The apocalypse is profitable!

I knew that the zombie was stronger than me, both from my knowledge of the anime and from logic. His body no longer had the limits on his muscles. If he managed to grab me, it was game over.

So I used the reach that my sword provided and swung it at his neck. What I didn't expect was for the sword to pass through his neck as if it were cutting through water, causing the zombie's head to go flying and its body to fall to the ground.

"Okay?" I was confused. I know that a zombie's flesh should be weaker due to decay, but that should happen after it rots! The guy had literally just been bitten!

I'm sure I didn't suddenly gain super strength, so there's something about these zombies. They were too weak, slow, blind, dumb! There was no way the apocalypse could spread the way it was spreading. The virus wasn't even transmitted through the air, only through bites!

The only 'plausible' explanation I had was that this world was basically a half-assed soft hentai, since the protagonists were high school students and wouldn't survive if the zombies were stronger.

Seriously, as long as I wasn't a complete idiot, there was no way these zombies could even touch me. Ignoring my armor, I still had the double jump and the slime hook. The only threats to me in this world were the humans.

[RedHuntressLive]: YEAHHH! Take that, zombie!!! A clean cut and death! (Little Red Riding Hood emote jumping frantically).

It was strange that Red enjoyed seeing me kill zombies so much, but I guess she didn't see them as humans, not even as living beings, really.

Thinking about it, I was fine killing these guys too. I'm sure I couldn't kill a human in cold blood like this, but they weren't humans, at least not anymore. The moment my brain associated them with zombies, I basically felt nothing.

Swinging the blood off my sword, I picked up the zombie's body and put it in my inventory.

[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Again with this?! Are you going to eat this one too? Because you keep storing everything you kill inside! (Indignant Iron Man emote).

"He tried to eat me, so it's only fair that I eat him." I made the most serious face I could while saying that. Of course, I wouldn't eat the zombies, not to mention that their flesh had a virus I knew nothing about. They were too similar to humans for me to even think about eating them.

No, I was going to see if I could use their bodies for something. For now, I'll stockpile everything from this world, from medicine and weapons to rotten zombie flesh!

[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: You're joking, right? You can tell me, seriously! It's a joke, right? (Worried Iron Man emote).

[WiseWizardGleam]: I wonder what these zombies would taste like, could you save some for me if you can, my friend?

[RedHuntressLive]: Thinking about it, they actually seem quite appetizing. (Little Red Riding Hood emote drooling with hunger).

[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: What! Am I surrounded by lunatics? Did everyone suddenly go crazy?

I'm glad that Red and Wizard joined in on the joke; it just makes things funnier.

While Stark went crazy in the (CHAT), genuinely thinking that we wanted to eat dead people's flesh, I continued walking through the streets of this city that I still didn't know the name of, killing zombies.

Basically, I had no trouble walking and killing zombies. It was like a walk in the park. I just needed to make sure my sword hit their necks, and a head would roll.

I just had to be careful not to get their blood in my mouth or eyes. I didn't know if this virus was transmitted through all kinds of fluids or just through bites, like super rabies.

I continued killing the zombies, only stopping every few minutes to enter a store and grab basically everything inside and put it in my inventory. I spared none of them, whether it was a pharmacy, bar, clothing store, or manga store. If it was even remotely useful, I'd go in and loot everything quickly.

I didn't even need to organize the items; I basically shoved everything into my inventory, and the VoidBag did the rest. I checked to see if anything had broken, but I only found what was essentially a neatly organized supermarket inside the small bag I carried at my waist.

[YellowHuntressLive]: Seriously, dude, stop smiling like that, it's creepy. (Emote of the golden box with a "stop" sign).

[WhiteHuntressLive]: You look like a maniac! It's only not worse than this thing next to me! (Emote of a frightened Snow White).

[RedHuntressLive]: KILL ALL THE ZOMBIES!!!!!

Look who's here. Looking at the viewers, I saw there were eight of them; almost everyone was here. I raised my hand and, putting it on my face, I didn't even have to turn around to look at my reflection in the window of a store to know I was grinning from ear to ear.

Relaxing my muscles, I let the smile on my face fade, but I couldn't help the little smile that adorned my lips.

"My bad, I'm just excited! I feel like I'm finally making progress! When I'm done with this world, I'll have enough resources to put some plans into action!" I was no longer a broke loser!

[YellowHuntressLive]: I get it, joy and all, but try to contain yourself, I already have to deal with Ruby and her obsession with bad zombie movies, one of her is too much!

[BlakeHuntressLive]: I'm just glad I'm not there, the smell must be horrible!

[WiseWizardGleam]: It's a tragedy that this has happened to this world and these people. Just be careful, my friend, not to get carried away. (Emote of an old wizard with wise eyes).

Shaking my head, I calmed down; Wizard was right. I was taking advantage of a tragedy, the least I could do was act rationally and seriously. I may not be responsible for what happened to this world, but I'll treat it with seriousness.

I went back to killing and looting, but now more seriously, not treating everything like a big party.

I spent the next few hours doing that, killing, looting, walking, and repeating it all. I lost count of how many zombies I killed, but it must have been in the three digits. My sword, as well-made and sharp as it was, at this point, was more like a club than a sword, forcing me to use my copper sword.

I knew this could happen, so I bought sharpening stones for maintenance; I just didn't think it would happen so quickly, not even a day had passed.

Now here I was, with only my short copper sword to kill the zombies. Because of its shorter range, I had to put basically all my attention on the zombies to avoid any surprises. The sun was setting, and the decreasing natural light didn't help either.

Because of this, I hadn't noticed that I was in a familiar place; somehow, I had entered a school parking lot. I only realized where I was when I heard screams in the distance.

Following the sound of the screams, I realized why the scenery seemed familiar when I saw the school bus and the group of students running toward it.

It was even funny; I had spent hours in the city without finding a single living soul, only dead bodies wanting to increase their numbers, and the first living person I heard led me to the ball of trouble that was the protagonists.

What did I do? Of course, I ran towards them. I knew they were trouble, and I didn't need to stay close to them. Killing zombies alone for three months would earn me SP, and that's all I needed. I didn't even need company since I had the stream viewers to chat with.

But I would be crazy not to think that this unreliable stream didn't have some hidden side quest. It didn't explain anything to me, didn't show me anything. What guarantees me that I only have the main mission?

Hastening my steps, I killed a few zombies that were near me and headed towards the bus. The first person who noticed me was a chubby guy, with a shy appearance wearing glasses.

As I got closer, I could recognize him. It was Kohta, one of the three characters from that anime whose name I remembered. I remembered his because he was the kind of guy everyone would want as a friend in an apocalypse.

He turned and said some things I didn't hear because of the distance. Soon, the rest of the people who were guarding the bus door noticed me and were also looking at me.

Before I could say anything, I heard another scream. Turning in the direction it came from, I saw a boy lying on the ground with broken glasses, just before the horde of zombies attacked him.

"Come quickly! Or we'll leave without you!"

Taking my eyes off the boy being devoured alive, I didn't even respond to the person who called me and ran to get on the bus, killing the few zombies that tried to attack me along the way.

Jumping onto the bus and seeing that no one else was behind me, I slammed the doors shut and yelled for the driver to start and accelerate. She must have taken that very literally because the speed at which the bus started threw me into the seat behind me.

Which, in the end, was good because the crazy woman behind the wheel decided it was a good idea to run over every zombie in her path instead of trying to avoid them.

Damn, I had to hold onto the seat to keep from falling on the floor. She was going to flip the damn bus at this rate! It hadn't even been two minutes, and I already regretted coming here!

By some divine grace, the bus didn't flip, and she managed to get us out of the school grounds, heading down a road back into the city.

When I realized I wasn't at risk of being part of the dumbest traffic accident ever witnessed by man, my muscles relaxed, and I leaned back in the seat behind me. Before I could introduce myself, I heard a conversation starting in the seats behind me.

"Thank you for saving us, you're the leader, Busujima-san?" I swear, I had to restrain my body from getting up and punching the guy in the face. He gave off such a creepy vibe that my body wanted to attack him on instinct.

As far as I remembered, this guy was the teacher, Shibo? Shito? Something like that. I didn't care enough about him to remember anything except that he was a jerk.

The second person whose name I remembered in this world responded to the freak who somehow managed to reach adulthood.

"We don't have a leader. Our survival is the result of teamwork."

Saeko didn't even bother turning her head to look at the guy, just glancing sideways as she continued to clean her wooden sword. I remembered her name mainly because she basically carried the anime on her back.

The worm that looked human made a face that gave me the creeps.

"This isn't good. We need a leader to survive." He paused. "Someone capable of anything."

[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Seriously, is it just me or is this guy way too weird? Weird in the way you hide your kids when he passes by. (Emote of disgusted Iron Man).

[WhiteHuntressLive]: I'll have to agree, I didn't think I could find anyone grosser than Cardin, but this guy takes all the prizes. (Emote of disgusted Snow White).

[BlakeHuntressLive]: I'm surprised he hasn't been arrested yet. Just his face should count as evidence of possible crimes he's committed!

[TechTycoonStane]: I've met some strange people in my life, but this guy is one of the strangest. Tony, if we have someone like this at the company, remind me to call the police. (Emote of disgusted Iron Monk).

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who didn't like the guy.

A girl to my right practically hissed at the guy next to her. "You're going to regret this," she said, looking at the boy. I was surprised that the boy didn't melt right there with the venom that came out of her mouth. "You'll definitely regret saving him."

Before she could continue, Kohta yelled when the burning city appeared from behind the trees. Most people on the bus let out incredulous sighs; those who didn't stare at the burning city fell silent, just watching the smoke rising from the buildings.

As I looked at the destruction happening in the city, someone coughed to get my attention.

"Ahem! And who would you be?"

The last person whose name I remembered, Saya, pointed her finger at me and said loudly. I remembered her name for personal reasons; I had a weakness for tsunderes. I blame the pocket tiger, the void mage, and the master of the red archer for that.

Still seated, I put my copper sword down and smiled as I waved.

"I'm not very well-versed in Japanese customs, but as far as I know, it's impolite to ask someone's name without introducing yourself first." Utter nonsense, it was the apocalypse, to hell with etiquette. But I knew it was so ingrained in their culture that she would do something, as she did.

She blushed a bit and apologized, saying with a polite voice while bowing, which worked wonders for her not-so-small breasts.

Seriously, I had to concentrate not to stare at her chest. Stark didn't have this problem.

[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Damn, she's a high schooler, isn't she? What did she eat to have a pair like that? And it's not just her, is it something in the water in this world? (Emote of incredulous Iron Man).

[StarkAssistant]: Tony! She must be what? Sixteen, seventeen? At most eighteen years old! Are you really going to say that!

[RedHuntressLive]: I'm glad Devas warned me that Stark was a bad influence. (Emote of Little Red Riding Hood nodding in agreement).

[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Hey, hey! Don't put words in my mouth, I was just commenting. She may have nice breasts, but she's too young for my taste.

Ignoring the (CHAT), I returned my attention to her when she started speaking.

"I apologize for my lack of manners. My name is Takagi Saya." She stood up immediately and pointed at me again, resuming the loud tone of voice.

"Now, who are you? You're too old to be a student at our school, and I don't remember having any staff with your face, besides the fact that you're wearing armor!"

Right on all points, it would be right to ask me that, of course, if it weren't for the apocalypse! And I wasn't that old; I was twenty-one!

I turned my head to look at the other people on the bus and then returned my attention to her.

"Of course, I'm not a student at your school, God forbid I have to go back to high school." I leaned back in the chair; my shoulders were killing me; swinging a sword all day was tiring.

"Nor am I a staff member. I just ended up on the school grounds because I got caught in the middle of the chaos that happened in the city by surprise." I waved towards the window, as if to prove my point, an explosion occurred in one of the buildings.

She turned and looked at me incredulously.

I raised my hands. "I swear I had nothing to do with that."

She shook her head and pointed her finger at me again; that was indeed impolite.

"And the armor! Are you going to tell me you went back home, put on the armor, and then came back to the street?" She moved closer with each word, perhaps trying to intimidate me? By the last one, she was practically in my face.

She was more beautiful up close than from a distance; her eyes were a light brown, almost golden, they were beautiful. But what caught my attention the most was her hair; it seemed like they took the "strawberry blonde" color very seriously here.

I blinked, regaining my focus. Funny, I was covered in blood and had a sword in my right hand, and even sitting down, I was the same height as her; she would probably reach at most my chest when standing. Her attempt at intimidation was as effective as a hamster puffing up its cheeks. Cute.

Tilting my face forward, she retreated in embarrassment, her face turning red when she felt my nose touch hers. I held back the smile that threatened to appear on my face and said:

"I'm an enthusiast for armor, weapons, basically everything medieval; I have a collection at home." I was surprised the bus wasn't reeking with the amount of BS I was spewing.

"I'm wearing one today because I lost a bet with a friend while drinking. The bet's punishment was that I had to wear my armor all day today." Shrugging, I continued.

"Lucky for me, I would have died out there without it. I need to thank my friend later."

She opened her mouth to try to respond but seemed to find no words and sat back down.

I raised an eyebrow at her and said as I waved towards the group of protagonists.

"So, could you introduce me?"