Xia Mu scratched her head and sighed.
“Being a Landlady isn’t easy at all. I’ve only just started, and not only am I already one hundred million in debt, I even have to kill zombies myself to earn money and build rental houses before I can become a Landlady.”
She didn’t even need to ask System 003 why there weren’t any rental properties available.
Those definitely had to be built with Interstellar Federation Credits as well.
Otherwise, why was there only the model of her own house while the land for rental properties wasn’t even visible?
Besides, based on what System 003 had said about clearing away buildings and frozen statues, anyone with common sense could figure it out.
System 003 felt rather embarrassed.
It hadn’t expected its Host’s start to turn out like this either.
Originally, everything had been planned perfectly.
The Host would simply wait until the connection to the Apocalypse was established, enter the Apocalypse, and slowly wait for survivors to discover their little house and come to buy supplies.
After earning some money, she could gradually purchase land and build rental houses.
Who could have expected that the Host would want to enter the Apocalypse immediately to make money?
As a result, she had accidentally begun with a debt of one hundred million Interstellar Federation Credits, and on top of that, she had discovered that her mother was suffering from breast cancer and urgently needed treatment.
Everything required Interstellar Federation Credits.
Meanwhile, their rental property was located in the center of the Apocalypse, a frozen world that had already existed for twenty four years.
They would definitely encounter survivors eventually.
To survive, people had no choice but to venture outside in search of supplies.
The only question was when someone would appear.
Xia Mu had already reached the same conclusion herself.
After all, thanks to her roommate’s obsession with Apocalypse novels, she had already analyzed the situation thoroughly.
“003, wait a moment. I’ll go find a suitable weapon. It’s just killing zombies… I can do this.”
She constantly encouraged herself.
She wasn’t killing people.
She was killing zombies.
She was killing those parasites.
System 003 searched through its own database before suddenly remembering something.
It seemed it had forgotten to give the Host her beginner’s gift pack.
Feeling thoroughly embarrassed, it realized its professional skills still needed a great deal of improvement.
“Ding ding! Host, please receive your Beginner’s Gift Pack.”
Xia Mu was speechless.
This was quite a shock.
If System 003 had given her the gift pack right from the beginning, she would probably have been pleasantly surprised and extremely excited.
Now, however, it was more of a startling surprise.
Seeing that the Host wasn’t responding, System 003 spoke in its soft, childish voice.
“Host, I’m sorry. This is the first time I’ve ever bonded with a Host and carried out a mission. I’m still unfamiliar with the process, so… I forgot.”
Xia Mu couldn’t help laughing despite herself.
Could something like this really happen?
Should she be happy that she was the system’s very first Host?
Unfortunately, she couldn’t bring herself to feel happy at all.
A brand new system paired with a beginner Host didn’t sound reliable in the slightest.
She wanted to become a Landlady, yet she still had to work her way up from scratch.
In every Apocalypse novel her roommate had ever read, the protagonists started with rental houses ready to lease immediately.
As for her…
Not only did she begin one hundred million in debt, she even had to earn money herself to build the basic infrastructure before she could become a Landlady.
What had fallen from the sky wasn’t a pie.
It was a trap. A huge pit.
But for the sake of her parents, Xia Mu was determined.
First she would earn enough money to cure them.
As for the system’s other functions…
She could slowly explore them later.
Xia Mu accepted the gift pack and opened it.
Inside were:
A Beginner’s Guide to Interstellar Federation Landlady Construction and Growth.
Five low grade rice flavored nutrient solutions.
One medium grade watermelon flavored nutrient solution.
One flying mechanical dog. A weapon, the Clownfish Handgun.
And one thousand basic Interstellar Federation Credits.
Looking at the contents, satisfaction finally appeared in her eyes.
She had assumed she would have absolutely nothing and would need to earn every single thing herself.
Instead, just when everything seemed hopeless, an unexpected opportunity had appeared.
The gift pack had arrived at exactly the right time.
Especially the construction guide and the Interstellar Federation Credits, which would allow her to quickly understand how to grow into a successful Landlady.
The Beginner’s Guide to Interstellar Federation Landlady Construction and Growth was presented as a comic.
Starting from the moment a Host was bonded, it explained how to build the first rental room in the Apocalypse, decorate the rooms, purchase Interstellar goods, and construct more buildings.
Eventually, everything would develop into an enormous self-contained district combining residences, shopping, entertainment, and every other aspect of daily life.
Of course, every part of that foundation was built with Interstellar Federation Credits.
So in the end…
She still needed money.
Next, Xia Mu examined the nutrient solutions.
One low grade nutrient solution was enough to keep someone full for an entire day.
One medium grade nutrient solution could sustain a person for three days.
Then there was the flying mechanical dog.
It required an energy box before activation.
Once activated, it could be used as transportation or accompany its owner into battle as an attack type mechanical dog.
It could transform into a large mechanical dog standing one point six one meters tall, or shrink into a tiny form only two centimeters in size.
Finally, she examined the weapon, the Clownfish Handgun.
On the left side was a switch that could be rotated.
One mode fired Bubble Rounds.
The other fired Freeze Rounds.
Freeze Rounds could instantly freeze a zombie for six seconds.
Bubble Rounds trapped zombies inside enormous bubbles, where sticky glue would spray continuously, binding multiple zombies together.
Both Freeze Rounds and Bubble Rounds had to be purchased from the marketplace.
The beginner’s gift pack only included ten rounds of each.
The one thousand Interstellar Federation Credits had also come at the perfect time.
According to the Landlady construction guide, it was enough to build the framework of a single occupancy room.
Xia Mu’s spirits rose once again.
Walking to the wooden door, she turned the pointer to the white half.
After opening it, the interior was still exactly the same as her house on Earth.
But once she looked out the window, all she saw was an endless frozen landscape.
It truly was another world.
Once she had enough money, she definitely planned to renovate the house in the Apocalypse.
Otherwise, having two identical homes would make her constantly confuse reality with the Apocalypse.
Coming into the living room, Xia Mu said,
“003, switch to the construction page.”
System 003 happily opened the construction interface for her.
The very first feature unlocked was the land purchase page.
A twenty five square meter plot for a single occupancy room cost three hundred Interstellar Federation Credits.
Xia Mu selected the option to purchase the land.
The holographic screen then asked where she wanted to build it.
A map appeared, showing the area surrounding her own residence.
Her house was marked with a green dot, while every other area was displayed in red.
After thinking for a moment, Xia Mu placed the single occupancy room behind the left side of her own house and confirmed her choice.
Next came the architectural styles.
There were traditional Chinese, modern, and European styles.
Without any hesitation, Xia Mu selected traditional Chinese architecture.
Within that category were Anhui style, Beijing style, Jiangsu style, Shanxi style, Fujian style, and Sichuan style, all among the most famous and commonly used designs.
She chose the Beijing style courtyard.
Having grown up in the capital and spent her childhood in a small courtyard home, she held deep affection for that style.
Once she finished constructing the courtyard complex, she could always build other architectural styles later.
The moment she confirmed the design, System 003 immediately began supervising the construction.
It would take five minutes to complete.
Xia Mu took the Clownfish Handgun from her system storage.
She left the mechanical dog and nutrient solutions inside the storage, intending to retrieve them only when necessary.
Even with the handgun in her hand, she still didn’t feel safe enough.
She searched through her father’s toolbox and found two weapons with decent killing power.
A hammer. And a handsaw.
Not only were they more lethal, but they also had enough reach, unlike a kitchen knife, which was far too short.
She brought both with her.
The more tools she had to protect herself, the better.
After gathering her weapons, Xia Mu steeled herself, took a deep breath, and boldly opened the main entrance.
An icy blast rushed toward her.
However, it was stopped by the protective barrier surrounding the house, leaving the interior as warm and comfortable as ever.
Looking down at her light summer clothes, Xia Mu immediately returned to the attic.
She put on a thick down jacket and a pair of insulated Martin boots.
She wrapped herself up tightly from head to toe.
After all, the temperature outside was minus sixty degrees Celsius.
Returning to the front entrance once more, Xia Mu looked out at the frozen world beyond, where both humans and zombies remained sealed inside the ice.
Her targets were the frozen zombies.
As long as she shattered the ice, they would awaken.
These were the weakest zombies.
She would use them to gain experience.
Even if the zombie crystals they produced were of very low purity, it didn’t matter.
Gripping her weapons tightly, the beautiful young woman set her expression with determination and charged out without hesitation.