Chapter 87: Rusty Ride...
Fredrinn walked alongside Vivienne while Rose clung possessively to his other arm, her pale hand tucked snugly into the crook of his elbow.
However, unlike the childish, borderline-foolish grin she had worn earlier, Rose now maintained a composed, elegant expression.
Her newly boosted intelligence gave her a refined aura that made her seem remarkably normal—save for the dark horns sweeping back through her hair and the greyish skin.
Walking a few paces behind them, Aadav felt a piece of his soul wither away. He swallowed his bitter grievances, silently cursing the heavens for being so blatantly unfair.
’Why couldn’t it be me?!’ he screamed internally.
It was bad enough that his longtime crush and best friend, the stunning Jenny, was giving all her attention to Fredrinn.
There was also Andrea waiting back at the storage facility shelter. And now, the guy was already laying the groundwork to charm this ridiculously giant titted teacher?!
Was Fredrinn treating the literal apocalypse like his personal harem generator?
So deep in his envious sulking was Aadav that he completely failed to notice Fredrinn coming to an abrupt halt.
Aadav walked straight into the back of the taller, leaner man.
Fredrinn didn’t budge an inch. Aadav, on the other hand, rebounded backward with a grunt, feeling as though he had just slammed his face into a reinforced concrete pillar rather than flesh and bone.
’Fucking hell... How ridiculously strong is this guy ev...’ Aadav cut his internal rant short as memories of Fredrinn’s high-octane brawl with Rose flashed through his mind.
He had practically erased that inhuman clash from his memory because the entire battle had wrapped up in under a minute, followed immediately by them disappearing for passionate lovemaking.
"Sorry," Aadav muttered, clearing his throat awkwardly. He stepped around Fredrinn and the women to look past them, his eyes landing on the vehicle parked in the school’s maintenance bay.
The bus was an absolute wreck. The iconic bright yellow paint was peeling and scratched down to bare metal in multiple places, exposing streaks of dark orange rust along the chassis.
Peering through the grimy windows, the vinyl seats inside appeared faded, torn, and coated under an ancient layer of dust and grime.
Aadav turned to stare at Vivienne in pure disbelief.
Catching his gaze, the busty teacher lowered her head, a deep flush of embarrassment rising up her neck. "I-I’m sorry... The drivers and other staff took all the decent buses when the panic started. Only ten of us were left because our classes were stuck on the top floor..."
"This..." Aadav rubbed his temples, turning back to the sad heap of metal. "Would this piece of crap even work? And even if the engine miraculously starts, do we seriously want to endure hours of travel in this rusted-out garbage bin?"
Fredrinn’s expression was equally unimpressed. He crossed his arms, letting out a heavy, disappointed sigh. "When you said there was a bus waiting, I assumed you meant an actual, functional bus."
Vivienne couldn’t offer a single word of defense against their harsh critiques.
She knew full well that claiming they had a ready-to-go vehicle that only lacked fuel had been a massive understatement on her part.
"I mean... maybe it won’t be that bad once we wipe down the seats?" Jenny offered with a strained, awkward smile, trying to salvage the mood.
"You’re more than welcome to scrub it down then," Rose chimed in with a languid yawn. She tilted her head sideways, resting her cheek affectionately against Fredrinn’s shoulder. "Rose prefers riding on the motorbike with Hubby anyway. You all can huddle around in this dusty bus if you want."
Fredrinn let out a faint chuckle at Rose’s blunt suggestion. Under normal circumstances, he would have taken the bike and left the bus behind without a second thought.
But he had long-term objectives to consider. To unlock the location of his parents through the system, he needed five zombie cores and three voluntary thralls.
So far, he only had a single thrall and zero cores.
Gathering the cores wasn’t an immediate emergency. Given the poor mana concentration of the environment and the resulting limits placed on his power, he preferred taking his time to acquire more versatile skills before hunting the undead.
When the time came, farming them wouldn’t even be difficult—he could simply round up a massive horde of standard zombies, corral them, and force them into cannibalism until a Stage 4 monster evolved from the slaughter.
"Your idea sounds nice, Rose, but Hubby gets worn out driving the bike for long stretches," Fredrinn said smoothly, lightly patting her head. "Tell me, is it better to relax in a spacious seat, or sit cramped together on a vibrating bike for hours on end?"
In truth, he didn’t believe a word of what he was saying. Given a choice, he would take the thrill of the motorbike over a rattling school bus any day of the week.
Rose hummed softly, her upgraded intellect easily parsing his logic. "Rose doesn’t mind whichever we pick, as long as I’m beside Hubby," she replied with absolute, effortless devotion.
Fredrinn blinked in mild surprise before a wide grin spread across his face. It was hard to believe this girl was a demonic entity; at times, she felt more like a sweet, attentive angel.
Beside them, Aadav’s face went completely deadpan. He felt as though he had just bitten directly into a raw lemon, peel and all.
The bitter jealousy churning in his gut was unbearable. ’How could two people exchange such cheesy, sickening nonsense with a completely straight face in the middle of a fucking apocalypse?!’
Grumbling under his breath, Aadav turned his attention back to Vivienne. "Look, Vivienne, we appreciate you showing us where the bus was parked. But I really, really hope you have a Plan B in mind."
"Uhm..." Vivienne cleared her throat softly, shifting her weight as her large chest swayed slightly.
"I... actually might. A short while after the initial outbreak, one of our senior teachers managed to hotwire a brand new, fully air-conditioned transit bus out of the main lot. He was supposed to wait by the eastern gates for the rest of us, but the selfish coward panicked and sped off the second he had the wheel."
She paused, her expression turning somber.
"However... one of my students mentioned seeing two girls boarding that bus who had already been bitten by the zombies. They were showing early signs of turning before the vehicle even left the block. The teacher drove straight down the main eastern boulevard, and if... if those girls ended up turning while they were trapped inside..."
Vivienne left the sentence incomplete, but everyone could draw the same conclusion...