Apocalypse: Reborn with a Soul Sync Farming Space System-Chapter 120 Narrow Escape

Ronan was so stupefied that he remained in his spot, was it because of the infected’s blood on him or because he stopped moving, he couldn’t tell.

Then as if they were dissatisfied with their current prey, they left, glancing one last time at Ronan who looked nothing less than a statue.

The moment they climbed up the stairs to look for their next unfortunate prey, Ronan let out a deep breath. But that was enough to draw their attention back to him.

The moment the breath left his lips, one of the infected halted mid-step, its head snapping back toward him with unnatural sharpness and Ronan’s heart slammed violently against his ribs and he stopped breathing instantly.

The infected stared, and another one turned as well, its nostrils flaring slightly as if testing the air again, their red eyes locking onto him.

Ronan forced every muscle in his body to go slack, letting his shoulders droop slightly and his chin tilt forward, mimicking the posture he had observed in them. At the same time, his fingers loosened around the knife, allowing it to hang at his side instead of gripping it tightly.

One of the infected took a slow step down the stairs toward him, its feet dragging lightly against the concrete, and Ronan did not blink.

Black blood continued to drip from his hairline and down his jaw, coating his collar and soaking through his shirt, masking the warmth of his own scent beneath the stench of decayed blood.

The infected stopped two steps above him and leaned forward slightly, its face hovering only a few inches from his own, and Ronan could see fresh flesh caught between its teeth, its skin torn in several places yet unaware of the damage.

’Oh dear lord, deliver me from these demons... save me.’ Ronan prayed in his head. He was never a believer, but now that he was in this predicament he would believe anything.

It sniffed again, then again as if it could not exactly tell what it was smelling. Meanwhile, Ronan’s lungs burned but he dared not inhale, nor swallow, nor make any movement.

Seconds stretched unbearably long almost like forever. As if deciding he was no longer worth attention, the infected’s head tilted away and it turned back toward the upper floors, drawn once again by the distant screams echoing faintly through the building.

The other followed, their footsteps retreating upward while Ronan remained frozen for several more seconds, unwilling to believe that it was over.

Only when the sounds faded completely did he let out a small sigh.

He did not wipe the blood away...he did not dare; instead, he lowered his gaze slightly and began descending the remaining steps, mimicking the slow, unsteady gait he had seen from the infected, not too fast and not too cautious, just another moving infected in the chaos.

When he reached the first-floor corridor, two infected moved past him without hesitation, one brushing against his shoulder lightly and leaving a smear of darker blood across his sleeve. Yet, he did not react and allowed his body to sway slightly with the contact before continuing forward.

The air was thick with red mist and bodies lay scattered along the hallway, some still twitching faintly while others had already gone still, and he kept his head angled downward because movement attracted attention. He held his breath, avoiding inhaling the red mist.

He reached the stairwell again and descended to the ground floor as gunshots rang out faintly from the direction of the lobby. The gunshots were fewer now, the defenders were either overwhelmed or retreating.

Two infected rushed past him, drawn toward the sound of gunshots, and they did not spare him a glance.

Ronan understood then that the black blood had done more than mask his scent, it had blurred him into the background, and as long as he did not act human they would not treat him as one.

He moved down the side corridor leading away from the main entrance, careful to avoid stepping directly into bright patches of light, his knife remaining loosely held at his side, ready but hidden within the natural angle of his arm.

An infected staggered out of a storage room ahead of him and paused, its head turning toward him as Ronan slowed slightly and let his posture slacken further.

The infected approached him, closing the distance slowly until it stopped less than an arm’s length away, its gaze sweeping over his blood-soaked clothes before it sniffed.

Ronan’s heart pounded so violently he feared it would betray him, yet outwardly he remained still.

The infected let out a low growl that was not directed at him, then turned away abruptly and moved toward another corridor where faint crying could be heard, and Ronan continued walking step by step.

When he reached the back hallway near the staff section, the noise diminished and fewer infected roamed this part of the floor, most drawn toward the remaining humans.

He slipped through the door marked "Staff Only" and entered the narrow service corridor, and only when he was certain no infected were directly watching did he allow his pace to quicken slightly.

The janitor’s office stood at the end of the passage, and he reached it luckily without further incident before opening the door carefully and slipping inside, closing it without making a sound as the lock clicked softly.

He stood there for a long moment listening, but no footsteps followed and no growls lingered outside, only distant chaos from the rest of the building.

His legs began to tremble now that the immediate threat had passed, and he dragged the desk in front of the door and reinforced it with a metal shelf, though he knew it would not hold if several of them decided to force their way through.

He slid down behind the desk and pressed his back against the wall as black blood continued to drip from his hair onto the floor in slow drops, his shoulder throbbing where the teeth had grazed him, and his lungs still burning from holding his breath.

...

Tears blurred his vision as he finally thought of his family, he wondered if they were safe. The wound on his shoulder throbbed painfully as if something was growing inside, it felt like thousands of needles piercing through his flesh.