Heavy breathing was strikingly clear in the quiet space, and a thin waft of foul stench drifted in through the crack of the door.
A zombie!
The frying pan appeared in Bai Zhuo’s hand in an instant. She slowly crouched into an attacking stance, waiting for the zombie to break through the door so she could kill it the moment it did.
The screech of sharp claws raking at the door was piercing. Bai Zhuo softened her breathing, her expression growing tenser by the second.
The instant the door was smashed open, Bai Zhuo lunged out, and the frying pan came down with a “CLANG—” on the zombie’s rock-hard head.
That charged-up strike should have split the zombie’s skull open, but this time it only left a dent.
Something was wrong!
The zombie snarled and opened its jaws wide to bite at her. She only had time to jam the frying pan into its mouth, then kicked it back out the door.
Bai Zhuo’s hands were left numb from the impact. With no time to think, she faced the zombie as it lunged in again, her free left hand swiftly gripping the modao she’d pulled from the system inventory, and slashed at it.
The instant the blade met the zombie’s arm, it let out a sound like metal striking metal.
This was no ordinary zombie!
Bai Zhuo gritted her teeth. This damned thing was also monstrously strong, and in one careless moment, it bore her down to the ground.
Just as the zombie’s sharp teeth were about to sink into Bai Zhuo, the modao in her hand was suddenly yanked away, and the next moment the zombie’s rank blood sprayed across her face.
Bai Zhuo snapped back to herself, shoved the dead zombie off with all her strength, rolled up to her feet, and looked over in shock.
Xue Yanhen, who had woken up at some unknown point, stood propped on the modao, panting hard. When her eyes met Bai Zhuo’s, she clearly meant to give a little smile, but ended up rolling her eyes back and passing out again.
Bai Zhuo tossed the zombie’s corpse out the door, then dug out the chain she’d pulled earlier from the system inventory and locked the door firmly from the inside.
The stench on her was too foul. Only after changing out of her clothes did Bai Zhuo slump back onto the sofa, unable to help licking the tip of her teeth.
Her worry had come true, an evolved zombie really had appeared, and even a system-issued frying pan couldn’t deal it a fatal blow.
This was seriously screwed up.
She raised a hand to rub her brow. She’d just been about to call the system when it popped up on its own.
【Congratulations, host, on completing a mission: teaming up with a teammate to slay one tier-two zombie. Rewards have been sent to your system inventory. Please check them, host.】
Tier-two zombie?
Bai Zhuo frowned. But there was something else she cared about more.
【System, why didn’t I get a notification when the mission was issued?】
【This was a hidden mission. It can only be triggered once the host has a teammate.】
Teammate?
Bai Zhuo instinctively looked at Xue Yanhen, passed out on the sofa, and pressed her lips together.
A teammate, huh?
【Host, hidden-mission rewards are extremely generous~】
Bai Zhuo was speechless. 【No acting cute.】
A pale-blue, semi-transparent light screen appeared before her eyes. Bai Zhuo glanced at it, and the system inventory opened automatically.
Skipping past all the odds and ends she’d pulled earlier, she went straight to this hidden mission’s rewards.
Once she saw them clearly, Bai Zhuo couldn’t help sucking in a deep breath.
【Sys, oh Sys, hidden missions like this, feel free to send me a few more from now on.】
Just look! She didn’t even care about the ten loot-box draws anymore!
In the corner, that was a warehouse key!
Right when the system first bonded to her, it had said the system inventory didn’t hold much, but that completing specific missions would let her unlock a warehouse.
The warehouse she’d been drooling over for so long, here it was!
Bai Zhuo rubbed her hands together, eyes brimming with delight. 【Sys, can I unlock the warehouse now?】
A moment ago she’d told Sys to knock off the cutesy act, and now she was calling it “Sys” all sweet.
If the system had a body, it would definitely be rolling its eyes at her.
Too bad it didn’t.
【Host, please confirm whether to unlock the warehouse.】
Bai Zhuo decisively chose yes. The light screen flickered, and the warehouse icon quietly appeared beside the inventory.
The warehouse had a capacity limit too, but it held far more than the inventory.
Bai Zhuo transferred all the items she wouldn’t need for now straight into the warehouse, watching the system automatically sort and organize them. Looking at those boxes of survival supplies stacked up, she let out a long breath.
Sweet!
The pale-blue light screen vanished, and Bai Zhuo’s gaze fell on Xue Yanhen.
Remembering what the system had just said, she propped her chin in her hand and sank into thought.
A lifetime of experiences had accustomed her to going it alone, but Xue Yanhen was the exception.
The two of them had known each other in their younger years, scrapping and stumbling through the orphanage together. As a child, Bai Zhuo had been small and scrawny and always falling ill, and it was Xue Yanhen who had always protected her. But later Xue Yanhen had been adopted away, while Bai Zhuo stayed and grew up in the orphanage.
When a childhood companion appeared before her again, she’d been genuinely happy back then.
Bai Zhuo hugged her own knees and glanced at Xue Yanhen once more. Don’t let me down, okay?
Bai Zhuo rubbed her face and pulled the blanket tighter, unable to shake the feeling that she’d forgotten something.
What on earth was it?
A peaceful night passed. Xue Yanhen slowly opened her eyes, instinctively touched her face, and was delighted to find her fever had broken.
On the single-seat sofa not far off, Bai Zhuo was fast asleep. She had long arms and legs, yet curled up like that, she looked a little fragile.
Hearing the movement, Bai Zhuo’s eyes flew open. She looked warily toward the source of the sound, and only after realizing it was Xue Yanhen did she press her brow.
“Want to sleep a bit more?”
Bai Zhuo shook her head. Ever since the apocalypse hit, she’d long grown used to this fragmented kind of sleep.
Taking water and bread out of the big pack beside her, Bai Zhuo recounted in a low voice what had happened over the past two days.
She left out the part about the three ability users, focusing instead on the tier-two zombie that had appeared.
“By the way”, Bai Zhuo rolled over and sat up—”I never asked, have you awakened an ability?”
Xue Yanhen’s hands paused almost imperceptibly, then she looked at her with apology written all over her face. “Sorry, my ability only works on myself right now.”
Bai Zhuo frowned. Just as Xue Yanhen was about to add some explanation, she heard Bai Zhuo sigh.
“Fine, fine, fine, sure enough, I’m the only one without an ability.”
【Host, you’ve got me! You’ve got Sys!】
The voice that suddenly rang out in her mind made Bai Zhuo roll her eyes on the sly.
【When I run into a zombie, can I chuck you at it?】
【…Please cherish your system more, host. The system is super useful!】
Under the cover of rummaging through her things, Bai Zhuo laughed silently. Of course she knew the system was super useful, otherwise, if she’d had to find these supplies herself, she could have turned all of Yun City upside down and come up empty.
Seeing that Bai Zhuo didn’t press further, Xue Yanhen let out a quiet breath of relief and offered comfort. “People with abilities are still in the minority, after all.”
The minority… huh?
Remembering that the ability users she’d run into these past two days were enough to fill a couple of mahjong tables, [1]so many they could seat eight players, two full tables jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936266_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936266_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); Bai Zhuo’s expression turned a little odd.
Didn’t seem all that few, actually.
“You stay here today, I’ll go out and take a look. Best case, I find some supplies, and I can check out the surroundings while I’m at it,” Xue Yanhen said in a steady voice.
Bai Zhuo pointed at the modao she’d left out overnight to avoid exposing the system inventory. “You should be able to use this. Take it, you’ll be safer.”
It was no exaggeration to say that the instant Bai Zhuo offered her the modao, she saw a flash of eager light leap into Xue Yanhen’s eyes.
References[+]