Chapter 002: Everywhere Is Zombie And The System Of Attributes.

Click!

He locked the main door.

No matter what, in an unclear situation outside, preventing other creatures from entering was the first action to take.

After locking the door, he hurriedly ran back inside. Passing by the water cooler, he conveniently smashed the lock on the first aid box above with the bat, reaching in to grab all the medicine inside.

"Kheeze... Help me... Kheeze..."

When he returned to Jonny's side, his poor colleague was already delirious, his eyes cloudy, his skin dark and bruised, thick, dark red mucus dripping from the corners of his mouth.

Memphis clenched his hand tightly, his eyes reddening.

In less than 30 seconds from being bitten, Jonny had nearly lost consciousness, perhaps only standing through sheer will to survive despite his body's transformation.

"Jonny, Jonny, you have to stay awake, your dad is waiting! Uncle Gaspar is waiting for you at home!"

Jonny seemed to hear Memphis's voice, hearing the name Gaspar Byrne, his father, a miserable widower. He struggled to lift his head, groaning hoarsely:

"Kheeze... Save... Save my dad... Kheeze..."

Memphis clenched his teeth and nodded vigorously:

"I'll do... I'll save your dad, hang in there."

In the life-and-death moment, Memphis felt that Jonny was not so stupid or annoying. He was just a victim in this nightmare.

Jonny could barely maintain his sanity, struggling to speak his final words:

"Apartment... Kheeze... Apartment Cedar Creek... Room 412... Kheeze Kheeze..."

He had completely lost his mind, slowly crawling towards Memphis, his eyes filled with a bloodthirsty desire.

Memphis let out a painful cry, raised the stick in his hand high, and after two seconds of hesitation, decisively struck down.

Thud!

Jonny's skull caved in, blood and blackened brains splattered everywhere.

At this point, out of the six people in the office, only Memphis was left, and he was the one who personally sent five of his colleagues to their deaths.

"Why..."

Memphis looked out the window, seeing only a clear blue sky full of sunlight, no dark clouds or strong winds, no sinister skulls, yet the bodies in the room were enough to prove that everything was real.

The apocalypse had truly arrived.

After a minute of silent mourning, Memphis opened his eyes, his pupils reflecting deep hatred. He wanted to find the cause of all these terrible events.

Only then did he notice his own condition, feeling extremely fatigued from the excessive physical exertion.

Rushing to the other side of the desk, Memphis sat down on the chair and reached for the phone.

He immediately dialed Jarred Lawton.

Fortunately, the telecommunications network was still functioning.

Hearing the beeping on the other end, Memphis felt a growing anxiety.

Luckily, after five rings, the other end picked up.

"Hello, Memphis, it's me. Are you okay over there?"

It was the worried yet excited voice of Jarred. Memphis exhaled and quickly said:

"I'm fine. Jarred, I'm at the office. Are you at home or somewhere else? Stay put and wait for me."

He felt a mix of relief and oddity. Relief because Jarred was safe, his voice somewhat calm, likely secure. Odd because of Jarred's excitement.

Jarred quickly responded:

"Memphis, I'm at home, very safe right now. Oh, by the way, I've reached level 2... Beep beep beep!"

The prolonged beeping echoed, and Memphis hastily checked his phone, finding the signal had disappeared.

His heart sank. The telecommunications network had gone down.

"It looks like I need to act quickly. And Jarred mentioned level 2, what does that mean?"

Memphis wasn't worried about his parents, as they had unfortunately passed away two years ago. Now, Jarred was his only family in this city.

Putting the phone in his pocket, thinking it might still be useful, Memphis leaned on the baseball bat, resting while pondering Jarred's words. He rolled his eyes and tried calling out in his mind.

"Level."

Sure enough, as soon as Memphis had the thought, an attribute panel appeared in his mind.

"Host: Memphis Jackman. Purebred Human.

Profession: Commoner.

Level: 2 (Exp 0/20)

Strength: 7/10

Agility: 6/10

Stamina: 4/10

Intelligence: 9/10

Recovery: 7/10

Endurance: 7/10

Burst: 7%

Active skills: None

Passive skills: None

Skill points: 1

Potential points: 4

Bright points: 5

Equipment: Baseball bat."

After careful consideration, Memphis let out a breath, finally understanding a bit of Jarred's astonishment.

He wasn't unfamiliar with this attribute table; it bore some resemblance to the online games he played. At the same time, there were a few peculiarities he couldn't fully grasp for now.

The points in front were likely his current points, and the ones behind might be the highest attainable limits. He could guess the various attribute lines, though the "breakthrough" stat was a mystery for now... In short, this so-called "system" had probably appeared in his mind since that beam of light from the skull shot at him.

Memphis focused on the attribute changes. He had reached level 2, gaining 4 potential points and 1 skill point, which seemed to increase upon leveling up.

Looking over the attribute table, Memphis murmured thoughtfully:

"Just now, after a battle, my stamina dropped from 7 points to 4 points. The consumption is really not small. I definitely need to enhance this attribute. As for the others, maybe I'll increase strength a bit and speed a bit more."

Strength for stronger attacks and carrying more items, speed for escaping quickly in danger and dodging better in fights. As for the rest, he'll research them later.

"Add two points to stamina, one point to strength, and one point to agility."

Memphis silently recited, feeling a gentle stream of water wash over his body, slightly alleviating his fatigue. He lightly grasped the baseball bat, noticing it felt significantly easier to wield than before.

After adjusting, Memphis pulled up the attribute table again.

"Host Memphis Jackman. Purebred Human.

Occupation: Commoner

Level: 2 (Exp 0/20)

Strength: 8/10

Agility: 7/10

Stamina: 6/12

Intelligence: 9/10

Recovery: 7/10

Endurance: 7/10

Breakthrough: 7%

Active Skills: None

Passive Skills: None

Skill Points: 1

Potential Points: 0

Bright Points: 5.

Weapons: Baseball bat."

It was bizarre, skulls suddenly appeared, zombies attacked, and then the attribute panel along with these resources... How was he supposed to restore the world to its former state and destroy the unwanted resources?

Sure enough, after adding potential points, the highest limit of the attributes increased. It seems he needs to train to bring his stats to the highest level.

Also, how does he use the skill points, and what about the newly appeared Bright? 5 Bright should equal 5 zombie corpses, right?

Well, let's see how it goes. He just killed 5 zombies and gained 5 exp, enough to level up. So, each zombie gives 1 exp, meaning to reach level 3, he needs to kill 20 zombies...

"Ding. Congratulations to the host for successfully surviving the initial phase and leveling up."

"The system offers rewards. Please choose one of the following: First, instantly increase the current level by one, the reward cannot be saved for later use. Second, receive a random skill book ranging from tier one to tier three. Third, receive a random piece of equipment ranging from tier one to tier three."

As Memphis was deep in thought, the mechanical voice startled him with a mix of surprise and joy, along with significant indecision. All three options were highly attractive; each one made him drool with desire, wishing he could take them all.

After careful consideration, Memphis decisively whispered to himself:

"Choose the random skill book."

Choosing to level up would grant 4 potential points, but it would also leave skill points unused, turning them into unusable resources. As for the equipment, he already had a baseball bat, which felt comfortable to use. If the system gave him a dagger, he wouldn't be familiar with using it. Therefore, the skill book seemed to be the most reasonable choice.

The system immediately responded:

"Confirm selection request, open?"

Memphis nodded without hesitation:

"Open."

"Ding. Congratulations on obtaining the second-tier active skill: Ice Manipulation. Skill attribute: Utilize the power of ice to effectively control ice. Skill activation: consumes 1 stamina point, 2 intelligence points, skill maintenance consumes 1 stamina point, 2 intelligence points every 10 seconds, no time limit on maintenance. Note, the power and effective radius are determined by the intelligence stat and skill level."

Memphis exhaled a breath, though he didn't fully understand the skill, it sounded quite impressive. However, it seemed to consume a lot of intelligence. With his current condition, even if fully recovered, he could only maintain it for a maximum of 40 seconds.

As for the consequences of exceeding the body's attribute limits, he didn't dare to try.

"Hmm, let's get familiar with it first, after all, I need to understand its power to know how to use it."

Thinking it through, Memphis activated the skill, consuming 1 stamina and 2 intelligence points. A dense layer of cold air immediately formed on his left hand, and within less than a second, it solidified into a 1-meter-long ice blade, looking incredibly sharp.

Memphis swung it a bit, then, with a thought, the blade transformed into a solid ice spear. He plunged the ice spear into Hughie's corpse at his feet, the sharp tip piercing through the body and embedding into the floor by about 5cm.

With 4 seconds of usage time left, Memphis waved his hand, sending cold air towards a water bottle in the corner of the room, quickly freezing it silently.

Memphis nodded slightly:

"Indeed miraculous, a second-tier skill can make one superhuman."

"The power is quite substantial, with an effective radius of about 30 meters. To control ice further away would require more stamina and intelligence."

He suddenly froze, hurriedly deactivating the ability, inwardly complaining.

"It seems that releasing cold air to affect other targets also consumes resources. Just now, I lost an intelligence point."

Using the ability on himself consumed fixed attribute points, and affecting a wider range required more intelligence points.

His eyes darted around. If he created an ice spear first, then threw it, and then created another, would it consume additional attribute points? Perhaps this could be tested later, as his stamina was down to 5 points and he couldn't experiment further.

Memphis then quickly pondered:

"What would skill point allocation achieve?"

The system on the other side immediately responded mechanically:

"Skill points will enhance skill power and extend duration. Consuming a first-level skill requires 1 skill point, a second-level skill requires 2 skill points, a third-level skill requires 3 skill points."

Memphis felt deceived. In other words, his current skill point was not usable. Ice manipulation was a second-level skill, requiring 2 skill points to enhance.

Memphis rubbed his forehead and smiled wryly, having to temporarily set things aside. He felt a bit sluggish, his intelligence reduced by 3 points, needing rest to recover.

He turned to look out the window, seeing the building opposite. On the balcony, a horde of zombies crowded around a corpse, eagerly biting and tearing.

"Really disgusting."

He bent down to look below; the street was indeed in chaos, with cars scattered everywhere, zombies and humans chasing each other noisily. Although he was temporarily in a safe place, he would have to escape soon.

The city center had too many people, making it too dangerous to stay.

Carefully planning, Memphis pushed the filing cabinet to block the door, then returned to the desk, drew the curtains, sat down, and set his phone alarm for 30 minutes.

He was utterly exhausted and needed some sleep.

In his dream, Memphis saw a giant skull opening its mouth, swallowing the entire city. It then chewed and devoured, with blood, flesh, and broken limbs falling. The giant skull laughed loudly, spitting out leftover bones, which fell straight onto his head.

Before he could react, the alarm suddenly blared, pulling him out of the horrific nightmare.

Memphis looked around in a daze, seeing a stiff corpse at his feet, with rotting, foul-smelling flesh, realizing that the true nightmare had no alarm clock.

Checking the time, 4 PM, Memphis threw his phone into his pocket, stood up, and stretched.

His stamina recovered to 10/12, and his intelligence restored to 9/10. It seemed the short nap had indeed been very restorative.

He picked up the baseball bat, taking a few steps around the office, intending to find useful items.

The office had some snacks; he found 8 packs of noodles, 1 bag of crackers, 2 boxes of hazelnut milk, 1 bag of dried bananas, and a 2-liter stainless steel water bottle, which was Jonny's belonging.