A joke. With the enhancement of the Silver Bird Claw, how could Astrea possibly miss this treasure chest?
What he didn't know, however, was that in the apocalypse, ordinary treasure chests only appeared after a boss-level zombie had been killed.
The loot from these treasure chests was usually quite abundant.
While there were a fair number of wild treasure chests as well, 99% of them appeared in the form of Chest Monsters.
These Chest Monsters not only had tough skin and high durability, but they also offered no rewards.
Saying they were "benefits"? It was nothing more than the Orderers' sheer malice.
Chest Monsters imitated the appearance of a treasure chest, but they always had certain differences in their form.
Soon, the Wild Chest Identification Guide started circulating among the survivors.
The Orderers and the survivors began a battle of wits, constantly improving their counterfeiting techniques.
And right now, on the second day of the apocalypse, the level of counterfeiting was still incredibly low.
A single glance was enough to insult your intelligence.
It could barely be called a counterfeit; it was an obvious fake.
Astrea looked at the wrecked image center, clearly the site of several brutal battles.
After quickly flashing into an office nearby, Astrea took a bottle of blue liquid from his wristband.
The Punishment Arrow from earlier had already been his fourth shot of the day.
At this point, his energy had been drained by more than half.
[Energy Potion]: Common-grade consumable. Instantly restores 10% of energy, and restores 2% energy per minute for the next 10 minutes. (Only one potion of the same type can be effective at a time.)
This was the "Little Blue Bottle" energy potion in the apocalypse.
It was the lowest-level energy potion, restoring 30% of your energy over 10 minutes.
But this thing was a limited sale item in the shop, priced at 50 gold coins, and had long been monopolized.
On the black market, it could even fetch 100 gold coins.
Astrea downed it in one go, instantly feeling his energy replenishing.
Taking advantage of the energy boost, Astrea finally had time to check his recent haul.
One level 3 zombie, six level 2 zombies, and three level 1 zombies.
All together, they gave Astrea 150 experience points, 15 gold coins, and 10 points of contribution.
With a total of 11 points, he had finally made it to the rankings, placing 4th.
But that didn't matter.
Astrea rummaged through his wristband to review his spoils.
"One... two... four capsules dropped?"
"A little red bottle, a 'Lure of the Enemy' flask... and that's it?"
"Is this really the drop rate for hidden dungeons? Pathetic, Orderers!"
While the drop rate for hidden dungeons had seen slight increases, for an ordinary person, this was already a pretty good haul.
They'd probably be on their knees, thanking the Orderers for the blessings.
But with his maxed-out Luck, Astrea couldn't muster any excitement.
He'd already gathered seven or eight Supply Capsules just from the trip between the district and the hospital.
Pizzas, drinks, snacks, fruit—everything was included.
He'd also picked up a fair number of consumable items.
Finally, Astrea spotted something in the corner of his wristband: a necklace glowing with a faint blue light.
"What's this? A necklace! And it's Rare-grade!"
Necklaces had the lowest drop rate among all equipment types.
They were rare because, in addition to increasing attributes, they always came with an active skill—a damaging attack skill, no less!
[Chain of the Holy Spear]: Rare-grade equipment. The Holy Spear Ranger infused ancient power into this relic necklace, meant to purge all darkness from the world.
Attributes: Strength +3, Spirit +2, Constitution +2, Agility +3.
Attached Skill: Holy Spear Baptism: While moving freely, fire 20 arrows in the direction you're facing within 3 seconds (+25% critical hit chance). Each arrow deals 30% damage. (The casting can be forcibly canceled during the process.)
Required Weapon: Bow or crossbow.
Cooldown Time: 12 hours.
A powerful single-target damage skill, no wonder it's a Rare-grade item!
Leaving aside the critical hit chance for a moment, if all 20 arrows land, that's 600% damage!
And with the Double Strike bonus, that becomes a whopping 1200%!
Theoretically, if used against a survivor who knows how to dodge, they could avoid most of the arrows.
But against those zombies with underdeveloped brains, who just charge forward mindlessly without dodging, you can imagine what it would look like—an arrow-filled corpse.
Astrea couldn't wait to equip the necklace.
Who would've thought that by the second day of the apocalypse, he'd already have a necklace and two rings—he'd collected all the accessory-type gear!
With all the accessories in place, how far could the other basic equipment be?
Suddenly, from the deepest part of the imaging center, the sound of banging on the door echoed from the CT room.
Astrea remembered that was the place where he'd sensed an incredibly powerful aura earlier.
It seemed that the powerful zombie had finally had enough. It was now attacking the innermost CT room.
The sound of ceiling tiles constantly falling echoed in the hallway outside.
Astrea felt the entire room trembling with every blow to the door.
But the door to the radiology department wasn't that easy to break down, was it?
"Hahaha! Come and kill me, then!"
"You bastard, you bit off part of my ear!"
"This is a solid lead door made for radiation protection! You can't break it!"
A man kept shouting at the zombie ramming against the door.
And the source of this curse and chaos came from half an hour ago, inside the CT room:
In the CT room, there had originally been a girl and a doctor hiding.
The girl was a high school student, small in stature but full of compassion. Her dream was to become a pediatrician.
Coming from a modest background, she had earned a recommendation to a medical university through her own hard work.
She had just turned eighteen and had a bright future ahead of her.
As for the radiology doctor, he had been caught accepting bribes on the side.
When the hospital found out, they fined him a significant amount of money.
Without his illicit income, the nurse with whom he'd been having an affair also distanced herself from him.
It seemed his only future was in darkness.
Then the apocalypse arrived, and the world changed!
A man and a woman were trapped in the CT room for a day and night, exhausted and starving.
They had barely survived the horrors of the previous night and had hoped that better days were on the horizon.
But since the Orderers had turned this place into a dungeon, the number of zombies around them had only increased.
The girl stared at the zombies outside the observation window, baring their teeth and growling, helpless and unsure of what to do.
Little did she know, in the apocalypse, the real danger wasn't the zombies—it was people!
"Doctor, what should we do? We're not going to die here, are we?"
"Didn't they say someone powerful arrived? Maybe they'll come and save us!"
"Doctor, I'm so glad I met you! I don't even know how to thank you!"
"Thank me? Heh... Just thank me with your body..."