In a room devoid of light, Yuna Bishop sat cross-legged on the concrete floor, vigorously rubbing a wooden stick against a piece of wood.
The zombie roars rising and falling all around didn’t affect Yuna Bishop’s mood in the slightest.
Besides, the room was so dark she couldn’t see a thing.
The sounds alone weren’t enough to frighten Yuna Bishop.
The doors and windows were blocked tight with furniture and curtains.
Even if Yuna Bishop started a fire inside, not a single trace would be visible from the outside.
After an unknown amount of time, the stick in Yuna Bishop’s hand finally produced a tiny spark against the piece of wood.
She hurriedly placed the straw she had collected on it to catch the flame, then transferred it to a barbecue grill already prepared with firewood.
The rising flames illuminated the entire room, which was piled high with supplies Yuna Bishop had gathered.
There were few system supplies to be found in this village, but there was no shortage of useful items.
Especially things like wood.
Items in her Backpack Grids could be used in the next dungeon.
Since she couldn’t be sure of the next dungeon’s difficulty or circumstances, her only option was to hoard as many different types of supplies as possible.
As the firewood began to burn, Yuna Bishop noticed the zombies’ roars were getting closer.
Gripping her Crossbow, she hurried to the window and carefully lifted a corner of the curtain to peek outside.
At some point, a cold, crescent moon had appeared in the once-pitch-black sky, casting a pall over the land and making the scene outside clearly visible—an eerie and terrifying sight.
The once-empty village was now filled with numerous zombies.
Compared to the daytime zombies, the ones at night were clearly more active.
[Tier 1 Frail Zombie, Blood Volume: 47, Attack: 11, …], [Tier 2 Berserk Zombie, Blood Volume: 165, Attack: 31, …]
The zombies’ Blood Volume and Attack Damage had doubled at night!
Yuna Bishop didn’t have enough arrows to kill a single Tier 2 Zombie.
She’d be better off resting and recovering her Physical Strength.
However, when Yuna Bishop discovered a [Zombie Drop Rate Doubled] night buff on her panel, she immediately abandoned that idea.
‘Zombies equal Mutated Blood equals supplies!’
Yuna Bishop carefully went to the rooftop, rested her Crossbow on the parapet, and aimed at a zombie wandering by the main gate.
That was a Tier 1 Zombie.
Tier 1 Zombies generally had less than 50 Blood Volume.
She nocked an arrow, drew the Crossbow to its limit, closed one eye, aimed for its head, and fired without hesitation!
A direct hit!
The zombie’s head was pierced!
Its health bar instantly dropped by 30 points!
‘A critical hit?’
Yuna Bishop opened her system panel to check, and sure enough, she found the relevant record in the attack log.
Hitting a zombie in the head was a critical hit, guaranteed to deal double Damage.
A smile appeared on Yuna Bishop’s face.
This was great news.
She immediately nocked a second arrow and hit the zombie in the head again.
The zombie, its health bar depleted, vanished from Yuna Bishop’s sight as a system notification sounded in her ear.
[Player has triggered Talent: Double Drop.]
The zombie turned into two vials of blood and dropped to the ground.
‘If only that had been a Tier 2 Zombie.’
Yuna Bishop felt a twinge of regret.
However, Yuna Bishop discovered something troubling.
When the zombie disappeared, the arrow that hit it disappeared too!
The arrows she’d traded for from the NPC Merchant were actually single-use consumables!
“…”
‘How depressing.
Luckily, the six arrows that came with the Crossbow are reusable.’
There were quite a few zombies in the village, over 100 by a rough estimate.
Among them, one looked vastly different from the others.
Yuna Bishop had no intention of provoking it; that thing looked tough.
It was a Tier 4 Zombie with over 600 Blood Volume.
Yuna Bishop only had eight arrows in total.
There was no way she could kill it.
‘There’s a Tier 4 Zombie in this small, deserted village…
I can’t imagine what terrifying zombies are lurking in those larger buildings.’
‘Maybe Tier 6, or even Tier 7?’
Yuna Bishop didn’t dwell on it for too long and continued killing the zombies around the house.
Nock, aim, fire.
Then, before the other zombies noticed, she went downstairs to retrieve her arrows and the loot.
Her Speed was double what it used to be, so she didn’t have to worry about being discovered.
Yuna Bishop quickly cleared all the zombies near the house.
In total, she got seven vials of Tier 1 Blood and three vials of Tier 2 Blood.
The haul was substantial.
Yuna Bishop could trade for at least 60 arrows from Sue Carter tomorrow.
But Yuna Bishop was completely out of arrows.
The arrows that came with the Crossbow had durability, and they disappeared once it was depleted.
Yuna Bishop wanted to keep killing zombies, but she had no more arrows.
‘Thinking about it, this makes sense.
If arrows weren’t consumables, given their price, it wouldn’t be long before my Backpack Grids were overflowing with blood.’
With no arrows left, Yuna Bishop tidied up and decided to just go to sleep.
The fire in the barbecue grill was about to die out.
Yuna Bishop buried potatoes and corn in the embers, letting them cook slowly in the residual heat.
Before going to sleep, Yuna Bishop checked the window to make sure there was airflow, ensuring she wouldn’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Yuna Bishop had already set up a large, soft, and comfortable bed in the room.
She had collected everything from the various houses.
It was so soft when she lay down.
Yuna Bishop quickly drifted off to sleep.
After she was asleep, a [Comfortable] buff that accelerated Physical Strength recovery appeared on her panel.
She slept soundly and without dreams.
The next morning at six o’clock, Yuna Bishop woke up right on time.
Even though she had fought and toiled all day yesterday, she felt completely refreshed, without a trace of fatigue.
She was just a little hungry.
Yuna Bishop rubbed her growling stomach and opened her panel.
The night buff had disappeared, replaced by new ones.
[Comfortable (4 hours): Accelerates Physical Strength recovery speed.]
[Refreshed (4 hours): Reduces Physical Strength consumption rate.]
In addition, she also had two negative statuses: [Hunger] and [Thirst].
The potatoes and corn she had put in the barbecue grill yesterday were perfect for breakfast.
Yuna Bishop ate three potatoes, two ears of corn, and drank a bottle of mineral water in one go.
She finished with three berries.
She’d never had such a good appetite; she felt healthier than ever.
The corn was tender, the potatoes were very filling, and the berries were sweet and sour.
The two negative statuses vanished, replaced by a new [Well-fed and Hydrated] mood-restoring buff.
Yuna Bishop tidied up the room, making sure to hide everything that needed to be hidden.
The barbecue grill, for example.
There was no way Yuna Bishop could take it with her, so she had to hide it.
After all that, Yuna Bishop shouldered her backpack and Crossbow, took her dagger, closed the courtyard gate, and hopped on her bicycle, ready to start a new day of exploration.
First stop: the NPC Merchant, Sue Carter!
All of her goods were limited, but there were a hundred thousand players in all of Salix!