In the entire time Thalira was inside the inner world, her only focus was a breakthrough to the second level of her fire ability. She was unaware of the commotion outside.
The moment she woke up, she immediately checked her upgraded power. The originally small flame at the size of her palm, now burned more ferociously, reaching her elbow. Like a pair of scarlet gloves.
Even though it was still a long way from her peak power as a divine beast, Thalira was quite satisfied already. Let's take it a step at a time.
She used her mental power to scan the areas in her inner world. When she sensed no obstruction to a formerly locked area, her eyes lit up. With a single thought, she instantly appeared in another place.
There was also a tree house nearby and a small creek. It was enough for her to use. She scooped a handful of water and drank it. Some of her exhaustion dissipated. With a sigh, she closed her eyes in enjoyment.
Although it was barely noticeable, there were traces of spiritual energy in the creek water. In the center of her inner world, there was a lake. The quality of the water was better there, but she would need a while to unlock that area.
She needed to be patient.
"Let's see which tree house it is." Thalira muttered as she disappeared in her spot and reappeared inside the newly unlocked tree house.
The contents were still the same as the previous tree house, disappointingly. There were more books and some trinkets. After she rummaged through the contents, she found nothing useful.
She sighed. Just as she was about to exit the tree house, her eyes suddenly drew to an inconspicuous corner. There was some kind of rope lying there, neatly coiled.
Her hand reached out for it, recognizing the ropes as a whip. It was made of some kind of vines but was still sturdy. When she remembered those rotting corpses in the original owner's memory, she scrunched her nose.
This whip was definitely the best weapon for her. She tried it, and the moment the whip made a cracking sound, her eyes lit up. This whip would make a do in the early days of the apocalypse.
Oh, wait. The apocalypse!
Thalira's eyes widened. She hurriedly exited her inner world with the whip in her hand. The moment she was in her room, her eyes dilated upon noticing the visible gray fog. It was like the smoke from fire outbreak. However, the fog signalled worse than just that.
The banging sounds from the room beside hers attracted her attention. She hurriedly got out of her room and headed towards Sera's.
Luckily, this area only has two people occupying it while the rest of the students have returned home.
"Sera! Are you alright?" Thalira stood outside Sera's room.
She heard something like a glass breaking inside the room. Then, followed by howling sounds and door banging. With a frown, Thalira concluded that Sera had indeed turned into a mindless zombie.
She was disappointed. Because of Sera's special case, she had hoped she might become a zombie with human consciousness. Suppressing her complex emotions, she unhesitantly opened the door with Sera's room spare key.
In an instant, she was stunned.
What came out of Sera's room wasn't a rotten zombie like she had expected, but Sera in her human appearance. She hadn't seen other zombies directly yet. Still, Sera's looks didn't match the zombies in the original owner's memory.
"Sera?" Thalira nimbly evaded each of Sera's movements, which seemed hell bent on seizing her. Fifteen minutes passed, and she didn't even show any signs of stopping or regaining her human consciousness.
Thalira frowned. Her mood was extremely complex. However, since Sera had a human appearance, it was easier to handle.
"Tha…lira…" A hoarse voice came out of Sera's mouth.
"Sera? You can hear me? Can you understand me?" Thalira was instantly excited.
"Kill… me…" Sera said desperately, her movement stopped. Her eyes were full of struggle and despair as she went against her zombie instinct.
"We already have an agreement on this, Sera." Thalira suppressed her emotions. "Just sleep for a while."
At the exact moment Sera lost her mind again, Thalira pinched a spot on her neck. Sera's eyes seemed to be more relaxed before she completely lost consciousness.
Thalira hurriedly grabbed Sera's limp body and dragged it to the bed. Even if someone patrolled the room, it would look as if Sera was merely sleeping.
After she was done, she locked Sera's door and went back to her room. She immediately went to check her phone. There were many messages inside.
Some were from her family, asking how she had been doing. She frowned when she saw her message wasn't delivered. Upon searching the memories, she found that on the second day of the apocalypse, all networks indeed collapsed.
It's already the second day of the apocalypse? She bit her lips in anxiety. As she scrolled the messages, she read a bit from her department group and then some announcement from the university.
There were also some from Mr. Brown, which sounded like he was bidding farewell through his dark jokes. He still mentioned his regret that he couldn't get more of her antiques, so typical of him.
Yet Thalira sensed a trace of unease from his words.
When she remembered Austin's state, her pupils dilated. At this moment, Austin and Mr. Brown were most likely was still at the antique shop.
With that knowledge, she hurriedly went out. Taking advantage of the school still trying to manage things–hence, the lack of strict security. She headed out. There were cars with owners that had turned into zombies. After she kicked away some zombies, she randomly picked one and drove toward Mr. Brown's antique shop.
A flash of doubt appeared in her eyes. Although she had bought some cars, she had never personally driven a car herself because she focused more on hoarding supplies. Did she inherit the original owner's driving skills too?
Soon, she arrived at Mr. Brown's antique shop and no longer dwell on the doubt further.
"Open the door, Mr. Brown!" Thalira knocked at the door, trying to catch the attention of whoever was inside.
The street looked deserted, but it didn't mean that there were no zombies. With her mental power limited by this strange fog, Thalira could still sense that some zombies had begun to be attracted by her voice.
Some of them were already starting to head in her direction. With more urgency, she knocked more loudly, "You, old man! Open the door!"
Her nose scrunched the moment a rancid smell of rotting corpses entered her nose. She nearly vomited. They were already a few meters away from her now. With a frown, she considered using her spiritual energy to break the shop's iron window.
But what if Mr. Brown and Austin were still alive? The zombies could go inside through the torn window.
"Quickly, go in!"
Thalira's eyes lit up, and she didn't hesitate to leap inside. Just in time to evade a zombie trying to grab her shoulder. She fell to the floor, panting.
Then, there were sounds of the zombies howling and some banging on the door. They were trying to get inside after they smelled the living humans.
"You! What are you doing here?" Mr. Brown's tone raised higher, filled with some helplessness and anger.
However, Thalira's attention currently wasn't on him, but on the bound Austin, who no longer resembled a human.