The warm breeze of March swept past with dry leaves fluttering along, carrying an air filled with a scent that utterly belied the season.
The thick stench of blood and rot, outside the window the city was nothing but ruins and rubble, bodies covered in black blood lay strewn haphazardly about in the shadows, with fierce-looking zombies wandering nearby.
Time reset, the apocalypse broke out, day one.
"I had a... not so good dream."
In the hospital room, the girl who was having a chocolate bar for breakfast turned her head, her eyelashes fluttering like the wings of a butterfly.
When she turned to look at the boy who came out from the inside, her gaze suddenly sharpened.
...Su Ming'an today seemed somewhat different from yesterday.
An indescribable feeling kept her from looking away; she noticed that the boy walked towards her with somewhat sluggish steps, sat down, and then stared at her closely for a while.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"What kind of dream did you have?"
"Mmm... It's like, a beautiful fairy tale suddenly missing a page?" Yuanyuan said.
"You're right..." Su Ming'an sighed slightly, "I shouldn't have interrupted you at that time."
Yuanyuan, with confusion in her eyes, tilted her head:
"Did I say anything like that before?"
"It's nothing." Su Ming'an walked towards the door: "Let's not go to the archives today, let's go outside and have a look."
"Okay."
Yuanyuan had always been an intuitive player; she had a wonderful premonition about everything, so when Su Ming'an proposed going somewhere else, she did not hesitate to abandon the original plan of going to the archives.
Su Ming'an pushed the door open, and the barrage began to roll.
[Good morning, host~]
[Good morning~ WTF, why is there blood?]
[Has the apocalypse started?]
"Good morning." Su Ming'an responded with a smile.
[Holy shit! The host finally responded.]
[Did he know about the barrage all along? First time I've heard him talk to the barrage since I've been squatting here.]
Su Ming'an was in a good mood today.
After paying the price in the first loop to probe for the secret of a perfect pass, he believed that he could stand till the end—despite the grueling task of outrunning the zombies, he had a greater margin for error than others.
However, this time after dying, he discovered his previously available Save 1 and Save 2 had vanished. Upon waking, he found himself reborn at a fixed point in time, unable to choose anymore.
He did not know why he had lost the right to choose. Maybe it was something special about the beginner level.
But still, it's good... because there is still a chance to start over.
There is light on the path ahead, and everything is just beginning.
...
After smashing the heads of a few zombies with a steel pipe, he saw several prompts of [Exp+50][Exp+50], indicating that roughly six more zombie kills would level up his experience bar.
Tasks give points, killing monsters gives experience—these were the rules he had roughly figured out. The current level of zombies was not high, an excellent opportunity for players to enhance their strength. Those who thought of escaping to the wilderness at the onset of the apocalypse were doomed to fail.
He fought his way out with Yuanyuan, and soon a bunch of timid people trailed behind them. As they were about to burst through the main gate, the people behind still hadn't left.
"Should we take them with us?" Yuanyuan glanced back; many hopeful eyes were fixed on the two of them.
"Too big a target, no use," Su Ming'an said. "If they want to follow, they'll follow, but they won't be able to keep up for long."
Such a large group gathered together, like a piece of fat waiting for zombies to rush in, Su Ming'an and Yuanyuan were highly mobile and would quickly reach a safer area in no time.
In practice, Su Ming'an's skills were not combat-oriented, and his only damaging skill "Eradicate" required finger release. At present, he was a player whose physical fitness was no different from an ordinary person, relying more on Yuanyuan's swordsmanship to kill zombies.
But many people died before zombies not because they couldn't fight but because of the fear in their hearts.
—They dared not wield the sword.
But on the first day of the apocalypse's outbreak, carving out a path to survival was not difficult.
...
After killing a zombie standing at the door, Su Ming'an shook his somewhat sore arm and heard this sound.
[Ding Dong! You have been upgraded to a (First Rank, Level 2) Player, (received three free Attribute Points, some permissions have been elevated, more Props are now available in the shop.)]
[Experience 0/2000]
Su Ming'an didn't hesitate to assign his Attribute Points to [Spirit] before heading towards the main street.
[Combat Power 206+9]
...
"Ahhh!!!"
On the street, a female student running tripped and fell to the ground. Her calves trembled as she looked back at the oddly moving zombies behind her, too scared to even crawl away.
Most Players aren't like Su Ming'an with a high Points score at the start; if they die quickly in the beginner level, they'd only get forty or fifty Points, enough to add a point or buy a low-level Skill, and there's no certainty that the Skill would directly affect Combat Power. Many people were just ordinary before the game started; they wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken, let alone face a scene like this.
As the zombie drew closer to the girl, Su Ming'an silently stood at the street corner, watching the scene unfold, when suddenly, a similar growl came from nearby.
A young man, who had been waiting for the bus, had turned into a zombie. His bulging eyes were firmly fixed on Su Ming'an.
"Roar—!"
The moment their eyes met, the zombie moved, but then a slender sword blade quickly pierced through its eye socket. With a nimble flick of Yuanyuan's wrist, the zombie in front of her fell to the ground powerlessly.
She hurried towards the street corner, trying to save the female student, but Su Ming'an placed a hand on her shoulder, and her footsteps automatically stopped.
"Ah—!"
The female student let out a dismal scream, the last sound she would make in her life. The next moment, the gruesome-looking zombie pounced, biting through her throat.
Blood exploded like a flower, the light in her eyes gradually fading. The zombie collapsed on her body, and the once delicate face was now a terrifying mess of blood and flesh. The scene was exceptionally brutal.
"...Aren't we going to save her?" Yuanyuan rarely spoke up.
"There's no point. Five days were given to prepare, yet she still lacks the courage to wield a sword. Even if we save her, what then? Keep her with us all the time? Or save her and then cast her away? People like her who can only scream will only put us in danger more easily." Su Ming'an wiped the bloodstains on the back of his hand, not looking up, "Our time is precious, and countless Players are bound to be eliminated in the game. We don't have the opportunity to save everyone."
As he said this, a wave of condemnation began to appear on the barrage.
[Damn, this streamer is too cold-hearted.]
[Saving one is still saving, isn't it? After all, we are all from Zhai Xing, we could cooperate to fight against the Organizers of the game. Insisting on the survival of the fittest in nature is way too extreme.]
[It's because of Players like this that I died so quickly.]
[Speechless. Such a selfish philosophy, probably won't last long.]
...
Although there were some who supported him in the barrage, believing that one should avoid trouble in the Apocalypse, the majority still held onto the idea of peaceful mutual aid and began condemning him in droves.
Being a member of the squad, Yuanyuan could also see the barrage from Su Ming'an's livestream, her eyebrows slightly furrowing as she felt somewhat uncomfortable inside.
"We, actually we..." She started to explain softly.
"No need to say more," Su Ming'an said, "Saving her is futile. Without even the courage to hold a sword, she might as well go back to doing what viewers do best—let's go check out the vicinity first; time is precious."
With that, he set off a thousand waves with one stone. Viewers naturally had a superior attitude while commenting, and seeing someone openly mocking them, they erupted like pricked balloons.
In an instant, the screen was filled with curses and foul language.
[Just because you have a swordsman big shot as a companion, you're acting all high and mighty.]
[Going alone, ignoring advice, I don't think this Player will live long.]
[A trash who freeloads on others is starting to get arrogant now; what's with the livestream title "Online Vacation"? Waiting to see this trash die miserably!]
[The streamer has such a bad mindset, is it wrong to say something...?]
Su Ming'an's eyes never moved towards the upper right corner text again.
Yuanyuan looked at him, "Annoying, let's turn off the livestream."
"No need," he shook his head, without explaining any further.
...Not all Players hiding in the back are useless.
Fear of death is human nature; some truly might find it difficult to face a world beyond their imagination, hoping for other Heroes to step up and clear the levels. This mindset is everywhere—but it shouldn't be the reason for them to indulge in the pleasure of watching others die from a godlike perspective.
It's easy for people to lose themselves in a world filled with despair and powerlessness, to become restless and irritable. The points of moral hijacking often appear in all corners of such a chaotic world. They'll never understand his reasons for following this path.
Having purchased the Apocalypse region Map in advance, Su Ming'an glanced at the Map for directions and started pulling Yuanyuan towards another hospital.
Suddenly, his outstretched hand met empty air, and then his other hand was taken by a Force and pulled along.