Luckily, even if the zombie's head was blown off, the crystal nucleus remained intact and fell to the ground. When Ren Chenxi found a level 1 crystal nucleus beside the zombie's body, she noticed there was also a cellphone and a lighter nearby.
This Explosive Card not only blew up the zombie's head but also managed to retrieve items from the zombie's body?
Later, Ren Chenxi encountered the same situation with other zombies. After a careful investigation, she realized that these items were zombie loot, similar to the equipment drops in her online games. Moreover, she discovered a new option in the lower right corner of her backpack, an automatic pickup option. When she enabled this feature, any items dropped by zombies she killed would be automatically collected within a 10-meter range.
Ren Chenxi used this method, along with the Explosive Card, to clear the hotel of other 1st-tier zombies. In addition to the essential crystal nuclei, she also collected gum, bank cards, nail clippers, scissors, a pocket knife, and instant noodles.
Ren Chenxi found it quite perplexing to discover scissors, a pocket knife, and instant noodles on these zombies. Her intuition led her to assume that these zombies might have been involved in illegal activities before turning. However, she couldn't quite comprehend why anyone would carry around instant noodles. In the end, she decided to accept it as a small blessing, especially since the item information indicated that the instant noodles weren't expired. The problem was that the entire hotel was now without power, and despite having an electric kettle in her room, Ren Chenxi couldn't enjoy a hot bowl of noodles.
She sighed at how she had once looked down on instant noodles before the apocalypse, but now they felt like a precious commodity.
As a result of her discovery, Ren Chenxi also checked the post-apocalyptic store again to see if they had mini card-style stoves available. Indeed, through a search, she found them for sale. However, she was disheartened to find that the cheapest mini card-style stove cost 10,000 crystals, and the gas canisters required for it were also priced at 10,000 crystals each.
After gaining confidence through her encounters with 1st-tier zombies, Ren Chenxi decided to take on the undead without relying on the few Burst cards she had. These 1st-tier zombies were quite emaciated, likely due to being trapped in rooms for two years, which made them slow, stiff, and weak. Ren Chenxi noticed that they had become a lot less menacing, perhaps because of the harsh conditions that had left them with little flesh on their bones, limited mobility, and feeble attacks. Even when she couldn't defeat them, she realized they couldn't outrun her. As long as she retreated to her room, the zombies couldn't even break through the sturdy door.
The first 1st-tier zombie Ren Chenxi encountered was an exception because it managed to tear down the dilapidated blinds. However, once she understood the capabilities of these 1st-tier zombies, her courage grew. She boldly used the Greasy Card and Flash Card, creating chaos among the zombies, blinding them or causing them to slip and fall. During these moments of vulnerability, Ren Chenxi didn't hesitate to use heavy or sharp objects from the abandoned furniture or even a hacksaw to brutally end the zombies by destroying their heads.
Ren Chenxi found a handsaw in the hotel's first-floor warehouse. In the kitchen, she discovered a sharp kitchen knife and a larger bone cleaver. Unfortunately, the food in the kitchen had completely rotted. To decapitate zombies, the bone cleaver would have been a better choice, but it wasn't as long as the handsaw. As someone who was just beginning to confront zombies, Ren Chenxi preferred the longer reach of the handsaw.
Despite the uncomfortable feeling of using the handsaw as a weapon, and the gruesome process of beheading zombies, Ren Chenxi constantly reminded herself that it was just a game to push through the ordeal. Fortunately, she gradually adapted to the process.
Once she had cleared the 1st-tier zombies from the hotel, she obtained five bottles of gasoline. These gasoline bottles resembled large containers of cooking oil, holding 6 liters each, with simple labels that read "Gasoline."
After dealing with all the zombies in the hotel, Ren Chenxi collected a bunch of useless items from the warehouse and used them to block the hotel's entrance. She had already depleted her free N-cards after clearing the zombies. The remaining few change-outfit and petty theft cards weren't of much use. All she could do was wait for her lottery chances to refresh and focus on leveling up her Accuracy (Advanced) skill.
With the game's update, Ren Chenxi could no longer exchange skill points with Goddess Mu's favorability. She now had to rely on experience points to upgrade her skills. As for her Accuracy skill, she could easily level it up by throwing objects at zombies. Whether she killed the zombies or not, as long as her thrown objects hit them, the skill proficiency increased.
After blocking the hotel's entrance, Ren Chenxi found a window on the third floor of her room, grabbed a functional zombie-dropped phone, set a loud alarm ringtone, and tossed it downstairs. Zombies wandering near the street were drawn to the noise. Taking advantage of this, Ren Chenxi began throwing down all the useless items from the hotel one by one. Items included electric kettles, ashtrays, tea cups, teapots, and more, as well as the toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap from the bathroom, although she cherished the hygiene items. She did find a large batch of spare room keys at the front desk.
Like this, after two days of throwing items and improving her Accuracy (Advanced) skill to level 5, Ren Chenxi's hundred percent accuracy range had increased from the original 10 meters to 50 meters. The zombies used for skill upgrading were eventually crushed to death by Ren Chenxi using heavy items from the hotel. In addition to collecting several level 1 crystals, she also saved 1 more Grease Card, 2 Flash Cards, and synthesized another Burst Card.
Armed with her level 5 Accuracy skill and these cards, Ren Chenxi sneaked out of the back door of the hotel and quietly explored the vicinity, attempting to find useful items in nearby stores. For example, she revisited the mobile phone store. Even though there was no cellular signal now, at the very least, a phone could still make noise and attract zombies, right?
After this excursion, Ren Chenxi had a rough idea as to why there were so few zombies and no other survivors in the area. It could be because this region was a relatively unpopular tourist spot to begin with, and when Ren Chenxi initially visited, there weren't many tourists. Secondly, the area lacked even a commercial street, just a handful of shops, making it unlikely to draw in other people. Therefore, when the apocalypse suddenly hit, this area was left with a few survivors. Some became zombies, some died from natural disasters, and a few were naturally devoured by zombies.
Ren Chenxi's leisurely stroll led her to witness various mutilated bodies. However, it was during this exploration that she became certain of one thing: although the area was relatively safe, it was devoid of water sources and food. She had no choice but to leave. The small, scattered shops in the vicinity didn't include a single supermarket or grocery store; they were either high-end jewelry shops or specialty ethnic decor stores.
Initially, Ren Chenxi had expected to prolong her stay in this relatively secure area. However, her backpack's dry rations consumed a significant amount of water, and the flatbreads she enjoyed with pickles made her mouth dry. Even after just one week, Ren Chenxi had to limit herself to brushing her teeth once a day, using a damp cloth to clean her face, washing her hair and body only twice a week. She was even cautious about conserving water by cutting her hair to shoulder length to reduce her water usage. As a result, she had already used up most of her 60 bottles of mineral water, leaving her with only 20.
Indeed, a reliable water source is incredibly important. While the current location is safe, Ren Chenxi realized that without access to water, survival was impossible.
On the day she decided to leave the resort area, Ren Chenxi first filled her stomach at the hotel and then boldly drank half a bottle of water. After satisfying her hunger and thirst, she opened the world map to plan her next destination. From the map, there were no obvious red danger markers, but she noticed that, after the game update, there were survivor bases scattered throughout the country.
It was a reasonable assumption that these bases would provide potable water since they likely had water-controlling individuals. Ren Chenxi thought about finding a relatively large, safe base with more powered individuals, where she could potentially survive in this post-apocalyptic world for ten years or longer.
After examining the map, Ren Chenxi decided to continue heading south toward the coastal city H, which was closer to Y city. She had already explored the grasslands and now wanted to see the sea. Her original travel plan had included a visit to H city before changing her plans to see the grasslands first. The opportunity to explore the coast, especially in this post-apocalyptic scenario, was something she couldn't pass up.
Ren Chenxi understood that the distance from Y city to H city was relatively short in peaceful times, roughly a 7-hour drive. However, considering the post-apocalyptic situation, the journey would undoubtedly take longer, and it was likely to be fraught with dangers. Nevertheless, she had no intention of walking all the way to H city. Instead, she planned to drive, even though she didn't have a driver's license in this game world. In a post-apocalyptic scenario, who would care about driving without a license? Ren Chenxi also knew that there were motorhomes available in the post-apocalyptic shop, including heavily fortified off-road military-grade vehicles. However, their astronomical prices, with a long string of zeros, made them a luxury she couldn't afford with her current supply of just over thirty 1st-level crystals.
At the hotel's parking lot, there were several dusty cars. Ren Chenxi decided to pick one she could drive and use it as her transportation to Y city. Of course, her limited supply of gasoline wouldn't last for the entire trip to H city. However, there was a silver lining. On the way out of the resort area, there was a section of the highway that led to a service area. Ren Chenxi chose this service area as her second post-apocalyptic stop, primarily because it had a gas station.