The World Cataclysm - Chapter 80: Muscle Expansion

At the same time, as Dave ordered Abon to lead him to Richard’s belongings, the same girl, who clung to Richard’s arm, smiled in a playful manner. Although she was shocked to see such a bloody scene, she had come to qualms with blood while she was in the gang. At least, pitting students against zombies, no matter how inhumane it seemed, had reached its initial goal: they grew more familiar with blood scenes.

Putting a smile as charming as she could, she ran towards Dave and tried to cling onto his arm. Having survived for a month in the gang, she had learned a harsh reality of a new world…that she was too weak to survive on her own. Fortunately, having good looks, she found her own way not to die…even at expense of her body.

With Richard defeated, she urgently needed to find another pillar to hide under. Besides, all the men were perverts, so, taking her adorable looks into consideration, she was confident in her chances to seduce Dave.

Albeit being strong, Dave was still a little brat in her eyes. So she believed she could teach one or two things to her junior brother. Moreover, she liked the bad guys, so she found Dave even more attractive with scars on his face giving him only more of a manly touch…So she leapt to Dave!

…But she had caught nothing but air as she fell on the floor.

…

Detecting her with a side glance, Dave swiftly evaded her as he stepped sideways from her leap. Then, he calmly observed how the woman fell right before his eyes. He held nothing against such people, everyone survived in their own way, but he didn’t want to involve himself with it. However, inside he involuntarily thought, ‘Hmm…Rebecca’s bigger…’. But he quickly shook his head to get rid of such thoughts.

“Ouch..” The woman stood up as she said, “Little brother, no need to avoid me. I’m sure we both can benefit from each other. Let your big sister teach you something interesting.” She flashed a charming smile to him but trembled immediately afterwards.

Frowning, Dave indifferently looked at her and said chilly, “Scram.”

…

“Stop…I…” At his words, she felt shivers down her spine as pure terror overwhelmed her body. As her brain freeze and her legs grew weak, she fell down on his knees. If someone’s gaze could kill someone, it would have definitely been like his. There was no anger or disgust in his eyes, but they seemed as cold and indifferent as he was looking at the pig that was meant to be butchered.

Taking off his gaze from her, Dave turned to Abon and hurried him to lead the way. After taking Richard’s belongings, Dave planned to leave afterwards because he had already finished here. He planned to leave reorganization of the gang to Luther and check it a day after.

Leaving a circular room, they ended up in a long corridor, following which they came to a secluded room that had enough space only for three people in it. As he opened the door, Dave’s nose caught a weird smell of sweat and something else. Covering his nose, his face darkened as he glanced at Abon near him and said, “Go fetch me his belongings. And don’t dare to take anything from it or you’ll regret it.”

Abon gulped as he heard Dave’s cold voice and hurriedly nodded to him. Quickly entering the room, he left it with a brown bag in his hands and passed it to Dave who quickly went through its contents.

‘Bread, bread, bread, apple, mana potion…Damn, it’s unlikely that I will find any stat-increasing potions in it. No fool will save it for later. Hmm…what is it here?’ A black sphere had caught his eye. It was made from black metal and magic circles were engraved on it. It also had veins of light covering its surface.

[Thunder Bomb

Description: Compressed thunder energy is stored in the bomb. Upon the strong collision, the bomb will explode and obliterate everything in a meter radius. Single-use item.]

As he read its information tablet, Dave made a satisfied smile, the first smile he had made after coming here. ‘If Richard hasn’t left the bomb in his bag, he might have even injured me gravely. But in the case he had the bomb, I would have knocked him sooner. At least, the circular room might have collapsed if it had exploded. Well, serve him right.’ Dave thought inwardly.

Richard probably didn’t take it with him since he hadn’t expected anyone to attack his base. Having been used to being a boss for a month and been caught indulging in vulgar activities, Richard was completely confident that no one would be able to do anything to him on his base.

However, Thunder Bomb wasn’t the only useful item in Richard’s bag. Rummaging through it, Dave had found a piece of paper, folded into a square. Unfolding it, Dave quickly realized what it was. ‘It’s a map. No wonder why Richard’s gang could easily move through underground without getting lost. Richard should have taught them the right paths to follow.’

The map had a mini-model of their university, but instead of showing facilities and departments of their university, it showed underground pathways superimposed to the surface and entry points. Dave had also learned that underground pathways were divided into 10 regions, named from A to J. As Dave had understood, they were in a region C.

Deciding to study it in his room, Dave folded it and put it into his pocket. Having finished his business here, Dave ordered Abon to clean Richard’s room, told Luther to lock up Richard somewhere and threatened some of the gang members. Then, he headed to the dorm. He had nothing urgent to do here.

…

Opening the doors of the dorm, Dave first heard Brian’s yelling. “Not fair! Let’s compete again, your ability is just too convenient for killing zombies. However, I have killed more evolved ones than you.”

Scoffing, Adam said with his lips curved up, “But my score is higher than yours. I’ve killed more zombies to compensate for evolved ones. Just accept that you won’t beat me.”

“You! Just wait and see, when I would learn how to cast multiple fireballs at a time…” Brian said in anger.

Arthur stood between them. “No need to work over something like this. Just accept that both of you’re good at something…” Arthur was trying to calm them with a strained smile on his face, but…

“Bullshit!” Both Adam and Brian remarked sharply, causing Arthur to laugh embarrassedly.

“…” Squinting their eyes, Adam and Brian stared intensely at each other for a while. However, retracting his gaze, Brian grumbled in dissatisfaction but quickly dashed after a woman. “Carolina, wait for me…”

“Ha! I won.” Adam smiled smugly.

‘They must have just returned to the dorm. It’s amusing that Adam and Brian are competing with each other. Well, the little competition between them shouldn’t harm them. But is Brian still trying to hook up with that girl?’ Dave smiled lightly when he saw how Brian was trying to get closer to the woman. Well, it wasn’t something he needed to meddle in.

After paving a safe path to the supermarket, Arthur and other survivors pulled up to the dorm, with only a few survivors and Evelyn deciding to stay there. Well, Dave was assured that Evelyn was the one looking after the supermarket, not Arthur. Several days had already passed after that.

During their attempt to reach for the supermarket, they had stumbled upon some students. Some of them had hidden in shops, some of them stayed in their dorms…Well, students were scattered all over the university, so it was unsurprising that they had stumbled upon some of them.

Carolina was one of such students that they had found on the way. As he had learned, she was one of the flowers of their university and was considered as one of the most beautiful female students on their campus.

Well, Dave could give her credits for that. From Adam, he had heard that she set being a model as her career and was quite fit for it. Carolina had long wavy that seemed light pinkish, pupils of the same pink colour, smooth skin and gentle facial features. She seemed charming and lovely, giving a sense of unique freshness. Moreover, she had a pair of slim and long legs covered by a long skirt.

However, despite her charming looks, she had calm and composed aura around her, making her even more attractive. Hence, It didn’t take long for Brian, who had a weakness for beautiful women, to start approaching her.

‘Well, it isn’t my business.’ Dave thought as he headed towards Adam.

“How are you doing, Adam? I see you and Brian are both lively as always.”

Turning to his friend, Adam heaved a tired sigh. “It’s not funny. Our numbers are increasing rapidly and it’s becoming harder to oversee everyone. Rebecca and Sara are stuck in the kitchen…I’m busy managing different hunting groups…Brian’s no help. It would have been better if you had helped me.” Adam said in dissatisfaction.

Smiling, Dave patted him and said, “Well, you’ll somehow deal with it. Try sharing your burden with some students that have nothing to do. Oh, yeah, by the way, I also found another group of people. There are more than 20 or 30 of them.”

Saying it, Dave quickly entered his room. Stunned, Adam stood in the corridor for a short moment and cursed, “Fuck! Where does he keep finding them?”

…

Entering his room, Dave quickly sat cross-legged on his bed and entered into a meditative state. Then, he focused his attention on Regressor’s Chamber. The next moment, Dave found himself in a dark space full of floating bubbles. Having already familiarised himself in dark space, Dave flew towards the runes.

Stopping before the rune that shone with a metallic lustre, Dave put his palms on its surface as light particles flowed from his palms to the rune. He would enter Regressor’s Chamber every day to charge the rune with his spirit, so Dave was already used to it. The rune was still dimly lit, so he didn’t expect much for today.

However, something unusual happened as he continued pouring his spirit into it. The iron rune that shone with dull light, started lightening up rapidly till it gleamed brightly like a lantern in a deep night. Gathering its momentum, its light became so intense that dave could hardly keep his eyes on it.

Then, the rune emitted a patch of a bright light that drove his consciousness out of the Chamber.

“Aargh!” Dave groaned in pain as he clutched his head. When the pain started receding, Dave finally could see the system notification that popped up before his eyes ‘What was that? It’s like my brain was hit by a hamm…’

Ding!

[You have acquired a skill Muscle Expansion (LVL 1)]

Dave’s eyes widened when he read it. ‘Finally, I was able to transfer my skill from the past. I knew I could do it! But…what’s that?’

Ding!

A new system notification appeared before his eyes, and it surprised him even more than the first one.

[The World is staring at you.]

Author’s note: I started editing the first chapters of the novel. And by editing, I mean checking grammar, rewriting some sentences that made no sense and adding logic to some parts. I’ll try to do it so it won’t interfere with a storyline, but I recommend rereading the first chapters (especially the 1st chapter). Currently, I’ve edited only chapter 1 and 2.