"What... what are those things?"
Li Ke stared at the strange moon and the vast sea of zombies surrounding them, feeling a chill crawl up his spine. Even with just a glance, he estimated there were thousands of them. Everywhere his eyes could reach, there were zombies—endless and relentless.
And the moon... the moon had become unsettlingly bizarre.
Li Ke quickly turned his attention to the unique system panel he possessed. It clearly displayed the name of this world.
"Seven Days to Die... Does it mean some kind of deadly event occurs every seven days?"
He hadn't paid much attention to this detail earlier, preoccupied as he was with Erina. But now...
"Not that it matters," he muttered to himself. "This world of zombies is nothing like the game. In the game, you can respawn if you die. And you know it's just a game..."
Through the RV's windows, he observed the zombies outside. A sense of despair clawed at him. Fortunately, they had constructed a perimeter wall to keep the zombies at bay, and the creatures' limited sensory range had so far allowed them some safety.
If it weren't for the wall, the sheer number of zombies would be enough to overturn the RV through sheer force.
While Li Ke still believed that metal was stronger than bone and flesh, he couldn't help but worry. The RV's metal exterior wasn't particularly durable. It might hold for now, but if thousands of zombies continuously pressed against it, he wasn't confident it could withstand the assault.
As he brooded, Erina stirred slightly. Noticing this, Li Ke quickly turned to her and covered her mouth with his hand before gesturing toward the scene outside the window.
Erina looked at him in confusion, but when her gaze followed his pointing finger, her entire body tensed up. A muffled sound escaped her lips, but she quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, stifling any further noise.
Her initial sound had been too faint to alert the zombies outside. Once Erina's breathing steadied, Li Ke removed his hand.
Erina continued to stare in disbelief at the hordes of zombies outside. Her body trembled as she clung tightly to Li Ke's arm, her eyes reddening with fear. Eventually, she buried herself in his embrace, seeking solace.
Li Ke held her silently. In moments like these, Erina was the only thing keeping him grounded.
The two huddled together, watching the endless procession of zombies. They even lay down cautiously, trying their best to avoid making any noise.
They had no idea how long they stayed like that. During this time, both Li Ke and Erina dozed off occasionally. But the zombies kept moving, their numbers seemingly endless. The pair resorted to using scavenged plastic bottles for their bodily needs, careful not to produce a single sound.
Li Ke's thoughts turned grim. While Erina's vulnerable state might have been enticing under normal circumstances, he couldn't muster any interest now. Despair was beginning to creep into his heart.
He noticed the moonlight outside growing brighter. Not just that—edges of the crescent moon were now tinged with an ominous red.
Under this increasingly crimson moonlight, the zombies' behavior started to change. Their slow, shuffling movements grew faster. Their dull eyes began to glow faintly, and their actions became more erratic, even frenzied. Occasionally, a zombie's guttural roar pierced the silence.
"Damn it…" Li Ke muttered, his dread mounting.
He took another deep breath, glancing up at the eerie moon. A bad feeling settled in his chest.
Pulling out his phone—which had long since run out of power—he managed to power it on briefly. The time displayed was only 2 PM. Yet, trapped in this RV surrounded by the undead, it felt like an entire day had passed.
"Good thing I managed to craft some firearms and ammunition yesterday. Without those, we'd have no way to fight back."
Li Ke glanced at the remaining gunpowder in his inventory—only four or five units left. He pressed his lips together in frustration.
If only he'd had more time or the limitless stamina granted in the game. In that case, he and Erina could be holed up in a sturdy, steel-fortified gas station instead of this vulnerable RV.
"But if my guess is correct, we won't be able to stay in this RV much longer."
Li Ke observed the increasingly erratic zombies outside, then looked at Erina resting anxiously in his arms. Gently, he stroked her hair, trying to calm her.
The moon had turned a deeper red. The zombies were growing even more aggressive.
Li Ke let out a long breath and opened his system interface.
Energy: 900.
He stared at the number in silence. Then, his hand slid under Erina's clothes, cupping her soft form. He began to knead gently.
The sensation of her smooth skin and her accelerated heartbeat was both grounding and exhilarating.
"Li Ke?" Erina's eyes fluttered open, her voice soft and filled with confusion. She looked at him, unsure why he was doing this, especially under such dire circumstances.
Li Ke raised a finger to his lips, signaling for her to keep quiet. However, his actions grew bolder.
Erina's face turned bright red. She glared at him, her expression a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. She couldn't comprehend why he'd choose this moment to indulge in something so reckless, especially when their lives were at stake. Yet, now wasn't the time to argue. She bit her lip, trying to stop him with her hands, but Li Ke persisted.
Her resistance only fueled his determination.
When Li Ke leaned in and kissed her, she initially resisted, but the sound she accidentally made caused her to relent. She tilted her head back, allowing his kiss to deepen. Her hands, which had been trying to stop him, fell away.
Then, Li Ke slowly entered that tight opening, just as snug as the first time, venturing into the narrow passage.
Erina wasn't particularly heavy, and at first, while she sat straddled on Li Ke's lap, she could move a little on her own. But as the intensity between them grew, Erina, trying her best to suppress any sounds, soon lost the strength to keep up. Li Ke then took over, gripping her soft, snow-white hips and guiding the movement himself.
It didn't take long before both of them were breathing heavily. Even so, their hearts raced as they worked to muffle their voices, ensuring the outside world couldn't hear them.
They succeeded in keeping quiet. By the time Erina had recovered her stamina atop Li Ke, the zombies outside remained oblivious to their presence.
Li Ke took a deep breath, glancing at the moon in the sky. Over half of its surface had been consumed by a blood-red hue. He fell silent, quietly crafting dirt blocks and stone blocks within his inventory.
The former required only soil, while the latter needed a handful of pebbles.
At this moment, Erina also noticed something was off about the moon. She tugged on Li Ke's sleeve, pointing at the crimson orb above. Li Ke merely nodded in acknowledgment, showing her he'd already noticed. Without saying much, he pulled out the food they had scavenged, carefully wrapped in a blanket to reduce noise as he opened it.
But things didn't go according to plan.
Halfway through their meal, Li Ke glanced at the sky and saw the moon almost entirely engulfed in crimson.
He quickly unlocked his phone and checked the time.
"17:59:42."
It was almost six o'clock.
Li Ke watched as his phone flashed a low-battery warning before shutting down automatically. The final second ticked over to 59 just as the device powered off.
In the next instant, the sky suddenly darkened. The moon turned fully crimson, casting a scarlet glow across the world.
Before Li Ke could react, a deafening roar echoed from the mountains and valleys—the howls of countless zombies.
He rushed to the window and saw something that chilled him to the core.
Endless hordes of zombies turned their glowing yellow eyes in their direction. Their decayed bodies emanated an eerie green hue, radiating an overwhelming sense of dread.
Then, with guttural roars, the zombies surged toward their location!
"Damn it!"
Without hesitation, Li Ke bolted to the RV's entrance. He used wooden frames to block the doorway and rapidly upgraded them to their highest possible level, sealing off the entrance tightly.
But no sooner had he finished than he heard the sound of his barricade being shredded apart by the zombies' relentless attacks. Their pounding echoed against the RV's walls.
Li Ke hastily added more wooden frames to reinforce the RV, but there were simply too many zombies. In less than twenty seconds, the roof of the RV was under assault, and Erina's voice rang out in panic.
"Li Ke! They're on top of us!"
The dull thuds reverberated as the zombies ignored their own injuries, slamming into the RV with abandon.
The once-sturdy RV swayed like a small boat adrift in a sea of zombies, helpless against the tide.
"Damn it all!"
Furious, Li Ke pulled out his machine gun and began firing through the shattered windows. Precision wasn't necessary—spraying bullets into the crowd of zombies was enough to take out clusters of them.
But it was futile. The dead zombies were immediately trampled underfoot by more incoming hordes. Packed tightly together, the zombies continued to push against the RV, tilting it off its original position and slowly forcing it toward the town.
Li Ke was powerless to stop it. Despite his relentless shooting, killing zombies on one side caused an imbalance in pressure, allowing the others to tip the RV over. It toppled onto its side and began to roll, the zombies shoving it along in their frenzy to dig the survivors out of their metal coffin.
The RV's overturning threw both Li Ke and Erina against the walls. Before they could regain their footing, the vehicle rolled again.
The floor became the ceiling, and Li Ke's head slammed into a cabinet, nearly knocking him unconscious. Erina fared no better—she was pinned under the overturned bed. If not for her foresight in blocking the windows, the zombie arms reaching in would have torn her apart by now.
This was an unimaginable nightmare. The sheer number of zombies was staggering. Even if the RV could hold out for a while, it wouldn't last until morning—if morning even came.
Li Ke took a deep breath, abandoning the futile shooting. Taking advantage of a brief moment of stability, he rushed to Erina's side and quickly constructed a makeshift enclosure of wooden frames around them. This small, confined space would keep them safe from the RV's chaotic movements.
Li Ke held Erina tightly, listening to her heartbeat amidst the darkness, the rolling of the RV, and the relentless sound of metal being torn apart.
"Li Ke…"
Erina's voice trembled with pain.
"Are we going to die? Will we become zombies too?"
She sounded weak. Her head had been struck earlier, and though she couldn't see it, she could feel blood trickling down.
Li Ke took a deep breath and placed his phone in Erina's hand.
"Erina, my name is Li Ke. I'm from Tianchao. My mother's name is in that phone. If you ever find yourself in my world, look for her—or for me, if I'm still alive—and give her some money."
"Li Ke?"
Erina called out his name, confused by his strange request at such a moment.
"I'm saying goodbye, Erina. Being with you has made me truly happy."
Do you want to return Erina Nakiri back to her world?
"Yes."
In the next moment, Erina's warmth and heartbeat vanished. Li Ke's hand grasped nothing but air. The sound of tearing metal grew louder, signaling his imminent fate.
"What a wonderful dream it was."
Li Ke chuckled, pulling a bundle of gunpowder from his inventory.
He wouldn't go down without a fight.