Chapter 236: Another Rectangular Crystal
"Boss, why can’t we just go talk to them? There aren’t that many of them."
After a moment of silence, a man’s weary voice spoke up. "First, take a look at what we’ve become. You saw what they look like on the Spirit barrier’s projection. To them, we’re no different from monsters."
"We... We’re... just a little uglier now."
"They still look like normal humans. If we show up rashly, we’ll shatter their belief that they can’t be infected by the virus. If that belief crumbles, they’ll be ruined. Shorty used to be fine, just like them, but then... Let’s go. There’s nothing wrong with the food. We’ll take it and leave. We’ll... We’ll just take our comrades and go to Rhovan Base."
"But that woman’s horse clearly isn’t normal. They..."
"Is a horse the same as a person? We have a dog that looks like a mummy."
Faye Yardley and her companions had no idea what happened in that house after they left. They were still holding out a little hope of making contact with the survivors here.
They were completely unaware that the others had decided to relocate just so they could keep their faith unshaken.
"The zombies here seem more spread out," Caleb Colby remarked. He had removed some of the Bandages from his less severe injuries today, making him much more agile.
However, he was mostly at the back of the team today. He didn’t complain, simply trying his best to show he had recovered and could move normally.
"Watch out!"
The moment Caleb Colby heard the warning, he lurched unnaturally to one side.
SWOOSH. An Ice Arrow appeared right where Caleb Colby had been standing.
"Be careful."
Cole Kensington left him with those words, already exiting Caleb Colby’s shadow. The next instant, he appeared behind the zombie with the Ice Ability.
Whenever he entered someone’s shadow, he gained their abilities—zombies were no exception. The zombie couldn’t comprehend how its own shadow had come to life and used an ice cone to extinguish the Soul Fire in its eye sockets.
Faye Yardley, riding Bella and wielding Light Wound, was a veritable zombie-reaping machine.
They made their way to People’s Plaza with relative ease.
The once-towering statue was now missing half its head and torso, but the remaining lower half, carved from white jade, still hinted at the beauty of its once-flowing robes.
But upon catching the scent of the living, the aimlessly shambling zombies began to grow agitated.
Faye Yardley rode Bella straight into the zombie horde.
Zachary Pierce advanced, wielding his giant sword, pushing forward step by unhurried yet resolute step.
Finn Ford stayed by Caleb Colby’s side, coordinating their attacks. They weren’t in a rush; earning fewer points didn’t matter. The most important thing was not to drag the team down.
As for Cole Kensington, he had long since vanished from everyone’s sight.
But the figures of zombies toppling one after another within the horde announced his presence.
Although the zombies here were of a decent level, Cole Kensington had already taken care of most of the High Level ones. As a result, they couldn’t mount an effective counterattack, and the entire horde was eventually slaughtered by the five of them.
Bella’s hooves trod on the zombie corpses without hindrance. Faye Yardley rode her in several circles around People’s Plaza but didn’t spot anything unusual.
There were indeed traces of a Teleportation Array in the sunken plaza of People’s Plaza, but it had clearly been destroyed.
In the end, her gaze returned to the half-shattered statue.
"Bella, over to the statue."
On the eastern side of the plaza, she reached the statue, stood up on Bella’s back, and leaped onto it.
The statue was massive; even its half-torso was wider than she was.
"Yardley, is there anything up there?"
Faye Yardley’s right arm began to grow slightly hot.
’Huh?’
As her right arm drew near, the statue’s weather-beaten inner wall crumbled away automatically.
It revealed an off-white, rectangular crystal underneath. Faye Yardley pulled it out.
"Found something good. It’s for your guild. My brother already has one, so you guys can have this. It’s an item that lets people stay in the guild headquarters long-term. As long as the guild exists, people can stay inside indefinitely."
With that, Faye Yardley tossed the crystal to Zachary Pierce.
’This one seems to be a bit higher level than my brother’s, but it doesn’t matter. What he has is already enough for their needs.’
’More people just means more conflict.’
’So it’s better for my brother’s guild to stay small and elite.’
Zachary Pierce caught the crystal and examined it closely. He looked at Faye Yardley, and all he could say was, "Thank you."
"Don’t mention it. Bella, come on. We’ve taken all the good stuff here. Let’s go."
"Pierce, what should we do with these zombie corpses?"
"There’s probably no one else around. Pile them up and burn them. Every one we get rid of helps. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust is the best option for them, anyway."
Faye Yardley pointed to the Broadcasting Center across the road from People’s Plaza. "I’ll go clear that place out. Once you’re done here, you can go straight there to rest."
Cole Kensington naturally followed her.
She had thought she might find some video footage or paper records inside the broadcasting building, but there was nothing.
There weren’t many zombies here, and they were dealt with easily.
Arriving in the first-floor lobby of the broadcasting building, Faye Yardley went straight to the lounge area and sat down.
’It’s a shame everything in this Dungeon is contaminated. You have to spend points to purify anything you want to take with you.’
’If I brought it back to the raft without purifying it, who knows what would happen to me.’
’I wonder if anyone’s tried it. There must be people who would press their luck.’
Faye Yardley only thought about it; she wouldn’t take such an unnecessary risk for a few trivial items.
Suddenly, Cole Kensington appeared across from her.
Faye Yardley handed him a bottle of Pure Water and asked, "Did you take care of the stragglers on the upper floors?"
"Yeah."
They had now cleared out zombies from several locations in this Dungeon, but the city was still teeming with them. And that was despite a large number of zombies having already left when the Teleportation Array was first activated.
"Man, I’m dead tired. It’s already mid-afternoon." Caleb Colby picked a sofa and lay down. His injuries hadn’t fully healed, yet he’d just gone through another intense battle. He had managed to tough it out while dealing with the zombie corpses, but now he really felt like he was about to fall apart.
Zachary Pierce looked at Caleb Colby and sat down in a chair next to him. ’Looks like the next time I invite Faye Yardley to team up, I shouldn’t bring these two,’ he thought. ’Their combat power can no longer keep up with her rate of improvement.’
’Of course, that’s something I can tell them in private after we get back.’
"Do you have enough points to exchange for the equipment you want?"
Zachary Pierce nodded. "Almost. After I got that crystal, the system announced that we can clear the Dungeon and leave. I plan to clear out the surrounding area, exchange for our items tonight, and then head out. What about you? If you want to clear out the University City area, we should head over there now. That way, we’ll have all day tomorrow to work on it."