'The bastard's finally here.'

The monster would be coming through one of the many roads leading out of the city, then go around in a cycle hunting cadets still hiding in the outskirts before heading into the city.

It would take around a day to finish the job. This meant we had to be within the middle layers by tomorrow, no matter the cost.

I sighed before dismissing the notification, trying to focus on the darkness outside to distract myself. Thinking about it too much would only give me needless anxiety.

Yet as though it was trying to piss me off, not even ten minutes after I'd dismissed the notification, three new ones suddenly popped up, all in quick succession.

[A Cadet has been eliminated. Remaining Cadets: 105]

[A Cadet has been eliminated. Remaining Cadets: 104]

[A Cadet has been eliminated. Remaining Cadets: 103]

'Squad wipe.'

I clenched my teeth anxiously.

'That monster really doesn't waste any time, does it?'

I sighed before dismissing the interface entirely. There was no point in hearing any more. I suddenly felt deeply jealous of the two figures sleeping in their sleeping rolls.

'This is going to be a long night.'

---

Maki's voice pierced straight through the sweet haze of sleep.

"Victor!"

I dragged myself up tiredly, forcefully rubbing out the remnants of sleep still clinging to my eyes. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

Lily glanced between me and Maki before speaking.

"Did you guys also get a notification about some Predator?"

Maki answered, while I merely nodded in response.

"Yes."

However, for some strange reason Maki kept staring straight at me.

"What?"

The girl just shrugged.

"I figured you'd know something about it."

I gave her my best confused look.

"Why would I?"

"I don't know, it's just a feeling."

'Why did I make her so fucking paranoid?'

The girl kept her stare on me, but I didn't budge. Right before it reached the point of becoming uncomfortable, she suddenly shifted her gaze back to Lily.

"There's also been a massive wave of deaths. Almost forty-five died last night."

I groaned internally.

'I didn't need to know that.'

Actively following the number of deaths would only further my anxiety. Just knowing a large amount had died was enough.

Maki looked back to me.

"Do you think it has anything to do with this Predator?"

I answered her seriously this time.

"Most likely."

Before anyone could ask why, I quickly added my explanation.

"Think about it: the casualty rate is more than double that of the first night. There was no blizzard, and the first wave of deaths only began when the Predator announcement was made."

I paused a bit, before continuing.

"I don't have any idea what this Predator is. But we need to make sure we stay the hell away from it, and that can only be by going deeper into the city."

Lily asked.

"What makes you so sure it's not in the city?"

I answered her with a question.

"Where do you think those 45 cadets were more likely to have been, the outskirts or the city?"

That was enough to keep her quiet. Maki seemed to have accepted my explanation as well, even though she still kept scanning me with a suspicious look.

Fortunately she didn't push me.

After a delightful breakfast of cold monster legs, I ascended to the rooftop to start scanning the area. The layout of the roof was quite familiar from the architecture of my former life.

It was a square-shaped floor, with raised edges and the remains of former AC units strewn around its surface. I crouched before moving to the edge facing the city.

Resting my crossbow on the elevated portion of the building, I began my examination.

The blizzard had buried the city under at least a foot of fresh snow, wiping out any possible traces we'd made on the road here. It would've also served to give Shamblers the perfect ambush positions here.

But luckily, one of the perks of the city was the fact that the ambush-type Shamblers had mostly been chased out. The only ones we'd find here would be hordes, which were a potentially much more dangerous proposition than just ambush Shamblers.

Shifting my gaze further down the city, I began combing for my target.

'There.'

At the very edge of the central district lay a half-destroyed skyscraper. The base was damaged but still largely intact, but the top, however, was a collapsed skeletal frame.

Unfortunately, the skyscraper wasn't directly in the same line as the building we used for our current shelter. This meant we'd have to move diagonally across both the outer and middle rings to get to it.

What's more, I couldn't get a clear view of the exact path we needed to take through both rings to get to it, due to some taller buildings in the middle layer blocking my view.

But that was fine, I hadn't been aiming directly for the inner ring either. Instead I locked onto one of the buildings blocking my view of our meeting point.

I scanned it, only to sigh in relief the moment I found a fire escape ladder stretched across the entirety of its length.

'Target locked.'

I began tracing a path towards it. Avoiding any major roads was a point of particular importance in the process. In the end I found one; it involved going through a system of multiple wide and narrow alleys, though we'd need to cut across a main road to get there.

'There shouldn't be many problems if we just run there.'

Hopefully.

Either way, I took it as a relatively reasonable risk in order to get to our target on time. Plus, compared to other possible routes, it had the least amount of figures moving within it.

I gave it a final scan, trying to burn the picture of the path onto my brain, when I suddenly remembered I could just take a picture.

Chick

A capture sound played in my mind, as a picture of the view popped up in the corner of my vision. I inspected it for accuracy, before saving.

It was time to head down.

Still crouching, I carefully retreated to the roof, crossbow still in tow. There I found Maki and Lily waiting on the staircase.

"Did you find a path?"

"Not directly, but I did find one leading to a building in the middle layer. We can use that as a checkpoint for today, before making it to the central layer."

I sent her the picture I took, with the path highlighted.

"Do you think you can follow it?"

The girl stared into nothingness for a few seconds, holding a contemplative look on her face. Eventually she blinked before nodding.

"I think so,"

"Alright, then. Let's get moving."

She nodded, pausing before adding.

"Same formation."

We went back to the tenth floor, packing our bags and gearing up before setting out.

The moment we reached the ground floor, Lily suddenly warned.

"Movement!"

I crouched, my flashlight rapidly combing around the room in search of the culprit.

'Another monster got in?'

It wouldn't be too surprising though, given that this building's front door was practically useless.

But Lily added, her face scrunched.

"It's outside."

I hadn't seen anything right outside the building during my scan.

"It... no, they are coming from the direction of the outskirts. I sense three signatures."

I started growing a certain suspicion at that sentence; looking at Maki, the girl seemed to be contemplating something as well.

'Are they Cadets?'

While I'd said it would be rather difficult to actually run into a cadet in the trial, it wasn't completely impossible. Plus, there was a sort of exception to this difficulty.

There were only about six roads leading in and out of the city from different directions. All cadets were spawned in the outskirts.

So while combing the large area of the outskirts or city for cadets was nigh impossible, the roads helped funnel them.

After all, if they hadn't been killed by the Predator in the outskirts, then they'd eventually have to take the journey to the city.

Meaning camping at the roads gave one a much higher chance of running into cadets. Our current location was right next to one such major road.

'Why didn't I think of that?'

What's more, with the Predator ravaging across the outskirts, there would only be more cadets trying to make it to the city now.

'Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions, we aren't even sure if they are cadets.'

Maki turned to face us, before putting a hand to her lips and pointing upwards. Then she moved back towards the staircase, we both followed silently.

The moment we reached it, we moved towards one of the cracked windows facing the road. Pressing my face against the glass, I managed to get a view of the surroundings, even through its dirty surface.

Three haggard figures walked wearily down the street. Although none of them had backpacks, I still found them wearing very familiar-looking coats.

My lips stretched into a wry grin.

"Oh, they're definitely Cadets."

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