The bus containing Leon, Selene, and the other twenty plus students drove down the road at a slow pace.

The buses had to stop occasionally, since the road ahead was heavily blocked.

The evolvers got down and pushed away the obstacles blocking their paths, and only then could they drive forward.

As they rode past the streets, they caught sight of a few zombies, but those ones were easily taken care of by Selene.

"Stop the bus," She said abruptly, surprising the driver. He complied and stopped the bus. Only then did he notice where they were.

"We’re getting down to get some provisions from the station."

They had stopped at a popular fuel station with a supermarket behind it.

Ten students came down from the bus under Selene’s lead and went inside the supermarket.

Most of them were females, and after a moment of thought, Leon realized they might have gone inside to get feminine supplies.

Waiting by the bus with Richard and Fel, he looked around curiously.

Looking at the untouched fuel pumps, Leon considered getting more fuel, but there wasn’t any container to keep them, so he abandoned the idea.

Realizing that he was getting bored and impatient, he decided to speak to someone.

"Hey, Richard." He called out to the guy beside him, who turned immediately.

"Yes, boss?"

He didn’t know who asked them all to start calling him boss, but he wasn’t against it, at least.

"What course were you studying?"

The black-haired boy blinked a few times, surprised, then scratched the back of his head.

"Uh... Veterinary Medicine."

Hearing this, Leon was slightly intrigued. "Oh? You love animals?"

Richard smiled and nodded. "Yeah. They’re really cute and adorable creatures. Especially sheep."

"Eh?"

Fel, who had been listening in on their conversation, couldn’t hide her surprise when she heard this. How could he say a sheep was adorable? Yes, they were cute, but he didn’t have to add ’especially’, right?

Seeing both men’s attention turned to her, she immediately turned away and squirmed awkwardly.

Leon chuckled softly and looked at Richard. "So you love animals, right? You should be prepared to tame some mutated beasts, then."

"Huh?" Confused, his mouth hung open as he looked at Leon.

That was when the young man smiled and took out an ability scroll from his bag, passing it to him.

[Ability: Beast Taming - Can bring any beast with lower mental strength than the user, under their control permanently]

Richard’s eyes widened in surprise, stammering as he alternated his gaze between Leon and the scroll.

"I... b-boss... this..."

Leon rolled his eyes. "Don’t waste my time. Learn it now. We’ll test it once we get a chance. Got it?"

Richard continued staring at him in a daze for a few seconds, then clutched the scroll tightly.

He had been anticipating a moment when he would get his own ability. However, luck wasn’t really on his side. No matter how much he killed, he had never gotten an ability scroll.

Yet today, he had received one freely from Leon. Happiness couldn’t describe the emotion he was currently feeling. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Smiling foolishly, he learned the ability, letting it dissolve into ashes in his hand.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the necessary steps and processes needed to use the ability, appearing in his mind.

"I know what to do." He said confidently, then gave an awkward military salute. "I won’t disappoint you, boss."

Leon was about to reply when his ears caught the sound of vehicles approaching their location.

He immediately became alert and turned towards the source of the sounds. Sensing the change in his demeanor, Richard and Fel got alert, also gazing into the distance.

In less than a minute, two police vehicles appeared from a corner, driving straight towards them.

Leon’s eyes narrowed, and he reached for his weapon.

Noticing them too, the police cars slowed down and stopped at a safe distance. Then, the car doors opened, and four people alighted from the cars.

They were all dressed in police uniforms with guns hung at their waists, but they all had medieval weapons with them, proving that they were evolvers too.

The lead officer, a man with broad shoulders and narrowed eyes, cautiously walked up to Leon while taking a glance at the strange bus behind him.

"Hello there, young man." He smiled and waved amicably.

Leon didn’t smile back, but simply lowered his hand from the hilt of his weapon.

"Hello."

Seeing him lower his hand, the man sighed in relief.

"I’m Officer Lauren, and I’m wondering where your group of survivors has come from?"

With the man speaking in a polite tone, Leon also relaxed slightly.

"We’re from the Clifford University not far from here."

The man was surprised and looked back at his teammates.

"That’s good. Very good. As you probably know, we’re the police, and we’ve created a shelter for the people we could save, not far away from here."

Leon nodded, then glanced at the supermarket in the fuel station.

Selene and the others walked out of the supermarket with some items packed in bags with them, and were surprised to see the police.

After ushering the regular students back into the bus, Selene, Leon, and Reymond decided to have a proper meeting with Officer Lauren and his team of three.

"So you said you guys built a shelter close to your station. Is that correct?" Selene asked, sounding like an interrogator.

Officer Lauren felt awkward dealing with her, but he still offered a smile and nodded.

"Understood." She said curtly. "Then, does this shelter belong to the government—are you still working as the police force?"

A conflicted emotion crossed the man’s eyes, and he shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no. We haven’t gotten in contact with our superiors, or the government at large. So we’re merely operating as an independent force. Also, there are others who are not police officers among our ranks."

Reymond’s expression darkened at the information. No contact with the government meant the White House hadn’t stabilized itself yet.

Or perhaps it had completely collapsed with the arrival of the apocalypse.

Looking straight into the officer’s eyes, Leon folded his arms and said, "In that case, we’d like to check out your camp and see if we can stay temporarily."