A Hundred Times: Ascending With The Strongest System
Chapter 57 - 56: A Desperate Father’s Plea

Chapter 57: Chapter 56: A Desperate Father’s Plea

Zoey watched the remains of the bird drop, burned to a crisp as they sizzled as if they were in a sauce pan, her face expressionless as she watched the bird’s remains lay scattered on the floor.

"So weak. Judging by how quickly they died, they must be around the early stages of F-Rank." Zoey muttered to herself, before glancing back at the man who was visibly trembling from fear.

As soon as the man saw Zoey look at him, he instinctively jolted in his spot, feeling chills rush through his body as the serious expression of Zoey looked more like a death glare.

’Ahh!!’ The man instinctively screamed in his mind, as if he were about to be destroyed next.

Zoey didn’t pay his weird behaviour any mind as she refocused her gaze to the abandoned building before them, with a simple word, she ordered:

"Let’s go."

"Y-yes mam!" The man said, his tone full of respect, a slight tremble in his voice as he quickly straightened his posture to appear less intimidated.

Zoey sighed, a small smile on her face as she found the man’s fear as amusing. She started to walk towards the building, the door of the building laid broken on the ground, indicating that someone, or something could’ve broken through, but there was no one inside.

’I need information on this new world, and he can give me that right now.’ Zoey thought, glancing at the man who immediately broke into a sweat as she laid her eyes on him.

"Sir, what is your name?" Zoey asked, her tone taking on a slightly more gentle feel, one that deeply surpised the man as he expected the girl to be more rough with him.

"My name is David, mam." David introduced himself, his tone a bit hesitant.

’David, huh?’ Zoey thought, curiously raising a brow.

"Can you tell me what happened here David?" Zoey asked, climbing a set of stairs that would take them to the second floor of the building, a sense of rot filling the air quickly caught Zoey’s attention thanks to her [Heightened Senses] Talent, quickly bringing her hand to cover her nose.

’Urgh...what is that smell?’ Zoey questioned, looking up as she continued to climb, the foul stench growing stronger and stronger.

"I..I don’t know....Everything was fine this morning," David started, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I was getting ready to go to work after I had dropped my daughters off at school...but then....Everything changed when these portals...these gateways started to appear...."

’...This is very similar to how dungeons first appeared on my world...’ Zoey thought, a bit intrigued, but she continued to let David speak his story, while slowly ascending the stairs.

After reaching the second floor, Zoey had gotten a good grasp on how this world came to be. Dungeons had arrived on their world and caused havoc, but unlike how humans had awakened abilities and the system, the humans from this world.....didn’t.

Within hours cities were overrun by monsters and millions of civilians had lost their lives, only a few people managed to escape the apocalypse by hiding themselves deep within bunkers, or by building massive defense bases from remaining survivors.

’Such a gruesome fate....’ Zoey’s face twisted as she stood at the entrance of the second floor, finding a gruesome sight infront of her that made her stomach twist.

Decaying bodies lied scattered across the floor, their forms torn apart mercilessly by some beasts, blood and scattered parts lay everywhere, a sight that that made David shiver in terror.

"We need to get to high ground for now," Zoey said as she approached the window and cautiously gazed outside, looking down at the zombies and monstrous creatures that were roaming the streets aimlessly, their horrid sounds filling the air.

[Time Remaining: 23 Hours, 32 Minutes, 20 Seconds]

’The first hour is about to descend soon, so the monsters will grow a little stronger. They shouldn’t be able to find us for a few hours at best, so that will atleast give us some time to get some sleep for the night.’ Zoey thought, looking at the horizon as she noticed the sun setting, meaning that the night was rapidly approaching.

David too looked outside, and upon seeing the sun starting to set, his heart dropped.

"My daughters...we have to find my daughters!" David’s panicked voice caught Zoey’s ears, causing her to slow turn to face him.

".....it’s too dangerous." Zoey said, a sad sigh escaping her lips.

"No...no it can’t be. Not for you..." David’s desperate plea made her heart clench.

"It’s been hours since the apocalypse started, I’m sorry to say this, but.....your daughters are most likely dead." Zoey stated, causing David’s heart to drop in his chest, his eyes losing colour at her words.

"No no no, you don’t know that..." David’s breaths grew more frantic, sweat forming on his face as he paced around, his hands trembling at the heart wrenching thought.

"I’m sorry, but if I were to go outside right now, I’d probably come back with nothing. It’s also possible that our location would be discovered." Zoey said, shaking her head.

Drip. Drip.

Tears streamed down David’s face as he fell to his knees, his rough, calloused hands reached out to grab the sleeve of Zoey’s hoodie, a deep look of suprise forming on Zoey’s face as her eyes widened in response.

She could feel his hands trembling, the deep pain of the possibility expressed through his trembling sobs.

"Please....I beg you.....save them...save my daughters..." David cried, his head hung low as he trembled uncontrollably.

’...’ Zoey didn’t know what to do, she had never dealt with situations like these, it all felt alien to her. No one except Christine had ever showed her true kindness, lifted her up in her lowest of times, and continued to be a pillar in her life, a deep sense of grief started to reflect on her, as she remembered all the times she had cried in Christine’s arms.

"I’ll do it." Zoey answered, her voice full of determination. David raised his wide, teary eyes to look up at her, his face showing full disbelief.

"Wait...really.....you’ll do it? You’ll actually do it?" He asked, just to make sure, his heart trembled, waiting to hear her affirm her decision.

"Yes, I’ll go look for them. I can’t promise that they’ll be alive, but I know I’ll be fine." Zoey replied, running a hand through her hand with a sigh.

David’s eyes started to water once again, deep joy filling his heart as he hung his head low once again, letting go of Zoey’s hoodie’s sleeve as he grovelled at her feet, expressing his deepest gratitude.

"Thank you..thank you....thank you so much....I’ll never forget your kindness....I seriously can’t thank you enough..." David said, expressing his gratitude as he let his tears of joy and hope flow freely, his body trembling.

’What is this feeling...’ Zoey asked herself, feeling a deep warmth in her heart as she unknowingly clutched her chest, gritting her teeth.

’Do I feel....good doing this? Helping others...’ Zoey thought to herself, but she quickly shook it off, chalking it up to her imagination. Such a feeling felt alien o her, except when it came to one person, the rest she felt nothing towards.

"Can you tell me where the school they went is located? I trust that you’ll be able to go to the top floors and find a room for yourself while I’m out?" Zoey asked, glancing outside.

"Yes!" David quickly sprang to his feet, he quickly told Zoey the information, his voice urgent with desperation as he hastily delivered the information. He pointed outside the window, far ahead as he pointed to a school building not too far from the building.

"That’s the school they are at right now, it’s surrounded with a few zombies....but I’m sure they’d be okay, they had to be...." David said.

"Alright, I’ll be quick." Zoey said as she climbed onto the window frame, causing deep worry to appear on David’s face.

"Wait wait wait, you can’t seriously be thinking of jumping out from this height right? You’d die!" David said, worry evident in his tone.

Zoey found his worry amusing, thinking to herself on how powerful she was as a B-Ranker, especially with her defence skills. The ground would be the one to break, not her.

"I’ll be fine, be right back." Zoey said, leaping to into the skies with superhuman speeds, a powerful gust of wind blowing David away as he was thrown back into a wall, watching as Zoey’s figure flew high into the air, the window frame heavily damaged as a massive shoe print lied in it’s wake.

"Ha...ha..." David laughed with frightened breaths, sweat forming on his body as he watched her go.

Zoey’s figure flew high in the air for a while, before slowly starting to descend, she quickly activated [Grace Of The Wind] as a powerful gust of wind sent her flying even further ahead at even more insane speeds.

’I really hope the kids are okay.....sigh.’ Zoey thought, a small sigh escaping her lips.

[Time Remaining: 23 Hours, 20 Minutes, 10 Seconds]