Return (7)

Benjamin spent the whole day walking around. From the living room, to the various dining rooms, to the empty bedrooms. Then, he decided to return to the secret radio room to contact someone.

He quietly opened the trap door and closed it behind him as he walked down the stairs. Then, he slowly tiptoed towards the side of the wall to open the secret corridor. He was afraid that Arnold may hear him even though the trap door and the ground was sound insulated.

Benjamin turned the radio transmitter to a particular frequency. Then, he spoke. "Landon, it's me. Of course I'm alive what do you mean? Well yeah our platoon got caught in an accident. Well listen, we encountered a Level 3 zombie! Could you believe it? It was huge! That giant animal breathed fire and could fly really fast as well! I barely made it out of there alive. The only reason why I'm alive now is thanks to Eli. Who's Eli? I don't know, but he saved me. He's so cool! He can pack a punch! He shoots with 100% accuracy!"

As Benjamin talked excitedly to an unknown person, Arnold was busy doing certain hand techniques. He felt a large increase in spiritual power within his brain. It seemed like he would form his first ring soon. If anyone from back in the base saw the time it took for Arnold to reach first ring, they would be exacerbated. Even the nobles from the deepest level could not cultivate so fast! Arnold knew that it was all because of the body that his father gave him, but he was not that happy. Instead, he felt worse knowing that all his achievements were due to his father. The only reason he was still alive right now was because of him.

After cultivating a whole day without eating, Arnold finally broke through to the 1st ring. He found that his strength has almost doubled. The spiritual energy coursing through his veins gave him a new vitality that he never felt before. With this power, he would be able to easily beat the Level 4 zombie eagle that almost killed him a while before. However, he was still far away from defeating a Level 3 zombie.

Having not eaten for a whole day, Arnold felt very hungry. He instantly wolfed down 3 MREs and a few nutrition bars. He also took a few more bottles of water and nutrition bars with him and stuffed them inside his backpack. He also took some weapons from the basement, refilling the ammo for his gun and getting himself two grenades again. Then, he knocked on Benjamin's door. "Hey. We're leaving!" Arnold yelled.

"Coming!" Benjamin yelled back in a much higher tone. Benjamin was busy trying to cultivate the last bit of spiritual energy before opening the door. He regretted talking to his friend yesterday and wasting time. He should have just cultivated! If he had cultivated, he would be able to defend himself now, not always relying on Eli (Arnold).

Benjamin found that there was no one outside his door. He immediately ran to the living room to find the front entrance opened. Arnold was already quite far away! He instantly closed the door behind him and ran. By the time he caught up to Arnold, he was already panting, his hair filled with sweat. "Why *pant* didn't *pant* you wait *pant* for me?" Benjamin asked as he caught his breath.

"Did I say I would wait for you?" Arnold retorted disdainfully. "Besides, didn't they teach you about punctuality in the military?"

Benjamin had nothing to say against that.

As the distance to the base was 200 km, it meant that a normal person would need to walk 40 hours non-stop before being able to arrive at base. Since both Arnold and Benjamin have cultivated spiritual energy, they would be able to shorten the time to 35 hours, not including meal times and sleeping hours. If Arnold ditched Benjamin now, he can further shorten the time to 24 hours.

Benjamin was walking side by side with Arnold, not because Benjamin was fast, but because Arnold purposely slowed down. He thought to himself, "Well, being able to befriend someone from the Young family should be good for me and my family." He thought to himself. "But I doubt this guy next to me would be anyone famous in the future, seeing his lack of talent and guts."

Benjamin sneezed. He rubbed his upper hands with his opposite hands, thinking, "Is the weather getting cold? How come I don't feel it?"

Since they left at 6am, calculating the time to eat lunch and dinner, they would be able to walk for around 15-16 hours today before needing to rest. Therefore, they would be able to get back to base at around noon, two days from now. Arnold was still quite disturbed by the fact that they have never encountered anyone on their way back. Although there are many ways to leave the base, there should at least be some people coincidentally taking the same route as them right?

Arnold did not know about the yellow alert that was just announced a few hours ago by the people within the base. Or else, he would definitely not have left the safehouse until the alert was over.

The morning mist blocked the vision of Arnold and Benjamin. They were only able to see a few meters ahead. Arnold was forced to turn on the infrared vision again. He noticed that there were absolutely no zombies anywhere near them, which was odd. Although the military regularly clean the area around the base of zombies, there should still be some zombies walking in from time to time.

Arnold continued walking forwards, staying alert at all times. Even though nothing was happening right now, he could not help but feel something is wrong. "Andy, can you scan the area to check for anomalies?"

"Scanning." The monotone voice of a boy that Arnold have not heard for a few days suddenly sounded in his mind. "There are no irregular anomalies. Radiation level: normal standard. Contamination level: slightly above standard..." Andy started listing out all the different criterias that triggers abnormality, but all of them were normal.

Arnold furrowed his brows.

As the morning mist cleared, they could finally see ahead. They were walking on a broken concrete road that swerves up and down unevenly. Surrounding them were suburban houses that looked even more worn down than the ones Arnold have seen before. Arnold decided to speed up. He had a terrible premonition. He motioned for Benjamin to follow him. "We're increasing our speed."

Originally, if they walked for 15-16 hours, they would reach the next safehouse at nightfall. This was designed on purpose. The base wanted the military and mercenaries to be able to rest in a safe environment, since they were the ones protecting the base from outside intruders. However, now that they are speeding up, it might take around 10 hours to arrive at the base.

Arnold was slightly anxious, so he did not even allow Benjamin to eat while sitting down for lunch, they had to eat lunch while walking. Benjamin was getting more and more tired as the time went on, so much so that he was not able to keep up with Arnold anymore. Arnold, slightly annoyed, reached into his backpack and gave Benjamin a Level 5 zombie core.

"Eat it." Arnold said. There was a slight pain in his heart.

Benjamin widened his eyes. He gently took the zombie core and asked, staring innocently at Arnold's eyes, "Can I really?"

"Do it before I change my mind." Arnold snorted, turning away. Benjamin happily sucked in all the spiritual energy, feeling revitalized again.

As Arnold walked, his pace started to quicken again unconsciously. Benjamin was still originally able to keep up, but after 3 hours, he started panting hard. Arnold stared at him in disdain.

"You really have a weak body, don't you. What's the level of your Foundation Establishment?" Arnold asked.

"L-Level 3." Benjamin whimpered, feeling ashamed.

"Level 3? How were you able to use spiritual energy then?" Arnold raised an eyebrow in surprise. He thought that only people Level 5 or above could use spiritual energy. By the way, since Arnold's body is perfect, his Foundation Establishment is Level 10, the highest level.

"M-my dad helped me." Benjamin started blushing. Arnold sighed.

"Here, get on." Arnold knelt, motioning for Benjamin to get on his back. He was going to piggyback him. Benjamin looked shy. He did not know whether or not he should get on. "Get on or I will leave you here to die." Arnold snapped.

Benjamin reluctantly got on. He muttered, "But I'm not a kid anymore..."

Arnold started running at a fast pace, with Benjamin on his back. Benjamin felt the wind blew past his face. His cheeks started to feel uncomfortable from the air resistance. He still felt embarassed, since he did not piggyback on someone else since he was a child. He also only even had bodily contact with his father, making this the first time he touched another person, much less a stranger.

4pm. Arnold managed to shorten the distance to the next base by tens of kilometers. They were now less than 5 kilometers away from the base. Arnold placed Benjamin down and started massaging his shoulders. He had to take a rest. Since he ran the entire time, he was completely exhausted. Arnold took a drink of water with a nutrition tablet. It was then that he heard a loud rumble that emnated across the ground.

"Is it an earthquake?" Arnold thought. "But I thought this was not an earthquake zone."

The rumbling started to get louder and stronger. Arnold could feel the ground shaking. It was then that he saw something at the corner of his eyes. He tilted his head and zoomed in with his right eye. Then, his facial expression turned ugly.

Benjamin, similarly, felt horror in his heart. "Eli! Eli! This is bad! This is bad! I hear-I hear lots of-"

"Yeah I know." Arnold said with a grim face. "It's a zombie tide."