The sun was already high in the sky but the surroundings were still dim due to the existence of the enormous trees around.

At the northwest part of the town of Daan, two men could be seen walking side by side.

One had spiky hair donning leather jackets and pants while the other one was wearing a black shirt and ripped jeans.

The one with the ripped jeans was panting heavily as he rested his hands on his knees.

"Are you sure it went this way?" The man with spiky hair asked while staring down at the man with the ripped jeans. He then handed him a bottle of water.

"Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, it definitely went this way. It shouldn't be that far ahead of us. Even though zombies don't feel pain, the wounds we inflicted on it and the wounds it already had will hinder its speed." Replied the man with the ripped jeans he slurps the water handed to him by the man with spiky hair.

The man with the spiky hair and wearing the leather jacket and pants was named Dexter. The other man that was wearing a black shirt and ripped jean was named Emon.

The two were high table members of the Blue Wave Faction. They are the pair that was assigned to check the northern part of the Town.

Both of them have backpacks full of water and food strapped on their back. Dexter's backpack is full of bottled water while Emon's backpack is full of ready to eat snacks or food.

Earlier, after parting ways with the Blue Wave Faction members, they spotted a wounded zombie along the road.

Dexter didn't waste any time and immediately attack the zombie. Although Emon was unwilling, he also participated in the fight. It was apparent that the zombie was stronger than them, fortunately, it was already wounded.

After a few minutes of fighting, they finally managed to slash its throat and even managed to wound the zombie's legs. Unfortunately, they got careless causing the zombie to escape.

At that time, Dexter was thrown away so only Emon was able to see where the zombie escaped to.

After following for a few minutes, they arrived at this place.

The zombie was still nowhere to be found but the two were forced to stop due to Emon having no more energy to run.

It was inevitable as they basically followed the zombie's tracks just after a hard battle. Dexter was still alright due to him being stronger than Emon, but due to him tanking the fight earlier, he was also panting lightly.

After a few minutes of resting, Dexter could no longer take it and decided to continue the pursuit. He hated being idle, not to mention this time that they are pursuing an almost zombie.

Dexter knew that their action of stopping even for a bit was not a good choice. Still, he couldn't bear to leave his exhausted partner behind, not in this dangerous environment.

With brows scrutinized in dissatisfaction, Dexter stood up and said, "Let's go!"

Emon only smiled wryly in response and also got up from the ground. 'I think the time is already enough!'

After a few minutes of following the zombie's possible path of escape, they arrived in a spacious area.

They slowed down their speed and inspected the surroundings seriously. Even if the two of them were local to the town of Daan, the trees had basically altered the surroundings erasing their familiarity advantage of the place.

They could only rely on some broken buildings to know where they were currently at.

"We are near the high school?" Dexter said doubtfully.

"We should be, I remember that store from before. It's a small store that sells computer parts." Emon said as he pointed at the broken building in the distance.

Dexter nodded his head in response and inspected the surrounding area. As this was near the school, he thought there would be bound to be a zombie residing here.

He grunted and said, "Let's inspect the area first."

From this alone, one could already tell that he was dissatisfied after losing the level two zombie. It was already a sure kill. If he didn't get careless earlier, he imagined that he could have raised his strength by consuming that zombie's apocalypse virus.

Emon smiled and said, "Yeah… I think the level two zombie had already escaped. Let's forget about that zombie, and focus on searching for the Beheader."

Dexter stopped for a moment, he then turned his head around and stared daggers at Emon who was smiling wryly with hands up in the air.

He grunted again and continued to walk away. He could only blame himself as well as Emon who wanted to rest at that time for the zombie's successful escape.

After a few minutes, Emon saw Dexter stopping abruptly ahead of him. He instantly ran and went to his side to ask what's the problem.

"Wha-"

However, his words seem to be stuck inside his mouth as he stared at the area where Dexter fixed his eyes.

It was a lifeless body. The head was separated from the neck a few feet away.

It was the zombie they were pursuing earlier. It's already dead, someone or something already killed it.

Dexter was trembling in rage as he squatted down in front of the zombie's head. Using the sharp dagger in his hand, he split the head into two and searched for the apocalypse virus present inside.

However, after a few seconds of rummaging in the zombie's brain puddle. He was unable to find any greenish gel no matter how he stirred the zombie's brain.

"Fuck? Where is it?" He cursed out loud as he aggressively searched for the apocalypse virus. He even split the skull again just to make sure.

Dexter could no longer contain his rage as he punched the puddle of brain in front of him.

He turns his head around and stared at Emon. "It was not opened right?"

Raged was apparent to his eyes as he asked again. "The head was not opened right?"

Emon gulped a mouthful of saliva as he smiled wryly and said, "A… a small portion of the head was gone, but… but it was definitely not opened yet."

"If it was not opened, then where…"

"IS THE APOCALYPSE VIRUS?"

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Thank you for reading.