There was only one.
Luke Li confirmed it through the gap in the window.
The cornfields around the yard and the edge of the pine forest were clear.
There was no second moving shadow.
It was a lone walker.
This was the newbie village, after all.
A lower difficulty was only natural.
He picked up the fire axe and went downstairs, stopping beside the front door.
The barbed wire outside was still intact.
Through the mesh, he could see the thing scraping along the fence, making the wood creak under the pressure.
Luke Li did not rush to open the door.
He ran through the melee logic of Project Zomboid in his head.
Walkers attacked by grabbing and biting.
They were not fast, but once they got hold of you, breaking free was difficult.
Their vital point was the head, and only destroying the brainstem could kill them completely.
One axe blow to the head should kill it instantly, as long as he did not get caught at the wrong timing.
He took a deep breath, pulled back the door curtain, went around the barbed wire, and stepped into the yard.
The thing heard the noise.
Its head turned.
For the first time, Luke Li saw a walker’s face clearly from the front.
Male, probably in his fifties.
The left half of his face was still mostly normal, but a chunk was missing from the right half.
From cheekbone to jaw, dark red muscle tissue was exposed, and several teeth jutted out from the torn corner of his mouth.
Its eyes were cloudy gray-white, and its optic nerves had clearly stopped functioning.
Walkers relied more on hearing and smell to track the living.
It let go of the fence, turned toward Luke Li, and began moving in his direction at about half the speed of a normal slow walk.
Luke Li tightened his grip on the axe handle and stood where he was, waiting for it to come closer.
Five steps.
Four steps.
Three steps.
The stench of rot grew stronger, and Luke Li’s stomach lurched.
Two steps.
One step.
The walker reached out, its nails blackened, the skin on its fingertips already peeling away.
Luke Li shifted sideways past that hand, stepped half a pace forward with his right foot, and brought the fire axe down diagonally from his upper right.
The blade bit into its skull.
Sharp metal struck bone, and the vibration traveled up the handle into his arm, making the web between his thumb and index finger go numb.
The walker’s body froze for an instant, then toppled backward.
The axe was still embedded in its head.
Luke Li stepped on its shoulder and yanked the axe free.
The blade was coated in thick, dark red fluid.
[Walker Killed ×1]
[Bladed Weapons Skill EXP +20]
[Obtained: Walker Essence ×1 (Automatically stored in backpack)]
Walker Essence?
Luke Li did not stop to check what it was.
He retreated into the house first, shut the door, and locked it.
His heart kept pounding, and the hand that had gripped the axe was still trembling slightly.
Killing walkers in a game was completely different from doing it in reality.
When that thing was right in front of you, even keeping your sanity steady was difficult.
A normal person would be afraid of a rabid dog, let alone a horrifying creature like a walker.
[Tension].
Gray, flashing.
[Adrenaline].
Light yellow, fading.
The buffs above his head faithfully recorded his current state.
All right.
Still alive for another day.
Now it was time to check the rewards.
Luke Li sat on the sofa and opened the system panel.
First, the gift pack.
[All-Purpose Beginner Gift Pack.
Opening…]
The golden light effect was more modest than he had expected.
There were no heavenly visions, just lines of text quietly popping up on the panel.
[Items Obtained]
[Military First Aid Kit (Advanced) ×1.
Includes surgical suture kit, tourniquet, morphine syringe ×3]
[Water Purifier (Portable) ×1.
Filters 99.9% of bacteria and parasites]
[Skill Book: Basic Carpentry ×1.
Grants Carpentry Lv.3 upon use]
[All-Terrain Military Boots ×1.
Durable and waterproof, Movement Speed +5%]
Four items, and every single one was practical.
The military first aid kit was far better than the civilian supplies from Walmart, and the water purifier would be life-saving in the middle stage of the apocalypse, once water sources became contaminated.
The skill book directly raised Carpentry to Lv.3, which meant he could build basic furniture, reinforce structures, and even make simple traps.
As for the boots, he looked down at the old sneakers on his feet and changed into them without a word.
The feeling of the soles gripping the ground was completely different.
Thick, stable, with firm ankle support.
Military gear and civilian gear were completely different things.
[Movement Speed +5%]
That was the bonus from the military boots.
Use the skill book directly.
[Use Skill Book: Basic Carpentry?]
Confirm.
A stream of information poured into his mind.
His consciousness felt as if it were flipping rapidly through a thick textbook.
All kinds of knowledge forcefully occupied his brain: mortise and tenon joints, board cutting angles, load-bearing calculations, when to use nails versus screws.
It was almost aggressive.
[Carpentry Skill: Lv.0 → Lv.3]
Next came the blueprint boxes.
Three of them.
[Random Blueprint Box 1.
Opening…]
[Blueprint Obtained: Spike Trap (Basic).
Lay spike boards on the ground to slow and damage targets that step on them.]
Walkers would not go around obstacles.
Spike boards could effectively slow them down.
[Random Blueprint Box 2.
Opening…]
[Blueprint Obtained: Rainwater Collector (Intermediate).
Automatically collects and roughly filters rainwater.
Works better with a water purifier.]
Beautiful.
Water would be the number one killer in the middle stage.
With this and the water purifier, he basically would not have to worry about drinking water.
[Random Blueprint Box 3.
Opening…]
The panel paused for one second.
Then the text that appeared was purple.
[Blueprint Obtained: Portable Solar Charging Station (Rare).
Can continuously charge small electronic devices.
Average daily power output approx.
500Wh.]
Purple rare.
Luke Li stared at that line for three seconds.
A solar charging station?
After the power grid collapsed, this thing was practically a fire seed for human civilization.
Flashlights, radios, walkie-talkies, every small device that needed electricity could stay alive because of it.
His Luck was only 3, yet he had actually drawn a purple item.
Maybe his Luck was not that low after all.
He stored all three blueprints in his backpack.
Crafting required materials and time, so there was no rush.
Finally, he checked the “Walker Essence.”
[Walker Essence ×1]
[Description: An unknown energy crystal extracted from a walker.
Can be used for skill upgrades, minor attribute adjustments, or exchange in the system store.
Store function not yet available.]
[Current Stock: 1]
Another new system function, but since the store was not open yet, the essence would stay stored for now.
Luke Li closed the panel.
Outside the window, it was already completely dark.
No streetlights.
No city light pollution.
It reminded him of the countryside from his childhood.
Though it was not nearly as peaceful.
Luke Li did not turn on any lights.
The darkness made him uneasy, but light would attract walkers.
He had to get used to it.