The World Cataclysm

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in." A stern female voice sounded from the other side of the door. Getting a response, Professor Dylan reached for a door handle and opened the wooden door. As his companion entered the room, Dave decided to cast a last glance at his surroundings and follow after Professor Dylan.

The room was big enough to gather a small group of people and hold a meeting in it. Even then, there will be enough space left to not feel stuffed in it. It had a white rectangular carpet, a grey sofa, two armchairs, a small round table and a desk. Dave felt like he had entered a principal's cabinet in his high school.

However, when Dave's eyes fell on the person sitting before the desk, he roughly recognized who it was. Even when the university turned into a zombies' playground, she as usual wore a black office blazer, a black skirt and a white shirt. On top of her official attire, she had long black hair brushed to one side and cold black eyes that lacked any emotion.

And no, he didn't recognize her because he had met her in his past life after the start of the 2nd Cataclysm. Actually, considering this timeline, he should have met her not long ago at the ceremony of welcoming freshman students. She was the dean of their university, Siphon Erns.

"Dylan, if you came here to nudge me to provide you with more space for your experiment, then I must refuse your wish. I have already done more than enough to satisfy your needs. If you hadn't been an old friend of mine, I would have turned down your suggestion long ago." She said in an emotionless manner. However, judging by her tone, Dave guessed she was fed up with Professor. Noticing Dave behind Professor Dylan, she asked, "Oh...Who is he?"

"My reason to come here. I've found him in my area which is restricted in access for people like him. He didn't seem to be one of us, so I brought him here since I knew you would be more interested in him than me. Now, if you excuse me, I have a zombie to dissect." After he finished introducing him, Professor Dylan left without saying anything less.

...

Left alone with the dean, Dave approached a sofa and sat on it. Glancing at their dean, Dave thought inwardly, 'Strange, I never heard that she was alive in my time. Well, I believe I shouldn't be surprised a lot, considering that I hid in the storage room for most of my time in the university.'

"Do you want some?" She asked as she pushed a bowl of candies to him. She seemed to be trying to loosen a tension between them.

Nodding his head, Dave said without a back thought, "Sure, why not?"

Seeing that Dave had taken a candy, she decided to get to the business, "So where did you come from? If I recall it right, you're a freshman student at the School of Business who was a victim of a car accident several years ago. It's hard to forget students with such a tragic past like yours."

Trying to keep a smile on his face, Dave said, "Right...My name is David Murckly. I'm surprised that you remember me even if we haven't met yet."

"I don't remember every student in our university, only the most memorable ones. It's impossible to memorize every person in the walls of our university, even for the dean," She said calmly. "So how have you entered this place? I would have been notified if there was a new batch of students found on the surface."

Sucking a candy in his mouth and sensing how sweet taste was spreading through his taste buds, Dave took out a map from his backpack instead of replying directly. It was the same map that he had found in Richard's bag and had led him to region A.

Staring at the map, she said in a slightly surprised tone, "Hmm...it's the map of underground passageways, though an old one. I believe it clearly explains how you reached this place. You should have come from region C or D, right?"

"Yes, I came from region C. But I never heard about those tunnels as a student. Why were they even built?" Dave asked. He believed that as the dean she must know a bit about them. She may even be the one who ordered them to build them. He wanted to ask that question when he was walking with Professor Dylan, yet he made it clear that he wasn't open to any questions.

"Initially, before our university was built on the island, it was used by miners to obtain ores underground. As the ore mine had exhausted itself, our university was built on top of it several years later. When I became a dean and learned about the existence of those tunnels, I turned them into underground passageways," She said steadily. "Until today, it served no special function, so Dylan had turned it into his laboratory, but now I'm glad I've built them."

'So that's how it is. They were miners' passages' Dave thought inwardly. Then, he decided to ask another question that worried him. "Hmm...By any chance, were there any rats in our university?"

Frowning, she said, "Rats? Of course not. Our university is up to the strictest international standards in Federation. There can't be any rats on the university grounds. The only creatures that might resemble rats might be mice bought by Dylan for his experiments. Why are you asking?"

'Dammit, so it was a mutated mouse, not a rat.' Dave thought as he remembered how he killed one on his way to Luther. Well, it was hard to judge since most mutated creatures were much bigger than their initial forms. Dave replied shortly, "Hmm...nothing. I can be sure only when I'll check on it."

Staring at Dave a bit, she said, "Then, don't forget to inform me when you'll be sure on it. If you don't mind, I want to ask you several questions." Then, she asked Dave about how he was surviving so far, what was the situation on the surface and why did he have a map with him.

Deciding not to keep everything secret, Dave shared everything that happened in that month. He told her the numbers of people that he had found, where they were living and described the general situation with zombies on the surface. It didn't take much time to shortly summarise everything. Of course, he didn't share with her anything personal.

...

"Wonderful. You've done great for a student. Judging by a sword on your waist, I suppose you've killed many zombies during this month. I never saw a decent weapon dropping from zombies." She said in her emotionless tone. Well, Dave wasn't surprised that she knew about it. Not everyone will throw or lose their clubs.

"It would have been impossible to survive while avoiding them. But don't you think that students are too relaxed down here. If they lived on the surface, they would have been eaten by zombies long ago. I hope they aren't expecting help from the outside." Dave said bluntly. At the first glance, Dave could tell that students were oddly carefree down here. But such an attitude couldn't last for long.

In response, Dean Siphon said coldly, "You may not worry about them. Although they seem to be relaxed, I can assure you that every person here has killed at least one zombie. Every one of them attends lessons of self-defence once a day, while the most capable ones were chosen to fight zombies. Some of them might seem carefree, but all of them have their own assigned roles."

Dave was quite surprised by what he heard. He could almost read lines like mind your own business in her words. If that was true, he might have underestimated this group of people. 'Well, there truly should have been some people who have caught a zombie I've seen in Professor Dylan's area.'

"If you don't believe me, then you're free to visit those self-defence lessons. For now, take this new version of the map. It shows a passageway that's close to region C, but you would need to get there from the surface. Don't use sewages to get here next time. I've also marked all key places of this place like a cafeteria and self-defence class." She said in her cold manner. "If that's all, you may leave. You can familiarise yourself here."