The man nodded his head as he started to walk in front of Maximo. His movements were a bit stiff and were a little off. He seems to be uncomfortable or uneasy about something.

His fingers were flicking as if he was clicking for something. Nile shrugged his shoulder seeing the scene, thinking that it was due to fear of encountering a zombie. 

Maybe due to his nervousness, the man keeps on talking along the way. He talked about his name, age, and some bits of information about his daughter and the place they were going.

Apparently, his daughter had just started on her high school days when the pandemic and then the apocalypse started. He said that his wife had become a zombie and he could do nothing other than to kill her just to survive. 

After two months, he braced himself and decided to search for his daughter at the school she went to. 

Hearing his story, Nile had more or less understood the situation. He put his guard even tighter as he keeps an eye on the System Map inside his head. 

After a few more minutes of slow walking, Nile could finally see the school premises in the distance. 

Unlike the area around it, the school still has some spaces that have not been invaded by the trees. It has an open area that he guessed must be the playing field of the students before the apocalypse. 

He took a peek at the System Map and didn't spot any dots around him aside from the man and his two pets. Seeing that, he already concluded that there's only a low possibility that a zombie would appear in here. 

"We're here. I don't think my business was still here, so I'm gonna leave now." Nile said. 

The man was taken aback, and he seems to be awakened from a momentary daze. "Uhmm… could you stay a bit longer mister? I don't have a good feeling around here."

Nile clicked his tongue and scrutinized his brows after hearing the man's plea. "I'll let it go seeing that you still have not done the act, so don't bother me anymore, unless you want to dig your own grave."

He felt that he was pretty lenient today, maybe because one of his pets just evolved? Or maybe because he just managed to harvest a good food supply earlier, preventing him from buying for their meals with apocalypse points?

"What are you talking about, mist-" The man was about to reason when his words were cut short.

More than five figures started descending from a tree, a few meters away from them. 

Instantly, the five figures move like lightning and close the distance between them in an instant. 

They surrounded the man and Nile as they pointed their cold weapons towards them. 

"Sigh! Forget it!" Nile said as he prepared for the incoming fight. 

"This is a big catch, this should be able to last us a couple of days." One of the men said. He was holding a baseball bat with a blade inserted on the top of it. The baseball bat has the color of red. Nile guessed that it was due to blood. 

"I agree… We should save our food supplies from now on. Those bastards from the two factions are getting unscrupulous, how dare they snatch our catch the other day?" One of the men with braided hair said indignantly.

Due to the sudden emergence of the mutated animals from the other day, the group was overjoyed as they thought that they would no longer need to search hard just to search for meats to eat. 

However, they didn't expect that the animals only passed through them and although some of them remained, they were actually snatched away by the two factions. The group struggled to search for meat for their consumption. 

"Don't count the chicken before the egg is hatched… Let's settle the problem first." Said the slim man holding a machete in his right hand.

The others nodded their heads approving of the man's words. 

"Kid… you are already surrounded, just surrender the carabao to us and we will let you go." Said a man who has white hair and a white mustache. He has a large build, befitting that of a bodybuilder. 

Nile shook his head hearing what the white-haired man said. 

"You all are too full of yourselves." He said. 

None of them are even level two, and they still dared to rob him of his possession? 

How ridiculous!

How laughable.

'And another thing, why do all of them always wanted Max to be a part of their dining table? Are carabaos really that tasty?'

"Hmmpp… Stop being pretentious, we are already giving you a face by letting you go, you should feel grateful about it." Said the man who has a horse face. He was the smallest in terms of height and build amongst the group. 

'It must be pretty hard on him.' Nile looked at the man with pity in his eyes. He remembered his school-mate from his previous life. The two have the same build and height, the student from his previous life was the favorite target of the bullies. 

'How dare you look at me that way!' The man with a horse faces angrily thought after seeing the look Nile was giving him. That kind of look was familiar to him.

"Kid… I'll count up to three, if you still don't get down here, we'll be forced to kill you. Blame yourself for being weak." Said the man who was holding the baseball bat with a blade. He was trying to scare the Nile. If they manage to persuade him to surrender, they will be saving a lot of time and energy. 

"1" 

The man with a baseball bat started the countdown. 

"2"

Nile shook his head again in disappointment. 'If only killing humans also gives me stats and apocalypse points, this event would be more fun.' 

"Sigh! I'm too lazy, get out and deal with them!"

…

Thanks for reading guys.