I stood there, frozen in place. Sophie glanced over and asked, "Wait... you don't know how?"

  I numbly nodded. She rolled her eyes, stepped out of the car, and scoffed, "How is it possible for a grown man to have zero basic survival skills?"

  I chose to take her exasperated glare as a flirtatious glance instead and grinned. "Well, that's because you don't really know me. I prefer staying indoors when I can. If it's not about video games, I'm clueless."

  She shot me a sharp look again. That was when I suddenly recalled the awkward moment when she had stumbled upon my browsing history the other day. My face burned with embarrassment. I wisely kept my mouth shut and watched as she rummaged around between a few cars. Eventually, she emerged holding an empty water bottle and pointed at a Lexus and a Camry. "Push these two aside."

  I didn't question her. Once the cars were moved, Sophie popped the hood of the Camry and fished out a thin tube from somewhere inside.

  "Whoa…" At that moment, I think she's like a magician or just the right tool at just the right time, like a magician pulling out the perfect tool. It even made me think, With Sophie around, I can take on the world! I must have been grinning stupidly because she shot me another glare. I quickly wiped the smirk off my face and asked seriously, "What's next?"

  Ignoring me, she went straight to work. Opening the Camry's fuel cap, she inserted the tube and—

  Wait. Was she seriously going to… siphon it with her mouth? Annotation:(Common ways to get fuel in the story world.)

  "Hold on—" I started, but before I could intervene, she took a quick suck on the tube, then swiftly directed it into the bottle. Like magic, the gasoline started flowing steadily on its own.

  That’s insane! My jaw dropped as she turned away and spat out the bit of fuel that had entered her mouth.

  I rushed over, grabbing the tube and bottle from her hands. "Go rinse your mouth. I'll take over from here."

  The siphoning process was painfully slow—thanks to the narrow tube, it took over an hour to fill the tank with our convertible. By the time we were ready to go, I leaned back in the passenger seat and asked, "Tired? You can sleep for a bit. I’ll keep watch."

  Sophie shook her head.

  "Alright then," I said. "First thing's first—we need to find some medical supplies. But let’s be real, this convertible isn't exactly the safest ride. We should swap it for something sturdier. And we need to find Ares."

  She gave a slight nod, started the engine, and drove off.

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  "You know the way?" I asked.

  She nodded again.

  I felt an odd mix of relief and frustration. A part of me just wanted to see her shake her head for once, but at the same time, I really didn't want to hear her say she was lost.

  As I leaned back, my eyes half-closed, the events of the past few days replayed in my mind like a surreal dream. The whole talk about "first world, sixth world" and this so-called "Era of Evolution"—none of it made sense to me. If this was just some nightmare, I wanted to wake up already. But the dull ache in my head reminded me that this was all too real.

  All I wanted was to survive in this post-apocalyptic hell. But it wasn't just the zombies I had to worry about—it was other "chosen ones" who might see me as competition. As I glanced at Sophie's pale face, her grip firm on the wheel, I thought about Ares. Was he safe? In this world, trustworthy companions are rare.

  For two whole hours, we didn't encounter a single zombie. That alone was disturbing. As we neared the city, I had a sinking feeling—if we weren't seeing zombies on the outskirts, it likely meant the stronger, evolved ones had gathered deeper in the city.

  And sure enough, as we drove in, we started spotting a few. Lone zombies staggered aimlessly, but the moment they spotted our car, they let out guttural screeches and lunged. The streets were too cluttered with abandoned vehicles to drive fast, but luckily, Sophie's exceptional driving skills kept us ahead of them.

  Then, we pulled up in front of the city's largest hospital.

  I stared at the building, my stomach twisting.

  "This… this is where we're getting medicine?" I stammered, looking at Sophie in horror.

  Why was I so freaked out? Because hospitals have always been one of the most crowded places. Which meant that in a world overrun by zombies, they were now death traps.

  Many would have been trapped inside when the outbreak first hit—unable to escape, unable to spread out. And now… that hospital was probably packed with them.

  I swallowed hard.

  If we were going in, we'd be walking straight into a nightmare.

  Sophie glanced at me and said, "You stay here and watch the car. I'm going in alone."

  I looked at her but said nothing. Instead, I opened the car door, stepped out, and simply stared at her. She pulled out the car keys, scanned the surroundings, then crouched low and sprinted toward the hospital. Without hesitation, I followed suit. Sophie didn't head for the main entrance; instead, she searched the perimeter, looking for an open or broken window. She wasn't planning to go in through the door—she was going to climb in.

  After a bit of searching, we found a broken window on the second floor. There were plenty of shattered windows on the first floor too, but they were all reinforced with security bars. Sophie whispered, "You go first."

  I didn't argue. Grabbing onto the bars of the first-floor window, I started to climb. Damn, this was tough. After struggling with everything I had, I finally managed to grab onto the ledge of the second-floor window. With a deep breath, I hoisted myself up and peeked inside. The room was a mess. Blood stains on the floor and walls—but no sign of zombies. With one last push, I flipped myself over the ledge and into the room.

  Then, an idea struck me—maybe I could use this chance to get a little closer to Sophie. Standing by the window, I reached down with a serious expression and whispered, "Sophie, it's all clear. Come up!"

  She glanced at me, reading my expression like an open book. "Move."

  Well, that backfired. I stepped aside, pretending to inspect the room instead. Suddenly, I heard a swoosh behind me. I turned just in time to see a dark figure vaulting over the window in one swift motion. Holy—! It was Sophie.

  How many seconds did that take? Two? Three? It took me almost two whole minutes! What the hell?