At dusk, the clouds on the horizon looked like strips of cloth scorched by a blazing fire, letting through mottled patches of red light.
Beneath the high-rises, the once bustling metropolis was now nothing but apocalyptic ruins.
A countless, tide-like horde of zombies swarmed every corner of the city.
They were like malevolent ghouls crawling out of Hell, a chilling sight to behold.
Yuna Bishop’s gaze fell on the city center in the distance.
A dilapidated, hundred-meter-tall building was covered in blood-red thorny vines, and horrifying figures could be faintly seen moving within it.
The sight of those cold eyes filled Yuna Bishop with an immense sense of pressure.
It felt as if that terrifying presence could cross the entire city in the next second and tear her to shreds.
With that building as the epicenter, all sorts of colossal zombies were scattered among the streets and buildings.
They were so enormous that even from this distance, Yuna Bishop could see them clearly.
In Central City, Yuna Bishop also noticed an armed group suppressing the zombies.
The sound of dense gunfire mingled with the roars of the zombies.
Yuna Bishop watched the distant flashes of light and gave a lazy yawn.
The zombies in the city district were far more numerous and much stronger than those on the outskirts.
‘Those players who were dropped into the city district are really unlucky.’
Yuna Bishop considered the journey ahead.
To reach The Old District and deliver the items to The Watcher Organization, she would have to break through layer after layer of zombies.
‘Could the group clearing zombies in Central City be The Watcher Organization?’
Yuna Bishop didn’t dwell on the question and turned to head downstairs.
More important to her than uncovering the truth of this world was figuring out how to survive the remaining 27 days.
Returning to the twelfth floor, Yuna Bishop found a room with an open door.
A ferocious-looking zombie immediately lunged at her!
Yuna Bishop immediately braced herself against the zombie, aiming the Nail Gun in her hand at its head.
The Nail Gun was quiet and didn’t attract other zombies, but the creature’s roar agitated every zombie in the building.
Yuna Bishop kicked the zombie down, quickly led Noir into the room, and barricaded the door with a table and chair.
After three nails were driven into its head, the ferocious zombie vanished instantly.
The room was clean yet covered in dust, with almost nothing of use inside besides a pile of long-broken furniture.
These rooms had already been looted over and over by the city’s survivors.
Almost everything useful had been taken.
She washed them down with some mineral water, making do with a simple meal.
After tidying up the bedroom a little, Yuna Bishop settled in with Noir.
However, due to the special environment of the city district, Yuna Bishop didn’t go to sleep right away.
Instead, she sat by the window, carefully pulling the curtain open just a crack to cautiously observe the surroundings.
The nights in a zombie instance were extremely dangerous, but some players still chose to move under the cover of darkness.
After all, there was a nighttime buff, and the drop rates from zombies during the day were truly abysmal.
Even with the luck bonus from her Talent, Yuna Bishop couldn’t get many drops, let alone other players.
While she watched, she soon spotted a group moving below.
She couldn’t tell if they were players or NPCs.
Right below her building, a team moved through the night with perfect coordination, quickly clearing the zombies from the street.
The area she was in didn’t have any high-level zombies yet; it was mostly populated by Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies.
Suddenly, one of the people below seemed to sense something.
Their sharp gaze shot up, locking onto the floor and room Yuna Bishop was in.
Yuna Bishop reacted just as quickly, immediately ducking out of sight.
“That was scary.”
Yuna Bishop patted her chest.
Just in case, she had Noir pay close attention to the movements below.
Noir lay down by the door, quietly eating the dinner Yuna Bishop had prepared for it, looking quite reliable.
Yuna Bishop sat on the bed and took stock of the supplies in her Backpack Grids, her Nail Gun placed beside her.
She and Noir counted as two players, so their daily consumption had to be calculated as double.
Based on their food and water consumption over the past two days, each player used about 150 satiety and around 90 hydration per day.
‘Noir and I will need to stockpile more food.’
The zombies at night were tough to kill, while the zombies during the day had low drop rates.
Moreover, once the zombies formed a horde, they would become an insurmountable threat for Yuna Bishop.
It might look like Yuna Bishop was handling zombies with ease right now, but that was only because their numbers were small and their levels were low.
‘If only there were some lone, high-level zombies.’
Yuna Bishop mulled over her next steps while nibbling on a peach.
There was no way she could survive for 30 days by only killing Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies.
Suddenly, Yuna Bishop paused mid-bite and hurried over to the kitchen window.
She had faintly heard human cries.
Noir confirmed Yuna Bishop’s suspicion.
There was indeed a human crying, but it couldn’t accurately convey the meaning to her. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
It was the group of players who had been besieged by the zombie horde earlier.
Yuna Bishop watched as a wailing player was thrown out of a window.
Her expression remained unchanged as she continued to eat her peach.
Noir was also busy devouring its nutrient paste.
Yuna Bishop stared at the player, lost in thought.
It wasn’t strange that the player was thrown out.
What was strange was why he was wailing so loudly in such a dangerous situation.
He didn’t stop even after being tossed into a pile of zombies.
‘That’s odd.
Something’s wrong here.’
Yuna Bishop’s question was answered the next day.
Waking from her sleep, Yuna Bishop performed her daily check of the buffs on her panel to see if any negative statuses had appeared.
When she saw the status [Slovenly: Being too slovenly may affect your health], a realization suddenly struck Yuna Bishop.
The player who was thrown out yesterday had lost control of his emotions.
It was highly likely that his Emotion Value had dropped too low, triggering a corresponding negative status.
Satiety, hydration, health, emotion…
‘If the game has these four hidden Attributes, they must exist for a reason.’
“So he broke down because his Emotion Value was too low…”
Yuna Bishop opened a bottle of mineral water and gave herself a simple cleaning.
She was very thorough, continuing until the slovenly negative status disappeared.
‘Looks like I’ll have to pay close attention to my own emotional state from now on.’
In truth, Yuna Bishop was overthinking it.
This kind of situation would never happen to someone like her.
Yuna Bishop and Noir’s breakfast consisted of buttered bread and luncheon meat—a very hearty meal.
It had to be said, Yuna Bishop and Noir were living better than 99% of the other players.
Most players were still struggling just to survive.
After packing her bag, Yuna Bishop scavenged everything she could take from the apartment, like a gold necklace from the nightstand drawer and a pot from the kitchen.
If it weren’t for her limited backpack space, Yuna Bishop would have emptied the entire room!
However, the good mood Yuna Bishop was in from finding the gold necklace vanished.
The moment she and Noir stepped out the door, they ran into players.