First Class Through the Apocalypse

Chapter 006

Almost all the surrounding dirt houses had wooden doors, and Caleb Mercer swept through them like a plague of locusts, knocking down and taking every single one he saw. Meanwhile, Sylvia Hale and Sophie Hale searched the vicinity for any usable items.

As he walked, Caleb suddenly locked his gaze on a large tree not far away, which happened to be the only large tree in the entire town, and the system ability that allowed him to see things others could not automatically activated.

[Chopping this down will yield one hundred units of wood.]

"Holy crap, I never expected this ability to be this overpowered!"

Muttering to himself, Caleb quickly walked over to the large tree and looked up.

"But I do not even have an axe right now, so how am I supposed to chop this down? Do they expect me to gnaw on it with my teeth like a beaver?"

He let out a sigh. "Forget it, I should just look around to see if there is anything else I can use nearby."

Shaking his head, Caleb temporarily abandoned the idea of chopping down the massive tree. He walked into a slightly larger house, took the front door with him as per his new routine, and then scanned the interior of the room.

[An ordinary floor... ordinary weeds... a red pair of underwear of unknown age that you could use as a hat...]

As he scanned the area, the names and descriptions of items popped up wherever Caleb rested his gaze. Unfortunately, this house was just as devastatingly poor and empty as the others. Stepping out of the courtyard, he shifted his gaze toward a dried-up well not too far away.

[A well that has been dry for a long time, but it seems to hide a treasure inside.]

"A treasure?" Caleb gasped in surprise before hurriedly stepping forward to peer down into the pitch-black opening of the well. "It is so dark down there, so I really hope there are no ghosts hiding inside."

Just as he was debating whether or not to risk going down, a piercing scream suddenly echoed from the distance.

"Ahhhh!"

Sylvia and Sophie were not very far from him, so it only took Caleb about ten seconds to sprint over to Sylvia's location. He saw a pitch-black zombie wearing tattered clothes charging out of the inner room toward Sylvia, with sticky, foul-smelling liquid dripping from its mouth that made him shudder just looking at it. Sylvia seemed entirely paralyzed by fear, sitting slumped on the ground without daring to move as she allowed the zombie to rush toward her.

"Get out of the way!" Caleb roared as he lunged forward, hurling the brick in his hand directly at the creature and successfully smashing the zombie right in the head.

Staggered by the impact of the brick, the zombie stumbled clumsily and crashed to the ground. Caleb quickly pulled a piece of wood from his system storage to use as a makeshift weapon, and before the zombie could get back on its feet, he relentlessly bludgeoned its head.

"Roar!"

The zombie let out a final, unwilling screech before its body went completely limp and lifeless. Caleb instinctively let out a sigh of relief, realizing that this town was definitely not entirely safe. Even though he had mentally prepared himself earlier, seeing such a horrifying creature in person still made his skin crawl.

Right at that moment, the voice of the survival game echoed directly in his mind.

[Congratulations to Train 817 conductor Caleb Mercer for killing a zombie. You have received the First Blood Reward: one box of ration bars, two boxes of bottled water, and one wooden chest.]

[This announcement is broadcast server-wide!]

As the voice faded away, the mangled corpse of the zombie completely disappeared, replaced by a box of ration bars, two boxes of bottled water, and a wooden chest. Thanks to the system's previous explanations, Caleb knew that this wooden chest could yield valuable items.

He then turned his gaze toward Sylvia behind him, noticing that her face was incredibly pale and she still looked deeply traumatized. He hurriedly stepped forward to check on her, finding that she was not physically injured but merely suffering from severe shock.

"Are you alright, Ms. Hale?" Caleb asked gently as he stepped forward to comfort her.

Sylvia shook her head and blamed herself, murmuring, "I am sorry, Caleb, I was just completely useless and got scared stiff by a single zombie."

"Do not worry about it, you just happen to be a trouble magnet," Caleb teased gently to lighten the mood.

Hearing this, Sylvia rolled her eyes at him in annoyance and complained, "I never realized you were so mean before, actually calling me a trouble magnet."

Caleb smiled warmly and changed the subject. "Let me help you up, Ms. Hale."

However, perhaps because she had not fully recovered from the shock, Sylvia's legs completely gave out the moment she stood up, causing her to collapse directly into Caleb's embrace. Her entire body instantly stiffened, and she struggled desperately to get back up, but her disobedient legs only caused her to squirm helplessly against his chest, which made her incredibly anxious. She mentally screamed at her useless legs to start moving immediately.

Meanwhile, Caleb was completely stunned, feeling a soft body radiating a pleasant jasmine fragrance pressing tightly against his chest. Sylvia naturally possessed a stunning, mature figure with perfect curves in all the right places, and she had easily been his favorite person to look at back when everyone was completely unclothed. Now that she was struggling so frantically in his arms, the zero-distance contact with her incredible body caused a sudden rush of intense heat to surge through his veins. Operating almost entirely on pure instinct, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tighter.

She noticeably stiffened again, her face burning a bright crimson as she whispered softly, "Caleb, hurry up and let your teacher go."

"Ms. Hale, it is not that I do not want to let you go, but you honestly will not be able to stand up if I release you right now!"

Hearing his completely logical excuse, Sylvia fell silent. Her face flushed an incredibly deep red, making her look just like a juicy, ripe apple that someone could not resist taking a bite out of. She had always maintained a pure and pristine lifestyle, having never even had a boyfriend, yet now she had not only been seen completely bare by Caleb, but was also being tightly embraced by him. She wondered nervously if the next step would be something even more intimate. She did not dare to finish that thought, feeling more and more mortified the longer she dwelled on it.

The two of them remained frozen in that awkward position for nearly ten minutes until Sylvia finally regained the feeling in her legs, hastily pulling away from Caleb's embrace and standing to the side with her head bowed. Her cheeks were completely flushed with deep embarrassment, making her look overwhelmingly alluring. Caleb discreetly sniffed the lingering scent of her perfume on his fingertips, allowing a satisfied smirk to tug at the corners of his mouth. They had plenty of time ahead of them, so he was in no rush at all, knowing confidently that none of these women would be able to escape him anyway.

Afterward, Caleb turned around and stored the ration bars and bottled water on the ground into his system storage, finally shifting his attention to the wooden chest. This specific item was known for containing highly valuable rewards. Just as he reached out to open the box, he suddenly remembered Sylvia's special ability. Wait a minute, was Ms. Hale's ability specifically designed for opening treasure chests? If that were true, then he had truly struck the absolute jackpot!

Chuckling to himself, he smiled brightly and placed the chest right in front of Sylvia, saying, "Ms. Hale, why don't you try opening this chest to see if we can score some high-quality loot?"

Sylvia nodded in agreement and gently tapped her delicate hand against the top of the box. With a sharp click, the lid of the chest sprang open, and the items inside practically popped out.

[Obtained one level-one blueprint for the train, and obtained five iron ingots.]

"What?!" Caleb exclaimed, losing his composure in sheer excitement. "It is actually a train blueprint!"

He abruptly spun around, scooped Sylvia right up into his arms, and twirled her around in circles.

"Ah! Caleb, put me down right this instant!"

After carefully setting Sylvia back on the ground, a sudden surge of adrenaline compelled him to lean in and plant a forceful kiss directly on her cheek.

"Ms. Hale, you are absolutely my lucky star!"

"You... Caleb, you are way out of line! How could you just kiss me like that when I am your teacher?" Sylvia rubbed her cheek frantically, completely unable to believe that this shameless young man had actually dared to kiss her by force.

Caleb coughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, apologizing, "Um... I am really sorry about that, Ms. Hale. I just got so excited that I completely forgot myself for a moment."

"Forget it," Sylvia sighed, waving her hand dismissively before looking at him with a very serious expression. "Caleb, you absolutely cannot entertain any romantic thoughts about me. I am three years older than you, and we have a strict teacher-student relationship, so it simply cannot happen."

"Do not worry, Ms. Hale, I promise I will not have any inappropriate thoughts about you!" Caleb hurriedly guaranteed with a look of absolute determination, while secretly adding a secondary thought in his mind: I just hope you will not end up having inappropriate thoughts about me when the time comes.