At three in the morning, a scream rang out outside the motel.
A woman’s scream.
Sharp, piercing, like fingernails scraping across glass.
It lasted about five or six seconds, then stopped abruptly.
Luke Li sprang out of bed, the Glock 17 already in his hand.
He pressed himself against the side of the window and looked out through the gaps between the wooden planks.
The parking lot lights were still on, casting an orange glow over the empty asphalt.
The Waffle House sign was still flashing, but there was no one in sight, and nothing looked out of place.
But that scream had been far too real.
He waited for three minutes.
Outside, everything fell silent again.
In the corner of the system panel:
[Apocalypse Countdown: 29:44:18]
Less than thirty hours.
Luke Li did not lie back down.
He sat on the edge of the bed, placed the Glock 17 across his knees, and stared at the door until dawn.
At six o’clock, daylight seeped in.
He turned on the TV.
The CNN broadcast made his pupils twitch on instinct.
This time, they were not airing ordinary news.
The anchor’s expression was tense, his face visibly frightened, and he was speaking half a beat faster than usual.
“…Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta has been sealed off by the military.
At least seventeen medical workers were attacked by ‘patients’ over the past twenty four hours.
Three have been confirmed dead, but a military spokesperson has refused to reveal further details.
According to eyewitnesses…”
The screen cut to a blurry video filmed on a phone.
A hospital corridor.
Flickering lights.
A figure in a hospital gown was crouched over something on the floor, moving as if it were gnawing on it raw.
No one would mistake what was happening in that video for a passionate kiss in a romance drama.
The video played for only two seconds before being cut off.
The anchor continued speaking, but now there was an uncontrollable tremor in his voice.
“…The CDC has dispatched an investigation team to Atlanta.
Officials are currently classifying the incident as a case of ‘mass psychosis,’ but several infectious disease experts have stated…”
Luke Li turned off the TV.
Mass psychosis.
They were still searching for a reasonable explanation, hiding the real crisis and trying to control public opinion.
By the time they understood what was happening, it would already be too late.
Luke Li began his final preparations.
He checked every weapon.
The Glock 17, full magazine, one round already chambered.
The Glock 19, his backup, tucked behind his waist.
The Remington 870, loaded with five rounds of buckshot, placed beside the passenger seat of the pickup.
The crossbow would stay in its case for now.
Cocking it took time, so it was not suitable for emergencies.
The fire axe hung at his waist, and the hunting knife was strapped to his calf.
The pickup’s gas tank was full.
The two spare fuel cans were tied down, and the truck bed was covered with a waterproof tarp and secured with rope.
Fully armed.
Everything in order.
Plan set.
He loaded every remaining supply in the motel room into the truck, checked out, and tossed the key at the front desk.
At nine in the morning, the pickup drove out of Kingsland.
There were several times more cars on the highway than in the previous two days.
Most of them were heading south, and judging from their direction, they were all leaving Atlanta.
Some cars had their back seats stuffed with luggage and bedding.
Others had mattresses tied to their roofs.
The residents were not stupid.
They might not know exactly what had happened, but hiding out in the countryside was never a bad choice.
Luke Li was also driving south, but his destination was different.
He needed to find a secluded farmhouse, far from the highway and the crowds.
Ideally, it would have a wall or fence and be suitable for short term defense.
Once the initial chaos passed, he would move northwest and find Rick’s camp.
After driving for about forty minutes, he spotted his target beside a side road.
It was an isolated farmhouse, a two story wooden structure surrounded by wide cornfields and pine forest.
The nearest neighbor was half a mile away.
A wooden fence circled the yard.
The gate stood open, and there were no cars inside.
Not even half a person in sight.
Luke Li drove the pickup into the yard, turned off the engine, and got out.
Holding the fire axe, he slowly approached the front door.
When he pushed it open, the hinges came loose from their mounts with a clatter.
The inside was dim, and the air was full of dust.
The living room was not large.
An old sofa, an old television, and a family photo on the wall, showing an elderly couple and their two grown children.
He cleared the rooms one by one.
Kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, second floor.
All empty.
The homeowners were gone.
Maybe they had gone to stay with relatives in town, or maybe they had already fled south.
Luke Li let out a breath.
The house was not great.
A wooden structure was not as sturdy as brick or stone.
Fortunately, there were few windows, only the front and back doors, so there were fewer points to defend.
The surrounding view was also open.
If walkers approached, he would see them before they got close.
He started moving supplies.
Everything in the pickup bed was carried into the house.
He nailed wooden planks over all the first floor windows, then fixed barbed wire to the outside of the front and back doors with nails.
By the time he finished, Luke Li’s shirt was soaked through with sweat, and his arms had started to ache.
[Stamina Skill EXP +15]
The system prompt appeared at the perfect time.
It took Luke Li nearly three hours to finish the basic defenses.
He did not use the materials he had brought with him.
Instead, he made use of what was already there.
He had no intention of wasting resources on a temporary shelter.
Still, the place was solid enough.
At least it could block scattered walkers without much trouble.
If a horde came, then he would have to run.
Forget this house.
Even the prison Rick’s group would later count on was not enough to hold forever.
At two in the afternoon, Luke Li sat by the second floor window, chewing on a strip of beef jerky while watching the distant highway.
Cars were still passing, though traffic was lighter than it had been in the morning.
One car had stopped by the roadside, its hood open and white smoke billowing out.
The owner stood beside it, making a phone call with an anxious look on his face.
At the far end of the highway, to the north, a column of black smoke was rising from behind the horizon, as if some large building were burning.
That direction led to Waycross, a small town with a population of more than ten thousand.
After the apocalypse broke out, there would be more than ten thousand…
walkers there.
Luke Li stared at the column of black smoke for ten seconds, then swallowed the beef jerky.
Then he lowered his head and looked at the system panel.
[Apocalypse Countdown: 03:22:09]
Three hours.
The countdown had gone from double digits to single digits, and the numbers seemed to tick even faster.
He went downstairs and checked every door and window one last time, then attached the silencer to the Glock 17.
It was something he had bought at the last moment from Jim’s gun shop for four hundred dollars, and he had almost forgotten it.
A silencer could not completely erase the sound, but it could reduce a gunshot from “the whole street can hear it” to “the next room can hear it.”
In the silent world of the apocalypse, that thing would be worth ten times more.
Even money might not be enough to buy one.
Luke Li sat down on the sofa in the living room.
The fire axe stood to his right, the Glock 17 lay on the coffee table, and the shotgun leaned against the sofa arm.
Outside the window, the sunlight began to slant, shifting from gold to orange red.
He sat there like that for the rest of the day.
The TV signal grew worse and worse.
The picture kept flickering and tearing, occasionally bursting into static.
In the few moments where the image was clear, the anchor was no longer in the studio.
The background had changed to a parking lot, with military Humvees and soldiers visible in the distance.
“…The President has declared a state of emergency in Atlanta and six surrounding counties…
The National Guard is deploying…
We strongly advise all residents to return home immediately and lock all doors and windows…”
The signal cut out.
The screen turned to static.
Luke Li turned off the TV.
Only the ticking of the old wall clock remained.
In his previous life, he would never have dared to stay in a house like this.
It was practically a damn haunted house.
Now, though, it did not feel so bad.
Humans really were adaptable creatures.
[Apocalypse Countdown: 00:05:33]
Five minutes.
[Apocalypse Countdown: 00:03:17]
Three minutes.
The setting sun dyed the cornfields blood red.
The black smoke in the distance had multiplied into several columns, and the northern sky was mixed with smoke and dust, murky and filthy.
It looked a little like the world from the opening of the show, when Rick rode a horse onto the highway.
[Apocalypse Countdown: 00:01:00]
One minute.
Luke Li’s fingers tightened around the handle of the fire axe.
[Apocalypse Countdown: 00:00:10]
00:00:05
00:00:03
00:00:02
[Apocalypse Countdown: 00:00:00]
Golden light appeared on the system panel.
[The Apocalypse Has Arrived]
[Apocalypse Preparation Mission Complete!
Rating: S (Legendary)]
[Issuing Rewards…]
[Attribute Points ×10]
[All-Purpose Beginner Gift Pack ×1]
[Random Blueprint Box ×3]
[Hidden Reward: System Backpack Expansion +20 Slots]
The hidden reward was backpack expansion.
From 20 slots to 40.
Its capacity had doubled outright.
Luke Li took a deep breath.
It was good, but he did not have time to slowly inspect the gift pack and blueprint boxes right now.
First came the attribute points.
Ten points.
Every single one had to be spent where it mattered most.
He opened the attribute panel, stared at the numbers, and began calculating.
What mattered most in the early apocalypse?
Staying alive.
And what did staying alive require?
Being able to fight walkers.
If he could not fight them, then he had to be able to run.
His stamina also had to be better than a marathon runner’s.
Strength 5 → 7
[Melee chopping and moving supplies both require Strength.
Add two points.]
Agility 5 → 7
[Agility increases reaction speed, making it harder to get grabbed in melee.
And if you cannot win, you can still run.]
Constitution 5 → 7
[Improves resistance to injury and recovery speed.
Basically, healing while fighting.]
Perception 5 → 7
[Greatly enhances hearing and vision, allowing you to hear movement from farther away.]
Stamina 5 → 7
[For sustained combat and long distance running.
A ten kilometer cross country run becomes easy.]
Intelligence 7, Spirit 6, Willpower 6.
Leave them alone for now.
Those three were not bottlenecks in the early stage.
Charisma 5.
Handsome enough at the start, no need to bother.
Luck 3…
He hesitated for a moment.
Luck affected looting and critical hits, and 3 really was too low.
But in the early stage, every attribute point was for survival.
He could not waste them on probability.
Leave it.
[Confirm allocation?]
Confirm.
A wave of warmth spread through his body, as if he had sunk into hot water.
Luke Li could feel the muscle fibers throughout his body subtly reorganizing.
His joints became more flexible, his breathing deepened, and every breath drew in a little more air than before.
His heart and lungs had grown stronger too.
He clenched his fists.
The increase in strength was something he could feel directly.
Before, gripping the fire axe required conscious effort from his arm.
Now the axe handle felt at least twenty percent lighter in his hand.
He rolled his neck and heard a faint click from his joints.
With the added points, Luke Li had improved across the board.
He had gone from an ordinary person to someone “pretty good in every area.”
He still could not punch out special forces soldiers or kick Navy SEALs around, but it was more than enough to deal with walkers.
Just as Luke Li was about to check the gift pack and blueprint boxes…
A low groan came from outside.
From the sound of it, something was stuck in the other party’s throat, keeping it from forming even a single word.
Luke Li went cold in an instant, and cold sweat broke out across his back.
He knew that sound.
He had heard it for hundreds of hours in the game, and for at least ten seasons in the show.
He walked to the window and looked out through the gaps in the wooden planks.
Under the setting sun, a figure was moving slowly along the edge of the cornfield.
Its left foot stepped normally, while its right leg was bent 180 degrees below the knee, dragging a trail through the dirt.
It wore a plaid shirt and work pants, dressed like a farmer.
The details of its face were hard to make out.
Luke Li focused his gaze on the space above the figure’s head.
No emotion buff.
No status buff.
Completely blank.
Nothing at all.
Which meant…
That damn thing was not alive.
It reached the wooden fence around the yard and slammed into it.
The fence shook, but the thing showed no reaction.
It kept pushing forward, body pressed hard against the wood, feet digging holes into the dirt.
Then it seemed to smell something.
Its head suddenly snapped toward the farmhouse, and its gray white eyes rolled in their sockets.
Its mouth opened.
Luke Li took one step back and picked up the fire axe.
The goddamn apocalypse had finally arrived.