'Pleased to meet you. Let's have a good time surviving together.'
Silence greeted Lu Zhang's introduction.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
Huddled in the corner, the three survivors stared at him with wide, trembling eyes. To them, he wasn't a fellow design student anymore, just a man covered in gore, clutching a shattered chair leg still dripping brain matter, standing over the twitching corpse he'd just beaten to death.
The monster inside the room was every bit as terrifying as the monsters outside.
'Tsk. Tough crowd,' Lu Zhang thought with a sigh as he lowered the makeshift club. 'I save their lives and this is the thanks I get? They look like they're about to pass out.'
He nudged the fat man's corpse with his shoe. The body gave a final, wet spasm before it fell still.
"Relax," he said aloud, his voice cutting through the quiet. "I'm not going to hurt you. Unless you try to eat me like this guy did."
"H-He… He was Professor Wang…" the bespectacled student whispered, as pale as a sheet.
"Was," Lu Zhang corrected immediately. "Now he's just a monster."
"Monster?" The bespectacled student blinked.
Lu Zhang didn't explain any further. He looked at the tall girl near the barricaded window. "Su Yao, right?"
At the mention of her name, Su Yao winced, hugging her arms, knuckles white. She stared up from the bloodied club to Lu Zhang's face. "Y-Yes."
"You saw it earlier," Lu Zhang said, rather than asked. "When I asked if anyone wanted to protest. The System."
Su Yao hesitated. She looked at the other students and then turned her gaze back to Lu Zhang. Fear mixed with an odd glitter of confusion and awe in her eyes. "A blue box," she whispered. "It appeared when the zombies appeared."
Lu Zhang nodded, piecing the puzzle together.
"Everyone here has it, right?"
The survivors all nodded, hesitant.
"Tell me what yours says," Lu Zhang asked curiously as he sidled up to Su Yao's side, but was unable to see any screen.
Su Yao breathed deeply, closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them. "It says my name and... stats."
[Su Yao]
[Level 1]
[Strength: 4]
[Speed: 5]
[Intelligence: 9]
[Endurance: 3]
[Mana Pool: 90/90]
Lu Zhang's eyes narrowed as he listened to her stats.
'So unfair. Why are her starting stats better than mine, huh? Unfair system. Unfair monsters.'
He did have some inkling as to why. Su Yao consistently ranked at the top of the college in every exam, and was even on the track and field team.
If he had to classify her as a game class based off her starting, she would be a mage. Mana definitely existed, as could be seen in her stats.
A pure DPS such as himself had a fatal weakness in any game. He was a glass cannon. High damage, but once he got surrounded or hit once, the game was over.
"Su Yao," said Lu Zhang. "You and I, we're going to partner up."
"We are?" Su Yao blinked, the sudden offer surprising her.
"Yes." Lu Zhang nodded. "Can you kill a zombie?"
"…No."
"Exactly. I can kill them, but not fast enough. If we stay separate, we both die. If we work together, we can clear at least this library of zombies." He stepped closer, extending a blood-streaked hand. "It's a beneficial transaction. I provide the violence. You provide the distraction."
Su Yao looked down at his hand, then at the corpse on the floor, and finally out the window at the chaos beyond. She swallowed hard, then reached out and took his hand.
"Okay. I… I understand."
"Good." Lu Zhang pulled away. With the party formed, he needed to prepare.
He stared into the open air before him.
[System]
[Stat Points: 5]
'I have 5 points. A balanced build would put points in either Endurance or Strength.'
'But that's how losers think!'
'If I kill them in one hit, I don't need defense.'
'If I kill them instantly, I don't need to worry about Mana efficiency.'
He weighed his options, and then he made a choice. 'System. Add all points to Speed.'
[Ding!]
[Speed: 5 → 11]
"Gh…" Lu Zhang's eyes widened as a wave of sudden heat washed over him. It wasn't painful, just intense. It was as if his muscles were being intertwined with... something else.
His heart hammered against his ribs like a war drum, before relaxing instantly.
It lasted only a moment, but left him feeling giddy. He looked at his hands. They didn't look any different from before. Yet the feeling… it was as if the gravity of the world had shifted.
'11 Speed. Based on my previous stats, the average human is around a 5. I'm about twice as fast as an average grown man.'
He swung the club casually to test it.
WHOOSH!
The sound tore through the air like the crack of a whip, shaking papers scattered on the floor.
The students in the corner flinched violently.
Lu Zhang ignored them. He felt briefly intoxicated on his own ability .
"Okay," he said, and turned toward the door. "We're moving out."
"Wait!" A glasses wearing student stepped forward. He looked first at Lu Zhang then Su Yao. "What about us? We don't want to go out. It's too dangerous. Let's just wait for the military instead!"
Lu Zhang paused. He regarded the three of them with a critical eye. Glasses boy, girl crying silently, and a man frantically texting on a phone without a signal.
He walked over to the guy struggling to make the phone work. "It isn't working anymore, is it? All the technology isn't functioning ever since these creature showed up" he said flatly, looking bored.
"The old world of comfort and peace you once thrived in is gone. Adapt or get left behind like them." He said as he prodded the zombie's corpse, unbothered by the gore.
"That's not fair!" shouted the boy, panic lending him courage.
"Was it for for Professor Wang here to turn into a zombie?" Lu Zhang asked.
The man's jaw snapped shut, unable to retort.
"We'll go out and start hunting zombies one by one."
Lu Zhang headed to the thick door where they entered from, and opened it, revealing the zombie that had been following him and Su Yao.
The students yelped, scrambling to move back as it lunged.
[Zombie]
[Level 1]
The chair leg blurred, as a translucent fang seemed to form mid-air, piercing through the zombie's head as its brain decorated the walls beside it.
"Go out there", Lu Zhang pointed out towards the dark hallway, echoing with undead groans. "Kill something." He fixed them with a 'friendly' gaze.
"There are no free handouts."
The glasses student fell to his knees before the cooling corpse.
"I… I can't…"
"Then stay here and hope the military comes before you starve," Lu Zhang said. He didn't look back. "Su Yao. Let's go."
Su Yao took a deep breath, clenching her fingers around a metal ruler she'd grabbed. A pathetic weapon, but better than none.
"Yes."
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The hall outside the library office was dim, the emergency lights flickering, casting long, dancing shadows on the walls. The air reeked of copper and rot. Somewhere down the hall, near the elevators, came the wet sound of tearing flesh.
"Stay in front of me," Lu Zhang whispered.
"But be ready to jump back when I say so."
"O-Okay." Su Yao's voice was barely audible.
They moved ten meters. Twenty. Lu Zhang walked stealthily, but his eyes scanned every corner. The [Inspect] skill was constantly being activated, every second.
From the Reference Section, a figure stumbled into view, drawn by Su Yao's scared whimpers.
A girl.
Her jaw was missing, some darker viscous liquid staining her hoodie.
[Zombie]
[Lv 2]
'Only Level 2,' Lu Zhang thought to himself.
'Perfect practice.'
The zombie spotted them.
"Graaagh!"
It lunged, a bit faster than the fat man had been.
Su Yao snapped to attention as she leapt aside, leaving a perfect opening for Lu Zhang.
'Empty Fang.'
[Empty Fang Lv1]
Squelch!
The zombie's entire body floated up, it's head obliterated from below as it smacked into the ceiling. The zombie's skull shattered; bone, brain, and black blood spraying sideways, painting the walls red.
[Zombie Lv 2 killed!]
He stepped out from behind Su Yao's shoulder.
He turned to Su Yao, who was staring at the headless body in horror. "Good job," he said, offering a hand to help her up. "That was perfect."
Su Yao met his gaze, eyes wide. "You… you blew its head off."
He looked down the dark hall, where more groans could be heard getting closer, zombies attracted by the sound.
"And we're just getting started."
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[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 2]
[Strength: 5]
[Speed: 11]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Endurance: 5]
[Mana: 44/60]
[Skills: Inspect lv 1, Empty Fang Lv 1]