“Xiao Ba, check in!”
Early the next morning, Chen Xi started her daily check-in. By now, she had gotten so familiar with the system that she had started calling it “Xiao Ba.”
【Check-in complete!
Today’s reward: Roasted Chicken *1
Total check-in days: 2】
“System, do you have any weapons?” Chen Xi asked, eating the roasted chicken. She had to admit, the system’s roasted chicken was delicious and still warm when it appeared.
【Yes, there are weapons, quite a few in fact, but they’re random. Don’t worry, Host—you’ll get one eventually.】
In the original story, the previous Chen Xi never awakened any powers. She had been bitten by a zombie when she broke into the old man’s apartment across the hall yesterday. After turning into a zombie, she wandered the floor until she was killed by someone with powers. In the book, she was just an unnamed minor character.
So all Chen Xi could do was hope that she would draw a weapon to increase her combat ability.
Over the next few days, she drew a box of milk, a set of sportswear, and a box of cold medicine.
Still no weapon, but the sportswear was good quality. She even tried to cut it with a small knife—it didn’t tear—so zombies shouldn’t be able to shred it. It would be her go-to outfit for venturing outside.
She drank the milk the same day she drew it and immediately felt her body strengthen—her strength increased, her speed faster. The system really did give good stuff.
During the apocalypse, medicine was precious. Hospitals were crowded, overrun with zombies, and if she got sick, she wouldn’t even be able to get medicine. So she carefully stored the cold medicine she drew.
Chen Xi organized a large backpack by the door, packing food, drinks, essentials, and the cold medicine, ready to grab it and run if anything happened.
It was now the fifth day of the apocalypse. Anyone able to leave the community had already done so in the previous days. What remained were zombies wandering the streets and floors, and a few survivors holed up like Chen Xi.
Even though the internet and power had gone out on the second day, Chen Xi hadn’t been idle. She had the system.
She used it to practice close-combat techniques, and at the same time train the original Chen Xi’s body, increasing her own combat ability and preparing for when she would have to leave.
She couldn’t stay holed up forever; she still needed to find the male and female protagonists to complete her mission. Otherwise, even if she survived thanks to the check-in system, she’d fail her internship assessment.
But the system detected that the protagonists were alive and well, so she wasn’t in a hurry. First, train herself; once she could defend herself, she would go find them.
“Xiao Ba, check in!”
【Check-in complete!
Today’s reward: Iron-Cutting Short Dagger *1
Total check-in days: 6】
“Wow! A weapon!!!” Chen Xi shouted in excitement.
As soon as she spoke, a sword about 50 cm long appeared before her, the blade glinting coldly.
She picked it up carefully. It wasn’t heavy at all. She tested it on the corner of the table, and with little effort, the corner was sliced off. Impressive!
System-made, top quality for sure.
Chen Xi was thrilled with this day’s reward. On the sixth day, she finally had a weapon!
Before, she only had a kitchen knife, which was too short and dangerous—easy for zombies to grab. Now, she could go clear the zombies on her floor.
Actually, she had noticed yesterday afternoon that zombies could climb stairs.
The five-story building’s stairwell was blocked with cabinets and tables from the start, so zombies hadn’t climbed up. They kept banging on the barriers, then wandered off when they couldn’t get through.
All night, Chen Xi had been on edge, afraid that the zombies would break through.
“Xiao Ba, can you detect where the zombies are?”
Chen Xi put on the sportswear she had drawn, fully geared up, and stepped out of her apartment.
【Currently, I can detect life forms within a 10-meter horizontal radius around the Host. Don’t worry, I’ll alert you if there are zombies!】
“Good.”
The system could only detect horizontal zombies, so Chen Xi still had to check the stairwell herself.
She took a deep breath, moved the furniture blocking the stairwell, and found it empty. She carefully went down to the fourth floor.
【Host, a zombie is walking along the hallway toward your stairwell. You have less than five meters to reach it.】
008 displayed a floor plan of the fourth floor in Chen Xi’s mind, marking zombies in red.
Sure enough, a red dot slowly moved toward her.
Chen Xi gripped her sword and took a combat stance at the stairwell corner.
“Five, four, three, two, one!”
She swung hard—headshot!
The zombie fell straight down. Using the same method, with the system’s guidance, Chen Xi cleared the remaining zombies on the fourth floor. Six in total, all former residents turned zombies. Chen Xi felt a pang of sadness.
【Host, energy fluctuations detected inside the zombies’ heads.】
Could it be… crystal cores?
Having read countless novels, Chen Xi immediately thought of crystal cores.
Suppressing her nausea, she picked up a stick and probed the zombie’s head. Sure enough, a blue crystalline structure appeared, just like in the novels. Everything in the book was real!
Right—the world she was in was the novel itself.
In the original story, crystal cores became the currency of the world until the apocalypse ended.
Money! Chen Xi extracted crystal cores from the other zombies: three in total—one blue, one yellow, one transparent. Beautiful.
The crystal colors corresponded to elemental powers—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, space, etc. But why didn’t the zombie she just killed have any powers?
【Host, these zombies were only level one. Their abilities are weak; even if they could use powers, it would be a tiny water drop or soil clump. They didn’t have time to use their powers before you decapitated them.】
Chen Xi: …Fine.
Using the same method, Chen Xi cleared the zombies on the third floor: eight in total, earning five crystal cores—two red, one yellow, one blue, one green.
A decent haul. After cleaning them up, she pocketed the cores.
“If only I had water powers, handling these crystals would be easier,” Chen Xi sighed.
Next was the second floor: one apartment door tightly closed, the other two wide open. Three zombies wandered the hallways, all eliminated by Chen Xi, yielding one transparent crystal.
The two open apartments were empty—either the residents had left or turned into zombies.
But when she tried to open the other door, it was locked from the inside. Just as she was about to leave, she heard cautious voices from inside:
“Is someone out there?”