Luke Li got up early and headed straight out of camp.
This time, he didn’t bring anyone.
He was going alone.
His goal was simple: kill a few walkers and gather enough essence to make ten.
He didn’t go far.
After walking about two kilometers east along the quarry, he found his targets in a dry ravine.
Five walkers were trapped at the bottom, probably after falling from the road above.
A few had broken legs and were writhing around the ravine floor like maggots.
Luke Li stood at the edge above them.
He raised his crossbow and took his time.
He had to admit, shooting walkers from a distance looked cool, but climbing down afterward to retrieve the bolts was a miserable business.
[Walker Killed ×2, Total Kills: 52]
[Walker Essence +1 (Random Drop)]
Even Luck 3 could come through once in a while.
But he was still one short.
He looked at the three remaining walkers with broken legs.
The third one.
No drop.
The fourth one.
Still no drop.
The fifth one.
[Walker Essence +1 (Random Drop)]
Luke Li clenched his fist.
That made ten.
[Detected Walker Essence ×10.
Can be exchanged for free attribute point ×1.
Exchange?]
Exchange.
[Please select an attribute to boost]
Luck.
[Luck 3 → 4]
[Hint: Luck 4 is the human average.
The frequency of negative random events will be greatly reduced, and the probability of positive random events will slightly increase.]
Luke Li stood at the edge of the ravine and took a deep breath.
There were no flashy effects, and no special prompt.
But he could feel a subtle difference, as if a dark cloud that had been hanging over his head had finally scattered halfway, opening up his view a little.
Luck was a vague thing.
Hard to explain.
But he knew that from now on, at the very least, the tripwire wouldn’t go off every time he had just lain down.
Current attribute panel.
[Luke Li]
[Strength 7 Agility 7 Constitution 7 Perception 7 Stamina 7 Intelligence 7 Luck 4]
[Walker Essence: 0/10]
[Total Kills: 55]
His essence was back to zero, so he would have to start saving again.
But that attribute point had been worth it.
On the way back to camp, he noticed something.
There was an overturned van by the roadside.
He had seen it on the way over, but he hadn’t paid it any attention.
This time, for some reason, his gaze was drawn to it.
He stopped and walked over to check.
The side of the van was marked with the logo of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
The rear door was ajar.
Luke Li pulled it open.
Inside were four boxes of compressed biscuits, two cases of bottled water, a small gas-powered portable generator, three military tents, and a first-aid supply box.
The vehicle must have been a supply transport sent out by the Emergency Management Agency during the early days of the outbreak.
It had overturned along the way, and the driver had either run off or died.
The supplies had been sitting here untouched ever since.
If this had been yesterday, with Luck 3, he probably wouldn’t have given this van a second glance.
Compressed biscuits and water weren’t rare, but the portable generator was good stuff.
It was small and easy to carry, much more flexible than the one in Dale’s RV.
And the military tents were ten times better than the civilian tents in camp.
He would take it all.
The generator and tents were too bulky to fit into his backpack, so he hid them in the roadside bushes, marked the spot, and planned to have Marcus drive over later to pick them up.
He stuffed the compressed biscuits and water into his backpack.
It was almost noon by the time he returned to camp.
Luke Li found Marcus.
The moment Marcus heard about it, his eyes lit up, and he immediately grabbed T-Dog and drove out to collect the supplies.
Then Luke Li went to find Lori.
Lori Grimes was sitting in the shade of the RV, mending clothes.
Carl sat beside her, writing.
Lori insisted that he write one page in his diary every day, saying it was to “stay normal.”
Luke Li had scanned the buffs above her head before, but he had never looked closely.
[Anxiety – Chronic]
[Guilt – Deep]
[Disguise – Everyday]
The anxiety was probably because she didn’t know whether Rick was dead or alive.
The guilt came from her relationship with Shane.
As for the disguise, that was likely for the sake of her child.
Luke Li had no intention of touching those sensitive subjects.
His purpose was simple.
“Lori, there’s something I want to discuss with you.”
Lori set down her needle and thread.
Her expression was guarded, but still polite.
“What is it?”
“The kids in camp need basic training.
They should learn some survival skills, like how to tell directions, how to find water, and how to run if they encounter walkers.
Even if they can’t run, they need to learn how to hide.”
Lori’s fingers tightened slightly.
“Carl is only twelve.”
“That’s exactly why he has to learn now,” Luke Li said seriously.
“This world won’t go easy on him just because he’s a child.”
Lori fell silent.
Her buffs fluctuated.
[Anxiety – Chronic] deepened, but then a new marker lit up.
[Rational Acceptance – Forced].
She knew Luke Li was right, but as a mother, accepting that truth was painful.
“Who will teach them?”
“I will.
Or I’ll have Danny do it.
Danny is a hunter, and he’s gentle enough to get along with kids.”
Lori glanced at Carl, who was still writing.
“…I’ll think about it.”
“Okay.”
Luke Li didn’t push her for an answer on the spot.
He left her some room.
He turned and took two steps away.
“Luke.”
He stopped.
Lori’s voice was very soft.
“Do you think…
there are still people out there coming this way?”
What she was really asking about was her husband, Rick.
Although she didn’t know Rick was still alive, as his wife, that instinct had kept telling her that maybe there was still hope.
Luke Li turned back to look at her.
“There are always people on the road in this world.
What matters is whether someone is waiting for them.”
She nodded, lowered her head, and went back to mending the clothes.
The [Disguise – Everyday] above her head grew thicker, but another buff appeared as well.
[Hope – Remaining].
Luke Li walked away.
In a few days, Rick would wake up.
Then he would walk out of the hospital in a patient gown, discover that the world had changed, and head south.
In the end, he would be trapped inside a tank.
Luke Li needed to make sure Glenn was ready by then.
That afternoon, he called Glenn aside.
“Starting today, you’ll train in close combat with me for one hour every day.”
Glenn’s eyes widened.
“Close combat?
I can barely hold an axe steady.”
“That’s why you need training.” Luke Li pulled two sharpened wooden sticks from the vehicle and tossed one to Glenn.
“Crossbows and guns run out of ammo.
Knives and sticks don’t.
You don’t need to become a fighter.
You only need to learn one thing: push the walker away before it bites you, then smash its head in.”
“That’s all?”
“Survival has always been simple.
One wrong choice, and you wouldn’t have made it this far.”
Glenn tightened his grip on the wooden stick and took a deep breath.
“Let’s do it.”
Luke Li spent an hour teaching him three moves.
Push, stab, turn.
Push the walker away, drive the weapon into its head, and if it grabs you, twist free.
As long as he mastered those three basic moves, his chances of surviving would be solid.
They repeated them over and over, drilling them into muscle memory.
Glenn was knocked down eleven times and got back up eleven times.
On the final attempt, he successfully used the wooden stick to block Luke Li’s simulated grab, then drove the tip precisely into Luke Li’s bulletproof vest.
“Not bad.”
Glenn was covered in dirt and panting like a dog, but the look in his eyes had started to change.
Among the buffs above his head, [Fear – Controllable] had faded further.
In its place, a new marker appeared.
[Confidence – Faint].
It was a seed.
At dusk, the campfire was lit as usual.
Luke Li sat by the fire, watching the people in front of him.
Lori was reading Carl a story.
Daryl was crouched in front of the tent, sharpening bolts.
Glenn was rubbing his bruised arm.
…
Merle was drinking by himself, looking like an old widower.
Andrea’s sister was still alive.
And because Luke Li had joined the camp, he knew every part of what was supposed to happen next.
Luke Li knew who would die.
But at the very least, he would do what he could to keep the good people alive.