3 {Arc 1} Part 2: The Meeting At Hotel Cassandra

Looking at the system's information, it seems like this zombie apocalypse is a man-made disaster.

Apparently, a group of scientists was working on achieving creating a product that can help humans achieve a perfect human body with a bunch of different chemicals, drugs, and etc. But then, some of them woke up from their stupor and tried to stop the experiments. The group decided to end the experiment and get rid of everything.

However, one of them wanted to continue the experiment. He secretly saved some files and samples of the product. That one scientist moved to another base located in an unoccupied and semi-isolated area, he continued the project there.

The scientist was the greatest scientist out of the whole group, so many advances were made. Of course, the scientist is still just one person, no matter how great he is. There was no way that he can absolutely contain all the experiment subjects and keep them caged. Especially now that he was alone and doesn't have as much resources as before since he had continued the project secretly.

Just like any man-made zombie apocalypse stories, an accident happen, and...yeah. The failed experiment subjects escaped and all the documents were lost in the accident. The scientist disappeared, but he definitely escaped, as there was no trances of his body when some investigators went to check the site.

Xin Ying once again, sighed. Humans are the only kind who can actually doom their entire species and destroy the world. No other species could have endanger their whole kind, much less commit world destruction.

He had studied the GPS earlier and memorized the terrain. He noticed a hotel—Hotel Cassandra—that was the hotel the main leads met. Xin Ying decided to go to the hotel, it will only take him 10 minutes if he drove, but it would take him around 30 minutes if he walked.

30 minutes isn't that bad, besides, it's only 5:34 p.m. The sun haven't even set yet, the information states that the main group wouldn't meet until evening, which would be in about a few hours. He can use this walk to kill time.

As he continued his journey, he noticed that the people doesn't seem as helpless as he thought they would be.

A pair of mother and daughter walked out of a store, each carrying two suitcases. They took the things directly from the store.

They are quite daring, it is only the second day and people had already started to grab ad run without paying. But even so, the main group of the main leads are oddballs, they have decided to formed a large group on the second day. They all have high adaptability and dealt with zombies at least once. It's a mystery how such a group was able to be formed on the second day.

That pair of mother and daughter may just either have great adaptability, are robbers even before the apocalypse, or already seen the zombies. It's most likely the third. Robbers aren't that daring, there isn't nothing too major about the zombies on the news yet, so adapting is not it. If they seen zombies in person, then it would make sense for them to rob a store on just the second day. They are alarmed and worried about it, so they had decided to take action.

It really was amazing how the main leads made a group so quickly...Maybe it was just himself...he was cautious of people as he had seen the worst of humanity. The people here hasn't seen that, so of course they would make such a large group so quickly. But as time pass by, they would soon became more cautious. Doubting teammates and betrayals may become something common.

Ah. It looks like he had arrived.

A whole group of people was gathered in one place near the lobby entrance. It seem to be a confrontation between 4 different groups.

There was a group of four, a group of five, a group of six, and a group of two. (Sorry if this confuses you all—)

The group of four (Group 4) has three women and one man. The group of five (Group 5) has two women and three men. The group of six (Group 6) has three women and three men. The group of two (Group 2) is made up of two women.

The group of four (Group 4) is currently arguing with the group of five (Group 5). The other two groups were just watching. No one was able to get in due to them all blocking the hotel's entrance.

The groups all look a bit weary, it looks like they have been out here for quite a while.

"Why don't you—" The man from Group 4.

"—Xie Ye?" A feminine voice suddenly called out 'his name', interrupting the man.

*Reminder: Xin Ying's persona in this world is Xie Ye. Xin Ying is MC's real name.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. There was a moment of silence as a black haired teenage girl with pale blue eyes ran over to Xin Ying.

Xin Ying looked at her indifferently. "Xie Hua."

"Xie Ye, I...I'm sorry. It—it was for your own good..." The 17 years old girl stuttered.

Xie Hua looked up and met Xin Ying's eyes and—she didn't expect what she saw. Indifference.

Total indifference.

It was as if he doesn't care. He doesn't care about her wrongdoings. No—it's like he doesn't care about her at all, much less their parents...

Xie Hua gulped. She can't...she can't deal with this indifference. She want him to be concern, mad—upset at her—this is just not right! She wants him to express any sort of emotion at her sins—just not indifference...

Anger, sadness, disgust, excitement—any emotions...the now dull royal blue eyes showed none of that. It was just indifference.

She should be relieved right? Relieved that he wasn't angry, disgusted, sadden, or even excited by what she had done. But those indifferent eyes...it felt as if...he won't bat an eye even if she...his last direct family member—his own sister—dies...

"Ha...Xie Ye..."

"Are you just going to stand there? The sun is going to set soon, you should all go inside now. How long have you all been out here anyway?"

Xie Hua snapped out of her daze. The other groups looked at her and Xin Ying curiously, while Xie Hua's group looked at them worryingly.

"Ahem." Xie Hua let out a fake cough, "Forget it. Let's not waste anymore time here and go in already."

"But-" The man that Xie Hua interrupted earlier.

"Chen Han. Let it go."

Chen Han huffed. "Hu...fine."

"We can just forget about this conflict." said a man from Group 5, he seem like he is the group's leader. "Sorry about my teammate, he can be reckless. We will repay you."

"Hey-" Another man from Group 5.

"Calm down, Jianghai."

Jian Jianghai frowned. "It's not my fault that you guys fell that trap! You should have been more careful!"

"Ha!" A girl from Xie Hua's group scowled, "Are you an idiot? I thought that you would be smart after looking at how well made that trap was, but do you have any common sense? Any other average person could have died!"

"Stop arguing." The man that told Jian Jianghai to calm down glared at him and the girl.

The leader of Group 5 nodded at him. "Zhe Yan, bring everyone inside. I will talk with the other groups' leaders here."

The man who calmed down Jian Jianghai, who's name is Zhe Yan, led his group away and into the hotel. Xie Hua and the leaders of the other two groups did what Group 5's leader did as well.

Xin Ying had thought about going into the building, but then he decided to stay due to his curiosity and Xie Hua's stare. They are characters from a game...but this is a whole different world—the characters are all real living people. Although he is very calm, it is still kind of fascinating to see the characters from a game you play in the flesh, and to see them act so...human.

Now, there was only 7 people at the hotel's entrance. Xin Ying, Xie Hua, the two women who made up the smallest group and decided to stick together, the man from Group 5 that seem to be the group's leader, and two men from Group 6.

The man from Group 5 smiled friendly, "Let's all introduce ourselves first. My name is Lei Ziyuan, I am the leader of my group. And I apologize on the behalf of my teammate for the incident, Miss Xie? I believe that Xie Hua is your name, yes?"

"Yes, that is my name. And sorry, I don't think I can accept your apology. Your teammate has to apologize to my teammate, it isn't a problem that we the leaders can interfere with. If we did, then it would be unlikely for the conflict to be resolved."

Xie Hua narrowed her eyes seriously, all traces of the stuttering girl earlier erased. The only thing that sold her out was her constant glances at her brother, who was next to her. This was the girl who was neglected by her parents, the one that had fled the house with her group and is most likely involved with the two dead bodies laying on the kitchen floor from the last chapter. (Casual fourth wall break)

One of the two men from Group 6 yawned. "So, can we all go in now? I don't see the point of this meet up." The other man glared at him.

"Are you two both the leaders of your group?" Xie Hua asked curiously.

"No." The glaring man replied. "We picked up this man along the way. My name is Peng Jiren."

"Shen Yu." The other man drawled.

"My name is Gu Sha, this is my friend Jin Fei." One of the two women introduced her friend and herself. The other woman, Jin Fei, glared cautiously at the others.

"I'm Xie Hua, and this is my brother....Xie Ye."

Everyone looked at Xin Ying. They can see how the two teens are related, they both have the same black hair, their eyes are both blue, even though Xie Hua's eyes are a paler blue while Xie Ye's eyes are a royal blue color.

Right now, they see the royal blue eyes scanning them. It was as if he can see though them—it was like he was noting every details and information about them. The scanning eyes soon trailed to the direction of the hotel entrance—ignoring them.

Xin Ying said nothing and ignored them after staring, but Xie Hua quickly drew the others' attention to her. Although she was successful, some of the others still glance at Xin Ying occasionally during the conversation.

Xin Ying thought about the information in his head silently with a blank face.

It seem like Xie Hua is the leader of her group. That was quite unexpected, she didn't really seem like the type...who are her teammates—or friends—as she called them? There are plenty of information in the system's guide to this Scenario World, but that doesn't mean there is information about every single little thing.

He can look into things more as he spend more time in this world. Now...for the identities of the people here...

Lei Ziyuan over there—he's the male lead. A strong and handsome individual, with bearings of a gentleman...he is not what he seems.

Jin Fei is the female lead. She's beautiful and quite strong as well, although Lei Ziyuan's strength can overpower her. Gu Sha, the woman that had spoken first, she is Jin Fei's best friend. They were friends since elementary school.

Peng Jiren is a strong and smart ability user, also quite righteous. He will support Lei Ziyuan at first, but will later go against him.

And as for Shen Yu...he's that one mad scientist. No one know the zombies better than him as he is the one that had created them. His motives are mostly unknown during out the whole Scenario World's gameplay.

Xin Ying made a note to be extra cautious when he's near Shen Yu. That mad scientist is the most mysterious and unpredictable character—no. Person. This isn't a game anymore.

It's a real world.

The system had explained it all to him. The world he is in right now is based off of the Scenario World in the game, but everything—the characters: People, animals, and all other living creatures, they are all real living beings. They are not data.

Scenario Worlds are real worlds, even if they are known as worlds in a game from his original world. The game is the system, it is controlled by one single entity...the game's creator. The system connects all the worlds together, and it can also organizes them. The creator aids the system sometimes, but otherwise the system operates fine just on it's own.

He is a special guest, or more accurately, a player, traveling though those worlds.

And it was all due to his sister's choice...

His goal...he doesn't really have any goals, but the system told him to enjoy his stay, and maybe help the people in the worlds...

They basically gave him something similar to a ticket to travel the globe, except that it's not just the globe. It's a bunch of different worlds.

Well, he doesn't have anything better to do with his life back there...but Xin Lin...

Seriously, why did the system administrator gave her the rights to choose and not him? Perhaps they know that she would agree easily?

"Would any of you like to join my group? The more people there are, the more safe we will be from the zombies." Lei Ziyuan let out what had been on his mind. He looked at the others with kind sky blue eyes.

Xie Hua gave him a small smile and spoke up, "I would love to join our groups together, but there is still the matter of your teammate and my teammate's unsolved dispute."

Xin Ying glance at Lei Ziyuan for a few seconds before looking away, replying, "No thanks."

Despite the kind looking eyes, the blinding blonde hair, and his demeanor, Xin Ying know that Lei Ziyuan is not a kind person at all. The kindness was just a facade he put up to hide his true personality—sadistic, cold, ruthless.

Even when his sister—who had tons of practice and experience—had slightly shivered at his ruthlessness when she played this Scenario World and witnessed his cruelty.

Xin Lin had failed this world and died at the hands of Lei Ziyuan the first time she played the Scenario World. That was her first failure...she usually manages to survive through apocalypse themed Scenario Worlds quite easily. Xin Ying let her sulk for an hour before making her go do a character study of Lei Ziyuan.

His sister only manage to pass the Scenario World safely after 3 tries. The character study paid off. That was the first—but not the only—time she had played the same Scenario World more than once.

Lei Ziyuan's eyes flashed with malice at Xie Hua for a second, but she didn't notice. However, even though Xie Hua didn't notice, some other people did notice. Three people noticed his hostility: Xin Ying, Shen Yu, and Jin Fei.

Xin Ying ignored it, his expressionless face unchanging. Shen Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. Jin Fei became more cautious of Lei Ziyuan and moved a step away from him.

"Anyway, I will be going inside now. My group is waiting for me...would you like to come with me...brother?" Xie Hua turned to Xin Ying nervously.

Xin Ying stared at her, and seem to be in thought. After only a few seconds, he made his decision.

"No."