Huffing and puffing, Waldo collapsed in exhaustion inside an abandoned supermarket. In a state of fear and panic, he quickly crawled to his feet and rushed towards the second-floor office with a reinforced door. He locked himself inside, finally feeling a semblance of safety.
Through the office window on the second floor, he looked out at the once bustling supermarket, now infested with walking corpses, their faces filled with confusion and aimlessness.
Not long ago, Waldo was sitting at home when he suddenly felt a dizzy spell. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this unfamiliar area. Before he could comprehend what was happening, the zombies were already chasing him, forcing Waldo to sprint into the nearby abandoned supermarket.
"Welcome, chosen challengers, to the world of the apocalypse," a mechanized female voice echoed in Waldo's mind. At the same time, an augmented reality-like interface appeared before his eyes, displaying a backpack, a trading window, a chat channel, and a mailbox.
Opening the backpack, he found it empty. Waldo's expression darkened. It had been a day since he last replenished his supplies. If the previous prompt was correct, without any resources, death was his only fate.
"Ding! You have received a new email!" Waldo subconsciously clicked on the email, and a voice resonated in his mind.
"The Infinite Resource System has been bound to the host!"
Soon, Waldo understood the purpose of this so-called system. In his backpack, a new icon of a mineral water bottle appeared in the first slot. In the bottom right corner of the icon, there was an infinite mathematical symbol: ∞.
Was this the system? A standard feature for the protagonist? Waldo hastily took out the mineral water bottle, and to his delight, the icon did not disappear from his backpack.
He frantically took out the mineral water, filling up the entire office with 500 milliliters of it. Finally, Waldo confirmed with excitement that he had indeed obtained the legendary system.
This system would provide him with an unlimited amount of one resource each day, and today it was mineral water.
Waldo clicked on the chat channel and noticed a symbol indicating the presence of other survivors from the same city. Many people were actively discussing on the channel.
Number 89757: "Damn it! What the hell is this? Suddenly being teleported here and told to fight zombies? I want to go back!"
Number 777889: "It's over. I don't have any supplies with me, and it's all zombies outside. I'll probably end up being killed for nothing."
Number 589345: "I just witnessed a poor guy getting bitten by a zombie. He turned into one immediately. Luckily, I ran away fast!"
Number 450321: "Instead of wasting time talking nonsense, we should focus on gathering supplies."
Waldo slowly scrolled through all the chat messages, finally confirming that everything was real. People who met certain criteria were teleported here and forced to participate in this survival game.
Looking at the numbers on the local chat channel, there were at least hundreds of thousands of people who had arrived in this post-apocalyptic world, sharing the same city with him. But were there even more people in other cities?
Just as the sound notification chimed, the game had officially begun. Some people would continue to survive by collecting resources, while others would quickly die of hunger, thirst, or being bitten by zombies.
Waldo continued to browse the trading platform and noticed that a small number of people were already selling their supplies. Most of the items were food and water, with a few miscellaneous items like flashlights and lighters.
The trading method involved bartering, where the seller proposed conditions, and
as long as the buyer had the corresponding resources, the transaction could be completed.
Glancing at the scarce trading demands, they were mostly for water and food, which were the things Waldo had in abundance. He immediately cleared the trading platform of any items related to water resources.
The mailbox kept chiming incessantly. In an instant, Waldo solved his food needs for a long period of time.
At the same time, many people in the chat channel started discussing who this user with the number 10086 was.
Number 38383: Holy shit! The 5 loaves of bread I just put up were bought by number 10086. Are there so many resources?!
Number 9527: That's nothing. Number 10086 single-handedly bought up all the resources I put up!
Number 979698: Could this number 10086 be a game cheater? Reducing our resources and increasing our survival difficulty!
Number 56666: Very likely! Otherwise, how could someone suddenly have so many resources to exchange? There's probably a puppet master behind it.
Waldo looked at the chat content and then glanced at his own number. He realized that both parties' numbers would be displayed during the trading process. This setting exposed him directly to everyone.
Fortunately, only the numbers were shown when initiating a trade.
After exchanging his mineral water for other resources, Waldo used these new items to fulfill the trading demands. Now, he could easily open a grocery store of his own.
Waldo took out a steaming plate of spaghetti and a glass of orange juice from his backpack. While eating, he continued browsing the trading platform but couldn't find the things he wanted.
Weapons!
What he lacked the most now were self-defense tools.
Not to mention firearms and ammunition, he couldn't even find a baseball bat or a fruit knife. Upon careful consideration, it seemed that the people he encountered hadn't put those items on the trading platform. After all, having a decent self-defense tool in a situation surrounded by zombies could greatly increase survival chances.
However, it was only the first day, and the survival pressure wasn't too high. Many people were still hiding in safe areas without venturing out to collect resources.
Waldo believed that as the days passed and they reached a desperate situation, resources would gradually become more abundant.
For now, he just needed to stay in this abandoned supermarket, waiting until he had enough power to protect himself.
Waldo descended to the first floor of the supermarket, hoping to find some resources. However, he searched the entire place and found nothing. Finally, as he walked into the restroom to relieve himself, he noticed a wooden crate in front of the sink. Could this be some supplies?
Waldo muttered to himself and approached the wooden crate.
[Successfully opened a Bronze-level supply crate]
[Obtained Wood x10]
[Obtained Rope x1]
Better than nothing!
Waldo directly stowed all the supplies in his backpack. He also checked the restroom for usable water resources but found that the faucet was just for show.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After coming out of the restroom, Waldo was about to head back to the second floor when he heard someone knocking and shouting outside the supermarket.
"Is anyone there? Please open the door! There are zombies chasing me!"