Watermelon

"Big bro, she's hotter than she is on TV!"

Feera said to Erza with adoration.

The reason Erza brought his younger brother together was to guide him in the ways of information extraction.

'To be young again.'

Erza just smiled while shaking his head.

In the lift, he asked his brother if he likes Aqua Rose.

"I mean, she's hot and all but I wouldn't want a person who easily switches sides and sell someone off to others for their own benefit."

He was referring to how she coaxed the gangsters to raid their food.

It would be a lie if Feera wasn't tempted to have his way with a ravishing and famous actress.

'It's good that he knows his priority.'

At the end of times, loyalty is a rare attribute among the surviving humans.

The fact that Sixth Uncle Yoon's family didn't expose out their trickery to the gangsters when they were at their mercy was good enough.

"Have you managed to contact Tyra?"

Erza's question made Feera go quiet all of a sudden.

Tyra is Feera's girlfriend.

'Nothing. Nothing at all!'

Feera's silence confirms Erza's doubt.

Pah.

Erza put his arm around Feera's broad shoulders.

"When we're around her area, we'll go check her house."

Feera nodded.

Ding!

The lift arrives at their suite.

"How did it go, boys?"

Mr. Zayf was the sentry for today.

Erza told everything he has gotten from Krash, Director Jing and Aqua Rose.

"Hmm."

'The gangsters' association with the mafia could be a nuisance.'

Mr. Zayf was involved in the construction business.

The local scene was dominated mostly by the underworld.

"Dad, don't worry. If talking doesn't work, our fists will."

Erza raised his left fist.

He is someone who avoids unnecessary conflicts.

But when the situation demands it, he would be the first one to step forward.

"Dad believes in you. Now get to bed, you two!"

Mr. Zayf pushed both his sons to the corridor.

"Okay, Dad!!"

Erza and Feera felt like they were in elementary school again.

…

Splat!

A blood-soaked hatchet buried itself into a dark-red spinal cord.

"Kara, did you believe what Aqua said? About Lily?"

It was 12.45 pm, the 10th day of the apocalypse.

Big Mark was asking Kara a question he was curious about since yesterday.

"From how she said it, it might be true. But both of us know how she really is."

Kara's dainty but sturdy hands did not stop extracting the Evolution Nectars while answering Big Mark's curiosity.

When they handled the gangsters yesterday, they faced-off with their former teammates, Director Jing and Aqua Rose.

With the Obedience Collars around their necks and the remotes with Big Mark and Kara, they did not verbally lash out their anger and jealousy to them but gave them spiteful glares instead.

They did not converse much, just that Big Mark was curious about another one of their former survivor group member, Nurse Lily.

"She took off in another direction when we left the hotel. We never saw each other again."

Aqua Rose casually said to Big Mark. Director Jing seemed like he didn't care, so he didn't say anything.

There was no way to authenticate what she said.

In the apocalypse, a person's murder could be hidden well with a few methods.

'They hid her body somewhere else? Or they fed her to the Infected?'

Countless theories popped up in Big Mark's head.

<Big Mark, Kara, we're done here.>

Erza's voice through the Military Earbud Radio snapped him back to reality.

<Roger, Zeta! A few more bodies and we'll be done too!>

The team of seven were current in an apartment building.

Their rescue mission was unsuccessful because the target, Erza's cousin, was missing.

'No notes, no replies from texts or calls, nothing.'

They then decided to harvest the Evolution Nectars from the Infected inside the apartment building.

After a few minutes, all seven of them gathered at the apartment's ground parking.

"Good job guys. We got a good yield so far."

They had harvested about 312 pink beads.

"We proceed with our next mission! Target also lives in SA-City, just 8 kilometers from here!"

Erza also mentioned that there's a shelter in the school nearby.

"We're going to scout the shelter for our targets after the next mission. We move out in 2 minutes!"

He wanted to make sure he covered every possible area that his relatives might be.

…

Earlier this morning.

Ka-cha!

"Huh?"

"What?!"

"Oh! Oh! Free at last! Free at last!"

Twenty men rejoiced while caressing their reddened necks.

In the commotion, Krash voiced out.

"B-but Master, why?"

He was dumbfounded.

Erza had their lives in his palms. He could basically own them for the rest of their lives.

"A few reasons. First, you guys ate too much. Second, I don't have a habit of keeping slaves."

He did all these to teach the gangsters humility.

"But this doesn't mean I'm a pushover. There was a reason why I took off the collars in the room individually."

Erza walked out of the hotel entrance carrying a watermelon.

"I've planted a small tracking device inside your body. You'll never find it because I've used special methods to implant it in each and every one of you."

Mrs. Numee was in the room where Erza asked each of the gang members to come in to remove their collars.

While removing the collar, he made a small but deep incision in their necks.

While the stinging pain went by so quickly because of Erza's speed, the gangsters thought it was the stinging pain from having their necks being freed after a while.

'Mum, heal their necks as soon as I inserted the trackers inside.'

With Mrs. Numee's superb control, she healed the minor cut in less than a second.

"...and if anyone of you here dare to step foot near this place again, don't blame me for what becomes of you."

Erza showed his audience a pill-sized grey capsule.

He proceeded to push it inside the watermelon and rolls it towards to hotel entrance.

Boom!

The moment the watermelon pass through the doors, an explosion destroyed it from within.

Charred remains of the watermelon splattered on the gangster's faces.

The gangsters had indescribable expressions.

They truly regret stepping their foot here. It was akin to entering a lion's den.

'Once you have entered, what makes you think you can leave easily?'

That has been one of Erza's principles.

"Okay, you now have my permission to leave this place. Never show your faces around here again."

The little grey explosive GPS tracker was another invention of Erza and Bucky.

The gangsters hurriedly ran out of the building, embracing their freedom.

They do not want to be here another millisecond longer with this 'demon'.

"Boss! Screw this guy! He might be pulling a fast one on us! Sh*t, for all you know that exploding melon was just a ruse! I'd say we attack them again, boss! Men, with me!"

A loud, high pitched voice sounded.

It was the gang's number two person, Jeeba.

He took out a knife from his pocket and ran to the hotel entrance.

"Wait, Jeeba! Hold on for a se-"

Boom!

Splat!

Krash's warning did not reach his right-hand man fast enough.

A headless body twitches for a few seconds when it finally went cold.

Pieces of bones and soft tissues flew all over the entrance.

'Sigh.'

Erza shook his head.

'Some people never learn.'

The rest of the gangsters were pale with fright.

They ran away so fast and so far, even their shadows disappeared.

"Big brother, what do we do with those two?"

Bucky pointed at two figures kowtowing their heads in the middle of the hotel's compound.

"Let's ask them."

He approached them slowly.

Hearing his footsteps, Director Jing spoke out first.

"Master Zeta! Please forgive us! We've been nothing but scums causing a nuisance to you and your team, please forgive us!"

His voice was rough but it felt sincere.

"Okay, say I've forgiven you. What's next?"

Director Jing raised his head up in excitement upon Erza's statement.

"Master Zeta, we want to survive! We want to be as strong as you!"

This time, a firm but feminine voice spoke up.

It was Aqua Rose.

She used the same pitch Big Mark used to join Erza's team.

"And what makes you think I'll accept you?"

Erza's voice was casual but cold.

Gulp.

Aqua Rose has prepared an answer to Erza's burning question.

'What benefits would I get in return?'

"Master Zeta, I believe.."

…

Sob.

'Another one. This isn't looking well for her.'

Erza looked at his mother.

Her cheeks would not stay dry even after wiping her eyes.

After an unsuccessful search of their first target, they found their relatives in the second mission today.

This time was Mrs. Numee's 7th sibling, Ganon.

'Rest well in heaven, Uncle Ganon, Aunt Lani, Cousin Faith, Cousin Auria, Cousin Salina.'

They found the five of them roaming around the neighborhood.

They mercy-killed them and buried their bodies at a nearby park.

"We have no clues at all about Cousin Sam, big bro?"

After paying their last respects to Uncle Ganon and his family's grave, Bucky was concerned that the only son of his uncle was not found.

There were no Infected that looked like him when they cleared out the residential area.

"Have you checked his digital footprints, Bucks?"

As a young adult, Cousin Sam would most likely depend and update his situation via his devices.

"The last location of his phone was five kilometers from here, which would coincide with the shelter we intended to check out."

At this point, Bucky could hack into a few high leveled sites with his ability.

Checking the most recent location of a device is no longer a challenge for him.

<Team, move out in three! We're going five kilometers, easy!>

They concluded their rest, drank some water, and re-check their belongings.

Vroom!

Five cars dashed forward in the middle of an empty road.