Haven Manor

Present time.

Nathan was currently invisible and was already on the grounds of Haven Manor.

The manor was a 3-story building.

In front of the building was a large circular fountain with an angelic statue in the middle.

Just with the manor's exterior alone, one could say that it was an architectural beauty, a far cry from his apartment back at Cram city.

After doing a quick check of the area, he found out that there were only about 15 guards patrolling outside, and all the doors and windows were closed except for one large double door located at the front which serves as the main entrance of the manor and guarded by two guards.

Given that this was only part of the manor that was left open, naturally, it was the path Nathan decided to go through. He didn't choose to go through the other entrances or windows in fear that they might trigger an alarm or something if he forcefully opened them.

He approached the two guards standing at the door, trying to see if there were any traps laid there. While he was inspecting, the two were talking about the zombie apocalypse.

"Hey man. I finally found it."

"Found what?"

"The reason why this zombie apocalypse is happening."

"Here we go again…" The other guard let out a sigh and had an annoyed look on his face.

"I read the Holy Book again this morning to check out a few things and I finally found it – the scripture which mentions God will return one day and deliver judgment," said the religious guard.

The annoyed guard massaged his forehead.

"The scripture says –"

"Come on, man. If you're going to talk, could you at least talk about something else?"

"What…? Hello? God spoke to everyone at the start of this zombie apocalypse. Aren't you a bit curious as to why God decided this? And plus, the fact that mankind has always been trying to find evidence that God really exists and now we have the undeniable truth that He truly does exist, I don't know about you, but that is just mind-blowing! I bet the atheists are shitting their pants now!"

"Look, yeah, sure, I grew up and in a Trinitian household, but just like I've been telling you these past few nights – I'm not religious. Truth be told, right now, all I care about is getting through this zombie crisis and hope that everything will just go back to the way it used to be. That's it."

The religious guard looked at the annoyed guard with pity.

"You really need God, man. You wanna know why? You see, there's–"

The annoyed guard rolled his eyes, he knew what was coming next and it's gonna be a very, very long sermon so he decided to stop it before it comes.

"Hold on! Let's make a deal. This will be the last time I will talk about anything about this topic. If you bring it up again, I'll just ignore you even if you talk about it the whole night. The way I see it, this zombie apocalypse, it's probably like this: When a kid loses interest with his favorite toy, what does he do? There are two things: either he tears it apart or abandons it to replace it with another toy."

"So you're saying God has grown tired of us and now wants another toy to play with? That's blasphemy. Think about it: If that's the case, why did God create us in the first place? The fact that we were created in the image and likeness of God, that alone shows just how much he loves us."

The annoyed guard didn't reply. He was going to honor what he said earlier. This will be the last time he will talk anything about it – Well, at least with this religious guard.

Nathan who just finished inspecting the entrance for any traps decided to leave the two behind.

But before leaving, he looked at them.

'What's up with these guards? Back at the mall, even the guards there were also talking about it.'

But thinking about the conversation between the two, he realized that he never thought about it. All this time he was busy powering up in preparation to go to where Amir was at.

'Hmm... If God really loves us, why does he allow unjust suffering? To make people know the value of life?'

'If one was born with an incurable disease or disability that leaves him utterly useless in the society, can that person value the life he was given and not commit suicide?'

'If a newborn baby was killed, can that baby know the value of life? Or was it to teach others?'

'If having someone undergo such unjust suffering so that that person or other people will know the value of life, then that is just pure madness. I would've understood it if the sufferers volunteered to undergo such thing or if they committed grave sins in their past lives. But if not, then I see no love there, only sacrificial lambs, toys to be played with.'

'As for the zombie apocalypse, millions or perhaps billions have already died. To me, only a sadist will let someone go through such things.'

'But I must say, this power I have right now, I really like it.'

Nathan's lips curled up into a smile of pure satisfaction.

After expressing his thoughts, Nathan left the two guards to continue what he came for.

Inside the manor, he found himself in a spacious hallway and was welcomed by a grand marble staircase covered in carpet.

The floor was also made of marble and there were expensive-looking furniture perfectly positioned to complement the paintings and photographs plastered on the walls. Meanwhile, the ceiling was painted with angelic beings dancing on top of clouds.

The place simply breathes luxury and extravagance that it made Nathan who came from a humble household a little self-conscious that he might tarnish the beauty of this place with his soiled gloves and boots.

'The rich really live in a different world.'

He stood at the center and marveled at its beauty for a moment.

'But what's the point of all of these? With the zombies evolving and their leader dying tonight, sooner or later, this place will either be destroyed or abandoned.'

He climbed the stairs and headed to the third floor.

***

The entire third floor was quiet, not a single soul could be seen.

There were about 15 doors in total and a camera at each end of the hallway.

Nathan wasn't sure if these were just normal cameras or special cameras that feature motion detection or thermal vision. But so far, nothing out of the ordinary happened when he passed them.

As for whether motion-detecting sensors and thermal vision could see through his invisibility, he also doesn't know and has yet to test it out. However, he was confident they couldn't because his skill [Coward's Way] mentioned "complete invisibility" on its description.

He approached one of the doors. His plan was to find someone there and "ask" the person where Rose was and her room.

'Please don't be locked, please don't be locked, please don't be locked…'

He placed his hands on the doorknob and twisted it.

Kacha!

He let out a sigh of relief.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him.

The light was on.

The room was spacious. It featured two large windows, a living room, and a kitchen area with a dining table enough for four people to dine in. There were also three other doors within the room.

'The setup looks like an apartment, huh. But unlike my shabby apartment, the things used to decorate this room were of high quality.'

He checked the first door, it led him to a study room.

He checked the second door, it was the bathroom.

He checked the third door.

When he opened the door, the first thing he noticed was its dim lighting. Next was the sweet scent that assaulted his nose, giving him the impression that it was a woman's room.

Inside this dimly lit large room were two windows with their curtains down and two more doors.

'My god! How many rooms within a room must a room have?!'

At the center of the room, there was a large bed with a person sleeping covered in blankets.

Nathan entered and gently close the door behind him.

He pulled out his [Grade D] Dagger and silently approached the bed.

He stared down at the person who was sleeping on the bed.

It was a Caucasian woman sleeping on her side wearing a nightgown. Her chest down to her legs covered by blankets and her face was exposed. However, he couldn't clearly see her face as it was covered by her long black hair.

'Wait…! Could this be the bitch? Am I that lucky? Haha~'

After laughing inside his heart, he quickly frowned.

'Wait… Does she have a sister? What about a cousin or someone that looks like her? Haaa… My poor, piss interrogation skills!'

He put on his night-vision goggles. But even with it on, he still couldn't clearly see her face due to the hair so he decided to put the goggles away.

Nathan pondered.

It's been close to 15 minutes already since he killed that guard outside. If he stayed any longer, they might realize an intruder is inside the base. And right now, he couldn't tell whether this woman was Rose or not. If touches her, he will lose his invisibility.

If this isn't Rose and he touches her for questioning, he was confident in subduing her. However, if it was Rose, given that she was a Chosen One that could turn herself into crystal and alter the shape of her arms and feet, then it will be a problem.

'The best and safest way is just to kill this woman immediately and check the next room.'

With his [Grade D] Dagger on his right hand, he stabbed the sleeping woman's neck and lost his invisibility.

The woman's eyes opened widely as she looked at him with shock written all over her face.

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Author's thoughts:

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