The first light of dawn pierced through the brand-new glass window and fell onto the floor, casting bright patches.
Akira opened his eyes.
After his Constitution broke through 20 points, he found that he could recover energy extremely efficiently during sleep.
Yesterday’s physical fatigue and soreness had vanished, and his entire body was filled with strength.
The bedboard of the upper bunk made a slight creaking sound.
Takagi Saya held onto the metal ladder and climbed down somewhat clumsily.
She clearly wasn’t fully awake yet; her long pink hair was a mess, with a few unruly strands sticking to her cheeks.
The neckline of the oversized T-shirt she was wearing slumped to one side, revealing a white, rounded shoulder that shimmered with a delicate luster in the morning light.
Akira took out two individually wrapped pieces of bread and a bottle of mineral water from his backpack.
These were the most basic supplies, but enough to sustain them for an exploration trip.
Today’s plan was to scout the area around the Dormitory building; they had to set out early and didn’t have time to leisurely cook noodles like last night.
He handed one portion over.
“Saya.”
He spoke, calling out that name in a calm voice.
Takagi Saya was reaching out in a daze, about to take the food, when her movement stopped mid-air upon hearing that name.
The hazy sleepiness seemed to evaporate instantly, and a surge of heat rushed from her chest to the top of her head.
Her white cheeks turned crimson at an alarming speed, and the color quickly spread until even her small earlobes became an inviting pink.
“W-what are you doing!
Calling me so intimately all of a sudden!”
She snatched the bread and water and quickly turned around, facing away from Akira.
Her voice was urgent and fast, its pitch a few notes higher than usual, as she tried to use a forceful tone to cover up her uncontrollable panic.
“You said it yourself.” Akira’s tone was without any ripple.
The girl’s back stiffened.
Only then did she remember that this was indeed the request she had made in a moment of heat last night.
But hearing it called out by him so calmly and without emotion felt…
felt completely different!
Those two syllables made her entire body feel a bit numb.
Her face flushed red.
To hide her loss of composure, she fiercely tore open the bread’s packaging as if she had a grudge against it and took a large bite, her cheeks bulging.
Akira ignored her reaction, unscrewed his bottle cap, and quietly ate his own breakfast.
For a while, the only sounds in the room were chewing and the rustling of the packaging.
After a while, Takagi Saya’s voice came from behind.
She seemed to have forcibly suppressed the throbbing in her heart, returning to her usual calm yet somewhat proud tone.
“Hey, Akira.
I put all the Survival Points we got yesterday into spirit.”
“Hmm?” Akira swallowed the bread and turned his head to look at her.
“My ability seems to have evolved.”
Takagi Saya turned around.
She had already composed her emotions and habitually pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
In her tea-colored eyes behind the lenses, the confidence and brilliance unique to a genius girl flickered.
“Before, my ability was like a radar, only able to passively scan a circular area with a three-hundred-meter radius centered on the Dormitory.” She explained her new discovery in detail, her tone carrying an irrepressible pride.
“Now, I can actively concentrate my mental power, like a high-power searchlight, projecting it in a fixed direction.”
She reached out a white hand and made a pushing motion forward in the air.
“The benefit of doing this is that although the scanning range becomes a sector, the effective detection distance can exceed one kilometer!”
[Directional Sector Detection].
She gave her new ability a professional-sounding name.
“Very practical.” Akira realized the importance of this ability.
This evolution was a qualitative change.
A one-kilometer detection range could greatly improve their exploration efficiency and safety in the surrounding area.
These three simple words pleased the genius girl more than any flowery language.
The corners of Takagi Saya’s mouth curled up uncontrollably, and she tilted her chin up.
“Of course.
This young lady’s ability will only get stronger and stronger.”
The two quickly finished breakfast and went to the balcony.
The morning air, with a cool dampness, brushed against their faces, making their minds clearer.
The distant city was still dead silent.
“I’ll try the west first.”
Takagi Saya chose a direction and closed her eyes.
Her eyelashes were long, casting a small shadow under her eyelids.
The next second.
Invisible mental power centered on her, condensing into a cone-shaped beam that instantly crossed the spatial barrier, passing through buildings and extending toward the far west.
A moment later, she suddenly opened her eyes, her pupils bursting with the light of surprise.
“Found it!
Due west, a straight-line distance of a little over a kilometer, there’s a supermarket!” Her tone was hard to hide her excitement, even carrying a slight tremor.
“It’s large, several times larger than the shop in the school!
The supplies inside must be very abundant!”
Akira’s heart also stirred.
A large supermarket meant food, water, medicine, and maybe even some useful tools.
The resources from the small shop would only last for three more days after the consumption of these few days.
Having another food resource point was undoubtedly good news.
“What about monsters?” He calmly asked the most crucial question.
“There are two low-to-mid-tier monsters.” Takagi Saya pushed up her glasses.
[Monster Name: Flesh Hound]
[Monster Level: Low-to-Mid Tier]
[Monster Trait: Wound Recovery]
[Monster Weakness: Requires a single fatal blow.]
“Is it actually a beast-type monster?”
The two had been exploring this world for a few days, and almost everything they had seen so far were zombie-type monsters.
This was the first time they had encountered a canine monster.
“Wait.”
The excitement on her face quickly faded, her brows furrowed tightly, and her eyes grew focused again as if she were trying hard to discern some extremely subtle signal.
“What is it?”
“Outside the supermarket…
in a Dormitory building about four hundred meters away.” Takagi Saya lowered her voice, sounding somewhat uncertain.
“There is a very faint…
survivor signal.”
A survivor?
Those three words made Akira’s nerves instantly tense up.
“Can you determine the survivor’s exact location?”
“Yes.
Judging by the direction of movement…
their target seems to be that supermarket as well.”
Akira fell into deep thought.
The Dormitory building they were in was far too weird, almost like an isolated zone.
But precisely because of this, their understanding of this world was practically zero.
All their information came from that chaotic chat channel filled with negative emotions.
Intelligence—what they lacked most right now was effective intelligence.
And that survivor who was about to appear might be their opportunity to learn about this area.
“Get ready,” Akira quickly made up his mind.
“We’ll head over and take a look, find a chance to make contact with them, and at least exchange some information.”
As for whether the other party would be hostile toward them, Akira wasn’t worried about that.
From the information revealed in the chat channel, the vast majority of survivors at this stage were still struggling against the lowest-level monsters, with extremely limited combat power.
Even if the other party harbored ill intentions, with his current strength, he was fully capable of handling any unexpected situations.
“Alright, we’ll do as you say.” Takagi Saya pursed her lips and nodded.