he tried to watch a broadcast on his phone.

"Shut the hell up! The white house has another message…"

It wasn't that Zane particularly cared about what the government of the old world had to say, but, rather, they were still the ones who possessed the most intelligence about what was happening across the nation, and the entire world for that matter.

Because of this, there were some truths that could be gleaned from the propaganda that were designed to keep people from acting like savages for as long as possible. And thus the elderly president stood at a podium, no doubt within the presidential bunker, as he spoke about the ongoing crisis that the American people were facing.

"My fellow Americans. I understand that we are currently living in dire times. And I want to assure you that the government is doing everything it can to restore law and order to the world. It is with this in mind that we have decided to release what little information we have discovered about these ongoing riots.

These are not, in fact, riots, but rather appear to be some kind of infection. Perhaps a possible mutated strain of the rabies virus that causes the infected to lash out and violently attack everyone else who is not infected. We still do not understand the origin of the virus, or its exact nature. But what we do know is it appears to be spread via contact with the infected.

It is because of this that we are hereby requesting that all citizens continue to remain indoors as the Armed Forces, National Guard, and various Law Enforcement agencies do their best to get the situation under control.

I thank you all for your attention, and may God bless the American people during this time of crisis."

After saying this, the broadcast cut short, causing Zane to scoff. There was nothing said that he didn't already know, and no mention of the blood crystals. Or the higher Tier Undead for that matter. Whether that was because he and the girls were the only ones who knew about such things, or because the government was deliberately hiding this information, Zane did not know.

But one thing was certain: the lockdowns would not last for long. After all, supplies were already dwindling all over the country, and people would be forced to scavenge for supplies. That is not even mentioning the global blackouts that would occur in the coming weeks.

In at most two weeks after this crisis had begun, the power grids across the world would collapse. Without power, there was no way for the government to maintain its control over the nation. And then there would truly be anarchy.

Luckily for Zane, he was not in a city near a nuclear reactor or else he would have to worry about the inevitable meltdowns that would occur as a result of a complete and total lack of maintenance. Thus, Zane's new goal was clear to him.

Since he was the only one who really knew about blood crystals. He would spend his nights going out into the school campus and slaying the Walkers. Collecting whatever blood crystals he could and consuming them for their experience.

If he wanted a chance of surviving in this world, then he needed to level up, and quickly, too. The quicker he leveled up, the more he would be ahead of the rest of the world who had yet to figure out about these life saving abilities.

It was with this in mind that Zane decided to reach into his pocket and pull out the last of his blood crystals. After witnessing what had happened to Elena and Olivia when they consumed their first blood crystals. Zane had been hesitant to consume another. After all, those two entered a debilitated state for thirty whole minutes as a result of the debuff.

But Zane now had time to waste, and thus he stuck the three blood crystals into his mouth at the same time. Yet he did not feel any pain or froth at the mouth like Elena and Olivia had. Instead, the blood crystals immediately turned into a river of blood that flowed down Zane's throat.

As much as Zane should be disgusted by the taste of coagulated blood and decaying flesh, he could not find himself to do so. In fact, for whatever reason, it appeared to be the most delicious thing he had ever tasted in his entire life. It was almost addicting, as Zane knew he would develop a craving for these blood crystals soon enough.

Interestingly enough, when he consumed these three crystals, Zane saw a message appear in the blood red text of the system.

---

[Blood Crystal Consumed!]

[Buff Applied: Living Dead]

[+10 XP]

These messages repeated themselves once per every blood crystal that Zane consumed. What immediately attracted his attention was the increase in his XP bar which was now at 30/100, meaning he needed to consume seven more blood crystals before he gained his first level up.

But what was more interesting was the Buff which Zane had gained upon consuming the blood crystal. It appeared to be the same name as his Subrace, which was displayed on his character screen. When Zane further examined the buff, he was surprised by what he saw.

[Buff: Living Dead]

[As a Living Dead your body possesses the ability to naturally process the blood crystals, which would otherwise corrupt the body of a living being. Because of this, you gain the maximum amount of XP from each blood crystal and do not suffer a Debuff penalty.]

When Zane saw this, he was quite surprised. There was even a hint of shock on his otherwise expressionless face. His skill, Dead Man Walking, was far more useful than he initially thought it was. This racial buff meant that he could consume blood crystals as if they were a bag of popcorn and never suffer any penalties.

While everyone else was forced to suffer a debuff that made it so they gained less xp, a long and debilitating process just to consume a single blood crystal. Zane could walk around and consume them on the fly, racking up XP immediately upon scavenging the blood crystals.

This meant that he had an enormous advantage in leveling. As a normal living being would have to find a quiet and safe place to consume their blood crystals, or else they could find themselves preyed upon by both the living and dead when they were in such a feeble state.

But Zane was free from such restrictions. He had a feeling that he would soon have an excess in blood crystal. And could freely give a few to his followers while he stood watch and protected their camp.

While his passive ability may, on the surface, seem rather lackluster, especially when viewed in comparison to Olivia's Electric discharge. It was, in reality, the greatest leveling advantage one could possibly ask for. And it also had an incredible advantage in terms of surviving this new world filled with ravenous undead hordes.

For the first time in as long as Zane could remember, he felt something other than negative emotions. He felt a sense of excitement. Excitement for the future in this apocalyptic world, and the lengths he could go with his unique ability.

With this in mind, Zane's facial muscles struggled as they twisted themselves into a wicked sneer. The tone he used to express his thoughts aloud to nobody in particular would have been nothing short of chilling if someone had actually heard them.

"Let's go hunting!"

With this said, Zane picked up his club, which was still stained with blood, and walked off into the darkness. While everyone else slept, he would go out and hunt the Walkers that still roamed the school campus.

Where he would collect their blood crystals and feasting upon them as he raised his level, and thus increased his abilities. All the while, the world at large had yet to discover these special resources, which were humanity's hope for survival. Thus giving Zane a head start over all his would be rivals.