"System?"
"Did I hear that right?" The confusion in Gu Chengyuan's heart was instantly dispelled by excitement.
For someone who had been navigating major websites since sixth grade, he understood systems better than the system itself!
But now wasn't the time to study this golden finger. Not to mention the old bus ahead barely holding back the zombies, even the few zombies on the road that had noticed him and were rushing towards him were more than he could handle.
Fortunately, Bagongli Stop was a transition area from the suburbs to the city, surrounded by a few scattered self-built houses and sparse traffic.
Gu Chengyuan pulled out his phone, selected a shared electric bike, and with trembling hands, began to scan the code, all the while keeping an eye on the approaching zombies and their distance from him.
This feeling reminded him of playing escape rooms in Yucheng, being chased by a ghost to a door, so nervous that he couldn't open it because he got the direction wrong.
In the end, it was the NPC Ghost who opened the door for him...
The fear now was definitely multiplied compared to that time in Yucheng, because getting caught meant real death!
Beep, the bike lock is open!
Hearing the pleasant electronic sound, Gu Chengyuan let out a long breath, placed his small suitcase on the bike's footboard, twisted the throttle with his left foot on the ground, and shot out like a sharp sword.
To be fair, the electric start was indeed fast!
A dozen minutes later, wearing a military green sun-protective jacket with the zipper pulled all the way up, Gu Chengyuan lay flat on a large mound by the roadside, imagining himself as a starfish, trying hard to minimize his presence.
The mound was surrounded by farmland, offering a wide view with little human presence. Gu Chengyuan crawled low and checked the mound twice, confirming there were no blind spots before starting to study his system.
"System?"
As soon as he spoke, a blue virtual panel appeared before him, resembling the construction panel from Red Alert. At the top of the panel, it displayed "War System," with a font that seemed like bold black?
Having written a thesis over the holidays, he was so obsessed that he automatically recognized it, his mind filled with the formatting requirements of Song and bold fonts...
"Still a bit aloof?"
Gu Chengyuan secretly mocked, then called out again.
"System spirit? System intelligence? War system?"
After a moment of silence, there was still no response.
...
Uh, as expected, the intelligent systems in web novels are all fake. The authors never had one, what do they know!
Quickly accepting that the system didn't have a system spirit, Gu Chengyuan earnestly studied the war system in his mind.
The system interface was particularly simple and clear, feeling like it was directly copied from Red Alert. It was roughly divided into three main panels: Personal, Buildings, and Units.
Under Personal, there were Personal Information and Force Configuration. Using his mind to control the cursor on the virtual screen, he opened Personal and found some basic information.
Name: Gu Chengyuan
Gender: Male
Race: Human Race
Height: 182 cm
Weight: 73 kg
Strength: 12 (Race average 10)
Endurance: 17 (Race average 10)
Speed: 11 (Race average 10)
Spirit: 20 (Race average 10)
Seeing that his strength and endurance exceeded the average, Gu Chengyuan wasn't surprised. For someone who had served in the military during college, not exceeding would be abnormal.
But how could his spirit be twice the average? Was it because he had been staying up late reading novels since sixth grade?
Setting aside his doubts, Gu Chengyuan opened the Force Configuration page, which, unsurprisingly, was empty.
Opening the Buildings page, however, was unexpected. A large page with only a barracks building marked in gray, standing alone, giving a sense of emptiness like a hundred-person dormitory with only one person sleeping in it.
Below, it displayed a price of 5000, in red font, indicating that the conditions for construction weren't met.
"Well, not bad, having a barracks is good enough! One must learn to be content!" Gu Chengyuan consoled himself as he opened the Units Panel.
The Units Panel was divided into sea, land, and air sub-panels. The sea and air were empty, but the Army Panel surprised Gu Chengyuan with two selectable icons, though both were grayed out indicating they were unavailable, at least there was something.
These two icons were:
Great Xia Regular Infantry Squad (1500):
A ten-man infantry squad with qualified military training, forming the basic national defense force of the Great Xia National Defense Army, using Great Xia's mainstream standard weapons.
Great Xia Elite Infantry Squad (3000):
A twelve-man elite infantry squad with excellent military training, a model squad created by the Great Xia National Defense Army, equipped with advanced individual equipment for small-scale armament.
Seeing the descriptions of these two icons, Gu Chengyuan's breath tightened. As he expected, it was like Red Alert where soldiers could be summoned directly, and the soldiers summoned by the system would surely have full loyalty.
"In chaotic times, having soldiers makes you a king!"
People are the most important. Gu Chengyuan had been a bit apprehensive before, wondering if it would be a system like an armory.
While that would still be better than nothing, if it were all weapons, who would use them and who would you let use them would be a problem.
The struggle between people is harder to predict than the claws of the zombie aunt that just reached out!
After roughly browsing the system panel and getting a general understanding of the system, Gu Chengyuan came to the most crucial part: what was the currency of this system?
In the upper left corner, there were the conspicuous bolded words "Credits."
Credits: 2
Not zero?
Gu Chengyuan frowned.
Could it be from killing the zombie aunt just now? 2 units seem too little, it couldn't be a system gift, right?
Given the current system prices, two units as startup capital...
The system shouldn't, or at least shouldn't...
Then the case is solved, there's only one truth, it was from killing the zombie aunt just now!
Doesn't that mean a regular squad requires killing 750 zombies, and an elite squad 1500...
No, I'm not a fishmonger who has been killing fish for ten years at a supermarket, this startup threshold is too high...
Just one zombie aunt was a close call, thinking about 749 more of them made Gu Chengyuan's vision go black.
But life must go on, compared to others, he already had a lot of hope.
Gu Chengyuan had to cheer himself up, raising his arm to give the soft mound beneath him an elbow, and shouted softly:
"Be fierce!"
I don't believe there aren't any lone zombies in this wilderness. Digging pits, ambushing, using fire... a dozen ways to outsmart zombies had already formed a picture in Gu Chengyuan's clever mind, ready for him to pick.
These lone zombies are mine for the taking! I said it, not even Jesus can stop me!
After a round of mental fortification, Gu Chengyuan stood up energetically, ready to close the system panel and start his venture, when he suddenly noticed a red dot in the corner of the panel.
He found it was a mail-like symbol and controlled the cursor to move over and open it.
"Host Newcomer Gift Pack x1"
Would you like to claim it?