n

n

nAfter roughly a third of the night had passed by, Kairos decided to wake someone else for them to watch. At that point, Chase decided to rest as well. While keeping watch with Kairos, he definitely had trouble keeping his eyes open, so it seemed that Chase really needed to get some rest.

nThe night passed by rather uneventfully.

nBy the time Kairos woke up, Nicole and her parents were awake. However, Chase was still tossing and turning around.

nHarold whispered.

n“What if we leave him here and leave quietly? I don’t feel safe next to him.”

nNicole pouted.

n“He tried to kill one of us so easily! There’s no way we can trust him.”

nKairos waved his hand dismissively.

n“His personality is a little bad, but I think it’s fine to take him with us, at least for now. He won’t betray us any time soon because he really needs someone to ally with.”

nSydney furrowed her brows.

n“But still, why should we take someone that might turn on us at any moment?”

nKairos sighed.

n“Because he is powerful.”

nHarold frowned.

n“Doesn’t that mean he can easily backstab us?”

nKairos raised a finger.

n“But, that man also has a weakness.”

nNicole blinked a few times.

n“He does?”

nKairos nodded.

n“He can only use so many arrows. After that, he will be… relatively weak.”

nSydney raised an eyebrow.

n“How do you know that?”

nKairos shrugged his shoulders.

n“I found out by talking to him.”

nHarold furrowed his brows.

n“But what if he was lying?”

nKairos shook his head.

n“I have a good sense for when people lie. I’m ninety percent confident he was telling the truth.”

nNicole frowned slightly.

n“But that means there’s a ten percent chance…”

nKairos rolled his eyes.

n“If there really aren’t limitations in how he can shoot his arrows, then he would’ve just killed us straight away. He has no reason to team up with a bunch of random people like us.”

nSydney narrowed her eyes.

n“That… does seem to make sense.”

nKairos waved his hand dismissively.

n“Frankly, having him on our side is far better than provoking him now. He can easily assassinate people using his arrows.”

nNicole muttered.

n“O-Ok…”

nKairos sighed.

n“Anyways, we should eat a bit. Once we are done, let’s wake him up and set off.”

nHe pulled out his bag of bread, giving each person a slice. The other three also brought out a few things they brought from the grocery store. One thing Kairos gradually realized was that even after eating quite a bit, he still didn’t feel that full.

nSydney noticeably ate the most, with Nicole right after. Harold was the one that ate the least, and he also made a surprised comment about the other’s appetites.

nIt seemed like spending too many points could easily lead one to need more food as well. Kairos realized that they would probably need to restock more often, which wouldn’t be too hard.

nHowever, he couldn’t help but worry about the future. Hopefully, he would find a solution before then.

nAfter roughly thirty minutes, they finished up.

nAs for Chase, he was still sleeping. However, he had his brows furrowed, like there was some sort of bad dream.

nKairos coughed.

n“Hey, wake up.”

nChase did not wake up.

nKairos sighed and nudged his arm with the tip of his shoe.

n“Wake up.”

nSuddenly, Chase sat up with his eyes wide open. He had already raised his bow and conjured a mana arrow onto it.

nWhile Nicole and the others were afraid, Kairos simply clicked his tongue.

n“We allied up, remember? An enemy would silently slit your throat, not wake you up.”

nChase blinked a few times before lowering his bow.

n“Ah, right. Good morning.”

nKairos nodded.

n“Good morning.”

nChase looked down at the mana conjured arrow he created.

n“Hold on, I have to get rid of this thing.”

nHe then walked over to the windows blocked by bookshelves and easily pushed one aside with his shoulder. With an elbow, Chase smashed the window before aiming outside.

nAfter a few seconds, he released it.

nKairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

n“Did you hit something?”

nChase nodded.

n“One of the monsters right in the skull.”

nKairos blinked a few times.

n“You can hit things from that far away, huh?”

nChase laughed.

n“I’ve always been using a bow. My archery is probably one of the best.”

nKairos nodded.

n“Plus you can curve the arrows.”

nChase smirked.

n“Heh. So you saw it. I suppose dodging that arrow wasn’t all a fluke.”

nKairos shrugged his shoulders.

n“Anyway, let’s get to a grocery store.”

nHe turned to look at others and saw Nicole in particular was pouting silently.

n“Do any of you know a closeby grocery store?”

nSydney hummed to herself.

n“I do remember one along the way, yes.”

nAfter a few moments, Chase turned his head.

n“What do you mean by along the way?”

nKairos shrugged.

n“It just means the way we were traveling. There is a nearby grocery store, but we’ve already been there, so there’s no point in going back.”

nChase raised an eyebrow.

n“…Alright.”

nSydney seemed a little confused, but just nodded.

n“Alright, I can lead the way.”

nThe group got out of the school and immediately noticed that there were several bloodstains around the normally clean pavement.

nHarold sucked in a cold breath.

n“They were just outside the school it seems like.”

nChase nodded.

n“They are far more active during the night.”

nKairos let out a soft hum.

n“I suppose it won’t be too bad for us during the day.”

nWith that, Sydney led the way, passing by several houses. Along the way, Chase ate a few energy bars.

nAt some point, they encountered two monsters hiding in between the alleyways of the houses. However, Sydney was able to react in time, taking care of one while Harold dealt with the other. As for Chase, he didn’t even try to kill the monsters, seemingly uninterested in the points they offered.

nThey ended up seeing a few monsters through the windows of houses that were just sleeping. However, other than the slight scare, there were no issues.

nEventually, they arrived at another grocery store, lined up against several other shops. However, they weren’t the only people there.

nA set of cars had been lined up in a semi-circle around the grocery store entrance with quite a small group of bandits watching the perimeter. There was also a small group from the outside. The two sides seemed to be arguing with each other.

nHarold looked towards the others.

n“Maybe… we should avoid this grocery store.”

nChase laughed.

n“Oh come on. Don’t be so scared.”

nSydney furrowed her brows.

n“It’s called being smart!”

nKairos frowned.

n“I… I think we should still try.”

nNicole looked at him with widened eyes.

n“But why?”

nKairos shook his head.

n“Remember when I killed those monsters in the freezer while they were sleeping? They gave me a decent amount of points which I used to strengthen my body. It was my mistake doing so, as I didn’t realize it would increase my appetite by so much.”

nChase raised an eyebrow.

n“Monsters in the freezer? May you elaborate further?”

nKairos clicked his tongue.

n“I just killed monsters while they were sleeping. That’s all.”

nHarold tapped onto his chin.

n“But I don’t remember you eating that much.”

nKairos smiled bitterly.

n“That was because I decided not to eat too much. In reality, I’m actually really hungry.”

nNicole gasped.

n“Then why didn’t you eat more?”

nKairos adjusted his glasses.

n“I was planning on catching up at the grocery store.”

nSydney frowned.

n“Then let’s just go to the next grocery store.”

nChase smiled.

n“And what if that one is defended by even more people?”

nHarold clenched his fist.

n“We don’t know that!”

nKairos spoke softly.

n“But with every second, more people are taking the limited supplies from these stores. Since these people are willing to defend it, that must mean there is enough inside worth defending.”

nChase smirked.

n“Exactly.”

nNicole grit her teeth.

n“I guess we have to. If we want to… survive.”

nAnd so, the group walked towards the grocery store. Chase took the lead naturally as he did not bother slowing down.

nAs they got closer, they heard the conversation.

n“For the last goddamn time, you’re not getting in here!”

n“Please, I just need a little! Surely some of the food is about to spoil, right?”

nOne of the bandits was pointing what seemed to be a black pistol at a woman with two kids behind her.

nA few other bandits looked over, but didn’t act.

nThe one pointing the gun frowned.

n“I told you already, I don’t want to waste a bullet, but I will if I have to!”

nAs for the woman, she seemed rather desperate.

n“And I told you that I have no other option! My children and I don’t have anything to eat! T-There was supposed to be a sale today, so I wanted to wait a little for our groceries!”

nThe bandit furrowed his brows.

n“That’s none of our business, alright!”

nAs they walked closer, Harold cursed.

n“They have guns! How do they even have those? Guns are illegal!”

nSydney furrowed her brows.

n“The police station! They must’ve raided that place.”

nNicole clenched her fist.

n“We can’t fight people with guns! We have to turn away!”

nThough Kairos didn’t say anything, he essentially had the same opinion. He really didn’t expect people to just have guns. However, before he could call out that decision, Chase walked up nonchalantly, waving his hand.

n“Hey, we are here to take your food!”

nSeveral bandits already had their eyes on us, but now, they pointed their guns too.

n“Get out of here!”

n“We won’t hesitate to fire!”

n“We’ve already killed people before! Don’t test us!”

nKairos furrowed his brows, wondering what Chase’s plan could possibly be. Even assuming he had enough mana to kill all of them, the time it took to shoot the arrows would be more than enough for them to shoot multiple times.

nNonetheless, Kairos didn’t believe Chase was that stupid. And so, he simply watched.

nChase didn’t even pull the bow off his back. Instead, he spread his arms out wide, as though trying to welcome them.

n“Look, I’m just telling you what’s going to happen in advance because I’m nice, alright?”

nThe bandits seemed a little confused, but still kept their guns pointed at him.

n“Stay back!”

n“You want to get pumped full of lead?”

n“With how many of us there are, we are bound to hit you!”

nChase narrowed his eyes as a mocking smile formed on his face.

n“Oh, really?”

nThe bandits began glancing at each other, but quickly regained their confidence.

n“Yeah!”

n“Scram already!”

nChase lowered his head ever so slightly.

n“Well, before that, how about I tell you a story?”

nFrowns formed across the bandits’ faces. One of them cursed, tightening his grip around the pistol.

n“No, why should we care about your story?”

nChase continued on as though the bandits were actually an audience that couldn’t wait for his performance.

n“Haha, don’t get too excited! I will tell you the story now.”

nThe bandits looked at each other with clear confusion, now listening to a retelling.

nChase pointed towards the bow on his back.

n“I’ve always used the bow for most of my life, getting pretty good at it. In fact, there were several times where I went out hunting with it.”

nHe sighed as though recalling good memories.

n“I always had this one friend with me that was insistent on getting me to use guns instead of my bow. He was like me, but instead of liking bows, he was a gun nut.”

nOne of the bandits cursed.

n“We don’t care about your damn story!”

nChase held his hand up.

n“Don’t be so impatient! A proper story must also have proper pacing.”

nHe cleared his throat.

n“Anyway, we would always compete in hunting, to see who could get the most game. It was always pretty close, but I would win most of the time. In the end, my friend would blame the gun, constantly switching back and forth between various kinds.”

nChase chuckled.

n“And every time he brought a new gun, he would drone on about the various mechanisms and parts within it, showing me each feature. He ended up showing me nearly every gun in existence.”

nHe nodded to himself.

n“It was boring as all hell, but those were still some good times.”

nOne of the bandits held their gun out a little farther.

n“Alright, you told your story. Now leave!”

nChase tilted his head to the side.

n“It seems you didn’t realize why I told you that story…”

nA sinister smile formed on his face.

n