Bang!
The fire-exit door shuddered again.
Bow still had one hand pressed against Phod's shoulder.
"Lie down."
"Sis, if the door breaks—"
"I'll drag you away."
"You sure you can drag me?"
"You're as heavy as a bag of rice."
Phod went quiet for a moment.
"That hurts."
"Good. Then you'll know you're not dead yet."
Dad glanced at the door and asked him bluntly, "Phod, what do you see?"
The question made Phod freeze.
Dad didn't ask if he was hallucinating. He didn't ask what window he was talking about. He didn't even ask how Phod knew how to use Thanwa's ability.
He only asked what he saw.
Phod looked toward the door.
The system responded immediately.
[Low-grade undead: 11]
[Average threat level: 2–4]
[Anomalous variable detected: 1]
"Eleven."
Thanwa whipped around.
"How do you know?"
"I counted."
"The door's solid!"
"Then I guess I'm good at counting."
"This isn't the time to be a smartass!"
"Like I wanted to wake up and find walking corpses either, man."
The security guard let out a dry laugh.
"Let's just say he really can see something. He saved that fire guy earlier, too."
"My name is Thanwa."
"For now, you're Fire Guy."
Bang!
The door shook harder than before.
Phod swept his gaze down the hallway.
Patient beds. A medicine cabinet. A cart. A fire extinguisher. Six patient-room doors. At the far end of the hall stood another glass door.
The system began drawing thin outlines around each object.
[Can be used as a barricade]
[Estimated durability: low]
[Estimated durability: moderate]
Phod frowned.
So the system didn't just look at people.
"Dad."
"Yeah?"
"Use two empty beds to block this area, but don't put them right against the door."
Dad followed the direction of his finger.
"Why leave space?"
"So they can only come out one at a time."
The security guard understood immediately.
"A choke point."
Phod nodded.
"If we pack the door completely, everything will collapse together when it breaks. But if we leave a narrow opening, we can swarm them one at a time."
Thanwa stared at him.
"You take ROTC or something?"
"I'm only a sophomore. Haven't taken it yet."
"Then how'd you think of that?"
Phod sighed.
"Video games."
Thanwa fell silent.
"...That actually makes sense."
Dad and the security guard started dragging the beds.
The others hiding in the rooms cautiously peeked out.
A man in his thirties asked, "Need a hand?"
Phod looked at him.
[Human]
Condition: Normal Selection: Accepted Ability: Strength Enhancement Proficiency: 1%
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"You got the strength-boosting ability, right?"
The man's expression changed.
"How'd you know?"
"I'll explain in a second. If you help lift the bed now, it'll probably be easier for you than for everyone else."
He hesitated for only a second before stepping out.
"What do I do?"
Phod looked at the message.
[Usage error: User is attempting to tense every muscle in the body]
[Recommendation: Limit enhancement to the muscle groups in use]
"Don't tense your whole body."
"Huh?"
"When you lift, focus the ability on your legs, back, and the arms holding the bed. Don't spread it all over."
The man tried.
A thin gray light covered his arms and shoulders.
He bent down and lifted one end of the bed.
The entire metal bed rose with ease.
The man stared wide-eyed.
"Whoa!"
Phod saw the message change.
[Proficiency 1% → 2%]
Again.
His heart began pounding faster.
This wasn't a coincidence.
The advice the system gave him really did help other people understand their abilities faster.
The people peeking from the rooms began looking at him differently.
Phod knew that look well.
Back then, whenever people looked at him, it was usually one of a few things.
Pity. Annoyance. Or looking straight through him as if he didn't exist.
But now—
They were waiting to hear what he would say next.
Phod wasn't sure whether he liked it.
Weird as hell.
I had to wait for the world to end before people started listening to me.
The door exploded with noise.
Crash!
Part of the latch tore loose.
The security guard raised a chair.
"Ready!"
Thanwa stood behind them, about four meters away.
The man with Strength Enhancement gripped an iron IV pole.
Dad held the fire extinguisher.
Phod looked at the three of them.
"Don't just swing wildly."
"You sound like the leader now," Thanwa said.
"Then do you want to be the leader?"
Thanwa glanced at the door.
"Nope."
"Good."
Bow snorted.
"Serves you right."
The door shattered.
The first body burst out.
The security guard retreated according to plan.
The corpse became wedged between the beds.
"Now!"
The IV pole slammed into its temple.
Crash!
It staggered.
Thanwa raised his hand.
Phod shouted, "Head!"
Flames ignited at the corpse's temple.
The security guard struck it again immediately.
The first body fell.
The second tried crawling over it.
Phod checked the data.
[Low-grade undead]
[Left leg damaged]
"This one's slow! Don't waste fire!"
The man with Strength Enhancement charged in and stabbed it with the iron pole until it fell, then the security guard finished it off.
The fight looked clumsy as hell.
Nobody looked cool.
Nobody moved like a trained warrior.
Everyone was gasping for breath. Their hands were shaking. They missed. They retreated at the wrong times.
But they were still alive.
The fourth charged forward with abnormal speed.
The system outlined it in red.
[Anomalous variable]
[Early-stage mutated undead]
Threat level: 7
"Fall back!"
Phod screamed at the top of his lungs.
The man with Strength Enhancement hesitated.
"It's just like the others—"
"Fall back now!"
He jumped backward on instinct.
The corpse swung its arm.
Long claws sliced through his shirt, missing his skin by less than an inch.
Everyone went pale.
Phod watched the data stream past.
[Speed 183% above standard]
[Destroying the brain alone may be insufficient]
[Soul core detected: left side of the chest]
"Thanwa!"
"What?!"
"Left chest! Light up its left chest!"
Thanwa didn't ask any more questions.
He raised his hand immediately.
Whoosh!
Flames appeared in the center of its chest.
The corpse roared for the first time.
The sound was nothing like a human voice.
The security guard slammed his knee into it, throwing it off balance.
The man with Strength Enhancement drove the iron pole into the spot where the flames were burning.
Squish!
Something cracked.
Black light burst from the corpse's chest.
Its entire body crumpled instantly.
Everyone stood there, gasping.
A message appeared before Phod's eyes.
[Early-stage mutated undead eliminated]
[Foundational data received: 3]
[Guidance successful: 3 individuals]
[Evaluating...]
Phod didn't care about the reward.
He looked at the people still standing.
Dad. The security guard. Thanwa. The man whose name he still didn't know.
No one had died.
That was enough.
Thanwa turned to him.
"Kid."
"Yeah?"
"If you see anything like that again..."
He swallowed.
"Tell me right away, okay?"
Phod raised an eyebrow.
"A minute ago, you were still asking how I knew."
"I don't care anymore."
The security guard nodded.
"Me neither."
The man with Strength Enhancement looked at him seriously.
"Me too."
Phod stood still.
Three ordinary sentences.
Yet somehow they made him feel stranger than seeing a corpse walk.
These people—
They believed him.
Bow walked over and lightly smacked her little brother on the shoulder.
"What's with that face?"
"Nothing."
"Happy?"
"No."
"Liar."
Phod turned away.
"I'm just thinking this world is fucking weird."
"How so?"
Phod looked down the hallway littered with corpses.
Then he looked at the three people arranging their defensive line according to his instructions.
"Before this, whenever I said something, nobody listened."
A crooked smile tugged at his mouth.
"Had to wait for ghosts to attack before anyone saw my value."
Bow was quiet for a moment.
Then she replied flatly, "Then don't say too much stupid shit, or they'll change their minds."
Phod laughed.
Then the system window popped up in front of him.
[Foundation Quest]
Survivors in the area: 47
Time remaining: 04:51:22
[New threat detected entering the building]
Phod stopped laughing.
Outside the window—
Something with black wings
was clinging to the hospital wall.