There weren’t many zombies in the stairwell. These creatures were drawn to sound, and the constant screams rising and falling outside made them ignore the relatively quiet stairwell.
“Roar!”
Chi You made his way down into the underground parking lot without trouble. Before he could even push the door open, he heard loud clanging—metal being hammered repeatedly—mixed with the hoarse roars of zombies.
He listened carefully and confirmed the sounds were still some distance from the door. Only then did he push it open with ease.
The parking lot was brightly lit, the lights making the luxury cars look even more expensive. But at this moment, every one of those high-priced vehicles had become nothing more than scrap metal.
In a corner of the parking lot, more than a dozen zombies surrounded a sedan. Inside the car were two terrified faces.
The zombies pounded wildly on the doors and windows. Under the immense force, the car shook violently, yet not even a crack appeared on the glass.
Bulletproof glass?
Chi You gave the two people inside a polite smile, completely ignoring their desperate pleas for help, and walked in another direction.
The ventilation system in the underground parking lot hummed steadily, perfectly masking his footsteps.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, zombies were everywhere. There was no need to take the risk of fighting more than a dozen at once. As for the people in the car, he had never been a good person to begin with—watching them die without helping brought him no burden at all.
Following the signs hanging from the ceiling, Chi You moved forward. The parking lot was extremely spacious, but the ground was covered in bloodstains. Yet aside from the group he had just seen, there were no other zombies.
Most likely, after the survivors were infected and turned into zombies, they were immediately drawn away by the noises from the entrances and exits. The bloodstained footprints stretching outward were the clearest evidence.
Chi You didn’t rush to leave. He found a storage room in the parking lot, shattered the lock with a single strike, and after entering, he used the clutter inside to barricade the door.
The first day of the apocalypse was the most important—and also the most dangerous.
There were still too many survivors, and most of them were out on the streets. Until they were either all infected or managed to escape, the streets would remain in complete chaos.
At this time, danger was at its peak. It was very easy to be surrounded by dozens or even hundreds of zombies.
Once the unlucky and the foolish were mostly dead, the survivors who couldn’t fight zombies would hide. By then, the number of people on the streets would drop sharply, and those who dared to go outside would be more cautious, making things much safer.
This wouldn’t take long—at most two hours, and the unlucky and foolish would be mostly gone.
Chi You wasn’t in a hurry for those two hours. Besides, he had already reached Level 2. Waiting a bit longer wouldn’t hurt.
He didn’t waste the time either. Taking out his phone, he opened the city map he had downloaded earlier in the restroom. New chapters come out on g.com first.
The failure of communication devices only meant he couldn’t make calls—no signal, no network—but it didn’t affect the phone’s other functions.
In his previous life, Chi You had never left this city until the moment he died. Only after death did he follow the protagonist out. While this left him largely ignorant about the outside world, it gave him an unparalleled understanding of this city’s resource points.
Important treasure chests, large dungeon spawn points, and similar locations—excluding what he had forgotten, what remained in his memory was more than enough to give him a significant head start.
Before the protagonist arrived, he intended to strengthen himself as much as possible using this information.
It was true he couldn’t kill the protagonist because of the protagonist’s halo. In this life, his focus should be on figuring out how to break that halo.
But everything still depended on one thing—having overwhelming personal strength.
Otherwise, even if he broke the protagonist’s halo, if he still couldn’t defeat him in raw power, wouldn’t that just make him a fool?
After all, before losing that halo, the protagonist was among the fastest-growing individuals in this world.
Chi You studied the resource points on the map, considering which one to prioritize.
What was the most useful thing in the apocalypse?
Food? Water? Equipment? Skills?
All of those were important, without a doubt. But in Chi You’s eyes, there was one consumable that far surpassed them all.
Zombie Virus Resistance Potion—Type II.
A consumable that became common in the later stages, but was extremely rare in the early phase.
Its effect was simple. Just as the name implied, the Zombie Virus Resistance Potion—Type II allowed the user to no longer be threatened by the Zombie Virus.
Whether it was accidentally consuming contaminated food, drinking tainted water, or being scratched or bitten by zombies, there would be no risk of infection.
There was also the Type I version. Its effect was to interrupt infection after exposure to the virus but before full transformation into a zombie, and it granted resistance to the virus for the following seven days.
There were three ways to obtain Zombie Virus Resistance Potions.
The first was killing zombies. There was a chance for them to drop cards, but the probability was extremely low. Forget potions—even after killing so many zombies, Chi You had only obtained two cards: one containing a bottle of mineral water, and the other half a steamed bun. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
The drop rate was truly pitiful.
The second method was opening treasure chests, like the Sub-Legendary Grade one earlier. However, such a high tier wasn’t necessary—Gold Grade chests already had a chance to contain the potion.
The third method was participating in specific dungeons.
As it happened, Chi You knew of a place where the dungeon could drop this potion. In his previous life, he had occupied it for quite a long time—though it was somewhat far away.
“At least four days.”
Without transportation in the apocalypse, and with the need to either fight zombies or avoid zombie hordes, plus detours due to blocked roads, being able to move 10 kilometers closer to the target in a day was already considered good.
That dungeon was nearly 60 kilometers away from Riverside Shopping Plaza, spanning almost the entire Riverside City. Reaching it in four days was already factoring in the increase in speed after leveling up.
Covering such a long distance with nothing but killing zombies and traveling would be too wasteful.
There were several low-level treasure chests along the way. Opening even a few would be worthwhile. Having a set of trash equipment was still better than having nothing.
Chi You spent 20 minutes planning his route. After turning off his phone, he sat in the darkness, took out whole-wheat bread and mineral water from his backpack, and began eating. Once he left the parking lot, he wouldn’t know when he’d get another chance to rest. Even though he wasn’t hungry or thirsty yet, it was best to replenish his energy in advance.
“Ahhh—!”
Suddenly, a shrill scream rang out from outside. The sound came from the entrance—likely survivors who had been driven into a corner and rushed into the underground parking lot.
Unfortunately, this was no safe place. Near the stairwell, there were still more than a dozen zombies.
As expected, two waves of roars erupted from opposite directions—one from the stairwell, the other from the entrance.
Chi You could already imagine the fate of those who had run in. What surprised him, however, was that they seemed quite agile. Even after several minutes, they hadn’t been caught, and their footsteps were rapidly approaching the storage room.
Chi You raised his right hand. Just as he braced the door, a force pushed from outside. But with his enhanced strength after leveling up and the barricade of clutter, the iron door of the storage room didn’t budge at all.
With nowhere left to retreat, the people outside began frantically pounding on the door, wailing hysterically.
Expressionless, Chi You held the door with one hand while calmly bringing bread to his mouth with the other.
Until the final bite was swallowed.
The world fell silent once more.