Yue Suran was a homebody. If staying indoors were a rated skill, she would undoubtedly be max-level—a true die-hard shut-in.
Aside from commuting to and from work, she rarely engaged in any recreational activities. At most, she’d make a quick trip to the supermarket. In short, if she could stay home, she stayed home.
Her sole passion was reading web novels with imaginative, wild premises. Recently, she had fallen head over heels for the post-apocalyptic genre.
With the May Day holiday granting a rare three-day break, while others planned trips and getaways, twenty-something, lifelong-single Yue Suran stayed up all night binge-reading apocalyptic fiction.
After spending a full day and night devouring a novel to its end, her head throbbed from sleep deprivation. Dazed and dizzy, she pulled herself out of bed, gulped down a glass of cold water, and collapsed back into bed, falling instantly asleep.
In her haze, curdling screams drifted past her ears from time to time, followed by a mechanical voice echoing in her mind:
“Host located. Binding in progress… Ten, nine… three, two, one. Binding was successful.”
When Yue Suran finally woke, she instinctively stretched.
She glanced at the time on her phone, a creeping sense of unease settling over her. The silence around her felt eerie.
She lived a modest nine-to-five life in a cheap rental unit with paper-thin walls. Normally, this time of day was filled with a cacophony of neighborhood noises. How was it so dead quiet today? Not even a dog was barking.
Puzzled, Yue Suran stepped out of bed. Her head still felt heavy and sluggish from sleeping too long, making her balance wobbly as she walked.
“The host is requested to complete the task as soon as possible, otherwise this location will no longer be protected.”
She had barely taken two steps when a stiff, rigid voice echoed directly inside her head.
Thinking she was hearing things, she froze—only for the voice to repeat itself a second later.
“The host is requested to complete the task as soon as possible, otherwise this location will no longer be protected.”
“Who—who’s talking?!”
Yue Suran flinched, genuinely startled. There wasn’t a soul in sight. She couldn’t even afford a pet, let alone share her room with another person. Yet the voice sounded as if someone were standing right beside her ear. What on earth was going on?
“The host is requested to complete the task as soon as possible, otherwise this location will no longer be protected.”
No matter how mild-mannered Yue Suran usually was, her temper flamed up. What kind of ghost is this? Where is this electronic voice coming from?
Looking around the tiny room whose layout could be taken in with a single glance, she refused to believe in ghosts and began tossing things aside in search of the source. She was determined to drag out whoever was playing this prank.
“Little Xiao-Ou is inside your head, Host. You won’t find me out there.”
Watching her fumble around, Xiao-Ou couldn’t take it anymore. How did it end up picking such an unreliable host? If she fails to complete the tasks, how is it supposed to return to its original dimension?
The sudden chime in her mind jolted Yue Suran once again.
Inside my head?
If it was actually inside her head… that was downright creepy.
However, calm soon returned to her. Having read countless novels, a bold suspicion began to take root in her mind. But… could it really be? Or was she just trapped in an eerily vivid dream?
“System?” she tested out loud.
“My name is Xiao-Ou, though you may understand it that way if you like. Host, please complete the rental property upgrade task as soon as possible.”
Xiao-Ou’s childish, milky voice was laced with utter disdain. It couldn’t easily explain its origin right now anyway. System it is then—the concept was the same, as long as this host managed to finish the task within the time limit.
Once Yue Suran got confirmation, her brain turned into an absolute screaming chicken. She had never imagined that a pie-in-the-sky miracle like this would actually fall from the heavens and smack her right on the head!
“This is amazing! How did you get inside my head?”
“The host is requested to complete the task as soon as possible. Please check the Task Panel for details.”
Xiao-Ou was practically dying of anxiety. The host it had chosen wasn’t just an ordinary person; she was a complete novice who knew nothing about survival.
If its host kicked the bucket, that wouldn’t be the end of the world—except that it would drag Xiao-Ou down to kick the bucket right along with her.
Time was tight, and the mission was heavy. Every single second of delay increased the chance of failure.
Seeing the interface suddenly materialize right in front of her, Yue Suran shrieked again.
“Where did you pull this out from?!”
Xiao-Ou was thankful it was just an artificial intelligence and couldn’t go deaf from Yue Suran’s vocal pitch.
Even so, it couldn’t be bothered to answer her anymore, leaving her to figure it out on her own. It realized that until Yue Suran’s wave of curiosity burned out, trying to have a proper conversation with her was useless.
Though she received no reply from Xiao-Ou, Yue Suran didn’t lose her enthusiasm.
She eagerly examined the floating screen before her. Most of the options on the interface were grayed out, refusing to respond no matter how much she poked at them with her finger.
She figured those functions hadn’t unlocked yet, which explained the grayed-out state. Only the “Tasks” section was currently active.
Tapping into it, she found the exact mission that the self-proclaimed system Xiao-Ou kept nagging her about.
It stated that she needed to kill ten zombies within five days. Completing the mission would grant a random super-powered ability. Failing it would forcefully transform her into a mindless, grotesque zombie driven solely by the urge to feed.
A countdown timer ticked away beneath the objectives: three days, five hours, and forty-eight minutes left until failure.
After reading through the task details, Yue Suran shifted her gaze to the bold characters at the very top of the interface: Rental Housing.
She could understand the mission part, but what on earth did “Rental Housing” mean?
Seeing that Yue Suran had finally noticed the crucial part, Xiao-Ou hurriedly popped back out to give her an explanation.
According to Xiao-Ou, the gist of it was:
Right now, the system was still at Level 0, meaning there were no properties available to rent out to survivors. Only when the system upgraded to Level 1 would the host acquire her own property. Only then could she lease out rooms to survivors. Naturally, the system wouldn’t release the next task until the first one was completed.
“Where on earth am I supposed to find zombies? And how am I even supposed to deal with them?”
Up until this moment, Yue Suran still hadn’t realized that the outside world was already in absolute chaos. Zombies were swarming everywhere outside, and people were struggling just to stay alive.
She was the only one who had managed to sleep right through it all, completely missing the eve of the apocalypse’s outbreak. Otherwise, there was no way Yue Suran would be chatting this leisurely with Xiao-Ou; she would have long since fallen into a state of panic and despair.
“Out there, of course. Though I advise the host to think twice before acting. You’re far too weak right now—stepping outside is basically delivering takeout to the zombies.”
It wasn’t that Xiao-Ou looked down on Yue Suran, but looking at her thick-skinned, carefree attitude, it couldn’t help but doubt her survival instincts.
“Are you kidding me? Where would there be zombies outside? Stop joking around. I really must still be dreaming.”
Yue Suran wasn’t an idiot; she figured she must have just read way too many apocalyptic novels, which was why she was having such a bizarre dream. Except… this dream felt way too vivid. It hardly felt like a dream at all.
“Why on earth would Xiao-Ou lie to you? Can’t the host just look out the window for herself?”
Xiao-Ou tucked away the task interface and offered a helpful reminder. Once she saw the scene outside, Yue Suran would naturally believe what it was saying.
In this world, a massive zombie riot had broken out two days ago. Anyone scratched or bitten by a zombie was guaranteed to turn within twenty-four hours. Those whose blood became tainted with the zombie virus faced only two possible fates:
First, joining the ranks of the zombie horde.
Second, developing an immunity, awakening a special power, and becoming an Awakened.
Those who became Awakened merely gained a few extra means of self-preservation compared to ordinary people. If they were injured by zombies whose level exceeded their own abilities, they would still end up as part of the zombie army. Besides, powers had their limits, so becoming an Awakened didn’t make anyone invincible.