The tower did not sleep that night, and maybe it never truly had since the world collapsed, but tonight felt different even compared to the usual fear and exhaustion that filled the building every single day. The atmosphere itself felt unstable, like invisible cracks were spreading through the walls, through the people, through the fragile structure holding hundreds of desperate survivors together. Ever since the patrol member disappeared, everyone had started feeling it. The whispers moving through hallways. The nervous glances. The way people held their food closer during distribution. The way armed survivors stared at strangers longer than before. Fear had entered the tower quietly, but now it spread everywhere faster than any infection ever could.

Arata Kurozawa stood near the seventh-floor maintenance corridor with Reina and Kaede while several soldiers searched nearby rooms again for any clue about the missing patrol member. Weak emergency lights flickered overhead, barely illuminating the long hallway properly while cold air moved faintly through the ventilation system. Blood still stained the floor near the corner where the patrol member supposedly vanished, but the longer Arata looked at it, the more wrong it felt.

Too little.

Not enough blood for someone violently killed.

Kaede crouched silently beside the wall, her eyes studying the floor carefully with the same calm focus she used while aiming her rifle. "...Dragged," she said quietly after a few moments.

Reina frowned slightly. "...You’re sure?"

Kaede pointed toward several faint marks hidden beneath dirt and dried blood. "...Something pulled him."

Airi tightened her grip slightly on the medical bag she carried. "...Pulled him where...?"

Nobody answered, Because nobody knew.

And that uncertainty made everything worse.

Further down the hallway, soldiers searched one room after another while Daichi coordinated movements through a portable radio. Even from a distance, Arata could see how exhausted the captain truly was now. Dark circles under his eyes. Slower breathing. Tension hidden beneath every movement. Yet despite that, Daichi continued moving constantly through the building trying to maintain order before everything collapsed completely.

Yuna leaned lazily against the stair railing nearby, spinning her metal bat slowly in one hand while clearly growing bored with the search. "...This place officially crossed into horror movie territory," she muttered.

"It already did several days ago," Miyu replied while checking building layouts through the system interface. "...Too many civilians. Too little control. Structural failure was inevitable."

Airi frowned slightly. "...Can you stop talking about people like statistics?"

Miyu adjusted her glasses calmly. "...Statistics determine survival."

"Still creepy."

Arata remained silent while staring deeper into the maintenance corridor ahead.

Something bothered him, Not just the blood.

The silence.

This tower was never quiet. Even during late hours there were always voices, footsteps, crying children, arguments, coughing, movement somewhere nearby. The building constantly reminded everyone that hundreds of frightened people were trapped inside together.

But this hallway—Felt dead.

Then suddenly—A scream echoed from below, Sharp, Terrified, Everyone froze instantly, Another scream followed immediately after.

Then gunshots.

Daichi grabbed his radio instantly. "Report!"

Static crackled loudly.

Then shouting.

"Infected on Floor Four!"

Everything exploded into movement.

The soldiers immediately rushed toward the stairwell while Daichi began shouting orders rapidly through the radio. Arata’s group followed close behind as panicked civilians started flooding upward from lower levels at the same time, turning the stairways into complete chaos.

"What happened?!"

"MOVE!"

"Are zombies inside?!"

"Get out of the way!"

Fear spread instantly through the crowd as survivors shoved each other desperately trying to escape upward. Some people fell. Others screamed. Children cried while exhausted soldiers struggled to stop full panic from erupting.

By the time they reached the fourth floor, the situation had already become a nightmare.

Blood covered the hallway walls.

Several bodies lay motionless near the supply station.

Gunfire echoed constantly between narrow corridors while terrified civilians ran blindly in every direction trying to escape infected attacking from inside the residential area.

But something immediately felt wrong.These infected moved differently, Faster, More aggressive.

One sprinted through the hallway with unnatural speed before lunging directly toward a terrified woman carrying a child. Arata reacted instantly, intercepting the creature mid-motion before his blade tore through its neck in one clean movement.

Another infected appeared from the side only for Yuna’s bat to smash directly through its skull with horrifying force, sending blood spraying across the nearby wall.

"Where the hell did they come from?!" one soldier shouted desperately.

"No breach outside!" another yelled back. "They were already inside!"

That answer changed everything.

Inside.

The infection had spread inside the tower itself.Panic intensified immediately after people realized that.

Civilians started screaming louder while survivors pushed violently against each other trying to force their way toward upper floors. Some even turned weapons on other civilians to clear escape paths faster.

Humanity itself was beginning to collapse.

Daichi moved through the chaos immediately, his voice cutting sharply across the hallway. "Contain this floor! Nobody leaves until we identify infected!"

But control was already slipping away.

The soldiers were trained, Disciplined, But fear spreads faster than discipline , Especially among civilians.

Then—A child screamed, Everyone turned instantly.

A little girl stood frozen near the center corridor, unable to move while an infected charged directly toward her through the crowd. It moved too quickly. Too close. The nearby soldiers couldn’t react in time.

Neither could Airi, But Daichi could.

The captain moved without hesitation.

He threw himself directly between the infected and the little girl just before impact. Both slammed violently into the wall as the infected clawed toward him wildly, but Daichi forced his rifle upward and fired directly into its head.

The gunshot echoed deafeningly through the hallway.

Blood splattered across the wall beside them.

The infected collapsed instantly, For a second—Everything seemed to pause.

The little girl stared at Daichi with trembling eyes while the captain remained on one knee breathing heavily from the impact.

"...A-Are you okay...?" she whispered weakly.

Daichi looked at her.

And smiled, Not like a soldier, Not like a leader, Like a father.

"...Yeah," he said softly. "You’re safe now."

Something inside Airi tightened painfully after seeing that expression.

Because even now—Even exhausted—

Even while carrying hundreds of desperate survivors on his shoulders—Daichi still protected people first.

One nearby soldier rushed toward him immediately. "Captain! Your shoulder—"

"I’m fine," Daichi answered while standing again.

But he wasn’t, Arata saw it clearly, The impact hurt him badly.

Still—He kept moving, Kept giving orders, Kept fighting.

As if stopping even for one second would allow the tower itself to collapse completely.

More screams echoed deeper inside the residential corridors.

More infected appeared, More panic spread.

Reina moved beside Arata quickly while firing controlled shots down the hallway. "This spread too fast."

Miyu’s eyes widened slightly while analyzing movement patterns around the floor. "...No..." she muttered quietly. "...This wasn’t random."

Everyone looked at her.

"The missing patrol member," she said. "He turned before anyone found him."

Silence hit instantly.

Because suddenly—Everything made sense.

The blood, The missing body, The silent spread, The infection hadn’t entered the tower.

It had grown inside it.

Fear moved visibly through the soldiers after realizing the truth. Several civilians nearby overheard too, and panic immediately worsened again.

"People are turning inside?!"

"We’re trapped!"

"Open the upper floors!"

Some survivors even began accusing injured civilians of being infected already while armed groups started forcing doors shut around their own claimed sections.

Humanity was turning against itself again.Arata stepped forward calmly through the chaos.

"Daichi."

The captain turned immediately.

"We divide the floors."

Daichi understood instantly.

"Containment."

Arata nodded once. "If panic spreads upward, the tower falls before the infected kill anyone."

For one brief moment, Daichi stared at him silently.

Then he immediately started shouting orders again.

"Barricade Floor Four! Nobody moves between levels without inspection! Soldiers hold stairwells!"

The soldiers reacted instantly, Because finally—Someone had created direction inside the chaos.

Arata’s team moved immediately afterward. Reina organized defensive firing positions around key intersections while Kaede eliminated infected moving through distant hallways with terrifying precision from elevated positions. Miyu coordinated civilian movement to prevent overcrowding while Airi treated wounded survivors despite trembling hands and blood covering her sleeves.

And Yuna—Yuna became a monster.

She charged directly through infected groups like a storm, smashing skulls apart with brutal force while screaming at civilians to move faster.

"IF YOU WANT TO PANIC THEN PANIC AFTER SURVIVING!"

Somehow—People listened, Because confidence spreads too, Hours passed in blood, screaming, and nonstop fighting.

The infected kept appearing from hidden rooms, ventilation spaces, storage corridors—places nobody properly checked before. Every hallway became a battle for survival while terrified civilians watched soldiers and Arata’s team desperately hold the line.

By midnight, the fourth floor finally stabilized enough for breathing room.

Dozens were dead, Many more injured.

The hallways smelled like blood, smoke, sweat, and fear.

Exhausted survivors sat against walls crying quietly while soldiers dragged infected corpses into containment rooms nearby.

Airi sat near one bloodstained hallway after finishing treatment on another wounded civilian. Her hands trembled slightly from exhaustion while tears quietly formed in her eyes. "...This place..." she whispered weakly. "...It feels hopeless..."

Arata approached slowly.For a moment neither spoke.

Then—"It’s not hopeless," he said calmly.

Airi looked up at him slowly. "...How can you say that after seeing all this?"

Arata’s eyes moved across the ruined hallway filled with exhausted soldiers, wounded civilians, crying children, and blood-covered walls.

"Because they’re still fighting."

That answer stayed with her.

Nearby, Daichi stood alone near the stairwell staring silently toward the lower floors beneath them. Blood stained his uniform completely now while exhaustion weighed visibly on every movement he made.

Yet still—He remained standing, Still carrying the tower, Still trying to save people, Even while everything around him slowly collapsed piece by piece.

And deep down—Arata understood something dangerous.

Strength alone could never save humanity in this world.

To truly survive long enough to rebuild civilization—Someone would eventually need to carry fear, desperation, hatred, hope, and responsibility all at once, And that burden—Could destroy even the strongest person eventually.