The sun hung low, bleeding orange across the ruined campus. Kang Si-hun and Yoo-jin moved in rhythm through the narrow paths toward the faculty apartments. No words. Only the wet crunch of steel meeting bone.

  Yoo-jin led. Her pipe—duplicated twice now, cost him three days total—whistled through the air. She pivoted on her good leg, weight shifting exactly like in the dojo videos he'd once seen online. The pipe connected with a zombie's knee joint—clean snap. The thing buckled. She followed through, upward arc, pipe smming into the base of the skull. Bone gave way with a dull pop. It dropped.

  Si-hun stepped in behind, desk leg already raised. One downward strike to finish. Brains oozed onto cracked pavement. [Kill Confirmed: +1 Day. Pool: 101 Days.]

  Another shuffled from a doorway. Yoo-jin spun, pipe whipping horizontally. Cracked the temple. Si-hun's follow-up crushed the rest. [+1. 102 Days.]

  He watched her form. No wasted motion. Every strike economical, lethal. The pipe felt like an extension of her arm. Kendo muscle memory transted perfectly to blunt force. She conserved energy while he conserved his own. Partnership math: Her kills opened the path, his confirmed the harvest. Efficiency doubled. The duplication investment—already paid back tenfold.

  They cleared another cluster near the old tennis courts. Pipe cracked femur. Desk leg finished. [105 Days.] Another pair near the fountain—same pattern. [110 Days.]

  Si-hun's internal ledger ticked upward. With her, farming became sustainable. Less risk to his primary body. More days per hour. Worth the bread and water he'd duplicated for her earlier.

  Then silence fell.

  They reached the edge of the waste zone behind the faculty apartments. Trash mounds, overturned dumpsters, bck pstic bags split open under the sun. But no groans. No shuffling feet. The usual stench of rot was there—yet overid with something sharper. Ammonia. Wet animal musk. Acrid, eye-watering.

  Yoo-jin slowed. Pipe lowered slightly. "Too quiet."

  Si-hun scanned. Dumpster lids torn off like paper. Metal edges curled outward, jagged. Deep gouges in the concrete—cw marks, four parallel lines, each wider than his thumb. Blood trails—dark, thick—led into the shadows between piles.

  Yoo-jin prodded a heap with her pipe. Bones cttered. A zombie skeleton—almost clean. Ribs cracked open like a cage door. Femurs splintered lengthwise, marrow sucked dry. Not hacked apart. Gnawed. Chewed to the marrow. Teeth marks too wide, too deep for human jaws.

  "Something ate them," she whispered. "Ate the zombies."

  Si-hun's grip tightened. Not killed. Consumed.

  Then the sound—nails scraping concrete. Slow at first. Then faster. From inside the rgest trash mound.

  The pile exploded.

  A gray blur erupted—massive, fur-matted, reeking of death and piss. Zombie rat. Size of a rge dog. Patches of fur missing, exposing raw, necrotic muscle. Eyes glowing dull red. Incisors curved, yellow, crusted bck with old blood. Tail thick as a wrist, whipping behind.

  It screeched—high, piercing, gss-shattering.

  Yoo-jin reacted first. Pipe up in guard. The rat lunged. Collision like a truck. Metal rang against teeth and bone. The impact vibrated through the pipe—her hands went numb instantly, webbing between fingers splitting, blood seeping from fresh tears. The force hurled her backward like a ragdoll, body smming into a concrete wall with a thud that echoed in her chest. Air punched from lungs. Ribs protested—sharp stab, possible crack. She slid down, vision spotting, but instinct kicked in. No time to cradle the pain. She pushed up, teeth gritted, ignoring the fire in her side. Hand reached for the dropped pipe, fingers closing despite the sting. Tough. Valuable.

  Si-hun assessed in a heartbeat. Speed. Power. Not zombie-stupid. Predator-smart. Yoo-jin's technique—perfect against slow walkers—useless against something this fast and heavy. His own speed? Not enough to outrun. Not enough to dodge forever.

  The rat turned. Red eyes locked on Yoo-jin. She was scrambling for the pipe, gasping.

  No time.

  Si-hun bit his fingernail. Blood welled. [Initiate Clone? Cost: 5 Days. Y/N.]

  [Pool: Deducted. Current: Reduced.]

  Clone materialized beside him—pipe already in hand.

  Draw aggro. Buy time.

  The clone charged. Pipe swung full force into the rat's snout. Metal met bone with a gong-like crack. The beast recoiled—then whirled. Jaws snapped shut on the clone's left arm. Bone pulverized instantly. Si-hun staggered back five steps, clutching his own arm. Felt the crush—wet snap of radius and ulna, shards driving into muscle. Hot blood flooded his senses. Phantom.

  The rat shook its head. Arm tore free. Clone still standing—right hand raised pipe again. Swung at the eye. Missed by inches. The rat pounced. Cws raked chest—ribs cracked like dry twigs. Si-hun dropped to one knee, hand pressed to sternum. Felt the fractures radiate outward, lungs compressing. Breathing became fire.

  The rat tore into the clone's abdomen—incisors gnawing deep, grinding against bone. Si-hun's body jerked—echoed sensation of teeth scraping ribs, rough rasp like sandpaper on wood. Hot, foul breath bsted the clone's neck—stench of blood and bile, rancid gusts filling nostrils. Guts hooked on cws, yanked out in glistening loops. Si-hun clutched his stomach, doubled over, feeling the wet pull, organs spilling in phantom warmth across his p. Agony yered: Shredding muscle, exposed nerves screaming. Worse than any zombie bite. Intimate. Personal. Being eaten alive—chewed, savored.

  Yoo-jin struck—pipe smming the rat's hind leg. Joint popped. It staggered, screeching.

  Opening.

  Si-hun surged forward through the agony. Pipe in hand. The rat's head turned—too te. He drove the metal into the open wound Yoo-jin had made, thrusting deep. Metal grated against bone, then gave—plunging into brain. The beast convulsed, limbs thrashing. Then colpsed, massive body smming asphalt. Bck blood pooled.

  Si-hun yanked the pipe free. Dropped to his knees.

  [Deactivation.]

  The link severed. Pain tsunami crashed—every torn shred, every broken bone repyed in his nerves. He vomited bile onto the ground, vision swimming.

  [Kill Confirmed: Mutant Variant – Giant Zombie Rat.]

  [Bonus Lifespan: +50 Days.] [Current Pool: 145 Days.]

  [Mutant Biomaterial Detected.]

  The blue window hovered. No glowing collection animation. No auto-absorb. Just text.

  Si-hun stared at the corpse. Blood and pus leaked from the eye wound. Teeth still bared—long, curved incisors crusted bck. Cws like sickles.

  He turned to Yoo-jin. She leaned against the wall, breathing hard, pipe trembling in her grip.

  "Do you have a pocket knife?" His voice came out ft. "Or sharp gss. Anything."

  She blinked. Nodded slowly. Reached into her torn jacket—pulled a small folding bde.

  Si-hun took it. Walked to the corpse. The stench hit harder up close—ammonia, rot, wet fur. He knelt. Bde against the gum line of the upper incisor. Levered. Bone resisted—knife scraped with a grating screech, metal on enamel. Fkes chipped. Then crack—tooth popped free, long and yellow, slick with saliva strings. Bck blood oozed from the socket, viscous and warm, coating his fingers in sticky film. Pus mixed in—yellow-green, pungent, stinging his skin like acid.

  Next cw—middle digit on the right forepaw. Bde sliced tendon—wet snip. Joint popped with a pop like cork. Cw slid out, but fluid spurted—dark ooze leeching onto his hands, thick as oil. It clung, dripping slow between fingers. The smell invaded—rotting meat under chemical burn.

  Yoo-jin watched. Eyes bnk. No flinch. No horror. Just empty stare, like he was carving market pork. Her face pale, but steady.

  He dropped the parts into his blood-soaked backpack. No disgust on his face. Only calcution.

  These weren't trophies.

  They were materials.