The two people, now on an elevated platform, acted as if nothing was amiss from the ordinary and casually polished their blades from time to time.

A wounded man furrowed his brows and held his seven year old daughter tight, not wanting to accept the cruelty that was in front of them.

The titan zombie inched closer and closer—until it finally happened. He swung the thick log in his hands and bashed it towards the nearest person, bashing again and again until he were unrecognizable from a mush of meat.

The situation erupted into chaos. The horde began stampeding into the opposite path, fleeing into all different directions.

Some people had begun scaling the 40–foot wall near the right side of the gate, others crawled helplessly through the open canal to the left, despite the risk of the other side's destination being unknown.

Lucien and Grey naturally went with the flow of the crowd in order to not get crushed by the vast amount of people, and were left facing a cold, concrete wall.

Lucien's brows inadvertently knitted; he held his breath and closed his eyes, as the sound of marching feet became louder and louder.

He ducked his head and cleared his mind. This was it. It was the end. Nothing beyond this point would matter to him anymore; and so, he prepared for death.

Grey glanced over at Lucien's expression of "It's over and i'm accepting my fate," and found it quite endearing. He proceeded to pat his back to soothe the anxious little thing.

The sound of the whirring blades woke Lucien up from his turbulent mind, and when he looked up he saw what appeared to be an Iron Angel of Mercy coming in to save the day.

Although what he claimed came off as an overstatement, Grey had really called in his team so that they could bring in one of his helicopters from the base and pick them up.

The helicopter had quickly descended, and the two managed to get on and escape by the ends of their hair.

Lucien felt the sweat off his back become cold. He thought that they were about to witness their end and go to a point of no return.

In real life, there is no "save point" nor spawn point.

But he was lucky to have Grey on his side. Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered his goal for applying into a base—and it was to secure a golden thigh!

The flashiest of them all was standing there right beside him... he cartoonishly started to salivate in the back of his head.

Although he was initially a bit resentful toward him for not telling him earlier that the helicopter would come, still he was grateful that they managed to avoid a high level threat.

When they arrived at the supermarket base's rooftop, Lucien couldn't contain his fanboy heart from screaming.

Everything from top to bottom rocked that rugged and tough vibe. Just the view from up top reminded him of the sort of ambience that came from EVE.

And seeing Gray standing amidst the soft orange glow of the sunset painted a picture in his mind of his character, his hair gently swaying with the breeze as he gazed at him with determined eyes.

If back then he was still skeptic and couldn't accept the truth, now along with the added proof of the polaroids, he could wholeheartedly trust that he was the man whom he created a myriad of memories with.

One by one, men in black matte suits came forward in a vertical parallel line and respectfully bowed.

"We're glad you came back safe, sir!"

Grey casually nodded and glanced back at the sinking sunset, he ordered his men to close and secure the base before nightfall.

The two went down the staircase that was dimly lit. Lucien found that he couldn't make out the steps in the dark and stopped in his tracks, only to mistakenly put a hand on Grey's shoulder.

The footsteps that dropped in a steady pace suddenly paused. Grey turned halfway, pausing, and clasped Lucien's hand, bringing it next to his side and holding it tight.

"Sorry for the lack of lights. Let's take our time."

He matched Lucien's pace and readjusted his position so that the other could be on the side where it was slightly brighter.

The atmosphere was silent yet unawkward, and the longer they walked the more the other party observed their prolonged physical contact.

When Grey first held Lucien's hand, Lucien's felt an electric "zap" from where he touched him and his mind started to race; his palms broke into a sweat. He couldn't understand why, a simple touch could make his brain turn on it's alarm bells. 

And the longer they stayed that way, the more Lucien thought that his heart would beat out of his chest, and Grey would immediately take note of it.

It's like a debuff was placed onto him, and a poison was stacked onto it! Because of his embarrassed state, he walked down the steps even slower, drawing out their point of contact.

Soon enough, they managed to reach the bottom floor. Lucien couldn't focus on what was happening, and his mind was stuck on that moment and sensation of the two hands interlocking each other.

Grey released his fingers from Lucien's hand, but he saw that Lucien would only let go after a few seconds have passed.

He briefly peeked at the other boy's complexion, and saw that he had a dazed look as well as a hint of red flushed onto his cheeks.

It appears that his little companion was quite shy, and he came off a bit too strong.

Oh well, it's best to take it easy for now but he ought to get used to it soon, he thought.

Grey led Lucien to the dining hall, where many of his workers came to eat or hang out during break time.

He didn't know for how long Lucien had not eaten, or had any underlying sickness since the start of the apocalypse, so he planned to have him checked by his personal physician after filling his stomach.

The scent of warm, baked bread wafted in the air. Lucien followed the trace of the scent and saw a long line of people queuing to get some food.

He picked up a metal tray and started filling it, with rice, spam, mashed potatoes, bread, and a side of salad.

It could presumably be said that since the owner of the base is a supermarket tycoon, Grey could still continue to serve his people with regular nutritious food and meats during an apocalypse because of the high amount of preparation and stored food in his warehouses.

While the others had to rely on scavenging or raiding other bases, his own base faced no troubles especially with food, and was practically all rounded regarding all other aspects such as protection or healing his people.

In fact, these past few days a surge of survivors had begun applying for shelter in his base in exchange for their abilities, and Grey as expected only allowed those that showed a proficient expertise in their work.

Lucien was oblivious to what his in-game friend was doing behind the scenes, and the amount of preparation he had done beforehand to become a whale in the apocalypse.

Whales are what are often referred to as people that spend a ton of cash to win a game, or to have a higher ranking in the leaderboards.

But it could be said that Grey didn't rely solely on his power alone, but strategized his plans once he knew that the apocalypse was coming.

This popped Lucien's bubble of focus on the food, and this train of thought led him to become even more curious about Grey's identity.

While stabbing a piece of lettuce with a fork, Lucien lifted his eyes to glance at Grey.

A startled expression made it's way to his face, almost like he got caught staring at something he shouldn't. 

Grey fixed this look immediately, and returned back to a more calm countenance.

This caught Lucien off guard, as before he sported such a look, he noticed that he had a gaze that had a deep and tender look, almost like he was admiring someone very dear to him.

Lucien bowed his head and something started burning inside of him. 

This was the second time that "zap" had struck him, although not as strong as the previous one, 

he could feel his composure fraying at the edges.

He bought the fork near his mouth and continued eating again, trying to gain back a sense of calmness.

After their time at the dining hall, Grey had Lucien get a quick check up with his physician to check for any injuries.

There were no abnormalities with the report, although Grey had him checked twice to make sure there weren't any oversights.

They eventually moved on to showing Lucien where he'll sleep for the night.

Walking through the hallways, Lucien had an ominous feeling about what was about to come.

Authors Note: Guys... i've just realized that I have made over 3 cover art pieces for this novel alone! How amazing is that!? Let's look at them one by one... (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆

First ever cover:

 

Second and current cover:

 

Last and most recently new cover i made for webnovel:

Does anyone else see the art improvement? Just me? Im kind of getting a little emotional now writing this.. T_T

Which one do you guys like the most? Comment down below! I might change it to that!