Chapter 12
Cao Yichen quietly watched the chaos unfold.
There was no way he was opening his door right now.
Even if he did, it would only be to eliminate every last one of them.
In the end, Zhao Yi barely came out on top. With Zhang Qian's help, they forced the door shut.
The people outside immediately dropped to their knees.
"Please, please save us! Let us in!"
Zhao Yi didn't agree. He changed the subject entirely.
"The guy across the hall is soft-hearted. He let two big guys in earlier—you could try asking him."
Hearing this, Zhang Qian looked deeply disappointed.
"He even fed us earlier. Without the food he gave us, we might have starved by now."
Rei Miyamoto was woken by the noise outside.
She let out a long yawn. "What's going on? Why is it so loud?"
Cao Yichen didn't answer. He stared at the group pounding relentlessly on doors.
"I'm not opening my door. If you're interested, try upstairs. The people there are dead, and there are no zombies. The lock's broken, but zombies probably can't figure out how to open it. Give it a shot."
"Thank you! Thank you!"
The group hurriedly thanked him and ran upstairs.
But when they got there, aside from the living room, every other area was covered in human waste.
They wanted to go back down and complain.
One of them stopped the others. "Wait—having a place is better than nothing. There are dozens more downstairs. Who knows which one might be scratched? Let's just stay quiet and wait it out."
"Yeah, makes sense. But the lock's broken—we need to barricade the door, or the others might force their way in."
With that, they shoved the only sofa against the door and piled more furniture on top.
Their situation was far better than most.
In Unit 201 on the second floor, the lower location proved fatal. As the residents tried to enter, they were shoved aside, and a mob stormed in.
Facing a gang of thugs occupying their home, the original owners could only suffer in silence.
In a cramped apartment with dozens crammed inside, some inevitably began hoarding the most precious resources—water and food.
Once one person started, others followed.
No one knew how long they'd be trapped.
Or when the person from earlier would clear the zombies outside.
No one had any guarantees.
A single small apartment couldn't possibly hold dozens of people.
Even those who tried the landlady's unit on the first floor found nothing left—no supplies, door smashed open, bedrooms littered with filth.
It was too disgusting to stay long.
Units 302, 301, 201…
Every door was pounded on.
Unit 502 was no exception.
Dozens who couldn't get in noticed the damaged handle and tried to force it.
A fight broke out.
But none of this concerned Cao Yichen.
If they tried breaking into his place, he'd simply teach them a lesson with a Railgun.
"What's all the noise outside about?"
Rei asked again.
Cao Yichen glanced over. Whether intentional or not, several buttons on her school uniform had come undone, revealing a pink bra beneath.
A generous expanse of pale skin was on full display.
His heart raced for a moment.
Then it stopped—Tsunade walked over, slowly buttoned Rei's shirt back up, shot him a cold glare, and returned to her seat to sip tea.
Wait… could Tsunade actually be interested in him?
The thought crossed his mind, but he didn't dare voice it.
He still needed her to hunt zombies for him in the days ahead.
"Ahem. Another zombie wave hit outside. Higher-tier ones appeared—Lickers."
"What?! Zombies can evolve?"
"Yes. Humans can evolve, animals can evolve—so can zombies."
No one in Cao Yichen's building kept pets, thanks to the old landlady's rules.
But he'd seen reports online.
People kind to their pets found them gaining intelligence after evolution—some even helped hunt zombies.
Those who weren't… well, the outcome was predictable.
Or sometimes pets were just dumb to begin with—evolution didn't fix that. Accidents happened. Owners got killed.
News about pet evolution hadn't been censored.
There were tons of stories.
Many envied those with awakened animal companions.
Some even changed their usernames to things like "Boar Knight."
A rural pig farmer whose pigs all gained basic intelligence post-apocalypse.
Too domesticated to be very smart, they were easily tamed by him.
He began his zombie-slaying journey atop his boar mounts.
There were even blurry videos of dragon-like creatures soaring through the sky.
Just fleeting shadows.
As Cao Yichen finished explaining, movement sounded outside their window.
A green-and-black creature slowly licked the glass.
Cao Yichen could see drool dripping from its mouth, pooling on the pane.
LickerLevel: 7 Stamina: 15 Strength: 17 Agility: 23
Looking at its pale, blank eyes, Cao Yichen suspected it couldn't even see him.
"Open the window a crack. I'll one-shot it."
At level 4, his stats had improved—but not by much.
Cao YichenLevel: 4 Stamina: 9 Strength: 10 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 10 Spirit: 12
Since he hadn't chosen a class yet, each level-up gave balanced +1 to everything.
Rei nervously used a broom to nudge the window open.
Cao Yichen tossed a coin into the air. Lightning crackled around it.
"Railgun."
He whispered the word. A flash of blue light—and wind—followed.
The Licker's claws had barely reached inside when its head exploded. The body flew backward into the distance.
A crystal dropped to the floor.
Cao Yichen picked it up. It was pure white—different from the dull gray ones before.
Comparing it to the bag's contents confirmed it.
Outside, residents stared in awe.
From buildings 11 and 12 across the way, they watched the electrified Licker arc gracefully over their heads, trailing sparks, before vanishing into the distance.
Only then did they realize: their complex already had an awakened player.
The charred crater from earlier? His doing too.
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