6 Kurogane Ryu - A Distance Voice

A fist crushed the face of a zombie while four others lunged for his back, a group of males with long wooden bats smashing upwards like well-trained fighters crushing their brains with accurate blows as the last one was hammered with a brutal elbow from the man who punched the first zombie.

"Phew... fuck that was intense!" Ryu whispered when suddenly a voice... Aya's voice sounded.

Blood QI: 35/100

Current points: 1140

"Ryu!"

It was a familiar voice she made when crying or too upset to take it anymore and found somewhere to hide so she could weep without punishment.

'She's crying... again, that baby.'

"Ryu, we managed to do well, right?" Max asked with his excited but sweaty face with veins bulging on his bald head.

"Ah... You did well. Take a moment to rest, clear their bodies into a classroom out of the way. Just in case we have to flee later. Not near the door but in a corner."

Despite always fighting with the Shirogane girl, they shared a common bond and fate.

He didn't know if it was due to this strange cultivation technique or the system, but it was her voice, and it made his body and chest feel strangely unsettled.

'They should be near the gym by now. I am sure she is fine... Maybe someone died. Let's hope it's that Shinji prick.'

It didn't take long for the feelings to fade due to the surging blood qi in his veins, making his mind refocus on the situation.

"Chao, Darren, how many did you detect at the third-floor escape stairwell?"

The two had been his scouts during the horde's arrival.

"More than 50 of the bastards. They are packed tightly together."

"We can only go through and lock the stairwell from the outside or down from the second-floor window, but there were nearly 30 or so wandering there too... "

"It seems someone was making lots of noise, screaming for a helicopter to save them." Darren's voice hushed, trying not to attract any attention.

Now all three of them were wrapped in several layers of cloth and used long wooden bats to fight, with a short rubber club from the drama room's props to keep them safe.

'Damn... I could easily get through them solo, but these guys have helped me get more than 30 blood qi by helping me take down these zombies.'

His bloodline technique was unique and didn't require cultivation like normal cultivators, only blood. He discovered earlier that as long as nobody chopped off his head, he couldn't die. The system's message wasn't just flavour text but the genuine truth.

Not only that, but his blood could be used to cultivate.

Yet he couldn't blame them, his body and meridians were still growing stronger, and the others were just human teenagers.

'I'm like a weird type of vampire... Endlessly producing blood that fills this strange core in my abdomen.'

He wasn't sure what this blood core was, but it was linked to his bloodlines and cultivation.

"Ryu, we're done. Should we take a break and eat some?" Max shook the box of Calorie-Friend they found in the survival clubroom. Thankfully the three were not lazy; each had a small backpack and stored enough water and food for at least a week if they ate slowly.

'They must be exhausted... Look at the sweat and pale faces...'

This made him realise his huge changes again, momentarily making his mind feel conflicted.

Showing a smile, he hid the fact that for him...

There was no hunger, sweat or feeling of exhaustion as if he could keep going forever as long as he killed the zombies for their blood qi.

"Right, let's take a 5-minute break, drink only a small amount of water and one piece of the calorie friend. We cannot rush food and need to ration for the future." Ryu guided them, stopping the two fatties that nearly ate a whole bar immediately.

"It's the best time for you to lose a bit of weight. The girls will love it when you have a six-pack. Haha."

He took a bite of the strawberry and cream flavoured square and forced himself to swallow it down with water, it was surprisingly delicious, but unlike in the past, he didn't feel full as the food was crushed and burned into what little qi possible rather than digesting it.

Ryu moved near the classroom window, looking through the closed blinds which had blocked most of the outside light.

'The roads are full of them... A few survivors are fleeing but easily hunted by many corpses.'

His eyes tried to look for an escape route or for any other survivors fighting like they were. Ryu knew someone else with a system like him, but they were sworn enemies...

'But if someone else exists, couldn't we escape to a better location?'

Leaning against the wall, he opened the system interface and opened the [Shop]

50 points: Fatigue relieving pill - Helps a person completely restore their fatigue

100 points: Wound healing pill - Can help cure normal wounds, does not affect the infected

...

500 Points: Blood Burning Pill - Increases your Blood Qi by 50 Points (1 Time Use)

500 Points: Assassin's Gauntlets - A pair of Iron Gauntlets with Hidden daggers that extend above the fists.

1000 Points: Blood Burst Pill - Drastically Increase All Attributes for 1 Hour! Warning Extreme Weakness After!

'The only issue about the gauntlets is how will I make the guys believe me?'

Then he saw another item he felt the system was ripping him off for...

100 Points: Pill of Persuasion - Lasting 10 minutes makes people more trusting towards you and more effect the greater they like you.

***

Ryu pulled his bag and set it between his legs, first summoning the [Blood Burning Pill] and the [Pill of Persuasion], both appearing in his bag before showing [Sold Out] on them both, but the Persuasion pill had a countdown timer, likely for it's restocked.

'Hmm, good to know...'

He then popped the round pink pill into his mouth.

The taste was like peaches and cream, nothing as he had imagined at all.

There was no nasty herb taste as a small counter appeared in his right eye showing [00.09.59]

Choosing first to get the gauntlets, he wondered how they would appear with both hands hidden in his bag before they materialised around his hands.

"Oh? What's that, Ryu!"

"So cool!"

The leather straps tied slowly underneath his wrist, then the cloth garment to stop the metal from rubbing his skin, and finally a heavy, dull iron gauntlet with a 25cm blade hidden in a spring-like contraption that was released with the flick of his wrist.

Chao and Max saw it when he moved them from the bag before he flicked the blade and swiped the air.

"These? Well, you know about my dad's dungeon, right... I always keep them on me because he thinks I'll grow rusty otherwise."

It was the most realistic he could be as all three met his dad and were tested for their aptitude for the Kurogane school but failed drastically.

"Fuck! Your dad is a psychopath, mate! Remember that death course he tried to get us to finish... I am sure my little brother is an inch smaller because of that damn thing!"

"If you lost an inch, wouldn't it be gone?" Darren mocked Chao's lack of length.

"Heh... it's got more than triple your girth, damn ape!"

'Good... they seem to have accepted the lie; sorry guys, I'll use them to kill many zombies and keep you alive to help me longer.'

Ryu was the only one that didn't realise these three were long past the level of his goons or mere fodder.

"Haha, you still lose to Ryu in both~ hahaha!"

"Shut up, Max! I'll make sure to make your mother my wife!"

"!!!"

However, the time would come when he realised the importance of this trio of stupid friends as his fingers wrapped around the glowing blood pill.

"We will leave in a few minutes. Get your warm-ups done to avoid cramps." Ryu barked before throwing the pill into his mouth.

The taste...

Was disgusting.