At dusk, the clouds on the horizon looked like strips of cloth torn apart by a raging fire, revealing mottled red light.
Beneath the towering skyscrapers, the once-bustling and lively metropolis had long since become a doomsday wasteland, with countless zombies spanning every corner of the city like a rising tide.
They resembled sinister, evil ghosts crawling straight out of hell; simply looking at them was enough to send a chill down one’s spine.
Song Yu’s gaze landed on the distant city center. The dilapidated hundred-meter-tall buildings were covered in blood-red thorny vines, and the terrifying silhouettes of figures moving through the structures were faintly visible.
Those chilling eyes brought an intense sense of oppression to Song Yu.
It felt as though in the very next second, that terrifying existence would cross the entire city and tear her to shreds.
Centered around that building, various types of massive zombies were scattered among the streets and structures.
They were far too huge; even from this distance, Song Yu could see them clearly.
Meanwhile, in the central district, Song Yu also noticed armed organizations suppressing those zombies.
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The sounds of intense gunfire and artillery were intermingled with the roars of the zombies. Watching the distant flashes of fire, Song Yu lazily let out a yawn.
The zombies in the urban district were far more numerous than those on the outskirts, and their strength vastly surpassed the outer zombies as well.
Those players who had been dropped directly into the city center were truly unlucky.
Song Yu figured that to reach the old district and deliver the goods to the Watchers organization, she would have to push her way through layers upon layers of zombie blockades.
Could that Watcher organization be the one clearing out zombies in the central district?
Song Yu didn’t dwell on this question for long, turning around to head downstairs.
Compared to investigating the truth of this world, what mattered far more to her was how to survive the remaining 27 days.
Returning to the twelfth floor, Song Yu casually picked a room with an open door, and a ferocious-looking zombie immediately lunged forward!
Song Yu instantly braced against the zombie, aiming the nail gun in her hand directly at its head.
The sound of the nail gun was very soft and failed to attract other zombies, but the roars of this particular zombie caused the zombies throughout the entire building to grow restless.
Song Yu kicked the zombie down, quickly entered the room along with Xiao Hei, and barricaded the door using a table and chairs.
Three nails drove straight into its skull, and the ferocious zombie vanished instantly.
The room was clean yet blanketed in dust, boasting almost no usable items aside from a pile of furniture that had long since lost its purpose.
These apartments had been scavenged over and over again by survivors in the city, and anything useful had long since been carried away.
Song Yu found a pack of jam biscuits in the corner of the kitchen and ate them directly for dinner.
Washing it down with mineral water, she made do with a casual meal.
After tidying up the bedroom simply, Song Yu settled down for the night with Xiao Hei.
However, due to the special environment of the urban district, Song Yu didn’t go to sleep immediately. Instead, she sat by the window, carefully pulling the curtain back to form a small gap so she could cautiously observe the surrounding situation.
The nights in the zombie instance were extremely perilous, yet there were still players who would operate under the cover of darkness.
After all, with the nighttime buff active, the drop rates for zombies during the day were truly too miserable to look at.
Even with Song Yu’s talent-based luck bonuses, she couldn’t squeeze out many drops, let alone other players.
Under Song Yu’s surveillance, she soon spotted a team whose status as players or NPCs was unclear.
Right down below, a group of people moved through the night with seamless coordination, swiftly wiping out the zombies on the street.
The zone where she was currently located didn’t feature high-tier zombies yet, remaining primarily populated by Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies.
Suddenly, the people downstairs seemed to sense something; sharp gazes snapped upward as they abruptly looked toward the floor and room where Song Yu was located.
Song Yu reacted swiftly as well, immediately ducking out of sight.
“That was close.”
Song Yu patted her chest. Just to be safe, she still had Xiao Hei keep a close watch on the activity below.
Xiao Hei padded over to the door, quietly eating the dinner Song Yu had prepared for it, looking extremely reliable.
Song Yu sat on the bed, taking inventory of the supplies in her backpack slots while keeping the nail gun close at hand.
She and Xiao Hei counted as two players, so their daily consumption had to be calculated on a double scale.
Judging by her food and water consumption over the past two days, each player consumed roughly 150 points of fullness per day, and slightly less water, hovering around 90 points.
Between her and Xiao Hei, she needed to stockpile a bit more food to be safe.
Nighttime zombies were hard to kill, while daytime zombies had low drop rates.
Moreover, once zombies formed a swarm, they would become a threat Song Yu couldn’t handle.
Don’t let Song Yu’s current ease in dealing with zombies fool you; that was only because the zombie count was low and their tiers were low.
If only she could run into lone, high-tier zombies.
As she gnawed on a peach, Song Yu pondered her upcoming plans.
Relying solely on killing Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies, she would never be able to survive for 30 days.
Suddenly, Song Yu paused her peach-gnawing motion and hurried over to the kitchen window.
She faintly caught the sound of human crying and shouting.
Xiao Hei confirmed Song Yu’s guess—someone was indeed crying, but it couldn’t accurately convey the exact meaning to Song Yu.
It was that group of players who had been besieged by the zombie swarm earlier.
Song Yu watched with her own eyes as a crying, wailing player was tossed out of a window.
Her expression remained unchanged as she continued gnawing on her peach, while Xiao Hei feasted heartily on its nutrient meal.
Song Yu stared at that player, deep in thought.
It wasn’t strange for that player to be thrown out; what was strange was why, under such dangerous circumstances, he was still wailing and crying out at the top of his lungs.
He hadn’t stopped even after being tossed right into the middle of a pile of zombies.
This was weird; this was highly problematic.
Song Yu’s question was answered the very next day.
Waking up from her slumber, Song Yu performed her routine check of the buffs on her status panel to see if any negative statuses had appeared.
Upon spotting the [Slovenly: Being overly slovenly may affect physical health] status, enlightenment dawned on Song Yu.
That player thrown out yesterday had experienced such an out-of-control emotional breakdown likely because his mood value had plummeted too low, triggering a corresponding negative status.
Fullness, hydration, health, mood—since the game featured these four hidden attributes, they undoubtedly existed for a necessary reason.
“Did he collapse because his mood value dropped too low…”
Song Yu opened a bottle of mineral water and briefly cleaned up her personal hygiene with dedicated effort, continuing meticulously until the slovenly negative status vanished.
It looked like she also needed to monitor her own mood issues at all times.
In truth, Song Yu was completely worrying over nothing; this kind of situation would absolutely never happen to someone like her.
Song Yu and Xiao Hei’s breakfast consisted of cream bread and luncheon meat, making for a very lavish meal.
She had to admit that the lifestyle Song Yu and Xiao Hei enjoyed was better than 99% of all other players.
Most players were still struggling hard on the survival line.
Packing up her bags, Song Yu scavenged every portable item from the apartment, such as the gold necklace inside the bedside table drawer and the pots from the kitchen.
If her backpack capacity weren’t limited, Song Yu could have emptied the entire apartment!
However, the good mood Song Yu felt from finding the gold necklace vanished instantly.
The moment she stepped outside, she and Xiao Hei ran right into a group of players.