The World Cataclysm - Chapter 72: Underground Pathway

“So, brother David, although I’m grateful for what you did, I’m still confused a bit. I heard you said you wanted to meet with their boss, but what do you want from such a creep? He seems to be dangerous to meddle with…” Luther said seriously.

“Yeah, what business do you have with that son of a bitch?” Oscar yelled as he tried to relieve his frustration. First, they were stuck in a crowded area and were forced to hide in the cloth shop, fighting and struggling to survive, as they sought food and tried to eat it moderately. Next, some thugs broke into their cloth shop and offered some bullshit saying it was a deal, and when they refused to accept it, they tried to threaten them with force.

“Oscar! How many times do I need to scold you to watch your mouth?” Luther sighed helplessly as he yelled at his brother. “Brook, take my brother into the staff room and give him something to eat. He should calm down a bit.”

The huge towering man patted Oscar on his shoulder as he gently took him to the only door in the cloth shop except for the one that led to the storeroom. In all the process, the giant didn’t even drop a word as he headed to the staff room.

‘He is surprisingly quiet.’ Dave thought inwardly as he suspected him to be…more aggressive? Considering his big build, Dave thought he would be more imposing.

Following his gaze, Luther laughed awkwardly as he chuckled. “Don’t let his huge build scare you. Although he can give quite a heavy punch, Brook isn’t the one who usually starts a fight, on the contrary, he avoids them as much as he can.” Luther paused for a moment. “So what is your goal?”

Keeping his silence, Dave approached lying students and squatted imposingly in front of them, “Look, guys! I’m not asking for anything difficult, right? Just lead me to your boss, I want to talk to him.”

The three of them shook slightly as they noticed Dave cold eyes, but no one told anything useful. Dave only heard useless angered words from them. “Fuck you! I’m not afraid of…” But the man couldn’t finish his words as he felt a strong blow into his stomach.

“Nope! Wrong answer.” Dave said as he sent a kick to the man who cursed him. His two companions paled immediately when they saw it. After kicking one of them, he asked again, “Now, will you lead me to your boss?”

“We don’t know where he is. He…” Another male student tried to say something, but it wasn’t an answer Dave wanted to hear.

“Wrong answer again.” He sent another kick as the man groaned in pain.

…

A minute later, beating them for every wrong answer, Dave finally heard something interesting, “Please…we can’t tell anything to you! He will kill us!” Sobbing, one of them said it as he shrank into a human ball, covering his head with both his hands.

Well, Dave didn’t expect any loyalty from them since they were just students a month ago. He was wondering why they were keeping their mouth shut, but the reason was simpler than he had thought. They were feared of dying!

Chuckling loudly, Dave smiled coldly as he said, “It seems I have been too kind on three of you.” Saying it, he lifted his Steel Sword as he directed its tip to the throat of one of them. “Why are you so sure that I won’t kill if you don’t tell me anything? You either die here or die after you meet your boss. However, the difference between them was that you may have a chance to survive in the latter than in the former.”

At his words, three of them trembled slightly as they felt shivers running down their spine. Paling, the one on whom Dave directed his sword glanced at the sword shining with metallic lustre and felt a sharp tip poking into his throat. ‘I’m gonna die!’ He thought.

“Please, don’t! I’ll tell you…I’ll tell you everything. Just don’t kill me!” He said sobbingly. Combined with the beating Dave gave him, he didn’t try to conceal anything. He couldn’t think of anything as he trembled in fear.

“We found a place close to a mall. There is a narrow alley where you can find a door that leads to the underground tunnels. We temporarily settled down there. Our boss was the one who gathered us and he also told us to find other students on the campus. That’s everything I know. Please, don’t kill me!” The male student didn’t stop sobbing while saying everything.

‘Ha! I never heard of such a place. No wonder, I didn’t find them.’ Getting everything he wanted to know, Dave withdrew his sword and said, “I need to talk with your boss. We are immediately going there! And you’re gonna show me the way.”

Hearing that they would lead him there and confront their boss, they paled instantly. ‘No…no…if he learns that we were the ones to lead someone to our base, he’s gonna kill us. Or he can feed zombies with our flesh!? He had already done it once.’ They thought inwardly as the same thought resounded in their minds.

Although they understood that Dave could easily take them down and even beat them, they were confident that their boss would kill him. There was no doubt in their hearts since they personally witnessed the strength of their boss. He was…undefeatable. At least, they thought so in their minds.

He killed zombies like they were nothing, and no zombie could wound him. Even the most terrifying ones among zombies couldn’t even leave a scratch on him. Moreover, he didn’t show any mercy to other people and never forgave betrayal from others, dealing with traitors and people that didn’t listen to him in the harshest ways.

Just a week ago, he fed zombies with the flesh of other students that went against his decisions and forced other students to watch it. The male student still could vividly remember how a zombie gnashed its teeth into the flesh of a student and how the blood sprouted from the wound like a fountain.

“By the way, how big are those tunnels?” Dave asked suddenly. He never heard that such tunnels even existed in his past life. Well, he was just a small fish back then and didn’t know a lot about their situation and hidden secrets in the university.

“I truly don’t know!” Paling, the male student cried out as he covered himself with his hands, expecting Dave to say “Wrong answer!” again and beat him up. Startled after waiting several seconds and already tensing his body for another kick, he opened his eyes and confusedly looked at Dave.

Dave sighed in helplessness as he looked at the male student. Understanding that he scared them too much, he asked again, “Then, what do you know about those tunnels?”

Flustered, but letting a sigh of relief, the male student hurriedly answered, “I don’t know how much of the area under university those tunnels cover, but we were able to get here by one of the tunnels. So they should at least cover 20% of the area under our university. We made a long way from our base.”

“I never knew that we had underground pathways under our university. How did you even find them?” Dave asked them as he started to think of all the new possibilities those tunnels will open before them. They could use them to get wherever they want without killing all zombies on the surface. But he first needed to see them before deciding on anything.

Pondering a bit and trying to recall any useful information, the student said, “I’m not sure. Our boss had already settled there when he found us, so we know nothing about this stuff.”

Thinking about it, Dave tried to recall any information about those tunnels but he never heard about them nor heard anything closely resembling it. If there were tunnels covering all the university, and students had used them in his past life, he was sure it would have been a hot theme among other students.

“Hmm…Hey, brother David, what are you planning to do? Those tunnels seem to be the best place to hide from zombies.” A glint of interest flashed in his eyes as Luther had been listening to them. He wasn’t a fool and understood that such underground pathways were strategically important for their survival.

Distracted from his thoughts, Dave glanced at Luther. ‘Ooh…I nearly forgot that he was here. He didn’t interrupt me in any way and silently waited till I finish with them. Someone like Arthur or Rebecca would have definitely stopped me. He seems to be…more open for such things’

“I’m definitely going to check them. Moreover, I still have a business to take care of down there, so I have more reason to go there. If you want to, you can join us.” Dave proposed to him since he thought they won’t be much of a burden.

He personally witnessed how their group easily dealt with their assaulters. Moreover, he still needed to assign someone to take care of those gang when he deals with their boss. He was still not sure about the identity of their boss, but more he heard about him, more he grew sure that their boss was Richard.

“Hmm…I still need to talk it over with my guys. Give me a minute.” Luther thought about it as he decided to discuss it with his best friend and his little brother. He couldn’t drag them just because he thought it was right.

However, he doubted that they will oppose his decision that much since it was a chance to leave this small cloth shop. Luther saw a chance in following Dave and didn’t want to miss it just because he hesitated to join him. He clearly understood how dangerous will be their situation if they don’t find a place safe from all zombies wandering on the campus.

‘It seems he came prepared…No, he’s even relaxed a bit. Also, that boy radiates confidence and don’t seem like a student that lived a month among countless deadly zombies.’ Luther thought.

He was able to identify an attitude of a confident person since he himself came from the streets and fought in lots of battles. And when he looked at Dave, his instincts were screaming to get away from him or he will kill him. He found it strange that someone younger than him could give him such dangerous vibes, but his instincts never failed him and he decided to trust them.