Chapter 40: Progress and Mutated Beasts meat?

Samson ordered the non-evolved humans to go back into the field house with Leon’s squad.

Then he followed Selene and Leon to the female dormitory building. On their way, they encountered some zombies which were easily taken down by Selene.

"These zombies are definitely more than I expected." Samson frowned, holding the hilt of his weapon as he rested it on his shoulder.

Leon nodded. "Looks like the other parts of the university have been fully corrupted. They’re now migrating to areas with lower zombie population."

Hearing this, Samson shivered. "Damn, boy. Now that you mentioned it, I remember the actual population of students in this university before the apocalypse started and I’m a bit unnerved."

"I can understand that." Leon sighed, looking at a zombie that had its head pierced through by one of Selene’s ice bullets.

’If thousands of coordinated zombies came at us from all sides...’

He shook his head, dispelling the thoughts.

"We’re here."

Selene’s voice sounded indifferent. The two men looked forward, and Samson was instantly stunned.

Everywhere he looked, he could see the large corpses of insects that were probably spiders before mutating.

’Wait a minute...’

"What the hell happened here?"

He looked closer to the hostel and saw the corpse of a larger spider, though it was already decaying.

Selene glanced at him. "Is that important? You said you need materials. These things..."

Clang!

She created a simple ice sword and hit a spider leg with it, producing a clear metallic sound.

"... would suffice, right?"

Samson nodded like a hen pecking at grain. "But come on, you guys aren’t curious at all about who killed all these? If it’s a mutated beast or a great zombie, then I don’t want to meet it at all. I mean... look. It’s a massacre."

Selene sighed and decided to satisfy his curiosity. "Leon killed it. Happy? Now, get to work."

The man was stupefied. His jaw dropped, and he began alternating his gaze between Leon and the corpses that littered the ground.

He couldn’t even say anything.

Selene ignored him and turned to Leon. "How strong was that giant spider? It is definitely not a mini-boss."

The black-haired boy glanced at the spider, then crouched.

"Level 26, if I remember correctly. And it’s not merely a mutated beast. It was already evolved."

"Evolved?" Her eyes narrowed, and a suspicion arose in her heart.

Meanwhile, Samson was stunned by another detail. ’Level 26?!’

"Yes. When all living creatures reach Level 25, they become Evolved. Though it’s a bit different for humans, the result is still the same." Leon explained, studying the chitin-like legs of the spiders.

"Wait a minute. How do you know that?" Samson finally regained his voice and asked with a frown.

Leon shrugged, ignoring the question. He couldn’t exactly tell them that there was a powerful ghost tailing him and giving him information whenever she felt like it, right?

’Wait. Why is she trying to mimic Selene’s stance?’

The black-haired demon was behind Selene, standing in the same posture with which the girl stood.

It made Leon chuckle.

"What is funny?" Selene glared at him sharply.

"Nothing." He waved dismissively and stood up.

Taking a breath, she looked at the larger corpse, then asked. "So once they reach Level 25, they grow much more powerful and have crystals on their forehead?"

Leon looked at her and was a bit astonished. "You deduced that? Well, you’re right."

The older man placed a hand on his forehead as if he was suffering from headache.

"Oh, goodness. This world is just getting harder to live in. Let’s hope those Level 25 things don’t grow like leaves on a tree."

Leon shrugged. "I genuinely hope so. And besides, they’re called Tier One Evolved."

The other two fell silent, pondering deeply over this new information they had just received.

"Alright. These should surely work. But I can’t be the only one removing these chitin from the corpses. I’ll need my engineering team."

Leon agreed with him. "Hm, we can clear the path and make a route to the field house for the transportation. Though, you have to be silent and not attract too many zombies."

The silver-haired girl also agreed, and the three of them returned to the field house.

Immediately, Samson selected a team of well-built young men who were willing to help him remove the chitinous exoskeletons.

After a week of surviving on nothing but white rice and water, many people had gotten fed up and were now willing to work, just to get soup on their food.

Most of them had been rich kids before the apocalypse, as the Clifford University wasn’t one for the poor. Yet now, they were reduced to eating only white rice or beans without oil and spices.

Leon’s squad, along with Reymond, were responsible for guarding these men while they worked.

The process began immediately, and after Samson put them through, they began to work rapidly, transporting the chitinous metals to the field house.

They quickly undressed the corpses of the small spiders, but had to give up when they reached the corpse of the larger spider.

The legs were too sharp and too durable to be handled by anyone.

By evening, they returned to the field house, just in time to meet dinner being prepared. The guys who had worked were immediately filled with joy, settling down with a rare mixture of rice and beans with fish stew..

Fish! It was now something that made them stunned. A luxury they hadn’t dreamed of for the past few days.

Seeing them eat ravenously, Gwen smiled. ’At least we can all get happy with something as simple as this.’

Still, there were a few people who stubbornly refused to work and kept believing the government would come to their aid soon enough.

"Ah, right."

Suddenly remembering something, Gwen looked at Selene who was sitting beside her.

"The meat and fish we have in stock are about to run out. The remaining food supplies are also running low. We’re left with less than half."

Gwen was in charge of supervising the kitchen and the workers, ensuring those women and chefs didn’t make any mistakes or dubious activities. And now, she was making a report to their leader.

Selene paused eating, then asked casually. "What do you think about eating mutated beast meat?"