After successfully forming a team, Ayn and the beautiful woman continued onward. At that moment, the scene looked like this: the woman, holding a Japanese katana, led the way in front, while Ayn followed right behind her with an alloy baseball bat in hand. The distance between them was less than two steps as they moved cautiously through the dim corridor, trying not to make any sound at all. The woman appeared calm and composed, her steps steady and precise, utterly reliable. Ayn, on the other hand, seemed like the complete opposite: his face tense, his eyes darting nervously, his whole body giving off the impression of someone on the verge of breaking down at any moment. Of course, that tension was an act, just a deliberate disguise to keep anyone from realizing that he was a Transcendent Being.
Before long, the two of them had made their way from the 11th floor down to the 7th. Then, the woman suddenly stopped. Ayn instantly halted as well. Why stop? Because there was a zombie ahead, or, more precisely, a zombie wandering around the stairwell on the fifth floor. The eerie growling echoed up the stairwell, audible even on the seventh floor, and the sound triggered the motion-sensor lights, allowing Ayn's little team to easily confirm that there really was a zombie below.
Once they stopped, the woman turned her head slightly and gave Ayn a silent glance, a clear signal telling him not to make a sound. Ayn immediately nodded like mad, his expression practically shouting, "Don't worry, I'll never cause trouble for the boss."
So, what should Ayn's team do about the zombie ahead? Naturally, that depended on the leader's decision, meaning the woman's. Although Ayn possessed the ability [Mind Reading], which could easily let him peek into her thoughts, he chose not to use it. After all, he still had some sense of boundaries; eavesdropping on someone's mind felt a bit immoral to him.
That didn't mean he planned to never use it again—he'd already done so once back in Chapter 3. His thinking was simple: use it when necessary, otherwise, don't. And right now, he didn't think it was necessary to use [Mind Reading]. His reasoning was straightforward: "Once the captain makes her decision, she'll tell me anyway."
Besides, there was another, subtler reason why he avoided peeking into her mind—she was simply too beautiful. Not in a muscular or imposing way, but a genuine kind of beauty. Because of that, Ayn's initial impression of her was naturally favorable, and without realizing it, he began to treat her with a touch of respect.
Before long, the beautiful captain made her decision. She took out her phone, quickly typed a line of text, and handed it to Ayn: [Stay here. I'll go check the situation below. Don't cause me trouble, understand?]
As a rookie, Ayn nodded furiously, terrified of upsetting her. Once she confirmed he would behave, the captain put away her phone, then slowly drew her katana from its sheath. She placed the scabbard gently on the steps before her, and then began descending the stairs with deliberate caution.
Ayn watched her go, and to be honest, he couldn't help but feel a bit worried. Of course, he knew this captain was a Transcendent Being, zombies weren't a real threat to her. But still, she was a woman, and a beautiful one at that. For a thirty-year-old bachelor who had never even had a girlfriend, how could he not feel a flicker of protective concern?
Even so, Ayn didn't take any action. There were two reasons: first, more than any sense of chivalry, he feared exposing his secret, that price was far too great. Second, he believed that the beautiful captain wouldn't die so easily; after all, she was someone chosen by the system.
The captain cautiously reached the corner between the 6th and 5th floors, then leaned forward slightly to observe the situation below. There was a corpse lying there, and beside it crouched a zombie, gnawing on flesh. She didn't bother studying the details, confirming the enemy's presence was enough. After a quick assessment, she pulled back and focused her mind, activating her own Transcendent ability.
If you were to ask her at that moment, "What kind of ability is that?", she would answer, "I'm not exactly sure how it works, but my intuition tells me it just makes everything around me a little less likely to notice me." So, although her body remained perfectly visible to the naked eye, both humans and zombies would subconsciously pay less attention to her, as if she were merely part of the wall itself.
After activating that Transcendent ability that could "lower her sense of presence," the beautiful captain finally dared to take a deep breath, letting out some of the tension that had built up inside her. The truth was, she was nervous, very nervous, because she knew what she was about to do next was "kill someone," and she had never taken a human life before. After all, in twenty-first-century Japan, how could an ordinary person ever have the chance to kill? At most, she had only ever killed a fish.
Although unease still lingered in her heart, after taking several deep breaths, the captain managed to calm herself down and gradually prepared her mind for killing. She was able to adjust her state so quickly for two reasons. First, she had practiced kendo since childhood. Kendo was not merely a sport for building strength or chasing trophies; it was a discipline that trained one's willpower and taught the heart to remain steadfast. Second, she had unknowingly triggered certain Transcendent abilities within her, powers that helped her swiftly enter a combat-ready state. Even though she did not yet fully understand these powers, they were already lying dormant within her body, ready to respond the moment she needed them.
Once she made up her mind, she immediately began to act. Her first move was to suppress her killing intent as much as possible, because her intuition told her that such intent might attract the zombie's attention. After that, she stayed on full alert and slowly stepped out from behind the corner, moving toward the zombie with extreme caution. As she advanced, her footsteps made almost no sound at all, as if a ghost were gliding silently through the air.
Because she had prepared so thoroughly, the zombie never noticed the danger creeping up behind it. It kept its head down, still tearing into the corpse before it. Yet its feeding was abruptly interrupted. The moment the beautiful captain closed in to a proper striking distance, she swung her blade in one swift motion. A flash of cold light sliced through the air, and the zombie's head dropped to the floor.
But cutting off its head alone was not enough. The instant the head hit the ground, her [Transcendent Intuition] flared with a sharp warning: It's not the head, the true body is in the heart! So, right after the first strike, she followed immediately with a second. The blade pierced straight through the zombie's chest, driving precisely into the center of its heart. There, nestled within, was a nail-sized parasite, the real core that controlled the zombie.
The second strike split the parasite in half, yet it did not die. The creature kept squirming, still controlling the corpse, and if left alone, the two halves of its body would crawl back together within just a few minutes, merging into one again. Because of that, her [Transcendent Intuition] warned her again: It's not dead yet!
The moment that warning rang in her mind, a third strike came down without hesitation. At that instant, she had only one thought: Finish it in one blow! That fierce determination accidentally triggered a power she had not yet mastered. Energy surged from deep within her body, rushing along her arm and gathering on the blade. When the sword pierced into the zombie's heart, that energy erupted, shredding the heart into a mess of flesh and blood.
If someone were to dissect the zombie's body at that moment, they would find nothing but a blur of mangled tissue inside the chest cavity, with no sign of a heart at all. Only after the third strike did the zombie finally die. Even then, its headless body still moved under the parasite's lingering Spiritual Power, showing an eerie trace of life. Under that residual influence, even a headless corpse might still get up and attack.
So the captain struck once more, this time delivering four rapid cuts in succession: the first severed the left arm, the second the right, the third sliced through the left leg joint, and the fourth through the right. When she finally sheathed her sword, the zombie had completely lost all ability to move, its body too damaged to ever rise again.
Her gaze then shifted to the other corpse nearby. She suspected it might already be infected and could turn into a new zombie at any moment. However, her [Transcendent Intuition] relayed a message: This body is not infected. There is no need to interfere.
Even so, the captain did not fully trust the message. To make absolutely sure, she drew her blade once again and thrust it directly into the corpse's heart. The energy coating the blade burst forth instantly, grinding the heart into pulp. Only then did she truly relax.
As the tension drained from her body, the power she had activated gradually subsided, and a wave of fatigue washed over her. Feeling the weariness rise, she couldn't help but curse silently in her heart: (Damn it, I shouldn't have tangled with that zombie. I just needed to make sure it couldn't move, that was all!)
However, since things had already come to this point, the beautiful captain could only let out a helpless sigh and accept it.. Still, she took this experience as a lesson and quietly resolved that the next time she encountered a zombie, she would never get entangled with such creatures again.
Afterward, the captain left the fifth floor and returned to the seventh to find Ayn. As for questions like, "Why bother going back for him? Wouldn't it be better to just leave? You two barely know each other, so why even care?", such thoughts never crossed her mind. It was as if fate had already written the path for her, and she was destined to travel alongside Ayn.
When Ayn saw the beautiful woman again, he was genuinely startled. Just imagine: a woman with a cold expression, her entire body splattered with blood, holding a katana still dripping red, suddenly standing before you, anyone would feel their heart tighten. No matter how others might have reacted, Ayn was definitely frightened.
The captain noticed his reaction and realized that she probably looked terrifying right now. Instinctively, she wiped the blood from her face, trying to ease her teammate's tension. Then she made a quick hand gesture to him, signaling: We need to move. Ayn swallowed hard and nodded frantically. Seeing that he understood, the woman turned and walked away.
Before leaving, Ayn noticed the scabbard lying on the floor, so he picked it up and hurried after the beautiful captain. He had planned to return it to her, but since he couldn't figure out what to say, he decided to just hold onto it for now.
As they passed the 5th floor, Ayn saw the horrific scene there. Thanks to his [Heart of the Strong Lv.1], he didn't collapse on the spot; otherwise, he certainly would have. After all, he had never seen anything so bloody in his entire life. Not in reality, and not even in movies, because Ayn almost never watched horror films. Why? The reason was simple. He was timid, and knowing he would get scared, he chose not to watch them at all.
Although he wasn't really scared this time, Ayn still kept up his act as an ordinary person, pretending to be terrified. His face turned pale, his body trembled, and he gripped the bat and scabbard tightly in both hands. As expected, the beautiful captain glanced back at him, because she also thought that the scene in front of them might frighten her teammate, so she instinctively paid him a little more attention. It was precisely because of that quick glance that she noticed the scabbard in Ayn's hands. However, she didn't take it back right away, because the place was far too bloody and she didn't want to stay there any longer. So she walked away quickly, and seeing that, Ayn also hurried to follow.
When they finally reached the 4th floor, the beautiful captain stopped. She turned and looked at Ayn again, her eyes moving between him and the scabbard, and her meaning was clear: Give it back. Ayn immediately understood and quietly handed it to her. The woman took it, skillfully slid her katana back into its sheath, and then continued down the stairs.
Watching her put the sword away, Ayn suddenly realized that he had overlooked something important. Could an ordinary person really own a live-blade katana? He knew that most swords sold on the market were blunt replicas, yet the one in her hands was clearly sharpened for real use. More importantly, even a typical live-blade might not be sharp enough to sever a human head in a single strike. Only a weapon of exceptional craftsmanship could achieve that. Because of that, Ayn came to a conclusion: this woman was probably not an ordinary person and most likely came from a wealthy family.
However, when he thought about it again, he began to hesitate. After all, would someone from a rich family really live in the same apartment building as a salaryman like him? If she truly had money, she could easily live somewhere much better. Because of that, he couldn't figure out the answer for a while. But soon, he pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the path ahead, continuing to follow the beautiful captain.