The entire place was lit up.

Aleen made a surprised expression and grabbed his sword with both hands, looking to the surroundings vigilantly.

Fortunately, besides white walls and empty corridors, he didn’t see anything else.

The others also looked around, but before they could finish observing the place, Aleen moved.

He stepped towards the stubble guy and grabbed him by the collar before pushing him against the wall.

“What do you think you are doing!?”

“I-I-I’m…”

“What do you think would have happened if there was a zombie or some other monster in this place!? What if that switch activates the security system or some kind of alarm!? You would have put all of us in danger!”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Aleen sighed deeply and calmed his emotions. He then let go of the stubble guy and walked ahead under the frightened gazes of the stubble guy and the college girl.

“The next time you do something that puts the group at risk, you will have to continue alone. I just hope that the lights don’t alert anything of our presence."

But then, he heard a noise at the next instant.

*Screech!!!*

Aleen immediately frowned.

“Bad luck huh…”

Fortunately, the noise sounded pretty far, so they were safe, at least for now. The others were a bit frightened due to the sound, but they followed after Aleen. Only the stubble guy followed at the end with his head lowered.

Aleen tried to follow the route signaled by the map to find the escape tunnel; but while they were walking, his frown became deeper and deeper.

“This looks like a laboratory, or a medical facility…” He spoke softly under his breath.

The entire place was filled with white rooms, cabinets, strange vials, broken walls of glass, and other strange objects.

But mainly, there was blood.

Dried blood was staining the floor, the walls, and even the roofs. Aleen could imagine the scene of the zombies chasing after the people inside, back when the infection began.

Strangely, though, they didn’t see any zombie from the moment they exited the metallic tunnel.

Aleen felt even more nervous when he noticed it.

With all the blood they could see, this place should be filled with zombies; but they could see none.

Instead, they could hear roars and screeches from time in time.

“I had a bad feeling about this place.” Said the college girl.

Aleen agreed with her, but he didn’t show it in his face. Instead, he continued searching for the escape tunnel.

But while they were walking, they came across a strange room.

It seemed like an observation room, but the doors were destroyed, as if something would have hit them fiercely while trying to escape.

Besides it, the place was completely covered in dried blood. The amount of blood around the observation room was more than all the blood they have seen until now.

Aleen even saw some objects that seemed as destroyed weapons lying on the floor. Tens of them, as if a group tried to fight something in this place, only to fail.

At that moment, a message appeared on his mind.

‘Side mission unlocked: Patient Zero.

The Gloan Organization was experimenting with a dangerous virus found in the space, and after hundreds of observations, they decided to experiment on living beings. Unfortunately, the virus went out of control.

One of the humans injected with the virus during the experiments suffered a wicked mutation and transformed into a monster never seen before. It killed all the scientists in the room and escaped its confinement, killing most of the people inside the installations and freeing some of the monstrosities locked inside, before fleeing outside. Unfortunately, it brought the zombie virus with him.

The scientists believe that they can find the vaccine against the virus if they get a sample of that patient zero. Find the patient zero and get a sample of its tissue to get a reward from them.

Note: The patient zero’s strength is estimated as level three.’

“M-Mr. Aleen, w-what is it?” The college girl asked.

“Looks like a kind of mission. It’s the first time I find something like this though.”

“… Are we going to do it?”

Aleen shook his head firmly. “No. I’m not confident in killing it.”

The others put grim expressions when they heard it. After a few seconds, the girl summoned her courage to make another question.

“… But, what if we meet with it?”

“We fight.” Aleen answered without hesitation. “Or we die.”

The girl swallowed hard hearing his answer. Aleen, meanwhile, thought seriously about the mission.

‘… Can we reach the central tower without facing the level-three?’

Aleen shook his head and got rid of that thought. He would think about it if he meets it.

They continued walking for another twenty minutes. Aleen estimated that they were near the escape tunnel, so he hurried the rest of the group. But at that moment, Lily’s fur stood up.

And at the same time, Aya stopped and held her short spear with both hands.

“Something is here.”

The group stopped in their place immediately. Aleen circulated the mana in his body and put his sword before him. “Where is it?”

“… I don’t know. They are moving too quickly…”

“They?” Aleen asked gravely.

“At least two… Not, three.”

“Damn it. Everybody, grab your weapons and stand back to back. Aya, stay near me.”

“Mm.” She nodded softly.

Aleen could only hope that whatever was coming is not the level-three.