Chapter 4: The Vast Darkness

“It must be the apocalypse,” Luffy said, gazing at them with utmost seriousness. “It’s dangerous out there now. If you want to survive, you have to listen to me.”

“Apocalypse?” Many faces turned pale. None of them had expected something like this to happen.

“What about my mom and grandma? Will they be all right?” Some classmates kept asking anxiously.

“They might have turned into zombies. Or maybe they haven’t, maybe they’re hiding at home, or maybe they were bitten and became zombies. It’s that simple,” Luffy replied sternly. “If you want to die, go ahead and run out there. If you want to live, grab a weapon and help me dig out what’s inside these zombies’ heads.”

“That’s disgusting! What could possibly be in their heads?” a male student nearly vomited at Luffy’s words.

“There’s a crystal core inside their skulls, but only after they become zombies,” Luffy explained, thrusting his Azure Edge Sword into a zombie’s head and digging out a blue crystal. “This is a crystal core. Whoever collects the most gets a machete as a reward. Of course, you need to follow me and clear this whole floor of zombies. The top five who gather the most cores will receive a Body Tempering Elixir. Drink it, and you’ll become much stronger—maybe not as strong as I am, but certainly able to take down a few zombies.”

“Really?” a male student asked, excited by Luffy’s promise. Only with real power could anyone hope to survive in such a terrifying world. He immediately agreed, “Boss, I’ll stick with you from now on!”

“I’m with Luffy too!” Many of the boys realized following Luffy was the right choice. Just moments ago, Luffy had felled zombies with a single swing of his sword—his strength was simply unbelievable. He must have experienced some kind of miraculous encounter, perhaps related to the elixir he mentioned.

“We... we want to join too!” a timid girl said.

“Yes, we want in as well!” added the vice class monitor, her tone earnest.

“Of course. Grab your weapons and start digging!” Luffy said, extracting more crystal cores with his Azure Edge Sword.

The other boys used the iron legs of chairs to pry them out as well. The seemingly timid girls braced themselves and joined in.

With so many at work, it didn’t take long to collect twenty-five crystal cores, all stowed in a bag. The classroom reeked of blood, brains splattered everywhere, and they felt utterly nauseated.

Luffy picked up the bag of cores and turned to leave.

He found a secluded spot, and a translucent screen appeared before his eyes. He tapped “Weapons”—a machete cost only half a crystal core.

He immediately exchanged eight cores for sixteen machetes. After a while, he returned to the classroom with a bag full of weapons.

“Zeng Hongsen collected the most crystal cores, so he gets the first machete. The rest of you also get one, but consider it on loan for now—you’ll have to work efficiently to pay it off with more cores,” Luffy announced before heading for the back door. “Rest for ten minutes, then I’ll take you all to hunt zombies.”

He left the classroom and went to the restroom, where he exchanged the remaining thirty crystal cores for three Dragon Blood Pills.

One by one, he swallowed them. His strength soared from twenty times normal human power to thirty-five times.

Yet, the effects of three Dragon Blood Pills were not as potent as before; the medicine’s efficacy was waning, which was somewhat disheartening. Still, thirty-five times human strength was more than enough.

Back in the classroom, Zeng Hongsen and a few others huddled together.

“Where did Luffy get those swords and knives? He was only gone a moment, and suddenly he had them. It’s like magic,” whispered one boy.

“It doesn’t matter where they came from. You all saw it—Luffy kills a zombie with a single stroke. He’s so strong we don’t stand a chance against him. If you don’t want to die, sticking with him is the best choice,” Zeng Hongsen said seriously.

“Exactly,” many agreed.

Of course, a few still harbored doubts and curiosity.

Luffy returned from the restroom to find the classroom spotless.

“Two more zombies came in just now. We took care of them—here are their cores,” Zeng Hongsen said, handing the crystals to Luffy.

“Well done. Get ready, we’re heading to Class Two. There are some survivors in there. We’ll clear out the zombies, and any living classmates will join our group,” Luffy announced, his tone grave. With so many helping, the work would go much faster.

“Yes!” everyone replied, equally serious.

They marched to Class Two, machetes in hand, and charged in.

Luffy led the way, the others following. Some girls were terrified, but still gripped their machetes and rushed forward. For survival, they had no choice but to fight, to be brave.

Cries and shouts echoed as they slew thirty zombies and rescued five survivors. They collected thirty crystal cores in total.

Luffy’s group had now grown to twenty members.

He exchanged twenty cores for twenty sets of silver battle armor, distributing them among the group.

For himself, he traded ten cores for a set of Dragon Blood Armor, dark silver in color—handsome and impressive, especially paired with the Azure Edge Sword. He looked every inch the ancient general.

The three men and two women from Class Two, after being instructed by Zeng Hongsen, became obedient as well. They were delighted to receive armor, though they still lacked machetes.

“Let’s keep clearing zombies from this floor. Once it’s done, everyone can rest and eat,” Luffy said sternly. “There are five Body Tempering Elixirs waiting for those who collect the most cores.”

“Come on, everyone, growing stronger is just a matter of time!” Zeng Hongsen exclaimed, his excitement obvious. He was six-foot-two, on the heavy side with a hint of baby fat—not ugly, but rather endearing.

“But if any of you are bitten by a zombie, I’ll cut your head off without hesitation,” Luffy vowed, his aura radiating strength and leaving them no choice but to nod. After all, being bitten meant turning into a zombie; leaving them alive would only bring disaster.

Luffy led the group into Class One, Class Four, and Class Five. They swiftly cleared all the zombies from the third floor.

There were forty survivors in total, with a haul of one hundred and five crystal cores.

He used forty-five of these to buy armor and machetes for the twenty newcomers and to equip the five who’d previously gone without.

The top five core collectors were Zeng Hongsen, Yang Zhuangyu, Su Ningxue, Chen Cheng, and Xiao Ming.

Luffy was a little surprised—the vice class monitor from his own class had come in third, more formidable than he’d expected.

He immediately awarded each of them a Body Tempering Elixir.

“By the way, the elixir can also heal zombie bites, so give it your all!” Luffy announced as he finished handing them out, planning to find a spot to eat and rest—it was already nine in the evening.

Five elixirs cost twenty-five cores, and adding the forty-five for equipment made seventy spent in total, leaving thirty-five crystal cores.

Nothing comes without sacrifice. With so many working together, zombie hunting was much faster. And tomorrow would be the real opportunity—to clean out the entire building and potentially earn a thousand crystal cores. That would be a windfall.

Just as Luffy was about to exchange some food, a dark shadow swept across the sky—a gigantic swallow, at least two meters tall, dove fiercely toward him.