When the time struck at 2 in the afternoon, Nigel's shirt full of sweat from the continuous repetitive training since morning. He stops and puts the sword back to its hilt once he feels he doesn't make any more progress with his training before slowly making his way to the bathroom to take another bath.
Nigel looks to the mirror as he can see his body that was sweating bullets and laments at the thought of his energy that will be sucked clean and the powerless feeling along with the splitting headache for the future delivery from the system.
Previously, he has various reasons for not believing in Iris's word and got the urge to spend the following month to laze around before preparing the basic necessity to survive the zombie apocalypse. But as the Shopping System has been verified and tested by him, he no longer had any thought to destroy this godsend opportunities.
As such, Nigel firmly changes his mind to be more hardworking than ever.
'Hey, Iris... are you there?' Nigel called Iris
[Yes, we are and always have been.]
'Geez, you can give me some privacy at least. And you said before that you have missions for customers?' Nigel rolls his eye before continuing to ask about missions to Iris, as he wants to capitalize further from the system.
[Does your world's so-called Internet have any? Absolutely, do you want a mission right now?]
'Ahh, can't argue with that... Oh, there is a mission? Alright, then tell me about it.' He asked Iris while patting his body with a towel after finishing his bath.
[Do any workout that increases your strength, stamina, and speed for a total of 8 hours a day for the following month until the package's delivery.]
'You're telling me to continue working out 8 hours a day until March 20th? But it's February 12th right now, as I see it, it doesn't make any significant changes to my body.'
[You don't have to accept the missions as we can't force our customers]
'What's the rewards then?'
[The reward will be 10 Origin Point. If you convert that into 'Energy Nucleus Core' then you will have 150 of level one zombie nucleus. In that case, you can purchase something from the Shopping System before the apocalypse.]
'The exchange rate is no joke, huh... I accept it then.' He finished dressing up as he said that.
[Noted. We will be watching.]
Nigel decides to do the rest of his exercise at night as he goes to the study room and boot-up his computer for a quick search online to look up some properties that are for rent at City K.
The rumor he heard about a base that was being governed by 7 powerful groups of survivors in City K with a grand mission to bring back order to the wasteland, greatly intrigued him.
With collective groups with the same mindset of eradicating the zombies from the world is a good starting point to restart his life in the apocalypse he believes, he knew that trusting a rumor isn't something he should be doing but Nigel didn't bother about it because City J where he resides will be a wasteland that was filled to the brim with zombie and the outposts government set up in the surrounding City J got breach into.
After browsing through the different list of property from the internet, he finds upon a bankrupt factory for rent by a bank for dirt cheap that he fancies, with a 4-room dorm built-in, land size of 2300 m² and the size of the building is 1000 m². He finally makes his decision as he calls the liaison officer contact number in the description to meet up with him at the factory by the evening.
Once he connects to the officer and got the green light, he hurried to prepare the relevant information that he needs before making his way down to the parking basement.
By the time the sun just set, he arrived at City K as quickly as possible even using the tollway to cut some time. When he is at the factory gate waiting for the officer to come, he takes a look around the factory feeling content as he gazes from the outside.
Nigel was an up and coming graphic designer and illustrator that was renowned for his work in the marketing industries, if the apocalypse didn't come maybe he will be a future boss of his own company. Sadly, it all went away in the blink of an eye, but this time, he gets the chance to squander his hard-earned savings that were in the million figures.
Just when Nigel gets impatient and wants to call the officer one more time, there was a black sedan stopping beside his parked car and a neat-looking man getting out from the sedan before he looks around and walked in Nigel's direction with a fawning smile on his face.
"Mr. Oneal, I assume?" Said the man as he asked Nigel.
"That would be correct." Nigel said curtly.
"Ah, I'm sorry for being late, as there was traffic on the road." The man said as he rubs the back of his head.
"So you are the officer, right? Show me the inside of this factory." Nigel said before he walks into the gate
"Right away, Mr. Oneal." The man quickly rushed up to the gate as he brought out a key for the lock
Nigel then follows the man as he is being guided, he inspects every inch of the factory while the officer kept introducing the size of the land and the building, basic layout, what the factory previously engage in, and so on before finishing the tour back in the gate.
"As you can see Mr. Oneal, the factory is already up to standard, you just need to place your own equipment and you're good to go about your business."
"Yes, I can see that too Mr. Arya. How about the pricing? Is it the same as on the website?"
"It is the same, sir. We leash the factory with a minimum of one year contract."
"Can we sign-up the contract right now? If we can, then I will transfer the down-payment for a year immediately."
"We can sign-up right away if you want it."
Nigel and Arya the liaison officer, head into the security post as they finalized the contract. Nigel then transfers the deposit money for the factory and sign-up his name on the contract, and gave Arya the required documents for legal work.
And after everything was done, he was left with the keys to the factory that will be his new living place in the apocalypse.
Nigel once again heads back into the factory to map out the detail of the parking lot, garden, dorms, warehouse, offices, and the empty large hall building into his mind for future reconstruction.
'I will build the fence around the factory into a thick brick wall with reinforce metal plate filling it, the gate too will be a steel one, the four dorms can be demolished to build a pen for raising chickens or ducks...'
'Those useless things in the garden will be destroyed to add space for planting vegetables and herbs, the warehouse will be my companion's, room in the future, while the hall will be the main living room, kitchen and workshop, and the offices can be my room.' Nigel thought the reconstructing plan for the factory in his mind before he goes to his car.
Nigel doesn't want to be a selfish prick that only cares about himself, he wants to make a group with a reliable team member. That's why he rents out the factory for his future basecamp, as he believes the bank won't bother about the property when the chaos happens in August. And he got himself a nice place to cope when the struggle begins.
'I guess, I will need to be here constantly once in a while to hired and watch the construction process.' Nigel whips out his phone to browse the internet searching for a construction company in City K before he finds one with many reviews and looks trusted, he makes a call to that company and briefly talks about the plan he had in his mind.
'Why did they already close at this time, it's barely 7 in the evening, hah.. I'll be visiting this city again tomorrow to meet up with the construction company then.' Nigel sigh as he holds his head that was filled with many things he wants to do.
He sorts out all his jumbled-up thought before putting his hand on the steering wheel and stepped on the gas, driving past various factories and trucks along the road that was so different from his city atmosphere. When he sees the industrialized zone of City K, he just wishes for the best as he is right now betting on his starting point based on the rumor from his previous life.
2 hours later, Nigel arrived back in City J.
At his apartment room, he cleans up a bit before putting on his workout attire and went out again to run laps around his apartment, sit-up, push-up, and squat for 2 hours to finish the minimum 8 hours workout mission Iris gave him in the afternoon.
When Nigel finished working out, he mused to himself that with great power, comes with a great shining bald head.