The Self-Service Fast Food Blind Box Machine cost 1 crystal per draw, giving out whatever randomly came out. The pool consisted mostly of existing instant food products from her original world, interspersed with hidden luxury products preserved by the system’s black technology.
Xie Yue swiped her room key card on the machine, rubbed her hands together, blew on them for good luck, and pressed confirm. Out came a bucket of instant noodles—mushroom stewed chicken flavor. Terrible luck—absolutely terrible! Was she really this cursed with bad luck? The very first pull gave her a flavor she hated!
After a moment’s thought, she went for a three-in-a-row draw. This time, out came a can of SPAM, a can of eight-treasure porridge, and a box of self-heating spicy beef hot pot. Contented, she stopped drawing.
Xie Yue had used her own room card to swipe. System products were truly something else—worn on the wrist, besides unlocking the elevator and rooms, it could also display the time, weather, identity information, and account balance. In this apocalyptic world, it was remarkably advanced.
Using water to set the self-heating mini hot pot to cook, she opened the can of SPAM. Xie Yue sat on the sofa, staring blankly out through the glass window.
She wondered if anyone would see the hotel signboard. According to the system, this city was crawling with zombies. It had already been eight months since the apocalypse began—could there still be living people in a place like this?
Xie Yue sighed. As she ate, the entire lobby remained completely silent apart from the sound of her own chewing—an eerily quiet stillness.
She had no idea when guests might arrive. After finishing her food and tossing the waste into the trash can, Xie Yue walked over to the entrance.
After reviewing the hotel boundary layout, she lit up the ground lights around the front of the hotel; the fountain near the entrance was already dried up.
Every area illuminated by the ground lights was part of her Absolute Domain. Walking up to the edge of the Absolute Domain, the outside world under the moonlight appeared thoroughly sinister and terrifying. Damaged, abandoned cars lay haphazardly across the road, black viscous stains covered the ground everywhere, and the shuffling footsteps and howls of zombies could be heard in the distance.
She wondered what terrifying ordeal this place must have experienced on the day the apocalypse descended. Xie Yue was lost in thought when—
Suddenly, she heard a shuffling movement right beside her. A zombie ambled aimlessly past her, radiating a foul stench.
Xie Yue shivered violently in fear, nearly screaming as her legs went weak. Yet the zombie acted as if it couldn’t see her at all, continuing to slowly shuffle forward.
Having lived as a civilian in peaceful times for 21 years, Xie Yue had read plenty of zombie novels and watched plenty of movies, mentally preparing herself for this. But directly facing such a monster in person, that sheer terror still made her whole body tremble.
She hurried back inside the lobby. The bright lighting and pleasant incense gradually calmed her down.
Sitting on the sofa, she began examining the room supplies vending machine she had previously overlooked. The system indicated that once a room was booked, guests could use their identity cards to collect room supplies here. Inside were disposable items such as slippers, towels, bath towels, toothbrushes, paper napkins, body wash, and shampoo. Cleaning rooms was done with a single click on the system panel, so these disposable items needed to be collected manually.
As she browsed, there seemed to be a commotion outside. Given the hotel’s soundproofing, normal zombie shuffling or noises couldn’t be heard from inside.
Xie Yue quickly went to the entrance to check. Outside, there was the faint sound of a car engine. Running over to the boundary line, she shouted, “Is someone out there? Come over here! It’s safe here!”
In the distance, a car was speeding along, pursued by over a dozen zombies. Driving in the dark, they didn’t dare turn on the headlights for fear of attracting even more zombies. Jiang Weiping and Jiang Yu were a father and son who originally lived at the B City Base on the outskirts of B City. When the apocalypse struck, Jiang Weiping’s family was eating dinner at home when he luckily awakened a strength-type special ability, leading his family of four to flee to the B City Base. Shortly after, his son Jiang Yu also awakened a fire-type special ability. Since both father and son had low-level abilities, they could only fight zombies and scavenge for supplies around the edges of the base. With his wife and younger son staying inside the base, they managed to get by.
However, as the weather gradually turned cold, the younger son suddenly came down with a cold and fever. Eight months into the apocalypse, the surrounding towns had long been swept clean, and the medications they once held had expired. The medicine traded for inside the base was not only useless, but the younger son’s condition grew increasingly severe. The father and son pleaded with many people until an old doctor said that only a specific prescription drug would work—a drug available only at Ankang Pharmacy, the largest pharmacy in downtown B City.
Downtown B City was swarming with zombies, let alone the bustling city center; going there was practically a one-way trip with no return. Seeing his younger son grow weaker by the day, Jiang Weiping resolved to head out and search for the medicine himself. Jiang Yu couldn’t rest easy letting his father go alone. In the end, his mother, He Ru, decided the whole family would go together—either they would all make it back out, or the whole family would be left behind together.
The four of them fought their way forward in their car, running on foot whenever the vehicle couldn’t pass. The family was lucky: after switching vehicles three times, they finally found the medicine and escaped. Hiding inside a small toy store, the entire family was utterly exhausted. Just as they were mulling over how to break out, they suddenly spotted lights turning on atop a high-rise building outside.
The lights shone brightly, serving like a guiding beacon in the pitch-black night.
Jiang Weiping found a car, loaded his wife and children inside, and charged straight in that direction.
The car smashed through zombies and debris all along the way. Xie Yue quickly ran back toward the hotel entrance, afraid of getting accidentally struck. The moment the car slammed into the area illuminated by the ground lights, the pursuing zombies behind them seemed to lose their target, staggering aimlessly before gradually dispersing.
The vehicle came to a stop in front of the hotel—a black SUV with scratches and grime covering its body.
Four people stepped out of the vehicle, appearing to be a family, their clothes filthy and ragged. The man leading them was thin, short, and had half-gray hair, carrying a backpack on his shoulders; he looked to be around fifty years old.
The young boy appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen, holding two luggage bags in his hands. The woman looked thoroughly exhausted, tightly cradling the child in her arms with an exceedingly uneasy expression. The child was frail and weak, constantly covering his mouth to suppress his coughing.