"Open the umbrella!"
Marco gave a bit of advice and Jessica complied. She pressed a button and the umbrella opened itself.
The zombie suddenly lost sight of its target and became confused for a second. It then sniffed the air and became enraged as it clawed the umbrella's fabric.
Marco caught that small detail and realized that sight and smell play a great role in zombie pathing.
Pathing was how monsters track the player inside the game. Normally, pathing was pre-programmed and has rules to follow. When a monster sees a target, it would generate the fastest route to engage them.
His mind worked its wonder and possibilities were chosen. After eliminating the unlikely results, only one thing remained.
The zombies in the real world adapted game pathing! Why would an enraged zombie suddenly stop on its place after losing sight of its target?
In a game, there would be several terms for that, but the closest answer was fog-of-war! It can be compared to turning to a corner and leaving the enemy's line of sight.
When the zombie lost sight of Jessica, it stopped and checked the area using smell. Upon finding out that the target was still in front, it generated a new pathing and continued its attack.
He realized all of this while running the gap and lunging forward to tackle the zombie away from her.
He didn't wait for the target to react and immediately punched the zombie in the face.
"Gaah!"
Thud!
"Gruuh!"
Thud!
"Gurgrrg..."
Pishikk.
After punching the zombie twice causing it to chew on its own teeth, Marco used the bloodied pen to stab its left eye.
The zombie struggled and grabbed his hands while trying to take a bite of him, however, the moment the pen only had its other end visible, it gurgled and choked on its own blood.
"Eww, that's gross."
A feminine voice came from the side, which made Marco turn his head. He saw Jessica eyeing the corpse with aversion. He asked, "Are you okay? Why are you out here?"
Jessica frowned. "Weren't you shouting for help earlier? I wake up since it was so noisy, and when I heard someone calling for help, I peeked out of the window and saw a dead body on the front road. Of course, I would think that something bad was happening! I can't believe I risked my life to come out and save you for you to act like this."
"C-calm down. Good morning to you too." Marco diverted the topic and stood up. He stared at the umbrella that she was holding. "Why an umbrella though? Don't you have anything better?"
"You!" Jessica couldn't believe what she was hearing and glared at him. "How would I know that this would happen? This... what is that thing?"
"It's a zombie. I'll explain everything to you later, but we need to get out of here first."
Marco collected his stone ax and ran toward the apartment building. Jessica stared at the dead body with a pen's butt sticking out from its eye.
When the morning wind howled, Jessica shivered due to the cold. The pink cutesy pajamas she was wearing wasn't thick enough when braving the cold early morning.
She turned and followed Marco. "Hey, wait for me!"
Inside his usually empty room, an idol-like being freely moved around. She already inspected every room possible, but still continued searching as if looking for something specific.
While Jessica was searching around, Marco was seated on the living room sofa, processing everything that happened outside.
The tutorial ended after he learned how to craft an item. And to craft an item, he needed to collect materials. The only way to gather materials was by searching for them. That means exploring the area. As he explored the vicinity, he encountered threats that could kill him.
Overall, the tutorial helped him solved all the general questions and doubts he had in mind.
You move around to go from one place to another and whether there are teleport stations around, he had to investigate more. In the game, he could use and modify vehicles, so that would be one thing that he needs to experiment on. He could also tame various wild monsters to be used for transportation. He didn't reach that far into the game, but he saw several high-leveled AI riding mutated animals as pets.
Crafting was the same in essence, collect and create, however, fighting has turned a bit too realistic. In the game, you can continuously hack and slash at the enemy until their health depleted. However, in real life, such features weren't available and you had to wait whether they would stop moving or wants another round of beating.
While pondering, a fair-skinned black haired Jessica appeared in front of him. Her brows were slightly raised as if bothered about something.
"What do you need?"
"Hmm." Jessica stared at him and had her hand on her chin, thinking about something.
"What is it? Can you just spill it out already? I can't concentrate if you keep disturbing me."
"You see, I'm starting to think that you're gay."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"I've searched every nook and cranny, but I can't find any signs that a girl sleeps here. No hairs on the shower, the bed, or the floor. Are you a clean freak?"
"I'm not a clean freak! I just don't bring random girls to my apartment! Why would I even let strangers inside here, isn't that weird?"
"Then why do you always let me in?"
"I'm letting you in? You always barge in! What are you even doing here anyway? You should be in your room and lock your doors."
"Eh? Why would I do that? What if zombies started to gather by the roadside? Doesn't that mean that I can't get out of my room? I don't have much food you know. Besides, If I stay here, you can protect me. Isn't that great news?"
"What's great about that?!"