Asking for Death

"Wanna run? Heh heh."

Dylan suddenly activated his time-slowing ability, encompassing the area and slowing down the fleeing man's movements.

 Dylan estimated the radius of the skill to be between 30 to 100 meters.

Since the escaping man was only about 30 meters away, his movements appeared as slow as a super slow-motion playback.

Meanwhile, Georgia, who was farther away at a hundred meters, seemed unaffected, moving freely.

With this, Dylan gained a rough understanding of his ability's range, making him more confident in its future use.

 He raised his knife and slowly approached the last man.

Though it took Dylan about 20 seconds to reach him, in the man's eyes, it was only 2 seconds.

 As Dylan approached, the man's expression slowly changed from confusion to panic to fear.

Dylan raised his knife, pointing it at the man's chest, then deactivated his ability.

 The man's forward motion continued unabated, and he impaled himself on the blade.

"Whoosh!" The man's momentum carried him onto the knife, which pierced through his chest.

 He looked down at the hilt protruding from his chest in disbelief, then looked up at Dylan's smiling face.

"Why?" He managed to force out his last words.

"Because you were asking for it, buddy!" Dylan shrugged, then watched as the man collapsed, dead.

Dylan pulled the knife out of the man's chest and returned to the others.

Alberta and Jodie stared at Dylan in shock, their expressions exaggerated.

"How did you suddenly end up over there? I didn't even see!" Alberta asked incredulously.

"Yeah, how did you move so fast?" Jodie added, curious.

Only Dorothy looked at Dylan with a faint smile, her eyes filled with pride.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys. My spatial ability leveled up to 6, and I learned the time-slowing skill.

 Don't worship me too much!" Dylan joked.

"Wow, you're amazing!" Jodie exclaimed, punching Dylan's chest playfully.

Dylan pushed her hand away. "Stop hitting me all the time."

Jodie pouted and complained to Alberta, "Look at your man, getting praised and he's getting all cocky."

Alberta laughed and said to Dylan sarcastically, "Yeah, you're really full of yourself.

My Jodie is like the goddess of flutes at school, and you're not even appreciative!

 What a fool, right, Jodie?"

"Ha, yeah!" Jodie agreed, nodding.Jodie looked proud and rolled her eyes at Dylan.

Dylan, with an indifferent expression, teased, "I've seen people who play the flute, they're usually quiet and ladylike. Why are you so lively and active?"

"I... I like it!" Jodie didn't know how to retort, feeling embarrassed.

At that moment, Georgia drove up and got out of the car.

 She approached Alberta and took out a photo from her pocket.

"Guess what I found?"

"What's this? A photo?" Alberta asked, puzzled.

Dylan also came over, curious to see what Georgia had found.

Georgia slowly flipped the photo and showed the front to Alberta.

Alberta, upon seeing the photo, suddenly became excited and snatched it from Georgia's hand.

 She couldn't believe that the photo Georgia found was a picture of her and her brother, Clarence, together.

Tears welled up in Alberta's eyes as she touched Clarence's face in the photo and cried, "Brother!"

Dylan was puzzled.

What was going on?

 He gently took the photo from Alberta's hand and looked at it.

Jodie and Dorothy crowded around, curious to see as well.

The photo showed Alberta and Clarence smiling together.

Jodie was astonished. "

Alberta, how did they get a picture of you and your brother?"

"I... I don't know.

 My brother always... always kept this photo in his wallet," Alberta choked up.

"Where did you find this photo?" Dylan furrowed his brow, looking at Georgia.

Georgia pointed to one of the men behind.

 "I found it on one of them."

Dylan and Alberta were stunned, exchanging worried glances.

 Dylan was speechless.

What if Clarence was among them? Georgia didn't know Clarence. What if...?

Dylan's head started to ache as he ran towards the two trucks behind.

Alberta followed anxiously.

Dylan's mind was in chaos, imagining many scenarios.

What if Clarence was there, and if Georgia killed him?

Although Clarence didn't seem like that kind of person, people could change.

Maybe Clarence was being coerced or couldn't act freely. Dylan hoped not.

Dylan and Alberta hurriedly checked the overturned trucks where Georgia had found the photo.

 Near the first truck, there were several bodies with arrow wounds to their foreheads.

Alberta anxiously examined each one. Fortunately, Clarence wasn't among them.

Then they ran to the second truck and searched carefully.

Thankfully, Clarence wasn't there either.

Dylan and Alberta breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, the car that Dylan squashed at the back hasn't been checked yet," Alberta pointed out.

Dylan returned with Alberta to inspect it thoroughly.

Although the bodies inside the car were almost flattened, their heads were still recognizable.

At this point, they had turned into zombies, trapped inside due to the compression of their bodies.

Fortunately, after careful examination, Clarence wasn't among them.

Dylan then checked the last two pickup trucks for any clues but found nothing valuable inside except some miscellaneous items.

Alberta, looking at a photo of herself and her brother, burst into tears.

Seeing her distress, the other girls rushed to comfort her.

"What should we do?

 Is my brother in trouble?

He never gives his photos to anyone," Alberta sobbed.

Jodie hugged her and reassured, "Don't worry. Your brother is not among these people. He'll be fine."

"Yeah, don't jump to conclusions.

 As long as we haven't seen a body, there's still hope!" Georgia chimed in.

Dylan, on the sidelines, sorted through the information he'd gathered in his mind.

Then, he approached Alberta seriously and said, "Alberta, don't be upset.

 Let me analyze the situation for you.

Your brother and his car aren't among these people, but your photo with him is found.

 Think about it, in this post-apocalyptic world, who would bother to carry someone else's photo?

 So, I speculate either these people know your brother and are here at Bluewater Bay Art College to inquire about you on his behalf, or your brother is captured by them, and for some reason, they're using your photo to find you!

 And since we're so close to your college, my guess should be accurate."

Listening to Dylan's analysis, everyone nodded, especially Alberta, who wiped her tears and said excitedly, "So, you mean my brother is still alive?"

Dylan nodded solemnly.

Though unsure if Clarence was alive, he felt it was crucial to give Alberta hope.

Seeing Dylan's firm gaze, Alberta felt much relieved.

"What should we do now?"

 Dylan ordered. "Let's thoroughly inspect all the cars and bodies again, see if we missed any clues."

His intuition told him that these people must have some connection to Clarence.

Afterward, they went through all the pickup trucks and bodies again but found no useful clues.

Alas! Dylan regretted not leaving anyone alive earlier.

But who could have anticipated such a twist?

Alberta couldn't help feeling down.

 She now knew her brother was alive, but where was he?

She felt anxious.

 Since the apocalypse, she had been yearning for her brother constantly.

 However, she knew she couldn't ask Dylan to drop everything and search the entire city of Bluewater Bay for her brother.

 The city was huge, and there were countless places he could be hiding in.