A Brief view of his surroundings

As soon as he plugged the charger into the exoskeleton and decided to survey the power source for tomorrow, Jim collapsed into the chair with exhaustion.

He then held his stomach as he heard its cries due to hunger. The starch biscuits made from the machine are only enough for a single meal for an adult.

Due to the excessive labor, all the food he had eaten at lunch was digested, and now he has to wait until he eats the last portion, which he reserved for the night.

He got up from the chair and went to the water condenser, where he saw that there was water in it. He drank until his stomach ached, then sat back down at the table.

As Jim tried to distract himself from thoughts of food, he noticed the tablet blinking with a new notification.

Without overthinking, he opened it and watched as new words appeared on the screen.

"[Congrats on surviving the first day]"

"[Every survivor who has survived the first day in the apocalypse deserves a prize.]"

"[The chat function is now available as a reward, giving everyone the chance to freely interact in world or regional chat rooms until tomorrow morning.]"

"[Afterwards, Messages are limited to 10 per day in the regional chatroom and 1 per day in the world forum, but you can chat with your friends without any restrictions.]"

"[Survivors will be given survival coins for surviving in this world, according to the actions they have performed from yesterday until now.]"

"[You can now check the number of coins in the Reward section, which has been added to your tablet. With the coins you have, you can make purchases from the store."

"[There will additional gift for those who have explored and satisfied certain conditions.]"

"[Please click the accept button below to exit this page and accept the survival coins and the gifts.]"

Jim scrolled down and found the accept option and pressed it with anticipation.

The moment he hit the accept button, the screen went blank, and a new page loaded, revealing the Rewards section, which detailed his activities from the previous evening to this evening.

The account balance shows he has earned a small amount of 110 survival coins.

10 for surviving a day safely.

The rest of the coins came from hunting dangerous creatures, with each creature earning 10 coins. This totaled 100 coins since he had hunted 10 zombies today.

Jim was surprised by such a small amount, as the last time he saw 10 coins could only upgrade the base a cubic meter with all the resources available.

He instantly lost hope of upgrading his base by just sitting in the shelter without hunting or scavenging.

His gaze then shifted to the Gift which he had received as the reward.

Reward: Free talent awakening for once.

There is a 99% chance of awakening talent just for today.

Jim decided to awaken his talent after he checked the chat room.

Jim then excitedly opened the chat function and saw that both world and regional chats were open.

The world chat shows a total of 7 billion people were online on the channel.

While the regional channel shows 10,000 people online.

The region where Jim is present is named in the number R0258.

Jim excitedly opened the world chat and found messages flying by like bullets, so fast that by the time one was read, it was already replaced by another.

Jim didn't find anything useful there, so he switched to a regional channel where he could read the messages at his leisure, as fewer people were chatting.

Anonymous (A099): "Hey, anyone there, please reply if anyone sees the message.":

Anonymous (H20): "Finally, a living person whom I can chat with, you don't know how I spent the previous day all alone in the shelter with fright that all this was an illusion and only I was kidnapped and kept captive here.

Anonymous(D65): Brother, haven't you gone outside? If you have gone outside, you would have understood that all this was real.

Anonymous(c30): Did anyone go outside? I hear growls of beasts from outside my shelter. 

Anonymous(G50): Anyone, please save me. I went outside and got bitten by the zombie, although I stopped the bleeding, I fear I'm infected with the virus.

Anonymous(B33): Brother, add me as a friend, if you by chance die by turning into a zombie, your profile will turn gray so I can inform the channel about your death.

Anonymous(G50): Get lost. I'm asking for a doctor's help, not for my funeral.

Anonymous(B33): Brother, what doctor can you find here where we don't even know where our shelters are right now? And I doubt any doctor with the medical kits will kill the monsters outside to come and rescue you.

Anonymous(E25): I'm a doctor, first, clean the wound with fresh water and tie a knot just above the wound to stop bleeding and blood supply, as the above person said, I don't have any medical kit with me and I can't clear the dense monster outside my shelter right now, i might take week or two eliminate them and then to search for you in this situation is rather risky so just stay put and survive until all the survivors make a plan and set up a safe point for our meeting.

Anonymous(H01): Yes, listen to the doctor, just recuperate in your shelter, and we will try to clear all the monsters in our vicinity, and then come help you.

Anonymous(B33): See, brother, it's not like I'm cursing you, and your situation will also help us know the potential threat from the monster bites.

Anonymous(G50): Ok, send the friend request, I will accept it.

Jim, who saw only a dozen or so members of the region chatting in the channel and watched the drama unfolding in the chat.

He observed that no one was discussing their shelter locations, so he composed a message, sent it, and caused a stir in the chat room.

AnonymousJ-999): Greetings, everyone. Has anyone observed the terrain in their surroundings during their time outside? Please refrain from disclosing the shelter's location; simply provide a general description of the areas to assist us in mapping our region.

As soon as the message appeared in the chat room, everyone went silent, unwilling to risk revealing their location.

Anonymous (Jim) (J-999): As I have initiated this conversation, I will first share details about my surroundings.

Jim got a clear picture that none are going to cooperate if he doesn't take the lead, so he started by describing his surroundings.

Anonymous (J-999): My shelter is situated on a barren, rocky mountain encircled by a desolate forest teeming with zombie-like creatures. I advise against entering the forest, as it harbors thousands of these monsters.

Anonymous (J1): Mine is also present in the forest, but mine is an underground shelter built at high altitude.

Anonymous (I-120): My shelter is at the edge of the forest, and I can hear monsters roaring in the jungle.

Anonymous(H-340): I can see the forest from my shelter, but there is a considerable distance from here, while I'm close to the city ruins.

Anonymous(A-995): My shelter looks like it is present at the center of the city, as I can see tall buildings in my vicinity.

Anonymous (C-990): My shelter is also in the city, but it looks like I'm neither close to the city center nor the edge.

Anonymous(D-170): Mine is at the city edge, mostly consists of factories.

Anonymous(G50): My shelter is also between the forest and the city ruins.

Anonymous(B33): Hey, my shelter is outside the perimeter of the ruins of tall skyscrapers, but I can't determine the edge of the city since there are only a few high-rise buildings, mostly apartments.

Anonymous (Jim):(J999): Based on the details shared by all fellow members, Groups A1-1000 to D1-1000 are currently located in the city ruins.

Anonymous (A001): Groups E, F, G, and H are positioned just outside the city ruins.

Anonymous(H963): Groups I and J are in the forest surroundings.

Jim glanced at the chat, jotted down the details, and pieced together the clues. He suddenly realized the forest he thought was just a few kilometers wide might be a vast expanse surrounding a city that once housed a million people.