Striking Gold

Henry could see inside through the glass part of the unit door.

The first floor was zombie-free and safe.

He quickly darted through the unit door, then gently closed it behind him.

Click!

Another dull sound of the door locking echoed.

Henry nervously held the riot shield in front of his chest, his right hand tightly gripping the axe!

This was to prevent any zombies from unexpectedly rushing at him.

Building 3 was a low-rise with only five floors and no elevator.

After entering the unit door, there was a corridor about five or six meters long, followed by a set of four stairs.

There were two residences on the first floor.

The residence directly facing the stairs had its door tightly shut, marked with many bloody handprints.

The bloodstains had dried up, looking quite eerie!

The door of the neighboring residence was ajar by about ten centimeters.

There was a distinct trail of blood dragged across the floor, extending from the corridor into the room.

There might be zombies inside!

Now, Henry had two choices.

One was to simply shut the door.

This way, even if there were zombies inside, they would pose no threat to him,

since zombies cannot open doors.

Once locked inside, they would be completely trapped.

The second option was to rush in and kill the zombies!

Henry didn't hesitate to choose the second option!

Because he was running low on food and water.

He couldn't afford to pass up any room that could be searched!

Zombies are indeed terrifying, but as long as he didn't encounter a horde,

Henry was confident in his ability to take them down.

However, without water, he would die in no more than seven days, and dehydration would greatly diminish his combat effectiveness.

He was all in!

To prevent being ambushed by zombies in the hallway,

Henry immediately closed the room's door after entering.

With a loud clang!

"Uh... ah..."

"Heh... heh..."

Two zombies emerged slowly from two different directions, one from the bedroom and the other from the bathroom.

Phew! They were hiding in two directions!

Luckily, he hadn't thought about sneaking up on them.

Being attacked from both front and back is no joke!

"Hey, come on, stupid zombies!"

Henry shouted loudly.

"Ow!~"

The moment the two zombies spotted Henry, they switched from their slow wandering to an activated state, and charged at him ferociously with incredible speed!

In less than a second, both zombies had slammed fiercely against Henry's riot shield.

These zombies seemed even fiercer in combat than Henry had anticipated.

Holding the riot shield, Henry swiftly moved to the side.

His movements were extremely fast.

Before the zombies could react, Henry had pinned them against the security door with his shield from behind.

"Die!"

Henry swung his axe.

Squelch, squelch!

Two sounds—

Two zombies fell to the ground.

Real combat often decides the victor in a flash of a moment.

There's rarely the drawn-out back-and-forth seen in TV dramas, because this isn't a martial contest.

The only thought in Henry's mind was to quickly eliminate the zombies.

Similarly, the zombies were singularly focused on trying to infect Henry.

In such a life-or-death situation, one must act with full force immediately!

And any opportunity to strike must be seized decisively!

Any hesitation or delay could be fatal.

After dealing with the two zombies,

Henry didn't immediately harvest their bodies.

Instead, he meticulously searched the room, ensuring there were no other zombies.

Only then did he return to the door, to harvest the bodies of the two zombies.

[You have harvested a zombie corpse, obtained Energy Cores*1, Clean Cloth*2, Mutant Fertilizer*3]

[You have harvested a zombie corpse, obtained Clean Cloth*3, Mutant Fertilizer*2]

[Clean Cloth]: Can be used to enhance the defense of clothing, and with a [Sewing Pattern], it can be used to make clothes!

It appears that this is also a type of material!

Henry stored the [Clean Cloth], [Energy Cores], and [Mutant Fertilizer] all into his storage space.

He began gathering supplies!

The security doors in this world's residential areas are even more robust than those on Earth.

Made entirely of steel, these doors open outward but have no handles.

Unless opened with a key, there's no point of leverage from the outside.

Moreover, with limited corridor space, trying to break through a security door with numbers alone is virtually impossible!

This is the case for zombies, and even more so for humans.

Thus, Henry cherished the opportunity to enter rooms to scavenge.

He had to thoroughly search everything!

Henry first rushed into the kitchen!

Food and water were what he needed the most at the moment.

The apartment layout included three bedrooms, one living room, one bathroom, and one kitchen.

Two bedrooms and one study.

Plus, an open kitchen.

Henry opened every cupboard in the kitchen.

Inside, he only found a few unopened bottles of seasonings.

Everything else was marked as expired.

This included flour and other food reserves, all turned a bluish-green color.

There were also mushrooms with bizarre red spots growing on them.

[This food has expired; eating it will lead to death!]

The notification appeared again.

In fact, even without the notification as a reminder...

Henry could tell these were inedible.

He then opened the refrigerator.

Everything in the fridge had gone bad.

Only two canned beers were not expired.

The manufacturing date on them was October 15, 2012.

Shelf life: 20 years!

Sss... such a long shelf life!?

Henry remembered that beers on Earth typically had a shelf life of about two years.

Some even had a shelf life of only six months.

And yet, here, the beers could last for 20 years?!

Henry quickly glanced at the calendar on the wall.

It was stuck on December 2012.

This indicated that the virus outbreak occurred in December 2012 in this world.

Henry wiped his hand across the dining table, picking up a thin layer of dust on his fingers.

Judging by the thickness of this dust, only a few months had passed.

At most, it wouldn't be more than a year!

It was quite terrifying to think about.

In just under a year, the virus had destroyed the entire civilization of Blue Star!

Henry also remembered the system notifications at the beginning of the apocalypse game.

These zombies were merely the result of the system's suppression.

Every 30 days, the suppression effects would diminish slightly.

Until it reverted to the terrifying true nature of these mutant creatures!

Survival, getting stronger!

It was urgent!

Henry then opened the freezer section of the refrigerator.

Inside, he found a large chunk of frozen meat, weighing about five or six pounds!

Jackpot!

With meat to eat and beer to drink, these supplies could help him last another three to four days.