Lin Wu pushed open the door and saw Little Knife, who immediately gave him a tight hug. This made Lin Wu somewhat uncomfortable, "Haven't I come back? My infection level is only 20%." Lin Wu thought of Little Knife as a tough girl, so why was she so emotional? And why would she easily reveal her desperately poor and wicked side?
Little Knife shook her head, let go of Lin Wu, and said with some sadness, "Daiyu is dead."
"What?" Lin Wu asked in surprise, "How did she die?" Huh? Today's food issue has been resolved. Why wasn't Lin Wu sad about Daiyu's death? The fact that he hadn't lost his temper earlier was proof enough of Lin Wu's self-restraint. 100% pain is truly painful; being bitten really hurts. Therefore, while Lin Wu felt some regret over Daiyu's death, he wasn't saddened by it.
Stone called them up to the second floor from the staircase, saying, "It's my fault. After Little Knife left, Daiyu was very worried about your safety, Lin Wu, constantly asking me if you would be okay. I told her I was just comforting Little Knife. She wanted to go out to find Little Knife to rescue you. Unexpectedly, she was attacked just after stepping out of the safe zone. Her infection level was already high, and after being bitten and scratched, she was already dead by the time I got there, turned into white light and vanished."
Oh? Lin Wu didn't think Daiyu cared about his well-being, but they hadn't spent much time together, so he couldn't conclusively judge Daiyu's character. Lin Wu checked the status of Shadow base and saw Daiyu's name had been moved to the graveyard. Lin Wu asked, "Stone, what's the death penalty?" He wasn't too keen on Daiyu coming back.
Stone said, "You go lie down in the infirmary now and read the game manual yourself. Little Knife."
"I'm fine."
Stone said, "If you're fine, then you need to work. Scout along the safe zone of our base. It covers a part of three houses, and I think we can find some good stuff."
"Wait a minute," Lin Wu said. "Let me show you something cool."
Stone's eyes sparkled with eagerness, "A gun? Yes, it's a gun."
"Not just a gun," Lin Wu raised both hands, "but two guns."
"Yeah!" Little Knife and Stone cheered and high-fived, then fist-bumped with Lin Wu, "Well done."
In the base's safe zone, ammo and durability were unlimited; two guns meant that the Shadow base now had some defensive capabilities.
Stone wasn't blinded by the victory, "We can't take guns out for now. Firing a gun outside will attract half the town's zombies to our feast."
Little Knife asked, "Can the people staying behind practice shooting freely?"
Stone was speechless, "Does nobody read the game manual? Any noise produced within the base will be recorded, and the total noise level is directly related to the intensity of zombie sieges on the base."
Lin Wu exclaimed, "Just the three of us, and zombies are still going to besiege us?"
Stone nodded, "Siege attacks are unpredictable, with a ten-minute early warning and lasting over three minutes. During the siege, the zombies outside the safety zone will be attracted by the noise and join the siege. On top of that, firing guns carelessly could damage our own stuff and we'd need to spend materials to repair them."
Lin Wu thought for a moment, "During the zombie siege, we can escape the base through the back door's steep slope, and come back after three minutes."
Stone said, "You're underestimating Dawn. As long as we're here, the zombies will target us. If we're not here, the zombies will tear down the entire base. Also, the three-minute duration means that the Siege Zombies will spawn outside the safety zone and attack us. It doesn't mean that the zombies will all vanish after three minutes. Go on, go. Lin Wu, you get to the infirmary right now, take a good look at the game manual, then get some sleep. You've still got work to do tomorrow morning."
...
Characters have a total of four status bars, namely health, stamina, fatigue, and infection, with normal values at 100 for an average person.
If fatigue is greater than 20%, stamina consumption increases by 20%. If fatigue exceeds 40%, apart from increased stamina loss, accidental injuries, such as sprains while walking, can occur. At fatigue levels above 60%, there is a higher chance of accidental injury. When fatigue surpasses 80%, in addition to stamina loss and accidental injuries, one's carrying capacity and walking/running speed will also be reduced. Reaching 100% fatigue results in immediate death.
There are two factors that affect fatigue: whether food at the base is sufficient, and whether the player has enough sleep.
The base has only one value, which is morale. A morale of 50% is considered normal. Increasing or decreasing morale will affect the abilities of all base members. There are many ways to boost morale, including securing food and sleep, adding more recreational facilities, and reducing conflicts among members, among others. There are also temporary events that can decrease morale, such as Daiyu's death causing morale at Shadow Base to drop by 20% for 12 hours.
Moreover, individual reasons can also increase or decrease morale, for example, if someone's status is 'lying in bed,' and they have their own bed, they receive a morale boost, otherwise, it drops.
Lin Wu flipped through to the injury section. The types of injuries and illnesses were varied, including sprains, fractures, colds, bleeding, poisoning, and more. The safest remedy is to lie in a medical bed and recover slowly. There are various medications for different conditions, including bandages, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, antidotes, and so forth. Crafting medicine requires a basic medical qualification, and to obtain medical qualifications, one needs a Skill Book; a regular person can only learn one type of skill. Besides, crafting items like bandages also requires materials such as fabric strips and alcohol.
The final part of the game manual is about death. After a character dies, they are reset, with all skills and items cleared. They respawn randomly in the suburbs of a county-level city or higher after 24 hours. For the first 24 hours after reviving, there is no need for food and sleep.
Having finished reading the game manual and without any negative statuses, Lin Wu fell asleep swiftly. When he woke up at seven in the morning, he saw Little Knife sitting on the chair, propping up her chin with her hands, staring intently at him. Lin Wu pulled the blanket over his chest and moved to one side subconsciously, "You, you, what do you want to do?" His Agility was quick, his movement swift.
With innocent eyes, Little Knife asked, "Are you better now?"
Seeing his infection level had returned to zero, Lin Wu nodded.
"If you're better, get down."
"Oh." Lin Wu got out of bed, and Little Knife lay down on it. Seeing Lin Wu looking at her, Little Knife displayed her status bar, with everything clearly shown without words.
Health remaining at 27 points, infection at 40%, bleeding in four places, three fractures, and a mild concussion.
Lin Wu was shocked, "You…" he was at a loss for words facing such a formidable woman.
In her early morning scavenging, Little Knife had alerted a zombie. After killing it, the noise drew a second one, and so the cycle continued until a Screeching Zombie appeared. Little Knife had no choice but to climb up a roadside billboard. Although zombies couldn't climb straight ladders, with several Screeching Zombies continuously howling, some zombies would still spawn on the billboard.
The billboard was about 5 meters high, with advertisement canvases at the front and back and a passageway in the middle for changing and maintaining the canvases. In this path, around 30 centimeters wide and 5 meters long, Little Knife held one end, engaging in combat with zombies that spawned from time to time. Due to the narrow space, she only had to face one zombie at a time. As the battle drew out, her Nail-Pulling Hammer was damaged, and the water pipe she found also ended up scrapped. Eventually, she had to resort to using her fists and feet, throwing zombies down one after another.
At five in the morning, when Stone saw that Little Knife hadn't returned, he went out to look for her. Once outside, he immediately noticed the ruckus two hundred meters away. Stone called out, suggesting that the brainy but somewhat stubborn Little Knife climb to the top of the billboard.
Little Knife followed Stone's advice and jumped, grabbing the top of the billboard and pulling herself up like a pull-up to reach the top of the billboard. The top was only 10 centimeters wide, and like a sloth, Little Knife clung tight to the billboard, not moving an inch. Since there was no noise for a long time, the zombies began to disperse, leaving only a few waiting in the passageway for Little Knife to come down.
Finally, seizing the opportunity, Little Knife jumped down from the billboard, and with Stone's help, they both returned to the base, dealing with the zombies that followed. Currently, the base lacks supplies, unable to provide medical treatment, so the best and only option was to rest in a medical bed. With nothing else to do, Little Knife sat in front of the medical bed waiting for Lin Wu to wake up.