In the instant the gold light burst forth, Bai Zhuo thought it was going to blind her.
Bracing herself against the wall, she shut her eyes for a moment.
【System, let’s talk this over. Next time don’t just ambush me out of nowhere without a word of warning, you nearly burned my poor eyes out.】
Having gotten that off her chest, Bai Zhuo took a beat to recover before looking at the semi-transparent light screen in front of her, and drew a sharp breath.
Never mind, then. If everything in the gold boxes was like this, it could dazzle her all it liked.
In the apocalypse, apart from supplies, what mattered most?
Survival!
And survival required a safe place to rest.
System-issued! A safe house!
Bai Zhuo couldn’t help smiling, and this time it looked far more genuine.
The safe house icon appeared in her system inventory. She instinctively went to expand it, only to find the slot grayed out and locked.
The smile at the corner of her mouth froze. Wait, so it hands her a safe house and then won’t let her use it?
The system wanted to play dead, but it couldn’t.
【Host, the safe house can only be unlocked once the system reaches the corresponding level.】
The smile vanished entirely from Bai Zhuo’s face and eyes. How was this any different from quenching your thirst by staring at plums? [1]getting your hopes up over something you can’t actually have jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936273_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936273_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Xue Yanhen poked her head out. “Xiao Bai, come here a second.”
Swiftly composing herself, Bai Zhuo rolled her eyes hard at the system in her mind and went over to Xue Yanhen.
Xue Yanhen pointed to a small generator piled in the corner of the kitchen, barely reining in her excitement. “We could find a way to scrounge up some fuel. If this thing still works, we might just be able to get in contact with people in other regions, and even if we can’t, we could at least pick up some useful information.”
Bai Zhuo sighed. “But have you considered, it’s been almost half a year since the apocalypse broke out. The signal towers may already be wrecked by zombies, and the cables and wires might’ve been chewed through too.”
“I…”
“But you’ve reminded me of something.”
“What?” Xue Yanhen, still not out from under her disappointment, asked reflexively.
Bai Zhuo snapped her fingers and said with a smile, “A radio.”
“But…” Xue Yanhen hesitated. “In this day and age, where would we even find a radio?”
Bai Zhuo opened her mouth, right, where would they find a radio?
The two looked at each other, and in the end, both looked away at the same time.
One was thinking she’d have to pay closer attention while scavenging next time, what if they really could turn up a radio?
The other was wondering whether she could open one out of a box, if only she knew whether the system had one.
【Host, we do. The supplies stored in the system are beyond your imagination.】
Bai Zhuo raised an eyebrow. Fine. Then she’d wait and see just how far beyond her imagination it could be.
Bai Zhuo crouched down and fiddled with the small generator for a while. She found it undamaged, it had probably just been left behind because there’d been no time to grab it while fleeing for one’s life.
Absently pressing the generator’s buttons, Bai Zhuo mulled over how to level up the system.
She’d never paid it much mind before, the supplies she could get had always been enough for her.
But now, with a safe house that big just sitting there, look but don’t touch, if she kept lazing around like a salted fish [2]a slacker with no drive jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936273_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936273_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, it’d be a real waste.
Xue Yanhen was sorting through things in the living room. On top of the supplies Gu Zhun’s group had left behind before departing, they’d also found a few things today, there was no worry about running short on food for the next couple of days.
“I’m planning to go take a look outside the Ning City base tomorrow.”
Hearing her, Xue Yanhen turned. Bai Zhuo stood leaning against the kitchen door frame, arms crossed.
“Want me to come along?”
“No.” Bai Zhuo shook her head. “I’m just going to take a look from a distance. I can manage on my own.”
Xue Yanhen answered with an “okay,” and added a word or two telling her to be careful.
Bai Zhuo nodded with a smile. “I will.”
Before she laid eyes on the Ning City base, Bai Zhuo’s head had been full of the fortress-style survivor bases she’d seen in TV shows before the apocalypse.
But once she drew near the Ning City base marked on her map, she realized she’d read too much into it.
The Ning City base was centered on the government building, with the ring of high-rises around it serving as the “outer wall.” The roads in between were barricaded with all sorts of objects and vehicles, forming a zone that couldn’t be passed through normally.
Bai Zhuo stood on the rooftop of a distant high-rise, watching the scene over there with a deep frown.
Could a survivor base like this really hold off zombies that had already evolved?
【Host, take note! Level-two zombie detected to your rear-right! Please eliminate it immediately!】
The frying pan appeared in Bai Zhuo’s hand from nowhere. She spun and struck downward, sending the zombie, which had crept up on her at some point, flying. It slammed hard into the wall, actually caving the surface in.
Giving it no chance to get up, Bai Zhuo pulled out her crowbar and drove it viciously into the zombie’s chest.
Seeing that the zombie was as dead as dead could be, Bai Zhuo yanked the crowbar free and turned to leave, only to be stopped by the system.
【Host, a crystal has formed inside this zombie’s brain.】
Bai Zhuo’s steps halted. What crystal?
【Host may dig it out and take a look.】
Bai Zhuo lowered her head. Fine, she’d look.
When she actually pried a peanut-sized crystal out of the zombie’s brain with her crowbar, Bai Zhuo couldn’t help freezing for a moment.
The crystal was somewhat transparent, and under the sun it carried a faint reddish glow.
Bai Zhuo tore off a scrap of the zombie’s clothing and picked up the crystal.
“What is this thing? A gallstone?”
The system was rather at a loss over this host’s remarkable train of thought, good thing it was an artificial intelligence and not an artificial idiot.
【Host, crystals are closely tied to abilities.】
Bai Zhuo’s grip tightened instinctively. Tied to abilities? Did that mean zombies might someday evolve abilities of their own?!
Her heart sank at once, and she put the guess to the system.
The system gave an affirmative answer. 【They can.】
Bai Zhuo closed her eyes and tightened her fist. The crystal dug painfully into her palm, but she seemed not to feel it at all.
The apocalypse was already a struggle against the heavens, if zombies could evolve on top of that, then what future awaited humanity?
Xue Yanhen had no idea what Bai Zhuo had been through on that outing, but when she came back, her mood and her whole bearing were off.
Once Bai Zhuo had steadied herself, she showed Xue Yanhen the little crystal, about the size of a peanut, and told her that zombies could evolve abilities.
As her words fell, the room plunged abruptly into silence.
It took Xue Yanhen a long while to react before she said hoarsely, “Do you think the people up top know about this?”
At that question, the first thing that came to Bai Zhuo’s mind was Gu Zhun’s squad, and that meteorological data they’d needed.
“They should… probably know.”
The very Gu Zhun she’d thought of was, at that moment, standing inside a certain secret base unknown to the world. Holding the data in his hands, he straightened his black combat uniform, and with a solemn expression, raised a hand and knocked on the door.
“Enter.”
References[+]